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Book reviews for "Allen,_James" sorted by average review score:

Using Assembly Language
Published in Paperback by Que (March, 1992)
Authors: Allen L. Wyatt and James Kyle
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Useful collection of information
This book contains a useful collection of information for assembly language programmers. A good tutorial, with lots of examples for implementation using either Microsoft or Borland Assemblers. All of the DOS and BIOS routines are here, along with examples on incorporating assembly language sub-routines into high level languages. Even though I abandoned TASM for the Isaacson Assembler, my copy of this book is very well thumbed.


The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Kente Classic in Kente Collection)
Published in Audio Cassette by Masterbuy Audio Books (01 June, 1995)
Authors: James Weldon Johnson and Allen Gilmore
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Harsh reminder of America's rascist "past"
This is a tragic book in a lot of ways. It is a reminder that America has not fullfilled her promise to all of her children. It would be great to read a book like this as an object lesson in the bigotry of the past. We have made some progress but there is still much to be done. James Weldon Johnson produced a wrenching tale. That it is somewhat autobiographical adds to the ambivalent narration. First the narrator feels shame in his heritage but then grows to accept himself and feel pride in who he is. This tells a tale that America is often loathe to hear but it is important nonetheless. The aspect of a mulatto man passing for white is sad. One should be allowed to feel pride in multiethnicity. This is a horrible stain on our culture that so many people had to live in denial of who they really were. This book is a valuable document of America's dark side. I would hope that it experiences a much deserved revival now that evidence of Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemmings has reopened the discussion on this sad piece of our history. Read this book and weep but most of all read this book and learn.

Interesting tale of life in the 1900's
An autobiographical tale of a very smart man, ( who is part black / park white ) raised in the north who discovers the south in his late teen years. It is a story of discovery of the world as he learns music, hard work, love, and the dark side of life.

I didn't get the doom and gloom impression of the south from this author, however, one must remember that the author here can pass for white. However, at the end of the book, Johnson regrets not having taken part in the civil rights issues of the day and wonders if he has forsaken his race for a wife, children, and monetary success. A bit of a rushed ending, but was very informative and interesting to read.

Spellbinding and relevant
For a book which was first published in 1912, this is an amazingly relevant work for today. Johnson's novel (hidden in the form of an autobiography) graphically looks at relations between the races in American. The nameless main character is born in the South to an African-American mother and a white Southern aristocrat. He and his mother move to Connecticut when he is very young, allowing Johnson to show us the benevolent face of pervasive racism of the United States. Johnson avoids the easy "good" vs. "evil" view of the oppressed vs. the oppressors. Instead, the narrator becomes a permanent outcast, returning to the South upon the death of his mother and then to the ragtime era New York City. The style of the novel is clear and extremely readable--and very current. The end of the novel dives deep into the issue of racism, causing both black and white readers to question their long-held assumptions about who they are and who they appear to be to others.


The Orthodox Study Bible: New Testament and Psalms
Published in Hardcover by Thomas Nelson (May, 1993)
Authors: Peter E. Gillquist, Alan Wallerstedt, Joseph Allen, Calif.) Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy (Santa Barbara, Thomas Nelson Publishers, and Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy
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a good place to start, but not THE Orthodox guide to Bible
I applaud the efforts of those who contributed to the creation of this study. There are many helpful notes, introductions, and topical studies that elucidate themes central, or at least unique, to Eastern Orthodoxy. In particular I found helpful the notes in the Epistle to the Romans. At the same time, I was very disappointed to find that in many places the notes were quite dumbed-down. To make it worse, in the section of morning and evening prayers, which, by the way, are very handy, there is no mention of Mary!! This has lead me to conclude two things. Firstly, this production is intended to convinve Portestants that we Orthodox do indeed love the Scriptures and it is a tool to draw them into our fold (which isn't a bad thing!). Secondly, the claim that it is THE Orthodox Study Bible leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Perhaps I'm a nit-pick, but to neglect the Mother of God in the prayers is wrong when it's touted as THE OSB. Perhaps in its second printing it could be modified to say AN OSB.

