Agent Books

After a considerable search to find a professional level, readable, up-to-date Child and Adolescent Reference, Lewis' work fully meets or exceeds my expectations. Articles draw on expert opinion, research findings and clinical practice to give encyclopediac references. A very wide scope. The only comparable volumes are the Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry VII, and that reference is not child-centered but rather adult-focused. This volume excels in clarity of presentation even as it delivers extensive and thoughtful clinical/theoretical material.

One dilemma students, residents, fellows and attendings may have is deciding which of the three english language child psych textbooks to read. This book is more comprehensive than the other American textbook, the American Psychiatric Textbook of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and is a more sophisticated read. For those looking for more depth and a reference this is the one. If you want speed, a more general overview, and an easier read on the eyes choose the other one. The typeface here is smaller (and so in fact its wordcount is much greater, maybe one and a half to twice that of the American Textbook). This book offers more in the way of material beyond the basics of diagnosis and treatment, such as in depth material about genetics and neurodevelopment or a number of chapters covering allied professions or closely related fields (school, legal, international issues, etc,). If your goal is to make it thru a textbook, in your training say, you'll need stamina for this one. (Know thyself: if you're geek enough to consider plowing through a whole textbook, then you'll be more satisfied after reading this one; but if you think you might waver, there is more chance of making it through the other one.)

Maggie MacLeod is a woman of many talents. Not only does she hold a degree in English and Critical Care Nursing, but she is also a former realtor. She is in a unique position to write the ultimate real estate novel, and DEATH BY REAL ESTATE easily qualifies.

Barb Parker is a veteran in the real estate business. She knows her co-workers well, and takes a neophyte realtor under her wing in the person of Cindy Kilpatrick. Several odd things begin to happen. Someone is robbing houses that are being shown, and it looks like an inside job. Then people in Barb's office begin to die in strange ways. Curiously, Barb finds the love of her life just as she seems to be the logical person to solve the murders. Still, she courageously keeps going even as it seems to odds are stacked against her. There is something eerie about a lakefront property she is showing, and the action seems to center there:

"As Barb stepped forward into the living room, her flashlight suddenly went out. Fighting a growing panic, she smacked it against her palm. The light flickered, then came on, dimly. 'Oh swell,' she said aloud. 'Why didn't I change those batteries?' In the back of her mind, she thought she remembered where the light switch was. In order to conserve what was left of her flashlight batteries, she turned it off and reached toward the wall next to the door. It was an old push-button switch. She pushed it in, but no light responded. THAT ONE COULD BE DEAD. Just to be sure, she gave it another punch. No result. She inched carefully around the wall, trying to locate a lamp."

DEATH BY REAL ESTATE works on virtually every level. The characters are well defined and interesting. Barb Parker is an independent, intelligent woman with a heart and lots of common sense. The action is non-stop, and this whodunit teases the reader until the very end, when all is revealed in a very Agatha way. Barb's relationships with both her family and co-workers are sweet, although tinged with reality. The plot constantly thickens, and the denouement is spine-tingling. All in all, DEATH BY REAL ESTATE is skillful and adept and is a fine read for all age levels. This is an excellent read, adroitly written, and easily visualized. It would make a fine movie!

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

As an avid mystery reader, I was pleasantly surprised by Maggie MacLeod's new mystery, Death by Real Estate. It was a compelling read, and the plot was tightly crafted -- it wasn't at all obvious "whodunit" until the very end. I have begun to really appreciate characters like Barb Parker, the very believable, middle-aged sleuth who has some endearing foibles. I also marvel at MacLeod's insight into the Real Estate industry -- I learned quite a bit about the real estate industry from this book. I often hear people say "I'm thinking about going into real estate - you can make a lot of money" as if they were thinking about trimming their nails. This book might make them think twice -- even with the murder aspect aside. "Death by Real Esate" arrived on the market at just the right time -- I had just finished the final M.C. Beaton "Agatha Raisin" series mystery and was a bit sad that I had no more to read. So it was very refreshing to meet "Barb Parker," who could easily be "Agatha Raisin's" American, and less-error-prone cousin. Show us a few more of Barb Parker's quirks and foibles, and she'd be a series-ready character I bet. I am eagerly looking forward to Maggie MacLeod's next book, which I hear is set in Scotland! I can't wait. By the way, the Daybreak Publishing paperback edition is lovely -- pages of fine paper, striking cover art, and the header and footer on each page had a very pleasant design.

