Napoleon III and His Carnival Empire

Customer Reviews:

Is this History? Is this Comedy? Its Both! & Its Excellent........1999-04-06

This is History as sheer entertainment. The story of how a used car salesman of a man becomes the Emporer of France. Against all odds, with shameless optimism, populist appeal, administrative incompetence and relentless sexual exploitiveness, protected and tolerated by virtue of a booming economy, Louis Napoleon proceeds Clinton in a virtual parody of the present by coming to power in an unlikely set of scenarios filled with irony and hilarity in the middle of 19th century France. The first elected populist turn Dictator - Louis Napoleon Bonaparte preceded Hitler by 90 years. More Clinton than Hitler, This story of a harmless flirt turn despot is a marvelous parady of the banal ambitions of all politicians. This man is so much like the present day Clinton in shamelessness, ambition, optimism, sexual opportunism and maybe unlike Clinton, gross administrative incompetence as to form the most unlikely story in all history. With so many cunning men greedy for power, how is it that such a man should come to power? Not only did he achieve power but the Charlatan Napolean III out lasted the Original Napolean by ruling France from 1848-1870 (22 years, The First Four years as an legaly elected President, the Last 18 years as Emporer). His reign gave stamp to an age and a style refered to as "Second Empire". Napolean III's rule, like Clinton's, was sustained by a period of unprecedented Economic Growth - preciding over the initial stages of Industrialization in 19th Century France. All but forgotten now, Napolean's greatest legacy to the present is modern Paris, to which he gets very little credit. Of course none of this would be worth while if not exploited properly. Fortunately John Bierman is more than equal to the task. Well written, both insiteful and humorous, Bierman's sophisticated repartee never fails to exploit an opportunity for irony or the humor in his subject. Reading this book was more like eating a box of candy - I could not put it down - and was sad when it came to an end. It has been said great men are produced by times of dire circumstances. Bierman proves this postulate by pointing out how great times produced, in 19th century France, a man of small stature. Despite the shallow glamour of the Second Empire, it crashed on the sham that it was when confronted by the politics of real consequence in Bismark's Prussia (Bismark's Realpolitik of Blood & Iron). For the next hundred years, begining with the tragedy of the Paris Commune, France had to struggle to cope with Napolean III's other great legacy: a unified Germany on its eastern boarder. Napolean III stands as an important history of the dangerous consequences that self serving populist charlatans pose for all history. Clinton ought to be carefull of the entanglements he gets involved in. Like Napoleon III, it could very well be his undoing.

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NAPOLEON III AND HIS CARNIVAL EMPIRE
John BIERMAN
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OT4G6Q

Book Description

This richly illustrated, thoroughly researched and completely unauthorized biography takes readers behind the legend of the great Gordie Howe. Signed by the Detroit Red Wings at 16, Gordie became a six-time leading scorer, a six-time Hart Trophy winner as the most valuable player, and he surpassed Rocket Richard’s NHL goals record to reach an amazing total of 801 — unmatched for years until Gretzky finally caught up to his mentor and idol. Gordie also includes a new introduction in this recreation of the glory of hockey's golden age.

Customer Reviews:

A GREAT HOCKEY BOOK.......2006-03-13

Gordie a Hockey Legend is book is a great book for anyone who knows about hockey and what the sport is and how it has evolved for its early stages with the popular players like Gordie Howe, He really set the bar in hockey back in his days. He held the NHL scoring title with the most goals in his career with 801 goals until "The Great One", Wayne Gretzky passed him in April of 1993.Gordie is really a Hockey legend.

Gordie is really a legend. He was Known for his ability to be tough anytime during a game, and get the goals, and stand up for his team at anytime needed. This Book was really good in my view. It described his great career, and his life leading up to and being in the NHL.

I would recommend this book to a lot of my friends, especially to my friends that like, and or play hockey. This book really shows the meaning for, and how hockey started to become more popular especially in the United States and in Canada. I really liked this book, and it is one of my favorites, and I would recommend it to anyone. This is truly a great book.

