This book is very informative and can be easily related to those w/ no jazz training! Billy Barnard was also an excelent teacher... along with his help on this book!

This is the most accurate, user-friendly intro to jazz. It focuses on the music, not the personal lives of the musicians. It explains, patiently and systematically, in luminously clear prose, what jazz is and how to get the most out of listening to it. It details the origins of jazz as well as the distinguishing characteristics of all the major styles: Dixieland, Swing, Bebop, Cool, Hard Bop, "Free Jazz" and Avant-Garde of the 60s and 70s, and Jazz-Rock Fusion. It profiles 144 musicians' contributions (their sources, their styles, and lists of the others they influenced) and provides classification of more than 1000 other musicians, in easy-to-understand categories. Strategies for locating the best albums for all the top musicians. Optional CD of historic recordings is available. Optional CD of narrated demonstrations of the jazz instruments, song forms and methods that jazz musicians use to make their music is also available. Loaded with instrument sketches and photos of key musicians in action, this is America's most widely-used intro to jazz and has been translated into 5 foreign languages. Its author is an award-winning researcher and jazz musician who has travelled to South America, The Caribbean and Africa, as well as all the jazz centers of America. His work is so down-to-earth and practical that it has been adopted for use in jazz appreciation and jazz history courses at more than 500 high schools and colleges.

This is my first in depth study on Jazz in America. My first musical interests as a teenager were jazz, classical, and Bob Dylan. I began listening to Miles Davis, Al Hirt, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane in the early sixties. They were followed by Bob Dylan, and, in 1967, my last year in the Army, Bay Area bands. An avid tape collector, I got reintroduced to jazz in the last few years as I have returned to those roots and sought some information about the origins of jazz, as well as the key players in the United States. Gridley's book was found at a used book store, alas, without the cassettes. I have longed for the cassettes, so that I could hear the music he references in his text. This IS a text book. I found it challenging, not having any musical knowledge. I still am in over my head on the musical descriptions, but the chapters are logically broken down into the origins of jazz in New Orleans, early jazz, bop, hard bop, Chicago style jazz, west coast jazz, etc. Gridley clearly knows his players. He shows the progressions of players and followers and has special designations for some of the more modern jazz players in my time frame -- Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Parkery, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman, Art Blakey, etc. And he also references some of the newer men or groups on the jazz scene, including Sun Ra, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra. I saw the latter play in the late sixties. Gridley's description, for instance, of Mahavishnu's kinetic energy of those years is apt. I personally left that show wired to the max, convinced I could never endure anything like that again. I am sure that this book is associated with college level music courses that are meant for musically inclined students who want to go deeper into the genre. And this book, in my opinion, is so well written, with such a deep glossary, such vivid musical descriptions of the various sounds produced by different musicians and groups, that I am convinced it would be a maximum value for such a student. I will most likely shell out the full price so that I can grab the cassettes. I believe that this book, coupled with the cassettes, will allow me to go much deeper into my own personal revival of American Jazz. I would STRONGLY recommend this book for novices and college level students who are interested in jazz at a more professional level. Organizationally, the book is right on. Plenty of charts that describe the various "roots" of American jazz as they coalesced in New Orleans. And Gridley makes a point that sounds valid in saying that not all those various "roots" were African-American. I am grateful I found this gem in the half-priced book store and will surely purchase the original in the near future. I think you will like this one if you are approaching jazz at both an afficionado and technical level. Good reading!

I read this to my 4 year old before she goes to sleep each night. It's become one of her favorites. It's the story of a hurried goodnight kiss that a king blows to his young son. Of course the kiss misses and the king sends his loyal knight to retrieve it. The knight and his horse have a little adventure ending with the kiss being returned to it's intended recipient. The book has cute, well executed illustrations, but the ending just doesn't seem like an end. Otherwise I would have given a full 5 stars. Still, I'd recommend it.

