Average customer rating:
- Turn off the Force Field, this is a Great LIS Book!
- Is amazing the extreme carefull with the information!
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Lost in Space: The Ultimate Unauthorized Trivia Challenge for the Classic TV Series
Hatfield
Manufacturer: Kensington
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Customer Reviews:
Turn off the Force Field, this is a Great LIS Book!.......1998-07-18
This is probably the best LIS book ever put together (not saying much since there is a lot of junk out there. The trivia questions and background tidbits are fascinating. Written by fans, for fans. Photos are so-so. But if, like me, you can recite whole sections of dialoge from the show by heart, and you love all aspects of the show--the sci fi, the comedy, the bloopers, everything, this is the must-buy book. Buy the bigger, more expensive one, it just looks cooler. : >
--Keith
Is amazing the extreme carefull with the information!.......1998-04-28
No need many words! The book is simply fantastic! I love the shape, the size and I'm very surprise with the informations' quantity. Thanks to the citation to our homepage in the book and for the joke saying "Don't worry - it's in English:..." However I must to say that you make a mistake with our url to Lost In Space Brazil. It's not so important now. Really is that the book is so good that I buied another to give to my brother. Sucess and Best Wishes to the authors.
Average customer rating:
- Moral Politics with an Extra Twist
- Impassioned, partisan essay about freedom
- Our Most Overused, Misused, and Abused Concept
- Blueprints for Long Term Democratic Success
- It's one thing to lose freedom, it's even worse if you can't realize what of freedom you lost.
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Whose Freedom?: The Battle Over America's Most Important Idea
George Lakoff
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Thinking Points: Communicating Our American Values and Vision
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Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives
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Moral Politics : How Liberals and Conservatives Think
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Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism Into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-
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Metaphors We Live By
ASIN: 0374158282
Release Date: 2006-06-27 |
Book Description
Since September 11, 2001, the Bush administration has relentlessly invoked the word “freedom.” The United States can strike preemptively because “freedom is on the march.” Social security should be privatized in order to protect individual freedoms. In the 2005 presidential inaugural speech, the words “freedom,” “free,” and “liberty” were used forty-nine times.
“Freedom” is one of the most contested words in American political discourse, the keystone to the domestic and foreign policy battles that are racking this polarized nation. For many Democrats, it seems that President Bush’s use of the word is meaningless and contradictory—deployed opportunistically to justify American military action abroad and the curtailing of civil liberties at home. But in Whose Freedom?, George Lakoff, an adviser to the Democratic party, shows that in fact the right has effected a devastatingly coherent and ideological redefinition of freedom. The conservative revolution has remade freedom in its own image and deployed it as a central weapon on the front lines of everything from the war on terror to the battles over religion in the classroom and abortion.
In a deep and alarming analysis, Lakoff explains the mechanisms behind this hijacking of our most cherished political idea—and shows how progressives have not only failed to counter the right-wing attack on freedom but have failed to recognize its nature. Whose Freedom? argues forcefully what progressives must do to take back ground in this high-stakes war over the most central idea in American life.
Customer Reviews:
Moral Politics with an Extra Twist.......2007-02-15
If you read Moral Politics, which I thought was better, you've already read half this book. This is an essay on Freedom attached to the material already covered in Moral Politics.
I found myself saying, "Yes, while I agreed with this the first time, I was hoping for some new content."
When authors like Lakoff repeat themselves from book to book, their arguments become less credible and more rant-like.
Impassioned, partisan essay about freedom.......2007-02-09
This is an impassioned, partisan essay about the definition of the word "freedom" from the perspective of a cognitive scientist and political liberal. George Lakoff's book starts as an interesting, thought-provoking argument that uses scientific insights to deconstruct the conservative position. In the end, however, he does not explain how today's raging debates will change American political discourse. His enumeration of the differences between progressives (liberals) and conservatives becomes tedious at times, since it's clear which side he takes. He addresses the book to progressives like himself - basically preaching to the choir. Nevertheless, we recommend this intelligent discussion to people across the political spectrum and, in particular, to communication professionals who wish to examine how the medium shapes the message - even on a neurological level.
