Languages Books

Let's be honest. In a field saturated by talented writers, there is no substitute for having some help from inside the industry. However, for any persistent writer or illustrator who has the talent, but no "in," there is no substitute for this listing, which gives one hope for publication without candy coating the difficult task of breaking into this field.

The listings are easy to use, and writer/illustrator-oriented, really bending over backwards to provide enough details about each potential publication company to prevent wasted effort. If you have an agent, or the means to get your manuscript or portfolio looked at by someone who matters, use that. But if not, use this book to maximize your effort and chances.

This is a necessary, indespensible resource for anyone desiring to become published. It is completely detailed with every iota of info you could possibly need for submission. It also provides helpful anecdotes & facts about the whole process of getting published.

If you want to find out where to submit your novel or story, there's no doubt that Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market is about the best place to look. Unfortunately, despite the 2000 edition's claim of containing 250+ book publishers, the number I found suitable for a fantasy novel was pathetically small. A publisher for children that doesn't have a fantasy list has always seemed to me like a butcher shop without sausages, a hot bread shop without French loaves, a sweet shop without toffees ...
However, this is a publishing fault rather than a criticism of the book. My only criticism of the book itself is that you have to shelve out somewhere in the region of US$22 every year. Using last year's edition could land you up addressing your package to the wrong editor.

And, no, that's NOT a typo.

While every Writer's Digest Books "Market" title is a valuable source of information about who to contact and what to send, the reputation is slightly tainted with this year's edition of Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market. The very same guide that admonishes the hopeful author and illustrator to dot every "i" and cross every "t" is riddled with the kinds of typographical and grammatical errors that send one's dreams to the dreaded slush pile.

Examples:

"Paula Danzier collaborated with friend Ann M. Martin for 'P.S. Longer Letter Later' and it's (sic) sequel 'Snail Mail No More.'"

"Her book is a first-person account of three days in the life of Memphis Riley, a thirteen-year-old girl who has lived with her grandmother Naomi four (sic) five years. . ."

". . .and also deals with sibling rivalry from the point of view of an 'only dog' dealing with the edition (sic) of a new baby."

Throughout the book, the reader is constantly exhorted to put together a professional, error-free presentation but that advice can be a little disheartening when one's own Bible doesn't practice what it preaches.

What's to say about Children's Writer's and Illustrator's market? If you write or illustrate children's books you have to have this book. A library edition won't do because this book has to have yellow highlighting and colored tabs applied! and then too, it needs to be constantly updated as new information arrives about which editor is working where and which publisher is still in business. No, every writer and illustrator needs their very own copy!

I have read both books by Savitch and Deitel, and Savitch is by far clearer, although Savitch could still buff the textbook out a bit more with explaining "Compositon" topic better and clarifying paramater type .

Also Savitch summarizes every subsection and I am not 100% sure this is necessary in all subsections.

Savitch should urge his publisher not to begin a new subsection at the bottom of a page!

Savitch should make available more solutions in a separate manaul for those wishing it.

Overall I would say Savitch saved my day with my 2 JAVA courses. Deitel starts out with graphics, assuming the student will graps Java better but Deitel introduces some rather major concepts when doing this and I don't think the students would appreciate the complex ideas without using Savitch step by step methodologies. Deitel assumes a student undestands the concept of "extends", "implements" etc and this is exactly what graphics class uses and Deitel assumes students will understand these concepts just because they are graphical in nature. Savithc covers these concepts later when other major concepts are covered so that a student will appreciate the "extends" concepts much better.

So Savitch and Deitel cover the same material, but in different sequences. And I believe that Savitch's approach works better and helps the student understand the more difficult concepts later in the textbook.

gerard sagliocca,
gerard_sagliocca@yahoo.com

I learned JAVA language a couple of years ago. As I have to reuse it recently, I borrow the 2nd Edtion from a computer science guy in the school, because many people told me this is the best one. After I read through it, I decided to purchase the newest edtion. It's INDEED the best one of the JAVA guides I've ever read.

However, Amazon needs to find publisher that can scale down the prices on school textbook. The book was expensive!

I've tried three other Java intro books, and they either aren't well-organized or they take such a dim view of the reader's abilities that it's like reading Programming for Pre-schoolers. Absolute Java is well-structured with both breadth & depth: it doesn't ignore programming basics, but covers a much larger scope of material than other books I've tried, while still including detail about intricacies of more sophisticated aspects of the language. Uses lots of good, robust examples. Love it.

