Becker Books

Wow! Dr. Holstein does a terrific job of getting us to slow down and appreciate the small things in life. Her touching vignettes help us realize we all have such stories if we just look for them. It guides us in looking for the meaning and connection in our daily activities. What a delight.

Recipes For Enchantment: The Secret Ingredient Is You! by psychologist Barbara Becker-Holstein is a unique and insightful self-help guide to feeling better. Recipes For Enchantment is filled with inspirational stories with opportunities to journal and think through making positive changes in one's life. A warm book dedicated to lifting spirits and making a difference for the better, Recipes For Enchantment is the culmination of more than ten years of work and research and will reveal to the reader how to recall positive memories as an aid to dealing with the pressures and disappointments of our lives. The recollections, coupled with daily positive actions, will result in the substantial and enduring enrichment of our lives and personal sense of well being.

We all remember special moments in our lives but this book teaches us how to include those feelings as a more integral part of our daily lives. A magical book that leads the reader through self-discovery with practical examples to spark the "enchantment" process. Dr. Holstein's experiences and professional expertise are reflected in her writing and I strongly encourage those who wish a deeper enjoyment as they travel through life to pick up this wonderful book. Different and thought provoking!

I enjoyed reading Dr. Holstein's first book, THE ENCHANTED SELF, A Positive Therapy. However, RECIPES FOR ENCHANTMENT, The Secret Ingredient is YOU! is a book that is really for everyone with a step away from more of the clinical aspects of 'enchantment'.

It was a joy to read her enchanting and motivational collection stories and the follow up exercises allowed me relate her messages to my own experiences. I actually learned how to bring more joy into my life by tapping into my hidden potential through memory exploration. It's a great concept that really works.

In a nutshell it's a book that you want to pick up when you are looking for some heart-warming inspiration. She has a great flair for story telling and weaves lots of common-sense into her beautifully structured short stories. I loved it! I think women, especially, will appreciate this book.

Kerstin has compiled a wonderful book that is more than "just" the history of the UMMB. The book (especially the photos) captures the true experience of being a member of this amazing organization. Current members or alums of a high school or college marching band can relate to the stories. The book can easily hold the attention of anyone interested in history, education, and/or music (and anyone who has participated in a Drum Major Academy/Band Leadership Training seminar). The Power and Class of New England is a truly unique group defined by its history, with its excellence maintained and improved upon year after year by the band members and incredible staff.

Lisa M., Clarinet/T-bone UMMB, 1989-1993

This book is about the most inspiring part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Minuteman Marching Band. Unless you have attended a football game in the past you have not witnessed the Power and Class of New England. At my first football game I was astonished when I saw more people in the stands during the half time show than were present for the entire game. The history of the band is quite amazing and is a story to be enjoyed by all. From the 4:40 practices to sleeping on gym floors the dedication and pride shown by the members of this organization should be enjoyed by all. Two enthusiastic thumbs up, way to go Kerstin.

This book covers the evolution of a marching band that, while hindered by being at Division 1AA Football School (Instead of the normal Division 1 School) still is able to wow audiences and become known wherever it goes as one of the most energetic, profesional, and downright best bands in the land.
The great work done here by Kerstin to chronicle all the ups and downs of how the band grew to become what it is today is a great read, and a great walk through the history of an amazing American Institution, The Marching Band.

Through These Doors: The History Of The University Of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band 1863-2003 is the true story behind an acclaimed, award-winning marching band that has even earned the honor of marching for President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C. at the Presidential Inaugural Parade. Black & white photographs as well as a smattering of color plates enrich this chronicle of an organization grounded in excellence and musical celebration, which delves deeply into the personal efforts of the individuals who shaped, taught, and led the marching band as well as the broader history of the band and the school it served.

Not only did I enjoy this book, but I enjoyed the professor as well. The Ultimate Assist is a great way to get a feeling for what goes on behind the scenes in the sports media industry (especially in the NBA). The book provides insightful quotes, interesting graphs and polls, and reflects the true essence of Mr. Fortunato's intelligent and great personality.

I did not like the NBA when I picked up this book, but after
reading this well written document. I found myself respecting its tremendous progress.

Thanks to John Fortunato for putting this together and helping
us understand the behind the scenes NBA world.

It is a MUST READ for basketball fans of all ages.

