Customer Reviews:
Best of Eastern Europe.......2007-09-03
A must for all who have experienced in Eastern Europe in the nineties. A sort of mix of experiences from CZ, Poland and the likes. You wonder wether the authors were not sitting at the next door table at Radost.
Fake Travel Guides for Laughs.......2007-05-06
A friend showed me one of the books in this series (Phaic-Tan) and it was such a riot that I ordered it as well as others in the series the same day. This is a strange planet, where some countries can send people to the moon and back, and other peoples are still living in the Stone Age, with a whole lot of humanity somewhere in between. That makes for a lot of potential sarcastic humor, which is what we see in these guidebooks to countries that do not actually exist. Humanity, laugh at yourself! If you have ever travelled in the Second or Third World much, a lot of these creative sketches will make it possible to grin over what may have been a painful or frustrating experience at the time. The books are fun... although I sometimes wondered if they were not perhaps made up by escaped creative writers from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Mixture of funny, mediocre and inappropriate jokes.......2007-05-05
Molvania is a mock travel guide for a fictitious Eastern European country. The book is ripe with stereotypes about Eastern Europe. I am an Eastern European and this book made me laugh at first. The jokes about the "brusqueness" of the Eastern European waiters, the propensity to overcharge Western European tourists and the abrupt phone manners of the local population are quite good.
The authors, of course, don't stop at that. On page 24, they make fun of the Eastern Orthodox religion. Conveniently called "Baltic Orthodox", the Eastern Orthodoxy is described as "a local form of worship very similar to Catholicism, except that Catholics long ago dismissed the concept of the world being flat"?! I find this offensive. Then, on page 26, they go on to say that the language contains several phonetic sounds which could "represent either a rare dialect or merely peasants clearing their throats"?! Again, that's just inappropriate regardless which language the authors have in mind.
I am giving Molvania two stars to acknowledge that some of my Eastern European friends love this book. I, on the other hand, will return it to NYPL and will be quite contented if I never see it again.
Parody of Fodor's Travel Guides.......2006-11-16
"Molvania" is reported by some to be the inspiration for the movie "Borat" - plausible, because there are similarities. Nonetheless, it is clear that "Molvania" itself was inspired as a parody of Fodor's Travel Guides. Included are the usual sections on History, Geography, Religion, How to Get Around, Where to Stay, etc. Every section is replete with jokes, and overall almost makes one want to go to Movania. Unfortunately, Molvania doesn't exist, at least according to my globe and the Internet. (On the other hand, where is the Internet?)
Almost Complete, a Slight Oversight However.......2006-08-31
As a Molvanian native, I thought at first that this is yet another one of those soulless Western monographs, good only to patronize and condescend to the locals.
Imagine my surprise then when, on close scrutiny, I found how the team at JETLAG has managed to compile an accurate and actually useful guide, an opus that will serve well all travelers, past and future, to Molvania and beyond. I find that the maps especially are a treat in their accuracy and detail, especially considering that you cannot buy maps in Molvania proper. Details of cuisine and local customs are also accurately captured, and their flavor stays with you even longer than the hangover.
There is one omission in this travel guide, however, one that I hope will be addressed in future editions: a section addressing the needs of business travelers is sorely lacking, and visiting business persons will find that they need all the help they can get while transacting their affairs with Molvanian tycoons.
Otherwise, a well deserved five stars.
PS - To all Molvanians and neighboring natives who have spoken negatively on this one: please lighten up, this is a fine read (two minutes at a time), one of the best jokes related to that part of the world, enjoy it!
Book Description
Attending Hamburger University, Robin Leidner observes how McDonald's trains the managers of its fast-food restaurants to standardize every aspect of service and product. Learning how to sell life insurance at a large midwestern firm, she is coached on exactly what to say, how to stand, when to make eye contact, and how to build up Positive Mental Attitude by chanting "I feel happy! I feel terrific!"
Leidner's fascinating report from the frontlines of two major American corporations uncovers the methods and consequences of regulating workers' language, looks, attitudes, ideas, and demeanor. Her study reveals the complex and often unexpected results that come with the routinization of service work.
Some McDonald's workers resent the constraints of prescribed uniforms and rigid scripts, while others appreciate how routines simplify their jobs and give them psychological protection against unpleasant customers. Combined Insurance goes further than McDonald's in attempting to standardize the workers' very selves, instilling in them adroit maneuvers to overcome customer resistance.
