I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel

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Sounds right to me!

I Am Charlotte Simmons: A Novel
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Wolfe, Tom | ( W ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312424442
Release Date: 2005-08-11

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Product Description: Dupont University--the Olympian halls of learning housing the cream of America's youth, the roseate Gothic spires and manicured lawns suffused with tradition... Or so it appears to beautiful, brilliant Charlotte Simmons, a sheltered freshman from North Carolina. But Charlotte soon learns, to her mounting dismay, that for the uppercrust coeds of Dupont, sex, Cool, and kegs trump academic achievement every time.

As Charlotte encounters Dupont's privileged elite--her roommate, Beverly, a Groton-educated Brahmin in lusty pursuit of lacrosse players; Jojo Johanssen, the only white starting player on Dupont's godlike basketball team, whose position is threatened by a hotshot black freshman from the projects; the Young Turk of Saint Ray fraternity, Hoyt Thorpe, whose heady sense of entitlement and social domination is clinched by his accidental brawl with a bodyguard for the governor of California; and Adam Geller, one of the Millennial Mutants who run the university's "independent" newspaper and who consider themselves the last bastion of intellectual endeavor on the sex-crazed, jock-obsessed campus--she gains a new, revelatory sense of her own power, that of her difference and of her very innocence, but little does she realize that she will act as a catalyst in all of their lives. With his signature eye for detail, Tom Wolfe draws on extensive observation of campuses across the country to immortalize college life in the '00s. I Am Charlotte Simmons is the much-anticipated triumph of America's master chronicler.

Tom Wolfe Talks About I Am Charlotte Simmons
In I Am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolfe masterfully chronicles college sports, fraternities, keggers, coeds, and sex--all through the eyes of the titular Simmons, a bright and beautiful freshman at the fictional Dupont University. Listen to an Amazon.com exclusive audio clip of Wolfe talking about his new novel.

Listen to Tom Wolfe Talk About I Am Charlotte Simmons

Tom Wolfe Timeline

1931: Thomas Kennerly Wolfe, Jr. born in Richmond, VA, on March 2. Wolfe later attends Washington and Lee University (BA, English, 1951), and Yale University (Ph.D., American Studies, 1957).

1956: Wolfe begins working as a reporter in Springfield, MA, Washington, D.C., then finally New York City, writing feature articles for major newspapers, as well as New York and Esquire magazines. Not satisfied with the conventions of newspaper reporting at the time, Wolfe experiments with using the techniques of fiction writing in his news articles. Wolfe's newspaper career spans a decade.

1963: After being sent by Esquire to research a story about the custom car world in Southern California, Wolfe returns to New York with ideas, but no article. Upon telling his editor he cannot write it, the editor suggests he send his notes and someone else will. Wolfe stays up all night, types 49 pages, and turns it in the next morning. Later that day, the editor calls to tell Wolfe they are cutting the salutation off the top of the memorandum, printing the rest as-is. Thus, New Journalism was arguably born, whereby writing and storytelling techniques previously utilized only in fiction were radically applied to nonfiction. Straight reporting pieces now were free to include: the author's perceptions and experience, shifting perspectives, the use of jargon and slang, the reconstruction of events and conversations.

1965: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux publish Wolfe's first collection of nonfiction stories displaying his newfound reporting techniques: The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby. The book cements Wolfe's place as a prominent stylist of the New Journalism movement.

1968: The Pump House Gang and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (No. 91 on National Review's 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century) publish on the same day, and together provide an up-close portrait and exploration of the hippie culture of the 1960s (by following the novelist Ken Kesey and his entourage of LSD enthusiasts), and the cultural change occurring at a seminal point in U.S. social history.

1970: Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers is published. This collection underscores racial divide in America, including an am using story about the socialites of New York City seeking out black liberation groups as guests, focusing on the conductor Leonard Bernstein's party with the Black Panthers in attendance at his Park Avenue duplex. (No. 35 on National Review's 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century .)

1976: Wolfe labels the 1970s "The Me Decade" in his collection of essays, Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine. Wolfe illustrates the bookthroughout.

