Television Books

I bought this book for a production class, and thought "Yet another book to sell", but after reading it, I decided to keep it. Each chapter goes to the point, and lists all the important facts needed for TV and film production. The CD that comes with it is full of generic production forms that can be modified easily. Overall, it has value, and it's cheap too.

I loved the speedy service. I needed the textbook for class, and it came early the following week, just in time for lectures and homework. The condition stated by the company said used and even claimed there is a high chance of some damage. I could swear this book is brand new. Not a single thing about it shows that it is warn, even the CD that came with it is unopened. Love it.

This great book should be a staple in every classroom. It instructs with clarity and insight, and gives real, practical, working knowledge from inside the world of TV and video production. It's conversational style makes ingesting the material a pleasure. You'll easily want to read and re-read it; and no holes will remain in your understanding, as it seems that every question was anticipated and then answered.

The book is extremely well written and very comprehensive. It provides a great entry-level introduction to the world of TV and Video Production while also managing to deliver thought-provoking and educational perspectives via "interviews" with many long-term practitioners.

Cathrine delivers here a complete collections of issues for those looking to learn all the details about producing TV and for those who are also considering to take the "jump" and start their own company.
Her advice and simple style make this book a "must" for those trying to get as much information as possible in a single piece.
Also of interest is the second part of the book, with several interviews with real people/producers, dealing with the most vexing questions about producing TV in the 21st century.
I can't wait for the next edition.

Quinlan has a unique way of portraying a movie start: a few enlightining words about his/her looks and performing capacities. And that goes for his "film stars" book as well as his "film directors" (where he has more room to go into details).
When I went to Britain last week, i looked for a new edition of his "film stars", as the last one I got (and the last one known here in Portugal) was from 5 years ago, the 2000 edition; unfortunately I was told that no new edition had been released.
The "film stars" is a complete and excellent work, though one can always come up with some name that is not included (the one that comes always to my mind is the talented late american actor J.T. Walsh)

David Quinlan has an uncanny knack for describing actors and actresses in four or five perfectly chosen words, or less. If you love movies, you need this book.

I watched the Oscars with this next to me, and it made them so much more fun! Look up fun, strange and important facts about your favorite stars and see some of the quirkiest, yet best descriptions of the actors you'll ever read!. The author describes everyone by their physical attributes - but it's like reading the cartoon page. This one is guaranteed to make you laugh!

If you want to know every movie that your favorite actor has made, this is the book for you!!! It is well organized, incredibly detailed and up to date!!! Keep a copy next to your TV!!!

This book has been an invaluable resource for quenching my film knowledge thirst since I got my hands on my father's 1st edition copy around '82 or so. Due to publisher's restraints, author Quinlan gradually, and unfortunately, weeded out entries for lesser known, or no longer relevant, stars over the years. But fret no more! This edition appears to include every entry he's ever created.
Whether you're looking for the complete filmography of the world's most well-known actors (Eastwood), the birthdate of you're favorite cult star (Marie Windsor anyone?), or the names of those long lost Lon Chaney titles, you'll find yourself immersed in this bible of film history.
Quinlan's research is thorough (and I do mean thorough! Before IMDB came around, I'd never seen anything like it), well-spoken, and virtually flawless in its accuracy. This edition is fairly up-to-date (through 2001 I think) & packs many surprises about the status of actors actors you might have already assumed dead, retired or out-of-work. Superb!

Rachmaninoff has never had the authoritative biography that he deserves as one of the greatest composers and pianists of the last two centuries. Nor is this that definitive book. However, it is the most recent, and in many ways it supersedes all previous biographies, although there is still value in the Bertensson-Leyda and (to a lesser extent) the Martyn and Walker books.

It has some great strengths. First, it covers Rachmaninoff's life and career in some (not exhaustive) detail. Second, it discusses his entire compositional career more thoroughly and accurately than any previous book. Third, unlike some other biographies, it unashamedly defends Rachmaninoff's music and style from the foolish and ignorant criticisms that were common for much of the 20th century. Record collectors and piano aficionados will also find it valuable for its thorough discussion of Rachmaninoff's recordings as both pianist and conductor.

