Directories Books

What a great resource! I can thumb through this book anytime, anywhere. I tag the pages that peak my interest, and then shop when I get to my computer. Thanks, Kelly, for bringing such a wide variety of products together in one book.

The PSYP has changed my life. I can buy anything at all in my size and feel comfortable. It's everything I could ever want all in one book. Thank you Kelly Bliss for putting this out there for the plus size community. I'm looking forward to reading your other book, "Don't Weight, Eat Healthy and Get Moving Now!" I have heard rave reviews. Keep writing!!! Thanks again.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for resources for the rotund. I have been able to find numerous listings for just the thing I was looking for. For instance, I found a great lawn chair that is large enough and strong enough for my ample seat. Then sometimes, I just thumb through it and get great ideas for things that I could use and had never thought of. If you take up a lot of space, or if someone you know is large and in charge, this book is a great find!

Kelly has done an amazing job gathering so many useful products and resources for the plus size community. While her website has the most up to date listings, it very nice to have an easy to use printed reference that I can access at any time without a computer.

For those of us who travel to London to buy anitiques--or who daydream about doing that, this book is priceless. It offers so many good tips about where to shop for what, and it is written in an accessible, light-hearted style. What beautiful photographs accompany the text!

In addition to sharing an insiders knowledge of the London antique scene (with good, clear maps), this is also an attractive book with numerous beautiful photographs and interesting commentary. It is a worthwhile find even if you aren't going antiquing in London. If you are, it is essential.

I love this book,it's brilliant! What I love best about it is: 1) it identifies areas in London that have antiques areas
that I didn't know about and 2) it has web sites and URLs of dealers that aren't easy to find with an internet search engine. I'm no stranger to London having grown up there and a regular visitor, but this book covers the antiques world in greater depth than I knew existed; and when I can't be in London, I'm a constant internet shopper and having all these website addresses
is wonderful!

I found this book very helpful and informing. A veteran antique dealer who has been shopping london for 15 years, I discovered places I had never visited before. It was easy to read and to use. A must for antique shopping in London!

I have to agree with the other reader-- that surprise twist at the end of 110 (the freeway, not the page) was so unexpected! It's true, every page tells a story, and you absolutely won't believe 767 E5.

i heard the hype about how popular this book was, who was i to stand in the way of this books progress. progress u ask? why of course, this book is probably the one most riviting influencial piece of american literature to date. it provides a compass, a compass to the soul and to our hearts. and itll give u direction in life... page 345-C4 put chills down my spine because it hit home.

Suprisingly, Thomas Bros. has again, given us a book to put on our list of "Top Books ever Written." Its beguilingly sexy appeal to life will keep you on your seats as you finally come to the realization that yes, even YOU will one day seek the help of...THE GUIDE! But don't take my word for it, read page 4697 and you too will become believer.

Smart, sassy, and full of surprises, the Thomas Guide kept me laughing from cover to cover.

I just recently moved out to Los Angeles, and let me tell you, this map set is essential. Not only does it show EVERY street in Los Angeles County, but it is also regarded as a standard. Several times since I've been here I've noticed businesses will list their Thomas Guide page number in their ads and recordings when giving directions. If you're moving out to LA, or even just visiting for a while, this book is well worth the investment.

Trying to get around Los Angeles without this would just be plain silly. Ask anyone who's ever lived there or tried to get around...everyone knows and uses the Thomas Guide.

info - info - info -info - info . . .

This is your brain without the T-guide: {help}

If you're a hot shot actor moving out from the East Coast in your Subaru in search of fame or fortune or just relocating to soak up more rays, you'll need this handy-dandy guide to get from here to there.

It's tough to tell this from Amazon, but this book is a thousand pages, which makes it quite a hefty tome. But that doesn't make it a doorstop. There are screenshots, but they are, by in large, useful and relevant, and the book doesn't use them to tell a click by click story of the interface.

The book is organized into four parts that start at the user interface and continue to peel away levels of the system until, in chapter four, the author covers the command line unix shell at a surprising level of detail. A level of detail which rivals O'Reilly's other command line exclusive books. In fact, this book gives a fine introduction to scripting bash and tcsh. It does as good a job there as it does covering printing, or the vagaries of the new Finder in the chapters that precede it.

