Beginning Java Web Services

Book Description

Web services are no longer a nascent technology in the programming industry; every major software vendor is rolling out web services-related APIs and products. Today Java developers are successfully adopting web services as the latest technology in application development in order to enable cross-application communication for distributed applications. This book will help you to join their ranks.

Packed with clear explanations and hands-on examples, Beginning Java Web Services teaches you how to productively build web services with Java. Through an understanding of the underlying principles of web services, you will learn how web services actually work and how to apply that knowledge for real use.

You will be introduced to many of the web services APIs and specifications, including XML, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI. In addition, the book demonstrates how commercial vendors, such as IBM and BEA, are simplifying web services development.

Customer Reviews:

Location of source code download.......2005-06-28

I have been able to locate where to obtain the source code for Beginning Java Web Services:

http://support.apress.com/books.asp?s=0&bID=1861007531

Don't go to www.apress.com because a search by ISBN comes up empty. You have to go to support.apress.com.

Wiley customer support, which is who you contact using the link from www.wrox.com, provided the following information:

"The former Wrox Press Company was liquidated in the Spring of 2003 and the assets (books) were sold to various companies. Wiley acquired 34 of the over 350 books in the liquidation proceedings. You'll find a complete list of books now owned by Wiley at http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-105077.html

If your book is not listed there, it may have been acquired by A Press at http://www.apress.com. Source code for the books purchased by A Press can be found at http://support.apress.com."

I am still at a loss as to why I had to make an inquiry on the wrox.com site to obtain this information. To continue to have a wrox.com website and not maintain references to all materials, where ever they may be, is a disservice to Wrox customers, and I would suggest the maintainers of the Wrox website put information about where information/downloads on all Wrox books can be found, regardless of who now owns the rights.

Beginning Java Web Services.......2004-10-27

The book itself is excellent, with all manner of examples and descriptions. However, the publishers let them down. If you go to the Wrox site (www.wrox.com) as of today (27th October 2004), you will not find any reference to the book anywhere on their site. Not even when you try to search for the book by ISBN number; as such all the examples provided with the book are unavailable for download.

Perfect JWS Book.......2003-10-13

Hi, I have read this book after this one: Java Web Services Unleashed. I have found this book a little more difficould but more focused that the first one. I will recommend this book not to a beginner but to someone that already as little knowledge with WS, and is a professionist with java.
Mas Pellizzaro
http://www.maxpellizzaro.com

Good read.......2002-11-03

I have really grown to like Wrox books. The beginning series lets me get a basic knowledge and the pro series lets me delve into details when I want to learn more.

I bought this one as I wanted good examples of code, a good overview and specific information about web services security. It covers web services security well, is suprisingly up to date is well written in my opinion.

Book Description

Basics of Asset Allocation is designed for financial services professionals who need an introduction to asset allocation and the principles of investing. This is a short, focused course that provides professionals with a basic understanding of the concepts of risk and return and an introduction to basic asset classes and their risk or return potential. It also presents the principles, goals and tools of asset allocation and how an asset allocation strategy is developed.

Product Description

This subliminal CD is designed to help you conquer money management as well as to melt away the stress and uncertainty you may feel. Keep the money you have and be empowered to spot good financial opportunities. Be able to take care of financial responsibilities and still have money left over for emergency savings and retirement! Listen while resting, sleeping, working or playing. Meanwhile, your subconscious mind soaks in the powerful subliminal suggestions that will begin transforming you into a better money manager. This Subliminal CD was produced & created using the most sophisticated digital recording & processing available today. The background provides ocean waves & beautiful synthesizer music to enhance your relaxation. You hear no audible words or voices. You can allow this recording to play over & over again while you sleep, relax or prepare for sleep. This subliminal product contains hundreds of positive affirmations recorded onto one relaxing CD. Although the words aren't audible, they are there and they are powerful! The affirmations are masked by beautiful music & soothing ocean waves. Meanwhile, as you focus on something else, or just while relaxing, the subliminal affirmations take hold in your subconscious mind. The affirmations are powerful & designed to bring about safe, healthy & permanent changes in your life. With so many subliminal products on the market, be cautious to purchase only REAL subliminal recordings with NLP (NeuroLinguistic Programming) affirmations. Proper production, recording, scripting, & duplication are vital in creating such a powerful product. Use only the BEST! Trust Mind Design technology & expertise.

