Merry Mischief: Celebrating the Childhood of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother : The Story of the Little Girl, Elizabeth Bower Lyon, Who Would Become queen

Customer Reviews:

The real Serena and Venus.......2003-11-28

If you are a diehard tennis fan, this may be a good book for you. It's a behind the scenes look at their development from early teens to young pros. As you might imagine, Serena and Venus come across as the loving, precocious girls they are. Their father comes across as the self-important, spotlight-grabbing huckster that he is.

Richard Williams always projected himself as the only coach of the sisters. Rineberg dispels that notion and discusses his involvement in their development. As a relative unknown tennis coach, it must have been a thrill to be given the opportunity to coach such gifted athletes.

But the real benefit of this book is the opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at what type people Serena and Venus are. I think this book does an excellent job of exhibiting their personality. Both are outgoing, fun girls who clearly have a great love for each other. Coming from a different tennis background having not played any junior tournaments, there was great resentment to their potential. This resentment, I believe, has caused many to wrongly dislike the Williams sisters. But whether you like or dislike the sisters, it's very clear that they are very unique, intelligent and fun-loving sisters.

Overall, this book doesn't have much to say. "I was lucky to coach two great kids. Their dad is a huckster who doesn't follow-thru on his promises." But, to get a behind the scenes look at the real personality of the Williams sisters, that was enough for me.

Very highly recommended for tennis fans.......2002-07-12

Venus & Serena: My Seven Years As Hitting Coach For The Williams Sisters is the personal inside story and testimony of Dave Rineberg, who served as hitting coach for world-famous tennis champions Venus Williams and Serena Williams from 1992 to 1999. An inset section of black-and-white photographs embellishes this open and candid account of athletic training, determination, and the drive to succeed. As timely as their current history making performances on the tennis court today, Venus & Serena is very highly recommended for tennis fans who are eager to learn more behind the scenes about two widely celebrated champions.

A Page Turner.......2002-02-03

This book gets you up close to two young girls working hard to make it in the tennis world. A side (not seen on TV) told by their hitting coach who really cared about them and their future. You will feel the thrill of their first big wins and losses. I laughed and cried while reading it and felt great respect for Dave Rineberg's hard work with little or no recognition from Mr. Williams.

VENUS & SERENA: MY SEVEN YEARS AS HITTING COACH FOR THE WILLIAMS SISTERS

Average customer rating:

VENUS & SERENA: MY SEVEN YEARS AS HITTING COACH FOR THE WILLIAMS SISTERS
Dave Rineberg
Manufacturer: Frederick Fell Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J3YXO2

Book Description

Choice Outstanding Academic Title

The representation of African American women is an important issue in the overall study of how women are portrayed in film, and has received serious attention in recent years. Traditionally, "women of color," particularly African American women, have been at the margins of studies of women's on-screen depictions—or excluded altogether. This work focuses exclusively on the sexual objectification of African American women in film from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Critics of the negative sexual imagery have long speculated that control by African American filmmakers would change how African American women are depicted. This work examines sixteen films made by males both white and black to see how the imagery might change with the race of the filmmaker.

Four dimensions are given special attention: the diversity of the women's roles and relationships with men, the sexual attitudes of the African American female characters, their attitudes towards men, and their nonverbal and verbal sexual behaviors. This work also examines the role culture has played in perpetuating the images, how film influences viewers' perception of African American women and their sexuality, and how the imagery polarizes women by functioning as a regulator of their sexual behaviors based on cultural definitions of the feminine.

Customer Reviews:

Myopic, limited, disappointing, ridiculous!.......2005-11-05

Sometimes, bell hooks will write, "The world is so unjust and the media is to blame." She never goes into detail about how the media should carry all the blame besides pointing to some negative images. This book, however, uses psychology, sociology, and film studies to explain how filmic images of black women are harmful to that group, and especially to those who are minors or dark-skinned. Unfortunately, this writer falls through in so many areas and the book became torture to read. In no way do I want to side with black conservatives like Jim McWhorter, but the author is just myopic and wrong in so many areas.

