Book Description
A breathless story of love and survival in war-torn Algeria-past and present
The devil has entered our country, and his footprints are everywhere.
Nine-year-old Jallal is old enough to know that his life in Algeria is precarious at best. Having run away from home, he survives by selling peanuts and single cigarettes on the street. The proposal by the elderly Swiss woman named Anna is shocking and preposterous: go to the mountains with her, as a translator, so she can find her lost lover from decades ago and pray over the graves of their murdered children.
Anna and Jallal's journey is wrought with danger and unspeakable tragedy. It was under similar circumstances that Anna first met the Arab Nasreddine. Ousted from the traveling circus where she performed as a trapeze artist, she had little choice but to accept Nasreddine's dangerous offer to live with him in a makeshift tent. But it was here, amid poverty, racism, and terrifyingly random violence, that they fell in love.
A best seller in France, The Lovers of Algeria is an unflinchingly candid story about a country where terrorism and government corruption are commonplace. As Anna and Nasreddine, beaten by time and memory, circle each other in Algeria, Anouar Benmalek shows with heart-wrenching detail that love can endure even the most inhuman conditions.
A Lannan Translation Series Selection
Customer Reviews:
Lovers of Algeria.......2005-03-21
If I could rate this as a zero star, I would have done so. This was pretty much a waste of time, money and emotion. If the authors purpose was to see how many times he could invoke the vision of Algerians as crude, evil and heartless, I guess he was successful for whatever reasons. Looking for a ray of light in an otherwise grim tale, not in this book. The blurb writer on the book jacket makes polygraphs for blurb writers seem attractive. The constant repetition of Middle Eastern profanity was almost laughable, but did add to the word and page count. I don't even want to recycle it at our local used book sale.
Moving and beautiful.......2004-10-24
The author is a wonderful writer: the story is taut, the characters have depth, the description of a besieged country mixed with a beautiful love story is fairly riveting. However, the ending was like walking up to a door and not being able to open it. I don't need tidy or happy endings, but this story could have done with a little resolution.
"The devil has entered...his hoofprints are everywhere.".......2004-08-31
Opening in 1955, when the French are battling insurgents for control of Algeria, Anna, a Swiss resident and former circus performer, and Nassreddine, a Berber from the mountains of Algeria, travel by bus from a remote mountain village to Algiers to formalize their marriage. As the bus makes its way through the countryside, it is stopped by French soldiers, and Nassreddine is arrested, taken to jail, and tortured unmercifully. Anna is forced to go on to the village without him, but when Nassreddine finally escapes and makes his way back, he finds his mother's house empty.
Alternating back and forth in time, author Benmalek traces the lives of Anna and Nassreddine and their parents, separately and together, for seventy years, in the process giving the political and social history of Algeria. Whether under the rule of the French in the 1950s or the Algerian Liberation Front (FLN), which defeated them, ordinary citizens live lives fraught with danger. Armed Islamic fundamentalists, which fought both the French and the Liberation Front for control of the population in the 1950s, have, by 1997 become a major force. Torture, murders, mutilations, and executions, for which the French were condemned, have continued into the 1990s.
Into this atmosphere of civil war in 1996, Anna, now in her sixties, returns to Algiers from Switzerland in search of Nassreddine. Hiring Jallal, a nine-year-old orphan who sells peanuts and individual cigarettes to act as a translator, and wearing a traditional haik, she is determined to make her way back to Nassreddine's home village, the place they had always agreed to use as their common contact point. Anna's story alternates with that of Nassreddine and moves back and forth in time as both try to reach the village.
This story of a great love that crosses boundaries is not for the faint of heart. As the lives of Anna and Nassreddine, Jallal (the boy-translator), their parents, and their friends come to life, the reader is exposed to unimaginable horrors. Though the novel is melodramatic, it is not melodrama for the sake of false emotion. Life in Algeria is tenuous at best, survival seems almost accidental, and everyone is a pawn of someone else. The ending will not satisfy all readers, but it is consistent with the demonstrated fragility of life throughout the novel. Dramatic, horrifying, sensuously descriptive, but offering no promises of a glorious future, the novel is a grim reminder that when governments do not protect individuals, love and understanding are all that is left to give meaning to life. Mary Whipple
Book Description
Mark Grayson is just like most everyone else his age. He's a senior at a normal American high School. He has a crappy part time job after school and on weekends. He likes girls quite a bit... but doesn't quite understand them. He enjoys hanging out with his friends, and sleeping late on Saturdays... at least until the good cartoons come on. The only difference between Mark and everyone else is that his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, and as of late, he seems to be inheriting his father's powers. Strange things begin to happen to Mark Grayson as he begins to develop superpowers. Luckily, his dad is around to show him the ropes, at least he would be if he weren't so busy saving the world all the time.
Customer Reviews:
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Mark is a high school kid. Pretty standard. Until he starts getting some high-octane super powers.
His dad is an alien, and the world's greatest hero, and it looks like some of that genetic heritage is running true. His mother is a normal human woman.
A pretty decent series for this sort of thing. He has to deal with being a young hero, teamups, hot girls, all that sort of thing.
