Book Description
Can you find your digital photographs when you need them, or do you spend more time rifling through your hard drive and file cabinets than you'd like? Do you have a system for assigning and tracking content data on your photos? If you make a living as a photographer, do your images bear your copyright and contact information, or do they circulate in the marketplace unprotected?
As professional photographer and author Peter Krogh sees it, "your DAM system is fundamental to the way your images are known, both to you and to everyone else." DAM, or Digital Asset Management, in the world of digital photography refers to every part of the process that follows the taking of the picture, through final output and permanent storage. Anyone who shoots, scans or stores digital photographs, is practicing some form of digital asset management. Unfortunately, most of us don't yet know how to manage our files (and our time) very systematically, or efficiently.
In The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers, Krogh brings clarity to the often overwhelming task of managing digital photographs, with a solid plan and practical advice for fellow photographers on how to file, find, protect and re-use photographs. Following a thorough overview of the DAM system and de-mystifications of metadata and digital archiving, Krogh focuses on best practices for digital photographers using Adobe Photoshop CS2. He explains how to use Adobe Bridge, the new CS2 navigational software that replaces the File Browser introduced in Photoshop 7, with full details on integrating Bridge, Camera Raw and Digital Asset Management software.
Compellingly presented in four-color format, The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers brings Krogh's award-winning creative approach to a subject that could have been technically intimidating. Instead, Krogh's twenty years of experience and instructive visual storytelling make this material not only accessible, but compulsory reading for serious digital photographers.
Customer Reviews:
Organization!.......2007-08-31
This is a good book. It is very helpful in determining how to organize photographs. It also is a give a good review of Bridge. It would be nice for the book to be up dated to cover CS3.
An Excellent Overview.......2007-03-31
I found this book to be an excellent resource to help you to understand how all the pieces fit together.
Indespensable Reference for management & storage of digital photos............2007-03-18
As a novice in the area of digital asset management, I found this book to be extremely helpful.....well written and full of great suggestions on how best to manage your photos. Highly recommended.......a true five-star guide.
HIghly Recommended.......2007-03-08
Helps you learn how to deal with all the digital photography photos that amass on your hard drive. Do you save them as JPEG , RAW, both? What about DNG? How do you tag, and archive these files? Why would I do it this way? It's important to know when your files reach into the thousands!! Do you want to lose your data or save it as an inferior file? I hope this book gets updated yearly.
Once good, now seriously outdated and needlessly complex.......2007-03-02
The DAM Book was probably much needed when it was first published - its publication coincided with a realization by many professional and serious amateur photographers that handling the quickly growing digital photo collections required a sound organizing approach and dedicated software tools. The book aptly points out that dealing with digital image workflow and the resulting file archives is in many significant ways different than dealing with film-based archives. Based on this initial premise, the book offers recommendations on how to organize digital photo studio workflow and filing / archive system.
Alas, the author chose to tie VERY CLOSELY his mostly sensible conceptual framework (i.e., HOW to organize) with very specific software and hardware. Often, more general advice is difficult or impossible to separate from his step-by-step, software-specific recipes. So, unless you use exactly the same software and hardware configuration as the author, much, if not most of this information will be of little use.
Since the book was first published, new, DAM- and photographic workflow-oriented software has become available (Adobe CS3, including the new Bridge is now in public beta nearing its release; and Apple Aperture 1.5 and Adobe PS Ligtroom 1.0 are the new, more workflow-focused tools), and more up-to-date (although dispersed) discussion of problems in question can be found in numerous articles on the web. This makes large portions of the book obsolete, as new tools enable different workflows that may be better suited to many photographers' preferences.
The book has other issues.
First, the author LOVES using technical jargon. While technical vocabulary is appropriate in discussing technical issues, creating new terms and elaborate taxonomies for everything is an overkill. The author's misguided argument for using "controlled vocabularies" (a common term, which he uses in his own, very peculiar way - p. 47) is a good case in point. As Eric Abrahamson (Columbia Business School) aptly points out in his excellent book "A Perfect Mess," organizing is always good in principle, but OVER ORGANIZING by creating systems more complex than it is necessary to get the job done, comes at a very steep price in time and resources needed to maintain the system. Enough said.
Secondly, since this is a workflow book (not a coffee-table book), the full color print is totally unnecessary, and the price point is consequently too high. This should have been one of those $9.95 O'Reilly quick-guide booklets. Most photos reproduced in the book are simply decorative, or used as examples for things that are obvious (e.g. an example of a "group shot" - duh!; or a photo of wine barrels in a cellar as a metaphor for file storage system). Photos are not interesting on their own merit; screen captures and simple diagrams would be just as effective in greyscale.
In summary, you may want to flip through the pages of the book at a local library or bookstore - what's really useful and noteworthy here, can be easily grasped in less than 15 minutes; otherwise, your money may be better spent on a good book focused on the actual software tools YOU are committed to using.
Book Description
History has long maintained that the Anglo-Saxon overtaking of the Iron Age Celts was the origin of the British people. Celtic Britain reconstructs the peopling of Britain — through a study of genetics, climatology, archaeology, language, culture, and history — and overturns that myth and others. The Anglo-Saxons, who supposedly conquered the Celts, contributed only five to ten percent of the British gene pool. The “Atlantic Celts,” long believed to have migrated to Britain from Central Europe around 300 BC during the Iron Age, can be linked genetically to the people of Basque country. And linguistic evidence suggests that, besides Celtic languages, a Germanic-type language similar to Norse was also spoken in Britain long before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.
In this groundbreaking study, Stephen Oppenheimer explaines the surprising roots of the present-day cultural identities of the English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh.