Gordie Howe.......2002-11-21

Gordie Howe: A hockey legend tells about his whole life. From when he was little kid, to when he made it in the NHL. It tells about how he first came upon hockey as a little kid. It tells about his carrer and the NHL. I thought that this book was ok. Not horrible but not excellent. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about gordie howe, or wants to read about him.

A Great Book on Gordie Howe!.......2000-03-22

This book tells about Gordie Howe, one of the best hockey players ever, and his career in the NHL.In the beginning, it tells about his first couple of seasons, and then tells more about his great career and facts about him toward the end. I learned a lot about him from this book, for example, I learned that he has played for two teams, the Hartford Whalers and the Detroit Red Wings, and that he was considered one of the greatest players of his time.

An enthralling look at professional hockey's past, and stars.......1999-06-04

As a lifetime fan of the Detroit Red Wings, I was overjoyed when I found that there is a recent biography of Howe that is much more up to date than many written in the 60's and 70's. This book gives the reader an inside look at what it was like to get into the NHL in the 50's, and what it took to stay there and become a star. Mackskimming is very candid when talking about the front office's team management "politics" The reader also gets an up-close look at other great stars of the era such as Red Kelly, Ted Linsay, Maurice "Rocket" Richard, and coach Jack Adams. A must read for any TRUE hockey fan.

Starts out great, but ends up only a good book on Howe........1998-09-11

The book starts out covering Howe in excellent detail. Several pages cover his first seasons. Then as if the author lost interest, the decades go flying by. My reasons for reading the book was to find out, why Howe was considered great, how Howe compared to Richard, how the game changed over the years and what it was about Howe that enabled him to play for so long. The book only addressed how Howe established his early greatness.

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Echoes of Detroit's Hockey Legends

Manufacturer: Compuware
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
ASIN: 0967399637

Product Description

Listen to the voices and read the stories of those who made hockey such a dynamic sport in Detroit. They are from the Original Six era Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Bruce Martin and more. It is Red Wings history to be saved and savored. 3 audio CDs.

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Gordie - A Hockey Legend
Roy Macskimming
Manufacturer: Greystone Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000Q8V744

Average customer rating:

Gordie, a Hockey Legend

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GZQN0K

Average customer rating:
On Location with Woody Allen
Thierry de Navacelle
Manufacturer: Pan Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0283997303

Average customer rating:
Woody Allen on location / Thierry de Navacelle
Thierry de Navacelle
Manufacturer: New York : Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VZGB3E

Average customer rating:
WOODY ALLEN ON LOCATION.
Thierry de. Navacelle
Manufacturer: Pan Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORA9BE

Book Description

"The whole astonishing range of Brazilian music is revealedâ€¦"-Stage and Television Today.

The first paperback edition of this study of Brazilian music, hailed as the long awaited, comprehensive, and scholarly history of this complex subject when it appeared in hardback in 1994. Schreiner takes us from the merging of Amerindian, African and European cultures under the Portuguese colonists to the evolution of the many rhythms and dance forms associated with popular Brazilian music. The choro, the samba, the bossa nova are coolly and carefully unravelled and the book ends on the contemporary music scene of the 1990s.

Customer Reviews:

Solid Guide to pre-1970 Brazilian music.......1999-04-14

This is a responsible and useful (if a bit dull) guide to Brazilian popular music of this century up to the early 1970s (when it was first published). It's very weak on the last twenty years, however. A good resource, but not as good as "The Brazilian Sound" (Temple University Press), which is much more comprehensive and also more fun to read.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent historical reference........1999-06-15

This book shows the state of the art at the end of the 1970's. Though there have been huge changes since then, and tremendous gaps in our understanding have been filled, I still can't recommend this book highly enough. This book was published at the time when the best programs changed over from selective search to brute force. Nowadays we know that brute force is the way to go, but at that time even programmers who were winning tournaments using brute force techniques had little faith in their ultimate viability. The authors's speculation about the roles of search and evaluation is very interesting from the historical perspective.

One chapter of this book is worth the entire price. Slate and Atkins describe Chess 4.5 in one chapter. That chapter remains to this day the best description of an "attack-table" chess engine ever written, though you will need some additional reading to create a modern program on that basis.

