Reviews (1)

Delightful memoir
This delightful memoir of a very popular Depression-era children's author, Thornton Burgess, heightened my appreciation for the work he and illustrator, Harrison Cady did so profusely for thirty years.The author's personal insights into the human-ness of the family adds credibility and sensitivity to the book.Personal photos enhanced the read, appearing to be candids from family albums. Thanks, Mrs. Meigs, for reminding us of your grandfather's appreciation for the wonders of nature, and it's connection to divine creation. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. (Thornton Waldo),    2. 1874-1965    3. 20th century    4. Authors, American    5. Authorship    6. Biography    7. Biography & Autobiography    8. Biography/Autobiography    9. Burgess, Thornton W    10. Children's stories    11. Computer Bks - Operating Systems    12. Computers - Operating Systems    13. Family    14. Family relationships    15. General    16. Grandfathers    17. Literary    18. Operating Systems - General    19. United States    20. Meigs, Frances B   

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Reviews (1)

Tea, Cakes, and the First Business Computer
I was in a gift stop a couple of weeks ago, and made a purchase, for which the clerk took a form book, wrote down what I was buying and the price (she added tax mentally and did not need a calculator), and having finished, she gave me a carbon copy and I was on my way.It has been years since I had such a pen and paper transaction.There is almost always an electronic cash register now, and it is usually hooked up to the big store computer, which also does the inventory, pay slips, and many other accounting and management functions.There was a time when computers were not a part of businesses, and now there is a time that they are almost universal.What was the first business computer, and what company put it to work?The surprising answer is in _A Computer Called LEO: Lyons Teashops and the World's First Office Computer_ (Harper Perennial) by Georgina Ferry.It is an enchanting book about times long ago, even if it is about industrial history and computer development.The boffins who made and used their hand-built computer were well ahead of their times, and at least partially because of that, we know IBM and we don't know LEO, but LEO is worth knowing about.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Computer Science    4. Computers - General Information    5. General    6. History    7. COMPUTERS_HISTORY    8. Computer Hardware & Operating Systems    9. Computers / History    10. History of engineering & technology   

Reviews (1)

An especially recommended addition to Women's Studies
The collaborative effort of Katharine A. Dean, Miriam Conteh-Morgan, and James K. Bracken, The Undergraduate's Companion To Women Writers And Their Web Sites is an authoritative, informative, useful and "user friendly" guide to websites devoted to the lives and works women writers. Focusing on more than 180 women writers ranging from medieval to contemporary, and whose works are widely incorporated into college level literary studies, each individual entry comprising The Undergraduate's Companion To Women Writers And Their Web Sites includes concise lists of the best websites, printed sources (including biographies, criticisms, dictionaries, handbooks, indexes, concordances, journals, and bibliographies). The Undergraduate's Companion To Women Writers And Their Web Sites is an especially recommended addition to Women's Studies and Literary Studies academic reference resource collections. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American literature    2. Biography    3. Computer network resources    4. English literature    5. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh    6. Handbooks & Manuals    7. Literature - Classics / Criticism    8. Reference    9. Women Authors    10. Women authors, American    11. English    12. Language Arts & Disciplines / Library & Information Science    13. Literary studies: general    14. Novels, other prose & writers    15. USA    16. United Kingdom, Great Britain    17. Women's studies    18. World Wide Web (WWW)   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Computer Bks - General Information    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer Science    5. Computer Science (General)    6. Computers    7. Computers - General Information    8. General    9. History    10. General Theory of Computing    11. History of specific subjects   

Reviews (2)

