This book is actually a real page turner. Every one of the obituaries in this book are amusing, and many are good for full belly laughs. I received this book as a gift, and I was apprehensive at first (worrying that they'd be gross), but I was pleasantly surprised.

Originally, I was loaned a copy by a friend and wound up buying a pile for gifts. It is a great "Groaner" and has been passed around the office for weeks. When you hear, "EEEEEUUUUUUUU" over the cubicle walls you know what they're reading!

This is a book that will just make you laugh and after your done you will want to pass it on as i did. After i did i was sorry that i had, as you want to share it with company for some laughs. It is a book that should just be sitting around the house for all to pick up and look at. A great bathroom book.

The book is pretty good. Its clear and concise--straight to the point. I wish it would contain more of the different styles, but it mainly focuses on two--humanitites style and scientific style (MLA & APA). It would really help students to sort of have all of the styles in one book so we do not have to get like four or five books just because our professor wanted a paper a certain way. This book also focuses on the online citation (most books fall short of the online stuff because it is so new).

Citation of materials from the (extremely) volatile web was a major problem. Creating a summary, and providing a hyperlink to the original content, proved a major issue since electronic content moves so frequently.. The Columbia Guide gives some assurance that proper citation can be given. Some of the citation style suggestions seem very redundant, and there is no clear table or quick summary to highlight the proper method for common usage. Still, as the first work of this type, it gives an excellent baseline for referencing, building, managing on-line content.

It's an excellent idea, but what grindingly dull work Todd Harvey makes of it all. Each of the 70 analyses follow the same pattern, so each contains a paragraph which says something like "I have heard 11 versions of Don't Think Twice, It's All Right : the [10/?/62a] 2nd Gaslight performance, the [11/14/62] Freewheelin' session VI recording, subsequently released on that lp, the [3/?/63a] Witmark session V recording..." etc etc through all 11 performances. (All the sessions are listed in an appendix at the back of the book, so why he couldn't asterisk those he'd heard and save 70 tedious paragraphs, I don't know.) Then later, we get a musical analysis of each song, like this : "Lay Down Your Waery Tune has a verse-chorus form with five verses (verse four has no chorus). In duple time it has an ABCA/ABCA phrase structure. Like Paths of Victory and Walkin' Down the Line the melody is the same in both the verse and chorus sections". Well, not much enlightenment there. I give credit for the author's doggedness in trying to chase down the sources for all these songs - there's lots of stuff I didn't know in here - but ignoring the appendices this book is only 127 pages long... (I believe that might be because it's aiming for educational establishments and not fans - maybe. Anyway, it tries hard to be "scholarly".) There are also odd lapses. Harvey credits John Bauldie's notes to the "Bootleg Series" box set then does not mention that Dylan's "Cough Song" is probably based on Jimmie Tarlton's (1930) "Mexican Rag" as Bauldie says. He omits the connection between "When the Ship Comes In" and the Carter family's "Gospel Ship"; and he doesn't explore the rather obvious thematic similarity between Dylan's "John Brown" and the Irish trad song "Johnny I Hardly Knew You". I might have forgiven the author for those omissions, but I can't forgive him for writing such a very dull and boring book about such an interesting subject. All in all, this is a real missed opportunity.

This is a fascinating book. Harvey examines 70 early Dylan songs for their musical and lyrical influences. He doesn't stop when he finds an earlier song with a similar melody. He finds a song that influenced the melody of *that* song, and then he finds yet an earlier song that had a similar tune, and so on.

Dylan has sometimes been criticized for ripping off the songs of this or that performer. Dominic Behan, for a famous example, claimed Dylan copied his 1957 "Patriot Game" in "With God On Our Side." Harvey's research shows what Behan conveniently did not mention: The "Patriot Game" melody had been used by Burl Ives in his versions of "The Nightingale," released on two different records in 1952 and 1956, before Behan wrote his song. Then Harvey traces the melody back to a recording made by Jo Stafford in 1948, released on a 78 rpm album. Harvey also reports that Liam Clancy said a very similar melody ("The Merry Month of May") came from the Appalachian Mountains.

Dylan *had* heard "The Patriot Game" and was influenced by it, as the lyrics indicate. The point is that, when folk songs and their melodies are the issue, no one person can usually be determined to be the author. Someone may copyright various songs, as A. P. Carter did with many Carter Family recordings, but that doesn't mean he wrote them. It is more a matter of receiving royalties that would otherwise be lost to Anonymous.

