Illuminating the Epic: The Kassel "Willehalm" Codex and the Landgraves of Hesse in the Early Fourteenth Century (Monographs on the Fine Arts)

Book Description

This definitive handbook explains how a script is transformed into a motion picture or television program. Readers will learn the methodology and craft of the script supervisor, who ensures that the continuity of a film, its logical progression, is coherent.

The book teaches all vital script supervising functions, including how to:
.prepare, or "break down" a script for shooting
.maintaining screen direction and progression
.matching scenes and shots for editing
.cuing actors
.recording good takes and prints
preparing time and log sheets for editing

This revision of an industry classic has been updated to reflect changes in the film industry in recent years, including the use of electronic media in the script supervisor's tasks. While it is written for the novice script writer, it can serve as a valuable resource for directors, film editors, scriptwriters and cinematographers.

Customer Reviews:

New to Script/Continuity Supervising.......2007-06-08

I'm new to Script supervising and I've learned a wealth of information. I highly recommend this book.

Necessary resource, if unglamorous treatment.......2005-03-16

Miller's book provides the necessary foundational data one will need before getting into script supervising. Her writing doesn't exactly scintillate with humor like some of the new "guerilla filmmaking" books out there today -- she tends to write like a 1950s schoolteacher, precise and methodical -- but in an admittedly esoteric specialization of the industry where there are only a few books on the topic available, you really don't have a lot of options and you'll need this book. It's NOT sufficient for giving one the complete training needed to actually work as a script supervisor, however. Whoever wrote that you can learn what you need to know "on set" is just asking for trouble -- it's like thinking you can read a book on piloting an airplane and just get behind the yoke and learn "what you need to know" in the air. On a "real" film set (not some zero-budget digicam or student project that no one will ever see) mistakes are EXPENSIVE. Mistakes by a poorly trained s.s. can cost thousands of dollars (not including the cost of therapy when the director and editor go bonkers trying to cut the film from the scripty's notes.) Trying to learn on a "real" set could make it the first and the last real movie set you'll ever work on. I value Miller's book but it must be combined with a good course of study with a real-life teacher who can answer your questions. A course that includes on-the-job training and followup and information on how to research and obtain real jobs doing script supervising is critical -- obviously no book can contain all this. I found Jim Kelly Durgin's course to be helpful in this regard, and there may be others out there too if you look for them. BTW, I don't feel that the 3rd edition of the Miller book is substantially different or better than the 2nd, so if you need to save some money, you'll do just fine with the 2nd edition. I agree that she is old-fashioned (she doesn't deal _at all_ with the new continuity software on the market, a huge omission) but, again, there aren't that many books about this subject readily available.

A Basic Starting Point.........2005-02-24

Hi everyone:

I am based in Toronto, Canada and have been script supervising feature films and television series internationally for 12 years now (read my imdb profile if you're interested in my "street cred"). During that time I have had the pleasure of training dozens of working script supervisors in the classroom as well as on set.

I would like to say that I do recommend this book to all my students as a basic starting point - especially for those who never went to film school - mainly because nothing exists out there that is as clearly written and includes much of the basics (thus, the necessity of my Script Supervision 101 and more advanced seminars, and other in-depth courses available in different cities out there). As another user commented, most of what can be learned about script happens either on a film set or in the editing room, not by reading a book.

Further, the limitations of this particular book are that she deals mainly with the old Hollywood studio system and does not account for the present-day realities of technological advances, the more recent varieties of on-set politics and settiquette, and alternative/maverick directing and coverage styles. If this book is all you know about script, you're going to get fairly frustrated fairly quickly.

The complexities of the job do require a certain knowledge base, and learning as much as you can from a working pro before stepping out onto a film set will save you months or years of trial and error down the line.

However, that being said, do give this book a read and augment your learning with great books on the art of coverage and directing (for example, Daniel Arijon's classic "The Grammar of the Film Language" can be very useful to the new script supervisor) - then get out there and shadow a script supervisor directly, or edit a few films for yourself or take an intensive course then jump right into the fire.

I wish you all well in your burgeoning careers!

ciao :)
daniela
mondocinema@ca.inter.net

Comments on other Reviewer's comments.......2005-01-07

I just want to toss my hat in here about the Pat Miller's book on script continuity.

