Managing Human Resources (5th Edition)

Managing Human Resources (5th Edition)
Average customer rating:

bull honkey

Movin' up

Beware

Well organized and synthetic

Good. Breaks down things like Employee Manual

Managing Human Resources (5th Edition)
Luis Gomez-Mejia , David Balkin , and Robert Cardy
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Human Resources & Personnel Management | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 013187067X

Book Description

For undergraduate or graduate level Introduction to Human Resource Management courses.

This book covers all of the core HR topics, while taking a ânon-functionalâ approach that shows the relevance of HR topics to all employees.

Customer Reviews:

bull honkey.......2007-03-08

they showed this book as being the right book, but when i received it, it was a friggen STUDY GUIDE. total baloney.

Movin' up.......2006-05-13

This was the text required for my personnell management class. (200 level) I have the Bohlander 13th ed. which is a better text, being better organised. But after going through this book I liked it as well. The last chapter on international HR issues was especially helpful. I have adapted the expatriate worker technoques to address interdepartmental issues in my organization. I understand there will be a new edition out in June 2006. Perhaps it will be better organized.

Beware.......2005-10-02

The book was a copy of the textbook. The print quality is so bad it looks like the words are disappearing in front of your eyes.

Well organized and synthetic.......2002-02-12

This book contains the basic principles that any HR or General Manager (especially in the US) is supposed to know.

I have been using this textbook as a guide for my MBA studies.
I found it very useful in that it clearly explains and organizes almost every important topic about HR management. It gives practical clues on the kind of considerations a manager needs to be aware in day-to-day operation.

I used this book to find basic, straightforward ideas about HR principles and how this function is changing in the era of globalization. This way, I could use it to organize my own ideas, and if needed, using the enclosed bibliography, I could go to more specialized books on a particular topic of interest.

Good. Breaks down things like Employee Manual.......1999-11-21

This book is clear and up to date. I found it very useful for our company. It's a keeper!

Average customer rating:

Management: People, Performance, Change
Luis R. Gomez-Mejia , David B. Balkin , and Robert L. Cardy
Manufacturer: Irwin/McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

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Excellence in Business Communication

ASIN: 0072846976

Engineering and Scientific Computing with Scilab

Average customer rating:

An excellent book for scientists and engineers
Fine book on an excellent software

Engineering and Scientific Computing with Scilab

Manufacturer: Birkhäuser Boston
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0817640096

Customer Reviews:

An excellent book for scientists and engineers.......2006-02-10

The book "Engineering and Scientific Computing" in Scilab,
presents clearly the elements of the Scilab language.
A scientist with some programming background,
even elementary, can readily learn and exploit the
elegant and compact Scilab scientific programming
environment.
However, the strongest point of the book is its tutorial
value. The reader can through the Scilab tool,
improve the knowledge of important signal processing topics,
exploit algorithms for the numerical solution of ODEs and
tackle with optimization problems. Furthermore, the book contains
excellent material on SCICOS (the dynamical system builder
that accompanies Scilab) and a lot of applications.
The CD that is included with the book is also very helpful.
The presented scientific applications are aimed mainly
to the advanced scientists and engineers, although a large part
can be utilized and by undergraduate students of an intermediate
level.
In summary, I liked and enjoyed this book and I strongly
recommend it to all the scientific/engineering community.

Fine book on an excellent software.......2001-07-11

This is a good book describing an excellent free scientific Matlab-like software package available for many computing platforms. It complements well the extensive on-line help of the software and the information available on the Web.

The first three chapters gives a condensed overview of the software. I found the description of the graphics capabilities particularly useful as a reference. The next two chapters describe the use of the software for linear algebra, polynomials, linking to C and FORTRAN, and more advanced aspects. The remaining chapters concern tools and applications mainly of a system oriented nature. The tools are generally of a very high quality and accuracy, but of course slower than in compiled languages.

The book would have been been even more useful if it included more information on how to customize the software and a more comprehensive index. Also, the linking to C and FORTRAN routines does not appear to be completely simple.

Garage Glamour: Digital Nude and Beauty Photography Made Simple
Average customer rating:

Great Book

Everything you need

Lots of interesting information, not many great samples...

Not for the beginner

It Doesn't Get Any Clearer Than This...