Forming and Operating S Corporations PT. 1 and 2: Fall 1992, Action Guide (Ceb Action Guide)
Average customer rating:
Forming and Operating S Corporations PT. 1 and 2: Fall 1992, Action Guide (Ceb Action Guide)
Charles Schug
Manufacturer: Continuing Education of the Bar-California
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Law | Subjects | Books
General | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0881245801

Book Description

The classic home cheese making primer has been updated and revised to reflect the increased interest in artisanal-quality cheeses and the availability of cheese making supplies and equipment.

Here are 85 recipes for cheeses and other dairy products that require basic cheese making techniques and the freshest of ingredients, offering the satisfaction of turning out a coveted delicacy. Among the step-by-step tested recipes for cheese varieties are farmhouse cheddar, gouda, fromage blanc, queso blanco, marscarpone, ricotta, and 30-minute mozzarella. Recipes for dairy products include crFme frafche, sour cream, yogurt, keifer, buttermilk, and clotted cream. There are also 60 recipes for cooking with cheese, including such treats as Ricotta Pancakes with Banana Pecan Syrup, Cream Cheese Muffins, Broiled Pears and Vermont Shepherd Cheese, Prosciutto and Cheese Calzones, and Grilled Vegetable Stacks with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. Profiles of home cheese makers and artisan cheese makers scattered throughout the text share the stories of people who love to make and eat good cheese. Plus information on how to enjoy homemade cheeses, how to serve a cheese course at home, cheese tips, lore, quotes, cheese making glossary, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Cheese Making - Awesome Book!.......2007-09-30

This is a great book for beginning and 'intermediate' home, cheese makers. I would highly recommend having this book in your pantry if you are going to attempt making cheese from home!

Excellent purchase!.......2007-05-15

This book is very detailed yet easy to understand. We have recently purchased cheese making kits for making cheeses at home since where we live, they are quite expensive and not readily available, especially for the goat cheeses in Australia.

THe 1st book we bought was good enough for beginners (if you are afraid of making cheeses, don't. Everything we did came perfectly all right). But this one goes into more details and explanations. So we recommend it!

Useful Cookbook.......2007-03-28

This book is easy to follow. It made cheese making simple. I found that the recipes made better cheeses than I could buy.

An extremely informative book.......2007-03-19

This book contains a wealth of information for the beginning cheese maker or for experienced ones for that matter. Great recipes that work. In my opinion, the book is well worth the money I paid for it.

A Standard for Cheese Making.......2007-01-26

I got interested in making cheese after I meet the artisan cheesemaker at a local winery near Herman, Missouri. She told me that she had started in her kitchen and had developed the hobby into a professional culinary skill, after further education in Europe and Israel on the fine art of cheesemaking. She enthusiastically recommended this book, and I received it for Christmas. It is very well written, with logical chapter layout for ingredients, equipment, and techniques, followed by lots of recipes for the different families of cheeses (hard, soft, Italian, etc.) The beginning establishes the cheese makers vocabulary, which is then used throughout the book. A great book for a beginning cheese maker.

Making Great Cheese At Home: 30 Simple Recipes From Cheddar to Chevre

Average customer rating:

Average
Beautiful and mmmmgoooodd
Light on.
Little Content
Very good

Making Great Cheese At Home: 30 Simple Recipes From Cheddar to Chevre
Barbara Ciletti
Manufacturer: Lark Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Cheese & Dairy | Cooking by Ingredient | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Delicious Cheeses
Making Artisan Cheese: Fifty Fine Cheeses That You Can Make in Your Own Kitchen (Quarry Book)
Making Cheese, Butter & Yogurt (Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin, a-283)
And That's How You Make Cheese!
American Farmstead Cheese: The Complete Guide To Making and Selling Artisan Cheeses

