More Than Words: Illustrated Letters From The Smithsonian's Archive of American Art

Book Description

Words can speak volumes, but, as every letter writer knows, there are times when they simply won't do. And when the author happens to be a visual artist, the results can be both intimate and transcendent. This book is a testament to those occasions, a compilation of personal letters by some of America's most revered artists, each one adorned with an illustration. Writing to wives, lovers, friends, patrons, clients, and confidants are such revered artists as Frederick Edwin Church, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, Rockwell Kent, Lyonel Feininger, John Sloan, Alfred Frueh, Man Ray, Eero Saarinen, Alexander Calder, Gio Ponti, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein. Sometimes humorous, sometimes extravagant, but always revealing and intimate, they picture the world around them in charming vignettes, landscapes, portraits, and caricatures. Together with their words, these autobiographical works of art created for private consumption reveal the joys and successes, loves and longings, disappointments and frustrations of their authors' lives.

These riveting artifacts are drawn from the collection of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, one of the largest repositories of artists' papers in the nation, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2005.

Book Description

This study is based on the testing of over fifty traditional organic colorants and twenty-seven contemporary watercolor pigments for colorfastness in atmospheric ozone, and the assessment of various methods for mitigating ozone-induced damage. One of the major findings is a mathematical model
that predicts concentrations of chemically-reactive indoor pollutants, valuable in planning building ventilation systems.

Book Description

Story 1: Goku fights against a crime syndicate and loses his left eye, but soon after, he is given a new left eye that contains a computer terminal device by a mysterious person. The mysterious person also gives him a powerful Escrima stick, which is able to extend to any length; thereby turning Goku into a fierce fighter. See what happens as Goku returns to face the syndicate for a little payback... Story 2: A woman named Ryoko hires Goku and tells him to find her missing brother. Her brother, Ryo, is actually a clone who`s out of control; originally created by her stepfather. Goku hunts down Ryo but learns Ryo`s stepfather wants a debt paid and the confrontation turns bloody... Story 3: Leila Shinozuka, a famous rock star, hires Goku as a body guard. She tells Goku that another underground rock star is trying to kill her, but Goku learns that it`s actually the hallucinogenic drugs that she`s taking is causing her paranoia. Watch as Goku takes a trip through the looking glass as he tries to save Leila`s life... Story 4: Yuko Genjyo is a university physicist who specializes in supernatural phenomena. She has been trying to investigate a mysterious girl who comes out of nowhere and flies around the night sky, and one night, she succeeds in taking her picture. But soon after, a gang of ninja shows up and starts to chase her, demanding her to give the picture to them. With her life threatened, she turns to Goku for help. Be sure to catch the thrilling conclusion to this story in Goku Vol. 2...

Customer Reviews:

Not as good as other..........2002-07-22

Bought the Japanese version but think the contents are the same for the English one...

I have been a fan of Terasawa since the early 80s and I must say, the GOKU series is probably the worst of his books. The stories are pretty weak(unimaginative and repetitive) compared to his other works like COBRA and KABUTO--and the "Neo-Tokyo" setting gets tiring after a while, along with too much pointless sex (waaay more then his other series. Dunno if he's trying to compete with HeavyMetal Magazine or something, lol). If you're a diehard fan of Terasawa then get this. If not then go buy his other books.

Fast paced cybernetic sci-spy action!.......2002-05-27

Goku is a private detective who lost his eye, only to have it replaced with a powerful computer interface by a secret benefactor. Thus begin the adventures in this fast paced manga series by Buichi Terasawa, perhaps best known for his COBRA series.

Goku Midnight Eye has a lot of the same flavor as COBRA; fast paced, high tech action, cybernetically enhanced heroes, and those sexy, scantily clad ladies that Terasawa is famous for.

Back in 1992, VIZ comics published a 6 issue color version of some of the same material. The VIZ series comprises the first 3 chapters in volume ONE of Comics One's adaptation. Comics One takes it one storyline longer in this first volume, with a similar take on the translation. The black and white artwork is more satisfying than VIZ's color version (which seemed substandard), but I did enjoy the larger VIZ format....

