Amateur Books

I put off reading this book because for some reason I did not think I was going to enjoy it. Boy was I wrong!! Great book, well written, excellent characters. I enjoyed it immensely.

I loved the very real characters in this book. From page two I was so hooked I knew I had one wonderful book in my hands. And it was! I'll be reading all the Alafair Tucker mysteries by Donis Casey. Life is too short to miss out on such an enjoyable experience.

I usually don't care that much for mystery books but the time period & the title drew me to this book. I wasn't disappointed. I loved the family & all the children. A little romance mixed in makes this book really good. Don't miss the next one by this author with the same family & another good mystery.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the genuine seeming characters and accurate historical (1911) setting of this mystery novel. The book's unique title and Oklahoma setting (where I once lived) attracted me to the book. Farm wife and mother Alafair is a very appealing heroine and though I never quite got all of her nine living children totally straight most of the other minor characters are also well developed. The book has an authentic flavor of rural Oklahoma from the "down home" cooking to the speech patterns. The mystery is solid (though my eyes may have glazed over a bit when it concerned guns) and though I guessed the real murderer well before the book's end I didn't predict the full circumstances surrounding it. I am glad to see Ms. Casey has all ready published the second in the series of Alafair's detective adventures (HORNSWOGGLED) and according to her web site a third will be published this fall.

This is a great story. The characters become real immediately. Interesting. Smiles. Real life. Surprising, but reasonable, ending. I first checked this book out from the library, scooping up a bunch of new mystery books. I got a kick out of the title. Liked this one so much, I bought it. Looking forward to this author's subsequent books as well. My mother at first refused to read this book (she didn't like the title). Later, after I'd purchased it, she started to read it, became engrossed in it and hardly put it down until finished.

What initially drew me to this was the low-budget part. It turns out to be full of practical advice for anyone thinking of getting into making movies whether from the purely creative or the cold-hard-cash standpoint. Actually, this book makes an excellent point of connecting the money and the art especially in the field of filmmaking where the pursuit is hardly ever one-man or completely free of expense. This is not just about the low-budget film but about filmmaking in general discussed in a way you would discuss how to bake a lasagna. You realize that anyone can bake a lasagna. Whether or not anyone would eat it? That's another story.

This book is very readable - the author uses several anecdotes to engage the reader, and also provides lots of hard facts, and excellent suggestions. If you are planning a film - buy this book.

Planning The Low Budget Film by producer and production manager Robert Latham Brown draws upon the author's 30 years of experience to lay out the principles of solid film planning with strictly limited resources. Chapters discuss how to get into the low-budget film business, how to apply and adhere to a schedule, methods of calculating and keeping track of the budget. Of especial value is the meticulous step-by-step instructions for anyone who is brand new to the confusing world of financial recordkeeping. Written in down-to-earth, no-nonsense format, Planning The Low Budget Film is enthusiastically recommended for aspiring and professional film producers of all experience levels.

I found out about this book quite by accident on Wikipedia, as so many people rely on expensive computer budgeting programs now. I refuse to shell out more big cash on programs and books. The D.I.Y. film information industry has become so bloated, you could spend so much money on materials, you could've made a feature film instead of buying more books on HOW to do it. But this is a really good book from an actual teacher who knows how to communicate. It's a secret self-published book that I'm glad I stumbled upon. As word-of-mouth spreads, I imagine many more people will find out about it.

Anyway, now that the script is done five years later, I've been avoiding the idea of all this real work, hoping I could run a cute photo and a personal ad for a knight to ride in and save me. I didn't care if the knight was white or black or even abusive. But no dice. And since I have to do this anyway, I wanted to really learn the logic of how and why to break down and budget a script. It's a surprisingly easy read for such a dry subject and I'm carrying my copy around like a newly dog-eared pet, reading a little bit more each time. Good luck to both you and me!

Update: I broke down and not only had to buy a program (which I still can't figure out six months later--if only Scott Billups would write every manual!)--but I also took a pre-production class with Debbie Brubaker, the line producer. Man, she is rock n' roll.

If you are making your first legitimate movie where people besides your friends and family are depending on you not to screw up big time and you just searched Amazon for books on filmmaking and you need a no-nonsense step by step guide to help you through the behind the scenes process, this is the book for you!

