BKS

BKS

Backup2005 Synchronizer ( BKS ) lets you synchronize the content of computers, disks or folders. BKS can copy, encrypt (AES 256 key) or compress files in gzip format (compatible Gzip). Synchronization can be done from Source > Target or from Source > Target > Source. It can also Clone folders to target. When Incremental mode is activated the synchronization is done at the speed of light. BKS includes a Live synchronization module and more.....
RD Technologies :: BACKUP :: SYNCHRONIZATION :: DISK :: DATA :: RESTORE :: COPY :: ENCRYPTION :: GZIP :: BKS

iPAQ For Dummies

iPAQ For Dummies ...
John Wiley - Sons Inc :: Hardware - Handheld Computing :: Computers-Hardware - Handheld Computing :: Computers :: Computer Bks - General Information :: Brian Underdahl :: :: iPAQ For Dummies

A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

4 stars (Solid Info, Good Book) - This is a good book with easy-to-follow chapters and the practice exams on the CD provide a great review. That said, do not expect the book or the practice exams to cover everything you may see on the actual tests. This book/CD combo provides an excellent foundation for preparing to pass both exams but it should not be the only study reference you use unless you already have some solid experience in building and repairing computers as well as experience with various Windows operating systems. I would emphasize having experience with multiple Windows environments because this book dedicates 30% at most to the OS exam (302). The book also has added value as a good reference to keep in your library after you pass the exams. All in all, well done. It did help me pass both exams on the first attempt. 5 stars (great item) - shipped pretty quick and it was in awsome shape, been reading it and havent finished it yet but has some great detailed things, specially if you want to read and learn about microprocessors, great book to get certified i would say although i am in the proccess of getting certifed. always buy latest edition and you'll be good! well recomended. Take care, dr 2 stars (What a disappointment!!!) - I gave this book two stars out of sympathy, and the fact that a couple of subjects got decent coverage. I'm not sure Mr. Meyers even read the 2003 objectives before revising one of his earlier editions. This book is outdated, and according to my PC hardware professor at the school I attend, it's also got a lot of mistakes. Get "The Complete Guide to A+ Certification" by Michael Graves instead. It's a better book with better coverage, and at least Graves knows how to write. ...
McGraw-Hill Osborne Media :: Computers & Technical Skills :: Tests :: Computers :: Computer Science (General) :: Computer Science :: Computer Books And Software :: Computer Bks - Certificatio :: A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

Spell of the Highlander

5 stars (Dark magic draws you in (um, like a dark mirror that can trap you for a thousand years!)) - Karen Marie Moning weaves magic with hot highlander goodness. Ah, it's such a nice blend, too. Behind the every day goings on of the world is one where faries tinker and power can weave worlds. This power can be light or it can be dark. Cian, born gifted with power and charged as a guardian of the Sidhe, was tempted by the dark arts. Unfortunatly that kind of stuff attracts unsavory types. Hence Cian has been trapped for hundreds of years in a mirror of dark power. Grad student Jessica St. James, unfortunately, ends up opening up a package for her professor that contains this dark object. Sure, you get a hot guy, but the headache of having to deal with a dark mirror and a psycho dark mage ready to kill for it back. Of course the romance between Jessica St. James and Cian is fabulous. Karen Marie Moning has a talented pen and writes dialogue that is funny and wicked. I really enjoy her world of alpha highlanders and magic. 4 stars (Scottish Delight!) - Oh, if only this book had been longer, I didn't want it to end! But if it hadn't I would have been up even later than 3am. If your familliar with Moning's books you'll know this is a continuation in the Kelter Druid/ Faery series.And after reading the end of this book you find out that there are atleast 2 or 3 more books to come! The dialogue of this novel was so beautiful I may force my husband to read it and learn a thing or two! Cian Kelter is the oldest of our druid hotties yet. A genetic freak born in the 9th century & made laird at birth, he has all the possible magical abilities bred into the Kelter line. Naively he invited another druid into the castle one night, an evil twisted man, and to sum up events Cian ended up stuck in an enchanted mirror perched on his enemies study wall for the past 1,133 years. And he'd have probably stayed there...if the magic that enabled a previous Kelter hotty to serve hadn...
Dell Publishing :: Fiction-Romance - Historical :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Karen Marie Moning :: :: Spell of the Highlander

