Customer Reviews (1)

Fascinating Look at American folk humor
Great fun, and a fascinating look at urban legend and myth. Copiers gave the joke new life, as bits of popular wisdom spread through offices and then around the country. Not unlike the funny-forwards epidemic on today'seMail networks, this book captures the growth of folk humor in a thoroughlyenjoyable way! Complete with behavioral annotations that peek just belowthe laughter. Highly recommended! ... Read more

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Help children learn key concepts about the human body and build reading fluency with these engaging plays. Topics include the brain, heart, lungs, muscles, bones, the five senses, teeth and dental health, good nutrition, keeping fit, health and safety, and more. Easy-to-read text includes rhyme, repetition, and predictable language to build reading confidence. Extension activities reinforce key concepts and vocabulary.For use with Grades 1–2. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Outstanding and Adorable Teaching Tool
What an amazing book this is! Not only is this a fantastic tool to teach students the facts about their body, but every single play is so creative AND adorable! A must-have for the early elementary classroom. ... Read more

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Ideal for beginning electronics students as well as people whowant some general knowledge of the subject, Teach YourselfElectronics is a lucid, easy-to-read guide. It explains the essentialsof electronics, demonstrates practical applications, andprovides an introduction to the functions of devices that affectour everyday lives.

From there, this guide moves on to the more complex principlesof electronics, such as logic gates and Boolean algebra. Employingillustrations and straightforward language, Teach YourselfElectronics will give readers a solid foundation to satiate theircuriosity.

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TEACH YOURSELF VOLCANOES is a practical, comprehensive guide which will enable you to discover more about the mysteries behind volcanic activity. Extensively illustrated, TEACH YOURSELF VOLCANOES: Explains why volcanoes occur and how they erupt. Describes the various kinds of volcanoes on Earth and on other planetary bodies. Discusses the hazards posed by volcanoes, both locally and globally. Explains why volcanoes can vary in shape. Shows how volcanic activity can be monitored and predicted. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

One of the best geology books I've read
This is a very cool book on volcanoes. It's well written, informative, and very interesting. I agree with the other comment here that it's easily accessible by the layman and explains everything in language you can understand. The explanations are clear and concise.

The book is notable for several other reasons. Besides the usual chapters on basic vulcanology and geology, where the types of volcanoes, structure of volcanoes, and so on is discussed, much of the book is devoted to the dangers and hazards of volcanoes and how to deal with them. These chapters cover the history of the most famous eruptions, the destruction wreaked, and the more serious climatological changes, which I read with a sort of morbid fascination.

In one of these chapters, on volcanoes and climate, the author discusses the theory that "super volcano" eruptions are thought to be responsible for major extinctions around the globe just as in the case of the Alvarez meteor extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous. I was already familiar with some of these events from previous reading, such as Krakatoa, Pompeii and Herculaneum, but more is known now, buteruptions such as Toba and Tambora were were much larger even than these. The Tambora eruption of 1815 spewed 50 cubic kilometers of ash into the air and killed 60,000 people on Indonesia, even more than were killed 60 years later by the the tsunami in 1883 from Krakatoa. That year came to be known as the "year without a summer" and caused a very cold winter that year and crop failures around the world which killed tens of thousands of more people.

The dangers of pyroclastic flows and of lahars get special attention and are discussed in detail. "Lahar" is an Indonesion word for fast moving flows of ash mixed with water that act like concrete, trapping people and animals and burying towns. The author provides a table of the biggest eruptions showing info such as measured or estimated size (with the so-called "VEI number") and total loss of life.

The third chapter discusses the destructive effects of volcanoes on climate which I mentioned earlier. One of these was especially noteworthy. About 70,000-80,000 years ago the Toba eruption occurred, the greatest one known since humans evolved. The author says 2000 million tons of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide were spewed into the atmosphere. The most conservative estimate of the dimming of sunlight caused by the volcanic aerosols of Toba may have been sufficient to dim sunlight to 1/10th of its normal value. This would have been enough to arrest or kill much of the trees and vegetation over much of the earth's surface. You may be familiar with the "Eve hypothesis" in human evolution, which is the idea that all modern humans can trace their ancestry back to a single individual as a result of mitochondrial DNA analysis. It's now thought that the Toba eruption could have been the cause of that, when most of the world's population was wiped out by the Toba eruption and only a few survived, one of which was Eve.

These sorts of eruptions have been termed "super volcanoes," and there are dozens of these enormous calderas around the world that are big enough to create them, including three in the U.S. For example, the 60 km caldera which created a VEI 8 eruption 640,000 years ago in Yellowstone may be approaching such an eruption again. Seismic studies show that the there is an active magma chamber below the middle of the caldera that is 20 km wide and 10 km deep. It seems magma is continuing to be injected into this chamber, because the center of the caldera has domed upwards by 1 meter in the last 50 years. The other calderas are the Long Valley caldera near Mammoth mountain in California and the Valles caldera in New Mexico.

