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Abate, abhor, abject, abridge, abstemious ... still awake? Good, because now there's a better way to learn all those words than plowing through those never-ending vocabulary lists devised by torture experts. Tooth and Nail: A Novel Approach to the New SAT is just what it says it is: a guide to the big, bad SAT words in the form of a mystery novel. Follow Caitlin and Phil's exploits as they wend their way through their first year of college and find intrigue behind the curtain of academia. As you do, you'll find a few words in boldface, each of which is defined and compared with other words in a glossary in the back of the book. Seeing the word in its context and immediately finding a definition is a much more satisfying way to learn than just to read word after unconnected word--you might as well read the dictionary! A preface explains in greater detail how best to use the book, and there are helpful SAT-style exercises in antonyms, analogies, and comprehension, so this makes a great all-around verbal package for the serious test-taker. If you must take the test, you might as well have a little fun doing it, and by the time you've finished Tooth and Nail, you'll be glad it doesn't end as a list: "...wizened, wreak, writhe, zeal, zealous." --Rob Lightner
Book Description
An SAT vocabulary-building program in the lively form of a mystery novel. Now students who take the Scholastic Assessment Test can learn more than 1,200 SAT words, improve reading comprehension, and enjoy a good story all at the same time. Includes exercises, glossary with page references.
Customer Reviews:
Better than a sharp stick in the eye..... maybe.......2005-08-22
Better than a sharp stick in the eye....maybe
Although the concept seems like a good idea, in reality due to the lack of any real plot the only thing this "novel" managed to do was drone on and on and on while going absolutely nowhere. The cramming of three to four words in a single sentence was just annoying. The chapter on the radio talk show was so mind numbingly boring that I considered just blowing the assignment off and going to the beach. For example, "...I would like to ask our listeners to abandon for a moment the tedious insistence on objective fact and impartial analysis that tyrannizes so much scholarship and to indulge instead there powers of speculation." Seriously, is all that needed to get the thought across? Or are they just using a lot of words to fill up space (like most kids on their English essays). However because it was assigned reading and I will be graded on it I persevered.
Most of the words I am already familiar with. The ones I was not were not driven home, as it were, by this style of study. I think my time will be better spent in an SAT Prep class, and using practice tests. Certainly more time consuming but far less painful.
Really, reading a dictionary cover to cover would have been a better use of time. It probably would have also been a better read.
Again, the concept could have been a good one if the authors had given more thought to the audience that they were writing for. One sure way to impede the education process for my age group is to bore us to tears.
The question remains would I recommend this book. To the student that has grown up in an inarticulate environment with no real grasp of the English language well, yeah, maybe. For the rest of the overstressed, pre SAT crowd who have been exposed to the world at large, save your money.
A Complete Waste of Time.......2004-07-05
I read this book for an english summer homework assignment. Although the back description and introduction allude to an interesting and valuable read, do not expect much. This book is a sore disappointment for anyone who possesses a genuine love of reading. The plot is unbelievably simplistic and unoriginal and it was difficult for me to believe that two well educated scholars wrote it. I was bored to tears after the opening paragraph of the "story" and have had a tough time finishing it. If it weren't for the fact that I will be tested on this, I would have gladly exchanged it for a more engaging read. In terms of SAT prep, it was not entirely helpful there either. Many times throughout the book, it seemed as though the authors exchanged simpler words for complex, lesser known SAT words. The problem was that the SAT words did not fit the context and were spoken by characters that would not have had any clue about the word. The characters were dull and 2-D without ever developing or being explored. The dialogue was unreal and forced.
All in all, this was a horrible book that did not teach me any new words. It was torture to read. Like a previous reviewer said, for SAT prep words read some classic novels where you will be entertained as well as educated. For a REAL mystery, try "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown.
Good for the clueless...........2004-01-02
When I first saw this book, I was excited with this "novel" approach. My friend said it was good, so I started reading.
What I found, however, was that 95% of the words I already knew. I'm studying for my SATs, so I know a sizable amount of words. I was hoping to learn new and challenging words.
