Budget Books

This book is organized in the most unusual ways-by the items used in the stories. There are 69 stories, featuring household objects from floss to flashlights and ace bandages to wallet chains. The stories are flirty and well-written with lots of detail. This is NOT a how-to book, but a collection of really sexy, somewhat risque, occasionallly raunchy stories. The cover is exceptional, too... very colorful and inspired.

First off, I'm glad to see this book available again. I first got it 4 years ago, enjoyed it quite a bit and later discovered it had gone out of print. This collection of 69 (yes, 69!) short stories is erotic, fun, spontaneous, and never dull. Anyone reading it will get some great ideas about new ways to use those previously "dull" household items. From ace bandages to wooden spoons to feather dusters to hairbrushes, these stories feature some very imaginative and creative folk finding new ways to have adult fun.

This book will not ever take the place of a good book on erotic power play like SM 101 or Screw the Roses (which I recommend to anyone new to BDSM), but still is an entertaining and sexy read.

This sexy anthology is filled with stories for any appetite. It is NOT a how-to manual for S/M enthusiasts, but a collection of fictional stories along the lines of Naughty Stories from A to Z, Sweet Life, Best American Erotica, etc. If you like hot, sexy writing about people pushing the boundaries, you'll definitely like this book. It originally came out a few years ago under the Masquerade imprint, but is now freshly repackaged by Pretty Things Press. The stories are coded by type of story: hetero, lesbian, solo, orgy... very fun!

I got the CD in the mail yesterday and listened to it right away. Quite honestly I have to say that this person sounds looney. I think that the average person, if he or she were to let Dave come into his or her life, would be able to get something out of his system of using envelopes and zero-based budgeting.

If you are in debt, there might be more benefit from listening to this CD. It seems that half of the message is how to get out of debt, and it didn't pertain to me because I am not in debt.

Despite his style, I think I might get the entire DVD set.

Overall, I have to give this product 3 stars because I was disappointed that it didn't seem to live up to its title of Cash Flow Planning. I think a more appropriate title would be "Planning Your Expenses" rather than "Cash Flow Planning" because he does not seem to address the issue of Flow.

The only thing better is to have the kit and the DVD's so you can see him speak rather than just listening.

This CD was my introduction to Dave Ramsey and I am now a huge fan. In less than 3 years we paid off over $80K in debt, our income has gone up and we are working on paying off our mortgage. Simple practical advice - stop borrowing, pay cash, have an emergency fund and pay off your debt. Dave is very motivating.

This is a very good idea and very interesting. Almost everyone could use some help in the money department.

I loved this book! It provides practical information that I have found very helpful in reducing my household living expenses. The best thing about this book is the fact that it made my husband and myself take a long, hard look at how we think about our money and what we spend it on. I learned about my spending habits and discovered that I needed to change my attitude about spending money. This book has made a definate difference in our lives and as a result, we are now on track to saving more money by dramatically reducing our living expenses. I am so glad that my husband and I read this book. I highly recommend this book to families and working couples!

WELL worth the money spent!!! This book is valuable and has great information for all ages and money saving tips. Buying one of each of my grown children. Keep on the book shelf.

For those looking for materials related to the exams, this would not be a typical exam-focused book - a better book for those wishing to simply 'boot camp' through the PMBOK would be McGary's Passing the PMP(R) Exam: How to Take It and Pass It.

In this book, the authors deliver a brief overview of project management frameworks before settling into a comprehensive account of PMBOK methodology, detailing the specific processes (including inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs) according to the orthogonal perspectives of phase and knowledge area. The authors topic knowledge is reflected in their abiltiy to fluently contrast areas of the PMBOK where it differs from generally accepted practices and other industry approaches (PRINCE2 as just one example). The book also offers a detailed appendix devoted to the critical chain method as an alternative technique for compressing the critical path of a project which I found very interesting.

One key strength is the book's pragmatic focus: the authors often highlight potential project risks that exist in nearly all projects while suggesting methods of mitigating those risks. The authors have an undeniable feel for the challenges of everyday project management, and set out to offer a guide for those wishing to get it done as well as get it right.

My only disappointment would be the authors' complaints regarding software development projects and vendors, as they fail to grasp (borrowing here from Kovitz's excellent Practical Software Requirements: A Manual of Content and Style) the very different nature of projects found on the exploratory end of the engineering spectrum (building something new) with the more static and predictable forms of orderly engineering (building a new something), but on balance the authors more than make up for this minor flaw.

