Take performance to the next level!This book does not just teach you how the CLR works---it teaches you exactly what you need to do now to obtain the best performance today. It will expertly guide you through the nuts and bolts of extreme performance optimization in .NET, complete with in-depth examinations of CLR functionality, free tool recommendations and tutorials, useful anecdotes, and step-by-step guides to measure and improve performance.This second edition incorpora...

The indispensable consumers' guide to the music of Frank Zappa - the genius of the absurd, and one of the most prolific and unpredictable characters of 20th century music.A thorough analysis of Zappa's complete recorded output, from the early days of the Mothers Of Invention, through his more avant-garde compositions and classical projects to the most recent posthumous releases. The guide features:An album by album analysisA full Zappa bibliographyDetails of when an...

This brilliant biography of the cult guitar player will likely cause you to abandon everything you thought you knew about jazz improvisation, post-punk and the avant-garde. Derek Bailey was at the top of his profession as a dance band and recordsession guitarist when, in the early 1960s, he began playing an uncompromisingly abstract form of music. Today his anti-idiom of "Free Improvisation" has become the lingua franca of the "avant" scene, with Pat Metheny, John Zorn, David Sylvian and S...

Best-selling authors and acclaimed fermentation teachers Christopher Shockey and Kirsten K. Shockey share their expertise in the world of fermented beverages with the most comprehensive guide to home cidermaking available.With expert advice and clear, step-by-step instructions, The Big Book of Cidermaking equips readers with the skills they need to make the cider they want: sweet, dry, fruity, farmhouse-style, hopped, barrel-aged, or fortified. The Shockey...

Chelsea Green, the Vermont-based independent publisher, has always had a nose for authors and subjects that are way ahead of the cultural curve, as is evident in this new anthology celebrating the company’s first thirty years in publishing.The more than one hundred books represented in this collection reflect the many distinct areas in which we have published–from literature and memoirs to progressive politics, to highly practical books on green building, organic gardening and farming, foo...

In this richly informative and entertaining book, Ben Watson explores the cultural and historical roots of cider. He introduces us to its different styles—draft, farmhouse, French, New England, and sparkling—and also covers other apple products, like apple wine, apple juice, cider vinegar, and Calvados.Cider is the new thing in today’s drinking world, even though it’s been around for centuries. In spite of its long and colorful history, cider has remained relativel...

Real Solutions for C# 4.0 ProgrammersNeed fast, robust, efficient code solutions for Microsoft C# 4.0? This book delivers exactly what you’re looking for. You’ll find more than 200 solutions, best-practice techniques, and tested code samples for everything from classes to exceptions, networking to XML, LINQ to Silverlight. Completely up-to-date, this book fully reflects major language enhancements introduced with the new C# 4.0 and .NET 4.0. When time is of the ess...

Frank Zappa's reputation as one of rock's maverick geniuses has continued to grow since his death in 1993. Revised and updated, Electric Don Quixote is still the most comprehensive chronicle of his extraordinary life and career.Author, Neil Slaven, brings together the complex strands of Zappa's life and work in a book that will please not just Zappa fans but anyone interested in the history of rock music.Fully illustrated and includes a comprehensive discography.

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings is firmly established as the world's leading guide to recorded jazz, a mine of fascinating information and a source of insightful - often wittily trenchant - criticism. This is something rather different: Brian Morton (who taught American history at UEA) has picked out the 1000 best recordings that all jazz fans should have and shows how they tell the history of the music and with it the history of the twentieth century. He has completely revis...

An Instant New York Times BestsellerFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciproc...

One of The Telegraph's Best Music Books 2011Alex Ross's award-winning international bestseller, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, has become a contemporary classic, establishing Ross as one of our most popular and acclaimed cultural historians. Listen to This, which takes its title from a beloved 2004 essay in which Ross describes his late-blooming discovery of pop music, showcases the best of his writing from more than a decade at

**NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward.“A powerful read that fills one with, dare I say . . . hope?”—The New York Times**NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINEThere is a renaissance blooming in the climate movement: leadership that is more characteristically femi...