Peter Books

NIELSEN RATINGS 1974 1975 TV SEASON

Here are the season average Nielsen ratings for the 1974-75 television season.
Only series are included in the ratings.
The number preceding the series name is the series ranking.
The network carrying the series is in parenthesis, and the average rating follows.

1. All in the Family (CBS) 30.2
2. Sanford and Son (NBC) 29.8
3. Chico and the Man (NBC) 28.6
4. The Jeffersons (CBS) 27.6
5. MASH (CBS) 27.2
6. Rhoda (CBS) 25.9
7. The Waltons (CBS) 25.7
8. Good Times (CBS) 25.6
9. Maude (CBS) 24.8
10. Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) 24.6
I I . Mary Tyler Moore (CBS) 24.0
12. Rockford Files (NBC) 23.8
13. Kojak (CBS) 23.5
14. Little House on the Prairie (NBC) 23.1
15. Police Woman (NBC) 22.9
16. SWAT (ABC) 22.6
17. Bob Newhart (CBS) 22.5
18. World of Disney (NBC) 22.2
19. Mannix (CBS) 21.7
20. Cannon (CBS)
-The Rookies (ABC)
-Sunday Mystery Movie (NBC) each 21.5
23. Streets of San Francisco (ABC)
-Cher (CBS) each 21.3
25. Paul Sand (CBS) 20.9
26. Gunsmoke
-Medical Center (both CBS) 20.7
28. Adams of Eagle Lake (ABC) 20.6
29. Carol Burnett (CBS) 20.5
30. Tony Orlando and Dawn (CBS) 20.3
31. Emergency (NBC) 20.2
32. NFL Football (ABC) 19.8
33. Barnaby Jones (CBS) 19.6
34. ABC Sunday Movie 19.1
35. NBC Monday Movie 19.0
36. Caribe (ABC) 18.9
37. NBC Saturday Movie 18.8
38. Wesnesday Movie of the Week (ABC) 18.7
39. Mac Davis (NBC)
- CBS Thursday Movie, each 18.5
41. Smothers Brothers (NBC)
-That's My Mama (ABC) each 18.3
43. World Premiere Movie (NBC) 18.0
44. The Manhunter (CBS)
-Harry 0 (ABC) each 17.8
46. Apple's Way (CBS) 17.7
47. Tuesday Movie of the Week (ABC) 17.6
48. Petrocelli (NBC)
-Happy Days (ABC) each 17.5
50. Lucas Tanner (NBC) 17.4
51. Six Million Dollar Man (ABC)
-Movin' On (NBC) each 17.1
53. Marcus Welby (ABC) 16.6
54. CBS Friday Movie 16.2
55. We'll Get By (CBS) 16.1
56. Adam-12 (NBC) 15.9
57 The Law (NBC) 15.8
58. ABC Monday Movie 15.7
59. Born Free (NBC) 15.6
60. Sons and Daughters
- Dan August (both CBS) 15.2
62. Archer (NBC)
- Baretta (ABC) each 15.1
64. Sunshine (NBC) 15.0
65. Bob Crane (NBC) 14.9
66. ABC Saturday Movie
- Planet of the Apes (CBS) each 14.8
68. Hot l Baltimore (ABC)
- Barney Miller (ABC)
- Ironside (NBC), each 14.7
71. Karen (ABC) 14.5
72. Get Christie Love (ABC) 14.3
73. Sierra (NBC) 14.1
74. Kolchak (ABC) 13.6
75. Sonny Comedy Revue (ABC) 13.2
76. Odd Couple (ABC) 13.1
77. Paper Moon (ABC) 12.5
78. Nakia (ABC) 11.9
79. Friday Comedy Special (CBS) 11.2
80. Khan (CBS) 11.1
81. Texas-Wheelers (ABC) 11.0
82. Kung Fu
- Kodiak (both ABC) each 9.9
84. The New Land (ABC) 7.9

Worldly-wise yet innocent 11-year-old girl works with her con-artist "father" during the Depression. This is a classic in the long tradition of American fiction. The author masterfully creates an authentic voice that bowls the reader over. The story verges on the sappy at times, and the "con man with a heart of gold" conceit is rubbed a bit thin by the end of the book. The author also trucks out certain phrases a few too many times. But overall it's a great story filled with vividly memorable characters.

A real gem of a satiric American novel.

If you've only seen the bittersweet comedy film Paper Moon, you're in for a treat. The novel, formerly known as Addie Pray (the "moon incident," incidentally, which gives the film its name, is NOT in the book), is about a streetwise eleven-year-old Southern girl who travels around with Moses "Long Boy" Pray, a con artist who may be her father (her "mama being fast and all"). It is Depression-era Alabama, and the two make their living selling embossed Bibles and dropping wallets and running other cons to make their living. Only once are they distracted, by a sweet-talking hoochie-coochie dancer who has Long Boy on his toes until Addie "takes care of her man." Their written adventures continue past the movie as they go into partnership with a larcenous Colonel and plan to bamboozle a rich old lady out of her fortune (with the help of the woman's mercenary nephew). But as in the rest of the book, there's a twist to this, too. Paper Moon contains rich characters and settings, and memorable events. Highly recommended.

