Out of date, too practical
583843
Do not buy this book as it is out of date and the information it contains is no longer relevant.
This book is aimed at helping people set up an ISDN connection on their PC and showing them how to use some simple  software applications such as CU-SeeMe. Nothing more.
It has no  information on the internals of ISDN whatsoever and the information it  contains is out of date. ("Cable modems are on the horizon . .  .").
I can't beleive it even recomends using ISDN for a small  business LAN!
1945007
This book was the the first book that I purchased when I began researching getting my first bird.  As my knowledge grew I learned that most, if not all of the information in this "new" book was VERY out of date.  When this book was written we were still catching birds in the rainforest, feeding them only seed and water, and not understanding their basic emotional, dietary and medical needs. There are many wonderful books out there that help you choose, and raise the right parrot species for your lifestyle - this is not one of them.  Check the copywrite date.  Anything written before 1992 (when we stopped importing and started really hand raising and learning what our feathered companions need) is probably out of date and is only good for the pictures.
Please, for the sake of your future companion, get a book written recently, with up to date information, or find a breeder to ask what to read.  Do your research first, but make sure that it good research.
2198460
Like whistle chains, dump pouches, and callbox keys, this book has become outdated in the world of modern policing.  Tips on how to spend your 2 hours of detention to verify a person's identity?  Take them to roll call, scan their fingerprint, done.  Give your informants your pager number and pager codes?  Cell phone's pretty much killed that.  Remove the coil wire from a suspect's vehicle?  What hood opens from the outside any longer?  How to identify a early 80's car that's been hotwired?  Not such useful knowledge now.

There are some gems of wisdom in the book, but they are extremely general.  I think maybe there are three pages in this book that I said "huh, I learned something" and that keeps it from being 1 star.  Its not a total waste, but I wouldn't drop $20 on it.  If you're a brand new rookie, you might impress your FTO with something you found, but I wouldn't count on it.
1916258
This book came highly recommended but is just too outdated at this point to be functional. If you are looking for an etiquette book for outdated times this maybe it but if you are looking to talk to folks and possibly learn from them this is not the book.
2860223
I agree with the majority of the comments about the layout and information presented in this book.  The problem is that much of the information is outdated.  The current standard for writing websites is HTML5 and CSS3.  Both of these are briefly mentioned in the text, but the emphasis is on older code conventions that will run in the most current browsers, they do not offer the features that the newer code offer.  I considered returning the book, but will keep it for reference purposes for when I am updating older websites.
4261666
Terribly out of date.  The structure of the PMP certification exam has changed considerably since this was published 15 years ago.  The included CD was for Windows 2000 machines.  I bought a relic!  Fortunately the $5 price and Mint condition means that I have a nice display piece for the bookshelf.  That's pretty much all it is good for.
3274614
First, this book is a bit out of date...  10 years old now.  The author talks of many "current" technologies, but explanations and comparisons of the products are limited at best.  There is a lot of emphasis on converting carburated engines to fuel injection, but only specific examples are given when it comes right down to it, leaving many people and possibilities out in the cold.
For those wishing to derive their own fuel-injection systems, this may be a good starter book, but leaves the reader with more questions than answers.  It looks at converting a large cross-section of cars and trucks in the case-studies section, but only gives a general overview of the processes, with no real technical data to back them up or explorations of other options, which would be very helpful.
1376242
Unfortunately, this book suffers from a lack of timely perspective.  The basis of the assumptions that the authors make regarding how media is planned is probably 5-10 years out of date.  I know this having been in strategic media planning for almost 40 years at several major agencies and media management services.  Much of the research about consumer media behavior and habits is interesting and can come in handy for presentations. But this information (and much more detail) is all available online.  The book is out of date and just not worth the money. I didn't even bother to finish it.
1205486
I have used this book as a reference source for over two years. Overall, I appreciate the clear way Ms. Castro has explained all of the programming  concepts. The newer edition contains an excellent section on cascading  style sheets, which is very helpful.
Unfortunately, this book is  seriously out of date and may not be good for someone starting out. The  newest version of HTML is really XHTML, a stricter form of html that  insists on closing all tags. The W3 standards body is now pushing that and  deprecating the use of html code without the proper end tags. But when Ms.  Castro first wrote the book, it wasn't as important to close all tags, so  all of her examples contain unclosed tags. The html may still work if you  code with Ms. Castro's style in current browsers, but it is no longer the  accepted way of coding. Don't just believe me; read any of the dozens of  sites that talk about xhtml v. html.
This standard just changed a year  ago, so Ms. Castro cannot be blamed for this problem. Undoubtedly now, she  knows about the standard,  and the latest edition must have come out before  the examples could be changed. But actually the xhtml standard was  announced in fall, 1999, so it's strange that the publisher did not delay  publication if only to revise the examples.
Another problem with the  book is that it really doesn't address browser differences head on.  Nowadays coders have to face a seriously outdated netscape browser and an  IE browser that uses a lot of proprietary tags. Often good coding depends  on understanding how browsers treat things. This book needs a discussion of  what style sheet things are supported in each of the browsers. Given web  trends, it might even make more sense to try learning xml instead of having  to deal with the vagaries of different browsers.
In summary: an  excellent book, but her habit of not closing tags in her examples is  seriously wrong and out-of-date.
2385711
I know that HTML5 is a moving target, but still, this book felt more like a draft than a "definitive guide." This is exacerbated by the fact that it is now fairly outdated.