I cannot speak well enough about the author or his book! Dr. Fortunato has combined both brilliance and enthusiasm into his book, The Ultimate Assist. If anyone has ever been interested in topics ranging anywhere from the NBA to the mass media, this is no doubt the ideal text to own. Dr. Fortunato currently has a Ph.D. in Communication from Rutgers University, and an M.A. in Communication and B.A. from William Paterson University, and has successfully created a fascinating non-fiction work that depicts the NBA as it is today; the Ultimate Assist is a definite page-turner. With fascinating interviews, unlimited knowledge, and the greatest passion, The Ultimate Assist is no doubt a book that everyone should own a copy of.

I found the Ultimate Assist to be very insightfull. Fortunato presents the facts in a very smooth enjoyable way. An excellent read for any N.B.A. fan

This book is basically a manual for Unicode 3.0. It is not a light read but well worth the price and then some just for the glyphs from all of the various scripts that Unicode supports.

At 1040 large (8.5 x 11) pages it is the ultimate guide to unicode. With information on scripts and glyphs I had no idea even existed.

However if you are just getting started with Unicode I would recomend you get Unicode a Primer written by Tony Graham from M&T books. If you understand or feel you are starting to understand Unicode then The Unicode Standard Version 3.0 is the best comprehensive reference on the subject out today.

Consider it an overview of the developing UNICODE standard. As such, it will serve the engineer working on software in English and many other European countries rather well. It will be a good _starting_ _point_ for engineers developing software for other languages.

This book is essential for software engineers, at least for the next ten years or so. All programmers should understand characters, and UNICODE is the best we have for now. Even if you don't need it in your personal library, you need it in your company or school library.

The standard is flawed, as all real standards are, but it is a functioning standard, and it should be sufficient for many purposes for the near future.

The book itself is fairly well laid out, contains an introduction to character handling problems and methods for most of the major languages in use in our present world as well as tables of basic images for all code points. Be aware that these are _only_ basic images. For most internationalization purposes, be prepared for more research. (And please share your results.)

**** Finally, UNICODE is _not_ a 16 bit code. ****

(This is well explained in the book.) It just turned out that there really are over 50,000 Han characters. (Mojikyo records more than 90,000.) UNICODE can be encoded in an eight-bit or 16-bit expanding method or a 32-bit non-expanding method. The expanding methods can be _cleanly_ parsed, frontwards, backwards, and from the middle, which is a significant improvement over previous methods.

Some of the material in the book is available at the UNICODE consortium's site, but the book is easier to read anyway. One complaint I have about the included CD is that the music track gets in the way of reading the transform files on my iBook.

This is not just a reference for computer people, but for anyone interested in alphabets, symbols and character sets.

Central to the book, taking up the larger part of it, are the tables of the characters themselves, printed large with annotations and cross-references. If you enjoy the lure of strange symbols and curious writing systems then browsing these will occupy delightful hours.

For the Latin alphabet alone there are pages of accented letters and extended Latin alphabet characters used in particular languages or places or traditions: Pan-Turkic "oi", African clicks and other African sounds, obsolete letters from Old English and Old Norse, an "ou" digraph used only in Huron/Algonquin languages in Quebec, and many others, particularly those used for phonetic/phonemic transcriptions.

The Greek character set includes archaic letters and additional letters used in Coptic.

Character sets carried over from previous editions with additions and corrections are Cyrillic (with many national characters), Armenian, Georgian, Hebrew, Arabic (again many national and dialect characters), the most common Hindu scripts (Devanagari, Bengali, Gurmukhi, Gujarati, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam), Tibetan, Thai, Lao, Hangul, Bopomofo, Japanese Katakana and Hiragana, capped by the enormous Han character set containing over 27,000 of the most commonly used ideographs in Chinese/Japanese/Korean writing. Then there are the symbols: mathematical/logical (including lots of arrows), technical, geometrical, and pictographic. You'll find astrological/zodiacal signs, chess pieces, I-Ching trigrams, Roman numerals not commonly known, and much more.

Scripts appearing for the first time this release are Syriac, Ethiopic, Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics, Cherookee, Runes, Ogham, Yi, Mongolian, Sinhala, Thaana, Khmer, Myanmar, complete Braille patterns, and keyboard character sets. And yes, there are public domain/shareware fonts available on the web that support these with their new Unicode values.

There are very good (and not always brief) descriptions of the various scripts and of the special symbol sets. Rounding out the book are some involved, turgid (necessarily so) technical articles on composition, character properties, implementation guidelines, and combining characters, providing rules to use the character properties tables on the CD that accompanies the book. After all, this is the complete official, definitive Unicode standard.

