Is there still a Coney Island?

Once renowned as a funspot, Coney Island has been largely forgotten. Does it still exist? What has survived of the place? And what was it like? In his book Coney Island, Professor Solomon takes us there to find out.

Roaming about, he interviews old-timers—searches for antiquities—explores what is left of the amusement area. (Among his finds: a man who remembers seeing the first human cannonball, shot into the air at Coney Island; the remains of Steeplechase Park; and a ride—the Wonder Wheel—that began as a perpetual-motion machine.)

He also provides a history of Coney Island—from its Canarsie Indian days, to its era as a lawless, Tijuana-style resort, to the rise and fall of its amusement parks. On this historical tour, you’ll meet such personages as John Y. McKane (notorious mayor of Coney Island); George Tilyou (amusement-park pioneer); and the Wild Man of Borneo (actually, an actor from the Bronx). And you’ll visit the Pavilion of Fun, Elephant Hotel, Trip to the Moon, Insanitarium, Tunnel of Love, flea circus, Feltman’s restaurant (where the hot dog was invented), and other vanished attractions.

The result is a fascinating profile of a unique—and persevering—place.

152 pages. Illustrated. 6 MB.

Basic English Grammar
by Betty Schrampfer Azar

-- Presents English structures in small, manageable units and in incremental steps through clear, concise charts.
-- Introduces the forms, meanings, and usages of basic structures and vocabulary in a step-by-step building process.
-- Includes a wealth of contextualized and communicative exercises.
-- Uses a two-color worktext format.

Grammar and Vocabulary for Cambridge Advanced and Proficiency
by Richard Side (Author), Guy Wellman (Author)

Publisher: Longman (3 May 2002)

This book is for any advanced student of English but it is particularly relevant to people studying for the Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) or the Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) exams

Springer; 1 edition (September 1, 2008) - PDF | 190 pages | English | 22.5mb
The Art and Science of Interface and Interaction Design/by Christa Sommerer (Editor), Lakhmi C. Jain (Editor), Laurent Mignonneau (Editor)

Artists and creators in interactive art and interaction design have long been conducting research on human-machine interaction. Through artistic, conceptual, social and critical projects, they have shown how interactive digital processes are essential elements for their artistic creations. Resulting prototypes have often reached beyond the art arena into areas such as mobile computing, intelligent ambiences, intelligent architecture, fashionable technologies, ubiquitous computing and pervasive gaming. Many of the early artist-developed interactive technologies have influenced new design practices, products and services of today's media society. This book brings together key theoreticians and practitioners of this field. It shows how historically relevant the issues of interaction and interface design are, as they can be analyzed not only from an engineering point of view but from a social, artistic and conceptual, and even commercial angle as well.

Apress (June 25, 2007) - PDF | 369 pages | 23mb

Advanced NXT: The Da Vinci Inventions Book/by Matthias Paul Scholz (Author)

This amply illustrated book is about building some of Leonardo da Vincis most famous inventions with LEGOs new breathtaking robot technology, the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. In this book, you will revive such fascinating devices as the flying machine, the aerial screw, the revolving bridge, the double leaf spring catapult, and the armored car, five centuries after their creation by the great Renaissance engineer. Using some of the most advanced programming environments for the NXT, you will make robots that work, move, and respond the way Leonardo intended his original inventions to do 500 years ago.
By engineering the LEGO models contained in this book you will not only become acquainted with the MINDSTORMS NXT technology but also with strategies to build advanced robots with NXT and to program them using different state-of-the-art NXT programming languages such as NXT-G, NXC, RobotC, pbLua, and leJOS NXJ.
For all five robots, historical background information is provided. Detailed high-quality step-by-step building instructions as well as an elaborate guide for each single program enable both the inexperienced LEGO user as well as the NXT aficionado to become acquainted with the art of producing marvelous NXT creations and make use of many sophisticated features of the NXT.
This book will unleash the creative powers that slumber in everyone and combine them with the pure joy of playing. But beware: you might be surprised by the stupendous results this combination is apt to spawn.
In this book, you'll:
* Get to know Leonardos most famous inventions and the theory behind them
* Build LEGO robots with the NXT kit
* Make use of advanced features of the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT
* Program NXT robots with state-of-the-art NXT programming environments
* Meet the bustling worldwide community that has developed around the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Advanced