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Praised for her historical fiction by critics and devoted fans alike, author Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles took the romance world by storm some 30 years ago, firmly fixing Dunnett's reputation as a master of the historical romance. The Game of Kings, the first story in The Lymond Chronicles, sets the stage for what will be a sweeping saga filled with passion, courage, and the endless fight for freedom. The setting is 1547, in Edinborough, Scotland. Francis Crawford of Lymond returns to the country despite the charge of treason hanging over his head. Set on redeeming his reputation, He leads a company of outlaws against England as he fights for the country he loves so dearly. Dangerous, quick-witted, and utterly irresistible, Lymond is pure pleasure to watch as he traverses 16th-century Scotland in search of freedom. The Game of Kings is a must-have for the historical romance connoisseur.
Book Description
For the first time Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles are available in the United States in quality paperback editions.
The first book in the legendary Lymond Chronicles,
Game of Kings takes place in 1547. Scotland has been humiliated by an English invasion and is threatened by machinations elsewhere beyond its borders, but it is still free. Paradoxically, her freedom may depend on a man who stands accused of treason: Francis Crawford of Lymond.
Customer Reviews:
Lymond Series No 1: Brilliant but not for every taste.......2007-09-06
This is the first book in a series which you will either love or hate. It is also one of those multi-book series which must if at all possible be read in the right order, which is
1) The Game of Kings
2) Queen's Play
3) The Disorderly Knights
4) Pawn in Frankincense
5) The Ringed Castle
6) Checkmate
There are two reasons why this series, and the author's similar "Niccolo" series, should be read in chronological order. The first is that the plots are incredibly complicated and if you read them out of sequence you have no chance of understanding what is going on. The second is that many of the characters meet their deaths in ways which are particularly nasty both for themselves and for the characters who survive them. I know from experience having made the mistake of reading one of the later books first, that advance knowledge of when someone is going to die, and of the horrible shock Lymond will experience when he finds out about it, can spoil the pleasure that the reader might otherwise have had when meeting that character for the first time.
Like the books the central character, Francis Crawford of Lymond, is brilliant, violent, and extremely complicated. Unlike the books he is very flawed. Lymond is a mercenary with particular interests in Scotland and France, and gets involved in nefarious deeds all over the world as 16th century Europeans knew it. Dunnett brings the splendour, cultural ferment, and violent cruelty of the Renaissance world splendidly to life.
If you are at all squeamish, or do not like having to make your brain work overtime to follow a book, leave this series alone. This story is neither "chewing gum for the brain" nor a comfortable read. And even if you prefer flawed heroes to knights in shining armour, Lymond may infuriate you from time to time. But if you can put up with these features, these books will richly reward the effort you make in reading them.
There is no middle ground: you will either hate the Lymond series or recognise these books as one of the greatest works of historical fiction ever written. Or very possibly both !
The Queen of the Genre.......2007-08-16
You have to want Dorothy Dunnett. Really want her. Because she doesn't make it easy. She throws quotes at you in Greek and Latin and French and German and Italian and Spanish and doesn't supply you with translation. Which makes the first 100 pages of this book a bear.
Bear with it, though, because once you're in, you're in for six books and the most wild, romantic, painful, exciting ride of your literary life. I have never felt an emotional punch the like of hers.
This book is the introduction to Francis Crawford of Lymond - scoundrel, rogue, and wit. He typifies everything that is bubbling in the Renaissance - a restless spirit, trying to find a new way through the world. Outlawed from the word go, we're never sure what side he's on, which is as it should be. He is his own man. A man any of us would loathe, and yet follow into Hell.
There's a similar character in The Master of Verona, based on both historical fact and Lymond - Cangrande della Scala. Once you've finished the Lymond Chronicles, check that out, too.
For those struggling with the foreign language quotes.......2007-08-10
in this outstanding series, there's help available. Check out the two volumes of the Dorothy Dunnett Companion, which has translations and sources of all the quotes and music references, bios of historic characters involved and lots more, for both the Lymond and Nicolo series.
But these are great books even without, though I confess to knowing enough of Latin, a couple of Romance languages and German to have gotten by with all of them back when they were first published. But don't let that stop you enjoying these outstanding history based novels. The Game of Kings is an all time favorite of mine. The Lymond Series especially has borne up well under repeated readings over 4 decades.
And don't miss the standalone novel about Macbeth, King Hereafter, reputed to have been Dunnett's own choice.
The finest work of historical fiction ever.......2007-06-01
I first read this book in the late 90s, and ravenously consumed the rest of Dunnett's work.
She masterfully reveals her characters and her plot over time in words and actions which, assuming you catch nuance, is absolutely enthralling. As a reader, things that you thought you understood about her world are completely undone and recast. Heroes are villains, criminals heroic. Love and loyalty are wrapped in ambivalence and disregard. Apparent happenstance is revealed to be meticulously plotted and controlled by her genius protagonist. It is a challenging read, and not for the lazy minded, but I have never read anything more rewarding.
