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Book reviews for "Scheponik,_Peter_C." sorted by average review score:

Frank Sinatra: An American Legend
Published in Hardcover by General Pub Group (1995)
Authors: Nancy Sinatra and Peter Hoffman
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The Review
This book has excellent pictures with the most vital information for a biography project. A great buy and great read for interested fans of Ol' Blue Eyes.

A MARVELLOUS SCAPBOOK
This scrapbook is a real treat to any true SINATRA fan.It is full of pictures of everybody who was important in his life from his parents to collaborators like arrangers NELSON RIDDLE; all his wifes from NANCY to BARBARA;the legendary LOUIS B. MAYER etc.Better than most biographies because it is based on facts not rumours.The early pictures from his beginnings are alone worth the price.I was fortunate enough to get this book at the third of it's price and i went through it very fast because once you open it, you simply can't take your hands out of it.If FRANK became the singer of the past century, it's not by accident, he worked hard at it.I was particulary touched by his loyalty to his true friends.FRANK SINATRA is a mirror of his country. He was the son of immigrants who lived the AMERICAN dream to the fullest.Where is the AMERICAN dream today now that it's last legend is gone?Let's not complain too much ,because everything that FRANK SINATRA ever recorded is now available on cd.Nostalgia when you think of it is a very good thing.SATURDAY is not the loneliest night of the week anymore thanks to the chairman of the board.If you are not already a fan, this book should do the trick.

Everything you want to know about Frank is in this Book
I had to get this book after seeing how low the price came down.The original price was 40 dollars. Nancy Sinatra's book on her Father has everything in here.I couldn't believe Frank weighted 13and a half pounds when he was born on December 12,1915.The Doctor ripped and scarred his ear,check,and neck,plus puncturing his eardrum.Frank wasn't breathing,so his grandmother Rose held the baby under cold running water until he gasped his first breath and cried.This book is like a Diary.It goes from year to year,sometimes month to month.All of Franks movies,records,concerts,TV shows,songs,and the name of the songwriters are in here,plus hundreds of pictures,starting with Frank's baby photo, ending with a touching family photo taken in 1996.There's a wonderfull picture of Marilyn Monroe taken with Dean Martin sitting ringside at the Sands..All of the stars are in here,and family pictures we've never seen before.If you are a Frank Sinatra fan,you have to get this Book.Its huge,and the pictures are fantastic.


The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra
Published in Audio Cassette by Parallax Pr (1995)
Authors: Thich Nhat Hanh, Peter Levitt, and Nhat
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Clearly written, very accessible.
This was the first book I read by Thich Nhat Hanh. I had heard a lot about him prior to this. When I read the book, I could easily see why there is so much excitement about him and his works. He writes in a very clear, very accessible style. This book is a commentary on the Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra is said to contain the essence of Buddhist teachings. I would recommend any book written by Thich Nhat Hanh!

Like Meditating
Just reading the first couple paragraphs of this book was like, "aaaahhh..." Completely relaxing. The writer's message and style is simple yet poetic, and very important--how to not be afraid. This is the first Buddhist book I have ever picked up, being that I had only studied Buddhism from the classroom/historical aspect, and never viewed it in any way as something I would actually connect to or practice in my life. Now I can. This book is refreshing, short, easy to read. I would recommend it to anyone.

Great book
A Nobel Peace Prize candidate, Thich Nhat Hanh explains in easy to understand language, what this paradoxical concept of emptiness means in Buddhism. This should be a good book to start off with if interested in Buddhism or emptiness.


Life Flight (Night Angel 9)
Published in Mass Market Paperback by Berkley Pub Group (05 September, 2001)
Author: Peter Telep
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SUPERB
This was, by far, the best of the 3 novels. Being a flight nurse, I really enjoyed this book. Couldn't put it down. The scenes are so real, so life-like but yet it has the "soap opera" twist to it to really keep you going. Mr.Telep, please continue this superb series! You are amazing! :)

An Easy 5 Stars!
I remember having to special order Life Flight, because it was the only one in the Night Angel 9 series I couldnt find in the store. Waiting for one week actually seemed to take forever but I finally got it. Knowing that the series was coming to an end with this book really bummed me out. I tried to take my time but at the same time I couldnt put it down. Mr. Telep this series was almost half of my motivation to join the Emergency Medical Services. Thank you for your time and entertainment.

