People Are Just Desserts by Perry A. is a real treat. I use it as an ice-breaker before training presentations and to enliven any group. Perry shows remarkable insight into people using desserts as a delightful metaphor. A must for any one who wants to help others gain insight into their own personalities in a fun and non-threatening way.

People Are Just Desserts is great fun! It describes 90 different "Dessert Personalities" as well as instructions on how to do Dessert Analysis yourself! It's a great gift! And, by the way -- it IS available!

A must read for anyone who thought that they know about Reggea, Rock Steady, Ska - Jamaican music in general. This book must be the ultimate documentary of music as well as the music scene in Jamaica during the 60's,70's, and 80's. It's not just a book about Scratch; it is a book about all Jamaican musicians, singers and procuders of the period. It's the best documented piece of Jamaican history. Someday it will become the most sought after Jamaican history book!

David Kratz ensures that the reader lives moment by moment with almost every musician, producers, and Jamaican artist of the period - some of whom have long been forgotten. He takes you into the studios, delves into the background of each and every artist mentioned in the book, takes to the UK and US with Scratch and Bob Marley, then brings you back to the Black Art Studio where Scratch produced some of the most revolutionary and influential Jamaican music.

Any Jamaican who reads this book will certainly say: "Me know da music deh, but me didn't know sey a Scratch do it." The reader will soon learn that Scratch is the greatest Jamaican music producer. No other producer will ever come close to matching his skill and artistry of Scratch in the studio. Nuff respect to Scratch. He is a true genious! And hat's off to David Katz. He certainly knows how to "ride de rythm". The book is a master piece!

Scratch your Lee Perry itch. I am awed to have in my hands 536 pages of all things Upsetting. Buy this book, if a so a so.

Captivating study in English of Anna de Noailles' poetry. Perry allows us to discover this powerful woman who had such an impact in France at the turn of the century and up to her early death in 1933. An incredibly thorough study with numerous and qualitative translations of Noailles' verse and poetic prose. Anna de Noailles has been well served!

A celebrated poet in France during her lifetime, Anna de Noailles (1876-1933) gradually lost critical attention after her death, This book, the first on the poet to appear in English, reexamines her extensive poetry and prose, alongside manuscripts and private documents' in relation to the works of French and European artists and thinkers from among her predecessors as well as her contemporaries The author shows how this woman of foreign origins envisioned and constructed an original poetic world by actively engaging with her literary and intellectual heritage-as represented by Lamartine, Hugo, Baudelaire, Mallamre, Proust, Schopenhauer, and Rilke, among others--while discovering vital sources of inspiration in her Greek ancestry and in Nietzsche's groundbreaking Philosophy. Not only did Noailles create a distinctive voice in the world of French letters but her influence reached writers of both genders in France, in other European countries, and across the Atlantic. Best understood in terms of a Dionysian aesthetics, her work is sensual, erotic, and playful, but also reflective, violent on occasion, and always marked by a tragic undercurrent that becomes magnified with time. Beyond the prominent place she held in the world of French letters, Noailles' lifelong commitment to artistic creation invites a reconsideration of her work.
Through the focusing lens of Anna de Noailles, Persephone Unbound revives multiple facets of the culture in which she wrote. More crucially still, it reevaluates a writer whose historical stature and whose incorporation by the French establishment as a representative of "feminine" poetry have tended to overshadow her literary merits. With respect to her poetry in particular, critics have often failed to recognize the modernity of its lyric voice on account of its traditional verse patterns. Reflecting a dual attitude of competition and cooperation with her cultural world, Noailles held a similarly doublevoiced discourse toward conventional interpretations of woman. Her classification in literary history as a belated French Romantic further obfuscates the significance of her work While recognizing her predecessors, Noailles was frequently unable to find adequate models in their works for a distinct poetic identity. In seeking new versions of the feminine self she acknowledged women who were unable to write and, more broadly, she attempted to provide a formerly silent Muse with voice and presence. Noailles' Greek inheritance also enabled her to reclaim mythical figures such as those of Persephone and Antigone, and thus to invigorate the link that French poetry had established with antiquity. The book finther evaluates Noailles' unique positions on social-sexual politics as they find expression in her little-known relationship with the nationalist writer Maurice Barres. First made available to readers in 1991, their correspondence discloses how Barres found in Noailles a long-sought muse even while he rejected her progressive politics. The author analyzes both Noailles' renditions of this relationship and the oscillation in Barrbs's works between the symbolic significance he attached to Noailles as a quasi-miraculous incarnation of his fascination with Dionysian values and his equally forceful denial of a poet whose inspiration clashed with his philosophy of nationalist action.