1979: The Right Stuff is published. Depicting the status, structure, exploits, and ethics of daredevil pilots at the forefront of rocket and aircraft technology, as well as the beginnings of the space program and the pioneering NASA astronauts who were the first Americans to land on the moon, the book receives the National Book Award in 1980. An Academy Award-winning film is made from the book in 1983.

1987: With publication of his first novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities--serialized in Rolling Stone magazine--Wolfe pens one of the bestselling and definitive novels of the 1980s, continuing his social criticism and ability to capture the lives and preoccupations of Americans, one generation at a time. Wolfe receives a record $5 million for movie rights to the novel and, despite the success of the book, the film fails at the box office.

1998: A Man in Full, Wolfe's second novel, is published to mixed criticism, yet garners favor as a 1998 National Book Award Finalist. Here, Wolfe aims his sights on the Atlanta, GA, elite, trophy wives, and real estate developers, continuing to comment on racial issues and the chasm in socioeconomic status in America.

2000: Hooking Up, a collection of essays, reviews, profiles, and the novella, Ambush at Fort Bragg, is published.

2004: On November 9, Wolfe's third novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons, set at the fictional Dupont University, is published.

Book Description

Tom Wolfe, the master social novelist of our time, the spot-on chronicler of all things contemporary and cultural, presents a sensational new novel about life, love, and learning--or the lack of it--amid today's American colleges.

Our story unfolds at fictional Dupont University: those Olympian halls of scholarship housing the cream of America's youth, the roseate Gothic spires and manicured lawns suffused with tradition . . . Or so it appears to beautiful, brilliant Charlotte Simmons, a sheltered freshman from North Carolina. But Charlotte soon learns, to her mounting dismay, that for the upper-crust coeds of Dupont, sex, cool, and kegs trump academic achievement every time.

As Charlotte encounters the paragons of Dupont's privileged elite--her roommate, Beverly, a Groton-educated Brahmin in lusty pursuit of lacrosse players; Jojo Johanssen, the only white starting player on Dupont's godlike basketball team, whose position is threatened by a hotshot black freshman from the projects; the Young Turk of Saint Ray fraternity, Hoyt Thorpe, whose heady sense of entitlement and social domination is clinched by his accidental brawl with a bodyguard for the governor of California; and Adam Geller, one of the Millennial Mutants who run the university's "independent" newspaper and who consider themselves the last bastion of intellectual endeavor on the sex-crazed, jock-obsessed campus--she is seduced by the heady glamour of acceptance, betraying both her values and upbringing before she grasps the power of being different--and the exotic allure of her own innocence.

With his trademark satirical wit and famously sharp eye for telling detail, Wolfe draws on extensive observations at campuses across the country to immortalize the early-21st-century college-going experience.

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America's "peerless observer" (People) uncovers college life--from jocks to mutants, dormcest to tailgating--plus race, class, sex, and basketball.

Customer Reviews:

Good read -- a few flaws, but pick it up anyway.......2007-10-21

I enjoyed the book and as a Tom Wolfe fan I list "A Man in Full" as one of the very best books I have ever read -- and I read a lot.

In "I Am Charlotte Simmons" Wolfe created a character that was naive to the point of stupidity which made Charlotte unbelievable at times. Had she lived in the 1950s, that would have been one thing, but to enter college in the year 2005 and not even own make-up or have any clue of current popular music or pop culture makes Charlotte a caricature of the heroine Wolfe wanted her to be.

Surely no one would be so stupid as to think that she would be given her own private room when attending a weekend fraternity getaway as someone's date! No, it's beyond belief and makes Charlotte difficult to take seriously -- especially since we were also supposed to believe that she was extremely intelligent and well-read.

Also, Wolfe's use of language and dialects was somewhat overdone, since he often used both the proper written word and then translated it into the dialect for us, as if the reader would be unable to understand the phrase "I cain't". This detracted from the story and was tedious as I often had to read the same thing over again. (I can't imagine Mark Twain doing that in "Huckleberry Finn". It would have ruined the book.)

