The concept of a person recovering from an illness beyond where they were prior to debilitation effects of an illness was intriguing to me, so I began reading this book. I found it easy to read without technical terms confusing the reader. It is motivational, helpful to a variety of situations in a person's life. It is useful to those who become discouraged with life's situations, to those who experience loss and have difficulty overcoming it, as well as to those who have mental challenges that are debilitating.

This book changed my life and I think would change the life of anyone who reads it. It doesn't even matter if they are dealing with mental health problems, the book is simply about how to move forward when you cannot move back and how to have hope. I've highlighted every other paragraph -- I hope others find out about about procovery and this amazing little treasure of inspiration and plain practical common sense.

This piece of literature is valuable for "anyone". I can't even begin to imagine the trials someone with a physical or mental disability has in their daily life. My own disability pails in comparison; however, I draw a huge amount of information and believe that even the most healthy individual can benefit from reading Procovery. Kathleen is obviously very well read. Her choice of quotations is only surpassed by the appropriate placement of each. It is in calling upon a variety of world class authors that allows Kathleen to successfully include spiritual versus. Procovery is about Pro-action and therefore reminds us that we are empowered. Procovery is about Pro-cess so enjoy the journey. Whether it's 2 steps forward and 1 step back or 1 step forward and 2 steps back; in the end we have traveled 3 steps. Procovery is about hope so recognize that life is a gift. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did.

After being disappointed by so many books that ramble and provide little guidance, this book is a real gem. It is practical, clearly organized, and the author appears to really care about making this process improvement effort work for the reader. It covers three areas: 1.Steps for Improving a process,including why each step is important and how to make these steps YOUR steps. 2. Tools for managing data, like Pareto Charts and much more. And 3. Tools for Managing team meetings, including special tools for managing chaos and ideas and more. This book is used in a master's degree program and I understand that the students love it. It has essentially everything a team needs to address and improve a process.

This is a great book on how, when, and why to use Process Improvement tools like, Flowcharts, Histograms, Pareto charts, Radar charts, and other Process Improvement planning and analysis tools. Dr. Montgomery also teaches you the pitfalls in the use of each tool. I have not seen this in any book and it has proven to be very helpful to my new practitioners of P.I. The book also teaches the tools in a "team" perspective.

PI projects done as a team need some attention to the team dynamics of group projects. The book does a good job of addressing this issue and has many templates to help your PI Team stay organized. I highly recommend this book.

Grady Tucker, Micrografx, Government Account Manager

Of all the dozens of quality tools books this is the easiest to use and understand. I have worked with the tools before but have never read and used such clear instruction of the tools. Dr Montgomery gives uses and pitfalls of the tools in each chapter and also includes some very handy forms for effective improvement meetings in the appendix. This best book is so good that my boss bought 10 copies to help improve our meetings at work.

Fascinating, though too long. I recommend starting with Taylor's _Liberty Men and Great Proprietors_, which seems to have been less of a "labor of love."

The tale of James Fenimore Cooper's father on the New York frontier in the 1790s is an Horatio Alger story run amuck. Born to a poor Quaker farm family, William Cooper learned the craft of making and repairing wheels before reinventing himself as a land speculator, founder of Cooperstown, judge, congressman, patrician farmer and Federalist party powerhouse.

Alan Taylor's WILLIAM COOPER'S TOWN: POWER AND PERSUASION ON THE FRONTIER OF THE EARLY AMERICAN REPUBLIC is an outstanding biography of an archetypical American character, an extraordinary social history of life and politics on the late eighteenth-century frontier and a brilliant exercise in literary analysis.

This is a wonderful read. Taylor's lively prose, compelling narrative and original, fresh story sustained my interest from cover to cover. I never would have imagined such a dull title could cover such a marvelous book. WILLIAM COOPER'S TOWN certainly deserves the Pulitzer Prize it was awarded.

Taylor not only describes William Cooper's rise from rags to riches and even more meteoric fall but analyzes Cooper's political odyssey in America's frontier democratic workshop.

"As an ambitious man of great wealth but flawed gentility, Cooper became caught up in the great contest of postrevolutionary politics: whether power should belong to traditional gentlemen who styled themselves 'Fathers of the People' or to cruder democrats who acted out the new role of 'Friends of the People.'"