Modern Recording Techniques

5 stars (Finally, some plain English) - I've been a professional musician for 30 years, and now that the opportunity to record at home has become reality, I wanted to bring myself from total ignorance to at least a fundamental knowledge of the subject. I found this book to be the perfect answer to my needs. The authors explain things in plain English, put in enough detail for those who can absorb it, and remind the rest of us, "Don't let the math scare you, just get the idea." 3 stars (Good for beginners) - This is a good overview if you are new to the industry. Lack of detailed information limits its usability if you already have some experience. I would recommend Yamaha's Sound Reinforcement Handbook and Bobby Owsinski's Mixing and Mastering Engineer's handbooks over this for more specific tips. 5 stars (Information at your fingertips) - Modern Recording Techniques was the first of many books I have read in my study of Sound Design. Where this book does get a little complicated and at times the structure throws me off, this book is the best I have found so far. Similar books, such as the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook, read like instruction booklets that are so confusing that you are not sure if you are reading about a microphone or trying to put together a bookshelf. This book has stayed on my computer desk and by my side for the past year. Definitely worth the money! ...
Focal Press :: Computers-Programming Languages - General :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: David Miles Huber :: :: Modern Recording Techniques

Large-Scale Software Architecture- A Practical Guide using UML--160-

5 stars (Practical, thorough and accessible) - [Review duplicated from Amazon.co.uk] Jeff Garland and Richard Anthony have written a very practical and accessible explanation of the process of designing and describing the software architecture for a large information system. All of the major architectural structures are covered and the depth of experience of the authors is evident from the solid, practical advice given throughout. There is also a huge amount of practical advice as to how architectural structures can be described using UML, which is particularly valuable. The only significant criticism I've have is that they don't talk about the quality properties of the architecture all that explicitly. The focus in most of the book is about capturing architectural structures rather than talking about the required architectural qualities that led to the structures being selected. The reader is left to discern this for themselves. This said though, I'd still recommend the book to any practicing information systems architect. 5 stars (Excellent guide to designing large software systems) - This book presents a very practical guide to designing and developing large-scale software systems. I've been involved in a number of large-scale projects and this is the first book I've found that includes many of the things you usually find out the hard way. Things like how to effectively communicate the design to the team, how to manage iterations and how to document designs and changes to the design. Since the topic is large-scale systems, the book focuses more on techniques than on specific examples, but it more than makes up for that by providing practical tips and recommended reading references. If you are leading a software development team or plan to, this book will help you on a very practical level. 5 stars (Excellent ref. on communicating large-scale software design) - An excellent reference on what UML diagrams to use to capture the achitecture of a large software ...
John Wiley - Sons- Ltd :: Programming - Software Development :: Miscellaneous Software :: Computers-Miscellaneous Software :: Computers :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Richa :: Large-Scale Software Architecture- A Practical Guide using UML--160-

YOU- The Owner-s Manual

5 stars (Oz and Roizen make anatomy lessons entertaining and offer sound advice for staying healthy.) - `YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that will Make You Healthier and Younger' is an interesting health book which teaches readers how the body works in relation to its anatomy and central systems, including hormonal, nervous, digestive, sensory organs, and immune. It also covers topics that deal with the brain, heart, digestive, reproductive glands, lungs, bones and joints. Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen have managed to make learning these topics both entertaining and enjoyable by including illustrations of pathogenic creatures whose role it is to portray illnesses that harm the body. There are also illustrations of benevolent elf creatures whose role it is to guide readers through different parts of the body in terms of names and functionalities. The authors have also incorporated a sense of humor, trivia, and a diet plan. In terms of humor, we have analogies between the activities of muscle cells when engulfing deceased heart tissue and the fighting that regularly presents itself on daily talk shows. In terms of trivia, the authors discuss the frequency at which one should have one's thyroid level checked. They reveal the quantity of air biscuit floatation produced by an average human per day. They also expose information regarding the quantity of times that most persons engage in intercourse. Finally, the authors invite their readers to try a 10-day, 30-recipe diet plan designed to benefit certain systems of the body such as that of immunity. This is an important book because not only does it mention how diseases start and the consequent effects that they have on one's body, but it also provides readers with advice on how to prevent or quash conditions that bear the potentiality to endanger the quality of their lives. Moreover, it also offers advice for ways to preserve the body's health and youthfulness, which in the long run, co...
PerfectBound :: Health & Fitness-General :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Michael F Roizen :: Mehmet Oz :: :: YOU- The Owner-s Manual

