Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Book reviews for "Frazer-Hurst,_Douglas" sorted by average review score:

Oro Puro
Published in Paperback by Lectorum Pubns (Adult) (21 September, 1994)
Author: Kurt Douglas
Amazon base price: $13.36
Average review score:

De lo mejor que hay en materia de
amor a ti mismo y superacion personal..
Cuando terminas de leerlo, TE SIENTES ORO PURO...Y la verdad, es que todos los somos, solo hay que pulirlo con un buen libro como este

UN LIBRO DE SUPER SUPERACION,
DE AUTO ESTIMA, QUE TE ENSEÑA A VALORARTE A TI MISMO COMO LO QUE ERES: ORO PURO !
De verdad, te enseña a aquilatarte en lo que vales y te DEMUESTRA QUE VALES MUCHISIMO..
Sin auto estima, no llega uno a ninguna parte...Y este te la aumenta ESCANDALOSAMENTE !

HEY ! Your psychological self image SHOWS!
And when you read this book, you hit gold..
Because it gives us good reasons to cerify that WE ARE PURE GOLD !


Practical Aspects of Interview and Interrogation (Elsevier Series in Practical Aspects of Criminal and Forensic investigationS)
Published in Hardcover by CRC Press (1992)
Authors: David E. Zulawski and Douglas E. Wicklander
Amazon base price: $63.95
Used price: $25.49
Collectible price: $38.00
Buy one from zShops for: $50.88
Average review score:

Excellent
I went to the Wicklander seminar recently. The book was just as great as the class, I'm very fortunate to have been able to go and receive the book. Thanks!

Excellent Reference
This is an excellent referecne book for anyone involved in both private and public sector interviews.

A great book for any investigator
This was a very informative book. I highly recommend this book for anyone dealing with interviews and interrogations.


Snow Sense: A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard
Published in Paperback by Alaska Mountain Safety Center (2001)
Authors: Jill A. Fredston, Doug Fesler, and Douglas S. Fesler
Amazon base price: $8.95
Used price: $4.50
Buy one from zShops for: $8.05
Average review score:

A "big little book"
As a longtime Alaskan, I feel fortunate to have had both Doug and Jill in many courses. The book Snow sense is now the required reading material for all Nat'l Ski Patrol avalanche courses, and rightly so. I read it at the begining of every season. True avalanche professionals. If you ever have the chance, come to Alaska and take one of their courses.

From Backcountry Magazine #19, 1999
Used by avalanche professionals as a base for avalanche education classes. Small size but HUGE on concise information for learning to recognize, evaluate, and avoid potential avalanche hazards.

Review from Outside Mag.,The Outside Canon:A Few Great Books
"Avalanches are not acts of God. This valuable book details how to read terrain, snowpack, and weather variables to determine the possiblities of avalanche and how to save yourself in case of one.


Squaring the Circle: The War Between Hobbes and Wallis (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations Series)
Published in Hardcover by University of Chicago Press (1999)
Author: Douglas M. Jesseph
Amazon base price: $80.00
Used price: $38.00
Buy one from zShops for: $30.00
Average review score:

Calvin(ism) and Hobbs
On the surface, this book seems an unlikely candidate for my enthusiasm. It appears to be 500 pages of minutia. In fact, the author starts out by saying it is an expansion of a footnote to an early work on the relatively obscure Calvinist mathematician Wallis. How perfectly academic! If that doesn't put the book out of reach, look forward to reading about 1000 footnotes.

Regardless, I think this a great book. Once I got comfortable with the terms, I realized this might be construed as something much more interesting than the traditional 'discovery' of mathematical truths. I'm still not exactly sure how to characterize it, but I'm having fun thinking it a history of science fiction. After all, 'squaring the circle' is the 17th century equivalent to predicting the winner of the Kentucky Derby or tomorrow's change in the Dow Jones Industrials. I may be stretching a bit here, but there is clearly more on the plate than justifying 17th century mathematic revolutions with apples falling on the head of a reclining Newton.

