Fantasy City: Pleasure and Profit in the Postmodern Metropolis

Fantasy City: Pleasure and Profit in the Postmodern Metropolis
John Hannigan | 1998-11-10 00:00:00 | Routledge | 256 | Social Sciences
Following a wave of de-industrialization and cutbacks in public spending, American downtowns are reinventing themselves in the image of Disneyland and Las Vegas. Fantasy City looks at the changing face of the city and what it means for its citizens and for the future of urban development.

America's central cities more and more begin to resemble theme parks. While this appears to have brought a new energy and hope to the urban landscape, it has yet to deliver an economic miracle to the surrounding residents and merchants. Local communities struggle to maintain their distinctiveness even as they embrace the commercial fantasies offered by global entertainment companies. John A. Hannigan shows how the growth of the fantasy city reflects an ongoing search for risk-free mass entertainment by middle-class consumers.

By discussing examples from a wide variety of venues, including casinos, malls, heritage developments and theme parks, Hannigan traces the rise of urban entertainment at the beginning of this century, its decline after World War II to its surprising renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. He offers provocative insights into urban development from structuralist, cultural and constructionist perspectives. By drawing on extensive material from business, cultural studies and urban planning, he shows that the growth of the fantasy city signals not only the arrival of a new urban space, but also the eventual destruction of the "inner city".

Download this book!

Free Ebooks Download

The Art and Science of CSS

The Art and Science of CSS
| 2007-03-09 00:00:00 | | 0 | CSS


CSS-based design doesn't need to be boring. `The Art & Science of CSS` brings together a talented collection of designers who will show you how to take the building blocks of your web site's design (such as headings, navigation, forms, and more) and bring them to life with fully standards-compliant CSS.

This full color book helps you to design web sites that not only work well across all browsers, are easy to maintain, and are highly accessible, but are also visually stunning.

Create truly attention-grabbing headings. Discover multiple ways to present images effectively. Use background images to give your site zest. Build usable and attractive navigation. Design forms that are stylish and functional. Learn how to break away from the square box gclich. Create funky tables. And lots more From the Publisher

Jonathan Snook, Steve Smith, Jina Bolton, Cameron Adams, and David Johnson, five of the biggest names in CSS design have joined forces to bring you The Art & Science Of CSS. Beautifully presented in full color, this book will teach you how to apply innovative CSS-based techniques to create visually stunning headings, forms, menus, navigation, backgrounds, and much more,,. Using The Art & Science Of CSS, you'll see just how easy it is to unleash your creative talents and design inspirational web sites with CSS. All designs in this book are visually appealing and inspiring. The CSS code used to create each of the components is included and guaranteed to be simple, efficient and cross-browser compatible. Among its many treasures, this book will show you how to: Format calendars, menus and table of contents using CSS Create horizontal, vertical and tab-based navigation systemsusing CSS Create rounded corners using CSS Design stylish Website headings Put together funky & artistic Website backgrounds Use CSS to render blockquotes, dates and lists in a visually appealing manner All designs in this book are visually appealing and inspiring. The code CSS code used to create each of the components is provided and is `guaranteed to be simple, efficient and cross-browser compatible.` Who Should Read This Book?

This book is ideal for anyone who wants to gain the practical skills involved in using CSS to make attractive web sites, especially if you're not the type who likes to learn by memorizing a formal specification and then trying to work out which browsers implemented it completely (does anyone enjoy reading specifications?). The only knowledge you'll need to have is some familiarity with HTML. This book will give designers the skills they need to implement their ideas, and provides developers with creative inspiration through practical examples.

User review
This is more of a cookbook
This book is good, but it is more of a cookbook approach to CSS than a learn from scratch approach. If you don't already know CSS and have had enough experience playing with it, this book may not provide the best starting point.


The language and flow of the book is great and it is very readable. Some of the CSS ideas presented on images, flash replacement of text are good and the authors build them up from simple versions to complete ones which is really nice.

User review
Great Examples
This is probably the best CSS book I've ever seen. It's got lots of interesting and creative ways to use CSS. It's more for experienced users than for people unfamiliar with style sheets. My only knock on it is that it only gives you the CSS, and sometimes assumes that the reader knows the HTML needed to make use of the styles.


But the examples the book uses are inventive and unlike any I've seen in other books. This book shows you how the page should look, explains why, and gives you the code.


It's pretty easy to understand and has a lot of visuals to help explain concepts.