Fantastic!
This book is undoubtedly the definitive work on Reinhard Heydrich. As canbe seen from the title, it focuses on both the brutal career of thisso-called "Nazi Martyr" as well as his assassination, which hasbeen hidden behind inaccuracy ever since it occured over fifty years ago.The book sheds very informing light on Exiled Czech President Eduard Benesand his government exiled in London, who sponsored the assassination,codenamed ANTHROPOID, for the main purpose of showing post-war world powersthat the Czechs had attempted to strike out against the seeminglyinvincible Nazis that combined brutal measures and their seemingly immortalpower to Germanize Czech soil and incorporate it into the Greater GermanReich. Yet, Benes seemed to be pig-headed enough to continue the operation,despite his knowledge of the brutality of Nazi reprisals, especially whenit came to killing a high-ranking official of grand importance. And thenthere is Heydrich himself, the ideal Nordic Man, a cold, calculatingmanipulator that worked his way up to the top in the SS. He had created theSD, or "Sicherheitsdienst" (Intelligence Service), the RSHA, or"Reichsicherheitshauptampt" (Reich Main Security Office), and hadorganised the infamous Wannsee Conference, in which the Final Solution tothe Jewish Question was planned to the finest detail. He was also in chargeof the "Einsatzgruppen," or the Mobile Killing Units whichoperated in Nazi-Occupied territories in the East. In late 1941, he wasappointed by Hitler to be Reichsprotektor of Bohemia-Moravia. In this heexcelled and was determined in smothering the remnats of the CzechResistance. His successes grew, and so did his reputation within the Naziregime. During this time, two young members of the Czech Brigade, Jan Kubisand Josef Gabcik, were trained for the sole purpose of killing Heydrich whohad now come to be known as the "Butcher of Prague." On themorning of May 27, 1942, at a suburban corner in Prague,Heydrich wasbeing driven by his chauffeur, Klein, in his open Mercedes to the airportwhere he was to fly to Berlin to meet with Hitler and discuss Nazioccupation policy, the two assassins managed to mortally wound the Nazi--bya whisker. What followed was a brutal rampage: thousands of Jews and Czechsdeported, the relatives of Kubis and the ANTHROPOID team's lookout man,Josef Valcik, killed, and the destruction of the two Czech villages ofLidice and Lezaky, in which the majority of the population was killed. Thethree team members, along with other parachutists, fought with the SS inthe Karel Boromejsky Church where they had been hiding from the Gestapo fordays in a crypt beneath the church. They fought for six hours and at thelast minute, all of them used their last bullets to commit suicide ratherthan be taken alive. A captured Czech parachutist, Seargeant Karel Curda,had been caught a while before and had led the Gestapo to discover wherethe assassins were hiding. He received one million marks for hiscontribution and his mother and sister were saved. He became a Gestapoagent and married a daughter of an SS man. After the war, he stated to hisprosecutor, when asked at how he could have betrayed his comerades,"You would do the same for one million marks." He was hanged fortreason. Embarrassed by the enormous amounts of reprisals that followedHeydrich's assassination, Benes denied all responsibility for ANTHROPOIDand stated that it was the work of the Czech resistance in Prague andLondon had nothing to do with it. This is just a part of the vivid episodesthat the reader will encounter while reading Callum MacDonald's impressiveand awesome account of the life and death of "the man with the heartof iron," Reinhard Heydrich. Get it and read it before it dissapearsfor good!

