Bentley Reviews

These are stunning photgraphs of one of the most beautiful rural parts of the world, but they left me vaguely dissatisfied. Subsequently I realized why--there are very few people in them. If you are intersted in the architecture of the Dordogne, you will probably enjoy it. But if, like I, you are interested in obtaining a feel for the region and its people, this is not the right book.

oldest village with the sensity rive

Of all the places I've been, I've never seen an area where reality surpasses the most breathtaking photos--until I visited the Dordogne. This book does, however, give the reader a glimpse into what treasures can be found at every turn. The book prepared me well before my trip and brings fond memories now that I'm home.

I'll break it down by author:

Little **
Golden ***
Piccirilli *****
Clegg ***

Piccirilli, as usual, makes it worth the price of admission - a classic. The other stories are pretty much been-there-done-that. Doesn't Christopher Golden know that Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets? Oh well, 'Jonah Arose' makes it worth it.

Bentley Little, perhaps the best and most underrated author working in horror today, here gives us "The Circle," an amazing bit of writing with a circular conception of time and storytelling. Ostensibly the tale of what happens on a suburban cul de sac one night, it addresses the conformity of suburban life and many of Little's pet thematic concerns. Truly original.
The Clegg novella is also quite good, although Golden's and Piccirilli's contributions are not quite up to par.

This short novella is about 90 pages long. And believe you me and in can be read by just one sit down. He grabs you from the very beginning of the story.
Mark and Dash are the two main characters and these two boys travel into the darkness of life. And 'THE WORDS' are magic as to entrance you into another world or realm of life.
Classic Clegg!!

I found this play, although interesting, to fully satisfy the alienation that Brecht intended to place upon his audience. It was somehow very difficult to feel any really emotion except disdain, and perhaps hatred, towards Mother Courage herself, and this was not helped by her continual hipocracy and mecurial nature. I would have prefered something perhaps slightly more aimed at providing a satisfying read (or show) for the audience, and somehow found "Mother Courage" rather depressing and horrid. She is a symbol for everything wrong with the world and I hope that I never come across anyone of similar moral or ethical values.

Brecht doesn't want emotion because that is Brechtian theater. He thought that in order for a play to invoke social change, it needed to be clear to the audience, that the audience needed to learn something. Emotions, Brecht felt, clog the mind and only feed the brain sentiment, not rational thought. Mother Courage and Her Children is, quite obviously, an anti-war play. Brecht wants you to see that war makes criminals out of everyone, even mothers. He wants you to love Mother Courage while you hate her so that the emotion is cancelled out and you are only left with the thoughts of her actions and why they were wrong. If you want a play to read or perform that is challenging, amazing, and intellectual all at once, this is the way to go. I performed this and I was forever changed.

Saying that Brecht didn't want his plays to evoke an emotional response is an extreme oversimplification of his theories. He just didn't want the emotional response to overwhelm the intellectual response and remove the audience's capacity to judge the work objectively. In this play, we have a heroine who is not a heroine. We understand her, but we never empathize with her. Consequently, the interdependence of war and economy is illuminated without making the reader wallow in excessive emotion. Yes, we do feel strongly when Kattrin is beathing her drum, but that feeling is not what the audience leaves with at the end of the play.

Well, I experienced 5 pages of initial confusion,(and disappointment?), because I expected Needle's book was another in a long list of 18th century naval heroics. I had thought I purchased another British historical novel in the style of Patrick O'Brien, Richard Woodman, C. Northcote Parkinson, etc.... By page 6 I was so drawn into his characters and the dramatic tension which he creates, that I couldn't put the book down. Half-way through, I ordered the second book in this new series.

