X Books

A great photography book of images that provide new shape and texture ideas in my artwork. Also using it as a resource for shape exercises with my drawing students.

I try to confine my Amazon reviews to serious books about education and philosophy. When Amazon sent an email asking me to review this book (because, after all, I had bough it), I thought, no, I don't want to blur what I'm doing.

But what the heck, folks, this is a wonderful book. It's your perfect gift for smarter people. Not costly. Beautifully designed. Not a coffee table book, by the way, but sort of petite.

I'm a big believer in telling students about the very large and the very small (as people tend to think that the world they can see around them is pretty much all there is). Microcosmos is the perfect first portal into the unseen all about us. I'm also a big believer in trying to excite in people a sense of awe and wonder (as an educational tool). Microcosmos excites.

This book contains more than 200 color photographs divided into six categories: Microorganisms, Botanics, Human Body, Zoology, Minerals, and Technology.

In this study guide, Hall and Lieberman provide an excellent accompaniment to their brilliant text. All the exercises are very clear, as is the answer key, which gives one the opportunity to see where one went wrong in a particular concept. The scope of the study guide is exactly the same as that of the book. Basically, if you can do everything in the guide, you have mastered their concepts.

I have the first edition (2001).

Despite the fact that I think some "axioms" of economics are based on muddy, suspect foundations, I gave 5 stars to this book because it is a FUNNY and very didactic introduction to microeconomics. So that, if you want to grasp the main principles of this area I think you will have an excelent "companion" in your hands. Most examples are very practical and cool.

Their macroeconomics book is also very didactic. I think it is a characteristic of the authors.

The late Bill Hicks would have loved this book that so aptly extends the plotline of his Flying Saucer Tour. Bill always wondered why it was that aliens abducted only yahoo morons from Nowhere, Alabama. Ian Healy explains it all in a manner that would make the writers of Saturday Night Live proud. The Monty Python troupe would applaud, and The A-Team would give a heads up. The Milkman is a little like the work of all these legendary clowns. The story would be silly and frivolous to the max and gag-me-with-a-spoon bad if the author was not such a helluva writer. The jokes break wind like Spinal Tap going to eleven, and the many clever similes will make you giggle with anticipation of the next one. The author uses pop cultural references similar to those in my own first book, Plastic Ozone Daydream. Mr. Healy has a firm grasp of what entertains hip Americans. If you can't handle a few gaseous emissions, look elsewhere, but if you thought Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle was the cat's meow, you may really enjoy The Milkman.

If you're looking for a great read this summer, pick this one up. It's funny and fast paced. The length makes it perfect to take along on a weekend trip.

Carson wrestles with the exegesis of the important last four chapters of 2 Corinthians.

This is generally assumed to be a separate and fourth letter of Paul to the Corinthians, besides the third one that brought sorrow to them (which has not survived time). This letter's tone is harsh whilst also famous for Paul's boast to humility. Paul's defense of his apostolic authority takes central stage in this part of the Bible, for even then there were those who limited his authority or claims to apostleship. So Paul's character was put to the utmost test from within the fledgling Church.

The major exegetical thrust is directed toward the 'super-apostles'. Their introduction to the Church was then by all means, an unwelcome one, yet today we appreciatively refer to Paul's way of handling the tough issue of the 'hyper-pneumatics'. The letters to the Corinthians never were normative, but corrective letters to a troubled Church.

'We shall learn too, that individual Christians and local churches alike must take responsibility for the styles of leadership they follow.' pg 40

'The astonishing thing about Paul's preaching is that although his message was a stumbling block to Jews and nonsense to Gentiles, both Jews and Gentiles were being converted.' pg 60

'Moreover, Jesus' teaching is in reality a condemnation of judgmentalism, not an invitation to vacuous moral indecision. It is quite impossible for either an individual or a church to make no judgments...Neither...can avoid responsibility by refusing to make judgments; for that very refusal is already a judgment, an evaluation of commitments, strategies, priorities and competing truth claims.' pg 70

'Unfortunately, the Corinthians were so seduced by the credential-waving false apostles that Paul is forced to use even stronger language and admit that he would not dare use their procedures of extravagant self-glorification.' pg 82

'The boasting of the false apostles at Corinth was deeply improper. Boasting is irretrievably bound up with the past, whereas the truly fruitful servants of God keep looking to the future.' pg 87

Carson's work engages with the problems of authority and gospel-truth sanctioned by God - in this way it aligns well with the masterful work of John Howard Schutz: 'Paul and the Anatomy of Apostolic Authority.'

