Interactive Books

Interested in making video production a career - one more stable than most in the face of technological changes? Make Video Production Workshop your course-in-a-book on the technical aspects of video production: it comes complete with a DVD-ROM outlining technical production formats, skills, editing concepts and shooting tips - everything needed to produce a quality video. The 'workshop' offers in-depth analysis of three stages of production and explains the importance of team roles throughout. And, the DVD portion offers slips and sequences to further illustrate. You can't go wrong!

Interested in making video production a career - one more stable than most in the face of technological changes? Make Video Production Workshop your course-in-a-book on the technical aspects of video production: it comes complete with a DVD-ROM outlining technical production formats, skills, editing concepts and shooting tips - everything needed to produce a quality video. The 'workshop' offers in-depth analysis of three stages of production and explains the importance of team roles throughout. And, the DVD portion offers slips and sequences to further illustrate. You can't go wrong!

A well done book, beautifully illustrated, and with a wonderful CD! A must have for all Spanish speaking families and classrooms.

I purchased this book with CD at a Scholastic bookfair for use in my elementary classroom. The book is illustrated as a children's book and includes Spanish lyrics only - no English translation and no written notation. The CD is delightful with vocalists who sing clearly with good technique. They are accompanied by a variety of guitar styles that are simply gorgeous. I enjoyed it so much, I promptly took it home and it now resides in my kitchen CD player. Tunes in the book and CD include traditional Anglo carols sung in Spanish, as well as traditional Spanish carols. Tunes included are:
1. Que vengan los Reyes Magos
2. Campana sobre campana
3. Noche de paz
4. El tamborilero
5. Arre borriquito
6. Ay, del chiquirritîn
7. La marimorena
8. Los peces in el rîo
9. Navidad
10. Las posadas
11. Ahî viene la vaca
12. Blanca Navidad

interaction designers, visual designers, researchers, people working in visualization, and the curious will find value in this book. careful readers will gain a deep understanding of how, why, and what we see. this understanding will inform the use of color, edges, contours, textures, layout, text, images, order and motion. designers will gain a new vista for critique and empathy: "which visual queries does this design imply? how well does it support those queries? how costly are they?" (a "visual query"--there's a more elegant definition in the book--is a question that is asked and answered with the eyes. for example, "which of these two items is larger?")

readers may come to appreciate just how mental, rather than mechanical, the act of vision is. they may also come to appreciate the preponderance of information that resides in the world, rather than the brain; and, on the other hand, the preponderance of information that the brain adds, via processing, to the incoming signal. vision and cognition interpenetrate to form a beautiful "strange loop" wherein what we seek influences what we see, and vice versa.

if i were asked to compose a canon of interaction design, this book would be in it, alongside About Face 3, Sketching User Experiences, and Envisioning Information.

one criticism: in my personal opinion, some of the designs and diagrams in the book are less than beautiful. this engenders a mild disconnect between the purpose and execution of the book.

I found this book provocative at multiple levels.

At the strategic level, although I have known about and followed Elsevier for decades, I am beginning to perceive a more coherent publishing strategy, and was pleased to see notice of their collaboration with BookAid and the Sabre Foundation to create libraries in developing countries.

At the operational level, I found this book to be a fascinating easy to read and understand integration of cognitive science (what is the brain doing to "see" different forms of visual cues (colors, shapes, groups, etcetera), psychology, art, design, and ultimately engineering of both larger than human structures, and computer graphics.

At the tactical level, the book is clearly a superior collection of critical information and easily a required text for those who would design for the human eye. At this level I would have liked to see more depictions of both buildings and environments, and more depictions of computer screens.

The absence of Library of Congress cataloging data was also a disappointment. The Library of Congress is becoming archaic, I believe publishers are amply competent to provide their own cataloging data, and this is especially important when a book crosses disciplines, e.g. cognitive science, visual intelligence, art, design, computer graphics, etcetera. Indeed, in the process of assigning cataloguing data, the publisher might discover areas where the book is weaker than intended, and send it back for enhancement.

I recommend this book be expanded to add a chapter on "decision support" and an appendix on great practitioners of the visualization of information. Although Tuft is the best known, in part because of his ceasecell promotion of his books and classes, there are at least 25 if not 50 other great visualizers, and a page on each with their photo, short bio, list of publications, and a couple of examples of their work would be a mind-enhancing "walk about" in the field of visual design.

