The fonts featured in the book are great. Not only are they varied and interesting, but they are also very versatile. However, if you're not interested in the phsycho-babble, new age publishing, and "celebration of grunge typography", you can find most of the fonts freely available on the internet and packaged with other fonts in larger, less expensive colloections. On the whole, though, it is a good read.

I gave the Mac version of this book as a gift to my hard-to-buy for sister and it was a winner! I am SOOO glad there's a Windows version for the non-Mac crowd. Every book by Robin Williams is visually inspiring and I especially liked the orginality of this one! Keep those books comin' Robin

I have NOT seen this book, but I saw the PBS special it is based on and that was 5 stars. I am in fact desperately looking for the video of it. Breshnahan is able to fuse his art, a sense of environmentalism, and a back to basics attitude to produce works of clay that are magnificent in of themselves, but the process behind making them is even more so. A great American artist.

This is an extraordinary book. Richard Bresnahan's life, and his pottery, reflect ancient traditions of Japanese pottery and Midwestern pragmatism. His arrival at St John's University where he establishes not only a new pottery but an inspiring lifestyle. This is the story of craftsmanship, spirituality, self-sufficiency and an environmentally alive way of life. The photos of the pottery are exquisite. The explanation of where the pottery fits into the tradition is informative. The story of the man - Bresnahan - and his passion for pottery is inspiring. You will learn about pottery in this book. More importantly you will be exposed to a way of living, a lifestyle of craft and an approach to the environment that is truly spiritual. I have been reading the sumptuous hard bound... but there is also a ... paperback version. This book would be an excellent gift book for any friend who is a potter or passionately involved with another craft. Bresnahan's life and work will inspire you to get out of the fast lane and find a more integrated way of living. You will return to this book over and over again. I have - and each time I learn something new, or some new insight breaks through the busy routines of family and work. The text is clear and to the point. The artfully done photos are a delight in themselves, with detailed captioning that describes the pottery piece, how it was fired and how it might fit into the ceramics tradition. A special thanks to the Afton Historical Society Press for putting out such a wonderful book.

I am reviewing this book because no one else has, SO the book is packed full of facts. The style is dry, but he does strive to give an objective vision of Breckinridge, and accomplishes that by not slipping into purple prose. A good functional book.

William C. Davis has written the only full-length biography of John C. Breckinridge, who is one of the most fascinating and yet one of the least well known figures in all of American history.

Davis begins by charting Breckinridge's early years as a lawyer, his rise in Kentucky state politics and then national politics, his role as Vice-President and his reluctant campaign for the Presidency in 1860. Davis then provides an excellent overview of Breckinridge's career as a Confederate military leader, fighting on nearly every front of the war and ending the war as the Confederate Secretary of State. Davis also gives an outstanding account of Breckinridge's dramatic escape from the country following the Confederate defeat, which was an adventure so extraoridinary that it should be made into a movie. Davis concludes his work by describing Breckinridge's years as an exile before his final return to Kentucky and his tragic early death.

Davis is one of the country's best historians of the Civil War, and this book is an excellent manifestation of his scholarly and literary gifts. Not only is it full of information, allowing the reader to truly feel as though they have a solid understanding of Breckinridge's life, but it is written in such a fine style that it is always entertaining and never dull.

This is a fabulous collection representing the beginning of Gothic fiction. Otronto is the very first such work, and is a perfect illustration of the basic themes and plotlines predominant in Gothic. Although not the most polished work of fiction, it's often so bad it's funny, and definitely worth reading. The other stories are much more professional, albeit a bit drier reading. I'm especially fond of Vathek, as it more clearly represents fear fiction as it was to become. Dr. Polidori's piece is particularly intersting as he was a physician and present at the famous ghost-story-telling session(s) of Byron and the Shelley couple.

On the whole, this collection is the ideal glimpse into the genre at its rudimentary level.

