I did not pick this book up to learn Director's 3D and imaging features with any particular project in mind. Rather, I wanted to understand what you can do with these tools and what their limitations might be. Mission accomplished.

However, the content is much deeper than a simple overview. The book's intent is to present enough of the math and physics behind 3D, and the color theory behind imaging to give the developer a deeper understanding, and therefore, a broader base for problem-solving. To this end, an awful lot of work and thought went into the content design. There are example movies for every covered feature, and the material in advanced chapters is arranged to build on previous concepts. There is also a great deal of non-tutorial information on the merits of various methods to accomplish the same thing, and on clever ways to use features that you may not have thought of.

In addition to the example movies there are several utility movies that are particularly useful. Macromedia did not provide much in the way of a visual interface to 3D Lingo, or imaging Lingo. The utility movies, such as the 3D shader/texture explorer and copyPixels image explorer let you adjust and see the interplay of hundreds of different parameter values in real time, on your own image or model. This is quite a timesaver and worth the cost of the book all by itself.

My one regret is that my hazy memory of high school math was not enough of a foundation to understand much of the math presented in the 3D sections. But there are books for that too.

This book may be the best for intermediate or advanced Director developers to expand their skills. James Newton has a knack for explaining things in such a clear and concise way, you barely notice how deeply he is taking you into the topic.

Surely one of the most complex tasks a programmer can take on is learning how to program 3-D environments. You barely learn the basics like worlds, objects, and textures before you have to face dauting tasks like understanding how to place and move things along three axes (x, y, and z). This is stuff that wasn't covered in your Euclidian geometry course, but Newton explains it so clearly that you find yourself nodding and thinking, "of course!" Other topics such as imaging Lingo and the Multi User Server are covered in equal depth, and with equal clarity.

This is not the book for a beginner, but you don't have to be a Lingo expert to get a lot out of it. If you understand the basics of programming in Director, you should have no problem understanding the book. Likewise, if you are an advanced, or even expert, programmer, there is such a wealth of detail and depth of coverage that you can't help learning all sorts of new techniques--and all in such a painless, easy-to-understand way.

The one essential book for Director users. The others are nice to have - this one is essential.

Whole books could be written on Rothbard the Economist, or Rothbard the Historian. This book is about Murray Rothbard the Political Strategist and Polemicist. And that makes me happy, because it is *this* Rothbard that I personally recall so fondly from the old libertarian/anarchist trenches in the late '60s, early '70s, then again in the early '90s (when Rothbard and I last met).

Raimondo was there in those years 1978-1989 when I wasn't, when I largely fell away from the libertarian movement, and I enjoyed his coverage of those years in this book.

My only real gripe is that Justin sometimes lets his biases unfairly color his book, especially about periods where he wasn't personally present. One example is his "take" on Rothbard's alliance with Karl Hess in the late '60s. Hess was not quite so wooly or nutty as Raimondo paints him; you need only read Hess's writings in Rothbard's own "Libertarian Forum" newsletter from those days to see that Hess was a thoughtful Rothbardian anarchist during that period.

Anyway, thumbs up for Raimondo's biography of the heroic Murray Rothbard. But there are still more books to be written!

Energetic and well-written, Raimondo's biography chronicles the life of seminal libertarian scholar and polemicist, Murray Newton Rothbard (1926'1995). Whether writing economic and historical treatises or squabbling with fellow travelers, Rothbard remained a tireless, happy warrior dedicated to fighting the welfare-warfare state.

Raimondo insists that Rothbard was a "thinker of similar importance" to Karl Marx (p. 157), but Rothbard's undeniable genius notwithstanding, this description seems an overestimation. For the moment, Mises, Hayek, and Milton Friedman loom larger in the firmament. What Rothbard did produce, among his many other accomplishments, was a multidimensional argument for anarchocapitalism. In life, he was a happy warrior on behalf of that as yet unrealized vision. He has been proved correct in his assessments of the signal importance of World War I for constructing the modern state and in identifying Hoover's policies as anticipating the New Deal. Perhaps his optimism regarding the feasibility of a stateless society will some day be validated. In the meantime, Raimondo has written an excellent introduction to Rothbard's life's work.

