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Book reviews for "Harris,_John" sorted by average review score:

The Doctor Who Technical Manual
Published in Paperback by Random House (Merchandising) (1983)
Authors: Mark Harris and John Nathan-Turner
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Great For Whovians
A great set of details of the props used on the show, including several of the weapons, the TARDIS, and so on. Espcially amusing for children.

Great Book for all Doctor Who Fans
Have owned for years. Book is full of great information about the show and most of the important characters in the series. Has information on everything from the Tardis, K9 the Doctors Car and the Cybermen. Includes several colour photos from the show.
A must have for any Doctor Who fan.

Great book for Doctor Who enthusiasts.
Great technical drawings of most of the technology found in Doctor Who series. Included diagrams, workings etc of Tardis and K9. A must have reference book for Doctor Who enthusiasts :)


Criminal Poisoning: Investigational Guide for Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists, and Attorneys
Published in Paperback by Humana Press (15 January, 2000)
Author: John Harris Trestrail
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Informative but quite brief
This short book has a lot of information useful to law enforcement in evaluating deaths, to help determine if a death is a result of a homicidal poisoning. Further, the author provides advice on how to close in on a suspect and how homicidal poisoners operate.

The book has a number of statistics regarding frequency of use of various poisons and percentages of poisoners who are male, female and of various races.

There are two reasons for my giving it 3 stars:

1. I expected more information about specific poisons. Aside from a summary of a few poisons in an appendix, there is not much specific information about the actions of various chemicals.

2. The book is rife with grammatical and what I assume are typographical errors, even to the point that the author (or publisher) misspells his own name on one page. In a book with many statistics, seeing so many such errors makes me wonder how many errors exist in the numbers that I'm reading. I never heard of this publishing house but I found their website and they apparently specialize in scientific and medical books. I just hope that they aren't printing books being relied upon by physicians treating members of my family, if this is the quality of oversight they give to their books.

Criminal Poisoning - a review
This book should be in the library of anyone interested in toxicology whether a professional or a reader or writer in this area. The book is a meticulous reference for an area which is covered only in scattered locations. Descriptions of historical poisoners as well as more modern cases are concise and clear. The author bases this book on his extensive lecture series at the FBI academy. Investigations through testimony in court is covered. The author provides detailed information on key poisons and an extensive bibliography. The information presented will clear up many myths perpetuated in various novels and on the internet.


A Dictionary of Epidemiology
Published in Hardcover by Oxford University Press (15 January, 2001)
Authors: John M. Last, Robert A. Spasoff, Susan S. Harris, Michel C. Thuriaux, and International Epidemiological Association
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great help to resident
As a resident, I frequently prepared journal clubs, where we have to carefully discuss and scrutinize studies. I gained some introduction from "Appleton and Lange's Review of Epidemiology and Biostatistics for the USMLE". But preparing for journal clubs was quite different. There are many of statistical and epidemiological terminology in each article, some I am familiar with, but others are confusing and new. In this very helpful "dictionary" I was able to find more than 95% of the terms with brief definition and good short explanation that successfully allowed me to soundly evaluate the studies and prepare an impressive brief, neat handouts. The great thing about this dictionary was its well organization and ease to find what you are looking for. My friends frequently borrowed when they have to prepare their journal clubs, and found it really helpful.
It is a dictionary; i.e., arranged alphabetically sequencing the terms, and if a term has more than one name, they mention them all, before the explanation.
I highly recommended to every resident, as it will not only will help during residency, but also surely during real life and practice, especially a with hundreds of "trials, studies" appears in medical journal daily.
I gave it four not five stars, because few explanation were rather short, despite informative, and lack of illustration and pictures, which may require you to use a regular textbook in Epidemiology, this happened maybe almost 1 from every 10 terms.

"The" dictionary of epidemiology
One of the major problems with studying the field of epidemiology is the inconsistency of terminology that is used. This is because the field is relatively young, is actively evolving and has developed from multiple other disciplines including the social sciences as well as the medical sciences and statistics. As a result, it can be both confusing and frustrating for the student. This dictionary is the "bible" of terminology for the fireld, in part because there is no other. This should be an absolute requirement for the shelf of every student in the field of epidemiology. Even experienced epidemiologists are encouraged to have a copy for reference purposes. The only caution is that a new edition is due out soon. It can only be better than the first edition. Get it.


