Languages Reviews

Wilt/Spanish

Published in Paperback by Anagrama (1985-09)

Author: Tom Sharpe

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Tom Sharpe does it again.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-15

Henry Wilt is just a regular guy with 'semi' normal thoughts and ambitions, trying to get somewhere in life, except that those around him pay little or no attention to him at all. This drives him to conconct some wayward plan to remove the main thing that's kept him where he is: his wife, Eva. All things are going swimmingly until a chance-meeting with their new neighbours shifts his whole world to one where anything ridiculous and downright unbelievable ends up making a lot of sense.

It's the effortless way that Tom Sharpe interlocks the characters and circumstances in his books that makes them so addictive. I've never read a book where I literally burst out laughing, only to have to sink deeper into my seat to avoid the quizzical looks from those around me. I loved Blott On The Landscape and Porterhouse Blue (and I didn't think he could top them!), but Wilt is by far the best one I've read...and judging by the reviews that Amazon readers have been giving his other books, it seems the journey for me has just begun.

The Master of the Absurd

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-20

Wilt began Tom Sharpe's peculiar and irreverant view of life that is expanded throughout all his books since. One step outside the normal leads to two steps and before we know it we are in a parallel universe of the absurd that is very, very funny, outrageous, and essentially human, warts and all. Tom Sharpe has inspired some of the best new humour writer's of today. I think particularly of Robert Fox, who in Red Fox Goose Green takes the everyday in English village life -- the fox hunt, the church service, the pub -- and breathes Tom Sharpe style farce into the institutions that made Britain what it is.

Fantastic clever, witty and dirty British humor...

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-31

If you enjoy satire, and you like it laced with sexual innuendo, profanity and wit, you will love Tom Sharpe's books, but you will particularly love Wilt, which takes you into the world and never-ending irony of lower-class British academia. Henry Wilt is miserable in his existence as a "Tech" lecturer, married to Eva, his incorrigibly energetic, enthusiastic and critical wife. He attempts to escape by way of fantasizing how he might murder Eva, who has recently taken up with the sexually wacky American couple next door. After an embarrassing encounter with an inflatable doll, Wilt decides to practice murder on it, and ends up being accused of murdering Eva. A fantastic read.

I laughed like I was crazy....

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-06

I bought this book 15 years ago when traveling. While waiting for a change of planes at Heathrow, I started reading, and couldn't put it down. I started chuckling to myself, then laughing out loud, then laughing so it hurt!! Other passengers were staring at me. I showed them what I reading and some of them nodded knowingly.

It is the funniest book I have ever read!

Out Loud Funny

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-12-10

This is Sharp's best novel yet, the second detailing the life of Wilt a college lecturer and his severely disfunctional family. In what is basically a farce Sharpe's satire bites deep into every subject he touches, as Wilt comes under investigation by the police for drug dealing, infiltrates a US nuclear air base and has to use face cream to cool his burning uncontrolable penis. If my description of this novel sounds manic, the reason is simple, the book is manic. As an Englishman living in the US I am not sure if the humor travels well, but I hope my American friends can appreciate it, because this book is one of only three (all written by Tom) capable of making me laugh out loud wherever I am reading it (which can be most embarrasing). Try it and enjoy a different view of life and then be thankful you don't have to live Wilt's life.

Windows via C/C++ (Pro - Developer)

Published in Hardcover by Microsoft Press (2007-12-12)

Authors: Jeffrey M. Richter and Christophe Nasarre

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This is da book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-11-14

If you want to do any serious development in Window, this is the book to get. Once you read and understand the basic C++ books, and want to get beyond simple applications, you need this book. This is not a beginner text, but a grown-up book on what is happening inside windows and how to use it in your application. I found this book invaluable in building multithreading, port i/o, virtual array management in my application. The author really knows his stuff and presents it in a very readable fashion. The source code for the examples in this book are well-commented and I have found it easy to take code fragments from then to use in my applications.

This book is a keeper.

Windows via C/C++ (Pro - Developer)

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-25

This is a very good book for undestranding the inner mechanism of windows and how to leverage those in your own app. Also this books contains author's recommendations regarding different parctices. Very usefull!

Great Windows API resource book!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-24

The Windows C++ API is a beast that many have struggled against. The authors have done a great job in covering the fundamentals.

This book is definitely for intermediate to advanced c++ developers and it makes no attempts to baby the reader with the basics. The authors do make sure to go step by step in some sections where necessary. The sections on dynamic link libraries and windows exception handling were especially helpful.

Had all of the info I was looking for...

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-17

As you guessed by the title, this book covered exactly what I was looking for. C/C++ programmers who are dealing with Windows kernel objects, shared memory objects, events, semaphores, security and the like will appreciate this.

The book covered and clarified information that may/may-not be available on MSDN (I never saw it there while searching...), and did so with an overall approach that ties the topics together, shows how they are used, and generally is more understandable. I appreciated this book much more than jumping around through a bunch of disjointed MSDN pages trying to understand how these elements work. The book gives you deep understanding and more than a few tricks you can use in the debugger.