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Yours in Truth, Science, and Fair Play!

El Fisico Nuclear

For reasons that I don't completely understand, the publishers of this volume asked me to solicit a review from Member 13 of the saucer cult known as the Secret Council Of 13 Elijah-Is-The-Prophet-Of-The-Saucer-Gods Committee To Save The Earth. I passed their request along to that elusive commentator through the usual channels, not really expecting a response.

One evening I came home to find this message spelled out in French fries on my patio. This was not an optimal messaging medium, because by the time I saw it, squirrels had eaten or scattered many of the fries. Here's what was left:

"I was pl s d to learn that Death Tr p at La Puente survives in print after 10 ears, d spit the efforts of those who w ld silence its truths! Now mort h n ever do we need prop etic v ices such as this. Our worl seem overrun by Vandals - not the famo s Los Angeles punk band, bu th evil w stler whose long, untidy hair met its fat on that lon ago day. Grmdb ful has taught us that et rnal vigilance mrspt b maintained if we are to sl rp. F blug mnah!

Keep watching the skis,

Member 13"

Make of it what you will.

This book is a collection of short texts, book reviews, and interviews by and with Deleuze, many of which I've never seen in print before. There are some tremendously interesting pieces, for example, where Deleuze is presenting his ideas in Difference and Repetition to a group that includes Canguilhem and Jacques Merleau-Ponty (yes, Jacques), followed by a Q&A session in which Deleuze is grilled for clarification and pressed by objections. Furthermore, it is just nice to have all in one volume the early essays on Bergson ("The Conception of Difference in Bergson") and other central essays, like "How do we recognize structuralism," all of which are collected here. There are reviews of works by Lyotard and Hyppolite, essays on Nietzsche, Hume, Crime Novels, and Color in painting--- and finally, a string of interviews concerning Anti-Oedipus circa 1972.
There won't be any revelations for the Deleuze scholar here, as most of this material has seen print elsewhere and been commented upon extensively. But, it is nevertheless invaluable, I think, to have all of these pieces under one cover. And, for beginners, this might very well be as good a place to start as any, as you get Deleuze's earliest work progressing up to his work with Guattari, ordered chronologically by the editors.
Well done!!

It is always fascinating to see the development of a philosopher's thought. By the age of 28 Deleuze had already formulated the main ideas of what he would develop in Difference and Repetition, his most rigorous work. No understanding of Deleuze can truly take place without this work, since it is here for the first time that you see Deleuze most clearly articulating his ideas since they are also the time when he created them. The interviews are especially insightful and include an incredible short encounter between him and Merleau-Ponty.

Deleuze had an enormous amount of influences and drew on many things that he only mentions in his later works. You can see some of those influences in full form here. I wish Deleuze had permitted his works earlier than age 28 to be published, but most likely he was not clear in his style or concepts. But this is the earliest we have, and it is with the same rigor and genius that he writes and speaks in this work. Absolutely essential to any study of Deleuze.

The other two most important books by Deleuze:
1) Difference and Repetition (the masterwork)
2) The Logic of Sense

The Devil's Hatband is my first Robert Greer novel. A friend who reviews for a California-based magazine told me about him since she knew I'm interested in the mystery genre. CJ Floyd is a character that gets to your heart. I know some folks like their detectives (CJ's a bounty hunter, but you'd just as well call him a detective) hardboiled. CJ is tough but also a thinker. I like that. Mr. Greer wrote a very believable tale about the cattle industry in a time when a comment from Oprah can throw them into an uproar. I never realized how cutthroat the cattle business could be. And Mr. Greer peopled his novel with memorable folks like Billy Delong, Dittier Atkins and Morgan Williams broken down ex-rodeo cowboys whom I hated to say so long to. And Mavis, CJ's on-again, off-again lady who had HIS number but still liked to call sometimes. Fresh, lively and thoroughly entertaining. I'm ordering the other CJ Floyd mysteries.