The book's major weakness, as with most previous biographies, lies in its analyses. Harrison offers many insights into Rachmaninoff's works, but he also repeats some of the stale and superficial clichés of Rachmaninoff criticism. For example, he finds quotations of the Dies Irae chant in dozens of pieces, when in fact Rachmaninoff only quoted the Dies Irae in four: Isle of the Dead, Paganini Rhapsody, Third Symphony, and Symphonic Dances. Themes in other works, such as the First Symphony, may resemble Dies Irae, but analysis shows clearly that they are different and are treated differently. And because Harrison clings to this shallow and inaccurate "insight," he misses some of the real strengths of Rachmaninoff's music--for instance, that the entire First Symphony is obsessively based on just two themes and one melodic turn. To be fair, no previous Rachmaninoff book has been strong in analysis. And despite these weaknesses, this is still the best that has yet appeared.

Max Harrison's expertise as a top-notch musicologist is used to full advantage in this masterfully-researched and written biography of Rachmaninov. Like other reviewers, I found Harrison's very detailed assessments of each of Rachmaninov's published works to be incredibly informative. Take, for example, his view that Rachmaninov was, despite popular wisdom to the contrary, an excellent composer of large-scale symphonies. That the shoddy treatment given his first symphony reflected far more the narrow-mindedness and incompetence of the conductor, orchestra, and critics than any real shortcomings in this grand and beautiful work by a young and very talented composer.

Over the last century, much has been written on the great Russian composer/pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff. However, if there is one book that encompasses mass detail of the life and work of Rachmaninoff, it would have to be "Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings" written by Max Harrison.
Harrison's massive research in writing this book definitely pays off as it includes detailed annotations of Rachmaninoff's music works as well as his personal life and career as a recording artist. When it comes to the latter topic, this book may be the only one that goes greatly in depth to the making of Rachmaninoff's recordings. If you own the Rachmaninoff "Complete Recordings" box set, this book goes hand in hand with the CD set and shines greater light on what's being heard.
In addition to the lengthy and informative essay, the book also includes several musical examples as well as a complete list of the composer's works and a discography of his complete recordings (which lists both the issued and rejected takes alongside the years and places of recording as well as what type of recording it is - piano roll, acoustical or electrical).
As mentioned above, this is an essential book on Rachmaninoff. This book pretty much has it all when it comes to all the key areas of his life and career as a composer, a recording artist and an individual.
This is definitely a book that no Rachmaninoff fan should be without.

Harrison's book is brilliant. Since my first exposure to Rachmaninoff's music, I have been a collector of recordings of his music, the scores, and the composer's own recordings. Having read just about everything written about the composer, including the biographies written by Bertensson and Leyda, Bazhanov, Haylock, Lyle, Martyn et al, I came away from Harrison's book with a fresh image of the composer. It was one of those books that one reads looking forward to each page and almost dreading that the book, as did the composer's life, would end too soon.

Harrison clearly knows the music and all of the recordings. While he obviously places great value in the music, he is not unconditional in his appreciation. He provides a highly informed contemporary critical perspective and places the music within the context of the composer's life. It is the sort of writing that can be appreciated by an informed musician and musicologist, while also being understood and valued by the informed listener.

As I read the book I found myself returning to the Rachmaninoff operas, works which I had not really valued as much until reading Harrison's discussions.

I came away from my reading with a renewed appreciation for the music and recordings of this man who gave us all so much with his creative expression.

