Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web

Book Description

All web sites have an architecture, whether you design one or not-just as every building has an architecture, from the lowly shanty by the railroad track to Chicago's tallest skyscraper. Unfortunately, most web sites are shanties, not skyscrapers. Companies that hastily threw up a web site in the dot-com boom days were visited by building inspector Jakob Neilsen, who told them their site should be condemned. But now we are entering a time of rebuilding, and we've got a chance to get it right.

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web introduces the core concepts of information architecture: organizing web site content so that it can be found, designing web site interaction so that it's pleasant to use, and creating an interface that is easy to understand. This book will help designers, project managers, programmers, and other information architecture practitioners avoid the costly mistakes of the past by teaching the skills of information architecture swiftly and clearly. Use this book and you will pass the usability inspection with flying colors!

Customer Reviews:

Are you just starting yours studies at IA now?.......2006-10-21

I have to ask you a question - "Are you just starting yours studies at IA now?". If yes, probably this book will help you. It's easy to read, small and fun. A really nice overview about IA and even usability. You could spend a lot of time reading the polar bear book, and I recommend that, but start reading this book is a nice idea too.

Unfortunely, if you have a little more experience on the subject, you won't get such surprising insights like the beginners readers. Christina has writen good things about the creation of personas and scenarios, one entire chapter, and that's all. Sometimes she mixes usability, IA and design in a strange way, losing focus. Even worst is how the book begin and over, very bad, with sad and ingenuous recommendations.

Simplifying... if you looks at a nice overview about IA, you'll enjoy reading this book. Otherwise, search for another book, more consistent, with more focus and better ideas, not only common.

A Good Overview of IA.......2006-05-16

I'm a web developer and have always been fascinated with the interaction of humans and web sites, and this book does an excellent job of explaining the subject in simple terms while addressing more complex issues, as well. I read this book back in 2003 when it was first published and, not being an information architect, was happy to find it spoke to my level of knowledge.

With chapter titles like "First Principles: Some rules of thumb, and some thumbing of the rules" and "Gurus and Rules: In which some people like to boss you around, when we know that's my job," the book entertains as it educates, and leaves you with a comrehensive set of steps & guidelines when designing a site from scratch or improving an existing one. Numerous case studies, screen shots and diagrams also break up the monotony of what could otherwise be a boring subject.

If you're new to IA or are looking to expand your knowledge of architecting user interfaces for the web, this book belongs on your bookshelf.

Good overview/introduction to IA.......2005-05-29

This book is a pretty quick read and a very good overview/introduction to the field of information architecture and HCI methods in general. Wodtke covers wireframes, content inventories, usability testing, interviewing users, heuristics, metadata, personas/scenarios, human memory, the concept of recall vs. recognition, and many other topics. After having a year of graduate coursework in HCI, I'm not sure I really learned anything new from this book but it was a really good refresher. Moreover, there's a diagramming chapter that is excellent. It included examples of some diagrams that I had never tried before and wasn't familiar with. Overall, I would highly recommend this book. It was fun and easy to read and very useful. For me, it will serve as a nice handy "all-in-one" reference guide.

insight into a true leader.......2004-07-05

this volume is an extremely valuable lesson from a true leader in the field. Wodtke provides insight into the thinking behind some of the most-used services on the Internet today.

It's worth taking the time to read a book like this.......2004-02-20

This book won't present shocking facts about IA but it puts in writing many things that come in handy when you have to work in this field. The author includes good examples and the book can be read from cover to cover without feeling overwhelmed. Overall, it's worth taking the time out to read a book like this.

Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness De Pontalba

Average customer rating:

an exhaustively researched work that remains easily readable
A Detailed Account of a Dynamic Woman
A Detailed Account of a Dynamic Woman
A fantastic read
A book in which 19th century New Orleans comes alive!

Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness De Pontalba
Christina Vella
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0807121444

Book Description

Against a richly woven historical background of two centuries and two vivid societies, Christina Vella unfolds the compelling story of the marital alliance between the Almonester and Pontalba families of Louisiana. Born into wealth in New Orleans in 1795, Micaela Almonester was married into misery in France sixteen years later. Intimate Enemies gives the amazing true account of this resilient woman's life—and the three men who most affected its course: her father, Andrés, an illustrious New Orleans builder in whose footsteps she eventually followed with great distinction; her father-in-law, Xavier, who for more than twenty years tried to destroy her marriage and seize control of her fortune, eventually shooting Micaela in violent despair; and her husband, Célestin, whom, despite all, she compassionately supported until her death. Adapted as an opera in 2003 by the New Orleans Opera, Intimate Enemies has captured the imagination and admiration of readers everywhere.

Customer Reviews:

an exhaustively researched work that remains easily readable.......2004-04-01

Vella brings to life with splendid detail the life in New Orleans and Paris in the 1800's. Vella is unquestionably a tireless scholar who has dedicated much time and passion into assimilating an astounding amount of archival materials to bring to life the realities and sensibilities of the different ranks of the aristocracies. Sophisticated, realpolitic, Machiavellian. A wonderful work and a great read. This is how history should be written (for non-academia). Well footnoted & bibliographed.

A Detailed Account of a Dynamic Woman.......2000-06-23

Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of the Baroness de Pontalba, by Christina Vella, is one of the best books that I have ever read. I took Professor Vella's class at Tulane University in the Spring of 2000. This book was the basis of the class. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in thorough documentation of facts about a dynamic woman and her family, as well as two great cities, New Orleans and Paris.

A Detailed Account of a Dynamic Woman.......2000-06-23

A fantastic read.......1999-10-19

This book has been recommended to me by a tour guide while I was paying New Orleans a short visit. I bought it together with Gwendolyn Midlo Hall's excellent "Africans in Louisiana", and, read one after another, starting with Hall, the books give a pretty cool picture of what New Orleans (and Louisiana, for the matter) were about during the 18th century. Although Gwendolyn Hall is by no means a bad writer (on the contrary), Christina Vella definitely is the more compelling read.

Her first few chapters rock, especially the ones about the old Almonester and his fights with the Cabildo, followed by the biography of the old Pontalba. Those are the best chapters of the entire book. Vella did a fantastic job with placing those characters in a broader historical setting. Beautifully written, she doesn't hesitate to give psychological explanations to those men's actions, and does so convincingly. Vella even allows herself to comment ironically on certain developments, or (dis)approve of the actions of her characters, which is pretty rare in modern historical scolarship. (Why?)

The scene then shifts from New Orleans to France, and the story becomes one of a superweird triangle relationship between Micael, Celestin, and Celestin's father, with a pretty dramatic ending. The broader historical perspective shifts accordingly, from the organization of a colonial society to a gender study of early 18th century France. What were the (im)possibilities of a unhappily married woman in this society? Micael, by her extraordinary personality, pushes the boundaries of the possible to the extreme.

The last few chapters of "Intimate enemies", where Christina Vella retraces the building activities of Micael in Paris and New Orleans, are the weakest. The organization of those chapters is sometimes sloppy and unfocused, and although much space is devoted to details regarding the architecture and construction of the Hotel Pontalba and the New Orleans buildings, one senses that Vella doesn't master these themes enough to present them to the reader in a comprehensive fashion. Also, the emphasis on the architecture unfortunately took away some of the focus from the biographical stuff, that in the later years doesn't get less interesting. After having given Micael's father a chapter, her sons would have deserved one as well, especially Celestin Jr. since he became quite an important public figure, but also the other two (How exactly did Micael's sons get in touch with their spouses? How did they relate to Micael after marriage? Why did Gaston remain single his whole life? Was he gay? etc.).

Notwithstanding, this book was a pleasant and thoughtprovoking journey. I'm recommending it to all my friends.