The Thinking Woman's Historical Novels.......2007-05-15
I am on my tenth read of Dorothy Dunnett's novels collectively known as The Lymond Chronicles. They have everthing historical novels should have, but tenfold. The Game of Kings is the first, and can be read in isolation quite satisfyingly (Dunnett has a special talent for really satisfying endings). But why stop there. I encourage you to read the entire series, over and over again. They are never boring and for the enquiring mind there is always something new to learn with each reading. And Francis Crawford of Lymond is the hero to end all heroes. What more could you ask for??
Customer Reviews:
...okay this was on my wish list for waaaay too long..........2003-02-23
I finally bought it, and I'm more than glad I did. This book is not at all what I thought it would be about --- it is so much more. Initially, I thought it would be another book about the life of St. Francis which, of late, I've been quite taken with. This book, though, has more to do with how we can make our faith real --- how we can really respond --- in light of a needy world around us. This is just what the doctor ordered. I say this reluctantly, but reading a chapter is almost better than going to church. I close this book at night with the understanding that I've got to get out there and DO something; I feel like I CAN make some small difference in this world, and that means so much to me. I'm at that point where I WANT to change, WANT to make sacrifices, WANT to be conformed to what God wants me to be. I want desperately not to be an 'average' Christian who longs for the same dusty, lifeless, rusting things the world does. This book reminds me that Francis, in his life, was not afraid to give up personal comfort and familiarity. When he finally overcame the greatest personal obstacle for him --- learning to love the leper -- he was freed from within, freed from that nasty monster that can entangle so many of us. Reflecting on his unique experience, I am compelled to look at my own prejudices, those things about people that keep me from loving them completely. I can't remember the last time a church sermon so compelled me. I highly recommend this book, and encourage you to grow in ways far outside the box.
This is a great book for a reflection group........1998-09-03
St. Francis and the Foolishness of God is not just about St. Francis, but about themes that touch all of our lives. There are reflection questions at the end of each section and an invitation to share stories. I recommend this book for personal and group reflection.
Book Description
One of the finest achievements of Western culture is its brilliant heritage of classical music.
A Gift of Music looks at the lives of the greatest composers who have given us this heritage, and especially at how their music was shaped by their beliefs.
The result is a remarkable and inspiring book, showing the importance of Christian faith for many composers, and the effect of this upon their music. But it also shows how the lack of faith has brought profound change in the meaning and form of contemporary music.
Thus
A Gift of Music seeks to open up a whole new world of music--to encourage listening to the finest compositions with new understanding and pleasure, and to stretch our ears and imaginations. It is a book which will be greatly appreciated by those who already love classical music, and by others who want to explore this delightful world for the first time.
"I found
The Gift of Music hard to lay down until I had read it from cover to cover. I feel this book is a must." --Jerome Hines, Metropolitan Opera Company
"Reading about these great composers has been most inspiring to me. This is a book to read and enjoy." --George Beverly Shea, renowned soloist
"There will be no one who will not find stimulating insights [in
The Gift of Music]... I look for this book to open the doors to a new affirmation of life in the area of music." --Francis A. Schaeffer, founder, L'Abri Fellowship
"The most valuable contribution of
The Gift of Music is the way the authors integrate the lives, philosophies, and music of these great composers. It is their discussion of the cross-pollination of thought and the interaction of one composer and artist with another. This approach makes the men come alive and places the reader in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as observers, not historians.... Whether readers are new to classical music or graduates of a classical music program, they will find the book a good resource and an excellent overview of the development of musical thought." --
Contemporary Christian
"[The authors'] joyous enthusiasm... should serve to ignite the curiosity of many readers and lure them on to sample more liberally the magnificent sound structures of Bach and Handel, Haydn and Mozart--not to mention both their forerunners and their heirs." --
Christianity Today
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful book to explore the great composers.......2006-02-13
This is a superbly written book that contains 36 intriguing biographies and profiles of some of the great composers: from Baroque masters like Vivaldi and Bach ... through the pioneers of Classicism like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven ... to the Romantic-era greats like Debussy and Liszt ... up to modern composers like Prokofiev and Bartok. The essays are crisp and flow like a good novel without getting bogged down in musicology terms (so good for young students and non-musical readers). Also their occassional comparisons through philosophy, art and Christian perspective makes for a deeper experience versus a overly "dry," academic treatment of mere dates and milestones. I have come to really appreciate this book's depth and have to admit this humble paperback is probably my favorite reference for studying a new composer (Schonberg's legendary "Lives of the Great Composers" being the other).