This volume is an excellent introduction to four
works of the Gothic mindset, which hit England at
the end of the 1700s and lasted on into the early
Romantic period, all the way up to the late decadence
of the 1890s, winding up in Robert Louis Stevenson's
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1886),
Oscar Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1891), and
Bram Stoker's DRACULA (1897).
These are four of the earliest of this Gothic genre.
The volume includes Horace Walpole's THE CASTLE OF
OTRANTO (Christmas Eve, 1764); William Beckford's
VATHEK (1786); John Polidori's VAMPYRE (1819); and
a Vampire Fragment by Lord Byron (1819), "which was
published at the end of MAZEPPA in 1819."
The list of Gothic NOVELS (rather than stories)
in chronological order which make the grade are:
Horace Walpole's CASTLE OF OTRANTO (1764), Clara
Reeve's THE CHAMPION OF VIRTUE (1777), William
Beckford's VATHEK (1786), Ann Radcliffe's THE
MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO (1794), Matthew Gregory Lewis's
THE MONK (1795), Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN (1818),
John Polidori's VAMPYRE (1819), Charles R. Maturin's
MELMOTH THE WANDERER (1820).
There are excellent introductions to each of the
writers and their works at the beginning of the book.
In speaking of THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO, Bleiler says:
"This novel has been called one of the half-dozen
historically most important novels in English. The
founder of a school of fiction, the so-called Gothic
novel, it served as the direct model for an enormous
quantity of novels written up through the first
quarter of the 19th century.... It was probably
the most important source for enthusiasm for the
Middle Ages that suddenly swept Europe in the later
18th century, and many of the trappings of the early
19th century Romantic movement have been traced to
it. It embodied the spirit of an age."
There is included a series of impressive "Notes"
to the novel VATHEK: An Arabian Tale. The novel
begins in an interesting fashion: "Vathek, ninth
caliph of the race of the Abassides, was the son
of Motassem, and the grandson of Haroun al Raschid.
From an early accession to the throne, and the talents
he possessed to adorn it, his subjects were induced to
expect that his reign would be long and happy. His
figure was pleasing and majestic: but when he was
angry, one of his eyes became so terrible, that no
person could bear to behold it; and the wretch upon
whom it was fixed instantly fell backward, and
sometimes expired. For fear, however, of depopulating
his dominions and making his palace desolate, he but
rarely gave way to his anger."
And here is a sample bite from John Polidori's
VAMPYRE: "There was no colour upon her cheek, not
even upon her lip; yet there was a stillness about
her face that seemed almost as attaching as the life
that once dwelt there: --upon her neck and breast
was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth
having opened the vein: -- to this the men pointed,
crying, simultaneously struck with horror, "A
Vampyre! a Vampyre!"

This excellent book describes organizational cultures in terms of different kinds of watercraft. It covers small entrepreneur, dot com like cultures, professional associations, large corporations and bureaucracies and brings a "map" to diagnose and migrate from one to other safely.

This book is highly readable, and contains all the practices you'll need to make your organization successful and ready to meet its challenges. You'll have enough information here to train your staff and peers on a proven approach that has resulted in Fortune 500 successes for Intel, Motorola and other companies that Daniels and Mather have worked with. Once you've started using these methods, you'll wonder how you survived without them.

"To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization." - Bertrand Russell

This book was written by five professors from Calvin College who teach in the following disciplines: communication arts and sciences, English, history, music, and philosophy. I picked it up after listening to a tape by Howard Hendricks from Dallas Theological Seminary, who gave it a fabulous recommendation. After reading it, I would have to do the same. This book gives it's own statement of purpose better than I would be able to - "In short, our thesis is that youth and the electronic media today are dependent upon each other. The media need the youth market, as it is called, for their own economic survival. Youth, in turn, need the media for guidance and nurture in a society where other social institutions, such as the family and the school, do not shape the youth culture as powerfully as they once did" (11,12). This book is now ten years old and it is outdated by some standards, but it's only ignorant in naming the newest forms of the influence it speaks so perceptively about.

