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Comment on The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms by John W. Komdat "jwkomdat"

John W. Komdat "jwkomdat" — Sat, 19 May 2012 10:24:04 +0000

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Incredibly handy, February 2, 2008

John W. Komdat "jwkomdat" (Denver, Colorado United States) -

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This review is from: The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms (Paperback)

I bought this book to help me with a school project that involved identifying about fifty different literary devices in a novel. It offered thorough definitions and examples of everything I needed. I will cherish it as an English major.

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Comment on The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms by richardpinneau.com

richardpinneau.com — Sat, 19 May 2012 10:15:54 +0000

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

Offers far more depth than its title suggests, June 1, 2003

richardpinneau.com (Colorado) -

This review is from: The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms (Paperback)

Yes, this is an excellent glossary of terms. It is also much more. Within these 420 pages, the authors have taken time and space to explore in depth the significance of varied approaches to literary analysis and scholarship.

The confusing and politicized nature of 20th Century literary criticism is served well in Murphin & Ray's clear and even-handed explication of various schools and styles. I think that new initiates to literary studies will appreciate the lengthy analyses given to critical schools/styles ( from aestheticism and close reading... to new historicism and 'theory' ). I find that this humbly titled "glossary" offers clearer and fairer insights into of these stormy academic seas that most books claiming "Intro to Criticism" in their titles.

This is a great reference volume for literature students. My only disappointment was the lack of references, and of suggestions for reading in more depth (other than in-passing mention of authors' names and occasional book titles), but that of course would have taken this volume further beyond the class of mere "glossary".

Still, in summary: indispensable - unsurpassed!

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Comment on The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms by Mohammed Raiyah

Mohammed Raiyah — Sat, 19 May 2012 09:30:57 +0000

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful

comprehensive and lucid, December 1, 1999

Mohammed Raiyah -

This review is from: The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms (Paperback)

This glossary is one of the best I have seen, combining both exhaustive and detailed enteries as well as a wide range of coverage. Literary periods from Old English to the Postmodern are discussed in detail - the article on postmodernism is almost six pages. Critical approaches such as structralism and postcolonialism are lucidly presented. Literary trends and tropes are explained with illustrative examples. Crossrefrencing is particularly very useful. All this makes this glossary a good study aid for both literary students and scholars.

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Comment on Aspects of European History 1789-1980 (University Paperbacks) by Ppaul

Ppaul — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:33:56 +0000

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

War and Peace and everything in between, July 7, 2001

Ppaul (Gauteng, South Africa) -

This review is from: Aspects of European History 1789-1980 (University Paperbacks) (Paperback)

This book consists of 36 essays, starting with the French revolution, and going up to modern times, passing through most historically important matters. Examples of essays are 'The Collapse of the Second French Empire' or 'German Foreign Policy 1918-1939'. It is intended for students and general interest readers. In the introduction, Lee says that the chapters (read essays) were 'built up step by step', so that each paragraph represents a 'stage in the argument'. The essays are well written, and their content is a good balance of the basic facts and interesting information that might be difficult to find elsewhere.

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Comment on McGraw-Hill’s Top 50 Skills for a Top Score: ACT Math by Cecilia L. Lynch

Cecilia L. Lynch — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:27:41 +0000

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

Son's math score went up EIGHT points, December 24, 2010

Cecilia L. Lynch -

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This review is from: McGraw-Hill's Top 50 Skills for a Top Score: ACT Math (Paperback)

My son originally scored a 16 in Math on his first ACT. We tried two other ACT prep books before this one. They were long and tedious and mainly just reviewed math skills. This book went well beyond the skills needed and explained how to attack a variety of problems that are common on the ACT. Each of the 50 skills are broken down into a one page explaination and an additional page of five practice problems. There are study cards for each skill so you can review the skill daily to help remember it. Sam was able to cover two to five skills daily without feeling overwhelmed or defeated. His score increased to a 24. In each of the subscore areas, he increase by 4 points for an overall increase of eight points. I strongly recommend this book. It was completedly different than other books we tried and apparently it's fairly effective. He might have done better had he finished the last ten skills. He only finished the first 40 skills in the book.

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Comment on McGraw-Hill’s Top 50 Skills for a Top Score: ACT Math by Girlscout63

Girlscout63 — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:15:26 +0000

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

Quick review of what's on the ACT Math., August 2, 2010

Girlscout63 (midwest, USA) -

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This review is from: McGraw-Hill's Top 50 Skills for a Top Score: ACT Math (Paperback)

If you just want a quick review book than this is the book for you. This book is short,concise, with all topics reviewed. All answers are clearly explained. The first review gave a very accurate description of how the book was organized, so I will not repeat. The book itself is well organized.
However, if are looking a more intensive math practice,a better book would be McGraw-Hill's CONQUERING THE ACT MATH.

