Organization

Most books on the subject of radio tend to give short shrift to college radio stations. Having worked for a few, including a stint as station manager for WPTS at Pitt, I started an outline in 1995 of what a book dedicated to college radio might look like. Alas, teaching during the day and running an indy label in the evening and managing bands at night, I never got around to writing more than a chapter. Sauls has gone and written the book! And a good book it is! I recommend this work for anyone who worked (or is currently or wants to work) for a college radio station. Not so much for the listeners, the book gives students the entire lowdown on starting and running a station. It needs to include LPFM and webcasting information - this was sort of skimmed over (and "audionet" no longer goes by that moniker). At times the book does read a little too much like a textbook, but in other segments (like the one written by McKenzie) the information is highly readable and informative. Bonus points for the appendices, a risky move since a lot of this stuff can become outdated before a book goes to print. Dr. Sauls if you're thinking about a second edition or another book along these lines, please e-mail me and we can exchange notes! Anyone else should buy this book right now!

The best daguerreotype portraits are some of the most striking photographic likenesses you'll ever see. Talk about verisimilitude: Those who posed for daguerreotypes in the last century seem about to start speaking, or to step right out of the image. The pictures are practically holographic in their three-dimensionality, and you feel you could almost reach out and touch the faces captured therein so long ago. The generally small size of the images doesn't detract from the experience; in fact, like the finest Mughal miniatures, the reverse is true. As you draw close to the frame, you find yourself entering the daguerreotype's exquisite little world. The experience is enhanced by the thought that, since daguerreotypes are positive images, the photograph before you is the only one in existence.

A daguerreotype's power is greatest when you're seeing the actual image before your eyes, of course, but the reproductions in this beautifully designed coffee-table book, many of which are reproduced in actual size, are so stunning that you're truly getting the next best thing. Here you'll find likenesses of some of the most famous figures to traipse through the 19th century -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry James, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jenny Lind, Tom Thumb, James Whistler, Dorothea Dix.

The author, Melissa Banta, a kind of curator-at-large at Harvard, was not content simply to ferret out all daguerreotypes then existing at Harvard (over 450 images, some of which are seeing the light of day for the first time here). She delved into the often compelling stories behind each image's creation, life history, and curation. In lyrically written short essays, we learn how the first daguerreotypes of the moon came into being in 1851, why Louis Agassiz had daguerreotypes taken of slaves forced to disrobe, what Harriet Beecher Stowe was thinking at the time her likeness was taken, why Asa Gray collected daguerreotypes of his fellow botanists (all images that appear here).

In short, this is a coffee-table book with substance and personality. It will serve as an excellent introduction to daguerreotypy for the layman, and a must-have compendium for the avid daguerreian. Highly recommended.

I bought The Data Handbook when first published, and later, this 2nd (1995) edition also. It's clearly organized, with multiple b&w illustrations per page. I know no other book overviewing, with useful details, so many file formats for scientific data (e.g., CDF, netCDF, and HDF). But more than this, it explains to aspiring computer programmers the most common structures describing scientific measurements.

It's a pleasure thumbing through the pages, dipping into sections when attracted by the crisply rendered illustrations. Although not using the term in a pejorative sense, this is almost as much a "coffee table" book as a computer reference manual. Readers with well developed interests in technical matters concerning computers & science will appreciate Mr. Fortner's efforts.

The title (although evoking unfortunate associations: "bees in the bonnet," "bats in the belfry," "birds in the bush") is an exact description of what you get in this little book. Written primarily for deacons, although invaluable to any person who's a member of the Episcopal Church USA or the Anglican Church of Canada, this little book is a how-to guide that spells out in great detail the liturgical functions of deacons. Different chapters focus on deacons in rites of Christian initiation, the Eucharist, ordinations, seasonal celebrations, daily office, and various pastoral liturgies (marriages, reconciliations, burials). If you're looking for a book that explores the theology and spirituality of the diaconate, this isn't the one. But it is an excellent guide for appropriate diaconal participation in liturgy--actually, the best--and it doesn't pretend to be anything else.

An excellently written, deeply researched, book on problems within the Church body. Not only covering what happens, but giving the warning signs that every Church leader (Minister or Laity) should read and KEEP! I found it difficult to put it down, it is very readable although academic standards are top level. I am recomending this work, to all my pastor friends, as an indispensable resource for avoiding the pitfalls that are in the ministry.

Decoding the Church seeks to present a biblical ecclesiology that emphasizes the organic and biotic images rather than static or institutional images. Just as DNA determines what a living organism becomes when appropriately developed, the authors contend that the church has DNA or genetic predispositions for its identity and health. In addition to the historic descriptions of the church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, this book seeks a broader perspective that reveals the "missing half" of the church's genetic code that the church is also diverse, charismatic, local, and prophetic.

