Seduced by Moonlight (Meredith Gentry, Book 3)

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The third novel in Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series, Seduced by Moonlight continues the story of Merry Gentry, a mortal Faerie princess hiding in L.A. Her aunt, the immortal and insane Queen of Air and Darkness, has ordered her to compete with her cousin, Prince Cel, in making a baby. Whoever produces a child first wins the throne of the Unseelie Court. But Merry still hasn't conceived--and that's not her only problem. Unknown assassins seek her life; her magical powers are becoming potent and uncontrollable; and her sadistic aunt has just commanded her to return to Faerie.

Readers tired of mild modern fairy-tales about nice, polite elves may want to explore the Meredith Gentry series, which remembers that Faerie was originally a dark, dangerous realm of sex and violence. Hamilton's Queen of Air and Darkness is a vicious killer and torturer, and many of her fay drink blood or practice kinky sex (or both). Under royal orders to bed many males, Merry is far from averse; she and several lovers hit the bedroom on page 8 of Seduced by Moonlight and don't emerge until page 175. There's no shortage of sex, but not as much as the page count may indicate; the characters like to talk and sulk even more than they like to fornicate. The large cast and complicated backstory make this book the wrong starting point; newcomers should begin with the first novel, A Kiss of Shadows. --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

I am Meredith Gentry, P.I. and Princess Merry, heir to the throne of Fairie.
Now there are those among me who whisper I am more.
They fear me even as they protect me. And who can blame them?
I’ve awakened the dazzling magic that’s slumbered in them for
thousands of years. But the thing is, I can’t figure out why.

My aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, is no longer distracted by her usual sadistic hobbies. Her obsession has turned unwaveringly to me. The mission to get me pregnant and beat my cousin Prince Cel to the crown is taking longer than expected. Even though I spend each night with the Queen’s Ravens, my immortal guards, no child has come of our decadent pleasures. But something else is happening. My magic courses through me uncontrollably. And as I lock my half-mortal body with their full-Sidhe blooded ones, the power surges like never before.

It all began with the chalice. I dreamed of it, and it appeared, cool and hard, beside me when I awoke. My guards know the ancient relic well—its disappearance ages ago stripped them of their vital powers. But it is here with us now. My touch resonates with its force, and they’re consumed with it, their Sidhe essences lit up by it. But even as they cherish me for this unexpected gift, there are those who loathe me for it. Me, a mongrel, only half fey and part mortal. The Unseelie court has suffered for so long, and there are some who would not have it weakened further by an impure queen. My enemies grow in number every day. But they do not know what I am capable of. Nor, for that matter, do I. . . .

In Seduced by Moonlight, Laurell K. Hamilton brings the dark, erotic reign of the immortal fey to a startling new depth. Full of sensuality and the consuming anticipation of latent powers unleashed, this world of gods, shapeshifters, and immortal souls is unveiled in all of its supreme magnificence and its treacherous deceits.

From the Hardcover edition.

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I am Meredith Gentry, P.I. and Princess Merry, heir to the throne of Fairie.

Now there are those among me who whisper I am more. They fear me even as they protect me. And who can blame them? I've awakened the dazzling magic that's slumbered in them for thousands of years. But the thing is, I can't figure out why.

My aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, is no longer distracted by her usual sadistic hobbies. Her obsession has turned unwaveringly to me. The mission to get me pregnant and beat my cousin Prince Cel to the crown is taking longer than expected. Even though I spend each night with the Queen's Ravens, my immortal guards, no child has come of our decadent pleasures. But something else is happening. My magic courses through me uncontrollably. And as I lock my half-mortal body with their full-Sidhe blooded ones, the power surges like never before.

It all began with the chalice. I dreamed of it, and it appeared, cool and hard, beside me when I awoke. My guards know the ancient relic well -- its disappearance ages ago stripped them of their vital powers. But it is here with us now. My touch resonates with its force, and they're consumed with it, their Sidhe essences lit up by it. But even as they cherish me for this unexpected gift, there are those who loathe me for it. Me, a mongrel, only half fey and part mortal. The Unseelie court has suffered for so long, and there are some who would not have it weakened further by an impure queen. My enemies grow in number every day. But they do not know what I am capable of. Nor, for that matter, do I....

In Seduced by Moonlight, Laurell K. Hamilton brings the dark, erotic reign of the immortal fey to a startling new depth. Full of sensuality and the consuming anticipation of latent powers unleashed, this world of gods, shapeshifters, and immortal souls is unveiled in all of its supreme magnificence and its treacherous deceits.

