FO Books

This math book simply helps and supports learning with good, specific examples and no jargon.

I waited several weeks for this book to arrive, and was disappointed to see that its 'just another maths book', nothing special. I didn't find this book any easier to understand than any other maths book, I ended up refering to my other book more.

This is a very helpful outline whether you are taking the class and need a supplement or are just trying to learn the material on your own. The writing is clear and succinct, and there are hundreds and hundreds of practice problems all of which are answered. The topics covered are standard for the topic, so this book will cover everything in your class unless your teacher has some unorthodox lesson plan. My one caveat is that there are occasional errors in the answer keys. This can be frustrating especially if you don't feel confident in your own work. The errors are far and few between for the most part and if you can live with them then you will get much use out of this book. Highly recommended.

This book can pull you out of confusion. After all, an abstract course in discrete structures which is supposed to be the fundamentals of learning computer hardware and software programming need not be made even more confusing. Grab this book and make learning discrete structures more enjoyable and less painful !

Discrete mathematics, or the study of finite systems, has become increasingly important for students of computer science, and this book is a good foundational text on the subject. This Schaum's outline is much more complete than the average Schaum's, and it is also very clear and instructive. It is not just a good text for discrete mathematics. It also covers the basics of abstract algebra and the basics of the theory of computation.
The first 3 chapters cover sets, relations, functions, and algorithms, including a very good section on the complexity of algorithms. Chapter 4 is on logic and propositional calculus, which is the foundation of artificial intelligence and digital logic. The next three chapters cover the basics of vectors, matrices, counting (permutations and combinations), and probability theory. This material is important in the design and analysis of operating systems. Next are chapters on graph theory, directed graphs, and binary trees, all of which should be covered in any good course on the analysis of algorithms. These chapters include discussions of planarity, traversibility, minimal paths, and Warshall's and Huffman's algorithms. There is a chapter on languages and machines that includes material on regular expressions, automata, Turing machines, and computable functions. There is also a chapter dedicated to the very basics of abstract algebra, and another chapter on boolean algebra.
This text is therefore a superset of what you will probably find in an upper level undergraduate class in discrete mathematics, and is definitely a book you want to keep around especially if you are a computer science student and need additional study material for your core courses of artificial intelligence, analysis of algorithms, operating systems, and theory of computation. Highly recommended.

Sylvia Rimm has some interesting and apt characterizations of underachieving students.

However, we tried many of her techniques -- with a child who is a staunch perfectionist who thinks that all grades less than perfection are the same -- it's all or nothing -- and the techniques did not bring us success.

I would attribute the lack of success to Dr. Rimm's seeming lack of understanding of boys. She doesn't address fully the issues that boys face in competitive academic environments.

Be careful with this book. It promised more than it delivered with us.

My daughter's first semester in high school was torture for her and for us (her parents) until I discovered this book. There is so much a well-meaning parent can do wrong without knowing it, and this book really helped. Dr. Rimm helps you to first make the correct diagnosis, then suggests steps to change the unhealthy behaviors. I recommend this book to any one of my friends who says, "My son/daughter just isn't getting the grades I know he/she is capable of".

Dr. Rimm's book applies to all kinds of children -- above average, below average, and "just plain normal" kids -- and, while it's targeted towards parents and teachers of children who are currently underacheiving, it can actually be helpful to teachers and parents even if you don't see any major problems with your children.

I was in the administration at a private school for bright and highly motivated students, and I can't tell you how many times I turned the page in this book, jerked to attention, and said, "Exactly! It's the fourth grade boy whose mom..." or "That's the certified teacher whose M.A. in education and 18 years' classroom experience doesn't stop her from telling her own girls..." or even "That explains why I hated the 'fun' Gifted and Talented program in sixth grade!"

I found Dr. Rimm's approach straightforward and practical; no suggestion in the book is controversial or tending to the dramatic.

The book is organized by personality type and age so you can customize the approach to your own situation. She has clear suggestions for enrolling staff assistance and dealing with divorced/blended family issues.

Her writing is credibly reinforced by research and her own clinical practice.

