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Most for-sale screenplays are just that -- screenplays. Emma Thompson, who wrote the screenplay for the delightful Jane Austen film "Sense and Sensibility," chose to include journal entries throughout the filming of the movie as well, in addition to the winning entry of a contest to see who could write the best letter from Fanny to Elinor.

There is wit in the descriptions and the photos, all well-captured. The journal entries are entertaining and a good look into the making of a movie. Although be forewarned -- because they dress like the characters of S&S, they do not talk like them. There is definitely some verbal crudeness in the book, men and women alike, but if you can overlook that (or are used to it) then this book will be a delightful read for any Jane Austen fan.

There are three separate parts to this fine volume; introduction, script and diaries. The producer of the film, Lindsay Doran, opens the door for us with her wonderful introduction. At age 13, she was determined that not only was "Jane Austen a very stupid writer," but also she would "never, never read one of her stupid books again."

Fortunately for the rest of the world, Ms. Doran changed her mind, and some twenty-five years after that first erroneous conclusion, has brought us this wonderfully witty, and extremely faithful film version of this first novel by Austen. As producer of the Kenneth Branagh/Emma Thompson film, DEAD AGAIN, she became acquainted with the woman who was not only a phenomenal actress, but also a gifted writer-one with a sense of humor and a strong romantic bent. These two qualities had proven to be the stumbling block over nearly ten years of searching for the right scriptwriter for Sense and Sensibility.

It took nearly seven years to come up with something close to a shooting script, sandwiched as it had to be between Thompson's many award-winning acting chores. Serendipity was obviously at work, however, and eventually, a budget was established, and casting accomplished.

Many of the actors Emma had envisioned in various roles had participated in a read-through the year prior to the filming; they were all in the film, in those same roles.

While the Dashwood ladies are all suitable beautiful, it is the men who are truly gorgeous. ("Repellently so," writes Ms. Thompson in the diary portion, referring to Hugh Grant. "He's much prettier than I am.") With his look-alike Richard Lumsden, they are the brothers Ferrar, Edward and Richard, with Greg Wise as the fickle Willoughby. Alan Rickman (be still my heart!) brings maturity and virility to the role of Colonel Brandon. The sets and costumes are sumptuous.

Interspersed with the actual shooting script and the diaries are some 50 photographs, 36 of them in luscious color. One script looks pretty much like another, but this one allows Ms. Thompson's wry wit to shine, especially in some of the non-spoken words. Of course, not every scene from the book could be included; the movie would have been more than six hours had they been. But the essentials are here, along with all the major characters. Providing testimony to just how perspicacious was the choice of writer is the number of awards garnered by Thompson for this, her first film script.

The diaries portion begin with a production meeting on January 15, 1995 and continue through July 9 of that year. A very small mention is made of Hugh Grant's visit to California, where he'd gone for his next film project after the completion of filming his scenes in England. A final two pages describes the 'location' houses chosen to represent those lived in by the families in the novel.

It may come as somewhat of a surprise to some readers to discover rather explicit language in the diaries. In addition to an apparent fascination with the alimentary process, our Emma has a bit of a potty-mouth, as do some of the gentleman involved, and their words are recorded, one presumes unhappily, all too accurately. They seem curiously jarring and out of place in a book otherwise devoted to the pristine words of Jane Austen.

Nevertheless, this is a lovely, hefty book; one which will bring the reader back to it time and again. There is always a new and enjoyable nugget to be mined from its various depths.

If you read Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" before or after seeing the 1996 film version then I think it is pretty easy to conclude that Emma Thompson's Oscar for Best Screenplay adaptation was richly deserved. After writing and performing a series of short skits for British television, Thompson was approached by producer Lindsay Doran to write the screenplay. Thompson began by dramatizing every scene in the novel, which resulted in 300 hand written pages to be followed by 14 drafts as the 1811 novel was crafted into the final script. The result was a script that manages to be not only romantic and funny, but also romantic and funny in the best Austen sense of both words.

