Adorned with a title that sounds like it was borrowed from Enya's last album, Ulrich Baer's derivative pastiche "Remnants of Song" is appallingly preachy and reductive, politically dubious in the extreme, mind-numbingly repetitive, and written in a style that lowers English critical prose to new levels of lumbering inelegance. For something worthwhile on Baudelaire, look at work by Susan Blood, Ross Chambers, Sartre . . . or anyone else, for that matter! "Remnants of Song" raises (lowers?) the bar in the writing-the-disaster department -- my nominee for the 2003 Residual Culture Award.

when i say baudelaire is brought into the light, i mean that his work is described lucidly and criticized empathetically. the author took special pains to understand the conditions in which baudelaire wrote, and sought to bring fresh perspectives to his analyses of the works sited. i agree with another reviewer of this work who commented that his favorite section concerns the sky -- the treatment of the horizon, frames, and clouds is wonderfully clever. as a dancer and choreographer who enjoys using the imagery of poetry i found this to be one of the most helpful discussions of baudelaire's work available to me. i believe this text would be useful not only to students and lovers of poetry, but also to other artists who would like a multi-faceted reading of some very complicated and layered poems. i must confess that i did not read the sections pertaining to celan, because i am specifically focusing my personal research on baudelaire. i cannot speak for the quality of the discussions in the latter half of the book, but i can highly recommend this text to those interested in baudelaire.

In short, this is the best book ever written on Baudelaire and Celan. Baer articulates very complex and subtle ideas, but his prose is clear and inviting. This is for those who are interested in not only these particular poets, but also issues of "memory" and just "poetry" at large. I particulary love the third chapter "Blindness and the Sky" and the fifth chapter "Landscape and Memory." Considering that poetry is on the verge of extinction in our contemporary, it may be urgent to read this book right now.

Normally, a marked as 24 hours course book should be easy to follow with and easy to learn from. However, Mr.Karlins tried to cover almost everything of Corel Draw 9 in this book, which causes a lot of confusion for the beginner reader.

I really enjoyed this book. I already knew the concepts of desktop publishing, but was new to CorelDRAW and needed something that would get me up and running quickly. Each chapter of the book showed me what the program could do and then told me how to do it. I liked the web-links to see some finished projects in color.

Also, I had a question about how to pronounce something in the book and e-mailed the author. He e-mailed me back with the answer right away.

I am very impressed with this book and with the author. I highly recommend "Sam's Teach Yourself CorelDRAW 9 in 24 Hours" by David Karlins.

I haven`t read the book. But I think it has a good layout.(I have a friend who has bought the book for CDraw Ver 8,He says it`s very easy to follow.)I think this newer version has the same approuch if not better.

This book should have been a classic introduction to musical acoustics. Instead, it tries to hard, is convoluted, often in error, and confuses musicians.

When I taught from this book, I and the class found errors in equations, references to equations, and calculations. When undergraduates are struggling to learn, this is a very bad context.

The book is so concerned with a level of comprehensiveness, that measured clarity is left out. At the same time, for the expert, it is too little. Therefore, it appeals to neither the introductory level nor the more advanced level.

I gave up using this book.

I have used this book as the primary textbook for an introductory course in the physics of music. It is at a somewhat higher level than some of its competitors (e.g. "The Acoustical Foundations of Music" by Backus) but still suitable for non-science majors with weak math backgrounds. It is the most thorough and informative book I have seen at this level. However, the students complained that it was somewhat dull. Also, the section on electronic reproduction of music is out of date--relatively little on CD's etc., and nothing on mp3 and related technologies. Still, I plan to use it again.

I have taught a course entitled "Acoustics for Musicians and Recording Engineers" to Engineering, Music, and Film majors using Rossing's THE SCIENCE OF SOUND. He has toned down the equations enough that the students aren't groaning, yet he's remained true to the interdisciplinary nature of acoustics as a pursuit of physics, psychology, math, and engineering. The structure of the book provides a wonderful outline for the course and it has been an invaluable resource for both me and the students who have wished to continue with their study of acoustics.

