Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2006-09-10
This book is awsome, there are alot of fun jobs in media, definetely a must read.!! for anyone interested in a media related job!
Great book!.......2005-09-05
A very entertaining and enlightening book with hands-on advice for getting a job in media/film/advertising. Well worth the read!
Learn from the Best.......2004-01-23
With a few dozen informational interviews jammed into one cute package, this book will undoubtedly save its readers a whole bunch of time and frustration. All the questions one would be inclined to ask about the glamour jobs of the world are answered by the people who do them best. It's detailed, it's concise and it's eminently readable. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with the advice given by Straker and her impressive panel of experts.
An Amazing How-To Book for Women Graduating College.......2004-01-09
I know I want to get into the media or entertainment industries,but I had no idea how to figure out a career path. "Sexy Jobs in the City" gave me unbeleivable insight into how the various jobs actually function as well as which positions best match my personality. The way the author parallels the rules of dating while seaching for your dream guy to the search for your dream job is awesome - they are so similiar!
I've already got an interview for an entry-level postion with a magazine out in L.A....
This is no normal Job book!.......2003-12-19
Before I read this book, I was completely lost. While I knew I wanted to get into entertainment, I had no idea where to start. I would spend days scouring the internet, buying books on how to get "the job of one's dreams" -- not learning a single tip in the process. I was incredibly frustrated.
When I came upon Wendy Straker's job guide, I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. Wendy has done it! She has created an insightful, intelligent, humorous guide into getting my dream job. Her tips are extraordinary and I finally got that job that I had always wanted. Thank you Wendy! Your book is the best!!!!
Average customer rating:
|
Pod and the Sexy Dream Club
Steve Morris
Manufacturer: Matador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1904744265 |
Average customer rating:
|
SEXY DREAMS
Unknown
Manufacturer: TASCHEN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000S9N8PC |
Average customer rating:
|
Sexy Dreams
Reprocolor
Manufacturer: Reprocolor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 8228937067 |
Average customer rating:
|
Sexy Dreams (Taschen Specials)
Taschen Publishing
Manufacturer: Taschen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Commercial
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Drawing
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Erotic
| Other Media
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
French
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Arts & Photography
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All French Books
| French
| Foreign Language Books
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 3822893706 |
Average customer rating:
|
SEXY DREAMS.
Manufacturer: P/B
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 3894502819 |
Average customer rating:
|
Once Upon a Star
Majeed Beenteha
Manufacturer: Avesta International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0974126306 |
Product Description
Once Upon a Star is a creative work, with the key themes of dreams, spirituality, self-love, identity, self-reliance, and relationship. The story is full of delightful prose, rich imagery and metaphor, beautiful illustrations, simple yet profound. The book's main character, Roya, witnesses the fall of a star and in an attempt to save it, she is swept into an imaginative land on a faraway star. There she travels in quest of an elusive Barrier so that she may cross it to return home. In her quest, she meets seven colorful characters, including her own spirit. Through Roya and the characters in the story we learn much about the book's, indeed life's, central themes. We also learn something of the importance of perspective, open and creative thinking, imagination and child-like wonder in a happy and enriching life. The author has employed themes from Persian history, philosophy and culture to create original characters and a story line with a global appeal. Once Upon A Star is short and sweet enough to read to even very small children, who will undoubtedly fall in love with the book's direct style of narration and both memorable and charmingly funny persons and events.