"Sexy... Merry's adventures are engaging and keep the reader turning the pages."
   ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

"Stunning... Steamy... An exciting and original world."
   SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

"A sizzling new series that blends supernatural fantasy with detective adventure... Memorable characters and wicked wit make it all delicious, ribald fun."
   PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

It is not just the packet of life savers five fruits colored Sidhe bodyguards that the princess has to romp around with, you can add goblins into the mix as well. Those goblin types like eating people too, so this can be a little problematic.

Then there is the whole possed by powerful Sidhe god types, as well. This could all really leave one woman sore.

Merry Gentry gets lucky...a lot.......2007-08-18

I never took to Laurell Hamilton's popular Anita Blake series, but I enjoy the Merry Gentry series a lot more. It's probably the sex - Merry Gentry is on a mission to have lots of it. She is a Faerie Princess - her aunt is Queen of the Unseelie Court of Faerie - and her newfound powers are triggered by sexual energy. In the earlier volumes, Merry enjoyed relations with a variety of inhumanly handsome men with gorgeous hair. Now her mission takes her further afield to partners differing in size, shape, species, and gender. Hamilton makes each encounter quite erotic. My tastes are conventional, but I saw the appeal through Merry's eyes.

The context for all this bed-wrestling is politics in the Faerie Court. Merry has an opportunity to become her aunt's successor, but of course is opposed by other factions within the court. Her aunt also becomes more insecure as she sees Merry's powers grow. Political intrigue plots can be snoozers, but Hamilton makes it be about the immediate threat to Merry, which drew me in.

Readers should start from the beginning of this series. There are quite a few characters by this point in the story who have been gradually introduced over the previous two books. Also, becoming acquainted with Merry before her powers came to her makes her a more sympathetic character. At this point in the story, she's a gorgeous woman with profound magical powers, and more magic coming to her almost every day. It's harder to relate to such a perfect being.

Le sigh... is this series going anywhere?.......2007-05-02

I read Sunny's Monere series (Mona Lisa Awakening and Mona Lisa Blossoming) and many of the reviewers compared those books to Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series, so I thought I'd give them a shot while waiting for the third Monere book to come out. I recently read the first two Merry Gentry books, A Kiss of Shadows and A Caress of Twilight. The first book in the series was interesting enough that I wanted to know more. The second was pretty much a run-down of info that should have been included in the first book, and reading it was like watching paint dry, but I was still interested in Merry and I'd already committed by reading the first two books in the series. I am a person who finishes what she starts. That being said, I feel duty-bound to finish these books off. But, I have to wonder... is this series going anywhere?

Merry just seems to be falling deeper and deeper into nothing at all. We keep hearing how great she is at court politics and I get the impression that we're supposed to want her to be the next Queen of the Unseelie court, but then she's all of a sudden bespelled by magic since she can't think when she's having sex (and she's ALWAYS having sex), or she's getting some new power she doesn't understand and everyone around her has to explain what it means (so much for all your father's knowledge), or even making promises to share her body and blood with goblins, demi-fey, and anything else that wants a taste. And she expects these people to respect her on the throne? Please! These books keep getting more and more outrageous and hard to follow, but like a fool I keep coming back for more. Take my advice and stick to Sunny's Monere series rather than coming to the Merry Gentry side of things. I wish I had, but now I'm stuck in a series that seems to be going nowhere.

porn.......2007-04-21

This book has little story and a lot of bad porn. Read only if you are into fairy sex.

Great Customer Service.......2007-03-30

Initially I received a different product, but Mark was really helpful in getting the correct item to me and I received a full credit for the original purchase. He is a really customer focused person and I would definitely recommend purchasing items through him. Thanks again Mark!

Laurell K. Hamilton, - Meredith Gentry Series - Books 1 - 5 (Mistral's Kiss, Seduced by Moonlight, A Caress of Twilight, A Kiss of Shadows, A Stroke of Midnight)

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Laurell K. Hamilton, - Meredith Gentry Series - Books 1 - 5 (Mistral's Kiss, Seduced by Moonlight, A Caress of Twilight, A Kiss of Shadows, A Stroke of Midnight)
Laurell K. Hamilton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000R0OSOC

Product Description

A Kiss of Shadows introduces Merry Gentry, a.k.a. Meredith NicEssus, a faerie princess of the Unseelie Court, where politics is a blood sport. Merry, who's part sidhe (elvish), part brownie, and part human, never really fit in. She's short, not skilled in offensive magic, and mortal because of her human blood. These are real liabilities when your family, especially aunt Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness, is out to kill you. Merry has been in hiding for three years, living in Los Angeles and working for the Grey Detective Agency, which specializes in "supernatural problems, magical solutions."

