A book with a very application oriented treatment of reliability, based on electronics industries experience. It uses an advanced style of explanation, i.e. assumes that readers have mastered certain topics/knowledge/techniques in reliability. However, prerequisites for reading this book must be clearly stated; i.e. what basics are required, are the basics given in the books enough, etc. Some typos appear in description of table/figure (i.e. table 6.7 written as table 1.7). Also some computational errors appeared in the answers to selected problems. These are indeed small errors, however they detract from a good book's image. Especially for new students in reliability and would-be practicioners, the answers to the problems in the book are very necessary to provide concept/technique mastery and understanding check. Why do not the authors provide answers to ALL problems? One possible thing to add to the contents is the design of reliability experiments, i.e. the general concepts and some examples drawn from some areas of interest (mechanical, electrical).

This book offers your the essential technique to solidify your designing ideas onto the drafts and then the blueprints. Also, you will learn from this book the rules and concepts for architecture designing.

Written by Paul Standard and last printed in 1979, this book does indeed seem to be the last of it's kind. It is very specifically a book about one particular elegant form of calligraphy. While it has the feel that it was handmade just for you and is indeed beautiful, for the price it costs to obtain a copy today, it is not practical for everyone to hunt it down. At only 67pages, the entire book is devoted to recapturing the "running hand." Do not be mistaken that this is a generalized how-to book on the subject of calligraphy, quite the contrary. Standard writes, "Chancery Cursive script may seem beyond the layman's power to acquire, and yet it is far less difficult than the scripts used since the United States achieved nationhood."

Pages 1- 32 are lovingly translated of sections of Arrighi's Operina, where Mr. Standard has treated us to the English translation alongside the original Italian. Each page contains only a small sample section of Chancery, laid out on the page in the style of poetry. This particular script is very clear and fluid to read, it is easy on the eye, and has a wonderful simple elegance to it.

The second thirty pages of the book are devoted to explaining and teaching the Chancery script. The discussion and details are directly related to the examples in the previous section of the book. There are original illustrations, penned in ink which are easy to understand. Attention in this section is given to: discussing Arabic numerals, blotting paper, the proper angles to hold your pen and paper, left handed situations, flat strokes, head strokes, ampersands, hairpin arches, two stroke letters, long stroke letters, nib sizes, capitals, sweeps, serifs, and more.

Anghirri's Running Hand contains no discussion on quills or inks and does not stray from the subject of Chancery writing only. Although the author does address the subject of learning this script in a very straightforward manner and uses simple language, I do not recommend it for a beginning student unless they are very quick to learn. I do recommend this book for intermediate and advanced students and any professional scribe that collects books on their trade and are looking to expand their artistic skills.

Other books that are recommend Paul Strand, but may be hard to find, are as follows.
A Book of Scripts by Alfred Fairbank, Humanistic Script of the XV & XVI Centuries by A.J.Fairbank, Sweet Roman Hand by Wilfred Blunt, Italic Handwriting: Some Examples of Everyday Cursive Hands by Wilfred Blunt and lastly, Renaissance Handwriting: An Anthology of Italic Scripts by Alfred Fairbank.

To read this book is absolutely essential not only for students and teachers (as the autthors suggest) but also for everybody interested in XX century art and its mental and intellectual origins. A wide spectrum of problems displayed in the book and careful selection of texts is really impressive and creates a panoramic view for entire artistic life and artistuc consciousness of the whole century. Even politicians like Lenin, Marx and Zdhanov have found their place in this interesting world! But what about Stanislaw ignacy Witkiewicz - a famous Polish painter, photographer, writer, philosopher and theoretician of art? I am slightly dissapointed because of an absence of his texts. His theory of Pure Form in painting, theatre and literature formulated during the years of the First World War (edeited as a book entitled 'Nowe formy w malarstwie...' ['New Forms in Painting...'] in 1919 in Warsaw is really worth presenting and omitting it can be treated as a serious mistake... But the rest is OK. Short introductory notes on each author or problem preceding texts are masterpieces of a species and can serve as patterns for everybody writing on art. These notes also create specific art history 'in a pill' (quite tasty pill, I can say), very useful for any quick researchings or, simply, for reading in spare time...

