Julia Roberts Books

This book is a good collection of temerature dependent material data on a number of materials commonly encountered in electronics packaging. It is very useful for those who do structural modeling of microelectronic packages.

A majority of the data is in graphical form, forcing the user to interpolate from the plots to get numerical data. However, each material has numerical data listed for room temperature properties. Mechanical properties tend to be stated in english units. Sources of the data are cited.

Unfortunately I saw the movie first, prior to reading this hilarious book. Too bad the movie doesn't do the book justice.
It was funny, contemporary, light, shedding outrageously hysterical insight into the world of the elite.
Fun, easy read. Slight tear-jerker ending...

I found this book to be very engaging and a real page-turner. However, when I got to the end I was disappointed and sad.

There is a feeling of impending doom after the first 1/3 of the book. The first third is amusing, written spiritedly and although I found things *not* to like about the protagonist, "Nan," overall I liked her and could find things about her with which I could identify.

The last two thirds of the book are gripping and make you want to keep reading - sort of like watching a film and knowing the driver of that car will be t-boned at the next intersection. You know the major act is coming, but you hope that somehow it will turn out for the good. As it is left (and I was somewhat unsatisfied by the close), I felt sad for the parties involved and perplexed at the behavior exhibited by more than one.

It definitely reminded me of my younger days working in a day care - it is just so emotional to work with and grow to love these children (and to know that they love you) and then to leave that job. I definitely felt echoes of the mixed blessing of that situation in this book.

Good book, worth the read, but more of a moral tale than a humorous one.

A good mix of satire and social commentary, with a poignant ending!
Most of the critics seemed to miss the point that this was a novel, and that the experiences are not taken directly from the lives of the two nannies. Presumably, they swapped enough stories among themselves and other caregivers, and found a (somewhat) believable framework to include everything here.
There are some nitpicks, already mentioned in great detail, about the characters' names. The main character actually being named 'Nanny' doesn't ruin the story, although the 'X' references wear thin pretty fast!
A touching scene between Nanny and a colleague from Central America is cheapened a bit by a throwaway line later in the story, explaining away that character's job status. Some of the attention given to the on-again, off-again romance of Nanny and 'H.H.', and the rest of her personal life seems somewhat wasted, considering the direction the story takes. And some sections, particularly those set during winter, seem like one long sequence of Nanny taking off one jacket and putting on another!
But the main conflict, between Nanny's devotion to her job vs. her pride, is well-developed here. It's obvious that she's staying not for her sake, or her employers', but for 'Grover'. The end of Nanny's association with the X's may not satisfy readers who wanted more 'closure' and a tidy farewell between Nanny and the little guy. Those who wish she'd just stood up to her employers sooner have a point, but this book requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief in spite of its attempt to be 'realistic'.
The personality quirks of most characters are a bit too 'stereotypically New York' at times, with Nanny's family coming off as flaky yet still somewhat likeable, while Nanny herself seems shallow and superficial when the story focuses on her life away from her job. That said, there were some very funny moments, especially in the opening chapter, riffing on all the micro-managed, pre-arranged 'activities' and 'play dates', and the silly names that certain parents love to give their kids.
The criticism of the X's and their selfish materialsim is valid, but, like their 'hidden' real names, the idea is overdone.
Nanny's final 'telling off' of her bosses didn't satisy many reviewers, but I enjoyed it...though I also thought that her 'revised' farewell message showed that she was finally growing up a bit. While the ultimate fate of both Grover and Nanny is left up in the air, readers should just be able to enjoy what there is of this story.

I read this book with low expectations yet...even then I was disappointed.

The main character "Nan" has a series of tasks (which her high-strung employer "Mrs. X" commands her to do), which makes her ideal 15-20 hour weekly job a 60 hour a week struggle.

Nan has one-dimensional friends (Sarah and Josh) and a relationship with a man whom she never reveal the name of but only refers to him as Harvard Hottie or H.H.

Its confusing how her relationship with H.H. even came about or how her friendships really are as they are only backdrop to the her more important relationship with an expressive 4 year old named Grayer.

This book is definitely hard to put down but not because it is well written (which it is not) but because the reader hopes that at one point the protagonist would gain likability and depth.

I'm sure that there is a good idea buried in this book, I just feel that it wasn't excuted well. A Nanny named Nanny and employers named Mr. and Mrs. X-like this was some attempt to protect real people. My problem is that in the 2 YEARS that it's taken me to read this book, is that the humor (if one wants to call it that) is at first in the begining too over the top and then the rest of the book severely lacking. Maybe this was to be a modern version of Agnes Grey-another book that sets out to complain about the previlege of the rich while the help CHOOSES to be of their employ. It's a book without a cohensive plot but has milked a lot of mileage off it's commerical title. Skip this one.

