Sakharov: The Screenplay

Book Description

Challenges prevailing assumptions about family, courts of law, and the nature of modernity in Muslim societies against the backdrop of Haifa and Jaffa during " the long nineteenth century."

The popular image of the family and the court of law in Muslim societies is one of traditional, unchanging social frameworks. Iris Agmon suggests an entirely different view, grounded in a detailed study of nineteenth-century Ottoman court records from the flourishing Palestinian port cities of Haifa and Jaffa. She depicts the shari'a Muslim court of law as a dynamic institution, capable of adapting to rapid and profound social changes - indeed, of playing an active role in generating these changes. Court and family interact and transform themselves, each other, and the society of which they form part.

Book Description

This broad-ranging text offers an original and inventive overview of the field of cultural theory and proposes a multidimensional model for understanding culture in late modernity.

Cultural Theory and Late Modernity draws together elements from many different traditions and approaches to assess the scope of cultural theory and distinguishes four main issues in contemporary thought:

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Late Modernity and Social Change
Brian Heaphy , Brian Heaphy , and Jane Franklin
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Sometimes social theory can seem dry and intimidating - as if it is something completely apart from everyday life. But in this incisive new text, Brian Heaphy show exactly how the arguments of the great contemporary theorists play out against extended examples from real life.

Introducing the ideas of founding social thinkers including Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel and Freud, and the work of key contemporary theorists, among them Lacan, Foucault, Lyotrad, Baudrillard, Bauman, Giddens and Beck, the book begins by examining the merits of the 'late modernity' thesis against those of the proponents of 'post-modernity'. The authors show the wide swoop of influence of 'post-modern' thought and how it has changed the way even its opponents think. It also discusses feminist, Queer and post-colonial ideas about studying modern and post-modern experience.

With examples from personal life (including self and identity, relational and intimate life, death, dying and life-politics) to bring theory to life, this clear and concise new text on contemporary social theory and social change is ideal for students of sociology, cultural studies and social theory.

Managing "Modernity": Work, Community, and Authority in Late-Industrializing Japan and Russia

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Managing "Modernity": Work, Community, and Authority in Late-Industrializing Japan and Russia
Rudra Sil
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

In Managing "Modernity," Rudra Sil examines how institution-builders respond to the competing influences of institutional models and inherited social legacies as they attempt to generate and sustain authority in late-industrializing societies. Through a historical and comparative study of large-scale enterprises in Japan and Russia, the book examines the impact of different institution-building strategies on managerial authority, invoking the experience of postwar Japan to highlight the benefits of a syncretic approach that selectively integrates adaptable features of borrowed institutions with portable norms inherited from preexisting communities.

Managing "Modernity" engages a variety of intellectual perspectives in the social sciences. The theoretical approach represents a conscious effort to overcome the contentious debates in political science and sociology among proponents of historical institutionalism, cultural analysis, and rational-choice theory. The substantive argument draws on, and partially integrates, concepts and findings from comparative politics, economic sociology, industrial relations, organization theory, business management, and the political economy of Japan and Russia.

In light of ongoing debates over the significance and impact of "globalization," the eclectic and integrative approach in Managing "Modernity" offers a fresh and provocative contribution that will interest scholars and graduate students across a variety of disciplines and subfields. It offers compelling insights to anyone generally concerned with the social forces that facilitate or hinder the diffusion of ideas and institutions across national boundaries.

Rudra Sil is Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences, Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania.

Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age

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The Emperor Has No Clothes
Live Dangerously
A lucid and engaging synthesis
A Branch of Structuration Theory

Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age
Anthony Giddens
Manufacturer: Stanford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0804719438

Book Description

Modernity differs from all preceding forms of social order because of its dynamism, its deep undercutting of traditional habits and customs, and its global impact. It also radicallly alters the general nature of daily life and the most personal aspects of human activity. In fact, one of the most distinctive features of modernity is the increasing interconnection between globalizing influences and personal dispositions. The author analyzes the nature of this interconnection and provides a conceptual vocabulary for it, in the process providing a major rethinking of the nature of modernity and a reworking of basic premises of sociological analysis.

