Acabou: It's Finished

Book Description

A hair-raising account of imprisonment that reads like an African version of "Midnight Express." "Acabou: It's Finished" started as a journal Tim Green kept for himself during his imprisonment in Mozambique. Scribbled with the stub of a pencil in a children's notebook smuggled into the cell by his fellow inmates, the notes were intended as messages to his family should he not survive. This gripping story tells how Tim Green was working as a commercial pilot, flying communications equipment into Mozambique. On the last run of a business trip, he was paid for his work in American dollars, which he tried to exchange for local currency so that he could pay for a meal. Mozambican authorities alleged that the currency was counterfeit and he was imprisoned without trial for trying to ruin the economy. His harrowing account includes a description of how he was marched in front of a firing squad and almost put to death, and that in the end it was the efforts of his family and friends that saw him freed. As Tim Green writes, " This is my story of imprisonment in Mozambique. A story of man's inhumanity to his fellow man. A story of despair and rage. It is a frightening story. It is also a story of great feeling and compassion in deprived circumstances, kindness and sharing in brutal conditions. There but for the grace of God, go you. I wrote this for me, for my sanity and understanding of the things that happened to me. And then for the people that loved me. Long afterwards, I came to realize that my words and my story may have some relevance to others that have suffered and survived."

Customer Reviews:

Very entertaining book. Loved the stories!.......1999-01-13

This book was fun and easy to read. Jim Chenoweth has a great sense of humor, and I really enjoyed reading about his relationships with the stars. The golfing tips are great!!

Good book, funny stories.......1998-11-23

This was an enjoyable read. Some funny, interesting stories. I recommend it!

Book Description

The British Cinematographer traces the development of the art and craft of the cinematographer in Britain from the first cameraman with their primitive hand-cranked box cameras to the electronic sophistication of the present. Contents include the coming of sound, the impact and subsequent use of colour and the widescreen revolution.

Book Description

This tribute to an unsung part of the body collects a closetful of fascinating lore about the physical foot, foot fashion, and foot fetishism. Author Kathy Vanderlinden has collected every imaginable kind of fact and fancy about this all-important part of the anatomy. She explains the giddy pleasure, the lust, and the therapeutic value of shoes for the shoe lover, with such examples as the stiltlike chopine of 15th-century France, the outlandishly wide duckbill of 16th-century England, and the gorgeous Manolo Blahniks of today. Foot’s tantalizing tidbits cover foot rituals, foot fairytales, and foot beauty treatments, illustrated with a wealth of photos of beautiful, grotesque, and sexy shoes; images of the foot in art; famous feet; and foot ornamentation.

Customer Reviews:

Very short book, some good pics, basic factoids.......2004-12-30

This is a small hardcover book, and very short at about 50 pages. It's NOT a foot fetishist book (especially considering that there are only about 5 or 6 photos of women's feet within), it really is what the title conveys: a concise bio of the foot and footwear in history, from the ancients up to a brief mention of the Internet foot fetish craze. If you can get it used here (I found it under one of the marketplace sellers for like $3.50) it's worth it for the short read. Truth be told, the factoids that make up the text are usually basic common knowledge thingies like Chinese footbinding, descriptions of foot diseases, shoe crazes through history and snippets from poems that mention feet. I was actually interested in more on the erotica of female feet but can't blame Ms. Vanderlinden (a children's book author apparently!) since this wasn't the goal. A very nice format and a curiosity for the shelf...if you're ready for your houseguests' questions, especially when they see the "playful" jacket photo.

Book Description

A job where the casino actually hires people to play poker! Is this the dream job of every gambler? Or, is it one of the greatest scams ever invented? After much agony, an average guy decides to take the job! Follow his journey as he delves into the mysteries of Proposition Poker Playing, a guy Paid to Play Poker. Our guy must use his own money to play poker, in assigned games. While playing, to the very best of his ability, he makes hand written-detailed records, collecting an extensive database of details. Then the SCIENTIFIC METHOD is applied, and in the end, it works. Detailed results are carefully explained. Many well-established poker concepts are challenged. Paid to Play Poker promises to be a money-maker for knowledgeable poker players.