The author starts the book fairly enough by stating she is going to compare how white male filmmakers and black male filmmakers portray the sexuality of black women from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. But then the book mentions almost nothing about the films she examines. The films almost may not have existed at all. She absolutely does not follow through on her proposal. Her work suggests that the media is just one more example of an unjust society, not the primary weapon in that injustice. In her first chapter, she mentions historic prejudice against black women by including an utterly racist quotation from Thomas Jefferson. However, in the book, she basically states that black males show nastier depictions than white males. So why didn't she begin by reflecting upon black misogyny by pointing to Stokely Carmichael's "prone" comment or anti-woman violence perpetrated by Paul L. Dunbar or Jim Brown?

The author wants to have her cake and eat it too. Why would you study the filmic sexuality of black women and then get upset that the images are sexual? She laments that there are no depictions of black women with bourgeois, proper mannerisms. However, she never mentions the black wives in Will Smith's "Enemy of the State," Denzel Washington's "Philadelphia," Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s "Jerry Maguire," and several others. The author chose to slice her examples to a narrow swath of works.

The author shamelessly falls into the fallacy that asserts that every American is either black or white. With statements like, "all filmmakers, black or white", "Americans, black or white", "all women, black or white" totally ignores that there are many Asians, Latinos, and Native Americans. The author teaches in a city with a huge number of Latinos and Asians. How can she ignore them, yet indict male filmmakers for ignoring black women? Does she want to fend off Latino and Asian readers? How can she make statements like, "Why couldn't Jennifer Lopez's role in 'The Wedding Planner' have been played by a black woman?" and yet ignore those who are neither black nor white? By narrowly focusing on blacks and whites, she ignores Gregory Nava, the Latino director that made the black female-driven "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"

The author asserts that white actresses get to play a range of roles but black counterparts only get limited roles. That's not really true. White feminist academics have lamented roles for white women, the author eventually admits that. Older actresses have trouble finding jobs while the Tommy Lee Joneses and Harrison Fords can always find work. Camryn Manheim did an excellent job of explaining how she can't find work as an overweight actress. Instead of saying white actresses have it better than black ones, the author asserts that they have no problems at all, which is simply not true.

The author also fails to recognize black female agency. There are many black women wanting to by cultural products that praise them. Why did Rick James and Smokey Robinson sing about "Ebony Eye" or D'Angelo about "Brown Sugar"? Why is Brian McKnight so popular among black female listeners? The author ignores the film "Waiting to Exhale" because having a male director and a female screenplay writer supposedly would "confuse" matters. However, in Robert E. Weems' book "Desegregating the Dollar," he states that "Waiting to Exhale" was soooo successful that it deserves discussion in Black American business history. Further, not all filmmakers are male. The film "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" was directed by a black woman. The author says close to nothing about black lesbians; this may be a tacit sign of her heterosexism. Thus, she never mentions Cheryl Dunye, a black lesbian filmmaker.

Here are some more ineptitudes. "Set It Off" and "Soul Food" showed a range of black women's roles, both sexual and non-sexual, but she ignores those films. Technically, the film "Color Purple" had a white male filmmaker and script writer, why does she barely mention that film? She surmises, "All filmic depictions of black women's sexuality are negative." But in "Jackie Brown," a film she cites, Pam Grier's character is not sexual. At most, she kissed a (white) man who was falling in love with her.

The author states that black female-white male couples are punished more than black male-white female ones. Again, so not true! The author mistakes the rates of these marriages for social prohibitions against them. What does she think fueled the majority's hatred of O.J. Simpon? Does the author know why most black men got lynched, supposedly, back in the past? Susan Smith lied that a black man killed her sons: when do you hear of a white man accusing a black woman of the same crime?

The author separates those films made before 1995 and those films afterward. This is absolutely arbitrary. We were living under Clinton's presidency in both periods. The 1990s were going on in both times. 911 hadn't happened yet. The author never once explains this break in her analysis.

Dr. Henry Gates and others maintain that works on/by black women are all the rage. Thus, I was surprised that I hadn't heard of this book, I hadn't heard any critical buzz about it, and there hasn't been an amazon review of it yet. Now that I've read the book, I understand why. Though a decent project, I got more and more irritated as I kept reading. This frustrating book will not be worth it for even those readers interested in the subject. This must be an example of academia's "publish or perish!" rule.