I was particularly impressed with her sections on "Yes-No parenting" and ADD/ADHD kids. If your child is a "late-developing" or "borderline" ADD student (or if you just want to keep him or her off Ritalin), then you need to read this book for the simplest, clearest explanataion of what you can do right now.

However, my professional experience has taught me that a few parents (and teachers) are emotionally attached to their own, occasionally extreme "philosophy" about children, so let me add a few words for them:

In my own office, I have seen well-educated, loving parents choose their "philosophy" over time-tested, research-supported, developmentally appropriate methods of dealing with children. Usually, these people are parenting out of their own emotional wounds. In my experience, their children are much more likely to develop severe emotional and attention problems.

This is for these parents: The basic reality of life is that YOUR actions affect the outcome. If YOU want a DIFFERENT outcome, then YOU need to try DIFFERENT actions.

If your children are underacheiving, defiant, needy, controlling, or attention-dependent, you MAY have to make a choice between keeping your philosophy and having confident, productive children.

This may be a hard decision to make, especially if your philosophy is driven by still-raw wounds from your own childhood or recent traumas. And there are substantial consequences for your decision.

If you're committed to your philosophy, or if you are parenting out of your emotional wounds, then you probably won't LIKE this book until you resolve your own emotional trauma.

But when you're ready to try something that works, get this book -- it can help you develop a stable, happy, confident, effective child.

I bought this book after reading several others, searching for answers to our son's school problems. After considering everything from switching schools to home schooling him or even repeating a grade, I read this book and found all the answers I needed. He was underacheiving, and Dr. Rimm's description was right on. After following all her advice, and more importantly sticking with it, we now have a bright son who, in his own words, "cares about school."

Dr. Rimm seems to really understand what happens in the mind of the underacheiver. Her vast experience and her effective program were a blessing for us, and we are indebted to her. We now have a much happier household, and a brighter outlook for our son's success in school and in life.

If you read this book and you see your child within its pages, follow all the steps, and stick with it, even when you want to give up. I thought we couldn't change him, but luckily I was wrong!

This book gives insight to why some kids are underachievers and gives some practical problem solving techniques, like have your child study alone in a quiet spot. I used to hover over my daughter until she was done with her work, creating more distractions for her. Not any more. Dr. Rimm has cured me. This is simple, but worth the effort. She also walks you through what to do with dominant nonconforming children. She explains how they gain power (often through arguing) and gives some counter-intuitive advice on dealing with these kids.

The sooner you get this book the better. There are some very simple strategies that help children succeed in school that are more effective the earlier you use them. She includes a six step program that parents can use in cooperation with the school along with the practical parenting tips that are included. I started using some of the techniques and eliminated some of my bad habits with my 10 year old and I can see the difference in her level of motivation already.

As someone who works in a professional pastry kitchen, I have dozens of pastry books. This is without doubt my favorite of them all and my go-to for most basic recipes. All the recipes are clearly laid out in cup measurements for 5-quart mixers and weight measurements for 20-quart mixers. The book covers yeast breads, laminated doughs, cakes, egg based components, pies, tarts and other fruit desserts, cookies, working with sugar, working with chocolate, frostings, fillings and components, and assembling/decorating cakes.

You won't find a lot of the fancy stuff thats in Professional Pastry Chef but for solid, basic recipes, this one is the way to go.

This is designed to be a simple production manual: no educational material, few if any explanations; just all of the basic, important professional recipes you will need at work. It's main use, I suppose, is that it is small enough to toss in with your chef's coat suitcase or knife kit. Due to its convenient size, it might make a decent tool in your professional tool kit. Even though it has 150 recipes, which ought to be enough to cover the basics, it seemed the recipes selected lacked several basics. In general, this book was rather disappointing.

Problem #1: where are the baker's percentages?
The lack of baker's percentages anywhere in the book is a big mistake, but is an especially egregious sin in the bread, laminate, and cake chapters.