All in all, Wolfe remains one of the best of the modern American authors and I look forward to his next book.

Terrible.......2007-10-09

This is one of the worst books I've ever read. I was so disappointed. Having recently graduated from college I expected to identify with or at least recognize some of the experiences depicted in the novel. Nope! Everything was generalized or exploited to the point that it becomes a not very flattering caricature of college life. Don't bother with this one.

So bad that I burned it!.......2007-09-25

I am not even going to waste the time to get into the details of this book. It was such a horrible let down and insulting piece of work. I finished reading it while at a bon-fire, and I just tossed it in.

A sorry effort .......2007-08-25

"I Am Charlotte Simmons "by Tom Wolfe is another of that author's attempts to revive the Dickens/Anthony Trollope social novel, a college comedy, of sorts, where the bright but sheltered title character arrives at a modern college where the ways of the student body is anything but academic. "I Am Charlotte Simmons" is only the latest in Tom Wolfe's failing attempts to assert his relevance in American literature as a novelist. It's a lost cause, really, because the very talent that made his non-fiction work, for the most part, such wonderfully acidic and last portraits of a consumer culture is the same things that make his fiction elephantine bores. Supreme inspection of ticks and toilet can elevate personality pieces to the stage of writing art, but it produces flat characters, static situations, and rather desperate stretches of over writing to compensate for undeniable inertia. Wolfe seems to want to assume the position of the late William Gaddis in being America's greatest comic social novelist, but the distinction between the two writers is crucial; Gaddis was a virtuoso with language, dialogue and character, and was more than able to make use of copious research in his fiction in ways that made his fiction's famous complexity actually worth sussing through. Gaddis'" The Recognitions" is precisely the complex New York comic novel of art, commerce, greed and religion that Wolfe is incapable of writing Wolfe lost his punch years ago, producing two-dimensional doorstoppers as novels and angry-dog rants as essays in his most recent efforts, and Simmons has the kind of over-writing found in once-hip writers trying to establish their relevance. He sounds shrill and angry here. Wolfe insists that he's culturally conservative, yet isn't ready to make like John Dos Passos and tone down his writing; something in him desires to remain "edgy", or at least wants to be thought of as beings so. On the one hand he produces literary manifestos denouncing academic and experimental novelists who've forsaken their calling to produce moral fiction, and on the other he produces ham-handed vulgarity under the guise of satire with I Am Charlotte Simmons. He seems unaware that his novels are as bad as Brett Easton Ellis's, and his rationale for writing fiction the way he does is just as thin.
_____

Sounds right to me!.......2007-08-18

I'll say two things about this novel. First, I've read some reviews where the reviewer accuses Wolfe of going "over the top" with his description of college life at Dupont. Anyone who sees this as "over the top," clearly didn't attend a private college in the South. His description of college life is right on the mark.

Secondly, Wolfe does an incredible job of truly getting into the mind of an 18-year-old bumpkin. For that matter, he does an excellent job of getting into the mind of pretty much all of his main characters: Charlotte, shocked and appalled by the debauchery she witnesses yet utterly falling for the cool frat guy. He nails the elitist attitude Hoyt Thorpe has, truly getting inside his head and thinking thoughts a guy like Thorpe would believe, yet keep to himself with a smirk - just knowing he has it all figured out. The same can be said for his relaying of the simple-minded thoughts by JoJo Johanssen, as well as the pented up nerd-rage of an psuedo-intellectual like Adam Gellin.

What made me like this novel, was that I hated the ending. Sound strange? Well to be truthful, I must admit that I liked Charlotte much better when she was naive. Its hard to like the person that she becomes at the end. She never tells her mother, best friend, or mentor the truth. She realizes that she isn't so much an intellectual with a thirst for knowledge as she's just someone who wants to be recognized as more special than the next person. Shame on you, Charlotte.

