Blogosphere: Best of Blogs

Book Description

You probably have your favorite blogs to visit each day, but there are countless other blogs that you could never find on your own and that could potentially be added to the top of your favorites! Blogosphere: Best of Blogs is a collection of the blogs you’ve heard about and the ones still waiting to be discovered. Organized into sections based on interests and moods, you’ll find a listing of the best blogs out there, along with the reasons why they’ve made the list. Complete with searching tips and strategies, Blogosphere will help you find the greatest voices in the blogging universe.

Download Description

You probably have your favorite blogs to visit each day, but there are countless other blogs that you could never find on your own and that could potentially be added to the top of your favorites! Blogosphere: Best of Blogs is a collection of the blogs you've heard about and the ones still waiting to be discovered. Organized into sections based on interests and moods, you'll find a listing of the best blogs out there, along with the reasons why they've made the list. Complete with searching tips and strategies, Blogosphere will help you find the greatest voices in the blogging universe.

Customer Reviews:

Best of Blogs..........2006-04-12

Product Rating: 4.0

Pros: "Provides comprehensive links to a decent cross-section of blogs I had yet to discover..."

Cons: "Parenting blogs? Not interested. `Geek chic' topics like science, and technology would've been more appealing?"

The Bottom Line: Somehow Buzzflash.com became Bussflash.com in the index! Not enough thumbnail screenshots either.

Best of Blogs is a guide to blogging penned by Adrienne Crew and Peter Kuhns; Adrienne is a licensing professional and is the co-editor of LAist.com (a group blog from Los Angeles), while Peter is a published computer book author and publishing consultant. Their observations are well-matched, and both praise the valuable input received from friends while compiling this book.

Everyone should enjoy this quirky guide. The book is divided into three unequal sections (30 pages, 226 pages, 64 pages). Part 1 is succinctly on-target; Crew defines blogs, Kuhns offers a history of the format, and together both explain how blogs are rearranging mainstream media. They also teach you how to find blogs on the internet with specialized search engines.

Search engines devoted to blogging that Crew and Kuhns mention are: Bloglines, Blogpulse, Feedster, PubSub and Technorati. One other tool for finding blogs (that's not mentioned in Part I) is Ice Rocket, recently unveiled by Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban. Mark had the good fortune to unload Broadcast.com for a billion dollars before the tech bubble burst in the nineties.

The blogosphere -- as explained by Crew and Kuhns -- is an example of Grass Roots Communication. Due to the "freedom" and "freeness" of blogs, the medium is a great social leveler. Anybody with access to a computer can use a blog to organize a movement, or communicate with an international readership, for little or even no cost at all.

Of course, Part II excels at delivering a vast set of blog listings that fall into very specific niches of male/female interest. Running 5 recommendations per page (on average), Crew and Kuhns delve into a wide latitude of blogs that cover fields as disparate as Blogs of Seven Continents, Current Events, Entertainment, Environment, Hobby, Parenting, Politics, and Pushing Blog Boundaries.

For the many suggestions, let me thank you Adrienne and Peter. I've been an internet user since 1990 and although I've browsed a majority of sites that you've endorsed, I haven't heard of a quarter of these. Nevertheless, I think you miscalculated by concentrating on Parenting & Sports for 46 pages, when focusing on Science & Technology blogs would've sufficed.

Believe me, I admire Baseball Crank and Braves Journal, and I'm positive that all US men have ogled that Anna Kournikova website multiple times, but did you really have to stoop so low as to recommend blogs about Cricket, Indy Racing and Soccer? Well -- I guess there's an upside -- at least you didn't shill for punk Golf sites!

Let's be honest. There aren't any women picking up Best of Blogs for "parenting tips," or cooing about "baby blogs." Are there? I know women absolutely love that hearts and flowers cruft, but does it belong in your blogging book? Perhaps you should examine what really happens on the blog boards (corporate and government censorship, rampant flaming) and proffer a simple scorecard for handling such issues?

On the off chance I'm wrong about Parenting & Sports being improper hooks for the Best of Blogs demographic, I apologize. But generally speaking, I think anybody that picks up this book is looking for something far geekier. They're probably looking for blogs about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Concept Cars, Dinosaurs, Electron Microscopes, Journalism, Mars, Ribosomes, Robots, Singapore or UAVs.