Building on the ideas set out in the authors The Consequences of Modernity

, this book focuses on the self and the emergence of new mechanisms of self-identity that are shaped by—yet also shape—the institutions of modernity. The author argues that the self is not a passive entity, determined by external influences. Rather, in forging their self-identities, no matter how local their contexts of action, individuals contribute to and directly promote social influences that are global in their consequences and implications.

The author sketches the contours of the he calls “high modernity”—the world of our day—and considers its ramifications for the self and self-identity. In this context, he analyzes the meaning to the self of such concepts as trust, fate, risk, and security and goes on the examine the “sequestration of experience,” the process by which high modernity separates day-to-day social life from a variety of experiences and broad issues of morality. The author demonstrates how personal meaninglessness—the feeling that life has nothing worthwhile to offer—becomes a fundamental psychic problem in circumstances of high modernity. The book concludes with a discussion of “life politics,” a politics of selfactualization operating on both the individual and collective levels.

Customer Reviews:

The Emperor Has No Clothes.......2006-10-23

This book is, IMHO, intellectually bankrupt. However, it may serve as an excellent source of postmodern jargon for those who are lashing about for some tub to thump. Ironically, it does have some good primary sources in its bibliography; although, I must say, I am utterly at a loss as to how an acclaimed cultural mandarin could have, in fact, read through them all only to spout "reflexively-reflexive" gibberish for hundreds of pages!

The only theme that stands clear amid Giddens' din of twisted sentences (flecked with "socio-cultural" buzzwords), I later encountered quoted succinctly from Leo Frobenius in Joseph Campbell's Creative Mythology (Penguin Books;1976; p. 30):

"We are concerned no longer with cultural inflections," he [Frobenius] declared, "but with the passage from one culture stage to another. In all previous ages, only restricted portions of the surface of the earth were known. Men looked out from the narrowest, upon a somewhat larger neighborhood, and beyond that, a great unknown. They were all, so to say, insular: bound in. Whereas our view is confined no longer to a spot of space on the surface of this earth. It surveys the whole planet. And this fact, this lack of horizon, is something new."

Campbell's book then looks much deeper into the spiritual problems of the modern soul--and, by the way, it too has an excellent bibliography for those with a more demanding appetite.

Live Dangerously.......2002-05-06

"What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for everyone lining in circumstances of late modernity - an ones which, on some level or another, all of us answer, either discursively or through day-to-day social behavior. They are existential questions, although, as we shall see later, their relation to the existential issues discussed in the preceding chapter is problematic." Giddens (1991:70)

Perhaps one of the most difficult books I have had to write a review on despite, ironically, sounding more like a self-help book rather than one of deep existential examination. However, that might just mean that the book is based on self-help books of which Giddens is an avid reader. The importance of such books is that in modern societies - self identity is a central issue. With the advent to new technology and increased education, the modality of formulation of Self-Identity has changed. A dark cloud of self-reflexivity both on institutional level and the personal level looms over those who see change as a risk and fear it while those who see promise, there is a silver lining. The rules of the game has changed - forever. Sink or swim. For Giddens the change is profound:
"For it is arguable that the period of high modernity is one of fundamental transition - not just a continuation of modernity's endless dynamism, but the presaging of structural transformations of a more profound type. The expansion of internally referential system reaches its outer limits; on a collective level and in a day-to-day life moral/existential questions thrust themselves back to center-stage. Focused around processes of self-actualization, such issues call for a restructuring of social institutions, and raise issues not just of a sociological but of a political nature." Giddens (1991:208)

The importance of the questions of identity posed above is both cause and result of changes at the institutional level and interplay, if you will between the global and the regional. Within this framework, both the institution and the individual can change and adopt. One responsible for the other. All are interconnected. Giddens sees links between links between the individuals sense of identity and the global players - a shift from traditional sociology - which sees these players in isolation. If we take as an example, the changes that have taken place in the recent past, the high level of the rate of divorce (which it is argued can serve as a metaphor for modernity) sets people on a crisis mode - a mode that holds as much risk as it does promise. It becomes a significant time - for Giddens it is a "fateful moment":
"Most of these dilemmas become particularly acute, or are experienced with special force, during the fateful moment of an individual's life. Since fateful moments, by definition, are highly consequential, the individual feels at a crossroad in terms of overall life-planning. Fateful moments are phases when people might choose to have recourse to more traditional authorities. In this sense, they may seek refuge in pre-established beliefs and in familiar modes of activity. On the other hand, fateful moments also often mark periods of reskilling and empowerment. They are points at which, no matter how reflexive an individual may be in shaping of her Self-Identity, she has to sit up and take notice of new demand as well as new possibilities. At such moments, when life has to be seen anew, it is not surprising that endeavors at reskilling are likely to be particularly important and intensely pursued. Where consequential decisions are concerned, individuals are often stimulated to devote the time and energy necessary to generate increased mastery of the circumstances they confront. Fateful moments are transition points which have major implications not just for the circumstances of an individual's future conduct, but for self identity. For consequential decisions, once taken, will reshape the reflexive project of identity through the lifestyle consequences which ensue." Giddens (1991:142-143)

