Raising Arizona's Dams: Daily Life, Danger, and Discrimination in the Dam Construction Camps of Central Arizona, 1890S--1940s

Customer Reviews:

I'm "Hooked on Ebonics".......2005-10-19

In a rather obvious parody that was slapped together with the same speed as the Killian documents, and probably with the same default settings, we have half the chuckles we paid for. If you are amused by this book's title you could, quite frankly, drink a six pack of beer and write this yourself and probably be just as funny. If you have any half way funny friends you could write a better book than this, probably with the same six pack of beer.

Ebonics itself, and the schadenfreude it inspires in author "I. B. White," is tragically beyond parody and firmly in the territory of pitiable. If it was a cultural artifact inherently capable of being the basis for humor, it would need to be formed in simultaneously more deft and cruel hands, such as the late Michael O'Donoghue.

I be trippin if you be buyin dis book fo hew-mo lik dis, fo sho.

I read the book, and now I'm black.......2002-07-30

After buying and reading this book, I magically transformed from an old, fat white guy to a young, thin, black man. Well worth the money. Now off I go to increase racial awareness.

Subnet Master.......2001-08-19

I just spent 12.50 to have this gift wrapped and sent to my friend in Texas as a joke.

I have no title for this review.......2000-02-18

I have never really read this book, i just think that a book with such a hella cool title should have a higher rating. Long live me!

excellent.......2000-01-20

well worth the 6 bucks! excellent book, true fa

Book Description

More than any other band, Pearl Jam embodies the alternative style that dominates rock today. From their early days as fame-ducking grunge pioneers, through their headline-making battle with Ticketmaster, to their current status as self-assured survivors, Five Against One brings to life Pearl Jam's tumultuous ascent to superstardom in rich detail. A compelling portrait of the band's elusive leader Eddie Vedder and family photos never seen before by the public make this a must-have for every Pearl Jam fan.

Customer Reviews:

interesting and full-covered biography.......2007-03-09

this is a quite full and interestnig biography concerning the first years of the PJ history also relating to the beginning of this (and other) seattle bands, which is of particular value to grunge fans i think, because this is now part of the rock n roll history!
the book gave me a human description of the band's mates and i was interested to read about the abruzzese period and the way it ended.
so i think the PJ story written in this book is a good description of the direction the band took since 1996 til today. i was also interested about the vedder's personal life chapters, but eventually i am not sure whether it is a good idea revealing really personal facts, but anyway it helps understanding vedder personnality , phylosophy and music.
Enjoy it, it is easy to read, and excuse my english faults.

A horrible book from a mediocre writer.......2007-02-14

Save your money and do a Google and Wikipedia search for Vedder, and you'll end up with much better quality information than this book. It's obviously a sensationalistic attempt at cashing in on Pearl Jam.
The writer manages to almost completely ignore the band's music (and, for that matter, the band, since this is a book about all the dirt she could dig up on Vedder). She managed to interview only people carrying grudges for the band or the singer (I wonder why...): think Dave Abrusezze, the drummer that got fired, and Vedder's stepfather, who obviously have their own take on things. When the book is not whining from the perspective of these people, it paints stick figures of everyone in the band except Vedder.
The book can only be called accurate if you consider one-sidedness accurate.
Anyone with a working brain and more than 30 minutes exposure to Pearl Jam's music will be able to figure this book out for what it is: yet another hanger-on's attempt to make money off somebody else's work.
If you must read this book, borrow it from a friend, or at least buy it used.

A definite must have for any pearl jam fan.......2006-11-11

I first found it anti-vedder but while I kept on reading I just got to realize it was well based on facts with no intention of getting worse. It's interesting that while it demolished my perceptions and the perfect image I had about Pearl Jam the book has empowered my interest about the band and boosted my fanatism well beyond expected. I realized that this band isn't anything of what I believed. I carried lots of misbeliefs that this book washes away in style.

The section about Eddie vedder's life was incredible. I found it kind of boring at the beggining but before it was finished it became my favorite.

