Cracking the NEW SAT with Sample Tests on CD-ROM, 2005 Edition (College Test Prep)

Average customer rating:

Gave to my son

Pretty Good, but not the best one out there

Horrible

Great Shortcut Techniques, Not Sufficient in Teaching Material

Excellent SAT prep book

Cracking the NEW SAT with Sample Tests on CD-ROM, 2005 Edition (College Test Prep)
Princeton Review
Manufacturer: Princeton Review
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375764291
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Customer Reviews:

Gave to my son .......2007-05-13

I do not think it would be fair of me to review this as my son didn't even bother to use it.

Pretty Good, but not the best one out there.......2006-06-07

I have two main SAT test prep books (and some SAT practice test books and a couple books that focus on particular aspects of the SAT) and this is one of them(along with "The New SAT and PSAT by Sparknotes).

This book was good but not spectacular.

PRO'S
- It gives some good strategies for cracking the sections
- Has outstanding techiques for guessing; more advanced and sophiscated techiniques than anywhere else- this alone makes the book worth the price
- Has explainations for practice tests(though others have said the practice tests are not very accurate to the real ones; I can't be the judge of that so read other reviews)

Cons
- Wide Margins - Unless they expect you to write two paragraphs of notes on every page these margins are too big- Maybe their trying to fluff up the thickness of the book
- I found an error in their drills- nothing major but could've been caught by an editor
-Teaching method isn't as good as Sparknotes "The New SAT and PSAT" book

Overall
This has great guessing strategies but is only average in teaching. I recommend buying this book( makes sure its the 2006 edition or later as they may have fixed some mistakes)along with "The New SAT and PSAT" by Justin Kestler and Ben Florman(Sparknotes)

Also get some Sparknotes Powertactics books, Kaplan workbooks and the College Board SAt Study Guide.

Horrible.......2006-04-09

This is undoubtedly one of the worst SAT review books out there. The tests, including the CD ones, are full of mistakes. Sometimes information necessary to solve the problem is left out. For example "for the above equations, evaluate f(5) - f(3)" only they don't give you the equations. Then, the CD tells you that the answer is wrong, only to explain the right answer with the wrong number. For example if option C is 5 and B is 42 they'll say "no the correct answer is 5 so mark answer B. The "lessons" in the book are ineffably simple - read through it and you'll think to yourself I already know all of this. This is because they use unconscionably easy example questions. For instance a basic algebra "lesson" problem might say X-4=5, what is X. 9 you idiots, what are you wasting my time for. But in the tests the problem would be more like "if x^2= 16 and y^2=4, what is the greatest possible value of (x-y)^2. Yeah, it's no big deal just use the smallest numbers since it's squared (-4-2)^2=36. But you have to have already known that - the book does not tell you how to do real problems, they only give examples too easy to exist. As for the so called "strategies," there's really only two which are common sense. The Princeton Review seems to make mediocrity a goal, and this book is certainly going to get you there. In another one of their books they say something like "Unless you're trying to get a 700 or above, don't finish the math section." Alright, unless you're trying to score 20 points, don't take all of your shots. Why would I shoot for a score less than 700, isn't the point to get as high of a score as you can? Do not buy this book. Do not let your friends buy this book. If someone gives it to you, use it for a doorstop or something.

Great Shortcut Techniques, Not Sufficient in Teaching Material.......2006-03-06

This book is great in teaching you the SAT, (teaching how the creators of the SAT think) not teaching what you learn in school, because the SAT is not like school. It DOES go over all the things you will need to know, giving you handy techniques and tricks to use that save time.
However, in, for example, the Math section (where I had trouble), if you are not completely secure in your knowledge of each type of math they show, don't expect to learn anything. There are NO LESSONS. There may be a five-sentence paragraph on quadratic equations and that's as far as they go to refresh your memory.
So unless you know it all and just need a shortcut, I'd buy this book, but pick up some suppliments that delve more into the teaching material you don't know cold. That way you can familiarize yourself with the concepts first, and THEN learn the tricks this book teaches.