Rather than placing the subject matter in purely mathematical terms, Jesseph considers his material in a wider context, one that makes room for Restoration style science fiction. Keep in mind that Newton's alchemy was an early form of teleportation and the monads of Leibnitz took advantage of an early warp drive. Despite overtly humiliating Hobbs for his mathematical errors, its clear that Jesseph finds Hobbs the ultimate winner. Hobbs suffers no more from his lapse of academic rigor than any contemporary science fiction author. And like Jules Verne, the spirit of his ideas has won if not his details. The political science advocated by Hobbs in Leviathan is hard to distinguish from contemporary standards. Hobbs advocated severely limiting the legal authority of church bishops, scientific materialism and the notion that good laws could produce a good society. Meanwhile, Wallis would be known as a dogmatic right-wing Christian fundamentalist. Further, most of us are convinced that science has 'solved' the problem of 'squaring the circle' which is all Hobbs was advocating, anyway.

And so, Jesseph does a subtle job of indicting my modern sensibility. Painting Hobbs to be the fool, he is actually pointing a finger at my happy secular humanism. Bravo!

So, why is squaring the circle so tricky?

In short, an attempt to find the circle which is exactly 1 square foot in area forces us to confront conflicting intuitions about how we prove the existence of 'real' objects. Try it out for yourself. It is something you can attempt with pencil and paper, or better... try it with a home computer. One of the great things about this book is that it lays out the mathematical issues clearly enough that anyone with high school algebra and maybe an ability to write an excel spreadsheet, can play the 17th century geometer and mathematician. I had a great time doing a 'quadrature' in Excel. If you are interested, I'll email you the spreadsheet (see users.htcomp.net/markmills).

In summary, I think Jessup's book fits into a broad, ongoing reappraisal of mathematical history. I can identify 3 trends, 'Squaring the circle belonging to the 3rd and most important of them:

1. Bringing non-western mathematics to western readers. The best of this is the ongoing research into ancient Chinese mathematics. See 'Chinese Mathematics: A Concise History', Li Yan, Du Shiran, John N. Crossley, Anthony W.-C. Lun, Shih-Jan Tu or 'Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient China: The Zhou Bi Suan Jing', Christopher Cullen. In short, most of what the Europeans called 'new' math in the 1500s had been around for 500 years in China.

2. Finding a physiological basis for mathematic intuitions. Check out the cognitive research described by 'Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics into Being', George Lakoff, Rafael E. Nunez, Rafael Nuñez. All you really need to read is the first chapter. The rest is rather speculative.

3. Reappraising the conventional myths about heroic ancient European mathematicians. Unless your ambition is a tenured job teaching the history of math, you will have a great time reading sensible inquiries into pre-modern western math. Take a look at 'Biographies of Scientific Objects , Lorraine Daston (Editor), or Pappus of Alexandria and the Mathematics of Late Antiquity, Serafina Cuomo.

Hobbes and Wallis: a dispute that uncovers divergent concept
One cannot help wondering why two scholars did engage in such a fiercely dispute for half of their intellectual life. John Wallis, Oxford's Savilian professor of geometry had no trouble in exposing time and again the mathematical short-commings in the preposterous claims of so ill equiped an amateur mathematician as Thomas Hobbes. But why was the battle so intense and why should it cover nearly a quarter of a century, producing hundreds of letters, books and publications? Even more bewildering is the fact that the subject of the debate, squaring the circle, was later proved to be impossible and that neither the claims of Hobbes nor the rebuttals of Wallis contributed anything significant to the field of mathematics. Fortunately, Douglas Jesseph provides adequate answers to these questions in this excellent work on 17th century history of mathematics. A study of these important controversies sheds light on the reform of mathematics in the 17th century and exposes the widely divergent philosophical conceptions of mathematics to which both antagonists adhered.

