Customer Reviews:
Nostalgic .......2007-09-06
I love this book. It's one of the most interesting books I've read about the making of a movie. The style is a bit chaotic as far as how its put together but the actual info is great. Its got a HUGE 96 page photo spread which I supposed was amazing in 1970. The impact is less now that people can go onto the internet and look at as many photos as they want. If you're like me you'll feel inspired to pop the movie in and watch it after reading this book. I would imagine that anyone who would go to the trouble of getting a book about the making of 2001 probably owns a copy of the movie as well. It's also got an essay by a (Then) high school student which I found surprisingly interesting.
Better than most DVD's!.......2007-06-13
I wish that DVD's were as complete and eclectic as this book. A must for any true blue film buff. Its both informative, irreverent, and brilliant.
Good read but...........2007-04-14
Don't expect detailed descriptions of how the movie was made because there aren't any. There's a small section in the middle of the book with some good pictures and very cryptic abbreviated explainations of said pictures and that's about it. Most of the book contains reactions to the movie from critics and regular viewers. There's some talk from Clarke and Kubrik regarding the process of writing the screenplay and such as well as the full short story "The Sentinel" that inspired 2001. There's also quite a few essays about the plausibility of various subjects covered in the movie. That said, there's very little information about the actual making of the movie but it's still a facinating read.
Delivers the goods........2004-05-28
I was expecting a puff piece that had only adjectives like "wonderful, spectacular" to describe its subject.
I was hoping to enjoy a handful of special-effects secrets-- important in this truly (TRULY) ground-breaking film.
I got SO much more. There are negative (and positive) reviews that run into several pages, and go deep into both technique and subject matter. There is double or triple the usual volume of pictures, a real blessing...and with thorough descriptions. (Although, to be fair, I admit I have a murder contract out on the editor who decided to remove all "the" and "a" from the CAPTIONING for those pictures. It makes the captions horribly unreadable.)
Errr...back on track, eh ? There's a discussion of alternate endings, and the text to the Arthur C. Clarke short story that was written at the same time as this script. There's the ending and other snippets from the novel, which adds new depth to understanding the film.
Oh, and hordes of notes on production, stuff that was edited out of the final version, and the apparently endless mountains of alternate special effects which were discarded in favor of what we see today.
It makes me weep to think that my DVD of this movie lacks outtakes and deleted scenes, now that this book has shown me how much I'm missing. (For example, the original film as presented at its premiere, was at least 19 minutes longer.)
Profusely illustrated.......2001-05-11
.... Agel's book is of note as the most illustrated book in this field. Although they're all in black and white, the number is way beyond any other book's attempt. This book is a standard paperback size, 368 pages with a 96 page photo insert. Most pages contain several images, some are full page, but the screen resolution of the images is quite fine, they are printed on fine white paper and thus the images are nicely detailed. The images in the insert are mostly scenes from the film, but they also include many behind-the-scenes peeks at some of the technical magic on screen. Apart from the insert, there are a few frames reproduced from the MAD magazine version of the film, also the instruction sheet from the Aurora model of the Pan Am Orion III Space Clipper. I can recommend this book for its text content alone, but the photo insert made it literally my constant companion through the 1970s. A bookshelf neighbour for Agel should be Piers Bizony's 'Filming the Future', a larger book with a smaller number of larger, rarer, colour images.
Book Description
"If 2001 has stirred your emotions, your subconscious, your mythological yearnings, then it has succeeded."--Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick's extraordinary movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in 1969. The critics initially disliked it, but the public loved it. And eventually, the film took its rightful place as one of the most innovative, brilliant, and pivotal works of modern cinema. The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey consists of testimony from Kubrick's collaborators and commentary from critics and historians. This is the most complete book on the film to date--from Stanley Kubrick's first meeting with screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke to Kubrick's exhaustive research to the actual shooting and release of the movie.
Customer Reviews:
Be Forewarned.......2007-09-19
This is not the same as the awesomely terrific "The Making of 2001 A Space Odyssey" from 1970. That book contains lots of letters written to the director from filmgoers who both loved and hated the film, which are lots of fun to read, especially the insightful analyses.