The focus of this book is on the critical evaluation of the music industry, the music television industry (MTV), the film industry and the impact they have on the teen population. It's chapters plod much deeper into these issues than I'm able to do here without opening a can of worms, but their insight is invaluable. Being twenty-five years old, I learned as much about myself and the influence of the media on my own life as I did about the media itself.

This book suggests that we have today is a "generation gap" that has been created by the media. Youth have been isolated from the more traditional worlds of previous generations, their parents included. The promise of the media is that of intimacy, identity, meaning and guidance, but the teens pay a price. Today's youth have a greater feeling of disillusionment, boredom, fatigue, addiction, abuse, narcissism and suicide than ever before. Cultural distinctions have been blurred and distant images have taken the place of intimate relationships. The youth today have a culture all their own. The media tells them what music rocks, what clothes look good, what to say to their girlfriend/boyfriend and what are good goals to shoot for in life. However, the media must evolve at a breakneck pace to keep up with teenagers because teens are fickle. The media must constantly reflect the youth culture in order to continue upholding it. It is a reciprocal relationship that pours gasoline on the fire of our consumer driven culture. Teens buy more music and watch more movies than the rest of the population combined even though they only comprise about one-fifth of the population. Why? Largely because their emotions are unstable on the journey from childhood to adulthood and our consumerist society has thought it good to capitalize on the opportunity to make a buck.

I found this book to be a great level-headed approach toward the media from a Christian perspective. Obviously film, music and other forms of electronic media have value if used correctly and intelligently. We must make the effort to separate the wheat from the chaff using discernment and analyze the content, form and function of popular art so we can truly benefit from it in it's rightful context. Instead of bashing what teens place great value in, this book suggests asking the question, "What is it in the media that tries to meet the legitimate needs in teens?". Kids have real needs, and the better we understand them and the better we understand how the media tries to meet those needs, the better we will be able to reach and serve the teens.

These five profs from Calvin College address the complex web of youth culture and the electronic media from a Christian perspective laced with compassion, intelligence, and thought-provoking perception. They are not going to stand up -- like so many other evangelicals -- and lambaste youth culture for its excesses, bad taste, foul language, etc. (though they don't look kindly at these things, either); instead, they seek to see WHY such things appeal to youth, honing in particuarly on our culture's institutional SEPARATION of youth from adults. Very provocative and level-headed. Highly recommended for Biblical thinkers who want to grapple with what is going on in the heads of young rockers and video-philes.

Like all Manchester books, he brings to life a time that was filled with far more intrigue than whether or not Oswald was the lone gunman. On that, he convincingly explains that he was, and rivets the reader with surprisingly interesting minutae on who rode in the motorcade with whom, along with the historical debate of when LBJ became President and whether he should have taken the President's plane back to Washington.

What strikes me as irresponsible is/was Manchester's characterization of Dallas, and seemingly blaming it for the President's assasination. Throughout we have to read of how "radical" right Dallas was, how it was chock full of "John Birchers", and that the city itself was hospitable to right wing murderers. This strikes the reader as a foolish waste when you consider that the killer was the exact opposite, such a communist sympathizer that he lived in the Soviet Union, and tried to seek asylum in Cuba.

For that, the book pales in comparison to other Manchester works in that it's harder to take his historical views seriously given his self-interested, and seemingly paranoid, efforts to discredit the big bad right wing.

William Manchester provides a fascinating account "from the eye of the storm." For the younger generation, for whom Kennedy's assassination is an historic fact rather than a horrible memory, "The Death of a President" invokes the feelings of the time--the promise of the Kennedy presidency, the unthinkability of his untimely death, and the chaos that ensued before order was restored.

