I was looking for a book that could help me set up parades, festivals and meetings. Adavance Coordination Manual focused a lot on stage set up-breakdown and contracts. This book was not very helpful for me. I'm sure it could offer direction for those planning very large events.

I bought this book to learn more about planning for larger-scale events, like concerts and festivals. I have been very impressed! A great reference guide for almost every aspect of event planning.

After more than a decade coordinating small, mid-size and humongous events - and having had to write my own guidelines for future events - Jan Moxley's extraordinary work was a most welcome and unexpected surprise when it arrived just in time for Pope John Paul II fourth visit to Mexico, where we put the whole package (book and CD) to the test, under extremely difficult constraints and conditions.

The results were spectacular!

Whether you are an expert in the field, or are just getting ready to face your first event, Moxley's book is more than just "a must!": It will be your guide, mentor and advisor throughout every stage of your planning and execution, as well as a most welcome companion when having to explain difficult technical considerations to "non-techies".

I'll pass on (this book) to political writers and editors here... because I think they'll find it useful and fun probably too. It's also journalistically solid, thanks to the solid reporting of Bowen, a former Associated Press correspondent-turned-computer-writer who hosts the syndicated radio show, "The Internet News." ... This books gives the specifics, right down to dozens and dozens of Web addresses, with the philosophy that, when it comes to politics, you are your own interest group."

If the Internet and the Web figure in this year's elections as Larry King and MTV did in 1992, Bowen's guide will circulate.... Savvy online journalist Bowen surveys the cyberspace sites of politicians, parties, political tendencies (liberal and conservative) and activists on 21 issues (from abortion and AIDS to peace and race/ethnic relations). He also profiles online government information resources, sites for news, commentary, and consumer information on the Net and cybercitizens' political communication options. A broadly inclusive introduction to wired politics.

The book is a complete field guide to digital tools that can make participation in politics easier, more rewarding, and more effective. It's well worth reading for all who have an interest in politics.

I am a recent City Year graduate from Chicago and I read Suzanne's book in the beginning of my City Year experience. Even though there is a five year difference in our corpmember experiences, her's being in the very beginning of City Year's exsistance. She tells the truth of how City Year can Help you and hurt you. It's Very hard work and having the story being portrayed from the earlier days of City Year, it's gotten even harder now. Personally I'm glad I did it. Proven we are not just "kids" serving our community but adults making our way in the world.

I, like Goldsmith, served as a City Year corps member at a different location and it is from this perspective that I offer this critique. Goldsmith does an excellent job of relaying appropriate events and common complaints about the program. At times, though, she seems to compromise accuracy in her interpretations in order to appeal to the Pollyanna-ish service learning audience. Perhaps the best, and most candid portion of the book is the epilogue. Goldsmith and her former corps-mates offer criticisms that are commonly heard within the corps. Unfortunatly, I believe that these suggestions have not led to improvements at City Year and their concerns are still startingly relevant. It is a must read for anyone considering spending a year with this organization.

I read this book about three years ago and I can honestly say that it helped me to realize that life is honestly about accepting, caring and helping others.

The reading was easy and the story well told. Suzanne tells the story of volunteering in a program where she is exposed to a diverse group of young people from backgrounds she had only previously studied or read about in her ivy tower. Her grasp of details and her ability to bring the reader to the scene is commendable. If you can read this and not be moved, you probably chuckled when Old Yeller was shot.

I'm indebted to the author for helping me find a direction and purpose.

This is a great book for its analysis but its future scenarios fail to account for what may be the most likely in the end, simply because the book basically is an extrapolation of present trends (it reminds me of the CIA reports of summer 1989 which foresaw another 50 years of communism). It is not a feat to draw a beautiful extrapolation, as it is perfectly logical and rational, but it still fails in seeing the signs of an emerging global democratic order. Guehenno forgets that history often breaks with trends. He does not explore what may be the most likely non-linear historical break: the coming establishment of a world democracy with a functional world parliament. Ironically, Guehenno is still a prisoner of the nation-state mentality in failing to recognize the obvious signs of emerging global democracy, in failing to see the global civil society movements are just a pillar of what will be a peaceful global revolution, one - as Thomas Paine sais - based on reason, one which will complete the historical process which entered its modern phase with the American and French revolutions. The calls for global democracy of anti-globalization protesters (No globalization without representation...), the desperate calls for better global governance from the global elite (Davos, UN, World Bank etc.), the emergence of initiatives like the Campaign for World Democracy (with supporters from all parts of society, including business, government officials, MPS, Presidents - Toledo of Peru-, civil society etc.), the Committee for a World Parliament (with Mandela, Delors etc. on board) are faint but unmistakable signs that the concept of world democracy is a rising force. Any book on the future of the nation state which does not address that fails on the most likely, and probably the best, scenario for the future. In the end, this book just like the celebrated Empire, is a superb intellectual exercise but it will be seen in a few years as just half of what it should have been, as both unimaginative and off the mark. But its main merit is to awaken people to the fact, that indeed, the nation-state as we have known it for 350 years is dead. In fact, it has been dead for a while but its death throes are taking a long time. Yet to keep stability, people need an identity which nations, though not states, provide. So we will see in the future a multiplication of nations while we see the world uniting in a global democracy, one of several layers of democracy of course with most existing states remaining, just as the EU did not mean the end of its constituent states, or the new African Union does not mean the end of its constituent states.

