Industrial Books

OK - there's no doubt Joel is a very successful businessman - his Polyface Farms has been written up by Business Week (amongst others). This book gives you a great deal of insight into the pastured poultry "enterprise" part of his business and does a pretty good job introducing you to the concepts surrounding raising meat birds.
Pros
* easy read
* generally stays on topic in each section and the book is arranged logically
* offers lots of experiential stories to help the newcomer learn from his mistakes
* sprinkled with his own viewpoint of the world
Cons
* no "exacting" plans for building the pasture coops - rater verbal descriptions and poor black and white photos.
* lots of "factual opinions" with no references to source data (when he starts on the "big industry" for example) some of the science is sketch at best - again no references cited
* sprinkled with his own viewpoint of the world

The last item as both a pro and a con is what seems to polarize folks regarding Joel's books and techniques. The fact is - he's made a truly sustainable model out of farming - from both a land/resource management perspective, a "save the planet" perspective, and frankly - from a dollars and cents perspective.

Take it or leave it - his opinions about a lot of things shine through. If you can not agree with everything someone says - but take the meat of their points and work with them to learn - this is a fairly solid book (but expect to do some extra research if this is your first brush with poultry). If you are someone who is easily put off by strong opinions that may differ from your own - you should avoid this book - and go buy a book on self-esteem and negotiation.

This book is full of information on how to raise pastured poultry. I can hardly wait to try it on the 150 chicks we just ordered!!

Very detailed book for agricultural entrepreneurs. Gives specifics for everything from your first purchase of chicks and their housing to slaughter and marketing.

All in all, a completely comprehensive view of pasturing poultry from the man who in essence started it all, Joel Salatin. The only problem I have with it is that he needs to go through and update it, as it was written in the '90s and the birds have evolved, giving us a new set of nutritional challenges. WELL WORTH THE MONEY for the beginner interested in getting into the business!!!!!!!!!!

This book is essential for anyone considering poultry production as a business. Following this book will save time, stress, money and more. Nothing is smooth or perfect, but when using the experience the Salatin's have under their belt will greatly reduce the number of disasters. They took most of the oops's out of the equation.

This book covers in detail everything from why you should go this route, to what the "big hats" do and why that isnt the route to go. He explains in so much detail that I feel after reading this book you can safely gauge whether this business would work for you.

This book contains everything you need to begin today. It discusses the equipment, the government certification requirements, or more accurately what sort of operation doesn't have to deal with those restrictions. He discusses the chicken tractors, how to make them, how to not make them. Discusses seasonal processing, the actual nitty gritty about the processing and more, oh so much more.

I learned a great deal from this book, I was so impressed that I have his Salad Bar Beef on order. I believe this book represents a turn key business. A person purchases the rights to open a fast food chain, you spend 1 mil to have the right to use a clown to advertise your hamburger's and get to tap the experience of everyone that has opened that type of company... this book is no different. The purchase price of the book is a great value when you consider this is experience talking, this shows all of the details, this shows everything including the day to day life and how to find customers.

Sounds to me like the 1 million dollar turn key franchise. Except this is anything but a franchise, he points out family business and not empires are the way to go... and I have to agree with him. He shares this information because he would like to see a lot more operations like the one him and his family (and sometimes even customers) run. He notes that 100 operations in Virginia using the model he shares with us, would be about enough to support the state... yet he is the only one there (at the time of writing this book).

He would like to see these everywhere... people eating healthier, animals that are healthier, people being connected to where their food comes from. I can not say enough good about this book, personally I would like to go work for the author and his family for a couple weeks to learn hands on. I think this is a wealth of information and I await eagerly my Salad Bar Beef book hoping it opens my eyes to a better way to raise my beefalo.

For nearly half a century Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1909- ) has inspired and educated managers-and influenced the nature of business-with his landmark articles in the Harvard Business Review. Here, gathered together and framed by a thoughtful introduction from the Review's editor Nan Stone, is a priceless collection of his most significant work.

One of our leading thinkers on the practice and study of management, Drucker has sought out, identified, and examined the most important issues confronting managers, from corporate strategy to management style to social change. Through his unique lens, this volume gives us the rare opportunity to trace the evolution of the great shifts in our workplaces, and to understand more clearly the role of managers in the ongoing effort to balance change with continuity.