Fear of the Dark: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Cinema (Gender, Racism, Ethnicity Series)

Average customer rating:

Fear of the Dark: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Cinema (Gender, Racism, Ethnicity Series)
Lola Young
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 041509710X

Book Description

By closely examining a number of films the author develops a critical perspective on the film portrayal of black female sexuality and questions the extent to which black film makers have challenged stereotypes.

Average customer rating:

All Access Rocks!

Info on Hilary you never knew before!

Gorgeous

MOTHER OF ONE OF HILARY'S #1 FANS

Hilary Duff: All Access

Hilary Duff: All Access

Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

Hilary Rocks: On Stage, Screen, and In Between, Hilary Duff is Living a Fairy Tale Life!

Hilary Duff: A Not-So-Typical Teen (Young Profiles)

Hangin' With Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff - The Concert - The Girl Can Rock

Hilary Duff: Total Hilary, Metamorphosis, Lizzie McGuire and More!

ASIN: B000FKP9Z6

Book Description

Fans can finally have the most thorough book on everything Hilary. This scrapbook of her path to stardom and her current musical and on-screen successes is a teen and "tween" must-have, loaded with new candid, concert, and studio photos. This exclusive and long-awaited book includes:

- An extensive biography of Hilary's climb to success including her family, her move to Los Angeles and her earliest acting auditions
- Insider tips on how to get Hilary's look with advice on fashion, hair, and make-up
- Revealing interviews with Hilary
- Sidebars dishing the scoop on her co-stars
- Fun, interactive quizzes
- Horoscopes predicting what Hilary will have in store for the future
- Information on Hilary's favorite charity, Kids With a Cause
- A-to-Z Hilary, a database of terms, quotes and faves that are so Duff

Customer Reviews:

All Access Rocks!.......2007-04-03

It's a blast! It's great and a lot of fun watching Hilary do what she does best!

Info on Hilary you never knew before!.......2006-03-17

This book is pretty good! It wasn't the easiest to read, but had TONS of quizzes, cool snapshots, and information that most people don't know, like Hilary's middle name.(hint: it is not lisa or ann) It also has side schapters about Hailey, Adam Lamberg(Gordo, from Lizzie McGuire), Ashlie Brilliault(who plays kate on Lizzie McGuire), and others of Hilary's Co- Stars. I would reccommend this book to Kids over 9 years of age. It is a great read!

Gorgeous.......2006-03-16

It is a must have for all Hilary Duff Fans. The pictures are gorgeous!

MOTHER OF ONE OF HILARY'S #1 FANS.......2005-12-13

I BOUGHT THIS BOOK FOR MY DAUGHTER. SHE LOVED IT! IT'S ALL HILARY NOTHING BUT HILARY...NEAT PICTURES AND COOL INFO. HER FRIENDS LOVED SO MUCH, THEY WANT ONE NOW. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THIS BOOK.

Hilary Duff: All Access.......2005-09-16

This book is the best thing for all big Hilary Duff fans

Book Description

Alice Denham's lusty memoir is a juicy tell-all about a time when male writers were gods and an aspiring and gorgeous female novelist tries to win respect-and sometimes more. Caught between the sheets are James Dean, Norman Mailer, Hugh Hefner, Philip Roth, and William Gaddis. The steam rises page by page as Denham-the only Playboy Playmate to have her fiction published in the same issue as her centerfold-chases her dream of writing as a young, oversexed beauty in the literary swirl of 1950s Greenwich Village, New York City.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic read!.......2007-08-14

An excellent retelling of her literary and sexual exploits during the 50s. Because she knew so many famous authors, it's also a fun look through a different angle of the beat generations history. The bits about James Dean and Norman Mailer are fun reads, as well as many others. Her writing is evocative and juicy, making the book a relatively quick read and a page-turner. It's all around a fun book to read, her life in the 50s was excellently publishable.

The way she writes about love and sex makes this book amazing and timeless, thanks to her friends and acquaintances, the literary heroes from the 50s, her interesting struggle to have her writing published, and her entertaining rift with Playboy. Not recommended for anyone looking for a literary history, but for any fan of the beat generation or looking for a good, fun read about past times.