The routinization of service work has both poignant and preposterous consequences. It tends to undermine shared understandings about individuality and social obligations, sharpening the tension between the belief in personal autonomy and the domination of a powerful corporate culture.
Richly anecdotal and accessibly written, Leidner's book charts new territory in the sociology of work. With service sector work becoming increasingly important in American business, her timely study is particularly welcome.
Customer Reviews:
Engaging book, debateable premise.......2006-07-03
When all is said and done, American consumers are more alike than they are different. This truth of human psychology provides the bedrock of our mass production economy; it is possible to create core products that millions of people will buy, and it is possible to design methods of presontation and marketing that millions of people will respond to. Consistancy beats creativity. That said, individuals, even those who aren't considered wildly creative or in any way eccentric still need to shave off 5 - 10% of their personalities to find their fit in cultures devoted to providing a consistant product or approach to business.
Dr. Leidner's study of how this morphing of individual to group collective focuses on two job classes at diverse ends of the American economic experience. On the one side is McDonalds, whose counter and burger flipping positions, even if in many instances filled by students on their way to something far different, have also become a shorthand for employment of last resort among those with few skills, options, and long term prospects. On the other end of the study is Combined Insurance Company of America (CICA), a subsidiary of Aon Corp. CICA is a sales driven company, and sales - dispite the field's high washout rate - remains for those who do it well the highest paying profession in America.
Early on Dr. Leidner suggests that there is irony in the fact that these companies, which rely on structure and standardization to a degree uncommon in their respective fields, were formed by highly dynamic individualists, Ray Krock and W. Clement Stone respectively, who challenged convention and relied on personal instinct in building their empires. It makes for a nice sentence or two, but most people who build empires, be they Krock and Stone, or Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, James Hill, Michael Dell, Sam Walton, etc use a different approach to building than will subsiquently be needed to maintain and expand those companies. Even a company as wildly creative as Apple Computer needs to instill a degree of structure within the organization if only so it doesn't fall prey to entrophy.
Still, organizational struture isn't the theme of the book, instead it is what happens to people whose jobs involve working directly with customers, human interactions, that realm of life where individual personality is most apt to express itself, but who are told to conduct those exchanges with the same routine and scripting of a working standing at a machine and mass producing parts on an assembly line. Because McDonalds is a recognizeable American icon most of the attention given this book - including the other review on this site - focuses on the chapters dealing with the fast food giant. I found the chapters about Combined Insurance Company far more interesting. I work in sales and during my second year in the field I joined (and have since left) CICA in Virginia during the time that Leidner was doing her research and observations in the company's midwestern operations.
Leidner focused on the company's Life divison, even as she stated that the Accident Indemnity divison which I sold in, practiced the greatest reliance on standardized presentations and scripting in general. In her assessment the company's philosophy of reliance on a tightly structured sales system came at the expense of individualism and forced sales reps to subliminate elements of their own personalities and as such had to struggle with feelings of inauthicity and a loss of self.
To a degree her assessment makes sense, and as CICA gave her full access to the company's sales school, as well as interivews and field time with new agents and managers, her studies did reflect what her subjects cited as their actual experiences. That said - and dispite CICA giving her more cooperation and acceptance than some at McDonalds gave her - I feel that she didn't do as complete a job of putting CICA in its proper place within the evolution of sales methods over the past 100+ years.
Dr. Leidner seemed at times to subscribe to the myth of the 'natural born salesperson'. The hired gun who shot from the hip, said whatever came to mind, and sold circles around everyone else b/c of inate abilities that couldn't be studied, quantified, or taught. This misconception has long bitten at the heals of anyone who dared argue that sales can be taught. In the 1890's when John Henry Peterson organized the first sales schools for NCR reps, and wrote the first standardized sales manual, which he demanded his reps follow - at the risk of being fired even if they met quota while using other methods there has been a debate over whether selling is a learnable skill or an artform that one either has or hasn't. People in the latter camp react to any approach to standardize the field in the same way a literary writer reacts to romance and mystery novelist who churn out and sell formulaic fiction by the boatload.
It has been my observation over 20 plus yrs that people who enter sales with the latter view often washout and return to other fields when they find that doing it by the seat of their pants doesn't work. CICA's training wasn't so much about denying indiviual initiative, but about giving the individual agent tools that worked (this afterall is the field where Elmer Wheeler, the man remembered for coining the phrase 'sell the sizzle, not the steak' found that a sales rep could increase his sales 500% just by omitting two words in his closing sentence).