A Dream of the Heart: The Life of John H. Gibbon, Jr. Father of the Heart-Lung Machine
Published in Hardcover by Fithian Press (1999)
Authors: Harris B. Shumacker and Harris B. Shumacker
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A comprehensive review of earlier works on hert lung machine
As a new commer to the world of cardiac surgery I have started to learn the works of the forefathers of cardiac surgery. Dr. Shumaker has appropriately gathered enormous information on the subject of development of heart lung manchine and narrated it in simple language that can be easily understood by medical and nonmedical readers alike. I learned a great deal about the hardship and dedication that was put to work behind the evolution of present cardiac surgey by reading this book. It is a must read for all those who are interested in knowing the minds and imaginations of great people like Dr. Gibbon who shaped the unthinkable task of operating on the heart. One factor in this book that I particularly found it to be annoying is the description of family background of Gibbon(s), even though they hailed from very respectable families, this extended discription will not interest an average reader.

incredible research
As a former student of the author I was anxious to read this book. He has performed in depth research on two levels-(1) the history of heart surgery and (2) the life and genealogy of Dr. Gibbon, who not only gave us the best tool for modern heart surgery but was instrumental in establishing chest surgery as a specialty. Without formal training himself he helped define the training for a generation of chest surgeons, including one year of laboratory work. Dr. Schumacker was a friend and fan of Dr. Gibbon and his style of writing reveals his kinship and admiration without becoming maudlin and losing his objectivity. Some readers may have been put off by Dr. Gibbon's background and ancestors, but I, for one, believe it is vital to a good biography. I never met Dr. Gibbon but I still see evidence of his influence and contributions daily, 30 years after his death.


How Do You Go to the Bathroom in Space?
Published in Paperback by Tor Books (1999)
Authors: William R. Pogue, John Glenn, and Sidney Harris
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Attention Grabbing Title with Great Content!
Middle to High Schoolers as well as adults will pick this book up out of curiosity and immediately become engrossed. The question and answer format encourages browsing, and the book includes lots of nice features such as an index, a section for related reading, a section of web addresses and mail addresses for space related organizations. Students will find useful report information presented here in a fun format. The book also includes a number of photographs and drawings relating to the questions it helps answer. Students will discover the many effects of living in space from one of the men who has spent the most time there!

Easy-to-understand answers to space questions
Great book for a middle school or high school library. Answers lots of frequently-asked questions about astronaut's life in space.


John H. Behan: Sacrificed Sheriff
Published in Hardcover by High Lonesome Books (01 March, 2002)
Authors: Bob Alexander, Sheri L. Johnson, and Bob Alexamder
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Good facts, poor history
I truly would like to recommend "Sacrificed Sheriff" more strongly. It provides a wealth of factual information about John Behan, the Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona, when the city of Tombstone reached its pinnacle of fame as the site of the so-called Gunfight at the OK Corral and the surrounding events. Behan's reputation, as Bob Alexander vehemently protests, has long been assailed through innuendo and an unfairly selective use of evidence, painting him as a weak and corrupt opponent of Wyatt Earp and his brothers. In Alexander, Behan has at last found a very sympathetic biographer, perhaps a biographer too sympathetic to objectively view the historical questions involved. While Alexander repeatedly (and rightly) protests the negative assumptions and interpretations of evidence used in the past against Sheriff Behan by various writers, Alexander himself falls into the same trap, seemingly never missing an opportunity to paint Wyatt Earp in the darkest colors, repeating sketchy rumors and always promoting the most negative answer to any question.

I confess a particular personal aversion to some stylistic choices made by Alexander, most notably the lavish use of italicized words and exclamation points throughout his text. Reading this, I could not help but feel that the author is displaying an unseemly indignant petulance not at all appropriate for anyone attempting an objective history. In the end, I think that Mr. Alexander has eroded the effectiveness of his own book by such devices and through a blatant display of partisanship in his unceasing attacks upon Wyatt Earp at every opportunity (extending to creating such opportunities even where the narrative text about Behan, supposedly the focus of the book, does not logically involve Earp at all). At times, Alexander seems to confuse the opinions of earlier authors of an "anti-Earp" bent with actual evidence, citing with relish almost anything unflattering ever written about the man whom popular history has chosen, instead of Sheriff Behan, to be at the center of Tombstone's story. I believe that "Sacrificed Sheriff" would have benefited greatly from a strong editor who would have toned down Mr. Alexander's all too evident antipathy towards Wyatt Earp and kept the book's focus more clearly on its supposed central subject.

Do I encourage persons interested in the controversies surrounding Tombstone in its glory days to read Alexander's book? Yes, I do. But I caution them to read it for the facts given about John Behan's life rather than for the interpretations the author makes about Behan's opponents.

