Best Selling Books by Richard Johnson

This pioneering anthology of Middle English prologues and other excerpts from texts written between 1280 and 1520 is one of the largest collections of vernacular literary theory from the Middle Ages yet published and the first to focus attention on English literary theory before the sixteenth century. It edits, introduces, and glosses some sixty excerpts, all of which reflect on the problems and opportunities associated with writing in the &"mother tongue&" during a period of revolutionary change for the English language. The excerpts fall into three groups, illustrating the strategies used by medieval writers to establish their cultural authority, the ways they constructed audiences and readerships, and the models they offered for the process of reading. Taken together, the excerpts show how vernacular texts reflected and contributed to the formation of class, gender, professional, and national identity. They open windows onto late medieval debates on women's and popular literacy, on the use of the vernacular for religious instruction or Bible translation, on the complex metaphorical associations contained within the idea of the vernacular, and on the cultural and political role of the &"courtly&" writing associated with Chaucer and his successors. Besides the excerpts, the book contains five essays that propose new definitions of medieval literary theory, discuss the politics of Middle English writing, the relation of medieval book production to notions of authorship, and the status of the prologue as a genre, and compare the role of the medieval vernacular to that of postcolonial literatures. The book includes a substantial glossary that constitutes the first mapping of the language and terms of Middle English literary theory. The Idea of the Vernacular will be an invaluable asset not only to Middle English survey courses but to courses in English literary and cultural history and courses on the history of literary theory.

"Principles of Model-View-Controller Architecture" "Principles of Model-View-Controller Architecture" is a definitive guide offering both foundational theory and practical insights into the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern. It begins by tracing MVC's historical evolution from its origins in the Smalltalk environment, exploring how the architecture has adapted to various programming paradigms and platforms. Through detailed discussion of separation of concerns, roles and responsibilities, and formal modeling techniques, the book establishes a rigorous understanding of MVC and critically compares it with related patterns such as MVVM and MVP, grounding readers in essential software engineering best practices. Each of the MVC components—model, view, and controller—is examined in-depth, covering advanced topics such as domain modeling strategies, state management, UI rendering architectures, and workflow orchestration. Readers are equipped to design scalable, secure, and maintainable applications, with chapters dedicated to integrating MVC into modern contexts like web applications, microservices, serverless deployments, and reactive programming. The book also addresses critical cross-cutting concerns, including performance optimization, fault tolerance, access control, input validation, and privacy. Rounding out its comprehensive approach, the text delves into advanced testing and debugging techniques, automation frameworks, and strategies for sustaining long-term maintainability through refactoring. Best-practice guidelines are balanced with cautionary coverage of anti-patterns and common pitfalls, reinforced by real-world case studies and insights on legacy modernization. Drawing on the collective experience of the open source community and looking ahead to future trends, this book serves as an authoritative reference for architects, developers, and engineering leaders striving to build robust MVC-based systems.

Turn to the world's most popular dermatology atlas for the quick, comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of skin problems A Doody's Core Title ESSENTIAL PURCHASE for 2011! "This atlas uses high quality photographs and well written, brief synopses to cover an enormous amount of information about skin diseases in one book....This atlas combines over 900 color photographs with succinct descriptions of skin diseases and systemic diseases with skin manifestations to create the most useful single reference in the field. This is the one book I would recommend to a non-dermatologist learning or practicing medicine in any field in any country. For dermatologists, as well, it is useful as a quick and easy reference guide. 3 Stars."--Doody's Review Service Covering the full range of conditions, from rashes, to skin lesions and disorders of the hair, nail, and mucosa, Fitzpatrick's is a unique combination of text, clinical reference, and color atlas-one that gives you the best quality and most varied photographs of skin disorders available anywhere. The book features a consistent format featuring key facts pertaining to epidemiology, clinical manifestations, physical exam, diagnosis, and treatment, each paired with several clear photographs to show how the condition appears-plus boxed overviews of each disease category with severity-specific icons. FEATURES 1500 high-quality full-color images Greater emphasis on depicting conditions and disorders across a wide range of skin types Up-to-the-minute coverage of important new topics: -- Pitryiasis rubra pilaris -- Palmoplantar keratosis -- Nevus lipomatosus superficialis -- Acquired digital fibromatosis -- Skin signs of renal insufficiency -- Skin reactions in organ transplantation -- New therapeutic recommendations, including biologic agents for eczema and dermatitis; new regulations for retinoids; and herbal products

"Solana Protocol and Development Guide" The "Solana Protocol and Development Guide" is an authoritative and comprehensive resource for blockchain engineers, protocol researchers, and decentralized application developers seeking deep technical insight into Solana’s high-performance blockchain ecosystem. Beginning with an analytic exploration of Solana’s architectural decisions, the book explains the rationale behind its foundational elements—including its innovative accounts data model, highly optimized ledger structure, and distinctive cluster topology. Through clear technical comparisons with leading Layer-1 protocols like Ethereum and Avalanche, readers gain a nuanced understanding of Solana’s competitive advantages in scalability, speed, and security. Delving into consensus, the guide thoroughly unpacks Solana’s unique combination of Proof of History and Tower BFT, demystifying how mathematically robust time-stamping and Byzantine fault tolerance achieve ultra-fast, secure finality. The book addresses every layer of on-chain development, providing in-depth coverage of the Solana runtime, program execution with the Sealevel parallel engine, and advanced programming strategies in Rust and Anchor. Practical techniques for secure program design, efficient memory management, transaction atomicity, robust error handling, and the responsible deployment and upgrading of smart contracts are methodically detailed. Beyond core protocol mechanics, the book spans client-side and ecosystem integration with hands-on guidance for using Solana’s SDKs, APIs, and wallet connectivity. Advanced chapters address end-to-end performance optimization, security hardening, governance models, interoperability standards, and the deployment of state-of-the-art use cases in DeFi, NFTs, gaming, and enterprise applications. With up-to-date research trends, risk mitigation strategies, and real-world best practices, this guide enables practitioners to build scalable, secure, and innovative solutions on Solana’s cutting-edge platform.