Having graduated as an Electromagnetics Engineer (I hear my lecturers coughing loudly) I found that book hell on paper. It starts off easily enough, but right from the word go you have to think hard about the ideas being put across. If you're good at putting ideas into maths, this book will be a doddle. Unfortunately, there's not many people like that.

It is a good book but not for undergraduates. That is to say, different books are for different people at different entry level. It always refers back to previous chapters hence the reader is not lost when it mentioned things that are mentioned in previous chapters.

This book may have some perplexing early chapters on basic electricity and magnetism, but no more so than any other intermediate-level physics or engineering text on E&M. That's the nature of the beast - it's a highly mathematical subject. If you want a "cookbook" for the practicing radar/antenna/comm. technician who never wanted/had to learn the theory, look elsewhere. Where this text really shines is not in the "Fields and Waves", but in the "in Communication Electronics." I have not seen a clearer presentation of transmission lines, period, and I own a number of other popular (and widely-taught and cited) E&M books at this level, as well as a rather muddy book on the specific subject of transmission lines. You will not find another similar book with this thorough coverage of real-life applications, simultaneously general enough that it's useful in a broad range of specialty fields. The figures are in general both very clear and very useful.

I was very disappointed with John Morton Blum's biography on Theodore Roosevelt. I found it to be poorly written and some chapters were rather ambiguous and confusing.

The first few chapters were good but the book steadily went downhill from there. Theodore Roosevelt was such a lively, exciting character and Blum's book did not bring out any of that excitement. I found the book informative but very boring and dull.

I read this book over twenty years ago and remember it as very well written and particularly illuminating on Theodore Roosevelt's patrician approach to Progressivism. The offers an exciting and concise view of the how Roosevelt established an important, if limited, role for government in American economic life.

It shows how much difference one man can make to both his political party and to his nation. The book was written at a time when the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt was very much in the shadow of FDRoosevelt's new deal. It provides an intense contrast with the current, sorry state of the Republican party and national politics, in general.

As far as I can see this book has but one fault, and that is that it claims to be a work of historical non-fiction. First of all, the body of John Wilkes Booth was not examined by his family at the old arsenal, it was examined in Baltimore shortly before being buried in the family plot. The story about Booth's escape to Asia is extremely far-fetched, and as a person who has spent a great deal of time reading about this man, it is highly doubtful that he would have brooded at all for killing Lincoln, although he might have brooded a bit for himself after he realized that he was now a hated man throughout the country. Finally, there is the icing on the cake, Booth's death in Enid, Oklahoma in 1903. If anyone has seen photographs of the man who claimed to be John Wilkes Booth shortly before dying, then it is very obvious that this man is not Booth. His forehead is much smaller and his features are much more rugged than Booth's. An interesting sidenote, the last known whereabouts of Boston Corbett, the man who killed Booth at Garrett's farm, was Enid, Oklahoma. My hats off to you Mr. Nottingham, for this book is much more entertaining than the other recent fiction book about John Wilkes Booth.

Theodore Nottingham is primarily a writer of religious books and fiction with a religious and/or historical bent. In The Curse of Cain, purportedly a biography of the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, he creates a work that is both a religious parable and a work that is at once history and historical fiction. His rationale for doing so is his desire to put across the torment and the motivation of a man reviled by history as the murderer of both the man Lincoln and of the ultimate well being of the post Civil War South. His reason for doing that is his family connection to the protagonist, for Nottingham is the great, great, great grandson of John Wilkes Booth.

As I said when I reviewed the biography of the Empress Josephine, I tend to like my history "neat," and this is no exception. That doesn't mean that the book is a total waste, however, for a number of reasons. For those readers who prefer the story behind history, the first half of the book should be quite captivating, for it certainly reads like a Shakespearean drama. Nottingham claims to have received some of his ancestor's propensity for drama and grim intensity, and he certainly reveals that when he throws himself into Booth's tale. The setting, character, and plot, including the implication of important figures pulling strings behind the scenes, are interesting enough to hold the attention. I read the first 142 pages in about 2 hours. To some extent the author's choice of words and phrases was a little trite, or perhaps more fairly, a little adolescent. In fact the book might well appeal to adolescent boys who find history too dull because history books are too "dry," a mere collection of names, dates, and places to be memorized for tests if one is to pass them

On a more redeeming note, from my perspective at least, is the final few pages of the volume which are mostly historical data drawn in part form family diaries, reminiscences, photos and documents and in part from public documents. The hurried summation of this data in these final pages certainly provided some justification for the more theatrical pages that preceded it. It also provided data that seemed to support the intimation in the earlier pages of collusion in high places. If nothing else it rubbed away the patina of the ages from the events of that era and revealed the solid brass of the time. Like our own world, full of subterfuge and hidden agendas, political posturing and diplomatic positioning, the post Civil War Era was filled with urgency and moment, with people who won big time and those who lost big time. It demonstrates that nothing under the sun is truly new, especially when it comes to human drama, something that both Shakespeare and Booth would have understood.

I think it's a pity that so little space was given to the documentation and the conclusions to be drawn from it. When I ordered the book, it was that that I expected from it. Given his access to family material, Nottingham could have made it a far more major and serious work of history.

My congratulations go to Theodore J. Nottingham on accomplishing what few authors achieve -- captiviating and engaging my mind to such an extent I was unable to stop reading his book. "The Curse of Cain" gives readers a dramatic yet factual look at what occured in the mind of John Wilkes Booth in the days, weeks, and years following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. As this man makes his way through life, his thoughts run wild with moral issues. Booth's third-great grandson does a wonderful job telling the story, with both a dramatic and factual approach. A must-read for any history fan.
Michael J. Downey

Houghton writes well, of course, but his book misses the actual point of the global warming debate. Global warming is probably not man-made. It matters little how many arguments for this view can be amassed, what matters is that the evidence against anthropogenic climate influence is studiously ignored.

