V Books

Before he went on to invent Cybernetics, L. Ron Hubbard was a prominent author of science fiction and eventually launched annual collections of science fiction and fantasy drawn from the best and the brightest in the field. The newest addition to the L. Ron Hubbard "Writers Of The Future" series is volume 18, ably compiled and edited by long time science fiction expert Algis Budrys and highly recommended reading for any fantasy fan and science fiction enthusiast. Included in this outstanding anthology are: The Dragon Cave (Drew Morby); The Haunted Seed (Ray Roberts); Rewind (David D. Levine); Windseekers (Nnedi Okorafor); Magic Out Of A Hat (L. Ron Hubbard); Lost On The Road (Ari Goelman); Graveyard Tea (Susan Fry); Carry The God (Lee Battersby); A Few Tips On The Craft Of Illustration (H. R. Van Dongen); Memoria Technica (Leon J. West); Free Fall (Tom Brennan); All Winter Long (Jae Brim); The Art Of Creation (Carl Frederick); Advice To The New Writer (Andre Norton); The Road To Levenshir (Patrick Rothfuss); Eating, Drinking, Walking (Dylan Otto Krider); Origami Cranes (Seppo Kurki); A New Anthology (Tim Powers); Worlds Apart (Woody O. Carsky-Wilson); Prague 47 (Joel Best); and What Became Of The King (Aimee C. Amodeo). L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers Of The Future, Volume XVIII concludes with "The Year In Contests" by Algis Budrys and "Contest Information".

WotF XIX is a compilation of excellent stories (with a few, notable exceptions) spanning the genre range from historical fiction through horror and fantasy to science fiction. Despite the ever-present copy-editing errors, this was a very good read.

I would put the stories in four categories of excellence (well, three of excellence and one of crap).

Group One: The best

Walking Rain - Ian Keane's tale of supernatural beings in present day America, reminiscent (but not derivative) of American Gods, is compelling. The writing is lush, the characterizations beautiful. Hands down the best of the best. I can't say enough about this story. The book is worth buying for this story alone.

Into The Gardens of Sweet Night - Algis Budrys weaves a fairy tale-like tapestry of words as a boy takes a fantastic journey into the sky looking for the fabled gardens. Sometimes the discussions on freedom get a bit thick, but still great.

Blood and Horses - Myke Cole brings us a story of military sf where rebels riding horses seek the oil that gives life, losing their own blood fighting against a technically far superior opponent.

Group Two: The very excellent (in no particular order)

From All the Work Which He Had Made - Michael Churchman's style is strikingly odd at first, but within a page he had made me a convert with this interesting tale about the development of a humanoid robot exploring the questions of his soul.

Dark Harvest - Geoffrey Girard brings us a story about what happens when you find your worst nightmare dying in a field, and it becomes a tourist attraction. Excellent writing, and a wonderful story.

Beautiful Singer - Steve Bein's story of a haunted sword is elegant in its way of presenting feudal Japanese culture and characters. Every word of this story echoes with the culture of the samurai. The only thing holding back this most savory of writing from the top slot was the way the ending rushed together (a common difficulty in short-story writing).

A Few Days North of Vienna - Brandon Butler takes us along as a band of thieves join up with a group of vampire hunters to eradicate those evil creatures. The plot is nothing new or innovative, but the writing is top notch, and that's more important anyway.

Group Three: The still excellent (still in no particular order)

A Ship That Bends - whatever Butler lacked in innovation, Luc Reid makes up for in spades with his characters who live on a flat world and must build a bending ship if they wish to sail to the other side without falling off. The ending is its great weakness, suddenly ending the story before it really reaches its climax. Fun world, great writing, but it just stops cold.

A Silky Touch to No Man - a weak ending is also the problem with Robert J. Defendi's exploration of life in the near future where virtual reality has become the only reality. For a murder mystery, it was painfully apparent "whodunit" from the very beginning. But the writing is strong and the world well conceived (almost scary, actually) which makes it fun anyway.

Gossamer - Ken Liu offers a scenario where Earth finally makes contact with an alien species, and has no idea if they can even communicate. Art seems to be the only thing the Gossamers are interested in, but what does that mean? Interesting twist on the first contact plot.

Numbers - Joel Best brings us a stark account of a world where mathematicians can do almost anything, including make animals and people. In this world one woman seeks to create the perfect mate, but learns that perfection (and creation) are about more than doing everything flawlessly.