This, the first book-length study of Auster's works, proves to be a both demanding and rewarding affair. Make no mistake, this is definitely scholarship at the highest level and not a book for high-school kids doing a paper on The New York Trilogy.

Even for readers well-versed in contemporary literary theory and literature there is work to be done, and if you have a problem with a theoretical approach to literature then stay miles away from this book - unless you really are an avid Auster-fan: then you should feel obliged to at least give it a go.

But if you are interested in witnessing how theory, in this case of the post-structuralist vein (in particular Lacan and Derrida), and literature - four of Auster's core works (City of Glass, In the Country of Last Things, The Music of Chance and Moon Palace) may cross-fertilize each other - this is definitely a book to read.

For students (post-graduates in particular, I guess) and scholars working with Auster this book is indispensable. The chapters on the genre-affiliations preceding every close reading are for the most part interesting, in particular in connection with Moon Palace which is seen as a novel written in the picaresque mode. The close readings following these generic definitions are very thorough and eye-opening, and the Lacanian approach often leads to stunningly original interpretations, forcing the reader read Auster in a new light. I thoroughly recommend this study - the effort is rewarded with insight and inspiration.

Dr. Chara's book is visually refreshing; the colored borders on each page along with the calligraphy identifying each virtue (new chapter) create a calming influence whereby you want to sit and become absorbed in the lessons for life. While Chara combines history, his own life's journey, and poetic excerpts, I found myself slowing down, and being uplifted through his easy way of sharing his life's stories, whether in his marriage, while teaching on the college level, or giving past experiences now a name. Colors bordering the shiny paper pages, which is slick to the touch, are so eye-appealling; combining to bring many emotions to surface; beauty and love are bountiful among the pages.

There are surprises galore in this latest in the Venus Prime series, among them revalations about the Commander, changes in Sparta's views on things, and the central surprise which would be rude to reveal.

As Preuss says in his notes after the novel's conclusion, this book is setting up more events in the future, while still being a good read when held alone. I'd read the first three Venus Prime books in one weekend, and then had to wait months for the fourth. Hopefully, the next books in the series will arrive more quickly, but if not, at least I know they will be well-written.

I bought this as an introduction to Arthur Ford, and it serves that purpose admirably. It is a shortish volume published by the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, which Ford was instrumental in founding. It is, therefore, solidly pro-Ford -- but it doesn't ignore his personal flaws or the controversies surrounding his mediumship. It consists of passages from Ford's own writings as well as the writings of his closest associates. One particularly interesting part concerns an auto wreck in which Ford's sister and a friend were killed and he was left in a coma. Writing 25 years before anyone had heard the term "Near Death Experience," he described a classic NDE. In case you aren't familiar with Ford, he had nearly a 50-year career. Two of his main claims to fame were solving the riddle of the message Houdini had left for his wife ("Rosabelle, believe") and putting Bishop Pike in touch with his late son. I previously hadn't taken Ford seriously due to the controversy surrounding the Houdini episode and some of the other anti-Ford propaganda, but this book led me to do additional digging. Ford clearly seems to have had a great deal of genuine mediumistic ability (whatever that may be). He was also a complex individual who would make an interesting study even if he had been a complete fraud. I would recommend this as an excellent introduction to Ford (or a good summing up as to what he was all about, if you are already familiar with him).

I enjoyed the mob stories the best. Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel's never-ending chain of assasinations were highly amusing.

Taxi Driver's influence on John Hinckley's aborted assasination attempt is chilling.

The parallelism between JFK and Lincoln makes you think that there may be a supreme being that is engineering all this events to occur.

Paul Elliott provides a vivid account of the psychological make-up of the assasin whether mentally deranged or politically motivated. I recommend this book to people who are fond of history and violence!

This is an excellent review of basic pain management assessment and treatment---one that can benefit physicians and psychologists alike. A very well organized presentation.