J Books

This is a book that every one should own, that want's or has a reef Aquarium. This book go's into great details.

I can't say much on this book except IT is a MUST HAVE FOR EVERY REEF AQUARIUM KEEPER! A very2 good book to have, it's worth the price I tell you.

An excellent reference, with rationale, pros and cons of just about every facet of reef keeping. If your new to reef aquariums this book could be overwhelming, but could also keep you from making mistakes. A bit deep and technical, but worth plowing through it. Keep it handy.

I've kept marine and reef aquaria for over a decade now, have a small tropical and marine fish shop downtown, and have bought and read probably a couple dozen books on keeping marine fish and reef tanks, including Volumes 1 and 2 by the same authors. If I could have just one of all the books I've read on the topic, to read and refer back to whenever necessary, it would be this volume. It's not a beginner's book, but it's wonderfully comprehensive and understandable for one who's already a little familiar with the subject matter. For one who understands most of the "whats" of keeping a reef aquarium, but is confused about many of the "whys," this book answers those questions with very clear and readable explanations.

I am a beginning reefkeeper and have purchased a number of books on the hobby, including this one. In my opinion this is easily the best book on what it takes to actually assemble a functioning, thriving reef tank. The chapter on plumbing (parts, layouts, pumps, etc) alone is worth the price of the book and that's just one chapter!

Contrary to other reviews on here I don't think the material is daunting...I think it's relevant. Why jump into a hobby that is recreating an ecosystem if you don't have the knowledge to do so? It's not difficult to understand, and what I've found is that in many places when something is explained, that in text could be hard to understand, there is usually an illustration, chart, or picture to make it clear. Kudos!

I would easily pay double for this book now that I've read it, and this will serve as my main reference on tank issues moving forward.

This book is phenomenal. I have been interested in military history, tradition, battles, operations, and training since I was a young kid and have read many books about this genre. I have to say that this one was the best I have read so far. Frank Miller's adventures are beyond compare. Miller often had luck on his side, but what really mattered was that he was good at gathering intelligence and killing the enemy. He didn't enjoy killing, but he understood that it was either him or them and he did what he had to do without dwelling on it.

This book puts you right on the battlefront and makes you feel part of the brotherhood and loyalty that men share when confronted with life and death. There are many humorous stories scattered in the book of more relaxing times away from battle which Miller shares.

I have to give much praise to the author, Elwood Kureth, because he was able to write about Miller's exploits in a way that really made you identify with Frank Miller. A very well written book and very entertaining.

I'm not opposed to all wars but I was very much against our involvement in Vietnam. I thought then and still think that we should have been helping the other side. I bought this book wanting to hear what combat was like there from a special forces soldier. Fortunately, the book didn't get into the politics but simply told about his life and job, which was to collect intelligence and kill the enemy. His bravery and what he went through is mind boggeling and the descripions of battles are riviting. I stayed up way past my bedtime reading it.

WOW, this is one of the most gripping and moving accounts of personal combat and experiences in Vietnam that I have ever read. I had great difficulty putting this gem down, as it is directly related in first-person and the author does a magnificent job of making you feel as if you're right there alongside the subject of the book (Franklin Miller).

Nothing is held back, and if you've ever served in the military, you'll fall right into step with the narration. Everything is presented in all its gory detail, so if you're a little squeamish, you might want to skim across a few sections. The ending is particularly heart-wrenching, especially the afterword by the author's widow.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the up-close and personal views of combat in Vietnam.

As Command Chaplain For US Special Operations Command I had the profound honor of presiding at This hero's funeral. During the months before he died, I spent some days at his home in St Petersburg to offer some spiritual care.

Even to the very end he was a man of strength and courage. He had an abiding faith in Christ that comforted him and allowed him to spend his final days encouraging and supporting his children. As we prayed he would ask me to pray for his children first becuase they were his greatest concern.

He gave me a copy of his book which I read immediately. It is an amazing story that captures the true heart of a warrior. It is a "must read."

Chaplain Lee M. Thompson
Colonel, USAF (Ret)

I have been in the Navy for 16 years now and have seen my share of adventure, especially during my flying tour while Bosnia was still raging. It was during that tour that I rescued a paperback copy of this book from our book drawer in our barracks. It was all torn, with the pages falling out. As I carefully read it, I was blown away with Miller's inspirational, charismatic example to any service member. I could not put it down.

This book was the best Vietnam story I have ever read and it must be the defining book on the Special Forces. The only book to come close to this one (with regard to Vietnam) was Rogue Warrior by Dick Marcinko--who I met many years ago during Aircrew School.