Oracle 10g Data Warehousing

4 stars (Very good overall coverage) - This book is very useful if you want to get overall coverage of data warehousing related features in Oracle 10g. The book does not covers any topic in details but does covers all areas (SQL, Utilities, OWB, Discoverer, ODM) related to the DW/BI space. 5 stars (Well I am Happy) - Well I found this book extremely useful. Okay so you could wade thru the doc, but this book has everthing in one place with some easy to follow examples. It also encouraged me to take a look at using EM rather than typing everything in on the command line. 3 stars (Good overview, but frustated by errors and lack of source) - I'm new to both Oracle and Data Warehousing and I haven't found many Data Warehousing texts specific to Oracle. I was hoping this would not only be a source for an architecture and design overview, but I also hoped to setup and work through the examples I saw in text as I perused it in the book store. I mean, no one would publish a modern computer book without providing downloadable source, would they? Maybe I missed something, but there is no CD, no reference in the text, and I checked the publishers web site. Found nothing! Especially for a topic like Data Warehousing, where learning to manage large amounts of data is the point of the whole subject, I found it amazing that no sample data is provided. Along this same line, the Appendix that shows the schema setup for the example database has errors in the script code, plus the steps are out of order. Apparently the authors expect you to use the Enterprise Manager to setup your database. The setup scripts appear to be an afterthought, and do not appear to be edited. If the authors had provided downloadable scripts and data, perhaps they would have been forced to work through this setup themselves and would have avoid this problem. I'm building sample data, and reading through the text, but for $60.00 I expected more. ...
Digital Press :: Technology-General :: Computers-Database Management - Data Warehousing :: Computer Bks - Data Base Management :: Shilpa Lawande :: Susan Hillson :: Lilian Hobbs :: Oracle 10g Data Warehousing

Eldest

4 stars (An adequate sequel to 'Eragon,' yet moderately flawed) - One of the most compelling aspects of the Inheritance series stems from the fact that it belongs to the young adult/teen fiction genre and owes its existence to an author who started the series as a teen, and currently has two bestselling books under his belt as a young adult. A high school graduate at age 15, this author, Christopher Paolini, has some impressive credentials on his resume, and it is obvious that his inspiration for writing was driven by a penchant for fantasy/adventure-type fiction. In a sense, this actually makes reading these books just as drivingly forceful as it enables the reader to explore the world of literature as told from the perspective of one who has lived less than thirty years. ` Eldest ' (book two in the series) can be broken down into two storylines. The first storyline has our heros, Eragon and Saphira, sent to the land of elves known as Ellesmera, where Eragon must complete his Dragon Rider training. This training will become useful later as they must confront evil forces that threaten the peaceful atmosphere of Alagaesia. The second storyline focuses on Eragon's cousin, Roran. Back at their home in Carvahall, the village is threatened by the infestation of Ra-zac, and it is up to Roran to lead the denizens to freedom as he strives to rescue his love interest Katrina who is being held captive. To do that, however, he will need the assistance of Eragon. The result is a clash of opposing forces between the dragon riders and the ra-zac and this really puts our hero's training to the test. Flaws: - frequently jumps back and forth between storylines, often leads to confusion; -elves do not seem as wise as they are portrayed to be (Ex: Oromis fails to adequately address Eragon's questions concerning the world around him) ; - inspiration from other works might lead to unwarranted comparisons; - somewhat wordy and clich?#d; - a little dull in some spots Praiswort...
Random House Children-s Books :: Juvenile Fiction-Science Fiction :: Fantasy :: & Magic :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Christopher Paolini :: :: Eldest

