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Book reviews for "Iavorsky,_Stefan" sorted by average review score:

Linux: Unleashing the Workstation in Your PC
Published in Paperback by Springer Verlag (1996)
Authors: Stefan Strobel, Thomas Uhl, Robert Bach, and Aileen Derieg
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Bounces off the surface
This book seems as if the author hasn't seen Linux in 3 years. Though it covers a lot of topics, it doesn't really go in depth on any of them. The networking chapter isn't too bad, but the X Windows section is definately dated. I wouldn't recommend this unless a user just wantes to find out what Linux is. Definately not the best Linux book avalible. I had to have a friend translate part of it from German just to understand how Modules are controled.

Very useful tutorial and reference
This is a handy book to have when working with Linux on the PC. Covers just about everything, and has a excellent commands reference section.

Well organized intro to Linux book
This is a good overview book, that provides enough depth to get the job done in most cases. It is very well organised and indexed allowing information to be found quickly. In most cases it will allow you to install and configure Linux, but sometimes you will need to go to the how-to's. At the least, it will point you in the right direction. If you are only interested in doing more sophisticated things like chaining, setting up internet services or firewalls, this is not the book for you. It's a good first place to look for fast answers book. If you only plan to buy one book to tell you everything, don't buy this one, however, it's a great book to keep by the monitor and to get you through 90-95% of overview, configuration and installation type issues. It is also a good road map to common commands with a good overview of many applications that can be added.


Colloquial Ukrainian (Colloquial Series)
Published in Audio Cassette by Routledge (1994)
Authors: Ian Press, J. I. Press, and Stefan Pugh
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OK, but not great
I found that the cassettes and book started out slowly and well but then became extremely difficult around the 3rd and 4th chapters. For example, in the 3rd lesson on tape, the dialog was taped with a lot of background noise (realistic for the restaurant setting). This makes it very difficult for a beginner to understand the new words! The beginning spent a lot of time on phonemes and the alphabet- both very helpful.

This manual gets you going quickly!
Ukrainian as a second language for English speakers is especially difficult, because the student must learn a new phonetic system via a cyrillic alphabet. "Colloquial Ukrainian" starts with understanding the cyrillic phonex and teaches beginning grammar through common dialogue.

Great book to begin self-instruction of the language. It would be improved if the dictionary pages included more vocabulary.


Excavating Q: The History and Setting of the Sayings Gospel
Published in Paperback by Fortress Press (2000)
Authors: John S. Kloppenborg, John S. Kloppenborg Verbin, Michael Andreas, and Stefan John
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How Can so Much be Written About Something Nonexistent?
I gave this book three stars for it's works sited, and amount of material covered. However, it amazes me how so much can be written about a document that does not even exist.

The book itself is very technical and detailed regarding the origins, character, composition, and genre of the so called 'Q' document. The authors discuss 'Q' as it relates to the Synoptic problem (i.e. source criticism), the reconstruction of 'Q' (i.e. it's wording, order and extent), the dating of 'Q,' and the language in which 'Q' is believed to have been written. Moreover, the authors discuss the origins of 'Q' and what they call "the people of Q" (i.e. physical locale, social location, and the people who allegedly wrote the 'Q' document).

The second half of the book deals with theology and ideology regarding Q. The authors cover a history of dogma or trends in the Synoptic problem throughout the last 200 or so years (i.e. what certain New Testament scholars espoused regarding the sources of the N.T. documents). What's more, this book fits 'Q' into the already present source hypotheses. Another aspect which surrounds this book's study of 'Q' is the influence of the Cynics. Is 'Q' a Cynic document? Thus, Greco-Roman Cynicism is discussed in some detail and how 'Q' might possibly have it's origins in Cynicism.

At the back of the book is a very small glossary which was somewhat helpful. However, the works cited section is huge, going from page 460 to 518. Overall, this book contained a tremendous amount of detail about a document that is merely speculative. There is no evidence (physical, traditional, or otherwise) for the 'Q' document, and yet hundreds of pages can be produce about all the details surrounding it. Go figure. Nonetheless, if you are wanting to study 'Q' then in my estimation this is the best book to read.