Customer Reviews:
Great Britain as New Euskaria.......2007-09-23
An excellent book, like being back in college and taking a fun course with a witty, funny and knowledgeable professor. I appreciated the linear format with thesis backed with evidence approach. As a precaution, just like college, there were many terms and ideas that went over my head, which meant having to do some additional homework to catch up with text, but well worth the detour. To this regard, the appendix and glossary were extremely valuable. I have always been fascinated with the origins of the Basque; why would they be the only non Indo-European, Sub-Saharan or Semitic language in all of Europe and the Mediterranean and why stuck in the middle of Pyrenees? My other linguistic quandry was the lack of celtic words in the English language and the lack of consistency between English and Dutch/German/Danish. Finally the technology catches up with speculative history and paints a different picture of Western Europe. It is human nature to embelish, pander to the audience or just plain preach propaganda. But blood doesn't lie and for me all the pieces of the puzzle came together in Mr. Oppenheimer's book. I have no doubt the thesis will be seminal in the re-writing of British History.
Difficult, but intermittently rewarding.......2007-08-07
Not the place to begin, but this book may reward advanced readers who can handle a popularized but scholarly work on the implications of recent findings in DNA. Earlier readers posting here frequently disparage this book's ponderous prose and its massive array of recondite DNA analyses. After reading more accessible, and considerably shorter (no coincidence!) works on genetics and anthropology by Spencer Wells and Bryan Sykes (for both authors, their two most recent books reviewed by me on Amazon), I felt ready to tackle Oppenheimer's work, despite its difficulty. While the time invested paid off in a better knowledge of the Celtic and British origin debate and the possible influence of Germanic cultural and linguistic influences preceding not only the Anglo-Saxon invasion but the preceding Roman occupation, Oppenheimer while he may be a better scholar than Sykes remains a less entertaining writer. Sykes can popularize his findings in "Blood of the Isles" & "Seven Daughters of Eve." He also can profit from them if you note the enterprise Oxford Genetics. As I commented when reviewing Sykes' "Blood," it remains curious that two geneticists both at Oxford do not even mention the other colleague in hundreds of pages of closely documented and meticulously referenced texts.
This apparent rivalry aside, Oppenheimer acknowledges very late in his text that names given to Rostov or Ian or Helena are merely "aides memoires" for R1B-11 or the like in an alphabet soup of markers all geneticists rely upon. Readers of both Sykes & Oppenheimer sniff disdainfully at this popularization, but surely both scientists and lay people need assistance in imagining "Eve" or "Lucy" or the "Ice Man" to make more personal the findings buried in blood types or bone samples. Oppenheimer carefully explains his reasons for clarifying relationships among these difficult classifications, numbering in the thousands by now. Much explanatory material on genetics here is relegated to appendices and a glossary; while Sykes & Wells integrate more definitions and analogies into their briefer, more readable books, Oppenheimer opts for density.
This can bore a reader. My eyes glazed over in the second hundred pages full of dull genetics. The first hundred, tackling the Celtic origins debate and guardedly based on scholars such as Simon James & Barry Cunliffe, and Iron Age archaeologists such as John Collis, argues a southerly direction into the British Isles for Celtic infusion, not the La Tene Danube-Central European homeland and its overland route for entry into the Isles. Personally, I'd have liked to have Bob Quinn's book "The Atlantean Irish" (reviewed by me) credited for its prescience regarding the Atlantic Celt "fringe" movement that Cunliffe and others have since fought to replace the Continental migration theories of the 19c. This vexed matter alone, building upon the past two decades of Celtic revision, or Celto-skepticism, could fill an entire book easily.
But, I did perk up eventually. This is more a reference book on a variety of unevenly covered but admittedly provocative topics. He writes clearly in places and dully in many others, depending it seems on his diligence vs. his enthusiasm! This is an arduous trek, but you need to weather this if your curiosity's aroused about this intellectual terrain that for the first time geneticists and linguists have entered to do battle over, not to mention archeologists and historians!
Advances in DNA may soon rely on its suggestions, or they may overturn its assumptions. But, Oppenheimer bravely piles all he has amassed for the benefit of science. It may be too clunky and over-ambitious, but he has done specialized researchers, armchair genealogists, and academics like myself needing a non-technical explanation of dozens of arcane debates all a service.
Oppenheimer builds on this fact-laden if recondite foundation to posit that many of today's ancestors came to the Isles perhaps as early as around 15-7,500 years ago. The land bridge before the end of the last Ice Age became submerged allowed two major inflows of migration, from a Ukrainian-Moldavian refuge, and an Iberian refuge. The former provided a basis for North Sea movements added to later by Scandinavians, Saxons, Belgae, and other Continental peoples. The latter brought people in on the Irish, Welsh, and Scottish sides closest to the Irish Sea that opened up in the later periods of global warming. Germanic languages cannot have diverged in Old English so rapidly after the Saxon incursions, nor were (against the Welsh historian Gildas' spurious claims of Celtic "wipeout") the indigenous natives necessarily Celtic-speakers all prior to the landing of Hengist and his post-Roman mercenaries.
Percentages of genetic disruption rarely reach even the point of "decimation" of 10% in a handful of Anglian areas, according to genetic studies of inhabitants today in these long-stable regions of Britain. Simply and ineradicably, this persistent divide, genetically and perhaps linguistically, Oppenheimer proposes, persists in our DNA. This parallels the Germanic vs. Celtic division of languages in the Isles, the spine of mountains serving as an insular border between these two major routes for farming and colonization.
The hoary myth of a Celtic genocide by Teutonic overlords that inspired Arthur's last stand, it seems, proves more a "Dark Age" screed than plausible history. Granted that this early medieval era remains fraught with dangers for those reliant only on chronicles or a misleading archeological record, Oppenheimer here makes his boldest suggestion.