Be aware that this is the Original Script, not to be confused with the Shooting Script. This should be clear as soon as you beginning reading, because originally Thompson had the scene shifting back and forth between Mrs. Dashwood and Elinor/John and Fanny Dashwood (credit for this revision must go, I believe, to Film Editor Tim Squyres, who recut the scene so that we get all of one side and then the other instead of alternating back and forth as in the original script). Overall the strengths of Thompson's script are in two main directions. First, she manages to convey the scope of the novel in a two-hour screenplay, no mean task. Second, the little details she adds to Austen's story are simply marvelous. For example, her use of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 ("Let me not the marriage of true minds"), which Marianne and Willoughby share to their great mutual delight and which Marianne repeats standing in the rain looking at Willoughby's new estate. In fact, Thompson revised the first scene to make it even better, having Willoughby misquote a key word in an elegant bit of foreshadowing. Thompson also makes one nice little change at the end. While Austen has Elinor bolt from the room to cry outside during the happy ending. Thompson creates a wonderful moment by having her stay in the room and having the rest of her family flee. There are not too many scenes where you are crying and laughing at the same time, but Thompson certainly created one (and has the added virtue of relying on herself as an actress to nail the performance as well). All of these are marvelous examples of playing to the strength of the cinema to bring Austen's novel to the screen.

But we get much more than just the screenplay in this volume, because Thompson includes excerpts from her diaries kept during both the writing of the screenplay and the actual production of the film. It would be nice if there was more insight into what she was thinking when writing the screenplay as I am always interested in how decisions were made and where inspiration comes from, but Thompson makes up for that with her little tales of working with director Ang Lee and the rest of the cast in making the film. Finally, in the Appendices, there is a very choice little treat, namely Imogen Stubbs' Prize-Winning Letter, written to Elinor from Lucy. Do not worry; by the time you read it you will understand why it is so hysterical. There is also a list of the fine homes and estates where "Sense and Sensibility" was filmed if you happen to be roaming around England and are interested in looking for such things.

I truly enjoyed this work by Emma Thompson. Not only is the screenplay included, with pictures, but also there are diary entries by Thompson that give insights into the making of the movie. If you loved this movie, you should read this book. I really enjoyed it.

The screenplay itself is a must-read for anyone wanting an education in bringing a well-loved story to life. Emma Thompson does an ingenius job of crafting scenes that are faithful to Austen's original while inventing more that add character development and plot intrigue. I especially like her diary, though. For those who wonder what to include in a memoir of an experience, this journal is a rich model of self-disclosure and humor. I heartily recommend it!

I ENJOYED THIS BOOK VERY MUCH AND THE AUTHOR FOUND SOME NEAT SILENT FILM PERSONALITIES TO TALK WITH. GOOD INSIGHT INTO WHAT THOSE EARLY YEARS WERE LIKE BUT FOR WHAT I PAID FOR IT I FEEL THE BOOK SHOULD AT LEAST BE RELEASED IN HARDCOVER. STILL, IT WAS ENJOYABLE.

I have been a cinema fan quite while, silent films more recently as I research. Finally, I see a book on the market where the author actually sought out former stars and interviewed them!
We get a sense of their personalities and the whole era through this book;
I recently bought SILENT PLAYERS, thinking it a similiar book but many of the subjects were dead before the author wrote it and those who are quoted have little or nothing to say. The chapters are one page at most.
I hope for more good reading. It is sad now but I imagine all the silent players are gone. Are there any still alive? If so, who are they and have they been interviewed?
Another good read is the new bio of Valentino. He must have been quite the loverboy!

Mr. Villecco interviews 12 former silent film players and a director Andrew Stone. We learn about the early scandals and first Academy Awards and early working conditions. It is fascinating. These pioneers really worked, often under undesirable conditions. As far as sex, drugs and rock and roll, the 1920's were no different. Read the chapters on Baby Peggy, Anita Page and Pauline Curley! It's also amazing that Villecco was able to even locate living silent stars. Are there any left?
I rate this book 5 stars-the photos and filmogs are also wonderful.