One for the serious student only
If there were a contest to find the top scholar on Q today (however we might configure that contest), then John S Kloppenborg Verbin might well come out the champion. His thesis on Q is often found to be the thesis of choice for many scholars (particular those of North American or Jesus Seminar hue). Here we are presented with a prodigious book split into two parts, broadly historical and broadly ideological, about Q, the hypothetical (and so far completely non-material) source behind the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. I imagine that if you aren't prepared to make that scholarly jump to believe in Q then you won't be too interested in reading this book.

I basically liked this book - but then I am a graduate student in biblical studies and so already committed to being interested in technical studies about obscure "data" which fit into the narrow specialisms of today's biblical academy. What I'm saying is that this book will not have broad appeal since its VERY technical. That said, the discussions, particularly the ones on "The Q document and the Q people" and "Reading Q in the Galilee" I found to be stimulating explorations into the possible as regards Q and the sources for the sayings of Jesus. Perhaps that's all that such discussions can hope to be. Certainly any taking of this book's contents for the final word on the subject should be shelved: tomorrow will bring newer conclusions.

One point I really liked from this book was its emphasis and concentration on the social location of both Q's interpreters and also the writers/collaters and readers of the Q document itself. This "social" criticism of the Bible has been going on for a while now and this book continues that tradition admirably in exploring the links between Q and the Greco-Roman Cynics hypothesized of Galilee. Such questions are worthy of study and essential to an understanding of Q (should the hypothesis ever become so genuinely held that such theories attain more than their current provisional status).

In his introduction to the book the author writes that his offering is to be about Q "and the difference its existence makes". I think the offering of hypotheses like the ones this book offers about Q are valuable talking points and this book is another valuable addition to debates about Q.

PoSTmodERnFoOL


Tonal Harmony
Published in Hardcover by McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages (13 June, 2003)
Authors: Stefan M. Kostka and Dorothy Payne
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A Decent Book
All in all this book wasn't that bad. It is used at my college for undergraduate theory. Fortunately I was lucky enough to have a good teacher for Theory 1-2 who was able to clear up all the typographical errors and an even better teacher for Theory 3-4 who studied with Dr. Payne and knew off the bat what changes needed to be made. The only problem with this book is the vast (and I mean VAST) amount of typographical errors that could have been cleared up with a good group of proof-readers. The book is set up in a sensical order and generally has adequate definitions to follow important terms. A primary concern, wordiness and typos aside, are the relevancies of the listening examples. In many cases, poors examples are selected for analysis which brings up MUCH debate during class because there really are more explanations (and better explanations) than those given. For example, pg 404 (Augmented 6th Chords part II) gives a Tchaikovsky example that has a Ger+6 in the 3rd to 4th measures. The chord does not really act as a Ger+6 chord, but more as a chromatic mediant (a topic that actually isn't discussed much in this book).

If there were to be another edition of this book that featured better examples, I would have given it a 4 star rating. If there were another edition of this book that fixed the MANY MANY typos along with better examples, I would definitely give it 5 stars.

Tip-For those of you using the workbook edition as well, just because the directions say that the example is in C major, it doesn't necesarrily mean that it is. Listen to the recordings and ask your professor.

Useful, necessarily dry, and best, educational.
I am quite amused by the complaints I hear from students and professors about this text. Perhaps these folks who exude grunts and groans about this text have not had the grave misfortune of encountering Gauldin's bare-bones tonal-harmony survey. I would jump quickly to recommend Piston's original text, but the deVoto bastardization destroyed any sense of "fun" or instructional continuity present in the original version (which I am lucky - and old enough - to own).

Let's face it: expository writing is tedious. It is not meant by nature or design to be a page-turning writing device. Nonetheless, Kostka's survey is complete, providing adequate and clear examples, and written in a very succinct manner. True, Kostka does dwell in a few places, but these minutiae-explanations are necessary (if you have ever taught elementary theory, you will understand immediately). The organization of the text is second to none, and the authors are consistent in explanations and refrain from "inventing" jargon or becoming unnecessarily nebulous (Gauldin, for one, is notorious in this regard).

