Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Websites, by Robin Nixon
Filed under: Javascript, Non-fiction, PHP, book review, web design
This excellent book by 
Nixon is well versed in these techniques, and does a great job in showing how the powerful combination of PHP and MySQL workds together and how adding JavaScript can contribute to the creation of rich Internet applications and websites.
Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript explains each technology separately, shows you how to combine them, and introduces valuable web programming concepts, including objects, XHTML, cookies, and session management. You’ll practice what you’ve learned with review questions in each chapter, and find a sample social networking platform built with the elements introduced in this book.
Using this book you will learn to:
- Understand PHP essentials and the basics of object-oriented programming
- Master MySQL, from database structure to complex queries
- Create web pages with PHP and MySQL by integrating forms and other HTML features
- Learn about JavaScript, from functions and event handling to accessing the Document Object Model
- Use libraries and packages, including the Smarty web template system, PEAR program repository, and the Yahoo! User Interface Library
- Make Ajax calls and turn your website into a highly dynamic environment
- Upload and manipulate files and images, validate user input, and secure your applications
I have spent lots of time with this book and have learned a lot from it. I have looked into several of the coding examples, and all of the ones I looked into worked. In addition to the great content, I also appreciated the crisp and clear presentational style, and do not hesitate to recommend it to others!
Jo Nesbo about The Snowman – YouTube video
Filed under: About books, Harry Hole, Interview, Jo Nesbo, Norwegian writer, YouTube, crime book
Jo Nesbo talks about his most recent crime fiction book, The Snowman (see review).
, The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award 2010
Filed under: About books, CWA Dagger Award, Fiction, Prize winning novel, recommendation
The Steel Dagger is awarded for the best thriller published in the UK. So what is a thriller? A thriller, according to my dictionary, is an exciting, suspenseful play or story, such as a mystery story. So even though award this is sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, which most likely is an organization related to the author of the James Bond books, it is not limited to and does not even give preference to spy thrillers. This is strange, but of course something which the sponsor decides.
And, indeed, the definition used is very broad, according to CWA:
“include, but are not limited to, spy fiction and/or action/ adventure stories. Ian Fleming said there was one essential criterion for a good thriller – that ‘one simply has to turn the page’; this is one of the main characteristics that the judges were looking for.” — The CWA Dagger
To me it looks a little bit odd and untidy – almost like the Steel Dagger is a little brother award. In order to avoid that appearance, I think CWA needs to distinguish much more clearly (e.g. by genre) among its various awards. At least, I would like to suggest they look into this.
Be that as it may, here are the shortlists for the 2010 CWA Steel Dagger:
- 61 Hours
- A Loyal Spy
, Simon Conway
- Gone
, Mo Hayder
- Slow Horses
- The Dying Light
, Henry Porter
- Innocent
, Scott Turow
- The Gentlemen’s Hour, Don Winslow
My sentimental favorite is The Gentlemen’s Hour by Don Winslow – simply because it is such a wonderful read and such a neat, well-written and smart book. I like his surfer detective and the laid-back plegmatic style of his book.
(See also review of Gone by Mo Hayder.)
Wake up New York Times
Filed under: About books, New York Times bestseller, book news
It’s Sunday. Sunday mornings I read my New York Times. And I read my New York Times Book Review. Every Sunday. New York Times Book Review is an institution. And most likely I will continue to read it every Sunday. Like many, many others.
The reason I read it is that I like books. I assume that’s the reason most people read it. And I like to be informed about good books. And assume that New York Times Book Review will do that – inform me of new, good books.
But perhaps I read it out of habit? Perhaps I shouldn’t be reading it? Perhaps I am wasting my time? Perhaps I should go elsewhere?
The US of A has less than a tenth of the population of the world. And, perhaps – if you want to be nice to America and the New York Times Book Review – 15% of the writers of the world. Then, in addition there are a few writers in the UK. Even so, in today’s New York Times Book Review, there is not a single review of a foreign book from the world outside the US and the UK! Not one! And, what’s more, there are no advertisements for foreign (translated) books either. So, 85% of the world’s literature is not covered.
So, what is wrong, New York Times Book Review? Are you ignorant? Are you incompetent? Are you blind? Are your eyes shut? Is quality literature – fiction, crime fiction, non-fiction – produced only inside the US and on rare occasions the UK? What about the rest of the world? Don’t you see it? Have you at least heard about it? Or do you only suspect it might exist, but have no real proof that it does?
Or do you really mean that there are no good writers that US readers ought to be informed about from Latin America? From Asia? From Africa? From Australia? Or from continental Europe – Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, the Scandinavian countries or other countries in Europe? That there is nothing worthwhile going on in those countries, in the rest of the world? Despite the fact that most Nobel prizes in literature are from countries other than the US and the UK? How strange! Are you lacking in knowledge or is it so hard to admit that there is more to the world than what goes on inside the US?