In this biography Max Harrison reminds us that Rachmaninoff excelled as a fine composer, one of the greatest pianists in the history of an instrument that has never lacked outstanding players, and he was also a fine conductor. Yet he was basically shy and retiring, insecure and extremely self critical. His portraits show a tall serious figure, his music often demonstrating a morbid fascination with death, through recurring references to the Dies Irae. Yet his music is supremely warm and melodic, and for this Rachmaninoff was often mercilessly slated by the critics who ought to have know better as Harrison states, when analyzing the beautiful Second Symphony, "Rachmaninoff's symphonies should be assessed, not in relation to precepts derived from Beethoven and Brahms. With Rachmaninoff different types of thematic material and musical processes, of moods and feelings, are brought into varying degrees of conflict and finally resolved in ways that are personal and formally satisfying. Logically sustained argument has its role but an instinctive drama of the emotions is this music's chief thrust, its final import being the struggle between representations of the forces of life and death." Like Elgar, Rachmaninoff in the 1920s, felt himself and his music to be out of joint with the times, romanticism was out of fashion, swept away on a tide of vulgarity and atonality. Harrison offers detailed analyses of all the works and does not hesitate to shoot down critics and writers who wrote negatively about his music. Harrison's style of writing is very easy to follow for those who have difficulty comprehending technical terms in music. The book unfortunately has no pictures, but it does include a chronological list of works, an extensive bibliography, two indexes, one of the composer's works and over 50 musical examples. This is one of the best biographies available today and I think any one who reads it will have so much more appreciation for of one of the 20th century's greatest composers, first and foremost, but also Rachmaninoff should be remembered as a brilliant pianist and a fine conductor.

Mike Olszewski blows the Buzzard myth wide open, then ties the
shrapnel back up into one tidy little package. Fun, informative, a great read!

"Radio Daze" is like looking back into a time portal of recent history packed with behind the scene info and details of the legendary radio station.
Olszewski paints an easy to read and interesting portrait of WMMS, its owners, management and DJ's. His non-stop tapestry of employee's mixed with stories of some of the original rockers are both interesting and entertaining.
WMMS was the dominant radio station of its time in the Cleveland, Ohio area and was co-existing in a parallel complimentary world of rock music. Riding the airwaves of some of the greatest rock bands ever to emerge out of the musical creative times of the 60's and early 70's.
Ambitious undertakings seemed to be prevalent with the youthful WMMS management, and from my observations they weren't following any recommended guidelines on building a brand name. In a parallel universe the early WMMS management team would have been likened to a band of swashbucklers under the Jolly Roger. Marconi would turn over in his grave if he new of the amount of time this troop spent irritating the other radio stations with Gestapo like tactics to bring in ratings. After reading some of the excerpts in "Radio Daze" I was a little afraid to turn the radio on fearing retaliation.
Some of the highlights: How the radio stations personal helped promote some of the new breed of rockers with radio airplay and marketing promotions. How the WMMS management were very influential in orchestrating a campaign to acquire votes to bring the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" to Cleveland. The seemingly constant shifting of DJ personal [including nicknames] various antics, egos and a mind set where even sabotage was not out of the question.
This book is not filled with off the shelf information, but valid details from someone who was there. Olszewski does a great job of blending 1st person knowledge and then writes from the 3rd person. With his writing abilities and his descriptive style he makes you feel like he's talking to you over a hamburger, fries and a beer. The author definitely has the "worn out shoes" when it comes to his credentials and knowledge base for acquiring information for this multifaceted book.
He has the exclusive rights to exclaim "The World Premier" of books about the birth of FM radio in Cleveland Ohio.

I remember walking into the penthouse of the Statler Hilton hotel on a chilly night in October 1971. I was a young antiwar protestor delivering leaflets to fledgling prog rocker WNCR. As I walked into the control room, I was intrigued by the ambience. Loud music blared from the large Electro Voice speakers mounted above the Gates Stereo Statesman console. Behind the mic was a bearded cat by the name of Jeff Gelb. He was really cool and allowed me to hang out with him. I ended up becoming an intern and fetched coffee and answered phones for Lyn Doyle's "People's Night on the Radio" show. A week or two after I started, my first cousin, Carolyn Thomas walked in. I asked her what she was doing there and she asked me the same question! It turned out that she was working overnights!! (I also found out that Doyle was my cousin by marriage). After WNCR moved to the Stouffer Building around December 1971, interns were exiled and I moved to WMMS working with Billy Bass and David Spero for a few months. It was amazing to watch them work. I ended up back at WNCR in February of 1972 and had a chance to run the board and "ride gain" for Carolyn and Lee Andrews on occasion. Those days were magical and I ended up in radio myself for over 20 years, working at stations in LA and Cleveland. If you want to relive those times, this is the book to read...