A seemingly balanced prespective on the band and it's leader.......2006-07-30

I've just recently become interested in the music of Pearl Jam by way of an article I read on their bassist Jeff Ament in an old copy of Bass Player magazine. I then purchased the Rearview Mirror CD and surprisingly as a 43 yr old guy have been hooked ever since and wanted to learn more about the band. I thought this was an interesting read in that it shows how much these artists suffered through considerable loss and hurt and persevered to make their dreams a reality. While some may see Neely's portrayal of Vedder as highlighting his hypocrisy I think her portrayal aptly shows how his difficult upbringing has created a complex young man who predictably eschewed authority and demonstrated some integrity albeit in a ruthless business. I honestly pained for this man as I read her portrayal of his childhood and the circumstances of how he learned who his real father was and his complex relationship or lack thereof with his adopted father. Like many, a child of divorce in the 70-80s, I identified with the circumstances and it reminded me of how I felt and how these feeling drove me to express myself in music as well. I was however dismayed at the way the band apparently treated their drummer Dave A.. However, the fact that Dave was the only "previous" memeber of the band to contribute to the book does call into question the impartiality of the content in this regard. I would have like to have also learned more about the other members of the band who each give PJ their unique style and magic for it is the whole that makes a band not just one individual. By the way, this is a band that really shines and emotes in live performances. I can't stop playing this stuff.

A great early history of PJ.......2006-03-15

As a fan I found this book a very interesting read. Great details and stories go into each member's history and the formation of pearl jam. Excellent detail on the first few albums.

You should keep in mind that this is written from the point of view of a Rolling Stone magazine author so it is sure to have a slightly different angle on things than a fan. It was released just after Yield and therefore has a very very quick summary of the few years before it.

Of course pearl jam is still going strong and could probably warrant a second volume of this book. But this is a great look back at the early days of Pearl Jam.

Average customer rating:

Five Against One: The Pearl Jam Story
Kim Neely
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ9YKE

Book Description

Subversive Pleasures offers the first extended application of Mikhail Bakhtin's critical methods to film, mass-media, and cultural studies. With extraordinary interdisciplinary and multicultural range, Robert Stam explores issues that include the "translinguistic" critique of Saussurean semiotics and Russian formalism, the question of language difference in the cinema, issues of national culture in Latin America, and "the carnivalesque" in literature and film. He discusses literary works by Rabelais, Shakespeare, and Jarry and treats films by Vigo, Bunuel, Wertmuller, Imamura, Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Marleen Gooris, and others. Now in paperback, Subversive Pleasures is a splendidly lucid introduction to the central concepts and analytical methods of Bakhtin and the Bakhtin circle.

Customer Reviews:

A fine book by a a top Bakhtin theorist!.......2000-04-13

Here is an academic book that anyone interested in language, literature, and cinema should love. Beautifully written (as few academic books are), it applies the cultural criticism of Russian writer Mikhail Bakhtin to a diverse selection of novels and films, but most notably to those from Brazil. It is a match made in heaven, because both Bakhtin and Brazil believe in carnival (the joyful festivities that take place just before Lent, known in the States as Mardi Gras) and the carnivalesque (where rules are suspended, the oppressed take center stage, the powerful are mocked, and the body is celebrated). Stam begins by providing a clear and thorough overview of Bakhtin's precepts and terminology (dialogism, chronotope, heteroglossia), showing how his writing can fill in the gaps left by other theories and illuminate both artistic texts and everyday life. He then moves on to discuss the conjunction between Bakhtin and film theory specifically, providing elegant analyses of Bunuel's "Exterminating Angel," Godard's "Two or Three Things I Know About Her," Welles's unfinished "It's All True" (much of which was shot in Brazil), Brazilian classics such as "Macunaima," and "Mar das Rosas/Sea of Roses." and several others. Along the way, he takes in such issues as the grotesque and magical body, the subversive as well as the pleasurable potential of carnival, the uses of cannibalism, and cinematic eroticism. This wide-ranging study takes in everything from music (by Brazilian composers Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque, plus rap) to the influence of the Yiddish theater on Woody Allen's "Zelig." An outstanding book that's a delight to read.

Average customer rating:
Nimzo-Indian Defence : Leningrad System (Batsford Chess Ser.)
Michael MacDonald-Ross
Manufacturer: Hippocrene
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LZMZPW

Amazon.com

Combining some of today's best ideas about customer-driven object-oriented design, Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML: A Practical Approach shows you how to use Unified Modeling Language (UML) in the real world, keeping with the author's proprietary software design process.

The book begins with the genesis of the author's ICONIX Unified Object Modeling Approach, borrowing ideas and strategies from the "three amigos" who invented UML: Grady Booch, James Rumbaugh, and Ivar Jacobson. Throughout this text, the ICONIX method is used to model a stock trading system, with all the relevant UML diagrams, beginning with class definition and use cases.

