How to Defend a Bridge Hand

Average customer rating:

Great into to defense, good beginner/Intermediate level book

Must-read treatise on defense

A comprehensive study of defense at contract bridge

A comprehensive study of defense at contract bridge

Thorough but uninspired

How to Defend a Bridge Hand
William S. Root
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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How to Play a Bridge Hand: 12 Easy Chapters to Winning Bridge by America's Premier Teacher

Commonsense Bidding: The Most Complete Guide to Modern Methods of Standard Bidding

Modern Bridge Conventions

How to Read Your Opponents' Cards

Complete Book on Hand Evaluation

ASIN: 0517883937
Release Date: 1995-04-11

Book Description

A complete work covering every angle of defending a bridge hand, by "America's number one bridge teacher."--Alfred Sheinwold, Los Angeles Times Syndicate. This is the first book on the 68-year history of the game to deal in a comprehensive, organized way with every aspect of this vital area.

Customer Reviews:

Great into to defense, good beginner/Intermediate level book.......2005-10-24

All the basics are covered, with LOTS of examples and non-double dummy problems. It *WILL* take you a while to go through the book, but its well worth it. The book doesn't focus on difficult defense, like the Kelsey Killing Defense at Bridge books. It focuses on general principles, and signaling. A nice touh is a number of different signaling methods are presented at the end of the book. The reader can become familiar with what they may face, and decide what signals to use.

Roots book on Declarer Play is a good beginner/intermediate level book. His book on Conventions is excellent, despite not having all the newest conventions.

Must-read treatise on defense.......2005-09-27

An outstanding bridge book - one of the best ever written for novice to intermediate players on bridge defense. I am certain that my defensive play improved markedly from thorough study of this book. The material is well organized and develops the various techniques effectively with numerous examples, explaining the correct reasoning underlying each. Quizzes in each chapter and the random topic "final exam" make sure the reader has absorbed the material. You'll find yourself retaking the quizzes repeatedly.

Any player below expert level will not be disappointed in this book.

A comprehensive study of defense at contract bridge.......2003-05-02

A major contribution to bridge literature. Deals comprehensively with the subject. Written on exactly the right level. 1994 Bridge Book of the Year.

A comprehensive study of defense at contract bridge.......2003-05-02

A major contribution to bridge literature. Deals comprehensively with the subject. Written on exactly the right level. 1994 Bridge Book of the Year.

Thorough but uninspired.......2002-10-07

There's no question that William Root knows what he's writing about, but I found this book rather dry and uninspiring. Still, it's well organized and formatted with lots of example hands and reading it would certainly be of some value to the improving player.

Book Description

This book covers basic bridge principles relating to all three aspects of bridge - bidding, defending and declaring a hand. I have imparted ideas that I have learned in over twenty years of playing high-level tournament and rubber bridge.

Book Description

Publishers Weekly described The Murrow Boys as "a lively, colloquial history of broadcast journalism that is so exciting one's impulse is to read it in a single sitting." It tells the swashbuckling tale of Edward R. Murrow and his legendary band of CBS radio journalists - Charles Collingwood, Howard K. Smith, William Shirer, Eric Sevareid, and others - as they "paint pictures in the air" from the World War II front. Brimming with personalities and anecdotal detail, it also serves up a sharp-eyed account of where the craft went wrong after the war, when vanity and commercialism increasingly intruded."This is history at its best," said Ted Anthony of AP News.

Customer Reviews:

An Engaging Look at the Murrow Boys.......2006-08-18

Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson's THE MURROW BOYS is very well researched and sourced. The writing is lively, and propels the reader happily forward. In this book, Cloud and Olson treat a fascinating and important subject that is largely forgotten in the contemporary world of news-as-entertainment.

Edward R. Murrow had drawn together an erudite, talented group of thinkers and writers to form the first cadre of broadcast journalists. His crack team of radio reporters covered the tragedy and triumphs of what became known as World War II, in a way both immediate and personal, both intimate and emblematic, and above all literate. Occasionally, television journalism rises above popular tastes and pretty talking heads to inform and move the viewer on truly critical issues of the day, but never with the consistency and depth of insight of the Murrow Boys.

