A good book to read on the subject if you you're looking for a single text on the subject of the Irish Potato Famine. I do appreciate the technical and fact filled nature of Smith's writing. What it lacks in specific details on human suffering it makes up for with detailed accounts on the conditions and players that led to this tragedy. This book covers the political and cultural environments of the time as well as the greater effect the famine had on Ireland and the rest of the world. I came away from the book with a clearer picture of the relationship between Ireland and England, and a better understanding of the role each country (and their populations, press, government officials, landowners, farmers and royalty) played.

One would be pressed to call "The Great Hunger" an easy read. Written in 1964, its style and dense recitation of facts can leave the reader mired in detail.

Yet through the often thick prose comes a shocking tale of human disaster on an enormous scale. The near-total reliance of the Irish on the potato leads to calamity when that crop is destroyed by blight in the mid-1840's. Beholding to their landlords (many of them absentee), virtually penniless, they are swept into a vortex of helplessness and starvation.

While local officials in Ireland realise with horror the consequences of the crop failure, government bureaucrats in London stubbornly insist it would be wrong to send massive food relief because it would undermine free enterprise.

The author quotes extensively from numerous first hand accounts which graphically describe the suffering and despair of the Irish peasantry.

The book however is not limited to the tragedy that took place in Ireland. Woodham-Smith relates how thousands of Irish, many of them ill with typhus, flee their homeland for North America. Many of the vessels are poorly equipped and provisioned, and their cargo is human misery.

One of the most appalling chapters deals with the scene at Grosse Isle, Quebec, where a small fever hospital is overrun by sick and dying immigrants. At one point in the summer of 1847, dozens of ships are moored in the St. Lawrence River, waiting to discharge their gravely-ill passengers. The line of vessels stretches several miles. The deaths number in the thousands.

This is just one of many compelling images which emerge from Woodham-Smith's history, and they more than compensate for the often complex and detailed way he presents his information.

A worthwhile companion book to "The Great Hunger" is the novel "Away" by Jane Urquhart, which traces the journey of an Irish family from the Isle of Rathlin off the north coast of Ireland, to the Canadian province of Ontario, during the potato famine.

This is by far the most complete and best written account of the Great Hunger in Ireland. Woodham-Smith sets forth in heart-wrenching detail the causes, experiences and effects of the great potato blight in the mid 1800s in Ireland. Unflinching in its indictment of the laissez-faire response of British authorities such as Trevelyan and Russell, this thorough history sheds a blinding light on a dark period in this history of this great and troubled nation. If you read only one account of the Hunger, make this the one.

Though not entirely scripturally acurate, this is a nice little book. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John first so that you can catch the errors in Dickens story before you read it to your children.

"[A Christmas Carol] is Dickens's widely acclaimed masterpiece of Christmas. But his The Life of Our Lord, written in a very personal way, without adornment or flights of fancy, and written for the children he loved, carries with it not only a beautiful narrative but a compelling admonition: 'Remember!--It is Christianity TO DO GOOD always--even to those who do evil to us.'"

"Such is the simple telling of a beloved author. In his time and during the generations that have followed, his great novels have been read by millions upon millions. But his story of Jesus' life, written with Dickens's own pen, and without editing of any kind, was for 85 years a family treasure and secret. Printed with all of the editorial mistakes of the original writing, it has delighted many others beyond his family."

President Hinckley, Ensign, December 1994

I have heard Pres. Hinckley, world leader of the Church of JEsus Christ of Latter-day Saints, talk about this book, and believing that there is some merit in reading the same books that the president of the Church reads, I picked it up.

This book may be considered a follow-up to his immortal classic "A Christmas Carol," where, instead of an allegory dealing with three spirits working on the Scrooge-of-all-Scrooges, he retells the story of the life of our Lord.

The book was geared for his children, so it is a quite easy read. Having read "A Tale of Two Cities," "Hard Times," and "A Christmas Carol," I was impressed with Dickens's flexibility. In fact, it is almost as if we are reading a transcript of a fireside chat. So this book is very readable for anyone of any age. It would be an ideal gift for a child between five and ten years old, or helpful to someone with a learning/reading disability. You could conceivably kill two Goliaths with one stone: get them familiar with the life of the Savior AND expose them to great literature!

