This book does a thorough job of spanning topics from theoretical issues to more practical reactor design, but does neither one very well. In general, it is hard to read. Fogler does a better job with reactor design.

I think this is one of the better chemical engineering textbooks that I've read.

I found the text very clear and concise.

"Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year, 1977" captures the events of 1976, which was a banner year for editorial cartoonists. The reason why is aptly captured by the cartoon on the cover of this collection, which shows the iconically toothy smile of Jimmy Carter, who came out of nowhere (a.k.a. Plains, Georgia) to be elected President of the United States. 1976 had it all: the nation's bicentennial, political scandals, a heated Presidential campaign, an election that went down to the wire and divided the nation along geographical lines, all wrapped up the distinctive facial features of Jimmy Carter (and an infamous interview "Playboy" magazine).

The editorial cartoonist of the year was clearly Tony Auth of the Philadelphia "Inquirer," who won both the Pulitzer Prize, for a carton of Leonid Breshnev singing "American the Beautiful" in an American wheat field, and the Sigma Delta Chi Award, for a cartoon of Muslims and Christians killing each other in the name of their religions in Beirut. There are also several cartoons by my all-time favorite, Jeff MacNelly, along with choice cartoons by Robert Graysmith, Ed Gamble, Mike Peters, and Dick Locher. You will certainly get a sense of the new school and old school approaches to editorial cartooning.

Cartoons about the 1976 Election provide the single largest chapter in the collection, with the vast majority of those being about the challenger Carter. The challenge to President Gerald Ford by Ronald Reagan in the Republican Party receives treatment as well, along with the Wayne Hays Scandal (does the name Elizabeth Ray ring a bell?). In terms of international affairs there was turmoil in Southern Africa, OPEC raising the price of oil, tension in the Middle East in general and Lebanon in particular, and the death of Mao Tse-Tung (that was the spelling used back then). There were, of course, cartoons on perennial topics like Crime, Defense, Education, and the Economy, as well as one time subjects such as the Swine Flu, Earl Butz, and the mystery of Howard Hughes' will.

This is the fifth collection of the annual series that brings together hundreds of examples of the high art of editorial cartoonists by more than 130 of its practitioners compiled by Charles Brooks, award-winning editorial cartoonist for the Birmingham "News" and former president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. The introduction is written by Draper Hill, an editorial cartoonists for the Detroit "News" who comments on the change in this satirical art form, arguing: "Dignity is out of fashion. For the younger cartoonists, sentiment is so suspect as to be virtually taboo." Given that we are now talking about an American living in the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate era, this is not surprising.

Copp's Hill Burying Ground is the second oldest cemetery in Boston, named for cobbler William Copp, who once owned the land: his children are buried at the hill's crest. Originally called the North Burying Ground, a British battery was stationed here during the occupation of Boston and was used to shell Charlestown during the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. All of this history is covered by Charles Chauncey Wells in this excellent guide, which also details the famous people buried here (such as Increase and Cotton Mather) as well as the early New England folk art carved into the tombstones. The current tombstone inventory lists those who served in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. This book includes a packet of maps of the burying ground, making it extremely user friendly for visitors to this historic site on the Boston Freedom Trail. There are obviously more famous patriots buried at the Granary Burying Ground (John Hancock, Samuel Adams, the Boston Massacre victims, etc.), but this guide will allow you to make the most of your visit to Copp's Hill.

Excellent historical work about an interesting family. I happen to be a Lindley and the Manhattan end of the Lindley/Murray family was not known to be prior to this book. The history of Lindley Murray and his reader was facinating. Now we know what the children read in the 1800s during school and maybe we should go back to some of that culture now.

SHAPING SURVIVAL is a wonderful quartet of essays written by four talented and accomplished American Indian women from the Northern Plains. Each woman opens personal windows to her experiences of survival in the midst of prejudice and abusive situations beginning in early childhood. Each of these four life stories is a tribute to American Indian spirit, intellect, and patience, and each challenges the pervasive stereotypes and domineering attitudes still common in general society. The thoughtful reader of SHAPING SURVIVAL will come away with new respect for the strength of spirit and courage that thrives among American Indian communities and how that strength makes American better.

I think that this book as a whole is a good book, except for the fact that the graphics were done only in orange. At a business stand point I thought it gave a good representation of the material. I thought that the material covered was covered well. Although there was times when I didn't understand what the authors were trying to say because the layout was difficult to understand. Another critizium that I have is that there was no pictures. I now that this is an upper level material but some people also learn by visualization like me and to see a representation of the material would be helpful.

