Customer Reviews (1)

A good criminal law casebook
This was my casebook for 1st year Criminal Law. It is a good casebook, and does a good job of summarizing the law in addition to a decent job of editing the cases.I would strongly recommend purchasing UnderstandingCriminal Law by Dressler in addition to this book. ... Read more

Book Description
Designed to serve as a primary text for the first two years of college music theory, TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS OF MUSIC covers all the basics of composition-including harmony, melody, and musical form. The authors present essential materials of common-practice music and an overview of 20th century techniques. Numerous hands-on exercises promote students' memorization and retention of key concepts. And the text's concise outline format, which has been enhanced for this edition, allows instructors maximum flexibility in choosing which materials, concepts, and techniques to emphasize in their course. An e-Workbook in PDF format provides more than 200 pages of exercises to complement TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS OF MUSIC, 7th Edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Finally a clear theory book
This is a perfect textbook for college students in their first two years.Part of the beauty of the book is that instructors have a great deal of flexibility in how to organize their beginning music theory classes.One can add more composition projects or less depending on the class.In my opinion, which differs from the first reviewer, music theory is intrinsically not a subject for people to study independently. Music is too complicated with too many chances for misunderstanding.Most people know that they need an instructor to study piano.Why would theory be different?The examples provided in the book are clear, very clear, and can easily be expanded with more complex musical examples and assignments.

This textbook adds other musical textures apart from the often mistaught four partchorale textures with the parallel fifth and octave rules.No one in Bach's day (Bach is the model for this afterall) ever wrote chorales as vertical chord structures despite Walter Piston's strange misportrayal of this texture.Four part chorales are countrapuntal and that's how they're written.

We now have generations of music students teaching who continue this myth to the detriment of their students who pass the nonsense along when they start teaching.Benjamin, Horvit, and Nelson along with Leo Kraft and his excellent books have helpedcorrect this.

This textbook is understandable, putting it far ahead of most of the others.I read Ottman and Piston and they are certainly pedantic and confusing.Both wax on with such lofty nonsense in their efforts to explain some of the most simple things.Why not just be clear?

The students finally have a chance to understand the real stuff with Benjamin, Horvit, and Nelson.I urge you to get a desk copy and decide for yourself.

Bad theory textbook
This book was used for my Harmony I and II class at Fullerton Community College which was the second and third course in music theory for music majors. I find this book to be very poorly written. IT does not go into to much detail in explaining concepts. The chapter in the book are very short although the reference back section is handy. It is written in a skeletal outline format and does a terrible job at defining new terms. The book is also worthless for self study. Students need the guidance of a professor or music pro to help them learn from the book unless the student is very bright. Most of the examples are written for keyboard which could be burdensome for non keyboard playing people even though I play the keyboard. Also the examples in the book are not good enough and not all of the examples are in four part choral style which is learnt in most college thoery classes.

Best Basic Music theory Text
After years of buying and perusing basic music theory texts, I was discouraged with the main ones for their denseness and tedious nature, such as Piston and Hindemith.For the amatuer wanting a well-designed guide to develop an understanding of how classical music works, this is by far the best.The steps are clear and logical, the exercises just what the learner needs, and the accompanying book of music examples a highly advisable purchase.You could do this on your own without a guide, given the fact that the materials have been tested in the classroom.The bibliography is also useful, if for nothing else than to show you why this vademecum is the most user-friendly and helpful. ... Read more

Book Description
The history of man is recorded, recovered and remembered through the designs he created and the materials he used.Materials are the stuff of design, and today is not the age of just one material, but of an immense range.

Best selling author M. F. Ashby guides the reader through the process of selecting materials on the basis of their design suitability.He and co-author Kara Johnson begin with the assumption that products in a given market sector have little to distinguish between them in either performance or cost.When many technically near-equivalent products compete, market share is won or lost by the industrial design of a product: its visual and tactile attributes, the associations it carries, the image it creates in the consumer's mind and the quality of its interface with the use and the environment.



Ashby and Johnson address the problem of selecting materials for industrial design from a unique viewpoint.They acknowledge that materials have two overlapping roles, in technical design and in industrial design. The technical designer has ready access to materials information.Industrial designers often do not have equivalent support.

Materials Selection in Industrial Design presents groundbreaking new information that, on one hand introduces engineering students to the principles of Industrial Design and to the idea that the selection of materials can directly affect the aesthetic qualities of the object.On the other hand they introduce industrial design students and practising industrial designers to engineering parameters through an accessible and holistic approach.

*Easy to use systematic approach to the selection and uses of materials

*Many excellent attribute "maps" are included which enable complex comparative information to be readily grasped

*Full colour photographs and illustrations throughout aid the understanding of concepts ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Materials And Design
It's a really complete book, where you can find all technical data of a material and some design aplications, also you can find substitute materials for each one of them.

Really Helpful

Highly recommended ..
... to anyone w. even the slightest interest in materials & product design.

Great if you really want to know about materials.
It's quite heavy to read... but it covers so much information that it's worth of it.You won't find fancy products shown on the inside for any kind of material, but you will understand everything about them.

If you are truly interested in Materials and Design, this is your book.I suggest also to take a look of those books written by Chris Lefteri, they are easier to read for a student, and have examples of the materials with great pictures.It's up to you "what" and "how" you want to learn.

Wow!
Amazing new perspective on matials and design!A must for any inspired designer/Product Manager.

Individual chapters address multidimensional issues
Collaboratively written by Mike Ashby (Professor, Engineering Department, Cambridge University) and design materials expert Kara Johnson, Materials And Design: The Art And Science Of Material Selection In Product Design is a thoroughly "user friendly" instructional guide to the scientific and systematic crafting of products from a variety of materials. Individual chapters address multidimensional issues, shaping joints and surfaces, rules of thumb for selecting certain materials over others, and much more in express, college-level detail. Enhanced throughout with full color photography and numerous illustrations, Materials And Design is strongly recommended as an extensive, superbly organized and presented, instructional resource and professional level reference. ... Read more

Book Description
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is renowned for its mystery and magic. What’s the truth behind it all? Is the golden compass actually based in science?How does the subtle knife cut through anything? Could there be a bomb like the one made with Lyra’s hair? How do the Gallivespians’ lodestone resonators really work? And, of course, what are the Dark Materials? Drawing on string theory and spacetime, quantum physics and chaos theory, award-winning science writers Mary and John Gribbin reveal the real science behind Philip Pullman’s bestselling fantasy trilogy in entertaining and crystal-clear prose.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials
Mary & John Gribbin have created a well organized and eaily understood science guide to the authentic physics behind Philip Pullman's epic work.The Gribbins combine good, clear writing with a thurough understanding of phyisics that leads to simple explanations a layman can understand.With out this valualbe work, Mr. Pullman's fantastic tale would remain simply a 'story' underpinned by fanciful and extremely complex and difficult science that might or might not be real for our world.As it happens, much of it is real for our world.