It took me a couple months of my own time reading this book to prepare myself for a second round back to school. I have not programmed in almost 8 years and it was in C. I have to say that as an introductory programming book, Savitch did a superb job. You cannot get any more clear on the topics of the basics and foundations of the Java language than this. If you're just a passerby that just wants to get yourself started in Java, I recommend this book.

If you're looking for a concise and throughout book in C programming. Don't look further!
I wouldn't recommend it for beginners though (as the title says it's for advanced programmers)! If you're beginner I'd recommend to start with C in 21 days from Sams publishing or similar book.

This may be the best book I have ever bought for any language! Very well written with examples of the features of the C language that you will use everyday. This book assumes that you know the basics of the language. There should be a book like this for every programming language. I especially appreciated the parts on pointers, memory management, and data structures. This book is sure to turn the some-what experienced C programmer into a real pro with good style and good problem analysis skills. It has helped me get passed the basics and move on to the next level with a solid knowledge base and confidence. Buy it if you can find it! Worth every penny and more!

I own hundreds of programming texts and this is by far one of my very favorites, and my absolute favorite book on C.

This book tackles the tougher issues of C programming in great detail, with concise and self-contained examples you can type in directly, compile and run (many books only provide code sections, not entire programs).

Each chapter includes quiz questions that are just difficult enough to challenge the reader, but not so difficult that you will skip over them. I found the quizes to be very useful.

This book is pleasantly slim (although dense). Does anyone really read those 800 page books? I don't. This book will take you a long time, as the content is dense, but you can actually read the whole book and get a sense of completion.

I also enjoyed the author's commentary on C and other programming languages.

I'm really amazed that more people do not own this book.

The title of this fantastic book is misleading since the author's name is John Perry NOT Example. Who's Example? It should have been called "Advanced C Programming by John W. Perry" :)

Also, John Perry shouldn't be confused with Greg Perry, the guy who wrote -among many other books- a similarly entitled beginner's book called "C by Example" in the Que series. Both claim to have been written by Example, but have been written by different programmers who are possibly relatives? Or are totally unrelated, but have same last names and almost identical book titles. strange... ;)

I've got a few C-programming books, but this is the one that I love best of all. It is a gem of a book that resonates with simple, crystal-clear explanations on topics so seemingly difficult to understand in the classic book by Kernighan and Ritchie. I would recommend using these two books together.

What makes this book even more entertaining and readable is that Perry is not afraid to lay on his idiosyncrasies regarding the practice of programming. There is a little hiccup, though, when he recommends the use of gets() and sscanf() together for nearly all input of strings from the terminal: gets() is widely known to be inferior to fgets(), and sscanf() is not discussed in the book at all!

But all in all, a book that deserves full marks.

This is an excellent book to aid in teaching writing to all ages. Recommend that every English teacher own and use these principles.

I saw this book reviewed here on Amazon. I then went to the public library to review one of his other books. I liked what I saw. Then I bought this book based on the previous reviews and I'm very glad I did. It's definitely worth a 5 out of 5!

This book hits the sweet spot of what I'm trying to accomplish as a tutor to some junior high school students. Barry Lane's exercises and theories fit what I've learned so far in this fun, and sometimes hilarious, quest.

The book is easy to read, yet loaded with useful advice. Now that I've finished this book, I'll be getting his other books and most importantly: I'll be starting to implement his recommendations on teaching writing to children.

The author is a writing in instructor in New Hampshire/Vermont. The book has a useful bibliography and he often comments on important books throughout his chapters.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

For so long, I have found revision difficult to teach for primary students. This book is a wealth of information. The vignettes given as examples are entertaining and are the basis for numerous mini-lessons to guide students through revision painlessly and effectively. This book will remain on my desk throughout the year. I highly recommend it.

Tired of trying to browbeat your students into revising their writing? Afraid you might scream if you have to slog through The Writing Process one more time? Try this welcome antedote. Humorously written but based on sound theory, Mr. Lane's book is chock-full of exercises that are fun, practical, easy to modify, and based on classroom experience. I've used them with third and fourth graders, high school students, and even teachers!
The book's first chapter, "Good Writing is Good Questions," is reason enough to buy the book. When we (or our students)
respond to a student's writing with questions about what we want to know more about, revision happens naturally.
"A large part of writing is simply trusting your own instincts and asking questions that will help you dig deep enough," Mr. Lane writes. Dig deep into this book. There's gold here.

Mr. Lane's book is packed full of ideas for those who wish to find a way to make writing (especially revision) fun for students. The book addresses everything from voice and tone to conferencing and questioning in an effort to make writing truly a student's own (not just what a teacher wants). I find it to be an excellant resource as a new teacher.