Beginning developers, or developers working on managed code prob. wouldn't have much use for this book. Consider this the nitty-gritty reference manual for how all of the low level stuff gets done.

I appreciate this book, it won't end up back at the used bookstore.

All you always wanted to know about Windows functionning

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-18

Excellent choice of topics (kernel objects, processes, threads, jobs, fibers, memory management, DLL et SEH)and a good compromise between the depth of analysis and an easy reading.
The book is very attractive visually; the bold fonts are really used at right places and numerous examples (as a matter of fact quite serious in itself) are very, very readable.
A must for a serious programmer.

Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache

Published in Hardcover by University of New Mexico Press (1996-10)

Author: Keith H. Basso

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Fascinating, Interesting, and Quite Simply Amazing

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-23

There is nothing I can say that would do any justice as to how great this book is. It was everything you could possibly hope for in an ethnographic text. You learn a lot about a culture very different from ours and it is truly just fascinating!

Moral sites

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-13

What do people make of places? Basso's opening sentence is a good example of what the Apache call `letting one's mind have room'. As we read through the chapters of the book Basso continues to add layers to the meaning of this opening question. It allows us to reflect on various uses of the word `make'. We make sense of places by interpreting them. We make places intelligible by foregrounding them. We make use of places; as sign posts or land-marks through the use of descriptive naming. We make places or constitute them as sites or repositories of learning; we invest them as placeholders for morality tales or homilies. We make places vital; we invest them with agency, we enchant them, animate them, in the spirit of golems; we take a piece of earth and through magic or metaphysics we bring it alive, giving it a mission and a life of its own.

Wisdom sits in places. The Apache are a good example of virtue ethics. This is a theory of ethics, usually based on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, which argues against an ethical universalism and in favor of a particularism. It foregoes the quest for nomothetic foundations and looks instead to the development of certain skills or character traits. Aristotle created a catalogue of areas of behavior or traits with a continuum of possible dispositions. The virtuous behavior was the means between the two extremes of each continuum. Thus the virtue of bravery was somewhere in the range between cowardice and foolhardiness or irrational voluntarism in the face of impossible odds or a meaningless risk.
Aristotle's concept of phronesis finds an interesting parallel in the Apache moral imagination. Phronesis is a meta-virtue; it is the ability to choose the right action for each particular event; the ability to find the virtuous means between vicious poles. It is the essential skill for particularism which is the theory that the right action, the correct moral choice is particular to each unique event. It is opposed to the universalist proposition that there are sets of moral propositions or codes that we can apply in a covering law model. Universalism holds that when two of our moral codes clash we resolve the dilemma by applying a meta-rule, most commonly a deontological (Kantian) or utilitarian proposition.
The Apache's sense of wisdom is a good example of a pragmatic ethics informed by a set of virtues that are learned and continually developed throughout their life's journey. In the first chapter we note how each speaker brings the homily (the moral lesson associated with a place name) forward, making it their own, fleshing it out. One imagines that each speaker and hearer of place names is expected to silently immerse themselves in each homily; making it real by seeing it happen. The act of giving vision to the oral narrative is a process of developing layers upon layers of particular exemplars of the lesson. It is thus internalized and carried forward for the next use. As one gains wisdom one becomes more proficient at seeing when and where to apply these lessons.
This is similar to the thought of the American pragmatist and logician, C. S. Peirce, who proposed a fallibilism about knowledge, truth, and scientific results. He felt that we were always discovering more and that a full statement of any putative universal law was always deferred. Peirce's original pragmatism differed from what James and Dewey later made of it. For Peirce we expanded our sense of a truth through a process of discovering layers upon layers of particular applications and gradually gaining more of an understanding of the wider truth. But his sense of fallibilism posited rich moral concepts such as justice or duty as essentially contested concepts.

We have maps in our heads. There are other interesting parallels with the ancient Greeks besides virtue ethics. There is a significant body of study regarding Plato's thought on the spoken and written word. Plato argued that reality resides in absolute and eternal forms. Thus the impressions available to our senses are imitations that is but a shadow of these eternal truths; they confuse us and should not be trusted. Worse still are the imitations of imitations; thus his polemics against poetry, art, and the written word. It would be interesting to combine this with the study of texts in the 20th century to look at the Apache's preference for maps in the head. Barthes, Derrida and others all expanded our notion of what can serve as texts and it might be interesting to look at Apache use of places through some of those lenses.
In addition there are interesting parallels with the sophists. Although Plato and Socrates succeeded in creating our contemporary disdain for sophism, recent work in the study of Isocrates and others brings a new appreciation of certain tenets of sophism. The sophists exhibited some similarities to the Apache notions of epistemology. They both saw the elders and ancestors as the source of wisdom and warrants for knowledge to be used for current problems. They both argued that the knowledge of the past resided less in universal laws than in practices of the ancestors; actual responses to past dilemmas that are best accessed through interpretation rather than a rote use of the covering law model or a slavish rehearsal of rigid and dogmatic rituals.
They both thought that knowledge (as justified true belief) was discovered and ultimately ratified and warranted by the voice of the majority; the interpretation that found the most general favor. The sophists proposed that vigorous debate in an open forum of citizens is the most epistemologically sound form of inquiry. Their best speakers would take both sides on various propositions of what the ancestors would have done in the current crisis. The goal was to make the best possible argument for all options and let the citizenry decide.
Both the ancient Greeks and the Apache continued to observe religious rituals but it would also be interesting to compare characteristics of their religious cosmology, the role of the gods, and their associations with natural entities and nature in general.

