So you didn't play much baseball as a kid. Or, maybe you played so much baseball that you know too much to work with your inexperienced kids without loosing your patience.

This handbook has it all. How do you get a 4 year old to throw a ball effectively? Not an easy task for someone with a short attention span an no idea what you are talking about. Swing a bat level? Why bother when you can hack at the ball like a woodsman? Tips, techniques, and pictures either teach a parent what is important, or remind him or her what they have known for so long they have forgetten to pass it along.

These are just a couple of examples of the problems I faced in teaching baseball to my kids and areas the handbook was helpful. From catching, throwing and hitting for the youngest of players, all the way through to strategy, baserunning and conditioning for older players. This book will help you get them started on the right track and help them help themselves when they are old enough to read on their own.

Talk yourself into coaching your kid's team so you can be sure they get quality instruction - only to find that the parents are the ones who drive you to give it up? This handbook can help you lay the groundwork up front that will turn your parents into assets.

I could go on and on. This book may not have everything you will ever need, but it does have something useful about everything. A great read and a great resource.

Dr. Lowry's latest in a series of excellent books represents an edited version of the diary of Dr. William Marvel Smith, Surgeon of the 85th New York Volunteer Infantry (85th NYVI). Readers of this book will get a glimpse of the very private thoughts of a civilian doctor-turned-army surgeon doing the best he can to care for his men, while struggling with personal problems at home and in camp.

William M. Smith was born in New Jersey, the son of a practicing physician, and moved to southwestern New York State at an early age. After attending local schools until his mid-teens, he apprenticed himself to a local physician and studied medicine at Castleton College in Vermont.

He opened his own practice, and after some gaining some experience and success, Smith began to involve himself in local politics. He rose from being a local county supervisor, to election to the State Assembly, and finally as delegate to the 1860 Republican Convention in Chicago, where he cast a vote for the nomination of Abraham Lincoln.

Parallel with this success was tragedy: Smith's first wife died four years after the birth of their son, and his second wife died only months after the birth of another. In September 1861, Smith helped raise a company of the 85th NYVI and marched off to war, leaving behind his two sons and a new fiancée. The diary covers his service from June 1862 through May 1863, with entries for nearly every day.

Readers, perhaps lured by the title, should not expect a detailed treatise of the minutiae of battlefield medicine. After active participation in the Peninsula and Seven Days campaigns, Smith and the 85th spent most of their time "behind the lines" in Virginia and North Carolina. Indeed, many of the diary entries are simple recounting of daily sick calls or hospital visits. Still, there is plenty to satisfy the medical enthusiast.

The diary reveals that Dr. Smith had an excellent intuition regarding the dangers inherent in camping in the Virginia swamps. It was Smith's official report that finally convinced the brigade commander to allow the regiment to move to higher, and healthier, ground. An entry later in the diary, detailing an amputation procedure, shows that Smith was a capable surgeon as well. Other entries confirm the prevalence of venereal disease, especially among officers.

During his service, Dr. Smith was given the opportunity to appear before the Army Medical Examining Board in Washington, DC, to take a five-day test for promotion to a higher rank. The entire written part of the examination is reproduced in one of the appendices. Smith's detailed answers to the anatomical, medicinal, and surgical questions, provides an excellent perspective of the "knowledge bank" of a Civil War-era surgeon.
Dr. Smith had plenty on his mind above and beyond his medical duties. Indeed, Lowry contends that the diarist was fighting several "wars" at the same time: conflicts with officers in the regiment, struggles with political enemies at home, agony over leaving his young boys, and doubts about the fidelity of his fiancée; all compounded by idleness and loneliness when the regiment is not active in the field. These personal "battles" make for reading every bit as interesting as poignant as a combat diary.

Smith resigned from the service in mid-1863, returned home to marry his fiancée, and reopened his medical practice. His good reputation earned him the appointment of Surgeon General of the State of New York in 1872. In 1880 he was named the health officer of the Port of New York, a position he held for a dozen years. With more than a half million immigrants flooding the port each year, many disease-ridden, it was a position of immense responsibility. Smith earned praise for his work, a job made even harder by the scheming of politicians.