Paul Simpson is a psychologist who claims to have been deeply involved in what he calls "regression therapy," facilitating clients to recover forgotten "memories" through an induced hypnotic state. Eventually he came to question the validity of this method of therapy and the accuracy of the "memories" which were "resurrected" by it. This led to his contacting the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, whose tenets he now vociferously proclaims. He has become a strong advocate for accused parents and is involved in Project Middle Ground, serving as a supposedly unbiased mediator between accused parents and their accusing child (p. 119).

While some of Simpson's observations and concerns are quite valid, he unfortunately loses significant credibility through the manner in which he argues them. Generally he creates a worst case scenario and portrays it as a seemingly universal representation of all therapists and clients who believe in the concept of recovering dissociated, traumatic memories (e.g. pp. 3-6, 62, 115-17, 133, 137-38, 151-57, 166, 186-87).
He also erroneously lumps all such therapists together and labels them as "regressionists" when in reality this term should only be applied to those who deliberately age-regress their clients through hypnotic techniques for the purpose of recovering "forgotten memories." He ignorantly considers "dissociation" to be merely a renaming of "regression theory" (pp. 63, 203).

If his book were truly about the small group of true "regressionists" (frankly a term I've not heard before), it might have more validity, but I do not believe that this narrow focus is his intent. Nevertheless, using this term cleverly gives him a seemingly more legitimate platform to stand on as he wages his war against those he perceives as charlatans and witch hunters.

He engages in a similar type of "word gymnastics" when he attempts to convince his readers that any attempt to recover "forgotten" traumatic memories is not only unscriptural but in essence an unrecognized error of following the doctrine of demons. In these arguments he mockingly calls the process a "spiritual gift" (p. 184), a "doctrine" (p. 184), a "philosophy" (p. 188), a "new gospel" (p. 191), and a "miraculous event" (p. 192) just so he can falsely apply scriptures using these words to the phenomenon. He then paints a rather unsettling picture. Instead of believing in the existence of a covert web of multi-generational Satanists, which many "regressionists" claim, Simpson seems convinced that the therapists facilitating the recovery of these memories are the ones whom Satan is using to accomplish his agenda in the world (pp. 190-94).

In another place he twists psychological information to support his argument in a manner that less informed readers probably would not catch. After presenting good material on the characteristics of fantasy prone and easily hypnotized individuals, he quotes from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) that individuals with DID "tend to be highly hypnotizable." In questioning why this is so, he claims to have found the "secret of the False Memory Crisis." He says, "It's not that MPDs and repressed memory victims accidentally happen to be hypnotic virtuosos. It's the other way around." Highly hypnotizable people are particularly vulnerable when falling into the hands of "regressionist" therapists to imagine themselves into a false diagnosis of MPD [DID] (pp. 165-66).
His error is in failing to acknowledge that dissociability and hypnotizability are virtually synonymous terms (referring to a high propensity for entering an altered state of consciousness), meaning that dissociative individuals are indeed by their very nature "hypnotic virtuosos." The two are inseparable.

Another concern within the book is Simpson's inconsistent documentation. While his book is prolifically footnoted, some of his key technical points lack any footnotes at all(e.g. pp. 56-62; 121, 123, 134, 136, 161). He also fails on at least one occasion to list critical information regarding a study supporting his view(p. 45).

He claims there is little corroborating evidence to legitimize recovered memories (p. 11). While acknowledging the reality of true child abuse, Simpson seemingly only believes reports of such abuse if the person has "free standing" memories.

Making no allowance at all for dissociated traumatic memories, he also seems to question the existence of Dissociative Identity Disorder (pp. 24-25) even though this is fully recognized and described in the official diagnostic manual of psychologists (DSM-IV). On the other hand, he gives a lengthy description of "False Memory Syndrome" (pp. 105, 108, 121), which has never been professionally recognized or included in any diagnostic manual. Furthermore, after shooting down the definitive nature of symptoms lists others have established for suspecting buried childhood trauma (pp. 31; 94-102), he seemingly has no compunctions about creating his own list of symptoms which he says indicate a person is believing in false memories (pp 121-22).

Simpson's call for some sort of external corroboration of abuse memories and the witness of at least two individuals before making accusations of presumed perpetrators is both valid and biblical. Sprinkled through his chapters are other valid points regarding the potential influence of predisposing belief systems, mind contamination, suggestibility, and group dynamics in possibly creating "false memories," particularly in fantasy prone individuals. If he had presented these dynamics in a more balanced manner, allowing for the reality of true recovered memories as well, his book would make a more valuable contribution to the subject.