His Dark MATERIALS
It is a fun book using the facts of Dark Matter in a rather cavalier way that is fun and gives a great explanation for the magic/ absurdities in the Dark Matter series.
i liked the book and bought is as part of a set of the dark matter trilogy that begins with The Golden Compass.

Extra info for Pullman's "His Dark Materials"
For the ordinary person, this little book has pretty good coverage of the scientific basis for Pullman's trilogy. I am no expert, but from the info in the college courses I have taken with the Teaching Company, I think the writers have done well to condense so many items in a little space. It helps to understand that many of the ideas in Pullmans's fantasy have a bit of reality to them.

From spookiness to reality.
The trilogy just stunned me and I worked at trying to understand its complexities. Then I read this book, and everything made sense. At first I declared that the trilogy was better than 'The Lord of the Rings' but could not explain why. This book nails it. It will be wonderful if you read the trilogy, read this book, and share everything with your children. Remember when 'expanding your consciousness' was all the rage? No? That's OK.All these books do it with a basis in science. Buy the darn books. Buy them for your friends.

Educational value
As its name indicates, this book explains the science behind Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. The authors refer to passages from the trilogy and then explain the science behind them using easily comprehendable examples and analogies. Chapters speak of everything from the Northern Lights to the Amber Spyglass. This non-fiction book is a reference for the fictitious His Dark Materials. The science explained, though it is complex, can be understood easily by a lay reader.

I would recommend reading the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman before reading this book to understand the references and the context of the examples given in the book. I really liked the analogies because they made the science easy to understand, even for those who either do not understand or have not yet studied Physics, Chemistry, and Astronomy behind many science fiction novels. I especially enjoyed the depth of the history that the authors gave of the different concepts, such as the explanation for the appearance of the Northern Lights. Whether you are looking to understand His Dark Materials or to better understand subjects in your science class, this book fulfills its duty to explain science. Eventhough I do not usually enjoy science fiction, I enjoyed this book for its educational value.
(...) ... Read more

Book Description
This text treats the important properties of the three primary types of materials--metals, ceramics, and polymers--as well as composites, and the relationships that exist between the structural elements of these materials and their properties. Emphasis is placed on mechanical behavior and failure including, techniques that are employed to improve the mechanical and failure characteristics in terms of alteration of structural elements. Furthermore, individual chapters discuss each of corrosion, electrical, thermal, magnetic, and optical properties. New and cutting-edge materials are also discussed.

Even if an instructor does not have a strong materials background (i.e., is from mechanical, civil, chemical, or electrical engineering, or chemistry departments), he or she can easily teach from this text. The material is not at a level beyond which the students can comprehend--an instructor would not have to supplement in order to bring the students up to the level of the text. Also, the author has attempted to write in a concise, clear, and organized manner, using terminology that is familiar to the students.

Extensive student and instructor resource supplements are also provided. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Prepare for frustration
Don't buy it unless your professor requires it. It is extremely frustrating because there is very brief explanation of a subject and then the problems expect you to have in-depth knowledge. /you will waste a lot of time hunting for information that isn't even there.

In order to understand the material presented in this book, you will need to hunt online for clarification or find a better book. Half of the problems are based on reading tiny diagrams that are impossible to read to the level of accuracy you need to answer the problems.

Some of the qualitative explanation is OK, but you really need a better resource for quantitative analysis.

No soo good not soo bad
Well i am a chemical engineer student and this book form part of many of my other long and complicated books. Anyway the book its not the best I've read, altough i have to say that I read worst. So overall is a decent book.
It does explain the material fairly, but what it has in theory it lacks in good exercises. The problems are hard to solve. They are not similar to the example problems therefore it is almost impossible to solve the homework. In my class we posses the solution manual and even with the solutions it is very hard to understand. Basically the theory they cover does always help to solve the exercises.
I recommend this book if you only seek to know more about the subjects since it explains the molecule interactions in detail and has good pictures that help visualize the material. But it is not agood introductory book

Great Product
Got exactly what I wanted quickly and it was just as stated.excellent overall

I've had better
This book is kind of vague, especially the questions.The information is good and the cd is helpful sometimes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Essential for teachers and anyone wanting to know those hard to answer technical art questions.
Essential for teachers and anyone wanting to know those hard to answer technical questions.It is the Bible for painting materials and other archival mediums and techniques.
The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques: Fifth Edition, Revised and Updated (Artists' Handbook of Materials and Techniques)

Good but very technical
The book was useful, but it was a real hard slog to read it all; unlike other books on this subject.

Probably the biggest problems I had with was that many of the materials mentioned... I had no idea what they were because they are called something different in the US, plus many other newer materials weren't mentioned. The book was quite dated, and it made me wish I'd sprung a few extra dollars to get the 5th edition.

But still, this book (perhaps the 5th edition rather than the 4th) IS essential reading for any serious oil painter. (If you can understand all the very technical and long-winded information!)

I wasn't taught MOST of the technical information on oil paints at all at art school! It is great to have a bit of information on how to make your paintings last for many years. (I hate the thought of putting all that work in only for them to warp or crumble or peel in time!)

This book is not suitable however for beginners or amateurs who only want to know the basics about materials and so on. (This is a difficult read and very technical, in my opinion.)

A great book that does that is Encyclopedia of Oil Painting Techniquesby Jeremy Galton which is suitable for beginners and serious painters alike (and has a LOT of pictures in it as compared to this book which is all TEXT!).

the end all reference guide for artists
If you are searching for a book that will explain materials and tools for the artist this is the first book you should turn to. I have been referencing this book for a decade now and still have a lot to learn from Ralph Mayer, a man who spent his life investigating various techniques of painting.