Love, love, love this book! We get it from the library all the time, for our 2-yr-old son. He loves "I spy" books, and even more when they are fun, thought-provoking pictures like this. At first, we just hurried to M so he could say in 2yo speak "Who wearin' mustache?" for each page building from M. Now, we use it for learning letter sounds and numbers, since he can count and find the three Apples on each page, and practice L-lamb and SN-snake. It's not too challenging to count to 3, but very fun.
And, I love the book just as much. It seems you can always find a hidden silly surprise you didn't notice before.
I can't wait til it comes back in stock! This is definitely a new classic.

My 6 year old and 3 year old love this book! We never get tired of looking at it and all the wonderful illustrations. It really keeps the kids attention and engages them in the book...they are always looking for something new when we look through it. I buy this for all of our friends kids. A definite must have!

my one and a half year old son loves this book! i think it is a wonderful magical read. highly recommend for all ages.

this book is great to teach kids the alphabet. the pictures are sometimes odd for the letter (such as M is for moustache) but overall my son really likes this book. It is very clear as when you open the book, the letter is on the left page and the picture is on the right page (for example: the letter A is on the left, and on the right page you see apples) The right page also opens up to each object being arranged differently in the scene and eventually all objects that represent a letter are all in the room, making sometimes silly scenes that kids enjoy.

This book is adorable. Toddlers will enjoy it for years. It teaches the alphabet(obviously) and promotes memory skills. This book would make a great baby gift- it is a must have for any little one's personal library!

Great supplement to your textbook. It has material relevant to the examination. It includes a list of vocabulary the teacher can give to students and exercises to prepare them for the AP Spanish 4 examination.

This workbook, which our AP Spanish teacher provided us, was extremely helpful in preparing for the 2008 AP Spanish exam. All the activities, including the narratives, dialogues, reading passages, speaking conversations, and speaking presentations, were very similar to those on the actual AP test. This workbook also has extensive reference material, such as commonly used verbs, idiomatic phrases, conversational phrases, grammar rules, that also help in preparing for the Spanish exam. If your teacher does not use this book as a supplement to the class like my teacher did, I would buy the answer key and the audio CDS seperately to obtain the maximum benefit from this book. If you do the majority of the activities in this book well, you will most likely earn a 4 or 5 on the actual exam!

The newly updated (written in 2006 or 2007) version of this workbook, which our AP Spanish teacher provided us, was extremely helpful in preparing for the 2008 AP Spanish exam. All the activities, including the narratives, dialogues, reading passages, speaking conversations, and speaking presentations, were very similar to those on the actual AP test. This workbook also has extensive reference material, such as commonly used verbs, idiomatic phrases, conversational phrases, grammar rules, that also help in preparing for the Spanish exam. If your teacher does not use this book as a supplement to the class like mine did, I would buy the answer key and the audio CDS to get the maximum benefit from this book. If you do the majority of the activities in this book well, you will most likely earn a 4 or 5 on the actual exam!

This book has been fully updated and reflects the changes made to the 2007 AP Spanish Language exam. In this book, Jose Diaz gives you ample practice for each section of the new exam.
For the multiple choice section: The listening practice is comprehensive with numerous long and short audio selections. There are more than 40 reading sections to practice and perfect your reading comprehension skills. The questions reflect the new item types that will be part of the new exam.
For the free response section: There are several pages of fill-in practice for both fill-in sections: with root words and without. Several prompts are given for the email/letter test section (32 to be exact). There is also ample practice (17 total) for the new integrated skills essay, where students read 2 articles and listen to an audio source. For the speaking sections, there are 20 practice sections for the new directed dialogue/phone conversation test items and 20 for the new simulated in-class presentation--here students must read an article and listen to an audio source combining the two in their 'in-class presentation' of 2 minutes.
This book is really all you need to be well-prepared for the AP Spanish exam starting in May 2007.

What are the drawbacks to this book? Unless you buy the Audio CD's, sold separately and from the publisher, you can't really practice the audio sections. Without the teacher's guide, also sold separately and from the publisher, you won't know if your answers are correct for the multiple choice and fill-in sections. If you're not in a classroom setting, you won't know if the essay or short letter you have written or if your dialogue and in-class presentation are on track for the score you want. The latter is true of any other test prep book on the market.

All in all, I would say that buying this program is well worth the money; especially since this is one of the few test prep books that has actually been changed to reflect the new 2007 AP Spanish exam.

This book is one of the best preparation materials and definitely worth the price, but there are no answers- anywhere. Also, the audio CDs do not come with it.

I have nothing to say except thanks.With the help of this book,my skill of java problem had been improved to a higher level.I will recommend it to my friends who are studying java and also are meeting the problems that I met.