'Faith boasts not in itself or any other human achievement but in the grace of Christ alone.' Cornelis P Venema 'Always Reforming' pg 298

This book by Carson deals with the great need of the church today:
following the example of Paul in Christ, a command to all believers stated many times and in many ways to all believers in the word of God. This book, perhaps more than any other study of Pauline theology or his writings, exposes the goal of a true servant of God: the meekness and kindness of Christ, with a God-infused desire to obey Christ, to suffer for Christ and to boast in Christ and His word for His glory alone. YOU MUST BUY THIS BOOK AND READ IT FROM COVER TO COVER. GET ON YOUR KNEES AND PRAY THROUGH IT; YOU MUST TRUST GOD THROUGH HIS SPIRIT TO TEACH YOU IF YOU WANT TO BE USED OF HIM FOR HIS GLORY AND NOT FOR SELF. MAY THE LORD SEND FORTH HIS SERVANTS, WILLING TO SUFFER FOR HIS SAKE, TO TAKE COMFORT IN HIM AND HIS WORD ALONE.

Really good book on Xray Photoelctron Spectrsocopy. Highly readable, practical, and full of interestin insights into the technique. Has a lot of good references too. Go for it!

This book is very good reference for advanced ESCA user. Many detail information had been brought up in this book. Some new methods had been mentioned in the final chapter.

I've used this book for years and estimate that it has easily saved me over $10,000 in terms of bank fees, lower insurance premiums, closing costs and making the most of my benefits at work. Because the book is a bit old, it's important to read it with that context in mind.

I own the 1996 version of this book. I bought it because I was trying to understand how to invest for my retirement. Mainly, how to get into the mutual fund market. Mr. Eisenberg does a great job with explaining, not only about investing in the stock market, but every aspect of what to do with your money. This book, along with Investing for Dummies, made everything so clear for my main purchase purpose. Whenever I need to figure out some other aspect of my finances this book really helps. I consider it my encyclopaedia of finances.

This book explains most everything you need to know about Motif. The manual pages will cover the rest. The book is self-contained, and unless you are really interested in low-level details, there is little reason to purchase the Xlib and Xt books. Motif is mostly self-contained, and the few Xt and Xlib-calls you need to make is described in this manual (and they also have manpages).

Of course, if you are writing a new application today, you might be wiser and go with a modern toolkit like GTK or Qt, but for the maintenance programmer (aren't we all?), this book still has lots of value.

I received this book for Christmas last year (nothing like O'Reilly in your stocking to make for a good Christmas!) and didn't get a chance to start it until a few weeks ago. I am now about halfway through and I must say that this is an excellent book! It is well-written, interesting, and thorough. The example programs are all extremely helpful assisting the reader in understanding the subject matter. Now that Motif has become open sourced, I urge all Linux and UNIX developers to pick up a copy of this book and give Motif programming a try!

With the arrival of Apple Motion, there was very little get to the point instruction being offered. The Apple manual just didn't seem to get to the bare bones of the software, thereby leaving expensive DVDs as the biggest alternative. And I'm hardly knocking the Apple Pro Training Series readsApple Pro Training Series: Motion (Apple Pro Training) because I think they're great. What makes Motion for Mac OS X stand out is it's tremendous reference value. Need to know something? Go right to it. No tutorials or slick tricks, just basic "how to", and I like that. The more "how to" I get, the more creative I am.

The Visual Quickstart Guides from Peachpit Press have an interesting format that I rather like. Each page, or couple of pages, is devoted to a single subject. One of the two columns on the page has the text describing the subject and how to do whatever it is. The other column has a screen shot showing what the screen should look like.

I find this an easy way to learn what's going on. It's an interesting combination of a tutorial type book combined with a reference type book. You're not just given an endless list of do this, do that, now do .... Instead you can go through the book from start to finish picking out what's important to you. Or you can go to the index and quickly get sent to exactly the page that's talking about what you want.