Although there are many differences between the Orthodox and the Catholics which I in no way dismiss as superficial, I still find the Jerusalem Bible's notes helpful. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, my former home, has published through Concordia Publishing a helpful study Bible which an Orthodox could read with profit, although there will be obvious differences in parts (i.e., Romans and James). I recommend these titles since they are more scholarly than the OSB in most respects. Nonetheless, everything they say cannot be endorsed as Orthodox and, depending on the subject in question, caution must me used.

Very Helpful
Up until this century it was taboo to put commentary into a Bible for fear that folk would take the notes and interpretations as if they were part of the Bible itself. Well, they were right! However, now everyone and his brother puts footnotes and explanations in their texts of the Scriptures, so now the Orthodox do as well. This is not THE Orthodox Study Bible (as reviewer Matt asserts above - and, yes Matt, you are nit-picking!), nor does it pretend to be. The articles and notes are intended to help elucidate the Scriptures and provide some introductory articles on Orthodox topics, but this is not a full-blown Bible commentary, nor a course in New Testament theology. The complaints of the critics tend to be essentially that it isn't enough. Well, then they need to write a multi-volume commentary to suit their needs. However, for the average layperson who's lucky to crack open the Bible occasionally, this fits the bill just fine. Remember, there is no "official" Orthodox translation of the Bible except for the original Greek. Thus, the NKJV is one of the better texts and the footnotes are there to make occasional comments as to translation problems and errors. No, they don't cover all the issues, but as I said before, to do that you would need a multi-volume Orthodox commentary that takes up half your bookshelf. Hopefully, at some future date, such a work will be undertaken. For now, this is a modest and well-needed starting point. +Fr. William Christ

Outstanding Intro into Orthodox View, Good Commentary Notes
This book does a good job in providing commentary notes on Bibilcal passages with an Easern Orthodox viewpoint. The right amount of information is given. It assumes the reader has no or very little knowledge so as not to confuse potential readers, including new converts, curiosity seekers, or cradle Orthodox who have never really studied their faith.

It is filled with iconograpgy throughout and the end of the book has special sections in regards to Orthodox views, prayers, and doctrines. It is done in an easy fomat to spark one for further study and research.

This study Bible should be in any serious Bible students libarary regardless of religion. The views of the East have been often neglected by the West and the East has a rich tradition the West can learn and enjoy.


Artificial Intelligence: Theory and Practice
Published in Paperback by Pearson Education POD (10 May, 2002)
Authors: Thomas Dean, James Allen, and Yiannis Aloimonos
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Serious errors
I used to use this text for AI undergraduate courses, and have given up. It has grievous errors in it, including in the on-line errata. Two quick examples: the information theoretic equations for decision trees is dead wrong. And the alpha-beta algorithm is completely incorrect. The text also has packed large amounts of information into very tight spaces, leading to poor explanations in important sections: the backpropagation section in particular consistently leads to serious confusion among students. And attempts to reduce algorithms into a procedural rather than functional/recursive format only result in excess complexity.

This is particularly frustrating because there really is no good undergraduate text for AI. This one comes close, packing in lots of stuff into an inexpensive volume. But the errors are serious enough, and in such high-utility sections, that this book cannot be recommended.

This is a useful book by eminent authors.
This is a good book for the beginners in the subject. I liked the book for its beautiful writing style. The most useful chapters of this book are chapter 5 on learning, chapter 7 on planning and chapter 9 on image understanding.The concepts on the situation calculus discussed in chapter 6 are also presented very interestingly. The examples used to illustrate different issues are realistic. The book must be on the desk of anyone interested in the domain of Artificial Intelligence.


Get Off My Brain: A Survival Guide for Lazy Students
Published in Paperback by Free Spirit Publishing (March, 1999)
Authors: Randall James McCutcheon, Pete Wagner, and Steve Allen
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Misleading Title and reviews
This book doesn't have anything in it that I found helpful in trying to get my "lazy" but bright student motivated.

I can imagine it only contributing to the smarty attitude of some bored students.

I really wasn't looking for suggestions about how to get the teacher off track so that class is less boring or how to stroke the professor's ego so you get a better grade. This book should really be listed under humor or spoofs.

Holy Crap....
The man is a genius. This book every student should have, whether lazy or not. He gives great advice. You should definitely listen to what he has to say, because he's an English teacher himself... Wait a minute. He's MY English teacher. Oh well. Still, this is the best book you could ever buy.


