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Book reviews for "Steensma,_Robert_Charles" sorted by average review score:

The Complete Short Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson: With a Selection of the Best Short Novels
Published in Paperback by DaCapo Press (1998)
Authors: Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Neider
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Excellent!
I stumbled upon the short stories of Stevenson kind of by accident, and what a happy accident that was! I can now say that Stevenson wrote both some of my favorite novels and some of my favorite short stories. I haven't gotten around to reading all of his stories yet, but I have loved those that I have read. I can't possibly describe how much I enjoyed Markheim, which is without a doubt my favorite short story of all time. Despite my rather limited reading of Stevenson's short stories, I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.

Quite a reading experience!
There is nothing so exciting as a Stevenson novel--Kidnapped, Master of Ballantrae, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde--who can forget them once you've read them? These short stories have the same ability draw you in. The reading is effortless, and Stevenson's backgrounds don't labor with a conscious attempt at reality. They exist for the story and are as true as need be, and not more. From the South Sea to a Medieval City, the variety is pleasing and keeps you reading. Some of the best stories are "The Bottle Imp" (I doubt if a better twist on King Midas has ever been written), "Sire De Maltroit's Door" (A surprisingly good romance than manages, somehow, to skip all the usual elements) and "The Suicide Club" (not half as grim as it sounds, and showing RLS's ability to penetrate human thought).

These stories are highly recommended and aren't something to be read when you are all out of the "good" standard Stevenson--they stand as some of his best works and should be read just for the pure fun of it.


Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Planning Guide: Take Control of Your Future and Unlock the Door to Financial Security, 2nd Edition
Published in Paperback by John Wiley & Sons (13 September, 1996)
Authors: Ernst & Young LLP, Robert J. Garner, Robert B. Coplan, Barbara J. Raasch, and Charles L. Ratner
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Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Planning Guide - 3rd Edit
As a tax professional and tax educator, I recognized many years ago that tax & financial illiteracy is a major problem amongst taxpayers. For example, consider: 1. how many wage-earners do not even understand all the deductions posted on their pay statements -- or that net pay is not the same as taxable income; or 2. how many people do not understand that the basic tax equation is "tax liability = tax base x tax rate" -- and that tax rate alone is not enough information to calculate one's tax liability; or 3. how many people think capital gains taxes paid are a "bad thing" -- when in fact, they are frequently a "subsidy" provided to wealthier taxpayers at the expense of wage-earners; or 4. how many people are eligible for some form of deferred compensation [401(k)plan, 403(b) plan etc] but they either do not participate or do not participate fully; etc, etc, etc.

In an effort to promote "Basic Tax Literacy," I highly recommend the EY-PFP Guide as a highly accessible & understandable guide for teens and above. This book makes a wonderful gift for all life events -- coming of age ceremonies, graduations, marriage, birth of child, divorce, mid-life crisis, pre-retirement, retirement. It could even serve as a textbook for certain courses and seminars.

E&Y Personal Financial Planning Guide(3rd ed.)- a good tool
This 3rd edition is a useful tool for people who are either starting to understand personal financial planning or those who have years of practical experience but want the latest information available. Complex concepts are explained clearly and concisely. There are no major gaps in the information provided. The book is well organized. Part II which uses a life-event approach to financial planning will be most helpful for people beginning to understand personal financial planning or facing a major life-event.

I enjoyed reading the book and found it filled with exactly the information I was seeking to improve my own personal financial planning. The format was very understandable and will allow me to continue using the book as a reference.


The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
Published in Paperback by University of Chicago Press (1965)
Authors: Charles Robert Darwin and Konrad Lorenz
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After the BEAGLE, Darwin's "funnest" book!
This is the second book that I throw my serious students after I make them read the Voyage. While the subject is serious, there is more than a hint of play throughout, and one can just imagine Darwin observing his own children for clues to discuss as each chapter unfolds. Although this book is of course not nearly as important as the Origin or even Descent, it is essentially part of the Long Argument, and is a great way of bringing behavioural topics to the fore in any discussion of evolution. A pity it is that many modern popularizers of "evolutionary psychology" seem to have missed parts of the form and substance that Darwin expresses here.