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Comment on McGraw-Hill’s Top 50 Skills for a Top Score: ACT Math by A. Krebsbach "Aaron"

A. Krebsbach "Aaron" — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:59:09 +0000

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

The Best Prep For The Math Portion Of The ACT, April 15, 2010

A. Krebsbach "Aaron" (Minneapolis, MN United States) -

This review is from: McGraw-Hill's Top 50 Skills for a Top Score: ACT Math (Paperback)

I have not been in school since 2006 and I just took my ACT last weekend. After signing up for the ACT, I spent hours online trying to pick out the book that would help me prepare. I am very strong with English and Reading, but a little more than rusty on my Math skills. I decided to purchase a book that would mainly focus on the Math section. This book was my decision. The only book I purchased for ACT prep. At first I was unsure if I had made the right choice in the one book that would help me get ready for this big test. When I sat down and started taking the pretest, I realized I was in deeper than I thought. But when the lessons started--I mean the "skills", I started to understand the equations and it made the Math seem a lot simpler. Each lesson has 5 questions; ranging from easy to hard, that help you review each skill. After you are through with all the skills, there is a review and a posttest. There is also a CD-ROM attached that has 2 additional practice test. I completed the book and both practice tests. The night before the test, I didn't need to cram. The Math test was second, after English. I was so confident with my Math and with the help of a good calculator (TI-30XIIS), I even had time to go back and check my work! This book really helped me prepare for everything that was included on the test. I was so happy with the results and how much I learned!

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Comment on Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World by tom abeles

tom abeles — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:43:23 +0000

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Now and Then, September 26, 2011

tom abeles (minneapolis, mn USA) -

This review is from: Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World (Hardcover)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Most of us describe the growth of an idea or technology by using the familiar "S-shaped" curve. George Land, in his early work took the concept one notch further by suggesting that as an idea or technology became mature there needed to be a leap to the next growth curve, a process that few were able to make- first, the innovators, who started the next growth curve. Clayton Christen pointed out that these innovators often provided products or services that were poor substitutes for the mature industry and thus were largely ignored. Eventually, these ideas improved until they were able to effectively compete and capture a significant market share, or, perhaps, even become dominant. That point has been reached in the education technology arena.

Tom Vander Ark's insightful volume basically declares that most of the early innovation in the arena of digital learning has either fallen by the way or is rapidly becoming the key to significant change in how we learn from PreK to gray, with the focus of this book being primarily in the K-12 schools. To ignore this or to treat it as "another technology" to be grafted onto the current lock-step, age-defined, cohorts of the traditional school is to mistake the fact that we are now, globally, turning the corner towards the rapid rise on the familiar sigmoid curve of digital learning environments. The innovation phase is passed and the early adoption period is rapidly ending as digital technology from smart phones and tablets to cloud computing become the "new normal".

For many years the common cliché has been that we are changing from the sage-on-the-stage to the guide-on-the-side. The increase in the reliability, speed, and access to digital technologies has made this "wish" into a reality, challenging the current model of schools and how we prepare and employ what we have traditionally identified as "teachers", and, therefore, how our post-secondary systems prepare future teachers as well as how those currently in the classroom or who are preparing to enter the classroom will need to be supported.

"Getting Smart's" style is casual. One can skip around and find ideas, references and boxes with predictions on when Vander Ark believes technologies will advance or at what rate individuals will adopt these technologies and their impact on schools and learning. For those familiar with what is happening in games, on-line learning, virtual schools and similar transformational experiences, this will be familiar but not a boring recitation of endless examples. For those seeking an over-view, the book gives you just enough to sense the directions and provides links to go as deep as you wish. For those new to the area, think of it as an introductory handbook, to be read over morning cereal, during stretch breaks or instead of the latest Terry Pratchet or a Vonnegut novel.

We know that the cost of text-book knowledge is asymptotically approaching zero and the rate at which individuals are finding that they can learn and gain competencies on the equivalent of a "need-to-know" basis. This allows students to experience what the world outside of school is starting to realize. Nine-to-five" is giving way to competencies and "results-oriented" work. And, schools are realizing that same need, where "memorize-test-forget" and collecting course credits like stamps in a rewards book is rapidly losing credence. Technology provides the gateway to this transformation. Vander Ark shows how, why, and where the savings are in time and money, both in capital expenses of operating brick-space only schools and paying for teachers. One recalls the old cartoon of a large lecture hall where the student desks are filled with tape recorders capturing a lecture delivered by a master recording.

