Kirschner's Insurance Directories: Indiana 2001 (Kirschner's Insurance Directory. Indiana, 2001)

Book Description

In the theory and practice of econometrics the model, the method and the data are all interdependent links in information recovery-estimation and inference. Seldom, however, are the economic and statistical models correctly specified, the data complete or capable of being replicated, the estimation rules optimal and the inferences free of distortion. Faced with these problems, Maximum Entropy Economeirics provides a new basis for learning from economic and statistical models that may be non-regular in the sense that they are ill-posed or underdetermined and the data are partial or incomplete. By extending the maximum entropy formalisms used in the physical sciences, the authors present a new set of generalized entropy techniques designed to recover information about economic systems. The authors compare the generalized entropy techniques with the performance of the relevant traditional methods of information recovery and clearly demonstrate theories with applications including

Pure inverse problems that include first order Markov processes, and input-output, multisectoral or SAM models to
Inverse problems with noise that include statistical models subject to ill-conditioning, non-normal errors, heteroskedasticity, autocorrelation, censored, multinomial and simultaneous response data, as well as model selection and non-stationary and dynamic control problems

Maximum Entropy Econometrics will be of interest to econometricians trying to devise procedures for recovering information from partial or incomplete data, as well as quantitative economists in finance and business, statisticians, and students and applied researchers in econometrics, engineering and the physical sciences.

Book Description

The contributors to this book challenge the conventional wisdom of both free market and big government approaches to economic policy. They argue that policies that foster economic equality can also promote economic efficiency and growth. The record of "trickle down" economic policies is examined, and a new perspective is developed that recognizes that markets have an important role to play, but only within the framework of macroeconomic stability, corrections of market failures, and egalitarian rules of the game.

Book Description

Highlights the unique character and behavior of the nation. Frank, irreverent, funny--almost guaranteed to cure Xenophobia.

Customer Reviews:

This book is lettuce to my snails.......2001-06-03

Being a frog myself reading this book comforted me in my belief that our arrogance was justified, joke apart it is a jolly good read and ever so funny. Everyone should read it.

Very Very TRUE.......1999-05-10

The French are an unpleasant lot, eaters of slugs and gooey bits of horse, tormentors of small animals, chewers of garlic, and the bane of personal hygene salesmen.

This book shows them at their worst, and although intended as humour, demonstrates that many a true word is said in jest.

Average customer rating:
THE XENOPHOBE'S GUIDE TO THE THE FRENCH
Unknown
Manufacturer: RAVETTE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000S2PXFW

Book Description

Sixties psychedelic poster art has stretched beyond the ephemeral and functional nature of its design to become highly collectable and internationally recognized. High Art explores both the creation of psychedelia and the imagery born of this movement. It covers the Avalon and Fillmore ballrooms who commissioned the art, the UFO Club in London and features leading American artists, profiles of British artists and it describes the collectors' experience.

Customer Reviews:

Love this book!.......2006-02-03

I have used this book as a "muse" for my art because the colors are exceptional and without any drug use I feel I have had an all natural mind blowing -- expansive and inspiring journey!!!!!!!

The sixties poster art imagery has become a staple of the fashion industry right now so it means even more to me to page thru this beautiful book and look at representations of authentic expression rather than a t- shirt. "High Art -- A History of the Psychedelic Poster" is rich in colorful expressions like the music of the time. This book give you the economic, political and essentials to understand the context, substance of depth that inspired the creativity! The book includes "The New Wave" and they are fun (example a poster for Hole) but the psychedelic art is in a league of it's own with Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and Dylan posters-- my personal favorites. Stanley Mouse and Rick Griffin are some of the shining stars. The Dylan poster "Blowing in The Mind" by Martin Sharp for Big O is pure energy . There are a couple of Big Brother and the Holding Co. images but I wish there was one that highlights Janis Joplin. How ironic the new hip pricey t-shirt industry has embraced Janis! David Vaughn's Psychedelic Buick is stunning and owning the convertiable would be dreamy but I can enjoy the photo (page 146) minus the maintanace and parking tickets!

