Clayton Books

I have no idea why others rated this so low. It is a REFERENCE book - perfect for geography/social science teachers and/or students that are doing projects in Texas. If you don't know how to search the internet for lat/long coordinates (and it can be hard to find the exact one you want) then you NEED a reference book that has them right at hand. If I want to know where Dallas is located on the lat/long system, I can find it in about 20 seconds using this book. It is not for light reading, it is for reference. I do not believe the author made any claims other than that. So it's perfect if you need to easily be able to find over 8,000 locations in the state of Texas. It's in my reference library and I use it with my students.

Compared to a similar book about Arizona, this was unacceptable. I returned it

Not much on reading, just packed with information to use with your GPS unit. This companion list all the cities in the state with their latitude and longitude cordinences.

After viewing Season 24 of the original series, I never thought I would have to cringe at another Sylvester McCoy Doctor Who story ever again. And then I listened to Bang-Bang-A-Boom! Needless to say I discovered how wrong I could be in what could be the worst story Big Finish has yet released.

Bang-Bang-A-Boom! is set between Paradise Towers and Delta and the Bannerman, which are both from season 24 and the latter considered by many to be McCoy's worst story incidentally. And this story feels like it belongs next to it. Why? Because this story was deliberately meant to be a parody in its tone and nature and that is exactly what it is: a parody and a bad one at that. It takes the clichés from every TV series ever set on a space station, combines that with every murder mystery cliché and the result is this story. The story's problem: it doesn't take itself seriously so nobody takes it seriously. Which is a shame...a crying shame.

To be fair Yes it has (some) funny moments with McCoy mixing up metaphors. It isn't the actors fault that their given a script this bad to work with. That said, outside of McCoy and Bonnie Langford, none of the cast members seem to really care just how bad this really is or how bad they sound doing it.

Bang-Bang-A-Boom! is a story that is clichéd and cringe-worthy all the way through. It doesn't take itself seriously either as a Doctor Who story or as a parody of... well space station shows or murder mysteries or anything in-between. Recommended for those seeking to complete their collections only.

The Doctor & Mel are trapped on a space station, while their TARDIS is floating about deep space. No one is who they seem... & even worse, people are being killed one by one. The Doctor & Mel are up to their usual task of trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Overall, the story is at times a bit cheesy, & every time someone dies they play this cheesy music. But on the other hand, it had some great parts like the Doctor's tangent "...the redshift gobbles up planets at the edge of time." There is also one part where I laughed uncontrollably when a manly female alien is taking advantage of the Doctor... So overall, you'll love it or hate it depending on whether you're able to set aside the cheesy parts & enjoy the actual story.

I ordered this book about 7 weeks ago and it still has not arrived. I have been charged for it and received a shipment confirmation e-mail after the first week, but still NO BOOK! I have tried to contact the seller via email twice and have not gotten a response from them on either attempt. I'm very unhappy with the lack of follow through and communication with the seller; will not buy from them again.

As a jarhead myself I had to read this book. I was captivated by the whole intrigue of the spy world and the involvement of the U.S. Marines. This book is a good recommendation for just about anyone, it even has a twist of romance. I strongly recommend it!

I must say that I was disappointed in this book. There is very little new information, and while the art work is pleasing to look at, it really doesn't do much to detail equipment and installations. No single space warfare system is really highlighted. The author makes several brief references to the X-20 "Dynasoar", but these aren't substantive and the Air Force's equally interesting Manned Orbiting Laboratory program is completely ignored.

More distressing, in spite of his credentials, there is some reason to question the author's basic knowledge of the physics of space flight. At one point the text seems to suggest that a satellite could be positioned over Korea, almost as though it could hover there. That section could simply be poorly phrased, but elsewhere the text clearly asserts that "... if a country puts (a Multiple Orbital Bombardment System) in (geosynchronous Earth orbit) it could aim a warhead above a target indefinitely." The sentence seems to imply that a warhead from such a platform would drop to Earth like a stone. In truth, from a military point of view geosynchronous orbit would likely be a terrible place to base a warhead as it would take it a very long time to descend to Earth and could only be targeted at locations near the equator - though certainly not necessarily those directly beneath it!

I was eagerly anticipating the arrival of this title because I had hoped that it would throw some further light on advanced technologies that the US has been deploying in space for at least the last 20 years or more. Alas, not much substance in this volume beyond what, I admit, is a generally good summation of the orthodox technologies that are regularly trotted out for public consumption. Chemical fuel rockets, old school electronics, bicycle technology, etc. But the real US space program goes far, far beyond that...and there is a wealth of credible material on that subject available in published books and on the internet. In my opinion, this volume could have so easily been much more substantive without compromising its credibility one bit.

I originally bought this book back in 1995 when it came out and was very disappointed because I thought I was buying a book that would help me write a 3D raycaster or something similar.