The Murrow Boys, however, by and large shared a weakness with their later television counterparts: they were vain and egotistical, in short, "stars." Cloud and Olsen, aside from skillfully explaining the revolution in mass communications that radio journalism was, devote quite a bit of their book to the celebrity status of these prima donnas. This underscores the Murrow Boys' ultimate self-deception and hypocrisy: while they railed at the shallowness of television news production, programming, and personalities, they positioned themselves--each one out for himself--to grab as much limelight as possible. Ultimately, celebrity triumphed over journalistic integrity.

Thus THE MURROW BOYs does come off as a fast-paced celebrity biography. As a celebrity biography, it is very successful: it is engaging and sophisticated. From that perspective, one might well treat it as one does an intelligent "beach read": light, entertaining reading that one does not have to hide.

However that may be, the book gives one an appreciation for the significance of the Murrow Boys. Too bad, though, that the authors did not choose to include more text from the reporting of the Murrow Boys; that would have given the reader a greater appreciation of their eloquence. Better yet, a CD with some of these broadcasts would have made a nice accompaniment.

And too bad that the authors did not choose to go beyond the Murrow Boys' celebrity to explain the impact of their reporting on the American public as well as how they may have helped to shape history. As an example of the misplaced priorities of the writers: There is an instance described late in the book about how Charles Collingwood was invited to North Vietnam in 1968 and how his reporting from Hanoi helped lead to the peace talks. This half-page is then followed up with three pages on the relationship between Collingwood and his wife, Rita, at this time.

Despite these limitations, the book is still fun and informative. And it really ought to read as a reminder of the tremendous service delivered by Murrow's proud pioneers of the airwaves.

If you enjoyed "Good Night and Good Luck" this is a must read........2006-01-09

Written in lively and engrossing style, the Murrow Boys covers the salad days of Edward Murrow and his pioneering changes to war news broadcasts. Only after understanding how great a patriot and journalist Murrow was acknowledged to be in general public opinion, does it become clear how and why Murrow was able to take on Joe McCarthy virtually single-handedly. In addition, the internal politics of Bill Paley's CBS become even more riveting. So if you liked the movie, you will love the book.

History Veering Toward Celebrity Biography.......2002-03-17

What combination of forces put Murrow and "the boys" at the forefront of creating the style and format of the network news that is part of our daily lives? "The Murrow Boys : Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism" by Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson appears to promise an answer to the question. While the book is well written, exhaustively researched, and filled with anecdotes, Cloud and Olson fail to deliver any new insight. After an introduction which sets the background, the authors structure the book around one-chapter biographies of the newsmen, often succombing to the temptation of wandering off into the byroads of celebrity biography, losing overall focus. In many cases, such as the commentary on Howard K. Smith, the biography presented here pales before the honest, understated drama and insight offered by the subjects in their own autobiographies--as in the case of Smith's totally riveting "Events Leading to My Death." And when the last mini-biography has been recounted, the book ends. I'm reminded of Snoopy writing his novel and saying "In Part 2 I tie all this together." Except the writers never tie it all together. Thus, it is an well done book, and for those unfamiliar with the biographies of the players, it will be an interesting book. When one considers the historical information to which the authors had access, the book could have been so much more. None of the newsmen celebrated in this book would have closed the broadcast without cogent commentary into the meaning of these facts and anecdotes before closing with "Good Night and Good luck."

Well-Done and Revealing.......2000-10-10

This look at the "Boys" who covered World War II for CBS radio is quite moving. I liked reading of Ed Murrow's battles with the CBS brass, and the portraits of William L. Shirer, Eric Sevareid, Larry LeSueur, Myra Breckenridge (the Murrow "Girl"), Charles Collingwood, etc. How odd that such talented journalists were often wracked by jealousy and self-doubt. How predictable that CBS eventually dumped most of the Boys - along with their high standards - after the advent of television. By forsaking such talent, CBS helped usher in the image-conscious, bleeds-it-leads mediocrity of today's news. Fortunately, Howard K. Smith, Shirer, Sevareid and several others left a rich legacy in books and memoirs, and at this writing one can still hear Richard C. Hottelet report for National Public Radio (NPR). This book should be required reading for all journalists and corporate news executives.