Get the other "Making of".......2007-04-03
2001 staked out territory in the world of ideas like no prior film had. It follows that writing is part and parcel of it's legacy. Like any great film it was an impulse that produced it's share of not just thoughtful reviews, but essays, and still does.
This is the confounding 2nd title related to 2001 associated with James Agel. As such I am confused. Is this an attempt to put the earlier title back in circulation? Because if it is, this one lacks much of the earlier works content, and more distressingly, the images. If it is not a reprint, they should really have titled it differently. It's too similar to the earlier, better title (The Making of Kubricks' 2001) which cost less and provided more. This book covers much of the same territory, but is so much less.
There is nothing wrong with reviews of 2001, which can be illuminating when they're raves just as often as when they're sneering and resentful. But that other book, far from being a catlaog of reviews and fanboy minutia, as "Making of" books frequently are, was one of my earliest exposures as a kid to the idea that a movie featuring very few words could cause so many to be written about it. It's an extremely rich vein of thought. Yes the Kubrick artefact is remarkable and filmic, but the life this movie has in one's mind after the fact is at least as important. That book captured the cultural debate at the time following it's release.
On top of all that, there is no content in this book that would naturally cause you to gather it all under a "making of" title. That's less of a problem if the writing is good, but choosing to give it this title seems like a cynical cash-in on the crowd that still clamors for the other book.
A Great Glimpse into the Past.......2001-07-10
This small 300 page book offers an intriguing glimpse into the past in which 2001 was made. The title is a bit misleading as the focus here isn't on the actual production of the film and the nature of it's construct, but an examination of the period which developed it. It's quite facinating and offers intriguing new tidbits of information. The book presents the original Arthur C. Clarke short stroy on which the film is based, The Sentinal, in it's entirety giving insight as to how much had to be extrapolated from it to make a feature. Other highlights are; a production calander wich details not only script writings and screenings, but significant scientific developments as well (such as the first space walk, the launching of probes), essays on the building of the various ships, a discussion of the special effects, testimonies from various scientists, consultants, art directors and more on their experiences with the film, the full original press release, multiple reviews from 1968-69, and interviews with Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick himself. What more could you ask for? It's breathtaking! I'm confounded by some the the harsher reviews. So much is presented, all in one book, that this is easily the most complete collection of information on 2001 : A Space Odyssey I've ever come across.
The book succeeds in giving the reader a sense of time and placement in history for 2001 as well as revealing some of the production secrets and offering some film analyzation. The film reviews alone were incredible in their revelation of reactions to the film. If you want to more about the actual process of the 2001 production, Filming The Future by Piers Bizony is a better choice. Get this book for a clear understanding of where 2001 came from, how it came to be and what effect it had. If you come to it with this in mind, I'm sure any film fan, and certainly any 2001 fan, will be blown away by the amount of information and insight presented. Don't pass this up!
the making of 2001: a space odyssey.......2001-01-12
this book was a disappointment. there was very little information about the actual making of the movie. there were pages and pages of reviews of the movie, and general information about what the movie may mean. there was none of the "behind the scenes" stuff that can be so interesting. and no pictures!!
Making of... an average book.......2000-08-21
The Making of... book is like many others, written by a fan for a fan, in this case this tiny paperback book seems to be a scrapbook of pictures and articles from the original release of 2001 at the cinemas. Unfortunately the pages dedicated to two legends, Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrik, are pretty much non existant. There are few diagrams and sketches made by the two that are fascinating, but this book is by an means a companion to the movie, it doesn't try to break down those great mysterious walls that surround this movie. For example, How did that monkey throw the bone when it is physically impossible for any moneky to do that kind of action? What happened to the monolith on the Moon? And so on.
This book will not bring new conversation to the flogging 2001 fan who is desperate to learn every possible secret there was about this movie, instead, it works on a more basic level really being a Making of... book that goes through various trouble during production and how special effects were mastered. A book that obviously had no input from Arthur C Clarke. To be truely captivated by the movie, but you probably already have it, so buy the sequel, and the book sequels, then buy this one. It'll sit nicely next to the rest of the Making of... books that are around.
