Customer Reviews:
Good essay book.......2007-09-27
This is my secondary textbook for my college english course. But there are some essays and stories that I could see people reading just to read.
A college instructor's perspective..........2007-08-06
As an English instructor at a community college, this collection as a text for essay writing offers great appeal with its diversity in voices, cultures, topics, and points of view (though the explanation of POV needs greater scope). In addition to the writer's bio before each story, one of my favorite features is the writer's shared insights afterward about his or her story, writing process, personal background, or career development (students enjoy this feature, too); and, there are discussion questions with "Suggested Journaling ideas," and suggestions for rewriting "Journals into Essays," that help students who always ask "What do I write about?" Story length as reading assignments are manageable for time-crunched, back-to-schoolers with already-full plates--juggling jobs, kids, and classes--and little time for 400-page novels. It may not be my text of choice for teaching argument and research, but as an introduction, it works.
I was coerced into buying this.......2006-11-26
What sort of psycho would ever buy a book like this if they weren't forced to, and where do these sadists get off charging this much for this load of crap? You can buy a handsome boxed set of the Iliad and Odyssey, Don Quixote, The Tain and Penguin's collection of the Norse sagas and still pay less than you would for the Bedford reader . Do you think the bedford reader comes close to being a fraction as significant, worthwhile, enlightening or entertaining as any of those books? Neither do I, but the ego-maniacal swine who publish this would apparently beg to differ with you.
About the book's contents? It's a bunch of watery, PC, multiculti crap. Do you think your fatuous, lefty professor would assign you anything that wasn't? I didn't learn a friggin thing from it, and I resent every second I had to spend skimming through it. The only reason I resold it instead of burning it at the end of the course (which I got an A in) was that the company that publishes it made one less sale thereby.
In summary, I assume that if you're looking at this book it's because it's been assigned to you. Poor you.
The Brief Bedford Reader.......2006-08-15
This book is filled with lots of different stories that are very interesting.The story that I liked was the Champion of the World by Maya Angelou.In this story she writes about how African Americans were treated and how afraid they were.She telling us about a fight between Joe Louis an African American and a white boy.She says if the white man wins they'll have to go back to slavery.The store they were watching the fight at was full with people watching the fight, who didn't leave until the fight was over.It was a close fight.But at the end Joe Louis is the winner.The blacks were afraid to drive home after the fight so they spend the night in town.Who knows what could of happened if they did drive home after Joe Louis had defeated the white boy.
The Power of the Essay.......2005-08-04
The Bedford Reader provides the teacher of writing with a powerful tool. Provocative, interesting, varied essays are presented within a coherent framework of rhetorical strategies.
I have used it with 9th and 10th graders, but will use it with older students as well. If your concern is with rhetoric, if you want to teach your students to think and write effectively, this is a great resource.
Amazon.com
"A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs."
Meet Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's tragicomic tale, A Confederacy of Dunces. This 30-year-old medievalist lives at home with his mother in New Orleans, pens his magnum opus on Big Chief writing pads he keeps hidden under his bed, and relays to anyone who will listen the traumatic experience he once had on a Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for Baton Rouge. ("Speeding along in that bus was like hurtling into the abyss.") But Ignatius's quiet life of tyrannizing his mother and writing his endless comparative history screeches to a halt when he is almost arrested by the overeager Patrolman Mancuso--who mistakes him for a vagrant--and then involved in a car accident with his tipsy mother behind the wheel. One thing leads to another, and before he knows it, Ignatius is out pounding the pavement in search of a job.
Over the next several hundred pages, our hero stumbles from one adventure to the next. His stint as a hotdog vendor is less than successful, and he soon turns his employers at the Levy Pants Company on their heads. Ignatius's path through the working world is populated by marvelous secondary characters: the stripper Darlene and her talented cockatoo; the septuagenarian secretary Miss Trixie, whose desperate attempts to retire are constantly, comically thwarted; gay blade Dorian Greene; sinister Miss Lee, proprietor of the Night of Joy nightclub; and Myrna Minkoff, the girl Ignatius loves to hate. The many subplots that weave through A Confederacy of Dunces are as complicated as anything you'll find in a Dickens novel, and just as beautifully tied together in the end. But it is Ignatius--selfish, domineering, and deluded, tragic and comic and larger than life--who carries the story. He is a modern-day Quixote beset by giants of the modern age. His fragility cracks the shell of comic bluster, revealing a deep streak of melancholy beneath the antic humor. John Kennedy Toole committed suicide in 1969 and never saw the publication of his novel. Ignatius Reilly is what he left behind, a fitting memorial to a talented and tormented life. --Alix Wilber
Book Description
The best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning classic hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "a masterwork . . . the novel astonishes with its inventiveness . . . it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue." A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero, one Ignatius J. Reilly, is "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures" (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times).