A book in which 19th century New Orleans comes alive!.......1999-04-20

Growing up in New Orleans, I was always familiar with the name Pontalba and the row apartments flanking Jackson Square that bore the name. Pontalba, Almanester, de la Ronde, Miro, Pere Antoine: these were names that every student in New Orleans schools learn. Yet, now I feel as if I know each of them on a personal basis, as if I have actually met them. In the process, I have come to know the city of New Orleans in th 19th century, the same city which I have always known and loved in the 20th. Christina Vella brings to life people who have been dead and gone for over a hundred years. Only through the meticulous research that she has done can these ghosts be brought back to life. Vella has done a superb job in this endeavor. With her vivid descriptions of the city in mind, you can walk through the French Quarter today and literally see the muddy, murky streets of the previous century. You can see the ships on the river carrying the young bride and bridegroom to France. You can see the beloved cathedral as it looked back then. Read Intimate Enemies to learn about the people Vella is describing, but read it also to learn about the city which was their home, about the country that became their nation. Vella has done exactly what every historian strives to do: to bring the past to life in such a way that it is understood and therefore clearly explains why things are the way they are today.

Average customer rating:

The World of Little House
One of the best Little House boks!
A great way of going back to my child time
Charming Book
Nice Companion to the Little House Series

The World of Little House
Carolyn Strom Collins , and Christina Wyss Eriksson
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060244224

Book Description

Step back in time and experience all the wonders of Laura and her pioneer life.At the heart of this book are chapters revolving around Laura's nine Little House books, each exploring in detail the stories, houses, landscapes, journeys, foods, activities, and crafts of her pioneer life. Meticulously researched, lovingly written and beautifully illustrated, The World of Little House is for anyone who has ever read and loved the Little House books.

Included in this glorious volume are
*floorplans of Laura's little houses
*a timeline showing events in Laura's life and the United States
*a biography illustrated with historic photographs
*a family tree showing four generations of the Ingalls and Wilder families
*a guide to all the Little House sites and museums
*a selected bibliography of books about Laura and Little House
*reproductions of Garth Williams' original covers
*over 150 full-color illustrations
*over 20 Little House recipes, crafts and activities
*embroidered satin ribbon marker

Customer Reviews:

The World of Little House .......2007-06-02

I bought this book for use in my classroom. I am an elementary school teacher. There is a thematic approach to teaching using the Little Huuse stuff. Reading, History, Report Writing, Social Sciemce, Art. and anything else you incorporate. This book is the best place to start planning.

One of the best Little House boks!.......2007-01-25

This book is a great buy for a fan of Little House On The Prairie books or the television show. It really gives you an idea how Laura and her family lived. There are great pictures of the really Laura and her family. The layouts of her homes is very interesting. And it has great things to try that were done in Laura's time. (I have not tried any of them, but kids would love them.) It really makes The life of The Ingalls clan clearer. Most of all you really learn about her world and how it changed in her time. Trust me... it is a must.

A great way of going back to my child time.......2004-08-19

I love all these book and this one is not exception

Charming Book.......2002-12-02

This charming book is a must for Little House addicts. The partial family tree is interesting (though did Grandpa Ingalls really give two of his children the same first name? That struck me as odd). The book contains lots of recipes and activities, and a nice summary of the Ingall's family travels.
A few minor caveats, however:
Except for a brief introduction and the timeline at the end, the book follows the LH books, NOT Laura's actual life. So it isn't all factually accurate.
WHile a few of the "Little Houses" still exist, most are long gone. So the author's floor plans are imaginary, and they don't always follow the descriptions in the books. (For example, when Pa added the bedrooms onto the claim shanty at the beginning of "Little Town on the Prairie", Laura describes it as "building the other half of the house," meaning, to my mind, that the rooms should have been side by side; the same size as the original shanty room. THe author here shows them as being one behind the other, and taking up only half the legnth of the shanty.)
The recipes, while interesting, seem less historically accurate than the ones in the "Little House Cookbook." (Almanzo's "Long Winter" pancakes probably wouldn't have had eggs in them.)
And there are a few other minor factual errors, both in relation to Laura's real life and to her life as portrayed in the books.

Still a very worthwhile purchase for anyone interested in the book series.

Nice Companion to the Little House Series.......2000-07-26

This is a nice companion book to the Little House series. The book is filled with diagrams of what the houses that Laura and her family lived in may have looked like, simple activities suitable for children, recipes for foods that are described in the Little House books, and other background information about the books and Laura's life. Each chapter revolves around one of the nine books in the Little House series and the book contains an introduction about Laura Ingalls Wilder. The back of the book contains a time line of different world events that were going on during Laura's lifetime. This is a nice book to read after you have read the Little House series.

