Languages Books

I've been acting for ten years and got my first directing assignment. I know a lot about directing from having been directed, but this book was a great guide for script analysis with the big picture in mind, not just one character. The show was a success and the actors still like me.

It seems like reading would require no specific techniques, that they would come naturally to one and go without saying, even when the task is more specified, as in the reading of plays. But Ball breaks down this seemingly natural sense into its component elements and explains them in easily digestible, well-paced segments, and to examine these elements does much in the way of re-learning and thus refining and fine-tuning one's seemingly natural reading skill. This skill can be taken and applied in various ways (as Ball describes in the introduction), some of which are immeasurably improved by the complex understanding that posessing these refined elements provides; the reading a play to produce it, for example, or the writing of one yourself can be tremendously improved if one is constantly aware of what they are doing, why they're doing it, and what about their actions are correct, lacking, unnecessary or obtrusive. Without having a defined sense of the tools contained within this book, these tasks would be much more difficult, complicated, vague and roundabout, thus slowing, weakening or perhaps ruining the final product. Pair this skill set with application to texts such as plays, which are made all the more difficult by the fact that the playwright thinks in terms more of making their production work when produced for an audience and less of making their script read and be easily graspable completely on the page, and this manual becomes immeasurably more useful on a basic and elemental level.

This book would serve a Script Analysis class very well. I plan to use it for mine in the fall. It also is reader friendly enough to serve an actor/director/designer wanting a different perspective, perhaps, on a script; or could be a different way of explaining what we were generally taught as undergrads.

I have read a lot of books on the subjects of writing and acting. This book contains almost every important point in the tens of thousands of pages I have read when it comes to structure. If you are a writer you have to own this book! There is no wasted space in it. No actor or director on the planet should live without it either. You can read it in a day, but you'll read it again and again.

This book may have been primarily written for directors and writers, but it is a great tool for actors to get to real active meanings in a script.

As an engineering student, good group and personal communication skills are essential for my success in the future. I recently attended a fantastic and educational two day seminar with the Glasers. Their expert skills as communicators not only makes their material fun to read, but offer outlines that are easy to follow for creating a successful presentation. Although these outlines are simple, they have a powerful affect on your communication skills if they are followed.

This summer I received my first research grant. To ensure that the funding I received is going to good use, I am required to give a presentation on my work every two weeks to a small group of students and the faculty adviser for the grant. My previous presentations had a complete lack of organization, excitement and professional delivery. After working with the Glasers and reading their material, I was able to design a new presentation that allowed me to express the passion I have for the subject.

It went tremendously better than my previous presentations this summer. A few people in the group had seen my previous talks. They said that I appeared very confident, well organized and passionate about the subject, a complete turn around from my other talks. The people who hadn't seen it before came up to me at the end and said that they couldn't imagine it any other way.

In short, this book can help anyone become a better speaker and group communicator. From students who are looking to improve their group communication skills, teams of workers who need to solve problems in a safe and open environment to individuals who have trouble facing conflict with their mentors, bosses and employees.

Thank you Glasers

Susan and Peter Glaser have made a fabulous contribution to creating trusting relationships. They have an excellent ability to simplify a complex process of creating trusting relationships. And if you have not seen them speak, make sure to do so. The book is a must read and their workshops are a must as well. I highly recommend.

Incredibly helpful. Very easy read- although this may be because it was well written and extremely interesting. I use it daily during interactions with strangers on the bus to family members. Makes communication feel like cheating because of the way I can easily express my ideas and needs to people around me. I'd recommend it to my friends and family members, but I'm afraid they'll learn my tricks:)

Thanks so much Drs. Glaser!!!

Despite the title, the book lays out fundamental principles of human interaction that draw from all areas of the field of communication. Crisp prose coupled with vivid examples that have the ring of realism. A useful book.

Not only is the Glasers' book Be Quiet and Be Heard a book that will benefit all who use their proven successful communication methods - it's a great read. The language and style present their cogent ideas with examples, with clarity and with humor. I believe you'll enjoy reading this book while learning strategies that give you new skills in communicating with those you may consider friend or foe. It's a terrific book!

