Dynamics of Delight: Architecture and Aesthetics

Book Description

This book rounds off decades of exploration into the various ways that buildings and urban sequences make an impact on the mind. The emphasis is on the qualitative aspects of form and space and provides designers with an analytical framework in which to evaluate projects especially on the aesthetic level. In laying the foundations for an appreciation of the aesthetic component in architecture the book considers the psychological mechanisms, which are involved in the aesthetic response. It goes on to consider how human perception may be influenced by natural phenomena and draws on chaos theory and biomathematics to illustrate the argument.

Customer Reviews:

Relevance of aesthetics and beauty as a determining context.......2004-08-14

Debating about the aesthetic properties can be a fruitless endeavor. Although on a macro scale, it can be agreed, that some objects are certainly more pleasing than others. Peter Smith argues that borrowing form and algorithmic functions from nature can be an equation for pleasing aesthetics. He brings in quite a few architectural examples between modernist functionality and post-modern contextual designs and breaks them down at an easy to follow level. There are points that are more conceptual than others but he certainly puts a tangible form on something that has been debated vehemently for ages.

This book fits nicely as a companion guide to Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language.

Book Description

Practical math to help you plan, design, and problem-solve electric circuits

The ideal tool for upgrading career-enhancing math skills, Teach Yourself Algebra for Electronic Circuits helps you learn the methods that support today’s technological growth and innovation. Author Ken Jenkins has put together a genuinely user-friendly tutorial. Every chapter is a self-contained unit, making it easier to find the answers you want and learn at your own pace – without flipping through pages, looking for connections or background. Learn or upgrade your skills with:

* Self-teaching text, complete with worked-out questions/solutions and final exams
*Math that goes beyond elementary algebra, without the burden of heavy-duty calculus you don’t need
* Circuit-focused applications, illustrations, and examples
* Special help with the algebra of logic and matrices
*Hundreds of practical problems with detailed solutions throughout the book
* Over 300 illustrations to help you learn quickly and easily

Average customer rating:

Everything you've come to expect from Slayers

Slayers Special: Touch Of Evil (Slayers (Graphic Novels))
Hajime Kanzaka , and Tommy Ohtsuka
Manufacturer: Central Park Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Slayers Super-Explosive Demon Story Volume 5: City Of Lost Souls (Slayers (Graphic Novels))

ASIN: 1586648659

Book Description

New from CPM Manga! LINA INVERSE the precocious and dangerous sorceress, has teamed up with the barbaric and busty NAGA THE WHITE SERPENT. Together, they fight demons, thieves and monsters all in the name of treasure and a good meal. Join Lina and Naga in their latest tale of tribulations and triumph through a medieval world of monsters, mayhem and monkey business!

Customer Reviews:

Everything you've come to expect from Slayers.......2003-03-20

If you have seen ANY of Slayers, you know how crazy it is and how quickly it can get that way. Touch of Evil is no exception. First Lina and Naga meet a swordsman who hires them to help him find some treasure, but not all goes as planned. Then, the pair of sorceresses go in search of the ultimate taste sensation and the thieves that stole it, only to get a huge surprise. And while working off their food debt at a cafe on the beach, they are attacked by a giant squid. Who will triumph? Not who you think, or for whatever reasons you might think up. Finally, a stuffed animal and a little girl have a big part to play in the latest scheme of Lina and Naga...

Slayers Special: Touch of Evil is sure to have you rolling on the floor laughing!

Average customer rating:

Condorito magazine review.

Condorito!: The Adventure Begins (Condorito)
Pepo
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
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Condorito! SPA: La Aventura Comienza (Condorito)

ASIN: 0060776021
Release Date: 2005-09-06

Customer Reviews:

Condorito magazine review........2006-06-30

The magazine is fabulous!The drawings and the art itself is
excellent. The pages are made of acid free paper. Stories
are very funny and entertaining. I really recommend it to
kids and adults! You'll really like it!

