Used Books

If you are a parent with a child about to enter college, you would be a fool not to purchase this indispensible tool to financial literacy. Take it from me. I've already got three kids at universities across America. The one thing you want to avoid is a desperate call from your son or daughter seeking thousands of dollars to cover an outrageous credit card bill. "Please Send Money" is an easy-to-read book with many (often entertaining) stories illustrating every key point. You don't even realize you're learning!!!!

I checked this book out at the library and found it very interesting. Some of the youth don't know about money management because no one is showing them. Our eductaion system tells us how to work hard for money; it doesn't teach us how to make money work for us. So many of us, even when we become older are grappling with debt and Congress recently passed a bill that that doesn't help make the financial situation any better.
This is a good reference book for both young and mature adults. It helps the young how to manage money and it is also helpful for parents as a guide to teach underage children.
We need to be aware of credit card companies that market to the young preying on their financial illiteracy. It is up to us, parents and teachers to take action and let them know about money management before they come out of college with additional debt they don't need.

Moving out on your own for the first time is stressful enough, without having to constantly worry about money. However, as Dara Duguay says in her book, Please Send Money: A Financial Survival Guide for Young Adults on Their Own, money is a huge problem amoung young people. I was surprised to learn how many college students accumulate thousands of dollars in debt, often getting in over their head by using credit cards irresponibly. Although personal finance can be confusing and full of dangers for young people, this book shows readers how to avoid common problems and set up and manage a budget. Duguay teaches about the dangers of credit cards, loans, and how to deal with bankruptcy. Through many real-life stories, she illustrates that financial problems can effect anyone. However, by creating a budget for yourself, learning about loans and credit cards, and overcoming the temptation to spend too much, young people can learn to handle their money responsibly. I would definitely recommend this helpful, easy-to-read book to anyone, especially young people, who want to learn more about personal finance.

This book was good to read. It is very informative for young adults. I know that this will be very helpful to me next year at college. I liked this book because it was very helpful in demonstrating what should not be done when creating personal financing. The only reason I did not give this book five stars was because while it did say what not to do, I only noticed four instances of when the book mentioned a person doing something correct from the start. Throughout the book the author, Dara Duguay, would tell a person's tale of how they screwed up their financing. Then she would explain how that particular situation could have been better handled. In each of the four instances of someone handling their finances well, it was merely to compare that person to another that didn't do so well.
Overall I liked the book. It gives good advice and is rather easy to read. The lessons the book tries to convey are understood quite well by its target audience (teens). I am glad that I read this book, I will take to heart most of the lessons it teaches.

"Please Send Money!" is a great book for high school seniors to read before they go off to college and are confronted with financial situations of their own.

This book does a great job of relating that material to the age group for which it was written. The book also includes many personal stories and accounts which help the material come together. I feel it would be worthwile for anyone, especially college students, because it explains how to best maintain a positive financial status. The best thing about this book that is it's easy to read and doesn't drag on.

Even though this book is about a boring topic, money, it actually kept me entertained. The facts in this book are very necessary to know, and it taught me a lot. It made me very fearful of credit cards and bankruptcy. This book gives useful advice about maintaining a balanced budget, while still leaving room for fun. It also talks about investing early in the stock market.

The most useful section of this book is the chapter on saving. No savings is a common problem for students and this book deals a lot with how much and when to start saving. I liked how this book gave solutions for any teenager on any budget. It gave options such as investing only $2 per day and still becoming a millionaire by age 65. It seemed like there was someone for everyone.

Another very important chapter is that about investing in the stock market. The book discussed "not putting all your eggs in one basket" and diversifying your money. The best part about this section was the book did not use only "Wall Street Lingo" but also common place words. It was easy to understand, and that is a huge plus for a financial book for college students.

This book was definately worth the [money] because in the end it could help you to make millions. The only bad this about this book was that it made me very fearful of credit cards and debt. :)

It was fast
It was what I ordered
Im happy, they're happy
Win Win!

I used this book in my professional practice class and a co-worker of mine borrowed it to study for the NCIDQ - she said many of the ethical and business related questions that appeared on the test were covered in this book. It is really well written and easy to follow. The CD has good resources, like mock invoices and POs that you can open and edit.

thick book,man. I have to carry it to school for my class.
it has all need about Inerior Design profession

The reviewer prior to myself I feel summed it up best when describing this book. The author has written the book as if she's always been your trusted friend. She writes in a way as if she is actually talking to you.