Jan Needle's first two historical novels of the British Navy in the mid-18th century, (pre-French Revolution) are intelligently written psychological drama. Unlike the genre in general, Needle does not continually seek to gratify us with heroic captains, loyal and competent seamen, epic naval battles, and eventual victory for the protagonists. Needle instead wraps each novel within a beguiling,(and dark), psychological tension. Each character is real and indentifiable, with human flaws, doubts, and motivations. Evil is palpable. The settings?--stark, foreboding, realistic, frightening, mysterious, historically accurate, unnerving.... Make no mistake, this isn't just more "shoot-em-up" "stiff upper lip" Horatio Hornblower fluff, this is intrigue, mystery and the dark side of humanity. Not for the faint of heart. The closet style in this genre I believe would be David Donachie's--an intelligent naval history reader will appreciate both. If you want John Wayne on a ship of war, buy another author. If you want an extremely well-crafted historical mystery with a dark unsettling tone, buy Jan Needle's series. Highly recommended with 4 stars (and I don't give "5's!")

In the first installment, "A Fine Boy for Killing," the major protagonist is introduced. William Bentley is a naive young midshipman whose uncle, his Captain, is an emotionally unbalanced tyrant. Bentley learns the awful consequences of impressment, the havoc and misery below decks, the polygot and sometimes incompetent officers who manned the King's ships, the appalling social and economic conditions of 18th century England, and especially of the dark psychological tone of naval service. The setting, characterization, plot and theme are all exceptionally well-crafted. I for one will jump at the next installment in the series. Thank you, Jan Needle, for raising the bar and providing readers with something beyond the usual 8th grade read.

I could not put this book down.

I had been looking, as I usually am, for grim, gritty realism. This book was almost *too* intense for me -- and I mean that as a compliment. It's the story of an unhappy ship, a psychotic captain (I kept seeing Anthony Hopkins as Captain Bligh, reading Swift's scenes), and the inevitable results. Characters die -- *major* characters die. Don't read this if you lack a strong stomach.

Needle's writing is a blunt, brutally wielded instrument, but gets the job done. The choreography of action scenes can sometimes be a little too static; overall setting and description, though, stand out. His dialogue sometimes rings false, but works adequately. Characterization is strong overall, though with some events (Allgood's collapse; Bentley's change of heart) never quite ringing true. The plot never stops moving from the first page to the last; I was never bored, and I bore easily.

Of interest to me is Needle's purpose in writing this book, apparently the first in the series. The title character, Bentley, is not an admirable figure here. But presumably he is going to be the protagonist of books to come. Many authors give their characters dark pasts, but reveal them only in snatches of backstory; Needle here has written that dark past out in all its sordid glory. I am certainly looking forward to seeing what the author does next.

Younq William Bentley, a midshipman on a RN frigate in dock waiting for orders, is gulled by his vicious uncle, Capt.Swift, into a false sense of ideals, command, and justice. Swift's iron-fisted reputation precedes him and the few hands that man the boat are supplemented by the dregs of the gaols and hospitals, plus whatever he can drum up. William has to do some of the drumming-up and he tricks a young farm-hand and his sheep into the service of HM the King. A smuggling cutter provides a few real seamen, gaining Bentley extra kudos and inflating his already swollen ego, simultaneously earning him enemies in the crew. Young, gullible William is so impressed with uncle's regime that he is in danger of becoming a carbon-copy (which is exactly what his uncle wants). His uncle's charisma blinds the young man to the real dangers of the rule of the lash and starter, and also to the Captain's gradual spiral into madness. However, some of the crew are not blind to this and are planning mutiny, fuelled by the daily bloody punishment, the vile food, incessant meaningless sail evolutions and the prospect of a trip round the Horn at the worst possible season.
Around the same time, Will's bubble of confidence and superiority is pricked by a humiliating staged fight, and more leaks out as he realises the mutinous results of Swift's despotic reign could have been prevented by a different form of man-management; young Will suffers a horrendous coming-of -age in the last few pages.
Rich characterisations, attention to detail and a well-paced plot make this a great, if at times stomach-turning, read - this is realism, so don't expect a happy ending.