Book Description

The man whom W.H. Auden called `perhaps the greatest genius that ever lived' has inspired extremes of adulation and loathing. In this penetrating analysis, Bryan Magee outlines the range and depth of Wagner's achievement, and shows how his sensational and erotic music expresses the repressed and highly charged contents of the psyche. He also examines Wagner's detailed stage directions, and the prose works in which he formulated his ideas, and sheds interesting new light on his anti-semitism. This new edition has been extensively revised. It includes a fresh chapter, `Wagner as Music'.

Customer Reviews:

4 and 1/2 for Being TOO SHORT!.......2007-05-28

Magee ended up outdoing himself in his later work "The Tristan Chord". And this is worth overall 4.5 stars for the same reasons: balanced, eminently insightful writing and just enough quirkiness to keep the interest at a high level throughout.

I guess it says alot for this book that I knocked off a half star entirely for its brevity. You end up wanting MORE at the end. Maybe I should have just relented and given this one 5 huh?

Think outside the opera box.......2006-08-28

Even though this book is years old, the ideas remain fresh and challenging. Questions of pacing in performance (maybe the dreaded longueurs are not necessary), and origins of Wagner's antiSemitism (an interesting twist on the privilege of the cultural outsider).
An easy read, something to discuss at intermission.

Brilliantly .......2006-08-21

This may seem odd, but to those of you interested enough to read reviews of this short book of essays on Wagner written nearly 40 years ago, my first advice is to read (no, run!) to Byran McGee's "Tristan Chord," published only a couple years ago, which in my humble opinion is one of the two greatest analytical works of Wagner's operas published in the last century. (The other is Deryck Cooke's "I Saw the World End"--an analysis of the "Ring" first published in 1979.)

McGee in that longer book and in this shorter collection of brief essays exemplifies the finest qualities of the English in his Wagner criticism: common sense, plain language, brilliant argumentation. He is such a relief from scholars (sorry, particularly German scholars) who think that opaque or convoluted rhetoric suggests depth. That's a [...]. Mr. McGee by comparison is fresh air...and his brilliance is self-evident.

This is a short book, six essays, each well defined on various aspects of Wagner. Two are clearly the most interesting: first, McGee's analysis of why Wagner's music excites such passion (pro or con)--i.e., what makes that music so affecting, so transcendant, so "dangerous" to many of us. He explores our guilty pleasure in Wagner better than any author has ever done. And second, his book offers a very interesting essay on the reasons for the flowering of Jewish intellectuals who so dominated and contributed to late 19th and early 20th century culture after over a thousand years of Jewish irrelevance to wider Western culture.

Those two essays make the book definitely worth acquiring and reading. The other essays are fine, if less sparkling. But I cannot emphasize enough: if you have any interest in Wagner, you must acquire Mr. McGee's "Tristan Chord." It is the best overall key to understanding Wagner's operas in print today.

Concise Examination of a Master Composer.......2005-02-08

More than any other figure in the classical Canon, Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883) has provoked a dichotomy of passion in regards to his music, character and legacy. Bryan Magee's *Aspects of Wagner*, a series of concise, articulate essays about the composer and theorist, confronts both sides of the polarization, examining the essential components that inspire such adulation, probing with unusual insight the negative connotations ever associated with mere mention of the name.

These aspects, in brief:

THEORY: After the success of Lohengrin, Wagner took a six-year break from composing to recharge the cylinders, theorize and re-examine the operatic form. The result of this sabbatical would shake the foundations of the Canon. For Wagner, no longer would drama be a means to a musical end - window-garnishing syntax to embellish the sonic - instead, music would be the means with which to express the dramatic ~emotion~ of the piece. Music would emphasize, shift and elucidate to the passage of the text, a notion that has proved indescribably influential: the whole of modern film-symphonic owes its debt to this innovation.