Meredith Gentry Novels #03: Seduced By Moonlight

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Meredith Gentry Novels #03: Seduced By Moonlight
Laurell K. Hamilton
Manufacturer: Brilliance Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N67QIU

Seduced By Moonlight, a Caress of Twilight (Meredith Gentry Series, Volumes 2, 3)

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Seduced By Moonlight, a Caress of Twilight (Meredith Gentry Series, Volumes 2, 3)
Laurell K. Hamilton
Manufacturer: Ballantine
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WW7IN8

Product Description

Seduced by Moonlight: Meredith's aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, is no longer distracted by her usual sadistic hobbies. Her obseession has turned unwaveringly to her niece, hiding among humans in L.A. The queen's mission to get Meredith pregnant and beat her cousin Cel to the crown is taking longer than expected. Even though Meredith spends each night with the queen's immortal guards, no child has come of their decadent pleasures. But something else is happening. Enemies are growing in number every day. Meredith's magic surges through her like never before, transfroming her in wild and unpredicatable ways. And Merediith is just begininng to learn what incredible power she possesses. A Caress of Twilight: After eluding relentless assassination attempts by Prince Cel, her cousin and rival for the Faerie crown, Meredith Gentry, L.A. private eye, has a whole new set of problems. To become queen, she must bear a child before Cel can father one of his own. But havoc lies on the horizon. People are dying in mysterious, frightening ways, and suddelnly the very existence of the place known as Faerie is at grave risk. So now, while Meredith enjoys the greatest pleasures of her life attempting to conceive a baby with the warriors of her royal guard, she must fend off an ancient evil that could destroy the very fabric of reality. And that's just her day job.

Book Description

The author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities looks at business fraud and criminal enterprise, overextended government farm subsidies and zealous transit police, to show what happens when the moral systems of commerce collide with those of politics.

Customer Reviews:

Too confusing.......2005-09-04

I was attracted to the author's premise for this book, as I have recently been struggling with the conflicting moral perspectives from which colleagues can view the same issue. But I found the book too confusing, and couldn't find compelling support for the author's hypotheses.

The book is framed as a Socratic dialogue among characters. Although this style seemed plausible, the characters' personalities were not developed enough for me to distinguish them and identify them with their arguments. Overall, the author's plausible premise was not supported clearly by illustration or research and I remain un-persuaded.

an excellent, underrated book.......2005-03-27

This is a superb, underrated book. Ignore the "sophisticated" naysayers and read it for yourself. There is, page for page, more insight here than you'll find in almost any work of academic philosophy or sociology on the same subjects. It will, of course, strike you as "simplistic" if you're offended by the book's message, its implications, or the unapologetic clarity with which the author defends her thesis. But that's not much of an objection.

A most insightful book.......2005-02-28

This is a most insightful book, in which the author convincingly expounds her thesis that the world uses two systems of ethics as systems for the survival of mankind: the commercial system, and the guardian system.

The commercial class lives by production and exchange, primarily by means of honest, binding contracts and voluntary agreements, and where initiative, inventiveness and efficiency are prized, along with industriousness, thrift and investment.

The guardian class is prevalent in governments, benevolent trusts, charity organizations, universities and schools, military and police. They shun trading and exchange, and live by taking, in the form of taxes and donations, and sometimes expropriation. They are dispensers of the good things, in the form of grants and largesse. Guardians issue commands and expect them obeyed, with courage if necessary, which they in turn are subject to themselves, for a hierarchical command structure is honored. And they use force and deception where necessary to accomplish objectives.

The greatest sin, and the cause of all corruption, according to Ms. Jacobs, is when the two systems are merged in one organization. I have read several books on ethics, but this is the first that points out that there are two systems in operation in society. And it explains so much that has been a puzzle for me. For example, we are taught to tell the truth, as in the commercial system of ethics, yet a government will lie in the interests of the state, and a general will try to deceive the enemy, and both expect to be applauded for that. This can be explained only by the distinct systems of morality that guide the guardian class and commercial classes.