Based on the three dynamics of modernity: the separation of time and space, the disembedding mechanism and institutional reflexivity plus added to that the notion of an acute sense of crisis the self is beset with this fateful moments. To this, Giddens replies with Life Politics.
"Life-political issues place a question mark against the internally referential systems of modernity. Produced by the emancipatory impact of modern institutions, the life-political agenda exposes the limits of decision-making governed purely by internal criteria. For life politics brings back to prominence precisely those moral and existential questions repressed by the core institutions of modernity. Here we see the limitations of accounts of `postmodernity' developed under the aegis of poststructuralism. According to such views, moral questions become completely denuded of meaning or relevance in current social circumstances. But while this perspective accurately reflects aspects of the internally referential systems of modernity, it cannot explain why moral issues return to the center of the agenda of life politics. Life-political issues cannot be debated outside the scope of abstract systems: information drawn from various kinds of expertise is central to their definition. Yet because they center on questions of how we should live our lives in emancipated social circumstances they cannot but bring to the fore problems and questions of a moral and existential type. Life-political issues supply the central agenda for the return of the institutionally repressed. They call for a remoralising of social life and they demand a renewed sensitivity to questions that the institutions of modernity systematically dissolve." Giddens (1991: 223-224)

Changes therefore cannot be seen in isolated areas or pockets of consideration. We cannot focus on the individual only. The changes must bee seen within the context of the macro and micro revel. Within the realm of reflexivity, we do not only look at changes within ourselves as individuals and institutions but how we institute change. Using divorce as a metaphor for modernity, we can see all the hurts and pains and promise, much like Nietzsche said....live dangerously.

Miguel Llora

A lucid and engaging synthesis.......2001-10-12

This book is indeed a work of social science, and not a work of formal logic, dialectic, or philosophy. And as such, it seeks to avoid the subject-object aporias and non-explanatory vocabulary of "postmodernism" so fashionable in some academic circles in favor of an integrated model of the self and society that not only makes sense, but resonates with the modern reader and social scientist in a way not easily dismissable by concerns of validity claims. Phenomenology, it must be noted, is less than a water-tight system of defendable truth-claims; postmodernism in its extreme denies the notion of objective knowledge altogether. This book has different aims.

The strength of Giddens' work has always been his identification of reflexivity as the central mechanism behind social and psychological transformations - the nested critique of society that sets up progressively complex turnovers in psyche and structure, one on the heels of the other, institutionalizing doubt as a central feature of existential and social life. Giddens makes clear that "postmodernity" is a meaningless term for his purposes; instead he takes the more sensible route (alongside contemporaries such as the brilliant Scott Lash) and employs the term "high modernity" to describe the present times as of the same conceputal order (albeit much more "intense" in critical ways) than preceding centuries. He compares and contrasts the self and the other, the mechanics of disembedding and reimbedding, the dynamics of intensionality and extensionality, and the twin states of trust and risk in a way that convincingly demonstrates that modernity is a game whose time is not yet up - and whose textures social science is capable of elegantly describing, and possibly even explaining. Giddens' theory of the "pure relationship" and his related analyses of self-society relationships are extremely important theoretically to many areas of the social sciences, including nation-state theory, globalization, development ethnography, refugee studies, and cultural studies. His work is even beginning to exert an influence on parallel disciplines as well, for example discourse analysis.

So, while the philosopher might dismiss this work as dependent on the truth-claims of modern psychology, the sociologist (at whatever level of expertise) will find this to be an engaging, challenging, and clearly written work with far-ranging application to empirical social-scientific material.