The author's approach to software relies heavily on customer requirements and use case scenarios for which he has a good deal of practical advice. He provides numerous hints for avoiding bogged-down diagrams. After preliminary design, he advocates drilling down into specifics with robustness diagrams, which trace how classes interact with one another. The most detailed design work comes next with sequence diagrams.

Subsequent chapters offer tips on project management, implementation, and testing. Throughout this lively and intelligently organized book, the author presents numerous real-world tips (and Top 10 lists) that supply wisdom to his perspective on effective software design.

Written for the reader who already knows a little UML notation, Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML provides an appealing blueprint for the software design success. --Richard Dragan

Customer Reviews:

More practical...but still a tad too much for my tastes.......2007-06-19

I liked a lot of the book but still felt much of it was too much BUFD, at least for what I do. As with any UML book or article I find myself lost between the similarities and subtle differences between many of the diagrams. I figure that if I am lost then surely the business experts and stakeholders I am working with will be too. The best thing I take away from this book is the real need to develop a high-level model, develop solid use cases or user stories, and then flesh out the model to handle these user stories.

I give it 4 stars because what is too much or too little in regards to UML and modeling in general is highly subjective and should not detract from the quality of the book.

Ditto this NOT being Unified Process.......2004-03-02

I had to read this book for a class I took. Here is my interpretation of the purpose of this book:

"I think the world should have used my ICONIX process! This UML stuff is inferior. I hate UML, but I will use it to sell my book."

Fortunately, the class also used Martin Fowler's great UML Distilled book. If you want to know about UML, get that one instead!

Not Unified Process.......2003-07-03

If you are looking for a book on the Unified Process (as I was), then this book is not for you. This book covers the author's Iconix process. Considering the book's title I would have expected it to examine use cases and UML more than it does.

I was really intereted in the Unified Process. But, the Iconix methodology is a good one, and were it to be more prevalent in the industry I would take a harder look at it.

Heresy! This is ICONIX, a compact method borrowing UML.......2002-04-01

This is the eighth software engineering title that uses the UML (Unified Modeling Language) that I have read in the last five months as I work to establish a software engineering guide and reference framework for a small team at my technology company. This book really sets forth the ICONIX methodology, the author's streamlined approach to modeling using mostly, but not only, UML.

Because of the author's quarrelsome nature and unusual departures from common progressions in the model views, I found this book less useful than the others. The author repeatedly explains (with a careful record of the dates) how much of his integration of the competing OO modeling methods preceded the work of the UML founders (Booch, Jacobson, and Rumbaugh) and frequently raises the small quarrels in the UML world for no purpose except to give a quick and unsupported opinion. Not surprisingly, ten of the twenty-five citations in the bibliography are the author's prior papers.

Although the title claims the method is "use case driven," techniques and guidelines for use cases are poorly done; and the author suggests that the requirements stage should begin with domain modeling and "robustness diagrams" before text for use cases is written. The author also places heavy emphasis on screen mockups during the requirements stage.

The contents would make a good lecture or two; but it is an annoying departure from the efforts of many to extend and enrich UML. Since the book is only 165 pages, it won't hurt for long, and there are thoughts here and there worth reading. Perhaps it's tongue-in-cheek, a test to see if we can spot obvious logical problems with the method.

The title is misleading.......2002-02-27

I expected this book to delve more into UML and use cases than it does. It really is a book about the ICONIX methodology. It only deals with UML and use cases at a high level.

The robustness analysis is interesting and may help people who have trouble linking the user interface to the model.

If you are looking for a book on the ICONIX methodology then this book is for you. If you are looking for a book on UML or use cases then this is not the right book.

Average customer rating:
Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML : A Practical Approach (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series) (The Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series)
Doug; Scott, Kendall Rosenberg
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

UML | Software Design, Testing & Engineering | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OP4Y1C

Book Description

Guangzhou, or Canton as it is sometimes known, is the major urban settlement in south China. Guangdong is the province of which Guangzhou is the capital. Guangzhou and Guangdong have a long settlement history that can be traced to the Zhou dynasty, eight centuries before the Christian era. The"Historical Dictionary of Guangzhou (Canton) and Guangdong" is a comprehensive, up-to-date dictionary of the geography, politics, and society of this premier city in south China and its surrounding province. The"Dictionary" focuses upon the contemporary history of Guangzhou and Guangdong. The authors present the "Dictionary" in two distinct sections: the first is for the city of Guangzhou, the second for the province of Guangdong. Though the city and province are two distinct entities, it is impossible to fully understand one without understanding the other. The dictionary is an alphabetical listing of the people, places, events and cultural activities significant to the modern history of Guangzhou and Guangdong. There is an introductory essay for each of the two sections to provide context for what follows. Two bibliographies follow the dictionary, primarily made up of English-language sources.