Some of the words are absurd. Words like biased, indifferent, spontaneous, captivating, articulate, tentative, convey, intiated, diverse (i just happened to flip to a random page (p.25) and am listing some bold-faced words) appear a billion times on the pages. Some of the words were new to me, like masquerade (which I doubt I will find on the SAT). Most of the words however were elementary and definately did not improve my vocabulary.
When I first read all those 3 star reviews I didn't want to believe them, so I tried the book anyway. Needless to say I am disapointed.
Aside from other problems that I won't mention (but other customers have, such as the lack of a plot or the flipping to the back, which you wont need to be doing very often if you're studying for the SATs), this book's vocabulary is very limited.
To sum it up, if you're looking to study for an examination and want to learn challenging words, try another book (personally I've been trying to memorize word lists and have ordered Kaplan's Ring of McAllister, another novel). If you don't know anything, don't want to study word lists, don't want to try other SAT vocabulary novels, or just want to review some basic vocabulary words such as adjacent, complex, nuture, diversity, bizarre, dominant............, well then this book is for you.
A good idea, but it has its hits and misses...........2003-05-24
I was required to read Tooth and Nail for my etymology class. The whole purpose of this class is to learn vocabulary for the SAT. While my verbal score did increase, it wasn't because of reading the book. The idea is a good one: using words in context is one of the best ways to learn words, in my opinion. But, as many reviews have already stated, it was extremely tedious having to flip through the back of the book just to see what the word means. I noticed that the longer I read, the less I flipped through the back.
The authors call Tooth & Nail a mystery novel, yet the "mystery" part only compromises the last 40% or so of the book. The preceding stuff is just garbage -- extremely slow exposition. There is even a chapter (the "radio chat" for those of you that have read this book) that serves ABSOLUTELY no purpose, other than to cram in words. That's fine and dandy, except one thing: the less interesting a book gets, the less likely you'll finish it. You can tell that the authors haven't visited a college campus for a while (yet, I think they put forth valiant effort trying to make it seem real.)
Indeed, I augmented my lexicon from taking etymology, but most of it was from a wordlist book. Contrary to what many people say, word-books are a good way to learn lists of words, so long as they provide exercises---this is what I recommend instead of (or at LEAST in addition to) this book.
Learning words in context is the best approach.......2003-04-08
Learning words in context is a great idea. It's the only method that works. This book was released in 1994 and for several years was the only one of its kind. But there are three new additions in this format--from Barrons, Kaplan, and A. J. Cornell Publications. Some people have complained that with this book it's problematic to have all the words at the back, in a glossary--because you have to keep stopping to find them back there. I agree with that. At least one of the above-mentioned books--The Wizard of Oz Vocabulary Builder--places the definitions on the same page as the words, and it seems to work well. Perhaps the next edition of this book can be reformatted that way.
Book Description
In the small Alaskan village of Chukchi, what are the odds of two suicides occurring in a matter of a few days? State trooper Nathan Active discovers that his suspicions concerning the deaths are well-founded; the two men were murdered. But what was the motive and who killed them?
Amazon.com
White sky ("a high film of opalescent cloud... that leached all contour and distinction from the snowy landscape") and black ice ("black and perfect like ice when it was new and thin and deadly") are two aspects of the physical life in the remote Alaskan village of Chukchi, where young and ambitious state trooper Nathan Active is starting his police career. Nathan has decidedly mixed feelings about Chukchi, despite its often stunning beauty. He was born here to a 15-year-old Eskimo girl, who quickly fostered him off to a white family in Anchorage. Also, within its boundaries it contains all the problems facing native Alaskans. Entrapped by poverty and alcohol, too many of them end their lives with suicide. Even an enterprising local leader, Tom Werner, who has fought to ban alcohol and to keep a nearby copper mine open to provide jobs, can't stop two more men from killing themselves in the book's first few pages.
But to Nathan, with his outsider's sensibilities, these last two suicides look suspicious. Even though his politically disgraced superior and the local police warn him off, he stubbornly digs into the circumstances of the deaths and finds connections to the international consortium that owns the Gray Wolf copper mine.
