I returned it. There is some visual humor in it, but you can pretty much forget about doing any of the braids enclosed. It is not a practical look at braiding for a young woman's lifestyle.

It may however, have a use in future Star Wars films.

I am a mother of two girls. My youngest saw this book and fell in love with it. I bought it and tried several of the braids on the girls - pirate matey, spider girl, and pippi longstocking. The instructions and photos were very clear, and the braids were quite simple to do. The result was fantastic. Now my girls are braiding their friends' hair at school. This is a very fun book, and the pictures and paper and binding are all beautifully done. Much better than other braiding books I've seen.

I special ordered this book because I thought it would be really good. I read the reviews and some how got the impression that it was a sensual vampire story. It was a vampire story that dragged on a little to much. It was also vague, and not so sensual at all. I got the feeling that this story tried to capture the elegence of Dracula, but failed. I was shaken because I expected so much more.

I liked this book, but probably not quite as LeFanu intended I ought. The majority of stories are ghost tales, longer and less punchy but more engrossing than those of M.R. James, but with a very similar atmosphere. Most striking is Carmilla, an amusing Gothic story about a female vampire and her relationship with the narrator, her innocent girlfriend. Modern times have robbed the story of much of its horror, and Carmilla becomes as much an object of sympathy as a pure villain - a fact that raises new questions rather than weakening the tale. Like Gormenghast, it is easy to dismiss such writing as plain silly - much of the story IS rather daft - but the charm of the stories remains, provided that the reader enters into the spirit of the book. LeFanu's style is not great - he is rather wordy and his prose a bit "purple", but the meticulous construction of his stories makes them worth reading as exercises in plot alone. His clear love of the atmosphere he builds shows through, and it is refreshing to find a book in which the gothic is not played for laughs. Overall, this is a pleasing collection of stories with a few real highlights. Its atmosphere and style inevitably mean that it will not have much appeal to many people, but fans of the macabre and antiquated will find it a worthwhile purchase. Like Stoker's Dracula or a good Hammer film, it is highly entertaining, simultaneously chilling and slightly camp.

Old fashion mystery set in New York City 1949. New author Janice Cameron shares a rented room with the mysterious Lily Wu in a house in Washington Square. 2 murders occur. It seems each one of the residents in the house has a secret past, with the exception of Janice, and could be the murderer. Very very medium after a while. The most interesting thing about the book is the tone and time it was written which was 1949.

this novel stars Sheridan's favorites Janice Cameron and Lily Wu, but takes place in New York City instead of Hawaii. Its sort of a dark mystery that takes place during the 1949 post WWII housing shortage. Lily and Janice share a bedroom in a rooming house filled with a variety of other people who, unbeknownst to one another, all have a connection to the house and its former owners. That's all I can say without revealing too much of the mystery. I found the biographical introduction of the life of the author as interesting as the novel. :)

This book has used a tricky title to tempt you. Unfortunately, you won't learn UML with it, and even less how to use UML in an iterative development process. I would recommend instead the combination of "UML Distilled" and "Applying UML and Patterns". The use of Visual C++ here has no transcendence, and from my point of view, it is just a way to attract Visual C++ developers (they are many!) that want to learn UML and software development processes. In few words: you always can learn something from any book, but this one is not a good source of knowledge. Think twice before purchasing it.

This book, like its counterparts written for Visual Basic, cuts through the techno jargon fluff that other instructive books use for filler. The authors present a comprehensive linked business example that offers continuity throughout the entire volume. This approach is refreshing and does not waste precious time by introducing non-relevant problems. It is a great treasure for experienced project designers as well as those muddling with legacy code.

It is difficult not to compare Morely's work to Jonathan Croall's altogether superior "John Gielgud: A Theatrical Life 1904-2000," which came out shortly before. "John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography" is decidedly inferior to the Croall book, although a interesting effort on its own merit. It does not have the depth of analysis of Croall's book (essentially skipping over Gielgud's relationship to his family, which Croall goes into in significant detail), as well as making numerous mistakes (saying, for instance, that Gielgud didn't play his first Shaw until doing the Preminger film of "Saint Joan" - forgetting that he played in both "Arms and the Man" and "Androcles & The Lion" at the Old Vic almost twenty years previously; or saying that Gielgud's 1974 Prospero was "his first full-length Shakespeare since 1958," forgetting that he played Othello in 1961. Another puzzling inconsistency was when Morely wrote that Donald Wolfit's hatred of Gielgud started when they did "Richard of Bordeaux" together in 1933, even though he'd already written that Wolfit was furious at Gielgud for allegedly having his Claudius cut down for the West End transfer of "Hamlet" in 1930. Morely also insisted that Gielgud won two Tony Awards for directing "Big Fish, Little Fish" and "Five Finger Excercise" (Gielgud was awarded for the former, but was even nominated for the latter; although Gielgud did win "Best Foreign Production" for "The Importance of Being Earnest" in 1947 and a special Tony for "The Ages of Man" in 1959.)

