Independent Books

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Peggy O'Neill (Communication Department, Loyola College, Maryland), Angela Crow (Assistant Professor, Georgia Southern University), and Larry W. Burton (Chair of the Department of Writing and Linguistics, Georgia Southern University), A Field Of Dreams: Independent Writing Programs And The Future Of Composition Studies is an impressive selection of seventeen scholarly essays studying the existence and future of independent writing programs and composition studies in American colleges today. From the unique challenges of such courses, to their implications on national literacy and debating challenges against these programs, A Field Of Dreams is a thoughtful and highly recommended compilation examining critically important facets of the present and future of higher education.

Anyone interested in an anectdote filled look at the world of low budget independent film making in the 1960s and 70s needs to get this book.

Author Curry relies amost entirely on Ted V. Mikels to tell his film-making tales which means we have Ted V. Mikels' word that it is all true.. and it probably is (but a little more research and a few more sources would have been even better). Ted is open and direct, names names and exposes his life behind the camera with some sense of perspective, integrity and gentlemaness. I know this is true because I've interviewed Mikels for articles of my own in the past. (my articles and interviews receive acknowledgment in the book and are used both directly and as background).

Don't look here for an honest assessment of Mikels films or the value his productions may or may not have given to the world of cinema. Press book type plot synopsis and cast and crew credits are used rather than the authors. So be prepared, this book pretty much embraces Ted V. Mikels as an important, generous, warm hearted, sometimes mis-understood survivor of independent filmmaking.

This is not a fan-boy kind of book, however. It may be too generous and appreciative of its subject, but it is not fawning. I wish a disgruntled ex-employee, dissapointed ex-girlfriend or someone would have been found to say something negative about Ted (even though it would be difficult to find someone like that.).

Even so, you don't have to agree with the premise that Ted V. Mikels is an under-appreciated, valuable low budget movie making pioneer eccentric to be fascinated with the hundreds of stories that are told about the making of movies from the 1950's through the present. There's a need for this kind of anectdotal history of the cinema, and it's a great idea that we preserve the thoughts and words of a guy whose been in the trenches for 50 years, obsessed with making movies.

The book is perhaps a bit pricey, but McFarland is a smaller publisher and has been given us unique books for years. If you are interested in the subject, it's an informative, completely engrossing and entertaining book. Plenty of black and white stills appear throughout the book. Buy it.

As the co-author of this book, I just want to thank all of our students who inspired the writing of this book with their hunger for practical knowledge on FCP and the great questions they ask in class.

So often, the nature of these questions went beyond the technical text and sample projects that we were using in class. It is also frequently difficult to answer real-world questions about FCP in the classroom context. So many of these answers "depend on the project you are doing . . . "

Consequently, we took to using a series of real-world anecdotes - experiences of our own in postproduction that could illustrate the larger points regarding process and decision-making.

These experiences made the conceptual basis for this book, and those anecdotes became the case studies.

Robbie and I hope that you enjoy what we think is a unique approach!

As a user of Final Cut Pro, but a relative newbie to postproduction I've struggled to understand the "Big Picture" of postproduction workflow.

Final Cut Pro Workflows is an awesome resource that doesn't cover all the same button pushing techniques that every other Final Cut Pro book does, but provides insightful and thoughtful workflow techniques that I've been able to apply to all my projects.

What I found particularly cool, and what I think separates this book from others is the 3rd part of book which is a collection of case studies. These case studies are great because they're written as a narrative and explore quite a few different workflows using Final Cut Pro.

This book is a must have!

Simply put - the author manages to make the most complex financial matters elegantly simple. No matter the gender or age of the reader - one will find oneself in the case studies and will gain a new perspective on one's financial issues. Truly - this book will help any reader become financially independent.