This book is not for advanced users wanting to learn more about V8 or its working as it deals very sparingly with V8.The book should rather be called "Outside Microstation V8 Looking In"

I pre-ordered this book since this is about the only V8 book out there. When I recieved it, the name was different than advertised but the ISBN number is correct. Apparently this is not a new book but an update to the old one. What a waste. Someone should fire the editor of the book because many of the things that have been updated like pictures do not match the text or vice versa. This book glances over all of the new V8 items instead of going into them in depth. This book is good for beginers using J (v7) but I don't recomend it for someone using v8. I have been using v8 since it came out and I must say this book taught me almost nothing that I didn't already know. There are many customization things I would like to know how to do and this book doesn't even mention this. Like another reviewer said, this isn't a cover all bases book like the many books available for Autocad. Most of those book are also twice as thick.
I had high hopes for this book since Frank Conforti works for or with Bentley and he has answered many questions on the bentley newsgroups. Apparently neither him nor anyone else has time to fully explain all of the added functionality of V8.

As a new user of Microstation (but already familiar with AutoCAD), I've found the book presented in logical order and in an understandable fashion. It has a simple step-by-step approach for studying. As I go through page-by-page, I'm gaining compentence in the use of this program.

Be wary of these reviews, as not all of them are about thisbook. Amazon have made a mistake and the reviews shown here have beencombined with the ones for the book 'BMW 5 Series: Service Manual,1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988: 528e, 533i, 535i, 535is'. In the review from Canada, dated Oct 27 1998, Amazon state that it is from the 'Paperback edition'. In fact the book on the 1982-1988 cars concerns the E28 model 5 Series whereas the book on the 1989-1995 cars is about the E34 model 5 Series. They are completely separate books, not just different editions of the same book. END tr[17~

Compared to the Haynes, this book gives excellent photographs, warnings on appropriate procedures, tool and chemicals to make the job easier and a section on easy to build test equipment to help in diagnostics.

Coupled with BMW's Mobile Tradition CDROM covering illustrations and part numbers, this book will save the owner significant repair costs over a BMW dealership service department or after-market repair facility.

This is a MUST OWN for anyone interested in becoming involved in simple maintenance or more complex tasks to reduce the cost of owning a great performing German automobile. Bentley Publishers excels over other reference print materials.

This book does not baby feed you BUT IF YOU USE IT AND FIX COMPONENTS IN YOUR CAR BY YOURSELF YOU WILL SAVE A BUNDLE!!
To make a long story short, I had 4 problems with my car, wouldn't start half the time, heater would only do maximum air push or nothing (no 1,2, or 3), back window got stuck half way, belt buckle cracked.
A supposed import specialist charged $68 just to tell me that the battery needs to be changed, and the heater's blower resistor had to be replaced. Oh and that it would cost $240 for the battery (part $100, labor $140!), resistor $370 (part $280, labor $90), belt $180 ($100 part, $80 labor).

Basically they were going to take me for a ride for a bill over $800!!! I finally set THAT IS IT! I stomached the $55 bill for a used copy of this book. AND after working on the car for a few hours a day for 3 days I REPAIRED EVERYTHING ALL BY MYSELF!

The parts purchased on my own (battery $105, resistor $22 from BMW itself (NOT $280 by a long shot!), and belt used for $60) came to only $180! I saved over $500 BUCKS in BS labor charges!!
This book paid for itself 10 fold within days of getting it! I better diagnosed my car with this book than that rip off import service station did with my $68!

The book does not really baby you, so you have to read it carefully and get a feel for your car yourself. But I tell you once you start fixing all these problems which are exaggerated by the standard con - mechanic for 1/4 the cost adn putting in the parts yourself, you can really get impowered.

I can tell you one thing I dont think I will ever use a mechanic again. Although I might call one after doing my next fix it job to see what a rip off they really are! HAHA

All I can say is get the book. If you want the repair done right you have to do it yourself. Ultimately it is cheaper, faster and easier. ( no BS waits for your car to come back, with a BS phone call stating the seriousness of the supposed malady! Your car still waiting in their shop with them hoping you can be suckered into fixing your car under their rip off conditions!)

I highly recommend the book. If you work through it and use it as you are fixing your car, you are definitely going to save big money!

