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Book reviews for "Dey,_Joseph_Charles,_Jr." sorted by average review score:

New Perspectives on Microsoft Access 2000 - Introductory
Published in Paperback by Course Technology (10 August, 1999)
Authors: Joseph J. Adamski, Kathy Finnegan, and Charles T. Hommel
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Become Access Office User Expert
This book has been approved by Microsoft in their Microsoft Office User Expert Exam as a prep book. The user downloads many sample Microsoft Databases from the web. Lexus automobile web site is used for extensive examples. The book is divided into 10 weeks or 10 chapters and has excellent illustrations and guidance.

One of the best Access books ever and I have a library of 50 of them. Covers Access new web features, data access pages. Also, a great explanation of databases and normalization of databases. Also includes a review of windows for beginners.

Beats Access 2000 Bible!

By the end of all the drills and exercises, your confidence is up and you are ready to take the Office Access User Expert.

Be Sure to buy the edition that says 'Expert' at the bottom.I believe this book also has Beginning and Intermediate editions. The 'Expert Edition' has > 650 pages. Joint authors are Adamski, Finnegan and Charles Hommel. Thompson Learning, Course Technology is publisher.


The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen
Published in Hardcover by Atria Books (22 October, 2002)
Author: Nick Clooney
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Excellent for the beginner in MS Applications
This publication provides an excellent overall scope of the many primary functions within the MS ACCESS 97 software. It makes an excellent choice for teachers and students alike, as well as the homebound student or officebound professional. :^)


Parallel of the Classical Orders of Architecture
Published in Hardcover by Acanthus Press (1998)
Authors: Johann Matthaus Von Neue Systematische Darstellung Der Archite Mauch, Charles Pierre Joseph Nouveau Parallele Des Ordres D'Archite Normand, Donald M. Rattner, and Charles Pierre Joseph Normand
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Excellent reference on the classical orders of architecture
This is the best reference on the Classical Orders of Architecture I have Seen. It has very good text in the first chapter explaining the orders and proportions, but what makes this book unique are the measured drawings of examples of each of the orders. Many variations and richly illistrated.


Young Guns
Published in DVD by Artisan Entertainment (20 February, 2001)
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Radar Imaging Review
Radar Imaging is a clear, crisp concise history of radar and its uses and applications. I found the book useful as a reference for a college research project and have recommended it to others as an excellent resource written free of technololgical jargon and clutter. A real gem.


United Mind Workers : Unions and Teaching in the Knowledge Society
Published in Hardcover by Jossey-Bass (1997)
Authors: Charles Taylor Kerchner, Julia E. Koppich, and Joseph G. Weeres
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An important and influential book. Highly recommended!
United Mind Workers is a very stimulating and important book. It is the first book to discuss how to organize teachers and their work differently, and the first book to capture the attention of both major American teachers unions. Already widely influential, it seems destined to play a major role in the current reform movement. I highly recommend it to all interested in the improvement of American education. -- William Boyd, Penn State University


A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders
Published in Hardcover by University of North Texas Press (1997)
Author: Gary M. Lavergne
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"Lookout, someone is shooting from the Tower!"
This book takes you to the front line of the Tower and makes you duck for cover. With enough accuracy to shot you straight through chest with a high power semi automatic rifle, Gary Lavergne set the stage for the largest killing spree on American soil. His biographical account of Charles Whitman and his struggle with his father help the reader understand some of the torment that went through his life. Lavergne introduces you to all of Whitmans victims as they were your next door neighbors, and draws a picture so intense it makes you yell "Get out of the way, there's a sniper in the Tower!"

This book also tries to uncover the mystery of who actually dealt the deathblow to Charles Whitman as well, was it Houston McCoy or Ramiro Martinez? It protrays the effects of having the media splash their lives as heroes all over the newspapers and shows just what type of man could be the Father of Charles Whitman.

If you like true crime and want the back story on this savage assault on the University of Texas, I highly recommend it as the words flow from Lavergne's narration and puts you in the spectators seat as he unfolds the shooting of forty-five and killing of fourteen----including his own wife and Mother.