I work with a comedy group in California, and we recently shot our first budgeted short film. As I am the most organized member of the group I was appointed the "Line Producer" and put in charge of making the whole thing come together on the back end. Coming from a theatre background, I knew what went into putting a stage performance together, but I was in the dark when it came to preparing for a film. After scouring Amazon (and a few other sites) this book seemed the most adequate to help me prepare for my job.

I've worked in film before, so a lot of the books I looked at about making a movie spend 2/3 of their volume explaining the difference between DV and Film and what a DP does, but I needed something that cut through that introductory fat, and would help prepare me for pre-production and detail exactly what went into pulling a film together.

This book is that book. It was my bible. It was glued to my side like Biff's Sports Almanac in Back to the Future 2.

Mr. Brown walks you through everything that goes into "making it happen." From breaking down the script into a functional shooting schedule to preparing an accurate budget to determing how far behind schedule you are to making sure there is a place for people to go to the bathroom, it's all in there. Additionally, the book even helped me to prepare for a lot of the basic legal and propreitary issues that we would encounter.

Brown also peppers the book with great anecdotes that help you avoid the pitfalls and roadblocks that he himself has encountered on large feature films like The Goonies. Yeah, The Goonies, you can't mess with someone who worked on The Goonies.

This book is essential. Bottom line. Read it. Love it. Use it.
Make well prepared movies.
Be a hero for your production.

Anyone interested in engineering and producing their own recording will find a wealth of information regarding techiniques and implementations for microphone, guitar, bass, keyboards, midi drum kits....including how to develop a "true" mix.

Concepts provided within are ideas you will only hear from someone who has lived it!!

This book is a great resource to help you start your projects armmed with knowledge and understanding of key studio practices.

I have a lot of experience in live sound but just about zilch in recording. This book has helped me in such ways that it has even improved on my live sound by making you think about what you're doing before you do it, ie., micing acoustic instruments or setting up for an 'unplugged' session with vocals to different ways to mic a piano.

I would recomend this book to anyone who want to learn more about recording. Whether at home doing it, or at the pro studio on the other side of the console, this book can answer some questions before you start.

As far as some thinking that this book is dated, not everybody can afford to fork out $1000 or $2000 dollars for a decent digital console/hard disc system. I can't. I still have and use and original TASCAM 488 Portastudio, that came very reasonable by the way, so the sections on portable studios is very helpfull to me.

Overall, I give it five stars. If you want to record at home for fun or for yourself, this is a must read!

If I hadn't just read 'Musician's Guide to Home Recording', another book from Peter McIan and co-author (Larry Wick?), I would have liked this title better. This book just expands on a small portion of 'Musician's Guide'. 'Musician's Guide to Home Recording' contains almost all of the info in this book and a whole lot more. If you gotta pick one over the other, get 'Musician's Guide'. Best advice is to get 'em both, but be sure to read this title first, it makes a good primer for the other.

Man, I've read 'em all and this is the champ home studio guide. I used to think it was McLan's first-"The Musician's Guide to Home Recording", but he's outdone himself on this one. I love it.

If you know nothing or very little about recording, thie is THE book to get. Psychedelic Tunesmith asked the appropriate question: were you thinking of getting another book?

What I particularly like about this book is that McIan writes for an audience with a severly limited budget. There are many magazines and books that write about recording as if their readers have thousands of dollars to spare.
Secondly, McIan teaches recording from a conceptual standpoint. In other words, he teaches from the stance that the idea of recording is an old princple and all technologies are forms of this principle: capture the sound waves on an impressionable medium; to retrieve the archive, reverse the process
There is an emphasis on cassette-tape portable studios but I think that has to do more with when the book was published. Even those working with digital mediums can benefit from this. Besides, years from now, digital mediums will be discussed as a dated, old-fashioned technology.

McIan constantly stresses that you should do the best with what you can get your hands on and that knowledge can often compensate for mediocre equipment. If you only have enough money to buy one book on recording, this is the one to buy.

This is a great book for any Ham Radio operator. More information in this book than you could shake a stick at.

This is the best ever issue of the annual ARRL Handbook. With more projects to complete at home than in many years. DSP is also covered in more depth than ever. Get up to date on the latest, keep fresh on the past, and have fun with amateur radio with your new 2002 ARRL Handbook.

