Production for the Graphic Designer promises to provide the reader with everything he/she needs to know in order to produce books and other graphic works. And this book fulfills its promise! In a thorough and lucid manner, this books describes, step-by-step all aspects of graphic production. My illustration instructor told me that this book is "selling like hot-cakes", and now I know why. I see this book as the final step in acquiring all the knowledge I need to produce my own books.

I've been around recovery for 15 years and heard many storys and points of view about alcoholism. This book is the most up lifting positive and informative outlook on recover,and hope for a better tomorrow than I've ever read before. My hats off to Jimmy Craig

I NEED READ THE BOOK IT'S MY OBLIGATION

Angelina is given the opportunity to donate things that she has outgrown to a charity box for second hand items. She includes Polka, her rag doll from her early years as a ballerina, as one of the toys she feels that she has outgrown. When Grandpa comes for a visit, he reminds Angelina of the fond memories that she had with Polka, and she desparately wants the doll back. Is it too late to find the doll again? Angelina learns that growing up is not always easy, but charity has grown up feelings to replace the things you give away.

This is another of the wonderful Angelina Ballerina storybook series. In this book, Angelina gets the good news that she has been chosen to help Miss Lilly with the new beginners' class. But, tragedy strikes when Angelina gives some old things to charity, and finds that she has accidentally given away a treasured item. In the end, Angelina learns that giving can have rewards beyond anything she might have expected!

As with all of the Angelina Ballerina books, this book is a wonderful mix of entertaining stories and picture, and an excellent lesson. My eleven-year-old daughter loves this book, and so do I. We both recommend this book to you!

GURPS Alternate Earths 2 may be made to order for a dimension hopping campaign such as GURPS Time Travel, but I believe it also gives gamers another opportunity to see how our own world "might have been" if just one event in history was changed. And it provides more opportunities to set whole adventures, and even whole campaigns in those worlds.

The six different "Earths" in this book are more examples of the now popular "What If" line of SF stories. The first world, "Cornwallis", give us a good idea as to what might have happened if the British had won the American War for Independence. The second world, "Ming 3" gives us a look at a world under the Chinese Dynasty. The third world, "Midgard", assumes the Viking fury caught fire and captured most of the known world. The fourth world, "Caliph", assumes the Muslim faith converted the world. The fifth world, "Aeolus", has details for a strange Earth where the might of the English and French monarchs is unsurpassed.

The final world is the "opposite" of the one in GURPS Time Travel. Fans of that game have wanted to see "Centrum" for a long time, and this supplement does not disappoint. The overwhelming thought on Centrum is "The Ends Justify The Means" and all the possible terror that this political theory causes. Although the book also gives an opportunity to make Centrum a nicer place, GM's for GURPS Time Travel will welcome the chance to design NPC's that will be a thorn in the players sides for adventure after adventure.

There are even more ideas for adventures, characters, and even whole campaigns for each of the worlds, including several paragraphs about more strange worlds that diverged from these six again. These "reality seeds" give creative GM's even more alternate worlds to explore.

People wishing to use books like Mike Resnick's wonderful alternate series need look no further for ideas of how to recreate those books for a parallel worlds campaign. Highly recommended for GURPS GM's and recommended even to SF fans wanting to explore the ramifications of what might happen if...

After the fun GURPS Alternate Earths 1, Steve Jackson Games publishes another volume with six different alternate histories: Worlds that resemble Earth, but whose history diverge from our own after a certain point in time. This time, it includes the following:

- Midgard, a world where the Vikings successfully plundered Byzantium, and went on to build successful colonies in North America and elsewhere.

- Caliph, an Islam-dominated world where the early invention of the moveable type printing press allowed an early scientific revolution, and in which several other solar systems are being colonized - but Earth itselfs is on the brink of a global war after centuries of peace.

- Cornwallis, a world where the American revolution never happened. Now the corrupt monarchies of Europe and revolutionary Russia face each other and wait for the first shot to start a world war.

