This is a extraordinary book. It starts off slow and builds to a climax as shocking and horrendous as any in literature. A great read for mystery and horror buffs!

I too have to confess that this novel immediately reminded me of my youth in the 1960s -watching the old Hammer Studio Films (originating from London). Yes, the Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom dark and gothic pictures of some 35 to 40 years ago. And like those films, this book certainly kept me clued and certainly got in the way of a good night sleep. Expectedly it's dark, it's intriguing, and it's horror, but not at all overdone in questionable detail. Mr. Covino's vivid imagination shows he's a pro at keeping the audience interested and always thinking without paralleling the overdone horror of other novels. At certain points in this story, I was also slightly reminded of Frank Sinatra's 1960's film, "The Detective", where part of that subject matter somewhat overlapped with this one. However, the sophistication of Mr. Covino's thoughts, his characters, and plot development far out weigh the screenplays of many in this genre, particularly the 1960s. Above all, this well-constructed novel is fortunately unlike the many predictable and boilerplate tales so common today (whether in print or on screen). It has imagination. So look out Edgar - this is definitely more than poe for the course.

From the outset, this novel captivates and spins the imagination, bringing the reader to a supernatural world reminiscent of Sir Algernon Blackwood and other spirited 19th century litterateurs. Weaving between scintillating descriptions, authentic dialogue and psychoanalytical debate I was compelled to speedily read on, wishing to discern what fate was in store for the characters and all the while relishing the lush, articulate devices the author chose to magnificently craft this monumental work for me to appreciate. Were I to liken this novel to film, I'd envision it heavily seeped with Britain's Hammer Film Studio influence along with flourishes of Mario Bava. Nay! I don't give this novel a mere 5 star rating. Make it a 10!!!

I'd first encountered this (well, the first half; the "manual" being a collection of notes added for the current printing) around 1970-74. At that time I'd have been middle-school/HS freshman.

The book was quite readable in back then, and should still prove such. One caveat: I have noticed some typesetting problems setting out equations -- fortunately this book isn't meant to be mathematically rigorous. Rather, it shows a number of simple experiments, variations in designs (besides the Dirods, there are the Shake-sphere and Pendulum machines, and Kelvin's water drop generator), and the basic theory (without heavy math) behind these type of generators.

The mid-60's photos and illustrations do pale in comparison to what could be produced today, using simple Word, Photoshop, and Illustrator (or even a 3-D rendering engine), but I find they are not a distraction.

I actually attempted to build the Dirod Jr, based just on memories of the book, during the mid-70's. Unfortunately, using hand-held jig saws, and drills (without even those cheap guide-rails that came out late in the decade) meant I had lots of misaligned rods. My biggest problem was in finding a suitable pickup-brush material.

My problems should not scare anyone else away from trying to build these machines.

Finally, let me mention that if one is considering between this book, and R.A. Ford's "Homemade Lightning"... BUY THIS ONE.

This is a book about electrostatics, not electricity in general. So its focus is how to generate high voltage, how to store it and what to do with it. The emphasis is definitely on the practical side, there is very few theory because the author addresses young people and not professionals.

If you are aiming at a university degree, this book is not for you. Although the author of the book was a university professor, you will find no complicated theories, no frightening ciphers, but some formulas which can be computed with the simplest pocket calculators. The author wrote this book when his long university career had ended. He wanted to entertain young people and motivate them to enjoy experiments and possibly become engineers or scientists.

Moore was a famous experimenter and lecturer who travelled around the world with his apparatus, doing demonstrations. In the 1960s and 1970s, he wrote down his practical experiences in some kind of laboratory book which developed into the book I am talking about. Now you understand why the experiments and pictures in the book look a bit dated.

I like this book for its hands-on approach, but the book also has some aspects I dont like so much. Firstly, it is not a stringent textbook. It is a compilation of instructions on building machines and all kinds of obstacles you run into when trying to get them running. There are many drawings and some photographs in the book; the drawings often being very simple and the b/w images being not very clear. It is annoying that most of the formulas in the book were cut at the left and right sides so that many of them are unreadable or simply wrong because of a missing character at the edge.

American readers might appreciate that the author gives the dimensions of the mechanical parts in inches and feet. Even more annoying to me is the way he mixes up electrical units and dimensions in his formulas. For example, when calculating the energy of a charged capacitor, he gives us this formula: "oules= 1/2 C V", meaning the energy measured in Joules (the J was cut off) is half the product of capacity and voltage. Capacity is a dimension and volt is a unit. But this example also has its bright side. He tells us that (as a rule of thumb) 1/4 Joules is an energy that produces a very unpleasant (but harmless) electrical shock while 10 Joules is a fatal amount of energy.

