Customer Reviews (3)

Biased Red Sox Fan
Moneyball was a great read for me as a diehard baseball fan. Unfortunately it had little or nothing to do with the Red Sox. Luckily, now there is Chasing Steinbrenner. The half of the book that deals with the behind the scenes operations of the Toronto Blue Jays is to be forgiven since it is also interesting.

Among the unforegtable stories is when Toronto GM JP Ricciardi gets a phone call from the local Worcester newspaper (JP is a Worcester native). Turns out the reporter was dying for a story about the high school basketball team that Ricciardi was several years removed from being the coach of. The exclusive with the local MLB GM would have been a bigger story, but the reporter is disappointed.

This book is a must read for those with any curiosity about what goes on upstairs at Fenway with the Sox brass.

Enthralling
Bradford does an amazing job telling the story of how the "underdogs" compete. This book showed me, without a doubt, that there is so much more to baseball than payroll.

Very entertaining
Between the behind the scenes story-telling, and the details waiting around every corner this is a great book to pick up. It delves into what some of the decision-makers in Boston and Toronto had to go through over a most extra-ordinary season, not so much why the decisions were made. It is a great summertime page-turner. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1973-   2. Baseball - General   3. Baseball - History   4. Baseball - Specific Teams   5. Baseball - Statistics   6. Boston Red Sox (Baseball team)   7. Epstein, Theo,   8. Management   9. Sports   10. Sports & Recreation   11. Toronto Blue Jays (Baseball te   

The O'Reilly Cookbook series, with its to-the-point but illuminating coverage of programming subjects, meets the challenge of explaining how to write software as well as anything else on the market. When you're facing a coding problem--particularly in a language you're new to or haven't used in a while--and know there must be a proven way to solve it, the right Cookbook can often get you going in a hurry. C# Cookbook applies the formula to the language of Microsoft .NET, and is an addition to the line that more than a few programmers will appreciate.

Don't count on this book to solve big tasks for you. "I need some C# software that integrates with Avaya telephone switches and Siemens databases...:" No. Rather, this book shows you how to do the little jobs (converting an array to a delimited string, monitoring the event log, creating a bounded hashtable, and so on) that can stand in the way of prompt completion of a project. What's more, the coverage isn't limited to code samples. Stephen Teilhet and Jay Hilyard take advantage of the Cookbook series' Problem-Solution-Discussion format to teach you a thing or two about C#. You'll refer to this book often for quick answers and explanations. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to solve small but non-trivial problems in the C# programming language. Each of 17 chapters covers a major area of C# functionality--networking, regular expressions, filesystem, security, and so on--and contains a dozen or two entries on how best to solve programming problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great addition to your C# library
This is a really cool book. Skim through it, and you'll see that all the hard stuff you want to do in .NET or C# are all in one book. You'll find some general computer science algorithms implemented in C#, and you'll find other things that are simply C# specific. I'd highly recommend any professional C# programmer adding this to their reference library.

The book contains a chapter for each of various C# objects. Beginning with numbers, the book continues through strings, classes, delegates, collections, I/O, threading, and XML to name a few. Some examples of "recipes" you'll find include how to improve string builder performance, issues with bit-shifting, adding notification callbacks, rolling back object changes, determining whether a process has stopped responding, and validating XML.

Like many of O'Reilly's other "cookbook" reference books, this book can be read from cover to cover, but it's really designed like a cookbook. The idea is to flip thorough each recipe in a specific section until you find one that fits what you're trying to do. While reading through this book, I came across five or six answers to various different problems I'm currently addressing in my own C# work. This is a definite must-have to your library.

A Great Reference
I found this book to be very usable. As the author of the ASP.NET Developer's Cookbook, which used the same format, I found this book to be very easy to pick up and browse for useful topics. I found quite a few. I've posted a detailed review on my website, AspAlliance.com, here:

http://aspalliance.com/381 ... Read more

Subjects:  1. C# (Computer program language)   2. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   3. Computer Books: General   4. Computers   5. Programming Languages - C#   6. C & Visual C   7. Microsoft Windows   

Customer Reviews (7)

Must-Have Summer Reading for Children
As a professional librarian, I highly recommend the purchase of this book for all school and public libraries. With its whimsical drawings and rhyming prose, this beautiful book is the story of how through sheer will and tenacity, one determined child inspired a nation. This book teaches children to help others when faced with situations where the natural inclination is to only help oneself. It conveys a hopeful message of finding joy in life by focusing on possibilities in spite of limitations. Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand is a must-have for any child's summer reading list.

Every house and school should have one!
Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand should be in every home and school because it teaches so many life lessons--in a fun and light way. Although it deals with serious issues such as pediatric cancer, it is not scary for children at all. The rhymes and themes center around helping others and making the best out of a bad situation! A must-read for a household with children--or adults!!

A lesson for all ages - what a wonderful story!!!
From the moment we ordered this book my kids waited daily for its arrival. We received it today and read it the minute we walked in the door from school! What a touching story and such an easy, wonderful read. Alex is an amazing young lady who can teach us all a thing or two about selflessness and making a difference in the world. This book will make for a great birthday gift because of its positive message and also because the proceeds support Alex's cause. ALEX SCOTT - you are our hero!!! Thank you for all that you and your family have done and continue to do for those in need. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 4-8   2. Children: Grades 4-6   3. General   4. Juvenile Fiction   

Customer Reviews (3)

A Classic
An astounding piece of synthetic analysis of a very, very complicated field, this book has rightly been referrred to by scores and scores of subsequent writers in the field of psychoanalysis and personality theory. The authors have critically scrutinzed the various schools of thought in the post-Freudian landscape and astutely determined their theoretical similarities and differences. The writing is direct and persuasive, albeit intended for an audience familiar with psychological terminology. It is amazing work and one of the best books in any field over the last 20 years.

