Some good stuff, a few great--but don't break the law, dude
581209
As expected from the title, the chapters are divided by continents; as a geography major oh so long ago, I approve of including both North and South as simply America. And as a photographer whos been all over the world, its a joy to find there are still places I haven't visited and shot. I even smiled in commiseration as he talked about crying when he finally got the perfect shot after four days of waiting for the weather to clear.
 Like many people, Ive taken that iconic Catalina sunset shot, but never with a purple sky. Same with Acapulco. The shot of the desert sunset in Brazil is prob my fave. But when he talks about his encounter with the hunters going after bears. . . um, did you forget about the BEAR part? Get out of there!
 Some of the shots are very colorful but otherwise no big deal, technique-wise. What I particularly couldn't stand is how casually he broke the law at Iguazu and Masai Mara, and repeating it in his book like hes trying to show himself as some kind of badass. That kind of thing gives photographers a bad name, and will make it harder for the next guy who visits there and has no intention of breaking the law. Not cool; I can only hope you're not an American dentist, dude.
 As a vanity project, its not bad. There are some fabulous shots, others are pedestrian, most are in the middle.
245810
For the current price of 99 cents, you can't really complain - there is some wonderful music on here, worth much more than 99 cents. However, some of the performances are not so great. I won't name names because it sounds like some reviewers are content with these performances and that's fine. I just had to skip some of the shakier performances, and will likely create my own playlist based on the better performances for future listening. That playlist will probably be at least 4 hours long, which makes this collection excellent value.
1909833
About half of this is not of interest except to the most die-hard of Hendrix completists. But there is also much worth owning for the less rabid. There is some duplication of material (I realize that in many cases there are many alternate takes of songs, but in the case of this collection they are not signifigantly better or different). However, having said that, there is still a lot of very good material for those who are not-quite-completists. Some very good. And some very interesting in their rarity; some not yet found on bootlegs (although they may be of bootleg sound quality). This is definitely worth owning and enjoyable for serious fans who have a fair amount of posthumous material and whom are pleased with it (but who may not be into bootlegs that much). It is markedly rougher than the year 2000 "purple velvet" anthology, althought this in itself is also an anthology of sorts. There are so many instances of songs that I really like that I don't really want to go into it here. But again about half of it one could do without. It is important to read the liner notes to become informed of the history of these pieces and how they fit into the greater body of work (and signifigance in his life). But I think the set would be far improved if it were trimmed down to 2 cd's instead of four. Still, the good material is there, so you can program around it or burn 2 cd's of your favorite pieces. I like it a lot.
4917686
With 2 long discs here, GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME has a lot of good to great material on it. What stands out to me the most here is Sellers' amazing ability to do a great variety of voices, including his British upper-class snob, his British commoner, and his man from India. Sixteen tracks are songs or include songs. However, some of the material here is NOT among his best work. Disc 1 is almost all good to great stuff, but on disc 2 the quality drops badly.

I take issue with a couple of things. For one, the comments on the front cover suggest that this is ALL comedy material, such as saying this set is "His Best Comedy Moments." OK, about 93% of this is comedy, but some is not meant to be funny at all. For instance, "Jakka and the Flying Saucers" is a very well done children's fantasy story, but is not meant to be funny. Likewise, several songs, such as "I Haven't Told Her, She Hasn't Told Me," are nicely sung by Sellers, but aren't meant to be funny. Also, I would have left off the few tracks that are mean-spirited, namely "Setting Fire to the Policeman" and "Auntie Rotter."

Technically these CDs are very good.  The sound quality is great, with very low distortion. There is the glitch that "The Contemporary Scene, part 2" on disc 2 is actually a repeat of "Face to Face" on disc 1. And the CD case is very attractively done, with good photos of Peter Sellers and 2 including Sophia Loren, a good little essay on Sellers and comedy, and recording data including dates. The best feature of this set is how generous it is, since disc 1 runs 75:13, while disc 2 runs 75:10.

Overall, I think GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME is fairly good, but the EMI Comedy disc of Peter Sellers entitled&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Classic-Songs-and-Sketches/dp/B00004WEUL/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Classic Songs and Sketches</a>" is a more consistently high-quality disc.
2456706
Some great, some good, and some just old jokes.  But well worth the price, will be telling some of these to friends, customers, and family.
52901
Sometimes you have to be careful with these products because there's no guarantee that it'll be good. Certain kits l will NEVER but again (I'm looking at you hamburgers and pizza!) and some just aren't worth the effort. These, however, were quite delicious.
2524101
I have a rule not to let the politics of a person determine whether or not I do business with them. Vox Day, owner of Castalia House, tends to test that rule to the fullest. Having said that, I've been a fan of Jerry Pournelle for a long time, and am glad to see the "There Will Be War" series back on the shelves, if only electronically.

