I read this book when I was in my last year of high school and it helped me to keep a healthy perspective vis a vis education. I ended up being a healthy sceptic of all "authoritative knowledge" "taught" me by my teachers. It also encouraged me to "learn" on my own even after I was done with formal schooling. Must read for people who feel unduly constrained by the educational system.

Pornography - Erotic Art is only few of his works! but takes big place in every reader mind!! (and please don't tell me u buy Playboy for the articles...) Jeff Koons decided to expose himself and his intimic life. He is no longer takes his wife and show HER nudity! but expose himself as well! he makes us think about the thin line between Pornography and Art! and he defenatly do it in a wondergul gentle way! Have fun and don't feel guilty forenjoying the regular Art inside the book!

The Mentalism Companion gives a very good listing of extra spells, professions, and training packages for the Rolemaster system. The professions and training packages are pretty cool, such as an Enchanter profession and the Dreamweaver Training Package. There are also some interesting new abilities, adrenal quick draw is a favorite of mine, it allows you to ready your weapon instantly. Overall this is a nice companion to have if you are into mentalism.

I have not yet read the book, but have the chutzpah to be writing a review of it. Why? Because this is the first full biography of the subject, who may be the most important of the uncelebrated Founders. Or maybe the least celebrated of the important Founders? I hope that the biography is up to the subject. I give it four stars unread, because Findley deserves it.

In the first significant published debate of the new Republic, Findley both invented modern interest-group pluralism (an apercu of Gordon Wood), and provided a far better justification of the Jeffersonian ideal than Jefferson himself ever did. (This was the 1786 debate over the rechartering of the Bank of North America: brilliant polemical fireworks from both Findley and Robert Morris. Tom Paine participated from the sidelines, on the side of Morris and capital.) Findley was, as far as I know, the only realist about the new commercial Republic from we would today call the "left." (Jefferson certainly was not; neither was John Taylor of Caroline. Madison perhaps, although he did not seem troubled by the matter.)

And if that's not enough, Findley invented the committee system of Congress. A mighty politician and political thinker.

Being an education major I was assigned this book for a class project. It is an interesting day by day journal of author John Holt's experience as a teacher in a Colorado private school. Holt's insights are honest and convey what some of the major problems are with todays students. The book's strength comes from the way Holt sees through the eyes of children who desperately want to please the adults who teach them but, out of fear hold back their talents for learning. Although the book is sixteen years old it remains a strong indictment of our modern educational system. I strongly recommend this read for anyone entering the field of education.

This book with its simple format and language has opened my eyes to possibilities and perspectives that I simply never thought of. As an educator, I think everyone in the world of education should read. From policy-makers to administrators to teachers to school psychologists, and very specially, parents, we all owe it to our children and to ourselves to become informed and critical about the efficiency (or the lack thereof) of our educational system. Especially at times, such as now, when our children seem to be failing more than ever. Holt's observations, although limited to private schools, provide one with a solid view of what is happening in the world of teaching accross the board. Holt makes and answers questions that are not only relevant to his subject but vital to the development of better teaching. Holt's idea that we don't know enough about student-teacher relationships could not be more accurate. I know this because I am an educator. I agree with Holt when he says that it is time that we look beyond ourselves and our own interest and begin looking at students with respect. As an insider, I couldn't help blushing while reading the reasons that Holt gives for children's failure in school. I was only able to nod my head positively when he said that teachers aren't listening to their students because they are only listening to what they want to hear. Another reason children fail, according to Holt, is that they are not being intellectually challenged enough at school. The conclusion made by Holt makes plenty of sense. Teachers definitely need to make every effort to free their teaching from ambiguity, confusion and self-contradiction. Besides teachers, the pointing finger also points to standardized exams. Standardized exams, I agree with the author, do not make our children more knowledgeable. Holt's final verdict is clear and pungent: Students are failing because adults-teachers, administrators, parents, policy-makers, etc.-are not doing their jobs. Although not a pleasant thing to hear (especially for those of us who have chosen to dedicate our lives to the education of our young), I am personally grateful to Mr. Holt for taking a bold stand to face us with our demons.

This book should be required reading for all education students. It won't show you how to be a good teacher, but it will show you how to be a bad one. John Holt's careful and honest examination of the utter dysfunction that typifies classrooms to this very day, had it been digested by the education Establishment, might have helped save countless lives. It is often treated as axiomatic that what teachers do to students, whether it is facilitating, teaching, socializing, or conditioning, is ultimately for the students' benefit. Alas, many of our children learn the hard way that this is not the case; most often, teachers do far more harm than good. It is a tragedy of immense proportion that these people cloak their monstrous misdeeds behind a public perception of teaching as a noble, selfless, underpaid profession. Most teachers are despicable villians trapped in their own closed minds, petty fascists who relish their authority over helpless children and who secretly (or not-so-secretly) regard learning with fear and contempt. Holt's notes on his own experience as a teacher will remind those of you who forgot, or, possibly, enlighten those of you who were duped. This atrocity must be stopped. But please, don't hurt the teachers. They're victims too.

This guy is a psycho-boomer looney. His book serves best as kindling.

The New York Times called this book "astonishly cogent," and I agree. This is one of the most insightful and thought-provoking books I've ever read. Sadly, 30 years later almost nothing has changed. While the ACLU fights for the voting rights of convicted felons, a 17-year-old "child," no matter how sensible or informed, cannot cast a ballot in the United States. Millions of children are shipped off to school every day, where they are mostly taught to do as they're told (no matter how arbitrary or pointless) and above all, conform--lessons which will serve them all too well for decades to come. The transparency of Holt's writing should also be an example to authors everywhere. It is a tragedy that this book is out of print, and Holt no longer with us. The world desperately needs more like him.