If you open this book up, you will come across just about any question you might have. For instance, I recently used Mayer for egg tempra painting. In his book he has a few pages regarding the subject, not many, but enough to fully explain the basics and get you started properly. He covers brushes, pigments, paints, from the obscure to the most basic.

One section of the book that I am keenly interested in is his break down of a massive number of pigments where he goes into more detail on each than any other source I have come across.

This is not exactly a how to paint or draw book. This book is intended for those who want to make a serious study of process practices in the correct manner for archival purposes. This is a must have book that should be in any painters studio.

One last item of note: If you have used this book before and found it of interest, I highly suggest that the next time you are around New Haven CT that you visit the Yale 'Ralph Mayer' center. Yale itself has many museums and buildings worth visiting and the Mayer center is just one small highlight. Its staff was very kind when I visited. When I showed an interest in Mayer, they were eager to share some of the more interesting aspects of the collection.

Very good on pigments, but definitely painting not drawing oriented.
While I don't work in oils, the coverage of oils seemed exceptionally deep. Material on pigments also was relevant to watercolor (something in which I dabble) and pastels (one of my major areas). I was disappointed not to find any real discussion of charcoal, graphite, or colored pencils. It would have been nice to get a slight discussion of materials not "professional", such as wax crayons.

A must have for your library
This is a must have for your library.If you need to know the why's and the what for's this is the book to have.It covers techniques, materials, safety and much more. ... Read more

Book Description
These days, whether you're designing a building or a toaster, a savvy knowledge of materials is increasingly critical. And keeping up with the constant flow of new materials, let alone their applications, properties, and sources, is an increasingly difficult and time-consuming task. Blaine Erickson Brownell, author of Transmaterial, known to thousands of web users for his "product of the week" email service alerting designers to new materials that are reshaping our world, has created this handy and affordable reference to the most interesting and most useful new materials now available.

Transmaterial is indexed in multiple ways for the sake of maximum convenience, and utilizes the new CSI Master-Format 2004 product categorization system. With more than 200 materials, organized by category, described, pictured, and annotated with technical and sourcing information, this catalog is an essential tool for any architect or designer interested in keeping up with the rapid developments in the field of materials, looking for a source of inspiration for their designs, or just eager to get their hands on real materials in an effort to understand the incredibly innovative palette now available to us. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Brilliant materials, bit shallow coverage
Wish that there was more information on some of these pages. You see an interesting material and you get an address. And little else. Perhaps some inkling of the cost would be useful. Or add another little picture? Not sure what the best use of the space is, but blank areas are probably not it.

Still, the materials in here are a revelation. Perfect for any architect and for many artists.

A fun, interesting survey of cutting edge materials
The subtitle of this book is "A Catalog of Materials That Redefine Our Physical Environment" and a catalog it is, albeit a very interesting one.The book is divided into 10 sections:Concrete, Mineral, Metal, Wood, Plastic-Rubber, Glass, Paint/Paper, Fabric, Light, and Digital, and each product's entry contains a brief description that reads like a press release.There is some basic information such as applications, sizes, etc., and contact information which includes websites.

The introduction describes seven "trends" which may apply to a given product.Some of the trends are self-explanatory (i.e. "ultraperforming" and"repurposed"), while others are less familiar (i.e. "transformational", and "interfacial").

I enjoyed the photos and the fact that every time I pick up the book, I learn something new.I do wish, though, that the photos were much bigger; there is but a single band, approximately2" x 6" , reserved for the products' photos.A few manufacturers split the space in two; most squeeze in 3 or even 4 pictures, which is impossibly small and left me yearing for a larger format for the pix.

Overall, I found this to be a worthy reference, providing a terrific review of up-to-the-minute materials and technology.

FANTASTIC BOOK FOR DESIGNERS AND BUILDERS
Great Book, I love it, has contact info for all the products, great photos, gave me a lot of new ideas as well.

Transmaterial
I have already used this book as a reference in a few of my studio projects for school....I am a junior architecture student at Woodbury University.I look forward to buying other Transmaterial books in the series.

A good catalog
Overall, it is a very good catalog for material types and technologies. I wishthey also had some pricing information. ... Read more

Book Description

This clear, comprehensive presentation discusses both the theory and applications of mechanics of materials. It examines the physical behavior of materials under load, then proceeds to model this behavior to development theory. Combines a fluid writing style, cohesive organization, outstanding illustrations, and dynamic use of exercises, examples, and free body diagrams. Offers a four-color, photorealistic art program. Features Hibbeler's hallmark triple-accuracy checking and Procedures for Analysis sections. Available at the same price as the fifth edition. A useful, thorough reference for engineers.

Customer Reviews (3)

BLess his Heart
Hibbeler is probably the most reliable author when it comes to Mechanics of Materials. A must have for Mechancial, Environmental, Civil and Materials Engineers. Explains everything in the easiest and most practical matter, without skipping anything of value.

Best textbook I've ever had
Simple, concise, great examples, great illustrations, great problems.The style is: present a topic briefly, derive equation(s) quickly, show 3-4 examples of using said equation(s), give a couple dozen problems, and move right on to the next topic.Thanks Mr. Hibbeler, for making engineering students' lives just a bit easier.

a first course in mechanics
Hibbeler offers an undergraduate text for the mechanical engineering student. The materials studied are solids, not fluids. The discussion starts with the simplest case of treating the bodies as totally rigid. Then we see a development of Newtonian mechanics, commencing with statics. No net velocities, in some obvious reference frame.

But even in this simple case, Hibbeler shows the student how to find the balance of forces in such archetypal instances as beams.

