If you're looking for a book that explores the true character of Martha Jefferson and her relationship with her husband...THEN DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS. I can only assume that the other glowing reviews on this page were posted by the author's family. This book is not history--but romance- and it's not even well-written. Anyone associated with this thing should be embarrassed.

Martha Jefferson did not live long enough to see her husband enter the White House. Because of that, so little was known about her. Through Kelly's painstakingly detailed research, intuition, and clairvoyance, not to mention her memories of love for Thomas, she has retraced Martha's life, and earned the respect of her fellow Jefferson historians. Martha's life was not always joyful and she struggled with her health. Rather than being a romantisized view of a famous President's wife, this is a portrait of a real woman, with the backdrop of the reality of those times.

This book gave me a better feel for Thomas Jefferson the living, breathing, feeling man than any biography of him that I had read, and gave me, too, a believable portrait of Martha Jefferson as plantation wife. It is a vivid, living description of colonial life, by an author who has made recognized scholarly contributions to our understanding of the time. I don't see how anyone interested in colonial and revolutionary America can fail to be interested in reading this gripping book.

The book doesn't compare to other DCOM books on the market

The book is out of date. I've found it very interesting

I wish I had read this book earlier, When most of the books dealt with a lot of theory, this is one book which makes you feel like you handled a real-life project.The sample Programme is very generic and shouldinterest one and all, He delves systematically into the subject. If one were uncomfortable with MIDL, I suggest he/she go thro' this book and come out all the wiser. I have yet to see a book which deals with conversion problems and solutions while converting a client-server model to a web model. A few things I found lacking were examples on threaded apartments and surrogates. But I give it full marks still because the parts covered are given such a nice treatment.

Many of the above reviews are contradictory... Here's the scoop as I see it... THIS BOOK: MULTIVARIABLE CALC is for the last several chapters (13-18)... Much of Calc III covers atleast 13 and 14... If you are in Calc I or II, use the SINGLE VARIABLE Solutions manual (Chapters 1-12)... Just straightening things out... Hope this helps!

Unbelievable solution manual. Shows how to work out problems, so you don't want to burn your book after working for three hours on change of variable triple integrals, etc. A definite must for the last few chapters of the Stewart book.

This book is a guide of Chapters 11 to the end of the Stewart Transcendental Calculus book. It is just as good as the single version edition, with clear answers that are well drawn out.

Katsuichi's investigation is useful when used as a historical complement to (and NOT a replacement or refutation of) Iris Chang's "Rape of Nanking", which courageously and correctly examines the top-down imperial framework that made the genocide possible, as well as exhaustively detailed firsthand accouts. Former CIA officer, thinktank chief and CIA asset/apologist Frank Gibney attempts, laughably, to discredit Chang, and UTTERLY fails. It is easy to see Gibney's agenda: a limited hangout that pins the genocide on 1. ground troops under pressure and 2. the "right wing".

This book was apparently published to disprove Iris Chan's claim that Nanking is a "forgotten" Houlocaust. For better and for worse, it is definately NOT forgotten - if only because some people are still quite noisily denying that it happened at all.
But today, most people in Japan - including the majority of rightists - believe that it happened, thanks in part to the works of the equally noisy leftist people like Honda.

But this translation seems to hold back some of Mr Honda's most biting comments. The pro-communist, anti-capitalist harangues seem softened for the American public. It may make the book easier to read, but if it carried the spirit of the original it would have given the reader an idea of the extent of the author's courage as well as a better understanding of why he was threatened so much.

Also, it is a shame that the introduction did not describe the author's shortcommings. For several years, Katsuichi Honda refused to believe in the genocide by Kumer Rouge in Cambodia and, although he was stationed there to cover the story, denied that it was happening. He even ridiculed those writers who take "American propaganda" at face value as "laughable". When it became no longer possible to deny that genocide was happening, he silently deleted the passage from the second printing of his book and got busy denying that he ever denied it. His wig and sunglasses, often explained as a cover to protect him from Japanese rightists, may in fact offer equal protection from angry survivors of the Kumer Rouge genocide. All of this poses an interesting symmetry with his position on the people who are denying the Rape of Nanking.