Podcasting- Do It Yourself Guide

5 stars (Excellent resource and guide) - I've been listening to Todd's podcast for the past few months and have decided to join the podcasting bandwagon. The book is very well written - covers all of the topics required to define, create, record and publish your podcasts. The book saved me countless hours of frustration and pointed me in the right direction for recording equipment. A great book for anyone thinking about getting into podcasting or understanding what podcasting is all about. 4 stars (A solid introduction to Podcasting, told by someone with a lot of in-the-field experience!) - As someone who is only just dipping my digital voicebox into the podcasting ocean, this DIY Guide was extremely useful. It guides you through the basics of setting up on the computer you've probably already got with a cheapo microphone and freeware audio editing with Audacity. It also shows how a few more steps can lead to a far more professional sound with relatively minimal effort and expense. I also like the frequent "notes" which highlight important terms and ideas, many of which I know, but some of which were new. Cochrane's explanations are always easy to understand. The only downside is that this book was released before iTunes support for Podcasting became the pod-word of the month. While the iTunes influence might be slightly over-hyped, it is changing the podosphere. Perhaps a second edition of the DIY Guide will come out early next year and give us another healthy survey of all things poddy. 5 stars (Podcasting The-Do-IT-Yourself Guide by Todd Cochrane) - The book "Podcasting: Do It Yourself Guide by Todd Cochrane" is a great book. I wanted to learn how to make MP3's so that I could make some for authors to use to promote their books. This book helped me to accomplish this and sure took the frustration out of my learning experience. I now have my MP3's made and have downloaded them on my computer and am now learning how to use my WS_FTP program so that...
John Wiley - Sons Inc :: Computers-Hardware - General :: Computer Bks - General Information :: Todd Cochrane :: :: Podcasting- Do It Yourself Guide

Making Metal Jewelry- Projects- Techniques- Inspiration

5 stars (jewelry rave) - This book is a must have for anyone who wants to create beauty with metals, but does not have safe access to a torch. I live in a condo, and had to find an available 'lab' whenever I wanted to complete a piece of jewelry. I have moved on to a new style of fabrication, and love it. 5 stars (An outstanding book on cold-connections.) - A cold connection = any connection made without heat. Joanna has put together a fantastic book that brings together many different cold connection techniques. I have yet to find another jewelry making book that covered as many cold techniques that this one does. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to enhance their jewelry making skills, but is not yet ready to move to the use of a torch for soldering. 5 stars (Great book for beginners!!) - This is an excellent book for beginners or those who are slightly more advanced in jewellery making. The jewellery in this book is made stricly with cold connections, no soldering or heating involved. For the more advanced, such as myself, I find this book great for inspiration to include cold connections in my designs. Step by step instructions and nice photography, this book is a real asset for those even who are just interested in beginning to make jewellery. Enjoy! ...
Lark :: GAMES (bks) - CASINO GAMBLING TRDP :: Crafts & Hobbies & Jewelry :: Sale Books :: Metal-work :: Jewelry making :: Jewelry :: Hobbies&Crafts :: Crafts & Hobbies :: Cra :: Making Metal Jewelry- Projects- Techniques- Inspiration