Problem #2: confusing ingredient listings
The book gets high marks for having 2 ingredient listings for every recipe, one for a single home serving, and one for a smaller bakery. However, the tables are rather confusing. The main listing of ingredients is for the home batch (which is not labeled as such), while the smaller listing on the right side of the table is for the larger, professional batch of that recipe (which is labeled as `large batch'). The tables should have been done in 3 columns: first ingredient name, second home batch (which should be so labeled) and third professional batch (which also should be so labeled), along with the yields of each batch.

Problem #3: genoise is totally wrong
This most basic, most fundamental recipe, the authors seem unable to get right. It calls for a 6 inch pan, which is quite rare. It also calls for `clarified browned butter', not a good idea unless your frosting is caramel based.

Problem #4: bad butter cakes
The explanations on pages 106-109 are so vague, disorganized, and misleading, that they constitute a danger to the newbie baker/pastry chef. Experienced hands should be able to navigate their way through this morass, but why should this be necessary in the first place?

Problem #5: cups of flour?
The small batch recipes always specify cups of flour. At no point in this book do the authors specify which method of flour measurement was used (scoop and sweep, spoon and sweep, etc.). It also never lists the equivalent weight for one cup of flour for those who do small recipes yet want professional accuracy and reliability. This failure alone is enough to disqualify it as a serious B&P reference book.

One good point: the table of contents lists all of the recipes in each chapter. So, if you need a recipe, just look at the appropriate chapter in the TOC, and there you are. Finding recipes is quick and easy.

As a student currently enrolled in a Professional Baking and Pastry Program, I can say this book is a MUST. It provides information for both the recreational and professional baker.

I started a bakery/deli in 1993 using a professional baker and this book as my foundation. In time I also learned to use advice from my customers and from other pros. Still, the whole lot of the experts, save one, gave less useful information than did this classic by Joseph Amendola.

Theories of dough fermentation and the like are of especial importance for any new baker. When something goes wrong, too, this book has a good trouble-shooting section.

I heartily recommend this book to any baker, commercial or men and women trying to please their loved ones.

Other books you should add to the shelf are Professional Baking and Quantity Cooking.

Excellent resource and a must-have reference even for the casual home baker. This book will prevent those baking failures and you'll even learn why things succeed!

Contrary to the "Nice Try But it Fails" review, this book does indeed discuss the methods for measuring and weighing flour that the authors used right up front. I find it's important to read those chatty beginning chapters. In this case the authors wasted no words (unlike me!) and so it's a quick and easy way to get information.

I didn't like every single recipe and think I have better ones for Key Lime pie, but then again, everyone has their favorites.

Highly recommended!

Not bad for a textbook on a subject that can be very dense and mind-confusing at times; I seem to be following along with it much better than I had originally expected. Still, it's a textbook, so I doubt you have much choice whether or not you're buying it--I know that Amazon's price on a new edition was about 75% of what my college bookstore was charging for *used* copies of the book.

This book is tough to get through. Doublespeak is the theme however, the title is Ethics. If you are a philosophy buff then you should enjoy it.

College ethics texts are similar and have been for decades. About half the book presents basic ethical theories. The other half presents current ethical conundrums. The books must be kept up to date to keep up with controversies of society. The last half of the book gives the students the chance to practice with what they have learned in the first half.

This particular text offers more "juicy" chapters than most, thus allowing the instructor to pick and choose the best issues to tackle. This makes the text as flexible as today's news. The text also offers an appendix on how to write an ethics paper. This is a welcome addition for those instructors, like me, who feel that students don't have the material mastered until they can argue a position in their own words.

But this text does mess up, even with all these benefits. I don't know exactly how it does it, nor could I put my finger on it. But there is something about the writing that was difficult for my students to comprehend. I found myself having to nurse them through all the chapters on ethics theory, often explaining the confusing portions with supplemental material. Part way through the semester the text itself became the supplemental material. There was, of course, that student who just has the ability to grasp the subject, but most struggled more than I was comfortable with. This will not stop me from using the text, but it will change the way I approach next semester.

My daughter took an ethics course at a local community college this semester and this book was the textbook. As I was interested, I read along with the class (and even more) as the semester progressed.