Much improved but still has a ways to go
I've used this book for my first-year theory class for nine years, through three editions. I haven't found any better but that doesn't mean I think it's perfect. I agree with some of the other commentaries about the errors and the poor choice of musical examples. Students of mine have frequently complained about this. In addition, the book is very keyboard-centric and thus creates difficulties for people who don't play the piano and who aren't used to reading keyboard score. One can argue, of course, that keyboard facility is a skill any serious musician ought to have (being a pianist myself, I agree in principle), but still, there ARE good musicians who are not pianists who will struggle unnecessarily with this material.

Other, specific things I would change about the book: 1) The chapters on part-writing emphasize too heavily the minutiae of voice-leading and thus obscure the point that we're talking about the relative motion of complete melodic lines. More exercises involving only two parts, to give students a thorough grounding in the basics (i.e., no parallel fifths and octaves), would really help. 2) Although including discussions and examples from popular music is a good idea, the section that tries to explain the concept of "suspension" in pop chord symbols is skimpy and confusing. 3) I find the whole explanation of harmonic progression, based on the circle-of-fifths progression, unconvincing. Piston's looser cataloging for me better fits the reality of tonal music.


Professional JSP : Using JavaServer Pages, Servlets, EJB, JNDI, JDBC, XML, XSLT, and WML
Published in Paperback by Wrox Press Inc (15 January, 2000)
Authors: Karl Avedal, Danny Ayers, Timothy Briggs, George Gonchar, Naufal Khan, Peter Henderson, Mac Holden, Andre Lei, Dan Malks, and Sameer Tyagi
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Good guide to JSP, overlaps with other Wrox titles though
For developers involved with web-based projects, whether it be an online store for electronic commerce or an Intranet site for accessing and modifying company data, the powerful blend of JavaServer Pages (JSP) and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) technologies can really make life simple. Once you've mastered them, creating new components that encapsulate business logic, or new web interfaces to existing systems, is easy. The trick, for developers, is mastering the technologies.

Professional JSP is one way to get up to speed. Like many of the books published by Wrox Press, Professional JSP covers a specific technology in-depth, as well as the various ancillary topics relating to it such as databases, servlets, and XML. While not every developer will need every web technology covered by the book (and there are many), the book works both as a tutorial to cover the basics and a reference for technologies that you may encounter later.

Professional JSP starts by covering the basics of Java Server Pages, and how they relate to other web technologies. Embedded in HTML pages, JSP provides an easy mechanism for creating interactive web interfaces that draws on server-side components, known as Enterprise JavaBeans. While the presentation logic is written in JSP, the processing occurs within these JavaBean components. The book takes a balanced approach, covering both JSP and its syntax, as well as how to write and interact with JavaBeans to perform useful tasks, like accessing databases through JDBC and using other Java technologies. However, if you've read other Wrox titles, you may find there is some overlap in the topics covered.

One of the nice things about Professional JSP is that, in addition to covering theory, it goes further and examines practical applications of JSP, and issues for programmers like security and debugging. Like other titles in the Professional series, there are case studies of real projects using JSP and related technologies. My favorite would have to be the case study on porting Active Server Pages to JSP -- something that is extremely important for developers with "legacy" web systems. On the whole, Professional JSP is an excellent book for web developers wanting to get up to speed with Java Server Pages, web development, and Enterprise JavaBeans. However, developers with less of a web presentation focus and more of back-end server view may also want to consider the excellent Professional Java Server Programming title, which also covers JSP. -- David Reilly, reviewed for the Java Coffee Break

No 1 Book of JSP Techniques
This book covers the chapters in a very structured way. It starts with a concise description of the JSP Basics with a detailed explanation of the concepts. It explains all the concepts in a very clear and simple words supported by an equally clear Comments and examples. Any body with a little of Java experience can become very familiar with the JSP syntax and concepts by reading first few chapters. It covers all the necessary JSP syntax for building a small web application to a very large distributed Application. It also explains about the way the JSP pages are processed by different web servers. For example it explains about the various methods available to maintain a persistence session and their merits and demerits. This is the first book in JSP series that explains not only the concepts of JSP and how effectively one can use them with the help of this book. It also covers various other topics like EJB, JNDI, JDBC, XML, XSLT and WML in very detailed way. Overall I feel this is the greatest JSP book ever published so far. I could build a simple and robust JSP Web application by reading the first few chapters in a short period of time.

