This masterpiece of legal scholarship, clearly and eloquently written for the general public (plus police officers, politicians, and lawyers) lays searingly bare the United States's collective shame of the evil practice of racial profiling and stereotyping. The first 3 of the 9 chapters lay the groundwork of the author's thesis via extensive anecdotal evidence, thoroughly supported by direct quotations and direct observations, many of them from police officers as well as innocent victims. Chapter 4 provides a convincing and well-reasoned [I'm a professional statistician] statistical validation of the author's thesis, plus proof that racial profiling actually decreases probabilities of intercepting criminals. Chapter 5 exposes the hidden but corrosive costs of racial profiling, such as disunity among Americans and the cancer of chronic distrust of police and courts. Chapter 6 extends the discussion beyond African-American victims to East Asian, Hispanic, and Near-Eastern victims. The last three chapters provide the encouragement of a road to improvement, including examples of municipalities and police departments already following that road.
Throughout, the author's prose is objective, quietly restrained, and superbly organized and enunciated.

Anyone who is interested or is currently teaching social studies should consider purchasing these books. These books are composed of numerous short stories (3-6 pages) in which a story is presented followed by an ethical or moral dilemma. Students reading the text are encouraged to discuss their reactions as a class, resulting in constructive debates; a skill that our students need to learn!

(And I'm not just saying this b/c Dr. Harris is one of my professors at the University of Michigan. I really think these are great books!!)

The Boston-by-itinerary approach of this book makes it easy for a visitor to become acquainted with this diverse city in small, logical doses. Harris and Lyon write with the conviction, and attention to detail, of those who know their territory well. Not just for romantic travelers but for anyone seeking entree to one of the country's most fascinating cities.

This has to be a favorite book of mine, it has to deal with the skinhead culture of today and the yesteryear.
Follow Mark through his teenage years , his band, his father, the army, and his job in Vancouver. The book is very realistic, you could almost follow Mark around town and see what he sees. Some parts are very graphic but then again so is reality. In the back of the book is pictures, posters and show ticket stubs that you can view.

This is a highly recommendable book. A must for everyone interested in how human-comupter interaction is studied or conceived or debated.

Read about those topics, that are hot or ever-greens for the usability-interested.

Maybe you don't know all of those names in the title, but you will surely see why THEY've been chosen for the interviews.

The topics are presented the way they were raised with the interviewed persons - as dialogues, interviews.

This is a great way of approaching and exploring the thoughts and concepts that go across the entire field of software and internet development, and not through just one or two writers.

It's a lot of food for thought.

This book is a great resource for the system analysis. It's geared toward the small enterprise and covers all topics from when you get the job request to when the final product is delivered.

By Annalee Allen
The Dispatch
Lexington, North Carolina
October 18, 2001

In the "Thin Line Between Heaven and Hell," a first book by David G. Harris, the reader is made aware of the physical and emotional obstacles firefighters must clear on a daily basis.

Harris lives in Midway and has been a member of the High Point Fire Department since April 1994. He has collected real stories from many different fire departments and brought them to life through his main character, Dalton, a firefighter who works for the fictitious Mannington Fire Department.

The approach Harris uses in writing his book delivers a private feeling, as if one is reading personal memoirs Dalton has jotted down. The writing is a summary of events and is short on descriptive details, so the audience is being told a story but not being asked to participate in its unfolding.

Dalton shares what a typical day in the life of a firefighter might entail, and it becomes obvious that theirs is a life characterized by unpredictability. Even the men themselves do not know what to expect from moment to moment. They don't realize what specific dangers lie ahead when they are called out, but they do understand there will be danger and they respond regardless.

Dalton also reveals private times spent with his wife and children, and through this the reader realizes rescue workers are human. They are people with lives. If they die in a rescue operation, there are people who will feel their absence.

Harris doesn't hold back in including bad language some firefighters use or the pranks that some firefighters play on one another. Some readers may find the language and pranks offensive, but this reviewer believes that honesty in writing is essential to help the reader absorb the entire account.

The main message obtained is this: Those who choose to be firefighters are only human, but they seem to comprehend humanity on a higher level. They are willing to give their lives to preserve life.

Harris enforces this message in the introduction: "We could make more money working in another field, but there is an unexplainable love for this job that draws all of us here. Maybe one day someone will be able to explain it better than I can. But until then, just know that we are here for you. Call us when you need us and we will be there."

With many examples of Basic codes for checking stresses on trusses' bars and several historic notes and blueprints. Good for classrooms notes and teaching.

The authors managed to make Photoshop 7 a delight to learn, and the book, an entertaining reading. It has two important qualities that became obvious as I read on: (1) it can sustain my interest to learn more and work the exercises, and; (2) the authors tried their best to help the reader really understand Photoshop principles. The style's upbeat, and the book's organization, clever. Photoshop core principles were presented first then it's practical use as applied to photography, the Web, art, and just plain goofing around. Makes a lot of sense. Although the images were in black and white in the book, they have proven to be good guides. There were plenty of screen shots of dialog boxes, which tool to use and what the images should look like. They help to ensure that you don't get lost. The actual tutorial images were in full color in the CD-ROM, many of them nicely rendered in 3D.

The observations in the previous review, "Several Areas of Ommission" are valid ones, though. I did find one exercise (Inverting and Refining A Shape Layer, page 185) that seem to have missed a step. Figure 5.29 on page 228 didn't quite look like what it was supposed to. But except for a few minor typo errors all the projects thus far were clearly explained and finished as written. I repeated some of them just for the fun of it. Odds are, any book this size (1000+ pages) would likely take its own share of minor errors. Overall, it was very well written.