As courageous as the book is, it still has the same shortcomings of the books by earlier historians and journalists on the same topic that left ample room for rightist denial. For example, he never found any of the victims and survivors that he interviewed. They were prepared for him by the Chinese communist government. He never compares Chinese testimony with the actual Japanese troop movements and logistics. He never once mentions if there were any children born of all those rapes. He also uses photographs of questionable provenance. The post-war execution of a few ranking Japanese officers are described, but he totally ignores what happened to the vast number of footsoldiers who were the arm of the genocide. People who do such things screw up in civilian life, which is better evidence than any, but Honda totally neglects to track them down. In fact, I don't think anyone has ever tracked them down to see how the genocide affected them.

We really have yet to see a truely scientific historical documentation of the Rape of Nanking. That would be hard to pull off because Nanking is still governed by people who claim the Tienanmon Incident never happened and the Tibetians were never massacred. Honda should be applauded for trying. But inevitablly, he falls short.

Mr. Honda has produced a courageous account backed by irrefutable interviews and thorough research into the atrocities perpetrated by the Japanese Imperial Army in Nanking in 1937.
It is indeed shameful that 66 years after that episode and 57 years after the end of the war, Japanese rightists continue to deny that it happened. Imagine if Germans continued to extoll the virtues of their invasion of Western Europe and Russia! Or if they called the Poles liars for mentioning the Warsaw uprising or the horrors of Auschwitz! It is bad enough that so many Chinese died at Nanking (some Japanese and American apologists of the massacre continue to quibble about numbers of dead: let me ask them: does 40,000 dead make it acceptable versus 250,000 dead ???) It is equally horrible that the Japanese government continues to deny compensation to the victims of that massacre and further insists in erasing all knowledge of the event (We have apologized enough !!!) Others claim that the Chinese themselves caused millions of deaths during the communist regime as if to excuse the Nanking massacre! One massacre should not be used to condone another!! I continue to believe that in this atmosphere of apathy, amnesia and coordinated erasure of history that justice will in the end prevail.

I had so much fun reading this book that I got a hernia! Peter Thomas and Frank present their wizadry in such a way that one could never mistake them for proprietors. They suckle the "teets" of the 80's cow until only powdered milk would resolve their finance. Undeniably, the highlight of this book is when Peter Thomas takes his shot at the musty moguls known as the "Lompom Twins"! Boy, did I laugh!

These incouragable fellows have done it again! An exceptional representaion of this impish decade is presented in a masterful manner by Peter Thomas and Frank. My temples almost imploded due to laughter when I read Peter Thomas' justification of the "Lompom Twins". I also almost seared myself after reading the "Ode to Russ" and all its colossal wisdom. No human could expand on this phenomenon as well as Peter Thomas and Frank. Kudos my green friends! Keep up the great work.

This book is tremendously funny. I love Peter Thomas and Frank's candid approach towards the uninspiring decade that we know as the eighties. This book helped me get through a couple of tough years upstate at Elmira State Penitentiary. Since, I've been released, I've gained a new perspective on life and have Peter Thomas and Frank to thank. You good men have made a better man out of me through levity and humor. At first, the days were long and dreary but when my C.O. lent me that book, the days became brighter. I needed to keep it!

THANKS AGAIN! You will always be in my thoughts!

Dr. Vertosick's book has it's highpoints in the stories and vignettes about his patients, and the days of his life as a neurosurgeon. I enjoyed his candor and some of the attitudes he has toward himself and his work, but beyond that I found this book to have little value.

Starting from his basic premise that physicians can't extend life ony make more it comfortable, he then looks at everything from that perspective. The concepts of healing, regeneration, and meaning don't find any ground in his mechanistic approach. Granted, he is involved with some paients in intractable pain and for them comfort and the ease of their suffering is the goal, but for most patients with chronic pain this is too limited a focus.

As a practicing Chiropractor who emphasizes conservative care for patients with chronic pain conditions, I have had many patients who have sought the services of pain management programs and approaches(involving physical therapy, biofeedback, trigger point and cortisone injections,epidurals, TENS, counseling, IV muscle relaxants, medications, etc.) and neurosurgery. Unfortunately, most of them return have mediocre results, especially in the long term. The reason primarily is one of approach and this book explains why. Some examples:

Migraine headaches were theorized as being strictly vascular in nature as Dr. Verpsick explains. However, the current explanation of migraines are that they form a continuum with tension headaches . Essentially there are 3 components involved in production of classic migraines (BTW, there are many types of migraines), somatic (musculoskeletal), neurological, and vascular. The somatic component ( involving the cervical spine, TMJ, etc) is prevalent in the side producing tension headaches, while the vascular component is prevalent in the side producing classic migraine. Common migraines have somewhat less vascular prevalence. The neurological pain inhibiting component varies in involvement.