One of the best new titles to be created in the past five years.......2007-04-03
Welcome to the world of Invincible, a young superhero who's father is not only the world's greatest superhero but an alien as well. With this first volume, Robert Kirkman does a fantastic job of creating a new modern superhero who appeals to young and old fans of superhero comics alike. What Kirkman has created, Cory Walker brings to life with dazzling pencils that do justice to both the action scenes as well as the emotional ones.
If you're looking for a new comic that reads like comics of the silver or golden age of comics, then I recommend Invincible. But if you're just looking for a good story with incredible art, then I recommend Invincible.
A modest start for a great series........2007-02-25
What makes this first 'Invincible' trade so disappointing is that it seems so unambitious at the set up. The story introduces Mark Grayson who is the son of the world's most powerful super hero Omni Man and has finally developed super powers. Creators Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker set everything up like a super hero family sitcom. There is nothing terribly original though much of the inside jokes and references can't help but make any long time comic fan chuckle.
Those reading this first trade or review cold then they should know that this whole set up is really a red herring and that the series has many deeper and more interesting stories to tell at a later date. Also artist Cory Walker whose art is ill suited for this kind of cosmic super hero story is soon replaced on penciller duties. a welcome change that helps this series soar at a later on.
Invincible? Not quite. (3.5 stars).......2006-09-21
The basic idea behind Invincible is interesting enough: a modern day story of a teen coming into his superpowers with his superhero father guiding him along the way. The story promises plenty of wit and tongue-in-cheek humor in reference to superhero origin stories from the 60s and there is that in this first book. However, despite the potential of the concept, it is underwritten by Kirkman and the story feels like a minimal amount of work was put into developing these ideas; such scenarios as girlfriends, aliens from another dimension, exploding teenagers, and a spoof on Teen Titans sound like the perfect fodder for self-referential insight into comics but more often than not it comes off as cliche and boring with what seems like pages at a time where nothing of substance is really happening. This is not entirely the fault of the writing but on many occasions the art has just as little going on as the story. That's not to say it's all bad. Some of the little jokes (such as Reginald Veljohnson High School), comical dialogue, and the more emotionally intense moments work well and are definitely worth reading. Had Kirkman tightened up the story, tied up the loose ends, and wove a few more elements together, Invincible would have been the knockout comic that it was promising to be.
Disappointed.......2006-06-11
I haven't bought an actual comic in years, relying on trades to get my fix. I'm a huge Kirkman fan from "The Walking Dead" and had read a lot of praise about "Invincible", so I thought I would give it a try. Unlike "Dead", this book did not "hook" me. The story arc is very lightweight, with some parts (such as the human bombs) seeming almost irrelevant. The view of a superhero's "normal" life is done much better in the "Astro City" books. Maybe these flaws are the function of the book being an origin story, but I am seriously debating whether or not I need to read future installments.
Customer Reviews:
"Only a Pennsylvanian would do that.".......2002-02-08
CAT'S CRADLE: WITCH MARK takes place both in the mythical land of Tir na n-Og, and in a simple Welsh village. We know that the land is mythical because we see a lot of unicorns and centaurs. We know that the small village is in Wales, because characters actually refer to each other as "Boyo". The story starts off intriguingly enough. A bus crashes, and during the police investigation, it is discovered that none of the dead bodies can be identified. It's an interesting twist on the standard missing persons story, but unfortunately, the narrative isn't able to sustain its interesting beginnings.
The plot turns out to be slightly poorer than it really should be. To make a long story short, this is the tale of a quest across a strange and magical land, filled with centaurs, unicorns, trolls and other unworldly creatures. Unfortunately, that's all the story is. The Doctor and Ace begin their trek fairly early in the book, but by the three-quarters mark, they are still pretty much in the same state that they were in the beginning, the plot not having budged an inch. Don't get me wrong now, I don't mind a story that's padded, as long as the padding consists of interesting material, sparking prose and enough entertaining substance to maintain the reader's attention. This is not what we got here. And on top of that, after one has struggled through pages and pages that don't amount to anything, the resolution is shockingly quick and far too simple. I do not have a problem with the Doctor talking his way through a solution; in fact, I think some of the best stories have been enhanced by featuring a clever and witty Doctor who is able to mentally run rings around his opponent. Unfortunately, the level of argument has to be of a higher quality than what we ended up with here. Having the Doctor more or less saying, "Don't do this evil thing" and giving the villain no greater of a response than, "Gee, okay" does not make for an exciting resolution.
Even more appalling than the lackluster outcome to the villain's evil scheme is the fact that there are numerous plot threads that are just left dangling. Character motivations that one expected to be explained by the end of the book simply aren't addressed. There are many sequences that only work if you don't think about them too much and forget them before you reach the ending. If one happens to go back and start picking things apart, one will find a host of actions and scenes that were simply left unresolved. It really leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.
