Open

This book is a perfect complement to Anne Branscomb's, and provides a well-told tale, researched in partnership with a private investigator, of just what can be gotten on you through the electronic web within which we all live our lives. This book is the tactical gutter in your face version, Branscomb's book is the academic dissection.

I read this text for an intro class to Cultural Studies, and I really enjoyed it. Hall discusses the issues of race, gender, and class in our society in many interpretations within this text. He shows how all these three are interconnected, and does so in a fascinating way. The question of how did we become the way we are in society is addressed in various ways through different representations: the media, culture, and ourselves. A lot of historical aspects is presented in this text to give the reader more of an answer to the previous question. This text is great for someone who is into cultural studies, or anyone who is interested in just learning more about themselves and making sense of the society around them.

A lean and accessible field guide to exploring and understanding the embodied life, this eminently readable narrative speaks to both seasoned somatic travelers and beginner's mind. Ms. Putnoi's long and deep experience in various somatic practices and her personal contact with many of the most important teachers in the field make her a treasure trove of information, anecdote, and technique. Warm, well-written, and exquisitely balanced, this is a book to read and re-read and keep for the next generation, alongside Wendy Palmer's Aikido: A Clairsentient Practice. Four and a half stars.

Goldfarb, the inventor of SGML, and two other experts present the HARP Analysis methodology for assessing publication operations in an intuitive visual way. The software and HARP materials on the CD-ROM is good for analyzing the diagrams many common publishing scenarios, including book publishing, proposal preparation, documentation, and electronic publishing. The guide also contains descriptions of some 150 SGML and XML tools, services, and vendors, as well as an unabashedly subjective sponsor showcase.

Yes, I wrote this book. It's a good book! Read it!

The imprint of Edo on Tokyo is deep according to the author, and while the buildings of that era have largely vanished, the spirit of Edo lives on in the imprint that Edo's urban design has left upon Tokyo's urban landscape. The author and his students took old maps of the city, scaled them to maps of the current city and set out to feel the spirit of the old city in the present.

The feeling of the old city comes alive in these pages and yet at the same time this is a book that is missing something and a book where considerable addition can be made through subtraction.

One of the books great revelations of this book is that Edo, and particularly the city of the low city, was a city of water and canals, a Venice of the East. As this reviewer lives in the low city surrounded by these same canals and frequently visits Venice, I have long had the same thought. The author's expostion on this line of inquiry is brilliant and yet, sadly, the author fails to make this one of the centerpieces of this book.

Instead, there are numerous (and frequently condescending) references to other European cities that have no physical comparison to Tokyo in any way. The reason becomes clear as one continues through the book - Hidenobu somehow resents the artificial European influence on the Edo urban design that is modern Tokyo. Since the book was origially written in 1985, such expressions of cultural superiority are unsurprising. Does he feel the same way today?

The book is further diminished by the belief that every new, large scale building crushes the spirit of Edo. In this the author lacks perspective for as the citizens of Edo altered the original landscape for their needs, so do the modern citizens of Tokyo for theirs. This lack of historical perspective diminishes the accomplishments of those in both the Meiji era as well as in the post-war era. In both eras, the city responded to the needs of the time and made changes that needed to be made.

Because of this romanticism, the book is no guide to the future. It is however, a marvelous guide to the past and I look forward to using the book on future walks in the city. In the end, the book's flaws do not overshadow its clear vision of the old city.

...and ready to give up to try and save the world all by yourself, this book comes along and gives you the needed encouragement and boost to keep on trying. "Transforming ourselves, transforming the world" is a book that shows how everybody can do their small share to make this world a more just, peaceful and sustainable place. Murphy asks that everybody join in an 'open conspiracy' to overcome the powerful forces of big government and big corporations. Social Action is not only a process to effect change in social conditons but also a process to transform the individual him/herself. This book empowers people to act for change. His chapters on education are especially important. Drawing on Paolo Freire, he demands a critical and conscientious awareness and sees learning as an individual, subjective, inventive and dynamic process rather than a means of perpetuating the dominant social institutions. This book is realistic, encouraging and practical. A 'must read' for anybody who wants to make a difference!

First the cover of the book is not the one with Lleyton Hewitt (as shown), but instead it is one with Pete Sampras shaking hand with Andre Agassi. So the cover already makes the book very attractive, setting the tone for its content. The best part of the book is not the text but the photos, which actually are the essence of it. Most of the photos are in color, very few in black & white. On the 120 odd pages of the book, there are photos on absolutely every page. So the book is well 'illustrated'. The book covers the recent history of US Open tennis, going back to the Arthur Ash/ Billy Jean King era of the 60s, and ends at the 2001 US Open. The photos gives the reader a clear indication of the major faces and important moments at the Open over the past three decades. I like the entire book, but what stands out is the section on the few select distinct champions of the recent past, including McEnroe, Evert, Connors and Sampras. Just a few made it to the section, which is not surprising because they have performed consistently over the years at the Open that they were all champions of multiple titles at the Open.
I was tempted to give the book 5 stars. The text and the photos are all excellent, with a hard cover. But the binding lets the book down. The pages are coming loose even as a brand new book because the binding is so weak. Nonetheless, it has to be one of the best books ever published on US Open.

This is a really useful text for students trying to get to grips with urban studies. The authors give a challenging but accessible introduction to the ways in which urban theory has met with literary and cultural studies. The book then covers a refreshing range of cities and texts (nice to see more than the usual New York, London, LA) and often the familiar cities (like Paris, New York) are made different through the subjects discussed - Brooklyn and Harlem rather than downtown Manhattan, Parisian banlieues rather than the city of light. The book has some unusual pieces - discussion of disability, essay on skycam technology - and places - Singapore and Birmingham (one extreme to another?). Though it's undeniably theoretical it stays user friendly and as a guide to the multiple meanings of representation in cities it wins out.

This booklet is most useful for passing out to close friends and family who don't understand what Open Adoption is. So a prospective or current adoptive mom might want to get copies for her parents and siblings. A birth mom probably has several relatives and friends who could benefit from this. These guides would be especially useful for an adoption agency to provide to all their prospective birthmothers!! All the "pocket guides" on adoption that I have read so far have been very good! I'm looking forward to Brenda's first full length book (if she decides to write one.)