Keep it up Comics One! Here's hoping they bring us more classic manga series in this format!

Book Description

She's Got Handle engagingly demonstrates what happens when a determined inner-city girl - supported by a dedicated, hardworking family - sidesteps the land mines of poverty, drug use, violent crime, and teenage pregnancy to pursue her dream of playing Division I basketball. She's Got Handle examines women's basketball at a critical juncture in history, when it can either mimic the mistakes of the men's game or pursue a more compassionate path. Nicole Louden is a determined, dedicated, intelligent, young African American woman with a powerful desire to succeed. Her story is as inspirational and hard driving as a full-court press.

Customer Reviews:

I didn't love it.......2006-05-22

She's Got Handle is an inspiring story. It conveys very important themes, including the idea of a strong family background, hard work, and love. However, I do not believe that the book was very well-written. It used a large amount of slang, and had several grammatical errors. The book also often went off on tangents about irrelevant information. This made the book difficult and tedious to finish.

She's got handle is a winner........2001-11-27

Being in high school was never like this for me! I played sports but was never recruited from any colleges, much less a top ten Division I school. Itýs amazing to learn about what these kids go through while being recruited to play at that level. The story of Nicole Louden is the story of very bright and motivated young women making her way through her inner-city high school basketball career and the recruiting process.

This book is also a comment about the challenges that kids in America face today. Nicole grew up around kids selling drugs, gangs and violence. Without her families strong support itýs unlikely that she would have excelled as she did, both academically and athletically. Zagoria does a great job following Nicole and documenting all the details of the recruiting process. If have ever been interested in what it takes to play college sports, and the process of getting there this book is a fun page-turner.

A touching journery that makes you love basketball even more.......2001-11-27

The author does a terrific job chronicling the journey of a young girl whose dream it is to play Division I college basketball and then the WNBA. The book takes you through the struggles, the victories, and everything in-between about a high school female basketball player attempting to beat some very long odds. Growing up in a violent, poverty stricken, drug-infested New Jersey neighborhood, SHE GOT HANDLE describes how an extremely ambitious girl uses her enormous basketball talents, overwhelming support from her family, and terrific smarts to get an athletic scholarship from a top educational university.

Book Description

The epic of the legendary warrior king. A Bravo! film and Sony CD.

Customer Reviews:

Gesar Kicks Demon A**.......2000-06-08

I am not a student of Eastern philosophy, although I've always thought that I had some appreciation for Buddhist ideas. Well, Gesar is not your sanitary, American high school Buddhism. Gesar is a warrior and superman, and through meditation and divine interaction, he goes out and - excuse the expression - Kicks Some Demon A**. The demon kingdoms surround Gesar's country of Ling, and Gesar must be victorious over them, so the populous will turn towards the tenets of Buddhism and his country have security.

Gesar is an ancient tale from the Himalayan region, and its hero based on a real king. The author has done his best to abridge the major story into a form that is approachable to those of us without extensive background to Tibetan or Mongolian Buddhism, or knowledge of the extensive pantheon of Buddhist deities. However, I fear he has shortened the tale too much; some of his actions seemed like they needed more context. Doing a book search through a university library led me to another translation of the epic of Gesar - *The Superhuman life of Gesar of Ling* by Alexandra David-Neel & the lama Yongden. This version is nearly 400 pages long, compared to 150 pages. Obviously Douglas J. Penick took some liberties with the translation.

This is an exciting tale, filled with magic, demons, and adventure. It is a good, "off-the-beaten-path" story that will give you another perspective on Buddhism and an insight into the cultures of the Himalayan region.

