Every designer should have a copy of this book.

slightly dated now - but still the classic guide to design process.

My copy keeps getting stolen - going to have to buy a new copy.

Design Methods: seeds of human futures By John Chris Jones 1970,1980,1992

Architects, confronted in the 1950s and 1960s with design efforts involving many designers and many stakeholders, were forced to study their methods to make them more open to scrutiny and input at all stages. By the time "Design Methods" was published in 1970, architects, engineers, and industrial designers had begun to raise their perspective to include a much larger picture, ranging from the designer's internal processes all the way to planetary conditions. As a society, we were re-designing design. Many of the design methods which Jones presents in his "recipe book" grew from this design group work. Even today, best practice for design teams is largely developed from methods described almost thirty years ago in this book.

From the Introduction:

"Jones first became involved with design methods while working as an industrial designer for a manufacturer of large electrical products in Britain in the 1950s. He was frustrated with the superficiality of industrial design at the time and had become involved with ergonomics. When the results of his ergonomic studies of user behavior were not utilized by the firm's designers, Jones set about studying the design process being used by the engineers. To his surprise, and to theirs, Jones' analysis showed that the engineers had no way of incorporating rationally arrived at data early on in the design process when it was most needed. Jones then set to work redesigning the engineer's design process itself so that intuition and rationality could co-exist, rather than one excluding the other."

This cooperation of multiple faculties seems to be a consistent thread throughout his work.

"Design Methods" is divided into two parts.

Part one gives a brief history of design, argues that new methods are needed for today's more complex realities, breaks down the design process into three stages, and shows us how to choose a design method for each stage. The 1992 edition has added several prefaces which are well worth reading. They help explain how to use the book.

Part two consists of descriptive outlines, or recipes, for 35 design methods. These methods include: logical, data gathering, innovative, taxonomic, and evaluative procedures. Reading part one gives you a grasp of the book. After that, the methods in part two are best read singly or a few at a time, as you would any recipe book.

* * * * *

Jones breaks design down into three stages: 1) Divergence, 2) Transformation, and 3) Convergence.

The divergence stage is ".. extending the boundary of a design situation .. to have a large enough, and fruitful enough, search space... The objectives, and the problem boundary, are unstable and tentative. Evaluation is deferred. Every effort is made to escape old assumptions, and absorb new data."

The territory of the problem is tested to discover limits, consequences, and paradoxes. The questions are: What is valuable? What is feasible? What is dangerous? Where are the dependencies between elements? What are the penalties for getting it wrong? Are the right questions being asked?

The transformation stage requires a shift of gears. The territory of the problem has been mapped. Operative words here are: eliminate, combine, simplify, transform, modify.

"This is the stage when objectives, brief, and problem boundaries are fixed, when critical variables are identified, when constraints are recognized, when opportunites are taken and when judgements are made. [It is] pattern-making, fun, flashes of insight, changes of set... Pattern-making .. is the creative act of turning a complicated problem into a simple one by .. deciding what to emphasize and what to overlook."

At the last stage, convergence, "the problem has been defined, the variables have been identified and the objectives have been agreed. The designer's aim ...[is to] reduce the secondary uncertainties progressively until only one of many possible alternative designs is left... Persistence and rigidity of mind is a virtue: flexibilty and vagueness are to be shunned."

Convergence can be done, as a programmer would say, from the top down or from the bottom up; or architecturally speaking, from the outside inward or inside outward. Often the best approach is to do both at once, and resolve differences as the two processes meet.

* * * * *

Design today is an increasingly social art, involving multiple designers, and multiple stakeholders as client/sponsor, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, consumer/customer, and citizen groups and government agencies concerned with a shared environment, all get into the act. Individual design geniuses now must learn to communicate and negotiate effectively to succeed in the current enterprise environment.

Advances in the capabilites of engineers and engineering tools must be matched with advances in techniques for resolving a broader range of issues and demands, and more effective communication skills and design transformation skills among designers and design managers.

Computers will drive the role of humans in design to the earlier stages - divergence and transformation - of the design process where flexibility, intuition, and soft-focus attention are required. Knowledge base systems will take over the convergence stage, kicking the problem back to us only when discovered contradictions force re-evalution of design goals. The iteration of complete designs from a given design problem definition will become faster as our knowledge base improves and as computer power increases. As the speed of iteration increases, a threshold will be passed where qualitative changes in both design and designing will result.

