This is one of the worst textbooks I've ever bought. At least it's complete at over 1000 pages. The example problems, the heart of a text on engineering, leave MUCH to be desired. More than once the authors have decided to reveal new, and consequently unexplained concepts in the first problems at the chapter's end. That coupled with the fact that the instructor's solution manual contains few actual solutions is unforgivable. Repeatedly I've been forced to guess or assume reasons for the existance of certain calculations. Rarely do the authors explain their reasoning for doing certain things and if they do explain something it's not easily understandable from the text. I wouldn't recommend this text to anyone! If you're thinking about getting this book as a desk reference don't waste your money!

The correct title for this book is "Reinforced Concrete Design" not "Reinforced Cornet Design".

I am not sure what a reinforced "cornet" is?

This book has excellent examples for thoroughly designing reinforced concrete structural members. It references directly to the ACI code.

This latest translation of the Chinese Taoist Classic is a dry and lifeless specimen, not surprising from a man whose translation of the I Ching was praised for "having no truck with 'timeless wisdom.'" (back cover blurb). This volume's claim to fame, beyond its slim and attractive appearance, is the complete translation of Wang Bi, a 23 year old commentator from 3rd century CE China. To determine whether this translation is for you, you should know that Wang Bi had a strong inclination toward political interpretation, a proclivity probably due to the "high official status and prestige" of his family and their role in government and politics [p. 9], a trend furthered by his great-uncle's "Treatise on Keeping One's Person Safe"-which begins by making government secure [p. 10]. (Now there's a Chinese virtue, eh?) Consider also Wang Bi's answer as to why Confucius never spoke of nothingness while Lao Tzu spoke of it incessantly (as the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things etc.): "The Sage [Confucius] embodied nothingness so he also knew that it could not be explained in words....Master Lao...constantly discussed nothingness...for what he said about it always fell short [p. 12]." Now if you believe that someone who could say that actually knew anything firsthand about the Tao, then this book is for you. And if you are interested in Wang Bi, see Ellen Chen's superb translation/commentary which puts it in perspective. Otherwise, this is a book on Te-social virtue-where the scholarship is impeccable and the feeling is weak. And that's the Way it is!

"~Finally, a full translation of the Wang Bi commentary. Lynn's translation of the Daode jing itself is nothing new (though it's nice to see many key terms bracketed in Chinese as they appear, and some passages are translated in a fresh and insightful way), but the introduction and commentary by Wang Bi are every bit as brilliant as I'd been led to believe. You cannot fail to gain a deeper understanding of this seminal Taoist text from Wang's commentaries."~ fair, and nonjudgmental throughout, a rare quality in Taoist studies, also providing an extensive bibliography, glossary, and index, in addition to an excellent introduction. This is _the_ best scholarly translation of the Daode jing I have seen.This is not some phony ancient Chinese justification of libertarianism, or think a translation of the DDJ has to be particularly beautiful and poetic to be meaningful (not that there's anything wrong with sounding poetic! it just misses the point of the DDJ), you simply can't go wrong with this book. Thanks to R. Lynn for making this available to all of us who cannot read Classical Chinese. I will not be surprised if this book is someday considered an authoritative translation.

I just got this and it has instantly become my favorite translation. It seemed to click. Add to that the fact that it is more than just the author's interpretation. He includes explanations from people other than himself to try and milk out as much depth as possible using words. Considering the Tao is a wordless form of teaching, these words are wonderful.

Do yourself a favor and add this to your balance of translations. If you don't have one, this is a great place to start.

The book is good, but certainly not up to the other reviews I read. Surprisingly, it's purportedly used as a school text. That's surprising because there's absolutely NO theory inside this tome. It's strictly network by rote.

Especially frustrating were the Exercises and Case Studies *without answers*. Want answers? That's extra-$19.95 for the CD _after_ sending the publisher a "legal release form".

My advice-get a serious text, with extensive explanations (not just lists), good, tough questions and the answers in the back (right where they belong).

This is an awesome reference guide. I give it 10 stars! It is very well organized. All the information is presented in a no-nonsense fashion...perfect for the person who needs to learn this subject in a hurry or who wants to seriously study for the exam. I'm very impressed. After running into too many poorly organized computer guides, this one proves that you can organize technical topics logically and for any reader (at any technical level).

As an instructor of the Microsoft Certification curriculum, I can honestly say that this is by far the best book on Microsoft Networking Essentials I've seen. Whether your studying for the exam, or just looking for a concise, complete reference for network engineering, this book has you covered. It addresses topics in a manner that makes them easy to understand, while at the same time teaching you the tools you'll need to get, and keep, a network up and running at optimal efficiency. Its organization is excellent, and the referenced diagrams help to further explain the topics. Truly an excellent effort, this book will be an asset to both engineers and aspiring MCPs.