Amazon.com

Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis's collection of articles and essays often feels more like a scrapbook than a book, as it includes a number of well-written, but hardly deathless, record reviews and profiles. DeCurtis is on firmest ground in reprinting essays on late-'80s and early-'90s rock and rap controversies, although current updates on these ongoing cultural battles would have made welcome inclusions. A previously unpublished interview with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck is at the heart of Rocking My Life Away, however, and it makes the volume worth buying. In it, longtime friends DeCurtis and Buck engage in a lengthy discussion that takes in everything from R.E.M.'s efforts to stay musically fresh in the face of immense success to the idea of remaining in love with new sounds into one's middle age to the aesthetic and political failures of Forrest Gump. The piece also serves as a welcome rejoinder to fans who question the validity of rock criticism as a whole, with Buck heartily praising the thought-provoking and entertaining nature of the best of the form. Visits with the Stones, Prince, and U2 are also eye-opening, if less surprising than the author's debriefing of Buck. --Rickey Wright

Rocking My Life Away: Writing about Music and Other Matters

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Rocking My Life Away: Writing about Music and Other Matters
Anthony De Curtis
Manufacturer: Duke
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0VJ4M

$Refractive Eye Surgery <br>A Consumer's Complete Guide: LASIK, IntraLASIK, Epi-LASIK, CK, Implantable Contact Lenses, and Other Surgical Eye Procedures ... Dependence on Glasses and Contact Lenses$
Average customer rating:

Inights galore!

Exactly What I Needed!

Refractive Eye Surgery
A Consumer's Complete Guide: LASIK, IntraLASIK, Epi-LASIK, CK, Implantable Contact Lenses, and Other Surgical Eye Procedures ... Dependence on Glasses and Contact Lenses
Chris A. Knobbe, M.D.
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Eye Problems | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

LASIK: A Guide to Laser Vision Correction

Surface Ablation: Epilasik, Lasek, PRK, PTK

ASIN: 1419639978
Release Date: 2006-08-25

Book Description

Author Chris A. Knobbe, M.D., Ophthalmologist (Eye Physician and Surgeon) and Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, has written the definitive treatise on refractive surgical procedures to reduce dependence on glasses and contact lenses. The book is intended specifically for the consumer and is written in patient-friendly language. No matter what your age or degree of nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, or presbyopia (need for readers) Dr. Knobbe provides guidance to the refractive surgical procedure(s) that will be best for you. This is the only source you will need to fully understand refractive surgical procedures, including associated risks as well as benefits, and even how to choose your surgeon. A lifetime of your vision is at stake â€“ choose wisely!

Customer Reviews:

Inights galore!.......2006-11-04

My Aunt just had her eyes done at Long Island Eye Care... her descision was totally influenced by reading this and two other books on eye surgeries. She ended up avoiding Lasik and going with Mike Sable, a master. No scaring or pain, on visible anything 24 hours after the procedure...no dry eye... go to the Jordan of Surgery in your area if you are messing with your eyes. Cut no corners and read and study to inform this most crittical of descisions.

Exactly What I Needed!.......2006-09-12

This book gave me all the information that I needed in order to make an educated decision regarding which refractive surgery was right for me. It is written in terms that a regular person can comprehend, which in turn, enabled me to communicate with my own physician more clearly.

I highly recommend this book if you are considering refractive surgery of any kind. You'll be glad you did!

LASIK: A Guide to Laser Vision Correction

Average customer rating:

A booklet 2 sell U a Lasik Job
Helpful book

LASIK: A Guide to Laser Vision Correction
Ernest W. Kornmehl , Robert K. Maloney , and Jonathan M. Davidorf
Manufacturer: Addicus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Ophthalmology | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Surgery | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Eye Problems | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

$Refractive Eye Surgery <br>A Consumer's Complete Guide: LASIK, IntraLASIK, Epi-LASIK, CK, Implantable Contact Lenses, and Other Surgical Eye Procedures ... Dependence on Glasses and Contact Lenses$ Refractive Eye Surgery
A Consumer's Complete Guide: LASIK, IntraLASIK, Epi-LASIK, CK, Implantable Contact Lenses, and Other Surgical Eye Procedures ... Dependence on Glasses and Contact Lenses
Every Woman's Guide to Diabetes: What You Need to Know to Lower Your Risk and Beat the Odds
The Comfort of Home for Stroke: A Guide for Caregivers (Comfort of Home, The)
How to Prevent Your Stroke
The Complete Book of Laser Eye Surgery

ASIN: 1886039798

Book Description

If you’d like to improve your vision and reduce or eliminate your need for glasses or contacts, perhaps you’re considering LASIK. This procedure has become one of the most popular vision correction surgeries in the nation with 9 million Americans undergoing LASIK procedures annually.