Book Description
The surfing iconoclast who became an icon, Miki Dora was the epitome of 60s beach culture. His dark good looks were the envy of Malibu. His talent earned him trophies (which he disdained) and the nickname "Da Cat." And in the end, when he didn't like the commercial direction of the sport he helped define, he turned his back on the beach, wandered the world, served time in jail, and, finally in 2002, suffering from pancreatic cancer returned to his father's house in Montecito, California to die at age 67. A Malibu graffiti that appeared during his years on the road sums up his role in the surfing imagination and still holds true: "Dora Lives." Years in the making and compiled with the cooperation of Dora while he was alive and his family after his death, Dora Lives is the definitive record of the legend. Transcribed interviews with Dora and texts by former Surfer magazine editor Drew Kampion and writer C.R. Stecyk are combined with nearly 100 photos and stills from photographers, filmmakers, and Dora's personal albums. The story starts out in Budapest, Hungary, where Miklos Dora was born in 1934, follows the child amigra to Hollywood High (except when the surf was up), and finds him at the center of the post-Gidget surf boom of the 60s. At that time, Dora stunt-doubled in a few films and competed when he felt like it, but mostly he embraced the hedonist milieu and burnished his antihero legend, culminating in a mid-wave mooning of the judges at the 1967 Malibu Invitational. Shortly after, he left for points (and point breaks) abroad in France, Indonesia, Australia, and Madagascar until 2001, when he returned to the West Coast to die.
Customer Reviews:
dora apocalypto.......2007-02-17
I didn't know Dora (too young, I came later) but I know many people who did. As with any good story teller, and he apparently was, there a figments of even "truth" that accompany the life exaggerations in this book. To a man, (at least, my acquaintences)described him as an invenerate lier, cheat, and con artist.....but entertaining, non-the-less. The consumate surf bum and original "me, me, me" before the in vouge "me" decade practitioner.
That is the problem with this (well-written, at least) book on Dora's life. Half, at least, is probably crap....but what crap it is!
I would rather listen/read-about Dora's lies, than have to wade through a lot of pontification by other surf media "journalists" (Rabbit, Hynd, etc.) any day.
In death even, exaggeration can become myth, can become legend, then even truth.
Dora Lives: The Authorized Story of Miki Dora.......2007-01-09
I bought the book for my son for christmas and had Amazon post it direct to him in Laos he received it the day promised and he is very happy he said the book is great and is spending time reading. Thank You Amazon
A BALANCED PORTRAIT.......2006-09-28
DORA LIVES is a posthumous biography on Miki Dora, a pioneering surfer from the 1950s and 1960s, and on page 23, it says this about artistic temperament:
"Perhaps the greatest creation of the artist is the persona of the artist himself. You can see the artist as 'a sensitive' ... or as a human being that has failed at being completely hypnotized like the rest of the population. The artist is painfully (and perhaps not unconsciously) aware of this - aware of his or her objective isolation, as opposed to the subjective isolation of the general, so-called 'normal' population, which the artist perceives as not unlike the walking dead. There's an ethic in surf culture that opposes the overly structured life. That refuses to comply with insistence. That resists temptation. Of a sort."
I don't entirely agree with this statement, but I agree with the sense of it. Yes, I agree that artists need a fair degree of leeway in order to function. And I do agree that there is a contentment in being unconscious about one's loneliness, and that artists tend to be restless souls who are painfully aware of their "objective isolation."
Such psychological language is almost too high-falutin' for a surfer bio, though, and I'm not sure I understand the unexplained difference between subjective and objective isolation -- just one of several unelaborated pronouncements in the above paragraph.
I think it's a bit arrogant to label the general populace as "not unlike the walking dead." I'm suspicious of any attempt to blame society, however covertly, for one's situation, since it does nothing to solve one's problems. We are all society, even (perhaps especially) artists. I think perhaps the writer is attempting to make some statement about the examined versus the unexamined life.
Yet each of us has some degree of self-awareness, yes? However fragmentary and inconsistent one's self-awareness may be, I don't think anyone thinks of himself as the "walking dead," except perhaps the hyper-sensitive artist. I've made statements, often artistic ones, about standing apart from the "herd," yet ultimately, does this really help the artist with her situation? Maybe it helps her come to terms with her alienation. I know that this is why I became an artist rather than an academic. I didn't see any comfort there.
I think it's almost the place of the artist to locate comfort within discomfort -- to become comfortable with being uncomfortable, and to use that tension as a creative springboard. I don't think that the structural and political demands of career academia would have set well with my temperament. There are some kinds of discomfort that one never succeeds in accommodating.