Earthquake Games: Earthquakes and Volcanoes Explained by 32 Games and Experiments

Average customer rating:

Great book for kids learning about earthquakes and volcanoes

Earthquake Games: Earthquakes and Volcanoes Explained by 32 Games and Experiments
Matthys Levy , and Mario Salvadori
Manufacturer: Margaret K. McElderry
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0689813678

Customer Reviews:

Great book for kids learning about earthquakes and volcanoes.......2000-06-29

I am a librarian and I love giving kids this book to use for their experiments. The experiments explain volcanoes and earthquakes in a way that is easy for them to understand. As in all experiment books, some experiment need some adult help while others require household items. The only difficulty I had with this book was the listing of the objects needed to make the experiment. They are listed awkwardly and you need to read the list carefully. (if this kink was worked out, I would have given the book 5 stars! )

Chemo Girl: Saving the World One Treatment at a Time

Average customer rating:

Good, helpful, and smart
An Amazing Story From an Amazing Person
THE BEST BOOK EVER
A book that is inspirational to Humankind.

Chemo Girl: Saving the World One Treatment at a Time
CHRISTINA RICHMOND
Manufacturer: JONES & BARTLETT PUBLISHERS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0763703141

Book Description

Chemo Girl is the fictional tale of a superhero created by Christina Richmond, who was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of muscle cancer, when she was in the seventh grade. She was only 12 years old. During her many hospitalizations, she developed the concept of Chemo Girl to help her cope with the chemotherapy treatments. She wrote Chemo Girl, not only to help herself, but to help other children in similar situations. She saw Chemo Girl as an educational tool for children and adults, both healthy and ill. The idea was to teach a positive, non-threatening side of chemotherapy and to realize there's always hope.

Customer Reviews:

Good, helpful, and smart.......2004-04-14

Chemo-Girl is exactly what it sounds like -- it's a story that aims to help children who have been diagnosed with cancer. For a 12 year old, it is extremely well imagined and structured: this book makes chemotherapy understandable to children and, in the process, a good deal less scary. It also helps those siblings and friends surrounding a chemo patient understand the therapy without intimidating or frightening language. I would seriously recommend this book to parents and friends of children with cancer being treated with chemotherapy and the great patients themsleves . . . Anything that helps, folks, anything taht helps.

An Amazing Story From an Amazing Person.......1999-04-16

I didn't know Christina Richmond well when she was alive. I saw her occasionally at 1 thing or another, and she was always a great person. Her book is a reminder to those who ever knew her (even just a little bit, like me)and a guide, for those who never had the priveledgeto know what a special person she was. She had a srenght like nobody else, and was always positive. This book serves as a readable memorial to Chemo-girl, who is now an angel.

THE BEST BOOK EVER.......1998-08-23

Christina was not only a best friend to me but an inspiration. This book makes me so proud of her and i'm glad that we have this from her to allow her to live on through it. The book is about a super hero named Chemo Girl which simplifies the idea's and terminology of what treatments are like when you have cancer for a child or even an adult to understand in an entertaining way. Chemo Girl provides hope for all the readers no matter what the situation. Chemo Girl is a great book written truly from the heart of Christina (who also did all the drawings!) I think that everyone that reads should read and be touched by this book as much as I have !! Christina you saw your dream come true , now watch down on me and your mom as we make sure everyone else see's it too !!!!

A book that is inspirational to Humankind........1998-07-28

Chemo Girl is an inspirational book for children and adults. The postive outlook that Christina Portrays through her character, Chemo Girl, gives children hope when dealing with cancer. It helps to allay the fears, of death, that the word cancer implies. It shows that the physician and the medication, are tools to help deal with this life-threatening disease. The lanquage allows children to understand the medical terminology associated with cancer. Christina has captured a very difficult subject through her super-hero character, Chemo Girl, and showed that there is always hope.

Average customer rating:

Splendid photography

Pantanal: South America's Wetland Jewel
Russell A. Mittermeier , Monica Barcellos Harris , Christina G. Mittermeier , Jose Maria Cardosa Da Silva , Reinaldo Lourival , Gustavo A. B. Da Fonseca , and Peter Seligmann
Manufacturer: Firefly Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1554070902

Book Description

A spectacular tour of the world's largest wetland.

