Griffiths' book provides an ideal introduction to particle physics for the undergraduate who is desperate to find a comprehensive treatment that is truly understandable. I was greatly disappointed by Griffiths' books on electrodynamics and quantum mechanics, but he really hit the mark on this one. There is the usual introductory material on the Standard Model, relativistic kinematics, symmetries and bound states, but his presentations of QED, Feynman calculus, decays and interactions are clearly written and geared for the student who has been frustrated by the obtuseness of other so-called introductory texts. His exposition on gauge theories, the Yang-Mills field and the Higgs mechanism is elementary but enlightening and even entertaining.

Griffiths' sly wit is in great evidence in this text, and this is one of the reasons why it is so enjoyable. Although he displays a similar witty vein in his other texts, it just doesn't succeed as it does for this book. If you want to be able to calculate particle decay rates and interaction cross sections and have fun doing it, Griffiths' book is an excellent investment.

OK. It seems that I am the one who criticizes all the books that everyone else loves.
The book is very good as far as didactics is concerned. But have you really read it? Let me ask you a few questions:

How many typos can you find in chapter 9?
What do you think - had ANYONE proofread Chapter 11 before the book was published?
What about the exercises -can you do 9.2 without Halzen and Martin at hand (so that you may look up what, say, |7'> really means? (Griffiths mixes notation from the two books and you can never solve the exercise without intoroducing some corrections).

There are many more questions like these to be asked about the Introduction to Elementary Particles.
So, do you like the content or the lively style?

But, of course, five stars!

This textbook makes the somewhat esotoeric subject of particle physics totally accessible to an undergraduate. Griffiths style of writing naturally and using personal pronouns should be adopted by more physics text book authors. This book takes you from having only a vague understanding of the subject to getting into some really hairy calculations that are fundamental to the standard model.

I wish I had this book when I was learning LaTeX! It is a concise beginner's guide that will get the reader up to speed in a short amount of time. The book does a nice job of briefly introducing more advanced topics, and where to go for more information. This book will get you 80% where you want to go, and I would recommend it as the best book for any new LaTeX user. As a side note, Section 5.6 of the book, "Great Moments in LaTeX History" is absolutely hilarious!

This amazing little book is the best introduction to LaTeX (version 2e). It is hard to believe how much useful information it contains; it shows you how to incopporate pictures, create indices, tables of contents, math typesetting, etc. The style is wonderful and witty. The left half of each page shows you what LaTeX commands produce the output on the right half. I've been using LaTeX for a while without really reading any book cover to cover, big mistake and many frustrations.
My best recipe for learning LaTeX is: Start with this book, read it cover to cover, practice it, then move to Kopka and Daly's book.

This book, geared for the absolute LaTeX beginner, will have anyone up and running in no time. In many ways it is very similar to Gratzer's small book only shorter and without the discussion of AMSLaTeX. Some of the organizational choices made by the authors, however, are quite puzzling. It's not until the middle of the book that they discuss quotation marks and dashes. That material should have been in the second chapter, though in a book this small--80 or so pages which could be profitably studied for two or three days--I suppose that does not matter much. If you've ever wanted to begin the daunting task of mastering LaTeX, this book along with Gratzer's and Diller's will make you impressively adept in no time.

The Estuary's Gift is a beautiful and poignant expression of the connections between people and the coastal environment. Through eight delightfully written essays, Griffith entertains and educates in a poetic, lyrical style that draws the reader into a world that few of us know. Griffith teaches the reader about North Carolina's rich history in commercial fishing by introducing us to the people whose lives are linked to this industry. No matter where you are live, this book will show you the connections between your next seafood dinner , or vacation to the beach, and a unique way of life along the North Carolina coast. If you are from coastal North Carolina, don't be surprised if you see the lives of friends and family reflected in this book.