A magnificent book, splendid new edition!
Ever since I received Paul EkmanÕs new edition of DarwinÕs classic work, the book has been my constant companion. I carry it with me from room to room, picking it up to read whenever I have a few minutes.

You can open to just about any page and discover yet another gem. Whether you find a bit to read by chance, or whether you like to be guided by the fascinating table of contents and index, or whether you prefer to begin at the beginning, Darwin is always interesting and accessible. In view of our troubled world, I find it helpful to remember that empathy is an essential part of human and animal nature. It seems the study of emotion must lead us toward a deeper understanding of these universal, powerful forces that energize and transform our lives.

ÒExpressionÓ is really an old friend. As a young dance therapist in the 1960s, I was impressed first by DarwinÕs ability to describe the dynamic process of expressive movement. Obviously it is the emotions that motivate and shape the way we move. I learned then that his observations were gathered over a period of 30 years. His subjects included not only all kinds of animals, but also human infants, children and adults from every walk of life and from many different cultures. He approached the study of emotional expression from the perspective of art, literature and inner experience, as well as from muscles and the nervous system. Although it was first published over 125 years ago (1872) DarwinÕs work continues to inspire and inform contemporary research in many fields.

The new edition is simply outstanding. Paul EkmanÕs editing is clearly a Òlabor of love,Ó and at the same time a thorough, original scholarly contribution. I particularly like the way he places DarwinÕs work in a cultural and social/political context. EkmanÕs commentary offers rich resources as he quietly updates, re-frames or differs, yet more than anything, confirms and extends DarwinÕs observations. It is as if Ekman and Darwin were engaged in a kind of dialogue, each learning from the other. Thereader is a privileged witness.

Joan Chodorow


Final Cut Pro 2 for FireWire DV Editing
Published in Paperback by Focal Press (2001)
Author: Charles Roberts
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FCP User
Chawla's book gives an excellent overview of digital and analog video and lists the necessities for optimizing your Macintosh and FCP in a quick and easy language and, more importantly, explains the whys of how things work. I also found the index referencing to be in good working order with easy to find listings. And the book goes over filter effects (left untouched by previous publishers) as well as the basics of importing/exporting alternative media and sound as well as how to incorporate them into your video editing.

Required Reading
I am a digital video producer by trade and this booked proved to me that I really don't know as much as I thought I did. It is simple to understand, but incredibly useful and informative. It will always be kept close to my editing station as an invaluable reference. It has already saved me from a making a couple of mistakes, that I had been making for years. YOU NEED THIS BOOK!


Handbook for Marine Ncos
Published in Paperback by United States Naval Inst. (1995)
Authors: Kenneth W. Estes, Charles C. Krulak, and Robert Debs Handbook for Marine Ncos Heinl
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Great Book
Great information. Good read. A good gift for someone planing on going in.

Great book for Marine NCOs
This book is probably on every Marine NCOs bookshelf or in their footlockers and for good reasons. The book is by the same author of the Marine Officers Guide, and has alot of the information found in that book, but there is also alot of unique information. Its chapters are titled:The Noncommissioned Officer, The Marine Corps, The Profession of Arms, Leadership, Traditions Flags Decorations and History, Posts and Stations, Reserves, Military Justice, Uniforms, Courtesy and Ceremonies, Service Afloat(Sea Service/Duty), Individual Administration, Pay Allowances and Travel, and Personal Affairs. If you are going to be a Marine and plan on becoming a NCO(corporal and above), or are going to become a commissioned officer, you have to get this book.