"Design Methods" is a seminal book which was widely credited with stimulating fresh approaches to design thinking. It will continue to be recognised as a classic work, and a useful text kept handy by every drawing table, CAD system, and engineering manager's desk.

This book offers a wealth of information on a whole range of diving related medical subjects and provided the information at a level that even non medically trained readers could follow clearly and concisely. This reference offered me a great starting point to begin to understand many of the medical considerations facing divers and their doctors.

This book appeals to me for a few reasons.....

It is a concise no nonsense approach to diving medicine for everyone from diving novices to hyperbaric physicians (I have seen both groups use this book). I think it is a must for all doctors who treat or do medicals for divers. The main problem with this book is that it comes in paper back and my personal copy is now deteriorating from overuse. Its that kind of book that you just keep going back to.

For the price and breadth of knowledge (including venomous fish/shark attacks the facts as well as decompression illness and medical conditions that preclude diving) there is no book than can come close.

I read this as an adult, remembering how much I enjoyed the Tripod Trilogy as a teen. This was a fun read with plausible history woven through out the story. One of the sequels is "The New Found Land," which I remember to be good.

This is the third of the famous (or infamous depending upon one's disposition) 'young-adult fantasy-trilogies' by J. Christopher, and quite obviously (due to it's current order status), the most overlooked one. This particular novel (alas, I do not remember the names of the other two) takes place in present day (you guessed it!) England, and is indeed, told in the first person by a young man with a slight inferiority complex. He and his buddy (genius orphan I believe) hang out and play chess, until they get slung around in time by a big fireball, and end up in an alternate-present-reality, where the Catholic church (via the Roman Empire) still controls those precious hearts and minds, and has stifled the growth of science prodigiously....and so the narrator and his friend try to make things right. Aren't too successful. Sound familiar? It had better not...it's at least partially original... and kicks off the trilogy nicely. In the next two books these two lads journey to 'the new world'...then finally end up in China (which is, quite naturally, much more sophisticated than Europe)...and so on. I hope I haven't ruined the plot too thoroughly, but the ending (as per usual with Christopher) is quite innovative (see: Sword of the Spirits Trilogy). Overall, the trilogy is a great read, excellently written...and enjoyable by both young and old. I would suggest reading the Tripod tril. and the aforementioned Sword of the Spirits tril. just to build up the appreciation level, as it were, before delving into this one. But, for the Christopher fans out there, this is an absolute must-have (as are the other two in this series), and spotlights J.C. at his most imaginative (if a tad farfetched) best. A note in addendum is necessary here, because as with the other two trilogies, there may-or-may-not-be deep religious symbolism involved here (i.e. the dangers of worshipping 'falsely', and the nature of 'the true religion'.), but it's all terribly ambiguous and supplants much of what was said about this subject by him in the earlier two...so take it with a grain of salt. Regardless of this, younger readers will NOT discern this, and these implicatory ideas should only add to the enjoyment of advanced reader.

I agree almost entirely with the fine review written by Roger Kennedy. Just a few more points to add: (1) I think what sticks in my mind more than anything else are the horrific marches and the lack of medical care - the authors descriptions are all the more memorable for their off-handed understatement. (2) It's also an interesting recording of the social mores of the time - the author feels that the Lash is a necessity, and deplores the idea of having promotions done by merit rather than by noble birth. Not what you might expect to hear from a commoner serving in the ranks!