Later, he talks about how solids can to varying extents resist stresses. Be these longitudinal or torsional stresses. The resultant stress-strain relationships are a fundamental concept in mechanics, and the student should be able to follow the treatment quite adequately. ... Read more

Book Description
Revision of the best selling civil engineering materials book on the market right now.Appropriate for civil engineering students at the junior or senior level.In the second edition, new sample problems have been added throughout the text.Many numerical problems have been addedat the end of each chapter.The authors added many figures and pictures throughout the MS, especially in the appendix.The sections on Heat Treatment of Steel,Properties of Blended Aggregates,Admixtures for Concrete,Superpave Mix Design have been changed or updated.New sections on Bulk Unit Weight and Voids in Aggregate, Selef Consolidating Concrete and Flowable Fill, High-Performance Concrete have been added. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Book
great book while you're taking the author's(zaniewski) materials class at west virginia university.but WHOA does he ever grade hard! he seems like a very nice guy, but is very demanding... be prepared to work the hardest in this class like you have no other.i wish he would ease off a bit, but that's his option.anyways, great book and the class at wvu follows it exactly. ... Read more

Amazon.com
With The Golden Compass Philip Pullman garnered every accolade under the sun. Critics lobbed around such superlatives as "elegant," "awe-inspiring," "grand," and "glittering," and used "magnificent" with gay abandon. Each reader had a favorite chapter--or, more likely, several--from the opening tour de force to Lyra's close call at Bolvangar to the great armored-bear battle. And Pullman was no less profligate when it came to intellectual firepower or singular characters. The dæmons alone grant him a place in world literature. Could the second installment of his trilogy keep up this pitch, or had his heroine and her too, too sullied parents consumed him? And what of the belief system that pervaded his alternate universe, not to mention the mystery of Dust? More revelations and an equal number of wonders and new players were definitely in order.

The Subtle Knife offers everything we could have wished for, and more.For a start, there's a young hero--from our world--who is a match for Lyra Silvertongue and whose destiny is every bit as shattering. Like Lyra, Will Parry has spent his childhood playing games. Unlike hers, though, his have been deadly serious. This 12-year-old long ago learned the art of invisibility: if he could erase himself, no one would discover his mother's increasing instability and separate them.

As the novel opens, Will's enemies will do anything for information about his missing father, a soldier and Arctic explorer who has been very much airbrushed from the official picture. Now Will must get his mother into safe seclusion and make his way toward Oxford, which may hold the key to John Parry's disappearance. But en route and on the lam from both the police and his family's tormentors, he comes upon a cat with more than a mouse on her mind: "She reached out a paw to pat something in the air in front of her, something quite invisible to Will." What seems to him a patch of everyday Oxford conceals far more: "The cat stepped forward and vanished." Will, too, scrambles through and into another oddly deserted landscape--one in which children rule and adults (and felines) are very much at risk. Here in this deathly silent city by the sea, he will soon have a dustup with a fierce, flinty little girl: "Her expression was a mixture of the very young--when she first tasted the cola--and a kind of deep, sad wariness." Soon Will and Lyra (and, of course, her dæmon, Pantalaimon) uneasily embark on a great adventure and head into greater tragedy.

As Pullman moves between his young warriors and the witch Serafina Pekkala, the magnetic, ever-manipulative Mrs. Coulter, and Lee Scoresby and his hare dæmon, Hester, there are clear signs of approaching war and earthly chaos. There are new faces as well. The author introduces Oxford dark-matter researcher Mary Malone; the Latvian witch queen Ruta Skadi, who "had trafficked with spirits, and it showed"; Stanislaus Grumman, a shaman in search of a weapon crucial to the cause of Lord Asriel, Lyra's father; and a serpentine old man whom Lyra and Pan can't quite place. Also on hand are the Specters, beings that make cliff-ghasts look like rank amateurs.

Throughout, Pullman is in absolute control of his several worlds, his plot and pace equal to his inspiration. Any number of astonishing scenes--small- and large-scale--will have readers on edge, and many are cause for tears. "You think things have to be possible," Will demands. "Things have to be true!" It is Philip Pullman's gift to turn what quotidian minds would term the impossible into a reality that is both heartbreaking and beautiful. --Kerry FriedBook Description
Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted underworld—Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies: 12-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another’s, has also stumbled into this strange new realm.

On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will discover an object of devastating power. And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat—and the shattering truth of their own destiny.Download Description
The second book of Philip Pullman's epic fantasy trilogy brings Lyra and her daemon and a cast of characters both familiar and new into whole new worlds. Lyra and 12-year-old Will Parry, in a desperate flight for his life, are drawn closer to Will's father and closer to the Subtle Knife, a deadly, magical, ancient tool that cuts windows between worlds. Through it all, the pair are drawn deeper and deeper into a fierce battle that they may not survive. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (615)

Entertaining read
This is the second book of the His Dark Materials series.It's a nice little action read.I got the books on tape version for a long car trip and it made the trip much more enjoyable.

The Subtle Knife Book Summary

The Subtle Knife
by Philip Pullman
Science Fiction
The sequel to The Golden Compass, Lyra finds herself in the eerie world of Cittagazze, where Specters, soul eaters, stalk the streets and angels fly in the sky. Here she finds a young boy named William Parry. After taking a life and saving his own, he has also found this new realm. Together they journey and discover a great and terrible weapon of devastating power. Another great piece by Philip Pullman, it contains everything you loved about the first and more.

Brilliant Promethian invention.
Let me begin by stating my biases.I'm a Christian scholar who writes books defending my faith: most recently, The Truth Behind the New Atheism (responding to Dawkins & Co) and The Truth About Jesus and the 'Lost Gospels' (responding to neo-Gnostic ideas like those of Elaine Pagels and Bart Ehrman).Since this is a story about destroying God, which portrays "the Church" as an instrument of pure evil, you'd be right to assume Philip Pullman and I are at odds about the nature of life and the true source of liberation.But this tension also makes the book more interesting to me, joining as it does art to a philosophy that seems a blend of the atheistic and the Gnostic, but that might more accurately be described as Promethian.

Let me evaluate the book as story, before addressing its philosophy.

I agree with other readers who find Pullman a brilliant writer.The characters are wonderful: better, perhaps, than The Golden Compass.I especially like Will, the troubled, dangerous, but honorable young man who is its main hero.The interplay of worlds is also marvelous; especially interesting for someone like me, who has done a bit of walking up Banbury Road (once in search of Tolkien's tomb).The Spectres are nastier than Dementors.I also like the way the physics of dark matter is tied into "dust" and into the occult; there is enough coherence to the suggestion to tempt suggestable minds into playing with I Ching, or cracking tortoise shells.

Perhaps that is one of Pullman's purposes.Certainly he loses few opportunities to tweak C. S. Lewis' nose -- is that why witches are associated with the North, and the breakup of winter is a work of deep evil, rather than "good magic?"Lewis himself was tempted by the occult as a young man; one gets the feeling that Pullman's atheism may also be less than complete.

