Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small

Amazon.com

Want to learn how to speak the language of critters, large and small? Easy-to-read and understand, Ted Andrews's bestselling Animal Speak shows readers how to identify his or her animal totem and learn how to invoke its energy and use it for personal growth and inner discovery. Nature lovers will love this insightful compendium, chock-full of touching stories about animals, natural history, and animal folklore. Readers will also learn magical animal rites and how to read omens. Animal Speak includes a dictionary of bird, animal, reptile, and insect totems, which describe each creature's meaning. For example, if a person's totem is dragonfly, he or she was most likely excessively emotional and passionate in early years, learning with age to balance it with mental clarity and control. If a dragonfly suddenly shows up in your life, it means you may need to gain a new perspective or make a change. --P. Randall Cohan

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Book!.......2007-10-13

Love Love Love this book, gives a good description of hundreds and hundreds of animals, talks about totems and the relation of the totem to you.
Very well written, everything I wanted this book has it.
I am very happy I bought this book
~Anastasia, VA

Animals do indeed communicate information to us.......2007-10-02

This book was recommended to me several years ago, and since reading it I regularly refer to it as an informational resource. On many occasions I have been amazed at how relevant the information about a particular creature was to what I was experiencing at the time it happened to cross my path. I found Animal Speak to be of such value to me that I chose to include an excerpt from it within my own book. As such, I highly recommend it to any person who has interest in the spiritual path.

Animal Speak by Ted Andrews.......2007-09-26

Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small

Great book, I had seen Ted Andrews in person, what an incredible man. I already had so many books at the time, I did not buy it then and have him sign it. But recently it is the time of skunks and well, I have just seen/smell for several weeks. My friend has the book, and she read me the section about skunks, and it was amazing. how much of what it had to say about skunks, from strength, relationships, boundaries, sensuality, were the things I was looking at in my life. So I decided to buy the book after all, and it is a great thing.

Animal Speak Still Going Strong.......2007-08-11

This purchase was a replacement for an fifteen year old copy that I simply wore out. I bought the first copy when I met Ted Andrews in 1987, I teach neo-shamanism and suggest that all of my students have this book and it's accompaniment "Nature Speak." Ted is a naturalist and knows animals and nature first hand. He combines his knowledge with ancient and modern myth and lore to give us a comprehensive guide to how animals interact in our metaphysical world.

Fascinating Information about animal symbolism.......2007-07-31

"The most common belief in many societies is that spiritual guides often use animals or animal imagery to communicate their purpose and roles to humans." -From the book.

I was drawn to this book several years ago when I had a recurring dream about an animal and felt sure that there was an important message in it for me. I have used it several times since to look up the meaning associated with certain animals that came across my path. We may think that these encounters are random or coincidental, but they're not. Often we don't see signs that are right in front of us. Does it take a billboard to get you to take notice? For me, sometimes it does, but I have tried to slow down and pay attention to these subtle natural nudges because a lot of times, they contain a powerful message or just good advice! Just as symbols, seeing/encountering certain animals may, on the surface have no meaning to us, but our subconcious knows what it means.

There is a HUGE amount of information in this book. It is very interesting to read. In addition to finding out the meanings/messages of animals, it also tells you how to find out what your nature totems are and how to work with that energy.

In chapter 4 'Reading signs and omens in nature' there are charts for the meanings or symbolism of certain trees and flowers and the positive/negative qualities of colors.

Highly interesting book and great to have for reference.

Animal - Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small

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Animal - Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small
TEd Andrews
Manufacturer: Llewellyn Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JPT22I

Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small

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Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small
Ted Andrews
Manufacturer: Llewellyn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IARNK2

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Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small
Ted Andrews
Manufacturer: Llewellyn Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QYB932

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ANIMAL-SPEAK THE SPIRITUAL & MAGICAL POWERS OF CREATURES GREAT & SMALL

Manufacturer: Llewellyn Pub.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HDC436

Animal-Speak: the Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small

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Animal-Speak: the Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small
Ted Andrews
Manufacturer: Llewellyn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LZLAZ8

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The Shadow Workforce: Perspectives on Contingent Work in the United States, Japan, and Europe

Manufacturer: W E Upjohn Inst for
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Guides | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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What Do Unions Do?: A Twenty-Year Perspective

Staircases and Treadmills?: Labor Market Intermediaries and Economic Opportunity in a Changing Economy

Understanding National Accounts

No Seat at the Table: How Corporate Governance and Law Keep Women Out of the Boardroom

ASIN: 0880992883

Book Description

The contributors to this volume provide an accessible multidisciplinary examination of the growth of nonstandard employment and the similarities and differences of its impact on employees, businesses, unions, and public policy in the United States, Japan, and Europe. This book serves as a one-stop resource for information on the growing contingent labor forces in those nations.

