I wanted to find a worthwhile text to supplement the Access 2.0 introductory courses I developed. For beginners, this is the best of the bunch. Many introductory database books immediately dive into the specific program they are about. I think this is a disservice to the beginning reader. There are a few things which everyone needs to know about relational database design before even thinking about using such a program. One of the best things about this book is its initial chapter on the essentials of database analysis. It doesn't get into so much detail as to scare people away, but it successfully emphasizes the benefits of developing a plan before building an application. With this book as a start, the reader is less likely to develop the bad habit of "shooting from the hip". The remaining chapters cover tables, queries, forms, reports, and macros. The book includes useful exercises to develop the rudimentary skills that anyone needs to know in order to work with Microsoft Access. In fact, the exercises are unified in that they all revolve around a common theme: developing an application for a bookseller to track customers and inventory. It's a good example, since many aspects of the sample application can be used elsewhere. There is one major topic this book doesn't address, and that's how to write Access Basic code. But then, coding isn't a suitable topic for an introductory text, is it? If you're at that stage in your Access career, you need to look elsewhere for guidance. For absolute beginners, though, this is the only book I recommend. Steve Swope (Microsoft Certified Trainer, Microsoft Certified Solution Developer

A stimulating state of the art collection of articles on political careers in the United States of America.... There are enough good ideas here to keep researchers happy for years.

Recently I pruchased this book from used book store. I can only say that in the first few chapters it has captured my attention. I was lucky enough to find the origional print of the book (1963) and would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a good look at the power of the Irish in America. The underlying currents of the book alone are worth the read.

In 1920, the former editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, Edward Bok, published his fascinating memoir, an exceptionally well-written book through which he candidly yet eloquently recounted the step-by-step process of his 'Americanization' from penurious immigrant Dutch boy to affluent pioneering American editor and philanthropist; hence, it is not a surprise that the work secured for its author both the coveted 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Biography/Autobiography as well as the Gold Medal of the Academy of Political and Social Sciences. Succinctly written using the third person narrative format, the book chronicles the humble beginnings of Edward Bok from when he was a child in Helder, Netherlands to how he and his family-like many immigrants of the time-fled to the United States as a result of the 'technological order' that brought about a wave of new opportunities. But it would not be in the world of hard-core industry where he would make his name; when Edward Bok left the Netherlands in 1870, he had but three things to sustain him: his family, his meager belongings and some advice from his Dutch grandmother-"...make you the world a bit more beautiful and better because you have been in it." {P. xxi} Through the acts of frugality, laborious toil, absorption of American ideals and visions of a better life, Edward Bok slowly rose above the unbending economic classicism that unfortunately soldified the roots of many families as well as their descendents into harsh blue-collar drudgery. Though he never received a collegiate education, because he quit quite early, his leaving school was not the limitation of his intellectual instruction. Life was, in fact, the expansion of it, for it led him to acquire his learning in a most unorthodox fashion. For people who never receive an education, there is, for the most part, a hidden kernel of regret that sometimes becomes everlastingly needling and tragically overwhelming. As that is the con, the pro would be that they would be liberated from the arrogant pretentiousness and bemused condescension that a liberal education can sometimed imbue in one who is well learned. Neither of the above plagued Edward Bok. To quench his insatiable thirst for knowledge about what the essence of success was, he wrote to men and women of eminence, asking them not merely for their signature, but for a piece of wisdom, advice. And many-including Henry Ward Beecher, Louisa May Alcott, Samuel Clemens, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, among others-did not hesitate in the least to proffer advice. What began as a simple inquiry into success, ended as a voluminous mass of autographs and lettes that revealed the most intimate thoughts and beliefs of some of the greatest historical figures in American history, of which no dollar value could ever be placed. Through this inquist, Edward Bok not only found connections and valued friendships, but he whetted his editing and writing prowess, innate abilities that later led him to work for Henry Holt & Company, Charles Scribner's Sons and The Brooklyn Magazine (as editor); it too led him to establish The Bok Syndicate Press and eventually assume the helm, for thirty years, of the Ladies' Home Journal as editor and then vice president of the Curtis Publishing Company-which owned the magazine. While in command of the LHJ, he cultivated it into a powerhouse that brought about meaningful modifications to the United States, i.e. the better-babies movement, the teaching of social hygiene to youths of both sexes, the beautification of American cities (of which Lynn, Massachusetts was a part), the improving of home architecture and railroad cars, and most importantly, the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Acts by Congress. It was in America where he was able to prove himself: "As the world stands to-day, no nation offers opportunity in the degree that America does...the United States offers, as does no other nation, a limitless opportunity: here a man can go as far as his abilities will carry him...America can graft such a wealth of inspiration , so high a national idealism, so great an opportunity for the highest endeavor, as to make him the fortunate man on the earth today." {P. 448} Durng the latter stages of Bok's life when he established the $100,000 American Peace Award, he did it because America gave him a second chance to work and prove himself, which is not always easy to come by. He did not adhere to the writings of Herbert Spencer, William Graham Sumner or Russell Cornwell, men with timeworn values who espoused the 'lordly' dogmas of Social Darwinism and the Gospel of Wealth-the former being "An ideology based upon the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin, justifying the concentration of wealth and lack of governmental protection of the weak through the ideas of natural selection and survival of the fittest" while ther latter was a belief "that God ordains certain people to amass money and use it to further God's purpose; it justified the concentration of wealth as long as the rich used their money responsibly." {P. 485 of America And It's Peoples: A Mosaic in the Making} Edward Bok clung to no person and no 'chic' belief, simply his faith, his industriousness and to humanity specifically. We need more Edward Boks in the world!