Now, these important articles and essays are strategically presented here to address two unifying themes: the first examines "The Manager's Responsibilities" while the second investigates "The Executive's World". Accompanied by an interview with Peter Drucker on "The Post-Capitalist Executive", as well as a thought-provoking preface by Peter Drucker himself, a complete picture of management theory and practice emerges, both as it was and as it will be.

Infused with a perspective that holds new relevance today, these essays represent Drucker at his best: direct, wise and challenging. Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management, sure to be studied, debated, and enjoyed by everyone concerned with management, everyone concerned with management, is a timely offering from one of the most respected and prolific authors to appear in the Harvard Business Review.

At 90, Peter Drucker is, by all accounts, the most enduring management thinker of our time. Born in Vienna, educated in Austria and England, he has worked since 1937 in the United States, first as an economist for a group of British banks and insurance companies, and later as a management consultant to several leading companies. Drucker has since had a distinguished career as a teacher, including more than twenty years as Professor of Management at the Graduate Business School of New York University. Since 1971 he has been Marie Rankin Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University in California, where he still teaches in the fields of management and business policy. He is the founder of The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, and has counseled numerous governments, public service institutions, and major corporations.

Drucker is a writer, teacher, and consultant with a long-term business perspective second to none. His twenty-nine previous books have been published in more than twenty languages and span sixty years of modern history beginning with The End of Economic Man (1939) and Managing in a Time of Great Change; Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices; Innovation and Entrepreneurship; The Effective Executive; Managing for Results and The Practice of Management. Nan Stone is the editor of the Harvard Business Review.

Peter Drucker has 60 years of experience teaching and writing about management. This collection of essays, first published in Harvard Business Review, outline Drucker's views on managerial responsibility. Among other things, this book also includes his insights on making more effective decisions, improving staffing choices, locating innovative opportunities, and aligning your theory of business.

Drucker outlines the five essential management principles:

1. Management is about human beings. Your task as a manager is to make people capable of working together.
2. Management is embedded in culture. You must be able to use parts of your history, tradition and culture as building blocks for a common corporate culture.
3. Management is responsible for growing an organization. Integrate training and development into your organization at all levels.
4. Use yardsticks like market standing, innovation, productivity, human development, quality and financial results to measure and improve performance.
5. Look for results outside of your company, in the products and services you deliver, not relative to internal processes within the company.

Drucker also outlines six steps to guide decision-making:

1. Classify the problem. Is the problem unique to your company, or the beginning of a more general problem?
2. Define the problem. Make sure the definition explains all the observable facts.
3. Define the boundary conditions, like objectives or goals, that your decision must satisfy. When the conditions change, your decision must change with them.
4. Decide. Usually you will have to compromise eventually. Decide what is right.
5. Take action. Make sure your employees know what the decision involves, and who is expected to do what.
6. Get feedback. Gather information on the effectiveness of your decision. Make sure your decision is still relevant to current conditions.

This is one of the most, thought provoking books, I've read this year. In the first part of the book, Business philopher, Peter Drucker protrays and verbally the business model of today, and highlights the necessary interactions of managers with the model. In the second part of the book, Drucker breaks away and reveals a series of startling revelations about today's business.

The theory of business is what Drucker, defines as "what a company gets paid for." Drucker states when big companies get in trouble they blame "complacency, arrogance, mammoth bureacracies", as a plausible explanations. However, the problem's root causes are rarely identified and the prevously stated explanations are rarely right. Most companies fail, to perform well, at what they get paid for.

Drucker defines the parts of the business environment, as: environment (society and its structure and the market), mission (customer ), (core competencies) and technology. Why is this important? The assumptions about environment, mission, and core competencies must fit together. Drucker drives home the point by contrasting the sucess of non-profit organizations with profit organizations, stating we can learn from the success of non-profit organizations, namely: well define mission, lack of deep management hierarchy, individual responsiblity, a deep understand of individual roles and purposes, and cohension between expectations and results. Secondly, the theory of business must be known and understood through out the business. Drucker stresses the importance of learning from the non-customer. And Lastly, the theory of business must be tested constantly.

The Effective Decision process involves the follow sequence of steps: 1. Classify the problem 2. Define the problem 3. Specify the answer to the problem 4. Decide what is right rather than what is acceptable 5. Build into the decision the action to carry it out 6. and test the validity and effectiviness of the decision against the actual course of events. This is an high level sketch outlining a model for effective decision.

