Not as good as TCFC, but compiles a few good arguments.
344034
This time Strobel covers some of the major claims against faith in God, and in particular, arguments against Christianity. He starts by talking to skeptic Charles Templeton, and from there proceeds to question several scholars.  My criticism to "Case for Christ" still applies here; Strobel did not directly interview many sceptics, but simply mentioned some of their claims to Christian scholars, who tried to refute the problems. If the reader keeps in mind that this title clearly isn't intended to be a debate, it's not a problem. Strobel tries to defend his faith as well as he can, and that's what you probably will be reading the book for. Anyone wanting more arguments from the other side will have to read separate titles (Strobel mentions many skeptic works).
Strobel interviews Peter Kreeft (problem of evil and suffering), William Lane Craig (Miracles and science), Walter L Bradley (attacking evolution), Norman Geisler (God's violence on innocents), Ravi Zacharias (Problems on Jesus being the only way to God), J.P. Moreland (Eternal torture in Hell), John D. Woodbridge (Church History and violence) and Lynn Anderson (Belief while in doubt). My favorite expert was definitely William Lane Craig, showing once again all his knowledge while dealing with such a hard subject. I expected better from Geisler, who needs no introduction but left me feeling that the subject was not as well defended as it could have been. Woodbridge's interview was good. Strobel did focus the book on the toughest intellectual obstacles to belief, missing a few, but hitting the major ones. Unfortunately, this book will be somewhat unsatisfying for anyone looking for more depth and rigor then dealing with the most difficult questions about God and the divine.  Beginners will value the brevity and plain language of the interviews, but it will limit its power to make hardcore skeptics feel in trouble; I can't blame Strobel on this however, that's the price to pay for having such complexity reduced to accessible answers, and one should keep in mind that each one of the 8 problems covered is complex enough to fill a whole fat book, or a pile of them. Anyone who finds this title interesting should also take a look at "Letters From a Skeptic" by Gregory Boyd, which covers many similar questions and supplies more satisfying answers in a few aspects. And of if you want to balance it with something from the other side, "What is Atheism?" by Krueger is a easy way to start.
While "The Case for Faith" compiles many good arguments against questions made by doubters, it doesn't have as much impact as "The Case for Christ" and will probably take more fire from skeptics, but this is still a good contribution, almost always captivating no matter if you believe or not.  (Reviewer Bill Hays from Tustin did a good job showing some of the problematic issues covered, but didn't mention that the point of this book is precisely defusing some of those claims; Also, Strobel can hardly be considered dishonest for not mentioning he's a pastor, since anyone can easily see all that simply by...Reading the back cover)  You might also like to know that this title is well organized, includes a nice compact Summary of his previous book (TCFC), useful for those who missed it, supplies references to both pro and against books and also a includes a good Index.
21236
One of the major problems I found with this book is that Dawkins tries to cover just about every issue in the atheism vs. theism debate that has ever been heard.  I would have appreciated it if he had whittled it down a bit or at least had a more central focus to his book, but this book seems to be a more general covering of every topic imaginable.

Also in this book there will be a lot of topics that the reader probably won't be familiar with, and will have to look up, if they've never read up on atheism or any of the debates concerning the existence of God.  For example the reader might not know what NOMA refers to, what false positives and false negatives mean, or anything about game theory or what the term group selection means.  Fortunately I had already read up on that stuff (except NOMA) but I still had to occasionally look up some topics on the Internet for further reference.

There were a few topics that I didn't agree with which is why I gave it three stars.  I don't agree with memetics, the anthropic principle, his idea that some parameters of the Universe can be "tweaked".  He also said Jesus never existed, which is crazy.  What I was really hoping for were some original arguments against the existence of God, and some good reasons to be an atheist.

Needless to say it's hard to enjoy this book if you're already highly opinionated, but sometimes you can find little tidbits of information that can be informative.  Dawkin's understanding of evolution can be quite informative and gives good examples of animal behavior that can be compared to human behavior.  A lot of people also give him a bad rap because of his strong criticism of Old Testament morality but I found it to be quite accurate when compared to the kind of morals that most Christians espouse today.

