Reviews (9)

Fair introduction
Good introduction of many ideas in fluid mechanics. Good for reference, but it is not a good book for learning the subject. If in fact you happen to have a solid math background you may find it very boring but still has many references to more useful sources.

Good introduction
This book introduces lots of stuffs. I will consider it
as reference purpose. Not that good for learning, especially
for beginners. If one has another book as textbook already,
with this book, he can have more comprehensive thinkings
about fluid dynamics. It's a good book right on from
textbooks to special-purposed books.

Reviews (10)

Value is the Key to Portrait painting
The key value of the book I think is the explanation of the importance of Value and color mixing. The simplified explanation of the use of the Value scale is clear and the examples clarifies this clearly. Furthermore the basic characteristics of color--hue, value, intensity and temperature are well demonstrated with a clear guide to learning how to change and reduce intensity, value and temperature in painting aportrait. Also Sanden gives a convincing demonstration on building a portrait fron the foundation ------great book!

OK, here's the deal...
...a guy who makes tens of thousands of dollars a pop on portrait commissions doesn't desperately need your $70 for his Pro Mix paint set (esp since he gives the reader the recipes right there in the book).Rather, this author offers this time-saving option as a convenience to artists, at the same time encouraging artists to learn to mix the colors themselves (also stated in the book).

And as to his lavish studio, would you want to bring CEOs, heads of state, foreign diplomats, etc., to some cramped, dusty little studio (like most of us work in), or would you re-invest your earnings from such a clientele to obtain a comfortable venue for them to pose in, for many hours at a time?

Look beyond reviews posted here with comments that obssess on these and other irrelevant details (success-envy).It's apparent that Sanden is a master teacher who has worked very hard to get to the level of achievement he now enjoys.It's also apparent he's got this giddy enthusiasm for sharing his secrets; he's got nothin' to lose.

So get and USE this book if you want superior, straightforward and very succinct instruction in portrait painting--indeed in any kind of painting you'll ever do (landscape, still life, abstract, what have you) where an astute understanding of color and value is a requirement.Take the instruction and personalize it, make it your own. You'll be glad you did when you see the big difference it makes in your artwork.

Reviews (9)

A Must for professionals/Students in Crime Scene Tech!
I bought this book some time ago, and has been useful from the start. It does, indeed, give basic information on evidence recovery, Balistics, blood spatter, drowning, and other scenarios you may see. It is on a matter of fact based.

If you are looking for reasons why you are preforming these proceedures, I agree, this is not the book for you.

But if you are looking for do's and don't and want to see how to correctly regonize, secure and recover a crime scene then this is the book for you!

not for beginners
I guess I should have realised from the title that this book would not be for me.I don't have any background in this, I'm just a regular person studying for a bachelor's degree in Science and I wanted to get a book for interest on this topic.I would have greatly benefited from a sample of the pages inside and I could have seen the structure of it.The entire book is point form and quite bare (not of information, there's tonnes of that, but bare of anything to round it out).It literally is for people actually in the field and if you're not "in the field" then don't even bother getting this book.It is NOT for general interest sake. It is point form, some of the printing is fuzzy in a couple of places, there are only a handful of pencil sketches (that's all the illustration it has).But it does have step by step information of what to do if you're a cop (but I'm thinking if you were a cop, you really shouldn't have to stop to consult a book when you're at a crimescene).There it is, make what you will of this review and good luck.

Reviews (2)

Mysteries revealed.
Paul Leveille is truly a master of Pastel Portraiture.The book revealsmany of the mysteries of properly building up a pastel painting to achievea lifelike, realistic looking portrait.The book takes you through eightdetailed portraits, start to finish.One drawback for me was, Paul doesnot give us a starting photograph of the subject, so during the stages itis difficult to know why the lights and darks, colors and shadows areplaced where they are until you see the finished portrait.More a tutorialof techniques than a means of following along and copying his worksstep-by-step.Still, an excellent source of learning that will leave youable to create realistic portraits in pastel.

Reviews (1)

Reviews (1)

Reviews (2)

Dearth of Death Data but some Gruesome & Missing Photos
"Handbook for Death Scene Investigators," Jay Dix & Mary Ernst: 0-8493-0298-6 (1999) has only 66 pages (11 chapters) of basic material on types of deaths, timing of deaths, decompositions, evidence collecting, signs of CPR and suggestions that forensic sub-specialists are needed in some cases.Appendix A has 12 page glossary of terminology, B has 14 page list of Rx medicines and Appendix C has 6 page narrative describing 45 B/W photographs of deaths, decomposition and injuries including 2 damaged vehicles.