Customer Reviews:
My favorite book.......2007-10-17
Several years ago a co-worker told me the name of this book and added simply, "it is my favorite book". I read it just because of that, knowing nothing else about the book. It is now my favorite book. I re-read it about every other year. Read it!
A Colossal Waste of Time.......2007-10-16
I heard that the book was a comic masterpiece so I gave it a try. After reading the Preface I was prepared to withstand a slow start that was supposed to grow slowly towards a climatic ending (or at least an interesting ending). A friend of mine was given the book and she tried to get through it 2 or 3 times but she kept getting to a point that she couldn't push through. I was able to push through because I expected a payoff later on that never came.
None of the characters are completely likable. They are all idiots at one point or another and they repeatedly act in a way that I have trouble believing a normal person would. If this was a play, television show or a movie I would say that all of the characters were overacting. They would constantly repeat the same stupid sayings over and over and over again throughout the book. The whole time I am thinking how unbelievable this dialog is because normal people don't act this way. This was just stupidity. It might even be bearable if it was only a couple of screwballs characters but instead everyone is inept. There was no one to root for or to identify with and it simply was not entertaining to read.
The only good thing that I can say about the book is that the title is appropriate.
Cajun-Style Don Quixote .......2007-10-15
There are two ways of perceiving Cervantes's "Don Quixote." In the modern interpretation Don Quixote is an idealistic dreamer, a hopeless romantic battling the windmills of a bitter, cynical world. The more traditional (and I'd say correct) interpretation is that Don Quixote is a dangerous madman adhering to an outdated ideology and sowing havoc wherever he goes. Based on which interpretation you believe in, the novel can be seen as charmingly comic or darkly comic.
The same can be said for "A Confederacy of Dunces." Ignatius Reilly is Don Quixote of the bayou, a grossly overweight, strangely dressed believer in Medieval philosophy. He espouses these beliefs in notebooks, to his mother, at the movie theater (to the annoyance of patrons, ushers, and managers), and to any perspective employer. The only one close to understanding him might have been his dead collie, whom he loves in a not-entirely healthy way. The second closest is his former girlfriend--using the term loosely--Myrna Minkoff, an heiress turned political activist from New York.
Reilly's mother caters to his every need--such as supporting him through the better part of a decade of college, though it never leads him to a stable job--until she runs her car into a building while drunk. This leads her to forcing Reilly out into the world. His interactions with employees at a pants factory, a hot dog vendor, a gay man in the French Quarter, and a bar's employees create mayhem for Reilly and those he comes into contact with.
I think the prevailing view is to think of Ignatius Reilly as a madcap fish out of water, the idealistic dreamer interpretation. But it's not hard to also see him as a fat, selfish lout deserving of the scorn and ridicule he receives. Clearly Ignatius Reilly--like Don Quixote--is someone who takes himself and his ridiculously out-of-step views far too seriously, so you're never laughing WITH him so much as laughing AT him. It's up to you to decide just how mean-spirited the laughing at part is.
At any rate, it's unfortunate that John Kennedy Toole did not live long enough to hone his craft a bit more. Had he received some support and guidance he could have been one of the great American authors of his generation with the likes of Vonnegut, Updike, and of course Walker Percy, who at least made sure we could all read this novel. As it is, there are still some kinks in this, like how people are always screaming relatively ordinary lines of dialog or how the gay characters are stereotyped queens and butches.
Still, there's no question this is a good novel, and a funny novel as well, which is why it managed to endure even after the death of its author. NO matter how you should interpret it, you should read it.
On a side note, I think if Ignatius Reilly were around in modern times he would be writing his missives on the Internet instead of in notebooks. Mostly likely he'd be writing reviews on Amazon...
That is all.
imho....overated due to the book's backstory.......2007-10-08
I only got two-thirds of the way through this book because, basically, it just kept spinning its wheels. Also, the title character is 99% unsympathetic. He's such a friggin' ego-centric dolt that I simply stopped caring about anything to do with him. Yes, there are very funny parts...but not that many. I really feel this book has been hyped due to the fact that the book didn't get published until twenty years after the author's death (he committed suicide at least partly due to the novel not being published in his lifetime) and that the persistence of his mother in getting it printed really added to the book's mystique...which, obviously, has NOTHING to do with the actual book itself. I feel that the book would have never even been considered for a Pulitzer (which it won in the early '80s) had it been published in the author's lifetime. I actually would give this book two and a half stars, but that option isn't available.
A Confederacy of Dunces.......2007-10-04
This is a wonderful read. You take a fantastic and funny journey with a cast of characters that jump off the pages into the room where you are reading. I recommend this book as a gift, for a book club, for anytime. It is one you will read again and again.