One of the best intermediate level JSP books on the market
This books lives up to its title in that it provides both real-world JSP techniques (through 7 very informative case studies chapters), as well as JSP background information that serves as a quick start guide. I rank it as one of the top 2 JSP books currently available (the other one is Web Development With JavaServer Pages by Messrs. Fields and Kolb).

After the JSP fundamentals are out of the way (which I am sure any JSP newcomer will appreciate and can benefit from), the book picks up pace with discussion on JDBC connection pooling, and the best practice for data access from JSP. Then comes the chapter on custom tags. My favorite chapters are the ones on debugging JSP's and implementing the MVC design pattern in JSP/servlets.

The case studies are very comprehensive and closely correlated to the earlier chapters. In one case study the design methodology is clearly explained with UML diagrams, which are very helpful to someone who is currently architecting an enterprise Java Web application. Other case studies cover such a wide area of topics such as JSP in combination with LDAP, EJB, XSL, and WAP.

For ASP developers, this books has two enormously useful chapters to get them started on JSP right away. One is a case study showing how to port an ASP app to JSP, and the other compares and contrasts the object model and syntax between ASP and JSP.

Having said all the above, this book does suffer from certain weaknesses. One is typical of any multi-author book, i.e., repeat of the same topic in different chapters. This is the case with JDBC, which shows up in both chapters 4 and 7. Another problem is the lack of the use of a standard servlet/JSP container, which will help new users to run all samples under the same software setting (although there is an appendix on setting up Tomcat server). Finally, a few chapters seem to be out of place in term of the logic flow of concept, such as the ones on dynamic GUI's and JNDI.

Finally, this book is still thin on heavy-duty J2EE topics, such as EJB, distributed transactions, message service, and interoperability with CORBA. This is why I consider it as an intermediate level book, not an advanced one. Hopefully we will see another Wrox book in the near future that addresses some of these issues.


Horrors! 365 Scary Stories
Published in Audio Cassette by Dove Books Audio (1900)
Authors: Stefan Dziemianowicz, Martin H. Greenberg, Robert Weinberg, and Dove Audio
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65 scary stories, 300 dull ones
i guess brevity isn't always a good thing. many of these stories are silly or cute -- in the oh, he was a serial killer/vampire/crazy guy vein. though there are some that manage to create a chill in a very short space (a hard thing to do), most of them left me frustrated and/or bored.
maybe it's that i sat down and read half the book in one sitting - not advised. your best bet is to skim, there are a few treasures in here. when it's good, it's very, very good. when it's bad, it's just awful.

Sometimes short is too sweet, but it compensates
If you're into horror, get it. If you're not into horror, take a look at it and read few right there in the store (which is easier than it sounds since most of the stories are only about 3 pages in length, max). It's a cool collection of tales that you can kind of treat like a literary snack, a horror-d'vour, so to speak. Plus, it really helps to get you interested in the genre and reading in general; you feel as though you're accomplishing some serious reading, even if some of the stories aren't that great.

There's so many stories, you really can't go wrong; there's going to be something in there for you, and if you run across a couple of stinkers, so what? They were only 3 pages long anyway!
A must for writers looking to hone their voice down to a sharp point.

Unexpected stories
The stories in this book are short but they have the same impact as any story three times their length. The endings were unexpected and that is what i look for in a good book. Each story is unique and has you checking under your bed twice before cutting the lights out.


Groucho: The Life and Times of Julius Henry Marx
Published in Paperback by Vintage Books (08 May, 2001)
Authors: Stefan Kanfer and Stephan Kanfer
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Worthy of eleven years in Twelveworth
Mr. Kanfer makes a point late in this book that once he was pushed into show business at an early age, Julius Henry Marx ceased his existence, eternally replaced by the acerbic, wisecracking, iconoclastic character "Groucho". The man no long was; only the persona remained. The detailing of this problem -- which ruined Milos Forman's recent Andy Kaufman biopic, i.e. the examination of the man where the public persona is omnipotent -- is the real strength of this book. Kanfer does a great job showing how Groucho could never escape being Groucho; he was either the funny little man with the greasepaint moustache, cutting people down with his razor sharp wit, or he was nothing. It's a great psychological portrait.