Has New York Times Book Review and the American publishing industry closed its eyes to the rest of the world? That’s what I think is the case. It is very, very sad! And it is obviously not American readers that have closed their minds – after all, Stieg Larsson is on all the bestseller lists in that very same New York Times Book Review. And he is not from the US or the UK. Even so, he “owns the bestseller lists, as one blogger put it. So American readers are more than willing to read good fiction from outside the US/UK.
I will probably continue to read the New York Times Book Review. It is, after all, an institution. Sadly, Americans tend to believe it is a quality publication. I am not so sure. I’ve doubted it for a long time. To my mind, you simply can’t produce a high quality magazine about books if your mind is closed. Or, as in the case of the New York Times Review of Books – when the mind is limited by geographic boundaries – lines on a map.
Even so, I’ll continue to read New York Times Book Review. And hope. Probably against hope.
This Quiet Dust, and Other Writings, by William Styron
Filed under: Fiction, Short stories, William Styron, book review
There is no doubt that 
William Styron is one of America’s greatest contemporary writers. He wonderful writing can also be witnessed in this collection of short pieces; even though it is perhaps a little stiffer than usual in his writings. The stories cover a wide range of topics and contain his views and reflections, his observations on the state of the world and the ways of the world as he sees it.
This interesting collection includes considerations of Scott Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and others, as well as a re-evaluation of Thomas Wolfe, a review of Malcolm Cowley’s ”A Second Flowering”, as well as a piece on James Jones. It also contains articles about the battlefields of Vietnam and about Auschwitz. A wide range of writings written by a man with a wide range of interests, and who is engaged in the world he lives in and has spent a lot of time pondering a range of diverse topics. Styron was a writer who was willing to confront significant moral questions.
This is a collection you should read if you are interested in learning more about William Styron and his views. It is not a book you should start with if you have not read any of Styron’s novels yet. In that case, I would rather recommend The Confessions of Nat Turner or the magnificent Sophie’s Choice.
Praise for This Quiet Dust:
“Styron is pre-eminent…in his instinct for tragedy and in his respect for the sheer force of human feeling.” — Alfred Kazin
“[Styron is] the most accomplished craftsman, and one of the most penetrating witnesses of our life.” — Associated Press — Review
, 
, and The Confederation Handbook, by Peter F. Hamilton
Filed under: Peter F. Hamilton, Science Fiction, book review
This is a handbook – a book of “facts”, 
In this galactic almanac Peter F. Hamilton reveals the true potential of his brilliantly realized epic. Expanding on its concepts and complexities, The Confederation Handbook explores the 600-year history of more than 21,500 inhabited worlds, asteroids, and bitek habitats. You can discover how Edenist space colonies are grown; the real story of the Kulu Kings and the exiled Lord of Ruin; why Adamist religions caused the human schism by rejecting Affinity; the tragic legacy of Rubra, the Edenist rebel who created Valisk; learn about Voidhawk breeding and Tyrathca mating rituals, and much more!
The Confederation Handbook covering geology, politics, technology, weaponry, and alien life forms, and is a must read for Peter Hamilton’s legion of fans.
To some extent it is also a book of spoilers. Much of Night’s Dawn consists of going through a long series of adventures to find out the quirks of Hamilton’s galaxy. It is the wealth and appeal of his background, and the daring of his conceit – science fiction that overtly tackles all the issues usually left to religion – that make Night’s Dawn so popular.
With this book you get in neat summary the information that would otherwise require you to read thousands of pages of the trilogy itself. Indeed, if you read the first volume of Reality Dysfunction& and would like to know where the story goes, you have only to read this book, skip the next four and a half volumes, and read the last 100 pages of Naked God, and you will have the plot. On the other hand, readers who have read and learned all the information provided in the trilogy will find little new here.
Running Blind, by Desmond Bagley – classic thriller
Running Blind is another of the thrillers by English thriller master Desmond Bagley that has been made into a movie. It is a great, very suspenseful roller-coaster of a novel that tied me to me chair. 
It all begins with a simple errand – a package to deliver. “It’ll be simple”, they said at the Department. “You’ll just be a messenger boy.” But to Alan Stewart, on a deserted road in Iceland with a murdered man at his feet, it looks anything but simple. Almost immediately, he finds himself in a maze of bluffs and double-bluffs. Set amongst some of the most dramatic scenery in the world, Stewart and his girlfriend, Erin, are faced with treacherous natural obstacles and deadly threats, as they battle to carry out the mission.
Stewart escapes a very cunning trap and in doing so stumbles, almost by accident, on the scary possibility that a top official in British intelligence may actually be a Russian mole. What follows is a spellbinding sequence of action involving the mole, the Russians, some stray CIA agents in fascinating pursuit all across Iceland.
Running Blind culminates in a shootout that contains a huge surprise, and a shocking conclusion.
An excellent thriller! The language and descriptions are excellent, the plot full of surprising twists, and the suspense almost intolerable. Running Blind moves at a faster pace than the average Bagley novel. Still very well worth reading!