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I Am Charlotte Simmons (SIGNED)
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: FSG
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HKFZUS

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I Am Charlotte Simmons
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: FARRAR STRAUS AND GIROUX
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKCKBI

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I Am Charlotte Simmons
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLP83Y

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I am Charlotte Simmons
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: BBC Audio America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000OK4886

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I am Charlotte Simmons
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OXCZ1A

Off at college.(Book Review): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life

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Off at college.(Book Review): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
Mary Ann Glendon
Manufacturer: Institute on Religion and Public Life
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on February 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1730 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: Off at college.(Book Review)
Author: Mary Ann Glendon
Publication: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2005
Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
Issue: 150 Page: 41(4)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Sex, drugs--and more sex and drugs: the new Adolescent Society.(Book Review): An article from: Education Next

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Sex, drugs--and more sex and drugs: the new Adolescent Society.(Book Review): An article from: Education Next
Diane Ravitch
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Education Next, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1121 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: Sex, drugs--and more sex and drugs: the new Adolescent Society.(Book Review)
Author: Diane Ravitch
Publication: Education Next (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Page: 74(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Tom Wolfe's school days.(Books): An article from: New Criterion

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Tom Wolfe's school days.(Books): An article from: New Criterion
Brooke Allen
Manufacturer: Foundation for Cultural Review
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 2155 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: Tom Wolfe's school days.(Books)
Author: Brooke Allen
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 23 Issue: 5 Page: 61(4)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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I am Charlotte Simmons
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: Vintage Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000MKJTSC

Book Description

Computing Equilibria and Fixed Points is devoted to the computation of equilibria, fixed points and stationary points. This volume is written with three goals in mind: (i) To give a comprehensive introduction to fixed point methods and to the definition and construction of Gröbner bases; (ii) To discuss several interesting applications of these methods in the fields of general equilibrium theory, game theory, mathematical programming, algebra and symbolic computation; (iii) To introduce several advanced fixed point and stationary point theorems. These methods and topics should be of interest not only to economists and game theorists concerned with the computation and existence of equilibrium outcomes in economic models and cooperative and non-cooperative games, but also to applied mathematicians, computer scientists and engineers dealing with models of highly nonlinear systems of equations (or polynomial equations).

Customer Reviews:

This is a very good book on game theory........1999-06-17

This is very good book on game theory. I am research scholar in Indian Institute of Technology , West bengal , India . I am a poor student. In my field I am not getting any book. I shall be grate ful if you spare this book to me on my follwing address. Thanking you. Sankar kr. Roy Research Scholar Indian Institute of Technology West Bengal, Kharagpur 721302 India.

Book Description

With over 24 pages covering the band's newest CD, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, U2: Into the Heart examines the behind-the-scenes influences that shaped U2’s internationally popular and critically acclaimed music. Included are original and revealing interviews with band members and the key people close to U2. The band’s rich cultural and social context is fully explored, providing a colorful backdrop to the songs. U2: Into the Heart traces U2’s meteoric rise from the early days of their career with Boy, their first album, to the spanning success of The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, Achtung Baby, and Pop. U2 is a group that has become a world-class rock ’n’ roll band; a band that continues to invent themselves and are not afraid to take chances with their craft—as well as make a unique impact in the world of music with their raw, emotional energy.

Customer Reviews:

Dissapointing.......2006-09-06

Maybe it was more like buyer beware, I was really disapointed in how superficial and extrapolated the content of the subject was. I don't consider this a an essential piece for any serious u2 fan, it leaves you with way too much ambuguity.

A superb study on U2 creations.......2006-01-29

Niall Stokes did perfectly well by compilling such precious informations on U2's songs. If you have any of the band's biographies published to date, you're not done not until you get this book. It contains fascinating stories on the writing of the music and lyrics. Thanks for writing and releasing it, mr. Stokes!

U2 Into the Heart: The Stories Behind every Song.......2006-01-16

First Negatives, then positives:

Negatives:
1. Not all of the songs have interpretations of the lyrics. Most, but not all. The stories told in each song's profile follow no formula or criteria - some cover lyrics, some music, some production, some inspiration, etc. Those stories are great and I like their inclusion, but I much prefer that every song had a lyrical explanation.

