Shepard Books

IT WAS ALRIGHT BUT HE HAS A BORING LIFE. THE ONLY THING HE DID WAS PLAY BASKETBALL.

In the late 1950s, Jack Engeman set for himself a task for which he was very well suited. A professional photojournalist, retired Navy officer, and graduate of and former instructor at the Naval Academy, he decided to write a series of books illustrating the lives of cadets or midshipmen at the several federal service academies. Based on the examples I've seen from that series, he did a decent job. But this volume -- a companion piece about the lives of students at civilian colleges -- addressed a much bigger task. I don't think he pulled it off so well.

The problem, of course, is that the lives of cadets or midshipmen are regulated along standardized lines, and thus relatively easy to describe. But even in the Eisenhower 1950s, the variety of college experiences available was too great to really capture in one 120-page book. Engeman sort of acknowledges this in his text, and made a fine effort to include photos from a pretty wide variety of schools (the picture index at the end reveals entries ranging from Michigan and Wisconsin, to the Ivies, through other northeastern schools like Sarah Lawrence and Colby, to small schools like Franklin & Marshall or Hood College; the south and west are less well represented). There are lots of pictures of well-dressed young people sitting around in libraries, walking past scenic buildings, or trying on their freshman beanies(!). But it's pretty hard to extrapolate it to describe "the life" of any typical college student.

I realize, of course, that no student thinking about going to college will turn to this book from 1959 to help her make up her mind. So it hardly matters any more how effective a job Engeman did. Strictly as a collection of photos illustrating collegiate life in the late 1950s, though, it still may have some entertainment -- and even reference -- value.

The illustrations are good, but the story leaves little to be remembered. There is so little story to this story, that the illustrations are the only worthy feature.

It's about the giants who stole Lord Buckley, crowned him their king and took him to their home, where he was lonely, he sends a message to his home, where Sir Joshua comes to the rescue,etc., etc.,etc. The story reads like the preceding run-on sentence. Look to other books for childrens reading.

kinda creepy illustration, some of them advanced for the target age. i'd say keep looking for another book.

This book was written for a time when libraries used card catalogues. It is out of date and not appropraite for my needs. The information is good for high school students who are writting a term paper. It has some good basics, but I was looking for help on writing at the grad. school level.

This book came very highly recommended to me by a mom in a bookstore. I really _wanted_ to like it. Premise seemed great; older kid loves being in mommy's lap, gradually finds there isn't room for her there anymore due to pregnant belly, and discovers that when the baby is born, there is once again room on mommy's lap for her.

Sadly, though the drawings are lovely, and the book sweet in its way, there are numerous assumptions that make this a book I don't want read to my daughter.

For starters, it says that daddy's lap is just for play, and that grandma's lap is too restrictive. My husband and I have worked very hard to make sure that his lap is as welcoming (and almost as welcome) as mine. And, much to our great convenience (and again, due to some effort), grandma's lap is the #1 best place to be in the universe.

It goes on to show that the parents are happy about the impending arrival, but that the older child -- clearly excluded -- is not. Again, we've put a lot of effort into making sure that our daughter (not quite 2 yet) feels a part of this. She's excited about the baby, rubs my belly to "give a backrub to the baby", etc. Closest thing to jealousy we've had so far is that she doesn't have a baby in _her_ belly. Why go making the process one of overcoming a negative, rather than something joyous and fun?

Then comes the staying-with-grandma-while-mommy-and-daddy-are-in-the-hospital page. The grandmother offers to watch tv together (something we discourage anyway), and instead the girl glumly plays on her own, with her back toward grandma. This isn't how we anticipate our daughter feeling, and we certainly don't want to reify such a situation by suggesting it!

I appreciate that this book tries to take into account the feelings of the older sibling, even if negative. (Can't be all sunshine and rainbows all the time.) But unless those are feelings that are already there, and need to be talked about -- in which case this book would be a good avenue for discussion -- I would recommend something else. We've really been enjoying "I'm a Big Sister" (there's a "Brother" version, too) by Joanna Cole, and our daughter loves it.