I enjoyed reading this extensive biography of Murray Rothbard, which is obviously a labor of love on the part of the author. Through this book we follow the notable thinker, economist, and philosopher Rothbard from his roots in the Old Right, through a brief stint in Ayn Rand's Objectivism, then to the New Left, the nascent Libertarian movement during the 1970s, and then back to the Old Right after the fall of the Berlin Wall made anti-interventionism acceptable on the right once again. Through it all, we see that Rothbard's political odyssey wasn't floundering at all but was guided by the two views which he was most adament about, his advocacy of economic laissez-faire and his solidly anti-war position, which got him in trouble with some of the other laissez-faire advocates of his day. Ayn Rand, the New Left, and the William F. Buckley branch of conservatism are treated here with some disdain, which may turn off some readers of various leanings who are unaccustomed to Justin Raimondo's style of polemics. That caveat aside, this book should prove a fascinating read for anyone with the slightest bit of interest in somebody who was (in my biased opinion :) one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century.

I read this book because I saw the movie by the same title with Claudette Coberette (spelling?) from 1950. It was a great movie that made me want to find out more about Agnes N. Keith and her family. Upon researching her, I found out she had written several books before her war experience and several books after the war.

Agnes was on the island of Borneo with her husband, Harry, and toddler, George. Harry Keith was there as part of the English government's efforts. The Keiths knew the war was breaking out, but chose to stay in spite of the dangers. Agnes chose to stay with her husband. In the book she said she never regretted her choice to stay, but did wonder later on if George should have been sent out to stay with relatives.

The Japanese took control of the island when WWII started. All English and Americans were rounded up and placed in prisoner of war camps. The men and the women were separated. Agnes and Harry did occasionally catch glimpses and stolen moments, but for the most part they were kept totally separated during the years.

The book details the daily life of a prisoner. A lot of the book describes the harsh conditions, the lack of food and hygiene. There were a lot of children in the camp. The mothers banded together to take the best care of the children they possibly could. A group of nuns was also in the camp and helped with the children.

What I found most interesting in the book was the amount of underhanded trading, bartering and smuggling which went on in the camp. The prisoners put themselves in great danger to get extra food, clothes, to send mail in and out and to meet with their spouses. They were afraid, but apparently not totally afraid. The book also details their other daily efforts to keep body and soul together. They kept gardens, picked wild berries and weeds, kept chickens under their bunk houses and other very original ways to make things better.

The Japanese took a greater interest in Agnes than in her fellow prisoners because of her fame as a writer. They tried to get her to write progoganda for them. They also were concerned she was doing her own hidden writing. Agnes put herself in great danger to write a continuing journal and keep it hidden. Her effects were searched more often because of her writing.

This book will be of interest to anybody who is a history or biography buff. She tells some details of the war effort. But most of the book is her own personal story.

Some of the other reviews touched on the fact that her attitudes reflect the common attitudes of the 1940s and 1950s. If bigotry and racial prejudice are a big issue with you, you may not like this book at all. For the times, Agnes thinks of herself as very liberal and open minded. In a time when there was a great deal of stereotyping, she is trying to be a great human. However, when cast in our time period, she comes off as having a great deal of prejudice. She talks about race A LOT. And she says things which are very condescending and narrow minded. When she see little Black children who are adopted by White missionaries she says something like, it's clear they and their forefathers are not used to using their mental capacities and it's clear they will never be able to keep up with the other children. At the time, she was probably criticized for having Chinese, Philapino and Black friends. But now it all sounds very antiquated. Which is not bad, it makes us realize how far we have come in our attitudes.

