Book Description
This self-study text offers a breakthrough approach for beginning learners of Japanese, as well as an indispensable reference for intermediate students. The unique study method in Japanese Step By Step teaches how to construct Japanese sentences, from the simplest to the most complex, using an easy-to-follow, step-by-step method. Also contains flow charts for verb conjugations and derivations.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome Book, But a Few Quirks.......2007-10-05
This book is overall a great book and covers all of the areas that you will ever need in learning Japanese grammar. I am very happy with it, but it may not be for some people, because it has an odd way of presenting the material.
The verbs are given in a long list of five to six pages. In fact, there are many lists of random vocab (no nouns), and you will find most of these at the beginning, so if you do indeed wish to read the book to learn Japanese "step by step" you will have to wade through lots of vocab before you get the real grammar. Otherwise, You will have to find a way to review it and organize the learning process yourself, because this book presents it in such a way that it would be silly to go in order.
There are plenty of examples that illustrate every concept, along with kanji. However, this is another quirk. The use of kanji is not consistent. Kanji only appears in the examples (and the section on kanji) and is relatively non-existent other wise. There are many tables and lists of words that have no kanji at all. This is frustrating, because I find the kanji very helpful when remembering the word, and I have to look most of it up myself.
The portions that are written in romaji use an odd style to inform you of the tones. Capital letters and underlining are supposed to show you how you should increase the pitch, and this will easily through you in to accenting the capital letters instead of raising the pitch which is not terribly important in the first place.
All that said, this is the best book I've found that touches on all of the points you will need to know. I recommend it for those who have studied Japanese before, but are still looking for a concrete method to go by. Beginners should probably read something else first and late intermediate will probably not find this book necessary unless as a reference.
4/5
useful supplement: cheap, relevant, organized.......2007-08-29
I used this book in the very beginning of my Nihongo self study 8 months ago. The 1st pass through the text was difficult --- the kanji gave me nightmares :) So I put it aside and learned 500+ kanji (definitions in English and some readings) then picked this up again from the library and it was a lot more helpful the 2nd time around! It's fairly well organized and if you copy the sentences by hand ... the grammar and kanji do stick. However I didnt like how the romaji was presented (strange capitalization). Ive spent 100s of dollars on Japanese texts from Amazon, Kinokuniya and Cheng Tsui and this is 1 of the better deals out there.
Great for the beginner to intermediate learner.......2007-08-07
Nishi san has done a wonderful job for people that need practial, understandable Japanese lessons. No book can ever be complete as a language learning tool, but this one covers a topic that most miss, the pitch changes that make for different words. Because the book also uses both the kana and kanji, it does not suffer the trap of being a pure romanji based tool. It also covers proper grammar and both formal and informal use of the language. Since strangers speak formally, and news papers and co-workers use more informal structures, it is important to be able to identify and use both.
Between this book, some good flash cards, like the ones by White Rabbit Press, and audio tapes, like the companion ones for the White Rabbit cards, you will be well on your way to mastering the day to day Japanese needed for getting lunch, directions, business meetings, and so on.
Nothing can completely replace formal training in a language. However, this book is one of the tools I strongly recommend to anyone that has a need to be able to study alone. It builds as it goes, and has a very ordered structure of progression.
The only reason I give it 4, rather than 5 stars, is because no book without companion audio can truly teach pronunciation. However, this book comes closer than any other, and since I have over $2500 worth of Japanese self study materials, that is saying something.
Ok, for a second reference.......2007-08-03
As a mostly self-studying student, I use a few text books. Mostly the Japanese for Busy People books. Japanese Step by Step is an excellent companion to the Japanese for Busy People series, as it gives "formulas" and strategies for congugating verbs, adjectives etc, which as a scientist I find very useful. For example, flow charts are used to show how verbs change according to past, present etc. This is much better, IMHO, than some books that just say "Here are some examples, memorise them." If you like to learn processes, rather than examples, this book would be excellent for you.
However, as a self study book, it is near useless. It has no exercises, just several examples for each point.
The language used is concise and to the point, something I greatly appreciate. It is also great at self referencing. For example, if it is discussing a new verb type, and it refers to a previous verb type, it always give the location where the latter was discussed. I have found that a lot of text books expect you to remember everything that you have learnt, which makes looking back over the text tedious. This book avoids that to a large degree.
Overall, a good reference, but you will probably need at least one other text book series (e.g. Minna no Nihongo) to get much benefit out of it.
