Contemporary Asian Kitchens And Dining Rooms (Contemporary Asian Home)

Book Description

With over one hundred full-color photographs, Contemporary Asian Kitchens and Dining Rooms looks at a wide range of inspirational cooking and dining spaces, from the elegance of open-plan entertaining to the raw, modern look of an industrial kitchen.
Few rooms in the house depict the changing aesthetics of design as radically as kitchens and dining rooms. The growing trend toward modern fixtures and fittings in kitchens calls for more interactive and creative dining areas, a trend that is redefining the Asian home. Innovation and quality leap from every page of this book, which features the work of some of the best architects and designers from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Bali. Special sections on al fresco dining as well as tips on how to create the ultimate in table settings give this book an up-to-the-minute edge. Every design is modern and appropriate for homes from Asia to America.

Customer Reviews:

Great Buy!.......2007-08-30

Great buy! Got Almost all the contemporary books series.
Arrived on time!

truly asian and beautiful.......2006-05-10

Truly modern asian style. All the pictures are beautiful and full of inspiring ideas. It's definitely worth rading.

Book Description

The totem pole—in all its power and beauty—is a distinctive and widely recognized form of traditional Northwest Coast Native art. Once nearly lost, this art form is alive and thriving today. In this unique book, Vickie Jensen collaborates with renowned Nisga'a artist Norman Tait and his crew of young carvers to document the actual process of bringing a log to life.

The intimate text and 125 photographs capture the charged atmosphere in which the pole is carved—the smell of fresh cedar chips, the long days and blistered hands, the camaraderie, the pride in solving problems, the ever-present awareness of tradition, the joy of creation.

Norman Tait teaches his apprentices that carving a pole requires more than time and labor, more than artistic and emotional commitment, more than a grasp of tools and techniques. The process invoves their cultural background and very being. The apprentices must make their own carving tools, design their regalia, and practice traditional songs, dances, and drumming. All these experiences culminate in the traditional ceremonies to celebrate the raising of the completed totem pole.

This book was originally published in hardcover as Where the People Gather: Carving a Totem Pole.

Customer Reviews:

An outstanding contribution to Native American studies........2000-06-05

In Totem Pole Carving: Bringing A Log To Life, writer, editor and photographer Vickie Jensen collaborates with renowned Nisga'a artist Norman Tait and his crew of young carvers to document the actual process of creating a 42-foot Native American totem pole from a single log. The informative text is enhanced with 125 photographs and captures the charged atmosphere in which the pole is cared including blistered hands, camaraderie, pride in solving problems, awareness of tradition, and the joy of creation. A fascinating book which will interest woodworkers and sculptors, Totem Pole Carving is also a very highly recommended addition to personal, school, and community library Native American studies collections.

Customer Reviews:

Best to share with a friend.......2001-02-06

Legends is an art book; displaying noted celebrities from the past century. It is a fun read, but more of a coffee table book for the star and starlet buff. The photographs are good, taking from nearly a full page to even double page spreads, but it is the captions that go with them that had the most appeal to me. Some photos are themselves famous, while others show well-known people in their not so-well-known lives. The captions are comments about the subject, often by their peers but occasionally by themselves. Not only does this give you a new insight to the person photographed, but to the speaker as well. I particularly liked the examples where person A comments on person B only to find elsewhere in the book person B commenting on person A! A lady friend of mine, who has this book, tore the full-page picture of Katharine Hepburn and the accommodating full-page caption with it. The caption quoted Hepburn on how she lived her life: " . . . I've just done what I D___ well wanted to . . . " My friend hung these up in her apartment to inspire herself.

Life Legends The Centurys Most unforgettable Faces the notorious, Glamarous, the unforgettable

Average customer rating:

Life Legends The Centurys Most unforgettable Faces the notorious, Glamarous, the unforgettable
director photography Barbara Baker Burrows Editor Killian Jordan
Manufacturer: Life Books Time Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JD5A62

Book Description

They didn't call it the "Golden Age" of super-heroes for nothing: the 1930s and '40s gave us the most famous and enduring icons of the comics as well as the greatest battle between good and evil in the 20th century. With Golden Age, you can take your Mutants & Masterminds games back to that bygone era: play the world's very first heroes, defenders of freedom and democracy in a world on fire, engulfed in war. Golden Age presents a complete history of the Golden Age of comic books, and then shows you how to re-create those exciting tales with the World's Greatest Super-hero RPG. It has an overview of the Golden Age era, guidelines for building Golden Age heroes (along with ready-made hero archetypes) and all the information you need to set up and run your own Golden Age series. It also includes a complete look at the Golden Age era of the four-color Freedom City campaign setting.