Garage Glamour: Digital Nude and Beauty Photography Made Simple
Rolando Gomez
Manufacturer: Amherst Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1584281839

Book Description

Nude and beauty photographers can find the invaluable high-impact techniques in this exhaustively illustrated manual that covers everything from compositional tips for clothing, accessories, and poses to more technical challenges such as lighting, lens selection, and exposure, demonstrating how to produce stunning, world-class images using minimal equipment without accruing a burdening investment. Beginning with the Four S's of glamour photography (sexiness, sultriness, sensuality, and seductiveness), amateurs and professionals alike are shown new ways to achieve beautiful shots, with additional tips on working with models that include methods for accentuating assets while minimizing flaws and initiating comfortable working relationships. Photographers are also shown how to turn their hobby into a successful career, or enhance the productivity and income of an existing business by honing marketing and advertising skills and mastering the art of generating business by referral. Based on the author's popular website (www.garageglamour.com), this guide offers helpful instruction to creating glamorous, sexy images like those seen in Playboy, Maxim, and other men's magazines.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2007-09-27

In my opinion this is one of the best Glamour's books on the market. I bought this one almost an year ago and I read the book few times. I like the fact that everything is explained on easy to understand language and they are a lot of pictures to support all of the techniques used. I think that this book is worth every cent i paid.

Everything you need.......2007-09-25

With the things I learned in this book I have been able to go from taking pictures to taking photographs. It basicly takes you through all the steps needed to learn this fine art. The author has put together a well thought out masterpiece. It is extremely easy to read and is beutifully illustrated. A++++++++++++++++

I also recomend picking up Mr Gomez's book "Glamour Photography" they go very well together

Lots of interesting information, not many great samples..........2007-09-03

The information in this book was pretty good and I did walk away with a few new things to keep in mind. However I was disappointed that much of the photography was either not particularly well shot, or lacked variety in the style in which they were shot. This is subjective though, some people might love the photography in this book, but I didn't personally find it appealing and didn't really find anything that would inspire my own work in the future. I'd give it a 3.5 if I could, but a 4 will have to do.

Not for the beginner.......2007-07-05

The title of this book led me to believe that this would be a simple to undersatnd book, keeping things on a basic level. I found good information in the book, but this is not for the beginner. The book talks about using helpers to hold light reflectors, etc. This is way beyond the simple do it yourself basic book that I was looking for. This is for the more advanced person looking to improve on their already basic knowledge for this type of photography.

It Doesn't Get Any Clearer Than This..........2007-06-26

There is a LOT of info in this book but honestly, it doesn't get any easier than this. Follow the suggestions, practice what he's writing about and you can't help but get better. You'll be impressed at how quickly and dramatically your shooting will improve. I'm not getting compensated here, I'm just telling you what happened with my shooting - it got better fast.

Ontological Engineering: with examples from the areas of Knowledge Management, e-Commerce and the Semantic Web. First Edition (Advanced Information and Knowledge Processing)

Average customer rating:

how to automatically extract an ontology?
Excellent survey book on Ontology
A good literature review of current developments
Good overview for beginners
Very good

Ontological Engineering: with examples from the areas of Knowledge Management, e-Commerce and the Semantic Web. First Edition (Advanced Information and Knowledge Processing)
Asuncion Gomez-Perez , Oscar Corcho , and Mariano Fernandez-Lopez
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1852335513

Book Description

Ontologies provide a common vocabulary of an area and define - with different levels of formality - the meaning of the terms and the relationships between them. Ontologies may be reused and shared across applications and groups Concepts in the ontology are usually organized in taxonomies and relations between concepts, properties of concepts, and axioms are typically used for representing the knowledge contained in ontologies. With the growth of information available, e.g. on the WWW, they are popularly applied in knowledge management, semantic web, natural language generation, enterprise modelling, knowledge-based systems, ontology-based brokers, e-commerce platforms and interoperability between systems. This book looks at questions such as: * What is an ontology? * What are the uses of ontologies? * What types of ontologies exist? What are the most well-known ones? * How do I select the best ontology for my application? * What are the principles for building an ontology? * What methodologies should I use to build my own ontology? Which techniques are appropriate for each step? * How do software tools support the process of building and using ontologies? * What language can I use to implement ontologies? * How can I integrate ontologies in a given language? The book presents the theoretical foundations of ontological engineering and covers the practical aspects of selecting and applying methodologies, tools and languages for building ontologies. The applications of ontologies are also illustrated with case studies taken from the areas of knowledge management, e-commerce and the semantic web.

Customer Reviews:

how to automatically extract an ontology?.......2006-10-09

The book shows progress in how ontologies are defined from various data sets. The subject is a natural field of artificial intelligence, in attempting to automated this filling of an ontology. Various example ontologies are presented, along with the markup languages like RDF and OWL in which these are expressed. The progress is visible, inasmuch as just a few years ago, these languages were devised. Now we see non-trivial ontology constructions using them. Good.

