News and Media Books

The Emergence of The Relationship Economy was an insightful read making the mesh of online networks understandable. Whether for business or personal objectives, if you hope to "cut to the chase" with your social computing efforts this book is a must read!

Social networking is here to stay. It's not just a fad waiting on "the next big thing." In fact, I think it IS the next big thing and will continue growing and changing into ever-increasing beneficial tools. However, social networks are just that; they are tools -- a hammer waiting upon a carpenter's arrival. We are the carpenters to these tools because we create and essentially become the content. Without the content, social networks are doomed for failure. It's first time in IT history when software has become dependent upon the user, rather than vice versa. This book discusses how relationships form through social networking tools and the economies they create in the process. It's recommended reading for anyone developing social networking tools or just interested in the social networking phenomenon.

This book is very applicable if you have grown children! I am mom of two who are in their late teens and early twenties. You still get "pooped out" even when the kids are grown and gone, because they come back and forth into your life bringing new situations to deal with.

I bought my copy a couple of years ago and have savored my way through it. It is hands-down my favorite devotional, not only for parenting but for all kinds of issues such as trusting God when you're hurt or overwhelmed, forgiveness, trust, grace, and so much more.

I go back and reread the chapters and am blessed again. I recommend this book highly. I can't wait to read the next one!

I really enjoyed this book and have bought several copies for my parenting friends. She writes so honestly, you can really relate. You feel like you know her and that you are sitting in her living room with a cup of coffee talking. Her incredibly encouriging stories of what God has done with her family is so great to hear about. Also, stories of her friends that you take the parenting journey with. I found it sad to be done and have since read several more of her books and have also been greatly encouraged and refreshed.

If you're interested in the future of journalism, as a reader or writer, this is a book you will want to own. A broad overview of how the power and appeal of human stories, the impact of historical events, and online media are molding America's new front page. Backed by impeccable research and compelling examples, this book is guaranteed to stimulate conversation, provoke new ideas, and change how you look at the news.

This book is highly thoughtful and extremely well written. It is unusual for an academic book to be so interesting and thought-provoking. The argument is true and provides a keen observation into the narrative that is the modern media. Buy this book!

I can't believe nobody has wrote a review for this book! I first bought The Breastfeeding Book by Martha and William Sears. That book was boring and awful. They are negative people. I had already read The Everything Pregnancy Book and The Everything Baby's First Year Book and LOVED them both so I decided to buy this book. I couldn't put this book down. The information in this book is very helpful and I still look back in it. My baby was in the NICU and her first night she was fed formula in bottles. The second day she was fed my pumped breast milk and formula because my milk was still coming in. She got used to the bottles and made it VERY CLEAR she was not interested in learning how to latch on. I use the nipple shields made by Medela so I can breast feed my baby. Even though I use the shields I still have questions and this book answers them all! You WON'T regret buying this book!

This book is wonderful. Being the oldest of nine breastfed kids, I've been around breastfeeding all of my life and thought I knew everything. Little did I know once I had my own daughter and started breastfeeding. I've learned so many interesting things and gone, "Oh, so that's why this is happening" while reading this book! It is very easy to read, has instructions from a lactation expert and gives examples of positions, milk storage, how to treat sore nipples, etc. Really, everything you need to know about breastfeeding is included.

It's a must have for any mom who plans or is breastfeeding her children. It's comforting too as you find out that you're no the only experiencing things and the book explains why it's happening. I've already loaned out my copy to a friend and will start giving this out to any friends at baby showers. It's just that good!

Explorer's News is a colorful and informative presentation of major explorers in world history. This would be a great read for any child interested in history and people. I am a teacher and have found this book a great source for my world history students. Stories are written in a news style format with pictures and maps that relate to the events described. The news stories are easy to read and accurate. Mr. Johnstone tells the stories of the Polynesians, Erikson, Columbus, Magellan, Peary and others in brief eyewitness accounts of their experiences. I wouls suggest the title to both young readers curious about their world and to older readers seeking a concise and interesting acount of exploration.

Explorer's News is a colorful and informative presentation of major explorers in world history. This would be a great read for any child interested in history and people. I am a teacher and have found this book a great source for my world history students. Stories are written in a news style format with pictures and maps that relate to the events described. The news stories are easy to read and accurate. Mr. Johnstone tells the stories of the Polynesians, Erikson, Columbus, Magellan, Peary and others in brief eyewitness accounts of their experiences. I wouls suggest the title to both young readers curious about their world and to older readers seeking a concise and interesting acount of exploration.

I work in a library and when i was looking for a book to read i chose this one cause i had never seen the movie. After reading a few pages i was hooked. From beginning to end you get sucked into the world of John Hobbes who is trying to find a killer that could be anyone on the street and who can change from person to person just by contact. After finishing it i only have one thing to say: where's the SEQUEL!?!?!?!?!?!?!