I like it!
This book is necessary in developing a full understanding of Object Relations Theory.

Essential reading
This book is cited in virtually every book written on object relations theory since its publication. It gives a thorough background to the theories of all of the major contributors to object relations theory. It is brilliantly written and understandable with a basic knowledge of psychoanalytic jargon. An essential work. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Human relations   2. Movements - Behaviorism   3. Movements - Psychoanalysis   4. Object attachment   5. Object relations (Psychoanalys   6. Object relations (Psychoanalysis)   7. Psychiatry - General   8. Psychoanalysis   9. Psychoanalytic theory   10. Psychology   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography   2. Military   3. Political Freedom & Security - Terrorism   4. Political Science   5. Politics/International Relations   6. Religious   

Customer Reviews (6)

Completely changed the way I look at teaching
I first learned of this excellent book at a professional development workshop that was offered by my school. I was immediately driven to buy it and learn all that I could about the backwards design process. One year later I find myself planning ALL of my units around enduring understandings and essential questions. It really makes sense that students can demonstrate understanding in various ways, and that it is our duty as teachers to allow them to do that with as many opportunities as possible. This year I finally feel that my students are really connecting with what I want them to learn, and they are seeing the "big picture." I will never design a unit the "traditional" way again!

A good read
McTighe and Williams successfully expound on a subject often mired in philosophical debate: how to assess understanding and evaluate true learning. It is an outstanding framework for developing curriculum intent on extending beyond traditional methods of teaching and preaching to students. The authors contend that true understanding can be assessed by measuring performance against six facets of understanding: explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. These facets are vital to developing curriculum and the authors do an outstanding job of presenting the material in charts, and exercises, making a difficult topic easier to understand. Comparing and contrasting covering material and uncovering knowledge serves to help teachers think like assessors, rather than activity planners. Helpful design tools are included throughout the book and teachers are instructed to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching with thoughtful and probing questions.

Understanding by Design will serve as my guide for evaluating my own effectiveness as a teacher. I expect to rely on it to gauge my own competency in developing and executing lessons. Examples throughout the book illuminating the practical applications of each of the six facets are well organized and easy to follow. I found the use of keywords and charts especially helpful in furthering my own understanding of how to uncover knowledge. I am confident that if I remain faithful to the tenets of this book, I will be able to put into practice what I believe constitutes effective strategies for learning: student-centered activities which call upon students to question assumptions, draw upon past knowledge, and advance understanding through incremental learning

ideology you can put to work
"The student ...(believes).. that there is neat and clean knowledge out there and it is my job to learn (i.e., memorize) and use it as directed. A key challenge in teaching for understanding is to make the student's view of knowledge ... more sophisticated by revealing the problems, controversies, and assumptions that lie behind much given and seemingly unproblematic knowledge."

I found this book on the way to another book, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Professional educators often feel the dichotomy between meeting national, state, and local goals and standards, and the real teaching that seems to have nothing to do with district benchmarks or standardized tests.

These authors propose a "backwards design process" that begins with the standards or outcomes desired, but then using these as guidelines to developing essential questions & understandings that actually matter beyond the classroom, then structuring the curriculum around these posed questions. They discuss the difference between covering the material, and using questions to 'uncover' the material. They using first hand examples of practice and texts to clearly exemplify what they mean. I found it exciting, inspiring, and extremely helpful. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Comprehension   2. Curricula   3. Curriculum planning   4. Curriculum-based assessment   5. Education   6. Education / Teaching   7. Learning   8. Teaching Methods & Materials - General   9. Testing & Measurement   10. United States   11. Education / Testing & Measurement   

Thanks to TV cop shows, most Americans can probably recite the Miranda warnings, but do they know when the warnings do--and do not--apply? Tort reformers cite the $2.7 million in punitive damages a jury awarded a little old lady in Albuquerque when the cup of coffee she had set between her legs spilled and scalded her. These crusaders against "excessive" damage awards do not usually note that the trial judge reduced the award to $480,000, or that the coffee was 20 degrees hotter than competitors' coffee.

The law is all around. People continually invoke their rights, and every year millions of Americans are involved in formal legal proceedings. Yet most people are ignorant of even the basic concepts and organizing principles of U.S. law. Into the breach comes Jay Feinman's engrossing book Law 101: Everything You Need to Know About the American Legal System. Akin to a crash course in the first year of law school, Law 101 is a clearly written, eminently readable guide to the tenets of our legal system. It is structured around basic questions such as "If a contract is unfair, can a court refuse to enforce it?" and replete with clarifying examples--real and hypothetical. In explaining battery, Feinman writes: "If someone consents to a certain bodily invasion, he does not necessarily consent to any bodily invasion, however. When Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield are in a boxing match, Holyfield has consented to Tyson punching him in the nose ... but he has not consented to Tyson biting off a piece of his ear." Much clearer.