Group Four: The stories that really don't belong

Trust Is A Child - Matthew Candelaria's overly long story of negotiations with aliens is really just a painful rehash of about a thousand other identical stories, offering no new slants or anything. That alone wouldn't make it so horrible, but the main character is painfully stupid, and the plot has a hole in it the size of a small star system (it has to do with her being stopped by Marine guards while the aliens can just cruise on by and enter her private quarters without explanation). Also, her solution to being stopped is just horrible (apparently the guard is even dumber than she is). Still, with a good edit and re-write, I think it could have been decent, so I wouldn't write off the author.

A Boy and His Bicycle - Carl Frederick offers a story about just that: a boy and his bike. They don't do anything interesting, or go anywhere fun, or give us any reason not to hope that they just crash into a bus and die. The only saving grace is that it's short and over quickly. And to think this story got first place that quarter...

Bury My Heart At the Garrick - Steve Savile takes the prize for plodding, pointlessness. This story of Houdini was confusing, but not in that good way where you want to know what's going on, more in the way where you just don't care and want to skip to the next story. I kept reading to see if it would get better (imagine a short story that took me a week to read!). It didn't.

A Boy and His Bicycle is a great story.
(I put this in so I don't continuously trip over the review by someone who apparently didn't get it. I must offer the disclaimer however, that I wrote that story. It's a subtle tale, and I'm very grateful that the judges understood it and gave it a First Place award.)

This anthology, Volume XIX, (IMO) contains richly tapestried stories, strewn with new ideas or new takes on old ones. I've no doubt that before long, many of the authors will be Hugo winners

While I do not get a chance to read much science fiction, I decided to pick up this book mainly because I enjoy short stories. And I must say that this book surprised me. There are a number of well-written, very entertaining stories in this book. There is also a good amount of variety. As more than 12 authors contribute to this book, if you are not a fan of one story, you can move onto the next. There should be four stories in this book that will captivate you. From the quality of the prose and the structure of the stories, I was at first surprised to see that these are first time authors. Now realizing that these are contest winnners from L Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future contest, it makes more sense. My favorites include Oragami Cranes, Eating Drinking and Walking, Windseekers, and Rewind (for it's writing style).

It's not perfect but I found this anthology very satisfying. When every single one of the stories is able to take me somewhere interesting, then the anthology is worth the money.. Favorite stories: Graveyard Tea, Windseekers, and Origami Cranes.

Concrete methods on how to use your body to influence your mind. Zen is purposely confusing at times to shock you out of your habitual way of consciousness... confusion with purpose. This book sets the stage for any beginner to start studying zen.

Mr. Katsuki Sekida was a ZEN master who wrote a training manual for ZEN that is comprehensive; and Mr Sekida taught zen at Robert Aitken's zendo (the diamond sangha.

Here is a list of Zen books I recommend.

"Zen Training: Methods And Philosophy" Katsuki Sekida



"The Three Pillars Of Zen" Phillip Kapleau
"Zen: Lessons From A Modern Master" Katsuki Sekida
"Taking The Path Of Zen" Robert Aitken
"Zen Meditation in Plain English" John Daishin Buksbazen

I rate this book head and shoulders above the rest because it is better than the rest in my opinion.

Those five books are the only Zen books I can recommend in a good conscience.

Am I 100% happy with this book? NO. The Author spoke Japanese as his first language; so English was his second language, and you will find some words and phrases that do not make sence at first. You will have to dig for the gold nuggets in this book; so please be patient to read and re-read the book until you get what your personal teacher is trying to teach you.

The ONLY two ZEN books in my private library are "Zen Training: Metrhods And Philosophy: by Katsuki Sekida, and "Taking The Path Of Zen" Robert Aitken.

I see there is some debate whether Katsuki Sekida was a zen master or not.

I DO remember reading in one of Robert Aitken's books that he wanted someone to teach zen to members of the Diamond Sangha; and he asked his friend and zen master Nagakawa Soen to come to Hawai'i to tech Zen. Mr. Soen was too frail to make the voyage to Hawai'i; so zenji Soen sent Katsuki Sekida to teach zen to those attending the Diamond Sangha.

I can not imagine a zen master would send a teacher to teach zen UNLESS the teacher was qualified to teach.

