As far as pure information about Breton goes, this book is an absolute must have, and I immediately bought it myself. But I personally feel that Mark Polizzotti is far too prejudiced in the negative direction as regards Andre Breton, and every admirer of his should keep this in mind. He is an excellent translator and an undeniably well informed scholar with respect to Dada and Surrealism, but if he was so determined to bash Breton and take shots at him left and right, maybe he should have written another book called "I'm Pissy and Cynical:Why I Hate Andre Breton". Yes, it is true that Breton had contradictions in his character and attitudes, but all great men do. Breton's relentless campaign against all forms of coercion and institutional authority (indeed, authority of any kind) more than makes up for the flaws that he had, the flaws which we all have in one way or another. (A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, Mark.) And let's keep in mind, not to be mean, who is writing the biography and who is getting the biography written about them. Polizzotti makes sure to magnify Breton's admittedly dubious and perhaps even downright hypocritical stance on homosexuality to the point where you would think that Surrealism was about gay bashing. Without Andre Breton Surrealism would never have even gotten off it's feet. His so called 'ex communications' were botched but at the same time basically well intentioned attempts to keep the surrealist rebellion genuine and authentic, and his supposed 'dictatorial personality' was simply his passionate nature translated into action. Like all great leaders he wanted to adhere to the principles he had set for himself and the friends who accompanied him on the great spiritual adventure of poetry and 'the marvelous' that was Surrealism. Hate him or love him, what Breton himself said of Rimbaud's drinking buddy Germain Noveau can be said of the arch surrealist himself:"Absolute non conformism ruled his life from beginning to end."

This book is entertaining as well as informative. I noticed one review on this site with the subtext of 'I prefer baguettes to burgers/Americans are bad' so I thought I'd weigh in. Also the critic in question cannot even READ in Breton's language then lambasts Americans in general for not appreciating his chosen magus.

I'll try and do better and focus on the book.

The book's intellectual/social millieu is well described. You can drop in on almost any page and be immersed in what the times were about and who the major figures were.

True, Polizotti really gives it to Breton. However-most of the 'bad' stuff is given to us in quotes or writings OF Breton or his contemporaries. Can we really fault an author for telling us things we may not WANT to know about a public figure?

Also, the book has a comic aspect. Everytime Breton pulls some tomfoolery or a writer for instance snipes at how controlling this figure in bright green suits was, you can't help but laugh at the pretentiousness involved. IN this sense, Breton is a great comic. He courts Freud, Freud prefers Dali. He courts some woman, she prefers another man. He wants to lecture to the Americans, they put Dali on the cover of Time Magazine. He raises some fuss somewhere and Eluard-yet, again-gets beaten up like a child on a playground. The clothing, that arch-high language, the situations-he is extremely funny. Not fake funny like Jerry Lewis, but bust a gut, deflate the persona funny. Not unlike old movie farces where the joke is on a dowager or banker.

I gave the book an extra star for making me laugh several times. It's really a four star book in other ways.

k

When Aube (Breton's only child) was very young, Breton told her that someday he will tell and teach her anything she wants to know about "life, love and revolution". Indeed these can be described as the essence of Breton's colorful, and dramatic life. Plozzotti has not only told us aboiut the history of Surrealism, but also told us about how Breton started, and eventually controlled every aspect of this movement. Excellent book. Highly recommended.

I have never been so disappointed in a book in my life. The premise is great, but the execution was beyond horrible. The characters are one-dimensional, the writing is bland, and you never get to know these people beyond the "I'm a gay teenage jock in a small town." There was a real opportunity to show gay people as REAL people, and sadly, the opportunity was missed. I can only hope Roeder's writing improves in the ensuing novels.

Praise the gods, Mark Roeder or his publisher finally hired a proofreader. This means that the 2002 version of this story is free of the annoying typos and spelling mistakes of all of the other works of this author (at least that I've read) and of the other stuff coming out of iUniverse. This particular story is an update of Roeder's first publication, which I have not read, but it shows superior advances in creativity and writing ability especially compared to the depressing "A Better Place" and the totally implausible "Do You Know That I Love You" which are all inter-connected in obscure and non-important ways. There are anachronisms in this book, set in 1980. Perhaps Mark does have a computer in his room, but, if so, it has to be connected to a Univac mainframe in the basement. Maybe people in rurual Indiana refer to "dudes", maybe not. The character names are a problem for the era, as well. If these guys are sixteen in 1980, it would be well ahead of the curve for their parents to name them Taylor, Devon, Brandon, et al, in 1964. Graymoor Mansion, itself a distraction, could not possibly stand for 100+ years with apparent unrestricted access with contents intact. Lastly as a criticism, Mark and Taylor, at 16, fall instantly and passionately in love on their first meeting, literally within seconds. . We wish! Still, Roeder delivers a moving, emotional, loving story. The tragic ending, while regretful, is part of that story. Having read some, but not all, of Roeder's youth chronicles, I sense that he is getting better, much, much, better, with each new work or update of his previous writing. This book is highly recommended.