The convenience of the small format (about 3.5 in. x 6 in.) is overshadowed by numerous shortcomings that includes print font too small to be easily read, poverty of useful information, 14 (or more) misspelled words and with 8 of 45 photographs totally missing (blank pages).The book appears to have been overly hastily assembled, not speaking too well for forensic scientists.

In short, the book is grossly overpriced.Yes, I sometimes carry it in my coat pocket.

Features

• Color

Reviews (3)

Beyond a "How To" video
Of the many efforts to pass on information on art this is by far the most usefull pastel training tape I've seen

Best in the category
This video is a must-have for those interested in learning a serious approach to pastel painting. Unlike the many light-weight how-to paint books and videos currently on the market, this insightful video contains all of the information needed to successfully master pastel painting. I highly recommend it.

Reviews (1)

Very comprehensive overview of computational geometry
This book, written by many well-known experts in the field, is a fine compendium of articles on the most active areas of computational geometry. Each article is supplemented with a glossary of terms needed for understanding the relevant concepts and frequently contains a list of open problems.An overview of the convex hull of a collection of random points in Euclidean n-space is given in one of the articles on discrete aspects of stochastic geometry, where also a very interesting discussion of generalizations of the Buffon needle problem is given.

There are a few articles overviewing Voronoi diagrams, such as the one on Voronoi diagrams and triangulations. The applications of Voronoi diagrams are many, and include tumour cell diagnosis, biometry, galaxy distributions, and pattern recognition. This article is a little short considering the importance of the subject.

The article on shortest paths and networks is somewhat disappointing since there is no in-depth discussion on network routing algorithms.

The article on computational topology highlights some of the results in this very important area. Many problems in topology have been tackled recently using computers, particularly the work of the mathematician A.T. Fomenko. Computational topology is a relatively young field, having been in existence only since the early 1990's. The applications are enormous, ranging from meshing, morphing, feature extraction, data compression, and in many scientific areas such as computational medicine, chemistry, and astrophysics. It can also be used in computer security via graphical passwords. It is an immense help in visualizing complicated topological objects, such as Lens spaces, horned spheres, and thickened knots. The article does not touch on the use of Mayer-Vietoris sequences to design efficient divide-and-conquer schemes for computing the homology of higher-dimensional complexes. The interplay between topology and finding better algorithms in computational geometry is one that will flourish no doubt in years to come.

The last section of the book covers applications with the most interesting article being the one on sphere packing and coding theory. The algorithms in sphere packing have direct applicability to error correctiong codes over the field GF(q). The author of this article does touch briefly on general algebraic-geometric codes, which is good considering their importance in applications.

The last article appropriately discusses available software for computational geometry. Although the list of Web sites is quite extensive, there are many more available since this book was first printed.

Reviews (11)

