The best thing about this book is the way the author lays out the examples. Every step and calculation is explained in a very easy to understand format without taking up too many pages. If you want to learn how to do ANOVA tables this is the book to get.

Men Against the Sea is the second book in the Bounty Trilogy. Mutiny on the Bounty recounts the tale of the voyage of the H.M.S. Bounty from England to Tahiti and a little way back, the mutiny, and the subsequent events that affect those of the Bounty's crew who remain on Tahiti. When last seen in that book, Captain William Bligh is cast adrift far from land in a small vessel overladen with 18 other loyal men and about 7 to 8 inches of freeboard above a flat sea. Practically speaking, their chances are slim.

Men Against the Sea begins with the mutiny and describes what happens to Captain Bligh and those he commands as they make their way eventually to the Dutch East Indies. Along the way, Captain Bligh and his men traverse around 3,600 miles in their fragile vessel while suffering many horrors including attacks from the native people, lack of sleep, storms, bailing for their lives, cold, thirst, too much sun, and hunger. The authors make a good decision in choosing to have the ship's surgeon serve as the narrator of this saga. This perspective made it possible for the book to include his physical descriptions of the deprivations of the Bounty's abandoned crew to help make the story more compelling. In the true spirit of a story about English tars, there is a considerable discussion of how the starvation the men experienced affected their intestinal tracts.

Captain Bligh comes across very poorly in Mutiny on the Bounty. The opposite occurs in Men Against the Sea. His leadership is one of the great accomplishments of seamanship of all time.

But the men are only human after all. Someone steals two pounds of pork. Another shipmate sent to capture birds is overcome by the need to eat them, and spoils the hunting for everyone. In their weakened state, they miss many wonderful chances for food. When they reach civilization and begin to recover from their privations, complaining quickly returns.

My test of how well written such an adventure tale is that I often felt like I was in the boat struggling with them. The main weakness of the book is that it skips many days on end, when the circumstances were at their most dire such as during unending days of storms. By doing this, the reader is denied the chance to have the full horror of the crossing bear down more strongly.

Most of the weaknesses of Mutiny on the Bounty are overcome in Men Against the Sea. So if you found that work unappealing, give this one a chance. It has many of the qualities of great survival and adventure books.

After you finish this remarkable tale, I suggest you think about the ways that adversity brings out the best in you. How can you do as well when times and circumstance are not adverse?

Squarely face the challenge, with confidence that success will follow!

Before reviewing Pitcairn's Island, let me note that it contains explicit scenes of violence that would cause this book to exceed an R rating if it were a motion picture. These scenes are very effective in enhancing the emotional power of the story, but certainly exceed what had to be portrayed.

Pitcairn's Island is by far the best of the three novels in The Bounty Trilogy. While the first two books seem like somewhat disconnected pieces of the whole story of the events leading up to and following the mutiny on H.M.S. Bounty, Pitcairn's Island stands alone as a worthy story. In its rich development of what happened to nine of the mutineers and those Polynesians who joined them, this book ranks as one of the great adventure and morality tales of all time.

The story picks up with the H.M.S. Bounty under sail in poorly charted seas, commanded by Fletcher Christian and looking for Pitcairn's Island. On the ship are 27 adults (9 British mutineers, 12 Polynesian women, and 6 Polynesian men). Everyone is a little edgy because Pitcairn's Island is not where the charts show it to be. After much stress, Pitcairn's Island is finally sighted. Then, it becomes apparent that the Bounty cannot be kept safely there in the long run because of the poor mooring conditions. If they commit to Pitcairn's Island, there will be no leaving it. What to do?

The novel follows up on what happens in the 19 years following that fateful decision. The key themes revolve around the minimum requirements of a just society, differences between the two cultures of British and Polynesians, the varying perceptions and expectations of men and women, and the impact of immorality on the health of a society. Anyone who has enjoyed Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, or The Lord of the Flies will find this novel vastly appealing. Here, part of the fascination is that real-life events are being described.