Other books I've read often come across a bit too technical and slightly over my head. This one is more down-to-earth, packed with good advice, and one can sense her sincere concern for the reader to understand.

I really love the entire book, especially the chapter dealing with ethics. Since there are many "seasoned" designers who seem to lack ethical conduct, this book is great for beginners and veterans alike.

I have practiced interior design for over 20 years and still found this book to be invaluable. The information about legal ramifications and insurance coverage was enlightening but also sobering. It's a must read for any design firm principal or freelance designer.

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT I'VE EVER PURCHASED FROM AMAZON, AND I MUST SAY THAT I AM COMPLETELY SATISFIED WITH MY PURCHASE. THE BOOK WAS IN PEFECT/BRAND NEW CONDITION AS DESCRIBE.

I received this book in only three days and it was in better condition than described...Not to mention the awesome price that I got for the book and expedited shipping!! My school wanted $113.00 for the book...psshhh.

This text is required for Psych 103 at Stony Brook Univ., LI, NY
It is excellent.

If you've ever wanted to learn as much as possible from an introductory textbook in the area of Psychology, look no more. This book has served as a tremendous assistant for Psychology, and various other areas of study where psychology is certainly related. If you enjoy learning about cognitive and other behavioral functions of the body, this book is a perfect match!

The authors' use of case studies and real-life examples makes this more than a textbook -- and much more readable than one. I found myself excited about reading each chapter. And I know I'll be looking up things in it in the future. My only quibble is that I found many copyediting errors that I hope the publisher will fix for future editions.

I bought this book as a graphic design student upon a teacher's recommendation and it saved my butt on many a homework project when I needed to figure out how to get something done. I've since gone on to become a professional graphic designer and though I'm up to QuarkXPress 6.5 this book is still valid and has still come in handy for looking up the odd hotkey or some odd paragraph formatting.

The book is clean and concise and very logically ordered. The index in the back makes it very easy to find what you're looking for and if you can't think of the name for something you can find it easily by browsing since the book is so well organized.

Each element is plainly described and accompanied by a picture - don't let the greyscale images fool you, they get directly to the point so you can see exactly how to accomplish something.

I've seen a lot of XPress books out there, many 5-times the thickness of this book but all those other books seem to add superfluous text just to fill pages where this book gets to the point. Of all my books for design and design software, this has by far been my most helpful and most used.

Just what I needed to learn QuarkXPress!

If you're like me, and you'd rather jump into a manual than sit in a classroom, then this Visual Quick-Start is for you. This is the fourth VQS book I've bought and it doesn't disappoint. Actually, I'm a Quark Xpress power user, but needed to train some non-design trained coworkers on basic Quark usage. The simple step-by-step sections are easily digested and build on each other as you progress. Alternately it serves as a great reference is you just want to learn how to do a single task.

I bought this book as a last resort because my Computer Graphics professor told us we would need lots of tutoring in order to pass with good grades. I was totally "Quark illiterate" before taking this course and buying the book. Honestly, this book explains a lot more than a tedious 3 week course in class could. The book has taken me step-by-step through all the process of learning style-sheets and type-boxes. This is all stuff I would have never been able to learn if not for the book itself.

Elaine Weinmann's very well illustrated and easy to read/follow excersises are what any student needs to reach their goal in QuarkXPress. My copy is different in color to the one sold here, but it looks exactly like the one my professor uses.
And, because the book is not really that thick, it can fit in either a backpack or a briefcase. The only main problem I have with the book itself is the paper-back style. It will fray and dog-ear pretty fast, so take good care of this "Bible for Quark".

And...for those whom are not too sure of their Keyboard shortcuts, thank God, they put them in the back of the book.
At least I don't have to search my binder for my photocopies! That little extra is a Godsend. Especially when you are being tested on the shortcuts.

Get the book. Hope my review helped you.

I'm a graphic design student and bought this book to aid me with the learning process of Quark. I found the book helpful and easy to read. There are parts that need more work, but it explains how to do things step by step. A beginner can use this book to guide him/her through the process of making a layout and using all the tools available in Quark.

An excellent exploration of the meaning, possibilities, and problems of postmodernism, free from jargon and caricature. My only complaint: Isn't it time for a new edition? The book was published in 1995, meaning it was probably actually written in the early 90s or even late 80s. Most of its examples from "current events" and pop culture are of 1980s vintage or even earlier. Many of these examples would themselves require explanation for people younger than, say, dirt.