Amazing imagination, good writing and great sense of humor!
Two thumbs up on the beautiful work the author has done on Night Angel 9 (Life Flight)! As an EMT I usually read books of the same nature and immensely enjoy them. This book, I have to point out, was very unique and a very interesting piece put together. I was initially a little disappointment seeing that the book does not cover one call after the other, as the other books do. But when realizing that the aim of this book is actually to delve into the revolving lives of fellow Emergency workers, I was compelled by the author's amazing imagination, good writing skills and sense of humor.

I must say that aside from the fact that I enjoyed reading these stories in the form of the socialization of rescue personal, I truly enjoyed the way the author simply describes life and living of a group of people. It is just amazing and I honestly never read anything with such a stark resemblance to typical real life. To the author: Your work is truly amazing.


The Healer of Harrow Point
Published in Paperback by Hampton Roads Pub Co (2000)
Author: Peter Walpole
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The Healer of Harrow Point
Thomas Singer will soon be twelve years old. For years, his parents have promised him he could go hunting with the men when he was twelve. His birthday present is to be a brand-new shotgun and an orange safety vest. Thomas's birthday happens to fall on the first day of hunting season.

But Thomas's initiation into manhood is much different that he anticipates. One day, while out walking in the woods he loves, he witnesses a poacher shoot a deer. He remains hidden, only to see an old woman lumber into the clearing, gather the deer in her arms, then murmur to it and stroke it. The fully-recovered deer bounds away. Thomas and the old woman also flee the enraged hunter.

Thomas learns that the woman's name is Emma, and they spend nearly every day together after that. At his insistence, she begins teaching him how to be aware of all living things. Thomas is naturally sensitive and learns quickly. He discovers that he can communicate with, and heal, animals.

Torn between his desire to go hunting with his father or honoring his new-found knowledge, Thomas makes his anquished decision on the morning of his birthday.

The Healer of Harrow Point is Peter Walpole's first novel, and it's engrossing from the first page to the last. It's a "coming-of-age young adult novel that addresses larger issues of spirituality and the connection of all life." Readers of all ages will find it compelling and impossible to forget.

Healing Yourself with the Healer of Harrow Point
Peter Walpole uses the imagery of a boy on the verge of manhood to mirror for us all the times of transition in our lives. Emma is Thomas' spiritual guru through his journey. Ultimately, the lessons he learns about himself transcend the simple physical healing that Emma strives to teach him. The book is beautifully written and captures the fire within all of us. Although it is targeted for "young adults" I think it will speak more directly to those of us who have already passed through various stages of our lives. This is a book to read with your teenage children to use as a springboard into a number of discussions about growing up and relationships.

An engaging warm-hearted tale!
The combination of fantasy with real life contemplation of the value of life made this a really fun read. I particularly respected the non-judgmental way in which Mr. Walpole deals with the hunters in this tale and hunting in general. The very real consequences of the loss of a life are dealt with in a creative and thoughful way. I read the whole book in one sitting!


Invitation to Sociology
Published in Hardcover by Viking Press (1974)
Author: Peter L. Berger
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An acceptable introduction -- simple (though not perfect)
The book is indeed a decent introduction to the discipline, also, it has an extensive bibliography, which is presented with short blurbs-overviews of the books, comments on the authors, and historical context of the books' appearance and authors' lives and works; I really like this kind of bibliographical presentation -- not just dry data.

However, I have to mention that Berger's writing style, while quite decent in the first five chapters and the closing section, beginning with the sixth does descend into the typical obfuscated pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo, and structurally the book becomes hard to read, it is never quite clear, fragmentary, repetitive.

"Invitation" seemed OK to me; still you may want to check it out yourself before buying.

Great book...for EVERYONE.
Before reading this book I was not a sociology student. After this book I realized that we are all students of sociology, some better than others. The better ones live in more freedom, more understanding, seeing through walls of the fortress that our society is. Everything looks so normal, until you start to dissect.

