Multimedia Books

This one is the best book i've had so far because it's just as the title says. hands on training books are perfect for learning

As an educator who teaches Digital Imaging on the college level, I have become familiar with hundreds of training texts through the years. This book is excellent in that, unlike so many others, it starts at the beginning. I am not entirely sure why training books and digital courses so often pick up somewhere near the middle when we are all trying to encourage others to surrender to the digital age.

After completing 3 books on Adobe After Effects 7, I think I have a fairly good view of the types of instruction books that are available. "Classroom in a Book" by Adobe, this one by Fahs & Weinman, and "Creative After Effects 7" by Taylor.
My earlier rating of "Classroom in a Book" should probably have been at least 4 stars since it's the best of the 3 (for beginners) that I've read.
This one by Fahs & Weinman is straight forward and easy to follow, but isn't quite detailed enough in comparison to the "Classroom" book.
The book by Taylor mentioned above is so filled with typos that it's virtually unreadable and that's why I rated it poor and is definitely the worst of these 3.
After Effects is a very complicated video software effects program and has a steep learning curve on par with the still image processing program Photoshop. The more time you spend with it and the more instruction you can get, the better.

when you are done with this book, wade into the massive haphazard stew that is the Meyers books. Start with this one though, it starts at the beginning, tells you what you need to know when you need to know it, breaks it down just right. AE is a fairly vast program, and it's easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged, so getting the right book can be the difference between sticking with it or not.

This book helps ease the monumental transition from Avid to FCP. It is definitely a must for anyone going through the change, but becomes less useful once you get the hang of FCP. Once you are through the transtion, then get the book Final Cut Pro 5 for Mac, which answers the rest.

This book I could only find used, it is not easy to come by...

If you are ever forced to quickly learn Final Cut pro for the odd job where Avid is not a viable option, or you want to start editing your on stuff on the cheap, buy this, read it and practise it for a week and you will be a Pro at Pro, knowing everything there is to know, at least, where to find it and whether it is doable or not. It is a book written by an Avid editor for Avid editors who have to go through the same learning curve. You can be very surprised going through it on how similar the two editing systems are and most of all, how quickly you can synthesise the information and make it second nature. I fervently recommend this book being so well written, going always to the point and covering everything properly.

As an Avid editor and now learning FCP, I can recommend this book for helping to understand where everthing is. This book is a must unless you want to tear your hair out. If you know how it feels going from Media Composer to DS, then you will understand why you need this book and I might add others.

We have been an Avid only edit house for years, but reciently purchased two Final Cut systems. Most of the transition was pretty easy, but trying to figure out how to do some of the things in FCP that we did in our sleep on the Avid slowed us down a bit. This book draws great parallels between the two systems.

Apple Training Series: iLife 04
By Michael Rubin
ISBN: 0321256069

Book Review by Al Simukonis, Tucson Macintosh Users Group

Peachpit Press has published a guide to Apple's iLife '04 Programs. The book's author is Michael Rubin.

Michael Rubin self-describes this book as "not so much a training manual as it is a way to show you how to enrich your world by weaving digital audio, photos and videos into many aspects of your life." He promises to skip entire areas of functionality of the programs in order to teach "media literacy" in your life using the iLife programs: iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band. He also promises to explain how to share your completed vision with friends, family and clients through iDVD and the web via .Mac.

The book is divided into 14 chapters which consist of projects that introduce the reader with audio capabilities of iTunes, progress to still and moving visual expression using iPhoto and iMovie. Final lessons detail how to combine digital sound and vision into a usable and interesting slide presentation or a movie. These later chapters also show how to easily distribute your created vision and message using hardware and software .

The beginning of each chapter lists the goals (i.e. familiarity with using iTunes) that it intends to achieve in that section, the tools necessary to complete the goal (i.e. a personal music CD or an optional camcorder), and the estimated time it will take to complete that section. Lessons range from a 15 minute iPod introduction to 90 minutes for many of the others. To complete every lesson should take about 15 hours.

The book is very well laid out, has very clear illustrations of screen shots you should expect to see on your own computer, and photos of hardware you will be using. There is a logical progression to the lessons that builds on previously gained knowledge and experience.