Paper Moon is a comical, enticing, interesting, and beautifully written novel about a young girl, Addie Pray, and her father, Long Boy. That's not really his name of course, but that's what everybody calls him. Addie's mother had died when she was six and so Long Boy takes her with him to do business deals. Doing business just suits the pair, Addie gets so excited, she gets the chills. At first they have a simple strategy of selling bibles to people who have just lost some one. They go around from town to town selling bibles and pictures from or of loved ones. Their rouitine always started with Addie acting way more pathetic and younger than she really was. Long Boy's infallible ways make Addie adore and look up to him. As she gets older, she teaches tricks to Long Boy that just barely save their lives a few times. When the team decides to pick up a business deal with a millionaire, Addie has to change identities in a tedious plot to keep a crabby woman's financial amounts from her fortune-hungry nephew. Throughout the book, Addie's character transcends to a much higher level and her clever mind pulls you in. This book is written by Joe David Brown and is written in first person. I like books that are written in first person just because I feel like I can put myself in the person's shoes and really get a hold of what is happening.
I loved this book because it was intriguing and the author created such great characters that even though they are cheating people of their money, your heart travels to their side. I also picked up this book because they made a movie of it awhile back and I like to compare books to their movies. I always read the books first thought. This story is like a roller coaster with a fast pass, you don't have to wait in line for the ride. You get hooked on the first page, which I know is a feature for people who get bored easily. The dialogue that is used is old fashioned and not contemporary, more slang. It is kind of hard to follow but you get used to it, it is actually a big part of the characters overall because it determines the amount of education that person had. I also love this book because there aren't a lot of books written about this exact storyline and subject. It makes it fun to read because its an unknown story and you don't really have andything to compare it to.

This is one of the best books I've had the pleasure to read in a while. I was already familiar with the basic story, having seen the movie "Paper Moon" (which I recommend highly!). When I started reading this, I was uncertain whether I'd be able to adjust to the change in location and dialect from the movie; the movie was set in the Midwest, the book in the Southeast. My doubts were quickly put to rest just pages into the book, when I became completely engrossed in the story and Brown's easy-going writing style. I plowed through the book in a couple days and enjoyed it thoroughly!

The book follows Addie Pray, a young orphan, as she travels around Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana with Long Boy, a con artist who may or may not be her father. During their travels, the two are always devising schemes to weasel money ouf of those who can afford to lose it. First it's the famous Bible-selling trick, but it quickly becomes so much more. There are plenty of deliciously eccentric characters, exciting chases, "heartwarming" moments, and a healthy dose of laughs.

If you liked the movie, don't miss reading the book. The movie plot is drawn only from the first 90-100 pages of the book; the remaining 200 pages present Addie and Mose (a.k.a. Long Boy) in entirely "new" situations. The book is a delight from beginning to end. Highly recommended!

Beyond what the public has seen from Jake Lamottas incredible bouts in the ring, there is much more people should know about Lamottas life. Through this book you will uncover Jake lamottas Physical and mental struggles, whether it be taking a tremendous amount of abuse in the ring and still staying on both of his feet, Or his madness at home with his family and closest friends. He tells his separate problems which included his best friend, his wife(s), and the mafia. His childhood alone as a thug living in tenements in the early Bronx will draw you to read more and soon you will start to understand where all the rage came from.

"Bull" is one of the most powerful biography's written. La Motta went step by step relaying his life story, in a transparent way. He not only draws us in round by round to him being on the top of the world, he also clearly gives the reader his blow by blow decent into hell, and even worse for a showman, anonymity. He became a nobody, because of his unhealthy actions.
I for one give La Motta a tremendious amount of credit, for coming to terms with his greatest opponent and knocking him on the mat, himself.
The movie is equally as engrosing.
Great read.

There just isn't another biography/autobiography involving an athlete that can measure up to RAGING BULL.

The book depicts self-hate and the self-destruction that goes with it in the kind of succinct style you expect from a ghetto-bred boxer. What sets it apart though is that what one finds between the lines is often more revealing than the lines themselves.

Jake's method of confessing to grotesque acts without the vocabulary of rationalization says volumes about the pathologies behind them. Instead of getting lost in Freudian buzzwords, La Motta recounts his life in terms that sum up and surpass every treatise on self-destruction ever written.

No need for Psychology 101. RAGING BULL is the real textbook on the subject.

A Page Turner - More Like A Page Pounder

Reading this book I felt like Sugar Ray Fighting La Motta - couldn't put it down -

OK - that's a stretch, but you get the idea. I could not put this book down. It reads like a bull charges. A little bit of wind up - I'd say the first 19 pages - then it's a charging bull.

Jake's story is much more than what the movie shows and is different.

As we all know and heard so many times - the book is always better than the movie and again it's very true here - the book is Jake's exact story not changed one hair for Hollywood. It's such an intense, real and gritty story.