What is particularly refreshing about "Getting Smart" is that it is one of the few books on education reform and the shift to digital that does not flog the idea that this shift will prepare students for future either in post secondary education or for the world of work. The volume is truly about education and learning. Those, in the United States who have drunk the cool-aid about "closing the gap" in US education or preparing individuals to rise in the world of work might be interested in reading John Marsh's "Class Dismissed: Why we cannot teach or learn our way out of inequality" [...] ).

Two forthcoming volumes from Harvard Education Press, "Surpassing Shanghai" and "Schooling in the Workplace" will explore what is happening in education systems outside the United States. Both of these appear to cast US education researchers and academics as intellectual Flagelantes because, until we recognized that the world was flat, the United States seems to have seen its system as Garrison Keillor sees the inhabitants of Lake Wobegon who suffer from "illusory superiority".

"Getting Smart" is a refreshing approach which neither sets up others... Read more

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Comment on Interpreting the Renaissance: Princes, Cities, Architects (Harvard University Graduate School of Design) by jizbsu "jizbsu"

jizbsu "jizbsu" — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:26:21 +0000

2 of 15 people found the following review helpful

are you ready for this book?, September 1, 2006

jizbsu "jizbsu" (New York, NY United States) -

This review is from: Interpreting the Renaissance: Princes, Cities, Architects (Harvard University Graduate School of Design) (Hardcover)

I give 3 stars to this book is not because that it does not have the top quality. instead, i'm sure it is a solid piece inside-out.

The reason for it is because this book is not for every reader. It has gone too far for most of readers who mainly focus on architectural practice, and just want get to know renaissance or have some knowledge to show off. This topic will be too boring to attract your GF/BF.

The author, Tafuri, stood between architects and politicians as a history detective, track down the behind scene plot of renaissance history, introduce both an in-depth history research methodology and a new way to interpret the clues. The work bounds architecture with politics tightly, and it helps to understand even contemporary architecture trend. However, it requires a huge amount of Italian architecture, zoning and history background. I cannot recommend this book for the students as a start reading. It is an ocean for kids to learn swimming.

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Comment on Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World by eCognition

eCognition — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:09:59 +0000

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

A decent primer on what's available., September 28, 2011

eCognition (CA United States) -

This review is from: Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World (Hardcover)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

As someone who's always been interested in the future of digital learning, I was very interested in reading this book. I wanted some detailed information on the individual technologies involved, along with the various pedagogical methods and how those individual technologies fit within the pedagogical framework. The ideas presented here have already been presented in other recent books on digital learning and have been done in a more coherent and usable format, at that. Oh, and in a less repetitive form, as well. For a book this short, you'll expect a little more "bang for your buck".

It's a book that touts the incredible benefits of future digital learning (something most probably already know), mentions the current players in the field of digital online learning (here today, more than likely gone tomorrow; although the ideas, themselves, will stay relevant), while ignoring the cultural issues behind the abysmal educational system (as a native of la, I can assure you, the lack of technology is NOT the problem). While the book is about digital learning and doesn't market itself as a book on why the system is failing, the author repeatedly blames the ills of the current educational system on the system of learning itself, which is why I mention it. Keeping the student engaged is primarily a self-motivational factor and has very little to do with the media that the education is presented in (although a non-engaged student will look outside himself/herself for the reasons why they don't care and tell you differently). You only need to point to India and China as prime examples. This extreme customization of learning that the author champions is going to have the very real consequence of creating an environment where whatever works for little Jimmy is just fine, so long as little Jimmy's OK with it. A classroom full of high-achieving Chinese students-utilizing one textbook for a classroom and still managing to achieve high scores-would laugh at that notion. Technology should be a tool and not the students prime motivator for wanting to care. A student will point to anything outside himself/herself as the reason for the lack motivation. The author believes the lack of technology is the problem, and I believe he's going to be supremely disappointed when the new high-school-with a well-funded technology department-5 minutes from me continues to dish-out a 33% dropout rate 10 years from now.

The author's insistence that learning be made so that the student can choose "when to work on it, how long to spend on it, and how to approach the experience", and then receive some sort of recognition for their work while virtually eliminating the negative feedback a student receives after getting an answer wrong is discouraging and does a disservice to those future students who will enter the real world ill-prepared. It's OK to set a goal above one's aptitude and prod them into reaching that goal. Going at one's own pace (often an imagined self-limitation) has the potential pitfall of promoting complacency and mediocrity.

In sum, I found this book to be more of a reference on what is available in the digital realm, rather than a book on how to use what's available. It's a collection of what's available now and what (according to the author) is likely to be available in the near future. If you already know what the "The Cloud" is and have already read a book (of which there are many) or spent a decent amount of time reading material on the digital economy and how its poised to reinvent the way education is taught, then you won't find anything new here.

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