JEWS: A virulent anti-Semitist, repelled by the physical aspect of Jews and critical of their compositional abilities - "shallow and artificial" - Wagner espoused these opinions in the public forum and, in reality, reflected the mindset of mainstream German society during his time. Further propagated by Wagner's widow and offspring, these views influenced Hitler as a youth and were taken verbatim for his totalitarian platform. Wagner's demand for Judiasm to be eradicated, via renouncement of faith and conversion to Christian theism, was corrupted by the Nazi propagandists as a call for physical annihilation. More fuel for the critical fire! And yet, one of Wagner's closest companions, Hermann Levi, was a Jew, and conducted the premiere of Parsifal; moreover, Wagner's worldview of pacifism and assimilation doesn't jive at all with the Fascist manifesto - the Nazis took what was useful and abandoned the 'feel good' vibes. Bryan Magee doesn't really address any of this, however: rather, he theorizes as to ~why~ Wagner considered Jews inferior artists, especially in regard to the fact that three of the dominant geniuses of our modern culture were Jewish - Marx, Freud and Einstein. Magee points to the cultural repression of Judaism throughout hundreds of years, an isolationist subjugation that was only beginning to disintegrate by the start of 19th century; the flowering of Jewish intellect - and assimilation of Western culture - would take several generations to unfold. The resultant revolutionary thought of the triumvirate above, undeniable in their influence, stemmed from an outward contemplation and subsequent deconstruction of the adopted conventional standards. Indeed, Wagner's original essays are surprisingly insightful as to the underlying reasons for the artifice of Jewish composers of his day, though the eventual intellectual aptitude they would bring to the table undoubtedly eluded the composer.

IDOLATRY: As much the subject of abject idolatry as venomous refutation, Wagner is a love-or-hate figure, with little ground of compromise between. Magee theorizes that this is because the music, in harmonic construction and theme, gives expression to all that unconscious and repressed in the human mind, including Oedipal sexuality, unleashed eroticism, moral questioning and violence; the tonal qualities stir forth base, animalistic urges to the forefront, taboos further exemplified by the stage-work. The composer's emphasis on the undercurrents of the psyche predated modern psychology by fifty years: thus the subconscious ~rejection~ of many to his music, and its appeal to the more questing intellect.

INFLUENCE: A short list: Gustav Mahler, Anton Schonberg, Richard Strauss, Dvorak, Piotr Tchaikovsky, Claude Dubussy, Edward Elgar, Dmitry Shostakovich, Anton Bruckner; James Joyce, Bernard Shaw, Marcel Proust, D.H. Lawerence, Oscar Wilde, E.M. Forster, Thomas Mann, Virginia Wolff; T.S. Elliot, Baudelaire, Lytton, Ezra Pound; Nietzsche and Freud. When one contemplates the authority these people had over their disciples, the position of Wagner, in terms of all aspects of modern thought, truly staggers the mind, and lends credit to Magee's conclusion that "...Wagner has had greater influence than any other artist on our culture of the age."

PERFORMANCE: The greatest compositions can never reach true interpretation, according to Magee; each conductor brings something different to the performance, and only reaches an approximation of that on paper - even the creator fails to achieve a definitive performance! Magee also goes into depth about what is needed to properly stage a Wagner spectacle, and uses the model of Bayreuth's opera house, constructed by the composer himself, as the epitome surroundings. Wagner set the orchestra out-of-sight, so as not to distract the audience from the on-stage drama; he arranged the acoustics of the opera house to give emphasis to the words, with the music hovering beneath as counterpoint and ambient emphasis. Another issue in this essay is the conflict that arises in non-German speakers listening to Wagner. With the text so critical to the overall appreciation, and the differences of semantic inflection taken into account, there are two choices: learn German, or seek out the better translations that, although conforming to the grammar, sometimes lose the power of meaning.

MUSIC: Magee criticizes the (then) contemporary adaptation of Wagner's sound-cycles to politically-correct allegory. Wagner deliberately utilized myth and archetypes to simplify the narrative and give emphasis on emotional undercurrents; using it as critical commentary on current issues (1960's) was, to Magee, a debasement of Wagner's ideal. Magee also notes how difficult it is to write about the music ~itself~: thus the glut of media talking about every aspect of Wagner *except* that which he is most famous for, that which firmly set his place on the Romantic pantheon!

