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Book reviews for "Adams,_Phoebe-Lou" sorted by average review score:

The Psychic Battlefield : A History of the Military-Occult Complex
Published in Paperback by St. Martin's Press (March, 2002)
Author: W. Adam Mandelbaum
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Smug, smarmy, misleading & affected. What a waste of time.
Have you ever gotten completely annoyed after paying $10 to see a horrible movie, thinking "I just lost 2 HOURS of my life, that I will never be able to get back!" ?? This is how I feel, after reading this poorly written book.

I have read 5 books on remote viewing in total, including 2 by Joe McMoneagle, 1 by Courtney Brown and finally the Jim Schnabel book "Remote Viewers : The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies" before this disaster, so I feel that I have a good reference point by which to form an educated opinion. Based on that, I have one question for W. Adam Mandelbaum: Why write a book, when you have nothing to say? If you're into VAGUENESS, innuendos and HINTS about things that you nor I can substantiate, even if this horrible author actually gave us straightforward FACTS to investigate (of which there are VERY few) then this is the book for you. If you don't want to learn ANYTHING, by all means, click "Add to Cart" right now. For those who are seriously interested in what seem like FACTS (he names names, folks) then go for the Schnabel book, and then up to Joe McMoneagle's work. Leave this one out completely, as it is a VERY frustrating read (HINTS HINTS HINTS!), and the author has crowned himself the "original" writer on this subject, which is patently untrue. The condescending attitude toward his peers, his arrogance and self proclamation of importance in the PSI programs only serves to alienate the reader. Through this tedious read, it is also plainly obvious that this man is in this for the money ONLY, and shamelessly attempts to drum up business for his company. Also, his unprofessionalism being blaringly apparent is demonstrated on this very website. Read HIS reviews of OTHER remote viewing works. This is something that should simply not be done, nor allowed. Go to the page for the Schnabel book, read Mandelbaum's review, and click on his name to read ALL of his reviews. It is absolutely PRICELESS to read over and over again such phrases as "For the complete history of psychic spying, get my book PSYCHIC BATTLEFIELD." and "As the author of the newly published PSYCHIC BATTLEFIELD, (St. Martin's Press 2/2000)", not to mention my favorites "Hell, I should know, I am the author of the first complete history of psychic spying--THE PSYCHIC BATTLEFIELD." and the shameless self-promotion in his review of Jim Schnabel's book, "For the complete story, I recommend my work." Are you disgusted yet? Getting the point? Well, Mandelbaum's book has the same feel as his reviews. Disgracefully self centered, for someone who was a VERY, VERY minor player in the PSI world. ...If you read this book before any others on the subject, you will surely toss your interest in PSI research into the dumpster right along with this amateurishly written nonsense. (Doesn't St Maarten's press have an EDITOR on staff?) Oh, and by the way, Mr Mendelbaum, you may remove your lips from Joe McMoneagle's buttocks now. We get the point. He's very good, and dignified. Learn from him. And grow up.

A horrible attempt at entertainment!
What does this guy think... that all of us are fools? Have you seen his reviews of other books and his B.S. efforts to get you look at his book. I borrowed the book from a friend who threw it at me after reading it, you see, I told him to buy anything having to do with remote viewing. Okay, I was wrong. This book really sucks, I don't think that I have ever read anything so poorly done. Don't waste your time or money, just take a look at the rest of the reviews. This book is a dud, and so is the author.

Hemispherically Split
If I could give separate ratings to the parts of a book, I could.

This book is about the interaction between military needs and paranormal ability, and purports to be a history thereof, reaching back to biblical days all the way to the present-day.

On the whole, I've read worse (see my review of Psychic Warrior...interestingly, Mandelbaum goes into a few extra details about David Morehouse that I found illuminating). This book really hits its stride right after World War 2, when the U.S. government starts its secret research on ESP for military uses, concentrating on the use of clairvoyance (which the military calls "remote viewing"). He comes to some very interesting conclusions, particularly about current government research and use of remote viewing (summary: Yep.).

Unfortunately, the first half of the book is, as far as I can tell, a complete and utter waste of tree pulp. I never get the impression that he's done any serious research on any of the pre-gunpowder era uses of magic or ESP. To be fair, there's very little evidence one way or another, but he treats anything and everything as hearsay, and notes that it couldn't possibly work.