Book Description
For too long, religion has been a political plaything of theright-wing in this country. American churches seem more concerned with whatpeople do with their bodies than with their souls. Now, Kathleen KennedyTownsend issues a spiritual call to arms to those who feel like her thattoday's churches--Catholic and Protestant alike--are failing to promote thewelfare of those who depend upon them. After recounting her personal storyin one of the most prominent Catholic families in America, she shows howAmerica's neediest are now forgotten while their churches fight politicalbattles against abortion rights and homosexual marriages. She provides hopethrough powerful examples of individuals effecting change, from obscuresocial workers to The Purpose-Driven- Life's Rick Warren, and maintainsthat our individual actions can return our churches to their traditionalrole as shepherds to their flock.
Customer Reviews:
Mrs. Townson is out of touch.......2007-08-26
Mrs. Townson needs to learn a little more about how and why this Country were founded before she write a book on this subject.
Infact she should learn a litle more about the Book she wants to judge.
If this country were run like it was set to run by our Founding Fathers we would not have the problems we have today.
We have too many other ideas and agenda's being presented and we have followed them and are no longer a Christian country. If this keeps up we will be taken over by the Muslims, like they have said.
Mrs. Townson you have been listening to Uncle Ted for too long.
Fair and balanced commentary.......2007-08-16
I absolutely agree with the theme of this book. I came into the Catholic faith a few years ago in a parish that emphasized social justice above all else and it was a big reason behind my decision to become Catholic. I have since moved and cannot find a parish that makes this central tenet of Christianity a central part of their teachings. It's so sad but perhaps this book can help awaken people to these failings of our religious leaders and demand change.
A reminder of the gospels so many Christians have forgotten.......2007-08-01
Townsend's book is a necessary call to those who style themselves Christians yet imagine that they can pursue riches (Jesus was against riches and the rich: re especially Luke and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (sometimes Lazarus and Dives, as Dives is Latin for rich man), advocate capital punishment (Jesus: let he who is without sin cast the first stone), love weapons (no warrant for that in the NT), ignore the plight of the poor and wretched, and justify any war at all, let alone aggressive war, as in Iraq.
Call for a Religious Left.......2007-07-27
In "Failing America's Faithful", RFK's oldest daughter states that the Christian church in the United States, has moved away from its traditional roles of providing charity and promoting social justice. Instead, churches are primarily involved in one or both of the following:
a. Political battles about personal moral issues (sex, abortion, etc.)
b. A type of "individualist" Christianity where participants emphasize their own spiritual growth and needs, and maybe perhaps those of their immediate community, but de-emphasizing, ignoring or even walling themselves off from the issues that affect society at large.
Along with the right-wing evangelicals and the mainstream Protestant denominations, Ms. Kennedy's own Catholic Church is up for criticism too; not only abortion but contraception is banned there, and women are not allowed to be priests. (A whole chapter is devoted to the position of women in the Catholic Church).
The book covers some of the Kennedy family history, including her own childhood experiences, as well as the Church's (both Protestant and Catholic) place in the labor, civil rights, and anti-war movements through the years. But within the past twenty years or so, public Christianity in the United States has largely been co-opted by the Right; the Left is now mostly secular, and often hostile to religion. There is a Religious Left, but it is relatively small and quiet.
According to Kennedy, a true "Christian Nation" would be actively involved in supporting causes such as civil rights, women's rights, welfare for the poor, environmental issues, etc. rather than being involved in moral judgements, supporting "business conservative" concerns such as lower taxes, or promoting individual spiritual comfort. Secularism alone will not bring about a more just nation; a spiritual basis is required. The relationship between religion and politics should not be a "wall" but a "window" where they can observe and influence each other, but not unduly.
Essentially, she's calling for a stronger "Christian Left" to counter the "Christian Right". This may already be happening in some form, with even the evangelicals taking a closer look at environmental issues and such, not just slavishly following the lead of the business conservatives.
My only real criticism of this book, is that Kennedy basically wants the church to switch from one set of political battles to another more in line with her own political beliefs. That's fine, but to be a church, and not just a secular charity or political action group, there should be a definite spiritual structure. I would have liked to see a little more Biblical support for some of her positions. But that's just me....
Progressive Christians should read this.......2007-07-21
If you think Christianity has potential, but has lost its way, read this. The author does a good job of pointing out the loss of direction of the dominant Christian faiths in American today. She especially points out the self-serving nature of Catholic and evangelical Christian religions and their neglect of the social gospel.
Book Description
If you're in new product development, or simply work in management and depend on new products for your livelihood, this is definitely the must-read of the decade. You're going to love the increased productivity and the freedom to be creative of this new product development system.
Where do you suppose it originated? Toyota, wouldn't you know. If familiar with what's going on in industry today, you're already aware that the Toyota Production System is the envy of Western manufacturing. Companies like Dell Computers and Pella Windows are using it to sock it to their competition. But did you know that Toyota's new product development system is just as important to the ongoing success of Toyota? Consider this. Toyota's new product engineers are 400 percent more productive than those employed by most companies. Talk about productivity. It's enough to make top management want to dance a jig. This book explains that system and how it can be implemented.