A Branch of Structuration Theory.......2000-06-21

The question of self identity is a classical philosophical question and also a fundamental issue for any social/ sociological theory which deals with the subject, the active agent. The approach to this issue can be either set out in a philosophical manner or that of a social science. By "social science" I refer to the narrow sense of a somewhat empirical and experimental tradition.

Giddens adopts the latter. He argues from results of psychological experiments that human beings are subject to a sense of security since a newborn. By the sense can one assure the continuity of the self-identity. The continuity furtherly guarantees that the person not get into psychological disorder.

The self-identity in "high-modernity" has to cope with new problems. Giddens avoids using the term "postmodern", but he does points out the failure of the Enlightenment project which other postmodernists recognize. Giddens admits that human knowledge cannot reach so far as to set out a orderly plan of the society. The uncertainty signified by the sphere of the unknown/ unrealizable forms a great challenge to the self identity he mentioned above. Giddens tries to describe the society in high-modernity as a "risk community" and politics of life. The former concept may be inspired by Ulrich Beck. And the latter means an incorporation of global or domestic issues into everyday decisions, such as whether or not to buy environment-friendly products.

The style of this book can be seemed as a detail part of his structuration theory, which attempts to combined the conflicting individualist and structuralist perspectives. Those who are familiar with the agent/ structure controversies may find this book helpful.

Book Description

In this book, Aleß Debeljak offers a refreshing alternative to postmodernists such as Baudrillard, who declare the death of art conceived as yet another source of rootless, circulating fictions. Inspired by the melancholy critical theory of Adorno and Benjamin, and drawing on Weber, Debeljak shows that with the dawning of modernity, art was made autonomous. Art production was effectively emancipated from the exigencies of everyday life and its guiding ideal of purposive rationality. The Renaissance brought on the first stage in a long, gradual withdrawal of art from the hitherto dominant mythological, religious, and aristocratic legitimization. Yet it was not until the 18th century that art assumed the separate status of a commodity to be bought and sold. However, art paid a price for its autonomy; through commodification art production ultimately become an extension of capitalist logic and control. The deterioration of bourgeois liberal individualism into the narcissism of mass society accompanied the decomposition of art into simplified mass art and commercialized kitsch. Maintaining its formal autonomy (museums, galleries, etc.), its content became the universal object of indirect corporate exploitation. Today postmodern art, argues Debeljak, is subjected to infinite reproducibility, total integration into mass society, and political resignation--no longer representing an alternative reality. The postmodern institution of art thus cannot be simply cured of modern structures and assumptions, but is, instead, fated to a continuous and painful relationship with modernity.

Book Description

4 paper dolls representing the Vamp, the Flapper, the "It" girl, and the Girl Next Door are accompanied by 24 costumes that recreate couture by Chanel, Poiret, Lanvin, Vionnet, Patou, other great designers. Also, 4 costumed paper dolls represent stylish young men of the period. 8 dolls. 24 costumes. Introduction.

Customer Reviews:

Roaring Twenties Paper Doll Review.......2000-07-21

As a huge fan of period paper dolls, I was impressed with this collection. The book contains 8 dolls - 4 girls and 4 guys. Each girl has 5 to 6 outfits and Tierney gives detailed descriptions of the models' personality types. The men do not have any clothes, but each character clearly represents the various types of men in this time period. I enjoyed this collection because it gives good examples of what the women of this period might have worn without adhering to only the "flapper" girl. The descriptions also give complete fashion guides for those who are interested in the designers and fabrics. I also enjoyed Tierney's explanation of the moral and social standings of the twenties. This is a charming collection!

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Roaring 20's: A paper doll
Donald Hendricks
Manufacturer: True Collectibles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Book Description