So I'd give this book a 5 as far as knowing the SAT, but a 4 since you will probably need additional material

Excellent SAT prep book.......2006-03-05

For the record, I have never taken any SAT prep classes. One week before my test, I start cracking this book open. The strategies they teach you, though seemingly simple, are invaluble techniques that you can even use on other tests, because they show you the mind of "test-creators." The practice tests are slightly harder than the normal SAT, but by doing this, they prepare you well. The book is easy to read and understand. I haven't used the CD at all, but I have taken all 3 practice tests that are offered in this book. Though I did question some of the answers in the book, they were very few in number and I do not believe that it affected what I learned from this book. I think that it is important to get to know general ideas of the test: how the test works, what questions will be asked, what answer choices are traps, and knowing what kind of answer is the correct answer.

I scored a 1900 the first time; the second time I scored a 2050.

I recommend you get Princeton's Reviews 11 Practice Tests for the New SAT and PSAT if you want more preparation.

Book Description

Well-organized protests turned the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organization in December 1999 into a widely publicized fiasco. Free Trade, Sovereignty, Democracy addresses important questions that are being slighted in the controversy over globalization that was sparked by the events in Seattle. The book takes a penetrating look at major challenges to the WTO and the future of trade liberalization. But it also shows how the WTO is moving in a direction at odds with basic democratic principles. No other study addressing these issues takes into account international legal theory and international relations theory along with the more traditional evaluations of international trade policy by political scientists and economists.

Barfield analyzes the structural flaws of the WTO's new dispute resolution system and focuses on the imbalance between the highly efficient judicial arm of the WTO and the inefficient and unwieldy legislative or rule-making capacity. He describes several specific examples of "judicial creativity" on the part of the WTO Appellate Body, details the difficulties presented by particular disputes, and discusses the pressures to introduce "soft" law and customary law as guiding principles to be utilized in WTO dispute settlements.

Barfield caps his trenchant analysis with policy recommendations that set the course for the WTO in the twenty-first century. He argues that the WTO will have to adopt less judicial, more flexible means of resolving disputes, as well as a blocking mechanism for panel decisions that a substantial number of WTO members oppose. He examines and refutes the claims of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and some multinational corporations that they have a presumptive right to participate more directly in the WTO decisionmaking and dispute settlement processes. For the WTO to achieve continued democratic legitimacy, the study argues, it must remain a "government-to-government" organization, one in which governments make decisions only after sorting through and resolving the demands of competing interests in the domestic political process.

Book Description

This book presents an applied econometric analysis of the demand for food in the Nordic countries. A system of demand equations, based on the neoclassical theory of consumer demand, is analyzed using modern econometric techniques for estimation and evaluation. The models investigated are mainly dynamic versions of the Almost Ideal Demand System, which was first proposed in static form by Deaton and Muellbauer. The authors have incorporated recent econometric advances in misspecification testing, allowing for a thorough investigation of the models. The authors construct well-specified demand systems that explain the historical development of the consumption of different food items in the Nordic countries. Equal attention is paid to the presentation of specific results concerning elasticities, tests, etc., and to the description of the methodology used.
The agricultural economist will find the results and the methodology new and interesting. The applied econometrician will see how a thorough and exhaustive analysis of a data set can be performed and the theoretical econometrician will see how techniques are being applied.

Amazon.com

Who knew making chicken soup could result in years of expensive therapy? According to Myra Chanin's Mother Wonderful's Chicken Soup, this particular potage is a real emotional minefield, apparent in the opening lines of the book: "Early one morning ... when you know your daughter is having a busy day, call your daughter and say you're catching cold. Ask if she can spare a few minutes to drive you to a kosher butcher so you can buy a chicken with feet for soup. Everybody knows chicken soup is the best defense against germs. Remind her how quickly a cold can turn into double pneumonia, which everybody knows is the number one killer of senior citizens...." Obviously, these directions are above and beyond those you find in an ordinary recipe!

