James Agee was short for this world, having died in his mid 40s. In that span of time he wrote a famous book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, and a couple of classic screenplays, AFRICAN QUEEN and NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. This collection of magazine film reviews and essays is in many ways the leftover part of his work, and yet it feels like enough to make a reputation on. His reviews span just one decade, the 1940s. Many of them tackle foreign films that may be unavailable for all I know.

Interesting to me is that he spends three weeks discussing Chaplin's MONSIEUR VERDOUX, which is a most unusual movie and mostly forgotten today. This might be because he saw it as his only chance to write a poignant piece on the greatest living film artist, or it may be because he identified with the plight of mankind theme that Chaplin was reaching for. You can pick another reason, yourself, but it was a bold decision, because most critics panned the film (according to him) and most readers probably couldn't even see the movie in their small towns. It was as if he knew he would be writing for posterity. Like all critics, he cultivated his darlings. He saw much in the work of John Huston and was very skillful in his sizing up of TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. I was impressed that he predicted the all-time classic nature of the film, but also understood the studio system gimmicks that took away from the genius.

You don't have to be literary minded like W. H. Auden to enjoy this book. You'll like it, if you like movies.

Ever wonder what causes a movie reviewer to *become* a movie reviewer? When I was a ten-year-old kid just getting into classic movie comedies, I went to the library and checked out the book AGEE ON FILM solely because it had references to Charlie Chaplin and W.C. Fields. Thus was my introduction to high-quality film criticism.

James Agee made his reputation writing sterling movie reviews for Time and The Nation magazines in the 1940's. Among other glories, he wrote a much-heralded essay titled "Comedy's Greatest Era" that helped to bring silent-comedy icons (most notably Harry Langdon) out of mothballs and caused them to be re-viewed and discussed seriously among film historians. He later went on to work on the screenplays of a couple of gems titled The African Queen and Night of the Hunter.

Unfortunately, many people who regard the critics Pauline Kael and Stanley Kauffmann have either forgotten Agee's work entirely or have assigned his own work to mothballs. But among the faithful are film director Martin Scorsese, who serves as editor of the "Modern Library: The Movies" series of film books. The series has recently reissued the AGEE ON FILM book, and re-reading Agee's work (or reading it for the first time, if you're lucky enough) proves that film criticism can make for reading material as compelling as any fictional novel.

Agee passes the acid test for any film critic: Even if you don't agree with him, his writing is so lively that you can't help enjoying it. His work ranges from three separate columns (three weeks' worth, in print terms) to Chaplin's much-maligned (at the time) MONSIEUR VERDOUX, to the most concise, funniest review ever: Reviewing a musical potboiler titled YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME, Agee replied in four simple words, "That's what *you* think."

If you want to see what high-caliber movie criticism meant in the pre-Siskel & Ebert days, engross yourself in this sprawling book. It'll make you appreciate the decades before every newspaper, newsletter, and Internet site had its own minor-league deconstructionist of Hollywood blockbusters.

James Agee wrote film criticism in America at a time when the American film industry hardly deserved his attention. His celebrations of silent film comedy, of Preston Sturges, of John Huston [for whom he later wrote the script for The African Queen], and of the handful of worthy foreign films that he managed to see are what make this volume worth reading. Besides Agee's beautiful prose and above all his compassion. Interestingly, Agee was a fan of Frank Capra's comedies (It Happened One Night) and bemoaned the director's decent into serious social films (Mr Smith Goes To Washington, Meet John Doe). His negative review of It's a Wonderful Life, which has never been in print since it appeared in 1946, reveals the extent to which Agee was perhaps too far ahead of his time, and even of ours.

I must admit I'm somewhat disappointed in this reading of the NAS Bible.

This is, by the way, the new updated version. If you've seen comparisons of the various Bible versions, the NASB generally is described as the most literal version (word-for-word accuracy) of the Bible that sometimes suffers in terms of readability for that very reason. I believe the reputation has been largely undeserved. But, with this version they have gone back over sentence structure, vocabulary, etc. with a view toward improving the readability and flow of the language. They have also removed archaic words like Thee and Thou. I think they have succeeded without compromising the accuracy of the translation. We now have a literal, word-for-word translation that reads with the best of the modern versions.