King: The Photobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Published in Hardcover by Viking Press (02 November, 2000)
Authors: Charles Johnson, Bob Adelman, Robert Phelan, and Richard Woodley
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Absolutely Superb!!!
The words of 1998 MacArthur Fellow Charles Johnson's ccoupled with the poignant photographs of Bob Adelman climax in this excellent literary work that chronicles the life and legacy of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The wonderful photographs and literary prose compliment each other beautifully throughout this masterpiece, detailing the life and democratic stuggles of King. Beginning from the early childhood of Mr. King to his untimely death,
Adelman's photographs depict a very young King with his family. It provides insight into his his upbringing and illustrates the foundation that culminates into the life of the great civil rights leader. It continues to depict his educational pursuits and ultimate marriage to the lovely Coretta Scott.

The books carries the reader through the voyage as a young King rises to prominence as a preacher, his continued quest for racial equality, and mainly
his persistent call for agapic love in conjunction with nonviolence. Also, shared in this tome is intimate photographs of King's time spent with his loving family and information about King's life that may not be well-known.

Although nearly 300-pages, this book capitvates the reader from cover to cover. All in all, Johnson and Adelman are to be commended for their efforts! This liteary piece is nothing short of superb!

Reviewed by Nedine Hunter
...

A Photo Spectacular
I have many photography books in my personal collection, and I have several on the civil rights movement, but this book is by far the best I have seen. The book combines the work of several photographers - including Alfred Eisenstadt, Charles Moore, Henri Cartier Bresson, plus some lesser knowns - who have been individually recognized for their own work. The photographs are a true documentary of Martin Luther King's life and death with many photos I have never seen before.


Leaving Readers Behind: The Age of Corporate Newspapering
Published in Hardcover by Univ of Arkansas Pr (2001)
Authors: Gene Roberts, Thomas Kunkel, Charles Layton, and Eugene Roberts
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The Age of Corporate Newspapering indeed!
Nobody was reporting on the changes in the newspaper industry as the chains were becoming larger and more dominant, owning 80% of the nearly 1,500 newspapers in the US. In the middle 1990s, journalists no longer working for newspapers (to avoid conflict of interest) launched the Project on the State of the American Newspaper, projected to produce some 20 articles that would appear in the American Journalism Review and be the foundation for two volumes.

Essential reading for aspiring journalists
Leaving The Reader Behind: The Age Of Corporate Newspapering surveys a generation of relentless "corporatization" that has radically transformed journalism and newspaper publishing. Unprecedented in the 300 year history of American newspapers, the blitz of buying, selling, and consolidation of newspapers has effected the industry from small town weeklies to the nationally renowned dailies. Gene Roberts (an immensely respected newspaper reporter and editor) has provided the reader with a unique and documented history that is as engaging as it is informative. Leaving The Reader Behind is essential reading for aspiring journalists and students of American newspaper publishing.


The New Standard San Francisco Bartenders Workbook
Published in Paperback by Fubar Press (1998)
Authors: Charles T. Davis and Robert L. Walter
Amazon base price: $29.95
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Easiest to use ever! Finally.
Nicest format, best layout, best and last one I'll ever have to buy. The yearly updates really keep me up to speed. Thank you CT.

Best Barbook EVER ! Very well thought out & layed out.
I'm never buying another book. Finally a book that I don't have to read a story to make a drink. The layout is logical & easy to follow with quantity & liquor in the order to be added, followed by how the drink is prepared ( blended, chilled, layered, etc.) followed by the kind of glass and ice and garnish. No time consuming BS to read through. It's got pictures of all the types of glasses so you don't have to guess, & a table of terminology so I didn't have to wonder what something meant. Has a cross reference by alcohol so I can show it to people who aren't sure of what it is they want i.e. "It had some Bailey's in it and was in a short glass and was kind of light brown... You know?" And all the coffee drinks are separated and the shooters are marked so they are easy to find. It even has a separate blank section with it's own index page for my own stuff and the house specialties of every place I've worked, and they update it every year so I don't have to buy another one. Great chart shows how to make my own layered drinks too. It even stays open to the page your reading until you close it. Best bar book I've ever had, HIGHLY recomend it.