If you have the iLife programs, at least a G3 Mac with FireWire and at least system 10.2.8 (minimum 10.2.6) with 256 MB Ram, 1024 x 768 resolution, QuickTime 6.4 (the latest version at this moment is 6.5.1) you can begin. Other recommendations are a 600 Mhz G3 for Garage Band, a 733 Mhz G4 for iDVD, iSight, a digital camcorder, a digital camera, a tripod, a .Mac account. If you have all this equipment this excellent book will show you how to use all of it to express yourself well. If you do not have all this hardware do not let it scare you away from the book.

I found that there are three ways to approach this informative iLife familiarization guide.

The first, of course, is to have a computer with a DVD burner and player, all the camera equipment he covers, and the $100 or so per year dot Mac account that allows you to easily share your creations with the world via the web. After you finish the very clearly explained features of the software and hardware in your arsenal, you will have a core of media knowledge that will give you the potential of being the next George Lucas.

The second way is to go through the book using only the 4.2 GB of photos, video clips, and music on the included DVD. This should be downloaded onto to your hard drive, so a hard drive with sufficient free space is necessary. The full iLife program, Michael advises us, takes an additional 4.3 GB if it is not already on your computer. With limited hard drive space you can get by 250 MB if you only use iTunes, iPhoto, and iMovie. An Apple with a DVD player (and preferably burner) is essential for this option.

The examples in the book and the DVD are shown from the perspectives of a student with a school project, a father shooting his daughter's birthday party and a ceramics studio owner who wants to show customers a technique via a video presentation.

The third way, if you are not ready to invest in all the hardware and software that this book covers, is to go through it using only hardware you already have. For example, first I read the book cover to cover. That was a very clear introduction to the potential available to me with my little iBook and the iLife software. I had already played with iTunes, and have a substantial collection of digital photos on my hard drive, but do not have a DVD player on the iBook. Instead of using the photo examples on his DVD player I was able to substitute my own pictures in his lessons. It took a little imagination to substitute his ceramics demo for my cactus garden, but the principles of the program remain the same regardless of the actual images used. If you do not have your own photo collection you can often find legally downloadable images on the internet that you can use for this purpose.

The scope of this book is quite vast. Digital cameras, theories and practice of good composition and lighting, image manipulation, creating books, organizing digital photo albums, creating slide shows with music or narration, making videos from still pictures or camcorders, time lapse photography, theory and use (or not) of pans, tilts and zooms, burning DVD's and creating your own music with Garage Band are all covered. It is like a semester in college taken at your own pace.

One of the best quotes in the book is "editing is not about throwing out bad material. Editing is about building something interesting and watchable" .

With time and practice this book shows any media non-professional how to use the Macintosh and the iLife programs to achieve this goal relatively easily. It does this clearly, logically and interestingly. After the versions of these software programs change this book will not be obsolete because the principles of good audio-visual presentation will remain the same.

If good communication is a necessity or a hobby or if you simply want to know how to get more personal enjoyment from the music and visual capabilities of the Macintosh take a good look at this very well-written book.

Mr. Rubin covers each of the iLife products -- iPod (2 chapters), iPhoto (5 chapters), iMovie (5 chapters), GarageBand (1 chapter), and iDVD (1 chapter). Each chapter covers a specific set of tasks in a step by step manner. And, with nearly every step, he provides explanatory material -- things to look out for, hints, tips, etc. Furthermore, he not only tells you what to do but why you are doing it. By the time you complete the chapters about an application you are well-grounded in how to use it because he has explained all of the basic tasks as well as some of the more arcane features of the program. He even devotes an entire chapter to camcorder shooting techniques. I purchased this book primarily for some instruction in using iMovie. By the time I completed the iMovie chapters I felt comfortable in my ability to shoot digital video, import what I shot to the computer, edit the clips, add sound effects and music, and put it on a DVD. The publisher also includes a disc with the book that has every photo clip, video clip, and sound clip you need to complete the exercises. In many cases the disc also includes a file with the finished project so that you can compare what you did with a professionally completed sample. This is absolutely the best book of its kind that I have ever used. The publisher, Apple, Mr. Rubin, and everyone else involved in this book's production should be very pleased with the result.