Through his years of research, Dr. Griffith introduces us to some of the many men and women who as commercial fishermen are deeply rooted in an industry that is much more than a source of income. The North Carolina coast is home to some of the oldest fishing families in the country, and this book speaks for these families and others who make a living from the coastal environment. These people have a sense of culture, community, and history from their lives as fishermen that is threatened by fishing regulations and influences of population growth. These men and women also have an intimate knowledge of the water and its ever-changing conditions that sometimes result in problems for the seafood industry and the future of the esturaries. As they try to express problems they see from their daily contact with the water, many are ignored by rule makers or "experts" in government. Catch limits, closed/open fishing areas, equipment regulations, and license requirements are all examples of policies that were developed by "experts" who do not see the daily effects the rules have in commercial fishing and the coastal ecosystem.

Griffith also addresses how the population boom that along the coast that has impacted the health of the estuaries and the coastal communities. He discusses the impacts of "gift shop" fisheries and revisionist developments that transform the traditional fishing communities into retirement and tourist boutiques that have little appreciation of the past.

The Estuary's Gift is an intimate portrait of a changing way of life that is reflected in changes in communities and families along the coast. By involving us in the lives of men and women who are some of the many estuary's gifts, it speaks for voices not often heard.

These delightfully written eight essays beautifully illustrate the concept of bioregionalism. Telling the stories of the commercial fishers of the Mid-Atlantic, the people who live along the coast of the Albemarle Sound and the Chesapeake Bay and who are farmers, fishers, and crabbers making a living from the water, David Griffin weaves together a powerful tale of the interrelationship of people and their natural environment. Based on extensive interviews over the past ten years, done in part for studies of fishing reglations for the government of North Carolina and others, the reader hears the voices and concerns of the fishers who for generations have lived in harmony with the estuary and its gifts of fish and shellfish. Threatened now by pollution down the Neuse River from the industrial farms, forestry and mining, the fishers are attempting to adapt and earn their living in other ways. They protest the regulations put in place to save the resource from being overfished. So here is a different side of the story from that put forth by many environmentalists, told in the fishers' own words, with empathy for their plight. At what price will the North Carolina and Virginia coastlines be developed for condos and fancy vacation houses? You be the judge of what we are winning and what we are losing.

I loved book Sojourner truth. And I think Sojourner it is the best book I have read! I think Sojourner Truth was a fearless character Sojourner Truth was a slave because she was black. One day Sojourner Truth escaped. The man found her but he could not get her. And when she grew up the man sold her son. SO they went to court and won! She also had great courage. Be sure to read this great book!

I used this book with a first grade class during black history month. The text is understandable for young minds and the pictures are beautifully illustrated, easily keeping the attention of a young class. The only drawback is some of the language used to describe the whipping of slaves seemed harsh; caution should be used with sensitive children. Otherwise, this book is very helpful and perfect for use with the primary grades.

Since the above discription is so complete, all I will add is that this work is very detailed and comes in under three pounds! THe articles are all balanced and scholarly, with great attention to the general reader. It is also a great way to find an updated bibliography on the subject as well, since all articles are followed by detailed biblios. There are few works like it in English. Enjoy!

The Brakhage Lectures are a collection of avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage's reflections on the techniques and contributions to cinematic evolution of four major directors-- Georges Melies, D W Griffith, Carl Dreyer and Sergei Eisenstein. It was first published in May 1972 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where Brahkage taught and delivered these lectures (or rudimentary forms of what turned into these writings) during the fall and winter semesters of 1970-71. The book is 106 pages in length, 23 of which are taken up by reproductions of photographs and film stills. It includes a breif foreword written by the poet Robert Creeley.

Brakhage has produced a lot of writing, but most of it reflects upon own aesthetic process. Occasionally he turns his thought toward the work of his compatriots in the avant-garde-- as he does in FILM AT WIT'S END.

As a document of Brahkage's thoughts about the more tradition cinema, with which he had little to do, BRAKHAGE LECTURES is a fascinating artifact. Brakhage's Romantic construction of the genius of these filmmakers and his insistence upon finding meaning in the most minute details of their lives provides a more telling portrait of the author than of his four subjects. The various essays are also riddled with insightful obsvervations which demonstrate both Brakhage's knowledge of film history and the discourses which penetrate it. As a text on film theory, it is less relevant-- there are many better published works on all of these directors.