The two systems explain the characteristics of nations too. The empire building nation is dominated by a guardian morality, and it guardian class despises the commercial morality. A good example is England, in the past, with its class system and colonial empire that puts business men and women at the bottom. You do not have to read too many Jane Austen or Anthony Trollope novels to become aware of that. To some extent this dominant guardian syndrome lingers in monarchical England to the present day, but the country is being forced into prizing a more commercial morality by an European Union led by successful, commercial-syndrome-dominated republics France and Germany.

In contrast, the growing nation with plenty of territory is dominated by the commercial morality, for example the United States through most of its history, with its strong corporations and industrious commercial class. The U.S., however, is now showing signs of trending more toward a stronger espousing of the guardian morality, as its interests force it to begin some empire building abroad. But even if the commercial ethic still dominates in the United States, the guardian ethic is present and strong, and Jane Jacobs' brilliant proposition explains the never ending conflict between the two.

And we can now see why communism failed. It removed the commercial ethic, and the sanctity of commercial contract. The commercial ethic, by the looks of it, has still not been reestablished in the new Russia, which explains its lack of real economic success in the modern world. I am not knowledgeable enough to dissect Japan with Jacob's thesis.

Her thesis also throws a great deal of light on the thinking of novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand , whose philosophy is explained and dramatized in the novels "Atlas Shrugged" and "Fountainhead". Rand strongly espoused the commercial system of ethics, and viewed the guardian system as closest thing to evil, best eliminated to the extent possible. She did concede that guardian institutions of police, military and courts were a necessary evil, however, to be closely monitored (by the commercial class). This viewpoint probably originated with the dominant, communist, guardian ethic in the violent, disorganized and impoverished Russia that she escaped as a young woman, after the communists confiscated (a 'taking' guardian action) the family business.

But if Jane Jacobs is right, then both systems are necessary. Instead of eliminating the guardian systems, as Ayn Rand seemed to advocate, we simply have to make sure that the guardian class is modest in size, no larger than necessary, and that the two systems of ethics are never allowed to mix. As a footnote, it could be argued that Michael Crichton's recent novel, about environmentalists and global warming, "State of Fear", is really about a conflict between the guardian and commercial classes.

"Systems of Survival" is a must read for anyone interested in what makes the world work.

Why Regulators and Businessmen CAN'T Understand Each Other.......2004-07-03

A very interesting dialog on paradigms which helped me understand better why "commercial" types and "government" types so often see each other as just plain evil and can't get past that emotional reaction.

The book explores two moral systems with very different ideas of honor, which is at the emotional root of how we perceive each other. Should be required reading in high school political science and social studies classes.

The reader needs to look past the cardboard cut-out "characters" which are there only to present the arguments, and focus on the insights produced from the arguments.

A quick, yet very informative read. I recommend also learning more about paradigms and how they limit what we CAN perceive... makes this book even more powerful in understanding limits to understanding.

Missing Something.......2003-01-24

Jane Jacobs - Systems of Survival

We deserve better from the woman who brought us "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." Systems of Survival is, more or less, Jacobs' explanation of how the world works: a celebrated urban sociologist using all the insight she has gathered over the years to give us her interpretation of the foundations of commerce and politics. Sounds great, doesn't it? Except it isn't.

Turns out that Jacobs' vision of commerce and politics comes down to "how we get stuff", or, in other words, the titular systems of survival. There are only two systems and they are pretty simple, either we take stuff ("guardian" system) or we trade for it ("commercial" system). Each system also comes with its own dictates, such as "Shun force" and "Compete" (the trading system) and "Exert prowess" and "Be ostentatious" (the taking system). The problem is that these systems that Jacobs deals with are little more than the "traditional/modern" society dichotomy that has been around for years and years. Consequently these systems aren't all that groundbreaking.

This wouldn't be so much of a problem except that about one third of the way through Jacobs circles the wagons and refuses to add anything new to the mix. Instead of taking these systems to the limits and covering some new ground Jacobs simply keeps chasing the same ideas around and around. More specifically, once we learn that the guardian system is good for some things (like administration) and the commercial system is good for others (like distributing goods) but that a combination of the two systems never works out, the book more or less stops generating ideas. Of course this excludes several questions: why do some societies have systems performing the "wrong" tasks, how have and how will these systems change over time, how do these contradictory systems coexist, what regulates them. Also, what about ideas that aren't covered by the two systems? There are a lot of questions implicit in Jacobs' thesis, most of which go unanswered.