Of course this version, 3.0, is already out-of-date. But updates and corrections are easily available from the official Unicode website where data for 3.1 Beta appears as I write this. My book bulges with interleaved additions and changes. And that's very good. Many standards have died or been superceded because the organizations behind them did not keep up with users' needs or the information was not easily accessible.

Caveats?

The notes on actual uses of the characters could be more extensive, particularly on Latin extended characters. More variants of some glyphs should be shown, as in previous editions, if only in the notations.

Some character names are clumsy or inaccurate (occasionly noted in the book), because of necessity to be compatible with ISO/IEC 10646 and with earlier versions of the Unicode standard. For example, many character names begin with "LEFT" rather than "OPENING" or "RIGHT" rather than "CLOSING" though the same character code is to be used for a mirrored version of the character in right-to-left scripts where "LEFT" and "RIGHT" then become incorrect. And sample this humorous quotation from page 298: "Despite its name, U+0043 SCRIPT CAPITAL LETTER P is neither script nor capital--it is uniquely the Weierstrass elliptic function derived from a calligraphic lowercase p."

Although the Internet and web commerce is still very much an American phenomena, there are many signs that it is about to change. After many years of explosive growth, the curve of new Internet users in the United States is leveling off. Recent articles point to other countries, Brazil in particular, where there could be an explosion of new users. Argentina, India and China also show signs of being poised to enter the only true global market.
To compete in this arena, it is necessary to understand how to display the characters of the "local" language, and for that, you need Unicode. This book is absolutely the best reference on Unicode that currently exists. Often overused, the word definitive is an understatement. Created by the members of the Unicode consortium, it is difficult to conceive of an aspect of Unicode that is not covered in this book.
However, Unicode is more than just characters in spoken languages. With significant sections devoted to mathematical and other commonly used symbols, this is a reference for all who wish to communicate effectively. In every area, there are some references that are essential, and this is one of them.

My 2-year old grandson had taken this book out of the library and he loved it so much that I decided to buy it for him. He just loves to go through all the types of trucks; my daughter actually counted them and she assured me that there were indeed 100 trucks.

I know this book almost by heart after reading it over and over again with my son. We had so many vehicle books but this was definitely our favorite. I'm buying it now as a gift. You can't go wrong with this book if your little one likes vehicles.

My son loooooooooooves this book. He is all about trucks, and this one has them all. It is informative for parents as well, as it gives you the specific names for all sorts of trucks you previously just called 'truck'. A nice vocabulary expander.

My 3 1/2 yr. old loves this book. There are farm trucks, city trucks, log trucks, construction trucks, emergency trucks, EVERYTHING! This book can hold my son's imagination for a whole hour! We have talks about things in this book from the trucks themselves to the trees, the people in the trucks, the buildings, the ice cream in the ice cream truck... it spawns many conversations from my son! He loves it! I recommend it for infants to 90 yrs. old!

Giacometti well expressed the alienation and estrangement of the human condition in his sculpture.

In addition to his familiar sculptures, this book has quite a few drawings and paintings of the master. What a painter!

Surprisingly enough, there are comparatively few quality publications on Giacometti, one of the greatest artists of the XXth century. This catalogue for an exhibition that was held at the Moma and at the Kunsthaus Zurich, draws on the extensive Giacometti holdings of both museums for a comprehensive survey of his career. From his surrealist period to his trademark elongated figures, from his numerous drawings which served as studies both for his sculptures and his paintings, to his lesser-known oils, the whole career and output of the artist is very well illustrated in a book that I highly recommend.

We all have our own anecdotes about how important our animal friends are to each of us. In some small (or large) ways we have all experienced the miracles of angel animals. In daily life they teach us patience, show us unconditional love, and expect us to be nothing less than ourselves with them at all times. In times of crisis, they stand beside us reminding us that we are stronger and more courageous than we think. In short, they change our lives, for the better. Animals really are pretty amazing creatures.

Angel Animals is an anthology of animal experiences that changed the lives of various individuals. The types of animals and the dynamics of these relationships vary substantially as do the lessons learned and the gifts given by these beings. As expected household pets are common heroes and heroines in these stories. However, in quite a number of the entries, the animals depicted are quite out of the ordinary including seals, raccoons, bees, and spiders. In all cases, these creatures bring with them special gifts and lasting lessons that guided their humans through very difficult or challenging times.