I assume that the author was pretty old even then, so he might be dead or retired now. But the topic is still relevant, and this is an excellent introduction to it. We need an update. For example, what has been the impact of 9/11 and related events on postmodern culture and thought? Or the coming ecological meltdown that was mere conjecture in 1995, but is an imminent certainty now?

Of all the writings on the subject of postmodern thought I found this text to be of invaluable worth. It conveys the ideas of post modernism in lucid everyday english rather then having its messeges veiled in the recondite jargon of academia. It is a distillation of the rudimentary ideas that run through all strands of post modern thought. As a neophyte to the subject, I found this book far more useful then any other cultural theorist's longwinded and wordy treatise. Other vital introductory texts on this subject are Anderson's "The Truth about the Truth" as well as "Teach Yourself Postmodernism" by Glenn Ward. With these books under your belt, Derrida, Foucalt et al won't seem nearly as daunting as before...and you will start to see how much they obfuscate their messeges in labyrinths of language.

Many books and/or their reviews glibly claim to "change your life". This one doesn't explicitly make any such promises, but change my life it has. More specifically, it has changed the way I look at life and the world. Postmodernism has brought about radical and sweeping changes, whether we realise it or not. This is a book that blows the lid on reality in terms of the paradigms that most of us have grown up with, and within which humanity has come to understand religion, politics, history and culture. Indeed, it is a timely and sobering deconstruction of many of the illusions (or Socially Constructed Realities) that people across time and cultures have come to regard as sacred and infallible. Its purpose is not to deconstruct for the promotion of its own paradigm or belief system (though I suppose an element of that is inseparable from any such undertaking). One of the most enduring images from the book is the description of a postmodern art piece which shows a hand drawing a hand that is drawing a hand. What a striking metaphor for the postmodern world, and indeed for epochs that have gone before us. Where indeed is the line between objective, absolute 'reality' and that which is subjectively constructed? Does it and can it exist for human beings at all? Whatever else may be said, this is a book that challenged me and stimulated me to think about all aspects of modern life in new and profound ways. If you are anything like me and read books which do that very thing, then believe me - this one is for you.

This book was published almost twenty years ago and I only wish I had found it sooner. Written in an easy-to-read and understandable style, it covers the influence of post-modern thinking on politics, pop culture, religion, art and philosophy, among other areas. Powerfully, Anderson makes the argument that everyone has their own version of reality, carefully providing examples from everyday life. For example, he contrasts the objectivist (there are a few perfect rules that everyone must obey) and the constructivist (aware that many rules are part of a socially constructed reality), the exoteric religions (Christianity and Islam - God said so, it must be true) and esoteric religions (Zen Buddhism - a personal journey without judgement).

Why is this important? Because of most of the tension in the world comes from the differences of opinion between six main groups he has outlined: Christianity, Islam, capitalism, communism/socialism, environmentalism and new age. All of these groups passionately believe in the truth of their message and would like the entire world to conform to their thinking. In the end, the book makes you wonder where all this will lead to -- complete freedom is a beautiful thing that makes many people uncomfortable.

Get this book, take it to a quiet beach and you won't see the world the same way again.

I first stumbled upon this book by accident, read a few pages, and was amazed, amused, aghast and (forgive me) agog! Written in 1993, the author's observations and predictions (although he wasnt trying to be prophetic) were accurate and correct -- especially the section about whatit would "take" to get Americans to support a war - and how long (or short) the govt. could keep the people from getting fed up. He said it would take something like Pearl Harbor -- of that magnitude in order for teh govt to whip up enough support for a vindictive invasion/assault etc. He was right about that! That's just one small section -- the entire book is fascinating, easy to read, and explains the fracas over Globalization better than any other book I've read.
Buy it.

I was a hitch-hikn' looking for Sissy out there somewhere and along comes this book with the upside down fish-hook on it and I finally had the term for my favorite piece of women's clothing (i.e. 'the upper tenth of a pair of levis').

Ten years later I was having babies and was reading The Brothers K with my son asleep on my chest.

Now, well beyond that divorce, I find "home" in David's stories in River Teeth. His attention to me not his characters is extremely evident through his writing. I can still get chills up my spine just thinking about that Oregon concert when the lightning and thunder peeled...