A first fundamental issue concerned Hobbes' materialistic foundation of mathematics where Wallis reasoned from the traditional account that mathematical facts do not depend on the structure of the material world. A second source of dispute was the completely different concept of ratios: Wallis defended that those ratios could only be applied to homogoneous quantities. Thirdly, the angle of contact between a circle and its tangent was a subject of wilful misunderstanding from the part of Wallis. Finally, the important 17th-century debate on infinitesimal small quantities was heavily criticised by Hobbes and although he did not develop an alternative, his objections to some of the obscurities of Wallis' arithmetic of infinities were well justified. These disputed foundations on the philosophy of mathematics were not the only sources of the irreconcilable conflict. Wallis and Hobbes also held opposing views on methodological issues such as the nature of demonstration and the centuries-old discussion on analytic and synthetic methods. For Hobbes all demonstration must arise from causes and as such he rejected techniques from algebra and analytic geometry in which one starts by assuming the truth of the proposition that is ultimately sought and deduces consequences from that assumption. In doing so he tossed aside the tools that might have helped him in his desperate attempt to make his mark as mathematician. Apart from diverging views on the fundaments of mathematics and methodological issues, religious and political positions play part in explaining the controversy. Wallis fitted neatly into the reformed tradition while Hobbes' religious opinions stood far apart. Hobbes was excluded from the newly established Royal Society for ideological and personal reasons and as such was deprived from a forum to respond to his critics. His political opinions and his vitriolic polemics at universities brought him into conflict with many important people and explain at least some of the vehemence with which the dispute was conducted. However, Jesseph refrains from pursueing sociological reductionist account and spends part of the last chapter convincingly demonstrating the inadequacy of a purely sociological explanation of the dispute. By uncovering the conceptual gulf dividing Hobbes and Wallis, Jesseph succeeds in demonstrating important differences in the philosophy of mathematics in the 17th century and explains why these two men engaged in such ferocious fight. Objectively, Hobbes miserably failed attempt at the solution of classic geometric problems makes him the loser of this dispute. But one can feel in this book also some sympathy for the consequent way in which Hobbes rigorously applied principles of his philosophy to mathematics and ultimately rejected classical geometry to avoid an even worse fate: the refutation of his own philosophy.

Vitriolic, Invective, and Spleen: A 17th Century Dispute
The book is not, as I thought from the main title, centered on the mathematical issues. It is much more, and all the more enjoyable for providing the political, religious, and personal background to the dispute.

It was an exciting and perilous time, as the book is set against the background of the English Civil War, as men struggled to stay on the right side of first the monarchy, then Cromwell's protectorate, and then the monarchy again. This gives Jesseph's book a deep and rich texture, and adds drama to what could have been -- in a less capable writer's hands -- a dry discussion.

The last chapter brings in yet another aspect, as the author uses the Hobbes - Wallis debate to reflect into one of today's academic battles: Whether the results of science and mathematics are relative, that is, a product of sociological factors -- or if they have a standing that is independent of those factors. Jesseph's point of view is well-argued, and, for this reviewer, comes to the correct conclusion.


Parenting the Office
Published in Hardcover by Pelican Pub Co (2001)
Authors: Doris S. Davidoff, Philip G. Davidoff, Donald M. Davidoff, and Douglas G. Davidoff
Amazon base price: $22.00
Used price: $9.00
Collectible price: $29.99
Buy one from zShops for: $13.99
Average review score:

De-mystifying organizational behavior
Finally! A simple, informative perspective on the complex office dynamics that so many of us face. The scenarios are well laid out and the examples easy to relate to. While other discussions of office dynamics tend to over-analyze situations, this book provided me with a straightforward roadmap to recognize and deal with daily personnel issues.

Helpful to employees and employers alike.
In an easy-reading format the authors have pointed out many office situations that relate to family situations. They give practical and useful suggestions for handling these problems. Worthwhile reading for anyone who works in an office setting.

A must for managing
This book is a must for anyone who has to manage people in an office, organization, and even on a committee. It is easy and interesting reading and a MUST to understand why the people you manage behave as they do.


Shades of Gray (Historical)
Published in Paperback by Harlequin (1902)
Author: Wendy Douglas
Amazon base price: $4.99
Used price: $0.01
Buy one from zShops for: $0.01
Average review score:

GREAT STORY - TERRIFIC CHARACTERS!
Derek Fontaine was wounded in soul and emotions. Why had his father deserted him? Or was his mother not honest with anyone.