Map of Bones

4 stars (Better than da vinci, but different.) - I have to say that James Rollins is a better writer than Dan Brown. His characters have more depth, and furthermore, his plots are more completely thought out. I've been disappointed in some of Brown's books, because although the action is fun, the plots are pretty lame. I just don't care if they found a meteor with fossils in it. Rollins however, has ventured away from his normal formula of taking people underground, throwing in weird creatures, and having the hero escape. It's nice to see him grow as an author, and hopefully someday he'll have movies made based on his books. 4 stars (The Map is great) - Great little book, many thrills and chills. Another great novel about to be pulled from the shelves and revamped by a nameless publisher is, "Behind the Dark Curtain" by Adam W. Gibson. Pick up you're first edition independent copy's today, so you can turn around and sell them to the highest bidder on "ebay" . Trust me, they won't be around forever. 3 stars ( Map of Bones ...just a little too talky!) - Having read all of James Rollins' novels, Map of Bones comes off as a verbose attempt to justify Rollins' intense research into Catholic ritual, history, and dogma. While the basic military action of the story captures the reader's interest, the novel bogs down in the author's attempt to display his research in a clumsy, didactic fashion. If you've ever heard Tim McCarver literally ruin a World Series telecast with irrelvant, decades old minutia, then you'll appreciate how James Rollins should have reduced the history lessons and simply got on with the novel's action, especially as it leads to the climax. ...
PerfectBound :: Fiction-Espionage&Intrigue :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: James Rollins :: :: Map of Bones

The FairTax Book- Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS

1 stars (The Cato Institute Objects to the national ales tax idea) - No doubt HR 25 has been studied by the best of minds; the Cato Institute is a non-profit public policy research foundation (think tank) headquartered in Washington, D.C. Here are four potent objections it lists to the national sales tax: Objection 1. The sales tax is regressive. The rebate feature of the national sales tax makes this proposal nonregressive. Remember, a family of four would pay no tax on its first $20,000 of purchases each year. This is the equivalent of a zero bracket under the income tax. It is similar to the Armey personal deduction--though not as generous. There are various ways of providing this rebate. Assuming that the sales tax were set at 18 percent, a family of four would be entitled to a rebate of $3,600 ($20,000 x 18 percent) for the year. The government could send a quarterly rebate check of $900 to every family of four; a $450 check to every family of two; and so on. Another possibility would be to provide every family with an annual "smart card" that would have a sales tax credit based on family size. A married couple with no kids would receive a $10,000 credit on its card. Each time the couple made a purchase, the smart card would deduct that amount until the card's $10,000 credit was used up. After the first $10,000 of purchases, the family would begin to pay the sales tax. So it dead wrong to argue that a sales tax is inherently regressive. Objection 2: A sales tax of 18 percent would entail large- scale evasion. A national sales tax of 18 percent, when added to the existing states sales taxes, would bring the total sales tax to between 20 and 25 percent. Critics are right when they argue that a sales tax this high would encourage evasion. But compared to what? Evasion is already a huge problem with the income tax. An estimated $150 billion of income tax goes uncollected each year--according to the IRS's own calculations. Moreover, states report th...
PerfectBound :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Business & Economics-Taxation - General :: John Linder :: Neal Boortz :: :: The FairTax Book- Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS

Sams Teach Yourself HTML and XHTML in 24 Hours

5 stars (Great book.) - I have been using a canned program to manage my company's web site, but I wasn't always able to do fine tune the pages the way I wished. So I decided to teach myself HTML. Working through this book, I was able to learn step by step how to design pages and manipulate the images and text. The book is very clear and concise and the exercises the author gives at the end of every chapter are extremely useful. 4 stars (Up-To-Date Now - Thank you.) - Having been out of web Development for a couple years, I needed confidence that my basic understanding was up to speed. This book HTML and XHTML in 24 hours, brought me up to date rather quickly. It provided the foundation that I needed both to build some basic web application prototypes, and to be able to begin reading more specialized books on Web Development. Specifically books on CSS. 5 stars (Awesome book!) - Best computer related book that I have ever read. I was somewhat familiar with HTML concepts, but never created my own web page. The lessons are organized well and are so easy to follow! They even go over applets, Active X, and JavaScript. Awesome, awesome book. ...
Que-Sams :: Computers-Programming Languages - HTML :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Dick Oliver :: :: Sams Teach Yourself HTML and XHTML in 24 Hours