In the situation of a film being based on a book, it is usually the book which is better. But who would have thought that a book based on a film could be so good? That is probably the biggest surprise about this book, unlike what I expected, it seemed to capture everything the film produced. The atmosphere, the background setting, and the description were all so detailed and the impression one receives from this work is one of extreme hard concentration in order to satisfy the reader to the max. It's any wonder the writer made the publishing deadline with such stunning quality. Fallen is a tale following righteous cop, John Hobbes as he investigates a series of brutal murders. Which, at first, sounds a bit dull to base a story on, and appears to offer no more than most other thrillers. But the original twist to this story is one that pleases fans who were expecting it and surprises readers who didn't see it coming. I can say no more without revealing the plot, but anyone who has seen the film should definitely read the book. As well as explaining any questions or parts of the plot that fans of the film couldn't understand, it also offers a lot more background, a splendidly vivid descriptive narration, and a guaranteed remarkable read. However, the violence scenes and language are more harsh/graphic over suggestive as in the film, and under-agers should stay away. Aside from that, pick this up whether you've heard of this or not, because you will almost definitley be surprised.

A great overview of the intersections of games, linear stories, and interactive artworks. This book almost inevitably leaves you with a richer perspective, because the range of articles (the uses of voice synthesizers to the Sims) makes it unlikely that you are familiar with all the terrain. The commentary discussions parallel to the main text give a feeling like chatting with your smart friends about some brilliant lecture you just saw. Thought provoking and fun.

What has particularly excited me is the opening chapter on "Cyberdrama"... it discusses approaches to story, game play and engagement in terms that echo what we are trying to achieve in Drama education. Throughout the book (and this is from preliminary browsing) there are discussions about narrative and simulation and disticntions being drawn bewteen perceptual positions of players ... the writers that have contributed to this book have a very clear sense of the notion of "role" and I am starting to think that this book may well serve as the basis for investigation into the role of technology in Drama ( and possibly other) education for the next few years. Other promising looking chapters include such discussions as "Moving Through Me as I move: A Paradigm for Interaction", "Unusual Positions: Embodied Interactions in Symbolic Spaces", "Narrative, Interactivity, Play and Games: Four Naughty Concepts in Need of Discipline", " Videogames of the Oppressed: Critical Thinking, Education, Tolerance and other Trivial Issues", "A Preliminary Poetics for Interactive Drama and Games"

The authors contributing to this book are well known to anyone who's started looking into Drama and technology - Janet Murray , Espen Aarseth and Brenda Laurel are all there, alongside more familiar "drama' voices such as Richard Schechner...

As a high school drama teacher, I have a keen interest in new media applications in Drama education - it seems that many of our number are still focussed totally on their Drama classrooms and while they have an interest in technology are not actually making much headway with developing knowledge in the area - this retards developing discussions when there isn't a common language and some basic concepts upon which to build our discussions and investigations...

I think this book "First Person" is probably as good a starting point as is available at the moment. It provides a broad overview of the scope of "new media" interactions and there is definitely what I would call a "drama sensibility" contained within it.

The other book I've just started looking into is Marie-Laure Ryan's "Narrative as Virtual Reality"

Narrative As Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media

What looks promising here is Chapter Nine: "Participatory Interactivity from Life Situations to Drama". I've yet to properly digest the chapter - I've been intrigued by some of the statements I've encountered, for instance "For interactivity to be reconciled with immersion, it must be stripped of any self-reflexive dimension"... I'm not sure that is exactly what we are trying to do with Drama (or any form of) education - we are generally trying to become aware of the symbolic forms we are engaging with... although in a Stanislavskian sense, it might just be that this ne dimension of building belief is somehow well placed in Drama... I tend to think the Brechtian requirement for distance might be better suited... but that can be a discussion for another day... for the time being we need to start to come to grips with some key concepts in the new paradigm we have the opportunity to define...

Once again... as Drama people we know the need for social constructivist approaches... I'm hoping we can live that rather than just posit it....

We are trying to establish a special interest group called DramaPlayShop.org... you're welcome to drop in!

Rick Young's Final Cut Express guide is the best I've found, and I've checked out half a dozen. His breezy, informative style is simple, clear and comfortable. Text is profusely illustrated with specific, detailed graphics shown nearby, often within the same paragraph, which greatly enhances learning.
As a novice to this particular nonlinear video editing system, with a background in others, I found the book of great value. While I wish Mr. Young would offer an updated edition covering FCE's recent advances, I think the book is a better guide to the basics -- four years later -- than current books I've seen. I recommend it to video editors of any experience levels who want to learn Apple's Final Cut Express.

Loved the book. Got me started quickly and easily. Would recommend it to anybody.

Part history, part textual analysis, part loving tribute, The Form of News is a wonderfully literate book about newspapers, produced just as the modern newspaper's "moment" in history closes. Bound to become one of the most influential books in its field.

The newspaper has always been a central force in American political history: The Form Of News examines how newspapers succeed or fail, considering the history of newspapers through changing forms of writing, content, and issues of space. From the changing appearance of the newspaper to major historical trends in economics and politics, The Form Of News provides an clear focus on newspaper history.

I gave this as a gift to the children of a friend of mine. She made the comment to me that they watch it over and over and over. Knowing they love it makes me happy, but I am not sure how well that works for the mom. :-)

Very cute. It tells the story of Mumble the star of Happy Feet. Any child can read this.