Programs Books

Wonderful to see all the behind the scenes photos. I look at them all the time.

At what went on behind the scenes of M*A*S*H, particularly during the final week or so of filming. I found this book at the Boston Public Library and, as it was in the reserved books section, read it in less than an hour. And I'm glad I did--I learned more about both M*A*S*H and the show's actors than I could have without interviewing them myself. Arlene Alda did a superb job with the photography, and Alan Alda's commentary is not only insightful, but also makes me wish I was old enough then (I was two in 1983) to appreciate the show, and lets me appreciate it--and the hard work of everyone involved--even more now.

Delightful, great photos and a MUST have for all MASH junkies. Alan Alada has just come out with his own autobiography, so this may be harder to find.

THE LAST DAYS OF MASH IS A GREAT BOOK EVERY MASH FAN SHOULD HAVE THIS BOOK!

ALAN & ARLENE ALDA DID A WONDERFUL JOB ON THIS BOOK!

FROM A BIG MASH FAN FOR 6 YEARS NOW KIRSTEN

If you're a M*A*S*H fan--or just have one in your life--you'll want to go to the extra trouble of trying to find this out-of-print volume. It's a photo-journal of the last week of filming M*A*S*H, with all the pictures provided by Alan Alda's talented wife. She had unusual access to a very closed set and was therefore able to capture a lot of raw emotion. Her photos, combined with her husband's often poignant commentary, do much to convey a sense of what was happening to the group of players that had called the 4077th their home. Perhaps because the initial profits went to charity--though probably because it was genuinely there--a real sense of love permeates this work. THE LAST DAYS OF M*A*S*H was no attempt to capitalize on the hysteria surrounding the end of the series, but an authentic documentary effort.

My copy of this book is well worn, dog earned, and filled with enough paper clips to set off airport alarms. It has well over half a pad of pink post it notes extending from its pages. Several Xerox copies of book pages hang from my desk for quick reference. I would never go back to L*****'s book!

It was Diller's manuscript that allowed me to publish my dissertation with LaTeX in a timely fashion with minimal headache (from text processing!).

Pure TeX geeks will shun this book. It's too readable and too practical. If you want to hack away your grad school days solving Knuth's TeX programming exercises, this book is not for you.

Purchase this book if you actually want to get some productive work done with LaTeX!

This book is well written and is great for anyone trying to put together reports and simple documents with no frills (base fonts and formatting). It does not cover font selection (NFSS), customization, and many other important things for advanced documents, like a book. If you need a much more comprehensive book for LaTeX I would recommend Kopka's book. The book is structured in a very confusing and sometimes illogical manner, but it covers much more. This book is much more efficient, but you may find yourself needing more.

I've recently been through most of the beginning to intermediate LaTeX books and have found the bulk of them almost worthless in helping to learn and use LaTeX. This book is extremely readable and useful with correct syntax. The focus is unapologetically LaTeX2e and is not encumbered with outdated 2.09 commands. This is hands down the one book I would buy if I were only going to buy one. After this I would recommend Kopka, though that is much less well presented but definitely the next best (it is loaded with superfluous 2.09 command comparisons which just get in the way of getting through the book). It is way down hill after that, including Lamport's book (beautifully typeset but not clearly written).

In the TeX/LaTeX universe, I've found that you get the program for free, but then you wind up buying $200 worth of books to learn the program because no one textbook is all things to all people. This is hands down the best "introductory book." It's easy to read and gives you enough information to start up quickly. Hahn's book is outdated with its coverage of Latex 2.09, and Kopka's, while having lots of good stuff in it (if you can find it), reads like a scientific text translated from a foreign language--which it is.

If you want to start getting productive with LaTeX immediately, get this book.

I agree with the previous review. Among other nice touches the book contains a descriptive list of all LaTeX commands. This alone made it worth the money for me.

The interview subjects in this book really get down to the nuts and bolts of writing comedy for radio. Excellent material, well organized and presented. There's a lot to learn here.

Anyone with an interest in classic comedy writing will find this book to be an absolute treasure trove. It is a fascinating and comprehensive work consisting of interviews with the men (almost exclusively, men) who created the industry of modern comedy writing and, thus, the television industry as we all know it. I enjoyed every page!

What a delightful book! Full of insights into the process of writing comedy and how "lively" live radio and TV could be. Paints a clear and not always pretty picture of some of the funniest folk in comedy, including Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor, Fred Allen. The format lets the writers express themselves, and it's not always good memories they're sharing. A must for any fan of old-time radio, comedy, writing, and television. The stories are not always sweet and nostalgic, but accurate and, above-all, honest. I loved this book!

