Electronics Books

This book is absolutely essential if you want to understand what television has done to Western Civilization. It is not a rant against shabby programming but a brilliant analysis of what the medium itself does to us, regardless of content. Marc is a compassionate and witty writer and his book deserves to be widely known and discussed.

The main point of Bonfire of the Humanities is that there isn't a difference any more between what used to be called High and Low Culture. These categories might have been hard to define, but at least academics used to know where to put Titus Andronicus and where to put Star Trek.

The Low Culture David Marc is most interested in is television, which he points out controls us by delivering pleasure, not pain, as dystopian literature sometimes predicted.

But there were artists who foresaw how we would get hooked on TV. (Even the expression "hooked on" reduces the viewer to just another plug-in.) I remember a scene in Francois Truffaut's film Fahrenheit 451, where the fireman's wife is is watching/participating in a TV soap opera. The characters stop and address her by name, asking what they should do about the latest plot complication.

What's worse is I don't remember if the scene is in Ray Bradbury's novel, which I read, or not. But I still remember the image from the movie. I've been educated out of the reading culture and into the viewing culture just like the character in Truffaut's film.

What makes Marc's essays so informative (and a lot funnier to read in places than most university press books) is that he isn't a partisan of one culture over the other. He criticizes teachers who have allowed their students to graduate without developing a love for reading and writing as well as the professional curmudgeons who want to limit "education" to some cannon they've decided on.

Did you know that reading Madame Bovary and watching Beavis and Butthead might drive you to the same kind of antisocial behavior? Huh huh huh.

The film critic David Thomson said that there have been two terrible threats to humankind in the second half of the twentieth century - - nuclear weapons and television, and that the way it turned out television was the more insidious, beamed into our brains every day.

I am a doctoral student in English and I teach multiple sections of Freshman Composition. This is the first book this presents a recognizable picture of the contemporary classroom: a place where literacy is taught as a specialist's skill to students immersed in television culture. If you are interested in the future of reading and writing, I recommend this book highly. It is also hilariously funny.

To his credit, Marc, an erstwhile literary scholar, doesn't delve into the pseudo-academic question of whether television is or isn't a cornerstone of contemporary American culture. Instead, he examines what actually has transpired in the US -- the wholesale acceptance (and enjoyment) of the medium -- and describes its impact on the ever changing landscape of the Republic. With an oftentimes acerbic wit, Marc, lifts the curtain on the great Oz, allowing us to see who we are and what we've become, intellectually and culturally, whether we want to admit it or not. Ample notes let the reader discover further musings on the effects of this commonplace appliance. Overall, a brilliant -- if not disquieting -- social critique of Americans and our often reviled, often beloved boob tube.

Mr. Morris is very informative, easy to follow and ,the best part,he's very funny. I keep this book close to my computor at all times. D.Solomo

I had read this book and found very informative. I recommend it to the one who would like to know more about internet

Mr. Morris is very informative, easy to follow and ,the best part,he's very funny. I keep this book close to my computor at all times. D.Solomo

I love this book. If you want to use the internet to enhanceyour off-line reading experience, this book is a wonderful choice. Aguide to authors' sites, incredible on-line literary magazines, on-line libraries, and collections of great reading--real treasures, like Arts & Letters Daily. You'll bookmark a ton of URLs from this book! Plus how to publish your own work on-line. Highly recommended.

Shuji Nakamura worked virtually alone at a small Japanese company in 1992 when he developed the bright blue light-emitting diode, or LED, that may supplant the electric light bulb in home and commercial applications. He was employed by Nichia Chemical Industries in Anan on Japan's southern island of Shikoku. Nichia invested over $1 million in Nakamura's research on indium-gallium-nitride, a compound-semiconductor alloy most other researchers had dismissed as useless for LED manufacturing because of its many defects.

Nakamura modified standard chemical vapor-deposition equipment to achieve the uniform, nanometers-thin layers needed to emit copious blue light. As Johnstone writes: "100 times brighter than commercial silicon-carbide blue LEDs, bright enough to be seen in broad daylight." (Thus, Brilliant!)

Nakamura became a celebrity in Japan. Cree Research, Durham, N.C., the market leader in silicon-carbide blue LEDs, tried to make an alliance with Nichia. When it was rebuffed by Nichia, it tried to hire Nakamura. Nakamura remained loyal to Nichia, and turned out ever brighter and more versatile diodes. By increasing the indium content, for example, he achieved bright green LEDs, and in 1996 he announced the first blue-violet laser diode.

The blue emitting diode is essential to generate bright white light. Red and green light combined in the proper proportions with blue light yields white light. The red and green can come either from other LEDs or from the blue LED itself, using phosphors to convert part of its output to lower-frequency light. LEDs have surpassed incandescent and halogen bulbs in lumens per watt, and reached the levels that only the best fluorescent tubes can attain. Their lifetimes run from 50,000 to 100,000 hours. In widespread use, they could achieve enormous cost savings. A shift to solid-state lighting would also enormously reduce production of greenhouse gases.

Johnstone describes some of the key players in a solid-state lighting industry that grosses $4 billion a year, and promises to grow quickly. Nichia, Cree, Color Kinetics of Boston, Permlight Products of Tustin, Calif., and Carmanah Technologies Corp., in Victoria, B.C., Canada, may be significant players. Johnstone doesn't discuss Royal Philips Electronics, in Amsterdam, which has great researchers, and enormous marketing and manufacturing capabilities.