The book is broken into 2 main sections: Ethical Theory and Ethical Issues. The first part contains the theory of ethics from a number of standpoints, including Relativism, Egoism, Utilitarianism, Kant's Theories and Natural Law. The second section is filled with discussions of ethical issues of today including pornography, euthanasia, abortion, sexual morality, environmentalism, animal rights, stem cell research and much more.

The book is comprehensive and very well written. It is easy to follow and gives latitude in the areas of ethics that are discussed. Finally, there is a sample ethics paper in the rear, making this a very comprehensive and useful textbook.

I choose MacKinnon's 4th edition of this text, while in search of one that would work well for online instruction. I have since moved on to the current edition, which contains a few, but what I consider, significant and useful changes and expansions from the 4th.

For a lower division introductory course in ethics, I've found this text exceptionally useful. From an online perspective, I find it straightforward, clear, and concise. Whether used as the essential core resource, as a structural component from which to build and expand, or as a supplement, I think MacKinnon's text well worth consideration.

I read through quite a number (or as my daughter would say, 'mass quantities') of texts before making the decision to go with MacKinnon. While this text isn't the only resource I use in my courses, I do use it as the framework around which they are designed and built. Highly recommended from this online instructor!

We enjoyed using this text, and also bought the teacher's manual and tests. I found the coverage of important events to be better than most textbooks. However, we mainly use textbooks as a sort of timeline or outline for history studies. It's great to add some hands-on activities, videos, and also historical literature to really round out your study.

This book is an amazing value for the price, and so are the tests! Since it is so inexpensive, you can use your homeschool dollars on some fun books and supplies to liven things up!

My 12 year old son and I bought this book from a homeschool store in CO in August upon their recommendation. We were not disappointed. We liked the balance presented by the authors and feel they did not try to hide the truth about what evolutionists or creationists think and why each side believes what it believes. We learned many things about civilizations that Mom (graduated 1976) or son had not read in previous Christian & non-Christian history books.

Okay, okay. Yeah, great resource-- full of good information; Beats your status-quo antichristian antiamerican stark-ravin-liberal history text any day. But is that really enough?!!! Christian Liberty Press demonstrates a better perspective on history than publically funded propaganda. But what ever happened to "unbiased"? Why can't we just tell it like it is without throwing a little "non-denominational" coloring in the mix?

Yes, I thought the narrative was informative and engaging -- 5 stars on that count. But I just couldn't ignore several major issues. The publishers state in the foreword (or the introduction-- I don't recall which) that they feel it the personal responsibility of every Christian to propagate a Biblical perspective on history. Of course, theirs is the only "Biblical" perspective. Maybe it would have been slightly less offensive if I agreed with every jot and tittle of their theology. But I am not alone in my disagreement. (Nor am I a Baptist.)

For one, the course notably discounts Baptist origins in its broad coverage of *important* religious groups and denominations. Why? Because Baptists historically originated from pacifist anabaptist groups, which did not fight bloody religious wars. This failure to contribute to the rise of Christian Utopia made them historically negligible.

This, of course, is just one effect of the broader "dominion" doctrine-- a fancy name for Christian imperialism. Yes, it would seem that it is our responsibility as Christians to take over the world. We can't leave ruling the world to the infidels. In fact, Jesus won't return until we have established God's Kingdom on earth and instituted Christian culture in every corner. By the way: What is Christian culture?...

Well, this kind of exclusionary bias is present throughout the book, casting its shadow on the facts at every turn of history. Why must we call the American Revolution the "War for Independance"? Even the American Civil War is openly slighted; The puzzlingly brief coverage, accompanied by subfusc ambiguities, leaves the reader wondering "Are they suggesting that the South was right???"

So if you appreciate the taste of malicious sectarian bias-- political or theological-- this book is for you. But I personally wouldn't recommend letting your kids read it without some good discussion of these issues. Baptist or not.

2Tim 3:13 "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse..." Mat 24:12 "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Jhn 18:36 "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world..."