The book covers different subjects in Strategic Management with careful attention and vivid descriptions.The clarity in understanding and implementaion theroff for each chapter are well put forwrad with adequate case studies.Step by step understanding of the subject has been emphasized which makes it very useful for students.Chapters on Strategy Implementaion for differnt stages of Industry Life cycle have been emphasized which helps in understanding different options that are availble for the enterprise. This book will be very handy for Management Students with ready reference to differnt aspects of decision making process in Strategic Management.

Hill and Jones have written an excellent book on strategic management. The key element, the importance of exploiting Distinctive Competencies based on Efficiency ,Quality, Innovation, and Customer Satisfaction in order to achieve Competetive Advantage, is demonstrated througout his book in his concise and to the point cases, which are all recent experiences of well known players. Its final case study is a practical and powerful way to ensure that his concepts are understood. Carlos A. De Izcue. Business Consultant. Lima Peru

"Passion For Truth" is a massive 542-page autobiographical tome of the life of Senator Arlen Specter. It concentrates on specific incidents in his career, points of controversy in which the truth was needed and in which he found himself thrust into the middle - or dived into the middle.

The first 300 pages are rather interesting, as they cover the incidents of the Philadelphia Teamsters racketeer trials, the Warren Commission and up to election to the U.S. Senate, in addition to Specter's life. We gain insight as to how he was raised, in what he believes - in other words, what formed his character to get him from his birthplace in Kansas to the Capitol. It's enjoyable, enlightening reading.

Something happens when he gets to the Senate, though - and we learn that the name of this book is not "Passion For (The Whole) Truth," or even "Arlen Specter's Opinions."

Of the many controversial topics that have occurred in Washington D.C. in the last 17 years, we study four in this book: the investigation of the Ruby Ridge incident, the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, and the impeachment of Clinton. All were strongly contested partisan battles, and Specter weighs in with his opinions on each. I stress "opinions," not to be confused with facts, despite the title of the book. To say that one political party was more partisan than other in these fights would call for a measure that neither Specter nor I nor anyone has at their disposal. Specter leaves no doubt that he considers his opposite political party more partisan, less open-minded and a bit less worthy that his own party, particularly during the recent impeachment. Believe me, Arlen, there was enough partisanship to go around by everyone in that contest.

Equally doubtless is his distaste for our previous president. The background leading up to the trial received a workout, with Specter giving high points to the Kenneth Starr and low marks to anyone on the defense of the president. Specter maintains that the trial was flawed from the time that it was given to the Senate for deliberation; he states that Jim Rogan reportedly said, "I believe that every manager believes that we could have gotten the twelve Democratic votes (that they needed to impeach the president) if we had the opportunity to present our case."(p. 526) As any good lawyer will tell you, you just don't know how a jury's going to vote, Arlen. He seems mystified "that the American public was prepared to accept boorish behavior, perhaps simply because the economy was so strong and the government was otherwise running so smoothly . . . In President Clinton's case, admitted behavior clearly more repugnant than that denied by Judge Thomas still did not outrage the American public or switch many congressional minds. Had Thomas admitted Hill's charges, his nomination could not have survived."(p. 527) Probably not, Arlen: Clinton had 22 months to go until his presidency was over for good, while Arlen figured Thomas was good for perhaps forty years, and Thomas himself said he intended to serve until he was one hundred (p. 394).

The capper of all was when "Republicans were irate when the president, joined by throngs of Democrats, held a 'victory celebration' in the Rose Garden after the House voted out articles of impeachment" (p.505), after being promised a "gloat-free" zone. Was it any more raucous that the "victory celebration" held in the House of Representatives when that body of legislators voted to impeach the president?

By the way, Senator Specter, as long as you're digging for the truth in government, how active was your investigation of the Iran Contra affair?

In the end, a book that started out interesting grinds to a crawl, buried under the weight of its own promises. And we learn one more lesson from this - as with Bill Bennett's book, just because you have an attribute in your title, that doesn't mean that you have to know all that much about it.

Arlen Specter has been an influential and controversial figure in American politics for decades. If for only that reason alone, this book would be worth reading for those who are interested in politics, American history, or current events.