OLAP Solutions- Building Multidimensional Information Systems

4 stars (Fundamental Olap principles) - I was impressed by the quality of this book; this is probably the most complete book on OLAP theory and is a fundamental reading for professionals involved in the design of olap systems. In most cases it gives all the details and information needed to master this technology. It also contains some practical examples that are very useful to see how the theory can be applied in the real world. I didn't read the first edition, but the second edition contains new sections and many updates, like a description of SQL-99 OLAP extensions. The author chose to be vendor-independent, so all practical examples are based on a multidimensional language that he created, called Located Contents (LC). However, when I read it I had already used a couple of OLAP tools (Microsoft Analysis Services and Microstrategy), and I think that this helped me understand many of the concepts contained in the book. 4 stars (Good OLAP Methodology) - OLAP is a somewhat arcane corner of the IT universe and this book is a good guide to it for information and business professionals. It covers the basics well and provides decent exaples to get you going. Of course, the hardest part of OLAP is making the conceptual leap from relational databases and transactional processing to the world of analytical processing, but finance experts and accountants will appreciate OLAP and its ability to summarize data in a way that is hard to do in most ERP and legacy systems. 5 stars (A must read for anybody involved in Olap design) - A book which gives you a comprehensive theoretical foundation together with useful, pratical techniques to design Olap solutions. In the first half of the book the author explains you all you need to think clearly in N dimensions, in the second half he guides you through the design of a rather complex application, stepping into the purchasing process, the material inventory analysis, sales & marketing, and activity-based management. He teaches you ...
John Wiley - Sons Inc :: Information Management :: Decision Making & Problem Solving :: Database Management - General :: Computers :: Computer Bks - Data Base Management :: Business & E :: OLAP Solutions- Building Multidimensional Information Systems

The Business of Streaming and Digital Media

5 stars (Excellent intro to the business of streaming media) - There are far too few books out on the subject of streaming media, especially ones that are up to date after "the dot bomb" of a couple years back. Dan Rayburn's book is an excellent introduction to the industry for anyone trying to get his or her bearings. The study included in the appendix is also quite helpful and timely. 5 stars (DRSULO) - This is a must read for anyone evaluating whether or not streaming is right for their business regardless of their organizations size. It gives you examples, backed by case studies, what has worked and more importantly what hasn't. Knowing what to avoid while considering your options, in many cases is as important as how to go to market. Understanding that will enable businesses to deploy that much faster and begin taking advantage of this technology, enabling them to begin to monitize on their strategy. I look forward to future publications. DRS 5 stars ( The Business of Streaming and Digital Media ) - This book is the best on the subject. Dan explains and cuts through all of the fancy language that most people in the streaming business try to confuse you about. He covers everything you need to know and start a streaming business. Go to his site www.streamingmedia.com for more streaming info. This book is sight for the blind. ...
Focal Press :: Computers-Programming Languages - General :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Dan Rayburn :: :: The Business of Streaming and Digital Media

Troubleshooting Campus Networks- Practical Analysis of Cisco and LAN Protocols

5 stars (Good book for network admins) - My overall impression was that this is a great book. I felt that the first chapter was unnecessary detail, and sort of seemed like chest thumping to me. I find this book to be an excellent reference about just about all aspects of LAN communications. I was not impressed with the WAN protocols however. I sort of expected more of that, as you might find in a Campus network. I keep this book handy, and often find myself using it as a reference when I am unsure of a conclusion I have drawn. I recommend this book to anyone looking for reference material. 5 stars (A myth-shattering, authoritative and enlightening title) - I'm sad I waited so long to read this excellent book. "Troubleshooting Campus Networks" (TCN) was published in Jul 2002, and it belongs on every network administrator's shelf -- now! This is the best networking book since Scott Haugdahl's "Network Analysis and Troubleshooting" and Eric Hall's "Internet Core Protocols." TCN will truly test your networking knowledge; you'll quickly validate the truth and discard the fiction. So many books discuss networks, but somehow distort subtle points. Authors Oppenheimer and Bardwell know their material inside-out and explain key points in clear, concise prose. Ever hear of the "37% utilization rule for Ethernet?" It's false. Think that TCP sequence numbers count packets? Wrong -- they count bytes of data. And why are sequence numbers seemingly "off by one?" Look at the difference between ordinal and cardinal numbers, described in ch. 9. TCN displays an uncanny ability to include just the information that is needed. "Reversible half-ASCII," which accounts for odd-looking NetBIOS traces, appears in ch. 12. The sections on Windows networking are first-rate, with helpful comparisons of NetBIOS with IPX, TCP, and NetBEUI. Even theoretical but damaging attack methods, like corrupting Hot Standby Router Protocol messages (ch. 8), are illuminated. I have tw...
John Wiley -amp- Sons Inc :: Networking - Local Area Networks (LANs) :: Internet - General :: Computers-Networking - General :: Computers :: Computer Bks - Internet :: Computer Bks - Commun :: Troubleshooting Campus Networks- Practical Analysis of Cisco and LAN Protocols