The book is expensive BUT IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY TOO!

most of the reviews here are for the book by Coehlo-- a modern fairy tale about "following your heart". THE BOOK ON THIS PAGE IS BY BEN JOHNSON the famous renaissance poet. Someone out there in amazon.com land should fix this!!!

Ben Jonson, although modern audiences find him difficult to read, played an important role in the development of the English comedic play. Volpone is a dark comedy that explores the twisted world of a con artist and his toady. The play demonstrates Jonson's awareness of the hypocrisy of social situations. Similarly, Bartholomew Fair takes the reader on a tour of the seamier side of seventeenth century London life. Zeal of the Land Busy, a religious hypocrite, still speaks to our generation when questions of religious expression still plague us. Epicene is a gender-bender in which the ideal silent woman turns out to be a man. The Alchemist, although the most difficult of the plays to read, is worth the effort, as it explores the questions of knowledge, ownership of knowledge, and abuse common in today's world.

I recently read the early 17th century comedy "Volpone", my first introduction to Ben Jonson. I was surprised by how well Jonson's humor had traveled through 400 years of cultural change. I did have difficulty with Jonson's dedication (several pages), the introductory argument, and the prologue as well as a "Pythagorean literary satire" in Act One, Scene One. But thereafter I found the humor to be natural and enjoyable. I even found myself somewhat sympathetic for the unscrupulous Volpone, Mosca, Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino. I immediately hunted around on my dustier bookshelves for other works of Ben Jonson.

"Epicene" was less easy to digest, but was worth the effort. There is a surprising twist in the final scene and I suggest that the reader avoid any literary criticism or introductions to "Epicene" until after your first reading. I had less empathy for the characters in "Epicene" and it was difficult to identify any "good guys". The characters were not terribly disagreeable, but simply dilettantes that had little concern for morality or ethics. The dialogue is more obscure (and more bawdy) than in "Volpone". I found it helpful to first read the footnotes for a scene before actually reading the scene itself.

"The Alchemist" is more like "Volpone". The main characters are unscrupulous con-men; their targets are gullible, greedy individuals. I learned quite a bit about alchemy, at least alchemy as practiced by 17th century con-men. As with "Volpone" and "Epicene", I was unable to predict how Ben Jonson would bring the play to a satisfactory conclusion. I enjoyed "The Alchemist" and I expect that I will read it again. I don't know if it is performed very often, but it would probably be quite entertaining.

"Bartholomew Fair" introduces a large, motley collection of characters that largely converse in lower class colloquialisms that require some effort to master. The comedy was intended in part to be a satire on Puritans and thereby please King James, but it was equally an introduction to the varied individuals that might be encountered at an annual fair. It was not easy to keep track of the many characters and I continually referred to the cast listing to reorient myself.

There are a number of collections of Ben Jonson's plays. I recommend an inexpensive collection, "The Alchemist and Other Plays", publish by Oxford University Press as a World's Classic. The introduction, glossary, and explanatory footnotes by Gordon Campbell are quite good. Begin with either "Volpone" or "The Alchemist" if you are new to Jonson. I hope you are as surprised and pleased as I was.

This book did not deliver what I was expecting. I thought there would be detailed examples of the use of biological concepts in computing. Unfortunately I was very wrong.

There are some examples, however they are very vague with little or no detail. Frequently the author asserts a technique has too many applications to go into in any detail without boring the reader. Next he proceeds to rattle off a dozen vague applications such as scheduling, optimization, etc. without giving enough information about the application to be useful.

The center of the book contains a number of pictures that are the result of one technique or another. Unfortunately he does not elaborate on how any of them were created. I enjoyed seeing the coffee table his computer designed. Unfortunately the only explaination he gave on how the program worked was something to the effect that it was complicated. A bit more detail or perhaps even code would have been much better.

Beyond my perceived technical shortcomings, the author's style did not appeal to me. For example he wrote a fairly detailed account of what it might be like (as though a virus could think) to be a virus invading a host. Perhaps this was an attempt to engage the readers' imaginations. If so, the effect was wasted on this reader.