The book is a must for everyone who is interested in radio circuits and more. The first time I heard of it was many years ago when I was approaching the world of radiohams; since then it's been my reference many times and I often found it sitting on other people's desk at work as a quick and reliable reference.

This is a great book for both beginner and experienced Amateur Radio Operators. This book has more information than the previous books and has a lot more projects. The Arrl Handbook for Radio Amateurs 2002 truly upholds its reputation as "The Bible" for Amateur Radio Operators.

It takes almost 1,200 pages to cover thirty (30) chapters of diverse information. These chapters are logically grouped as Fundamental Theory, Construction Techniques, Practical Design and Projects, and Operating Practices. I previously used a hardback copy of the 1988 printing of this text, and the 2000 edition is properly updated to make it an outstanding replacement. If you are interested in radio wave propagation, antennas, building electronic equipment or the amateur radio hobby itself, this is one reference you shouldn't be without. Compares favorably with professional publications at several times the cost.

This book has clear illustrations go to along with their directions for basic home improvement and repair needs. There is a large variety of information available in this book and has so far helped me with electric work and tile work. When it came time to call a professional, I felt better informed for the discussion of what I wanted for my house.

Bought this item as a gift for my BF after researching a lot of home improvement books and it was a winner. It has a lot of different projects than you would find in other home improvement books (IE the Reader's Digest books, as they just keep updating the original version and not adding much new info.) He has already used it to do a few household repairs and it was right on!

This was purchased as a gift but looking through the book, it seems it will be helpful for the new do-it-your-selfer.

The book is great...easy to follow...tells you everything you need to know about anything regarding the home. My husband loved it!!!

Great book I would recommend it to all homeowners.

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.

Reuel Parker has captured the simple essence of small, functional boats. This is a terrific read, chock full of interesting information about the evolution of the sharpie type. It includes several excellent boat-building projects with instructions aimed at semi-knowledgeable builders. (First-time builders may need an additional building resource to understand some of the finer points of boat construction.) This book will very quickly instill you with a fondness for light, simple, shallow-draft boats. Anyone who likes sailing or boat trivia will love this book.

Reuel Parker really has a hit with this book. He information is excellent and easy to understand, no elitist jargon here. He makes a wonderful case for the Sharpie's use and how versatile a boat it is. Anyone who is considering build a boat at home should read this for sure. The book contains several boat plans, and all the information need to build one is contained within.

I really enjoyed this book. The author includes everything, from the history to the modern construction of these boats. Some of the sections on construction are a little confusing for beginners. One area that comes to mind is the section on lofting, some diagrams would be useful here (other books or websites help). I have read the book several times and expect I will always use it as a reference.

This book has many virtues: It is highly readable, down-to-earth (or sea?), and covers a fascinating topic. The sections on this history of the sharpie are nicely punctuated by sea-stories, observations, and photographs of working sharpies.

I'm building my own boat. It is not a sharpie (more of a dory), but it uses many similar construction features (flat plywood sides, rockered bottom, chine log construction, centerboard, epoxy covering, etc.). Mr. Parker's book has been an absolutely priceless resource on every aspect of construction.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in small sailing craft, either for history or building your own. I'd also advise people to check out the Parker-Marine website for more information on the Author's designs.

I think the kernal of this book is the description of why plywood is a superior boat building material. (diagonal strength) I had been thinking of carvel planking as the best type of wood construction. I was wrong. Other than that, the book does a great job of describing the history of, and reason for, sharpies.

From what I read, I decided that a deeper, heavier, and stronger boat might be more appropriate for the inside passage to Alaska. Also, I'm just not short enough to spend much time in the cabin of a sharpie.

Good book, good read, and I will be buying the Ruel Parker book on cold molding.

I bought it for the tennis specific strengthening and physical therapy exercises. Very happy with the purchase!

If you are interested in this book, there is a good probability you are a pretty good player of middle age. In your youth your body felt invulnerable. You could play all day long injure free. Now, with a full life and little exercise during the working week you are facing an onslaught of tennis injuries. This is the fate of zillions of former high school and college players.

The title of the book alone reminds one how tasking tennis is on aging joints. You won't find similar books related to surfing, swimming , or biking. All these sports are associated with very smooth motions absent of any shock on the joints. But, tennis is just the opposite.