Excellent history and character study.......2000-05-28

The names Murrow, Sevareid, Collingwood, and Shirer have created standards that have been forgotten. Thought has been replaced by good looks. Read this book to see how CBS News became a news operation of mythic proportion with brilliant, yet terribly troubled men creating such high standards that have become forgotten. (You'll see no one on your local five pm television news here.) For these men, the importance was in writing, not pictures. You'll also see how these legendary men were racked with insecurities and self-torture. It's also uncanny in terms of how each had a rise and fall at CBS. Sadly, it's all true. The authors didn't need to resort to poetic license. (Read other accounts of these figures and you'll learn that.) When you're done with this book, you'll wish Howard K. Smith or Robert Trout were still on television today. You'll wish that instead of having happy talk on the news, you had thoughful, intelligent people who respected their audience doing reports that provoked the viewer's intellect and not pander to him. Read how Howard K. Smith was fired from CBS, what prompted it way back then, and realize the standards have been steadily declining since then on all networks. It's an enjoyable, easy-to-read book that describes the creation and erosion of impeccable standards.

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Radio and Television Pioneers
David W. Kraeuter
Manufacturer: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810825562

Book Description

Each of the U.S. patents of forty radio and television inventors is cited in chronological order from the beginning of radio in the nineteenth century through 1978. Kraeuter includes complete citations to over 3,000 patents.

We Changed the World: Memoirs of a CNN Global Satelite Pioneer

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A True American Pioneer
A first-person review of obstacles, achievements, challenges, and a rapidly-changing industry under transition to this day

We Changed the World: Memoirs of a CNN Global Satelite Pioneer
Sid Pike
Manufacturer: Paragon House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1557788553

Book Description

CNN began a revolution in television with the advent of its 24-hour cable news channel out of Atlanta in 1980, challenging the three major television networks headquartered in New York that shaped the perception of current events by Americans. This revolution was to take the world by storm during the next decade as satellite and cable television provided an alternative, if not the only, source of information for people throughout the world.

With satellites over 22,400 feet above the earth's surface beaming their signal like sunshine to the earth, media and telecommunications monopolies and governments could no longer control the programming and flow of information in their countries. Each satellite receive dish that appeared, legally or illegally, created an appetite for more and more information about the rest of the world. Access to this information became necessary to compete economically with others. Within a decade, a flood of information became available to people throughout the world, and no leader of government would be without CNN. When Gorbachev and Reagan met in Iceland each had CNN to monitor the world.

This global information revolution led by CNN had something to do with the way governments changed or collapsed, the way the Berlin Wall fell, and even the reaction to globalization by Islamic terrorists that led to 9/11. Americans will forever document the change with images of Bernard Shaw broadcasting from under a bed in a Baghdad hotel during the Gulf War in 1991.

Sidney Pike's story is the most thorough chronicle of these changes that exists. As he met with media and government leaders around the world, trying to sell CNN programming, he faced the forces that stimulated the changes and those which offered resistance to them. Sidney Pike was a pioneer and evangelist for the global television channels and news services that are taken for granted today. This book should be read by all students of telecommunication and by anyone interested in the role the media played in globalization and democratization.

Customer Reviews:

A True American Pioneer.......2006-01-09

Ted Turner dreamed it. Sid Pike built it. The book's title, We Changed the World (Paragon House, 2005) -- is far from being immodest. The creation story of the CNN International satellite communications network evokes the American legends of stringing the intercontinental railway from sea to shining sea and the decade-long mission to land a man on the moon.

Sidney Pike apparently never heard of the words, "It can't be done," although there are certainly plenty of folk around shouting them in his ear. His task brings him to confront domestic and global communications bureaucracies and powerful political leaders around the world. Some suffer from such shortsightedness and ignorance that they cannot even comprehend the concept. Others comprehend it only too well, fearing the threat to their own vise-like grip on information. To accomplish the mission, he crisscrosses the globe many times, coming to feel that "home" is a Boeing 747. (He probably has enough Frequent Flyer miles to actually take up permanent residence in one.) From China to Bahrain, Argentina to Moscow, Iraq to Canada, Aruba to New Zealand, bit by bit, the International network grows, as Pike cajoles, explains, and hammers out agreements that inch the project forward. (The case of establishing the link in Guam is in itself a cheering vindication of the American yearning for the triumph of the underdog!)

