Simon P. Chappell writes "Security is not just for the paranoid anymore. There is plenty of documented evidence to show that there are people that are out to get you (and your information). Sun's J2EE framework brings a work-chest with many powerful tools in it, but with power there is always complexity, and many of these tools, especially the security-oriented tools, are under-used because of this. Pankaj Kumar's book J2EE Security is a guide to using these tools when building security into your Servlets, EJBs, web services and web applications." Read on for the rest of Chappell's review.

ElectricAnt writes "First of all, I should mention that this book is complementary to Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle reviewed earlier here. Everyone Else Must Fail has not been approved, endorsed or edited by Oracle or Larry Ellison, so it could be that many things were said out loud for the first time. Karen Southwick is a journalist who has covered many technology subjects, and written three previous books about Silicon Valley's business side. She wrote this book, at least partially, based on the interviews with former Oracle executives who were either fired by Larry (as Ray Lane) or left Oracle to start their own business (Tom Siebel)." Read on for the rest of ElectricAnt's review.

Dylan Harris writes "I love writing software, and I enjoy reading other people's source -- how they've expressed instructions, the subtle differences when two good programmers use the same language for the same task. Then there's the pleasure of working through a new computer language: how its structure, its form, changes the way a problem is approached, a solution is expressed. Strange as it may seem, I get the same pleasure from reading poetry, but more so. Seeing a poem written in an old familiar form, say a sonnet, is like meeting someone else's code in a language I know. New poems in new forms are new programs in new languages; exciting ideas renewed, refreshed, expressed in different ways." Read on for Dylan's review of a collection from Loss Pequeno Glazier which combines these worlds of expression.

William Ryan writes "SQL Server CE is Microsoft's preferred database backend for its Compact Framework initiative. Compact Framework is a cool technology, but it's still in its infancy. This book does a lot to help you get started using SQL Server CE." Read on for the rest of Ryan's review, or revisit his November review of a related book, The Definitive Guide to the Compact Framework .

DrCarbonite writes "Spidering Hacks is a well-written guide to scripting and automating your data-seeking forays onto the Internet. It offers an attractive combination of the solving the problems you have and exposing you to solutions that you weren't aware you needed." Read on for Martin's review of the book.

Sethb writes "For Us, The Living, Robert A. Heinlein's first novel, written in 1938, is not a lost masterpiece. It is, however, a fascinating piece of writing for the Heinlein fan to ingest. It's not a book you should give to a friend to introduce them to Heinlein, in fact, it works best as what it is, the last piece of Heinlein's work to be published, and it should almost certainly be one of the last pieces someone starting to read Heinlein should attempt." Read on for Sethb's review. M : CBC also has a feature about the book.

honestpuck writes "Back before the advent of Mac OS X, my favourite (and for many years, only) development environment was one variety of Unix or another. The nicest thing about Unix was that the development environment stayed pretty much the same regardless of the variety; this stayed the same with the introduction of Linux." Honestpuck examines how true this still is (as well how accurate the chosen title is) in his review of Prentice Hall's The Linux Development Platform, below.

Dan Clough writes "I found Linux Power Tools to be a useful book, although it does have some shortcomings. It's a 644-page, well-written book that covers almost all aspects of managing, administering, and optimizing a working Linux system. The book's cover claims the target audience as intermediate to advanced users, but I think that beginner to intermediate would be more accurate. More advanced users may find Linux Power Tools a little beneath their level." Read on for the rest of Dan's review.

hawkeegn writes "This is the latest book in the O'Reilly "Annoyances" series. Over the last few years, I've managed to glean several valuable tips about Windows 95 and 98 from the Annoyances books about those OSes. So even if I've used computers for years, I looked with glee and anticipation (well maybe not glee, much more like relief) when I discovered this book was out." Read on for hawkeegn's review of PC Annoyances.

prostoalex writes "Reviewing Richard Stevens' Unix Network Programming is akin to reviewing the New Testament for a Christian audience, or The Elements of Style for English majors. Everyone who is somehow involved in network programming on Unix/Linux systems generally refers to the tome as ultimate learning resource and the best reference out there." Read on for the rest of Alex's review.

CrankyFool writes "On advice of a foolish sci-fi bookstore clerk, I once purchased the entire Honor Harrington series in preparation for a long trip. The upcoming days would find me in a cold sweat reading these books, all the while muttering 'unclean ... unclean ...' and wishing I had something, anything, else to read. They were bad. They were very, very bad. To paraphrase Pratchett, they were so bad they went though the other side of bad and were simply not very good anymore. Look, there go some one-dimensional bad guys! Look, there goes the one-dimensional good guy (well, person)! Look, she's put in impossible tactical odds and yet somehow still manages to triumph! Look, she gets no respect back at home! Look, the next book rehashes the EXACT SAME PLOT. Needless to say, I do not like David Weber, nor do I like the Honor Harrington books. I am deeply distrustful of anyone who does." Read on to see what this has to do with Walter Jon Williams newest book, Dread Empire's Fall: the Praxis.