ASIN: 1579902677

Book Description

White Goat Cheddar, Danish Blue, Stilton, Holland Gouda. If you're confident in the kitchen and crave cheese, you can learn to make it at home. Each of these 30 recipes is rated by difficulty: Easy would be the soft French cheese, Fromage Blanc; Medium, due to the handwork, patience, and time, would be Stilton; and Difficult, for those who enjoy a challenge and love puttering about the kitchen, would be Camembert, because it takes about 9 hours to complete the processes. Each recipe alerts you to the amount of time involved, and how best to store your finished cheese. You're likely to own some of the supplies and equipment required, and the recipe will alert you when a cheese requires specific products or molds, all of which are easily obtainable. So what could be better than impressing your dinner guests with homemade Feta with pita chips, or that Feta Spinach Olive Pie recipe that incorporates it!

Customer Reviews:

Average.......2007-07-02

Would give it 3 1/2 stars if I could. It's fine, but nothing special. Very, very simplistic descriptions and directions. You'd be able to get most of the recipes and the level of descriptions by googling, for example, "how to make mozzarella" or something. The reason I bought it was because I really wanted a book on cheesemaking immediately, and couldn't wait for one of the better reviewed books to be delivered by Amazon, and this was the only one I could find in the bookstore. If you can wait, perhaps spring for one of the others. One thing it DOES have, however, is a recipe for gjetost cheese, a really delicious caramelly wonder from Norway. Not sure if the others would have that one.

Beautiful and mmmmgoooodd.......2006-07-02

I hate Ricki Carroll's book. So there.

And I did not come to this book as a virgin cheesemaker, so I don't know really how helpful it would be for a beginner but I think *anyone* could follow these instructions and make good and glorious cheeses.

If you are new to cheese, know that cheese is a forgiving thing, that there are always options, and that most of the time, the results are edible no matter what.

This book has been a great resource and an inspiration for me.

Light on........2005-01-30

I agree with the first reviewer, Andy, this book looks nice
but for information on home cheese making you can't go past
Ricki Carroll's book.

Little Content.......2005-01-07

The book is like one of those $5 cookbooks with lots of pictures and little content. If you'd like to learn how to make cheese consider Carroll's book.

Very good.......2003-09-10

This book shall get you started in home cheesemaking. It is well written it is clear and it has lots of beautiful pictures. It contains a little less info than the similar book authored by Carroll. Buy one or the other.

Cheese Making At Home (The Complete Illustrated Guide)

Average customer rating:

Cheese Making At Home (The Complete Illustrated Guide)
Don Radke
Manufacturer: Doubleday & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Veterinary Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Cookbooks | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Delicious Cheeses
Making Artisan Cheese: Fifty Fine Cheeses That You Can Make in Your Own Kitchen (Quarry Book)

ASIN: 0385018878

Average customer rating:

Cheese Making at Home -
Don Radke -
Manufacturer: Doubleday Publishing -
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P0WYTA

EVERY- DAY HELPS Comprising THE HOUSEWIVE'S GUIDE, DIAMOND COOK BOOK, HANDBOOK FOR THE NURSERY, RENOVATING AND RENEWING, HOME DYEING, FAMILY DAIRYING, DOMESTIC CHEESE MAKING

Average customer rating:

EVERY- DAY HELPS Comprising THE HOUSEWIVE'S GUIDE, DIAMOND COOK BOOK, HANDBOOK FOR THE NURSERY, RENOVATING AND RENEWING, HOME DYEING, FAMILY DAIRYING, DOMESTIC CHEESE MAKING

Manufacturer: Wells Richardson & Co,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I8C016

Making American cheese on the farm for home consumption (Farmers' bulletin / United States Department of Agriculture)

Average customer rating:

Making American cheese on the farm for home consumption (Farmers' bulletin / United States Department of Agriculture)
H. L Wilson
Manufacturer: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00089DS0C

Making and using cottage cheese in the home (Farmers' bulletin / United States Department of Agriculture)

Average customer rating:

Making and using cottage cheese in the home (Farmers' bulletin / United States Department of Agriculture)
K. J Matheson
Manufacturer: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Small Homes & Cottages | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B00089DZPU