That said, this reading of the text really doesn't do justice to the version. Stevens sounds like a radio announcer--as he is according to the credits. In fact, he kind of reminds me of Ted Knight from the old Mary Tyler Moore Show, or maybe Gary Owens from Laugh-In. You know, the announcer trying to sound like an announcer rather than simply announcing. It is difficult for me to listen through his sometimes heavy inflections to the underlying message. I do feel that Stevens could pull this off though. Occasionally, through the books, he backs off a little and just reads rather than "narrating". When he does so, he's fine.

I'm afraid I may have been forever spoiled by Alexander Scourby's reading of the King James Version. Scourby has aptly earned the appellation "The Voice of the Bible". You GET the Bible, Scourby remains in the background. It is a masterful work. Unfortunately, Scourby only recorded the King James Version before his death, so we are forever out of luck for the modern versions.

This is currently the only game in town for the updated NASB so, if you need an audio bible of this version, this would be the one. It's listenable, just not all I'd like it to be.

I enjoy this so much that I listen to it over and over again in the car. Stevens does a great job with pronunciations and spacing, and this is better than other narrations that I've heard.

At first I just wanted to listen to the Bible in the car, but this turned out to be a very effective way to memorize scripture as well. Also, you will get a much better picture of what God is saying, because you tend to listen to several chapters at once (because Ephesians is only 20 minutes, Romans is 60 minutes, etc).

So in summary, this is great for
1) memorization
2) comprehension
3) "getting the context"

There's nothing like listening to the pure word of God!

What a great idea! I was just listening to my barely audible NASB nonupdated version audio cassettes in the car today and wishing that somehow I could get it on CD. This is a dream come true.

I heartily recommend listening over and over and over. My CD's are on order. My other wish---package both CDS and DVDS together. Good idea, no?!!

Thank you Lockman or whoever is behind this!!

Great photography and clear prose. The book left me wanting a little more, though. You can breeze through this in a couple hours! The subject matter covered is diverse and uniformly interesting. Again, I just wish there could have been a little more.

This book really captures the grandeur of the North Cascades (Washington's end of the range). While Martin's text is occasionally a little tough to plod through (seven of the eight chapters are written in a journal format, which drags once in a while), his mesmerizing photographs make up for this minor shortcoming. The vivid photographs show us the breathtaking beauty of these still wild mountains, the beauty that has captivated and still captivates people as diverse as Fred Beckey (the legendary climber who claims hundreds of first ascents in the range) and Pulitzer Prize-winning Zen poet Gary Snyder (whom Martin once took a hike with).

Martin takes us up some of the major peaks, from gentle Ruth Mountain to gorgeous Mt. Shuksan and from massive Glacier Peak to the rugged ridges of the Pickets. In between, he devotes a chapter (the best in the book) to poets Kenneth Rexroth, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, and Allen Ginsburg (one of the only major Beat poets not to cultivate a life-long relationship with the Cascades). There's also a chapter on mountain wildlife.

All in all a great book not to be missed.

This book is a wonderful marriage of clear prose and stunning photographs. Few people know about the highest and most rugged corner of the Cascades, but Martin conveys its grandeur and beauty.I expected climbing stories and natural history, but a chapter on beatniks? It's a quirky book but it all hangs together. Worth it for the photography alone.

Of all the object oriented programming books that I have read, this book is probably the most concise. The first 200 pages serve as the best object oriented dictionary that I have seen.

Don't bother reading any of their other books, as they all seem to reiterate these first 200 pages

Object-Oriented Analysis & Design is well written and clear. The authors lack of focus on any development platform provides the best method of understanding programming. He creates a vehicle via a way to approach programming that any person new to programming can understand and design. After reading this publication you will have the ability to write bug free programs using any development tool, Visual Basic, C, Java, or C++.

By far the best OO book on the market.

This book is the best OO book you will find. It is clear and concice and draws from experience and background sadly missing in many textbooks.

This is a very good work. I enjoyed it immensely. The chapters by Choi Chatterjee, in particular, were very thoughtful and well researched. She is proof positive that the historical field suffers from a dearth of women and minority thinkers, and would benefit greatly from their unique and compelling vision.
Given Chatterjee's tremendous breadth on such issues as gender, class, and ethnicity, one would hope for future research by her about academic sinecures for bourgeois mothers of color.
Many people are unaware of this phenomenon. Recently, women of color are being exploited as diversified pawns in the playing field of white male academia. After culminating their rights to motherhood, they are, in effect, phased out of the academy. They are still paid a solid middle class income, of coure, but are petered into nominal positions, teaching, say, one course per semester, thus minimizing their significance within the department's political landscape. (They are permitted to work only about ten to fifteen hours per week.)
This is just another disgraceful example of the dominant white male hierarchy imposing its oppressions upon middle-class mothers of color.
Once again, this is an excellent book. I highly recommend it.