What might happen if a king's goodnight kiss is blown to his son, but accidentally misses...and lands on a dragon instead? In this funny picture book for little princes everywhere, that's exactly the dilemma at hand. The king is in too big of a hurry to give his son a proper tucking in bed, so the kiss goes astray, floating out the Prince's bedroom window. The king orders his knight to mount his horse and give chase, but the forest is filled with spooky things. Faced with bears and wolves, they loose sight of the kiss, which flies right up the nose of a giant green dragon. As the knight ponders the problem, a bigger problem finds him when the dragon takes chase. Will this the tragic end of the knight and his horse? The big kiss off? Author/illustrator David Melling ("Gerda The Goose") builds the climax into a grin-worthy story twist, and the moral of the story is one that will not be taken lightly by all those too-busy dads out there. This "Kiss" doesn't miss a thing.

I picked this book up by chance, and my son will not let me put in down! It is great. The illustrations are very detailed and lead to great conversations. It is almost a shame it is a "bedtime book" because we get so involved in talking about the story and the pictures that he doesn't really get sleepy. It is a favorite of us both. I am sure that this will be the gift we bring to every birthday party we are invited to in the future.

This is a must have if you purchase the game. Now this is NOT the best game in the world. It is not advised to even purchase this game, it is slow... You'd be safer to go with the two towers. But if you do buy this game (probably for the same reason I did..which was it is LOTR and I just have to own it) this is the ideal companion for you. The beginning of the game is very very hard. It takes awhile to get around the Ringwraith riders, and when you finally do you go into another part of town where unless y ou know what you are doing you wont be able to find your way out. So dont expect the game to be simple, it isn't much fun, in fact it is quite aggrivating. But if you do buy the game you have to buy this so you actually know what you are doing, and not wandering around like a fool in the woods...as I was until I read some of this ;)

Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring
By J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring is an action packed magical thriller. It keeps you on edge with every flip of the page.
The book begins with the old Bilbo Baggins planning for his one hundredth and eleventh birthday. Half the Shire's been invited! It looks as though it'll be a night to remember. When Bilbo vanishes during his birthday speech, he leaves the crowd in awe. Seeing as how he is now leaving, for another adventure, and shan't be returning, he leaves his precious Bag End and all his possessions behind. His heir and second cousin one-removed, Frodo Baggins now has to carry the responsibility of taking the One Ring to Mordor to be destroyed.
To get to Mordor, Frodo must leave his beloved Shire and travel through Old forests, empty plains, and rocky mountains. He soon reaches Rivendale, with the help of a strange Rider, Aragorn, and an elf named Arwin. From there, Frodo and his three faithful companions, Merry, Pippin, and Sam become part of the Fellowship of the Ring.
To find out more, read the book!

I found this book to be delightful at all hours of the day for all ages! I highly recommend it if you're looking for a great adventure with out even leaving your couch!

Finally, a book I actually like, in and out! Tolkien amazes me with his ability to imagine the diverse characters and places in The Lord of the Rings. This book portrays leadership, and the long enduring of good in an evil world. I am very pleased with the detail that Tolkien puts into the novel so that the reader can understand completely each situation. Tolkien writes the book so that the readers feel as if it could be real. It's an outstanding novel that teaches us that we need to bear our burdens and stick together so that good can prevail in a world of such turmoil.
Tolkien has made me think a lot more about my characteristics and whether or not I would be able to bear the ring. Would I be able to withstandthe temptation of putting on the ring? Or using it's power for my own good? It's an outstanding concept. This book leaves you in anticipation for the next. The suspense of what is going to happen next is nerve-racking.
Overall, I just enjoyed the material, and I feel that Tolkein is a very experienced writer. He knows how to captivate readers, and enthral their minds into the book.

I have a confession to make. Mark was probably my least favorite of the Gospels. It seemed so disjointed at times. The author seemed to race from one event to the other, with seemingly little connection between events or tales. His descriptions and details seemed scant, with the other Gospels filling in the blanks. And there lies part of my problem in trying to figure the book of Mark out - my reliance on the other Gospels to help me interpret it, instead of reading Mark as though I was hearing everything about the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah for the first time.