This book is a collection of short non-fiction pieces and short fiction pieces. Although that combination is an unusual format for a book, it works well. Duncan is an outstanding writer and this book illustrates his talents. I love the book so much, I've bought several copies over the years to give to friends. All of the pieces are good, and every baseball fan or anyone who has a sibling should read "The Mickey Mantle Koan," included in the book.

When DJD writes about a game of catch the ball burns my hand thru the mitt. When his story is about wading up a trout stream, my neck gets hot from the sun on it, I can hear the mosquitos whine, and my feet go numb from the cold water. He writes books that I could live in and I don't even play baseball. Or fish.

as I read this book. Although I don't like fishing (Duncan's favorite subject), I do like good stories. And Duncan knows how to write them. This book is easy to read because it is a compilation of short stories, albeit some better than others. But all the stories are worth reading at least once. And believe me, after the first time, you will be returning to read a few of the stories over and over. I know I did.

On a long trip up and down the west coast I picked this book up in a shabby bookstore in the hills of San Francisco on a lonely rainy night. It gave me a strange and warm comfort as I battled my way through the vicous rain for the last two weeks of my trip. The book is erre in ways I cannot explain, simply because you read it and understand it so well. Everything Duncan describes has been a part of all our lives somewhere, somehow. This book deeply moved me, and though I was mearly 16 on that rainy night I can never escape the vivid imagery of Duncan's voice.

For many years the world behind the Iron Curtain was a mystery. There were Sovietologists of all different kinds. One famous Daniel Bell essay gave I believe eight or so different basic ways of interpreting the Soviet Union. Hedrick Smith is a reporter and what he did in this outstanding work was to look into the ordinary life of Soviet society as far as he could. He explained then close to thirty years ago many of the anomalies of the system. And when I read the book then I felt I really was getting inside information into a hidden and highly significant world.

I cannot claim to be a student of Russian history, but I have always foudn the ironies and disconnects of Russian life interesting. I just read this book in 2004, and now understand today's headlines from Russia, and their nostalgia for the order of the brutal regimes that preceded the fall of the Soviet Union. This is, as someone else said, a classic, a must read, a requirement for anyone who needs to understand Russia. Don't worry about it being date; part of Russian culture is that they cling hopelessly to the old while being swept cruelly away by the new. The attitudes and longings portrayed in this book appear to still be the same.

I have been a student of the Soviet Union for many years, but did not come across this book until very recently, and I must say that I feel this one book does more to provide a picture of Soviet life than perhaps all the other study I had done previously.

While it is true that there is an "American bias" to this book, it isn't overpowering, and it leaves room for the "unbiased" student to draw plenty of their own conclusions. Overall I find this to be the least biased of all the western histories of the Soviet Union.

What I found most fascinating was the distinct parallel between American conservatives (who of course are anti-Marxist) and Russian conservatives of the time (where were very pro-Marxist).

As a student of Marxism, I fully understand this, but this book demonstrated it so well. In mentality, its safe to say that many of America's far right Republicans would have been among the USSR's Marxist orthodoxy.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Soviet Union, it will dispell myths on both sides.

Hendrick Smith is a New York Times correspondent that spent the years 1970-75 living in and among the Soviet people, studying both the people and the culture. As much as a westerner could he immersed himself in many aspects of their lives interviewing workers, peasants, government beaurocrats, physicists, writers, movie producers, dissidents and students. He came away with a picture of a passionate and conflicted people; at times warm and hospitible, fearful and paranoid, petty and tyrannical, cynical and apathetic, and proud and loyal. In a country where the state is in overwhelming control of nearly every aspect of their lives, where a stroke of the pen from a government beaurocrat could destroy a man's life for the slightest misstep, the Russian are hardy souls that have found many ingenious ways to cope and survive.

In a supposedly classless utopia Smith shows us a country deeply divided by class distinctions, much more so than anywhere in the west. With a haughtiness that rivals the most snobbish western aristocrat, the cultural elite enjoy a life that is completely out of reach of the common man. They get to shop at special stores, stocked to the gills with imported goods from all over the world (Soviet made items considered beneath them) while the rest of the country spends on average 22 hours a week per household standing in line for basic necessities. The blatant corruption and hypocrisy is startling, but don't you dare voice it. Smith claims that just a few weeks of this type of living would wither away the will of your average American, and I believe him.