Dr. Lowry, best known for his own interesting and original works, such as The Story the Soldiers Wouldn't Tell and Tarnished Eagles, has proven himself to be an adept editor. He is at his best when goes beyond merely providing geographical or biographical references to names and places in the diary. As an experienced clinical psychiatrist, he is uniquely qualified to evaluate Smith's emotional and psychological state throughout the narrative. He is not afraid to chide the diarist when he is uncharitable, or diagnose morose entries as symptoms of depression.

In the humble opinion of this reviewer, the book does suffer a few faults. Though the maps are generally well drawn, one entitled "The Siege of Washington, NC" shows the general theater of operations, but no siege lines, making interpretation of the narrative more difficult than need be.

The nearly two-dozen photographs are well chosen, especially those of officers mentioned in the diary, although some of the captions result in confusion (one caption introduces an incident that does not occur for another hundred pages). A photograph or two of actual diary pages would have helped to personalize the narrative even more.

The book is somewhat "end-heavy" with six appendices, only a few of which add substantively to the narrative (for example, several pages are devoted to detailed descriptions of each transport ship and gunboat mentioned in the diary). Nevertheless, these distractions are minor, and do not detract from the narrative itself or from this reviewer's hearty recommendation.

In a history of the 85th NYVI, a writer noted that the day Dr. Smith left the regiment, the men all felt they were losing a "royally good man." Fortunately, Dr. Tom Lowry has brought Dr. Smith's story to light by writing a "royally good" book.

Swamp Doctor is filled with tidbits of Civil War life in 1862-63. Here is a 36-year-old doctor from Western New york, already twiced widowed and two young sons at home with live-in caregivers. Dr.Smith is regimental surgeon for a while, then goes home for a while to check on his boys and court his third wife, and returns to the often slow-paced War of the Rebellion. Surgeon Smith is a captivating storyteller and once you get the vision of life in camp and at home, it is hard to put the book down. Author Lowry has enriched the story with historical events, which adds to the relevance of Dr. Smith's experiences. If you have a passion for the Civil War, or are interested in what it was like being a surgeon in the swamps of Virginia and North Carolina, or just enjoy good non-fiction reading, Swamp Doctor is a book for you.

This is my candidate for Civil War book of the year. Dr. Lowry, perhaps the most accomplished researcher in the field, has published a series of books on the period, all of which are worthwhile, but this time he's done something a bit different. Publishing, for the first time, the Civil War diary of a regimental surgeon, Lowry has shown admirable restraint in adding only the introductory and bridge material (as well as the best footnotes I've ever seen) necessary for all readers to follow the flow of events in the context of the greater war. Surgeon William M. Smith, having lost his first diary during the initial fighting on the Peninsula, began another in time to capture the frustrations and confusion of the first great struggle for Richmond; thereafter, his regiment was posted to the Carolinas, an under-studied, but fascinating theater of war. The diary's value lies in its straightforward readability, as well as in its frankness. Dr. Smith worries over the loyalty of a fiancee left behind in New York, and wrestles with his religious beliefs; he observes rarely-reported battles and skirmishes, such as the inconclusive operations on the Virginia-Carolina line in 1862, then the subsequent forays from New Bern. In between, the reader gets the best account I've seen of the routines of camp life, of daily behavior in occupied territory, of how officers amused themselves (reading Les Miserables, for one thing), and even what room and board cost in the low country. The political nonsense that penetrated even the lowest levels of both armies is there, along with a rich variety of personalities, from selfless patriots to drunks and whoremongers. Throughout, I felt as if I were seeing the real Civil War at last, not some historian's vision through a high-powered telescope. As trite as it is to say this, I could not put it down. This well-written, understated book offers an incomparable window into the times, and I, for one, am grateful to Dr. Lowry for making this diary available to the rest of us. Very highly recommended!

This book helps you to develop a proven winning mental attitude in selling real estate. It strives to turn you into a competent professional with the right focus, the right attitude and the right purpose when it comes to this demanding profession. This book is very succinct and well written. It does not teach you all the in's and out's of real estate (e.g. investment strategies or about mortgage and financing - you will have to find these out in other books), but it does give you the 'battleplan' and a lot of practical tips and advices on how to sell commmerical real estate. The author's enthusiasm and passion for selling is very evident. His positivity should rub off on all those who read it. Good Luck!