My other concern is that Mandelbaum is, to be blunt, a very snide and sardonic writer. He constantly interjects comments in parentheses (like some hack writer), and belittles almost everything and everyone he writes about. In some cases, like Morehouse's, it's deserved. In most, I see no reason at all for it. His disparagement of anything he has not seen work, or what trusted friends tell him will not work, is disheartening. Finally, he really seems to enjoy showing off his personal beliefs and vocabulary, in a manner that makes me really, really not like him.

In short, this is okay, if only for the part about modern-day remote viewing. I'd flip through it a bit in the bookstore before buying it, though.


Ansel Adams in Color
Published in Hardcover by Little Brown & Company (October, 1993)
Authors: Harry M. Callahan, James L. Enyeart, and Ansel E. Adams
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Ansel Adams at his worst
At first, I thought I would buy this book to complete my Ansel Adams collection, despite all the bad reviews. I found this book in a library and changed my mind. This book is not worth its price for 3 reasons.
1. The quality of the color prints is very bad. The colors have faded, probably because the pictures were taken decades ago and the color technology was not good back then. Don't let the cover fools you, it is probably the best one in the whole book.
2. The reproduction is even worse. The pictures are so small you can barely make out the details.
3. Adams took a very different approach for his color photographs. The viewpoint he chose is narrow and lacking in perspective, the two most serious sins in landscape photography.
It makes me think that, instead of trying to make a reader like Adams' color photographs, the publisher of this book is trying very hard to make sure that a reader will hate them - just to prove Adams' own point.
If you still want a book on Ansel Adams' color photograhs, wait until a better book comes along. This book is not even worth considering.

Will the Real Ansel Adams Please Stand Up......
Many reviewers make quite clear a fact about Ansel Adams regarding his own colour photography: That he did not want it published, for his own lack of control over the medium was substandard to the exacting methods he employed in his black-and-white prints. Without reservation, agreed.

But what most of Ansel Adams' most fervent admirers won't admit was that this book of colour prints made from transparencies belie the legendary artist's alleged "genius" for composition. Many of the compositions within are colour versions of famous black-and-white prints, the most famous being Half Dome at Yosemite.

I wish that aspiring photographers' introduction to Ansel Adams be similar to that of a Japanese photography assistant I once employed. She had never seen Adams' work (not as popular in the Far East as in the States) prior to this book. Her words regarding this book were "he takes pleasant photographs of pretty subjects in nature." I later introduced her to Adams' black-and-white "greatest hits" that Little, Brown, also published. Her assessment: "His compositions are generally conventional, but not novel. But, with a red filter while shooting and many darkroom methods and formulas, he uses technique to bring drama to his prints."

Ditto. It was refreshing to hear this opinion of Adams, because my friend did not have the yoke of artistic correctness hanging about her neck to remind her to speak of Adams in reverent, hushed, tones as some great "master" as though he were the photographic equal of Rembrandt, Vermeer or Rodin.

What Adams' admirers most fear about this book is that it will lay waste to all the decades of carefully designed PR Adams' publicity machine and his heirs have promulgated in their hagiographic transmogrification of a pretty good artist and a peerless technician into "St. Ansel."

The truth of the matter was that Ansel Adams made pretty pictures of pretty landscapes. And, that's what you'll get in this book. If you want the illusion of great art, turn to any of his volumes in black-and-white.

But, if you want truly great, earth-shattering black and white photography that inspires both intellect and emotion, then turn to the true masters: Walker Evans, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Robert Frank and Leni Riefenstahl.

Interesting Perspective on the Limits of Adams' Genius
"I can truthfully say I can remember only two or three color photographs that are worth remembering." -- Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams long felt that color photography was not art and not consistent with his vision of his own photography. What we have in this volume are almost totally unpublished and unexhibited images from his transparencies that he chose not to publish or exhibit. In other words, these are mostly his rejects. So, this is like pawing through his working files of sketches rather than his finished work, in an unauthorized way. How does that make you feel? Hmmm.

For me, the benefit of this volume was to better understand the brilliance of how his processing of black and white images played into the success of his best work. This book contains 50 images that clearly do not have the full Ansel Adams feel and impact.