I am on the last 3 chapters of the book (no skipping) and I can say for certain that the authors were careful to give the reader consistent quality instruction right from the beginning. All the toturials were very interesting. There was not a dull moment! The other advantage of this book was that it was written by several people, who apllied their expertise on specialized chapters. My only complaint is that the they couldn't be reached for clarification on the item on page 185. It has been a wonderful experience learning Photoshop 7 and I am glad I had this book as my main guide.

Gary Burton and 5 contributors have put together a comprehensive step by step reference guide to Photoshop 7.0. The book is well thought out with practical tutorials in a user friendly format and in such a way that anyone can follow along.

My reference to this being a "reference guide" is demonstrated in part one, for instance, the author gives you a detailed list of definitions of Photoshop's Blending Modes and throughout the book this same practice is applied. In part two you're guided through Photoshop's Core Concepts such as, Preferences, understanding Photoshop's Color System Management and the importance of Scratch Disks and so much more. I could simply go on and on, as there is so much valuable information in this book. To top it off, on the accompanying CD ROM are, resource files for the chapters examples, a inside Photoshop e-glossary, fonts, textures, tiles and 6 software demos.

All in all, the author makes sure you walk away with a deeper understanding of how the application works, along with being able to create, touch up, restore and materialize digital imagery like never before.

This is a must have!

"Inside Photoshop 7" is one of the most complete and still approachable books on Photoshop available. It is well organized with the core topics at the beginning of the book followed by specific areas of interest. For example, you might want to move from the core concepts to the section for photographers, or to the section for artists, or the section for the web. The choice of how to proceed is up to you and your interests.

This is Gary Bouton's 13th book on Photoshop. To say that he has learned not only the details of the program but also how to impart that knowledge to a reader is an understatement. Throughout the book he explains what he is trying to accomplish with a project, how he is going to accomplish it and then walks you through the process. The end effect is that you actually learn how to use Photoshop 7 to create the effects that you want.

Feature rich and full of examples, it covers the basic and advances features of Photoshop 7 in detail. Complex concepts are explained in detail in a very easy to understand writing style. If you want to become a Photoshop expert this is the place to start. A highly recommended read.

In the mist of today's worldwide events, where prejudice and hate runs free, it is encouraging to the human spirit to read the story of the kindertransport. "Into the Arms of Strangers" is a first person narration of some of the children (now elderly adults) who were saved from the hands of Nazism and given an opportunity to start a new life. This was all possible thanks to a noble attitude from the British government who was aware(as well as many other nations) of the final destination of the Jewish population. From this act of mercy, 10,000 children (most of them from Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Germany) were transported from their native countries just before the outbreak of World War II (1938) into England where they were temporarily adopted, until circunstances would allow them to reunite with their families. Despite the suffering these children went through, the unfair treatment some of them received, the psychological trauma, they are all thankful for the opportunity of being alive. Most of them were able to restructure their lives, set roots and build a family. Today they are witnesses to a dreadful chapter in human history and are here to give their testimony. Great merit goes to all of those who were involved in this humanitarian effort (Otto Hirsch, Norbert Wollheim, amongst others).
Sad though it may be to read the account of each of these survivors, even sadder it is to realize that many, many more children could have been saved where it not for the selfish attitude taken by many nations. For those who have had an opportunity to visit the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, it is a consolation to know that the children saved by the kindertransport are not listed among the other 1,000,000 children who did not have the same opportunity. And history keeps reapeating itself... not much thinking is nedded to realize that at the present moment there are people in several parts of the world who would have their lives saved if the "kinderstransport spirit" were to prevail.
There is a film in DVD/Video version of "Into the Arms of Strangers," which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It is highly recommended, the book and the film complement and enrich each other.

I enjoy reading memoirs because by personalizing a part of history they bring history to life in a way that no text book can."Into the Arms of Strangers" is an example of just such a book. This book details in length the story of one of histories greatest resuces. (At least in terms of the numbers saved from an almost certain death) Before the British entered WWII thousnds of Jewish children were rescued from Germany by the British people and their goverment in an operation known as Kindertransport."Into the Arms of Strangers" tells the inspiring and ocassionaly heartbreaking story of theese children. While they were given a second chance at life in England most would never again see the parents who Heroicaly gave them to strangers in another country. If I have any criticisms of this book (and I do) It would be the way the story was put together. "Into the Arms Of Strangers " follows the stories of about a dozen kindertransport kids and thier families from the early days of the Nazis to present day. Each chapter covers a particualar time frame, for instance September 1st 1939 and tells the story of each child for that time period. then moves on to the next major event in the history of the holocaust.This format may have worked well if the story consisted of two or three kids and thier famalies but it became confusing when so many different stories were being told in the book. I Kept finding myself back tracking to previous pages and chapters just trying to keep the characters straight in my mind. The book would have been better off telling each childs story individually or having a narrower focus such as two or three kids.All in all though this is a book well worth reading and I highly reccomend it for history buffs and those who never heard the stoy of the kindertransport.

This was an illuminating and evocative book. Anyone interested in this topic should also read "Escape Via Siberia" and "The Uprooted" by Dorit Whiteman. Whiteman's books -- which expertly weave gripping personal accounts with historical context -- explore how survivors of the kindertransport and other Holocaust horrors coped with the legacy of their harrowing ordeals as adults. Whiteman is an expert in the field and some of her material was used in the movie, "Into the Arms of Strangers."