But, before you entrust your eyes to a surgeon, make sure you become an informed consumer. In LASIK—A Guide to Laser Vision Correction, three ophthalmologists, who together have performed more than 65,000 LASIK procedures, help you understand what the surgery involves. Among the questions they answer:

• Are you a candidate for LASIK surgery?

• How is LASIK performed?

• How much vision improvement you can expect?

• How does the new Wavefront technology improve LASIK?

• How do you choose a qualified ophthalmologist?

• How many procedures should your ophthalmologist have performed?

• What are the possible complications?

• What follow up care will you need after the surgery?

The Book to Read Before Having LASIK Surgery!

Customer Reviews:

A booklet 2 sell U a Lasik Job .......2007-07-08

A bias look at LASIK surgery albeit very information and easy to understand. The downside to lasik is not full explored leaving the patient to think, yes I want that for sure. Not one horror story was included, which leaves it very incomplete. It would be a five star if it did tell about those horror stories, therefor it is far less entertaining making it only a four star booklet. But lets be real, you will not get that info so with that in mind this is a good book. Just tell em to be watchful of the pressure that is being used.

Helpful book.......2006-12-30

but we went with surgery... our auntie had dry eye forever after her Lasic so uncle went to this master at LI eye care a Dr. Sable who is some kind of prodegy, no scars in twelve to twenty fou hours- do not ask me how- but uncle is doing great and i guess we have lots of eye books to give away now... I did like this book because it lays out all the problems and benefits fairly...

How to See Like a Hawk When You're Blind as a Bat : A Patient's Guide to LASIK Laser Vision Correction

Average customer rating:

Shedding light on Lasik
WHAT EVERY POTENTIAL LASIK CANDIDATE SHOULD KNOW
this book helped me make my decision to have LASIK
Simple, easy to understand book
Informative Research

How to See Like a Hawk When You're Blind as a Bat : A Patient's Guide to LASIK Laser Vision Correction
Matthew Ehrlich
Manufacturer: Doctors Advice Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Ophthalmology | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Surgery | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Eye Problems | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0966927206

Book Description

Board certified ophthalmologist and corneal surgery specialist, Dr. Matthew Ehrlich, has created the most current and complete guide to LASIK Laser Vision Correction -- a safe and permanent eyesight correction technique that is experiencing explosive growth among millions of Americans (virtually doubling in popularity every year).

This easy-to-understand book answers questions about laser vision correction procedures, their safety and cost, the success rates, recovery time, what different vision problems qualify for laser treatment, new and future technology, and exactly what takes place during the laser surgery process. And most important, it answers the overriding question whether laser patients can throw away their glasses and contact lenses forever...

Customer Reviews:

Shedding light on Lasik.......2000-07-09

Read this book before you make a final decision on Lasik. My vision was too important to blindly follow everyone else and go ahead with Lasik without thoroughly researching the topic.

"How To See Like A Hawk When You're Blind As A Bat" turned out to be the source I needed in helping determine if I was a candidate.

Dr Ehrlich said he wanted to educate the populace on the pros and cons of Lasik, I think he did so in a straight forward, coherent manner that I found discussed a lot more issues than I had even imagined. I liked the fact he dicussed potential risk factors, price and realistic results rather than making a glorified advertisment of his clinic and his surgical skills.

One thing that scared me was the fact so many doctors are suddenly doing this procedure. This book helped me determine who had experience and who didn't. I felt better with my final choice.

WHAT EVERY POTENTIAL LASIK CANDIDATE SHOULD KNOW.......2000-06-26

THIS BOOK IN EVERY DAY LANGUAGE EXPALINS AND ANSWERS EVERY QUSETION I HAD ABOUT LASIK.THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ. IT WILL PUT TO REST ANY FEARS YOU MAY HAVE BEFORE HAVING LASIK.

this book helped me make my decision to have LASIK.......2000-06-24

I was worried about having LASIK and what could go wrong. THis book explained it in terms that I could understand. The photos and illustrations were also very helpful. I would recommend it to anyone considering LASIK

Simple, easy to understand book.......2000-05-25

I found this book to be enjoyably simple and easy to understand. It was written for the average person who wants to learn more about the LASIK procedure and how it works. Some of the statistics are a bit dated, but they're still useful. The pictures in the book are very informative. BTW, I had my LASIK surgery this past March, and am currently 20/20 in both eyes.