Two stars seemed right as there are worse books in the world. However I doubt most people would gain much from reading it.

I agree with other reviewers of this book who say that it doesn't deal with any of its topics deeply (as the author says in the book, it's just a summary of conversations he had with the scientists he gives all of about half a page to each, and material he found on the Internet) and that the writing is just a shade above mediocre. The author isn't a bad writer, necessarily, he's just very inconsistent. If he stuck with facts instead of pretending to be a fiction or magazine writer, he'd do well. Also, if he stuck with a British voice and didn't cater to Americans, that would be a good move. If you want to tailor your writing to an American audience, fine--do that and don't make a point of it. Otherwise, stick with your native tendencies, as it tends to make the book more readable.

This book is just ok. A few parts were downright painful, but mainly just because of the writing. The content was never painful, just boring in many places. For anybody with a background in complex adaptive systems, current computer science research, or any of the in vogue areas like network theory or chaos, this book can easily be put aside for others. If you're a layperson just looking for an introduction to the research being done connecting computers and biology, this book might be good. For serious readers, there are better books like 'At Home in the Universe' by Stuart Kauffman (excellent) and 'Complexity' by Mitchell Waldrop (also excellent). Those books are much older, but much more thought-provoking and well-written. They may not cover some of the newest research, but this book covers everything with such lack of depth you won't really get anything more out of reading it.

In short: not a bad book, but could have been much better in writing and content, and serious readers would do better elsewhere.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Since reading it, I have refocused most of my spare time into studying artificial life, microcosms, complexity, bottom-up organization, etc...
If you have a computer science or programming background you will find the first chapter boring. Everything else is golden!

I previously read Deborah Gordon's book about the social behavior of ants. And, I'm currently reading "Emergence" (Stephen Johnson). Next on the list is "Turtles, Termites and Traffic Jams" (Resnick).

Since our VW dealership is uncapable of working on our Jetta and most all VW's, this book has helped us tremendously. Many other people have run into the same problems when dealing with a VW dealership. So, like most others, we have decided to work on our own VW. It is a must have for any VW owner! We were very dissatisfied with the shipping and had to wait forever for this book. But, you can't beat the price and it is worth the wait.

I am not an "auto mechanic" by any means, so I was pleasantly surprised when I recently ordered this book and used it to remove and replace the exhaust manifold gasket on my '94 Jetta. The book gave very detailed and easy to understand instructions to aid me in my task. The book has also helped me with other various tasks, including a complete front and back brake job and a complete tune-up. The book has already saved me hundreds of dollars & I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking about working on their own water cooled Volkswagen.

This book is the bible for third generation Jetta, Golf and Cabrio maintenance and repairs. With hundreds of pages covering a wide variety of topics, it is definitely well worth the money. It has already saved me big $$$ since I got it. If you use this manual and buy your parts online (from auction sites for example), I'm sure that you will be able to save a lot of money as well!

I was very disappointed with this book. I bought it for my son, Nicholas, thinking he would be excited about a book with his name in it. The story is about a boy, who has very wealthy parents, who obviously care more about their money than anything else. When Nicholas is shipwrecked and lands, alone, on an island, he is happy to be away from his family. His parents worry at first and offer a reward to find him, but as time passes they spend the reward money on more jewels. How awful! I could just imagine what kind of message this would send to my sweet 5 year old son. A terrible book!

Poor Nicholas is the child of boring well-moneyed parents. He hates the wealthy life and longs for real adventure. Well.. In this excellently-illustrated book he gets it, finding happiness and fun on a desert island.

The best thing about this book (aside from the great story and fun illustrations) is it's boldness. It dares to express the fantasies that all children have at times of escape from unhappiness into adventure, companionship, and a simpler life.

Stodgy billionaire parents will not like this book!

One of my favorite books as a child, a creative story. Ann McGovern did a great job on this wonderful story. And to accent the wonderful writing, Tomie de Paola did wonderful illustrations.