Probably the first to enter this fray as a geneticist, he confronts linguistic assumptions about the rapid spread and dialectal evolution in only a few centuries of Anglo-Saxon in post-Roman Britain. Germanic languages, he opines, might have become established long before Romans, let alone Saxons, entered into what was not necessarily a Celtic-dominated Brittania. Celts themselves, whatever this term means given the looseness of this pseudo-ethnic linguistic concept, did not rush en masse into the islands, and they too were perhaps the harbingers of not a massive demographic invasion but an elite influencing cultural and linguistic trends among the natives, who may date back ten thousand years before the arrival of Celtic-language speakers. Unfortunately, traces of any words that are pre-Celtic lurk rarely in the archaeological record, according to most experts. We lack a Rosetta Stone to decode whatever insular peoples spoke before Celtic languages became the norm among both the newcoming elite and the long-settled old-timers.
Therefore, Oppenheimer turns to DNA for clues. He challenges linguists who for a century have been indoctrinated to ignore searching for language origins. He argues that science can offer tentative solutions that account for a Germanic undercurrent that may not be that apparent on the surface, but which aligns with what we know about rates of linguistic change that may have begun as long ago as 3000 BCE (estimates differ) that can be calibrated with patterns of genetic migration.
His thesis? Most of the original British Isles inhabitants descend from a massive "founder population"-- maybe far more than three-fourths or more of those today living in some locales. Due to genetics and settlement patterns, most humans stick to one place for millennia. This conservatism therefore provides a solid bedrock. It cannot be eroded even by the waves of more recent, and tribally-named, intruders. While closer to us in time and in the historical record (however tenuous!), these famous warriors themselves often number in the low single-digits (5% often!) in terms of percentages of genetic "material" we British and/or Celts carry today.
All subsequent immigrations, whether Celt, Roman, Saxon, Angle, Jute, Viking, or Norman, Oppenheimer states in the closing line of his epilogue, diminish by their traces in the descendants of the majority who trace their roots to British-resident or Celtic-origin DNA today. Most of the origins of the British predate even the Celts. Oppenheimer concludes: "we are all minorities compared with the first, unnamed pioneers, who ventured into the empty, chilly lands so recently vacated by the great ice sheets." (421)
The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story.......2007-08-02
Oppenheimer has written the most comprehensive, well organized and complete description of the deep origins of the British peoples. At the present time it is easily the best of any other available title. The author is at the very edge of contemporary genetic studies. One of the book's strengths is its inclusion of many of the findings of other genetic researchers. It also contains supporting materials from other disciplines and classical writers.
I found the book to be well written, meticulously documented, illustrated with maps and other visual materials, and well organized for a work of its breath. It is written for the educated or self-educated reader and does presuppose some familiarity with basic genetics and dna structure. If a potential reader fears he/she does not have this background, I recommend purchasing a companion primer on dna or download materials from even Wikipedia. Most genealogists will have little trouble with the technical terms.
I have read critiques that this book gives no final answers. This is true but the author provides the best interpretation of British prehistory available from today's science and supporting disciplines. A good companion book to read with this book is Barry Cunliffe's Facing the Ocean: the Atlantic and Its Peoples.
Accessible, yet not dumbed down.......2007-07-28
For anyone interested in the early history of the British isles this book is a must. Oppenheimer gathered all the information concerning the genetic history of the British isles floating around on the internet, scholarly journals, academic works, etc., and having assembled it all, presents it a serious, yet very readable fashion. Like Sykes and other genetic scholars he used cutsy names to represent specific genetic lineages, but he doesn't force the reader to have to deal with a fictional account of prehistoric lives. Instead the names are easily remembered catch phrases for the aforementioned groups.
Sykes confirmed earlier arguments about ancient regional divisions between populations in the British isles, but rather than beat the Anglo vs. Celtic drum, he argues that the English, Scots, Irish and Welsh all came out of the same prehistoric mix of Iberian, Near Eastern, and Eastern European migrants. Sykes does not, however, argue against the validity of "Celtic" as an lable representing certain populations in Western Europe. Rather, we need to rethink the way in which we use the term.
Using a rational - if not 100% believable argument - based on linguistics, history, genetics and archaeology, Sykes also contends that the roots of the English language in what is now Eastern England might predate the Roman invasion. In other words the linguistic division between the Welsh and the English is not the result of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, instead owing to more long-standing prehistoric social and cultural divisions.
Great Analysis.......2007-05-14
This book is incredibly insightful on a topic that few people know about. It accurately and convincingly dispels many rumors and genealogical cover-ups and gets right down to what is factual. That, in my opinion, is what is most important about a book that presents many important concepts in a objective manner. Forget about the fact that he happens to use "pet names," and that he can drone on a little. His contemporary Bryan Sykes, who wrote a book on exactly the same topic, does the exact same thing and comes to the same basic conclusions. In any case, the meat of the books, the facts, haven't been disputed as of yet.
Book Description
According to Slywotzky, value migration is the flow of economic and shareholder value away from an increasingly outmoded business design toward others that are better equipped to create utility for customers and profit for the company. This book describes the skills that managers will need to identify value shifts in their own industries and to craft the key moves that will determine their ability to achieve and sustain value growth.
Customer Reviews:
Insightful and influential.......2004-06-29
I discovered this book during a business trip to Phoenix in 1996, and it still occupies a space on my special shelf of books that have deeply influenced me.
As the most basic level the concept of value migration is business design, and the ability of that design to evolve in a dynamic market. The simple map of where your business, which is a function of design, is summed up in three states: value inflow, stability or outflow.
At a more complex level, this book provides seven patterns that serve as markers to show how value can migrate from one business (or industry) to another. The final part of this book shows how the concepts and patterns can be applied in your own business.
The foregoing may erroneously give the impression that this book is heavy on concept and lite on practicality. It's not. The material is meticulously presented, reinforced by recognizable examples drawn from industries, and prescriptive measures are laid out with realism and pragmatism. The concepts are what have influenced me. After reading this book I've looked at certain industry trends differently, and after eight years my observations bear out the premise of this book. This is highly actionable information that is invaluable to any company that wants to prevent the outflow of value, while capitalizing on stability and finding ways to create inflow. A more recent book that meshes nicely with this one is "The Ultimate Competitive Advantage: Secrets of Continually Developing a More Profitable Business Model" ISBN 1576751678. In fact, that book extends this book in many ways, especially with respect to business design, and further proves the concepts Slywotzky set forth in this book in 1996.
