California Books

I'll be honest, I bought this book from a more Persephone-centric thought process, but I ended up reading the whole thing. It's a very nice, symbolism-rich take on paganism, and I gleaned quite a bit from its pages. It has lots of prayers and a beautiful take on the Demeter/Persephone myth. An added bonus is the wealth of pages on making Greek costumes, garlands, crowns, masks, etc. I would save it just for those alone! Definately worth picking up if you can find it.

I've been wanting to get my hands on this for a long time, and I was afraid I'd be disappointed when I finally read it. I couldn't have been further from the truth. Jennifer Reif has created a true gem among neo-pagan books. From the fragmentary information we have about the Demeter and Persephone holidays of ancient Greece, Reif constructs a coherent Wheel of the Year mythos that follows the agricultural year, and follows Demeter through the loss of her daughter, her mourning, and her reconciliation with Persephone and Plouton (who isn't the scary guy we expect). She also explains how to adjust the festival calendar if , like me, you don't live in a Mediterranean climate. Reif is full of practical instructions; she devoted chapters to growing grain and making various altar objects that you might desire. I only wish the rituals were more oriented toward the solitary, but with a little imagination, most of them are probably do-able. Bravo to Jennifer Reif, for writing a book both practical and scholarly. This book is for real.

This book is a wonderful resource for those interested in exploring Demetrian paganism or merely those who want to learn more about the Demeter/Persephone myth. I especially appreciated the detailed ritual scripts and descriptions of each of the festivals. The chants and poems were also very useful. The book is very dense, but it is a fast read and easily accessible.

This book is wonderful. I felt like I was there at the Mysteries while I was reading this book. It's so good to see something else Pagan,yet different out there that is not the same old BS of "cast your circle this way..." I like change & so this was a new way for me to celebrate the Wheel of the Year in a different light. Ms. Reif gets you involved making masks,head wreaths,and even gives you help if you want to grow your own wheat. This book was like a breath of fresh air ! HYE! KYE!

A fantastic reconstruction of the rituals of Demeter and Persephone of Eleusis, Greece. Wheel of the Year rituals are quite different from Wicca, but still grain cycle based, and still with many universal themes. Reif has done a lot of research and offers in-depth information on Demeter and Persephone, the clerics of the temple, the liturgy for the rites, planting grain, sacred foods, etc. A lovely book (some great color plates), beautifully made and a great read. I recommend this one highly!

As a fan of the TV show "The West Wing", and considering how much the Situation Room was an integral part of the shows storylines, I wondered and wondered what the real Sit Room was about. Even more, I always wondered if there was a book that takes you inside the Sit Room, just like a book that takes you inside the Pentagon, or inside the White House. Naturally, there is such a book in "Nerve Center". Even better, it's the only book on record that takes you into the Sit Room.

This book has it all: political intrigue, history, secrets, clashes of personalities, clashes of organizations, character development of those who functioned in the room, even a bit of fiction. It greatly clears up the perceptions about how the Sit Room is depicted in TV and in the movies.

A bit of warning! If you were not a political junkie before reading this book, you will become one after reading this book. The book influenced me greatly. I am now one of them, whether it is fact or fiction...I want more. You WILL NOT be disappointed after reading this book. Great reading!!

Excellent sneak peak into the White House Situation Room, dispelling myths and showing us the American people how our leaders handle a crisis.

I first read this book 2 years ago after purchasing it from Amazon, and loved it the moment I saw it. Sitting down to read it was almost like opening a chocolate box, with wonderful anecdotes from dozens of men and women who have served in the nexus of American Military decision making. I highly recomend this book to anyone who would like to find out more about the White House Situation room and it's impact on the world and the West Wing itself.

Bohn, Commander Bohn. Shakes not stirs events in the White House from the Situation Room. He takes the pulse of the Sit Room and displays it with humor and humanity. This is the first account of the people who watch and report on events that shape our world. Well done and well written!

Mike Bohn has succeeded in opening to the reader a portion of the White House that few understand - let alone acknowledge its existence or function. The Situation Room truly is the "Nerve Center" for the country - both in times of crisis and in peace time. It is a central briefing room for the President, and a contact center for countries around the globe. Before reading this wonderful book, I hadn't thought about how calls to heads-of-state were made on behalf of the President, but now I can see why they would all go through the Situation Room.