Contingent Employment in Europe and the United States

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Contingent Employment in Europe and the United States

Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Labor & Industrial Relations | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Unemployment | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Labor & Industrial Relations | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1843760339

Book Description

Contingent Employment in Europe and the United States examines the developments in labor markets in advanced economies in the 21st century, as regards contingent employment. This is defined as employment relationships that can be terminated with minimal costs within a predetermined period of time. This includes fixed-term contracts, temporary agency work and self-employment. Contingent employment has been the subject of much legislative activity in the last decade, at both the national and European level. Temporary agency work, in particular, has recently been extensively deregulated in most European countries and currently we await the fate of a proposed EU directive on agency work. The book is therefore highly topical.

Using evidence from Germany, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, the authors assess the increasing use of contingent employment against the legislative and institutional background in these countries. The European countries represent a wide range of regulatory regimes within the European Union, and comparison with the United States, where contingent employment is least regulated, is a useful feature of the book. Some emphasis is placed on the role of temporary work agencies. This is not only due to the recent spate of legislation but also because agency work is the type of contingent employment that grew most rapidly in the last decade, it is a relatively novel form of employment, and has several interesting theoretical features.

The book is aimed at scholars of labor economics and management, and will also be of interest to those practitioners involved in labor markets, primarily policymakers at both the European and national levels.

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Ola Bergstrom and Donald Storrie, eds., Contingent Employment in Europe and the United States.(Book Review) : An article from: Labour/Le Travail
John Shields
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000EBFYHO
Release Date: 2006-01-25

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2005. The length of the article is 1514 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: Ola Bergstrom and Donald Storrie, eds., Contingent Employment in Europe and the United States.(Book Review)
Author: John Shields
Publication: Labour/Le Travail (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 56 Page: 351(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Hailed as the Bible to Bible Belt cooking in New York City, this sassy, slangy guide will whisk you away on a culinary quest for grits and greens, hog maws and hoe cake--from the plantation to the trailer park--without ever leaving the Concrete Jungle.

Whether you're a hard-core Dixielander or a world-weary city slicker, "Eating Southern in New York City: New York's 50 Best Places to Find Hoppin' John, Grits, Barbecue, and Fried Everything" will give you an insider's look into the previously-unexplored world of authentic Lowcountry and Soul, Cajun and Creole--and beyond--in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Southern transplants Bruce Lane and Scott Wyatt have been getting their down-home fix in New York City since 1990.

Customer Reviews:

A God-send for Wayward Southerners in the Big Apple!.......1999-06-02

Any southerner living in New York City will appreciate this lively, well-written restaurant guide that can soothe all your cravings. Soul food, bbq, Louisiana cooking, and any other country foodstuffs you can think of are right here in NYC (believe it or not!), and these southern-born boys have taste-tested all of them for us and come up with some real winners. If you find your stomach churning for grits and sweet potato pie the way I do, this book should be at your side always.

Customer Reviews:

DONT BOTHER READING THIS!!.......2007-02-22

THIS WAS DISGUSTING AND DISGRACEFUL AND I CANT BELIVE I PAID AN ENTIRE QUARTER FOR IT!!!!!

The Southern Belle Primer Revisited.......2001-07-10

What a Hoot! I loved it! Now we know what was really in that pretty little head. I am a long time fan of GWTW (some 30 years worth)and a passionate historian of the antebellum South, but this is too neat a satire to pass up. (Far better than that wretched sequel to GWTW palmed off on us a few years ago!) Scarlett would have been in stitches - heck, she'd have been publishing her memoirs a long time ago! That lady did love the limelight.

If you take GWTW as serious history and don't want your feathers ruffled, no, don't listen to this book. But if you enjoy GWTW as the rousing Southern mythology and legacy it is, I think you will safely get a kick out of this. My only complaint was that the reader speaks so quickly at times that she is difficult to follow and thus doesn't come across as authentically Southern.

This Is A Disgrace!.......2000-07-27

This is terrible that some modern-age author thought it funny to make fun of one of literatures greatest works. Its a disgrace to all new-day authors that one dosen't have enough imagination to come up with a story and plot of their own, but instead chooses to downgrade a beloved American classic.