The book serves as an encyclopedia of all the injuries you could potentially face playing tennis. The author being an M.D. specializing in sports medicine does an excellent job in imparting information about diagnostic, prevention, and treatment for each one of them. Explanations of exercises are very clear associated with precise drawings that leaves no doubt about what you should be doing.

I am just in the midst of nursing an Achilles tendon and plantar fasciitis. The author has provided me all the info I need to treat these conditions. I am doing the related exercises. And, I am already feeling much better. In probably just a few weeks, I should be able to get back on the courts reasonably safely.

For your own sake, I hope you don't need this book. But, if you do don't hesitate getting it. I think it is excellent in imparting information on sport medicine that your typical general practitioner won't know.

Excellent book. Concise and accurate. I've used it multiple times and refer to it often as needed. Well worth the price.

My son is a 13 year old tennis player that's moving up the rankings ladder by playing alot of matches and practice. With that comes many different injuries. This book has given him the information he needs and has helped him learn the exercises that will make him a stronger player and "hopefully" keep him injury free. He has taken a tremendous interest in "Tennis Injury Handbook". Anything that keeps him reading and playing is great in my eyes!

This is a general book that attempts to cover all types of tennis ailments in about 180 pages. Needless to say, if you have a specific problem you'll find it wanting since it will devote only a few pages to your problem.

That said it does do a good job of providing general information and provides excercises to help condition and prevent future injuries. The description of some of the exercises are not too clear and it doesn't really go into specifics on how to do the excercises properly.

In one lavishly illustrated and well-written volume, Gerald Durrell takes readers on a pocket tour of the infinite variety of the creatures that inhabit planet Earth and at the same time provides a brief tutorial on the methods and importance of simple, hands-on biological research. This is a gift of the first rank for any scientifically-inclined child, and great for adults too.

As readers of 'My Family and Other Animals' will be aware, Gerald Durrell's passion for animals was a constant throughout his life, and his legacy survives in the form of the Jersey Zoo, an institution devoted to the preservation of endangered species. Durrell was also a writer of tremendous charisma and charm, recounting his adventures around the world in a prose that is often unmatched in nature writing.

In 'The Amateur Naturalist', Gerald and wife Lee set out to create the sort of guide for which the much younger Durrell, loose among the wildlife of Corfu, would likely have killed (humanely, though). Broken down by habitats, with coloured illustrations and thoughtful, enjoyable text descriptions, 'The Amateur Naturalist' is a treasure trove for anyone interested in studying the world around them, no matter the part of the world in which they might live. Although you needn't be an actual collector in order to enjoy this book, there is also information on how to begin collecting wild flora and fauna (there is no recommendation, however, on the keeping of snakes in the bath or spiders in matchboxes).

For anyone that knows and loves nature, or would like to know more, this is definitely the book to have.

Durrell is a wonderful scientist, an excellent writer and a born philosopher. For anyone who is interested in nature (as everyone should be) you will come to understand it and love it through this book. Great pictures. Let spiders live! It's not out of date and it should not be out of print either!

I found this in my local library and loved it. Now I'm trying to get a copy and I hope this works. I you find nature/biology at all interesting, this is the book for you. If Durrell wasn't my favorite author anyways this would make him my favorite for sure.

In my teen years, I was very interested in biology and the world around me (from insects to birds to fungi). This book gave me inspiration and a basic knowledge of biological collecting and preservation. I am a graduate student in biology now (studying entomology); part of my success comes from having used this book. Thank you, Durrell!

As this purchase was to replace my copy of an earlier edition that was lost in a tornado, I didn't have any reservations in buying the latest edition, still a great resource. A nice balance of theory and construction how to do it. I do like that the print edition now comes with an electronic edition.

The ARRL Antenna Book: The Ultimate Reference for Amateur Radio Antennas, Transmission Lines And Propagation (Arrl Antenna Book)

The Arrl Antenna Book is a must have for any antenna designer. Amateur radio operators, shortwave listeners and commerical users will benefit from both the theory provided and the practical examples of proper design executions.

This is the bible for ham radio antenna design. Also covers transmission lines and propagation. Both theory (at graduate EE level) and practice (at the level of mere mortals). -- ws2i

The definitive book on antennas theory, design, and construction. If you're serious about building your own antennas then you need this book as part of your collection!