Best problem-solving methodology w/ best problem set of all!
You're not interested in Fluid Mechanics (FM) knowledge, wisdom nor background information? You dont care about FM photographs, videos, CFD codes and other fancy gimmicks? Instead, all you Mr. Pragmatic care about is practicing problem-solving, practicing, and practicing because this is how your miserable midterms and finals are passed? Then Fox6 is your best-buy! It leads you *right away* to the correct problem-solving approach (all of Ch1) and the abundant example problems (1st example on page6!), and in subsequent chapters DOES NOT HOLD YOU UP with lengthy, comprehensive treatment of subject theory. Chapter theory is held short and crisp, and the remaining chapter material solely serves to arm you with Fox's proven problem-solving methodology. And practice it with you. In more detail, the winning Pro's:
+ authors have assumed responsibility for presenting the fundamentals in a CLEAR, CONCISE manner (in contrast: YACengel's SWEEPING 1st edition FM book. both books rated almost equally high, because the two are 100% SUCCESSFUL in doing it their way! It's up to you whether you prefer a FABULOUS concise treatment or a FABULOUS sweeping treatment. Obviously there are advantages and disadvantages inherent in both approaches. Pay a lot, get a lot, so *personally* I prefer Cengel's sweepingness: one additional, subjective rating star for Cengel's ;-)
+ minimizes use of 'magic formulas' and emphasizes the *systematic* and *fundamental* approach to problem solving, which helps to develop and build confidence in the students' ability to apply the basic material to reason out solutions to rather challenging problems
+ emphasizes the use of control volumes to maintain a practical problem-solving approach that is also theoretically inclusive
+ excellent, detailed solving of examples with a systematic, agreeingly well-structured proven problem-solving methodology starting from the governing equations in their most general form, ie. the fundamental laws in form of vector integral equations or vector differential equations. this is a waterproof *mathematical* STARTING POINT, i love it! Another excellent problem-solving STARTING POINT, a rather *wordy* beginning is exercised by Shames4 (in his text the so-called "Strategy"). A combination of Shames's wordiness and Fox's general vector equations would be the very best problem-solving START OFF!
+ regarding the solutions manual, "Each solution is prepared in the same systematic way as the example problem solutions in the printed text. Each solution begins from governing equations, clearly states assumptions, reduces governing equations to computing equations, obtains an algebraic result, and finally substitutes numerical values to calculate a quantitative answer."
+ quantitative answers to *all* numerical problems given in the back of book. should prove helpful enough.
+ unadequately strong are Ch10 (Fluid Machinery) and Ch12 (Compressible Flow). students will be likely to skim through only. another wearing presentation would be Ch8 (Internal Incompressible Viscous Flow). the setup of these three chapters is far from being "clear and concise". on the other hand better to have said too much than to less IMHO, so this still belongs to the Pro's.
+ extensive appendix with valuable info. good job done here, i must admit.

As with Incropera's 'Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer' and Incropera's 'Introduction to Heat Transfer', Fox's 787pages Sixth Edition is a "light" version by minus 80pages (to be made "full" with the PDF's on the accompanying CD-ROM. gosh), perfectly trimmed to be suitable for a first course (one-semester) at the junior level. And not more. Instead of enumerating the many missing topics/features/etc. covered by the bulk of competition, let me just note the striking Con's *immanent* in Fox's modest work. The intrinsics are:
- unfortunately the (pseudo-)advanced material, not typically covered in a first course, has been moved to the CD (49pages). the withdrawal of text content from the hardcopy onto the (pretty worthless) 52MB-disc *definitely* diminishes the book product's overall value and limits it to exclusive usability for *definitely* a single one-semester course, or alternatively two slimmy quarters.
- short chapters are Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch6, Ch7, and Ch11. not much said here (~24pages/Ch incl ~5Ex/Ch)! these six chapters are presented clearly, and with minimal amount of information. Pay a lot, get a lot? Not here, so two tads too concise for my taste.
- (too?) short explanatory text leaving out completing details and mathematical/non-mathematical (verbal) definitions but assumes broad background knowledge from various physics fields (classical mechanics, engineering mechanics, thermo mechanics, general physics) to be applied in *many* problems. misses a couple of essential term explanations, definitions or 'magic formulas'. makes novice's life harder than necessary. Lets not forget, Fox6 is an INTRO book and remains INTRO throughout! the end-of-chapter problem section tends to forget this fact though.
- problems are remarkably harder, ie. more complex and involved, than the preceding presented material might suggest. despite the many examples (total 119. ~10Ex/Ch), one feels like being left alone with the tons of problems (total 1319. ~110Pr/Ch) of increasing difficulty. I AM SURE THAT A TOTAL NEWBIE OR THE WEAK LEARNER WILL HAVE A FRUSTRATINGLY HARD TIME WITH SOLVING THE MAJORITY OF THE PROBLEMS. (btw sorry for screaming ;-) The set of problems (and examples) per se is outstanding, and no doubt the best feature of this introtext (and sait-on-jamais even the very best problem set among *all* FM introtexts reviewed!?), but level of difficulty (generated by 'incomplete' problem statements, 'missing' background info/definitions/collections of ready-to-go formulas/etc.) leaves me down-to-earth. Thus, first-rate, varied, challenging problem set yes on the one hand, on the other hand...sobering :-/
- lack of 3D conceptual, abstract figures to supplement or complement the derivation of fundamentals. in my eyes not enough supportive, supporting artwork for all the equations derived. ah let's generalize: this text has much less illustrations than other FM intro texts! I want more pix. No, I *need* more! ;-P
- same with Streeter9: the blue colouring is very flattering for me, but the simple (and somewhat lousy) 2D artwork is not always that helpful. much more detail and effort, and all in 3D, can be found in Cengel1 c2005.

