It was a privilege to learn the subjects of SEM and TEM from the the author of this book himself (David Joy). This is an excellent book which starts from the basics and it depends on the researcher how deep he wanna go. The book provides in depth analysis as well if required. Great resource book.

Goldstein et al have written a book that serves as an excellent introduction to the SEM, and is also a formidable reference. When I took SEM at NC State University, it was taught from this book. Between our professor and this text, I learned the ins and outs of the SEM, and I keep the book within arms reach whenever I'm at work.

Goldstein covers everything from the basics of operation, through image formation, sample prep, usage in particular fields of study -- everything!

If you get one SEM book, get this one.

This is an excellent textbook for graduate students majoring in Materials Science. The text is easy to read, and accompanied by plenty of photographs and schematics, is easy to understand. Covers almost every aspect of SEM and X-ray micro-analysis e.g. underlying science, technology, and practical use. Each chapter begins at a basic level and gradually develops the subject to intricate detail, and depending on the level of study one may skip chapters or part of a chapter.

SHADOW OF THE SERPENT is a thrill-packed and emotionally-charged epic adventure which beckons those of us on the "war path" to follow a better Way. I had a sense of being irresistably drawn through misty woods into mysterious caverns, only to hear the whisperings of shamans sharing the wonders of ancient Truth: Go back and live in the Light. Henceforth, whenever I see patterns of yellow and black, I will be unable to ignore the metaphorical warning. Read this important mystical work. --Dan Gallagher

If someone asked me to review this book with just one word, I think "great" wouldn't be enough. It was an enthralling experience to learn more about the Native American ways and wisdom through such a fantastic story. Also, the narrative is quite elegant and detailed and the story never loses its pace. In the story, we are introduced to the Mineccou clan, a peaceful, yet strong tribe that are pushed into war when a powerful enemy nearly wipes out all the other clans in the area and enslaves the survivors. Sequannah, a young Mineccou warrior is also captured and enslaved, but soon he finds that he will play a very important role in his tribe's struggle. For he will have to fight not only for his own freedom, but also for the freedom of his clan's ways. A story full of wisdom that makes us think about our own ways.

Imagine for a moment you are a young warrior captured by an enemy tribe. You are enslaved, tortured and humiliated by your captors, then offered an opportunity to escape; which would mean personal freedom, but could also lead to the annihilation of your people and the desecration of the earth. What would you choose? This is the dilemma faced by Sequannah, the youthful protagonist of this action-packed fantasy/adventure Shadow of the Serpent A Coyote Moon Story. James Joseph weaves together a poignant coming-of-age story with the earth-centered teachings of Native American spirituality into an engaging and entertaining first novel. --Patricia A. Burke, editor, The Hungry Soul: An Online Literary Magazine

Needless to say: this book will certainly be one of the fundamentals used in both, undergraduated and graduated curricula, as it covers the roots of adaptive and smart antennas technologies, among other topics. The way it explains the essentials leads to experts and non-experts to get into this field very quickly if also attending onto the cited references. I highly recommend it and the price is worth of it.

I used this book as a source when I did a project in my Wireless & Mobile Comm. course. My topic was Smart Antennas for wireless applications. The book was very helpful. It is well written, organized and easy to read. It provides a lot of research issues and engineering solutions for Smart antennas for next generation wireless systems. I recommend this book for all researchers and engineers working in this field.

The book is very good, to be brief. I have taught a course out this book for senior undergraduates and 1st year graduates. One needs to have a course on electromagnetic fields and a course on stochastic processes and random variables - at the undergraduate level(s).

The book covers a lot of important topics and as the previous critic had opined, this book is really good for all practicing r.f. engineers in the wireless industry.