Although a few of the topics covered are dated, overall this is good introduction to atheism and some contemporary arguments in the debate about the existence of God, which I'm keeping in mind when I give this three stars.  Be prepared to look things up but also don't be afraid to flip through a few other books on human behavior, natural selection, genetics, and the God debate.  I recommend this book and any other (modern) books on atheism if you want to stay up to speed.
1675425
The thesis of Carl Trueman's book is that creeds and confessions are a necessary part of Christian worship. He argues against the idea that the Bible is the only source of creeds and confessions believing that creeds and confessions are important adjuncts to scripture because they define the way the church interprets the scripture. Furthermore, creeds and confessions are public documents that allow for discussion and disputation about beliefs.

While I believe that Trueman has a good point about formal worship requiring a formal grounding, I found the book repetitious. He makes good arguments for the necessity for creeds as a succinct statement of faith. He also presents a short history of the Christian church's reliance on creeds as an adjunct to scripture which I found fascinating.

I can't recommend this book unless you are a pastor or lay person looking for illumination of the question of whether the Bible is sufficient or whether creeds are a necessary part of Christian worship.
913142
Definitely buy this book if you are interested in seeing some of the arguments provided by many atheists today. However, if you're looking for well-thought-out ideas, look elsewhere. Hitchens tries to fill in the holes in his logic with snazzy writing, but his ideas just don't hold up to any solid scientific test. (Although be warned that his writing sounds very convincing to simple-minded people who believe everything they read.)

He tries to offer a wide range of ideas, but when you step back, his primary argument is that God doesn't exist because there are some truly stupid religious denominations out there, doing stupid things. I do agree that there are plenty of stupid religious zealots in this world, but to say that THAT means there is no God... it just doesn't make sense. It's like saying there's no such thing as good food just because there are a lot of bad cooks.

He tries to add topping to his malformed cake with more illogical and hypocritical arguments. For example, Hitchens takes some time out to bash the arrogance of religious zealots. No problem there, but it implies that he is less arrogant than them. Personally, I think he is equally or more arrogant. Just like the religious zealots he criticizes, he believes he has all the answers. I see no difference in the arrogance there, but at least the zealots assume that they are less than God and could not have been created without God, while Hitchens assumes he is self-made, which seems to be slightly more arrogant.
527169
A virtue of Dewhurst's book is its brevity. He's condensed into 63 items guidelines that promise to be useful to many C++ programmers. Naturally, you're expected to already be conversant with the basics. You can write and compile a C++ program. But rather than produce a huge tome, he offers tips that are 3 to 4 pages long. Pragmatic and quick advice. The tips are also random access. You can pick an item and it rarely depends on earlier items.

This does mean that there is a slight grab-bag ambience. When you read a typical book on coding, it is often necessarily linear. Dewhurst has a different emphasis.

The items are also not that difficult. Deliberately so. Dewhurst avoids the more intricate but relatively rarely used aspects of C++. Nothing on template metaprogramming, for example.
4640415
I decided to give this software a try after reading about the TurboTax debacle.  I would say the functionality is just OK.  There are a few things I like: it lets you move more quickly through the exotic deductions and credits that few people can use, and some of the different explanations/questions are worded a bit more clearly than TT, particularly in the Alternative Minimum Tax section.  As far as dislikes, install was a bit of a pain with a few computer crashes (note, this could be my PC's problem, but I installed TT last year with no issues).  More concerning was the fact that my state's software was not updated yet to allow for deductions for 529 (college fund) contributions.  Hello?  It's February 7. Some of us would like to file now.
4415401
This book is mostly about Lackeys journey as a Unitarian. She uses Scripture to support her argument for Unitarianism and against the Trinity Doctrine. She touches upon the terror that Trinitarians have used to force the Trinity Doctrines on Unitarians. Further, she identifies and discusses the absurdities, flaws, and inconsistencies of the Trinity Doctrine. The Trinity Doctrine does not come from the Scriptures; its origin is Greek philosophy.

She affirms what a religious commentator, for want of a better term, used to say: The quickest way to get kicked out of a church is to ask questions  especially about its doctrines. He also said that he was convinced that Christianity was the true religion because it has survived 2000 years of Christians. She describes some of these Christians to whom he refers.

Lackey shows that new math is not that new. It goes back to the fourth century when church leaders discovered that 1+1+1=1.

