Bounce Back After Being Laid Off

Book Description

This positive, action-oriented guide is for those who are at risk of job loss or who have already been laid off or fired. Challenging the conventional wisdom that job loss requires a grieving process similar to divorce or the death of a loved one, it emphasizes instead how to be prepared for change; how to avoid paralyzing negative emotions; and how to turn loss into opportunity. The emotional aspects of job loss are recognized in a sympathetic way, but springing back, taking charge, and finding the right new job are emphasized.

Book Description

In many parts of South-East Asia, women's lifestyles are going through enormous changes as women move from traditional rural, agricultural lifestyles to modern, urban lifestyles, which often involve migration to cities, taking on paid work, and having a quite different relationship with their families. This book, based on intensive research among the women of the Bidayuh people in Sarawak, all of them first generation migrant wage workers, explores the extent to which women's lifestyles are changing, and the reasons which prompt women to make the changes. How far are such women driven by economic considerations, how far by dissatisfaction with traditional lifestyles, and how far by the appeal of a glamorous urban lifestyle? The author's research includes detailed interviews in the field, and much of this interview material is included in the book, thereby enabling the Bidayuh women to tell their own stories as they grapple with the rapid changes swirling around them.

Women Workers, Migration and Family in Sarawak

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Women Workers, Migration and Family in Sarawak
CHENG SIM HEW
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUBGCE

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Dictionary of Heresy Trials in American Christianity

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Dictionary of Heresy Trials in American Christianity

Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Comparative Religion | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

History | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

jp-unknown1 | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 031329660X

Book Description

The first of its kind, this volume presents fifty formal and informal trials of individuals and institutions that have been labeled as heretical. These are challenging stories of ministers, professors, and laypersons who literally risked their careers and lives for their understanding of religious truths. From Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson in the colonial period to the latest 1990s casualties in the Southern Baptist Convention, trials from all major periods in American History and from all the major denominations are presented by leading scholars in the study of religious history. Of interest to scholars, students, and the general religious public. In this moving work, Catholic heretics mingle with Baptists and Mormons, female heretics are hanged and banished, and laypersons are dismissed from membership in their beloved church. Heretical professors lay the groundwork for academic freedom in the 20th century. It is evident from these essays that heretics in the American religious tradition have been among the most creative and voluminous contributors to American society. The trials they suffered were costly, but their contributions were vital. Their legacy informs present religious culture in a myriad of ways.

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The American Heretic's Dictionary
Chaz Bufe
Manufacturer: See Sharp Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Satire, General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Vocabulary | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

The Devil's Dictionaries: The Best of the Devil's Dictionary and the American Heretic's Dictionary

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a classic!
A Funny Pick Up and Read Book
A new classic in satire and political humor
Another geat book from AK Press
The contribution by Bufe is a joke

The Devil's Dictionaries: The Best of the Devil's Dictionary and the American Heretic's Dictionary
Ambrose Bierce , and Chaz Bufe
Manufacturer: See Sharp Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Political | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Satire, General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

English (All) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

English (British) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

Amazon.com

The funniest people I know all seem to have a copy of the Ambrose Bierce classic, The Devil's Dictionary, begun in 1881, which is not Satanic, but is certainly one of the most cynical (yet truthful) collections of bubble-popping definitions for many of our most sacred cows. This edition also contains a considerably longer modern successor to Bierce's classic, by Chaz Bufe, written in the same spirit but updated for the 1990s. Highly recommended to anyone who craves the truth behind the pretense.

Book Description

This compilation of hundreds of biting, witty, cruel, and hilarious definitions combines the best 200 definitions from Ambrose Bierce's classic The Devil's Dictionary, with more than 500 definitions from the most humorous and stinging entries in Chaz Bufe's The American Heretic's Dictionary. This new edition includes 50 new definitions from Bufe and new biting illustrations by San Francisco artist and filmmaker J. R. Swanson. The Bierce definitions focus on his favorite targets, including religion, jingoism masquerading as patriotism, the "lickspittle" press, the thievery inherent in the American economic system, and the multitude of idiocies and hypocrisies pervading American social and political life. Bufe's definitions share many of the same targets, but also skewer such contemporary plagues as the "right to life" movement, religious fundamentalism, the IRS, and the puritanically "politically correct." Bufe also turns a jaundiced eye on both male and female sexual attitudes, something which Bierce, writing in much more conservative times, was not free to do.