The Last Frontier, by Alistair MacLean
Filed under: Alistair MacLean, Thriller, book review
(a k a The Secret Ways) This 
Michael Reynolds is a capable agent but not a superman. He doesn’t even have any fancy technology. He is well trained and resourceful. His skills are immediately put to the test when something goes wrong and he falls into the hands of the ruthless Hungarian Secret Police. In an attempt to continue his mission, he seeks the help of the leader of an underground movement that is set up to smuggle Hungarians over the border into the West.
The Last Frontier was published in 1959, just three years after the crushing of the October Revolution by the Russian troops. It is a tough book to read, and an excellent spy thriller. If you don’t know or have forgotten just how hard-fought the Cold War was for the United States and its Western Allies, and how desperate many people in the Eastern European countries were under Soviet rule, this may be a good book to read. It is, I think, very realistic on some levels, and besides: it is great entertainment, and very exciting. The Last Frontier is recommended to fans of Cold War spy fiction and to fans of Alistair MacLean.
Praise for The Last Frontier:
‘Breathless, bloody and detailed.’ Daily Telegraph
‘Swift-moving, with a tremendous climactic scene on the snow-swept roof of a trans-Hungarian express.’ Glasgow Herald
, Amazon UK
, and Amazon CAN
. See also Bokkilden.no and Tanum.The Eleventh Commandment, by Jeffrey Archer
Filed under: Fiction, Jeffrey Archer, New York Times bestseller, Thriller, bestseller, book review
Connor Fitzgerald works for the CIA. Nobody knows of his double life, 
Actually, Connor is being sent on a bogus mission, set up by the director of the CIA, presumably with the permission of the White House. The job ploy is to eliminate Connor, who has, in the Director’s view, become a threat to her job.
The Eleventh Commandment is another Jeffrey Archer-tale with a lot of twists in the tale, and clearly with some references to the goings on of the real world. Well worth an intensive weekend of reading!
The Bomb Vessel, by Richard Woodman
Filed under: Nathaniel Drinkwater, Richard Woodman, book review, historical fiction, naval fiction
This is a book in the excellent and very realistic historical fiction series from the Age of Sail by Richard Woodman, featuring Nathaniel Drinkwater. This books, The Bomb Vessel takes place early in the Napoleonic Wars, and covers the time period from September 1800 to July 1801. Nathaniel Drinkwater has returned from the Red Sea and is on 
At the same time, he is also forced to deal with a problematic situation that his brother has gotten himself into by murdering his girlfriend and her lover.
Virago, with other known characters such as Mr. Rogers, Tregembo and Mr. Q, joins Nelson’s fleet bound for Copenhagen and Drinkwater has ample opportunity to distinguish himself at the first Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801. And being a man that wants to make something of himself, he throws himself into whatever action he can find. In the end, he is personally congratulated by Horatio Nelson and promoted to Commander.
Drinkwater has developed into a tough and skillful man. As Tregembo states, “Men don’t cross the lieutenant too successfully, zur, leastaways not sensible men”‘. He is a tough and quite formidable fighting man even though his wounds from 20 years of service start to bother him. Drinkwater is quicker tempered and less introspective than Horatio Hornblower, but still in many ways reminds me of him. He is very willing to take risks, has a good understanding of tactics, and no fear in battle. In many ways Drinkwater is a more believable hero than Hornblower!
The Bomb Vessel has great descriptions of the Battle of Copenhagen. As well, Woodman’s descriptions of the historical characters involved seem to be very good. The book is a quick but very entertaining read. One of the better in a very good series!
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The World of Books- The Devil’s Alternative, by Frederick Forsyth
- A Golden Age for Norwegian Crime Fiction?
- Brilliant surfer crime fiction: The Gentlemen’s Hour by Don Winslow
- A Time in Xanadu, by Lars Gustafsson
- The Confessions of Nat Turner, by William Styron
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- Pandora’s Star, by Peter F. Hamilton – The Commonwealth Saga
- Excellent spy thriller: The Defector, by Daniel Silva
- Little Birds, by Anias Nin
- Shadow, by Karin Alvtegen
- BookGazette
- Great crime fiction: Gone by Mo Hayder
- U-859, by Arthur Baudzus
- Things We Lost in the Fire (DVD)
- Finnish crime fiction – wasting an opportunity?
- New cyber-thriller: Storm by Dave Pearson
- Excellent thriller: The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva
- Lie Down in Darkness, by William Styron
- The Best Vietnam War Novel Ever? Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
- The Gentlemen’s Hour, by Don Winslow
- To Steal Her Love, by Matti Joensuu
- Euro bookblog
- Are The Scandinavian Crime Writers Associations Soundly Asleep?
- The Intruders, by Stephen Coonts
- Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
- Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton
- The Chairman, by Stephen Frey
- South by Java Head, by Alistair Maclean
- Wyatt’s Hurricane, by Desmond Bagley
- Our Lives, Our Fortunes, by J. E. Fender
- The Man with the Iron Heart, by Harry Turtledove
- HMS Saracen, by Douglas Reeman