I have damaged my copy with my own paint splashes.

I am glad I have this book in my collection!

Far out but not Outtasight!!!.......2003-03-03

First off, fair warning: If you think you might like to own this book then you should buy it now as this is a highly collectable book. Essentially, this is a survey of the 1960's era psychedelic concert/venue poster genre that sprang up in San Francisco before spreading throughout the USA and the world in the form of the 'black light' poster.
The author, a British music promoter who became a poster art aficionado, has done a good job of describing the development and rise of the genre as well as tying it into the overall history of the advertising art poster beginning in the 'Belle Epoque.' Within chapters, he singles out artists and their work and places them in the context of the movement. The national origin of the author is a factor here as it is obvious that the author has personal relationships with and has a more intimate knowledge of the British poster artists and art scene than he has with those of the American scene. Still, he does a more than adequate job covering the domestic American scene. This book weighs a ton because of the excellent, thick, paper stock it is printed on and because the English printer used lavish amounts of eyepopping brightly colored ink in its printing. As a sidenote, there is a fascinating section on acid blotter paper art with accompanying photographs, and a section on collecting psychedelic posters. PLUS, to get one's collection going, new copies of the book include a coupon for a complimentary psychedelic poster from Alan Forbes and the San Francisco Art Lab.
I rate this book only four stars because 1) due to its highly collectible nature, it should have been published in hardback also. 2) The author cites some work by an artist and then fails to picture/identify it. 3) This topic begs for a book at least twice a long as it is.
Still, I am quite certain that any purchaser will be more than happy with it.

Groovy, Dude!.......2002-12-20

Ah, the nostalgia this book brings back. Not only the beautiful art work, but the musical groups, the "High" Priests and Priestesses of the era - Tim Leary, Grace Slick, etc. I thought it was interesting that this style of Art poster is making a comeback! Check out the last few pages with posters for Soundgarden, Hole, Beastie Boys and TOM JONES!!!
High quality printing and paper. A certificate for a LImited Edition Poster is included.
One of the books authors, Ted Owen, was involved in the music scene of the era. He helped discover groups like The Pretenders, Adam & The Ants and The Cure.
PEACE, BRO(...)
The history of the poster ranges from Euro influences through the concurrent American masters.

AMAZING.......2002-10-23

takes me back to the day, one of the most unique art book that i have seen for a very long time

High Art: A History of the Psychedelic Poster.......2000-06-10

A highly informative book with beautiful graphics for those interested in vintage posters of the 60's or graphic arts or typology. Detailed information on the individual artists such as Victor Moscoco, Stanley Mouse, Randy Tuten, and my favorite but more obscure Bonnie MacLean who was a Fillmore staff member responsible for the chalkboard announcements at that venue. Includes American and British Artists. The unique use of color and fonts, which were influenced by the Victorian and Art Nouveau era makes this a must buy for art, graphics, and design students and vintage poster collectors. And if you grew up in the 60's like me, this book is a bit of nostalgia that shows that the art work was really well executed even under the influence....

High Societies: Psychedelic Rock Posters from Haight-Ashbury

Average customer rating:

High Societies: Psychedelic Rock Posters from Haight-Ashbury
Sally Tomlinson , Walter Patrick Medeiros , and D. Scott Atkinson
Manufacturer: San Diego Museum of Art
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Drawing | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0937108278

High Art: Limited Edition: A History of the Psychedelic Poster

Average customer rating:

High Art: Limited Edition: A History of the Psychedelic Poster
Ted Owen
Manufacturer: Sanctuary Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

Book Description

There's no denying that television is a forceful presence in students' lives. Yet in writing classrooms the assumption is often that television is only an obstacle to teaching critical print literacy. Little careful attention has been paid to exactly how television influences the ways in which students write, or how their experiences with television might be used to help them write more effectively. Bronwyn T. Williams argues that television is a powerful influence that is always present in the writing classroom, even if it is not acknowledged by either teachers or students. His interviews with students and observations of their television viewing and print reading have led him to conclude that the rhetorical skills students develop that allow them to "read" televised communication fluently, and even critically, can be used in a writing class to explore the same concepts in print, such as narrative form, audience, plot, and irony.