Aside from the racial things, her writing is very descriptive and flowery. She gets deep and philosophical about very odd everyday things and goes on and on like she is writing an essay for junior high. That said, she is an interesting writer able to make what was no doubt a drab ugly existence very interesting.

Agnes Newton Keith also wrote a followup book "The White Man Returns" which details the Keiths life after the war when they returned to the same island. That book doesn't have as much interesting drama, but it is still a good read.

Three Came Home is a well-written, true story of a woman and her son's internment in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Borneo during WWII. Agnes Newton Keith creates a vivid portrait of the conditions under which the prisoners lived and of their day to day lives. She also makes it clear that people are not inherently good or bad; they are often victims of circumstances. Her love for her son and hope that they will be reunited with her husband keep her going and morally-centred. An absolutely excellent book!

As much as "Three Came Home" is a story of war, it is a story of love. Mrs. Keith's love for her husband and son are paralleled with her hatred of internment. She balances the good in people, even the enemy, with the bad. The clear message is that war is what makes people bad. I enjoyed this book. It is beautifully written, with every sentence eliciting some kind of emotion in the reader. Mrs. Keith is an admirable woman for her literary accomplishments and her ability to share her experiences on a very personal level.

Soup was a good book.I gave it a 4. I gave it that because it was surprising, exciting, and enjoyable. it was surprising because you never knew what they were going ti do next.They always did something wierd.It was exciting because they always did something you and other kids would ever even think of doing. It was enjoyable because it wasn't boreing. You could sit back and enjoy it. I think it is a good book for 6th to 8th graders. I think that because it is not hard to read, and it is not easy to read for little kids.

Soup is a funny book. It`s all about a boy called "Robert" and his best friend "Soup". The Book is so good I couldn't take it out of my hands. The adventures that these 2 boys have are cool. For examle,Rob and Soup tied Rob`s aunt to a tree right before a storm hit and they got in big trouble. You should really read this book.

I have just finished reading the book Soup. I loved the book. It delt with two third graders and how they always got into troule. The main characters are: Robert, Soup, mamma, aunt Carrie, Mrs. Stetson, and Mr. Diskin.

Some things they did was break the church window, cheat Mr. Diskin, and smoke corn.

This is truley one of the best books I have ever read in my life!

One of the best depictions of mid-'70s America I've come across, this powerful novel was written when the country was struggling to recover from the Vietnam War and remains as a vivid reminder of that time. Set mostly in Santa Barbara, the story follows two men firmly stuck in cycles of self-destruction. Bone dropped out of the corporate life and left his wife and kids in Minnesota to float around California as a gigolo, while Cutter came back from Vietnam minus an arm and a leg and teeters on the brink of insanity. Both are utterly disillusioned with the world around them and spend a great deal of time drinking and trying to blot out their rapidly suburbanizing, strip-mallifying, consumerist surroundings. The third member of this circle of dead souls is the sarcastic, Quaalude popping Mo, Cutter's live-in girlfriend and mother to his baby.

The whole book reads like one big hangover-the party (late '60s free love, rebellion, Vietnam, etc.) is over, and someone's gotta pay. One evening Bone unknowingly witnesses a murderer disposing of a victim, and what he half saw leads to a half-baked scheme to make some money. In another writer's hands, this could have lead to a comic caper, but Thornburg is intent on showing the county's loss of innocence through the bitter, maimed, and reckless Cutter, and his guilt-ridden and aimless buddy Bone. One problem I had with the story was the friendship between the two men. The book unfolds from Bone's perspective, and it's hard to fathom why he keeps returning to Cutter's side, other than guilt and/or a self-destructive streak.

In any event, the book starts fairly slow and there were a few times I considered ditching it. By the second half though, the lean prose gets more and more compelling, and the dilemmas get a bit more interesting. The final quarter or so takes the two men on a road trip from California to the Ozarks, in possible pursuit of the murderer. The climax is awfully gripping in a "y'all ain't from around here" Deliverance kind of way, and the final sentence packs a huge punch. ...Still, book's theme-that the Vietnam war did irreparable damage to the American psyche and values, and led to an America where money and consumption are king and justice is a mirage-emerges in full color, and the book remains an important picture of the empty '70s.

