Book Description
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a genius so universal that his popularity, extraordinary even during his lifetime, has never ceased to grow. It now encircles the globe: Beethoven's most famous works are as beloved in Beijing as they are in Boston.
Edmund Morris, the author of three bestselling presidential biographies and a lifelong devotee of Beethoven, brings the great composer to life as a man of astonishing complexity and overpowering intelligence. A gigantic, compulsively creative personality unable to tolerate constraints, he was not so much a social rebel as an astute manipulator of the most powerful and privileged aristocrats in Germany and Austria, at a time when their world was threatened by the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.
But Beethoven's achievement rests in his immortal music. Struggling against progressive, incurable deafness (which he desperately tried to keep secret), he nonetheless produced towering masterpieces, such as his iconic Fifth and Ninth symphonies. With sensitivity and insight, Edmund Morris illuminates Beethoven's life, including his interactions with the women he privately lusted for but held at bay, and his work, whose grandeur and beauty were conceived "on the other side of silence."
Customer Reviews:
Best Beethoven biography available.......2007-08-28
Unlike other books by Mr. Morris, this accurate biography of Beethoven's life is based on fact instead of vivid recreation of fiction. This book is poignant and very descriptive and goes as far as updating facts about Beethoven's life (based on serious and ardouos research), something other scholars had avoided. There are tons of metaphors contrasting Beethoven's compositions with the current literary movement of the time: Sturm und Drang, and this gives the reader a chance to delve in into German-Austrian society of the time and how the subject interacted with it. It is a book both witty and funny, capable of arousing serious doubts among intellectual circles for the author discusses Beethoven's supposed homosexuality and his misathropy without having much evidence for the former. I highly recommend this book simply because it is descriptive, well written and hillarious ( I couldn't stop laughing at the way Mr. Morris suggested how picky and obstinate Beethoven was--all in a witty way). For those who do not have a background in classical music, music theory to be more specific, this book would prove to be challenging--reading Classical Music for Dummies will suffice as an introduction for this splendid piece of research.
An initimate portrait of the man, less the music.......2007-08-20
Beethoven the Universal Composer is a thoughtful portrait of the man, less the music. The book describes how music truly inhabited Beethoven and impelled him through life, but the focus is on his relationships,generally tempestuous, often manic, at times obsessive. Combined with his tragic deafness, his mercurial personality in these relationships often alienated him from the community of mankind touched so deeply by his music.
I listened to this book unabridged on audio narrated by John McDonough. McDonough is a true star in this performance. His rich sonorous voice captures the magnitude and awesomeness of Beethoven's life force, with a power that rivals the incomparable George Guidall in audio performance. What the audio is missing is Beethoven's music itself, which could have been integrated for greater richness alongside the descriptions of the music.
Beethoven Over All .......2007-02-27
I read Thayer's Life of Beethoven many years ago and I wanted to revisit the life of Beethoven. My interest was for something dealing closely with Beethoven's personality and this short book by Edmund Morris seemed ideal. There is a lot of information that makes this short study interesting but I ultimately did not find this book very satisfying. A danger in writing a biography is that the author can fall under the spell of his subject and cease to be objective. I found this to be the case with Mr. Morris especially in his first chapter where he addresses his subject as "Ludwig" and seems eager to explain his life rather than objectively relate events.
Mr. Morris' lack of objectivity was also made clear in the opening Prologue where he denigrates other composers; he points out that "Brahms has never gone down well in France" and that "Sibelius, who once seemed sure of a seat on Parnassus, has been replaced by the masturbatory Mahler." At one time, radio audiences in America voted Sibelius as the most popular composer, even over Beethoven, and it should also be noted that Beethoven's symphonies were not played in France until after his death where in some circles they, indeed, did not go down well either. And as for Mahler, I found such comments by Mr. Morris' to be extremely uncharitable and a turn off.