Williams shows teachers how they can harness these skills to influence the ways students perceive and engage in writing and reading from the first day of a composition course. Chapters in the book are followed by "classroom practice" interchapters which offer practical suggestions to help teachers use students' existing television literacies to achieve a more complex, nuanced, and critical literacy in print.

The influence of television on student writers is complex, however, and Williams also examines how the discursive nature of television can conflict with writing pedagogies. Television as a communicative form that is structured by time, without a clear authorial presence, and dominated by emotion often conflicts with what writing teachers consider fundamental properties of discourse in the academy such as reflection, individual authorship, and detached analysis. Finally, Williams considers the implications of his study for the field of composition in a time of expanding communication and literacy technologies.

In a world in which communication happens increasingly by electronic and visual means, where popular culture is seen to collide with the academy, Williams provides a refreshing and thought-provoking look at the intersections of seemingly disconnected literaciestelevision and printand the ways in which teachers can draw upon certain critical discursive abilities their students already possess, but that have generally been dismissed and ignored.

Amazon.com

Finally someone has written a book on animating in Flash. It's a wonder there aren't more like it. Flash 5 Cartooning covers the cartoon production cycle from a Flash artist's standpoint--drawing, writing, storyboarding, animating, and keyframes. Sounds like a book on traditional animation, doesn't it? But everything is examined from a Flash perspective. When the book talks about drawing, it means drawing with a tablet. When it talks on keyframes and in-betweens, it is within Flash and not on paper that these issues are covered.

The book has two outstanding features: first, it's about making cartoons, not Flash. It just so happens that the tool of choice is Flash and the mode of distribution is the Web. Topics like scripting (writing a cartoon story, not computer scripting), storyboarding, layout, camera moves, and basic animation technique are well covered, as well as the Flash interface, how Flash works, how to compress media for faster downloading, basic HTML, and other Flash- and Web-specific topics.

The second great feature is the CD-ROM, which includes samples and material used in the chapters, but above all contains a digital version of the book. Not a stripped-down, bare-bones text version, but a full-color, searchable version. Having a material like this at one's fingertips on CD-ROM raises its usability rating through the roof.

Written in a clear, concise, and lighthearted voice, the book spans 15 chapters. Every page has a handful of screen shots, and every page is in full color. There were no shortcuts taken in either content or production value.

It's remarkable that there aren't more books like this. Sure, Flash is a great tool for all kinds of dynamic graphics and interactivity, but the Flash cartoon sites get a disproportionately high number of hits. Flash cartoons download fast, are often wonderfully creative, and in most cases carry a strong sense of the artist who created them. This is what Flash and the Web have created--a venue for independent animators. Maybe cartoons still aren't taken seriously and that's why so little has been published on the topic; regardless, Flash 5 Cartooning excels in its class, not because the genre is so nichey, but because it is simply a terrific book. --Mike Caputo

Book Description

Flash 5 Cartooning is a stunning, full color book that reveals scores of tips and techniques for building great cartoons, regardless of your artistic experience. Everything from cartooning fundamentals to advanced Flash techniques like ActionScripting and selling your work online is covered here, in this unique guide to creating exciting Flash cartoons. Author Mark Clarkson dives deep into the key topics cartooners need to know, with an emphasis on things like interactivity, special visual and audio effects, timing (it's critical to a good joke, you know), cartoon physics, and more! A free companion CD-ROM is packed with sample cartoons from the book, additional cartooning material, and product tryouts.