The Mustard Seed Garden Manuel of Painting had been a standard reference book for Chinese beginners of painting for a long time (though it ceased to be so quite a while ago). It remains a valuable summary of styles and methods in traditional Chinese paintings, and is of a lot of historical interests because it represents the scope and perspective of the authors some 300 years ago. It is really a fun book to read, but it would be dangerous to use the book as a guideline for appreciating traditional Chinese paintings cause this book was, after all, compiled with a very strict ideology of paintings, even ignoring and misinterpreting many art-historical facts. I would have given the book a 10 if this was not a bad translation. First, we have to admit, it is an old translation. For whatever reasons which I suspect are related to the fact that the book was first published at 1956, there are simply many wrong translations in the English text. If you can read Chinese, I bet you would hardly resist the temptation of giving the book a thorough revision. I often laughed hurting my stomach when I read it. I will leave you to judge whether it's a good aspect or a bad one of this book.

While the English translation leaves much to be desired, this book is THE classic manual of traditional Chinese painting. It is a must for the library of any fan of Chinese brush painting, but it should not be the only book used for instruction, especially if you don't have a teacher. Since the true original book was written in the 17th century, it was printed with woodblocks, so the subtleties of ink shading are not very well illustrated.

However, it is an excellent summary of the myriad of brush techniques, especially for rocks and trees. I highly recommend it as a reference book for anyone serious about Chinese brush painting.

If the translation were better, I would give it 5 stars. Unfortunately, this is the only English version in print, as far as I know. But once you know how to paint, most of the words are not important anyway.

Wonderful book. A great book for any painter or artist with a fascination or desire to understand chinese paintings. This book would have been a ten if it was in color but despite that it's many (many!) illustrations and the translation make this book a genuine treasure. It encompassed several volumes from books over 200 years old - but the wisdom and teachings shared are invaluable and timeless

Though many rate this book very high I must down play it. Yes, it is the classic on pulse diagnosis, however, being such it is very difficult to follow for us westerners. I suggest students in the US stick with Giovani Maciocia or Bob Flaws for pulse and save themselves a lot of time and frustration trying to figure out the translation of this book. However, for those that are serious about knowing anything and everything abou the pulse this is a great addition to a TCM library.

TAKING THE PULSE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WAYS OF MAKING A TCM DIAGNOSIS.BUT THE SKILL IS VERY DIFFICULT TO LEARN;THE ONLY WAY TO LEARN IT IS THROUGH PRACTICE. DOCTORS USED TO TAKE THE PULSE MORE OFTEN THAN WE DO NOW.AS WELL AS THE ARTERIES AT THE WRISTS,THEY USED TO CHECK THE PULSES ON THE HEAD,LEGS AND SOME OTHERS PARTS OF THE BODY.THE METHOD OF PULSE TAKING HAS BEEN SIMPLIFIED SINCE THE FIRST BOOK ON THE SUBJECT(MAI JIG - THE CLASSIC BOOK ON PULSE TAKING)WAS PUBLISHED ABOUT 1,600 YEARS AGO.THE AUTHOR,D.WANG SHU-HE,WAS THE FIRST TO RECOMMEND THE NEW METHOD OF PULSE TAKING:DU QU CUEN KOU(ONLY CHECK THE PULSES AT THE WRIST). THIS BOOK IS DIVIDED INTO TEN BOOKS,A LOT OF TIME AND WORK WAS NEEDED TO TRANSLATE THIS BOOK.IT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE IN YOUR COLLECTION IF YOU ARE REALLY INTERESTED IN MAKING DIAGNOSIS.

This is the only English translation available on the Pulse Classic and it is done very well. The many footnotes add richness to one's understanding of the concepts of Chinese medicine. A must for the serious student.

The first 9 chapters of the book are too basic for students who want to find a job in video developments. But, it will be easy for some professors to teach a course. The later chapters include some good contents, but they are not really related to the early chapters. The second part of book should be a seperate book -- could be a good one. Also, more video application issues should be discussed -- I mean REAL applications -- since the title of the book is "... communications". It is quite weak in the "communications", e.g. file format, sync.,RTP,...

This book covers a lot of topics in one, including many state-of-art developments. The first half of the book covers the fundamentals of image and video coding and processing techniques. This part is not much different from other image/video processing books with basic theories and plenty of maths. The latter part contains new stuff, but I was disappointed by its incomplete introductions. Many sections assume the readers have good background and very briefly mention the topic without even defining some terms beforehand. It is recommended to read the referenced journal papers before trying to understand this part. Wavelet is only covered in several pages. A missing part!

This new textbook covers basic topics on digital video processing as well as a variety of advanced topics on video coding and communication. The authors have been doing leading research on video processing and communications for years. We used it to cover the video topics in a graduate introductory course on image and video processing, and also plan to use it as a reference book for a advanced topic course on multimedia communications. The material is clearly presented with many illustrations. Later parts of the book give a good overview of the state-of-the-art technologies on video compression and communication. There is also an appendix section giving the answers to selected problems. In my opinion, the book is a very good starting point for people interested in the video technologies. It helps to build solid foundations. The book can be complemented with latest research papers for advanced study, or with detailed video coding standards for implementing practical systems.

I was pleasantly surprised by the charm of this book. The factthat it is based on one of my favorite Chinese folktales made meskeptical, but Yep is such an excellent writer that characters in this magical fantasy charmed me. The ending gets a little schmaltzy, but it works.