There were other comments that I found irksome and a few doubtful. An example: "It is hard to think of any contemporary classical-music radio station or website that does not attempt to beat to death, on a daily basis, the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, the "Emperor" Concerto, the Coriolan and Leonore I Overtures and the Choral Fantasy - while fortunately neglecting such other masterpieces as the Cello Sonata, Op. 69, the "Ghost" and E-flat major Trios, Op. 70, and the little known, tranquilly lovely Mass in C major." This seems quite an exaggeration, and my advice for Mr. Morris is to listen to WFMT, but not on December 16.
I found myself skimming the book particularly from Mr. Morris' pedantic style of writing. His overuse of foreign words was a bit much and while in some cases the use of foreign phrases is interesting and even a necessity there were many times in this book when they were unnecessary. An example, "Max Franz was receptive to the Count [Ferdinand Waldstein] - who quickly became a court favorite - but showed no interest in favoring Ludwig over any of the other musici." Can't we simply refer to them as musicians?
Beethoven's music is covered, for the most part, succinctly by Mr. Morris, as I would have expected in a book of this length and events in the composer's life are well-presented - particularly Beethoven's relationship with this nephew Karl. Regrettably, Mr. Morris says nothing of Beethoven's interest in Schubert's music that happened during his final illness. Schubert was among his visitors and the dying Beethoven asked to see him before other friends who were present. As it is, Mr. Morris relates that Schubert was a torchbearer during Beethoven's funeral and notes that Schubert was buried near Beethoven and continued to be dominated by him.
Unfortunately, I cannot say that Mr. Morris provided the well-rounded portrait of Beethoven that I was seeking, and I plan to turn to a longer biography of the composer. I came away from reading this book that I needed another point of view concerning Beethoven.
Highly readable.......2007-01-23
I thoroughly enjoyed this compact and informative biography -- it is the perfect amount of information for someone who would like a reasonably comprehensive picture of Beethoven's life (and the fascinating historical context) without wading through reams of minutiae. Beethoven, despite some less-than-attractive personal traits, is a truly inspirational figure in the purity of his musical genius and dedication to his art in the face of deafness and many other obstacles. But perhaps the most pleasantly surprising revelation of the book was the author's uncanny ability to describe Beethoven's music with metaphors that give it a physical reality -- this is a special gift of Mr. Morris perhaps attributable to his own musical background. It made the music come alive on the page with a sort of synaesthesia rare, in my experience, in any genre of artistic criticism.
short but sweet.......2007-01-18
This slender volume is no substitute for the likes of Maynard Solomon's 500-page Beethoven (1977, revised in 1998), but that is not its purpose. Rather, this "Eminent Lives" series publishes biographies on "canonical figures" by distinguished contemporary authors. Edmund Morris, for example, is best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (1979) and, more recently, Theodore Rex (2002), although I notice that the book jacket also describes him as a pianist and "private scholar of music" who has "studied Beethoven for a half century." The result is an accessible book geared for a general readership about one of the greatest composers ever to live.
Compared to Mozart who astonished regal courts at age six or seven, Beethoven (1770-1827) got a comparatively late start, although by his teenage years he was an acknowledged genius. The first written comparison to Mozart is when Beethoven was thirteen. He was also well-known for his multitude of eccentricities--his ugly looks, poor social skills, inability to perform simple math, slovenly personal habits and squalid living conditions despite his wealth, deep loneliness, a volcanic temper, depression, unimaginably manipulative and vindictive behavior towards those closest to him, greed, lying and cheating, and, of course, his deafness that descended upon him at the age of thirty-one. After meeting together four times in the summer of 1812, Goethe described Beethoven as "an utterly untamed personality."
But his music, so full of "contrast and conflict," is simply some of the most beautiful and sublime ever to emerge from a mortal. With quick strokes Morris takes us through Beethoven's aborted lessons with Mozart (he returned after two weeks for his mother's funeral), and then his move at the age of twenty-two to study with Haydn in Vienna, where he lived for the rest of his life. At the ripe age of twenty-four he had what amounted to his public debut, after which history took its course. His final public performance was in 1814, a dozen years before he died.