WITCH MARK features two of the worst portrayed Americans that the series has ever seen. In their introduction, the author is so intent on making sure they're recognizably American, that he moves them way beyond Cliché American and Stereotypical American and blasts them somewhere into the realm of Ludicrously American and Overwhelmingly Fake American. Make no mistake, if this was a televised story, then they'd both end up sounding exactly like the oh-so-American guy in TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN who went around spouting off macho nonsensical dialog such as, "Hey, some character's gone an' bahlled up tha loh-t!", "C'mon, let's get back to tha rah-ket!", and "Hey, Vic!" Not exactly the soft, realistic character study that one should be aiming for.
The other characters aren't much better. The Doctor and Ace aren't acting like their usual selves. The Seventh Doctor seems at times to be behaving like any incarnation other than the current one. Ace is back to being a silly teenager who appears to have completely bypassed the events of REVELATION and WARHEAD. Secondary characters are similarly poor, with special mention going to the idiot, lisping priest. Future authors should take note: speech impediments aren't really all that funny, and there's nothing more annoying than reading dialog that incorporates a heavy lisp. I was begging for the character to give a quick wink to the audience, shout "Thufferin' thuccotath!", and then take a flying leap towards the nearest window.
The book does have a few things working for it. The mixture of science fiction and fantasy is actually quite interesting. There was the potential here for everything to be rationalized away in an extremely boring "here's the way magic and science really work" speech, yet it rose above these would-be pitfalls. The relationship between Tir na n-Og and "real" Earth somehow managed to come across without feeling cheap. The story was straightforward enough and could be fairly enjoyable in a leave-your-brain-at-the-door type of way. It just isn't at all satisfying.
In the end, sloppy writing and elemental mistakes really hurt this book. What should have been a mind-blowing ending to the Cat's Cradle series turns out to be a fairly standard run-around in fantasy-land. The story itself is hurt by a lack of coherence and a dearth of uninteresting characters. Definitely not one of the better written NAs.
The Doctor and the unicorns?.......2001-04-21
The TARDIS' ongoing problems worsen, and an emergency landing brings the Doctor and Ace to a small Welsh village. Strange creature from legend have been spotted, and a stone circle contains the gateway to another world...
The concluding book in the Cat's Cradle trilogy, this one is plainly the work of a first-time author. While every author must write a first book, that is not necessarily ever published. Mr. Hunt shows that he needed more experience to make this book work. I could give a list of faults, but basically they all come down to that he doesn't understand how a book works. This is not to say that he has no potential!
Add to this that it is of a type that I don't like (explaining myths and legends as science fiction) means that it certainly wasn't a good read for me.
Average customer rating:
|
CATS CRADLE WITCH MARK
HUNT
Manufacturer: DOCTOR WHO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000S60FII |
Book Description
This book argues that religion can and must be reconciled with science. Combining adaptive and cognitive approaches, it is a comprehensive analysis of religion's evolutionary significance, and its inextricable interdependence with language. It is also a detailed study of religion's main component, ritual, which constructs the conceptions that we take to be religious and therefore central in the making of humanity's adaptation. The text amounts to a manual for effective ritual, illustrated by examples drawn from a range of disciplines.
Customer Reviews:
Fascination, Agree or Not!.......2007-07-20
The late Roy Rappaport should be more famous than he is now. He's one of the scientific mystics of the ecopsychology movement and so it should be. One thing lacking is the next step: If the sacred, ritual, shamanism, language, and symbolic culture all appeared at the same moment, we need more speculation on exactly when this moment was, what brought it on, and why it occurred. The suggestion verges on the mystical -- and in such a brilliant, erudite, well-reasoned (if challenging) book, the mystical would certainly have been earned. It is a tour de force of intellectual engagement if you have the intellectual tools to engage it.
Meaning of Religion and the Sacred Finally Explained.......2007-04-30
This is simply the best---and clearest, in spite of several reviewers' claims to the contrary---exposition of religion and the associated issues of the sacred and the numinous, by a person who asks all the difficult---yet the only meaningful---questions.
Rappaport belongs to the rarest company of truly unique intellectuals who understand the issues they are discussing, and finds a way to share their insights. A tour de force of the highest calibre.
An Astonishing Intellectual Achievement.......2004-08-05
As the centuries long battle between religion and science unfolded in the 19th century, science became the clear winner in terms of intellectual prestige. But that fight, while leaving science victorious in the realm of the intellect also left lingering prejudices within science towards religion. As science moved forward offering us ever deeper knowledge of the cosmos, life, and ourselves, science also began to ignore its former nemesis. Despite the awesome significance of religion in human life and history, the social sciences have relatively little to offer on the role of religion in human evolution and the reasons for or mechanisms whereby religions tradition are transmitted from one generation to the next.
It's not uncommon to meet fantastically educated people, with strong knowledge in the physical or social sciences, who not only know nothing of religion but seem to insist that there's nothing worth knowing. For these people, human religious behavior is looked at as some kind of quirk or anomaly, an embarrassing hold-over from a dark past that we'd all just hopefully outgrow. Such people tend to comfort themselves with the old baseless superstition that religion is the "opiate of the masses." But considering the importance of religion in human history and the astonishing grip religious belief holds over the lives of billions of human beings, it's probably safe to assert that disciplines such as psychology and sociology are fundamentally grasping in the dark if they are unable or unwilling to seriously come to terms with role of religion in the lives of individuals and societies.
