This book is very easy to follow and understand (diagramed pictures, step-by-step directions, glossery, and a review at the end of each lesson). It's really ideal for individuals who are not familiar with Office whatsoever, but even as a novice I still got a lot out of it (who knew there was a format-painter in Word?). I highly recommend it for anyone who is new to the Office software, and who wants to learn it on their own time. You can go through the book at your own pace and focus on any one particular program in Office if it suits you (for instance, how well do you really know Access?).

It's a good buy. Also, Eastern Michigan offers a course online with Professor Preston - should you want the extra help.

I bought this book, along with three others in the series, for Winter semester classes. Since I needed to know PowerPoint right away, I went through this book over Christmas vacation on my own. Each step includes a picture of what the screen should look like. That made it very easy to tell if I did the steps right. I occasionally used the CD, which showed every step of every lesson, and actually talked you through them. I learned enough PowerPoint that I will be able to create really good presentations! What a great way to learn PowerPoint. I'm actually looking forward to learning the other Office programs.

I bought this book, along with three others in the series, for Winter semester classes. Although the class lasts through April, I finished the PowerPoint book in December, then the other three in the next six weeks, because I need to know these programs immediately! Each step includes a picture of what the screen should look like. That made it very easy to tell if I did the steps right. I occasionally used the CD, which showed every step of every lesson, and actually talked me through them. Word is a fairly easy program to learn, and I moved through this book rather quickly. It was a fun way to learn for a visual learner. What a great way to learn Word. I highly recommend this series!

Rarely does a comprehesive book cover the known work of an artist and open and close the issue. Persac is little known outside of Louisiana. He is a major early artist who documents Louisiana life in the late pre Civil War era. Kudos to the authors, sepecially Prof. Bacot. Thank you for this book.

Sally Morton and John Rolph edited and contributed to this collection of case studies of public policy issues that were conducted by the Economics and Statistics Group at the RAND Corporation. Sally is the current head of the group and John is a former head who is now a department chairman at the University of Southern California. The statistics group at RAND has a celebrated history for excellent and unbiased analyses of public policy data. As an organization they have existed since 1976 but individuals from the group had an impact even early. For example, Bill Rogers was part of the famous Princeton robustness study (published in 1972) while he was employed at RAND.

Many of the leaders of this group have participated in writing these studies including several who have moved on to careers elsewhere (e.g. Bob Bell, now at AT&T Labs - Research; John Rolph, now at USC; Jim Hodges, now at University of Minnesota; and Carl Morris, now at Harvard University).

Those currently at RAND who have contributed include Allan Abrahamse, John Adams, Phyllis Ellickson, Lionel Galway, Catherine Jackson, Dan McCaffrey, Sally Morton and Dan Relles. This is a mix of very seasoned RAND statisticians along with some junior members and colleagues. Several members of the group did not contribute to the case studies but well could have. I was particularly surprised at the absence of Naihua Duan who is an ASA fellow and has contributed to major health studies at RAND. Naihua has also been responsible for innovations while at RAND including contributions to sliced inverse regression and transformation "smearing" methods.

Nevertheless, the collection of studies are both interesting and important to the public and in several cases the findings go counter to the popular information in the media. Well-known Stanford Statistics Professor Brad Efron calls the media statements "misinformation" and "disinformation" and claims that RAND gets it right in his foreward to the book. Many Stanford students and colleagues of Efron had careers at RAND including Bob Bell, Naihua Duan, Carl Morris, Bill Rogers and Sally Morton.

There are a total of 10 case studies included. The first three are categorized as primarily addressing the collection of data (addressing issues in the design phase). The next three are considered to be primarily addressing the detection of effects (estimation or hypothesis testing aspects of statistical analysis) and the last four are considered to emphasize the understanding of relationships.

I have skimmed through all ten case studies and have read case numbers 3, 4, 5 and 7 in detail. The topics are as follows: 1. School-Based Drug Prevention by Bell and Ellickson. 2. The Health Insurance Experiment by Morris and Hill. 3. Counting the Homeless by Abrahamse. 4. Periodicity in the Global Mean Temperature Series? by Adams, Hammitt and Hodges. 5. Racial Bias in Death Sentencing by Morton and Rolph. 6. Malpractice and the Impaired Physician by McGuigan and Rolph. 7. Supply Delays for F-14 Jet Engine Repair Parts by Galway. 8. Hospital Mortality Rates by Thomas and Rolph. 9. Eye-Care Supply and Need by Relles, Jackson and Lee. 10. Modeling Block Grant Formulas for Substance Abuse Treatment by McCaffrey and Adams.