I am bemused by some of the reviews, otherwise quite perceptive, which deny that Pullman is "anti-Christian" or "anti-Catholic."Of course he is.This is, in the end, a novel about killing God, after all.The Church is almost pure evil.Will's knife may be subtle, but the one Philip Pullman places in the back of Christianity is not."He showed me many things I had never seen, cruelties and horrors all committed in the name of the Authority, all designed to destroy the joys and the truthfulness of life.""Imagine the daring of it, to make war on the Creator! . . . in every world, agents of the Authority are sacrificing children to their cruel god."

Pullman is often classified as an atheist, and perhaps he is; but his imagination sometimes borders on Gnostic. He loves to retell the story of the fall in reverse: Mary Malone "must play the serpent," a story Gnostic literature delights in retelling with the serpent as "instructor."But ultimately, Pullman's imagination pulls away from Gnosticism by being (contrary to some Christian critics, at least in these first two books) moral, and worlds-affirming.The Nag Hammadi literature shows almost no interest in kindness or any form of morality, and despises the "bonds of flesh."(See The Truth About Jesus and the "Lost Gospels.")Pullman's world, by contrast, is a morally impassioned multi-verse, that delights (his witches are earthy) in nature.

Pullman is a rebel with a cause, more like Promethius or the Monkey King storming the heavens, than Gnostics despising the earth.

Pullman wants his book to make us think about life, so it is fair I think to bring a couple questions up at this point.First, is he right that theism in general, and Christianity in particular, have mainly served an oppressive role in human history?Or could it be that most great reforms in history have in fact been inspired by the message he thinks so harm us?And second, does the Promethian urge, when carried out in real life, tend to liberate, or enslave?

If, aside from reading a brilliant work of promethian fiction, you would also like to look into real-world issues that it touches on, please consider my new book, The Truth Behind the New Atheism.

Great Vocals
Loved the people who spoke as the characters!The emotion they put behind the lines was very convincing and you could really lose yourself in the book.

The story continues
I do not think that fans of The Golden Compass will be disappointed with this follow-up and second book of the series. The writing and story mature in a way that ends with the reader anticipating reading The Amber Spyglass.If anything, this book begins to provide some of the more adult insights that are often the cited reasons for why people dislike this trilogy.It is an interesting transition book from the childish story of The Golden Compass into what *hopefully* will be a thought provoking and challenging read in The Amber Spyglass. ... Read more

Book Description
This text, an expanded and rearranged version of Principles of Materials Science and Engineering, 2/e, is appropriate for a first course in materials science and engineering for engineering students. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Materials Science and Engineering
This text book was purchased for use with an Aerospace Engineering Materials class and was extremely useful, clear text.

covers all the basics
This is an excellent book providing a clear, easy to understand, overview of the basic principles of material science and engineering.Covered are all the essential topics including the chemistry and physics behind the structure of metal, ceramic, polymer, composite and electronic materials. Also included are optical, magnetic and electrical properties of materials with relevance to optical fibers, superconductors, and semiconductors.This is a great book for a student's first exposure to material science or as a reference for practicing engineers.I personally found chapters covering the mechanical properties of metals and corrosion well presented and a useful workplace reference.The book provides great insight to real world applications, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Buy the newer editions
This textbook was one the most commonly used textbooks in undergraduate materials science classes throughout the 1990s.Though old, and written at an introductory level, it is worth reading cover to cover.The book covers all the major material classes (metals, semiconductors, polymers, ionic materials, etc..), covers all the basic principles (diffusion, bonding, corrosion, crystal defects, etc...), and includes a lot of diagrams, tables, figures, and pictures.

The text is easy enough to read for any engineering college student, and really only requires someone to have had freshmen chemistry and physics (mechanics and E&M).The chapters and sub-sections are well laid out, with sample problems and solutions for each section.Each chapter is followed with homework questions.All the pictures are in black and white, thereby keeping the printing costs and hence purchase price low.The figures themselves are easy enough to understand, and the basic rules of labeling data series, adding legends, providing units on chart axes, etc.. are followed.

The principle drawbacks to this book are the numerous errors in the sample problems and solutions, and the homework problems and solutions.For a classroom setting, these errors end up requiring the instructor to do the problems him/herself, instead of just asking the students to find the answer at the back of the book.This might actually be a good thing, forcing instructors to devote more time to review the homework they assign, but that is another discussion.These errors are by and large fixed in the newer editions of this book, so I would not recommend buying this one. ... Read more

Amazon.com
From the very start of its very first scene, The Amber Spyglasswill set hearts fluttering and minds racing. All we'll say here is that weimmediately discover who captured Lyra at the end of The Subtle Knife,though we've yet to discern whether this individual's intent is good, evil, orsomewhere in between. We also learn that Will still possesses the blade thatallows him to cut between worlds, and has been joined by two winged companionswho are determined to escort him to Lord Asriel's mountain redoubt. The boy,however, has only one goal in mind--to rescue his friend and return to her thealethiometer, an instrument that has revealed so much to her and to readers ofThe Golden Compass and itsfollow-up. Within a short time,too, we get to experience the "tingle of the starlight" on Serafina Pekkala'sskin as she seeks out a famished Iorek Byrnison and enlists him in Lord Asriel'scrusade:

A complex web of thoughts was weaving itself in the bear king's mind, with morestrands in it than hunger and satisfaction. There was the memory of the littlegirl Lyra, whom he had named Silvertongue, and whom he had last seen crossingthe fragile snow bridge across a crevasse in his own island of Svalbard. Thenthere was the agitation among the witches, the rumors of pacts and alliances andwar; and then there was the surpassingly strange fact of this new world itself,and the witch's insistence that there were many more such worlds, and that thefate of them all hung somehow on the fate of the child.

Customer Reviews (855)

Favorite of the trilogy
I am glad that I stuck with the series, the first two books were at times tedious but the wonder and magic of this last book was almost too much to bear. I wish I could have read it when I was a kid because I read so much other dark stuff and this book was just filled with hope and love.

awesome Dark Materials trilogy
I am a Christian, but enjoyed listening to Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy.I am sorry that Lyra and Will cannot be together, but they each have a duty to advise their seperate worlds about telling people who will die someday, not to tell lies but the truth and how they lived their life. Since I have the trilogy on audio will listen to the stories again and again.Great job Philip Pullman!

