This parasitology textbook is the highlight of my second year in medical school. Most of my classmates do not rely on this book as their study tool, but to me, it is everything that will help me get through my parasitology course. The details regarding pathological symptoms, treatment and diagnostic methods are very clear and easy-to-read. A must for medical students taking parasitology!

What are the social, legal, medical and psychological implications of the fact that marriage is good for you? This collection of essays seeks to answer that question.

The social sciences have make it quite clear that marriage confers a number of benefits on those who partake of it. Married people live longer, healthier and fuller lives than those who do not marry. How are the various professions, such as law, medicine and therapy, to respond to these facts?

A number of family experts, theologians, and social scientists here address these questions. The professions, they argue, have tended not to discuss such issues because marriage is often viewed as a strictly private and personal affair. But as we begin to understand the public nature of the institutions of marriage and family, the professions need to look more closely at some of the new findings concerning marriage.

For example, if marriage is indeed good for couples, good for children, and good for society, how should family law reconsider its role? What changes might business leaders make in the light of the new research? How should governments respond to the findings of the social sciences?

The 14 chapters in this book address these issues, and explore a number of related themes. The result is a new examination of marriage and its importance, especially in its social and public setting.

Several of the chapters alone are worth the price of the book. The chapter by David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead on "The Personal and Social Costs of Divorce" is a very fine summary of what the social sciences have been discovering over the past few decades. Their concluding remarks are worth repeating:

"It is clear that children are hurt by divorce, often seriously and much more than many adults seem to believe. And high rates of divorce create a social climate in which the kinds of intact families most likely to help children thrive are in ever shorter supply. Through its gradual corruption of a strong culture of marriage, childbearing, and child rearing, divorce may have negative consequences for society far greater than we now realize."

Equally important is the article, "The Health Benefits of Marriage" by Linda Waite. She provides a helpful overview of the available evidence which tells us that married people do indeed live longer, healthier and happier lives than do non-marrieds. Singleness, cohabitation and other relationships simply do not compare with that of marriage.

The implications of these truths are spelled out in the remainder of the book. Legal changes, for example, seem to be in order if it is true that easy divorce has such bad ramifications for children, adults and the broader community. A return to some kind of concept of fault in divorce laws is one possibility. Covenant marriage is another. But societies must make marriage more secure while making divorce more difficult.

Likewise, in education we need to do more to spread the message that marriage is a valuable social good, as well as a benefit to individuals. And the negative impact of divorce also needs to be made known. Just as society has cut down smoking, drink driving and other harmful behaviours by education campaigns, such an approach is needed here as well.

In the same vein, counselors and therapists need to reassess their approach to marital difficulties. Instead of simply blessing a quick divorce, more work needs to be done on getting couples to work through their difficulties, and reinforcing the ideal of marriage. And marriage educators need to restore the social dimension of marriage, instead of treating it in such a highly individualised manner. Marriage is much more than a private, individual affair, and this needs to be kept at the forefront of any counselling.

Indeed, on every front we need to affirm the goodness and usefulness of marriage and family, while pointing out the negative results of divorce and family breakdown. Individuals and societies both need to hear this message.

As John Witte concludes in his article on the goods and goals of marriage: "Stable marriages and families are essential to the survival, flourishing, and happiness of the greater commonwealths of church, state, and civil society. And a breakdown of marriage and the family will eventually have devastating consequences on these larger social institutions."

We now know this truth conclusively, with a wealth of social science research to back it up. The next step is to act accordingly. This book helps us to do just that.

William Ames' "Marrow" is one of the two or three books sure to have been found on every pilgrims bookshelf beside the Geneva Bible, a Bay Psalm book and perhaps a few others (Maybe Wigglesworth's "Day of Doom")was Ames works, and to be sure it's special place was deserved. Ames wrote the Marrow in order to take all the confusing arguments of systematic theology and boil them down to the essence, so his readers would have the BARE BONES of the point at issue. This he did magnificently! This edition has a full biography of Ames and a good writeup that gives the feel for the times and debates surround the work. A masterpiece!

The Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute is a world renowned center for the fine arts. Ably edited by Anna Tobin D'Ambrosio, the Curator of Decorative Arts at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute Museum of Art has compiled essays by herself and other decorative arts scholars on more than 65 finely crafted examples of American furniture encompassing nearly every 19th century style and explores the careers of America's most influential cabinetmakers and shops of the era in Masterpieces of American Furniture From the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute. Her introductory essays traces the evolution of the museum's decorative arts holdings. The informative text is superbly illustrated with more than 90 color plates, plus detail images from period sources and labels. The outstanding and scholarly presentation is highly recommended for students of 19th century American furniture, cabinetmaking, and home decorative fashions.

