Relatively, the screenplay is 173 pages and the film diary by Russell Jackson (not Branagh) is 34 pages. Branagh does furnish a short introduction. In addition there are about 30 pages of absolutely beautiful stills from the film and the filming. There are certainly better reading versions of Hamlet available, the screenplay is the full Shakespeare play so there's not much to analyze as regards to editing, the diary is not from a prominent member of the cast or crew (a filmographer I think but I am not sure of his role in this specific film), the color photographs included are spectacular and leave me wanting more but they generally are on the small side. Maybe it is handy to mark lines or scenes that are of particular interest... Mostly, I like it more for the memory of the movie (spectacular!!!) than for the book itself so unless you are an equally avid fan the book may disappoint.

Hamlet is arguably the best play that Shakespeare ever wrote. This play has intrigue and misery and death everything that makes it Shakespeare but not only that it is more interesting not only in plot but in language than all the other plays. If you are not use to reading Shakespeare then you may have trouble understanding everything that is going on in this play.

The character of Hamlet is so interesting because his misery can be interpreted in so many different forms. Hamlet's misery can be construed as his frustration over his father's death or his love for Ophelia, or just adolescent misery in general. The fact that it can be all of these things just makes it more interesting because in each way the play can be read in different ways.

Hamlet seems so noble in his efforts to expose his uncle as a murderer but he is also a murderer because he murders Polonias. This event in turn makes Ophelia mad and she then commits suicide and therefore her brother blames Hamlet so there is double guilt for Hamlet.

In the end of the play I believe that Hamlet is so tortured not only with his own guilt but also his misery of all of the other factors such as his mother that he actually wants to die. But he had to kill Claudius in order to feel ready to die because then he would have done his duty and avenged his father's death.
My favorite part in the play is where Hamlet devises the play to his own benefit to confirm that Claudius is really the killer and that the ghost was really his father and not the devil.

This play is great fun to read and play out in your mind. If you want to see a good video version of this play rent the version that stars Mel Gibson. This is my favorite Shakespeare play and always will be.

This version of "Hamlet", brought to the screen (and page) by Branagh, is great fun to read, owing to the humorous "inner monologues" inserted by the author into the text. Although they do sound "twentieth century-ish", they fit perfectly between the lines. In this case, "reading between the lines" was most enjoyable!

The description of the book has more meat than the book itself. This disappointing book is a 15 short chapter breeze through a multitude of subjects, and does not linger long on any single subject. There are some nice diagrams and ten thousand foot views crammed into 374 total pages (the page count vs. chapter count alone should indicate how superficial this book is). An example is the 21 pages devoted to weighty subjects encompassing project management tasks, configuration management, verification and validation, quality assurance, decisions and risks. Any one of the topics would have merited at least 20 page in a serious book on systems engineering. Useful to sales and marketing types who are selling systems engineering services, and executive management who might like a quick overview of systems engineering. This book is useless for technical professionals.

This book is a great introduction to the system engineering process. It might be lightweight for a practicing system engineer, but for an IT professional whose background is service delivery, production support and data center operations this book opened a whole new world.

An example of how this book opened my eyes is the way configuration management is explained, and how it fits within the system engineering process. IT professionals with my background are subject matter experts in change control; however, few of us (certainly myself) realize that change control is a subset of a much larger picture. Every part of system engineering it covered in sufficient detail to understand the basics. This understanding created, in my case, a desire to further research some areas in greater detail. Overall, seeing the process from a high-level view provided some unique insights about what is missing in IT management that can be filled by borrowing from our system engineering brothers and sisters.

I found this book valuable because I did not have to wade through a dry manual and sort out the details in order to get a big picture of system engineering. The brief, succinct chapters and excellent illustrations provided me with a coherent approach to my own job. In fact, I personally believe that applying system engineering principles to IT service delivery and operations management will significantly improve the IT profession. As such I highly recommend this book to my peers and anyone else who needs to see the big picture of the system engineering and how its principles can be related to their job.

Stevens' Systems Engineering looks at the place ofrequirements in a world which consists of complex systems in a highlycompetitive marketplace. This may be the commercial world or equally the military-industrial world in which systems must literally do battle with their rivals.

