A must read for anyone who thought that they know about Reggea, Rock Steady, Ska - Jamaican music in general. This book must be the ultimate documentary of music as well as the music scene in Jamaica during the 60's,70's, and 80's. It's not just a book about Scratch; it is a book about all Jamaican musicians, singers and procuders of the period. It's the best documented piece of Jamaican history. Someday it will become the most sought after Jamaican history book!

David Kratz ensures that the reader lives moment by moment with almost every musician, producers, and Jamaican artist of the period - some of whom have long been forgotten. He takes you into the studios, delves into the background of each and every artist mentioned in the book, takes to the UK and US with Scratch and Bob Marley, then brings you back to the Black Art Studio where Scratch produced some of the most revolutionary and influential Jamaican music.

Any Jamaican who reads this book will certainly say: "Me know da music deh, but me didn't know sey a Scratch do it." The reader will soon learn that Scratch is the greatest Jamaican music producer. No other producer will ever come close to matching his skill and artistry of Scratch in the studio. Nuff respect to Scratch. He is a true genious! And hat's off to David Katz. He certainly knows how to "ride de rythm". The book is a master piece!

Scratch your Lee Perry itch. I am awed to have in my hands 536 pages of all things Upsetting. Buy this book, if a so a so.

the material in this book is absolutely great. the concepts that are presented are something one wont get in college. the graphical user interface chapter, i think should have covered additional aspects like cohesion and coupling and good GUI practices in the software industry. the book is definitely a good buy even now ( though it is 2 years old)

This book covers a wide area of subjects related to Client/Server architecture, networks, architecture design, implementation guidelines, strategy, security... There is a good balance between theoretical and practical knowledge. Due to the extend of the subjects, it can not go in depth in all points, but it is definitely a very practical and usefull reference book, probably aimed at managers and consultors who want to update their knowledge or learn on specific network development. Price a bit step, but again there is a lot of information, and with Amazon discount, it makes it a good buy.

This is a wonderful classic book that deserves to be better known, and should be essential reading for anyone doing research on young children, literacy, and children's literature. The Cragos kept painstaking records of their daughter Anna's interactions with and responses to books from ages one to five. That so few other researchers and/or parents have followed in their footsteps is testimony to the difficulty of this task, but the Cragos provides an excellent model for anyone who would like to engage in similar research. Not only did her parents record Anna's responses, they were able to organize these responses into useful categories.

Prelude to Literacy will fascinate both parents and teachers ofinfants and preschoolers, as well as students of Children's Litrature.

Maureen and Hugh Crago write about their daughter's contacts with books between the ages of one and five. They discuss such details as the way Anna learned to read pictures, and her understanding of the conventions of narrative. There are verbatim records of reading sessions with her, as well as notes on her developing responses to specific books over time.

Anna's first encounter with Sendak's famous Where the Wild Things Are, at two, is illuminating, and the depth of her understanding of Max's emotions over the next five months, will surprise many people.

She was only three and a half when she fell in love with Tove Jansson's Moomins, and listened to Finn Family Moomintroll in its entirety. She enjoyed Jansson's exotic characters, as well as the action. Away from the book reading sessions, Anna acted out the characters and quoted from the book: '"Bless my tail" said Anna as she sat down at the table.'(p.46).

The Cragos taped almost all of the reading sessions with Anna, and the transcriptions are quoted throughout the book. It is full of the delicious conversation and story-making of the preschooler. Here is part of a long monologue told to the pages of an adult book on childbirth, with few pictures: 'Ït was a beautiful day next day, so she just went out and picked apples, and played in the grass and picked up the grass to make a hat, and made the cushions outside, ... and took all the house away to another house, and ate the plants in her mother's garden, and did so many naughty and nasty and nice things that she couldn't bear it. Then she went back inside and telled her mother all the damage."(p.135).

There are also chapters on Anna's perception of humour - "Funny Ha-Ha and Funny Peculiar"; on her understanding of fantasy - "The Limits of Reality"; and "Heros and Villans" is about the emotional impact of the stories.

Very young children are often underestimated in their ability to understand and responnd to stories and pictures - and in their cognitive abilities generally. Prelude to Literacy celebrates the developing intellect and language of the very young child.

In a world where everyone where everyone is constantly "spinning" the truth and language around in circles this is a great guide.

After reading this book I was able to totally decimate my friends and enemies with insults that nobody understood. There is nothing like firing a verbal barrage at a person and having have to stop and think about what you actually meant. Gives you more time to run away.