On page 32 is an excellent example:
"Tracey, suddenly without a paycheck and completely broke, figured he might as well just sleep on the beach, which he did. After awakening in the morning damp, he spent the next day harvesting palm fronds, driftwood, and assorted junk from the lagoon and built himself a shack to call home. It was the beginning of something.
[...] "As her father would describe in the novel GIDGET, the first-person recreation of his daughter's summer published in 1957, Malibu was one big party, orchestrated by Tracey, and it ran all summer long. And at the end of it, at Malibu's 1st Annual Luau, Tube [Tracey] torched his grass shack.
"The following summer it was the cops that tore down the shack. Apparently, the city fathers were concerned that the trend at Malibu wasn't entirely wholesome; after all, it was a public beach. Those summers of love - before the beats, before the hippies, and very likely anticipating both - were profoundly brief and retrospectively perfect, so the nostalgia for them became a powerful intoxicant to chroniclers of surfing history."
I suppose every artist has some sense memory like this, some epiphany or satori where the realization hits him that he, like some accidentally observed bit of outcast culture, is "different," and from that moment on, his life is changed.
One aspect of this book that evokes surfer culture is a total lack of chapter breaks, which imbues it with a surfer's sense of the eternal now. The copious full-page photos -- often in color, sometimes colorized to heightened dramatic effect, and often composed of fold-out plates -- add to this effect and give the reader a larger-than-life sense of involvement with the story. Like a wave, they pull the reader along.
The text seeks neither to glorify Dora nor rebuke him for his flaws and excesses, presenting a balanced portrait of a man living at the margins of a glamorous, hedonistic society -- namely, postwar through '60s Hollywood - playing it for all he can while flipping it the bird. In Miki Dora, unbridled opportunism clashed with a palpable moral outrage at Hollywood's hype, that relentless synthesis of media and glitz belying its trade in the exploitation of souls and resultant carnage. Like the lava meeting the surf, such a deep-seated conflict solidified within Dora as that most confounding and unlikely of heroes, the rebel with a cause. This cause emerged as an unquenchable quest for an unattainable purity -- a cause he could only deign to access by granting himself unlimited license to ride the wave of showmanship and the celebrity it brought to his feet. Cynics such as Dora need no external authority to grant them access past the gates of privilege, as they see it for the sham that it is. Thus, they remain "unhypnotized" -- at least, by privilege. But what about their own need to rebel?
--Bill Brent [edited 24 July 2007]
Customer Reviews:
Fun for me and my son........2004-09-27
I have the pleasure of being able to read these stories to my son. While this is not a title I would probably have picked up on my own...I greatly enjoy being able to share them with him...and I enjoy them to boot.
The art by Ernie Colon and Joe Staton is right on the money...and while the stories may be a little light they are still a great amount of fun.
Average customer rating:
|
Scooby-Doo's Guide to Life-Just Say "Ruh-Roh!": Just Say "Ruh-Roh
Laura Dower
Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Popular Culture
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Activity Books
| Sports & Activities
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Book Characters
| Popular Characters
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
| Alanna
| Amanda Pig
| Amelia Bedelia
| Anastasia
| Anne of Green Gables
| Babar
| Barbie
| Berenstain Bears
| Biscuit
| Bobbsey Twins
| Broadway Ballplayers
| Bunnicula
| Clifford
| Curious George
| Dr. Seuss
| Eloise
| Encyclopedia Brown
| Freddy the Pig
| Frog and Toad
| George and Martha
| Hank the Cowdog
| Hardy Boys
| Horrible Harry
| King Arthur
| Kipper
| Madeline
| Maisy
| McDuff
| Miss Spider
| Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
| Nancy Drew
| Paddington
| Peter Rabbit
| Pippi Longstocking
| Rotten Ralph
| Stellaluna
| Thomas the Tank Engine
| TinTin
| Verdi
| Winnie-the-Pooh
| Wizard of Oz
Scooby Doo
| Favorite Characters
| Series
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0590631098 |
Customer Reviews:
Not worth it.......2002-08-01
Out of 112 pages, only five deal specifically with what to say in order to talk your way out of a ticket, and the rest of the book deals with general common sense explanations of why officers are people too, all the instances where you CAN'T talk your way out of a ticket, and very brief explanations of some courtroom defenses. While the author has good intentions and provides some basic information, this book will NOT show you how to talk your way out of a traffic ticket unless you just have dumb luck. Check out the Internet for better "scripts" and ideas. ...