This is a quality piece of in-depth work about the unmodified Panther operating system. It's well worth the price for those who are more interested in understanding than hacking (though I admit a love for the new Mac OS X Panther Hacks book as well.)

The publisher, O'Reilly Media, seems dedicated to covering Apple's OSX operating system, OSX, from every conceivable vantage point. Its "Missing Manual" series on Panther is a user's reference on how to use the operating system and its applications for productivity and fun. Its "Hacks" series provides dozens of tips, guides, and project ideas. In the "Nutshell" series iteration, "MacOSX Panther in a Nutshell" designs to provide in-depth, comprehensive information about the inner workings of the OS. It is for power users and developers who want to master the OS and have the fullest description and explanation of OSX.

This book starts out detailing the multi-layered architecture of OSX and illuminates its power and elegance. In great depth and detail, it explains the Unix components, Aqua elements, OS9 and Classic, the Finder, and the multitude of Unix services, daemons, and applications.

This is terse, descriptive prose. The authors focus a sharp telephoto lens on the skeleton, sinews, and pores of OSX, starting with basic elements and probing deep into the details of the file system, networking components, directory services, printing configurations and more. This in-depth description and large handfuls of guides and tips totals over 1,000 pages.

A separate part of the book is devoted to Applescript, X-code tools, and Java. The X-code tools are for developers. Part IV is all about Unix, including three chapters on "shells" alone, plus sections on text editors, the X-Window system, and a full 262 pages of Unix command references, touted as the most complete such source in print publication.

No mere user manual would have ten pages devoted solely to understanding and managing preference files, or five pages on using the Colorsync feature with Quartz filter scripts.

Surprisingly, only ten pages are dedicated to security issues. Although the Mac is known to be extremely secure, recent news shows even the Mac is vulnerable to sophisticated exploits.

For those with a need to know, this is the definitive source for deep knowledge of OSX.

Since I converted I have found OS X UNIX is amazingly friendly and accessible. Some people who had never used it before type commands and work with the operating system directly as a "cool guys" in movies! This book is very helpful and well written and it is serves as a very nice reference. I paired this book with Linux and UNIX for a beginner training suite, 4DVDs + 2CDs includes 4 Unix Academy Certifications ed.2008 This book and a video they contribute one another greatly. You improve the reading and by reading you improve what you have seen.
The book is very particular about the subjects that related to OS X and because there are some differences between OS X and other UNIXes it is nice to have a book that deals with it.

Do any of you remember the O'Reilly books from the late 80s on X Windows? Those became the definitive guides to X11, and probably were crucial in putting O'Reilly on the map as a prominent technical publisher.

Well, this book on Mac OS X Panther captures some of that early O'Reilly spirit. In its comprehensiveness and heft. But also in its terseness. Turn to a random chapter and start reading. The authors try to get to the point, without wasting time. They write at a technical level that assumes you don't know the specifics of that chapter, but that you are no novice to computing.

It should be noted that the second half of the book is essentially a standard unix reference. As you may be aware, OS X is now a unix variant. Which is neat. But also accounts for much of the book's size. Unix has built up a massive set of utilities in 20 years, and the length of the unix sections here reflects this.

Don't let this put you off either the book or OS X. On the contrary! The building of the Mac operating system on top of unix gives you more power and stability (against crashes) on the Mac.

This is a great phrasebook to use if you are traveling to Mumbai (Bombay)--the Romanization is easy to learn and the dimensions of the book make it easy to slip in one's back pocket. I'd recommend it to anybody visiting India, and consider it a requirement if you're moving to Mumbai.

It's quite easy for me to read and find things in this dictionary and phrasebook. I liked it immediately when I browsed through the book. Oh, the cover is very eye-catching too.

My general rule in judging a phrasebook is that if I can locate just about anything I think I'd probably need to say in less than a minute, the book gets high marks. Communicating in a foreign language is difficult and awkward enough without spending ages clumsily paging through word-lists whenever you want to speak.

This dictionary and phrasebook passes that test, and then some. It's organized intuitively, with an extensive table of contents, and pretty much everything I looked up was exactly where you'd think it would be (a surprisingly rare virtue in a phrasebook). It's extensive without going overboard like the Lonely Planet phrasebooks (which, okay, can be amusing, but do I really need a list of pick-up lines?), and the dictionary's pretty good. There's no side-by-side phonetic pronunciation with each listing (though the listings are romanized), but if you look over the pronunciation guide in the front a little before you depart (which you really ought to do anyway), it's not a problem.