Average customer rating:

PAID TO PLAY POKER
Barton M. Gratt
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N6MRF2

Book Description

What is it that sets games apart from other forms of entertainment, keeping players coming back for more? Interactivity. The ability to control the outcome. Programming is an integral part of that interactivity, and C++ is a vital skill in programming for games. Beginning C++ through Game Programming, Second Edition will provide you with the core skills you need to begin programming with C++ specifically as it relates to games. You'll reinforce each new skill by creating small games along the way, and you'll put these skills to the test with one ambitious game project at the end. By the time you finish, you'll have a solid foundation in the programming language of the professionals!

Customer Reviews:

Perfect choice.......2007-09-28

hi all,
I bought this brand new book for 21$ including delivery charge.(New one is 31$) Once i ordered it, It comes to my apartment door in 4 days. I feel its the easiest way to buy book. Event i dont have to worry about going to store.

Need more explanation.......2007-06-03

This book doesn't explains well the fundamental of c++. What this book does is basically gives you a piece of code to copy and tells briefly why it works.

Everything's useless unless you know how and why does that code work. And the how and why is lacking on this book.

Great Review of C++ for Simple Games Logic.......2007-06-01

I have to say, I have had my fill of programming books over the years. And, C++ books were so boring that I never wanted to read them and do the homework. I worked at Borland Tech Support for one of the programmming language products and had a mentor in the C++ Builder department. I picked up this book because I had been working out some issues with Random Number Generator and other design issues involved with mathematical logic. I was looking at C++ because I had previously prototyped my project in FORTH. Since I do not have a graphics library for FORTH, I need to port my prototype to another language. It seemed that I had to finally do some C++. I would say that reading this book helped to figure out the simple issues of restating a problem for C++ syntax.

very basic.......2007-04-11

This book is very, very basic.It's for beginners. It not contains graphics
or videogames programming.

an ok book.......2007-02-15

I teach c++ and while I could use this as a text book or for demonstrations, I think there are really too many details left out for someone to read this on their own and learn to program.

Average customer rating:

NOT for beginners
Good Online Samples, Friendly Writing, Buggy Book Code
I've tried to like it...
Good overview, see patterns in real product
Just an awesome book

Beginning .NET Game Programming in C#
Ellen Hatton , Alexandre Santos Lobao , David Weller , and Apress
Manufacturer: Apress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1590593197

Book Description

This book, Beginning .NET Game Programming in C#, presents the additional work of David Weller (.NET Game evangelist at Microsoft) and a group of key Microsoft insiders who decided to make the bestselling .NET Game Programming with DirectX 9.0 (VB .NET Edition) even better. Weller has switched the programming language to C# and added a bonus chapter. The book has passed all internal Microsoft tests as to programming style. This thoroughly revised and improved version (including a bonus chapter) is the ideal way to get into .NET game programming using the C# language.

Customer Reviews:

NOT for beginners.......2006-03-14

I got a used copy of David Weller's book: "Beginning .Net Game Programming in C#" from Amazon.
First of all, using the word Beginning in the title of this book is deceptive. It's not a book for beginners in any way.
The author not only assumes you are an experienced Windows programmer, but that you already know how to work with graphics and are more than familiar with Creating Event Handlers using OnPaint, etc.
In the first chapter, in the classic Microsoft style of documentation, he begins by bragging about all the wonderful graphics things you can do with C# like; Gradients, Alpha Blending, Cardinal Splines, Transformation, etc. but doesn't have the courtesy to supply a single code example to show you how to do any of these wonderful things!
In fact, if you leaf through the book page by page, you will find that there is not a single complete code example in the entire book. What the author refers to as "snippets" are nothing more than poor, incomplete code examples. As we reach the first code "example" the author says "The following code shows how to draw a simple red rectangle... " No it doesn't! All it is, is a lonely OnPaint method. The author doesn't bother to explain how to make it work, but proceeds to tack on one of those little Note: fields saying that you need to create an Event Handler. The example supplied however, is an Event Handler for something else entirely! The next example shows you how to create graphics objects from an image but doesn't bother to explain how to import the image! You are expected to magically how to do that I guess.
It is clear that the author: David Weller doesn't even understand the topic material. What he did was go to somebody that DOES understand how to program and got a half dozen cheezy programs which he devoted a chapter each to, with a feeble attempt to tack a bunch of comments inbetween.
If you want to make a Tetris clone and not much else, there's a very slim chance you might get something out of this book. Although you will have to type up pages of code yourself before finding out whether it will even run or not because there is no CD included with the book. The author assumes you know so much about programming already that, quite frankly, if you knew that much, you wouldn't need his lame book.
The author is neither a programmer, nor a writer. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. It gives me a big knot in my stomach thinking how many other sincere beginners will end up wasting perfectly good hard earned cash on this complete waste of trees.
Dillinger

Good Online Samples, Friendly Writing, Buggy Book Code.......2005-12-31

Quick Advice:

Download C# Express from Microsoft's website, it is free right now. Also download the Summer 2003 edition of Direct X.