Rather disappointing due to the lack of insight into the REAL making of 2001, which in my opinion is not in a studio but at desk writing a script, we never find out what Clarke was thinking whilst he making this masterpiece with pen and paper!
Average customer rating:
- great for music collectors...
- uneven
- Excellent stab at an impossible task - Lots of fun!
- Should be as good as the 1st ed.
|
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Second Edition
Donald Clarke
Manufacturer: Puffin
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0140513701 |
Book Description
Fully revised and updated, with over 5,000 entries, this Second Edition is the most comprehensive and entertaining one-volume guide available.
From Abba to ZZ Top via Oasis, James Brown, and Frank Sinatra, this wonderful resource to the world's nonclassical music has been updated and revised to include a wider range of New World and ethnic musicians from Latin America and Africa along with a range of new entries from the contemporary Brit-pop scene and all of your old favorites. Donald Clarke covers a truly spectacular array of artists, from the early blues (Big Bill Broonzy, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith) and ragtime (Scott Joplin, Eubie Blake) to the golden age of Broadway musicals, the great swing bands of the 1930s, jazz from around the world, American country, English folk, rock 'n' roll, reggae, soul, funk, punk, and the rest. The extensive Index ensures that no songwriter, musician, record label, or musical style is overlooked.
"If you like music, reserve a copy of this book before the browsers snap it up for its sheer readability. . . . Like the best references, it is a book to get lost in, looking up one thing and being pulled irresistibly to another, then another . . . a richly rewarding book." --Chicago Tribune
Customer Reviews:
great for music collectors..........2002-10-02
I used this "encyclopedia" (1000 page book) to familiarize myself more with musicians I know well, vaguely remember and wasn't familiar with at all. I am very interested in the reasons why people make certain types of music, and the connections between and influences upon them. This book includes so many, many musicians and groups from the last 100 years or so--all genres, with a little information about each so you get the idea. It's amazing who was whose friend or where certain people hooked up before they became famous, etc. If someone had an influence on trends or other musicians, they're probably in this book! If you're into the history of music at all, this is a great source. I found a lot of good CDs researching this book. Probably there are other such books out there, but this is the one my local library had!
uneven.......1999-07-02
The several different contributors to this book tend to emphasise different aspects of the musicians and their performances, resulting in some highly personal reviews. The quality of writing varies a bit, too. The last word on The Carpenters, for example, reads: "Karen's solo album was finally released '96, making some fans wonder how long she would have lived if she had been allowed to be herself"; what does this mean, exactly? It's clumsy and ambiguous writing. The book is littered with examples such as this. The editor, Donald Clarke, makes his preferences and prejudices abundantly clear, which is sometimes entertaining but more often irritating. The book as a whole is an uneven blend of reference and personal opinion. It's fun to skim, but I was disappointed.
Excellent stab at an impossible task - Lots of fun!.......1999-06-03
As another reviewer noted so accurately, this book might lead to depleted wallets for music lovers. I bought it to expand my knowledge of Jazz and Latin Jazz history, and on those topics it is outstanding and indespensible. The nice suprise for me was that the book is as entertaining as it is informative. Potential buyers should be realistic and realize, though, that a TRUE encyclopedia of popular musics, especially if it were to account for more of the world (this edition is very UK/USA-centric) would take many, many more volumes than even this large one. There are some mighty strange omissions, as well as some unusual inclusions. For example, although the book generally covers the history of English rock very well, there are no entries for either Roxy Music or King Crimson. In a perfect world, such sins of omission would be unforgivable, especially since so many throwaway, best-forgotten bands receive detailed entries. Similarly, while there is an entry for the influential USA band Talking Heads, there isn't one for founder David Byrne, who has played an extremely important role in the contemporary popularization of Latin American musics, like it or not. On the other hand, I was amazed at the accuracy and detail of the information on UK punk rock in what could have been a snobbier book in more pretentious hands. There is some good, bitchy gossip here...check out the wicked entry for John Lydon/Johnny Rotten! Music lovers, DO buy this book! Just don't expect it to contain every little detail under the sun on every artist. It's easily worth more than it costs, and will bring you years of armchair pleasure, and very well may expand your horizons and enrich your musical life.