I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed Gerald Nachman's "Raised on Radio." I liked the format: each chapter was laid out by writer's name, his recollections and thoughts on the shows he worked on, and his credits by medium; (radio, TV, Movies, etc). You really got a feel for who was a major talent vs. who was lucky in show business. The writers really didn't get their due from the public, now here's your chance to find out who was responsible for "making" certain stars legends!

Jordan Young's interviews with some of Hollywood's top radio comedy writers in the thirties, forties and fifties gives the reader interested in show business nostalgia so much more than could be reasonably expected. While I was reading the book, I felt that I went back in time and I throughly enjoyed every hour.

We don't read transcripts of old radio shows--instead, we get a front row seat on Sunset and Vine in Hollywood and find out--through the writers--all that went on before the show went on the air and how the whole frenzied process began again immediately after the show went on the air.

I always wondered how these old radio shows were put together. What we learn is that each comedy star had his own system. While Eddie Cantor may have employed a hundred writers in a chaotic fashion over his long radio career with only modest results, Jack Benny had a long-time stable of six or seven writers and by consensus, had established, along with Fred Allen, the "gold standard" in radio comedy.

I loved this book!

I bought this book in 1994 when I had absolutely no clue about programming. It was a real eye-opener, and to this day it's my reference bible with regard to PostScript. Highly recommended.

Simple, concise, yet by no means limited. I learned essentially all the postscript that I needed to know for my job in about 3 hours reading this book. Excellent examples, easy to follow, what could more could you ask for?

This is a wonderful starting point for learning postscript. It takes you step by step through a very complex topic in a way that is easy to understand as well as offering opportunities to practice what you are learning. I recommend it highly!

This book is useful to people employed or interested in graphics, desktop design, document engineering, or programming. It will help you better understand any of these topics. PostScript, developed by Adobe, is the language "under the hood" of PDFs, many layout programs, and a category of printers. It's a full-fledged programming language that's pretty much dedicated to graphics, letting you get at the elements of lines, shapes, shading, and color. And it is becoming even more relevant. Before a document can be made into a PDF, traditionally it has had to be converted into postscript (.ps), and even Microsoft has given a little territory in that direction by their attempts to include automatic creation of PDFs in Office 2007.

PostScript is relatively easy to learn and can also diversify your understanding of programming concepts. Unlike varieties of C or Java, PostScript is a "reverse Polish notation" language, which means that the parameters are stated prior to the relevant commands. Like "144 144 lineto" will draw a line to the coordinates listed. It is also "stack-oriented," so I find that it's a little easier to visualize what is happening as I work through the code. Because it's so graphics-directed, PostScript obviously lends itself to the "visual approach." Most of the basic commands resemble actual everyday words, so you can learn rapidly before you even know you are programming. In other words, you don't have to be a programmer or script writer to learn PostScript.

And this particular book makes learning PostScript basics easy. It gives code on one page and then shows what happens next to it. It starts with the basics of positioning on the page, and then adds commands that extend the complexity and richness of the illustrations. It also does a good job introducing the programming concepts such as RPN and stack arithmetic. Over the years, PostScript has evolved into a more complex language, incorporating numerous commands that extend the language and concatenate groups of simpler commands (such as a command to draw a box rather than 4 commands to draw the sides). But the book sticks with the basics, and slowly extends your knowledge and skills. Like other programming languages, PostScript includes techniques like recursion, definitions of variables, definitions of complex tasks, mathematics, etc. PostScript is not object-oriented.

As a graphics description programming language, PostScript needs some type of compiler for you to see what your code actually draws. This traditionally involves an accompanying program called "ghostscript" that allows the user to see the results in nearly real time. I personally don't care much for ghostscript and often used Adobe Distiller and created PDFs to see the results. Those who don't have Distiller can install and use ghostscript, and that is covered in the book.

Since PostScript is a relatively mature technology, there are a lot of older books available, as well as a plethora of web sites and a couple discussion groups. Adobe has some excellent books that can be downloaded for free. They all have something to contribute, but I found this book to be the best of the lot, the easiest to read, and generally the most useful. Improvements? Well, occasionally the author works a new term into the code and doesn't really explain it. That happens more frequently later in the book, and by then you can sort of guess what the term accomplishes. At a certain point, things like this are probably unavoidable, since it's a very rich and complex language, and you can't be treated like a "dummy" all the time. I would also like to see more discussion about PDFs and how to work my written code into existing PDFs, but this book - like many of them - was written more for the era of the PostScript printer than the current period where PDFs are so prominent.