Lastly; some people mention reading the works of D.T. Suzuki.

Mr. Sukuki may have been a zen master; but in my opinion; Mr. Suzuki was NOT qualified to teach Zen.

I sincerely believe this book will help you attain the state called "no mind". It did for me!

You won't get this kind of instruction even if you are lucky enough to have a teacher. Zen teaching tends to glance off the practical and let you stumble around looking for your own way. This book -- and only this book, of all the books I have read or considered reading -- imparts practical, step by step instruction on exactly how to practice zazen.

The three jewels are buddha, dharma, and sangha. Sekida cannot hand these jewels to you on a silver platter, but he can spare you many frustrating hours on the cushion if you're beginning -- or continuing -- your practice.

If you're serious about zazen, shove those guided meditation and newage [sic] music CDs to the bottom of your wish list, and buy this book.

My qualifications: Four years of daily practice, one year of practice with a sangha. That parses out to three years of stubbornly stumbling around on my own. I recommend a little less stumbling and a lot more practice.

You won't find these in any other book: explanation of how to create the necessary tension in the tanden to initiate samadhi (a definite prerequisite for that state); and an explanation of awareness based on the "three nen actions" involving reflections on immediate prior conciousness resulting in a continuity of awareness thus creating the illusion of a substantial unchanging self. However, I do agree with a previous reviewer who recommends the practice of Qigong as an important support for meditation. Qigong will most efficiently and powerfully supply the energy the tanden requires to produce samadhi. You may not find these two disciplines (Zen and Qigong) melded anywhere, which is a pity since they compliment each other perfectly and accelerate progress on the path. Therefore, Sekida's book together with "Energy Medicine..." (Hiew/Yap) and "Opening the Energy Gates..." (Frantzis) will provide the foundation for Samadhi.

I learned to do zazen from this book a long time ago. While I now have had a couple of teachers, the approach to zazen that I learned from Sekida has served me well on this path. I'll probably wind up teaching zen myself someday, and this is the book that I will be giving to my students. All of the other philosophical and historical books about zen are certainly useful, so we all know where the tradition came from, but this is the only really clear book about how to do zen meditation that I have ever read. Everything that Sekida explains about the long-term results of meditation, from off-sensation (which Sekida describes wonderfully) on to positive and absolute samadhi, I can verify that all of it is correct. There's no mumbo-jumbo here. For anybody who really wants to try zen meditation but cannot find a teacher (or doesn't want a teacher, which is also fine) then this is the book you should be reading and re-reading.

Considering this is the author's first book, it was a pleasant read. It is your typical 'conversation' novel with a slight twist. If you are looking for an insightful, well developed, intricate plot, this may not be the book for you. If, however, you are seeking a good summer read with authentic dialogue, this book will satisfy. It reads like a movie, as was the author's intent. The characters mesh well with the storyline and one can almost hear their voices rising from the pages, from the low talking mafiosi to the most likely squeaky voice of Yumi. The information on Japan was accurate and insightful. For most readers, it will provide a brief glimpse of what Japan still is today; an egocentric, male dominated/female subservient culture. There are exceptions of course and the author uses Yumi to prove this point. An interesting book, the Button Men is to be recommended to all italophiles as well as to those looking for a fast paced quick read.

This is one of those books which you will not be able to put down until you finish the last page. The author has a great hand for fiction while at the same time interlaces background material which helps you understand Japanese customs as it relates to the story. Being a native New Jerseyan and a frequent traveler to Japan I felt like I grew up with many of the characters. The story combines hardcore New York/New Jersey life with the mystery of Japan. Great book which I highly recommend, I hope it becomes a movie.

Having known the author personally, I read this book with much interest. What did my old friend have to say? I was delighted to see so much of the man I once knew personified in his story--from the romantic, through the adventurer, to the fun loving. It captures so much of the man I remember, invoking not only a feeling of nostalgia, but also tenderness towards my first love. The book is a rousing adventure that contains two winning elements: a compelling, fast-paced quest that keeps you turning pages, plus well-developed characters that he successfully brings to life. The story reflects so much that has influenced his life, in particular, his Italian heritage, and his current Japanese lifestyle. I had to laugh at his references to meatballs, as it brought back fond memories of his mother's great cooking, and the strong family ties evidenced at the many family gatherings. In essence, the book is Vic--a fun read! I look forward to the movie, and to his next book. Great job, Vic!