Amazingly useless.......2007-07-03
When I first received this book, I thought I'd have a better understanding of the Japanese language. The verb chapter to me was a little confusing because he uses arrows instead of being straight to the point (ie like in Spanish verbs). Also, there aren't many Japanese characters throughtout the book. As I am learning a new word, I also like to know the Kanji or know if it's written soley in kana. This was a waste of my money, it's for people that don't know squat about Japanese.
Customer Reviews:
great.......2003-04-10
Great book. You may want to buy the edition that has the CDs with it (Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way w/4 CDs). Overall the pace isn't too bad but I find they often throw a bunch of nouns in at once (like 10 in a section) and it may take me several days to memorize them before moving on to the next section. I wished the book would have covered estar and ser at the beginning...so far I have not seen anything covering it. However, it is still a great book for learning Spanish.
?que?.......2001-08-02
Excellent for travel, with tapes is would have recieved a 5 star.
Best book to learn spanish.......2000-04-13
As a beginner of the language, I browsed in most of the Spanish teaching books in the bookstore, and I found this book to be one of the best spanish learning tool out there because of the following reasons:
1. The pace is right, (many other books tries to teach too much too fast, while others teach too little too slow)
2. Content is very interesting! Funny pictures in every page help me retain the vocabulary by visualing the word.
3. Meaning and pronounciation is provided when a new word appears for the first time.
This book definitely makes my learning FUN. Simply spend 15 minutes a day consistantly, and you'll find this an enjoyable learning experience. Plus this book is so well-priced when compared to some other hardcover textbooks!
I like this book so much that I can't help but to come here to write a review. :->
Great Tool For Fast Vocabulary Acquistion.......2000-03-24
Although this book primarly only using the present indicative of the verbs it really does help you build your vocabulary faster. A must for beginners and for those re-learning a language like me, this is still a cool tool to have. Jogs your memory rather quickly. A big help when used in conjunction with other learning materials!
Outstanding beginning workbook.......1999-04-12
This is a great starting point for anyone who plans to travel or wants a quick functional facility in Spanish. One of few I have seen that shows how to pronounce the Spanish words in the body of the text so a novice need not flip back and forth or think too much.
Book Description
Updated with helpful facts and tips for international travelers, new third edition of Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way book with audio CDs is suitable as a language teacher for adults as well as for older children. This program instructs beginners in the basics of reading, writing, understanding, and speaking the new language. The book lightens language-learning routines with cartoon-style illustrations, language games, and puzzles. A set of vocabulary flashcards and a small staple-bound bilingual dictionary booklet are bound into the book's spine and can be easily removed for supplementary use. All Fast and Fun Way books, available in several languages, can be purchased alone or in a sturdy carrying case suitable for travel and including the buyer's choice of tapes or compact discs. The audio resources present dramatized bilingual dialogues that complement the material in the books and introduce language learners to correct pronunciation.
Customer Reviews:
Hope you are traveling..........2007-10-05
This was more focused on how to travel in Spain but the activities were pretty good. I used this book for a class.
Barron's Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way with CD's.......2007-03-26
This book is ok as a basic teaching guide. Sentences written in Spanish are not always converted to English which makes it harder to learn. The CD's tend to jump around and don't always follow the book.
Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way.......2007-01-15
I used this text in a Spanish class and thought it was great for beginners. I like the CDs very much and played them everywhere. The presentation kept the student interested.
Pretty Good for a Start.......2006-08-28
I am taking private lessons with a teacher, and he recommended this book. It is pretty good, and I like the way that the more complex subjects, such as verbs and conjugations, are introduced gradually so that it is easier to absorb. Most of the exercises, though, are extremely simplistic. If you are a raw beginner to learning languages, this book will be fine.
Learn Spanish the Fast and Fun Way with Audio CDs.......2006-07-12
It's a great starter book. Would recommend it to anybody who wants to start learning the language. It is the prescribed book at a community college, where my wife and I are taking a beginners Spanish course.
Product Description
This book offers monthly activities, sample lessons, and word lists to help students become fluent decoders and spellers.
Customer Reviews:
Added Practice.......2007-05-09
This has been a great supplement for my high school English classes. The kids love it and they get a chance to work and look at words differently. They are using skills they don't use on a regular basis. It's quite a challenge for most!