This book is an upgrade to phpMyAdmin Version 2.8. Written by a member of the development team, this book serves as a comprehensive guide to helping you unlock the full potential of phpMyAdmin 3.8 phpMyAdmin Providing a powerful graphical interface for managing MySQL, phpMyAdmin is one of the most popular open source applications. While most MySQL developers use routine features of phpMyAdmin every day, few are aware of the power and potential of its advanced features. This book builds a solid understanding of the core capabilities of phpMyAdmin before walking you through every facet of this legendary tool. MySQL Used by millions of developers, MySQL is the most popular open source database, supporting numerous large dynamic websites and applications. MySQL has acquired this wide popularity by virtue of its open source nature, performance, reliability, robustness, and support for various platforms. However, this popularity has also been helped by the existence of phpMyAdmin, the industry standard administration tool that makes database management easy for both the experienced developer and their novice. The powerful graphical interface that it provides to MySQL has made phpMyAdmin an indispensable tool for MySQL and web developers. Every phpMyAdmin user can benefit from unlocking the full potential of this powerful application. Whether you are an experienced developer, system administrator, web designer or new to MySQL and phpMyAdmin, this book will show you how to increase your productivity and control when working with your databases. You will learn how to: - Administer MySQL users and privileges, and get statistics about MySQL servers and databases - Manage databases, table data and structures, and indexes - Use bookmarks and metadata - Generate multiple SQL queries - Generate better documentation of evolving table structures Along the way you will build a more detailed understanding of SQL and how it works in MySQL. As an application developer you'll learn how to use phpMyAdmin to: - Effectively perform day-to-day database and table management. - Create efficient database tables and relational structures - Document your evolving data structure easily As a MySQL server administrator, you will benefit from the in-depth and practical coverage of: - Using phpMyAdmin to manage users and privileges - Getting server and database statistics All database users will be able to expand and refine their knowledge of SQL in a MySQL context by using phpMyAdmin to track SQL execution and results. The prior edition of this book was written for version 2.6. Most of the changes to phpMyAdmin in version 3.8 are in the user interface and not the underlying functionality. This book brings the screen shots and user instructions into line with the new interface. If as a reader you are happy with the new interface already you don't need to upgrade to this new edition of the book. The book begins with a comprehensive tutorial of phpMyAdmin that systematically explains and demonstrates the potential of this tool. It then goes on to show the less well known and generally under-used features and capabilities of phpMyAdmin in depth. Whether you are an experienced developer, system administrator, web designer or new to MySQL, phpMyAdmin is a must have tool for anyone who needs to manage MySQL databases and tables. This book is a must read for every serious phpMyAdmin user who would like to use this outstanding application to its full power.

Customer Reviews:

Great book!.......2007-05-13

If you don't like command-line interface with your computer, phpMyAdmin is a great tool! And if you want to learn the right way to interact with phpMyAdmin, this book is your perfect resource!
I stumbled upon a phpMyAdmin screencast by DeLisle at a conference. His calm and collected presentation style along with a great clarity for instruction is repeated in this book.
Mastering phpMyAdmin has enabled me to move out of my limited comfort zone with database management in general. The book is clearly laid out to give you step-by-step instructions to make a database work for you.
I highly recommend this book, and DeLisle's Creating your MySQL Database: Practical Design Tips and Techniques as well. They are great books!

A nice update.......2007-01-20

I've got a review copy of the phpMyAdmin 2.8 book as well as the previous edition of this book. The old edition already was rather comprehensive and had all the features that phpMyAdmin has cleary laid out.

Still, the layout of the new edition improved a notch, this is a nice update. While you probably won't need the book if you already have the old edition, it is a nice book to help you get out the most of phpMyAdmin.

How to Use phpMyAdmin.......2006-11-17

The purpose of this book by Marc Delisle is to teach you how to use phpMyAdmin, which is a popular open source program for working with a MySQL database using the phpMyAdmin user-friendly graphic interface. Most PHP programmers use MySQL for their database needs because these two technologies work so well together. For those who have not yet worked with phpMyAdmin and MySQL, this book will help you get up and running quickly. And for those programmers who have taught themselves to use phpMyAdmin by trial and error, this book will introduce and explain those features you may have missed.

The author begins with an introduction to phpMyAdmin. He covers the main features and some history of the program. After that, he jumps right in to the installation, configuration and security issues for the Linux, Apache and IIS servers. Of course, if you are using phpMyAdmin with your web host account, you may not have much control over these issues. Once the program is installed, he explains the user interface and discusses those easy-to-use features that make this program so popular.

Delisle starts with the basic tasks such as creating databases and setting up tables. He explains the different types of data, table fields and the various choices you have when performing many tasks. Next, he shows you how to move tables between databases and how to backup, copy and move databases between servers. Although the user-friendly graphic interface is what makes phpMyAdmin so nice, you may at some time need to use the SQL commands alone. The author covers the most common tasks you may encounter. Finally, he moves on to more advanced issues such as administrative tasks and generating database reports and documentation.