This is a great-looking book, sure to be of use to anyone traveling to Mumbai/Bombay. It's full of useful words and phrases.

_Modern Twang_ is an amazing book that provides information on the artists as well as the infrastructure of alt.country. Goodman has written artist profiles and given information on internet resources, labels, radio and television outlets, and live venues. The prose is always readable and insightful. This is a must for the alt.country fan. Goodman has created a model for how music guides should be written. A+++

This book is a joy for fans and historians of country music. Patterned after Ira Robbin's succesful Trouser Press record guides, Modern Twang focuses on the alt.country movement, its history and its many offshoots, not the glossed-over country that dominates the airwaves today. Author David Goodman approaches his subject with obvious love. Capsule reviews of more than 500 artists, discographies, listings of compilation CDs-Goodman has done a fine job. Especially educational (for me) is the inclusion of such artists as the Byrds, Dylan, Neil Young, Parsons, Emmy Lou Harris-early major players in the alt.country scene whose influence remains vital today. This book works as a historical document, as well as a CD buyer's guide.

A good editor would have resulted in a five-star rating. Numerous typos and punctuation miscues (commas anyone?) detract slightly. There are some inconsistencies in style, as well-many of the reviews offer some form of critique, while a few read like letters from adoring fans, offering little insight as to how the band actually sounds.

An awesome, all-purpose, up-to-date guide to the alternative country "scene", this includes profiles of about five hundred bands, both big and small, with special emphasis on local scenes. It's an amazing resource, sure to fill in numerous blanks for just about any reader. Goodman's writing is straightforward, and not overly concerned with the "look, I'm a postgraduate!" rhetorical flashiness which plagues many contemporary music reviews. Let me put it this way, if I had a staff here at Slipcue, I'd hire this guy as a writer. Of course, with books like this, it's fun to flip around checking on bands you already know about... and the good news here is that Goodman is pretty thorough. For example, I looked up The Movie Stars, a Bay Area band whose late-'80s album preceded most of the current wave of twangsters by several years. They didn't have their own entry, but were mentioned under the listing of Red Meat, which is sort of a reconstituted version of the old band. Other '80s pioneers are included as well, though things start to get a little fuzzier and less consistent in the '70s (the Blue Ridge Rangers get listed, but what about Larry Hosford?). One problem I have, though, is the use of scene-specific catch phrases to denote "styles" of music... for example, Sun Volt as "No Depression" music, or any of the bands on Bloodshot as "insurgent country". Yeah, sometimes the things bands (or labels) call their music are cute, but they aren't necessarily that descriptive. But maybe I'm just being too crabby. Goodman also includes listings for radio stations, e-zines, websites and publications related to the current Twang-craze... obviously many of these listings will be quickly out of date, but we can hope that just means another, bigger, better edition will follow...

I am not sure how in the world David Goodman got all this together. It is obviously a work of love for Alternative Country Music. It will be a valuable resource for recording companys,festival and entertainment show managers,and radio and TV program planners and DJs. Think Dowling Press has found a true niche with their publications.

I have been buying Morningstar books for mutual funds since 2006. There are a lot of books about how/what mutual funds are, but this is the only kind available for evaluating PAST mutual funds performance. (The other one is from Lipper, which is only available from the web).

Morningstar has a long history to keep track of mutual funds and ETFs data. This gives them an advantage to publish their views on various mutual funds. However, readers must be aware that the ratings are based on historical performance. Nobody can predict the market, but if a fund manager performs well over a long time, it is very likely he/she will perform well in the future.

This book also provide some insight info such as the manager has his/her own money in, and risk data. A plus of the book is that it provides 50 free mutual fund reports downloadable from Moringstar website.

A must have for mutual fund selectors.

I really enjoyed the analysis provided, it seemed to cover most of the bases I wanted to learn about, expenses, tax efficiency, volatility, returns.
Obviously it gets dated. It appears to be published early in the year. Be sure to get the latest.

While many people buy mutual funds because they find them easier than building their own portfolio of individual stocks, in fact buying into these funds is in some ways more complex than buying individual company stocks. How do you know what the fund in invested in (companies and sectors), fees, turnover, who the manager is, what their performance has been, how the fund has performed relative to its peers, and much more? It is not an easy task. This handy book provides you with loads of great information for 500 funds picked by Morningstar.