Harvey's book is fascinating reading, well written, and original. In this time when so many Dylan books are rehashes of the same old stories, it is a pleasant surprise to read a volume that is written from independent research.

The Formative Dylan is also a rare Dylan book in that its subject is Dylan's music, not his private life. Highest recommendation.

disappointing to say the least - much of the book looked as if it had been recopied at kinko's. the maps were extremely hard to read - no color at all. i can't quite figure what's supposed to be irreverent in the book unless it's the fact that every so often the author says something less than favorable about a site or restaurant. save your money.

I spent my first 18 years around and in Chicago, so I was very curious to see what the Irreverent people suggested about my hometown of sorts. A word of warning... there is the usual quibble that applies to all of the irreverent books: they are more designed for reading a whole section at once, as the organization scatters litle info-nuggets about one particular place across a number of different sections. With that being said, the index in the back can guide you to the relevant pages for a specific place you are looking for.

All in all, I found this an incredibly fun and informative book that covers a large range of establishments and attractions in the few hundred pages it was given. It seems aimed at the younger or more adventurous traveler. Let's face it, almost everyone knows the Field Museum, the Art Institute, Brookfield Zoo, Sears Tower, etc. What this guide will help you do is find a great nightclub buried in the industrial district (Crobar), the surreal summer sports customs (16-inch softball!), the famous Frank Lloyd Wright architecture that is spattered around the city (Roble House), alternative shopping complexes (Belmont and Clark), where to grab a drink before a Cubs game (Cubby Bear), and famous local theater (Steppenwolf).

So if you are traveling to Chicago, and want to get a feel for the city that isn't completely upper-middle class and whitewashed (which the traditional Frommer's and such can fall prey to quite often), this book would be a great travel guide to help you out. It's even an interesting read for people living *in* Chicago, as there were a number of places in the book I was not familiar with which sound like quite a good time.

If you like swashbuckling sci-fi, than this is the kind of novel you will like. With a lion like main character doing a samurai impersonation, the novel reads like some many other pseudo-pulp sci-fi novels.

If you want some entertaining but predictable reading, and can pick it up cheap, then do it.
The artwork on the cover is an early work of now world renowned cover artist Thomas Kidd.

This is the best book I have read-- ever. The leading supporting characters are strong and well developed, the plot is involving and intriguing, with enough twists to keep you going, and put together in a way that keeps you reading. _The Guardsman_ is easily read and re-read, and hard to put down.

The explanations are well written and easy enough to understand, but the downfall of this book is its reliance on an EXTREMELY poor CDROM. The java class heirarchy isn't present on the CDROM, making it a very tedious job to copy all of the example files on to your hard disk so that they will work correctly with java's packaging characteristics. In fact, there are even errors present in the code on the CDROM, creating another cumbersome task of finding the updated source code on the web site, if it's there, and then copying that code onto your....... You get the point.

The actual book covers helpful topics in an interesting and fairly easy to understand way as long as you're familiar with Java programming and the Java API. On the Other hand, many of the code examples rely on the reader to examine and execute the code on the CDROM, which is sub-par at best.

This is not a bad book, but don't let the fact that it comes with a CDROM including examples and the jdk1.1.3 on it throw you. Besides, you could be downloading a higher version of the jdk right now for free...

I purchased this book because it specifically offered serial communications using Java, including the required DLL for Windows use. Unfortunately, the DLL is not on the CD. I have sent mail to the author. He states that "In the coming weeks if I have time I will rebuild the DLL and place the binary up on the website". That was in late November. Still, there is no DLL.
I should note that, while the CD is VERY poorly organised (no install, backup files everywhere, multiple directories to copy for the .class files to be usefull, etc.) the book reads well.

This was an interesting little read, though I don't know if I learned much useful information except that raising mushrooms seems to be a super-tedious task. The author writes as if the reader is supposed to know what the heck he's talking about, but I sure didn't. Perhaps someone with some laboratory know-how would find this book informative, perhaps not. Since I'm not a lab person, I don't know if his methodology is practical or not.

This book is good for anyone who has interest in the topic but is not familiar with it. Pretty Short, but in general a good book. Very interesting although you may need more sources to start on growing mushrooms.

very informative book, but no real information on how to find supplies. This is a very techinical book which reads fluently with step by step instructions. I highly recomend although you may need other references to compete your project.