The book has an index and a bibliography. The index is good but the bibliography is mostly useless nowadays because the referenced books were all published before 1970 and are out of print today. I still like the book, but others may prefer the book by R.A. Ford, Homemade Lightning, ISBN 0-07-137323-3.

With all the respect due a neighbor, I don't think Nicolle read the same book I did. I heartily disagree.

This book was one of my *all-time favorites*, one I checked out of the library until it was dog-eared and I was broke from fines and photocopy charges. I'm very glad to see it in print!

This book was fascinating and enlightening. It made electrostatics crystal clear to me. Perhaps its only fault is that it rambles like a novel without a textbook-like structure. But this is also part of its charm, and may be why it's so digestible.

_Electrostatics_ is as much a how-to book as anything. Designs for electrostatic generators and demos abound, including a section in the back with detailed instructions on building two or three of Moore's "dirod" static generators. ( I've never built one, but I'm dying to get started.. and I imagine they make ultimate science fair projects for the kiddies.)

I love this book. I'm getting a copy as soon as I pay Uncle Sam his due.

The author writes from the level of his initiation with love and respect for the Religion. Dont expect any depth or fireworks (if you want that read Wande Abimbola) if you just want an introduction to Santeria read and enjoy.

It is hard to quantify and get accurate material about what is essentially a secret religion. It has maintained it's strength through secrecy and privacy. This book is a basic level, not an advanced level or something that would be perfection to learning. I would reccommend several books, at least a dozen to get a clear framework.

There are mix reviews of this book, some like it; some do not, as everything in life. But if you want to learn this "History" of the Lucumi religion known as Santeria as practiced in Cuba, then this is really not that bad of a book. This is not one of those, "How to Books", it is as I have said, more of a historical prospective. Good for those who just want a basic understanding of the Santeria. It also touches on the Palo Mayombe, and Monte, and gives a bit of the differences between the different people of Africa and their Spiritual backgrounds.

A lot of people do not like it, or like to discredit it, but honestly the information is well researched, and aquarate. All done in the most High Respects and in good taste to the Santeria Lucumi Religion.

I've been reading various books and reseraching onlie lately and this is the worst book I ever seen on the subject. In fact, this is not even a book it is printed on an ink-jet printer and doesn't even have page numbers, etc. If it has anything good content wise that wouldn't bother me but there is really no useful information in in either. ... I would recommend "How to Hydroponics" by Keith Roberto as it has a decent print quality and lot's of photos and a step by step structure.

I live in Manhattan and had used this book as a guide to buy a small commercially available system. I have used this reference for about a year. The section on planting and lighting is excellent. Like the book says I have flowers in January. This year I will try growing mellons. I took key pages out and taped them next to my system for references. It was an easy read. I like the poetic style of writing.

I borrowed my girlfriend's copy of the book. It is awesome. An easy book to understand. I would like to learn more about what brands of regular plant food they suggest,they should write another book about that and maybe make recommendations on where to buy premade systems. I give it a high rating because I made my system in a few hours with one of those premade table top fountains.

While I enjoyed reading this book and now run the OS on my computer this book is not perfect. For one installing a printer took me through three sections with very little information just a sort of run around. I did get my printer installed but it is isn't complete. The Word Perfect 8 is not on the CD as far as I can tell it is a free download but Corel no longer offer it and the company that took over the Corel OS have nothing yet made. Now I find the OS provided very good and the book was fun and relaxing to read. I haven't finished it and I agree with another reviewer that it goes into depth on topics but I think generally it is a bit thin on important configuration of hardware issues. not a bad book I would recommend it if you need to install Linux OS on a Windows hard drive.

Pros:

Probably one of the best introduction books to a Linux OS currently in print. It also deals with Corel Linux, which is a lot easier to use than a Red Hat. The chapters are organized coherently, and if your objective is to get a Linux OS up and running, you can do it simply by installing from the supplied CDROM. It also comes with WordPerfect 8.

Cons:

The book deals with Corel Linux. Even though this is not necessarily bad, Red Hat may be the better choice if you are serious in implementing Linux in your system.

From Personal Experience:

This was the easiest and most stable Linux OS I installed. I have tried Red Hat and a few others, but the Linux OS that came with this book was definately the best. The one click install option is something every Linux OS should include.