You'll Laugh Your Corsett Right Off!.......1999-11-27

Can you imagine reading the actual private thoughts of Mrs. Katy Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler herself? What did she really think of "Meli", Ashley, Rhett, and the others? It's all here! And, you'll find yourself reading it from start to finish in one sitting! Best Moment: Scarlett's version of "Look Away Dixie Land". An must-have for any GWTW fan!

Book Description

Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince is the definitive biography of one of the most talented and enigmatic musicians of our time, a figure who has seized international attention for decades and will continue to do so, both for his artistic talent and his bizarre behavior. While a handful of quasi-biographical efforts have been undertaken on Prince, Possessed is the first full-length, full-scale biographical treatment. Drawing on sources unavailable to other authors, it is the first book to fully analyze the creative legacy and unveil the psychology of this tortured, messianic artist whose ceaseless reinventions have at times rendered him a profoundly original artist and at other threatened to make a mockery of himself and his music. Blending biographical storytelling, pop cultural history, and music scholarship, the book will appeal to a broad general audience as well as to music fans.

Author Alex Hahn, a journalist who has written for The Boston Globe and The San Francisco Chronicle, taps key sources - such as friends, employees, and industry insiders - to place readers at the scene of some of the artist's most important recording and song writing sessions; relate how his compulsive sexual behavior led to revolving-door romances with Kim Basinger, Carmen Elektra, Vanity, and others; reveal that Prince on many occasions plagiarized band members' musical ideas; and explain why he has become such a paranoid, vindictive, and isolated figure. The book also draws upon the hundreds of interviews given by Prince over his career.

The book contain 30 high-quality photographs of Prince and his associates from all points of his career.

Possessed also contains the most detailed appendix of song and recording session information ever assembled for a pop musician, including information about Prince's vast canon of unreleased music and the hundreds of songs he has written for other pop artis

Customer Reviews:

Essential Prince.......2005-09-08

A comprehensive overview of the life of one of the greatest musical minds of the pop world. Hahn shows how Prince went from prodigy to pop star to pompous recluse. Starting with his early years right up to the the new millenium, we see how Prince's flame shined so brightly after years of hard work, only to have it snuffed by ego, selfishness and totalitarianism. Plenty of great research by Hahn, who gets his info straight from those close to the Purple One, including band members, engineers, A&R people and tour manager Alan Leeds who also worked for funk godfathers James Brown and George Clinton. Excellent and complete discography including unreleased material. A must for any fan of His Royal Badness!

My only complaint is that Hahn seems biased in favor of the successful Revolution/Purple period and very critical of the later New Power Generation band. Though the lite pop of the Revolution era was the highlight of Prince's career, the musically superior NPG yielded much greatness although its R&B/rap/funk seemed less accessible to mainstream audiences. In fact, it was Prince's increased musical output and each album's lack of contiuity (jumping to different musical styles like jazz, techno, reggae, r&b, rock opera, etc) that contributed his downfall. In the end, it seemed Prince lost his focus and idealism and needed to find purpose again to regain his throne.

Stand Back.......2005-04-13

Hahn's book is good but, as some of the other reviewers mention, it is written too much on a schematic of pre-1988 = good, after 1988 = bad. Prince has been humbled, I suppose, and now he plays his greatest hits like clockwork and has attained a semblance of his former fan base. But on the whole his career has been too complicated to fit into the traditional "rise and fall" motif.

Hahn does name names and he's pretty harsh on our boy Prince, who comes off sounding like he's trapped in his own world, unable to break out and see what's real. He is haughty, weird, and troubled. But Hahn is also genuinely interested in the music, and in seeing who did what in the various incarnations of Prince's collaborators.

Prince is a sparkplug of energy with a fantastic melodic line and a master of r'n'b. I love the story of Prince helping out Stevie Nicks during the writing of "Stand Back" one of her signature tracks from the 1980s. It's a shame nothing from his sessions with Kylie Minogue ever saw the light of day; but Hahn holds out a ray of hope that someday, way down the pike, we will hear everything because Prince is a sort of packrat when it comes to holding onto the all precious tapes (obsessively, like Howard Hughes holding onto his fingernail clippings).