Good as Best of Blogs is, I think the Kuhns Crew could've pumped up Part III with more gusto. That mediocre section delves into how to build a blog, and it covers boring topics like how to attract readers, create a blogroll, design your pages, manage your comments, name your blog and snoop on your readers using sixteen helpful tools.

Summing up, I think Adrienne and Peter did a respectable job with what they were trying to accomplish in Best of Blogs. The reason I picked this book up was because I got tired of surfing the same websites; I did manage to find several new favorites, and other items I'll be try out next time I'm on the computer.

The Book:
Best of Blogs,
Que

ISBN:
0-7897-3526-1

Pages:
320 Pages

Rating:
4 Stars

Visit the Official Websites:
www.blogsbestof.com
www.quepublishing.com
www.pearsoned.com

Keywords:
Austinist, Biz Stone, Chicagoist, Dooce, EFF, Feedster, Gizmodo, Hurricane Katrina, Intermediate, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Lifehacker, MySpace, New York Social Diary, Onion Routers, PubSub, RSS, Search Engines, Typepad, URL Fan, Valleywag, Weblogs, Xanga, Yahoo!

Loads of fun and packed with info.......2006-02-11

This little book covers how to blog and who's blogging in a compelling and entertaining style. Although I spend plenty of time surfing blogs, I was delighted to find new topics that hadn't occurred to me, like food and beverages blogs and crafts. The technical details are accessible and clear and the lists are lovely tip-of-the-iceberg tastes of what is out there. Whether you're new to blogging or an old hand, this book is a packed with fun.

find the most popular blogs.......2006-02-05

Some tens of thousands of new blogs are estimated to come online each day. So where should you start reading? One answer is offered by this quick guide. The authors are experienced bloggers who have surveyed a gamut of blog topics. From entertainment to hobbies to politics and beyond.

In any given area, the suggested blogs in the book are of course only a tiny sampling. Albeit these are usually the most frequented blogs. Take popular music. For news on it, only 4 blogs are given. But the authors readily concede that much more could be done. An entire book's worth on each topic. Still and hopefully, this book will suffice to get you oriented in the blogosphere.

Book Description

Like some others who have written on the subject of campaign and party finance, I believe that information about policies and practices regarding public financing abroad can help Americans develop their own ideas about reform possibilities. This book should encourage readers to become more attentive to alternatives to American practices and to think about changes that would be both desirable and feasible. In reading about “political finance” in other countries, however, it is important to realize that this term takes on different meanings in different countries. In North America it really means campaign and candidate finance, while in Europe it is more likely to mean party finance. This is a reflection both of the stronger political parties in Europe and the candidate orientation of American politics. These differences must not be ignored when one ponders the possibilities of transferring ideas and practices from one country to another.

Book Description

Stories on Stage is a collection of reader's theater scripts for young readers, adapted from stories by fifteen different authors, including Louis Sachar, Nancy Farmer, and Roald Dahl. Coming from such genres as humor, fantasy, and multicultural folktales, stories were selected for their dramatic quality, literary value, and appeal to young people. The scripts may be freely copied, shared, and performed for noncommercial purposes. With a focus on ages 8 to 15, the collection features a wide range of reading levels. The scripts in this collection are -- "Three Sideways Stories From Wayside School," by Louis Sachar -- "Mr. Twit's Revenge," by Roald Dahl -- "Millions of Cats," by Wanda Gag -- "Tapiwa's Uncle," by Nancy Farmer -- "How Tom Beat Captain Najork," by Russell Hoban -- "Harriet," by Florence Parry Heide -- "Mr. Bim's Bamboo," by Carol Farley -- "Talk," by Harold Courlander -- "The Jade Stone," by Caryn Yacowitz -- "The Bean Boy," by Monica Shannon -- "The Kid from the Commercial," by Stephen Manes -- "The Fools of Chelm," by Steve Sanfield -- "Mouse Woman and the Snails," by Christie Harris -- "Westwoods," by Eleanor Farjeon -- "The Legend of Lightning Larry," by Aaron Shepard.