'Phaedrus' is the first work ever to provide an explanation to how we organise our ideas, speeches and use our knowledge in a general sense. It explains the basics of an arguing and convincing, within the context of Greek politics and society.

As I said, it's division and gathering that is evident in all of our arguments. We make our claims based upon the similarities and differences in things, and this is the core of argumentation.

In his dialogue style, Plato talks about many other things, that range from what makes a good writing a good one, to the heritance of knowledge. How should knowledge be attained from others? How should we present our knowledge for new generations to understand us? These are some of the questions that come up in Phaedrus.

Plato, one of the clearest writers in philosophy, wrote yet another beautiful work. I've started reading Plato when I was thirteen, and I really enjoy reading his works, which just flow.

I recommend not only this book, but almost any book of Plato's, for all philosophy lovers out there, and all those that would like to make their first attempt in understanding some philosophical issues, which build the base of our living.

In Phaedrus, Plato records the conversation of love and rhetoric between Socrates and Phaedrus. Socrates uses love as a metaphor for rhetoric by categorizing the differences between love and lust, as well as the differences between a philosopher who pursues divine truth, and a poet who forgoes truth for ostentations. Then Socrates and Phaedrus eventually conclude the requirements for being a dialectician. In the course of defending proper love and truth, Socrates pointes out that beauty and truth are divine. Whoever pursues reality would worship beauty and truth with reverence, and his admirations of divinities yield pleasures. Then in order to receive the blessing from gods, the proper lover and the philosopher must overcome desires with reasoning. Conversely, those commoners who are tempted by earthy imitations of the reality would be trapped by carnal or linguistic pleasures, as the improper lover and the poet, who lack reasoning would drown in the momentary enjoyments of their own wantonness.

Wow, this is just an awesome book for any parent, grandparent, caregiver, teacher... It was an "impulse buy" and turned out to be the best child activity book I have ever seen. As a former professional, college educated stay-at-home mom, I wanted to move beyond "Candyland" and "Go Fish" and have more fun with my kids. This book provides a wealth of information that makes having fun with them a lot of fun for me!

There are 14 chapters, after the introduction. Each CHAPTER provides a background on the topic, helpful information, many ideas and projects to try, sidebars with even more information and ideass, and a very extensive "resources" section with additional books, websites, relevant games, music and more. Chapters include Instant Fun, Playing around with Photography, Mind Snacks: Recipes for Kitchen Learning, The Junior Geographer, celebrate the Senses, and so on. The book provides a very well rounded experience without being "preachy". It isn't a "learning book" and doesn't teach skills, so to speak, but a child can't help but learn and grow from the activities listed. Most activities are free or require a very small investment.

Each chapter is a treasure. For example, the first chapter, Instant Fun, makes waiting with kids actually fun. There are 30 "instant games" (for example, picking out someone walking by or a fellow patient in a waiting room and making up a creative story about them, turning your hand into a puppet with instructions, things to do while waiting for a meal in a restaurant, etc.), five different ways to keep busy while travelling, 13 different quick pencil games (such as one of you draws a squiggle and then you and your child take turns completing it into a picture, dot games, a game called "scrambled sentences, etc.). There are 4 sidebars in this chapter with even more ideas for instant fun. And finally, there are 13 references for more information, books, catalogs, games, etc. Each idea or game is at least a paragraph long--it isn't simply a list of run of the mill ideas. For my family, this chapter alone is well worth the price of the book.

And each following chapter is just as chock-full of information, ideas and projects. A previous reviewer stated it was a good book to get out of a rut and I couldn't agree more. The back cover shows a review from Working Mother magazine that states, "The beauty of this guide is that most games call for nothing more than two people and two brains." I couldn't agree more.

PLAYING SMART is a treasure trove of clever ideas. Using the simple and familiar, Susan K. Perry shows us how we can turn the most ordinary experiences into opportunities for creativity, learning, and fun, teaching children to begin a lifelong love of education and imagination. A walk becomes an adventure into biology and nature as well as a chance to make up stories about people, to notice change in daily surroundings. The backyard is filled with learning how to grow edible and decorative plants with an aesthetic appreciation of their variety and arrangement, along with respect for other living creatures. Cooking with your children, you can both learn about nutrition, health, and safety, fostering good habits that will serve them well in our fast food and junk food culture. Waiting in line and long car rides become openings for psychological sharing and excursions into the imagination.

