Directories Books

America's Phone Book is a fantastic resource for anyone trying to track down a company, government agency or educational institution. It's a pity that General Information, Inc's ARCO division decided not to print any new editions after the first. At $24.95 (1n 1989) it was a terrific value.

This volume includes information on the Southern Region cities. I'll list, since Amazon does not provide details.

These are the cities covered in this volume:
Atlanta, Ga
Austin, TX
Baton Rouge, LI
Birmingham, AL
Chattanooga, TN
Columbia, SC
Dallas, TX
El Paso, TX
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fort Worth, TX
Houston, TX
Huntsville, AL
Jackson, MS
Jacksonville, FL
Knoxville, TN
Memphis, TN
Miami, FL
Nashville, TN
New Orleans, LA
Orlando, FL
Plano, TX
Saint Petersburg, FL
San Antonio, TX
Savannah, GA
Tampa, FL

As in all this series, this volume provides well laid-out information in an array of categories. Not only statistical information, but factual information as well (What are the hospitals in the area? Where are the large event centers?)

Broken into two categories: Business Environment and Living Environment

Business Environment information includes:
Municipal Finances, Population, Income, Bankruptcy, Employment & Earnings, Taxes, Commercial Real Estate, Residential Real Estate, Transportation, Roadway Congestion Index, Business Headquarters, Hotels & Motels, Convention Centers

Living Environment information includes:
Cost of Living, Housing, Residential Utilities, Health Care, Education, Major Employers, Public Safety, Hazardous Waste, Culture & Recreation, Media, Climate, Air & Water Quality, and Election results

Plus, it includes additional comparative tables in the appendices.

Fascinating reference for personal or professional use.

If you have anything to do with the business of art, this book is a must have. Who are the artists? Who are the representatives? Where can an artist show their work and where can the collectors buy it? EVERYTHING you want to know plus EVERYTHING you had no idea you needed to know is in there. Once I opened this book and saw how much priceless information it contains, I realized the cost was a bargain.

This 2 volume set tells you all you need to know about Libraries in America--from Academic to Corporate, Public and Government. Circ stats, populations figures, book budgets and all the contact information you'll ever need. A must!

This is my favorite book ever. I read it every night in my bed and it puts me right to sleep.

This book offers an in-depth look into the history of the reed organ. This is the stregnth of the book. It discusses how the reed organ grew in popularity, why it flourished in the society of its time, and then describes its demise. The restoration information is also good. The workings of the organ are described in a fair amount of detail. The tuning section is quite good. It gives exact methods and tells how to make various tools. It includes stop faces, a stop dictionary, company logos, and other useful information. As I mentioned before, though, the real stregnth of this book is the history! A great read for anyone interested in reed organs.

I can't believe the amount of work that must have gone into putting this book together! As useful as it is entertaining...

American Sign Language is a complex range of hand and facial gestures used among deaf and hearing-impaired communities throughout the United States and Canada. It is a rich, colorful, and diverse language, which is quite distinctive from spoken or written English. This direcory is a basic introduction to the vocabulary, grammar, and etiquette of ASL. It begins with numbers and the letters of the alphabet, before moving on to a range of common words and simple phrases. It is a suitable guide for all newcomers to the language, and includes:

* An introduction to the fourth most commonly used language in the United States.
* A starters guide to the principles of ASL.
* Graphic illustrations showing the handshapes, movements, and facial gestures for each word, letter, or number.
--- from book's back cover

Scholarly, substantive, and engaging as it is, Liberman's dictionary in his own words is "written to test the chosen approach to the new dictionary" he has put together. The dictionary is intended to be a model for future etymological exploration and study. Most importantly for the field, it introduces but mostly exemplifies a new approach to the investigation of word origins and deciding on the right root for a word, when this can be done with a reasonable degree of assurance. As Liberman states and demonstrates with his analyses of 55 words, the large majority common, "tracing word origins is a game of probabilities" in which the "centrifugal principle" should be favored when it comes to assigning a word's cognate. This principle is explained, "All conditions being equal, tracing a word to a native root should be preferred to declaring it a borrowing. In similar fashion, it is more attractive to refer to an ascertainable foreign source than to an unidentifiable substrate."

Liberman is a professor of Germanic philology at the U. of Minnesota and author of many books and articles on etymology and language. Most of the 55 words he has chosen for this first book of a planned series are simple words. Among these are bird, drab, ever, dwarf, gawk, key, lass, man, pimp, toad, and witch. Nearly every word is traced to a root word among the northern European family of languages, the basis for Anglo-Saxon and modern English. The word "jeep" is an obvious exception. A few of the words are controversial four-letter or gender terms.

While the author's "centrifugal principle" sets relevant limitations and preferences for deciding on the root of a particular word, the etymological practice demonstrated in his analysis of the more than 50 words is complex and depends on much scholarly knowledge. In these analyses, Liberman does not simply follow a line of apparent related words to a root word, as seen in most dictionaries, including even the esteemed multi-volume Oxford English Dictionary. For Liberman's search for the most probable root entails assessing other respected etymologists' research and conclusions, comparing similar words or possible cognates from several languages, and arguing for why the particular root identified is preferable. In other words, Liberman goes well beyond simply denoting a word root. He aims not only to clarify etymology where able, but to unearth its complexity where called for both to correct errors and assumptions regarding particular words and improve etymological methodology and research.

Word lovers will find the lengthy, involved articles on the number of particular familiar and few obscure words engaging. Most significantly for the field of etymology is his methodology; which is both rigorous and flexible in reaching probable attributions for word roots. With scientific method (as opposed to the frequent presumptions and conventions), literary (i. e., writing) and reasoning ability, and incomparable scholarship, Liberman charts new paths in the field of etymology.

This book is essential for any animation fan or scholar. It contains cross-referenced information which cannot be found anywhere else. In the week that I have owned it, I have used it at least ten times to find information I need. Now if only I had the budget to buy all of the animated films listed in the book! If you have any interest in animation at all, buy this book and become an expert!