Warren Books

As a pianist and music-lover, I have long been fascinated by the movement structure called "sonata-form." "Sonata-form" is the structure of the first movements (and many other movements) of almost every major piece of classical music from the Classical Era. Now a clear and comprehensive analysis of "sonata-form" has arrived, in the book "Elements of Sonata Theory."

The most surprising feature to me is that this book is quite readable. Readability is not something that can be taken for granted in the turgid literature of music theory. Therefore, the book is of value to a layperson like myself and not only to specialists. (The final four chapters, on the concerto version of sonata-form, are more difficult to read, but that is quite minor.) Another surprise to me was that a lot of information in the book was new to me. I have read widely in this field, but I still learned a lot.

Like any first edition, a few questionable statements have slipped in. For example, on p.20 the book implies that after about 1760 it became normal to repeat only the first part (the exposition), and not repeat the second part. Apparently, Mozart was not informed of this normal practice. Mozart called for the repeat of the second part in almost every sonata-form movement in his piano sonatas (28 of 31 sonata-form movements). But this is mere quibbling.

If someone is seriously interested in the subject of "sonata-form," this is the book to get.

The book comes in two volumes and consists essentially of solicited articles on various topics central to or important in institutional and evolutionary economics. The books therefore have entries on topics such as lock-in effects, Thorstein Veblen, old and new institutional economics, etc generally written by people who are active in research in that area.

The book is terrific for orienting oneself in these growth areas of economic research, and would be an important reference for university libraries. At the price, it would be prohibitive for most students but would be useful for academics specializing or developing an interest in this area.

The entries are followed by a bibliography to assist you in chasing up further levels of detail as required after reading an entry of interest.

Some entries (Eg Macroeconomics) have several entries from several authors, and it is quite interesting to see the different points of views taken.

This is a great anytime read. It's fast paced, well sketched out and as good as any John Grisham book.
If you like courtroom fiction, you're gonna love this one.

I purchased this book to read to my daycare students. We had a discussion afterward about how we are all different, yet we are all special. It is written in a simple, easy to understand manner and the pictures help the students understand the story. It is a perfect book for autumn and works nicely with autumn teaching themes. We incorparated several leaf projects to accompany the book!

While I haven't read the *entire* book, those sections I needed on skills testing of employees were both highly informative and very useful (and, surprisingly, quite readable). This handbook is a must-read if you are interested in certification testing and the potential legal pitfalls that could await. I actually have the 1989 edition; it is well kept up to date.

One of the first of the American manga-imitators, Warren's work stands out from the pack because of his writing, his own, personal knack for simultaneously celebrating, parodying and exploiting multiple elements of pop culture (superhero genre tropes, cyberpunk sci-fi techno-babble, good girl art, hong kong action films, etc.) often on the same page, and even in the same panel. (In this his work recalls' Harvey Kurthzman and Will Elder's gag-filled work for the early Mad Magazine and their "Little Annie Fanny" strip for Playboy Magazine). So long as you can tolerate (or better, enjoy) good-natured cheesecake and copious amounts of fan service without getting enraged, you're almost guaranteed a rollicking good time reading one of his books (Recommended titles include "Titans: Rock Paper Scissors," for DC Comics and "Grunge: the Movie" for Wildstorm Entertainment).

However skilled Adam Warren is as a comic writer, he rarely gets the accolades he deserves for his talent for creating endearing characters, and writing engaging adult-orientated romantic comedy. The first time I noticed these strengths was when I (belatedly) read his tragically truncated run scripting Wildstorm's "Gen13" (with Rick Mays providing pencils). Here Warren managed to make even the most uninteresting secondary characters, Burnout and Rainmaker interesting, and in the latter case, even compelling. It's true that the careful reader can find hints of these talents in his early work (even the utterly mindless delirium of his "Dirty Pair" adaptations) however the sheer amount of fan service, techno-babble and high-speed action he crams into his layouts usually obscures those strengths. Ultimately the problem was that comic book editors rarely gave him writing stints that were long enough for him to display this side of his talent as a writer....

... Until now, with the advent of Warren's presumably creator-owned "Empowered," published by Dark Horse Comics, home of mainstream writer/artists gone independent, like Mike "Hellboy" Mignola and Frank "Sin City" Miller. (May Warren reach similar levels of success: now that audiences are used to comic book movie adaptations, they might just be ready for a movie version of "Empowered," a faithful adaptation of which would go a long way to make up for the lackluster, "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," a well-meant dud if I ever saw one.) Though once again, the book is primarily a genre satire, and, as usual, Warren piles on the manga-esque fan service (primarily parodies of bondage art), the heart and soul of "Empowered," and the real reason (other than the assurance of irreverent comedy) I think readers come back for more, is his appealing characterization of his spectacularly inept, yet unreasonably enduring and good-natured heroine, Empowered (Emp to her close friends), and Warren's ability to convey a convincing of warmth and affection between the members of her primary supporting cast, which includes: the her ever-supportive boyfriend, Thugboy, a former professional Witless Minion-for Hire (by supervillains) who also hides a violent past as a killer of both superheroes and their adversaries, Ninjette, a usually upbeat runaway ninja princess (and borderline alcoholic) with a bounty on her head, and the dangerous, conquest-bent outer-space demon lord, who lies trapped inside a power-draining piece of space-alien bondage gear (a leftover from one of Emp's more embarrassing misadventures) that rests on the coffee table in front of the roommates TV set.

To sum, in "Empowered," Adam Warren's really at the top of his game, infusing the more recent volumes with a surprising and refreshing warmth (so long as you don't mind good girl art - something that declines in emphasis as the story goes on... sort of) as the relations between those near and dear to our plucky heroine take center stage in the third and fourth volumes. For those who can tolerate a lot of good girl-style imagery (which serves instead of stops the story) "Empowered"'s definitely worth a try. (For those doubting Thomas out there, who want to settle the issue quickly, I suggest starting with the third volume.)

Happy Reading Folks,....

daughter loves Encyc brown books. wonderful series, but hard to find. Great book .

I love Encyclopedia Brown books! I got hooked on them in 5th grade and I still love them!

Great Product! Many interesting things in the book. Delivered in a very timely manner and was in EXCELLENT shape! Thanks!

For the college football fan out there, this fun little distraction of a book would be an excellent stocking -stuffer. I enjoyed the book greatly, check it out.

Any advice from the wealthiest man in the world should be listened to! Take heed to his words!!