A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Court: A Collection of over 100 Courtroom Cartoons

Book Description

In the battles of the 32nd century, MechWarriors and infantry alike fear the air cavalry: high-tech poly-metal helicopters that rain death and destruction as their rotors shriek in fury. Thundering across battlefields of a hundred future worlds, BattleMechs are the kings of combat in The Republic of the Sphere. Now players of MechWarrior: Dark Age can explore The Republic and its colossal war machines as never before. Richly ilustrated with beautifully rendered, computer-generated images of BattleMechas, weapons, and vehicles, Technology of Destruction takes players inside the hardware, warfare, and politics driving the conflicts spanning entire star empires. 68 pages with multiple fold-outs. Based on the MechWarrior: Dark Age collectable miniature game, this volume includes photos of game play and game figures. Also included are detailed maps, faction summaries, a new MechWarrior short story by author Randall Bills, a 'Mech size-comparison chart, technical and cutaway images, and beautiful battle-scene dioramas.

Customer Reviews:

Decent, if you can stand it.......2004-07-03

I was told about this book by a friend, a fellow BattleTech fan. I saw it here online and decided to purchase it. While it wasn't wholly a waste of money, I was disappointed that I didn't look into the details of the book carefully enough.

While having some information about the Classic BattleTech universe that FASA created, the book is mostly about the WizKids version. I don't care for Dark Ages; I've always been perfectly happy with the classic BattleTech, and Dark Ages to me feels like a shift from gritty sci-fi to anime. Many of the faction logos look like low-budget designs that someone pounded out in a weekend, not the elegant ones from the Classic BattleTech series. Many of the 'Mechs are just cheap, lazy redesigns of Classic BattleTech 'Mechs with creative names like "Mad Cat III" or "Mongoose II," and I was surprised to learn that the Atlas now has horns growing out of it's mouth, and a glass-topped head. The Summoner (aka Thor) is even worse, as apparently now the cockpit is a soup can, and the shoulder-mounted missile pack is larger than the torso.

The images in this book are a mixed blessing. There are some awesome 3D images in it (namely the cockpit view and cutaway images near the center), but fans of Classic BattleTech will likely feel left out. The whole Dark Ages concept feels to me like a colossal raping of everything FASA did.

In short: If you're a fan of 3D anime-ish walking robots, or if you like MW: Dark Ages, buy this book. If you're a Classic BattleTech fan and don't fall into the two above categories, don't.

good with flaws.......2004-06-07

Just for the pictures, if you are a battletech fan youll love this book, battle armor to vtols to trike squads in computer drawings- really cool. it also shows pictures of the board game which i dont play put they still ook cool. the sizing chart is kind of funny and it seems like they though it togethe rin 5 minutes, like mech cougars are as big as assault mech atlases and medium legionairres are bigger than both. I wondered why they barely mentioned aero space fighters and had no pictures of them?? awesome graphics and a good 3 or 4 page short dark age story about stormhammers thrown in but dont use it as a real reference for anything

a collectors book..........2004-04-15

This book truly lives up to its name. You basically have a collection of data on most every category of mech, infantry unit and vehicles in the Mechwarrior: DA universe. The book is primarily an eye-candy book for those Mechwarrior fans who can't get enough. The short story (involving Tamara Duke of the Stormhammer faction and Thos Cardella) is an excellent read which serves to tantalize those who have been reading the DA novels. Astute MW clixers will note that Duke and Cardella were the prizes for the DFA marquee.

A must have for avid Mechwarrior collectors. Others should be able to live without it.

Best BattleTech Universe book yet.......2004-03-25

This is, by far, the best BattleTech universe book I've ever read. It has great background on the Classic BattleTech universe and the MechWarrior: Dark Age universe. It also has some great computer-generated images of the new (and old) 'Mechs, vehicles, power armor, and infantry. A must for any BattleTech or MechWarrior fan.

Average customer rating:
Dates from Hell True Stories from the Front

Manufacturer: A Plume Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GKVBQ6

Average customer rating:

Best humor book I've ever read

It Will Have You In Stitches!