Johnstone closes the book with Nakamura in 1999 when Nakamura accepts a tenured position as the Cree Professor of Solid State Lighting and Display at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Before he can start his reseraches, Nichia sued him for leaking trade secrets to Cree. Nakamura counter-sued for profits; the case was heard at Japan's highest court amid wide-spread publicity; and it was settled in the early 2005.

Nakamura won the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize and Johnstone suggests that Nakamura may ultimately win a Nobel Prize for his work. Johnstone is a true believer; he thinks that solid state lighting is the most important advance in lighting since Edison. "Nakamura changed the world," claims Johnstone. Writing in "Scientific American", Glenn Zorpette agrees: "Nakamura put together a string of achievements that for genius and sheer improbability is as impressive as any other accomplishment in the history of semiconductor research."

As a general reader, I found this a fascinating, albeit sometimes difficult and confusing, account of that advance.

BRILLIANT! SHUJI NAKAMURA AND THE REVOLUTION IN LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY tells of the evolution of LED technology and how it was stalled over making an LED that would emit the bright blue light needed to make useful white light LEDs - until researcher Shuji Nakamura's key invention which single-handedly created the industry of solid-state lighting. Author Bob Johnstone is the first Western journalist to meet and interview Nakamura, and here provides a powerful blend of science and biography to show how the inventor made his ground-breaking discovery and how LEDs are revolutionizing the world. Any science library strong in invention history needs BRILLIANT!

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I heartily recommend this book for people who are interested in innovation, business, science, technology, etc. The book tells the fascinating story of Nakamura and the impact LEDs are having on the lighting industry.

Part One of the book tells the story of how Nakamura invented the first commercially successful GaN LED. Part Three explains how Nakamura became unwanted at Nichia and how he decided to move to UCSB. Parts Two and Four talk about some of the companies that are using LEDs to make exciting new products. I'll be a nit picker and say the book should be titled "Shuji Nakamura and the *Coming* revolution in Lighting Technology" because the revolution is just starting.

Although LEDs have been around for about four decades and everyone already owns products that incororate them, very few people understand the potential of LEDs and the impact that they will have on lighting over the next few years. The conversion to white LEDs for general lighting is underway. People will want to understand more about this phenomenon as they recognize the impact that LEDs are having on the lighting industry and energy consumption. The good news is that this book will serve as a tutorial for people who want to learn about LEDs.

Brilliant!!! Refreshing!!! Bob Johnstone is correct in espousing Shuji Nakamura as the leader of the LED revolution. Shuji's list of patents and accomplishments in his field far outshine all of his peers put together. Definitely a Nobel Prize in the works for Mr. Nakamura and hopefully a Pulitzer for Mr. Johnstone for his ability to explain this complex subject to the average reader in a true tale of high intrigue! The LED scientific community is still rather small. The competition for the holy grail (replacing the everyday lightbulb) is phenomenal. Bob and Shuji have this unusual, provocative combination that tells the story of this new high tech race. Bob spends quite a few chapters explaining the unusual and life changing ramifications of LED development worlwide. A must read for any investor or those with eco-green concerns!!!

We're a couple of seniors dragged kicking and spamming into the Computer Age. This book, Byte Me, helps to express the rage and confusion we have experienced, and produced great hiccuping gulps of laughter in between. Give it to all the computer friends you know

Byte Me! disproves the theory that computers and comedy don't go together. Just to be able to laugh at something I generally find so frustrating was a great relief--now I no longer have to take it out on random pedestrians. Robert Libbon is a very clever writer, who manages to convey real information while making you laugh. I look forward to his next work

The first time I saw the book Byte Me! I thought it was another one of those 'For Dummies...' titles that helps newbies learn whatever subject they need in complete layman's terms. Not until I picked up the book to peruse the inside contents did I find out what a very funny book it was. Byte me is one of those rare humor books that manages to walk that fine line of good humor and being totally biting sarcasm that pervades most other humor writers of this genre. The author, Robert P. Lippon somehow manages to put in enough factual information with the humor in such a way that almost anyone who has dealt with a computer and it's problems can understand. Reading through most of the book, I saw a lot of things that he wrote that seems to be ironically true about the computer industry when you think about it, stuff like how some tech support lines manage to never answer your call until you finally decide to hang up. Overall this book is a very high reccomendation for anyone who has had to deal with the ups and downs that come with computers or has yet to. Plus if you're looking for a holiday gift or something that will be enjoyed by almost anyone for a special occasion it's almost certain that they'll enjoy this book. For me, this book is just the perfect read while waiting for that tech support guy at IBM to answer my call

Comedy Central and Libbon have hit the nail on the head! Rarely will you find a book that will make you laugh out loud while reading in a room full of people. This book is full of great "bits" regarding the futile efforts to contact a human working for the Tech Support area of your favorite software company as well as a great section on how to exact your revenge from customer service. You will find yourself shaking your head in agreement while you hold your stomach with laughter. Have a good laugh at modern society as well as at yourself with this book. Kudos Libbon!!!!

With its national TV and radio networks, regional and local stations, the BBC is massively influential in the UK and also worldwide through the BBC World Service, ten international TV networks plus international radio services in more than 40 languages as well as its Internet news site.

Robin Aitken, having spent 25 years at the organization, provides well-documented proof of its leftist bias, chronicles his struggle against this partisanship and puts forth suggestions for reform. Important elements of the BBC's world-view include unquestioning support for the European Union and the United Nations, guilt about Britain's imperial past, and an anti-capitalist, anti-religious (except when it comes to Islam), anti-American and anti-Israel stance.