Our Most Overused, Misused, and Abused Concept.......2006-12-22
George Lakoff's work, in linguistics and cognitive science, is of utmost importance for anyone concerned about the current direction of political discourse in this country. Following up on some of his earlier books that tackled the expert and self-serving use of language and framing by neoconservatives, here Lakoff examines all of the inherent nuances and meanings in America's most important and overused tradition. Here we learn that freedom is an intensely complex concept with a core meaning that everyone can agree on, but for which the details can be abused by anyone to further their political agenda while easily deflecting criticism. Lakoff provides plenty of evidence that America's long tradition of progressive freedom has been hijacked and distorted by ideologues who can't stop using that word to justify their very same misuse of it. One of Lakoff's most winning insights is that the current administration uses the word "freedom" so thickly because they know that what they're promoting wouldn't be called freedom if one looked at longstanding American tradition.
Another strong insight, which also runs through many of Lakoff's other books, is that progressives have failed miserably in framing their interests as well as the Far Right has, and are forced to play catch-up with disingenuous neocon doublespeak like "tax relief" or "family values." Even "liberty," "democracy," and "patriotism" have been hijacked, with progressives falling flat in attempts to discuss obvious facts, when what they really need to do is frame concepts that will work with an electorate possessing a fleeting attention span. But while this book offers some stunning high-level wisdom for the freethinking American, in a quite strange way it's also built upon a pretty simplistic view of real world ideologies. Lakoff constructs not just progressivism and conservatism, but also everything from environmentalism to libertarianism, with series of reductive stereotypes. In short, a flimsy analysis somehow still leads to groundbreaking conclusions. Also, Lakoff's writing style is excessively repetitive. But in the end, the true value of this book is that it will help you decode whether power players really have your best interests at heart when they force the word "freedom" down your throat fifty times in every speech, or if they're just talking about the freedom to sustain their own economic and political power. [~doomsdayer520~]
Blueprints for Long Term Democratic Success.......2006-10-21
Years ago there was a memorable TV commercial featuring an American Indian on a hill observing as a driver tossed a bag of garbage out his car window. The camera panned up to the Indians face to show a single tear in his eye. In my youthful naivety I assumed that the Indian was the victim of a careless polluter. Now I've discovered that the Indian was a radical environmentalist working to control and restrain business and tear down Capitalism. Greed is good, might makes right and civil liberties threaten our safety. Diversity is wrong and unity is weak.
In his latest book George Lakoff tries to make the point that the word Freedom and its meaning can be as subjective as an appreciation of art. The common knowledge understanding of what constitutes real freedom can be remolded by influential figures in society. When conservatives like George W. Bush invoke the words freedom and liberty they use it in the context of Conservative freedom which is a freedom that is generally at odds with traditional progressive freedom. Freedom and liberty are powerful words that work well in speeches because they tap into positive frames regarding justice and morality. However, to Conservatives, freedom means eliminating Social Security, it means the freedom to pollute on private property and the freedom to hire employees at far less than living wages. Conservative freedom is the freedom for the powerful to exploit the weak except you will never hear a Conservative say those words. When politicians invoke "freedom" it is important to ask what kind of freedom they stand for.
Conservatives are attempting to fashion a Darwinian survival of the fittest, winner takes all society. When Bush speaks about an ownership society and about personal responsibility he's talking about each person taking on all the rewards and risks of life. At first blush this may sound like a fine idea but as the author writes our economy is structured to have a certain percentage of workers doing low paying labor. Some people do not have entrepreneurial skills. Some people need to work on roads and wait tables and work assembly lines. The liberal view is that hard work should be rewarded with a decent living salary but instead wages have stagnated for three decades, the percentage of American's living in poverty is increasing and Conservatives have continually snipped away at the safety nets protecting our fellow citizens. The winner take all mentality is producing less and less winners but when they win they win huge.