Introduction to the Foundations of American Education
Published in Hardcover by Allyn & Bacon (January, 1988)
Author: James Allen Johnson
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Okay, but other books are out there.
Like I said in a precious review, I like National University, but they could have chosen a different book. I am Caucasian, white, Christian, heterosexual, male, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and let me tell you, this book will make it seem that the whit people in this country are racist bigots. And that we are trying to indoctrinate every single child that comes to America while keeping all the other people in lower classes. That is how I felt.

I was shocked by how biased this book is. I am beginning to think that the publishers Allyn and Bacon have an agenda.

One of the only topics I liked about this book is the short parts at the end of each chapter that tells the reader different ideas for making a professional portfolio. But, I can imagine that there are other books better.

Okay, for a Textbook
This book wasn't too bad, considering it is a textbook. If you're forced to read it for class, take heart! It's not too boring--once you get started, it actually moves pretty quickly, and you will learn a lot. If this isn't required for a class, I would not suggest curling up in front of the fireplace with this book, or, really, reading it at all, unless you're really into learning more about the basics of American Education.


The Ithaqua Cycle: The Wind-Walker of the Icy Wastes (Call of Cthulhu Fiction)
Published in Paperback by Chaosium (April, 1999)
Authors: James Ambuehl, Blackwood Algernon, Joseph Payne Brennan, Pierre Comtois, August Derleth, George C., Ii Diezel, George Allen England, Gordon Linzner, Brian Lumley, and Randy Medoff
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i have seen the wind, and it's cold enough for me
this book opens with blackwood's great story: the wendigo. B is the master of the setting, noone can create the background and atmosphere like him. a very well written story from Brennan here. and Meloff's story is also an interesting read. derleth is at his best here. i don''t care that much for the guy, have never considered him to be HPL's great successor or anything, but he knows how to write, and i have always considered his story about Ithaqua to be his best contribution. the rest of the stories are well written. i don't think any of chaosium's anthologies contains of so much good writing than this. but good is not great. and the rest of the stories never turns out to be really good. the suspence killed by irrelevant writing going on for too long, mostly. sad. but the book is still wort reading


Fundamentals of Computing I: Logic, Problem Solving, Programs and Computers, Pascal Edition (Revised)
Published in Hardcover by McGraw-Hill Higher Education (01 February, 1994)
Authors: Allen B. Tucker, Andrew P. Bernat, W. James Bradley, Bradley W. James, and Greg W. Scragg
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Danger
Don't waste your money (and time) on that ancient book.

It's shame to offer a 70's book for regular sale! Although it reprinted again in 94, its content remain.

Easy To Learn
It is a very usefull book for an computer engineer.If you are in a first class of computer engineer you can have some difficulties about using the mathematical formulas in computer.This book makes you learn yery easy.It is for a starter.


A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Cliffs Notes)
Published in Paperback by Cliffs Notes (June, 1982)
Authors: L. David Allen and James L. Roberts
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This Book Is A Waste Of Time!
The book "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court"starts out with a man named Hank Morgan getting hit over the head witha crow bar during an argument. He awakes to find himself in 600ADCamelot where he gets taken captive by a knight and is to be burned at the stake. Hank tells everyone he's a magacian and uses a solar eclipse to his advantage to be freed from death. He becomes good friends with the king and goes on many adventures with him. Hank tries to modernize civilization but in the end fails miserably. I absolutely hated this book. It would go for pages on end where you wouldn't understand a single word they said. Many times they would attempt to throw in humor but... This book was VERY unrealistic with warping through time and having a solar eclipse fall right on the day of his execution. In conclusion, this book was a waste of my time and and will probably a waste of yours too.

A bit disappointing
I am a fan of most of Mark Twain's works; his wit and charm are unsurpassed, and are ultimately what makes his books worth reading. However, although the book contained elements of these traits, I felt it read more like a technical manual for modernizing a backward people. This made it a tedious read.

Rebuttal
I read Connecticut Yankee and found it quite good. However, instead of reviewing the book per se, I would like to post a rebuttal to the views posted by the person from Minnesota and the person from Tibet.