FINALLY! A BOOK THAT WORKS FOR UPPER EL.......2002-01-24
This book is by far the most beneficial I have found for my upper elementary students struggling to improve their reading skills. It gives simple, step by step instructions for each of the activities and requires very little planning time for the teacher. EVERY child can succeed at improving reading skills, and the activities are appropriate for older students. They do not feel like they are doing 'baby' lessons- an issue I have dealt with when using other phonics books.
Second Chance for Upper Grade Readers.......2001-06-03
This is an excellent choice for teachers who wish to implement a phonics program that can really work for upper grades. The book is divided into months. Each month there are activities ready to be used. The activities are categorized into four specific goals. Once you learn how to teach the four goals for the first month, you will be prepared to teach the same lessons again the next month, of course, using different words.
The phonics activities help students notice spelling patterns in words through clever activities that the older kids will enjoy. For instance, there are phonics lessons based on brand names! I highly recommend this program because it will give upper grade students the chance to learn how to spell high frequency words, to identify spelling patterns in big and small words, to monitor their spelling, and to use root/prefix/suffix parts of words to define and spell words.
This book is suitable for 4-8 grades. It includes lessons that will last for nine months of the school year. Teachers on year round schooling will also be able to use this book. Each lesson should take between 15-30 minutes, depending on the teacher's scehdule. This is an excellent book for upper grade teachers!
Book Description
This is the story of how America awakened to its race problem, of how a nation that longed for unity after World War II came instead to see, hear, and learn about the shocking indignities and injustices of racial segregation in the South—and the brutality used to enforce it.
It is the story of how the nation’s press, after decades of ignoring the problem, came to recognize the importance of the civil rights struggle and turn it into the most significant domestic news event of the twentieth century.
Drawing on private correspondence, notes from secret meetings, unpublished articles, and interviews, veteran journalists Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff go behind the headlines and datelines to show how a dedicated cadre of newsmen—first black reporters, then liberal southern editors, then reporters and photographers from the national press and the broadcast media—revealed to a nation its most shameful shortcomings and propelled its citizens to act.
We watch the black press move bravely into the front row of the confrontation, only to be attacked and kept away from the action. Following the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision striking down school segregation and the South’s mobilization against it, we see a growing number of white reporters venture South to cover the Emmett Till murder trial, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the integration of the University of Alabama.
We witness some southern editors joining the call for massive resistance and working with segregationist organizations to thwart compliance. But we also see a handful of other southern editors write forcefully and daringly for obedience to federal mandates, signaling to the nation that moderate forces were prepared to push the region into the mainstream.
The pace quickens in Little Rock, where reporters test the boundaries of journalistic integrity, then gain momentum as they cover shuttered schools in Virginia, sit-ins in North Carolina, mob-led riots in Mississippi, Freedom Ride buses being set afire, fire hoses and dogs in Birmingham, and long, tense marches through the rural South.
For many journalists, the conditions they found, the fear they felt, and the violence they saw were transforming. Their growing disgust matched the mounting countrywide outrage as The New York Times, Newsweek, NBC News, and other major news organizations, many of them headed by southerners, turned a regional story into a national drama.
Meticulously researched and vividly rendered, The Race Beat is an unprecedented account of one of the most volatile periods in our nation’s history, as told by those who covered it.
Customer Reviews:
Unique view of that time in our history.......2007-10-05
The Civil Rights Movement of the `50s and `60s was a significant and well-known period of American history. But have you ever thought about why it is so well known, or even why it had so much success?
The Race Beat is a story, not only of the well-known players of the Civil Rights Movement, but also the men who covered it in the media. These men poured their hearts and souls into covering the stories that would make the people of the United States stand up and take notice of the injustices being done in the name of "separate but equal," "justice," and "liberty." Many of these men had battled against Hitler over his racial elitism. Once they came home, they were quick to jump into the front lines of our own battle for racial equality before we descended into the depravity that Hitler is known for.
This is a fascinating insider's look at how the civil rights battle was brought to the forefront of the United States' attention. Blending well-known events with the stories of the men who were there writing about it, you get a whole new perspective of what these men were feeling and fighting for. Not just as outside observers, but compatriots.
This book is well written and well researched, but it is slow to start. I picked it up expecting the jump into the civil rights movement, but found myself in the `40s as they laid the groundwork for what the journalists were to become. It is also heavily journalist-centric. That is to say, there are references the non-journalists among us won't understand. But all in all, it is a great read.