As businesses adapt to rapidly evolving markets, it's difficult to think of a more vital function than project management. The ability to drive multiple projects to completion is one of the hallmarks of leading corporations. If one aspect of contemporary business science deserves elevation to a higher seat in the academy, project management is it. Successful projects reflect extremely efficient and refined planning processes, and are no more a matter of serendipity than, say, 20 straight quarters of steadily increasing profits. This compilation of valuable insight and guidance provides a single reference source for project managers. The book asserts that it is directed at project managers early in their careers and is designed to enable them to operate competently in organizations where a project management structure and legacy already exist. However, it goes into sophisticated levels of detail and the authors assume that you can juggle your jargon and your organization's politics and policies. Well-illustrated, with reader-friendly charts and a detailed appendix about critical chain project management, it provides a fundamental, thorough, all-you-need-to-know compendium for completing projects. We strongly recommend it to any project manager. The newer you are, the more you need it.

This is an excellent walkthrough and summary of project management principles. The book is organized into three major sections; an introduction, a project management process, and a specifications development strategy. The second section is excellent. The chapters are ordered in terms of workflow and the advice is clear and pragmatic. The third section is excellent as well.

I've never seen a project management book as focused and well organized as this one. An excellent book for managers looking to better manage their projects, or for engineers looking for books to give management that will move projects up from CMM level 0.

Make your own croutons, enjoy a tropical slushy, or serve cinnamon-honey eggnog. Each recipe includes the cost per serving, the diabetic exchange information and the preparation time.
It's not easy eating right for diabetes, but this book can be a big help.

This new book has many great shopping and meal planning tips as well as wonderful recipes from meats to sweets.

I heard about this book on a local radio show. It sounded good, so I ordered it and have been very pleased. I used the shopping tips in the book and saved $15 on my first trip to the grocery store! There are also 100 wonderful recipes and a week's worth of menus. The recipes are easy and taste great. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to eat right without spending lots of $$$.

Law professor Daniel Shaviro's Do Deficits Matter? covers just about every issue associated with the topic of public debt, including, say, optimal savings rate, the limitations of fiscal stabilization policy, and generational accounting. The book is meticulously researched, and fair in its presentation of all sides, none of which get short-changed by the author. As a reader you are therefore given the chance to draw your own conclusions. Shaviro comes down against a constitutional balanced budget amendment. This reader finds his considerations of the actual 1995-1997 proposal rather lawyerly and therefore unconvincing (a modern-day lawyer could probably pick the U.S. Constitution itself apart as having lots of holes), but the important thing is that Shaviro's exposition allows you to make up your own mind.

For the most part, the book is highly accessible. Occasionally you'll run into a sentence like "In short, the Madisonian response to faction involved spatial centralization of government alongside institutional decentralization" (p. 289) to describe strong federal government and separation of powers, but those are rare exceptions.

It is refreshing to see a prominent thinker from the left concede three points traditionally made by the right.
* Debt-driven fiscal stimulus policies are flawed in both theoretical concept and practical efficacy: "even most Keynesians now recognize that the case for an actively countercyclical fiscal policy is extremely weak" (p. 10).
* Public debt constitutes a burden on future generations: "younger individuals and future generations will end up paying for government spending on behalf of older individuals and current generations", a phenomenon Shaviro labels "tax lag" (p. 4).
* The very fact that government is able to borrow inherently leads to a larger government sector than would be the case without borrowing: "tax lag tends to increase government spending by reducing its perceived (and real) cost to current voters" (p. 146).

Public debt is like a giant redistribution scheme that transfers wealth from future generations to earlier ones. This is okay with Shaviro because future generations are likely to be wealthier than today's, e.g. because of continued developments in technology. Although he stipulates that this is not sure, it is certainly not unreasonable to deem this likely. But the fact that Shaviro has no qualms about this intergenerational redistribution scheme reveals a liberal bias. What makes public debt unethical is the fact that future generations end up facing a financial burden that is the result of spending and borrowing decisions in which they had no participation. Just because someone else is wealthier than you are does not mean you are therefore justified to go ahead and take part or all of that wealth without that person's consent.

Still, if you can see past the author's personal view -- and his overall exposition is for the most part so fair, nonpolemical, and accessible that in this case that is not very difficult -- the book is highly informative and worthwhile. Hence, even this libertarian reader assigns it four stars.

Shaviro has written an excellent and informative book about a (seemingly) important issue. The book nicely summarizes much of economic literature in non-technical terms. I would highly recommend this book to anyone (including non-specialist economists who want a quick introduction to this area).