2. The author at times seems to marginalize the amount of Christian reference in U2's music. It just doesn't come up in proportion to how big it has been throughout U2's history.

3. Where is "Holy Joe" ? Other B-Sides are covered!

4. At times it's difficult to determine which points are the author's speculation and which are his conveyances of U2's thoughts and ideas. He admits in the introduction that some editorial speculation and interpretation - but I'd like some clarity about which is which, because I'm more interested in what U2 has to say than reading Stoke's brainstorming about his take.

As for the positives:

1. The book is very comprehensive (except for Holy Joe!) and very well organized - chronologically by album with a section in the back covering B-Sides, and other stuff not on albums. It gives a 2 or 3 page 'profile' on each song with several nice color pictures.

2. Despite my crticism above about not offering a lyric interpretation or explanation of every song, Stokes did a great job of finding some very interestings stories on other aspects of how songs came together.

3. And the last thing is that there don't seem to be any, or at least not many other books like this out there. I know there are others on this topic (covering U2 song by song) but the ones I've seen don't do as good of a job. In fact, the others I've seen actually make the line between editorializing and describing U2 by their own words - even more unclear. So if there are better works of this sort on U2 out there - I haven't seen them.

Enjoy the book!

Must have for U2 fans.......2006-01-16

Great book. The title says it all. A must have for all U2 fans.

It is what the title says, Stories Behind Every Song.............2005-12-28

If you're after a book that will tell you exactly what each song on every U2 album was written about, this isn't it and it isn't supposed to be. In fact there isn't any book that can tell you exactly what each song is about because there are a number of U2 songs where the lyrics are highly personal to Bono and even he won't disclose the full meaning of them.

If, however, you are looking for a book that gives information on how certain songs came together with some lesser known facts thrown in and, in some cases, the meaning of the lyrics then this book will make interesting reading.

The main bulk of the book covers all the songs on every U2 studio Album from Boy to How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (including Rattle & Hum) and briefly touches on B-Sides, Passengers, Edge's Captive soundtrack, The Million Dollar Hotel Project and a number of other 'side projects' undertaken by band members over the years. Interesting comments from producers, people who worked with the band and of course all the band members themselves, gives quite a facinating insight at times to how certain songs came about.

Niall Stokes has known U2 ever since they were a young up and coming Dublin band and has therefore been lucky enough to get plenty of access to the band over a 25+ year period and he's not done a bad job. The title is as it suggests, 'Stories Behind Every U2 Song' and not 'What The Lyrics To Every U2 Song Are About.' If you're a big U2 fan like me, some of the pictures and some of the stories are already familiar but there is enough in here that I didn't know that kept me from putting the book down and so it gets a 4 star review.

Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song

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Insightful
A MUST for the serious U2 FAN
Things you never knew about...U2
U2 is a Superband
A Must Have Book of Inspiring Insight into U2's Storytelling

Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song
Niall Stokes
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1560253142

Book Description

Into the Heart examines the behind-the-scenes influences that shaped U2's internationally popular and critically acclaimed music. Included are original and revealing interviews with band members and the key people close to U2. The band's rich cultural and social context is fully explored, providing a colorful backdrop to the songs. Into the Heart traces U2's meteoric rise from the early days of their career with Boy, their first album, to the spanning success of The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, Achtung Baby, and Pop. U2 is a group that has become a world-class rock 'n' roll band; a band that continues to invent themselves and is not afraid to take chances with their craft—as well as make a unique impact in the world of music with their raw, emotional energy. This edition includes over 100 black and white and color photos, provides a complete chronology and discography, and covers the band's newest CD, All That You Can't Leave Behind.

Customer Reviews:

Insightful.......2007-01-10

Great book, a must for any U2 fan who wants to get deeper into the music and the band's history.

A MUST for the serious U2 FAN.......2005-08-23

As awesome as the music,as in depth as U2 themselves,this book is a MUST dor the serious fan.Every song has a story,every story has a song.This book will unviel why Bono,Edge,Larry and Adam,put everything they have,into their music.