I picked this book up in the only bookstore in Mito, Japan, that sold English books. Once I picked it up I had to keep reading it. More than just a book about Button Men, it offers an insite into Japan and the Japanese culture. Truly a must read for anyone from America or elsewhere who is visiting, or is simply interested in, Japan. Great book Vic, thanks for sharing it with us.

Great book Vic. This book was a forty eight hour crusade. once you pop you can't stop.

David Lorenzo's book shares techniques that seasoned professionals have developed and refined over the course of their careers.

Career Intensity makes the rules of career management and business success accessible to newer workers. If you have not achieved the success you were hoping for, it's the perfect resource to jumpstart your career.

Buy the book if you are at the early stage of your career or in the process of making a career change. However, anyone serious about managing their career should read Career Intensity.

This is a terrific book from a guy who will do everything possible to help you succeed. I have only known David Lorenzo a short time but he has helped my business immeasurably.

His book - Career Intensity - is the best book you will ever read on planning your career or starting a small business. That's right - he covers both of those topics and more.

You only purchase this book once but it provides value over and over again.

Our careers are important. To just "go with the flow" is not a plan for success. David Lorenzo has written a great book for those just beginning their careers, or those of us who are well down the path. The book is filled with nuggets of advice that will inspire the reader to excel to higher levels.

It is an easy book to read, and has the power to be one of the timeless classics for everyone who cares about success.

Career Intensity will help you get off your [...] and get going. The advice it contains is valuable and effective. The most valuable attributes of this book are the positive tone and the inspirational stories. This is not an elitist manifesto that tells you how great the author is. It is a practical, down-to-earth guide that is beneficial to individuals in a corporate setting as well as people who are looking to start a business.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to make money and be happy doing it.

I have always felt that it's not enough to be good, you have to be perceived as superior by the people that determine your success. If you work in a company, that means you boss, senior management and your colleagues. If you run your own business, it's your clients, prospects and employees.

That's why David Lorenzo's book, Career Intensity, is so valuable. Lorenzo provides concrete ideas and steps to take that will show you how to ignite your career and "brand" yourself for business success.

I especially liked the stories of executives and entrepreneurs of all stripes that demonstrate his career intensity principles.

There is only one word to describe the author and the book, simply amazing..the book was very informative and very detailed and covered many important different aspects of life. The book opens your mind and thoughts to things you wouldn't even thought of. Very impressive!

There is only one word to describe the author and the book, simply amazing..the book was very informative and very detailed and covered many important different aspects of life. The book opens your mind and thoughts to things you wouldn't even thought of. Very impressive!

This book succinctly explains how lack of emotion is affecting our world in negative and destructive ways. This book explains how compassion and cooperation gives hope for our world. One of the first steps we must take is to acknowledge that differences exist and to respect the differences even though we do not all think in the same way. We must feel comfortable with ourselves and with others even if they are different from us. This will lead to better communication which can only lead to better lives for us. Finally, we also need to realize that communication is not just between people, but also between people and the world we live in

I have recently read compassion: a new philosophy. It has opened my eyes to other religions and religious thoughts. Although not converting me to perspectivism the book was insightful. It also made me think about the cruelty to animals.

Before reading this book I thought I knew alot about everything, this book has helped me to see things from many different points of view. There is so much information in the book that I found facinating. Reading this book has changed the way I think about history and other cultures.

It's amazing how soothing just reading William Blake's poetry is on the troubled soul. I always look for his work to ease my mind and lift my spirit. Everyone should treat themselves to his work. Peace be with you.

What to write for my last review? That was tough. Since I was a little boy I have always been one of those who had his face in a book. Books, books, books. When I began my jobs as a paperboy, and later at the grocery store, I began buying books. This hobby grew so large, that my father made our rumpus room a library for me. And it grew ever larger. By the time I enlisted in the Air Force, I had amassed quite a large number of volumes. While in Europe and the Middle East, I would scour book stores and began purchasing leather books. Some very old, and many in foreign languages. Since the Air Force only allowed for a 5,000 lb limit, I spent a fortune sending books home. When I left the service my house looked like a library. Running out of space, I began to make my garage a library. However, it grew ever larger. Therefore, I made use of my brothers garage, then my mothers, and eventually even had to make due with having to rent a few storage spaces.