Lane's Lexicon is by far the biggest and most comprehensive dictionary of Arabic terms translated into the English Language. Arabic, the richest language on earth is the Language by which God revealed his Qur'an in order to teach mankind that which we did not know. Only because God has preserved His Qur'an through it's memorisation and committed study at the hands of Muslim scholars and their students the Arabic Language has too been preserved. Modern Arabic still depends on this Classical Qur'anic Arabic for it's basis and point of reference.For this reason Lane's Lexicon is indispensable in the study and translation of Arabic texts.

A must-read for any real estate thinker, large or small. Re-live the interesting life of Bill Zeckendorf who played the real-life game of Monopoly and won (and later lost) the largest real estate empire in history. Read how he bought and sold property and remodeled whole sections of New York, Denver, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Montreal, and Dallas. Learn how Zeckendorf was the driving force for the United Nations finding a home in New York City. Read how I.M. Pei, the visionary architect, conceived and guided many of Zeckendorf's projects. The book includes sixteen pages of black / white photos of the author's life and legend. You'll enjoy the Zeckendorf story as it comes to life in his autobiography.

I thought that this one was a slow starter but all in all a great mystery.

THIS BOOK OF GASTROENTEROLOGY IS ONE OF THE BEST'S GASTROENTEROLOGY COMPENDIUM I'EVER REED.IT'S GIVE YOU A GENERAL AND EXPETACULAR OVERVIUW OF PATOLOGIES AND TREATMENT.I'M EXPECTED A NEW EDITION.

In Breakthrough Performance, Bill Scherkenbach takes Dr. Deming's teachings, adds his own insights and background experiences, and makes QUALITY easy to understand and somewhat fun. This interactive book (CD) treats a complex subject in a nonacademic textbook sorta way. Its organization, with many links and great graphics, allows you to investigate topics you are interested in and breeze past those you may want to return to later. Thanks for experience, what's next?

I love the "World of Art" series. It is definitely published with the artist and art student in mind. You get a lot of art at an affordable price. Most art books in this price range are thin volumes of washed-out color and dismal black and white, with a sprinkling of superficial text. Their subject is usually limited to the handful of artists that are wildly popular with the public, such as the impressionists. Not this series!

"A Concise History of Modern Painting" is especially well-packed, with 500 illustrations, 118 of them in excellent color. Pages are semi-slick so the art reproduces well. The plates are very well planned. Thumbing through the book, you get the feeling of color, color, color! Black-and-white plates are reserved for drawings (graphite, ink, charcoal), prints, and a few sculptures. All of these are well-suited to reproduction in black and white (although there is also a 43-page appendix, "a pictorial survey of modern painting", featuring 6-8 black-and-white illustrations per page). "A Concise History of Modern Painting" discusses artists who work within styles the author describes as specifically modern (as distinguished from earlier periods). It focuses on ideas, works and movements. All illustrations are chosen within that context. (Realistic artists are not represented.)

The book includes text references, a bibliography, a list of works reproduced, and an index. It's a 6"x8" paperback edition, about an inch thick--a good size for packing. The binding is glued, not sewn, but it seems durable, and I think it will last. I carry mine on trips, though I haven't had it long enough to see how well it wears. I discovered the "World of Art" series while travelling and bought several titles. They're the best art books at this price I've ever found.