THE DEVIL'S HATBAND IS AN IMPRESSIVE NOVEL FROM ROBERT O GREER. GREER HAS A TALENT FOR DEVELOPING BOTH LOVABLE AND HATEFUL CHARACTERS. GREER ALSO WRITES VIVID DESCRIPTIONS OF THE BEAUTIFUL AND HARSH ASPECTS OF LIFE IN DENVER AND SURROUNDING AREAS. THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN CJ FLOYD (DENVER BONDSMAN) AND VARIOUS DEGREES OF LAWBREAKERS WILL COMPLETELY OCCUPY YOUR MIND UNTIL YOU'VE FINISHED THE BOOK -- AND PERHAPS EVEN AFTER THAT! WELL DONE DR. GREER!

I bought the whole series and it really helped me- the material is dry, of course, but the questions are really helpful. And I passed all three parts last month.

This book was a very good comprehesive overview of the enrolled agents exam. I passed part 1 with flying colors and will be taking the next two parts in Aug and Sept.

This is a not too technical book, introducing you to evolutionary robotics. It covers a lot of interesting work done in the field over the last few years.

Using genetic algorithms it is possible to construct the brain of a robot ( Neural network ), and even (though harder) the hardware itself. The book gives an introduction to genetic algortihms & artificial neural networks, but the reader should still be somewhat familiar with these concepts before buying this book.

After reading this book, I did one of the experiments mentioned in the book. While I only did this with a freeware Kephara robot simulator, it was still fun.

This is a not too technical book, introducing you to evolutionary robotics. It covers a lot of interesting work done in the field over the last few years.

Using genetic algorithms it is possible to construct the brain of a robot ( Neural network ), and even (though harder) the hardware itself. The book gives an introduction to genetic algortihms & artificial neural networks, but the reader should still be somewhat familiar with these concepts before buying this book.

After reading this book, I did one of the experiments mentioned in the book. While I only did this with a freeware Kephara robot simulator, it was still fun.

This is a beautifully written, delightful, and heartwarming book with a captivating rhythm that is both fun to read, and to hear. I enjoyed it so much, I'm keeping it at my home to read to my grandchildren when they visit! Thank you to both author and illustrator!
Most sincerely, Bonnie Garrison

This is the favorite book of my 15-month-old grandson. He chooses it from his shelf-full of books for reading each day...and sometimes multiple times a day. His father reports that his son seems to love the rhythm of the words read aloud, as well as the pictures of the animals, even though he's too young to understand the meaning of the story, which is delightful for older children.

Exellent salesmanship methods. I'd buy another copy if I could find one!

If you are looking for an outstanding book on sales you've found it. At the core of Feldman's philosophy are the two key issues:

1. identifying problems people face and creating packaged solutions to those problems, and
2. articulating the problem in such a way that the prospect has to acknowledge the real consequences of the problem.

This book is no silver bullet (although if you sell insurance its about as close as you're ever going to come). However if you're willing to embrace Feldman's philosophy and work hard then I believe the results will speak for themselves.

I bought this book 20 years ago & was just thumbing through my copy. Ben Feldman was a master salesman and proved it in this book. For his time, Feldman produced staggering sales figures. These were mostly sales of whole life policies packaged to presented to business owners. The sales techniques and Feldmanisms are easily transferable to today's selling and also transferable to the selling of any product. He took a boring product like whole life insurance and made it brain dead obvious that you should own it. Spend the money. Get the book. You can't have mine.

I'm not an insurance salesman, but am in Financial Services. i recently found a copy of this book and finished it in one day.

The principles used by Ben Feldman and described by the author (his former boss) are basic, fundamentally sound tenets of sales. However, they are iterated in such a way - coming from a reputable and successful source - that drives home the simplicity of what is needed to be wildly successful in sales (and not just insurance sales!).

Because this book is out of print, it's hard to find, and an old copy might run upwards of $30-40 or more; however, please believe me when I state in no uncertain terms that it'll be money well-spent.

This book cuts through a lot of the modern-day waste, drivel and filler that lines the pages of today's sales books (possibly because it was written in 1969) and cuts right to the core of what is needed to make it.

If you are fortunate enough to uncover a copy of this volume, grab it, read it, learn it, and do not give it away.