Nearly all of the ideas in this book can be used by adults to stimulate their own creativity and get out of their daily ruts. I especially appreciated the sections of doing dreamwork and personal journaling with children. I frequently recommend this book to parents and teachers.

~~review by Joan Mazza, author of Dream Back Your Life; Dreaming Your Real Self; and 3 books in The Guided Journal Series with Writer's Digest/Walking Stick Press.

Wish I had this years ago. Sure dispels a lot of myths. This one allows printing.

JF

I'm the one on the back when he's riding 2-up. When using my boyfriend's computer, I downloaded it as an add-on to his birthday present...then sent e-mail telling him he had a present on his desktop. WOW! Did I bingo!...plus this one let him print it out.

I don't know a thing about polishing Harleys, but he's apparently been looking for something like this for ages...plus I got a heck of a din-din out of it! He says, "Five Stars."

Bethie

In the early '70s Perry Henzell wrote and directed the ground breaking Jamaican movie "The Harder They Come." It's knowing presentation of a society in conflict, when combined with the best Reggae soundtrack ever, made it an all time classic.

In his novel "Power Game" Perry Henzell once again draws from his unique knowledge the political and social forces at work on a extraordinary island nation, and combines it with his astute world view. Sex, drugs, music and politics drive this compelling work. It is an overtly entertaining read, as well as one of the major works of literature to come from the region. A must!

What I loved about this book was the sense of reality about Jamaican politics illustrated through a cast of characters representing points of view from top to bottom of the society. Sexy too.

The authors provide a coherent discussion of fully half of the security challenges facing us in the 21st century. They wisely avoid the debate swirling around the so-called Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA)-but deserve credit for their predecessor "offset strategy"-and simply note that the absence of "A List" threats gives us an opportunity to strengthen and maintain our traditional nuclear and conventional capabilities against the day when a Russia or China may rise in hostility against us. The book as a whole focuses on the "B List" threats, including Russia in chaos, a hostile China acting aggressively within its region, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and catastrophic terrorism. They note, correctly, that most of the spending and effort today is focused on responding to the crisis de jure, some but not enough resources are applied to preparing for the future, and virtually nothing is being done against the latest concept, that of "shaping" the environment through "forward engagement." Perhaps most importantly, they introduce the term "defense by other means" and comment on the obstacles, both within the Administration and on the Hill, to getting support and funding for non-military activities with profound security benefits.

Although others may focus on their discussion of Russia and NATO as the core of the book, what I found most helpful and worthwhile was the straight-forward and thoughtful discussion of the need for a new national strategy, a new paradigm, for dealing with potentially catastrophic terrorism. Their understanding of what defense resources can be applied, and of the impediments to success that exist today between state & local law enforcement, federal capabilities such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and defense as well as overseas diplomatic and intelligence capabilities, inspire them to propose several innovative approaches to this challenge. The legal and budgetary implications of their proposals are daunting but essential-their proposals for dealing with this one challenge would be helpful in restructuring the entire U.S. government to better integrate political-diplomatic-military-law enforcement operations with judicial and congressional oversight as well as truly all-source intelligence support.

Interesting side notes include 1) the early discovery in US-Russian military discussions that technology interoperability and future collaboration required the surmounting of many obstacles associated with decades of isolated (and often secret) development; 2) the absence of intelligence from the entire book-by this account, US defense leaders spend virtually all of their time in direct operational discussions with their most important counterparts, and there is very little day to day attention to strategic analysis, estimative intelligence, or coordination with diplomatic, economic, and law enforcement counterparts at home; 3) the difficulty of finding a carrier to send to Taiwan at a time when we had 12 carriers-only four appear to have been "real" for defense purposes; and 4) the notable absence of Australia from the discussion of security in Asia.

The concept of Preventive Defense is holistic (requiring the simultaneous uses of other aspects of national power including diplomacy and economic assistance) but places the Department of Defense in a central role as the provider of realigned resources, military-to-military contacts, and logistics support to actual implementation. Unfortunately the concept of Preventive Defense has been narrowly focused (its greatest success has been the dismantling of former Soviet nuclear weapons in the Commonwealth of Independent States), and neither the joint staff nor the services are willing to give up funds for weapons and manpower in order to make a strategy of Preventive Defense possible.