Note: This was made into a great dark film called Cutter's Way.

...but there's not a lot of action in this one. As for the much-vaunted "shocking end", well, I saw it a mile coming, but maybe that's only cause I read a lot of thrillers. All in all, an entertaining enough book, but let me stress this: Not in the Ross McDonald-Raymond Chandler-Walter Mosley-James Ellroy league.

A mystery (that holds until the last line), love story and commentary on post Vietnam America. Thornburg paints a collection of the most realistic characters I have come upon in an age.

Read it.

If you plan on buying only a single hardcover photographic book by Helmut Newton I strongly recommend this one. (It probably will not be the last you buy anyway...)

The book cover quality is not the best possible but the price is at par with that. Luckily the printed, amply sized pages (279 numbered) are very good. The publisher is TASCHEN, Cologne and the book is printed by EBS, Verona 2000, at least the one I have

The book contains undisputably many of the icons of Mr. Newtons work the most striking, as always, in monochrome. The book has also several color plates.

On page 29 there's a statement that is a guidline for my own, and certainly many others work; "Nothing has been retouched, nothing electronically altered. I photographed what I saw."

Published to coincide with the huge touring exhibition arriving at ICP later this month, Work is both a catalog of the exhibition and the first comprehensive review of all aspects of Helmut Newton's photographic life, ranging from fashion shots to nudes and portraits and some of his more experimental work. Some viewers might be offended by some of his more extreme images -- the woman on all fours with a saddle on her back springs immediately to mind -- but their beauty and technical perfection is undeniable. Newton often focuses on the threatening sexuality of women, often placing them in confrontational poses in seemingly incongruous settings. Balancing out his more overt images, however, are portraits that display a fragility and peace that serves to underscore the impact of his more outre work. The breadth of Newton's styles and his technical virtuosity are simply staggering. Containing many new and previously unseen works, Work is a must for any devotee of photography.(

I swear Master H. has peered into my mind! Photograhy as it should be, Photography as it is meant to be. A captured thought in your mind or a captured picture in your own eye. Taste the visuals of this well put together book of b&w & color. Enjoy it as it is. Pace yourself with or without your Martini, and let the Princess of Hanover steal your thoughts as she did mine! If you have never danced along the edge, you will........

I can still remember when I first opened a Newton MessagePad 130 with backlighting for my 13th birthday. I had heard before I received the 130 that the Newton was notorious for its bad handwriting recognition and its frequent crashes but I decided to give it a shot. After I got aquainted with my MessagePad 130, I began to wonder what all the fuss was about. It worked almost flawlessly. I decided to purchase this book to learn about the development of the product that I adored and loved. I was very impressed with the pictures and was equally impressed with the writing to go along with them. If you want to learn about what it takes to become a computer programmer/engineer, this book is for you. It lets you know about the struggles and the rewards of being part of a team and developing a finished product with a corperate deadline. However, the reason I only gave it four stars is that somebody who had no idea about the Newton wouldn't really know how everything turns out. The book leaves you hanging by letting you know that the Newton DID begin to ship, but thats all. Thats not the authors fault though. As many Newton fans know, Steve Jobs discontinued the Newton because of its lack of sales and basically said it was a drain on the company resources, but thats another story. This book was put together almost flawlessly and deserves more recognition than it has.

Follow the Newton from conception to birth. It's a facinating look at how creativity and business clash and merge to form a unique product for profit. Our post-Newton perspective only serves to make the story more poignant.

On my shelf in its protective case is an original Newton (actually a MessagePad 100, the "retooled" version of the original). It is big, clumsy, slow, chews through its batteries in 20 minutes of use, and crash-prone. It is also a miracle of organization and intelligent function, especially when compared with my trusty Palm (which nevertheless runs circles around Newton in usefulness and functionality).