Like my title of the review reads, if you have computer science background and just starting with PERL, this is the book for you. It teaches PERL the way computer science people are taught programming languages like C, FORTRAN etc. Starts with basics and proceeds in systematic and logical way. It is an easy read and will get you up and running in less than 2 days.

I know several programming languages and wanted to use Perl on my website. Within days I was able to take existing scripts and modify them to use on my site. I was able to generate several program to help maintain the site within weeks. Great book!

This is the first and from what I found "ONLY" book for a novice. I have read numerous titles on Perl and was always left with basic questions. If you want to understand Perl, read this book.

I read Beginning Perl, 2nd Ed (BP2E) to gain some familiarity with Perl 5. I do not plan to really write anything in Perl, but I find myself using other people's code quite a bit! In those situations I would like to know how the code works. I also enjoy being able to make small changes if the code does not work as expected. Perl is basically everywhere, so it pays to understand it to some degree.

James Lee's book is excellent from start to finish. I found his explanations very clear and his writing style lively. He covered just about everything I hoped to read in a book of roughly 400 pages. The book is ideal for the self-educated since it contains exercises with answers in the back. I personally enjoyed learning more about regular expressions in Ch 7, since PCRE is an important part of several network security tools.

It is easy to take a good programming book for granted. I have started and stopped reading several other books written to teach programming because their style is terrible and the assumptions they make confuse the beginner. BP2E is always conscious of what the reader has already seen. The author makes it clear when a briefly mentioned topic will be more thoroughly explained later in the book. Plenty of technical authors could learn from this example.

Even if you plan to read the author's new book -- Beginning Perl 6 (or BP3E) -- you may want to read BP2E. Perl 5 will be with us for many more years, so it pays to understand the material in BP2E. (It's possible that BP3E could demonstrate Perl 5 and 6 syntax, but I doubt it.)

Beginning Perl is a great introduction and resource. It does assume the reader has some basic prior programming experience, but either way it is very logical and easy to follow. The book is well-organized so that you can easily find what you need. There are tips and shortcuts strategically placed throughout the book to help you along the way.

I bought this book very recently, having no prior experience with Perl. I had seen a couple of scripts that other people had written, but since I have minimal programming experience I could only somewhat figure out what they were intended for.

I read the first chapter of Beginning Perl (11 pages), and read bits and pieces of the second chapter (37 pages). Then I began writing my first Perl scripts, using the book primarily for reference. It makes a great reference tool because the index is very thorough and the examples are easy to understand without necessarily reading the entire book in order. About 3 hours ago I couldn't have told you what a subroutine was or how to create a hash, but now I have completed my first interactive program using subroutines, hashes, various types of loops, error-checking, etc. That would have taken me weeks to learn if I had not discovered this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning Perl.

that comes with a teaching guide. The guide that is at the end of the book is worth it alone if you want to teach your child to think and understand what is on the printed page.If this book is too pricey, get these teacher-authors' companion book for just $8.95 Life's Little Lessons: An Inch-By-Inch Tale of Success...which is really a bargain.

Every parent of a 3-8 year old and teacher should have this on their bookshelf. A fabulous story about self-esteem along with a fabulous reading guide at the end that shows us how to teach out kids reading.I've read this to my 4 year old grandchild at least 5 times and used the guide to discuss the story. These authors also did the same with [[ASIN:1578863368 Life's Little Lessons: An Inch-By-Inch Tale of Success]. Buy them both. You won't be sorry.

Pricey but well worth it. I found another book by these author-educators that also has a reading guide to start the youngest child on learning to read.Absolutely invaluable. Additionally, it is an outstanding storybook to share with children up to 8 years of age with beautiful and heartfelt messages every child will enjoy. Splurge...you will be glad you did. Also check out "Life's Little Lessons: An Inch-By-Inch Tail of Success."