There are some surprising omissions as well, ignoring completely Gielgud's rivalry with Giles Isham when they were at the Old Vic in 1929/30, when at the offset it was assumed that Isham instead of Gielgud would play Hamlet.

Still, it's an interesting book that probably would have seemed better if I hadn't read Croall's first. He's very matter-of-fact about Gielgud's homosexuality, and uses his 1953 arrest as a focal point (as Croall does). Olivier comes off poorly in both books, although I would say that Morely has more patience with him than Croall seems to (in Croall's book, Olivier is depicted as a kind of antagonist, which I think gives his book more drama). I also think that Morely has a tendency to accept a lot of the Gielgud history at face value, whereas Croall thinks it through and considers the logic of a lot of it. The best example of this is the legendary story of Gielgud and Olivier swapping of roles of Romeo and Mercutio in 1936: Morely accepts that this gimmick was intended from the get-go, whereas Croall ponders (quite logically) that Gielgud and producer Binkie Beaumont were hedging their bets against Olivier's inexperience in Shakespeare at the time, and the role-swapping was agreed upon in case Olivier's reviews as Romeo were so disastrous that they would switch parts to keep the production from suffering. In view of the state of Olivier's career at the time (he had yet to even attempt a leading Shakespearean role on the professional stage), this makes infinitely more sense. Another example is the famous story that Gielgud went to Olivier after the latter opened in Hamlet and said "it's one of the most brilliant performances I've ever seen, but it's still my part." Morely reports it as though
he witnessed it, but Croall points out that not only did neither actor mention it in his autobiography and that Gielgud was actually in America when the comment was allegedly made, but such boasting was very out of character for Gielgud.

This is not to say that Morely's book is a wash. He does a fine job of talking about Gielgud's finances, and brings up the point that Ralph Richardson and Gielgud maintained a friendship despite the fact that Richardson was homophobic and openly uncomfortable with Gielgud's private life (a topic Croall doesn't mention, and indeed even Morely doesn't do much more than mention in passsing). Morely does blow it a lot, though - such as the famous anecdote where Gielgud goes to meet Richard Burton in the latter's dressing room after a performance of "Hamlet," and drops the brick "Why don't you come along when you're better...I mean ready?" Every time I've heard that story related (including Croall's book), it took place in 1953 when Burton played the part at the Old Vic, but Morely maintains that the exchange took place during the 1964 Broadway production. I think he booted it, and I think he does that a disconcertingly large amount of the time. He also has a tendency to bring himself into the narrative (a paragraph might begin with "John approached me about writing this book..."), which I find disconcerting.

"John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography" is a must-read for serious students of Gielgud's career, but Croall's book is the definitive study and should definitely be read first.

Sir John Gielgud was one of the great Shakespearean thespians of the twentieth century, although I unfortunately never saw him on stage where he was apparently at his best. Morley's biography is well-written and informative, but somehow lacks a certain spark.

It follows Gielgud from his childhood (from a family with several respected actors) to his early acting career, ascending from a skinny-legged boy to a much-respected actor, and then a knight and universally revered thespian. His arrest for soliciting a plainclothes policeman resulted in a reworking of laws on homosexuality. And he left behind an astonishing body of work, from a quiet man whose life essentially revolved around his work.

One of the unusual aspects of "John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography" is the respect that Morley has for Gielgud. He keeps his tone constantly respectful but not fannish. His handling of potentially sordid situations (the soliciting case) is always careful and respectful, a rarity in most biographies. His handling of Gielgud's homosexuality and its place in 1940s and 1950s England is particularly good. The attitude there and then was quite different from now. Some of the best actors today -- Ian McKellen being the most prominent -- are able to be openly gay, but then it was actually illegal. Morley does a good job describing the social and legal atmosphere at that time, through conversations, letters to the editors, the press's response, and the changes in the law. One slightly frustrating aspect of the book is the lack of presence of the Gielgud family -- when one of them popped back into the narrative, I found myself wondering, "Who is that again?"