Conclusion. The primary objective of this wide-spread IntroText is to help users develop an orderly approach to problem solving. An objective which has been attained! In fact, this is the outstanding and *only* outstanding feature of Fox's otherwise average book, yet at the same time suffices to revalue the book up to 4 stars: a decisive criterion for students who need to become confident in problem-solving quickly just in order to get over and done with the exams and then forget about the subject. Apart from that, the book teaches you nothing else. (Hardly) no extra information, no advanced material, no extraordinary resources, no additional features, no cool stuff off the rack offered. Sad for those who intend to keep the book for later usage (looking-up, referencing, deepening). If you are looking for a bit more breadth and depth, better look elsewhere! -> Read some of my other reviews on FM INTROTEXTS. And please vote for me ('What this review helpful?'). My [...] gives me a buck for each positive vote at the year's end ;-)

There has to be something better.
I used this book for a fluid mech course and I thought this book is terrible.The derivations of the equations are though but that doesn't make up for what this book lacks.The problems are quite difficult since the material covered in the chapters doesn't match what the questions ask.I don't expect a textbook to entertain me but this one put me to sleep a lot.There are (literally) hundreds of references to video clips demonstrating different topics covered but they weren't put on the included CD.And speaking of the CD, it is completely worthless.Don't even bother wasting your time looking at it since it contains very little useful information.There are a few more detailed explanations of a few of the topics in a few chapters but that is it.There is no real meat there.I gave this book 2 stars only because I did like the thoroughness of the derivations other than that this book is a waste of your time and money.And if one opinion may not count out of a class of 35 about half of us hated the book (it was doubtful the other half had even read it).If you have to use this book, good luck.

Editorial Review

Reviews (3)

Excellent starting point - signed, William Shakespeare
I agree with the other two reviewers that this work is not a comprehensive treatise on the subject of detecting forgery. However, it does give beginners (like me) a good place to start. It is clearly written and broad (if not deep) in coverage.I would call this book "workmanlike" and "solid." If I were a writer of mystery novels, this would be a good reference for this area of criminal(?) activity. The small section on the autopen especially intrigued me (hint: don't buy John F. Kennedy autographed documents). The bibliography in the back is its greatest asset if you want to pursue the topic of forgery to a deeper level. Our interlibrary loan people are going to be hustling for years as I track down some of the sources Nickell cites in this book.

Wants to be deep but is not
Joe Nickell is an excellent researcher and has found many interesting aspects of document examination to write about.He is not, however, a document examiner.As a result he includes an interesting history but heonly mentions the new techniques. The book is recommended for those whowant to know what goes on in the broad field of forensic documentexamination but is far short of being a guide for detecting forgery.

Reviews (15)

Police tales from 1970s to 1985
This book is filled with short stories of cops in their own words. No censorship: From the cold description of an impaled baby on a tree on the scene of a terrible car accident to a blown up drug addict body in a bloody appartment. I almost vomited on my way to work when I read it two years ago on the city bus. So be sure to be prepared for horrible descriptions, lots of action and a superb inside view of the psychological aspect of the policemen/women. But remember that the tales are mostly taking part in the early 1980s. Every chapter starts with the author's take on a selected aspect of the police work. Are you ready for Atari-boy-killer, incredible housecalls, drugs, alcohol, sex and corruption? Then this book is for you. Very easy reading because each story is clearly divided by little stars. A must for police-related readers.

NOTFORCOPS ONLY...
This is a book about cops, for cops, and by cops. The author has done an excellent job of organizing their stories about what it means be a member of the blue team. There are over a hundred such accounts compiled, and each one has a ring of authenticity, colored by a layer of humor and cynicism that goes often goes with the territoty. The often raw and gritty language, coupled with their vividly described experiences, gives the reader a birdseye view of the underbelly of the beast.

The only problem with the book is that policing has undergone a substantial change in the past several years, which is, of course, not reflected in this book, as it was published in 1985. Read in that context, the book is somewhat anachronistic. Still, it is one that will be enjoyed by those with a penchant for police war stories. If you are an avid cop buff, add one star to my rating.

A must-read
I read Baker's "Nam" and loved it. And "Cops" didn't disappoint either. I first read it a number of years ago in preparation for a law enforcement career that got sidetracked before it began. Now that my wife and I are putting in applications again, I just had to have her read "Cops." And of course I had to read it again myself.