In every case, Pike gives credit where it is due and pulls no punches about naming names where a hard punch in the nose is more appropriate ("Ted Turner is the worst deal maker I have ever known.") Even when the player is himself, Pike lays it down straight. On several occasions, his relation of a disagreement ends with "They fired me." His personal integrity and genuine belief in the value of this mission allow him to do no less. This sense of mission never intrudes into the narrative, but patently fuels the endeavor: a core belief in the power of free information exchange to ensure the viability of democracy. He's right, of course. For some portions of the world, the easy access to information that most of us take for granted is as dangerous to despotic power as an ICBM.

The saga is thrilling as a narrative alone, but sprinkled throughout are fascinating insights into the workings of the global communications industry, the inner wrangles of Ted Turner's corporate empire, and the arcana of trying to establish a new mindset for a twenty-first century world. Beyond that, it is both inspiration and proof-positive that "it" can, indeed, be done.
-- B. S. Horton, Ph.D., Technology Advocate. 2005.

A first-person review of obstacles, achievements, challenges, and a rapidly-changing industry under transition to this day.......2006-01-03

The introduction of CNN's 24-hour cable news channel in 1980 changed the world of television, with satellite and cable providing a strong competitive alternative to tradition TV - and author Sidney pike was in the middle of the revolution, here explored in his We Changed The World: Memoirs Of A CNN Satellite Pioneer. Pike met with media and government leaders around the world trying to sell CNN programming, and was an early pioneer for the global television channels we know today. His memoir provides a first-person review of obstacles, achievements, challenges, and a rapidly-changing industry under transition to this day.

Pioneers of Cable Television: The Pennsylvania Founders of an Industry

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Pioneers of Cable Television: The Pennsylvania Founders of an Industry
Brian Lockman , and Don Sarvey
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company, Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0786423145

Product Description

Although there are different opinions about where cable television actually began, a great deal of the ingenuity that developed cable into todays multibillion dollar industry came from Pennsylvania. In this state, with its mountainous geography, the need for an unusual means of obtaining a television signal gave birth to the community antenna television system that was the forerunner of the cable we know today. This volume traces the history of cable television through biographical sketches of those who were instrumental in bringing this technology to rural Pennsylvania. Enumerating technical as well as financial obstacles, each chapter focuses on the life of a cable pioneer. The contributions of such men as John Walson, Bob Tarleton, George Gardner and Ralph Roberts are discussed and their relationships to each other examined. Information drawn from interviews with these men or people who knew them brings history to life. Topics include the roots of cable television, problems of early cable systems and the advent of HBO and its consequences. An appendix offers a commemorative history of the Pennsylvania Cable Network, a joint project of several men discussed herein.

On the Short Waves, 1923-1945: Broadcast Listening in the Pioneer Days of Radio

Average customer rating:

The only book on the subject
This book fills a need...

On the Short Waves, 1923-1945: Broadcast Listening in the Pioneer Days of Radio
Jerome S. Berg
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General Broadcasting | Radio | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

As radio developed in the early 1920s, the focus for most people was the AM band and stations such as KDKA, the first broadcast station. There was, however, another broadcast method that was popular among many early enthusiasts-shortwave radio. As is true today, the transmission of news and entertainment programs over shortwave frequencies permitted reception over great distances. For many in America and beyond, shortwave was an exciting aspect of the new medium. Some still tune the shortwave bands to enjoy the programming. Others pursue broadcasts for the thrill of the hunt. This book fully covers shortwave broadcasting from its beginning through World War II. A technical history examining the medium's development and use tells the story of a listener community that spanned the globe. Included are overviews of the primary shortwave stations operating worldwide in the 1930s, along with clubs and competitions, publications and prizes. A rich collection of illustrations includes many QSLs, the cards that stations sent to acknowledge receipt of their transmissions and that are much prized by long-distance collectors.

Customer Reviews:

The only book on the subject.......2000-07-08

Jerry's written the definitive history of the shortwave meduim up to WWII. It's all downhill from 45 to the dawn of the net. And that is a book. Until then read war of the black heavens.

This book fills a need..........2000-03-16

For several years I've been wondering that the author has been doing gathering old QSL cards and other radio trivia.