Beethoven's ambition and prodigious capacity for work made him a wealthy celebrity and the darling of both royalty and aristocracy. But he was hounded his entire life by deep loneliness, chronic ill health, and social alienation due to his eccentricities. But by himself he instigated a revolution in music: "The age of Affekt, of familiar sounds in rationalized patterns designed to evoke specific emotions, was over. The age Argument had begun: music that actually fought with itself, with the composer struggling to balance its contrary dynamics, and the performer struggling to master its difficulties--while the listener, caught up in the struggle, too, wondered which force was going to prevail" (145).
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Weekly Standard, published by Thomson Gale on October 17, 2005. The length of the article is 933 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Beethoven: The Universal Composer.(Books in Brief)
Author: Abigail Lavin
Publication:
The Weekly Standard (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 17, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 11
Issue: 5
Page: 43(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
From aperitif to digestif, approach every meal with savvy and grace.
We’ve all experienced Fancy-Pants Restaurant Jitters at some point – the fear that you will unknowingly commit some fine-dining crime, whether it’s using the wrong fork, picking an amateur wine, mispronouncing foie gras, or gasping when your fish entrée arrives with its head still attached. Relax. The Mere Mortal’s Guide to Fine Dining is the ultimate antidote to restaurant anxiety.
Where does your napkin go when you leave the table? Should you sniff the wine cork? And why, pray tell, are there so many forks? This comprehensive and accessible primer answers these and dozens of other questions and offers the basics on every aspect of fine dining, including:
* How to navigate a place setting
* Speaking menu-ese and the language of fine food
* A refresher on polite and polished table manners
* 911 for wine novices
* A carnivore’s guide to beef, pork, lamb, and veal
* What local, sustainable, and organic really mean
* Japanese dining dos and don’ts
* Who’s who on a restaurant’s staff
* How to be a regular—or get the perks like one
* Top restaurants across the country
* What the food snobs know (and you should, too)
* And much more…
With a little help, any Mere Mortal can order wine with confidence, get great, attitude-free service, decipher menus, and finally, truly, savor any dining experience.
Customer Reviews:
A foodie's best friend!.......2007-05-04
My mother gave me this book after I had gone to dinner at Gibson's Steak House in Chicago, IL. I had felt like a fish out of water, and quite unworthy of the experience. After reading this book, I agree with Colleen's statement in the opening chapters--it will not make you a snob, but will certainly put you at ease! My viewing of menus have changed completely since reading this book, and I'm noticing small nuisances while dining that make the experience far more enjoyable, and far less uncomfortable! Even in my home cooking, when I go to the grocery store, I'm looking for the freshest and most seasonal ingredients, and branching out and trying things I never thought I'd like (which isn't much, being a foodie and all...) I lent this book to my boyfriend, who could burn toast by looking at it, and he too is experiencing food and dining on an entirely new level! This book is an absolute MUST across the board! Give it to a friend, keep a copy for yourself, it doesn't matter, just spread this book!
Great as a gift!.......2007-03-07
This book is a fun gift for friends and family who aren't perfectly comfortable when they eat anywhere "fancier" than the Olive Garden. It's also helpful for young adults who are new to dinner-party planning and aspire to greatness as a host/hostess.
"Mere Mortals Guide to (Knowing What to Do!)".......2007-01-07
This book made me feel more comfortable with all of the in's and out's of preparing, dining, and not looking like a schmuck in front of my friends. Having not tried hummus or even guacamole until I entered college, my culinary knowledge and skills were at a very basic level. Ms. Rush clearly explains "what to do" and "how to do it" without making me feel intimidated. In particular the wine section was extremely helpful when buying a bottle of wine either at a restaurant or for home entertainment. It expanded my knowledge of regions, tastes, and most importantly names of wines that I liked. In fact, friends now come to me for recommendations and I confidently share my knowledge. I would recommend the "Mere Mortals Guide to Fine Dining" to anyone and has made a great gift on many occasions.
Oh My God. Turns Out I'm a Total Doofus..........2007-01-03
I eat out frequently, on a lot of business dinners. I read about this book in a magazine and ordered it. A fun, fast read with easy-to-digest information about tipping, wine, becoming a "regular" at a restaurant (how to score perks), and... table manners.