Only a westerner living among the Soviet people could write such a book. He tells of his 11-year-old daughter, enrolled in a Soviet public school, coming home and practising military drills taught as a regular part of the curriculum, or repeating songs and slogans extolling the `Great Leninist State' and condemning America without really comprehending the meaning of anything she's saying. Soviets are taught from an early age to simply parrot the idealogical dogma that is fed to them on an almost daily basis without digging too deeply. The Russians are so used to being lied to by their own government that they assume all nations lie to their people, and the Soviet government uses this political cynicisim as an effective means of control.

Although many of these `facts' about life in the USSR are fairly common knowledge in America (especially if you grew up during the Reagan years), Smith puts a human face on it that transforms this grey, drab, and seemingly monotonous totalitarian state into a vivid and colorful mosaic of a sincere, intelligent and deeply conflicted people with a communal inferiority complex

Although this book is now rather dated (from the Brezhnev era of the 1970s) it still sticks in my mind as a very vivid portrait of Russia and the Russians...I read it in my late teens circa 1989 or so. I didn't read THE NEW RUSSIANS until a couple of years ago. Both are excellent books but I enjoyed THE RUSSIANS more, I think. Any student of Russia would do well to read this book even today...although it's no longer contemporary/current events it still captures like a snapshot the then-USSR in the late 70s, and even some discussion of the earlier times in people's memories then--Krushchev, Stalin, etc. I found the book insightful and still relevant when I myself I finally visited Russia in 1993. Should be available at most Public Libraries...handle with care, the copies will be old.

I read this book over 20 years ago. It was my introduction to Samuel Johnson. The book inspired my deep devotion to Johnsonia. The subject, I now know, is fascinating; for over two centuries biographies of Johnson have never been out of print. But this book caught my attention and fixed it. It is a moving portrait of a person like all of us except with greater disabilities and greater strength and, after years of struggle, greater triumphs.

I urge anyone with an interest in English literature or 18th century England or in the heights to which a honest and brave man can reach to make the effort to read this book. It is, at the very least, a good read. It may also make ytou a better person.

I found this in out annual library sale for $1. I look forward to reading it based on the reviews here on Amazon. I suspect he is the famous Dr. Johnson that was said to disprove Berkeley by kicking a rock? Yes.

This biography has everything: meticulous scholarship, incisive literary criticism, and a prose style that recalls the days when professors could actually write a beautiful sentence.

The weaknesses are very few. At times Bate's analysis can "sprawl," as he once put it, especially when he tries to apply Freud while discussing Johnson's "self-demand" (an intriguing concept that never really explains Johnson's indolence satisfactorily). Also, Bate tends to defend the Thrales even when they come off poorly, which is surprisingly often. Finally, a bit more on Johnson's relationship with Edmund Burke would have been welcome, for these two geniuses were all too aware of each other's greatness.

But these are only minor quibbles. Altogether an inspiring achievement, and a testament to the heights that only the humanities reach.

Samuel Johnson was a brilliant critic, perhaps the greatest English writer after Shakespeare, a fascinating eccentric, and a genuinely heroic man. The great merit of Mr. Bate's biography is that he succeeds in the magical illusion of bringing Johnson alive again, giving us a vivid sense of what it might have been like to know him.

The highest praise for this book is the regret you will feel when the pages end and Johnson's great figure bows out. The biography is that rare item, a genuinely inspiring book.

I always wondered how anyone dare write a biography of Samuel Johnson since Boswell's Johnson is arguably the single greatest volume in all biographical literature. I now understand a bit better how this can be done , thanks to W.Jackson Bate.
Boswell presented Johnson as he knew him and heard him. He was a living witness who both worshipped the great man, and knew how to draw him out. Boswell is presented Johnson as he appears to contemporaries, in a way Johnson 'live'.
Walter Jackson Bate is doing something different. He is taking all the accumulated knowledge of Johnson, and using whatever techniques modern psychological and literary approaches give for understanding the human personality.
He is telling the story in a more detailed , systematic way and in a way which aims at a kind of deeper comprehension.
What he does is provide insights into the life and character of one of the most fascinating and loveable characters of all English Literature.
Physically huge and powerful, and yet tremendously vulnerable emotionally, a person at once strictly critical in his evaluations of others and of literature, and yet suddenly surprisingly kind in care for friends and misfortunates, Johnson is many paradoxes. But what fascinates above all is his tremendous genius, his great mental and linguistic power in presenting an understanding of Literature as vital to Life.
He is certainly one of English Literature greatest 'characters' and 'creators' as this work makes abundantly clear.

I have a bachelors degree in Math.