High level view.......2003-07-07
This book presents a very high level strategic view of business. Slywotzky emphasizes the value of a good business design vs reliance on technology for growth.For example, there is the simplified view of why IBM became a slogging giant in the early 90s. Lou Gerstner would certainly like to add to it
However there is good set of tools to understand your business better. I find his radar screen tool particularly useful to visualize business competitors and analyze the direction of value migration.
All said, this book is worth reading..just don't expect ttoo much.
A whole new way of thinking for me.......2001-08-16
I normally do not read business books of this book's scope; however, it was recommended by my co-author for an article on which we were collaborating. Our challenge was to support the assertion that the U.S. software industry is being supplanted by India, and a shift in off-shore development resources from the U.S. consumer to Indian provider is actually moving to Indian consumer to Russian and Egyptian providers. This is obviously value migration in its truest form and is consistent with the ideas set forth by Mr. Slywotzky in this book.
Using the inflow-stability-outflow model that is one of the basic paradigms in this book, we developed a model upon which we were able to build a case supporting our assertion. More interestingly, the whole concept and numerous case studies that reinforce it throughout the book provided me with a deeper understanding of the macro and micro issues of value migration - this was eye-opening.
My favorite chapter is at the very end of the book. Titled, "Five Moves ... or Fewer," it showed how major companies captured or recaptured the biggest share of value available, and each of the examples involved five or less moves. I was personally fascinated.
Although my initial reason for reading this book was to research an article, it has changed my way of thinking on a number of levels that go well beyond a single-topic research project. The writing style is clear and engaging, and the concepts and ideas ring true. I am giving this remarkable book 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see a bigger picture of economics or develop a keen business strategy.
Mastering an "Acquired Skill".......2001-06-05
According to Slywotsky, there are three phases of what he calls "value migration": In "inflow," the initial phase, a company starts to absorb value from other parts of its industry because its business design proves superior in satisfying customers' priorities; the second phase, "stability," is characterized by business designs that are well matched to customer priorities and by overall competitive equilibrium; in "outflow," the third phase, value starts to move away from an organization's traditional activities toward business designs that more effectively meet evolving customer priorities. Slywotsky explains that Part I of this book describes the basic rules of Value Migration" and the workings of what he refers to as "the new game of business." As when playing chess, winning at this game requires an understanding of the individual pieces (i.e. when to deploy them and how to capture them). One must master basic moves and simple techniques such as openings, traps to avoid, end-game moves, etc. It is also important to understand the the importance of controlling (as in chess) "the four central ones." In business as in chess, one must become familiar with certain "basic patterns" which will ultimately determine success or failure. These "patterns" are examined in Part II. There are seven: Multidirectional Migration (from steel to materials), Migration to a Non-Profit Industry (airlines), Blockbuster Migration (pharmaceuticals), Multicategory Migration (coffee), From Integration to Specialization (computing), From Conventional Selling to Low-Cost Distribution, ands finally, From Conventional Selling to High-End Solutions. Slywotsky shifts his attention in Part III to explaining how to play the Value Migration "game" well on a day-to-day basis. He identifies certain specific initiatives to take which help to (a) avoid value loss and (b) preempt the next cycle of value growth. "The final chapter of the book focuses on the increasingly high-stakes nature of the decisions that determine future value growth."
There are more than a dozen charts which effectively illustrate Slywotsky's key points. For example, Figure 15-1 presents "The Grand Masters of Value Growth" and identifies them, their key moves, and the value each created (in terms of billions of dollars) from 1980 until 1994. All of these visionary leaders (Welch, Walton, Vagelos, Gates, Petersen, Grove, Malone, Platt, Noorda, Iverson, and Kelleher) focused on making the right moves and thereby created enormous value for their respective companies. "Business chess is a game that is as demanding as [football and basketball], but in very different ways. It is not physical stamina, but stamina of thought. It is not transactional concentration, but constant shuttling between a focus on the current move and imagining the next several moves out. It is an unrelenting exercise of matching patterns on the current game board to the countless patterns in your mind." Slywotsky concludes the final chapter with a suggestion that this question be asked: What five moves will capture most of the given industry's value growth? "Give yourself a couple of months to analyze and assimilate the grand masters' key moves. Then come back and determine the five (or fewer) critical moves for your company." In this exceptionally thought-provoking book, Slywotsky indicates why he would be an indispensable guide throughout that difficult but necessary process.
Incisive and Penetrating!.......2000-08-15
This book is an invaluable study on those business designs that are based on the Value Chain model. Its premise: Changing customer priorities are responsible for the displacements of old business models which in turn catalyzes the need for the creation of new business designs. This book describes the process that triggers the migration of values from a non profitable design to a more profitable one with the help of seven patterns (multidirectional migration, migration to a non-profit industry, blockbuster migation, multicategory migration, from integration to specialization, from conventional selling to low-cost distribution, and from conventional selling to high-end solutions). Useful Case studies are given to illustrate the problems. Overall, this is a very informative book although this book is not as clear and direct as the author's book 'Profit Patterns.' However, it does serve to provide a better understanding on the value chain/migration thesis a lot better than the 'Profit Patterns'.
Book Description
For those looking to raise a family in a storybook American town, or a change of pace from hectic city life, this book is the answer.
Customer Reviews:
A Poor Offering.......2007-08-10
This is not a very good book. 50% of the book is devoted to Mr. Crampton's less than interesting observations of life in a small town. His advice is mostly extremely basic common sense stuff that any normal person should already know. He offers very few interesting insights.