Everything will compile except Space Wars 3D (I am so happy now, see below). I am missing files, its 3:00 am, I will look for my (or their mistake) in the morning.

Also go to the Apress website to download all the code including the VB.Net version of the book. It seems they left out key files (Like images for chapter 3) for the C# version that you can get in the VB.net download.

My Story:

I got this book because I wanted to learn C# and have some fun. I certainly enjoyed the first 3 chapters. They were very nicely written and friendly, which is why I bought the book. I also like that the book explained the basic concepts clearly (which is all I am looking for right now). So far, fairly self-explanatory, follows with what I already knew and expected (it confirmed how I thought it all worked procedure wise).

However, when I tried the book code in visual studio 2003 I kept getting errors. Mostly from me copying what the book had. I then had to tweak everything to get it to work. I later found it much easier to just load the code from the website. However, this does not help learning if you just compile and view. The step-by-step examples for the later chapters would have been nice for these early ones.

After a short hiatus (6 months of wasteful job searching, which I am still on) I came back to work on chapters 4 onward. I found these to be very difficult to work with. I kept getting errors. After a few 5:00 am nights, I discovered it's not the code it is VS 2003 it just won't run it for some reason. Gives me a .net compilation error. I bet it has to do with patches or version differences of the .net framework.

I was about to bag the book and write a bad review (mostly because I could not find quick help anywhere) when I decided to check Microsoft's website. After downloading their tools and converting the files to VS C# Express everything ran great. By the way, online resources say to use this with 2003, but I keep getting a greater version used error when working with 2003, so they must have done this in 2004. My advice on what to get is above.

So after a bit a fun and a lot of short-term frustration I am happy once more and can continue my studies. My goal is not video games, but research and development for engineering. I just wanted a pretty way to render my results.

To note, Direct X has had some major changes so the book is now dated, but the logic on Direct3D, collisions, and general procedures is still good. Direct Play is out, I am not sure about Direct Sound or Direct Input.

When you buy a book you expect to get higher quality material then what you would find online. Overall, I would say it is better then some information I have found online, but it certainly lacks in certain areas such as better explanation on DirectX functions, though it does a good job where needed. For instance some spots in the DirectX documentation is lacking, the book does a good job of explaining those parts.

Microsoft has plenty of new resources online now including better explanations on what was missing before, so I am unsure if this book is a buy anymore. I will say it is a good first start.

I've tried to like it..........2005-11-21

I'm surprised this book has gotten the reviews it has (I actually ordered it based on them). The errors in the code/instructions are horrendous, and I'm only on the second chapter. (Many steps seem left out) I suppose I cannot understand why someone would write a instructional book and then fail to follow their own steps to check if they work.

That being said, the book is not all bad. I've learned a few neat things from the previous chapter. I suggest, in the future, the author(s) include source for each 'step' in the projects and have others check their instructions. I would be entirely lost without the downloadable source code (apress.com), but it's a shame readers have to rely on it.

If you can, check it out at a library for a week before you buy.

Good overview, see patterns in real product.......2005-04-12

Let me start by saying that I have no intention of being a game developer, but since I need .NET for my job, I thought this would be an interesting read. It doesn't disappoint at all.

What stand out is the author's repeated advice that you need to "just do it" from end to end to understand the process of creating a game. I think that's true for most tasks in programming, but it's especially true here. There are a lot of basic concepts that apply to nearly all games, and it's funny because you begin to think about them when you play one!

Clearly if you want to get deep into 3D math, you'll need another book, but this one gets you started at least with an understanding of the basic DirectX tools.

Just an awesome book.......2005-03-29

What is so cool about this book is that you can read it from start to finish and use it after as a reference book. The authors took a very difficult subject and made it easy to understand. After each chapter, you can code your own game with all the tips they gave you.