I enjoyed tinkering around with the code examples in the book. Lots of neat ideas and the book filled in the gaps where I was curious about how some things work.

I've never quite been able to figure out why this excellent little book never caught on. Over the years, Herbert Schildt has been one of the most excellent writers on computer science and programming that I have found, and this book is no exception. Both the narrative and the code are excellent.

The only thing that I can figure is that because this book does not target a particular audience - say those interested in enterprise applications for example - that it never really sold well. It is true, Mr. Schildt is all over the map in his applications - with such varied subjects as a recursive descent parser and also a language interpreter from programming language theory, from the world of web applications a download manager and also a web crawler, and from the world of artificial intelligence a problem solver. To me, though, that is part of this book's appeal. However, if you did not have an academic computer science background I can see how you might not be interested in the programming language and AI parts of the book.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to become a better Java programmer and does not mind spending some time looking at applications that might not be of immediate need to them. Especially if you have an academic computer science background and already know something about programming language theory and artificial intelligence, this book should be very interesting and very helpful.

I've buyed the book today ( in spanish ), and, even not being a skilled Java programmer, I've enjoyed the first chapters. It resembles me the excelent work that Herbert Schildt does in Dr. Dobbs Magazine, a lot of years ago ( sorry, Herb ), and when I saw the getToken() method into the code, this inmediatelly remembers me the "Build your own C interpreter" article, which I've loved it. After five years of "boring" network's administration, I've make the decission of to get more involved into Java developement, and take the Herbert and James's book was the right choice to me. By the way, this is not a beginner's book, but with a little effort, and a middle knowledge of Java and OOP, you are on the way. The best money I've spended.

What I liked about this book was the fact that the author not only implemented the back end code, but showed how easy it is to put a quick Swing UI on it. The ability to write a complete, good looking application is often missing in most books. I think this should encourage more people to write quick UIs for the various utilities they code in Java. It encouraged me to go back to some old command line programs I use and throw a quick UI on them. Of course, that's not the point of the book. His intention was to show how Java can solve traditional computer science and IT problems. He succeeds at that.

My only complaints are:

1. the book hasn't been updated to Java SE 5 yet.
2. the use of Swing by the author is incorrect in my opinion. I think there's a few times the author doesn't handle the event dispatch thread correctly. This could send people off in the wrong direction with Swing.
3. the coding style doesn't exactly match the Java Style Guide published by Sun. Some people might like this, but I think it's a problem with many books.
4. The code in the book is not syntax highlighted. Most editors do this quite effectively and I think more books should start doing it.

This book lets you get a feel of how Beowulf was written in its original language, without having to study Olde English first.

I enjoy trying to read Saxon and having his translation to refer to is of great help. I am not sure of some of his translation but it is hard to make sure what you are reading since Saxon was never printed just writen. This a nice printing.

This is the essential version of Beowulf for anyone interested in really understanding the story and its setting. There are other dual-language translations but none that provide the same depth of background in introduction, commentary, and critical notes.
-- Christopher L. Webber, author of "Beyond Beowulf"

Although Seamus Heaney's translation is the one getting all the attention, and is very readable, this one is both readable and is a more word-for-word translation. The accompanying chapters on analysis of the poem are also fascinating.

This edition is widely accepted as closer to the original than Heaney's, even by people who prefer the Heaney edition.

I am not one of those people. I have read Beowulf in several translations as well as in the original Old English, and this is the version I would recommend. I find it to be faithful, clear, and elegant.

The Heaney Beowulf is a great book for fans of Heaney (I enjoyed it myself in that capacity). The Chickering Beowulf is a great book for fans of Old English literature.

I am not a great fan of most contemporary short stories, which tend to be literary to a fault or edgy and cynical to the point of tedium, but I picked up this collection because I loved the title and it gave me great pleasure from beginning to end. Yes, I often wanted to hit the characters over the head, but I always had to find out what happened next, and it always satisfied. The writing is clean and lively and very funny without ever losing its heart, and Erian has a remarkable talent for ending stories on the perfect note. I look forward to reading more from her.