This is an excellent biography of Stalin, the middle book in a proposed trilogy. Tucker weaves events in the Soviet Union around the twisted, paranoid personality of Joseph Stalin, former seminary student. What I found to be the most intriguing was how every time Stalin changed his mind about something, everyone had to fall in line or risk being labeled a "wrecker" or "counter-revolutionary." Stalin was not particularly brilliant, and he was not Lenin's choice as a successor, but he had a genius for bureacratic maneuvering that put him in the powerful position that he held for years. For all his paranoia and all the damage he did to Russia, it is amazing that someone didn't actually knock him off. It is a chilling reflection on how obsequious even the best of us can be when motivated by fear.

Neither Stalin, the collectivization crisis, nor the terror suffer from a dearth of good and serious studies. Yet despite the crowded field, Tucker's "Stalin in Power" is by far the best treatment of all three complex events. No other book sets out as credible, well-researched and well considered a theory of the workings of Stalin's mind. The great challenge presented by the Soviet thirties is the comprehension of the real logic behind what appears from the outside as mass irrationality. Most writers' personal models of depth and social psychology are inadequate to the task. Tucker succeeds, by a significant margin.

Tucker's careful storytelling hews to historical facts and grippingly narrates Stalin's creeping domination of the Soviet idea. This book is complete. A must read for all interested in recent Russian history.

This is a great story about the lucky fate of a U.S. Sub trying to "catch" its prize; a Jap Aircraft Carrier that was so big & secret it was not found in their ship's enemy ID book. The book covers both sides of the story. For me, the book was hard to put down. I would buy this book again!

Originally published under the title "Shinano"

For my money, this is the very best book about US submarines in World War II.

Well researched, it tells the story of the sinking of the Japanese super-carrier Shinano from the viewpoints of both the attacking submarine (USS Archer-fish) and its huge prey, which is desperately trying to avoid any conflict at all during its maiden/shake down voyage.

You are put on the bridges of both vessels - and inside the minds of both commanders - in alternating chapters as the time line of the engagement unfolds. This unique perspective allows the reader to clearly see each move and counter move in a deadly chess match carried out in the ocean south of Tokyo Bay.

Although not delving too deeply into the technical aspects of each vessel's capabilities and tactics, Enright and Ryan are able to give the reader understandable insight into how these capabilities and associated weaknesses constrain and affect the outcome of this contest at each stage of its progress.

But it is the intellectual and emotional aspects of the two combatants that ultimately determines the success and failure on each side. Critical decisions by both parties, which seem logical based upon the assumptions made from their individual perspectives, are seen in the narrative to sometimes be, perceptually and in reality, costly errors of judgement. Some are fatal, some are correctable.

Captain Enright, being the submarine commander, opens his soul to the reader, showing how his previous experiences and failures provided him with the determination to persevere and overcome his doubts and tactical errors while stalking his opponent. It is this perseverence that allows the Archer-fish to doggedly stay on the very ragged edge of pursuit, until finally the Shinao makes a combination of moves that just barely allows Enright to get into the perfect position to make an attack.

On the Japanese side, the authors were able to utilize their extensive research to also "get into the head" of the Shinano's commander (Captain Toshio Abe). Here the pressures of being responsible for the care of Japan's crowning naval achievement, the largest aircraft carrier built during the war, combined with the stress of over three years of continuous tough naval conflict , took their toll. Captain Abe's judgement was understandably clouded by these pressures, and the book clearly describes how key assumptions made by him led to the tactical mistakes that provided the slender opening through which the Archer-fish was able to slip into an attack position. Most critical of these was his steadfast belief that he was beset by an entire "wolfpack" of U.S. submarines. In Abe's haste to escape the dangers he perceived coming from many fronts, he stumbled right into the path of the single Archer-fish.

Neat stuff ! The details make for fascinating reading.

In addition, the book also does an excellent job of addressing the interesting background information concerning the decision to convert the Shinano from a "Yamato" class battle ship to a carrier, and the many hurdles and extreme secrecy associated with her construction.

Also well done is the heart rendering personal accounts of the survivors of the sinking of the Shinano. These sailors exhibit the extreme bravery and concern for humanity in times of disaster that one comes to expect of sailors from any nation.

