This book is very well structured and easy to learn from. The content is easy to read, good examples and very referenceable.

I highly recommend this book. The only issue is its availability, I find it hard to believe that the publishers have not cashed in on this book (did n't republish - currently out of print) as it is a real winner and a gem to have.

Listed below are the chapters.

1. PL/SQL At A Glance
2. Writing Simple Routines
3. Program Flow Control
4. Accessing the Database
5. Complex Datatypes
6. Creating Programs
7. Using Object Types
8. PL/SQL In Different Environments
9. PL/SQL And Application Performance
10. PL/SQL Fundamentals
11. Blocks, Stored Programs, Packages, Database Triggers And Stored Types
12. Declarations
13. Procedural Constructs
14. Built In Functions
15. Oracle 8 Supplied Packages
16. Extended SQL And PL/SQL Support
17. External File I/O And Background Job Control
18. Support of LOB Datatypes
19. Event Notification And Intersession Communication Support
20. Advanced Queuing Support
21. Miscellaneous Packages

This book takes you through some really great examples and includes everything you need to know about PL/SQL. I use it as a reference all day long when writing my code.

Book contained excellent examples; I have read several PL/SQL books and found this one very insightful especially for developers. You will be able to tell that the authors are bonafide developers relating real experiences; they not only explain the technical issues but how they applied in the real-world applications - highly recommended for serious developers.

This book is excellent. It is well written and illustrated.
Easy to follow instructions and covers all subjects that new moms might be concerned about.
I have not even delived my baby yet and this is the book I have turned to the most. Especially when I get scared and wonder if I will be able to handle it all.This book will put you at ease with its loving and down to earth tone. Most books on pregnancy and post delivery make you feel even more scared with their need for perfection.This author has found a way to anwser all questions without making you feel bad.
Very good tips for moms after delivery. ( vitamin cocktail)
Also includes fathers.

From changing diapers to ear aches, this book covers it all. My husband and I have really appreciated all the information this book contains. We use it for any and all the questions we have about our little girl. I recommend this for all new parents and parents-to-be.

This book focuses on the care of the baby as well as all of the issues of new parents. It has excellent diets and exercises, and it guides one through the emotions of new parenthood. My husband loves to read the sections devoted to new fathers. Our Baby: The First Year is a gem and should be read by all new parents.

Review by Kenneth B. Matheny, Ph.D., ABPP, Regents Professor and Co-director, Counseling Psychology Program, Georgia State University. Phone (404) 651-2550, FAX (404) 651-1160 Overcoming Depression is an expertly fashioned manual for clients suffering from depression, dysphoria, or sub-clinical mood disorders. Mark Gilson, founder and director of the Atlanta Center for Cognitive Therapy, and Arthur Freeman, chair of the Department of Psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, bring their considerable expertise to bear on the treatment of depression. Both authors have made major contributions to the cognitive therapy literature in the past, and their current volume promises to give hope to clients who have had the sunlight in their lives dimmed by the heavy clouds of depression. Readers are taught that there are specific reasons for their low mood states that can be identified and changed through concerted effort. This volume, like David Burns' Feeling Good Handbook, guides the reader through a series of self-examinations that are critical to the understanding and treatment of mood disorders. Although the clear conceptualization and the highly readable nature of the writing allow the work to be used as a stand-alone self-help manual, the authors encourage readers to seek the professional assistance of therapists. In addition to championing the use of cognitive therapy for the treatment of depression, the authors also present responsibly the merit of psychopharmacology as an adjunctive treatment. The book is replete with practical examples that clearly demonstrate the recommended treatments are simply and elegantly offered. To audit the reader's mastery of the content, brief review quizzes are presented at the end of each chapter. The theoretical background for the volume is drawn from the cognitive therapies of Aaron T. Beck and Albert Ellis. Gilson and Freeman acknowledge the multifaceted nature of the causes of mood disorders and suggest a holistic approach to its treatment. The acronym BEAST, is used to explain the components of the approach: B is for body; E is for emotion; A is for action to be taken; S is for stressful situations; and T is for thoughts. The primary focus is placed on aspects of wellness such as nutrition and exercise (the B for body) and thinking (the T for thoughts). The authors discuss three factors involved in creating and sustaining depression: The Cognitive Triad, cognitive distortions, and self-sabotaging schemas and assumptions. The cognitive triad refers to negative views about oneself, the world, and the future. Cognitive distortions refer to the self-defeating response sets or perceptual sieves that are not validated by others. And schemas are described as hierarchically arranged, coordinated sets of abstract ideas about self, the world, and relationships. These schemas are said to underlie and maintain one's belief system and automatic thoughts. The meaning of schemas is decidedly less distinct than the meaning of cognitive distortions or cognitive triad, but the concept seems to be used in a manner similar to the way in which Piaget used the term, to the manner in which Bandura used the concept of "rule governed behavior," and to the manner in which social psychologists use the term, attributional style. Such schemas are said to be formed in early life and can be up-dated through the process of accommodation, Piaget's concept for the learning, through experience, of new mental templates of the world. This concept of schemas appears to interface nicely with the use of unconscious dynamics by analytic therapists. This volume should prove especially helpful to cognitive therapists in their efforts to correct the irrational beliefs and distorted perceptual processes of clients. The reading of selected portions of the volume from week to week would likely prepare the client to profit more fully from the content of therapy sessions. Clients who dutifully complete the thought monitoring exercises will greatly assist their therapists in understanding the faulty beliefs, cognitive distortions, and underlying schemas that are responsible for their depression. Moreover, it seems to me that these exercises, so appropriately prescribed for uncovering the hurtful content of the client's thinking, could be complemented by the mindfulness exercises of the consciousness disciplines and the use of awareness continuum by Gestalt therapists. I salute Drs. Gilson and Freeman for adding another powerful tool to our repertoire of aids for clients suffering from depression, dysphoria, or undiagnosed mood disorders. I plan to own multiple copies for use in prescribing home expansion exercises for my clients.