Law 101 won't instruct you on how to write your will or get divorced, but it will educate you at a more systematic level. It is also a great read. --J.R. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Every American should read this book
I heard about this book on a web page about good books to read prior to law school. I just finished reading it yesterday, and I am very impressed. The author writes in such a way that any reader can acquire a basic understanding of our legal system. He explores the foundational areas of our body of laws, and he describes both sides of hotly debated issues such as abortion and the death penalty. Most of all, the author emphasizes that the law is not something that ordinary people cannot understand. It is not just for lawyers, judges, and politicians. Rather, the law is determined by the way we shape our society, and it starts from the ground up.

A Great Intro to the Basics - and a fun read!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the basics of law but does not want to read through tedious, mind-numbing text. This book covers a lot of ground (basically all of the main doctrines of US law) and is entertaining at the same time due to the author's clear / concise narrative and numerous examples.

From the beginning, Feinman explains that "law is not in the law books" but that law "lives in conduct; it exists in the interactions of judges, lawyers and ordinary citizens". Law is how we interpret it to be at a given time - it is in and of the people. From this and other insights, Feinman has helped me gain a greater appreciation for the US legal system as well as making me a more legal savvy citizen. In this day and age this is important - at one time or another we will all have to consult a lawyer for something.

Understand the law, but not how to write a will
Although I do not regret my decision, after deferring entry to law school for three years, to finally choose another vocation, I maintain a strong interest in legal philosophy and history, and comparative and international law. For me, Jay Feinman's book was an especially delightful find on the law section of a general bookstore. Few jurists, other than those like Alan Dershowitz and Richard Posner, seem to communicate clearly and effectively in non-specialist books which can satisfy curiosity outside of immediate needs such as writing wills or understanding consumer rights.

The claim of this book to provide "everything" you need to know about American law is undoubtedly exagerrated. This being said, Feinman provides a clear, thoughtful, and insightful coverage of the essentials of all that is covered in the first-year curriculum of a first-year U.S. law school program without the pain of wading through extensive case material - contracts, criminal law, torts, property, constitutional law, and legal procedure.

The strength of this book lies in its emphasis on the open nature of many legal issues -- where there are no straightforward answers. I especially enjoyed, in the section on constitutional law, the superb discussion of the scope of the justiciability doctrine which eshews intrusion of courts into the authority of other branches of government. But what exactly constitues a nonjusticiable political question which the courts should not decide?

An extract from the author's section on civil procedure underscores his invitation to the reader to avoid thinking about the law as cut and dried subject matter and process: "The lesson from all of this is that clear, rigid legal rules are often not what they appear to be. They either produce injustice as they are applied in varying fact situations, or they demand interpretations and exceptions - yet interpretations and exceptions cause complexity and uncertainty. Broad, flexible legal rules, on the other hand, give the courts great discretion, and discretion produces conflicting decisions and uncertain rules, which is another form of complexity and injustice."

The last one and a half pages are a tour de force in clarity and simplicity for those seeking to appreciate legal reasoning. It identifies a limited set of questions which can be applied to any layman's encounter with legal issues in newspapers or eleswhere, and give him some sense of what lawyers and judges have to do.

Readers show be aware that this book, while a good introduction to the frame of mind of a U.S. jurist, is not intended to be a comprehensive introduction to the U.S. legal system. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business Law   2. General   3. Law   4. Law (General)   5. Legal Education   6. Legal Reference / Law Profession   7. Legal System   8. Popular works   9. Reference   10. United States   11. Laws of Other Jurisdictions & General Law   12. USA   

Customer Reviews (1)

Essential to Understanding Understanding (that's no typo)
In order for us as educators to effectively assess our students, we must decipher how our students learn and understand.

That's essentially what McTighe and Wiggins help us do here. I also bought their textbook for a course I took in Assessment. It was fascinating.

This book, along with the textbook is very useful in Unit Planning and shows its readers how to effectively use the "backward design" technique. Teachers, I can only describe the technique as assessment the way WE think it should be.

This handbook is a step-by-step guide with tons of reproducibles.

Very useful find for planning the school year! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Education   2. Education / Teaching   3. Professional Development   4. Teaching Methods & Materials - Classroom Planning   

Customer Reviews (6)

As necessary as air
This book is one of the most helpful take on the explaining the Japanese language I've ever read. The humour keeps things interesting and prevents you from putting it away even when you reach a section that is difficult to understand.

However, if you are an Asian and speak your mother tongue fluently, this book has some areas that are probably already obvious to you. Things like invisible subjects are frequently used in Asian languages and you have probably mastered it subconsciously since you were five. That is not to say that the book is not useful, but it is written with English native speakers in mind.

One small complain about the book: I have been reading hiragana and kanji right from the start of learning Japanese, so reading romanji is somewhat of a pain. I had an easier time reading the forewords by the author's Japanese wife than the romanji examples he gave. It will be helpful if the examples can include both hiragana/kanji and romanji versions.

Well despite the tiny flaw, I can say that this book IS going to be necessary. A lot of Japanese teacher make up their own explanations of certain grammar components that might seem logical at first, but later on you will be confused when new things are taught that SEEM to contradict the previous rules. This book will clear up all the things that your teacher WILL mess up. One fine example: my teacher told us that "n-da" is simply to add more emotions to the statement. Well turns out it wasn't that simple.

Get this book. You will need it.