The concept of the anthology is a collection of short stories and short non-fiction about future war. It includes a lot of original stuff and some reprints, and tends to be quality stuff. Here are a few of the specific items I found noteworthy:

The Man Who Wasn't There by Gregory Benford is a near-future reflection on anti-terrorism. Gripping and plausible.

The 4GW Counterforce is a non-fiction discussion of the type of troops needed to fight 4th Generation Warfare. It was interesting, although I will eventually write my magnum opus on 4th GW which (spoiler alert) will say it's just a rehash of fighting the Plains Indians of the 1800s.

Battle Station by Ben Bova - one of the tropes of old-school SF is a World Government, controlling by threat of orbital nuclear annihilation. The question is who controls the bombs? Bova has a gripping answer.

The War Memorial by Allen M. Steele is a short and poignant piece, and reminds us that war is always terrible.

War and Migration by Martin van Creveld is a cranky little piece of non-fiction arguing that every migration of people in history was the same as warfare. It's notable in that Creveld, a migrant to Israel writing for an American audience, exempts from his review certain migrations.

Flashpoint: Titan by Cheah Kai Wai is refreshing in that the heroes of the story aren't primarily Americans.

The Fourth Fleet by Russell Newquist I found irritating for a couple of reasons. The first, which jumped out at me immediately, was the "United States Space Navy" - an entity with no historical explanation or support. The second, which to be fair was a bit of fridge logic, had to do with the big surprise at the end regarding the number of pirates.

Among Thieves by Poul Anderson is a reprint, but a classic of the genre. Essentially, two planets, call them Army Planet and Space Fleet Planet, have been at war for centuries - a war neither can fully win. Earth has been content to let them fight each other to the last of their men. Then an Army Planet leader has a better idea.
1427912
A bunch of stories written by Joe Casey and some other Caseys, some of which are very good, some not so. There's something for everybody in here and it's reasonably entertaining. Artwork varies and I particularly enjoyed the not-so-serious stuff, taking the mick out of 50s comics.
696877
Nice collection.  Too bad this still goes on in some countries.
4752176
Though not a totally stellar collection, there are some stories that I consider real clunkers in this, it is a nice collection by an author not widely known to many people.
  The stories aren't sheer entertainment here, they are entertaining, generally, but of a higher caliber, thought-provoking and displaying a wide-breadth of subject matter and technique. As I mentioned, they can be somewhat cynical, sometimes whimsical,and always satirical.
  Tenn's afterwords to each story provide some interesting insights, and in a couple cases give good reason anyone would display some cynicism
  Overall it was good enough that I shall be trying to get the second volume. The good stories repaid the effort put into reading them and more than made up for the stories I personally did not like.
4102433
"The Hacker Diaries" (THD) will make veterans of the security scene smile and wince.  Smiles come from learning the personalities and quirks of the book's teenage subjects.  Winces result from the perceptions of these teenage wizards' "skilz" and motivations, and the author's own awkward handling of technical concepts.  THD is probably worth buying once it is republished in a cheaper paperback format, or borrowed from your local library.

THD suffers in parts from the author's unfamiliarity with his subject material.  "X Windows" is not quite "an emulator that offers users the familiar Windows interface" (p. 11).  John Vranesevich is not "thought to be one of the best hackers in the world" (p. 207).  (Boy, that was funny.)  While a couple guys from the "Cult of the Dead Cow" were also members of "L0pht," cDc did not become the @Stake company (p. 208).  The Navy "SHADOW" paper of 1998 mostly discovered benign network traffic, not "highly coordinated scans" (p. 169).  (Others fell for this explanation, though.)

Comments about Fairbanks, Alaska's "treeless tundra landscapes" aside, the author clearly did a lot of research and work on this book.  He presents his teenage hacker subjects in clear and captivating prose.  He covers some of the more intriguing security events of the past few years, such as Bill Swallow's undercover work tracking the Serbian underground and revealing Mafiaboy's involvement in DDoS attacks.  Verton captured the essence of H.D. Moore with his comment that "he had the unique ability to speak as quickly as his mind processed his thoughts."  Like Rick Fleming, when I last spoke with H.D. Moore in San Antonio, I also "strained to listen."

