The Rough Guide to Slovenia (Rough Guides) Review

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(More customer reviews)I wish I knew about Rough Guides sooner! I've used almost every other major guidebook brand, but now that I've used Rough Guides, I don't imagine I will ever use anything else. In my opinion, it far exceeds other brands in terms of the detail and breadth of the content, including the practical--hotels, restaurants, activities, language etc. and perhaps less practical but to me just as important, historical information. This is a very dense and useful guidebook.

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"The Rough Guide to Slovenia" is the ultimate travel companion to one of Europe's least discovered countries with detailed coverage of all the top attractions. From Ljubljana's vibrant nightlife to the stunning cave network at Postojnah and the Bled Castle Museum, discover Slovenia's highlights inspired by dozens of colour photos. You'll find practical advice on getting around the country and expanded information on driving in Slovenia whilst relying on up-to-date descriptions of the best hotels, bars, clubs, shops and restaurants for all budgets. "The Rough Guide to Slovenia" includes expert guidance on a host of outdoor activities, from mountain hikes to skiing and whitewater rafting and a crucial language section with basic words, phrases and handy tips for pronunciation. Explore every corner of Slovenia with clear maps and expert backgound on everything from the country's history, folklore, music and wildlife to the world's largest underground canyon at the ekocjan caves. Make the most of your holiday with "The Rough Guide to Slovenia".

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Frantic Panoramas: American Literature and Mass Culture, 1870-1920 Review

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(More customer reviews)"Frantic Panoramas" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Bentley's book interview ran here as cover feature on August 31, 2009.

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Late nineteenth-century America saw an explosion in mass culture—from sensationalist tabloid newspapers to amusement parks to Wild West shows. Historians and critics have traditionally observed the advent of mass culture as undermining literature's central role in the public sphere. Literary writers of the time either reacted with a public show of disdain or retreated to conduct their own private experiments in style and form. In Frantic Panoramas, Nancy Bentley questions these narratives of opposition.For literary writers, Bentley explains, the confrontation with mass culture was less a retreat than a transformation, an ordeal through which habits of contemplative appreciation could be refashioned into new forms of critical thought. By grappling with the energies that marked mass culture, authors came to recognize kinds of human experience that were only then becoming visible as public. William Dean Howells shaped the plots of his novels around tabloid events like rail and trolley accidents and the public chaos of apartment house fires. Although Henry James was distressed at the way dime fiction had changed the very definition of literature, his meditations on mass culture led him to reimagine the novel as a collective "workshop" in which authors and readers jointly discovered new meaning. Bentley offers close readings of these and other writers such as Edith Wharton, James Weldon Johnson, Pauline Hopkins, and Gertrude Bonnin to demonstrate how leading artists took inspiration from commercial culture to create new and distinct literary forms.Drawing on original archival research and a historically grounded theory of realism, Frantic Panoramas is an innovative and comprehensive study of how the emergence of mass culture affected literary culture in America.

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Making Connections Intermediate Student's Book: A Strategic Approach to Academic Reading and Vocabulary Review

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(More customer reviews)Author needs to give more examples and focus more on finding the main idea of a paragraph. Author should also go into detail and explain why one answer is more correct than another answers. (p21-23) Overall, this is a good book for reading comprehension.

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The series helps students gain insight into how academic text is organized and how to read effectively.Making Connections Intermediate is a reading skills and strategies book that prepares students for college-level reading. It has six high-interest thematic units, each with multiple readings. The readings are written in an accessible academic discourse style, providing practice for intermediate-level students who will eventually need to access authentic academic text.

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Living and Working in Australia: A Survival Handbook (Living & Working in Australia) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this book when I found out that my company had actually agreed to transfer me to Australia ... but they were giving me very little help in what to expect. This book is not a "travel" guide. It's a practical guide on how to settle down in Australia - things like, how to get a drivers licence, where to apply for a tax file number, even how to do a hook turn in Melbourne. It has never steered me wrong, and I've recommended it to many expat friends.
A must-have if you're thinking about moving there.

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Written in an entertaining style with a touch of humor, Living and Working in Australia is designed to provide newcomers with the practical information necessary for a relatively trouble-free life. Its contents include finding a job, permits & visas, health, accommodation, finance, insurance, education, shopping, post office and telephone services, public transport, motoring, TV and radio, leisure, sports and much, much more. It is packed with vital information and insider tips to help minimize culture shock and reduce the newcomer's rookie period to a minimum. Living and Working in Australia is essential reading for anyone planning to spend an extended period in Australia. Printed in color.