For anybody wanting to take their insults that one step further, this book is a must.

Before I write this review, I want to make it clear that I know the author and was a philosophy student of his. This makes me biased in this review and I wanted that to be clear to all the readers. Having said that, this book is an excellent look at what education is and what education is not. It examines how we have come to look at education as job-training, which it clearly is not. It examines how we can change education for the better, drawing on Classical models as well as more modern ideas of education. Students and educators should take a close look at this book, it can creating stirring debate about education's future.

Curtler's Recalling Education is a must read for all students of education at all levels. I seldom find books with such clarity and insight on issues of a contemporary nature as this one. The author provides a context within which to view complex issues with ease. The treatment of the Liberal Arts in Chapter VI is the best that I have read in years. It depicts the role that the Classic Liberal Arts play in freeing individuals from the constraints of ignorance and the passions of emotionalism. Curtler provids a lucid treatment of the Liberal Arts as necessary for the preservation of liberty, especially in a society that values freedoms yet ignores the incumbent responsibilities that liberty predicates. Chapter VII, Can Virtue Be Taught, is a must for every teacher in our schooling system as well as every parent. Not only does he clarify the purpose of the virtues in a participatory democracy but he also illustrates the distinction between teaching the virtues as an intellectual endeavor of the schools versus establishing them as habituated behaviors through reinforcement in early childhood. Finally, the virtues are established as the basis of character and self-discipline. Drawing on the Greek philosophers, Dr. Curtler presents these timeless treasures in terms both comprehensible and provocative. I list this text as strongly recommended for all of my graduate students in teacher education as there is no equal on the contemporary market. If you like Mortimer Adler, you will love Hugh Curtler.

This book is extremely well written. It's filled with wit, adventure, and courageous characters. It's about a teen-age prince who goes on an incredible journey from a prison in Dublin where he was being held, to his home in Donegal, to save his province from Engish envaders.Set in a time of war and hatred, this book is so action-packed it's hard to believe it's a true story!

Red Hugh Roe O'Donnell, with the help of the MacSweeny, O'Neill and O'Toole clans fights for the freedom of Ireland in the late 1500s. This true episode (one of the greatest in Irish history) is recounted with verve and wit. Even though billed as a "young adult" book, I believe everyone will enjoy this exciting and inspiring tale. If you are looking for a way to interest anyone (young or old) in European history, give them this book -- I guarantee it will whet their appetites. Excellent all around!

Hugh Trevor-Roper has a reputation as a brilliant and incisive historian. He was not simply an academic historian, but took an active part in the events of his time, the most important of which was World War Two. He was an intelligence officer then, pitted against the Germans, and the insight and personal knowledge gained from this experience proved to be invaluable when it came to writing his first important book, 'Hitler's Table Talk'.

Each of his dozen or so books is an extremely lucid, direct, and unpedantic analysis of people and events both interesting and important. People who have read 'Renaissance Essays' should also read his earlier masterpiece, 'Rise of Christian Europe'.

'Renaissance Essays' is a collection of essays, written at various times, dealing with aspects of that period. The very first essay deals with the republic of Venice with its 'impersonal' and 'mysterious' head, the Doge; we learn of the tumultuous struggles between the proud Foscari and Loredan families for that position; we read of the stupendously vain Emperor Maximillian II and his grand designs; the fame and troubles of Erasmus, the great humanist scholar; the revival of interest in his close and great friend Sir Thomas More and the evolution of his 'Utopia'; we read of William Camden, the first great historian of the 'Elizabethan age', we read of Richard Hooker, the man who gave the then newly-founded but vulnerable English Church a philosophy, a creed with which it could claim its independence and fight off its protestant and Catholic opponents in England and the continent.

There is a particularly amusing and entertaining essay on the letters of the Lisles, on the Paracelsians, followers of Paracelcus, that mad, eccentric, but brilliant physician and philosopher; and on Robert Burton's enigmatic tome, the 'Anatomy of Melancholy'.

The final essays pinpoints the causes of the Thirty Years War.

by Sandeep Rajkumar

Hugh Trevor-Roper is one of the great historians of our time. Here is a historian who is not interested in the petty and obscure obsessions of some modern scholars; he is concerned with the totality, the full picture, the main effect of his subject. His style is inimitable, his prose fluent and crystal clear, his erudition and knowledge plain for all to see.

All these qualities he brings to this book, a collection of essays, written at various times, whose subject is that age we call the Renaisssance. It is a must for any keen student of it, and European history.