Morley also offers insights into British theater and actors, including Gielgud's connections with Vivien Leigh, Lawrence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Noel Coward. We get to hear the good and bad reviews, some from Gielgud himself, such as his disgust with his shoeless "Romeo" costume (though the picture of him in that play isn't bad). And (wow, another rarity) Morley lets us see some examples of Gielgud's undeniable wit. Though he seems to have put his foot in his mouth frequently, he had some great zingers: at one point he complained about a flatulent crew member by saying that he didn't mind dying, but must it be in a gas chamber?

What is lacking? Perhaps it's a greater sense of knowledge about what made Gielgud tick. Morley knew him, but he fails overall to really let the readers really know what he was like. I got bits and pieces of his personality -- his shyness, his wit, his intense love of acting -- but not a picture of the whole. Some of the dates and situations seem unreliable or debatable. That, and I found the pictures a little unsatisfying. I like it when professional and personal photos are balanced out; this book had almost entirely professional pics.

Gielgud was part of a golden generation of great actors, and had a certain quality that filled whatever stage or screen he was on. While "John Gielgud: The Authorized Biography" can't be called the best, it's certainly worth a look.

Though Roy Morris writes well and illuminates Sheridan's character adequately, there is ultimately something flat about this effort. His attempts to give a definitive analysis of Sheridan are compromised by some factual gaffes and problems in interpreting Sheridan in the context of his times. It must be stressed that being a bigot in the mid-19th century was accepted practice and not odious, as it's viewed today. Morris is sympathetic to Sheridan throughout, even in the midst of his advocating genocide for the Native American.

The lack of personal detail is disquieting. There is insufficient material on Sheridan's mistress from the 1850's and his marriage late in life.

A strong point of the book is Morris' descriptions of little Phil's relationships with Grant and Sherman, two generals infinitely superior and more intelligent that Sheridan. Morris does a good job in explaining this triumvirate that saved the nation during the civil war.

This is a good biography, but scarcely groundbreaking or on the cutting edge of scholarship. The elusive character of Philip Sheridan will have to await a more gifted and grounded biographer.

I've always found General Phil Sheridan to be a fascinating figure, and "Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan" was the first biography about him that I found. It's reasonably well written, chronicling Sheridan's early life, his attendance at West Point, and his meteoric rise to general officer rank in the early days of the Civil War. Author Roy Morris, Jr. also details Sheridan's post-Civil War military career as an unsuccessful military governor of Louisiana, an Indian fighter in the midwest, and ultimately as General-in-Chief of the U.S. Army. Especially interesting was Sheridan's relationship with George Armstrong Custer, which Morris traces from their days fighting together during the Civil War, to the time of Custer's death at Little Big Horn.

I did find a problem with this book, despite its being fairly well written. While it provided some reasonably detailed information on Sheridan's life, times and personality, I didn't feel that it approached depth found in the best biographies of military leaders. When I finished "Sheridan," I felt I hadn't really been introduced to the man; I almost got the feeling Morris left out information in order to keep down the length of the book (which runs only to 393 pages.)

"Sheridan" is a good basic survey of one of the great U.S. Army generals of the 19th century, but it's not a particularly penetrating study of General Philip Sheridan's life and times. In my view, Phil Sheridan deserves better.

Phillip Sheridan's importance to the Union effort in the Civil War cannot be overstated. His place as a general in blue ranks behind only Sherman and Grant. His best moments were at Winchester where he stemmed a Union defeat and turned it into a smashing vistory, and at Five Forks where he routed a derelict George Pickett and ended the stalemate around Petersburg. He also led a fascinating life in the military both before and after the war, eventually becomming the army's commanding general late in his life. Morris's book is well written, but it lacks the drama of say the recent biographies of Grant and Sherman. I think this is because the stories of those two generals, who both overcame much adversity in both their personal and professional lives, are much more compelling. Sheridan was a great general, but not a tragic or epic figure. But at least he has a biography that does his memory justice.

Okay, this book does have a lot to go for it. The first few chapters are completely dedicated to helping animators create a solid story for their demo reels. Invaluable information right there!

Then the author moves on to modeling. This book teaches ONLY nurbs techniques, so if you're not interested in learning nurbs or already know how, I really recommend that you purchase Maya Illuminated: Games!, it will teach you how to use polygons instead. The good thing about this book teaching you only nurbs is that it really goes in depth instead of skimming through valuable techniques.

This book will of course teach you how to apply textures to your nurbs models, so that's a nice plus.

Then it will teach you everything you need to know about rigging your models for animation. This is probably one of the best parts of the book, simply because there are VERY few tutorials out there for Maya on how to rig anything...