This is a short book, PACKED with information. Berger's English is superb. It flows naturally with creative sentence formations and use of vocabulary.

If you find yourself discouraged, you may skip the first chapter. I found it least interesting of them all. Chapters following are great and will keep you glued to your reading chair.

Interesting and entertaining intro to sociological thought
Berger discusses the role and place of sociology in the modern world. He stresses sociological consciousness--seeing how macro structures shape individuals. He shows how what we think to be our long-standing social traditions and norms are really just arbitrarily socially constructed. Here he expands on the debunking tendecy of sociology to question our commonly accepted assumptions about the social world.

There are great examples of how society forms us internally and surrounds us externally. Berger demonstrates the different sociological perspectives as well as touching lightly on the differnt theorists (Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, etc.). In showing how one is boxed in by social forces, he uses a great metaphor of a person who stands in the center of concentric circles of social control (law, state, occupation, race, class, family, religion, etc.). Society also shapes us internally by providing systems of meaning, or ideologies, that help us make sense of the world.

He relates sociology not only to the social sciences but to the humanities and philosophy. The ethical considerations for sociological research are looked at in "Sociological Machiavellianism". The overall theme is that society limits freedom and individuals should question tradition by debunking the established order. Easy and interesting, he makes sociology relevant to everyday life.


Leadership from Within
Published in Paperback by Stoddart Pub (05 October, 1997)
Author: Peter Urs Bender
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A must read!
Peter Urs Bender writes in such a refreshing way that it's hard to stop reading his books once you start.

Leadership from Within is full of excellent ideas, interspersed with Peter's own enlightening perspectives and first class expertise.

Any business person (whether employed, or self-employed) can learn something by reading Leadership from Within - I work entirely alone and I even gained some incredibly valuable knowledge.

This is an excellent choice. buy it!

A great tome on leadership...
Mr. Bender has written a fantastic little book on leadership style and approach. It isn't overwhelming, one can read a littler here and a little there, the topics are on the mark, the advice is solid and the package is interesting.

It's hard to make the topic of leadership something beyond informative, but Bender manages to make it interesting and fun. The author focuses on 'style' and how one can manage the various personalities that inevitably crop up in the professional world. What's particularly nice about the insight in this book is that it's in no way condescending. Like magnate Mike Hammer says, "the soft stuff is the hard stuff." Managing people is 'soft leadership' while managing process is 'hard leadership.' And it's the soft leadership that is the hardest to do well. Bender will set you well on your way to doing right and doing it well.

...I highly recommend Mr. Bender's works.

Leadership From Within
This book is easy read, simple to understand. It helped me to make a big difference to my life. I highly recommend it to anybody. English is not my first language. This is the first book I finished to read in English... Thanks for writing it !


Look into My Eyes: How to Use Hypnosis to Bring Out the Best in Your Sex Life
Published in Paperback by Greenery Pr (2001)
Author: Peter Masters
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A new "toy" for the bedroom
I was curious to read Master's book because I have been hypnotized several times myself - though in a therapeutic setting, not a sexual setting. I haven't yet tried the techniques outlined in Master's book (though I've passed my copy off to my partner and am curious to see where things go) but I can say, speaking from my own experience of being hypnotized many times, that Masters has written an excellent guide to hypnosis for the lay person. His instructions are clear and very detailed and he often explains the reasoning behind his instructions as well so that the reader will be able to confidently adapt the techniques for individual situations. Masters even covers many of the "glitches" I personally experienced as a hypnosis subject and explains ways to avoid or minimize those situations.

Masters spends a good amount of time explaining the ethics of hypnosis. This is very important since hypnosis requires a good amount of trust and is an activity that can be abused by the unscrupulous. Despite the possibility for abuse, however, Masters makes certain to point out that hypnosis cannot force someone to do things that they wouldn't otherwise be willing to do. This is not a book for someone who wants to trick people into going to bed with them or force people to do things against their will. This is not a book of techniques to save a failing marriage. Hypnosis is about enhancing what is already there, lowering inhibitions against following one's inherent desires, helping one to gain the courage to explore one's desires more closely and so on. The author does not come across as preachy when discussing ethics and his writing style makes it interesting to read what might otherwise be a dry topic.