Dates from Hell/ The funniest book

IT'S OKAY BUT IT LACKS THE INTEREST A READER LOOKS FOR.

Good for those nights alone

Dates from Hell: True Stories From the Front
Katherine Ann Samon
Manufacturer: Highbridge Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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More Dates from Hell: True Stories from Survivors

Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice

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The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan: Classic Diet Recipe Cards from the 1970s

ASIN: 0453008127

Customer Reviews:

Best humor book I've ever read.......2002-03-31

The story about the bathroom and the little dog kept me laughing for days. Every story in this book is hysterical. Buy a copy for yourself and 100 more for your friends because they won't believe how terrific it is.

It Will Have You In Stitches!.......2001-03-11

One funny dating story after another. The stories further illustrate how communication is key to a successful date let alone a promising relationship. Written very well, darn near every story will have you craving for more. Very good for those nights when your time is your own.

Dates from Hell/ The funniest book.......2000-09-24

I have recently divorced after 20+ years of marriage. This book lists the funniest accounts of horrible dates--some of which I think I too have met. I could not stop laughing.

IT'S OKAY BUT IT LACKS THE INTEREST A READER LOOKS FOR........1999-06-25

I WAS NOT IMPRESS WITH IT. NEEDS A LITTLE MORE SPICE SO WE CAN FEEL THE FLAVOR.

Good for those nights alone.......1998-03-13

If you're a fan of the anecdote as proof of concept, this book will regale you with numerous tales of how hazardous "dating" can be. The authors claim all the stories are true. Well, they must be because I don't think I could imagine any more awkward, dangerous, or absurd situations. If hearing about other people's woes helps you get back in the saddle, this book is for you. Check out the sequel too...similar comments apply.

Average customer rating:

A Flawed Effort

Interesting

Give Him an Even Break

Great research, but a bit too ýdryý(and not as in martini)

"Woo-hoo!" "Don't let the posie fool ya!"

Man on the Flying Trapeze: The Life and Times of W. C. Fields
Simon Louvish
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

W. C. Fields: A Biography

W. C. Fields by Himself: His Intended Autobiography

Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy

Never Give a Sucker an Even Break W.C. Fields on Business

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, Vol. 2 (The Man on the Flying Trapeze / Never Give A Sucker An Even Break / You're Telling Me! / The Old Fashioned Way / Poppy)

ASIN: 0393318400

Book Description

Man on the Flying Trapeze is the first biography in decades-and the only accurate one-of the beloved cinematic curmudgeon and inimitable comic genius W. C. Fields. Simon Louvish brilliantly sifts through evidence of Fields's own self-creation to illuminate the vaudeville world from which Fields sprang and his struggles with studios and censors to make his hilarious films-in the process confirming suspicions (yes, he did drink) and confounding them (he doted on his grandchildren).

Customer Reviews:

A Flawed Effort.......2006-01-27

Louvish seems to spend about a third of the book on Fields' life, another third criticizing Robert Lewis Taylor's earlier Fields biography, and a final third relating the history of the English Music Hall circa 1895-1915. (Pages and pages of this with no mention of Fields whatsoever!)
Taylor's book may be innacurate-but as another reviewer noted, it's a heck of a lot more entertaining.

Interesting.......2002-12-26

W.C. Fields, in my opinion, was the best of the old comedians. I have always enjoyed seeing his old films or hearing recordings of his hilarious old radio shows; but I knew very little about him. This book illuminates his life AND the entertainment world of his era. A very interesting book that seems well documented and authoritative. Recommended.

Give Him an Even Break.......2002-10-25

Although I have reservations, Simon Louvish's *Man on the Flying Trapeze* is a thoroughly competent job, strong in many areas. Louvish paints the vaudeville show circuit out of which Fields's later inimitable character was born with just the right amount of detail. Fields's earliest years were spend both in America and in Europe as one of a series of variety acts presented as part of an evening's performance (he was often on stage for only 12 minutes), and Louvish recreates this ambiance with some deftness, not easy to do when researching materials 90 years old. The Ziegfeld Follies live again! Similarly, by the time Fields starts in motion pictures in 1915, and with an explicitness that grows throughout the book, Louvish gets behind Fields's connection with the studios that filmed him. Chapter 23 on the now obscure producer J. P. McEvoy is a great piece of detective work: here is a key figure who underlies most of Fields's most sympathetic satirical postures.

