This would make a useful text for classes centering on film/literature: six short stories by noir writers are juxtaposed with the shooting scripts for film adaptations commissioned by Showtime cable TV. The book holds particular value for James Ellroy fans: Ellroy supplies the introduction, and his short story, "Since I Don't Have You," is among the adaptations. Stills from the various episodes of the cable series, "Fallen Angels" are also incorporated in the book. Worth a look for fans of noir and especially for the self-dubbed Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction.

I have carried the older edition of this bird book for a number of years, and purchased this new one as the old one had become so dog eared as to be embarassing. Also we knew that many species ranges were changing, and wanted to be up to date on that information. The new edition has the same format (down to the exact page) as the previous, and same illustrations. The many advantages of this guide include:

1) It has every bird you are likely to see in North America 2) Everything about a species is on one page, including illustration, description, range map, and sonogram of song (for many species) 3) Nice comparison charts of similar and confusing species 4) Range maps include migration date lines 5) True pocket size -- you will carry this book with you in the field!

The new edition also has updated nomenclature for species that the bird expert powers-that-be keep changing on us. It also has updated range maps for those species whose ranges are changing. It is printed on a slicker stock than the previous (only time will tell if this is better). It also has a new "quick" index which is handy for locating birds by generic name (crows).

But there are some disappointments.

1) It is probably 95% a reprint of the previous edition, both with respect to descriptions and (particularly) illustrations 2) The little check boxes to mark off birds you have seen are missing from the new edition -- surely that was an oversight(?) 3) They did not correct the one thing that was a true weakness of the previous edition, that the range maps are small and rather difficult to interpret. How much easier it would be if the US state borders were overprinted on these little range maps (or for that matter Canadian provinces and Mexican states)???

But of course, it is still our favorite -- if you have only one bird book, and you want to carry it in your pocket, this is the one to buy.

The Golden Guide to Field Indentifcation of Birds of North America is a handy, not to mention effective, guide to the birds. Accidentals, rarities, stragglers, and casuals are all covered, along with the common birds. This guide includes full color illustrations of birds were and how they are most often spotted, whether gliding over the ocean or perching in dense underbrush, as well as winter, summer, eclipse, immature, chick, juvenile, adult, male, female, breeding, non-breeding, molting, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd winter plumages, if need be. Any bird spotted can quickly be indentified quickly and easily with this guide.

"Birds of North America" is a truly excellent guide. It may not be the most comprehensive, but it certainly is the most useful. It's probably the all-around greatest birding field guide out there. The illustrations are very well done, and the size of the book is easily manageable. This book is detailed enough to accomodate all but the most demanding and professional birders, but user-friendly enough to not overwhelm the amateur.

Christie's account is well-researched and insightful. However, his style is heavy-handed, and he has an accusatory attitude towards Florence Maybrick's lifestyle and personality.

Fifteen-year-old Jody Carpenter comes to town about 1950 to earn money to help his family. In a short time, he learns about shame, violence, and beauty in deep love, faces injustice and ignorance, and struggles with meanness and heroism. This is a Steinbeck-like tale about the drama of growing up in the rural backwaters of middle America when voices of reason and justice often struggled with ignorance. At the same time, Jody stumbles on possibilities for redemption and his own heroism in the fire that changes several lives at the climax of the story.

A very informative book, Napoleon: The Final Verdict, describes all aspects of Napoleon's military career. Although it lacked extensive details on individual battles, it gave basic knowledge necesary to understand the Napoleonic Wars. The book is divided into two sections. The First section gives the knowledge obtained on his life. The second section analyzes the information given in the first to help you determine Napoleon's true quality. I especially like the pages of quotes which the author has included in the back of the book.

I bought this book because my work is in information reporting and I thought it would provide an interesting perspective. It did succeed at that. Because I come from a technical background, I had a little trouble getting started with the book, until I released it was written from a sociology background. Once I got past that I enjoyed the book except for the ...

extremely poor editing. There were numerous grammatical and sentence structure errors, contradicting statements misspellings and general redundancy that really detracted from the information being presented.

This book was interesting, but the editing was so poor that I started to mistrust what I was reading. For instance the famous first telegraph message "What hath God wrought" was printed as "What God hath wrought." The book is full of typos.

This book is a collection of essays on the movement of information, and how it has transformed the United States from its colonial beginnings to today. At the very beginning, the founders of the country subsidized the transportation of newspapers through the postal system; this allowed the free flow of information between cities and states, across the entire continent. As technology increased, it inevitably speeded and expanded the amount of information flowing throughout the country--from the railroad, through the telegraph, telephone, radio, motion pictures, television, and on into computers.

This book is an exciting history of information media. Though written by no less than seven contributors, it pulls together into seamless whole, almost as if written by one author. The depth of information is breathtaking, and the conclusions reached are fascinating. Indeed, I think that they admirably proved their contention that there was continuity in the development of information media, and I myself repeatedly saw history repeat itself through their narrative, right up to today.

This is a fascinating book, and one that I recommend without reservation.

I ordered what I thought was the book, but received an audio CD instead. I can't take the CDs to class.

This is a superb book for use in a lively second-year Spanish college classroom. It is not meant for independent use; it's not a teach-yourself Spanish book. It's an instructor's dream as it is loaded with realistic activities that students can actually perform in class and that are interesting. The chapters are quite thought provoking and the grammar activities are well designed and paced throughout the text. I highly recommend this text.

It's a textbook, but it's a good one if you want to learn Spanish. A reviewer shouldn't give a book one star because he ended up with the audio version instead of the actual book.

Chandler is the worst type of professor-writer, spewing forth words without saying anything. This book does not provide any new information, and his so-called analysis is nothing more than a desperate searching for meaning among what he would call "texts." He thinks he's contributing something new to the "literary conversation," but all he's doing is putting his readers to sleep. And to make matters worse, he is an awful, clumsy writer.

The other reviewer here said it best: just a white guy saying the same things we've always heard. As a feminist and post colonial cultural critic, I can't help but think this is the sort of book we *don't* need.

If you are looking for a book on the Romantic period and the creation of modernity, full of trendy parrot squawks from the various "schools" of criticism diminishing the minds of tenure-hungry, vindictive graduate students, then do not even think of reading Chandler's masterpiece. This book, by a prodigal U. of Chicago professor, focuses the author's enormous intelligence and rare passion upon what seems to be his several lifetimes of scholarship and reading. It is, furthermore, beautifully written, something its confused detractors probably feel makes it only all the more valueless. If your mind is not entirely shut down by arrogance, you will treasure this book's lessons.