A fascinating trip through a eerie vortex of carnage
I attended the University of Texas, and have been a resident of Austin since 1977; this crime has held a tight grip on my psyche for many years. (Currently, I live across the park from the site where Whitman and his wife lived before moving to their last home in south Austin, so Charles Whitman is never far from my thoughts.)

The story and the book that details the mayhem caused by Charles Whitman represent one of the top true crime episodes in the history of America.

This was one of America's first mass murder stories in the era dubbed "The Media Age." The carnal horrors of Vietnam presented on the six o'clock news by the broadcast media closely paralleled the impact felt by the horrified followers of the Tower killings.

Lavergne does a fine job of detailing the early life of Whitman and the events that led to his premeditated madness.

The Kennedy assassination, the Speck murders, and Whitman's killing spree woke and shocked America from its contented and homogenized post-Eisenhower dream. Innocence was truly lost in 1966 that day in Austin, Texas, under a scorching August sun.

I don't believe in the theory of "closure"; any event that must encompass the concept of closure will always be so painful that the person involved will never completely forget that tragic incident. For the people affected by the Whitman murders or any other earth-shattering event, closure is an inane concept.

A fascinating story
For 96 minutes in August 1966, Charles Whitman rained death on the University of Texas campus, shooting 45 people from the 28th-floor observation deck of its bell tower. The ex-Marine shot people more than 400 yards away and put two bullets through the fabric of an airplane flying overhead before two Austin police officers killed him. If this sounds like the makings of a great story, it is -- and Gary Lavergne is just the man to tell it. Lavergne's well-researched book delves into Whitman's past to reveal how he evolved into a person who could kill 16 people. The author then cranks the story-telling into high gear by delivering a blow-by-blow account of Whitman's reign of terror. Lavergne's words are accompanied by many interesting photos, including one taken of the tower as Austin residents fired back at Whitman 12 minutes before his death. I read this book in one sitting. My favorite part was the last chapter, which detailed Lavergne's interviews 30 years after the event with the two men who killed Whitman. The literary picture he paints of long, tall Texan Houston McCoy -- whose life since his heroic act has been anything but happy -- was really compelling.


New Perspectives on Microsoft Access 2000 - Comprehensive
Published in Paperback by Course Technology (12 October, 1999)
Authors: Joseph J. Adamski, Kathy Finnegan, Charles T. Hommel, and Kathleen E. Finnegan
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For Begginers only, basic skills
The book is meant to be used in a course, as you read along in the book it constantly references ideas gone over in past chapters. I do not recommend this book for anyone looking to learn Access on their own, moreover anyone who is looking for an advanced book on Access programming & Features.

Beyond Beginner
I bought this book for a college course to learn Access for work. I had tried to learn the program on my own only to find this book extremely helpful in understanding databases, queries, forms, and reports. I finished the book is about 2 weeks for a 4 month course! Do not buy this book if you want to learn customizing, macros, and VBA. This book is for beginners, but what I have found out (by ordering another book), is that the New Perspective series has to be the best there is at taking you step-by-step as to the process of creating within MS Office Programs. Buy reference books once you acquaint yourself with the programs. This book will take you to a beginner-intermediate status, and a reference book beyond that.

Awesome!
The tutorials, graphics, layout... simply awesome! Learn at your own pace with this book from the basics to advanced queries, switchboards, macros, and even a bit of VBA. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn Access 2000.


High Crimes
Published in Audio CD by Brilliance Audio (2002)
Authors: Joseph Finder, J. Charles, and Kim King
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Are The Book And Movie The Same? Or Different?
As usual the book is better than the movie. Having seen the movie first, I hesitated reading this legal thriller about a woman who is a Harvard law professor and a highly regarded defense attorney who defends her husband in a military trial. He is accused of killing 87 unarmed civilians in San Salvador thirteen years previous. He had been living with wife Claire Heller Chapman as Tom Chapman, a new identity for this Special Forces soldier named Ronald Kubik.