A little background--I have been making software since the late 90s. I used to be pretty strong in Web dev, but for the last several years, I've been focused on other things. What I was looking for was a one-stop, comprehensive overview to refresh my knowledge. This book probably gets you like 85% of the way there for that, mainly due to its being as I said a bit outdated. For instance, there is no coverage of Web workers.

The other minor beef I have is the examples. I've actually done a lot of technical writing myself, so I know it's always a challenge to balance between simplicity and focus on the current thing being taught and at the same time being somewhat realistic and relevant to real work in the field. For me, this book was a tad too much on the simple side. In fact, in some areas, it felt like not much more was being offered over just reading the specs themselves. Actually, a few times I had to look up the specs to really get a better idea of what a thing was meant for. It's almost as if the author really didn't understand or, at least, value the purpose of the element, so he just barely covered it.

A good thing to do for a book on an emerging technology is to offer online updates. Even if it were nothing more than minor corrections/additions, it would help keep the book relevant for longer.

For all that, it did serve its purpose for me as a good starting point for updating my knowledge. I can't strongly recommend the book. I'd suggest looking for something more recently published (as I should have done). If the publisher and author were to offer an update/supplement, as I said, it would make this book more viable and recommendable.
4620331
This was recommended by an acquaintance, but it is old and out of date. Not what I was hoping for.
4544720
If I were writing a review of this book by Mr. Ayoob twenty years ago, I would have given it five stars. While much of the info in this book is still relevant today (e.g. the self-defense techniques demonstrated) - a lot of the info in the text is woefully out-dated. For example, there have been great developments in handguns since this book was first published. So while the advice he gives on gun selection was sound 1983, it really needs to be updated - I'll bet even the author would agree with me on this. Mr. Ayoob praises the PR-24 (Police Baton) at length in his book. Today, you'll be hard-pressed to find a Police Department that hasn't switched to the telescopic style of Baton (which doesn't look aggressive until deployed or get left in the patrol car). The same goes for OC (Pepper-spray). Perhaps in 1983 pepper sprays were, "useful only as dog repellents and have little if any effect on humans", but today's pepper-sprays work quite well, thank-you (ask your local G-8/APEC/WTO protester). I have used pepper spray on the job (and have had it used on me) and I can assure you while not 100% effective on 100% of the people 100% of the time, (short of a bazooka - what is?) the stuff works. So in essence, what the other reviewers are saying about this book (favorable comments) are true, but in my opinion this book badly needs an update/overhaul. Having said that, for the price of the book (cheap!) it is still full of practical advice. There you have it: the truth about, THE TRUTH ABOUT SELF PROTECTION.
1320954
After a quick perusal, I found this book to be highly out-dated in today's context. Content-wise, it is more of a career planning guide for first timers, & not a systematic comprehensive life/work planning guide as suggested in the secondary title of this book. This was my mistake, as I was attracted by the latter. I originally thought that I could pick up some winning fundamentals of life/work planning.

Worst of all, this book used the old-fashioned typewriter fonts, & was printed in a manuscript format, which further aggravated my reading process.

Fortunately, my copy is a used one, which I have bought very cheaply from an online shop.

On the whole, I have been very disappointed.
1379573
Even though there are some "timeless" techniques in this book, The rest of it is hopelessly outdated (do you keep your files in your briefcase or on your laptop?, rolodex anyone?).
The original of this must have been printed in the mid to late 90's. The corporate landscape has changed dramaticly since then.
Wish Mr. Tracy would update it for the socialmedia and networking world of today.
822697
This book dates back to 1999, and since I'm writing this in 2006, that's seven years ago. Seven years is a long time for computer documentation. Virtually everything in the book is so far out of date that it's useless. The authors also didn't do a very good job of staying on topic; there are many long digressions that are neither interesting nor useful. In many cases, the authors merely give a broad-strokes outline of how to accomplish a particular task, or talk about several different approaches that have been taken by different people, without concluding with anything very helpful about how to actually accomplish the task.
3371347
This book is out of date; it has an updated cover but the content is old. DK books are usually excellent; this one is not quite right. Buy something more current.
693490
This book was great for its time. However as you can see from the publication date and the reviews, it was one of the first really popular one of its kind. Here we are in 2012 and there have been so many other works of this theme, much more up to date, with the latest science and the information, that this publication is nearly obsolete. If you must, it is a fun read. But do yourself a favor and look for much more recent books containg much better and up to date informaion.