chute Books

The software I downloaded did not look anything like the examples in the book. I'm returning the Zune and the book. Hope you have better luck.

As one reviewer called this book "...for dummies who can't find the information free on the web" - this is true, but for anyone who doesn't have the TIME to search through the zillions disassembled pieces of information about the Zune or the knowledge of which of those pieces they need, this is a great reference - a lot of it was almost too technical, but I got the basics of what I needed and recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to take the time to wade through the endless information on the web, free through it may be!

ZUNE for Dummy's is pretty good about pointing out the feature's ZUNE products have. However in this day and age I have already discovered most of the info by reading reviews on the net. I'd suggest buy the book or spend time searching for the data.

This book is great for those of us who own a Zune but do not know all of the things it is capable of doing.

This book has it all. I had bought the pocket guide in store at Barnes & Noble as they didn't have a copy of Dummies. The pocket guide was mostly technical and did not tell you how to do much of anything. The Zune for Dummies book gets into everything you need to know in order to actually enjoy using your device. Specifics that were helpfull was video conversion, preferred settings, and links to many websites for downloadable content.

I have just received this book but have noticed that Pericles, Prince of Tyre has been left out - I wonder why? Haven't read the book yet; when I do, I'll add my opinion on it here.

This book does an excellent job of describing the plots, settings, and characters of the stories of all Shakespeare's plays. The author also provides good background detail of the time, relevant facts from Shakespeare's life, and some not-excessively-detailed analysis where appropriate. My one small complaint with the book is that the author is so deeply in love with the works and the very idea of Shakespeare that she rarely lets an opportunity pass to tell us how wonderful he is. (The level of fawning and gushing is sometimes reminiscent of listening to a fourteen year old girl talk about Justin Timberlake.) But apart from this minor complaint, I heartily recommend the book -- it's quite readable and the overall scholarship is outstanding.

I used this book successfully to help negotiate top grades in an Ivy League Shakespeare class more than 30 years ago, and I still use a copy to reorient myself and my family to Shakespeare's works. An invaluable guide to the essence of each play, including all significant aesthetic themes. Indispensable as a quick read before seeing a Shakespeare play that hasn't been read or seen for some time. I've come across no other book that is so helpful yet concise.

Margaret Chute's Stories of Shakespeare uses an novel technique. She writes treatments for 36 of the plays (those in the First Folio), a present tense chronology of the plot in simple, eloquent language. This book is useful for actors, students or the casual fan. The book also appreciates the beauty of Shakespeare's language by offering selected excerpts. Further, it recognises the humor, the history and the tragedy of the story and gives concise summaries so the reader can always follow the action. This is an excellent book.

Chute's book provides a basic summary for each of Shakespeare's plays. Her writing is as lyrical as it is complete for such a book, which makes it a handy, enjoyable reference. Her main goal is to make the stories digestible, and to that end, the essence of Shakespeare's plays emerges brilliantly, freeing the average reader of dusty Elizabethan language. Unlike other books that give choppy scene-by-scene summaries (though helpful in their own way) or brief plot highlights, Chute's summaries seamlessly tie the play's entire action, principle and otherwise.

The plays are grouped by comedies, tragedies, and histories, with comedies and tragedies in the likely order they were written and the histories arranged chronologically by reign. She includes an illuminating introduction that sheds light on Shakespeare's genius and innovation as well as how best to approach his work. An index of characters is also included. One of the many things I appreciated about this book is Chute's resistance to overemphasizing popular texts. With the exception of "Titus Andronicus," she devotes a fair amount of text to each play, though some do receive added attention.

Those looking for a more detailed or critical reading of Shakespeare's work would not benefit from Chute's book. There are numerous (non-academic) guides for those desiring more than a casual read and study of the Bard. ("Shakespeare for Dummies," "The Pocket Companion to Shakespeare," and "The Age of Shakespeare" are all books I've consulted for more background and a better understanding of the author and era.) In her introduction, however, she points out that the purpose of her book "is to give the reader a preliminary idea of each of the thirty-six plays by telling the stories and explaining in a general way the intentions and points of view of the characters." On occasion she gives critical analyses of characters and plays but in an informative and unobtrusive manner. This book is not Cliff's Notes or a substitute for the actual play, but it does make Shakespeare understandable.