Rappaport's book provides the most thorough and penetrating look into human religion that I've ever come across. Combining insights from an astonishingly wide array of fields, Rappaport demonstrates the role that religion has played in human evolution and how and why humans evolved to become religious beings. In the end, he makes a fascinating case for the role of religion in human life and why our survival as a species depends on understanding that role.
This is unquestionably the most intellectually rigorous and powerful book I've seen on anthropology and human evolution. As the review below by an anthropology student shows, this book is not easy reading and certainly isn't recommended for people with little background in these topics. However, dedicated students of the social sciences who have an interest in these issues should be able to make it through with some patience. Those who do will be richly rewarded. I've read some fascinating and brilliant works on these topics, but nothing I've come across approaches the raw analytic and synthetic power of Rappaport. He truly was one of the greatest anthropologists and arguably one of the greatest social scientists that the United States has ever produced.
Not for sissies........2001-01-07
One of the most remarkable things of this book, is that it was written at all. Roy Rappaport (a former boss and good friend of mine) was dying of lung cancer while he writing this book and I think that is reflected in the tone. Although he had begun writing before his diagnosis I think the subject became more personal because of it. "El jefe" (my name for him) was a very religious man, but he didn't proclaim it loudly; it was shown in small ways.
It is difficult to read, but its subject is difficult. I just wish he were still here so I could say to him "What in the world are you trying to say here. You have no verbs in this paragraph!"
disasterous.......2000-04-11
Being an Anthropology major and have read many anthropological books. This is by far the worst book I have ever had to read. Rappaport rambles on and on in a meaningless train of thought, then three paragraphs later changes his mind on what he was thinking. After reading this book from front to back cover, I will never pick up a Rappaport book again. I would have learned more by watching Sesame Street than this book
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Theological Studies, published by Theological Studies, Inc. on March 1, 2000. The length of the article is 795 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: RITUAL AND RELIGION IN THE MAKING OF HUMANITY.(Review)
Author: Edward M. O'flaherty
Publication:
Theological Studies (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2000
Publisher: Theological Studies, Inc.
Volume: 61
Issue: 1
Page: 166
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Religion, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
Book Description
An illustrated step-by-step guide to preparing ribs, brisket, pulled pork, salmon, turkey, chicken, beef tenderloin, and pork loin
Amazon.com
As many outdoor cooks know, barbecuing has its challenges. How to Barbecue & Roast on the Grill reveals keys to perfect barbecuing in succinct form. In fewer than 100 pages it provides illustrated, step-by-step instructions for preparing the most popular meat and poultry (including turkey) barbecues--recipes, tips, and information that all cooks can use.
Making a distinction between grilling (cooking thin, tender foods over high heat), barbecuing (cooking tough, thick cuts over low heat), and grill-roasting (barbecuing with moderate heat), the book then explores each fundamental method in useful detail. Representative recipes cover barbecued beef brisket, pulled pork, salmon and ribs, and grill-roasted poultry, beef tenderloin, and pork loin. Also provided are gas-grill variations and formulas for rubs and sauces. Throughout, underlying techniques are explored and illustrated (preparing and slicing barbecued brisket is one), and sensible tips abound (for example, grill-roasted turkey, accompanied by salsa or chutney, makes a wonderful dish for summer entertaining).
A true primer, the book is part of the Cook's Illustrated Library series. Like the magazine, the books are dedicated to presenting tried-and-perfected recipes and cooking techniques in a concise, approachable way. --Arthur Boehm
Customer Reviews:
good little book.......2007-05-25
i got this when i got how to grill and they both have good recipes and tips to help you have juicy n not dry meats on the grill.
Good, basic book.......2000-05-23
This book is a good cookbook for someone who is just beginning to experiment with cooking meat on the outdoor grill. It focuses primarily on indirect cooking methods. The book is easy to read and informative. Unfortunately, the recipes for barbcue are tomato-based recipes, not REAL barbecue like we have here in North Carolina. :-)
Book Description
Over 4500 images appear in this beautiful and comprehensive, four-volume set. This massive compilation reveals the great diversity and intrinsic beauty of art tiles produced across the length and breadth of the United States from the late nineteenth through the twentieth centuries. Tile installations of great beauty include panels, individual tiles, and inserts adorning building facades, interiors, furniture, and garden ornaments. These volumes explore the wildly varying themes and distinctive art styles of six regions of the nation. Among the 161 companies represented are A. E. Hull, American Encaustic, Brayton Laguna, California Art Tile, Catalina Pottery, Flint Faience, Gladding McBean, Grueby, Marblehead, Newcomb, Niloak, Pacific Clay Products, Rookwood, Saturday Evening Girls, and Weller. The text includes tile identification as well as valuable advice on collecting art tiles, a glossary, an index, and bibliography. This set is an essential reference for all who are fascinated with the ceramic arts. Region 3: Over 1300 images display art tiles produced in the Midwestern states Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North & South Dakota, Iowa, and Missouri by many companies, including: A. E. Hull, American Encaustic, Biloxi Art Pottery, Cowan, Flint Faience, National Tile, Pewabic, Rookwood, Rushmore, U.S. Encaustic, and Weller.