Review by Kenneth B. Matheny, Ph.D., ABPP, Regents Professor and Co-director, Counseling Psychology Program, Georgia State University. Phone (404) 651-2550, FAX (404) 651-1160

Overcoming Depression is an expertly fashioned manual for clients suffering from depression, dysphoria, or sub-clinical mood disorders. Mark Gilson, founder and director of the Atlanta Center for Cognitive Therapy, and Arthur Freeman, chair of the Department of Psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, bring their considerable expertise to bear on the treatment of depression. Both authors have made major contributions to the cognitive therapy literature in the past, and their current volume promises to give hope to clients who have had the sunlight in their lives dimmed by the heavy clouds of depression. Readers are taught that there are specific reasons for their low mood states that can be identified and changed through concerted effort.

This volume, like David Burns' Feeling Good Handbook, guides the reader through a series of self-examinations that are critical to the understanding and treatment of mood disorders. Although the clear conceptualization and the highly readable nature of the writing allow the work to be used as a stand-alone self-help manual, the authors encourage readers to seek the professional assistance of therapists. In addition to championing the use of cognitive therapy for the treatment of depression, the authors also present responsibly the merit of psychopharmacology as an adjunctive treatment. The book is replete with practical examples that clearly demonstrate the recommended treatments are simply and elegantly offered. To audit the reader's mastery of the content, brief review quizzes are presented at the end of each chapter.

The theoretical background for the volume is drawn from the cognitive therapies of Aaron T. Beck and Albert Ellis. Gilson and Freeman acknowledge the multifaceted nature of the causes of mood disorders and suggest a holistic approach to its treatment. The acronym BEAST, is used to explain the components of the approach: B is for body; E is for emotion; A is for action to be taken; S is for stressful situations; and T is for thoughts. The primary focus is placed on aspects of wellness such as nutrition and exercise (the B for body) and thinking (the T for thoughts).

The authors discuss three factors involved in creating and sustaining depression: The Cognitive Triad, cognitive distortions, and self-sabotaging schemas and assumptions. The cognitive triad refers to negative views about oneself, the world, and the future. Cognitive distortions refer to the self-defeating response sets or perceptual sieves that are not validated by others. And schemas are described as hierarchically arranged, coordinated sets of abstract ideas about self, the world, and relationships. These schemas are said to underlie and maintain one's belief system and automatic thoughts. The meaning of schemas is decidedly less distinct than the meaning of cognitive distortions or cognitive triad, but the concept seems to be used in a manner similar to the way in which Piaget used the term, to the manner in which Bandura used the concept of "rule governed behavior," and to the manner in which social psychologists use the term, attributional style. Such schemas are said to be formed in early life and can be up-dated through the process of accommodation, Piaget's concept for the learning, through experience, of new mental templates of the world. This concept of schemas appears to interface nicely with the use of unconscious dynamics by analytic therapists.

This volume should prove especially helpful to cognitive therapists in their efforts to correct the irrational beliefs and distorted perceptual processes of clients. The reading of selected portions of the volume from week to week would likely prepare the client to profit more fully from the content of therapy sessions. Clients who dutifully complete the thought monitoring exercises will greatly assist their therapists in understanding the faulty beliefs, cognitive distortions, and underlying schemas that are responsible for their depression. Moreover, it seems to me that these exercises, so appropriately prescribed for uncovering the hurtful content of the client's thinking, could be complemented by the mindfulness exercises of the consciousness disciplines and the use of awareness continuum by Gestalt therapists.