Customer Reviews:

a classic!.......2005-11-27

Let the right-wingers rant and rave - this is a really, really funny (and unusually truthful) look at society, life in the 2000's and people in general. Those who rail at this book would do well to read a little more closely and ponder a bit more deeply. Whatever your (political, sexual, etc.) bent, at the very least this book should make you think. Have some individuals forgotten the term "devil's advocate"?

A Funny Pick Up and Read Book.......2005-07-31

Bierce's is obviously a classic and Bufe modernizes it wonderfully in his new version which lashes out at society just as well as it's inspiration albeit with slighty more layman language. Both books (despite what some seem to think) are decidedly anti-religious and leftist. That doesn't mean, however, that liberals are left unharmed though. All in all I think it's target audience will find it a fun read and it's targeted victims will be the only ones whining about it.

A new classic in satire and political humor.......2004-09-22

I have been a fan of Ambrose Bierce for many years, and I've often wished that someone would update and add to his classic
Devil's Dictionary. Bufe has done a great job of blending his definitions with those of Bierce. Bufe certainly has the sardonic wit and caustic humor that characterized "Bitter" Bierce. Instead of reading the old reprints of Bierce's D.D., I would highly recommend this updated and overhauled version of that classic satire.

Another geat book from AK Press.......2002-08-17

A caustic exercise in political and social black humor. 300 plus definitions such as - JUSTICE, n. A term of vicious mockery, as in "equal justice under the law."

The contribution by Bufe is a joke.......2002-01-28

To put Bufe between the same covers with Bierce is a joke. His contribution is simply a left liberal attack against America and an outlet for radicalism run amuck..A waste of money and dumped in the garbage bin !

Book Description

An intimate, eye-opening look inside the life of one of the most unique and adored performers of contemporary rock music

From her critically acclaimed 1992 debut, Little Earthquakes, to the recent hit, Scarlet’s Walk, Tori Amos has been a formidable force in contemporary music, with one of the most dedicated fan bases in the industry. In Tori Amos: Piece by Piece, the singer herself takes readers beyond the mere facts, explaining the specifics of her creative process—how her songs go from ideas and melodies to recordings and passionately performed concert pieces.

Written with acclaimed music journalist Ann Powers, Tori Amos: Piece by Piece is a firsthand account of the most intricate and intimate details of Amos’s life as both a private individual and a very public performing musician. In passionate and informative prose, Amos explains how her songs come to her and how she records and then performs them for audiences everywhere, all the while connecting with listeners across the world and maintaining her own family life (which includes raising a young daughter). But it is also much more, a verbal collage made by two strong female voices—and the voices of those closest to Amos—that calls upon genealogy, myth, and folklore to express Amos’s unique and fascinating personal history. In short, we see the pieces that make up—as Amos herself puts it—“the woman we call Tori.”

With photos taken especially for this book by the photographer Loren Haynes, Tori Amos: Piece by Piece is a rare treat for both Tori listeners and newcomers alike, a look into the heart and mind of an extraordinary musician.

I choose to fight my battles through my music . . . I was born a feminist. And then at age five, when my strict Christian grandmother punished me, I realized, I’m not penetrating here. I’m just pissing people off. So I had to find another way to penetrate. I had to redefine what that word means. That word now is really about an opening, an entering into a separate space. And after the first phase of my life, I realized that it was okay to enter that space without having to be invaded . . . I like the idea of just being able to be inside. Not using penetration as a violent word. The idea of being able to find keys . . . music, using keys to get into a space that we couldn’t before . . .

Now, backstage at an undisclosed arena where the sweat of athletes is still perfuming my makeshift dressing room, my many conversations with Ann Powers have begun . . .