Accompanying Chanin's hilarious instructions--covering every step from buying a chicken ("Greet the owner as if he were your favorite brother, rather than a person who intends to sell you a defective chicken") and preparing the soup ("Wash your hands before and after you touch anything.... Avoid adding germs to your soup") to serving it ("When they ask you why you aren't joining them, tell them you'll eat after you finish cleaning the kitchen")--are photographs of the author's own mother demonstrating her technique. Oh yes, there are also many delightful recipes at the back of the book for other chicken dishes and side dishes. Just think--with the money you save using all the parts of the chicken, you'll be able to afford a really great therapist!

Book Description

Early one morning, when you know your daughter is having a busy day, call her and say you're catching a cold. Ask if she can spare a few minutes to drive you to a butcher on the other side of town so you can buy a chicken with feet for soup. Everybody knows chicken soup is the best defense against germs...

Thus begins Myra Chanin's uproarious tribute to the art of making chicken soup. Flavored with a dash of mother-knows-best wisdom and thickened with equal doses of guilt and guile, Mother Wonderful's Chicken Soup is profusely illustrated with photos of Myra Chanin's actual mother, Sylvia. This book is narrated in a voice we can all recognize: "Greet the butcher as if he were your brother instead of a person who intends to sell you an inferior chicken...."

Customer Reviews:

A difficult read...and lackluster illustrations/photos.......1998-05-19

This book was given to me as a gift because I am a great fan of chicken soup. Its off beat humor left me wondering if the author meant this to be an introduction to the Jewish community, or was it written directly to apppeal to that market. I felt lost reading through the book. The photos were more than a bit lackluster, as many were repeated through out the book. The presentation was poor, and I just didn't think that it was funny...as the jacket cover suggests. I rate it as 2.

Humorous tale of a woman's journey into making chicken soup.......1997-05-13

Mother's Day has come and gone, but for Myra Chanin her Mother Wonderful's profusely illustrated guide to the proper preparation of Chicken Soup is a tribute to her mother everyday. In it's second printing, the first was 1984, Mother Wonderful's is a biography of sorts. The story starts out early in the morning with a stereotypical ethnic 'guilt trip' and through the purchase of chicken and other ingredients to the making of the famous "best defense against germs". While reading this book and humorous tale, I was taken back to my childhood and my own grandmother. Twelve other recipes are also included in this cookbook, and include:Tsuni's Knaidlach or Matzo Balls for Chicken Soup, Tsuni's Fake Tuna Fish Salad, Tsuni's Fried Liver Noodle Kugel, Tsuni's Potato Latkes and Tsuni's Zucchini Spaghetti. The tale is cute and funny, however, this is not a book for anything more than reminiscing. What makes this a fun story are lines like. "Wait outside in the cold for your daughter. When she drives up, lean on your cane and cough into your handkerchief. Remember, you don't want to spread germs, just guilt." It has taken 13 years for this book to get a second printing and it may never get to a third. Dell Publishing publishes Mother Wonderful's profusely illustrated guide to the proper preparation of Chicken Soup written by Myra Chanin. A humorous tale of an older woman's trip through the process of buying ingredients and the making chicken soup. Suggested Retail: $9.95 Overall Rating:

Average customer rating:

Mother Wonderful's Chicken Soup
Chanin Myra
Manufacturer: A Dell Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LDB2RQ

Average customer rating:

Moving

A Show Of GREAT Importance

A Show of GREAT Importance.

A great musical drama from the creators of "Ragtime"

a surprise hit :-)

A Man of No Importance

Manufacturer: Alfred Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0757913466

Book Description

Another great selection from the musical theater duo Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Arranged for Piano/Voice/Chords. Titles include: Books, The Burden Of My Life, The Cuddles Mary Gave, First Rehearsel, Going Up, Love Who You Love, Man In The Mirror, A Man Of No Importance, Princess, The Streets Of Dublin, Tell Me Why, Welcome To the World.

Customer Reviews:

Moving.......2006-09-24

I first heard about this musical when a friend told me she was auditioning for a production. Her brief synopsis was enough to get me interested, and I got the CD. The musical is based on the 1995 film of the same title, not on a novel. After listening, I was intrigued enough to purchase the movie.

It's the story of a bus conductor in Dublin, Ireland. A quiet man who's job is to collect the fares of bus riders. But he plays a role in the lives of his riders, reciting poetry and verse during the ride, engaging his passengers and making their trip something more than just a ride.