If you are a fan of political movies, and want to know the truth behind the Hollywood fiction, or are just a political junkie, then this truly is the one book you want on your shelf!

Book is excellent. Covers the theory very well, such that you can make the computer code yourself. They also provide puedocode. You will be able to learn it better than other books that just give you the code. I find that once you understand the theory, writing the code is easy.

Everybody who tries to use NNets for real goes through these steps.
First, there is the Delta rule.
Then, there is overfitting, local minima, generalization problems and frustration.

The complexity of NN is not in it's math; the difficulty is in the construction of a NN. This book is excellent in providing rules-of-thumb for NN construction, while at the same time providing the theoretical backing.

Hey I am not making money reviewing this book, it's just really good.

Many textbooks can help me to understand the different concepts of neural network, but not the practical tips needed to optimize neural network anlysis and implementation.

The topics covered are reminicent to those discussed in part 2 and 3 of the Neural Network FAQ. In chapter 6, the relationships between learning rate, momontum, trainig time and learning modes are presented graphically. With this, it helps me to rule out and avoid learning parameters that are unlikely to improve the NN performance. This is especially important if the dataset is large and the NN program is implemented in Java.

If the aim is to develop a NN solution that will give you the best results, I find both chapter 7 (heuristics for weights initialization) and 16 (heuristics for improving generation) are esential and saves me a lot of time from reading many journals.

In summary, this book has helped me to develop the art of NN optimization. It shows me how to visualize decision surface and the various graphical relationships between learning paramters and various components of NN topology. I think you will find this book very useful after your NN program is up and running and you are looking for ideas and explaination on how to improve the NN performance further.

After owning this book for many years and reaching for it many times, I decided that I at least owed the book a five star review.

Early in my graduate career I began working with neural networks and discovered this book in a electronic bookshelf available at my university. After printing chapter after chapter to read on subway rides home I ended up buying it for convenience. It gave me the background I needed to code up a basic artificial neural network in C++ and to then extend it to fit my needs.

The style of the writing is the perfect balance of enough detail to understand a concept or method without unnecessary wordiness. Each chapter covers an important aspect of neural network development and application - for exmaple, internode weight initilaization techniques - and acts a sort of mini-review of the most popular methods with a clear explanation of the pros and cons of each.

This is an excellent bookshelf addition for anyone who works with neural networks.

Some books just have the right feel about them and this is one of them. The author clearly knows neural networks and also knows how to communicate to others in a no-nonsense fashion. With so many books being published, you rarely find a technical book that is as good as this. The emphasis here is on conveying the insights that the experts in this area would know. Importantly, concepts are explained equally in words, graphics and mathematics, maximising the uptake of knowledge from the book. Tufte would be impressed by the quality of the line graphics in this book, and the information that they convey, not to mention the overall presentation. I suspect that this book would make an ideal textbook for a course in neural networks. Overall, I've enjoyed reading it very much.

"Next of Kin" is a remarkable first-person memoir that reads like a novel. Tom Reilly's story will take your breath away, whether or not you accept all the details. This is not another war story that revisits battles and the soldiers who fought them. Instead, this is a coming-of-age story that is catalyzed (but not defined) by the Vietnam War. Thanks to clean, straighforward writing, Reilly's story is a breeze to read. Critical readers may wish to see additional corroboration or evidence of this harrowing journey. The more casual reader will take it at face value and may appreciate the brotherly bond that made this story possible. May we all be so fortunate to experience such devotion.

Just a great story about the caring relationship between two brothers, about love and commitment, set in the era of Vietnam.

An adventure that covers half the world by an 18 year old from the midwest who lost his brother. He had to know what happen and it was clear, it was not war reltated.

This was a great read, a story that was hard to put down at night and when the book was finished, I felt like I lost a
friend.

The book is outstanding. I had my daughter pick me up a signed copy because the author lived in my town and I have always been interested in Vietnam as it was from my era.
I had no idea that I would be so enthralled from the very first page. I feel like I know the whole family and recognized all the places that the author speaks of. The pain and courage of both of the brothers reached out from the pages into my heart.
This book was so great I hated to have it end.