Customer Reviews:
Great Tile Reference Book !.......2006-07-03
This is a typical Schiffer-published book: beautiful large clear photos, quality paper and printing. The information provided for each company is informative and complete. This is a must-have for collectors, appraisers and historians of fine art (all me). This is one of a series of tile books, each from a different geographic area and I'll be buying the rest of them when I've saved my pennies. They are pricey but well worth the cost.
Average customer rating:
|
Crafty Badges (Crafty Kids)
Petra Boase
Manufacturer: Gareth Stevens Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
 Decorative Arts
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Crafts & Hobbies
| Arts & Music
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0836825004 |
Average customer rating:
|
The Tree of Life: An Archaeological Study (Numen Book Series , No 11)
E. O. James
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Interior Design
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Interior Design
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
| AIDS
| Abuse
| Adults
| Aging
| Children
| Class
| Communities
| Culture
| Death
| General
| History
| Leisure
| Marriage & Family
| Medicine
| Men
| Occupational
| Race Relations
| Religion
| Research & Measurement
| Rural
| Social Groups
| Social Situations
| Social Theory
| Suburban
| Urban
| Women
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Religious Studies
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Theology
| Religious Studies
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 9004016120 |
Amazon.com
For professional illustrators, and anyone who wants to achieve professional results, The Illustrator WOW! Book is quite simply the best resource that money can buy, aside from Illustrator itself, of course.
Sharon Steuer and her coauthors have managed to produce a book that is both an authoritative practical guide to Illustrator 9.0's tools and features, and a showcase and guide to techniques, as demonstrated by nearly a hundred commercial illustrators.
To bring new users and upgraders up to speed, there are two introductory chapters. Even seasoned users will pick up something from skimming these chapters, thanks to the clear layout which places illustrations and innumerable tip boxes in the outside columns. The remaining chapters are organized into techniques and galleries. Using commercially created work, the techniques each focus on one aspect of how a complex illustration was created. These tutorials pack a lot into a short space because they don't go into specific detail about every single stage in the process--if you need to know the basics, go back to the front of the book!
The galleries further demonstrate the techniques by showcasing an illustration and discussing the process by which it was created--why one approach was chosen over another, which tools where used, how a particular type of effect was produced, what where the special printing considerations, and so on.
As a practical guide to Illustrator techniques, a source of creative ideas, a repository of hints and tips, or a quiet lunchtime browse, you'll need to look hard to find a better, more useful book on Illustrator. --Ken McMahon, Amazon.co.uk
Book Description
Like many long-time Illustrator artists, author Sharon Steuer and her team realized that this latest upgrade from Adobe was not "business as usual." With the addition of transparency as well as Adobe's Save for Web utility, multi-fills and strokes, changes to layers, and many other new and improved features, the book has also been radically revised in this new edition. The Illustrator 9 Wow! Book has grown over 100 pages, and covers step-by-step material for beginners through advanced users. In addition, you'll get the usual assortment of goodies that come with full-color Wow! books, making this book educational, inspiring, and worthy of coffee-table display, all in one.
Customer Reviews:
Useful for a novice, but not a beginner.......2006-07-08
At my job, I suddenly had to learn Illustrator on my own. Anyone who's ever encountered ANY Adobe software knows how daunting and frustrating that can be. After I'd (painfully) figured out many of the basic functions of Illustrator, I was given a (minuscule) budget to purchase a couple user manuals. This one, I found the most helpful of all, as I could usually look up step-by-step ways to do what I needed...assuming I knew what I was looking for.
Adobe names its things differently due to its target market: I want to crop a picture, but Illustrator thinks I'm a graphic designer who wants to put crop marks for a printer -- aarrrgghh. (Hint: You need to create a MASK. yeah, that was a hard-earned nugget of learning. Phew.)
This manual is still lacking, and never seems to hit that exact place where I am: Complete novice, have worked with the program but don't know what all the names & symbols mean. But of all the other manuals, this one does help for those of us who have to learn on our own, and have enough grey matter to connect the obscure, remote dots that Adobe provides.
WOW!.......2005-07-22
I am very impressed by this book and how it helped me to get moving way above and beyond what I have learned from the manual and online tutorials.
I believe the negative comments are from those who expected instant results via osmosis. Illustrator is not an easy tool to just pick up and run with. However, this book took me from a snail pace to a pretty good run.
This book doesn't do the work for you, you must apply yourself and work through it and you will be amazed at the results.
..........2002-09-17
I could not get anything out of this book. First off, I'm a mere beginner and this books onto more inter-advanced projects.
I did not learn anything. My skills have never improved since!!
Avoid this book if you are a beginner.......2002-05-18
Hey... I'm not stupid. But this book sure makes Illustrator 9.0 a bit intimidating to the beginner. I wish I would have spent my money on a book that would have been more useful to me.