After Midnight

After Midnight ...
PerfectBound :: Fiction-Romance - Gothic :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Teresa Medeiros :: :: After Midnight

Embers Falling on Dry Grass- Prologue to Knife of Dreams

4 stars (A good start to Knife of Dreams. We'll see if it holds up) - Embers Falling on Dry Grass is probably the best prologue to the Wheel of Time since perhaps the scenes with the Dark One in Lord of Chaos. While it lacks the drama of some of the other prologues, it does advance plot nicely. Without ruining things, in this prologue we have Galad (identical to the publicly available free preview), Rodel Ituralde carrying out an attack, Suroth playing Seanchan high politics, Red and Black Ajah intrigues in the White Tower, Perrin plotting strategy, and last but not least Egwene. At 140 pages this more of a couple of chapters than a prologue, but in larger text it is far less of a burden than that of Crossroads. It's hard to tell if this is more than just a good start for Knife of Dreams, but at least Jordan hasn't made the mistake as in previous books of introducing substantial new characters and plotlines in the prologue (although if Ituralde's plotline only appears in prologues one wonders why Jordan even bothered.) Is it worth $3.50? Arguably, and at least with Amazon you can download it as many times as you want as opposed to other sources. I do take a star off for the fact this is discounted elsewhere where Amazon is asking full retail. Also keep in mind you can't save this on a local hard drive or print it, so make sure you have a good solid internet connection and plenty of time to read before downloading. Still, we'll see if the trend advancing plots in the prologue holds up for KoD. Certainly better edited than the past, which makes me hope for the rest of the book. 5 stars (Finally, a Great Prologue!) - I finished up the prologue in a few days and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how focused the story was. I felt as if the story lines are finally weaving their way back into final thread. The prologue is broken up into little stories and I was happy to see some of them involved major characters such as Egwene and Perrin. Embers ...
Scribner :: Fiction-General :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Robert Jordan :: :: Embers Falling on Dry Grass- Prologue to Knife of Dreams

Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team- A Field Guide for Leaders- Managers- and Facilitators

5 stars (Phenomenal System!) - After reading the book, you just want to jump in there and start implementing the techniques described, but having the field guide makes it truly an easily understandable concept to implementation process. Now we need field guides for the other three books! 5 stars (Following Up His BestSeller) - A couple of years ago Mr. Lencioni published a book on the Five Dysfunctions of a Team. In it he listed the problems that if allowed to continue would destroy a teams effectiveness, and quite possibly destroy the team itself. As a result of questions and comments from readers he has produced this guide to specifically address how to overcome these dysfunctions. The particular points beind addressed include: Building Trust Mastering Conflict Achieving Commitment Embracing Accountability Focusing on Results. Each of these points is discussed with a view towards increasing the functionality of the team. This is followed by questions and comments from participants in classes and seminars and finally by some exercises in helping to build the team. ...
Jossey-Bass :: Computer Bks - Languages & Programming :: Business & Economics-General :: Patrick M Lencioni :: :: Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team- A Field Guide for Leaders- Managers- and Facilitators