The decision to turn this into a novel is a good one. The accounts of what occurred vary, and cannot be totally reconciled. So no one can really know what happened, other than it was dramatic. Towards the end of the book, the narration becomes that of one character, and the use of that character's language, perspective, background is powerful in making the novel seem more realistic and compelling.

This is a story where the less you know when you begin, the more you will enjoy the story. To increase your potential reading pleasure, I will say no more.

After you finish reading the book, I suggest that you take each of the characters and imagine how you could have improved matters for all by speaking and behaving differently then that character did. Then, think about your own family, and apply the same thought process. Next, make a change!

Think through the long-term consequences of your potential actions very carefully when many others will be affected!

good pictures and descriptions of how teeth grow. what was of particular interest was the part on dentin development. a great book for novices interested in knowing what a dentist knows!

This volume brings together three of the extant plays of Euripides that focus on the characters made famous in Homer's epic poem the "Iliad," which tells of the wrath of Achilles and the Trojan War. All three plays take place after the fall of Troy and tell of the fate of the city's noble women:

In "Hecuba" Troy's queen has become the slave of Odysseus, who takes away her daughter Polyxena to be slain on the grave of Achilles. However, in this drama it is the earlier death of another child, Polydorus that provides the motivation for what comes to pass. This was a child who had been sent (according to Homer, there are various versions of this tale) for safety to the Thracian Chersonese. But now, after Hecuba hears of the death of Polyxena, the body of Polydorus washes up on shore. Apparently Hecuba's son-in-law Polymnester murdered the boy for the gold that King Priam had sent to pay for his education. Agamemnon hears Hecuba's pleas, and Polymnester is allowed to visit the queen before she is taken away into captivity.

The most fascinating aspect of "Hecuba" is that it gives us an opportunity to contrast the character of the queen of fallen Troy with that in his more famous work, "The Trojan Women." This play was performed ten years earlier and its events take place right before the other play as well, although there is some overlap when Talthybius informs Hecuba of the death of Polyxena. In both dramas Hecuba is a woman driven by a brutal and remorseless desire for vengeance; however she proves much more successful in this drama than she does in "The Trojan Women." This play also makes reference to the myth that Hecuba would meet her own hideous death, which reinforces the idea that there is much more of a moral degradation of her character in this play (set up by much more humiliation and degradation in the first half).

"The Trojan War" was written as a plea for peace after the Athenians had slaughtered the men and enslaved the women and children of the island of Melos for refusing to aid Athens in the war against Sparta, and as preparations were being made for the ruinous expedition against Syracuse. Consequently there is a strong rhetorical dimension to the play, which prophesies that a Greek force would sail across the sea after violating victims and meet with disaster. However, there the play also has a strong literary consideration in that the four Trojan Women--Hecuba, Queen of Troy; Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba and Priestess of Apollo; Andromache, widow of Hector; and Helen--all appear in the final chapter of the "Iliad," mourning over the corpse of Hector, retrieved by his father Priam from the camp of the Acheans.

As with his last play "Iphigenia at Aulis," which tells of the events right before the Achean army left for Troy, "The Trojan Women" reflects the cynicism of Euripides. Of all the Achean leaders we hear about in Homer, only Menelaus, husband of Helen, appears. He appears, ready to slay Helen for having abandoned him to run off to Troy with Paris, but we see his anger melt before her beauty and soothing tones. In this play the Greeks do more than enslave women: they have already slain a young girl as a sacrifice to the ghost of Achilles and they take Astyanax, the son of Hector, out of the arms of his mother so that he can be thrown from the walls of Troy. Even the herald of the Greeks, Talthybius, cannot stomach the policies of his people. The play also reminds us that Helen was a most unpopular figure amongst the ancient Greeks, and there is no satisfaction in her saving her life.