The other half of the book is his list of the 120 best small towns in America. This part of the book is even more weak. It's obvious Mr. Crampton did a lot of internet travel to gather his data as the descriptions are clearly culled from the towns' chamber of commerce websites. He offers zero insight or information gained from him (or someone else) actually visiting / living in the towns and conveying what the towns are actually like.
His ruse is painfully evident as the "more info" listing for each town is merely a link to their respective chamber of commerce website! What "more info" could there be given that the author merely copied the site? Even his internet research was exceptionally lazy.
The book should be titled "A Compilation of America's Best Small Towns' Chamber of Commerce Website Info plus Non-insightful Musings of the Armchair Travelling Author."
And how do the towns qualify as being best? By Mr. Crampton's estimation they must have a highschool, and a hospital, and at least a few other businesses that aren't Walmart. Could the bar be set any lower? With that criteria one could throw 120 darts blindfolded at a map and do just as well as this book.
The book could be fodder for a Garrison Keilor Ketchup skit, "you know June, why don't we retire to the country, find a town with a highschool and live out our days..... Dear, have you been getting enough Ketchup lately..."
A very weak text that I'll be returning to Amazon post haste!
Make that 3 1/2 stars.......2005-03-28
Actually, I would have given "Making Your Move" 4 stars had I found the descriptions of the individual towns more interesting. But, what I did find was a witty style of writing, some laugh-out-loud moments, and some very down-to-earth advice on the pearls and perils of small-town life. One might apply Norm's smart and insightful guidelines to just about any sparsely populated area in the quest for new habitation. So even though his selections failed to fire me up, they did make me realize that I may not be cut out for small-town living after all. And that, in itself, is worth far more than the price of a book. Thanks, Norm, and make that four stars.
Part of the story.......2003-03-12
This book is a good place to start if you're thinking of moving to a town of 15,000 or less. It will point you to many interesting communities. However, having used his previous book to guide my last move, and as a resident of one of the towns highlighted in this book (Grinnell), I can honestly say that data only carries you so far. Crampton could provide readers with a great benefit by lengthening the amount of description and flavor for each town. In particular, one key element missing is the 'dynamic' of a town: is it progressive? conservative? excited about education? quick to vote down taxes and bonds? These elements form the 'culture' of a small town, and believe me, the culture of a small town will be *very* important to you!
A good guide to start.......2003-01-08
As a resident of one of the 120 "best small towns" recommended by Norman Crampton, I was delighted to see Silver City on the list.
While Crampton's book is a good place to start your search for small town living, it is important to realize that each small town offers a unique personality. Some generalizations simply do not apply to Silver City. For example, it is not necessary to join a church (or country club) in order to fit in here. Even a small community like ours has diverse sub-populations: recent retirees, most of whom have some affinity for the arts; old-timers, most of whom are the conservative church-goers Crampton describes; and Hispanic families, many of whom have worked in the mines.
These groups rarely interact, although we usually get along very peacefully. We also have a number of folks who teach at the university -- and we rarely see them around town.
To learn about Silver city, you won't get much information from the Chamber of Commerce or the editor of the newspaper. You'd do better to spend some time hanging out at the AIR cafe, talking to whoever comes in. The morning and afternoon groups are quite different and everyone is friendly.
The author gives some nuts and bolts about each small town. Unfortunately, with the exception of weather, much of this information will change by the time the book is printed. And your decision may well be made by factors that can't be added up.
The best part of the book is the section on economics of small town living. Here, he's right on. You have to budget for travel to a large city now and then. Air travel will be more costly and you need time to drive to a large airport. His view of housing prices seems optimistic. If you move to a desirable city (such as Silver City) expect to pay more for a house than he allows.
And if you move to retire, your economic picture will be quite different. Many newcomers to Silver City are beginning a second career as an artist or writer. Moving without a job is scary -- and I do not recommend it unless you fit the profile I describe in my own book, Making the Big Move.
Average customer rating:
- Art-lovers for life
- A pleasure to read and a pleasure to see.
|
The Great Migration: An American Story
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 History
| Subjects
| Books
| Africa
| Americas
| Ancient
| Arctic & Antarctica
| Asia
| Australia & Oceania
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Europe
| Gay & Lesbian
| Historical Study
| Large Print
| Middle East
| Military
| Military Science
| Russia
| United States
| World
General
| History & Criticism
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
1900s
| Fiction
| United States
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| Fiction
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
African-American
| Multicultural Stories
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Art History
| Art
| Arts & Photography
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Art
| Arts & Photography
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
1900s
| Fiction
| United States
| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
United States
| Fiction
| Explore the World
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
African-American
| Multicultural Stories
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Harriet and the Promised Land
-
Story Painter: The Life of Jacob Lawrence
-
Jacob Lawrence (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)
-
Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories
-
Me and Uncle Romie: A Story Inspired by the Life and Art of Romare Beardon
ASIN: 0064434281 |
Book Description
Around the time of WWI, large numbers of African Americans began leaving their homes in the rural South in search of employment in the industrial cities of the North. In 1940, Lawrence chronicled their journey of hope in a flowing narrative sequence of paintings."This stirring picture book brings together the sixty panels of Lawrence's epic narrative Migration series, which he created in 1940-1941. They tell of the journey of African-Americans who left their homes in the South around World War I and traveled in search of better lives in the northern industrial cities. Lawrence is a storyteller with words as well as pictures: his captions and introduction to this book are the best commentary on his work. A poem at the end by Walter Dean Myers also reveals [as do the paintings] the universal in the particulars." --BL.
Notable Children's Books of 1994 (ALA)
1993 Books for Youth Editors' Choices (BL)
1994 Teachers' Choices (IRA)
Notable 1994 Childrens' Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
1994 Carter G. Woodson Outstanding Merit Book (NCSS)
1994 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
Customer Reviews:
Art-lovers for life.......2002-10-02
Parents hoping to introduce their children to modern American art could do worse than to buy this edition reproducing 60 paintings by Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), one of the finest African American artists in U.S. history.