"Silent Stars Speak" is a superb book! This is a treasure chest of information about Hollywood's roots. Tony Villeco's interviews with the 12 stars are facinating. He's done a marvelous job, giving us a glimpse into the past. Since many of these stars have now passed on, he's captured wonderful memories and a bit of history as well. It was a joy to read, as well as informative and insightful. The book is full of beautiful, vintage pictures that truly take the reader back to the magical era of silent films. Tony Villeco has created a work of art, in this wonderful book. One can only hope to read more from him future! Bravo!

Tony Villecco writes articles on silent and sound films for CLASSIC IMAGES magazine and he has assembled twelve of his articles for this book. Subjects range from clild actors Baby Peggy Montgomery and Jean Darling to major stars like Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and even a director, Andrew Stone. The book has very detailed filmographies of each person profiled, except for director Stone. This book is a fast read, and it would be a great introduction to someone who is new to silent films. Many of the people profiled in the book had long careers in sound films also. The best parts of the book are when he interviews some little know people like director Stone, actress Pauline Curley, and actress Priscilla Bonner and they actually talk about their careers and filmmaking. Sometimes the subjects just give us a list of the many people that they worked with and don't give us much detail about their experiences. In fairness to the author, his subjects were all very old at the time and may not have been able to remember that many details. If you are really interested in interviews with silent film stars, Kevin Brownlow's THE PARADE'S GONE BY and William Drew's AT THE CENTER OF THE FRAME are much better. Baby Peggy's story is told much better in hour autobiography, HOLLYWOOD' CHILDREN.

A very nice throughly researched book on the early days of live televised science fiction. Throughout the book the author compares Space Patrol with Star Trek although the series has much more in comon with Irwin Allen's Lost In Space tv series of the mid 1960s since Star Trek served little more than a political platform for Gene Roddenberry's extreme radical liberal views.

Some might think it's a waste of time to read a book about a television show that one never saw. But, although I never saw an episode of "Space Patrol" (it had gone off the air before I was five years old), this is one of the best books I've read in years. A 20-year labor-of-love, it clearly reflects the author's interest and dedication to the subject. She managed to interview virtually all of the surviving cast and production crew members, and their anecdotes bring the story of this live-action television series from the early 1950s to life. It's packed with details about the characters, the performers, the production challenges, the sets, the special effects and the marketing of spin-off toys. Even better, it examines the positive effects that "Space Patrol" had on children of the time, some of whom, inspired by the show, grew up to be NASA engineers, "rocket scientists" and astronauts. Back in the days of clear-cut moral values and before political correctness reared its ugly head, the "Space Patrol" crew served as excellent role models for the first of the baby-boomers. Reading this book will transport anyone who grew up in that era back to a simpler time when the world was a more pleasant place to live and when there were well-defined good guys and bad guys. It's a great read about a fascinating subject--highly recommended.

This is a very nice book for those of us who grew up watching Space Patrol. Well written - information on the show, its production, the cast as well as the products that you could get by sending in 'box tops', etc.

Wonderful photos of the cast, as well as models of the sets/rockets and props. A chronological listing of the TV shows as well as the Radio ones. Very nice addition to a collection of information on Science Fiction on the airwaves.

Bassior's book is an intimate slice of history. On the surface, it may seem trivial to examine the story of a hit TV show from half a century ago, but in her two decades of unrelenting research, the result of Jean-Noel Bassior's dilligence (while maintaining her career as a top-level journalist) is a book that set out to document an ephemeral pop culture phenomenon, and became a supremely positive inspiration to a generation who went on to live lives by a sincere code of ethics, and some of whom made Neil Armstrong's "small step" possible. Inside the story, the star of the show, Commander Corry turns out to be actor Ed Kemmer, a bona fide World War Two hero.

In short, this book is a unique, intimate look at a pop culture phenomenon, and the remarkable people who made it happen.

At first I thought that the price of the book was excessive, however, upon deciding to spend the money I feel it was well spent. If you, like me, grew up with early television this book will take you back to a time when the world was simplier and TV was a miracle.

The author of "Space Patrol: Missions of Daring in the Name of Early Television" has taken a long and loving look at one of the best Sci Fi programs of the 1950's. The information gathered is informative, refresing, and above all (to my knowledge) never before put in print. The interviews with former cast members is a delight, and the behind the scenes look gives you and idea of how the then infact television industry operated.