The only drawback with the book is the theology, but that is understandable since we are of different faiths. Dickens focuses mainly on the ethical aspects of Christ's life, which is good, but incomplete. Another presdeint of the Church of Jesus Christ, President Howard W. Hunter, once gave a talk called, "Ethics Alone is not Sufficient." If you remember in "A Christmas Carol," Scrooge makes a conversion to ethical ideal, but not a conversion to Christ. He is going in the right direction, but not far enough. But it is a great book nonetheless.

The cover is stellar! It looks as important as its contents. The internal organizing and lay are also up to the stature of the author. It is nice to see that books are returning to their former glory of being both functional and beautiful. It would makes a great gift book, or a beautiful addition to any Postum table.

This book had been submerged for a long time due to Dickens's desire to keep his beliefs uncommercialized. I am glad that his estate has published this book, so we see the complete man.

This is a wonderful summary of the Gospels by Charles Dickens. Basically he tells the story with a few of his own instructive comments inserted for the benefit of his children's benefit. It was never pulished in his lifetime and he never really intended for it to be published and in part because of this it is quite different from his other works. It is a easy and quick read (very different for his other works). The reader is also given great insight into the character of Charles Dickens particularly his love for the Savior and his children. The work is both touching and warm hearted.

While this book is a practical guide for professional writers, it isn't enough on its own.

I haven't used the book enough to make it worth the price I paid but it's a nice refresher for things I should know but don't remember.

As a technical writer, I've found this book to be just that. While it definitely is not a "how to write technical manuals" type of book, the topics and material covered make it well worth having on any writer's bookshelf. And in this latest edition, not only have the editors done another great job, the book's page layout is wonderful. In previous editions, all text and type was in black. In this edition, headings, paragraph titles and diagrams are framed in blue. This seemingly minor change makes the book's material easier to read and refer to.

The book continues to have extensive information about writing-related topics. Everything from proper grammar, to writing reports, to interviewing subject matter experts, how to do Internet research for a writing project, writing newsletters and/or abstracts, interviewing for a job and interviewing a subject matter expert for more information about a subject, writing proposals, and so forth is covered in this book. There's even a companion web site to the book that provides links to online resources for further information.

The book's preface contains what the editors consider their "Five Steps to Successful Writing," and also a "Checklist of the Writing Process," complete with subsections containing listings for (in order) Preparation, Research, Organization, Writing a Draft, and Revision. In fact, a few of the book's numerous entries contain their own "writer's checklist" of things to do. Some subjects have not only a heading, but cross-references to other pages of related topics. For example, if I was interested in learning how to write a proposal, I could go to that listing, and also find reference information on internal and external proposals. There seems to be at times an endless wealth of information about whatever writing topic you are looking for. This book's main strength obviously is how all the book's material is organized.

This is one book every writer should have. Even though it isn't a "how-to-write" book, it's still a "tools for writing" book. I find myself referring to it often when I'm
working on any kind of writing project.

As with past editions, the book's editors have done a wonderful job with this handbook.

I have the 5th edition of the book and it's one of the better resources I've found for technical writing and general writing. The entries are concise and to the point.

The 1st of 2 books by Charles M. Sevilla (with others on this book) that takes a humorous look at life in the courtroom. I'm sure that a lot of you have gotten the e-mail with excerpts from this book (which is what prompted me to buy the book and the 2nd "Disorder in the Court"). With quotes like "Then I object to the District Attorney objecting to my objecting to standard legal objections" (p. 60) there is something in this book to tickle everyone's funny bone. Anyone in or around the legal professions should find this book amusing. Amusing illustrations illuminate some of the quotes. I found some quote more amusing that others, but over all got a good chuckle out of the book. Over all this is a good book. It would be great for the beach - pick it up, put it down and pick it up again, no worrying about loosing your place in the story.

This is the kind of book that is hard to put down once you've started reading it. Except to say that it was given to me by a lawyer and every lawyer, paralegal, and secretary that I've shared it with has loved it, there's nothing more to say. If you find courtroom proceedings (trial and otherwise) interesting, GET THIS BOOK.

Another book that covers the misquotes of the legal system? Maybe but the funny stories that you will read make it a real pleasure to review this book. This 170 plus page book of stories and illustration are actual excerpts from cases and I am glad to have read this book.

Covered in the book is testimony from expert witnesses, the jury selection process, cross-examinations, opening and closing arguments and the sentencing phase. Each section is so enjoyable and so funny, I found myself laughing for hours.