The Pantanal covers 81,000 square miles in the middle of South America, extending over parts of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.

About half the size of California and 20 times the size of the Everglades, the Pantanal flood plain is the largest wetland network on Earth.

Pantanal reveals the abundant wildlife and beauty of this remarkable eco-system, home to some of the most spectacular concentrations of flora and fauna on the planet.

The text explains the Pantanal's ecology, its people, plants and animals, presented in five chapters:

The Pantaneiro: People of the Pantanal
Wetlands
Grasslands
Forests of the Pantanal
Caiman: the comeback crocodile.

The book also examines the impact of deforestation, overfishing and overhunting in the Pantanal and the efforts by conservationists to protect this magnificent region for future generations.

Pantanal is a superbly photographed tour of one of the most memorable regions on the planet.

Customer Reviews:

Splendid photography.......2005-12-02

Pantanal - just one word that makes you itch to see for yourself the wonders of this magical wetland in the heart of Brazil! Dozens of caimans lurking in the current, mouths agape; a big jaguar comes stalking through the understory at the shoreline; giant otters appear out of thin air right next to the boat; a tapir crosses the lagoon in marvelous light; a group of hyacinth macaws gathers on a fence of a fazenda, and in the savanna a young giant anteater clings cutely to his mother's fur - wildlife photographers' dreams, subjects everyone exploring the Pantanal with a camera longs for.
Theo Allofs got all these images - thanks to his patience, photographic excellence and his cooperation with Conservation International (CI), opening doors to subjects of some of the most beautiful farms in the area.
Large pictures, great colors and fine printing - impressive, even at a first glance. A closer look reveals that among some 150 pictures there is no weak or even mediocre one! A photographic gourmet-piece and yet, even more: the publisher and the CI writers found an elegant and well balanced way of presenting pictures and heaps of information on such a vast region, its human inhabitants and breathtaking biodiversity. A fine example of a cooperation between nature conservation and nature photography!

Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945-1961

Average customer rating:

New Understanding Of East and West During the Cold War
The Cold War Was Much More Than Containment and McCarthyism

Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945-1961
Christina Klein
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520232305

Book Description

In the years following World War II, American writers and artists produced a steady stream of popular stories about Americans living, working, and traveling in Asia and the Pacific. Meanwhile the U.S., competing with the Soviet Union for global power, extended its reach into Asia to an unprecedented degree. This book reveals that these trends--the proliferation of Orientalist culture and the expansion of U.S. power--were linked in complex and surprising ways. While most cultural historians of the Cold War have focused on the culture of containment, Christina Klein reads the postwar period as one of international economic and political integration--a distinct chapter in the process of U.S.-led globalization.
Through her analysis of a wide range of texts and cultural phenomena--including Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific and The King and I, James Michener's travel essays and novel Hawaii, and Eisenhower's People-to-People Program--Klein shows how U.S. policy makers, together with middlebrow artists, writers, and intellectuals, created a culture of global integration that represented the growth of U.S. power in Asia as the forging of emotionally satisfying bonds between Americans and Asians. Her book enlarges Edward Said's notion of Orientalism in order to bring to light a cultural narrative about both domestic and international integration that still resonates today.

Customer Reviews:

New Understanding Of East and West During the Cold War.......2007-06-08

Edward W. Said convincingly argued in his 1979 masterpiece, Orientalism that the West (mainly America) traditionally had a rather monolithic view of the East. This perception, according to Said, was based more on fantasy than in fact - and that the West saw the East in terms of the `other.' MIT Literary Professor Christina Klein re-visits Said's conclusions in Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945-1961. In this work, she successfully argues that "while many American representations fit comfortably with Said's model of Orientalism, many post-war representations of noncommunist Asia do not, although they do not contradict it entirely"
(p.11).

Essentially, Klein illustrates that various cultural mediums in post-WWII America actively engage Asian topics to bridge the cultural divide between East and West. In her powerful and well written work, Klein masterfully explains "the relationship between the expansion of U.S. power into Asia between 1945 and 1961 and the simultaneous proliferation of popular American representations of Asia" (p. 5).