Glad I'm not the only one who was completly lost with the final book.
I can't believe the ending of what was truly a great series of books. I'm totally blown away with how this series ends.... What the **** happened???? What happened to the revolution? What happened to everybody who had flocked to Lord Asriel's banner? What was the decision that Lyra was supposed to make? What happened, what happened???? I could go on all night, I'm glad I wasn't the only one left in a lurch. Philip Pullman, you should be ashamed to ruin what should have been a been a historic series in line with LOR.

pretentious and disjointed
While I enjoyed The Golden Compass well enough to continue on to The Subtle Knife, and found that interesting enough to then begin The Amber Spyglass, I'm very glad I checked them all out of the library and didn't waste money buying them.Pullman has some interesting creations - particularly the daemons, but these books lack the humor of Rowling's Harry Potter series or the wonder of Tolkien's Middle Earth.Even The Golden Compass isn't a book that I'd ever bother to read again and I liked it more than Knife and much, much more than Spyglass.I wasted a week of evenings slogging through The Amber Spyglass which was in dire need of a good editor (or an editor gutsy enough to send it back to Pullman and tell him to do a massive revision).I continued chapter after tedious chapter in the hopes that the various plots would somehow be melded into a satisfying conclusion.My advice is to treat the series as incomplete and don't bother reading the last book.

How these depressing and violent books could be classified as children's books is beyond me, and how a book that is as pretentious and disjointed The Amber Spyglass won awards mystifies me.

Excellent anti-Judaeo/Christian parody
Anyone who has read PARADISE LOST must concede Philip Pullman is way out of his league in his often desperate parody of PARADISE LOST.To see John Milton portray titanic egotism of Lucifer from(BOOK II)near anti-hero to pathetic skulker and abject liar(Book IV)to overt child molester(Adam & Eve really are mere children )to literal slime crawling serpent rebuked
(hissed in virulent scorn) by his deceived,Fallen Legions in the"darkness visible"depths of Hell(Pandemonium~Book X)should convince any literate reader that Milton was as far fromthe "Party of Satan" as the Empyrean is from Dis. Would-be,self-apotheosizing,Light-Bearing/Morning Star is easily thwarted by an Angel of mere arch-angel rank(second from the bottom of Nine Choirs);then driven in terror into the abyss by THE LOGOS.
Pullman's book ends with a laughable wrestling match between"Lord"Asriel and God's(heretical gnostic-almost-Yahweh)mega-"Regent".As well as The Adonai himself"slain" by the so-called subtle knife.Fact is,folks,there's nothing subtle about what Pullman is doing.Nor is he particularly Adept at it.The fact Pullman loathes C.S. Lewis and A.A.Milne,should,however,
caution prudent parents about allowing impressionable(8-12 year old)children to read such Dark Material...

Read some NIETZSCHE.At least you'll be exposed to a master of irony and poet(though he spent last 11 years of his life bedridden psychotic:YOU BECOME WHAT YOU BEHOLD~William Blake).Pullman's slick in trying to GOLDEN COMPASS new,young readership into embracing his dubious(battle)parody of a masterwork of world literature is transparently bogus. If you like this stuff,fine.But give kids a shot at real deals in CHRONICLES of NARNIA, or ADVENTURES of WINNIE-THE-POOH(which Pullman despises).If you're really into watching Black Adepts in action(getting theirs to the max in an apocalyptic finale)read Lewis' THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH.It is awesome conclusion to well-known,vastly accomplished,SPACE TRILOGY(Out of the Silent Planet;and the brilliant PERELANDRA).Pullman's trilogy is not even close.(His "hint"of turning his heroine into reincarnation of Lilith and breeding...in incest...NEW AGE anti-race is not exactly PM X-Mas tale,
in my opinion,for kiddos.Lastly:writing craft and pacing of THE AMBER SPYGLASS is...to be charitable...uneven at best;amateur at worst.Perhaps it's excellent anti-parody of an epic of Judaeo/Christian mythology. But to subscribe to this regard,in my estimate,requires far more imagination than author Pullman displays...(2 stars for a mediocre finale that began with such pretension and animus) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Atheist Propaganda
This atheistic diatribe, along with other so-called fiction books like Harry Potter Boxset Books 1-7 and Rabid: A Novel, will destroy the soul of America if not stopped immediately. I call upon Amazon to stop selling them, for they are teaching people that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does not exist or is not relavant to today. This is wrong! Protect your children from these books!

All Writers Have an Agenda
Phillip Pullman's trilogy is brilliant. Yes, it has a moral agenda, but so did the Chronicles of Narnia and so did The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. What people are objecting to is the fact that they don't agree with the agenda - and are critisizing the books as if other writers of moral children's fantasy didn't have an agenda - mainly to push the Christian agenda.

Pullman is a religious type (all of the athiests I have ever known proselytize as fervently as the most avid evangelical)and he presents his view in a wonderful trilogy. The Christian church does have a lot to explain and atone for and more focus on the world as it is rather than the world to come would do humanity a lot of good.

The world that Pullman creates is as magical a world as has ever been put to paper - on par with the classics. Read these and read them to your children - along with the Christian classics and discuss all of it with your children. Both they and you will gain.

A Silver Lining
It is a tough act to follow the Subtle Knife, and being the last book in the trilogy , the Amber Spyglass almost fails to deliver , but if a book can be redeemed in a few pages, this book is a fine example of the genre. The Subtle Knife was about explanations a convergence of the threads that were frayed in the first part and the Amber Spyglass almost gives it away by starting parallel tracks which drone on and on without any logical explanation of where the story is headed. Lyra and Will enter the land of the dead, Mary Fulton follows an open window into a land with diamond structured beasts riding wheels which are actually seeds of a tree (life is a delicate web of inter dependencies). The cataclysmic war between the Almighty and Lord Asriel takes place which is rather short and somehow doesn't capture the imagination, though it does shatter the concept of a supreme being who/which is all powerful/moral.In an instant as God's regent falls, the clouds part and the message shine through and what a message it is. So while the author, in a rush goes around closing threads towards the end of the book, just as Will closed windows that he has left open across worlds the message holds you in a rapture. The body is a celebratration, cherish the moment, for there is no heaven to look forward to apart from the one we build for ourselves on Earth.

Wonderful
This is the end piece to a masterful trilogy. Pullman is one of the most original and gifted fantasy writers in the last 20 years. I thoroughly enjoyed this series and have read it a few times--finding new insights each time. Don't let a few bigoted reviewers dissuade you from the wonderful experience of reading these books. I've bought these books for my friend's children and family-all have love them.

