This book is the best fossil reference book for the casual collector as well as a great addition to any science or teacher's library where geology and-or paleontology are included.

Written in a very down-to-earth style, the book walks you step-by-step through the basics of why fossils exist, where you will find them, how to properly (and safely) collect them and what to do when you get them home or back to the classroom.

Any family that includes fossil-hunting in their vacation, home-school or travel plans should pack this book along for the added benefit of the wide range of fossils identified within.

Any teacher who brings students to potential fossil or geology sites on field trips should include readings from this book BEFORE heading out as well as keeping it handy while in the field.

There's enough packed into this book that every school library science section should include this volume if budgets restrict purchases.

It's a great gift for the budding fossil collector and an excellent addition to a serious collector's library.

The soft, but protected cover, makes it safe to handle in the field.

Take my advice - purchase two: one for the field and one for the desk or prep table.

This book is quite insightful, especially for a Southeast Asian media professional like myself. I recommend this book to everyone, even to those who work in the upper regions of the power sturcture of the media conglomerates critiqued in the collection.

For starters, it is a wonderful overview of how the media economy is shifting all over the world. The US market is saturated, as the book said, and the rest of the world is ripe for picking, especially my country, the Philippines.

This book is a tool to launch our own media analysis of what's happenning in our own countries. And from an analysis, we launch a critique, and from a critique, we launch steps to face the situation.

This book, published by New Media, is invaluable. I first read about it in an issue of Utne Reader. I took down the title and hunted it down in Amazon. I found it, bought it, and consumed it. I loved it because it gave me useful insights to work with.

This is a book I will dog-ear in my attempts to understand what to do in my field, and how to start my own media conglomerate from scratch. I already have my ideas, which I hope aren't just soundbites in my head.

You find out about what led to Casablanca's production, its inspiration, how the actors were chosen, the history occurring at the time that helped it along, the quarrels on set, the difficulties with budget and timing, the process for coming up with the ending of the movie. You learn about the director's accent and odd way of speaking that sometimes confused everyone. (When he asked for a "poodle" and such a dog was brought, he angrily tried to clarify that what he wanted was a "puddle". ) You learn about Bogart's standoffishness to Ingrid Bergman, and Peter Lorre's continual playing of practical jokes on the cast. There's a bio about each actor, and how the movie affected his or her career, and a listing of movies that were intended copies or spinoffs. This is a great book if you love Casablanca, its actors, or want to know about moviemaking of that era.

The stories inside deserve this level of presentation. "The Dark Knight Returns," available in many other collected editions, is one of the premier works of art produced by the comics medium. "Batman: Year One" is a gem of equal quality. The third piece, "Wanted: Santa Claus-Dead or Alive" is not written by Miller, and lacks the drama of the other stories. He is the artist, only. Still, it is a nice single issue Batman story, representative of that era.

Also included in this edition are introductions by comics resident genius Alan Moore, as well as Richard Burning and a little introspection by Frank Miller.

Definitely worth picking up.

"Batman: Year One" is the first story in the collection (actually the last one of the three written) and it is a story that many Batman fans had hoped the fisrt Batman movie would have been based on. It is well told, and the major players in the Batman saga are introduced: Batman, Gordon, Alfed and Selina Kyle (Catwomen). It is a well written story and as good as any in the last 20 years of any genre.

The second story in this special is "Wanted: Santa Claus-Dead or Alive." This is a quick piece and doesn't involve too much, but does show a caring and revernt Batman.

The last is Miller's magnum opus, "The Dark Knight Returns." This four chapter story is spectacular and a great piece of work: both in story telling and various artist expression. This psychological drama deals with an aging Batman, who at the age of 55, comes back to fight crime after a ten year absence. Miller insightfully deals with many subjects now addressed by our popular media. For example, the idea of a liberal soceity blaming crime on the agents of heroism instead on personal evil. Miller writes and demonstrates that victims are innocent people who try to live a virtous life, and Batman fights to protect a city dying of a cancer.

Comic collectors need this special leather bound book with commentaries by Richard Burning and Alan Moore. Frank Miller himself writes some notes which personalizes this special edition that much more.

My first books on use cases focused more on UML rather than use cases. I did not give a hoot on use cases, because they look so simple on paper (and that's why I didn't buy a book specifically on use cases!) But as I grew as a developer, I began to believe that use case modelling if done well can significantly reduce development effort and bring about quality solutions. Use cases are the foundation to the understanding of the system that you are trying to develop. Use cases deserve serious attention.