The opening number is a wonderful and poetic description of the seemingly mundane act of riding the bus to work in the morning being transformed from drudgery to a lively part of the daily round.

Many of his riders participate in his amateur theatre productions at a local church hall. His spinster sister has put her life on hold until her brother meets and marries a wife.

The conductor, Alfie, is a homosexual, who retreats from his own life into one of fantasy built around the poetry and prose of his inspiration, Oscar Wilde. His emotional outlets are narrowed to books and cooking, and his creativity is directed to his plays.

As his life rumbles forward on the bus, the pain of living this way becomes clear. The pressures of self denial press in on him. He longs to live a real life, and to feel the pleasures of love with another human being.

He longs, secretly, of the driver of his bus, but is caught in a net of Catholic guilt and social pressures, so shuns involvement in the outside world, preferring the safety and security of the secret world inside his own head.

Until, that is, the need for human interaction - both physical and emotional - drive him to a desperate point.

Beaten and humiliated by his only attempt to be himself, he finds that he is a man of importance to those around him. That being Oscar Wilde isn't who he needs to be, but instead, the man he is, Alfie Byrne.

The musical seems to flesh out some of the characters better than the movie, and improve on some of the vagaries of the film. The motivations of his sister, Lil, are more understandable because her relationship with Carney, the butcher is more clear, for example.

On first hearing, I found the story moving, but a little confusing - mostly keeping the characters in order. After reading the liner notes I had a much better feel for the action and interrelationships, and enjoyed it even more. The music captures the character and emotions of the story quite well.

The score uses Irish influences extremely well, and eschews the current style of rock rhythms and American Idol style vocal acrobatics, resulting in a good, solid and serious musical.

It's a sensitive story, well told by well written and evocative music.

A Show Of GREAT Importance.......2006-02-16

This is another review that I did when I didn't have an account so i'm re-issuing it so that yall know it's me.

Let me first say that if you don't like Irish music, you probably won't like this show.

A Man of No Importance is the perfect example of how off-broadway can have amazing shows too. It is the story of a kind hearted ticket taker, Alfie Burnes who loves oscar wilde and poetry. Enter Robbie Fay, driver of the bus, this is the one on whom Alfie has a crush.
Alfie lives with his sister Lil and heads the comunity theater group, The St. Amelda's players. For their next production Alfie wants to put on "Salome"
I won't give away the whole show but that is the general gist nix the twists and turns taken during the play.

The talent on the cast album is extremly gifted and sing the songs with such believability that you think you might really be in the streets of Dublin, Ireland while you're listining.

Standouts include:
A Man of No Importance
The Burden of Life
Going Up
Princess
The Streets of Dublin
Books
Our Father
Confessions
Art

All in all this album is a good and enjoyable buy.

A Show of GREAT Importance........2005-12-07

Let me first say that if you don't like Irish music, you probably won't like this show.

A Man of No Importance is the perfect example of how off-broadway can have amazing shows too. It is the story of a kind hearted ticket taker, Alfie Burnes who loves oscar wilde and poetry. Enter Robbie Fay, driver of the bus, this is the one on whom Alfie has a crush.
Alfie lives with his sister Lil and heads the comunity theater group, The St. Amelda's players,. For their next production Alfie want to put on "Salome"
I won't give away the whole show but that is the general gist nix the twists and turns taken during the play.
The talent on the cast album is extremly gifted and sind the songs with such believability that you think you might in the streets of Dublin Ireland while you're listining.

Standouts include:
A Man of No Importance
The Burden of Life
Going Up
Princess
The Streets of Dublin
Books
Our Father
Confessions
Art

All in all this album is a good and enjoyable buy.

A great musical drama from the creators of "Ragtime".......2005-10-23

This is a very special little show. Based on a film that starred the great Albert Finney, Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (the team who brought us the musical "Ragtime") have created a haunting and melancholy musical of repression and unrequited love. Roger Rees plays Alfie Byrne - a closeted gay bus conductor who worships Oscar Wilde and lusts after Robbie - his beautiful young bus driver(Steven Pasquale).

