This new edition contains a corrected first edition as Part I. Part II focuses on technologically relavant electroactive polymers chapter by chapter as well as relevant electronic processes. This book belongs on the desk of everyone working and publishing in the field of solid state organic electronics.

Charles R. Bambach has done us a kindness by providing us with this detailed, ambitious, and thoroughly readable treasure of scholarship. He demonstrates, above all, the kind of scholarly precision and erudition that is sorely lacking in most books on Heidegger. This book is a must read for anyone interested in 19th and 20th century philosophy of history. It is far superior to its only comparable predecessor, Jeffrey A. Barash's "Heidegger and the Problem of Historical Meaning."

The only negative thing I have to say about this book is that the thread of the argument is inscrutable at times. The overall point, of course, is quite clear, but one tends to become lost in the details. The last chapter on Heidegger is particularly flawed in this respect.

All the same, this book is a new departure in Heidegger scholarship, and ought to be well-received by all.

My first Issac Asimov book i read was puzzles of the black widows and after that I read the rest of the series and was hooked on Asimov's works. I like his style of writing and his different times his storys are set. The title Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Crime Stories of the 19th Century is a bit misleading as many of the stories are written by different authors. I still loved the book and recommend it to everyone.

I read and re-read this book in high school, and then loaned it to a chemistry teacher I liked. I never got it back, and have regretted it ever since, though it was around 1984. While I am sure my tastes have changed somewhat in the intervening 16 years, I remember that the stories were very novel and inspiring, from "hard sci-fi" type stories of someone left on earth after everyone else had evacuated it, to stories with metaphysical implications about the nature of reality. It must have fulfilled some teen fantasy for me about being left alone to do as I liked with the entire world as my plaything, a fantasy I rehashed for many years after I read the book. If you find this book in some used book store somewhere, buy it!! (And don't loan it out.)

This book has a lot of step by step directions with on screen displays to help you learn Word 2000. Great Buy...worth every penny.

A Newbery Halloween is a collection of short, humorous stories with plenty of fantasy. It is filled with great spell binding stories for the whole family!

This book, which covers SF of the decade of the 1940's, is actually one volume of a series of books on "classic" sci-fi.

The short novels in this book are fair; the volume contains some of the more popular tales (seen in SF anthologies everywhere), and some stories that don't get printed as often.

Interesting note: The Introduction (penned by Isaac Asimov) refers to the work (sci-fi) of the 1940's as "The Age of John W. Campbell", whose work is notably absent from the volume.

The short novels are:

"Time Wants a Skeleton", Ross Rocklynne; "The Weapons Shop", A.E. van Vogt; "Nerves", Lester del Rey; "Daymare", Frederic Brown; "Killdozer!", Theodore Sturgeon; "No Woman Born", C.L. Moore; "The Big and the Little", Isaac Asimov; "Giant Killer", A. Bertram Chandler; "E for Effort", T.L. Sherred; "With Folded Hands", Jack Williamson

During the 1930s, writers and photographers who needed employment documented local history and culture for guides to their states. Some of these WPA guides remain fascinating reading even today. A great deal of the material, however, was never published. This book comes out of the WPA materials that were collected for the state of Virginia. The book consists of photographs and excerpts from interviews along with introductory comments by the editors. There are various themes that are presented, and the editors develop commentary to interpret what they present. The photography is first rate, and there are a lot of interesting stories in this book that are well worth reading. The book also has an archival quality which will make it a valuable resource for historians as well as for folklorists completing contemporary studies of Virginia folklife.

This work contains some essential primary sources for Babbage's Analytical Engine. It includes Babbage's "On the Mathematical Power of the Anyalytical Engine," Menebrea's article in french, followed by Lovelace's translation and notes. There are stetches included of various sections of the analytical engine.

Hard Times feels like a book that Dickens did not polish nearly as much as the many classics associated with his name. It's the story of the unhappy lives of two children of a father who raised them to speak and appreciate only "facts." Imagination, fantasy, passion, and the like were all forbidden in their household.