This book offers clear, simple examples and covers the basic Postscript concepts in a way that makes it easy to apply them to real-life situations.

I borrowed this book froma friend, and I have GOT to add it to my library -- a must-have!

This is the most compelling book of poetry for educators I have ever read. Life's Literacy Lessons is fresh, honest, and endearing. The topics are relevant, and the poems themselves will bring back fond memories of things that have happened to all of us who serve "in the trenches." Whenever I need a bit of encouragement I pick up this book and read, read, read.

After receiving Steve Layne's book "Teachers' Night Before Christmas" as a gift and meeting him at a conference, I had to have this. Real teachers writing about real situations makes for funny and sad moments, and this brings them all home. Having taught several grade levels, I could relate to so many of the poems. Our literacy committee just met to begin an in-district project, and our coordinator passed out a copy of this book to every committee member, and then read a poem to open. Now I have two copies which is just fine with me.

I find so much truth and passion in Steve Layne's poetry. I have read this little treasure over and over again and have bought it as a gift for many of my colleagues. I especially loved the poem entitled "Reading Orphans" which reminds us just how much children need the care and nurturing of a good teacher. I also appreciated the final poem written by one of Steve's students. It gave me so much encouragement to keep on striving to be the best teacher I can be for my students. I highly recommend this title.

Steve Layne goes right to the heart of the matter with this insightful collection of poetry. I laughed, cried, and acknowledged the truth conveyed in these precious poems. I especially loved the section about reading aloud to children of all ages. I also was thrilled to see that this book has been endorsed by many of the giant names in literacy education including Jim trelease. Don't miss this one.

I just love this collection of poems that has made me laugh and cry again and again ever since I bought it at the IRA Plains literacy conference. Anyone who knows anything about education and the crisis in literacy today is sure to love Steven Layne's soul-stirring poems. It's refreshing to find an educator who tells the truth in such an honest manner. If you enjoy poetry and care about kids -- you can't go wrong with this book.

The pinnacle of the act of teaching is to be simultaneously clear, simple, interesting, and complete. This is rarely achieved in person, and almost never in writing; "The Little LISPer" achieves it. I believe this defines what a teaching book can be. It is brief. It can be read in snippets, at any pace. It will maintain the interest of anyone who comes to learn. The reader is left ready to write Lisp code, no matter what background precedes it.

I read this book in high school in 1982; it taught me enough that five years later I aced a four-credit independent study class in Lisp (at an Ivy League college) without any further reading. Hey, I *told* him I already knew Lisp! Dr. Friedman, I hope you come across this endorsement some day; please accept my thanks for creating this wonderful little gem. (Pass the pizza, please, I have a little more to write...)

I cannot endorse this book highly enough. If you want to learn Lisp, I know of no better place to go.

...it's been obsoleted by its own fouth edition. No place on the listing for this book do I find a hint that this is the third edition of a book currently in its FOURTH edition. They renamed the book The Little Schemer for the fourth revision. Buy that book instead.

I'm still struggling with lisp, but this book was simple, to the point, and clear. I didnt even get annoyed by his goofy attempts at humor.

I read this beautiful little book as a child and it has never left me. It left me with a clear and straightforward understanding of the basics of LISP -- in this it remains possibly the most enjoyable and time-efficient technical book I've ever read, but much more than this it is a book I still often call to mind as an example of good pedagogy or simply of good design in any field.

I gave an earlier edition of The Little LISPer a glowing review in Byte in 1980. It was then the best introductory book on programming, regardless of language, and I still haven't seen anything to compare with it.

The greatest strength of LISP is its firm base in the essentials of the mathematics of computability, including Goedel's recursive functions and Church's Lambda calculus. It uses a single data structure, the linked list, and a minimum of programming primitives, all with well-known mathematical properties. For those who don't know the mathematics, this base in simple concepts means that LISP is one of the easiest programming languages to understand, and at the same time one of the most powerful.

The greatest strength of Little LISPer is its easy and natural sequence of steps for introducing data types and structures (numeric, text, and Boolean atoms organized in lists and trees) along with the recursive programming structures that are natural for creating and processing them.