This is the BEST Illustrator Book to buy.......2001-11-30
(...)
In the Illustrator book genre, you have but two choices: #1 "pulp" encyclopedias on the software. These basically parallel what the manuals and online help facilities contain -- They're good, but they're basically lots of words, and few pictures. #2 Quick, Beginner books... like the "Dummies" and the "Visual Quick Starts" ... yes, they're good too -- but tend to only scratch the surface of the program.
Neither genre approaches the applicability of the software in terms of "why" or "how" the tools fit into the creative process.
Steuer's "WOW" book, on the other hand... printed on heavy enamel stock, process color throughout, is actually a THIRD genre -- providing the creative spark of inspiration which is VITAL in taking dry how-to information and applying it to visually exciting creative finished illustration.
No, this is NOT a "skim the surface" beginners' book. Yet beginners will benefit because they'll be inspired to skip the 1, 2, 3, exercises and move directly into sophisticated techniques that can be learned quickly and easily.
No this is NOT an encyclopedia. Most illustrators don't need an encyclopedia and the sheer bulk of information and tedious trial and error of getting to the answers they need actually retard the creative process rather than support it.
Illustrator WOW is a gallery of highly sought after creative visual techniques, along with enough technical how-to tutorial to accomplish the look. (...)
The ultimate solution for anyone who is actually serious about getting to the top of the heap in Adobe Illustrator is to buy this book... Illustrator WOW, and then buy "Real World Illustrator" -- these two encompass the very best of all Illustrator books, and arms the artist with both encyclopedia and sheer creative inspiration.
Learning without excitement or passion is never effective.
I teach Adobe Illustrator at James Madison University. I know what makes the difference between learning how to use a software tool, and learning how to use the tools to create inspired visual communications.
You want to learn the tools? Use the Illustrator online help facility. It's all there. You want inspired visual creativity skills? Get Illustrator 9 WOW book.
And, that's all I have to say.
Average customer rating:
|
Learning Illustrator 9
Starring:
Lynda.com
Manufacturer: Lynda.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
Web Development
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
| Content Management
| E-commerce
| Programming
| Security & Encryption
| Web 2.0
| Web Design
| Web Servers
| Web Services
| Website Analytics
| Website Architecture & Usability
Adobe Illustrator
| Graphic Design
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Graphic Design
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Software
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1930727089
Release Date: 2000-10-01 |
Book Description
Learning Illustrator 9 with Bruce Heavin is a video workshop, complete with video clip tutorials and the exercise files so you can follow along. This product is intended for the beginner as well as the existing Illustrator user who wants to get up to speed on the current version 9. The focus of this CD-ROM is on using the Illustrator tool set to achieve specific drawing tasks and control over imagery for production work. Techniques specific to Illustrator are covered, such as how to work with bezier drawing tools, re-constructing a logo from a scanned image, path manipulation, targeting, layers, grouping, appearances, transformations, masking, transparency, and save for web; as well as integration with other applications such as Photoshop, InDesign, and GoLive. Also included is a movie in which you can watch the cover design for the CD-ROM packaging being created before your eyes in Illustrator, to learn how it was done. 8 hours.
Product Description
Two of the more prolific authors of how-to books have collaborated on this fun yet comprehensive look at Illustrator, a great application that is even better in version 9. For novice users, the book lays a good foundation before diving into the more advanced tasks. For more experienced users, chapter 1 lists what's new in version 9 and points to the appropriate chapters they'll want to read to get up to speed fast. The book is divided into four sections: "Starting," "Creating," "Changing," and "Coloring." This is particularly suited to the vector-based nature of Illustrator. As opposed to a pixel-based application like Photoshop, the great advantage of working with art in Illustrator is how easy it is to modify objects. Following along with instructions in the book is also easy, although you should pay careful attention to details in the screen shots, especially if you skip around rather than read cover to cover. To keep the price of the book down, most of the illustrations are small and black and white (though there is a color insert section). At times the sample artwork is a bit too busy to show the actions discussed. For example, the clouds and sun drawing that shows blending modes is too complex to clearly bring out the differences, even in the color section. And the images shown look more like clip art than professional projects. Despite all this, the book is reader-friendly. The text size is comfortable (you can have the book by your monitor and not have to squint or lean in to read), and the captions are clear and detailed, so you can look just at the pictures and still learn a lot. The text is casual and conversational, and the more serious information is set off typographically. This way, when there's not enough time to enjoy the chatty insights into why a feature exists or why you might want to use it, you can just proceed to the step-by-step instructions that make it all happen.