Customer Reviews:

Pulp Fiction Evolution.......2006-11-04

There much to like and dislike about this product. What Golden Age presents is partially a setting and partially a genre within comic books. It is an explanation on how comics came about and the world in which they first emerged. Big names are dropped, more as examples in the historical section than any attempt to rip off classic heroes.

The history portions of Golden Age comprise pretty much half the book. Which for the most part is as it should be for any and all potential readers who did not actually live through this day and age in the history of the world. Focusing squarely on American history and more specifically comic book history as it grew from illustrated pulp fiction to the superheroes that it now represents in the majority, the book looks at how comics developed. Some of the bigest names in Comic Book History are mentioned and described primarily as they first appeared. The Golden Age itself stretches from about the time of the Second World War into the age of McCarthyism and the Red Scare. The how and why comics ended is also given without much praise or malice towards the turn of events that eventually led to the demise of comic books as it was then known.

While the book is not clearly divided between two whole sections of what has now been almost institutionalized as "Fluff" and "Crunch" there are some aspects of both. New feats to help relay the desperate times that people were living in as well as suggested rules for how to better portray the shortages people expeienced during the second world war are given. Several new archtypes are also introduced to help give player ready made characters to play with GM permission. A possible critical miss in this section is that the book relies rather heavily on the PDFs that Green Ronin sells to supplement the Archtypes given in the main book. A list of what archtypes that were already published at the time of the book's printing is rather helpful as it lists what is and is not approrpriate to the genre. Green Ronin and Ronin Arts really should consider publishing a book of the archtypes they have jointly produce, but this is just my opinion. There are also archtypes for villains typically seen at this point in time as well as the obligatory super teams of the Nazis and Imperialist Japan.

Golden Age could well be used as a base line to run pulp inspired adventures as well as campaigns based on comics other than superheros. The bottom line is that book provideds a wealth of information about a time in America where a nickel could buy a day's worth of entertainment or at least a few hours worth. If you are interested in role playing in this genre with the Mutants and Masterminds game even if it's a brief episode involving time travel you owe it to yourself to pick this book up.

Average customer rating:

From A Fresh Voice....

Boring

Happy martyr

Betsy Clark is a real human being!

Want to know the rest of the story

NOTHING TO FALL BACK ON: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A PERPETUAL OPTIMIST
Betsy Carter
Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Journalists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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The Glass Castle: A Memoir

ASIN: 0786886552
Release Date: 2003-07-16

Book Description

uccessful and smart, Betsy Carter was not only the ultimate 'New York Woman,' she also founded a magazine by that same name. For nearly 20 years, she led a high-gloss life that others only dream of-travel, fashion, parties, power-until things started to go terribly wrong. Carter faced a series of catastrophes: a devastating car accident, a failed marriage, a house that burned down. Then her magazine folded and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. This moving story, set against the gossipy and often hilarious world of magazine publishing, reveals what it is like to be stripped bare, to wander through the rubble, and to finally put yourself together again.

Customer Reviews:

From A Fresh Voice...........2005-01-04

I didn't realize that this was an autobiography. It reads like fiction. I know very little about the magazine world, but I have a distinct feeling that Carter really showed us an inside peek into it. I had a little trouble keeping up with all the friends, colleagues, loves, etc., so I just concentrated & listened beyond that. I really enjoyed reading Carter's upbeat attitude on life. Yes, she's definitely an optimist and no, that doesn't automatically classify you as silly or stupid. All the curves that life has thrown this woman, it'd be easy to let them all blanket her in despair. Yet, Carter only gained strength & wisdom at each point.
A few people have mentioned they had a hard time following b/c of the way she moves from past to present so frequently. If you can relax & really immerse yourself in the book, you won't even notice that. Obviously, she did that for affect & wanted readers to get the "full circle" feel of her story.
I liked the book very much. A real slice of life. I love the way she has handled everything. I wish Ms. Carter much happiness & hope readers pick this book up & are inspired by her as I've been.