It's over a decade later and I'm now trying to find my old copy because I remember it taught some techniques that are horribly outdated today on PCs but might be useful on resource constrained platforms.

What this book will do is show you a way of creating a 1st-person-ish 3D-ish view in a tile-based world. It reminds me of the old SSI gold box games, Bards Tale, etc.

Unfortunately WinG is really not used any longer and I was actually quite upset after going through the entire book and realizing OpenGL and DirectX/3D are the way to go. Buy a DirectX, Direct 3D or OpenGL book if you want something of value.

I bought this book hoping for some details about his life to explain where the anger from his music comes from. It has nothing of interest! The book is essentially just a complicated discography, with comments from the writer and a few quotes from Elvis (all of them taken from newspapers or magazine clippings) thrown in just so that the book won't be super thin... His entire courtship and marriage to his second wife is told in like two paragraphs. This book is lame and pointless.

There are three types of unauthorized biographies, well-researched, pure speculation, and cut and paste. This is an example of the latter. The author gives us the Elvis Costello to be found in magazine interviews, and creates a whole book by taking information from a variety of sources and putting it all together into this quickie bio. Some decent insights into his recording career are to be found throughout, but this is really not well-done. You can put your time to better use by listening to a few Costello CD's and wonder about the workings of the man who created all this challenging music. That will bring you closer to understanding Elvis Costello than this book will.

One thing that you have to give credit to Tony Clayton-Lea for is that he right up front advises the reader that Elvis Costello had nothing and wanted nothing to do with this biography. Cooperation from the subject of a biography is, of course, immensely helpful in writing of the book, but by no means a necessity. Mr. Clayton-Lea offers an extremely pedestrian account of the life and times of Elvis Costello. The book reads like press clippings in many spots and offers no insight into the man's career. Being that there are barely any books on Mr. Costello, this book has a minimum of value for that reason, but not much else. if you are an avid fan of Mr. Costello, then this book doesn't offer much, but if you are not that familiar with his career, then this book is a decent primer.

Tony Clayton-Lea's book, "Elvis Costello: A Biography" is about as inspired as its title. It is a mostly a cookie-cutter approach to the life of the greatest singer-songwriter this side of Bob Dylan. Interestingly, previous chronologies of Dylan's life and times have been imaginative, provocative, and literate. It's a shame Costello has yet to receive equal treatment. Clayton-Lea's book reads like a cross between a college term paper and a transcript from VH1's "Behind the Music". Basically, rock star makes it big, is overcome by sex, drugs, and fame, has a few tiffs with his record company, but is able to maintain his artistic integrity throughout. Though it may be true, it's a plot that's been exhausted a thousand times over with a hundred other artists. There has got to be a more creative approach to filling 200 pages about this man's life and work. The book's one saving grace is its ample use of insightful quotes from various interviews throughout the years. If Costello had been on board to lend literacy to this entire project, perhaps quality and originality would have been enforced (and "Damnation's Cellar" would not be referred to as "Damnation's Alley").

What a let down! I can't think of anyone more deserving of a good biography than Elvis Costello. The greatest 20th Century songwriter -- and I include Dylan, Gershwin, Porter, et al., in that comparison. Well, this isn't what we've been waiting for, by a country mile. A thrown-together collection of press clips, apocrypha and tired gossip, with absolutely no analysis of his lyrics and songwriting in general. If you're going to read a bio, try "God's Comic" instead. It's no great shakes either, but this is the pits. Why the publisher didn't just sling the MS in the trashcan, I don't know. Obviously done with no cooperation from the subject or anyone who knows the first thing about his music. Save your money.

This book was received exactly as advertized and met customer expectations. The shipping was timely as well.. Good Job !!

This is not a student solutions manual at all. It is a book that contains a few additional example problems and solutions for each chapter in the text book. It is a complete waste of money. DO NOT BUY IT!

Same thing as said prior. This does not have any solutions for the problems in the book. It only covers some sample problems and shows you how to do those. A measly 100 page book that is not worth the money. Dont make the same mistake I did.

This solutions manual is really NOT A SOLUTIONS MANUAL AT ALL. It is a skimpy 100-page handful of 100 or so "practice" problems. BEWARE, this book does NOT have the solutions to all of the problems in the back of the "Engineering Fluid Mechanics" textbook (Crowe/Elger/Roberson 8th). Granted, the authors do show you, step by step, how to solve these few representative example problems. However, I don't believe that this little bit of extra help is worth the price tag. Don't waste your money on this POS (like I did).

This solution manual does not and i emphasize does not have the solutions to all the problems in the back of the book. And i totally support the past reviews posted about this book. Do not buy this solution manual otherwise you will be waisting your money.

The author spends too much time inadequately glossing over addons and plugins for specific games, and too little time talking about the title program itself, gMax. As a result, very little of this book is worth a purchase. Much better resources are availble in the gMax help tutorials and on the web through forums and free additional tutorials. I've learned a great deal through gMax's documentation and free tutorials, much more than this book offers.