Book: "Apple Training Series: iLife `04" (377 pages)
Author: Michael Rubin
publisher: Peachpit Press, 1249 Eighth St., Berkeley, CA 94710
published: 2004
price: $29.99
Phone number of company: 1-800-283-9444
Pros: easy to read, nicely organized, great color illustrations, excellent index, overall very helpful for the beginner or advances iLife user
Cons: no real cons; ideally, I would like to have seen a second CD included that would have allowed people with OS 9 to get a sample of the iLife lessons

This book was of particular interest to me to review since I will soon be using Apple's iLife '04. This an awesome program with 5 subparts: itunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and GarageBand. I wanted a good overview of all five, and was very pleased with what I found. It was easy reading, and its organization, a series of 14 lessons, allows you to learn at your own pace. The book also comes with a CD that you play to work along with the lessons. For me, I had to skip that part for now but certainly will be using it next month after I get my G-5 and begin using OS X (required for iLife). But even without it, the book alone is great for introducing the power and relative simplicity of iLife '04. The great illustrations and index also help a beginner, and would be very useful too to advanced users of iLife. I particularly liked the nice organization and clear writing style of the book, with each section ending with a review of what you learned.
This book is set up as if you were three different people learning about the various parts of iLife '04, namely a parent with a 12-year-old daughter, a high school student, and a small-business owner. Through those people and their needs, you get a real hands-on understanding of what the program can do for you. In all, you learn to 1) create custom CDs and play them on an iPod or a regular stereo system; 2) organize and use still images from your digital camera to create great photos and books of photos, plus slide shows; and 3) create movie DVDs combining still photos with music, special effects, titles, narration, music, and more. Finally, you learn to upload your slide shows and videos to the Web and burn DVDs. Additionally, there are nice "extras" at various logical places in the book, like tips on using your digital camcorder.
Below are the names of the 14 lessons, which further show the progressive nature of the learning process this fine book offers. In all, I would highly recommend this book. It is a great learning tool and well worth the money.

Lesson 1: Making a Custom CD from your music collection
Lesson 2: DJ a Party with your iPod
Lesson 3: Shooting Digital Snapshots and putting them in your Mac
Lesson 4: Organizing and Refining your photos
Lesson 5: Printing and sharing your photos
Lesson 6: Adding motion and effects for a dynamic slide show
Lesson 7: Making a time-lapse video
Lesson 8: Shooting and assembling a very simple movie
Lesson 9: Adding narration to your dynamic slide show
Lesson 10: Shooting with Hollywood-style techniques for better videos
Lesson 11: Editing and finishing a professional-looking movie
Lesson 12: Creating unique music for your projects
Lesson 13: Putting your slide show on the Internet
Lesson 14: Burning DVDs of your videos and slide shows

This is the official Apple Training Guide to the iLife software packages.

Apple doesn't include much documention with their iLife products. This book is a quick and easy way to learn these packages. As an Apple certified product, this is the book used in the Apple Training and Certification program. You can use it by yourself at your own pace where it's broken down into fourteen lessons.

The lessons are aimed at the practical use of the packages, not some esoteric project just made up to show off the software. It starts off discussing audio. Then it moves to mnaging still images, printing still images, and finally moving images, i.e. video.

From his background in the motion picture business, the author has written some very interesting pages on how to use Hollywood techniques in your own movies.

This is the most complete iLife book.

I did such a great job on the test and I improved my reading and verbal skills a lot! This book gives you an in-depth explanation of the test and will definitely help you succeed!

My verbal score went up 200 points in about two months!

I also recommend using the vocab links/SAT prep at HomeworkCentral.com--the combination was terrific for me!

This book helped me improve my score by over 250 points. Friends who used other SAT prep books kept borrowing mine - I definitely recommend it.

I bought 5 different SAT books to try to improve my score. This one was by far the best! After I practiced the techniques in this book, my score went up by 200 points! I'm only a C+ math student and I even went up in the math section!

If you want to prepare for the SAT, buy this book!!!!

It goes into the basics of bandwidth calculation, leading up to the technologies used to support the different kind of services.

If one were to look for a good read, this book is a good start for a newbie.

This book could be used as a pre-cursor to an indepth research into new technologies.

ADSL, ATM, ISDN is mentioned in the book.

Lastly, this book is not drab and has some humour in it.