This is from the back cover, "[Todd Solodnz] offers two separate stories ('Fiction' and 'Non-Fiction') that unfold amid the sadly comical terrain of college and high school. In the first, a young female student has a stranger-than-fiction sexual encounter with her creative writing tutor. In the second, a struggling documentarian sets out to faithfully record the life and thoughts of an ordinary American adolescent, but finds himself irresistibly drawn to the exploitative possibilities of the material."

If this description had been available to me I would have never purchased the book. The only reason I did buy the book was because it appeared when doing a search for screenwriting books. I'll pass judgment on the readability of the book since I'm am not in the target audience of high school seniors who are college bound.

How anyone can attempt to compare this book to any of the vast number of screenwriting books available is beyond imagination. Maybe they haven't read Robert McKee's "Story," or Laos Egri's "The Art of Dramatic Writing." If I can save one person from wasting their money the effort will have been worth it.

Woops, look like Mr. "I'm not a college bound high school senior" should've done a little more research into his purchase. Actually, if he had READ the book instead of passing on, he might've gotten a better lesson in screenwriting than any Syd Field or Michael Hague book can provide. If you want to write screenplays, read screenplays; and you can't go wrong with Todd Solondz if you want guidance in excellent character development.

Screenplay to a great movie. There's a short introduction by Bruce Wagner and a few b&w photos around. As there are some great quotable lines in the first part of the movie 'Fiction', I like to have this little book around until I have it completely memorized.

I play UO almost since the game is out and I have the two previous Prima's UO books. The last one was for The Secong Age which was the first expansion for UO.

When I bought the previous book I was disappointd to see that the content was the same except for some fiction which was lost and some more monsters.

Now with three more "updates" (Renaissance, Third Dawn and Lord Blackthorn's Revenge) which brought in two more worlds (Trammel/Fellucca and Illshenar), a faction system and many new other things the book would have seen a major overhaul.

Nope. Nothing. Nada.

The book has been "updated" and is still handy to have some good info on creatures, monsters or weapons and printed maps (which are few and too small)... The only section I found interesting was the chapter on previous background events and characters of Britannia and the other factes, but it is still too short for my taste. Another "bonus" is an interview with Todd "Spawn" McFarlan. A last and disappointing point is that no fold out map is included this edition of the book.

In the end I recommend this book to newcommers who don't own one of the previous books or to customers who like to have some printed references. If you surf often on the previous mentionned site and use the third party program UO Automap then this book is a luxury.

I'm a veteran player of UO, but it's nice to have reference materials around. This guide is pretty good. But I keep finding places where I wish it went just a bit further.

It gives information about tradeskills, but doesn't give you the practical walkthrough on how to actually use them. It has spell lists, but not the details on how exactly they work and how best to use them. It's not "hands on" enough for a complete beginning, but it's not detailed enough for a veteran.

It does have a pretty complete set of maps, but these are all available online through the UO Automap (which is included in the game CD thesedays). It does have the usual reference materials--what ingredients you need for what.

I guess I'd recommend buying it, at least if you have enough disposable income to not be concerned about it. But if you have one thing you can get with your [money] this week, this wouldn't be my choice.

This book has just about every detail you need to successfully play this game to its full potential. The maps and pictures are great and the information is well organized. This is a must for all UO players, Young or Veteran

I could never belive that Wonder-Woman and Batman would come to blows like they do in this story. In the monthly JLA stories, they always had a certain respect for the other;s abilities, in fact, sometimes it appeared Wonder-Woman agreed more with Batman then Superman. Thus their behavoir in this story is just unacceptable.

This "deluxe" hardbound book has some obvious similarities to Christopher Moeller's "A League Of One," also offered from DC Comics a year or so back. Lavishly illustrated and thoughtfully written, they both follow Wonder Woman in 'extra-curricular' (that is, outside the continuity of her monthly comic) adventures, and feature supporting heroes from DC's pantheon. Both books are fairly quick reads, and both deserve the occasional re-read. Unfortunately, both books have a somewhat hefty list price...one good reason to buy them at Amazon's discount.