My one complaint is that the book -- as is clear from the introduction -- is very U.S. centric and has only a few references to other countries. For example, the discussion of why shifting powers to the states might limit the size of government (since they can not print money and therefore can not run persistent deficits and can only tax so much before taxpayers move to escape high taxes) seems to go against the experience of some other federal countries (e.g., Brazil) where the states seem willing to be quite profligate (perhaps relying on federal bailouts).

According to the author, "over the past twenty-five years, the deficit debate among economists has grown increasingly discordant, reflecting the issue's increasing prominence, the growing size of reported deficits, and the collapse of 1960s Keynesianism."

Daniel Shaviro is professor of law at New York University and a former legislation attorney with the Joint Committee on Taxation of the United States Congress. There are few lawyers who write like economists (or better) and Shaviro's mastery of the development of economic thought is both judicious and impressive.

Nevertheless, if we can judge the state of economic arguments by papers presented at the annual convention of economists, there would seem to be a reduction in papers even dealing with the the Federal budget deficit. At the end of 1997, most policy-makers are celebrating the virtual elimination of the deficit, and the question becomes one of whose taxes should be cut? In this respect, Shaviro's rather conservative position seems to be one of accepting $200 billion deficits for some time.

In my view, a great deal of the skeptical view of economists with regard to the Federal deficit has been the result of the heroic writings of the Classical Keynesian, Robert Eisner, former President of the American Economic Association, reinforced by the last writings of Nobel Prize winner William Vickrey.

Shaviro treats Eisner's writings with critical respect and even admits a certain renaissance in Keynesian thinking as a result of the prediction failures of the monetarists, including the rational expectations and real business cycle extensions of neo-classical thinking.

This reviewer was pleased to see a younger political economist take the views of Abba Lerner seriously, particularly his pathbreaking article on "functional financs." Shaviro maintains that "Lerner was perhaps the leading early post-World Waw II Keynesian economist in the United States, not a marginal figure or a crank." If true, how does one explain the endless peregrinations of Professor Lerner searching for tenure?

One little-recognized contribution of Lerner was his recognition of what he called "supply-side inflation" in the seventies, something also understood by the British Keynesian, Sir Roy Harrod, and the Canadian economist John Hotson, who labeled the Harrod insight as the "Harrod dichotomy." Milton Friedman's reassuring claim that "we are all Keynesians now" permitted the eclipse of the Lernerians in theoretical discussions and the continuation of the dogmatic monetarist belief that inflation is always a question of too much money in the system.

More importantly, it resulted in the popularity of Paul Volker's "licking of inflation" with a little-noticed jump of real interest rates in the early eighties and the continued fawning approval of his successor, Alan Greespan, despite the fact that Greenspan has given up the use of monetary aggregates to determine his monetary policy decisions.

Shaviro seems overly impressed with an "independent" Fed conducting monetary policy (except for Burns in 1972), and it is very difficult for this reviewer to go along with Shaviro's conclusion that "deliberate management of the business cycle should generally be left to the Federal Reserve, acting through monetary policy."

The persistent fears of the Fed concerning demand-pull inflation in the long run have produced passive or cyclical deficits and eventually deflation. It is no accident that the postwar record deficits have all been passive and achieved by Republican Administrations beginning with Eisenhower and ending with Bush.

Set in the 1930's in rural New Zealand, Drovers Road is the sheep and cattle station of the Allan family. Gabrielle "Gay" Allan lives in the homestead with her three cousins, after her parents separated and left her in the care of her Uncle Dunsany and Aunt Belle (who are themselves cousins). Told in first-person narration by Gay herself - after she has sprained her ankle in circumstances that only become clear at the end of the story - the young girl recounts her life in the isolated, but busy world of the farmland, in which the entire countryside is her playground.

The story (such as it is) is simply a variety of retellings of Gay's adventures as she grows from girl to young woman. Often accompanied by her closet companion Merry (her male cousin), Gay recounts stories concerning her neighbours, family members and various pets, as well as practical jokes played by herself and Merry, community events, oral folklore of the family and the land, and several amusing anecdotes. As Aunt Belle tells them: "All men are alike. Before they are married they like a girl with what they call spirit. Afterwards, they only want someone to say `yes dear.'"