The reader should expect to spend a lot of time and effort implementing the ideas in this book. This is not a book one just reads and then sets down and is done with -- to get the most out of this book, one has to be willing to work on the exercises. Progress is slow as Masters wisely advises couples to take their time getting into hypnosis. In fact, Masters strongly suggests that the first session consist only of hypnotizing one's partner, checking to see if they are in a trance, bringing them back out of the trance and talking about what happened. Don't expect to be able to read this book in the afternoon and then have fully hypnotized active sex that evening unless you are already an expert hypnotist and your partner is already a proven subject with whom you have worked before. If you want an instant sex toy, get a new vibrator. This book is for people who are willing and able to put a lot of effort and time into building creative and vibrant sex play.

For those interested in using the ideas in this book professionally (such as dominatrices and other sex workers), Masters offers sufficient information and advice that is readily adapted to a professional setting including a short section about the BDSM applications of hypnosis. He also covers what sort of people should most definitely not be hypnotized and workers can use this information for screening purposes to "risk out" those for whom hypnosis play would be more dangerous than erotic.

One of the most valuable aspects of this book, in my opinion, is the copious inclusion of scripts. When I think about hypnotizing a partner, my biggest fear is that I will not know what to say or not remember the best ways to phrase ideas. Masters includes scripts for inducing hypnosis, scripts for dealing with various hypnotic situations and even suggested scripts for sexual fantasy play. Of course many of these scripts should be modified so that they more accurately fit individual situations. A really dedicated reader could even type out the scripts with appropriate modifications and print out their own personal scripts for play sessions.

I found this to be an excellent book and clearly written. I am eager to begin working with the techniques to add a little extra spice to bedroom play between my partner and myself and recommend this book to anyone who wants to add some adventure and mystery to their sex life.

The eyes have it
Ever since reading the once infamous novel Trilby, in which the evil Dr. Svengali hypnotizes the innocent but untalented Trilby into becoming a brilliant pianist, I've been fascinated by hypnotism. Also, my partner says I make love as if I'm in a hypnotic trance anyway, so I thought I'd see if this book could help. Having been trained in hypnosis at the famous Svengali and Trilby Institute myself, I can only say that this book is a fine contribution to the field, especially for those guys (like me) whose modus amore, as it were, is indistinguishable from a zombi-like stupor. Highly recommended.

Can't personal say do it, but this book is a good intro
I won't be using hypnosis in my sex life or my mundane life but if you want to know a bit more about the topic and want to learn how to do it safely, Peter Masters has written an excellent introduction. He spends enough time on the safety issues to satisfy a safety freak like myself but in a way which isn't too frightening if you are already interested in the practice. Using scripts to demonstrate and re-enforce the procedure he has outline was a wonderful teaching method. He is also very realistic about what can and cannot be done using hypnosis though I think many of these activities and changes are likely to take more time than the average person is willing to spend. Another great non-fiction book from Greenery Press.


Genetic Programming : An Introduction : On the Automatic Evolution of Computer Programs and Its Applications
Published in Hardcover by Morgan Kaufmann (1997)
Authors: Wolfgang Banzhaf, Peter Nordin, Robert E. Keller, and Frank D. Francone
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Good as an overall, not for the details
This book is good for getting a general view of genetic programming. Nevertheless, I think it neglects many details. For example, it is very hard to from the book how a simple selection strategy (tournament selection) works in practice.

I do not think this book is useful for someone intending to code a genetic programming algorithm.

terrific textbook
I skimmed the Koza books (GP: I & II) and this one at the store. Using the layout, chapter names, and the introductory chapters as my guide, I decided to buy this book to introduce me to the current state of the art in GP. The strengths of this book are its textbook format and the informal exercises that are presented for the reader at the end of every chapter. There is also a great deal of compilation from other relevant gp works presented in a localized, intra-chapter basis. The book is thus highly digestable to a newcomer, and is a far less time-consuming way to learn about GP than through the "expert" papers on the web. Having now almost finished the book, I feel that I am ready and able to author and apply GP techniques in a wide variety of applications and languages, having spent less than 20 hours in study time. A terrific achievement by Banzhaf and company, highly recommended.

