I agree with the guy from LA in that this book sells a pipe dream. The music business is not as simple as sending a few demos out. The information is as current as an annual book can be, but don't think it's something that will further your career on its own. You must have other knowledge to go with it. You can get books on the music business here or go to Yahoo and search for "independent music business." Either way, get the knowledge you need before taking advantage of the contacts in the Musicians Atlas.

The Musicians Atlas is definately a must have for any musician, producer, engineer, project manager etc... I keep mine handy at all times. You never know when you will need it.

I've been trying to get information like the information in this book for years. I'd heard that "self-help" books like these existed for people who work at record labels, but I've never been able to find them. Owning this book has been a tremendous help in booking my own tours (which I did for the entire summer/fall seasons), and for making contact with radio station program directors who've listened to and actually played my music. This is a must-have for anyone working as an indie player who feels locked-out by an indifferent industry!

I feel that this book is quite simple and colourful, mostly are graphics with some paragraphs next to it. This book has a lot of interesting graphics, which I do not mind since it is an ATLAS. I will recommend this book for those people who is looking for some enjoyable reading. Since it has a very colourful pictures in every pages and the content is not too technical, I finished reading this book in half a day.

In "The Atlas of Cyberspace", I was anticipating a book patterned on Tufte's "Visual Display of Quantitative Information". Indeed, much of the graphical content of Dodge and Kitchin's book is beautiful, thought-provoking and informative. Unfortunately, the printing is unforgivably bad; the images deserve high quality renderings. Several of the most intriguing hand-drawn and computer-generated images are simply illegible; all of them have lost their textural presence and contrast.

The text, on the other hand, ranges from workmanlike commentary on the graphics to watered down post modern cultural analysis. Light editing could remove at least half of the illustrations, providing a tighter focus on the remainder. In many cases, multiple instances of the same type of diagram are presented. Although this may be a start toward serious design analyses, it's distracting in a coffee table book such as this one.

The organization is by content rather than by visualization type. The first quarter of the book traces the history of the development of the web, and attempts to map traffic patterns and growth. The next section concentrates on the informational organization of the web, as opposed to the physical or topological. The third quarter maps "community", including more literal instances such as MUDs, as well as purely virtual ones such as discussion groups. The weakest section of the book is the last, which traces "cyberpunk", represented here with quotes from Gibson and Stephenson. This final section includes gratuituous screen shots from "The Matrix" and even more gratuitous "analysis".

Despite this book's many shortcomings, there's no alternative, and the fraction of the images that are truly inspiring make "Atlas of Cyberspace" not only worthwhile, but almost necessary.

This was all I expected and more. Over 100 ways of presenting data about the Internet, including fantastic advances in data collection AND analysis AND presentation. Beauty arises from every page. You may need to have a love for mathematics, statistics, the Internet, or just art to "get" this book - but I have a soft spot for all four of those, and fell head over heels.

This volume is handsome and visually appealing, but its contents are a disappointment. The appellation "atlas" is entirely inappropriate for a work that contains only a handful of maps scattered across hundreds of pages and pays almost zero attention to regional variations. The work also spoke little about "culture," choosing to zero in on specific historical anecdotes, generalizations about historic ties with China, and the most cursory information on the life of the modern Japanese. I was very, very disappointed. It's a nice book, but it's not at all what I expected.

I'm a Japanese and I had some troubles when I explain about Japanese things in English at my web. I got several dictionaries and encyclopedias on Japanese culture in English, but they won't do when I want to explain in depth.

This Cultural Atlas has detailed descriptions and full of beautiful photos and graphics. Interesting to read and joy to eyes.

If you are interested in Japanese culture or history, this book will be a good companion.