The very first essay deals with the republic of Venice with its 'impersonal' and 'mysterious' head, the Doge; we learn of the tumultuous struggles between the proud Foscari and Loredan families for that position; we read of the stupendously vain Emperor Maximillian II and his grand designs; the fame and troubles of Erasmus, the great humanist scholar; the revival of interest in his close and great friend Sir Thomas More and the evolution of his 'Utopia'; we read of William Camden, the first great historian of the 'Elizabethan age', who in fact coined that phrase; we read of Richard Hooker, the man who gave the then newly-founded but vulnerable English Church a philosophy, a creed with which it could claim its independence and fight off its protestant and Catholic opponents in England and the continent.

There is a particularly amusing and entertaining essay on the letters of the Lisles, on the Paracelsians, followers of Paracelcus, that mad, eccentric, but brilliant physician and philosopher; on Robert Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy' and finally culminating in an essay on the Baroque age and its culture.

This book is a great read; it is amusing, entertaining, and enlightening. And all through it, there is the underlying philosophy of a great historian which gives it such unity and effect

Sting's contemporary retelling of the biblical story of Noah's Ark is fantastic fun to read (or sing) to your children (or to your inner child).

The text is adapted from the lyrics of his song, Rock Steady, which is available on his ... Nothing Like the Sun CD. The artwork (by Hugh Whyte) is colorful and captivating. (Sting fans will especially enjoy the image of the young man wearing the black and yellow striped sweater - a treat for "Sting" fans who know how he got his nickname.)

Bible purists beware, however, as Sting has taken some poetic license with the biblical story. The plot follows a couple who respond to an add in the newspaper and join Noah to "commune with Mother Nature on a big wooden ship." While Noah informs that couple that he "heard God's message on the radio" and that there is more to the journey than is apparent to the eye, the story does not explain or allude to God's motivation or the biblical reason for the flood. (On the bright side, as your children get older, you can use this book as an example of Christianity's impact on contemporary culture.)

So buy the book - the proceeds go to a great cause - the Rainforest Foundation.

Sting's lyric in this title is superb. I find many of his lyrics beyond Good/Average and believe he ought to be published in a literary sense. I am a poet/writer, but was first a musician as well. Cross venues are common with creative minds, but someone, please publish more of Sting! Lots of children's stories to be told, and much more adult imagery to express...

A group of boys on a Scottish island accidentally slip back in time to an age when the local lord conducts a Wild Hunt, with human prey, once a year. The boys, soon recognized as "strangers", must use their wits just to survive ... and, beyond that, to save the locals from this tyranny.

The tale is told at a cracking pace, and it's a great adventure story. But it's more impressive than that. McCracken has the knack of portraying children the way they really are, not the way that doting adults would like to think sweet little kiddiewinkies are; this realism is refreshing. Also, he's doesn't flinch from some of the ghastlier consequences of his plot: for example, one of the boys is killed and another suffers torture. Because of this darker side to the book, the sense of involvement is hugely increased: the threats aren't just Tom & Jerry stuff but very real - something that will be hugely appreciated by young-adult readers, who get tired of being shielded by well meaning adults from the unpleasant truths of life that they can see in the newspapers.

But don't get the impression the book's just for young adults. At the grand old age of, er, fiftysomething I sat up late devouring it. Grand stuff!

This book follows the adventures of a group of kids who travel backwards in time - and have to cope with the baddies and the goodies! This is a fantastic book, which not only presents historical fact in a way which doesn't feel like learning but is also totally absorbing. It's absolutely fascinating.
The next book please!

A wonderfully written book(Falkus was a professional writer)which popularised seatrout fishing IN THE DARK in the U.K at a time when little was available for the novice. However, it is now apparent to regular and experienced sea trout anglers in the U.K that this work is a great overall guide, and an inspiring read, but has limited use when slavishly adhered to in locations of substantially different character than the intimate and crystal-clear rivers of the author's aquaintance. Although a significantly less well-written tome(the text is dry, over-formal and uninspiring) try 'Successful Seatrout Angling' by Morgan and Harris(Blandford ISBN 0 7137 01761 0,first published 1989). This has more to say about tactics likely to be successful on Welsh (and other U.K) rivers in Yr.2000

Without doubt this is THE book on Sea Trout fishing. How, why, where, when and what if are all covered in Falkus's superb style. After this book received its second edition, Sea Trout fishermen are described as either being, or not being, Disciples of Falkus. The man was the master Game Fisherman, with a naturalists instinct and an analytical mind that made him question every approach and method, until he had a reason for all he advocates or not.