Since my paperback copy was so ripped up, I tried to buy the hard copy of it. At the time, it was out of print so it took me years to obtain one on eBay. I highly recommend this book to service members or anyone seriously interested in reading about a true American hero!

This is a wonderful, hopeful book! If you feel you don't have control of your children, this book shows you how to gain respect and control while showing your children the dignity they deserve. This book has changed our family and our parenting. We aren't perfect, but we're a lot more happy. The advice is VERY practical and down to earth. It isn't all about theory...we all know we want kind, respectful, thoughtful, etc., children... but about tells you HOW to achieve that in your family. I recommend this book for ALL parents! Can't say enough about it and I've read a lot of parenting books!

I haven't seen other books about child discipline, so my review is based only on how helpful I found this one book. It's possible other books would be better.

The strong virtue of this book is that it has an extremely clear and (it seems) very well-justified method of getting kids to do what you want them to do; and it hammers the message home in many ways. Basically, it teaches a simple method but in great detail. The method can be stated in just a few sentences, actually, I think: if you want a child to behave, inform him in a matter-of-fact voice of what (reasonable) consequences will follow if he does not behave, or else give him a number of acceptable choices (and also specify what the consequence for doing anything else). If he obeys, praise him. If he does not obey, carry out the promised consequence unemotionally.

So far with our toddler, this seems to work very well. Moreover, while it might seem repetitious, the different ways of "coming at" the basic method actually helps to teach it. The fact that the method seems to work, and that it is explained pretty well, is why I give the book four stars.

I don't give it five stars for two reasons. First, while perfectly clear, the prose is pretty pedestrian; but it's not too bad, and given that the author has an Ed.D., it could have been much worse! More annoying, however, in the many examples given of adults speaking to children, the adults are made to say things like, "What's a better choice?" and "I appreciate your consideration," or presenting a number of options and then saying "What would you like to do?" In praise, the parent is made to say, "That was a good choice." How many parents talk this way, or want to talk this way? I'm sure some do, but geez. Maybe it's just me, but this makes the parents sound like condescending bureaucrats rather than, well, parents. Part of what's annoying here is that the children know that they are not in control. (Think back how this would have sounded to you as a child yourself!) So they can sense when a parent is being condescending in pretending that ultimately the child can "choose" to do something the parents don't want him to do. No, he can't, if we're setting limits; that's why they're called limits! An actually more respectful way, it seems to me, is to say--in a matter-of-fact voice and unemotionally, I'm sure MacKenzie has that right--"You can do X or Y. If you do anything else, I'm going to Z (take away the toy, whatever)." Or: "Please X. If you don't, I'm going to Y." And to praise compliance, you don't say, "That was a good choice," you say simply "Thanks, buddy" or "Thanks for doing X, good job." That seems less condescending to me.

This is purely stylistic, though. It's easy to come up with your own ways of talking to your kids, so this isn't a big deal.

The second problem I have is that MacKenzie sometimes adverts to this interesting thesis, that you teach your children how to solve problems by how you set limits or punish them. So, for instance, if you spank a child, you teach the child that violence is the way to solve problems. Or, if you argue with a child, you teach the child that arguing is the way to solve problems. In saying this, MacKenzie is at his least persuasive and helpful. I was looking for some evidence of this interesting psychological claim, but he presented none. The thesis probably has some grain of truth, but it just doesn't sound very plausible to me; I suspect it might have ideological grounds more than solid scientific grounds. In one case, the author tips his hand and undermines his own case when he says that his more "strong-willed" child would not turn down the television. The author threatened to turn it off if he did not, but the child refused, so off went the television. So far, so good--but they went through this "dance" 10 or 12 times (over a period of however many weeks or months) before the child started doing so when asked the first time. If the author's thesis about our disciplinary methods teaching more than we intend is correct, then what did this rigamarole teach his child? Perhaps that you get your way by being annoyingly repetitive.

Don't get me wrong--neither of these problems with the book really reduces its effectiveness very much. It's a very helpful book and I'm glad I bought it.

This is the first item I've ever written a review for but I found this book so helpful that I feel compelled mention how great it is. Being a new parent was entirely uncharted territory for me and this book made me feel like at least I have a shot at doing a decent job. My 4 year old is fiesty in a lot of ways but this book has enough realistic examples that I feel like I have the tools to deal with virtually any situation that arises. Can't recommend it enough.