Nathan is a fascinating character, bristling with anger against his birth mother for abandoning him, but still drawn to her and the native life. His feelings about a determined young woman called Lucy Generous are equally ambivalent: part of him loves her sexual frankness, while the other part warns him that a native wife might not help his career.
Stan Jones, an environmentalist, journalist, and bush pilot, obviously knows and loves the people and territory he writes so well about in this, his first mystery. --Dick Adler
Customer Reviews:
Take a Break from the Lower Forty-eight.......2007-09-07
The Nathan Active police procedurals are a welcome read to those who enjoy their mysteries with a healthy dose of character development and cultural exploration. Alaskan State Police Trooper Nathan Active was given up at birth by his Inuit mother and raised by a white couple in Anchorage. His first posting is to the village where he was born. He returns as an outsider, more white than Inuit. Therein lies the interesting conflict. Eager to achieve and get promoted quickly out of this post, Active finds himself slowly and perhaps painfully putting down roots. The mysteries/crimes are secondary in my opinion to the fascinating character conflict. I look forward to reading more on this series.
Tony Hillerman on Ice.......2006-08-11
A nice murder mystery series with echoes of the Tony Hillerman Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn Navajo tales. If you liked those you'll warm to Trooper Nathan Active solving mysteries in the snowscape of Alaska's wilderness. There is a romantic subplot which results in a little not too explicit sex but still a pity we have to spy on Nathan's bedroom antics - one star off for that!
The next in the series Shaman Pass is a as good or even better - it gets 5 stars from me.
Excellent Debut Novel.......2005-05-05
I love regional mysteries, especially when they're regions I'm unlikely ever to visit. The Nathan Active series takes place in a remote village in Alaska, far from the glamour and tourism of the big cities. It is here, in Chukchi, that Inupiaq trooper Nathan Active is assigned. Raised by a white couple in the metropolis of Anchorage, Nathan tries to find his native roots while solving mysteries closely related to the Inupiat culture. The novel is entertaining as a mystery, but it is the vivid narrative about place and culture that gives the book its real punch. Enjoy!
Tony Hillerman on a snowmobile .......2005-05-03
I don't know if I've ever read a romantic novel about Eskimos. The land is savage and so are the stories. Two Eskimo men commit suicide at the beginning of "White Sky, Black Ice" and no-one seems to question the coincidence except for 'Dudley Do-Right' Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active.
Nathan Active, an Inupiat Eskimo himself, is actually called 'Dudley Do-Right' by yet another man who is about to commit suicide. This comes much later in the book. Initially Nathan is suspicious of the suicides because both men appeared to have shot themselves in their Adam's Apple. Both of the dead men also had jobs at the Gray Wolf Copper Mine, run by a Norwegian conglomerate called GeoNord.
Aha! You say. Evil Big Business ruins pristine Alaskan wilderness and destroys anyone who gets in its way.
Well, no, not quite. "White Sky, Black Ice" is much more complex than that. There are also many subplots, one involving a shaman's curse on an Inupiat family who had already lost two sons by suicide. When the third son seemingly kills himself, everyone shrugs and says, "It was Billy Karl's curse." As Nathan Active puts it, "Despair blew through Chukchi's streets like the west wind. He wondered if he could endure it long enough to get his transfer to Anchorage."
Active himself was given up for adoption by an unmarried Inupiat girl, and was raised by white parents in Anchorage. He certainly had no plans to return to Chukchi where his birth mother lives. Yet here he is, and all of the old Inupiat 'Aanas' plot to find a bride for the 'nalauqmiiyaaq' (almost white man) State Trooper, including his birth mother.
Nathan slowly sifts through the clues offered up by alcoholic Inupiats, and little old 'Aanas' who blackmail him into giving them rides to the bingo game with his Explorer's flasher on.
Author Stan Jones was born in Anchorage, and has worked as an award-winning journalist there for most of his career. He is also a bush pilot, and readers will be imbibing lots of authentic detail about Alaskans, both native and white, and about the Alaskan wilderness, along with the bones of this well-plotted mystery.