This is where my doofus-ness comes in. My napkin is supposed to be folded to the left of my plate (not on my chair) if I get up to pee? Utensils can never touch the table (not even the handles) once you pick them up?? I was wincing over and over as I learned all the little habits I had wrong.
On the upside, I've got it pretty much straight now. In fact, fun fact: I went to dinner after reading just the intro/first chapter, and scored a FREE glass of fancy wine... Already recouped the cost of the book!
Perfect. Really really perfect. The best refresher course in dining & civility out there........2006-10-27
When I got my copy of Mere Mortal's Guide I found myself flipping through this book on and off all evening as I thought of questions about corked wine, aged beef and the like. Without exception I came to quick, clear (and at times hilarious) answers. I think I fell in love with the book when I used the break down in the table of contents to find every bit of info I sought right off the bat. I'm buying it for every fellow food lover I know. And some others whom I think may benefit from a robust and irreverant resource detailing the rules of civility in dining. Especially the ones who place their forearm on the table just north of the plate in the 'I'm guarding this' pose.
Average customer rating:
- Let them use forks
- Bad translation distracting -- but content is good
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Culture of the Fork
Giovanni Rebora
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
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Food Is Culture (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)
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Near a Thousand Tables : A History of Food
ASIN: 0231121504 |
Book Description
We know where he went, what he wrote, and even what he wore, but what in the world did Christopher Columbus eat? The Renaissance and the age of discovery introduced Europeans to exotic cultures, mores, manners, and ideas. Along with the cross-cultural exchange of Old and New World, East and West, came new foodstuffs, preparations, and flavors. That kitchen revolution led to the development of new utensils and table manners. Some of the impact is still felt -- and tasted -- today.
Giovanni Rebora has crafted an elegant and accessible history filled with fascinating information and illustrations. He discusses the availability of resources, how people kept from starving in the winter, how they farmed, how tastes developed and changed, what the lower classes ate, and what the aristocracy enjoyed.
The book is divided into brief chapters covering the history of bread, soups, stuffed pastas, the use of salt, cheese, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, the arrival of butter, the quest for sugar, new world foods, setting the table, and beverages, including wine and tea. A special appendix, "A Meal with Columbus," includes a mini-anthology of recipes from the countries where he lived: Italy, Portugal, Spain, and England.
Entertaining and enlightening, Culture of the Fork will interest scholars of history and gastronomy -- and everyone who eats.
Customer Reviews:
Let them use forks.......2003-05-29
Constantinople went Muslim on May 29, 1453. America went Spanish on October 12, 1492. Months before, Spaniards fired the last Islamic king. All three happenings jump-started new food trends.
Another jump-start was new money- and power-holders. Bankers, mercenary captains, and merchants governed 15th-century Italy. They weren't from the traditionally Germanic nobility. They were open to new ways of doing things.
So too were glass- and tablecloth-makers, potters and silversmiths. Making cooking- and dinner-ware brought money and power. It was gold and silver for the rich, pewter and fine pottery for the middle class, and ceramics and wood for the poor.
Discoveries, politics, trade agreements and war also changed what people ate. Tradesmen swapped customs and ideas while dealing in goods and money. With enough savings, trades and palace cooks opened carry-outs, drinking houses, inns and taverns. There, the public found out the latest too.
One thing new was the CULTURE OF THE FORK. It came into use with eating pasta. A cookbook from medieval Naples urged eating lasagna with a single-pronged wooden utensil. Known as punteruolo, it led into the fork.
In Portuguese, when a poor man eats a chicken one of the two's sick. Selling the chicken meant the peasant could ape luxury-buying and use forks. This was possible when larger amounts of foods, such as spices, became easier to get. Prices went down. The elite stopped buying. Instead, the wealthy French switched to countryside herbs. Wealthy Spaniards took up hot chili peppers, new from America. In the Piedmont and Tuscany, cloves and pepper, respectively, went from elite to peasant use.
Giovanni Rebora says that the subject needs more looking into. For example, are hunger, boring food and alcoholism recent problems? Other than rare famines, the poor had the basics. They generally didn't have luxuries. But the wealthy gave the poor good drinking and eating, on Carnival, Christmas, Easter, local saints' days, New Year and seasonal festivals. So, according to the author, hunger back then was nothing like those suffering concentration camps, gulags and slums in the 20th century.
