In fact, I enjoyed reading his references and bibliography, because it was just loaded with information that he chose not to use in the text of his book. I also tend to go searching through his index and references for extra information because of all of the books I've read on eugenics here in the U.S. his is the most valid and inclusive of everything I've seen so far. This is a topic which is very difficult to read, let alone write about, without developing very strong opinions not only of the movement itself, but of the people involved one way or another in this particular stain on American history. See...I cannot even keep my own mouth shut for writing a short review on a book on the topic...I cannot imagine researching it for a period of years and being expected to remain distant and objective about it. Kevles does a relatively good job presenting the facts and not becoming too strident about the questionable scientific practices which flourished in order to 'prove' preconceived ideas and beliefs. The book is extremely readable (especially compared to most textbooks for sociology or ethics), and I can understand why professors would recommend this book to their students rather than reading a dry textbook. I certainly have no plans to get rid of my copy, and I will be lending it out and recommending it to those I teach concerning the disabled and bioethics. ...

Remembering the mention of Eugenics in High School Biology, and remembering my odd fascination with genetics and hereditiy, I thought I'd give this book a try. I was fully ready to embark on a difficult and heavy book that discussed scientific matter that went over my head (being a film student, eugenics doesn't come up very often.) Much to my surprise I found the book very readable, and I became obsessed with reading it. Everything about the whole eugenics scene was so complex and intereting.

I think I could keep up with it all because of the way the author presented the subject. It was laid out so that a person (like me) who knew next to nothing about eugenics, could pick up the book and get a history of the people and the practices of genetics and the uses of human heredity. I recommend it to anyone who is somewhat interested in eugenics, but does not have the background or time to devote life study to it. It satisfied my curiosities and my book report! :)

Blessed Be!

Despite its length of only 128 pages, the book covers a good range of subjects: the history of Wicca, Wiccan beliefs and practices, coven organization, festivals and rites of passage, ritual tools, etc. I was particularly fascinated by the brief history of Wicca, which covers the work of Gerald Gardner and other pioneers.

The authors describe Wicca as "a modern version of the original pre-Christian, European shamanic religious tradition." In addition to putting out basic information about Wicca, the authors also clearly mean to dispel "misunderstanding and. . . misconceptions" about this religion and its adherents.

Although I do not practice Wicca myself, I am a strong believer in religious tolerance and interfaith education. I thus salute Tuitean and Daniels for their work on this book. If "Pocket Guide to Wicca" helps to empower Wiccans and to dispel prejudice among non-Wiccans, then all people, regardless of religious identity, will benefit.

Calculus is hard enough as it is--I can't recommend this book to others until the multiple mistakes are corrected.

I picked up this book as a supplement for getting a better understanding of the math for a computer algorithms analysis course. The course relys heavily on an understanding of calculus to analyze growth rates of functions and function derivitives but it didn't go into a lot of depth of why the math works giving derivations, etc. It mostly assumed that the reader had already been exposed to calculus and was only offering a refresher. I've already read through half of the book and while there are some errors in the text, there isn't anything that can't be reconciled.

The book uses programmed learning so you can systematically skip in depth explainations of practice problems if you don't need them. The two main branches of calculus are covered: differential and integral. The material is initially introduced informally and uses graphical explanations (when possible) that really help the material sink in faster. After the main themes are explained, the material is formally defined and offers derivations in the appendices for those who are interested in them. I've found this method helps to distill the purpose of the calculus from the complexity of the equations and terminology.

There is a refresher for graphing linear equations, essential trigonometry, and exponentials/logarithms. The material is given adequate explaination in order "make the jump" to the key concepts of calculus. I've found the text easy to read both in terms of the author's teaching style as well as having crisp text with a large font. A full chapter, designed as an in depth review of both branches of calculus, is included to solidify your understanding of the material as well as offer a context of applying calculus to real world problems. The appendix also has an introduction on some advanced topics of calculus (that I havn't gotten to yet). A caveat is that when you start to work out the practice problems, if you are rusty with algebra you'll probably need a reference for reviewing the basics of factoring, racicals, and manipulating negative/fractional exponents, etc. The algebra is a little light in this respect when equations are solved step by step. The book assumes you have a good working knowledge of algebra and solving/manipulating equations. I found myself having to quickly review how to manipulate radicals and review the eponentation rules.

All in all I am extremely pleased with the text. It's very concise, well thought-out, with an incremental learning slope that is not too steep, offers meaningful exercises that reinforce an understanding of the material, and uncovers the mystique of calculus with intuitive explainations and repetition of key concepts (in key places) to help you retain the material faster.

Thus, for me, this book is sort of a smattering of material that is worthwhile and entertaining reading - but may not be living up to the title of the book. As just one example, there is actually no discussion of the major thinkers who have put forward cognitive and biological hypotheses (for they are not "theories") of religion. (The section on Freud does not really count towards this because his work was not so much cognitive, as psychoanalytic.) Thus, for me, this book did not really discuss theories of religion, per se, but theories of various aspects of what some might call religion and others might call folklore, legend, or mythology.

This is a worthwhile book because you get a condensed view of the thoughts of many notable thinkers from wide ranges of disciplines (such as anthropology, sociology, etc.) but keep in mind that these are not "theories" of religion. They are, if anything, hypotheses and they are, if nothing else, only about relative aspects of various belief systems. If you are more concerned about the origins of religion (and thus a true "theory") I recommend a book like Pascal Boyer's "Religion Explained" or the books by Michael Shermer, such as "How We Believe."