I cannot stop telling everyone about the greatness of this book!! I bought this book since my daughter was crying every morning when I dropped her off at daycare. This morning routine became so unbearable and I was so frustrated I started questioning myself, the daycare, the teachers etc. After reading only a few chapters, I used the advice given and it worked!! It really helped me to understand her behavior (and mine)The book has plenty of examples of how to talk to a child whether is a 4 year old (my daughter) or older. I was not aware I was being permissive or engaging in "the dance". Although I do not yell at my daughter since I did not want to be a parent who disrespects their child, I was screaming inside when she did not get ready on time or when she hung on my leg in the morning refusing to stay at daycare. This book has allowed my to see my daughters behavior from an outside perspective allowing me to stay calm, and consequently my daughter's behavior is totally different. It has been three weeks since I got the book, my daughter has not cried when I drop her off at daycare since then. She is so cooperative and the teachers cannot believe the change. I bought two other parenting books but the difference is that this book gives clear examples for the various situations of daily life and how to address the child without giving too many options, yet it still allowes them to make their own decisions. I love this book!

This book utilizes common sense when setting limits and disciplining your child. It is full of great examples in implementing the limits.

My husband is 4 weeks post knee replacement surgery, and this book has been our Bible. I wish we had bought it sooner, but it has been very helpful. It tells what to expect and how to rehab! His physiotherapist and doctor have both approved!

This book is a must for all people considering a knee replacement. Especially important to get the book early enough that you can do all the pre-operative exercises to help you manage your post op better. Most surgeons just do not give you the whole picture of what the first year of your life will be like after the operation. To have a great outcome, you really need to know that your re-hab will continue long past what most insurance companies provide. This gives you the information to have the best possible outcome of your surgery. Thanks to the pysical therapist who had both his knees done, you see a very knowledgeable "insider" view of the total process. Get this book before your surgery!

I simply say "ditto" to what most of the other reviewers have stated. This is a real gem of a book. It wasn't until after my LTKR this past summer that I learned of the book. Once I received the book it has been at my side constantly. I'm now 5.5 months post and use the exercises in the book everyday. My faves: Pool Therapy, Futebol and the Balance Exercises. My OS was not familiar with the book so I sent him one as a "thank you" for my wonderful, new knee! It should be handed out to every TKR patient as part of their pre-op packet.

My left knee has been failing rapidly. . I have heard the good, bad and ugly about TKA. Thus I have purchased several books in the last few years. I will be so well prepared for my surgery (4 weeks away). This book has allowed me a be a TEAM player, and not just a patient. I already own a Total Gym, that is one piece of equipment suggested.
I know I will heal much faster due to the exercises I am doing now, and later after surgery. Technology in this field is advancing by leaps and bounds. Some of the info and details are almost outdated, but still covers all the bases. This book helped me have super communication with my surgeon and his staff. Hats off to Dr. Daniel J. Brugioni and Jeff Falkel, Ph.D. - Orthopedic Surgeons should write a pre-surgery prescription for this book!

I bought this for my mom who recently had her complete knee replacement surgery. When the physical therapist started coming over after the surgery, she looked over the book and started incorporating many of the exercises within in addition to the regular program she was doing. These have helped speed up her recovery and have allowed for the routine to change from session to session. By swapping exercises out, she maintains a varied yet beneficial recovery program. Although I got this after the surgery, the book also contains a lot of information for those who are considering having it done, including what to expect, how it's done, and other sections that help you plan ahead. Due to advances in knee replacement, the section on the surgery itself may be a little bit dated and does not include some of the newer procedures and materials used. All in all, an excellent and very complete book and one that anyone about the have knee replacement should definitely purchase and read

Whether one is interested in the plight of children, or simply wanting an interesting read, this book is for you. I was never familiar with the name of Cherie Clark, but now I am, and feel like a better person for it. This woman demonstrated incredible passion and love for the helpless when no one else would - or could. There are probably no monuments or special trophies established in Cherie Clark's name - but there should be. This book accompanied me on a trip to Hawaii, and I found myself unable to detach myself from it while in paradise! The famous biblical verse, "Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his brother," was probably written with Cherie Clark in mind!

I was born the year Cherie Clark left Vietnam with a plane load of babies. A remarkable woman. Her words describe life for a Humanitarian Worker in Vietnam so matter-of-factly, so astoundingly matter of factly! There is no time for sorrow it seems, only for action, and for bringing joy and changing lives. Must be something to change 200 babies lives forever, but to sum it up in 200 pages of simple language, eloquence is not needed in a battlefield. Wonder why there is no movie about this book? Emotions are generated by the reader vision of the bleak scenary of war, a fight of life against death, and of activisim against evil and maddness. Her anger, sorrow, happiness are all suppressed by the overwhelming events she chose to be part of. A remarkable book by a remarkable woman. Can't wait to get hold of the rest of the trilogy. Her Sorrow, other's joy.