Bad translation distracting -- but content is good.......2002-10-22
I would have given this book *five* stars, had it not been for the shoddy - literal translation from Italian to English. Being an Italian speaker, I sometimes had to re-read certain sentences with my "Italian" hat on to discern the meaning. This would have been an excellent book if the translation had been both literary and cultural but it is neiter. This, unfortunatly, detracts from the book a great deal as some references are not explained to the english-reading audiance who may not be familiar with Italian history. Since Italians use a great many words to describe something that would only take a few in English- the literal translation makes them read like run-ons and often leaves the reader lost at the end. If you are able to overcome all these obstacles, the content of the book is enlightning and educational. I learned that industrial olive-growing in Greece was implemented when they were under Venitian rule and that the fork, was originally a small spear that eventually became the four-pronged utensil that we now know with the development of newer, longer, slippery pasta shapes.
Average customer rating:
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Men's Lives: The Surfmen and Baymen of the South Fork
Peter Matthiessen
Manufacturer: Random House
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0394552806
Release Date: 1986-06-12 |
Book Description
An eloquent portrayal of a disappearing way of life of the Long Island fishermen whose voices--humorous, bitter and bewildered--are as clear as the threatened beauty of their once quiet shore.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Winnipeg Free Press, published by Thomson Gale on May 22, 2007. The length of the article is 509 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: 'Brave' Asians share culture; Festival at Forks a hit despite lousy weather.(City)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication:
Winnipeg Free Press (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: b1
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
The amazing story of how America's best-selling game helped shape our aspirations and captivated the world
Over 200,000,000 copies of the Monopoly(r) game have been sold worldwide since Parker Brothers first popularized it in 1935, making it the world's most popular proprietary game. Countless special and national editions of the game are now published in over sixty countries. But while Monopoly has global appeal, it is distinctly American--a symbol of America's system of economic "opportunity."
In Monopoly: America's Game, Philip Orbanes, the leading expert on all things Monopoliana, tells the remarkable history of the game, from its predecessor's birth as a teaching tool for an economics class in the first decade of the twentieth century through its explosive growth in the postwar decades to it being a ubiquitous fixture in just about every American home today. Orbanes includes fascinating Monopoly personality portraits, little-known Monopoly legends and lore, and the extraordinary variety of advertising used throughout the twentieth century. This is the first and only book to cover comprehensively the origin, growth, and global impact of the game that has become a cultural icon.
This book is not endorsed by Hasbro Games
Customer Reviews:
Read the first 80 pages.......2007-10-04
This is an extremely informative book on the early history of monopoly, and how it went through its changes to become the cultural mainstay it is today, and likely will continue to be so. After the initial history, the author starts wandering off into his rather elementary perceptions of US history and how they affected the game. I seriously had to fight off the eye glazing effect for the rest of the book, though there are some parts of the author's firsthand accounts of Monopoly tournaments that are mildly interesting. For an Amazon bargain book, worth the money, otherwise no way.
Interesting and informative... within reason.......2007-05-30
If you're a casual player of Monopoly®, you may never have managed to see a game through to the finish. However, it won't take you much time at all to complete this breezy, informative survey of the tortuous development of the "real estate trading game" from a didactic method of teaching a 19th-century economic nostrum (Henry George's "single tax") to a pastime that is enjoyed around the world. Orbanes is in a position to know all about Monopoly®, having written the previous "The Monopoly® Companion", serving as a judge at Monopoly® tournaments, and being in touch with the many collectors and fans who have come to specialize in the game and its variants and spin-offs. He does commit a fairly egregious number of faux pas of a purely historical nature, however. The ending is weak, with entirely too much time being spent on a description of Monopoly® tournaments and various individuals who have an online Monopoly® presence. It might have been better had the book been an oversized hardback, with larger space being provided for the many illustrations of Monopoly® variants, precursors, and rip-offs. Even so, this book is worth reading by anyone who enjoys the game and the general history of American pop culture.