Wisdom Sits in Places

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-26

This book was mediocre at best. Although Keith Basso did provide some insight into why the Apache people cherish their land, I felt that Basso kept on saying the exact same thing in every sentence. I had the point of the entire book by the time I was ten pages into it, and it kept on going, therefore making me lose my concentration on what I was reading.

A Must Own for collectors of Apache Culture

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-20

Anthropologists, language students, and Native American culture afficionados will find this book, and any by Keith Basso, written links into a cultural past which struggles to exist today. As the Western Apache tribes become more modern, the information found in this and other Keith Basso writings, become necessities in the preservation of traditional Apache culture; with the exception of the knowledge of a few hundred very traditional Apaches still living in Arizona.

strong and thorough examination

Helpful Votes: 13 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2004-11-30

What do people make of places? This is the central question examined by Keith Basso in his ethno-linguistic study of the relationship between language and landscape among the Apaches of Cibecue, on the Fort Apache Reservation in central Arizona. Basso, a professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, has spent over 30 years conducting field work among the Western Apaches. His publications concerning this group include articles on language, patterns of silence in social interaction, witchcraft beliefs, and ceremonial symbolism, among others. The idea for Wisdom Sits in Places stemmed from a study conducted between 1979 and 1984, in which Basso, with the help of a grant from the National Science Foundation and the guidance of the Apaches, conducted a study of Apache places and place-names; how the Apache refer to their land, the stories behind the place-names, and how these place-names are used in daily conversation by Apache men and women. The result is a stunningly informative account of the use of landscape and language in the social interactions of the Western Apaches.
Basso divides his book into four sections: Quoting the Ancestors, Stalking with Stories, Speaking with Names, and Wisdom Sits in Places. Each chapter's focus is to examine how landscape and language serve distinct purposes in Western Apache society. Basso incorporates the oral history of, and discussions with, local Apaches, as well as his formal training as an ethnographer-linguist, to explain the underlying themes of this book.
First, Basso introduces the reader to the idea of place-names and in the Western Apache construction of history. As conceived by the Apaches, the past is a "well-worn `path' or `trail' which was traveled first by the people's founding ancestors and which subsequent generations of Apaches have traveled ever since" (31). The ancestors gave names to places, based on events that occurred there. Regardless of the physical changes in the landscape that occurred over time, the story of what took place, as well as the place-name, was passed down through generations and serves as a connection between the people and their ancestors.
Second, Basso examines how the language and the land are "manipulated by Apaches to promote compliance with standards for acceptable social behavior and the moral values which support them" (41). The historical tales of place-names are without exception morality tales, intended to influence patterns of social action. Their purpose is to serve as warnings, criticisms, and enlightenment for those who are behaving improperly; not in accordance with the Apache way of life. The telling of a historical tale is "intended as a critical and remedial response" to an individual's having committed one or more social offenses. Apaches contend that if the message is taken to heart, a lasting bond will have been created between that individual and the site at which the events in the tale took place. In short, the land, accompanied with its historical tale, "makes the people live right" (61).
Third, through the act of "speaking with names", place-names can be condensed "into compact form their essential moral truths" (101). "Speaking with names" is considered appropriate only under certain circumstances, generally to enable those who engage in it "to acknowledge a regrettable circumstance without explicitly judging it, to exhibit solicitude without openly proclaiming it, and to offer advice without appearing to do so" (91). Evoking images of a particular place and narrative thus replaces a more direct form of advice or criticism, with "a minimum of linguistic means" (103).
Finally, with the guidance of his Apache friend, Dudley Patterson, Basso examines the path of wisdom in Western Apache society. Patterson explains there are two mental conditions, "steadiness of mind", and "resilience of mind", which lead to a third and most desirable condition, smoothness of mind. These three conditions are not innate; therefore, one must work on one's mind in order to gain wisdom. To work on one's mind, "one must observe different places, learn their Apache place-names, and reflect on traditional narratives that underscore the virtues of wisdom" (134). A resilient mind, according to Patterson, does not "give in to panic or fall prey to spasms of anxiety or succumb to spells of crippling worry" (132). A steady mind is "unhampered by feelings of arrogance or pride, anger or vindictiveness, jealously or lust" (133). Steadiness and resilience give way to a sense of "cleared space" or "area free of obstruction", conditions necessary for smoothness of mind. Only those who continue on the trail of wisdom their whole lives come closest to having a smooth mind, and are "able to foresee disaster, fend off misfortune, and avoid explosive conflicts with other persons" (131). Thus, wisdom is intertwined with the idea of survival through the consistent and thoughtful evocation of landscape and language.
Keith Basso and the Western Apaches of Cibecue have provided readers with an insightful and provocative account of the connection between language, land, and a people's cultural history. Wisdom Sits in Places opens the door for future research on place-names by shedding light on a previously overshadowed topic in anthropological studies. Basso's dissection of certain stories and social interactions can be overwhelming and a bit dry, but his purpose is made clear when his examinations are added together with the Apache narratives. What results is a clear picture of what language and landscape mean to the Western Apaches, the functional versatility of place-names, and the importance of being aware of one's sense of place.