Armchair Interviews says: If you are looking for a new perspective on the civil rights movement, this book is for you.
The Race Beat.......2007-06-27
A very good review of how the Civil Rights movement was covered and influenced by news media.
Absorbing and instructive.......2007-04-27
I have read a lot on the civil rights struggle, including Taylor Branch's trilogy, and Simple Justice, by Richard Kluger, and have appreciated all the reading I have done on that momentous struggle. But this account of how newspapers and television chronicled the exciting events told me a lot I did not know or had not remembered. The book is carefully footnoted and has a 26 page bibliography, in addition to the footnotes (thus avoiding the unfortunate lapse of some books which are well-footnoted but omit a bibliography). The book not only tells of newsmen and media sometimes going to great, even heroic lengths, to tell the story of the events in the clash between aspring blacks and the status quo, but also tells of the media which sought to uphold segregation. As with other books on the struggle, when one is appalled by the violence and murders which marked the history, it is some comfort to realize that in the end right triumphs. This book is an astoundingly interesting survey of an important aspect of the civil rights efforts of the 1950s and 1960s.
Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for History.......2007-04-17
Outstanding effort by legendary editor Gene Roberts, widely admired for turning around the Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1980s and leading it to multiple prizes in journalism, revisits, with co-author Hank Klibanoff, managing editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, both their own work in civil rights reporting and the work of colleagues to pen this precise and most interesting study of what journalists were and weren't doing when segregation was legal in the U.S.
Highly readable and fascinating history.
Amazon.com
Jared Diamond says, "It would be a slight exaggeration to say that L.L. Cavalli-Sforza studies everything about everybody, because actually he is 'only' interested in what genes, languages, archaeology, and culture can teach us about the history and migrations of everybody for the last several hundred thousand years." Cavalli-Sforza has been the leading architect of a revolution (even a paradigm shift) in human genetics since the 1960s. Because of his work, geneticists no longer think that the human species is divided into color-coded races. Cavalli-Sforza's studies of the transmission of family names in Italy, of the relationship between human genes and languages, of migration and marriage, are the benchmarks of our biological self-understanding.
Genes, Peoples, and Languages is less personal than Cavalli-Sforza's preceding book, The Great Human Diasporas: The History of Diversity and Evolution. And it is far more compact than the magisterial The History and Geography of Human Genes (available abridged for those who prefer not to buy books by the pound). Instead, it is a an excellent overview of Cavalli-Sforza's many-faceted approach to human history and our present condition. It is that rarest of achievements, holistic without any trace of mushy-mindedness. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza was among the first to ask whether the genes of modern populations contain a historical record of the human species. Cavalli-Sforza and others have answered this question--anticipated by Darwin--with a decisive yes. Genes, Peoples, and Languages comprises five lectures that serve as a summation of the author's work over several decades, the goal of which has been nothing less than tracking the past hundred thousand years of human evolution.
Cavalli-Sforza raises questions that have serious political, social, and scientific import: When and where did we evolve? How have human societies spread across the continents? How have cultural innovations affected the growth and spread of populations? What is the connection between genes and languages? Always provocative and often astonishing, Cavalli-Sforza explains why there is no genetic basis for racial classification.
Customer Reviews:
Genes, People and Languages.......2007-07-31
The connection between the categories in the title becomes more apparent after reading this excellent book.
Genes, Peoples, and Languages.......2007-06-02
Excellent reference explaining the current developments and thinking on the evolution of Homo Sapiens.
Worth a read..........2005-05-25
It seems that Sforza makes the presumption that most readers of this book will have read his earlier works. Perhaps he is justified in deciding thusly. The book, however, comes off as being a overture to the politically-correct in the first half of it and a piece of patchwork for his previous works in the second half. Granted, there have been great advances in the fields of genetics and mollecular archaeology since last he wrote a book marketed toward the layman and patchwork might be necessary.
Sforza, as an elder-statesman in the field of genetics, is entitled to a bit more slack than others. This book, however, does not read as well as his previous works or even as well as the various books by newer authors who have disputed him on such topics as the mannerof the introduction of agriculture to Europe or the nature of race.
Taken as a whole, Genes, Peoples and Languages strikes me as being half sermon and half footnote to a brilliant career. The footnote section is certainly worth reading, but only for those who have read at least one or two of his previous works.