This book is truly an equisite jewel hidden under an avalanch of submarine related WWII novels and personal accounts. This one is special.

This is an easy-to-read account of the sinking of the supership Shinano, just out of the Tokyo Bay shipyards, in the final days of WWII, by a U.S. submarine. The action goes back-and-forth between the U.S. captain who authored the book, and the Japanese officers, whose accounts he later researched. Learn about the cat-and-mouse game of the submariners' war in this book. Not overly technical, I read it in three days of light reading. Worth your time and your money!

Mr. Gasz has created with excruciating accuracy an honest portrayal of the difficulties surrounding the Second Amendment. The more real-world lobbyists on both sides of this terribly intense issue dig in, the more they appear foolish. Our society's trust in compromise has long been put to rest and Congressionally, the all or nothing stance prevails. Finally, someone has exposed these silly postures for what they are with a recommendation that I found to be quite just and fair. I applaud Mr. Gasz for his forthright depiction of the ridiculous NRA and its bizarre leader. This novel is a compelling page-turner chock-full of ingenious intrigue and action. The refreshingly simplistic use of language and lack of meticulous landscape makes for a quick read that will leave you thinking for days after the last page.

Joseph Gasz has written a tantalizing novel around a topic that engenders strong and passionate responses on at least two dimensions of a controversial topic. The story line is gripping and the numerous literary vignettes provide nice respites from an engaging and positively strenuous mental exercise. Once finished, the reader will have reexamined the notion of the right to keep and bear arms and completed an exiting literary journey.

The book kept my attention from the first page. It is visually imaginative, suspenseful, and easy to read, but challenging on a high level. The attention to detail is outstanding. It is fiction, but it has real voltage.

preface 7
I. America's religious panorama 9
II. basic differences between Catholicism and Protestantism 18
III. the Lutherans 25
IV. the Presbyterians 39
V. the Espiscopalians 49
VI. the Methodists 60
VII. the Baptists 72
VIII. the Disciples of Christ and the Churches of Christ 81
IX. the United Churchmen 89
X. the Quakers 96
XI. the Perfectionists 104
XII. the Pentacostals 108
XIII. the Seventh-Day Adventists 117
XIV. other Protestants 125
the Moravians 125
the Mennonites 127
the Reformed 130
the Christian Reformed 131
the Brethren 131
the Salvationists 134
the Convenanters 136
XV. the Unitarian Universalists 138
XVI. the Eastern Orthodox 145
XVII. the Old Catholics 152
XVIII. the Cultists 167
the Swedenborgians 168
the Spiritualists 169
the Unity School of Christianity 171
the New Thoughters 173
the Worldwide Church of God 175
the Hare Krishnas 177
the Scientologists 178
the Moonies 179
XIX. the Mormons 184
XX. the Jehovah's Witnesses 198
XXI. the Christian Scientists 207
XXII. the Jews 218
XXIII. the Muslims 226
XXIV. the Baha'is 230
XXV. the Buddists 238
church membership statistics 241
general bibliography 247
index 249

252 pages total

Of all the books on my shelf, Wm. Joseph Whalen's Separated Brethren is among the most instructive and the least dispensable. This is the first book I bought after converting to Catholicism, but that is not why I treasure it. Its pages are now yellowed and its cover worn, but I treasure it because it has everything I want in a book. It is concise, easy to read, gripping and addresses an issue that anyone who seeks truth should examine if he is truly sincere in his search. Which Church is the true one? Whalen answers this clearly by presenting the facts of history.

Whalen's Separated Brethren is not apologetic in style, but it is apologetic in effect as it enumerates with certainty the post-apostolic origins of non-Catholic, Christian religions. Like Foxe's Book of Martyrs? Read this. You will be blown away when you see the other side of the coin. Are you a Christian who would like to see the early Church restored? Read this and find that She never died. She is, perhaps, unrecognizable, but only because She has grown more wise and beautiful.