Drucker provides two methods, to help make, people decisions. The two creative approaches are: determine if the right people has right qualifications, perceptions, and talents; and make sure the individual understands the job. The first approaches advocates careful selection of the individual, by determining, how well the candidate fits the job assignment. The second approach measures the new manager's understanding of the job. The process requests, the new manager to write on paper, what they think will make them sucessful, in their job. Senior management reads the paper to determine, if the manager has grasped an understanding, of the job, and revalidates their decison about the individual being the right person, for the job.

The discipline of innovation encourages managers to separate the reasons for successful management, into two groups: systematic and non-systematic innovation. Both systematic and Non-systematic opportunies exist within an company or industry because of unexpected occurences, incongruties, process needs, and industry and market changes. Systematic innovation begins by analyizing the sources of opportunity. Innovation is perceptual and conceptual by definition and innovators must go out look, ask, and listen. Effective innovations start small. Small Innovations can lead to large implementations. Without innovation the company will go out of business. Innovation keeps a company competitive in the market and capable of meeting customer needs.

Technology has created a great diversity of information. In order for a manager, to be effective, managers need to identify the information they need to effective perform their jobs.

The world is moving to a society of organizations. Companies are moving to global economies of scale. People interact with various organizations to achieve results. Because of this new organization theory, outsourcing is preferred when no direct management hierarchy exists to a Vice President. Outsourcing provides high skill specialist, management, and senior management. Companies are achieving better results organizationally by outsourcing business process where possible.

Management is responsible for creating the knowledge worker. Historically, significant increasing in productivity were the result of a management core build established. Management is responsible for building the skilled worker. Organizations are made up of individuals, who have a high degree of technical skill and knowledge. Information must be convert into knowledge and manager's communication ability dictates the level of effectiviness in using the skilled worker's knowledge. Organizations represent a network of specialists, rather than a strong command and control heirarchy. However, technology of itself does not increase productivity.

How do managers increase productivity? Managers increase productive by helping the knowledge worker to work smarter - not harder. Management creates the knowledge worker by empower them with specialized skills and knowledge. Productivity gaps are closed through training. Management must decide who gets trained. Training the right people increase the worker's capability, compensation, and productivity. Performance can only be achieved by the worker working smarter not harder. Only ten percent of the work is effectively and producing ninety percent of the productivity and profit. Thus, over ninety percent of the work is ineffective. It is management's responsibility to reduce this inefficiency. Drucker will later introduce his activity oriented decision model to help managers reduce the amount of inefficiency.

Managers are responsible for creating and maintaining their carreer path. Receiving a higher education degree and employment, in a large company does not guarentee retirement, with the company. Managers are responsible for designing and maintaining their career. Fragmentation of purpose and thought must be overcome to reduce confusion and losses. Knowledge workers must learn how to produce. This requires the knowledge work to remain current, with changes, in the business environment. Their contribution in large part depends on the knowledge workers ability to adapt and learn smarter ways to produce.

Activity Oriented Decision model prevents loses and failures. Activity Oriented decisions combine value analysis, risk analysis, quality analysis, and process analysis, into one. Decisions resulting from managers who follow the activity oriented decision model don't risk losing capital. The combination of the various information sources, associated with the activity oriented decision helps the manager understand the potential value of the venture, the potential value, the risks of failure, and the cost of modifying or implement new processes, and the long term affects on quality in the organization.

The activity oriented decision model is a conceptually definition and the practical discipline proposed exciting possiblities. Activies are analyzed, defined, and sequenced. Resources are allocated to the activity. The activity outcomes are measured to determine, if they are meeting requirements. Managers weight the risks by asking "what are the benefits of the activity?","What are the fallout impacts for failure to implement the activity?", and "what are the impacts to the organization long term by implementing the activity?"

Analysis of the process, results in time and budget allocation estimates. Schedules provide time lines and sequences linked to a resources. Managers must coordination various organizations to gain access to a resource. A resource represents a individual in a specialize field of knowledge. Communication and coordination are necessary to effectively manage various resources, so each individual understands, what is expected and what to produce. Budgets and time provide the boundary of the activity problem. Its possible to have a budget or schedule which exceeds the boundary of the problem, making the activity unfeasible. To avoid this problem, the manager must provide clear objectives to be developed and maintained. The objectives scope must stay within a predefined problem boundary.