A large portion of the book describes the acute problem of somehow extracting meaning in a programmatic manner from data. Because the manual making of an ontology simply does not seem to scale, given the realities of gigabyte databases. We see that there is a natural decomposition of the problem into a linguistic step and a conceptual step. The former is tied to a particular human language. The latter is the nut of the problem. Current methods look promising, but are certainly not the last word.

Excellent survey book on Ontology.......2006-03-09

The book is well organized in introducing the subject in a coherent manner and weaving in all important criteria of ontology together. I especially like to read the comparison of different languagees in light of knowlege represenation and knowlege reasoing. The book is great in terms of getting a broad view (survey) and is also great as a reference. In many pages, there is so much information packed in each sentences. Great book.

A good literature review of current developments.......2005-12-15

The word `ontology' is usually associated with philosophical speculation on the reality of things, and if one checks the literature on philosophy one will find a diverse number of opinions on this reality. Engineers and scientists typically view philosophical musings on any topic as being impractical, and indulging oneself in these musings will cause one to lose sight of the topic or problem at hand. Rather than simplify the problem and make it understandable, philosophy tends in most cases to complicate it by endless debate on definitions and the use of sophisticated rhetoric that seems to have no bearing on the problem at hand. The conceptual spaces generated by these debates can become gigantic and therefore unwieldy, thus making the problem appear more complex than it actually is.

In the information age however, ontology has become a word that has taken on enormous practical significance. Business and scientific research are both areas that have increasingly relied on information technology not only to organize information but also to analyze data and make accurate predictions. In addition, financial constraints have forced many businesses to automate most of their internal processes, and this automation has brought about its own unique challenges. This push to automation usually involves being able to differentiate one thing from another, or one collection of data from another, or one concept from another. Thus one needs to think about questions of ontology, and this (very practical) need has brought about the rise of the field of `ontological engineering', which is the topic of this book.

The authors have given a good general overview of the different approaches to the creation of ontologies. There are many of them, some of which seem "natural", while others seem more esoteric. The reader though will obtain an objective discussion of the ontologies that the authors chose to include in the book. Discussions of the ones that are not included can readily be found on the Internet.

Given the plethora of ontologies that have been invented, it would be of interest to the ontological engineer to find common ground between them. The re-use of a particular ontology may be stymied by the different ontological commitments it is adhering to or it's actual content. In order to use it, it must therefore be "re-engineered". The authors discuss this prospect in the book, and define `ontological re-engineering' as the process where a conceptual model of an implemented ontology is transformed into one that is more suitable. The code in which the ontology is written is first reverse engineered, and then the conceptual model is reorganized into the new one. The new conceptual model is then implemented.

Also discussed in the book, and of enormous practical interest, is the automation of the ontology building process. Called `ontology learning' by the authors, they discuss a few of the ways in which this could take place. One of these methods concerns ontology learning using a `corpus of texts', and involves being able to distinguish between the `linguistic' and `conceptual' levels. Knowledge at the linguistic level is described in linguistic terms, while at the conceptual level in terms of concepts and the relations between them. Ontology learning is thus dependent on how the linguistic structures are exemplified in the conceptual level. Relations at the conceptual level for example could be extracted from sequences of words in the text that conform to a certain pattern. Another method comes from data mining and involves the use of association rules to find relations between concepts. The authors discuss two well-known methods for ontology learning from texts. Both of these methods are interesting in that they can apparently learn in contexts or environments that are not domain-specific. Being able to learn over different domains is very important from the standpoint of the artificial intelligence community and these methods are a step in that direction. The processes of `alignment', `merging', and `cooperative construction' of ontologies that are discussed in the book are also of great interest in artificial intelligence, since they too will be of assistance in the attempt to design a machine that can reason over multiple domains.

The ontologies that are actually built are of course not unique. This results in a kind of semantic or cognitive relativism between the environments that might be built on different ontologies, even in the same domain. Merging and alignment both address this relativism, along with other techniques that are discussed in the book. The selection of the actual language that is used to create an ontology is also somewhat arbitrary. The authors devote a fair amount of space in the book to the different languages that have been used to build ontologies. Through an elementary example, they discuss eleven different languages, namely KIF, Ontolingua, LOOM, OCML, Flogic, SHOE, XOL, RDF(S), OIL, DAML+OIL, and OWL. The choice of a language is dictated by what one is seeking in terms of `expressiveness' and what kind of reasoning patterns are to be deployed when using the ontology. The authors point to a tradeoff between the expressive power of the language and the reasoning patterns that are attached to the language. The expressiveness of a language is directly proportional to the complexity of the reasoning patterns that are used.