As a textbook, this is a clear five. As adult education is falls to a four, or needs a second book that properly introduces the collective intelligence and semantic web and geospatially and time-based visualizations that are emergent.

In addition to the books recommended by the first reviewer, see also:
Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder
The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics
Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become
Large Scale Structure and Dynamics of Complex Networks: From Information Technology to Finance and Natural Science (Complex Systems and Interdisciplinary ... Systems and Interdisciplinary Science)
The Age of Missing Information
Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin

This is a good book for those who wants to know more about voice over Frame Relay. It provides the necessary background for beginners.

This is a great book covering all the basics of Voice, Voice Networks, Voice Encoding, and then leading into Voice over Frame Relay. It also has the Voice Over Frame Relay Implementation Agreement from the Frame Relay Forum. Once you read the book, the technical jargon in the FRF IA actually make some sense.

William Flanagan is on my list of authors to buy.

We received Don't Wake the Baby when my daughter was 2 and we immediately bought Wake Up Sleeping Beauty as well. My daughter still loves these books -- she is now 5 -- and my now 2 year old daughter asks to read them over and over again. The books are so charming, that my husband and I don't mind!

This is a book with tabs on each page which causes the characters to move and accompanying sounds to occur. The storylines are funny, the movements are imaginative, and the sounds are terrific. The only problem is that it's easy for little fingers to tear the tabs and pages with their enthusiasm or, in our case, sheer repetition, even though the pages are heavy stock.

I have a nursery school with children ages 18 months to 5 years. "Wake Up Sleeping Beauty" catches the attention of all of them and they listen motionless as each teacher tells her version of the story.

I am giving 5 stars because I think this is a good book, easy to read, and has some great hints and strategies in it. It's probably good for the first time online learner. To me, however, it was a bit simplistic...probably because I've have `been around the block'. I am great with organizing and prioritizing so some of the chapters weren't really for me.
Still, I think that many people will find valuable hints regarding making online learning fun and meaningful. The section on preparing your computer is also very helpful.

If you are unsure about online learning, this book is certain to help you.

Not only is the online classroom a new environment for learning, it is also one for which few learners have been formally prepared. While texts such as Becoming a Master Student have successfully outlined techniques for operating within the traditional classroom, it has not been until E-Learning Companion that learners have been afforded tactics for succeeding with online coursework. Watkins and Corry's text powerfully demonstrate that by integrating online learning skills with student success skills learners can better ensure their success in online learning environments. Rife with tutorials, activities, and self-assessments, E-Learning Companion is an essential resource for online learners and instructors alike.

My 2 year old loves it. It has re-adhesivie plastic stickers. Not stickers that can be reapplied. But those "static" cling like stickers. It's great fun to put the animals in silly places in the zoo. Big hit! Good for a car ride or for potty training.

The color and stickers are great. My 3 year old loves it!

My 20 month old loves loves loves the book. She was introduced to it in day care. At home she just sits on the floor and plays and sings with the song. The construction is not good for little hands, so beware that if you want the book to last a couple of years, you may need to supervise your child. I just let mine go at it, so we've had to call in the emrgency repair squad a few times, but it is a fun book and even with taped pages, it is enjoyed every time.

This book has it all for the classic song. The graphics are dynamic and fun, the pop-up aspects are creative (moving wipers for the rain), and the two buttons (one for the song, the other for the horn) are cute. I orginally bought it for myself but my kids found it and have thoroughly enjoyed it to the point I have to buy a new one for me!

Another one of our daughter's favorites. The illustrations are just wonderful and she practically reads the book herself now. All of John Butler's books are great for teaching animal identification and sounds.

My son and I love this book. The pictures are so cute and he loves for me to make the animal noises. He is nine months old and he sits and listens to this book sometimes two or three times in a row. It's short and sweet! Also check out If You See a Kitten, also by John Butler.

My daughter received this book as a gift when she was 2 1/2. She loves to do the puzzles and now knows all of her shapes, including trapezoid and hexagon. Very educational and fun.

We bought this for our 2.5 year old daughter and she loves it! It's great for finding patterns, learning shapes, sorting, matching edges, symmetry...there's a lot going on in this activity book. The pieces are solid and bright, and it's nice to have a storage container built right into the spine of the book. As a (former) math teacher, I'm thrilled to have this for my toddler!