I recommend spending the $49.00 and take a trip back in time and re-live your youth with Buzz Corey, Cadet Happy, Carol Carlyle, Major Robinson, and Tonga... its worth it.

If you are serious about becoming a screenwriter, this book will be a valuable addition to your professional library. Lucy goes into depth on subjects other authors ignore or treat lightly. Usually if you can learn one or two things from a screenwriting book, it's worth reading. This book clarifies subjects other authors fail to explain. Lucy not only explains all the loose ends, but ties them together. There are a lot of good books on screenwriting, and this is one of them. Cynthia Whitcomb has a couple of books on screenwriting that you might also want to read.

This book should be a mandatory read for writers of all types and all levels. Story Sense offers the tools to develop an entertaining, clever plot with emotionally and psychologically dimensional characters. It takes you step by step through idea, plot, and character formulation, as well as explains how to develop structure, dramatization, and everything else you need to write the perfect screenplay or fictional story. You will find yourself highlighting passages and constantly refering back to this "bible" throughout your writing journey. Keep this book close by, it has all the answers you need as a writer.

This should be required reading for any type of writer--novelist, screenwriter, playwright. The sections on plot and character development are worth double what this book costs.

Too many "how-to" books on writing perpetrate the image of a writer as a conduit for mysterious creative forces. While I'm not entirely discounting that image, there needs to be a balance between writing as an art and writing as a craft. This book falls firmly in the craft column. It demands you cast aside any artistic pretensions and get down to the plumbing of creating a story. And it doesn't stop with the obligatory pep talk--Lucey shows you how it's done. And he shows it better than any other writing how-to out there.

If I could give this ten stars I would. Highly recommended.

When ordering several books on screenwriting this book caught my eye because of the high ratings afforded it by others. After reading it I fully concur with what others had to say. I went out and purchased DVDs of the four main example films (The Verdict, Terminator, Sleepless in Seattle, and Witness) that Mr. Lucey focuses on and they allowed me to pick up the fine points described in the text. His vast experience in script writing shows through in each of the topics discussed. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. For a detail-oriented individual such as myself, this book met all my expectations. If you are interested in this topic, this book is a "must have" by all means.

I have read many screenwriting books and this is the most complete. It takes you by the hand through each step of the process. I would recommend it to anyone interested in screenwriting. The book even states that if you follow the steps in the 12 chapters it should take you 120 hours and would be equivelent to a college course. No need for any other training. This book is it!

If you like the movie, you must have. The book is amazing, full detailed in sketches, layout, character design and comments. The book included a big mount of extras (postcards, stickers, minibooks, DVD of making waves,etc.). If you can, don't doubt, buy it.

This movie and book was great. The DVD with the book is a MUST SEE! I love it. I buy it for all my movie buffs, family and friends. Oh! I forgot to mention..... my son is Erick Miller and he helped make the movie! Rock on Erick! Love, Mom

originally i really didn't have any intentions of seeing "surf's up" in theaters, i was just going to wait it out and rent it. then i stumbled upon the making of art book and changed my mind. what i really love about the book is the playful attitude it takes to the whole "art of/ making of" genre. it goes beyond showing you concept sketches and the likes and shows how they constructed scenes, gives extra little insights on character's personalities, and through in some behind the scenes jokes that didn't make it into the movie. all in all just a really enjoyable read.

I seriously can't find anything wrong with this book. Every production book should be this good. Every other production book that I have purchased in the past has always been lacking something, and left me feeling like I was kinda ripped off. Almost like they went around the office and said, "everybody just give me some of your stuff because we're going to throw some stupid book together". Not this book though. This one actually makes me want to look at it over and over again. It makes me want to watch the movie again. Forget Pixar and their somewhat good movies. This movie was a hundred times better than any Pixar movie (well I did like the Incredibles). This movie was produced by a company that will always over shadowed by Pixar, but by my opinion, Sony has produced a way more visually advanced film that everybody over looked because it had penguins in it (I kinda thought the same thing when it first came out). The book shows alot of that amazing imagery and goes a little further for the old fashioned pencil and paper artist (like me). It's a real insperation for any fan of the movie. This book has alot of extras like postcards and posters and stuff like that nature. It makes the book feel alot like a scrapbook of the making of the movie. I feel very happy to have book like this in my collection. The only thing that I would have maybe added is the actual breeds of penguins that the characters were modeled after. I just looked that up on a Google search and found that one out. But all the same it would have been cool to see a side by side comparison.