From this model it explains why spinal and cranial manipulation, acupuncture, biofeedback, etc. help migraine sufferers. Maintaining the vascular model of migraine production, all other non-drug therapies must be placebos.

For herniated lumbar discs, Dr. Vertosick charaterizes Chiropractic care as ineffective for sciatica from disc disorders. This is a tremendous error. While there are some disc disorders that require neurosurgical attention (which I prefer over standard orthopedic surgery) most never reach the OR due to proper Chiropractic care. I especially refer to Canadian orthopedist Kirkaldy-Willis's book and research using Chiropractic and spinal mainpulation on pre-surgical back patients.

Furthermore, there are many different divisions of Chiropractic care, some are very effective for disc disorders, and some not at all. To lump all of Chiropractic care together as generic is as erroneous as doing so to all surgical procedures (acupuncture too). Clearly specific approaches have greater merit in certain patients and conditions.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)is also commonly multi-factorial, and NOT simply the result of a problem in the Carpal Tunnel requiring a simple surgical release. Commonly there are several entrapment points along the nerve. Chiropractic physicians who utilize Active Release Technique and have been demonstrated to get effective relief of CTS releasing these entrapments non-surgically. See Leahy's work.

Not mentioned by Dr. Vertosick is that much chronic musculoskeletal pain is due to joint and muscular causes which can't be addressed by drugs or surgery.

Nociceptive receptors (neurons that register the amount of tiisue damage) in joints are constantly firing as the body is continually replacing damaged cells. Normally we don't feel this, because Mechanorectors (neurons that register movement) override these signals. When joint restriction occurs these mechanorectors give off less impulses, so we feel the nocicptive signals as pain. Joint restriction also encourages further tissue destruction. Mobilization and manipulation to restore the mobility of the joints, along with exercise often effectively corrects this.

In short, there are more ways to look at the problem of many patients with chronic pain than Dr. Vertosick offers. There are equally more options for care.

I bought this book without knowing much about it -- in the bookstore with my 8-year-old son, who suffers from migraines. We noticed it and, at his request, I began to read it to him -- then we had to buy it!

I was quite impressed by the quality of the writing -- it's a book for grownups, but the ideas were accessible to a sensitive child with an interest in the subject.

I certainly defer to other reviewers with medical knowledge about errors in the book, and I think much of his speculation about the potential evolutionary advantages of particular pains or genetic disorders is a little, well, speculative -- but we enjoyed reading and discussing them anyway.

The preponderance of happy ending case-stories -- though generally with a lot of suffering before the resolution -- bothered me a little in my own appreciation of the work, but I think it was for the best in my discussions with my son -- he was able to face the issues without being overwhelmed by tragedy (and there's tragedy enough along the way).

C.S. Lewis said in his book, "The Problem of Pain": "Pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument." It gets our attention and warns us of danger. Unfortunately, some doctors don't listen to that same megaphone when treating their patients.

According to a recent "New York Times" article, "More than a third of seriously ill patients who requested that doctors ease their discomfort instead of prolonging their lives appear to have had their wishes overlooked, a new study [published in the "Journal of the American Geriatrics Society"] reports".

"Why We Hurt" claims that, "three of four cancer patients will die in poorly controlled pain, and the percentage climbs higher still for those succumbing to malignancies with a talent for invading bones and nerves, including cancers of the breast, prostate, rectum, pancreas, and cervix."

This must be disquieting information for people who are suffering from terminal illnesses like cancer or AIDS, especially since doctors already tend to undermedicate for pain---think of all of the criminal and civil lawsuits pending for over-prescription of OxyContin, and it is easy to understand why some doctors avoid the heavy-duty painkillers or their prolonged usage.

Dr. Vertosick has treated some nightmarish pain problems during his career as a neurosurgeon. This book contains many case histories of patients in agony, connected by the overarching theme of why it is necessary to feel pain. Each story explains why we are connected in such a hurtful way to our inner and outer worlds.

According to Dr. Vertosick, "when stripped of pain's discipline, we neglect our bodies until they become battered beyond recognition....The hands and feet of longtime diabetics and paralytics...become deformed and covered with pressure sores. Patients with trigeminal neuralgia who have their corneas rendered numb by alcohol nerve blocks will ultimately go blind from unchecked corneal scarring."

There is also the sad story of Jimmy, the boy who was born without the ability to feel pain.