“You come from the journalist side. I come from the artist side. It can become offensive. I’m sure from your side as well as from mine.”

“Well, it’s true everyone expects us to be enemies. And in some ways we are. My job is interpretation. Yours is art, which often benefits from mystery . . .”

Ann and I decided to strip our roles back to basics. We are both women born feminists in the 1960s. We are both married. We are both mothers. We are both in the music industry. Traditionally we are enemies. But for this project to be effective, I had to allow Ann to expose Tori Amos. And Tori Amos’s inner circle. And me.”

– from the Introduction

BUY TORI AMOS’S LATEST RECORDING, THE BEEKEEPER, ON EPIC RECORDS

Customer Reviews:

Tori-iffic!.......2007-09-28

Tori Amos is an amazing person. The book is a glimpse inside her head. It is purely phenominal the way she thinks, writes, and creates. She has an interesting family history that shapes how she creates, and her drive for knowledge is astounding. Reading her autobiography makes me want to be a more creative person. I want to learn and study everything. She is a very inspirational person.

Art is business.......2007-08-09

I appreciated Powers' glimpse into the mind, spirit and artistry of Tori Amos. Amos straddles an interesting bridge between privacy and being genuine with her fans. Powers' depiction of her in this book both supports that odd juxtaposition and left me questioning even more just how Amos manages to pull it off. I valued the stroll through Amos' creative process and how interwoven that is with her spirituality. What surprised me, oddly, is how assertively Powers presents Amos by the book's end, with regard to claiming her sound, her contractual rights, deciding who makes the band, how she works with the band... I suppose that despite my best judgement I bought into that 15 years career span of faerieness and metaphoric repartee Amos is so well known for in interviews. But then how else would a woman so centered in her power succeed in such a competitive and patriarchal industry? Very interesting read, indeed.

Great academic/sociological/feminist reading........2007-07-08

I couldn't have read this book at a better time. My work has brought me to the study of artist-musician as demigod, and Tori Amos dedicates a huge portion of this book to an explanation of the divisions she creates within her own life: public persona, private individual, and performer. I've always loved Tori Amos' music for my own reasons, and I knew she was a preacher's daughter and part Native American, but until I read this I had not realized just how much myth and archetype play central roles in the creation of her songs (and in her life.) She states that the songs come to her (as one's friends would come to tea) and that she can actually see the architecture of each song. The extensive research she has done on myths and archetypes serves as the inspiration and framework for each song. She researches other artists' works (poets, writers, painters, photographers) in order to get a clearer sense of her song babies much as a detective would examine a crime scene for evidence. She says (and I'm paraphrasing all of this) that there comes a point when she just steps back and lets the song in. As a fellow artist, her ideas have given me some of my own concerning the creative process. As a woman, her take on her past life experiences has helped me to take a more positive and less individualistic view of mine. And as an intellect and a mystic who is not at odds with these opposing aspects of herself, she has reaffirmed for me the need to be who I am without reference to any external measures of rightness or conformity.

I recognize in some other reviews a few valid criticisms: namely, that Ann Powers sometimes places Amos on an impossibly high pedestal (though, yes, she is quite the formidable individual) and that sometimes Amos gets a little too abstract even for me. Also, when dialogue was employed it sometimes didn't come across as legit. Maybe Amos was remembering the jist of conversations that she'd had and then putting them in her own words.

Some bits I loved: the autobiographical details of her early life, especially her description of her mother's family (her grandmother and grandfather, and their neat histories and personalities); the "song canvases", in which she explains in detail or succinctly many of the songs on The Beekeeper; the interviews with other people in her personal and professional life, which serve as snapshots of the different and various aspects of Tori and life with Tori; her anecdotes of motherhood (having a toddler myself;) and her indepth explanations of the creation of each album (their concepts and the place she was in personally that inspired them)--she cleared up a few question marks I still had concerning Strange Little Girls.