Customer Reviews:

Theatre Teachers: This Is What You Need.......2006-11-10

This book is formatted so easily, it took me MUCH less time than I thought it would to prepare a unit on reader's theatre for my class. I used it for my high school theatre class so they wouldn't have to concentrate on large vocabularies, but rather to deliver the story in a simple, easy way. It was a HUGE success of a project and this book made it possible. It tells you how long each story is, what cast you'll need, and what reading level it is!! Yay!!!
The stories themselves are entertaining (even for high school!!!), compelling, and really fun to work with. I am SO grateful I ordered this!

A Great Resource.......2006-01-11

Aaron Shepard is a generous contributor to the field of Reader's Theatre. This book is no exception. It's well-laid out and chock-full of interesting scripts. I've recommended to several folks interested in RT.

Clear and Helpful.......2006-01-11

This book was written in clear language. It was helpful to me as a novice.

Farmer McPeepers and His Missing Milk Cows

Average customer rating:

Read Across America
Famer McPeeper's Missing Cows
Very Entertaining
Excellent Children's Book--Vivid Illustrations
Fun with Renegade Milk Cows!

Farmer McPeepers and His Missing Milk Cows
Katy S. Duffield
Manufacturer: Rising Moon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0873588258

Customer Reviews:

Read Across America.......2006-03-10

This cute story fits nicely with our Northern California Sonoma County Agricultural heritage. The errant cows cavort in the most un-cow like fashion that captivate the reader, much in the same fashion as the Click Clack Moo books. This book was selected by the California Teachers Association as the theme book for the 2006 Read Across America activities celebrating the birth of Dr. Seuss. The illustrator created special bookmarks, bookplates, posters and certificates for the occasion. They can be viewed at cta.org. Our union purchased copies for each of our k-5 school libraries. Got Books?

Famer McPeeper's Missing Cows.......2005-11-22

Farmer McPeeper and his Missing Cows

By: Karly Bellanger.

One morning farmer Mcpeeper's cows took his glasses. So he could not see the cows. The cows ran away, so Farmer McPeeper went looking for his cows. The cows go all over, like to a park. No matter where they went farmer McPeeper couldn't see them because he didn't have his glasses. The cows also went swimming, to a baseball game, and to the movies.
I like the book because I think the cows are funny. I didn't know that cows could skateboard. The book was silly to read.

Very Entertaining.......2005-07-22

We purchased this book because it was recommended reading over the summer for my child. What a delight! The illustrations of the 'missing cows' were terrific and quite amusing to my 7 year old. We got a kick out of the part about Thunderbolt, Mr. McPeepers horse.

Excellent Children's Book--Vivid Illustrations.......2004-09-04

This book caught my eye the first time I picked it up. The illustrations are the best I've seen, and my kids just adore it! On each page they look for the Farmer's missing glasses (one of the cows has them in each scene). It's like "Where's Waldo" only better! The story is engaging and the illustrations eye catching. You can't miss with buying this book.

Fun with Renegade Milk Cows!.......2004-02-03

There are few more appealing characters than milk cows who are up to no good! Farmer McPeepers, who leaves his glasses behind, cannot find his milk cows. From the moment the cows tip-toe away (on their hind legs) until the end, you will find plenty to amuse you on each page. And your child will LOVE finding the milk cows in all the hilarious illustrations. The comical cows are fishing, waiting in line at the movie theater, jumping rope, climbing monkey bars, etc.

The text and illustration complement each other beautifully. Kids will scream with delight.

Average customer rating:
Farmer and His Cows
Louise Lee Floethe
Manufacturer: MacMillan Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Agricultural Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0684123967

Average customer rating:
Farmer and His Cows
Louise Lee FLoethe
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HWF5VU

Average customer rating:
Farmer Enno and His Cow
Jens Rassmus
Manufacturer: Orchard Books (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0531300811

Average customer rating:
Champion of champions: the transformed lives of Allen Bassler and his supreme champion cow, Snickerdoodle.(Old Mill E Snickerdoodle): An article from: Dairy Today

Manufacturer: Farm Journal Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00096TZWE
Release Date: 2006-07-14

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Dairy Today, published by Farm Journal Media on August 1, 2004. The length of the article is 737 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: Champion of champions: the transformed lives of Allen Bassler and his supreme champion cow, Snickerdoodle.(Old Mill E Snickerdoodle)
Publication: Dairy Today (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2004
Publisher: Farm Journal Media
Volume: 20 Issue: 8 Page: 16

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

This text answers the need for a shorter, less expensive concepts- and relationships-oriented introductory nonmajors text. Packed with full color, this text iswritten with the same respected, clear, and straightforward writing style that has contributed to the success of Sylvia Mader's other biology texts.