I salute Drs. Gilson and Freeman for adding another powerful tool to our repertoire of aids for clients suffering from depression, dysphoria, or undiagnosed mood disorders. I plan to own multiple copies for use in prescribing home expansion exercises for my clients.

Gilson & Freeman's "Taming the Depression BEAST," a client workbook, will be an important addition to the field. Easily readable, it communicates complex concepts in an understandable manner, and the take-home message- that depression is a treatable illness- comes through clearly. It provides accurate information to clients about both cognitive therapy and antidepressant medications. There is no doubt that this manual will be helpful to many clients and their families.

I've never read a better, more concise explanation of a beginning-to-beginning performance evaluation and management system. In fact, I surprised myself by getting a little wrapped up in the storyline of the fictional case study being used to illustrate the steps in the process.

"Page-turner" isn't a term usually applied to management books, but this one almost deserves it. The actual "story" itself is sometimes almost painful as fiction -- I really wish the authors had consulted a dialogue editor -- but the story acts as a thread to connect the key elements and illustrate some of the issues faced when building performance management systems.

The authors' thesis is that executives and managers spend too much time tracking too many performance indicators, often focusing time on unimportant measures or indicators outside their scope of control. Front-line employees and supervisors are uncertain what they're being measured against, and feel they are powerless to influence quality or efficiency.

The performance scorecards approach can be initiated at any management level. Through a series of data collection and staff meetings, goals, objectives, indicators, and responsibilities can be agreed upon. Each manager, project, and even many employees can have "scorecards" that interlock with everyone else's in the organization, reflecting the interdependencies required for organizational success.

There are six key steps in performance scorecards: Collect, Create, Cultivate, Cascade, Connect, and Confirm.

There are strong team-building aspects to this model. Not only does it stress interdependence, it also fosters decentralization of responsibility, authority, and accountability. Further, it encourages openness about results and how they are expressed and communicated.

The process does depend on a quantitative as well as qualitative expression of indicators and results. This may scare off some service organizations. However, the team-based, consensus approach to determining a way to translate the qualitative to the quantitative minimizes the friction and suspicions of "unfairness" in the process.

The process allows no wiggle room for the employee who says that a particular objective or outcome is not measurable. If it's not measurable, then it shouldn't be an objective, according to the authors.

The authors are consultants, and they stress the importance of a trained facilitator as part of the process. The investment is well worth the outcomes in employee morale as well as productivity and success in fulfilling a mission and being able to demonstrate it. The book contains numerous illustrations, figures, and a few tools to help the narrative explanation of the process.

Outstanding summarizes this book very well! Richard and Mark have a very common sense yet powerful approach in helping organizations link their strategies, processes and people together. This book is very easy to read and difficult to put down. They explain their methodology through the use of an example in which an organization implements the scorecards, walking the reader through each of the six steps in scorecard development. I wish business leaders would read and implement this type of a system, forcing them to look closer at their processes and people and how they tie together to impact business performance. Highly recommend this to anyone for use in business, but could even be applied very well to one's personal life. Thanks guys!!

The various perspectives of the scorecard allow you to apply measurement to the critical areas of your business performance. We curently use the scorecard in our business and the application of it forces you to ask probing questions and to measure the right things. Richard and Mark, both of whom have helped us design our scorecard, are experts in this area. Their book avoids the all-too-prevalent techno-jargon and leads the reader on an everyday experience we can all identify with. I don't remember the last time I read and learned a measurement tool that actually left me feeling entertained! A great read!

Musa's translations preserve all the brilliant visionary beauty & humble humanness of Petrarch's voice. & where would western literature be without Petrarch? He was one of the main people to bring Europe out of the Middle Ages.

By any Earthly measure, Petrarch was a genius. Father of Humanism, Philosopher, Diplomat, Poet, Theologian...these are all terms we can fling at his ghost. Yet what make of this obsession, this idolatry?

Musa's rendition sings with the music of the sphere's--let no one fool you on that score. I doubt that these 366 little songs could suffer too badly at anyone's hands, but my money's with Musa in English.

Moving right along and back, what do we make of this? Time and again Petrarch tried to make these verses seem a vulgar trifle in the greater scheme of things. His actions give the lie to this. He revised them continually over the span of his life. They could not possibly be more polished.

His spiritual life stumbled upon this altar. He wrote as much to Augustine in his secret book.

One feels that his art about Laura impaired him far more than the real Laura ever did. What to make of this?