I have always looked forward to the coming of a 3D stereoscopic atlas. The 3D effect in this atlas does not come out too well. If you are expecting a pop out kind of hologramic effects, you will be disappointed. The stereoscopic illustrations are on the right hand side page. They do not have labels to show you what you are looking at. You have to refer to the opposite left hand page. With the stereoscopic glasses on, that can be a pain. I could be the only one but those glasses make my eyes really uncomfortable after awhile. The CD-ROM is interesting. You can rotate 3D images. Again, no labels. Unless you are a neuro-anatomist or neurosurgeon, you will not be able to appreciate the full details of the images.You will be able to name less than half of the structures in the images. Message to students is to stay away from this atlas. I swear by good old Atlas of the Human Anatomy by the late Frank H.Netter anytime of the day. The text by Neary and Crossman provides a pretty good basic coverage, in terms of illustrations and text, of neuroanatomy too.

At last something not being a model or real brain gives you the chance to understand and appreciate neuroanatomy, especially the profound structures.
For the first time it is actually possible to get an idea of the fornix and ventricular system from a book.

This atlas gives a two-page spread of the world for each month of the war, with text descriptions and small maps detailing the major events that month (e.g., Operation Crusader, Stalingrad). I find the text to be usually quite detailed and succinct for the small space it inhabits. Full-page text blocks detail the big operations, such as D-Day, Barbarossa, the Japanese expansion into the Pacific, etc. This format works very well for seeing the global scale of the conflict, and makes a very good general reference. Worthy of note are the front- and endpapers that show the pre- and postwar situations.

The concept is great, but the list of clubs could easily be double the size. I was hoping to use the book to help me plan some regional touring around different parts of the US, but it hasn't helped much in some cities. (Even venues where I've played before aren't listed in the book.) The other very disappointing element of the publication is the number of advertisements. It's essentially a glorified magazine...

I've spent a lot of time and a lot of money on my musical career. I've spent money on equipment, rehearsal studio time, recording studio time and other music biz books, bibles and blah, blah, blah. The best investment I ever made was...on this publication. This is really the best resource I have found when it comes to working your musical career. Trust me, I've tried a few of them. It's got so much "useful" (the operative word here) information, I'm impressed every time I refer to it. I use it & use it & use it. I rarely sing the praises of music business companies, but THANK GOD for the people that do all this research & put out The Musician's Atlas!! If you want to find opportunities to work your musical career effectively and efficiently, this is the thing to get. The way I see it, you can get an Atlas and DO something with your music OR spend your 25 bucks on a sausage and onion pizza, a six pack of Coors and listen to your music in your living room wondering when that BIG BREAK will drop in your lap. Get realistic. GET THE MUSICIAN'S ATLAS and GET TO WORK!!! Sincerely, Jerry Tanner, musician, song writer, engineer, producer, Grammy nominee.

This book is an indispensible tool for anyone who is serious about making, promoting and performing music. This is the second edition I've owned and have used this and previous issues to book gigs all across the country. The information in this book is much more detailed than directories that cost more than twice the price. I've given this book to friends who've tried more than once to borrow and not return my copy. This book has paid for itself over and over again!

I enjoy the way that Gilbert chronicles Jewish history through maps. I found at least one error in his maps, however -- and one of the more recent maps at that -- which makes me question the accuracy of the entire work. The 1947 Partition Plan Map of Palestine, partitioning Palestine into 2 separate countries -- a Jewish state (Israel) and an Arab state (Palestine) -- is blatantly incorrect. While Beersheva is part of present-day Israel, it is improperly reported to be part of the Jewish partition in this book. In fact, all of the area surrounding Beersheva was part of the Arab partition in the UN Resolution. Similarly, the Arabs were also given a larger chunk in Gaza than what is depicted here. Martin seems to take the outcome of the Arab war -- what Jordan and Egypt were able to wrest and occupy (and incidentally, not give to the Palestinians) -- essentially though not exactly the Green Line map of 1949 -- and represent that land as what was suggested in the UN Partition Plan. In my view, this is a serious shortcoming, especially in light of the events surrounding the present peace process and the history leading up to it.

The author of this book chronicles and displays the Jewish history beautifully in this atlas.