As for the specific content of this book, it's written by a professional user of Motion that is also Apple-certified as a Motion and FinalCut Pro instructor. He knows what he's talking about and has the ability to conven his thoughts well. His experience in training others on using Motion has given him an understanding where problem areas lie and he can cover these to prevent later problems.

I LOVE this book! I laughed and I cried. Everyone who knows a family with a child with special needs should read this book and pass it along. EXCELLENT BOOK!

In a precise and clear presentation, the author offers us a glimpse into a very special relationship. A must read for those with special needs brothers and sisters and a meaningful lesson for all of us on love, values, and family. Most important, her true life examples will make you smile and want to celebrate life to its fullest.

FINALLY IT'S BEEN DONE!!!
Someone has finally written a scholarly work on the subject of the film ratings that is thoughtful and accurate! This book focuses on the criteria that distinguish R-rated films from those officially rated X or NC-17, but it also gives an excellent overview of American classification and Hays Code activities over the history of cinema.
Since I have done extensive research on this subject myself, I have been appalled at how much junk has been written in the mass media about it; most writers don't seem to be bothered by glaring factual errors and their own confusion about the subject. Instead of misattributing such confusion to the supposed inconsistencies of the ratings board (although their criteria do change over time, quite deliberately) this author Sandler correctly sorts the objective from the subjective, assesses the actual film content and key rating decisions, to provide an authoritative work on both the criteria, the process, the politics, and the occasional flubs involved in the ratings process.
This is the most important, authoritative book on the ratings system since Stephen Farber's 1972 insider work "The Movie Ratings Game" (and that was not written with scholarship in mind). This book does not go into details about the criteria for other ratings (my own research does that and is still being prepared for publication) but it provides a welcome change from the misguided and biased articles (and films) that have been appearing on the subject for many years.
Finally, a true scholar publishes an excellent work on the subject!!!
Although a previous book "Freedom and Entertainment" was also scholarly and of decent quality (and benefited from the newly available recollections of ratings board chair Richard Heffner, who was in the position longer than anyone else), that book had made some superficial errors and didn't quite convince as being rooted in a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the ratings system. By supplementing the Heffner material with actual content descriptions and comparisons, this book has filled in the last methodological step that was needed to produce a valid model of the system's operation. Bravo!! At long last!!
Finally placed into valid perspective is the long controversy over the supposed favoring of major studios over independent productions, as well as the numerous accusations about inconsistency in the application of ratings (not that the system is devoid of inconsistencies, but they are of a form different from what many have attributed to them).
Unfortunately falling outside this book's subject matter is the recent, widely publicized Harvard study on so-called "ratings creep," which would have made at least a nice footnote in the section in which Jack Valenti defends the rating system by explaining the many conflicting societal forces whose needs it must serve and try to balance. The blatant problems with the Harvard study included the assumption that unaccountable, pandering film websites would be less malleable in their standards over time than the main body that is answerable to congress and various interest groups.
In the meantime, this book is the most important one currently available on the subject! Anyone who wants to truly understand the system (and not just criticize) must buy and read this book! Nothing else comes close, except the very early and out-of-print book by Stephen Farber, called the "Movie Ratings Game" and (in third place) the recent "Freedom and Entertainment" (both of which have many key points summarized and included here anyway).

Awesome job!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Kevin Sandler's diligent and unwavering quest to complete this work and answer some of the toughest questions in the movie business has finally paid off. Most of the general public know that Hollywood does not make X-Rated movies; however, not many know WHY this is the case and how this and the ratings system itself (with its methods shrouded in secrecy) came to fruition.
This incomparable text is a wonderful read due not only to its content, but also to Sandler's writing style. Through the course of his book, Sandler tackles the complex and interesting questions noted above, the story of which is compelling enough that his book itself could be made into a film (ala Kirby Dick's "This Film Is Not Yet Rated").
With the recent passing of Jack Valenti and with much of the criteria used to help determine what rating a film receives kept well-guarded under the auspices of the MPAA, research in the area that Sandler has been able to find his way into by mean of interviews, access to archives and other hard work has made "The Naked Truth: Why Hollywood Doesn't Make X-rated Movies," a labor of love on the part of the author and a work that needed to be written not only for film scholars, but for anyone and everyone to understand how and why the movies we go and see in the theater are the way they are and end up the way they do.