Reading Dr. Leidner's account of new hires trying to deal with CICA's methods in 1987 I was reminded of some of my long forgotten impressions from sales school. At the time I watched my classmates, most of whom were new to sales and with little previous knowledge of the history of the field, its inovators, and groundbreakers, or of the principles of human behavior that drove the methods, react defensively and with uncertainty to what they were being taught. My impression at the time was that CICA could have generated greater acceptance of its methods if some time had been given to validating the underlying principles - which that minority of us with prior sales backgrounds knew to be true. Dr. Leidner's interviews suggested that some of the new agents she spent time with struggled with the same thing.
As such, what she terms a stuggle to keep subverting the self, and losing one's individuality to scripted methods, may in fact have been an individual lost in a tool chest or weighed down by a tool belt such that they somehow failed to see themselves for what they really were, craftsmen provided with world class tools, whose success or failure would depend on how they as individuals used those tools.
A Prophecy Fulfilled?.......2001-03-21
Hungry and tired of the banality of couscous, hara (a tomato based soup) and tajine that I had been eating in Morocco for the past four months, I burst through the doors of one of the McDonald's in the city of Casablanca. I was on a mission. I had dragged several of my friends by train, bus, taxi, and foot for the singular purpose of eating a Big Mac. I was feed up. I needed food that I could trust to be produced in some standardized fashion, that would be clean and well cooked. I also needed to use a bathroom that was clean. This "quest" occurred during a foreign exchange to Morocco during the fall of 2000. But the story begins much earlier perhaps in 1994 when I was 12 or 13. My father had taken me to our local Borders bookstore in the suburbs of Philadelphia to hear a lecture about McDonald's of all things (I was home schooled at the time and going to lectures such as these was a continual part of my education). Robin Leidner's lecture was probably my first exposure to sociology and I believe one of the causes that lead to a radical shift in my adolescent thinking. Never again was the world the same. In a sense, Robin Leidner gave birth to my "sociological imagination." Ever since I have also been fascinated by McDonald's as an indicator of American culture. There is something awe inspiring about the success of McDonald's and its guarantee of a certain quality of food, cheer, and service no matter where in the world I should travel. (The phenomonem of McDonald's seems reminscent of something one might find in a dystopian post-industrial science ficiton story.) That at, one time, 7% of US workers had worked at McDonald's at one time or another, speaks to the influence of McDonald's in the lives of Americans. On the other hand, the routinization that has been key to McDonald's success raises questions of alienation, autonomy and robotization of employees for the sake of profit. Ever present is the conflict between self-identity and existence in a corporate world that requires all things to be standerdized. Dr. Leidner provides insight into corporate culture that many of us will at sometime or another participate in. It would be good judgment to know what we are getting ourselves involved in. I, for one, have learned to appreciate the significance of McDonald's organizational structure, while being cogent of the impact of its corporate values on the individual and society. There is a sense of empowerment in "decoding" society and locating ones position in society and it is my hope that others, outside of academia, will read Leidner's book and become consciouse of their organizational context. There is the sense of a prophecy fulfilled. After first seeing Dr. Leidner and reading of the expansion of McDonald's to Morocco, I have, seven years later eaten at the first McDonald's in Morocco, always with "Fast Food, Fast Talk" in mind. The impetus for this has always been to see for myself if Dr. Leidner was right: could McDonald's really be the same everywhere? It would seem that my life has already come full circle. As the result of my first exposure to sociology from Dr. Leidner, I am currently studying the sociology of work and occupation!
Book Description
This book gives an up-to-date account of the latest thinking and recent developments in the construction and use of large-scale macroeconomic models. It centers around the development of the new macro model of the Centre for Economic Forecasting at the London Business School-- one of the world's leading research centers in macroeconomic modelling.
Book Description
Political Correctness is here to stay... thank goodness! (Or, 'Heaven Help Us!!", for some... ) Hunting is also here to stay, and yes, it can be enjoyed in a humane and appropriate manner. The days of careless habits and willy-nilly antics in the field have come to a close.
M. J. Goodbush, the mysterious masked crusader for Political Correctness in the field has written a tongue-in-cheek primer for all who wish to correct the image foisted upon us by ill-motivated and unenlightened hunters.
This handy volume, can easily accompany one to the privy, where one can study such themes as 'Preparing For The Hunt', General Etiquette', Womyn in The Bush', 'True Stories' and much more.