Eliminating tickets.......1998-12-28
I don't know how to write a book review, but I do know that this book has been worth every penny to me and my husband. We have each avoided getting a ticket on two separate occasions. It has also really opened our eyes about the sensitive issue of drunk driving and how a policeman feels about it and what he will be looking for when he stops a car and smells booze on your breath. Whether you are a new driver or have been driving for 30 or more years, please read this book!
Eliminating tickets.......1998-12-28
I don't know how to write a book review, but I do know that this book has been worth every penny to me and my husband. We have each avoided getting a ticket on two separate occasions. It has also really opened our eyes about the sensitive issue of drunk driving and how a policeman feels about it and what he will be looking for when he stops a car and smells booze on your breath. Whether you are a new driver or have been driving for 30 or more years, please read this book!
This book saved me more than once!.......1998-12-28
I just became aware that this book is available on Amazon.com and felt compelled to comment about it. I first bought this book about 5 years ago and some time after reading it, I was stopped for going 40 mph in a 25 mph speed area. I followed advice I remembered from the book regarding what to say and what not to say and was let go by the Highway Patrolman. On another occasion, I was not so lucky and received a ticket. (I guess I shouldn't have made a U-turn right in front of a police car). I followed the instructions in this book about "How to win in court" and the judge ruled in my favor. This book is full of advice, tips and inside police information not available from other sources and I highly recommend it. It has certainly made me far less fearful about being stopped by the police.
This book tells the obvious.......1998-08-11
The above review says it all. That is the whole book in a nutshell. Just be nice to the cop. I do that anyway. It didn't open my eyes or anything. Tells you to use common sense. I didn't need to buy the book to learn that.
Average customer rating:
|
MASTERING MAYA COMPLETE 2
Unknown
Manufacturer: SYBEX
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Mayan
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B000S3RN5O |
Average customer rating:
- It is all online
- Makes the offical manuals look like toilet paper
- 75% good.. 25%difficult
- MASTERING MAYA COMPLETE 2 a real tereasure
- Very Nice book for learning this complicated application
|
Mastering Maya Complete 2
Perry Harovas ,
Peter Lee , and
John L. Kundert-Gibbs
Manufacturer: Sybex
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Games & Strategy Guides
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
| Internet Games
| Strategy Guides
| Video Games
Web Graphics
| Web Design
| Web Development
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Graphic Design
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Animation
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0782125212 |
Amazon.com
Learning to use every aspect of Alias Wavefront's Maya can be challenging. Maya is a powerful, complex tool, but some artists devote themselves to using only one or two features, like modeling, particle animation, lighting, or animation. The authors of Mastering Maya Complete 2 have tried to cover every aspect of the program within this book, and the result is a balanced overview of the entire program that lays a solid foundation for anyone climbing the Maya learning curve.
The book contains six major sections: fundamentals, modeling, animation, Maya's scripting language, rendering, and advanced Maya effects. Individual chapters delve into the details of Maya's feature set, mostly with tutorials demonstrating their use. Sidebar tips appear on almost every page, and the authors have made liberal use of screen shots.
The opening chapter sets the tone for this voluminous book as an introductory tutorial to building a complete scene. A simple model is created and textured, lights are added, and the model becomes animated and rendered. While this section isn't heavy on detail, the project is complete and offers a whole overview of the Maya project cycle. The rest of the book covers features like the modeling tools, animation tools, and advanced effects in greater depth.