Boring.......2004-08-22

I haven't finished this book yet, but I am very hesitant in doing so. I'm about a quarter of the way into it and am totally bored. I saw the ad in a magazine and it sounded interesting. The details she gives in some parts are just not needed as someone else stated. I hope it gets more interesting. She definitely makes me want to write a book about my life because it is way more interesting than hers. I figure if she can publish an autobiography than I definitely could get a deal in a second. Sorry I just find this book not worth reading anymore.

Happy martyr.......2003-09-16

While her resume sparkles, Betsy Carter does not live up to the promise of her editorial credits. The facts of her story are certainly interesting, but Carter's observations of her own fate are removed and somewhat clinical, rather than compelling and empathetic. Her story weaves back and forth between her childhood, young adulthood and careerhood in a poorly structured manner that is confusing to the reader and does the story no favors. My hopes were so high for this book and I was sorely disappointed. Readers are tired of the "woman overcoming adversity story." This one could have stood out with more emotion and less antisepticism.

Betsy Clark is a real human being!.......2003-05-02

i thoroughly enjoyed this book, and agree with some reviews i've read that reviewers shouldn't go into too much detail because thats half the enjoyment (if you can enjoy someone else's misfortune), reading her life events as they unfolded. the other half is her humor and as a woman and a working woman i could relate to how she felt in many circumstances. it was rich in history, both her evolving profession and the times she lived rising in her profession, and i enjoyed how she interweaved her growing up years with her adult years, her family, friends and loves. she also drove through Jacksonville on her way to Miami and went to the University of Florida so that was interesting! i hated it to end and i couldn't help wonder what shes doing now. i really hope all her dark times are past her. i think she is a 'real human being.' :) this is a book that made me feel good.

Want to know the rest of the story.......2003-04-27

I enjoyed Carter's tale but it appeared to have ended ten years ago or so. I would've liked to have seen what she did after "New York Woman" (besides writing this book). According to the book jacket, she worked for a similarly titled magazine called "New Woman" and also founded the "My Generation" magazine. I would've liked to have learned more about those experiences. How long did it take her to get a job after "New York Woman" folded?

I also think she should've spent more time writing about her actual work at "New York Woman." Besides the female bonding, what else was going on?

In any case, Carter gave this reader a peek into the New York magazine world. It was certainly an environment that I had aspired to when I was younger but after reading this, it's less fascinating to me. Carter actually appeared a lot more interesting when she was on her way up, writing for the air & water newsletter and for the Washington bank than when she was editor in chief of her own magazine. Hopefully Betsy will write another book.

Amazon.com

During the 1980s, Judith Caesar taught literature in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Her aptly titled book offers one woman's view of several political powder kegs that didn't make front page news and of the clash between Western and Middle Eastern customs. An open-minded nature and curiosity about the place of women in cultures that seem wildly restrictive to many Westerners helps Caesar deconstruct stereotypes on both sides of the border. The American television show Dallas, she notes, now in perpetual rerun in many countries, has become a gold mine of misinformation on Western women. Likewise, our squeamishness about arranged marriage belies some of the inside story shared by her students. One plans to land "a good temper man" by asking a suitor's sister to reveal his true temperament. And if he doesn't have a sister? "Then don't marry him," comes the swift reply. "He has never learned about women."

Customer Reviews:

