This is the first book I have ever seen that chronicles the popular TV sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie". The book is fairly well written, has interesting pictures, and some surprising revelations about the actors and crew. The Bill Daily interviews are especially interesting. However, if you're a big fan of "Jeannie", you may be put off somewhat by the authors smug attitude towards the show. They make it quite clear they are not fans of "I Dream of Jeannie". Two other gripes: the Jeannie episode guide doesn't include the first season. I don't know if that was just a glitch with my copy, or if they are all like that. Also, why the extended "Bewitched" section in the back of the book?

Although I'm too young to remember watching "I Dream of Jeannie" during its first run on network tv, I grew up laughing aloud to years of reruns, and this book, full of great photos (where else can you see Jeannie and Dr. Bellows hanging at a Hollywood part with Ringo Starr! ), especially the beautiful color shots which jump off the page, told me everything--and even more than that!--I needed to know about the series and its stars, from Hagman's wierd quirks to Eden's "jeannie-al" personality to Bill Daly's dedication to his craft.

The author does a great job in his research, and interesting tidbits (related and unrelated) are plentiful and keep your interest as the pages turn (by themselves, if this were the tv show). The episode guide is a detailed reference source, and if you're a "Bewitched" fan as well, there's lots of info on that series (just don't be gullible enough to take those three "lost" episodes as gospel truth--I certainly didn't!)--pick up a copy and you'll see what I mean.

After I read this behind-the-scenes look at "Jeannie," it had me hunting for some of those episodes in syndication, just to laugh again watching poor ol' Dr. Bellows trying to figure out the whole damn thing!

As a HUGE Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie fan I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book.FANTASTIC!SO much detail and behind-the-scenes info you won't find anywhere else.Get this book! also pick up Bewitched Forever.

This is a basic introduction to essential concepts, practices, and historical perspective of the Gurdjieff Work. This book was unique at the time (1973) as the point of view of an objective reviewer who was not a "student of the Work."

It clearly lacks the important emotional impact of Gurdjieff's own writings or Ouspensky's "In Search of the Miraculous." Whether it is preferable to have a rational presentation of the concepts before delving into those much more challenging and provacative books is debateable. Personally I would say that, for those who may have a true calling to this teaching, it is better to skip all the "Gurdjieff for Dummies" starter books and go straight to "In Search of the Miraculous." But for those who choose not to do that, this book is a decent candidate for a primer.

This is a great little story about the importance of keeping a secret, (like what your cousins got their mom for her birthday)and about being away from home for a visit with relatives. My 5 year old daughter loves this book and is still a favorite after her 6th birthday!

Doggone it! Call this one a howling (and oinking, meowing and neighing) success. Here, in one compact book, is the history of the lives and career of TV's greatest stars --- the furry (and usually) four-footed kind. The big stars are here --- Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion, Trigger, Mr. Ed and Arnold Ziffel--- as well as those you might have forgotten about --- Barkley, Spike the Seeing-Eye Dog, Sam the Chimp and
Spooks. The journey takes place in alphabetical order, with concise histories of the shows, lots of nifty photos (including Jackie O visiting Elsa the lioness on the set of the ill-fated
TV series "Born Free") and great insights into the lives of the non-human small-screen stars. (Who knew the seeing-eye dogs who guided criminal insurance investigator Mike Longstreet were played by three German Shepherds --- Blanco, Snow and Blizzard?) It's a jungle out there. Get ready to grin and bear it. That's "bear" as in "Gentle Ben."

The installation procedure is in some points wrong. so a beginner has no chance to run the samples. The theory part of this book is not bad but in some chapters more or less stuff for kids! A frank advice, try to find another book.

Oracle Portal allows you to "Webify" a database, as well as to create a general-purpose portal for your users. The ideas and techniques from this book helped me get a database of mine onto the Web quickly and efficiently. Everything you'll need is there, from the initial installation of the product, to on-going administration of your portal(s). In between is a thorough treatment of what should be done to facilitate browser-based access to your data.

The book doesn't just dump syntax on you. It explains what portals are, and how to plan for one before building it. Key features of the Oracle product are explained clearly, first at a high level, so that you will later understand what you're doing when it gets to "click here, and type there." And, when it does get down to the lowest-level details, the book reflects the care that the authors must have taken to ensure accuracy.

All-in-all, a thorough treatment that should be indispensable to new Portal developers, while still offering value to all but the most advanced and experienced ones.