"The Hiketeia," though it shares some of "League"'s artfully dark style of illustration, isn't written in the same epic manner. At times gloomy and drear, "Hiketeia" is more of a modern Greek tragedy, and has a predictably sad ending. In brief, this story follows a young woman named Danielle, whose sister has come to an untimely end at the hands of drug dealing lowlifes. Though Danielle has always emulated Wonder Woman's heroic ideals, to the point of teaching herself ancient Greek and studying Greek history, her life is changed by a visit from the Furies, a trio of Greek goddesses who thrive on vengeance. Also known as the Erinyes, these hellish goddesses convince Danielle it is her blood obligation to exact revenge upon her sister's tormentors and killers.

Danielle runs afoul of Batman, but escapes him to seek sanctuary with Wonder Woman. She is 'bound' to Diana by performing the ancient ritual of "hiketeia," and Wonder Woman agrees to protect Danielle and provide for her. Eventually Batman tracks the girl to her hideout (the Themysciran embassy), but WW prevents him from taking Danielle into custody. In doing so, Diana honors the sanctity of hiketeia, but defies the laws of modern society. There's much more to this story, but I don't want to spoil it for fellow readers.

Greg Rucka's story is at times riveting, and his characterization of Batman and The Furies is commendable. Longtime Wonder Woman readers may object to the way Diana subverts her sense of reason, in order to honor a ritual that puts her at odds with modern/cultural justice. But there's no questioning her resolve, or her faith. The Furies, despite their blood-thirsty nature, are portrayed as slightly whimsical deities, a nice touch. Batman's importance in this story is belied by his prominence on the book's cover. Though he is a potent reminder of the magnitude of Danielle's crimes, there isn't a single page in this book devoted to his search for the girl, or his reaction to Diana's "interference."

Drawn by J.G. Jones and inked (somewhat heavily) by Wade Von Grawbadger, "Hiketeia"'s visuals are an excellent complement to
Rucka's tale. The style is clean and reasonably realistic in comic book terms, and all the main players are depicted in fine form. Story colors are generally good, though emphasis is given to moody blue-greys and amber lights. The cumulative effect is modern enough to please the average comics fan, and also respectful of classical illustration...a nod to "serious" readers. My only quibble with artwork is the cover, which takes WW and Bat's battle way out of context. It's a powerful image that could easily be misinterpreted as political commentary or a gender statement.

I'd call this a "five star" book if characterization for Wonder Woman was more consistant with her comics "norms". But that's a highly subjective view, so I can still recommend this book to fellow WW fans with few reservations. Fans of the Big Bat may be disappointed to see just how small his part is, but I don't think anyone will find him out of character here. Given the shortage of hardbound WW books, I'd say this one is a must for collectors.

Well ... I just had to write a review and give it five stars, despite being tired and sleepy (almost midnight as I write this). Only two persons had reviewed this book, and one of them gave it only one star, grossly skewing the average rating and possibly affecting what unsuspecting potential buyers might think of this GREAT book. The Hiketeia is a dark and depressing story, very much in the vein of classic Greek tragedies. Wonder Woman grants sanctuary to a young woman, Danielle Wellys, and becomes bound to give Danielle protection without realising that Batman is after Danielle for having murdered several people who caused her younger sister's death. The story resonates with Aeschylus's Oresteia, with its theme of duty and vengeance and their consequences - Orestes was commanded by the Gods, through Apollo's oracle at Delphi, to avenge the murder of his father, Agamemnon, by killing the murderer, his mother Clytemnestra. He duly performed this horrendous duty, bringing the wrath of the Furies, ancient goddesses who hound murderers of blood kinsmen, upon his head in the bargain. Orestes was in a no-win situation - had he failed to kill his mother, the Furies' wrath would have also descended upon his head for failing to avenge the murder of his father. While the Oresteia ended on a happy note - Athena absolved Orestes of any misdeeds and placated the Furies by appealing to their egos - Greg Rucka goes one step further by giving The Hiketeia a bleak ending without any deus ex machina plot devices often used by the ancient Greeks. While the characterisation of the Furies as scheming witches plotting Wonder Woman's downfall is contrary to what the ancient Greeks themselves would have thought of them, I greatly enjoyed this story for being true to Wonder Woman's roots in Greek mythology. The colours used are muted to reflect the darkness of the story, but the art-work is gorgeous. Go beyond the S&M cover of Wonder Woman's heel on Batman's face and you will discover a modern Greek tragedy well worth reading and re-reading several times.