Hold on. Before you click the order button, or surf to another site, let us make you aware of one more very important thing. The Toyota new product development system this book explains has very little if anything to do with the Toyota Production System. The former is how Toyota develops new products. The latter is how Toyota manufactures them. Both systems deliver extremely high productivity, both free people to do their best, but beyond that, there really aren't many similarities. You need to read this book to find out why. Believe us when we say, no company that depends on an ongoing flow of new and improved products can afford to ignore the revelations it contains or the potential advantages in terms of productivity and creativity that can accrue from following the method outlined in Product Development for the Lean Enterprise.
Customer Reviews:
Almost Perfect.......2006-09-01
Everything written is a bullseye with the exception of glaring ignorance regarding Six Sigma - what it is and isn't. What is written relative to Lean here should be taken verbatim as applying to Six Sigma also - there is no difference. Similarly, the written characterizations of Six Sigma should be ignored. To quote Senji Nihwa, Taiichi Ohno's lieutenant at Toyota for decades, in a good-natured ribbing, "You Americans, always trying to categorize things. Call it Lean, call it Six Sigma, it makes no difference to us...it's all the same." And so it is.
The book is extremely well written and accurate with the exception noted above. If readers can simply meld the descriptions as also being characteristic of a Six Sigma organization, and discard the mischaracterizations of Six Sigma as written, they are in for a very positive learning experience.
Thumbs up!.......2006-04-03
Thumbs up, but I'd recommend you attend his workshops over the book if the opportunity presents itself.
The book is written as a fictional account of a company's journey from process hell to an environment where engineers can devote themselves more completely to the craft they love. It is complete with protagonists and antagonists. The many men and women who have devoted large portions of their careers to wrestling with new product development process issues and trying to improve the quality and efficiency of product development processes may justifiably take offense at being cast as the antagonist, but it wouldn't be much of a story without the villains.
The book raises some very good issues and points out some very good practices that have contributed to Toyota's success. Toyota's design philosophy is optimized for lowest possible risk to model year goals. American management teams would do well to think about optimizing for low risk instead of highest efficiency and lowest development cost. For many companies the cost of developing a new product is a fairly modest portion of their overall cost structure and the price they pay for missing new product introduction dates is far greater than the gains from tailoring their internal processes for the lowest cost development.
The implementation of highly redundant development paths (called sets in the book) will be far less revolutionary than the book would have you believe. It really comes down to a willingness and ability to make the necessary investments. Readers who have studied Japanese companies will find much that is familiar. Publicly held Japanese companies are far less driven by quarterly results than are their American counter parts. Japanese companies typically have few (if any) small stockholders looking for short term gains. The largest stock holders in a Japanese company are often other Japanese companies. They tend to set long term strategic goals e.g. to dominate the world car industry in 5 years. While these businesses must make money to sustain themselves they are content with smaller earnings than their American counterparts making it possible to re-invest larger portions of their revenues back into the company. Some of that reinvestment shows up as investment in engineering work that reduces risk to new product introduction dates. But make no mistake about it, there are no miracle cures. During the initial stages of introducing a risk adverse strategy you are getting less (new features) with more (investment), but on time, likely with better quality, and you can build economically on that investment for a future stream of new products.
Efficiency can be a huge problem, but not always. In many organizations engineering efficiency is disappointingly low. The book tries to make the case that Toyota's engineers are 4X more productive than the engineers of the fictitious company in the book (approx. 80% productive compared to ITRs 20%). The measure of productivity is not explained, but it is implied that it is simply the number of hours/week that engineers spend engineering instead of (presumably) unnecessary process compliance. It is unlikely that Toyota's engineers are on average really 4X more productive than the best of American engineering teams. A comparison between Toyota's engineering and one of America's best is probably a better comparison than a fictitious engineering team. The book does not sight any objective evidence for the 4X claim. Although few companies share their productivity numbers, 65% is a widely accepted number for staff utilization. If Toyota's staff utilization really is 80% then that would put them about 1.23X more productive. In actual fact productivity is far more complex to measure and since it is so complex many observers chose a metric and then measure changes rather than focus on an absolute #. Lack of evidence aside, the book does highlight some interesting opportunities for improvement in the area of knowledge retention and reuse.
I have no doubt that there are companies whose developers are 20% productive. Lack of stability in the organization is certainly a contributor. The ineptitude and unending churn of engineering management teams is a frequent cause. Many companies have suffered at the hands of corporate management teams looking for quick fixes to the perception that their projects take too long, cost too much, and fail too often. They are often executives who have no engineering experience and no way to objectively assess the performance of their teams. They are driven by fear and uncertainty. They have often set goals that are hopelessly impossible to begin with. The result from the engineer's perspective is an unending stream of organizational change meetings to roll out the new engineering management team, introduce their dramatic new ideas, and get the teams trained. This is immediately followed by or coupled with a call to heroic self-sacrifice in an effort to meet the hopeless goal with the new structure. Sound familiar? If you we're drawn to this book it probably does.