Perhaps as a footnote to all this is the oddity that Jacobs chose to write this as a "Socratic" dialog. The dialog is chunky, the characters one dimensional, the plot is completely absent; clearly the book would have made more sense as a work of non-fiction.

Systems of Survival is a decent read if you know next to nothing about sociology. If you don't fit that criterion but you still want to read it, I'd recommend getting this book from the library and skimming it.

Book Description

"This is the first book to provide such extensive information about the education and training systems of these four countries. It...makes some important and stimulating theoretical advances.... the book is well researched. The scholarship is excellent to outstanding." -William K. Cummings, SUNY Buffalo

Industrial Development in Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea

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Industrial Development in Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea
Kwong Kai-Sun , Chau Leung-Chuen , Francis T. Lui , and Larry D. Qiu
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 9810246277

Dependency, development and state-action in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, 1950 to 1975

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Dependency, development and state-action in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, 1950 to 1975
Jia-you Sheu
Manufacturer: University Microfilms International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00073D4K8

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Dr. Gordon's Casebook
Richard Gordon
Manufacturer: House of Stratus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Doctor in Love

ASIN: 1842325175

Book Description

'Well, I see no reason why anyone should expect a doctor to be on call seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Considering the sort of risky life your average GP leads, it's not only inhuman but simple-minded to think that a doctor could stay sober that long...'

As Dr Richard Gordon joins the ranks of such world-famous diarists as Samuel Pepys and Fanny Burney, his most intimate thoughts and confessions reveal the life of a GP to be not quite as we might expect... Hilarious, riotous and just a bit too truthful, this is Richard Gordon at his best.

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Dr. Gordon's Casebook
Richard Gordon
Manufacturer: Arrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M62ZM8

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Well-presented and a lot of fun

Banjo Player's Songbook (Banjo)
T. Jumper
Manufacturer: Oak Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Plastic Comb

Guitar | Instruments & Performers | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Songbooks | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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The Banjo Picker's Fakebook (Banjo)

The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo

Clawhammer Style Banjo

A Book of Five Strings: Strategies for Mastering the Art of Old Time Banjo

The Ultimate Banjo Songbook: 26 Favorites Arranged for 5-String Banjo

ASIN: 0825602971
Release Date: 1984-12-31

Book Description

Every style of music is represented in this giant volume of over 200 songs arranged for the 5 string banjo in easy-to-play tablature. Includes complete lyrics to folk songs, sentimental favorites, Christmas and Chanukah songs, sing-alongs. Tin Pan Alley, funny and sad songs, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Well-presented and a lot of fun.......2000-05-13

Simple clawhammer arrangements of a lot of folk and other songs, grouped by category ("A parcel of rogues", "All over this land", etc.) and with a short introduction to each song.

Most of the tunes are what you'd expect from a book of this type (Shady Grove, Sweet Betsy from Pike, etc.) but there are a few from left field - a whole section on Stephen Foster, for example, and a few Jewish tunes which are arranged quite well.

Book Description

Written by Tony Trischka, one of the leading authorities in banjo education, this book sets the standard for bluegrass banjo instruction from beginning to advanced. From holding the banjo and reading tablature to melodic banjo style and standard bluegrass repertoire, this book is the definitive guide to learning authentic bluegrass technique.

The Complete Bluegrass Banjo Player (Banjo)

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Package review
good beginner book

The Complete Bluegrass Banjo Player (Banjo)
Wayne D. Goforth
Manufacturer: Oak Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Book Description

A complete program which takes you from the beginning to the advanced level. Easy to follow text and realistic demonstration photographs. Devised by one of America's foremost teachers of authentic 5-string bluegrass banjo.

Customer Reviews:

Package review.......2003-02-04

Book is very well organized, however, the included CD sounds like a beginner guitar, not a bluegrass banjo. I purchased the book as a "novice" banjo player. The Cd is not helpful.

good beginner book.......2000-05-20

I found the book very well organized. The lesson plan is laid out very clearly and helped my start pickin' the ol' banjo in no time.