Their lives are unhappy, as you'd expect. But they also lack much narrative interest. The usual twists and turns of fate that Dickens invests into his characters' lives are mostly absent. As a result the book drags on. Hard Times also lacks the humor found in other Dickens books, his pithy observations of different persona of his time. So, in reading the uninspiring narrative, you find yourself wishing for something, anything of the old Dickensian magic. Alas, it does not show up.

If you have other Dickens titles you're set on reading, read them first. You're likely to enjoy them more.

If you read Hard Times for the sole purpose of being entertained you will probably be highly disappointed. However, if you understand what was happening during this time period, you will realize that Hard Times is in reality, a long commentary. The Industrial Revolution was starting to show its down side. There was rampant poverty and disease, from the overcrowding of the cities. Children of the poor had to work long hours in unsafe factories rather than go to school. The gulf between the haves and the have-nots was very wide. The middle class was only beginning to be a distinct group.
This then was the backdrop of Hard Times. Dickens is making a social and political statement. This is a statement against the mechanizing of society. It starts with Dickens repeated use of the word fact. It is facts that have meaning. Human conventions like feeling, compassion or passion have no meaning or looked down upon as an inconvienent waste of time. If a situation cannot be put down on paper as in an accounting ledger it should not be considered.
This is where the conflict of the book comes in. Which helps humanity more compassion or fact. Is Bounderby a better person than Blackpool? Bounderby, who by his own admission was a self-made man. Untrue as this was he said it enough to make it his own reality. Or Blackpool, a weaver with an alcoholic wife, who was in love with another woman. Facts made Bounderby rich, compassion made Blackpool human.
Louisa presents another conflict. Louisa was educated only by fact. No wonder or inquisitiveness was ever allowed. She was the perfect robot. Doing what she was told when she was told. Just another piece of the machine, however, the piece broke, emotions came out, and they broke down the wall of fact that Mr. Gradgrind had so carefully constructed. Because the feelings have finally been acknowledged things really break down. She finds that not only has she married the wrong man but also the man she did marry is a buffoon whom she cannot respect nor live with.
The reader is left wondering if there is no one who will not be ruined by all the worship to fact. The whelp has certainly been ruined to the point he feels no responsibility to anyone but himself. If a situation can not be used to his advantage then he has no use for it, as a matter of course, he will run when he believes he will have to take responsibility for his own actions.
The gypsies have not been ruined by fact. But only because they live outside of society, they do not conform to the rules of society. These are the people who value character over social status. The gypsies do not value Bounderby and Bitzer with all their pomp and egomania. Rather they value Stephen Blackpool and Cecilia whom can show compassion and kindness no matter a person's station in life.
Hard Times can be used to look at today's society. Are we, as a society more worried about our computers, cell phones, faxes, and other gadgets than our neighbor's well being? Do we only get involved to help others when there is a personal benefit? Or, are we like the gypsies who can look into the character of the person and not worry about the socio-economic status? While Dickens' wrote Hard Times about 19th century England the moral can easily fit into 21st century America

I always had a revulsion when I was forced to read Dickens in high school, and I was never able to get past the first chapter of any of his books, including this one. Now that I'm in my mid-30's, I want to re-visit a lot of the works that I had no patience for as a teenager, so I read Hard Times. Although there are many flaws to this book, I felt proud to have finally cleared the Dickens hurdle. Dickens is excellent at creating sympathetic (and evil) characters, even though they may be slightly cliche or wooden. The fact is, Dickens is able to hook you in with his plots and create a profound concern on behalf of the reader that the good guy (or girl) wins and the bad guy suffers. A lot of the twists in this book were a little "too convenient" and implausible to make it a crowining work of literature, but nevertheless it has motivated me to move on to Dickens' larger, more daunting works. If you are having any trepidation about tackling Dickens, Hard Times is a good place to start.