We gave this book to our 11-year-old Roberts fan for Christmas and she loved it. Cutting edge biography it isn't, but for younger fans of Ms. Roberts, it provides plenty to identify with and a few surprising facts.

A decent biography for juveniles but far too short for anyone else (only 32 pages). Try Gary Fuller's biography about Julia (The Julia Roberts Story) if you're looking for something longer and better.

If Robert Clark didn't live in James Beard's pocket for 80-odd years he has certainly figured out how to sound like he did. Mr. Clark manages to be both fair, critical and exhaustive, showing Beard with all his many warts, yet without diminishing the man's talents, charm and greatness of spirit. A well researched, well-written, fascinating and useful book and an essential book for anyone interested in food and food history.

Robert Clark has taken one of the most colorful culinary figures in history and turned him into the most boring 327 I've ever suffered through. His verbosity was annoying, and there were so many tangential wanderings that I could barely remember whom the book was about.

This is an ok biography but not as good as Epicurian Delight or Beards own autobiography "Delights and Predudices". His homosexulity is some what white washed and the tone is a little bitter.

A great book and one that gets under Julia's skin. We are all governed by our hormones and our work is obviously part of this. Julia's love life has been covered very heavily because it impacts so greatly on her work.
If you only read one book on Julia read this one!

What can you say about a book, in which all of Julia's former boyfriends and her ex-husband and "almost-husbands" and "actual" husband are listed and the whole thing is called "Boyfriendography" (according to "Filmography")? I have never read anything more disrespectful about Julia, than this book! And the whole story is called "confidential" - although Julia hasn't been involved in the making of this book at all... After you've read it, you know why! To relate the quality of her movies and especially her way of acting in them to the number of people who went to see it at the cinema (the so called "success"...) and, even worse, to the relationship with her boyfriend at the time when the films originate, is kind of sick! The whole thing is not worth the paper it is written on. Even the photographs in that book don't make it worthwhile to buy it. On the one hand, they are only in black and white and on the other hand you can find all of them or similar ones elsewhere - and then you are not confronted with sentences, meant to "explain" the pictures in a way like "Julia with soon to be ex-boyfriend..." I find this book absolutely sickening!!! So if you are a fan of Julia and you want to save your stomach, don't buy this book!!! I regret to ever have done so... But now I threw it into the paper waste - and believe me - it doesn't deserve more!

This book is a great resource for those wishing to learn more about grids. What was most interesting to me was the portions discussing the history of the grid and the psychology of the grid. The rest of the book is great as well though. My only complaint would have to be that even though a very interesting grid is utilized throughout the book, the lack of changes in font size allow no development of a hierarchy of information and make the headers at time distracting and overall make the book a little difficult to read. other than that I highly reccomend this book.

Amazon rating = 1 Star
My personal rating = 0 Stars

This book was pretty horrible. If you are looking for a book that will teach you HOW TO USE grids in design, this definitely, MOST definitely isn't it. I can't tell you how much this ISN'T it. This is mostly just a commentary on grids, theories, and apparant use of the grid in society. Most theories on the use of grid in society are really quack though. This is the type of book that takes things TOO far. It's based on some rather quack opinions.

This book doesn't approach the grid from a learning standpoint, as in, how to USE a grid or develop a grid. It is a coffee table book.

The layout of the book is horrible. You open the book and see in the inside of the cover which is lime green and you might think that this might be a nice, fun book. But it isn't. The layout of the pages suck. It doesn't matter who designed this book, how many design awards they won, or whatever but this book is POORLY designed. It's too heavy on style to be read like a book. The style is pointless. It's even difficult to navigate your way through the table of contents! It seems like the designers designed this book for themselves and not for people to READ.

Overall, the content is pretty worthless.

If this book were a website it would have serious usability problems. You often have to rotate the book 90 degrees to read a lot of the text, and a lot of the key graphics are way too small while non-essential graphics are blown up way beyond their importance. E.g. some grid layouts discussed in the text are accompanied by a graphic of the aforementioned layout at the size of a matchbox; while a graphic of a relatively uninformative application toolbar spans the entire spread. The designers have sacrificed readability and comprehension to "style".

It's a pity because this book has some interesting information on grids, and tackles the subject from unusual angles. If you're already familiar with the grid then the text and mini essays provide a refreshing perspective on this topic. The content is of mixed value and should be read critically, much of it is clearly presented as a particular designer's view or idiosyncratic method which may or may not be useful to you depending on your design philosophy and methods.