Sam Devere's Burnt cork songster: Containing all the real humorous and characteristic original Negro banjo songs and ballads, that has [sic] made Mr. Devere ... Negro singer and banjo player of the day

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Sam Devere's Burnt cork songster: Containing all the real humorous and characteristic original Negro banjo songs and ballads, that has [sic] made Mr. Devere ... Negro singer and banjo player of the day
Sam Devere
Manufacturer: A.J. Fisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

This book explores the strange relationship between and sinister influence of pop culture and modern media on youth in America.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book!.......2004-09-11

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in pop culture and youth. The author has clearly done his research homework and combined with his professional experience in higher education, he makes some very interesting and genuine points about the relationship between youth and pop culture and how they relate to some common problems we have in our society today. The end of the book includes an especially helpful section on what can be done to deal effectively with the current dangers that exist for adolescents in our contemporary society. I have personally heard and seen this author speak and he gives a very engaging and interesting presentation related to the issues discussed in this book. In fact as a parenting educator, I found the information he presented to be particularly relevant for parents of teen-agers. In addition this book should be required reading in every college class on adolescence in America today.

Book Description

Living Room Wars brings together Ien Ang's recent writings on media audiences to ask what it means to live in a world saturated by media. Ang suggests that we cannot understand media audiences without deconstructing the category of "audience" itself as an institutional and discursive construct.

Living Room Wars highlights the inherent contradictions of a `politics of pleasure' of television consumption: Ang moves beyond the traditional focus on textual meanings to explore the structural and historical representations of television audiences as an integral part of modern culture. Her wide-ranging and illuminating discussion takes in the battle between television and its audiences; the politics of empirical audience research; new technologies and the tactics of television consumption; ethnography and radical contextualism in audience studies; television and fiction and women's fantasy; feminist desire and female pleasure in media consumption; and the transnational media system.

Customer Reviews:

Living Room Wars. Rethinking media audiences for a postmoder.......2000-05-23

Written within the tradition of cultural and media studies, this book offers a wonderful resource for those interested in critical approaches to ethnographic sudies on audiences. The four chapters that constitute the first section present an in depth critical discussion of the assumptions of previous theories, research, and measuring methods used by traditional academic and commercial analysis of audiences. They situate the debate about audiences in the realm of the consumption of TV as a domestic experience and point out the limitation of those traditions which decontextualized the audience from their consumption environment. The second section provides strong evidence of how women negotiate cultural and personal meanings when watching TV. One of the articles, for example, deconstructs the traditional premise that portrays them as passive and alienated viewers of soap operas. This section intends to offer a solid theoretical basis to understand how gender is related to media consumption by giving actual examples of ethnographic interpretive research. The last section situates media reception in the complex landscapes of globalization systems. It emphasizes how local audiences "localize" global media by re-interpreting those "global" media in their local experiences, challenging the thesis of global cultural homogeneization hold by some traditions in sociology and media studies. Finally, I want to point out that the value of this book is not only the relevance of the topics that are addressed, but the solid academic base that supports their main thesis. Moreover, among the virtues of it, I can name the clarity of the language, the well organized exposition of complex ideas and, of course, the passion of the discussion that will definitely involve even those readers with no previous expertise in media or cultural studies literature. This book can definitely have a place with important advances in media and cultural studies such as David Morley's Television, Audiences and CulturalStudies or Shaun Moores' Interpreting audiences.

Living room wars : rethinking media audiences for a postmodern world /..

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Living room wars : rethinking media audiences for a postmodern world /..

Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H643UK

Book Description

This is your one-stop answer shop to gaining the programming skills necessary to succeed in e-commerce. Hands-on learning techniques cover the .NET integrated development environment, including Web services, object-oriented programming, debugging, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book for Beginner's to .Net and programming.......2006-02-02

If you are new to programming, I would definitely recommend this book. I thought Chapters 1-9 were great and easy to understand. There were some errors in the later chapters in the practice code.

If you are a programmer I would recommend picking something else...

Excellent Book for New Programmers.......2005-06-06

I have been programming in Visual Basic .Net (for Windows) now for about 2 years. I began with this book and I recommend that others do the same. It is an excellent primer on the language and will get you up and going in a very short time.

The book begins with an explanation of what Visual Basic .Net is and an introduction to "object oriented programming." This simply refers to the visual objects you create, like buttons, check boxes, etc, that you often see in Windows applications or on the web. Each chapter provides a project for you to work on, allowing you to build your knowledge from chapter to chapter in this hands-on manner. At the end of each chapter is a "Mastery Check" which lists all of the things you should have learned in the chapter.

For those with any programming experience (even old guys like me with FORTRAN programming experience), picking up Visual Basic .Net will be relatively easy and very rewarding. I have programmed games for my 5th grade Sunday School class that the kids love to play, and I have programmed applications that allow me to work with large data files and generate output that I can manipulate further in Microsoft Excel. I have only scratched the surface; the possible applications are endless.