The authors of "Mark as Story" try to impress upon the reader the importance of understanding Mark on its own terms as a narrative. They offer four guidelines in this approach: (1) read Mark as a story rather than history, (2) read Mark independently from the other Gospels, (3) avoid reading modern cultural assumptions into the story, and (4) avoid reading modern theologies about Jesus back into Mark's story. With these guidelines in mind, the authors discuss the various elements of Mark, known in biblical studies as "narrative criticism" where tone, style, setting, plot, characters, etc. are analyzed. Sound like a college course in Literature? Perhaps. And thus this particular book may not be to everyone's liking. As for me, I can truly say that I have a much greater appreciation for the Gospel of Mark having read it as a work of literature in its own right. - Ronni

This fairly brief book provides a fresh and exciting approach to the Gospel of Mark. By respecting the integrity of Mark and encouraging the reader to attend to the details and style of this Gospel, the reader is allowed to experience anew the Gospel and find within its story the astounding character of Jesus.

Most churches teach "the gospels" as if they were one story told by someone named Matthew Mark Luke John. So it's very hard to read any one gospel as if for the first time. They all wind up sounding like random collections of sayings and miracles by Jesus leading up to Good Friday and Easter. What Rhoads and Michie do is to treat the Gospel of Mark as a work of literature in its own right, apart from anything else we know or think we know about Jesus. They examine Mark's rhetoric, settings, plot, and characters to see how he tells the story. In the process, they enable us to experience Mark's gospel in a completely fresh way. Now I'm waiting for them to do the same thing for Matthew, Luke, and John--especially John.

Britain started out ahead, but partly for that reason her carrier forces (and especially planes) were less suited for combat than America's. This is an excellent study of how that came to pass. Sadly missing is an equally insightful look at the Japanese carrier fleet, which in the winter of 1941-42 was arguably the equal of America's.

An intelligent and thoughtful study of how it happened that the United States started late, yet managed to enter World War II with a better carrier force than the Royal Navy. (In part, this was because the US *did* start late, and therefore didn't have an installed base of obsolete equipment.)

The only problem with this book is that it doesn't give equal time to the Japanese carrier fleet, which as it happened was America's only real competitor in this developing science.

This handsome encyclopedia is an excellent and useful reference book, its publication nicely timed for the sesquicentennial of the end of the war and a renewed interest in that conflict. Introduced by a short summary of the war and a resume of its causes, the alphabetically arranged entries range from Abolitionists to Zozaya, María Josefa. The almost 500 topics covered include: battles and skirmishes, military leaders, Indian participants, the role of women, medical practices, casualties, desertion, navies, Manifest Destiny, political figures, pro and con sentiments about the war, armistices, and peace treaty negotiations. All of the entries, many of them illustrated, are followed by suggestions for further reading. Some of the entries contain colorful, direct quotes from eyewitness accounts. In addition to maps, a chronology of the war, and a comprehensive index, this book has an extensive bibliography with references in Spanish as well as English. Besides books and articles, the bibliography lists a number of pertinent dissertations. Buy a copy for yourself and recommed it to your local library.

IT IS ABOUT TIME! someone took the time and effort to write an encyclopedia on the Mexican War. As a student of the Mexican War over the last eight years, I have often wondered when a qualified scholar and writer would "fill the niche" so sorely needed in this community. Mark Crawford deserves the credit and praise of all students and "buffs" of the topic. I wish he would have produced this marvelous volume years ago which would have saved me weeks of work in graduate school. I found it to be a perfect blend, a middle ground between Col Mark Boatner's in-depth classic, Civil War Dictionary and Patrcia Fausts' artist Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War. It is balanced, thorough and well-written with just the right amount of detail but not getting bogged down in the details. The only major criticism I have of this outstanding research tool, it is very lacking in maps! There are only three maps that does not come close to illustrate the scope and breath of a very broad and comprehensive conflict. The period photos and artwork perfectly captivate and enhance the very readable narrative. I highly recommend this great work to all students of the profession of arms, especially Mexican War types like me.

This book is an excellent book to establish a broad fundamental understanding of surgery, but detailed enough to use as reference. Every medical student who plans to pursue a career in a surgical field should read this book prior to graduation from medical school.

