Drama Trauma: Specters of Race and Sexuality in Performance, Video and Art

Book Description

In this engaging cross-disciplinary study, Timothy Murray examines the artistic struggle over traumatic fantasies of race, gender, sexuality, and power. Establishing a retrospective dialogue between past and present, stage and video, Drama Trauma links the specters of difference that haunt Shakespeare's plays with recent political projects in performance and video. Murray provides close readings of cultural formations as diverse as Shakespearean drama, the Statue of Liberty, contemporary feminist plays, African-American performance, and feminist interventions in video, performance and installation. The texts discussed include plays by Ntozake Shange and Amiri Baraka, installations by Mary Kelly, performances by Carmelita Tropicana, as well as productions of King Lear, Othello and Romeo and Juliet.

Book Description

Brothers Gonna Work It Out considers the political expression of rap artists within the historical tradition of black nationalism. Interweaving songs and personal interviews with hip-hop artists and activists including Chuck D of Public Enemy, KRS-One, Rosa Clemente, manager of dead prez, and Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers, Cheney links late twentieth-century hip-hop nationalists with their nineteenth-century spiritual forebears.

Cheney examines Black nationalism as an ideology historically inspired by a crisis of masculinity. Challenging simplistic notions of hip-hop culture as simply sexist or misogynistic, she pays particular attention to Black nationalists' historicizing of slavery and their visualization of male empowerment through violent resistance. She charts the recent rejection of Christianity in the lyrics of rap nationalist music due to the perception that it is too conciliatory, and the increasing popularity of Black Muslim rap artists.

Cheney situates rap nationalism in the 1980s and 90s within a long tradition of Black nationalist political thought which extends beyond its more obvious influences in the mid-to-late twentieth century like the Nation of Islam or the Black Power Movement, and demonstrates its power as a voice for disenfranchised and disillusioned youth all over the world.

Average customer rating:

Heroic Worlds: An updated review

a great fun reference for the classic RPG era

More PLEASE!!!!!!

The best history of gaming ever

An important title for all gamers to have

Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role Playing Games
Lawrence Schick
Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Role Playing & Fantasy | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0879756535

Customer Reviews:

Heroic Worlds: An updated review.......2006-09-12

I like the book, however, the definitions are arbitrary, and applied unevenly, and there are a number of errors and omissions that are not attributable to the age of the book. The book also has mistakes in some of the historical data.

The real value of this book lies with the descriptions that it has of different gaming products available at that time. Ignoring the errors and definitions, this book would be useful to a collector of old games.

I hope that we will see a new version of this book released which fixes these problems and updates it to the present.

a great fun reference for the classic RPG era.......2006-08-06

I have spent way way too many hours over the years poring over my battered but beloved copy of this book. An ultra-detailed reference to RPGs from the dawn of roleplaying through 1991, it's a wonderful treat for the RPG fan.

Now all we need is a 2nd edition or vol. 2, covering the revolutions of Vampire/dramatic roleplaying, LARPs, d20 and all the innovations of the last 17 years!!! Still, this book as it stands is a great reference. D&D fans especially will be delighted at the ton of info. covering the early years of their favorite game.

More PLEASE!!!!!!.......2000-08-25

What can I say? This is simply the greatest. If you collect role playing games, you absolutely have to have a copy of this book. The only question I have is -- when can we look for a sequel??? Mr. Schick, take pity on us and give us an update, please!

The best history of gaming ever.......2000-08-03

I began role-playing in the late seventies, when all of the earliest role-playing games were still available for sale. Reading "Heroic Worlds" is like returning to those early days, both in its comprehensive listing of every role-playing game release available up through 1990, and in its evocation of the state of the art of role-playing games in its early days. This book is bound to be a classic for a number of reasons: one, it's the only place that will serve the collector hoping to buy every single supplement for their favorite game; two, it's the best history available on the subject, even today; and three, it will serve the game designers of the future, in seeing what has already been done, and what still remains to be done. It's a wonderful read, as well. Now all we need is a second edition, that updates the subject to the present day!

An important title for all gamers to have.......2000-03-12

What can I say? When you see a work like this on a hobby you're passionate about, you pick it up, and hope it's good. Schick delivers the goods here, but I would have liked to have seen more commentary from more people. Hopefully, like the other reviewer here, there will be a sequel for the past 9 years, there having been a real boom in certain games (White wolf, Deadlands, etc....)