This book is truly awe inspiring. We are adopting a child from Vietnam and hopefully will have the pleasure of meeting Cherie when we travel to pick our baby up. For anyone who has adopted or is adopting from Vietnam it truly puts perspective on what happened during the war. I simply could not put this book down. Make sure you have plenty of Kleenex when you read this.

Cherie gave 100% of herself to the children of VietNam and, later, India. I couldn't put this book down. I also have adopted internationally and want so much to drop everything and go to work with children without families overseas. The difference: I don't have the courage, Cherie did. I only wish she had the time or resources to write the sequel she had planned to this wonderful book.

This book is necessary reading for anyone who wants a complete picture of the Vietnam War. Cherie Clark's memoir succeeds where so many other memoirs, histories, and journalistic accounts fall short. While most books lose interest in events after the final American troop pullout in 1972, Clark's book provides a vivid depiction of life in South Vietnam during the frantic final years of the war. The book also fills the gap left by so many accounts in its description of the desperate conditions endured by regular Vietnamese caught in the middle of the conflict. While issues of global politics and military strategy comprise the vast majority of books published about Vietnam, Clark's book is exceptional in its unflinching view of how the consequences of those issues affected the lives of so many women and children. From beginning to end, After Sorrow Comes Joy is gripping, honest, and interesting. But perhaps its most valuable contribution to the field of books about Vietnam is the surprising level of decency and hope evident amidst all of the suffering. Many of the Americans and Vietnamese described in the book go on to use their wartime experiences as launching pads to careers in humanitarian work throughout the world. And for that hopeful quality alone, Ms. Clark's book is a rare standout. As a Ph.D. student concentrating on Southeast Asian history, I would recommend After Sorrow Comes Joy as an important contribution to the canon of works on America's involvement in Vietnam. I would also recommend it as a great read for anyone interested in stories of unheralded but heroic Americans doing the anonymous humanitarian work that is so often overlooked in books about soldiers, protesters, and policy makers. It is a different Vietnam story, but it is one that should have been told a long time ago.

Amethyst Noble is locked in a court battle with her son who thinks that, at age 93, she is too old to live alone in her house. While waiting for the court date, Amethyst spends time with her namesake, her great-granddaughter, and begins telling her stories about her life and the lives of those who came before her in the Noble family. Woven into the family story is the story of the Noble's relationship with a black family who were first slaves and then co-workers. Also important in the story is an amethyst heart which is passed down from generation to generation. This is the first book of Penelope Stokes that I have read, but it won't be the last. She is a delightful Christian writer who knows how to write a story with a good message.

I am a stokes fan, I own every novel she has written and with this one she has done it again, you will not regret reading this one! I loved it.

I have read Penelope Stokes' Circle of Grace book from the library. I checked the author on her official website and I was impressed by her education and writing skills and style. After that, I start to buy books which she has authored. I have purchased The Amethyst Heart and The Amber Photograph and will intend to buy the rest of her books.
First, the title of this book is touchy...amethyst which is a spiritual stone. Secondly, she puts bible verses and passages that are applicable to the lines in her story which makes it a more enjoyable read. Then in this book, there are touches of civil war issues and racism which are intriguing subjects and as her words flow, the reader will feel that he or she is being mentally taken to this imaginative world and being a witness to this story. I think this is one of her best, if not her best written story judging from the 3 books that Ms. Stokes authored that I have read.
Would I recommend it to every reader? Absolutely, because I believe in her style and her prose is written very adequately and consistent to her very excellent writing gift and talent.

I ordered this book when I was in high school. It had been sitting on my book shelf for a few years, then I finally decided to actually read it. I finished the book in three days and was sorry that it took me so long to pick it up. From the first page the book takes you in as if you were Ms.Noble's great granddaughter. Throughout the story I laughed and cried till the very end. I loved it so much that I bought an additional two copies as Christmas gifts to my co-workers. Its a book worthy of sharing.

I have recently discovered Ms. Stokes books and "The Amethyst Heart" is my favorite. After purchasing a few of her books, I decided to use my local library to continue with her collection. Now I need to purchase "The Amethyst Heart" so I can highlight various sentences and thoughts for future reference. This book was a very enjoyable, inspirational novel that I look forward to owning and reading again.