The vaudeville sections are bright and lively, really capturing the anarchic spirit that the brothers held. Kanfer does a good job showing the transition from vaudeville to movies, including the fears and trepidations of those involved, especially Groucho's. Even though we know that worldwide fame would eventually come, the road traveled to get there is filled with much tangible drama.

Groucho's later years are done particularly well. They're especially effective when the reader gets an indication of how far Groucho has fallen: a man who once verbally terrorized all the women in his life gets his karmic retribution. It's quite a sad chapter; I as a reader couldn't wait to read of Groucho's death, just to put the old man out of his misery. Very powerful.

Unfortunately, the book is weak in several other areas.

The sections dealing with Julius' childhood needed a deeper biographical sketch of his mother Minnie Marx. We are told repeatedly of her great will and dominance over the boys, but we only see glimpses of that. Kanfer does yeomen's work researching the other areas of Groucho's life, so why skimp out on the beginnings?

Later, when dealing with the heyday of the Marx Brothers movies, it is apt to re-quote a criticism Groucho himself makes on page 380: "[Critics] do a new kind of writing. They rent our movies, tape-record them and write down all the good jokes in their books. Quite a writing feat!" He's talking about the glut of criticism following the Brothers' renewed popularity in the 1960s, and Kanfer uses the quotation wisely to that extent. Unfortunately, he himself uses that very same hackneyed technique! There are transcriptions of scenes from 'Duck Soup' and 'Horse Feathers' that run for pages. Granted, they are almost as entertaining on paper as they are on screen, but they serve little purpose in a biography. Kanfer tries to tie the scenes into the narrative of Groucho's life, but he generally fails to do so effectively.

When Groucho has his popular rebirth, with the television show 'You Bet Your Life', what should be an important time in contributing to the enduring appeal of the comedian is glossed over. A period of ten years feels like just two, before we are thrust into Groucho's twilight. I would have loved more anecdotes and analysis from this era.

My suggestion to those interested is that this is a good start to get an understanding of Groucho. For those already versed in Marx lore, this book will probably infuriate rather than enlighten you.

A solid, readable account
This book does a nice job of putting together bits of information and stories from a variety of sources into one volume. The author's style is strong and brisk and keeps you reading. The best parts of the book are his discussions of the plays and movies, although he pads things out with a few too many pages of direct film dialogue transcription. Even when the material was very funny on its own, the Marxes' delivery is what made their movies classics, and no amount of quoting can really bring Groucho's performances to life on the page. The first part of the book is, by necessity, also largely about Chico and Harpo, and Kanfer keeps all the brothers in focus as long as they remain important to Groucho; Kanfer also nicely charts the various rises and declines of Groucho's later life.

There are two main problems: one is that there are virtually no notes, despite the vast amount of direct quotes from various sources. There is a list of major published works on Groucho, with some given helpful annotation, but more detailed notes should have been present. The other problem is that, too often, Kanfer forgets to let us know what year he's talking about, or how much time is passing between sections. Several times, I found myself flipping back and forth, trying to place an incident in time. The book is strictly chronological, but the details get slippery. I would also have liked a few more photographs. Overall, recommended--almost certainly the best bio yet about a cherished and never to be forgotten man.

An interesting book about an interesting man...
I have to start by saying that while I absolutely love the 4 or 5 Marx Brother's films that I've seen, I'm not a die hard fan in the sense that I'm not an expert on the Brothers, their careers or their lives, and this is the first book related to them that I've read.

That being said, I don't see many of the flaws in this book that some previous reviewers have mentioned, in that I can't really comment on the author's accuracy or lack of.

What I can say is that this is an interesting book, and certainly portrays Groucho in what is to me an unacustomed light, a far cry from the absolute character that he is in the films. Intead, we see a man who, because of the demands and treatment he received during his childhood, has difficulty dealing with women and children on many levels to the point where he seems to drive three of the most important women in his life (two wives and one of his daughters) into severe alchoholism.