Alfie lives with his spinster sister Lily (played by Faith Prince), who refuses to get on with her own life and marry the butcher William Carney (played by Charles Keating).

Alfie reads poetry to the passengers on his bus, and attempts to stage "Salome" with a group of local players. As his yearning for Robbie and his desire to come out of the closet overtakes him, Alfie is rebuffed by the church and encouraged by the ghost of Wilde. Coming out results in initial disaster - a brutal gay-bashing which is nothing compared with complete exposure to family, friends and co-workers.

Terrence McNally has been telling "our" stories for years - "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Love Valor Compassion" - even "The Full Monty." His work here is inspired. The score is what we have on this CD - and it's terrific. Flaherty and Ahrens won a Tony for "Ragtime," and also wrote "Once On This Island," "Seussical" and "Dessa Rose." This score is one of their best (this is a team we should be hearing from for decades). The titular number is a knockout. The ensemble couldn't be improved upon. "Princess" (sung beautfully by Sally Murphy), "Man in the Mirror" and "Love Who You Love" are evocative, character infused ballads. "The Streets of Dublin" is a showstopper. The orchestrations by William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke are outstanding, as is everything about this recording.

a surprise hit :-).......2005-03-08

After doing an Ahrens and Flaherty review at my university, I became drawn to the 2 songs "The Streets of Dublin" and "Love Who You Love". After the show closed, I got my hand on a copy of the whole musical and I haven't stopped listening to it for about a week.

The ability of Ahrens and Flaherty to put you in such a distinct place and time is so evident here. The music and voices are about as Irish as you can get. Each of the singers are perfect, the stanadouts being Jessica Molaskey as Mrs Patrick, and Steven Pasquale as Robbie faye. My favorite songs in the recording have to be the two I already mentioned, "Our Father" and the haunting "Confusing Times"

No, it's not the multilayered, epic story of Ragtime, and it doesn't have to be. "A Man of No Importance" is a lovely, heart-wrenching story about a man looking for his honest place in the world, and will make a fine addition to your showtune collection.

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A man of no importance: A new musical
Barry Devlin
Manufacturer: Stage and Screen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

A manual of the chiggers;: The biology, classification, distribution and importance to man of the larvae of the family Trombiculidae (Acarina) (Memoirs ... Entomological Society of Washington, no. 4)

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A manual of the chiggers;: The biology, classification, distribution and importance to man of the larvae of the family Trombiculidae (Acarina) (Memoirs ... Entomological Society of Washington, no. 4)
George Willard Wharton
Manufacturer: Entomological Society of Washington
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006ATH3K

IIE Guides to Insects of Importance to Man: No. 1: Lepidoptera

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IIE Guides to Insects of Importance to Man: No. 1: Lepidoptera
J. D. Holloway , J. D. Bradley , and D. J. Carter
Manufacturer: CABI
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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ASIN: 0851985947

Book Description

First in a series of practical manuals designed for university classes and training courses and particularly useful for reference and laboratory use. Unique in their worldwide coverage to taxa and major economic pests.

IIE Guides to Insects of Importance to Man: No. 2: Thysanoptera

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IIE Guides to Insects of Importance to Man: No. 2: Thysanoptera
J. M. Palmer , L. A. Mound , and G. J. du Heaume
Manufacturer: CABI
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

IIE Guides to Insects of Importance to Man: No. 3: Coleoptera (Iie Guides to Insects of Importance to Man, Vol 3)

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IIE Guides to Insects of Importance to Man: No. 3: Coleoptera (Iie Guides to Insects of Importance to Man, Vol 3)
R. G. Booth , M. L. Cox , and R. B. Madge
Manufacturer: CABI
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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ASIN: 0851986781

The Writings of Oscar Wilde. 13 volume set; A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, Salome, Vera, The Dutchess of Padua, Lady Windermere's Fan, The Importance of Being Earnest, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, The Portrait of Mr. W.H., Poems, A House of Pomegranates, The Happy Prince, De Profundis, The Soul of man under socialism, Essays, Criticisms and Reviews, Intentions, His life with a critical estimate of his writings, What Never Dies, Essays and stories by Lady Wilde, Dorian Gray