This book is simply amazing. One of the best art books released in years. Great character design, visuals, and even lots of fun extras including a making of dvd, postcards, poster, stickers, and mini books. This is truly an inspiration. I work as an animator and took it to work to show fellow artists, and they ALL bought it on the spot. This will be in my art book archive for years to come.

The book's title might be "Learning How To Do Yoga Without Turning Yourself Into A Pretzel. No doubt, Mastering the Basic is a better choice for the book's title. The trick to doing yoga is knowing the preliminary moves that eases one into the posture without strain or exertion. This book does just that with illustrations and concise easy to follow text printed next to the illustration.

Make no mistake about it, yoga can become "entwining" but this book stops short of that. From the most elementary posture one progresses to more complicated postures in what seems effortless. The result is, "Hey, look what I can do.".

Therefore knowing what to do and how to do it makes all the difference in the world in sticking with your yoga practice and this book does exactly that. If you ever wanted to learn how to do yoga this book would be a big help in getting you started down that path.

I am reviewing the DVD which has two programs: Flexibility Strength and Balance and Deepen & Strengthen.

This dvd is great for beginners. You are lead through a series of warm-ups that are basic to all yoga moves. You learn how to move and hold the body which is essential for a good yoga foundation. There are two sessions. I prefer the Flexibility session to the Deepen and Strengthen.
The 2nd session makes you hold the positions for long periods. The young woman demonstrating the moves is Amazing! This is probably "old school" for many people, but without the foundation, you might as well just be exercising. Not for every day use, but great when I don't feel like twisting my spine into a pretzel.

I feel this book does what it says, covers the basics. It's easy to read and the pictures clearly show each pose. There is more to read than expected, and it is all beginner-friendly & not over-kill at all. A good book that provides exactly what it says it will.

This Hatha Yoga manual is authentic, clear, thorough, precise and well illustrated. For each posture, there is at least one illustrative photo. All the postures are scientifically sequenced. As a Yoga student of the same tradition, I recommend this book to all Yoga students and teachers without reservation.

This is an excellent and thorough introduction to yoga including the philosophical foundation and context for a meaningful practice. It has a great progressive program and provides a complete and comprehensive rationale for following it. It is well-organized, contains a lot of material, is very readable and very accessible to anyone. It is also printed on very quality paper, has excellent illustrations and is quite a bargain at this price. Highly recommeneded by this reviewer and I see a lot of yoga books!

This book is in good shape. For some reason I think that a page was missing, but I think I can do without the page. I like this book very much.

This book is like the awsome movie itself.
It has certain features you do not expect. Sometimes I could not determine at first sight if pictures were 2d or just real materials. Like the enveloppe,the playingcard holders and other "fearsome commodities". Wonderfull picturebook with well made drawings and photographs. Outstanding quality. It might have been found in the monsterhouse!
Brecht Gerritse, The Netherlands

Love the book. A Priceless addition to an animation lovers dream book collection.

I thought this book was very suprizing in giving the reader plenty of images from the development the movie. Actually, almost to good.. there's so many scrapbook style pages that it can be overwelming at times. Regardless, this book is a must have for the Art of collector. If you liked this book and concept art check out [...]

This is how "art of" books really should be made. Lots of inserts, post-it notes and fun details. It looks almost like a scrapbook and is filled to the rim with drawings, renders, concept art and fun stuff. Very inspirational. It is just as great as the "Open Season" book which is also a must-have for all fans of animation.

Fun! I did my top 10 choices and I think the results described me perfectly. This will by my top gift for friends this year. Would be fun for a party, a book club, any gathering - or just to read through on your own. Addictive -- you also find yourself trying to categorize people you know. Only thing I will say that the results are slightly more appropriate for a single vs. married individual as romantic pursuit plays a part in some of the descriptions, but don't let that stop you from buying the book.

