As a medical student, I found this to be a particularly interesting and fun read. In a very descriptive style, it chronicles the first applications of anesthesiology and also the birth of epidemiology. This novel is very well suited for those interested in the history of medicine.

This book speaks to educational administrators and students of policy studies in very special ways. Through a series of interview questions, questionnaires and conversations, Townsend discusses the worlds and words of elected school board trustees in a metropolitan setting in Canada. He looks at cognitive stances, political frameworks and policy thinking in this short, intense "reality check" regarding the thankless job of creating and implementing pulic education policy. In a country where provincial/federal arrangements concerning public schooling can only be interpreted as "loose-tight" and where sovreignty issues continue to plague attempts to create an adequate buy-in model for establishing a national educational agenda, Townsend manages to create interest and craft recommendations for alternatives that just might fly. If you are "into" educational policy analysis and regard policy making as a craft and an art form, this book ought to be on your shelf.

This book is drivel - I know, I was there! The authors are a couple of north London supporters of the ultra left 'Labour Briefing' and their argument is, in short, that Labour lost because it was not left wing enough. Of course, today, they would not argue that Tony Blair moved Labour further left and so the vaccuity of their argument has been well and truely exposed. Don't waste your money on this book. For a frank description of the tragedy of 1992 read Philip Gould's Unfinished Revolution - and at least then you get to read of the sweet revenge on the Tories that was 1 May 1997.

Heffernan's work is well-researched and bold. A fine work of political science literature.

Heffernan's effort is well-researched and bold; a fine effort.

I had the misfortune to have this book for my introduction to Thermodynamic during second year Mechanical Engineering. The problem my classmates and I had with this book was the fact that there are FAR to few examples, and less than half the end-of-the chapter questions had answers; which is essential when learning new material (how are you to know if your doing it right?).

This is one really good book on Thermodynamics...ideal for self study.The fundamentals have been explained lucidly and never do the authors obfuscate the presentation with needless information.The treatment of both the first and second law is great....this is one textbook wherein the concept of entropy has been explained very well,both from a mathematical and a physical view point.As pointed out by an earlier reviewer,the book is a bit short on example problems,but again,there are a number of great exercise problems which test our understanding of the subject...the authors have done a great job in according a physical insight into this most interesting field-something I was'nt able to get from other texts..
Go Get it..specially if you are an undergrad wanting to learn up some thermodynamics!!

I am the professor of Thermodynamics in the Faculty of Mechanical and
Electrical Engineering Damascus University. I didn't read the
whole text of the book yet, but I skimmed the unread chapters
through. I decided to make it my table book and read it carefully,
because I concluded that the book is valuable and will help me in
teaching the course of thermodynamics to my students.

Advantages of
the book:

-Inclusive scientific content for undergraduate
level,

-Four preparatory chapters,

-Attractive, easy and
understandable text and illustrations (figures),

-A lot of examples
which are perfectly inserted into the text,

-Large amount of
problems follow every chapter,

-Comprehensive appendix and
comprehensive table of contents.

Disadvantages:

-Chapter 11 (power
and refrigeration systems) dose not contain a paragraph specified for
ideal dual cycle of internal combustion engines, which is a common
cycle, special cases of which, are Diesel and Otto cycles. All modern
Diesel engines work according to dual cycle.

- chapter 11 and the
scientific material before it, but following definitions of entropy
and Ts diagram dose not contain a paragraph about the graphical
comparing of thermal efficiencies of ideal heat engines'
cycles. Such paragraph would activate the analyzing of power systems.

Dr. Moufid Hilal

...
END

This book is a collection of eight essays. The first seven are each written on the subject of one of the "deadly" sins of sloth, anger, lust, gluttony, pride, avarice and envy. The eight is on despair. Each of the famous authors ruminates on the sin, looking at it from his or her unique perspective.