I recommend this book for those of us who are both Tori fans and philosophers (questioning, analytic, intuitive, not content to experience without understanding) by nature.

I also want to add that while this book is woman-centered (which is refreshing, because many books, regardless of the gender of the author, aren't), Tori Amos does include analyses of different male gods and how they still live in herself and in culture today. And while she never explicitly says that men can identify with goddesses, she implies it by stating that within herself and every woman is a man and a woman, and as I just mentioned, male gods influence her and her work as well.

beautiful.......2007-06-08

this book is amazing. i recommend it to any fan...
it really makes you appreciate the later albums

She's a gem ain't she fellas!.......2007-06-05

Piece by Piece by Tori Amos is a thought-provocking, carefully crafted autobiography from my favorite female singer/songwriter. This book is filled with exciting and clever behind the scene stories from the road, family, and personal passions. Co-written by Ann Powers who is a journalist, Tori and Ann converse bath and forth through e-mail and phone conversations. Tori takes the reader into her special little world, she discusses and opens up about her three heartbreaking miscarriages, the day her daughter, Natasha was born, her love of touring, and recording her studio albums. Tori is such a creative force, I wish my brain could work like that! If you are looking for an interesting and mind-bending read then this book is for you. You are gonna love it, I sure did. Enjoy!

Book Description

The Cold War agent of pulp fiction and the hero of more than a dozen movies, James Bond, also known as 007, is one of pop culture's most recognizable icons. Doubtless better known from film than from Ian Fleming's novels, the character has become a lightning rod for criticism from all camps. And yet somehow his popularity remains intact.

But who is James Bond? Ian Fleming and James Bond: The Cultural Politics of 007 is an entertaining and revealing examination of the many facets of Bond. Before Bond became a cinematic icon, he was the protagonist of a series of thrillers that appeared during the time of Britain's decline as a major power and the heating up of the Cold War. Fleming's character gave expression to biases and anxieties that continue to shape our political worldview in ways both obvious and covert.

Fifteen spirited and engaging essays—all new to this volume—cover topics including Bond's Britishness, James Bond and JFK, homosexual panic and lesbian Bond-age, the James Bond lifestyle, and Bond's brands.

The contributors are Alexis Albion, Dennis W. Allen, James Chapman, Edward P. Comentale, Vivian Halloran, Jaime Hovey, Aaron Jaffe, Christoph Lindner, Andrew Lycett, Patrick O'Donnell, Craig N. Owens, Brian Patton, Judith Roof, Stephen Watt, and Skip Willman.

Customer Reviews:

Academic Conference or Hunting Lodge for Smart Weirdos?.......2005-07-16

James Bond is one of the few pop culture references that writer (and portrayer of Riff Raff) Richard O'Brien didn't throw into his masterpiece, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. (At least I don't remember any.) But there's a line in Rocky Horror that applies to the book Ian Fleming & James Bond: The Cultural Politics of 007.

In Rocky Horror, the "sweet transvestite" and mad scientist Frank N. Furter shows innocent young Janet Weiss his Charles Atlas-like creation, Rocky. Janet touches Rocky's firm oiled flesh but says she doesn't like a man with too many muscles.

"I DIDN'T MAKE HIM FOR YOU!!!" Frank answers.

This book was written for academics, not for me.

It's a collection of papers written for an academic conference at Indiana University in 2003. The first half of the book especially is full of the jargony prose that academics use too often. Or, as the introduction states, "This grouping of essays explores Fleming's work as it responds to post-World War II transformations - - theoretical or otherwise - - of subjectivity and intersubjective relations." (My spellchecker doesn't even want to call "intersubjective" a word, but it flagged "jargony" too and I like that one.)

The acknowledgments page thanks the "faculty and graduate students" who attended the conference - - didn't they even let undergraduate students past security? I imagine some freshman with one of Q's hi-tech iris-scanning gizmos sneaking in, just like Bond.

Again quoting the introduction, "In fact, the secret service and academia are linked by this mode: the success of both depends on an ability to cross and confound rigid oppositions, . . ." Come on, guys. I had a Man from UNCLE camera-gun too, when I was ten, but I don't still shoot THRUSH agents with it.