However, the book delivers much more than just the details of Senator Specter's distinguished career. It is a well-written and quite readable and engrossing book that also gives the reader insight into the nature of Mr. Specter. Not only does he share the pivotal events in his life that led him towards a life of public service, but the reader also is allowed a glimpse into his character. He shares his laudable and selfless values, which genuinely seem to motivate his behavior (His "Passion for Truth"), but his incessant belittling of every other political figure mentioned in the book gives the reader insight into the arrogant self-centerness that makes him so controversial. It is striking that nearly everyone mentioned in the book is mentioned only to repeat a failure, miscalculation, or misstatement. Important and successful politicians all appear foolish and/or selfish in comparison to Mr. Specter, in Mr. Specter's eyes. Ed Rendell, the very successful two-term mayor of Philadelphia appears to be a buffoon in this book. All Mr. Specter recalls of his meeting with the then former President Dwight D. Eisenhower was that he made a casual statement about an objectionable Supreme Court decision which Mr. Specter interpreted to mean that the former two-term President was unaware of the separation of powers in our government. Is it really reasonable to think that a two-term President doesn't understand how Congress works? Oh yes, we are also told that President Eisenhower's jacket was poorly matched to his slacks.

I am not trying to be overly critical of Mr. Specter. I believe he has been an immensely successful politician that has served Philadelphia and later Pennsylvania well. His egotism is not entirely undeserved. His career is impressive and well worthy of a biography.

Included are detailed accounts of his service on the Warren Commission after the Kennedy assassination and his defense of his controversial "Single Bullet Theory," accounts of his time as a very successful and high-profile Assistant District Attorney for Philadelphia, the confirmation hearing for Judge Bork in his unsuccessful nomination for the Supreme Court, and the interrogation of Anita Hill in the confirmation hearing for the successful nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, and the Clinton impeachment trial.

I personally found the more recent events to be the most interesting. Arlen Specter's role and perspective on the Clinton impeachment is fascinating and different from that which has been reported elsewhere. I gained insight into the Anita Hill and Robert Bork controversies as well.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who might be interested. Whether you admire or dislike Arlen Specter, you can learn a lot about him and contemporary politics by reading this book. My one reservation in recommending this text is that a large portion of the book is about his days in Philadelphia and local politics. For those without an interest in Philadelphia and its politics, this portion of the book may be dull. Clearly, this section is of most interest to Philadelphians or people with an interest in Philadelphia. However, the rest should attract broad interest and it finishes with the best material, which will motivate you not to quit before you finish reading it.

I am no particular fan of Senator Specter, but I found this book very well-written and full of fascinating inside accounts of events we all followed with great attention. As expected, there is very little modesty displayed in this book, but then Senator Specter has had a very successful career. This book captures one's interest from the start, and I found that I could read it even tho my wife was listening to tv in the same room! It was just so much more interesting than what was being said on tv. His account of the questioning of Anita Hill is especially riveting, and he does a good job of showing that she did actually change her testimony over the noon recess, thus showing that her credibility was rightly considered suspect. On the Bork nomination I happened at the time to disagree with Senator Specter's position, but he does a fairly good job justifying his opposition to Bork. Anyone who has followed national news for the past 40 years will find reading this book a rewarding experience, I would think

I am a big fan of both Clarke and Baxter, but this novel is not among my favorites of their stories. Now, I saw as very interesting the scientific ideas of the possible uses of wormholes, as well as the social manifestations of these developments. There also were many interesting comments peppered throughout the book. These aspects of the novel seemed like they came from Baxter and Clarke. Yet as a work of fiction I do not think the book succeeds. For one thing, the characters are rather sketchy and unoriginal. Secondly, there is a fair amount of what I consider filler material that does not add to the story. Third, the overall writing style is quite harsh, often with unpleasant language and scenes that in my opinion were unnecessary. This convinces me that the book was surely not written by Clarke, since the dark tone is in complete contrast to the many other works of his I have read. My point here is that if you consider reading this novel as a way to enjoy something by Arthur Clarke, I suggest choosing another. But all in all, as a sci-fi story I enjoyed it to a fair degree.

I liked this work of Clarke and Baxter (alright, I've never read anything by Clarke that I didn't like). I must admit I tend to enjoy Clarke as a sole author, I feel that he is more concise than with a co-author, however this book was a pleasant surprise. The physics is wayyyy out there, even for Clarke...I can't specify without giving it away, but let's just say that this one is a stretch ! I thoroghly enjoyed what they did with it though.