Most of the stories are light-hearted and humorous (such as when Merry and Gay dress up as a ghost in order to scare away a potential suitor for their uncle), but there are a few that are unutterably sad, such as the circumstances of Belle's wedding day. Likewise, there is a heavy sense of poignancy and nostalgia to the stories, as the book is permeated with the sense of time passing, never to be reclaimed. Even in the opening sentence, we are told that Gay intends to tell her story so that: "when we are grown up we can read it and remember how happy we were." Likewise, Gay and Merry begin the book as close as any two people can be, but gradually grow apart as Merry begins to become more involved in the man's work of the farm that Gay is inexorably excluded from. Add to this reoccurring theme of the warblers' song: "never the same again," and there is definite sense of the loss of childhood and innocence that adds a bittersweet touch to Gay's memoirs.

The grownups of the story, Dunsany and Belle are portrayed sympathetically, with Dunsany bearing more than a passing resemblance to Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird, what with his unorthodox way of raising the children in his care, and Belle transcending the cliché of `the angel of the house' as a woman of exceptional strength and wisdom. Much of the overarching story concerns Dunsany's courtship with the children's schoolteacher, and each adult using their different methods to console the tomboyish Gay's unhappiness at growing up.

Joyce West (who also illustrates her own work with minimalist ink drawings) captures New Zealand culture perfectly - and I should know, as I've lived here my whole life! In "Drovers Road" you'll find the rugged, beautiful landscapes, the food, the language, the flora and fauna, and a portrait of New Zealanders in this particular place and time: hard-working, yet laid-back, friendly, yet reserved. I've read "Drovers Road" several times now, and it always gives me a sense of home - and the older I get, the more I enjoy returning to it.

This is an entertaining book that children will enjoy. I like it because it is innocent and funny and tells of a time when life was simpler and had no violence, no drugs, etc. It reminds me of books by Elizabeth Enright - the same sense of fun and adventure.

This is an excellent set of three books in one! We read them aloud as a family, and much of the time we were rolling on the floor laughing at the antics of the children! The book is set in the 1930's in New Zealand. They give the reader a flavor of a country not often visited by most. This book is well worth the investment. I have found our copy sitting on the bedside tables often. My children have already read it several times a piece.

This book is an excellent introduction to some of the most pressing issues we are now facing. These issues include the proposed financial bailout, the breakdown in real policy choices that is driven by the entrenched two party system which provides little diversity of ideas and choices, and a host of global issues such as poverty, public health, energy, etc.

The book is freely available on the Internet. The book provides detailed sourcing, with links going directly to the sources, including government publications, as well as charts and graphs illustrating budgetary and other issues. I especially found the Perot Charts (a link to them is provided in the book) very interesting and helpful in understanding some of the U.S. government's spending and budgetary metrics, including trends and the scope of the problems we are facing.

While I do not agree with some conclusions in the book, I found the book excellent and encourage any U.S. citizen who is concerned about where our country (as well as the global community and environment) is heading, to read this book. I would also urge the reader to go to the OSS and Earth Intelligence Network websites and read in further detail more of Mr. Steele's works. They are comprehensive in their coverage, the aggregate a tremendous amount of information and provide it in a simple easy to use format, and you will not find much of this information anywhere else - nor collected in one place.

Mr. Steele is an unconventional thinker and he tells it like he sees it. There is no prevarication in his conclusions and opinions. His arguments are strong and compelling. If you take the time to dig deeper into his websites, I would recommend not just his more recent work, but his early writings - even his dissertation and work he wrote while in school, they are excellent, and although they are not specifically related to "current events," they are - in my opinion - works of genius and are especially instructive in terms of analytical thinking.

Again, the bottom line: this book is excellent. The sources, links, charts, etc. are especially helpful and will help you dive deeper into the issues - whether you agree with all of Mr. Steele's arguments and conclusions or not. Read the book. Visit the links provided in it. Review the materials on the websites. It will be well worth your time.

This is short book (139 pages) that ought to be titled a "New Appeal to Reason" by that most original thinker Robert D. Steele. It contains a polemic against the current U.S. two party system and an appeal for a voter revolt. This is followed by an informed and intelligent discussion of reforming the U.S. National Government, especially the National Security Establishment.
While it is true that there is not as dime's worth of difference between the Republicans and Democrats there is little likelihood that an ignorant and ill-organized electorate will do anything to disturb the status quo. If this were all there was to this book it could be characterized as too little too late (TL2). Fortunately for the reader it contains a good deal more than this. Steele is a legitimate expert on national security issues, especially matters of national intelligence.
The balk of this work then presents Steele's prescription for reforming the U.S. National Security Establishment based on his analysis of the real threats to U.S. interests in 21st Century. Much of this prescription is a distillation and refinement of ideas that Steele has developed over the twenty years odd years that he has been an informed observer and commentator on national security. While this reviewer does not agree with all aspects of his prescription, Steele has to be respected for his foresight and seriousness of purpose. It is this portion of the book that is worth the price of admission.
Now this reviewer actually read the free version of the book on line, but still plans to purchase the hard copy version. This is because the hard copy version will be the better reference tool and this reader at least plans to use the book frequently as a reference guide.

