Entertainment Books

This Spanish workbook immerses you a bit too fast. They randomly throw words and verbs at you in no particular order. It's very confusing to someone who has no background in Spanish. Once you've already taken a little Spanish, it's a great workbook. But don't try to use it as your only guide.

This book is way too elementary. I sent it back to Amazon after ordering it. I was very disappointed. If you want a workbook for the CDs or for basic spanish practice, get "Spanish in 10 minutes a Day" instead. It's farm more interesting.

I had read the review that this book was too dumbed down, and I almost did not buy it but I had to for a college course I am taking. I am extremely glad that I purchased this workbook and have had friends ask me for copies of the lessons.

The lessons are not dumb they are broken down piece by piece so that you can understand what they are saying and be able to internalize it. The book has translations and pictures to help enforce the new information as well as phonetic spellings of the new vocabulary so you can say things correctly.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is just starting to learn Spanish, or for someone like me who has not kept up with it since I graduated high school almost six years ago. It is a great book and it even comes with a bonus cd, which features a woman helping you learn how to speak the alphabet and to get started on grammar.

This is a great book.

EXCELLENT CHAPTERS WITH GRADUAL ADDITION OF NEW WORKS AND GRAMMAR. NOT TOO COMPILCATED FOR THE BEGINNER.

This book is way too elementary. I sent it back to Amazon after ordering it. I was very disappointed. If you want a workbook for the CDs or for basic spanish practice, get "Spanish in 10 minutes a Day" instead. It's far more interesting.

This great little cookbook is entertaining at the least, yet filled with delicious recipes. The sense of humor is refreshing. I've tried several recipes and the family enjoyed all. My only suggestion is that the authors could have included solar cooking as another alternative without bothering with fuel. The sun does eventually come back out. Simple Solar Ovens can easily be made by any kid in elementary school. We do it in my 5th grade classroom. Of course the recipes are vegetarian. What, you think that package of hamburger meat will keep for days when the electricity goes out? If you like to eat light, you'll enjoy sampling the recipes. Be sure to read the anecdote about the squirrel family. It's a riot!

Confession: I don't live in a disaster zone, nor have I faced any situations that demanded this book.
That being said, I bought this book because I hate cooking. Really hate cooking. So when I heard about these recipes that used canned vegetables and took less time than those 30 minute meals, I went to my nearest bookstore and bought it.
The recipes are tasty (albeit high in sodium due to the use of canned foods) and extremely easy to make. Even with my limited cooking skills, I'm able to get out a meal in less than 30 minutes (including prep time). My favorite is the "Garlicky Chickpeas with potatoes and tomatoes".
If you haven't figured this out by now, all these recipes are vegetarian/vegan. As a vegan, this is not a problem for me. As someone who's been forced to adapt recipes, I can tell you it's a lot easier to adapt a vegan recipe for omnivore usage than vice versa.
For those without common sense, foods with animal products go bad much more quickly than vegetable-based items. When it comes to stocking your disaster box, items with long-term storage usefulness is a good thing.

This book is actually useful if you have a major power outage or possibly even if you have to leave your house (with butane powered stove and five day box). However, if the Bush administration futzes things up and starts a nuclear war with another country . . . you need another book.

This is a great book for areas that are subject to natural disasters or electrical blackouts where you might have to rely on one-burner cooking. If you like cooking and eating good food, this is a great book even if the lights do stay on. I gave my sister this book along with the Storm Gourmet and she liked Apocalypse Chow the best.

I admit, I bought this book because of the funny title! I haven't tried any recipes yet. The recipes, though vegetarian, look delicious and simple; and I admire the author's approach--why spend 2 weeks living on Spam and cold baked beans, when, with a little forethought, you can be the envy of your block (though I don't think I'd let 'em know we were chowing down in this fashion! Could get ugly!)? You could add canne dmeats to many of the recipes, as well. I particulary enjoyed the author's sense of humor--I've read many disaster prep books, and never encountered humor in any of them. Fave quotes: (regarding "astronaut"/freeze-dried meals)"If your kids are very young, or simply just not too bright, you could tell them you're ordering take-out from Mars" and, "...spending all day slaving over a hot butane stove." Also, the entries on dealing with insurance companies, and the waiting game they play are fun, as well. Most books don't touch upon this, and the crushing boredom and friction that occur when the power has been off for a week.