I couldn't believe how this book made me feel. It was like the author somehow got inside my head. I felt like the characters were my friends. I laughed and cried and never wanted it to end. I can only guess that the few negative reviews there are of this book were written by those who are anti-gay in an attempt to keep readers away. This book is absolutely awesome! Buy it, read it, and then give it to a friend!

If you have programmed in another language before, but not Delphi, this is the book for you. After a quick overview of general programming concepts, Pascal data types, etc., it goes into a thorough description of the Delphi 3 language and features. I did wish that it had more info on database programming--5 chapters wasn't enough for me!

This is one of my favorite Delphi 3 books, as it covers material not easily found elsewhere. This is not a beginner's book by any means. The coverage of DLLs, COM, and threading is outstanding. This is a book for those who want to delve more deeply into the relationships between VCLs and the WinAPI.

I purchased this book with a view to learning more about OLE and COM which is covered very comprehensively. But I found that once I started reading the other chapters I could not put the book down. Some people have commented that this book is a poor teaching aid. This is not what this book sets out to do. QUE's guide puts this book at Accomplished to Expert level. If you are an experienced, professional programmer who needs an excellent reference book, buy this. You will not regret it.

Dery's compendium of stellar essays achieve the dizzying heights of literary incision that is all too rare at this end of the millenium. His wit, depth and powerful style inform both the reader and the Zeitgeist of heretofore unimagined and palpably novel analyses of America as Hypercapitalist theme park turned phantasmogoria.The book recalled to mind that fabulous poem by William Carlos Williams, The Pure Products of America go Crazy, from Spring and All 1923.Like his previous sphere-gasser,Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the end of the century, Mark Dery's superb research and synthetic skills pull together a truly colossal set of sources and deftly deliver them to dazzling effect.Dery's flourish and sardonic wit are both rare and endlessly entertaining. Like the early Tom Wolfe, his essays explore the uncanny, the gothic, and the downright pathological with flair and scholastic rigor that is equally well received by the educated bibliophile and the academic.J.G. Ballard's sleeve notes are no exageration!

Dery's initial metaphor--Coney Island as controlled chaos, an irruption of social taboos--sets the theme for this collection of essays exploring the fin de millenium American turn toward the countercultural, the outcast, the obscene,the pacifying. Exploring the place of Disney, talk radio and television, technology, Heaven's Gate, the Unabomber, aberrant art, freak culture, carnival celebrations and other social expressions beyond the pale, Dery suggests that in the century since Coney, America continues to indulge the dark and the chaotic, but it does so now in tones suggesting resignation more than despair. Suggesting a dialectic reaction, Dery posits the angst of postmodern American as a response to the loss of meaning and control that pervades its society. Gated communities attempt to carve out islands of control amidst urban terror; Disney offers a world whose simplicity and comfort counter the misshapen reality about us; all the while underground art movements aggressively mock corporate values. And for good measure,Dery is a scintillating writer, tossing off well-turned phrases and allusions that both entertain and clarify. A stimulating compilation of writings.

I heard Dery interivewed on KPFK in Los Angeles, and wondered if he was as gleefully subversive, jarringly insightful and downright hilarious in print. I wasn't disappointed! Imagine a brains-sloshing rollercoaster ride where your IQ is ten points higher--rather than lower--when you disembark. That's what you're in for.

austro@excite.com

If you know nothing about Python, Visual Basic, scripting languages, Win32 API, MFC, COM, active scripting, Windows Networking and NT administration, then after you've read this book you'll get some very general idea of what these all are about: this book covers them all, as well as many other things. But whenever it comes to tell you something really interesting, authors just say: "well, it's out of the scope of this book, so let's stop here..."

However, there are things this book does not cover. For instance, I thought scripting languages are a handy tool for text processing, but throughout this book I encountered only one mention of regular expressions - in the context of filtering file names, and you won't find regular expressions in the Index. From 10-page Chapter "Working with Email" you'll learn what SMTP and POP3 stand for, and from 15-page Appendix(!) "Threads" you'll learn that Python has something to do with threads, and fairly much about COM threading model.

Information in this 650-page book can fit a dozen-page article. Most of all this book looks like a slide show for marketing, trying to convince them that Python is the answer to all questions. And most of the time it sounds like: "It's easy, we won't tell you exactly what and how, but for smart guys like us who can read man pages, it's very easy."