Amazon.com

A great book for beginning programmers who want to learn Perl. Filled with concrete examples and, yes, by using this book you will be able to write good Perl code on your own in 21 days. But no perlson is an island, and there is no single book that covers Perl completely, so we recommend that you also get Programming Perl, which is better at providing the language specifications, and, in fact, was written by the author of Perl.

Book Description

Sams Teach Yourself Perl 5 in 21 Days is the ideal book for beginner and intermediate level users who want to gain a solid understanding of this programming language. Using step-by-step tutorials, you'll learn everything you need to know about this popular programming language. Discover how to manipulate text, generate reports, and perform system tasks. Through practical, hands-on instructions, logically organized lessons, and helpful Q&A sections, you'll master Perl functions and concepts and be developing robust programs in no time. Plus, Do/Don't boxes show you how to avoid potential programming pitfalls, illustrations explain constructs such as associative arrays, and tables serve as handy references.

No previous programming experience is required
Explores the old and new features of Perl and Perl 5
Teaches Internet programming with Perl 5
CD-ROM includes all project files developed by the author, plus Perl 4.0 and Perl 5.0 to get you programming on the Internet right away

Download Description

The clearest, best-written Perl tutorial on the market. Provides step-by-step lessons for one of the most popular languages used in Web programming. Written in a straightforward, easy-to-understand style with numerous useful and complete code examples. Updated and revised to cover Perl 5.6 and 5.7, and to improve and refine the book's organization, examples, and explanations. Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days, 2nd Edition covers the basics in the first few chapters, and then moves to practical uses of Perl and in-depth discussions of more advanced topics. Later chapters delve into software engineering topics, with discussions of modular code and object-oriented programming. Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days, 2nd Edition relies heavily on longer working examples and code, as opposed to small snippets and code fragments. Each chapter includes two to three smaller complete examples and one major one that illustrates most of the concepts for that chapter and builds on the chapters before it. Laura Lemay is one of the world's most popular authors on Web development topics. She is known for her ability to clearly explain even the most difficult technical topics, while complementing her discussions with interesting yet practical examples. Other books by Laura Lemay include Sams Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days, 0-672-31958-6 and Sams Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML in 21 Days, 0-672-31725-7.

Customer Reviews:

Great book - clear and easy to read.......2006-07-12

I find myself using this book as a refernce almost every day. It is well written and easy to follow. I highly recommend it.

I haven't even finished the book and I am already feeling like a perl programmer.......2006-02-11

I bought this book after trying to learn Perl through another book (Perl for Bioinformatics). This book is definitely a better introduction to Perl than any other book I've seen. It is clear and concise enough and although it might be hard to finish it in 21 days, you can start coding your own scripts much before the end of the book. I am still on chapter 11 and I can program most of what I need with it (i.e parsers and simple bioinformatics applications). I recognize that there are a few typos on the book but if even Knuth's Art of Computer Programming have them why shouldn't Lemay's Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days do the same?

Given what I said above, I must warn begginer programmers (like me) that Perl is not the best language for you to learn as your first one. It is a dirty scripting language which does the job and is most suitable for parsing files and formatting data but it has a lot of things which make it quite confusing initially (its context dependency for instance). If you want to learn something that will give a solid programming base you should start with something else (i.e. Java, Pascal, Ruby etc) which will probably be a little bit harder but will payoff later.

Above Average Introduction.......2005-08-14

Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days by Laura Lemay is sufficient for the beginner wanting to learn Perl, be it on Windows or a UNIX-based operating system. If Perl is your first programming language, then this book is a fairly good book to choose as a starting point. It teaches the basics of programming in Perl and moves quickly from that point onward.

However, while this approach introduced me to the language I found my ability to pace through the book as I normally would with other programming languages hindered by the author's organization. Unexplained code is used in almost all of the examples before you get to its respective chapter. While this approach may work for some and give cause for thinking, it gave me an unnecessary headache.

Don't get me wrong, it did teach me a good bit about Perl, it inspired me to install Debian Linux on my programming workstation, and left me to pursue Perl. Despite this, I turned to Learning Perl. I found Lemay's writing to be too verbose and the organization of the book a bit of a twister.