Cinescopes is entertaining and can keep a party going for hours. This book is totally fun and allows you to really understand personality traits just based on what you enjoy watching. Movies are great because we relate to them, and Cinescopes is fun because it ties our movie trends to our personalities. You will definitely laugh a lot and learn a lot from this book.

I most certainly recommend this work and it is a fun read!

We bought this for a gift but ended up taking to every gathering over the holidays that went to. We brought along a chart that we made up to go with it. It was a fun conversation starter!

The authors of this book have combined their educational credentials and film industry experience to create a unique, fun, and not-so-scientific analysis of personality type based upon favorite movies. I participated on the Internet before I bought the book, and to validate my "Charismatic Performer" profile, I entered another ten movies and obtained the same result. It appears that in some instances, your profile may not portray what you are as much as what you wished you could be (your alter-ego, as it were). In the last few days, I have encouraged many people to find their Cinescope and have enjoyed the feedback and discussion.

CINESCOPES has the potential for being the 21st Century's answer to Trivial Pursuit and will probably stimulate us to watch movies that we haven't seen in a while and view some from others' Top Ten (I have spent a lot of time on IMDb lately). My only criticism is that the list of movies in the back of the book is very incomplete. No White Christmas? No Interlude? Last night on Turner Classic Movies, The Sterile Cuckoo with Liza Minelli (nominated for two Academy Awards) was on, and that wasn't listed either. Because this book is so different and has provided me with a winter diversion, I forgave the omissions and awarded it Five Stars for originality.

"Movies are the mythic tales of today. They can make us cry, scream, or laugh. They can cheer us up or bring us down. And just like those ancient stories of humans struggling for the favor of the gods, movies tend to focus on a hero undertaking some kind of journey, whether it be physical, intellectual or emotional." - From Cinescopes

Quick: list your ten favorite movies.

Did Michael Clayton or Forrest Gump make the cut? What about Napoleon Dynamite, Hotel Rwanda, The Da Vinci Code, or Batman Begins? Did Toy Story, It's a Wonderful Life, or What the Bleep Do We Know make your list or perhaps No Reservations, Somewhere In Time, or E.T. is more to your liking?

No matter what cinematic fare you prefer, it is possible that your favorite movies can reveal intriguing aspects of your personality. In the clever new book Cinescopes, authors Risa Williams and Ezra Werb outline sixteen distinct personality profiles based on psychology, cinematic theory and mythology. All you need to do to find your unique profile is list your favorite movies, look them up in the index, record the appropriate Cinescope codes and determine which profile crops up the most by adding them together.

Do you enjoy Wayne's World, The Simpson's Movie or Airplane? According to Cinescopes, you would be an Invincible Optimist (IO). Having On Golden Pond, Mommie Dearest and Crash among your favorite movies would make you a Determined Survivor (DS).

Maybe you're a Destined Hunter (DH) like me, anticipating the thrills and chills of movies like Joy Ride, Misery and Saw. If you're an Existential Savior (ES) like my husband, you'd probably count The Matrix, The Mothman Prophecies, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind among your treasured films.

In addition to learning more about yourself (not to mention getting some great ideas for movies you'd enjoy based on your personality!), Cinescopes also offers each type's deepest secret, strengths and weaknesses--as well as behavior in the workplace, with friends and in romance. The author's also provide Quintessential Statements (corresponding movie quotes), most (and least) compatible Cinescope types, greatest nemesis, words of advice and much more.

I found my second highest Cinescope profile (Existential Savior) the most startling accurate and thorough, but my highest profile also gave some canny observations. However, my husband's highest profile (Existential Savior) didn't sound like him at all. The compatibilities were hit and miss, too, but hey...this is movie profiling we're talking about. Not all of our favorite movies were included in the book (e.g. Mr. Brooks, Prime, Red Planet, Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, The Magdalene Sisters, etc.), and I found a code error for the Ratatouille movie (DY and IS are listed. I assume they meant DI and YS?)

Engaging and accessible, this engaging 176-page book would make a perfect gift for movie buffs or personality junkies, as well as serving as an excellent icebreaker for groups. Cinescopes would also make fantastic entertainment for family reunions, parties and holiday get-togethers.