David McClintock writes "In David A. Schmaltz's new book, The Blind Men and the Elephant: Mastering Project Work, we find a powerful metaphor for the collaborative work involved in software or systems development. The metaphor is simple -- like the book title, it comes from John Godfrey Saxe's famous poem about the six blind men from Indostan. Simply put, Schmaltz is saying that your project is an invisible elephant. It's standing in a room, waiting to be revealed by a group of groping teammates." Read on for McClintock's review to see how well the analogy stands.

honestpuck writes "Titling a volume 'Online! The Book' and putting "The perfect gift for any computer user!" amongst other hyperbole on the back cover must rank as this years greatest act of hubris." Honestpuck has a strong opinion of whether this hubris is justified or insane -- read on below for his review.

doom writes "The general concept of Robert Ehrlich's book is absolutely superb: Nine Crazy Ideas in Science: A Few Might Even Be True. Here, someone with a technical background (Ehrlich is a physics prof at George Mason) and an open mind investigates in detail a number of 'crazy' ideas, to see if there's anything to them. The execution of the idea is not quite as superb, but Robert Ehrlich has done better at this difficult job than anyone else I know of. This book is highly recommend as a good review of the evidence on some scientific controversies." Read on for doom's review, in which he goes through Erlich's nine-part list, but mind the spoilers.

whirlycott writes "In case you're not up to date on what design patterns are, let's do a quick crash course before we jump into a book review on the subject. Design patterns were thrust into the software development mainstream by the book Design Patterns in 1995 (aka the GoF book). A pattern involves three components: first, a description of a generalized recurring problem; second, an abstract solution that is generally accepted; and third, a name for the sake of convenience. Patterns save time and effort by supplying developers with a shared language when discussing common problems. O'Reilly's new J2EE Design Patterns book is a timely, easy-to-read catalog of architectural patterns specific to the J2EE platform." Read on for the rest of whirlycott's review.

milaf writes "Who doesn't know about XML nowadays? Quite a few people, actually: there has been so much hype around it that some people think that XML is a programming language, a database, or both at the same time. On the other hand, if you are a developer, chances are that you feel that -- no matter its usefulness -- there is not much to XML. After all, it may take just a few hours to get the hang of creating and parsing an XML document. Maybe this is why most of the many and voluminous books discuss numerous XML-related technologies, but say less about the usage of XML itself." Read on for milaf's review of a book that takes the opposite tack.

Alex Moskalyuk writes "There are dozens of titles on 'corporate excellence.' Management types like them. They teach the best practices from known companies and let you know how ABC Inc. or XYZ Corp. became such a glorious business as it is. In Search of Excellence (ISBN: 0446385077) is one of them, deserving the title of 'management bible' from its publishers. Apart from the minor detail that some of the data in the book was faked. At times like these, where do you turn for a good management advice?" Read on for Alex's review of an alternative text, Merrill R. Chapman's In Search of Stupidity.

Michael Bennett Cohn writes "Everything about Cisco Networking Simplified screams accessibility: the landscape layout, the softback cover, the illustrations drawn without a ruler that literally take the sharp edges off of computers, servers, and switches (router icons, fortunately, are already round). A note on the cover indicates for the curious that the book is in full color. Each short chapter is broken into 'at-a-glance' subsections on each topic, headed 'Why Should I Care?' and 'What Are the Problems to Solve?'" Read on for the rest of Cohn's review of what he calls an imperfect but good beginner's guide to networking generally, not just Cisco products.

prostoalex writes "In the high-tech industry few people achieve such glamour and general recognition as Larry Ellison, the chief executive officer of Oracle Corp. Ellison is known for provocative interviews, for being called the industry's 'other billionaire,' for being brutal to the competitors while staying within ethical limits, and for genuine opposition to a Redmond-based software company called Microsoft." Read on for the rest of Alex's review.

ajm writes "The Scar is China Mieville's second novel set in the world of Bas-Lag. His first, Perdido Street Station, has already been reviewed on Slashdot. However, The Scar is not a sequel. Though the events it describes take place after those in Perdido Street Station, they don't depend on them. The setting isn't the city of New Crobuzon, and the story of Issac Dan der Grimneblin, Lin, and Yagharek is not continued in The Scar." Read on for the rest of ajm's review.