Peter F. Drucker is known as the "management guru's management guru". The articles in this book explain the reason. Each article is a landmark in the field of management.

In the preface Drucker shows why he has become so famous. He shows his strength of recognising trends and how these trends will affect business, people, and society. This preface is followed by a short introduction from the editor.

The book consists of two Parts, The Manager's Responsibilities and The Executive's World, with each consisting of 6 Harvard Business Review-articles (out of 32 articles and growing). The book also includes an interesting preface, an introduction by Harvard Business Review-editor Nan Stone, and an interview with Peter Drucker.

In Part I - The Manager's Responsibilities, the articles discuss the managerial responsibilities of the manager, although Drucker prefers the term "executive". The articles discuss general management such as the decision-making process, effective management, strategic management, and innovation.

Part II - The Executive's World, Drucker discusses the history of management, the transformation from the traditional command-and-control model to knowledge-based organizations, information technology, and non-profit management.

The book concludes with an interview with Peter Drucker, which is based on his 1995-book 'Post-Capitalist Society'.

The book deserves the five-star rating since each article is fantastic. Perhaps some of them overlap, but it is amazing that some of the articles written in the 1960s are still very valid today. Drucker's writing style is simple US-English.

It should be mandatory for every M.B.A. student in the world.

It is a very useful reference book for anyone interested in power generation. It contains general mechanical and electrical theory, design approach, operation and maintenance concepts. It has practical value as it contains broad information about steam turbines, gas turbines and auxiliaries. It is a very valuable desk reference.

I think this is a great reference book. The book is very easy to read, and to understand. I have found the book's content to be highly relevant to the field and could be used every day for anyone interested (or working) in power generation.

Power Generation Handbook is very comprehensive, covering all aspects of steam and gas turbines and generators, combined cycles and many other topics. This is a very valuable desk reference.

P. Kiameh's "Power Generation Handbook" has been an invaluable addition to the materials I need to sucessfully execute my job. I work in the electrical power industry and Mr. Kiameh's simple and practical approach has provided that extra assistance that allows for easy solution to our every day problems. More importantly, Mr. Kiameh has managed to complile useful and important principles relating to the Power industry in one handbook. I highly recommend this book for technical personnel involved in the Power Generation Industry.

This is an excellent, practical handbook on power generation. It contains clear descriptions of how power generation components are constructed, how they work and how to maintain them. Points in the text are illustrated through numerous detailed photographs, drawings and graphs. Topics include steam turbines, governing systems, valves, lubrication systems, gas turbines, bearings, seals, combined cycles, cogeneration, electrical components, etc.

I have attended two courses taught by Philip Kiameh at the University of Toronto's Professional Development Centre, one on power generation equipment and the other on mechanical equipment. Philip was an excellent teacher and his text books are similarly excellent and I highly recommend them. This text book is a valuable reference to the power generation course material.

This was one of the 1st books that inspired me in faux. It is a must have in any faux finish library.


We used some of these clasic techniques and principles in the famous faux house captured in the hot new book "The House that Faux Built: Transform Your Home with Paint, Plasters and Creativity" The House That Faux Built

If you can't decide what to do to that plain ole drab wall look through this book!! Shows step by step exciting and new techniques that maybe one wouldn't' have thought of ((or have the nerve to do)). If you get get stuck in what to do, just flip through and it will get your " creative juices" flowing!!

I was looking forward to this book but was rather disappointed due to the extensive written instructions but the rather sketchy illustrative photos.

I bought this book more than ten years ago, I have an almost complete collection of books on painted finished, especially of wood and marble. The "Professional Painted Finishes" is absolutely the best I have, it is oozing QUALITY throughout. It is not for beginners but is The reference to return to again and again. It is also lovely just to browse through.

I liked this book because it contained great illustrations and it also had helpful information about the business side of faux finishing. The text is compact, so each page contains alot of data.

This book is very well written and is a great foundation for further study. I am very happy that I bought it. Ever since I was a kid jumping off the roof with home made wings I have been looking for a book like this one. I have gone through a lot of books since then. No other book I have ever found covers the basics of aircraft design so well. For me, the best part is that the author steers the reader in the right direction to continue studying areas the reader may be interested in learning more about. Buy this book!