Viewing the church as a complex organism, this book affirms small actions, interrelationships and structure, uniqueness, and "emergent structures." Emphasizing the church as organism in community, this book focuses on the DNA of church structure, the DNA of mission, and the DNA of public discipleship. To recover the dynamism of the New Testament Church, Scripture must be our primary source along with learning from the history of renewal movements and utilizing an ecological model that emphasizes interrelationship and interdependence. Christian mission emphasizing community, simplicity, and humanity must provide creative alternatives to the effects of globalization. The authors call for public discipleship built on love and grace and active in issues of economic justice, responsible earth-keeping, and prayer for governments and global concerns.

Decoding the Church is a valuable resource combining several themes from Snyder's earlier writings regarding church renewal, mission, church ecology, culture, and futurism. Readers may not agree with every insight or critique but should appreciate the rich combination of biblical and historical insight with cultural awareness and church life. The material is presented in a helpful format that provides insights, implications in principle and practice, the ongoing story of a fictitious though realistic Heartland Evangelical Church, and questions for group discussion and personal reflection. This book will be especially valuable for North American pastors, educators, and church leaders seeking a biblical ecclesiology giving primary attention to the biotic images of the church.

When did the "profession of arms" become a profession, and not a vulgar clash of untrained violent mobs? More importantly to Matthew Moten's seminal work, when did the US military begin the transition from militia based rabble to professional military?

The Delafield Commission and the American Military Profession gives a concise, detailed account of an exceptional group of three American officers, Maj Delafield, Maj Mordecai and Capt McClellan. In the 1850's they stood at the top of their profession, and each was widely respected in his particular branch, or specialty. Although Moten does not bludgeon the reader to death with the details of each, he gives full scope to their qualifications and personalities, and how this colored the prism through which each viewed their twelve month journey through the armies of Europe. Likewise, although the Commission sought to make it to the Crimean Peninsula before the war there ended, the long term effect of their travel was not what they saw, or did not see in the Crimea. Rather, as Moten argues, it was the cumulative effect of what they saw, and central to his thesis, the manner in which they gathered, evaluated, and processed this information that sat them apart as the defining standard of military professionalism of their day. The Commission did see a great deal in the Crimea, but only the end of a drawn out siege style war.

Moten could make more of the time spent in Prussia, England, France and Russia. The reports of the three commissioners have a great deal to say about these militaries, and McClellan's report was published under the title The Armies of Europe. The commissioners thought a great deal about the technical details of what they saw on each stop, but they thought, at least to measure by their writings, very little about the future implications of the details they so closely observed.

Moten notes what the Commission not accomplish. The three officers chosen represented the mentalities of their own branches, and not the needs and views of the total Army as an institution. They were all primarily scientific corps officers, not combat arms, although McCLellan had recently transferred to the cavalry. Moten notes that the commission failed to address the impact of the new telegraph. There was evidence that it would be of major impact: William Howard Russell was sending daily dispatches to the Times, and the governments of Paris and London were sending almost daily operational and even tactical orders via the telegraph. The commission failed to address the impact of steam screw ships: the ability to move men and material regardless of wind planning consideration was truly revolutionary. The commission also failed to address the tactical implications of new rifled artillery and small arms, although the evidence was there to be seen, in both the new "rifle pits" and the extent to which both sides had entrenched. To be fair, a review of the British military journals at the time reveals a failure of the combatants to realize the importance of this as well.

Of interest, Moten notes that Delafield felt a need to improve the quality of military education. He may have been prompted in this by the debate raging in England at the time of the Commission's visit on the exact same subject. Whilst the British were complaining of the difficulty of maintaining the professional education of an army who had 2/3 of her officers across the globe on any given day, the American military was complaining of the same thing with the outposts in the West.

Overall, Moten does a superb job of analyzing the state of the professional American military in the 1850's, using the Delafield Commission as a benchmark. The book is concise, accurate, meticulously researched, and a valuable insight into the American military on the eve of the American Civil War.

This is a book of great depth and insightful analysis. I highly recommend this book to anyone. I wish it recieved more attention from universities. An absolute pageturner and all other suitable cliches. As true as anything written.

Deetz is a scholars scholr, but relatively easy to read. In this particular book, he discusses what we all know, but have not been able to name. We are all part of organizations. We work in them. We play in them (think soccer leagues and such). We sleep on their products. We are surrounded, but corporate colonization is much more than just that.

You have a friend that moved to keep or get a job? Corporate colonization. Your emplyer's HMO lets you only pick a couple specialists for your health care needs? Corporate colonization. You bring your child to work because it provides daycare? Corporate colonization. You want to take a nice vacation and get away from it all, but you have to be on call in Tahiti? Corporate colonization. Unable to copy a cd you purchased for your own private use? Corporate colonization.

An educational system that trains children for employment, rather than teaching them how to think? Corporate colonization. A government that attempts to insure economic growth over pressing social issues? Corporate colonization?

Deetz, is not as redundent as I am in explicating this. He makes great points regarding the way that our everyday lives and everyday choices/answers are defined in line (and more unconsciously) with the way modern corporations frame the questions to begin with.

Excellent read, and amazingly enlightening. And Deetz isn't a Marxist, just a hard thinker.

This book is a basic for those wishing to compose and maintain a dynamic vital organization. Highly reccomended for middle level and upper managers. You will refer to it constantly.