Another problem I had with the book were the footnotes. Sometimes they contained just references and other times they contained material worth reading. In all cases, the "material worth reading" was short enough that it should have been placed in the main text. The constant shifting back and forth in this book made it a slower (and less entertaining) read for me than it probably otherwise would have been.

Overall, however, I think this was a well-researched book and contains a lot of good material. It just did not really cover the aspects of religion that I was hoping for.

As to the criticism that the second edition only has solutions for the odd numbered problems, the reviewer failed to mention that there are twice as many problems in the new edition and that all the problems from the first edition were carried into the second (along with their solutions). I found it more satisfying working through the second edition knowing that the problems were correctly solved - not because the answer matches the back of the book - but because the arguments are compelling and demonstrably correct.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone who feels mystified at the process of writing proofs.

It also covers future missions to Mars and somewhat dates itself while doing so, since Pathfinder and Global Surveyor are presented in the future tense.

Still, this is a useful and interesting book.

The writer uses a court case allegory to discuss 'ALH84001' the Marian rock found by NASA to review the case.

Only in the end does the author expresses his personnal view on the subject, but at least, you are then able to judge by yourself.

This is the kind of book Benjamin Bratt (from the movie "Red Planet") should have read before saying "How do you know it's authentic? How do you know its not toxic, that's the bigger question.".

READ! And learn, before you say anything stupid...

Another good book in this general line is Fenton Bailey's "Junk Bond Revolution". Very well written, probably by a ghostwriter.

A useful counterweight to conventional received wisdom, but, keep in mind, that experts are hired mouthpieces, and Alan Greenspan once testified on behalf of Charles Keating.

I found a defense of Drexel and Milken, and a rebuttal of the charges against them.

Most of the book is a description of their trials, and how they defended, and how the charges were 'put up' by attorney Guilani.

But, I think the book went too far in the last 100 pages. Having run out of things to say about Drexel and Milken, the author diverted his attention to the Savings & Loan scandal, and has the gall to defend Charles Keating, and then go on to defend other S&L 'criminals'. What this has to do with Milken or Drexel is beyond me, and thus only the first 2/3rds of the book lives up to its title.

Also, he never concretes the evidence that there is a conspiracy, only that a top guy in government (who is jealous of Drexel), and Ralph Guilani, (not to mention the government's policies) are against Drexel.

The author starts with a strange question - is there something like too much wealth ? Is it embarassing to earn too much money in a short period of time. Is there something like if you are born like this you must utmost become that ?

This book is a story about a man who I believe was on the way to become the most important financial thinker in our 20th century, a man whou should be seen as a scholar more than as a businessman, in particular because he prooved what scholars before him erected as a hypothesis.

His crime: working unnormally long hours, thinking the impossible paths of financing, not considering the estalished rights of normal banks (which would after him cease to exist) and not bending over to the politicians who turned an industry, that should have been killed in the early 80s into a nightmare of dimensions never heard of before. Milken just helped to open ways to a new wave of shareholder- value-oriented management, and he helped to get the best result out of the S&L legislation, in principle just the way the politicians wanted it - only that they wanted to reverse everything after they had seen what had gone completely wrong,much too late at a much too high cost.

I admit I have always liked Mr Michael Milken, already in the late 80s, when he was convicted, beacause the accusations seemed not plausible. This book shows, that he was sentenced to 3 years in prison (not 10 as one so often reads) for a crime that n-o-b-o-d-y can commit, because it is not a crime. It was just an accusation and a judge who lost control over the PR-work of a selfish State attorney Ralph Guliani. I admit that since reading the book I also admire Mr Milken for his proof, what a man, his wife and chidren can endure.

Read this book just to show reverence to a great man of history who will never surrender, be it to unjustified accusations or to death in form of cancer, and to whom scholars in the next century will look as a magnificent thinker of the last century.

Dr. Rudolf C. King

C'mon, folks! A little common sense! There are millions on the left who "hate" their government whenever it is lead by anyone other than a social program Democrat - aren't they as much "terrorists" as someone who mistrusts their government from a populist perspective? There are HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of Europeans that frankly "hate" the government of the U.S. Are they all terrorists? Wouldn't one admit that perhaps 20-25% of African-Americans despise their government's police forces? That's 5 million potential terrorists, I guess! And doesn't the mass media show a genuine contempt, i.e., hatred, for strongly assertive Christianity? Doesn't that make the media terroristic? I guess hatred of "those that hate" is fundamentally O.K. - if not a social good, and no one sees the inherent contradiction in it being "good" to hate the haters!

The utter and complete failure of the left (here represented by the author) to understand that not only the "right-wing haters" but TENS OF MILLIONS of their compatriots, sympathizers, empathizers, whatever you call them, regard: 1) excessive (by at least half!) taxation of the middle class; 2) much of popular culture as sold by the mass media; 3) court-mandated tolerance of "every diversity of perversity"; 4) essentially court-mandated inferior public schools, etc., to ALL represent terrorist acts committed on a daily basis against the American nuclear family...turns their analysis of our nation's future into pure drivel.

If you like the WROX style, you should be happy with this book.