One of the problems of so many texts aimed at E.S.L. students is that they use only material from the country of publication. This book draws on so many diverse sources for its passages, including some from the countries of origin of many of those students. What could be better? Although many of the passages are just parts of the overall work (e.g., not all of a Shakespearean play), they are wonderful selections showing a great diversity of literature. Bravo to McRae and Vethamani for coming up with such a brilliant idea (in the British sense of brilliant) and producing this most interesting book.

A must read for students of ELT. Provides great hints and techniques for teaching of literature. A major difference from other books and definately a plus point is the extensive use of Asian literature in the book.

If you've been reading the news lately, you surely have noticed the string of corporate scandals. What you may not have heard is that much of what the CEO's did -although certainly not all- was actually legal! That's the shameful part of the story.
Ms. Huffington uncovers the corporate/political collusion to rig the game at the direct expense of the public at large and shows the extent to which the problems reach.
It's a fascinating read! My only criticism is that she doesn't put any blame on the public for lazily sitting on the sidelines therby allowing this all to occur.... to our own detriment.

If you've never thought about corruption in corporations and the government, then read this book cover to cover. If you've already heard some cautionary tales, then this book may be a bit long winded for you. I was cheering right along with Arianna Huffington for about three quarters of the book, but then fell out of interest as it just kept *going*. I guess that's partially the fault of the subject matter -- there's just so much ground to cover.

In any case, this is a great book for anyone who is a bit naive about the corporate shenanigans of late. It's also a good read for those who believe that capitalism or the trickle down effect will improve life overall. It's true that these things would work in principle...it's the practice that merits attention. Also good for anyone who needs to get really worked up about lobbyists, congressmen, and corrupt corporations.

Look, I don't know what's up with the personal attack in the previous reviewer's review.. I had never heard of her before, but I guess some people don't like her out of the box. I can only talk about the book. This book will make your blood boil. It lays out fact after fact about HOW corporate America is destroying our Constitution and WHO is doing it: the nuts and bolts. She names names and peppers the book with side bars that make it very, very readable. This is maybe one of the three best books I've read about how America REALLY works. Normally I would just dismiss as propaganda the idea that Big Pharma conspired to let AIDS sweep through Africa.. I am just not that cynical, but she lays it out as a matter of public record how they did just that. Did you know that the average (useless) CEO makes 500 TIMES - not percent but TIMES - what the average worker at the same company makes and IF you're one of the CEOs that drove their company into the ground ala Enron it's many many times that 500 times. She makes a compelling case when she says that corporate America is determined to turn our country into a nation of haves and have nots. Have healthcare? Have a job? Have enough food in your 'fridge or maybe you're one of the 25% of all working people who LINE UP FOR FOOD AT FOOD BANKS.. it's happening people. I didn't know how bad it had gotten, but this book really radicalized me.

Almost all of the material in this book is a slightly more verbose explanation of what can be found in the docs. If used as a reference this is fine, but for someone who is trying to learn Java 3D it would probably be more useful to get a book that goes through examples and explains more clearly from the ground up. While it was not written badly, this book does not explain the concepts as clearly as they could have been. All of the examples I looked at come with the Java 3D distribution. Personally I would just download all the documentation and the Java 3D tutorial and not spend the $50.

This book has a good summary of the beta version of the Java3D API. Unfortunately, the book hasn't been updated since then, and the API has significantly changed. This is a reference book, and it contains very sparse overall descriptive information.

As a reference book, it's very frustrating and difficult to use, because so much of the API has changed.

As an overview book, it contains some good information, but not much.

I'm not really happy with this book on either count.

I found this to be a very thorough technical reference on the Java 3D environment. Though it's available online through Sun's Java website, the printed version is conducive to bookmarks and highlighting. Keep in mind, though, that this is a technical reference. Sun's website has an excellent tutorial that explains the basic Java 3D constructs and walks you through several program examples.

The API introduction describes basic SceneGraph construction, Java 3D's three rendering modes, and has a so-called 'recipe' for writing a Java 3D program. Although the discussion of rendering modes was insightful, I thought the SceneGraph and 'recipe' material was much too brief. The online tutorial does a better job of describing SceneGraph construction, and uses the utility class SimpleUniverse as an alternative to constructing the View BranchGraph by hand.

The chapters following the Introduction delve more deeply into the various Scene Graph objects and their construction.

The book excels, however, at describing the finer points of Java 3D. Immediate-Mode Rendering, described in Chapter 13, gives the programmer the flexibility of drawing directly to the canvas and eliminates the need to construct the content portion of the scene graph. I'm surprised the book doesn't mention the SimpleUniverse class, because it's basically shown in the minimal scene graphs in Figures 8-2 and 13-1.

Appendix C, which describes Java 3D's view model, will be particularly useful to those of you porting OpenGL programs to Java 3D. The appendix is a thorough treatise of the how's and why's of Java 3D's view model, including the little-known Compatibility Mode which supports traditional Camera-based views.

Though the book is terse in parts and sometimes requires a bit of digging to find the more esoteric aspects of Java 3D, it is nevertheless an indispensable reference to have on hand.