Although the application and subject are technical by nature, Mastering Maya Complete 2 is clear and concise. Each chapter is a set of tutorials that demonstrate specific features, and new users of Maya should have no trouble following the book while working with the program. --Mike Caputo
Book Description
Maya is an all-in-one intuitive 3D application for modeling, rendering, and animating 3D productions. When this product was first released, it was greeted with glowing reviews from both users and the media praising its speed, comprehensive tool set, and ease of customization and extensibility. Right now, the only way to learn all aspects of this complex program is to take expensive training courses -- there is great demand for a book on the fundamentals of Maya. Digital artists are sure to appreciate Mastering Maya Complete 2. The book features a full-color insert illustrating the true effects of the techniques shown, plus a CD with 3D Gallery, a gathering of 3D rendering and animation project demos, plug-ins, and Web links to animation resources.
Customer Reviews:
It is all online.......2001-05-22
The tutorial is old - is has been online for years. It was presented at SIGGRAPH over three years ago.
The front of the book is obviously filler - over 50 pages rehashing 'story' and 'character' information that is so bland and unstudied it could be written by an accountant. This section should be left out of future tutorial books.
Makes the offical manuals look like toilet paper.......2000-08-21
It explains every tool and function. Most importantly it has "real world" tutorials to show how each tool fits into the modeling, animation, rendering, and effects workflow.
The offical maya manual explains functions well, but leaves you guessing as to when those functions can be actually used. I suppose that is part of the challenge of being a 3d artist, but if you're lazy like me and like to be held by the hand of professionals instead of wasting many hours/days experimenting, get this book. you'll cover ALOT of ground in very little time(compared to A/W's expensive maya encyclopedia).
I'm looking forward for the 3.5 Complete revision from the authors!
75% good.. 25%difficult.......2000-07-26
After going through the entire book and making notes in the borders of all the errors of explanation and omissions of details, I've come to the conclusion above. This book is NOT for the totally inexperienced CG person. I must conclude that this text was not given to a beginner for proffreading. However, this is not to disparage the software itself. Maya is not an easy program to master. Most of the exercises in this book are easy to follow, but some of the missed explanations and dropped details can be irritating to the extreme, e.g. there are numerous ommisions to use the Middle Mouse button for certain actions (Maya requires a three button mouse to operate). Overall, I give this book a "thumbs up", but the book reader MUST have an ability to problem solve.
MASTERING MAYA COMPLETE 2 a real tereasure.......2000-07-24
I have started using maya almost 3 mounths ago and I started it with this book right away. And although I am not new to 3d animation and I can say that I have read various 3d animation books but I have to say that I was realy amazed by the lights this book put in my way of using MAYA. And I sort of envy the authors for thair ability in using the software and thair ability in comunicating with others in a understandable way. They dont pay me to write this thing But for the efforts they have put in their job I just couldn't resist to share this with you guys.
Very Nice book for learning this complicated application.......2000-07-21
Trying to learn maya 2 with the manuals that came with it was a very daunting task. I quickly found I needed help. I ordered this book and after only 15-20 minutes knew more than hours of reviewing the manuals. I highly recommend this book. If you are running Maya 2.5 Complete or Unlimited there are some small differences in the user interface but if you review the online help and just play around with it you shouldn't have any problems. Good Luck and really try to learn this excellent package from Alias.
Average customer rating:
|
Prokofiev: The Illustrated Lives of the Great Composers
David Gutman
Manufacturer: Omnibus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Prokofiev, Sergey
| Composers
| Classical
| Musical Genres
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Classical
| Musical Genres
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Composition
| Theory, Composition & Performance
| Music
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Composers & Musicians
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0711920834 |
Book Description
Versatile transfer patterns adapted from 118 authentic Indian motifs ranging from abstract designs to depictions of human, animal and mythical figures, totem poles, and other cultural and religious symbols. Patterns vary in size and shape and are ideal for use in embroidery, fabric painting, wood burning and other crafts. With easy-to-follow instructions.