But the second half of the book (the essays tying the Bond books and movies to their moment in history) is more interesting. How Bond went from British pulp hero to transatlantic (in other words American) superspy-savior. How Bond (who we always think of as very modern, whatever decade he's in) is really a conservative reaction against the "angry young men" of fifties Britain ("Shoot Back in Anger"). What are the literary and real-life connections between JFK, RFK, Fleming, Bond, and Castro? (And who among those are real people, who are fictional characters, and who are both?)

If you liked Peter Biskind's Seeing is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties, and J. Hoberman's The Dream Life: Movies, Media, and the Mythology of the Sixties, you'll find enough in this book to make it worth reading several of the essays. It's definitely worth the Amazon paperback price.

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Street Fighter Storyteller's Screen (Street Fighter)
Mike Tinney
Manufacturer: White Wolf Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1565041623

Average customer rating:

exactly what you will need for working with SWT/JFACE

Great text, great complete examples, minor flaws

Not bad...but not great, either

Great Book, leaves wanting more...

Good on Visual Design, Virtually Zilch on Event Handling

The Definitive Guide to SWT and JFACE
Robert Harris , and Rob Warner
Manufacturer: Apress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Java | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Software Development | Software Design, Testing & Engineering | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Languages & Tools | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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Eclipse: Building Commercial-Quality Plug-ins (2nd Edition) (The Eclipse Series)

Eclipse Rich Client Platform: Designing, Coding, and Packaging Java(TM) Applications (The Eclipse Series)

SWT/JFace in Action: GUI Design with Eclipse 3.0 (In Action series)

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Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition

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ASIN: 1590593251

Book Description

The Definitive Guide to SWT and JFace describes how to build stand-alone Java applications with Eclipse's SWT (Standard Wizard Tool kit) and JFace toolkit. Part of the Eclipse IDE (Eclipse itself is built with this software), SWT and JFace provide for portable Java applications that have native platform performance and native platform appearance.

This book describes the history of Java GUI toolkits, explains why SWT is superior, and then provides extensive examples of building applications with SWT. This book takes developers through the entire class hierarchy of SWT, explaining clearly (with Java code) how to use all the widgets in the toolkit. JFace, an additional abstraction layer built on SWT, is also described and this book demonstrates how to build applications with JFace with explanation and example code.

Customer Reviews:

exactly what you will need for working with SWT/JFACE.......2006-09-24

if you are looking for something to walk you through widget by widget..holding your hand this is your book . Excellent reference and very clear structure.
Good to have by your desk when you need to look up something and dont like reading javadocs from the source ...

Great text, great complete examples, minor flaws.......2005-08-17

Having being treated to a text called Windows Forms Programming for C# by Chris Sells in late 2004, and considering that's pretty much the closest book in spirit in terms of covering a high-level Windowing API and is relatively well-known, I'll go right ahead and use that as a metric:

I am surprised to find no coverage of SWT and Java 1.5's threading abilities. I wanted to see a coverage of how to handle long-running worker threads that must call delegates that run on the UI-thread (like a web services caller threaad telling the gui-thread to update the progress update bar to show 75% completed). I wanted to see coverage on how to send events information back and forth between GUI thread and the worker threads. It's one of my favorite chapter in Sells' book because without it it is very difficult to write a responsive app. This is criticial in this day and age with the decent amount of web services and distributed computing being used in Intranets and Internets. If Harris and Warner are willing to write an extra chapter on this very topic, I would be greatly in their debt. We are all waiting for this chapter! I guess some of you will say, wait for Doug Lea's next book, but I trust Harris/Warner to get to the point faster and better--and stay on topic (I am not sure if Doug Lea would bother with SWT). I am hoping there's an answer to this, because I need to use this asap.

There are some other surprises I find distasteful: data access and binding of data recordsets to grids are no where to be found.

These are the main reasons why this book gets a four star. Because people like me are spoiled.