I can't recommend this book (written by 2 teachers) highly enough. The teaching guide at the back of the book is fabulous for parents and teachers.Filled with 10 pages of questions, activities...to begin teaching young children reading skills. I have been using it with my 4 and 6 year old- they love it- I'm about to buy a new copy-it's so warn. What a chance to participate in their reading experience, develop a love for reading and get them ready for school. Buy it with the second in the series Life's Little Lessons: An Inch-By-Inch Tale of Success- this one is a real bargain at $9.95.

An outstanding book for parents to share with children up to 8 years of age.The beautiful and heartfelt messages along with the funky illustrations will be enjoyed by all. But most of the reading guide that shows and instructs parents how to teach their children reading is invaluable !!!

This is a great book. I read it two years ago, and it's still very useful today. It is wide enough for a beginner and deep enough for you to become an advanced C++ user. The content is structured very well, material explained very clearly and answers every question came out to my mind as I read it. This single book is enough for you to become a C++ power user. It made C++ as my best programming language. An excellent book for reference, too.

Prata's knowledge, style make program learning as easy and enjoyable as possible. This is by far the best programming (and perhaps the best technical) book I have used. A must buy for begginners to C++, with complete coverage that will satisfy intermediate-advanced developers.

I would like to add mine to the list of glowing reviews of Prata's C++ Primer. I came from a Fortran/Pascal background, with no knowledge of C or C++, and found the book easy to follow and use. I thought that picking up new languages on my own would be easy until I started using other technical books. Since I first bought Prata's book I've used a dozen or more other technical books, and have never yet found one which is as lucid, comprehensive and fun to use as his, and highly recommend it for anyone trying to get into C++, even though it is a little dated now.

Half of book covers the basic topics in other languages like data type, loop control ... in c++ concept. The other half devotes to pure c++ concept like class, polymorphism, inheritance, instantiate the object, dynamic and static binding, virtual function, friend, template... It doesn't mention STL. In my opinion, this is the only one you need to learn c++. For advance knowledge, you may need a STL book and any book in deep discussion like the book from Stroup Bjan or Scott Myers. This book covers pretty much in detail all the topics, along the pitfalls problem like deep copy, static variable, header file... It also includes many userful, short examples with the hidden errors. I am glad that this is my first book in c++. The problem is you can not read it very fast because there are many complex discusions, the trade off is it maybe the only one to start c++.

This really is a good book for getting started. The first half of the book is well written and the source code examples work well. I was about half way through the book, and really looking forward to using its examples of VC++ classes, when the source code examples started using header files that don't work with MSVC++5, which isn't even the newest release! I also noticed that the writing dropped off quite a bit at that point. The tech support line could not offer help with the outdated files, which should have been an obvious and frequent question. There are also plenty of source code typos in the second half (available as a list on their web site), sometimes several per page, including obvious stuff like a missing "main()" function that wasn't on the list. Because the source codes are small text files on a floppy, an updated and corrected set of source files would be an easy download from their existing website if they cared to set it up. In their defense, they did offer a refund for the book, but I'm keeping it. This book will get you started, and take you to the point where you can start jumping to other books. I liked it in combination with "The C++ training guide" and "Visual C++ in 21 days." I'm giving it 4 stars because the cover doesn't claim it's current or works with VC++ (it *almost* says this). If it did say this, I'd knock it down to 2 stars.

I just bought this book and already have learned so much i cant put it down.
Lots of great advice from an expert. I already have checked out the web site she recommends and hope to get started as a freelance proofreader soon.

It sounds corny, but this book made me believe in myself as an aspiring copyeditor. The chapters on freelancing are especially helpful for someone with no experience and no idea how to break into the industry. This is the book I had been looking for!

easy to read and great info on editing and how it can work for me and my career. enjoyed learning from it...highly recommend it.

I've been doing some freelance proofreading work, but I didn't know how much I still had to learn until reading this book! Sue Gilad has a lot of information: everything from grammar rules and spelling mistakes to the differences between copyediting and proofreading (glad SOMEONE could finally pinpoint the differences!). This book is clearly written and a wonderful resouce. The only thing I think it could have improved upon was the secion for finding freelance jobs. In Gilad's online book Paid to Proofread (paidtoproofread[dot]com), she offers more in-depth suggestions about creating a resume from zilch, and also ofers more in depth info about approaching editors. On the other hand, the Dummies book contains way more information about resources and grammar. All in all, this is the most comprehensive and clearly written book on proofreading I've read.