A great intro to engineering your own aircraft. An easy read even for someone like me, who abhors formulas and mathematical equations (even if they are necessary evils in this case). It holds true to its name, so, if you are an engineer, you might want to go for this writer's more complex titles. If you are an ordinary joe like me, who is interested in homebuilt aircraft, this is just right.

This is another my favorite introduction-type book. Very useful from homebuilder's and pilot's point of view. The book is also written in so interesting way that it is hard to not to read it from cover to cover in one evening. After receiving the book, I was totally hooked and lost some sleeping time because of the book. Highly recommended. The topics do not go to very advanced level, so EADS-engineers developing fairings to A380 tail section don't bother. But if you are a homebuilder and into aircraft design and want to learn what it is all about, this is a good place to start from.

I think there are two teachers . One of them tells what he (she) read. Other tells what he (she) has experience. If they teach algebra it doesnt matter which kind teacher. But if they teach how you build an aircraft this time experience is golden. I am a turk. English is not my natural language. I believe I understood. If you dont hear that a turk died because of his own homebuilt aricraft's crashed then you can believe that I understood. thank you.

Most aircraft design texts are university textbooks or industry references, and out of hundreds of pages you might find a few dozen that are helpful for the amateur experimental aircraft designer/homebuilder. This book, however, wastes not a single page. After the obligatory "don't blame me if you kill yourself" intro (would sloppy designer/builders read a book like this anyway?), the book gets right down to business.

The first four chapters cover the most important question: "Why?" Why do you want to design an airplane? The answer determines the aircraft configuration, size, wing loading, fuel capacity, etc., and all these items and more are discussed.

Once that's sorted out, Chapter 5 begins the "How", starting with how to actually loft (draw) the overall airplane shape. This chapter has one of the most detailed and useful descriptions of conic and flat-wrap lofting I've seen in any design reference.

Chapter 6 is only a few pages long, discussing crashworthiness and flutter prevention. Important stuff, but basically punted to other references.

In Chapter 7 you analyze your drawing, calculate the basic aerodynamic coefficients and do a preliminary structural design and weight analysis. I commend the author for a halfway-decent overview of structural design--most of the aerodynamically-oriented texts seem to be afraid to touch this topic at all. Chapter 8 continues with range and performance calculations, and finally Chapter 9, titled "Let's Make It Better", covers the inevitable design reiteration when the analysis results indicate that your "How" and your "Why" are miles apart.

Finally, there is a brief but great appendix with useful tables and graphs, such as the weight and horsepower of most of the engines commonly seen on homebuilts and the weight and density of common homebuilt aircraft materials and components.

The foreword by Peter Garrison really summarizes this book nicely: an airplane designer needs to gather a disparate amount of material from a large number of different sources, and this book helps organize that task, and with a particular emphasis on the small planes of interest to the homebuilder.

Hint to this author or others: what I haven't found *anywhere* is a good structures text oriented toward small aircraft design. "Stress Without Tears" isn't bad, but a marriage of Bruhn with Nui's composites book, with a focus on small GA planes, would fill a *huge* hole for amateur designers. To really impress me, include examples of using open source CFD and FEA programs to assist the design effort :-)

Finally a book that incorporates two powerful concepts: scorecards and six sigma. I have worked on various projects with the aim to achieve operational efficiency and at the same time I have been part of various meetings and discussions to find best ways to "empower" the staff to help them understand, align and achieve corporate goals. Both these efforts have largely been fragmented. The measurement tools to achieve both these goals have, at best, been mediocre. This book provides a comprehensive, more robust and practical approach to bringing the two concepts together.

This book gives a pragmatic approach to not just evaluating performance but also provides easy-to-use tools that help predict performance and profitability. This book provides a much needed scorecard methodology for the 'new' globalized world. A must-read for any business leader.

Praveen, I just have to buy you a cup of coffee or a drink one day. I am just finishing your book, "Six Sigma Business Scorecard " and have to say that I haven't been this riveted to a business book since "The Goal". Books like this for me have been far and few between.

I am writing to congratulate you for your outstanding work on the book you have written about the Six Sigma Business Scorecard. I have spent the past week reading it, and I've realized what a fantastic tool it is.

