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I found this book very well written and an enormously entertaining read. The author not only gives a keen insight into what Oliver Stone is about and how he works, but the book also gives a good basic overview of how movies get made and the inner workings of Hollywood. After reading this book, I gained a new respect and appreciation for all the tremendously hard working people involved in getting a story onto the big screen.
I give the book a 3 star rating because the author didn't stay true to his topic. The first half of the book was much more revealing (and interesting) than the latter half. It worked really well from up to around the end of the Platoon era. After that it seems like the book tapers off. Besides, I find it hard to believe that you can find more details and insights into Stone's early life, when he was a nobody, than you can into his later life where he is among the biggest directors in Hollywood and a much revered and outspoken public figure.
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Zeus and the other gods, creatures such as centaurs and Titans such as Atlas appear in the labors. When my youngest daughter was reading the book, she often stopped and asked questions like, “What’s a centaur?” If I had not been present to answer the questions, her enjoyment of the book and understanding of the tales would have been significantly reduced. It would have been very helpful if a list of the characters in the book with a one sentence description had been included.
Overall, the authors do a good job in telling the greatest myth of antiquity. The illustrations help keep the attention of the reader, but the lack of explanation concerning the other characters does weaken it.
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Hoddeson & Daitch, "True Genius" (Bardeen)
Our university bookstore (809 S. Wright St.) kindly informed me of your listing of Hoddeson and Daitch's John Bardeen biography, "True Genius," and, of course, I read the brief "Publishers Weekly" review, as well as the more cryptic but more positive comments of others. From the very first sentence I knew that the "Publishers Weekly" review would be superficial, and maybe even wrong, which then is of what help to a reader and potential book customer? Living in the U.S. democracy, how can we not be curious and not read about the Founders? Similarly, how can we be immersed in all the new electronics (computers, cell phones, DVD and CD machines, MRI's, digital machinery---in fact, Si here, Si there, Si everywhere) and not be curious about how all this happened, what sort of ingenius mind, or minds, might be at the beginning of it all? Imagine the calamity on the planet if the transistor vanished for a day. Does that help in understanding the scale of a Bardeen, of "True Genius"! I knew John Bardeen for 40 years (as my teacher, friend, colleague) and still I learned something further from Hoddeson and Daitch and the material they unearthed for "True Genius", a fascinating biography (a different kind of story). Hoddeson and Daitch do not disappoint in their biography of Bardeen and in elucidating over many chapters his kind of genius, which "Publishers Weekly" doesn't seem to appreciate. Genius is a diamond of many facets, and Hoddeson and Daitch reveal a Bardeen facet. It isn't the last chapter of "True Genius" that matters. It's the whole book, all the chapters, that reveal an American hero---if you will, a genius.
Nick Holonyak, Jr.
John Bardeen Chair Professor of
Electrical and Computer
Engineering and Physics, and
Center for Advanced Study
Professor of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
I'd put this book alongside "The Invention That Changed The World" as the two best popular histories of science an technology of the decade.
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This novel has Tres taking a professorship with University of Texas, San Antonio. He's to protect himself from becoming the third professor in the position that dies and to help the detective agency he works for to find the killer of the other two.
I liked the characters I was supposed to like and disliked the characters I was supposed to dislike. I was suitably confused about who the real bad guy was till the end of the book. I like the way the author writes about San Antonio.
One thing Rick Riordan needs to work on is his gun lore, although it wouldn't surprise me if the author considered himself above guns. For me it was like finger nails on the blackboard when he talks about "silenced .357 semi-auto handguns" or "mercury filled .45 slugs leaving pock marks" in the stone around a fireplace or "a high powered Mossberg over and under."
Grrrrrr.
The .357 caliber is typically used in revolvers and it wouldn't be a good choice for use with a silencer because the bullet itself travels over the speed of sound and makes its own little sonic boom after it leaves the firearm. The mercury filled .45 might be a direct steal from Day of the Jackal but even if it isn't the point of the mercury would be to cause a tremendous amount of expansion of the bullet when it hit something. It shouldn't penetrate the victim and still have enough force to scar the brickwork around the fireplace. It should expend all of its energy in the victim. Finally the high powered Mossberg over and under would read much cleaner if it had been referred to as a Mossberg pump. Mossberg is famous for their low cost, high quality, high capacity, pump shotguns. Also "high power" is a term usually used for handguns and rifles, not for shotguns of any type. John Sandford gets this right in his "Prey" books.