Any broker who wants to be really good should read this book. There is very limited training for commercial real estate selling and this book fills a big gap.

This is one of the finest real estate books on the market aimed at the commercial real estate broker. I consult it often.

A concise history of the legendary political scene in Hudson County from the Gilded Age to the administration of the author and Mayor, the late Tommie Smith, in the early 1980s. While the author does drift a bit towards the book's end in just mentioning as many supporters as he can (hey, he IS from Jersey City), this book is perhaps the definitive history of the mayoralty of Frank Hague and his defeat at the hands of John V. Kenny after WWII.

If you even want to understand Hudson County politics today, this book is required reading. If you want to learn about urban politics in Industrial Age America, this book is a great start.

Great book about Jersey City's history from a man who is now a part of that history, the late Thomas F.X. Smith. In reality, Jersey City's "Renaissance" started with Mayor Smith's famous "eyesore" quote in the Jersey Journal. From that point, future Mayors -- such as Gerry McCann -- started a road to "gentrification."

This book covers the early history of Jersey City from a political view. Of course, it covers the Hague administration in livid detail.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone really interested in Jersey City's history. This is the book to read if you are interested in Jersey City, not Helene Stapinski's senseless dribble about her family problems.

I am a life-long resident of Jersey City. I was in Jersey City when the late Tommy Smith was Mayor. I lived through a lot of the incidents covered in this book: J.V. Kenny getting elected, Thomas Gangemi being recalled because he wasn't a U.S. citizen, and Mayor Whelan getting thrown in jail for political corruption. Make no qualms about it, Jersey City -- as well as Hudson County -- was the mecca of political corruption for well over half a century. New York had its Tammany Hall, New Orleans had the Long Family, and Jersey City had the Hague and Kenny Machines.

Indeed, I was intriqued by the Hague administration, and how "der Mayeur" got away with all his political imbroglios. During the 1920's, the rest of the U.S. lived under the dark cloud of Prohibition -- but not Jersey City. During the 1930's, communities had to "compete" for federal projects to help with "depression relief" -- not Jersey City. As a matter of fact, because there was a "red phone" connected between City Hall (on Grove Street) and the Oval Office, Jersey City greatly benefitted from federal projects during the 1930's -- The Medical Center copmplex is just one of these projects. From about 1920 through the 40's, Hudson County -- with Der Mayeur at the helm -- made and ruined the political careers of many an individual.

The Poweriticians is a book about political corruption, and how these political wheeler-dealers used their power to secure their own "empires." After reading this book, you will see how a man with a sixth grade education (Hague) could rule a city for over twenty years. More amazingly, you will read how dedicated people -- like the super-intelligent Tony Cupo (a gentleman and scholar par excellence)-- helped to topple the Hague machine -- only to introduce a new generation of Jersey Cityites to the infamous "Kenny Machine."

It would be too simple to call The Powerticians a Jersey City example of Machiavelli's the Prince. Instead, the Powerticians goes well beyond the Prince, and into another dimension -- that of Jersey City politics where political figures switch sides more often then you change your socks. In Jersey City, one time political allies turn into bickering foes at the drop of a hat, and vice-versa. Instead, this book is like Grave's I, Claudius, where the author discusses the history of Rome (the deals, corruptness, and betrayals) from the eyes of Claudius. The Powerticians does just that. It looks at Jersey City's political history of corruptness, back-room deals, and cloak-and-dagger episodes from the eyes of one of her Mayors, Tommy Smith.

This is an excellent book covering the political history of Jersey City from the late 19th century. It is good, enjoyable reading. You'll read about the famous, the infamous, and the hilarious personalities of Jersey City's past. Well worth having in your library.

I found Conan to be a good read. The main character is great an all the story has a fast and clear reading. Racommended for Conan fans and for all fantasy's fan ..

I remember when Barry Smith drew his first comic for Marvel Comics. It was an issue of the X-Men that everybody in my neighborhood thought was THE WORST DRAWN COMIC BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. It turned out that Smith, newly arrived from England, literally drew the issue on park benches in Central Park. When the first issue of "Conan the Barbarian" arrived it was clear he was not that bad. By the time his run as artist on "Conan" ended it was even more clear he was something special and the fact that the illustrative style that had evolved in those two-year span was not feasible within the demands of producing monthly issues of a comic book was a depressing irony. Now known professionally as Barry Windsor-Smith, he has returned to comic books from time to time to update us on his growth as an illustrator.