The first thing that any student of Japanese industry learns is its strong reliance on life-time employment. While there has been some decline in longevity in recent years it remains the expectation for most Japanese employees entering the workforce. The long-term expectations and thorough understanding of the company and its markets which the most senior managers obtain during their long careers fosters more emphasis on incremental improvement rather than radical re-birth. Either strategy can work, but the highest probability of long-term success is with the incremental improvement paradigm.
Mr. Kennedy is a joy to talk to with a refreshing directness and wealth of experience. The book has a "sensational" tone, but you'd expect that in a work that was intended to get your attention and interest. The advice he offers in person is well reasoned and sound. Well worth the price of admission.
Highly Recomended for anyone interested in Product Development.......2006-03-23
For anyone interested in the next stage of Product Development -- this is a must read. The Toyota system encorporates what I felt has been missing in the product development process for so long. It takes into account the chaos that exists during development and actually encourages it instead of covering it up.
I've beginning to incorporate these concepts into our process and am excited about the results I'm seeing.
Best book available on lean development........2006-01-31
Even in the academic literature, there is no better reference. Note: do not buy the book "the minding organization" where the author refers to in the book.
Interesting Perspective.......2005-07-29
I like this book. The "story-like" format of this book is entertaining but it gets a little old for a hard core techy like me. I definitly gained some interesting insights into the Toyota development system but would have liked more focus on the facts and the theories than on the story that was used to convey the message. The ideas are very enlightening, surely valuable, and worth the read. I can over look the style to get to the ideas. It was an easy read and the "story" moved along nicely. I recommend this book but would like to find one without the fluff of the "story" vehicle.
Customer Reviews:
The Brief Bedford Reader is excellent.......2000-09-19
I purchased this book to use as a text for a composition course I teach. It features excellent sections on composition topics like cause and effect, narration, process analysis, classification, etc. The selections in the book really are "brief". Most are between three and five pages long. The topics and authors addressed are real-world, high interest issues that make great discussion pieces. Personally, I enjoyed reading the selections. They are excellent casual reading pieces.
The Bedford Reader.......2000-08-20
An excellent collection of stylistically important works. Very well-organized and informative as well as fun to read.
Book Description
Literature, 9/e, the most popular introduction of its kind, is organized into three genres¤Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. As in past editions, the authors' collective poetic voice brings personal warmth and a human perspective to the discussion of literature, adding to students' interest in the readings. An introduction to a balance of contemporary and classic stories, poems, and plays. Casebooks offer in-depth look at an author or clusters of works, for example “Latin American Poetry.” Authors Joe Kennedy and Dana Gioia provide inviting and illuminating introductions to the authors included and to the elements of literature. Coverage of writing about literature is also included. For those interested in literature.
Customer Reviews:
One of my personal favorite anthologies!.......2007-04-30
Literature textbooks like these are quite worth the price that you're paying for. First, it lacks the visual colorful photos of another textbooks and focuses in on literature. I am glad to see Philip Roth's story, Conversion of the Jews, to be included in the short story section. Primarily because Roth writes novels, his short stories are few. he should be in the anthologies because he is one of America's foremost writers and most American particularly New Jerseyans don't know who he is. In 2005, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Anyway, I picked this book up at a yard sale. This book is filled with tremendous assortment of authors, writers, and poets like Somerset Maugham, John Updike, James Thurber, William Faulkner, Katherine Mansfield, Toni Cade Bambara, Edgar Allen Poe, Katherine Anne Porter, Jamaica Kincaid, Margaret Atwood, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Kate Chopin, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Anne Tyler, Stephen Crane, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., John Steinbeck, Shirley Jackson, Alice Munro, Leo Tolstoi, Raymond Carver, Anton Chekhov, Flannery O'Connor, Ambrose Bierce, Jorge Luis Borges, Willa Cather, Langston Hughes, Franz Kafka, D.H. Lawrence, Joyce Carol Oates, Frank O'Connor, Tillie Olsen, Edith Wharton, William Carlos Williams, Charlotte Bronte, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost, Thoeodore Roethke, Countee Cullen, Anne Bradstreet, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, John Milton, William Wordsworth, W.H. Auden, John Betjeman, Thomas Hardy, JOnathan Swift, William Blake, Robert Grave, John Donne, Herman Melville, Wole Soyinka, Lewis Carroll, Wallace Stevens, E.E. Cummings, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, Oscar Wilde, Jean Toomer, John Keats, Walt Whitman, H.D., Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Shakespeare, Sylvia Plath, Denise Levertov, John Ashbery, Ben Jonson, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Paul Simon, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Aphra Behn, A.E. Housman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Alexander Pope, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Olson, Louise Bogan, Anne Sexton, and so many countless other authors, writers, poets, playwrights, etc. that makes this book nearly perfect for a classroom without all the notes and nonsense that clutter some textbooks.