Yes, it's that large. I was hoping to make a large home library some day. Books have been my life: Even though I write mostly about Asian films. And I was glad that VHS films came into vogue, as they afforded me the opportunity to begin amassing a large collection of Japanese films which I have a soft heart for. That got real big too! Anyway, back to the question as to what to write for my last review? Well, I just happened to stumble across this book last night, one of many. There is a poem by the gifted and enigmatic poet, engraver and painter William Blake. I do recommend the book by the way. Events in my life have gone in a very negative way, therefore, I have decided to impart a poem as my last review. Hope you like it. It's one I have remembered from my childhood. There are too many great things to write about, and I figured this would not be a bad goodbye. It is William Blake's "THE TYGER"

THE TIGER

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?


William Blake (1757-1827)

A wonderful paperback edition, containing all the works of
William Blake, with a excellent introduction
of Harold Bloom. An priceless tool for students
and teachers

This is an outstanding resource for anyone interested in the works of William Blake. It's well organized and easy to work with. I'm very pleased with it.

It has all his writings: letters, anotations scribbled in the margins of other people's books, everything. Only downside: it doesn't show his illuminated printing.

I am a yogi from an educated family, and my parents gave me this book when I was 12. Nietzsche's presentation is typically unsystematic and he was a pioneer ensuring that we could view philosophical beliefs in a non-linear manner. The dichotomy of his unstructured book organization and his clarity and precision of thought create a tension that can break through many Western Black/White, Right/Wrong thought patterns to see deeper truths. When he says "our humanity is to be overcome" - some have used this to justify eugenics, nationalism, and seeing others as "less than." If you read his entire thoughts (get the book!), it is more about overcoming the fragmented aspects of the self that weaken us, so we can be stronger and more pure. This is a spiritual thought from the man heralded as atheistic. Dig deep, and you will find that Nietzsche is beautiful. Yoga community friends - Neitzsche did not justify atrocities. He challenged us to grow and become better than our base qualities. He paved the way for Deserida's gloriously independent thoughts, and was an inspiration for the pop philosopher Ayn Rand's radical worship of the individual over "the masses" (which can be viewed as "cultural conditioning" in our times. This text is applicable to our lives today as the Tao Te Ching. For a completely different perspective (for balance of thought) read about Jainism as well. Then find your truth. Deep wisdom is timeless.

O.k. So I have a minor in philosophy and Nietzsche was one of my inspirations to pursue this as a degree in college. Nietzsche deals with androgony. In more modern terms, men and women are crossing over the line of androgeny with their jock image. They are getting more and more androgynous you can't distunguish between even basic differences between the sexes anymore. While my philosophy professor and classmates dismissed Nietzsche as "not being a first rate philosopher," he does have his points about god and androgeny. This is part of our changing world and in philosophy class I did make my points.

I feel obligated to correct a distortion suggested by `unraveler' below. It is popular to suggest Nietzsche was an anti-semite, but this is a rather lazy habit. Nietzsche's remark on `the youthful stock-exchange Jew' was mentioned. Here it is in its proper environment:

. . . the entire problem of the Jews exists only within national states, inasmuch as it is here that their energy and higher intelligence, their capital in will and spirit accumulated from generation to generation in a long school of suffering, must come to preponderate to a degree calculated to arouse envy and and hatred, so that in almost every nation . . . there is gaining ground the literary indecency of leading the Jews to the sacrificial slaughter as scapegoats for every possible public or private misfortune. As soon as it is no longer a question of the conserving of nations but of the production of the strongest possible European mixed race, the Jew will be just as usable and desirable as an ingredient of it as any other national residue. Every nation, every man, possesses unpleasant, indeed dangerous qualities: it is cruel to demand that the Jew should constitute an exception. In him these qualities may even be dangerous and repellent to an exceptional degree; and perhaps the youthful stock-exchange Jew is the most repulsive invention of the entire human race. Nonetheless I should like to know how much must, in a total accounting, be forgiven a people who, not without us all being to blame, have had the most grief-laden history of any people and whom we have to thank for the noblest human being (Christ), the purest sage (Spinoza), the mightiest book and the most efficacious moral code in the world. . . .