Overall I found the essays well written, and the book to be easy to read. This book makes for some lightweight reading, short and simple, but without much substance. Overall, I don't recommend it.

Eight essays on Sloth, Anger, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Avarice, Envy, and Despair (yes that's 8 sins). To be honest I bought it because of Pynchon, (whose essay -if you are even a slight fan- makes the buy worth it) but read on to the back cover. I quickly discovered that these authors compiled around the topic of sins is a great way to see inside these writers styles and appraoch to a similar idea. Some I'd read before, and others introduced themselves in this novel. All were unique and interesting in their own right, especially for someone -me- who isn't terribly interested in sins. Highly reccomended!

Richard Gordon, author of "Doctor in the House" and other books in the "Doctor" series, turns to medical history here. But unlike most other books that usually focus on the triumphs of medicine, this one is a catalog of disasters. It is a potpourri of quirky anecdotes. You can read about such items as the London surgeon Robert Liston who prided himself on being quick and amputated a leg under 2 1/2 minutes (and the fingers of his assistant as well), about Sir William Lane who was so obsessed with constipation that he began to remove his patients' large intestines the way others removed appendixes, and how Britain developed an anthrax bomb to combat Hitler's Germany. But while many anecdotes themselves make for hilarious or shocking reading, after a while they begin to grate a bit. Although grouped into sections, there does not seem a strong unifying thread. Perhaps the book might have more appeal if read in installments rather than from cover to cover.

This was an interesting story, which I did not know a lot about. With more terrorism focus in the media today and the troubles in the Middle East a situation like this could come up again. I also liked the detail of this particular terrorist group, which I think is no longer active. Overall the book was solidly written but not a fast paced page-turner. If you are interested in the time frame or particular event then it is worth reading.

I actually borrowed this book from my local library. I was interested to see why the author claimed an unfair trial on Microsoft. I am not a fan of Microsoft or its monopoly practices but I wanted to be fair and undertand if there had been really government abuse in their trial.

It all started ok with the author giving facts and citing everything which in many cases made me side with Microsoft but after a while (chapter 4 and beyond) it is clear to see he looses his objective and neutral vision and starts expressing his own opinions on how MS technologies are superior. He acusses the government of not giving evidence on many claims brought upon MS and I agree with him but he is guilty of the same when he claims that MS's IE is superior but does not provide any proof of it.

When it comes to economic theory and antitrust I think Mr. Gordon is very knowledgeable but I also think he is too blinded by theory to clearly see the reality in MS case...

And finally, when it comes to technological matters I don't think Mr. Gordon has a clue about computers. Throughout chapters 7,8 and 9 he proves to be a regular Microsoft tied user which makes it obvious as to why he defends every MS product and acusses almost all of the government allegationsselling...

To sum it up - I completely agree with the below review. I am extremely disappointed with this book. The side-ways format makes for very difficult reading! I will be returning it! Save your money and look up the same info on the web.

Billed as a "Guide to Mexico's Copper Canyon", the author offers no more than a "Reader's Digest version" of information that could be easily found in the encyclopedia or free travel brochures.

It's as if there just isn't much of a story to tell, either in words or in pictures. One would expect more than just a color book cover. Instead, every other page contains only black-and- white photography, much of it poor quality. For example, the inside back cover caption reads: "Creel on a hot summer's day" and shows a photo of a dog casting a shadow against a white stucco wall. The book is designed in a difficult-to-read sideways format in a large unattractive typeface with few words to the page and very large margins. What little information the author does share with the reader could easily have been obtained with minimal research.

Information on the Chihuahua-Pacifico railroad is limited to two pages on the construction history. As a guidebook, the essential information readers would be searching for remains illusive. The only useful information contained in the book outlined the train line mileage markers and the corresponding sights. This information, too, was presented in such an abbreviated version that it was of minimal use for planning purposes.

One of the bright spots of the book was near the end as the author describes a Christmas celebration at a Tarahumara Indian Church.