It's a fantastic book, much more comprehensive than Connie Fletcher's "competing" (but still good) book, "What Cops Know." Every serious student of law enforcement should read this book.

Editorial Review

Reviews (5)

"An illustrated painless removal of forensic conundrums"
"Crime Lab:A Guide for Nonscientists" by John Houde, ISBN 0-965-8286-2-X (HC), Calico Press 1999 - is a 205 page treatise by seasoned writer (20 articles) and publisher of quarterly CACNews.It is a superbly written and well illustrated (130) guide to understanding the basic principles utilized by criminalists in their forensic forays into known or suspected crime investigations.

In 12 chapters Houde provides a brief history of forensics, depicts a crime scene (murder, assault, break-in, attempted arson) which is used as a ploy to submerge the reader into the probe as the investigation begins, describes encompassing the crime scene and how to record, photograph and analyze everything - from blood, saliva, sweat, vaginal secretions, pubic and body hair, animal and carpet fibers, and matching of probable murder weapons using well explained modern scientific devices including GC/MS, IR, SEM, polarizing microscopy, special tissue stains, ascertaining RI of glass, and details on collection, preservation and chain of custody of gathered evidences. They don't get any better.

Excellent reference material
I received a Bachelor in Chemistry and have been working in a laboratory for two years.Recently I have been interested in pursuing a career in Criminalistics.My lab experience covered polymer development.I needed reading material that would give me an idea of what they do in a crime lab and what types of methods and testing they perform.This book went above and beyond my expectations.It was interesting while providing excellent, easy to understand information on what to expect in the field of forensic science.It is titled "a guide for nonscientist" but it should really be titled "a guide for everyone interested in this field of study".I have worked with many of the testing methods described in this book (while in school) and reading John Haude I could visually picture what hr was describing.He had some great analogies which I will probably use if I have to explain "what" I did in the lab to a jury.This book gives you a starting point in which one could search for more technical information on specific tests.If you have never worked in a crime lab then you are not familiar with the types of testing they do.This gives you that information.For all those non-scientist reading this review...definitely get this book....it's interesting and it is understandable.

Enjoyable, slight book on criminalistics for beginners.
Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the pictures, photographs, detail, andlay out of the book...I think I expected more than what I actually got.I've been interested in forensic science since medical school, and haveread quite a few books. This one was fun, but it became less interestingand more preachy toward the end. I skimmed through the last part of thebook, especially on the author's concerns over whether the public wasadversely influenced by the OJ trial and the fiasco involved there. If Iremember rightly, it was more the stupidity of the LAPD rather than themistakes of the labs that stood out in everyone's mind. It is true that theFBI lab has come under more fire lately for mistakes, as should other labsif they do not do their job right. Lab work, whether for medical reasons orcriminalists, can literally mean life-or-death, and it would be foolish toallow incompetence in either areas to flourish.

Reviews (11)

Stunning book
CopShock is a stunning book. Although it is focused on police officers, it helps anybody suffering from PTSD symptoms to cope--crime victims, victims of disasters, cancer, loss of a loved one, and all other emergency people like firefighters, emergency room nurses, doctors, and so on.
The book is filled with excellent firsthand accounts, is based on hundreds of interviews of cops with PTSD, and is easy to read. The second chapter in particular clearly lays out the symptoms of PTSD as does the Appendix. The last chapter tells you what do do about trauma and PTSD, how to cope, manage the symptoms or to prevent PTSD. And the 6 years of research is amazing. This author did his homework. Many police officers complain that they have few or no resources to help them with their PTSD symptoms, making the hundreds of resources the author provides invaluable. This is the best book I've read on the subject.

An introduction to PTSD
When I read other customer's reviews on CopShock, I got the impression that the book is the ultimate in post-traumatic stressdisorder (PTSD), and it holds all the answers. I was disappointed, however, because although there is some good basic info, the book serves better as an introduction to PTSD.

The author uses a lot of real-life stories to illustrate different aspects of PTSD and related syndromes. Almost the whole book is written this way, and this structure makes the book easy to read and not too scientific. On the other hand, is makes it difficult to use the book as an reference book. If you want to search for a list of symptoms of a given syndrome, for example, the information can be scattered along the pages of the whole book.

