You have to hand it to the authors of this splashy coffee-table celebration of NBC's long-running soap: they know what fans want. The only words here are in photo captions and single-paragraph introductions, which is not such a bad thing for this handsome volume. Most of the book, arranged in day-in-the-life format, takes readers on a behind-the-scenes tour to wardrobe, makeup, dressing rooms, and the set, where actors rehearse and the bountiful homes seen on-air contrast sharply with the drab soundstages. There are trips inside dressing rooms for quiet moments and playful mugging, and ample space is devoted to veterans like Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes who, as Doug and Julie, were the Luke and Laura of the '70s. Longtime cast members like Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso, who became the daytime drama's '90s super-couple Bo and Hope, also show up often. Candid shots of the younger set are here too, and if it's excessive (why have just one photo of Shawn Christian changing his shirt when you can have four?), it only helps to illustrate what has kept fans tuning in for 45 years. Hint: it's not restraint. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Senin, 14 November 2016
Andrew Leonard
'You may find this book as addictive as Minecraft.'—Slate'At the core of the story of Minecraft is the lesson that success is possible, if you have a good idea and the passion and skill to pursue it. Minecraft is indeed an unlikely tale. That’s what makes it so great, and that’s why this little book will make a terrific holiday gift for the gamer in your life.â€â€”Andrew Leonard, Salon'Minecraft is a beautifully human story...it's well worth a read and offers, at the very least, inspiration, and at the very most, hope.'—TechCrunch'This book takes his story and gives you a closer look. You learn about the man behind the game. His childhood, his family, the growth of his company and the lives of the people who work there. It doesn’t just give you the big enormous, glamour-filled cut scenes that you read about on the Internet. This book gives you the pixels, the details.'—Book Riot'Suspenseful, grounded, and startlingly relatable. I expected a book about Minecraft; what I got was a compelling story about personal struggle and accomplishment. A perfect gift for Minecraft players, parents of younger players, or anyone interested in indie games.'—Game Skinny'Pulls itself along with the narrative compulsion of a tech biography...outlines a cultural phenomenon in ways that even those who've missed out up 'til now can understand.'—The Stranger'I have been following Minecraft closely for over three years, and yet this book consistently surprised me with new insights into the game's development.  It focuses on the human story behind all those pixellated blocks. I have a new respect for Notch's accomplishments with Minecraft and for all the hard work that the Mojang'ers have devoted to making the game such a phenomenon. This book offers a fascinating and honest peek into the mind of the man who made Minecraft a reality.'—Joel Levin, MinecraftEdu co-creator 'This book explores the man behind the game to a depth that you won't, and that you can't, find anywhere else. In this work, Markus 'Notch' Persson has revealed everything about the events that led to an international super-phenomenon. The resulting story will fascinate and inspire.'—Sethbling, Minecraft video maker From the Hardcover edition.
Titanic
You might say that Walter Lord provoked the whole Titanic mania by interviewing dozens of survivors and fashioning their reminiscences into the classic non-fiction novel A Night to Remember, which was made into a 1958 film that heavily influenced James Cameron's 1998 epic. Some of the dialogue is more vivid than the 1998 film--when a kid sees the deadly iceberg, he says excitedly, 'Oh, Muddie, look at the beautiful North Pole with no Santa Claus on it.' But much has been discovered since Lord's original book made waves--such as the shipwreck itself, and a wealth of scientific inquiry. So he wrote this semisequel, which tackles each of the remaining mysteries about the unnecessary calamity in a methodical, but quite readable, fashion. How come the wireless operators blew it so fatally? Maybe they would have had better operators if they paid them more than $5 a week--as Lord notes, it would have taken a wireless operator 18 years to earn one transatlantic ticket. How come the Californian just sat there in nearby waters and neglected to save anyone on the frantically signaling and flare-firing Titanic? Lord quotes a man on the nonsinking ship admitting to 'a certain amount of slackness,' which he uses for a sardonic chapter title. Some of the characters are more sympathetic, such as Renee Harris, who used the money she won suing the Titanic owners for her husband's death to bankroll neophyte playwright Moss Hart's first show. Lord says that Hart's memoir, Act One, depicts Harris reacting to an opening-night flop with optimism. After you've survived the Titanic, what's to worry? Walter Lord has gotten better reviews, and he needn't fret about his reputation. The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Barbara Tuchman, author of A Distant Mirror, had this reaction to Night Lives On: 'Stunning ... his detection and discoveries make a first-class historical reconstruction and a model in the research and writing of that difficult art.' --Tim Appelo