Things you never knew about...U2.......2005-03-18

I really enjoyed U2 Into the Heart - (the stories behind every song) for several of reasons. First, I learned about Bono's songwriting process, or lack of, and how the themes for the songs came together. Second, the book covers every song up through All That You Can't Leave Behind, including covers, B-sides, etc. in the appendix. The chronology and discrography are useful, and the book is packed with cool pictures. Many of the song stories contain snippets of interviews with the band members and producers, so you get different viewpoints on specific songs and records in general. It was interesting to read how things evolved, and how some songs were passed through different hands for polishing.

If that's what you expect, then it's a pretty good fan capsule. There are pieces of band history and relationships presented, but that part mostly skims the surface.

My main knock on the book is that Niall Stokes is such an insider with the group, or a fan, that he is unable to offer more critical analysis on some of the tunes. To read here, nearly every song is a masterpiece. If you take a step back you see repetitive structures in the early works, mixed themes in even the best songs (from mud huts in Central America to a grimy city in Bullet The Blue Sky) and pieces from Zooropa and Pop that don't really stand the test of time.

Don't get me wrong, U2 is one of my favorite bands, and they have produced an outstanding catalog of songs, but one needs to be more objective in examining the body of work.

U2 is a Superband.......2005-02-09

U2 is one of those bands that spans the decades, changing at times but never really losing their original soul. Each album, in my opinion, is straight U2. Some claim that the Zooropa and Pop albums are lesser works or non-U2 exploratory efforts. Absolutely wrong. Most of the people that have said just that have _never_ listened to them. Just the other day a friend who loves U2 said 'I've never listened to Pop because it doesn't sound like Joshua Tree or All that You Can Leave Behind". Ahh, but it does. Listen closer.

This book does an excellent job in telling the stories of all the U2 songs and how they were developed... and they have similar conceptual roots. Buy it and then buy the albums you don't have like POP and Zooropa!!!

Andrew Young
bioBridges, LLC

A Must Have Book of Inspiring Insight into U2's Storytelling.......2004-06-23

Upon reading this book, even the casual U2 listener will experience listening to U2 albums in a new light; and even better, experience the live versions with much more emotional investment.
The book, offers insights, inspirations, influences and passions that drive U2 to write songs, many that take on a gospel-like quality. When read cover to cover, the book is a fascinating look into the various depths in the emotional and intellectual journey U2 experiences from their beginning to their fascination with electronica in "Pop," to their recent stripped-down sense of soul in "All You Can't Leave Behind."
My favorite example of the book's impact is reading about New Year's Day, then listening to the song as the lyrics take on a more lucid and emotionally powerful dimension about the turmoil in the world -espeically in Ireland and in Poland. To top it off, hearing "New Years day" live during the 2001 Slane Castle performance, in which Bono raises the Irish flag and rejoices with over 100,000 fans singing along, the song generates anthem-like electricity. It is quite unmistakable that Bono is indeed, moved as well, as the song takes on a fresh meaning on that night at Slane Castle.
"Into the Heart" is an architectural insight into the creation of each U2 song and will undoubtedly inspire you to spend nights locked up in your room listening to the all the U2 albums again in one sitting.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Plastics Technology, published by Gardner Publications, Inc. on April 1, 2000. The length of the article is 2011 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: Resin Prices Keep Pushing Upward.
Author: Lilli Manolis Sherman
Publication: Plastics Technology (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2000
Publisher: Gardner Publications, Inc.
Volume: 46 Issue: 4 Page: 66

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

"Reality TV" has rapidly come to occupy a place at the forefront of contemporary television culture on an international scale. This collection responds to this shift by analyzing the terrain of this genre--its range of economic, technological and cultural implications for our understanding of television as both an object of study and a contemporary cultural form. Recognizing how definitions of Reality TV are contentious, the collection examines a range of programs which claim a privileged relation to "the real," from: Candid Camera, Big Brother, Survivor, The Osbournes, ^{he Real World} and A Wedding Story, to the spheres of "real crime" programming and make-over TV. Adopting an interdisciplinary focus, these essays cover Reality TV in its myriad forms, examining historical precendents, the international nature of its circulation and consumption, and exploring the key debates which Reality TV has put on our social, cultural and televisual agendas. Topics covered include surveillance, the construction of celebrity, temporality in Reality TV, the politics of representation (with case studies considering the construction of community, women, gay identity and "class"), and audience responses and fandom.

