This book is excellent. If you're a budding psych then I highly recommend this book. It manages to balance out the view of psychs that many students are submitted to during their degrees. We're certainly not all wonderful and if any psychs admitted to the fact that they don't have a clue what they're doing, then it would be a step in the right direction. The book takes a humorous look at the torture psychs inflict upon the mentally ill, the arrogance some psychs display and the 'fabulous' logic some exude.

Buy the book - it will provide insight to those who have not yet been exposed to the evil side of psychs and it will provide humor to those who have.

This is a book every student concidering a career in Psycology or Psychiatry should read, and take an honest look at. In a day when these professions solution is to drug people, and research now shows that a moderate excercise program to remedy depression better than drugs do, it is an honest look at those professions. It is a book taking a look at a "profession" that uses a vote of hand to discover new deseases of the mind, rather than scientific evidence. I highly recommend this book to anyone concidering a career in these fields. Then go and become a Vet or something!

Shrink Assault: A Bitter Humor Look At The Psychs' Evil Empire is a serious and challenging critique and criticism of the psychological profession encompassing both psychologists and psychiatrists. Attorney and investigator Lorenzo Samuel argues that psychologists and psychiatrists have been detrimental to the fields of mental health law, education, religion, business, the arts, entertainment, and family life. Shrink Assault is a compilation of essays, vignettes, and jokes that address the fields of psychology and psychiatry, as well as the attitudes and occasional absurdities of their practitioners. Shrink Assault is thought-provoking, controversial, entertaining, insightful, and recommended reading for the students, practitioners, and clients of psychological and psychiatric services.

This story of this text begins in 16th century Italy, when Lorenzo Scupoli wrote "The Spiritual Combat". Interestingly, the book arose from a series of letters to an "unknown sister in Christ" (the original text contains many female pronouns) on the spiritual life. The theme of spiritual combat is certainly present throughout the text, but Scupoli sees this battle as being won by not relying on self or trusting oneself but by confidence in God. Establishing this foundation first, he continues with advice on overcoming vices and the snares of the devil, growing in virtue, prayer and meditation, and practical advice on a few other topics. His words show great wisdom and spiritual depth, and the success of the book (600 editions in the four centuries since his death) is well deserved. One of the places it ended up was in the Greek monasteries of Mt. Athos, where Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain translated it with some editorial changes to make it more suitable to Orthodox readers. He added Scripture texts as well. It was this version that came into the hands of a Russian, Theophan the Recluse, who translated it into Russian with even more substantive changes ( the Jesus Prayer, quotes from the Fathers) that left some chapters entirely reworked, although others retain the wording of Scupoli's original. This work became an Orthodox classic in its own right, and which is here published under the title "Unseen Warfare". It is marked by a profound wisdom of its own, and both Scupoli's text and this one are the sort of work that can provide spiritual meat for those who are willing to read and re-read them, chewing on their spiritual themes. I have found it an excellent meditation for growing in Christian character and building strong faith. I hope it helps you too! (Scupoli's work, by the way, can be found with an introduction in the book "Theatine Spirituality: Selected Writings" which is part of the Classics of Western Spirituality series put out by Paulist Press--perhaps readers not inclined to the Orthodoxy in "Unseen Warfare" would prefer the original Roman Catholic work).

All I would add to the previous reviews is that I found the chapters on prayer - largely the work of St. Theophan rather than Scupoli - to be especially useful. His approach to prayer is the classical approach of the Eastern Church. These chapters alone are worth the price of the book and justify chosing the Orthodox rewrite over the original.

the Roman Catholic version from Tan Books is the more literal translation, and the wording more direct, however, this the Orthodox text is more of an interpretive rewrite containing many insightful embellishments that are certainly worth digesting. The 60 page introduction, though longer than necessary, provides background information that heightens one's appreciation of this 500 year old classic. For Protestants, this is the version I recommend, but if one can't read and think , then bypass this book entirely. To truly appreciate the work, I suggest reading both a chapter at a time simultaneously, which can easily be done in 2 months if used as a daily reader. The chapters are short (1-5 pages) and limited to single topics. Many people preach what others should do, this tells how. Must reading if spiritual growth, to grow in virtue and moral purity in the presence of our Lord, is your desire.