Democratic liberals owe it to themselves to listen to Mr. Lakoff because many of his points are brilliant. He encourages Democrats to stop shying away from morality. Liberal issues ARE moral issues and the sooner Democrats start to think of themselves as the moral party the better. Another stroke of genius is his suggestion that Democrats need to stop following the polls and start changing them. Of all the ideas of heard in the past few years for improving the Democratic Party that one may be the best. I would also add that Democrats should stop being afraid to stake out firm positions on things like universal healthcare, torture and gay marriage. The Republican's have been winning elections fearlessly with legislation that attacks the very foundation of America's system of government. Surely the Democratic Party can show the same fearlessness in defending the institutions of freedom and equality.
It's one thing to lose freedom, it's even worse if you can't realize what of freedom you lost........2006-10-15
As much as Lakoff's critics would love to bash this book, it's hard for them to disprove the hard cold fact that there is indeed a real difference between losing freedom and losing the definition of freedom to anti-freedom, much like what happened in George Orwell's "1984" whereby slavey is somehow "freedom" even when it ain't really so. History has shown that in a nation where people are aware that they have lost their freedoms, they'll fight their leaders to death to get it back. Yet in a dictatorship whereby a person or a group of people subvert the idea of freedom to the point that everything that used to be against freedom is somehow part of the definition of "freedom" where as everything that really stood for freedom is now defined as "anti-freedom" even when it ain't so. This is what Lakoff warns the readers about when he perfectly explains how the "conservatives" define "freedom". Just recently, our Congress and the White House have agreed to do away with Habeas Corpus as another assault against civil liberties goes unreported by most of the media that are Bush/Limbaugh puppets. We may not loose the Constitution but there's no stopping the traitors in Washington from subverting it to the point that it is there but it is not there just like they do with freedom. It's time for progressives to get their heads off the media cameras and learn from Lakoff and UNITE if they care to save America from losing its status as "Land of the Free".
Book Description
The new millennium began with the triumph of democracy and markets. But for whom is life just, how so, and why? And what is being done to correct persisting injustices? Blending macro-level global and national analysis with in-depth grassroots detail, the contributors highlight roots of injustices, how they are perceived, and efforts to alleviate them. Following up on issues raised in the groundbreaking best-seller Power and Popular Protest: Latin American Social Movements (California, 2001), these essays elucidate how conceptions of justice are socially constructed and contested and historically contingent, shaped by people's values and institutionally grounded in real-life experiences. The contributors, a stellar coterie of North and Latin American scholars, offer refreshing new insights that deepen our understanding of social justice as ideology and practice.
Customer Reviews:
a thorough examination.......2005-09-20
The description of struggle gives a vast perspective on Latin America and the battle agaisnt poverty and social divisions. With theory and historical evidence the content is relevent for any ill informed America or person of the world.
Book Description
When Caryl Chessman appeared on the cover of Time’s March 21, 1960 issue, he was the most famous prisoner in America and arguably the best-known in the world. He not only put a face on the issue of capital punishment, he made one of the most remarkable transformations by any American writer. Through access to the papers and letters of his attorneys, George T. Davis and Rosalie Asher, the unpublished manuscripts and papers held by Joseph Longstreth; reminiscences with those who knew him, like Mr. Davis, Mr. Longstreth, his agent and executor; and country music legend Merle Haggard, the first definitive portrait of the enigmatic Caryl Chessman emerges.