This book is an easy read and has some great stories in it. I was lucky enough to have been around radio in those days, in particular WMMS(though I never worked there, but my uncle was the PD) and this book brought back some great memories. It really shows the passion Cleveland had for it's Rock and Roll and it's radio. It is a great commentary on the greatness that TRUE competition can harbor. Nice job Mike.

If you ever listened to FM radio during the 70's and 80's this is a book for you. I expected a textbook but instead got a wonderful ride through the FM radio ages. It doesn't matter what city you were in, this story is for everyone. Remember when radio had a personality? This will refresh your memory. Top 40 died and a new age was created, one that has flourished, made superstars out of bar bands, legends out of local stars. All the stories are here...you will ENJOY!!

I bought the first edition 2 years ago and then the second edition to keep up with new changes because this book is a very good and complete introductory course on making real world video (i.e. starting from choosing DV camcorders to final production and delivery to the world depending on your budget).

It starts from current DV technology (like CCD and DV formats) and then introduces various DV camcorder types depending whether you are normal consumer or pro-sumer or professional users. (It even shows you the approximate price range for various camcorder class.)

It then introduces how scripts planning should be like for making different scenes of video (newscast or documentary or movie). It teaches different techniques of shooting pictures/video by cameras/comcorders (angles, views, lighting and audio control). I likes the book giving you various examples of lighting equipments and audio equipments required for making good video.

For movie pre-production process, it tells what kind of production crews and things you will need and do for different stages (including cost ranges). For movie post-production process, it shows how to edit all movie and audio footages into final movies and how to fix video/audio problems. It also describes what types of movie editing systems (computers, hardware equipments and software video applications) available in the market depending on high-end, mid-range, or low-end production and budgets. It also describes how the final process of movie copies are generated and delivered to the world.

I like the book because it gives me pretty good ideas how DV movies are made with real equipments that are availalbe in the current market. This book is highly recommended especially for serious beginning DV/movie producers.

This book should be required reading for anyone making a digital movie with more ambition than experience. This book will be worth its cost in just the first project by eliminating many of the learning mistakes we all make. I wish someone would have sat down with me and given me this advice when I started and yet, even with many projects behind me, this book offers me new ideas. Reading the book and the watching the DVD are like having real work experience - both in production and post-production. In one memorable section of the DVD, Pete Shaner sits down with you and gives you lots of advice on how to shoot and things to consider in shooting and editing.

Highly recommended reading...for the home hobbyist...the USC film student...the software geek... or AV professional.

The authors approach the Digital Video Universe in a real world, common sense and entertaining prose...allowing the reader to apply their level of interest, budget, technical background, project objectives and pace to a surprisingly current and comprehensively deep offering of digital video material.

The supportive DVD is awesome!

This book took me into a whole new World. I sure could have used it before I bought my used BetaCam! Now I can work quicker, cleaner, look like a pro and save $$$. The furture of film making is here. Thanks guys!

As the prices of digital data capture and storage have dropped, new avenues of artistic creation have opened up. One of these areas is in the realm of digital video, where it is possible to make movies using simple and relatively inexpensive digital equipment. However, the fact that the equipment is now cheap does not make it any easier to make movies that people would want to watch. There is an enormous amount of subtle technique involved in making a movie, and until I read this book, I had absolutely no idea how complex a simple shot can be. This is a book that will show you how to make a digitally recorded movie, and should be the first thing you read if that is your aspiration.
It all starts with planning, from the initial idea, on to budgeting, clearing all legal hurdles, organizing and shooting the scenes, editing and cleaning the stored scenes, and ending with publicizing and distributing the finished product. All are so complex, that you do not make a movie, you survive its' creation. The fact that the movie can now be stored on digital devices only significantly affects one of these steps.
Written primarily for those who are interested in making DV projects for entertainment, this is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. The number of detail hurdles that need to be cleared to make a movie are astounding, and kudos to the authors for explaining all of those hurdles in great detail.

although under ground red dwarf groups put season 8 at the low end of the list the book is a hit since it is memorobila
some have come to like red dwarf because of season 8 others come to love season 8 because of this book
it is well worth the pounds or dollers you will pay

This gorgeous Red Dwarf companion may seem a bit pricey, but no smeghead should be without it. It contains LOTS of extra material from the smash hit series 8, and is full of beautiful cast and CGI pictures. Best of all, each script is introduced by the king of smeg himself- Doug Naylor! Some of the behind the scenes stories are utterly hilarious(anyone who's read 'Rubber Mask' will know what I'm talking about!). Mr Naylor also shares with us smeggies the troubles Red Dwarf went through in the three years between series 6 and 7. This man has my undying respect and gratitude- and Red Dwarf will never die!