User review
Excellent Manual for Modern CSS
This is a most excellent and timely book of CSS examples that can be put to quick and good use. Though the book is a couple of years old at this point, it is a great way for a semi-experienced HTML designer or developer to jump in and produce some really good content with CSS. There are loads of code snippets that can be implemented right away.


The book is broken up into sections like Images, Navigation and Forms making it easy for the reader to locate what he or she is after. There is a whole section on Rounded Corners which is definitely worth a look. Overall I really enjoy Sitepoint's formatting of their books -- this one included -- which makes it easy to pick out what I'm look for quickly.


I've been writing CSS since 1997, and I'm always looking for new ideas and tricks. I found a couple in this book -- you just never know what's going to spark your creativity.


This is a particularly good book to pick up if you've been exposed to CSS and now want to put it into use and be really creative with it.

User review
Great value - probably too short
I really like this book. It is EXACTLY what I seek in a design/development book. I want examples, code and explanation. Nothing more.


I've been doing this stuff for 7 years, so much of this wasn't particularly new to me, but the value is in seeing what experts think (and why) and then taking what you want from it. No cruft; just good solutions.


My only gripe is that it could be considerably longer. The book covers 7 topics really well. I'd like at least 10 more, please. I'm sure this is the most common complaint. Additionally, I could do without the fancy book layout design, but I guess it doesn't hurt.


Definite value here. It's next to my desk all the time and I use almost all of their techniques in my projects. It's disappointing that more publishers don't create this kind of book.

User review
Very short, disappointing
I think there are many books that cover this ground a lot better and cheaper as well. Friends of Ed actually has a couple that I would recommend before this. And most certainly Bulletproof Web Design by Cederholm.


This book is really light on details and light on content. It's not at all worth its price, and it's only covering the very basics in a small number of areas. This is definitely not one of the first books you should be looking at about CSS.

Talk Dirty (Eros Graphic Novel Vol. 10)

Talk Dirty (Eros Graphic Novel Vol. 10)
Matthias Schultheiss | 1997-07-15 00:00:00 | Eros Comix | 86 | Humor
A man, a woman, alone in a deserted shipyard. Sometime in the future. They start playing their sexual games - but suddenly things take a turn for the serious. And then the third member of the party shows up... Magnificently painted by German artist Matthias Schultheiss - black and white with a gorgeous full-color art section!
Reviews
Very erotic graphic novel. Story is situated in a surrealisticenvironment, a harbour crane. Extremely kinky story line. ...Explicitdrawings.

Download this book!

Free Ebooks Download

Applied Nanotechnology (Micro and Nano Technologies)

Applied Nanotechnology (Micro and Nano Technologies)
Jeremy Ramsden | 2009-09-08 00:00:00 | William Andrew | 250 | Electrical Engineering
This book joins, for the first time, technical nanotechnology information with the non-technical to explain the fundamentals — with an emphasis on a succinct set of principles.

It takes a "first principles" look at the economics of converting research results to products, highly important due to the potentially disruptive nature ofnanotechnology.

How nanotechnology builds on earlier technologies is shown while introducing its own unique paradoxes. The book surveys what has actually been realized, comparing laboratory achievements with commercially successful products, and offers a profound, clear analysis of industrial impacts and current applications.
Download this book!

Free Ebooks Download

Forget You Had a Daughter: Doing Time in the 'Bangkok Hilton'

Forget You Had a Daughter: Doing Time in the 'Bangkok Hilton'
Sandra Gregory,Michael Tierney | 2003-01-01 00:00:00 | Vision | 280 | Memoirs

Following two years of living abroad in Thailand, Sandra Gregory suddenly became desperately ill and as her medical bills began to mount, her bank account dwindled. In exchange for $2,000 she agreed to carry 89 grams of heroin to Tokyo for a friend, but before she even boarded the plane she was caught by Bangkok Airport security and ultimately sentenced to 25 years inside the infamous Lard Yao prison. In this shocking account, Sandra details the four and a half years she spent in Thai prison and describes scenes of horrific brutality and suffering. She tells of her daily fight for survival, of the many women who died with no medical care or loved ones around them, and of her acceptance of her guilt and ultimate redemption. Amidst the pain and torture, this honest recollection shows how Sandra fought for survival, and prevailed.