The first chapter covers the broadcaster's history from its establishment to the radical change that took place in the late 1960s and subsequent developments, whilst in the second Aitken recounts his career history at the BBC. A significant change took place in 1987 when the ideological agenda took an even sharper turn to the left. The concerns he raised about ideological bias were contemptuously dismissed, he was falsely accused and even threatened.

Chapter four provides profiles of the broadcaster's senior management, almost all of whom have long-standing connections with leftwing media like The Guardian and with the Labour Party. The BBC's overwhelming support for the European Union is dissected in chapter five that reveals a record of purges and suppression of anti-EU opinion, including that of Eurosceptics in the Labour Party.

The "despised tribes" of the BBC are discussed next. They are Ulster Protestants, Conservative Christians and the Roman Catholic Church in particular, most Americans and all those that the organization considers to be "right-wing." There was also a strong bias in favour of the IRA while balanced debate on immigration, the Middle East, Islam and other uncomfortable issues are avoided. There is no doubt that the BBC is contributing to the alarming spread of antisemitism worldwide, as also documented in The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism by Bernard Harrison.

Like all leftists, those at the BBC believe that their moral values are superior and not to be questioned. Chapter eight provides detailed evidence of how far they will go to twist, lie and distort in order to mislead the public. More evidence from current and previous employees - in their own words and anonymously - is provided in the following chapter.

Aitken concludes that one cannot trust the BBC, especially not on issues relating to Israel, the Iraq war, the European Union, Ulster, the USA or Islam. See also The Other War by Stephanie Gutmann for an analysis of reporting from the Middle East. He provides proposals for change by suggesting for example the introduction of a wider spectrum of balanced views and the redirection of funds to other broadcast media.

The BBC is a national institution in the UK so complete abolition is not even considered. It is still hard to understand why opposition parties and civil society did not more vigorously oppose the use of taxpayers' money to subsidize a self-perpetuating class of ideologues promoting such one-sided views. More information on this matter is available in What's Left?: How Liberals Lost Their Way by Nick Cohen.

What a pity that broadcast deregulation wasn't thoroughly effected in the 1980s. It's the one important area where Margaret Thatcher did not succeed. If she had, the UK and a significant part of the global public would have been better informed and less brainwashed than they are today. I also recommend Scrap the BBC! by Richard D North, whilst Propaganda by Jacques Ellul remains a classic on how people's attitudes are shaped by the media.

The Beeb's Bias

WSJ Online Journal

By ROBIN AITKEN
June 29, 2007

I experienced a sense of vindication recently when I read that the BBC was about to publish a document admitting a pervasive liberal-left bias in its output. As this was the theme of my recent book, "Can We Trust the BBC?," it seemed I would be able to indulge in a spectacular bout of I-told-you-so-ing. Alas, that brief, heady moment proved premature. For while the report is a careful piece of research, it pulls its punches when it comes to bias within its own News and Current Affairs department -- where it matters most. Richard Tait, chairman of the BBC's "Impartiality Steering Group," point-blank denied that there is any bias in its news output. The Beeb has never been distinguished by a culture of robust self-criticism.

I know this from experience: Toward the end of my 25 years as a BBC reporter I began writing a series of internal memos, first to senior news executives and finally to the BBC's Board of Governors, detailing an entrenched liberal-left bias that seriously undermined the BBC's claim to be an impartial news provider. Referring to well-documented incidents, I posed several questions: Why did we keep hiring established left-wing pundits, but never any journalists with right-wing credentials? Why did we use "right wing" as a yah-boo term to mean "anything we don't like"? Why did we never give U.S. actions the benefit of the doubt -- in contrast to our strenuous efforts to be "fair" to Britain's avowed enemies?

The reaction was a studied indifference from everyone up the command chain. In a way, the BBC's attitude makes sense. The most important asset for any news organization is credibility. It is the mortal fear of "brand contamination" which in the past persuaded BBC executives to keep a lid on any discussion of the organization's failure to live up to its obligations to fairness and impartiality.

And there has been wide-scale failure. On every issue of public policy and political controversy, the BBC's instincts are to side with the progressive, liberal wing of politics.
...

The Beeb's reaction to my own book was telling: Not a single BBC outlet has seen fit to interview me, even though the accusations it contains are serious, detailed and sober. As a publicly funded body, the BBC has a duty to engage with its critics, especially on the vitally important issue of impartiality and overall fairness. Until it does so, it will not be prudent to trust the BBC.

Mr. Aitken's "Can We Trust the BBC?" was published by Continuum this year.

I've seen public television and heard public radio on more than one continent. And there are some good and bad aspects to them. On one occasion, I was shocked to hear exit interviews on the radio with voters in a democracy. Although the race was close, the more than one dozen interviewees all were strongly for the same candidate! There was no attempt to show the other side at all! I realized at once that this was both bad and biased reporting. On top of that, the other candidate won!

Recently, I read a book called "The Voyage of the Matthew." It was produced by the BBC. And, of course, the book was recreated on public television. It all seemed pretty good to me, as the BBC often does fine work, although I have to wonder about anything it has a hand in.

According to Robert Aitken, the BBC has a strong political bias. One person Aitken mentions wrote that if it could submit a slate of candidates, their platform would be anti-racist, pro-abortion, pro-women's and gay rights, pro-UN and EU, pro-union and anti-big business, pro-high taxes, pro-government spending and intervention in industry, anti-private education, anti-private health care, pro-local democracy and local councils, pro-multiculturalism and ethnic minorities in general, pro-foreigner and foreign governments, especially if they are left-wing, anti-monarchist, anti-prison, and anti-American.