Taylor argues "Cooper faced a fundamental decision as he ventured into New York's contentious politics. Would he affiliate with the governor and the revolutionary politics of democratic assertion? Or would he endorse the traditional elitism championed by...Hamilton." "Brawny, ill educated, blunt spoken, and newly enriched," writes Taylor, "Cooper had more in common with George Clinton than with his aristocratic rivals." "For a rough-hewn, new man like Cooper, the democratic politics practiced by Clinton certainly offered an easier path to power. Yet, like Hamilton, Cooper wanted to escape his origins by winning acceptance into the genteel social circles where Clinton was anathema." Taylor concludes "Cooper's origins pulled him in one political direction, his longing in another."

James Fenimore Cooper's third novel, THE PIONEERS, is an ambivalent, fictionalized examination of his father's failure to measure up to the genteel stardards William Cooper set for himself and that his son James internalized. The father's longing became the son's demand.

Taylor analyzes the father-son relationship, strained by Williams decline before ever fully measuring up to the stardards he had set, and the son's fictionalized account of this relationship.

James Fenimore Cooper spent most of his adult life seeking the "natural aristocrat" his father wanted to be and compensating for his father's shortcomings. It is ironic that the person James Fenimore Cooper found to be the embodiment of the "natural aristocrat" his father had longed to be and that he had created in THE CRATER and his most famous character, Natty Bumppo, was the quintessential "Friend of the People"--Andrew Jackson.

I enjoyed this book immensely and give it my strongest recommendation!

This is the story of William Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown, New York, and of how his son, James Fenimore Cooper, used his father's life and experiences in his novels. Described in this way, this sounds like a narrow book, of interest mainly to specialists. But anyone interested in early America should read this book: it reveals truths not only about these two men but about the whole period. One of the key themes of the book is that the Revolution, which in a sense made William Cooper by pushing aside the old aristocracy of New York, also unmade him by creating an anti-aristocratic politics that ousted him and other Federalists in 1800. A fascinating minor detail: the city fathers, in their effort to maintain a proper tone in Cooperstown in the early 1800s, outlawed stick ball, the precursor of baseball.

Jessica Wakefield is the biggest snob in the whole world of sweet valley!! I can't believe the way she pretended to be best friends with poor Robin and then had the absolute nerve to blackball her and act satisfied!! If that's not enough she also blamed Liz about that article she wrote (as if every word wasn't true which it was) and then accuse her of bribing Bruce Patman (which she did but is beside the whole point) I'm not on Liz's side either. She didn't even fight back at Jessica. Oh, she said a few words back at her but not enough to get Jessica to see how much of a witch she really is. Sometimes Liz really lets Jessica get away with murder sometimes. Jessica walks all over Liz and anyone else to get what she wants but Jessica is always so indignant when Liz does the slightest thing to get back at her. Using terms like "my own sister" Jessica succeeds in getting Liz to feel all guilty when she shouldn't even! I really thought Jessica went overboard in getting Robin out of Pi Beta Alpha. She really acted like a real witch. A snobby conniving witch who thinks she can do anything she wants to do and just innocently say "Why would I do anything like that?" Sometimes I really don't think Jessica loves her sister as much as she claims to. But Liz does. She always goes out of her way to get Jessica out of trouble even when Jessica has been the nastiest piece of slime to her. Naturally, Elizabeth always forgives Jessica, usually when something life-threatining happens and Liz sees how important Jessica is to her. Please! I know I've been rambling but sometimes Jessica really gets on my nerves! (SORRY TO ALL THOSE JESSICA FANS OUT THERE!) Well, I think I've said enough.

I thought this book was great!If you are a SVH fan then be sure to read this one!