Customer Reviews:
When you Read This They Will Have Killed Me.......2007-01-28
Fine read. Makes you think hard abouth the Death Penalty
A refreshing take on an otherwise tragic subject.......2006-10-14
I was given Mr. Bisbort's "When You Read This They Will Have Killed Me: The Life and Redemption of Caryl Chessman, Whose Execution Shook America" as a gift, and what a gift it was. I have read many books related to the tragic nature and ultimate futility of capital punishment, but not recently. One reason, perhaps, is the dry, "cookie-cutter" publishing approach to the re-telling of these stories. One reviewer stated, "At times the spirited defense engages in hyperbole--for instance comparing Chessman with Alexander Solzhenitsyn--rather than just letting the facts of the case make the powerful argument." It's that exact sentiment that had me drifting away from the genre. Rather than re-tell a story by rote, Mr. Bisbort's lively take is sprinkled with a treasure trove of historical and pop culture references. Also, rather than having the typical all-in-one photo section, Mr. Bisbort's book is illustrated throughout with a wide range of photos, news clippings, book cover art and illustrations. All of these elements, combined with the sad tale of Mr. Chessman, make this book a true page-turner.
Excellent bio of a forgotten figure whose life and execution ignited the death penalty debate.......2006-09-02
Alan Bisbort has delved deep into heretofore unplumbed archives to present a solid, nuanced portrait of a compelling American anti-hero: a small-time career criminal who never killed anyone but wound up being executed anyway by the state of California for reasons that, in hindsight, seem driven mainly by public hysteria and political calculation. The injustice of his execution is one matter, but what really drives Bisbort's narrative is the fascinating tale of Caryl Chessman's jailhouse redemption. During a lengthy internment preceding his trip to the electric chair, Chessman transformed himself into a legal expert and a literary figure of renown. Bisbort delves into Chessman's interior psychology, and the reader feels as if he or she is in that dim San Quentin cell with Chessman as, for the first time in his misspent life, the lights come on and burn bright within his fertile brain. It's a remarkable tale that is ripe for rediscovery in our present age, given all the debate about the death penalty. And it would make a great movie, too. Sean Penn as Caryl Chessman, perhaps?
SOUL ON FIRE.......2006-08-20
Only now, some forty-five years after the barbaric execution of Caryl Chessman, Los Angeles' so-called, 'Red Light Bandit,' are we introduced to the man behind the myth. Bisbort brillantly mirrors Chessman's real face. Over a dozen years, on death row, we hear the voice of a soul on fire begin to cool and mature as it seeks light and finds true personal redemption. Alan Bisbort's sensitive historical postmortem stands in service of the truth."
Steve Hodel, author of Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder
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Issues of Church, State, & Religious Liberties: Whose Freedom, Whose Faith? (Religion and Modern Culture: Spiritual Beliefs That Influence North America Today)
Kenneth McIntosh , and
Marsha McIntosh
Manufacturer: Mason Crest Publishers
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Binding: Library Binding
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Specials (Uglies Trilogy, Book 3)
ASIN: 1590849736 |
Book Description
What do America's children learn about American history, American values, and human decency? Who decides? In this absorbing book, Jonathan Zimmerman tells the dramatic story of conflict, compromise, and more conflict over the teaching of history and morality in twentieth-century America.
In history, whose stories are told, and how? As Zimmerman reveals, multiculturalism began long ago. Starting in the 1920s, various immigrant groups--the Irish, the Germans, the Italians, even the newly arrived Eastern European Jews--urged school systems and textbook publishers to include their stories in the teaching of American history. The civil rights movement of the 1960s and '70s brought similar criticism of the white version of American history, and in the end, textbooks and curricula have offered a more inclusive account of American progress in freedom and justice.
But moral and religious education, Zimmerman argues, will remain on much thornier ground. In battles over school prayer or sex education, each side argues from such deeply held beliefs that they rarely understand one another's reasoning, let alone find a middle ground for compromise. Here there have been no resolutions to calm the teaching of history. All the same, Zimmerman argues, the strong American tradition of pluralism has softened the edges of the most rigorous moral and religious absolutism.
Customer Reviews:
Teaching Teaching?.......2006-09-07
As the saying goes, "Those who can't do teach, those who can't teach, teach teaching."
Average customer rating:
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American Fictions 1980-2000: Whose America is It Anyway?