Updated and revised to include a new introduction, ANGEL ANIMALS gathers stories about spiritual lessons they've learned from animals and comes not from new age leaders but from ordinary individuals, making for an even more powerful collection. From a sparrow's influence on volunteering to animals who promoted spiritual growth, ANGEL ANIMALS is an outstanding survey for any who would reveal the underlying importance of animals.

Purchased for our 10 year old daughter, she has not put it down. The stories are touching and funny and intense. Good quick read!

Art Nouveau (French for "new art") was a decorative arts and architectural movement that began in the last decade of the 19th century and ended with the onset of World War I. Art Nouveau was a reaction to the shoddy, cluttered and regressive historicism of 19th century design and architecture; it was the dawning of the modern age in the decorative arts and architecture. Art Nouveau had its germination in England of the 1870s and 1880s first with The Aesthetic Movement and then with The Arts and Crafts Movement, but the style came to full fruition in continental Europe in the 1890s. Inspired by nature, Rococo, Symbolist painting and poetry, Japanese and Middle Eastern art and the female form, Art Nouveau was a dynamic and ebullient style that captured the imagination of the turn of the century public.

Its first flowering was in France and Belgium and then later in Scotland, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia, Spain, the Austro-Hungarian empire and later still across the Atlantic in America. Art Nouveau was a truly pan-European and international movement that swiftly spread around the industrialized world predominately being concentrated in larger urban areas. The new style flourished in towns and cities like Paris and Nancy, Brussels, Darmstadt, Munich and Weimar, Barcelona, Glasgow, Helsinki, Vienna, Prague and Chicago amongst others. Early Art Nouveau was graceful and elegant with a stylistic vocabulary inspired by motifs drawn from nature (like stylized plants with whip-lash tendrils) it was curvilinear, curvaceous and sinuous. Later the style became more abstracted, rhythmical and severe (especially in Austria and Scotland) with an emphasis on straight lines or repeating squares and selective ornamentation. Art Nouveau was known under various names in different countries, three among them being "Jungendstil" in Germany, "Stil Liberty" in Italy or "Modernisme" in Spain. Art Nouveau pursued an aesthetically unified goal with its best designers creating "total works of art" (from the German Gesamtkunstwerk) where every component in a buildings interior was coordinated and homogenous. Art Nouveau was an art of the "Fin de Siecle" or the "Belle Époque" age with their enthusiasm for yet apprehension over the fast pace of industrialization. The facade of the old world was crumbling to be replaced by a new social and economic order that frightened many people who were comfortable with the way things were, great change comes at a price. Art Nouveau artists and artisans created a wide range of products: like delicate ceramics and glass, carved and gilt furniture, gold and silver, jewellery, illustration, posters and painting. An example of one of the new forms to be explored was the electric lamp, artificial lighting (replacing candles, gas and oil) had just been invented and Art Nouveau artists responded with great originality, gaiety and freshness.

There was a new generation of brilliant artists throughout Europe all to willing to embrace the "new art" and in most modernised cities and countries one had artists diligently working away creating a vibrant new aesthetic. In many European capitals one could find highly gifted artists working in a broadly unified but eclectic style. To list but a select handful would include Charles Rennie Macintosh, Aubrey Beardsley, and Archibald Knox in Britain and Emile Galle, Louis Majorelle, Hector Guimard, René Lalique and Alfons Maria Mucha in France. In Belgium one had artists of a singular vision working like Victor Horta, Henry Van De Velde, Gustave Serrurier-Bovy and Philippe Wolfers. In Germany and Austria one had a cast of stellar artists such as Peter Behrens, Richard Riemerschmid, Bruno Paul, Herman Obrist, Otto Eckmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Otto Wagner amongst others. In America one had artists and architects like Louis H. Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Comfort Tiffany and George E. Ohr. There were too many creative geniuses working in too many artistic centers to mention here but suffice it to say that they all contributed greatly to the new style. Art Nouveau was an art movement with a social conscience, many of its exponents believed that they could enhance the living conditions of the populace by bringing beauty into their lives, this noble goal failed. One of the reasons these idealistic artists were not successful in this aim is that their items were time consuming to make and thus quite expensive. When Art Nouveau products were cheaply available to the average person they were invariably mass-produced and chintzy. The truth of the matter is that Art Nouveau chiefly appealed to the upper middle-classes, the bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia with its exquisite craftsmanship and modern sensibilities. In Paris the Exposition Universelle De 1900 was held to great acclaim with artists, architects, craftsmen and the curious public flocking from all over the world to its monumental gates. In the next several years Art Nouveau diminished in quality of vision and popularity with many artists brief careers fading or moving on to more productive endeavors. The influence of Art Nouveau on the arts slowly declined after the first decade of the 20th century, it came to be seen as decadent, neurotic and unhealthy with its wildly organic forms and erotically charged overtones. If one moves forward fifty years or so into the 1960s and 70s, Art Nouveau's fortunes underwent a resurgence of interest with a youthful and curious generation willing to embrace this misunderstood and much maligned movement.