Each alternate history gets about twenty pages. This is sufficient to get a good general impression of the world, but I often wished that this world had been made into w sourcebook of its own...

The alternate histories are all fairly logical, and suspending one's sense of disbelief isn't difficult. In my opinion, they are even better than the ones in GURPS Alternate Earth 1 - some of the worlds in there (especially Reich-5 and Dixie) were too stereotyped for my taste (though still well executed).

There is something in this book for most gamers. Do you want a fantasy world? Use Midgard and change it slightly to make it more magical? Do you want an innovative SF background? Use Caliph. Do you want to play a fighter for freedom and democracy? Play in Europe of Aeolus and fight the evil Hapsburg empire...

Ray Jardine presents his eccentric, provocative approach to backpacking. I would not recommend this approach to a beginner, but only an experienced backpacker. Some of his ideas go beyond eccentric to nutty--he speaks approvingly of walking barefoot, for example, or of eliminating the very innovations that have done the most to improve backpacking--sleeping pads, stoves, hip belts. And his numbers never quite add up--by his own admission, his "eight and a half pound pack" can weigh up to fifty pounds. Nevertheless, the book is worth reading for the challenge he presents, and also for some of his advice on particular issues (handling ice and snow for example). One reviewer called this book the "most comprehensive," but I would certainly see it as less so than Complete Walker IV, which I would recommend to everyone.

This is the most complete book on backpacking. I would recommend it for both beginners and experienced backpackers. Before reading this book a few years ago, my wife and I were novices who thought that backpacking would be too difficult for us. This book has made backpacking much easier, safer, and more enjoyable for us. BB has a lot of information that is missing in the other backpacking books such as: stretching excercises, campsite selection ideas that will keep you warmer and safer and drier, knot tying, blister prevention, hiking enjoyment, sewing your own equipment. Ray Jardine pays a lot of attention to safety, as well.
This book shows that you don't need expensive equipment to begin summer backpacking. This book has led us towards a simplified hiking style, saved us thousands of dollars in equipment, helped us shed many pounds from our backpacks, and increased our safety in the wilderness. I would recommend this book to anyone.

It seems many people get upset with this book because it tells us the opposite of the big outdoor goods manufactors and their advertisers. Ray can get a little preachy but his ideas are worth listening to. Many people have used his ideas and found out that you dont need to carry 60 pounds on your back. Also, let us not forget that lite weight backpacking is anything new. A 67 year old women in 1954 thru hiked the Apalachian Trail in 1954 with a 20 pound pack and wearing natural fibers. She did it again 2 years later. His easy to follow instructions are great. Instead of spending $200-300 on a pack, make one for yourself. The same goes for a sleeping bag and tent. All of the materials are very easy to find. If you arent sure, make a pack for $20 and go on a 2-3 day hike only carry 20 pounds or less and see how much enjoyable your hike will be. people say how can you enjoy a trail if you walk 20 miles a day. Well, the reason you are doing 20 miles a day is because you arent hampered by all the weight. You actually get to look up and see what is going on around you instead of staring at your feet because of the weight of the pack. Maybe this book may not be for the casual hiker(although they could learn alot and may hike more) because there is alot of information here. Many hikers and backpackers here will be turned off because they just spent $1000 on equipment they didnt really need. Even so, you bought the stuff, still there are many ways to cut the weight of your burden. The man is an expert in backpacking, that is given. It is time to throw off the shackles of heavy packs and learn to hike with comfort.

I have been teaching Graphic Design for many years and have found that Designing with Type is the perfect textbook. Now with the addition of the website...and its numerous links to design projects from schools around the world, as well as suggestions for books, magazines, organizations, and other web sites, it is a truly unique and invaluable tool for both teachers and students.

I have used this book both as a student and now as an instructor of typography and find it to be one of the most valuable resources on the subject. There is also a free new web site that supplements the book. I have found that students benefit greatly from using the book along with the website. I would strongly recommend checking out: ...

I use this book in a fundamentals class. It has solid exercises and simple, comprehensive info on typography.