What a great story. What a dedication to a brother. we all could learn from this man. This is what family is all about. I highly recomend this read to everyone.

I am a woman in my early 40's and don't usually read books on war or enjoy hearing about war, but I couldn't put this book down. It was written so well that I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. It begins with young Tom Reilly, losing both of his parents and how his brother, Ron, was a constant in his life. Tom, at the age of 19, goes to Vietnam to find out the truth about his brother's death and his "adventure" over there. Tom has written a wonderful, loving dedication to his brother that will touch each and every person that reads this story. It doesn't matter if you are a man or woman, young or old, this is a book you'll want to read. You'll have such a good feeling when you finish.

It tells alittle bit about the history of Nirvana but its mostly about the making of Nevermind and about the songs. Its pretty good.

This book gives an excellent account of what led to the great CD we now know as Nevermind. It briefly describes Nirvana's rise to stardom and gives a glimpse into the personalities of the members, but is at its best in describing how the actual production of the album went. Using numerous sources, the author lets us listen to Nevermind in a completely different way. The only downside is that it is a relatively short work, and I left wanting more

This is an excellent book on Nirvana, and it is too sad that it is out-of-print. It contains important interviews and write-ups from several pop culture mags of that era on the band--on performances--on their overall views...

Does this signal that Kurt was right: Grunge is dead?

Well, perhaps dead but not yet interred into the earth.

Yeah, yeah, it's really lame to buy a book about them and all, but this isn't just another stupid ripoff fan book- this is really good stuff. It's funny. It's sad. It gives Courtney a chance to look less evil- I changed my mind about her because of this book. And it's not just about Kurt like most Nirvana books are- there's a good amount of stuff on Krist and the various drummers as well. Serious Nirvana fans really need to read this.

There are a lot of crappy books out there about Nirvana, but this isn't one of them. Contains some of the most revelent articles and nirvana related material. Very interesting and a must have if you are a Nirana nut like me. :)

If for nothing else, us it for sitting around with your friends accompanied by a few bottles of wine and have a laugh! The scary thing is sooo much of this book is factual on some odd level.

This book really made me laugh, although I am the most ungenerous cynical person.

I defy anyone to not just love this eccentric tongue-in-cheek look at decorating. It takes interior design and skews it with hilarious results. Clever, original, and only slightly obscene. (And I'm talking about the rooms...!) A great urban gift.

This is my book so I'm not unbiased in my giving it 5 stars, but disregard the inaccurate Amazon description above. Here's the deal: It's a collection of real online male personal ad photos with the figures obscured, and then my critique of the room's decor behind them. Fight Club author, Chuck Palahniuk included Obscene Interiors in his list of Top Ten Books of the past 10 years - Yay! And Dave Eggers had this to say, "Obscene Interiors is not only a cruelly brilliant idea, but it's executed with great cunning and even some warmth."

From the back cover: A first of its kind collection of online male personal ad photos featuring shockingly explicit amateur decorating action! Lamps, plants, curtains and couches mix it up in this graphic display of aesthetic perversion!

What a hilarious book. Page after page of men who are simply oblivious. These guys have no shame in exposing themselves with a variety of backdrops, ranging from tacky, scary to out and out gross. This is like a book of favorite cartoons - you just keep picking it up.

My family and I have all read this book and enjoyed it immensely.It was doubly enjoyable since we know the family personally. It's a good book for family reading and Myrna's writing style makes for easy reading.

Every family should be so lucky as to have a
Myrna. Together with an amazing memory
and talent for writing, she has the gift of
compassion. And from an ex-Zonian..."Thanks,
Myrna, for reminding us of things which we
grew up taking for granted."

I was born in Panama of mixed ancestry, and there reared for 13 years before leaving in 1944. Therefore, I can attest to the author writing knowingly and ofttimes movingly of her protagonists in the time-frame and geo-space introduced in Onward Peregrinos.

Ms. Erickson bring's a female's perspective to the maturation of the free spirited 1st born daughter, Niza. Niza, offspring of Glover Boynton - an older American adventurer - who marries a young lady, Maria, in her home country of Ecuador in the 1920s. The family , eventually growing to 6 children, weave between the U.S. and the tropics.