First published for children in a 1993 limited edition, with a poem by Walter Dean Myers, this volume reproduces the Great Migration series that Lawrence created in 1940 and 1941 to tell the story of the African American migration north, from the plantations and cotton fields of the antebellum era.
Begun within a year after Lawrence completed a magnificent Harriet Tubman series, these tempura colored, poster paint works made Jacob Lawrence's career. It's easy to see why. Bold and unforgiving, these vibrant works grew from Lawrence's own childhood migration--from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Easton, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia and finally, at 13, to Harlem--his exposure to African-American culture and his intensive training in the Utopia Children's House and New Deal-sponsored Harlem Art Workshop of the 1930s.
At that time, the WPA was still funding public art murals, but Lawrence was too young to gain a commission. Instead, he determined to show the African-American struggle for freedom in real-life stories that would tie the past to the present.
From 1938 to 1941, he used the New York public library for research, creating in swift succession five series of paintings telling the stories of Toussaint L'Ouverture, Tubman, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and The Migration of the Negro.
In the last of these, Lawrence hoped to speak artistically of a mass escape from the rural, discriminatory and unjust South--a region of poverty and illiteracy--into an anxious era of hope and expectation in the North. The paintings depicted passage, with railways, train cars, suitcases, and hordes of people constantly in motion. Their visages and body language spoke in terms of expectation and fear. Lawrence wove bold colors and themes throughout the series, thereby joining the paintings into a unit.
In a documentary shown in a museum tour of Lawrence's work, the artist said he "didn't think in terms of history in that series. ...It was like I was doing a portrait of something." Portraits were "a portrait of myself, a portrait of my family, a portrait of my peers."
Lawrence's extraordinary talent was recognized when he was only 24, with the 1941 exhibition of these paintings in the downtown gallery of art dealer Edith Halpert, who had beforehand exclusively shown the work of white artists. So breathtaking were the paintings (as they remain), they instantly transported Lawrence across the U.S. racial divide of that era, making him deservedly famous. The Philips Gallery in Washington D.C. purchased the odd-numbered paintings; the Museum of Modern Art in New York took the even ones.
Treat your kids to this triumph of the human spirit, and to the fine accompanying Myers poem. These paintings make children into art-lovers, for life. Alyssa A. Lappen
A pleasure to read and a pleasure to see........2000-06-13
I checked this book out from the library over a year ago and knew from the illustration that Jacob Lawrence was a special person. I was drawn to the illustration because it is soothing. His illustration style is flat, yet there is a world of depth. It is the kind of art that I could have on my wall and never tire of. I remember more the art than the story. The art told a story. This book is as much for adults as it is for children. Since hearing that Jacob Lawrence died...I instantly felt the need to get one of his books for my home library.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent genealogy resource for New England.
|
The great migration begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633
Robert Charles Anderson
Manufacturer: New England Historic Genealogical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
History
| Subjects
| Books
| Africa
| Americas
| Ancient
| Arctic & Antarctica
| Asia
| Australia & Oceania
| Books on CD
| Books on Cassette
| Europe
| Gay & Lesbian
| Historical Study
| Large Print
| Middle East
| Military
| Military Science
| Russia
| United States
| World
General
| Genealogy
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 088082042X |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent genealogy resource for New England........1999-08-07
The author, sponsored by NEHGS, has written a comprehensive 3 volumne genealogical document of everyone known to have lived in New England between 1620-1633. This book brings many well know sources together for a researcher. Its a 'must have' for anyone with roots in New England!
Book Description
This book will detail the default and custom installation of VMwares ESx server as well as basic and advanced virtual machine configurations. It will also discuss the requirements for a server virtualization and consolidation project and the cost savings surrounding such an effort.
Furthermore, the book will provide a thorough understanding of the benefits of a virtual infrastructure and a comprehensive examination of how VMware eases administration and lowers overall IT costs.
Lastly, the book delivers a thorough understanding of the virtual evolution which is underway in many IT organizations and how the reader will benefit from shifting from the physical to a virtual
* A detailed resource on the default and custom installation of VMware's ESx server
* Covers all the requirements for a server virtualization and consolidation project and the cost savings surrounding such an effort
* Delivers a thorough understanding of the virtual evolution occuring in the IT industry
Customer Reviews:
Great book with topics that others don't cover.......2007-08-22
I bought this book about a month ago along with some others on VMware. It definitely covers some critical P to V methods that other books just don't cover. The writing style is pretty good too, not stuffy, and the author is very enthusiastic about VMware, and that comes across well. It is slightly more basic than some, but it's a great book for someone new to VMware who is trying to come up to speed quickly, and learn the product thoroughly. It's not filled with theory, it's got good "in the trenches" anecdotes and real world info, not conjecture put in there just to fill up space. Get it!
Sieve through to find relevant info.......2007-03-09
This book is based upon ESX 2.5. There are still highly relevant parts of it with regards to tuning, performance, and general concepts. However, it's long in the tooth already--scour the earth for a book about VI or ESX3, and save your money--or better yet, download the free documentation at [...], and save up for your certification class.
VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!.......2006-09-04
Are you an IT professional who is managing a sprawling physical server environment? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Al Muller, Seburn Wilson, Don Happe, and Gary J. Humphrey, have done an outstanding job of writing a book that shows the IT professional how control both costs and headaches, architects and consultants, with an emphasis on server consolidation methodology.