The Writer's Friend

Published in Paperback by WritingNow.com Publishing (2000-03-01)

Authors: Linda Davis Kyle, Joseph Gregg, Nancy McAlary, and Guy Lancaster

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The Writer's Friend

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-11-28

The Writer's Friend is one of those books that should be on your shelf so that, when you are suffering from 'the rejection blues,' you'll be able to pick yourself up and begin again, using the information between this book's covers as a guide to solve your problems. The talented authors show you how to take an idea for one article aimed at one publication and turn it into several articles written from several points of view for as many different markets. They point out the pitfalls of ignoring an editor's instructions or submitting an article to the wrong market. The Writer's Friend gives you a thorough look at the other side of the writing field, that of the editor working for a publication or publisher. Here you will find advice on the many points most new writers will ignore while they focus on getting their work published; that of contracts and rights and learning your market before submitting. Invaluable information and tips on how to aim for a particular audience and market are included as well as help with the query process. The authors draw upon their own experience to guide you around the roadblocks to success. The Writer's Friend will serve you long and well, and you'll find the more you use it, the more of a friend it will be come.

The Writer's Friend

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-04-23

If you are desiring to write magazine articles then this is the book for you. I've read several books about getting your magazine articles published and the Writer's Friend is truly the best. This book is comprehensive in that it covers what you need to know about writing query letters, doing research, understanding legal ramafications & contracts, targeting your market and so much more. I now feel prepared to begin submitting my queries to magazine editors. Honestly, this book should have been called The Writer's Best Friend.

The Writer's Friend is more than a friend

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-09-04

This excellent little book is a giant in its field. It is more than interviews with editors, it is a wealth of advice with practical and workable examples. If you want to see your work published follow Kyle,Gregg and McAlary's profound visions on the process. Their tips and sage advice help you establish sound, publishable writing and if you follow them, will give you an edge in the publishing world. I highly recommend this magnificant book as an absolute must have for any writer's book shelf.

Insider's Tips For Writers

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-18

This imminently readable book takes an inside look at exactly what editors look for in writers:
Do your homework
Know the magazine
How to prepare a successful query
Grabbing an editor's attention by slanting your topic to fit the magazine of your choice

The Writer's Friend also includes valuable information for technical writers looking for assignments.

Reading this book and knowing what editors look for, paves the way to success.

This Will Become Your Friend!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-17

"The Writer's Friend", it truly will become your friend. This book will give you powerful insight into the world of editors. Not only will you learn from the authors' of this book, but you will also learn from a number of editors as they tell you what they like and dislike in submissions. You will learn how to grab an editor's attention and begin earning money selling your articles.

"The Writer's Friend", in addition, gives you information on researching, giving interviews, preparing and submitting query letters, improving your writing skills, getting ideas for stories and articles, and a lot more. Not only did I find this book helpful but I also gained inspiration from it. Everytime I put the book down I found myself at my computer polishing up my articles, stories, and queries; that's how much "The Writer's Friend" inspired and helped me.

This book is a must for all freelance writers. It would even make a great book for teachers to aid them in teaching their courses on freelance writing. After you finish the book you will want to store it by your computer to keep referring to. It not only provides you with resources on and off-line, but an appendix of questions that you can always look back at.

If you find yourself down because of rejections and feel that you should just give up, think again, just pick up a copy of "The Writer's Friend" and you're sure to be back in your spirits of writing and submitting again! I give this book 5 stars for outstanding excellence!

Writing Articles About the World Around You

Published in Hardcover by Writers Digest Books (1998-01)

Author: Marcia Yudkin

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Excellent!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-03

This book is a must-have for aspiring magazine writers. I used it early in my career, and I credit Yudkin's no-nonsense, entertaining advice with much of my success.

There's a story in you waiting to be written!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-11-24

This is a wonderful book for beginning writers and a refreshing, enlightening, and inspiring book for veteran writers. Sometimes, we get so busy with our writing careers that we forget to take the time to look at the beauty around us and write about it. This book will bring back the life in any tired, worn writer, while encouraging, and uplifting the person who wants to write but doesn't know where to begin!

The best book for BEGINNERS

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-20

I am a beginner freelance writer. I found this book the best among 8 other simple books about writing basics. This book starts with things, people & events close to you and how to make them as raw materials to headlines IDEAS. Also, it shows you how to transform ideas to pragraghs.