A great treasure for intermediate students.
Having been studying Japanese on and off for, oh, nine years now, I have learned that not all educational tools and methods work for everybody. People have their own way to learn languages, and in my case the straight-up textbook approach never entirely succeeded. I lived and studied in Japan for several years, and that helped in conversation and in terms of immersion. I have purchased everything from particle guides and Kanji dictionaries and even children's books to help my study, and all of them help in ways, but it is a very piecemeal way to learn.

And I guess that is how it is when learning languages. Only the true geniuses of language can grasp these things in a ready and total fashion. And unfortunately for me, this piecemeal approach left me missing things from my study of the language. And then Jay Rubin stepped in.

Jay Rubin knows the Japanese language. He teaches it, and is a translator of Japanese literature. (Most famously he translated into English Murakami Haruki's "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" and "Norwegian Wood", as well as writing a biography of Murakami.) To steal a line from Lawrence of Arabia, "He knows his stuff."

And so it is that Rubin decided to stuff all that stuff into a book for those of us who struggle with the more delicate grammatical issues of the Japanese language. And he does so with brilliance and wit and ease of use that I have yet to have seen surpassed. "Making Sense of Japanese" is indeed a precious little gem in my collection of Japanese learning aids that fills in so many holes in the facade of my shoddy language capacity. For instance:

Wa and Ga - Never before has there been a more thorough and easy to remember explanation of the delicate differences between these two particles. They are a great bane to learners of Japanese, and Rubin dedicates 20 pages to truly making sense of them.

The Myth of the Subjectless Sentence - and how it is a true myth. Which is followed by a really nifty look into the differences in pronoun use in Japanese and English.

Receiving and Giving - and all the verbs that pertain to those actions.

Causitives and Passives - and how they combine at times.

Tame - Rubin succinctly explains the two forms of "tame" and gives examples.

Tsumori - and how it too has a double use.

And so much more! All told in a very lucid style and sharp wit that is sorely missing from most study guides. The final part of the book is dedicated to taking a very complex sentence in Japanese and breaking it apart and showing exactly how it forms a full statement. To some this may seem a little tedious and an over-indulgence in explaining in English what is fundamentally the properties of another language, but I have always felt in my studies that most texts and aids are lacking in easy to understand explanations. If you get frustrated with what seem to be overly simple and/or boring explanations of some very important grammar elements of Japanese, this little book is a marvel. But like any other language guide, these lessons must be studied to have impact. Though Rubin makes it very easy to read these passages over and over.

There's more than grammar to a language
This is a precious little book.

Most of what I'd say has been said in reviews above, so I'll just add that the great value of this book turns out so much more if (like me) you're studying Japanese on textbooks written for English-speaking students, but English isn't your own mother tongue.

For sure, the content of the book is very useful by itself, but for me it had the additional benefit of letting me better understand my English-speaking fellow students (and maybe even teachers') common myths and difficulties with the subject!

The point is that those very aspects of the language unavoidably tend to be either less-well- or over-explained in English textbooks, sometimes leaving you wondering what's it all about...

All that imho of course! ;-)

P.S. I'd recommend this book to essentially anyone, not necessariliy "intermediate level" students only like hinted in other reviews. The topics are very general in nature and clearly presented with examples, you can and should read it through at a very early stage in your study! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Foreign Language - Dictionaries / Phrase Books   2. Foreign Language Study   3. General   4. Japanese   5. Language   

Customer Reviews (1)

The Standard
If you're a music student at almost any major school (I just finished my undergraduate at Indiana University, for example) you'll most likely need to take a course that uses these CD's as part of its history survey. For that purpose, this set is an excellent collection. These, with their companion Norton Anthology of Western Music, and in conjunction with Grout/Palisca's History of Western Music, make for a thorough survey of the roots and history of Western music. Both the History and the Anthology use these CD's, and make constant references to them. (At least, up until 1750, after which you'll need the second volume)

Having said that, however, i'm afraid that these CD's are limited to their intended purpose. Obviously, there would be absolutely no way to have a comprehensive collection of music and text be affordable to an average college student. As it is, the Grout, Norton, and CD's total about $200 total. However, for that cost they provide an extremely good survey of Western music. A student can follow historical developments through the music, and learn an enormous amount from these CD's. They provide a fairly good cross-section of different styles of major composers, and even a few examples of lesser known composers. One is far less likely to criticize the music of the twentieth century, for example, if one finds that Gesualdo (of the late 16th century) was writing music that was MUCH stranger than anything before the turn of the twentieth century.

For someone outside of the music school (who will most likely be required to buy these anyway), these are also an excellent (and comparatively affordable) way to survey the mainstream and less-mainstream trends in Western music. The recordings are all relatively high-quality, often using historical instruments and interpretations (something important to a student of musical history) and providing a good introduction to classical music.

For that reason, then, i recommend these to the casual listener as a good introduction to Western music. If you seek a "greatest hits" album, these are not that; go buy those Time-Life things they advertise on television. This is rather a serious collection of music from as many different styles as allowable while still maintaining some depth. The only thing that keeps the fifth star empty is the lack (by necessity, though i must admit) of a more wide-ranging selection of music. Despite that, they are still an excellent buy. The casual listener of classical music should find these to be a valuable introduction to the well known, and also the more obscure realms of early music. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Other   2. General   3. Music   

Customer Reviews (97)

Could have been better
As other reviewers have mentioned, the main flaw in this book is that Shermer doesn't really tackle the question posed in the title. He spends most of the book debunking nonscientific beliefs, but only one chapter is devoted to the actual question of why people believe "weird things" without proof. Besides that, he includes to many different areas of research, and thus doesn't have time to focus thoroughly one any of them.