Reviews
Read this book in two days, only because I had to work! Made both my daughters read it, just in case!
Reviews
I just finished reading "Forget You Had a Daughter" by Sandra Gregory and I found it to be one scary book. Young people take a lot of chances and this young lady took one too - big mistake. She should have just called home and asked her parents for money. That's what parents are there for (I'm a parent, and I know!). I enjoyed the book immensely and felt badly for the author who lost a lot of years in her young life to prison. Glad that she's doing well now and has moved on! On a lighter note, my daughter walked past the book on my dresser and was very hurt to think that I would read a book about trying to forget that I had her. I had to explain the title to her and I also had to interject a life lesson about the potential dangers of traveling abroad with drugs. I think she was sorry she brought the whole subject up!
Reviews
I felt the gamut of emotions when I read this book. I felt there weren't enough words described by the author for her reason to smuggle the drugs in the first place.

She described how she needed the money, but what were the underlying real reasons she would put herself through such risk? I never felt satisfied with her answer. I kept wondering how anyone would risk being jailed abroad--maybe a combination of youthful naivete' and extreme risk taking?

Her account of her prison time was heart breaking and difficult to read, at times. She is truly a survivor.


Reviews
I saw her story on National Geographic's "Locked Up Abroad" and did a google search the next day to learn more about her story. I found she had written a memoir and ordered the book. I read it within 24 hours - it was very interesting and as the others mention, feel it should be required reading by students before travelling abroad. I myself am naive in assuming the best in people and probably could have easily found myself in her shoes had I travelled that early in my life.
Reviews
Sandra Gregory takes us deep inside life in a Thailand women's prison and then into the Durham prison of England. Life was terrible for this woman who was arrested for drug trafficking a very small amount of heroin in her vagina. She truly did not deserve such a long and harrowing sentence. She is a hero in my opinion for having survived such an incredibly soul-destroying incarceration. God bless Sandy for writing such a critically-needed memoir. Her book should be on everybody's required reading list, especially high school and college-age kids. They could benefit from Sandy's horrible experience, and might be deterred from doing the same. Thank God she finally got released, but how terrible was her suffering in the mean time! A truly sad but unforgettable read.

Download this book!

Free Ebooks Download

Red Blood Cell Substitutes

Red Blood Cell Substitutes
Alan Rudolph (Editor) | 1997-09-05 00:00:00 | CRC; 1 edition | 504 | Medicine
This unique book integrates the expertise of over 50 authorities from the laboratories of industry, academia, the military, the government, and blood banks to present a cohesive and up-to-date summary of research strategies, clinical and commercial developments, and regulatory and economic issues pertaining to the formulation of safe and effective red blood cell substitutes. Red Blood Cell Substitutes examines regulatory and socioeconomic aspects of blood substitute products and global transfusion practices from the perspective of blood banks and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration elucidates the mechanisms of action and consequences of blood substitute administration elaborates on the interactions of red cell substitutes with organ systems as well as impact on human physiology details laboratory and clinical efforts to develop chemically modified, encapsulated, recombinant, and transgenic hemoglobin, in addition to fluorocarbon solutions reviews recent data from ongoing preclinical and clinical trials, including safety issues regarding red blood substitute products addresses second generation blood substitutes as well as future directions, such as the prospects of modified hemoglobin, cross-linked hemoglobin, and encapsulated hemoglobin and more! Complete with references, tables, equations, drawings, and photographs, Blood Cell Substitutes is a valuable resource for general, trauma, and cardiovascular surgeons; biomedical and materials engineers; hematologists; oncologists; liposome researchers; blood bank personnel; health care managers; and graduate and medical school students in these disciplines.
Download this book!

Free Ebooks Download

Schaum's Easy Outline HTML

Schaum's Easy Outline HTML
| 2003-10-27 00:00:00 | | 0 | HTML


What could be better than the bestselling Schaum's Outline series? For students looking for a quick nuts-and-bolts overview, it would have to be Schaum's Easy Outline series. Every book in this series is a pared-down, simplified, and tightly focused version of its predecessor. With an emphasis on clarity and brevity, each new title features a streamlined and updated format and the absolute essence of the subject, presented in a concise and readily understandable form.

Graphic elements such as sidebars, reader-alert icons, and boxed highlights stress selected points from the text, illuminate keys to learning, and give students quick pointers to the essentials. Designed to appeal to underprepared students and readers turned off by dense text Cartoons, sidebars, icons, and other graphic pointers get the material across fast Concise text focuses on the essence of the subject Deliver expert help from teachers who are authorities in their fields Perfect for last-minute test preparation So small and light that they fit in a backpack!