'O Horrable Murder' The Trial, Execution And Burial Of Charles I
Published in Paperback by Rubicon Press (01 December, 1998)
Author: Robert B. Partridge
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An excellent introduction to important Civil War details
In this splendid volume historian Robert B. Partridge has done a wonderful service for students of the life of King Charles, martyr; particularly for those who continue to lament the impropriety of the dearth of appropriate memorials to Charles's memory. 'O Horrable Murder' serves to refresh the memory of experts, and provides useful background and context for those beginning to study his life and martyrdom.
Partridge begins with an accurate and compressed recounting of King Charles's life, then focuses on his imprisonment, last days, trial, execution, and burial. He is adept at synthesizing familiar material from secondary sources, but goes the extra mile correcting errors that have crept into the record by consulting primary sources. For those efforts alone Partridge is to be commended. But this book's primary strengths are the organization of familiar and new details about Charles's final resting place, and the stunning examples of the neglect he has suffered in death. This book provides valuable information for those who argue today for a more appropriate and larger shrine to his memory.
Partridge throughout keeps his sympathies well in check: his factual work is scrupulously accurate and fair. Not every detail selected or featured will please Royalists, and some of Partridge's historical analysis might be discussed with alternate views, but by and large he is an author that defends the martyr case and the cause of Charles's memory because he doesn't argue: he presents the facts.
Partridge's writing style is brief, clear, and clean, but most commendably he is a master of selecting details that give focus to the argument of the neglect of King Charles. Yet, the argument is not made explicitly, but rather by allusion. Partridge carefully details the initial actions of the interested parties in Charles's day that had neither the resources, nor the power, to provide him with a more suitable burial. He continues to recount the processes and delays for a Restoration memorial through the reigns of Charles II and James II. He then provides the most ironic section of the book, "1649 to 1813," detailing the long period of ignoring Charles. Partridge furthers the unstated argument by providing details of Charles's relics being displayed without piety but as a "curiosity." He then carefully and fully describes the standard treatment dead English Royalty ordinarily would be served. The contrast with Charles's treatment cries out from the vault of Saint George's Chapel at Windsor castle.
Partridge's strengths as a historian are evident throughout, but his work with neglected primary sources is the volume's real contribution. Chapter twelve for example is a transcription and comments on Sir Henry Halford's account of the exhumation of Charles in 1813, unearthed when workmen accidentally broke through the unmarked vault in St George's Chapel. The exhumation revealed how the body of the King had been prepared for burial, which enables a comparison to be made between his and other royal burials of this period and furthers the case for Charles's neglect. Halford discusses medical evidence from the king's body, and strikes a fine balance on including thorough pathological detail without descending to the ghoulish, however, this chapter safely can be skipped by those whose piety or other proclivities would prevent review.
Chapter thirteen contains perhaps the one disappointment of this book: Partridge provides information of how the martyred King's resting place finally came to be marked with a slab of black granite in 1837 by King William IV. The information, but not the story; as Partridge notes "Exactly why William IV decided to have the site marked may never be known." Well, readers want to know the story, and Partridge has done such an excellent job teasing out the telling detail, correcting the misleading error, and synthesizing the available information so far the reader is left curious as to why he stops on this subject.
'O Horrable Murder' includes for the first time in print a transcription of the Tuesday, December 13th, 1888 account "REPLACING OF RELICS in THE GRAVE OF CHARLES I."
In a sadly annoying conclusion he lauds as a fitting epitaph for the Martyr King the Puritan poet Andrew Marvell's well-known lines about Charles, in a poem otherwise glorifying Oliver Cromwell. Well it is not a fitting epitaph, not nearly adequate enough, as Partridge's whole own book makes all too clear.