In fact, one of the characters is a rather likeable bush pilot, who we come across while trying to fix a tear in the fabric of his plane with a roll of duct tape. Unfortunately, it's too damn cold for the duct tape to stick. He takes Nathan up anyway. It's the code of the bush pilots not to get too excited about a little tear in the tail flap.
This mystery is definitely not a cozy. It is edgy, boozy, and sad. The author's style and preferred setting remind me of Peter Bowen more than than Tony Hillerman. I will definitely be looking for the sequel to "White Sky, Black Ice."
A great mystery, a great character & Northern Exposure.......2003-05-24
"White Sky, Black Ice" came highly recommended to me by a friend, and I am glad I picked it up.
It's a mystery/police drama set in Alaska. While reading I couldn't help but be reminded of one of my all time dramatic/comedy shows, "Northern Exposure". That made me like this book all the more.
Also, I thought the character of Nathan Active, the state trooper who becomes suspicious of two deaths and investigates them much further, was one of the best character's I read. Trooper Activ is born to a Native Alaskan woamn, but raised by a white couple. He is a single man, probably in his late 30's early 40's, cynical, witty in a dry off putting way, and just an amazingly well written character. I totally appreciated everything he said and I could easily see that character being brought to life on film because he is so vivid.
Once he hears of some strange and illegal goings on at the mine called "The Grey Wolf", he is moreso even more leery. He does everything in his power to find out what has really happened and why.
I got put off of mysteries after attempting to read the terrible writings of Sue Grafton, but my friend, Diana, gave Stan Jones such high regard, I knew I had to try it. I am very happy I did. I've always been a fan of the genre, and this book was unique and very well written. It has very interesting characters, and paints a beautiful picture of Alaska.
In the beginning of the book there is a page of terms used by the Native folk. Thank you for this Mr. Jones. I have not only read a wonderful book, but I have been educated. How often do mysteries do that?
Awesome job, and I await the next "Nathan Active" mystery!
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Musashi #9: Volume 1 (Mushashi #9)
Miyuki Takahashi
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Musashi #9: Volume 4 (Mushashi #9)
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Musashi #9: Volume 12 (Mushashi #9)
ASIN: 1401205402 |
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- Validation!
- A thoughtful exploration of a complex subject
- unique data
- SNORE....
- You Gotta Search for the Meat
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Quantum Change: When Epiphanies and Sudden Insights Transform Ordinary Lives
William R. Miller ,
Janet C'deBaca , and
Janet C'de Baca
Manufacturer: The Guilford Press
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Integrating Spirituality into Treatment: Resources for Practitioners
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Rethinking Substance Abuse: What the Science Shows, and What We Should Do about It
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Motivational Interviewing, Second Edition: Preparing People for Change
ASIN: 1572305053 |
Book Description
Most of us walk through each day expecting few surprises. If we want to better ourselves or our lives, we map out a path of gradual change, perhaps in counseling or psychotherapy. Psychologists William Miller and Janet C'de Baca were longtime scholars and teachers of traditional approaches to self-improvement when they became intrigued by a different sort of change that was sometimes experienced by people they encountered--something often described as "a bolt from the blue" or "seeing the light." And when they placed a request in a local newspaper for people's stories of unexpected personal transformation, the deluge of responses was astounding. These compelling stories of epiphanies and sudden insights inspired Miller and C'de Baca to examine the experience of "quantum change" through the lens of scientific psychology. Where does quantum change come from? Why do some of us experience it, and what kind of people do we become as a result? The answers that this book arrives at yield remarkable insights into how human beings achieve lasting change--sometimes even in spite of ourselves.
Customer Reviews:
Validation!.......2005-07-16
Quantum change happened to me last summer. I kept silent about it for so long. My expereince was not identical to any of those depicted in the book, but there were enough similarities, to give validation that I was not crazy, demon-possessed, or just weird. It took months after my experience for me to find this book, and then finding it was another one of many coincidences that came with my experience. I could not find anything on the web. I'm not sure that this book is useful for motivational purposes or for those undergoing normal life-changes. Quantum change does not happen to everyone. It is an incredible and unexpected gift from God. I am so thankful to Dr. Miller and his colleagues for writing this book.