EDIT of 26 Oct 08: Both parties have betrayed the public trust. This election is a theater in which Obama has received massive amounts of illegal funding, and McCain has allowed his staff to destroy Sarah Palin. BOTH candidates have refused to address the substance of governance, appoint a cabinet in advance, or post a balanced budget as proof of their eligibility to govern. I used to think Dick Cheney was the last act of the criminal bi-opology, but now I realize that Obama may be--this is a guy who means well, but has sold out. Larry Summers for Treasury? Summers is the guy that got fired from Harvard for saying women were not well suited to be scientists. It is still not too late for America to demand both candidates address substance in the context of a balanced budget. Right now any of us willing to listen and create a public decision process would be vastly better as president than either of these two captives of their party and their campaign staffs.

Book includes information on the Citizens Summit in Denver in February 2009, a virtual Constitutional Convention that could, among other things, abolish the two-party bi-opoly and end the winner take all approach to Congress and Cabinet that leads to corruption and fraud.

Below is the press release that went to Larry King and many others this morning.

Earth Intelligence Network Releases New Book

WASHINGTON DC - Sep 24, 2008 (FreePressIndex) -- Earth Intelligence Network, a 501c3 Public Charity dedicated to creating public intelligence in the public interest, today has released a new free online book ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig.

Opening with a denouncement of the proposed bail-out as both unconstitutional and fraudulent, the Preface identifies two greater dangers: electoral fraud and the displacement of voters by corporations; and the growing activism of two-dozen secessionist movements, a handful of which could secede from the Union during their forthcoming November 2008 meeting immediately after the fraudulent election.

Chapters helpful to voters concerned about the irrelevance and incapacity of both candidates for president--and their spin-oriented staffs--inform on the following topics: The Substance of Governance; Legitimate Grievances (first half on secessionists, second half on anti-Americanism); Candidates on the Issues; Balanced Budget 101; and Call to Arms: Fund We Not Them.

The book, written by the #1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction, concludes with an annotated bibliography divided into the following sections, each providing full book citations each with a direct link to the author's complete summative review online at Amazon: Anti-Americanism; Betrayal of the Public Trust; Biomimicry & Natural Capitalism; Blessed Unrest & the Tao of Democracy; Capitalism Run Amok; Collective Intelligence & Wealth of Networks; Culture of Catastrophe & Cheating; Deception, Facts, Lost History, & Lies; Democracy in Decline; Emerging Threats; Failed States & Sorrows of Empire; Future of Life & Plan B 3.0; Innovation & 21st Century Leadership; Instruments of National Power; Intelligence & Decision-Making; Internet; Philosophy, Psychology, & Religion from Faith to Fascism; Strategy; and War, Waste, & Crimes Against Humanity.

The book, a free full-color online PDF, may be loaded to any website or accessed directly at URL in the comment. The publisher urges media and other organizations to adopt the book as their own and offer their readers direct access rather than overloading the public service website.
Editors are encouraged to post a copy on their own web site using the cover graphic or the full-page framed pig with lipstick and pearls.

JPEGs including one of the pig in pearls and designer glasses also offered free at the URL.

Additional free information is available at URL in the comment.

Robert David STEELE Vivas, is a former spy and Marine officer, co-founder of the Marine Corps Intelligence Command, OSS.Net, Inc. and the Earth Intelligence Network. He is available to support media blogs or speak.

Here are ten books that directly support the non-profit premises calling for public attention:
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders
The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
Obama - The Postmodern Coup
Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Doing Democracy

My own take on John Boorman is that he CAN be a fine film director and sometimes he is. He's been responsible for some of the very best films of the last 40 years (HELL IN THE PACIFIC, DELIVERANCE, HOPE AND GLORY) and some of the absolute worst as well (ZARDOZ and EXCALIBUR, anybody?). As a memoir writer, however, he's first-rate, and what emerges is an engaging chronicle of his life both in the movies and out of them. His descriptions of how he developed each of his movies are always fascinating, and he has a huge streak of compassion for the people he's encountered throughout his life that makes his stories about them revealing without being vindictive. Boorman has been a director who has been more than willing to fall on his face any number of times reaching for what he believes might be a special cinematic moment, and this wonderful book goes a long way towards explaining the whys and wherefores of those aspirations. It hasn't changed my opinion about ZARDOZ one bit, but I now find it a lot easier to give him a thumbs-up for taking the risk to make it. Recommended.