"Why We Hurt" is a book that both teaches and fascinates. I learned that neurosurgery can help at least some people (including cancer patients) who suffer from intractable pain. There are only a couple of areas where I found Dr. Vertosick to be overly optimistic. One concerns the efficacy of back surgery. Read this book, and then read the prologue to Dr. Jerome Groopman's "Second Opinions" for an example of where back surgery (spinal fusion) worsened the patient's condition. My own neurologist has told me that 60% of patients who underwent back surgery felt that it didn't do any good.

The question of whether newborn babies feel pain is another gray area where this author tends toward optimism. He feels that they are not yet fully connected to sensations of pain. However, I've read research to the contrary: newborn infants who have been operated on without anesthesia not only feel pain, they remember it.

These two small quibbles aside, please read this book. You may someday have to make choices on pain control, and this is a good place to start learning what those choices may entail, and (if it's any comfort) why it is 'natural,' i.e. in accordance with human evolution, that you feel the way you do.

I enjoyed listening to Frank Wu on CSPAN. I agree with him in many ways that people automatically assume things about you when you are of a certain ethinic stereotype. But a strongly agree with another reviewer about including South Asians and Hispanics (Hispanics who are actually the largest minority race). South Asians for many reasons because they go through the exact same things as others have...and especially after Sept. 11...the "Middle Eastern" profile...that's just dispicable. Those of the South Asian countries such as India, Nepal and Sri Lanka are all non-Muslim but still get stereotyper just because of their skin color. It goes to show how ignorant most Americans are. Also I don't believe at all in hyphinating Americans. But all people of color share a common bond that they have ALL been discriminated against by whites. And that's the plain and outright truth whether the whites want to hear it or not. Not only have they been discriminated against in America but their own countries which goes to prove that racism exists in all and it's most cruel forms. But, I'm glad to see white America changing. And the fact is that white America is the one that needs to assimilate into the multi-ethnic culture, which is the true represenatative culture of this great nation. Politically correct has nothing to do with it.

If you have the reasonable expectation that the author of any book on race is unlikely to share all your views, then I'd recommend that you read this book. I like this book because it provides one viewpoint that is unique in many ways and is therefore a good addition to any person's collection of thoughts on race relations (whether you agree with Wu or not). By the way, Wu's opinions are his own, as he points out himself, and do not represent THE "Asian" viewpoint (there's no such thing). The following arguments are particularly interesting:

1. Wu argues that Asian-Americans ought to support affirmative action for underrepresented minority groups even if they themselves are not included, saying that this will put the needs of the nation at large ahead of self-centered gain. (Contrast this with the writings of K. Anthony Appiah, Dinesh D'Souza and Shelby Steele, for example, for 4 incredibly disparate views of affirmative action by 4 people of color).
2. Wu also presents a case against racial profiling in spite of the fact that he thinks it is sometimes both rational and non-racist (!)
3. Wu dissects the question "Where are you really from?" and explains how it reflects the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype of people of Asian descent.

Overall, this book was a thought-provoking, sometimes troubling, always interesting read.

I would have thought that after the Murrah building disaster in 1995(at the hands of a non-hyphenated white man), you might be able to take the illiterate Okie out of some people. I guess not.

I'd give this book -2 stars if I could. This is a very poor book written with the author's biased view of Mormonism. If you're looking for an accurate and factual book on Mormonism, I suggest you not waste your money (and time) on this book.

I was looking for a book that would give me an insight into mormonism - this is just not that - it is just a sad persons view
that tries to dismantle something the author simply does not understand. I suggest that this is not the book you are looking for.

The grand drawn-out scale to Herbert's novels are daunting. New civilizations take birth that challenge us and our definitions of absolutes. The engine of his novels is a network of politics for a power struggle. In the Godmakers a man is pushed to his limits and forced to take a larger part into something he knew nothing about. In most of his novels religion is used as a toy to manipulate (or subue) a race or class of people. But religion is also a connector to the feats of human possiblity which Herbert dreampt up. The book is not as damanding for our attention as the Dune series. It is a more casual and relaxed Herbert telling a simpler and tight story.

I give it 3 stars only because it was entertaining to some degree but I have to say I was pretty disappointed. I just finished reading "A Dame To Kill For" before reading this one and that book is far superior. The story here is weaker and a lot less beleivable and even the art seems rushed. There was something great about Miller's art in "A Dame To Kill For"- it was minimal, moody and atmospheric...but in this one it just looks overly crude and rushed.