Book Description

The letters of William Jardine and James Matheson, co-founders of the Hong Kong Trading Firm Jardine, Matheson and Co., shed new light on the important commercial, economic and political developments of the nineteenth century. Local and world politics, debate about freedom, monopoly and free trade, the conduct of the Opium War and the beginnings of British rule in Hong Kong are passionately discussed alongside the immediate business concerns of tea, opium and British exports to China. The letters from the Jardine Matheson Archive, collected here for the first time, portray a fascinating commercial, political and personal drama played out in England, Scotland, India, and China. A substantial introduction provides the historical background of British involvement in Eastern trade from the eighteenth century up to the beginnings of British Rule in Hong Kong.

Book Description

Harnessing the peerless intellectual energy of today's most influential minds, Closer to Truth delivers an exciting in-depth exploration of the state of contemporary belief and conventional wisdom. From philosophy to physics and theology to thermodynamics, topics of intellectual importance are dissected and discussed with rigor and candor. Determined to root out "truth" wherever it may be found, this extraordinary volume is the companion to PBS' groundbreaking new series "Closer to the Truth." Editor Robert Lawrence Kuhn has assembled a veritable Who's Who of our most renowned thinkers, from philosopher David Chalmers and logician Bart Kosko to Nobel-winning physicist Leon Lederman and maverick political scientist Francis Fukyama. Illuminating where each thinker stands on today's most critical knowledge issues, the book speaks the universal language of science as it explores consciousness, universal origins, the human soul, and much more.

Download Description

Harnessing the peerless intellectual energy of today's most influential minds, Closer to Truth delivers an exciting in-depth exploration of the state of contemporary belief and conventional wisdom.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting throughout.......2003-05-04

I found this book by accident in a used book store, never having heard of it or the PBS television show. Like most other reviewers, I enjoyed the book very much. Often I wished I could be present with Kuhn's panels in order to ask questions. I don't understand quantum theory or inflation theory much better than before I read the book, maybe it could be supplemented with The Idiot's Guide to String Theory or something. Still very much worth the time and enlightening on a range of topics.

Companion Guide.......2002-07-27

This is an excellent companion guide to the PBS broadcast series of panel discussions by experts on a fascinating range of cutting-edge subjects. Readers with access to the Internet can visit the website and listen to the tapescripts that make up the book. The book is useful in giving background information on the panel participants, but virtually all the information can be gotten from the website if the reader has the time and patience to search and print it out.

Major Disappointment.......2001-07-31

The title would indicate that one might get closer to truth by reading the book. Well, too many cooks spoil the broth. All the good that can be taken from this book must be sifted from all the bad and all the neutral and all the filler that I really could have done without. All and all it is a philosophical book. Had I known this I would have never bought it. Robert Kuhn is an excellent writer and a foremost expert on the human brain. Had I known he was going to sub-contract his thought patterns to the pack of academics, I would certainly have passed up this book.

A fascinating book.......2001-01-01

Closer to Truth has really opened my eyes. This book makes the latest scientific thinking of the most innovative thinkers accessible to the general readers. By reading the book, I felt that I joined a roundtable with top scientists and thinkers to discuss in-depth on some most fascinating scientific issues. This book fits perfectly an audience, like me, who needs a simpler introduction. Robert. L. Kuhn hardly asserts to have all the answers or to have proven anything beyond presenting the latest development in each scientific field, however, he clearly is laying the groundwork for future work in scientific inquiry. If you interest in development in science today, you got to read it!

A Complete Surprise.......2000-12-28

Closer To Truth was a complete surprise. I have always been interested in such subjects as brain and mind, the universe and its possible purposes, and the impact of revolutionary technologies, but I was not trained as a scientist and felt that I couldn't really understand the latest scientific thinking. Not so! Closer To Truth brings all the latest, state of the art theories to life, allowing the leading proponents of these theories to state them in their own simple words. I understood it all -- and I love the interaction among the experts, and the frequent disagreements highlight the issues. Thank you!

Closer to Truth: Challenging Current Belief

Average customer rating:

Closer to Truth: Challenging Current Belief
Robert Lawrence Kuhn
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OG87PA

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