This book is THE Red Dwarf to buy. You may have seen several novels, quizbooks and other largish coffee table-type books concerning Red Dwarf at your local bookshop, but there is no other one quite so good as this: particularly for a fan who doesn't want to get bogged down in endless books.

The content is first rate. Each script contains many sections which were (unfortunately) obliterated from the final shows and almost every scene is accompanied by a full colour photo - there are literally hundreds of them. The comments and anecdotes by Doug only serve to improve an already damn fine book, and allow it to be classed not only as a scriptbook, but also as a series companion and a 'behind the scenes' book, too.

Every fan should have a copy - get one now!

Excellent coffee table-style book with some great pictures from series VIII and interesting behind-the-scenes stories from Doug Naylor. A great gift for the Red Dwarf-deprived U.S. fan!

This is a large size hardcover book mostly consisting of the scripts to the 8 episodes in series 8. The scripts include original lines that were dropped from the show, many wonderful photos, and best of all, some introduction by Doug Naylor. If you are a fan of the show, this will probably make milk come out of your nose (if you happen to be drinking any.) If you are not a fan of the show and someone just reads a passage to you, you will probably still laugh out loud. Naylor explains why Red Dwarf 8 was almost never made, why Kochanski was introduced. (There WAS a reason! ) It is well worth the money, just for the beginning. A must own for fans, even if they aren't collectors, simply for the beginning.

Some women might want to call "The Red Green Show" chauvinist because there's nothng but men on it. Have you ever noticed that? Actually, I can remember one episode that had a beautiful model pretending to be Bernice, Red's never-seen wife. But that was the one and only woman I have ever seen on the show. I said women COULD call it chauvinist, but if they watched it, they SHOULDN'T. It's a show that does nothing but make fun of men. And it is funny.

This book takes some of the best material from the show and kind of throws it together. You'll meet pretty much all of the Possum Lodge members; a wierd collection of some of the goofiest regular guys you'll ever meet. I'm a particular fan of Buzz Sherwood who alledgedly can fly his airplane around Possum Lake, but when you're that stoned all the time, how do you do it? You might be glad to learn O.L.D.M.A.N. Sedgwick's full name.

If you're a regular viewer of the TV show, then you don't need me to tell you to buy this book. If you haven't seen the show, find it somewhere on you local PBS station, or gripe to the station for not carrying it and get one of the videos. Then, maybe you'll appreciate this book and maybe you'll buy it, or something.

Well, Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati. (you'll need to read the book or watch the show carefully to figure that out.)

This book is all of the hilariousness of The Red Green Show laid out in book format. There's Red giving advice to middle age guys, Harold's advice to teens, Red's songs, Harold's for-sale and other announcements, and so forth. I recognized some of these from the show, but by no means all. (Then again, I have not been lucky enough to see every episode.) Then, there's piles of information on Possum Lodge: the pledge, the charter, the rules (yes, they have some), Lodge merit badges, a history of Possum Lake, the transcript of a Lodge meeting (complete with Old Man Sedgwick, Stinky Peterson, Moose Thompson, et al.), a Meet Your Member bio of many member, [pant, pant, pant] and so much more!

This book is great. As soon as I got it I immediately started reading it out loud to my wife (her gardening book couldn't possibly have been as good as this one!). Don't be fooled, the jokes start right at the beginning of the book (if you can find it). This is a great book, a must-have for all Red Green Fans. Hurry up and buy it!

Nobody should be without this book! It is a real piece of humour in writing!!! Great as a gift idea for anyone!!!

If you love the show you'll love this book!

I bought this book for my husband, because he loves the show. He has had to fight me to get hold of it to read. It is a must buy!