Crossing Two Borders.......2005-06-14

Throughout the twenty century, books about the Arab world have been widely written in the English academia, with a sense of respect and criticism. One must not forget that T.E. Lawrence introduced the Arab world to the West with his magnum opus The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1935). In 1980's, the works of Nawal El Saadawi was commonly known to the English audience with one of her famous titles, The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World (1980). Some of more serious authors have also brought their study about the Arab world into public consciousness: Maxime Rodinson with his work The Arabs (1980), Albert Hourani with his magnificent work History of the Arab Peoples (1992), Halim Barakat with his book The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State (1993) or Philip K. Hitti with his short introduction of Arab world entitled The Arabs: A Short History (1996).
After September 11, books about the Arab world have flourished with a strong tendency toward criticism of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is perhaps the only country which, after the United States and Israel-Palestine, has gained much critical attention both from Arab and Western authors.
What makes Judith Caesar astonishing compared to those authors is her ability to tackle the issue of criticisms of Arab people by using primary resources and her self-criticism of Western society toward the Arab world. Her book traces her journey to the othernized world. On this journey, she carried the prejudices that have been constructed in her own society, but she came to realized that her picture and view of the Arab peoples are not completely true. As a result, she is finally capable of transforming herself to accept the differences between Arab and Western society. One must also not forget that Caesar published her book in 1997, four years before her husband Mamoun Fandy published Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent (2001), a book about internal Saudi dissent. The period of 1980-1997 is the time when misunderstandings toward the Arab world were so wild. The work of Judith Caesar, although it is not the only book dealing with this issue, is significant in addressing the ignorance of American society toward the Arab world, and is obviously an important piece for those who will never visit the Arab countries.
Caesar began her book with her story of visiting the Arab world between 1980 and 1983. As a new visitor to Saudi Arabia, she came to the country with the common stereotypes produced in the West; that Arabs hated women; that they were narrow minded and irrationally violent. Before she came to Saudi, Caesar was told by several Americans who had been teaching in Saudi that Saudi women were not allowed to drive, and that a Saudi woman could be arrested for simply being in a car with a man not her husband. She was told that foreign women rumored to be having a love affair could be thrown out of the country by the morality police (muttawwa) with their passport stamped "prostitute." All this information made her fearful that she was about to begin a new life full of horror. For Caesar at this time, Saudi Arabia was the incarnation of everything horrible.
However, her stereotypes and prejudices did not block her from honest interactions with the people she met in Saudi. Caesar has a good personality and was willing to know others without erecting unnecessary boundaries. This is exactly the personal quality that made her closer to her new world.
I myself personally have my own prejudices toward both Arabs. I have bad images of Arab men, unless I know them personally, because the Arab men that I met were those who like to drink and go to a place where they could find a prostitute easily. They also took advantage of the language they speak and claimed that they were true Muslims. In the Muslim world, Saudi Arabia is the center in terms of Islamic faith, because Saudi Arabia is the country where the holiest places of Muslims are located. The pious Muslims, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, would work hard to gain money, so that they can go to Saudi Arabia, once time in their life, as Islam taught them. This religious fact, to an extent, has put the Arabs in country like Indonesia or Malaysia in an extraordinary class, as the `good' Muslims because they are Arabs and because the fact that the Prophet Muhammad and His early companions were Arabs. Unfortunately, some Arabs that I have met behave in contrast to what Islam taught us as Muslims. It is just natural, then, if I have such negative prejudice toward Arab men. I know that part of my ignorance is my conviction about the fact that all the Arab men I met were Muslims. Some Arabs, more or less, then, were responsible in building the negative images and my prejudices toward them.
This problem is far more complex, however, because the misunderstanding exists in every society. It seems that in every society there are institutions that reproduce hatred and prejudice towards others. Realizing this, Caesar discussed the role of political institutions in the Arab world. Although she seemed not really interested in political matters, she came up with some important information that has not been exposed by Western media. One of the unexposed peaces of information was the situation in Egypt after the assassination of Anwar Sadat in which thousands people ended up in jail.
Another topic that is very interesting in this book is the story of foreign workers in Saudi who came from Third World countries. According to Caesar, the Saudi government took advantage of these foreign workers because they can easily control the workers, and, at the same time they also can control their citizens. As we know, Arab Saudi, with the "blessed" oil, has become a rich country since the oil boom of 1970s. The foreign workers from the Third World came to Saudi to take the jobs that many Saudi people, even the lower class, would not be interested in. All job opportunities available in Saudi were good jobs for foreign workers who came from poor Third World countries. Saudi Arabia, besides its position as the center of religious sites for Muslim communities, was also the center of economics; millions of Third World people have built their lives from the salaries of their family or relatives who work in Saudi. However, the real situation of the foreign workers in Saudi was not as good as their family back home thought. The lack of laws to protect the rights of the workers made the violation of human rights become common in Saudi society. Caesar, as someone who used to live in a society where the issue of human rights considered a first degree of sensitive issue, was annoyed at this problem. Her sensibility became sharper whenever she encountered American expatriates who lived in Saudi and who treated their maid or servant as badly as the Saudi people did. The denial of days-off, refusal to pay a salary on time, and rejection of pay for additional work were some of the common violations of human rights that were unexposed by the media in Saudi.
The real condition of the foreign workers in Saudi haunted me because thousands of the workers were my country fellows, and most of them were women. Every time I heard that a maid was executed in Saudi, the only sense that came to my mind was the shared-feeling that the lady was the victim of the cruel system in Saudi. Perhaps the maid just needed to defend herself from someone who tried to assault her physically or sexually, or perhaps she just needed her basic right to take a rest and stop working for a day, or she needed her salary to be paid on time because her families back home were waiting. However, the worst thing in Saudi was very clear; foreign workers did not have right to defend their case once the judge decided the punishment.
In my view, this book is exciting because it contains two sides of the cultures of the Arabs, especially Saudi society. The first is the lives of the Arabs that is misunderstood by Western people: the wisdom of the people, the voice of the dissident within Saudi, and the positive values of some Saudi people. The second is about the unjust conditions in Saudi, the death of human rights for foreign workers, and the silence of Western governments, especially the U.S. government, to these facts in order to keep their oil contracts in Saudi. This last theme is a topic that is openly discussed, particularly after the September 11 tragedy, when many Americans became more aware to the fact that the U.S. government has a double standard; threaten and attack Iran and Iraq as the devils of democracy, but at the same time, hug Saudi Arabia and Israel and the best allies in the region, regardless of the fact that these countries treated people in their region unjustly.
Caesar clearly stands in two positions: between respecting the difference in values between Western and Arab society, and regretting the unjust conditions in Saudi Arabia. Caesar and her husband Mamoun Fandy have brought the alternative voice of Saudi society to the public: the issue that many journalists hesitate to deal with because of the risk of being put in jail, or betraying American foreign policy. It is no doubt that politics, once again, has become the barrier to bridging the two traditions, between the Arab world and the Western world.