The strength of this volume is the plenitude of material on what Adams had to say about color photography in general and his own. These points are nicely characterized in the essay by James L. Enyeart. One of the key problems for Adams was that he could "see" the final black and white image he wanted to create in his mind before taking a photograph, but could not "see" the color image in advance. He was not one to take hundreds of exposures hoping to have one or two turn out to be interesting. The art of photography for him was always a deliberate one, not an accidental process. While many color photographers used Polaroid stills as tests in this way, Adams did not want to do so.

Another problem was that early color processing did not allow him the control over the final image that black and white processing did.

Perhaps the ultimate problem was that "the most difficult subject for color photography was landscape." "The image -- to the photographer -- is a very different experience from what the viewer might receive from it." Think of a photograph then, as "a simulation of a perception of the world around us . . . ." A color photograph tended to destroy Adams' preference for understatement, and desire to show subtle connections. In fact, you will often see poor photography literally shouting with color that overwhelms the senses to no purpose.

Harry M. Callahan took on the thankless task of picking out some images to put in the book. He did this solely on aesthetic grounds, reflecting his own taste. While I do not know what he did not select, I was interested to see that a few works seemed to carry off Adams' desire for subtlety in new ways by showing additional detail in the shadows that are missing in his parallel black and white images. These works include:

Yosemite Falls, c. 1953

Green Hills, c. 1945

Mount McKinley, Grass, 1948

Pool, 1947

El Capitan, Texas, 1947

Waimea Canyon, 1948

Clearing Storm, Yosemite, c. 1950

Detail of Mammoth Pool, Yellowstone, 1946

Mono Lake, 1947

Bad Water and Telescope Pool, Death Valley, c. 1947

The Grand Canyon, 1947

If you want to see Ansel Adams' best work, skip this book. If you want to understand why his black and white work is so great, take a look at this book.

Whether you decide to look or not, I have a challenge for you. Do you have anything in your files that is not intended for the public to see? Take a lesson from the experience of this book and destroy that material today.

Edit down to the best!


Calculus Complete Course
Published in Hardcover by Addison-Wesley Pub Co (December, 1994)
Author: Robert A. Adams
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calculas a complete course
A text for a calculas course should not include this one. Although there are good examples, for a general understanding how calculas works with some applications. This is not recommended for applied mathematics.

Great reference text
I was very surprised to see the poor score of this book. I think it is great. It is very well set out and cleverly leads the reader by the hand to ideas and theories of calculus. The chapters read well and diagrams illustrate the ideas effectively. I have used it throughout my maths degree and is also helpful for other maths topics such as linear programming. All my class mates agree that it is a classic text!

A excellent text
I am surprised at the poor reviews of this text. Though some complain that there is a "lack of explanation" in proofs and in exercises in the study guide, I prefer Adams's approach as it forces the reader to think while reading. Working through a proof or example should not be done in order to memorize one line of thought but rather to *learn* the concepts and as an exercise in itself. I do not think that Adams is overly demanding--he pushes the reader, but not too hard. The exercises are well thought out and often challenging, and the text is extremely helpful. I do admit that some problems and examples took me quite some time to figure out, but the time invested was well worth it. I would suggest that you take a look at the book and study guide for yourself and not to take the reviews of it too seriously (borrow it from your university library). This text is especially suitable for an honours class in first year calculus. It is perhaps in between something like Edwards and Penney and Spivak: not as easy as the former, but not as demanding as the latter.


The Best Law Schools: 1998 (Princeton Review Series)
Published in Paperback by Princeton Review (November, 1997)
Authors: David Adam, Esq. Hollander, Rob Tallia, Ian Student Advantage Guide to Law Schools Van Tuyl, and Princeton Review (Firm)
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lacked accuracy
The admissions standards potrayed in the book are the authors opinion. The book put out by the LSAC has most of the school's actual admission decisions.

A fairly interesting guide to most of the law schools in the
country. I'm not sure how often the passages on each schools are updated but I bought the 1999 edition and found it to be a refreshging departure from the usual bland statistics that are quoted in other books. It is nice to hear from students even though I do agree that the authors try to make every law school appealing. I also found the admissions section to be annoying because the authors seem to suggest that every law school is difficult to gain admission too. In conclusion, I certainly wouldn't use this book as my sole guide to law schools but I think that it is a nice compliment to the ABA book.