Average customer rating:

Making Cheeses at Home
Susan Ogilvy
Manufacturer: Crown Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Veterinary Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0517526352
Release Date: 1988-12-12

Making Cheeses, Butters, Cream and Yogurt at Home (Self-sufficient living)

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Making Cheeses, Butters, Cream and Yogurt at Home (Self-sufficient living)
Patricia Cleveland-Peck
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Family Health | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Veterinary Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0722505973

Homestead hints and recipes from Paraguay. (includes a recipe for making a corn bread with homemade cheese): An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal

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Homestead hints and recipes from Paraguay. (includes a recipe for making a corn bread with homemade cheese): An article from: Countryside & Small Stock Journal
Scott Miller , and Kathy Miller
Manufacturer: Countryside Publications Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Countryside & Small Stock Journal, published by Countryside Publications Ltd. on March 1, 1997. The length of the article is 991 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.

From the supplier: An American homesteading with his family in Paraguay for the past six and one half years relates some of the activities on their 40 acre farm. They sell much of their produce to a nearby town of 2,000 citizens. The cheese made at the farm is also an ingredient in a corn bread.

Citation Details
Title: Homestead hints and recipes from Paraguay. (includes a recipe for making a corn bread with homemade cheese)
Author: Scott Miller
Publication: Countryside & Small Stock Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 1997
Publisher: Countryside Publications Ltd.
Volume: v81 Issue: n2 Page: p18(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Future Climates of the World: A Modelling Perspective is Volume 16 of the highly prestigious series of climatology reference books World Survey of Climatology.

The present volume offers a state-of-the-art overview of our understanding of future climates and is aimed at climatology undergraduates, interested non-climatologists with a scientific background as well as the generally interested reader. Each topic is discussed clearly so that the full implications of its affect on the earth's future climate can be fully understood.

The study of climate has moved from data collection ``climatology'' to the model and experimentally based predictions of ``climatic science''. Our understanding of climatic prediction depends crucially upon improvements in, and improved understanding of, climatic models.

The book compises four main themes which follow an introductory chapter i.e. the geologic perspective (I) and present-day observations (II) as they pertain to future climates; human factors affecting future climates (III) and planetary geophysiology and future climates (IV).

Future Climates of the World: A Modelling Perspective (World Survey of Climatology)
Average customer rating:
Future Climates of the World: A Modelling Perspective (World Survey of Climatology)
A. Henderson-Sellers
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUCAUG

Book Description

As laboratories replace heavy hydraulic presses and bulky high-pressure chambers with miniature diamond anvils, traditional heaters with laser heating, and continue to improve methods of shock compression, there has been considerable new data obtained from the high-pressure, high-temperature modification of pure elements. The dense metallic modification of elements shows the potential for achieving superconductivity akin to theoretical predictions. Phase Transformations of Elements Under High Pressure contains the latest theoretical and experimental information on nearly 100 elements, including first-and second-phase transitions, melting lines, crystal structures of stable and metastable phases, stability of polymorphic modifications, and other useful properties and data. It emphasizes features such as changes in the liquid state, amorphization, and metallization, and provides temperature-pressure diagrams for every element. The book also describes the transitions of polymeric forms of fullerene, crystal modifications of elements stable under high pressures, and provides data that confirms their superconducting and magnetic properties. This handbook will be a lasting reference for scientists in a broad range of disciplines, including solid-state physics, chemistry, crystallography, mineralogy, and materials science.

Book Description

Stockbroker Jay Jarvis just moved east. His dating life's gone south. What else is a guy to do but go fishing? ''This is one book you don't want to miss!''--Crossings Book Club. ''Blackston's light and breezy style makes Flabbergasted an ideal reading choice for a lazy summer night.''--Bookpage. ''Blackston's first novel is refreshingly honest . . . Good writing and an ample dose of humor make this as charming as Bridget Jones' Diary from the male point of view. Highly recommended.''--Library Journal. ''A fun, lighthearted and thoroughly enjoyable 'relational gumbo' of a novel . . . quirky and very satisfying, this novel is an excellent debut.''--CCM Magazine.