This book give a good introduction on game modding for Quake, Flight Simulator using gmax and a very thorough installation procedure. But in many cases, this book only refer to the URL instead of providing the installation file on the CDROM. There are only a few tutorial provided about the gmax itself and there are a lot more and better tutorial found on the net.

I can't believe Discreet put their name on this product. Only to the most novice might this software appear amazing but it is fairly worthless. I have taught 3d animation to high school students for the past 8 years using a varaity of free 3d packages and thought...wow...free from Discreet!!! It's crap!

I bought the book, its crap! There is no user base for the software, no support, very little feedback from the forums. Don't bother. I had hopes, bought the book, it gives some basics about modeling in the program bit gives no help with integrating the models into a game environment. I was able to get Static Meshes into UT2003 and a few others but that was about it. Sure, you can box model a character and add a bone structure...but then how do you get it into a game? No answer to be found! The only reason I gave it the time of day I did was because the Admin at my school didn't want to cough up the cash for a proper 3d program. Hah, after showing them what the free stuff COULDN'T do, they did!!!!

If you are starting out, maybe the free version of Softimage that comes with HL2 will be better, it can't be worse.

I would be emabarassed if I were Discreet.

Steve

I had tried doing some work on my own, but the installation instructions for gmax and tutorials that already exist are not very good. This book fixed everything for me!!!!!

This book is more on general modding of software than actually using gmax. This book spends too much time showing you how to install and update the games that support gmax, when it could be showing you how to use gmax itself.

It covers very very basic aspects of gmax, then spends a lot of time talking about the individual games. The topics covered about the individual games are mostly how to install and update the game and whatever additional resources that are provided by the game developers, and are not really valuable.

This book will not teach you anything about modeling or animating in gmax, it will only expose you to the concept of using gmax to edit various games, and give you some ideas of what can be edited in each game.

I recommend The gmax Bible, which is a much richer book for learning gmax modeling and animation techniques, and how to use them in modifying games.

This is a very very basic book, and your time would be better spent reading a few tutorials off the net than purchasing this book. You can't really use it as a printed reference for anything either.

Review of Taffix. Learning CDs: Being a newcomer to 3D Studio Max, I found that the tutorials on the CDs are really good, especially the basic tutorials. Most of the tutorials have fairly good instructions. What is not covered in some tutorials, has been covered under "Procedures", so one only has to go through these. Things like "Lofting" and "Scale Deform" were especially well explained and therefore easy to follow. The "Problem solver" tips were very helpful as an easy reference. The "How to for Materials", is good. It is simple to follow and I had no problems in using this. Some steps though, needed more explanations, for example, in instructions for Path Deform, step # 4, could use a little more instruction, I had to figure out that one as the option to change percentage values was not available, until I figured out why. However, I would recommend these CDs to anyone who is using this program for the first time, as it covers almost everything for a starter.

There is no organization to these tutorials at all and they run very poorly. From the looks of the packinging (a jewel case with a crappy ink jet printed picture for an inside cover) I wouldn't doubt that this set was made by a complete amature. There are many other books and references out there that are much much better.

Mr. Clayton obviously knows what he's talking about; the user will not. IF the CD is organized at all, it should really be accompanied by a companion CD of tutorials that will explain the methodology of that organization. The tutorials are abstruse and require more time to decipher than the program should to learn. I bought Mr. Clayton's CD by accident (I meant to buy a different one), but even if I had intended to buy his, doing so would have been a mistake. (One star by duress)

hundreds of pinouts and truthtables plus general info such as power dissapation and propagation time. book is wrote at an intermediate electronics level therefor if you don't have a clue what the chip is for don't look it up all info can be found on ic manufacture's web site. if you want to cut and paste 500 pages do that. if you want a book that gives pinouts and general info it is worth the money. if you can't design circuits and need pictures buy a hobby book. all chip info given on chips is 1-2 pages

This book has numerous errors in it. Each page has a different IC on it, along with a description. Unfortunately, when the author was cutting and pasting, he forgot to change some of the information. Thus, specs will sometimes refer to the chip on the previous page by mistake. The diagrams are very ugly and inconsistent in style from page to page. They look like they were drawn by kids. Also, the type of IC information given is inconsistent from page to page.

In addition, very low quality paper is used to make the book.

This book is mistitled. In electronics parlance, a "cookbook" contains example circuits. And while the publisher's description does state that the book "focuses on the ICs themselves rather than the circuits in which they are used..." you still expect to get something that will help you in applying the circuits. What you get is a short description of each circuit, a pinout diagram (printed very, very large), and 4-5 selected specifications. You could assemble this whole book in one night by doing cut-and-paste operations from the chip manufacturers web sites. Now that we can download complete spec sheets via the Internet, no one needs a book like this one.