Book Description
For the geek who's an investor, and the investor who's a geek, we present Online Investing Hacks, 100 industrial-strength, bleeding edge tips, tools and techniques for analyzing and managing online portfolios. Individual investors have become more computer-literate and technology-dependent than ever before. Whether you're looking for suitable investments, studying alternatives, or managing your portfolios, you need data. The Internet can be a goldmine of financial data and research, but today's online investors also use spreadsheets, databases, and financial applications to select, study and manage investments. If your proficiency has grown to the point where you crave industrial-strength tips and tools to turbo-charge your efforts, this is the book for you. Online Investing Hacks covers:
- Screening Investments
- Collecting Data
- Fundamental Analysis
- Technical Analysis
- Executing Trades
- Investing in Mutual Funds
- Portfolio Management
- Updating Stock Data
- Financial Planning
Other books for managing online investing are either out of date, are for beginners and don't go beyond the most basic advice, or are so dull and boring they squeeze that last bit of fun out of the topic. Online Investing Hacks is for the customer who wants to know the latest techniques, to go beyond the basics, who gets jazzed by cool online tools and services, and who actually wants to have a bit of fun while trying to strike it rich (or at least not lose their shirt).
Customer Reviews:
Good book, useful tools, beginner thru expert.......2007-07-26
I've been trading for over twenty years, including a period as a floor trader on the Chicago Board of Trade. Even with that experience there are tips and tricks in this book I found useful to the point where I employ them daily. To be complete as a reviewer I will say there is a lot of pretty basic stuff from my point of view, but still well worth reviewing since some of it I had forgotten.
Well written, easy reading, well organized
This book can pay for itself very quickly..........2004-11-21
Online Investing Hacks by Bonnie Biafore (O'Reilly) is one of those books that can pay for itself in short order, as well as over and over.
Chapter list: Screening Investments; Hacking Excel for Financial Analysis; Collecting Financial Data; Analyzing Company Fundamentals; Technical Analysis; Executing Trades; Investing in Mutual Funds; Managing Your Portfolio; Financial Planning; Index
I worked at Enron from 1998 through 2001, and spent plenty of time during that dot.com era following my stock portfolio. I watched my Enron stock value go from incredible value to a point where it cost more to sell the stock than it was worth. I won a few bets (face it, that's what they were) on a few dot.coms and lost many more. What could have been an incredible nest egg, isn't. This book would have been a lifesaver if I had read and paid attention to it a few years ago. Biafore shows you how you can analyze and invest wisely using a variety of tools available to everyone.
If you're an Excel user, you'll find it an invaluable tool for analysis. She'll show you how you can use it to create financial charts (#13), calculate compound annual rates of growth (#26), and use rational values to buy and sell wisely (#36). #39 - Spot Hanky Panky with Cash Flow Analysis (using Enron as an example) would have literally saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars had I known about it. Even if you don't care about the investing tips, the hack on downloading data via Excel web queries (#7) was something I didn't know how to do (or that you could even do it!). The book has a little something for everyone.
As with all Hacks titles, you probably won't be interested in every single item. Some may not be applicable to your situation or may be too complex for what you care to handle. But all it would take is one hack to work out and change your investing for this book to pay huge dividends. If you do your own investing, you owe it to yourself to get this book.
Excellent Reference/Resource.......2004-11-07
Online Investing Hacks is an excellent introduction to the world of investment. Though the title does contain the word 'Online', I would say that the general information the book provides on investing is not limited to the online realm.
Overall, I was very happy with the book, and found it incredibly useful. Though I do have several investments (401K, some stock, mutual funds etc) I would hardly consider myself an authority on the subject. This book provided very detailed explanations and tips on various forms of investment, from CD's to Index funds, and everything in between. While the experienced investor might not glean much from reading this book, anyone just getting started will find it an excellent reference, and resource.