I thought it was pretty amusing that Robin managed to lose allthat weight in the space of about 2 or 3 chapters. Other than that,the book was well written in terms of conveying Jessica and the other Pi Beta's two-faced snobbishness. Although I do think that Robin was partly to blame, due to the fact that she wouldn't tell Jessica and the Pi Betas where to get off. I mean, they completely humiliate her, yet she still kept after them. I also didn't like the way Robin reacted to Liz, I mean, yeah, Jessica treated her like dirt but, I don't know how Robin had the nerve to accuse Liz as well. It was Liz who was trying to stop her from making a fool of herself. END

As we expect to build a house off the grid in the near future, I found the book very informative and easy to read. It provided me with an excellent description of the various system options available. My only concern is that it was last updated in 1993 and I expect there have been breakthroughs since then on the efficiency of the solar cell.

I found the information provided by the author to be informative and very detailed. He provided a variety of examples for system designs in varying complexities, from Stand-a-lone to Utility Interactive.

My only disappointment in this book was that it seemed to be dated. It appears the last update was in the early 90's and although the principles and formulas are still practical, the equipment described by the author is not up to today's standards.

If you are looking for a book to teach the fundamentals and be thought provoking, this is a good book for you.

Steven Strong's book "The Solar Electric House" is the most comprehensive book available regarding the application of solar-generated electricity (photovoltaics). The book is well organized, well written, and easy to understand.

Although this book was first printed in 1987, it is amazingly current today (1999). I have been using this book since 1987 when I build my stand-alone PV-powered home in Prescott Arizona, and referred to Mr. Strong's book on a regular basis during design and construction of the solar-electric system. I still use this book today -- as the primary textbook in two classes that I teach at Arizona State University: "Introduction to Solar Energy and Photovoltaics" and "Photovoltaic System Design".

Bill Powers in virtually unknown outside a very small community of people interested in applying control theory to understanding human behavior, an activity that can be traced backed to Norbert Wiener's influential work in the 1940's. Powers' obscurity is particularly unfortunate because his work is truly revolutionary and deserves a much wider audience. In this book he gives a typically lucid presentation of the basics of his application of control theory to understanding everyday behavior. It's a wonderfully clear exposition of his ideas and provides invaluable insights into what makes us tick. Perhaps in the next millenium academic psychology will catch up to Powers. Until this happens, you couldn't ask for a better guide than this engaging book.

If you buy only one book this year it should be Making Sense of Behavior by William T. Powers. Powers' book is subtitled The Meaning of Control and in it he presents, in plain and persuasive language, his view of human beings and their behavior. His view? We are all "autonomous control systems - it is our nature to seek goals and oppose disturbances [to the attainment and maintenance of our goals]."

In his book Powers does what other theorists and theories don't, namely, he gives us an explanation of the human phenomenon that is technically satisfying and, at the same time, an explanation that resonates with our deeply held notions about ourselves. Who won't like this book? The same pompous airbags who have seen fit to saddle us all with one empty-headed theory after another about the nature of human beings and their behavior. The truth, like quality and beauty, is something we all know when we see it. You'll recognize the truth in Powers' book.

Powers is no intellectual slouch. An engineer by training and a scientist by calling, his approach is as intellectually demanding and as scientifically rigorous as any to be found. Nor is his theory of recent or easy vintage. He has been hard at work developing it for almost half a century. He first articulated it in a 1973 book titled Behavior: The Control of Perception and he has elaborated it in various papers since then.

Powers' central thesis is simple enough: All we know of our world we know through our perceptions. We act, then, not to control the world but to control our perceptions of it. Hence, behavior as the control of perception. Best of all, Powers provides a simple, elegant experiment requiring nothing more than two rubber bands and two people that we can use to test his theory. It is difficult to argue with.

So what? What are the practical implications of Powers' theory? Well, for one thing, the transactions between employer and employee need to be negotiated instead of commanded or demanded. If that seems obvious, consider this: for the most part, so do the transactions between parent - or teacher - and child. Remember, we are - all of us - "autonomous control systems," even the children among us. For another, Powers offers an interesting if not novel approach to conflict resolution, namely, taking it "up a level." (I leave to the readers of Powers' book the fun of discovering of what that means.) Finally, in the midst of all this autonomy is the unavoidable conclusion that we are inescapably accountable for our own behavior. (Management will both love and hate that one.)

The bottom line of Powers' message is plain and profound: I am in control of me. That's all there is and that's enough. Moreover, the inevitable consequence of attempting to control others is conflict.