Then, it guides you in how to contact the editors and the keys to make them accept your articles by explaining how they think and what pressures that influence them.

It is a great book to start with. If you are a beginner freelance writer, don't miss this book. It encourage you a lot.

The best book for BEGINNERS

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-20

I am a beginner freelance writer. I found this book the best among 8 other simple books about writing basics. This book starts with things, people & events close to you and how to make them as raw materials to headlines IDEAS. Also, it show you how to transform ideas to pragraghs.

Then, it guides you in how to contact the editors and the keys to make them accept your articles by explaining how they think and what pressures that influence them.

It is a great book to start with. If you are a beginner freelance writer, don't miss this book. It encourage you a lot.

A book with endless suggestions of where to submit your work

Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2001-11-16

This is a must have book for the beginning writer. Yudkin takes one idea for an article and twists and turns it into a half-dozen for you. Her suggestions generate idea after idea. Even if you're not a beginner, you'll find yourself refreshed and resurged to look for the unique way to sell your articles. I highly recommend Marcia Yudkin. She's a supreme marketeer.

Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children's Books

Published in Paperback by Watson-Guptill (1997-05-01)

Author: Uri Shulevitz

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Average review score:

writing with pictures

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-09

This is a great book and really explains how to layout a picture book. Since my college education never taught me how to do this, this is a wonderful book to have.

STOP! GO NO FURTHER! YOU FOUND IT!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-18

This is the book you have been looking for. I've purchased a number of other books about children's publishing, but this one has more wisdom and more real technique than any of them.

The title might make you think this book is about illustrating children's books. Yes, an illustrator can get a graduate degree from the material here. But the title doesn't really do the book justice, because Shulevitz covers both writing and illustration. He covers both topics together, showing how the text and the pictures move a story forward to a satisfactory conclusion. Quoting from the book (p.29):

"When the actor-stage relationship is clear, when the picture code is consistent, when the progression is appropriate to the action, the picture sequence will 'speak' to the reader. The more clearly the picture sequence speaks, the more enjoyment the reader will be able to get from it. And giving a feeling of satisfaction is essential in children's books."

This book has literally hundreds of example illustrations and text excerpts. Most are pencil and ink sketches, but don't be fooled: the author created most of them specifically to illustrate this book. They do a great job.

I'm done gushing. If you are interested in this topic, buy the book. You won't be disappointed.

Thank you Mr. S

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-02

As a 'gallery' artist moving more into illustration, I needed a text that really told me how to illustrate- what makes books different to gallery works, the psychology of composition, how to plan a book and incorporate words and pictures etc and this book has really done that for me. I found the section on composition and picture space particularly helpful.

This is the book for you if you want a book that tells you how and why. The author hasn't held back information but explains everything with lots of drawn examples. I bought another book on illustration at the same time - Exploring Illustration by Michael Fleishman- which like so many modern textbooks goes on about theory instead of telling you real technical information. It has served to show me just how good Writing With Pictures is and how generous the author is in giving information.

I can't recommend it highly enough.

I have read criticism that it doesn't have enough computer-related information but that isn't something all illustrators need. This deals with the real skills of the craft and to me, with so many programs out there you are better getting guides on every program you want to use to really master them than have the broad, undetailed cross-section inevitable in books about this size.

Creating Children's Books 101

Helpful Votes: 12 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-16

Uri Shulevitz's book Writing With Pictures is a treasure trove of valuable information concerning writing/illustrating children's books. For those with no interest whatsoever in illustration, the book explains how illustrations enhance and fulfill the promise of the text. For those only interested in illustration, the book describes how to correctly construct illustrations so that they illuminate, rather than repeat, the prose.

The book is divided in four parts. Part one defines/contrasts picture books and story books; two, describes how to plan the book; three, explains the construction and purpose of illustrations; and four, provides instruction on how to prepare illustrations for reproduction for publishing.

Although the book could be used for college courses in both art and literature, it is easily readable, enjoyable and informative. For individuals serious about writing and/or illustrating books for children, this book is a must-have resource. It's a keeper!

Beautiful and Instructive

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-07

This book is a pleasure to read, and very inspiring to get drawing! His detailed instructions are as helpful as sitting in a drawing class.

XML Family of Specifications: A Practical Guide (2 Volume Set)

Published in Paperback by Addison-Wesley Professional (2002-06-10)

Author: Kenneth B. Sall

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Average review score:

How to get a Perfect Bound copy of this book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-18

Attention Michael Pachis and others who purchased this book in 2006: I am the book's author and when I saw your comments, I contacted my publisher. If you purchased a copy recently and received it in 3-hole punch format, send me an email and I'll put you in touch with the publisher. They have a small number of perfect bound copies they can send you instead. Use the email address on the right side on my personal web site (kensall.com) home page. I hope this helps.
(I gave this 5 stars simply to not impact the book's current rating.)