Amber Laughton proves that the more you keep secrets the more embroiled your life becomes. But hey, what a great character she turned out to be.

Gideon has a story behind him and he turns out to be a great friend to Derek even though they had just met 300 miles before the story starts.

Even with the vagueness of the scene where Derek gets shot, I am surprised he stayed in the saddle long enough to make it home let alone up to his bedroom. Wonderful care-giving action and emotions with Derek's healing.

Beau does need a lady friend to heal his heart and soul. Was really glad to hear that Nathan showed up. Loved the shoot-out with the KKK.

Great story - GREATLY RECOMMENDED --M -- good addition to your library.

Wonderful Debut!
This debut novel by Ms. Douglas is fast-paced and filled with fascinating and sympathetic characters. It is a story of healing and trust and the growing love between a man and woman who have both been hurt badly. Derek is a wonderfully sexy hero whose fairness and principles shine through the story. Amber is compelling as she deals with her ruined reputation and insists on being seen for who she is. Even the secondary characters add depth and dimension to a classic story.

I'm not sure if a sequel is planned, but I heartily hope the powers that be will let Ms. Douglas write a book for Gideon, Nathan and Beau. These guys are as HOT as Derek!

a heart toucher
I usually read more contemporaries than historicals, but this one really pulled me in. The peach pie scene was my favorite--what a wow for a love scene--but really loved the author's voice and style throughout. The characters seemed so real, yet the book also felt like I was jumping into that post-Civil War time; the author made you smell and feel and touch a different era and feel part of it. Bravo for a super read. Can't wait for this author's next book.


Six Foolish Fishermen
Published in Hardcover by Hyperion Press (2000)
Authors: Robert D. San Souci, Douglas Kennedy, and Doug Kennedy
Amazon base price: $10.49
List price: $14.99 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $4.00
Buy one from zShops for: $5.00
Average review score:

This Will Tickle Your Funny Bone
This folk story is retold with all the spice of a Cajun jambalaya. San Souci, interweaving several variants of the funny tale, places his characters in the bayou country of Louisiana, where they set out to catch fish for their gumbo. Their comical misadventures reach a climax when the mathematically challenged fisherman decide to count each other "to be sure we all safe." Whoever does the counting always comes up with five, forgetting to count himself, leading the men to conclude that one of them must be dead. Kennedy's cartoon-style illustrations, created with acrylic on velum, are a perfect accompaniment to the story. A short, helpful glossary, as well as an author's note directing readers to more information on Cajun culture, can be found at the end. Suited for ages 5 and up, this book would make a fun read-aloud. A word of caution, however: It's peppered with Cajun dialect, so be sure to practice first!

Six Foolish Fishermen
One day six brothers decide to go fishing. When it was time to go home they all counted to see if they had six brothers.The first brother counted five and the second brother counted five.All of the brothers counted five,and those foolish fishermen thought they had a lost brother.Read this book to find out how they became six foolish fishermen all over again.

A Little Funny Ha! Ha!
My daughter LOVES this book! We sat up in her bed the other night ROARING with laughter over these 6 Foolish Fishermen. She's only 7 but she understood their silly, foolish mistakes. (. . .)


Thais
Published in Hardcover by Wildside Press (2002)
Authors: Stephen M. Rainey, Anatole France, and Robert B. Douglas
Amazon base price: $9.99
Average review score:

refreshing
really interesting read. rainey has a way of making something seem very fresh. his plots always seem original, even when they are not. great stories. great descriptions at times. what rainey is really master at, however, is the angle. he writes a story from a certain angle, making it very intersting. his stories are at their best the most refreshing stories i read in horror. very enjoyable

Non-derivative Mythos stories - masterful!
Rainey does what so many Cthulhu Mythos fans cannot - he takes the idea of unknowable horror, things that see us as nothing, and places that idea firmly in the modern day without doing a Lovecraft pastiche. His stories in this volume are all connected by locale, but range in horror from trapped heroes, doomed to a grisly fate, to a feisty futuristic heroine, fighting for survival after the stars have become right. Satisfying work, set in the Mythos, but without the standard trappings so many authors feel necessary to throw in (the million moldy volumes, rattling through the entire Old One pantheon, etc.). Highest recommendations. I've just ordered Balak, his novel, after finishing the collection, and can't wait for it to arrive!

