If you wanted to be lulled to sleep by a person with a good voice and an interesting narrative, choose this tape set. A good value. Is interesting and engaging without overstimulating the listener.

I just received these tapes this week and really love listening to it. It puts me to sleep very quickly. Each side is a different "story" that relaxes and relieves stress. The authors voice and the music are very soothing. I just wish it came in CD form because even if it have the volume turned up it's hard to catch all the words and nuances.

Are you having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep after a stressful day? Then these are the tapes for you. The soothing stories and soft music will help anyone drift off. I have been using the tapes for about a month and I would highly recommend them. It was worth every penny for me.

This book breathes life into the very complex figure who is a progenitor of Science, and to an extent, Western civilization as we know them today. From Newton's correspondence and the memoirs of people who knew him, Christianson tells the story of the quiet child who revolutionized theories of light and mechanics, invented calculus (or did he? read!), served brilliantly as Master of the Mint, and presided over the Royal Society while privately holding heretical views and practicing alchemy. I got a great sense of the interrelatedness of the works of Newton and his contemporaries such that he seems neither untouchable and divine nor merely "in the right place at the right time", fashionable traps for biography. His interaction with many other contemporaries, such as Halley, Leibniz, and (Johann) Bernoulli were a reality check for my notions of genteel integrity among the lights of the age.

This is the first work of history and biography I've read in a long time. I'm now inspired to find more reading of this caliber. If only my formal education in history could have been this engaging!

Macmillan, please print this again so I can have my own copy!

Every one has heard of Isaac Newton. His laws of motion, how an apple fell on his head to help him understand gravity, etc. Those who go on to college to study science or engineering hear more of his work in optics, calculus, and a myriad other fields. When you understand how his work is at the very foundations of modern science, you begin to appreciate his genius.

This book by Gale E. Christianson is based on about 4 millions words (approximately 8000 pages on a standard 8 inches by 11.5 inches paper) written by Newton himself. The author succeeds in presenting everything that is known about Newton in less than 600 pages. Throughout the book, considerable amount of time is spent in outlining the external environment (political, religious, social and scientific) in England to help the reader understand Newton's life better.

The book starts off with Newton's ancestry and his own very difficult birth (prematurely born). His life is traced all the way to his education at Trinity College (University of Cambridge) and beyond as a Professor of Mathematics. The controversy regarding who is the originator of Calculus (Leibniz being the contender) is addressed in great detail. Everything you may want to learn about the origins of 'Principia Mathematica' is also covered in this book. Of course, there is no substitute for reading a copy of the original 'Principia Mathematica' itself if you are interested in exactly what it comprised.

I have yet to finish reading the entire book and it has been about 10 years since I purchased my copy. I skipped a few chapters when I first read the book and I have never been able to find the time to go back and fill in the blanks. The 600 pages are quite daunting to read yet thoroughly enjoyable if you can relate to his life in any way. Even otherwise, the life of one of the greatest abstract thinkers of all times is absolutely fascinating. What makes the book difficult to read is not the complex mathematics or physics (there is none of that in this book) but the pages and pages devoted to painting a picture of life in England at that time. There is so much information that you also need to find British History interesting in order to appreciate the entire book.

If you are deeply interested in Physics or Mathematics, you will enjoy this book thoroughly. Otherwise, it will make a good addition to your biography collection. The effort that the author spent on putting this book together is absolutely monumental. I plan on keeping this as part of my library collection and someday pass it on to my progeny. I hope you find it as enjoyable a book to read as I did.

Although not very detailed on the scientific aspects of Newton's work, this biography places him very well in his historic period, where we find a tadpole spectacle-between two worlds--of an age in transition, and the arch-innovator, shaking the foundations. That said, and the tale makes it clear, Newton was still very much a man of another age, if not another world, and we can also forget his discretion towards what he had achieved, never mistaking it for a complete metaphysical system. The theologian competes with the tinkerer turned blazingly sharp intuiter of the method of fluxions. The issue is important because the monumental genius of his deed tends to induce imitation in the sciences to come, but this never suceeds, for a reason Newton might have found obvious as he expended a majority of his labors poring over theological and alchemical treatises. I shan't further, as is my wont, crack jokes about 'mad scientists'. Newton was the real McCoy, and so much more compellingly fascinating than the caricature. We might learn his system of the world, but never grasp the 'system' of his mind, where sanity and madness integrate as a mystery. The depiction in the book of the world of Newton's England, Cambridge, and in the period of a classic political passage, leaves only wonder at the pinnacle of accomplishment starting from such rough-scrabble beginnings.

This exhaustive study of the criminal justice/prison system in America proves beyond doubt that the criminal justice sytem is biased against minorities, political dissidents, and (always) the poor.

From colonial times to the present, horrors have been committd in the name of justice. What is so disturbing is that today, 500 years later, many of the exact same abuses continue. Women are raped. Men are beaten, and almost no one is rehabilitated.