Muller, Wilson, Happe, and Humphrey, begin by walking you through the GUI-based installation method for loading ESX 2.5; as well as, the tasks you'll need to perform before you install ESX and afterward. Then, the authors show you how to build a virtual machine, discuss its basic requirements; as well as, some issues to consider when building virtuals. Next, the authors review some of the advanced configuration possibilities for both your ESX Server and your virtual machines. The authors then expand on the basics of virtual networking. They continue by discussing and walking you through the concepts and methodologies for migrating your physical machines into a virtual environment. Then, the authors focus on how to achieve a successful server consolidation project, concentrating mainly on the people and process aspects of the project. They then discuss some of the very cool tools you need to manage you virtual infrastructure. Next, the authors focus on the administration of a virtual infrastructure. They then discuss some of the best practices, as well as, some that were not covered. They continue by explaining the system architecture of the ESX server to ensure you have a thorough understanding of the underlying components and their dependencies. Then, the authors focus on backup strategies and the different approaches available to ensure you can recover your Service Console and VMs after a disaster. They then focus on the commands that are most likely to be used to manage your ESX Server from the Service Console. Finally, they look at what the future holds.
In this most excellent book, you'll find a lot of step-by-step instructions with associated screenshots that will make your mental transition from the physical world to the virtual world that much easier. More importantly, you'll find that this book is very effective in articulating the people and process components of server virtualization.
Excellent basic book on VMWARE ESX.......2006-05-17
This book was exactly what I expected. A good practical reference for configuring and using VMWARE ESX. Explains the tools well without going into excessive details. This is not a technical reference, it is more of a straightforward how to book.
Recommended for the new user, too basic for intermediate user.......2006-04-20
VMware is arguably the best virtualization program available today and I would agree with that opinion. VMware ESX Server is their server virtualization product and just like all of their other products it is a stellar performer. However documentation has never been their strong point and this book tries to resolve that problem. Server virtualization allows multiple server operating systems to reside on the same physical machine and be accessed as though they were separate physical servers. This resolves a multitude of problems including situations where different software servers don't work well on the same physical server. For example, many IT departments will not put Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL on the same production server or generally don't like to run the Web Server, database server, and mail server on the same physical computer.
This book is written so the average computer administrator can easily install Vmware ESX Server on one physical computer and install as many virtual servers as needed or supported by the hardware without any problems. It even includes coverage of how to installs different server operating systems including how to install Linux on one virtual server and Windows 2003 on another on the same physical computer. However, for anything out of the ordinary the information is often not sufficiently detailed to allow the reader to completely setup the component. For example, the section on network card bonding does not contain sufficient information to actually configure it but does point the reader to a white paper on the subject. On the other hand, ESX server installation and basic administration are both well done and these subjects are the main focus of the book. If you are looking for more advanced information then this is not the book you are looking for, but if you are looking for your first book on the subject and just getting your feet wet with the product then Vmware ESX Server is highly recommended.
Book Description
An irreverent, absorbing, and insightful tale of one man's adventures following the great 7,000-mile osprey migration across two continents
One September, after writing about ospreys on Cape Cod for years, David Gessner impulsively decided to follow the birds on their annual migration. Each fall these graceful raptors, with wingspans of up to six feet, cruise over the eastern United States, then soar over Cuba and winter in South America, returning north with the spring. In 2004, Gessner went along for the ride, traveling illegally into the mountains of Cuba and deep into Venezuela as he competed with the crew of a BBC documentary to be the first to follow the full migration, trailing the birds by car, boat, foot, and plane. He called his favorite osprey Fidel.
Soaring with Fidel is about the exhilaration of migration, but it is also a deeper meditation on the nature of human happiness. In describing the thrill of travel, the antics of these swashbuckling birds, and the cast of characters he meets (and drinks with) along the wayâincluding scientists, students, tour guides, and an online group of birdersâGessner gives us a profound lesson in the importance of following what you love.
"From the tidal marshes of Cape Cod to jungle lakes in Venezuela, David Gessner lets nothingânot language barriers, not empty pockets, not steely-eyed Cuban bureaucrats or American embargoesâstop him from following the migration of the osprey. Just reckless enough to be lucky, Gessner wins over everyone he meets. Soaring with Fidel has wings."
âScott Weidensaul, author of Living on the Wind
"Because of its robust passion and focus, Soaring with Fidel would have probably been a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt's. It's Gessner's finest book, unpredictable in the best way, and funny, too; an adventure book and much moreâa book of contact, written by a writer who quickly becomes an audible and visible presence. Soaring with Fidel demonstrates that you can 'pick up one thing and find the rest of the world hitched to it.' If you've experienced a passion that you failed to followâor that you did followâthen this is your book."
âClyde Edgerton, author of Solo
"Exhilarating, hilarious, tender, this is David Gessner at his best. Call it whatever you wantâosprey lust, wanderlust, migratory unrestâbut when Gessner decides to follow the birds he loves from Cape Cod to Cuba to Venezuela and back north, over thousands of miles of mountain, swamp, and sea, we all benefit."
âJames Campbell, author of The Final Frontiersman
"Equal doses of Jack Kerouac and Roger Tory Peterson promise to enshrine Soaring with Fidel in the pantheon of great travel writing and natural history."
âKeith L. Bildstein, author of Migrating Raptors of the World
"Gessner's account is filled with nitty-gritty details about the days and nights of an itinerant birder and beautifully detailed descriptions of ospreys in action. When actual observations were not possible, he imagined what the ospreys were doing and writes intelligentlyâ¦A grand adventure, not just for birders and nature lovers." âKirkus, review in the January 15th issue
"Soaring with Fidel is a grand and cheering journey on the wings of one of nature's most sociable predators. It's impossible to watch an osprey hovering above a crystal calm bay and not envy the great bird's freedom. Now, thanks to David Gessner, we are invited to follow."
âCarl Hiaasen, author of Nature Girl
"Gessner's travels are filled with small delights. He has a great gift for conveying reverence without sanctimony, and even at his most sardonic and self-deprecating, his sense of wonder at the osprey never falters. As he stands on a rock above Cuba's Sierra Maestra, watching ospreys rocket past, we wish we could be up there beside him, binoculars in one hand, a cold beer in the other." âOnEarth
"An engaging, lyrical guide to osprey migration, Cuba, and a common humanity. On his impulsive journey, Gessner meets other devotees of this magnificent raptor, and experiences the thrill of following what he loves."