This book is easy-to-read, straightforward, and so informative. I've been able to build my at-home business as a freelance proofreader much more quickly than I anticipated; all thanks to this invaluable resource! Learning the ins and outs of copyediting and proofreading is made simple, quick, and fun.

This book is written by a trained anthropologist, but a dry read it is not. The author tells a very human story in a page-turning way, introducing readers to a place and a people who, for all of their struggles and for all of their differences from non-Brazilian readers, are still portrayed in such a way as to make us all remember how much we as fellow human beings have in common - the need for food, shelter, safety, and yes, even love. In fact, this triumph of love over often heartbreaking circumstances is the central theme and dare I say lesson of the book...and what a timely lesson it is. This book, a crash course in "how the other [less fortunate] half lives," was a great inspiration to me, and a great reminder of how very much a couple of hardworking idealists really can make a tremendous difference in this world.

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked up this book. I had heard a little bit about the [...] organization through my friends, so I could somewhat guess where the book ended. But I was mostly unprepared for the journey. When Ms. Willson first visited the city of Salvador da Bahia in Brazil, she probably never imagined the impact the city and its people were going to have on her life. As an anthropologist, she lived among the city's poor, learning about their lives and culture and gradually coming to love them. She developed a strong need to give something back, to change the social norms that trapped these people in grinding poverty. Thus was born Bahia Street. But this wasn't just another charity of outsiders trying to impose their vision of a better life. Instead, Bahia Street uses ideas, goals and people from the poorest parts of the city to work for a better life for the girls it educates. This local involvement seems to be critical to the organization's remarkable success.

The depths of poverty in many places in the world is almost impossible for us to contemplate from the comfort of our secure lifestyles. This book takes the reader deep into the poorest areas of Salvador and shows us the daily struggle for survival faced by the people who live there. It is a powerful reminder of the gross inequities that exist between the haves and have-nots of the world, and shows that it is possible for us to make a difference, however small, if we are only willing to listen and trust those in need.

This inspiring, fascinating and great-to-read first person account tells of the founding and development of Bahia Street (www.bahiastreet.org), a grassroots organization dedicated to creating a top quality educational center for girls in an African-Brazilian shantytown in Northeastern Brazil. Co-Founder/Author Margaret Willson exemplifies what Global Citizen Journey aspires to: a deep sense of our interconnectedness with respect, trust and deference to communities to know the best way to meet their challenges. She offers wise insights about the pitfalls of 'do-gooder' impulses and the complexities of racism, class and power, and an extraordinary example of community based change. What's more, Willson writes with the sensitivity and language of a poet.


In one section she addresses the role of power/patronage in international aid which I found especially enlightening and compelling for my fellow global citizens who yearn to help make this a world that works for all:
"I began to think about the giving away of power. Generosity in terms of the donation of material things is comparatively easy. We keep the power because we never give away things we really think we need, and because through giving we increase our social power. We do nothing to destabilize the status quo." "...people start nonprofits for all kinds of reasons, and, generally, the primary reason is not that they want to change the world. Perhaps that is what they think they want to do when they start, but individual development aid projects have a great deal to do with personal insecurity and the desire for power...We have a concrete idea of what a "good" life for others is and what they need to have this "good" life. So, we force ideas upon them...We want to write the curriculum, design the housing project, the water project, the solar project-whatever it is that we think would be best for others...In the end, however, we keep the control of society in our hands. This is also why most projects help people just enough to give them tools to survive, but not to raise them to a level to make them equal with the ruling class. This would be dangerous because we would no longer have control...Central to actual change is the real giving away of power and influence. This is very difficult on a personal level because we want to be recognized for our work, for the things we have done that have actually helped, and for the time we have spent on whatever project we feel strongly about.... But, I began to realize, giving away power is a learning experience of the deepest kind. Through giving away outward power, I realized I had begun to gain internal power...."

