I am a university student who major in physics. and this book was a text in plasma course. As plasma group of princeton univ. is strong, this book is strong enough to understand plasma. most favorite thing in this book is sufficient explanation about the physical and mathmatical explanation. and the not good thing is a little dirty mathmatical calculation. so if you want clear mathmatics, I think you had better look another book. Anyway if you read this from cover to cover, you can learn ABC of Plasma. isn't it wonderful?

While I resent the term remedial, I will admit that I am very weak in math. I had to use this text for an algebra semester and will have to use it again for a trigonometry semester. I did get a B+ in the class, but I think that had more to do with the teacher then the book. After I actually sat down, ignored that the teacher had said and read the text, the algebra portion became much clearer. You'll probably never buy this book to own it, but if you come across it in school, don't be afraid.

This book gives short excerpts of classical texts, ranging from 90 BCE to 1891 CE, and presented in standard character chinese and Wade-Giles transliteration (which will annoy some, but many older dictionaries, using Wade-Giles, are much more useful than those produced in Maoist China, as the latter tend to avoid certain connotations of words that are significant to Chinese medical tradition), with vocabulary lists and English translation. The English translation clearly identifies words and phrases used to 'fill in the gaps' and smooth out the translation. The sixty texts are grouped by subject matter and well-chosen. There is an appendix on research aids, and a useful general glossary. This text is a bridge to the world of the classical texts for those who do not have the language skills to read them otherwise, and is a significant contribution to students of Chinese [traditional] medicine in the west.
The only drawback is the price - at (this price) it's almost outlandish, but it IS a useful book.

Excellent introductory reading for environmental majors learning statistics for the first time. Written in plain english and every point is made clear by example. The only pit fall is that the book does not go into depth, so another source would be needed. But to get you on the right track, this is the book.

This book of short stories was my first experience with McAuley -- which meant that I experienced severe cognitive dissonance. McAuley is one of those writers (like C.J. Cherryh, in her decades-old "Faded Sun" series) who creates a world so different from the one we presently live in that it's sometimes hard to understand what's going on. But after a few stories, one becomes accustomed to the terminology and the ideas, and the plots and philosophies start to become clear. Indeed, the work shortly becomes compelling.

I'm not sure that this was the best introduction to McAuley, but I'm glad I read it. I must confess, however, that I particularly enjoyed the stories that were not in the "dolls and fairies" milieu, such as the story about Dr. Pretorius (which I found eerily fascinating, and very reminiscent in tone, if not in content, to Tim Powers's work). I am now very much looking forward to reading "Children of the Confluence" and McAuley's other novels.

Although oceanography is not my strong point, I did find the book interesting covering a wide range of topics from different types of tides and currents to the marine life found in the ocean. Each chapter offers math problems to help solve different equations about the oceans. Also, the chapter questions are helpful in reviewing the material found in each chapter. Overall, an interesting a well-written book for first time oceanography students!

This book served as a good introduction to Adventure Based Counseling. The principles of adventure counseling from introductions to evaluation are covered. The text was not full of program ideas but rather focused on the principles in conducting challenge events.

Paul Ginsborg's previous book, "A History of Contemporary Italy 1943-1988" is perhaps the best history of the postwar period of any country. It benefited not only from thorough research and fine organization but from a coherent and compelling thesis. Despite the many signs of vitality and progress in the Italian Republic, it faced severe problems in government and society which required urgent and farlasting reform. However, Italian political life was structured in such a way to make sure that reform never happened.

"Italy and Its Discontents" is the sequel. Although at times Ginsborg is somewhat cheery and optimistic, this is a depressing tale. In many ways it is a complex and nuanced tale, as Ginsborg discusses with enviable nuance the strengths and weaknesses of the Italian economy, the decline of the industrial working class and the plague of youth employment, the always persistent "Southern" problem, the clash between mass culture and a rising "civil society," and the many weaknesses of the Italian bureaucracy. He pays particular attention to the changes in the family, the rise of secularism, and the decline of Catholic and Communist cultures. He also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Italian politics, the complexities of corruption and the mafia, the less than impartial judiciary, and the complexities and failures of political ideologies.