If this is true, it's not good. Yes, I am a liberal, and I have many of the same political positions. But the BBC is supposed to represent the taxpayers in Great Britain, and those taxpayers deserve coverage of their views. I'd say the same thing about any biased media. As a matter of fact, one only has to look at what the media were like in some Communist nations three decades ago to see how political bias can wreck credibility.

As near as I can tell, the BBC is a participant in a war against Israel. One person is quoted in this book as saying that at the BBC "that America is bad and Israel is evil are two of the assumptions that just can't be questioned."

Let's consider the ramifications of this. I'm an American, and I see plenty of very positive things about the United States: it is a great land of opportunity, it is reasonably prosperous, and relatively free. But what about Israel?

Israel is one of the great success stories of the past century. There was a successful revolt against a wicked colonial occupier (which happened to be Great Britain, although I'm not sure what the BBC thinks of that). There were successful defenses in wartime against a variety of racist and bigoted aggressors. It has improved itself even when under attack. It has shown great concern for the environment, being the only nation on this planet to have more trees in the year 2000 than it did in 1900. And whether its people have wanted to be meek and humble or not, it has been content with a small amount of land: at less than 11,000 square miles, it is very land-poor. If every nation were as greedy as Israel for land, there would be no wars over land! It's a democracy, and its people are reasonably free. There is much about Israel we all ought to try to copy if we want human civilization to survive and prosper. And the BBC is failing us if it makes it so difficult for us to hold Israel up as such a positive example.

In addition, the BBC is failing even in its role to display liberal politics when it comes to Israel. After all, it openly sides with the aggressors against Israel. And those aggressors are primarily racists, bigots, right-wing and reactionary extremists, anti-abortion religious fanatics, anti-women's and gay rights, and anti-ethnic minorities in general. I think that the BBC's opposition to Israel is not so grave a moral error as its support for some of Israel's most seriously felonious attackers.

Given how counterproductive the BBC is when it comes to Israel, one would think that there must be many other places where the BBC perverts journalistic standards. And this book points out a number of them. One interesting program it came up with was called "Sex and the Holy City." No, it's not about Jerusalem, it's about the Vatican, or more precisely, the Catholic Church. There's a chapter about the BBC pro-EU bias. And there is a section on the BBC response to the war in Iraq, as well as one on "the despised tribes." Yes, there are other groups besides the Israelis that the BBC shows special contempt for, including, of course, the Orangemen. And that means giving more support to the politics of the Irish Republican Army. I think it can be argued that in the Middle East and in Northern Ireland, the BBC has worked against peace.

We see in this book just how difficult it is for anyone to get the BBC to apologize for outright misstatements. As Aitken says, "the BBC doesn't feel the need for validation from others; it shrugs off strictures, whether from church, politicians or judge, taking the view that its critics are either mad, bad, or stupid." That appears to be true, and I am one of the many critics who aren't mad, bad, or stupid.

Aitken quotes someone who says that the BBC is not a "mouthpiece for the nation," but "a foghorn bellowing at a nation." But whatever it is, the nation is listening to it. It has a huge TV market share, and most British subjects view it at least occasionally. And it is watched by many folks all over the world. Its bias represents a violation of journalistic standards that is hurting plenty of people.

I recommend this book.

Aitken tells the following story. After a bombing incident in which Prime Minister Thatcher was nearly killed by the IRA he heard this not untypical comment in the BBC newsroom, "Pity they missed the bitch". One remark does not of course make for a picture of a whole newsroom, but Aitken provides plenty of evidence here that the BEEB is indeed less than patriotic, very biased to the Left in promoting its own agenda. For instance its enthusiastic stance for Great Britain joining the European Union, or its very soft non Cold War-ish attitude towards the former Soviet Union prevented it from treating fairly opponents of its views.
As one who has listened to the BBC for years on the Middle East I can attest to its almost total lack of balance and objectivity in relating to the Israeli- Arab conflict. Time and again there are interviews in which the spokesmen for the Arab position would blame everything on Israel, and the spokesman supposedly for Israel would be chosen from the extreme left wing of the Israeli political spectrum and so also blame Israel. The fundamental idea was always that the poor Palestinian Arabs were innocent victims and the Israelis cruel oppressors.
This is what Aitken has to say on this issue.
""My view is that the Palestinians and the Palestinian leadership is the architect of its own misfortune in many ways. Whereas, what comes across from the BBC's presentation of events in Palestine and the Middle East generally, is that in some ways, the Palestinians are a put-upon victim minority, and it's the beastly Israelis who are doing the dirty to them.
"And you know, that is not a fair presentation of the position. Because the Israelis are militarily strong and successful, and the Palestinians aren't, I think the BBC allows that too much to play at its judgment, so that what comes across is too much sympathy, if you will, for the Palestinians, too little appreciation of the rights of Israel, and also too little recognition of the fact that Israel is a functioning democracy in a way that Palestine isn't, and nor is any Arab-dominated Middle Eastern state, and not enough credit is given for that in my view."
But Aitken does not confine himself to the Middle East. He writes about the anti- American of the BBC especially in regard to the current Bush Administration. He discusses the British undermining of the current US-British effort in Iraq.
Aitken contends that an institution which should be defending the values of the free world actually works to undermine them.
This book will certainly not make them happy in London's Bush House but for the many many listeners throughout the world who have been subject to this bias for many years it raises the slim hope that some reconsideration and correction might come in the future from this still major source of news to the world.