The Politically Correct Hunter is a must for hunters of all nations, for the naturalist, the survivalist, and of course, the spouse of every sports person.
Average customer rating:
- THIS IS A STUNNING BOOK
- a major figure
- top printing, comprehensive big bad boy
- Framing the world through the viewfinder
- THE book to own of Friedlander's work
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Friedlander
Peter Galassi
Manufacturer: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
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ASIN: 0870703439
Release Date: 2005-06-15 |
Book Description
Lee Friedlander is one of the most important of the 1960s generation of photographers for whom the posture of disinterested objectivity served as a vehicle for passionate personal inquiries. His large body of work--he most often produces extended series of pictures on a chosen theme, then publishes them in book form--is broad in subject matter and supple and complex in style, and focuses on what he calls America's "social landscape." At the same time, he has pursued a playful dialogue with artistic tradition--as though open-eyed curiosity about the world, and a sophisticated taste for the wiles of picture-making were one and the same thing. Lee Friedlander takes a deep critical look at Friedlander's abundantly productive career. Including over 500 photographs grouped by series, and an incisive essay by Peter Galassi, Chief Curator of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art, this oversized publication is the most comprehensive review of the photographer's career to date.
Customer Reviews:
THIS IS A STUNNING BOOK.......2007-07-01
I had never heard of Mr. Friedlander when I saw his exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. There is no way to describe his work in words; you just must experience it. Beyond his keen eye for black and white photography, he has a sly sense of humor that permeates his works. Many of these would be suitable for framing and placed in places where you might not normally hang a photo. This book is a great coffee-table book to be savored and enjoyed. Throw some pillows on the floor and flop down with this huge book and turn the pages slowly.
a major figure.......2006-07-20
by its scope, this book, like the photographer who's work it represents, is unique. not just the amount of photos, but the richness of them, their cool intelligence. it is a major volume, by one of the most influential non-color artists of our time. many people either hate or love friedlander's work, and i love it. if you do, just looking at this book a few times will be a great joy. if you're lucky (and rich) enough to buy or own it - what a treat.
top printing, comprehensive big bad boy.......2006-04-25
Ok, sorry to say but once you have this big bad boy what more do you need really? The section at the back about the development of Lee's printing over the years is especially interesting for photographers who are about to make a book. It's yellow which goes well with most coffee tables...Frankly they could have trimmed 20 percent of the photos but in this day and age more is more so what the heck...Totally worth it.
Framing the world through the viewfinder.......2006-04-20
Lee Friedlander is one of the most important photographers within the history of the medium. His uncanny sense of irony merges with a refreshing use of formal design, producing provocative visual metaphors. His use of frames within frames comments on the nature of photography itself. It is hard to look at the american landscape the same after viewing his work, and that is a good thing! If you can afford another Friedlander book besides this one, i highly recommend "Like a One-Eyed Cat"!
THE book to own of Friedlander's work.......2006-03-21
An excellent overview of Lee Friedlander's pioneering career. If you are only peripherally interested in Friedlander and his photography, this is the book to buy. If you are a longtime admirer of his work, this will be the book you will return to again and again.
In addition to a generous display of photographs, the introductory essay (although a bit dense at times) gives insight into Friedlander's motivations and achievements.
Friedlander seems to be a controversial subject on photography forums across the Net. It's interesting to read the opinions of other photographers on these internet forums who think his work is sloppy, unsophisticated, amateurish, etc. Once confronted with this enlightening overview of Friedlander's work, it becomes obvious that what is truly sloppy, unsophisticated and amateurish is the perspective of those espousing these opinions. What evolves is the fact that Friedlander is a treasure.
Product Description
One of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time, George Benson has developed a unique style that's all his own. This collection assembles 11 of his finest songs, transcribed instrument-by-instrument, and note-for-note! Includes: Affirmation Body Talk Breezin' C-Smooth Give Me the Night The Theme from Good King Bad Love Ballad On Broadway This Masquerade Turn Your Love Around White Rabbit. Also includes a notation legend.