Thorough in its explanations, lots of additional references

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-04-06

This is an excellent book to understand, develop and code XML. However, in the parsing discussions (chp 7-10) an understanding of OOP and Java programming are almost required. Other than that, it is an excellent text.

Rather practical!

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-04

Where to start? With the concise history of where XML came from and why each design decision was made and how the evolution of specifications took place over the years, or the thorough explanation of all the XML specifications, or the programming and parsing aspects of XML and metadata, or the cool XML timeline poster towards the end of the book? This book has much to offer any person interested in finding out what XML is and why and how it has changed our world.

Kenneth B. Sall, the author of this book, organized this book in a fashion where each section could be studied on its own, and if there are references to the previous sections, they are appropriately mentioned. This way, one does not need to sit down and cover this 1000+ page book cover to cover to realize that the topic of conversation is. The stage is set at the beginning by the author commenting on the fact that XML can describe everything under the sun, even the kitchen sink:

"XML: ... maybe it's everything but the kitchen sink? Say, have you heard the one about the XML Kitchen Sink Language? ..."

I have been working with XML for sometime now, and I am still amazed at how it has grown and expanded in to our everyday lives in the past few years. One can spend months coming up to speed with the specifications and the XML "realm", and that's not enough. This book does not even cover, in a great detail at least, the Web services realm. That alone is a couple of thousand page book. The background topics are essential to any reader: basic XML syntax, DTD, Canonical XML, Namespaces and XML Schema. Once you have these topics covered and well understood, you can jump around to any other part of the book, displaying XML data for example or XML programming API's.

One can spend a couple of hours trying to figure out how these specifications fit in, but the author hs already done the job with a very useful picture inside the cover page. What's your forte? Cascading Style Sheets to convert XML data into a PDF document for example, or an XHTML document to display on a web site? XHTML is also covered in length, if you do not know that is and what it offers over the plain old HTML.
My favorite topics were probably the authors explanation of the XML parsing and the available API's and resources. SAX, DOM, JAXP and JDOM are covered in great detail.
* SAX - the API that started it all. Minimal and light-weight. Fast and event driven.
* DOM - Memory intensive, complex, but very powerful. It's a tree based model, and the tree represents the whole document.
* JDOM - java specific. Can be used with either DOM or SAX.
* JAXP - java specific again, but easier to use than JDOM.
There are also a number of C++ XML parsers that the author touches on such as the Apache Xerces, C++ SAX and many others, but the main topics revolve around the four most popular parsers mentioned. These sections are mostly tutorials and how-to's. Each parser is used in an example and example is analyzed piece by piece. DOM is covered in more detail due to the number of levels (DOM level 1-3) that it has. Since DOM is more powerful and more complicated, the topic is a bit more advanced and would require more attention from a novice. If you read thru the SAX chapter and understand it well, DOM would not be that much of hurtle, but make sure that you read understand SAX first. Java centric API's including XML-RPC, JAXB, JDOM, JAXM are covered by the author to depict how XML can be used and how it would benefit the application - and developers in-turn. The icing on the cake is when K. B. Sall outlines the differences between SAX, DOM, JDOM and JSAX. He talks about each of the technologies in detail, tell you what the advantage and disadvantage of each one is, and then it compares them against each other. By the time you are done reading these sections, you would become an expert in XML parsing and programming.

XLink and XPointer. How can one leave without these two core technologies and tools? They are truly remarkable; easy to use, light weight and easy to learn. Well, they are well covered - as you would expect from this book. One thing about these topics is that they could be very abstract and need examples, and we got lots of those. The example depict the efficacy of how one can use XLink to create complex connections between sets of resources, even though you do not have a write access to those resources. This is very handy and resourceful technique is you need to build an e-commerce site. With XPointer, one can locate individual XML elements, set of elements or even a range of XML data between two points. The ability to specify "range" of elements is where the true power of XPointer is revealed.

The references, the related resources for each topic, simple to complicated examples and a CD filled with goodies, source code used throughout the book and the W3C specifications at your fingertips outline the some of the other benefits of Kenneth B. Sall's "XML Family of Specifications" book.

Note: This is not a paperback!

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-25

I want to warn customers that the publisher has gone to a "print on demand" publishing model and this book is not delivered as a paperback, but as eleven hundred three hole punched loose leaf pages! This leaves you with the task of finding a binder after paying 40$ for the book! Since it is book size (8 x 10) it awkawardly fits into a standard 8.5 x 11 binder, not very convenient for reading or transporting, and you need the binder to be 3.5" thick to fit the book in the binder.

I gave it five stars for content, but this new method of publishing gets zero stars.

great book. Must have for CS students.

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-21

This book is not an "how to" guide, nor does it claim to be one. I mean by this that if you are, say a Java programmer looking for a book that concretely shows you how to integrate xml with Java then you would be better off with one of the so many Java/XML books on the market.

However, if in your work or your studies you feel that you need to gain a more thorough understanding of the W3C specifications related to XML, then this is the book to buy.

All the W3C specs are available for free on the web. The trouble is, W3C documents are designed to provide a precise definition of a standards, they are not designed to be especially intelligible by mere mortals (however technologically enclined). Some are quite readable, others far less.