"Andromache," the story of the fate of Hector's widow, is one of the weakest of the extant plays of Euripides. In truth, the work is better considered as anti-Spartan propaganda, written near the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, although it presents a tragedy. However, the scenes are much more episodic than we usually find in Euripides; the first part of the tragedy is essentially a supplicant play, but then it changes dramatically. The play has one of Euripides' strongest beginnings, with its strong attacks on Sparta, represented by Menelaus. But even as propaganda Euripides elevates his subject for what he sees is not merely a war between two cities, but rather a clash between two completely different ways of life.

Andromache, the widow of Hector, is the slave of Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, who is married to Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen. The setting is the Temple of Thetis, the mother of Achilles, somewhere between Pithia and Pharasalia in Thessaly. Andromache has born Neoptolemus a son, and the barren Hermione accuses the Trojan woman of having used witchcraft and seeks her death. Andromache has taken refuge as this temple where Hermione and Menelaus try to get her to come out by threatening to kill her son. However, the title character disappears from the play and everybody from Peleus, the father of Achilles, to Orestes, the cousin of Hermione, shows up, mainly to talk about Neoptolemus, who is at Delphi. Thetis shows up as the deus-ex-machina and the play ends rather abruptly. As a tragedy there is little her beyond a progression of characters who all talk about doing something they end up not doing. If there is supposed to be a series of object lessons here they are pretty much lost on the audience.

Obviously this collection would work as a companion volume to Homer's "Iliad" in the classroom. "The Trojan War" is the most significant play here, but the comparisons to "Hecuba" and "Andormache" are quite interesting since we are dealing with the same tragic dramatist writing about the same characters in essentially the same situations. We know that these ancient Greek dramas returned to the same subjects tiime and time again, but this is one of the few opportunities we have from the relatively few plays that remain to make such direct comparisons.

Excellent explanations of myths, symbols, biblical characters & stories, and classical dieties.

Will help (undergraduate) college or high school level researchers immensely. Great for art history students. Actually, since much of the entries are names and stories (Elisha, Pegasus, Granida and Daifilo, bearing the body of Christ), this is perfectly useful to anyone studying and writing about myths, western religion, the Renaissance, or even classical drama.

Little idiosyncrasies like a listing for "garden" but not for "Eden" tend to be a little frustrating, but one generally can find what one is looking for.

Nothing in here about Eastern or Oriental art except a handful of Old Testament references that could possibly apply to Islamic culture. This is really a concentration on the roots of Western art and culture.

Not terribly in-depth guide book to symbols in art. Nicely if simply illustrated, and is organized into these categories: Abstract signs, animals, artefacts, Earth and sky, human body and dress, and plants.

Will be helpful to the art history student, but it would be more helpful if additional specific artworks were referred to in each entry. All in all, good to have. Anyone researching above the high school level will need plenty more references, but this is a helpful springboard to further research or is useful as a quick source of simple answers to quandries like, "what the heck is the meaning of the hands on that Buddha statue?"

I bought this book to tutor one of my kids with. I was there to help explain the concepts, but the book did most of that. We needed a lot of problems to work out and they were right in the book too. This is a great book to teach high school students with.

Another classic by Herriot, a must for fans. Although dated, Herriots humour is timeless. His vivid imagery pulls the reader into the Yorkshire of the early 70's. His descriptive powers give this book vibrancy. Essentially a diary of a vets life. His triumphs (Mrs. Bonds cats) and tribulations (the horse-show and Tristian). Somehow the tribulations are more enjoyable.....

"It is as important to talk about marriages as to talk about the national election."

This quotation from Phyllis Rose, referred to in one of the eleven articles of volume six of the journal Spring, devoted to marriage, resonates through the entire issue in an astonishing variety of ways.

From publisher James Hillman's own reflections on "Marriage, Intimacy, Freedom" to Ginette Paris' "If You Invite the Gods Into Your Marriage" to C.L. Sebrell's "Marry the Gardener!" the importance of marriage to the individual soul, the immediate community and society as a whole is exhaustively but entertainingly discussed.