As a pilot and a college student majoring in Spanish and International Affairs, this book hit home for me especially. It is the touching tale of a fighter pilot raised under Communist Cuba who learns nothing but to love Fidel Castro. As he grows older and travels to the USSR, he begins to recognize the flaws in this stiffling government -- and the injustice everywhere. At last, he turns against not only his country, but also his family and friends, and defects to the United States. From there the book discusses his heroic attempts to be reunited with his family -- until he at last successfully flies into Cuba, picks up his family, and leaves -- all without being detected by authorities. The suspenseful account will touch your heart and hopefully make you realize that liberty and freedom are things we should NEVER take for granted!

This is an incredible book, basically an autobiography, about how Lorenzo escaped from everything he worked so hard for and left people he loved in order to find freedom--the freedom to love, think, and be whoever one wants to be. He always knew there was something wrong with sacrificing and suffering so much in order to put the Revolution first. He realized that without putting one's family first, nothing is worthwhile. This true story is a perfect example of how love wins over darkness. It really was Lorenzo's love for his family that helped him to do the daring and dangerous things he did. I think I learned more about Cuba and its people than I ever did in any history class and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the island that seems to mystify the average US citizen (or, at least, me).

This is a tremendous book - the best I have read in a long, long time. I highly recommend it. It is gripping, moving and inspiring. It is at once a biography, an adventure and a moving love story of a man, for his wife and family. Lorenzo was a Major in the Cuban Air Force, who became so disillusioned with Communism and the Castros, that he had to leave Cuba. He defected to the United States but had to leave his family behind. This is the story of how he accepted Raul Castro's challenge (dare) and went back to Cuba to rescue his family. I could not put this book down. LED

As textbooks go, this one is pretty good. I should warn you- pay close attention to every detail in the book. This book is not for the faint of heart- there is no fluff. Every detail counts, every fact is important. You won't find any extranneous words in this book. On a more upbeat note, the book is pretty self-explanatory. If your instructor doesn't do the best job instructing, ignore him/her (but don't tell them I said that) and just read the book- it does a very good job explaining things. Best of luck in your UA class!

This a really great textbook about Urinalysis. It's in a clear concise easily understandable format. It also is illustrated throughout with photographs. This makes it easy for you to recognize things when you look under the microscope.

I will refrain from using lots of sports cliches to describe this book...but the temptation is there.

This is very good collection of mystery writers and (for reasons I fail to grasp) Mike Lupica. I have read the works of over half the authors and a big fan of some of them.

The book was a pleasant diversion from the normal selection of mysteries and thrillers I read...especially as the major league season winds down.

Most of the stories were quick reads with a couple of surprise endings. Short stories are a different way to enjoy a writer when you are used to the whole novel. It was amazing to see how well some of these novelists could develop characters and plot in such a short format.

I found the stories by Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, Elmore Leonard, Henry Slesar, Troy Soos and Robert Parker the best. Other than the Lupica the only other one that I found lacking was the one by K.C. Constantine.

Now this is what I call mystery book. It has all the elements of a fantastic read. Thank Otto Penzler well done.

As a mystery writer with my debut novel in initial release, an author of numerous short stories published over the years, and an educator who regularly teaches the writing of short mystery fiction within the California State University system, I believe Otto Penzler did an excellent job assembling original mystery stories for MURDERERS' ROW. This anthology features big name authors such as Lawrence Block, Robert B. Parker, Michael Connelly, and Thomas Perry. The collection covers the subject of baseball from a variety perspectives ranging from Little League to the Majors and from benchwarming little boys and baseball parents to historic superstars and sports agents. Highlights include "Harlem Nocturne" by Robert Parker, a story featuring some fellows named Rickey and Robinson and "Pick-Off Play" by Troy Soos starring his series character baseball journeyman/everyman Mickey Rawlings. I recommend MURDERERS' ROW for any mystery reader interested in baseball (as all good people are).