Quality, not Buzzwords
If you love the Cthulhu Mythos for its sheer alienness & imcomprensability instead of for repetative buzzwords (you know them) then this is for you. With his own setting & minimal direct connection with the mythos, Rainey has expanded far beyond the traditional pastiches that make up the majority of material being offered. These stories show how truly brain-twisting impossible realities can affect people. Great reads!


This Time Last Year
Published in Hardcover by Henry Holt & Company, Inc. (1998)
Author: Douglas Hobbie
Amazon base price: $23.00
Used price: $1.88
Collectible price: $5.13
Buy one from zShops for: $8.98
Average review score:

Stunning Pleasure
I read this book because I knew it had some of the same themes of mortality I am currently encountering in my life. Hobbie very deftly discusses people in an unsentimental way that is a testament to his understanding of humans. Bravo! I recommend this book highly!

A eloquent and geniune sadness--with life affirmations
For readers who appreciate eloquence, the texture of words formed into thoughts and imprinted images, I recommend all of Douglas Hobbie's books, and recommend that they be read in the order written--"Boomfell," "The Day," (I think this is the title), "Being Brett," and "This Time Next Year." You will then understand the sadness and the life-affirming feeling that permeates this author's latest work. Mr. Hobbie recognizes that pain and loss can evolve into growth and perhaps lead to healing, while tightening already strong bonds between individuals. As a cancer survivor, I can tell you that these novels are sometimes not easy reads--but they are so genuine and enlightening that they are well worth the effort, given the author's themes and the depth of his feelings.

Top-notch fiction: harrowing, funny and real
This is a brave book, full of sensous delights, well-made sentences, and sadness. The author seems to be very knowing, very mature, and very sad--all traits that popular culture refuses to admit exist. (thank god for good, honest books!) reading this book is bracing, enlightening and, at times, frightening.


Visual Basic 5 Bible
Published in Paperback by Hungry Minds, Inc (16 April, 1997)
Author: Douglas A. Hergert
Amazon base price: $49.99
Used price: $4.63
Buy one from zShops for: $8.82
Average review score:

Very good
This is a very good book. There's something the author could improve on in the next version. Examples in the book don't seem to encourage good programming practice. E.g., two consecutive if-blocks should be combined into one if-elseif-block for performance reason because only one IF is valid judging from the context. Some identical processing is done on the WHILE line rather than before the loop. Performance shouldn't be a concern for a beginning programmer but if it doesn't take much to teach, why not? Other than this, this is a very well written book.

Working through practical little apps is ideal learning tool
You can't learn to swim by reading about it and the same goes for Visual Basic. In the end, you have to write some code. And that's often the rub. What can you develop if you have no clue about how to start? Hergert gives interesting, small apps to practice on that become increasingly more complex. My approach is to type in his code, watch the results and learn to understand the how-to's and the why's. Then I do the whole thing all over, solo. That's how I find the gaps in my understanding of the project and the language. This book is ideal. Thanks Doug!

Tops for teaching technique, insufficient for reference.
Calvin Trillin once warned against eating at any deli with New York in its name; I've learned not to buy any programing language books with "days" in its title. This book employs a teaching technique I consider ideal: assume the reader knows nothing. In the hands of a clear and thoughtful writer such as Hergert, even advanced learners, who may space out occasionally, never feel talked down to. I've skimmed the sections I feel competent in and pored over the areas in which I have difficulty. In both cases, I've obtained the security of knowing that what I've learned I know thoroughly. The index is skimpy and keyword list incomplete; though you can make do with VB help, I recommend a reference book as a supplement. I use the VB Superbible (only because I bought it to use it as an instruction manual first). But as an instruction manual, I consider the VB Bible unsurpassable.


Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Reviews are from readers at Amazon.com. To add a review, follow the Amazon buy link above.