A book of incredible reach and quite impressive assertions. For anyone interested in the future of the state, the 'new economy' or the way mankind is going it is a must-read! It touches nearly every subject currently being discussed on those areas. For all the praise regarding the provocativness of his theses, Guehenno fails to answer a vital question. What AFTER the state? No clear vision is given on how the tasks fused in that unique organisation will be transferred. Guehenno shares this problem with his fellow globalizers, such as Kenichi Ohmae. On the whole it is a refreshing book which seeks to explain the current economical-technological revolution and provides a mind-boggling insight into how a networked world might look like.

Guéhenno's lucid and imaginative discussion in The End of the Nation-State presents a collection of arguments that are interwoven so neatly that the book often reads as smoothly as a good novel. But the character of the book is as much a clear argument as it is a mosaic of visionary speculation. The narrative brings us Guéhenno's thoughtful vision of a future "imperial" world, with its blurring geographical boundaries, changing poles of authority, and networking global society. Perhaps in a derogatory analysis, his synthesis of argument (without citation) and speculation would be construed as fiction, but it should not be. Intimations of the coming age, which Guéhenno finds in the politics of the United States, Japan, Lebanon, France, Italy, Israel and Palestine, illustrate the empirically grounded theorizing and perspicacious observation the author brings to important, and perhaps previously unnoticed, changes in world affairs. While it is always easy to disparage an author's efforts at clairvoyance, most of Guéhenno's hypotheses in this book are presented so cogently, and often poetically, that many of his future scenarios, however chilling and undesirable, seem almost inevitable.

I disagreed with many of the authors opinions in this book, but I will give him credit. He does at least give a fleeting glance at his opponents and dissenters.

As far as I can tell with my limited knowledge,his facts are accurate. While I do not agree with many of his points, I did find the book well laid out organizationally.

He was very clear in his stating of facts and his opinions. He also separated the two very well. He clearly noted when he was stating facts and when he was stating an opinion. I did notice one rather unsubstantiated generalization in the party unity portion of his argument, but I found very few examples of strongly biased generalizations.

The author seems to suggest a rather unrealistic goal of a compromise between the European system of democracy and the American government style. This idea would require too many changes in a society that generally resists change. This a strong book factually, though some of the opinions are open to debate.

I do like his idea of setting out exactly why America is so unusual. This would be a good book for students to read to gain a bit of knowledge of America as compared to European and other industrialized nations. Though I personally did not care for the book because of the opinions expressed, I do believe that it was worthwhile to read if only to pick up the idiosyncracies of the American style of government.

Peace, Mike

I actually had to read America the Unusual for my intro to american goverment class and I actually enjoyed the book a great deal because it dealt with issues that need to be looked to understand why our goverment the why it is and how our goverment is different from that of Western Europe even though many american came from those countries and some of the same thinkers influenced both American and Western European goverments.

The first and most important thing to understand about this book is that it is NOT a political psychology book. Anyone looking for that will be sorely disappointed. This is a book dealing primarily with the manipulation of voting rights and practices to achieve a given result.

It is difficult to imagine the average reader getting excited about the subtle implications of what order certain proposals, etc. are voted on in. However, the author is obviously enthusiastic, and to an extent, it is catching. If you read carefully enough (and it should be noted that it is a dry subject, so it can be slow going), the games played become clear, and it can be exciting-- up to a point.

This book is organized as a series of case studies, beginning all the way back in Classical Greece, moving up through the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, and on to modern-day club voting and Congressional vote-trading. This last example is probably the most useful to the modern reader, as it does provide a useful explanation of the utility and even necessity of what is commonly seen as "sleazy politics".