The other reviewers rightly commend this original, interesting and highly readable book. As this book shows, RCA's readiness to shift factories to areas of cheaper and more tractable labor sowed the seeds of decline for America's consumer electronics industry long before the Japanese onslaught started in the 1960s. Couple this with a series of critical management mistakes, product development failures and hundreds of millions of mis-spent dollars, and you begin to understand why RCA sought out GE as a buyer in 1985. By the mid-1980s RCA management backed the company into a very tight box and it was either voluntarily sell the company or wait for a possible hostile takeover. "Capital Moves" illustrates the grim capitalist logic underlying the processes of globalization -- in RCA's case on a regional and later an international scale.

Related books are Margaret Graham's "RCA and the VideoDisc," Robert Sobel's "RCA," and Alfred Chandler's "The Electronic Century." Although each of these has a diffent purpose and scope, they are all good books about RCA. Jefferson Cowie's "Capital Moves" perfectly complements them and fills a gap in understanding why some American industries "vanished" in a generation. It is a sad story that didn't have to be.

This book discusses RCA from a different perspective than the book "RCA" by Robert Sobel, instead concentrating on labor-management interactions. RCA started out in Camden, New Jersey, but as labor got more organized the company relocated it's operations to reduce labor costs, first to Bloomington, Indiana, and later to Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso. Of particular interest to CED VideoDisc enthusiasts will be the chapters on Bloomington, as that was the location of CED Player manufacturing. RCA announced on March 5, 1984 that VideoDisc player manufacturing was moving to Mexico, but a month later on April 4th the RCA Board of Directors voted to phase out player production completely. The book also discusses the post-RCA era in Bloomington and how conditions deteriorated, particularly under GE and to a lesser degree under Thomson, until electronic manufacturing finally ceased there in 1998.

"Capital Moves" is both a geographical history of the Radio Corp or America (RCA) from its inception in Camden, NJ in 1929 through its several relocations of factories to various regions of the US and beyond and a work of sociology as it examines the nature of the various local communities and the workforces both before and after the arrival of RCA. RCA, like many industrial concerns in the so-called Rust Belt, has always been concerned with operating in locales with favorable labor relations. It was the community characteristics of having a large pool of unemployed workers with limited wage expectations and no history of industrial activism that impelled RCA to move the production of its consumer products, mostly radios and televisions, from Camden in the 1940s to Bloomington, IN, and ultimately to Juarez, Mexico beginning in the 1970s. But the mass production regimes that were established had the unintended effect of significantly altering the social environments into which they moved.

Certainly anti-unionism triggered some of the plant closings that began in the 1970s in the Rust Belt, but RCA actually tolerated the compliant unionism that they recognized in Bloomington and then in Juarez. It was the very nature of the production process instituted by RCA that triggered the worker discontent that they so ardently sought to avoid. The speedup and deskilling under scientific management, the petty authoritarianism, the ignoring of work rules and job classifications, and gender inequities - all sparked resentment and resistance; but did result in some alleviation of the complaints. But a key point is that the ability of a corporation to invest or disinvest literally globally simply transcends the ability of a locally rooted workforce to counter corporate practices, a point amply demonstrated by RCA.

The author is wont to discuss the broader issue of worker solidarity especially across borders, as in the Mexican border. But it is acknowledged that interpersonal relationships on which worker solidarity is built, not to mention local customs or even language, do not translate well internationally. While the author is most assuredly on track to criticize simplistic protectionism to counter run-away factories, there is no commentary on the feasibility of political solutions that are grounded in working class solidarity. The political knowledge and activity of the various workforces encountered is not discussed. The fragmented pockets of resistance that may be found in local communities regarding corporate policies is simply no match for the ideological consistency and political influence of the capitalist class. Without a broad-based worker politics strong legislation to require corporations to absorb the costs to communities of shutdowns and downsizings and to require enforced labor and environmental standards to be reflected in the cost of imported products will not be attained.

The book is most significant in demonstrating that the cross-border moves to Mexico by RCA were little different from their earlier trans-regional moves. In addition, it was pointed out that NAFTA was only a continuation of Mexico's Border Industrialization Plan of the 1960s where a border zone was constructed that permitted the free import of goods for use in products for immediate export - a plan that RCA exploited. The limitation of place-based worker power is well noted. Yet it is the political sophistication of the workforces explored that would have been of most interest to this reader. It will take political power to counter capital mobility.

Cornell University's Jefferson Cowie has penned a critical look at the business and labor history of RCA. In this work, Cowie traces the communications giant's business and labor history from the late 20's in Camden, N.J. to Bloomington, Indiana, to Memphis,Tennessee to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Combining interviews with displaced workers with statistical information, the author effectively explains the playing out of a consistent corporate strategy in the company's migration in search of low wages and compliant workers.

Particularly moving is Cowie's examination of the closing of the Bloominton, Indiana factory.Both managers and line workers are given voice in recounting the traumatic experience of plant closing and its subsequent impact on the community.

This significant work should be read by members of any community trying to come to grips with the issues of NAFTA, plant closings, and corporate responsibilty. Cowie has produced a substantial and readable book.

After reviewing several CCNA study guides, I chose the Exam Prep CCNA 640-801 book for its clear, concise, yet thorough explanations of CCNA material.

I just learned that the 640-801 exam will be retired in November 2007. As a result, I am looking forward to the Exam Prep CCNA 640-802 book.