Customer Reviews:

Good book for entry level flash cartoonists.......2004-08-19

Flash 5 Cartooning is a good book for beginning flash cartoonists. I recommend getting this book from the Amazon.com used book marketplace in order to get more bang for your buck. Once you have a grip on Flash Cartooning, you may want to start creating some flash games.

I also recommend and have the following books:
"How to Cheat in Flash CS3" by Chris Georgenes, "Cartooning: Animation 1 with Preston Blair (HT26)", "The Big Book of Cartooning", "Dreamweaver MX / Fireworks MX Savvy", "Flash MX Savvy", "Flash 5 Bible" and "Macromedia Flash 5 ActionScript for Fun and Games". The "Flash 5 Bible" has a small section on cartoon animation.

Great for the amateur flasher!.......2004-07-13

This book is great for begginners i loved it. I had just gotten flash to play around with for fun and i did some online tutorials but they only taught me the very basics (like drawing and keyframes with motion tweening). It was a start. After reading this book i would consider myself a mediocre flasher. I can make reat movies now. Now that i have learned this i am moving on to actionscripting which is the only thing this book lacks. But all-in-all this is a great book and i still use it every now and then for reference.

Great for beginners.......2004-02-26

Clarkson's book on Flash 5 for animating offers a great foundation for animators who want to learn Flash. Probably not the best book for those interested in other aspects handled by Flash, like Web Design, but the title says it all. Well-paced and easy to digest, his book also goes easy on the tech-speak that loses most casual learners. All in all, a good start.

A somewhat helpful book.......2003-07-26

I'm sorry but I didn't achieve the goal for my cartoon with this book. I get frustrated easliy and this book being a partial culprit. Sure, I learned a little actionscript. But I recommend the The Art of Flash Cartooning over this one. There are also free online sources that will provide some very important instruction on staging and layout which this book covers briefly(Staging is too important to have a brief walkthrough) The CD gave me the urls to some cool sites and some cartoons to watch other than that this book isn't of much use to a flash animators, particularly beginners. In order to do something it is best to do it right the first time or not at all.

Great for a beginner........2003-01-15

As someone who has quite a bit of experience with animation programs, but little exposure to Flash, I found this book to be very useful. It's written in a lively, entertaining manner and Mark Clarkson manages to describe difficult procedures in terms even those new to Flash can understand.

Amazon.com

The Knights Templar remain the most glamorous, but also the most mysterious, of all religious organizations. Romanticized by Walter Scott in his novel Ivanhoe and by Wagner in his opera Parsifal, the Templars have been both celebrated as ascetic martyrs, dying for the greater good of Christianity, and condemned as deviant heretics, thieves, and sodomites who sold the Holy Land out to the Muslim Infidels. In his carefully researched study The Templars, the acclaimed novelist Piers Paul Read investigates the truth behind the myth. Placing his account of the rise of the Templars within a wider historical and political context, Read argues that "The Templars were a multinational force engaged in the defence of the Christian concept of a world order: and their demise marks the point when the pursuit of the common good within Christendom became subordinate to the interests of the nation state."

This approach takes Read back into the Dark Ages and the context for the first Christian Crusade, which culminated in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. In an attempt to hold on to Jerusalem and one of the holiest sites in Christendom, the Temple of Solomon, the Templars were formed as a strict religious-military order, committed to poverty, chastity, and the protection of pilgrims en route to the Holy Land. Read charts their rise to political and financial power and influence throughout Europe and the Holy Land, and their bloody (and ultimately unsuccessful) conflict with the forces of Islam over the subsequent two centuries. Read's account is painstakingly recounted, but often lacks the verve and pace demanded by the colorful cast of characters, including Saladin and Richard the Lionheart. The best sections of the book deal with the shockingly cynical destruction of the Order by Pope Clement V and King Philip the Fair in 1312, preceded by the torture and death of hundreds of Templars who had already fought bravely for the cross in the Holy Land. The Templars are fascinating, but in his attempt to avoid the more colorful and conspiratorial stories associated with the Order, Read's book may strike some as a little turgid, despite its admirable historical detail. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

In 1099, the city of Jerusalem, a possession of the Islamic Caliphate for over four hundred years, fell to an army of European knights intent on restoring the Cross to the Holy Land. From the ranks of these holy warriors emerged an order of monks trained in both scripture and the military arts: The Knights of the Temple of Solomon, called the Templars.