Customer Reviews:

biology.......2001-11-28

I am a biology theacher. I thing it is good book. I hope to see its all pages

Book Description

The statigraphic record represents the history of processes and events that occurred at the surface of the earth. Presently, there are no textbooks on the market that integrate physical, chemical, and biological processes to predict stratigraphic patterns. Visher's authoritative Stratigraphic Systems fills this niche. It outlines the principle stratigraphic concepts for exploration of hydrocarvon accumulations, with more than 700 illustrations. Can be used as a primary textbook for an undergraduate course in stratigraphy and sedimentation.

* CD-ROM features expert systems software for identifying or verifying stratigraphic intervals
* Provides historical and paleogeographic context for observations
* Conveniently organizes stratigraphic systems into basinal frameworks
* Incorporates statistical probability analysis, yet is not mathematically demanding
* Stresses an analytical, rather than a descriptive, approach to predicting temporal and areal stratigraphic patterns
* Includes more than 700 figures and tables

Amazon.com

A quiet, unassuming postman develops an unexpected obsession in this quiet, unassuming--and very English--first novel from Michael Palin of Monty Python fame. Martin Sproale is the very model of a modern Walter Mitty. An assistant postmaster in the coastal town of Threston, he lives at home with his mother and rides his bicycle to work each day. It's a pleasant but uneventful sort of life, marked only by Martin's growing fascination with the life, works, and personal style of Ernest Hemingway. "Tea-drinkers, mothers, post office administrators, would-be fiancées. Little people with little minds," Martin thinks. "When would they realise that only through confrontation with danger could life be lived to the full?" Martin has transformed his room into a kind of Hemingway shrine, complete with bullfighting poster, several first editions, the same kind of typewriter Papa used--even a vintage WWI Italian army first-aid cabinet filled with all the liquors he liked to drink.

Two things happen to shatter Martin's equilibrium. First, a new, corporate-style postal manager takes the job that by rights should have been his, promptly beginning a campaign of privatization and modernization that threatens all Martin holds dear. Second, an American woman outbids him on Hemingway memorabilia; a scholar, "not a fan," of the writer, Ruth Kohler lives in seclusion nearby while she works on a book about the women in Hemingway's life. Martin and Ruth engage in some increasingly heated role-playing as the conflict over Threston's post office comes to a slow boil. Deprived of his position, his cozy world crashing down around him, Martin finds himself acting more like the he-man writer than he ever thought possible. Palin's debut is in some ways a surprise: poignant rather than funny, skillfully paced and couched in workmanlike but hardly spectacular prose. Readers expecting Pythonesque absurdity might find themselves disappointed--but only at first; with patience, this book unfolds its more subtle pleasures with understated aplomb.

Book Description

Martin Sproale is an assistant postmaster obsessed with Ernest Hemingway. Martin lives in a small English village, where he studies his hero and putters about harmlessly--until an ambitious outsider, Nick Marshall, is appointed postmaster instead of Martin. Slick and self-assured, Nick steals Martin's girlfriend and decides to modernize the friendly local office by firing dedicated but elderly employees and privatizing the business. Suddenly, gentle Martin is faced with a choice: meedly accept defeat as he always has, or fight for what he believes in, as his hero, Hemingway, would.Filled with Michael Palin's trademark wit and good humor, this novel is for anyone who has ever dreamed of triumphing over the technocrats and backstabbers of the world. Hilarious, touching, and ultimately inspirational, Hemingway's Chair will make readers stand up and cheer.

Customer Reviews:

Clever & Compelling for Fans and Foes.......2007-07-16

Love him or hate him, Hemingway inspires strong reactions in readers. Author Palin cleverly manipulates that fact in this witty and well written tale of a mild-mannered, small town Hemingway devotee whom it seems couldn't have less in common with the dynamic literary icon...until fate and circumstance play their parts.