I found myself trapped in an airport beginning a longish flight and this book was the single semi-appealing book available; once I started reading I was again trapped by his self-deprecating and insightful wit. How difficult it must be to make a good movie if someone as thoughtful, intelligent and sensitive as this only succeeds a small part of the time.

An enjoyable book from the first with the added bonus of glimpses into the real lives of other artists and creators. I may be over-grateful because the book was much more than I expected or hoped - but I don't think so.

Boorman writes with great wit and humility about his career as a filmmaker, working his way up the ladder. He adds interesting stories about legends such as Lee marvin, Toshiro Mafuni, Neil Jordan, etc. He talks about the struggles of having his films made, and the fact that many filmakers ideas never make it to the screen. A very honest nad enlightening autobiography.

If you are a fan of interview books (i.e conversations)as this author, and I, most obviously are, then this is for you. I grabbed this one on a lark looking for some inspiration along the dented and gray road to writing after spying Whit Stilman, Dylan Kidd and Kenneth Lonnergan's names included among the interviewees.
The book covers many varied viewpoints and not a one comes without some kernel of insight that had my highlighter being repeatedly uncapped to keep certain insights fresh.
The filmakers you may want to breeze over suddenly catch you by surprise with some startling insight and things you assumed were planned and calculated with your favorite films you discover were pure accidents of neccesity (budget, time, etc).
The great lesson is, write what you can do, then do it.
I actually parsed my chapters out so I wouldn't run through it too quick.
It won't write your screenplay for you but it'll make you want to.

Reading the interviews with writers/filmmakers like Ali Selim, Tom DiCillo, Whit Stillman, Henry Jaglom, Joan Micklin Silver, Eric Bogosian, Bob Clark, Kenneth Lonergan, LM Kit Carson, Stuart Gordan and Dan Futerman seem like you were having lunch with Gaspard and the writer and just were listening in as they talked about screenwriting.

You may not recognize all those names but you'd know the movies they made.

It has a very relaxed, informal style that seems to allow the people being interviewed to feel safe with Gaspard, open up and tell him a lot of information about the craft.

Good stuff, I would highly recommend it.

I will admit two things: 1. I'm on the verge of making my own low-budget film and, 2. I've only seen four of the 23 films talked about in this book. Thank God for Netflix.

This is a companion to the equally great book: "Fast Cheap & Under Control" about the making of low-budget films.

John Gaspard has collected 23 interviews from the screenwriters (and sometime directors) of many low budget films. Some of these films have been nominated for Academy Awards ("Capote") while others have taken their rightful place in the genre upon which they reside ("Re-Animator"). You will find every type and stripe of film here from period pieces to adaptations to original works.

What makes this book excellent but equally frustrating for a wannabe film-maker as myself, is that the interviewees all have different stories. I know that may sound like an odd statement but couldn't they all have done it easily? So I could feel better about making my film? - Yes, I'm kidding. :)

Of course the reality is that these interviewees talk of their struggles, their lucky breaks, the use of a connection or two. How something fell into someone's lap, how an investor walked through the door just at the right time, how they got that great shot, how they stretched that $5 into $10 or begged, borrowed or stole their way to a completed film.

John Gaspard ends the book with a "Thirty Lessons" learned chapter where he explores the lessons he learned while interviewing these writers. This chapter is worth the price alone.

The book is both fascinating and empowering. It makes me want to make my film even more so I can learn from their mistakes and, sadly, make my own.

My only complaints about this book is that I would have liked two things: I would have liked a capsule description of each film. Since I was unfamiliar with 19(!) of them, that would have helped me understand a bit what the writer was talking about in terms of plot line or story instead of gleaning it from how they answered the questions.

And, though Mr. Gaspard gives the reader a page of distributor and release year of all the films discussed, I would have liked more information such as how wide the release was, running time, how much the original budget was, how much the film actually cost and how much it made. Plus a little more on the writers themselves, other films they have written or works they have written would have been excellent.

Ultimately this is a great book exploring the idea of the low-budget film world through the writers that created it! Everyone started somewhere, that somewhere is described here.