Why is it that prisons are the only industry where one can fail over and over, and the only consequence is that we build more and more of the exact same thing?

As a private investigator this book has enabled me to better understand the roots of the current criminal justice system, the many shortcomings of the system, and the harsh realities faced by generations of prisoners in this country. I highly recommend it. I have shared this book with several attorneys and two California state life prisoners (victims of the three strikes law). There is something in it for everyone. If Ken Burns is out there, he may want to make this the subject of his next documentary series!

I am distressed by Americans who ask "how could the German citizens have tolerated the Nazi horrors" but who keep voting for tougher and tougher treatment of prisoners. This well written and well researched book describes the history of prisons (and you will be surprised by some of the earlier ideas about the purpose and functioning of prisons) for the past 500 years. I wish it would be required reading in all schools.

The book, Isaac Newton and the Scientific Revoultion, was a good book beacause it went futher than the inventions and into Isaac Newton, the man. The book showed his public and private fueds with rival scientists. The books also shows his emotions; lots of resenment and hate, love of the unknown, and joy of experinicng life to the fullest. The only bad part of the book was it was to fast; it didn't show enough of the discoverery, it raced along to show what happened to Newton after the discovery like his fame and how it destroyed his rivals. But in the end you feel like you knew Newton and lived in the Scientiic revolution.

This is not just a great biography'it's one of the best-written science books around for young people. Christianson has sifted through the historical documents and accounts of Newton to paint a convincing and intelligent picture of the complex and at times irascible genius. Even more remarkable, the biographical portrait he presents is a compelling story. It begins with a beheading'that of Charles I'and ends with the poetic image of visitors to Newton's gravesite pausing "in silent tribute to the sacred permanence of the dead." The author demonstrates a remarkable sense of Newton and his times. For example, while many other biographers struggle to explain his experiments in alchemy, Christianson puts them in context of the great scientist trying to unravel the mysteries of the atomic world with the best tools available to him. The narrative also shows how Newton changed as he grew older: from a young, intense, reclusive academic to a living legend justifiably vain about his reputation. Reproductions of documents, Newton's sketches, and paintings of well-known figures illustrate this fine book

I have never read a biography quite as good as this. This book has some of the best descriptions of Newton that I've ever heard: "Like Leonardo da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton was not just an aimless childhood tinkerer, but a tinkerer playing with ideas and mechanisms." It has so many interesting details about his life, such as the jumping contest at school, or the many different clocks that he made. This book made me realize that Newton wasn't just a great scientist, but a political figure as well, with a seat in Parliment, head of the Royal Society, and Director of the Mint. If it is possible, Cristianson would be my nominee for the Pulitzer Prize.

Victor Thoren has done a remarkable job with what looks like relatively scant material. He draws as detailed a picture as possible not only of Tycho the astronomer and nobleman, but also the man. And it is in this latter department that his lack of material and references is sensed. Nevertheless, as far as the science and technology is concerned, he has done an excellent job in rebuilding for us all of Tycho's instruments and reconstructing the environment and atmosphere where these remarkable measurements were made.

This is not an "easy" read for the lay person, but will be rewarding eventually with a little determination.

"The Lord of Uraniborg" is a scholarly description of the life of Tycho Brahe, the eccentric and brilliant Danish astronomer whose work laid the foundation for the discovery of the motion of the planets by Johannes Kepler. Author Victor Thoren demolishes a number of myths about Brahe, while at the same time his exhaustive research into historical records reveals a number of fascinating aspects of Tycho's life.

In the case of Tycho Brahe, truth is both stranger and more entertaining than any fiction that has been created about him. For example, he did not die of a burst bladder following a night of excessive drinking. But he did die of uremia caused most likely by an enlarged prostate which prevented urination. His dying words to Kepler, "let me not seem to have lived in vain", could not have been scripted better for a man who sought immortality through science.

Readers should be aware that this book is not written in a style intended for the general public. It is a work of historical scholarship, and is packed with the kind of detail that some may find trivial. However, the sheer weight of these historical records (letters and official documents) helps to create a vivid and convincing portrait of this unique individual.

Dr. Christianson's "Writing Lives is the Devil" is a quality choice for readers who want to learn the inside dealings of how a biography is written. The style Christianson uses to write the articles flows and shapes into a simple story the reader can easily follow. His articles on the back-door operations of a biographer at work clearly illustrate how complex the profession of historian can be. With several references to his previous works, the reader becomes enthralled in the lives of many of his subjects and may very well want to dive into the other biographies. "Writing Lives is the Devil" is a great choice for would-be biographers to learn the tricks of the trade, and for a easy-reading for current biographers as well.