One of the few world history texts that combines a biblical worldview, creation science, and church history; it gives a solid overview of civilization. It has fair inclusion of both creationist and evolutionist theory of beginnings. The authors treat the Bible as one reliable historical document to be included among all the rest. This is an EXCELLENT introduction to western civilization, interesting, clear and full of opportunities for discussion. Major world cultures, religions, and their development are explained with the aid of maps, timelines, and graphics. This material provides information for classroom conversation which will in turn help the students to process, apply, and remember what they are reading. Compliment and enhance the students learning with biographies, films, picture books, and historical fiction novels.

I agree with Lina King's description. This is an EXCELLENT introduction to western civilization, interesting, clear and full of opportunities for discussion. I do not understand why she did not give the book any stars.

Mindfulness, awareness, and all things nonreactive are discussed in this slim, useful text about the new psychology of buddhism. I loved it and immediately began rereading it upon finishing it. My question for myself is whether and how to approach the scholarly texts of buddhist thought for my own contemplation.

It was one of a few required texts for a Buddhism class. I chose it because I have an interest in psychology, particularly the psychodynamic perspective (unconscious motivation) and this book added to my life in such a way! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about Buddhism and freeing one's "self" from the limitations of convention. I don't agree with everything in it, but this is a book for my collection, definitely.

This book was amazingly apropos for the point I have come to on my journey of faith...It was worth the read. I have moved forward in my personal growth, due to my desire to open to more; the book encouraged this!

The author of this book has done an outstanding job explaining the different benefits of both psychotherapy and meditation, there limits and how these approaches can help the other. He explains that "It's not what we are feeling that's important but how we relate to it that matters". The author does a great job clearing up a lot of misconceptions about meditation and the Buddha's teachings. They are very similiar to modern day psychotherapy. Meditation is a form of self therapy, observing your thoughts as they arise and insight mediation allows you to examine how your thoughts flow and why.
Buddha taught that the false ego or metaphorical self causes mental suffering. Deeds exist, but no doer can be found. Thoughts exist with out a thinker. We have thoughts, feelings, a body, senses, and consciousness; all these exist, however there is no "I" or "ego". That is mental formation we hold in our mind and give it a form, but it is a mental mirage and is an illusion and is the root of all our mental suffering. That is the main teaching of this book, and if you can grasp that you overcome the world.

I read Epstein's book on Desire before this one. When I read this book I was struck by how foundational it is for the desire book. That said, it doesn't make this book less useful for the reader. Epstein, as always, mindfully approaches the subjects at hand with experience and theory offered up to help readers grasp the concepts.

I found his approach of cultivating openness to feeling to be really insightful and helpful in dealing with some avoidant behaviors I have. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes his other work or is looking for a different perspective.

This book does a marvelous job of helping us to understand how such a thing as the Holocaust could occur in a supposedly "civil" society such as Germany in the mid-20th century. Kaplan shows us how the deprivations increased so incrementally that by the time people became aware of what was truly taking place, it was too late for many of them to rescue themselves. This book also reveals how the people of Germany came to accept what was happening to the Jewish people among them; even rejoicing in it, and it lifts the veil over our eyes of the day-to-day tribulations endured before the exterminations. Well done.

Marion Kaplan's, Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) is an in-depth study into the lives of Jewish people in Nazi Germany beginning with the takeover by Adolf Hitler in 1933. She concludes that not only were the physical lives of the Jewish people tormented and taken from them, the pervasiveness of the German government into everyday life led to emotional and physiological death of the Jews.
In developing the reader's mind to comprehend the lives of the Jews, Kaplan gives attention to little known details of Nazi Germany. As spoken about in chapter one, by establishing the Jews as social outcasts, they were removed from the rest of Germany. The new position of Jews in the public sphere affected their private lives as well. Focusing primarily on the role of women in the Jewish household, the challenges of dealing with new laws makes apparent the death beyond that of the physical means. Perhaps most intrusive to the emotional downfall of the Jews was the hostile environment they were forced to live in everyday. Faced with the torturous nature of school, Jewish children became aware of the plight of their families even as their parents tried to hide it from them. The November Pogrom of 1938 stifled the Jews politically, economically, and socially more intensely and more violently that ever before. By the official outbreak of World War II, Hitler had succeeded in massacring the Jews psychologically.
Throughout the book Marion Kaplan makes it very apparent that the destruction of Jews did not begin when war was declared in 1939 but instead in 1933. The affliction against the Jewish people deteriorated them emotionally and psychologically as well as physically. There is concrete evidence proposed in the book such as the staggering number of suicides, and the indifference to death among the Jews. The deceased were not criticized or blamed for their actions, but they were admired and envied signifying the loss of Jewish will to live.
Overall, Marion Kaplan's Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany is extremely well written. Through her frequent use of primary sources, the pain and distress of the Jews is more easily comprehended as the expressions of the suffering Jews appeal to the reader's emotions. Its exploration of little known details of Jewish life in Germany is useful not only to those studying the Holocaust, but also to all people. Kaplan makes it evident that acts of discrimination or the invasiveness into one's private life can profoundly destroy a person's pride. Ultimately, the destruction of the emotional and physiological conditions of people can occur as it did to the Jews in Nazi Germany.