Excellent book!.......2005-01-04

As another reviewer wrote, if you don't want to see anything negative written about Prince, don't read this book. But again, if you don't pick up and read this well researched and written work, you will truly deprive yourself and miss out on something great. Furthermore, if you really love Prince, you will accept his rough behind the scenes side as well as his stage image. Sure, we want to see our idols as flawless, but realistically, that is not the case. The book takes you on a fantastic journey of highs and lows throughout the artist's personal and business relationships, financial hardships, and his creative triumphs and failures.

There were times during my reading of the book that I actually despised him for his treatment of others, especially those who really cared about and stood by him, but then again, that's his personality, and who am I or anyone else to judge? The scary thing is, I see a lot of myself in him, not musically, but personality wise. I really felt bad after reading about how he lost his child. In fact, that was the most heartbreaking part of the book to me. After finishing the book, I watched "Purple Rain" again for the umpteenth time , and it is strange how my perspective of the film was altered by the bio.

Some of the content will be shocking and downwright offensive, and upon completion of the book, you will either love Prince or hate him. Either way, the fact remains that Prince, no matter what his faults or weaknesses are, is one of the best artistic geniuses of our time and has left a permanent footprint on pop culture. Even his worst detractors give him credit for his abilities. Frankly, I couldn't imagine what life would be like without his music. I now have a newfound respect for Prince, in the sense that he is as human as the rest of us. Get this!

Interesting.......2004-10-01

Not too bad.

Now it all makes sense about Prince to me.
You give someone enough power and reign, don't think that they will give it up so easily. (I'm talking about the music making)
He did it ALL, and wanted ALL the credit and control.
Even though I'm sure his former band*Slaves contribute in assisting with the new music,but he didn't give credit were I believe credit was due to them.
Good-not great book. But it answered some unanswered questions, and I believe they were the most accurate taking account from those who worked and dealt with Prince and both a professional and personal level

The Early Days.......2004-05-14

After reading original guitarist, Dez Dickerson's newly released book, "My Time With Prince", I was thankful for real first-hand observations and insights into the Purple One's beginning. Without the agenda set forth in "Possessed", Dez shares about the youthful, innocent, and extraordinary path that Prince and bandmates experienced. Legend has it that Dez is the only band member who was not required to sign a confidentiality agreement, allowing him to finally come forth with this rare up-close biography. Very interesting comparison reading.

Customer Reviews:

entertaining,educational and humorous.......1998-08-10

I use this book with most of my ESL (ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGE) students. They are fascinated by its contents -Monuments,inventors,natural resources,food, music, movies, cities - you name it - it's right here in this delightful book. Each chapter prepares you for the next so there is great continuity. A perfect text - I give it a 10!

a delightfully upbeat view of things that make America great.......1997-12-23

It wanders all about the map of America, citing the little things and the big things that make it what it is. Somehwat of a hodge-podge, covering everything from wild blueberries to the Brooklyn Bridge, it gives new meaning to that overused word, "eclectic", but the result is delightfully upbeat. A good read that informs and uplifts and kind of makes you proud of being an American.

Great American stuff: A celebration of people, places, and products that make us happy to live in America

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Great American stuff: A celebration of people, places, and products that make us happy to live in America
Ray Jones
Manufacturer: Cumberland House c1997
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ONQ94Y

Book Description

Virtual environments such as games and animated and "real" movies require realistic sound effects that can be integrated by computer synthesis. The book emphasizes physical modeling of sound and focuses on real-world interactive sound effects.

It is intended for game developers, graphics programmers, developers of virtual reality systems and training simulators, and others who want to learn about computational sound.

It is written at an introductory level with mathematical foundations provided in appendices. An enclosed CD contains code examples and sound files.

Customer Reviews:

Real Sound Synthesis/a review.......2007-01-05

One of the best volumes I've come across in the field of sound synthesis on personal computers. Provides a solid introduction to this field for those who wish to create sound on a PC (as opposed to play back previously- recorded sound).

Excellent book on an under-served subject.......2006-02-18

This is not a book that introduces and uses signal processing concepts for the sake of itself. Instead, the goal of the book is to create sounds, learn the tools and theory behind creating such sounds, and grasp the essentials of many sophisticated physical modeling concepts in particular. The book is quite thin, but don't let this fool you. The author chose to leave out quite a few details so that this did not turn into another 1000 page treatise on computer music. Thus some basic topics in signals, systems, and filter design are not fleshed out to their fullest extent. To this end, the book has an extensive reference section so that if you are unfamiliar with a particular physics or DSP topic, you can research it yourself.