I most enjoyed the very descriptive passages regarding historical observations (looking backward), I felt engrossed during the narrative. As usual, Clarke/Baxter speaks to the social changes induced by the advanced technology they postulate, however, I found this book to be lacking in believability in this respect. This one aspect of it was disappointing. The rest was very enjoyable.

Notice how I haven't told you what the story is about, well I can't without taking away from the surprise elements. If you're an Arthur C. Clarke fan, I think you'll find this book worthwile (however it's no Childhood's End).

I thought the book was good, not great. Arthur C. Clarke is an excellent author, but he could have done better. The book basically diminishes everything in the world as we know it to be usless and meaningless. It describes a grim future for our planet, one in which I think is a little insulting to the human race.

The book concentraited on to many details, overuse of figurative language. If I wanted to know how the roses smelled in 2037 I would not have read a Science-Fiction book, I would have read a poem. Once the book told you something, or should I say, described it, it would have restated you again and again. I just wish the book would have been directed toward how life could be in the future, not directed at a few characters personal lives.

However, even if the book did not have exactly what I was looking for, it included a lot of interesting ideas. It also related the problems in the furture to the ones we are facing now very well. I was extremely interested in the fact that Clarke used actual scientific ideas and principles, not just ones made up by a couple of mental patients.

I would rate this book a good read for someone who likes a good story, and not to someone who would like to aquire some knowledge.

This book is good at first glance, being accessible and reasonably well indexed. The problem is that it lacks the thoroughness required of a good reference. There is only limited information on the most basic methods and means. It lacks simple things like how to design pinions which mesh with multiple gears, or gears that run under a variety of conditions in normal operations. This fault runs throughout the book, making it almost useless for the slightly obscure applications seen in anything innovative.

It's not a complete guide but relatively comprehensive. I used this book in my undergrad studies and continue to use it on a monthly basis ten years later. My first copy suffered from binding failure (as noted by another reviewer) and was replaced by my employer.

It may not be a good text for self-teaching but it is a fine reference later in your engineering career. Both the authors are well respected and the methods are classical yet readily accepted as "good engineering practice."

This book continues to be the best on covering mechanical engineering components design. It has a good mix of theoretical and practical coverage of the material for and an introductory book. The book covers both factor-of-safety and stochastic approaches to design. I used it in my undergraduate schooling and it continues to be a reference for every day practical designed problems. Recommended for people with good background in Static and Mechanics of Material.

I have been using this book for an Intermediate Accounting class that I have to take as a pre requisite for a Master's degree. Even though the book is quite complete in explaining accounting principles it is unecessarily wordy and extremely heavy.

The first five chapters (220 pages) provide a review of what accounting is, the accounting information system, the income statement and the balance sheet. Most of the what is written here is either too basic or will be later found in the remaining chapters of the book. These pages could be easily removed without sacrificing the remaining contents and the understanding of accounting.

Later chapters, however, are also wordy and take too much time explaining concepts that could readily be understood in a couple of lines. You end up getting tired of reading the same thing again and again.

In the end, we have to pay the price for so many pages. With 1300 + pages this book is the heaviest one I have ever carried around. Many people in my class have to use a wheeled backpack. I sometimes can't understand the fascination of editors in the US for such heavy books. If you go to Europe, Asia, and South America, books are usually thinner and much, much lighter.

I would recommend the book to be offered in a CD Rom (or e text) format. Carriyng my laptop around makes more sense than carrying the book.

This book for undergraduate accounting classes at the junior level was more confusing to me than the comparable book by Kieso et al. The sequence of the chapters is not entirely logical. More advanced concepts seem to be covered towards the beginning whereas some basic chapters are discussed towards the end of the book. It was especially confusing when not covering the chapter in chronological order - too bad that my class's syllabus was not outlined according to this book's chapter sequence. In a different class - when we used Intermediate Accounting by Kieso - jumping back and forth was not a big problem. This book by Spiceland also seemed to be very wordy. Studying by solving problems at the end of the book seemed to work. However, it is more important to know how your teacher designs the quizzes and exams and then study accordingly. On the CD that comes with it, there is a lot of ballast. The quizzes are the only valuable thing, I felt. There is not really a lot of use complaining about its weight - accounting books always seem to be extremely heavy and pricy. But this certainly holds true for this one as well!!! When I tried to resell the book at the university bookstore, they would not take it back because it was selling badly on a national scale. Very frustrating when you paid [$$$] just a couple of months earlier...

This book put me to sleep. It is a very bland book. This is based on the volume one edition chapters 1-14.