This book was introduced to me through a friend - they were so passionate in explaining the book I knew I had to read it, and I did...in one sitting. It is a great book full of a variety of knowledge and information written well enough to read in one sitting. Learned so much about the people of Bahia, non gov groups, the work involved in setting up non-profits, not just in the U.S. - and on top of that the amazing story of the woman who made Bahia Street actually happen and all those along the way who have been affected...

This book provides amazing insight into what it is to be human in this world. You will put down the book having a real sense of faith in humanity after reading the work, thoughts and experiences that Margret has so unselfishly put down on paper. You feel you are in Bahia experiencing the people, food and culture all the while. This is a must read for anyone traveling, especially, to Brazil.

This is an excellent book on debugging. Whether you're debugging mechanical systems, electrical circuits, or software, the methodology presented is extremely practical and systematic. The author presents nine debugging rules that can be applied to any problem. The text is well-written, engaging, and humorous. The author also included a wealth of war stories that are worth the price alone. Highly recommended.

This Book Demonstrates How you could debug SOMETHING systematically, from most important principle to least important principle.(All 9 As the Book name said.) The Examples covers software, hardware, electrical, mechanical debugging. It is just amusement to read the example. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Quite liked it. I now have a game plan for approaching bugs in a nonrandom manner (including intermittent bugs):


Understand the System
- Read all related documentation
- Draw a system diagram and understand how things are connected
- Know the capabilities of your debugging tools


Make It Fail
- Start from a clean initial state
- Consider automating lengthy steps
- Make it fail in situ; don't waste time simulating the environment
- For intermittent bugs: list possible factors and try varying them one at a time; output a logfile and look for patterns


Quit Thinking and Look
- Watch it fail
- Use Remote Desktop / VNC
- Add logging and monitors
- Don't start thinking until you've limited the number of possible causes


Divide and Conquer
- Binary search
- Use test data with an easily identifiable pattern
- Start at the failure point and work backwards
- If you discover other bugs that may be related, fix them before continuing your search


Change One Thing at a Time
- Don't panic
- Back out changes that have no effect
- Compare the logfile with that of a good system
- Check earlier versions


Keep an Audit Trail
- Keep a detailed written log


Check the Plug
- D'oh!
- Have the components been properly initialized?


Get a Fresh View
- Try explaining the problem to someone (or something)
- Ask an expert: co-workers, the vendor, documentation, bug database, the web
- Report symptoms (including possibly unrelated observations), but not your theories


If You Didn't Fix It, It Ain't Fixed
- Fix the root cause
- Make the problem happen again by undoing your fix

I worked with Dave Agans for over 10 years and I can tell you first hand the man knows what he's talking about. From developing hand-held controllers in the late eighties to single-board OS/2-based videoconferencing products to software collaboration tools, we have debugged problems of every ilk. Whether the problem was an FPGA bug, a faulty component in a board, a race condition in a device driver or a dangling pointer in a DLL, Dave always approached the problem with his same set of debugging rules, and they never let him down. Read this book. It's engaging and fun to read. But more importantly it will make you a better debugger, whether you're debugging hardware, software or your lawnmower.

This book is absolutely indispensable for anyone working in any job where things occasionally work in an unexpected manner. It's concise, funny, well-written, and full of immensely useful tips on how to go about debugging problems.

One of the great things about this book is that it's generalistic in nature, not specific. Agans's decades of troubleshooting experience has given him great insight on how to go about debugging in all sorts of environments, so he lays out nine rules for approaching any problem:

Understand the System
Make it Fail
Quit Thinking and Look
Divide and Conquer
Change One Thing at a Time
Keep an Audit Trail
Check the Plug
Get a Fresh View
If You Didn't Fix It, It Ain't Fixed

[...]