It took me several days to grind through "The Last of Mr. Norris." After taking a break to read another novel, I came back to Isherwood's "Goodbye to Berlin." And it, too, took me several days to finish. My interest waned mainly because these two stories, which make up the book "The Berlin Stories," read very much like a diary -- no real suspenseful build-up, no climax. The various characters in "The Berlin Stories" are much the same -- secretive, manipulative, shallow and, in many respects, nothing more than low life. I expected more insight into the character's views of Hitler, or why Jews threatened so many people -- something to give me a better feel as to why the German people felt the way they did and what their hopes were for their country. "The Berlin Stories" does complement other books which have been written about this period.

Needless to say the story is great. It's unfortunate that the publisher, New Directions/James Laughlin, couldn't be bothered to reset the type to fit the size of the page. Also, A SECTION OF THE TEXT IS MISSING. Page 95 ends mid-sentence and page 96 picks up mid-sentence at another point in the story. Try to find another edition than ISBN 978-0-8112-0070-7

Christopher Isherwood's "Berlin Stories" is perhaps most famous for having inspired the stage and screen masterpiece Cabaret, but those who are looking for an exact match between the two will be disappointed. The divine Sally Bowles does make an appearance (her charisma and verve are the book's high point), but only briefly, and her story only contains only seeds of what would become Cabaret's plotline. The primary similarities between the musical and its source material lie in the characterization of the aforementioned wannabe diva (who is every bit as vibrant on the page as she is in performance), as well as in the central themes and setting.

Berlin, 1930 - 1933: a city caught helplessly in an inexorable rush toward history as warring political factions fight for control and the Nazi party begins its rise to power. Violence and danger lurk in every street, and yet life goes on for the citizens of Berlin - who struggle to keep a degree of normalcy in their lives and food on their tables. They desperately cling to their traditional way of life as Germany's bloodthirsty future in WWII becomes more and more a nightmarish present. They are utterly unprepared for what lies ahead for them and their beloved nation. Could they have stopped Hitler? Almost certainly, if only they had taken the threat seriously. And therein lies the tragedy at the heart of Isherwood's masterpiece: that while it may be human nature to bury your head in the sand and hope for the best when trouble comes knocking, doing so will make you a passive co-conspirator and only allow the worst-case-scenario become a fully realized reality.

"The Berlin Stories" consists of two novellas that have been published together. "The Last of Mr. Norris" delves into the failure of Germany's communist party and, through the character of Mr. Norris, shows us the war profiteer at its worst. Norris doesn't care who ends up in power or what they do to Germany so long as he can use them to turn a profit and maintain his lavish lifestyle. The one complaint I have about it is that William Bradshaw's immediate friendship with the shifty Mr. Norris requires a suspension of disbelief on the reader's part. Why would he so readily trust Norris when his every instinct reveals him to be a charlatan and a swindler? Perhaps we are meant to see in William's willingness to trust Norris the larger concept that Germans eventually embraced Hitler despite their better instincts, but if that was Isherwood's intention it is a little too vague. "Goodbye to Berlin" is a series of vignettes with a writer named Isherwood (!) as its central character. The vignettes begin when it was still possible to hope for the best, and end in a cloud of violence as Isherwood is forced to leave Berlin, his once-and-still beloved city, in 1933.

"The Berlin Stories" is, ultimately, an elegy for the lost Germany that Isherwood had once fallen in love with, and the reader will be hard pressed not to mourn with him as the once vibrant city of Berlin descends into chaos and bloodshed. What is truly terrifying is that it actually happened, and it is incumbent upon us to make sure that it never happens again.
Grade: A

While nowhere near as fleshed out as "Cabaret"--the film that was constructed from this and "I am a Camera," THE BERLIN STORIES are still great entertainment and a valuable look into pre-war Berlin and Germany.

Isherwood brings to life the squalid conditions and the "many families in one place" atmosphere that adds to the gloom and doom, and also the human interactions that makeup these stories.

If you're planning to delve into the land of Christopher Isherwood, I highly suggest this writing of his, along with his wonderful, though extremely extensive autobiographies. Great fodder about Stravinsky, Los Angeles, Arthur Kallman, and a host of others around the "LA roundtable" that is also a time capsule of an era we will never see again.

Forget all about Mr. Norris. He might have changed trains, but he never takes off. Goodbye to Berlin on the other hand is wonderful. Modernism at its best. Isherwood watches, as a bystander, how the roaring twenties Berlin slowly decays and how the Nazis are creeping out of their holes and take over public spaces.