A thoughtful exploration of a complex subject.......2005-03-19
This book looks at life-changing experiences from a scholarly, psychologically-minded perspective. The stories were inspiring and uplifting, but also realistic and believable. The people depicted had experiences that changed them forever, but they remained human, with faults and limitations like the rest of us. As a clinical psychologist with nearly 30 years of experience doing psychotherapy, I found this volume to be thought-provoking and insightful, and filled with good news about we human beings!
unique data.......2003-12-28
Quantum Change is a good read and a good one for me to read. Both humbling and inspiring at the same time. And I appreciated its (empirical) message, spoken via Western science: TRANSFORMATION LIVES! Insightful and mystical types of change in otherwise ordinary people. Some had transformations on nothing more than "please, God, if you exist, show me now." Obviously, quantum change may be totally at the effect of Grace and not a particular practice. On the other hand, knowing it exists may facilitate it. In any case the accounts were fascinating. Transformation by insight was easier to identify with than the mystical change, when transformees may have given little or no thought to such possibilities. But they all exemplify what really matters: To a person all had less fear, if any, in the aftermath, often replaced by compassionate service.
SNORE...........2003-04-11
I picked this book up because I feel that I'm in the midst of a major change, and hoped to learn something. What I got was... Nothing. I rarely criticize books. And I almost never don't finish them. I always try to find the best in things. I found the book full of stories and with essentially no insight. It seemed all mixed up - from people finding instant religion to the smaller paradigm shifts that almost everyone experiences throughout their lives. I felt that the authors started out with a good idea, but they couldn't really pull it off to make a book out of it. In the end, what they had was stories, mostly unremarkable stories.
You Gotta Search for the Meat.......2002-12-19
As a Change Consultant and guy with 30 years experience in the Fortune 50 this didnt do it for me. Too academic and too theoretical to make a difference for the people out there flailing around trying to make a difference everyday in todays organizations. There is some meat in here but you better be a starving dog to find it.
Book Description
In a world where everyone seems to be trying to eat more healthfully and seasonally, nothing makes more sense for dinner than pasta with vegetables. In Four Seasons Pasta, best-selling author Janet Fletcher follows the harvest to create more than 50 seasonal recipes for this wholesome combination. Inspired by the southern Italian pasta repertoire, Fletcher has unearthed many little-known gems--authentic, unfussy regional recipes that even novice cooks can make. From a spring fava bean stew with fusilli to summer's spaghetti alla Palermitana (with zucchini, tomatoes, anchovies and capers), peak-season produce paired with pasta makes a totally satisfying meal. Autumn brings radicchio to braise with pancetta and onions--a savory sauce for tagliatelle. Even winter provides produce for the pasta kitchen: beans for hearty bean-and-pasta soups and kale for a winter pesto. With guidelines for choosing dried pasta, making fresh pasta from scratch, and equipping the pasta kitchen, Four Seasons Pasta offers readers a delicious and sensible way to eat for life.
Customer Reviews:
A must have for all kitchens.......2004-06-26
Janet Fletcher is one of America's best cooks and cookbook authors. I've been an avid fan of her recipes since her first pasta book and this book not only meets it in offering inventive and absolutely delicious recipes it might even surpass it. There's a recipe for everyone. Although Italians frown on wiping up any remaining pasta sauce with bread, you'll want to lick your plate clean when you finish one of these recipes. While not all of the ingredients are necessarily in your local supermarket, most are and the others are worth finding. And the author offers lots of helpful information about pasta. This book will make everyone a pasta and vegetable lover!