The author does a wonderful job of organizing the objectives in this book. I read half the Sybex book before purchasing this one and there is a pretty substantial difference. The Sybex book tends to jump around on tangents somewhat while this author keeps you learning from the ground up, staying true to the topic, and building you up to the end! Buy this book, and some sort of router simulation product like Sybex's routersim (assuming you don't have your own hardware), and get the practice test off selftestsoftware.com. Do all the great labs at the end of every chapter in this book as well. I can almost guarantee you pass, and more importantly actually learn the material for the real world! I did it on the first try with barely knowing IOS at all. Good luck!

This book is GREAT/ While some of the lingo is a little hard to understand, and I had to reread some of the passages a few times to undersatnd what they were trying to explain to me, overall I full Recommend this book. I would also suggest gewtting the CCNA dummies book and use them together. With these two books, its very likely you will pass..... maybe not the first time, but this makes it possible.

First off don't get me wrong the Sybex book is great. However, if you weren't really familar with networking terms it is hard to just jump in and start reading.

I do have to say that this book is better at helping new people in to the networking world. The author does not jump around with terms. He will explain it to you before he will use it. Some of the other books out there will use terms and not even explain them until 3 chapters later.

As an engineer that is involved with ITS closed circuit television systems, "CCTV" is a great book to have on my desk. It provides me the information needed for my profession. You will find the book to be very technical, but easy to follow. The explaination of the CCTV system, from camera(s) to monitor(s), is complete and covers the most important hardware that a professional will encounter. "CCTV" helps me meet my goal to be one of the top experts of my profession. Engineers, technicians, consultants and installers involved with CCTV systems should definitely have a copy. Thank you, Mr. Damjanovski!!!

This is an Excellent book. It presents a lot of useful information and is perfect for professionals with a technical background. It doesn't go too deep into the theory but it tells just you what you need to know and gives you an idea of where to look for further information. It's expensive, but it's worth the money.

This is an excellent book for someone new to CCTV and who wants to know how things tick. I highly recommend this book for technicians, Security Managers and "techies".

Vlado does an excellent job explaining some very technical aspects of complex items in a way that is easy to follow.

If you are involved in the design of security CCTV systems, you would be remiss not to read this book. It clearly explains the physical and electronic science and how it relates to design theory.

John Ebert's remarkable book, Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons, does to movies what Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces did to myths. This is a mouthful, I know, but Ebert delivers. Armed with vast knowledge of our cultural past and a profound understanding of our present, he ventures into the world of "celluloid myths" (that Campbell pretty much dismissed until, as pointed out in the book, George Lucas turned him on to his Star Wars trilogy) and comes back with the boon. And what an incredibly rich and enriching boon it is.
Ebert uses his vast knowledge of myths, and practically everything else, to reveal the mythic dimension of some our most popular movies. As he maintains in the book, the first conscious incorporation of myths in movies, what he calls celluloid myths, was initiated by Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which (according to the author) was inspired by Campbell's Hero. All the films discussed in the book are heirs to Kubrick's 1968 masterpiece: "2001 was the first major presentation of a theme that would come to be reiterated in film over and over again, namely that of the battle of an individual human being against an impersonal system that is threatening to dehumanize him, whether that system is defined as the megalopolitan city, the meta-national corporation, or technology in general . . .All are reworkings of Bowman's battle with HAL."
What I really liked about the book is that it doesn't dissect the movies to death, but rather provided enough insight so that I wanted to see many of these movies again. Before finishing the book, I couldn't wait to get the DVD's of the first two covered movies, Apocalypse Now (Redux) and 2001. The "guided tour of the films of David Cronenberg" even got me to the point where I want to take a second look at his movies, which (the ones I saw) I generally find hard to watch. I guess this best describes what the book did for me. Somewhat like the shield in Perseus and the Gorgon Medusa, it functions as a mirror that allows us to see the Mechanical Dragons that have become such a prevalent part of our movies (and our lives) and how they're slain by our Celluloid Heroes. It updates many of our most popular myths as never before.

With a white-hot strike to the center of the frozen, sterile and inert films that typifies modern Hollywood, John David Ebert reignites the passion, grandeur and vision that make film the most compelling, and relevant form of mass entertainment today. By distilling the great films of yesterday and today, Ebert manages in clear, distinct and entertaining prose to explain and explore why film has surpassed the novel as the preeminent purveyor of myth and wonder in our society.

His journey is precise and with an overall purpose, however, one may skip to chapters that hold special interest, for me, I found that reading the entire book was far more satisfying, even when I arrived at dissimilar conclusions than Ebert. For example, Ebert has long been an admirer of David Croenenberg, a director I find distasteful and vulgar in many respects, but in reading Ebert's exploration of Croenenberg's films, I found a new prism in which to view the director, and upon seeing his latest work A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, watched the film with a deeper sense of what he was trying to achieve.

For me, myth has always been the cornerstone of all great art, whether it be visual art (painting), films, novels, I find that all such works are enriched by a foundation that embraces the great mysteries and universal connections which are the lynchpin of myth. Ebert's gift is the uncanny ability to take interesting films and dissect them at a historical, mythological and sociological level, deepening our understanding and appreciation of what makes certain films imprint the mind with images that recur and haunt and amaze us. What's even more interesting is that many of us watch these films with only a subconscious understanding of why they grip us in their web, which is actually the point. Myth is anything but conscious, it's wellspring is the imagination, the realm of dreams and nightmares and visions, and as such, need not be fully understood to be effective. Ebert's gift is to be able to show us all the facets that arise from the world's myths, whether rooted in Western or Eastern culture, his erudition, knowledge and ability to make them all cohesive is amazing. He's a good writer, a better thinker, a good critic, a better scholar.