The flaws to this book.

It tries to teach lighting... if you want to learn how to properly light your scenes, buy the now very popular Digital Lighting and Rendering. It will teach you the PROPER way to light your scenes. You can tell from this Maya 2 character animation book that lighting wasn't the author's specialty. Either that or he didn't feel like making it worth much. The scenes the author shows as lighting examples are very badly lit.

Another thing is that it's hard to read this book. I don't spend hours on end reading this cause there's a lot of theory and explaining.

Otherwise, great book. I would recommend this book if you need to learn how to really learn how to model with nurbs, how to rig your models and how to create solid stories for animation.

I have found this book to be a well rounded introduction to the character animation process. It is comprehensive and outlines an abundance of techniques to use for every step from start to finish. It can be a little confusing at times, as maya often can be to beginners, but it has succeeded in considerably expanding my knowledge of techniques and processes in Maya.

Maya is an incredibly sophisticated piece of software and there are several methods of accomplishing similar results within the environment. It would be impossible to cover every method or teach every technique and tool in a single book. This is *not* the "How to do Everything in Maya in a Day" book, if that's what you're looking for. Instead, as the cover does indicate, it is a guide through a tried and true process of character development and animation written by award winning artists who have graciously recorded their knowledge to share with aspiring 3d hackers.

Good question regarding the background of the authors.

Here's hoping "The Skeptic" will live up to his/her promise to give the book and its authors the benefit of the doubt. I worked on this book and the project team's (much-abbreviated) credentials are as follow:

Nate Vogel (principal co-author): 3D Special Effects Director at Minds Eye Media, San Francisco; certified Maya Character Animation Instructor; co-created a 3D-fantasy game, and several original 3D-animated TV and film projects; received the 1998 World Animation Celebration Best Animated Music Video Award.

Sherri Sheridan (principal co-author): Creative Director/co-founder, Minds Eye Media; currently working on a series of 2D and 3D animations for the web, film and TV, including the animated Web show 'Goth Grrls', the independent feature film 'The Sundial Solution', the upcoming children's HDTV show 'Sassafrass the Psychic Warrior', and a series of 3D meditation videos. Teaches at the Academy of Art College among other instructional gigs.

Tim Coleman (principal co-author): Extensive 3D CG work with TV commerical, video game, and software development; certified Maya instructor; teaches at undergrad and graduate levels at the Academy of Art College (SF). Co-principal of Supergenius Animation, where he just finished the short film 'Bowling Fer Souls', (3-minutes, completed using Maya) which can/could be seen at Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation 1999.

Alex Alvarez (contributor): Director of Gnomon, Inc., School of Visual Effects for Film, Television, and Games (Los Angeles), and generally considered to be one of the premier experts on Maya in the world. Writes for 3D Magazine and teaches seminars regularly when on the road. Creator of Lanker, the winsome dude on the cover of the book and CG-super-model in his own right.

Jesse Andrewartha (contributor): Alias|Wavefront Certified Instructor; taught classes in animation and VFX for the Ex'pressions Center for New Media. Writes regularly for SIGGRAPH and 3D Magazine.

Kevin Cain (contributor): Creative Director at the Pelleas Design Studios and director of the SGI/PC Computer Education Center at the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

Matt Ontiveros (contributor): Lab manager and principal Alias|Wavefront Maya instructor at Mesmer Animation Labs (SF & Seattle).

David Tart (contributor): His most recent work has been at Pixar Animation Studios on several projects, including Toy Story and A Bug's Life.

i have studied gide for many years now and have a very large collection of his books as well as books on him....i was greatly disappointed by sheridan's bulky text on gide. unfortunately sheridan has decided to give us an intimate portrait of the life of gide that reads like a tabloid trash article. it is of less importance who gide slept with than the ideas that he puts forth over his lifetime that helped change the face of literature. previous biographies of gide have had to divide their time between the facts of his life and criticism of his books because the two are virtually inseparable. sheridan has opted for more of the former and less of the latter but never really makes a convincing case for doing this. he finds fault with many previous biographers, many of them intimates of gide, but never explains why his interpretation of the facts is better. i would suggest reading germaine bree or jean delay or justin o'brien's books on gide. sheridan's ideas fall from the realm of fact into the realm of fiction.