Excellent, comprehensive and easy to read.
We all know that kind of books where the author likes to show how much he knows making things intentionally complex....well...this is the opposite side of the spectrum.
The book is very complete and detailed yet easy to read, even after a day of work.
The first part of the book contains introductory information on background areas like probability, biology and computer science as a general discipline.
Getting into the topic, it clarifies some of the differences between evolutionary systems and genetic algorithms and shows how all this contributes to the theory of genetic programming and the evolution of computer programs.
It explains how things are done with different types of individuals (tree, linear, graph, etc) and gives valuable insight about the implementation process.
Although you may need other sources for formal treatment of some topics, this book is a very good acquisition.


The Last Lap (2nd Edition)
Published in Hardcover by John Wiley & Sons (2001)
Author: Peter Golenbock
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Interesting insight into NASCAR's history
Each chapter is a separate story about one of NASCAR's heroes. The book does a great job of staying accurate, down to the improper grammer of the quoted person doing the story telling! A fun and informative look at how NASCAR built itself up to what it is today.

One of the best racing books ever written
At first, I was hesitant to pick up this book, as Golenbock is not exactly one of the most popular names in NASCAR writing. His last work on NASCAR - American Zoom - was filled with glaring errors and misinformation about the history of the sport. However, after sitting and reading merely a few pages from The Last Lap (...), I could tell this book was much different. Golenbock tells the history of NASCAR from a driver's standpoint instead of merely describing races and race results. Each era of racing is related to a different driver. He also tells the stories of several lesser known drivers who happened to have lost their lives prematurely. If you are a racing fan, I recommend this book. If you don't like racing, you may get curious after reading about the escapades of Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly. It is my personal opinion that you do not have to be a fan of NASCAR to enjoy this book.

I have read a lot of books on NASCAR and this is the best!!!
Peter Golenbock has captured the true face of NASCAR. He interviewed old time racers and their families to give you a look at what there lives where like. Stories about Curtis Turner, Fireball Roberts, Tim Flock, Maurice Petty and many others capture your attnetion for hours. This book is an absolute must have for any true NASCAR fan.


The Long Road of War: A Marine's Story of Pacific Combat
Published in Hardcover by Univ of Nebraska Pr (1998)
Authors: James W. Johnston and Peter Maslowski
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Good insights
James Johnston gave a vivid, poignant and heroic account of his life with the Marines fighting in the Pacific during World War II. It was fascinating to read how it life was for the Marines in the Pacific as like he said, the media tended to focus on the European theater and thought of the Pacific theater as "easy."

Using letters that he wrote home, Johnston managed to add a personal touch to his account. It was interesting to get a glimpse on how he felt emotionally, the friendship that was formed between the soldiers and how a lot of times, soldiers are fighting as hard as they did, for their friends because they did not want to let their them down. When Johnston was the section leader, he was able to show the burden of responsibilities as you were not just in charge of your life but of others too.
Lastly, how he was disappointed with the Marines. He found flaws with the system but at the same time, it was very much part of him.

Excellent Story of the Human Side of War
"The Long Road of War" is a wonderfully-written, highly-emotional story of Marine Corps combat from the "flat-trajectory" soldier's perspective. Johnston shares his own personal horrific views of World War II Pacfic combat. With stirring text, he shows the sudden transformation from Nebraska teenager to Green recruit to hardened veteran. This book is an excellent addition to any historian's bookshelf, once they can find the time to put it down.

A brutally honest memoir from a front line Marine
This was a book that I could absolutely not put down. Mr. Johnston's description of his transition from a Midwest teenager into a battle hardened, front line Marine is told with a grim honesty that is seldom found in books about war. This book does away with any glorification or self-promotion and gives you the tragic, ugly truth about the war in the South Pacific.


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