Marc Delisle is a developer and project administrator for the phpMyAdmin project. He also teaches at the College de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.

Mastering phpMyAdmin for Effective MySQL Management

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One of the best guides to phpMyAdmin
Great, helpful book!
You need this book
Quality manual for a quality product
Everything You Didn't Know You Needed to Know

Mastering phpMyAdmin for Effective MySQL Management
Marc Delisle
Manufacturer: Packt Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1904811035

Book Description

This book is a comprehensive guide to unlocking the full potential of phpMyAdmin. Whether you are an experienced developer, system administrator, web designer or new to MySQL and phpMyAdmin, this book will show you how to increase your productivity and control when working with your MySQL.

phpmyAdmin is one of the most widely used open source applications, but few users are aware of hidden power and features. In this book you'll learn about:

• Installing, configuring, and customizing phpMyAdmin.
• MySQL administration.
• Managing databases, table data and structures.
• Managing indexes.
• Exporting databases and table data and structures.
• Searching databases and tables
• Using metadata and bookmarks
• Generating multiple SQL queries
• Documenting table structures
• Mime-based transformation

Along the way you'll build a more detailed understanding of SQL and how it works in MySQL.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best guides to phpMyAdmin.......2006-08-17

Although this book doesn't contain even one snippet of PHP code, it's still really useful to any PHP programmer, especially if you're just starting out. It's likely that you'll use phpMyAdmin during development, and it's important to know about all the (hidden) features, so you can save time and work as efficient as possible.

Initially, I had some worries that this book might be mainly targeted towards beginners, but this is not the case at all, and it's more of a complete guide to phpMyAdmin than just a beginner's book. This book is targeted towards everyone, and even the most advanced programmers will learn a thing or two from this book, especially about PMA's own unique features.

If you're looking for a good phpMyAdmin book, or still don't feel really comfortable with phpMyAdmin, I can definitely recommend this book. This is one of the best guides to phpMyAdmin, and the author has done a terrific job!

Great, helpful book!.......2006-03-28

I had quite a few questions that no amount of Googling would answer....this book answered them all!
Clear pictures, troubleshooting. A must to include with any MySQL development..go Linux!

You need this book.......2005-09-26

If you work with phpMyAdmin to work with your mySQL server, you will want this book. It breaks down tasks in non tech-geek language. I use this as my first reference books when I need information to help accomplish a task.

Quality manual for a quality product.......2004-12-31

If you're not familiar with phpMyAdmin, then you're missing out on a very powerful tool for administering your MySQL databases. It is an effective way to handle all of your tasks with MySQL, from development to administration. Don't worry, though; if you want to get up to speed in getting the most out of phpMyAdmin, then Mastering phpMyAdmin for Effective MySQL Management (Referred to from here as Mastering phpMyAdmin) will quickly take you from download to proficiency.

Most software purchases I've made rarely begin with me carefully taking out the manual and reading it before installing the software. My goal is to toss aside the manual and other bits in favor of getting to the install media as quickly as possible. If there's ever a problem, then it's time to fish out the manual and see what I missed. Manufacturers caught up with this mentality and include mere pamphlets compared to the gigantic tomes that used to be included with software in the late 80s and early 90s. So why pick up Mastering phpMyAdmin? Can you get along just fine without a manual? phpMyAdmin is easy to use, and very straightforward, but Mastering phpMyAdmin shows just how powerful phpMyAdmin can be. Those who like to have more of a hand-held approach or want to have printed documentation will find Mastering phpMyAdmin to be invaluable and an asset to their use of phpMyAdmin.