In this engrossing chronicle, spanning three centuries, Piers Paul Read tells the bloody story of the Templars' rise to political and financial power throughout Europe and the Holy Land, their catastrophic fall, and their far-reaching legacy. Drawing on the most recent scholarship, Read blends historical authority with novelistic excitement to create the first complete history of the vaunted and feared warriors whose remarkable order still captures our imaginations today.

"An engrossing and beautifully written work of popular history. Unfolds like a well-structured crime novel." (Booklist)

Customer Reviews:

The Smarter Da Vinci Code.......2007-04-12

Look out Da Vinci Code! This book certainly is a more logical approach on the best sellers story, focusing mainly on the religious military organization known as the Templars it details the organization in its early years as a religious ideal by a pope. The book then follows the organization through conception and its road to becoming the worlds most powerful military and religious organization of course it then details the organizations eventual downfall as the result of an angry king and a manipulated Vatican church. Another interesting thing about this book is the way it delves into the history of Jerusalem and the holy land as a whole before it even begins to mention the Templars. As a whole i rate this book with five stars, although it is a non-fiction tale I believe it to have a story just as worthy as the one portrayed in The Da Vinci Code.

Decent overview, but not a history of the Templars.......2006-10-22

I won't go into depth about the problems with this book - several other reviewers have covered them already. But, here they are again: 1) There is very little history of the Knights Templar in this book. When they are mentioned, it is usually as a side note when Read is talking about various battles of the Crusades, until he gets to the history of their trial, which is rushed through. That being said, this is a decent overview of the major players in the crusades. 2) THe book lacks any cogent analysis of the subject matter. This is fine, if you like reading histories that mention a lot of who and what but not how or why, but for this reader, it made the reading dull at times. Compared to Jonathan Phillips history of the Fourth Crusade, this is kind of a snoozer because of this. 3) THe book is full of typos. THis is sad, because the book has gone through three additions, and no one has bothered to correct them. 4) Cultural and religious bias against Arabs and Jews is blatant, particularly in Part One, where Read describes the history of the Temple. While some bias will always be present, some of Read's pronouncments are outrageous - such as at one point where he mentions that the difference between Arabs and Christians is that Christians were commited to peace, while Arabs preferred to make war for the sake of riches and converts to Islam and then in the next chapter describes the sack of Jerusalem during the first Crusade by the Christian armies who looted the palaces, temples, mosques, and Churches of Jerusalem and then slaughtered all of the inhabitants - Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike.

That being said, The Templars is a decent overview of the crusades for someone who may have never read any crusades history before. The author does a good job touchign on all of the main players in the crusades, and I especially enjoyed the Chapters on Saladin and Richard the Lionheart. Read does a good job of steering clear of grail lore and conspiracy theories surrounding the Temple, and even in the last chapter, takes the logic of these conspiracy theories to task. There is also quite of a bit of interesting history of the other military orders - the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights - nearly as much history of them as there is of the Templars.

I would recommend this book (with a caveat regarding cultural bias) to anyone who was looking for an introduction to crusades history. Just don't expect a history of the Templars.

No "Opus Dei," no Goony Eclecticism.......2006-08-05

Mr. Read has attempted and, as far as I'm concerned, succeeded in chronicling the days, years, centuries of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Jesus Christ.

I get the sense, reading the various reviews, that some readers wanted something more. I suspect many went through the book waiting for the chapter where Mr. Read described "and then the Templars found the Ark of the Covenant, built a spaceship and flew off to meet the aliens . . . or build the Mayan Pyramids . . . or invent the Frisbee."