Average customer rating:
|
Adobe Illustrator 9 - Con Un CD-ROM
Anaya
Manufacturer: Anaya Multimedia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Graphic Arts
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Adobe Illustrator
| Graphic Design
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
Spanish
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arte
| Arte, arquitectura y fotografía
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
Artes Gráficos
| Diseño Gráfico
| Arte, arquitectura y fotografía
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
No-Ficción
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
| Automotriz
| Ciencias Sociales
| Crimen y Criminales
| Educación
| Estudios de la Mujer
| Feriados
| Filosofía
| Gobierno
| Hechos Verídicos
| Planeamiento Urbano y Desarrollo
| Política
| Sucesos de Actualidad
| Transportación
ASIN: 8441511144 |
Average customer rating:
|
Adobe Photoshop 6 E Illustrator 9 - Avanzado Con CD ROM
Adobe
Manufacturer: Anaya Multimedia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Adobe Photoshop
| Digital Photography & Video
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
Adobe Illustrator
| Graphic Design
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Graphic Design
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
Spanish
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Computación e internet
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
No-Ficción
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
| Automotriz
| Ciencias Sociales
| Crimen y Criminales
| Educación
| Estudios de la Mujer
| Feriados
| Filosofía
| Gobierno
| Hechos Verídicos
| Planeamiento Urbano y Desarrollo
| Política
| Sucesos de Actualidad
| Transportación
ASIN: 8441512574 |
Average customer rating:
- This book is complete bunk!
- HE'S THE REAL DEAL...
|
The Psychic World of Peter Hurkos
Norma Lee Browning
Manufacturer: iUniverse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
New Age
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| New Age
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Controversial Knowledge
| Religious Studies
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Occult
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0595010555 |
Book Description
When the Dutch psychic Peter Hurkos approached Norma Lee Browning to write his story, her reply was blunt: "You know better than to ask me … I'm the one who exposes people like you." Norma Lee Browning is a professional skeptic -- a journalist with a reputation for exposing frauds and charlatans.
Hurkos persisted. The result is this incredible book in which Browning, skeptic, proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Peter Hurkos is a man with phenomenal psychic powers -- a man who can conjure up the past, envision the future and describe people and places he has never seen. Hurkos has also participated in missing persons and murder investigations across the United States.
To fully describe a man like Peter Hurkos is not possible. Ms. Browning deals in facts -- in names and places and dates -- and these facts speak for themselves.
Customer Reviews:
This book is complete bunk!.......2005-01-16
The author of this book was completely hoodwinked by Hurkos and accepted his self-serving fictions as accurate accounts of his cases. In fact, his record was one of continuous failure. In at least three major cases (the Jackson Family murders, the Boston Strangler murders and the Michigan Coed murders) he falsely implicated innocent parties. In the Jackson family murders he caused an innocent man to be incarcerated in a hospital for the criminally insane. The man was only released after the FBI caught the real murderer -- without any help from Hurkos. Hurkos's involvement in the Michigan Coed murderers was even more tragic. When Hurkos went to Michigan to investigate the murders the murderer committed yet another as a challenge to the great psychic sleuth. I am currently working on an article about the Jackson family murders and have found that most of Browning's statements about the case are contradicted by contemporary news articles in major newspapers.
HE'S THE REAL DEAL..........2000-12-11
This book is not really about Peter Hurkos. It is about Peter Hurkos, the psychic. If one measures this book by whether or not Peter Hurkos is revealed as a charlatan or a true psychic, then it succeeds admirably, as it leaves little doubt that Peter Hurkos was an individual with a highly unusual gift. If you measure the book by whether or not you get to know Peter Hurkos, the person, then it has not succeeded, because the reader comes away with very little feeling as to who Peter Hurkos was. The book, while interesting, suffers from being somewhat one dimensional. Notwithstanding this limitation, it is still a thought provoking read.
Peter Hurkos is the famous Dutch psychic who enthralled the world during the nineteen fifties and sixties with his psychic gifts. Uncannily clairvoyant, he was not always so. Born in Holland to a working class Dutch family of simple means, his youth was relatively uneventful. Interestingly enough, however, he was born with the caul which is often taken to mean by those who are superstitious that the individual may have been born with the gift of telepathy or clairvoyance.
Though his youth was relatively uneventful, this changed in 1941 when he fell off a ladder and fell four stories, landing on his head. He miraculously survived, but as his friends and family put it, the old Peter had died, and a new one seemed to have taken his place: one who could foretell the future, as well as describe past events, with uncanny accuracy. In the nineteen fifties, he left Holland and came to the United States, where he prospered as a well known psychic.
Peter used his gifts commercially, for which he received much criticism. He also became known as a psychic detective for helping the police solve numerous cases. Some of the cases in which he assisted were high profile cases, such as that of the Boston Strangler. For many years, Peter Hurkos astonished the world with his psychic gifts. He performed best through the process of psychometry, the divination of information by touching an object belonging to the subject of the reading.
I have to admit that some of the documented stories are truly amazing. So amazing that the author, an investigative reporter with a reputation for exposing frauds, became a believer. I do not doubt that the reader will likewise succumb and join the legions of those who believe that Peter Hurkos was, indeed, psychic.
Customer Reviews:
HE'S THE REAL DEAL..........2006-12-02
This book is not really about Peter Hurkos. It is about Peter Hurkos, the psychic. If one measures this book by whether or not Peter Hurkos is revealed as a charlatan or a true psychic, then it succeeds admirably, as it leaves little doubt that Peter Hurkos was an individual with a highly unusual gift. If you measure the book by whether or not you get to know Peter Hurkos, the person, then it has not succeeded, because the reader comes away with very little feeling as to who Peter Hurkos was. The book, while interesting, suffers from being somewhat one dimensional. Notwithstanding this limitation, it is still a thought provoking read.