The format of the book is similar to the other books in the 100 * Hacks series published by O'Reilly. There are exactly 100 hacks, or topics, which are spread across 9 chapters. Each one is an individual entity and can be read and understood without reliance on any of the other hacks.
One minor annoyance I had with the book is that it is geared toward those of you who, for some reason or another, run Microsoft's Windows OS, or have access to Microsoft Excel. Luckily, of the Excel examples that I played with, Open Office's Calc program handled them with minimal tweaking.
I can easily recommend this book to anyone who wants to invest, but is unsure of what to invest in, or needs some tips on making the most of preexisting investments. Those of you who enjoy research and building your own stats and graphs will also find parts of this book rather intriguing, as it covers data acquisition and manipulation with Excel in great detail. It will make an excellent addition to my reference shelf, and I have a feeling it will be well thumbed through in a very short time.
Excellent resource for all investors.......2004-10-04
It seems like everyone is involved in investing in some form or another. While I always felt like I should be investing too, it was never clear to me how to begin this process. After all, it's my money. How can I be sure I'm investing in something that will provide some sort of reasonable return? This book is an excellent resource in answering some of those questions and putting the new investor on the right track.
This book is written in the same format as the other "hacks" series by O'Reilly. This format is very easy to read, and the format makes it very easy to find answers. Rather then having to read the book from cover to cover, the reader can pick out topics they are dealing with, read the answer, and move on. Since many of the people interesting in a book of this nature will likely have little time, the book's format works to its advantage.
The book begins with some basic introduction to the stock market and tips for selecting appropriate stocks or mutual funds. The whole middle section of the book deals with data analysis. The author discusses how to understand a company's balance sheet (e.g. what that P/E ratio means), how to spot companies in financial trouble, how to pick a good stock, and even how to trade. There is also a good discussion on minimizing the effect of taxes on your little return on investment.
The author even goes further and gets into a discussion on financial planning. In addition to discussing debt reduction, the author also talks about IRA plans and different strategies for saving for your child's education expenses. I think my favorite part of this book was the discussion on different education savings plans. The author discusses the ins and outs (as well as tax consequences) of each of the plans, and provides some examples illustrating the fact that it's better to start saving earlier than later.
This is an excellent book, not just for its investing advice, but also for its sound financial planning. This is a great book for anyone who is interested in increasing their wealth, saving for a rainy day, or simply saving for future financial goals.
Among the most useful books on investing I've seen..........2004-09-19
This is one of the most useful books on investing that I've seen.
The excellent chapter on fundamental analysis alone is worth the price of admission. Plus there are chapters on technical analysis, mutual funds, asset allocation, financial planning, investing in bonds etc, all equally well written.
Hope the author writes a sequel to this book covering topics not covered here (eg. topics related to options trading).
A required title in any serious investor's bookshelf.
Books:
- Sketchbook With Voices
- Sounding the Event: Escapades in Dialogue and Matters of Art, Nature and Time
- Staffordshire Figures: History in Earthenware, 1740-1900 (Schiffer Book for Collectors)
- Sustaining Loss: Art and Mournful Life
- Sutton Impact: The Political Cartoons Of Ward Sutton
- Textualterity: Art, Theory, and Textual Criticism (Editorial Theory and Literary Criticism)
- The Bug Stops Here
- The Craft of Old-Master Drawings
- The Dream of the Moving Statue
- The End of the Salon: Art and the State in the Early Third Republic
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since: From the Streets of Harlem to the Halls of Congress
- A Time for Listening and Caring: Spirituality and the Care of the Chronically Ill and Dying
- A Day in Mossy Creek
- Wildcats Version 3.0: Full Disclosure
- When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions
- A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
- 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life
- Trees, Shrubs, And Vines Of The Texas Hill Country: A Field Guide
- When I Was Puerto Rican
- Wildflowers and Winter Weeds