Chapter 1 briefly establishing the fundamentals of digital audio, and includes an introduction to the basics of quantization, compression, and Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM) sampling. Chapter 2 investigates sound synthesis starting with wavetable synthesis. In chapter 3, digital filters are introduced. Included is a concise but clear introduction to Linear Time Invariant (LTI) systems, convolution, Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters, Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filters, and Z transforms. The chapter culminates in an introduction to the BiQuad filter.

Chapter 4, which deals with modal synthesis, acts as a stepping-stone to the frequency domain, leading to chapter 5's discussion of the Fourier Transform. This chapter examines Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), fast convolution, and Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT), and ends with examples of applications.

Chapters 6, 7, and 8 delve deeper into synthesis/analysis concepts such as Linear Predictive Coding (LPC), spectral modeling, additive/subtractive synthesis, noise signals, and inharmonicity, using the frequency domain techniques learned in previous chapters. You'll hardly turn a page without an accompanying picture or block diagram, a particularly valuable feature of this book.

Chapter 9 explores the physical modeling concepts of string vibrations and stiff bars. Modeling algorithms are introduced using basic physics perspectives centered around the familiar string, mass, and damper paradigms first introduced in chapter 4. Here again, rather than bombarding the reader with tons of equations, Mr. Cook explains ideas mainly through diagrams, sound examples, and block diagrams, which is very helpful for the software implementation of algorithms. The ready-to-compile C++ code for this section included on the CD-ROM provide models of a plucked string (Plucked.cpp), a mandolin (Mandolin.cpp), and a bowed string (Bowed.cpp).

In Chapter 11, Tubes and Air Cavities, the author introduces more models while leaving detailed mathematical derivations of equations for the appendix. He concludes chapter 11 with "Building and Blowing a Bottle Model", and includes code and sound examples, as usual. Going into chapter 12, more complex, higher dimensional models are introduced, with the traditional mass-spring model in the context of a meshed membrane starting off the chapter.

Chapter 13 introduces modeling and synthesizing particle interaction. Some of the topics covered include Formant Wave Functions (FOFs) for voice synthesis, single particle models, multi-particle systems, and statistical multi-particle systems such as a simple maraca model, implemented in less than 30 lines of C code with an accompanying block diagram.

Chapter 14 deals with the subtleties of exciting and controlling sound models. For example, Mr. Cook discusses the differences between exciting a string with a plectrum as opposed to using the fleshy part of the thumb. He also shows some fascinating effects of the striking conditions of the Tibetan prayer bowl, which exhibits very different spectra as a function of strike-direction while keeping strike-point constant. Other topics discussed include bowing, scraping, and frictional issues in synthesis. MIDI, OSC (Open Sound Control), and other standards for sound and multimedia control are also briefly examined.

Chapter 15 walks the reader through a complete system called PhOLISE (Physically Oriented Library of Interactive Sound Effects) that could possibly be applied to areas such as gaming, animation, and sound effects in film production. The five sections of the appendix go into greater detail regarding proofs, derivations, and properties of topics such as DFT properties, zero-padding, proof of fast convolution, and ideal string behaviors.

After you grasp the contents of this book, you might want to read "The Physics of Musical Instruments" and use some of Mr. Cook's techniques to synthesize the numerical models explained in that book.

Wonderful long-term goal, but not with today's hardware.......2004-05-13

"Real Sound Synthesis for Interactive Applications" by Perry R. Cook describes elementary and advanced techniques to simulate the audio components of dynamic systems using physics. While the book is not specifically directed toward game development, the application to game development is clear. The book's organization of the major themes covered is easily to follow through three sections that detail digital audio, sound modeling, and simulation of real world instruments. The book spans sixteen chapters and appendices totaling 248 pages.

The first section (chapters 1-3) defines digital audio, compression, wave synthesis, and simple filtering techniques. The chapters form the foundation for the later sections and define the common asset formats and techniques currently used in games. Cook emphases that key components of sound manipulation are the sampling rate and quantization of the source audio. The text demonstrates how sounds with higher sampling rates allow for greater manipulation with fewer artifacts but incur a greater computational cost.

The second section (chapters 4-8) introduces sound modeling through simplified physical systems, such as an ideal spring, and Fourier series equations. While an understanding of college physics and calculus is helpful (especially if you'd like to code these methods), the book doesn't require it or bog down in theory or mathematical proofs. (For those interested in the details, they are provided in the appendices). The concepts described in this section are critical in creating computer sound models that represent real world objects.