Literature: An Introduction Revisited.......2005-09-13
I wrote to complain about the 7th edition of this standard anthology because the editors had removed one of the world's truly great short stories, Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych," from the volume. I must now eat my words because the editors have replaced that work; I am pleased to say that I once again endorse and use the work. I wrote about the 7th edition; the Tolstoy restoration, I think, occurred in the 8th edition. I am writing now about the 9th edition, which is certainly strong and useful; I know the editors shouldn't try to please everyone.
I do not, however, retract my comments about the use of pop songs to teach poetry; I think the section on "pop" is a major flaw in the work. One person complained (in this space) about my wanting to restore Tolstoy to the textbook--from his comments, I gathered that the person thought Tolstoy (1828-1910) was an American writer, rather than Russian; he kept speaking about "multiculturalism" and "international literature" as though Tolstoy did not represent a "diverse culture." Frankly I think that all the currently popular songs (rap or rock or something else) represent a perverse culture rather than a diverse culture. The same person implied his disgust at "humanism" and "liberalism," labels that I would be proud to wear.
It does matter what is included in a textbook for introducing literature at the college level. I think the current edition of Kennedy and Gioia is a good, solid work. (And if someone is incapable of distinguishing between "poetry" and "verse," I have nothing further to say.) The student essays remain, but I will not quarrel with that. But let me see: if I were a carpenter and teaching students to build a house, would I show them examples of dilapidated, poorly-constructed ones because that is the extent of their current ability, or would I show them a house that was constructed by professionals?
Good solid compilation for traditional approach.......2005-02-03
A very nice textbook, with a broad selection of literature, thought-provoking questions on each selection, short author bios, discussions of literature-related concepts, and even some pictures of authors. By tackling fiction, poetry, and drama all, the book has a very comprehensive and broad approach. A specialist in any of these three areas might look elsewhere for a more focused approach to their field; for a far-ranging english literature, class, the book is very solid.
The Best Teaching Anthology.......2001-01-29
... First of all, it is massive and contains three books in one - fiction, poetry and drama. Each section includes a plethora of selections as well as longer works (like the full length plays of Hamlet and Macbeth). So one is really getting quite a library from this one book.
Even better, the sections are organized along themes in order to teach the student (or interested reader) how to appreciate the various forms. So the poetry section has sections on sound, figures of speech, rhythm, closed and open form, etc. I suppose this comes from it being a textbook for undergraduate courses - in any case, it pays off. I've learned a tremendous amount already. It's all in very easy to understand non-technical language, too.
At the end of the book, there is even a brief section on various forms of literary criticism. The book contains numerous student essays, brief author biographies, reflections by the authors on their own works (this is really great), and it reflects a really broad range of genres and time periods (unfortunately the section on haiku is plagued by bad translations, and there aren't enough examples of Chinese and other Japanese poetry... oh well!). There is also an emphasis on getting the reader to practice (and write for him or herself) what is being taught. So if you want to be a writer, this is great.
If you're a beginner interested in getting into literature, this is really a great way to do it. Don't be put off by the massiveness of this book - it's really a resource. Just start in one small place (I started in 'poetry') and work your way around. It will definitely increase your appreciation for literature.
Decent Anthology.......2000-06-05
The Kennedy Anthology is a decent dependable sampler. I studied from it as an undergraduate and I now use it, as a grad student, to teach introductory lit classes (supplementing it, of course, with outside material)
I'm suprised, however, at the reviewer's comments above. Yes, Kennedy includes rock songs in the poetry section, but claims dismissing their inclusion are faulty for two reasons. 1)Rock lyrics, whether you're fond of them or not, do qualify as poetry (they are verse, after all and whether or not rock and roll lyrics stand as "good" poetry is a completely separate issue) and 2)Despite the fact that popular lyrics are included in the poetry section, the canonical giants are still well-represented (no need to fret, Whitman hasn't gone anywhere). In other words, if you dislike the rock lyrics, well, simply don't teach them.
More importantly, in a field as diverse and (usually) liberal as literature, I'm shocked that people still complain about multiculturalism and international literature "taking away" from established great texts. Isn't this PC debate over? Haven't we all now simply accepted the fact that including diverse texts isn't a PC issue but rather an issue of good old common sense? Does anyone really still question the validity of marginalized (yet talented) voices being heard? Hasn't liberal humanism (at least in its problematic manifestations) been successfully deconstructed? Frankly, I'm frightened to think how there are English instructors out there actually arguing AGAINST diversity. Then again, I'm also incredibly naive.
Lastly, I like lit textbooks that include examples of student essays. I employ a workshop method in my class and my students and I look at a variety of essays throughout the term--from established professionals, from students, and from me. Students are too often bombarded with "professional" examples of what they are expected to produce. Why not include examples of reasonable essays that are more or less within their rhetorical reach?