I have just ordered the third edition for my son who is learning programming (if he can get it away from me).

I bought the book, lost forty two pounds in four months just by doing two of the things that the author suggests. I bought copies for family and friends for Christmas. I felt as though the author was talking to me, making it very easy to follow. It worked for me. The information is interesting and very practical!

After reading this book, I finally feel like I have an understanding of my relationship with food. This is not a quick-fix gimmic. The discussion of how we digest food made me realize that I need to pay attention to everything I take in. I've already lost 9 pounds in 3 weeks and I feel incredible!

I really enjoyed reading this book. The author is upbeat and follows an easy, common sense approach to weight loss. I was a little confused as to why homeopathy was mentioned in the title though. The author doesn't recommend any remedies except a homeopathic remedy for worms. She only recommends going to a homeopath. However, she still gives a lot of good information and the book is enjoyable and motivating.

First of all, I read other reviews and nowhere in the title does it say HOMEOPATHIC...it reads HOLISTIC. I bought the book, lost forty two pounds in four months just by doing two of the things that the author suggests. I bought copies for family and friends for Christmas. I felt as though the author was talking to me, making it very easy to follow. It worked for me. The information is interesting and very practical!

I lost 28 pounds on the author's holistic weight loss program. Previously I had been under the guidance of a personal trainer, and I would loose weight and then gain it all back. LOSING IT - NATURALLY gave me a plan for weight loss that really made sense. The author is encouaging, friendly, and very informative. I started this program last year and I feel and look better than I ever have!

As Ajit's student I got a very through conceptual understanding of e-markets by reading his book 'MAKING MARKETS'. He has presented one of his best works through this book that can add new dimensions to innovate businesses. I recommend this book to all the intellectual food seekers in technology and business innovation space.

Kambil and Heck have written an insightful and thought-provoking book on electronic markets. It is a must read for anyone who wants to understand online markets. They develop a framework to understand as well as to gauge the success of such markets based on in-depth study of several electronic markets. I particularly liked their characterization of B2B markets and its relationship to supply chain management. Their chapter on using markets creatively has ideas for both researchers as well as practitioners. The book has many examples, is written in a narrative style, and easy to read to three or four sittings.

As an entrepreneur and venture investor, I've found Making Markets invaluable because it's an excellent analytical framework for thinking about and creating markets. What is especially valuable is their Process/Stakeholder Benefit Framework which is elegantly simple yet so useful. I personally use that framework in examining various business models.

I highly recommend this book!

Ajit Kambil and Eric van Heck have written an authoritative and highly readable book illuminating the much-misunderstood world of online auctions. In clear, simple prose, the authors explain that the initial excitement over online markets was not all dot.com reverie and new economy hubris. Given that offline markets such as the Dutch flower auctions have thrived for centuries, it stands to reason that online markets will succeed to the extent that they improve on existing markets. “As you will read in subsequent pages, human beings have always made markets, and they will continue to do so in the future- even if business is conducted through cyberspace.” Kambil and van Heck cut through the technical jargon all to common in “eBusiness” books, and elucidate very effectively why people participate in markets. They write: “…electronic markets are not technological interactions supported by humans. They are human interactions supported by technology.” This quote exemplifies why this book is not just another poorly cobbled together ebiz how-to; it is a book about understanding how we will buy and sell in the future and how managers can avoid the outrageously expensive mistakes of the past few years.

Success stories such as eBay and lesser-known eMarkets such as PartMiner are dissected to reveal what they did right, while spectacular flameouts such as Chemdex are shown to have lacked important ingredients for a good e-market recipe. There is a very good section dealing with how e-markets should be categorized which helps make sense of the galaxy of initiatives underway. There is a very insightful section on Knowledge Markets and how auctions for intangibles could become an important wave of future online commerce. All and all a great read and highly recommended.

David Brett, CEO and Founder, Knexa.com

Yes, Virginia, there are still frontiers to be explored and conquered. The internet is a very active place, but still full of exciting opportunities. Feeling entrepreneurial or adventurous? You can create your own market on the net. The authors suggest that the future of exchange of products, services, and payment will accelerate in cyberspace. While the opportunities abound, there is a lot to learn . . . and there are risks. But, that's why you read a book like "Making Markets."