A very good explanation of the periodization techniques and why they work. Excellent explanations of the scientific reasons behind the different periodization cycles. This book covers the scientific aspect of training for size and strength much more comprehensively than some other books, which extract portions of the theories in this book and try to make entire training programs from them. For example, the popular book "Body for Life" uses one cycle all year round and says you should continually make gains--no explanation of going through a phase of getting your body used to exercise prior to even beginning his (Bill Phillips) program. Many people I know have gotten injured using the popular "Body for Life" workout due to this major oversite. Another book, "Power Factor Training" only deals with the "Hypertrophy phase" using one technique (partial reps)to constantly grow and get stronger. Another example is the book, "Power to the People! : Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American" by Pavil Tsatsouline explains training the Central Nervous System (CNS) using heavy weights for a couple of exercises 3-5 times a week--all the time, and states that you will continually get stronger on a cycle like this.

Why these programs cannot work on an ongoing basis, or many of the popular programs like "Body for Life" cannot continue to work will be explained in this book. The results you will get using the programs in this book will be far safer and more effective than most of the books out there today.

One flaw is that is seems to concentrate primarily on cycles to train for bodybuilding. I only wish it would incorporate more powerlifting, and possibly Olympic lifting training cycles as well.

Overall, however, very comprehensive and good scientific explanations of a wide range of weightlifting training.
This book explains the entire range of training (primarily for bodybuilding) and why each phase is important and using any one type will cause stagnation.

I have read and reviewed a number of books regarding strength training and bodybuilding. This book is by far the best among the ones I have read. It's a complete guide to strength training, and covers all aspects of the sport. It's easy to read and comprehend, well-organized, and uses a number of scientific (but practical) methods to improve the efficiency of the workout sessions.

Part 1 gives the background needed to plan effectively including a basic understanding of human body. Part 2 shows how to use "Periodized Workouts." And Part 3 gives detailed information about exercise, and nutrition. The Periodized Workouts bring variety to strength training making the workouts a lot more challenging and interesting for any level of strength trainers.

Overall, the book is near perfect. One area it can improve on is the nutrition and diet sections. The book gives recommendations on the amount of protein, carbs, fat, and total calories for each phase based on body weight. It would be useful if it would have also provided information on building an eating plan, food groups and their amount of carbs, proteins, fat, and calories (a great book on this subject is Power Eating by Susan M. Kleiner).

One point of caution: It takes time to build a Periodized strength training plan and discipline to adhere to it. I guess that's why the title is "SERIOUS Strength Training." If you don't have the time or the discipline, this is not the right book for you.

This book is extremely useful for bodybuilders and strength trainers alike who want to use a periodized approach to their training. It allows you to design yearly programs to tailor to your needs and goals, whether its to lose weight, gain muscle, or increase maximum strength. There are six phases to maximize all aspects of the trainig continuum, but you don't necessarily need to employ each phase. If your goal is to increase muscle mass, you could focus on using the hypertrophy phases while using a maximum strength phase every so often. Also covered are nutrition, recovery techniques, and exercise presciptions and techniques. It does take some considerable time to design a personalized training program, but that has to be done if you truly want to reap the benefits of periodized training.

I recently purchased this book and I must say I am quite perplexed at the stellar reviews. I did think the book had portions that were well written and flowed nicely, but with a few exceptions, most of the information it contained was not at all useful to a professional developer like myself.