Customer Reviews:
News and Reporting, 7th ed........2005-09-03
this book came in a timely and ordely fashion, it is in great condition almost brand new and it is a great book. i will definetely keep the book for use in future college classes and hopefully will do exceptionally well in this Journalism class. Thanks
Perfect for the Classroom!.......2004-06-16
I used "News Reporting and Writing" when I studied journalism in college. Upon returning to the college classroom to teach journalism, I introduced my students to the latest edition of this wonderful text. The book provides an excellent introduction to the various elements of good journalism and is perfect for a beginning or advanced course on reporting and writing. I recommend it highly!
A ripoff at any price! Avoid at all costs!.......2002-06-27
As a Missouri grad, I took classes with some of these dunderheads and was forced to buy their book. Ranly's great contribution to journalism is extolling the use of the word "that." Moen basically retired to Missouri at age 25. His goal was to brighten up newspapers after the "negativity" of the Watergate-era. Kennedy is a living ghost.
Just read the "humor" section. It's unintentionally funny.
This book is not fit to line bird cages. It one the reason so many newspapers are dull and lack substance.
A better book is Steve Weinberg's "The Reporter's Handbook." I'm told there is a recent edition. Weinberg is also a Missouri professor. Unlike the Kennedy, Moen, Ranly triumvarate, Weinberg actually is a great writer and journalist. He knows what he's talking about. Moen, et al are nothing more than witless windbags. (Read about alliteration in the cahpter on "creative" writing.)
Finally, I get my revenge on the dullards who make the Missouri School of Journalism the sham that it is.
With little effort, I have snatched the pebble from the so-called Master's hand.
Can't Beat It.......2002-06-03
While I can't actually comment on the current edition, I'd like to say that this is the same book I used 18 years ago in college and it was excellent. I still have my copy and refer to it occasionally when I'm covering an area that I don't handle often. The authors are from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, one of the top journalism schools in the country because most of the faculty have real-world, hands-on experience. This book today is used in hundreds of journalism classes around the country.
Great journalism tool.......2000-06-23
News Reporting and Writing is an excellent tool for aspiring journalists. It is very easy to read and right on the money, as far as content. It covers everything from writing a catchy lead for your stories to a step-by-step process for interviewing. The book also has sidebars that emphasize the important elements in each chapter. I would recommend this book to not only anyone interested in journalism, but to anyone interested in learning how to write better.
Amazon.com
In the most recent edition of this acclaimed HTML guide, Musciano and Kennedy look closely at every aspect of HTML and show how to use it wisely to create top-quality Web pages. The book is up-to-date, covering HTML 4, Netscape Navigator 4, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4, and the various extensions of each.
HTML: The Definitive Guide is aimed at beginners as well as those who have more practice in Web-page creation. The authors assume at least a basic knowledge of computers, including how to use a word processor or text editor and how to deal with files. They teach you that learning HTML is like learning any other language and that reading a book of rules can only take you so far. Readers begin writing what may be their first Web page just two pages into the book's second chapter. From there on, they provide a wide range of HTML coding to allow readers to learn from good examples. The book includes a handy "cheat sheet" of HTML codes for quick reference. --Elizabeth Lewis
Book Description
The total number of web pages has been estimated at well over three billion, and most of them are based on HTML, one of the core building blocks of the Internet. Anyone designing web pages, from beginning to advanced designers, needs to be proficient in its usage. This classic O'Reilly bestseller covers every element of HTML & XHTML in detail, explaining how each element works and how it interacts with other elements. With hundreds of examples, this book shows you how to create effective web pages, how to master advanced features like Cascading Style Sheets, and how to take effluent out of the popular WYSIWYG tools like Frontpage and Dreamweaver.
The latest edition of HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide is updated to cover Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 1.5, HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, CSS2, and a preview of XHTML2 and CSS3. One of the real value-added features of the book's "Definitive Guide" format is a comparison of which technologies the various browsers support and which aren't, with particular emphasis on differences in the way the browsers handle certain tags and/or attributes. This edition includes a review of the newer initiatives in XHTML (XForms, XFrames, and modularization), and covers the essentials on XML for advanced readers. With more than 380,000 copies sold, this landmark Definitive Guide has firmly established itself as the front running book in the HTML category, because it functions as both a solid tutorial and a comprehensive reference.
Customer Reviews:
I use it everyday - the older version.......2007-09-29
I have the 3rd edition and use it most everyday in my job. I figured it would be a bit outdated so I bought this latest version. The new version is essentially the exact same as the old version and I feel like I wasted my money. It's also missing the handy quick reference the older version had. However, if you don't have an earlier version, I would definitely recommend it. It's indispensable.
Yup, it's definitive (complete).......2007-06-08
I wanted a complete reference & guide to html/xhtml and that's what I got. I didn't want to be ignorant about any features. I didn't want to be left in the dark about anything. This book has all the info I wanted, and much more. In fact in a way it has too much info. It has info about tags, attributes, and other features that are obsolete, deprecated, or not supported by any browsers. You can skip over those rather than slogging your way through every word in the book. Maybe it's just me, but one downside to this book for me is that the writing style tends to be convoluted, verbose, and somewhat boring. I had some difficulty staying focused and concentrating on this book. But since it fulfilled the reason I got this book, I still give it 5 stars. So if you're looking for a complete book, don't worry, it's complete.