This book is one of the classic Peninsular War recollections of the period. Harris was a devil-me-care lad of the English shires, who was first chosen by lot to join the English militia in 1806. Once in Ireland he becomes enamored of the green-jacketed 95th Rifles, Britian's new experimental Rifle corps, and decides to join them as a volunteer. The memoirs of Harris and many others like him were no doubt the inspiration for Bernard Cornwall's now famous "Sharpe" series. But Harris's work is certainly worth reading for its own merit, as it provides a vivid impression of what it was like to be a British soldier in the Napoleanic period. Unlike many of the memoirs of his compatriots, Harris only served for a brief time. He experinced Britian's initial efforts to support Spain in her rebellion against napolanic France's domination. As part of that early expedition, harris sees action at Rolica and Vimero (1808), and partakes in the grim retreat to Coruna (1809). He is thus privy only to the initial stages of what would become the Peninsular War in Spain (1808-1814) Harris's recolllections are vivid, but at times confused and lack chronology. This is reflective of the fact that he was a common ranker, and his level of education was somewhat less than many officiers. This does not detract from the value of his work; for Harris is in fact an amusing writer with an adroit sense of humor. He recollects his experinces as they come to mind, and the reader often feels as though he is seated right next to him relaying his stories as they come to mind. At times this can be confusing, and some knowledge of the period certainly helps in understanding the merits of this work. Christopher Hibbert has provided some valuable notes both in the introduction and within the body of the work, which adds greatly to it. Modern readers will certainly find Harris worthwhile, and with the recent interest sparked by the "Sharpe series", will see how the real thing compares to the fictionalized character. Sharpe is most certainly part Harris, and the reader also gets an understaning of the 95th regiment as well. Worth having.

Dreamspeakers continues the Revised edition Traditions books which I've been enjoying very much. Though I've personally never been much of a Mage fan, I do try to keep abreast of the different groups out there for when I run a game of my own to make my World of Darkness a more well-rounded experience for all.

That said, I often found the previous edition Tradition books dull and clunky. The newer Revised editions are not so, and have a much better narrative structure around them, despite using most of the same narrative conventions. This may work because there seems to be less melodrama and more instruction for the Mages working their way through their individual Traditions.

Not so for the Dreamspeakers for whome such generalizations are hard, since the Tradition name is here revealed to be a catch-all for any Mage who works with spirits, and this Tradition seems to be the most disorganized and chaotic so far. Dreamspeakers (or "Shamans" as they are more likely to be referred to in the book) can come from any walk of life, from any culture, and can even be Awakened by powerful Spirits, making them a highly eclectic group which is difficult to characterize or give mutual goals to as a group. Of the Revised books so far, this one makes the best case for an all-Dreamspeaker game (as opposed to an all fill-in-Tradition-name-here game).

Best of all is the Tradition is no longer made out to be a bunch of drum-beating tribalists stuck in the modern era. This gives the Tradition more depth and is greatly appreciated by me.

Wow! And I thought the original Dreamspeakers Tradition book was good. This one just blew me away. It was so amazing. This revised edition really expands on just what it means to be a Shaman. Following the journey of a young Shaman, we learn just about every aspect of Shamanism in this book. Starting from the introduction, which explains the mood, theme and set-up of the book, we go into a brief history of the world, as told by the spirits themselves. Then they go on to take us on a tour of the Americas, Africa and other lands, and the shaman who work in those lands. Sidebars fill us in on spirit perspectives and how words really can matter when dealing with spirits. We go on to get Dreamspeaker views on other Traditions, supernatural beings and even dealing with spirits. The first chapter closes out with word on Dreamspeaker philosophy and how shamanism can be integrated with other religions, from New Age faiths and Shinto to Christianity and Islam.
The next chapter goes into more details on Dreamspeaker structure, giving write-ups for each major Dreamspeaker faction: the Baruti (wandering storytellers), spirit-trained Independants, the Ghost Wheel Society (techno-shamans), Keepers of the Sacred Flame (traditional shaman), Red Spears (warriors), Spirit Smiths (fetish makers) and Solitares (lone shaman). Then we get more on animism, ecstasy and transvestite shamanism, followed by how Dreamspeakers view magic and the spheres. Some new mechanics for madness, Awakened items, coping with the Avatar Storm, Spirit allies, Totems and lesser Shaman paths, as well as more spirit Rotes (many quite inventive) and Fetishes than you can shake a stick at, close out this chapter.
The next chapter goes through famous Dreamspeakers, including a Siberian master who survived the Avatar Storms and Xoca, the Dreamspeaker signature character. Then we get some interesting suggestions for Dreamspeaker chronicles, and a group of NPCs who serve as shamans by helping educate poor communities across the world. Then we get the usual sample NPCs, including some unique ones like an Armenian vigilante who speaks to ghosts of his murdered relatives, a Native American shaman attached to the American military as an advisor, the shaman without a tribe and an African pirate who follows Shango, the Orisha of thunder.
The end of the book brings the story of our Shaman-in-training full circle, though I won't give it away. We also get some very good recommendations for books and movies, most of which I agree embody Dreamspeaker ideals or themes quite well. Over all, its a great resource for playing Dreamspeakers, or even shamans in general. After all, most of the infomation is very general, so it can apply equally well for Orphans, Kopa Loei, Ba'ata, Sons of Tengri and Ecstatic or Akashic Shaman.
My only comment on the book is that it is very broad. Shamanism is a varied practice found in all cultures. Sure, you've got Native American, Siberian, African, Aboriginal, Korean and Pacific Islander Shamanism. But Shamanism exists elsewhere; followers of Voudon and Santeria, Shinto priests, Christian mystics who speak to Angels and Demons, Bedouin wisewomen, Bluesmen who learn from the Dark Man at the Crossroads, Mexican curanderos, Bon Po priests in Tibet, Chinese peasant wizards and beyond. If you really want to add cultural depth to your character, it might help to get a good book on anthropology, mythology or a specific culture (Hmong, !Kung, Aboriginal, Cree, Aztec, etc) as well.