A great introduction to the history of mankind........2005-03-06
This is an excellent and easy to read book about the fascinating analysis of the heritage of mankind. The author has developed an extensive multidisciplinary approach that includes: a) archeology, b) history, c) genetics, d) linguistics, and e) mathematics.
Although the author never stresses mathematics as a key discipline to analyze mankind heritage, his work relied on Principal Component Analysis, Multidimensional Scaling, Cluster Analysis, Logistic Regression, and Hypothesis Testing. Thus, the readers familiar with these statistical methods will enjoy reading this book as a fascinating social science application of such methods.
You certainly don't have to be a mathematician or a scientist to enjoy this book. The author has clearly written it as an introduction to this field aimed at the layperson.
You will learn many fascinating concepts. One of those, is that the history of genes, cultures, and languages converge. In essence, they all influence each other back and forth. It is somehow hard to tell what is the main driver of overall changes in population. You run into many Nature or Nurture arguments. Continuing along the same line, he refers to other scientific works explaining the difference in IQ between individuals. Well, it is 1/3 due to heredity (nature); 1/3 due to cultural transmission (nurture); and 1/3 due to differences in personal experience (random). That is a pretty far cry from the 80% to 90% due to heredity that many people believe in. Also, natural evolution will or has already stopped according to the author. This is because medicine in industrialized societies has reduced the natural mortality rate down to almost zero among the pre-reproductive age set. In other words, medicine has eliminated the natural selection process as the survival rate mechanism of our specie. Some of us may have had concepts that humans eventually will evolve and look like aliens with extremely big heads (for superior intelligence and processing powers) and very skimpy bodies (since physical force is useless in an information age). Well, that's not going to happen.
Throughout the book there are many very interesting graphs and maps that beautifully illustrate and clarify the concepts he introduces. The migration map on page 94, clearly outlines all the major original migrations out of Africa starting 100,000 years ago. On page 71, a world map showing the actual genetic distance between locations is fascinating too. On page 164, you can observe the best diagram of the Indo-European languages you will ever see. English is a Germanic language, as we all know. However, English predates German by several centuries!
You can see how throughout his life, he must have been a fantastic university professor. About 6 months ago, I started reselling my books at Amazon Marketplace to cut my cost of reading. However, I am not reselling this one. I am keeping it as a reference. I anticipate there will be so many occasions when I will be glad I have kept it. The book has opened for me a new window of knowledge quest where so many of the social and quantitative sciences have converged into one to crack the mystery of the history of mankind. I hope this book will do for you, what it did for me.
Inspiration for more reading on the subject.......2004-10-12
There is almost no scientific paper on etnology and antropology that doesn't refer to Cavalli-Sforza's work, which spans several decades and accounts for dozens of publications on the most prestigious scientific journals. The capacity of Cavalli-Sforza of translating into popular science the work that he has accumulated in years of world-class research is admirable.
The book features a re-adapted collection of lessons he held in Paris. It is perfectbly suitable for anyone from the layman to the scientist. In order to make the tractation more fluid, notes with more specific details are found in an appendix. The book summarizes the most important steps in the development of Cavalli-Sforza's scientific quest and projects into areas of interest for which he is less famous, namely glottology.
This book is a must read for anyone interested in etnology, antropology, glottology and genetics. It is not too long and can be considered the first inspiration to continue reading on the subject. At times Prof. Cavalli-Sforza's personal comments on the social and political aspects of research on science are expressed, and maybe sometimes they result out of place. Another limit of the book is that, being so short, some topics are just mentioned, and not enough information is given. This may be upsetting, but then again, it is another reason for reading more on the subject.
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in tracking the history of humanity through the differentiation of the genoma, learning about the different families of languages spoken on our planet and searching for accounts of practical achievements of population genetics.
Average customer rating:
- Enjoyable, useful little set.
- Great way to learn Spanish!
- A Little Disappointing
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Learn Spanish/Espanol: The Fast and Fun Way
Gene M. Hammitt , and
Heywood Wald
Manufacturer: Barron's Educational Series
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
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ASIN: 0764170260 |
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable, useful little set........2001-07-14
I am very impressed with the workbook and accompanying workbook. This book was very helpful to me in acquiring everyday vocabulary. For example, this book has the words for "flat tire," "I need a tow truck," various articles of clothing, how to size clothing, etc. It has a very thorough section on foods and ordering in restaurants. I didn't expect the included flashcards to be very helpful, but I was pleasantly surprised in how much they aided me in memorizing the new vocabulary. The cartoon-like illustrations have been surprisingly helpful in memorization. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to use the tapes in my car without the book. The tapes also include various sections which focus on listening comprehension. I was not very impressed with the included dictionary. It is so limited that by the time you're able to use Spanish with non-english speakers, you will already have most of it memorized.