It starts off in Jake's childhood as a tuff Bronx kid taking a beating from his father and the world - and as he got older the beatings continue and get worse - the biggest beatings coming from himself.

La Motta is brutally honest and doesn't try to hide anything or paint himself in a special light. It's a powerful and straightforward look at his life, his heart and a candid look at the sport of boxing back then.

It's a great book, you'll pound through the pages like a raging bull.

Jake La Motta is a vicious monster. Both inside the ring and outside the ring. Growing up in the slums of the Bronx,
Jake was not loved or cared for by his father, who frequently beat him for no reason or explanation. His mother
was loving to Jake, but his father beat her too. Jake channeled all this abuse, both physical and neglect, and turned
into a thug as a teenager because what else could he do. He believed he was to have been a murderer, for bashing a bookie over the head with a pipe,and suffered for many years afterwards with self inflicting torment and abuse and anguish to all around him. While as a teen, Jake the thug turned into a life of petty crime and was sent to a reform school. While at reform school, the only thing Jake could find interesting was the gym, where he practiced and developed as a boxer. When Jake was released from reform school, he vowed to himself never to go back to jail and to try and change his way. Jake soon began to compete amateurishly with boxing, and then shortly
thereafter turned pro. While he was a freight train inside the ring, Jake was a train wreck in his personal life.
Jack's life consisted of no one he could trust. Not his best friend Pete, his wives, his brother, and especially the mob.
He battered his boxing opponent into oblivion, he battered his wives unconscious, and battered his friends if you would
even call them friends. Yes Jake was this violent. His second wife Vickie, is main wife in this book was a saint, during and after their marriage. Jake beat everyone in the ring he could. Sometimes he'd lose, not on purpose, but as a result to his mannerisms prior to a fight, which were mostly self inflicting. After 8 years of boxing pro, and going no where, Jake relented to turning to the mob for a shot at the middleweight
belt. In 1949, Jake was champ. They day after he was champ, he life went into the gutter. A good for nothing bum kid from
the Bronx, he was destined to never amount to not even spit on the sidewalk, was now the champion of the world! How was this. Well Jake's demons came forth the night he won the championship, and what he feared he'd done as a kid, was not true. Believed to be a murderer as a teen, Jake drove himself insane with pain, fear, guilt, and anger, and the only way he could channel all that negative energy was to box. Well, who he thought he killed long ago was actually alive and well and he couldn't believe it. From there on, Jake lost the spark and the fire to what drove him to be the champ, and a year and a half later after defending his title twice was belted by quite possibly
the bloodiest boxing match my eyes ever seen on February 14th 1951 to Sugar Ray. Jake got massacred by the 13th round. (if you ever get a chance to actually see that fight, seeing is believing!!!). Jake's trip into hell began in Oct 1949, after winning the belt, and he took his first steps descending into hell after he retired from boxing in 1953. His move to Miami added to the catastrophe, his wife divorced
him, he fooled around alot, he ballooned to well over 200 lbs, drank and dabbled with drugs, his business crumbled due to a prostitution charge of a minor, and once again Jake ended up in jail. Serving 6 months, Jake finally prayed to the man upstairs for forgiveness, and released from prison, Jake wanted to vindicate himself. Leaner, cleaner, and this time for certain destined to clean up his act. After prison, Jake was a whistle blower in boxing and spilled the beans about the fight set up he needed to do to become the champ. After that, Jake remarried, although it ended up unsuccessful, Jake tried, and it appears he was not abusive to his 3rd wife. After dabbling
in acting and plays, Jake found solace in performing again, but on stage instead of a ring. There were some set backs. But nothing as shocking and more disturbing as the first 22 chapters. And by 1970 Jake was acting in b-films.
In conclusion, Jake La Motto is a vicious monster. But who could blame him. I don't. Jake will blame himself, and yes, many of the horrific things he did in his youth were unacceptable and just downright unethical. But Jake never was given a chance at life. Not by his family anyways, he was raised by the mean streets of the Bronx, his family was the streets, and it was mean, and Jake was meaner. Jake was never loved as a child, and without that love, he never trusted
anyone, ever! Many success stories, or dreams come true stories are about love and trust. Jake has neither. This is a sad story, a truly sad story, of a man who struggled to make it on his own, and did make it on his own, and just threw it all away because he didn't any know better because no one showed him.
Personally, I believe Jake LaMotta to be the best middleweight boxer ever! I mean ever! For all his wrongs, he did something right, and box right he did. Jake gave boxing so many memorable upsets, so many memorable knockouts, and most importantly memorable comebacks, both inside the ring and outside the ring. Jake is a champ, and a monster, but I would never say that too his face unless I want to keep mine on my head.
Onto Raging Bull II, the continuing story...Highly Recommended!

Simply stated, this book is an eloquently written account of the joy and horrors experienced by the men and women who serve in EMS. Objective, moving, and holding nothing back, this book holds a special place on my bookshelf as an aspiring Paramedic. Kudos to Mr. Canning and everyone else like him.

All I can say about this book is it was enthralling to read! It was unfortunate that it had to leave my shelf to go to Iraq, but while I had it, there was no way I could put it down.