Berg's book is a wonderful payback to all those who've contributed. He has written an excellent, if not exhausive, history of international broadcasting through the end of the second world war, with an emphasis on American stations. (The are several volumes about Nazi propaganda broadcasts you could also consider).

Book Description

The author cites each of the British patents of 29 radio and television inventors in chronological order, giving the researcher a sense of the historical development of each inventor's work.

James Y. "Jimmy" Davidson, cable television pioneer

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James Y. "Jimmy" Davidson, cable television pioneer
James Yates Davidson
Manufacturer: J.Y. Davidson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Legendary Pioneers of Black Radio
Gilbert A. Williams
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0275958884

Book Description

After World War II, when thousands of African Americans left farms, plantations, and a southern way of life to migrate north, African American disc jockeys helped them make the transition to the urban life by playing familiar music and giving them hints on how to function in northern cities. These disc jockeys became cultural heroes and had a major role in the development of American broadcasting. This collection of interviews documents the personalities of the pioneers of Black radio, as well as their personal struggles and successes. The interviewees also define their roles in the civil rights movement and relate how their efforts have had an impact on how African Americans are portrayed over the air.

Lucille Ball: Pioneer of Comedy (Achievers)

Average customer rating:

A GOOD BOOK
Short but Sweet!!
I Love LUCY...not this!
THE REAL LUCY: Her Life, Love, and Legacy
A fun book to read in the bathtub.

Lucille Ball: Pioneer of Comedy (Achievers)
Katherine E. Krohn
Manufacturer: Lerner Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0822505436

Customer Reviews:

A GOOD BOOK.......2001-04-12

MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER, BECAUSE THIS BOOK HAS A GREAT COVER AND ITS A GOOD BOOK. I WOULD HAVE READ IT EVEN IF I HADN'T HAD TO READ IT FOR A SCHOOL PAPER. I'M A FAN OF LUCILE BALL AND NOW I WATCH "I LOVE LUCY" AS MUCH AS I CAN, BECAUSE OF THIS BOOK.THANKS.

Short but Sweet!!.......2001-03-18

I joined the I Love Lucy Fan Club and this book was recommended. I liked how this book was short, and easy to read, but had a lot of good information about Lucys life. Her life wasn't always easy, but she made the best of it and really made a splash on television.I admire her a lot and I liked this book.

I Love LUCY...not this!.......2000-12-30

This is a flat, dry, boring biography of Lucille Ball. Try another bio instead!

THE REAL LUCY: Her Life, Love, and Legacy.......2000-08-06

On screen, Lucy Ball was one of the funniest women America had ever seen--but off screen, life wasn't always a comedy. This biography is enough to tell you that, and tells about some perticularlly important I LOVE LUCY episodes. But the text is dry and not lively and detialed. While it is a nice book to read for beginning readers who love the Recardos, it is not detialed, and focuses more on Lucy's acting career than her personal life. If you want a good biography, try "Love Lucy", Lucy's autobiography. While it was written a few years before her death, it won't have close-to-end-of-life information, but it will be a whole lot more detialed.

A fun book to read in the bathtub........1999-05-13

I liked this book because it was full of interesting facts about Lucy's life. I didn't know that much about her before I read the book, but when I did, I liked her a whole lot because she seemed like a real person.

Memoirs of a Newfoundland pioneer in radio and television

Average customer rating:

An interesting account of my Dad's life & work.

Memoirs of a Newfoundland pioneer in radio and television
Oscar G Hierlihy
Manufacturer: Breakwater
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1550810715

Book Description

This compilation of the memoirs of Oscar Hierlihy illustrates his integral part in the development of radio and later television in Newfoundland, Canada. Beginning with his childhood days growing up in Bay Roberts and learning to live with his permanent disability from polio, the author talks of building his first broadcast transmitter, working with Ayre & Sons, where he constructed the commercial radio station, VOAS, and later operating his own station, VONA. He later joined the staff of CJON where he remained as Director of Engineering until his retirement when he devoted several years to installing low power television repeaters in many towns throughout the island.

Customer Reviews:

An interesting account of my Dad's life & work........1999-03-19

A very detailed account of the early days of radio telephone, radio broadcasting and television development in Newfoundland. This author was awarded THE ORDER OF CANADA (Canada's highest Civilian Award) for his contribution to Communications in Newfoundland.

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