This book serves as an insightful analysis of Wagner, in all his complexities and contradictions. Recommended for the student of the classical Canon.

Brilliant.......2003-05-10

This penetrating essay on Wagner's works is deceptively brief. Magee's analysis is brilliant and right on target. He manages to say in a few well chosen words what other books ramble on about for pages. This book is well written, authoritative, and masterful. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Average customer rating:

Opera, Ideology, and Film
Jeremy Tambling
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Adaptations | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0312007876

Average customer rating:

Opera, Ideology and Film.
Jeremy. Tambling
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OT3BNA

Product Description

Combining Latin rhythms and country raucousness, Tejano music is passionate, danceable and celebratory. This 26-song collection contains many of the most popular Tejano melodies of the past decade. Titles include: Alas de Papel * Que Chulos Ojos * Juana la Cubana * Cuando Se Llega a Viejo and more.  

Average customer rating:

Good book so far.

Great for Beginners

A delightful collection!

Ok...but better books out there.

Nice Puzzles -- But Are They Practical?

303 Tricky Checkmates, 2nd Edition
Fred Wilson , and Bruce Albertson
Manufacturer: Cardoza
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Checkers | Board Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Chess | Board Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate (Chess Lovers' Library)

One Thousand and One Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations

ASIN: 1580420400

Customer Reviews:

Good book so far........2004-06-14

As a thirteen-year old, I bought this book at Borders as part of my birthday money. It's a wonderful book on checkmating (maybe one of the bests). Although I'm only up to chapter two, the rest of the book will probably be good too.

However, if I could have looked at every checkmating book on Earth, I probably wouldn't have bought this. For example, Fred Reinfeld's "1001 Brilliant Ways to checkmate", probably beats this book by a mile. It's slightly cheaper, I think, and has 698 more diagrams! (I haven't bought this book, but look at the reveiws for it, and you'll know why I'm saying this.)

Even though this probably isn't the greatest checkmating book you can get, it's good enough, and will keep you busy. One more thing: I suggest that you get a used one, because if you want to use about $12.00 or so on a book, don't use it on this one.

Great for Beginners.......2002-09-15

The first hundred checkmate positions are fairly simple for intermediate players. The checkmates start to get somewhat "tricky" after that. I am glad that the authors did not just lump the positions together thematically, such as "Queen Sacrifice," like the Reinfeld "1001 Checkmates." Outstanding diagrams are clear and easy to study. While many of the solutions are simple, they are still beautiful. Great book if you love two and three move checkmate puzzles.

A delightful collection!.......2002-08-21

This book presents fun chess puzzles in an easy to understand, progressively difficult format. While it may be true that these puzzles are carefully constructed rather than the result of actual play, they teach the dynamics of checkmate in a simple, yet challenging way. The puzzles are designed and arranged to show how the various pieces work together in diverse circumstances and how slight changes influence the checkmate. This book teaches how to find that all-important first move in the series of moves that lead to checkmate and is good for young players just getting started and for more advanced players who want to stay sharp.

Ok...but better books out there........2002-04-19

This is book gives you 303 "tricky" checkmates. These mates range from queen sacrafices to pawn promotion checkmates. Most of the problems are so hopeless for the opponet(when you play white black has losing chances). at a glance I could figure out sevral ways to destroy the oppenent without checkmating him. This made solving the problems seem pointless. Don't buy this book if you haven't read 1001 brillian checkmates and 1001 combinations. You get more instructive problems for less. An okay book all-around but much better puzzle books are out there.

Nice Puzzles -- But Are They Practical?.......2000-07-02

This book appears to be a sequel to "202 Surprising Checkmates" by the same authors, and both books appear to be indebted to the much older "1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmates" for their title. "1001 Checkmates," by Fred Reinfeld, gives hundreds of positions which are apparently drawn from actual game situations, and the student who applies himself to the book can take away practical knowledge that will help in actual play. The positions in "202 Checkmates" and "303 Checkmates" could never be mistaken for actual game situations, and the mating patterns are not normally seen in actual play. Although the book appears to have little practical value, the problems were both challenging and entertaining. If the authors ever write "404 Amazing Checkmates," I'll be sure to add it to my library.