Mr. Canning's description of working EMS holds true for other parts of the country.

I began reading this book while working my own shift (EMT-I, not a paramedic unfortunately) and as soon as a call came in I didn't want the put the book down and go! (but I did, of coarse!) Canning is able to maintain intensity in his stories throughout the entire book. This is a good chance for current and aspiring EMS personnel to get an idea of the wide range of calls medics receive

Excellent views from the inside of EMS. Heartfelt emotions and calls that are true to life keep this work very real.

George O. Love Author of: On The Scene

There are two types of people who will want to read this book: those who like adventure and those who want to see if EMS is for them. Peter Canning is a real-life paramedic in Hartford,
Connecticut, who once worked as a speech writer for former Governor Lowell Weicker. Both of Canning's books are full to bursting with real-life adventure. EMS crews in Hartford have little down time as they go from heart attack patient to auto wreck to infant not breathing to drug overdose. Canning takes his readers along through adventure after adventure at a dizzying pace.

At the same time, Canning shows some of the toll that EMS work takes on the people who do it. In his first book, Canning makes the job switch to EMS. His progression is the usual one from someone who is thrilled with the excitement of the work to someone who wants to earn the respect of his peers to someone who realizes that it's the patient that counts. In _Rescue 471_ Canning has become a well experienced paramedic.

But there are still struggles. Canning works his way through the times when EMS made the transition from a health need to a business dealing in medicine. His smaller EMS company is bought out by a larger one. There are new regulations promulgated by unknown faces. There's the worry about pay and jobs though one of Canning's friends reminds him that EMS companies still need "meat on the seat." Canning also works his way through the worker burnout caused by the long hours of work and dealing with stressful situations. One night Canning just doesn't care anymore. As he drives home, he speeds through the red traffic signals and arrives at his home breathless. I have to commend him for admitting how close he came to losing it.

EMS work in my part of the country is different yet so much alike. The hours are long. A shift is 24 hours on and 48 hours off. The pay is lousy. The only way that the guys make a living is by going from one shift to the next. One medic once told me he had not been home for 11 days. That was after he told me he was trying to leave EMS for nursing. Most of the smaller EMS companies in this area are now gone. Larger companies have taken over the rural areas and even some of the larger cities. This has lead to a demand for medics with techs being told that they need not apply for a job. So two years of schooling (some less, some more) is required to get a job in EMS. And I know of some areas where the EMS guys are getting burnout in about three years. Oh, and did I say the pay is lousy?

To medic or not to medic. Canning worked his way through his burnout. And me? I still have my National EMS Registration and am proud of it.

This book is a piece of art.Finished on the day my teacher gave it to me; she let me keep the book soon after.About dark arts and a desire to escape these arts,this book is extremly good and if you were to buy it you would not regret it.Thank you Ms.Frank!!!

When I was in fifth grade, my teacher read this to our class (early 80's). It had such an unusual storyline and setting. Krabbat must resist the evil goings-on in the mill while also trying to understand his place in it. I think I liked all the transformations and magic in this book, the theme of the battle between good and evil, his prophetic dreams and that love "won" in the end. I'm sorry to see it's out of print. It reads like a fairy tale, maybe owing to its German origins.

The Satanic Mill by Otfried Preussler is a great book to read. It is about a begger boy called Krabat who gets called to a mill in a dream. The mill is also a Black School. He met a female singer, and they both fell in love. Krabat wanted to leave the mill, but to do that the Singer (the book did not give her name) had to pick him out while he and all the other miller's men were in the form of ravens.
This book is very creepy, mysrerious, and unpredictable which, I think, is great. There are several things to focus on, so it doesn't get boring. It's very nervewracking, too. All in all, it is one of the best books I have ever read. I give it a five-star rating.

I bought this book in 1974 for 30p, purely because of the title. At the tender age of 11 I loved it. I have read it numerous times since then, the last being at the moment at the age of 40. I still can't put it down. Even though I know the story I find it enthralling, and it still keeps me on edge. I so wish they would make it into a film. Each of the 3 segments builds up to a great ending. You are really rivetted throughout. I cannot recommend it enough..it is my favourite book I have ever read. It's amazing how something costing 30p has given so much enjoyment over the years !!

I read this years ago, as a child and in Russian, and I still remember the feeling of genuine dread (and triumph) this story inspired. Even as I think of it now, I feel the hair rise on the back of my neck. The evil in the book does not chase after you--it waits for you to come to it, and invariably, you do. In that sense, the title THE SATANIC MILL is unfortunate--you expect the mill to be Satanic; in Russian translation, the book was called simply KRABAT (the main character's name), and you did not quite know what to expect.

The story begins as a young boy named Krabat, somewhere around present-day Eastern parts of Germany, falls asleep wandering, and dreams of ravens crowing. Their message is for him to go to the mill some miles away, to sign up as an apprentice. Which he does, of course, and soon learns that it is no regular mill. (Nor is it quite Satanic, actually--for it is not Satan who runs it). He may stay, or he may go; if he goes, he will learn magic from the Miller himself. Of course, he stays--and becomes one of the apprentices, who turn, at their Master's command, into black ravens. All peachy so far--until the cleverest (and the kindest) of all the apprentices dies an unnatural death--but not before having made his own coffin and dug his own grave.