Ontological engineering as it presently exists is still carried out by a human engineer. To create an ontology every time from scratch would be tedious, and so it is no surprise that tools were invented to make ontology creation more straightforward. Some of these tools are discussed in the book, such as KAON, OilEd, Ontolingua, OntoSaurus, Protege-2000, WebODE, and WebOnto, along with assessments as to their utility. The discussion is helpful for newcomers to ontological engineering who need guidance as to what direction to take. The automation of ontology building would of course be a major advance. To accomplish this however would require that the machine be able to simultaneously and recursively construct the knowledge base and reason over it effectively. This is a formidable challenge indeed.

Good overview for beginners.......2005-04-12

The subject of this book is incredibly relevant to today's world of information management. The chapters are presented in a logical and informative way, though some of the book only skims the surface or barely touches on significant developments, tools, and problems. Overall, I found the text too theoretical, with insufficient ties to messy real-world issues.

Very good.......2005-02-18

There are several chapters that I liked and found very useful. The first chapter on theoretical foundations has been well written. Parsing through the various definitions of Ontology has been an educating experience. The other chapters, especially the ones describing the methodologies and languages are very informative. It may not be exhaustive but for a beginner, these chapters give a good overview.

I was disappointed only when I learnt that the book will not cover Ontology learning tools. The author argues for limiting the scope of the book. I feel the book would have been more valuable had it contained at least an overview of the learning tools!

Average customer rating:

Excellent First Novel!
RELENTLESSLY GRIPPING INTRIGUE..
Excellent First Novel
A Cerebral Read
A Pageturner in the Silence Genre with Opus Dei grace notes

God's Spy
Juan Gomez-Jurado
Manufacturer: Dutton Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Release Date: 2007-04-05

Book Description

An instant bestseller in Spain, with rights sold in twenty-eight countries and counting, God's Spy is a spectacular contemporary thriller set in the Vatican, where, in the aftermath of Pope John Paul II's death, the hunt for a serial killer reveals a chilling conspiracy.

In the days following the Pope's death, a cardinal is found brutally murdered in a chapel in Rome, his eyes gouged and his hands cut off. Called in for the grisly case, police inspector Paola Dicanti learns that another cardinal was recently found dead; he had also been tortured. Desperate to find the killer before another victim dies, Paola's investigation is soon joined by Father Anthony Fowler—an American priestand former Army intelligence officer examining sexual abuse in the Church, who knows far more about the killer than Paola could possibly imagine.

As Paola and Father Anthony struggle through a maze of tantalizing clues, they begin to question whether someone in the Vatican is aiding their cause or abetting a murderer. And when evidence leads them to powerful figures within the Church hierarchy, their own pursuit of the truth may make them the next pawns to be sacrificed in a terrifying and deadly game.

A dazzling, impossible-to-put-down thriller, Juan Gómez-Jurado's God's Spy marks the arrival of a major new talent to the contemporary suspense fiction scene.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent First Novel!.......2007-09-18

I just finished listening to this and found it a very good novel. If you like mysteries involving the Vatican and the Catholic faith like the Da Vinci Code you will really like this one. The character development and the the storyline was well written and had no confusion as some novels will. My wife finished this one and had the same comments. Well worth the time in reading and I am looking forward to his nect endeavor.

RELENTLESSLY GRIPPING INTRIGUE.........2007-07-30

DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons...move over..there is a new story to be told. Written on a platform about the Vatican and the convoluted and sometimes enigmatic world therein, the plot explodes like a cannon shot and continues its course of shattering suspense, deception, intrigue, and duplicity until the crashing and breath-taking climax. Fact and fiction are melded into a solid story line about a Pontifical Conclave, a child-abusing priest, the CIA, and Italian police methods. Various real personages from our time are ladden into the story to provide it with a ring of authenticity that will stagger the reader. THIS BOOK IS JUST PLAIN GOOD WRITING, and the story will leave the reader dumb-founded. DO NOT PASS THIS ONE UP!!

Excellent First Novel.......2007-07-13

The author Juan Gomez-Jurado is a journalist who has worked on both radio and television. This is his first novel and it has already been a best seller across Europe. He lives with his wife and daughter in Spain.

Following the death of pope John Paul II Rome and the Vatican City are in turmoil. All of the cardinals have to be called to the Vatican to take part in the Conclave that will ultimately choose a new Pope and Rome itself is bursting at the seams with foreign press, radio and television crews and also the thousands of mourners and pilgrims who feel they need to be as close as possible to the dead Pope. What they did not need in all the turmoil and confusion is a serial killer, but that is exactly what they have got.