Frederick Robert Karl
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1401016588 |
Customer Reviews:
roulette is crap.......2007-07-26
I read this book and the author doesn't take the time to verify his stats. On the system of roulette the quarters method he states you need a bankroll of 5200 min this is a lie you need at least 6200 min. He states that on the 11 12 13 spin if you win you recoup your money plus about a grand. Not so. Also on the 14th and 15th spin your risking 1250 and 1500 to supposedly win your money back --not so still at a loss. Also on the sections on thirds strategy he includes 26 in the 1st third but it should be 29. What a piss poor way of giving a strategy and of course I had to lose some money before I realized because you would think at least the math would be correct.
Unusual and interesting gambling book.......2006-06-07
This is a good book on gambling that makes sense, with good chances to turn on a profit. The first 80 pages are kind of an introduction that is to long and boring. However once you get to the methods it is quite interesting. The implementation of each method goes against the usual advice from other books that is to "hit" and "run" and quit after 2 or 3 losses in a row. The methods in the book require a huge bankroll and no emotions when losing hand after hand with the firm believe that one win only will make you a winner. I found a flaw in the book, on my opinion, with the explanation of betting on dozens on the Roulette. This seems the simplest method but unfortunately the explaining Table "Value by Event" is wrong under the columns "Gross Win" and "Net Win". I am wondering if there is a correction from the author on "Win Value by Event" table, dealing with betting on dozens method of the Roulette. Also I am wondering if perhaps other readers found the same "flaw".
Profitable Methods for Dedicated Smart Players.......2006-04-24
Whenever you play any casino game, using any playing method, there are usually three cardinal "sins" to avoid:
1. Don't consider any one event, or one experience, as the defining result.
2. Don't play undercapitalized.
3. Master the method before trying it.
Anyone who has played casinos games with any profitable methods always knows this. A little knowledge, but without understanding of it, is dangerous. People who don't "get it" often make big mistakes, and then blame their losses on the method, instead on their own inexperience, and often misunderstanding. This is kind of like the carpenter blaming the hammer when he hits his thumb with it. In fact, the author of this book, and the many others he has written, says so plainly, and clearly, in all his books. The example of the carpenter is also used by him to make precisely this point.
Sadly, some people will always have a problem with the "hammer", instead of the person using it. This is the case with the nice young man who has posted a review of the Craps methods here, for this book, and for the other books dealing with these methods. He seems like a very fine young man, who perhaps thought these methods were something like a "get rich quick" scheme. They are not. They are hard to master, especially the hardways methods used by the author in the section on Craps in this book. It takes many years to gain a successful mastery of some of these advanced concepts.
The author makes this point many times, and plainly. He clearly states this, in no uncertain language. Playing any of these methods once, and with insufficient capital, and then blaming the method for any failure is simply wrong. It shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the very principles that the author so clearly states, and warms against. This book, and the other books by this author that mention any such playing methods -- however derived and no matter from which source -- require the player to understand at the very least the three fundamentals of successful method-gaming, those that are listed here, and understood by smart gamblers everywhere.
The books are clear on all these subjects, and there are ample warnings by the author, who states repeatedly that these methods are advanced means of playing, and that they therefore require a great deal of expertise and understanding before they can be used successfully. The author makes it abundantly plain that this is essential to the success of these methods, and indeed any methods, even those from other authors or sources. Success in method-gambling is predicated on such expertise. If you don't have the dedication to learn it well, and practice it even more, before you try it, the fault lies with you, and not the book.
The good news is that the author offers many other methods, those that are easier to master, and can be played even by casual players. But no matter how well they are described, the ultimate success always lies with the player himself or herself. The makers of the hammer can't possibly know how good the people using it will be. Sore thumbs the world over testify to the folly of blaming the instrument for the failure of the person using it. So, don't blame the book. Use this as a learning experience, and become better for it.