A book should strive to tell the truth. The truth does not come through if it is avoided. The author should have been careful to meet all arguments against belief in anthropogenetic climate alteration, but chose not to. That is cheap and less than honest, intellectually and otherwise.

The book does not even give alternatives a chance to be reviewed, nor does it accept the fact that the minority view normally tends to be the correct one in scientific matters. These are not popularity contests. A majority of scientists believe that...etc. That is horsemanure. The truth matters, not a democratic majority, for in the end truth should be all that matters. Most ground breaking scientists were a woeful minority consisting of themselves. Yet they were often right.

In fact, this book simply misleads rather than educates, which is a shame.

This is the first book I've read on global warming. I'm writing an argumentative essay for my college english class about global warming, and this book isn't helping me much. I haven't finished reading it, but what I have read just confuses me. It is, however, very informative.

This is the first book I have read on global warming. Sir John Houghton has provided a carefully written account, with good explanations, fairly thorough referencing, and informative charts and figures. The subject of global warming is presented from a multifaceted perspective, with both informative factual material as well as elements of a personal perspective, introduced in a non-forceful but persuasive manner.

The book is aimed at those who know little about climatology or global warming. It will help to have some general scientific background. The pertinent facts - how much we have increased the atmosphere's CO2 concentration, in what way this gas effects the earth's energy balance, etc. - are available here, and the information is referenced to primary scientific sources. The prognosis for a warming of the atmosphere is gently asserted in the affirmative, but the uncertainties are also presented. Without being a climatologist, I found most of my qestions of this nature were answered. The only point I was curious about but found missing was what recent changes in glaciers tell us about the present tendency of global temperature.

After presenting the data, the models and arguing gently for a moderate warming tendency, Houghton presents several nice chapters on effects (potentially severe) and responses to the problem, with a particular emphasis on energy. The suggested responses leave one with the sense that Houghton is an optimist. He incites to action, where it is hard to imagine today's politicians asking us to change our habits so fundamentally.

This book is stimulating, both on the subject of global warming (whether or not it is occurring, how much, what is our role), as well as on the potential consequences and suitable responses. Considering that a response is advisable - a point of view which Houghton advances - one is left with a sense of the large scale of the responses which are necessary to reverse the accumulation of CO2: is mankind's ability to improvise its way out of a fix capable of dealing with a problem whose solution would require changes of this magnitude?

If you want help with Algebra ask your teacher because this book has information that even a 5 yearold child would know.

I wish I had upper level Math books just like this one! I wrote many formulas and examples on index cards for many years and I have my students do the same. The Survival guide is well organized and will be a wonderful reference for my college algebra students.

This guidebook will help you to find each of the National Wildlife Refuges operated by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, in the Rocky Mountain states. There are a 3-4 pages for each refuge, focusing on its history, directions to get there, opportunities for driving, walking, and bicycling in the refuge, and a discussion of major wildlife species protected by each refuge, as well as some of the political issues surrounding certain refuges. I had hoped for some general information on Rocky Mountain wildlife; the book was not at all helpful for that, and had very few pictures or photgraphs of wildlife, but it did alert me to a refuge along the route of my upcoming vacation. So without the book I would have missed an opportunity for some spectacular wildlife viewing with only a 27-mile detour. The book accomplishes its purpose very well; I gave it only three stars because that purpose is very limited.

Those interested in colonial New England biography would do well to pay close attention to the title of this slim volume. This book is relatively long on early New England Baptist theology and practice, and the politics of securing Rhode Island's charter of 1663, but very short on John Clarke and his times. Consequently there is little here for the non-professional historical reader and even less on material culture. The book has the feel of something unfinished, not surprising when one learns that the author died before he completed it. There are no illustrations, although a portrait believed to be of Clarke exists. William Dyre's role in revoking Coddington's patent of 1651 and obtaining a new patent with Clarke in 1652 goes without mention. The footnote for the quote in the chapter 2 title is missing. Some descriptions seem outright silly, such as that Coddington's house in Newport was large and Clarke's must have been much smaller. The flaws are not hard to notice. It is difficult to write the biography of a second-tier figure of early New England when so little documentation remains, but the author could have done much more. This is the history of religion and politics, but not of John Clarke.

Although Sorenson's book might have taken a beating since Camelot's golden days, it remains an invaluable classic for those interested in Presidential biographies. Sorenson doccuments what he felt made Kennedy a leader....and what ultimately impacted us when he was assasinated.

The book is a litany of jaded corporate arguments for the continued destruction of nature so that a few people can get richer. To be read only in the same way you watch a bad B-movie -- for the unintentional laughs. The book's inability to understand social activism (not to mention concepts like justice) would have made it a best-seller in Czarist Russia.

Arnold provides a valuable detailed account of how eco-terrorism got its foothold in the United States and to what end some environmental vigilantes are willing to go to affect social change. It is only by fully understanding what drives eco-terrorism that we as a community can expect to prevent the considerable social and economic harm caused when eco-terrorists take the law into their own hands.

In dealing with radical environmentalist, I felt this book was right on. I have had the pleasure of dealing with their actions myself and this book explained my experiences to a T. The theory behind the radical enviros actions is compassionately explained in Mr. Arnolds analysis of them. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever been terrorized by or curious about the true objectives of the movement.