Anyone interested in vacuum technology and vacuum pumps would be well advised to read this book -- cover to cover. Topics covered include very basic explainations of the ideal gas laws and their application to vacuum all the way up to complex, but still practial, analysis of the different types of vacuum pumps available and their strengths and weaknesses. While not for the lay person, the book is eminately readable for engineers who have an interest in the subject. The examples are clear and real world, reflecting the authors vast experience in application of vacuum pumps to various chemical processes in industry. A must have for people selling and buying vacuum pumps in any market today.

Why am I lonely when surrounded by friends? Why am I restless, when I have so much to do? Why do I feel so sad when I have so much - family, friends, things, activities, and more? This book reminded me that "every desire, every aspiration, every hunger and thirst, every longing of our nature is nothing less than desire for God." David Roper offers a warm, "used-friendly," yet soul-searing glimpse of God as a Shepherd who is the source of our longing - and the answer for it. A simple and personally revealing little book that gave me something to look forward to each morning as I faced another day - and that kept my eyes on God until my head hit the pillow each night. Read it if you're depressed, or just have that small voice inside telling you, "there must be something more."

Jim Roper has done a wonderful job of getting out some of the incredible stories of missions flown by our pilots in the secret war in Laos. Having flown those missions myself as a Covey FAC, 1968-69, I can vouch for the authenticity of his book. I for one highly recommend his book.
A fellow Covey FAC and former Raven, Larry Ratts, sent me the paperback copy and I,m now ordering the hardcover version for my library.
Thanks Jim for writing the book and Larry for the gift of the book
Don Fulton / Covey 538

Raising Small Church Esteem sold through 2 printings with Alban Insitute, then went out of print. In Oct 2000 it was reissued by Judson Press, the American Baptist Publishers, as The Little Church That Could: Raising Small Church Esteem.

I picked this book up planning to skim a couple chapters and take my time getting through the book, but Gayle Roper's writing style is so captivating that I read the book in two sittings. Great insight on the subject of contentment. The book covered areas I hadn't even thought of, such as the chapter on Divine Discontent--realizing that sometimes feelings of discontent are God-sent for a specific purpose. This would be an incredible book for a Bible study group and each chapter includes discussion questions.

Author Steven Roper has given us a wonderful examination of post-1989 Romania, and the trials and tribulations the country has experienced.

Roper begins with an overview of Romanian history, including a clear and concise look at how Nicolae Ceausescu (the megalomaniac Romanian dictator executed during the 1989 revolution) rose to power, and then created a destructive personality cult around himself. It's sad to see a country with so much potential, and such wonderful human and natural resources, still suffering today because of one man's insane policies.

Roper's work really shines, though, in his detailed examination of Romanian political, economic, and foreign policy development since the revolution. While it's a bit confusing at times (because of the proliferation of political groups and their initials!), it's an excellent, well researched, and well annotated look at the country. The bibliography is also well stocked, and will keep the interested reader busy for quite a while.

If you have followed Romania's development after Ceausescu was discarded, or have an interest in the country's current status, this is a must-read book.

This is an amazingly haunting book that is beautifully crafted. I have loaned it out several times, and the comment that I get back is always the same. "It's a great book". It's the kind of book that makes a home for its self in your mind, where the characters flourish with a life of their own.

"It was very fun to figure out. First it was easy, and then the mysteries got harder to solve. I recommend it very highly" (This is what my 11 year old granddaughter , Isabel, said about this book.

...this really is a monumental work. It is common to say that Gibbon was a great writer but it's best to look elsewhere for the history...if you can swallow, say, _The Federalist Papers_, you will enjoy Gibbon.

...There is still a lot of good history to learn in Gibbon. The important thing to remember is that Gibbon often takes the point of view of conservative elements in Rome, so he inherits a particular agenda that does not look favorably on the decline of Rome the city or the Roman senate, or on the rise of the military dictatorship.

That just means that the punch line is, don't make Gibbon your introduction to Roman history. Maybe start with Michael Grant's _History of Rome_. But Gibbon is still a valuable read from a purely historical point of view, not just a literary one.

Also important to remember is that Gibbon uses "decline and fall" in maybe a different way than we do. He essentially means the drift away from the principles and institutions of Golden Age Rome (that's the conservatism again) over the 1500 years that the Roman Empire (as he conceived it -- rolling the Byzantine Empire into the Roman) existed.