Another unusual hazard of volcanoes is known by the Icelandic word Jokuhlaups (with an umlaut over the first u), or "glacier burst." These occur when melting glaciers cause floods from the runoff. On Mt. Rainier, which I visited once, I learned that these have occurred in an odd way occasionally. They have even issued forth from ice caves on the mountain, knocking down hikers and a couple of outhouses. :-)

Another hazard of volcanoes that includes mass extinctions are those from continental flood basalts, which can cover millions of square miles of the earth's surface. One of these occurred on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest 16 million years ago. Another occurred in Siberia 248 million years ago and covered 2 million square miles. The Alvarez meteor strike is mentioned as possibly setting off another flood basalt, the Deccan Traps event in India at the end of the Cretaceous 63 million years ago. The author mentions the explosions of Krakatoa in 1883, which pulverized 4.3 cubic miles of rock from the crater and caused a tsunami that killed 36,000 people on sumatra, and was the size of 10,000 Hiroshima type bombs, and the one that created Crater Lake in Oregon about 7000 years ago, which was even bigger, blowing 7.1 cubic miles of rock from the crater. It's now thought that a large meteor strike in southwestern Idaho could have caused these flood basalts over eastern Washington and Oregon by puncturing the crust all the way through to the mantle, allowing magma to reach the surface.

The last chapters in the book are devoted to Monitoring Volcanoes, Visiting Volcanoes, and Extraterestrial Volcanoes. There are also discussions of how to survive a hot blast from a volcano by wrapping yourself or at least any exposed skin in a wet protective covering, holding your breath as long as you can or until the heat from the blast has passed.

Finally, there are two appendices, one on volcanic rock types, and another on minerals in ignoeous rocks and their chemical composition, and a glossary of volcanic terms. Overall, a very interesting and fascinating book on geology and vulcanology.

The best volcano book for the layman, bar none
A good many folks have a passing interest in volcanoes, especially when a mountain like Kilauea or St. Helens erupts.Yet, most books on the subject are either very dry and technical, or, equally bad, overly concern themselves with the human details of a particular event, leaving the science of the thing as an abandoned stepchild.This excellent book suffers neither fault.

Simply put, if you want to learn the whys and wherefores of this most spectacular natural process, this is your book. The reading style is effortless, and not beyond the comprehension of anyone with a high school background in the sciences.The illustrations and diagrams are carefully chosen to clarify or expand upon points in the text.While reciting the individual and societal effects of volcanic activity, the book does not get bogged down in a welter of minutiae, and holds the reader's interest to the end.

The author has made every attempt to bring the text up to the state of the art in terms of scientific advances, and the reader benefits. Such concepts as plate tectonics, hot spots, and the like are well explained.Finally, for readers who live in the Western U.S., or anticipate travelling there, the book explains and illustrates a number of landforms that might elude one's attention, but for reading this fine work.

Upon concluding the book, the reader will have an understanding of volcanism, its landforms, and its effects on people superior to anyone, save a full-time geologist.I enthusiastically recommend it to all readers. ... Read more

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Teachers of political science, social studies, and economics, as well as school library media specialists, will find this resource invaluable for incorporating the Internet into their classroom lessons. Over 150 primary source Web sites are referenced and paired with questions and activities designed to encourage critical thinking skills. Completing the activities for the lessons in this book will allow students to evaluate the source of information, the content presented, and it usefulness in the context of their assignments. ... Read more

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The second edition of this popular student textbook presents an up-to-date and comprehensive introduction to the process and practice of teaching and learning science. It takes into account changes in science education and teacher education since the first edition was published.

This new edition has been extensively revised with emphasis on recent National Curriculum assessment and curriculum changes in England and Wales. Five new sections, which map key ideas in biology, chemistry, physics and astronomy, the Earth sciences and the nature of science, address the demands made on science teachers to teach across the sciences and about science. There is new material on personal development and learning to work in a team, and on the legal responsibility of science teachers in the laboratory or out in the field. This edition also provides sound, informative and useful discussion on:

Managing professional development;

Planning for learning and teaching in science;

Practical teaching strategies;

Selecting and using resources including language and ICT;

Assessment and examination;

The broader science curriculum, including Citizenship, Sex and Health Education.