This books is neither a Python tutorial book nor a Windows programming book. The title of this book greatly mis-represents the contents.

If you are not a Windows COM programmer who's trying to learn Python or are trying develop Python applications on other platforms, please look for other Python books.

Python is the best choice for people who want to implement COM in the software they develop - mostly due to its clear structure and object - oriented nature. This is where this book mostly comes.

This book is well-written, practical-oriented and ideal for the newbie programmer who has already some idea over Python (O'Reilly's 'Learning Python' is the best place to start).

However, even experienced programmers need it because it provides a set of useful examples for rapid prototyping and reuse components.

It misses a few spots - First, you can't find much help on working on GUIs - and second (and most important) SWIG does not get the attention it deserves - it is just mentioned.

Finally, if you use Python in Win32 - or if you cannot decide what kind of COM solution you wish to develop - DO NOT CONSIDER TAKING A STEP WITHOUT THIS BOOK !

i JUST FINISHED READING THIS BOOK AND i MUST SAY I AM IMPRESSED WITH THE WAY THE AUTHOR TRIES TO GROUND "THE LAST SON OF KRYPTON"INTO REAL WORLD SCIENCE.TRUE,SOME OF THEORIES TAKE YOU TO THE OUTER REALMS OF BELIEVEBILITY,BUT IT WOULDN'T BE AS MUCH FUN IF IT DIDN'T.WHILE THE "MAN OF STEEL" IS MY PERSONEL FAVORITE(I'M MORE OF A "DARK NIGHT" MY SELF HINT,HINT!)I THINK HE DID A GOOD JOB WITH WHAT HE HAD TO WORK WITH.AND FOR ALL YOU HARDCORE FANS WHO HAVE TO NIT-PICK OVER EVERY LITTLE DETAIL I HAVE THIS TO SAY:GET OUT OF YOUR PARENT'S BASEMENT,GO FIND A GIRLFRIEND,AND GET A LIFE!

Mark Wolverton takes the techniques he developed from writing science history and fact articles for periodicals like "American Heritage" and applies them to arguably the most well-known character in American popular fiction, Superman. Through research and conversations with real scientists, Mr. Wolverton successfully culls actual data and theories necessary to explain how Superman's powers could (and could not) work. The tone is light but never tongue-in-cheek, and while the subjects discussed would not be out of place in a "Scientific American" article, Mr. Wolverton's style is never dry and will certainly keep even a non-technically oriented reader happy and involved. Also some of the revelations concerning Superman's powers portend interesting actual developments for us ordinary men and women.
The book bears the imprimatur of DC comics, so we can assume that the work will be the official explanation of why and how Superman works. It's not every day that a legend get rewritten, and the book will doubtlessly help serve as the foundation for a whole new set of adventures for the Man of Steel (or perhaps more correctly the Man with a Bioelectric Force Field...?).

I rushed out to get this book and was not disappointed. Science of Superman takes a very "real World" look at the scientific theories and laws that would govern superman's abilities. Anyone who complains about the book having "too much science and too little Superman" obviously did not get the point of the title!! The scientific aspect of the book, featuring all the theories, laws etc. was well explained in case you have never heard of any of it before, and it is all applied to Superman and how he would function in real life.
Great Read for any Superman fan :)

After looking at this book, I would have to say it would only be useful to novice users in a Windows world. The included software is almost entirely Windows-centric.
It barely mentions the Macintosh platform very little, which I find odd since the Macintosh is generally regarded as the best CD-R mastering platform. If you're in the right niche audience, the book could prove useful. Otherwise, give it a miss.

This is the most up-to-date (7/97) book on the subject that I could find. While an update is needed for better information regarding CDRW and DirectCD / i.e. Packet Writing, Mr. Chambers has done an admirable job at creating a document that provides a strong foundation, terrific narrative and many, many jewels of knowledge. While he puts great emphasis on Adaptec products, it could be argued that they are about the best products on the market anyway. A section on more comprehensive potential troubleshooting philosophy would also be helpful in an update. Overall, no better reference is available at this time. It's a great book.

This book told me everything I needed to know as a novice with CD-R. It provided step by step instructions on how to install my SCSI card and Ricoh recorder, and it has many great tips on how to organize your discs. I use CDCreator 3 and the book describes it completely. I think it is well worth the money and I refer to it all the time.

I must agree with the previous review. The information about the different sights is excellent--very detailed, yet not boring. Many of the descriptions made me chuckle. However, much of the organizational information was lacking. For example, there were numerous delicious-sounding restaurants and gelateria listed for Florence, but they were not marked on the map!