Overall, it can be summed up by the following pros/cons:

~ Pros
- Good introduction to Perl
- Independent of Operating System (Great for Windows users ready to Learn Perl and perhaps Migrate to Linux for programming purposes)
- Solid examples and references
- Covers more advanced topics later on

~ Cons
- Verbose
- Awkward structure. Things such as loops are constantly used in beginning examples without much of an explanation. If you don't' have any experience with programming, it will give you a headache. The sections on these devices come much later, and have a strange introduction as well.
- Frustrating at times when it shouldn't be (IE, having you use functions that you haven't learned, or haven't been mentioned, in an example for a particular chapter)

Additionally, I'd recommend picking up Learning Perl or using it instead. I picked up Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days, learned what I could, and then fell in love with Learning Perl's concise, straight to the point chapters and examples (albeit with a fair amount of humor). If you're a Linux/UNIX user, you'll probably find Learning Perl a better catch, but for me, Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days was the stepping stone to Linux and Learning Perl. Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase.

Good intro book on Perl.......2004-10-06

If you want to start programming Perl in the shortest time possible, and have some programming background, you will benefit from reading Sam's Teach Yourself Perl in 24 Hours, which packs a lot of practical materials and emphasizes get-your-hands-dirty-immediately as well as uses a lot of code snippets to teach.

This "in 21 days" book, on the other hand, is better if you have more time to learn Perl. Each lesson takes 1-2 hours, if you already have some programming background, and longer if you don't. This book treats Perl more systematically and in more details than the "24 hours" book. It explains a lot of concepts, including hashes and modules, more clearly than the "24 hours" book. I recommend you do 2 or 3 lessons each day, because Perl is such a compact yet complicated language, that it's best to force yourself to learn it quickly, rather than slowly, because slow learning will make you forget things. Be sure to study the examples in the book until you understand every line of code.

It just didn't work for me.......2003-10-27

This book is not helpful for the newbies. Not only do some of the scripts not work, but the way Perl is explained in this book, it just doesn't make enough sense. I learned more from online tutorials that were perhaps 3 pages long than I learned in 15 pages of one chapter of this book. I usually pick things up quite easily, so it must be the book that is confusing.

Book Description

The aim of Sams Teach Yourself JavaScript in 21 Days is to tutor the Web-literate novice JavaScripter through to a high level of competency in applying JavaScript to Web pages.

In addition to core uses of client-side JavaScript, Sams Teach Yourself JavaScript in 21 Days also covers emerging topics such as the use of JavaScript with PDFs and the scripting of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).

The key principles taught throughout the book are backed up with clear and useful examples. This enables the reader to easily apply what they've learned with confidence in order to meet their own coding needs.

Customer Reviews:

Hits the Spot for Quick Introduction to JavaScript.......2005-11-16

Some programmers look down on the Sams Teach Yourself series as beneath their level. I imagine that some professional chefs also look down on a ham sandwhich. However, sometimes a ham sandwhich with cheese on rye really hits the spot. The Sam Teach Yourself series of books provide a practical and efficient way to get introduced to a new topic.

The "Sams Teach Yourself JavaScript in 21 Days" is no exception. With the emergence of AJAX as a cutting edge way to provide rich web based applications, the demand for a working knowledge of JavaScript will increase.

"Sams Teach Yourself JavaScript in 21 Days" goes step by step through the core aspects of JavaScript. This book teaches fundamentals such as variables, arrays, statements, functions, built-in methods, and basic objects. The book also teaches introductory DHTML and SVG manipulation--though some of it may seem out of date as the book was published three years ago.

In general, the authors do a good job of explaining programming concepts and how JavaScript implements them. I found in a couple of cases where the code examples had errors. While I was able to work around the errors in the book, it's always frustrating when the example doesn't work.

If you are a programmer who needs to implement JavaScript in your current project, "Sams Teach Yourself JavaScript in 21 Days" will probably help you get up to speed quickly. Or if you are new to programming and need a step by step guide to a relatively easy language to use, you will find "Sams Teach Yourself JavaScript in 21 Days" an easy to use and approachable book.

If you are looking for a more advanced discussion of JavaScript, this book may disappoint you. You may want to consider O'Reilly's "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide".