When the blasphemous manure-based exhibit, Sensation, opened at a prestigious Brooklyn Museum, indignant panjandrums were aggrieved that anybody would express outrage at this daring creation--or at least convincingly put forth that silly argument with a straight face. That oft-bellowed screed gave proof to the old adage that a lie told emphatically enough becomes truth. Obviously, excrement has no place in any valid work of art. Defaming religious symbols that have inspired for centuries debases aesthetic values. It is merely the controversy on which these modern day insurrectionists feed. Their concern for art takes a distant back seat to their lust for fame and money.

Lynn Munson efficiently documents the rampant hypocrisy within the so-called artistic society today. While the loudmouthed rebels who now control most of the arts establishment perpetually invoke the shibboleth of artistic freedom, the author paints a picture of greedy complainers whose goal is glory far more than artistic merit. The National Endowment for the Arts' obsequious funding programs may have played some role in fostering this change in artisans goals because the drive for acclaim was not always the primary artistic motivator. In the late 1960's when Lyndon Johnson--unquestionably with good intentions--created the National Endowment for the Arts--most of those creative folks truly valued the beauty of their trade. As Ms. Munson says, "the kinds of artists who received early NEA grants didn't choose artmaking as a professional path...and even the best of them expected to work their lives without public acknowledgement." In an ironic aside, she explains how the NEA under Johnson advocated true art, but under the administration of the far more conservative Richard Nixon, avant-garde experimentalism became sacred and standard criteria acquired the status of passe.

Regarding those self-righteous voices who declaim against censorship whenever some crackpot with a perverted mind is not readily granted a government grant, Ms. Munson notes "successive NEA chairmen recited the mantras of censorship and artistic freedom even while maintaining a panel system that discriminated against artists outside the postmodern establishment." Mentioning how real artists are now hardly given tertiary consideration by the ideologically-charged NEA, she says "how thoroughly the National Endowment for the Arts had become by 1995 at excluding precisely the caliber of artist it had rewarded in 1967, and how dimly the agency had come to be viewed by everyone but its dependents."

In a further rejection of exquisite and graceful presentation, the author discusses how the modern museum has in many ways sought to eschew visual grandeur and make itself as prosaic as possible. She sites many examples of grandiose longstanding structures taking steps to shun their stimulating elegance and highlight mundane features.

As insulting as it is to know the NEA is wantonly flushing taxpayer money, its weird actions are not without humor. Ms. Munson introduces Bonnie Sherk who received an NEA grant in 1975 for a project that "involved shutting herself into a cement-floored studio with a few friends and numerous animals (a sow name Pigme, two ring-necked doves, a woolly monkey, etc.); together they would engage in 'building and maintaining nests.'" Readers will be left conjuring up an image of Pigme thinking "get me out here!"

A very hopeful sign concerns the change in Lynn Munson's status since the publication of eye-opening expose in 2002. She currently serves as the deputy director of National Endowment for the Humanities. So while the entire concept of federal subsidies to artsy enterprises remains dubious, if the bad policy must stay in place, it is far better to see taxpayer dollars doled out to support majestic sculptures and splendid grisailles than ordure originals.

...by the threatened reaction from those that have little to gain and all to lose by steering artistic focus toward definitions of beauty, quality and meaning executed by passionate artists, and away from the use of art exhibitions as purely political and social tools of the left, or simply because it's a fashionable career path in many of today's institutions.

If you're tired of art being defined by publicity stunts and attacks on your intelligence or values by naked emperors and empires, you ought to read this, because you are not alone. There are many of us who feel this way.

It took courage to write this book and I applaud her for it.

This is a brave, well-informed, smart book which takes on the art and art history establishment with devastating results. A major cultural critic, Munson demonstrates how conformist and narrow the art establishment has become. Her chapters on the NEA, Harvard, and the contemporary art scene are compelling, harrowing, and amusing, all at the same time. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the state of today's art and how it got to be that way. Those with vested interests in the status quo are already starting to squeak!