"Chutes and Ladders" is a fascinating longitudinal study of low-wage workers in the U.S. labor market. I would like to see it become better known, especially among poor people and those who work with them. The main message of Newman's book is that it's not easy to climb out of poverty, but a surprising number of people do manage it.

I felt that Newman shied away from some of the easiest conclusions to draw from her own work. She notes frequently that problems with kids are a major reason why many people fail to escape poverty. Child care is at best expensive and at worst unavailable. Kids get sick and have to be taken care of, often leading to job loss among the poor. Yet Newman says almost nothing about the use of birth control and/or abortion to prevent poverty or increase the chance of a family escaping it. As far as I'm concerned, kids are a luxury item. My husband and I have a son, age ten. Although we both have good jobs, we have found even one child to be incredibly expensive in both money and time. I can't imagine how we could manage with two. Yet many subjects of Newman's study, already poor, go on to have two or five or even seven kids! No wonder so many of them stayed poor!

Newman mentions recent economic growth as one of the factors benefitting the poor in the U.S. This is misleading. Economic growth is generally measured by GDP, which is a measure so inaccurate so as to be almost laughable. GDP is not corrected for increasing population, pollution, exhaustion of natural resources, or declining quality of life. More accurate measures of economic growth, such as the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare or Genuine Progress Indicator, tend to show that there has been almost no genuine economic growth in the U.S. since the 1970s. For more on this, see McKibben's book "Deep Economy," Daly's "Beyond Growth," or Brian Czech's "Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train."

I also thought that Newman overlooked important questions on why it is that the quality of life for poor people in the U.S. is so low. After all, the average wage of a burger-flipping worker in the U.S. would put a family well into the middle class in most countries. Why is the cost of living so high here when the prices of most basic commodities do not differ all that much between countries? This is a complex question, but some surprising answers have already been found, which Newman would do well to consider. For example, one of the main reasons it costs so much to live in the U.S. is that our transportation system is organized around the automobile. Cars not only cost money for those who own them, they require high taxes to pay for all those highways. Everybody pays these taxes, including those who don't own a car. Cars also increase housing costs, because parking has to be provided for all those cars, which spreads out cities. For more on this, see Donald Shoup's book "The High Cost of Free Parking."

Overall, though, Newman's book is interesting and well worth reading.

Maybe you've read Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel-and-Dimed or David K. Shipler's The Working Poor. Or perhaps you've seen the episode of Morgan Spurlock's TV series 30 Days in which he and his girlfriend try to make it on minimum wage jobs for one month. Then you know that it is just not possible to live on minimum wage. Is welfare the only alternative? Is there any reason at all to work at mind-numbing, soul-sucking, back-breaking minimum wage McJobs? Katherine Newman takes a look at that question from the viewpoint, not of a journalist, but of an anthropologist. She and her grad student team interviewed about three hundred applicants at Harlem fast food restaurants in 1996 and then followed their progress for two years. The applicants were from Harlem, all from poor families and mostly Latino or African-American. They ranged in age from teenagers to mid-thirties. Newman documented the two-year project in her previous book No Shame in My Game.

She and her team went back eight years later to see what had happened to the "subjects." They were only able to find about forty of the original applicants, so while it doesn't constitute a large enough sample to draw statistical conclusions from, they thought it still might be useful to see what paths the most successful workers had followed. Chutes & Ladders is the story of what they found after eight years. As anthropologists, they had no preconceived ideas or expectations. The reader however, might have a few ideas of what to expect, and might end up being surprised. I was.

Some of the workers didn't do too well over the years, and ended up on welfare, disillusioned and angry. But some of the workers were more successful than anyone would have predicted, working in white-collar jobs that paid well above poverty level, over $100,000 in one case. In fact, about 20% of the original fast food applicants were no longer poor after eight years. How did they do it? Did they have certain advantages over the others? Did they get a lucky break along the way? Does working at a McJob really prepare you for bigger and better jobs? There are no simple answers.

Newman presents all the data, in charts and statistics, and in a narrative that is just as readable and compelling as Ehrenreich's and Shipler's. You will have to draw your own conclusions. It seemed to me that the most successful workers did not gain any advantage from working at fast food restaurants or other minimum wage jobs. They just got the best job they could at the time and moved to better work when they found it. But they didn't wait around for better jobs to magically appear. They kept their ears open and paid attention to who was hiring and what sort of applicants were required. They adjusted themselves to the best of their ability to look and sound like what the employers wanted. They worked hard and learned fast, but they weren't necessarily the smartest or the most advantaged (or even the least disadvantaged). They seemed to be the ones with an idea of where they wanted to go. They wanted to succeed and they figured out, in different ways, how to get there.