I was slightly disappointed by the fact that this book is considerably thinner than the previous edition -- we're losing something here. I found the Liver chapter a bit vague sometimes (e.g. on the precise indications for resection and/or transplantation for liver cancer). However, the Sabiston Textbook of Surgery, while somewhat less majestic, is still king -- some chapters, like Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Vascular Trauma (written by none less than Murray F. Brennan and Kenneth L. Mattox respectively) are outstanding. The chapters on Management of Acute Trauma, Critical Care, Acute Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage, Surgery of Morbid Obesity, Cerebrovascular Disease and Gynecology, to name just a few, also deserve much praise. This tome is a must for all medical students and surgical interns/residents.

If you're looking for in-depth detailed information on RDF, XML Schema, DAML + OIL etc., then don't buy this book.
If you're interested in DAML + OIL, and applications of it, then you don't want this book. (It covers DAML + OIL, but only touches its surface.)
If you want to read about new standars rising from the XML community, and you don't have any particular preference, then this might be a book you like.
If you can't cope with minimal cohesion, then you definitely should not buy this book. There's no single message in this book.

By now, I guess most of IT professionals have atleast heard about XML and know what problems XML can help solve, however it's challenging to keep up with fast evolving technologies around XML, like RDF, Topic Maps, Schemas, etc. I myself had heard about these technologies, but didn't quite understand them fully till I read Professional XML Meta Data from Wrox. As far as I know, this is the only book available in the market today that covers technologies useful for data description, discovery and exchange, in so much detail. The book covers XML Schemas, XML Linking and Querying, both the RDF specifications, Topic Maps and more. All the topics are explained in detail, the book is very well connected and the chapters flow nicely in sequence. I personally liked the final chapter "Advanced Meta Data Use Cases" that covers couple of areas where meta data can enhance the applications.

If you need to know about the latest XML metadata technologies or concepts like the Semantic Web and machine readable metadata, you need this book. I found it very useful in explaining RDF (there are three excellent chapters on RDF) and Topic Maps, which are potentially difficult subjects to understand. The book also suggests some interesting uses for metadata in the future, and has a useful chapter on extracting metadata from databases.

First off I would like to make a distinction between the Python programming language and this particular introduction to it. Python is a great language and you will enjoy programming in it. This is probably the source of excitement in reviews on this page. Because the book, unfortunately, has a number of flaws.

The tradition of O'Reilly Perl books has been not only to teach you the syntax of Perl, but also to introduce programming techniques and ideas how to make best use of the language features. This Python book scores zero on these points. It focuses on syntax exclusively and this makes it unsuitable for an absolute beginner. The examples are unimaginative. The authors show you how to write correct code for using "dictionaries", but not how to USE "dictionaries". A Perl book author would throw in a program that uses a "hash" to search for duplicate data entries (as they did).

Besides, the flow of the book is uneven. Functions and classes are discussed at length, but built-in data types and exceptions are looked at only briefly. All this is really unfortunate because there are not very many Python books on the market and it is a very good language.

Overall, I think, this book is best for experienced programmers who already know their CS, have to get up to speed with Python very quickly, have $30 to waste, and really love to own O'Reilly books. The rest might be better off by printing out the Python tutorial.

I first purchased this book nearly two years ago, but I never got past the first few chapters.

I just picked this book up again, with the benefit of two years' experience programming in PHP and a little but of Java, and I realize why working through this book seemed like such slow going the first time around.

On the one hand, "Learning Python" is written with a lot of hand-holding for readers who may not have much programming experience at all with any other languages; the basic concepts of variables, statements, functions, data types and the like are all clearly explained, which is a good thing for someone just starting out.

On the other hand, there are also quite a few tips and bits of information about memory efficiency, or how certain elements of Python relate to their C underpinnings; things that a rank newbie probably won't understand, and probably doesn't need to know when they're just trying to learn the basics. These esoteric points are probably quite helpful/interesting for programmers coming from low level languages like C, but those programmers will be frustrated by the slow page of the sections covering basic mechanics.