Paola Dicanti, a profiler who works with the Italian police has the job of trying to fit a profile to the killer, but all her work has been theoretical, but now she has to hit the ground running. Two cardinals have been found dead within the Vatican state. One has had his eyes destroyed and his hands amputated. The other one was found in similar circumstances. The authorities have not as yet released anything to the media for fear of starting a panic, but if this person is truly a serial killer he or she is bound to strike again . . .

A Cerebral Read.......2007-06-04

God's Spy is not your quick, page turner, fast paced suspense novel. It is more of a cerebral read requiring thought and concentration. Mr. Gomez-Jurado weaves a complex psycho-thriller analyzing the mental makeup of a sadistic ritualistic killer coupled with the political intrigue of the current Catholic Church. All of the current action takes place within several miles of St Peter's Basilica in Rome with flashbacks to the killer's past in the United States. The many Italian characters can be confusing at times and requires the reader to pay attention. The novel is slow moving during the first 150 pages and then gradually picks up literary steam. The ending becomes predictable but still is worth the effort. Not that suspenseful a read but entertaining none the less. If high drama and thrilling suspense is your forte this novel will probably bore you and will not be worth the time.
Character development was thin but the psychological aspects were interesting.
No gratuitous sex or language. Violence is stark and can be upsetting but is germane to the story.
Not your Michael Connelly or Lee Child kind of suspense thriller. A cerebral read for a change of pace. I personally enjoyed the story but it might be best to wait for the paperback.

A Pageturner in the Silence Genre with Opus Dei grace notes.......2007-06-03

What happens if one takes the DaVinci Code, plus Red Dragon, plus Ted Bundy, plus Ed Gein [and his able successors of Tony Perkins/Psycho and Tony Hopkins/Silence plus Jodie Foster, and put them into a Hamilton Beach to see the tasty pudding which arrives?
Answer: A rewarding tale of pederasty, incest, torture/mutilation, of which Mel Gibson would be proud, complete with a classic O.Henry ending.
The plot gallops along with the insanity of the Four Horsemen, with a Jody Foster Ialian serial killer profiler front and center.
JPII has died and a Silas from Silence is moving rapidly to assasinate liberal Cardinals before the resulting Conclave. Much of the action is described at a Dignity/St Matthew]/St. Luke's Institute for wayward priests, where a CIA/priest is on staff following his duties in Nicaragua as chaplain to the Contras under Ambasador Negoprante.
It answers the question as to whatever happened to Cardinal Law when he was sent to the Vatican for prayer and penance following the unmasking of his geographic escapes for paedophilic pastors: they were sent to St. Luke's, and rewarded with "get Out of Jail Free" cards.
The only thing missing is Jesus command to His Church: "Thou art Peter, and upon this "Blockhead" {"Rocky"} I will build My Church."
[Disclaimer: A month ago, my own Pastor was removed for sexual abuse of seminarians in the early 1980's. He was a good man in the 2000's. The Superiors who took him into a pastorate in his '60s also cast him to the wolves when his quarter-century old transgressions threatened "Scandal".]
Santa Alianza + Paulj-c = "Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni"

T-Shirt Makeovers: 20 Transformations for Fabulous Fashions

Average customer rating:

Great and Stylish
T-shirts for younger fashionistas
T-Shirt Makeovers = Great book
Fashion Fun For All
Stunning

T-Shirt Makeovers: 20 Transformations for Fabulous Fashions
Sistahs Of Harlem , Carmia Marshall , and Carmen Webber
Manufacturer: Glitterati, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Fashion | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0977753174

Book Description

Designer brands in Paris, Milan, and Tokyo are copying hip-hop street life today, and the T-Shirt is the urban fashion staple. Now, the first book from the women who redefined and marketed the torn T-shirt concept and started a fashion craze, shares 20 unexpected and easy-to-follow projects for every gal from 10-25. Here's a way to be hip, cool, and fiscally responsible--all at the same time.

Customer Reviews:

Great and Stylish.......2007-08-03

I'm 33 and would wear about 80% of the styles in this book.
The T-makeovers seem much more contemporary (not all 80's Madonna throwback) sophisticated yet fun and fresh compared to most of the other books of this kind. The photography, models, and style notes are top notch. Thank you Sistahs!

T-shirts for younger fashionistas.......2007-07-06

Hi. I'm 34 and somebody's mom. I will not be wearing many of these styles. I do want to do something a little different from the standard T, but Generation T spoke to me a bit more than this one. I do applaud their innovation, though, and I will use some of these ideas as inspiration, but most of the styles are a bit over the top for me. (The first design, I think, is the best one, and there's maybe one other that I will try.)