It would help to first say what this book is NOT: (1) A complete survey of the history of classical music, (2) A book on music theory or analysis of major works, (3) a presentation of ALL musical styles like Jazz, Pop, country etc. (4) A book ONLY about composers who were of Christian faith. Rather, the focus is on a sampling of the most famous composers of "classical music." Their lives and music are presented in factual, historical and non-judgmental way with the clear emphasis being on the gift of music they left the world. There are some references as to how their Christian faith influenced their music - which some will appreciate and others not. However, if your primary interest is the spiritual aspect of these men, then Patrick Kavanaugh's book, "The Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers," would be a better choice. But, where Kavanaugh offers more specific insights of the composers' spiritual lives (often quoted from letters written), authors Smith and Carlson in this book give a broader, more general overview of these composer's lives and most significant music that changed the world. Through their biographies and insights, Smith and Carlson show "people of faith" how purely instrumental music like classical music can be truly "Christian" and "spiritual" without any overt reference to diety (like in a church hymn). In doing so they show how classical music is a language not unlike how nature or the heavens speaks to us in their magnificance and unfathomable glory.
In common for both authors are musical academic backgrounds and working with the L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland - a Christian center promoting the study and appreciation of music, philosophy and the arts. In the preface, the authors state their goal of this book: "There are many things in the Christian world which cause us to be sad. One of these is that for many classical music is a complete vacuum. This robs individual Christians and their children of one of the very rich areas of joy in this world. Most of all the purpose of this book is to encourage listening to the finest music with understanding and pleasure, and to stretch one's ears and imagination. The more we acquaint ourselves with that which is truly great and beautiful, the more we will dislike and turn away from that which is shallow and ugly."
If you have never listened to much classical music or casually studied its jewels or great composers, then this book is an ideal guide to grow in one's "understanding and pleasure" of such music. I started such a journey into the wonders of classical music over two years ago, and it has truly been one of the most personally rewarding things I have done - and one that will stay with me for decades (as classical music doesn't quite ever go out of style). So, I think the authors are right when they conclude the pursuit of the arts and the finest, most enduring music are part of a healthy, whole and - dare we say - enriching spiritual life. Even getting a couple of low-cost CD's of Bach and Mozart and just reading the chapter on these composers to start will go a long way ... and possibly begin a lifetime exploration and enjoyment of the gift these great composers left the world.
I can't put it down!.......2002-06-07
I greatly appreciate this book--it's a wonderful introduction to famous composers, plus a valuable resource for Christians who want to start or add to their collection of GOOD Christian music. Be a counter-cultural Christian--toss out the CCM and fire up Schutz, Bach, Handel, and the rest! Your mind and spirit (not to mention your neighbors) will thank you for it.
Excellent Source for Homeschool Music Education.......2000-08-28
This book is complete with each classical music composer, history of the life and works of music. It is written to aide people in historical facts of the composer, facts that are not normally shared in education. For example, many of the composers had a deep Christian influence in their music, and wrote for the Glory of God and stated so on origional music sheets. The book can be used for a complete classical music history education from early ages all the way up to senior high students. This is the only book needed for music education. It works extremely well in tying in facts in all areas of history. It is very well put together and informative.
Book Description
Queen Elizabeth I and England's First Spymaster
Sir Francis Walsingham's official title was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, but in fact this pious, tight-lipped Puritan was England's first spymaster. A ruthless, fiercely loyal civil servant, Walsingham worked brilliantly behind the scenes to foil Elizabeth's rival Mary Queen of Scots and outwit Catholic Spain and France, which had arrayed their forces behind her. Though he cut an incongruous figure in Elizabeth's worldly court, Walsingham managed to win the trust of key players like William Cecil and the Earl of Leicester before launching his own secret campaign against the queen's enemies. Covert operations were Walsingham's genius; he pioneered techniques for exploiting double agents, spreading disinformation, and deciphering codes with the latest code-breaking science that remain staples of international espionage.
Customer Reviews:
Let us look elsewhere for guidance........2007-10-04
Mr. Budiansky proposes that Elizabeth's spymaster Francis Walsingham offers us an example for conducting modern espionage. Yet the fact is, Elizabethan England was for all practical purposes a police state. Catholicism was deemed treasonous, and Walsingham's spies combed the countryside for practitioners of the "old religion," i.e., the faith that had been the taproot of English civilization for a thousand years. Catholics were barred from serving in Parliament, attending university, worshipping at Mass, and generally living the life their immediate forebears took for granted. And yet Budiansky holds up this tragedy as a model. Let us look elsewhere for guidance.
Disappointing Flop.......2007-06-07
After such a promising title, I was disappointed to make it more than half-way through this book and still have little mention of the title character and no information that seems pertinent to the supposed theme of the book. It is possible that toward the end Budiansky decided to actually make a point with his narrative, but between his abysmal sentence structure and his *sesquipedalian* use of gratuitously long words that broke up the even flow of reading, I personally was unmotivated to find out.
Entertaining History of Walsingham.......2007-01-15
Stephen Budiansky's "Her Majesty's Spymaster" is a very readable popular history of Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth I's personal secretary and informal chief of intelligence. Written in a breathless novelistic style, Budiansky captures the atmospherics and endless intigues of the Tudor period in a way designed to capture the interest of the average person without background in the era. He succeeds in making the religious struggles and dynastic wars of this distant period accessible to the modern reader.