There are bound to be some people who look at a study like this and conclude that since some people can pull themselves out of poverty, then everyone should be able to. Even some of the workers in the study came to this conclusion. "If I can do it, then anyone should be able to." But remember, it was only about 20% of these young and healthy workers who were able to succeed. That leaves 80% who were still working minimum wage jobs, not working at all, or who were working off the grid. It really is hard to make it on minimum wage, and adding complications such as child care and/or unexpected bills (usually health-related) can derail the best of plans.

Still, it's hard not to find the results of this study more positive than negative. If 20% were able to succeed with no help at all, then imagine how many could succeed with some help. Health insurance for everyone would be a great start.

Once again, Patricia Chute and Mary Ellen Nevins have provided up to date, and relevant information to professionals assisting children with cochlear implants. Their thoughtful perspectives continue to challenge us all to carefully consider our educational approach. The book is easy to read, easy to use as a reference, and has a marvelous CD with extensive information from the three CI manufacturers. Next Challenge to them both: Infants/Toddlers with CI's!

I loved everything about this book. The episodic plot. The population of characters. The brilliant writing. I agree with another reviewer that it has something in common with the Grapes of Wrath.

I did find it amusing reading the critique, here, from one of Chute's friends. I truly don't believe Chute would categorize her book that way at all. I see it as an extremely well written portrait of a class of society; written without one iota of prejudice pro or con; written without any moralizing or any higher purpose than story itself. It succeeds because of those things.

I think it would of been better served published as non-fiction. If Carolyn Chute had taking the subject to the next level. It's too real for fiction. And that cover is deceptive as all get out!

Don't be deceived by the cover. This is a story about abusive, ignorant-beyond-belief, incestuous white trash. It's gross. It's sad. It's embarrassing. I didn't find it funny or see any dignity, truth, honor, respect, love or honesty as others did. Not in the characters in the book anyway. Carolyn Chute for writing about them, yes. You want to cry for the children and slap some sense into the women. The human animal at it's cruelest.

I knew a Mexican woman, heroin addict/dealer. She lived in a filthy dive motel with her 2 year old son and white husband. I remember seeing her 8 months pregnant, big as a barn, slamming heroin in the kitchen with her 2 y/o hanging off her leg watching, complaining about how when she gave birth the hospital would keep the baby in order to detox it. She didn't like that. The nerve of anyone messing with HER baby. I almost threw up watching all this. It still and always will make me sick inside. The next morning I went to the Methadone clinic and never looked back. This book brought all that back.

Personally I think men and women like that, some how some way, should be surgical sterilized.

I first read this book years ago on recommendation of a friend. This is a powerful story about "white trash" America, with characters that jump off the page and come to life. To this day I still recommend Chute's book to friends who love to read. Every last one of them has come back and told me how much they enjoyed it. Beans of Egypt Maine is gritty, it's uncomfortable, it's amusing, and it's realistic. This is a damn fine novel.

Carolyn Chute has fictionalized a small Maine town to produce a tale of heartbreak, rage, and even humor. The book is not a series of short stories, but a novel about the rural poor, people who have been forgotten by mainstream America. The prose is simple but definitely not naive. People who believe in a mythical rural heartland, where the barns are painted red and people enjoy the "simple life," will be shocked by this book.

I wonder if I should be even thinking of reviewing this book, given that I have had the very good fortune of being friends with the author for over 20 years now -- we met before "Beans" was published.

However, I also feel that somebody out there should understand that this is a wonderful, honest, painful, loving, remarkable book. Carolyn writes about things she knows, and then gets very up close and personal about it.

This book is an attempt to show those who have never known [or even seen] the lives of people some would term "unfortunate" and others simply disdain, and to show that THESE PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. Being poor does not mean that one cannot live with dignity, or honesty, or humor. Being poor does mean that these people are often forced to live in a society that demeans them, insults them, and often forces them into places where they are regarded as nothing but yesterday's garbage.

Let there be no mistake; The Beans are with us, and are not about to go away anytime soon, nor should they. If we have eyes to read and lips to read aloud the story of The Beans, we just might realize that they have much to teach us about truth, honor, respect, and love.