Analysis in #3 indicates that there are only about 400 homeless in Orange County as opposed to public estimates and claims of 4000 or more. Results in #4 indicate that the data are inconclusive regarding a global warming effect. In #5 both logistic regression and tree classification methods are used to show no clear bias in death sentencing based on the race of the victim. In #7 careful analysis of the data reveal that transporting supplies is the key factor in delays for getting repair parts for the engines and not the slow procurement process.

As an applied statistician who does a fair amount of consulting, I always find good case studies to be enlightening and helpful to me in my practice of statistics. These articles are very good and enlightening and they follow a common format. They start with an executive summary that provides an overview and the bottom line results. This is followed by an introductory section and then a section describing the study design, data collection, data sources and elements. The third section deals with datafile creation, descriptive statistics and exploratory data analysis. The fourth section covers statistical methods and models used. The fifth section gives results. Section 6 is a discussion section which may include summary, possible future extensions of the analysis, and conclusion and recommendations. The final section provides exercises. This last section is excellent for a course based on the case studies as it tests the student knowledge based on material learned in the case study. Sometimes self-contained problems are given but in other cases the reader is referred to the casebook web page at the RAND web site where data sources can be found to do the exercises.

In practical work I have always found that a clear understanding of the problem and good descriptive statistics and/or graphics are far more important than the particular method of analysis (which often times can be very elementary). These studies exhibit this principle well. In many cases good exploratory analysis, good design and clear understanding lead to the key results and the appropriate statistical methods. These methods are usually simple and elementary although some are fairly new tools (e.g. bootstrap, tree classification and empirical Bayes methods).

As a newbie to Novell I was looking for a quick and comprehensive guide. The book explains things that I didn't find in other books I bought before. E.g. connecting local printers to the server. I know nobody does this, but me! And how lan, wan administration works. There is a server console command reference and everything that I needed. I compared the book with all the others that were available with the result: This is quite a good book and the price is not so high.

I think everyone should read this book. It only serves to make us realise how lucky we are and how we, especially in the West, can have nothing to complain about. The sufferings of the various women who in some cases had to fell trees in -50 degrees centigrade for 600grms of bread a day is inspirational. At some points I felt that I was ready fictional accounts as I found it hard to believe that mans inhumanity to man, or in this case, woman could be so mind numbingly awful - and for what.....truly terrifying. Exceptional read you will not be able to put it down and the strength of character of the women will stay with you long after you have finished the book.

This is one of the best books on the planet. The author has succesfully put into words the personal rewards people recieve when they donate their time or other resources. I feel compelled to get involved in some project asap when I open this book. Like the other books in the Life 101 series, you can read this book through or open to any page for inspiration or meditation. Many books about success emphasize giving as essential to personal success; this book clarifies that and motivates readers to share themselves.

I'm giving the book three stars for three reasons: One, we have a 3-month-old son with Down syndrome and anything on the subject is a welcomed addition to our library. Two, as difficult as it was to read some of Gene Stallings' comments about his own son, it probably took a lot for this football coach to bare his soul in print. Three, John Mark Stallings touched a deep nerve, giving me more hope that our little boy has every opportunity to grow up to be a loving, giving, productive man. But until the last two chapters, the book leaves you wondering whether Johnny was truly given a fair shake. Instead of celebrating the birth of his only son, in typical jock fashion, Stallings tries to punch out the doctor, changed the boy's name ("...we knew he would never be able to carry on the family name..."), laments that the boy will never be a strapping quarterback in the NFL, and worries over Johnny's slight physical differences. The book does illustrates how far we've progressed in our acceptance of people with Down syndrome, and brings home the fact that it is only the families of children with this disability who will ensure they get the unconditional love, attention and education they deserve. At the same time, though, I'm afraid it perpetuates some of the stereotypes and misconceptions that people continue to place on those with Down syndrome.