I wouldn't recommend this series for an absolute beginner because it doesn't have the degree of practice in pronunciation, especially two-vowel combinations, which is necessary for someone learning a new language. However, once you have basic pronunciation down, the new vocabulary is given with an extremely helpful phonetic spelling (much clearer and easier to understand than the Mastering Spanish series, by the same company). It is also a little weak in grammar and sentence building. However, it does provide the most gentle introduction to verb conjugation that I have seen.
I used this book after the Barron's Mastering Spanish Levels 1 and two series, but I was amazed at how much practical vocabulary I was able to acquire from this book. I think the Mastering Spanish series does a far better job teaching pronunciation and sentence structure.
My only complaints about this set are that I didn't find it sooner and that there isn't more of it. I really hope they will expand this very easy-to-use format in the future. I'll be their first customer.
In summary, I would recommend this set very highly for the person just past the absolute-beginner stage. You will not learn Spanish with this set, but it will help you in acquiring very useful vocabulary. The tapes are of very high technical quality, and the words are spoken very clearly, but slightly slower than I usually encounter with hispanics.
If you are an absolute beginner, I would suggest the Success in Spanish CD-ROM. I found this after struggling to learn pronunciation from the Learn in Your Car Spanish tape series. After acquiring basic pronunication, I would use this series before going onto the Mastering Spanish series, which provides much further practice in sentence construction.
Great way to learn Spanish!.......2000-05-07
I've tried lots of foreign language programs and this is the best I've found so far. The program is dependent on the book and there is a lot of written exercises so if you are looking for a listen only type program this is not for you. But, if you are like me, and you need to see the language as well as hear it, this is a great program.
A Little Disappointing.......2000-02-27
I was a bit disappointed with this Book and Tapes. I am taking a Spanish mini-course in a local community college and this is the text that is used. I thought that having the tapes to go with the text would be great to use as I drove to work; but, one cannot use these tapes in conjunction with the book in the car. You must be able to have the book in front of you. Needless to say, it was not the help I needed.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent book for beginners, provides for fun baby steps.
- An unstructured introduction to Smalltalk, not for everyone
- Nice introduction to squeak
- Buy "Smalltalk 80 The Language" instead.
- An excellent introduction to Squeak and smalltalk.
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Squeak-A Quick Trip to ObjectLand
Gene Korienek ,
Tom Wrensch , and
Doug Dechow
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Professional
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Binding: Paperback
Object-Oriented Design
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Squeak: Object-Oriented Design with Multimedia Applications
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Squeak: Learn Programming with Robots (Technology in Action)
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Powerful Ideas in the Classroom
ASIN: 0201731142 |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book for beginners, provides for fun baby steps........2005-07-15
I will be subjective on this: If you are a beginner on Smalltalk/Squeak and want to wet your feet in an amicable way, this is a great book. In contrast to other more advanced books, this one includes a CD which has the Squeak 3.0 image, somewhat dated but follows exactly what the book is talking about. Anyway, you can always download the latest and greatest Squeak form http://squeak.org.
Call me lame but when I am learning something from scratch I need guidance and I like to make fun baby steps which take me in the right direction with the least bore or frustration. You will be pleasantly surprised that this book also covers a lot of ground.
I am giving this book 5 stars :-).
An unstructured introduction to Smalltalk, not for everyone.......2003-01-20
Smalltalk is a language that I have played with on and off over the years, but have never approached with a great deal of seriousness. This spring, I will be teaching a course in programming language concepts for the first time. Therefore, when I received this book, I was happy for the chance to refresh my knowledge of the language. Squeak is an open source implementation of Smalltalk and it is very easy to use. The CD with the book contains an implementation of Squeak and it is possible to download it from the website ...BR> Written in the style of a chat between the user and a Smalltalk objective wizard, the conversation steps you through the basics of object-oriented programming, as implemented in Smalltalk. It is not a typical book on how to program, to get up to full speed in Smalltalk, you will have to find some additional material to work through. Nevertheless, it works very well as an introduction to the structure of the Smalltalk language.
