I love the Introducing series. They are excellent study guides for topics that may be unfamiliar. They are generally not to detailed but provide a good jumping off point for further research.

Introducing Postmodernism was a bit vague, but i guess so is postmodernism itself. To completely understand the book, you first must have an idea what postmodernism is, and if you have such an idea, you don't really need a postmodern study guide.

It gives alot of examples of postmodernity in society without actually stating what postmoderninsm is, but who CAN acctually state what postmodernism is?

It discusses everyone from Stephen Hawking to Madonna, everything from "Cyberia" and genetic cloning to Disneyland and karaoke.

It might give you some ideas if you have to write a paper, than again it just might frustrate you and cause you to spin off into cyberspace.

Now that we are beginning to hear the first whispers that we are entering a whole new world/era, understanding Postmodernism might be as important as ever. "Introducing Postmodernism" is part of the Totem series of graphic study guides that takes readers on a quick tour through structuralism, deconstruction and semiotics as advanced by such Postmodern icons as Foucault, Levi-Strauss and Barthes. The text by Richard Appignanesi, the founding editor of the series, is illustrated by Chris Garratt. There are three parts, looking at the genealogy of Postmodern Art, Theory and History. The first part is clearly the strongest as it shows how the crisis in representation caused by the invention of photography impacted upon the world of art. Within this context impressionism, cubism, abstract expressionism and pop art represent a logical progression. The second part on theory gets into structuralism and semiotics, but without a specific textual context the level of abstraction remains problematic, which can be remedied in class via the use of concrete examples. The third and final section on history also offers a nice section on "The Satanic Versus" and the fatwa ordered against author Salman Rushdie by the Ayatollah Khomeini, which certainly takes on an additional level of interest in the current times. "Introducing Postmodernism" does throw an awful lot of concepts at the reader and I think you have to take care in setting it up for students and being sure they do not lose the fundamentals of Postmodernism in all the clutter of artists and concepts. I also find it very interesting that other books offering the basics of Postmodernism look at an essentially different roster of people, with Derrida and Madonna the apparent common denominators. I am using this book in an "Introduction to Popular Culture" class and hopefully it is going to work to have the cherubs understand the era in which they live.

Perhaps one of the best introductions to the PoMo phenomenon. Funny how the most insightful sources are the most simple. The complexity of Derrida and Foucault seems to fade away as I moved from one section to the next. I really appreciated the writers attempt at not mocking the complex topic and trying to make is real. I was specially appreciative of the sections that introduced the PoMo phenomenon. Despite the lack of real direction Postmodern thinking provides, it is a really interesting phenomenon and worth exploring. If you take this as your starting point then move to "The Truth about the Truth: De-Confusing and Re-constructing the Postmodern World" by Walter Truett Anderson (also provided by Amazon.com) and then proceed to engage in the specific writers and artists themselves, this purposeful ambiguity will eventually fade away.

Miguel Llora

This book is not for the beginner, in fact you wonder whom it's aimed towards. His Holiness The Dalai Lama did a wonderful job with this book and many of the things are well thought and well explained, but it's hard to understand. The book does not have a beginner's touch at all. I wouldn't recommend this one unless you have had some basic Dzogchen education. Again, who is this book aimed towards? beginner? or expert?