If you are just learning about grids then this is not the place to start. There is some practical information on how to create and set up a grid but surprisingly it comes right at the end in the last 2 chapters and it is only briefly touched upon.

I half-heartedly recommend this book if you want to view the grid in a wider context, or from a historical or psychological perspective, and want to explore how some designers approach the grid. Be prepared to work a little, thanks to the small graphics and "designer" layout. Despite these problems, I enjoyed reading this book; it's a break from the more dense and dry works on the subject which I am immersed in a lot of the time. Be aware that it's not a book that will teach you very much about actually implementing the grid in your own work, though you might get some new insights and ideas.

There are pleanty of other books that your children will love before this one. I am supposing because this book is derivitive of all those books.
If you want a great series, original and exciting for kids, check out "The Mystery of the Pirate Ghost."

The town festival is coming up and a fallen tree is blocking the pumpkin patch. How will they ever get the pumpkins out in time for the fun and games???? This is the problem presented in Pumpkins From the Sky. I enjoyed this book since it is written as journal entries, a form of writing I can introduce to my students using this book. I can also use this as an educator to work on prediction skills. How DID those pumpkins get out of the patch to Granny's door the night before the festival? Children will love to try to solve the mystery and they will love the surprise conclusion to this wonderfully illustrated book.

I AM another testament that this book is TOTALLY the same as the other book "A World History of Architecture," but the prices ARE quite different.

Of course, THANKS to the previous comment and the reply.

My classmates all have this book, while I have the "World History" one, but no differences in the entire content (except the cover design) whatsoever.

I'm one of those "stodgy" old professors (who chose this book as a text before it included the disc and zoomed up in price.) I was unaware until last week that it's produced under another name without the disc, at 40% of the price of this one (Yes, tacky, isn't it?) This book is very good, but it's NOT a good purchase since the identical "A World History of Architecture," can be purchased instead. Same words, far better price. I'm changing texts for future classes.

This book appears to be exactly the same as "A World History of Architecture" (Paperback) by the same authors and available on Amazon for $33.64 without the CD. The number of pages, table of contents, and intro sentence are exactly the same. It seems more than slightly shady to me to sell the exact same book with two different names.

This book is required reading for my Architectural History class and was for sale at my school's bookstore for $100. My stodgy old professor isn't teaching from the CD. I am not giving these people my money, I got my copy at the library.

This is an interesting book, but is marked down because the CD does not open on the Macintosh, even though it is supposed to be OS X compatible. The publisher provides no work-around to the problem.

Not recommended.

I have not read this book, and could not give it a 0,but the reviews say enough. It is insulting, as a silent-film buff to see "America's Sweetheart" under a picture of Julia Roberts...sure, she's a great actress of OUR times, but Mary Pickford will always be remembered and live on through her art of film as the original "America's Sweetheart." Anyone who knows of Pickford's astonishing work will agree she set a new standard in film, and it is a shame her pictures are not more readily available on DVD. Some available on Amazon are: Stella Maris, Daddy Long Legs, Little Annie Rooney, Tess of the Storm Country, and My Best Girl. Also Highly recommended is Eileen Whitfield's Biography, Pickford:the woman who made Hollywood. For the record, I have nothing against Julia Roberts, but I can't stand such unoriginality in a title. Julia Roberts has always reminded me of a gorgeous homecoming Queen, who happens to be a very talented (and popular)actress in her own right.

Absolute fluff. More of a high school type research from magazines - that's probably an insult to high schoolers. Gathered quotes from newspapers and magazines. At least they admitted it was "compiled". BORING! Worthless. Don't waste your money

No new information. No new insights. Not even a very interesting approach to old information. The whole book is just cut & paste. The author, Mark Bego, just strings together a bunch of quotes from two movie guides and some popular magazines. There are 40 small black & white photos, about half publicity stills and the rest reprinted from news magazines. The book has no index.

I'm not a huge fan of Julia Roberts, but I decided to pick up this book and I thought it was a really fun read. Its light, easy to read and quick. I read it while on vacation and thought it was perfect for the time I spent by the pool. Mark Bego really knows his subject. I learned a lot and am definitely a fan. I will read anything else Mark writes...especially on my next vaction!

This book was very informative on the movies Julia Roberts has starred in, but didn't penetrate into her life. It lightly brushed her personality and I didn't come away from reading it feeling like I knew her any better than I already do. As a biography, I feel it did a poor job. It merely scraped the surface of her life.