Walsingham was unusual in his time in that he served in a high position in government without having come from the nobility. His rise from what would now be termed a middle class upbringing was based on education, talent, and good service. Walsingham turned out to be a superbly capable spymaster who could get and keep secrets and protect the fortunes of his Queen and country. Walsingham was especially effective in managing the English rivalry with France, including the dangerous problem of the status of Mary Queen of Scots, and the running conflict with Spain.
Budiansky is less than effective in making the case that Walsingham gave birth to modern espionage. Walsingham learned his craft from his mentor and predecessor, Lord Burghley, and his success was due less to inventing new methods of espionage than to making fewer mistakes than his contemporaries in executing already widely-known tactics and techniques.
This book is recommended to the casual reader looking for an introduction to the intrigues of the Elizabeath period. The close student of the history of the period will find no information that has not been covered in more detail elsewhere.
Budiansky does not accomplish his goal.......2006-12-04
The author tries to bring both the biography of Walsingham and a discussion of the birth of espionage together in the same book and succeeds at neither. It is a fine read if you would like a general overview of the time, but, after reading the title and reviews, I was hoping for a detailed biography of Walsingham or much detail on how he created the group of people who became his information gatherers. Instead, it is a general overview of Walsingham's life with references to the work that he did. There are some interesting facts that the author brings forward that the reader might not find elsewhere , but the majority of the reading is rehashed from biographies of Elizabeth I. If you want details and a better understanding of Walsingham the man, and his life work and actions, you will need to look elsewhere.
Entertaining but incomplete.......2006-11-25
I was hoping that this book serves as a biography for Sir Francis Walsingham but instead, it proves to be a career dossier on Walsingham. The book read like a historical novel of Walsingham's activities as Elizabeth I's ultimate spymaster. That review written by Lisa Jardine hit many marks right on the nail despite of her rather snobbish approach. The author centered much of the book around the Walsingham's most famous case against Mary, Queen of Scots. However, since the information proves to be pretty basic, you will not find any new insightful information here.
It seem regretful that the author missed his opportunity to write a good biography on Walsingham instead of writting a slightly generic book on his role as a spymaster. His relationship with Burgley, Dudley and with his own family proves to be very lightweight. There are hints of interest scattered all over this book and I guess for that reason, it may be worth your time to read it.
Overall, the actual rating may be closer to 2.80 stars if I had a choice.
Book Description
Since its first publication in two volumes between 1918-1923, The Decline of the West has ranked as one of the most widely read and most talked about books of our time. In all its various editions, it has sold nearly 100,000 copies. A twentieth-century Cassandra, Oswald Spengler thoroughly probed the origin and "fate" of our civilization, and the result can be (and has been) read as a prophesy of the Nazi regime. His challenging views have led to harsh criticism over the years, but the knowledge and eloquence that went into his sweeping study of Western culture have kept The Decline of the West alive. As the face of Germany and Europe as a whole continues to change each day, The Decline of the West cannot be ignored. The abridgment, prepared by the German scholar Helmut Werner, with the blessing of the Spengler estate, consists of selections from the original (translated into English by Charles Francis Atkinson) linked by explanatory passages which have been put into English by Arthur Helps. H. Stuart Hughes has written a new introduction for this edition. In this engrossing and highly controversial philosophy of history, Spengler describes how we have entered into a centuries-long "world-historical" phase comparable to late antiquity. Guided by the philosophies of Goethe and Nietzsche, he rejects linear progression, and instead presents a world view based on the cyclical rise and decline of civilizations. He argues that a culture blossoms from the soil of a definable landscape and dies when it has exhausted all of its possibilities. Despite Spengler's reputation today as an extreme pessimist, The Decline of the West remains essential reading for anyone interested in the history of civilization.
Customer Reviews:
incisive, thought provoking.......2007-10-17
Spengler, like Tocqueville, is a rare ocurrence in the history of mankind. They were able to rise above the mundane and look at the human condition with sharp and prescient eyes. Today as we wallow in our success, having practically subdued the rest of the animal world and sent it towards extinction, globalized business as well as disease and vices, rendered earth as a growing concrete jungle, we cannot escape the decline of our civilization. Mind you, some folks equate technology with civilization, but look around, we have space ships flying towards Mars and we cannot produce decent music, our films are little more than displays of pirotechnics and gore, our literature has been reduced to fast-paced clips to be devoured in a quick subway ride, our architechture only aspires to reach ever more dizzying heights. Where are our Beethoven's, Fellini's, Taj-Mahals, our Angkor Wats? Our technical supremacy has only brought more alienation and spiritual emptiness, reflected in ever more abstract and incomprehensible art. How long can we sustain technical advance with cultural decay? Read Spengler and you will understand why even the most upright citizens of the Roman Empire could not reverse its inexorable decline...........
BEWARE - THIS IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS TO BE.......2007-08-10
This paperback edition is NOT "The Decline of the West" by Ostwald Spengler. It is an abridgement of that work perpetrated by one Arthur Helps apparently from a German abrdigement by Helmut Werner and an English translation (of the original or the abridgement?) by Charles Francis Atkinson. So if you buy this, you're not buying Spengler (leave aside the issue of how much of Spengler you're getting when you have to read it in translation - who would want to give up all the literature in the world written in languages he doesn't read?). What you're buying is sort-of Spengler.