This book was recommended to me last summer when I was on a film shoot. I was cautioned that the book was very old but it was basically the "Bible" for script supervisors. Hey it was published 1998, written maybe 2 years earlier so given it's 2005, that's almost 8 or 9 years ago. I was told to read the book and to use what I wanted from it. The script supervisor who recommended the book was also nice enough to give me her forms that she uses on set.

The problem with reviews by Larry D. Madill Jr. and "a reader" about courses by Jim Kelly Durgin and Mark Thomas is that (1) I don't live in LA (2) I need to come up to speed reasonably fast for 2 small films I am working on (3) if Durgin or Thomas are such 'experts' why haven't they written books on the topic (4) script supervision is something that you learn on the job and not from a course (although a course is sure better than a book and a book better than nothing at all).

It's a great reference..........2004-03-23

This book is a great reference when you're starting out to be a Script Supervisor and/or if you need a quick course in screen direction, continuity matching, script breakdown & describing shot sizes. This book should be a recommended textbook when taking a Script Supervising class. Any teacher, who doesn't recommend textbooks of any kind, is lessening that students' growth and knowledge of various information. That is why, I, highly recommend taking Randi Feldman's class either in LA, NY and OK. She would be able to guide you in a structured and detailed class than any other instructor. She will give you the necessary explanations and in depth exercises of being a Script Supervisor.

Customer Reviews:

BRINGS BACK MEMORIES.......2007-09-01

I first read this when I was 8 years old at my school library. I've been a fan of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang since I first saw the cartoons (it was before I could read that I saw the cartoons) and read the comics whenever I could. Peanuts is a timeless classic, since it gives no specific time and place, it just shows kids being kids. I don't own a copy of this book yet, and I haven't read it since I was 8, but I'll never forget it. It's simple (like all peanuts stories), but also incredibly touching (so not so simple), as the title says Charlie Brown wants all the frieds he can get. Everyone can relate to that, I'm so greatful for the friends I have. So I can't wait to get my copy of this and read it again.

Average customer rating:

I NEED ALL THE FRIENDS I CAN GET
Charles M. Schulz
Manufacturer: Determined Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FVFHUC

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I NEED ALL THE FRIENDS I CAN GET

Manufacturer: Ivory Tower Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0880321415

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I Need All The Friends I Can Get
Charles M. Schulz
Manufacturer: Determined Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KOY5Z2

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I Need All the Friends I Can Get

Manufacturer: Determined Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GM0AIE

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I Need All the Friends I Can Get
Charles M Schulz
Manufacturer: DETERMINED PRODUCTIONS INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SHM32I

I Need All the Friends I Can Get 1ST Edition

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I Need All the Friends I Can Get 1ST Edition
Charles Schulz
Manufacturer: DETERMINED PRODUCTIONS INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000U1W840

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I Need All the Friends I Can Get.
Charles M. Schulz
Manufacturer: Determined Productions, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NXQ1FC

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I Need All the Friends I Can Get
Charles M Schulz
Manufacturer: DETERMINED PRODUCTIONS INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PX58J0

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I Need All the Friends I Can Get
Charles M Schulz
Manufacturer: DETERMINED PRODUCTIONS INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UDW6FY

Customer Reviews:

A good joke book........2005-11-06

It's easy to read and has a good variety of jokes.

Biggest Book of Kids Fun Ever (Madcap Pounders)

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Biggest Book of Kids Fun Ever (Madcap Pounders)
Gyles Brandreth
Manufacturer: Andre Deutsch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0233050612

Book Description

A revealing and affectionate account of the personal and political lives of the left-wing screenwriters, directors, and actors behind Hollywood's Golden Age. The first comprehensive book about Hollywood's future blacklistees and the hundreds of films they wrote or directed from the dawn of sound movies to the early 1950s, Radical Hollywood traces the political and personal lives of the activists along with the often-decisive impact of their work upon American film's Golden Age. A highly readable, anecdotal history, featuring an insert of classic film stills, , Radical Hollywood describes the story-behind-the-story of such famous films as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Casablanca, and Woman of the Year, alongside such campy items as The Adventures of Captain Marvel, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, and Kiss the Blood off My Hands. Genres like crime and women's films, family cinema, war, animation and, above all, film noir are reconsidered here, with fresh evidence drawn from interviews and recent archival breakthroughs. A long-awaited rediscovery of an overlooked intellectual-artistic milieu, , Radical Hollywood will interest all film-lovers and devotees of political culture. 16 pages b/w photographs.