Before I started reading this book I had some idea about ATM. Author explains from scratch giving good background about basic communication systems and then starts with why ATM? ,ATM protocol ,reference model and AALx. Finally covering the current trend in home computing . In generally this book is good start for the people who knows IP and whats to know about ATM and this is a good self study book.

I am an Telco engineer implementing adsl and cable modem networks for broadband access service in China. The book came just in time for me because my company is in the stage of building an ATM network providing service like Internet surfing and experimental vod etc via adsl and cable modem. And this book has given us quite clear an infrastructure for the practice.

I am a teacher and consultant to the telecom industry. I bought the book to sharpen my skill set and increase literacy. I was most impressed with Mr. Kwok's ability to take a highly technical subject and break it down understandably. The end result is that both the "techno-literati" and the "average Joe" are well-served. Mr. Kwok apparently is one of us "techies" who also paid attention in writing class. Kudos for an excellent reference work.

Don Gilbert M.S. DG Consulting

This book brings together articles from all aspects of digital audio from a multitude of authors into one volume. To find the same information you would have to dig through countless journals and troll the web, thus this book's first service is saving time for the researcher. Most books on digital audio focus on one particular audience - the programmer, the signal processing professional, or the recording professional. This book has a variety of articles from all of these fields. Thus it is likely that not every article will be interesting and useful to everyone, but the book should have enough articles of value to make it worthwhile to anyone interested in this fascinating field. The author himself cites Andrew Glassner's "Graphic Gems" series as an inspiration, and you could indeed rename this series "Audio Gems" and not lose any meaning by the retitling.

Of course, there are articles on the basic science of sound that should be of interest to anyone starting out in the field such as "Understanding the Decibel" and "Sound Propagation". Those interested in signal processing and programming of algorithms will enjoy Perry Cook's "Introduction to Physical Modeling" which condenses much of the material in his book "Real Sound Synthesis for Interactive Applications" into one digestible introductory article. Included are some of Cook's programs that assist in physical modeling, but he saves his real contribution to this field, his Synthesis Toolkit in C++, for volume two of this series. Likewise Albert Bregman's extensive research on the subject of auditory scene analysis is condensed nicely in the article "Perceptual Organization of Sound" and acts as an accessible introduction. My personal interest is in synthesis and signal processing, thus from my perspective I found the article "Timbre Trees: Integrating Sounds and Images" to be the most interesting article of the bunch. It explained a fascinating concept I had never heard of before involving an integrated approach to motion and sound. The entire concept is not explained in this one article, but there are references to other sources of information if you want to learn more details. This is the whole purpose of this book and its series - to introduce the reader to a topic in digital audio via a clear article, and then refer the reader to more in depth material outside the scope of the book should you need to know more. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in the field of digital audio.

This book is a great book for anyone that works with digital audio. Audio Anecdotes introduces us to the practical side of audio. Just take a look at the Table Of Contents to see that there are papers on a wide variety of topics. Each of the 25 papers are written by experts in their respective fields, and each provides practical tips for creating great sounding audio. These tips aren't ideas that are obvious even to those with years of experience in the field- many of them come from years of research. In addition to the tips and techniques, Audio Anecdotes is filled with example code so you can play around and hear exactly what the authors are writing about. The CD-ROM comes with demos and explanations for most of the topics as well as the software to compile and run each demo. The software includes Caliper (a custom, text-based program used for controlling demo parameters), Flavor (a language, based on C++ and Java, great for multimedia applications), Octave (a language similar to MatLab), the PortAudio Library (a C library for audio I/O), and STK (Synthesis Toolkit- a set of C++ classes used for audio synthesis and processing). Whether you're going to use all this software or if you're simply looking for some practical mixing tips, I recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about the practical side of digital audio.

Audio Anecdotes: Tools, Tips, And Techniques For Digital Audio is an anthology of essays by a wide variety of expert authors concerning the exciting field of digital audio, lessons that can be learned from its past, discoveries directly applicable in the present, and anticipation of new changes in the future. Cutting-edge, practical, advice-filled instructionals include "Timbre Trees: Integrating Sounds and Images", "RampTest: Quantifying Audio Performance", "Designing a Movie for Sound", "Perceivable Auditory Latencies" and much more. A highly recommended supplementary educational text for anyone pursuing or involved in a career in the digital audio field, Audio Anecdotes is clearly an excellent addition to career-themed professional libraries as well as audio technology and technical reference shelves.