Peter Hurkos is the famous Dutch psychic who enthralled the world during the nineteen fifties and sixties with his psychic gifts. Uncannily clairvoyant, he was not always so. Born in Holland to a working class Dutch family of simple means, his youth was relatively uneventful. Interestingly enough, however, he was born with the caul which is often taken to mean by those who are superstitious that the individual may have been born with the gift of telepathy or clairvoyance.
Though his youth was relatively uneventful, this changed in 1941 when he fell off a ladder and fell four stories, landing on his head. He miraculously survived, but as his friends and family put it, the old Peter had died, and a new one seemed to have taken his place: one who could foretell the future, as well as describe past events, with uncanny accuracy. In the nineteen fifties, he left Holland and came to the United States, where he prospered as a well known psychic.
Peter used his gifts commercially, for which he received much criticism. He also became known as a psychic detective for helping the police solve numerous cases. Some of the cases in which he assisted were high profile cases, such as that of the Boston Strangler. For many years, Peter Hurkos astonished the world with his psychic gifts. He performed best through the process of psychometry, the divination of information by touching an object belonging to the subject of the reading.
I have to admit that some of the documented stories are truly amazing. So amazing that the author, an investigative reporter with a reputation for exposing frauds, became a believer. I do not doubt that the reader will likewise succumb and join the legions of those who believe that Peter Hurkos was, indeed, psychic.
Customer Reviews:
HE'S THE REAL DEAL..........2006-03-07
This book is not really about Peter Hurkos. It is about Peter Hurkos, the psychic. If one measures this book by whether or not Peter Hurkos is revealed as a charlatan or a true psychic, then it succeeds admirably, as it leaves little doubt that Peter Hurkos was an individual with a highly unusual gift. If you measure the book by whether or not you get to know Peter Hurkos, the person, then it has not succeeded, because the reader comes away with very little feeling as to who Peter Hurkos was. The book, while interesting, suffers from being somewhat one dimensional. Notwithstanding this limitation, it is still a thought provoking read.
Peter Hurkos is the famous Dutch psychic who enthralled the world during the nineteen fifties and sixties with his psychic gifts. Uncannily clairvoyant, he was not always so. Born in Holland to a working class Dutch family of simple means, his youth was relatively uneventful. Interestingly enough, however, he was born with the caul which is often taken to mean by those who are superstitious that the individual may have been born with the gift of telepathy or clairvoyance.
Though his youth was relatively uneventful, this changed in 1941 when he fell off a ladder and fell four stories, landing on his head. He miraculously survived, but as his friends and family put it, the old Peter had died, and a new one seemed to have taken his place: one who could foretell the future, as well as describe past events, with uncanny accuracy. In the nineteen fifties, he left Holland and came to the United States, where he prospered as a well known psychic.
Peter used his gifts commercially, for which he received much criticism. He also became known as a psychic detective for helping the police solve numerous cases. Some of the cases in which he assisted were high profile cases, such as that of the Boston Strangler. For many years, Peter Hurkos astonished the world with his psychic gifts. He performed best through the process of psychometry, the divination of information by touching an object belonging to the subject of the reading.
I have to admit that some of the documented stories are truly amazing. So amazing that the author, an investigative reporter with a reputation for exposing frauds, became a believer. I do not doubt that the reader will likewise succumb and join the legions of those who believe that Peter Hurkos was, indeed, psychic.
Product Description
The life and work of the greatest psychic since Edgar Cayce.
Books:
- The Merry Month of May
- The Pieces from Berlin
- The Place of the Swan
- The Size of Thoughts: Essays and Other Lumber
- The Strangeness of Beauty: A Novel
- The Two-Pound Tram
- The Wadsworth Casebook Series for Reading, Research and Writing: A Worn Path (Harcourt Brace Casebook Series in Literature)
- The WaveDancer Benefit
- The Whistling Shadow: A Mystery
- Timoleon Vieta Come Home: A Sentimental Journey
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- 21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me: Practical Advice for New Real Estate Professionals.
- What Smart Students Know: Maximum Grades. Optimum Learning. Minimum Time.
- The Consumer's Good Chemical Guide: A Jargon-Free Guide to the Chemicals of Everyday Life
- The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea
- The Graphic Standards Guide to Architectural Finishes: Using MASTERSPEC to Evaluate, Select, and Spe
- The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency As a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less
- Traits of a Healthy Family
- Originals: American Women Artists
- The Day Our World Changed: Children's Art of 9/11
- Thirteen Years Among The Wild Beasts Of India: Their Haunts And Habits From Personal Observation Wit
Algerian White
Shantytown Kid
The Forbidden Woman (European Women Writers)
Unbowed: An Algerian Woman Confronts Islamic Fundamentalism (Critical Authors & Issues)
The Poor Man's Son: Menrad, Kabyle Schoolteacher