What I found to be most interesting about this book (to its credit) is it portrays Groucho's fears and sensitivities, especially to critics reviews (although, in the end, for Groucho the bottom line was always the box office, and not the critics). Its ironic then that based on this book's descriptions of Groucho's reactions to things written about him, its quite clear that this book probably would have outraged Groucho since its overall depiction of him is far from flattering in many respects.


Creating Killer Interactive Web Sites: The Art of Integrating Interactivity and Design
Published in Textbook Binding by Hayden Books (1997)
Authors: Andrew Sather, Ardith Ibanez, Bernie Dechant, and Stefan Grunspan
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Design that works
Web Design is more than good design. Good design is necessarybut not sufficient. It needs to be complemented by clever design. Thisis the point that gets driven home by the book from Adjacency. And funnily enough, its not just talk - all the concepts are tried and tested. It is refreshingly different to read a "how to" book that gets down from the pulpit of painful platitudes and makes a big deal about techniques and tricks that really work. Not to short circuit great design, but to augment it, for a medium that is bursting out of its technological seams for the last three years.

Conquering the trade off between high graphics and high download speeds, making pictures bleed off the page without scrolling, how to design for the 640-480 monitor as well as the 800-600 monitor (a personal favourite) - these are some of the magic tricks that the book shares. In addition, the attention paid to site management, updating, information design and branding, are eye-openers to web designers overly preoccupied with the interface design.

The profile of the authors is really where the book takes off. Pascal (love the name!), who can't figure out whether he's a designer or a programmer. And Andrew Sather, with training in graphic design, creative writing and art history, there's always enough in the book to suggest a level of thinking that requires the burst of brilliance made possible by the synergy of distinct disciplines. Proving once again that the web is really the Wild West for interdisciplinary cowboys.

Take the issue of branding. The book suggests the creation of a brand board - a practice not uncommon in real-life branding and communication exercises. The idea is to create a set of visuals, images, words and actually create a collage that is used by the design people. Further, there is also a clear need to develop a user profile (beyond saying NRI or all Indians). The user profile needs to get into psychographics, demographics and technographics. The last refers both to the kind of comp! uting infrastructure and access to the net, browser preferences, screen resolution and the like, as well as their attitude to technology, information and browsing habits.

A particularly interesting technique to handle mutiple browsers, for example, is to use large images with transparent GIFs and hypertext. The background image can be a JPEG, which will exactly fit a 600-800 screen. But the text and the foreground are all designed to fit the 640-480 screen. The bottom and right end of the image, therefore, are areas which are not always seen and serve primarily to present a complete picture. The compression can be increased in this area, so that the overall file size stays small. Clearly, there is no reason to succumb to the trade-off between rich images and download times. Instead there must always be a push to break the trade-off to achieve both. It is this thinking which, more than anything else is the signature of "Creating Killer Interactive Web Sites".

The authors don't stop at design, they highlight the need to stay in touch with the client after the launch. Quarterly reviews of competing sites and updates on technology are some of the things that you can do to promote the relationship and elevate it to a new plane. The site launch has not been ignored either. A site needs to be launched with some fanfare. A press conference, an event, a competition or an on line event are some of the things that you can do to promote the site at launch. The drama of unveiling the site has a certain power that makes the site larger than life.

This is another good idea that has actually been implemented. Using the web itself should be a natural corollary while talking about it. After all, as the final chapter in the book says, "A web Site Manager's work is never done. For a great web site to remain viable, it must grow and evolve visually, editorially, functionally and technologically. Your site must at a minimum, stay abreast of devel! opments in your business. Ideally, you will continually evaluate your site's effectiveness vis-à-vis your business objectives and its usefulnesxs from the point of view of the user."

The best web-site creation book I've read
Giving an overview of essential web-site design proceedures, Creating... shows how customer driven research and objectives come together to make sites that are intelligent and engaging. A book for those who want to create, pitch and sell. The psychology of web based marketing. Its where we're all headed.