Sure, a lot of pages are devoted to a topic, but the pages are either rambling and garbled, overly simplistic or contain completely outdated material that in no way resembles what is currently being used in commercial development studios. I am almost wondering it the overly gushing reviews are rigged by someone with a vested interest in the book. Notice the repeated use of the asterisks, double dashes and slamming of other books. I hope this is not the case. Perhaps there truly are people out there programming another revamp of tetris or a text based adventure game that need something like this book, but no one at my company.

I honestly don't think the book contained many "tricks" and would not purchase it again.

I own every single graphics gems and game programming gems books, but 90% of the articles in the books are like 1-3 pages; how can anyone learn anything in 1-3 pages? Sure there are some long articles in the books, but they are hard to follow -- Game programing tricks has really long and complete articles and they actually do something. I was really interested in quadtrees, but everyone always talks about them, but no one every does them. I read tricks and now I finally know how it works -- also I am planning on putting the scripting chapter to good use. My advice is this, if you want a whirlwind tour of graphics and game programming then check out the gems series, but if you really want to learn something and put it to use and see ACTUAL WORKING CODE then get this book. I hope they make more!

For the longest time I was a huge fan of the popular Game Programming Gems books from Charles River Media. That all changed the day this unbelievable book showed up in the mail. While Game Programming Gems tries to squeeze *sixty* different authors into a book that only spans about 7-800 pages, Game Programming Tricks of the Trade is a whopping 1000+ pages, and instead focuses on fewer articles-- about 20-- giving each author more than enough space to write an article that actually TEACHES you something!

It took a book like this to show me that books like Game Programming Gems, despite their five star reviews and huge followings (which I now find baffling), are really just useless. For example, Game Programming Gems 2 has an article entitled "A Generic Fuzzy State Machine in C++". How many pages were alloted for this article? 20? 30? 40? Try FOUR AND A HALF. Without even a single line of code! The idea that anyone can actually learn from something like this is preposterous. Meanwhile, let's take a look at some of the *real* gems, which you'll find in Tricks of the Trade:

- Trick 18: Terrain Collision with Quadtrees. 30 full pages, with a TON of diagrams and lots of fully explained code listings.

- Trick 14: Space Partitioning with Octrees. Pick up a copy of Game Programming Gems if you want a 2 page article where the author explains what the term "octree" means and throws some useless calculus at you. Pick up this book if you want a nearly 50-page article on HOW IT'S ACTUALLY DONE. You'll get code listings, plenty of diagrams, and at the end, suprise suprise, you'll have actually learned how to use octrees in your own game. I'm currently using this one in my own engine, and can personally attest to its quality.

- Trick 17: Introduction to Quaternions: Over 30 pages of real information (this one written by Andre Lamothe himself) on how quaternions actually work and how you can apply them to real games... Gems is great when you want to learn some new vocabulary to impress your friends. Tricks of the Trade is what you need, however, if you actually want to do something. The bottom line is that Gems did little more than give me a basic conversional and theoretical knowledge on relatively dry subjects. Tricks of the Trade is over a thousand pages of fun, interesting, and USEFUL articles that I'm *already* finding immediate uses for. I feel like a better game programmer already, and I can't recommend this highly enough. Sell your copy of Gems and use the money to buy this today! You won't regret it!

I bought the book in Grahamstown, SA, so what a coincidence that another reviewer is from there! Anyway, I think Maya was pretty good. Like other Gaardner books it is a bit bizarre, but this one comes together in the end. It asks some pretty profound questions - like is there a purpose to evolution - but I'm not sure that it provides much in the way of answers. It is a good, quick read, though.

This book is a real masterpiece! It's the book you will read more than one time. Each time you read it, you will discover new aspects of the story and you will feel the excitment of the first reading all over again... "Maya" causes some deep thinking on matters like the creation of the universe. The writer's thoughts about whether there is always a final cause touched me and made me a little bit of a philosopher! Was the creation of human beings the final cause of the evolution of the species throughout the years, or do we exist thanks to some random cellular divisions? The question remains ananswered so each reader can form his own opinion. Reading this book will make you realise that our existance and the world we live in is a miracle!