There are numerous examples cited in this work that provide evidence to support her main claim that America and the Orient (the East) "could learn to understand each other" (p. 200.). For instance, she brilliantly illustrates that America reached out to post-WWII Asia through films such as The King and I and The Bridges of Toko-Ri; and through magazines such as the Readers Digest and Saturday Review. These cultural mediums, asserted Klein, educated America about Asian topics - and advanced the American Cold War interest of "economic globalization" (p. 268).

Although Klein wisely stops her study in 1961, her conclusion draws parallels between recent U.S.-Asia relations and those of post-WWII such as the revival of the King and I in 1996 and a 1991 speech by Dole Foods CEO who "praised Asian Americans as a National Resource" (p. 269).

A cursory query of reviews for Klein's work resulted in an abundance of praise and admiration for her scholarship. Klein, noted one reviewer, "is not content to simplify the complexity of the time period in order to schematize things too neatly. Rather, she seeks to dig into the richness of America's expectations for Asia, including the countervailing currents within that relationship" (review by Jespersen T. Christopher). The blend and overall comparisons between cultural mediums provides the reader with a rich and compelling story.

The passages, scholarship, anecdotes, and readability of this work are impressive. But the real value of this work is that it advances a new understanding of the East and West during the Cold War - where the former educates the latter in a mutually beneficial platform. In this reviewer's opinion, there are no obvious weaknesses to this work, nor are there any harsh criticisms from other reviewers about Klein's overall thesis. This is an important work for students of the Cold War and expands nicely on Said's research on Orientalism.

The Cold War Was Much More Than Containment and McCarthyism.......2006-04-03

Christina Klein contends that the paradigm of the Truman Doctrine can not offer a complete understanding of Cold War American culture or policy. She juxtaposes its policy of global communist containment with a 1957 speech by American diplomat Francis Wilcox that harped the need to educate Americans about the world beyond the national boundaries. This contrasts what the author terms the "global imaginary of containment" with the "global imaginary of integration." Both of these are educational projects. The first teaches the global politic as a heroic crusade against communism, the latter teaches it as a sentimental connection with the cultures of non-Americans. While acknowledging the abundance of quality scholarship that investigates the former project, Klein positions Cold War Orientalism as an investigation of the policy of Cold War internationalism and its related trope of "sentimental education." In doing so, she aims to dichotomize the discourse of history by proving that integration of the capitalist world went hand-in-hand with Soviet containment.

Klein begins by documenting the Federal policy initiatives that promoted cold war internationalism in the American populace, like the United States Information Agency's people-to-people program. These initiatives rose in the wake of McCarthyism because the Truman Doctrine had a basic rhetorical disadvantage when promoted to the American public. As shown in her analysis of National Security Council directives, a foreign policy of communist containment has the public relations problem of being defined by that which it opposes. The integration of "free" people and commodities becomes the necessary positive to imbue the ideology of containment with original purpose.

The author then considers how "middlebrow intellectuals"-the author's term for the editors of mass periodicals like Reader's Digest, claimed Cold War internationalism as a public pedagogy and instructed readers about the American commitment to cultural difference. The text importantly contends that "middlebrow"-an adjective and Klein's subtitular term-has roots in cultural populism of the 1920s. It functionally describes a process of repackaging diverse culture for mass consumption. This "offered [upwardly mobile immigrant] consumers the cultural capital that would make them feel more secure in their new class identity (Klein 64)." It also appropriates the cultural inadequacy that permeated the Untied State's post-WWI uneasiness with the global mantle. It translates this inadequacy into a call for individuals to claim the authority of widely informed knowledge. Finally, Klein contends that the "middlebrow imagination" conflated education with enjoyment and moral purpose, ironically couching human difference in the trappings of soothing universalism. To show the connection between Cold War Internationalism as public policy and middlebrow cultural project, the author compares novelized travel accounts (like James Michiner's The Voice of Asia) to policy documents like NSC-48. Both envision an Asian communism that is rabidly expansionist and interstitial states that teeter on the verge of being "lost" or safely preserved in the bloc of the free world through cultural understanding (Klein 126).