Book Description

Learn the essential skills needed to demystify game programming and harness the power of Windows® and DirectX®. "Beginning Game Programming" teaches you everything you need to know to write 2D and 3D games with C and DirectX 9 without any complex mathematics. Ease your way into this exciting new world by learning to write simple Windows programs, and then tap into the power of Direct3D! Each chapter teaches important new skills (such as basic 3D programming with vertices, polygons, and textures), culminating in a simple DirectX game library - great for your own game projects! Learn the basics of 3D modeling with the Anim8or modeling program and then learn how to load and use 3D models in your own games. The complete game project in this book runs in fullscreen or windowed mode, and features mouse support, sound effects, 3D models, texture-based sprites, and 3D collision detection. Brace yourself for an exciting introduction to game programming!

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Introduction to Game Programming.......2006-12-07

I've had this book for two days now and am already half-way through it and the examples. Please NOTE*** Something that is reiterated throughout the beginning chapters is that this book is an introduction to GAME programming using directx, not an introduction to game PROGRAMMING. The code in this book is developed using a C/C++ compiler, and the brilliant author uses Microsoft Visual C++. As the author mentions many times, you should be knowledgable in C/C++ to really have a good understanding of the code. That being said, even his explanations of every line of code shouldn't confuse someone at least familiar with some programming.

The writing style might be somewhat "cheesey" to some readers, but I felt myself so enthralled in the book that I couldn't put it down. Mr. Harbour inspires you to want to develop games.

While I haven't yet reached the 3D part of the book, I really liked the explanations on Windows programming, and the eventual directx programming. One of the best "features" of this book is how the author explains what the different lines of code actually do. Too many books give you code without telling you what it does.

I recommend this book especially if you have no idea how a game is programmed. I do have a lot of programming experience, but not low-level windows programming. I had no idea how to display a window, or to 'blit' a surface. Now I do!

Lastly, I've seen some people said they had trouble with compiling the source code. I haven't tried it with the given compiler, but if you download the FREE MS Visual C++ Express, make sure you aren't using a UNICODE character set, then you shouldn't see any problems.

Difficult to understand.......2006-10-20

This book has exellent information, but the author spends little time emphasizing the basics. I am about halfway through the book and i have just stopped reading it becuase it is so confusing. I am very experienced in php, and know basic C and C++, and was surprized i found it so difficult to understand. If you can catch on quick enough though then im sure the information given is great, i expecially loved the first few chapers before the code, where he explained about api's and how directx works...

Confusing and not very well written........2006-09-17

I was very disappointed with this book. There was insufficient instruction regarding the installation of the DirectX SDK. Most of the source code is incompatible with the included compiler. After manually entering the source code into the Visual C++ IDE, most of the programs would not compile. Thinking I may have made some typographical errors or overlooked some of the code, I then copied the source code directly from the included CD and became even more frustrated that this code would not compile either. Don't waste your money on this book.

What You Would Expect.......2006-06-24

If you are like me - knowledgable about C++ - you will appreciate this book if you are trying to get started with Windows DirectX programming. I have read a lot of introductory gaming books and I can honestly say that Harbour gives the beginning chapters the attention they desperately need. I have read too many gaming books that go over WinMain and WinProc so fast you have no idea what they actually do. True - they really don't play that big of a role in the full span of game development. Here is the thing, though, if you are typing things like "HINSTANCE" and "LPTSTR" and don't know what they mean, it is likely you are just memorizing everything you see in the book; what good is that? As a programmer, you need to know what is going on so that random letters suddenly make sense and you know what is going on. Never program blindly - it is the first step to failure! Harbour explains everything in concise, well-rounded chapters that make coding even easy for beginner programmers. I have another book called Beginning DirectX 9, and the author starts out by giving over a page worth of code with hardly sufficient explainations. Harbour's book is not like that! He is very ambitious and will direct a reader to actually learn something - not everything - but anything a serious programmer needs to pick up another books that will be more challenging. His only fault may be that he repeats himself too much, but it never takes away from the quality and it really stresses the important things. If you are sick of programming books that just aren't working out for you, this is your last caveat. Enjoy learning something for a change. :- )

Caution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2005-09-24

If you intend on running any of the examples in the book, you're gonna have to buy Microsoft's Visual C++ 6 or .NET. The book does come with a free compiler (Bloodshed's Dev-C++), but not all of the examples in the book work with it. At least in my opinion, if you're buying the book, you should get a compiler that works with it...

If you've already purchased the book and don't want to shell out more money for VC++, the author has a support website with forums that discuss the some of the problems and offer some solutions.

If you already have VC++, then the book is definitely worth reading, but there are probably a few other books that are more in-depth and informative.

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