Cheap Neal Cassady: The Fast Life of a Beat Hero

This book was really good, but there was so much into each section then it was spuratic all around.Get more detail about Neal Cassady: The Fast Life of a Beat Hero.

Buying Dynasty

Its official Kwame Teague AKA Dutch is the man! Mr. Teague has officially become one of my favorites. . I have read a few of his penned novels and this is the best work of his that I have read to date. I am truly waiting for the next one...and I am not one for sequels! I CAN"T wait to see how this continues. All hail Dutch as he has solidified himself as one of the greats.

I was awed with the way this book flowed. The character development was great. The use of all the characters was flawless. There was not a useless character involved in this one. The drama started very early on. Chapter one blood is shed and keeps going to the very last page in this suspenseful story. I loved the way the story line goes back into time to give a complete account. This author should be writing for a daytime show and showing them how a REAL soap opera is done!

This one is going to be a hard act to follow, so I will say with this novel the statement was made come hard or stay at home. Author Dutch has set the standard and raised the bar. He is with the big dogs now - take your rightful place Dutch. Keep bringing us the best you have and we will stay satisfied!

SiStar Tea
ARC Book Club Inc.
5 star ratingGet more detail about Dynasty.

Buy Jeff Smith's Guide to Head and Shoulders Portraits

After reading all the glowing reviews of this book, I was expecting something truly remarkable. After finishing the book, I can't help but feel a little disappointed. About 40% of the book has nothing to do with how to take head and shoulders pictures (or any pictures, for that matter), but rather with the business of photography, and how to make yours more profitable. It seems this book is aimed, not at the amateur photographer, but at the pro who's looking to improve his business. He goes on about how to find out what a client wants, how to treat them, what things to have readily available at your studio, etc. This is all good information for those who need it, but perhaps he should have saved it for a book entitled "The Business of Photography" or something. Most of his suggestions simply would not apply to an amateur. For example, he suggests hiring assistants to do almost everything except take the photos, claiming "You make hundreds of dollars an hour behind the camera, but when you sit down at the computer, you're doing the job of someone making twelve dollars an hour." Well, that's all fine, but it's not what I was looking for in a book with the title "Jeff Smith's Guide to Head and Shoulders Portraits". I was hoping for...I don't know...maybe some information on how to take great head and shoulders portraits. It's not like most of the people reading this book are in a position to hire lots of assistants. If I had that kind of money, I'd just pay a seasoned pro photographer to teach me everything he knows.

Mr. Smith goes on and on about how to make your photography business profitable, and basically states that, if you don't follow his advice, you'll be one of those photographers complaining about being put out of business by "soccer moms with dSLR's". He repeatedly emphasizes the importance of knowing what your customers needs and desires are. But he doesn't seem to understand that this book is most likely not being read by fellow professionals, but by the very "soccer moms" and other amateurs he rails against. I believe he has failed to take his own advice and has put out a book that doesn't meet the expectations of his clients.

Now, the reason I give the book three stars and not just one is because it does contain some useful information about posing and lighting the subject, and his portraits are truly stunning. Of course, it helps that he runs a very high-end photography studio, and his clients are the "beautiful people" of California, not the average Joe or Jane. I'm not sure his lighting setup, which leans more toward fashion lighting than portraiture, would be appropriate for most clients. Still, the book shows the lighting techniques and posing very well. He also goes into detail on posing the hands, head, shoulders, and even the eyes. It's just a shame that he wasted so much space on information that isn't on topic. I wish he had gone into more detail on various lighting setups, but apparently he didn't have enough space. Obviously, he felt that including information on how to stock tampons because "the average woman starts her period at unexpected times in embarrassing places and has no hygiene products" was more important.

I'm keeping the book, so Jeff has made his profit off of me, which seems to be his main goal. But I won't be putting him on my list of authors to buy from in the future.

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Order Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value

If you are creating products and services without a design process that produces innovative solutions; if you operate in a world of products and services where best in class is a must; if you are looking for real world methods for delivering break through content; if you want to hear from design professionals wired with design thinking; if you have heard colleagues and clients refer to "design thinking" and want to learn about it with the hopes of implementing it into your business then this book is invaluable. After reading many other books that touch on the design thinking concept; here is a book that provides a wealth of in depth information that examines design thinking from a number of perspectives. In my company we need to be both attune to our client's approach to design and integrating ourselves into their process while maintaining our own design disciplines internally. This book provides insights to these sorts of design challenges as well as more traditional ones such as building a design thinking process and the culture of design in a company. Great information and interesting to read as well. Very much enjoyed it.Get more detail about Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value.

Where To Buy How to Play Djembe

I've played Djembe for over a decade and was searching for introductory material for a friend who is just discovering drumming; and had a birthday coming up. The book and CD are excellent . . . They Love it!! . . . and is a very satisfactory guide into the world of rhythm.Get more detail about How to Play Djembe.

Behind the Glass: Top Record Producers Tell How They Craft the Hits

This book has turned out to be one of my best purchases in years. As an aspiring producer/engineer, this book not only provided inspiration, but also gave me great insight into the wide variety of techniques, styles and perspectives that exist among the recording industry's greatest veterans. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in audio production. It is both informative, but also a very enjoyable read.

I just got Behind the Glass II, and I have to say, read both!
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Complete Idiot's Guide to Ballroom Dancing Review

I'm just starting lessons and thought this book, which I found in the library, would be a great reinforcement. I think I'm a bit premature, but that's not the book's fault. The problem is that there seem to be many variants of the "basic step" and the book does not always do what my instructor did. I expect that as I get more practice this will be a non-problem. The book is very wordy, but That's because the chapters are each very complete -- I think it's not to hard to skip forwardc and then go back for the finer details. However, the library copy came with a CD, with nice music. The edition Amazon sent has a DVD which seems pretty useless. Each topic seems to be about 6 second long and they slide into each other. It's not easy to watch two people dancing for six seconds and pick up the footwork -- especially when the segments are not labelled on the screen as they come up, and have of them are a bit blurry, which may be to indicate speed or to give the scene a dreamy look. A better DVD would have been helpful, but the book stands on its own.Get more detail about Complete Idiot's Guide to Ballroom Dancing.