Whalen also brings together in one volume the teachings of all the mainline Protestant traditions, as well as some cults and some non-Christian traditions. I would like this book to be in the hands of every Catholic who thinks that it doesn't matter which church you go to. They are NOT all the same.

A quote from "Critic" on the back cover calls this book "a masterpiece of synthesis." Well said.

"Separated Brethren" was first published 40 years ago and has been revised and updated twice since then. That this book is still around is proof of its being an excellent one-volume reference guide on religious denominations in the United States; I myself found this title very instructive and well-written. The book mostly concerns Christian denominations not in union with the Roman Catholic Church, yet author William J. Whalen includes non-Christian religions as well, such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, the Baha'i faith, and the better-known cults. Given the fact that Mr. Whalen is Catholic and Our Sunday Visitor is a well-known Catholic publishing house, the book compares the beliefs of the "separated brethren" to Catholic teaching, yet it is remarkably objective at the same time. Mr. Whalen does not fall into a condescending or critical mode; he simply discusses the origins of the different churches and describes their beliefs. He will at times provide slightly droll commentary on teachings that appear odd to mainstream Christians, especially teachings from denominations that claim to be Christian such as the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses. A lot, though, has happened in the non-Catholic religious world since this third edition of "Separated Brethren" came out in 1979; take, for example, the merger of two major Lutheran churches in the United States; the establishment of ultra-traditionalist Catholic groups which have separated from Rome; the rise of Messianic Judaism; renewed debates in the larger Protestant denominations on matters of morality; increased defections of conservative Anglicans/Episcopalians into the Catholic Church; and the role of the Orthodox churches in a post-Communist Russia and Eastern Europe. All these events, plus the hopelessly outdated church figures some 20-plus years old, make it necessary for the book to be revised as soon as possible.

This book has been very useful to me. It's written with a good deal of compassion and insight, and even though I think the authors oversimplify some issues, they manage to get near the heart of what makes sex so difficult for many people. The recommended activities are generally weak and none too useful, but that's true of most self-help books. Even the good ones.

Sexual anorexia is the flip-side to the much-ballyhooed condition of sexual addiction. In sexual anorexia, the sufferer avoids sex to the point of obsession as a means of avoiding intimacy. It can be tied to self-denial in a host of other areas, such as hoarding money, not eating when hungry, etc.

The book examines from where such feelings arise, and how to gently overcome them. It is a great resource for anyone who has ever found themself avoiding intimacy on any level.

Enables those suffering from this disorder to recognize that sex need not be a furtive enemy to be fought & defeated but, instead, a deeply sensual, passionate, fulfilling & spiritual experience that all human beings are innately entitled to.

One of the first books written about the Wake, A Skeleton Key has been largely supplanted by the wealth of Wakean research done since its 1944 publishing date, but its value as a seminal text is undisputed, and many -- including me! -- still find it a very useful guide. It opens with a beautiful introduction by Campbell, then explains the purpose of the text, moving on to a synopsis of the overall story. After that, it breaks down FW page by page, stripping the text of much of its obscurity and serving up possible interpretations via footnotes and bracketed commentary. In this way Campbell and Robinson more or less retell the Wake, "prosifying" the text in an attempt to make it more comprehensible to the lay reader. While this is certainly helpful, it must be said that this technique can come across as being a bit dry, and is certainly no substitute for the breathtaking immersion in Joyce's scintillating river of prose! Additionally, many of Joyce's meanings were overlooked by Campbell and Robinson, and a few of their interpretations have long since been "overturned" by more recent and intensive scholarship. Because of all this, A Skeleton Key has lost some of the polished glow of its initial reception, and some Joyceans have gone so far as to call it almost completely tarnished, finding it occasionally more misleading than helpful. Although there may be some truth to that, I still enjoy this book, and I find its mythopoetic angle -- this is that Joseph Campbell, after all -- uniquely refreshing, and some of his mythological insights possess a brilliance that has rarely been matched. Still, however, it is no substitute for the text itself, but for a work written only a few years after Finnegans Wake was published, A Skeleton Key is a pretty amazing accomplishment! I would not recommend it over a more recent guide, but I do occasionally enjoy turning to it -- like a slightly dowdy but favorite aunt, I still like to curl up by the fire and hear her stories over a cup of tea.