Monopoly Game and the history behind it.......2007-04-06
Very good book if you want to know how the board game got started...
The Business of the Business Game.......2007-03-01
"Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200" You probably know this phrase even if you aren't an enthusiast for the game Monopoly, because the game has so completely infiltrated into not only American but also worldwide culture. It doesn't have the history of chess or backgammon, but Monopoly is in its own way a classic. Since it was introduced in 1935, it has sold over a quarter of a billion copies all over the world, so the business game is an overwhelming business success. In _Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game & How It Got That Way_ (Da Capo Press), Philip E. Orbanes shows how millions of players, racing around a board by throws of dice, building pretend houses and hotels, and extracting rents of phony money, have not only reflected the American economy, but have affected that economy and the economy of the world and its attitudes toward free enterprise. Orbanes is fitting as author for a book like this; he had done R & D for Parker Brothers, is a president of his own game company, and is a chief judge in national and international Monopoly championships.
The history of ancient classic games is often obscure, but Monopoly was invented; it had predecessors and was modified into its current form. It started off as "The Landlord's Game" which was patented by Lizzie Magie in 1904, not just as a game but as a way of showing the unfairness of rents and the benefits of a single tax. George Parker, of the game manufacturer Parker Brothers, himself tried it in 1909 and thought it was too complicated and pedantic. Economics professors and their students liked the game, but only after an unemployed plumbing repairman, Charles Darrow, was invited by friends to play their version, was Monopoly born. Darrow loved the game, and set about making his own version, typing Community Chest cards, buying play money from the dime store, and cutting houses and hotels from wood moldings. He made the familiar colors for the properties and made a board that looks almost the same as the current version. He sold it to department stores, and then to Parker Brothers in 1935; the firm has continued the the myth that the game sprung fully formed from Darrow's brain and hand, but Orbanes's history shows a more complicated origin. The game spread all over the world, with some pockets of resistance. The communists didn't like Monopoly, and resented that it had an underground following. When there was the American National Exhibition at the Moscow Trade Fair in 1959 (famous for the Nixon-Khrushchev kitchen debate), the model American home had a game in progress on a table in the living room. Russians wondered why they couldn't play it, too. Monopoly was officially published in Russia in 1987, and the Soviet system fell three years later.
In this day of computer and video games, people still sit down for an unelectrified Monopoly game, played the way their grandparents did seventy years ago. The game is cheap, and since retailers know they will be selling a steady supply, they often make it a loss leader, a bait to get shoppers in to buy more profitable items. People buy new games to replace those whose cardboard is wearing out. The basic game is still the one selling in the millions, but there have been eccentric versions, like the ones based on real estate in the Star Wars movies, or the luxury version from the Franklin Mint that cost over $600, and yet sold over 100,000 copies. A World Championship is held every four years, and although the game is largely based on chance, computer simulations have helped develop optimum strategies. Monopoly's history parallels that of the US in the twentieth century, so even readers who aren't players will find this a rich history of an important cultural icon.
A real disappointment.......2007-02-03
Love Monopoly and love pop culture history, so I was anxious to read this treatment of the history of America's favorite game. Unfortunately, the book does not live up to its promise.
Here's the core problem - the actual Monopoly content probably only fills about 75 pages. The rest of the text is the author's simplistic and superficial efforts at summarizing the American history that surrounded each decade of the game's life. So, instead of reading about Monopoly, I'm reading about FDR's New Deal and the author's thoughts on World War II.
He's no historian and his historical treatments are elementary-school level. By the 1960s, I was skimming over all his useless verbiage and trying (desperately) to find more on the game itself. The back cover teases with interesting Monopoly facts, but trivia of that ilk is given short shrift in the book.
Finally, he's just not a particularly good writer, using painful analogies and awkward prose. I'm not saying don't read it, especially if you have a high level of interest in the topic, but don't expect too much.
Book Description
Do you know what's eating Gilbert Grape?
Can you guess who's coming to dinner?
Are you feeling lucky, punk?