Firstly, I really like that this book present all the relevant specifications and working drafts in perspective. Secondly, I found that it does a remarkably good job at translating these specifications (without simplifying them) in understandable terms.

In my work, I am interested in gaining as thorough as possible a view of XMl technologies and this book helps me greatly. I also like the fact that it present a well-organized bibliography at the end of each chapter (sadly many computer books from Wrox, O'reilly, Que an like don't have a bibiography as if to say "everything inside this book comes straight from the author's mind. DO not look any further).

I have reviewed for myself around twenty XML books. I found this book to be one of my top favorite. I recommend it especially for:
- CS students or programmer with a theoretical bent.
- anybody who wants to get a thorough overview of W3C standards.

2000 Most Challenging and Obscure Words

Published in Hardcover by Galahad Books (1994-04)

Author: Norman W. Schur

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Average review score:

Dictionary for Advanced English Speakers and Readers

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-22

A veritable enchiridion of diction for those given to excessive cerebration or whom merely want to leg up to the cutting edge of lexical facility or merely assuage the traumas of lucubration. The book has a place of honor on my shelf - twixt a venerable and tattered Oxford Concise and the New Fowlers. Erudite, masterfully researched and articulated, and a real time-saver when it comes to looking-up in depth meanings of obscure and difficult words.

Connotations Please!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-10

This book is not just a collection of interesting words, it also provides quite a bit of insight into the etymologies and connotations of each word. Far superior to your standard word-a-day fare.

A most excellent collection

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-25

This is indeed a most excellent book, with plenty of gems to amuse and educate even the most erudite word maven. Were I to rate it on content alone, I would give it an unabashed 5-star rating - broad selection of words, with associated definitions and discussion being generally clear and informative.

However, one cannot judge a reference book like this solely in terms of its content. Organization matters - specifically, the ease with which one can expect to retrieve the information being sought. And this book leaves something to be desired in that regard. The author has a bizarre, and infuriating, predilection for separating words from their definitions, sending the reader on a cross-referencing frenzy around the book. Obviously, some cross-referencing is inevitable in any dictionary, but Schur seems to like to give his readers the run-around for no apparent reason.

For instance:

Why should someone looking up the word 'haiku' be redirected to the entry under 'cinquain'? If we proceed to that entry, we find definitions, not only for cinquain , but also for 'tanka', 'hokku', and - finally - 'haiku'. Why lump these four definitions together here, instead of locating each definition directly unter a discrete entry for the associated word? These are not synonyms.

Similarly, why is the definition for 'pawky' located as an aside included in the definition for 'pantagamy'? The two words have nothing to do with one another.

Look up 'lupine', 'caprine', 'leonine', 'asinine' -- in each case, you will be directed to the word 'accipitrine' before you get your definition. This is because all of the animal adjectives are included together in a single list, and 'accipitrine' happens to be the first element on the alphabetized list.

But enough griping. Let me finish on a positive note, by including 3 of my current favorite words -

strangury: A medical term, whose meaning can be inferred from the following citation - "He that hath that dysease .... that hyghte stranguria,pysseth ofte ande lytyll."

pilliwinks: an instrument of torture designed to crush the fingers. (The discussion notes that thumbscrews were often referred to as "thumbikins", or "thumbkins", which seems akin to trying to convince someone that waterboarding is just the latest extreme sports craze.)

thank-you-ma'am: a hollow or rut across a road that causes the people in a vehicle passing over it to nod involuntarily, the way one might do in acknowledging a favor and expressing thanks.

Content: 5 stars. Organization: 4 stars.
Overall rating: 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

The Greatest Gift

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-16

My wife gave this book to me last Christmas. It is the best gift she has ever given me--a sesquipedalian feast that, having become quite quotidian (to this reader), has yet to be rendered trivial, or desipiient. It offers a brobdingnagian view of a lexoconic world that even those of lilliputian linguistic skill can appreciate. Very simply, if you love language, if you love learning, you'll love this book.

just stupendous!

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-21

I was walking through Barnes & Noble with my friend when we both spotted this book, it looked like so much fun. It truly is great fun to read. The book is split up into two sections, the first section is the 1000 most challenging words, the second part is 1000 most obscure words. Let me tell you, I can't even say a quarter of the words in this book but it is very interesting to read through it and find words like zarf(a special type of cupholder) and sic(which means thus or therefore). I used some of the words in this book each day(or at least try) and it has really broadened my vocabulary.
This book is the perfect gift for a friend or if you just want to have some fun with impossibly obscure words!

600 Modern Greek Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses Alphabetically Arranged

Published in Paperback by Pella Pub Co (1997-02)

Author:

List price: $35.00

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Average review score:

Don't go to class without it!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-27

This is probably one of the most useful books I have for Greek and overall one of the most comprehensive verb guides for any language I'd studied. Spend the money if you want to learn Greek.