And yet in some crucial ways Ginsborg's tale is very simple. Italian democracy in the 1980s was severely flawed both by corruption and by the success of vested interests in preventing, delaying or diluting vital reforms. The most honest and thoughtful party were the Communists, so much of the energy of its political class was dedicated to making sure they never had power. Italian politics in the eighties and nineties would be dominated by three people: Andreotti, Berlusconi, and Craxi. Andreotti was a "Christian Democrat" and deeply complicit in its corruption, patronage and ties with the mafia. Craxi was a "Socialist" who drapped himself in fashionable "Anti-Marxist" rhetoric while taking shakedowns and bribery to new heights. It was a politics of secret anti-communist forces (the Gladio), murdered anti-Mafia prosecutors, the strange and sinister P-2 Masonic lodge, sycophantic intellectuals, and one demagogic president. It was also a politics in which the Vatican banker would pay $7 million to Craxi's secret Swiss bank account and then be found hanging a year and a half later from Blackfriars' bridge. Craxi and Andreotti dominated Italian politics until 1992-93 when revelations of massive corruption decimated the Christian Democratic and Socialist parties. But just when it appeared that the Italian Left would finally be able to take power, Berlusconi appeared. Having been granted monopoly control over Italian television by Craxi, and having used that to help coarsen Italian cultural life, Berlusconi simply bought his own political party. Forza Italia became the new party of the Italian Right, replacing the factionalism and debate of the Christian Democrats with a cult of personality around Berlusconi. He ostentatiously disassociated himself from the Christian Democrats with Thatcherite rhetoric, notwithstanding the fact that he would face charges on ten trials over the coming decade. Making deals with selfish Northern Regionalists and Neo-Fascists, Berlusconi decisively won the elections of 1994 and 2001.

It is a pretty depressing sight by the end of Ginsborg's book. Measures to improve women, the environment and education have all been limited or delayed. Concerns about the gap between formal democracy and everyday life, the presence of clientelistic politics, politics that take into account the modern family: "these seem all to be far down the agenda of government, if indeed they are present at all." The Democratic Party of the Left has purged itself of its Communist Past, it fears that any sign of prinicple or vigor will be cursed as Stalinist. Instead of the popular mobilizations of the past, it pursues an unimiginative Technocracy that so far can't compete with Berlusconi's media monopoly and demagoguery. Ginsborg points to some positive signs. Despite the increasing xenophobia, the crassness of Italian television and the shallowness of soccer culture, there is also increasing interest in literature and culture. Working-class involvement in political and associational life declined, but there was rising voluntarism. And most of all there was the rise of feminism, many of whose challenges could not be ignored. One should not be too optimistic on this score. Certainly Ginsborg's account is full of qualifications and he notes that the new "civil society" is limited to a minority of the middle class. There are good reasons to suspect that it will not succeed or become an isolated minority dismissed as bien pensant elitists. Much of the chattering classes spent much of the past two decades, when not gushing about Craxi, searching for the "normalization" of Italian politics. Leftist and "utopian" ideas have been purged, while Silvio Berlusconi is now a mainstay of Bush's coalition of the willing. Now he is to be honored by an American right, once so easily appalled by Monica Lewinsky. Apparently money can buy you happiness, and much else.

The book does a good job of introducing IRT. The best chapters are the explainations of parameter estimation (i.e., maximization methods). The only bad part is that they do not adequetly discuss DIF of CAT.

First of all the physical description of the book. It's slightly too large for a pocket type guide. The pages are glossy with excellent photos.

Considering the collection that this work covers however it is way too thin. The selected approximately 200 "important" pieces. I'm not sure how they determined the importance of these pieces as there was no discernable pattern. It was broken up into the age the pieces were from (with a fair smattering from each period) but that appears to be the only categorization. For each piece there is a brief description ranging from a line next to the picture to a page long.

Sadly this gives no indication of Mr. Getty's personal tastes and which items he preferred. Otherwise a great book.