Films discussed include: The Adventures of Captain Marvel • The Big Clock • Body and Soul • Back Door to Heaven • Blues in the Night • Cabin in the Sky • Caged • Casablanca • Champion • Deadline at Dawn • Destry Rides Again • The Devil-Doll • Diplomaniacs • Dynamite • Frankenstein • G. I. Joe • Give Us This Day • Gun Crazy • High Noon • Hitler's Children • Hold That Ghost • Honky Tonk • Keeper of the Flame • Kiss the Blood off My Hands • Kitty Foyle • Lassie, Come Home • The Lawless • Life with Father • The Long Night • The Maltese Falcon • The Man Who Reclaimed His Head • Marked Woman • Mayor of Hell • Meet the People • Mission to Moscow • Monsieur Verdoux • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington • None but the Lonely Heart • Our Vines Have Tender Grapes • Phantom Lady • The Philadelphia Story • A Place in the Sun • The President's Mystery • Pride of the Marines • The Public Enemy • Ruthless • The Sea Hawk • Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror • Stella Dallas • Stormy Weather • The Story of G.I. Joe • Talk of the Town • Theodora Goes Wild • The Thin Man • Thirty Seconds over Tokyo • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn • Watch on the Rhine • The Wizard of Oz • Woman of the Year

Customer Reviews:

Hollywood's Travels -- and Travails.......2004-03-29

Radical Hollywood, by Paul Buhle and David Wagner, is an exhaustively (if at times exhaustingly) comprehensive and, as far as I can tell, mostly accurate (if at times chronologically confusing) catalog of the many U.S. motion pictures created during the brief cinematic "Golden Age" from roughly the beginning of the New Deal to the onset of the Cold War by what could loosely be called the Hollywood Left -- or the Left in Hollywood, such as it was.

The fact, though, that Buhle and Wagner had to write a book largely to explain the alleged "radical" subtext in these films by their non-monolithic screenwriters illustrates how the "threat" posed to U.S. society (read: the capitalist class) by such pictures was wildly exaggerated by right-wing anti-communists for political reasons. (Was Lassie Come Home, for example, going to undermine the foundations of capitalism simply because it was adapted for the screen by a Communist?) And yet, maybe that perceived subtlety (where present, enforced perhaps at least as much by studio economics and cultural restraints as by national politics) was the kind of "subversion" the inquisitors found so dangerous to the interests of the social class they actually represented.

Or maybe it was a case of guilt by either membership or association, with the work of any Communist -- or anyone associated however remotely with a Communist or the Communist Party -- being cast under suspicion, whatever the nature of his or her work. But just as Freud is reputed to have said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, sometimes, say, an expressly comedic film is just that, and nothing more. And even from a Leftist perspective, that is not necessarily bad. Consider, though, Sullivan's Travels, which oddly political yet intriguing picture instead of self-consciously being "an answer to communism," actually makes a case for it in spite of itself, and which despite its intentions (or perhaps because of them), may be more politically effective than many a more tendentiously political piece of cinema, even when the title character keenly observes that, "There's a lot to be said for making people laugh," it being "all some people have." (Curiously, the opening scene-within-a-scene of this 1941 comedy -- written and directed by Preston Sturges, who, like this film, is not mentioned by Buhle and Wagner nor is he identified by them as being a part of the Hollywood Left community -- anticipated the ending of the 1948 drama Ruthless, co-scripted by one of the Hollywood Ten and discussed by the authors.) Indeed, there is nothing inherently wrong or reactionary with making people laugh, provided one sees that culture can and should be for the edification as well as the entertainment of the public. And this is where skilled and honest Leftist cultural workers are in their element. But just as an artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery, according to the great Paul Robeson, so, ultimately, must an artist's audience.