Between Dignity and Despair is haunting and painful. The statistics of the Holocaust and "sadistics" of its perpetrators can never capture the true cost in Human terms. History is more than a chronicle and analysis of events. It is also an understanding of the experiences of the people who lived through those events. These experiences do not lend themselves to quantitative assessment and validation. None-the-less, the stories and letters of the people who lived during that time are essential to our interpretation of the geopolitical, military and social events that have shaped our world.

The great question facing us today involves the "collective guilt" of the German people for the persecution and genocide of their Jewish neighbors. The frightening and logical extension of this question is: if such horrors can arise from the children "of the enlightenment," could it not also come from "the sons and daughters of liberty?" It is clear from these accounts that the society as a whole, actively and passively, participated in this process. When studied in Human terms, it is inconceivable that it could have happened any other way.

Cain, after murdering Able, asked of God "Am I my brother's keeper?" The response of the German people to the obvious disenfranchisement, persecution and suffering of the Jews seemed to be: "It depends on your definition of `brother.'" It teaches us that our high and noble beliefs such as equality, liberty, freedom, and brotherly love, are empty words if not applied universally. This lesson was painfully learned in 19th century America when the statement "all Men are created equal" was understood as only applying to those of White, Northern European ancestry.

Between Dignity and Despair is haunting and painful because within its pages we see our own demons and feel the fragility of our own Humanity. We also see to what extreme our quiet personal prejudices can lead us when they go unchecked by the better angels of our nature.

Ms Kaplan has contributed to our understanding of the horrors of systematic psychological terrorism practiced by the Nazis. No revisionist, seeking to absolve German society, can deny the conclusions drawn from the experiences she has documented. Her work is essential to an understanding of the Holocaust.

Missing in many Holocaust works are the experiences of common German Jews and what daily life for them became like after Hitler's rise to power in the early 1930s. One can read about the Nuremberg Laws or the November Pogrom but one can't get a real feel for how those laws impacted daily life except through memoirs and the testimony of common people. Marion Kaplan's book wonderfully fills the gap between history from the "top down" and history from the "bottom up."
This book makes you realize that stories of hiding and rescue weren't just an occasional thing that's celebrated by Hollywood in such things as Schindler's List, but they happend every day. Kaplan also makes it clear the incredible courage involved in hiding and also the courage of others who hid Jews during Hitler's reign of terror. One bone of contention among historians many times is also how popular were the anti-Semitic measures, with many historians asserting that the population at large really wasn't that bad. Kaplan's book destroys any myths that the German popluation didn't overwhelmingly approve of Hitler's anti-Semitic measures, even if they perhaps didn't see the conclusion of them coming in the "Final Solution." If a German didn't know about the anti-Semitic measures it's only because they willingly didn't pay attention or tried to delude themselves.
One interesting part that Kaplan writes about are the Jews who collaborated with the Nazis in cities as "Jew Hunters," including one Jewish woman who led the Gestapo to over 60 hidden Jews in a single day. Reading stories such as this, perhaps Hannah Arendt's frightening conclusion wasn't so far off in that without the help of the Jews many more could have been saved.
The one drawback to this book is that Kaplan focuses on memoirs and testimony exclusively from women and assumes much about the male Jewish population. This could have been a much better book if she had included memoirs from a wider selection of men rather than constantly referring to Klemperer's book.