His Dark Purposes
Pro:
Philip Pullman shows glimmers of brilliance as a writer. His characters are engaging, his worlds are vivid, his prose is delightful at times, and he occasionally produces lush and beautifully drawn descriptive paragraphs. His "science" is goofy but inventive, and without it his story couldn't work. He also demonstrates a good understanding of what appeals to an adolescent reader. I enjoyed the first volume, though my interest plateaued in the second volume and dropped like a stone in the third.

Con:
Philip Pullman is one of a growing group of authors who market their own controversial adult ideas and themes as juvenile fiction/fantasy. While I affirm his right to have, and to express his view of the world, Mr. Pullman's method of garnering an uncritical and captive audience for his message is despicable. Pullman is a skillful and sometimes powerful writer who understands his audience well; sadly he uses that skill and knowledge to entice, seduce, and manipulate the immature reader.

Here is a summary of how the Pullman method works:

The Golden Compass is a compelling action adventure of a young, smart, defiant, and spirited pre-adolescent (12-year old) girl. There are dark characters, ugly episodes and wicked happenings in this volume, but spunky Lyra is up to the challenge. And, she has cool friends (noble gypsies and armored bears, among others) to help her.

In The Subtle Knife we meet Lyra's male counterpart Will. By the end of this also dark and rather convoluted part of the story we like Will a lot, too. And we hate the bad guys, although sometimes it's hard to tell just who the bad guys are. Will finds himself possessing a knife that only he can use; a knife that allows him to open windows into other, sometimes parallel, worlds.

Now that Mr. Pullman has set his stage (and the child has a significant investment in the story), he force-feeds the unsuspecting reader his world view in The Amber Spyglass. Yes, there is some foreshadowing of what's coming in the first volumes, but until we get to the third volume we keep hoping that these are literary red herrings thrown in just to keep us off balance. Alas, no such luck.

In short order Mr. Pullman informs us that:

- The God of Judaism and Christianity is a fake, a liar, a dictatorial despot, a draconian authoritarian intent on making everybody miserable. Mr. Pullman's definition of "god, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father the Almighty" is that he is the source of everything that's wrong with the world.
- The church is run by self-serving, power-hungry dupes and mercenaries who ensure God's tyranny is carried out. Everyone else of faith is a discounted as a closed-minded simpleton who wouldn't know what to do without being told.
- The health of this world and all of Pullman's "billions and billions" of other worlds is dependent on invisible, sentient dust, reminiscent of the Mitichlorians behind The Force of Star Wars lore. This dust is the product of man's gaining wisdom, a "natural" process that Pullman places in direct opposition to man's knowledge of God.
- The "good guys" in this world are the secular naturalists, the amoral, the animals, the witches, and the rebellious angels who have set out to help overthrow and destroy God, and
- Elite, self-actualized young men and women of character (like the reader, of course) possess the power to destroy God, and should destroy God because, after all, it's the right thing to do. With the assurance of Lyra's and Will's feelings that if we do destroy God then all will be well with the world and we will be happy.

Harry Potter, meet Bertrand Russell and Ayn Rand. And don't forget Jean Genet, for flavor.

Along the way Pullman gives lectures on:

- The moral relativism of infanticide (it's bad to kill children if you are aligned with God, but its O.K. to kill children when necessary to further a "good" cause (i.e. deposing God, or whatever)),
- The nature of homosexuality (though angels are nonphysical spirit beings that doesn't prevent them from being, and stereotypically behaving like, homosexuals), and
- The pervasiveness of the supernatural (pretty much all of us have some kind of "spirit being/guide" counterpart that can help us do magical things, assuming we are just "special" enough, by virtue of birth and fate, to tap into this other self)
In other words, Pullman uses the first two books to build a platform from which to deliver his elitist-humanist/post-modern/New Age message.

There are several passages in the volumes when Lyra or Will actually ask a tough question (What happens when we die? Where do we go? Why are we here?). To these questions a more mature, more worldly adult character always sagely answers: "it's not time for you to know that now." Pullman glosses over his answers to these questions as he finishes his story. As it turns out, Mr. Pullman subscribes to the philosophy of despair: we have no purpose other than to do what we think best, and when we die we're just dead. End of story. Which is fine from Pullman's perspective because with God in power Mr. Pullman's future is likely to be, well . . . . . Hell.

Spoiler Warning (though if you are a parent you will definitely want to know this): The long-anticipated climax of this 1,200-page book never materializes. In the end, it turns out that destroying God isn't such a big thing after all, and certainly doesn't solve all of the worlds' problems. Only when God is gone does Pullman come clean that the real reason the worlds are dying is because of what men have done to the universe, and now the children will have to devote their lives to fixing the mess. In this unexpected extension of the story, Pullman now has our two (now newly adolescent) heroes take a big step in repairing the world by falling in love, immediately followed by a carefree afternoon of sensual intimacy. Pullman omits a clinical account of what happens that afternoon, but whatever it is, it is magic: suddenly the relentless decay in the worlds is halted. Does this make any sense? No. But it helps to tie off a major loose end in the story, and provides Pullman a way to repeat an earlier theme to his young readers: that without God we are free to engage in sex without any restraint or guilt. Because with the death of God we are now free to be our own God. We can define our own morality, or lack of it, constrained only by what an open-minded society sets as limits in the new Republic of Heaven.

Once finished with the books I went online; perhaps I was reading too much into this children's book. I wasn't surprised by what I learned.

Mr. Pullman:

- Is a self-described atheist.

- Is listed as a member of the British Humanist Association (the goal of which is "an end to the privileged position of religion in law, education, broadcasting and wherever else it occurs")

- Is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society (The society campaigns for: 1) the disestablishment of the Church of England, 2) the withdrawal of state subsidies to religious schools, 3) the end of tax exemptions for churches, 4) the abolition of the blasphemy law, 5) an end to the public funding of chaplains in prisons, hospitals and the armed services)

Is His Dark Materials simply the anti-Narnia tome that Pullman says he set out to write? Perhaps. C. S. Lewis' Narnia stories are allegories of good and evil, principles and the lack of them, the nature of man and the nature of God, love, forgiveness, sacrifice, pride and humility. Pullman offers nothing more than shades of evil, ego, and seduction; God is dead, and man has no need for forgiveness, for Pullman's superman is intrinsically good and there is nothing to forgive. On the other hand, one could argue Pullman simply has a vendetta against God in general and against the Church of England in particular, and uses a book marketed at children to further his goal of revenge.