Is this anti-semitism???

if you want to have your moral foundations knocked out from under you, read this book - and then build upon the ruins - Nietzsche's, in my opinion, most accessible work, as his aphoristic style floats over many different topics - don't stop here however, i recommend Kauffman's "Nietzsche, Philosopher, Psychologist, AntiChrist" as a starter if you find the complexity and diversity of Nietzsche's thought to be overwhelming or incomprehensible - he's frequently ambiguous and contradictory but it's more a positive trademark of his works and shouldn't dissuade one from further readings.

If you like aphorisms and philosophy, this book will become one of your bibles. If nothing else, it's just plain fun to read for his incredible wit. Of course you have to put his ideas in the context of the period in which he wrote and understand that he has his own odd prejudices, but the brilliance of his understanding of the human condition really shines through. The biggest mistake any reader could make is to think Nietzsche was an anti-semite---far from it. He was anti-neanderthal. In this book especially the reader sees his low tolerance for received wisdom. This book is nothing less than part of the origin of Western psychology as practiced today. It also represents the demolition of science and philosophy polluted by the received Western theological framework. Some of the best parts are when he skewers religion. You have to love his style even if you do not agree with his pessimistic disgust for piety. This is the kind of philosophy book you need not fret over, unless you harbor wishful thinking about a supremely benevolent deity. Instead of making an elaborate argument about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin, as preceeding systematic philosophers did literally and figuratively, Nietzsche bends the pin and throws it in the trash. I wish I had read this before his Genealogy of Morals, as knowing his thoughts here would have made that book far more interetsing and understandable. I highly recommend philosophy students first approaching Nietzsche pick up Human, All Too Human to start their study. And if you are religious and want to bolster your faith, well, you should stay far away from this book.

The clever title refers to our narrator, a cute white terrier-ish dog, who discovers from "mommy and daddy" that he's going to have a baby brother! After this initial excitement, however, Dino the pooch seems a little disappointed: The new baby doesn't look like him at all! Janice Savage's debut work teaches basic concepts such as "alike" and different", as well as introducing colors, numbers, and, briefly, emotion (for example, "excitement," "love," and "family").

Graphic artist Savage produces intense colors and clean lines, and wisely refrains from cluttering her pictures with computerized razzle-dazzle. (The only eveidence I saw of that were the neato eyes--the pupils are concentric circles of brown or blue that lighten as they reach the pupil!) There's only one concept per page, and the colorful backgrounds--and them thar hypnotic eyes--will draw your young one's gleeful attention. A dog, a baby, and some funny but simple comparisons ably illustrated--It's simple but entertaining. For example, against a common green and orange background, facing pages compare the feet of the dog and his non-canine brother. "I have four feet" describes a picture of four furry, smudgy, possibly dirty paws. The next page shows the bottoms of the baby's two pink and pristine feet, with the contrasting words "he has two feet."

The conclusion has a little paeon to the constancy of family love, and the acceptance of differences, but I would have preferred a little twist. Those virtues will certainly appeal to parents and gift-givers, but the story needs to get a little more playful with all those differences; It's just a little too safe. This is admittedly a minor and very subjective opinion, but enough for me to feel that the story didn't fully reach its potential.

Oh...I called this "innovative"--let me explain.

There's a running discussion at Amazon.com titled, "Picture books or chapter books or both," in which readers talk about transitioning between these two types of books. I think "I have 4 Feet, He has 2" bridges an earlier reading "gap," the one between board and picture books. Ms. Savage's work would be enjoyed by kids younger than the 4-year old bound of the suggested age range. The simple concepts, the contrasting closeups and baby and dog, and the bright, eye-cathing colors have the feeling of a board book, but in a much larger format. True, it may not survive a bathtub as well, but for time ashore, this is a smart alternative. A definite pleaser, I hope we'll see more of Ms. Savage's large format books in the future--and so will your dog and baby!

This is a nice children's book about families in transition, with a deceptively simple twist- like the Beatles converting a simple love song to second person to make "She Loves You" unique- of telling the story from the point of view of a pet adapting to a human baby. It's a nice bit of displacement for discussing new family arrivals with kids. Of course, this book ends with a happy ending that doesn't necessarily reflect the fate of some pets, that function as psychological place holders for babies, when the real deal comes along, but little kids don't need to be burdened with that layer of reality. The illustrations are dynamic, and the book itself is a very quick read, so it's also a handy one to sneak in at night when the kids negotiate for one more book before lights out.