Gabriele Fahr-Becker has written a thoroughly consuming and interesting book that is extensively and well researched that will keep one rapt for hours with its fascinating story of Art Nouveau. From beginning to end this comprehensive volume will inspire and exhilarate with its tale of these pioneering artists attempts to re-imbue the Western decorative arts and architecture with a new spirit of modernity. Art Nouveau is nowadays more popular than ever with many important books written on the subject, and today Nouveau "objets d'art" are highly collectible and sought after. Art Nouveau laid the ground for fully fledged modernism in the decorative arts, design and architecture that was to arise a little later in the 20th century. It may seem quaint, quirky and strange to some but this style has been a revelation and an inspiration to many; with hope this volume will stimulate you to broaden your mind and heart to embrace Art Nouveau.

A German art historian writing (admirably) in English, Gabriele Fahr-Becker gives us an immensely rich and vital resource, arguably the most comprehensive book of its kind. In its 420 pages, she fully documents Art Nouveau's origins, from Japan to the Middle East, the Guilds to the Aesthetic/Arts & Crafts movements, and the Pre-Raphaelites to the Symbolists. The scope of Art Nouveau is evident in its geography, the categorical basis on which the author presents an extensive range of material -- not only from Paris, Brussels, and Vienna but also from Glasgow, the rest of Europe, and America. Appropriate for both scholars and a popular audience, it is densely packed with hundreds of gorgeous color illustrations. Its special features include mini-biographies of artists associated with Art Nouveau and a complete glossary of terms. Conscientious and thorough, Fahr-Becker gives due attention to Art Nouveau's sensuous language, explaining how "...plants and animal symbols, more eloquent than words, became the emblems of eroticism." In Art Nouveau, she implies that there could be decadence without obscenity, as art went "back to nature". During the period, there were still "symbol's of man's (sic) sexual confusion" for which "Sigmund Freud tried to offer a remedy ... through psychoanalysis." She is careful to emphasize, however, that in the realm of the senses, Art Nouveau struggled to pick up where the Pre-Raphaelites left off, "with a fusion of eroticism and spiritual nobility."

A very large, comprehensive and definitive book on Art Nouveauâ€" with almost 480 sumptuous illustrations, many full page and double page, and almost all in beautiful color â€" of the highest quality photographic reproduction. Absolutely breathtaking example s of the great diversity of Art Nouveau as it is expressed in decorations, embellishments, objects of every description, jewelry, lighting and lamps, furniture, architecture and fine art. This overwhelming quest for the New (Nouveau) â€" a monumental art mo vement which swept across Europe and America around the turn of the centuryâ€" awakened western culture from the limiting concepts of the 19th century into the global enlightenment of the 20th. Revolting against repressive 19th century mores, Art Nouveau e xplored and reveled in the vital life-force of nature and its untold processes and organic mysteries.

End Notes: "On the basis of shared ideas and ideals, artists strove after a homogenous style that would find expression not in uniformity but in variety. Despite all the inconsistencies, a unified framework does show through the many variations. . . Art historian and Art Nouveau scholar Dr. Gabriele Fahr-Becker pursues this yearning for an all-pervasive style in its impact on architecture, interior desig n, furniture, gold and silversmiths' works, art ceramics and glass, graphics and painting. She guides the reader through the various national schools in Scotland, England, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Russia, Scandinavia, Germany, Austria and the United States." . . . "The countless threads of Art Nouveau are interwoven to form a complex and yet clearly distinguishable picture of an art movement on the threshold of the 20th century."""

Being from the dry place called "The Uintah Basin", I enjoyed reading about Chipeta. I read a lot of sports books and I thought the Chipeta book might be boring. It was the best book I've read this year. It was better than Phil Jackson and Paul Hourning's books. It was super.