Alexander is a true investigator!
The "Sacrificed Sheriff" is an excellent and well documented read. It provides a wealth of factual information about John Behan, the Sheriff of Cochise County, AZ. Behan's reputation, has too long been outright lies and innuendos. The footnotes in this text indicate it is well researched and make for easy confirmation of Alexander's story, unlike the so called auto-biographies of Wyatt, Virgil and Josephine Earp. Behan is nothing less than a partiot who served his country well while the Earps were seeking personal wealth and self-agrandized fame. You should read all the Earp texts before delving into this factual account of Arizona history.-Bill McLennan, San Antonio, TX


The Authorized Texas Ranger Cookbook
Published in Spiral-bound by Harris Farms Pub (01 April, 1997)
Authors: Johnny Harris, Cheryl Harris, and John Harris
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Entertaining collection of recipes and anecdotes
More than a cookbook, the Authorized Texas Ranger Cookbook includes a brief history of this unique law enforcement agency. As a recent Texan-by-marriage, I was pleased to learn about the Rangers, and was tickled by such recipes as "Beer in the Rear Chicken."


Birds of India
Published in Paperback by Princeton Univ Pr (08 November, 1999)
Authors: Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, Tim Inskipp, Clive Byers, Daniel Cole, John Cox, Gerald Driessens, Carl D'Silva, Martin Elliott, and Kim Franklin
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At long last...
Finally, a complete, comphrensive FIELD guide to the birds of India! Gone are the days of hauling 2 or 3 hardcover bird books to the subcontinent just to be able to identify relatively common species. The drawings in this book are excellent, the descriptions very detailed, and the range maps very helpful. My two criticisms are that birders familiar with the common names in Salim Ali's "The Book of Indian Birds" will be confused with the revised nomenclature in this guide (based on the Inskipp's Indian Checklist); some changes are relatively minor, while others are so dramatically different (and frankly puzzling) that cross-referencing is a chore. The second involves the seperation of many of the range maps from the plates and descriptions, sometimes by many pages. This was due to the large number of species featured on some plates- there just wasn't enough room for the maps also. A better strategy might have been to put them all in the back of the book. But the benefits of this book far outweigh the shortcomings- my next trip to India promises to be more rewarding and productive bird-wise (as well as easier on my back)due to this excellent and overdue field guide.


The Christmas Collection
Published in Audio CD by Naxos Audio Books (1997)
Authors: Christina Hardyment, Peter Jeffrey, John Moffatt, David Timson, Susan Engel, Simon Harris, and Liza Ross
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Like a Christmas stocking full of goodies
What Naxos has done here is put together an anthology of Christmas poetry, musings and other Christmas fair to serve up a delightful listen. Starting with an ancient Christmas carol and even a recipe circa 1300 the listener is treated to poetry, thoughts and reflections from various authors on what Christmas is, and is not about. I have to admit it took me a while to get into this recording but once I did I found myself touched by the Christmas spirit. Indeed I actually bought this last year and saved it for this year's holiday season to listen to. Among the poetry and observations, there are also a few short stories, and evena play. As well interspersed throughout the readings are Christmas carols and classical Christmas music. Its a fine collection although its mostly for adults. In adition one truly must be a lover of English literature to fully appreciate this anthology; the overall theme of this after all has to do with Christmas time in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I would highly recommended if one enjoys works and authors from these time periods. Its great to listen to with a cup of cocoa, or exotic coffee. This book contains 2 CDs and is read by a variety of readers. merry Christmas.


Finches & Sparrows: An Identification Guide
Published in Hardcover by Princeton Univ Pr (1994)
Authors: Peter Clement, Alan Harris, and John Davis
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Finches & sparrows
It is a nice book but my only complaint is that the birds in it are limited. It did not have indigo buntings and rose breasted grosbeaks, etc.
Also, some of the descriptions do not seem accurate, eg differences between a yellow fronted canary and a yellow eye canary are not highlighted, and the female distinguishing markings are also not covered. The description on the song is also not accurate. I was disappointed with the book because I expected a lot more for the price I paid.

Good, but with one major omission, and possibly more...
Overall, a good reference to the finches and sparrows of the world. However, those interested chiefly in the sparrows of the New World are advised to look elsewhere, as only the sparrows of the Old World genuses Passer, etc. are included in this work. I repeat: THERE ARE NO NEW WORLD SPARROWS (or towhees, buntings, juncos, etc.) IN THIS BOOK.

Also, I am not sure that all of the munias and mannikins of the genus Lonchura are included, as this book lists only 34, while another book specifically on that subject claims 41. Taxonomic hair-splitting or an omission by the authors of this book?

The Galapagos finches are omitted as well.

Buyer beware.

The single best book on finch and sparrow indetification.
I am a breeder and distributor of different finches and this book has been the best resource I have been able to find. The picture plates are finely detailed including many sub-species of each type of finch. It even covers some finches that are too rare to be covered in any other book. There is detailed information on each species including, but not limited to, regional location (including migration and breeding maps), identification, differences between sub-species, availability, habitat requirements, food eaten, and scientific and local names. I really want someone to make a book as well done covering Weavers, Whydas, and Buntings. If you are looking to identify species and sub-species of finches then this is probably the only book you will need--period.


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