If you have given up on the Wake, try this. The characters and storylines of Joyce's last book (yes, there are real characters and storylines) are brilliantly revealed here. What makes this book really exceptional is that it is not a commentary or series of notes alone, but a paraphrase of the entire Wake. The flavor of Joyce's invented language remains, toned down a little. I even venture the heresy that a person on a desert island with just this book and no copy of the Wake would still find it a good read.

First, please accept my disclaimer for this review: I have been a fan of J. Campbell for several years... The objectivity may be lacking, therefore, in this assessment: freely admitted, and accept my apologies.

Campbell spent ~4 years, if memory serves, on this book. He said he finally had to get away from the Wake because everything he read started to sound as though it was from the Wake..

Having been an avid reader of Joyce for the last 5 years, Campbell's KEY is to my mind THE definitive work on the Wake. Anyone can criticize another's work, and perhaps it is unreasonable to expect a critic to be as brilliant as the victim of his wiseacreing, but to my mind criticisms of this beautiful and inspired work are rather worthless..

The Key is always my primary reference for the Wake. "Annotations" is just a phone book of references; the Key is first-rate scholarship. Infallibility is not a requirement for brilliance, assuming there is merit to criticisms of this work.

But as Joseph Campbell would say, don't buy a book because it is said to be important; buy it because it "catches" you. Campbell's grasp of the Wake is a wonderful help to appreciating the Wake in less than a lifetime.

Avid readers of biographies often note that great men and women in their fields exhibit striking contradictions in their personalities. Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), England's greatest landscape painter, is no exception and those contradictions are highlighted in Anthony Bailey's excellent 1997 biography. Notoriously tight-fisted in his dealings in the art world, Turner was equally capable of striking magnanimity towards his few friends. Jealously protective of his paintings, he left dozens of his masterpieces rotting in his gallery at the time of his death, virtually uncared for. Indifferent towards his two, illegitimate daughters, Turner was reported to have burst into tears at the death of a patron. All these characteristics are illuminated in Bailey's fine study. Organized on thematic, rather than on strictly chronological lines, Bailey's portrait emphasizes the man instead of his work, although Turner's major works are not neglected. Like all good biographers, Bailey is also careful to describe his subject in the context of his times, a tumultuous period in western European history. At bottom, though, Turner was a man devoted to his craft and his political awareness appears rarely to have extended beyond the infighting and maneuvering accompanying his long membership in the Royal Academy. There are many specialist studies of Turner's work, but this may be the best portrait yet of Turner. Still, Bailey has not fully penetrated the sources of Turner's unique vision, (perhaps an impossible task),a vision that baffled many contemporaries and placed Turner "out of his time" in much the same way that Blake appears of a different time, out of synch with the poets of his age. This biography is highly recommended to anyone having more than a passing interest in art or art history.

This very well written biography works well on two levels - a portrait of Turner the man, an endearing eccentric, and Turner, the painter, an artist who painted in both an extremely academic style and a visionary and expressive one. Anthony Bailey artfully weaves in and out of the contradictions in Turner's work and his character. Highly recommended.

Anthony Bailey provides the modern reader with a most readable and interesting account of the painter, Turner, and his life. Mr. Bailey, captures the essence of Turner's character and brilliance as a landscape painter. He leads the reader down a path of vivid description and imagery that encourages and entices one to go on and read more. Turner was a creator of illusion and mystique in paintings. He captured the mood and climate of his country in the mist, storms, clouds, sunsets, and sunrises created with his brush. I had the opportunity to buy Standing in the Sun recently in England, and I found it to be an excellent tribute to a fine English painter by a truly gifted English writer, Anthony Bailey.