"Woodrow Wilson never banged his shoe on a lectern, threatening to bury anyone. He never claimed to be a Berliner, nor offered to name names. But a ... book by Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani ... makes the case that Wilson was, all the same, the first cold warrior. According to [this book] when Wilson was inaugurated in 1913, the American diplomatic corps in Russia was a shambles. Wilson entered the presidency avowedly uninterested in foreign affairs. He was quickly faced with a world war and then, in 1917, the Russian Revolution. Afraid of how the new government in Russia would affect the outcome of the war and uncertain how to talk productively to the radical Bolsheviks, Wilson embarked on a policy of diplomatic quarantine that lasted until 1933, prefiguring the Cold War."
--not reviewed by author, but taken from the Indiana University's Alumni Magazine's independent review

This book is part of ISA's (formerly "The Instrument Society of America", later "The International Society for Measurement and Control" and now known as "The Instrument, Systems and Automation Society") Independent Learning Modules on Fundamental Instrumentation.

This book is designed to be used as and independent self-study guide and discusses in detail the control of flow, including consideration of control theory, flow metering and control valves. The material covered is more suitable for instrument engineers and technicians working in the process industries such as chemical, paper, power, mining, and pharmaceuticals but also for those in the environmental and municipal industries such as water and waste water treatment plants.

The book presents methods of flow control to meet a variety of requirements often encountered in everyday practical situations. Theoretical considerations are not stressed, although they are included where necessary.

The book will be an excellent reference for individuals who want to have a good repertoire of solutions to flow control problems. It should be useful for instrument engineers, technicians, and service or startup personnel. It should also be useful for students in technical schools or colleges who need or expect to need information on flow control systems applications.

Since the table of contents is not included in the book description provided by the good fellows of Amazon, next I have included how the book is organized:

- Introduction and overview.
- Fundamental concepts of flow control.
- Feedback control loop diagrams.
- Flow measurement.
- Signal transmission.
- Final control elements.
- Flow controllers.
- Controller modes.
- Flow control loop dynamics.
- Flow loop linearity.
- Tuning a P+I flow controller.
- Feedforward for flow controllers.
- Flow control in cascade systems.
- Ratio and other relation control systems.
- Multi-stream blending systems.
- Inline flow splitting.
- Miscellaneous devices and functions.
- Answer to exercises and drawings associated with exercises.

I am an Industrial Practitioner of Process Control. I have been working for more than 16 years as an Instrumentation, Automation, and Process Safety and Control Engineer for the Oil & Gas Industry. I have made extensive use of this book to prepare tutorial and training material for technician and operators.

If you need more in-depth information on the control of flow and other process variables you should consider "The Instrument's Engineer Handbook Volume II - Process Control and Optimization" by Bela Liptak.

Great book for a general overview of the Ancient Wisdom Teachings, which are the basis for most major religions today. Very interesting ideas on the meaning and evolution of life (and I'm not talking Darwin!). This book is a great fundamental learning tool for all people who look to life with an open mind.

"Freedom, Feminism, and the State" offers a history of early feminist writings and how they influence feminist scholars today. Author Wendy McElroy draws a distinction between early feminists who supported the principles of the American Revolution and later scholars who favor a more activist government. In the book, she demonstrates that the feminist movement began as a quest to rid women of governmental infringement upon their individual rights, but gradually evolved into apologetics for a more intrusive state.

McElroy defines feminism as the principle that every person - female and male - has moral jurisdiction over her own body. Laws that infringe upon this principle are unjust. When such laws are enacted on the basis of sex, then - and only then - do women become a political class who must respond. As a result, McElroy states that "As a political class, feminism is a response to the legal discrimination women have suffered from the state."

Contributor Rosalie Nichols points out that women's rights are the objective natural rights that belong to them based upon their status as rational beings. These include their rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Because women exist independently of men, their rights exist independently of men. Thus, the goal of the early feminist movement was to secure and guarantee women's objective natural rights.