T-Shirt Makeovers = Great book.......2007-01-16

This has great ideas with complete instructions that are easy to follow. The first project we tried took 45 minutes and turned out exactly as the sample in the book. What a great way to make use of those extra unused T-shirts.

Fashion Fun For All .......2006-11-29

T-Shirt Makeover is a great book for all ages. I purchased 1 book, loved it so much I decided it would be my gift of choice this year. The clear concise directions made it easy and enjoyable for even the "creatively challenged". The styles, ranging from conservative to ultra trendy allows something for everyone. We had a T-shirt Makeover party with guest ranging in age from 10 to 62, not only did we have great fun each guest left with a chic new top. I highly recommend this book.

Stunning.......2006-11-13

I love this book. I've bought quite a few of these tshirt makeover jobs, and been a little let down. But this - this beats them all. There are a bunch of ts I can see myself putting together. And they're different - not like some of the other books out there which give you 50 variations on the same theme. They range from bare to covered up, and each design is graded as to difficulty. There are photos of the Ts being worn by models, and great diagrams of how to do the work. There's even a secion at the beginning where the Sistahs go into body types, colour and so on. Very well done book. Really glad I bought it.

Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of Architecture

Average customer rating:

Meditations on light, space and sense.
poetics, instead of polemics

Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of Architecture
Steven Holl , Juhani Pallasmaa , and Alberto Perez-Gomez
Manufacturer: William K Stout Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses
Atmospheres: Architectural Environments - Surrounding Objects
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ASIN: 0974621471

Book Description

This new edition of Questions of Perception brings back into print one of the most important architectural theory treatise of recent years. Authored by noted architectural scholars Alberto PÃ©rez-GÃ³mez and Juhani Pallasmaa as well as the preeminent architect Steven Holl, the three separate essays are thematically linked: each one tries to explain the role human perception and phenomenological experience play in architecture. In particular, Holl -- who was named by Time magazine as the most important architect of his generation and the designer of the much-lauded Chapel of St. Ignatius at Seattle University and the highly anticipated Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art addition -- lucidly explicates the importance of intuition in the construction and experience of built space. Holl explains his search for phenomenological experience thus: "To open architecture to questions of perception, we must suspend disbelief, disengage the rational half of the mind, and simply play and explore. Reason and skepticism must yield to a horizon of discovery."

Customer Reviews:

Meditations on light, space and sense. .......2007-05-14

Anything, of course, is about the sensorial. It's our world. It's your world. What do you feel in it? What do I feel when I'm there, in a space? And this meditation -- regardless of what that space might be -- is really about everything, from architecturally conceived environments, to the nature of truly "natural" space. There is the potential in all, to contemplate the spirit of the space and the character of your presence in it. You are there, you are "in there". And you feel the warmth, the chill, the stillness, the breeze; you experience the scent drifting; you see light, shafts of movement; you hear something of reverberation in the containment of "where you are". Taste might play, balance might offer a sensed component to experience. But it's all about the meditation of what this means, how it can be considered - and how it can be reflected in active design, or in the nature of contemplating this phenom. Either it's meaning full -- and you consider it; or it's not the stuff of absorbed introspection and you simply design for it. Do it. Experience it. One way. Or an other. Surely, both have merit. As does reading this grouping of essays and ideas.

poetics, instead of polemics.......2007-02-07

Architects and students who are bored to death by OMA, MVRDV, Hadid, and the rest of the New Postmodernists will find consolation -- and inspiration -- in this book.

"Questions of Perception" was originally printed in July 1994, as a special issue of the architectural journal A+U. Back issues have been sold out for some time, and until recently, buying a used copy of the book would have set you back a couple hundred dollars. I'm very glad to see that the publishers of A+U decided to reprint these important essays.

Rather than serving as a polemical manifesto, or another boring iteration of reactionary academic theory, the authors discuss the experience of architecture on a basic psychophysiological level. Unlike the work of many of today's starchitects, this book will never seem dated, because it is focused on human constants -- the way that our minds and bodies respond to space, light, texture, color, and other architectural fundamentals. It is not a manual of style, or a collection of glossy photos for you to copy in your next project. It requires active thought. It requires an attention span. You have to absorb the meaning of the writings, not just look at computer renderings with copy+pasted supermodel silhouettes. It has nothing to do with urbanism, globalism, terrorism, or any of the other "isms" that hopeless, clueless, talentless academics increasingly try to link to the building and construction industry. Instead, it's a quiet reflection on the ways that buildings (and natural environments) shape our daily experiences. Even though 13 years have passed since these essays were written, they are still highly relevant for any designer who wants to infuse their work with quality and honesty.