A Serious and Engrossing Account of the Death of a Villain
This book is both scholarly and riveting. It describes the controversial assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, originally Himmler's deputy at SS headquarters and later supreme Nazi commander of the Czech territories. No one will be shocked to learn of SS oppression of the occupied territories in Central Europe, but it is especially chilling to hear a detailed account. The book will come as a revelation to those who may never have heard of Heydrich, or who have encountered only scattered references to his name. In fact, at 38 years old, Heydrich was a rising star in the Nazi movement and one of its most brutal figures at the time of his killing. One especially shocking feature of the book is that Heydrich comes off as an even more vile character than Hitler, to whatever extent that is possible. The handsome SS-Oberfuehrer was actually an expert at manipulating Hitler, egging him on to some of his worst atrocities by falsely claiming that revolts were brewing in the occupied territories. Based on these generally illusory reports, Hitler would give Heydrich and the SS a free hand in using all possible suppressive tactics against the native populations. It was Heydrich who chaired the infamous Wannsee conference, which sealed the fate of European Jewry; afterwards, he was sometimes rumored to be Hitler's likely successor as the Third Reich stretched onward into the late 20th century. After finishing off the Jews, Heydrich planned to deport the entire Polish race to death camps, followed by as many as 60% of the Czechs (those who were deemed non-Germanizable.) The book argues that the assassination occurred in the following context. Czech intelligence was astoundingly good even before the Munich Conference in 1938. The main reason is that Paul Thuemmel (the mysterious Agent A-54), a high-ranking Wehrmacht officer, was spying for the Czechs for reasons that are still not clear. After the German invasion of their country, Czech intelligence fled to London, from where they broadcast news to their oppresssed countrymen and trained patriot commandoes in Scotland to undertake parachute raids in the motherland. Czech access to Thuemmel gave them an enviable position with respect to the British and Soviet governments, who first learned in this way of the planned Nazi invasion of Russia. But in February of 1942, Thuemmel was discovered and arrested by the Gestapo. This put Eduard Benes and his Prague exiles under great pressure to find other avenues to maintain their prestige with the leading Allied powers. They achieved this result with the killing of Heydrich, who had gotten off to a busy start in Prague with the summary execution of the city's student leaders, and with other brutal, cynical maneuvers. (One of the worst was Heydrich's proclamation tripling pension benefits for Czech citizens, knowing fullwell that he planned to gas most of them well before retirement age.) Two Czech soldiers who had parachuted back into the country in late 1941 attempted the hit on Heydrich on what was reportedly his very last day in Prague, on May 27th in 1942. His next stop was to have been France, where he would certainly have liquidated the French resistance by means of the despicable techniques pioneered in occupied Czechoslovakia. At the crucial moment, the gun meant to kill Heydrich jammed, but a bomb wisely designed as a back-up sent shrapnel into his spleen. The man often described as the model SS soldier died a week later in Prague, of blood poisoning (the Nazis did not have penicillin, which would probably have saved his life). Wicked retaliations followed. The village of Lidice, wrongly thought to be connected with the killing, had all of its males over age 15 shot on the spot. The women were sent to death camps, and so were the non-Germanizable children. The "best" children were put up for adoption in Germany, and tracked down after the war by the Red Cross. Furthermore, all political prisoners were immediately executed, and a special train of Prague Jews was immediately sent to Auschwitz, labelled with signs reading "The Assassination of Heydrich". The son of the family that had provided a safe house for the assassins was tortured for a full day without revealing any information. He finally broke down when the SS brought into his presence the severed head of his mother floating in a fish tank (she had actually taken cyanide earlier in the day to avoid interrogation). Having been broken in this way, he finally revealed the hiding place of the valiant assassinsРthe basemnt of a greek Orthodox Church in central Prague. After a courageous siege in the church, the assassins and their look-out men use their final bullets to take their own lives. The names of the assassins had already been supplied by a traitor� another of the Czech parachutists who had turned on his compatriots, perhaps with the initial aim of preventing further German retaliation against innocent civilians. This traitor, Karel Curda, later went into the permanent employ of the SS, marrying the sister of a ranking official and posing as a commando in various parts of Czechoslovakia so that anyone offering him aid might be captured and executed. He himself was hanged after the war by his outraged countrymen after stating at trial, "You would have done it too for one million marks." Heydrich's deputy, a grim one-eyed Sudeten book dealer named Karl Frank, was also hanged after the war. The story of Heydrich is an amazing one in so many respects, and the author proivdes us with an exhaustive but readable picture of several key elements to the story: 1) the grim background of Heydrich's manipulative rise from cashieered Navy womanizer and SA street-brawler to Heinrich Himmler's ace hatchet man. We watch on in amazement as the lonely teen-aged son of an obscure Halle composer turns into a formidable customer matching intrigues with the shadowy likes of Martin Bormann and Adolf Hitler himself. 2) the remarkable tale of the birth of the Czech intelligence service. This story of the far-sighted Frantisek Moravec and his brilliant cultivation of a top agent within the German military would be worthy of a book in its own right. 3) the complicated saga of former Czech President Eduard Benes, stiffed by the appeasing allies at Munich in 1938. Benes is the picture of liberally-minded nationalism, but also of a ruthless politician willing to risk the deaths of hundreds of countrymen in his power-jockeying against the Czech Communist Party for eventual postwar influence. 4) the cloak-and-dagger tale of the assassination itself, one of the best real-life spy stories one could ever hope to read. The eventual assassins are forced to improvise following a disastrous parachute drop miles from their target zone and to indiscreetly debate the merits of the assassination with resistance workers concerned about the after-effects for the general population. 5) finally, the account of brutal SS retaliation against innocent Czech civilians in the wake of Heydrich's death. This part of the book offers one the best account I've ever read of Nazi atrocities OUTSIDE of the notorious death camps. In sum, the author gives us at least five compelling narratives woven into one compact account that will leave even ardent death penalty opponents (such as this reviewer) cheering in spite of themselves for the timely fall of Reinhard Heydrich. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1904-1942    2. Assassination    3. Biography    4. Computer Books: Internet General    5. Czechoslovakia    6. General    7. Heydrich, Reinhard,    8. History - General History    9. Nazis    10. Underground movements    11. World War, 1939-1945    12. Heydrich, Reinhard   

Reviews (1)

he helped develop radar
Wilkes' biography is interesting not just because he was one of the early computer pioneers. At a time when a computer was a person who used an electromechanical calculator, and not a machine that did computations. He also gives us a view into Britain of the 1930s and 40s.
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Subjects:  1. (Maurice Vincent)    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Computer Science (General)    6. Computers    7. Computers - General Information    8. Engineers    9. General    10. Great Britain    11. History    12. Questions & Answers    13. Scientists - General    14. Wilkes, M. V    15. Computing and Information Technology    16. History of specific subjects   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography & Autobiography - Science & Technology    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Children's 12-Up - Biography / Autobiography    6. Children's Books/Young Adult Biography    7. Computer scientists    8. Encyclopedias    9. General    10. Mathematicians    11. Mathematics   

Reviews (1)

A very interesting story
This wise and loving book begins with the funeral of Frederick Manfred, the novelist. Written in lean, spare prose by his daughter, the poet Freya Manfred, it moves by a series of flashbacks through almost five decades of her keen observations of her father.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1912-    2. 20th century    3. Authors, American    4. Biography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Computer - Internet    7. Family relationships    8. Fathers and daughters    9. General    10. Internet - General    11. Manfred, Frederick Feikema,    12. Middle West   