Recently His Holiness the Dalai Lama published highly edited transcripts of four empowerments he gave into the traditional Nyingma teaching of Dzogchen or Great Perfection. Both Dzogchen and Mahamudra represent important indigenous developments of Tantric teachings in Tibet. Like all wisdom traditions, Buddhism rests upon the transmission of heart-essence realization and dharma from one generation to the next. Dzogchen, literally "great perfection," is the primary teaching of the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism, having been carried to Tibet in the eighth century by Padmasambhava, who is recognized as a "second Buddha." This actualization of what Dzogchen is is sent out through this collection of empowerments given from 1982-1989 by the 14th Dalai Lama. Sogyal Rinpoche (The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) requested these teachings, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama obliged with emphasis on the 5th Dalai Lama's visionary receipt of Dzogchen teaching, which is summarized simply by the verse: "Ema! Phenomena are, without exception, Perfect within the continuum of self-arising rigpa." Ema is an expression of wonder and astonishment. Whereas rigpa is a technical term for root single awareness that illuminates all; whereas ordinary awareness is that but as refracted into various experiences of subject and object, so that the unity becomes a secret, except for those who are aware of the nature of the root awareness then everything is the root awareness. To attempt to understand enough so that one can cut through the veils of separations that is usually the habit mind. Of course the development of habitual indwelling in non-divisive bliss might be more fun than reading hundreds of books. But as the verse say there is no difference at the root or in the stem and branch or such preferences seeming important. Empowerments are a principle way the Tibetans are bringing Buddha dharma to the west. An empowerment is the oral recitation of the teaching with impromptu commentary for the audience. It is done with a ritual format so that there can be prayers, chants and other meditation aids going on but the most important aspect of the empowerment is that the teacher and his assistants as well as the whole audience is speaking at the time from within the nondual realization of what is being taught. In other words the Dalai Lama and his retinue are all within a state of actualization of the reality to which the teaching refers. As the audience is also so attuned the psychic contagion can be intense and experiences can quickly and deeply cut through the fog of our surface consciousness. Now this volume is likely to be popular among students of Buddhism, but, except for the Appendix: Compassion, the Heart of Enlightenment; the texts would confuse the novice. Because of this I recommend several other texts that provide more systematic accounts of the Dzogchen traditions and how they fit in with the wider traditions of Buddhist practice. The Golden Letters: The Three Statements of Garab Dorje, the First Teacher of Dzogchen, Together With a Commentary by Garab Dorje, edited and translated with a commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds (Snow Lion Press) In many ways the best guide to Dzogchen teachings. Includes explanations that were previously thought too secret to publish. Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection by Mi-Pham-Rgya-Mtsho Nes Ses Rin Po Chei Sgron Me edited and translated with commentary by John W. Pettit (Wisdom Publications) offers the necessary links between Madhyamika and Dzogchen. And as a relatively easy introduction the The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, edited by John Shane (Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy: Snow Lion Press) provides a useful introduction.

Back in AD 1964, the sordid details of Joe Kennedy's life were kept secret. So what you have here is a very incomplete picture. But, if you want to understand his stock trading or his ambassadorship to Great Britain, then this book is for you. But compared to Kearns-Goodwin and Kessler, this is very lop-sided.

oddly, you may be surprised about the kennedy's of massachusetts when you finish Whalen's work. It is possible that many have been quick to judge the family in a negative manner. Whalen, however, certainly points out Joseph Kennedy's very wonderful points including love of his family and gracious help for mankind. His charity for a man who wandered into his office off of the streets of Boston having just lost his son-and Mr. Kennedy buying the man a suit and paying for the funeral of that son-is particularly touching. Also of great interest to anyone interested in making a buck is how Mr. Kennedy made so much money in so many different arenas-sold out and took his profit on to the next venture-a sixth sense he had for making big money! author whalen points out this was almost always the case except his keeping ownership of Chicago's Merchandise Mart in the Kennedy name up, I believe, until currently-1998. Buy this work and then be prepared to not put it down for 48! ! hrs.! Of added interest was a historical look at how Joseph Kennedy got into B grade motion picture producing in Hollywood in the early days.

This fifteenth novel in the series is not one of the author's better efforts, I'm afraid. The SURPRISE has just left Sidney Cove when a female stowaway is discovered in the cable tier. She turns out to be Clarissa, a transported convict under the protection of Midshipman Oakes (for which almost no explanation is given), to whom she is quickly married. ("Clarissa Oakes," in fact, was the English title of this volume, and I hve no idea why they changed it.) Most of the remainder of the book is taken up with the ship's progress across the South Seas and, although there is a land battle at the very end (and even that experienced at one remove), the bulk of the story is an exploration of Clarissa's character and how it was formed, as well as the extremely divisive effect of her somewhat warped personality on the ship's officers and company. As usual, O'Brian shows great skill in narrating a plethora of overlapping subplots, both supporting and complementary, most of them depending on the shifting relationships among the inhabitants of a closed universe -- a ship at sea for weeks and months at a time out of sight of land -- and for that reason the book is certainly worth reading. But if you're in search of a more usual naval adventure, this isn't quite it.

This is, in my estimation, the funniest of OBrian's Aubrey-Maturin series. The American title is itself one of O'Brian's punning jokes; even though it refers to a vessel encountered late in the volume, the over-riding subject here is the changeable nature of human desire, the effects on aging to a dashing captain's self esteem, what "women really want," and the cures for long-voyage constipation. The plot is just a good excuse to get around to the dialogue. The arts of conversation are most prized about the long voyages, and these are some of the best of the entire series. While by itself, this quote won't mean much, but in context, it's the biggest laugh of the entire series; Stephen answers Jack's vociferous, self-pitying, multi-paged diatribe against the bad luck brought to sea-going vessels by the on-board presense of women with, "I think, my dear, your animosity toward women is largely theoretical." Jack's retort is excruciatingly tortured and sidesplittingly true. A true gem.