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Rhetoric in Popular Culture Review

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(More customer reviews)Barry Brummett's "Rhetoric in Popular Culture" seeks to bring the traditions of rhetorical criticism and critical studies together. Brummett applies the growing and cutting-edge methods of critical studies to the study of rhetoric, because he sees critical studies AS rhetorical criticism. This is a premise with which I whole-heartedly agree, which is not surprising given my interest in rhetoric and social theory. Part I consists of four chapters dealing with theoretical and methodological concerns. The extended case study is on the film version of "The Wizard of Oz," in which Brummett looks at how five critical methods (Marxist, feminist/psychoanalytic, dramatistic/narrative, media-centered, and culture-centered) would render different interpretations of Dorothy's trip over the rainbow. Part II provides three critical studies: "Paradoxes of Personalization: Race Relations in Milwaukee," "Twin Peeks: Using Theory in Two Analyses of Visual Pleasures" (by Brummett and Margaret Carlisle Duncan) and "Afrocentrism and 'DO THE RIGHT THING'" (by Detine L. Bowers).
Fortunately in this Postmodern world history is dead and most students are not aware of the rhetorical tradition that would disdain critical studies, not to mention popular culture. Consequently, Brummett does not have to convince students of the rightness of his cause, they are simply going to want to understand what he is talking about. Part I of this book is the stronger section, because Brummett's strength is in laying out his approach. Chapter 3, in which he looks at the key notion of "text," is the best one in the book. How you feel about Part II will come down to how relevant the specific case studies are to your students. Certainly "Do the Right Thing," despite its cultural importance once upon a time, would be considered "dated" by most students, although we might think it has again become relevant because of recent events. But Part I is basically two-thirds of the book, so I do not really think that this becomes a major consideration in deciding whether or not to use this book in class. Ultimately, the key consideration is going to be the sort of assignments you have the cherubs do off of the theories laid out in Part I. Brummet's point is that students should be empowered to "find the rhetoric in rap music, the motivations in heavy metal, and the arguments in argyle socks." That pretty much covers it all.

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Rhetoric in Popular Culture, Third Edition provides students with a solid background in the central issues in interpreting pop culture. Author Barry Brummett helps readers use techniques of rhetorical criticism to analyze texts from popular culture including print ads, music videos, TV advertisements, Internet user groups, movies, and television shows. Part I covers rhetoric as a concept, the history of rhetoric, and a method for doing rhetorical criticism. Part II includes critical essays and case studies that show students how the critical methods discussed in Part I can be used to study the rhetoric of extended texts.

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Where To Ski and Snowboard Worldwide: The Reuters Guide Review

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(More customer reviews)Trust me on this one folks. If you have gotten this far, pulled up this ski guide and are reading this review, just save your time and order the book immediately. While on sabbatical from a corporate job last winter I skied in Europe at 28 resorts over 4 months and used this guide exclusively. It was simply invaluable for the complex decision making required when laying out a ski trip especially if you have flexibility in choosing resorts. The layout and design of the book is first rate and gives 1 to 5 star ratings by resort for snow, size, terrain (expert, intermediate, beginner), food, liftlines, scenery, resort charm and off slope activities. The uncannily accurate judgement of the editors on these many points really clinches the value of this book. (Why are you still reading?) The book is about 70% Europe, 20% USA, and 10% rest of the world. There is an enlightening write-up on Europe vs. US ski experience differences. There is a synopsis of the skiing peculiarities of each country. There are useful high level road maps showing the geographical location of each resort. In the front section of the book there is an excellent matrix synthesis of the top 100 or so resorts for a high level view of where you might want to go. There are just enough small but clear trail maps to be useful but not cluttered. There are some accomodation listings with punchy accurate quotes from recent visitors. Because of the high efficient layout and design, all this info is easily accessible and clear.
The book is missing pricing info which is a bit of a gap but everything else is done so well its hardly a complaint. There are some real bargains to be had, especially in Italy and Austria, and less so in Switzerland and France. ... The pricing gap can be resolved by calling the local tourism boards for the resort you are interested in or accessing the local websites. Most of the tourism contact info is in the book also.
The guide is even aesthetically pleasing....very much so.....with nicely placed original small high end (whew!)photographs from some of the resorts giving a pleasant intuitive feel for the area you might be choosing. If you are planning a ski trip in N. America or Europe, buy this guide. Highly Recommended