More than just another travel essay.......2003-04-12

I just finished this book and I loved it. It was in with travel essay/travel narrative books, and as I liked to read about the Middle East I picked it up. I was pleasantly suprised that there was a bit more to it than just the usual I went here, did this, saw that, and aren't they odd. Caesar's book makes you think. There is an increased interest here in the US lately, (since 9/11.books are popping up all over) in how people in the Middle East live. Still despite this still most of the people I talk to unfortunately still have the sterotypical impressions from news media, of violent people with guns or of cowering oppressed women in black, etc, and everyone in the Middle East is the same. There is sooo much more too it than that and Caesar helps to show Saudis and Egyptians as real people, with real lives, personalities, intelligence, etc, caring about their families, their futures, the world around them and going about their daily lives. Its a great book. It also inspired me to read some of the books she mentions, such as Passage to India.

I do wish she had written a bit more about her Egyptian husband. She very much glosses over that part. They met, talked about books, and you next you know they are getting married. There is nothing about how it all worked out. Did his family have a problem with it? Did they live together somewhere, or did she live on the women's campus and him elswhere? It doesn't say. It kind of implies they were happy but thats about it.
I'd still give it 5 stars though.

Insightful, not the whole story.......2001-10-22

The author has wonderful insights not only into the lives of a handful of Mid-Easterners she got to know, but also into human nature and our problems in understading other cultures. She points out that the women behind those veils are not just submissive faceless people but just like us -- some highly educated and intelligent, some highly maternal, etc. I highly recommend the book. However, her insights into the Muslim world are based on getting to know a few people; it doesn't truly contain a deep grasp of the political and social issues, and I don't think she makes any claims that it does. This is just one book out of many that can help us understand Middle Eastern cultures.

I did find it disappointing that she shared so little into her relationship with the Middle Eastern man she married; if she wanted to help others understand crossing over cultural borders, that facet of her life, alone, may have been more invaluable than talking about the other people that she got to know on a much more superficial level.

Misleading.......2001-09-22

Dr. Caesar, an English major and American literature professor, purports to share her personal experiences in the Middle East. The problem is that throughout the book she continually makes sweeping statements with no factual back up. For example, she sticks in the statement "I wonder if there was something of this in America's antagonism toward the Middle East" in the middle of a story about touring Dendara. Apparently the author wants to be a political scientist without taking the time to do the research or study necessary for the conclusions she reaches. At the same time though she does share some personal experiences we virtually do not share at all in her courting and marriage to an Egyptian man. A very disappointing book that I would not bother reading.

Insightful, well written.......2001-07-14

Fascinating account of a woman's teaching stint in the Middle East - combining a travel memoir with some fascinating insights into American literary works. This is an outgrowth of her Middle Eastern students' provocative and fresh reactions to the literature that she was teaching them. Judith Caesar's deep empathy for the Middle East and its people (she is happily married to an Egyptian professor), as well as candid observations about her own cross-cultural forays, make this an outstanding and unusual book.

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