Took "Big Secret" to casino for craps................2006-04-21
And promptly burned through my 2 thousand bucks while the pit bosses stood around and smiled. I was not too happy. I kept thinking, hey this method never fails, and watching my negative balance keep growing. Seems like I kept seeing hardways throws when the hardways werent working on the comeouts, and people kept sevening out over and over and over again. I got up to 30 something dollar bets and I had to keep pressing to get my money back. It was either take a 1,300 punch to the gut or keep going with the whole 2,000 to try to get my money back. Well, the whole 2,000 is somewhere in the casino vault and Im just another sucker who donated cash to vegas and bought this book.
The Brave World of New Thinking and Great Wins.......2004-10-20
The author of this wonderful new book has done what none have before. As he so succinctly puts it in the Postscript: " ....I have here offered something new. I have gone out on a limb, so to speak ... " (page 263). Both are pretty gutsy positions by this Author of so many great books on casino games and casino gaming.
Something new. Well, that is certainly what he has done. The author has here provided a series of new methods for several casinos games. His position on these new methods is pretty clear. As he writes in the Preface: "What I am offering you in this book are not "systems". They are "methods", and there is a difference. In the past few decades, the word "system" has come to mean something "bogus", or something which "assures a win if done that way." Neither description is what applies here, to what I am offering. What I have devised are "methods", and this simply means that these are vested in a thorough understanding and application of not only the games, the game rules, the mathematics and statistics, but also the realities of the actual casino games as they are really played, as opposed to merely the theory behind them." (Page XVII).
His position throughout this book -- as well as all of his other books -- has always been that the mathematics of the games are an excellent guideline, and are an important part of your playing expertise. But he has also stated that in the Casinos of the 21st Century, players who wish to become profitably successful should, and must, use a new variety of means to accomplish those goals. The author also makes it clear that this won't be easy. As he again writes in the Preface:
"I don't know you, and I can't possibly know how skillful you are, or can become, what your levels of knowledge may be, how experienced you are in the casino games and casino lifestyle, how emotionally stable you are, how financial stable you are, and a whole slew of other existential and personality traits I can't possibly know, or anticipate, but all of which will have a direct impact on your ability to make money with these methods. To be successful using these methods will require you to reach a level of expertise, knowledge, ability, skills, physical strength, mental agility, financial stability, emotional levity, good acting, and a great amount of personality, and all of it pleasant, gregarious, and friendly at all times when "on the job." "
Out on a limb. Well, that's true. The author himself admits that, as I have already stated earlier in this review. Nothing that is so new is ever offered without risk. It is always open to a slew of criticisms, primarily from people so mired in the "old was of thinking" that they simply cannot understand the paradigm and perspective shifts that allow such new methods to function as designed. Some become -- shall we say -- "not nice" about their limitations and tend to try and destroy the good works done by such far-thinking innovators as the author of this book. Once such person appears to be M. McGinnis, who posted that review just below.
I cannot disagree more, Mr/Ms M. McGinnis. You are obviously one of those persons who, as the author writes, is not able to be " .... successful using these methods ..." because that " ..... will require you to reach a level of expertise, knowledge, ability, skills, physical strength, mental agility, financial stability, emotional levity, good acting, and a great amount of personality, and all of it pleasant, gregarious, and friendly at all times... ". While I respect your right to be so negative, perhaps you could at least try to understand the enormity of the effort that the author undertook to even publish these methods, knowing full-well as he did that persons such as you will slam his work so hard.
"Can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself. " This is from the song "Garden Party" by Ricky Nelson. It sums up both the great work by this author, as well as the unfortunate dilemma he faces when trying to showcase something new. We all should respect him for the efforts, regardless of whether we are able to understand what we was trying to tell us. If we fail to understand it, then the fault is in us -- not in him, or his book. His visionary writing is making those tired, old, strategies for casino games shine in a new light, and gives new hope to those players who are able to "get it."
This is a great book, full of the author's own life, struggle, and insight. Even if you don't want to play in the way that he recommends, do yourself a big favor and read this book. It will at the very least open your eyes to the possibility of looking at the same old things in a new way.