Ken Greenebaum, who co-edited this book with Ronen Barzel, and wrote some of the articles, indicates in the preface that his motivation for putting Audio Anecdote together was to get the book he had wished for when he was starting out in digital audio. What he came up with is a wide-ranging collection of 25 articles on various aspects of sound--what it is, how we hear it, how it affects us, how it can be produced and altered, and how it can fool us. Some of the articles are rigorously scientific and technical, while others really are anecdotal and personal. Most significantly there is a wealth of information about the manipulation of sound, and there is some history of the development of our understanding of sound.

Most of the material is aimed at people who have an intense interest in audio, and audio reproduction and development, and who already have some knowledge. However this book also works well for a rank beginner (such as myself). The articles are clear and well-presented with many black and white illustrations, tables, diagrams, and mathematical formulas, not to mention programming code! There is a glossary and there is some overlap in the "anecdotes." For example, after a brief overview of the book, Greenebaum begins with an introductory-like article on what sound is and how we measure it. This is followed by a more technical article by Hesham Fouad entitled "Understanding the Decibel." This in turn is followed by Greenebaum's essay on "Sound Propagation." His exploration of the physics involved is clear and easy to read.

One of the many things that I discovered is that "When we speak on the telephone, a portion of our voice output is intentionally played back to us through the earpiece." Derek DiFilippo and Greenebaum explain in their article, "Perceivable Auditory Latencies" that "If we didn't have a clear sense of hearing ourselves speak, we would tend to talk louder and louder because we [would] assume that the listener on the other end...[wouldn't be able to] hear us either." (pp. 74-75)

I also learned (from Oscar-winning sound director Randy Thom in his article, "Designing a Movie for Sound") that the wise film maker should make his movie with sound in mind pre-production, not as something added on afterward. As Thom points out, in the great cinematic experiences, "the visual and aural elements are working together so well that it is nearly impossible to distinguish them." (p. 406) He mentions the opening of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) and the bird attack scene in Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), and the opening of David Fincher's Seven (1995) as examples. And I can't help adding the striking opening sequence from Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter (1973) as another preeminent example of how sound can be as important, or even more important, than visuals in making a scene a lasting experience.

Included with the book is a CD that you can listen to with examples of sounds keyed to the discussions in the articles. The effect of latency ("the time between human input to a system...and system output," p. 65) and many other sound phenomena are demonstrated in the most effective way possible--by hearing them.

Special mention might be made of writer Adrienne Ross's personal contribution, "Understanding Hearing Losses and Hearing Gains...," which truly is an anecdote, beautifully written about her discovery of a hearing defect that she had lived with most of her life without realizing it. The fact that she had compensated for the defect by using her other senses, dramatically demonstrates how our experience of sound is not isolated from our other sensual experiences.

This CD has been in heavy rotation since deciding to teach our toddler son French. He was five months old when purchased and we didn't begin to play it until he was six months old. I wish we hadn't waited! The songs are sung beautifully by both the male and female singers. In addition to the adult singers, there is also a child that sings songs.

The CD comes with the lyrics for each song in both French and English which I find to be extremely helpful.

My favorite feature is the "Parentese." I am not fluent in French, but am learning, and I like that I am able to speak to my child in phrases other than the standard ones taught in a college course.

I wanted a foreign language CD for my 1 year old and purchased this after reading the reviews. The CD is very pleasant to listen to, even for adults. It has a variation of songs and rhymes, and different people singing/speaking them, so it doesn't seem repetitive the way some other children's CDs are. The sound quality is good and you can follow the words relatively well, which was important to me. I liked it so much I bought the Spanish version, which I'm still reserving decision on. So far I like the French version better.

I bought this as it looked like a well-suited option to help introduce French to my 6 month old twin girls... after having taken so many years of French, they were my inspiration to start them off right with it -- from the beginning. They had listened to this CD almost daily and continue to enjoy dancing to it occasionally as 2.5 year olds now. As soon as I put it in upon arrival, I was very pleased... the booklet explains in an hour's read how best to expose your children to another language and the CD is well-produced. The sound quailty is great, the male and female singers have pleasing voices that I (a 30 year old father) can handle... and they are native French speakers! All in all a nice blend of quick paced songs, calm songs, quick phoenetical rhymes -- I recommend it hands down.