I do think I owe it to the author and myself to read another Tres Navarre book. Rick Riordan has won several mystery book awards which means you can't go too far wrong in buying one of his stories.
Some of my family is in San Antonio, and it's where I went to school, so I found the setting of 'The Last King of Texas' very easy to embrace and understand. Riordan tosses out the names of local streets, landmarks, events, and personalities with an ease that may cause people unfamiliar with San Antonio a little confusion. But that shouldn't distract too much from this well crafted murder mystery.
The story itself is fast paced, and while there is a lot of fightin' and shootin' going on, the scenes are not disturbingly graphic. In fact, one of my main complaints with the story is that our P.I., Tres Navarre, sometimes seemed to have the superhuman qualities of a kung fu movie hero, able to single-handedly dispatch masses of bad guys with his lightning-fast moves. That slight unbelievability, however, did not extend into the story itself -- which, through all its twists and turns, remained believable and true to life. The solution to the mystery did not suggest itself too early, and was ultimately a satisfying payoff. Navarre himself is an attractive and likeable figure, and most of the other major characters, good and evil, were fully drawn.
Mark Twain famously called San Antonio 'one of America's four unique cities.' For anyone familiar with San Antonio, this novel will be an entertaining trip back. And even if you haven't been blessed with a trip to the Alamo City, you'll find yourself looking for the chips and margaritas to keep you company as you hurtle through this entertaining and exciting mystery. I will definitely be seeking out the two earlier Tres Navarre stories, the one after, and any more coming down the pike.
The characters in this book are fresh and different--not at all run-of-the-mill, and that includes the bad guys. If you are looking to escape from your everyday world and meet a decidedly cool teacher/private eye then, this is the book for you. People from his past and present collide in rather unexpected ways.
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Normally I don't care for Texas settings in novel (it's a Colorado thing) but this one works. Much of that has to do with Navarre's having spent ten years in the Bay Area (where the writer, Riordan, a Texas native, lives). It's a nice mixture of cravings for Peet's coffee while drinking Big Red soda cut with tequila. Navarre is a pretty likeable guy - and is the first guy shamus with a cat that I can recall.
The mystery is only worth three stars as it is a bit muddled and has a few too many players. Still, a fun read and I'm looking forward to the second book in the series, The Widower's Two Step. It should also be noted that the book won Anthony and Shamus awards as well as making the Washington Post year-end list.
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The book consists of 3 parts:
First, relational database theory. Do yourself a favour and read this part again and again until you understand the definitions, since they will be referred to throughout the book.
Second, designing relational database systems with focus on how and what information you should obtain prior to developing a database.
Third, designing the user interface where the author describes the different standards behind a good user interface.
The first part of the book is by far the most challenging and difficult to comprehend, as database theory is a rather academic subject. Ms. Riordan uses academic terminology only when needed, it is obvious that she knows the limitations of the theory in real world database developing.
In the last 2 parts of the book, the experience and hands on approach of the author becomes evident. However, I disagree with her use of dialog boxes in chapter 16 (Maintaining database integrity), they are not user friendly at all.
For beginners to relational database theory I recommend: Inside Relational Databases by Whitehorn & Markly (ISBN 354076092X). The advanced reader should try: Database Systems by Connolly & Begg (ISBN 0201708574).
I strongly recommend this book to any Access/SQL Server developer who has already programmed a few applications, and needs to strengthen his theoretical knowledge.
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Carlos Madeira Portugal, 16th of August of 1999
Riordan's PI, Tres Navarre, somewhat reluctantly gets involved when his older brother, Garrett, becomes suspect number one in the murder of his old friend and business partner in a computer start-up, Jimmy Doebler. Neither Jimmy or Garrett, both skilled programmers, has much in the way of business acumen, and it appears that perhaps there's a sinister scheme underway to undermine their product, a potentially lucrative security system, and get them to sell for peanuts. Tres, sho normally works out of a home base in San Antonio, has been hired to teach a summer school course in British literature at the university, so it is his proximity, in part, which draws him into the investigation. There are also unexplored feelings of guilt regarding his brother and an accident in the past which took Garrett's legs.
There are some excellent things here: very clear, vivid descriptions of scuba diving; a very frightening, psychopathic killer, whose true identity is continually misdirected; and family infighting among the Doebler clan. Tres is a vivid creation, as are his brother, his old girlfriend, Maia Lee, and the local policeman, Victor Lopez. I had a great time with this book and am eagerly looking forward to reading the others in this series. Receives my strongest recommendation!