Customer Reviews:

Lime green romp.......2007-05-06

I am so glad I heard about this writer, and bought this book. Yes, he has a humorous touch, and provides lots of laughs as he covers the singles dating scene in church groups. It is kind of a chick lit book written from a guy's point of view - I call it dude lit. Fun parts: the lime green cadillac convertible named Sherbet and piloted by the 80 mph Darcy, the singles get-togethers at churches scenes, Jay's emails to a distant jungle, some spiritual growth occurring in Jay, the narrator: a fun romp. I bought the next two (Delirious Summer and Lost in Rooville, hello Australia) and look forward to finding out more about this quirky crew.

Fun to read...My laughing made my daughter want to read it!.......2007-04-22

Oh my goodness. This is such a great book! I love it.

It has become a favorite of my daughter and ALL of her friends. They have passed it around their circle for years. It's great weekend "get-away" from chemistry, geometry and world history!

Really funny story of a guy who decides to go to church because he thinks it will be a great place to meet girls. (Hey, whatever works...hehehe) He gets involved in a singles ministry and becomes interested in a girl, but she has a different agenda.
Buy this!

She drove her Caddy to the levy & the levy was Lime.......2006-06-11

Recently-moved, recently-dumped, pretty-much-always Agnostic Stockbroker Dude braves uncharted Christian Singles dating scene waters & discovers an unusual fish: Christian Missionary Chick 2 Ecuador.

Wish I had read these reviews first..........2006-05-11

I picked up the book at a discount bookstore, but sure wish I had read these reviews first. The novel starts off pretty well, but loses steam as fast as it picks up its Christian-focused message. It's as if the author changed his plot mid-story from a summer fun fantasy story to a personal spiritual exploration. Perhaps the two could have blended better to create a more compelling story, but the end result lost me as a reader.

FUN IN THE SUN!!!.......2006-03-20

The cover with it's lime-sherbet green caddie and beachball is what caught my eye! The fun story, witty & smart, kept me page-turning! I think the review from the Dallas Morning News, sums it up: "Amazing. A novel with no illicit sex, bad words, racial slurs, or crime that is simultaneously serious, hilarious, and impossible to put down." I highly recommend this book!

Average customer rating:

Family Finances for the Flabbergasted
Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard
Manufacturer: Deseret Book Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Public Finance | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0875798950

Average customer rating:

Flabbergasted
Ray Blackston
Manufacturer: BAKER BOOK + HOUSE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SICAZC

Flabbergasted / A Delirious Summer / Lost in Rooville - 3 Book Set

Average customer rating:

Flabbergasted / A Delirious Summer / Lost in Rooville - 3 Book Set
Ray blackston
Manufacturer: Revell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Product Description

FLABBERGASTED ... will tickle your literary taste buds with a relational gumbo of quirky characters, stirred by the irreverent but sincere Jay Jarvis. Jay is new in town, young and successful, and not afraid to plop down in a pew to scopeå out the females. What he finds is a lovely-yet-unusual missionary named Allie, who has a warped sense of humor and a wicked throwing arm. She and a zany assortment of friends turn Jays perceptions of life upside down, launching events that leave him and those around him thoroughly Flabbergasted. By the way, when relational gumbo is on the menu, a South Carolina beach makes for great mood lighting. A DELIRIOUS SUMMER Would you travel thousands of miles just to get a date? Jay's buddy Neil is tempted. After leaving his South American language school for a furlough in South Carolina, he steps off the plane to find just what he'd been warned of--Southern girls traveling at blazing speeds through the intersection of Faith and Impatience. Featuring some of the unpredictable females from Flabbergasted such as Darcy, Allie, and Crazy Alexis. LOST IN ROOVILLE Australia + Woman + Ring = ? Jay Jarvis is pondering commitment. But his math is getting complicated. Can he survive a trip from the beach to the Outback with his cluster of crazy friends? Or will the allure of a wild roo-chase spoil his perfectly-calculated plans?