Egregious errors!.......2005-10-11

There are enough serious errors in this book to overshadow any positive attributes it may have. Things like on page 88 (first edition, May 2002) where the author confuses the modulus of a number with its absolute value: "The modulus of a number is the same as the number if the number is greater than zero. If the number is less than zero, then its modulus is the negation of the number - that is, the modulus of -5 is 5. The modulus is sometimes referred to as the absolute value of the number." You will discover a function called "getModulus" that returns the absolute value of a number on page 87.

You also will find on page 74 the author claiming that the bitwise NOT operator used thusly: ~9 would result in -10!

These sorts of errors are not acceptable in a professional reference or tutorial of any sort.

Well written book.......2004-08-21

I'm very pleased with this book. It covers a large amount of JavaScript. However, like any other Sams Teach Yourself in 21 days series, this book will take you longer than 21 days to finish. The only complaint I have with this book is the lack of a JavaScript reference in the back. While it has one, it's not that large. Over all, if you want to learn JavaScript, buy this book. You can easily tell by how well written the book is that the author of this book is great JavaScript programmer.

Doorstopper. Not worth it........2004-06-29

I thought this book was pretty good, when I first started. Because I was able to do a little something with Javascript and I've never even really tried a scripting or programming language before (I know HTML, buts thats just markup). But I put this book on the back burner after I learned what I wanted from Javascript (and really hit the wall after not being able to really use it much more after that). So I started learning Actionscript, where I saw more opportunites for its use. I got "Actionscript: The Definitive Guide" by Colin Moock, and I was actually enlightened. Everything was so much clearer. Actionscript and Javascript are very similar, and when I do write scripts with Javascript and need help, this book "Sams Teach Yourself Javascript in 21 Days" never helps me, I have to use Colin Moock's ACTIONSCRIPT BOOK and I find what I need.
The back appendix of this book, "Javascript in 21 Days", where it is supposed to list methods/functions/etc. is useless. Why even have it there? Moock's actionscript book has an appendix that you can actually use for reference (descriptions, examples, usefull)
I wish I knew all this before I bought this particular Javascript book. I suggest O'Reilly's "Javascript: The Definitive Guide", if it is half as good as Moock's "Actionscript: The Definitive Guide", you'll be all set.

Great for beginners, too slow for experienced programmers.......2004-06-01

I found this book very useful, and I was able to learn JavaScript from it, although I didn't follow the book's tutorials sequentially.

The most important thing to note is that this book is not really suitable for an experienced programmer who wants to add JavaScript to the list of programming languages that he/she knows. If you already know several other programming languages then you'll find the pace of this book much too slow. There are too many simple examples and too much discussion of basic programming principles.

For a beginning programmer these many examples and down-to-earth discussions are great. The authors assume that the reader has no knowledge of programming at all, which is fine if the reader is new to programming.

A couple of the especially useful things I found in this book were an example showing a clever way of using the onClick event for an "a" tag, and information about where to find the Microsoft script debugger.

On the other hand, I did find a few minor errors. And on page 20 a CD-ROM is mentioned, but in fact no CD-ROM accompanies the book. Instead, as explained on page 5, the sample files from the book are available on the Internet.

So if you're new to programming then this is a good book for you, but if you're an experienced programmer then you should find something else.

Book Description

In just 21 days, you'll have all the skills you need to get up and running efficiently. With this complete tutorial, you'll master the basics and then move on to the more advanced features and concepts of Java and JBuilder. Master all of the new and advanced features that JBuilder 2.x offers. Learn how to effectively use the latest tools and features of JBuilder, by following practical, real-world examples. Get expert tips from a leading authority on implementing JBuilder in the corporate environment.

This book is designed for the way you learn. Go chapter by chapter through the warranted, step-by-step lessons, or just choose those lessons that interest you the most.

Customer Reviews:

National waste.......1999-07-29

I am really upset that a minimum that i can give is a single star if there was a zero star that i would have given that to this book. This book is just a cheap copy of JBuilder manual.PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR YOUR TIME GOING THROUGH THIS BOOK.

Absolute Waste of Money! - 0 star if allowed.......1999-05-20

It seems the arthor has just copied the summary from JBuilder2 brochure from Borland. If you want to learn JBuilder, don't waste money on this crab. Read developer's guide from Borland comes with the software.