Just what's needed for those HTML questions you have..........2006-12-18
If you do web development, you should have one solid HTML/XHTML reference guide on your bookshelf. This one ranks up there... HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide (6th Edition) by Chuck Musciano and Bill Kennedy. Although the CSS and XML sections are a little light, the core HTML and XHTML information is all you could ask for.
Contents: HTML, XHTML, and the World Wide Web; Quick Start; Anatomy of an HTML Document; Text Basics; Rules, Images, and Multimedia; Links and Webs; Formatted Lists; Cascading Style Sheets; Forms; Tables; Frames; Executable Content; Dynamic Documents; Mobile Devices; XML; XHTML; Tips, Tricks, and Hacks; HTML Grammar; HTML/XHTML Tag Quick Reference; Cascading Style Sheet Properties Quick Reference; The HTML 4.01 DTD; The XHTML 1.0 DTD; Character Entities; Color Names and Values; Netscape Layout Extensions; Index
This book does a good job in blending a bit of tutorial information with a lot of reference material. All the HTML tags that exist are documented, along with whether it's an extension/deprecated/archaic, what type of browser support is involved in using the tag, and all the attributes and locations where it can be used. I found that I was catching some tags and nuances that I had overlooked in the past, even after having done web coding for many, many years. The book also has material on Cascading Style Sheets and XML, but I found that less useful than the HTML contents. The basics of those two technologies are covered, but not at the level I'd want in a definitive guide. While I think that you can't ignore CSS in an HTML book any more, I just wouldn't recommend this as an "all-in-one" book to cover both. But other than that, this is a book that I'll want to keep around for those strange times when my HTML tags just aren't working like they're supposed to...
Definitive Guide, Indeed.......2006-12-09
Calling this book "The Definitive Guide" is not a misnomer, for that's what it is. I guess you could learn HTML and XHTML from scratch with this book, but I wouldn't advise it. (If you are just beginning you should check out O'Reilly's "Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML.") Weighing in at over 600 pages means that if it ain't described in here you probably shouldn't be doin' it! And if it is described in here, it's described clearly and accurately.
HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide (6th Edition).......2006-11-28
When I opened this book I was a bit surprised, it wasn't quite what I expected. I have gotten use to O'Reilly books having lots of examples and codes snippets. And the first thing I noticed about this book was that it contains a lot more words than code. That said, this is my first "Definitive Guide" O'Reilly book, so this format may be the norm, I don't know.
This book does a thorough job of going over each of the HTML/XHTML tags and their attributes one at a time. The authors devote a couple of paragraphs to each tag describing its function and outlining its future in HTML/XHTML and once and awhile they throw in a line or two of code.
While the authors do devote most of the book to HTML / XHTML they take a brief look at cascading style sheets, executable content such as JavaScript, dynamic content, mobile devices and XML. While I would expect to find such information in a book like this, I would like to note that readers shouldn't expect to get more than a preface or introduction into those topics from this book. The book concludes by discussing XHTML and providing the reader with some useful tips.
Like many books the jewel is found at the end. This book includes eight appendices some of which I found quite interesting and useful. The appendices are as follows: A: HTML Grammar; B: HTML/XHTML Tag Quick Reference; C: Cascading Style Sheet Properties Quick Reference; D: The HTML 4.01 DTD; E: The XHTML 1.0 DTD; F: Character Entities; G: Color Names and Values; H: Netscape Layout Extensions. The DTD sections I found very interesting, it was neat to see the definition side of HTML & XHTML. And of course the quick references are always useful and usually the section of the book I turn to when I pull it off the shelf.
CONCLUSION
--
Like I mentioned at the beginning, I was surprised by the format of the book, however I do think it is a good resource for HTML/XHTML. While it is "The Definitive Guide" covering all of the markup tags and attributes it is definitely not a Cookbook or Nutshell book. I would recommend this book to those looking for a reference that is detailed and in a dictionary type format. If you are looking for lots of examples and recipes you will want to look at other books in the O'Reilly library. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars because I think it is a good reference, but in my opinion I didn't find the format very appealing.
Customer Reviews:
Good.......2007-08-29
The appearance of the book was very good. It saved me a lot of money compared to the college book store price.
Average customer rating:
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Diagnostic Imaging: Breast (Diagnostic Imaging)
Wendie A. Berg ,
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ASIN: 1416033378 |
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Authored by some of the world's preeminent authorities in its field, this new book represents today's best single source of guidance on breast imaging! It presents more details for each diagnosis · more representative images · more case data · and more current references than any other reference tool. At the same time, its user-friendly format lets readers access all of this information remarkably quickly!
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