In Between Dignity and Despair, Kaplan sought to examine the everyday lives of Jewish people under the Nazi Regime. Many Holocaust historians tend to approach the Jewish history from the male perspective (as men were involved in politics). Kaplan sought to explain the importance of women's roles in the Jewish society and how Jewish women urged their husbands to leave Germany when the Nazi gained power and influence.

Kaplan also sought to explain what it felt like to be a Jew living under the Nazi regime and how they became isolated from the rest of the society. She also explained how by and large Germans participated in this persecution and by this she did not mean physical persecution but social persecution.

She gave special attention to the Jewish women and how the women tried to adapt to their new roles and the new situation. The women were able to provide mental and emotional support to their families when their husbands lost their jobs. It was indeed insightful to see how the women were able to cope and how they were the first group to realize the isolation that took place, mainly because of their interaction with neighbors, store owners, public officials, etc.

I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about the Jewish life under Nazi Germany and the focus here is not those who suffered under the concentration camps but the "ordinary people" who had to cope with their new situation.

These are great little books (there are several in the series). These are adaptations of the Little House books, formatted as picture books with full color illutrations that are inspired by Garth Williams original Little House artwork. Dance at Grandpa's is an abbreviated excerpt from the Ingalls Wilder novel Little House in the Big Wood. The fun pictures and straitforward text present the incident of a dance and celebration at Grandpa Ingalls' cabin - quite a story as presented in the original novel and adapted well here. The essential elements are presented here with perfectly matched illustrations. One of those books that you hope your kids will choose for you to read at bedtime

I'm reading the full Little House series to my 6-year-old, and my 3-year-old felt very left out. This book is perfect for her. It gives some of the sense of Little House, giving an entry to talking about the era and how it differs from now. And she really likes it.
But it doesn't draw you in much -- you don't get any sense of the characters and it misses the beautiful details of the full Little House books.

It's almost magic, the way my daughter is fascinated by these First Little House books ...all of them, all the time. The illustrations are a delight, and prompt her to pointing, and naming the different kinds of animals, as well as "Pa," "Ma," and "Jack" the bulldog. The text is simple, but holds up under repeated readings, and keeps my two-year old captivated. DANCE AT GRANDPA'S, is a nice example of this picture book series, which captures the spirit of Wilder's chapter books in a way that can delight a very young audience. This book, and all we've read from the series, is well worth having on the shelf.

I have to admit that my daughter loves these books. But I think they are much less than they could have been. The illustrations are attractive but have no dramatic power and no personality. All the people look the same. The stories reveal no individuality in the characters. Everyone gets along and behaves well, and no desires conflict. I think the idyllic quality is part of what appeals to my daughter, but I think she also enjoys seeing some details of how people lived in a very different time.

My 2-year-old daughter loves this series (My First Little House Books). Dance at Grandpa's was her first and still her favorite. At 2, she is already fascinated by Laura, Mary, Pa, and Ma and their lives...just as I was by reading the Little House series when I was older. Dance at Grandpa's is a wonderful story with beautiful illustrations. I highly recommend it (and the other books) to all parents!

If you are wondering where infinite GDP growth is taking us then you should read this book.

If you are wondering what infinite consumption is doing to us as a race then you should read this book.

If you are wondering why the choice has gone out of politics as every party tries to seize the middle ground then you should read this book.

If you are wondering why GDP seems to grow but your life doesn't get better then you should read this book.

If you've ever wondered why we need thousands of hair care products which differ only in how they are marketed, you should read this book.

Basically, you should read this book. Someone ran off with my copy, but I'll buy another. It really is that good. You'll find yourself picking it up again and again, and like Shakespeare you'll take something different away from it every time.