However, Buhle and Wagner betray a kind of not so much discernibly anti-communist as anti-Communist (or anti-Communist Party) subtext of their own throughout the book -- typical of that tendency of neo-Left thought developing in the 1960s which, by intent or in effect, sought the very break with the historical continuity of the Communist Left that Buhle and Wagner see as a consequence of the Hollywood blacklist, as when they blame "Party bureaucrats" for the demise of the Hollywood Left (or what passed for it), when were it not for the (albeit imperfect) agency of the Communist Party (often in the midst of internal struggle as well as external attack, the effect of the former evidently not sufficiently and fairly understood or appreciated by the authors), most of those who became the radical screenwriters and filmmakers of Hollywood would likely never have even thought of attempting what they somehow managed in some form to bring to the movie screen.

A fascinating journey.......2003-10-03

"Radical Hollywood" is both fabulously entertaining and enlightening. For movie fans (who isn't) and students of American history, it provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the radical politics of the directors, screen writers, and actors who were part of the Hollywood mainstream until McCarthyism drove them out. When you reflect on the greatness of their work, you realize that the witch-hunt was our loss as well as theirs.

The cover photo of "Radical Hollywood" suggests that many of these figures were not ordinarily associated with the left. With James Cagney placing his hand somewhat menacingly on Jean Harlow in "The Public Enemy", you have to wonder what the connection is. As it turns out, the script was written by William Bright, who was one of the first left-wing innovators in Hollywood. Hailing from Chicago, he was part of a group of youngsters around Dr. Ben Reitman, Emma Goldman's longtime lover. During the Great Depression, he worked for a time as a smalltime bootlegger and was inspired by this experience to write about criminal life, emphasizing how social relations are distorted by capitalism.

Cagney threw his support to the burgeoning labor movement in the 1930s on Bright's prompting. He signed on to a support committee for strikers in the San Joaquin Valley in 1934. When the Hearst press began to redbait Cagney, he pulled back from future involvement with the left. If witch-hunting had not been a factor in Hollywood from the beginning, it is not too difficult to imagine much more willingness on the part of movie stars to speak out on social and political questions.

To see how figures such as Ed Asner, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn are stigmatized in the equivalent of the Hearst press today for having the temerity to speak out about US foreign policy, you can only appreciate the scholarly effort that went into "Radical Hollywood". For in the final analysis its authors demonstrate that radicalism is very much a phenomenon that grew out of the American soil and was not imported by agents of a foreign power.

Man the pumps, it's too thin to shovel.......2003-01-17

It's quite true that the authors' knowledge of Hollywood film history is encyclopedic, and this alone makes the book an indispensable reference to the stories behind the stories of innumerable great and less-than-great films. Described elsewhere as "the Abbott and Costello of film studies," these two spew forth gallons of embarrassingly wrongheaded and outmoded leftie humbug; nevertheless this is exactly what makes their work so useful. Yes, all those "paranoid" right-wingers were right all along about the real motives and agendas in Hollywood "back then." And not much has changed...it's still "Fantasyland" in more ways than one, which ought to be an important clue to the etiology of leftism. My only real objection to this work is that being so thoroughly deluded by their own political fantasies as they are, the authors attempt to claim almost everyone in Hollywood as a real, potential, or lapsed leftie, whether or not there was ever much actual evidence of it...a kind of triple-reverse McCarthyism. One final tip: buy this book second-hand. I'd hate to think I'd given one red cent (no pun intended) to either of these authors or their publisher.

Encyclopedic.......2002-07-19

This is a good look at the often ignored early radicals of hollywood. It gives a good history of the time leading up to and the aftermath of the Blacklist and it's antisemitic tendencies. Paul Buhle, et al seem to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject but I found their method of sharing the information a little overwhelming and pedantic. Every page is dotted with references to very obscure films, many with alternative titles, that are impossible to find. It's difficult to envision many of the situations and influential aspects of the films when you can find no more information on them much less see them. Taking all of the authors information on faith is not the usual film studies method. In contrast to many books about hollywood this one dosn't have many salacious details about harlets and moguls. I would recommend this book to serious film/hollywood history buffs only.

Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America's Favorite Movies. (Reviews).(Book Review) (book review): An article from: Radical Teacher

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Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America's Favorite Movies. (Reviews).(Book Review) (book review): An article from: Radical Teacher
James J. Lorence
Manufacturer: Center for Critical Education, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008DH4O4
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Radical Teacher, published by Center for Critical Education, Inc. on March 22, 2003. The length of the article is 950 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America's Favorite Movies. (Reviews).(Book Review) (book review)
Author: James J. Lorence
Publication: Radical Teacher (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2003
Publisher: Center for Critical Education, Inc.
Page: 33(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Wonderful details on an American pioneer

Carl Ruggles: Composer, Painter, and Storyteller (Music in American Life)
Marilyn J. Ziffrin
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Uncovered Ruggles

ASIN: 0252020421

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful details on an American pioneer.......2000-05-03

Carl Ruggles was an crusty ol' opininated prejudiced, cantankerous, stubborn man. Most of his durationally short sculpted-like music reflects this. The overwhelmingly powerful symphonic poems, The Sun Treader or Men and Mountains. There you will find large robust,full-bodied brass and lyrical lines,in octaves and unisons to enhance their sheer power. Yet Ruggles has miniatures, his Portals a mere 63 odd measures for strings alone, or his mysterious Angels for muted trumpets and trombones is even shorter than that. He has only one single work for the piano, Evocations, which he revised his entire life. Marilyn Ziffrin was quite brave searching for Ruggles alone in retirement, barely able to hear at his home,she found him eating,crumbs falling on his sweater in the clapboard Cut Leaf Maples Motel in Arlington Vermont. He wouldn't allow her a tape recorder so she took copious notes. But it wasn't until a full year later returning from work at The University of Chicago that her story begins of one of our most fascinating American pioneers. Ziffrin tells a good story following the Ruggles throughout there lives in various places, New York, Winona, Minneapolis, Florida,and Arlington. She captures the details of the everyday, Carl chomping on his cigar while searching for dissonant tones and resonance on his rented piano. Harmonies we learn were incidental, Ruggles was a contrapuntal composer who wrote in his own invented atonal language. He had distinguished friends as well, Robert Frost, Charles Ives, Leopold Stokowski, and the pianist John Kirkpatrick who became the executor of his Estate.In reading this comprehensive work, we learn of American history as well, and how one coped with the Depression years. Ruggles was a consummate painter with over 300 paintings which are part of museaum collections in Detroit, but primarily privatly owned. The two disciplines fused together for Ruggles, he said he "painted" music, as well as supporting himself with its sale.

Carl Ruggles: Composer, Painter, and Storyteller (Music in American Life)

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Carl Ruggles: Composer, Painter, and Storyteller (Music in American Life)
Marilyn J. Ziffrin
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPRGJE

Customer Reviews:

Gurps Japan.......2004-01-30

This is one of the most interesting rpg supplements I have ever read. There are so many interesting historical details in this book which can enhance any rpg campaign set in Japan. It is far superior to Oriental Adventures in the Dungeons and Dragons system. Even if you are not a role player, this supplement can provide interesting information for anybody interested in historical Japan. I definitely recommend it highly.

The Influnce of GURPS Japan in my campaigns.......2000-03-28

When I read for the first time this book, I wasn't expeting too much, but it really surprised me. GURPS Japan brings to you a complete description of the social classes and the code of honor of the Samurai, the "bushi" of the legends and history in the feudal Japan. Is very cool meet a lot of friends and try to interpretate the honor of being a samurai, or to understand the essence of this marvelous game. The complete description of the weapons and the costumes is very interesting too.

Gurps Japan: Roleplaying in the World of the Shogunate

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Gurps Japan: Roleplaying in the World of the Shogunate
Lee Gold
Manufacturer: Steve Jackson Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KBGKPS

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Every retiree should read

uninformative

Welcome Resource!

For Baby Boomers: Should be titled You're 60, Now What?

This book is a must read and a real eye opener.