This book represents a twenty plus years journey of two meticulous social scientists through documents of marine anthropology, direct observations of coastal dwellers in the Caribbean and Eastern United States, the life histories of artisan fisherman and the history of Puerto Rico. The authors place the traditional, ancient occupation of fishing within the context of modern globalization to make clear how modern national and international economic trends affect individuals in terms of labor, community structure and family relations.

Griffith and Valdés Pizzini frame their field observations within an exhaustive review of marine and coastal research studies as well as allusions to the writings of Gabriel García Márquez and Octavio Paz. The use of this resource evokes in the reader emotions that favor identification with the book and with the subjects whose life histories are used to document the book.

The authors reflect a detailed knowledge of Puerto Rico’s coastal space, fisher family cycles, labor turnovers and fishing techniques which they use in a wider context to make comparisons with other Caribbean Islands and the U. S. Coastal environments. The field observations unmask the role of women in what they call “the entire social universe that is controlled and governed by women in fisher domestic circles.” The book presents the government efforts to organize fishers and describes the adjustments that they make according to their own circumstances and the external factors affecting them.

The dynamics of coastal affairs and the diversity of forces impinging upon fishing reveal throughout the book the multiple conflicts that exist in the sea fronts of Puerto Rico and most coastal areas of the world. Activities and social sectors that demand more space for development, recreation, business and international trade covet the finite nature of the coastal line.

Applied professionals and academicians should read this book. Managers of coastal affairs and policy makers could also acquire the needed perspective for understanding the economic interests and social trends affecting development of the coastal sector, its resources, communities and people. Academically speaking the book is a required reading in the areas of sociology, marine anthropology, labor relations and social change. No scholar interested in the Caribbean should miss reading this enlightening book.

I really like the cover. We need more books by this author. After reading this book, I have decided to pursue my lifelong dream of playing in a single A ball club, much like Kevin Costner in Bull Durham. I highly recommend this book to anyone. I have even recommended it to some of my friends.

I believe this book captures the mindset of D.W. Griffith. It allows the reader to look into the mind of D.W. Griffith. A must read.

Mac OS X Hints has to be one of the most popular sites among Mac geeks. Not only does it have a marvelous collection of hints it also has some great forums full of people more than willing to help. I've often found it useful for fixing a problem and have helped my fellow Mac users more than once.

Why would you buy a book with exactly the same name written by the site owner? If the book is the same quality as the site then that's got to be one reason.

The book is extremely well written with a wry sense of humour that appeals to me a great deal. The hints cover an extremely large range of subjects, not just the operating system and the iLife software but other commonly used packages such as Mozilla, Camino, Entourage and Word. They offer something new to everyone from the beginner to the advanced Mac user. Some are small and simple, others more complex. There is also a huge variation in the level of the hints, some are for the rank beginner, some could only be appreciated by a power user.

The structure, starting with a chapter called "Designing Your World" devoted to startup and basics such as windows and menus, does move from the simple through to the more complex in later chapters, chapters 15 and 16 are devoted to the Terminal and Unix. At first you may find the hints too simple but as you move through the book you will find your level and even in the early chapters you may pick up a trick or two.

There are a lot of good hints here, the cover says "more than 500" and elsewhere the book mentions 540, either number is realistic - sorry, I couldn't do the math. This is a book that will probably grow on you, at first I thought it wasn't worth the money but I picked it up and put it down several times, used a few hints (fixed Mozilla so it uses an external mail program, made a few cosmetic adjustments, added a couple of menulets), lost it for a couple of days in the desk clutter and picked it up again. It seems to fit into a strange niche in computer books, it's not a reference, it's not a teaching guide, it's more a book that should hang around and have a dozen or so pages read once a week so you can play with a hint or two and integrate them into your Mac use (or not, as you choose).

Finding the hints is no problem, the contents are long and detailed, the book is well indexed and the breakup of chapters is quite logical. There is some cross referencing of hints though this is perhaps one area that could improve.

So I think you'll get our money's worth if you're prepared to let this volume hang around your desk. If you're the sort of person who likes to read a computer book, learn the information then pass it along this book won't suit you.