Louvish doesn't claim to have figured out what he cannot: what caused the breakdown of Fields's marriage to Hattie Hughes? A biography that does include many of Fields's well-known lines--"Have you had this tooth pulled before?"--and reprises the best skits has much else to relish: e. g., the movie studio atmosphere and the hilarious objections to Fields's then-too-smutty-but-now-tame-enough gags. Louvish represents dutifully if a little thinly Fields's decline from illnesses brought on by alcoholism.

Now a few cavils. We need more on why William Claude Dukenfield was able to transform his life into comedy. Why could he and not others sublimate his anger and tensions first into juggling and then into physical and finally verbal humor? If the book needs the inspiration of genius to answer this point, that nevertheless is what a Fields fan wants. It also needs a fuller, richer aesthetic and intellectual context in appraising Fields's films. Less consequentially, Louvish on occasion needs more distance from Fields; adopting the master's voice in the narrative ("Never give a sucker an even break, particularly when he might be your biographer," p. 165) blurs the vision instead of clarifying it. There are a few factual errors: *Babbitt* was published in 1922, not 1921; the poem on p. 388 that Louvish thinks is Fields's was written by Ogden Nash (surely the W. W. Norton Company has editors for such details?)

Nevertheless, *Man on the Flying Trapeze* is an entertaining and illuminating biography, and I am grateful for it. Godfrey Daniel!

Great research, but a bit too ýdryý(and not as in martini).......2002-03-26

Simon Louvish once again dazzles the reader with his tremendous research, and still is able to make an interesting subject boring. Louvish gathers many details about Fields' early life and career and uses this material to punch holes in the constantly repeated misinformation previous biographies contained (most of the misinformation was supplied by Fields himself. For the facts alone this book is worth the purchase for any fan of "The Great Man," but don't expect to be enthralled by the writing style of Louvish, who has a tendency to write while patting himself on the back. Not enough time is spent on Fields' movie career and his personal life remains a mystery despite Louvish's efforts. Probably the best biography available on W.C. Fields, which only proves how well he covered his tracks.

"Woo-hoo!" "Don't let the posie fool ya!".......2001-05-31

I really cannot understand why someone would give this book a bad review.

FIRST - It is rare that there is a book written about THE GREAT MAN. We should give a hearty handclap to those who take the time to revisit such a great comedian and orginal personality.

SECOND - It is rare that a book would be honest enough to say where it's shortcomings may be. Meaning that, much to my and I'm sure other peoples amusement, our friend W.C. did a lot of tall-tale telling in his day. It is hard to decifer where truth on his life lay. Louvish checks with all resources to find whre the turth may be. He had access to family members, W.C.'s own scrapbooks, library archives, etc. He presents the book in the begining as a sort of mystery - and that's what it is. Even W.C.'s own authorized bio is full of holes and tall tales - and Louvish proves it. Those who are familiar with THE GREAT MAN know that even he fouled up his own tale telling at times.

THIRD - This book is not only a biography but a historical account. A good biography should not only tell the story of a person but should also give you points of reference in regards to time, event, people & places. Louvish does this. He gives you helpful background on key people and places in W.C.'s life. It allows the reader to understand the subject clearer. And this information is presented clear and concise - not as a "filler" for the text.

FOURTH - For those who feel that Louvish is being a "wiseguy" by the way he writes I ask you to think about who the subject matter is! One of the biggest and most original wiseguy of them all. I feel it makes the book more personal and fun to read.

If you're a fan of Fields you read it & judge for yourself. However, unlike some more ignorant folk, you must remember that ANY biography is not an "end all" to who that person is. A personality is a many layered thing, and so is telling the story of someones' life.

Take the book as it is. An enjoyable journey into the world of W.C Fields. You may learn something new, or you may not. However I'm sure you'll enjoy!