You're Fifty--Now What? Investing for the Second Half of Your Life
Charles Schwab
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Charles Schwab's New Guide to Financial Independence Completely Revised and Updated : Practical Solutions for Busy People

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You're Retired Now What: Money Skills for a Comfortable Retirement (Wiley Personal Finance Solutions)

The Retirement Catch-Up Guide: 54 Real-Life Lessons to Boost Your Retirement Resources Now

Making the Most of Your Money

ASIN: 0609808702
Release Date: 2002-01-02

Amazon.com

As boomers reach midlife faster than a new Beatles CD can climb the charts, many are wondering if they'll have sufficient resources to comfortably make it through their golden years. Investment guru Charles Schwab's You're Fifty--Now What? addresses these concerns with a step-by-step road map to help the middle-aged assess where they're at, determine where they want to go, and pick the proper mix of investments to get there. "While getting older isn't a bad thing," Schwab writes, "being unprepared for it is. And by not understanding the financial part of your future, you sabotage yourself and limit your choices." Not surprisingly--given the author's background as founder of the discount brokerage that bears his name--the book contends that you have to remain an active investor for the rest of your life in order to make it financially over the long haul. To do so, it advocates using as aggressive an approach as you can comfortably handle, centered on a combination of broad-based index funds and actively managed mutual funds or individual stocks.

With plenty of easy-to-use worksheets, Schwab helps you take stock of everything you've accumulated, determine how much it costs you to live now, and estimate what it will take to maintain that lifestyle into the future. The latter is determined by calculating everything from projected housing and tax obligations to food and entertainment expenses, while life-expectancy tables, inflation adjustment factors, and investment return rates allow you to see where you stand versus where you need to be. Schwab then addresses reaching these goals through a proper investment mix. (Sidebars explaining the basics guide even novices through these critical steps.) Additional chapters detail ways to develop a regular long-term cash flow, and suggest how to monitor its progress while making adjustments when necessary. There is also information on financial advisors, insurance, estate plans, and charitable giving, adding up to a wealth of specifics presented in a manner that virtually everyone should be able to understand and follow. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

Charles Schwab is one of America’s most trusted and respected names in financial services. In the bestselling You’re Fifty—Now What? Schwab offers you his advice and support on how to retire with the money you’ll need to have the kind of life you want. You’ll learn:

* The best investment strategies
* How to estimate how much you’ll need
* How to choose investments for the second half of your life
* The ins and outs of insurance and how to be adequately insured
* The fine art of estate planning
* The tools of charitable giving
* And much more

Customer Reviews:

Every retiree should read.......2007-02-16

I agree with the other reviewers that this book is an outstanding essay for those who want to learn how to select stocks for a value portfolio. Where we differ is that for the typical investor he does not have the resources to build a properly diversified portfolio- either financial or mental resources. Value stocks do provide returns in excess of broad market returns but in order to have adequate diversification you must assemble several hundred issues well beyond the resources of the average investor. Further one must have the time and skill to evaluate several thousand issues.

I can offer a solution to this problem. I want to recommend for you a book titled How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 different stocks for $1000 - Pay no Commission This book is a must for those wanting to find out about indexing (passive investing) and why it is the superior method for the small investor (and big one too). This book is an outstanding guide to personal investing. It will be useful to all investors from novices to highly the highly experienced. This book prepares the reader to approach investing from the standpoint of the underlying science. It is the antithesis of a 'get rich quick scheme'.

All aspects of Modern Portfolio Theory and passive (index) investing are explained in a through and easily understood manner. The aspect I like most is that as well as a solid theoretical foundation the book is very practical and shows the reader how to create (and more importantly) and manage over time a successful portfolio. This is a great book- for the beginning investor, it's a great place to start and for the experienced investor there are many valuable suggestions.

It's a shame to think of how much money investors have lost "investing" in the stock market over the years. I wish I had read this little book years ago. The chapter on automatic investing recommends a number of portfolios that follow modern portfolio theory and adjust risk as you age without any effort on the part of the reader at all. Had this book been written years ago and had I followed its directions I would be rich today of that I am certain. Nevertheless I will pursue one of the portfolios recommended and stick to my chosen asset plan.

Piscaqua Research in a study covering the period 1987-96 found that only 10 out of 145 major pension funds, or just seven percent, out performed a portfolio consisting of a simple 605/405 mix of the S&P 500 index and the Lehman Bond index respectively.