âOrion Magazine
"Gessner seldom sets out deliberately to be funny, as Bill Bryson does, but his deadpan, self-deprecating humor ("I had vast experience in not seeing birds") makes him an ideal traveling companion and guide. Soaring With Fidel lets you hover for a while in the thermals of fine language, seeing the same old world from a fresh and invigorating altitude."
âWilmington (NC) Morning Star News
"This probing investigation of the migratory flight of the osprey embraced several unexpectedly, exciting adventures . . . I found Gessner's book a most interesting read."
âNH Union Leader
"He gives an occasional nod to Henry David Thoreau, perhaps to assure us that, yep, he's read the masters, but his styleâwell, imagine Hunter Tompson gone birding, pen in hand." âHartford Courant
David Gessner is the award-winning author of several books, including Return of the Osprey and The Prophet of Dry Hill (Beacon / 8568-5 / $19.95 hc). He is editor of the literary journal Ecotone and assistant professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Each summer, Gessner migrates north to Cape Cod.
Customer Reviews:
Ospreymania .......2007-06-27
I wish the book had gone on longer. There just wasn't as much content as I like. The subject was great. We know so little about migration. I like his style but I just wanted more storyline. I like all animal books of any kind and especially birds. We just take them for granted and now they are disappearing. I would like another follow up book with Freddy coming to America to visit us again. He was such an interesting guy and you just wanted to climb that mountain with them.
This osprey season has been as sad and interesting as any I have ever experienced and I hope David had better luck in North Carolina. Osprey nests all over seemed to fail this year. Please travel some more and continue to write and I will read. Loyal fan, B. Kelley
Is Gessner the Indiana Jones of Birding?.......2007-05-13
Gessner ratchets up the action with this true-life adventure. He demonstrates that a very skilled writer on a shoestring budget is able to blend ornithology, international adventure, beer, smokes and derring-do into a terrific book that teaches the reader to devour life while pursuing knowledge. The combination is odd, but I found this page-turner exciting and informative. Both people and ospreys come under Gessner's neb as he breaks a few U.S. State Department rules about travel to Cuba to see for himself where thousands of Ospreys (and other birds) migrate. His interest focuses on a particular bird he follows from Cape Cod to Cuba's La Gran Piedra. Achieving this, he risks life and limb to travel to Venezuela where kidnappings and murders are not quite as numerous as the ospreys he so adores, and borrows money to consummate his passionate quests. I reluctantly set this book aside to run an errand that took me across the Megler Bridge over the Columbia River through an estuary near Astoria, Oregon. As if on cue, an Osprey plunged into a mud flat and arose with a small flounder less than 50 yards from the highway. Had I not been reading this book, I would have missed the event, but Gessner's memorable descriptions of Osprey behavior are enriching my life. I now see ospreys all the time. Gessner's books have given me my wings, my vision is sharpened and I think I may be turning into an osprey magnet, I really think so.
Book Description
From the spread of the earliest hominids onwards, migration has been a major factor in human development. This fascinating study traces the connections among regions brought about by the movements of people, diseases, crops, technology and ideas.
Drawing on examples from a wide range of geographical regions and thematic areas, Manning presents a graceful and dramatic narrative, including:
· earliest human migrations, including the earliest hominids, their development and spread, and the controversy surrounding the rise of homo sapiens
· the first domestication of major plants and animals
· the rise and spread of major language groups such as Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo, Austronesian/Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Ural-Altaic, and Amerindian
· examination of civilizations, farmers and pastoralists from 3000 BCE to 500 CE, highlighting such groups as Greeks, Phoenicians, Xiongnu, Huns and Scythians
· trade patterns including the early Silk Road and maritime trade in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean
· use of horses and boats, with focus on migratory groups such as Germans, Vikings, Turks, Arabs, Mongols, Arawaks and Caribs, Nilotes, Polynesians and Bantu
· the increasing impact of maritime and overland migrations on areas of life such as religion and family between 1400-1700
· the effect of migration on empire and industry between 1700-1900
the resurgence of migration in the later twentieth century, including movement to cities, refugees and diasporas
Book Description
Now in a revised and expanded third edition, this widely adopted text provides a global perspective on the nature of migration movements, why they take place, and their effects on industrialized countries and the developing world. Extensively rewritten chapters provide information on and comparative analyses of the world's main migration regions. The role of migration in the formation of ethnic minority groups is examined, as is the impact of growing ethnic diversity on economies, cultures, and political institutions. Included are a wealth of concrete examples, tables, and maps.
Books:
- The First Aid Companion for Dogs & Cats (Prevention Pets)
- The First Aid Companion for Dogs & Cats (Prevention Pets)
- The Good Food Cookbook for Dogs: 50 Home-Cooked Recipes for the Health and Happiness of Your Canine Companion
- The Language of Animals: 7 Steps to Communicating with Animals
- The Nature of Animal Healing : The Definitive Holistic Medicine Guide to Caring for Your Dog and Cat
- The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
- The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere, 2 Vol. Set (Comstock Books in Herpetology)
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book
- The Voyage of the Beagle (Adventure Classics)
- Think Like a Cat: How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat--Not a Sour Puss
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
- The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country's Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe
- Just Around The Corner: A Baby Boomer's Guide to a Career or Job Change
- Man and Microbes: Disease and Plagues in History and Modern Times
- Singing: The Mechanism and the Technic
- The Shakespeare Stealer
- The Biology of Violence: How Understanding the Brain, Behavior and Environment Can Break the Vicious
- Next 10 Actual, Official LSAT Preptests
- Modern Management Control Systems: Text and Cases
- Everyone's Pretty: A Novel
iView MediaPro 3 (Win/Mac)
Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Real World)
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers
Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace
Best Business Practices for Photographers