Barry Windsor-Smith has long been my favorite "comic book artist," (for my wedding I gave my bride one of his prints, signed and dated with our names) and this collection traces his evolution as such quite admirably, even in black & white. Indeed, not other collection could better serve that purpose. A simple comparison of the covers from Conan #1 and Smith's swansong issue #24 ("The Song of Red Sonja") evidences the transformation from artist to illustrator. For that matter you can also consider Smith intermediary style (e.g., #13 "Web of the Spider-God"). This transformation is as impressive because of how quickly in took place while he was drawing Conan as it is for the artistic growth. But even in his work today you can see how it is grounded in the style he developed while working on this comic.

These reprinted stories are presented in black and white, which is certainly better than nothing, but I look forward to Smith's work being presented in color as it originally appeared. I notice this most particularly in the Epilogue to Conan #20, "The Black Hound of Vengeance," which was originally presented in muted tones of gray, blue and brown. Smith abandoned panels in an interesting change of pace that underscored the emotional impact of the sequence. Without color that impact is most decidedly lost. One of the things that is still discernable is the increase in the number of panels per page from issue to issue through Smith's tenure as he became more comfortable with using art rather than dialogue to advance parts of the story. The best example of this is the hanging sequence on page 14 of Conan #10.

From the writing stand point of "Conan the Barbarian" it should be noted that there is a nice balance between stories adapted from Robert E. Howard's Conan work and original stories by Roy Thomas. For the former "The Tower of the Elephant" (#4) is usually considered the high point. The appearance of Michael Moorcock's Elric in issues #14-15 seems a bit forced, while the Fafnir character (original a quick tribute to Fritz Leiber's famous pair of thieves) becomes a wonderfully integrated character into an ongoing story line.

Of the 25 issues included in this collection not all are drawn by Smith. Several issues are drawn by Gil Kane because Smith had missed a deadline or took a hiatus from working on Conan. Thomas' ability as a storyteller capable of crafting bigger and longer storylines would continue to grow, and while John Buscema's artwork on Conan was quite excellent (especially when inked by Ernie Chan), Barry Smith's work will always stand on a plateau. Jim Steranko cracked open the door on stylized illustration in color comics, but Barry Windsor-Smith was the one who gets credit for busting all the way through.

The essential Conan is a collection of the first 25 issues of the Conan the Barbarian comics released by Marvel back in the early seventies. Although this book is in black and white, a format which seems to have gone out of style, this book often manages to capture the spirit of the original Conan stories. The plots aren't usually too dumb, and as the book advances the comics go from a bunch of individual stories to big story-arcs, making it more readable and giving it more of a sense of continuity.

While this book doesn't always stick to the Conan stories continuity-wise, for the most part it fits in, filling little gaps in between those stories. Also, several of howard's better stories are adapted to comic format here; Tower of the Elephant, Frost Giant's Daughter, and Rogues in the House to name a few. We get the first comics' appearance of Red Sonja as well.

Overall, this is a fun, quick read, and although it's only in B&W, for the sheer amount of materiel included herein it's definitely worth the cover price.

I remember when Barry Smith drew his first comic for Marvel Comics. It was an issue of the X-Men that we all thought was THE WORST DRAWN COMIC BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. It turned out that Smith, newly arrived from England, drew the issue on park benches in NYC. When the first issue of Conan the Barbarian arrived it was clear he was not that bad. By the time his run as artist on "Conan" ended it was even more clear he was something special and the fact that the illustrative style that had evolved in those two-year span was not feasible within the demands of producing monthly issues of a comic book was a depressing irony.

Barry Windsor-Smith has long been my favorite "comic book artist," and this collection traces his evolution as such quite admirably. Indeed, not other collection could better serve that purpose. A simple comparison of the covers from Conan #1 and Smith's swansong issue #24 ("The Song of Red Sonja") evidences the transformation from artist to illustrator. For that matter you can also consider Smith intermediary style (e.g., #13 "Web of the Spider-God"). This transformation is as impressive because of how quickly in took place while he was drawing Conan as it is for the artistic growth. But even in his work today you can see how it is grounded in the style he developed while working on this comic.