Poking fun at the legal profession is getting to be too easy and this book proves it. The stories are great and coupled with the fantastic illustrations you have an unbeatable combination. A real collectors item for those in and out of the legal field.

The verdict is in and it's unanimous, guilty of laughter in the first degree. Well done and congratulations on a fine and hilarious book!

I was hoping for something a little more detailed and technical. It is a good overview of the various technologies out there but not reference material. It is prticularly weak on the following topics, RS232, T1, V.35.

This book was very understandable. Gilbert Held presents his information very well. I did find several typos, but that's a minor quibble.

I review many technical books in the fields of telephony and data communications every year, and I found this book to be a great Intro text. It covers data communications concepts from the beginning, providing readers with a solid base of knowledge.

I use this book in some of the data communications classes I teach, and can easily recommend it.

Ever since its arrival in the mid-1970's as a reference for architecture students and professionals alike, this book has been one of the finest references, also, for budding homeowners as well. It places into beautiful perspective the almost anatomical linkage between large and small scale; neighborhood, house and room. It further discusses, eloquently, the relationship -- the emotional relationship -- between architecture and its users. Moore, et al, uses examples of old American neighborhoods, discussing the evolutionary nature of their success, contrasting it with the tragic results of uneducated development in suburban sprawls. If I sustain one distant criticism, it is that Moore slightly overdid the use of his own design examples which, though helpful, present less variety in style than would have been helpful to the central point of the book. But let there be no doubt, this is quite a little gem for *anyone* interested in what makes for exquisite personal residential lives. It is timeless in its core content.

Primarily concerned with the design of residences that are appropriate to their settings. Lots of photos of Moore's houses

An excellent review of recent psychoanalytic thinking about religion and religious subjectivity, most of it coming from the object-relations schools of thought. The authors are uniformly creative and courageous in their thinking about the interface of spirituality. religion, and therapy. The only thing I dislike about this book is the over-reliance of certain authors on current "postmodern" psychoanalytic views and the thoughtless, trendy relativism that undergirds this worldview. (However, to be fair, this dislike is more a negative commentary on postmodern thinking than on the quality of the contents of this volume itself.)

Modern psychotherapeutic practitioners are often hesitant to traverse the boundary between consulting room and church or temple, as the case may be. Delicate myths and beliefs are often at odds with the highly structured theoretical underpinnings of psychotherpay and psychoanalysis. Freud himself detested religion, although the rumor is that his loathing came from his experience of being hauled off as a child to Catholic Mass, which he found terrifying, by his nursemaid.

Consequently, many therapists avoid addressing, understanding or integrating patients' spiritual practices within the context of the therapy. Practitioners may feel that this space is sacred and ought not to be fair territory for therapy's examination. Also, a patient's spiritual beliefs may be at odds with therapeutic ideas. For example, an immigrant patient believes she is possessed by an evil spirit, in contrast to her therapist who may understand the possession as a psychotic episode.

In this book a variety of therapists explore the relationship between therapy,religion, and "soulfulness", coming to their own understanding of how these diverse mental orientations may not only exist together, but complement and enrich each other.

Especially provocative are Kevin Fateaux's exploration of creativity and soulfulness, and Joseph Bobrow's elegant and empathic treatise on the interplay of Zen Buddhism and psychotherapy. May all patients be blessed with such creative and fluid thinkers as the contributors of this book.

I recommend this short reference book to all my MBA students--a desk reference they can keep.

I originally got this book for a technical writing class in college, and since I have gotten out of college into the working world, it's been a valuable reference. It's everything a good technical manual should be- clear, concise, easily navigated, and quality information. It avoids being too wordy and is great for anyone who deals with any kind of business writing.

Gerald Greenwald presents a personal account of his experiences as an executive at the Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Corp. and United Airlines and describes the lessons he learned along the way. He recounts some of the most interesting tales of corporate life in the United States, from the near collapse of Chrysler to airline labor conflicts, and uses these accounts to illuminate the failures and successes of different management styles. He discusses leadership lessons on how to motivate employees, inspire teamwork and improve communication. He writes, with the help of senior Chicago Tribune writer, Charles Madigan, in an engaging personal style that makes this an interesting read. Though we at getAbstract caution that some of Greenwald's lessons will be familiar, his congenial, thoughtful approach makes them excellent reminders of what works and what doesn't.