Now, in fairness, at 400+ pages this isn't exactly the Classic Comic Book retellng of Spengler's long and complex work. But it isn't that work either. And it is very hard to tell this from the Amazon announcement or description of the book. And that's simply wrong. It's a deception. I don't think it's one that was done to trick people. It's more likely the product of sloppiness or inattention.
Some people may believe that a shortened Spengler is just fine for their purposes. I have no disagreement with them. My concern is that those who, like me, would never have even considered buying an abridgement of a book like this can be misled into doing so by an inaccurate description of what the book is.
So now I have a book to return instead of to read. I hope to save someone else that inconvenience.
RACE.......2007-07-19
Several reviews comment on the use of Race as an issue in DOTW. One suggests that Race is not a principal issue because it is seldom mentioned.
These miss the point. In thinking of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Racial nature of European Civilization is just taken as a given, hardly needing reinforcement more than rules of math. Blacks, etc were seen as presences within the culture, not part of the culture. It may seem odd to one growing up in 2000 + but that is how it was.
A brilliant and prophetic work .......2007-05-21
A brilliant and prophetic work ... The West, western culture, and peoples, will by all accounts, be finished off, in the next 50 to 100 years.
For example -- An afro chinese Italy is probably the future.
The thing about spengler that you have to ask is "was he wrong ?" ... does western civilization carry with it the seeds of its own destruction ?
The west no longer contains in any great quantity the animating ideas which other cultures such as islam or even the japanese still contain... hence we continue to take comfort in our former achievements even as we are dissolving and other peoples, civilizations, and ideas rise to the top. Not necessarily better peoples, civilizations, or ideas - but stronger more dominant ones. The western liberal humanist, is many things, but he does not dominate. Other, less nuanced ideologies have the advantage of a "home base", simplicity, and a direct knowledge of what it wants. Our poor liberal humanist is a millipede with a thousand easilly injured delicate antennae and no concrete goals.-- in short, he is an easy prey.
So Spengler may be correct when he claims that the west is in a winter phase of its history. Spengler definately "writes from upstairs" without an ax to grind, and has a worldview that spans centuries ... his views can't possibly be understood by contemporary sects or propagandists whose historical/philosophical views barely go back 40 years or depart much from today's newspaper headlines and the "causes of the day".
Fascinating and thought-provoking.......2006-03-30
The Decline of the West is the magnum opus of Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), a German historian and philosopher. In it, Spengler rejects the idea that the future of the West (or indeed of any culture) is an open-ended advance from the primitive past to an ever more glorious and expansive future. Instead, cultures (including the West) experience an almost organic history of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
According to Spengler, the West moved out of its Summer period with the dawn of the nineteenth century, and into a Civilization phase. This phase is dominated by mega-cities, and money and atheism come into ascendance. And what lies in the future? Caesarism, and a long period of stagnation in the arts and sciences.
Now, the above summary is inevitably bound to be overly simplistic, even to the point of being misleading. The Decline of the West was originally published as two books, and it is a deep and erudite philosophical look at the history of the world, so any small summary is bound to be insufficient to do it justice.
Having heard this work referenced so many times, I decided to read it for myself. In fact, though it does present a deterministic view of history, it does not propose a West that is about to collapse and be swept into the dustbin of history (as some people want it to). In fact, this is a cogent, penetrating look at history, which certainly seems to accurately predict how the West has developed from the first book's initial publication in 1918.
Now, I must admit that like many scholarly books of the era, this one has a dense, thickly argued text that makes for some very heavy reading indeed. But, if you are willing to devote time to the reading of this book, and more time to digest what it has to say, you will be rewarded with one of the fascinating and thought-provoking look at the modern West. Are we at the End of History, or the end of the West? Read this book and find out.
Average customer rating:
- 2nd Edition is outstanding as a tutorial and as a reference
- Good book for starters
- Great book, be sure to buy the 2nd Edition
- Make Sure You Get the Second Edition!
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Vb Script Programmer's Reference
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Manufacturer: WROX PRESS
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ASIN: 1861002718 |
Book Description
VBScript is a Microsoft scripting language. It is useful both on client-side and server-side web programming, making it the primary language for programming ASP, and it can be used to program the new Microsoft Windows Script Host. The language itself has been gradually increasing in power and flexibility, and the newest release, VBScript 5.0 - which comes with IE5.0 and can be downloaded for IE3 and 4, or other hosts - represents a huge increase in functionality and usefulness.
Download Description
What is this book about?
The VBScript standard has changed over time, and several new things have been introduced since this book first published in 1999. The current standard for VBScript is 5.6. The script debugger, script control, and script encoder have all changed and the Windows Script Component Wizard, regular expressions, and remote scripting have been introduced. Windows Script Host technology has also matured over time and gained in both effectiveness and popularity.