However, she displaces some ignorance about Jews. She confused Jews and Israelites. The two are not the same; they are not identity. Moreover, the Talmud is not merely a commentary on the Old Testament as she claims. Apparently, she does not realize that the Talmud (what Jesus called the traditions of men) is the Jewish holy book, not the Old Testament. Also, she cites more than once the verse where John calls the Jews antichrist without realizing that he was referring to the Jews. Moreover, she seems not to realize Judaism is a decedent of Pharisaism. In short, she Judaizes too much.

Furthermore, telling where her quoted material begins and ends is often difficult.

If you are looking for a human-interest type of book by a Unitarian, this book serves that purpose. If you are looking for a systematic Scriptural defense of Unitarianism or a systematic Scriptural argument against the Trinity Doctrine, pass this book by. Also, if you are looking for a history of Unitarianism or a history on the development of the Trinity Doctrine, pass this book by. Nevertheless, her book does bring Jesus into better focus.
3329597
This book covers a lot of topics, some with quite a bit of theories, and some with sample codes which can be accessed online (more chapters are added a couple of weeks after my purchase). In general, the authors achieved their goal of balancing the breadth and depth of the topics in OpenCV. That said, it falls a bit short on my expectation of "Blueprints". For one, the parameters could have been better explained.
3553286
Does a decent job of illustrating how prototypal inheritance works and touches on some of the things in javascript that you should steer clear of, but the author spends more time building his own library on top of javascript than discussing javascript itself. I expected a bit more out of this book.
3931893
I believe that this is an interesting book that makes some good points against religious views. Particularly his attacks against religious experience are compelling. There is a little bit of an unfairness as he argues that there are positive benefits to atheism but then points out against the religious that positive benefits to religion does not make it Truth. As a Christian, I think these arguments can be too generic and I am looking forward to reading his book that specifies Christian doctrine.
1478090
For the half C-note it costs, this book is more than worth it, if only for the included RHL 8 Cd's, which you would pay nearly as much for at your local store, and just for the CD's.  Unfortunately this isn't *quite* as 100% comprehensive as the cover claims, what I've noticed missing has been a few minor commands that the average Linux user most likely already knows (and that the beginner user wouldn't need anyway).  Although this certainly isn't *specifically* designed for a total Linux newbie, it *is* written well enough that the average person can get up and running without having touched Linux before, assuming they can make a few leaps of faith.  I myself have only been using Linux for a few months, and I've already learned more in the past four days with this book than in the precceding months without it.  Forget online documentation thats spotty, hard to read or a string of 404 File not Found, this is the way to go.
3522024
This book provides an excellent bird's eye view of atheistic philosophy, but falls remarkably short of being remotely useful when arguing with the average zealot.
I bought this book pumped about getting those fantastic barbs that one can plant quickly and effectively.  What I got was a rehash of the month we spent on atheistic/theistic arguments in my freshman Philosophy 101 course.  In being a quick rehash, it does a commendable job.  The arguments are well spelled out in simple terms and frequent examples are given.  The book is a very quick read.  There are only 124 pages.
For quick shots in for an argument with your born-again cousin, I recommend you look elsewhere.  I highly recommend From Preacher To Atheist and the Jesus Puzzle.
However there are some interesting tid-bits that I managed to file away in the Useful In An Argument file.  The chapter on the problem of evil is quite well done.  And as every casual atheist debater knows, the first thing you have to establish is that the burden of proof is on the theistic point of view.  You will find lots of ammo on this topic.  The chapters on God and the Mind and God on the Universe are useful, but you will find more good information elsewhere.
All in all, I would contend that this book provides an excellent introduction to scholarly study of theistic/atheistic arguments, but lacks the punch and brevity of argument required for more casual debate.
Three stars  -HawkeyeGK
2754468
More like 3.5 Stars, but not a 4. Overall worth the price of admission, but I can say this book will probably collect a lot of dust on my shelf after the first read. There are some unique aspects to this book that I found pretty useful, but the book is plagued with strong personal perspective that may not be valuable to certain types of C users. The author makes some fairly strong assumptions about what it is people do with the C programming language, which aren't universally valid.