This book is for the new age, chi-chi. I am a fairly literate man, many of the items mentioned in the book are foreign to me. What is a mandoline?
A mezzaluna? A sudare? Does one need a zester in a calamity? What are basmati pilafs, panchrattan, guanabana and giardiniera? Why would I need to stock several versions of artichoke parts? And of course being closer to a carnivore than anything else, where's the beef? Vegetarian cooking is not something I'd ordinarily do while my faculties are intact. I should have been given that option.
This book was represented to be a help for the average person to smooth over the trauma of adverse conditions through cooking. My take on it is that the this book will be fuel. One of the few good tips gleaned from this book.

This is a wonderful summary of privacy, slander and related law. Even fiction writers should own it because it will keep you from being sued when you base a character in your novel on Aunt Maude. You'll know how to avoid an embarrassing (and suable) public relevation of private facts.

Thankyou to amazon for the book and very fast way in which it was posted to my address.
The condition of the book was as if it had never been used and I know that my son can only gain more knowledge in reading music and improve in the way he plays his Guitar.

Thanks again

DMR

I bought this book as a teaching tool for some of my beginning students, since I have one that wants to go rock, one classical, and one jazz. The arrangement for Fur Elise was a nice piece for a quick-learning beginner to study accidentals, and the arrangements for "All the Things You Are" and "Misty" have been helpful in beginning some jazz studies. Otherwise, I agree that a lot of the arrangements are off, and while there is a large variety of songs, I find that there are a lot of them that I would not have chosen for a book that presumes to call itself "The Greatest". As a teacher, though, there are a few things in here that I have found useful...although, I would prefer that the book didn't have tablature.

This book is a total waste of money. maybe one out of the 100 songs included in this book is right. The chord listings are way off, and the songs sound terrible if u try to play them the way they are in the book. i made the mistake of wasting my time and money ordering this book. Dont be like me learn from my mistake. THIS BOOK IS HORRIBLE!

I'm quite pleased by this book - it has a great list of songs - some classical, folk, rock, christmas, and even has Amazing Grace. The layout of Tab and notes makes it a great tool to learn to read music. Special chord fingerings are listed at the top of each song (bonus) and the print is large enough to read easily.

Well organized, funny introduction, and good examples from real commercial computer games. Uses usage statistics to prioritize tests.

Traditional program testing has come a long way in 50 years but the complexity, time constraints and variety of situations facing game testers is at the edge of the software testing world.

The authors combine authentic experience with Computer Games and Game Testing in a logical, pragmatic and interesting way. They long ago reasoned that it is very costly (if not sometimes impossible) to test all possible paths through a game's options and through the application of some insightful statistical approaches present ways to reduce the total number of tests required under certain assumptions. To me this one insight was worth the cost of the book.

Beyond this outstanding statistical testing insight for the workers in the field, the expository material that covers Games is exceptionally good for the individual trying to put the whole field in perspective. In Part I they address "Being a Game Tester" (with a side venture later in the book to identify different game testing personalities) followed by a good discussion of "Why Testing is Important". Part II talks about the "Making of a Game" while Part III introduces the concepts and vocabulary of Testing. In Part IV the authors bring in the concept of Combinatorial Testing ( another statistical approach) and present it in a step by step way so that the tester can perform the testing suite without knowing all of the theory behind that approach. "Test Flow Diagrams", "Cleanroom Testing" and "Test Trees" adds very modern disciplined techniques to the testing tool process that will prove of value. Part V discusses some advanced testing ideas all of which are very practical in the fast evolving world of Games.

The authors seem to have been brought together and inspired to write just at the time when the field realizes that loosely structured ad-hoc testing may be costing more than the field can afford.

As an experienced VP player, I'm rating this book just as a fun read -- something to kill time while on your way to Vegas, Reno, or AC. I just wanted to know more about Dancer's life and what propelled him to decide to be a professional gambler. This isn't about agreeing or disagreeing with his methods -- just a fun read to see how a professional player got where he is today. Think of it on the level of admiring a film director alot and wanting to read about him/her -- you're probably not going to go out and make a movie, but you enjoyed hearing about his/her life.

I've sent a couple of these books to friends of mine who also play VP and they loved them.