Customer Reviews:

Do Reality Shows Like Survivor Serve Society?.......2004-12-26

It seems as if Survivor will be airing yet another show in 2005 as Survivor-10 or Survivor-Palau.

I wonder how much these show actually help the host country? For example, the country domain is .pw and www.survivor.pw could be used as a fan site for Survivor-Palau. Have the show's producers considered this?

Book Description

50 Fast Photoshop "X" Techniques for is an immensely useful book for anyone wanting to take advantage of the very latest release of the world's top digital imaging tool, Adobe Photoshop.
The techniques are valuable to both pros and hobbyists alike - they enable everyone to enjoy successful creation of fine art images and prints! The step-by-step and richly illustrated collection of awesome techniques are easily accessible and understandable to users on every level.
This is a new kind of Photoshop book-one that can help both casual users through professional users save time while creating professional quality images and effects!
ABOUT THE CD-ROM
CD-ROM is packed with low-res versions of all images from the book, allowing readers to follow along with the techniques. Tryouts and valuable utilities are also included.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2003-10-21

Disjointed and seemingly written for the Windoze only crowd, give this book a pass and spend your money more wisely elsewhere.

For my Digital Photography Class.......2003-08-27

I read almost everything published, books to magazines. As a book for entry level digital photographers wishing to progress, this is the best book. I learned a few things too. Well done.

Ignores Mac.......2003-05-13

While I like the book, the fact that it is ignorant of Mac (9 or OSX) commands is disappointing. Basically, Photoshop books today respectfully address and discuss both PC and Mac issues. This is standard. All the great Peachpit Press books, for example. If I had known that the author was a PC guy and not going to address any of this, I would not have purchased it. The cover makes no mention of this. Additionally, there are other errors in the book as well (as in directing you to a disk file which is misnumbered).

Maybe this is my pet peeve, but I wasted time today figuring out how to do this stuff on a Mac when I wanted to be figuring out Photoshop techniques instead.

There are other books which are just as good...if not better. Next time I'm sticking with Scott Kelby for this type of book.

Trixie McGuire MyMac.com Book Review.......2003-04-03

Intended user: Beginning to Advanced

I knew just by thumbing through this book that I was going to enjoy the time I spent reviewing it. And then when I read these words on page two of the introduction - "If I had to make a single recommendation about how to quickly learn to successfully use Photoshop, it would be to learn all about those few features that you need to use to get your work done - and ignore the rest." - I said where was this book 5+ years ago? Oh sure there has always been instructional books similiar to this, but most are bible length epics and just as cryptic as the bible itself.

The book comes with a CD-ROM that not only includes:

* 50 sets of "before" and "after" images
* A Photoshop tryout version: 6.0, but hey - beats having to download.
* An ebook.pdf of the book that you can keep on your computer.
* A slide show of all 50 techniques
* A companion webpage: called www.reallyusefulpage.com, and
* You can even email the author himself - right from the CD.

The first six chapters are set up as a Photoshop bootcamp, to help you become successful with the last 44 techniques. Even if you are an experienced user o f Photoshop, I recommend - as does the author - that you complete all six techniques in Chapter 1 before trying any of the other techniques. Then you will have the required knowledge to try any of the other techniques in any order that you want .

Take a Peek at All the Information Packed In This Book:

Chapter 1 - Photoshop 7 Fundamentals - Techniques 1-6:

Configuring Photoshop, Controlling Image Window, Automamating Tasks, Creative Experimentation, Calibrating Your Monitor, and Configuring Basic Color Management.