This is a great little 24-page picture book, especially for the toddler who's second in the family--after the dog.

The bright pages, with very few words each, are perfect for babies starting to turn pages on their own, and are less inclined to eat the paper than they were just a few months ago. (even if they chew a corner now and then the book is printed on heavy stock, likely to withstand the stress.)

This adorable tale is also a neat way to introduce very little ones to counting. Kids having two feet, and their older "brothers" (as it were) having four.

A good one, for sure.

Janice Savage creatively came up with a new way to tell a familiar tale and deepens that accomplishment by telling the tale in a way that will entertain children AND help them learn simultaneously.

Wow. That says a lot right there. One would think tackling such a number of things at once would cause a landslide of word-picture-debris, but in this delightful case it is exactly the opposite.

Children want to hear more of it.

Primarily it is the story of "having a new sibling" albeit in this case the sibling is for the family's dog, who just so happens to be the narrator of the story. It quickly engages the reader (the adult) who can then share that enthusiasm contagiously with the child.

There are plentiful opportunities to turn the read-aloud session into a "learn even more aloud" session, making the book even more of a living-breathing experience.

Perfect for a little one who also is expecting a sibling, but is truly fine reading for every child in the preschool age (perhaps read-to by the older sibling who can tell tales of when the younger one was first born!)

Author/illustrator Janice V. Savage's debut picture book is a delightful story about noticing and appreciating our differences. She presents the story of a new baby in the family with a twist--from the dog's point of view! Fluffy white Dino is the adorable family pup who must figure out and accept a new baby brother who has pink skin and only two feet.

The illustrations are drawn in large, vivid blocks of color. I appreciated them for their simplicity and generous size. This book makes a big impact for its small format.

Este libro te será de compañía para cualquier gira que realices, es hermoso ya que te enseña a comprender y amar a los demás ...

LIBROS PARA LEERSE MIL VECES Y SABOREARLOS CADA VEZ MAS...
ESTE ES LA MEJOR MUESTRA

One of the most unusual book of quotes I have seen. A great take along book for those time spent on bus, subway or at the mercy of the teen driver,a great distraction. Just open up to any page at random and pass the time. Beneficial.Entertaining.Enlightening.

LE DIO A MI VIDA Y A MIS EMOCIONES LA FACULTAD PARA COMPRENDER Y ACEPTAR A LOS DEMÁS...
Hermoso en verdad !

Well, let me assure you this book is more beautiful than any sunset you have ever seen.
And it's a SUNRISE FOR YOUR MIND !

This is among my favorite computer science books. I read the first edition straight through from cover to cover, even though I had some prior knowledge of the subject. I have since purchased the second edition, which exceeds the high standards set by the first edition. Scott's book would have made the programming languages course I took as an undergraduate much more enlightening, had it existed at the time.

As a software engineer, I tend to be picky about my books, but this one is very in depth and a good read. You will learn a lot about different programming languages, and why certain languages are better than others for solving different types of prroblems.

Over the years the Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools (2nd Edition) (also knwon as the dragon book) has become the de facto standard for introducing compilers and related topics at universities. This is very unfortunate because "Programming Language Pragmatics" is in a completely different league and should be the one used instead. It gives the student (or the self taught) a complete and through overview of parsing, grammar, automata theory and other key language constructs. What really differentiates this book from others (and most notably the (in)famous "Dragon Book") is that it does so in a easy to understand manner and with lots of well written examples.

Many people find compiler and language theory to be dark magic, and it would be wrong not to acknowledge that these subjects are considerably harder than say creating a web page in PHP or writing a small Java/C# program. But much of the confusion also stems from the long history of porly written books which all have lacked explaining key areas or assumed that the readers just know some obscure CS topics beforehand. This book does not travel down that road, it is well written, contains both simple and advanced examples and is simply a delightful read.

Overall, "Programming Language Pragmatics" (PLP) is a very good book. According to the Preface:

"It aims, quite simply, to be the most comprehensive and accurate languages text available, in a style that is engaging and accessible to the typical undergraduate....

At its core, PLP is a book about how programming languages work. Rather than enumerate the details of many different languages, it focuses on concepts that underlie all the languages the student is likely to encounter, illustrating those concepts with a variety of concrete examples, and exploring the tradeoffs that explain why different languages were designed in different ways."