Should be as good as the 1st ed........1999-03-20
Don't get me wrong, I HAVE NOT READ the book. I'm going to, but I'll have to wait for sometime before I can lay my hands on it. But, if Clarke really did to the second ed. as what he'd done to the first ed. (1988), then this book deserve to be your ultimate guide to the realm of the popular music. Last word : BEWARE about the effects of reading this book to your financial positions. When I started reading the 1st ed., I've had only a handful of records in my shelves, mostly '80s pop music. With this book, I trekked through the realm of jazz (from Louis to Wynton), Rock (Jim to Van Morrison), Blues (Kings to Rush), Country (Nelson to Parsons, and back) and others. If only the book was about junkfood, I'll be in the hospital right now. (How much did the record companies gave you, Clarke ?)
Book Description
This book contains scores of intriguing puzzles and paradoxes from Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, whose interests ranged from inventing new games like Arithmetical Croquet to important problems in symbolic logic and propositional calculus. Written by Carroll expert and well-known mathematics author Martin Gardner, this tour through Carroll's inventions is both fun and informative.
Customer Reviews:
the editorial review math is exactly correct!.......2005-04-21
Ok, since there is some confusion on the issue, let me explain how the 2/3 comes about. We are looking for the probability that the second marble is white, given that the first one pulled out of the bag was.
First intuitively - if you think about it, if there had been 2 white marbles in the bag to start with you're more likely to have pulled out a white marble on the first draw than you would have if the bag started with one white and one black. That is, knowing that you pulled out a white marble, it's more likely that both marbles were white than it is that there was one of each.
Now mathematically - this is called conditional probability. Because of the problem description, before drawing the bag could either contain one of each color or two white marbles, each of these options with probability .5 (50%). If the bag has one of each, your probability of drawing white first is .5, and if it has two whites your probability of drawing white first is 1 (100%).
So, the (compound) probability that the bag has one of each *and* you get white first is .5 x .5 = .25 and the probability that the bag has both white and you get white first is .5 x 1 = .5. So, the total probability of getting white first is the sum of the probabilities of these two possible ways of that occuring, .75.
Now, the actual probability that was requested was that of there being a white marble in the bag after taking out a white one...that is, what's the probability of the bag having had 2 white marbles if you know it had at least one. This should be the same as the probability of getting two white marbles divided by the probability that the first marble was white.
Probability notation for this conditional probability is
P(W2|W1) = P(W1 & W2)/P(W2)
Which then is .5/.75, which is equal to 2/3 - the number given in the editorial. The result does maybe initially seem to be a strange number, but there is no wiggle room here. It's correct.
Letter to the editorial review.......2005-03-11
The Editorial has single handedly solved a modern dilemma in the world of Mathematics. I do believe it has been said that it is better to be assumed a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt. The final conclusion is that the contradiction leads us to realize a possible incompleteness in the system. Here is how:
Solution #1 As the state of the bag, after the operation, is necessarily identical with its state before it, the chance is just what it was, viz. 1/2. Solution #2 Let B and W1 stand for the black or white counter that may be in the bag at the start and W2 for the added white counter. After removing white counter there are three equally likely states:
Inside bag------Outside bag
W1--------------W2
W2--------------W1
B ---------------W2
In two of these states a white counter remains in the bag, and so the chance of drawing a white counter the second time is 2/3. This contradiction of the first solution might indicate that the system offers an incomplete answer (not that the first answer was wrong).