Utterly absorbing from cover to cover and enthusiastically recommended........2007-05-13

Author Alice Denham, whose writings have appeared in "The New York Times", "New York" magazine, "Cosmopolitan", and "Playboy" (her fiction was published in the same issue as her centerfold) presents Sleeping With Bad Boys: A Juicy Tell-All of Literary New York in the Fifties and Sixties. Sleeping With Bad Boys lives up to its title and then some, offering lusty, sexy, between-the-sheets tell-alls about James Dean, Normain Mailer, Hugh Hefner, Philip Roth, and William Gaddis. Though sensual elements are definitely a highlight, Sleeping With Bad Boys isn't all sex, all the time; chapters also tell of the author's road to maturity, and pivotal events in her life, from private family emergencies to the assassination of JFK. Written in an anecdotal style of brief, discrete passages that lend themselves to being read a little bit at a time or all at once, Sleeping With Bad Boys is utterly absorbing from cover to cover and enthusiastically recommended.

Carl.......2007-02-07

Her struggle to succeed in publishing her writing is admirable, but the titillating bits of sexual exploits though interesting detract from the main story.

Fools are they who kiss and tell.......2007-01-01

Fools are they who kiss and tell the wise poet once sung. Man can hold many a place if he can only hold his tongue. Because of that, I usually avoid kiss and tell books. Who wants to read something written by a fool? But the New York Times reviewed sleeping with Bad Boys favorably and the book did touch on two of my favorite subjects: Literature and Sex. Alice didn't disappoint me. She is a real writer with intelligent things to say. Besides being literate, her memoir does not have the feeling of retrospective falsification that often haunts and sometimes adorns similar works. In fact, I can almost hear the file cards in the background, as she tells us, with a sense of immediacy, about James Dean (his is too small) in bed or Norman Mailer (what he knew about love was nada). And yes she was playmate of the month back in 1956, I think. I'm too lazy to look up the exact date. And yes, she did it with Hugh Hefner as many of the playmates did. Sort of like pay to play only it's play to play. Alas, alack, her sex friends disappointed her by not blurbing her book. She thinks that they are prejudiced against the second sex. More likely, they like women but not those who kiss and tell. Alice Denham is not quite the oversexed ancient Aztec goddess of earth and fire, Coatlicue. But she is close enough to inspire worship by me.

No Exley, Alice?!?.......2006-12-06

Unfortunately, like the rest of the world, Miss Denham has forgotten poor Fred Exley!

Otherwise, this is a fun, breezy read.

Book Description

In 2002, 300,000 vehicles with a total value of $3 billion were sold -- on one Web site. Is it any surprise the site is eBay? For buyers, sellers, dealers, and parts and accessories vendors, there's simply no other marketplace to match the huge selection, broad exposure, and ease of use that are eBay's hallmarks. eBay Motors the Smart Way offers sellers and dealers:

* strategies for setting and getting top price for any vehicle * techniques for creating attention-grabbing auction ads * new ways to add value with superior customer service * valuable tips for using auction management services and other time-saving resources * proven methods for maximizing reputation

Also a valuable tool for buyers, the book shows how to:

* determine a vehicle's value * how find great deals and bargains * arrange an inspection and run a "lemon check" * secure financing for an online vehicle purchase

eBay Motors the Smart Way offers valuable information for all readers on how to avoid fraud and scams, how to properly document your transactions, and how to conform to state vehicle laws -- even when transacting business over state lines.

From Mazerati to MoPed, Acura to Zamboni, if it runs on a motor, it'll take off on eBay!

Customer Reviews:

It got me the exact car I wanted........2006-02-01

Without reading this book, I never would have thought to contact the seller and make an offer that would end the auction immediately. As a result, I was able to get the exact car I wanted, and the seller got his cash the next day, without having to worry about possibly flaky bidders. Win-win.

That bit of advice - by itself - was worth five stars. But there's other good stuff in the book too.