Chatterjee should write a book on academic sinecures for bourgeois mothers of color.

This book is a case study of censorship in the United States during World War I. There is everything you ever wanted to know about this particularly bad episode in the history of free speech in America, and probably a lot more here than you ever wanted to know. James Martin runs lists of names, facts, and book titles past the reader so fast that it is easy to lose track, which is probably this book's only real flaw. There is some especially thorough information on some of the books which were banned, such as publications of the Russellites (now known as the Jehovah's Witnesses) and other pacifist religious groups, showing how the government's excuse for banning them, that the books were "German propoganda", was absurd. Yes, it did happen here.

One of the results of the anti-German hate fest that swept the U.S during WWI was the American government's attempt to ban as "German propaganda",certain books about the origins of that war and related issues.As Martin goes through the list of banned books,it will become obvious that calling any of the books "German propaganda" was quite a stretch.This is an important book about an episode of American history that is now almost entirely forgotten.

The author-photographer uses a scientific approach by asking a question about beavers and/or their skills, then proceeding with text and photos to answer the question with facts. In this style a beaver's lodge and dam are explained as are the beavers' anatomical adaptations, diet and family life. This is a lovely book giving great information in a simple format for young and those who might be reading with them. There is a simple glossary, index and diagram of a beaver. The photographs are excellent showing beavers building, repairing, playing with or supporting the young, and even underwater shots. Easy to read and understand but with lots of information. Enjoy!

Ms. Martin-James has written an engaging and fun book that is a delight for children AND their parents -- and is educational at the same time. Highly recommended for a nature-loving youngster.

Martin and Odell - an experienced team demonstrates object oriented concepts to the theoretically educated audience.
Without the enlightning read of 'The OO Foundation' (Martin, Odell) the buyer might encounter difficulties to follow the discussions.
As the title clearly states, the authors discuss the applications, mostly pragmatic, of oo concepts and methods. This includes the realization of oo concepts in programming languages, their limitations, best practices.
The book is structured as a cook-book with powerfull how-tos not only for the application design but also for tasks of a software development process.
Please note that this book does not define any methods nor does it specify a software development process. It gives you a pragmatic view based on the rich experience of the authors - even today, six years after the book was first published.

A must read for every serious software developer.

I recommend it to people wishing to strongly become familiar with OO. In comparison with "UML Users Guide", "OO Analysis and Design with C++ examples", "Applying patterns with UML ", "UML Distilled" this book explains OO at the good fundamental level and explanation is very sequential. You will understand OO approach step by step. However, this book is not for novice. Some experience is necessary. If you want just to get few basic concepts and start programming, then this book is not for you too. System Analysts, Architects and Team Leaders must read it.

This book is great for enterprise modeling--as well as understanding the formal foundation of OO analysis.

This book was good, had alot of pics. But at some parts of the book they had news paper clippings that were not compleat. I.E. One part is an interview with Passenger of the Fatel Crash. Half way into the interview, it cuts off. All and all a pretty good book if you like pics.

This James Dean book is Awesome, it has sooo many great photos to look at I looked at this book for hours! james Dean is the best actor ever!!!!! this book gives all the information and pictures for his whole life's story, its great, you should buy it right away if you want to know and see James Dean!

This is perhaps the best Dean book out there for those of us that are interested in the photographs. Some hard to find and exclusive pics are in this one. Keep in mind it's not a biography if that is what you're looking for, but in terms of photos, this one can not be beat!

This is a useful little reference amongst a sea of other such references. However, it's not a book!

Not a Book? This most certainly is a book. I hold a copy of it in my hands as I write this. It most certainly is a book. Cannot understand the reasoning of the reviewer below.

This is an excellent general fitness guidebook. It focuses on general strength training and aerobic fitness over a lifetime. The calisthenic exercises are presented clearly, as are the justification for the exercise. There are many good guidelines for maintaining fitness from an early age into late middle age. The calisthenic and weight programs listed at the end of the book are comprehensive and thorough, as you would expect from our military academies.

This is a great book for general fitness. It covers weight training sufficiently, but it is not a body building guide.