The collaborative effort of Cynthia S. Becker and P. David Smith, Chipeta: Queen Of The Utes is the simply fascinating biography of the wife of Ute Chief Ouray, and who was to become as well-known as her famous husband. Regarded in stature as a "queen" by both whites and Utes, Chipeta outlived her husband by nearly half a century, adopted many orphaned children (she could not have children of her own), and remained a strong, caring individual in spite of difficult times. Offering a unique glimpse of the woes of the Utes as a tribe, as well as the particular challenges Chipeta and her husband faced at the turn of the century, Chipeta: Queen Of The Utes is an inspirational account of personal character and a welcome contribution to Native American Studies.

Chipeta: Queen of the Utes is an engaging story of life on the Colorado (American) frontier. It was unusual for a woman to be in such an influential and important position in Indian tribes. The authors apparently not only did extensive research (yes, this is a well-documented book) but are delightful storytellers. The oral tradition of Ute tribal legend is codified in a readable book.

Few women had a voice in 19th and early-20th Century America. Chipeta stood out. She became her husband's most trusted advisor. She was also an accomplished artisan, sang and played the guitar. At a time when Indians were marginalized, this Ute woman, Chipeta, traveled with her husband Chief Ouray to Washington DC. She even testified before a Congressional inquiry panel.

There are many historic photographs. The writers dug deep to locate archives not seen before. Ouray and Chipeta had their photograph taken by the famous Mathew Brady. Through the eyes of the writers we see the setting of Brady's studio and such details as the chair Chipeta sat in was the same one used in a famous photo of President Lincoln and his son.

Some of the vignettes tell of the danger and discrimination the Utes felt after the Manifest Destiny doctrines of the 19th Century legislators. The incident at the Pueblo [Colorado] train station is spell-binding. So-called Americans had great animosity for the Native Americans. When the delegation traveled to Washington DC, the officials of the US government wanted to show the military power of the nation. The Utes were not intimidated.

Chipeta's later life was one of mixed blessings. She found a second husband after Ouray's death and adopted a number of children. But she lived a hard life on a reservation in Utah. The stories of her reemergence as a celebrity in Colorado during her senior years is rewarding. The authors draw on newspaper accounts and oral histories by people who knew Chipeta to recount her later life (she died in 1924). She became so popular in Colorado that two towns vied for the right to bury her.

The book includes an Epilogue of related events that occurred after Chipeta's death. An Appendix identifies many places and things that are named in honor of Chipeta. This book would be an excellent high school or college text for classes studying the Native American culture. For the pleasure-reader Chipeta: Queen of the Utes is a nice flowing, well written text about an early American culture.

This book is packed with solid, tested, real-world advice about filmmaking. Ignore it, and you'll waste time, money, and energy piddling around. Ask me, because I made a short film before I read it. Had I spent more time with Becker's book, I would've had a better time getting the film together, and perhaps a better film. The book's like having an ideal big brother take you aside and give you the low down. Out of the several books I've read, this offered the most practical and solid advice - not surprising, since Becker's actually directed four independent films, along with some TV shows. Profit from his experience. I can't emphasize enough how much more valuable this book has been to me than nearly every other `how to' guide out there.

Been a lot of these books, but this one's the best, hands down. Practical, entertaining and inspiring, penned by someone who's been around the block and knows his stuff. A thoughtful, genuinely-informative guide for anyone dead-serious about making films.

The big difference between Becker's book and a lot of those other "Make a Digital Feature with your spare change" books is that he tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Making a movie, even a short or a mediocre one is VERY hard work. Your movie may suck. If you don't spend time and effort on the story, it most likely will. How will you sell/market it? There are movies with stars that can't find distribution so your independant movie with no stars better be damn good. I work in computer animation, and digital is not the solution to all problems like some of these books profess (although it can be a big help in many aspects). Film still looks better and is easier to light. Becker approaches filmmaking with a straightforward no-bs atitude. He has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to Hollywood and the state of recent movies, which according to him have been in a slump since the late '70s. Even if you disagree with him his rants are entertaining and well informed. He just wants to see better movies like all of us. If you want a touchy feely book that says you are special, all your ideas are wonderful and you will inevitably succeed, look elsewhere. If you want a realistic perspective and useful info on the entire film production process, buy his book. It doesn't have the whole puzzle but it has a lot of the pieces.