Book Description

There's a good reason project risk management is one of the most vital of the nine content areas of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (TM). Important projects tend to be time constrained, pose huge technical challenges, and suffer from a lack of adequate resources. It's no wonder that project managers are increasingly focusing their attention on risk identification.

Identifying and Managing Project Risk is a practical guide to minimizing the possibility of failure in critical projects. The book takes readers step by step through every phase of a project, showing them how to consider the possible risks involved at every point in the process. Relevant figures and diagrams support the text and illustrate key scenarios. At the end of each chapter is an analysis of how the principles just discussed applied to a supreme example of what many once considered a truly impossible project: the building of the Panama Canal.

Packed with real-world information, this book is essential reading for any project manager seeking to complete projects smoothly and successfully.

Customer Reviews:

A pretty good book.......2007-05-26

While I'm using this as required reading for a grad school class on Risk Management, I'd read this even if it wasn't required. Engaging for a not-so-easy subject to talk about, along with good and relevant examples. Talking about big and small projects, you get a feeling as you read that this book is for you, not just "big time companies" with mega projects.

Easy to Read.......2007-05-07

The book is very well-written and easy to read. I work in a high-tech start-up company and this book was quite applicable to some of the tasks we do.

Good overview, heavy in IT & scheduling.......2007-03-24

This risk management book provides a good overview of the risk management process from start to finish, and provides examples from technical projects. The text guides the reader through the three steps of risk identification, assessment, and management, and discusses the difference between macro-management of risk at a corporate or portfolio level, and micro-management of risk at the project level.

The book stresses the need for an understanding of each facet of the project in order to identify areas of risk. There is a very strong emphasis on scheduling, with many good suggestions regarding risk reduction, and the timing of risky activities during the course of the project. The information provided is largely qualitative, with some brief discussion about quantitative analysis, methods, and risk assessment tools. Some of the quantitative methods described are specifically for IT projects, with criteria such as technology, architecture, and system complexity. The material in the book relies heavily on the PMI Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 2000 edition (PMBOK).

The bulk of the book focuses on good risk management techniques, decision-making, and project planning. Management tools, such as root cause analysis, diagnostic project metrics, and financial metrics, are described in detail. The author provides the reader with a broad scope of information regarding risk management, and the book is an excellent resource for those who seek an introduction or refreshment of good project management and risk management concepts.

Essential.......2006-07-28

Very readable. Great reference. Includes explanations of Why you do things, not just How to do them. This book also takes a broad view of Risk, and when it is about 'Risk' it relates the planning and controlling to the other PMBOK processes and knowledge areas. Risk management as a comprehensive concept. Wow, who'da thunk. Kendrick impresses; I own and use his PM Toolkit almost daily.

A "Must Have" for Your Library.......2006-05-11

As the other reviewers have indicated, this book is an excellent addition to your library.

It is well-written, well-organized, and supported by real-life data from his PERIL database (compiled from hundreds of projects, world-wide, over the past decade). The book makes good use of bullets and diagrams to emphasize and/or explain important points.

I particularly liked the way he correlated his material with the Project Management Institute (PMI)'s PMBOK.

Further, I appreciated his discussion of some of the most difficult issues that arise when implementing a formalized project management methodology (including some that are seldom addressed in books), e.g.:

o Tips for persuading senior level management of the necessity of a formalized project management methodology

o Recognizing the power shift that occurs within a company when formalized project management/portfolio management processes are implemented and followed

o Metrics, derived from the PERIL database, relating to things such as the impact of the permanent (or temporary) loss of a project team member. (I'm always looking for metrics to support some business case, or other request to senior management, for additional ... time ... resources ... budget, etc.)

o The Appendix, which listed some of the Schedule, Resource and Scope risks from the PERIL database

o The sample Risk Questionnaire, and the many other tools, tip and procedures included in the book

Overall, I give it five stars and expect that it will become "dog-eared" very quickly, from heavy use, as I refer to it often in my work.

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