So you've got a book that moves at a beginners' pace that's full of asides targeted towards experienced programmers; beginners will be confused and overwhelmed, and experienced coders will just get frustrated.

For what it's worth, I have the first edition of this book; I'm not sure how the second edition compares.

Mark Lutz and David Ascher deliver precisely the needed information to meet the objective stated on the cover of the O'Reilly text, "Learning Python" (Help for Programmers).

A succinct, yet thorough treatment of the Python programming language is presented in some 350-plus written pages that are well organized and facilitate the development of Python programs in a "Read and Code as You Go" fashion.

After spot reading the Chapters on "Getting Started", "Types And

Operators", "Basic Statements", "Functions", "Modules" and "Common Tasks In Python", I was coding and running my first text file I/O Python programs within the first half of a day. The authors concise presentation of the concepts definitely facilitated the "learning curve", which so often is an obstacle when learning a new programming language. The material was also indexed very well with clear index descriptions to easily determine what the topic was and where to find it.

What I found to be the strongest point of the book were the "Gotchas" sections, in which the authors discussed topics such as Python Language Constructs, Program Class Usage and Coding Practices to be aware of. I found the "Common Coding Gotchas" section at the end of Chapter 3 of great benefit in coding and debugging my first self-authored Python programs (As I learned, Python is definitely a language where you want to indent consistently, avoid the mixing of blank spaces with tabs and not forget the use of colons to denote decision logic). The application of these concepts alone were a great asset in reducing the "Learning Curve" for me.

The program examples provided reinforced the clear, concise concepts presented by the authors. The programs that I studied were suited to running in both a Linux environment (using Linux Python Version 1.5.2 for SuSE(tm) Linux 7.0 and Red Hat(tm) Linux 6.1) and MS Windows(tm) NT/98 (using Active State's Active Python(tm) Version 2.1).

Exercises presented at the end of the chapter were effective at reinforcing the programming concepts presented. With some supplemental tutorial material for non-programmers, this book could be used as an educational text for a Python programming class, particularly one geared for programmers with scripting language experience.

The authors did a good job of covering a number of topics important to application programmers. Object-oriented Constructs, Manipulation of String Objects, Operating System Module Use, GUI Programming Component Frameworks and Applications such as Tkinter and JPython are discussed to provide the reader a good exposure to the extent of the Python language implementation and its strenght as a robust, object-oriented scripting language.

The book is definitely an invaluable resource for providing the essential material necessary to construct your first Python programs, especially if you've had prior programming experience with other scripting languages, such as REXX, Javascript or Perl.

Definitely one of the best O'Reilly publications I've read to date. Kudos to Mr. Lutz and Mr. Ascher for their contribution to making the experience of "Learning Python" a fun and productive pursuit. Five Stars!

The book covers too many topics and just few are developed in deep while others are superficially introduced because not yet standardized at the time of print. The book claims it covers the following topics: XML, XSLT, DOM, DTD, SOAP, XLink, XPointer, XPath, WAP, WML...and more; but just XML, Schemas, DTDs and SOAP could almost fit the book's size.

Chapters don't follow a very logic thread and it doesn't deal enough with very relevant subjects. Wrox probably planned to make this book the XML bible but I think they are far from the target.

The XML declarative language, with its adaptability and expressive power, is continuing to become the language of choice for reporting and classifying information. XML is a formal grammar that captures the syntactic features of a document type definition, and its properties, syntax, and applications are discussed effectively in this book. It covers XML as formalized by the W3C and the authors show how to use XML in Web-based and database applications. Readers who have developed applications in HTML will probably view XML as somewhat more abstract, since the visual representation of the content of a document is not emphasized in XML. Readers are expected to have a background in HTML, JavaScript, Java, and ASP in order to read the book. Although XML can be learned by reading the W3C specifications, these documents are frequently difficult reading, and this book makes the learning of XML much easier than reading these specifications. They include the W3C specifications for XML 1.0 in an appendix to the book for the interested reader. The book is a little dated, since the W3C has been updating XML specs since the time of publication (especially with regard to schemas), but there is a 2nd edition coming out soon.