The last section (chapters 7-16) provides physics equations that allow for the simulation of real world instruments (string instruments, tubes, and multi-dimensional objects). Each chapter describes a different system based on Fourier construction, filtering, and physics-based equations. It's the heart of the book and most interesting. The background in the two previous sections is essential to fully grasp the concepts Cook defines here.

Throughout each chapter, Cook couples clear concise writing with a touch of humor and illustrative diagrams. Cook provides a good initial foundation as the topics covered gradually build in complexity. The clean organizational layout made it easy for me to refer back to previous sections when I felt the need. In many cases, however, I found the writing to be a little too condensed and wished for a paragraph describing a concept rather than the sentence provided. Cook does supply references at the end of each chapter for those readers seeking additional detail.

The book also includes a CD containing audio samples of the topics discussed throughout the book. While reading the book, it was useful to be able to hear the point or technique made in the text. The CD also contains Cook's sound synthesis toolkit and several examples of instruments highlighted in the last section.

Unfortunately in current development, real-time sound synthesis in games has a limited place. Due to the complex calculations of Fourier series, fast digital signal processor chips are required to simulate the audio effects without impacting the rest of the game. Minimally, filters and other simple routines outlined in the book can be written for target hardware to accomplish specialized effects but this is nothing radically new.

However, Cook's research in simulating audio is extremely exciting. During the calculation of an object's dynamic behavior (such as collision response, striking, falling, moving, etc.) a minimal additional amount of time can be spent to determine the audio effects. According to Cook's findings, this amount is generally less than 5% of the total time required to simulate an object's physical behavior. Admittedly, these calculations are on the order of minutes versus milliseconds but eventually Moore's Law will catch up and simplifications will allow unparalleled audio effects in conjunction with physical simulation.

Developers and sound designers interested in the math and physics of creating real-time sounds should pick up this book. Those interested in a fascinating look at the mechanisms of dynamically producing sound might also want to give it a read provided it's with the understanding that the direct applicability to games is at least few years away.

It's a lot more than a cook book.......2002-08-30

Are you a pretty good C++ programmer? Have you ever wanted to have your computer output sounds like footsteps or musical instruments that (a) sound real and (b) are continuously responsive to the user's control? Did you discover that it was basically impossible to do it by stitching together prerecorded samples, and you couldn't think of any other way to do it?

If so, Perry Cook has written just the book you have been looking for. In 250 pages, Cook explains everything, from the basics of digital filtering to the major alternatives for generating sounds: additive and subtractive synthesis, FM synthesis, and -- the real focus of the book -- physical modeling. Not only that, the accompanying CD-ROM includes lots of sound examples and the Synthesis ToolKit -- a pretty much platform-independent set of C++ classes and algorithms for writing your own code.

Not everything is perfect. Just as the first version of any program contains some bugs, the first printing of any book that uses mathematics contains some errors. In particular, typos in Appendix A could be very frustrating if this is your first exposure to Fourier analysis. (You might want to check Cook's web site for a promised list of errata and code updates.) And don't let the fact that the book is short, attractively produced, very well organized, unusually clear, and entertainingly written lead you to believe that you can master it in a weekend. Although Cook tries his best to make the underlying mathematics unintimidating, there is no getting around the fact that there are some rather deep concepts from wave physics and signals-and-systems theory behind what he has to say.

The good news is that the effort is richly repaid. Not only will you be able to write programs that can generate controllable sounds in real time, but you will develop insight into how physical instruments produce their distinctive sounds, and you will understand the basics of both the standard and the most advanced techniques that have been developed to model them. Highly recommended.

Not just another digital music book...........2002-08-23

This book is useful, enlightening, and fun. It covers many cutting-edge topics in lucid fashion, topics that can only be found otherwise in academic journals. The computer code (in the book and on the CD-ROM) is an invaluable resource for the ambitious reader, who can actually try out or modify the techniques. The CD-ROM also provides examples of these new techniques in action. Finally, the author's sense of humor comes through often (this is not a stiff, boring book!).

As a "digital-sound-artist" and someone who teaches this stuff at the university level, I highly recommend this book not only to those who want to learn about the most recent work going on in sound synthesis, but to those who want another perspective on more familiar topics (like the basics of PCM, fourier analysis, basic digital filtering, etc....).

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