I liked this book, the photographs are excellent (and rare) and really give a good idea of what the German army looked like. The reason to buy the book is for the large format photos, not the text. For written descriptions, I recommend "Forgotten Soldier" but Guy Sajer for a gripping account of combat on the Eastern Front.

This book is a detailed and enjoyable read. The author does a great job describing the German Army,basic tactics,equipment and a larger strategic picture.The pictures included are of outstanding quality.I highly recommend this book.

My children are aged 7-11, still to young to have discovered the wonders of science fiction. I am older, and am both a physicist, and an adherent of Gene Roddenberry's Prime Directive for dealing with alien cultures. Because of my background, I was predisposed to look for certain elements as I read the story to my kids. Instead, I was treated to a functional family operating in a completely disfunctional world. Laurie's father and his grandmother were unpredictably delightful in their realization of the situation and in their absurd actions. Minor characters such as the pilot, the policeman's wife, the member of the clergy, and the station policeman had much to say about today's society. The last third of the book was less exciting than their discovery of the Tripods or their first interactions with the Trippies, but may have been logically required as a prequel to the Trilogy.

I thought this book was well written. Perhaps not as well as the rest of the series, but it holds many good answers to the series that the rest do not answer. Very good description on how the world was taken over. Very interesting on how un-capped humans came to live in the White Mountains. I do have one suggestion: Read the first three books before reading this one. I think the magic in the series is NOT knowing how the Tripods and Masters took over the earth. This book was written as a prequal, a book made to explain things that were left out in the other books. If you read this one first, I do think the rest of the series: The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire, will not hold as much magic and imagination if you had read it last. Very good, very thorough, but meant to be the last read.

After reading the three other books of the Tripod series, I always wondered how the tripods had actually managed to capture Earth, and how the free people in the White Mountains came to be, this book answered all of my questions and introduced me to a whole new adventure, if you liked the three other books in the series, you'll definetly like this book, and if you didn't read the other books, this one will make you want to read the others. A great book.

I read this book in 2 days. I am a huge Aaliyah fan, was very upset when she was killed. She was a beautiful young lady & now she is a beautiful spirit. The book was good, it touched on things most of her true fans had already known about her. The pictures were cool too. I like the fact that the author was truthful and didn't add things that were not known about her. I suggest every fan read it and if you would just like to know about the original hip-hop princess, read it.... They say they have a new hip-hop princess (Ashanti), but they are not saying that she is replacing Aaliyah, noone will ever be able to do that!

Aaliyah:More Than a Woman is a good book. The book describes Aaliyah's personal and public life; how she was ,who she was,and the people's lives she touched worldwide. The only problem I had with the book is how the author,Christopher John Farley, commented on the lives of other artists and not put his primary focus on Aaliyah. Much of the book contains the rise and fall of other artists of whom Aaliyah had met or come in contact with. The main chapter I was disappionted in was "Damon and Aaliyah:A love story. That chapter didn't state anything about Aaliyah's relationship with Damon. In the beginning it started off with how they met and who Damon was and that was the end. The rest of the chapter the author just drifted off to another topic like much of the book.Overall, the book was still a good read. For all the devoted Aaliyah fans I would recommend this book because it gives you a deeper look to who Aaliyah was off camera as well as on.