Sections(6 Parts, 30 Chapters, 4 Appendixes):

Part 1 Introduction to Corel Linux: A generic introduction section that is usually included in a starter book. You will be able to install Corel Linux OS and start using it with some ease if you read this section.

Part 2 The K Desktop Environment: This section deals with basic configuration of the OS.

Part 3 Running Your Corel Linux System: A continuation of Part 2. This section has useful information about running and maintaining your OS.

Part 4 Essential System Administration: The authors lump "everything else" into this section. It might have been better if they split the programming part and hardware configuration part into two sections. The explanations they give are pretty good, even though the programming section may not be helpful that much to non-programmers.

Part 5 WordPerfect 8 for Linux: An introduction to WordPerfect 8. If you plan to use WordPerfect as your main text editor, this section is worth your time.

Part 6 Appendixes: Appendix B which explains Shell Commands and Appendix C which has links to useful websites are the most useful out of the 4 Appendixes. Appendix D has some sample Initialization Scripts which may be useful for the advanced user.

Once I began to read the book I couldn't put it down. The book is well written. The way it explains each issue is excellent. This book is a good start to this alternative OS.

I reviewed this book hoping to find a decent introductory overview of the history and basics of music. At the start, this text looked promising. It featured an accompanying interactive CD set with samples of the music overviewed in the text and appeared to cover a wide range of music.

What I found was thoroughly dissappointing - not necessarily the material itself, but the way the book was written. A reoccurring theme of political correctness made me want to gag at times, and at others it prompted only dissapointment at important parts of the history of music that were neglected in the place of politically correct anecdotes about multi-culturalism and entire chapters devoted to obscure composers who are included solely because they happened to be female.

The politically correct themes of this 500 page book ranged from the casual use of extreme PC terminology such as "Before the Common Era" (BCE) instead of the now politically incorrect "Before Christ" (BC) to more bizarre ventures into the realm of modern artistic "Electronic Music." At times the attention paid to modern eccentricism is an embarrassing reflection upon the author in my mind. He names and gives brief biographies of more obscure post modernists, figures in "electronic" music, and neo-romanticist composers than he does for the ENTIRE BAROQUE AND CLASSICAL PERIODS OF MUSIC COMBINED.

The detriment of doing this does not go unnoticed. The author completely neglected any mention whatsoever of the contributions of significant composers including Georg Philip Telemann, Dimitri Kabelevsky, Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan), William Byrd, and Gustav Holst. Similarly the contributions of Correlli, Johann Strauss, Elgar, Couperin, Gluck, CPE Bach, Orff, Borodin, and countless others recieve only brief mentions of a line or two.

Amazingly, after having left out so many significant composers, the author finds room to devote the better part of an entire chapter to the obscure Baroque era harpsichordist Elisabeth-Claude Jaquet De La Guerre and even features a composition of hers, even though she was known more as a musician than a composer and even though her musical contribution was far less than any of the above mentioned composers who were neglected by the author. Jaquet De La Guerre, at best, is an obscure footnote in the history of music, especially compared to giants like Johann Strauss (who was largely neglected) and composers of some of the most significant works of music in history, such as Holst (the Planets), Orff (Carmina Burana), and Corelli (father of the concerto grosso, an important musical form itself that was also discussed in only a sentence or two by the author).

Almost laughably, the author, in light of all his omissions, takes time out to mention modern "ska" music, Curt Cobain, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Ice Cube," Michael Jackson, and the Jefferson Airplane. At least the reader can rest assured that the Jefferson Airplane got paid more attention by the author than one of the most prolific composers in history (Telemann)!

There is a newer version - eighth edition

I had read this book when I was a music student, and thought, at the time, it was one of the most interesting books ever assigned by any teacher. I am now a music teacher and have been recommending this book to the students who came to me asking for a good music appreciation book. To say everyone is happy with the book is to understate the fact. The book, indeed, speaks for itself!

I enjoyed reading Dr. Horowitz's other book EMERGING VIRUSES: AIDS AND EBOLA so I was anxious to purchase this book, which I did at one of his personal appearances, which I also attended with other family members. However, as a Catholic (and a well-read one, I might add, where it comes down to masonic conspiracy theories) I was dismayed to see that this book is nothing more than a rehash of the old, tired evangelical Protestant accusations calling the Catholic Church ALWAYS masonic, etc. One would like to point out to Horowitz and others' who hold this sort of bunk as the TRUTH that the Church held auto excommunications for ANY Catholic (clergy, laity, etc.) who joined the lodge - that is, until the Second Vatican Council. The Apostolic Pre V2 Catholic Church always UNEQUIVOCALLY condemned masonry; and its not for nothing that the masons themselves have always called the Catholic Church their primary enemy. It is TRUE, however, that there has always been a movement in the lodges to overtake the Church(The ALTA VENDITA document, etc.) Many Catholics (including myself) believe they did succeed in that with Vatican II. But that does not excuse any misrepresentations of the Church prior to that infamous Council. Stick with his first book and save your money on this one.