VBScript Programmer's Reference, 2nd Edition begins with discussion of the general syntax, functions, keywords, style, error handling, and similar language-specific topics and then moves into an expanded reference section covering the object models in detail. The book combines a comprehensive overview of the VBScript technology and associated technologies with practical examples at every stage from beginner to advanced user.
Specific topics include the following:
- Variables and Data Types
- Procedures
- Error Handling and Debugging
- Windows Script Components
- Script Encoding
- Remote Scripting
- Data Objects
- Coding Conventions
Customer Reviews:
2nd Edition is outstanding as a tutorial and as a reference.......2006-06-10
I owned the first edition of this book, and although somewhat confusing, I was able to learn VBScript from it with some time and patience. Thus, I just expected the second edition to be an update of the first. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the second edition had been greatly improved. There are clearer and more frequent examples, the text is an easier read, and there are frequent and illuminating illustrations.
Chapter 1 covers the basics of VBScript and is also a crash course in programming basics, since the authors realize that nonprogrammers such as network administrators and web designers might need to work with VBScript. Chapter 2 talks specifically about what VBScript can and cannot do, and points out that VBScript is part of a bigger programming world - that of Visual Basic. It points out what can be done with VBScript in the world of both client-side and server-side web scripting. The next seven chapters are a detailed tutorial on all aspects of the VBScript language - data types, variables and procedures, flow control, error handling, objects, classes, and regular expressions.
The application section of the book begins in Chapter 10 with client-side web scripting by showing how Internet Explorer and VBScript can be combined on the client-side to create interesting HTML pages for website visitors. The book goes as far as introducing scriptlets, behaviors, and HTML components. However, since these subjects are broad and deep the book focuses on small examples and covers only the major techniques. Internet Explorer does not allow a script to interact with the local computer unless the user explicitly sets these permissions, and by doing so, enables enormous security risks. Thus, Windows Script Host is discussed next with illustrations as to how it gives VBScript more power without the security risks. The authors show how Windows Script Host is used to provide Windows platforms with a powerful scripting platform that can be accessed from the Windows GUI and the command prompt. Next, the book explains Windows Script Components, which are XML-based files that contain script code. Within these files you can use any of several scripting languages, including VBScript. The script components are interpreted at runtime, so that they appear as compiled COM components to the calling application.
The next major topic covered is remote scripting, which makes Web applications more closely resemble client/server applications developed in high level languages such as C++. Thus, remote scripting enables a client page to execute a method on an ASP page without navigating away from the current page. Server-side web scripting is the final major topic covered, showing how your applications can become very powerful and reusable modules within the enterprise. To this end, the chapter first discusses the HTTP protocol, followed by a tutorial on Active Server Pages.
In summary, I highly recommend this book both as a reference and a tutorial for the VBScript language as well as a practical guide on its application.
Good book for starters.......2005-08-14
I bought this book, as I wanted to write some simple VBScripts to help automating some laborious manual process for my job. This book is so easy to browse through and as I already have some knowledge of VB Programming and so I can easily browse through the chapters. Even for a beginner this is a good book to start with. I could start writing the scripts I wanted for my job and I like this book so far.
Great book, be sure to buy the 2nd Edition.......2005-02-04
This is an outstanding book. At first I was confused by some of the older reviews, until I realized that Amazon is still selling the old 1st edition, and many folks are buying that one instead of the newer, much better Second Edition.
Be sure you're buying the Second Edition! That book's ISBN is 0764559931. It's the one with the picture of three authors on the cover.
Make Sure You Get the Second Edition!.......2004-12-23
The 2nd Edition of the VBScript Programmer's Reference is a total rewrite of the first edition. Unfortunately, a lot of people are confused because both the first and second editions are for sale, and it can be hard to tell which one you are buying. Do not buy the old first edition! The new second edition is a much better book. I am a co-author of both editions, so I can say that with confidence.
Please check the page you are on and make sure you are purchasing the Second Edition. You can identify the Second Edition because the cover has three faces on it, and because there are only three authors, not a dozen. The Second Edition of the VBScript Programmer's Reference is the best VBScript book available. You won't be disappointed!
for browsers.......2004-10-07
Perhaps the most common use of VBScript is for client side scripting for browsers. Given IE's 90%+ dominance of this market, and that it supports only VBScript and JScript, you can well see the need for a book like this one.
The authors point out that VBScript has broadly equivalent functionality to JavaScript and JScript. It makes sense to choose VBScript or JScript over JavaScript if you are coding to browsers. But why VBScript over JScript? The book suggests that if you are hailing from a VB background, then the transition to VBScript can be relatively painless. Helped of course by these authors.
Hopefully, you should not have too much trouble with VBScript, whatever your background. It is a simpler language than C++, Java or C#. Plus, the style of the typical problem tackled in the book is such that a program of 100 lines or less usually suffices. You may not notice it, but such choices of problems are strategic. If solutions were thousands of lines long, then stronger procedural or object oriented techniques would be useful, leading to other languages.