Simpson concludes his book by referring to the "mountains of research findings that contradict regressionism" (p. 224). Somehow I missed seeing these "mountains." The best I can say is that he presented material to cast a "reasonable doubt" on the validity of memories evoked under hypnotic conditions through the suggestions of therapists. However, the fervency with which he tries to cast this description on all therapists who believe in accessing dissociated, traumatic memories, his total rejection of any legitimate "recovered memories," his seeming manipulation of terminology and Scripture, and his selective documentation leave me wondering why.

Dr. Paul Simpson is a christian psychologist who was very involved in the practice of helping his patients recover memories of abuse through the very popular therapy called RMT.

Like so many other therapists today, Dr. Simpson at first believed he was doing God's work, helping to retrieve memories of real abuse so that his patients could be healed from broken lives which had stopped working due to emotions out-of-control and destructive personal behaviors.

Later he discovered he had been greatly in error as are his colleagues who continue to practice RMT today commonly resulting in false memories, and assigning the false identity of "abuse victim" to dependent patients desperate for answers to their problems in living.

The author says the Christian Church is in great error in its acceptance of the concept of recovered memory and needs to do more to aid the falsely accused parents of children giving false witness based upon therapy suggested "memories."

The expose of what is happening in today's therapy is all the more important because it comes from someone who was inside the clinical office and involved from start to finish. Also, it is important because Dr. Simpson has all the right credentials, a born-again Christian, alumni of Christ for the Nations, Rapha therapist, dedicated care-giver. Still, his practice of RMT hurt his christian patients and their families.

Simpson says in RMT, he saw 100% of his patients go into severe decompensation[nervous breakdown] due to the effects from recalling or imagining vile scenes of horrific abuse. This led them to become very dependent upon him in an unhealthy way. Some of them could not even open their own mail. One assumes this is the point where such a patient will accept the label of MPD or satanic high priestess for themselves. Anything just to get it over with and back to a sense of normalcy.

Paul Simpson says he prayed with his clients and asked God to bless the therapy and still had ungodly results. He now realizes that God will not bless idolatry and occult practices no matter how much a spirit filled Christian might pray. Obedience to bibical principles and truth is absolutely necessary to avoid self-delusion.

Dr. Simpson gives an account of how his patients lives were affected before and after his therapy with them. The statistics as to how they were functioning supports his statement that he never saw a single patient who was better off after the therapy for having remembered such abuse.

This important book is must reading for all Christians and especially those who believe wrongly that christian psychologists will not lead them into error or that the Spirit of God will keep them safe from consequences of their idolatry.

The author has appeared on the James Dobson radio program Focus on the Family to discuss his book and the topic of RMT. Paul Meier was also on the show claiming that his own SRA and MPD patients were valid. He was talking when he should have been listening.

Buy this book, which like all truth is hard to find at the bookstore.

Dr. Paul Simpson presents an honest, most accurate account of the the effects of Recovered Memory Therapy and its tragic aftermath. Falsely accused parents and client/victims of RMT will find answers to the many questions related to this phenomenom. As a "retractor" of false memories and a therapist intern, I appreciated Dr. Simpson's courage to come forward as a therapist who had once been involved with this most unethical treatment. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Simpson at a recent conference. There, he apologized to all parents and clients negatively effected by RMT. His apology, given in the name of all RMT therapists, touched my heart. This book is a "must read" for all therapists and those who have recovered memories of abuse. I encourage all to read this book with an open mind. Take the time to have Second Thoughts.

When I started reading this book I felt like I had paid dearly for having advices I had gotten for free from my parents, friends, teachers and even from the police. Reading this book
is like traversing a heap of truisms about security. Things
like: lock your door; don't go to places where criminals hangout;
keep your jewels in the safe; don't talk to strangers; so on and
so forth. Reading this book was a waste of time; buying it,
a waste of money.

If you are searching for advices about your own security, keep
searching: this book will not answer your needs.