Informative Research.......1999-12-18

I have not had my LASIK surgery, YET. I had not even done a lot of reasearch online besides talking to several others who have had the procedure when I read this book. I saw my eye doctor yesterday for the Pre-Operation appointment and when I seemed very knowledgeable about the surgery and the terms he was using and the tests he was performing, he was impressed, I mentioned the book to him twice during my appointment, and before I left he asked for the name of the book and where he might find it. I feel quite sure that he was going to look for the book since he works with one of the top ten LASIK surgeons in the country, and this is such an easy to read informative book. This is something he can even recommend to his regular patients contemplating this surgery. I especially liked how the book outlines what you can expect from the first appointment to the finished surgery. Before I had my appointment, I felt pretty secure about my prescription and with my vision problems that I would be a candidate for the procedure. By the way, my surgery is scheduled for Wednesday....

LASIK vision correction: The exciting new laser eye surgery, laser in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) : a guide for patients (Doctor to patient series)

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LASIK vision correction: The exciting new laser eye surgery, laser in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) : a guide for patients (Doctor to patient series)
David Castellano
Manufacturer: MedWorld Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Surgery | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Eye Problems | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1583082433

Book Description

Based on information not available previously, this comprehensive study details the history, evolution, and changing relationship between the armed forces and civilian leadership in Mexico in the second half of the 20th century. Camp focuses on the past two decades during which democratic transformation produced important changes within the armed forces, in particular the navy. Despite institutional autonomy, a lack of reform, and an increase in civilian missions, the Mexican armed forces remain subordinate to civilian political authorities, and Camp finds little evidence to support the common notion that they are a significant threat to civilian supremacy in general or to the democratic process in particular. This work draws from published and unpublished sources, military websites, and material obtained through numerous freedom of information requests made directly through the secretariat of national defense. It includes correspondence and interviews with Mexican officers, specialists and journalists who have covered the military and American officers who have trained or worked with the Mexican armed forces. Based upon thirty-five years of research, Camp incorporates detailed data on 670 army, air force, and naval officers at the two or three star rank, into the only comprehensive biographical data bank ever compiled on the Mexican military. This allows for insightful comparisons between the navy and army, on such topics as leadership, training, international education, and promotion. It reveals new organizational developments within the armed forces, especially the navy, and the new roles civil political institutions are playing vis-a-vis the armed forces.

Mexico's Military on the Democratic Stage

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Mexico's Military on the Democratic Stage
Roderic Ai Camp
Manufacturer: Praeger Security International General Interest-Cloth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORMSCW

Book Description

How does our government eavesdrop? Whom do they eavesdrop on? And is the interception of communication an effective means of predicting and preventing future attacks? These are some of the questions at the heart of Patrick Radden Keefe’s brilliant new book, Chatter.

In the late 1990s, when Keefe was a graduate student in England, he heard stories about an eavesdropping network led by the United States that spanned the planet. The system, known as Echelon, allowed America and its allies to intercept the private phone calls and e-mails of civilians and governments around the world. Taking the mystery of Echelon as his point of departure, Keefe explores the nature and context of communications interception, drawing together fascinating strands of history, fresh investigative reporting, and riveting, eye-opening anecdotes. The result is a bold and distinctive book, part detective story, part travel-writing, part essay on paranoia and secrecy in a digital age.