This book is excellent text for students in civil and mechanical engineering. This illustrations allied with your explanation is good for comprehensive of strengths of materials. It's very important new edition with computer application.

Book Notes by Keith Reeves from the Spring 1996 edition of the Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics (Volume 1, Number 2, page 134): "Employing a multiple-method research case study approach (a prescreening mail survey, in-depth interviews with a panel of registered voters, and content analysis of local and national media coverage), the author examines how 'attack journalism' influenced the candidate preferences of voters in teh 1992 U.S. presidential campaign. The central research questions concern the following: Do attack news items reach all voters regardless of political interest and media access? Does attack journalism affect individual vote choice? Dividing his panel of voters into four groups, depending upon both their interest in politics adn their access to media, Cavanaugh finds that attack journalism tends to catalyze interest of voters across each group rather uniformly; attack journalism, however, does not influence voters' candidate preferences across the four groups uniformly."

I've used this and the previous edition of Greenberg's text for my epidemiology and literature interpretation course for Physician Assistant students. I've found the text very readable and nicely linked to clinical practice. Each chapter starts with a clinical case around which the chapter is focused. The study questions at the end of each chapter also are useful.

It is an excellent introductory text for clinicians/health professional students. Probably would not be the best choice for a epidemiology course in an epidemiology graduate program or career epidemiologists.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of Shakespeare's most charming and intelligent comedies. Exploring with humour the theme of star-crossed lovers that he deals with tragically in "Romeo and Juliet," Shakespeare here takes three troubled relationships and has them intersect in the most amusing ways.

The impending nuptials of Theseus and Hippolyta set the background for the play, and are certainly the most distant, both from the immediate action, and in terms of romantic possibility. Theirs is a cool, rational relationship, seemingly devoid of passion. The already-married Oberon and Titania, king and queen of fairies, provide another marital backdrop. Both seem to be jealous of the other's chosen distractions, which deprive them of each other's company. Finally, the main action of the play concerns the love affair between Lysander and Hermia. Hermia's father, Egeus, wants his daughter to marry Demetrius, and does not approve of Lysander at all. Helena, Hermia's friend, is smitten with Demetrius, and so, the conflicts begin.

Oberon initiates the action of the play, goading his mischievous aid-de-camp, Puck, to stir up trouble with a love-inducing flower amongst both the human lovers and the fairy queen Titania. Foible and folly ensue when Puck starts into his work. Throw in some common craftsmen from Athens who are trying to put together a simple play for Theseus's wedding, and you have all the ingredients for enchantment.

In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Shakespeare not only delves into the intricacies of human relationships on a romantic level, but also at the social, class, and interpersonal levels. He even critiques/celebrates the habits of his late 16th century audiences to intriguing effect. If you are tired of tragedy or think Shakespeare too distant or foreboding, pick up "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and you will find a solidly funny and endearing read.

Parker carefully balances his focus on Milton's life and the poet's immortal works. Parker begins his study by letting the reader know that he is both a lover of Milton's art and an admirer of Milton the individual. One who devotes time to this considerable study will certainly obtain similar sentiments.

In 1835, an extraordinary series of articles appeared in the New York "Sun," one of the city's newspapers. The articles told how astronomer John Herschel, with the aid of an advanced new telescope, had discovered life on earth's moon. Of course, the articles were pure fiction, and the story has become known as the Moon Hoax. The articles, written by Richard Adams Locke, were published in book form under the title "The Moon Hoax; Or, A Discovery That the Moon Has a Vast Population of Human Beings." A reproduction of an 1859 New York edition, with a new introduction by Ormond Seavey, was published by Gregg Press in 1975.

Locke's Moon Hoax is one of the most remarkable works of 19th century U.S. literature. Ormond Seavey's intro to the 1975 edition does a good job of placing the hoax in literary and cultural perspective. Seavey notes, for example, that the hoax appeared at "a time when the tall tale was first recognized as a characteristically American narrative" (p. xxiv). Seavey also makes note of the reaction of showman P.T. Barnum to the hoax, and draws a parallel between the Moon Hoax and Edgar Allan Poe's 1844 "Balloon Hoax."

The text of the hoax itself is a charming piece of literature; it could be seen as a pioneering work of science fiction. The text's flavor of authenticity is enhanced by the many technical details about the new telescope; Locke even names the glassmaking firm that allegedly created the lens for the device! Locke's descriptions of Herschel's bogus discoveries are delightful. We learn about the lunar oceans; trees; gigantic, obelisk-like amethysts; unicorn-like creatures; tailless beaver-like humanoids; and most wonderfully, "Vespertilio-homo," the winged human-like species alluded to in the book's title. "The Moon Hoax" is a marvelous book that deserves to be rediscovered by new generations of readers.