It is rare to come across a scholarly textbook of research that is relatively understandable to lay people and beginning researchers. Yet Tesser's _Advanced Social Psychology_ succeeds where others fail. It is unlike other disciplinary or subdisciplinary textbooks, written by a single author covering tons of ground. This book is an anthology of reviews describing cutting-edge research in Social Psychology by those who are doing the cutting - the most prominent researchers in the field describing the state of their specialty. So while one does not get the perfectly smooth ('processed') feel of a textbook written by a single author, one gets an intimate feel for what is really being done, and a feel for what is on the horizon, for each line of inquiry by the people who are most interested in the area.

     Another outstanding facet of this anthology is the vibrance held within its pages, precisely because it was not written by a single author. Each chapter displays the personality of its author(s). And each is written with the student in mind, not only the attempt to relay information. The book, depite its relative brevity, is filled with (often humorous) examples and illustrations. Terminology, critical to any discipline, is spelled out at the beginning to assure a common ground between author and reader. And, as a book on Social Psychology, the research areas are incredibly interesting and personally relevant: Attitude Change (R. E. Petty), Social Influence (R. B. Cialdini), Attraction and Relationships (M. S. Clark & S. P. Pataki), and Prejudice (P. G. Devine), to name a few. Each chapter educates and intrigues the reader into the complexities of our daily lives that comprise modern social psychological research. This is a must-read for anyone who wishes to gain a better understanding of how the world works and appreciates intellectual challenges. And Tesser's _Advanced Social Psychology_ is the clear choice for both undergraduate and graduate courses in the area.

     - Richard J. Shakarchi
       Graduate Student, OSU Social Area

The only disadvantage of reading Jody Pott's illustrated history is
that the sequel is long overdue...you'll so enjoy this version, but
will long for the next book in the series, covering the years since
1877.

This is a great, easy way to learn American History, for kids
or adults. Whether or not you have a problem assimilating written (non
visual) text, Dr. Potts' book will teach you the history or broaden
what you already know.

Our history teachers and students need many,
many more books like "Adventure Tales of America." I really
enjoyed it, as did my son during his grade school years.

So
Dr. Potts, please hurry on the sequel!

What emerges is an affecting portrait, through one family and related self, of the misunderstood Jew in Chile (and South America). This very eloquent personal account is moving, documentary, lyrical, occasionally melodramatic, seductive and yet, sturdy. The author is a poet who gives remarkable attention to detail. Obstacles as early as in childhood stimulated her imaginary mind which continues to be poetic, creative and immersed in writing, to which Agosín always brings her personal self. Her grandparents from Russia lived in Turkey, and moved to France where her father was born; then they sailed to Chile where they encountered anti-Semitism. Her story reflects what we know from experience: that the point of crises and calamities is not to frighten or beat is into submission or failure, but to encourage us to change, to allow us to heal and grow. Following my first reading, I will savor this book again. I also, highly recommend, HOTEL BOLIVIA by Leo Spitzer (Professor at Dartmouth) about Jewish immigration in Bolivia; much personal experience is shared here. Agosín has been a professor of Spanish Literature at Wellesley Collegefor many years. She has written extensively on contemporary Chilean literature and culture. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, son and daughter.

This is a definitive history of the Reformed Church in America's work in the Arabian Gulf beginning with the foundation established by Samuel Zwemer and James Cantine in 1889. Written by a worker in that field and a resident of the middle east, it offers a wonderful survey of Islam-Christian relations as well as Christian mission work in the area in general as bonuses. The volume has made excellent use of archival sources as well as interviews with many retired missionaries.

Scudder offers excellent insights in this historical survey about the role of mission work as well as insights into the role of the church in the middle east in light of the current political situation.

The volume's particular focus is on the educational, medical, and evangelistic work of the Reformed Church in America. That mission effort concentrated primarily in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman.

Other related volumes such as Grace in the Gulf, by Jeanette Boersma, Sharifa, by Cornelia Dalenberg, and Pioneers in the Arab World, by Dorothy Van Ess are memoirs and autobiographies. Scudder examines the whole of the Reformed church effort with a careful and critical eye.

The volume includes two useful charts: one offers about an 80 page historical timeline of events in western history, the middle east, Arabia, the church, and the mission field from 484 AD to 1994; the other offers a year by year summary of mission appointments and distribution by mission stations in Basrah, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and Amarah.

This volume is an excellent introduction for anyone who would like to understand the role of the Christian mission in Islam in general and the work of the Reformed Church in America in particular.

Arithmetic Made Simple has really helped our family. It contains easy-to-understand mathematics concepts from 4th grade level up to 9th grade. Each math topic is organized in a way to allow step-by-step learning. The sections on use of percentages has been extremely helpful - even to our 9th grader. This book would be extremely useful for an adult that is persuing their GED. After the explaination of each topic there are sample problems and practice problems. Even the answers in the back have explainations of how many of the problems were worked. I highly recommend this book for every parent that has school-aged kids.

The two most impressive things about Brendan January's "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" are that even though it is written for juveniles it provides a complete coverage of this event and the impressive collection of photographs and drawing included throughout the volume. After a concise summary of the Civil War as a means of explaining John Wilkes Booth's bitterness towards Lincoln, January moves briskly through the assassination plot, the assassination, and the last hours of the President. The capture of Booth, what happened to the other assassins, and Lincoln's return to Springfield for burial are covered much more quickly. If you read this book and then move on to more adult biographies of Lincoln or accounts of the assassination, you will certainly find much more details concerning these events but you will find that January has done a solid job of distilling this event to its essence. Young readers will not find themselves shortchanged by this volume. The collection of photographs is equally impressive, from the photo of Lincoln's funeral processing going past the open window in which young Theodore Roosevelt is watching to the only known photograph of Lincoln's body in death, laying is state in the Capitol Rotunda. There are photographs of all the conspirators and participants in this event, of the peephole Booth drilled in the door to Lincoln's theater box, of the box following the assassination, of the bedroom where Lincoln died shortly after the body was removed, and even a photograph of Harry Hawk, the actor who spoke the last words Lincoln heard before Booth shot him. January has written other volumes on Lincoln and the Civil War for the Cornerstones of Freedom series on "The Emancipation Proclamation," "The Lincoln-Douglas Debates" and "Fort Sumter," which you might find are equally well done.

Professor Jackson's great contributions to the study of the Avesta, the Avestan language and its script will live forever. I use this book often as a reference and everytime I learn something new about the Avestan language.

I highly recommend this book to all lovers of Iranian languages and scripts.

To the best of my knowledge, the Zorastrians are the only major religious group to have lost a significant portion of their Scripture. This slim text provides nine easy passages from the Avesta, together with notes and a vocabulary section. This should be sufficient for someone who reads Vedic Sanskrit to read a bit of Avestan. As the Vedic and Avestan mythologies are from the same branch of Indo-European mythology, the texts provide interesting insights into the pre-Vedic mythology.

This inspirational, emotionally-charged follow-up to "Bacillus Subtilis and Other Gram-Positive Bacteria: Biochemistry, Physiology, and Molecular Genetics," delivers the goods. One would expect the authors to be crushed by the weight of expectation for this sequel, but they have defied conventional wisdom and completely outdone themselves. I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me.

This is a highly informative and emotional read about the saga of the little gram-positive bacteria that could. The stunning artwork and skillful editing make this a must-read, and should adorn everyone's coffee table. Microbiologists will be talking about it for decades to come.