McElroy asserts that throughout most of history, feminism has stood for this ideal. Early feminists believed that equality between the sexes meant equal treatment before the law and its institutions. Their goal was to be a part of society - not to remake it. They believed that women's freedom was a political concept - securing protections from unjust intrusions by the state. However, over time, some feminist scholars came to believe that existing laws and institutions were the source of women's problems, not the solution. They viewed equality as an economic concept rather than a political one. They are responsible for converting the feminist movement into what it is today.

McElroy draws a distinction between what she considers to be non-political, historical feminist literature and modern feminist literature that deals with politics. Like most scholarship from the Revolutionary and Civil War eras, historical feminist writings were highly individualistic in nature and called for women to stand up for their independence and liberation. Today's political material mostly calls for governments to impose regulatory regimes to solve women's problems.

McElroy begins her discussion of historical feminist literature by tracing its roots to the abolitionist movement. As many women were key contributors to efforts to free slaves, they became conscious of their own lack of rights and began to demand similar respect. However, many abolitionist men refused to support their cause. Even worse - some of them attempted to stifle it out of fear that it would undermine support for the campaign to end slavery. This led many early feminists to become suspicious of men and to strike out on their own.

Feminism advanced before the Civil War because it adopted abolitionist William Garrison's viewpoint of how institutions evolve. Garrison believed that revolutions must alter people's ideas about particular institutions before those institutions can be reformed. Combined with their belief that individuals should act according to their own conscious and be held accountable for their own actions, early feminists were prepared to change people's minds regarding women's status in society.

However, after the Civil War - and the exponential intrusion that the government made in the economic sphere in its wake - the feminist movement began to focus more on enfranchisement of women as its overriding goal. Unfortunately, this led some feminist scholars to sympathize with misguided popular crusades - such as eugenics and social purity reform - to achieve this goal.

McElroy provides a number of key essays to show how individualist feminist ideas evolved over time. Contributor Angela Grimke praises 19th Century women for not allowing men to fool them into thinking that society should have separate moral codes for women and men. Contributor Voltairine de Cleyre, another Civil-War era activist, laments women's (and men's) complacency toward the growth of their government after the War of 1812.

The highlight of the book is Lillian Harman's essay on the problems of contemporary marriage. She begins by discussing how society harms women in their efforts to build friendships with men: "Every expression of friendship which she gives is practically held to be an implied contract to further steps. A coldness and reserve in the attitude of men and women toward each other is the natural result of this condition - a reserve which is broken only by the impelling force of strong and unreasoning passion. This passion compels people to do that which they believe to be wrong, and so long as they believe it to be wrong, it is wrong for them. The result is that when the imperious passion is satisfied, remorse takes its place, and shame and misery ensue." Harman asserts that what both men and women need is the freedom to interact on their own terms: "I consider uniformity in mode of sexual relations as undesirable and impracticable as enforced uniformity in anything else...I do not want to spend my life converting the world to my method of existence. I want the world to have reason of its own, and use it."

"Freedom, Feminism, and the State" is an excellent introduction to the early women's movement. Individuals who read this book before reading other works by McElroy and her colleagues Christina Hoff Sommers, Joan Kennedy Taylor, and Cathy Young will better understand how these authors structure their arguments and why. More importantly, the book demonstrates that women have achieved extraordinary successes by protecting their interests from state infringement. As more and more contemporary feminists begin to understand this, these extraordinary gains will continue.

This is the story of Jack Smyth who used his life savings to buy a small newspaper in his hometown. He did not have a background in newspaper business, but devoted enormous energy into figuring it out. His devotion paid off in that his business developed into what is known as Independent Newspapers, Inc., that publishes community newspapers in several states. Jack Smyth made many relationships along his journey including being invited to national political conventions and being invited by President Kennedy to give a breakfast prayer. He was able to also convert a weekly newspaper into a daily one. This is a very entertaining story of a man who figured things out as he went and enjoyed meeting people and developing relationships with people he met along the way.

Great book! A straightforward and readable history of megachurches with lots of photos.