But why take my word for it? Buy it, read it and then you tell me what you think. Send me an e-mail and I'll post your reviews on my web site. nickols@worldnet.att.net.

As a law student judicial review and the case of Marbury v Madison seemed very complicated. When I saw david devillers book I picked it up and started reading. He made the entire case and concepts easy to understand. I wish my law professors could have done the same.

If you teach American history to your students, this book is an absolute MUST. If you have had trouble keeping your students awake for MvM, your problem is solved. Devillers has found a way to explain this most important foundational case in a way that will not only wake your students up, but will also light a fire in them to learn more about history and law. Also, check out the author's other book on Amazon.com, titled "The John Brown Slavery Revolt Trial"

It seems difficult to find a good general guide for electrical engineering pertaining to commercial buildings. This book manages to cover the essentials, adds in some experience related data and some of the theory behind the concepts. It does not provide the type of information contained within books such as the American Electrician's Handbook (also recommended), but is valuable nonetheless.

I really like this book. There are a lot of useful details on different issues; plain English and logical sequence in explanation of modern design of Electrical Systems for Buildings. Very good Chapters on Estimating, Value Engineering and HVAC equipment. There are some mistakes, but they are minor.

I am the author of this book and wanted to add a few comments to the publisher's remarks.

My philosophy in writing this book was to distill all my experience in electrical design so that if I were to be out of the field for a few years, all I would need to refresh my skills would be to study this book. The important NEC Tables are there plus computer drafting methods, AUTOCAD drawings to illustrate technique, sample specifications, and even some computer programs that many designers write for themselves.

I also offer some design software via a form in the book for voltage drop, lighting, and short circuit analysis. All these programs are available for free download from my web page. They are very helpful in learning some of the more abstract concepts of electrical design.

There are also some sections on basic electrical theory that many contractors and field personnel do not usually know. These concepts are helpful to making their jobs safer and perhaps more interesting. Especially in light of the modern trend toward more design-build projects, in which the more design skills a person has the more competitive he or she can be.

I have also written a textbook with McGraw-Hill on energy conservation, and many ideas in that field are included in the book. A good electrical design is not only inexpensive but it provides efficient use and distribution of power. There are several sections on harmonics, in which I present the latest theories on how to minimize this ubiquitous problem in power distribution systems. No one really knows for sure how to best minimize harmonics, but it is important to keep current in the latest theories and proven design and installation techniques.

Just-In-Time:Making It Happen can be an invaluable guide to implementing JIT principles in the manufacturing environment. Although it is not a cookbook, it does provide a comprehensive step-by-step to understanding and implementing a workable JIT process. Perhaps the most valuable contribution of the book is the way it demonstrates that JIT processes can coexist with MRP effectively. Sandras defines those functions that need to be incorporated in the MRP System to most effectively interface with and support JIT. However, he also describes how the MRP System can be manually augmented to allow their coexistence. But what I liked best was the practitioner's understanding of the problems facing the JIT implementer.

Gives a very good insight into JIT, making you aware of the zillion things manufacturing companies can (still!!) do to avoid waste. The book, however, does not prepare you for actual implementation. For that to happen, there is nothing to replace being an 'insider' in the manufacturing environment.

This is a great introduction to JIT. It covers main issues as the core knowlodge of this technique as well as the implementation cornerstones. It's an easy to read way to get a handle on this planning and production control. It has also tried to get a compromise with MRP without forgeting currently popular topics as the link to suppliers and customers. As a plus, there are some chapters for problem solving using quality control techniques as storyboards which are actually useful in many others environments and areas.

This history is educational concerning TR's political and personal life. However, the writing is fairly dry and it is not very inspiring.

This Biography of Roosevelt is highly recommended! It offers a good exploration of the Presidential years and the political moves any President must balance when dealing with the Senate, parties, etc. It also deals with the shaping of the man before the Presidency without overwhealming the coverage of his administration. Miller's bio. focused far too much on his personal life and left you wondering what really happened during his White House years. Harbaugh balances the two areas expertly, and leaves the reader with a complete understanding of both.

This biography is highly praised by Roosevelt buffs because it is precise, complete and well balanced. It is in the same league as the Edmund Morris books and Nathan Millers fine work on Theodore Roosevelt.