Manchester begins by describing the political in-fighting within the Texas Democratic party that prompted the Kennedy-Johnson trip in the first place. Some of the funniest moments in the book (yes, despite the subject, it does evoke a smile now and then) are the efforts that Kennedy aides made to get a reluctant Senator Yarborough to ride with LBJ in the motorcades. The many seemingly inconsequential decisions that ultimately led to the slow-moving motorcade through Dealey Plaza make the reader want to cry out, "No! Put the bubble top! Speak at a different site!" As the book nears the fateful hour, the reader is left with a sense that there's still a chance to avoid this tragedy.

The hours and days immediately after the assassination are equally fascinating. Jackie's wait at Parkland Hospital and her trip home on Air Force One are told with heart-breaking detail. (Lest this aspect seem overly invasive, the reader should note that the book was written with her blessing and cooperation.) The story of how the memorable funeral and Arlington burial came about are fascinating. The tensions between the Kennedy and Johnson aides provide a good lesson in how NOT to act after a tragedy.

If you're only interested in the conspiracy theories, however, this is not the book for you. Manchester wholeheartedly backs the lone gunman hypothesis, and his descriptions of Oswald's movements at this time are hard to swallow in light of the details that have emerged in the decades since the assassination. Since most of the book focuses on the Kennedy family, the Kennedy and Johnson aides, and other political figures, however, this one drawback does not significantly detract from the book.

The Deathlord of Ixia is certainly one of the most well-written books in the Lone Wolf series. Following up Lone Wolf #16, The Legacy of Vashna, The Deathlord of Ixia takes the reader to the icy word of Ixia, where the Deathlord has been released and the entire fate of the universe you know rests on your hands. From the climactic voyage to the doomed city of Xaagon to a spiralling voyage through time and dimensions to the Plane of Darkness, the reader will be catapulted into agreeing that Book #17 of Joe Dever's immensely popular series is indeed a masterpiece

For a game book, Lone Wolf is certainly outstanding. The detailed discription, charachter options and everything makle it truly excellent. This book was no exception, and certainly one of my favourites. I especially like that you are able to finally deal with Tagazin. Just one thing though: Ixiataaga is impossible! I've tried at least fifty times, and I cannot defeat him! :-P

As the other reviewed indicated, this book does use mathematics to support it's treatment of the topic, but is very verbose with well thought out descriptions and examples. The math is a tool, not the purpose of the book. Of course, with such a treatment there are certain esoteric topics that simply dont fit but overall this book was an outstanding supplemental text to me as an undergrad (the actual text was more math intensive so the explanations here complemented it perfectly). Too bad it's out of print. I still refer to it occasionally when I need a refresher!

Digital Signal Processing is the one subject that you really need a solid foundation in maths to proceed furthur. Beginners should go for the book by Richard Lyons ( Understanding Digital Signal Processing). Those who are interested in the maths behind DSP and yet dread Oppenheim might find this book really useful. Stanley takes you through a tour of DSP using maths, but does it so wonderfully well than Oppenheim. The two books, the one by Richard Lyons and this book should give you a head start over others in learning DSP. Use this as a ladder to take you to the books by Oppenheim and Prokias, and you won't regret taking DSP.

There are a couple of errors though - due to bad proof reading

Hopefully the publisher should realise that he has a treasure in this book and bring it back to print.

This book is very up-to-date. Alos, there are may colorful pictures, that can attract the readers to keep on reveiwing. It is not a wonderful book for literature review, but it is a suitable book for the new-learner of Chemistry. In which, many examples are shown which can explain the theories effectively. Also, the index is arranged with a lots of words, that can be conventient for the readers to find out what we look for.

This text was used in 1999-2000 at Oregon State University for the 100-level General Chem sequence for non-science majors. It is an excellent text with a (generally) friendly approach to introductory topics, and there are many nice photographs and discussion boxes containing info about practical chem applications. For some reason, the authors include a significant section on organic chemistry in chapter 2, far before they discuss bonding.... Other than that, this book is great. Better than four out of five other general chem texts.