Book Description
In-depth guidance to help professional developers achieve mastery of advanced ASP.NET capabilities. Get the expert insights and pragmatic code examples you need to master the advanced features and capabilities for developing sophisticated Web applications with ASP.NET 2.0.
Customer Reviews:
Not the best for custom controls.......2007-06-19
I bought this book specifically for the 100+ pages on creating custom web controls. That is the only portion of the book that I have used.
The book does not come with a CD for the source code examples, and I have been unable to find them online.
That means I have to type in the examples. I normally don't mind, as it helps me learn. But his sample control, SimpleGaugeBar, has code scattered across two chapters (#13 and 14), all in bits and pieces. The code is intermingled with alternate code examples that (I think) he isn't using in the class, plus code from other classes apparently unrelated to SimpleGaugeBar.
The sample control is also buggy. Of course, it's my guess as to the code that is supposed to be contained in the control, because there is no single definitive listing of the code in the book. I suspect the sample code is simply buggy because the event sequencing the control responds to does not match the way the control was coded.
He separated the creation of the internal list of control objects and the styling code into two routines. That's probably a good idea. But, and this is a killer, if you programmatically change the properties of the control, the internal list of control objects is created *before* the new property value is set, and applies styling after the property is set. This will cause the control to fail, because the styling code will refer to objects that were not created based upon the prior property settings.
The styling code also refers to objects in the internal list of controls by array index number instead of by their id. That's bad form and very prone to error.
I'm not a happy customer.
That said, there is a lot of material on custom controls, and I learned a lot going through it. There are not a lot of resources out there that cover this topic in any depth, and this is one of the few. So, muddled, buggy and disorganized as it is on this topic, I would recommend it (until I found something better).
Broad and deep coverage.......2006-07-10
The two books of this series (Core Reference & Advanced Topics) offer broad and deep coverage of ASP.NET.
All the important topics of ASP.NET web sites are covered in a mostly tutorial with a little reference fashion. The books are well researched. The coverage of what really happens during compilation, request processing, and expression evaluation is excellent. The books avoid being an MSDN rehash. By carefully pointing out which ASP.NET versions support which features, the books will be useful for working with any ASP.NET version. No matter what you're working on you'll find something useful in these books. Note that web services are not covered.
The terms "core reference" and "advanced topics" (which MS press is using on all the non beginner books) make no sense at all with these books. If you're serious, you need both books. Think of them as volumes 1 and 2 of a single book.
I do have some issues with these books. The biggest mistake was recommending the use of GDI+ (through the System.Drawing namespace). This is not supported. The System.Drawing namespace page in MSDN states "Classes within the System.Drawing namespace are not supported for use within a Windows or ASP.NET service. Attempting to use these classes from within one of these application types may produce unexpected problems, such as diminished service performance and run-time exceptions."
I didn't enjoy Dino's writing style. It's verbose (at times), he uses odd words to describe things, and was boring even by tech book standards.
The chapter on configuration was difficult. It would have better to cover configuration throughout the book, in the context of what was being configured, instead of a single all configuration and only configuration chapter.
The section of asynchronous pages was confusing and didn't really explain why asynchronous pages improve scalability.
Despite my reservations, there is much that's good about these books. Anybody who's serious about ASP.NET should consider getting both of them.
Written by somebody who knows what he is talking about.......2006-06-25
Basics of .net framework is presented in a clear and lucid style. This book is a joy to read and . by the way there is not much difference in content wise between applied .Net framework programming and this book. My only worry is the speed at which microsoft is pushing .net versions as if there is no tommorrow! [Subsequently the catch up I have to do on reading all this!]
FINALLY a book geared at the experienced developer..........2006-06-02
If you need to do more than just write sample code for tutorials, then this is the book for you. It provides valuable coverage of the ASP.NET landscape. I learned things about web services I never knew I could do with .NET.
Well worth the money if you need to build PRODUCTION READY web services that need to solve real life problems.
A must have.......2006-06-01
This is one of the must have book for a professional web programmer.
Dino write clear how ASP.NET works specifing the deep details.
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