I've just finished reading maya and as usual Gaarder goes back and ahead in time to find out a little more about life, definetly worth reading, a little tresure book!

After Carcaterra's painfully prolongued stunt of trying to push his written-with-movie-rights-in-mind "Sleepers" as a "true story" for months, I can no longer believe anything that he says is "true". I think if I heard Carcaterra say "New York is a city in USA", I would check a map. That's why I was sceptical about this book, again. However, regardless of how fake - or real - the story is, its major flaw is that it's not as good to read as the fictional "Sleepers". "Safe Place" just isn't as involving and it lost my interest rather quickly. It's an average book and only recommended if you really cannot find anything else for that time when you're in bed with a cold.

There were a few good parts in the story, but as a whole it lacked any real meaning. It is a boring story of a father/son relationship, the story itself lacks any sort of climax. By the end of the book I was thinking 'so what?' It took me weeks to finish this boring, drawn out story.

I've enjoyed some of Carcaterra's works, but this is another of his failures...

Although I enjoyed this book, especially the harrowing and sometimes amusing descriptions of life in Hell's Kitchen, I was disappointed that the part of Carcaterra's life which must have had the greatest effect on him, his experience in the boys' home, described in 'Sleepers', was not even mentioned. Even the close friends he has in his 'Sleepers' account do not feature at all, which makes one wonder how factual their existence is and how credible that whole story is (although I'm sure he wasn't making it all up).

Caracterra attributes the change in his personality to the discovery that his father is a murderer, but surely the experiences in the boys' home had just as negative and life-changing an effect on him.

The story of Lorenzo's life is told well, with interesting parallels between his father's and mother's first marriages - I like the way they were juxtaposed.

I found his hero-worshipping of his father, even before he knew of his murderer status, rather strange, as it just didn't ring true that a child so abused would still love his father - maybe this is just my poor understanding of their relationship.

Ultimately, this is a worthwhile read, although not quite as gripping as 'Sleepers'.

This recent book by Lorenzo Carcaterra, author of "Sleepers" and other bestsellers, has a familiar theme. This is a story of a Mafia boss and the boy he raised to be a gangster but has nevertheless rejected the life. The younger man, Gabe, now sits in a hospital room as the old man is dying and recalls the old man's story and the lessons he taught him about life. Alternating between flashbacks and narrative insights, the tale of Angelo Vestieri unfolds. We learn the secret that traveled with him from Italy; we see his lonely childhood on the streets of New York, the people who influenced him, his friends and his enemies. We follow his rise to power and cheer him on, understanding what makes him tick and identifying with him. And again get a sense of the crime culture in New York in the early and mid 20th Century.

Of course there's violence. It's gruesome and ugly and awful. But, like many other books of this kind, there are bad gangsters and good gangsters. The bad gangsters are cruel to children and animals and say mean things to insult the good gangsters. Certainly, they all deserve to die. The good gangsters have a sense of honor and have suffered betrayal and tragedy and loss. They protect the innocent and drink milk or coffee instead of alcohol. They have good manners and keep a low profile and are always smarter than the bad gangsters. It's stereotype all the way for everyone, including a colorful female character who runs a café and is not only a mother figure, but also knows how to use a gun.

Carcaterra writes well. His words just slide across the page and make it all seem real. This is the Hudson River before Battery Park City. This is downtown Manhattan before the World Trade Center. This is violence and evil without blowing up buildings or biological terrorism. This is nostalgia for the more innocent world of mob wars and retribution and revenge. Ah - the simple life! I loved it. Couldn't put it down. And will probably forget about it tomorrow. Highly recommended.