Chatter starts out at Menwith Hill, a secret eavesdropping station covered in mysterious, gargantuan golf balls, in England’s Yorkshire moors. From there, the narrative moves quickly to another American spy station hidden in the Australian outback; from the intelligence bureaucracy in Washington to the European Parliament in Brussels; from an abandoned National Security Agency base in the mountains of North Carolina to the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

As Keefe chases down the truth of contemporary surveillance by intelligence agencies, he unearths reams of little-known information and introduces us to a rogue’s gallery of unforgettable characters. We meet a former British eavesdropper who now listens in on the United States Air Force for sport; an intelligence translator who risked prison to reveal an American operation to spy on the United Nations Security Council; a former member of the Senate committee on intelligence who says that oversight is so bad, a lot of senators only sit on the committee for the travel.

Provocative, often funny, and alarming without being alarmist, Chatter is a journey through a bizarre and shadowy world with vast implications for our security as well as our privacy. It is also the debut of a major new voice in nonfiction.

Customer Reviews:

Good Survey on the NSA.......2007-04-09

Chatter: Dispatches from the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping is something of a amateurish book done responsibly. Patrick Radden Keefe isn't an insider, he isn't a former spook, and he isn't a journalist with a lifelong Intel beat. He's a student a writer, frequently concentrating on issues of globalization, crime, and government. I think where a lot of people are disappointed with this book is that he doesn't write as an insider and he doesn't expose things that we couldn't find out from other sources. Instead, he's collected what's known through an exhaustive process of library and field research and placed it in a single volume giving the reader an overview of what is a highly secretive organization.

When something like the NSA is around for more than half a century it's bound to leave footprints in the public record, from mentions in court cases to acquisitions in related but public budget allocations. Keefe tirelessly connects the dots on these pinpoints of information, assembling a working knowledge of what they seem to be able to do or not do. I found it refreshing that an author would approach this sensitive subject matter not as a tell-all expose, but as a careful dissemination of facts with an eye toward not embellishing on an area so secret that one might say anything without being able to be proved false (or true for that matter).

Particularly striking, but within the realm of common sense, was the trouble the NSA has had keeping up with other technology. When advertising and internet data mining has reached a level where our intelligence service must take out patents to protect their own processes, there's a dearth of ability when it comes to being all-seeing, all-hearing. While they can see and hear almost all communication, they don't have the hardware or manpower to be able to completely or accurately sort through that amount of data to pick out many pertinent details. It's an exercise in futility, it seems from Keefe's description. Just because they can doesn't mean they can very well. I was also surprised by the lack of evidence to any success at electronically picking out words from speech. I, and most people, had just assumed that any key words would be flagged by computers, but as I use my cell phone now, I think about the challenge for a machine to recognize and separate out what I'm saying.

It's a good book, and a fine overview. It's not a great book, but it did sort out its premise early on and met it completely. One can't pan the author for what he didn't do, when those things were simply beyond his ability or, in this case, anyone else's.

CV Rick

Unqualified author.......2006-11-13

Signals intelligence is a technical and complicated field. Besides standard intelligence techniques, it involves mathematics, engineering and politics. Keefe manages to cover remarkably little of this. Instead he focuses on speculative theories and nearly irrelevant current event news headlines. Perhaps the lack of information is not too surprising given how most modern information in this field is classified by various organizations, but what Keefe comes up with is hardly appropriate for a book.

There is some decent information to be found, but the bottom line is that Keefe comes across as a college kid on a writing assignment for his school paper.

Paranoid much?.......2006-05-18

I was expecting a historical account of SIGINT, but what I found was on the verge of mysterious black helicopters and alien autopsies. I am not even half way through and I don't think I can finish it. Not only is some of the basic technical open source information inaccurate (try google), but a lot of his statements are suppositions or suspicions of an imaginative kid.

If you are looking for a book that has accurate historical information about signal reconnaissance, try: The Price of Vigilance : Attacks on American Surveillance Flights by Larry Tart and Robert Keefe ( I initially thought Chatter was by the same author, big mistake!)