The book has about 450 pages, but the text really ends at about page 240. The remaining almost 200 pages is filledwith listings of various support sources and so on. There is also extensive reference section, and bibliography of well over 200 publications related to the subject.

I rated the book as a whole, but the book's usefulness is directly dependent to whether you need the latter half of the book, of if you are just studying the subject. To someone who is suffering from PTSD (or whose member of family is), the book could be worth it's weight in gold.

Reviews (6)

Case Studies of Famous Crimes
This book will provide an education to the general reader. Forensic science is "the study and practice of the application of science to the purposes of the law". Page 4 gives Newcomb's Rule, but provides no proof of verification. Eyewitness evidence is subjective and colored by attitudes and perceptions. If a witness is mistaken or lying, there is no way to tell. Physical evidence is objective, but may have subjective aspects. [The authors ignore the topic of planted evidence. They don't tell that expert witnesses support the side that pays them.] Forensic science dates from the early 19th century with modern chemistry and toxicology. Mistaken identification can occur from photographs as well as live persons (p.7). The paragraph on firearms examination omits the pioneering work done in Germany and first used by Earl Rogers in California (p.10). The paragraph on questioned document examination ignores work done in Europe centuries earlier (p.11). Page 14 tells that government forensic laboratories are usually unavailable to the defense. The book "Tainted Evidence" explains why this is a problem due to the lack of objectivity.

Chapter 2 explains the techniques of "Crime Scene Investigation". Fingerprints should be photographed before lifting (p.28). This prevents planting evidence, as in the Trial of Alfred de Marigny. The Case Study is the Jeffrey Macdonald case. I read that Cyril Wecht M.D., J.D. said some of his wounds could not be self-inflicted; the book "Fatal Justice" gives more details. This may not be the best example for a textbook case. Chapter 4 says placing firearms "in the hands of the peasant class" resulted in murders! Like with Robin Hood? The case study is the Sacco-Vanzetti trial (a controversial case - see page 103). Dr. Henry C. Lee's "Famous Crimes Revisited" says "the custody of all the bullets had never been traced". This case study proves Sacco & Vanzetti innocent IMO. One robber shot Berardelli, then chased Parmenter and shot him twice. The other robber shot Berardelli three times. But only one of the bullets submitted in evidence came from Sacco's gun! This suggests evidence planted to convict Sacco & Vanzetti. A third robber jumped into the getaway car that had two other men. This sounds like professionals who had a plan and left no witnesses. Were Sacco & Vanzetti posthumously rehabilitated by the State of Massachusetts? Chapter 7 covers questioned document examination. Suppose a suspect is asked to copy a ransom note 'to prove his innocence'. If somehow this becomes the state's evidence, would that prove innocence?

Chapter 8 tells about blood, the substance most commonly found at the crime scene, or on a person, clothing, or weapon. Tests to identify blood have been known since 1875 using various chemicals, to today's use of DNA. The case study is the O. J. Simpson trial, the most publicized case since Dr. Sam Sheppard. The authors admit "it would have been possible later to switch the collected evidence for faked evidence" (p.207). The Medical Examiner who did the autopsies on Nicole and Ron testified the forensic evidence said the murders occurred after 11pm. The red liquid blood was still leaking down the sidewalk when the police arrived at 12:15am (suggesting murder around 11:45pm). Since the limousine driver picked up OJ at 11pm, Simpson could not have personally murdered Ron and Nicole. The glove and blood evidence were both planted. Read Steven Singular's "Legacy of Deception" for the details. The 'Los Angeles Times' in June 1996 reported that the lead detective took blood samples from the morgue before evidence was turned in for analysis.

Re: An OK Read
Interestingly enough, the last paragraph of "Crime Science" (right before the 65 notes pertaining to the last chapter) contains an error. The author writes, "Russian officials concluded that the remains were those of the tsar, the tsarina, three of their children (excluding, they determined, Alexei and Marie), and four members of their retinue." The words on the pages before that specifically quoted Dr. William Maples writing that Marie's (or Maria's?) bones WERE among the discovered remains, but that Alexei's and Anastasia's bones were not. The two youngest children were burned, and the rest buried because certain factors prevented them from burning fast enough. Maybe Anastasia's name was too long to fit on that line in the book, so they lamely exchanged it for Marie's, hoping that the reader would not notice. I'm sorry, but if Anastasia's bones WERE present at the burial site, the whole Anastasia mystery would not have existed!