These reprinted stories are presented in black and white, which is certainly better than nothing, but I look forward to Smith's work being presented in color as it originally appeared. I notice this most particularly in the Epilogue to Conan #20, "The Black Hound of Vengeance," which was originally presented in muted tones of gray, blue and brown. Smith abandoned panels in an interesting change of pace that underscored the emotional impact of the sequence. Without color that impact is most decidedly lost. One of the things that is still discernable is the increase in the number of panels per page from issue to issue through Smith's tenure as he became more comfortable with using art rather than dialogue to advance parts of the story. The best example of this is the hanging sequence on page 14 of Conan #10.

From a writing stand point it should be noted that there is a nice balance between stories adapted from Robert E. Howard's Conan work and original stories by Roy Thomas. For the former "The Tower of the Elephant" (#4) is usually considered the high point. The appearance of Michael Moorcock's Elric in issues #14-15 seems a bit forced, while the Fafnir character (original a quick tribute to Fritz Leiber's famous pair of thieves) becomes a wonderfully integrated character into an ongoing story line.

Of the 25 issues included in this collection not all are drawn by Smith. Several issues are drawn by Gil Kane because Smith had missed a deadline or took a hiatus from working on Conan. Thomas' ability as a storyteller capable of crafting bigger and longer storylines would continue to grow, and while John Buscema's artwork on Conan was quite excellent (especially when inked by Ernie Chan), Barry Smith's work will always stand on a plateau. Jim Steranko cracked open the door on stylized illustration in color comics, but Barry Smith was the one who gets credit for busting all the way through.

A useful text with numerous examples to motivate and encourage your team to get creative and innovative. Useful to owners of small businesses and entrepreneurs to understand how the big organisations succeed. It is little things that could be done for big returns. With the focus on simple things like benchmarking and audit, understanding markets, products and services, it brings all together on winning customers. I have often trawled this book for best practices from time to time and without fail, I have found often new insight and ideas each time I flipped through it. Its a kind of book you may want to read and dip into from time to time for ideas to spark your creativity! The best practice agenda & top ten diagnostic questions at the end of each chapter are useful tools to develop your own best practices.

An enthusiastic two thumbs up!

Unlike most businesss books that say in 300 pages what can be said in 3, this book delivers its message clearly and concisely.

It offers many "best practices" learned from direct client experience that can be used immediately in companies. Colored with examples, and punctuated throughout with tidbits of wisdom.

A must buy!

The books quotes numerous examples. That's what the book is all about.

Readers may use these as foundation point for implementing best practises in their own companies. Different companies have different situations.

These ideas motivate one to perform well, often to surge ahead of the competition. Gives you the adrenaline pump to come out with the best.

The importance of value-chain is emphasized by quoting examples of companies such as Lexus which managed continuity of service despite problems in plants of its suppliers.

Readers have to be cautioned that this book is not a panacea to customer-service problems.

Customer Service is not a mere toll-free number. A reader will realise this and much more by reading this book.

I am a novice rancher who bought 37 calves at an auction. At one point I had 15 sick calves on my hands, primitive corrals, and the whole town laughing at me. Tonight, I can honestly say the worst is past. My brother and I doctored ten bad eyes, saved a bloat case, doctored a footrot immediately and effectively, and saved at least five extremely ill pneumonic calves, while vaccinating, branding, and eartaging the whole bunch. Without this book and the thorough, intelligent, and courageous instructions it gives to the cattleman, I would have lost a good part of my herd, all my joy for ranching along with them. As it is, the town isn't laughing anymore and starting to wonder where we came up with all those good ideas they're seeing popping up on our place.

Great from point A to point Z guide to raising and caring for beef cattle- an easy read with a lot a valuable information. I would not only recommend this book to someone else in my family looking to start raising cattle- I would buy it for them myself! -- Mike Jorden

Well written and easy to understand guide for everything you want to know about cattle. I learned much and constantly refer to this book. It helped me to better understand our cows and their needs. I HIGHLY recommend it to other cattle farmers, even those who think they know all about cattle.