This will mainly appeal to Hemingway afficianadoes, but also to admirers of Palin's writings as well. His marvelous TV travel series and companion book about Hemingway's Adventures serve him well in this charming book and his own respect and passion for Papa is evident throughout.

unexpected pleasant surprise........2007-04-25

knowing palin only from his outstanding work with the pythons, i was
surprised how excellent of a novel this was read it in one day, just could not put this wonderful book down,

A wonderfully well crafted masterpiece........2007-03-13

I bought this book because I am a huge Monty Python fan, and Michael Palin is my favorite Python. Coming into the book I was surprised because I expected it to be more, I don't know... silly. But it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, it was brilliantly funny, and I easily fell in love with it.
This was one of those rare books that I could not put down. Palin does an excellent job of character development, where you really fall in love with and get to know the characters, (even the small characters, like the old man who frequents the post office every morning).
The plot is excellent, and the reader really gets involved and rejoices with the characters' triumphs and commiserates in their misfortunes.
I can't recommend this book any higher to anyone.

A Great Yarn!.......2006-11-27

I am, if nothing, a dyed-in-the-wool bookworm. I love books and must have one about me constantly. This book is one of my all-time favorites. Normally I juggle several books, but Michael Palin's "Hemingway's Chair" caused me to put aside all the others. The characters live and breathe! The town comes to life. Apparently not everyone had the same joyful experience, but I hated to let the characters go at the end. And I'm still hoping Palin will write the sequel!

A Farewell to Martin Sproale.......2006-07-09

Michael Palin is best known for his comic genius displayed in "Monty Python", and more recently for his travel documentaries. One might expect a novel from him to be laugh-out-loud funny, and certainly the premise for "Hemingway's Chair" seems to suggest that will be the case. But readers will be delightfully surprised to find the book is not fully comic, more poignant than funny, with vividly drawn characters in this iconic slice of small town English life.

Martin Sproale has lived his entire life in Theston, a small coastal town, and worked for the past sixteen years at the post office. Yet he has only ever really 'lived' when he is admiring his hero, Ernest Hemingway, in his bedroom shrine; for the author seems the very antithesis of Martin's shy persona and bumbling ways. He has no one to share this love with, not even Elaine, with whom he has enjoyed a safe relationship with for the past year, their future hopes pinned on his promotion to manager before the end of the year. But when the old post master retires, a drive to modernize and privatize the post office comes along and Martin finds himself pushed aside and his way of life is threatened by the impending new technological advances. His hesitancy and meek acceptance costs him much that he thought he held dear, but opens the door for Martin to discover who he really is.

"Hemingway's Chair" is a delightful, thoroughly 'English' read. Palin has created a cast of characters who are believable, and the storyline is original. The ending is a little rushed and too tidy, with some holes left open, but it is fun to watch Martin's transformation throughout the course of the novel. It also offers some interesting commentary on Hemingway and his writings (pro and con), but one doesn't have to be a fan of the man's writing to enjoy Martin's journey.

Average customer rating:

Hemingway S Chair Export/airports
Michael Palin
Manufacturer: Methuen Publishing Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0413694607

Average customer rating:

HEMINGWAYS CHAIR
PALIN
Manufacturer: MANDARIN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000S586GC

Hemingway's Chair. (book reviews): An article from: The Hemingway Review

Average customer rating:

Hemingway's Chair. (book reviews): An article from: The Hemingway Review
Thomas Hermann
Manufacturer: Ernest Hemingway Foundation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Hemingway Review, published by Ernest Hemingway Foundation on September 22, 1995. The length of the article is 5004 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: Hemingway's Chair. (book reviews)
Author: Thomas Hermann
Publication: The Hemingway Review (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1995
Publisher: Ernest Hemingway Foundation
Volume: v15 Issue: n1 Page: p114(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

Hemingway's Chair
Michael Palin
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTLMYK

Average customer rating:

Hemingway's Chair
Michael Palin
Manufacturer: Butterworth-Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OHAXYC

Average customer rating:

Hemingway's Chair 10" Display
Michael Palin
Manufacturer: Arrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0749354569

Average customer rating:

Hemingway's Chair 3d Shelf Talker
Michael Palin
Manufacturer: Arrow Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0749354461

Average customer rating:

Hemingway's Chair Display
Michael Palin
Manufacturer: Arrow Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0749354518

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