I am a Six Sigma Intern, and I work at Recofarma, a Concentrate Plant of the Coca Cola Company, located in Manaus, Amazonas - Brazil. I was trying to create a Massive Communication Plan for Six Sigma within the company and one of my ideas was to create a Scorecard for Six Sigma, then I looked for related material at Amazon.com and your book appeared on the top of the list. It surely was a great investment.

Finally, a pragmatic approach to developing a Business Scorecard that captures the profitability proposition through periodic measurement of critical performance. The critical thinking used to construct and evaluate each element of the hierachical measurement structure provides a keen insight into the contribution value of each functional area of the business. The concise step-by-step approach in building the overal Business Performance Index provides the guidance necessary for immediate implementation by small or large enterprizes.

I have read a few hundred "non-fictional" books over the years for my MBA, for quality, etc, but I have to tell you that this book about the use of balanced scorecards is the best business related book that I have ever read, and I feel that every CEO should completely absorb it to utilize its "pertinent" applications that are applicable to their business processes, thus institutionalizing the process metrics' continual improvement concepts of ISO/TS 16949:2002 and ISO 9001 in all types of firms, including those that are not automotive suppliers!- Bill Cooper, Global Quality Systems Senior Manager, Lear Corporation

This text is a valuable resource for those interested in the science of flooring and tribometry. The scope of topics is comprehensive and I especially appreciated the discussion of flooring types, cleaning methods, and maintenance in Chapter Six.

Mr. DiPilla's book is delightfully clear, concise and comprehensive. It educates the reader from the scope of slips and falls issues, to common procedures for recognizing and mitigating walkway hazards, to management control methods and accident investigation/claims mitigation. The text and illustrations read in a simple, common-sense way, showing the truth of Voltaire's comment that "common sense isn't so common."

Another noteworthy feature of this book are the remarkably comprehensive, annotated references to slip resistance principles, flooring, footwear and slip-resistance measurement techniques, both within the U. S. and internationally. The annotated listings of U. S. and international standards and guidelines in themselves provide the best collection of references I've seen on this complex subject. Remarkable.

David C. Underwood, Ph. D.

One might expect that evaluating the slip resistance of a walking surface is a straightforward procedure. Surely building codes contain specifications for slip resistant walkway surfaces and indicate procedures to evaluate available surfaces. You will not find these specifications or procedures in building codes and you will be frustrated and confused as you seek guidance. Slip and fall Prevention by Steven Dipilla is the best summary of up to date industry standards and test methods needed to perform meaningful evaluations. If you need guidance this should be the reference you purchase.

This book is a comprehensive reference on slips and falls and "must have" for every safety professional reference library. Very useful hazard recognition and prevention guidelines is offered for indoor and outdoor slips and falls from floors, stairs and ramps. In addition, this is one of the best references I've seen on slip-resistance measurement guidelines and tribology standards.

Slip and Fall Prevention by Steven Di Pilla, though probably written primarily for professionals in the field of safety and risk management, can be invaluable to anyone who owns or manages physical assets.

It seems to me that Mr. Di Pilla has dealt with every possible manifestation of the subject. I was particularly impressed with his advice regarding claim mitigation. This handbook belongs on practically everyone's bookshelf.

I have collected and used books on sound system engineering for many years and this book has quickly become my favorite. Mine has been borrowed by other engineers so often that I have purchased a second copy. Don and Gene are among the most experienced in the field. They have also both tried to share thier knowledge with others throughout thier careers. This combination of knowledge and desire to share it has produced a book that explains complex ideas in a way that leaves the reader with few questions. It is clear and concise, and is supported by a great number of charts and diagrams. I can't imagine a better way to capture thier knowledge and share it with others. A great number of professionals are going to benefit from this book, and I expect it will be the industry standard for many years to come.

One of the better books in my collection, and I have many on acoustics and audio from the highly technical to hands-on.

I owned 1st version before and the 3rd revision is a more complete version and gives more information on digital processing aspect.

Sound System Engineering, 3rd Edition contains a wealth of information on the design, implementation and testing of sound reinforcement systems. Don Davis' section on audio and acoustic measurements is a must read for anyone serious about performing such tasks. The concepts he discusses about signal delay/synchronization and room acoustics will help the reader to understand what is at the very basis of these topics.