Average customer rating:

Pulls you in....
Among the best in alternative literature
A punk rawking good time

The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus
Wred Fright
Manufacturer: ULA Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1892590476
Release Date: 2006-11-21

Product Description

Here's the first novel from ULA PRESS, the publishing arm of the world's most exciting literary activist group (see LiteraryRevolution.com for more info). It was first published as seven issues of a very popular zeen. So it has already proven its mettle! The PFE is a comedic novel about a garage rock band in a college town. It's told from the point of view of the band members who are all housemates. So it's a house novel, too. But unlike most rock and roll novels---which tell the story of a band rising to stardom---Emus is the story of a local band that never makes it big but rocks on anyway. The author is a longtime garage rocker himself. Possibly because of this the book has an interesting layout. It's set up in a musical way. Each chapter title has an A-side/B-side and a lead-in. The 4 main bandmembers/housemates then each tell a story which is labeled as an intro, verse, or chorus. There's a coda to wrap things up. A new person in the chapter gets to do a middle eight. But that's not all: each of the main housemate/voices gets his own typeface which sets his story apart. The bandmates live their own lives but who ever sees similar events in the same way? As is the rule with ULA PRESS projects, the PFE is more realistic, fresher, bolder---and thus funnier---than somewhat related work by big publishers. It's also bawdier and perhaps rougher, as if a real person wrote it instead of a committee buffed by profs and backed up by lawyers. ULA PRESS offers vital lit again for a change.

Customer Reviews:

Pulls you in...........2007-04-26

I really enjoyed this book, especially as someone who played in a band in college. I don't know if the book just happened to parallel my experiences or if it's kind of archetypal (I would guess the latter). The characters are quite memorable, especially Funnybear, the drummer, who seems to be in a kind of continual primal haze (while at the same time coming across as strangely wise and erudite). And, while the book doesn't exactly have a linear plot--it's a bit like Dickens' PICKWICK PAPERS or a weekly TV series--the complications are entertaining, perhaps a bit more so than for the average band. That said, without giving anything away, the ending is completely typical for the average college band, no matter how good they might be.

Like most good books, PFE takes a little while to establish its voice, characters, and milieu. But it's very funny and absorbing once you get into it.

Among the best in alternative literature.......2007-03-10

This review was also written by Leopold McGinnis, but is much more detailed than the review published.

Published courtesy of the Outsider Writers book review blog.

A victory for literature that does not take itself so seriously.

The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus is a great book. And it's great without ever making any pretensions about being great. And that's what makes it great. Got it?

It's not the concept, but the execution that makes the Emus (and no I won't be spelling that out in full again) such a good novel. In fact, you could argue that a book about a band has been done before. About a million, bajillion times. It's even been done well in some rare cases - Hard Core Logo being a good example. But the charm of PFE is not staked in its concept, but in what has to say and how it says it.

In a world increasingly full of pompous, masturbatory, navel-gazing BORING books, The Pornographic Flabberghasted Emus is a rare and much needed breath of fresh air. So few band novels manage to grab the energy of actually being in or seeing a band, but PFE reads like a punk show put on in some suburbanite's basement while the parents are away. It's something you just can't find but in an underground novel.

The plot of PFE is refreshingly non-complex. In fact, it doesn't have so much a plot as a premise: the novel is about a group of zany housemates-cum-garageband who never come close to `making it' but rock on anyway. And rock on they do, through a series of housemate/band related events, all of which are often too bizarre to be NOT true... Emus reads like a series of episodes, which makes sense as the book, in its original incarnation, was published as a series of 7 zeen instalments.

There's not much point listing all these zany and humourous events here because there are a LOT of them. They fly out of the cupboards, drip down the stares and blare through the doorways. There's so many crazy, different and overlapping situations going on in the book, reading it is almost like running a gauntlet of chaos-induced fun. What one feels being part of the Pornographic Flabberghasted Emus might just be like.