Stevens and his co-authors (two of them from the UK's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency) know that in this environment, many systems fail, very often because they were inadequately thought out, and often also because their development projects were poorly managed. Chapter 1 begins "The world is currently gripped by changes more intense and rapid than those triggered by the ndustrial revolution..." : we are at once swept into the rich, complex, and dangerous life of real system development.

For Stevens, the problem in systems engineering is complexity, and its mastery is, as the subtitle implies, the key to success. The design of complex systems demands hierarchy - of organisations, of projects, of contracts, of documents. Hierarchy implies interfaces: if you split a system into three, you probably create three interfaces between the component subsystems. Interfaces in turn imply specialisation: someone develops the hardware; someone else, the software. Similarly, someone (the customer) writes the requirements specification, while someone else (the developer) tries to meet those requirements. This, like the prime contractor - subcontractor relationship, consists of a customer and a supplier: the marketplace reaches right into the core of system engineering.

The book therefore covers a startling breadth of subjects, but always with the same practical vision and with the same conceptual tools. The first few chapters broadly follow the European Space Agency's now-classical PSS-05 software engineering standard life-cycle phases: user requirements, system requirements, architectural design, integration (of subsystems) and verification, management.

(Requirements are involved in every one of these phases.) Once the reader is grounded in the basics, the next chapter discusses how to tailor the simple life-cycle just presented. A tell-tale section entitled 'smaller systems' gives the game away: the systems in the authors' minds are a great deal larger than the PC 'systems' beloved of advertising copywriters.

The second part of the book (chapter 8 onwards) starts by looking at more realistic life-cycles, based on the management of risk: when is it sensible to go ahead with something? The answer is, when success can be assured even if the bad risks materialize. That can only be guaranteed if the risks have been quantified. Concepts of requirement priority and benefit, risk, and cost loom much larger in the marketplace than technical issues.

The remaining chapters examine management in multi-level projects (hierarchy again), software and systems, prototyping (to control risk), information modeling, projects and the enterprise, a chapter on how to improve and a summary.

Each chapter consists of a double-page title/table of contents, overlaid on some crisp pencil artwork on the theme of engineering progress (from Leonardo's hang-glider to an agile jet). The text is broken up by plenty of simple flow diagrams illustrating life-cycles, trade-offs, business processes and information models, as well as short summaries of what the most important system documents should contain. Key points are highlighted or bulleted within the text. The chapters end with a page or two of realistically tricky exercises: the answers cannot be coded in C.

The helpful appendices include a list of websites: Systems Engineering comes with its own website which contains pointers to several related sites, and itself includes 'proposed' answers to the exercises which end each chapter. Students will find the glossary helpful and comprehensive. There is an extensive list of very varied references, and a detailed index. This book is a carefully worked out description of the process of developing any large, complex, and risky system. The book can also be read as a polemic: an impassioned plea for the discipline to graduate from its narrow roots, whether in academia or in quality control. The concluding paragraphs make it clear that system engineering is a human process, a 'game' in which there are losers as well as winners, something that can be played well, and that absolutely must be played better to limit the risks and losses that are still all too common....

The book will be of interest to several quite different communities: in particular development managers, clients having large systems developed, and students of system and software engineering will all find much that is of interest here. The book may also be a useful supplement (or perhaps an antidote) to the academic perspective on RE. Everyone should have access to a copy.

I want to know what the style be? I'm interior architecture

I like this book very much but i think it should mention the produts to use in specific cases.

The pictures and text are exquisite. It covers such a wide variety of topics. Excellent for teachers to use in their classes.

Peter Jackson is the chairman of the Cat Specialists Group of the IUCN. This book, published in 1990, includes information on all aspects of the life of the tiger. The book is divided into the following chapters:

Introduction
1. A day in the life of a tiger
2. The origin and spread of the tiger
3. Territory, mating and family life
4. The world of the tiger
5. Tigers and people
6. Man-eaters
7. The decline of the tiger
8. Crisis and action
9. Studying the tiger
10. Problems and solutions
11. Can the tiger survive?