Debugging isn't an art performed only by folks with some odd genetic disposition, it's a critical craft which can and must be learned. I was fortunate to have some good troubleshooters as mentors during my days working radar inflight in the Air Force, but I've fallen out of many of the good practices those folks beat^H^H^H^Hinstilled in me. Agans's book is helping me pull out of the thrash and churn mode of debugging.

This book's only 175 or so pages long and is well-worth adding to your library. Actually, substitute "a critical addition" for "well worth adding". I'm also going to make sure this book gets added to the professional development reading list I'm working on creating.

This book is a "must have" in every dressage enthusiasts library. Another outstanding book by Ms. Loch.

I selected this book based on the reviews that have been posted. I was not disappointed in the least.

Finally a book on classical dressage that really tells you HOW to do it. Sylvia Loch is fantastic. I recommend this book to those who sometime feel like the real detail of how to apply the aids is missing from other dressage texts.

I cannot adequately describe the beauty and accuracy with which she writes. Clarifying the aids, and the horse's biomechanics and perceptions with a truly classical constructive approach.

A truly helpful, different perspective with easy to understand content for all riders.

I've had this book for over a year and I didn't pick it out to read until recently. I had been focused on books directed at training young horses and I thought this book would be better suited for a future stage when my mare had at least mastered the basics under saddle. Boy, do I wish I had started this book sooner!
I found this book to be the perfect companion book to others I have on starting young horses. Primarily because it makes you think about what you, as a rider, are doing. It is all too easy to focus on the young horse, instead of yourself. But if you have picked up bad habits along the way, you'll be hindering your progress and frustrating your horse.
What I like most about this book, is that it gives you the horses perspective, how he feels about each movement and how you deliver the aids. It encourages you to breakdown each movement and think about what you are doing as a rider - are you asking correctly and using the aids effectively.
The first few chapters (literally the first half of the book) are excellent for training a young horse, or re-schooling an older one. The subsequent chapters build up through the levels, from Training Level to Grand Prix. I know this book will be well used.

Hello Perspective Buyer
I have found that this is a great book. I have been away from school quite some time and needed a refresher course on my Grammar. This book corrects you as you go, giving you the drive to continue on with yes i got it. I will use it to enhance my skills.

Thanks Ron C

I bought the 2200 series first with the answer book with test and I passed them all with flying colors. So I decided to go for the 2600 and passed that as well with flying colors. After that I decided to buy this book and continue, however, I did not do so well with the test as I would've liked. This is still a great book and I only wish that I could write the author a positive review on it; but I think he might be deceased by now. I truly recommend this book, but you must buy the tests with answer key. Don't cheat!!!

I used an earlier edition of this classic textbook in Junior High 28 years ago, and it is EXCELLENT. What makes it unique is the layout which actually resembles a computer based training format with instant feedback. I only wish more instructional books utilized this format. You WILL master english grammer with this book.

You can start anywhere, literally anywhere. Just open the book at any page and go; truly, it is that easy. I came across this book when taking an English Upgrade course in writing at the University of Toronto back in the 1970's - subjunctives, subordinate clauses, adverb clauses, appositives, punctuation, and on, and on, and on ... . My marks went from C's to A's.
The book eventually fell apart in my hands from the constant use and reuse as I referred to it when I needed it. I referred back to it all the time, simply because some of the topics are, to some extent, obscure and not easy to remember without constantly using them. Is your boss picking on you because you can't write? Are feeling out of the game because you can't get a handle on English grammar? - get the book (and use the book) and get your boss of your back and maybe impress your boss's boss as well.
I just ordered a new one, because my wife speaks English as a second language, and she will have no trouble using it what so ever.
It is a gem, a prize, and a wonder.
sincerely

This is the best book on sentence structure ever. I wish I had this book when I was in school. I read alot of books on grammar and they never work for me. I usually forgot what I read after a day or two. I am an electrical engineer. Math and science are always my best subject while english is my worse.

This book show me how to combine simple sentences into compound and complex sentence. How to add adverb and adjective clause into the sentence to make it more meaningful. It show you the same example in many different ways. It is like doing algebra.

This book use a scientific approach. You will learn sentence structure and remember it for the rest of your life.