While Klein's scholarship is original, taking policies that have been discretely engaged by multiple works and disciplines (like, for example, the propaganda policy considerations of Jacques Ellul), her lexicon of sentimental internationalism also offers a fresh critique of liberalism. It remains an unfinished project to extend this exciting paradigm into wider considerations of American conflict and axes of difference.

Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State (Harvard Contemporary China Series)

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Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State (Harvard Contemporary China Series)
Christina Gilmartin , Gail Hershatter , Lisa Rofel , and Tyrene White
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674253329

The Usborne History of the Twentieth Century (History of the Modern World)

Average customer rating:

I was very impressed with this book
Poor book

The Usborne History of the Twentieth Century (History of the Modern World)
Christina Hopkinson , Peter Dennis , and Mark Franklin
Manufacturer: E.D.C. Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0746007019

Customer Reviews:

I was very impressed with this book.......2005-04-04

I'm not too familar with Usborne books because I only have three usborne books. I purchased this book at a homeschool convention. It was marked down in price. I was and am still very impressed at the amount of information it contains. Admittedly it is for older kids probably more for Jr high and high school. I might try a study of it when my son is in 6th but I'll have to see. I have read quite a bit of it myself and it seems very thorough.

Poor book.......2004-05-26

(...)In a nutshell... This book compares very poorly to the Usborne
history books covering earlier periods (my daughter and I love
those books). This book is only suitable for older children, since
they squeeze in a lot of text. What I really don't like is the
artibrary, idiosyncratic and often idiotic selection of what
events of the 20th century are "notable".

Silence: How to Find Inner Peace in a Busy World

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Silence: How to find Inner Peace in a busy world
A worthwhile keepsake
"Silence"
"Be still, and know that I am God". Psalm 46:10.

Silence: How to Find Inner Peace in a Busy World
Christina Feldman
Manufacturer: Rodmell Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1930485034

Book Description

Silence: It is a precious commodity that even the most successful of us may not have. As we work to ensure our status in the world, it is easy to forget that we are not merely physical creatures. The state of our spiritual health can be easily tested. When the noise of the world dies away and we are left with ourselves, we get a pretty clear indication of the true extent of our inner peace. In Silence, author Christina Feldman charts a four-part course to accessing and sustaining this nurturing state—even in the midst of our busy lives. She writes, "We can learn to find it in all moments and all things; we discover that it has never been lost only hidden. With over 230 color photographs and a striking contemporary design, Silence is a calming book to look at, to read, and—most important—to use.

Customer Reviews:

Silence: How to find Inner Peace in a busy world.......2006-05-14

I found Silence to be a wonderful part of my meditation and self-calming efforts in this all too tense and busy world. It is a beautiful book in its writing and its wonderful pictures. I was instantly calmed when I read the first section, and looked forward to reading more each night before sleep. I am buying copies to gift to my tense friends and family. I plan to reread my copy often. I would highly recommend this peaceful and beautifully written book to anyone seeking calmness and peace in their lives.

A worthwhile keepsake.......2006-04-19

It took me several turns of heart before I bought this book, and all because this book costs SGD 60.27 at Kinokuniya Singapore. It was clinged wrapped at first and I had the service people opened it for me. The cover was a simple jacket of gold with the words "silence" in striking gold. The subtitle and the author's name appear in white. As silent as the subject of the book, the cover design is simple and freeing - full of space. I was struck (as with all coffee table book) by the quality of printing, the paper quality and the quality of the pictures. I discover at the point of writing this review that the book was printed and bound by a printer in Singapore. It was typeset and laid out in graphic style, not like the normal print of a book.

The author writes about silence as observed by different traditions and religions. I find, however, after reading the whole book, that the slant is somewhat towards Buddhism (not that this bothers me). Pictures of Buddhist monks featured in many instances in the book. What erks me is the deliberate large print of some of the words in each page of the book. I guess the author was trying to highlight words that are associated with silence, peace and love but where I first thought that the large print made the typesetting graphical, after a while I got distracted on occasions by the jarring big and bold words. I was also distracted by sentences and quotes that are set in landscape format and in faint font all over the book.