DON'T read these volumes (this 3 volume Modern Library edition is a complete reproduction of the 6 volume text edited by J.B. Bury) if you want to learn about the death of the Roman Republic, because it's not covered (for that and other general history try Cary and Scullard's _A History of Rome Down to the Reign of Constantine_). Gibbon begins (in Vol. 1) in the 2nd century AD and goes (in Vol. 3) to 1453 AD; the Republic ended in the 1st century BC. Trite comparisons aside, it's also difficult to find anything deep or valuable in Gibbon that directly foreshadows the modern American experience. For starters, the grand princples of Federalist America are different from Golden Age Rome, and any decline away from them is fundamentally different (if there even is such a decline).

I purchased all six volumes of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This work is written in the beautiful and fluid 18th century English. Gibbon is a master author, and the book was extremely well researched, consulting the works of Tacitus, Livy, Suetonius, and Polybius, Roman historians of fame. Volumes 1-3 contains the history of the Roman empire from 180 A.D. to 490 A.D., covering the end of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, to the time when Odoacer usurped the throne of the western empire. Volumes 4-6 contains the history of the eastern empire, from the late 300's to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. I highly recommend both box sets. All volumes together are approximately 3600 pages, and go into detail for pages subjects that are written only for about a few paragraphs in other books. A must for any enthusiast of the history of the Roman Empire.

This is an excellent abridged edition of Edward Gibbon's classic "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" and it makes both a perfect introduction for those just getting into Gibbon and a useful portable copy for people who have the entire set. This abridgement includes much of Gibbon's coverage of the decline and fall of the western empire and some interesting chapters and excerpts from the remainder of the work, ideal for the general reader. Most of Gibbon's history still stands up after 200 years (and footnotes point out where it doesn't), and it is written in an absolutely gorgeous English style. Anyone interested in Rome owes it to themselves to read Gibbon, and this is a good place to get your feet wet.

Had this been a collection of stories and essays by anybody else, I would have thought it was nothing special. But having read the Diary of Anne Frank first, the stories and essays make so much more sense. You can just see her whiling away the dull moments of the life in the secret annex, honing her writing skills. It is easy to see her skills as a writer increase from story to story. But even more interesting is to read the messages contained within her works. The writing skills she displays are obviously that of a teenager, although much better than most people her age. But the real value of these pieces are the insights which she brings to them; her life experiences and her approach to life's big questions. The last essay in the collection is entitled, "Why" and seems to sum up her short life. Read this book, but only after you read the Diary so the essays will be meaningful.

In her now famous Diary, Anne Frank said "I want to go on living even after my death". As of 1998, The Diary of Anne Frank had reached sales of 25 million copies and been translated into more than 50 languages. (source: TIME, October 5, 1998). It has been required classroom reading for half a century now! In a way, her wish has come to pass.
This subsequent publication "Tales From The Secret Annex" combines short stories, reminiscences/vignettes, and even an unfinished novel to show us yet another dimension to this remarkable person. Reading these stories and little essays confirmed my personal opinion that Anne Frank was a childhood genius with unlimited potential to achieve anything she would have set her mind to. It's hard to imagine this thirteen year old girl writing with such depth and perception, while living in seclusion, terror and fear for her life. She was writing from her heart, not with an expectation of being published. And yet these stories shine with a polished brilliance, and a certain unforgettable quality. I read this book for the first time 8 years ago, and have returned to it now, remembering the stories as though I had read them just last week. My favorite is entitled "Kathy". In three short pages, Anne captures every emotion experienced by a kid who is misunderstood by her mother, assaulted by schoolyard bullies who mock and rob her and cause her to lose the gift she was bringing home to her mother.

Here is how she ends her essay entitled "Give":
"If only our country and then Europe and finally the whole world would realize that people were really kindly disposed toward one another, that they are all equal and everything else is transitory!
Open your eyes... give of yourself, give as much as you can! And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness! No one has ever become poor from giving! If you do this, then in a few generations no one will need to pity the beggar children anymore, because they will not exist!
There is plenty of room for everyone in the world, enough money, riches, and beauty for all to share! God has made enough for everyone. Let us all begin by sharing it fairly." (written March 26, 1944).

Anne was sent to Bergen-Belsen, where some time during March 1945, she, her sister Margot and hundreds of other prisoners were stricken with typhus. Their captors, preoccupied with the advancing Allies, left them to die.
World... read her book!

These stories and essays are well-crafted, yet easy to read. There are lessons to be learned from each piece, and these lessons can be identified easily. But the themes and ideas remain in your head and leave you thinking long after you set the book down - thinking about Anne Frank's life in the Nazi-occupied Europe as well as her ideals. Anyone will discover some aspect of their persona mirrored in Frank's characters, whether it may be through Paula or Kathy or Eve or anyone else.

You should approach the book with an open mind and respect for the writing. If you see that Frank was an intelligent young human being, and not a little kid whose writing you can deal with condescendingly, read this book. Otherwise, skip it. This is honest, wise, well-crafted work, and it should be treated as such.