One would assume that such an examination of myth and films would be dry and turgid, but just take a look at chapter 3, which is an interview Ebert did for a magazine. The discussions range from APOCALYPSE NOW to GODFATHER 3 to 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY, and the way Ebert breaks them down is incredible. On APOCALYPSE NOW, he describes the film as a hero's descent into the underworld, mirroring some of Dante's INFERNO, and then in the same sentence, makes a segue to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, where the sun god Ra, journeys down a river through a kingdom of the dead, encountering obstacles until he reaches the Lord of the Dead, Osiris. Sounds convuluted? You're wrong. Ebert makes the transition so seamless and obvious that I actually started laughing with sheer intellectual enjoyment at what he was saying. In the same chapter, Ebert takes on the notion that many of these mythological symbols are accidental and not planned by the creative artist, and again provided brilliant analysis. For some, Ebert agrees, these symbols are certainly not always intentional, but he goes on to say that they spring for a universal source of creativity that is tied directly into the mythological wonder that occurs when the creative spirit is open to anything. So, though Kubrick certainly knew what he was doing when the ape throws the bone that becomes a spaceship, other artists arrive at the same powerful symbols through their own inward journey, which manifests itself as something that has existed for thousands of years. If you're confused by this, don't worry. Ebert breaks it down far more eloquently than I can, that's why he writes about myth and I try to tap into them in my day-job as a screenwriter.

A few nitpicky comments so as not to give the impression that I agree with EVERYTHING Ebert writes, that would make me a less-than critical thinker, which I hope I will always be. I wish he'd gone more into the Western and its mythic underpinnings, specifically films like THE WILD BUNCH, THE SEARCHERS, RED RIVER, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, all of which seethe with classical mythological symbols and images (John Wayne standing in the open doorway at the end of the Searchers as civilization occurs within the house, while he's forever isolated from such comforts). Also, Ebert has a list of films he considers notable, and while "best ever" lists are always subjective, it's still a fun way to measure your tastes against others to see what you have in common and more importantly, what you don't agree on. Ebert has a top 16 of his generation, topped by 2001, and including JAWS and TITANIC. Every film on the list has been at least tangentially or substantively discussed in the book, but as with any list, there are some head-scratchers for me. I wouldn't include all 3 original STAR WARS films, I would only include EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and leave it at that. I would drop VIDEODROME, AI, and SCHINDLER'S LIST (Ebert has a great affinity for SPIELBERG, a director I think is visually brilliant, but intellectually facile). Other than that, the list isn't bad, considering Ebert limited himself to "my generation" freeing himself from having to go back to a number of other great films. He pretty much starts his list from 1968 and moves forward, leaving the omission of WILD BUNCH (1969) as a puzzler, but subject to lively debate. That's what makes the book great, Ebert lays out the foundation of these visionary films and their directors and then invites you to do your own investigation and arrive at your own conclusions. His, he states with force and logic and conviction, no getting around that. But the whole point is for you to leave the book wanting more and going back to favorite films and having a second, third of fourth look, seeing new symbols, new connections, previously unnoticed.

The idea that visionary films have replaced great novels as the preeminent creative force of our time is one that bears more exploration. In the old days, you had great writers like MANN, JOYCE, PROUST and HESSE. Now, you have prose stylists masquerading as "serious" writers, with nothing visionary and interesting to contribute. they write mostly to impress their brethren, the audience be damned. I'm no Thomas Wolfe fan, but I agree with his manifesto years ago, that today's writers have abandoned great, realist stories in favor of fancy prose and post-modern angst that makes for empty reading. Films admittedly have their share of bad writers and bad directors, but on the other hand, there are more interesting and talented and risk-taking artists in filmmaking today than in literature. You have SPIELBERG, TYWKER, VINTERBERG, CUARON, SALLES, COPPOLA (he has one last masterpiece, trust me), SCORSCESE, JACKSON, CARO, CAMERON, et al. They represent a vital, powerful force that is driving the great films of today and tomorrow. If nothing else, Ebert's book leaves you awaiting the next, great work of these artists, knowing it will draw on symbols and touchstones that go back thousands of years, to our universal connection. And that's all we really care about when we view art. We want to be moved, touched, transported, entertained, frightened.

Awed.

Ebert knows this.

So should you

In the introduction to his "Understanding Media," McLuhan wrote that his editor "noted in dismay that `seventy-five percent of your material is new. A successful book cannot venture to be more than ten percent new.'" Ebert's "Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons" presents a lot of new material, but when the world has changed and few have noticed, there's a lot to cover.

To understand Ebert's book we have to address change, as in technology (biotech, computing, nanotech, quantum theory, etc.) is about to change us as a species. And a lot of the traditions that used to help us with change, like European intellectuals, the literary novel, and academia, are nowhere to be found.

Europe has left the scene. Today, looking at European/American culture wars, one is tempted to think of a quiet retirement community disturbed by rowdy teenagers with noisy motorcycles. The bikers can be dangerous, but we are not going to hear anything new from the retirees.

Academia has collapsed. We might have hoped that in a period of profound change academia would be on the case. Not. The contemporary PhD thesis, article, and book in cultural studies is typically written by putting poststructuralist jargon in a word randomizer and printing out the results to signal that one is a member of the tribe. (One such randomizer, Pixmaven's Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator, is available online) Which leaves it to the nonacademic "independent public intellectual" to analyze our culture. John Ebert is a leading member of this vital group.

