Related to this book, there is "Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance by Douglas North, or Colonialism and Underdevelopment in East Africa : The Politics of Economic Change, 1919-1939 by E.A. Brett

Page 2 shows isolation booths/rooms.

Page 7 mentions the loudness problem, and presents -- like all the books -- speaker simulators as the main solution to the loudness problem, without considering various forms of power attenuation or speaker isolation enclosures.

Page 43 has a paragraph on "speaker overdrive".

Page 44 covers re-amping a recorded dry guitar. (This is also an efficient way to dial-in amp sounds, surpassed only by having one person play guitar and the other person operate the processors such as EQ and level settings throughout the processing chain.)

Pages 45 and 50 cover multimiking, which is important when a single person in a home studio wants to remote-mike a guitar speaker and efficiently dial-in a good sound at the mixer.

Page 57-58 has fair coverage of DI (direct inject of a line-level guitar signal into the mixer), together with the muddled coverage of dummy loads, and speaker simulators that is typical in the first wave of "getting guitar sounds" books. "A speaker simulator provides a dummy load in the form of a power soak." That's incorrect and nonsensical. A better statement would be "A typical speaker simulator product provides an artificial speaker load in the form of a resistive or reactive load, in addition to a cabinet-simulation filter." What's happening here, in this sloppy and overgeneral use of the term "speaker simulator" and "power soak", is that the authors of the books have in mind a particular product they aren't explicitly discussing: the Palmer PDI-03 Speaker Simulator, which happens to comprise a dummy load and a cab-sim filter.

The term "power soak" is incorrect as a type of device, especially as a type of dummy load. The product, the Scholtz Power Soak, is a power attenuator, which can be used as a dummy load and contains a dummy load together with a wattage splitter. Odd, the author capitalizes "speaker simulation... the Simulator" -- supporting my contention that he ought to explicitly tell us he's talking about the Palmer PDI-03 Speaker Simulator. We need to be rigorous in distinguishing between particular products and general types of circuits or gear. Much of the confusion comes from using product names in place of technology types, and vice versa, as if saying "A Dummy Load is a type of hot plate." These authors totally jumble the product and technology terms: Hot Plate (THD), Power Soak (Scholtz), PowerBrake (Marshall), Speaker Simulator (Palmer), Red Box, dummy load, power attenuator, speaker simulator, DI box, and cabinet-simulation filter.

Pages 62-63 almost cover pre-distortion EQ: "the Sans Amp PSA 1... uses EQ pre and post overdrive to allow a very wide range of sounds. ... Alesis Quadraverb GT... EQ section offers almost too many options! ... You also have the option of running the EQ section pre or post pre-amp." The latter choice, "pre or post pre-amp", reflects the industry-entrenched single-EQ fallacy, on the part of the author or Alesis; the right "choice" is both pre and post distortion; a Rock amp rig largely comprises a series of alternating eq and distortion stages. The book mentions Session Award JD10 (also known as the Morley JD10). Page 67 says "a better eq could be patched in ... pre or post overdrive" -- but there is no explanation, systematic or otherwise, of the difference between EQ before the preamp distortion (pickup EQ) and after the preamp distortion (amp EQ). Neither does the book compare EQ before the tube power amp (this is "amp EQ", controlling the power-tube distortion voicing) versus after the output transformer (speaker and mic EQ).

Page 137 half-insightfully says to play the guitar in the control room, with remote miked guitar speaker in the live room, but doesn't specify whether the guitar amp head is in the control room or in the sound room with the miked guitar speaker -- other books point out the tremendous advantages of using a head in the control room and a guitar speaker cab in the live room (or, to speak more meaningfully in a home studio context: using a tube power amp in the mixer room and a remote-miked guitar speaker in another room or enclosure).

"The Sea Shall Not Have Them" is the story of the Royal Air Force's Air-Sea Rescue Service, a little known group that rescued thousands of downed airmen from the elements and the enemy. In small, high-speed launches, these sailors in RAF blue performed a gallant but none too glamorous service, recorded here by one of their own, author John Harris.