Essential for Lewis Carroll fans.......2002-01-08
Lewis Carroll was in "real life" Charles Dodgson, lecturer in mathematics at Oxford University and author of books on geometry and logic. Mathematics intrudes into his children's books, especially Sylvie and Bruno. There is nobody better qualified to explain this side of Lewis Carroll to the non-mathematician than Martin Gardner, author of the Annotated Alice and for many years the compiler of the Mathematical Puzzles column in Scientific American. This book will delight Carroll's many fans and may intrigue many who would not normally be attracted to children's fiction. I also recommend the two books on Lewis Carroll's puzzles by Edward Wakeling; as a professional mathematician, he brings a complementary perspective.
Book Description
It ranks right up there with public speaking. Nearly all of us fear it. And yet it's critical to our success. Asking for money. It makes even the stout-hearted quiver.
But now comes a book, Asking: A 59-Minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Staff and Volunteers Must Know to Secure the Gift. And short of a medical elixir, it's the next best thing for emboldening you, your board members and volunteers to ask with skill, finesse … and powerful results.
Jerold Panas, who as a staff person, board member and volunteer has secured gifts ranging from $50 to $50 million, understands the art of asking perhaps better than anyone in America.
He has harnessed all of his knowledge and experience and produced what many are already calling a landmark book.
What Asking convincingly shows — and one reason staff will applaud the book and board members will devour it — is that it doesn't take stellar communication skills to be an effective asker. Nearly everyone, regardless of their persuasive ability, can become an effective fundraiser if they follow Jerold Panas' step-by-step guidelines.
Customer Reviews:
To The Point Handbook.......2007-07-12
With humor, experience and enthusiasm, the author succinctly delivers the essential considerations for any fundraiser. The bonus is the contagious sense of fun and challenge, the book conveys, is enough to make you want to throw down the book (place it where you can go back to it for inspiration)and start raising funds!
Short but sweet.......2006-04-10
Panas uses his considerable success in the field of fundraising to brief the novice to this profession. The result is a pithy collection of principles newcomers can use to develop their own skills and strategies. Included are sample letters and a useful collection of responses to common objections. The author's use of cliches detracts from what is otherwise a valuable primer to the field of fundraising.
Practical and Demystifying.......2005-08-12
Fundraising is both art and science--and Jerry Panas is a master of both sides of the fundraising equation. This is a fast read with practical ideas that anyone raising charitable funds can use. Asking people for money can be terrifying if you're not (emotionally) prepared. Panas walks you through the process and builds your confidence---and makes plain that the act of asking is in itself the victory, because not asking is the failure. This takes the pressure off, and whether the gift comes from the first ask or the hundred-and-first, you're on your way to fundraising success.
An excellent book for anyone who needs to raise money.......2005-03-21
In just 108 pages, Jerold Panas explains how to learn to obtain large gifts for charitable causes, whether you know the people or not. He sets down the process, provides multiple "conversations with donors" to help you learn to ask, handle objections and get the gift. In less ant an hour you can be well on your way to raising significant funds for your cause.
The author's examples and down-to-earth advice will be invaluable to you. This is a must for anyone who has to do fundraising.
Lois Carter Fay
http://www.MarketingIdeaShop.com and
http://www.WomenMarketing.com
Easy to read.......2004-12-30
The title made my laugh, and the pages turned pretty quickly inside. Written a bit like a self-help book, Panas' guide contains a series of short, easily digested chapters on the main relational aspects between organizations and donors. Person-to-person skills. Thank you's. The book says a lot in relatively few words.
Books:
- The Soulful Divas: Personal Portraits of over a Dozen Divine Divas, from Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, & Diana Ross to Patti Labelle, Whitney Houston, & Janet Jackson
- The Truman Show: The Shooting Script
- The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin'
- The Wizard of Oz Catalog: L. Frank Baum's Novel, Its Sequels and Their Adaptations for Stage, Television, Movies, Radio, Music Videos, Comic Books, Commercials and More
- The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory, Second Edition
- Trier on von Trier
- Tsai Ming-Liang
- Twentieth Century Fox: Inside the Photo Archive
- Untitled
- Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde, 1943-2000
Books Index
Books Home
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The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey (Modern Library Movies)
Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey
2001 - A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey: New Essays