DEFYING GRAVITY deepened my appreciation of Newton (even down to the little red wire that seems to be escaping from the case ... a manufacturing boo-boo that makes sense in context). Taking the late-1980s visionary doodles of John Sculley, Apple's Pepsi-bred CEO, and "productizing" them under the pressure of internal competition and external expectations, required a deep-thought-driven development effort that ground down the members of Newton's team. One young engineer committed suicide not long before the launch -- though a Newton connection can't be proven, the 18 hour days and constant frustrations could not have helped him.

In this volume, with an unconventional page numbering scheme based on counting down the days until product launch, the reader experiences with the team the pressures that came from failure; from trying to pull together too many new technologies in a first-ever device; from communicating a totally new paradigm and avoiding the inevitable attempts to have that paradigm "pigeon-holed" into more familiar existing concepts.

The photographs are sometimes grainy and stark, just like the late nights spent with troublesome components and misbehaving code.

They drew me in: I celebrated with the team when Newton had its first successful public demo, after misbehaving right up to the demo time. The authors bring the reader right up the threshold of the new era: product launch.

Fortunately, they don't have to deal with the later market failure of Newton: 30,000 original Newtons bulldozed into a California landfill, incremental improvements but no marketed attempt at a smaller form factor, and the abrupt demise of the platform under the "new Apple"'s Steve Jobs just as a fast-enough MessagePad, an incredibly cute and functional eMate, and a critical mass of software development had been achieved.

Just as well -- this book is unconventional, and much more effective than a dry case study in showing just how much work goes into a new product category. I think it works in that regard, and also doubles as an unusual and attractive "coffee-table" book. Mine is staying with my Newton, to keep some history with this curious device when my grandchildren stumble across it in 40 years.

Hunting Humans has given me hours of reading pleasure. Being one who is interested in true crime I especially enjoyed reading about the serial killers from Canada. Growing up in Vancouver B.C., I can recall the paranoia and fear in the teen aged population (which I was a part of) when Clifford Robert Olson wreaked his terror across the lower mainland. There were some omissions, such as David William Shearing, who was both a mass murderer as well as a serial killer in the early 1980's. Over all, I found that it very comprehensively covered the topic of modern serial killers.

A comprehensive remarkably detailed study of the worlds most horrific criminal personalities.

I would definatly urge everyone interested in true crime and or Serial Killers to pick up a copy....

This is a must have book for any true crime lover or those who study crime and the criminal mind. Excellent reference book.

This book isn't great, but it could be a lot better if cut to, say, 50 pages (from 281, plus 40 pages of footnotes.) Ripellino is a modern pedant who floods his disjointed essay with adjectives, metaphors and literary quotes; not necessarily a bad thing, but not good when endlessly rehashing the same idea. The idea is that Prague is a melancholic, Kafkaesque city haunted by the ghosts of 4 centuries of disasters. There're fragments of (heavily interpreted) history, quantities of literary allusions, and perverse descriptions of eccentric art and science, but its all so poorly organized and repetitive that it makes for a bore of a book.

'Magic', for Ripellino, means atmosphere; he has NO sympathy for occultism and to him Prague's Golden Age, the late Renaissance period, is a period of fools (Rudolf II and other alchemically-minded aristocrats), swindlers (Edward Kelley and all other alchemists), quacks (John Dee and other mystics), and knaves (Rudolf's ministers.) Half the book is spent archly ridiculing the period and its passions.

In Part Two Ripellino paints an equally grim picture of the period from Rudolf II's abdication in 1612 to, oh, sometime around 1946. But it's still all bits and pieces. We get a gloomy look at a few historical figures, some poets and writers, maybe an artist or two.

Kafka is the dominant spirit of Ripellino's Prague and what he gives us is a dismal, victimized city. There are no maps or pictures (except for 4 on the hardback's book jacket.) This suits the essay, which is more about Ripellino's mental image of Prague than of a physical locale.