This book is lacking in the explanation of theory or conclusion, either in the realm of the morality of the sort of manipulation presented or in the theory of practice. Riker's one stab at theory comes in the form of coining a new word to cover the art of voting effectively. The examples given, however, are well-explained, and can be useful to anyone involved in parliamentary procedure. It should be noted that this IS an important subject, and provided an important impetus toward the development of modern parliamentary procedure.

I read this when I was in high school, I not only found it easy to comprehend (which says alot given the state of education in this country), but narrated quite well. Riker provides both access to the material without requiring a graduate degree, but provides new material to even those with graduate degrees. A must read for those who wish to know how bills really become or don't become laws.

this book is phaaaat. You know like a cold ice cream on a summers day. Man it is better than poppie's chicken. dogg

This monography of Tschumi is very interesting and show well the conceptual approach in his works. the design of the book is also made by Tschumi himself. We can like or don't like these esthetism, I mean the black and white pictures with low resolution. But nevertheless, this book is a full monography of all the project until the beginning of the 90's. there is a new book planned to follow this one "Event-cities 2". So I believe these two books would be good to have in your own library if you want to have a full coverage of tschumi works.

less than expected, and bit old. (especially in the case of la villet.) i do not want pay my money to buy dozens-years-old and thousands times represented project!

In Event Cities 2, Benard Tschumi lists out his five design devices or strategies applied in his "in-between" architecture.

The first device is using space, event and movement as beginning of analysis. The famous Parc de la Villette is a typical example.

The second one is using the concept of "movement vector" to organize space. Vector can be applied as landscape in an office building in Geneva or as infrastructure in railaway station in Lausanne.

The third one is to explore the relationship between soild and void in his design. The fourth one is to activate the movenment vector is this void.

The fifth "envelope" strategy is to explore the potential of building envelope as animated and integrated in-between space, instead of just building skin.

Through the explanation of the above strategies in Event-Cities 2 by Tschumi, all the complex ideas behind his recent design projects from 94 to 99 can be well-organized and easily understood by both design professionals and students.

This is yet another book on a New Urbanist idea.

This one describes the idea of transit oriented communties. These are relatively dense planned communities that try to maintain what is seen as the essentials of small community life.

The density and distribution of these communities make them amenable to public transport. However more emphasis is placed on the development of community. Shopping facilities are centralized and made accessible to pedestrians. Public buildings and public space like squares are made central to the life of the community. The public buildings are given distinguished architecture to show their importance to the community. The public park or square is placed at the hub of planned pedestrian traffic to provide a place for unplanned meetings and interactions.

As it is this soert of community will probably work. The idea of the public square at a transportation crossroads as a means to creatre interaction is straight out of Bill Hillier's seminal work 'Space is the machine.' With proper attention to the principles presented by Hillier, there is no reason why a community designed in the way advocated here cannot produce the types of interactions advocated within this book.

However the book does not go far enough to truly identify what these principles are or even to state clearly and directly what basic principles are guiding the plans that it advocates. It would be possible to create developments that follow the plans described here that would work against the outcomes that it is advocating. Hillier's book, in its analysis of some modern housing estates based on similar goals, demosntrates this.

Yet there is something fundamentally wrong with this book. It is a basic statement of architectural determinism. Traditional suburbs are blamed for all problems in society from environmental pollution to school shootings and possibly even to asteroid impacts causing mass extinctions. There seems to be nothing wrong in society that is not the fault of suburbs and that cannot be fixed by these pedestrian-based communities.

The author acknowleges that the autonomy and privacy provided by the suburban form is attractive to many. He even states that his suggested community form is not antithetical to it. However following that one statement the remainder of the book is a jerimiad against suburban life. Privacy and autonomy references are replaced with descriptions of isolation and alienation.

The book would be more convincing if it remained an advocacy for its desired form. There is no doubt that this form if designed properly can foster the close community life that many people find very attractive. However not all people are attracted to this sort of life. Many people prefer the social autonomy that is provided to them in suburbs. With modern communication mechanisms like the telephone, Email, automobile etc, they can maintain multiple social netowkrs each with the social distance that they find comfortable. They are not forced to interact with a neighbor that they do not care for simply because his residence is nearby.

All in all this is a good book for its purpose. The unfortunate blathering about the short comings of suburbs distracts from its main purpsoe and weakens its argument. However many will find the small community life presented here very attractive.

It is worth reading despite these handicaps.

There is a very informative review by Suzannah Lessard in the February 18th issue of the New York Times Book Review. Not only does she provide interesting background to the issues surrounding urban growth in America, she also defines what these issues mean to us today, and the contribution this book makes to our understanding of the built world around us.

I was skeptical at first. THIS IS GREAT. - A must read for any software developer. In short: - BUY THIS BOOK