THE HOMING
by John Saul
Fawcett Crest, ISBN 0-449-22379-5, $6.99

Sometimes coming home is a good thing. Karen Spellman is returning to marry and make a home for herself and her two daughters. Little did she realize that her dreams could turn into a nightmare that she couldn't fight.

I used to read John Saul's books when I was younger. I quit when I got tired to reading the same theme over and over -- usually children in danger from ancient evil. Then he brought in tech as a method of endangering them. I am a mother and have nightmares enough about my children's safety.

I enjoyed this book -- kinda. I would have enjoyed it more if he could have decided on one plot and stuck with it. Dealing with the serial killer should have been enough -- some of that was chilling. However, I found much concerning the homing silly and hard to suspend disbelief. The ending seemed too much a relief and a let down.

--Reviewed by Elspeth Sapphire

©199

Although the killer insect theme definitely falls into the horror genre, I wouldn't really group "The Homing" with those other cheesy, one-dimensional stories about bloodthirsty vermin that, without any apparent reason, start attacking humans. John Saul writes a little more intelligently than that. "The Homing" is more horror-ish than his other books, though, but it's still worth a try if you're a Saul fan--that is, if you don't mind the creepy crawlies that come with it.

The author takes such an approach in this book, and this makes it one of the few in print that would be of interest to those readers who want to take a look at the issues without any masks. The author is clearly supportive of genetic engineering, but that is not to say that every reader will finish the book with the same attitude as the author, for the clarity in which he poses his arguments may allow a reader to formulate alternative points of view. There are many interesting discussions in the book, and it will no doubt, if read with an open, scientific mind, serve as a refreshing alternative to current ones on the subject.

Another virtue of the book is that a reader need not be an expert in genetics in order to follow the presentation, for the author defines the necessary terminology. For example, very early in the book he is careful to differentiate between genetic manipulations of the 'somatic line' and those of the 'germ line', the former limited to cells of individuals and not inherited by their progeny, the latter effecting the genomes of individuals and their offspring. Germ line manipulation has been the main topic of confrontation, although somatic line manipulation has also taken a hit recently, due to some problems that have arisen with gene therapies.

Many possible scenarios and consequences of genetic engineering are overviewed in the book. For example, the author discusses the possibility, which has been done with various animals, of inserting additional genes into human beings, creating then a 'transgenic' human, this being done primarily to enhance various capabilities. The author though is quick to point out that such procedures have not yet been perfected for use in humans and may therefore be dangerously disruptive. Another fascinating possibility discussed in the book is 'parthenogenesis', this being the process in which unfertilzed human eggs can be stimulated to grow without fertilization, giving a near clone of the mother. He also notes though that there is some evidence that parthenogenetically stimulated embryos are not easily implanted.

These two examples are an illustration of the fact that all through the book the author exhibits a keen intellectual honesty about the issues at hand, carefully noting what is possible now and what is not for biotechnology. He is well aware that developments in genetic engineering come very quickly, and one must therefore exhibit diligence of the highest order. He also though presents a strong case for doing genetic engineering, in both humans and non-humans. Its possibilities are awesome for the quality of all life on the entire planet.

The technology of genetic engineering should be of concern to everyone alive today, and after studying this book, readers will gain much insight into its ramifications and its ethical foundations. More extensive research and testing will no doubt prove the viability of genetic engineering in most cases of interest. Those techniques proved unsafe or not viable should be abandoned without hesitation, but those showing promise should be used or applied immediately, with no guilt or hesitation. The new species of animals and plants, the new disease cures, and the ability to select the genetic makeup of offspring and even to eventually bring about transgenic humans, are some of the most exciting possibilities to contemplate for genetic engineering.

Shortly after the advent of flight, its critics stated that "if humans were meant to fly they would have had wings".

But (some) humans will eventually have wings....and they will fly.