One of the best books on the foundations of computer chess.......1997-09-17

This book is one of the pioneer works on the subject, as its publication date shows clearly. Despite its age, it remains as one of the most fascinating introductions to computer chess, and most of the ideas it presents are still valid. Its multiple authors cover all aspects of chess playing, from technical expositions of some of the best programs of that time, to physiological and psychological considerations.

In "A brief history of computer chess tournaments: 1970-1975", we are introduced to the atmosphere of the early tournaments, the diverse friendly matches between US and USSR chess computers, and several US and international championships, with many of the most interesting games fully commented and analyzed.

The next chapter, "Human chess skill" focuses in how does a human player select a move in the game of chess, the role of perception, the search mechanism, visualization, as well as other tipically human aspects such as motivation. Several tests applied to human players ranging from novices to grandmasters are presented and discussed.

After that introspective look at we humans, and our not-so-well understood thought processes, "An introduction to computer chess" begin to shift the focus to the computer, including such basic topics as how to represent the chess board, the moves, the status, how to generate the legal moves, search strategies, position evaluation, so that by the end of the chapter, all necessary foundations are well stablished for the rest of the book.

With Chapter 4, "Chess 4.5 - The Northwestern University chess progam" we begin the most technical part of the book. Here, authors David J. Slate and Lawrence R. Atkin show us with great style the internal workings of their famous chess program, many times world champion, and the one mostly used against IM David Levy for the famous Levy's bet. The details are sufficient to help a lot anyone contemplating the possibility of writing his/her own chess program. Modestly, the authors assume the limitations of their creature, and offer good advice on how it can be incrementally improved.

Chapter 5, "PEASANT: An endgame program for kings and pawns" provides yet another close scrutiny of a chess program, though this time with the important novelty that it is an specialized chess program, one specifically designed for a certain class of very frequent endgames. Monroe Newborn, its author, fully describes the inner workings, and most importantly, produces a set of tests for his program, with commented results.

The next chapter, "Plans, goals, and search strategies for the selection of a move in chess" tries to center on how do human players select good chess moves when having just a few seconds to consider the position (i.e: blitz chess), and then introduces a chess program specifically designed to play speed chess, without recourse to tree searching. This quite intriguing approach more closely mimics the human behaviour, to the point of even producing the same kind of erroneous moves a human player would play at blitz speeds.

As an alternative to the standard alpha-beta search techniques, Larry R. Harris introduces us to "The heuristic search: An alternative to the alpha-beta minimax procedure", where it presents what it considers important pitfalls of that search strategy, fully commented with specific examples, and proposes a new paradigm that addresses each and everyone of them from the start, thus truly directing the search in an intelligent way, as opposed to brute force, so that each aspect of the position can be ascertained as soon as possible, before going to other places in the search tree.

After these mostly technical chapters, in "Man and machine: Chess achievements and chess thinking", professor Eliot Hearst, a member of the Psychology Department at Indiana University, evaluates the present status of computer chess from the perspective of someone very knowledgeable with the game, as he is a rather skilled chess player and columnist. He includes many good practical examples, to make his points even clearer.

The book closes with a number of games played by Chess 4.5 and 4.6 in competitions during 1976, 1977, and 1978, that show a remarkable improvement on the rather pessimistic forecastings most experts agreed upon at that time.

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Chess Skill in Man and MacHine
Peter W. Frey
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GRXZYK

Average customer rating:
Chess Skill in Man and Machine

Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

All German Books | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 3540907904

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Chess Skill in Man and Machine

Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GQONOM

Book Description

A brief business novel about combining today's two most powerful quality initiatives

Leaning Into Six Sigma shows managers how to combine today's two most popular continuous improvement methodologies-- Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma--for dramatically improved quality and cycle time.

This concise and fast-paced "business novel" tells the story of how one skeptical company gradually came to understand and implement a Lean Six Sigma initiative--improving quality at all levels of the organization. This engaging story will help employees and managers understand basic quality concepts from Design of Experiments (DOE) to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), while learning how to:

Implement work cells and preventive maintenance
Get rid of excess inventory
Speed up processes

Customer Reviews:

Simple yet powerful.......2006-03-03

This book demonstrates principles of Six Sigma and Lean in a quick, readable style. I first read the book within my first year of doing Six Sigma and found it nice. I recently reread the book and saw how powerful it was since my understanding of Lean AND Six Sigma worked powerfully together.