This book is worthwhile simply because it is the only one out on the subject. But there are few revelations, it merely conslidates information that has appeared in articles and interviews over the years. The interviews are rewarding, but should have been edited for coherence and attribution. The writing is trite, hackneyed, and the author too frequently inserts himself and his very biased opinions into the story. And a number of factual blunders calls all the apparent research into question. Disappointing, sometimes apalling, but the only game in town.

There isn't much information out there about Richard Thompson. As such, this book fills in a lot of empty spaces for me; however, compared to similar books about other musicians it is pretty tame. The best aspect of this book is that it had the cooperation of the subject as well as many of RT's friends and fellow musicians which many similar books do not. Overall, it is a nice book about a very under-rated musician.

If you're reading this it's probably because you are a Richard Thompson fan. And if you are a real fan, you should get this because: 1) There are no other Richard Thompson biographies (books) 2) It has good reference material in the appendices (although inevitably it's out of date) 3) No one's going to get rich off of writing a Richard Thompson bio, and we should support whoever makes the effort, espcially when it's not THAT expensive 4) You will find out something(s) you didn't know [Afghanistan & "Shoot Out the Lights"; scrabble; "Walking on the Wire" was before the breakup] 5) This book looks like it might be going out of print. Get it while you can. HOWEVER: A good biography makes the person come alive; it succeeds as a story on its own. This doesn't make it on that level. (Yeah, it does have an index [required] but the index didn't have Pentangle, mentioned several times in the text...) SO there's my Caveat Emptor. The passersby could bypass this with no worry; but if you're a fan....

The whole "introducing" series is relatively good. When you get a book from this series, you are at least 70% sure to get your money's worth. Not so with this book. The author apparently has a slight bias towards liberalism, and has trouble hiding it and appearing to be objective. The book is pretty dated to. Oh yeah, Bill Clinton never went on trial. Want to learn american politics? Try the Declaration of Independence, then the Constitution, then anything by John Locke. After that, read Al Gore's Earth in the Balance, and Rush Limbaugh's See I told you so. that will be a good reading list. Don't waste your money on this book.

This brief overview of the American Political system is only a few years old, but already it is quite out dated. While the author seems to take a neo-liberalist approach, he doesn't really touch on globilization and its drastic effects on our democracy or the loss of freedoms it is causing on a global scale. This will be one of the most pressing issues facing the next few generations, and should be talked about in detail in the next edition. But as far as explaining the two party system, civil rights, the electoral college, etc., Mr. Borgan did a fine job. This book was very handy during the whole election debacle.

Highly recommanded for an insight of how American politics funtions. Although this small book only skims the surface, it covers a broad range of major issues - slavery, civil rights, prohibition, all notable Presidents - and gives you an understanding how politics works, in the United States. Including the Constitution, and Bill of Rights, this book will date itself however, by discussing the two main parties most likely candidates for Nov 2000.

The book appears to be a collection of paragrahps from a myriad sources on the same subject. A very non-scholarly book.

As someone new to the field of High Temperature Electronics, this book was of inestimable help to me in coming up to speed rapidly. Using the valuable information provided in this easy to read resource, I was able to complete a system design in rapid time and under budget. I would highly recommend this book to others in this field.

This book has wonderful information and beatiful images but no where in the book does it say what each plate is depicting! Very annoying.

A fantastic introduction and discussion in the introduction by Elizabeth Meyer of UVA. No color photos, but good drawings. Excellent writing in architctural theory

I was disappointed in this book especially since the title contained the word "Refresher". Instead of the book focusing on IFR flying and new techniques, the book turned out to be a collection of short stories and dialog about IFR flying as told by the author.

For a better "refresher" on IFR flying, I would recommend "Instrument Flying" (4th edition) by Richard L. Taylor, which is better orgainized, and does give tips on the art of instrument flying.

I bought this book to use as an IFR refresher without really looking into the content. When I actually got around to reading the book, I was at first disappointed because I had expected a technical review of the hands on techniques for IFR flight.

After reading the first chapter I got the point. Apart from the pretty good read and interesting actual examples, I realized that one of the most important aspects to IFR flight is good pilot judgement.

Poor judgement is what kills most pilots (and passengers) and IFR flight is a most risky activity. Not that technical skill is not important, it is. But pilot judgement skills are often neglected and under appreciated.

The book is well written and the accounts of both personal flights (from two different perspectives) and industry accidents are very instructive and interesting.

Highly recommended for those wanting to go beyond the basic skills. This book is not for new IFR students. I am recommending this book to my experienced students.