I am always seeking books that include a wide range of psychometric instruments that can be used to instruct students regarding concepts such as reliability and validity. In addition, I prefer to use psychometric instruments that appear to have some practical application for our graduates.

THE PRACTITIONER'S GUIDE TO EMPIRICALLY BASED MEASURES OF DEPRESSION includes a description of the psychometric qualities of 94 scales of depression. These 94 scales fit into one of three categories that include:

Measures of depression, depressive symptomatology, and depressive moods
Measures of depression for special populations
Measures of depression-related constructs

The wide variety of methods for assessing the degree of depression is nothing less than overwhelming. In addressing each instrument, the authors use the following outline:

Original Citation
Purpose
Description
Background
Administration
Scoring
Interpretation
Psychometric Properties (Norms, Reliability, and Validity)
Clinical Utility
Research Applicability
Source
Cost
Alternative Forms

The consistency of this outline is quite helpful in reviewing these instruments when students are first learning about test construction. In addition, the authors have included reprints of 24 instruments meant to measure depression. These reproductions are extremely helpful for students who are first learning about test construction.

In addition to being a wonderful tool to learn the basic of instrument construction, THE PRACTITIONER'S GUIDE TO EMPIRICALLY BASED MEASURES OF DEPRESSION is an equally beneficial tool for the practitioner and the researcher. In fact, I suspect that the author's primary intended audience is practitioners. Regardless, this is a wonderful volume that will be a great benefit to many.

As a side note, the publisher Kluwer Academic/Plenum has produced a similar book entitled, THE PRACTITIONER'S GUIDE TO EMPIRICALLY BASED MEASURES OF ANXIETY. It too, is an excellent volume.

Hello friends,

I've written Smart Medicine for a Healthy Prostate for men since most men, if they live long enough, will be affected by prostate disease; and women, since women also need to know how to help their loved ones prevent and treat prostate disease. To put matters in perspective, prostate cancer - the leading cause of cancer in men - begins as early as puberty and affects nearly every man if he lives long enough. Prostate enlargement, another common condition, affects half the men over the age of sixty, one third of whom need treatment. Finally, prostatitis accounts for more than two million doctor visits yearly. In fact, prostatitis is the most frequent reason that men under the age of fifty see a urologist.

That's the bad news. Now for the good news. Men don't have to become one of these statistics. Based upon information that I've gathered from scientific research, coupled with over twenty years of personal experience as a physician, urologic surgeon, and practitioner of conventional and alternative medicine, Smart Medicine for a Healthy Prostate will help men blessed with a healthy prostate keep it that way, and teach men challenged with prostate disease how to overcome it.

The book is organized into four chapters.

vThe first chapter gives an overview of the prostate and pertinent male anatomy.
vEach succeeding chapter guides readers through a different prostate disease. The first half of each chapter provides information about the natural history, evaluation, and state-of-the-art conventional therapies for the condition.
vThe second half of each chapter provides proven alternative therapies and teaches readers how to apply them.
vThe appendices contain a concise overview of nutritional and herbal supplements and the resource section provides additional valuable information.

I hope you enjoy reading my book. May you be blessed with abundant health and happiness.

Dr. McClure

This book, edited by John McClure and Nancy Ramsay, should be read by every preacher who considers compassion to be the most important characteristic of God. This is a book that addresses primarily the subjects of sexual and domestic violence, but its contributors write about much more than that. The introduction lists numbers that are staggering: one in three girls and one in seven boys below the age of 18 is being sexually abused; every six minutes a woman is raped in the United States; woman-battering is the major cause of serious injury to women; it is also a primary cause of homelessness for both women and children. This book would be worth the time and money if only the first chapter were read. Wendy Farley, in this chapter, writes that "the violence in our society does not require a correct theory, but rather praxis: preaching, counseling, comforting, lobbying. It requires the work of compassionate action." Preaching, counseling, comforting and even lobbying are what this book is all about: refusing to let the Church remain silent on a subject that invades our sanctuaries every Sunday and the offices of pastors and counselors on a daily basis. It is a book that speaks to and for all people: victims, offenders and bystanders. It needs to be read, but more importantly, it needs to be preached.

Even a casual student of American history can recite many of the salient points of the career of Abraham Lincoln as president. This book takes the reader far beneath the superficial surface information. While McClure was an eyewitness to many of the events described, he maintains an objective viewpoint. I enthusiastically recommend this book to any reader who desires a "fly on the wall' perspective of Lincolns presidency.

This is a fascinating account of pioneer life in the great American West through the eyes of three gutsy, gritty women. These gals could outride, outrope, outshoot and outwit most men and did so on many occasions. The romantic history of Ann and Josie Bassett is amazing: Ann with several husbands and Josie with four plus a couple of long term relationships -- all at a time when divorce was hardly whispered. But what really shines through is the absolute can do attitude of these women. It seems there was nothing they couldn't accomplish. The story would make a wonderful movie.

I got this book because I thought it was going to be funny and wildly interesting. Boy, how wrong can one person be. It was dull, boring, and just full of "who cares about this" facts. I found little in this work to make me happy about the asking price, which I believe was about $40.00. I would complain about spending $4.00 for this work of boredom.

Having an interest in eventually running for office myself, I purchased this book. The authors follow a campaign for two years, gaining interesting insight into why some candidates run, why others don't, and how their decisions effect the overall political environment. The book isn't meant to be funny or amusing. It is a serious study for people seriously interested in politics as observers or participants. Perhaps one of the most important points in the book is that the founders viewed ambition as part of human nature that should be harnessed to maintain the political structure. Many modern reformers seem to have forgotten that and view ambition as something bad that must be restrained. In any event, if you love politics you'll enjoy this book.