And the literary novel has ended. Myers' "A Reader's Manifesto" looks at the state of the contemporary literary novel, the pretentious kind that wins awards and gets reviewed in literary magazines, and finds that it has degenerated into gibberish-"some of the most acclaimed contemporary prose is the product of mediocre writers availing themselves of trendy stylistic gimmicks." Ebert makes a related point at the beginning of "Celluloid Heroes" where he writes: "Surveying at a glace the current states of western literature ... compared to its state in, say the first half of the twentieth century, what strikes one is an appalling decline in overall quality."

Ebert's conclusion? A culture chooses an art form in which to invest its energy. That art form has a period of vitality and then falls into decline. The literary novel has fallen into such a decline, and has been replaced by movies.

Ebert's interest is in what he calls the "visionary movie" since 1968 (think Speilberg, Kubrick, Coppola, Lucas, Cronenberg, Tarkovsky, Scott, Cameron, etc.), and its focus on the impact of technology on our culture and ourselves as human beings. His approach is to treat movies as mythologically informed literature.

Despite the rejection of mythology in much of academia, it appears that our filmmakers have retained their mythological literacy, whether through subliminally absorbing the classics, or actually reading them. Ebert observes that in "Apocalypse Now," Coppola shows Kurtz reading Eliot's "The Hollow Men," which was inspired by Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," also the source of the plot of the movie, while the camera picks up Frazer's "Golden Bough" and Weston's "From Ritual to Romance" on Kurtz's desk.

What do we mean by mythology? We might describe a mythological position, particularly as taken by Joseph Campbell, as the notion that the structures and patterns of the energies of the cosmos that pour into the phenomenal realm are revealed in our myths, literatures, and arts.

Ortega y Gasset wrote:
"[T]he political or cultural aspects of history are... the mere surface of history; that in preference to, and deeper than these, the reality of history lies in biological power, in pure vitality, in what is in man of cosmic energy, not identical with, but related to, the energy which agitates the sea, fecundates the beast, causes the tree to flower and the star to shine."

It is this cosmic energy that Ebert identifies in the great visionary movies of our time. Thus Visionary movies are mythologically based and assume that there are archetypal patterns in the course of empires and nations, in our becoming fully human, in the human/technology interface, and in the cosmos itself. Academia today, with its poststructuralist viewpoint, takes Locke's "tabula rasa" position and is profoundly anti-essentialist, vehemently denying transcendence and archetypal patterns. Ebert's book is a refutation of this position.

From Ebert's point of view, the role of the movie critic becomes to approach movies with a background of literacy adequate to unpacking them and helping us in our readings of them. Ebert does this. Few other movie critics can.

So, should you buy this book? Here is how to decide: Write down a list of your top sixteen films. If five or more overlap with Ebert's list, order the book immediately. Here is Ebert's list.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Apocalypse Now
3. The Star Wars movies
4. The Godfather movies
5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
6. Alien
7. Blade Runner
8. Videodrome
9. Raiders of the Lost Ark
10. The Shining
11. The Exorcist
12. A.I,
13. Schindler's List
14. The Road Warrior
15. Titanic
16. Jaws

Another test is that if you enjoy the books of Joseph Campbell or William Irwin Thompson, you will love this book. You can see more of Ebert's work at the website, CinemaDiscourse.

John Ebert's book is essential reading for anyone even slightly interested in "visionary" film-- that genre of film that explores the imaginative and mythic possibilities of film, pioneered all the way back with George Melies, and carried on by such modern proponents as Kubrick, Coppola, Lynch, etc (where Ebert's focus predominates). He offers his keen scholarly insight into the mythic and sociological undercurrents of this still-evolving trend, which I found to be fresh and original. While one will inevitably disagree with some of his assessments ("The Matrix" as garbage?), that's actually some of the fun--and value--of works like this, since it forces one to formulate one's own views in response more clearly, and stimulate one's thinking in ways that straight consensus wouldn't.

There are a few notable omissions from his overview---horror films and experimental cinema surely deserve an seat at this visionary table--but then, a work covering every conceivable facet of this subject would have required a series of volumes rather than just one, so that may actually be a blessing in disguise. All in all, an important work on the premier art of our time--cinema.

most chapter's are only 10 pages or less long so you can sit down for 5 minutes read a chapter then come back and read another chapter later as it helps to read a whole chapter at once

where as some books are like 40 pages per chapter and ya need to sit down with a fair bit of time just to read the chapter

Ben Forta's Certified Coldfusion 5 Developer Study Guide will not teach ColdFusion, but will be a review guide that provides helpful pointers for examinees. The book's look will be non-intimidating yet thorough, and will be highly readable in small bite-sized chunks. Each subject will be presented in a clear and direct language, with useful and well explained code examples. Sample questions will accompany each subject, as will references to recommended reading, product documentation, Macromedia course work, and existing ColdFusion books. 432 pp. Intermediate-Advanced user level.

I have been developing with CF for about 4 years now but there were several features I had never used. I purchased this book and within a week got the nerve to take the exam. The book came with a 15% off coupon for the exam so it about paid for itself with that. I passed the exam today and achieved Certified Advanced status. In a word, Outstanding!

The book was helpful, the chapter formats are short and to the point giving you only what you need to pass the, which is good. Just don't rely only on this book...here is a secret, there is a program called cf_buster that is a great test prep that when used in conjuction with this book simulate a certified test environment. I passed my test today.