I have already proclaimed myself to be a huge Carcaterra fan in previous Amazon reviews of his two other books, Sleepers and Apaches. I could not wait to get my hands on this one and, once again, was not disappointed by this "master of all storytelling." In an effort to be objective, I tried to imagine that it was written by someone else just to see if I would feel the same way about it. As hard as I tried, reminders of Carcaterra's writing style kept breaking through and those "comfort" recollections of things nostalgic to me came to the surface. I have yet to read one of his books where he doesn't mention The Yankees, St. Jude, The Count of Monte Cristo and playing stoopball. You've got to love this guy.

In this book, Carcaterra brings us back, once again, to the streets of Manhattan -- although instead of hanging out in Hell's Kitchen of "Sleepers" fame, we are in the Chelsea section down on 28th Street and Broadway. The story begins with Paolini Vestieri fleeing his homeland of Italy so his soon to be born son won't be influenced by the arm of the MAFIA. Little does he know that this arm is longer than he thinks and it has already reached out to America. It will eventually grab his son Angelo who will end up becoming one of New York's biggest crime bosses. Lorenzo Carcaterra has a knack for introducing you and endearing you to his criminals when they are young boys. By the time they become grown men, you have so much empathy for them, having witnessed their growing up without mothers and most times without money, that you tend to look the other way when they're shooting people dead without a second glance. He also uses the REVENGE theme in each of his books and this one is no exception. When Angelo Vestieri is nine years old, he comes under the guiding hand of two very colorful crime lords, Angus McQueen and Ida The Goose, performing small jobs for them along with his friend Pudge. Together, he and Pudge form an alliance and their loyalty to each other will only be broken if one of them dies. Pudge is the shooter and Angelo is the conscience and the thinker. It isn't until the thing that Angelo holds most dear is taken away from him that he becomes the most ruthless gangster of them all. This is where REVENGE will be "sweet".

The story is told through the eyes of a narrator, Gabe, who, as a young foster child, was taken under Angelo's and Pudge's wing to hopefully pick up where Angelo and Pudge will eventually leave off when they are too old to run the "family". Gabe is at Angelo's bedside as Angelo, now an old man, is finally succumbing to the ravages of the hard and sometimes brutal life he has led. He is joined at the bedside by Mary -- someone Gabe has never met yet someone who loved Angelo as much as he. Between the two of them, all the blanks of Angelo's life are filled in as we finally come to realize what drove Angelo to do all he has done. They both will walk away from this experience as changed people as truths and secrets are finally revealed.

I love it when I learn something in a book. While this may never be a question on the millionaire show, I learned what the letters MAFIA stand for -- Morte Alla Francese in Italia -- Death to the French in Italy. Apparently, many many years ago, the French had come into Italy and taken land belonging to the Italians. In his book, Carcaterra says, "No gangster is ever happy when he's at peace. The main reason he's in the business is to eliminate his enemies." There are plenty of "survivors" in this book. While the TV show claims that the survivors will "outwit, outplay and outlast" each other, the survivors of Carcaterra's GANGSTER will "outgun, outnumber and outrun" anyone who gets in their way. For me, this author has given me another few days of pure reading enjoyment. In his book, he says "To trust someone is to take a risk." If you trust my reviews, you will read this book -- you won't be risking anything.

I just finished GANGSTER, and it was definitely a cannot-put-down book. I have read all of Carcaterra's books and found them well-written and riveting (particularly SLEEPERS). But I must confess, when I started GANGSTER, having read other reviews, I was expecting a so-so rehash of Puzo's GODFATHER. I was pleasantly surprised to find a book that was not only original, but one that was both entertaining and spine-chilling. I will admit that the ending was fairly predictable (in my opinion), but this did not detract from the book itself. The main character, Angelo Vestieri, was a gangster who was the ultimate in unpredictability. This left the ending open to any number of possibilities. It is obvious that Lorenzo Carcaterra knows the streets of Hell's Kitchen, as well as the people who rule there. It takes a writer of his caliber to create a story of this nature, in which the reader feels such a closeness to the "bad guys" as to engender feelings of loss when one of them is eliminated. I look forward to Carcaterra's next work. He just keeps getting better.