The only outside source I needed!
I am currently in my second semester in law school. This book was the only resource that I used when contacting schools for information and narrowing my choices. It had all of the information that I needed to get in touch with the schools. I was very concerned with the practical lawyering skills at each school and this was the ONLY source that had statistics on lawyering skills for each school. This book was RIGHT ON for the school that I am now attending.


Born Free and Equal
Published in Paperback by Medvec Company (01 October, 1984)
Authors: Ansel Adams and Emily Medvec
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An interesting book, but too expensive for what it is.
This is the original limited edition (3000 copies printed) catalogue of the short-lived 1980s re-exhibition of Ansel Adams photographs from Manzanar relocation camp. As a book, it doesn't add up to much. It is only 44 pages long, and contains 19 thumbnail size reproductions of Ansel Adams' original photographs and a very abridged version of Ansel Adams' original text for his repressed book "Born Free and Equal" along with an introductory essay by Emily Medvec, curator of the exhibit. I would recommend this only for collectors of books about the WWII internment of Japanese Americans who must have everything ever published about it. For those interested in learning more about the Japanese American internment two much better books would be "Beyond Words : Images from America's Concentration Camps" by Deborah Gesensway and Mindy Roseman, or "Manzanar" by John Armour and Peter Wright. The latter book contains a very good selection of Ansel Adams' Manzanar photos and commentary by John Hersey.

Not just another Adams coffeetable book
If you're looking to add to your Adams collection of beautiful landscapes, skip this book; there are only a dozen or two photos, and they are small. If you are looking for a powerful statement about Adams' character and beliefs, this is a must! I admired Adams' technical expertise for many years, collecting all his photo series and trying my hand at Zone method plates, view camera and all. I felt his photos were pretty but soulless, and consisted mostly of landscapes with very few people pictures (the famous Georgia O'Keefe portrait and few others.) Then in 1986 I had a few hours to kill in Kansas City and saw 50 of the photos at the Nelson. This exhibit, a reproduction of Adams' planned wartime show, is the only photographic show that has ever reduced me to tears. Powerful, relentless, truthful. I staggered out of the exhibit unable to drive for a while, and searched for the book. The book is flawed by inconsistent editing and deserves a new folio edition complete with page-sized prints. The omission of so many photos is why I do not give it 5 stars. Nevertheless, I deem it the last Adams book in my collection I would leave behind. It changed my view of Adams the man entirely. I consider it essential for knowledge of one of America's least shining hours. Were I a history or government teacher, I would build a unit around this book!

Adams's photos are also in "Manzanar" (Adams, Hersey, et al)
If you want to see Adams's photos, many of them are in a terrific book, "Manzanar," by John Armor and Peter Wright. About half the text is an essay by John Hersey on how Manzanar and the other US concentration camps came to be and how they were closed; the text by Armor and Wright is about life in Manzanar while it was active. Unfortunately, this book, published in 1988, is now out of print. (Please ignore my rating of 5 stars, as I didn't read the Adams book.)


Gb Work Is A Contact Sport
Published in Hardcover by Andrews McMeel Publishing (01 May, 1997)
Author: Adams
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Tiny Book, BIG Waste
Sure it's funny - but I've seen these all before. A TINY book but a BIG waste of time and money. It cost more to ship these things than the books cost!!

tiny reused comics
This book is less than four inches tall and has comics that are in other books.

Tiny little book
Sure it's funny. Dilbert comics are great. The problem is that this isn't the usual size. It's a tiny little book. Now I've learned to look closely at the size before buying. Not worth the shipping cost. Buy other Dilbert books instead.


Star Trek Ships of the Line 2002 Calendar
Published in Paperback by Pocket Books (26 June, 2001)
Authors: Adam Lebowitz and Robert Bonchune
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Disappointed
I love the 2001 Star Trek Ships of the Line calendar; I am disappointed with the 2002 calendar. There are only one or two shots that I like, with an additional one or two that are "acceptable". I thought the title should dictate what you should expect to see. Instead, you get some partial shots of ships and the so-called action shots are just plain blurry. If I had taken a photo that turned out like that, I would've thrown it away. Hopefully the 2003 calendar, if there is one, will get back to the standards set by the 2001 calendar.