In Chapter 1, XML is introduced as a mark-up language and its inherent extensibility emphasized. This is followed by a detailed treatment of XML syntax in the next chapter, with emphasis placed on the hierarchical nature of XML. The authors do include a discussion of Processing Instructions (PIs) for users who want to use XML in this fashion.

Document Type Definitions (DTD) are the subject of Chapter 3, where the authors communicate effectively how DTDs formal grammar is used to specify the structure and permissible values of XML documents. The formal DTD structure is discussed, and the principles behind writing DTDs are effectively outlined. They also discuss the problems with using DTDs.

Data modeling with XML is discussed in the next chapter, with information modeling via static and dynamic models treated in detail, and the authors carefully distinguish these two approaches. The actual designing of XML documents is given a nice overview as well as the role of schemas in XML. This is followed in Chapter 6 by a discussion of the (tree-based) Document Object Model, which overviews how XML documents can be accessed by various programs. Some helpful examples are given on how the DOM can be used to create an XML document programmatically. An alternative way of processing an XML document is discussed in the next chapter on the (event-based) SAX interface. The authors outline in detail the benefits of using SAX rather than DOM. In Appendix B the reader will find the Internet Explorer 5.0 XML DOM 1.0 W3C specifications. In addition, in Appendix C, the specification for the SAX 1.0 interface is given.

The shortcomings of DTD are addressed in terms of XML Schemas and namespaces in chapter 7. Since this book was published, XML Schemas have reached W3C recommendation status as of Nov 2000. The authors give a good overview of namespaces and schemas, with helpful examples. This is followed in chapter 8 by a discussion of how to link and query into XML documents using the XML information set, XLink, XPath, XPointer, XML Fragment Interchange, with XLST covered in the next chapter. For database applications, the authors outline the differences between relational databases and XML documents. A very detailed treatment of how XLST transforms the source document is given, and the authors compare XLS and DOM transformations. An Internet Explorer XSL reference is included in one of the appendices of the book.

More details on the relationship between databases and XML is the subject of chapter 10, wherein the authors show how to store XML and how data can be communicated between different servers using XML. The issues involved when moving data from RDBMS to OODBMS or from Oracle to Sybase, are discussed by the authors. This is followed by an interesting discussion on how to use XML as a distributed component model for server-to-server communications via XML-Remote Procedure Call and Simple Object Access Protocol.

E-commerce applications are discussed in the next chapter, with EDI and its improvement via XML. The business markup language cXML , which allows business to business electronic commerce transactions across the Internet, is also treated in detail.

The authors then finally discuss how to render XML documents more readable and pleasing for the viewer in the next chapter using the style languages CSS and XSL. The discussion is really interesting, for the authors dig a little deeper into the foundations of style languages. The discussion of style languages as rule-based languages is particularly illuminating.

The next chapter is very interesting and its inclusion is actually very surprising, namely a discussion of the Wireless Application Protocol. The authors give an introduction to the Wireless Markup Language and WMLScript. The book ends with four useful chapters on case studies for data duality, distributed applications, a book catalog information service, and SOAP.

There are many applications of XML in many different areas, such as CellML (proprietary) used in cell biology, CML (Chemical Markup Language) for molecular chemistry, IML (Instrument Markup Language) for control of laboratory equipment, BSML (Bioinformatic Sequence Markup Language) for gene sequencing, and MathML for formatting of mathematical equations. I find XML an extremely powerful approach to information reporting and I am currently developing a package called NMML (Network Modeling Markup Language) for use in reporting results in simulation and mathematical modeling of networks, and FMML (Financial Modeling Markup Language) for use in reporting results in the modeling of financial instruments. This book, along with the W3C specifications, has been a tremendous help in the development of these applications.

Awesome "self-teach" book. I've been programming for years, but was new to XML and needed to start using it in my applications, so I had just the very basic concepts of what XML was before I started reading. This book is very complete, gives tons of practical examples and guidelines, and provides many external references. This is the ONLY book you will need to learn XML effectively on your own.

As others have stated here, the only real downside to the book is that it repeats many concepts more than once, so it is NOT the best choice for a reference book.