Average customer rating:

The Writings of Oscar Wilde. 13 volume set; A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, Salome, Vera, The Dutchess of Padua, Lady Windermere's Fan, The Importance of Being Earnest, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, The Portrait of Mr. W.H., Poems, A House of Pomegranates, The Happy Prince, De Profundis, The Soul of man under socialism, Essays, Criticisms and Reviews, Intentions, His life with a critical estimate of his writings, What Never Dies, Essays and stories by Lady Wilde, Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
Manufacturer: Keller Farmer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

'(A) consistently interesting and provocative work, which offers a great deal in seven chapters. It marks an innovative interdisciplinary approach to questions of embodiment and subjectivity' - Disability and Society

'This is an elegantly written book which has, as its main aim, to rethink the idea of difference in the western imaginary through a consideration of two themes: monsters and how these have come to define, but potentially to deconstruct, normality; and the whole idea of vulnerability and the vulnerable and the extent to which such a state is one that all of us are constantly in danger of entering … The theoretical and philosophical content - Derrida, Lacan, Foucault, Irrigaray, Butler, Levinas, and Haraway in particular - together with the range of empirical examples used to illustrate the arguments, make the book an ideal one for third level undergraduates and for post-graduates, particularly those studying the sociology of embodiment, feminist theory, critical theory and cultural studies. Shildrick accomplishes the task of making difficult ideas comprehensible without reducing them to the simplistic' - Sociology

Written by one of the most distinguished commentators in the field, this book asks why we see some bodies as `monstrous' or `vulnerable' and examines what this tells us about ideas of bodily `normality' and bodily perfection.

Drawing on feminist theories of the body, biomedical discourse and historical data, Margrit Shildrick argues that the response to the monstrous body has always been ambivalent. In trying to organize it out of the discourses of normality, we point to the impossibility of realizing a fully developed, invulnerable self. She calls upon us to rethink the monstrous, not as an abnormal category, but as a condition of attractivenes, and demonstrates how this involves an exploration of relationships between bodies and embodied selves, and a revising of the phenomenology of the body.

Customer Reviews:

great funeral humor.......2006-03-13

This is a wonderful book by a British Funeral Director. Even though funerals are serious business, even there you can find moments of mirth that even the deceased would appreciate. I loved this book and highly reccomend it!

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Don't Drop the Coffin 2! Working Title
Barry Albin Dyer
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0340862912

Amazon.com

If there is such a thing as a typical computer programmer, Ellen Ullman is not it. She's female, a former communist, bisexual, old enough to be a twentysomething's mom, and not a nerd. She runs her own computer-consulting business in San Francisco and in Close to the Machine explores a world in which "the real world and its uses no longer matter." This memoir examines the relationship between human and machine, between material and cyberworlds and reminds us that the body and soul exist before and after any machine. The wit Ullman brings to her National Public Radio commentaries shines through in the prose.

Book Description

Here is a candid account of the life of a software engineer who runs her own computer consulting business out of a live-work loft in San Francisco's Multimedia Gulch. Immersed in the abstract world of information, algorithms, and networks, she would like to give in to the seductions of the programmer's world, where "weird logic dreamers" like herself live "close to the machine." Still, she is keenly aware that body and soul are not mechanical: desire, love, and the need to communicate face to face don't easily fit into lines of codes or clicks in a Web browser. At every turn, she finds she cannot ignore the social and philosophical repercussions of her work. As Ullman sees it, the cool world of cyber culture is neither the death of civilization nor its salvation-it is the vulnerable creation of people who are not so sure of just where they're taking us all.

Ellen Ullman has worked as a software engineer and consultant since 1978. She is the author of The Bug and her writing has been published in Resisting the Virtual Life, Wired Woman, and in Harper's Magazine. She is a commentator on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered.""

Customer Reviews:

Tedious, boring and insulting........2003-06-29

There is really nothing to this book. When I finally finished it I was like "That was it?" Aside from the lack of any kind of interesting or engaging plot I found the very stereotypical charicterizations of programmers to be insulting. I get the feeling that the author is one of those "non-geek" programmers who (incorrectly) thinks that she understands true geek culture and secretly thinks she is better than the geeks.