An English major's best friend. What did I do without it? It's fun to pick up and read snippets but mostly it comes to the rescue when I have literary term questions or am stuck on a poetry problem. I ordered it from Amazon since it beat campus prices.

I've had this book for almost a month now, and I have to say that I am very impressed. I bought it because it was suggested as an extra source of information in my English Literature class. I am still waiting for the recommended text (Abram's 'A Glossary of Literary Terms'), so this one has definitely come in handy. Each time I look in it, I find new words and phrases to learn about (including the ones I 'have' to look up), and it is a delight. My mother used to tell us that her mother's frequent recommendation was 'Make a friend of your dictionary!'and I have. I like knowing which 'big' words I can use to truly express myself, and Cuddon's 'Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory'(published by Penguin in 1999 and revised by CE Preston), is going to be a very good 'friend' indeed! In my opinion, it is on a par with Abram's text, in fact it might be more accurate to say that they complement each other. I definitely recommend it to anyone studying English Literature, and anyone who just likes to read.

This book is an excellent and indispensable resource. I've used it quite often to look up and correctly apply different terms when writing essays and looking up references. However, it's also a fun book to look through and to pick out random entries in learning more about the wide range of literary terms, concepts, and histories that are comprehensively covered in this text.

This is a handy inexpensive reference book with much more than a dictionary on some interesting items but less on lots of other things, so it is very specific to literary purposes giving special help in history of literary terms. Since it works more like a history of those terms it gives J.A. Cuddon a wonderful opportunity to display his research skills and demonstrate interesting connections that otherwise would be missed. It works well as a required text for entrance level literature classes in the undergraduate level.

As an author, have you been guilty of "log-rolling?" According to "The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literay Theory" complied by J. A. Cuddon, this literary term is: "The practice by which authors review each other's books. Vulgarly known as "back-scratching." Being retired tree farmers we have a different concept for the term.
Extensive, forthright annotations and great essays take the browser on a delightful tour of the literary arena. From Abby Theater to Zhdanovshchina, Cuddin uses both irreverence and erudition to teach us that the words and phrases we use seldom mean what we believe.
An excellent reference for the writer's bookshelf.
Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Taxes, Stumbling Blocks & Pitfalls for Authors 2007."

The others have said it all. This is truly a five star book, full of useful content. By now you should be in no doubt - buy it!

I just read this book on 04/2001, and considering that this book was published on 99 it feels a bit old, but although it treats Flash on its version 3, is gives you an amazing background information, also the optimization section for animated gifs is amazing. I just wish i read this book on 99' I would be Hillman Curtis 2, i would've save me lots of learning. Great for Flash foundations. This for sure was the THE HIT back on 99'.

J.Scott Hamlin is on the cutting edge of Web graphics design and his book Effective Web Animation offers a new look and fresh approach to incorporating animated imagery. According to Hamlin serious Web graphics design goes far beyond the simple GIF animations of poorer quality and performance that just about anyone can create. Image size, color quality, interactivity, accompanying audio, and faster delivery over the Internet are factors that have led to new Web animation technologies. Are we ready to face them?

Hamlin lays a foundation for Web animation on the professional level for serious minded Web designers who must face new graphic design consideration demands. Hamlin offers detailed instruction involving the use of JavaScript, Photoshop, and Macromedia Flash and the results are phenomenal. This book contains many well-planned and beautifully designed graphic images and the tips and advanced techniques necessary to create comparable results. The accompanying CD features sample code, animations, demoware, and tutorials for further instruction opportunities.

Web animation is making a comeback and Web graphics design has become serious business. Hamlin's contribution in the form of this book is essential for those designers who want to graduate to a higher level of Web design mastery and income. Clients are wising up to the many Web technologies available to them and are becoming more discerning about how they spend their advertising dollars. Don't be left behind. Consider animating your Web creations today. This is must reading!

Having already worked for a number of years with the Internet I was hoping this book would provide me with such information as "Advanced Techniques for the Web" (as the books sub-title states). What I found though was the book is a fantastic resource for anyone who is a complete beginner right up to intermediate web developer.

I was expecting detailed information on java scripting and Flash scripting however found that the book goes not much further than, for example, the handbooks and tutorials of Flash 4 and Dreamweaver 2.

If you are an experienced web designer/developer with a solid grounding in the internet and are looking for more than basic java scripting and flash scripting, this book may prove to be too basic. With this all said, this is a valuable book and many colleagues who newer to the web are gaining much benefit from information in this book.