As far as I can tell, the book's design is identical to the 1994 version, with the exception of the cover artwork. I must admit that $50 is a bit pricey for a book that is so plainly printed and bound. Regardless, it's better than paying a couple hundred dollars for a used copy of the original. And, all things considered, it's only a few dollars more than something like S,M,L,XL. So if you're tired of pretentious, pedantic academese, and you're ready to read something with permanence and substance, do yourself a favor and buy "Questions of Perception" instead.

La Noche Del Oraculo (Panorama de Narrativas)

Average customer rating:

Novela sobre alguien que escribe una novela

La Noche Del Oraculo (Panorama de Narrativas)
Paul Auster , and Benito Gomez Ibanez
Manufacturer: Anagrama
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Amante Lesbiano
El Corazon de Voltaire / Voltaire's Heart
El buen nombre/ The Good Name
Virgenes Del Paraiso, Las
La Bruja de Portobello

ASIN: 8433970445

Book Description

Sidney Orr es escritor y esta recuperandose de una enfermedad a la que nadie creia que sobreviviera...

Customer Reviews:

Novela sobre alguien que escribe una novela.......2005-01-01

Auster nos presenta de forma maravillosa como fluyen las ideas del protagonista y como estas se atascan de acuerdo con las circunstancias que está viviendo. Nos permite ser testigos de lo que pasa por la mente de un escritor de novela mientras escribe una novela sobre alguien que lee una novela. Este libro me atrapó desde las primeras páginas

Rooms: Creating Luxurious, Livable Spaces

Average customer rating:

This book has changed my life!!
a classic
OK, but not great
Divine Harmony
Best of the best!

Rooms: Creating Luxurious, Livable Spaces
Mariette Himes Gomez
Manufacturer: Collins Design
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Decorating | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Decorating | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0060083700
Release Date: 2003-07-08

Book Description

For award-winning interior designer Mariette Himes Gomez, every project is a voyage of self-discovery

Refined simplicity, thoughtful attention to detail, and a clear architectural design -- these are the hallmarks of Mariette's style. Filled with breathtaking photography, Rooms is a guided tour of the designs that have made Mariette one of the most respected and sought-after tastemasters in the country. Peek behind the scenes as she divulges the secrets of the trade that will help you transform your own home from the everyday to the extraordinary.

Designing a room involves balancing the ideal and the real, discovering a happy medium between what you imagine and what exists. From evaluating the core architectural structure -- or "shell" -- of a room, to selecting colors and arranging furniture, to picking out and placing the final artistic touches, Mariette shares all of the techniques and information you'll need to create Rooms of elegance and distinction.

What colors and patterns will work with a room's architecture? How can you visually turn two Rooms into one -- and vice versa? How is art different from décor? How big a sofa will a room tolerate? Mariette answers these questions and more with sage advice and an easy-to-follow, step-by-step approach. She shares the experience of renovating her own homes -- one, a house in the country, the other, an apartment in the city -- and the many homes around the country that bear her unique signature.

Whether you are decorating a loft apartment, summer cottage, or home in the suburbs, Rooms will help you strike the balance between beautiful and practical, lavish and livable.

Customer Reviews:

This book has changed my life!!.......2006-04-07

I am a stay-at-home father of one-year-old twin boys with a military background. I've always wanted my home to have that tasteful look that comes from understated wealth and assumed it required money -lots of it, and that arcane knowledge that separates good designers from mere homeowners.

Well, I don't need money, I needed this book!

I have learned much from three years worth of House and Garden magazine. All the amazing houses and rooms are there to be studied and scrutinized. Yet I always wondered how the designer came upon the ideas to do put those drapes with that color wall and that certain chair and so on. Unless I wanted to make an exact replica of some millionaire's living room, I saw no way of creating that energy in my own house.

This book is not like other picture books of great layouts. It didnt matter that I dont have triple-hung windows or a fireplace or 12-ft high ceilings. This book allowed me to see what I do have, and to work it masterfully. It also allowed me to see problem areas, and to mitigate their effects.

I like the way the author proceeds to tell the story of her own process of putting a room together. Had she done what all the other picture books do- tell the reader what to do in this certain room- there would be no true learning, only rote memorization or copying. By telling her own story and her thought processes, the author literally trained me on how to really take stock of my living room and the spaces taken up by furniture and bookcases and windows.

halfway through the book, I had what felt like 50 new ideas about my own place. Sitting at the dining room table, I suddenly saw that the dining room needed a table with a pedestal to free up some of the space. My living room set is a long couch and an oversized chair with ottoman, and the perpendicular layout I had was totally wrong and un-balancing for the room. So using the authors ideas on circles and making conversational spaces, i turned the chair diagonally to face the couch, which clicked with the offcenter side window and the bookcase to create a new energy that just feels right. My wife came home and was very impressed.