A book against globalization, but not a run of the mill one. Hamilton deftly connects the counterculture of the 60s and the 70s with the resurgent capitalism of today. He says (and I'm quoting from the spanish translation): "The counterculture was never a rebellion against capitalism, but against social conservatism, which impeded the advance of capitalism". I don't share all his views and proposals, but he is an intelligent person that realizes how the exarcerbated individualism brought forward by the counterculture paved the way for the arrival of today's turbocapitalism. Hamilton correctly sees the problem of the west today as not one of poverty but one of abundance, which has left the place spiritually void. One think I would have like to have Hamilton discuss is how his proposal for zero economic growth would affect the third world, whose livelihood depends in many cases on commodities sold to the west.

I think the basic premise of the book is credible: there is something definitely fishy with our current statistical growth mania and neoliberal political blindness, both from a sustainability and from a conceptual point of view.
My disappointment is in the way it is worked out: the book does not carry proofs, statistical data etc. but mainly rethoric, some of it of the old Marxist flavor( last time I read that stuff was over 25 years ago, it has not become better with age ).
The weakest part regards the future of work and the alternatives, plainly utopian without again any substantiation.
This book will not convince anybody but the already convinced:

Clive Hamiltons sequel to Growth Fetish, "Affluenza", is rich with statistics on the state of Australian debt, spending habits and attitudes. Based on a great deal of research by the Australian Institute and others, perhaps in response to the more rhetorical basis of his last book. And those stats are truly shocking: the majority of Australians are sacrificing rich, fulfilling lives for overworked ones so they can live like the rich.

If you've read Growth Fetish you know the questions, in Affluenza you get some of the answers: downshifting, voluntary simplicity and re-engagment with community.

Extraordinarily insightful - significant and urgent. As a 'civilised' society we must dampen the motivation of self interest and greed at the expense of all else (relationships, environment and happiness). This book describes in detail the roots of our unhappiness 'the prisoners of plenty' and seeks to describe a way forward. It will capture your imagination and stir you to reassess your definition of success.

Easily the most signifcant book I have read and cannot recommend it highly enough.

Enjoy and hopefully our 'advanced' human race can evolve to a society that promotes and supports the full realisation of human potential for all.

A great collection of both fundamental and advanced probability concepts as applied to civil engineering design situations. This textbook was extremely useful during my undergraduate and graduate courses in probability as well as in more specialized courses in wind and seismic engineering. More importantly, I still find myself using this text now that I am out of college.

Wounderfully written textbook on a classic topic in engineering that will withstand the changes in technology and still prevail as some of the most important fundamentals in design methodology.

An indispensable reference book, it provides a great balance of theory, worked examples, and exercises that thoroughly explain basic concepts of probability and risk as encountered in Civil and Environmental Engineering. The first edition has been within arm's reach on my book shelf for 30 years. I wish all my engineering texts were so well written.

This is a good textbook for teaching, and not as good of a source for research for real world application reference material, which is what I try to maintain a library to utilize. Very basic material coverage, good for students.

I have used this book and Vol 2 in my graduate and undergraduate courses. Having used a variety of texts for teaching and learning about probability and statistics in an engineering context, I would say the two volumes by Ang and Tang have no rivals. Lots and lots of good engineering type problems.

Alhough Ang and Tang's Volumes I and II are already over 20 years old, I consider these books as one of the best on probabilistic design methods in civil engineering. The books cover topics such as 'statistical decision analysis (including CBA, MCA, MCDM)', 'queueing models', 'extreme value theory', 'Monte Carlo simulation', 'failure probability calculation' and 'system reliability techniques'. A huge amount of examples are embedded in the theory. They are ideal to be used as examination questions (which the reviewer succesfully does for his courses on 'Probabilistic Design' and 'Probabilistic Design in Hydraulic Engineering' at TU Delft, The Netherlands).

Civil engineers with an interest in design of maritime -, hydraulic - and coastal structures will miss the probabilistic description of sea waves and current loads. The second edition (2000) of Goda may fill this gap (available at Amazon under 981023256X). Engineers interested in probabilistic description of structural dynamics are referred to the second edition (2004) of YK Lin and GQ Cai (available at Amazon under 0071438009). The connection of probability theory with finite element models (one of the reviewer's main fields of interest) is not covered by the above mentioned books. Something for Volume III...?