Petrarch was a very important, influential figure in european history, & this book offers authoritative translations of his lyric poems. In fact, Mark Musa did so well translating the poems that sometimes the english sounds better than the original italian. With this bilingual edition you can look at both as they face each on the pages.

These books are such gems, and Poppleton in Fall is another one. We love these books. They are funny, orginal and very entertaining, great for boys and girls and parents will enjoy reading them as well!

Our names are Anthony, Janae, Danielle, and Nicholas. We are 2nd graders from Lockport, NY. We have read all of the Poppleton books with Ms. Fletcher. The book we liked best is Poppleton in Fall. The characters are Poppleton, Cherry Sue, and Zacko. Anthony's favorite part is when Poppleton stormed out the door. Janae's favorite part is when Poppleton went to the pancake breakfast. Danielle's favorite part is when Poppleton met the geese. Nicholas liked the part when Poppleton ate the pancakes for breakfast. We hope Cynthia Rylant writes a lot more Poppleton books!

I am a 2nd grader at an elementary school in Lockport, NY. My name is Anthony. I have read all of the Poppleton books. My favorite book is Poppleton in Fall. The characters are Poppleton, Cherry Sue, and Zacko. The best part is when Poppleton stormed out the door. I hope Cynthia Rylant writes a lot more Poppleton stories!

This 1965 textbook is arguably the most scholarly textbook ever written for communication engineers. Although the Proakis and Sklar (and also McKay) books are the standard textbooks for digital communications and estimation/detection theory nowadays; they don't even come close to this textbook. The Proakis textbook has gotten the unfortunate reputation as having the most comprehensive treatment regarding "hard-core" communication theory. However, the divergence between modern textbooks which are "practical" versus older textbooks which focus more on "theory" is very clear. Somewhere along the way, today's textbooks have truly lost much of the hard-core theory, and this book has it.

The Chapters are as follows: (1) Introduction (2) Probability Theory (3)Random Waveforms (4)Optimum Receiver Principles (5)Efficient Signaling for Message Sequences (6) Implementation of Coding Systems (7) Important Channel Models (8) Waveforms Communications and appendixes (A-D)

The chapter on probability is bar-none the most comprehensive I have ever seen in any digital communications book, and covers multidimensional pdf's and explains the significance of moments and other things you might only find in a book dedicated specifically to stochastic processes. The coverage of the topics on signal-spaces is fantastic, and the chapter on optimum receivers is also extremely thorough despite the age of this book. Wozencrafts treatment of "channel capacity" and the derivations which he provides are unlike anything in any other book, covering the sphere packing argument quite thoroughly (the only other author to ever get this comprehensive was Shannon himself, and Pierce in his 1960'is vintage book on information theory). His coverage of various important bounds is covered very well (i.e. Chernoff bound) such that even an undergraduate can understand it. Other chapters are equally well written. No, the book obviously is not as up to date as Sklar or Proakis and doesn't cover alot of the more "practical" aspects of modern communications.... but if you want a die-hard communication theory book... this is a classic must-have.

This book is the best "text book" ever written for graduate-level digital communications, though some contents of the latter half part of this book is outdated.

The highlight of this book is its excellence in explaning "signal space concept" and "sufficiency of observables for optimum detection". Forget other textbooks and references you have. Read this book. I haven't yet found any other book that has better explanation on these topics.

I used parts of this book in a digital communications course at UIUC. The book is written in a very lucid manner, atleast the chapters that I referred to - 3, 4 & 5. They provide a solid understanding to the subject material and it may seem mind boggling that even though the book was written way back in 1965 it is still a classic and is considered as one of the best references for optimum receiver principles. It makes for some smooth and sufficient reading (chaps. 3,4,5) when compared to other books such as that by Proakis etc. A must buy for any person in the Communication Area!

"The Quotable Runner: Great Moments of Wisdom, Inspiration, Wrongheadedness, and Humor" is a gift book, but for the runner, it is a fun gift.

Runners aren't known for effusive Knute Rockne sorts of locker room speeches, or Yogi Berra witticisms, but, as seen here, they should be.

Quoted here are great runners and writers about running, from Shakespeare to high school mile record holder, Alan Webb.

Read what Lasse Viren, Emil Zatopek, Bill Bowerman, and Steve Prefontaine all had to say.

Readers of "Runner's World" may know many of these names, but there are some unexpected voices. Oprah Winfrey is there more than once, including, "I'm never going to run another marathon."

There's honesty. Distance star Rob de Castella on marathoning, "If you feel bad after 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal."

There's wit. Don Kardong frankly said about registering a race with hills, "You entered a marathon with hills? You idiot."