In its 128 pages, it includes all the information concisely, as well as beautiful pictures showing this great cat in the wild.
Although I wish there were a few more, what's there is admirable and of high quality. Knowing the author, you can also read it assured that the information is true and accurate. I, without a doubt, recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn more about these majestic creatures. Even veterans on the subject will undoubtly find this book beneficial.

I feel guilty only giving this story three stars, given its immense historical significance. The problem I had with "Gilgamesh" is that I never felt moved by the story (reportedly the oldest story ever told). The Biblical flood is there (with minor significant differences) and the Potiphar's wife theme is interesting (if ultimately only marginally convincing), but I was never even remotely drawn into the tale. My difficulty is not with the translator (Danny P. Jackson) but is instead with the original story and stone tablets themselves. Quite simply, as described by Robert D. Biggs, the discovered tablets are too fragmented to allow for a story with a satisfying logical flow. This makes the story no less important, but it makes it an unsatisfying read. The temporal aspects are a problem as well. I'm aware of the differences between values as shared between different cultures, and these differences can only be magnified across time. Nevertheless, even with a reasonable Bibical background from which to draw, I found Gilgamesh's motivations to be beyond my ken. Both Biggs and James G. Keenan do an excellent job of introducing and describing "Gilgamesh," but I still found myself unsatisfied upon completion. Maybe I'd be more sympathetic were I reading it for study, but as a work read for my own enjoyment and fulfillment, it didn't quite do the trick.

I just wanted to take the time and give proper acknowldgement for this wonderful rendition. This past year I have had the opportunity to study mythology under the direction of Mr. Jackson, and he furthermore discussed this literary work into a living, breathing organism. The easily comprehensibile text paired with the beautiful artistry and reproductions of ancient Sumer have created a delightful reading environment. It is throught the interventions of art and mythology that people can begin to see a distinction of time and place. Mr. Jackson has accomplished this in his beautifully translated literary epic! Thanks for a great read!!

Jackson, a former seminarian, in his preface wonders why he had never been given any information on Gilgamesh written long before Judeo-Christian literature. Such a relief to read this because I've been wondering the same thing. I have just recently discovered Gilgamesh, and it is hard to understand why, after a lifetime of being bombarded with bible literature, I have to accidentally encounter a book that contains many similar concepts as the Bible, but predates it by more than 2000 years.

Reading the epic by Jackson has added an important dimension in my enlightening travels through the different Gilgamesh epics by Maureen Kovacs, N.K. Sanders, John Gardner & John Maier and the first epic I read on the Internet by "Robert's Stuff".

Jackson's Gilgamesh is engaging for its use of adjectives that are reminiscent of my Catholic background. Some examples: "sacred places ...sacrilege" (p 3), "miraculous plant" (p 88), "My god ...My god ... My god (p 94).

Hopefully more people will become aware of this early literature. I've encountered so few who have even heard of Gilgamesh.

The 1986 edition of the book starts out saying that it is not "a course in how to construct knowledge-based systems (page v preface)" and that is so true. As the book attempts to give an informative overview of various expert system techniques it fails to clearly communicate them due to its lack of clear "how to" instructions which are absolutely necessary to explain the complex principles covered. I have a Master's degree in Communications myself and find this book to be one of the types assigned to students due to its industry status rather than because it gets the job of education done.

I read all the editions of Peter Jackson's Expert System book. All the editions were equally good with respect to the developments of the subject at that time.The current edition covers a wide disciplines of subject with a very simple but elegant style of presentation. I liked the book for its coverage and simplicity. I recommend the book for my graduate students specializing in knowledge-based computing. I wish you all to see the book once and recommend it to your colleagues.

Destined to be a fixture in many bargain used bookshops or the coffee tables of people who should no better.