Award-winning Yep has proven again why he is a master of storytelling. In this treasure of a short novel, Yep offers fantasy, mystery, and family magic. Particularly strong is the characterization of the grandfather-grandson relationship. This is a perfect book for readers just taking hold of the novel. Highly recommended, especially for those with a love of intergenerational and Asian American literature.

This book provides excellent outline, but lacks practice questions. The book only have limited questions at the end of the Unit, and even then, the questions are sparce (~35 per unit of 5 or 6 chapters), instead of questions PER chapter.

This book has just the right amount of detail for course review, and it has a good, logically arranged layout. It's like an ideal set of class notes.

This is a cute little book made up of 101 small parables. The "Tao" in Chinese is translated as "the way" and is meant as the way or flow of the universe. Each lesson imparts a little wisdom that we could use in our daily lives. This book is simply written and is great for children as well as adults.

Acquainted with Grief

In 'Acquainted with Grief' Thomas Harvey has given us an interesting insight in to the church of 20th century China. He does this through biographical details of the life of Wang Mingdao.

This book is for the serious reader who wishes to be better informed on some of the key issues within the church which those in leadership had to face through turbulent times in the nation's history. The issues raised by Wang Mingdao continue to be relevant to our understanding of the church in China today. It is important to know how the church has arrived where it is today, to know what it has come out of and what it has come through in order to see more clearly the way forward.

Wang Mingdao was born during the Boxer Uprising in historic and emotional circumstances which had a traumatic effect upon his early life. His early disenchantment with the West and his own personal pursuit of perfection led him to seek rebaptism and the non-aggressive reform of society. Though not pursuing a career in politics his teaching nevertheless lead to a political reaction and his eventual internment. He quickly sensed that Western missionaries had passed their sell by date and that the future of the church in China lay with his own people. The church needed indigenous leadership and not to be lead by foreigners.

Repentance and conversion were for him the key ingredients in his self-understanding and the means of reforming the church. The Chinese word for ethics is daode. Dao meaning the path or way and when followed leads to excellence or daode. Harvey argues that Wang saw a meeting of Chinese cultural concerns for righteousness. From this Wang saw a meeting of Chinese cultural ideas with the Christian understanding of Christ being the way. There were for him many paths in life; some of them dark and uncertain but to follow Christ was to walk in the light. Therefore in Wang Mingdao we see a fusion of Christianity and Chinese culture. This notion helped to embody Christianity in China. This was not a super spiritual other worldly journey but one with practical consequences for him and society.

In his pursuit of perfection and the marriage of the biblical and Chinese notions of the dao he hits the age old conflict between theory and practice squarely on its head when he says,
"There are indeed a few Christians in the world who are engaged in spreading the light, but unfortunately their efforts are limited to words. They can preach quite acceptably; they can describe the beauties of the Lord; and they can indicate the path that men should follow. But before long their own shadow obscures this good teaching. For there is a considerable difference between what they say and what they do".
The church in his eyes is a company of people who are central to this way of life and hence his criticism of corruption within the churches. The churches, he said, must be exemplars and followers of the excellent way, a way which has echoes of St. Paul in his first Corinthian letter. Wang prays that" we may be model believers, and that ours may be a model church"

When the Communist Revolution came it changed the face of the church and the nation as it sought to conform the whole nation to its view of religion and society. Wang Mingdao reacted against and resisted their fusion of political ideology and the gospel. Though the Communist Party ruled society it nevertheless represented a minority which needed the support and co-operation of other sectors of society in order to govern effectively. The refusal of Christians such as Wang Mingdao to cooperate with the state was therefore an affront to the Party.
Wang Mingdao's resistance is not easily categorised. In order to understand his attempt to maintain an independent course for the church one must read the book in its entirety. He was not a man to compromise his position for which he paid a heavy price in detention. What was to be the defining yardstick of belief? Was it to be the authority of the party, the state or the Scriptures? What was it in The Three Self Movement that he saw fit to reject and criticise? How are those questions relevant for the church today? Why can there be a true governing, self supporting, self propagating church which would be of benefit to itself and to the nation? "Cults heresy and ignorance and dangerous practices are as much a problem for the churches as they are for the government. Allowing Christians to mind their own backyards would relieve the government of some of their own work", says Harvey. Questions such as these put him at odds with the state that sought to bring all institutions into a united front to secure universal compliance.

What is it that the church is called to serve? How does it give to God what is due to God and to the state what is due to the state? How is the Christian able to be both a citizen of heaven and a citizen of earth? How can the church be both patriotic and prophetic? These are some of the questions that this well written and stimulating book raises. What does the future hold? With thirty to seventy millions of Christians within China and a growth rate of 7% annually the Christians of China represent a growing an influential body of thought within the world. Their distinctive character, their thoughts and opinions are in some ways a reflection of the character of Wang Mingdao. For the student who has read the book and wishes to research further there are useful notes and a bibliography at the end of the book.

The Revd Dr Thomas Harvey is a Presbyterian Minister, a lecturer at Trinity Theological College and a former teacher in China. The book is published by Brazos Press ISBN 1-58743-059-2

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