I understand that many people will not understand how on earth I can make this statement because I understand that many people prefer to look for the tawdry and speciousness in environments that they find uncomfortable or even unbelievable.

But this is above all a book of hope. It shows us that everyone lives a life of worth and influence, even if at times some of these "everyones" live lives that are in large part cruel and uncaring. And in that is the challenge of this book; to look below the surface and to see that all of us are part of the Bean family, and that we should value that relationship.

This book is an amazing literary achievement, and this is a statement that I never make lightly -- even if the author happens to be a friend. So read it and try to let its power and honesty confer those qualities in abundance in your lives. You may not find them in your first reading of the book, but trust me -- they're there.

We'll all live just like the Beans, someday real soon I suspect. As soon as the big corporations get through pickin the skeleton clean. Pickin the last meat off the bones. After the corpse that was America,has had it's blood sucked dry. They'll be just two kinds of people, the very poor and the very,very rich. The very poor, you and me and the Beans. How well would you fair under such a hard scrabble existence? How are you going to fair, when it all falls apart, this shaky house of cards?
It's a great book. Probably one of my all time favorites. It's one of those special books that plays like a movie in your mind as you read it. It does that because of the sheer skill of the author. I'm very sad. I'm sorry the story had to end. Maybe it's not going to end. Perhaps we've seen a vision of our future. This may be how all of us,(the used to be working class) will be living. Just surviving.

The book opens with a view of the downtrodden Bean family as seen through the young eyes of Earlene. Living next door, she's fascinated by the unruly children, squalor, drinking and other behavior of the Bean family. Her father warns her against having anything to do with the disreputable clan.
The book grabs you with its descriptions of the horrifying family situation, the poverty, the inbreeding, the fatherless children, and the stories of their escapades. The reader wants to draw back in horror at such lives, but the book is absorbing and at times humorous.

I can't believe this thing was a bestseller. I read this because it was featured in the book "How To Write A Breakout Novel" and sounded interesting. I was wrong. I am finishing it only because I hate to leave a book half-read, and it's not the most *boring* book I've ever read (a record still held by Anna Karenina since college, lo these many years ago). It's not until over halfway through the book before anything even remotely interesting happens (an attack on a law enforcement authority). The writing definitely has its moments but the characters largely do a lot of vaguely strange things for no apparent reason that I can see, and damned if I can find any real conflict or 'villain' in this (what, poverty? Poverty is tragic, but it's mindless and therefore non-villainous). Mostly it's just these really pathetic people going about their lives with no real plotline. Isn't that why many would-be novels get rejected by agents and publishers, because of a lack of a plotline? If I'd been Ms. Chute's agent I would have sent it back to her with a few plot suggestions & asked her to submit again. Oh well, Anne Rice gets away with that too.

This thing has the feel of 'not ready for prime time', but still with lots of promise. I'm giving this two stars because some semblance of conflict *does* show up albeit awfully late to the party, and because Ms. Chute's ability to convey a hillbilly point of view with such lyrical prose is to be commended. If you read this book for any reason, the prose is definitely it. If you're looking for plotline, look elsewhere.

Carolyn Chute is my shooting star, really. Earlene Bean is the best American fiction character to walk onto the novel in this past century.

We like to pretend the world of these characters does not exist and even if we may admit it does most of us don't want the details. It opened a window to a new reality for me. I appreciated the author's notes at the end; I did not assume incest between Lee and Earlene though she states that many did. I found myself profoundly grateful for my education and resources which have spared me this type of existence. I found Earlene to be a likeable character and the lack of fairy tale solutions gave credence to the sad realities of poverty.

Job refused to accept his suffering. The first chapter of GENESIS tells of two creations. The early stories in GENESIS are half legend. Abraham ws a searcher. The first quality evidenced in Jacob is ambition. Jacob was forced to flee Esau's wrath for stealing his birthright. To the Hebrews, Moses was a great deliverer. The Israelites followed Moses out of Egypt because he had beaten the magicians. The Israelites were a democratic people. The BOOK OF RUTH highlights the worth of individuals. Gideon's wisdom is set forth in JUDGES.