This is not a book on playing strategy. It's more an autobiographical account of how the author extracted over a million dollars from the casinos. Many of his tactics are described in great detail. The really amazing thing is that anyone would be so candid about his personal life and the things he's done, and how he rationalizes doing things that many people might consider unethical, immoral or perhaps even illegal. One sentence on page 170 is especially revealing: "I'd had a lot of people work with me, get mad at me, and want nothing more to do with me." He seems to delight in being disliked.
There are many good recommendations, such as learning a game thoroughly before playing it and continuing to practice on a trainer program so that your skills don't deteriorate. I especially liked the section titled "The care and feeding of slot hosts." Flattery and gifts (bribes) will get you over a lot of hurdles.
On the very first page of the text, Bob shows his disdain for less than perfect players. Consider a Jacks or Better hand containing a suited J-10, an off-suit King, and two low cards, one of which may or may not be a flush penalty card. The "best" play when there is no penalty card is the J-10 (highest EV by 0.01). I could go into a mathematical analysis discussing how infrequent such a decision occurs, and how frequently there is a penalty card, thus making the K-J the best play in the vast majority of cases, but Bob would come back with dozens of other trivial situations. Therefore, I'll simply point out that several respected analysts have shown that a penalty-card-free strategy comes much closer than 0.01% off of perfect play, and even my easy-to-follow Precision Play rules come within 0.01% of the game EV. That's less than one dollar (a cheap cup of coffee) on $10,000 action, not just on the example type of hand, but the total for all penalty card situations. That may be important for the 50 or so truly professional players (Bob's estimate), but the rest of us would probably lose more expected gain through playing errors and reduced playing speed when trying to follow perfect strategy.
In spite of Bob's insistence upon perfection in playing strategy, he says he never uses a mathematical risk of ruin calculation. He uses the "3-to-5 royals rule" instead. For example, for a game with a $1000 royal, he is happy with a $3000 to $5000 bankroll. On Deuces Wild that figures to a modest 7.4% to 21% risk of ruin, but on Double Bonus Poker (one of Bob's favorite games), it's 61% to 74%. Most serious players would feel that he is often playing way over his bankroll. A few pages later he says, "...I learned that one pro had lost $80,000 on the [$5 15/10] Loose Deuces play at the Frontier. Wow! I had no idea that a loss of this magnitude was possible." A quick run with the Sorokin formula reveals a 39.5% probability of losing an $80,000 bankroll on that game. $80,000 is four royals. So much for the "3-to-5 royals rule." I might risk a few hundred dollars with a 40% risk of ruin, but not $80,000.
To be fair, however, we must acknowledge that Bob doesn't play where his advantage is only about 0.1% on the game itself. Slot club rebates, comps and promotions add a lot to the expected value, with a corresponding reduction in risk of ruin. Still, I would want to estimate the total value to me of such amenities and incorporate that into a mathematical risk of ruin calculation.
As he has done so often in the past, Bob goes out of his way to criticize others' work, and the facts be damned. On page 41, he says, "I'd picked up Dan Paymar's 8th edition of Video Poker Precision Play. His Jacks or Better strategy was an eye opener. It was considerably more complex than Wong's, but, as I learned as I went along, full of mistakes. Still, it gave me added insight. In a footnote in one of Paymar's appendices, he'd written that you should hold a suited high card-10 over two unsuited high cards unless there was another card suited with the high card-10."
That's apparently his best example that my strategy is "full of mistakes," but the error is entirely his. The footnote in question can be none other than note "m" on page 57. Quoting verbatim from that edition, "`Honor-10 suited' means A-10, K-10, Q-10 or J-10 of the same suit. Don't hold a suited 10 with an ace if the jackpot is less than 940-for-1, and don't hold a 10 with any honor if any discard is the same suit or a straight card." Nothing at all is said of two unsuited high cards in this note, but in the hand rank table to which it refers, "Two honors (unsuited)" is just above "K-10, Q-10, J-10 suited." How does Bob interpret this to say that a suited high card-10 should be held over two unsuited high cards? Moreover, his error was pointed out to him when he wrote the same thing several years ago.
On page 125 he says, "... Jokers Wild is an extremely difficult game to play.... Paymar's [strategy] was probably the best and I estimate it generated a return that was still at least .25% less than perfect." Actually, unless you're trying to be as perfect as Bob, Joker Wild is much easier to learn than Double Bonus, and an independent expert has determined that my hand rank table comes within 0.02% of perfect. Bob's "estimate" was off by more than an order of magnitude.
On page 175 Bob says, "Today, Dan Paymar's Video Poker Optimum Play... is currently the best book on how to play video poker on the market." Thanks for the compliment, Bob. It's too bad you were unable to resist the temptation to say that it's full of errors. You wrote a long harangue (your word) on those "errors" several years ago, and I showed that altogether they added up to less than 0.01% of the total game EV. Jazbo Burns confirmed that, using his proprietary strategy analysis software.
It's a minor point, but many places in the book Bob refers to a payoff as, for example, 800 to 1. I'm surprised that Anthony Curtis didn't edit this to the mathematically correct 800-for-1 (the "1" is not returned with the payoff). The difference is small on a royal flush (but still large if you view small errors as Bob does), but on a pair of jacks there's a 100% difference between 1-for-1 (returning your bet, which is just a push) and 1-to-1 (a real win of an amount equal to your bet, as on a winning craps pass bet).
In summary, Million Dollar Video Poker is a very important book for anyone considering doing business with Bob, as it gives great insight into his ethics and morals. It is also important for anyone intent on becoming a professional gambler, no matter whether your game of choice is video poker, blackjack or anything else. Perhaps the most important lesson is that Bob spent several years learning how to take advantage of every potential opportunity, during which he made far less than he could have earned in a regular job in spite of admittedly stealing from the casinos (page 88). If you are not up to the task, the book will hopefully dissuade you from the attempt.
By far the most valuable part of the book is the final chapter, "Winning is a Process, Not an Event." These four pages give the best advice I've ever read for a wannabe professional gambler. If you buy the book, do it for this section.
The goal of making big money playing video poker boils down to a lot of hard work that would likely have yielded even greater rewards in a productive endeavor. And it's getting even harder as the casinos learn to structure promotions to be less vulnerable to pros.
On page 210 Bob says that Deuces Wild is much more fun than Jacks or Better. I consider it very significant that this is the only time in the book where he says anything about video poker being fun. But don't despair; you can still have fun playing video poker as a skilled recreational player and supplement your income without all that work if you start with the strategy book that Bob recommends.