Why, then, do I give this book four stars? It is well written and very convincing, and could serve as a good introduction to skeptical thought. As the tide of pseudoscience rises and people attempt to dismiss rational and reasonable thought, we need good thinkers like Shermer to defend science as what it really is - the attempt by humans to understand the world around us. Finally, he connects with the audience by providing many humorous annecdotes about his own experience with pseudoscientific liars and examples of scientific thinking gone astray (very, very astray.)

The final section of the book, and the best one, covers the phenomenon of Holocaust denial. This is the most interesting section because it does delve into the psychology of people who want to rewrite history, even though they know that the things they are saying aren't true. Shermer also points out the urgency of fighting this movement with solid historical fact.

The middle section of the book covers the Creationism vs. Evolution debate. Unfortunately, it is too short to present this topic in great detail. Contrary to what the review below this one claims, Shermer doesn't insist that Evolution is true because Creationism is false. However, his purpose in this section is to show how and why Creationists intentionally misrepresent scientific fact, so that is the main focus of these chapters.

The opening section is the least useful. It covers a variety of topics, including UFOs, near-death experiences, and Ayn Rand's cult. However, the chapters are quite short, so they can't provide in depth analysis of such phenomenon.

Good breakdown of the dynamics of "weird things."
I'll concede to comments of some earlier reviewers: the book had a few weaknesses. I give it 5 stars, however, as it's a great analysis of...just what the title states.

Contrary to what some other reviewers thought, I liked the way the book was set up. It started with the priciples of science, of skepticism, etc., then went into countless examples of its opposite. I liked the chapter "How Thinking Goes Wrong," as it offers an examination of HOW we think we're thinking when we're not, and what we may do about that. It's not a dogma, just an honest examination of where are reasoning takes us, and how.

Without using Sagan's oft-quoted maxim," Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," Shermer says essentially the same thing. And he gives scores of examples. Two that come to mind right off are the entertaining claims of the Afro-centrists, and those who perpetuate belief in the Near Death Experience (NDE). Sure Shermer seems adamant and inflexible. But, really, people claiming their beliefs in these things cannot expect us to believe them except in faith. In the former, there are easily confirmable facts which refute the claims of the Afro-centrists. As to the latter, there ARE other, simpler explanations which are almost inevitably the right ones.

Oh, yes. And, sure there are other takes on history. But they're NOT all equally valid!

And I liked the piece on Ayn Rand, which some others criticized. It's a cult so riddled with self-contradiction, and I think it's important we realize that lest we get trapped by Rand's alleged eloquence. The loyalty of her disciples to Rand and her clique is mind-boggling, and it's important we recognize WHY...and why we should challenge that degree of allegiance to anything!

As to the book's weaknesses, at the expense of endorsing the jargon I frequently criticize, I wish Shermer had used some more of the definitions of the logical fallacies in the chapter I mentioned above. He covered some, and some are in Latin. But I think it's important to know not only what they are, but how other people refer to the fallacies. We can retort to them intelligently then, when we know what they're called.

Then, as others have said, there was too much of the book dedicated to the holocaust denial. However, that WAS a major historical event, and there ARE those who, despite mountains of evidence, deny it. So it's a case in point as to erroneous thinking, contrived evidence, etc. So, while I wish that portion of the book hadn't been so long, I will not penalize Dr. Shermer a star or two for it.

Overall I think it's an important book, one that should be used in college freshman courses, assuming colleges wish to foster critical thinking. This, despite its weaknesses.

And I WILL read other Shermer books. He offers an educated--and rational--perspective sadly lacking in too much of today's discourse.

Great Skeptic, Good Debunker
The overall grade for this book is good, I recommend it, but it could definitely be much better. Shermer is one super skeptic fellow, and one that respects most of the people whose claims he tries to debunk. Through the book he can't deny his psychology background, since he continually makes reference to different psychological concepts (and their application to scientists like Tippler, or to holocaust deniers), this is not bad, but the truth is I wasn't expecting a pseudo-psychoanalisis on his opponents. The book is really entertaining, and has a lot of interesting anecdotes and experiences as well as good bibliographic investigation to support every case. Once again, the book is entertaining and enlightening at times, I surely recommend it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Body, Mind & Spirit   2. Controversial Knowledge   3. Creative ability in science   4. Creative thinking   5. General   6. New Age   7. Parapsychology   8. Philosophy & Social Aspects   9. Pseudoscience   10. Science   11. Truthfulness and falsehood   12. Science / Philosophy & Social Aspects   