Gene Stallings is a man's man. A father's father. He was, and still is, a great coach, husband, and teacher. Yet he has a tender compassion not always seen in men of his calling. He owes much of that part of him to his son and he knows it. He has taken the sorrow and pain his family bore and turned it into an story of amazing hard work, courage, and love. This book should be one of the first things read by a couple faced with the reality of a Down Syndrome baby. Coach Stallings shows us there is life after DS, and it can be very good, indeed,it can be wonderful.

Another Season is a well written story of one family's life in that it intertwines the success of one of the strongest football coaches (NFL and College) and that of his personal life. My wife and I have a five year old son who happens to have Down Syndrome, and to hear Coach Stallings share his innermost thoughts and feelings about a similar situation was very encouraging. The alternating recollections of football and personal family life are interesting and compelling. Coach Stallings' honest and frank feelings about his son, Johnny, make you feel like you are right there with him as he wrestles with the unbelievable news that his son has Down Syndrome. I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is excellent reading.

Pond Life is like a general biology introduction to life found in ponds. All types of life are covered, albeit in very brief introductions. Plants and animals (microscopic to mammals to birds) each receive tertiary coverage. The book does not get into specifics on how wetlands function relation to other ecosystems, and such coverage would have been useful, but the overall emphasis is still relevant.

The book is likely not intended to be read from cover to cover, as it is a field guide. Field guides are really meant to be brought along in a pocket for easy reference when making field identifications. In this respect, I am a big fan of other field guides in the series.

This volume and its companions should be readily available at nature centers, but the price is low enough for people to purchase it for their own libraries. What it lacks in detail it makes up for in compactness and readability.

Golden Guides are often described as books for children just discovering the natural world. While the series is eminently usable by young naturalists, Golden Guides are solid introductory field guides. One of the strengths of "Pond Life" is its comprehensive scope covering everything from protozoa to plants to mammals. Indeed, it provides more good basic information on identifying types of water plants than any other source I know complete with measurements and color illustrations. The same applies to its coverage of invertebrates as well, though the minor objection of the previous reviewer concerning its scanty treatment of protozoa is a valid one. I would add to the strength of "Pond Life" its portability, which packs a plethora of information into a small package. Another weakness (of the Golden Guides in general) is its datedness to the 1950's and 60's. This does not affect its basic science in most cases, though it is strange (albeit nostalgic for some) to see the equipment suggested for pond watching.

E.O. Wilson, in his beautiful and brilliant autobiography, has stated that if he could live his life again, he would do so as a microbiologist who would dedicate himself to the study of a single tree and the area immediately surrounding it. He would investigate the organisms and the ecology of that small space, finding enough there to occupy his interest for a lifetime of exploration and research.

Given the same choice, I would choose a pond as my area of study, and this book would be one of the first field guides I would use. It is a basic introduction to the study of small bodies of fresh water: their defining characteristics, the forms they take through the seasons, the cycle of their lives, and the distinct forms they take throughout the United States. It also touches on the physical and chemical characteristics of water, and the importance these have for the organisms that live in or near the pond. The book introduces the concept of food webs and the multiple habitats of lakes and ponds, and also lists and describes some of the basic collecting tools of the limnologist (one who studies bodies of fresh water). The majority of the book is dedicated to the plants and animals which are frequently found near ponds. As one would expect, the emphasis is on how these organisms relate to the others in this environment, whether they are full or part time denizens, and in what types of ponds they can be found. More than merely a book about creatures found in ponds, it presents information about the pond itself and how its many inhabitants and visitors relate to one another there.

The book has two small weaknesses. The first is a slight bias towards organisms found only east of the Mississippi. There is enough information about ponds in general, however, to make this guide useful for any budding limnologist. The second flaw is that the sections on the protozoa and other microscopic organisms are far too short, but as a protozoologist I am perhaps biased. Still, I think that even a few more pages would have added to the value of this section by demonstrating the amazing complexity of these phyla.

As it is, however, the book functions admirably as an introduction to the study of ponds: it will lead beginners into the natural world, and to help them identify what they find there. It is suited for older children and adolescents, and will still be of some use at the college level, if only because it includes a list of more technical reference books. I recommend it for anyone who wants to "take the plunge" into the study of this fascinating environment!