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The perfect bridge to assist the accidental trainer in moving from the panic of being asked to teach 'because you know the system so well' to the satisfaction of successful knowledge transfer. A must read.
--Suzy Johnson, Course Manager, AT&T

The Accidental Trainer is a practical guide for the multitude of computer experts who have fallen into the role of computer trainer accidentally. As the resident experts on the latest word processing programs or the newly installed sales tracking software, most people who train others to use computers have little or no training experience. With checklists, questionnaires, and other hands-on tools, this book provides anyone with tools to bridge the gap between people and technology to create computer training that is clear, concise, and effective.

You'll learn how to:

• Build bridges between people and computers
• Create a blueprint for computer training
• Assess the learners
• Check your training results

... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

For all 'Accidental' trainers
You know the story. You have more computer skills that anybody in the office and get corralled into doing some training. "OMG, what do I do now," you think?

Don't panic. Take a deep breath. Ask for more time to prepare and immediately order "The Accidental Trainer."

The book offers a solid grounding in training principles as well as preparing you for the inevitable learning bumps that you'll receive along the way. Read Accidental Trainer for a quick start andTelling Ain't Training for a more complete foundation. You'll do fine

Practical, clear, concise overview of training
This book is a great addition to my personal library.It was easy to read, yet practical and informative.Weiss provides an overview of training technology and terminology that is easy to follow and incorporateinto your own training situations.I would recommend this book as a guidefor all levels of trainers, and all types of trainers, computer trainersand others.

Essential handbook for anyone who teaches computer skills
Ms. Weiss has incorporated her knowledge of adult learning theory to craft a succinctly written, straightforward manual for trainers.As a physician who teaches very resistant adults new computer skills, I found her case studies amusing, yet realistic.The book reads easily, there are wonderful illustrations and very little computerese.The chapter headings and summaries show a recusive use of the learning theories' application to the books own internal structure.No one should teach computer skills without reading this book. Upon finishing the book, I know it immediately "saved" one class I had prepared from certain ignominy. ... Read more

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The text covers: the study of the structure and function of living things; the study of cells and their functions; growth and development in vertebrates; the study of inheritance and variation; Mendel and genetics; gene manipulation; natural selection and adaptation; the study of habitats and the interaction of living things. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very easy to follow.
I've read several books concerning Biology and this by far is the best of them all. One The thing that makes this book stand out from the other biology texts, is it's easy to read feel. While most biology textbooks offer standard information about the subject, this textbook takes a more informal route.Mixing past information about how certain biological findings came about with detailed explanations of biology, Morton gives the reader a deeper understanding of the subject.The book also gives analogys and easy to decipher explanations that give you a better understanding. ... Read more

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"Teach Yourself World Cultures: Wales" is a concise and lively overview of Wales: the country, its language and its people. If you are learning the language, in, for example, an evening class and want to know more about the country and how it works, this is the book for you. Or, if you simply have an interest in Wales for whatever reason, it will broaden your knowledge about the country and its inhabitants. The book is divided into three sections. Chapters One and Two deal with the forces - historical, geographical, geological, demographical and linguistic - that have brought about the formation of the country we know as Wales and the language we know as Welsh. Chapters Three to Seven deal with the wealth of creative aspects of Welsh culture from the beginnings to the present day. These chapters take a look at the main areas or works of literature, art and architecture, music, traditions and festivals, science and technology, fashion, and food and drink, together with the people who have created and are still creating them.Chapters Eight to Eleven deal with aspects of contemporary Welsh society and the practicalities of living in present-day Wales: the way the political structure of the country is organized, education, the environment, the workplace and how people spend their leisure time. The final chapter looks at the country's political, economic and social relations with the wider world, and takes a glance at the future. Each chapter ends with a section entitled 'Taking it Further', where you will find useful addresses, websites, suggested places to visit and things to see and do in order to develop your interest further and increase your knowledge. Each chapter also contains a list of useful words and phrases which will help you to talk or write about the subject in question. "Teach Yourself World Cultures: Wales" is your key to understanding Wales' past, present and future and contains all the information you need to participate in Welsh life and culture. ... Read more

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This fourth volume of the series, Using Picture Story Books to Teach Literary Devices, gives teachers and librarians the perfect tool to teach literary devices in grades K-12. With this volume, the author has added: colloquialism; counterpoint; solecism; archetype; and others to the list of devices. The entries have been reorganized to include all the information under the book listing itself. Each entry includes an annotation, a listing of curricular tie-ins for the book and the art style used, and a listing and explanation of all the literary devices taught by that title.Grades K-12

Customer Reviews (1)

An Excellent Teaching Resource
We know the most effective way to teach literary skills is through quality, authentic literature. This book provides information about specific examples of children's books and the literary devices within. The appendices arrange the featured books several different ways (by author, title, devices, art style, curriculum tie-ins, and appropriateness for all ages), making this an especially user-friendly resource. Teachers who strive to make learning relevant and who wish to expand their classroom libraries with worthwhile material will find this book valuable. ... Read more