This isn't to say that you should necessarily buy the funds listed here. Morningstar also includes funds you should probably avoid (you have to make your own choices as to what is right for you). One of the interesting things I notices is that simply because something has a four or five star rating doesn't mean that you should buy the fund. This is due to the past performance versus future return probability. It might well be that a well performing fund is now trading at a high price and that the likely future return cannot justify the price. So, the analyst rating also has to be balanced.

The editors have packed a huge amount of information onto each of these pages. You get a snapshot of governance and management (with a stewardship score), a chart of performance, a graph with an historical profile, a star rating including risk for several periods, a portfolio analysis, and a few paragraphs providing Morningstar's take on the fund, and contact information. In the back of the book are several lists that slice and dice the various funds different ways according to specific criteria.

Since funds do not remain static for the entire year, another nice feature of the book is that you can download up to 50 fresh charts during the calendar year. One word of caution that I learned by hard experience is that if you block pop-ups, you need to make an exception for Morningstar. You will try to download the new chart, your count will decrement, but you won't get the chart because you browser will have blocked the pop-up containing the new chart! That was a tad frustrating.

Terrific and interesting information.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Great book very informative,a must have if looking to invest in mutual funds

Being an Insider myself, I've seen guides and addresses sold for years. Most of which are a joke. But not this one. E.J. Fleming never fails. He's one of the most prolific and talented writers of our time and this book is a must have for movie and star buffs! Thank you - thank you!

This is a terrific book to use to navigate the Hollywood area for anyone interested in the movies. We drive up and down streets with my husband calling out names and events and loved it. We are locals in the San Fernando Valley and for the LA person comenting that changes have occurred in the area and streets over the years, "duh!." Some of the addresses are 100 years old but in the odd case that a street is not there or has been moved, as far as we could tell there was a note included. We didn't check everything, but we didn't have any problem using the lists. THis is a great resource for movies and LA history and great fun for vacations. It's heavy though!

I envision E.J. Fleming huddled over a pc reviewing census information and entering data in a database and cross checking it against his formidable stacks of notebooks. E.J. is tired, tired, tired. He has worked day and night so I don't have to. Stop, I'm just kidding but this is an incredible collection of information. I am in total awe re: how someone could collect so much data, collate it, and present it in an easily accessible manner.
This directory is exactly what is implied. It is an enormous collection of addresses relating to celebrity homes, film locations, historical sites.......and here's the kicker.....the locations of scandals and crimes. That having been said, this is not a rolling narrative that relates a lot of juicy stories and histories. It presents the facts and it is up to the user to draw in the lines and reach his/her own conclusions.
So why did I drop $75 for this book. I was weary doing this type of research with only lukewarm results and a relatively miniscule database. This book has everything and I can let my fingers do the walking.
Now here is my warning. I reiterate don't buy this if you are expecting a lot of lurid stories as there really aren't any per se. However, buy this book if you want to know things like all the places Humphrey Bogart resided in LA, who cohabitated with Ramon Novarro, or where Laurel and Hardy filmed a lot of their classic shorts. Buy this book if you have a curious mind and the information provided has you asking other questions.
This is an impressive collection of information.

I am a tour guide in Hollywood - one of the very few that actually research our tours. I thought I knew a lot about Hollywood, but this book made my jaw hit the floor.

Mr. Fleming has published the BIBLE for Celebrity addresses. The most comprehensive book on stars homes I have ever poured through. I've even turned a few of my colleagues on to the book, who their own copies immediately.

You've made my job easier Mr. Fleming, and you have published a riveting and important document.

I liked this book because it let me make my own card games with Pokemon with my brother. It also has a contest that I did for free! I liked it because you get to make your own cards anyway you want and you can also make cards that aren't with Pokemon. I made ones with dinos.

This new version of Blast is great for making card games with Pokemon. It's so much easier to understand! I really like "Pokemon Swap" too, but Blast lets you make games not just cards.

This edition of Blast is greatly improved over the first. An excellent group project for 4th graders (9 years old) and up.

Young people love Pokemon right now so I thought I'd try something different in art. I brought in ten copies of this book and walked students through the process of making their own made-up Pokemon on the cards. Now their energy is focused on their unique creations. A great idea, Alex and Gille.