5 stars for beginner - intermediate skill level

3 stars for advanced skill level

This is one great book! Picking it up and setting down in my usual lazy chair to read I quickly got a feel for how easy this book was to read. With beautiful pictures and easy to follow examples I quickly found it to be one of my favorite graphics books. This book covers almost everything you need to know about web animation, and best of all, it grows with you! As your skills get better the book explains more. From Gif89 animations to all out power house Flash animations that will make your site to die for! I loved every bit!

I cannot imagine trying to read Proust's Everest of a novel until I've had enough life experience to be able to identify with his insights. How on earth was a man who died young and was confined to a bed for so many years able to learn so much about life and common human experience, emotion and perception? I don't know how, but I thank God that he was.

For modern readers, Proust is definitely an acquired taste that rewards patience. I never thought reading the works of one author would make those of others seem so much easier to read. But such is the case with Proust. Nevertheless, one shouldn't regard his writing as therapy or medicine; it may read like self help at times, with its frequent use of the first-person plural, but it is a story first of all. His writing is just more detailed and insightful than that of all but a handful of modern novelists.

Within a Budding Grove is a primer on patience and perception, one that will probably make you a better reader, perhaps a better writer, and certainly a more interesting human being. Struggle on patiently. You will get used to the labyrinthine sentences, paragraphs that run on for pages, and gargantuan chapters (if they can be called that) that don't really begin or end anywhere tidy. Eventually, you will likely come to enjoy it.

My only criticism: at times one does get annoyed by the slow pacing. For instance, I knew that this is the volume that introduces the reader to Albertine. But it did take about 600 pages for the narrator to meet her! That said, there are plenty of tasty morsels along the way. Read it, not so much for the simple story or the minutely detailed descriptions, but for the numerous insights and the astounding wisdom.

How can anyone summarize even a single volume of Proust's massive six volume novel? Within a Budding Grove (sometimes translated as In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower) is the second installment of In Search of Last Time. We find the narrator perhaps marginally older on vacation with his grandmother living in a luxurious hotel in Balbec off the coast. This volume, paired with the first (Swann's Way), is really the introduction to the work entire if you can believe it. In it, the narrator perhaps matures slightly; he cultivates his keen awareness of art, meets new people, and ultimately falls out of love with Gilberte and falls in love with Albertine. His relationship with his grandmother is certainly expanded, and the reader comes to learn that the narrator is not merely motivated by a trivial pursuit of pleasure and bourgeois charm. He is in fact, a truly full human being, complete with fear, love, desire, and ambition. He meets one of my favorite characters in the whole book, the impressionist painter Elstir, a character clearly based Monet, Manet, Pissaro, and others. He introduces the narrator to Albertine through his paintings, and teaches him about the joys of life and art. There are some passages in this section of the book (the latter half) which I just can't resist from quoting,

"I could never have believed that I should now be dreaming of a sea which was no more than a whitish vapour that had lost both consistency and colour. But of such a sea Elstir, like the people who sat musing on board those vessels drowsy with the heat, had felt so intensely the enchantment that he had succeeded in transcribing, in fixing for all time upon his canvas, the imperceptible ebb of the tide, the throb of one happy moment; and at the sight of this magic portrait, one could think of nothing else than to range the wide world, seeking to recapture the vanished day in its instantaneous, slumbering beauty" (pg. 657).

also (how French is this?),

"For a convalescent who rests all day long in the flower-garden or an orchard, a scent of flowers or fruit does not more completely pervade the thousand trifles that compose his idle hours than did for me that colour, that fragrance in search of which my eyes kept straying towards the girls, and the sweetness of which finally became incorporated in me. So it is that grapes sweeten in the sun. And by their slow continuity these simple little games had gradually wrought in me also, as in those who do nothing else all day but lie outstretched by the sea, breathing the salt air and sunning themselves, a relaxation, a blissful smile, a vague dazzlement that had spread from brain to eyes" (pg. 669).

I certainly cannot add any insights into the greatness and profundity of this work which has not already been said by Edmund Wilson or Vladimir Nabokov. Within a Budding Grove is a deeply felt, beautiful and fleeting segment of one of the finest novels of the last century, I urge you to read it.

Montcrief's translation, is the quintisential Proust. The, beautiful, florid prose is reminiscent of a time and a place that no longer exists, and captures the French aristocracy in the advent of WWI -- full of old-world trappings, yet abounding with subtle reminders of the globalization that was to follow. Proust's style and vision are directed admirably towards his artistic goal of appreciating art through sublimation, and express his idea that a true understanding of art comes first through appreciation, and then expression through a medium. This volume is full of Proust's own philosiphies on art, life and the people who abound in both. His observations, pointed and amusing, keep this volume relevant. Considering the wave of expatriate and existentialist writers who propogated Paris after the Great War, this book is truly the last in a line of works that view life in a grand, sweeping and elegant manner. Within a Budding Grove brought Proust fame and acclaim in his own time, and in ours can be seen as a masterpiece reflecting a time past, yet glimsping assiduously into the future. For those "in search of lost time" this is truly a great read.