Claire is shocked and overwhelmed when he is arrested and charged. After realizing he will be convicted quickly in a military court, she decides to apply her skill as a gifted defense attorney and defend him. She must learn the nuances of military jurisprudence, so she hires ex-JAG attorney, Charles O. Grimes III ( Morgan Freeman in the movie).

Claire wants desperately to believe her husband is not a killer, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. As the evidence is presented, she raises creative challenges that would normally cause reasonable doubt in a civilian jury. However, the judge doesn't give her any favorable rulings and Claire realizes she is working against a stacked deck. This realization helps extinguish any lingering doubt that something is wrong and convinces her of Tom's professed innocence.

This multi-layered plot helped erase my own doubt about the time I spent reading a story of which I already knew the outcome. There is enough difference in the storyline as well as in the complexity of the plot that I was actually unsure if the book would end in the same way as the movie. There is enough difference to recommend the book for both those who have seen the movie and those who haven't to find out how it ends. I think you will be pleasantly satisfied.

A Very Entertaining, Fast Read
As in The Moscow Club and Extraordinary Powers, Joseph Finder has written a very entertaining,fast-paced book that once you start , you won't want to put down.

The story has lots of surprises, the dialogue is crisp and, for the most part, realistic. The main characters are mostly likable but could have been more fully developed. Nonetheless, High Crimes is well worth reading! Further, if this is your first book by Finder, you might also want to read The Moscow Club and Extraordinary Powers. His third book, The Zero Hour, was not as good.

A very, very scary book

My practically perfect spouse brought this book home from the library. I settled in to read a few pages before bed.

That was four hours and 300+ pages ago. I finished it in one sitting and was riveted from start to finish.

Yes, there are some obvious errors....Claire and her team should have believed Embry and looked for another source of their leak....and, why was there no formal investigation of the sabatoge on Claire's car....and, why didn't someone follow up on those early morning phone calls?

Even with those glitches, I found this book to be one of the most interesting, complex and suspense-filled stories to come down the pike in a while. I'm a long-time suspense/thriller/mystery reader -- I remember when Ludlum was GOOD, so I was delighted to find a new voice in my favorite genre.

Keep it up, Mr. Finder!


Fictions
Published in Paperback by International Thomson Publishing (1989)
Authors: Joseph F. Trimmer and C. Wade Jennings
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Good quick informative read but could have been much more
Good, engrossing read on the events surrounding the capture of Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, and the discovery of the house of horrors of the Wilseyville Ranch. The book is well laid out and easy to follow and for that I give it high marks. However, I found it lacking in any true background information on Lake and Ng. There's no insight as to who they were, just what they did. Part of the reason I read such novels as this is to find out what happened to shape people into the beasts they become. There was none of that here. Also, the character of Tomasina Boyd Clancy, the reporter and the only fictional character in the book, just rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was because I knew she didn't exist, and knowing that the authors discription of her being a knock out red head, and the unusual name made it all so obvious. She completely unnecessary and her thoughts during the hearings at the end just got in the way of the otherwise riviting speech of the lawyers. Finally, I was somewhat surprised in the Author's Note at the end the calls for the retirement of the Death Penalty not because it was inhumane, but because the fight to avoid it by the accused usually ends up in a long and costly trial. While the points certainly have their validity, reading them at the end of such a tale is almost unbelieveable. I had to reread the last paragraph several times to make sure I had read what I had read. And for those final points I had to mark down this book.

My sympathies go out to Mr. Bond and his family. I hope they can rest a little easier knowing that Ng has finally gone to trial.

My sister was Sheryl Okoro, one of the uncharged decedents
Just as David Bond explained, I was also very surprised on the amount of information the authors had since even family members were "left in the dark". We found out that in 1995 the State of California had 95% identified the remains of my sister Sheryl Lynn Okoro but did not receive that news or her remains until after the trial started in November of 1999. And only then did we find out from a reporter who had been sitting in on the trial! She was finally brought home and laid to rest in December 1999, 14 years after her death. The book answered alot of the questions our family had and it shed some light on the monsters who took the lives of our loved ones. Once I started reading I could not put it down. Very engrossing. My heart extends to all families who have yet to endure our nightmare.