I'm not knowledgeable enough to pass judgment on "the most comprehensive and accurate" part. But, I'm pretty happy about the book meeting the rest of those goals. I read through the book on my own and have only a few significant gripes:

- Chapters 2 (Programming Language Syntax) and 4 (Semantic Analysis) are tough to get through. They're basically trying to teach enough about Alphabets, Languages, Regular Expressions, Context-Free Grammars, Finite Automata and Push-Down Automata for the reader to understand what the rest of the book is based on. I've read Cohen's Introduction to Computer Theory, which is dedicated solely to this material and I still had some trouble. With an instructor in a class to walk through the things, it should be doable. But, for a person reading the book on his own, ugh.

- All of Section III: Alternative Programming Models, seems to depart from the format of the rest of the book (as noted in the Preface) where the author talks about the concepts and then how the different languages implement them. Instead, he focuses on the languages themselves and almost seems to be trying to cram a primer into his text. Since the section seems to be a special case, it wouldn't be so bad except that the languages covered are a bit out of the mainstream and so that degree of depth gets pretty unreadable at times. Again, with a professor around, things would be better.

- At a more pedagogical level, the author has a tendency to merely explain what his example Figures are doing in general terms. The problem is that a lot of the code/pseudocode involves fairly advanced structures in several languages (many of which most people won't have run across). It would have made things a lot easier if he had walked his way through each of those Figures line-by-line and explained what each line did. Once again, this wouldn't be that much of a problem in a normal teaching environment since a professor could do it.

Other than those three things, this is a very good and readable book. I rate it at four stars out of five.

Every good programmer should know more than one programming language, that much is almost a consensus. But more than that, every programmer should educate himself about programming languages in general, what they mean and how they work. It's important to know at least the major programming paradigms, because they form the "mental model" of computation that is available to a programmer in a language from that paradigm.

And then it's always illustrative to know about the differences in many common languages, to see where different decisions have been made and what are the consequences. To know that certain legacy languages (e.g. C, Fortran) have features that were not designed because they were the "best" option (for some definition of best), but because the design was constrained by what technology was currently available.

This knowledge is not only required of compiler writers. It should be required of every good programmer. Compiler writers, of course, must know this, and probably in more detail. But Scott's book is a good resource about programming languages, in a level of detail that I believe adequate for all programmers.

There are two main kinds of books on programming languages: they are "survey" and "implementation".

Survey books show how things work in a lot of languages, comparing them along the way. Often the comparison gets down to small details that can affect the meaning, or semantics, of similar programs written in these languages. These books contain one individual chapter for every major topic, and inside such a chapter all languages are compared in relation to the topic. For example, one such chapter covers "subroutines" and then compare a host of different languages on how they implement subroutines.

Implementation books are different: they show how to implement many language features, usually by presenting code for interpreters and compilers. The reader doesn't learn that Ada permits nested subroutines, but instead how nested subroutines really work and how to implement them in a language, for example. A very good book of this kind is "Essentials of Programming Languages" by Friedman, Wand & Haynes.

I normally prefer the implementation books. I'm not really interested if Standard Pascal permits functions to be passed as parameters or not; if I do need to write a Standard Pascal compiler I'll look for a reference manual. I much prefer to know how to implement functions as parameters, and be done with it. Comparing minutiae about extant programming languages can sometimes be very enlightening, and sometimes be mostly dull.

Scott's book, however, really shines because it mixes feature descriptions and implementation details in the presentation. It does the usual routine of comparing a lot of different languages, most of the time the more popular ones like C++ and Java, but it then shows how the implementations differ because of differences in features. The book strikes a good balance between "language design" and "implementation" approaches, although it is clearly slanted towards design, and so more of a traditional "survey" book.

It wins over other survey books by including implementation information about almost every topic, and by the clear writing and style. Also, most survey books concentrate on mainstream imperative languages (nowadays C++, Java, C#) and leave other paradigms to chapters at the end. Scott's book is a bit better in this respect: the presentation often includes Common Lisp, Scheme and Standard ML in the comparisons. There are separate chapters about functional and logic programming too, but considerations about functional programming are spread in the whole book. This is important because paradigms change, and a good programmer must be able to adapt.

It's a good reference for language implementors and good education for most programmers. I look forward to the next editions.