In the (happy) end, of course, Krabat will have to choose between love and good and fairness--and magic. Between being a regular boy and a powerful Miller himself; but such a choice will not come to him easily--and he will have to fight for his life, and that of his love.

My favorite characters in the book were the idiot Yuro and the Great Pumphut, who gives the Miller a run for his money. The story is very creepy (or I think it would be for a 13-14 year old; I know it was for me), poignant and beautiful.

This book is a companion to the HBO film of the same name. I use the film, and now the book, during my unit on the Holocaust in my High School World War II class. The students are always moved by the experiences of the Tennessee students and teachers as they develop their Holocaust project. It allows the students to relate to the events of the Holocaust in a more realistic way unlike any other assignment I give. I highly recommend both the film and the book!

I bought this book for my classroom library because we watched the DVD for our unit study on the Holocaust. My students have enjoyed reading the materials because of their prior knowledge from the DVD. The book is a paperback, but the quality of the pages and the pictures is superb!

One night on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, the director of a new documentary about a small town in Tennessee remembering the Holocause would both show the film and answer questions. As a native Tennessean I both anticipated and dreaded this, assured that again we would be protrayed as NPR so often does - racist, poor, ignorant, fundamentalist or a combination of the above.

Surprise, Surprise. I was blown away, absolutely stunned at the story and the depiction of a rural Southern town as it slowly encounters the outside world. What wonderful teachers are still around! The suggestion that these all-white, all-Protestant, rural students should undertake an endeavor to break out of their shell seemed to come out of the blue and appeared the most incongruous project possible. Yet, it succeeded and admirably so, The documentary traces the parth, from baby to giant steps as the idea evolves into something none of the participants foresaw. It is and always will be a reminder of Dark Days. I only wish the Soviet and Chinese social experiments that murdered over tens of millions were remembered and memorialized in this way!


As the children and the town learn about Jewish life in Europe and the story of the Holocaust, we learn about them, their lives and their lifestyle that seems strangely satisfying in its simplicity and slowlness. Others become involved - survivors, politicians, two Germans who manage to obtain an actual railroad car used for transporting Jews to concentration camps. Businesses pitch in, individuals donate and a living memorial is designed and stands today almost as a shrine. The paperclips (representing a victim) came from all over the world, from rich and famous, young and old, rich and poor.

Alas, some never learn. At the end, the director was bombarded with questions and suggestions that townsfolk were "really" against the project or secretly racist or did not understand. He said he wanted to make something very clear: He had been in the town over two years and never heard a racist remark nor a single ill word against the project. The people were as nice and down to Earth as they appeared on screen. I felt deep vindication and overwhelming relief. The director, being from the North, was shocked at the casual hospitality of total strangers offering advice and friendship. In this age of increasing anti-Semitism in Europe once again, it is important to ponder the consequences that such speech for whatever reason may bring.

An amazing and uplifting narrative that restores one's faith in humanity and ignites hope for the future. It should be told in every school in the nation and the teachers and children that participated in this project deserve medals. A MUST read.
I give it 5 stars

This is a well written account of the paper clip project at Whitwell Middle School that will touch the heart of people throughout the world. It shows the changes that people went through as the project evolved. Once this book is read, one cannot help but feel a part of a movement that is still attracting more and more people. This is a wonderful book that goes well with the movie, Paper Clips.

I love this book. It is the best written VB book I have seen. It is so well written. I have read 4 chapters so far, and I am understanding all the information so far. The examples are terrific. I am thrilled with it. If you want to learn about COM and objects......GET IT!

I don't often run across a book that impresses me to the point that I feel motivated enough to write a review. I needed to learn how to use COM in order to use ActiveX components in an IIS ASP application. After purchasing and reading several other books, I ran across this one. It has proven to be the primary source of information for me on developing robust and useful components. Mr. Vogel manages to keep his focus on the details of COM that are challenging to understand and not already covered in the Microsoft documention. I would suggest this book for programmers of any level who need a thorough understanding of creating solid COM components.

If you want to learn to design and create COM objects and code in a generally OOP type of way in VB, this is your book. For those coming from C++ who want to componentize their VB apps in the true spirit of OOP, this book has all you need. Well written, full of useful examples, it belongs on the shelf of every VB component creator.

This book is well-organized, informative, well-written, and (unlike most books I run across) actually usable!

His advice is excellent, his approaches are clean, and he gives it to you in a way in which you can actually put it to use without having to untangle it.

This book takes comprehensive look at Visual Basic Objects and Components including ActiveX EXEs, DLLs, Documents, and MTS/COM+. Every type of object or component is examined in this book and very well explained in a way to make you understand. Peter Vogel's writting style makes reading this book easy.