For more than 40 years, designer Lilly Pulitzer has lead the charge in pretty, preppy chic--a resort look long-worshipped by prim teens and stylish ladies alike. While the signature pink-and-lime-green floral frocks are what she's famous for, Pulitzer has also become known over the decades as the consummate hostess, now celebrated in her book Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining. Like most people with great style who aren't shy about showing it, Pulitzer put her personal stamp of informal elegance on all her gatherings, turning her home in Palm Beach back in the sixties (and beyond) into a "famously unstuffy" stomping ground for the resort town's movers and shakers. Unlike other entertaining tomes, Essentially Lilly doesn't go the route of practical party planning. Instead, Pulitzer's book unfolds like a diary of sorts, a scrapbook of her life chronicling inspirations, favorite moments, and events. Chapters are broken down into three sections reflective of the designer's lively aesthetic ("Mellow Yellow Mornings," "Think Pink Afternoons," "True Blue Evenings"), and ideas come by way of Pulitzer's Palm Beach passions--sunrise sails to the Bahamas, golf and tennis, weddings in her jungle slat house, and treasure hunting, among other things. In lieu of countless recipes (though there are a few good ones), Pulitzer extends a broader one--a more personal formula for a fun life, and in this, Essentially Lilly is dynamic and sincere. --Christene Barberich ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Awful......
Sent the book right back the day I got it.....Need I say more.

Pretty and mindless
Lilly Pulitzer's name is practically synonymous with carefree living. From the late 60s on, she has championed a way of life that is virtually unrelated in any way to how most people really live and which had as its symbol her ubiquitous, colorful, flowery shifts. As the text makes clear, Lilly doesn't care for following rules and, lucky her, she has the means to do and live as she pleases. The narrative is competently written, echoing closely a recent Vanity Fair profile on Lilly which covered the history of her famous brand and name. One doubts that Lilly herself did much of the writing, as there is very little first person accounting. Rather, the book is presented as a very long interview with Lilly's input as quotes.

The photography in Essentially Lilly is gorgeous. Ocean and garden scenes display the young, beautiful and obviously wealthy (not to mention white - there is nary a person of color in Lilly's world, apparently) frolicking per Lilly's mantra of always enjoying oneself. Lilly's fans will enjoy seeing how the sometimes outrageous prints her clothing line produced stand up through time - vintage sales photos printed next to newer images look just as fresh as they day they were taken.

As for the recipes, well, they're not impressive or complex (WASPs aren't the most enthusiastic eaters/cooks - witness Alexandra Wentworth's "The WASP Cookbook") but they work and that's what's important. The ingredients are primarily fresh fruits, veggies and seafoods which are altered as minimally as possible. In short, they're perfect for the type of Palm Beach life that Lilly loves and encourages - a type of endless summer where it never rains, no one is ever unhappy and you never drop your sandwich into the sand.

One is astonished to read about such a rich (in every sense) life presented with such a lack of irony given current political and economic events. Still, Lilly is so happy and earnest that it's easy to forget when reading Essentially Lilly that very few people actually live as she does and it's hard not to share her enthusiastic approach to life when glancing at the pages of such a lovely book.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST....
Lilly Pulitzer lives in Palm Spring. Her home is referred to as her jungle, but there is nothing wild or scary about it, only welcoming. Her door is always open and her ideas are there to share. Lilly is known as the "creator of a dress that bears her name and style" - the shift dress. Her styles continue to carry bold, colorful prints. Lilly tells her story from the beginning when she sold the oranges to her neighbors. She was good at it, and from there her imagination grew. Soon she created the Lilly style. Now she is ready to share her entertaining ideas. In the book, her advice on entertaining can be summed up to "just have fun." _Essentially Lilly_ shows us that "living and entertaining and having good times" is the parallel between her clothing and her parties.

There are many entertaining books out there, but I think Lilly has created one of the most expressive ones yet. Whether it's water, land, or in a jungle, Lilly's got it covered. Just looking at the book will put you in a good mood!

Brenda @ MyShelf.Com ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery   2. Cooking   3. Cooking / Wine   4. Do-It-Yourself   5. Entertaining   6. Entertaining - General   7. Fashion   8. General   9. House & Home   

Customer Reviews (9)

Carbon copy of every other book out there
These books all seem to be the same -- give a few basic ideas, then repeat them for 200 or 300 pages. By the time I got to the end of this, I was half expecting him to finish with a pitch for one of his seminars. I am interested in the renting aspects, and there were a few helpful nuggets in here, but I suspect it could have all been boiled down to a much shorter book.

I really...
dont see the other reviewers beef with this book. Nowhere on the cover does the book mention anything about flipping. I also wonder if they bothered to read it. It clearly does not advocate becoming a "slum lord". It recommends against investing in these types of properties. It does recommend investing in older neighborhoods, in fact on pg. 97 it breaks down the 5 general types of areas or neighborhoods in most towns or cities and tells you exactly where to invest.
As far as flipping, if you follow Jay's advice instead of renting you could then sell. The book is all about how to find these types of properties and how to purchase them for the right price( As most real estate investors know, the profit is made in the purchase.)

Starting on pg. 56 he offers 4 ways to find such properties.

On pg. 73 he tells you step by step what to do when you find such a property.

On pg. 86 how to find the right real estate agent to help you.

It covers negotiating, fix-up strageties, where the profit centers to each deal are, financing and refinancing,finding partners, other avenues for investment monies and landlording skills towards the END of the book.

I really thought this a practical book full of good advice for the beginner.