To people who are accustomed to reading traditional introductory programming books, this one may turn them off. While there is some of the traditional sequence that starts with a "Hello World" program and goes through variables, conditional expressions and loops; file I/O and user-defined data types, it lacks much of the standard structure. The authors rely on the chat method sending messages to shift the knowledge from source object to target object.
If you are interested in a basic introduction to the Smalltalk language and can tolerate a conversational approach to learning, then this book will work for you. However, if your interest is in learning more than the basics or you prefer a structured approach to learning, then this book will probably not serve your needs.
Nice introduction to squeak.......2002-10-08
As an object-oriented programmer, I found this to be an excellent book despite some obvious deficiencies. As a C++ and Java programmer accustomed to using VI, I found this book helpful in that it contains a very nice introduction to the Squeak environment, in which all squeak code is written and run. The book covers Smalltalk syntax and basic OO design. It is written in an enlightened manner as a dialog between two objects (a teacher and a student) who pass messages back and forth. In this manner, the object-oriented paradigm is used even in so far as the gramatical style of the book. It is a quick and fun read but at times trite. A few obvious typographical errors exist. Unfortunately, the arrangement of topics in the book is awkward and prevents anyone from experimenting with any substantial code until they have finished 3/4 of the book. It is essential that anyone new to Smalltalk works the exercises as they appear in the text inorder to develop some experience with the environment. Anyone wishing to use Smalltalk to solve real problems must obtain further language references, as this book is only a brief introduction.
Buy "Smalltalk 80 The Language" instead........2002-05-29
This book stands out for all the wrong reasons. I've got quite a few books in my little CS library and this is the only book I've regreted buying. Squeak is a Smalltalk-80 system with extra libraries for multimedia and communications. For the same price as this book you can learn about Smalltalk from the "Smalltalk 80 The Language" book. This book is more detailed, has extensive example code for the presented techniques, has an entire example system, and it actually challenges the reader instead of insulting his intelligence. The Squeak book falls flat on these points. I think it was Alan Perlis who said that a language which didn't change the way you thought about programming wasn't worth knowing. Smalltalk is one of those languages worth knowing. The Squeak book doesn't get this message across. This book is not about enlightenment. You will never find yourself closing this book then sitting back inorder to give yourself a chance to try to inernalise some idea which you suspect you only half understood. The reason why is not because of fantastically clear writing but because you never get past the "point the mouse at this..... now click and type the name of the class" stage.
If you want to learn about Squeak and you realise understanding requires effort, then don't buy this book.
An excellent introduction to Squeak and smalltalk........2002-04-16
Even though I was familiar with both the smalltalk computer language and the Squeak smalltalk environment, I bought this book because I was intrigued by its structure, which is basically an extended dialogue between a naive user named "Jim" and virtual guides called the "Objective Wizard" and the "Objective Librarian". I was hoping to see a smalltalk equivalent to Friedman and Felleisen's magnificent book "The Little Schemer", which used a similar format to introduce the scheme programming language. Well, almost any book would be a disappointment after TLS, and this book certainly isn't in the same league (but it doesn't try to be). As an introduction to object-oriented programming concepts, to the smalltalk programming language, and to the Squeak implementation of smalltalk, this book is first-rate and well worth buying, especially for those who have never programmed in smalltalk before. It is quite elementary and should be graspable by almost anyone with a basic understanding of computer concepts (including people who have never programmed before). If you're coming to this book with no experience in smalltalk but with experience in another object-oriented programming language (e.g. C++ or java), be warned: smalltalk is probably the most extreme example of an OO language in that _everything_ is an object (even simple data types like integers and booleans, and even blocks of code). This imposes a conceptual barrier that the authors do an exceptionally good job of helping the reader through (or at least so it seemed to me, but then, I already knew all this material). The book is quite limited in its scope, and you'll need to read at least another book or two before you really understand smalltalk (Mark Guzdial's books are good next choices if you're using Squeak). Also, the book has a cutesy style which is occasionally irritating, especially when the "Jim" character tries to hit on the "Objective Librarian". This is supposed to humanize the book, but goes a bit far for my taste. However, this is only a tiny blemish on an otherwise excellent book.
Customer Reviews:
Making Out Rocks.......2007-06-27
When I opened up "Making Out in Korean", I opened up to the pages that told me what to say when getting lucky with a lady. I found a lot of the phrases useful and modern, unlike a lot of other Korean phrase books out there. Of course everyone wants to know how to say, "F*** You!" in a different language, but then again we all need to know how to say "You better use a condom!"