Well, this is definitely a page turner and a flip through and a go back and read again and share and tell people they just have to read it.

Imagine, so many wrote their last words poetically. Some wrote pages while others wrote short. "I demand a recount." "Mispronounced dead on arrival." And perhaps you'll guess who wrote one word "Imagine!"

My absolute favorite, laugh out loud epitath--

When my time on earth is done
And I have breathed my last
I want them to bury me upside down
So my critics can kiss my ass

This is definately one of the most entertaining reads all year.
The telling, moving, and sometimes hilarious reflections kept me turning the page. It was tough for me to put down! This book is a real treasure. Debbie Farmer, author of 'Don't Put Lipstick on the Cat'

This book is built on an interesting idea. Larry King asks three- hundred people, most of them American celebrities from the worlds of sports, entertainment, business, journalism, music, comedy, writing ,acting, politics, science and education what message they would leave behind and wish to be remembered by.
Some take this lightly and answer in a quick one- liner or even a word- some seem overly burdened by their own importance, but many hit ' right notes' and quite a few have a real humor.
This is the kind of work which one skims, jumps back and forth in, looking for something interesting. Most are misses, but some are scores, and it is the scores that make the book worthwhile.
A few examples follow which I found of some value.

" For years I've been claiming ,"I'm only human. I'm only human." Maybe now you'll believe me." SHELLY BERMAN

" I hope I see you later." MAUREEN STAPLETON

"He did his best when no one was watching." BOB COUSY

"Jim who?' JIM BOUTON

" I want to be remember as a good guy one who always helped others in need. JOE FRAZIER


" The best is yet to come." BEVERLY SILLS

" He was never boring. He said out loud what others whispered. He challenged authority; the higher the authority, the stronger the challenge. He made the legal system more acceptable to the public He taught thousands of students and educated even more readers and viewers.He listened best with his mouth open. He was fun to be with. He was never boring.All this without knowing how to use a computer. ALAN DERSHOWITZ

I was among the saddest to hear of Larry King's passing in 1987. I had long been a fan of his nonsensical ramblings in USA Today and knew that I might miss those columns unless they replaced it with something superior like a Jumble or a Suduko puzzle. Imagine my surprise to see him on CNN almost 20 years later. Alive ... well sort of alive. Was he cryogenically thawed out? Let this be a warning to all of you in frozen states ... it does NOT always work out.

And this book is just fabulous, a collection of self-serving, inane babblings by the assistants of famous people. Because famous people most certainly do not have the time to write such heartfelt and sincere passages ... they're just not capable of it. It's outside their skill set. So don't be angry with them, just accept them for who they are ... famous friends of Larry King, columnist, talk show host, suspenders-wearer.

When you pass on from this life, what would you want people to say about you? Larry King asked that question of over 300 celebrities, and the result is "Remember Me When I'm Gone," a fascinating compendium of epitaphs and obituaries penned by the still living about themselves. The celebrities include actors, authors, business people, journalists, artists, musicians, politicians, and scientists. The contributions run the gamut: funny, spiritual, laudatory, biographical, comforting, witty, and philosphical. Appropriately enough, there are some song lyrics from songwriters, cartoons from cartoonists, comic epitaphs from comedians, and poetry from writers. Fred Rogers composed his contribution before his death, when he knew he was seriously ill. Larry King provided his own epitaph as well. It was tough for me to select a few examples from so many interesting contributions, but here goes:

Joanna Barnes: At Last - A Parking Space!
Arnold Schwarzenegger: I had fun.
Ted Turner: I have nothing more to say.
Beverly Sills: The best is yet to come.
Robin Leach: Hi, this is Robin Leach standing outside the pearly gates!
Jim Davis: I would like to be remembered as someone who was extremely old.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger: How arrogant to write your own epitaph.

This book displays a lot of wit and wisdom on a sobering topic, and I recommend it as an entertaining and enlightening read.