Partridge includes several excellent additions to his main subject matter that further illuminate his focus and provide useful guides. "Principal Players" for example, is a collection of sketches of the figures involved in Charles's life, imprisonment, trial, execution and burial. "The Banqueting House and the Window Leading to the Scaffold" is the best treatment ever regarding the specific window Charles's used to ascend the scaffold and meet his maker. "Signatories to The Death Warrant of King Charles I" collects all the usual suspects in one quick reference, but sadly does not come as a perforated detachable page for use as a darts target.
"The Death of A Monarch" provides detail on English royal burial customs that preceded and followed the death of King Charles, martyr, and serves to accentuate the level of neglect and impropriety he suffered. Those who wish to avoid technical, medical, and clinical treatments of the dead would be advised to skip the first 23 paragraphs (until the middle of page 162) of this appendix, and then continue on with the fascinating details about coffin ornamentation for royalty, the construction of life-like funeral effigies, and elaborate temporary monuments.
Appendix IV provides an introduction to the activities of The Sealed Knot, of which Partridge is a leading member. "The Society stages a wide variety of seventeenth century historical military reenactments, throughout the length and breadth of Great Britain." Partridge notes that the modern society of The Sealed Knot is "non-political...and includes both Royalists and Parliamentarians within its ranks." Of course the members of the original society of The Sealed Knot were loyal Royalists who eventually succeeded in restoring Charles II to the throne, although not without their own martyrs along the way.
The book includes 58 rare and seldom available illustrations that contribute helpful detail, many the author's own competently executed pen and ink sketches made to amplify historical points in the text. Most startling is the cover, which on first glance appears to be a close up photograph of the face of King Charles. It isn't of course, but rather a "soft-focus" photograph of his wax likeness at the famous Madame Tussaud's of London.