"Getting Harder to Keep Secrets".......2006-03-01

"Chatter: Dispatches from the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping," Patrick Keefe, NY Random House, 2005 ISBN 1-4000-6034-6, HC 300/242 pgs., Notes 38 pg., Biblio 7 pg., Glossary 5 pg., Index 16 pg., 9 1/2" x 6 1/2:"

The author's 1st book, Keefe, Yale law student with some reviews to his credit, furnishes the background & general working plan of U.S. international surveillance carried out by CIA & NSA (20,000 & 60,000 employees respectively) with emphasis on ESCHELON, a system that - (USA in conjunction with UK via "UKUSA" agreement & "Second Parties" of Canada, Australia & New Zealand) - has enough satellites & strategically located dish antennae to intercept, decipher & store essentially all electronic communications around the globe (includes land phones, cell phones, radio and satellite communications, etc.). This info is processed through a keyword "dictionary" & linguists to help sort out messages of interest, etc.

The author details, as best known to him, location of primary satellites & major dish antennae & the vigorous efforts used to maintain secrecy of the program, detailing some who inadvertently or purposely divulged information to bring unwanted attention to surveillance activities. The book is current in its focus, noting ESCHELON was first affirmed to exist May 18, 2001 & it discusses the Patriot Act following 9/11, Al Qaeda, & lowering of the bar on obtaining FISA warrants, & notes ongoing congressional debates over excessive intrusions & invasions of privacy.

The author writes modestly well, professes not to have revealed any classified information, & certainly chose a timely subject, a current hotbed for the White House. Some same source material appears in Solove's "The Digital Person" of 2004. "Chatter" is pleonastic & tedious at times, but provides conscientious update & menology of modern-day surveillance methodologies.

Uninformed Paranoia.......2006-02-27

"Chatter" is the exactly the type of book that one would expect from a recent college grad/law schhol student who has little or no practical experience with the subject he is writing about. It is superficial and, despite occasional disclaimers to the contrary, primarily plays to the paranoia of the uninformed in order to create a product that will scare and sell. Keefe ignored the first rule of authorship: If you don't know what you are writing about, don't put pen to paper.

To be fair, I admit that the book is well enough written so that I persevered to the end hoping against hope that I would learn some concrete information. Unfortunately, the book contains almost no useful information. It is hard to believe that Keefe spent six months researching and writing it, much less the reported five years worth of effort. The hard information discussed in the book could have been gleaned from a couple of Google searches. Keefe is guilty of lazy, sloppy research, using the alleged veil of governmental secrecy to excuse the dearth of factual information in his book.

Keefe appears to be totally ignorant about the existence of professional unclassified publications that discuss HUMINT, SIGINT, COMINT, satellite imagery, all aspects of the intelligence community, etc. in an academic, calm manner. One such publication is "Intelligence and National Security." The Air Univerity, the Naval War College, and the Army War College all have professional journals that discuss matters covered in Keefe's book. Even the "Naval Institute Proceedings" can be a useful research tool.

I worked in miliary intelligence for many years as a generalist. Yes, I saw radio intercepts of radio traffic from Russian trawlers that made me wonder what the collectors thought was useful about the information. Yes, the intelligence community would greatly benefit from having much more emphasis placed on in depth, thoughtful analysis of foreign countries and the regimes that control them. Perhaps a little too much emphasis is placed on trying to collect current, fast breaking intelligence. But, you know what, you need to have the collection capability in place in case something bad happens. You can't create the collection capability from scratch in an emergency.

And, despite what Keefe says about our intelligence failures - and there are many - being able to analayze - ex post facto - the traffic that preceded a surprise attack or whatever does lead to useful, actionable intelligence. To forego that ability on the grounds that the collection systems did not provide timely advance warning would be foolish in the extreme.

I am not worried about the government spying on my communications. The people who work in intelligence are normal people. They mean me no harm and have no interest in me. Despite what the paranoids think, there is no big brother in government who will take the slightest interest in what I say or do. On the other hand, there are many people in business who are actively trying to violate ny privacy by trying to capture every piece of information about what I buy, the people I call, the books I buy, the Web sites I visit, etc. Keefe would do us a big service in writing about this topic. This is a real threat to our privacy. Of course, that might mean that he would have to do actual research and spend long hours trying to understand and explain the technologies, the algorithims, etc.

Don't waste your time with this book. It's a simplistic discussion of a complex topic. The book is aimed to be marketed to alarmist paranoids.

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