This is my favorite book of the many Holt has written. It does not cover any aspects of learning/educational issues as do his other books. Instead it addresses the matter of looking at children as whole individuals who should be treated respectably, as any adult would want to be.

Our culture too readily encourages parents, and adults in general, to use their voice in a excessively authorative manner which only serves to bully and demean children. No one would want to be spoken to or treated in such a condensending manner. This book will open your eyes to the damage we are doing to our beloved kids when we accept the cultural standard way of parenting. Highly recommended!

Enter into the world of TyTy, patriarch of the Walden family, who is obsessed in finding gold. His obsession is so great until he digs holes throughout his farm and foregoes the necessity of doing his planting. TyTy isn't the only one with an obsession. His son-in-law Will is determined to re-open the closed mill in his South Carolina town. Will thinks TyTy is a fool and TyTy believes the same about Will. Once again, Erskine Caldwell, takes us behind the scenes of southern poverty in the depression through his use of outlandish characters with impossible dreams. TyTy is a man of the land who is unable to sow a crop while Will is a son of the industrial mills. The mill exploits its workers and the soil refuses to yield a crop. Both men and their families become victims in a system neither one can understand. Yet these men refuse to give up their dreams.

Witness the foolishness of TyTy as he captures a white, white man to divine a gold lode. The sensuousness of Ty's daughter, Darling Jill, gets to be rediculous as well as his passion for Griselda, his daughter-in-law. Throughout the book you will be confronted with adultry, rape and ignorance. The female characters are clueless and use their sexuality to get what they want. Except for Rosamond (Ty's daughter) neither of the females exhibit any type of strong character and even Rosamond falls short.

The positiveness of this book is that it shows the sociological and economic impact of the depression on the lives of poor people. You witness their exagerated behavior and begin to shake your head. The weakness of the work is its repetition, pointless scenes and weak plot. After awhile the story gets to become a bore as you're wondering where is it heading. It is a fair read and I would say by all means read this work and move beyond its stereotypes of exagerated southern culture.

I bought Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre because one of the gang, that I respected, said that this was one of his favorite books. And since I like expanding my horizons, especially on the literary front, I bought God's Little Acre. I was surprised. I expected to find Jed Clampett and his family instead I found a man who lived by his own sense of morality, social status, all told in a prose that at times switches from brutally honest to poetry of the highest order. Sure the frank sexuality is present. What isn't usually stated, when people are discussing God's Little Acre, is the basic principal of Ty Ty Walden behind it. With all foundations of social behavior, God's Little Acre, is an example that there are deadly consequences because not everyone that is subject to, or born and raised in that social theory will act accordingly to the theorist imaginings. The novel is about men living up to their own definition of manhood. It is about the clash of social mandates and personal morals. It is the telling of truths that dares to put a reason behind societal misdeeds. Caldwell wrote a splendid back.

If Andy Griffith and Hugh Heffner were to co-author a Shakespearian tragedy it would be a lot like "God's Little Acre." When there ain't no money in planting cotton and the mill's shut up there ain't but one thing for men and women to do to keep their minds off of their troubles: SEX!

TyTy Walden is as obsessed with finding gold on his land as Captain Ahab was about finding the great white whale. Greselda Walden has to be one of the most desired and fought over women in all of American literature. And what red blooded American male would not have wanted a date with Darling Jill. This book alternates from being light-hearted and silly to being very serious and profound. There is great pathos in the description of the desperation of Will Thompson and the other starving mill workers to re-open the mill and go back to work. The death of Will Thompson is a great reminder of the struggle of working people to be treated fairly in this country. This book accurately recounts the hopes and fears of the thousands of working class people who were forced to live in "company towns" and who "owed their soul to the company store."

Although I found some of the more explicit sexual content of this novel to be silly and somewhat overdone (I don't think that most people in rural Georgia in the 1930's were this open about their sexualty!), this is a great American novel and Erskine Caldwell should be remembered as one of the great American writers of this century.

I have been designing Web sites for years, and was a Network Engineer for years before that. This book is well written and talks about great examples, but it doesn't work. I know Flash. I know a bit about Flash Action Scripting, but I have not been able to get one single script to work correctly. You shouldn't have to read a second book just to get the one you bought to work right. Like someone else said, even the finished examples don't work right, so you can't look at that code to see what's wrong.
I expect much more than that from any book, and I would return this book if I still could. I spent too much time thinking I was doing something wrong to be able to return it now, though.
In summary, buy another book. You will probably be happier.

like so many books of this ilk, Flash MX Magic prommises to show you how to create dazzling Flash effects.

It does, but a lot of them are style over substance - if you're looking for inspiration then maybe this book is what you need, but don't expect it to teach you useful techniques.

If you've mastered the basics of Flash MX and are looking for more, then Flash MX Magic really delivers. Rather than providing tiny chunks of Flash functionality, the book gives you 15 full Flash projects to demonstrate the features of Flash MX. Yep...actual projects you can tinker with, break apart, break entirely, fix again, and eventually create something brand new!

The book comes with a CD containing all the FLAs and files you need for each chapter project and the chapters themselves are very easy to read with plenty of illustrations. It's always great to see how other Flash developers handle code, and the authors of this book are really among the best in the business.

You'll certainly want a good foundation in Flash ActionScript before diving into this book, but it's definitely one to put on your list. Also, the illustrations make it much more accessible for users who tend to shy away from books that only have lines and lines of code. And let's face it, you can never have too many books on Flash or samples of ActionScript code!