As a professional gambler and gambling book writer (Casino Gambling for Fun and Profit: Second Edition), I can say that Dancer is the premier VP strategist and player on the scene today, and this book represents the success he's earned for hard work involved in the thousands of hours he's sat before the video poker screen. (He is also an excellent dancer.) I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
J. Edward Crowder, Ph.D.

Thought this was a how to book to playing video poker. Instead it was the author bragging about how good he was at the game. Boring!!!!!!

Even though he won over $1 million in a five-month period, he had to put most of his winnings back into the machines in order to win the next big jackpot. Mathematically his strategies are probably perfect, but that doesn't put money into my pocket. I've played video poker using his strategies and I lose every time. I guess if I had a bankroll of $80,000 to spend I would eventually win a jackpot, but then what's the sense if I win a jackpot of $40,000 when I'm already down by $60,000??!!! The book is a nice story about his life while earning a living at video poker, but his real earnings these days are from the sale of books, strategy cards, and video poker CDs.

As a new student and program user, I find that 3ds Max 9 Essentials is an outstanding book to start with in 3d modeling and animation. The chapters are well organized as well as the companion CD, making hands on use easy to incorporate with each lession. This book develops a strong foundation for those who plan to move on into either the 3d modeling or animation areas. One important item that needs to be taken into consideration is the need for the Autodesk 3d Max software (2009), which has a 30 day free trial available to download online.

When I opened this book to Chapter one,I then had some doubt if this book was not a good book. But I soon learned that this was very effective book. Each lesson gives you precise explanation as to how to handle software on different level of development. Indeed, learning 3ds Mas is very very difficult. But this book opens up the way for leading you into
most effective tutorial process. Besides, each pictorial illustration on each lesson is geometrically shown for learner's convenience.
I used to rate never more than good books I had purchased before but I can difinitely say that 3ds Max should be rated more than excellent.
Before I conclude my opinion, let me add this. I once attended free-trial
3ds Max lesson provided by courtesy of Autodesk Company in Japan.
This trial lesson was very good but I feel this book can give you more detailed explanation and perhaps answer your long-held question in a very precise manner. By the time you have finished reading combined with your computer handling of the software, you will have become a expert on 3dx Max.
Hidemasa Yamaguchi

If you're new to 3ds Max and are looking for a book written primarily for beginners, Essentials serves as a pretty good selection. It offers easy to understand step by step tutorials that take you through the majority of the production process. Also includes a few projects for Intermediate users. Not a bad addition when building your 3ds Max home library.

This book is a reflection of the program it 'teaches,' namely out-of-date and growing quickly obsolete especially since Autodesk makes Maya and offers it for both Mac and Windows (3DS Max is only PC, an ungainly setup at best). 3DS Max's interface is convoluted, clunky, and the book is way too thin on explanation of even basic 3D Modeling concepts. Here's a quick hint: if you flip to the index section of a beginner's book on 3d modeling and don't even see things like "NURBS," "Sweep NURBS," and it mentions in the chapters concepts like Loft creation that then are used to create geometric basics like a screwdriver (as opposed to a more irregular, organic shape...like what nearly 99% of Loft NURBS are used for in reality), then put the book down and go find another program. Cinema 4D, Maya, Rhino, even Bryce 3D or Poser or SketchUp are better novice introductions to 3D modeling than this program or this book. Steer far and clear of this system. Find something that is just as or more affordable and can work on any system and has an interface that doesn't take ten minutes of hunting (even WITH this 'helpful text') just to do a simple boolean operation.