This book was a major study guide for the Designing and Implementing Desktop Applications using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 (exam 70-176) and the Designing and Implementing Distributed Applications using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 (exam 70-175). I passed both exams. This was an excellent addendum to the Transcender courses and I use this book several times a week as a reference. There are a lot of Visual Basic 6.0 shops out there and I would highly recommend that this book be part of their reference library.

The author is suppose to be writing a Visual Basic.Net Object and Component Handbook which is due out next year. If that book is as good as this book, I will highly recommend it too. I have about 30 Visual Basic books and this book is one of the best.

This is a beautiful and interesting book. Peter Brown and Kent Haruf have resisted the simply pretty to go deeper with the images and text. The book conveys the beauty and emptiness that is really the great plains. It also shows the hardy people who still inhabit the land in spite of its challanges in an honest, but sympathetic way.

This book is about the interaction of man and land. It is simple and yet profoundly touching. The images show the stark beauty of the land, and how it has, at times, been abused by man. It is a storybook of what the land has witnessed throughout the years - events of use, misuse, and sometimes even crime. And, it tells you how a land can change a man by its harshness or its beauty.
In these pages the reader will see that Peter Brown, and Kent Haruf have created a beautiful, moving, and altogether unique book.

West of Last Chance
Kent Haruf has long been one of our favorite fiction writers, and we love Peter Brown's sensitive photography of the majesty of the West. In this book the two combine and show us the 'beauty', not necessarily the 'pretty' of the high plains.
Reading this book, prose and images, makes one want to go out there, get off the Interstate, and wander the back roads to also be able to see what they show. An America that we have feared lost to urban and exurban growth.
This book is a song to the West.

Much more than another gorgeous coffee table book, West of Last Chance begs to be read again and again. As you begin to decipher Brown's images and Haruf's words a sense of what the high plains, and perhaps by inference, what this country is all about emerges. Clearly the product of two artists with both a passion and a calling.

Like Kent Haruf I first came across photographer Peter Brown years ago through his excellent book 'On the Plains'. This latest book with 151 photos continues the theme with the same vigor and passion. I thought it was a wise choice to stick to the back roads of the Plains, so much more interesting visually than the cities. The photos really convey the hugeness of this area of the Nation though about a third of the photos are of small towns in Texas.

The photos that I think work best are of the buildings. Shot in the classic tradition stretching back to the FSA photos of the Depression: no-nonsense straight on at eye height and mostly they are framed in the composition, too. I would have been satisfied with the book with just the building photos. Brown's composition framing really does bring out the best in so many of the images. For instance there are a couple of wonderful shots taken in Buffalo, Wyoming (plates 118 and 119) that just grab when you turn over the page, full of shapes, color and what appeals to me: plenty of signage.

Throughout the book there are signs and lettering, again very reminiscent of the thirties FSA photos. Now, many photographers (in rather elitist thinking) would deliberately avoid photographing hand-made signs, billboards and commercial lettering but these seem such a part of America that I think it would be foolish to avoid them. Fortunately plenty of photographers go out of their way to capture this silent form of communication because of its visual appeal.

There was a possible interesting theme that could have made the book even more enjoyable: the center of town image. On page eighty-five Brown has positioned his camera in the middle of the main street in Apache, Oklahoma, to take a stunning shot looking to the horizon with the shops and other buildings diminishing into distance. To avoid the highway leaving a huge open space for a large part of the image there are a couple of vehicles filling up this area. I would have liked to have seen more of these in the book. In 'On the Plains' there was a similar wonderful photo but taken from the first floor of a building and looking down the center of Duncan, Oklahoma.

As with any book with over a hundred photos there are bound to be some duds but surprisingly few I thought. The pork producing plant in Yuma, Colorado (page ninety-one) makes a nice horizontal shapes of sky, building and grass but lacks sparkle for repeat viewing, the same for the yellow marked road on page fifty-three.

The book's production, like 'On the Plains', follows the classic photo book style with large images (in 175 screen) centered on the page with generous margins. It does though, have the typical photo book annoyance of placing all the captions on a back page, so plenty of page turning to find out where some place is. This does seem so unnecessary because on many pages there is text by Kent Haruf and a one line caption centered under each photo would hardly spoil the editorial flow.

West of Last Chance does a wonderful job of capturing the Plains with photos as unique as the places.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

This is a good one but is not as clear & comprehensive as "Everything You Need To Know About The Music Business" (Donald Passman)

I highly recommend this book to gain greater insights in the Music business or any business. It was a great buy along with a couple of manuals I purchased from Musicbrains.net entitled the Indie label Kit.

The hardships of surviving on the music industry can be easily compare with the jungle, where nothings is what it seems and danger lurks around every corner. This book is a guide that explains all the dangerous species and all the hazardous area, but also revealing the safe zones and undisputable truths about a world dominated by the strong ones. A good book with great references that has and will be appreciated by many.

Peter Thall's book at first struck me as a good book to have in the collection.

When I started reading it I thought, OH NO, its gonna put me to sleep. Perhaps at times, but mostly I found myself realizing I had not asked myself certain essential questions...which woke me right up!