This book is more like a catalog of 'occult' organizations; and the worst part is, of occult organizations of eighties. It is mostly outdated and it does not have much to offer. If you are writing a book or creating a roleplaying game which takes place in eighties and has something to do with -mostly pulp and subculture, occult organizations, it would come in most handy; otherwise, forget it.

This book is a complete waste of time. Three quarters of the book is irrelevant, with the author dabbling in social theories (The Boomers vs Gen X vs The Millenials), the history of tech and telecom, "imagine this..." pie in the sky scenarios that describe what IMS is supposed to deliver, and a thick glossary of tech and telecom terms. One gets the feeling that the author had an obligation to fill a certain number of pages but couldn't do so on a nascent topic such as IMS.

Don't waste your time or money.

A thoroughly useless book: For the first two thirds of the book the author prattles on about his theories of social change and gives incoherent accounts of the history of telecomm. The part that actually addresses IMS is superficial, disorganized and repetitive - a hastily thrown together mishmash of existing speeches and papers. At the end you haven't learned much about IMS. Spend your money and time elsewhere.

This book is a complete waste. THIS PUBLISHED SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED TO HAVE PUT OUT A BOOK THIS BAD. The first half is the authors musings about social theories that are completely irrelavant (90 pages worth), and once he gets to the part on technology, he offers little explanation other that providing few charts he got from other places. He clearly does not understand IMS and that is why he spends so little time covering it. This looks like a book quickly cobbled together from existing materials so that that the publisher could get one more book out in their Crash Course Series that covers IMS. Unfortunatley they failed miserably and damaged thier reputation in my view.

If you're looking for a technical discussion of IMS, you won't find it in this book. Only 2 to 3 pages are devoted to discussing SIP, for example, which forms the core of IMS's communication infrastructure. The acronym filled diagrams are mostly unexplained (one feels the author didn't understand them), and many concepts are either dropped in without explanation or barely explained. For example, in : "Alternatively,the HSS can be accessed via a Mobile Application Part (MAP) server, which is used for IM-SSF (IP Multimedia Service Switching Function), which interfaces with Customized Applications for Mobile Networks Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) application server using the CAMEL application part (CAP)," none of the acronyms/functions are explained (with the exception of "HSS"). IF you didn't know what this stuff is already, you won't get it from reading this book.

If you're looking for a general discussion of market forces, trends, and policies, (filled with catchy, sound-bite-like phrases) this book might be better for you.

If you are looking for an inside view of the mind and man of Sam Shepard, this book really is not for you. Granted the author had a daunting task, revealing the life of perhaps one of the most private men around. The thing is, I bought the book to find out about Sam Shepard. Instead, I get a glancing blow of his life and work. Certain facts and sentences are repeated four of five times, as if the editor had fallen asleep at the wheel on this one. Shewey tells us that Shepard's life influenced his work, he tells us that his past influences his present, that Shepard's life has a direct influence on what he puts on paper. That is the thing... he TELLS us, he doesn't SHOW us. If you are truly looking for an inside view of the great playwright, check out "Hawk Moon" or even "Cruising Paradise". Those books, written by Shepard, will show you the man, his life, and work. Shewey's book makes you read points over and over and leaves you looking for hidden pages at the end of the book. I literally stared at the last page and asked "Is this it?" I never like reviewing an author's work, because I feel as though I really don't have the right- yet as a reader, I left this book feeling extremely unsatisfied.

This is a book which can be read rather quickly simply because there isn't much there. As a biography, it presents very little information that cannot be found in magazine articles and interviews. Nor is its analysis of Shepard's plays very helpful. One hopes that a literary biography will cast new light both on an individual's work via an investigation of his/her life and on an individual's life via an exploration of his/her work. This book, unfortunately, comes up short on both counts.

This book was poorly written. It talks about a couple of set of twins. It tells all about the kinds of twins and how it is very unusual to have twins. Although this book is all thhese things it was in black and white. They talk very scientifically. This book again was poorly written.