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How did Japanese industries become so successful? What was a samurai? When do Japanese people wear kimono? Do the Japanese celebrate Christmas? This book answers these questions, and many more, in a concise and lively overview of Japan: the country, its language, its people, their way of life and culture and what makes them tick. If you are studying for examinations which require a knowledge of the background of Japan and its civilisation, or if you are learning the language in, for example, an evening class and want to know more about the country, this is the book for you. If your job involves travel and business relations, it will provide valuable and practical information about the ways and customs of the people you are working with. Or if you simply have an interest in Japan for whatever reason, it will broaden your knowledge about the country and its inhabitants. The book is divided into three sections. Chapters One and Two deal with the forces -- historical, geographical, geological, demographical and linguistic -- that have brought about the formation of the country we know as Japan and the language we know as Japanese.Chapters Three to Seven deal with the wealth of creative aspects of Japanese culture from the beginnings to the present day.These chapters take a look at the main areas or works of literature, art and architecture, music, traditions and festivals, science and technology, fashion, and food and drink, together with the people who have created and are still creating them. Chapters Eight to Eleven deal with aspects of contemporary Japanese society and the practicalities of living in present-day Japan: the way the political structure of the country is organized, education, the environment, the workplace and how people spend their leisure time. The final chapter looks at the country's political, economic and social relations with the wider world, and takes a glance at the future. Each chapter ends with a section entitled 'Taking it Further', where you will find useful addresses, websites, suggested places to visit and things to see and do. Each chapter also contains a list of useful words and phrases which will help you to talk or write about the subject in question.The new edition takes into account any developments in Japanese culture and society which have occurred since first publication. ... Read more

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Divided Nations and Transitional Justice is a collection of significant writings contributed by the late president Kim Dae-jung of the Republic of Korea and former president Richard von Weizsaecker of Germany. This book presents insightful views, lifetime career experiences and expertise of the two prominent leaders in the critical fields of unification, peace, and justice and reconciliation. It centers on the cases of Korea, Germany and Japan, and considers how these countries have moved to address and come to terms with their wartime past. This book moves to deliver messages of hope and vision on how to further the values of peace, reconciliation and cooperation in the 21st century. ... Read more

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Politics plays a major role in all our lives. Teach Yourself 101 Key Ideas: Politics contains short accounts of 101 key ideas in politics arranged in alphabetical order. The accounts focus on key political themes and ideas in order to give the reader the background knowledge to analyze important political questions. ... Read more

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Get access to the latest political information in an instant!

Teach Yourself Instant Reference Politics is the perfect companion for politicos, students, teachers, and writers! Here you have reliable, readable, up-to-date information on a wide range of topics right at your fingertips.

Teach Yourself Instant Reference Politics features:

• An easy-to-use A-to-Z format
• Helpful cross-referencing for further exploration
• Charts and diagrams that provide visual explanations for complex concepts
• Chronologies that place people and events in context

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Teach Yourself 101 Key Ideas: Genetics provides summaries of historical and contemporary theories for evolution, and examines some of the most controversial issues surrounding these theories. ... Read more

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How much beer does the average German drink? What is the speed limit on the autobahn? Who were the original Vandals? This book aims to answer these questions, and many more, in a concise and lively overview of Germany: the country, its languages, its people, their way of life and culture and what makes them tick. If you are studying for examinations which require a knowledge of the background of Germany and its civilization, or if you are learning the language, in, for example, an evening class and want to know more about the country and how it works, this is the book for you. If your job involves travel and business relations, it aims to provide useful and practical information about the ways and customs of the people you are working with. Or if you simply have an interest in Germany for whatever reason, it should broaden your knowledge about the country and its inhabitants. The book is divided into three sections. Chapters one and two deal with the forces - historical, geographical, geological, demographical and linguistic - that have brought about the formation of the country we know as Germany and the language we know as German.Chapters three to seven deal with the wealth of creative aspects of German culture from the beginnings to modern day. These chapters take a look at the main areas or works of literature, art and architecture, music, traditions and festivals, science and technology, fashion, and food and drink, together with the people who have created and are still creating them. The reamaining chapters deal with aspects of contemporary German society and the practicalitites of living in modern-day Germany - the way the political structure of the country is organized, education, the environment, the workplace and how people spend thier leisure time. The final chapter looks at the country's relations with the wider world, and takes a glance at the future. Each chapter ends with a section entitled "Taking it Further", where you should find useful addresses, websites and things to see and do. Each chapter also contains a list of useful words and phrases which should help you to talk or write about the subject in question. ... Read more

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This "Teach Yourself" guide to geography is exclusive to WHSmith until further notice. ... Read more