If you want to know what your favorite movies reveal about you--a Vivacious Romantic, Youthful Sage or Passionate Maverick at core, perhaps?--check out Cinescopes by Quirk Books. At the very least, it's fun and fresh--but you may also walk away discovering a heckuva lot about yourself in the process.

Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)

This book will be a very helpful tool for anyone using the new image-editing software to improve drawings and paintings. There are a number of examples that show what today's software will allow an artist to do. It gave me new ideas to try as I experimented with software, my scanner and digital camera. This book would be great for anyone who is looking for some great ideas and new approaches to art!

As a novice artist and computer user, I found this book so important and useful. It is a one of a kind book, extremely innovative and ties together both the art world and todays technology. Not only is it timely for today but will be important for the future. Bravo!!

This book was extremely helpful. It provides clear instruction and beautiful examples of how many different artists have used computer software to explore innumerable possibilities for a painting in a short period of time. Pollard and Little have presented the material in an easy to read style. It gets right to the point. An excellent tool for any artist.

This book encouraged me to buy Photoshop Elements and get started learning this powerful and complex software (I have used Microsoft's Picture It! and a watered-down version of Phtoshop before, the latter for several years). This book coveres several types of media. A number of different artists put together paintings using the software to aid in explorations of graphic ideas and planning. Basically, it is an introduction to using Photoshop (or, "...Elements") or other image editing program that demonstates the advantages, and some of the ways, a computer can be used by artists. It's chief value lies in getting you excited about expanding your tools and shows you how a computer can enhance your creativity, making it easier and quicker to explore the possibilites.

As an artist taking a Photoshop class, i was hopelessly lost in a deluge of material. This book sorts through the material and focuses only on what is necessary for an artist. Great way to take the pain out of thumbnails and value studies!

DEFINING VISION by Joel Brinkley is as comprehensive as any history behind the development of HDTV/DTV can ever possibly get. The text of this book will surely be required possessions for technological historians for at least the next 1000 years.

I'm reading this book a second time (a year later) because it's such a great introduction to players in the HDTV world. Brinkley chose a suspense style, and it really works well. I am excited about HDTV and turned each page holding my breath - hoping for a successful conclusion. Now I'm looking for more works that go beyond 1998, and can't find any more fulfilling...and the story isn't over yet!

Having had the opportunity to check the authenticity with several of the principles in the book, my hat's off to Joel Brinkley. He ties all the factions together that brought us DTV. It is a story with more twists and turns than you expect that comes mixing an industry that hates to change with new technology. Add in the governments of the U.S. and Japan, and it really becomes fun. Mr. Brinkley did a masterful job telling the story. This is a must read for anyone interested in television.

In the early 1980s US broadcasters faced two major headaches spawned by greed and jingoism. Their comfortable, tidy, oligopolistic-and profitable-broadcast world was about to be shaken by the digital revolution, where foes and friends were often indistinguishable. New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Joel Brinkley takes the reader on a roller coaster through boardrooms, bureaucracy, technocracy, and hubris (individual and national) in "Defining Vision." It is a ride worth taking for broadcast students, educators, historians, and international political economists.

Represented by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), radio and television companies considered the broadcast band spectrum their personal property. This largesse suddenly came under assault from the land mobile industry that wanted more spectrum space for a variety of public interest broadcast services such as police, firefighters, ambulance, quick response units, and other emergency services. Broadcasters, too, saw a new threat from across the sea. The Japanese spent $300 million and hundreds of thousands of engineering man-hours developing high definition television (HDTV). NHK unveiled its Muse system in 1986 to US policymakers and consumers. The picture quality was superior to the current analog systems in the United Sates, and Japanese-made monitors were designed to fit the wider formatted movies without the annoying letterbox effect.

Brinkley chronicles the scrimmages involving development of HDTV in the US like a general writing his wartime memoirs-if that general had access to the thinking of his opposition, that is. First the grand alliance-RCA, Zenith, AT&T, Phillips, General Instruments and MIT-had to admit that a victory by any one of them in the costly race to develop HDTV would be a defeat for the others. They were able to convince a willing FCC Advisory Committee that cooperation was possible in building a single system. Committee chairman Richard Wiley's role in HDTV cannot be understated (and Brinkley doesn't). His single-minded pursuit of high definition television as the national (and, it turned out, international) standard most probably resulted in its acceptance.