Superior volume on the Royal Martyr's Trial, Death & Burial
In this splendid volume historian Robert B. Partridge has done a wonderful service for students of the life of King Charles, martyr; particularly for those who continue to lament the impropriety of the dearth of appropriate memorials to Charles's memory. 'O Horrable Murder' serves to refresh the memory of experts, and provides useful background and context for those beginning to study his life and martyrdom.
Partridge begins with an accurate and compressed recounting of King Charles's life, then focuses on his imprisonment, last days, trial, execution, and burial. He is adept at synthesizing familiar material from secondary sources, but goes the extra mile correcting errors that have crept into the record by consulting primary sources. For those efforts alone Partridge is to be commended. But this book's primary strengths are the organization of familiar and new details about Charles's final resting place, and the stunning examples of the neglect he has suffered in death. This book provides valuable information for those who argue today for a more appropriate and larger shrine to his memory.
Partridge throughout keeps his sympathies well in check: his factual work is scrupulously accurate and fair. Not every detail selected or featured will please Royalists, and some of Partridge's historical analysis might be discussed with alternate views, but by and large he is an author that defends the martyr case and the cause of Charles's memory because he doesn't argue: he presents the facts.
Partridge's writing style is brief, clear, and clean, but most commendably he is a master of selecting details that give focus to the argument of the neglect of King Charles. Yet, the argument is not made explicitly, but rather by allusion. Partridge carefully details the initial actions of the interested parties in Charles's day that had neither the resources, nor the power, to provide him with a more suitable burial. He continues to recount the processes and delays for a Restoration memorial through the reigns of Charles II and James II. He then provides the most ironic section of the book, "1649 to 1813," detailing the long period of ignoring Charles. Partridge furthers the unstated argument by providing details of Charles's relics being displayed without piety but as a "curiosity." He then carefully and fully describes the standard treatment dead English Royalty ordinarily would be served. The contrast with Charles's treatment cries out from the vault of Saint George's Chapel at Windsor castle.
Partridge's strengths as a historian are evident throughout, but his work with neglected primary sources is the volume's real contribution. Chapter twelve for example is a transcription and comments on Sir Henry Halford's account of the exhumation of Charles in 1813, unearthed when workmen accidentally broke through the unmarked vault in St George's Chapel. The exhumation revealed how the body of the King had been prepared for burial, which enables a comparison to be made between his and other royal burials of this period and furthers the case for Charles's neglect. Halford discusses medical evidence from the king's body, and strikes a fine balance on including thorough pathological detail without descending to the ghoulish, however, this chapter safely can be skipped by those whose piety or other proclivities would prevent review.
Chapter thirteen contains perhaps the one disappointment of this book: Partridge provides information of how the martyred King's resting place finally came to be marked with a slab of black granite in 1837 by King William IV. The information, but not the story; as Partridge notes "Exactly why William IV decided to have the site marked may never be known." Well, readers want to know the story, and Partridge has done such an excellent job teasing out the telling detail, correcting the misleading error, and synthesizing the available information so far the reader is left curious as to why he stops on this subject.
'O Horrable Murder' includes for the first time in print a transcription of the Tuesday, December 13th, 1888 account "REPLACING OF RELICS in THE GRAVE OF CHARLES I."
In a sadly annoying conclusion he lauds as a fitting epitaph for the Martyr King the Puritan poet Andrew Marvell's well-known lines about Charles, in a poem otherwise glorifying Oliver Cromwell. Well it is not a fitting epitaph, not nearly adequate enough, as Partridge's whole own book makes all too clear.
Partridge includes several excellent additions to his main subject matter that further illuminate his focus and provide useful guides. "Principal Players" for example, is a collection of sketches of the figures involved in Charles's life, imprisonment, trial, execution and burial. "The Banqueting House and the Window Leading to the Scaffold" is the best treatment ever regarding the specific window Charles's used to ascend the scaffold and meet his maker. "Signatories to The Death Warrant of King Charles I" collects all the usual suspects in one quick reference, but sadly does not come as a perforated detachable page for use as a darts target.
"The Death of A Monarch" provides detail on English royal burial customs that preceded and followed the death of King Charles, martyr, and serves to accentuate the level of neglect and impropriety he suffered. Those who wish to avoid technical, medical, and clinical treatments of the dead would be advised to skip the first 23 paragraphs (until the middle of page 162) of this appendix, and then continue on with the fascinating details about coffin ornamentation for royalty, the construction of life-like funeral effigies, and elaborate temporary monuments.
Appendix IV provides an introduction to the activities of The Sealed Knot, of which Partridge is a leading member. "The Society stages a wide variety of seventeenth century historical military reenactments, throughout the length and breadth of Great Britain." Partridge notes that the modern society of The Sealed Knot is "non-political...and includes both Royalists and Parliamentarians within its ranks." Of course the members of the original society of The Sealed Knot were loyal Royalists who eventually succeeded in restoring Charles II to the throne, although not without their own martyrs along the way.
The book includes 58 rare and seldom available illustrations that contribute helpful detail, many the author's own competently executed pen and ink sketches made to amplify historical points in the text. Most startling is the cover, which on first glance appears to be a close up photograph of the face of King Charles. It isn't of course, but rather a "soft-focus" photograph of his wax likeness at the famous Madame Tussaud's of London.
The Bibliography contains the usual secondary sources familiar to students of the English Civil Wars, however he also includes primary source surprises such as King Charles I, his Death, his Funeral, his Relics, by Edmund H. Fellows (Windsor Castle, 1950), and Essays and Orations, including An account of the opening of the Tomb of King Charles I, by Sir Henry Halford (John Murray, 1831). The index is quite good, but not exhaustive, and further editions would need improvement as it covers proper names only and excludes topics and subjects.
'O Horrable Murder' is printed by a very small London-based press, which no doubt accounts for its rather dear price. However, the material Partridge has sifted through, the detail he provides, and his particular focus makes it worthwhile to acquire.


California Highway Patrol Yesterday and Today
Published in Paperback by Phase Three Pub (1990)
Authors: Robert A. Wick and Charles C. Haacker
Amazon base price: $18.95

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