Ebay Motors, the smart way.......2005-12-15

"eBay Motors, the smart way". Obviously written by a ghost writer, who relates the information second hand. A poorly written book. Lots of useless, impractical dictionay style information. The two "crafty" authors make a feeble attempt at providing actual applicable selling and buying methods, however they fail miserably. On a positive note, a real catchy cover. Numerous blank pages inside, lots of white pages of air space. An obvious attempt at stretching this book out to 290 pages. Frankly, after purchasing and reading, it was a total waste of time and money. This book is a real "dud". Peter Vrouhas, Boynton Beach, FL

Very limited..........2005-09-07

I couldn't find a lot of real information for buying and selling on e-bay with this book. The book seems to have more on common sense than on laws and regulations. I admit that I bought the book to learn more about buying and selling as a hobby and I find it more directed at first time buyers or buyers only interested in buying or selling once. He gives no references to state laws or regulations. I found that in order to make the book work I had to find majority of the important information online.

This book is good for people that are looking for an overview of what to look for in cars on e-bay motors. It's an easy read with large print (much how the Dummies books are written). If you're looking for e-bay "know how" experience, it's not here, so if you are new to e-bay, you should buy a separate book.

Overall, I think the book could have been better. It seemed to be a fill in the blanks kind of book when I was looking for answers.

Handy if you're ever inclined to buy or sell a vehicle .......2004-08-11

How can eBay Motors be used effectively to gain top dollar for a new or used vehicle, or how can a buyer be assured of getting the right deal through Ebay Motors? Buyers and sellers alike learn how to use eBay Motors most effectively, including tips on how to handle taxes, insurance, inspections, and lemon cars. Kee eBay Motors The Smart Way handy if you're ever inclined to buy or sell a vehicle via this method.

Very informative.......2004-03-28

I really enjoyed reading this book I hadn'd really thought about buying a used car you Ebay but I am now trying to find one close to me to buy.Anybody with a 56-58 VW on the east coast let me know

Average customer rating:

Science Writing at its Best

Faraday: humble and tender of heart

An inspiring book

From Poverty to Famous

An Engaging Tale of the Man Behind the Famous Discoveries

The Electric Life of Michael Faraday
Alan W. Hirshfeld
Manufacturer: Walker & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Scientists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell

Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy

The Last Man Who Knew Everything: Thomas Young, the Anonymous Genius Who Proved Newton Wrong and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone, Among Other Surprising Feats

Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, Vol. 1

The Forces of Matter (Great Minds)

ASIN: 0802714706
Release Date: 2006-03-07

Customer Reviews:

Science Writing at its Best.......2007-06-14

This book succeeds on many levels:

It's an indelible portrait of Faraday and shows how his personality affected his pursuit of science.

It illustrates the importance of the inevitable "mistakes" that scientists encounter in their tortuous paths to understanding the nature of the universe. (One of the many insightful quotes that the author includes is from Einstein: "Science is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.")

It gives us insight into the politics of science in early 19th century England--politics that are very similar to those that affect the careers of scientists in the 21st century.

We learn that science was a hot topic in London at this time--perhaps more so than it is today. The general public flocked to evening lectures by scientists. Faraday was particularly adept at using demonstrations that delighted a wide audience (including even children)--demonstrations that helped them to understand complex ideas in practical terms.

The book shows how much can be learned about the universe from experiment alone, but how a deeper understanding can be gained only by relating experiment to theory and mathematics (fields that Faraday acknowledged were beyond his reach).

The author's descriptions of Faraday's experiments are understandable without being patronizing. Physics students at all levels will gain a deeper insight into the nature of electromagnetism than they can get from most textbooks.

I've never read a better book on the history of science.

Faraday: humble and tender of heart.......2006-08-20

"The Electric Life of Michael Faraday" by Alan Hirshfeld
[Hirshfeld is also author of "Parallax: the Race to Measure the Cosmos"]

From the dust jacket of this book, a photograph of Michael Faraday's looks out toward us. His face is the very depiction of human kindness and his eyes show forth a tenderness that is almost maternal. It is a compelling face, and in a social setting, one would feel drawn to stand toe to toe with such a man.

Hirshfeld has authored an endearing view of 19th Century English life through Faraday's eyes, a life characterized by the snobbery of class distinctions, combined with the imminent discoveries of science in many fields.