The main problem with use cases is that you either don't know how to start or when to stop. This book tells you both. It tells you how to develop your use case model systematically from scratch and how to make provisions so that your use case model can grow. IMO, that's the main draw for this book.

The authors also give good insights on the possible approaches the reader can take to expand his/her use case model iteratively. It cautions the modeller to keep a balanced model so that stakeholders can understand, rather than one that specifies everything but gets bogged down by the details.

Semantics, you can get it elsewhere, but this book discusses it pretty well too. The examples are clear and relevant.

All in all, Frank and Granville did an excellent job covering the topic.

Just a tremendous wealth of solid info. I only wish I had the most updated version, and not one a few years old. (I bought a used copy on Amazon to save some money.)

After I bought it from Amazon (lowest price, believe me), I was very satisfied. The author explains all topics in a clear manner and provides interesting case examples. This is one book that I will use as reference over and over. I can't imagine myself without it now. I also can't imagine a better business law book.

Miller subtly drops these apparently irrelevant scenes on you halfway into the stories, which serve as a preamble to some of his most powerful lines/images... [among my favorites: In DK Returns, Commisioner Gordon's speech to Captain Yindel "Roosevelt knew about Pearl Harbor but didn't stop it because 'it was too big'" only to have Yindel return in that single frame on the last book to say [about Batman]: "He's too big" - [she finally "gets" Gordon!] second-favorite: The splash page in every issue of DD Born Again, showing Matt's sleeping journey, from the lap of luxury down to the gutter, and then back to the most comfortable bed any of us will ever know - must've took me three reads to click, and realize what Miller was doing (you just don't see that too often in this medium, and by all means NEVER as masterfully executed!). I won't even go into Sin City, "it's just TOO BIG")

Do yourself a favor. Pick up Daredevil Born Again and read it at least twice, then pick up Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One, Sin City (all of 'em), and 300, and READ THEM SLOWLY, cause, believe me, when you're done with them, you'll be sad... because you'll have to wait, like the rest of us... patiently... for Frank's next work of art. And make no mistake, this is art of the highest form!

Frank Miller's writing and David Mazzucchelli's art are career bests in this eight-issue story. Like so many great superhero stories of the modern era, this one interrogates a fundamental aspect of the comic book tradition - namely, what would happen if a hero's worst enemy discovered their secret identity?

The story is laden with Frank Miller's usual grit, but this feels integral to the story, rather than tacked on. In the hands of other comic book writers, themes such as prostitution, destitution, pornography, drug addiction and US military intervention abroad are often used to give superficial stories a faux-profundity. But in 'Born Again' these themes are served well, and not wallowed in any more than they need to be - Matt Murdock, Karen Page and Ben Urich may be sent to Hell in the story, but all three are then redeemed. The blossoming romance of Foggy Nelson and Murdock's ex Glori O'Breen is a corrective to all the misery as well.

As well as being Daredevil's finest moment, this is also the Kingpin's. No artist has made the Kingpin's bulk look more imposing than Mazzucchelli does, whether big baldie is seen on a yacht at sunset, in his trademark suit, working out with weights, or sitting in a sauna. Another beautiful artistic touch is that several issues of the story open with a page showing Matt Murdock waking up, each one a snapshot of the state of his life at that point. And in one sequence, where Ben Urich listens to a murder on the telephone surrounded by the chaos of the the Daily Bugle, his face becomes progressively less naturalistic in each panel to reflect his growing horror - eventually, he looks like a Picasso.

The godlike cameo of the Avengers towards the end of the story is a great example of the 'less is more' approach to comic books. And it's a pleasant surprise, in the last couple of issues, when Miller decides that since he's writing the best ever Daredevil story, he might as well have a crack at writing the best ever Captain America story at the same time. Cap Ap's tortured role in 'Born Again', torn between his patriotic ideals and US injustice, is exactly the same as Superman's role in the Batman story 'A Death in the Family' - but the set-up works better here.

Daredevil is taken apart and put back together in 'Born Again', which is what makes the story so good. It contains an important revelation concerning Matt Murdock's family - typically, Miller delivers this bombshell with a light, blink-and-you'll-miss-it touch. And the story's final page, which shows Matt Murdock and Karen Page walking down a sunlit street in Hell's Kitchen, is immensely satisfying - a clean slate for the character. As the accompanying text says: 'My name is Matt Murdock. I was blinded by radiation. My remaining senses function with superhuman sharpness. I live in Hell's Kitchen and do my best to keep it clean. That's all you need to know.'