Accurate and chilling
The jury just found Ng guilty on 11 counts of murder and are now hearing evidence for the penalty phase -- death or life without parole -- this is in response to prior reviewer's request for more current info. I prepared transcripts for the court reporter during four years Ng was in Calaveras County, and it is chilling to read the case in this format -- adds the drama that is not always evident from a transcript. Publisher needs to reprint, especially since it is back as front-page news and the saga of the appeals is about to start.


By His Own Hand upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri
Published in Paperback by Institute For Religious Research (1992)
Author: Charles M. Larson
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It's good!
I really liked this book. It explains the history of the Book of Abraham, and how it came about, within the context of LDS church history. There are beautiful pictures of the papyrus (this is the original document Joseph Smith used to translate and write the Book of Abraham) and many useful captions for explaining what the figures and characters mean. Larson has done a really great job as far as explaining what the original papyrus really says and how LDS members have avoided confronting it.

This book will be of interest to anyone studying Mormonism, Mormon history, doctrine, or if they are looking at the role that Egyptian culture has played in American history. It is very honest, accurate, and for the most part is well-written.

The reason I gave it four stars is because of those two darn chapters in the back. He basically says, (in so many words) "Now that you've been exposed to the errors in Mormonism, become a Christian!" Which may or may not be a bad idea, but the problem is that hardly anyone who reads this is going to agree with him, based purely on these few chapters. The falseness (or truth!) of Mormonism doesn't affect the truth (or falseness!) in mainstream Christianity, and I wish Larson had realized this. Instead, it may give Mormons a psychological reason to make ad hominem attacks on the writer and thus ignore the good, logical arguments he made. And that's a shame, because Larson's conclusion on the Book of Abraham is right.

But I still think it's a good book and I recommend it. It's easy to read and very clear, and this makes up for the shortcomings.

The research is solid
Besides the excellent research, Larson writes a book that is readable. His conclusions are damning for those who claim that Joseph Smith had the ability to interpret the Egyptian language. Although Larson comes from a Christian perspective, I believe that he is very objective about his findings. A follower of Smith's might point to the author's Christian beliefs as a reason why this book is tainted, but this is ridiculous. Instead of attacking the messenger, the critics should go after the message...and I don't think this is so easy in this case. I especially like the fold-out color charts of the original papyrii--the book is worth its price just for these alone--and this makes it very easy to follow his explanations throughout the analysis. Visual learners will love it! I believe that this book is very important, for if Joseph Smith were a true prophet of God, and if he did indeed translate the Book of Mormon (the plates from this 1830 book are missing, so we cannot check his interpreting ability here), then we should expect the translation from the "Book of Abraham" to be very accurate. Alas, Smith did not know Egyptian (as proved by Larson); he was able to get away with so much because he lived when the science of translating the language was in its infancy. This is something every Mormon should think about.

As far as those reviewers who do not like the last two chapters where the case for Christianity is presented: Larson is not trying to give the definitive case for his faith. That's not what this book is about. Rather, he was trying to say, If Mormonism is not true, then what is? This is a legitimate question, and I think these chapters were very appropriate where they were placed. To the Mormon, Christian, and atheist alike, I give By His Own Hand my highest recommendation.

Must reading for anyone interested in the LDS Church
A fundamental claim of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) is that modern-day prophets who receive revelation from God lead the Church. Accordingly, the Church lists as scripture (in addition to the Bible) several other books, including the Book of Mormon, The Book of Moses, The Book of Abraham, and the Doctrine & Covenants (D&C).

Charles Larson's book is the story of how the Book of Abraham came to be.

Each of Smith's creations has a story to tell. The Book of Mormon describes the ancient voyages of Hebrews to the American continent, and their establishment of a vast civilization that smelted iron, cultivated old-world crops, and used domesticated horses to pull chariots (see "Quest for the Gold Plates," by Stan Larson). The Book of Moses claims to be a direct revelation from God regarding the creation of the earth and some aspects of its early history. The D & C contains revelations pertaining to the day-to-day organization and operation of the Church, along with many important revelations about specific and unique doctrines held by the Church, such as polygamy.