Book Description
“How do you know when it was made?” is the primary question anyone interested in antiques wants answered. Expert John Bly reveals how the professionals make their daily rapid assessment of items. By taking the reader through a simple and fascinating course of social history, the development of design, the introduction of materials, and the evolution of manufacture, he uncovers the methods of identifying when an item could or could not have been crafted. Spanning a period from 1550 to 1910, key antiques categories within each era are explored, including furniture, silver, glass, and porcelain. Significant shapes, styles, motifs, and influences from around the world are brought to light, and a picture is created of how antiques are a important part of history that can still be meaningful to us today.
Book Description
This traditional design is taken to soaring heights with the use of a new method that makes the pattern quicker and easier than ever.
Customer Reviews:
Clear instructions and illustrations.......2003-02-11
The instructions are clear and easy and the patterns are also not difficult. I would recommend this book to beginning quilters, or to people who love simple designs.
Product Description
historical quilt patterns
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- Sun-drenched colors of Southern France
- For Americans creating French style, who can't go to France
- French Provencal style influences American interiors
- Provencal Interiors?????
- Provencal Interiors: French Country Style in America
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Provencal Interiors: French Country Style in America
Betty Lou Phillips
Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith, Publisher
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ASIN: 087905848X |
Book Description
8 1/2 X 10 In, 160 Pp, 125 Color Photos. Provencal Interiors: Inspired by the sun-drenched colors of southern France, french country, or provencal, decorating is the epitome of understated luxury, as fitting in the city and suburbs as in rural reaches. No matter that it's roots are firmly planted in the small stone farmhouse, or mas, the typical dwelling in the provencal region. It is eqaully appealing in a remote chateau as in a stately manor house, or bastide. The most inviting homes exude comfort,tradition, and grace. Most people, though, say it is charm that best characterizes the french interior. Through stunning photographs, informative text, and an extensive resource list, provincal interiors detail everything necessary for creating this harmonious mingling in america.
Customer Reviews:
Sun-drenched colors of Southern France.......2004-03-03
"French country decorating at its finest is the harmonious mingling of fabrics, textures, and patterns - an artistic blending of the familiar with warmth and sophistication."
As you open this book, you may start to have the desire to suddenly order hundreds of pastel pink tulip bulbs. While this book is not quite as lavish as "Villa Décor" it is much more practical. There are extensive instructions for using color, texture and scale.
Betty Lou Phillips has included a wonderful picture of a library with bookcases spanning the library walls. Her work has appeared in Southern Accents, Traditional Home & Bath, Window and Wall, and Decorating as well as many magazine covers. She is a professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers.
There are eight main chapters:
What Is Provencal Charm?
Making an Entrance
French Quarters
Table Matters - Kitchens and Dining Rooms
Bedrooms, Bedding, and Baths
French Accents
Outside Interests
Trade Secrets
I loved reading the "Table Matters" section which includes a comparison between French and American kitchens. The bedroom section had me wishing I had some fresh croissants on hand for a breakfast tray.
There is no need to travel to France to buy beautiful fabrics, furnishings and fixtures. A complete list of catalogs is also included.
This is "French Country Style in America," so it is a fusion of various ideas from a variety of locations in France.
~TheRebeccaReview.com
For Americans creating French style, who can't go to France.......2001-12-28
Ok, so this isn't "authentic French Provence design." Suppose you won't be visiting Aix-en-Provence and running around looking for all the pieces you need, and then figuring out how to fill up a shipping container and send it through customs, etc etc, (can you imagine doing this in a foreign country in a foreign language?!) You just aren't going to find a lot of genuine French furnishing and fabrics in the US. What if you want to use French elements in your decorating (as we did) and only have access to American furniture lines and the fabrics sold here?
This book provides a great solution. American houses are DIFFERENT than European, and what's sold in furniture and decorating supply shops is different, too. "Provencal Interiors" shows you how to get that effect with things you can get here. THAT'S great. If it isn't authentic, that's ok. If you don't have unlimited funds for a decorator to buy worldwide to create "real" Provencal, this book works really well. Maybe better.
The pictures give good examples of Provencal style rooms, and there are lists of suppliers that are helpful. The color schemes are perhaps the most useful part. Another useful thing are the fabrics and how to mix them. I myself have problems figuring that out; this helps.