Anyway, back to the book review:

Real-world cross-platform development is a tough subject. If you ask most people, they'll relunctantly say the best way to go about it is to write platform neutral c++ model/controller code and write the view code in Qt or Gtk/MFC or WinForms/Carbon or Cocoa. Nasty.

It goes without saying most small development shops simply can't budget serious competence in one, let alone three major GUI frameworks. This is not counting all the trouble you have to go through to evaluate count-less so-so [for one reason or another] libraries (wxWidget, MainWin, Swing, OpenStep API, Flash, Mozilla) just to arrive at the point where you can clearly say aha, I really want MFC/Carbon/Qt after all.
[And let's not even get into strictly system programming libraries, for which there are several dozens on the sourceforge galaxy alone.]. So for light work, where you aren't trying to please 500 million users right away (Internet Explorer, Outlook Express) or even 200,000--you really want something like Java 1.5+SWT:

> One productive language.

> One well-supported effort to map a common gui api to all major windowing systems while preserving native looks.

> A quick build that produces three executables. One for RedHat Linux. One for Mac OS X. One for Windows NT 5+.

Which is why I am really happy Sun and IBM is trying so hard to make this option happen. I build small softwares for a relatively small audience. With IBM's contribution of SWT, all we need now is a good text that cover it thoroughly--from the perspective of developers--not the library writers. The Definitive Guide to SWT and JFace gives you just that.

At times, I can see how some of the other reviewers might say, "It's just table listings rehashing documentations", and if you compare this book to Chris Sells' book you may wonder the same thing--but I think it's still an excellent try and the authors add something to the docs. I'll point out a few examples:

* In the "Selecting Files for Open and Save" they went out of their way to write the correct version of how to handle over-writing an existing file. Hey, just imagine if the authors said nothing... ;-)

* Throughout the book they document what the behavior will be if you did something undocumented: they'll mention when you shouldn't subclass SWT; they post questions to the eclipse group to clarify some of the bad decisions that had to be made and they tell us what we should do about it.

* They explore some patterns they expect real world programmers will likely try (like Decorations, which is like a half-implementation of MDI), and warn you ahead of time what you can expect to find or even whether you should use it.

The best part about them adding a bit of details is that you'll likely dig through the MSDN with Sell's book (which is not a bad thing), but you'll probably have everything at your finger-tips with Harris/Warner--so is it a bit wordy? Is it too referency? Maybe--see for yourself. :-)

This is a great book, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it. It's a key to a world of cheaper better cross-platform development--walk--no run to your bookstore and get it!

Not bad...but not great, either.......2005-04-28

Much of the beginning chapters in SWT are simply API listings - WORTHLESS! I've got those online...don't need them in a book, especially since they are not as complete as the JavaDocs. Otherwise, not bad. I'm looking for better...

Great Book, leaves wanting more..........2005-04-19

This is overall an excellent introduction to SWT and JFace. After working with the technology for over 2 years I can say that it would have been a great help to have this book back then. The book's layout was well thought out. My only wish is that they put out a follow up book covering some of the more advanced topics like Events, Embedding Swing components, Packaging and Distributing SWT/JFace applications (including using JWS), using Native code. Plus, even though is Java covering some of the things that can be done with ActiveX controls would be a plus.

Good on Visual Design, Virtually Zilch on Event Handling.......2004-12-22

If your main question is how to place widgets on your screens, then this book is excellent. But if, however, you would like those widgets to actually trigger events, then this book is a damned disappointment. They have a general chapter on events but for widget after widget, their examples show you how to place the widget on the page but not how to get its events. You can write code to trigger events but try to do something useful with those events and you will be greatly disappointed.
Also, if you were hoping for some guidance or examples on how to use the 'asyncExec()' or 'syncExec()' methods, you will be disappointed. There is nothing. So, if you need anything beyond the basics, don't waste your money.

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Definitive Guide To SWT & Jface
Rob Warner
Manufacturer: APRESS / SPRINGER-VERLAG
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N63MLU

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