The book reads like a novel and story. There are several themes in the book which lead one to believe that either the authors are delusional or have a message of great importance. You are challenged to believe that the authors are prophets chosen by God to bring out the message to save the world. As some of the ideas are so far out, this reviewer has a hard time at present to accept the whole work as completely true. Yet the book is well researched. Conspiracy theory and saving the world all in the same book. Facts mixed with fiction are interspersed in a new age revelation of the use of sound, light, and number codes for healing, creating, destorying and saving the world. The second author, Joseph B. supposedly has talks with Jesus, angels, etc. who have revealed to him important tools necessary for our planetary survival. The messianic ideas challenge the imagination. Perhaps other readers will have the time and energy to devote to validating the ideas proposed in this work. The book is certainly interesting and has many fascinating ideas.

The important topic of Bible codes has been treated from the perspectives of the various researchers. What is one to make of the situation when there is no consensus? Attune to ones own inner wisdom! Has the reader asked to be overshadowed by divine hierarchy when reading these books that wisdom should pour forth into his conscious mind? Such a practice would transform the whole experience of evaluating the material presented and preserve his own integrity.

This reader arrived at the most meaningful clarification of Bible codes in Dr. Leonard Horowitz's book Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse. Enlightening!

subjects are old and out of date. For example, modeling of the eye, (...). This books seems like an attempt to introduce you to the research of a few professors who are trying to recruit graduate students. I found little educational value in it.

I've used this book now in 2 classes (including one taught by an author of one of the chapters) and have both times found the book hard to use. It is full of so many small errors you can never be sure whether the problems you are having are because you don't understand the material, or if there is another mistake in that section. Very frustrating. The problems are not limited to explicit errors either, there are issues with the presentation that makes me think it was poorly edited as well. Style, order, and omission of important points are among the sins. Some sections are pretty good, though.

The book is a good value for a textbook, however (it's huge!), and provides lots of useful information on a wide variety of BME-related topics. Just make sure you have someone to help you spot the mistakes.

This text offers a lot of good information. This book provides an excellent overview to the field and is easy to read. I am a junior and an engineering student at Iowa State. This book has helped me understand how many different aspects there are within BME to specialize with in my degree and also elaborate on engineering fundamentals. I highly recommend it!

Deloria uses the same tired stereotypes to describe relations between Indians and Whites that AIM and other Native activists have offered up for years. His sections on the use of Native spirituality by non-Natives is horribly racist and shows little understanding (or reading) of work in the field. The book plays strongly on feelings of white guilt and minority sympathy. Instead of working to build understanding and bridges bewteen cultures that have been bitterly divided by historical injustices and conflicts - in order to find a way to peaceably inhabit North America together - Deloria continues to inflame feelings of hatred and animosity. Further, the book is developed in a horribly dry and tedious manner, devoid of life or human - as opposed to sensational - feeling. For a better overview of Native/non-Native spirituality issues, read Stephen Buhner's One Spirit Many Peoples. Better perspectives on finding common ground between Indians and non-Indians can be found in the work of Chief Dan George, Ed MCGaa, Brooke Medicine Eagle, Black Elk, and Fools Crow. NOT recommended unless you are doing research or are forced to read it in a college class.

This book was required for me to read for my class. I found the book very dull and dry. It left you thirsty and quite annoyed. It took too, long for Deloria to say what he wanted to say. The book kept pulling you along and made you very tired and sleepy. It is an excellent book to read if you have trouble sleeping.

Overall, this is an excellent work on how "anglo American" culture has taken Native culture in such things as fraternal/masonic organizations (Improved Order of Red Men), youth organizations (Boy Scouts, Woodcraft Indians, Camp Fire Girls, etc), Indian Hobbyist groups, and more.

However, I would have like to seen more substantial coverage in these areas. As a Boy Scout Leader and Arrowman, his coverage of Native culture use in youth groups could have gone further. This is little mention of the Order of the Arrow and other honor socities formed within the Boy Scouts based on Native culture (and the author is himself an arrowman!). And I don't recall if he mentioned the Y-Indian Guide programs!

Still, a good work in this area