Isbn: 0951258400
Sales Rank: 3555059

Editorial Review

Anyone who has ever let go of a balloon string and watched the brightobject go up and up and out of sight will appreciate this whimsical picturebook that ponders the age-old question Where Do Balloons Go? This"uplifting mystery"--examined in singsong rhyme by Jamie Lee Curtis andplayfully explored with Roz Chast-like illustrations by Laura Cornell--is a newoffering from the team behind Today I Feel Silly, When I Was Little, and Tell Me Again About the Night I WasBorn.

Where do they go
when they float far away?
Do they ever catch cold
and need somewhere to stay?

Reviews (27)

will change your view of a computer hacker
This book will change your view of what you thought of the typical teenage hacker. This book has 8 stories about teenage hackers as the title shows. The chapters on average are 20 to 25 pages long so the author does not have very long to go into deep detail of each hacker or group of hackers he delves into there family lifes some but does not have long to go for their hacks and exploits .

Some of the characters are as follow

1) Genocide who grew up in a shack in alaska with no electricitytelephone or running water.

2) Theres joe magee and noid who where complete opposites but curiosity in the familys new vcr would start their interest into computers. A intersting story from the book about joe and the family vcr was when he was 10 he had a problem with insomnia and late night eating because of it.So one night withsuch problem he goes down stairs to make a pb&j sandwich and when he thinks he is going to get busted he shoves the sandwich into the vcr and a sure mess came about with the heat melting the jelly.

3) Theres prometheus and explotion with promethius being a self-proclaimed satan worshiper living to deface christian and religous websites.

One of two out of this group that really amazed me was 15 year old anna moore who had computer friendly parents at age 4 she could read at a 3rd grade level she also was the first female hacker to win the ethical hacking contest at the annual defcon hacker convention in vegas.

The other one that was really amazing is h.d. moore who started hacking at age 13 who got a job working for the air force before he was 18. He developed on his own alot of programs that are uaed today and even gave a big presentation at a convention at the age of 17.

I said at the start that this book would change your veiw of hackers in that they are not the teenagers that tv and moives portray or what most of us probably think of they are the kid next door the star quarterback and such not as alot the evil names they choose as shockvalue and that most of these kids go on to productive lives seeing that hacking has become something other than what they veiwed it as away to share info and despies those who made money from it to now the feeling that the most modern day hackers are only concern with damaging and destroying websites. This book is a little hard to get threw if you are a computer novice as far as the terminology.

Not Much New Here, Hardly a Breakthrough Title.
I have read plenty of books on this topic and this one contains nothing that hasn't been regurgitated in the countless other titles. Hackers are an interesting breed and this title does not adequately explore why they do what they do. It isn't as simple as the author makes it out to be.

If you are looking for a breakthrough title that presents some new, startling information, keep looking because you haven't found it here. Aside from that, the book is of average quality. It isn't poor, but at the same time there isn't anything exceptional about it.

different lifestyles, motives, goals & stages of maturity
They make international headlines for all the wrong reasons and everyday we read about the increasingly large-scale havoc they cause: the hacking into corporate computer systems, the theft of credit card numbers, and the defacement of Web sites with vulgar, disturbing and sometimes hate-filled messages. But still - teenage hackers - who are they?

Social misfits? Loners? Pimpled face geeks? Dangerous and deceptive brainiac-villains? That is in fact the public's perception and how the media stereotype them. Yet real teenage hacker culture is a patchwork of different personalities, backgrounds, motivations and experiences. In other words, there is no one picture of the average teenage hacker.

Dan Verton, the author of The Hacker Diaries: Confessions of Teenage Hackers is a former intelligence officer in the U.S. Marine Corps who currently writes for Computerworld and CNN.com, covering national cyber-security issues and critical infrastructure protection.

For his Hacker Diaries, he interviewed well over a dozen real life hackers and explored beyond the myths and stereotypes surrounding these teenagers.

Talk about getting to know your hacker. Verton does a great job at that. We see them with different lifestyles, different motives, different goals, and different stages of maturity.

He describes many of them as being the kids bagging your groceries at the supermarket; working in the community service on the weekends; playing in the school orchestra or singing in the choir; struggling with their grades in math, science and English; getting good grades and planning for a bright future; hanging out with their friends after school and sometimes getting into trouble; and almost always feeding their obsession with computers and the Internet late at night.