THD deserves a high three-star rating, but I couldn't rate it as highly as some of the four-star books I've read recently.  Incidentally, although the author didn't include his own web site in the book's appendices, it's worth a visit.  Maybe next time Verton will direct his considerable energy towards tackling the real sources of danger on the net: organized crime, foreign intelligence sources, and disgruntled insiders?
1471609
I can't quite shake the feeling, after listening to this alien music for the past week or so, that I've been duped.  And though I think Prog is somewhat of a recovery after Give and (esp.) Suspicious Activity, I can't bring myself to totally sign on.

I have thoughts like these as I listen:  Wow, Dave King brings something to his kit that few jazz drummers ever have (although I could do with a little less bombast and heavy-handiness).  Or, Ethan Iverson's displaying some awesome chops (although he still strikes me as awfully mannered).  Or, Reid Anderson actually has some pretty attractive songs on this disc (although the band unnecessarily beats "Physical Cities" to a bloody pulp).

Bottom line--I can't convince myself that these boys aren't stuck in unwitting self-parody.  That is, attitude trumps substance.  To be expected, I suppose, when a band comes with this much hype--and apparently believes it.

Nevertheless, I'm pretty much bowled over by the covers (unlike some of the other reviewers), especially the laconic tumescence of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "This Guy's in Love with You."  "Tom Sawyer" strikes me as funny, and "Life on Mars" as appropriately weird.

Actually, in a lot of ways, this is a pretty killer disc, although, it must be said, the vibe pretty quickly wears thin.  Consequently, I find myself not picking it to listen to for the pure pleasure it gives, but to access its quirkiness.  Which, unfortunately, tends to relegate it to novelty status.

That said, it's quite an attractive novelty.  Somewhere between 3 and 5 stars.
4853236
lovely compilation of some very good, some good, and some not so interesting articles of the [...]

read or follow the main site and if the themes are of your interest be sure to think about ordering the book.
2296907
I understand where the author is coming from having been a policeman myself. Pretty authentic stuff, but feel that with a bit more experience in writing, he could have the makings of some top line writers (Grisham etc). Good luck - quite enjoyable and readable.
1490662
I'm a great fan of this man from way back.  Besides Stan Getz and a few other masters of the saxophone, Gerry is one of the greatest, and while this album would nominally have gotten a 4 out of 5, I'm giving it a 1.  Why?  Because Sony BMG's stupid copy protection ate my windows install.  I've reinstalled everything, but this disk is not going back into my windows box.  It WILL be getting ripped on my linux machine and put on my Creative Micro Zen mp3 player.

I want to address the statements of Skipper in another review.  sorry pal, but both case law and federal law has made it clear in the past that you have every right to make your own archival and personal use copies of all copyrighted material you have paid for.  This hasn't changed.  I bought the disk, I have every right to put it on my mp3 player.  To put me on the same level as pirates is to accuse me, a priori, of being a thief, and I am offended by your comment.  Please educate yourself before you insult honest people by calling them thieves...
3732167
There's  gotta' be a law !!!.....there ain't no way! ...these must be illegal...anytime something is this GOOD !!! .....well you know what's going to happen ....  D.C..........I gotta stock up !!!
107353
Like all anthologies, this collection is a bit hit and miss.  There are truly enjoyable moments while others that are somewhat meh, but over all, there is more excellent than mediocre.

There is not a super obvious flow between these stories, and as such it took me quite a while to figure out why theyd been grouped together.  Yes, they are all vaguely xmas-y and kinky, but thats not really enough to tie six stories together into a cohesive whole.  Near the end I finally realized that while some are very d/s or bdsm heavy, and others have mere flavors of kink, they are all inherently about control.  When to hold onto it and when to let it go, when it needs asserting and when you can allow someone else to take the reins.

As this is a collection of previously available single titles, you might want to check your e-book archives to make sure you aren't purchasing works youve already acquired.  But honestly, at the bundled price its well worth it, even if you do already have one or two of the stories.

One final note unrelated to the actual review:  I have to say, I think potential readers of this collection could benefit from the addition of a trigger warning in the book blurb, as two of the six stories (All He Wants and One Gold Heart) deal with the aftermath of rape.

**For the sake of full disclosure it must be stated that I received this book, free of charge, from Netgalley.**