Aaliyah(More than a Woman) is like no other it was the best. The book told everything about her life. It told everything she accomplished and more. Her life was interesting she was what you would call a lady and a family oriented girl who never forgot who she really was and where she came from. She was truly a angel and thats why people respect her all over the world. She was amazing and I would suggest anyone was into her and her music and acting talents read this book!

When I first bought the book I thought it was a self-help book for recovering market losers (like me) to help me refocus into the spiritual aspects of life. As I read the book, I started wondering if the story was true. The later chapters seemed so absurd that it couldn't have been true. At the very end, it really was a pleasant surprise. What turned out to be a quest for self-help turned out to be a book that panned all the self-help gurus. Bravo to the authors! The witty biblical quotes and expressions were gems that kept me laughing. I only gave four stars because I found the Market Meditations at the end a bit too much.

This is a really funny book.

It's not a classic but definately a fun and worthwhile read. Buckley's send up of the American proclivities of spirituality, self-help gurus, materialism, etc. still amuses me almost a year after I first read this book.... how much more people who fell into these traps would realize if they instead of reading Deepak Chopra and his kinsmen would only read this!!!

This is the story of a stockbroker who, tired of life, went to find seclusion in a monestary... only to find that the monestary was broke and that its product.... horribly made wine (which was why he went there...) was in dire straits... but eventually finds salvation....

If you find a copy of this book, definately pick it up and read it. It's a fairly quick book..... though I'm not sure that it'd be worth the cover price to me....

This is an extreemly humorous book detailing the path to success in life. I laughed aloud at the well written genuinely "true-to-life" situations Brother Ty narrates in this personal tale of his journey to "Spiritual AND Financial Growth." There is a very tender and heart touching element found in the development of the characters introduced in this story which makes it a delight to read. Also, as a minister myself, (protestant & Presbyterian...so pray for me, my Catholic friends!) I appreciated the accurate use of theology and Scripture found throughout the story, an element missing in many popular "self-help" books. Overall a great book about the insanity (and cure) found in our "growth" oriented modern society. I couldn't help visualizing how this will appear as a screen play. (Now that Robert Downey Jr. is "out and about," he has my vote for "Bro.Ty"!) A fun read that will leave you feeling good about life.

I read the book My Brother Sam is dead for a school project. It only took me seven nights to complete this book I'm in 8th grade and I'm not a very fast reader. This book starts out when Sam comes home from Yahle and tells his family that he is going to fight in the war against his country( he wants to be free from England). Sam and Tim's dad was in a war and does not want his son to fight because he knows how hard a soldgers life can be. Sam and his dad get in a fight and Life (dad) kicks sam out sam went to live with tom he snuck back into the house one night to get the Brown Bess (gun) a couple of days later tim found out that Sam stole the gun adn tried to get it back but sam wouldn't let him. Well if you want to find out what happens, you will have to read this excellent book.

Victoria Schott
Sam Meeker is off to fight in the Revolutionary War on the American's side. His family are Tories and they live in Redding Ridge. His father is outraged by Sam's decision, but cannot stop him. This leaves his younger brother, Tim, and his mother ad father to work in the tavern and tend to the crops. Life is not easy with the war going on, but is manageable. Sam pays visits to Redding often.
British and American troops march into Redding frequently. This does not interfere with the Meeker family. Until, one night Sam was paying a visit to his family. He saw that the cows were being stolen, so he went outside to stop them. The men captured Sam...Find out what happens when you read "My Brother Sam is Dead." If you like historical fiction this is the book for you!

My brother Sam is dead is a outstanding story of the hardships of war. The main character(Tim) has to grow up fast. During this war Tim is torn between his father, a loyalist,or person who was loyal to the king of England, and his brother, a young ambitious man who supports the Rebel cause. His brother runs away with the family waepon to go haelp in the war, and his father is captured , and put on a British ship. During this time Tim has to run the family buisness. I highly recommend this book for you peolpe who love to learn about U.S history. I know I do