The Minnesota person claimed that reading this book was a complete waste of time and furthermore that there were long passages that seemed incomprehensible. I can see how this might be true for a person of finite literary sophistication, so I'm going to assume that the reader must have been a high school student who tackled reading beyond his/her level of understanding, patience, and appreciation. The book is rich with historic accuracy about medieval life and every page is packed with subtle, humorous digs at both 6th century ignorance as well as criticism of his own 19th century attitude toward progress in the industrial northern states from where our protagonist hails. Obviously, the reader from Minnesota missed the point.

The reader from Tibet accused Twain of having anti-religious views. Twain's criticism was not of religion; it was of the church's hypocritical practices in _both_ the 6th and 19th centuries. It is still true today. In chapter 10, Twain writes: "Everybody could be any kind of Christian he wanted to; there was perfect freedom in that matter. But...I was afraid of a united Church; it makes a mighty power, the mightiest conceivable, and then when it by-and-by gets into selfish hands, as it is always bound to do, it means death to human liberty, and paralysis to human thought."

When was this more true than in the middle ages, when the Catholic Church orchestrated Crusades, was genteel in an age of feudalism, and later killed infidels in their inquisitions? It's clear that Twain simply doesn't wish to have a sectarian bias influence secular affairs; our First Amendment supports Twain's point of view.

You'd do best to disregard those other reviews, which hold Twain responsible for their own lack of understanding and appreciation of his novel, and read the book for yourself. It will be well worth your time.


James Madison: The Founding Father
Published in Hardcover by Atheneum (October, 1987)
Author: Robert Allen Rutland
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Falls Short
If you are looking for a biography of James Madison, look elsewhere. Rutland's subtitle, "The Founding Father," makes it clear what this book is about: Madison's participation in the creation and passage of the constitution and the Bill of Rights. Although it does cover most of his life, the focus is definitely on Madison's role as founding father.

The book deals with the major issues of Madison's political life, often in too minute detail, but does not satisfy the biographical aspects of his life. There is absolutely no mention, for example, of Madison's birth date, or even the year he was born in! Further, the book failed completely to engage me. I set it aside for weeks at a time before I finally finished if off, despite its modest size.

A guy who peaked early
I picked up this book because I was to attend a conference on Madison and wanted to know something more than the murky recollection I had from school of this less well known "founding father." I was fascinated to learn how it came to pass that after initially opposing the Bill of Rights Madison was the guy who actually got it through the first Congress. The early years were interesting, but this book rather quickly turned into a rather bewildering discussion of the ins and outs of trade with Europe and the problems that led up to the War of 1812--which sounded like a totally forgettable incident in American history. Madison was by and large an untalented president--his greatest achievements were complete by the time he was 30--the Bill of Rights and, before then, the Federalist Papers. Maybe the book went downhill with the career of its subject, but I thought the writing could have been a lot clearer and a few sentences of background information each time a new subject was introduced would have helped this book alot.

James Madison just wasn't cool...
not like Jefferson & Hamilton or celebrated like Washington & Franklin. My fellow reviewers seemed disappointed in this as a biography. But it was not Mr. Rutland's goal to write a personal story of Mr. Madison's life although his later years were covered quite well. I am glad however, I took the easy way out by listening to the audio version (unedited). As if I was in Mr. Rutland's class as he was giving a lecture. The years after The Revolutionary War, The Federalist Papers, The Constitution & The Bill of Rights, are the real meat of this book. Madison's behind the scenes leadership in Congress was consummate. If we do not appreciate how important he was 200 years later, it seems that he contemporaries did. To his sorrow he was, with Jefferson, responsible for creating the two party system we now operate under. That he wanted to heed Washington's advice against the party system is evident. But he found this advice quickly outdated. As a result Washington, & to a lesser extent Adams were the only unaffiliated presidents in our history. Happily, none of this two-party stuff is cluttering up our Consititution. As Secretary of State under Jefferson & President on his own he was unremarkable. Any one could have mucked things up as well as he did. Indeed his best years were his early years. What seemed to me remarkable was the love, respect & friendship that existed between Madison & Jefferson all of their adult lives. It was an alliance of two great men that never wavered & recreated the "republican" type government of ancient Greece. Mr Rutland was obviously impressed by this relationship & alludes to it several times. I appreciate biographies that teach me something about history I didn't know. How great is this book? Hard to say. But it fit the bill.


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