Os it logical I ask for you to believe that you can predict which actively managed funds will out perform, or are you overconfident of your skills? If you are trying to find the great fund managers who will out perform in the future ask yourself: what am I going to do differently in terms of identifying the future winning fund managers, than did the pension plans and their advisors? And if you are not going to something different what logic is there in playing a game at which others with superior resources have consistently failed?
If you a really serious in finding an investment technique that will provide you with reasonable return with less risk I suggest the following little book.
Just click on the title to find the book. How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 Different Stocks-Pay no Commission

uninformative.......2004-11-09

This book is uninformative and in this book Charles pretends to have opened his brokerage firm for retail investors but it isn't because the CHARLES SCHWAB BROKERAGE IS TOO EXPENSIVE IT REQUIRES $10,000 TO OPEN a Brokerage ACCOUNT for an indiviual investor[also called retail investor]Harrisdirect,Firstade,and Optionsxpress don't require anything to open a brokerage account for individual investor.

Welcome Resource!.......2002-02-06

Schwab's book provides solid and practical information for those of us who no longer can be called young no matter what the definition is. Unfortunately, helpful financial books that target Baby Boomers and older folks are in shamefully short supply! For readers who want another indepth look at the financial issues that face older investors, I'd suggest another excellent book-the Retirement Bible. Like Schwab's book, the Retirement Bible provides advise on recommended portfolio withdrawal levels and devotes an entire chapter to discussing in what order money should be withdrawn during retirement. Unlike Schwab, Lynn O'Shaughnessy, the author of the Retirement Bible, suggests that Roth IRA money should ideally be touched last. I definitely agree with her opinion and many financial experts do too. What I also like about the book is that she demystifies a lot of estate planning issues, which books written by attorneys hopelessly fail at. You can't go wrong getting either of these books.

For Baby Boomers: Should be titled You're 60, Now What?.......2001-11-21

This is a book that everyone should have in their personal development library. Is it a great read or does it have cutting-edge insights? Probably, no. But wisdom is wisdom and doing what's right with your money is more a matter of principle than fancy strategy. If your strategy is too far removed from this book, then you're probably taking on far more risk than you should. I think that a lot more should have been written about wills and trusts for estate planning. That's an area that would have only taken another 10 pages, but would have completed the works and is something that everyone over 50 with bucks needs to know well.

This book is a must read and a real eye opener........2001-10-02

I am in my mid fifties. I have a MA in economics on top of an engineering degree. I was never very interested in investing as an economics student when it was merely a academic subject. I focused on other parts of my study of Economics. Now that I am older and trying to determine if I am indeed able to retire now I am finding the subject of investments much more fascinating and "Your' Fifty...." Extremely informative and helpful in showing me how retire in some comfort and with some confidence that I can sustain that comfort in the face of taxation and inflation throughout the "second half".

I have read several other retirement investment books since this one and found that this one was the best of the lot. I highly recommend it to anyone who planning retirement savings plans or anyone wondering about retirement right now.

Average customer rating:
5 Books: 1) You're Fifty--Now What? Investing for the Second Half of Your Life / 2) A Commonsense Guide to Your 401(k) (Bloomberg) / 3) I'm Retiring, Now What?! / 4) Your Top Investing Moves for Retirement / 5) Investing for Retirement (Unboxed Set of Personal Finance Books)
Charles Schwab , Mary Rowland , Barbara Wagner , Hope Egan , Deirdre Martin , and Junius Ellis
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WMB2Q2

Product Description

5 Books: 1) You're Fifty--Now What? Investing for the Second Half of Your Life / 2) A Commonsense Guide to Your 401(k) (Bloomberg Personal Bookshelf Hardcover) / 3) I'm Retiring, Now What?! / 4) Your Top Investing Moves for Retirement / 5) Investing for Retirement, (Unboxed Set of Personal Finance Books), in either Hard or Softcover, (See Seller Condition Comments), Shipped in one package to save on shipping costs.

Charles Schwab's You're Fifty, Now What? Investing for the Second Half of Your Life

Average customer rating:

Charles Schwab's You're Fifty, Now What? Investing for the Second Half of Your Life
Charles Schwab
Manufacturer: Crown Business
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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