Eileen Rieback

Fun, fast page turner with entertaining and surprising twists throughout. What "Lucky Santangelo" is to Jackie Collins, "Maxi Poole" is to Kelly Lange: fiesty, fresh and up to her pretty neck in trouble of the most glamorous kind! Buy two copies, 'cause you'll want to share it with a friend. One of the nicest bonuses is discovering the creative and humorous side to one of Los Angeles' most respected newswomen, Lange. Glad this is to be one of a series...I have a feeling Maxi Poole has more trouble ahead of her!

Great combination of mystery and juicy behind the scenes Hollywood! Great summer beach reading! I was disappointed when it ended. Can't wait for next book.

THE REPORTER is an easy read, and a fun read as well.

Author Kelly Lange, herself a well-established news reporter in Los Angeles, has written a mystery featuring a well-established news reporter in Los Angeles. Not surprisingly, Ms. Lange offers wonderful background information for her story in addition to the actual plot.

THE REPORTER is frothy in content, but it also is plausible, and its setting is fascinating. The workings of the newsroom, as described by Ms. Lange, are particularly interesting.

Readers will come away with the sense of having been given a peek into the strange yet opulent lives of that group of people who, in Hollywood--and only in Hollywood--pass for the upper class.

Kelly Lange is poised to have a second career as a successful author.

Kelly Lange's new novel, featuring newswoman Maxie Poole, is great fun to read. Even if one does not enjoy the guessing game of "Who's the REAL Hollywood Figure" in the story, the mystery and the witty dialogue are engaging enough to make one eager for the next "Maxie Poole." (There is additional pleasure, of course, in putting REAL NAMES to the fictional characters, but this aspect of the novel is by no means vital to the reader's enjoyment.) Kelly Lange is a skillful storyteller, with a classic novelist's ability to make characters come alive on the page, combined with a journalist's gift for noticing the precise details which add richness and texture to the plot. "THE REPORTER" is a total pleasure for mystery fans. I recommend it without reservation.

When he lived Oscar winning actor Jack Nathanson was the poster boy for all that is bad about Hollywood. Now he lies murdered in a lurid coffin proving that he represented more than just bad taste. His two ex-wives and his widow attend the ostentatious funeral as only the movie industry could perform for one of their own.

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department arrest Jack first wife, actress Debra Angelo. His second spouse, TV reporter Maxie Poole refuses to believe that Debra committed the crime. Unable to allow an injustice to occur, Maxie begins to investigate the death of her former husband. She knew much of Tinseltown hated Jack, but not how many would willingly go out of character to put a couple of bullets into him. However, soon Maxie is struggling to prove her own innocence as more homicides follow.

THE REPORTER takes a Jackie Collins type novel and places it inside a who-done-it. The story line is at its best when it shines a gossipy light on Hollywood through Maxie's engaging inquiries. However, the problem with the tale lies in the original arrest of Debra on evidence that the Inquisition would have rejected as too insubstantial. The tale is a fun to read throwaway, as the plot is not quite Collins or a solidly based La-La Land mystery.

Harriet Klausner

I am surprised and pleased with this book, covers all the current technologies in use and in development for RBB, in a technical way and also in a commercial and marketing way, that combination result in a very complete and good book, I strongly recommend it

George's writing style is excellent. He merges concepts from broadcast, telephony, data, and video with ease. Although the topic can be quite technical, George's focus is on the basic engineering challenges to solved. Business types will love his economic and market analysis.

I have to thank my friend Paul at Cisco who gave this book to me as a token of our friendship. I enjoy the book's content and author's style of presentation very much. To investors interested in the high tech industry, this book offers a comprehensive view on the latest technology and development which will have profound impact on the outcome of voice, data and vedio delivery infrastructure and market in the future.

This book is very clearly written and a very good reference for anyone in the broadband arena.

The author does a great job of condensing everything to do with broadband while staying on track and not straying from the subject.

Great book.

An excellent summary of the several broadband technologies that are currently searching for a marketplace. This book is notable for it's strong sense of organization and it's consistent level of detail. If you're interested in broadband network technology this book is a good stepping off point for something more technical. If you're trying to learn enough to make a buck by betting on a winning technology, this book will give you the basic understanding of broadband networks that you will need to decipher the steady stream of press releases that are coming from the companies that are betting millions on the broadband marketplace. I liked the book.