In scarcely a century and a half, mankind went from the Voltaic Cell to Nuclear Power, and the discoveries of both and everything in between are linked, and the scientific work of Faraday is the key to all. It is Faraday's pursuit of the idea of magnetic "fields" that showed the way. James Clerk Maxwell employed his mathematical talents to put Faraday's ideas into the form of equations. Albert Einstein would later use these equations to arrive at E=MC (squared), opening the door to the Nuclear Age.

Until I read this biography, I was not clear on who or when or how our knowledge and identification of Elements came to be. It was the use of the Voltaic Cell, a battery, whose electro-chemical process separated any compound into its basic elements that served as the tool of discovery. Faraday was in hot pursuit of the science of electricity and magnetism, which led him to approach Humphry Davy of the Royal Institute concerning employment. Davy was at the forefront of the use of the Voltaic Cell for discovery.

Nitrous Oxide was an early gas to fall prey to Davy's efforts, and these early scientists, including Faraday, would sometimes engage in "laughing gas" parties, from which there were no harmful effects.

Faraday was not a mathematician, and didn't have much in the way of credentials as a THEORIST. He was respected as an EXPERIMENTER. Faraday had to try all the harder to confirm, by experimental proof, his intuitive idea that magnetism existed as a field of curved lines, and also that magnetism was not a different energy, unconnected to electricity; but a counterpart of a common, electromagnetic force.

The account of Faraday's experiments with electricity, to see if it affected light, and then magnetism to see if it affected light, is one of the book's high points. That was close to the end of Faraday's career, when he was experiencing some occasional memory loss and worked constantly.

The hight point of the book comes when Faraday has passed the peak of his career, and Scotsman James Clerk Maxwell researches Faradays writings on FIELD THEORY.

When I got to the final pages, and the account of Faraday's funeral, I found I had tears in my eyes.

An inspiring book.......2006-07-10

A remarkable and compelling biography in the clear words of this author. How important was Faraday to science, shaping the study of electricity and electromagnetism with his experiments. Also, the life of Faraday is so interesting since, as a person lacking normal education, show us that anyone can improve his knowledge by just reading good books, as faraday did, and also show us that the best way to learn a subject is by seing it working. An inspiring book.

From Poverty to Famous.......2006-04-30

In 1791 when Michael Faraday was born, England was very much a class oriented society. And Faraday was not born to the upper classes. Instead he was apprenticed as a bookbinder. It must have been an unusually enlightened boss who encouraged Faraday to read/study/understand the science books that were passing through their hands. But that is what happened. Of particular importance was the 127 page entry on electricity in the 1797 edition of the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.'

From this beginning Faraday was to go on to basic discoveries in physics, particularly electricity. He made the basic discovery that a magnet moving across a wire generated an electric current in that wire. From this came the basic understanding to build electric generators and motors. This was at at eime whent he basic nature of electricity were being investigated. Faraday is honored today by the adaption of a shortened version his name, to the basic measure of capacitance -- the farad.

This book represents a new trend in the publishing of biographies, a smaller size, both the physical page size and the number of pages to produce a book easier to read than the massive tomes common a few years ago.

This is a well researched and clearly written book that is an easy, injoyable read.

An Engaging Tale of the Man Behind the Famous Discoveries.......2006-04-10

You wouldn't be reading this if it weren't for Michael Faraday. In this excellent book, the man whose name many of us remember from our physics or electronics texts and who made possible the Internet by which these words come to you, is brought to life as a real person with a truly engaging life story.

Hirschfeld's book is a highly-readable biography of the man who started the world on the path to radio, electronics, and computers. Wireless pioneers Marconi, Fessenden, deForest and others built their technology on the scientific foundation laid by Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz, both of whom credited Faraday's work as the basis of their own.

Faraday's contributions to electrical science were numerous and far-reaching. Among others, he discovered electrical induction (making the world's first transformer), made the first electric motor, made the first electric generator. and was the first to show that magnetic effects could change the polarization of light (what now is called Faraday rotation). Faraday's later speculations about electric fields were, according to Maxwell, what spurred the latter to begin the work that led to Maxwell's famous equations describing electromagnetic radiation. When Hertz first produced radio waves in his laboratory, he also acknowledged that he was following on the work of not only Maxwell but of Faraday. In telling the story of these discoveries by Faraday and his successors, Hirshfeld, a physics professor, is careful to put their work in the context of our modern understanding.