Perhaps the best, and certainly the most delightful, piece in this collection is Sebrell's, which not only re-visions our understanding of the Greek god Priapos, bringing our attention back to the Greek view of him as a careful and talented lover and not just as a glorified satyr, but also uses this examination of Priapos, also the god of gardens, to drive home the point that the best and happiest marriages occur when two people who are already whole come together, seeking in marriage not salvation or completeness, but a life of shared tenderness and esthetic and erotic pleasure.

Helen Henley's "What Can We Ask of Marriage?" reiterates this point: "A conscious relationship must always presuppose two individuals able to make a committment to a meaningful life together," and "Its achievement is both an art and a discipline."

Full disclosure time: I, your humble reviewer, have never been married. But I arose from a marriage, one whose partners are still joined, and I live in a society that still in some sense values marriage, still sees it as a subject worth examining in film and song and dry political debate. Much of these examinations have proven pointless, dull, fruitless, seeking only to point a finger of blame for what is wrong about marriage.

In 1996, the editors of Spring chose to point out what is still right, still possible, and also to ask why marriage still matters, still obsesses us, still happens in the 20th century and beyond.

And in the process, they have made even unmarried free agents like myself take a look at this most basic of institutions and say to it "Yes, it is important to talk about."

James Patterson creates stories that make pages turn at a rapid pace.

I thought the first half packed more punch as Alex Cross finally gets closure on the Gary Soneji case. Very intense and absolutely riveting.

The second part where the hunt for "Mr. Smith" transpires up and down the East Coast is more oriented to the psychological aspects and gripping in its own right.

I thought Gary Soneji to be a more loathsome villain than Mr. Smith. The other members of the police, FBI and Interpol that Alex Cross and his partner Sampson work with are believable and easy to cheer for.

Putting the clues together that Mr. Smith has left after his crimes is great intellectual drama.

The murders Mr. Smith commits are very gruesome. Their descriptions are very graphic and maybe a little over the top. Some suspension of disbelief is necessary.

Overall a fine read. Another strong outing from Mr. Patterson.

KVD

The novel, Cat and Mouse, describes the life of Alex Cross, a Washington detective who is chasing one of the worlds most notorious serial killers, Gary Soneji. The author of the novel, James Patterson takes you through a series of grotesque murders committed by Gary Soneji. With Alex Cross on the case it is a compelling, fast-paced story that forces you to keep reading. Alex Cross has been searching for Gary Soneji ever since he got out of jail and started committing more murders. Gary Soneji's lofty intelligence has made this case more difficult and time consuming than Detective Cross can hardly handle. Soneji's sick mind takes Cross on a wild and exciting "cat and mouse" chase around the east coast. Just when you think that Alex Cross caught Soneji the story turns the opposite direction. Gary Sonejihas a cohort named "Mr. Smith" who is also a demented serial killer out on the rampage. To me the book was the best I have ever read. It kept me in suspence the whole time. James Patterson is a creative writer who deserves all the credit he got. This book well deserves its number one bestseller rating. In my opinion this novel shows thesick side of the real world. James Patterson's use of informal modern English makes the novel easy to read. He symbolizes Cross's old black Porsche, that is in bad need of a paint job, with how Cross does not have enough time to go buy a new car. He spends all of his extra time with his children since the case takes up most of it. Cat and Mouse is filled with true life accounts that will make the reader's curiosity run wild with excitement but will also make them shake with fright. It shows the real world is a scary place that should not be dealt with lighty. The overall theme of the novel is that life is precious and some bad things happen to good people.

This was the first James Patterson book I ever read and it addicted me. This sensational book has not one but two serial killers for Cross to deal with. One he has dealt with before, Gary Soneji but Mr. Smith is a new challenge.

You don't need to have read the previous three Alex Cross novels to love and get into this one. This one you won't be able to put down until you've finished so get you're work done now because you'll be reading this whenever you get a moment.

Short well written chapters make this a breeze to read and if you have to go to work or something you can start a chapter or a few knowing you'll finish it quickly.

If you like detective books, thrillers or serial killer genre then this one is for you.