In all fairness, I did enjoy the book and I could resonate with some words of wisdom that the author wrote. For example, "Silence is what frees us to listen well, to live with authenticity and discover wholeness within ourselves." "The joy of silence teaches us to be more generous, caring and sensitive." Having myself experienced the rewards and joys of keeping silent moments in each day, I found myself nodding with approval and consensus with the author that indeed it is in silence that we learn about ourselves, and if we respond to change ourselves first, then love will be manifested through us and love will reach other people.

This book, costly no doubt, is one worthwhile keepsake and a beautiful one to line my bookshelf. Looking at the pictures in the book give me different perspectives of silence and how simple objects can be viewed creatively so one sees God alive in them.

"Silence".......2006-02-28

I have been attempting to read this book but haven't gotten very far. It has delightful pictures and the words are nice, however I can't tell yet if it is repetitive in content. It is different than I expected. I do think there is potential for it to be a book one would want to read when relaxation is a goal.

"Be still, and know that I am God". Psalm 46:10. .......2005-03-28

Meditation Master and Sage, Christina Feldman, has put together a beautiful and profound book on the art of silence. The many pictures within the book speak the silent language of the heart. Her heartfelt words point us in the direction that all great spiritual sages and mystics have pointed, to the inner room of our heart, the Holy of Holies. From generality to nuance Christina takes us by the heart and leads us into the way of silence. Silence is the universal language spoken by Lao-Tzu, the Buddha, Jesus, and all those other sages and mystics that have spoken to our hearts down through the centuries. Silence is the common denominator of the spiritual life, East and West. Lao-Tzu once said, "The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao". Silence was very important to the Master of Paradox, to the "Old Child". The "Buddha" didn't achieve Nirvana until he gave up on the noise of religion and sat down and quietly meditated. Jesus the "Christ" went into the desert for forty-days and forty-nights to meditate and pray in silent solitude. He then changed the history of the world. As Christina states, "Silence lies at the heart of all our great Spiritual traditions. The variety of forms of contemplation, prayer, and meditation meet in their reverence for silence". Silence is golden.

Silence is the sound of one hand clapping. The sound of nonduality. The sound of God. It is both personal and impersonal. Silence is tangible, the bed from which the universal source of being is aroused. There is an intimacy that can only be known and shared in silence. The intimacy of absolute love. It is in quiet solitude that we come to realize that we are never truly alone. Silence is a field where love grows.

"Awe" ('fear' is a poor translation) of the Source of our being is the beginning of wisdom". Proverbs 9:10. Christina quotes from a poem by the Zen Master, Basho, "Speechless before These budding green Spring leaves in blazing sunlight". Again, awe is the beginning of wisdom. Awe is an attraction, fear is a distraction. Zen poetry is a language of the heart. Zen Koans are irrational alarm clocks for waking us from our slumber, from our inattention. Silence is a refuge that offers sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of modern life. The still small voice of God is always near. Silence is a gift that we give ourselves so that we can give ourselves to others. In silence we strip down to our essence. There is a spark of Divinity within each of us. An essence that is a part of the essence of God. The Kingdom of God is a family. In silence we remember our permanent home address. We are part of God, and yet God is other, and in others. Pride would limit God to self. Humility knows otherwise. In silence there is the reconciliation of East and West, of self and other, of self and God.

Christina points out that there are many different paths or ways to silence that we can chose to take. That in the end each of us must learn to travel our own path. As no two snowflakes are exactly the same, no two paths are exactly the same. As they say in Hinduism, "Though truth is One, the Sages know it as Many". Others can give us guidance, but we must make the journey of self-discovery ourselves. The Wizard can't give us anything we don't already have. We must learn to see with the eyes of our heart and discover our own way to stillness if we are to live lives worth living, to live examined lives. "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened..." Ephesians 1:18. This journey of self-discovery is available to each of us. One such way to enlightenment that Christina points out is to follow one's breath...

I have only scratched the surface of the depths of this book with this review. If I had to limit my library to 10 books, this would be one of them. It is spiritually universal in its scope. A good used hardcover copy can be had for less than $5, though it is well worth its new price.

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