Help's make sense of tense and conjugation.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-19

Very well laid out, easy to use format. Each verb in all its forms is on a single page. By viewing all the tenses of the verb on one single page, one can begin to feel comfortable with "how" and "why" a verb means what it means. The forms and patterns become visible, predictable and understandable, as do any exceptions. Quite impressive.

600 Modern Greek Verbs

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-09

It's a very good book! Now is my best friend!!! Everytime that I need some help with Greek, I ask his help.

Superb Reference Guide

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-25

This is an outstanding reference guide. Easy to use and very helpful with conjugations in all tenses. Definitely recommend for anybody, from the beginner to the advanced student of Modern Greek.

Excellent reference for Modern Greek

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-24

This book is an excellent reference for Modern Greek verbs. This book is not for beginners, but is an excellent reference for the serious student.

The Account: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion (Recovering the Us Hispanic Literary Heritage)

Published in Paperback by Arte Publico Press (1993-02)

Author: Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca

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Average review score:

Great Books

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-25

This is an excellent translation of an amazing account. Favata and Fernandez give an accurate and interesting rendition of Cabeza de Vaca's words. Their notes aid in understanding and appreciation of the story. I highly recommend this translation to anyone interested in Cabeza de Vaca himself, the time period, or just a good read.

Worth the Read

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-07

This is a startling yet interesting tale of Cabeza de Vaca's journey through the southern U.S. These men suffered greatly through their journey and yet accomplished what they set out to do in the end.

Truly a remarkable story of survival of the fittest.

Highly recommended.

Well written and translated account of early North America

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-22

Although this is a short narrative, the book presents the best description of early North American life I have read so far. The book is Cabeza de Vaca's autobiographical account of his participation in a failed Spanish expedition to colonize Florida in the early 1500's. Through a series of events, the members of the expedition end up traveling along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico into Texas and then overland into Sonora, Mexico. Only four members of the expedition returned to Spanish civilization, but they had earned the respect of many of the Indian tribes.

The Account not only presents details of the journey but also presents general historical aspects of North American Indians and Spanish colonization in the 1500's. Cabeza de Vaca has performed a great service in documenting the practices of food-gathering, agriculture, slavery, trade, and spirituality among the Southwestern Indians. His narrative also highlights the the perils of 1500's exploration and the harsh attitudes of Spanish colonists towards Indians.

The translators also deserve credit for their work. Using clear modern English, they have made The Account easy to read. They have also supplemented their translation with translation notes and histroical notes that are very useful, particularly in identifying locations in the text. Moreover, they have also included an introduction that places The Account and Cabeza de Vaca into a historical context.

In summary, The Account is not only a great narrative of the personal history of Cabeza de Vaca's travels across North America but also an important document about early Spanish colonization and Native American culture. I strongly recommend this book for all readers.

Walking naked across Texas

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2004-09-07

Texas history begins n 1528, when a hurricane sank a Spanish ship off the coast of Galveston Island. Four survivors washed up naked on the shore, including Governor Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and the black man, Estebano, who had been the slave of one of the drowned men. Thus begins one of the most remarkable adventures in history. This book is Cabeza de Vaca's first person account of his experience. He and his men first became the slaves of hostile coastal Indians who tortured them, but ultimately, after several years in captivity, escaped to go with other more sympathetic inland Indians. He describes the many Native American tribes he encountered, as well as their customs and how they lived. Most of them starved when not eking out subsistence on cactus fruit and nuts. The Indians had never seen a bearded face before and most were in awe of the Spaniards. They believed he had healing powers and demanded that he heal their sick. Cabeza de Vaca was a very pious man and called upon his god to help him. He prayed for patients, made the sign of the cross on their bodies, and extorted the promise that they would henceforth follow the true God. The sick Indians swore that they had been cured and Cabeza de Vaca became recognized as a powerful shaman, eagerly greeted by the Western Tribes who begged for his blessing. Cabeza de Vaca was North America's first lay missionary. Nine years after the shipwreck, he encountered quite by accident another group of Spaniards exploring New Mexico (and capturing Indians to enslave). Because Cabeza de Vaca insisted upon humane treatment toward the Indians, the cruel Spaniards imprisoned the crazy (and perhaps dangerous) naked man and took him to Mexico City. After living among the Indians for nine years, Cabeza de Vaca felt uncomfortable wearing clothes and could not sleep on a bed.

This is an extraordinary story, full of wonder, horror and faith. It is a work of literature. Those with an interest in Texas history, Native Americans, or the Spanish conquest of America will find this easy-flowing translation extremely compelling reading.

Fastinating trip through early Florida

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-12-24

If you thought that the only thing that the Spanish explorers did was pick up gold and enslave the natives, this book is for you. Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca was truly a modern man in the way he thought about people and things. Given only his wits having lost his clothes & food, he survives in a strange land for 10 years and walks out a reviered man among the natives. I had no idea anyone had done this. Our only regret is that he did not write more of his adventures and the socialogy & language of the people he lived with. Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca had more than the usual dose of Duty, Honor and Country about him, and he kept all three when adversity struck.

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