I tried to read this before my trip to Prague and found it inaccessible and its language pretentious. Then, after a week in the city, I started reading again. And couldn't stop. It is only when you visit the Jewish cemetery or Prague Castle that the myths, ghosts and executioners of the past come alive. Although a tough read, it is exceptionally rewarding for the traveller who wants to take more home from Prague than just Bohemian crystal.

The late Mr. Ripellino has amassed a tribute to Prague like no other. It breathes. Anyone that has ever visited the "Golden City of a 100 spires" must have had an inkling deep in their soul of what the author has magnificently put down in words. The "Old Crone [Prague] has claws", as Kafka put it, and Ripellino shows exactly why that is so. The research that went into this book is simply astounding, with my edition having 44 pages of tightly spaced notes, of 333 pages total, including index. The book takes us from one extraordinary Prague tale to another, with myth, legend and reality all melting into one pot of magic. Anyone that plans to visit the center of Europe should read this book in advance, or at least skim it on the plane. It is a tough read, being full of poetic phrases and meticulous details, which often beg for multiple readings. However, the time spent is well worth it. The book will serve as a beautiful bridge between the soul and the mind, as the traveler wanders along the cobblestones of thousand year old "Praha." p.s. I bought my edition (Picador) in Prague for 315 Kcs, or about US$ 9. The price on the back of the paperback is 9.99 British Pounds, which is about US$ 17, depending on the day.

Indeed, this book ("Lonely Planet West Africa") did a good job in outlining many of the popular tourist attractions that are located in this Sub-Saharan region of Africa. I also appreciated its details on several tourists' trails, accomodations, means of transportation, and so on. However, I was very disappointed to note that (just like the "Lonely Planet Africa on a Shoestring") this book is full of discouraging comments. Some of the phrases Lonely Planet used in this book are quite offensive.
For sure, most foreigners who travel to (West) African countries are not expecting to see a paradise, but that does not mean that there is no better way of presenting real and imaginary negative thoughts. This book is smeared by terms and phrases, which I consider derogatory to both (West) Africa and (West) Africans. As a result of this, I will never recommend it to anyone until there is a change of heart by Lonely Planet in subsequent editions.

I once said I would never buy a Lonely Planet guide again, so disappointed I was with their Iceland and Greenland book which was poorly researched, inaccurate and full of rabid anti-American rhetoric.

For my trip to Ghana, it was, however, a choice of only three books available: a semiprofessional Bradt's Ghana (not a guidebook really, more an amateurish newsletter), supremely boring Rough Guide or Lonely Planet. I bought them all in the name of research.

I would say Lonely Planet is best of them all, although certain chapters preaching about evil ways of Western capitalism still reek of Lonely Planet's self-appointed role of bettering the world. Quite annoying, really, and in many cases hypocritical, coming from a lean-and-mean profit-making publishing house.

Most facts about travel, eating, accommodation, etc are accurate and well-researched, although as usual information to someone with a bit bigger budget is very fragmented.

They could give more information about useful websites for both ticket booking and accommodation.

Overall, if you are only buying one book for West Africa, this is the one. If you can get two - buy the Rough Guide as well: it may be boring and cultural information reads as if it was written by your local tax office, but you will get many additional addresses and phone numbers.

I really enjoyed this book. I feel it is the best written LP I've ever read (and I've read and traveled with many LP titles). I used the Sénégal section and found the hotel listings current and the maps very accurate. I really liked the special boxes with additional information on dangers, scams, and personal safety. I personally witnessed many things that I had read about in this book, making me ready for would be scam artists. One guy approached me and said "Remember me from the hotel lobby?" I had to keep myself from laughing. I replied back "I think so, which hotel?" and he didn't know what to say. With LP West Africa you will be well prepared to travel in one of the hardest places to travel in the world.

NOTE: The book is 4 years old and the region is even more unsafe now then it was 4 years ago. Be careful when traveling there.