I stumbled across this book without any prior exposure to Christianson or his other works but found it hard to put down. The topic is self-evident from the title, but this is no dry how-to treatise on biography. His essays are wonderfully crafted and paint a rich picture of the biographer's struggles and joys. Stories of the hassles and hardships of research, writer's block, publishers, editors and reviewers are nicely balanced with humerous anecdotes and richly textured stories from his biographical works on Isaac Newton and Loren Eiseley.

I particularly enjoyed his extensive use of quotations from other historians and literary luminaries. My favorite: "The vision of the historian as a sort of intellectual private eye swashbuckling through a succession of unremittingly fascinating adventures of the mind can survive only among those who do not destroy it by engaging in historical research (J.H. Hexter)."

Christianson's other works have now found their way on to my (admittedly lengthy) "to-read" list. I suppose this is the ultimate measure of my enjoyment of this 5-star effort.

If you ever wondered why the Hubble Telescope is called the Hubble Telescope, I have a book that has the answer for you. In an age where all you have to do to have a highway or bridge or named after you is get elected to some minor office (the "Eric Winkler Parkway" ???) and where all you have to do to be referred to as a "genius" is guide an NFL team to a winning record ("Tampa sure has turned around since Smith arrived to handle the coaching chores haven't they Dandy? Yes Frank, they sure have, Coach Smith is a genius"), it is sobering to meet true genius -- warts and all.

When I was in high school, I studied nothing but sciences - with a particular emphasis on Physics and Astronomy - As a child I dreamed of being an astronomer - I built my own telescope. But then fate intervened and I ended up studying English literature and becoming a music lawyer. But later in life, in my early forties, I returned to my first love via a series of general interest science books. One of those books was "Edwin Hubble, Mariner of the Nebulae".

This compelling, lovely book was written by Gale Christianson, the author of an equally engaging portrait of Isaac Newton. Christianson is a Professor of History and writes with a down to earth, straightforward style. He writes for the general reader and does not presume that you are grounded in science or astronomy. So do not fear - dragons be not here.

Hubble is easily one of the most important figures to have graced the 20th century - or for that matter all of history. If you think that is an overstatement, then factor this into your thinking. This one man is responsible, virtually single-handedly, for several of the most important discoveries of all time. It was with reference to a discovery of Hubble's that the famous Harlow Shapley remarked, "here is the [discovery] that has destroyed my universe".

1. It was Hubble who confirmed the existence of other nebulae, what are now called galaxies, outside of the "Milky Way". This seems trite now, but it was not at ALL obvious at the time. Having discovered a Cepheid variable in Andromeda he was able to measure the distance to that body of stars -- the results of his calculation (using the period/luminosity relationship (discovered by Henrietta Leavitt in 1912) that makes Cepheids the standard candles of the universe) proved beyond a doubt that Andromeda was much farther away athan any star in the Milky Way.

2. It was Hubble who proved that the universe was expanding (and worked out the famous "Hubble Constant")- an insight of incalculable significance that laid the cornerstone for the Big Bang theory.

3. It was Hubble who developed the system of classification for galaxies that is used to this day.

4. It was Hubble who brought forward evidence that the universe is homogenous - i.e., the same in all directions.

Incredibly, he never won the Nobel Prize - he died before they got around to recognising him.

But this is only part of the story. For Hubble was probably one of the most unlikeable men of all time. He was arrogant, unkind, a publicity hound, revoltingly condescending and patronising, and at times even dishonest. A considerable portion of the book is devoted to exploring his extraordinary "reinvention of himself". A polite way of saying that he made up stories about his past life to enhance his reputation - for example he claimed to have practised law.

Shinning out of the pages of this book, like one of his Cepheid Variables, is the story of his truly extraordinary wife Grace who put up with everything and was constant and faithful to a fault.

I guarantee that you will not be able to put this book down. You will be by turns elated, repulsed, amazed, disappointed, astounded and saddened. I very nearly wept during the achingly touching Epilogue. It is one of those special books that you will return to more than once.

I believe the biography presents a complete and balanced account of the life of Edwin Hubble. The account covers his early years, family, education, military service, and his notable scientific career. The account of his education was interesting, especially his time at Oxford, England. Hubble's brief military career was covered, and his use of the image of "Major Hubble" afterwards tells much of his character. His scientific career, his work and professional controversies were covered in detail. If I were to be critical, I feel Hubble's early life received too much attention, I would prefer to have seen his scientic career covered in more detail. I brief, an interesting book, it almost makes me feel that I've met the man.

One of the most remarkable astronomers of all time, and the one who generally gets the credit for the biggest revolution since Copernicus: Hubble was the one who recognized that the universe is expanding, and who first articulated the principle that bears his name, that of the expansion constant, the "Hubble" constant.

This outstanding work does a good job of tracing his early years, a task made difficult by the fact that his wife destroyed many of his personal papers after his death. Hubble was enigmatic, aloof, and possibly disingenuous. He shed his Missouri roots and donned the polished exterior of a Brit. He was a shameless anglophile to the end of his life.