I would encourage anyone to read this before any of the larger books since the flavoring is most important.

Sufficient.......2005-02-19

Not a particularly interesting reading, the book definitely meets it's goal. This was assigned reading for my manufacturing group. The book is an easy and quick read and delivers the basics of LEAN in a manufacturing environment.

Highly Recommended!.......2004-04-30

Authors Barbara Wheat, Chuck Mills and Mike Carnell use the format of a novel to explain two major quality control mechanisms: Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma, the efficiency approach that has had a broad impact on corporate America. In a sort of parable that shows both of these processes in action, they tell the story of a consultant named Samantha. She helps a business owner named Sid who has made all the wrong choices in setting up his manufacturing operation. Sam uses Six Sigma to help Sid out of his quagmire. The volume goes into greater, more useful detail about identifying and eliminating areas of waste than many other Six Sigma books. The text links the Five S's of Lean Enterprise with the systems problem-solving methodology MAIC (measure, analyze, improve and control). In all, here are the basics of Six Sigma and Lean Enterprise in an easy-to-use volume you can read on a commuter flight. We strongly recommend this book to those who want to begin to improve their firms' efficiency and productivity.

Highly Recommended!.......2004-03-01

Authors Barbara Wheat, Chuck Mills and Mike Carnell use the format of a novel to explain two major quality control mechanisms: Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma, the efficiency approach that has had a broad impact on corporate America. In a sort of parable that shows both of these processes in action, they tell the story of a consultant named Samantha. She helps a business owner named Sid who has made all the wrong choices in setting up his manufacturing operation. Sam uses Six Sigma to help Sid out of his quagmire. The volume goes into greater, more useful detail about identifying and eliminating areas of waste than many other Six Sigma books. The text links the Five S's of Lean Enterprise with the systems problem-solving methodology MAIC (measure, analyze, improve and control). In all, here are the basics of Six Sigma and Lean Enterprise in an easy-to-use volume you can read on a commuter flight. We strongly recommends this book to those who want to begin to improve their firms' efficiency and productivity.

Leaning Into Six Sigma : A Parable of the Journey to Six Sigma and a Lean Enterprise

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Leaning Into Six Sigma : A Parable of the Journey to Six Sigma and a Lean Enterprise
Chuck Mills, Mike Carnell Barbara Wheat
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFQIFC

Book Description

A fascinating and authoritative look at the enduring legacy of a singular philosopher.

Buckminster Fuller, the brilliant and eccentric futurist philosopher best known as the inventor of the Geodesic Dome, was one of the most creative contributors to innovative thought and technology in the twentieth century. Incomparable designer, engineer, and architect, he proved that a lone genius, through sheer initiative, can have an astounding impact on the world. In this inspiring account of Fuller's life and legacy, Lloyd Steven Sieden brings new light to Fuller's belief system and recognizes his many contributions to humanity.

Customer Reviews:

Too much .......2007-07-17

I hate to be contrarian, but this was one of the worst books I have ever read. The author spends much of the book over-praising the genius of Buckminster Fuller, which should lead suspicious people to question what exactly is going on. It's possible that Mr. Fuller is the greatest genius of our time; but the author should simply show us his accomplishments, rather than say it. This style of over-inflated hype was so grating to me that I began to doubt whether Mr. Fuller had accomplished much of anything, a feeling re-inforced by the ridiculous jargon that he uses to obscure his ideas. I had hoped that this book would give me a glimpse of genius, but it ended up diminishing my view of Buckminster Fuller.

GREAT BOOK .......2007-01-10

This biography of Bucky fuller is a very good read. It is detailed and well written. I ordered the book with no prior knowledge of the author or his writing style, but after the first few pages it became clear that this book is definitely worth the price.

More books like this on Bucky, please.......2006-07-06

On the plus side, this book is written in clear English and gives a good overview of Bucky's inventions and ideas. It helps those of us who didn't live through it, understand what all the fuss about Buckminster Fuller is about. And Bucky's ideas are in fact quite relevant to the present time.