Chapter 2 - Correcting, Enhancing, and Restoring Digital Photos -Techniques 7-13:

Quick Image Correction, Advanced Image Correction, Increasing Color Saturation, Restoring an Old Image-(my personal favorite), Removing Noise or Grain, Sharpening Digital Photos, and Adding Information to a Digital Photo.

Chapter 3 - Working In Black and White -Techniques 14-19:

(2)Converting a Photo to B&W, Burning and Dodging with Masks, Using Scaling Masks to Speed Edits, Isolating and Extracting Detail using Values, and Selective Focusing.

Chapter 4 - Creative Experimentation - Techniques 20-25:

Hand-Painting a Black and White Image, Creating a Pseudolsolarization, Adding a Traditional Darkroom Texture Screen Effect, Fixing Images with a Digital Graduated Neutral Density Filter, Simulating an Infrared Film Effect, and Creating a Toned Image.

Chapter 5 - Combining Photos in Montages, Collages, and Composites -Techniques 26-29:

Creating Photo Objects, Making a PhotoMontage, Combining Bracketed Photos, and Using a Mask to Create a Collage

Chapter 6 - Fine Art Techniques - Techniques 30-35:

Total Color Transformation, Using Filters to Create Fine Art Prints, Coloring a Digital Sketch, Creating a Pen Ink Sketch Using a Watercolor Wash, Creating a Digital Painting, Creative Use of Filters and Commands.

Chapter 7 - Using Plug-Ins to Add Impact to Your Photos - Techniques 36-41:

Using Image Correction Plug-Ins, Using Grain Surgery to Remove Digital Noise, Convering Color to B&W Using Convert to B&W Pro, Creating Artwork with Buzz.Pro 2.0, Using a Pen Tablet and Pen Palette 1.0, and Using Special Effects Plug-Ins.

Chapter 8 - Making Photographic Prints - Techniques 42-47:

Using Print Preview (Picture Package and Contact), Increasing Image Size to Make Large Prints, Using an ICC Profile When Printing with an Epson 880/1280 Printer, Getting Fuji Frontier Prints Made, Using Shutterfly's Online Printing Service, Getting Lightjet 5000 Prints from Calypso Inc.

Chapter 9 - Creating An Online Gallery - Techniques 48-50:

Creating an Online Gallery, Creating Animations Using Digital Photos, and Creating an Image Map.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone from beginners to professionals who work with Photoshop everyday. Not only is it loaded with detailed, reference information - (and CD) - it's also a [great price]BR>MacMice Rating: 5 out of 5

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Trixie McGuire ...

Extremely useful for learning cool stuff in a fun way........2002-11-09

There are two kinds of Photoshop books I buy, large expensive reference books (usually one per version I upgrade to) and specific technique books. The reference tombs I refer to when I’m trying to get something done and can’t figure out how to do it. They aren’t fun, but do provide needed guidance. Then there are the books (like this one) that are fun to sit down with and learn as I actually work on images. By the time I had done about a quarter of the techniques in the book I found that my Photoshop skills had really grown in areas that I’ve always found confusing before. And in several cases I found better ways to do stuff that I thought I already knew a lot about.

I usually don’t have much use for the CD’s that come with books, but this one has the before and after example pictures for each of the techniques, and I found it really helpful to open the actual files that the examples use and work through the steps, seeing the changes as the image is transformed. On the other hand, why anyone would want to use the trial version of Photoshop included on the CD, I can’t imagine. But the whole book is on the CD as an e-book, and that makes it possible to do some cool searches.

Overall I’m really impressed with what I was able to get out of this book, and with the enjoyable way it’s all presented. Lots of creative techniques, good background details about what the controls in dialog boxes do, and a painless workout of Photoshop’s more complex and powerful functions. Definitely a cool way to learn about Photoshop 7.

Average customer rating:
50 Fast Photoshop 7 Techniques with CDROM
Gregory Georges
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Adobe Photoshop | Digital Photography & Video | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0613916573

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