For me, the hardest part of learning to program in a .Net language was getting used to the "object oriented" part of the programming. The abundance of examples in this book helped me tremendously. Step-by-step examples and sample code are provided for each project. Even now, I often go back to this book as a refernece on how to do stuff right.

Finally, as the book's title implies, the material in this book is not exhaustive; however, it gets you started in the right direction. I strongly recommend that starting programmers and those new to Visual Basic .Net start with this book. In addition, I recommend that you get one of the books in the Deitel series for more intense learning and the Visual Basic .Net Language Reference published by Microsoft. Together, these 3 books will get you going and keep you going. As far as the programming language itself, look for an academic version instead of buying directly from Microsoft, and you can save a fair amount of money. Good luck!

Excellent for the beginner, skip if you have experience.......2003-07-08

If you are just getting into programming, or VB.NET programming, this is a great book to pick up.

This book starts with the absolute basics in programming and builds on it. It hits all of the fundamentals of programming, such as variables, their scope, if..then...else statements, loops, arrays, variable comparisons, etc.

This book doesn't get too advanced, though I did wish it would have touched on object oriented programming a little bit more. The earlier a beginner gets into OOP the better.

If you have programming experience, or experience with VB in general, pass this book up. You probably won't get so much (or anything) out of this book and there are better books to go to. As the title says, this is a beginner's guide.

Understand more after you read the book.......2003-03-14

This book offers instruction on how to organize your code and explains when you need to use which loop structure etc. Good book to build a foundation. If your looking for something that offers fancy displays you can be disappointed but then you missed the intended message. Book helps you understand what is going on in the code and more.

Average customer rating:

Leave it alone
Avoid it - especially as your first ASP.NET book.
Not good
I should have read the reviews first!
waste of money

ASP.NET: A Beginner's Guide
David Mercer
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Essential skills for first-time programmers! This easy-to-use book explains the fundamentals of ASP.NET and the .NET Framework. You'll learn to create Web Forms and Web Services and program interactive Web sites and distributed applications. The modular approach of this series--including drills, sample projects, and mastery checks--makes it easy to learn to use this powerful programming language quickly and easily.

Customer Reviews:

Leave it alone.......2004-07-10

I tried about 5 examples out of this book and the only thing works is the debugger on visual studios telling me I have errors everywhere. Please avoid.

Avoid it - especially as your first ASP.NET book........2003-10-08

This book doesn't even attempt to teach you ASP.NET.
First of all the book is not even close to be "A Beginner's Guide". It's a good thing that I have a descent background in programming and it didn't take me much to understand what the author "tries" to say. However, I don't think that beginner could easily comprehend the content.
From a teaching style that author uses you get the feeling that he attempts to make an idiot out of everybody (the terminology + explanations makes you say "WHAT?!!!")
And of course, this book is as far from .NET as you can get. ASP maybe but not .NET. The author doesn't even attempt to take object-oriented approach in tackling the applications.
Oh yeah, by the way most of the code doesn't even work.

Not good.......2003-04-24

I wasted several hours on an Example from Chapter 4 that I couldn't get to work. In frustration I thought I'd check out Amazon's Reviews and saw a reader says that Chapter 4 is "way off the mark". I wish I had read these reviews before I got this book. If the book had a website that listed "corrections" to the book, I would have been more forgiving and continued on but I'm through with this book. (I've never seen a book get such a bad rating from several people).

I should have read the reviews first!.......2002-09-11

Bought this in a bookshop while browsing.

This book is poorly organised and gives information too quickly without giving the reader a chance to practice. Code snippets are incomplete.

Maybe there are some good things in it, but I'll have to buy another book to learn from and maybe go back to this one later.

Don't buy!

waste of money.......2002-07-20

This book is horrible, it seems to assume that the reader has no knowledge of web development at all (it has sections called "ask the experts" that consist of really elementary HTML questions and questions about the web), yet, if the reader has no knowledge of web development, why would they want to read something specifically about asp.net? It references examples before they occur in the book, and it seems as though the author has no grasp at all on what he's talking about. It's amazing how this book can be as long as it is without actually saying anything. Any other asp.net book is better than this.

Average customer rating:

Visual Basic.net a Beginners Guide
Jeff Kent
Manufacturer: MCGRAW HILL INC @
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N675W2

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