Outstanding in its clarity. Especially useful in first giving an overview/purpose for exercises, and, then, going thru an exercise step by step. Remarkably error and typo-free compared to many other technical, more expensive computer textbooks I've used in a classroom.

I bought this book with great expecations--partly on the strength of Victor Brombert's NYT review and partly because I was midway through the wonderful Periodic Table when the biography came out. My hopes were disappointed--big time. The problem is, the writer has collected a lot of details, only to be confronted with the necessity of doing something with the details. She was not up to the task. In many cases, information is put forth without any attempt to integrate it into Levi's life story. The reader asks, What does this have to do with Levi? How did it have an impact? How should we interpret the information--should we interpret it at all? Alas, one senses that the author dug up some fact or other and said, well, now I'm going to cram it into my book. You figure it out, reader. Another problem with the author's treatment of detail is her very annoying repetition of facts. Sometimes the language is close to verbatim in different places throughout the book. Levi's books are constantly being published and then, a few pages later, published again (and I'm not talking about different translations). A third problem is that much of the information seems to have been gleaned from Levi's published books. And yet there are no new interpretive glosses that add anything to what Levi himself wrote. Finally, as the Amazon review notes, Levi the man does not emerge from the pages. If you want to know about Levi, stick with Survival in Auschwitz, the Periodic Table, and his other works. Wait for a better biography than this one.

As many reviewers have noted, this English translation whittles down the original French two-volume work, so perhaps an English-language reader's perspective is likewise narrowed; perhaps the publisher and translator of the English version are also responsible for the admittedly scattershot coverage given by Anissimov to Primo Levi's inner complexity. Again, Levi was certainly not the most forthcoming of men, even as he was a writer most famous for his autobiographical accounts. His wife and children receive little more than fleeting mention in the hundreds of closely-printed pages, and inevitably her treatment serves sometimes more as a commentary on the works of Levi himself than a fresh work. How difficult it must be, after all, to write the biography of an autobiographer! Yet, having pointed out some faults, this biography is worthwhile for its picture of the Piedmontese Jewish community into which Levi was born and returned to; its explanations of how Fascist Italy differed from Nazi Germany in its anti-Semitic actions; and most of all how the inner workings of the lager--Auschwitz-Birkenau--played out in Levi's classic accounts as well as the larger context of the privations endured by many of his fellow inmates. Here, the two lengthy chapters on the camp are astoundingly detailed and intimately rendered, and would make an ideal follow-up to readers who have read Levi's own descriptions, for Anissimov is alert to what Levi says and what he leaves out. Apparently the child of refugees herself, the sensitivity and acumen with which Anissimov describes how and why Levi gave the famous accounts for which he is justly famed makes her biography--especially in these two long chapters which themselves comprise almost a monograph--necessary for those who have first read Levi's own works. Her book will not tell you much new about the content of these works, but you will understand better why they were written when in his career, and why such a reticent man remained so in his own life while his books spoke for--only some part--of the pain and hope he carried within and guarded carefully.

Primo Levi: Tragedy Of An Optimist is a major biography which delves deeply into the life, mind and work of an influential writer, philosopher, and Holocaust witness. Drawing from exhaustive research, interviews with friends and relatives, as well as numerous unpublished texts and testimonies, biographer Myriam Anissimov explores the complex nature of a most singular, shy, intelligent, and diffident man who was both a strong-spirited survivor and a sufferer of depression, a man who felt misunderstood, certain that future generations would inevitably forget, and even deny, that the Holocaust happened. Indeed, on April 11, 1987, his self-deprecating depression was to lead him to suicide by throwing himself down the staircase of the building in which he was born. Primo Levi is a superbly presented biography and an important, singular contribution to Holocaust studies.

As with the vast majority, but not all, books that bite off huge taxonomic groups this one fails to provide detailed updated information on this group but does provide an overview and excellent illustrations. If you desire more than the basics purchase Johnsgard's books or some other title that limits its treatment. If its the basics that you desire its worth the money.

Russell Johnson complains that his career was shipwrecked on Gilligan's Island for 3 hours (I listened to the abridged version). He seems like a very decent and honorable guy, but his narration and prose-style is flat, making some interesting stories sound dull. I recommend Prozac or a double espresso.

I totally disagree with what the last reviewer said about this audio cassette. I found the cassette very enjoyable to listen to. I could see nothing wrong with the way the material for it was read.