A biographer has a unique perspective on his subject: he can choose how to present the subject whatever way he likes. In this book, Sheridan has opted to present Gide as an artist who is constantly struggling between his homosexual nature and his Protestant upbringing which does not necessarily agree with the former. Contrary to the former reviewer, I do believe that Sheridan has successfully tied together Gide's works and his real life sexual orientation. In presenting Gide as such, Sheridan has demonstrated time and time again how such a life is reflected very closely in his works. My only wish is that Sheridan can present a much more balance view between Gide's sexual life and his other life. Literaly the first half of the book (300 pages plus), contain very detail sexual life of Gide. Many times it feels too overwhelming. Only when you get to Gide's association with Communist Part and his trip to the USSR (half way in the book), do you get more interesting aspects of Gide's life. I think Sheridan's description of Gide's relationship with his wife (Madelaine) and how Gide's dealt with her death, is superb. But this comes almost at the end of the book. If it is not for it's lack of balance, I would have given this book a 5-star rating.

The extraordinary work and life of one of the twentieth century's most influential authors is brought to vivid life in this magisterial biography. Sheridan has a complete understanding of both the period and the literature; his precis of the novels and diaries &c are succinct and his own written style is elegant and to the point.

The first three chapters of this book, a whopping 44 pages, give an overview of the concepts behind fantasy football, Mr. Sheridan's scoring system, and a guide to drafting players. The advice in latter is useful primarily if you are in a league using Sheridan's rules. The bulk of the book -- 250 pages -- is devoted to a review of the 1999 NFL season. Sheridan's commentary on players is fine, and accurate to the time the book went to press, but is typical to that which can be found on the internet for free. Some inclusions render the book obsolete, such as discussions of the merits of Dan Marino and Steve Young, both of whom have retired since the book was published. Fantasy football depends upon timely information and a book, no matter how qualified the author, cannot compete with other information sources which are more timely. It's a pity Mr. Sheridan did not make better use of the strength of the medium and expand the first 44 pages to provide the definitive guide to creating and managing a fantasy football league.

I have been active in many fantasy football leagues and Danny Sheridan really misses with this book. The point system he suggests becomes the theme of the book, so if you're not using his system, 80 % of it is useless. There is not much in depth analysis, and no real predictions! He continually mentions what players he has forecasted correctly, without making any new predictions! His Quarterback section completely skips Peyton Manning, a QB that in 1999,could be as valuable as a Drew Bledsoe or a Mark Brunell!

Once again, Danny Sheridan's fantasy football book is right on the mark. I have relied on his rankings religiously for the past 5 years, and have won my league 4 times. His commentary teaches you how to evaluate the true fantasy value of a player, regardless of your league rules. Plus, the tips provided in his rankings are extremely useful in evaluating which players to draft for the upcoming season.

This book really is more about project management; UML and its application within a VB project to the authors, seems optional. Here's were the book goes bad:

1)There are no UML syntax definitions.

2)There is no hard reference to UML tools, not even Visual Modeler.

3)The VB source code for the Case Study is passed over in abut 10 pages. (the author seem more comfortable with project management)

4)The CD-ROM is one big promotion for Visio, there is source code but the source is not eve rapped up in a Visual Molder file and you get a MS Project outline of their proposed method (ooh! hold me back)

If you are looking for a book on project management and team development organization, this book is for you. "If you are looking for a no-nonsense book on UML for busy developers looking to unleash the strength of the UML" (from the books intro), this is not the book for you, don't waste your money. If you fall in the later category, try "Developing Applications with Visual Basic and UML"

_shawn

If you want to learn about the details of UML, this isn't the book. Same goes for learning Visual Basic. Both those topics are better served by the multitude of specific references available. This book takes the two concepts and shows HOW TO GET IT DONE!

I agree with the authors that very little which has been written focuses clearly on real world, practical solutions. Most of the authors have been either methodologists or consultants. My experience is that few of these authors have a true management perspective of someone who has to live long-term with the organizational dynamics of object development, and long-term with the technical results.

The strongest aspect of this book is standard project management practices and process definition. The explanation of how to do use case analysis is particularly well done. VB is not considered a mainstream OO language or development environment. While VB does have object characteristics which the authors use to illustrate their points and has wide market appeal, most people would not use it to do a real object project. I think the point here is that VB is evolving and I will wait and see how OO it becomes.

The Object-Oriented world has been waiting for a book that describes the process (method) for developing OO systems with UML in detail.

This book is filled with many key suggestions in OO development with UML that can only come from years of experience in developing OO systems. Every Object-Oriented developer, including analysts and managers, should have this book for reference!

I am awed at the great details the authors present in explaining how to organize and accomplish an OO project.

I will be recommending this book to all my friends who are OO developers. The demonstration of the Approach with a case study is outstanding! This helps make the book even more superb and valuable!