However, on the negative side, there is a bit too much pro-Bucky "cheerleading" in this book for my taste. Although, I have zero desire to hear any "dirty laundry" or negative personal anecdotes about Bucky, I really would have liked to have learned just a bit about what Bucky's intellectual critics thought as well. There are always other resources for that though. This book is unabashedly about Bucky "worship", and considering that Bucky was probably indeed a genius, perhaps it's excusable.

Another complaint I have about this book is that it doesn't give as complete a picture of Bucky's life as it pertains to his intellectual development, as I'd like. For instance it almost seems from this book that Bucky quits his job in his early 30's and becomes a genius based on a bit of naval experience and personal studying and little more. I can't help think that there is much much more to the intellectual development of Buckminster Fuller than we are shown in this book.

Still this is a good introduction to Buckminster Fuller. It doesn't delve deeply into Bucky's views on math, but I suspect that is because even the author of this book doesn't understand them! There are still a few parts of Bucky's philosophy as explained in this book, that I don't understand at all, but I suspect they may be very difficult concepts to explain and grasp, and that I'd probably have to pick up a much more difficult book than this one to understand them, assuming they are indeed understandable.

Excellent Introduction for a Non-Technical Reader.......2005-09-18

I've tried to dive into some of the books actually written by Buckminster Fuller without success. His ideas have always intrigued me, but I found his writing style to be rambling and confusing. This book, however, is an excellent introduction to Fuller's life and ideas, without the confusing detritus. I don't have a strong math or science background, so I appreciated the fact that the author was able to explain Fuller's ideas without resorting to complex equations or formulas. The biographical aspects of this book are also quite interesting. It is chronologically arranged so that the reader can track the evolution of Fuller's thoughts as he progressed through life.

Thank you-I finally understand Bucky.......2005-02-22

All I can say is thank you to Mr. Sieden for finally helping me to understand the great Buckminster Fuller.

I first became interested in Bucky when I was in college and over the years have tried repeatedly to read Bucky's books but was never quite able to finish them. I am not an engineer or even a techie just someone interested in brilliant minds. A brilliant mind Buckminster was but he was not so great at explaining his ideas in a way that most people can understand.

So when a co-worker and I got on the subject of the great inventors of our time we naturally came around to Bucky. I told him about my great interest in Bucky and about the trouble I had finishing any of his books. He told me a Fuller "must read" is Lloyd Sieden's Buckminster Fuller's Universe.

Finally, I understand more of the great man Fuller was, the huge impact he had on humanity and still does years after his death. Thank you Mr. Sieden!

Book Description

The author analyzes the internal and external dynamics of the Tajik conflict, assessing the relative weight of the political, ideological, ethnic, and regional factors. He also considers the impact of developments in Tajikistan for the wider Central Asian region and the prospects for a lasting peace and economic recovery.

Book Description

Offers suggestions about how individuals can prepare for chemical, radiological, nuclear, or biological attacks and what actions they can take to protect their own health, safety, and lives.

Customer Reviews:

Bit hard to judge veracity ... but seems a lifesaver!.......2004-02-12

It is a bit hard to rate this book, since I have no expert knowledge as to its veracity or not, and that is really the crux of this book. The advice sounds true, but I don't know for sure ... do any of us? (Remember 'Duck and Cover'?) I would recommend that most every American who lives and/or works in a likely target (e.g. any large-sized metropolitan city) read what this book says, though, and commit it to memory. This is one of those books that, having read free online (Rand makes it available online free at http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1731/), I am going to also purchase, mostly for the reference card available at the end. As someone who spends 8-10 hours per day in the nation's second largest major metropolitan center (Chicago), I would rather have this information handy in card form should the worst ever happen. Call me paranoid, but I'd rather have it and not need it, rather than needing it and not having it ...

Book Description

There is a growing need for environmental measurement personnel who possess a solid understanding of the techniques of air pollutant sampling. This essential book explains the fundamentals of air sampling, develops the theory of gas measurement, and presents several "how-to" examples of calibration and use of air and gas sampling devices. Other topics covered range from the basics of pressure measurement and units conversion to specific discussions regarding the use of a Volatile Organic Sampling Train or a SUMMA-polished canister sampling system.

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