This is the same thing as Baby's First Steps in French! Different title, same thing. It even says that customers who bought this, also bought 'First Steps,' so don't be misled... Amazon seriously needs to let customers know that this is a revised edition, so others don't make the same mistake I did, which is to make two purchases of the same item.

That said, my 4 and a half month old, seems to like listening to the songs, and I enjoy it, as well. :)

Great book for learning how to get around in Italy. I am currently using this book in a nightschool I am currently going to, and it is helping out greatly!!!!!

This book is a very good reference book for all travelers. It has everything for a traveler plus a little bit of grammar for someone studying Italian . We are using this book in a night school class I am currently taking. Si,I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good solid backround in Italian for when they go to Italy. Buona fortuna!

I bought this book in conjunction with a very very primary Italian language course, and ended up getting more from the book than I did from the course. The book is well laid out in the sense that every chapter is the logical followup to the previous one, and you get a great sense of confidence because it's such a great teacher, and makes it so easy to get to love the language. By halfway through the book, I was able to hold conversations with native Italians. I must find out if there's a similar book on Spanish!!!

I would recommend this book to anyone just starting to learn Italian because the book gives a great summary along with lists of eveyday vocabulary with timely quizzes to test yoour memory of the material. Although I speak Molise Dialect this book really helped and is helping me on my formal Italian. My father Henry DiOrio who was born in Italy and speaks Italian, Swahili, Hebrew,and English fluently says this is a great book to use if you are someone who wants to start learning Italian. I am using this book in a night school class I am currently enrolled with my friends Sandro DiFrangia and Tony Rinella,two other Italophiles who also share a high opinion of this great book. Buona Fortuna e Arrivederla

I recently purchased Camtasia Studio 5: The Definitive Guide because I started a new job developing web demos for a software company. Though I was familiar with Camtasia Studio, I had no prior experience working with it prior to this job. I bought the guide hoping it would help, and boy did it ever! I was able to create a professional demo within weeks of starting my job. The guide really helped me understand Camtasia Studio and it gave great tips (on reducing the file size, recording in small dimensions for web demos, buying the right equipment for audio recording, etc.) that I would have never even thought about without the guide. My demos are probably 100 times better than they ever would have been without this book. Thanks definitely goes to Daniel Park for writing such a helpful guide!

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RAJ86RVFKB2GH A quick screen-capture about why this book is indispensible to creating good screen-captures.

This book is the definitive guide to Camtasia Studio 5.x
Camtasia Studio V 5.1

When I first purchased the Camtasia Studio 5 I had no idea how to use it. This book goes in-depth to teach you all the functions of the software. It even gives you excercises to do as you learn them. If you want to learn everything there is to learn about Camtasia Studio then this is the book for you.

This is a very well written book, in language that is easy to understand with hints and cautions that allows you to avoid any pit falls.
Well worth the money

For a beginning text, this provides a reasonably quick start for the beginning western learner. There are many frequently used phrases which you can just memorize and then later substitute different words. There are two flaws for the beginner in purchasing this book. First, the edition I have is all in pinyin with no introduction to Chinese characters. Some introduction to the characters is needed to add richness to the learning as well as to move on after completing the book. In this latest edition I see a reference in the description that some introduction to characters may now be included. The second flaw is more significant for the serious learner. After completing the book there is no migration path to the elementary and intermediate level. This is the situation I experienced. If you are serious about the Chinese language, then I would consider the Integrated Chinese series or the Ni Hao series which will take you from the beginning all the way through intermediate levels. Overall though, it is a good starting book for the beginning learner of Mandarin Chinese.

This book is very informative and a great learning tool for those just beginning to learn Chinese. The text is organized well and there is a handy dictionary in the back of the textbook.

The book is very down to earth and helpful for learning Chinese . The author approached Chinese via Communicative Learning Approach, which is very crucial for people who
want to acquire Chinese oral/aural skills.

This text is well-formatted to give useful phrases for common dialogue. It has focused, short lessons that lead you through an idea and get you communicating quickly. It also includes cultural notes and some more important linguistic notes, (though it is not a heavy-duty linguistics book). It really delivers quickly with phrases you can use and understand right away. For pronunciation, though, I would recommend the tapes as well.