The mid-section of the book seats the Boynton family in the Canal Zone (1930-1952), and it is there that Niza acquires the seeds that subsequently flower into a poised, confident woman who dares to achieve her ambitions in the central coastal zone of CA.

The author crafts her tale well; it has color and interest. The work -overall- merits your reading.

I highly recommend this book. There is so much worth reading about a strip of land that was transformed from jungle into a delightfully livable home away from home that will be immortalized for centuries, The Panama Canal Zone.

I devoured this book because I could relate to it. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. The author accurately described life in the Panama Canal Zone, which is a unique place, at a dynamic time in history. It is a wonderful story of adventure and family love that takes place in Ecuador, Florida, Panama Canal Zone and Central California. I recommend it to everyone.

I came across this book by a friend. I had no idea what it was going to be about, but it looked interesting enough. I'm glad that I did read it, because it's so great. The way Kimberly Scott writes is amazing! I asked her if I could interview her on my website, Lisasbookreview.com, and it will be posted on November 13, 2000. So, if anyone wants to hear more about her, log on!

Papaya Myths is a must-read. This hard-to-put-down novel has a multi-faceted protagonist who is not what she appears to be.

Papaya Myths is a thought-provoking book which will provide book clubs with many interesting and heated discussions as the members delve into the motives and actions of the characters

Ms. Scott has extraordinary insight into the emotions of her characters and "what makes them tick" and the events of the time.

Highly recommended.

Papaya Myths is a must-read. This hard-to-put-down novel has a multi-faceted protagonist who is not what she appears to be.

Papaya Myths is a thought-provoking book which will provide book clubs with many interesting and heated discussions as the members delve into the motives and actions of the characters

Ms. Scott has extraordinary insight into the emotions of her characters and "what makes them tick" and the events of the time.

Highly recommended.

I read a lot of novels. Most of them, while entertaining for the moment, are easily forgotten. Every once in awhile, though, I come across a book that endures long after the reading. Papaya Myths is one of those books. The characters are real. Oh so real. We get to know 26-year-old Jocelyn as she experiences the exhilaration of her first romance-a love that flourishes in all the ways a woman could ever hope for. Nearly 60 years later, we revisit Jocelyn's life through her own eyes as she shares these unforgettable events-including one startling surprise-with her granddaughter. Lest you think that Papaya Myths is just another accounting of an old person's reminiscences, guess again. This is much too big a book. There is mystery. There is suspense. There is humor. There is conflict on a national scale, revealing problems America may yet face in the dawning of this new millennium. Papaya Myths is an important book and one you'll not soon forget.

Jocelyn, now in her 80's is moved to tell the stories that shaped her life and country, during a visit from her grand-daughter Sarlin. This is the premise to one of the most interesting storylines I have ever read. A futuristic glance back in time from someone who grew up in the early part of the new Millennium; Jocelyn goes on to tell of wars and race riots that left the face of our country devastated and destroyed for decades after.

Entwined within the major plot is the mystery of an evil presence that knows something about Jocelyn and has plans for her. There are some creative new inventions that have become a part of everyday life and going to the movies is an adventure in itself. There is a bit of everything here and it all comes together quite well at the end. The writing is fast paced and quite believable for the future. The book is based more on the people than the oddities faced in the future but the author's imaginative futuristic sprinklings are worthy of note. Kelsana 1/11/02

I recently attended the Autism Society of America conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. I had the pleasure of attending workshops presented by the authors, Maureen Morrell and Ann Palmer. This book received the national award from the Autism Society of America for "Literary Work of the Year". This book is a must have!! It will make you laugh and cry while providing you with a wealth of knowledge and information. This book is great for both parents of young children and adult children with autism spectrum disorder.

These two authors have opened up their hearts and shared their lives and their wisdom with us. How heartbreaking and bittersweet are the stories that supplement the practical guidance. You will laugh out loud, you will cry with heartbreak, you will wonder at these two mothers' strengths and you will say "I wish I had thought of that". The personal stories are riveting and intense but the abundant practical advice is invaluable and extremely helpful. The authors have earned my gratitude for sharing generously their unexpected lessons.

