In the wild, animals can usually find the right things to eat. But zoo animals can't search for their own meals; they must rely on the people who care for them. Nutritionists and zookeepers must discover what foods each animal needs to stay healthy and happy within the confines of the modern zoo. And they have to know how to serve lunch to a poisonous snake, make dinner for a thousand animals at once, feed babies who have lost their mothers, provide the nutrients rare animals need to successfully procreate and nurse their offspring, and more. Very highly recommended for school and community library pet/wildlife collections, Lunch At The Zoo: What Zoo Animals Eat And Why is a splendid introduction to this complex subject as it takes young readers behind the scenes at some of the largest zoos in the country to discover what (and how) their animals are fed. Joyce Altman's clear, fun, and informative text is nicely illustrated throughout by black and white photography, and illustrations by Rick Chrustowski.

This book is indeed witty, you will not get bored when reading it. Unfortunately, the jokes use half of the book, leaving not too much space for the CorelDraw itself. They explain what the function of each button is, and show how to draw rectangles and fill them with fancy colors. However, seldom do the authors go beyond these trivial things. It was my first book on CorelDraw, and I feel that this book was not enough to learn to use Draw. Another frustrating thing is that the tutorial files, which were supposed to pe posted on the web, are not there yet, although the book came in July 99, and I am writing this review in November. So be prepared to skip some chapters since you do not have the files to work with.

Rarely does a such a technical book read like a light-hearted comedy. I couldn't put it down. I applaud Rick and his staff for a job very well done.

This is a really good book! OK, get serious: "This is a GREAT book!". I have been working in the computer publishing world since 1988 (Macintosh Plus, PageMaker 1.0...), and I produced a lot of books for my italian publisher (don't know exactly how many, between two and three hundreds, surely), but I must say that the "Mastering CorelDRAWs" by Rick Altman are the best for me. Altman writes well, is technically perfect, he is not boring, but he is not stupid (I mean, telling jokes and all that crap). He knows what he writes and, when needed, he asks for advice to the pros, without trouble. Thank to Sybex, the books were always supported by a CD-ROM with all the files you need (and they are all at their place...). From this edition you can get them on the Web, and that's great. This book let you learn to use the program even if you are a beginner, but it's good also for the advanced user. Well, I'm telling the truth, because I did it that way. A final note: thank to Rick Altman for the good job, and to Sybex for putting these books on the shelf year after year.

Luca Lazzari Pavia, Italy

This book is not for beginners and not presented well (for a beginner).

I picked up this book in my local bookstore, opened the book at random in two separate places and learned something I didn't know instantly, both times. Now that's a good book! I've been an avid CorelDRAW user since it was in version 3 way back in 1993. The software has grown in capability by leaps and bounds with each new revision, and each time I get a new version I look to see if Rick Altman has written a "Mastering..." book for it. His explorations of the program make the book well worth the price. My only disappointment was that there were no color plates to better display some of the astounding power of this software. However, the CD makes up for it by providing a wonderful smorgasbord of images and samples.

I'm a computer graphics instructor (college level) and the "Mastering" books have long been on my Highly Recommended list for students. As for Rick Altman, I've been using his Corel books for the last four versions. This is a reference book, and a beautifully complete one. Don't look here for complex projects with lengthly recipes. This is for the artist who needs to truly understand an effect or feature and get back to work. It's also readable. Students can work through chapters, or even the entire book, and they certainly won't get bored. I love following an Altman book from start to finish.

One man's opinions blown up to textbook proportions is what this book is centered on. Altman assumes an ignorant reader in his spotty descriptions of genre and its development and subsequently deluges the reader with bizarre references and highly conservative opinions presented as well-understood fact. Genre history is touched upon but never developed, and chapter divisions are somewhat random. What Altman chooses to develop is never fully realized and his reasoning is less than understood.

Too be as short as possilbe: Anybody who is even slightly interested in the field of genre theory should read this book.

This is a groundbreaking study, sure to change thinking about the notion of genre, within film studies and beyond. The book is also written with a wonderful sense of humor, even though this is a serious study. Don't pick this up if you just have a light interest in genre films, but if you want to think long and hard about the very category of genre itself. I'd say the book was worth owing for the massive bibliography alone.

This is a classic example of a writer letting the constructs of academic verbage get in the way of his message. Altman has some solid original ideas about the history and construction of American screen musicals, but he lets the language get in the way. He also gets too many little facts wrong -- for example, he refers several times to Shirley Jones having a little sister Amarylis in THE MUSIC MAN, but Amarylis was only her piano student and NOT a relative! Its hard to respect someone who is so sloppy about research.

This book may not be what the average fan of film musicals is after, but there are plenty of picture books and reference works on the musical for such readers. This is the most significant and wide-ranging study of the musical as a narrative and cinematic form anyone has yet attempted. No other serious work on the musical comes close, and despite another reviewer's complaint about academic writing, Altman's prose is in fact clear and witty -- which is not to say that he doesn't work through some sophisticated ideas: indeed, half of the book is a consideration of the notion of genre itself, with the musical the specific example for the book's deeper investigation. But for all the "serious" thought and research that went into this work, one always senses Altman's enthusiasm about the musical. Academic writing gets a bad rap: this is what academic writing is supposed to do -- explore, expand, and force the reader to grapple with, rather than just accept, ideas.

This book gives lots of information about using Corel 6 in real life, but sometimes details are skiped or missing. Many things can be found in help, or 'on the fly'. Tools and technics are described good. Book can be used by inexperianced persons with little knowledge about vector graphics and inermediate as well. Experianced can use it as handbook, but considering the size of it, sometimes it is not easy to find what are you looking for (especially if the book is not read from cover to cover).