Average customer rating:
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An integrated traffic data collection and analysis system
P. George Benson
Manufacturer: Statistical Consulting Services
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ASIN: B00072K466 |
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Uniform System of Accounts for Clubs
Inc. Staff Club Managers Association of America
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ASIN: 0840358458 |
Book Description
This book offers the most in-depth analysis of journalistic attention to the Supreme Court (primarily television) currently available. It combines penetrating and remarkably frank interviews with prominent Supreme Court journalists with extensive examination of videotapes of network television news coverage of the Court, to provide a comprehensive picture of how numerous constraints faced by reporters covering the Court (imposed by the nature of the television news industry and the Court itself) contribute to the pattern of infrequent, brief, and in too many instances, incorrect and misleading stories that are aired about the Court. The implications of this situation for the American public are explored.
Book Description
No matter where you turn in the world of gaming, you're bound to notice the rapidly increasing use of 3D. If you're serious about game programming, you must understand the world of 3D modeling. Focus On 3D Models is the guide you need for doing just that! This is the only book on the market that gives game programmers a comprehensive guide to the most popular 3D modeling file formats. You'll also get coverage of foundational material such as mathematics, skeletal animation, and more. Even if you know nothing about 3D character animation when you start, by the end of the book you will be able to work with all the popular file formats, write readers, and animate the meshes in real time in your applications. For maximum benefit, you must have experience with C++, know how to create a rudimentary 3D engine, and have an understanding of algebra and trigonometry.
Customer Reviews:
Not great, not awful.......2007-09-23
While the model formats discussed are the more popular ones, there are quite a few details that were omitted in the book about them. On the other side of the coin, there aren't many books specifically for model formats. All the information that is missing, is easy enough to find with a little research.
Not bad, definately not great.......2005-07-14
This book is more of an overview on how to load 3D models from files more than anything else.
By overview, I do mean quite sketchy.
The file formats talked about are:
.obj (ASCII, poor coverage)
.3ds (3DS Max)
.md2 (Quake II)
.ms3d (Milkshape 3D)
.mdl (Half-Life)
.md3 (Quake III)
(Note that the .obj format was not discussed correctly. The code that comes on CD is actually a very poorly done .obj loader with minimal functionality. The library known as GLM is an .obj loader that is well written and outperforms the authors code by a large margin.)
The .md3 and .mdl coverage is somewhat skant of details.
Overall, this book is not a definitive model format book - you can get the same information on the web for free, with much better written loaders and the likes.
If you can pick this book up for under 5$ go for it, otherwise forget it.
Small, short and to the point.......2005-03-18
Explains some of the more common 3d models and includes an appendix with links about other formats not covered. This book only briefly explains some technologies, like skeletal modeling, and otherwise just tells you what you need to get them rendered.
Just enough to get you started.
Good beginners intro.......2004-01-19
An excellent starting point for somebody that knows nothing at all about 3D models, but can only be considered a stepping stone to other books that gloss over the basics.
He starts with a good intro to matrices and quaternions, followed by a good intro to modeling concepts, and then describes a few formats in detail. Unfortunately, he doesn't go into any more advanced discussion on how to put things together... i.e. how to *use* the models. A few pages are wasted explaining how to use some basic "C", but I've seen worse...
Overall, I give it four stars because, if you know nothing of the topic, it is an excellent jump start. If you do have knowledge of the topic, then you aren't the target audience.
Fulfills its stated purpose well.......2003-05-13
This book covers the loading and handling of 3D models from the programmer's point of view (not the artist's, which may not be immediately obvious from the title). Like other Focus On books, it's short (checking in at just under 200 pages), but doesn't spend a lot of time on introductory material or subjects not related to the main topic.
The model formats covered by this book are Quake 2 (.md2), .obj, MilkShape, 3D Studio Max (.3ds), Half-life (.mdl), and Quake 3 (.md3). All of these formats are covered quite well, with sample code showing how to load, display and (when applicable) animate them. The exception is the Half-life format, for which he just uses the SDK, so there's no real information on the format itself. In addition to the specific formats, there are chapters on skeletal animation and useful tips on working with models.
My only real complaint is that about 1/4 of the book's pages are spent on covering vectors, matrices, quaternions, and STL vectors. Although knowledge of these topics is important for understanding the rest of the book, I'd suspect most readers will already be familiar with them. I would have preferred to have these chapters included on the CD instead, freeing up space for more useful information (detailed coverage of the Half-life format, perhaps?).
Overall, though, I was happy with the book. It's compact, inexpensive, an easy read, and it's nice to have the most common formats covered in one convenient volume. If you're looking for an introduction to using 3D models, or just want a physical reference for these formats to keep on your desk, I'd recommend it.
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