Then there is the curious odd quotes. Finland's great Olympic marathoner, Lasse Viren enthusiastically revealed his secret to racing success, "Reindeer milk!" Whatever might be dubious about Viren's claim is difficult to argue. Viren won four gold medals.

A treat at the end is a few lines on each person quoted, a sort of mini-bio. I enjoyed learning the new names, and accomplishments of those quoted.

I fully recommend, "The Quotable Runner." It'll put a spark in your day as you head out on the lonely road on runners know.

Anthony Trendl

This book was given to me by a training partner a few days before my first marathon. Just flipping through the book, I found quote after quote that I connected with. Others gave me great inspiration. They were so good, I decided to read the book from cover to cover and couldn't put the book down. I love Mark's comentary on each subject "Training", "Coaches", "Fear", "Pain", "The Marathon". I want to stock up on this book so I can give it as gifts to my running friends!

I just finished this book and it has been such an inspiration!! It is boiling over with insight and wisdom about what we all feel as runners. It touches the human spirit in the struggles and triumphs related to the experience of running and everyday life. Each chapter is filled with quotes from famous runners about such subjects as: The Starting Line, Coaches, Training, Fear, Racing, Hills, The Marathon, The Mile, Mind Over Matter, Pain, The Olympics, The Finish Line, Victories and Defeats. This book really captures the SOUL of running!

"Rebel Radio" is inspiring, moving, and impossible to put down, and not just for radio fans. It's the story of how a small band of young rebels put a guerrilla station (like a pirate station) on the air and kept it there for years against all odds, told in their own voices. We see them develop as journalists, as artists, and as revolutionaries. The Salvadorans are resourceful, creative, and audacious beyond belief. They tear down the station at a moment's notice and carry it off on their backs, staying just ahead of the government forces who want to destroy them, then taunting the generals on the air, like Wily Coyote and the Roadrunner. You'll fall in love with these people; they're fearsomely brave and committed, yet they have their funny and deeply human moments too. You'll want to run off to El Salvador immediately to see the museum that honors Radio Venceremos.

This book's story is a little example of how cruel power could be against a people. El salvador gave the world some decades ago one of the most gallards fights in order to preserve freedom, justice, wealth, independence, work. Power, land and money inside a fisk and in the other hand a defendless people, armed only with reason. The resulting damages of salvadoran pro- USA death squads are horrendous: massacres, sexual violations, catholic nuns, union leaders, peasants, teachers, children killed. And the School of the Americas is still open :)... And still current El Salvador government refuses to cooperate with justice.... ... A great homage for those killed.

I bought this book in El Salvador in one of the few visits that I have made to my natal land, the strugles that all the fighters have to go thru to keep the radio waves opened for all the listeners was horrendous. The book tell the story of the freedom fighters moving all the equipment from site to site and hiding it from the attacks of the salvadorean army. The heroism displayed or let's say described in the book is to be admired. I am not a former guerrilla member nor do I like comunism in any form, but being salvadorean myself I could not hold some tears after reading some of the chapters in the book.

When I was a little boy, this story brought me incredible delight over and over again. When I saw this film as a young man in my 20's, it brought me delight again, letting me relive my childhood all over. As an adult, I just introduced the book and the film to my 2 year old daughter, and once again this classic story has brought me delight. My daughter, who is usually only interested in Elmo and Barney, stood riveted through both the pages of the book and the scenes of the film, as Pascal and his balloon let her imagination soar. I cannot recommend this story more than to say 'no child should grow up without it'.

THIS BOOK GIVES ME A WARM HEART AS I REMEMBER READING IT AS A CHILD. I GIVE THIS BOOK TO ALL THE CHILDREN IN MY LIFE AND AT LAST I HAVE A LITTLE BOY TO BUY IT FOR AND READ IT TO. I CANT WAIT.......

As a very young boy, I remember asking my mother to read The Red Balloon to me a hundred times or more; something must have truly spoken to me in the story of this child with the ever-faithful balloon friend. On par with Saint-Exuperie (author of "Le Petit Prince"), the metaphors in this 'children's book' run a gamut of complex emotions -- from learning love for friends, to feeling different and expelled, a sense of loss,... but then ultimately reclaimed, finding joy in one's own self. There's sadness, but also understanding, as the balloon's 'life' goes. The lessons here are obvious ones, and I am glad they were imparted on me at an early age. I highly recommend this title to kids 3 to 8 -- particularly if they seem introverted or shy. They might not always be so, once they learn to let go! FYI, you may find copies of The Red Balloon currently (12/12/99) at your local Resoration Hardware; thanks guys! Oh, and don't forget to read to a child! :-)