In interviews, Mr. Pullman has claimed neither he nor his book is anti-religious. This is as an odd and dishonest position to take; akin to as if Lewis had said his Chronicles of Narnia has nothing to do with Christianity. True, Pullman is careful not to say anything about Allah in his primer on atheism, but one suspects that this Englishman's reason for the omission has somewhat more to do with cowardice and less to do with tolerance. Pullman assumes that in a politically correct publishing world he can get away with being anti-Semitic and anti-Christian. Leaving one to wonder: if a public speaker boldly and loudly teaches that the Judeo-Christian faith is responsible for all that is wrong and hurtful and evil in the world, and that the only way to solve the problem is to destroy what it stands for (and destroy most of the believers in the process), what more is necessary to classify the ranting as hate speech? If the speaker substituted any other group (Muslims, homosexuals, persons of color) in the sentence above, would society be so tolerant?

His Dark Materials is unabashed humanist propaganda written to delight a child's mind. But just as devious is the way the author chooses to misrepresent faith. Mr. Pullman uses the traditional images, phrases, words, and symbols of the Jewish and Christian faiths in his book, but infuses his own meanings into them to twist them into serving his purpose. He trusts that his target audience doesn't know enough to spot his deceptions, or is insecure enough to accept his definitions as plausible. Further, he makes several outrageous and false claims in the process; at one point Pullman casually purports Calvin to be an advocate for child killing, as if there were some documented and widely recognized historical basis for his comment. Just speculation on my part, but perhaps Mr. Pullman does these things and says these things because he assumes few will ever call him on them. And that if he tells his lies enough times in enough ways, the populace he so despises will eventually repeat his mantra as truth.

While I cannot respect Mr. Pullman's condemnation of those who are aware of an authority higher than themselves, I could advocate a discussion of his thoughts on the subject if I believed he actually understood what he was talking about. Unfortunately, his own stunted and malignant grasp of the world view he opposes appears to have atrophied at about the age of his target audience. An audience better served listening to another voice.
... Read more

Book Description
An illustrated, comprehensive, reader-friendly reference toPullman's brilliant trilogy--valuable for fans and researchers alike.Packed with clues to literary imagery and subtle allusions, Frost'sencyclopedia-style guide exposes the depths of all three titles, includingthe appendices in the 10th anniversary editions of Northern Lights, TheSubtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass published in the UK in 2005(not yet released in the US).

The Elements of His Dark Materials features:
Foreword by Philip Pullman
140 photos
26 illustrations
11 maps (for example: Gobbler sightings, gyptians' voyage, Scoresby'sjourneys, Will and Iorek's route to the Himalayas)
12 chapters (for example: characters, places, applied and naturalsciences, and social structures)

US and UK page numbers for each element described
Reference section with suggestions for further reading, works relatingto His Dark Materials, and a Pullman bibliography.

Extra-textual remarks accompany some elements' entries and include:
Notes on text-level differences between the UK and US editionsor between the three volumes;
Observations-- speculative comments
Facts-- real world counterparts to the fictional elements of thebooks
Updates--based on the appendices Philip Pullman added to thetenth anniversary editions of the trilogy (not yet released in the US). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I was astounded
If Philip Pullman refers to this book, how can you go wrong? It is totally encyclopedic. A dense reference book that covers everything that you have remembered or may have forgotten. I keep referring to this tome though I am not currently re-reading the trilogy. The drawings, the cultural references (in the real world), the UK and US differences, this is a mind boggling work. I cannot imagine the effort put into this book. Laurie Frost has seemed, to me, to have exceeded all human limitations in documenting this masterwork.

Resources should always be shiny.
There's no better recommendation for a reference book than when the author of the original series states that he's using it to help him remember his own books. And this reference has just such a recommendation.

This is an awesome source, part concordance, part encyclopedia, part character guide. It's a great companion and helped me innumerable times when I was looking for an elusive quote. I also enjoyed seeing the differences between the US and UK versions of the books laid out. The information is presented in a concise and entertaining way, and it's as easy to simply flip open a page and read a bit for fun as it is to look up a specific character or concept.

Frost's attention to detail makes this a book that I will always be glad to own. (Plus, the cover is a shiny picture of the Northern Lights, which just makes it that much more attractive.)

... Read more

Book Description
Author Mike Smith has extensive knowledge and experience in both the fire service and construction industries, this book emphasizes the impact that an understanding of the principles of building construction has on firefighting strategy. It explains building materials and processes that are involved in the construction of structures and provides students with the knowledge required to operate safely and effectively within residential or commercial buildings. Discussions of actual incidents experienced by the author and case studies containing critical thinking questions give students a better understanding of what to expect in the field. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

...Wow!!!
Being a firefighter involves a pretty wide range of "Knowledges". Nobody could say that they know everything or else that they are self-confident 100% in each areas of "Knowledges". For my part, building construction was (and is still!) an area that I have to study hard. This book, is an excellent tool. Even if my primary spoken language is french (I sure have some basis in english...), I can say that I have improved my knowledge of building construction with the help of that great book! ... Read more

Book Description
Warehousing continues to play a critical role in assuringhigh levels of customer service and overall logistics performance. Efficient warehousing can minimize the effects of supply chain inefficiencies; can improve logistics accuracy and inventory management; and can allow for product accumulation, consolidation, and customization. The cost of warehousing should be commensurate with the contribution of warehousing to overall logistics performance--typically between 2% and 5% of corporate revenue. In world-class warehousing these costs are minimized while also improving customer service. The principles and systems described in this book are common denominators of world-class warehousing. The principles have been developed over a decade of logistics research, education and consulting project experience. World-Class Warehousing and Material Handling can be used to develop a warehouse master plan to support the corporation's overall logistics strategy. In the second book in the Logistics Management Library, World-Class Warehousing and Material Handling will address: customization and countrification; information technology in warehousing; warehouse performance analysis; the role of the warehouse in the supply chain; warehouse expansion and contraction planning. World-Class Warehousing and Material Handling will integrate both global and e-commerce issues and examples throughout the text. The author's consulting and teaching experience places him in the position to draw on his wide experience to present numerous case studies and best practices throughout the book. In the end, this book will help the reader to develop a comprehensive warehouse strategy to reduce costs and increase quality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great overview of concepts<