An intimate "The Soul of a New Machine".......2001-04-25

Ellen Ullmann has created a wonderful novel about the awkward interfaces between programmers and users, programming and aging, and technology and humanity.

The first chapter's description of the addiction on shared mind during small team development is a wonder.

Some pros, but mostly cons.......2000-09-30

Ellen Ullman is obviously an adept coder and is able to describe both the great highs and great lows of being "close to the machine". However, as an actual author, she's a bit tedious and occasionally eye-rollingly vapid: her surprisingly generic sex scenes seem like quick masturbatory breaks, almost as if she felt the need to remind us that "programmers have sex lives, too". And she shows some occasional touches of her own techno-fear, especially when disparaging the nomenclature on a web-browser's interface (she pooh-poohs the usage of "home" on the browser, apparenly forgetting that "home" has also been the traditional name for users' directories on UNIX systems). Probably a good head-nodding read for legacy techies, the post-web generation will most likely sigh "Oh, get OVER yourself" a few times before flinging this one across the room and going back to reading WIRED.

A story of the modern day alchemist, outstandingly narrated.......2000-05-31

I am torn between giving Ullman's book one star and five stars. No rate in-between seems to be suitable. Let's start with five stars. Once I opened the book I could not put it down. Having turned the last page, I went back, re-read several parts and made notes on margins. To me, the book is about three things at once. First, it is an autobiography of the run-of-the-mill programmer, whose professional and personal lives are tightly intertwined. Second, it is a first-hand account of gold rush era software development. The impeccably styled story has no sugar, no gloss, 'no feel good, everybody wins' stuff. Ignorance, brilliance, arrogance, raw greed and insatiable desire to control the world are presented in full honesty. "In my profession, software engineering," Ullman writes about AIDS database project, "there is something almost shameful in this helpful, social services system we're building. The whole project smacks of 'end users' - those contemptible, oblivious people who just want to use the stuff we write and do not care how we did it." I wrote on a margin: "Why would they care! . Drooling over your tech savvy is not in their job descriptions." Later I regretted my acerbic remark. Ullman did care for her users to the extend, which the pace of gold rush allowed her to have such sentiments. After all, 18 months with dusty social services was an eternity in the software world. The time came for her to jump into her red sports car and, at the speed of 80 mph, to move to the more dignified project with the latest and greatest technologies. (To a person, who reads this review: I am not being sarcastic. I truly admired the author's ability to write without self-justification of her good and bad deeds.) Third, this book is an amazing attempt to pass modern day alchemy for engineering. This is where Ullman lost all her stars in my eyes. Engineering is a planned activity based on science. As a rule, it produces very predictable results. None of three projects, which Ullman describes in the book, can be called a product of engineering. During the AIDS database project, she got around to meet her end users only 8 months into the project. Her sole concern at that point was "to save the system", regardless of its inadequacy to users' needs. The second project - patching a networking software in the failing start-up - was no better. The project was considered a triumph, when the programmers managed to demo the system that crashed "exactly once a day" (not twice, as before). The third project - a direct payroll deposit application - was outright scary. The software was written even without preliminary work flow diagram. Go figure what it could do with your honest pay. I am giving Ullman's book FOUR stars after all - for its powerful, passionate and honest writing. It touched my nerve. Oh, it did! Even the little lie about engineering did not spoil the impression.

"Problems being exploited, then commended".......1999-11-12

Ullman makes a mockery of human existence in her book "Close to the Machine." Ullman characterizes the human race as a dependent, weak minded, constituency of Dr. Frankensteins, who have created a "monster they can't handle." Through her own personal experiences with the computer, and with love, Ullman represents the ultimately "robotic-human" she feels we have turned into. Ullman laughs in the face of a society she sees as crumbling in the wake of computers. Ullman, by her own, admission is a part of this crumbling mass. The apathetic tendencies of the modern day, computerized, moron Ullman characterizes, are evident in the number of people who view this as a "good book," not as a warning.

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