This book is well-written, well researched, exploring contemporary architecture in the Pacific Rim, complemented by 3 essays which are definitely thought provoking. Sad to say that the rating by the readers is poor because this is one of the best architecture book that I have ever come across & a book that I keep coming back too. If readers are looking for a pictorial architecture book that looks good on your coffee table, probably there's an element of truth that its standard can't surpassed those published by Phaidons, but in terms of being an intelligent book, it delivers, even exceeding my expectation. The author split the book into 5 different types of architecture that are observed in this region. They are the the modernist legacies (international vernacular), edge condition (regional inflection & the architecture of local identity), dense cities (architecture in the expanding new world city), tectonics (building corporeal architecture) & lastly, media-tectonics (generating an ambient architecture). Many examples are provided from LA to NZ. Rather than covering works of superarchitects of our time, the book opted to cover works by established but less well known architects such as Mathias Klotz of Chile, Stephen Yeang of Malaysia, Thom Craig of Christchurch (good on ya!), Ricardo Legoretta (this year's winner of AIA gold medal), etc. Considering that the book is published in 1988, the author definitely does have foresight in his selections of those architecture works. A book not to be missed by architecture enthusiast. Highly recommended & look forward to his next book offering.

Although this book is nearly two years old now, the concepts, pratices and projects presented still indicate that the Pacific is an increasingly important cultural zone. Very few books have attempted to tackle the issue of a non-European architecture and whilst this misses some major practitioners (notably Glen Murcutt and Peter Corrigan in Australia, Tadao Ando in Japan and Frank Gehry in LA) and projects I still give the book two thumbs up!

The author starts with a detailed and well-diagramed analysis of how humanity's ideas evolve through stages such as ritual, myths etc, before they finally reach religion and philosophy. Deep-rooted archetypes store various psychological fixations, which he shows with art from around the world. The conclusion is in a diagram with various pictures. It shows 'anxiety-threat' on one side, and this is depicted with Kali in all her details. On the other side of the diagram is 'hope-promise' depicted by a picture of the Greco-Roman Goddess Diana. The message of several hundred pages basically boils down to the conclusion that one must rise above the evil-terror-anxiety-threat side that drives humans (i.e. the archetype of Kali) and move to the positive side depicted by Diana. This is a college textbook on psychology by a major publisher.

Nobody would argue with the suggestion to move from negative to positive archetypes. But a better method of illustration would have been to use another Hindu deity also as the hope-promise archetype in the diagram. Hinduism is rather rich in deities depicting positive aspects, and there is no need to switch to the context of the West when depicting the positive side. The Hindu Goddess has millions of forms in which people have conceived of her, of which four are especially popular: wisdom (Maheshwari), strength (Durga-Kali), harmony (Lakshmi), and perfection (Saraswati). Within the 'strength' aspect, Kali is but one of her many manifestations, Durga being another popular form. And even within Kali, there are at least three levels of worship: as terrorizer to be feared and placated is the lowest view; as Shakti expressing herself as the power of nature is the middle level; and at an even higher level she is the divine power operating through the devotee. The book's author's understanding of Kali is incorrect. But even if she were the icon of evil, it would still not justify in a textbook on psychology to make the contrast with Diana. He should not have departed from Hindu symbolism when it came to explaining the positive outlook on life. His methodology portrayed the West as the positive culture while the East as the proverbial 'world negating' burden on humanity. In fact, any religion could supply the author with both kinds of art, the dark side and the light side.

If he wanted to remain in Western iconography throughout, he could have chosen negative pictures from the holocaust, witch burning, and genocide of the Native Americans, the list of candidates for negative imagery being rather long. So why would a college text depict the dark side using an Eastern tradition and the positive side using Western tradition, unless there is also a subliminal message intended to position one culture better than the other. This is a case where the facts in isolation might be correct but their juxtaposition and context creates a false impression. The effect of this psychology book might be that clinical psychologists will attend weekend seminars on diagnosing and treatment "Kali syndrome", as the archetype afflicting clients who suffer from negative conditions.

Amazingly, other colleagues of this psychologist have been very busy appropriating the pioneering knowledge of Indic spiritualists precisely in the realm of higher states of consciousness - including Jung, Wilber, Maslow, etc. So one team of psychologists takes the cream of Indic contribution an re-labels it as their own, while the other team such as this book's writer, are busy enhancing the negative stereotypes about the same source tradition.

The reviewer is reviewing Maps of Meaning: the architecture of belief, not Maps of Meaning: an introduction to cultural geography.