Interestingly, Mrs. Gomez's ideas on flow through a room and conversational groupings seem so intuitive to how people live. I could put my two boys in those rooms from the book and they wouldnt get into trouble, because they crawl around on instinct in ways that reinforce the author's ideas on flow. Say you have two distinct furniture groupings in a room (most of us dont have 50 ft long rooms, as the author attests), a baby or babies would rather operate between the two, in open areas, rather than messing around in the particular spaces among furniture.

Anyways, this book changed my life. It will let you know the secrets of unifying hardware, shape and line, the geographical intersections that windows and doorways make for a room and how to furnish to that, placing furniture on rugs and rugs in the room, how to choose the correct rug (even persians!), and how to save a wall by stamping it (my word) with art or pictures. I was really shocked by the negative reviews, but it seems that some people expect more direction or they equate livable with beanbags strewn around the room or something. I dont know.

You really should get this book.

a classic.......2005-08-24

This is my favorite interior design book. As a design student I have a bookcase full of books, and this is the one I turn to over and over again. Ms. Gomez's graceful style is refreshing and easy to live with.

OK, but not great.......2005-08-17

I didn't find this book helpful. Most of her advice, which is few and far in between, anyone who reads interior design magazines or has common sense would already know. What little advice she gave was practically useless--shun "silk" flower arrangements (for those of us live in areas where cut flowers are not abundant and cheap, I found this to be rather snobbish.)--Paint all your rooms beige--but make sure they are "complex" colors like mine--but then she doesn't tell you where to get them. So there is a clear lack of practical advice. This is mostly a book about a designer musing on her houses and high opinion of herself. Not inspiring at all.

Divine Harmony.......2005-01-04

With "Rooms", Ms. Himes Gomez has become my favorite American interior designer.

To my great surprise and chagrin, I found that most reviewers held quite a harsh opinion about Ms. Himes Gomez's abilities and her book. Some went so far as to insinuate that the positive reviews were written by the the author herself. Whether or not this is true, I cannot say, but while one must acknowledge that most of the positive reviews sounded somewhat similar, it ought also be acknowledged that those interested in interior design, including magazine writers, tend to overuse a certain jargon -- and hence sound exchangeably similar. Let me cast any doubts one might have, and say from the outset, that I do not know the author, nor was I involved with the production of this book, nor do I stand to gain from its sale.

Offended by the confused, cluttered, and gaudy design schemes that comprise much of interior design today, I do not dare to imagine what the negative reviewers understanding of "luxurious", "comfortable", and "casual" may be.

Ms. Himes Gomez achieves a perfect, refreshing harmony between sparseness and ornamentation, and has the uncanny talent to know when to stop.
Her rooms are composed like paintings in an equilibrium that reminds me of Renaissance art, in which the symmetry of a balanced composition exemplifies the existence of divine intention.

Luxury, here, does not mean to drown oneself in an overstuffed sofa, but to leave the worries and stresses of everyday life behind as one enters a home and is greeted by simple and classical beauty. Every object in such a home is placed there for a reason. More importantly, the absence of an object means that it was left out for good reason. As a woman does not wear her entire jewelry collection at once, because it does not fit, it is also not sensical to fill a room with objects that do not belong there, and whose only merit is that they are pretty or valuable.

Environments affect thoughts, emotions and behavior: a temple should direct a visitor's feelings to the numinous, a university library promotes a scholar's concentration; equally, a room designed by Ms. Himes Gomez facilitates the inhabitant's ability to focus on the essential things in life. Who could ask more of a personal space?

I was surprised at how varied the "range" of Ms. Himes Gomez visual technique is: While her favorites seem to be the neutral colored designs, I learned that, when necessary, she uses bright, and engaging colors very adroitly (e.g. for a house located in the rainy Irish countryside).
Her repertoire is varied, spanning from "country" to "urban", and she realizes her superb ideas, while mainting a consistent design philosophy. I frankly do not understand how somebody can execute so many different styles and at the same time be so consistent.

I most heartily recommend this book to anybody who wants to learn from the best that interior design has to offer.

Best of the best!.......2004-10-06

I have a large collection of books on interior design. This one is the best of the best. Mariette is most generous in sharing her talented insight. She tells the reader as well as shows the reader what makes a beautiful room (too many books on design are just advertisements for the designer without sharing any insight). I learned more from this book on design than from any other that I own. My favorite principles learned had to do with maintaining a certain honesty and integrity in the designing process--in being true to the house and to the space. I also learned a great deal on balance and on using color with subtlety. I highly recommend this book!

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