Misleading Title, Cover, and Table of Contents....
As with most of the other reviews, this book was disappointing. Instead of the title saying "Selling (and renting)" it should say just "Renting." He discourages selling consistently, so if you are looking for a book on buying, fixing, and selling, this is NOT it. He also seems to completely ignore the power of the internet in the process of marketing and selling houses, doing research on properties, etc. Additionally, he uses terms frequently that are never defined, especially for discussions on financing. Overall, a real disappointment... Too bad I did not read the reviews before buying the book. I would have made a different choice. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics   2. Business / Economics / Finance   3. Business/Economics   4. Home Maintenance And Repair   5. Real Estate - General   6. Real Estate - Investments   7. Real Estate Investment   8. Repair   9. Business & Economics / Real Estate   

Customer Reviews (35)

A "must read" for the parents of teenage offspring!
In Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy!: Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind, psychologist Michael Bradley provides parents insight, hope, and help in safely steering their teenage son or daughter through the often problematic years of adolescence. Dr. Bradley offers an informed and guided tour through a teenager's mind while explaining why teens act the way they do and the training and skills required to assist a teen in maturing into a strong, confident, productive, successful adult. Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy! is an invaluable addition to any personal or community library human growth and development collection, and a "must read" for the parents of teenage offspring!

Eric's Review
This book offers much insight into the teenage mind. Being an average teenager myself, reading this book really helped me understand, well, Me! I was astonished by the wisdom offered by Dr. Bradley. I will warn that this book is for parenting but can be used as a guide for the MATURE teen too. This is a well organized guide to becoming a more educated parent for your teenager! Dr. Bradley helps us see that the parents and the teenagers, are all fighting the same battle, those dreadful Teenage Years. I highly recommend this book. "Yes Your Teen is Crazy" expands and updates one's mind in the scary realm known as the teenager. Buy this book!

A must-read book for parents of teens!
I have never written a review on a book, but everyone out there needs to know how amazing and right-on this book is. The author explains & clarifies so much about our kids and what is going on in their head and in their world. It will suck you in and give you an amazing, eye-opening understanding of what teenagers are all about and the skills to make things better in your relationship with them. Help is here, seriously! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adolescent psychology   2. Family & Relationships   3. Family / Parenting / Childbirth   4. Family/Marriage   5. Parent and teenager   6. Parenting - General   7. Teenagers   

Customer Reviews (1)

a widely-used but poorly-written textbook
This textbook covers a lot of material, but in an unsystematic way: the definitions are not worded in a predictable and consistent manner, the more important issues are not given priority over the less important ones, but everything is simply thrown together into an indigestible and boring glob. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Assessment, Testing & Measurement   2. General   3. Psychological tests   4. Psychology   5. Psychometrics   6. Textbooks   7. Psychology & Psychiatry / Testing & Measurement   

Customer Reviews (20)

Exemplary math textbook
This is very clear representation of probability and statistics. It has all the necessary formal definitions but also good explanations how those thing relate to real problems. Book has also enough examples to show how to apply things. There's also lot of exercises and end of the book there's answers to odd numbered exercises, so those exercises are not worthles as they are in many math books when there's no right answers available.

Only negative thing about this book is that it doesn't show proofs to all theories. Also it doesn't use matrix and vector notations, and this is the reason why i gave just four stars. Maybe writer has thought that people reading this book are not familiar with matrix algebra, but I think that ie. regression is much easier to understand with matrices.

Too Wordy, Too Expensive
This is a pretty unhelpful textbook.

Here is part of a typical problem from this book (pg. 83):
"Construct a normal probability plot for the following sample of observations on coating thickness of low-viscosity paint ("Achieving a Target Value for a Manufacturing Process: A Case Study," J. of Quality Technology, 1992: 22-26)...
Does the author really think any student will care about the source of the data and go look it up? If he really felt the need to include citations, they should have been in the back, or better yet, online. The author could have just written "Construct a normal probability plot for the following sample:". It's an utter waste of paper (and of students' money) to create such a wordy textbook.

It's ok when some problems and examples are from the "Real World", but this book insists on doing that for literally EVERY SINGLE ONE. The lack of conciseness makes the book very difficult to study from.

Another pet peeve I have with this book is that while the author does put blue rectangles around key formulas and information to highlight them, the variable definitions are not included in the rectangles. So you have to go back and pore through the previous paragraphs to figure out what the variables in the formulas are!

Finally, too many of the sample problems are, as another reviewer put it, "out of left field". They don't flow from the examples or are just worded in a very confusing way.

I didn't have the heart to give this one star, because clearly a lot of hard work went into creating such an impressive-looking tome. I can keep it on my bookshelf, and my friends can come over and be impressed by what a sophisticated textbook I have. However, I'm afraid the author is less interested in teaching than in merely putting his erudition on display.

I hope you don't get stuck in a class with this book!

I had to get a second textbook for this class...
I'm only on chapter 3, to be fair, but so far I've hated this book. I dumped $120 into it and the example problems are way too simple, and nothing like the actual exercises I'm being graded on. The sections and explanations are short, variables aren't explained well, a lot of assumptions are made. I just finished calculus 1/2/3 with the excellent Stewart book, to then go to this one is a real nightmare. Luckily for me, I've got another book on statistics and probability from a past class, and between the two of them, I can puzzle out much of it. NOT recommended. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - General   2. Mathematical statistics   3. Mathematics   4. Probabilities   5. Probability & Statistics - General   6. Science/Mathematics   7. Mathematics / Statistics   

Subjects:  1. Allied Health Services - Radiologic & Ultrasound Technology   2. Diagnostic Imaging   3. Magnetic Resonance Imaging   4. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Mri)   5. Medical   6. Medical / Nursing   7. Radiology   8. Tomography   9. Tomography, X-Ray Computed   

Customer Reviews (18)

RISE ABOVE YOUR RAISING - MOOD DISORDERS & ANGER
I strongly recommend this book for anyone seeking to find help with mood disorders, any type of addiction, identity issues, self-esteem issues, reoccurring unresolved anger and troubling relationship issues.