I loved this collection of page-turning, dynamic short stories. Every character is engaging and tangible, and each one is faced with (or creates) situations that are by turns poignant, frightening, and hilarious. I found myself cringing at them, rooting for them, and seeing myself in them. The writer is psychologically smart and her storytelling is skillful; you find yourself drawn into each story with the first few sentences and hooked to the end. I strongly recommend this collection to anyone who likes a good read combined with substance and insight.

let me start by saying that this is the only book i have ever felt compelled to review on this site, and probably will be the only one for quite some time. picking up this book was an impulse buy, as i violated two main rules in purchasing it: firstly, i don't buy authors i haven't heard of; and secondly, i shy away from women in contemporary fiction because i have gotten burned way too much in the last few years. that being said, this collection is one of the finest that i have read in my life. the protagonists are all empowered females, so the book has a feminist flair, but what is most interesting about the presentation is the decidedly anti-feminist undercurrent. erian never leaves things clear cut. when her characters makes conscious decisions that empower them, that allow them to flaunt their power and their sexuality, i found myself cringing because while these are powerful decisions, they are not exactly the right ones, and the characters know it. there is a self-destruction in the exercising of their femininity that is at once wholly new, unexpected, admirable, and tragic. erian's prose is economic and careful, and her stories taunt the reader with abrupt endings and open interpretation. she will end a story right as she leads up to a confrontation that has been building for fifteen pages, and it is here that she empowers her reader, by allowing them to take an active role in ending the story. based on what we have read, we know in our hearts how the story will end based on what we drew from the body of the prose; but our endings will all be different. erian's voice is immediate and achingly contemporary...it makes fare like the canon of oprah's book club seem inept and maudlin. this is power in storytelling. i can't wait for her upcoming novel.

This book is definitely worth reading. The story about the girl losing her virginity absoulutely killed me. I was almost embarrassed while reading it, it felt so real, I felt as though I were intruding on a real person's privacy. For me that is a sign of really good writing. Looking forward to more by the author.

Left to their own devices the women of Alicia Arian's first collection of short stories often willfully set down the wrong path as a way to feel more alive, even if the consequences are dire. Her heroines are self absorbed, masochists but somehow we, as readers, are compelled to stick with them through the ugliness that is all too familiar. Arian delves into the shameful moments that all of us share without moral proselytizing. She engages us through her acerbic wit and an assured hand. One after the other, each of her stories is a tart treat. Damged goods never were so prized.

The book is very useful. However, the Latin phrases are probably no longer necessary in the U.S. legal practice.

I've noticed one error that is carried over from one edition to the next: in Index under the entry "in error" look for word "fallacioadmit." I speculate that a portion of text disappeared and fallacious was merged with admit. The words that follow admit do not appear to belong in the "in error" article.

This book, now in its fourth edition, is an essential companion to Black's Law Dictionary, Garner's Legal Usage book, and other essential legal reference books. Great for law students, lawyers, judges, paralegals/legal assistants, and just about anyone else dealing with legal language. This book gives alternatives to stilted, overused, and misused, language. Worth the price (especially if one compare it on a site like Nextag, Shopzilla, and others).

"Good luck," my employer wished as he handed me a plane ticket and a tome of a background packet. I was leaving on a critical six-week business trip to an alien state in the midwest. No problem - except that five days prior the law review had accepted me as one of three evening division 2Ls for candidacy and my first case abstracts were due in twenty days. Hmmm . . .

From my hotel room, I scanned, identified, analyzed, condensed, reviewed, and rewrote the abstracts. Then did it again. And again. And again. But I was missing something. I was missing that "oomph" that propels a reader when reading legal material. And I didn't know what to do.

I decided to take a "creative" break down at the local (bookstore). Of course, I immediately gravitated to the law section of the store and, before you could say "double espresso, please," I had found it! Burton's Legal Thesaurus.

I opened the pages and my heart fluttered. Over 5,000 entries, legal synonyms for any legal term that came to mind, definitions, an overview of federal "plain language" requirements, associated legal concepts, and the list goes on! I wiped away a tear.

I rushed back to my hotel room and my fingers began flying over the laptop. My abstracts sang with power and precision! I could feel the reader compelled - nay, helpless - to turn the page! Burton's Legal Thesaurus had saved the day! I was now a jurisprudence scholar!

Eh, not really. But it really helped out when I didn't have access to my usual materials. However, one thing of which I can assure you, I'll be using this thesaurus for the rest of my career. If you've ever tried to write a legal document with a conventional thesaurus, you've probably felt the same way I did - close, but not close enough. But where do I find "close enough"? Read some more cases? Subscribe to a half dozen law journals? Hang out with the professors? This book definitely dispenses with that problem. You'll find everything you need to write a work filled with persuasion and vigor contained within its pages. If you're not that creative with legal lingo (as I, obviously, am not), you need to order it now. Frankly, you're putting yourself at a serious disadvantage if you don't.

This is the legal thesaurus that all my law professors suggested. So far it has been very helpful in research and writing.

Next to case law, I find Burton's Legal Thesaurus indispensible in writing appellate briefs. I only wish it were available in a downloadable form for use with my word processing program.