This isn't that. There was nothing spooky or mystical about the Templars. They were a band of heavily armed warrior monks, painfully products of their era: Frankish, brutish, dirt-ignorant and dedicated to killing for Jesus. Go figure.

As Mr. Read notes, a medieval knight was the equivalent in force and cost of the modern tank. He might also have added that they had roughly the same intelligence. They're not called "The Dark Ages" because the sun was dimmer.

Some have voiced displeasure with the amount of time Mr. Read devotes to context. For me, that strengthens the book. The Templars must be seen in context if they are to be understood. And that context absolutely requires an understanding of the demise of civilization at the hands of christianity, the rise of monasticism and the harem-scarem power struggles of the murderous thugs who eventually started calling themselves "King" of this and that.

This is most assuredly a valid and vibrant history. The Templars figure prominently therein. What they did a thousand years ago impacts us to this day.

Especially as we watch the Levant catch fire and burn, it is all the more worthwhile to read this book and understand that it's all happened before, for very similar reasons.

An order of Crusades, with a side of Templar.......2006-07-20

Other reviewers have noted, quite correctly, this book's divergence from the titular theme. Without question, this is a book more about the Crusades than the Templars as such. One reviewer correctly noted that the content addressing the Templars directly is only about 40 pages of the book. I personally don't object to a book entitled "the Templars" that would be more aptly called "The Templars and their Times" or something of the sort.

My criticism lies more with the factual errors in the book. Read shows his lack of depth in a variety of ways. His summaries of relevant sidebar issues (the Assassins, for example) are often both overly simplistic and flawed. His historical guesswork (the sexual dispositions of Frederick II or Richard the Lionheart) is often slipshod and ignores significant historical facts (like Richard's act of contrition in Sicily).

Finally, maddeningly, he keeps referring to Muslims as Saracens. True, this is a historical term which was used at the time by many Crusaders. But, there's no such group of people, and no historian uses it beyond the acknowledgement of a term that was used at the time. Muslims often called Crusaders "Frengi" (the Franks) though many were of course English, German, Italian, and other nationalities. It would be just as ridiculous to use this term throughout the book, and equally erroneous.

If you want a good history of the Crusades, and better coverage of the era (including the Knights Templar), I suggest anything by Runciman.

How History Should Be Told.......2006-06-25

Ask any schoolboy to give you his version of what a knight looks like and the chances are he will say that a knight wears chainmail, a helmet and a white surcoat with a red cross emblazoned on it. A pretty good description of what a Templar Knight would have looked like to us, had we been there at the time they were joining the crusades to protect pilgrims and save the Holy Land from attacks by the infidels.

Their Order rose to be one of the most powerful in the Western World, until their wealth and power began to frighten people in high places, no less in fact than the French King, who accused the Order of heresy and even immorality. He extracted confessions from the senior members of the order, through torture and even burning at the stake.

Most of the senior members of the Order were murdered and the few who escaped scattered across Europe.

This is an excellent book, descriptive and well written. Nothing like the dusty, dry volumes that I read in large numbers in sixth form college, more years ago than I would care to remember. This book is exciting and has the pace to grip the reader like a novel would, rather than a book with factual content. The truth well told will always beat fiction, at least in my book it will.

Product Description

Strange anomalies have been found on the Martian surface by telescopes and probes. Many of them are evidently constructs of intelligent design. What's behind the mystery of the disappearing canals? What is the lunar link between Mars and Earth? In the future, explorers will reach Mars in less than an hour using gravity control. What will they find there?

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Wilson Bulletin, published by Wilson Ornithological Society on September 1, 1998. The length of the article is 2006 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Farming and Birds in Europe: The Common Agricultural Policy and Its Implications for Bird Conservation. (book reviews)
Author: Raymond J. O'Connor
Publication: Wilson Bulletin (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1998
Publisher: Wilson Ornithological Society
Volume: v110 Issue: n3 Page: p447(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books