Faraday entered the world of science through the back door. The son of a blacksmith, Faraday became an apprentice bookbinder. Inspired by some of the scientific texts he was binding, he began experimenting in his spare time. Self-taught in science through his reading and his experiments, Faraday began his scientific career as a menial assistant to famed British scientist Humphrey Davy. Eventually, he rose to the directorship of a research institute, fellowship in Britain's Royal Society and acclaim as one of the world's leading scientists. Hirshfeld's account of Faraday's career gives us an intriguing glimpse into the sociology and politics of 19th-Century science.

Readers who enjoy electronic tinkering will relate well to this story of a scientist whose first love was his laboratory, and who could readily lose track of time while building and experimenting with new apparatus. Faraday's approach to science was completely "hands-on." When he built the first Faraday cage, he crawled inside it himself to prove that it worked. Occasionally, Hirshfeld relates, Faraday's wife had to pick glass shards from her husband's skin after an experiment inadvertently exploded.

In his later years, Faraday became an avid proponent of science education and of promoting scientific literacy among the public. His thoughts on those subjects, related by Hirshfeld, are as relevant today as when Faraday wrote them.

Hirshfeld's book shows how all of electronics really got its start in Faraday's laboratory, and tells in fast-paced, readable fashion the fascinating story of one of history's greatest scientists.

Book Description

The question of who should control the surface of the sea has been debated since aircraft were first introduced to warfare and remains one of the most fascinating controversies of the twentieth century. This book describes the ongoing struggle by presenting twenty key battles, from World War I to the post-war years, in vivid detail.

Customer Reviews:

Easy to read history of the development of Navel Air Power.......1999-02-20

This book is a history of the development of air power from just before the first world war to the battle of Okinawa. The author apparently was involved in three of the battles as a gunnery officer and pilot.

The book examines the subject by focusing on 20 battles in which air forces battled with navel elements. Its discussion ranges from the Battle of Midway to the attacks on the Malta conveys.

The book is immensely readable and its author has a detailed knowledge of the scholarship around these battles. The book is interesting as it discusses a number of issues not covered in popular works such as the nature of anti-aircraft fire in the various navies and also the fire control and direction systems. Well worth a read.

Book Description

'What's Left?' is at once a mocking critique of Western radicalism and an attempt to redeem the left from the embarrassment it has brought on itself. The author shows how the confusion among political activists of political success with personal growth produces a convoluted egotism: "The sin of the left was not the impurity of its altruism but the dishonesty of its selfishness". Yet Neumann also argues that left-wing politics is essential to social progress: "Radicalism has been absurdly misused, but to reject it on those grounds is like rejecting cars because of the way twelve year olds drive them."

Customer Reviews:

Not many books in this genre--a leftist critique of the left .......2005-09-22

Michael Neumann is a dedicated leftist here offering a detailed critique of the radical left. For my money he's dead on, indicting radicals for their addiction to the adrenaline rush of self-righteous feelings, as opposed to the much more difficult task of actually changing things. But I have two caveats: first, the audience for this book will probably never be large, since you have to first have been exposed to enough serious (i.e., usually academic) leftism to know the terminology and concepts from Hegel to Marcuse, in order to appreciate much of Neumann's argument; second, this book was published in 1988, when the Reagan/Bush ascendancy looked as if it were at its height. Little did we know. And in response to more recent developments...the radical left has gotten more smug and even weaker. Yeesh.

Book Description

This volume does not aim at merely adding to the vast and increasing number of individual publications on `biodiversity'. Rather it is our objective to investigate biodiversity on the previously little studied coenosis and landscape levels. Phytosociological and animal-ecological fields are considered, as well as theoretical approaches to biodiversity and aspects of its application in nature and landscape protection and preservation. Since biodiversity has so far been predominantly studied in the Anglo-American area, it seemed to be of value to discuss this complex topic from a central and southern European viewpoint, based on data gathered in these regions, and thus to promote a global discussion.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books