Mastering phpMyAdmin is a very thin book, weighing in at a spartan 205 pages, but those 205 pages are put to work with plenty of screenshots and information. The book covers using phpMyAdmin under Linux and Windows, so both sets of users will be able to benefit from phpMyAdmin. Each chapter in the book is short, roughly 10 pages each, but each chapter is packed with useful information. The author is quick to give attention to functions and features tha are genuinely useful. Unlike other books that describe a configuration file by dedicating a chapter to configuration, the author chose instead to describe the configurable portions of phpMyAdmin as each function is introduced. This allows the really useful bits of phpMyAdmin to shine without getting muddled in useless details. phpMyAdmin has lots of little interface tweaks in the config.php.inc file, but the book touches on the ones that anyone but the serious interface hacker would be interested in. This makes the book read like an experienced tour of functionality rather than a "drink from the firehose" reference manual. The author covers all aspects of phpMyAdmin: installation, database creation/deletion, table creation/modification/deletion, searching, and administration. phpMyAdmin features such as BLOB editing, bookmarks, linked tables, and relational schemas are also covered in depth with the same attention to detail and brevity as the other chapters.

I highly recommend anyone who wants to get more than a simple front-end for MySQL look into picking up phpMyAdmin and Mastering phpMyAdmin. Mastering phpMyAdmin is an excellent resource for phpMyAdmin, and both beginners and experts alike will benefit from this excellent resource. It's brief enough to be a quick introduction, yet detailed enough to make anyone feel like an expert with this incredibly useful tool.

Everything You Didn't Know You Needed to Know.......2004-06-07

phpMyAdmin is usually installed quickly, out of acute necessity. You need to do something with your database, and you can't do it via telnet or SSH or anything else, so you download the latest version, FTP it up, and away you go. More often than not, the install is forgotten about as soon as your need is over.

The downside of this is that you're not getting nearly the value you should out of a phpMyAdmin install. Most people work with phpMyAdmin superficially and in very narrow usage corridors - like kids walking barefoot on a painted line through a very large parking lot. There's so much about the app that you don't know.

This book is a departure from a lot of tech books in that (1) it's short and sweet (just under 200 pages - not nearly the 600-page monolith some of these things become), and (2) it seems more...conversational. Concepts are explained in plain English. I normally hate that cliche, but it fits here. I got a sense of simply having a casual conversation with a fellow geek.

I read it over the course of a week, putting in a chapter or two each night. I learned something new in every chapter, and I'd implement them in my phpMyAdmin install right after reading the chapter. By the end of the book, I'm left with a superb phpMyAdmin install that does a thousand times more than I've ever accomplished with the app before.

There's a lot of phpMyAdmin functionality under the hood that you've likely never seen. For instance, you can set it up to enforce relational integrity in your database. This is just good database design, but it also enriches the interface considerably. Foreign key fields now become drop-down lists to the foreign table with a selection of entries. You can print a PDF summary document with descriptions of all tables and columns and an entity relationship diagram showing field relationships. Bet you haven't seen that trick before.

I suddenly have a sense of liberation with phpMyAdmin. We all hate writing admin interfaces, especially for one-off apps we do in a hurry. Thankfully, phpMyAdmin can support an enormous amount of administration chores in an interface not nearly as utilitarian as the default one you get on install. It won't work for administering the data of every app you write, but I bet it will handle a lot of them.

I can now see writing apps and doing things that I stayed away from before just because I didn't want to write all the data entry and database admin scripts that easily dominate the work required to put these things together. Instead, I can concentrate on the fun of the front-end pages, while phpMyAdmin sucks up all the back-end work.

The book also includes some good information about PHP and MySQL in general. On page 86, in the chapter on importing data, there's a solid little discussion about PHP file upload and execution limits that trumps anything I've read before. I'm a better developer for having read these four paragraphs about the "upload_max_filesize," "memory_limit," and "post_max_size" parameters.

As for MySQL, did you know about InnoDB tables? This is a table format that builds referential integrity into MySQL - something the database has been missing for so long. I'll admit to being utterly ignorant about this feature until this point.

There's a chapter at the end of the book about MIME-based transformations that summarizes the general level of apathy about this app. I can't believe I haven't run across a discussion about this feature before -

You may have known on the periphery that you could store files directly into a MySQL database using a BLOB column. But did you know that phpMyAdmin will support this with a file upload field in the interface, so your users can upload files directly? Or that you can sent a MIME Transformation on that field to display a thumbnailed view of stored images in the row when browsing the database? And that you can link that thumbnail to the full-size version or the image, pulled directly from the field? I'll bet the percentage of phpMyAdmin users who know that trick is in the single digits.

So, good book. If you find yourself writing a lot of throwaway admin interfaces and hating every minute of it, the $30 cover price for this text is probably looking mighty attractive right now.

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