As Feynman said, what we really mean by math is careful reasoning. This book brings you the joy of careful reasoning, guided by an expert.

Perhaps what turns some people off math in school is that the supreme example of careful reasoning is the mathematical PROOF. (Or perhaps it's just that most math teachers are so poor.) A proof tends to look dull and ponderous on the outside, and a student can easily miss the beauty of the underlying ideas. On the other hand, for your own amusement you can figure something out to your own satisfaction, without necessarily constructing a watertight proof. This book helps you do just that.

Many newspapers contain Sudoku problems, often with the reassuring claim that no math is required! People who hated math in school can be seen working happily on Sudoku puzzles, for the sheer joy of exercising their ability to reason carefully. The same ability would bring them far more joy while reading this book and answering the puzzles/exercises spinkled throughout.

This text is non-intimidating as an introduction to topology. Weeks carefully guides the reader through the building blocks of torii, Moebius strips, projective planes, and other surfaces. After working appropriate exercises, the reader gets a chance to visualize 3-manifolds and connected sums. Some aspects of these two topics can be difficult to explain, but analogies are applied to make understanding attainable. Further, figures and illustrations exist throughout the text, and these are definitely helpful for visualizing connected sums and non-orientable surfaces (both one-sided and two-sided).

(I especially like the approach to the Gauss-Bonet theorem using double lunes. It is a carefully crafted derivation with plenty of illustrations to avoid confusion.)

Some may think this text is too simple, but it is a "must read" for anyone who has not encountered topology and who wants to do individual research on the topic. Many texts claim to be introductory texts, but they are actually designed for those who already have a degree in math and who have seen similar subject matter. However, this one is definitely for "newbies." So don't worry.

This is a great book for anyone who is interest in Mathematical Topology and Cosmology Topology. This book does not require a reader to have strong mathematics knowledge. It only requires a reader to have patience to think and solve some problems in the book. The most brilliant point in this book is using diagrams to illustrate the Topology concepts, such as Manifold. This help the reader to get a "feeling" of some really difficult concepts in Topology. This book should be a classic like "Flatland".

chris tam
hong kong

This is a painless way to learn some advanced topology--or at least to gain insight. It's almost a picture book. Most problems include solutions and require only a few minutes of thought. They are also worth solving.

Now that I understand what is meant be a certain topology of the cosmos, I'm astounded that anybody actually considers it possible. Fascinating.

This is a very good book for people whom have a light background in math. It is a readable book and great introduction into manifolds and torus. As a mathematican I am amazed with the quality of material, examples, and thus provide one with the ability to understand the topics. I plan to use this book and some of its topics in future teachings. Thus I recommend this book for anyone especially for people who struggle with math.

Out of maybe a few hundred, this is probably the funniest book I have ever read. I remember reading it late at night in my parents house, trying to stifle my laughter so I wouldn't get in trouble for waking people up. "...a cry went up from the sleaze-mavens"

With this book, you could argue that John Waters is a better writer than he is a film maker.

This book is impossible to describe in one word. It's no surprise that Water's life is funnier, and more bizare then any of his films can ever hope to be. We learn about Baltimore life, his childhood, Divine, Edith Masey, Pink Flamingos,Desperate Living,and more. THIS needs to be his next film project! The only thing sad about this book is that it feels dated at certain parts (especially when it refers to Divine in the present tense, since this was written before he died...and before Cookie Muller died...and Edith Masey). But it remains a fascinating read that really encourages people to feel grateful for living in Baltimore(or makes you wish you lived there).

Shock Value is like Waters' autobiography, mainly focused on his film career. There are only two chapters about his childhood. The book will be very interesting to every Waters fan as it provides in depth looks at the making of several of his earlier films. The book's material is dated, however, since it was written before he completed "Polyester". Waters' updates you in the new introduction though. It is very clean and has few curse words, unlike Waters' films, but is still good. I recommend it.

This book was without a doubt the funniest book I've ever read. Naturally, readers familiar with his movies will get the most out of this book, but there's a lot in there even for those who can't sit through one of his movies. I especially like Waters's tales of his mischief as a lad attending Catholic school. Considering the time, his educational background, and the Baltimore environment, I can really understand how Waters turned out the way he did.

I finished Shock Value only moments ago, and i feel like i should go to baltimore and fall on my knees worshipping Waters and the crew. i thought i was weird...This book focuses on the early years and has truly inspired me to raise myself above the boring muck of semiconformist existence. READ IT