Average customer rating:
Man on the Flying Trapeze the Life and Times of W.C. Fields
Simon Louvish
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Actors & Actresses | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0571176100

Book Description

Upon Gil Evans’s death in 1988, Gary Giddins wrote, “Many considered him the greatest living American composer, period.” After his early years in California, Evans settled in New York City in 1946, where his apartment became a meeting ground for the greatest jazz innovators. The result was the “Birth of the Cool” scores, Evans’s four-decade-long collaboration with Miles Davis, and a host of brilliant records, both with Davis and with his own ensembles. Written with the cooperation of Evans’s friends, colleagues, and family, Gil Evans: Out of the Cool is an authoritative portrait.

Customer Reviews:

First-rate job.......2001-11-02

I read the manuscript before the book was published, and Stephanie has done a miraculous job. Gil Evans was an extremely private person, and there were so many things about his life that were unknown or mysterious (nobody is even sure what his name is) until Stepanie started compiling her research. This book is filled with little-known information about his early life, and the photos she has discovered are amazing. She has found long-forgotten correspondense between Evans and his friend Pete Carpenter, and has interviewed people who have never spoken about Gil before in print. If you have any interest in 20th century jazz ensemble music, this book is invaluable.

Book Description

From little known heroes to legends like Sam Walton and Bill Gates, this absorbing book weaves history, economics, and personality to reveal the secrets behind the success of the last century’s greatest American business leaders. The authors show that a key to success was “contextual intelligence”: the ability to “read” and understand the context of the times and seize the unique opportunities within them. Leadership titles sell well for us, and this book should get strong review attention Powerful Resource: canon of the 20th century’s greatest business leaders in one volume Absorbing read: the stories include both well known and unfamiliar leaders New Leadership Theory: many leadership profiles focus on personality traits; the authors’ theory of “contextual intelligence” represents a fresh perspective Well-researched: based on a Harvard Business School Leadership Initiative Study of 1,000 great CEOs and Founders of American companies from 1900-1999 Many of the leaders profiled hail from non-US countries

Customer Reviews:

How great business leaders "seized the zeitgeist of their times".......2007-09-25

I recently read Paths to Power, co-authored by Anthony Mayo and Nitin Nohria with Laura G. Singleton, as well as this book in which Mayo and Nohria also focus on some of the greatest business leaders of the twentieth century. As in Paths to Power, rather than limiting their attention to a set number of exemplary leaders - in chronological order -- and then devoting a separate chapter to each, Mayo and Nohria chose instead to examine the evolution of 20th century business leadership in terms of the ten decades, assigning to each an appropriate theme while frequently cross-referencing throughout the entire century. For example, Chapter One (1900-1909) is titled "The Land of Opportunity"; Chapter Six (1950-1959) is "Feeding the Machine of Consumption"; and Chapter Ten (1990-1999) is "Reengineering, Restructuring, and Reality Check."

In my opinion, as in their later book (Paths to Power), Mayo and Nohria's role, is more that of cultural anthropologists than as biographers or even business historians. They create a social and economic context within a 100-year framework as they examine what differentiated outsiders from insiders in business leadership in the 20th century.

In the city where I live, we have a number of outdoor markets at which slices of fresh fruit are offered as samples of the produce available. In that same spirit, I frequently include brief excerpts such as these from a book to help those who red my review to get a "taste." Here is a representative selection from the material that Mayo and Nohria provide:

"The business executives of the first decade were driven, opportunistic, and innovative. They operated on a large scale and constantly expanded their base of power. They built businesses that often had far-reaching impact on the way society lived, but they were, for the most part, less concerned about the way people worked; there was generally little regard for progressive employment practices. The focus was not on the quality of work life or necessarily on the quality of the product; it was often the quantity of the output. For many, there was no better way to secure quantity in the 1900s than through consolidation, and the move toward consolidation subsequently spawned another fundamental shift in business - a focus on productivity and efficiency." (Chapter One, Page 31)

Note: The business leaders discussed in this chapter include Clarence M. Wooley (American Radiator Company), Cyrus H.K. Curtis (Curtis Publishing Company), and Frank C. Ball (Ball Brothers Company).