It IS thick with legal issues. But, we are at this moment budgeting a tour and also negotiating with a manager...and the book made me think of things I would not have thought of. It looks like the book may have saved us from running the tour in the red (at a loss)! We will see how it all works out soon.

Gives a good view of how the money moves in the music business. It gives you ideas you can try to use in negotiations for a better arrangement. Lots of things to avoid and to think about that often get overlooked. What to think about before you sign that contract.

We are negotiating a deal and I pulled out this book and looked through the chapter corresponding to our deal. I got a whole page of questions and things to discuss BEFORE we finalized.

That IS one of Thall's goals with this book. If you forget to discuss it before you sign, then it is too late to talk about it later.

I have read "All You Need to Know About the Music Business" by Donald Passman and I recommend this as a Compliment to that excellent tome on the biz. If you are looking at them both trying to decide...you will have to decide what the application is. If you are an Indie artist/Manager at the early stages of your career then I would say, though "All You Need" is a more comprehensive overview, this may be more easy to take in and applicable to the issues you will be facing right now.

I do recommend them both as Passman discusses many issues not covered here.

Mr. Thall has done us a service. He has forewarned us of many of the pitfalls.

Already, it has helped immensely.

Not a replacement for good legal representation...but it may just save your behind!

From beginning to end, this extremely informative book is filled with music industry tips, anecdotes, and reality checks from one of the most respected entertainment lawyers in the country. As an entertainment lawyer myself, I have benefited greatly from Mr. Thall's straight talk on the way the industry actually works. I have recommended this book to all of my music clients and their managers, all of whom have reported that they have found the book easy to read, eye opening, and well worth their time.

If you are currently in or thinking about getting into the music industry, make the modest investment and purchase this book---to get this much advice, guidance, and perspective from a qualified attorney, particularly one with Mr. Thall's impressive resume, you will easily spend hundreds or thousands more than the cost of this excellent book.

i bought this book for my aunt who is a single, middle-aged, jouyful southern woman. she is an exuberant believer in Jesus Christ who unfortunately doesn't know much of his world beyond the USA, and i thought this would be a good way for her to explore it while connecting (a word that is very near to her counselor's heart) with people.
i don't know how much she has read yet, but my sister and i devoured it in the few days that we had it. we came away from it feeling even more curious about life in different places and reminded of our privilege as women to live in a financially independent manner.
all in all, if you need an antidote to self, this book will help.

I read the Material World several years ago and I was excited to see that Peter and Faith had published a "sequel" of sorts for the book. Women in the Material World is fascinating, especially if you can review it side by side to the Material World. I thought the questions regarding love in their marriage and their expectations for their children were so interesting. I am very happy with my purchase of this book and I recommend it to anyone who is considering it.

A sequel to the authors' successful, "Material World: A Global Family Portrait," which interviewed 30 "statistically average" families from around the world and photographed them surrounded by all their worldly goods, "Women In The Material World," by Faith D'Aluisio and Peter Menzel, revisits 21 women from these families.

With interviews conducted by women over a period of days, even weeks, and 375 color photographs of women captured in their daily lives, this is an absorbing look into an overlooked world of marriage, women's work and families. From female circumcision to divorce, from finances to education, gender roles, work, and friends, women discuss every aspect of their lives - seemingly freely.

Two themes repeat through this largely agricultural world - women's work begins before dawn and ends long after dark and most women feel they have enough children - whatever that number may be.

This is a fascinating, captivating and beautiful volume, to be read, not just browsed.

This book is a superlative sequel to the early Material World by Peter Menzel. I have read the earlier book so many times that when this new volume came out, I bought it immediately sight unseen. In this book, Faith D'Aluisio revisits 19 of the 30 families featured in the Material World to find out about the women's lives.

The articles are organized alphabetically, together with short features on marriage, laundry, work, education, childcare, hair, food, water, and friends. At the back of the book, we find statistical charts about women, and a useful statistics glossary. Each article has an extended interview with the mother of the family that reveals parts of her life story as well as her attitudes towards topics such as marriage, child care, education, money, and possessions. The articles are of course filled with numerous color photos, large and small, of the women at work and with other family members.

The Material World itself is a monumental book, but it was hard to go back to it after reading this book, where we find that the details presented in the Material World were so incredibly superficial. For example, family life for Maria dos Anjos Ferrerira in Brazil or Carmen Balderas de Castillo in Mexico isn't nearly as rosy as one might guess from looking at their original smiling photos in the Material World. On the other hand, Zhanna Kapralova from Russia continues to be a survivor. No matter how much you learn from the Material World, it will be far eclipsed by this book with its extended interviews and additional photographs.

A companion to Material World: Portrait of the Global Family, this book is an incredible expose of the lives of typical, average women all over the world. I, as an American woman with everything I could ever possibly dream of, especially appreciate seeing how things may have different for me had God just decided to make me the girl child of a Vietnamese working family vs. my background. It really makes you take stock of your life, appreciate it, and feel blessed no matter what your circumstances may be. America is truly a wealthy and favored nation. Even our poor, compared with most of the countries in the world, are rich! We should all feel compelled to give back, not matter how much (or how little) we have. I've been giving this book to my friends for gifts (thank you, Amazon!) A MUST READ!