Reviews (1)

Excellent !
I'm sure that the real-life story told in this book, or "memography", as the author calls it, is not a stand alone case but I doubt that many people would be able to describe the series of events in such an intriguing and original way as Mr. Faybish does. This book has it all : pashion, humour, drama, cartoons and ...mathematics ! Just buy it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Business    5. Industries - Computer Industry    6. Biography: general   

Reviews (3)

An absolute essential for any thinking Jewish person.
This wonderful book is a must-read for any person thinking aboutconversion, or in fact, any Jewish person who wants to delve more deeplyinto their Jewish life and motives. A definite must read for anyone, any age, any religion!
This was a truly amazing book as it describes a woman's struggle to find atrue religion and faith. As she tells her story, her co-author interjectswith diffirent insights and stories. It was a truly inspirational book of adifficult but satisfying journey of one soul bringing three others with it.A soul with wings.

Absolute MUST READ for anyone thinking about Conversion
This book provides the reader with insight to the turmoil which exists in the mind of the person whois looking to change their life.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Computer Networks    4. Jewish converts from Christian    5. Jewish converts from Christianity    6. Jewish way of life    7. Judaism    8. Judaism - General    9. Religion    10. Religious    11. Computer Communications & Networking    12. Non-Classifiable   

Editorial Review

Completely revised and improved, the second edition of Read more

Reviews (59)

Once you understand the basics, you're ready for this one...
Python is one of those "hot" technologies that is becoming more accepted within a corporate world of IT.But after you learn the syntax and basics, how do you start building applications?That's the main thrust of the book Programming Python 3rd Edition by Mark Lutz.This starts to move from Hello World to Real World.
Misleading
While I think this book has value for some, it's not the target audience Mr. Lutz states. This is NOT a book for somewhat advanced programmers. This is a book for beginners.
a very well written introduction book
I liked this book because its approach is very practical. Probably one of the best python introduction books. I liked "In Action" chapters a lot. I used them for reference while gaining experience with the Python. It covers a lot of essential topic for the beginner. Python is also a very productive programming language and environment so both the book and language is highly recommended. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computer Graphics    4. Computers    5. Object-Oriented Programming    6. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    7. Programming Languages - General    8. Python (Computer program language)    9. Applications of Computing    10. Biography & Autobiography / Political    11. Programming languages    12. Romance, love, drama, political, rape, tan, skin, young women, young adult, poetry, blurbs, chic lit   

Subjects:  1. Computer network resources    2. English language    3. Internet - General    4. Internet research    5. Language    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Reference    8. Study & Teaching    9. Writing Skills    10. Internet    11. Language, Literature And Biography    12. Reference / Writing Skills   

Reviews (12)

Excellent insider view
As a former IBMer this book brought back many memories of the "IBM Way", good and not so good.

Peeking Under the Covers of Big Blue
International Business Marionettes gives the reader a vivid, often painful, view of the intersection of one man's life with the corporate behmouth called IBM.It is a psycho-biographical look at the American corporation's benign neglect of the individual and a telling tale of one man's compliance, rebutal and, eventual, survival in spite of it. Praise for International Marionettes
I liked the fact the book was written by an ex employee of a major corporation in a manner that related the true feelings that many management employees experience, but do not have the courage to talk about, much less write about.It brings home the job pressures and the need to continually perform and improve.It also clearly outlines what lengths the corporate world will go to to maintain control. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Business    5. International Business Machines Corporation-History Business-United States-Biography Computer industry-United States-History   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Data Processing - General    5. Letters    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Women    8. Biography: general    9. Literary Collections / Letters   

Subjects:  1. 1923-    2. Art    3. Artists    4. Biography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Chase, Doris,    7. Electronic And Computer Art    8. General    9. Individual Artist    10. Techniques - Painting    11. United States    12. Video art    13. Women And Art    14. Chase, Doris   

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Computer Science    5. General    6. Scientists - General    7. General Theory of Computing   

Reviews (1)

A valuable resource
This painstakingly compiled volume is a valuable edition to any library. The profiles are written in a clear, engaging voice, and the subjects themselves are fascinating! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Computer scientists    6. General   

Subjects:  1. (Genrikh Romanovich)    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Computer engineers    7. Firdman, G. R.    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Biography: general   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Careers - General    5. Economics - General    6. Employees    7. Entrepreneurship    8. Human Resources & Personnel Management    9. Performance    10. Recruiting    11. Biography & Autobiography    12. Computers / General    13. Economics   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Businessmen    3. Computer industry    4. History    5. Japan    6. Microcomputers    7. SORD Computer Corporation    8. Shiina, Takayoshi