I special ordered it from Bookstar a couple of years ago after hearing one of the authors on a local talk radio show. It took awhile but it is a great book. No I am not some gun totting right wing whacko but a moderate Republican type and his book goes into all sorts of great crime fighting / deterrence ideas. The authors have chapters on self defense weapons from non-lethal to firearms and tells pros and cons. From Pepperspray w/ CS w/ UV dye to six shot .357 revolvers ( over semi-automatic pistols - no jams and great stopping power ). They also go into situational details of attacks and how to avoid and survive them. I am saddened that they don't have a new edition. Great book.

Secure from Crime is a down to earth book about the truth of society. We, as individuals have to learn to protect ourselves, and our loved ones. Protect yourself in your car, on the street, or in your home, it is all in this book. Diagrams on how to "fortify" your home, and how to safely protect yourself without using deadly force are other examples.

Paul Kennedy glosses over British naval ascendancy from pre-1600 to 1976. This is essentially an analysis in political economy, not military history. As usual, Kennedy maintains that the British fleet ruled the waves when their trade economy was on the rise (chiefly due to the headstart they got on industrialization) and declined with their relative decline in industrial productivity during 1890-1920. Issues like technological change, leadership or operational mistakes do not figure prominently in this account. The greatest British naval defeat in this period - the temporary loss of naval mastery off Yorktown in 1781, which led to American victory - had nothing to do with economics. Kennedy ignores the US fleet for the most part, such as the technological impact of the Civil War (e.g. the Monitor) and the US triumph in the Spanish-American War. There is a very blatant British bias here.

Kennedy glosses over the various wars between 1600 and 1945 with no new insights or useful analysis. Mahan is trashed, while Mackinder's "heartland" geopolitics are praised. Kennedy's tone almost implies that British naval and industrial decline was inevitable, yet he offers no opinions about what they might have done otherwise. The key challenge for Britain was to match commitments with resources and sustainable forces (the "two war" strategy for dealing with crises in Pacific and Mediterranean in 1930s is similar to current US "2MRC" strategic dilemma). Maps are crude.

Kennedy, unfortunately, has extracted from his excelent 'Rise and Fall of the Great Powers' all of the 'bits' relating to the British Empire and expanded it somewhat in relation to the Royal Navy - but not much in the way of 'specialised' input.
I was very disappointed with this.

Very well written and interesting. Not nearly as dry as I thought it'd be and it explained quite a bit as to the forces which led to the rise of Western Civ. Also possibly prophetic although some of Kennedy's statements here seem to contradict his very popular "Rise & Fall of the Great Powers". Read both & actually I prefer this book. A must read for anyone interested in rounding out their knowledge of Naval history or even general Western History, 1500 to present. Kennedy does a superb job in documenting his information.

I would like to buy one this book of Moo, Douglas, the Epitles to the Romans. Grand Rapids: Eardmans, 1996. 1012pp.

I really enjoyed this commentary. This was my first experience with the Interpreation commentaries and I was impressed. Dr. Achtemeier did an excellent job of writing for the lay person as well as the full-time minister. It was very readable, which is, unfortunately, kind of rare in Bible commentaries.

Achtemeier's commentary on Romans is simply the best commentary on the market for the layperson. Commentaries written by academics are often not useful to the general public, since they use Greek or Hebrew and assume a great deal about the reader's background. On the other hand, most of the popular commentaries are simply too shallow. Achtemeier does an excellent job of clarifying the issues for the average reader. If you can only buy one commmentary on Romans, this should be your choice.

This book was a disappointment. It's information was incomplete and uninformative (and I'm talking about the recent FIFTH Edition -- published in 2002). Even in the touristy beachy destinations, I did not find the information helpful. Many of the budget hotels listed were closed, and there were no similar alternatives provided. Very little historical background for the sites I saw. Not much value added. I spent time on the Pacific Coast (not Baja) and in the Central Highlands. For Nahrit, Jalisco, the Bajio, and Michoacan states, it's practically worthless. Some of the worst maps in the business (Lonely Planet has excellent maps, so even if its information is lacking, at least you have reliable orientation). I would be VERY CAREFUL about buying another Rough Guide.

Rough guides are ideal for a certain kind of holiday. If you are planning to go to an all inclusive resort in Cancun and only venture out for arranged excursions then this book will never leave the shelf. Rough guides are for those who want to explore the real thing. That is why I won't visit any country without a copy.

This does not disappoint. The factual information is accurate and helpful. The restaurant recommendations were welcome - especially the wonderfully named 'Gory Tacos' in Downtown Cancun!