I won't leave you totally hanging, though. Some of the situations you can expect to enjoy in PFE are as follows: an episode of band-poster rivalry resolved through stapler-based violence; a housemate who is a witch and curses the band member's girlfriend prospects, a safari-outfitted ethnomusicologist studying the band for his degree, lesbian groupies, a man wheeling a giant fridge from the suburbs into downtown so he can get his damage-deposit back, sound violations of various degrees and the usual sex, drinks and rock and roll.

It should be mentioned again, though, that the enjoyment of emus is not just in what happens (and a LOT happens as, according to the author, this is largely a collection of several years wroth of real-life band stories crammed into one year and one house), but in the characters and how they tell their stories.

The band is made up of 4 members who each take quick turns narrating the book from their point of view. George Jah, Theodorable, Alexander Depot and Funnybear. Chapters are divided up as one might divide up a song (with an intro, several verses, a chorus and a coda) and on top of this, several bit characters get a quick `Middle Eight' in the middle of each chapter, offering funny (and rhyming!) insight into aspects of the story outside the main characters' viewpoints. The splitting of the narration up into four people really helps drive the story. Due to the episodic and loosely-plotted structure of the novel, the multiple narrators really helps keep interest in the piece, and provides a lot of nice tension to keep the book moving.

I'm sure the book was written to be just fun, but it would be a mistake to take it that lightly. In between all the rampant tom-foolery and chaos the characters offer up a number of clever, insightful and original views on the world. More than once I found myself pausing in the middle of yet another example of band-debauchery to ponder aspects of feminism, capitalism, homosexuality, pornography, world politics, before being pulled right back into rocking out and having fun. This aspect of the novel gives the book a great realness. Just as one might expect in real life, most people are rather intelligent and insightful in their own ways - but 95% of the time they aren't.

I'm a very critical person and I think the thing that made me most realize that this was a great book was that I couldn't think of anything really bad to say about it. At worst, the serialized nature of the book takes away from the `building tension' you expect from a novel. There's no real climax, or mystery as to where all this is leading. But considering that momentum is the biggest trouble with novels about `nothing', PFE did an amazingly great job of keeping my interest. And that doesn't mean it doesn't have a climax, or, most importantly of all, a satisfying ending. Because Emus does.

Overall the message of Emus is of fun and tolerance. And that, if entertainment isn't enough for you, alone is a great reason to read a fun book. Highly recommended.

A punk rawking good time.......2007-02-14

If you could turn a rocking garage band into a book, this would be that book.

The Pornographic Flabberghasted Emus follows a bunch of college roommates cum garage band that never even come close to making it. While there is no solid plot, the book moves to a heavy beat anyway. The characters are fun and diverse, the situations are bizarre and strangely real. In my opinion the Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus accomplished what serious literature all too often fails to do these days - be entertaining and intellectual.

The novel is fun and unpretentious. Hell, throw in daring as well. In between all the crazy characters and situations PFE pontificates on everything from porn, to ethnomusicology, from partying to feminism. And most of all, I walked away satisfied.

As an underground novelist, I review a lot of books. Some are good, some are bad, but I'd easily put PFE in my top 5.

(Note: This review represents my honest opinion, but I am a member of the Underground Literary Alliance, which the author of this book is also, so the reader might want to take that into consideration when judging this review.)

La hormiga atónita. ( sobrenombre dado a Carlos Salinas de Gortari, el expresidente de México)(TT: The flabbergasted ant) (TA: nickname given to Carlos ... of Mexico): An article from: Proceso

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La hormiga atónita. ( sobrenombre dado a Carlos Salinas de Gortari, el expresidente de México)(TT: The flabbergasted ant) (TA: nickname given to Carlos ... of Mexico): An article from: Proceso
Froylán M. López Narváez
Manufacturer: CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00096QD6A
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Proceso, published by CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V. on December 1, 1996. The length of the article is 656 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: La hormiga atónita. ( sobrenombre dado a Carlos Salinas de Gortari, el expresidente de México)(TT: The flabbergasted ant) (TA: nickname given to Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the former president of Mexico)
Author: Froylán M. López Narváez
Publication: Proceso (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 1996
Publisher: CISA Comunicacion e Informacion, S.A. de C.V.
Issue: n1048 Page: p29(1)

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