Mormons claim that Smith translated the Book of Mormon from plates of gold that he acquired from an angel. After translating the Book of Mormon, Smith said the angel retrieved the plates. Consequently, the gold plates have never been available for skeptical or scientific examination. The other books came directly from the mind of Joseph Smith. So they, too, have no original text with which they can be compared.

The Book of Abraham stands unique among Smith's creations because Joseph Smith claimed to have translated it directly from ancient Egyptian scrolls that were purchased from a man named Chandler, who sold them to LDS Elders (along with other artifacts) for $2,400. Unlike the vanished gold plates, the documents from which Joseph Smith claimed to have translated the Book of Abraham actually exist, and Joseph Smith's "translation" can be compared with the professional opinions of modern-day Egyptologists.

The Book of Abraham thus stands as a unique and direct test of Joseph Smith's self-proclaimed ability to translate ancient documents "by the gift and power of God." The main thrust of Charles Larson's book is that the Book of Abraham, and Joseph Smith, fail the test.

Larson begins by describing how Joseph Smith and the early LDS Saints came across the Egyptian papyri, how they were purchased, and how Joseph Smith began and finished his work of translation. According to Joseph Smith none other than Abraham authored the writings on the papyrus. They tell of the creation of the world and the universe, as well as important information about unique LDS beliefs such as the pre-mortal existence. After Smith's murder, and the subsequent struggle for control of the Church, the collection of papyri became separated from the Saints, found their way to Chicago, and were presumed lost in the great Chicago fire.

Smith, however, included facsimiles of drawings from the papyri in the Book of Abraham. These allowed some measure of scientific examination which, unfortunately for the Church, resulted in early Egyptologists identifying them as nothing more than common Egyptian funerary documents. Although devastating from a scholarly point of view, the Church was sequestered in the Utah frontier and the Saints and their leaders simply ignored these scientific opinions with their typical disdain for "the learning of the world." Furthermore, since the papyri had been presumed lost in the great Chicago fire, apologists for the Church argued that, without the entire collection available for examination, speculation based on the reproductions in the Book of Abraham were premature.

That changed in the spring of 1966 when Professor Aziz S. Atiya found eleven tattered pieces of Egyptian Papyri that matched the description of the Joseph Smith Papyri exactly. On November 27, 1967 the Mormon-owned "Deseret News" announced that:

"A collection of papyrus manuscripts, long believed to have been destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871 was presented to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here Monday by the Metropolitan Museum of Art ... Included in the papyri is a manuscript identified as the original document from which Joseph Smith had copied the drawing which he labeled "Facsimile No. 1" and published with the Book of Abraham."

At first there was euphoria among Church scholars at the prospects of Joseph Smith's final vindication. This hope was soon dashed to bits, however, as it became almost immediately obvious that nothing written on the papyri resembles anything in the Book of Abraham. Undeterred, LDS apologists began a campaign of misinformation and apologetics. Their campaign was so effective that in 1974 (nearly ten years after their discovery) when I served a mission for the LDS Church in British Columbia, we were still telling converts that the papyri had been destroyed in the great Chicago fire.

Not only does Larson assemble an air-tight argument that the found documents are the very same ones Smith gazed upon when he translated the Book of Abraham, he does a good job of assembling various other apologetic arguments, and discrediting them one by one.

In writing this book Larson has provided perhaps the most comprehensive examination of the Book of Abraham available to the average reader. It includes the first published full color photographs of the Papyri collection in a foldout glossy photograph. It also has line-by-line translations by Egyptologists side-by-side with the "translation" given by Joseph Smith, an exhaustive appendix, notes section, and index. All of which make this an useful book for future reference after its been read.

For anyone who is honestly committed to the truth about the LDS Church, this is a book that simply cannot go unread.


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