Amazon.com
Remembered in standard history texts as an adventurer who helped extend England's maritime empire to the coasts of Africa and the Americas, Francis Drake roamed the world under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth I. He enriched her coffers by attacking Spanish merchant ships in the Caribbean, raiding ports, looting churches, and taking a cut of the slave trade--the acts not of a military man, Harry Kelsey argues, but of a pirate, and of a cowardly one at that as he was given to fleeing at the first sign of danger, leaving his men behind. Even so, for his services Elizabeth awarded Drake a knighthood and a degree of immunity until he failed to appear at his post during a naval engagement against ships of the Spanish armada. He then lost the queen's favor and disappeared from history's stage. Drake has few champions today, certainly fewer than he did in Elizabethan times. Even then he was none too popular. This well-written revisionist biography explains why. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
In this lively and engaging new biography, Harry Kelsey shatters the familiar image of Sir Francis Drake. The Drake of legend was a pious, brave, and just seaman who initiated the move to make England a great naval power and whose acts of piracy against his country’s enemies earned him a knighthood for patriotism. Kelsey paints a different and far more interesting picture of Drake as an amoral privateer at least as interested in lining his pockets with Spanish booty as in forwarding the political goals of his country, a man who became a captain general of the English navy, but never waged traditional warfare with any success.
Drawing on much new evidence, Kelsey describes Drake’s early life as the son of a poor family in sixteenth-century England. He explains how Drake dabbled in piracy, gained modest success as a merchant, and then took advantage of the hostility between Spain and England to embark on a series of daring pirate raids on undefended Spanish ships and ports, preempting Spanish demands for punishment by sharing much of his booty with the Queen and her councillors. Elizabeth I liked Drake because he was a charming rogue, and she made him an integral part of her war plans against Spain and its armada, but she quickly learned not to trust him with an important command: he was unable to handle a large fleet, was suspicious almost to the point of paranoia, and had no understanding of personal loyalty. For Drake, the mark of success was to amass great wealth, preferably by taking it from someone else and the primary purpose of warfare was to afford him the opportunity to accomplish this.
Customer Reviews:
UNBRIDLED BIAS -- buy a different biography.......2005-06-19
Most professional historians at least try to feign objectivity in their treatment of historical figures. Harry Kelsey does not. The author despises Drake and makes no attempt to hide that fact. Kelsey set out to do a hatchet job and he certainly wasn't going to let history get in the way.
Although the author does a reasonable job of addressing many of the established historical events, he deliberately fails to report dozens of well documented incidents of Drake's mercy and largesse. While Drake's Spanish contemporaries were torturing or executing the Englishmen they captured, Drake repeatedly spared his captives' lives, fed and treated them well, then eventually released them unharmed. These accounts are well documented BY DRAKE'S CONTEMPORARY SPANISH ENEMIES, yet Kelsey cannot bring himself to report these incidents.
Why? Harry Kelsey loathes Drake and cannot force himself to simply objectively report the positive things that Drake's own enemies said about him.
More objective treatments of Drake include
1. "Francis Drake" by John Cummings
2. "The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake" by Samuel Bawlf
3. Passing treatment of Drake in "The Queen's Slave Trader" (biography of John Hawkins) by Nick Hazlewood
Even Kelsey's own more recent (2003) work "Sir John Hawkins -- Queen Elizabeth's Slave Trader" treats Drake (albeit incidentally) more evenhandedly than his "Sir Francis Drake: The Queen's Pirate".
Judging by the editorial ..........2000-09-20
Judging by the editorial the book gives a completely wrong picture judging actions from another time and place by modern rules.
Sir Francis Drake had very little in common with the pirate from the movies. He was more of talented gentleman of 16 century on dangerous, but profitable enterprize.
I do not remember Drake looting churches, but even if he did - one must not forget about him being protestant during major religious unrest in Europe. His attituide to his enemies was good and he wasn't bloodthirsty. His moral values were quite normal for his time. And his military prowess definitely was higher than normal.
His performance during engagement with Spanish Armada was good as well (worth to mention, that, unlike of admiral Hogwart - commander of the English fleet, Drake owned some ships of English fleet). The book "Defeat of Spanish Armada" by Garrett Mattingly gives very accurate account on that issue.
He never lost Queen's favor. He rather lost Queen's admiration, because results of his last expeditions were less spectacular, but he died vice-admiral commanding his fleet.
I have unplesant feeling that the book is just one of those "detroning" biographies, which use the standard approach "all great people are just good liars" and aimed to entertain readers with no background in the area. Pity, because writing biography of Drake give unique possibility to make reader understand 16 century through picture of this great military leader.
Bring on the Dogs of War!.......1999-01-07
For afficionados of Drake, Elizabethan England, or nautical history, this is a first rate read! The scholarship is thorough and well documented without leaving the prose too dry. Author Kelsey exegetically strips the gloss which has been after-added to most accounts of Drake's life (my brother, who is a nautical archaeologist, found it professionally worthwhile). Unfortunately, Kelsey's apparent bias against Drake's commercial focus prevents a discussion of Drake's larger role as an economic multiplier in the Elizabethan fiscus. The cash brought in by Drake's expeditions and similar ilk were probably critical in enabling the crown to finance the struggle against the Spaniards. Still, all in all, highly recommended.