Wasted time.......1999-02-20

This book is too simple. Starts good with some introductory about the Java language, and as I was reading I was starting to like the book, but suddenly the author wasted too much time teaching you how to use the interface and all that stuff that anybody can learn by it's own. The examples are kindergarten like, and i wanted to skip many of the stuff to reach the end and finish with it. I just tried to read it because I paid for it, but it was dissapointing and I even got depressed reading it. Get a Java 1.2 book and learn from it, JBuilder is a great tool and deserves much better.

Go somewhere else.......1999-02-20

From the first page of the book, too many mistakes for someone trying to learn.

Reading chapter 6 I thought : Disappointing.......1999-01-23

I'm a novice in OO/Java programming. At the moment I'm struggling through chapter 6. Chapter 5 and 6 are really disappointing, even for a novice. Can anybody tell me if the rest is usefull, otherwise I'm going to succumb. Alas.

Sams Teach Yourself Perl 5 for Windows NT in 21 Days

Average customer rating:

Ok for a "get your feet wet" book.
Awesome
Better organized that Larry's famous book
Covers material, but better know programming.
Excellent book!! The right way to go.

Sams Teach Yourself Perl 5 for Windows NT in 21 Days
David Till , and Tony Zhang
Manufacturer: Sams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0672310473

Book Description

Perl, a powerful programming language in the UNIX arena, can be used for manipulating text, generating reports, and performing system tasks. Assuming no prior programming knowledge, this easy-to-use guide shows readers how to use this language to develop dynamic user interfaces into Windows NT databases-in no time.

Customer Reviews:

Ok for a "get your feet wet" book........2006-05-22

I stumbled on this book while cleaning out a cube and gave it a read. Obviously, this is a dated book.

Overall, it's an ok very basic introduction to Perl. However, it could create some bad programing habits so it should not be viewed as a resource for building core skills nor should you consider it a reference book.

Probably it's biggest value was that it showed how to do things in NT. But there are many resources for that now.

I was surprised that it attempted to talk about object oriented programing and CGI in 2 chapters. These topics have filled books.

So what is the value of this book? Well. If you have little money, then it's ok. Just remember to use strict and use warnings in the examples. Those two will save you grief and start you with a good programing habit. Don't take the book as gospel. Use it as a way to see some examples as what Perl can do.

After you read the book, look for the Perl docs and some sites like the perlmonks. That will get you on your way and in time you will see this book would not serve as a reference book.

Awesome.......2003-02-11

This book is a very quick and organized way to get up and going in Perl. By the end of day 7 (day seven will take more than a day if you do it right) you will have a good Perl foundation.

I have the Camel book that I go to from time to time (Camel has more humor and more technical content), but I use this book as my primary reference because of it's easy layout.

If you serious about Perl, also buy the Camel book as a deeper secondary reference.

Better organized that Larry's famous book.......1999-11-26

This book is better organized than Larry's famous book and it is easier to find information in it.

It is a great reference work and tutorial.

Covers material, but better know programming........1999-08-27

The first impression is the large number of typos in the code. It seems to work well for teaching 'what' works in Perl, but totally skips any 'why' structure. It comes off as an infinite number of special exceptions. Some advice, such as in the Pattern Matching chapter is just plan wrong. Seems to have slipped out without being editted.

Excellent book!! The right way to go........1998-12-08

I have no background in programming, but also wanted to learn some scripting language to automate my tasks for administering Windows NT network. A friend of mine recommended me about Perl and i bought this book. And now i am a proud owner of this book.

Teach Yourself Perl 5 in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition (Sams Teach Yourself)

Average customer rating:

Teach Yourself Perl 5 in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition (Sams Teach Yourself)
David Till
Manufacturer: Sams Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0672310619

Book Description

Perl is a powerful programming language and convenient tool for manipulating text, generating reports, and performing system tasks-it's the tool of choice for Webmasters. Following the format of the best-selling Teach Yourself series, this must-have tutorial shows readers how to use this language-from the ground up. In no time, they'll be working with basic operators, scalar values, control structures, associative arrays, mathematical functions, and system variables with efficiency. - Assumes no prior programming knowledge or experience

- Q&A sections, illustrations, summaries, tables, quizzes, and step-by-step instructions make learning a breeze

- CD-ROM is loaded with source code from the book, sample utilities, example programs, and more

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