Out of foucs - Foundation needs glasses
The previous calendar was, well, a work of true art! However, in this version, Foundation has added, haze, fog, blurriness, black & white . . anything to hide the true beauty. Only the picture for Jan 2002 is fantastic.

Not only that, Foundation messed up on the Galaxy class ship in the center fold out. It was labeled Challenger but someone forgot to delete the "enterprise" name & registry from the rest of the picture.

I sure hope they fix their problems. This calendar is a "pass" in my book.

A good calender
It's a pretty good calender, but some of the image choices are dissapointing... extra images in the back are nice.


Spooked: Espionage in Corporate America
Published in Paperback by Perseus Publishing (December, 2001)
Authors: Adam L. Penenberg and Marc Barry
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This author committed a crime in writing this book
This book is one of the worst books I have ever read. It is a complete wast of time. This book was written by the writter who once worked for Forbs Mag where he was fired due to reporting stories in this fashion. Do not buy this book. You have better things to spend your money on.

Has some utility, but not a significant work
I don't know why this short text is in hardcover, and as mentioned in the other reviews, it is more than a bit disjointed, and suffers from some flaws in research.

On the positive side, Chapters 4 & 5 are a useful description of social engineering, that can help the reader better understand how vulnerable an organization is to simple information gathering techniques. It is difficult to find material on the subject of 'Information Brokers', so this book provides a useful source on that subject, although no specific topic is covered in depth.

I found Fialka's book, "War By Other Means," a more informative and interesting read. Fialka's book doesn't discuss the Avery case which comprises the greater part of "Spooked," so the books are somewhat complementary if you are looking for additional examples of industrial espionage.

"Spooked" is a quick read, and outside of some structural weaknesses in its organization, it is an enjoyable enough text. It is more of a 'popular' approach to this subject, aimed at the casual reader who is more interested in titillation than in substance.

Reveals Corporate Methods for Information Gathering
Information gathering is a serious tool used extensively in the corporate world. Penenberg and Barry reveal techniques commonly used to ferret out information regarding corporate adversaries, be they other corporations or individuals.


The Princeton Review: Sat Verbal Workout (Princeton Review Series)
Published in Paperback by Princeton Review (July, 1995)
Authors: Geoff Martz, David Owen, Adam Robinson, and Adam Martz
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Monkey on typewriter
Stupid SAT Prep. Awful book

Horrible examples...
This book has horrible vocabulary examples (you know, the example that accompanies the vocab). For instance, an example for the word "wry" which means "dryly humorous" was "if she is dryly humorous, then she is wry". How stupid is that? There were tons of other examples that were just like that. Plus, the book doesn't really teach you how to score higher. It teaches you how to gamble with your score. I definately do not recommend this book!

Could be a lot better
Having purchased other Princeton Review books, I was dissapointed with this book. Not enough of the book was dedicated to examples, and it lacked practice tests. 2 critical things missing considering the price of this book.
I liked that their word lists are composed of the words most common ones on the SAT, but I didn't like the way the words were arranged. Words that didn't really relate seemed to be thrown together into a list.
The vocab cards seem like a plus, but they put 2 words into a card.
Overall, this book isn't worth the money. It skimps over the basic necessities that a SAT verbal book should have.


What Do You Call A Sociopath In A Cubicle? Answer: A Coworker (A Dilbert Treasury)
Published in Paperback by Andrews McMeel Publishing (October, 2002)
Author: Scott Adams
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Deja vu
I wish that I had read the reviews here before buying this book. I was extremely disappointed while I was reading it to come to the realization that there was not one cartoon in this book that wasn't published in one or more of the already existing Dilbert anthologies. Shame on you Mr. Adams.

Recycled Dilbert
I'm a fan of Scott Adam's work. Dilbert is by far the funniest strip out there. The thing I don't like about this book is the strips are recycled from the other books instead of adding newer material. Other than that its a great book for the price.

A Review by a Fan
Although this book has its faults (at least one of the strips is in it twice), it's another welcome compendium of Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoon strips. Anybody who has spent much time in an office setting will find much to identify with. A very enjoyable hour or two of reading!


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