French Provencal style influences American interiors.......2001-10-27
I found this book a wonderful view of French Provencal style, blended with American verve and elegance. Many of us have traveled in France, and know the French are also very influenced by the freshness and ease of American design.
Remember it was not an English, but an AMERICAN interior designer, Nancy Lancaster from Virginia USA, who revolutionized English Country style. She became Lady Colfax and changed the look of country houses from stiff to chintz.
I think the author introduces the beauty of Euro/American design in this book. The French Provencal Style in AMERICA title is a great clue that the pages are not full of 17th century French country village interiors.
Also, it always helps to read a book before you judge it!
Provencal Interiors?????.......2001-08-08
This is a nice book but it does not contain Provencal style interiors! I am not sure how the author came up with that title since anyone who is interested in French country will not find it here. If you are truly looking for Provencal decorating ideas-this is not the book for you. CONFUSED!!!
Provencal Interiors: French Country Style in America.......2001-05-23
I haven't even read the book, but I LIVE in PROVENCE, and I have to agree from what I see on the cover that the style is not typical of Provence, however pretty it may be... If the inside is different, then feel free to correct me!
Book Description
From Laundry List to Strategic Business Tool
Peter L. Phillips Reveals the Secrets Behind Successful Design Briefs
The design brief has finally been de-mystified! Once considered a simple set of directions that was handed down to the designer by a disengaged manager, it has evolved into a multi-lateral, strategic business tool. The creation of these super briefs is the subject of a new book by author Peter L. Phillips entitled "Creating the Perfect Design Brief: How to Manage Design for Strategic Advantage." The first title to analyze the secrets of successful design briefs and their management, this book successfully and comprehensively outlines a document, a process, and a discipline that places strategic thinking and objectivity at the core of a relevant design project or program—using words, concepts, and criteria every business manager will understand and appreciate. Published by Allworth Press with the Design Management Institute, Phillips' book is a critical tool not only for designers and design managers, but for marketing, marketing communications, and engineering managers involved in a design project.
Many organizations still view design merely as a decorative service function and overlook its vast potential as a core, strategic business resource. The design brief can help designers and managers change that perception by making each stakeholder part of the creation process. Creating the Perfect Design Brief covers all the essential elements of the brief: assembling the team; developing the design brief; project overview; category review; target audience review; company portfolio, business objectives; phases; scope, time line, and budget; and research data. Designers and design managers will learn how to:
• Rethink design, and design management as a strategic process
• Establish mutually valuable relationships with the design brief team
• Receive substantial and timely input from upper management
• Create a design brief that can deal with changes
• Use the design brief in project tracking and as a tool to measure return on investment.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent and valuable read.......2007-06-18
I found this book after looking for a book that would help me in leading an in-house design firm at a non-profit. I think I instinctively knew some of the key principles in this book - however this book really spelled those out and gave me the tools to begin to implement them.
Fundamentally the author's point is that designers must learn to deliver real value for the organization and in a language non-designers understand and appreciate. A well constructed design brief is the vehicle through which much of this can happen. As a result, "do you like it" is less likely to be the question we ask, rather it should be "does this solve a business problem".
A simple but invaluable read, this book is designed for those of us who wrestle with the tension of leading designers who want space to be creative at the same time as we wrestle with "clients" who seemingly don't know what they want until they see the finished product - which of course they don't like.
Well worth the read and highly recommended
Good book........2006-08-18
This book was very helpful and precise. I work for digital media designers, so this book not only helped me improve my skills, but helped me look more professional. :)
Average customer rating:
- A Media Knight's Tale: "You Are There."
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Odyssey in Prime Time
Robert Lewis Shayon
Manufacturer: Waymark Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Entertainers
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
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History & Criticism
| Radio
| Entertainment
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History & Criticism
| Television
| Entertainment
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General
| Telecommunications
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
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ASIN: 0970546904 |
Book Description
This memoir looks at the development of 20th century media through the experiences of Robert Lewis Shayon who was a player in three areas--as writer-producer-director in early radio & television, as an influential media critic of the 1950's and 1960's, and finally as a professor at a leading school of communication. Odyssey is of interest to the general reader who wants to understand the communication revolution, its roots and implications for the future.
