As Nixon's unpopularity increased during Watergate, his nose and jowls grew to impossible proportions in published caricatures. Yet the caricatures remained instantly recognizable. Caricatures can even be superportraits, with the paradoxical quality of being more like the face than the face itself. How can we recognize such distorted images? Do caricatures derive their power from some special property of a face recognition system or from some more general property of recognition systems? What kind of mental representations and recognition processes make caricatures so effective? What can the power of caricatures tell us about recognition? In seeking to answer these questions, the author assembles clues from a variety of sources: the invention and development of caricatures by artists, the exploitation of extreme signals in animal communication systems, and studies of how humans, other animals and connectionist recognition systems respond to caricatures. Several conclusions emerge. The power of caricatures is ubiquitous. Caricatures can be superportraits for humans, other animals and computer recognition systems. They are effective for a variety of stimuli, not just faces. They are effective whether objects are mentally represented as deviations from a norm or average member of the class, or as absolute feature values on a set of dimensions. Exaggeration of crucial norm-deviation features, distinctiveness, and resemblance to caricatured memory traces are all potential sources of the power of caricature. Superportraits will be of interest to students of cognitive psychology, perception, the visual arts and animal behavior.

This is the first book-length study of Carmen Miranda in English. It traces her origins as a radio singer, recording artist and film star in Brazil in the 1930s, before exploring in depth her Hollywood screen roles and the construction of her long-lasting star persona in the USA.

Annotation In 1997, Rakover (U. of Haifa) and Cahlon (Oakland U, Michigan) won an award from the Minister of Internal Security of the State of Israel for developing the Catch model for face recognition. Since then they have proposed the law of Face Recognition by Similarity. Here they describe the computer and mathematical research they have conducted and some of their results. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry is a completely revised and updated edition of Anthony Slide's The American Film Industry, originally published in 1986 and recipient of the American Library Association's Outstanding Reference Book award for that year. More than 200 new entries have been added, and all original entries have been updated; each entry is followed by a short bibliography. As its predecessor, the new dictionary is unique in that it is not a who's who of the industry, but rather a what's what: a dictionary of producing and releasing companies, technical innovations, industry terms, studios, genres, color systems, institutions and organizations, etc. More than 800 entries include everything from Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to Zoom Lens, from Astoria Studios to Zoetrope. Outstanding Reference Source - American Library Association

When Christopher Madsen made the snap decision-perhaps a rash decision-to buy and renovate the famous 1916 racing yacht for which this story is named, he could scarcely have imagined the consequences that were to follow. During the renovation Madsen's investigation of the original owner, New York senator Holland Sackett Duell, uncovered a remarkable true life 1920s adventure and love story; one which fully brings to life the era and flair of Gatsby and Hemmingway yet, by contrast, Rowdy is completely true, historically significant and meticulously documented in support of the authenticity. The reader first walks in Duell's footsteps as he departs New York in 1918 to participate in the Great War (the most detailed accounting ever written on New York's 306th Field Artillery, 77th Division). Highly decorated upon return, the adventure continues as Duell is immersed in politics at the highest level, the birth of Hollywood, sailing competitions with some of the richest men in America, fortunes and mansions and love affairs as well as scandalous affairs. A newly unearthed gem in American history, Rowdy will enjoyably transport the reader back in time to the Golden Age of Yachting-AND EVER SO MUCH MORE!A multi-award winning story and a beautiful coffee table book; 8 A1/2 X 11 hardcover with the look of worn, vintage leather, gold leaf stamping, rounded spine woven burgundy book mark. Full reviews, sample pages, awards etc., at http://www.rowdystory.com

The book shows how eastern and western perspectives and conceptions can be used to addresses recent topics laying at the crossroad between philosophy and cognitive science. It reports on new points of view and conceptions discussed during the International Conference on Philosophy and Cognitive Science (PCS2013), held at the Sun Yat-sen University, in Guangzhou, China, and the 2013 Workshop on Abductive Visual Cognition, which took place at KAIST, in Deajeon, South Korea. The book emphasizes an ever-growing cultural exchange between academics and intellectuals coming from different fields. It juxtaposes research works investigating new facets on key issues between philosophy and cognitive science, such as the role of models and causal representations in science; the status of theoretical concepts and quantum principles; abductive cognition, vision, and visualization in science from an eco-cognitive perspective. Further topics are: ignorance immunization in reasoning; moral cognition, violence, and epistemology; and models and biomorphism. The book, which presents a unique and timely account of the current state-of-the art on various aspects in philosophy and cognitive science, is expected to inspire philosophers, cognitive scientists and social scientists, and to generate fruitful exchanges and collaboration among them.