If so, step right up and test your pop culture mettle in
The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Book
Every year since its inception, the annual "Great American Pop Culture Quiz" issue of Entertainment Weekly has been a runaway reader favorite. Now, challenging you like never before, America's leading reporters of entertainment news present hundreds of new trivia questions to help determine whether you've got a steel-trap mind or a brain like a sieve.
Do you know your Eliza Doolittle from your Doctor Doolittle, your Saturday Night Fever from your Saturday Night Live, your Breakfast at Tiffany's from your Breakfast Club? Can you distinguish the Chantels from the Chiffons, Barry Manilow from Barry White, Meathead from Meatloaf, Corey Haim from Corey Hart? Whether it's quotable quotes, sitcom spin-offs, one-hit wonders, or box-office blockbusters, the editors of Entertainment Weekly have dug up the minutia that will set your brain spinning. Broken down by decade -- from the sixties to the present -- these questions will either have you pulling out your hair or puffing up your chest. So get comfortable, grab a No. 2 pencil, and take the ultimate quiz that tests what you really know.
Customer Reviews:
Good trivia book!.......2007-01-27
Great little bits of trivia divided up by decade, with nice pics to accompany the questions. Answers are in the back of the book!
Book Description
Mad about movies? Keen on TV? Crazy about comics? Or are you a music maven, lit lover, or theater buff? Fans of pop culture and puzzles will find just the thing in this collection: crosswords with fun clues like: “Murder weapon in The Talented Mr. Ripley; “Common animal in The Far Side; and "She played Evita on Broadway.” Best of all, these great puzzles are all the brainchild of Trip Payne, the crossword wizard whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker, and who won the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament three times.
Average customer rating:
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The EverQuest Reader
Manufacturer: Wallflower Press
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ASIN: 1905674236 |
Book Description
At its height, the online game EverQuest boasted 430,000 players and was nicknamed "Evercrack" for its addictive qualities, becoming the yardstick for measuring the power and possibilities of immersive entertainment. This volume explores the game's ability to intertwine the real and the virtual with essays from respected writers and players in the world of gaming, as well as an interview with EverQuest creator Brad McQuaid. By approaching online gaming as a potentially endless network of creation, interaction, and competition, The EverQuest Reader sheds light on what is becoming an increasingly compelling and important phenomenon.
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The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to PlayStation and Beyond
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Video & Electronic Games
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ASIN: 031333868X |
Book Description
In the United States alone, the video game industry raked in an astonishing $12.5 billion last year, and shows no signs of slowing. Once dismissed as a fleeting fad of the young and frivolous, this booming industry has not only proven its staying power, but promises to continue driving the future of new media and emerging technologies. Today video games have become a limitless and multifaceted medium through which Fortune 50 corporations and Hollywood visionaries alike are reaching broader global audiences and influencing cultural trends at a rate unmatched by any other media. From Pinball to PlayStation: A History of Video Games traces the growth of a global phenomenon that has become an integral part of popular culture today. All aspects of video games and gaming culture are covered inside this engaging reference, including the leading video game innovators, the technological advances that made the games of the late 1970s and those of today possible, the corporations that won and lost billions of dollars pursing this lucrative market, arcade culture, as well as the demise of free-standing video consoles and the rise of home-based and handheld gaming devices. Narrative chapters explore the ongoing debates surrounding whether video games lead to violence in children and teens-as was the case with the Columbine High School shootings-in addition to other hot-button topics, such as the evolution of adventure games and first-person shooters. Inside readers will discover:
DT How video games as a novelty grew into a worldwide multi-billion dollar industry
DT How ethical worldviews can be embodied in video games
DT How to get a job in the video game industry
DT The story behind the battle between Sony's PlayStation 3, Nintendo's Wii, and Microsoft's Xbox 360
DT The pioneers who developed such video games as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Myst, and more
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Queer Pop Culture Word Games
Manufacturer: Stewart Education Services
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0976415402 |
Product Description
These puzzles are focused at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pop culture. Queer Pop Culture Word Games contains 22 Crossword puzzles, 8 Quote Falls, and 7 Anagram puzzles for a total of 37 puzzles in all. Topics include: famous lesbian and gay movies and actors, famous sports personalities, absurd sex laws, "Hanky Code," fetishes, and more. Fun, sexy and outrageous. Perfect party and holiday gift.