Self-help is big business. According to Gerald Rosen (1993) as many as 2000 self-help books are published each year. However, only a very few have been evaluated empirically. This sad state of affairs is a poor response to the appeal made by Rosen (1987) that self-help books should first be evaluated empirically before being sold to the general public. Additionally, the little research that has been done on do-it-yourself treatment books sometimes demonstrates major limitations in their usefulness. Yet psychologists continue to develop and market new programs with increasingly exaggerated claims. This is potentially a problem. Especially as psychologists often use self-help books as adjuncts to their clinical practice (Starker, 1988). The good news from research (e.g. Gould & Clum, 1993) is that certain self-help programs can be quite effective. Fairburn’s Binge Eating Disorder treatment (Carter & Fairburn, 1998) and the Albany protocol for Panic Disorder (Barlow & Craske, 1994) are two good examples. In Gould and Clum’s (1993) meta-analysis, fears, depression, headaches, and sleep disturbances were especially amenable to self-help approaches. Sometimes with effect sizes as large as for therapist assisted treatments.

How can busy clinicians keep up with the flood of new self-help books, and know which to recommend? Guilford Press offers a solution. In an attempt to help the clinicians a guide to self-help resources in mental health has been published. It includes ratings and reviews of more than 600 self-help books, autobiographies and popular films. It also includes hundreds of Internet sites, and listings of online support groups. The book addresses 28 prevalent clinical disorders and life challenges – from Schizophrenia, Anxiety and Mood Disorders to Career Development, Stress Management and Relaxation.

To determine the usefulness of the self-help resources a series of national studies have been conducted over the past 7 years. The methodology consisted of a lengthy survey mailed to clinical and counselling psychologists residing throughout the USA. A total of 2,500 psychologists contributed with their expertise and judgement in evaluating the books, movies, and Internet sites. The self-help resources were rated on a 5-point scale (-2 to +2). These data were converted into a one to five star rating (negative ratings were given a dagger). On this basis, 19% of the self-help books were rated as “very helpful” and fortunately only 1% as “very harmful” [e.g. the assertiveness training book Winning Through Intimidation by Ringer (1973) and the weight management book the Beverly Hills Diet by Mazel (1981). Interestingly, many of the books by Scientologist guru L Ron Hubbard are categorized as extremely bad].

When looking more closely at a specific disorder, let us say for example panic disorder, there are some good books that I feel are missing. This is probably because of the rating criteria. In order for a book to be included in this self-help guide the psychologists used as referees had to know about the book beforehand. It was their rating of previously read books that mattered. Hence, if there were good books out there that had not been read by many referees [like the Australian panic disorder workbook by Franklin (1996)], they would automatically receive a lower rating. Thus, a low rating does not necessarily mean that a book is less helpful than a higher rated book – only that it has not reached a wide audience. For example, an excellent book, An End to Panic (Zuercher-White, 1998), previously recommended in a review article (Carlbring, Westling, & Andersson, 2000) was described as “highly regarded by the psychologists in our national studies but not well known, leading to a 3-star rating.” (p. 79). Another thing that disturbed me was that this particular author’s name was misspelled. Instead of Zuercher the surname appeared as Luerchen. No wonder the book was “not well known”! One wonders how many other errors this survey included.

In a perfect world all self-help books would be scrutinized in the same manner as other treatments. However, as a majority of the published books still have not been evaluated, this new guide to self-help is a step in the right direction. Despite questionable inclusion criteria and a few errors I thoroughly recommend this excellent guide to self-help

From books and movies to the Internet, Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health provides a strong survey of self-help resources in mental health which reveals the good ones, bad ones, and how general consumers can tell the difference. Five national studies involving over 2,500 mental health professionals lends to a rating of over six hundred titles and films, along with Internet sites evaluated by a clinical psychologist.

This book contains reviews / lists of the best (and worst) of self-help books / movies and internet resources. It has been compiled using surveys of 1000's of mental health professionals and gives essential guidance on which resources are helpful, and which are best left alone.

The book is clearly-written and well laid out - each chapter relates to a specific problem area eg mood disorders, men's issues, abuse, anxiety etc.

I found the recommendations on books particularly helpful - one can immediately determine which are the best books to read on their own specific problem. Clearly, the input of mental health professionals gives a "scientific" basis on recommendations which in turn leads to a systematic process of choosing which resources should be given credence.

Essential reading if you want to build up a collection of serious (i.e. most useful) self-help resources.