This is a great copy of Vol. 2 of A la recherche du temps perdu [In Search of Lost Time] or [Delving into Things Past]. Each volume in the septrology may be read individually as an independent novel. This is, of course, the very best translation available in English; probably the very best that will ever be available in English: certainly the next best thing to reading the original French.

Note: Proust is not quick reading, and one who tries to read too quickly will just as quickly lose the tread of the narrative. This text has its own time scale, and the reader must adjust his/herself to the text--not the other way around. In this stream of consciousness narrative, the narrator (/author) digresses as he speaks (/thinks): he digresses, digresses, digresses; and then, he returns, returns, returns to the point where he began. One has to follow his line of thought: this is the art and beauty of the text.

Proust's achievement is one of the greatest edifices of Western art, perhaps comparable only to Wagner's Ring cycle.

It's my experience, reading this novel, to be perpetually grateful for the miracle of Proust, grateful, too, that he waited until his maturity to write; as someone who's spent time in writing workshops, I can only imagine the dissipation of his energies into anemic prototypes had he been persuaded to publish prematurely. Lovingly written, every word endowed with love of life and maturity's distillation of life experience, it is a novel (which reads like a memoir) of a life devoted to the connoisseur's pursuit of pleasure-how can that not alienate? Proust is consciously writing for an elite of mental or temperamental sympathy. To say that reading Proust has helped me through hard times is true-yet how can I-someone who has, to paraphrase a T-shirt I saw recently, a blackbelt in keepin' it real-not resent a courtesan with three ladies to aid in her toilette-however tenderly rendered?

The mature Proust's vision of love-in this novel at least-is adolescent and self-absorbed, and there is no sense of a selfless or mature love, such as that of a parent for a child, which contains a dying to self as opposed to an expansion of self. (One thinks here of the authorial contempt for the too-giving parent, Vinteuil.) I pity Marcel: to lose oneself-the burden-to lose time-sometimes-is very refreshing indeed. Mired in the adolescent and egotistical point-of-view, without benefit of even the illusory counterpoint of an adult lover's (Swann's) point-of-view, the narrative does sometimes suffer from too much Marcel. Coddled, effete, he finely calibrates the shades of disillusionment that possession as opposed to reflection offers-the "psychological impossibility of happiness"-after having his wildest fantasies (Berma! Bergotte! Balbec!) fulfilled time and again. And he universalizes his singular temperamental trait, that inability to live in the moment.

Proust is only too conscious of his weaknesses, and as a result, we get his poetics: "I am aware that this is to blaspheme against the sacrosanct school of what these gentlemen term `Art for Art's sake,' but at this period of history there are tasks more urgent than the manipulation of words in a harmonious manner," Norpois says, and one is laughing out loud with pleasure at the dissonance between Marcel's lofty musings on Berma and the cold spiced beef jiggling in its cubes of aspic, the delicious conflict of temperaments.

He gives me back to myself-it's a long time since I've felt the sole inhabitor of my consciousness and had the leisure to puzzle out my sensations. Usually my mind is full to the brim like this: "Mommy-mommy-mommy-here comes little bear! What does little bear say?! Mommy-mommy-mommy-mommy-moooooommy! Here's little bear! Little bear is talking!" So that I don't have mental space or leisure to process even the simplest sensation, how the sun feels on my shoulders, for instance. Visiting Proust's cool room of mirrors and ocean waves returns that feeling to me, and that is precious. There is something precious in his extremity-his lack of apology for a sensitive and aesthetically-driven nature that is anathema to middle-class American values. And that rhythm like ocean waves! It gets in your head, lowers your blood pressure, no doubt alters brain wave patterns, the chemicals in neuropathways.

There is something so extreme (admirable!) in Proust's sensibility-the extremity of his pursuit of pleasurable sensation intellectually reorganized and savored-that one feels-paradoxically-something dehumanizing in his gaze. His musings on the protoplasmic nature of young girls frankly chills me! Yet I see it as part of the "green fuse," the life force pagan and repugnant at times. So, what happens in Vol.3? I can't wait, yet at the same time I hope for something I may not get.