Addressing the Obvious
The most immediate question I had when I heard that O'Reilly would be publishing a book containing hints from macosxhints.com was, of course, why I should get the book when the hints are already on the site for free. Both the author and the publisher also thought of this, understandably enough. Here's how Rob Griffiths answered the question in a post on the site, when the book was first announced: "The book isn't just a "cut and paste" job from the site to print form. Every hint was rewritten and retested from scratch, and hundreds of screenshots were added to help clarify and explain the hints. In addition, many of the scripts and programs posted here are included (the author of each program was contacted for approval to include their original work in the book - thanks to each of you for agreeing!)."

So the question then becomes: is this really the case? Are the differences between the hints as posted on the site and as printed in the book really significant enough to merit shelling out [money]?

The short answer would be that, in my opinion, the book is worth its price. The long answer is (predictably) a little more complicated. There are, of course, people who are more than willing to do the extra digging on the web to get the relevant content for free - they'd rather do without the little perks (increased readability, revision, testing, screenshots) than spend potential beer money for a glossy O'Reilly book. And that's fine - I'm more than sympathetic with this position, being frequently hard up for beer money, myself. But of course there are also people for whom the convenience is just as important as the cost, and who consider the price of the book well worth it in terms of the time saved. If you fall into the former category, don't bother buying the book - but then, you weren't going to buy it anyway, were you? As for the latter group, rest assured that your investment will not, in this case, be wasted.

What I Liked
I've read several other books on Mac OS X. The one I believe everyone should start with is still David Pogue's Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. If you've already read this book (and enjoyed it) or didn't read it but are confident you've already got the equivalent experience, then Mac OS X Hints is a good next step. Griffiths assumes you're comfortable using OS X for basic tasks - he doesn't tell you how to log in, or what the Dock is. If you're fuzzy on those kind of basics, you're not quite ready for this book (but you're positively crying out for a copy of the Missing Manual). Additionally, he pushes some not-entirely-obvious processes to the introduction, so you don't have to read the same instructions over and over in the meat of the book itself. After all, once you've been told the first time how to view the contents of a package, you're probably all set in that regard. This is one of the aspects of Mac OS X Hints that I found most appealing, actually - Griffiths just explains in the beginning that he's assuming certain things, and then doesn't bother dumbing anything else down.

I've been a fan of macosxhints.com since I first installed OS X, but it seems like Griffiths's style has really improved for the book - this may be a function of Pogue's role as editor, as the writing in Hints displays the same familiar, comfortable tone while not skimping on depth or details. Like other books Pogue has been involved in, this one is highly readable but not oversimplified.

What I Didn't Like
If I can be nitpicky for a moment, I was bothered by the frequency of purely typographical errors. Little things like "than" being used instead of "then", or the bottom edge of a line in a sidebar getting cut off. It didn't keep me from enjoying the book, and I'm sure it's the sort of thing that will get corrected in future printings, but this sort of error occured often enough that I noticed it, anyway.

Another little thing was that I wish URLS had been included whenever a third-party shareware program was mentioned. Of course I know I can Google for DragThing and find it immediately - but if I'm paying for a book, it seems to me that I shouldn't have to.

One final note: there's a lot of overlap between this book and Mac OS X Hacks, although each book has a significant amount of unique content. If you own one, you probably don't need to get the other, but it's difficult to say which I'd buy if I had to choose. Hacks contains only 100 articles, but they're more in-depth and the tasks they cover are often trickier or less obvious. Hints contains over 500 tidbits, but they're much shorter and often deal with things like key commands that allow you to increase your efficiency, and things of that ilk.

Mac OS X Hints is a fabulous book. Beginning, Intermediate, and even Expert users of both OS X and *nix will find this book a wonderful read.

The tips are well organized, and above all very useful--this isn't unnecessary stuff. He covers tips about general appearance all the way through some neat Terminal window tricks and even gives tips for third party applications as well.

Whether you're new to OS X or an old Unix geek, you'll find this book a great reference. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

--Michael Greifenkamp