US broadcasters had worried privately and publicly as well, that the future of television would be dictated by a consortium of Japanese electronics magnates and NHK, the world's second-largest broadcasting company. Across the Atlantic, the European Union was equally concerned, and promised up to a billion dollars to Europeans to come up for a system on its own or else adopt the Japanese HDTV, since the Americans seemed not to be players in the game as the century's ninth decade unfolded. But the European effort never got off paper. US broadcasters at first fretted about a new "yellow peril" that posed as great a threat to them as it did to the automobile industry a decade earlier. Ever opportunistic, however, broadcasters found the Japanese an unlikely ally in their fight to snatch the unused frequencies from land mobile companies. HDTV, as the Muse system showed, required additional bandwidth space. Obviously, they reasoned, Congress and the FCC could not allocate precious broadcast spectrum space to land mobile users when they, the "rightful frequency heirs," needed the frequencies for HDTV.

At the same time, MIT's Nicholas Negroponte, who Brinkley treats somewhat derisively, was telling anyone who would listen that "HDTV had to be digital," not analog, which would allow for signal compression that would fit into existing frequencies. One naysayer echoed a common broadcast engineering complaint at the time: "we will have digital HDTV when we have anti-gravitation machines." Broadcast engineers at the major manufacturers nodded in agreement: digital high definition television technologically could not be done. The NAB, in its attempt to protect its space band largesse, inadvertently kicked off a race to develop HDTV in the United States that took on the trappings of a crusade to "rescue" the future of television in the United States from the hands of foreign interests. Along the way, General Instruments research engineer Woo Paik invented digital television (because, as a non-broadcast engineer, he didn't know that "it was impossible").

HDTV uses a compressed digital broadcast signal that not only remained within a single frequency but allowed broadcasters additional capacity to sell secondary services such as pager services, email, Internet connections, digital music, and pay-per-view movies. With such an entrée to new revenue flows, the reader would be surprised to learn the depth of NAB's animus to HDTV. Simply put, broadcasters used the HDTV concept to wrest away additional public airwaves spectra and then, among themselves, grumbled that they were unwilling to invest in new high definition cameras, monitors, and other equipment that would allow them to broadcast signals in both progressive scan (favored by the computer programming and manufacturing sector) and interlaced (favored by broadcasters) modes. Another opponent of a high definition television standard was the fledgling computer manufacturing industry in the mid-1990s, which didn't want the additional expense of adding interlacing decoding to what essentially was a dedicated proscan system.

After seven years of ups and downs in a process that often threatened to sputter, splinter, and spin totally out of control, HDTV in a digital form arrived in the US shortly after Thanksgiving in 1997. Despite all predictions to the contrary, the HDTV "turkey" arrived fully stuffed with enough goodies to ease its transition into the marketplace. The result was acceptance of the Americanized international standard by the European Union and the final, if not sad, acknowledgment by NHK that its analog Muse system was outmoded before it even got much beyond a toehold in its native land.

In "Defining Vision," Brinkley has crafted a highly readable, almost techno-mystery story with well-defined characters: heroes, villains, and rascals alike. At times he seems to get into the heads of the key players, which he explains as a literary device borne from extensive interviews with the principals who told him what they were thinking at the time. The effect rounds the edges of what could have been a highly technical, heuristic, and sloggish recitation of engineering reports, public hearings, and dreary diary entries from the participants. To his credit, the author explains his process to readers in an epilogue, thus enhancing the book's credibility. Furthermore, in this paperback edition, the author has updated and expanded several sections over the hardcover version, including an appendix and FAQ that are instructional.

I work in the television broadcast industry and this is a must read if you want to learn about the origins of HDTV, the players who made HDTV a reality, and how the standards for HDTV were defined. The author is an authority on the subject and provides an excellent description of the systems, history, etc. that both technical and business professionals can understand. At my company this has become required reading. I highly recommend this book.