The Big Fat Kill is the weakest of Miller's Sin City novels. The basic storyline seems overly contrived with some trendy subplots as a trip to an bndoned dinosaur theme park. It is the violence which bthers me most in this novel. Usually Miller gives his violence a moody atmospheric context but this time it is just gratitous and over the top especially the lame ending. The artwork saves the story but it is clearly his weaket Sin City tale.

The first thing you should realize before you order "The Big Fat Kill" is that it's really a big pro if you read the original Sin City story, and a MUST to read "A Dame to Kill For" prior to this one. See, the main character in this book is Dwight, a man who tries to stay as anonymous as possible because elseways his criminal past may catch up with him. This past that he's hiding from is the story from "A Dame to Kill For", so you should really get that first. It makes it a lot easier to understand a lot of why Dwight's acting the way he is. There's also some conversation about Marv, the main character from the original story. But Marv is not a major factor in this book so reading the original story is really only a pro, not a must.

About the story: Oneday a girl named Shelley is being harassed in her own home by a guy named Jack, her drunk ex-boyfriend, and his friends. Dwight, who is living with Shelley 'convinces' them to leave and decides to follow them to make sure he doesn't do any more damage. Only Jack turns out to be so dumb to drive into Old Town, a place where the hookers are the law because of the pact they made with the police ('they stay off the police's back, the police stays off their backs'). Jack and his friends wind up dead, upon which they find out Jack is really a cop while examing the body. This will clearly lead to war between the cops and Old Town, leaving it a free warzone for the mob, IF the cops ever find out about Jack. Dwight thinks to have the solution to get rid of the bodies and goes on his way. But things turn out to be not that easy. What follows is an interesting story with several different parties of power and interests, violence, a lot of backstabbing, loyalty and finally an interesting plot-twist.

In all honesty I think the original "Sin City", "A Dame to Kill For" and especially "That Yellow Bastard" are better books than this one, so if you haven't read all of those yet I think you'd rather read those first. With that I'm NOT saying this is a bad book because it isn't. In my opinion it's actually a very good tale which keeps interesting to the very end because of the different directions the story takes all the time. It's also carried by Frank Millers trademark (by now) art. This is really suitable for the story, it being a dark grimmy 'mad-cop' story, and of no less quality than you're used to if you've been a Sin City reader longer. I just don't think it's THE best Sin City story out there. Get the other ones I named first, than get this one and have yourself a good time with it.

Raising respectful children is a difficult task. Many parents try hard, and pray hard, to see that their children learn good manners and a good attitude. Those are some of my parenting goals.

This is our first Froggy book - it was given to my daughter as a Christmas gift. It is certainly not a book I would have bought for her. Other reviewers have written about the disrespect the Froggy shows toward his mother - and it is prevalent in this story.

The other concern I have with this story is the fact that it teaches children a number of diversions to use when they don't want to go to bed. I'm pretty sure that children will learn many of these on their own, but why read them this story and teach them to:

hide their toothbrush in the cookie jar?
to eat after brushing their teeth for the night?
to demand so much from their mother before going to sleep?

No! These are certainly not things I will intentionally teach my daughter.

The story does beg one other question - Where is Froggy's father in all this?

If you want to speed your child on his or her way to being ill mannered and disrespectful, this is the book for you.

The only plus, in my opinion, is the artwork. The book is well illustrated.

We love Froggy books. We have them all. However, I was surprised to see Froggy "back-talking" his mother and telling her what needed to be done before he'd actually go to sleep. Since we already had the book, I chose to use this to teach my daughter that Froggy is wrong to talk back to his mother. We talked about how long it was taking Froggy and how this was respecting his mother when she told him to go to sleep. Ok book but lessons are endless.

I was a little shocked to see the previous bad reviews of this book. Upon reading the concerns of parents I did come to see the observations they had made in a different light. Despite understanding how someone could conclude as they have, I personally must disagree. I don't expect this book to teach my child antics.

What my daughter (nearly 2 yrs old) has learned from this book is how to say "FROOOGGGYYY" when she sees the word. At her age, she enjoys helping me "find" things, and enjoys froggy's searches for lost items. She also identifies froggy's "brushing" in a positive tone, and "oops" with concern that froggy has spilled water. This story relates to her reality. And, above all, it is the first book she has tried to "read" on her own.

Nothing but positve results in my family! :)