In my opinion, I think this book is fantastic. You might be able to find the tips, tricks and shortcuts in the help documentation, but only if you know what to look for in the first place. The book is not simply a printout of the help files. It is full of useful information, helpful advice and tutorials that actually help you to learn 3ds Max. Max is a complicated program when you transition from simple modeling to particles, scripts, rigging, animation, etc. This book dives right in and helps you out every step of the way. It teaches good workflow and I consider it to be an invaluable resource.

One of the best celebrity memoirs ever. If anyone ever deserved the success in life that Carol Burnett received, it is she. This little girl, raised in poverty, in a one room apartment, literally steps away from the then- at- its- peak Hollywood Boulevard, a muckle mouthed little dreamer, tended by her cuckoo "Nanny", both parents tragic alcoholics, both of whom did not have a happy ending...This is a fabulous, humble, true success story, about one of the most talented, respected, classy ladies in the history of show-biz. Her telling of her ambition to achieve her dream, in the face of what would have been overwhelming odds to most, is not only incredibly touching, but a lesson in perseverence, and believing in yourself. I tend to write about movies, books, etc.., that are not necessarily "current", and I guess that's because the quality of the originals can't be duplicated, and Carol Burnett is truly one of the "originals." She had and has "the goods." A must read (and read again) about one teriffic lady.

Carol Burnett hit the bullseye with the re-telling of her now familiar life story. The pacing is gentle and flowing while the anecdotes and stories are vivid and well written. Reading this, one can really appreciate "destiny" because the truth is that someone who had her experiences should never have even had the gumption to get herself into UCLA -- let alone take the rest of her journey.

Yet she did it all, with both verve and aplomb and for those of us who are fans, we're grateful that she was able to share her natural gifts with us. Singer, comedienne, actress, entertainer -- she's all of them and more -- and how she got there is a wonderful reminder to everyone that you can't ever stop believing in the power you have to imagine your own life and destiny.

If you're a Carol Burnett fan, you'll acquire a deeper appreciation for her after reading this autobiographical account of her early years. Her parents were divorced alcoholics who died young. She was reared by a grandmother with her own checkered past, sharing a one-room, flophouse apartment with her until she finally moved out to try to make it as an actress. Their story was one of constant struggle and seemingly relentless poverty. Yet Burnett is living proof that, though we are all products of our past, we should never abandon hope. Despite her personal tragedies, she has become someone we all associate with laughter and love. She, like her personal story, is simply inspirational and amazing. A worthwhile read that you won't ever forget!

Carol Burnett is probably best known for her television show where she performed in various skits with a talented cast. One might not realize just how shy she was as a kid, or that she never dreamed of being a movie star until college. However, it is all here in this autobiography, a charming and personal account of a life filled with entertaining characters. We learn about Nanny, the woman who raised Carol and her younger sister Chrissy. We find out about Carol's alcoholic parents Jody and Louise, very different people and different influences on Burnett's life. There are many stories of growing up, school, various jobs, and family, each incredibly relatable and great fun to read. It is hard to put this book down. It is written to constantly leave the reader wanting more and never disappointing.

It is obvious that Burnett has a great love for her childhood although she wasn't always the most popular or the richest. She is an ordinary woman with a life that anyone can latch onto. The only disappointment is that it is so short. Burnett skips talking about her famous tv show as well as the marriage that brought her the three children she wrote the book for. It leaves the reader wanting more. Perhaps there will be a sequel one day; it will no doubt be as good as the first.

I enjoyed this autobiography so much. I'm not American, and cannot even remember ever seeing Carol Burnett on TV, but reading the auto I felt I was really sharing her life. I got to know her family so well. They came to life for me.
Just after I finished CB's book, I started reading one about Jackie Onassis. JO's life seemed so empty, worthless, and dull by comparison.
I also know that CB was telling the truth. I could feel it. I once read Shelley Winter's autobiographies, and I sensed that there were incidents that she either made up or distorted, so I wasn't surprised when people came forward and said SW hadn't been, to put in mildly, accurate in some of her accounts.