He had a knack for asking the right questions at the right time, and being a talented enough observer to get the data needed to address those questions. (...)

Christianson's work is an honest treatment of a difficult and complex subject. She doesn't gloss over the rough spots or try to sugar coat his scientific accomplishments. This is thoroughly researched and well written work.

16th century scientist Tycho Brahe receives relatively little mention in modern times: this explores his entire range of scientific activities which go beyond his better-known astronomical explorations. A well-rounded portrait of Brahe the man as well as his many scientific interests and his works on his private island is presented in a study which includes intriguing facts on his contemporaries.

Diane C. Donovan

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Christianson's book about Tycho and the birth of Big Science on the Danish Renaissance island of Hven. The writing is fresh and interesting, the details of daily life are lively, the discussions of patronage and scientific method offer new insight into the pre-telescopic world of astronomy. The illustrations are excellent. The discussions of alchemy and astrology are facinating. I especially liked the story of Tycho's sister's sad romance and his daughter's failed engagement. The biographies of Tycho's "students" and their lives after Hven show the influences of his scientific method and the international character of the scientific world in the 16th and early 17th century. Highly reccommended.

I found this book to be readable and informative. As a scientist and a history buff, I enjoyed Christianson's ability to combine the story of the birth of big science with the interesting details of Northern European Rennaisance life. Tycho's Island includes a cast of interesting characters, some who became the stars of the next generation of scientists and astronomers, some who were mapmakers, instrument makers, even printers and papermakers. The book also includes a picture of Rennaisance life that makes Tycho and his familia come alive to the modern reader. The details of marriage negotiations, castle building, entertaining and poetry makes the book a real page-turner. The short capsule biographies at the end of the book show the widespread influences of Tycho's brilliant work. Kepler may be the best-known member of this group of assistants, but he is just one of a number of interesting and important characters.

This book, published in 1998 (during the height of the certification boom), is no longer current. Some of the certifications are no longer offered, still others have been discontinued. Still, it contains a lot of good information on the varied certifications available, and can jump start your thinking if you want to add a few lines to your resume.

Well, it does what it claims.

It describes the certifications available by vendor. Short, to the point descriptions, usually not longer than a page, for each certification.

Format is basically:

"XXX Corp Certification" Who needs it... Requirements for certification... Where to take the test... Cost of test... Format of test...

And that's about all the info you'll get for each certification covered in this book.

It includes info for (from inside cover) certifications from: Ascend, Adobe, Banyan, Bay Networks, Borland, Centura, Cisco, Compaq, CompTIA, CA, Corel, HP, IBM, Informix, Learning Tree, Lotus, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, Prosoft, SCO, Silicon Graphics, Sun, Sybase, USWeb, Xylan.

I didn't give it 5 stars because it is really a cut-dry book, very to the basics and to the point book. Very dry so it's not interesting reading. But it'll give you the facts your looking for.

This book is not an exam preparation book. It is helpful for anyone interested in obtaining a computer certification. It covers certifications at all levels of difficulty and all range of skills. This book was a great investment for me and am sure that almost anyone will find it helpful. There are certifications that I didn't even know existed and now thanks to this book I've earned a few of them and I'm pursuing yet a few more.

This is not for someone who is interested in actual people's stories. It's just a picture book -- it opens the door to Sing Sing but doesn't invite us in. Disappointing.

Regardless of the reader's position on the death penalty, this book is a fascinating, disturbing, thought-provoking, and very necessary addition to the personal library of anyone interested in that issue. The book contains an incredible array of photos, documents, and information quoted directly from long-buried records. Until recently, these materials were never viewed by anyone outside the "power elite" of the corrections system.

The author makes the book truly unique by using only a bare minimum of narration and commentary. Instead, he allows these haunting images to speak for themselves. By doing so, he allows the reader to form his or her own impressions, opinions and conclusions. This makes the book's impact all the more powerful.

An especially troubling message of this book is that our criminal justice system has traditionally kept a tight lid on public knowledge of many aspects of the life and death of its condemned men and women, and that this remains so today in all but the very few most highly-publicized cases (such as Timothy McVeigh or Karla Faye Tucker).

The author has presented documents, letters, photographs, and memos between prison personnel in a clever, yet straight-forward manner that allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. The photographs were fascinating and speak volumes of the lives of these death row inmates. I was most struck by three consecutive mug shots of Frederick Wood, which illustrated the aging effect that the prison had on him over 18 years. As an investigator, I was impressed that the author was able to obtain these telling documents from Sing-Sing. The book conjures up many emotions regarding the lives and deaths of these people. The fact that some of the subjects look like they belong in most family photo albums really brings it home. The book would make a riviting museum exhibit. I highly recommend it.