My wife and I used this book extensively on a 10-day tour of Tuscany and Umbria. Excellent mix of history and restaurant and lodging recommendations. A few drawbacks to the book. The first is that many of the restaurants were not marked on the maps and the directions given were incomplete. Another drawback that I found is that the hotel recommendations were inconsistent from city to city - Pisa had only budget hotels listed while Assisi had hotels across the range. But these are minor criticisms, overall an excellent book.

After tooking a 2-month off sabbatical at my job, I decided to spend some time driving all around Italy, and I can't thank this guide enough. It has all the information someone needs for traveling in Tuscany and Umbria, the two most fascinating regions in Italy (ok, the Amalfi Coast is great too). All cities are described in detail, from the historical background to what to see and what to do. This guide allowed me to do exactly what I wanted: to hit the road, stop by somewhere (Trasimeno Lake, the Orvieto hill, San Gimignano Film Festival) and just decide what the next stop would be. The author has a hilarious and superb style to describe anything, from the Cathedral in Orvieto to the paintings in Assisi and the pottery in Gubbio. Gold medal to the chapter about San Gimignano... After this, I have bought Rough Guides for all my trips.

I'm not a fan of monopolies, but in this case, the Sanders Price Guide is the one and only. This book tries to be the "standard?" Sanders is the standard in the field, and while ambitious, this book simply doesn't measure up. Good for facsimilies, but that's about it.

I don't know if there are many people out there who can lay claim to a Louis XIII autograph, or even a George Washington autograph. If they did, they probably also have Jesus Christ on a baseball.

My point is, there are listings for hundreds if not thousands of people whose autographs probably don't even exist. The book is good for referencing celebrities and sports stars, but there are far too many pages dedicated to the various types of William Henry Harrison signatures, and other topics we need not explore.

If this is the "standard guide" it should be a little more up to date. I would rather see five facimilies of a Robert De Niro or a Mickey Mantle autograph than of somebody who has been dead for 500 years, because you know what-- chances are I won't be getting their signature any time soon, so I won't need to compare it to a facimile.

This book is a very comprehensive price guide for today's celebrities and sports stars, which is why I give it a four star rating. But if the book spent less time dealing with signatures from centuries ago, and more time dealing with the stars of today and tommorow (I got Heidi Klum's sig the other day, and she isn't listed-- she is probably one of the most famous models in the world), it would truly be the best autograph guide out there.

Wow, after reading so many books about autographs finally a realistic book enters the market. Unlike the Sanders guide it it deals with values at a realistic level and why not Baker has written more books about the subject than any other author in this genre. Not since Charles Hamilton's books on the subject have I ever learned so much, Bravo!

I have no idea how this book managed a 4-star rating up to this point. They must have been looking at a different book or I and just crazy.

Potentially this book would be a good one ( concepts are explained ok ) but the tutorials/examples are full of errors and many of the files it references in the tutorials don't exist ..... at least that I have been able to find. I don't even know if the download files are still available ..... not that they are worth the time it takes to download them ( downloads only go through chapter 7 anyway ).

Additionally, I have tried to contact the publisher, author, and new publisher ( Apress apparently has purchased FriendsofED ) for help and received precisely nothing in return ..... not even a "we will look into it and get back with you" message.

I was hoping the FriendsofED titles might be a good source of textbooks for the classes I teach but will probably never use one of their titles again because of this experience with them. It's to the point that I have considered reimbursing everyone of my students who have bought this book because it's so poor.

Very frustrated and disappointed to say the least.

The book approaches using Premiere from the vantage point of following a whole project from start to finish through its production process using the software. Along the way it explains a lot of basic concepts and also delves into a number of specific how-to-do-it details and even advanced techniques for cool effects. It will take you through your first few projects with most of the techniques you will need fairly quickly. For someone like me who used a much earlier version of Premiere and then wanted to "jump" into the latest interface quickly and understand what to do in specific areas, this book was very good. But if you want ALL of the information you can possibly get on Editing in Premiere or any other single aspect, this book is not detailed enough. Also, the page numbers in the table of contents and the index are out of sync with the actual numbers on the pages. Its as if the ToC started counting about twenty pages farther on than the printer numbered the pages, so somewhere in the editing/publishing they lost a bit of control of this book, but everything was still findable with a bit of patience.

This book gave me the conceptual tools I needed to make sense of the Adobe Premier manual. The manual is chock full of the technical info that allows you to use all the features that Premiere offers, but Revolutionary Premiere 6 tells you which choice makes sense and why. In addition, it gives you the big picture on digital filmmaking techniques that can make the difference between making a film that looks amateurish and one that gets your message across. I knew within the first five minutes that this book would give me an understanding of the dynamics of filmmaking, while giving me specific advice on how to make Adobe Premiere do what I want it to do. Great job.