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Lewis Mumford: A Life (Grove Great Lives) Review

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(More customer reviews)Donald Miller has written an exceptionally engaging and perceptive biography of Lewis Mumford, one of America's most capacious and fertile thinkers, exploring not only his exceptional career but the untidy and sometimes tittilating aspects of his personal life.Mumford's obsessive need for women is examined with depth and honesty without sinking into tawdry tabloidism.It is a long book but moves along at the pace of a well written novel.The pity is that Mumford's warnings for America's future were not heeded lending even greater relevance to Ralph Waldo Emerson's depiction of late 19th century America, "Things are in the saddle and ride mankind" .

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Men of Steel: The Lives and Times of Boxing's Middleweight Champions Review

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(More customer reviews)Like any pro sport without a dominant sanctioning body, boxing poses difficulties for historians. Data tends to be missing, incomplete, or contradictory. In my research, I find that many writers covering the 1920s and 1930s have done shallow work resulting in errors. Walsh's research is deep and thorough. I wish he included an appendix with information about his source material (possibly writer/historian Gilbert Odd's personal archives!) but that's quibbling since this is a popular, not academic, book.
Every fighter has admirers and detractors, and Walsh is even handed in his descriptions of boxing skills. His assessments tend to be consistent with most boxing critics.
What is best, perhaps, is the way he makes his subjects come alive, placing them in the context of their times and land. I am intrigued, for example, that someone living in England captured so well the open spirit of my home, St. Paul, Minnesota, during the Roaring 20s.
Middleweight is the point in boxing where the power of the heavier fighters and the speed of the lighter ones come together. Walsh has written the definitive history of the men truly at boxing's apex.

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Bear's Boys: Thirty-Six Men Whose Lives Were Changed by Coach Paul Bryant Review

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(More customer reviews)As an Alabama graduate (c76) and having grown up an avid fan, I was excited to see that this book was in print. However, there is a sameness to all the articles that reinforce want a great person Coach Bryant was, how everyone was afraid of him, how their lives were impacted, and how bad they felt when he died. Hey, Maybe it would have been nice to actually get a little more indepth with the story line.
The weak writing was surpassed by the incredible lack of proofing of the photographs that were included. In many instances, the particular player being described in a photo was actually cut out of the picture. I think Eli Gold owed us more than this weak rehash of a great subject.
End result...many, including this reviewer, will purchase the book for the subject matter...too bad it lacked in quantity and quality photography. Apologies to Coach Bryant!!!!! Roll Tide

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Bear's Boys is a collection of inspiring stories featuring 36 men whose lives were altered by their encounter with the legendary coach while they were players and coaches at Alabama. The stories of star players such as Joe Namath, Ken Stabler, Marty Lyons, Bob Baumhower, Ozzie Newsome, and Gene Stallings show how the Coach forever changed them as young men and ball players on the field and later in life after football.

When Bob Baumhower was released from the Dolphins in 1986, he immediately did what Coach Bryant would have done: he made a plan. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he snapped into practical mode. First, he sold his boat and his big house. Then, he systematically began exploring business opportunities and setting goals for the next several decades of his life. When he started his first restaurant, he knew he had yet another chance to apply the principles he learned on the football field in real life. "Coach Bryant said there's a lot of blood, sweat and guts between dreams and success," Baumhower said. "That's true in the restaurant business. . . . Today, every success I have, every win that I have, in my opinion, came from the fact that Coach Bryant cared enough to talk to me and turn the light on for me
Includes stories for such men as Bob BaumhowerJeremiah CastillePaul CraneSylvester CroomJohn HannahDennis HomanScott HunterLee Roy JordanE. J. JuniorWoodrow LoweGaylon McColloughDon McNealMal MooreJoe NamathBilly NeighborsOzzie NewsomeRay PerkinsGary RutledgeHoward SchnellenbergerKen StablerGene StallingsDwight StephensonRichard ToddPat Trammell Tommy Wilcox

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