It's a useful tool, but you need to incorporate other tools to fully get a grasp on learning the language. Listening to Pimsleur's Korean CD's will teach you nothing but formal conversational tools, so it's good to always add both levels of respect (while speaking) in your vocab!
Easy to follow.......2007-06-26
This is so far the easiest book I have found to be
able to translate from Korean to English. It is really not a text type book. I believe it is more
for just understanding everyday language expressions
better. If you watch any of the Korean Series you
can pick up on some of the language a little better.
I do not speak the language at all and
I find it helpful. Probably a great book to take with
if you are traveling to Korea. (PLEASE NOTE: This
book does have word explanations that I don't think
are suitable for Under Age of 17)
Fun book.......2006-02-28
If you only want to buy one Korean phrasebook, then this isn't the one for you. If you're a beginning student of Korean and want something to flip through, then this book can be useful. It all boils down to Chapter 13 - "Lover's Language". My Korean girlfriend had a lot of fun reading through that chapter, and I was doubled over in laughter due to the suprise of what she was saying--and she knew what she was saying because everything is written in English and Korean (using hangul and two romanization forms). Speaking of hangul, just go ahead and learn it--it's easier than the alphabet, and you may actually be understood when you use the book.
Fun and Helpful.......2006-01-08
I got this book from a friend, and I must say it is a welcome addition to my library. The first few chapters are useless to me, as a high-beginner student of Korean, but the last half of the book is priceless.
The curses and lover's language sections contain phrases that you won't find in any other book (although you can find them all on the Internet rather easily).
This book has provided many laughs when I take it out after a few drinks at the bar with some Korean friends and innocently begin to "practice my Korean". Many of the phrases are actually helpful in the bedroom, as well.
I would say that anyone looking for a general phrase book should look elsewhere, but anyone looking for a fun, light-hearted primer, this is the way to go. Word of Caution: the explanation of Hangeul pronunciation in introduction couldn't possibly be more wrong. My eyes popped out of my head upong seeing that "eo" is pronounced like the "ur" in "turd", and "o" like the "a" in "fall". Couldn't be more wrong. So, learn the alphabet before buying this book.
Almost Useless.......2005-12-09
I like languages but, in general, I have little regard for phrase books. Occasionally, though, they can prove useful. This one is less useful than usual.
The title made me think in terms of "just getting by". Since that's about all phrasebooks are good for, it is accurate in this respect. Making out, however, has a different meaning in this title. It refers to making out in the sense of a couple of teenagers in the back seat of a car. This takes up relatively little space in the book; it's just a section toward the end. Most of the book is a garden variety, less comprehensive than most, phrasebook.
All of 6 pages are given over to grammar and teaching the script. The remainder is a compendium of phrases grouped according to topic. Some of the phrases are useful. Most are less so. As a man of the cloth, "I don't like wearing a condom" is not a subject which comes up, so to speak, very often.
This will not teach the language. Phrasebooks are not useful for that. This one will not present much in the way of useful phrases either.
Customer Reviews:
This is an Excellent reference, and easy to use........2007-06-08
If you are a serious student of G_d's Word you will be impressed by this most highly recommended Word Study Dictionary.
I recommend that you also purchase the work of Zodhiates, from AMG Publishers.
I assure you that it is compatible with the Strong's concordance; and that you will be delighted with the insight and inspiration involved in these great works.
For those studying the Torah or Old Testament, Theologians or philosophers alike will appreciate this great work.
Congratulations on such a fine work Mr.Baker & Mr.Carpenter! A lowly student.
O.T. word study dictionary.......2005-10-16
I had seen this book and known exactly what I was getting and it is all I expected.
An excellent tool!.......2004-02-18
I consider this dictionary a real tool for the study of the Old Testament words. I think it is better and more updated than the "Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon of the O.T." and more handy with bigger letters than the classic "The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-Aramaic-English Lexicon". I think the book is directed to the novice as well as to the scholar student of the Bible. It is a pity that is not so much known as many other Hebrew dictionaries. Perhaps it lacks somewhat of the apparent and refined scholarship of other dictionaries, but personally I prefer its simple, concise and direct analysis of the entries it uses.
An observation addressed to Amazon: Why is it so difficult to find this book by searching it by its title inside the site of amazon.com?
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