Upsides :
- Easy to read
- Good discussions of tools and the value of those tools that you won't find in many other resources
- Points out major differences between C standards that are actually worth knowing
- Solid ideas for clean code, and some good tips on efficient workflow and use of the aforementioned tools

Neutral :
- The punk rock analogy and "punk" references (some of them hardly related to the genre) didn't really do much to illustrate any points for me or serve to make the content or concepts any clearer.
- Depth of explanation isn't consistent. Some topics are treated as though you're starting from square one, while others kind of leap in, and there's no rhyme or reason as to what topic gets what treatment.

Downsides :
- The "what you should know" or the experience level you should have, doesn't align with the content of the book. I've been programming in C for roughly a decade, and about seven years of commercial work with C as my primary language, and I was in the dark on things I apparently should just already know which leads to the next thing...
- The target audience for this book is kind of narrow. A large portion of the population using C is using it for embedded applications and computing. If you're an embedded developer who works on anything other than hogs of applications processors, run far, far away from a lot of the assumptions this book makes.
271166
Although this book is several decades old now, it is still a useful guide to Christian life. The author does a good job of discussing several specific issues the church and the Christian need to address; while he does not go into detail about any of these issues, he does say enough to cover each topic pretty well. As the subtitle says, this is an introductory guide to Christian theology (not "introduction guide" as this listing shows); it has the feel of a primer or textbook. In fact, each chapter ends with a set of questions drawn from the material just covered--I myself don't feel these questions are that useful, and I imagine most readers will just skip right over them. Early on, DeMaray tries to prove that God exists; while I do not argue with his conclusion, I did find the kinds of logical arguments he uses to make his case pretty weak (i.e., if the world exists, God exists; if sin exists, God exists, etc.). Since faith in God is a prerequisite for Christianity, I feel he could have just skipped over the philosophically impossible task of proving God exists. I was particularly interested in reading the author's opinion concerning several key sacraments and other issues, particularly baptism. As a Southern Baptist who believes in believer's baptism by immersion, I thought the author might present this belief in a negative light. However, I found that the author does a very good job of addressing the differing beliefs among all Christian denominations on this and every other topic (with the exception of the Catholic belief in purgatory, which he does criticize to some degree). Moreover, he goes out of his way to express the thought that faith is much more important than the form in which that faith is expressed.
4972124
This book i the bible of C++, but arguments are not explained in the right way. Code snippets too short and sometime with errors, too distant from very practical and everyday programming.
Not useful for who has to optimize learning time.
17826
I was rather excited about this book because I too like the O'Reilly Cookbooks and such titles, and this seems in that vein. Also, O'Reilly doesn't seem interested in updating the Cookbook any time soon, sadly, with AS2 examples and so forth, so I picked this one up.

Many of the tricks in the book are neat, especially for the beginner-to-intermediate target audience. However, I found the examples not very useful because they are (generally) written in ActionScript 1.0 rather than 2.0, even though the book's cover claims that it's intended for MX 2004. All the code reflects this short-sightedness.

All of the tweening is hand-coded, rather than using the classes that now come with Flash (and are very nice). Thing is, if I were to learn to write tweening code, I would learn from Robert Penner's book, and learn it right! If I'm just making neat menu interfaces, for instance, I would prefer to learn to use Macromedia's own code, and spend more time writing code that was more object oriented. The examples in this book are good, is what I'm saying, but the way you are taught is very limiting. It seems like more of a compendium of examples.

It just bothers me, at this point, to pick up new books that still use older coding styles. The problem is, when the student moves on to write object-oriented code, they have to rewrite all their old code which uses MovieClip prototypes and the like. It's like building a house on already-crumbling foundation. It would have been a great book, two years ago.
2783484
I bought this book hoping to help create GUI apps in Linux.  All it does is walk the reader through hand-coded GUIs, with a little bit of info on using the Qt4 Designer.  It is up to the reader to use a text editor to hand-code the rest.  It makes no mention of Qt Creator, which integrates a GUI designer and editor very nicely.

Qt Creator also includes several examples on how to create apps using the whole package.

I give the book 3 stars because it is a good book for those who want to hand-code a spread sheet without the use of a visual GUI designer.  It shows how to include Qt's large libraries, and tap into them.  But for me it was a waist of $$$.