Ayn Rand is one of the foremost communicators of our time. Her ability to communicate complex issues cogently, logically and passionately means that, decades later, her works are still being sited as `the text' to read, in politics, philosophy or morality. Clarity, integration and style are thoroughly discussed. The advice given here applies to all non-fiction writing (see also her book on fiction writing The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers) and it's not the usual recycled blurb. Rand's method of thinking, led to her method of writing and style. This book lets you into some of those secrets and allows anybody to improve their writing skills.

I was rather impressed with what Rand had to say about writing and style. As the authoress of the second-most influential book ("Atlas Shrugged"), she has a lot to say on the matter. And, as always, you cannot stop a bandersnatch.

There are some preliminaries. First, as with all of her writings, this book's ideas are outgrowths of her philosophy of Objectivism. For Rand aficionados, you know that it keeps cropping up with everything that she writes. So if you either agree with her, or are willing to plow around it, then get this book.

Second, this book is really edited selections from a longer seminar she had on writing. If the discussion seems out of joint at times, it is due to the selecting/editing process. To help round out here ideas, I suggest reading "The Art of Writing Fiction" and "The Romanic Manifesto," all of which were extracted from this same meeting.

Rand is one of the finest systematic thinkers ever, and this book shows it. She is able to take something apart, separate, correlate, and analyze the parts, and then put it back together again.

By being so analytical, she gets the writing process right. The first five chapters are really the basting cap essential in explosive writing. Writing can be simplified by preparation, organization, and thinking, which is the message of these chapters.

Chapters 5 through 8 cover the more traditional nuts and bolts of writing. Chapter 5, on creating an outline, is the key link between thinking and writing. She is right when suggesting that everyone writing nonfiction should use an outline. It organizes both the mind and the writing. I was glad that the editors included some sample outlines of Rand's writing, to watch how the process proceeds from outline to full article.

I think out of all of the chapters, "Writing the Draft" was the most helpful. The editor subtitled it "The primacy of the subconscious." This highlights Rand's point that writing is really something that comes spontaneously form a disciplined mind. Furthermore, the chapter contains several subsections on "The Squirms," helpful mulling, euthanizing pet sentences, and handling interruptions.

This last point cannot be emphasized too much: writing is a job, and it takes concentration. Rand likens it to heating a blast furnace--you work up to a high temperature, and that temperature must be maintained for weeks to get the desired results. While writing "Atlas Shrugged," she had to sequester herself for thirteen years.

I have a similar experience while writing. People visibly see you clacking on the computer, but what they do not see is the amount of focus inside your head, invisible to your eyes. So they want you to answer the phone, run this errand, baby-sit, chat, paint a house, watch some idiotizing program on TV, or come in on your day off because so-and-so called in sick so they could stay home watching some idiotizing program on TV. You need to be as harsh with writing as you would with your bill-paying job. Indeed, a good writer sees writing AS A SECOND JOB!

The last chapters are a potpourri of topics that did not fit in either "The Romantic Manifesto" or "The Art of Fiction." They are helpful for what they are, but seem a bit out of place and curt. They serve as surveys to the topics.

The only critique I have would be rearranging the chapters. Move chapter 12 ("Acquiring Ideas For Writing") up between chapters 1 and 2, since the thinking process--the process of reverie and listening to the unconscious percolate--precedes the choice of a subject and theme. I would also move chapter 11 ("Selecting a title") to go after chapter 7 ("Editing"), and moved chapter 8 ("Style") between the chapters on writing the draft and editing. Since this book was edited posthumously, this organizational error is not hers.

Here is my ideal order:

1. Preliminary remarks
2. Acquiring Ideas for Writing
3. Choosing a Subject and Theme
4. Judging one's Audience
5. Applying Philosophy
6. Creating an Outline
7. Writing the Draft
8. Style
9. Editing
10. Selecting a Title
11. Book Reviews
12. Writing a Book
Appendix: Outlines

For a second or third reading, it may be helpful to use this order, since it follows the process of thinking-writing-rewriting.

*

I have put this book in my mix of style guides, and will read it along with Strunk and White, Trimble's "Writing With Style," The Chicago Manual, and "The Little, Brown Handbook."

(I would rate it five stars, but the disordered chapter organization talked me out of it.)

This book offers guidance on a variety of topics and problems that a writer of non-fiction, whether articles or books, might encounter. The advice is never formulaic, but rather gives the reader methods by which to improve his own writing process and style. Highly recommended.

It starts slow and plods along for a few chapters but eventually Rand strikes a resonant chord and the writing comes to life. Ayn Rand will get your mind 'right' about writing and get your mental tool-box organized, to handle odd-jobs or the magnum-opus.

As with so much of Ayn Rand's writing, she takes on an issue (in this case, nonfiction writing) that seems hopelessly complex, and then explains it with such clarity that you're left wondering what all the confusion was about in the first place. If you're stuck in your writing, even if you've never read anything by Rand before, this book is priceless.