This outstanding book (and its authors!) have just been recognized by the Autism Society of America for making a "significant contribution to autism awareness, education, and advocacy in the last 5 years." The authors are two very experienced mothers whose sons (now adults) are on the opposite ends of the autism spectrum, and through this remarkable book they offer guidance, hope, and valuable personal insight to all parents of children with ASD. This is a poignant, intelligent, and honest work that has quickly become a classic in the autism literature. The personal experiences and knowledge that the authors share will benefit parents and professionals alike, and the book is highly recommended for anyone who lives or works with individuals on the autism spectrum.

If you would like a signed copy of this book (signed by both authors), please visit our website.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to know more about autism. An added treat is that it is well written and well thought out. The authors Maureen F. Morrell and Ann Palmer are moms who raised autistic boys at opposite ends of the severity scale, offering sometimes painfully honest accounts of daily life, disappointments and triumphs. I believe this book could be enormously comforting to parents grandparents, friends and teachers of autistic children--the advice and insights are based on experiences spanning babyhood and diagnosis to adulthood and leaving home. What's it like to be told your child has autism? How can you survive day to day? Will you love an autistic child the same way you love their siblings? What happens when autistic kids grow up? For each mom, the answers were slightly different, and yet the same. I found much of what I wanted to know, including one shocking statistic about the march of this affliction--one in 5,000 children in the 1980s to just one in 166 in 2005! The one thing I wish the book had included was a paragraph or two of opinion and analysis. I wanted to know what two moms in the trenches believe is happening to our kids. How scared should we be? Is there promising news on the horizon? Perhaps they felt that analysis is irrelevant in the reality of day-to-day living with autism. However, they do review a couple of dozen additional publications. I recommend this informitive, sad, funny book to anyone, whether they've been personally touched by autism or not.

This is a fabulous book that shares with the reader two different ends of the Autism Spectrum. Ann Palmer and Maureen Morrell have managed to share an incredible range of emotions seamlessly. As a parent of a child with ASD I truly felt I was not alone and that there is survival in raising a child with such a baffling disorder. This is a must read for any parent who is going down the ASD road and needs the honest and raw support these two writers offer. I hope all professionals and support people in the ASD area will recommend this book to those they work with. Thanks Ann and Maureen for opening your hearts and sharing your lives with us all.

Excellent! A great introduction for someone considering the study of photography. Takes an unusual, sort of psychologically analytical approach to the field, in addition to dealing with the specifics of education, equipment and the like.

It was after reading this book that I finally made the decision to study photography through the New York Institute of Photography where Chuck Delaney is dean. He came across as being a down-to-earth, no-nonsense expert in the field, and his NYIP course bore that fact out. Both his book and the course gave me more than they promised, something that is rare today.

The book takes a very holistic view of photography. Though this book isn't really designed to improve your ability to take a picture, it is aimed more at developing you as a passionate photographer. It ensures how you want to take pictures, develope style, and many of the nuances of photography.

This book could also be called "Zen and the art of being a photographer". So happy I decided to purchase this book. Chuck is encouraging, practical and humourous in his approach. This book generously answers the kind of questions you might ask a relative in the photo business before you launch in yourself, complete with the author's balanced views and opinions. Thanks Chuck.

I really liked the book. I'm a a NYIP student and it reads real close to the course. It's not 100% photography information as he also talks about some of his views on life. I subscribe to the same views so it didn't bother me. Overall, a great book. Lots of information for someone wanting a career in photography.

One of the most interesting books on becoming a professional photographer I ever read. No matter if you are interested in becoming a part time freelancer or full time pro. Chuck DeLaney, dean of the oldest and biggest photography school in the U.S. did a tremendous job writing a book that not only covers the standard aspects of the trade, but also includes many topics that are of more peripheral nature, but still of vital importance to become successful in the business.

Showing how he managed to become a pro, covering more or less common traps and pitfalls, psychological and health wise aspects of work and how to solve possible problems, relationship between other fields of fine art and photography, talking about his experience with other professionals and how those people solved problems, makes this a must read book for any aspiring photographer.

When reading I felt like listening to a good old photographer friend telling me about his experience during decades of practical work. The book is crammed full of information, that it might take a bit longer than usual to read it. Definitely a five star book and a must have.