Amazon.com
One of the best Windows 2000 references yet published, Microsoft Windows 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant is a professional-level how-to guide for all versions of Windows 2000. Designed with the mobile expert in mind, the cover of the book has a tough, plastic-coated surface (like that of a playing card) and rounded corners (though it won't quite lie flat without weights). Its contents are similarly hard-boiled. Concepts are explained in expertly written and carefully organized prose, while succinct procedures tell you how to meet requirements and numerous tables list options and their effects. There aren't many screen shots, but that's okay because this is a reference for people who don't need them.
Coverage is wide-ranging and includes everything a power user or system administrator would want to know about the configuration, expansion, and efficient administration of Windows 2000 systems and networks. If you're not sure how to best go about an incremental backup or the installation of a Domain Name Service (DNS) server under Windows 2000, you'll find what you need here. If you know a bit about Windows NT (or even Unix) in a networking context, you can extract all you need to know about Windows 2000's unique operational features. Similarly--even though it wasn't designed for the purpose--this book makes a great study aid for the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) tests on Windows 2000. --David Wall
Topics covered: Administration of Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Server editions, including network setup and configuration, users, groups, Active Directory, file systems, disk shares, RAID arrays, data backup and recovery, print shares, TCP/IP, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), and DNS.
Book Description
This pocket-sized resource is your fast-answers, daily operations guide to Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional. Includes key updates on security, the latest service packs, and interoperability with Windows XP.
Customer Reviews:
A Very handy book to have........2006-04-25
I found the book well laid out; it was easy to find solutions to problems. I like the small size; very easy to carry around. I recommend this series of books to anyone who is an admin.
To describe this book in one word..........2004-08-14
WOW. So much for so little and in such a little compact book is amazing. Perfect for a newbie looking to get into Administration of windows 2000 servers or a seasoned MCSE that needs refresher.
Excellent book.
2nd edition even better than first.......2004-03-30
I have the first edition and got the second edition immediaetly. With the second edition, Stanek has done a great job! This book is well written, easy to follow and concise, yet packed with lot's of useful information and hints and tips for Windows 2000. I consider myself a fairly expert Windows admin, but still learned quite a lot from this book. Like other Windows books that Stanek has written, this one is excellent for either new admins or experienced admins. I whole heartedly recommend this book to everyone.
Another excellent pocket consultant.......2004-01-25
My library of tech books fills many shelves. Out all of those books, Microsoft Windows 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant is one of the most used. I highly recommend it as a desktop reference. I refer to it all the time and it is one of the rare tech books I read cover to cover as well.
W2K admin guide for everyone.......2003-08-15
This is the best Win2K Server book I have come across for daily administration. Stanek's writing style is actually enjoyable to read and easy to understand. He obviously knows the subject, and this book is like attending an expert training class. It's refreshing to read a book written for the real admins. I also used it to help prep for MCSE tests on Win2K.
I particularly bought the book because I needed additional training on Active Directory. It has also helped with our DNS and DHCP configuration. Finally I found a book that covers Win2K DNS in good detail and also details how it integrates with AD. After reading the book, I finally fixed our DNS and AD problems. Another highlight of the book for me was his covering disk configurations, roaming profiles and EFS. Lots of expert tips and insights. Again, the book's not an exhaustive reference on the subject but is a solid daily adminstration reference. I highly recommend this book as a primary tool to correctly learn how to admin a Win2K domain.
Books:
- Bloodsuckers: Vampires at the Movies
- Blues People: Negro Music in White America
- Bt-Star Wars Album
- By Any Means Necessary (Malcolm X Speeches & Writings)
- Celine Dion: For Keeps
- Classical Music for Dummies
- Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory
- Crustaceans (Our Living World)
- D.H. Lawrence on Screen: Re-Visioning Prose Style in the Films of "the Rocking-Horse Winner," Sons and Lovers, and Women in Love (Literature and the Visual Arts)
- David Cerone Performs Suzuki Violin School (Volume 2)
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