This resistance bodes ill for the other half of the 21st Century security challenge, what the author's call the "C List"-the Rwandas, Somalias, Haitis and Indonesias. They themselves are unwilling to acknowledge C List threats as being vital to U.S. security in the long-term (as AIDS is now recognized). I would, however, agree with them on one important point: the current budget for defense should be repurposed toward readiness, preparing for the future, and their concept of preventive defense, and it should not be frittered away on "C List" contingencies-new funds must be found to create and sustain America's Preventive Diplomacy and its Operations Other Than War (OOTW) capabilities. It will fall to someone else to integrate their concept of Preventive Defense with the emerging concepts of Preventive Diplomacy, International Tribunals, and a 21st Century Marshall Plan for the festering zones of conflict in Africa, Arabia, Asia, and the Americas--zone where ethnic fault lines, criminal gangs, border disputes, and shortages of water, food, energy, and medicine all come together to create a breeding ground for modern plagues that will surely come across our water's edge in the future. On balance, through, this book makes the top grade for serious bi-partisan dialogue, and they deserve a lot of credit for defining solutions for the first half of our security challenges in the 21st Century.

This is a quick read about how American Defense has to change from the Cold War strategy to deal with other types of threats. I just returned from Europe and heard from European friends about their feelings on the United States. We are highly respected and looked up to as "the" power. We need to deal with the rest of the world accordingly. The authors give us some ideas as to how to do this.

Like Tom Clancy writing a Robin Cook medical thriller. Got all the techno with all the medical details. GREAT -- do more!

CW Morton, (also known as CA Mobley/Rites of War and Rules of Command) has combined genres to create a wonderful mix of military/medical thriller. The driving force of this book is the characterization of the principals, including those you come to hate even though you understand their failings are not of their own making. Morton & Dr. Mobley, her father, have produced an admirable tag-team effort with a story-line that will keep you in suspense. Even when the primary issues are resolved, and you are content to read a few more pages of "happy-ever-after," Morton throws you a few curves - the true test of an evil and devious author who is determined not to let the reader get ahead of the game. She ticked me off so much I signed up to have Amazon notify me every time one of her books comes out. If it is true that newspapers have a finite number of column inches for news and lesser stories are bumped for hotter issues, the same probably applies to our available reading time. Fair warning: if your free time for reading is limited, don't read Mobley or Morton unless you are prepared to bump one of your other favorite authors.

Are you a pretty good C++ programmer? Have you ever wanted to have your computer output sounds like footsteps or musical instruments that (a) sound real and (b) are continuously responsive to the user's control? Did you discover that it was basically impossible to do it by stitching together prerecorded samples, and you couldn't think of any other way to do it?

If so, Perry Cook has written just the book you have been looking for. In 250 pages, Cook explains everything, from the basics of digital filtering to the major alternatives for generating sounds: additive and subtractive synthesis, FM synthesis, and -- the real focus of the book -- physical modeling. Not only that, the accompanying CD-ROM includes lots of sound examples and the Synthesis ToolKit -- a pretty much platform-independent set of C++ classes and algorithms for writing your own code.

Not everything is perfect. Just as the first version of any program contains some bugs, the first printing of any book that uses mathematics contains some errors. In particular, typos in Appendix A could be very frustrating if this is your first exposure to Fourier analysis. (You might want to check Cook's web site for a promised list of errata and code updates.) And don't let the fact that the book is short, attractively produced, very well organized, unusually clear, and entertainingly written lead you to believe that you can master it in a weekend. Although Cook tries his best to make the underlying mathematics unintimidating, there is no getting around the fact that there are some rather deep concepts from wave physics and signals-and-systems theory behind what he has to say.

The good news is that the effort is richly repaid. Not only will you be able to write programs that can generate controllable sounds in real time, but you will develop insight into how physical instruments produce their distinctive sounds, and you will understand the basics of both the standard and the most advanced techniques that have been developed to model them. Highly recommended.

This book is useful, enlightening, and fun. It covers many cutting-edge topics in lucid fashion, topics that can only be found otherwise in academic journals. The computer code (in the book and on the CD-ROM) is an invaluable resource for the ambitious reader, who can actually try out or modify the techniques. The CD-ROM also provides examples of these new techniques in action. Finally, the author's sense of humor comes through often (this is not a stiff, boring book!).

As a "digital-sound-artist" and someone who teaches this stuff at the university level, I highly recommend this book not only to those who want to learn about the most recent work going on in sound synthesis, but to those who want another perspective on more familiar topics (like the basics of PCM, fourier analysis, basic digital filtering, etc....).