A "why and how" book for web design.
This is an excellent book on web design. The tips, design analysis, design process, examples- both on-line and in the text- support the concept of "interactive design". After having read the book, I ventured to the web site to examine the samples and sites discussed. The web site was exciting, creative, and well worth the visit. This book has one of the best relationships between content and examples. The content of the book is clearly exemplified throughout the book, and the web site allows a critical analysis of the design practices and procedures discussed. Creating Killer Interactive Web Sites is organized and written for people with little design background to the experienced professional. One of the strongest points about this book is not the book, but rather how the material and supporting material are intertwined to produce a truly comprehensive design and analysis oriented book.


Serious Business: The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy Story
Published in Paperback by DaCapo Press (02 May, 2000)
Authors: Stefan Kanfer and Chuck Jones
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A mixed bag...
"Serious Business" is generally a good book, though with a few major flaws. It distinguishes itself by providing not only an overview of the history of cinematic animation in the US, but also places the rise and fall of animation in a historical and cultural context. It gives a clearer picture of how the politics and economics of the times influenced and steered not only the creation and content of animated pictures, but also the business aspects as well.

On the plus side, Kanfer does indeed delve beyond the standard name-and-dates syndrome of other animation histories. He attempts to provide a broad overview of the early years of animation and how non-Disney studios were to eventually fall to the Mouse. When focused, Kanfer's writing is extremely engaging and his accounts of the various political maneuverings are facsinating.

Unfortunately, Kanfer attempts to squeeze too much into to little space. One could easily see this book being twice the size it is now. As such, the very aspects one wants to explore most - how such things as economics, war, race and politics in America effected animation - are never really fleshed out for any given studio/cartoon beyond a few pages, or paragraphs. Significant space is given to Disney's story (perhaps deservedly so), but I would've liked to learn more about 'outsider' studios as well.

Kanfer also has a habit of not staying focused in his chapters and bouncing suddenly from place to place. It doesn't make the book unreadable by any means, but it does distract from the over-all flow of the narritave.

All in all though, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a general historical overview of animation.

A good book, but not a great one.
A good read, but not the great book it could have been. It could easily have been twice as long. Early chapters are strongest. Strong on Disney. Would like to have seen more on Looney Tunes

Great intro to American animation history!
Well written, concise survey of American animation history. The only slights are that he doesn't have much to say on non-Disney animated efforts of the past decade, especially television animation, and that too many pages praise the horrendous UPA 'toons. Otherwise, this is a great intro to a neglected sector of American culture. If you want to learn about cartoons without buying a separate book on each major company, this should be your choice


The Actor's Book of Monologues for Women: From Non-Dramatic Sources
Published in Paperback by Penguin USA (Paper) (1991)
Author: Stefan Rudnicki
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Average review score:

Don't Waste your Time or Money on this Book!
I bought this book in hope that I could find some interesting monologues I could use for theatre class and various auditions, but it was of no use! Most items in this book are in verse and are too short in length to be of much use to the average actor. Also, the range isn't overwhelmingly broad and the written text is poor. The different works all manage to present women in a similar and cliché way, somehow it is overly apparent that the "collector" of these pieces is a male. Some selections are interesting or by famous authors, however, they're out numbered greatly by B.S. wastes of ink and trees. I encourage anyone who is considering buying this book to keep looking because they don't deserve the disappointment I suffered after reading this collection. Good Luck in finding the "perfect" monologue (unless I'm auditioning against you, just kidding! ;) )!

Not perfect, but certainly useful!
I am writing mostly to refute the previous reviewer. Unlike her, I found this book to be quite useful and interesting. Yes, it is heavily skewed toward older works, many of which would be unsuitable for auditions for contemporary plays, but there are many other uses for monologues besides auditions. As for the monologues being too short for auditions, in my experience these days, most auditions require a 2 minute monologue or less, with many requesting only one minute, and some directors prefer only 30 seconds! So I am happy to find shorter monologues. In addition, I found one of the best audition pieces ever in this book -- "Telling Mom" by Karen Dale Wolman. I wish this book contained more witty contemporary essays such as this one, but perhaps Mr. Rudnicki will grace us with another book that is more oriented toward modern pieces. That said, it is certainly useful to have a book full of monologues which you can be virtually sure that no-one else has seen, and I'm glad somebody thought of compiling a collection from "non-dramatic sources."

two thumbs up
I thought this was a great book!


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