First, some perspective. The authors emphasize that "electronic markets are not technological interactions. They are human interactions supported by technology." Ignore this principle and failure awaits you in the way it doomed the electronic markets in the 1990s. "Cyberspace markets cannot be thin replicas of the traditional market. Rather they must be as rich, complex, and compete as the traditional markets themselves." The basic trade processes of search, pricing, logistics, payment and settlement, and authentication must still be in place. Value must be created for all participants, and the electronic marketing venture must fit with the firm's other marketing vehicles. Creativity will have a significant influence on success.

The authors begin with an explanation of the opportunities, the value of marketing in cyberspace. The first chapter includes an explanation of the design of their presentation in the remaining seven chapters. Chapter titles give us an insight into the content: From Place to Space, Making Markets Work, and Auctions: The Devil is in the Details. Readers will learn about Using B2B markets in the Supply Chain, Using Markets Creatively, and Market Tactics. Dynamic Market Strategies are address in the final chapter, followed by a call to action encouraging you to stick your toes in the water and try this approach.

Each chapter is filled with education, insight, and mini-case studies to show us what has worked and what hasn't worked. You'll learn the jargon and the steps in the process. A good notes section, including website addresses, is complemented by a helpful index. And, expectedly, the authors offer a website for the book where more information and support is available. If you're ready to open your mind to some fascinating possibilities, curl up with "Making Markets."

The rapid development of technologies that enable superior program and project management has been accompanied by quality research on the impact of both the technologies and project management itself. Russ Archibald has successfully integrated the results of this research into a coherent platform for progress. The third edition is loaded with fresh new insights that reflect both the progress that has already been made and the crystal clear thinking we have come to expect from Russ Archibald. It Is the most definitive formula available for success in high technology.

This is a great resource for all those interested in improving their project management skills. The author will guide you through entire process from organizing the project to closing it out. This book is a must for anyone involved in managing high-tech projects.

As a project manager, I am always looking for helpful resources to stay ahead of the game. This book focuses on dealing with the high-tech end of project management---a focus I've been having some problems grappling. This book is great go-to guide & provides a clear vision on how to manage more complex projects. I'm glad a colleague recommended it.

This is a stellar resource for all project managers as well as for executives who need to understand how to configure the project management office within their organization. Russ Archibald is a leading light in the field, and this third edition is stronger than ever.

Archibald has done it again. This is not your normal "Xth Ed.". It is a significant rewrite of the prior edition and more importantly contains much new material delivered in Archbald's clear, concise, insightful style. This not a book with academic content or one written by a "consultant". It is writtten by a project manager whose been in the trenches with the work (read project) for over 40 years AND still is. The work contains much "true fact" and in addition several adds in areas that previously have not been addressed in ANY publication to my knowledge; an example is the addition of the material on "What an executive/manager can and should expect of his project managers. There are special notes on this subject throughtout the book. NET CONCLUSION: Grizzled or experienced, managing it or doing it or did it - you can't afford to be without it. What Archibald writes of will assuredly happen to you sooner or later; forewarned is forearmed - - - and he provides both!!

The primary focus of this book is two fold. Providing a basic understanding of how this treatment works, and giving the reader a way to easily perform self treatment. It is well written and organized, and the technique is easily applied. I recommend the book highly.

I have used "Matrix Repatterning" with patients who would not respond to the usual methods I use in chiropractic practice.

This is a beautiful concept that I have only recently been exposed to. It has practical validity.

Peter Robb DC

This book was very inspiring for the chronic pain and dysfunction sufferer. It is written clearly and it is concise and very easy to understand. Although not everyone will be interested in the self help portion, the book takes us to a new place of understanding how our old trauma's, falls, car accidents, etc., have impacted our body in ways we never realized. Dr. Roth has synthesized this cutting edge information and shown how anyone can reduce the effects of these injuries with a simple and gentle approach.

George Roth has combined the cutting-edge science of energy medicine with input from many kinds of alternative healing to create Matrix Repatterning, which is the most advanced form of manual medicine on the planet.

Matrix Repatterning has changed my life, and it can change yours.

The book is a well written and fascinating introduction to the science of energy medicine, and how you can help yourself with this magical work, as well as how to find a practitioner

The Matrix Repatterning Program for Pain Relief opened my eyes to a whole new way of appreciating my body and understanding why I have pain. It provides useful information, backed by scientific studies, in a clear, concise manner with lots of illustrations. It helped me to understand how pain works, and how it could come from a problem in another part of the body. I also appreciated the stories of people who had been able to overcome their difficulties with these gentle techniques. The self-help program was simple and easy to follow. I highly recommend this book.