Samuel fought in vain against the principle of kingship. Saul was thwarted in trying to create a succession for his son by a stronger contender, David. David was the best king, subservient to God. After the fall of Saul and Jonathan, the logic of events made David king. David, through sheer genius, declared Jerusalem his capital city. Solomon, David's son, introduced the idea of an absolute monarchy into Israel. The people revolted against his son. Elijah, the prophet, initiated an avalanche that overwhelmed the royal dynasty. Elijah refused to believe that God was a bringer of evil. Elisha was his single disciple.

Amos said he was not a prophet. He claimed that amid the love of gold the nation had forgotten its love of truth. Hosea attacked the multitude of altars. The northern kingdon of Israel fell but Judah remained. Isaiah was a citizen of Jerusalem. In the "Dooms" of ISAIAH it was prophesied that a penalty would be paid for breaking the everlasting covenant. Isaiah protected against the idolatry of Judah. The religion of the people was physical, that of the prophets was mental. Micah was convinced the God of Israel should be worshipped in none of the usual ways. Habakkuk was convinced that evil could not endure, that eventually it would fall of its own weight. Nebuchadnezzar put the royal family into captivity in Babylonia. THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS closed Judah's history. It is traditionally assumed to be the work of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah stood alone. He was scourged and imprisoned. He was born of priestly family. Members of his own class opposed him. He urged that the safety of the city was based upon the people's understanding of God. Jeremiah tried to take his case to the common people. During the siege of Jersalem Jeremiah became even more unpopular. Baruch was Jeremiah's secretary. He gathered together the scattered prophecies for the BOOK OF JEREMIAH. Jeremiah preached the doctrine of individual responsibility in Jersalem and Ezekial did the same in Babylonia. Ezekial used vivid and literal pictures. The BOOK OF DANIEL is a product of the persecution four centuries after the Babylonian exile. The great book of the redemption of Israel, ISAIAH, was written during the Babylonian Exile.

The BOOK OF PSALMS is a pilgrimage towards God. It describes many different moods. The prophets were heretics to their contemporaries. By the first century three sects had emerged in Judea, the Essenes, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees. The author deems the raising of Lazarus to be the critical event depicted in JOHN. It served to show that Jesus had fulfilled his ministry. Chute's views are unconventional and compelling in this well-written account of the believers' deistic search.

I enjoyed this book wriiten about the building of the Oregon Trunk Railroad in Central Oregon. The book begins with a credible, yet understandable look at the geology of the watershed, continues to the overall history of the competition between UP and GN railroad presidents and then to the particulars of the construction of the lines on both sides of the Deschutes river. I liked it because it wasn't only a railroad book, nor a roadside geology book, nor a history book, but all three to some degree. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Deschutes river canyon, it's history, geology, or railroads.

The stories were beautifully written. However they should have been much longer. It seems to me that all stories started out nicely but ended in a hurry.

I bought this book as a fan of all things "Victorian" and thoroughly enjoyed the stories. This is Christian romance writing at its best - the gospel message is there, along with a believable romantic story. Recommended for anyone who likes to curl up with a good book on a winter evening.

In the season rush... this book was a gift that allowed me to just slip away for awhile. I loved the stories. This is a great gift for the romance book addict or just someone who needs a quick pick me up in the middle of a hectic life.

I enjoyed this book with the variety of short stories set in various locations in the US during the Victorian era. Great characters and subject matter. The recipes at the end of each novella is something mentioned in the story. The recipes actually have a history of their own. This is a book worth reading.

This book is perfect for the Holidays. I now plan to read the book every year. I am presently reading the story of the Christmas Cottage and the quilt series is next on my list! Nothing better to warm ones heart than romance at Christmas time! You'll love it! And the recipes at the end of every story are a Perfect ending!

Collaboratively written by Patricia M. Chute (Associate Professor, Department of Communication Disorders, Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY) and Mary Ellen Nevins (Professor, Department of Communication Disorders and Deafness, Kean University, Union, New Jersey), The Parents' Guide To Cochlear Implants is a straightforward and highly accessible guide written especially for the parents of deaf children. Detailing in highly accessible, no-nonsense language the pros and cons of cochlear implants, each detail of the surgical procedure, how implants are used as tools for language development, information about device maintenance, a special section about cochlear implants and deaf culture that stresses the importance of consensus building rather than vehement attempts to persuade deaf people to accept implants, or vehement attempts to dissuade parents from opting for implant surgery, and much more. The Parents' Guide To Cochlear Implants is an absolute "must" read for any parent considering a cochlear implant for their child.