Similarly, Eugene Patronis' section on loudspeakers and arrays is not to be missed. It will have you going back again and again to find that piece of information you need about horns, direct radiators, crossovers and arrays. His presentation of signal processing starts with basic sampling and progresses through system theory and digital audio.

Two of the latter chapters on equalization and "putting it all together" are true gems. They yield practical information that you'll be using the next time you're faced with the issues covered.

Sound System Engineering, 3rd Edition takes all of the knowledge contained in the 2nd edition and augments it with up-to-date interface methods and advances in the field of audio and acoustics since its last publication. This text is equally suited for both the novice and the veteran audio practitioner. It is written in such a manner that each time you read a portion of it, something new will come to light.


Charlie Hughes
President
Excelsior Audio Design & Services

Congratulations to Don Davis and Eugene Patronis, Jr. for writing the most informative book on sound system engineering ever. The book contains all of the elements of theory, design and practical installation. The book is an excellent reference for the sound system engineer.

Sound System Engineering, Third Edition is the most complete technical book on sound system engineering I have ever read. It is a concentrated capsule of knowledge that gives the theory as well as instructions of how to implement the theory. Don has recorded for us how to do the installation process. Dr. Patronis has given us the physics back of the theory and he added the mathematics so one can reporduce the results. There are places that Doc uses the "It is intuitively obvious..." leap of knowledge that some might have trouble working through but it can be done.

Thank you for such a great work

Don Eger, Owner, Don Eger & Associates

This book is pure pleasure. The artfulness in creating the spaces we live in with stone in pattern, an organic extension of this earth. This is not a 'paint by numbers' how-to book, rather, like looking at a
Rembrandt, ultimate examples of stone taken to true art.

Absolutely Wonderful Book! His art is amazing itself and understanding Lew French's connection to his work and how he works with rocks gives even more meaning to his designs.

I was disappointed by the quality of the paper and the pictures in this book. The subject matter was of great interest to me, but I don't think this book did it justice.

New Englanders are partial to the rocks that burst forth from the ground every spring and permanently bulge up like the tips of ice bergs floating beneath the surface of the earth. For more generations than most can count, those rocks have been thoughtfully piled into mortarless stone fences that "make good neighbors." Everyone has stopped at one time or another to admire one of these wonders that have outlasted their builders.

Lew French is an authentic son of that tradition with an innate love for stone and turning it into something more delightful . . . a rich context for wonderful living.

In these homes, you'll see stone transform rooms into warm retreats that you'll just want to snuggle into on cold winter nights, turn gardens into fairy tales, and extend your perspective by changing the very outdoors in novel ways. Whether by putting a window into a stone fence, by creating original art with stones and driftwood, or through evoking Stonehenge, you'll feel differently and better from seeing his work. His creations seem weightless like a good idea, despite weighing many tons.

Part of the magic is that he's meticulous about getting a tight fit between stones and hiding his mortar very well. So even a fireplace looks to be but a vertical New England stone wall . . . and a very beautiful one at that.

It's magic. Enjoy it.

I have seen pictures of this mans work before,and greatly admired his skills.He is truley a craftsman.The pictures were well photographed and there plenty of them. I have friends that are stone masons, and they
were all inspired by this book. I am keeping this book out so that any
one stopping by can enjoy it.

This is an excellent book for artists fo all kinds. Our company has a library we make available to Production Designers - this is a great addition.

A luscious collection of photographs of beautiful colors and textures to inspire any artist/designer and be used as reference again and again.

There are nice collection of the samples.You can enjoy to look through them.

This book is one of the best references for any designer and painter in the industry. Color Photos are amazing and complete. I have been wanting to purchase it for years now and am very glad to add it to my collection. All of her books are worth having in any artists library.

I think I was a little hard on Judy Juracek with reference to the included CD. What Ms. Juracek has done in the way of cataloguing is nothing short of miraculous and one should not expect that every image on the CD would be photographed dead on and shadow-perfect. I was just really irked by the image quality of a CD I had such high hopes for. I purchased this book when it first came out for a Hundred Dollars retail but the price I now see listed online seems almost a steal for the treasure trove contained within.

In any case, A recent search reveals that even more books in the series have been written by the author and I'm excited to purchase these as well--let's hope the image quality has improved on the included CDs for the new millenium we're in. I guess you could still expect "middlin'" quality for an image CD produced back in the "stoneage" of the 90's. The book is GREAT!