Drake is the greatest pirate of all times!.......1998-10-16
I love the story of Sir Francis Drake and his adventures in the Spanish Main and was eager at this chance at such a thourouh telling of his story.
the captains and the kings depart!.......1998-09-20
Hee - anybody who reads biography as a genre has a barely-suppressed sweet tooth for Soviet-style icon-destruction, and this big book satisfies that craving in spades! Drake was looooong overdue for his de-Errol Flynnification, but it's a rare and wonderful thing when the vitriol is under tight control and matched with fine research and writing. This book will draw you in and keep you in - it's worth the price and the time involved.
Book Description
As questions of citizenship generate new debates for this generation of Americans, Thomas argues for revitalizing the role of literature in civic education. He considers 4 case studies in which individuals are presented in literature as "the good citizen," "the patriotic citizen," "the independent citizen," and "the immigrant citizen." He also provides analysis of the civic mythology surrounding Abraham Lincoln and the case of Ex parte Milligan. Engaging current debates about civil society, civil liberties, civil rights, and immigration, Thomas draws on the complexities of law and literature to probe the complexities of U.S. citizenship.
Book Description
John Henry gives a dramatic account of the background to Bacon's innovations and the sometimes unconventional sources for his ideas.
Customer Reviews:
Provocative interpretations and thought-provoking book.......2005-10-05
Knowledge is Power by John Henry (Cambridge, England: Icon Books, 2002).
This short, quick read attempts to put into context Francis Bacon's contribution to and status in Empiricism (and modern science).
Henry notes that Bacon was the first great advocate of the use of empirical investigation as a means to gain knowledge, as well as an advocate of the goal of increasing knowledge for the sake of benefitting the human race.
Henry believes that Bacon's motivation was a religious one. He argues that Bacon saw the increase of knowledge as a way to hasten the Millennium (or second coming of Christ). He argues that Bacon felt the Aristotelian tradition, embraced since the Middle Ages by the Catholic Church, and based on non-empirical, deductive reasoning, was a dead end as far as the quest for new knowledge goes.
He argues that Bacon felt that he could provide a new, better approach to advancing knowledge by adapting certain aspects of the empirical approach used by "magicians" and witches.
Henry admonishes the reader (and other historians) repeatedly to view Bacon in the context of the time and not with our current cultural views and biases. Henry says that for the most part magic in the 16th and 17th centuries was about understanding the effects of nature (e.g., potions that ameliorate or create some effect). Henry said that magical knowledge was gained in part by experiment, though not systematic experiment, and certainly not experiment with a larger social purpose. Henry asserts that that Bacon was familiar with the magical tradition and the writings of major contemporary figures in that tradition.
Henry noted that Bacon never completed his work elucidating his new approach (various pieces, outlines and examples of the approach were published). Further, Henry emphasized that Bacon contributed no significant new insights using his empirical approach, and was not able to completely articulate how his approach should work. He said that it is difficult to identify any philosopher (scientist) who strictly followed Bacon's suggested methods.
Henry argues that Bacon's real fame rests on the political situation of the times. Henry believes that in the time of the Restoration in England (1660-ish), Philosophy was distrusted, thought to be a tool of the Catholic church and of extreme religious sects. He thinks that Bacon's ideas (he was long-dead by this time) offered a politically attractive way for philosophers of the time to salvage or restore their status by proclaiming their Empiricist approach as objective, non-partisan information gathering intended to benefit all people. Henry thus claims that Bacon's chief contribution is to the rhetoric of science.
This is an interesting and somewhat thought-provoking book. The author has chosen a highly accessible, informal, non-academic style. In fact, there were several times when I wished Henry had included more direct quotes and fewer assertions about what Locke was thinking.
Average customer rating:
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Walk Ways
Tom Marioni ,
Stuart Horodner ,
Jim Campbell ,
George Bures Miller ,
Mowry Baden ,
Sharon Harper ,
Paul Ramirez Jonas ,
Martin Kersels ,
Curtis Mitchell ,
Francois Morelli ,
Douglas Ross ,
Rudolf Stingel ,
Francis Alys ,
Janine Antoni ,
Janet Cardiff ,
Hamish Fulton , and
Nancy Spero
Manufacturer: Independent Curators International, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Wanderlust: A History of Walking
ASIN: 0916365654
Release Date: 2002-10-02 |
Book Description
Walk Ways examines the ways in which a diverse group of artists has explored the theme of walking as an action and a metaphor. From Eleanor Antin, Janine Antoni, Janet Cardiff, and Hamish Fulton to Martin Kersels, Nancy Spero, Richard Wentworth, and others, the artists in Walk Ways consider walking as a purposeful or meandering activity that unites bodily and mental freedom, and "the walk" as a means of commenting on human agency, politics, geography, and history.
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