"Although innovation and technical competence were the principal drivers of products in the 1940s, marketing, advertising, and standardization drove products and services in the 1950s. Sales volume was further increased because many products followed a planned-obsolescence life cycle. Successful businesses adopted this use-and-replace strategy, which was aided significantly with the rise in products manufactured with plastic or other synthetic materials. The lack of focus on product quality would eventually become a major liability for U.S. manufacturers, but that was hard to see in the general prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s as corporate profits continued to rise."

Note: The business leaders discussed in this chapter include Howard J. Morgens (Procter & Gamble), C. Kemmins Wilson (Holiday Inn), Raymond A. Kroc (McDonald's), and Malcolm P. McLean (SeaLand Service).

"As we have seen in our analysis of previous decades, the full impact of the entrepreneur's work is often not visible for many years; these businesspeople often push the limits of what is possible and even what is conceivable. By their nature, entrepreneurs and their businesses are ahead of the curve, and it is relatively dangerous to assess performance and impact as it is unfolding.

Note: The business leaders discussed in this chapter include Alfred M. Zeien (Gillette Company), Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (IBM Corporation), and Meg Whitman (eBay).

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to check out the aforementioned Paths to Power as well as Stuart Crainer's The Management Century and Stewart H. Holbrook's The Age of the Moguls: The Story of the Robber Barons and the Great Tycoons. (obtaining a copy of it is well worth the effort.) In his book, Holbrook examines a number of "lords of capital" who, in his words, "made `deals' purchased immunity, and did other things which in 1860, or 1880, or even 1900, were considered no more than `smart' by their fellow Americans, but which today would give pause to the most conscientiously dishonest promoter....They were a motley crew, yet taken together they fashioned a savage and gaudy age as distinctively purple as that of imperial Rome, and infinitely more entertaining." The group Holbrook considers is divided into three categories: promoters, bankers, and industrialists, with merchants in the latter group. They include Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, Charlie Gates, Thomas William Lawson, Henry H. Rogers, Henry Morrison Flagler, and Samuel Insull; Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Cyrus McCormick, Philip D. Armour, Henry Clay Frick, Henry Ford, and the Du Ponts; also the Guggenheims, Andrew W. Mellon, James J. Hill, Edward Henry Harriman, Henry Villard, the first two Vanderbilts, and the Astors. Some of these names remain familiar in our own time; others do not. All were "tough-minded fellows, who fought their way encased in rhinoceros hides and filled the air with their mad bellowings and the cries of the wounded." A colorful lot indeed.

Holbrook's account of 19th century robber barons and great tycoons "sets the table" for the "feast" of information and analysis that Anthony Mayo and Nitin Nohria so skillfully provide.

More than history - the insights of History on Business in the 21st Century.......2007-08-10

This is an important read beyond the standard insights of Collins, Charan and others. The historical settings of each leader are detailed to set the traits and skills of each business leader in context of the social and economic realities of their times.

Get two copies and give one to someone you admire and start a conversation on how important the social and economic realities are to business.

Interesting Book.......2007-08-08

I bought this book for one of my MBA courses. It is a great outline of business in America. I really enjoyed reading the book from the intro to the conclusion!

V. good read.......2005-12-28

Gives good sense of American economy combined with history and the leaders who shaped the economy.
It gives excellent details about how the business leaders leveraged the environment (business context) to succeed.
It is very inspirational to anyone thinking of creating a business and dreaming of making it big.

A UNIQUE, OUTSTANDING APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP!.......2005-11-19

This book explores how context, over time, creates different types of opportunities, and how business legends can be defined by the types of opportunities they pursued. What distinguishes this book from similar studies of legendary leaders, managers and entrepreneurs, is the underlying theme of contextual intelligence-the profound awareness and sensitivity to macro-level factors driving the creation, growth or transformation of business at a particular time. The authors discuss and assess the great names in business in the context of their time, organizing the book by decades, beginning in 1900 through the end of the last century. The book makes for fascinating,d enjoyable reading. This is a top-notch contribution to the study of those who have created and shaped business enterprises.

In Their Time: the Greatest Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century

Average customer rating:

In Their Time: the Greatest Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century
Anthony J. Mayo
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N79NV2

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