The information on archeological sites such as Coba and Chitchen Itza was extremely helpful, the travel tips essential.

The only slight reservation is that a bit of snobbery sometimes slips in. For example the resort of Akumel is dismissed as expensive and shallow. In fact it is beautiful and well worth the visit being quiet but accessible.

For all that this is still the best guide book for the thinking traveller!

I 've just finished a month of travelling through mexico (Oct 1999). This guide gives a lot of interesting and essential information about live in Mexico, food, Mexicans' attitude, transport, health... It's a real pleasure to read it as it is written in a very understanding and fascinatingly way. I was really surprised of the accurate price information of hotels and restaurants in the Guide. Moreover, the useful tips about what transport facility to take, saved me a lot of money, which is of course important when travelling on a budget. Also citymaps and the plans of the ruins are very detailed and an indispensable tool when entering new places. Furthermore, I visited some less known, but wonderful places, mentioned in the Guide, where almost no other tourists came. Summarized, I'd suggest this book to everybody who plans to make a trip to Mexico!

I am having issues with this book. There are too many mistakes in it - most of them of an editorial nature, but in a programming book it's the little things that count. In addition, the structure could be better and there are many terms that are not well explained and conversely some lucid yet pointless explanations. I began learning VBA about 4 years ago and am proficient in VBA for Excel applications, so in many respects i am not a beginner to this stuff. I just want to build up my Access VBA knowledge but i think i'll be buying a different book. The only good thing is that i got this book cheap through Amazon.

VBA is a challenging subject, especially if you are trying to learn it on your own (like me). An ideal book, therefore, is one that presents the subject in a clear and simple manner.

In some ways this book accomplishes that task very nicely. Some explainations are really clear and the author uses analogies that enhance the explaination. At other times the book is completely incomprehensible. So this book will help you to an extent, and the little quizzes and exercises at the end of each chapter are useful. But you'll need other books to explain the subject matter that this book renders incomprehensible.

The only reason I am keeping my copy of the book is because I got an inexpensive used version. I learn from it what I can and just jump over the parts that are poorly written.

If you are trying to learn VBA and are a complete novice I'd recommend Evan Callahan's book. That book is the single best introduction to VBA that I have ever seen and will get you doing simple programming quite quickly. Next, Susan Novalis' book is excellent and will take you to the level of being an intermediate developer. I have about 6 different Access programming books, and no one is perfect, but the two I mention here will get you going.

Maybe that is going a little overboard. However, it was a pleasure to read Paul's book on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

Over the years I have read numerous IT books. While most authors provide adequate coverage of the techniques in their chosen area of expertise, they often struggle with style. Sometimes this can test the patience of readers who are using their limited time to master a new topic - and especially true of the 1000+ page bibles.

What a refreshing change of pace! Paul's lucid style not only provided an adequate introduction to programming in VBA, it also offered a wealth of tips on developing professional looking applications. I was particularly impressed by his discussion of object orientation and how it applies to Microsoft Access.

Paul has the rare ability to express difficult concepts with clarity. His examples were easy to understand and not cluttered with extraneous code.

This is the first time I have read a "SAMS Teach Yourself" book. I hope the other titles in the series are of the same high standard.

Well done Paul.

One thinks of PM by Whitehead and Russell.. Principia Mathematica..

each chapter follows the chapter sequence of Johnson and Kiokemeister's 4th ed. Calculus and analytic geometry

or mperhaps any first year calculus book nowadays

Johnson and K. dint write the problems..

some chap at Dearborn in Detroit.. motown

Perhaps we await the first Goedol, and Cohen question ..

Perhpas solved q.'s as another book for the rialto.. or Schaum style..

Fascinating.

Maybe every mathematic logic book should have a schaum style sol.n book

Fascinating.

spotter7, coastwatch, truk lagoon, south pacific

An "older" original work of a great mathematican. Not the best book to read about the subject, but certainly a collectors item.
I happen to have one because my master thesis used it as a major reference. It's the one book that everyone interested in the foundations of mathematics should own - if you can still get one.

This is one of the greatest math works ever. Prof. Cohen solves one of the most important problems in mathematics of this century, and this book explains his thinking and methods. A must for anyone who is really interested in mathematics.