Customer Reviews:
A Media Knight's Tale: "You Are There.".......2001-05-04
When one of my daughters was choosing her college major, she had a memorable insight. "Students' lack of interest in the hard sciences may be attributable to their limited experience with them in high school. We think we know what historians do,or writers do, but we do not get enough high school math, or chemistry, or physics to imagine a life in those professions." I think that that observation accounts for the high number of people who fall into the "family business." Disproportionately, children of actors become actors, children of lawyers, become lawyers, children of physicians become physicians. The next cut would be friends of children of actors, lawyers, physicians, etc., who have had an opportunity to see into those lives.
In ODYSSEY IN PRIME TIME, Robert Lewis Shayon takes his readers into his life in media. Shayon reminds me of Henry Adams and the Zen master and scholar, D.T. Suzuki, not because their demeanors and personalities are alike, though that may be true, but because they are insightful witnesses of seismic changes in civilization. Adams lived well into the 20th century, but looked back through his grandfather to the 18th. Suzuki was born in Japan, about 1870, and lived to the middle 1960s, i.e., from ox cart to jet. He saw himself as a bridge between East and West, but he was also a bridge between then and now.
Shayon was born about the same time as radio, and has been intimately involved in every aspect of electronic and print media in the 20th century: writer, producer, director, critic, professor. I have known Shayon for more than 30 years, and I have had the pleasure of working with him. That gave me pause, when I thought about writing a review, but I realized quickly that everyone of a certain age and experience knows Shayon. Besides, I knew his work first. That was what drew me to him.
I was disappointed in the first 50 or 60 pages. It seemed to move too quickly, like a television biography that has to cover a century in an hour. But I realized that I had a double agenda. I was at least as interested in what had formed Shayon's character. Born into a poor and dysfunctional family, he "sprang," like the Great Gatsby, "from his platonic conception of himself:" a loving, polished, intellectual, family man, who drinks tea at four o'clock.
Shayon is less interested in his own life story. For the most part, he shows us only the aspects of his life tht relate to the development of radio and television. But the book grows more detailed, as radio and television and Shayon become more important. And I could not put it down, from the end of the Great Depression through the war years and the attacks of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, to his time at the Annenberg School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Over the course of his odyssey, Shayon sums up the story of communications. Radio comes of age with great potential to inform and educate and elevate the public. But advertisers are more interested in maximizing profits. Television has even more potential, and is degraded even faster. And cyberspace offers "virtually" unlimited information and connectivity, but only to those fortunate people who have the means to buy equipment and access.
Some of the hottest new majors for today's college students are in communications and the mass media. But most of the students who sign up for that world have no idea of the costs and benefits and obligations of being in it. The difference between success and failure (personal as well as professional) can hinge on a few decisions. And often we have no one to advise us. Shayon is like the father of your best friend, wanting the best for you and from you, telling you objectively about his failures as well as his success, in hopes that you will profit from his experience. That experience was as varied as it was long. As an eminent critic and professor, he influenced and was influenced (he is a champion listener) by almost everyone who mattered.
If I were teaching a course in mass communications, I would want my students to read this book. If I cared about anyone thinking of choosing that life, I would send her this book. And I am planning on sending my present copy to my eighty-five year old parents, who will enjoy reliving its time.
Books:
- Until the Real Thing Comes Along:
- When the Elephants Dance
- Windswept House: A Vatican Novel
- Winter in Kandahar
- Wiseguys Say The Darndest Things: The Quotable Mafia: The Quotable Mafia
- With All Despatch (The Bolitho Novels)
- With This Ring, I'm Confused (Ashley Stockingdale Series #2)
- Woman, Thou Art Loosed! The Novel
- You Can Say You Knew Me When
- A Home at the End of the World: A Novel
Books Index
Books Home
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