Excellent compliments to this book are: Treating Attachment Disorders: From Theory to Therapy by Karl Heinz Brisch and Kenneth Kronenberg; Living with the Passive-Aggressive Man by Scott Wetzler; The Narcissistic Family: Diagnosis and Treatment by Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman and Robert Pressman; Emotional Blackmail: When People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation and Guilt to Manipulate You by Susan Forward and Donna Frazier; Understanding the Borderline Mother: Helping Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable and Volatile Relationship by Christine Ann Lawson; Children of the Self-Absorbed: A Grown-Up's Guide to Getting Over Narcissistic Parents by Nina Brown; Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job by Alan Cavaiola and Neil Lavender.

And if you want to pursue the subject even further, you may be interested in reading The Narcissistic / Borderline Couple: A Psychoanalytic Perspective On Marital Treatment.

Full of Useful Informaion
I am amazed at the amount of information this book provides. Unlike other books on borderline personality disorder, this book has treatment aspect of the disorder. I think other books on the same subject had more descriptions of how bad the disorder is and don't even mention any treatment.

The Regimen of Healing
Personality disorders are a relatively new diagnostic area. The ICD-10 (the equivalent of the DSM-IV) doesn't even recognize some of them as separate disorders (e.g., the Narcissistic Personality Disorder). Others are controversial even in the USA (Borderline, Antisocial, Schizotypal). Textbooks are, therefore, of limited use to both practitioners and sufferers.

Sorely needed are self-help books that guide the perplexed through a regimen of exercises and coping strategies, an interactive framework which rests on current knowledge, and an organizing principle to tie it all together. This book offers all three abundantly. It is bound to be of help to therapists, self-help groups, victims of the disorder, and their nearest and dearest. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited". ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Borderline Personality Disorde   2. Borderline Personality Disorder   3. Neurology - General   4. Psychology   5. Psychopathology - General   6. Self-Help   7. Substance abuse   8. Treatment   9. therapy   10. Pathological Psychology   11. Personality Disorder   12. Addiction   

Customer Reviews (4)

Treasure Chest of Information in an Easy read format!
This book in fantastic. The author's voice and style make this not only easy to read but a joy to read as well. There are little tips and tidbits in each chapter that will make a good audio guy great and a great audio guy better. I recommend this book to anyone in the audio post world.

Very good book from a helpful intelligent person
I decided to buy this book because I had used the forum on the DV.com website for information before, and Jay Rose's comments there had proven to be spot-on and well-informed.
This book contains a thorough examination of all the factors which contribute to the quality of post-production audio. The level of information includes the spectrum from basic to advanced, but through Mr. Rose's clear explanations the advanced information should not go over the heads of the reader.

An essential reference for DV sound editing
This is an exceptional book: clear, comprehensive, and full of the kind of information you need to edit professional-quality DV sound on your desktop. Written by a Clio and Emmy-award winning sound editor, it takes you step-by-step through the postproduction process. Included are chapters on acoustics, monitoring, wiring, sync, ADR, voice over, music editing, and effects. Especially helpful is the 77-track audio CD, which includes diagnostics to help you evaluate your speakers and examples that let you hear the techniques discussed in the book. There's also a glossary, index, and generous graphics. The first chapter is a troubleshooting guide that refers readers to sections that contain the fixes ("wind noises," for example, are addressed in filtering, dialog editing, and ADR). Perhaps best of all is Jay Rose's real-world approach to his subject--this book is like spending a few hours in his studio while he patiently explains how to achieve the sound you hear in your head. I ordered this book to help solve some specific problems in editing a short film; I'll keep it within reach of my editing station to help shape the next one. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustics & Sound   2. Computer Animation   3. Computer Books And Software   4. Digital Audio Technology   5. Digital techniques   6. Film & Video - Direction & Production   7. Motion picture soundtracks   8. Recording and reproducing   9. Sound   10. Technology   11. Technology & Industrial Arts   12. Television & Video   13. Television soundtracks   

Customer Reviews (2)

Dont waste your money...
This book has one over-riding theme repeated constantly: The White Man is always wrong and the Indian is and has always been an innocent victem. I won't list details, but the lack of objectivity and obvious implications to the promote the theme are insulting. Although the book may contain some valuable and useful facts about Native Americans and their lifestyles, it is impossible to determine how authentic any of them are due to the overt propaganda that is being constantly asserted.

History in Pictures
A beautiful book that pleases the mind and eyes. Very authoritative and full of historical and anecdotal information relating to the Native Americans. Begins with pre-Columbus and continues through the ages to the 90's. A must read for anyone interested in Native american culture and history. The photographs and illustrations are priceless and well worth the price of the book. Add this to your history collection, younsters enjoy browsing at the wonderful prints of paintings and illustrations. An easy read whose pictures entertain and captivate the imagination. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History   2. History - General History   3. Indians of North America   4. Native American   5. Native Americans   6. Photo Essays