Education Books

This is a book that pinpoints specific issues in Higher Education and how to handle them properly as an administrator.

Each chapter of this book discusses a particular difficult issue in higher education administration. Examples include specific "hot-shot" faculty asking for unfair favors, the handling of controversial issues between faculty members and students, negotiation for shared resources across departments, and handling adult bullies, etc. Each chapter begins with a mini-case to illustrate the difficult problem involved. Then it discusses the related issues and how to handle every detail. At the end of each chapter, it presents the solution for the mini-case.

Reading this book enhanced my understanding of academic issues from an administrator's point of view. I had always thought that managing a higher education institution was less challenging than managing a Fortune-500 company. On the surface, it seemed that everything would just go by the book. Now I know that, it is far more complex than going by the book, though knowing "the book" is crucial. Being a college administrator has its own set of challenges: managing faculty members who do not want to be managed. Due to the employment structure (with tenured faculty, faculty who can bring in a vast amount of resources: publication and research grants, etc.), it is not entirely a direct command-and-control situation. In addition, since a university environment is quite decentralized, there are a lot of complicated interpersonal power issues among faculty, graduate assistants, and students. According to the author, one leverage administrators should use is the established mission and goals of the university. If someone's behavior or performance is against these established statements, this would be a valid means for handling the issues properly.

I think that, explicitly communicating the mission, goals, policies, and expected proper professional behavior to all new employees and new students in detail and in writing ahead of time is equally important. This way, at least every party would have the proper information before problems happen. In addition, this book also implicitly tells job seekers what to look for when applying for an administrative position in Higher Education. To me, it is well-articulated mission and goals, as well as well-established policies that are fair to all parties.

Overall, this book shows that the author is knowledgeable and familiar with the subject matter. It should be very helpful to higher education administrators or administrators-to-be.

Gunsalus' work is a realistic and credible portrayal of office politics in higher education. Written primarily for the new administrator who comes out of the ranks of the faculty at a university, the guiding principles are useful for anyone in a higher education mangement role. Gunsalus focuses on topics related to interpersonal relationships, legal issues, academic freedom, and related challenges in the academic workplace. This is a useful, relevant resource for the newcomer to college and university administration.

I've attended a number of chair and dean conferences and read the literature, but this is tops for practical and political advice. It has relevant case studies (a la Harvard Business Review) that are derived from real time war stories.

If you're in a difficult situation or need an outside perspective, this book will help you sort it out, and keep you entertained as well.
For more on my work; see,
New Playwriting Strategies: A Language-Based Approach to Playwriting (A Theatre Arts Book)

Just bought several copies to distribute to my former Ph.D. students, now professor themselves, and my current grad students. Experienced administrators will ask "where was this book x years ago?" and everyone else will benefit now and in the future.

Survival Guide deals with the human relations complexities administrators like deans and department heads face in higher education, especially in big public universities like the author's own University of Illinois. Much of its advice can be summed up in (a) be aware that administration is a *role* (actually, a number of them) that must be *played* in an appropriate way, (b) when problems of certain sticky kinds come up, consult with the people at your institution who are paid specifically to worry about those kinds of problems, (c) know and observe the rules governing what you do and be careful to document your actions accordingly - "Process is your friend".

But this dry précis sells the book way short. Its notable strengths include:
* A rich lode of cases taken from the author's own experience and gleanings from years of consulting on other campuses. Anyone who has ever spent time as faculty or staff at a university will find much to interest them here.
* An analysis of the various kinds of problems likely to come up, together with clear guidelines for dealing with them, distilled from her deep experience and reflection.
* A natural and easy delivery that makes the book engaging and easy to read, and a consistently-maintained clarity that makes it easy to understand. I worry just a bit that some academic readers will conclude that any book so easy to understand must not be saying much. (Wrong!)
* A shining authenticity that has to appeal to every person of good will. The book is a potent manual of practical idealism dedicated to "leav[ing] the institution better than you found it".

Here are some extracts from the Introduction:

"One of the most puzzling aspects of higher education is that its front-line leaders are almost always selected for qualities other than an ability to run complex organizations. ...yet...universities are among the most complicated organizations around... For most academics, the people problems are the most difficult aspect of serving in an administrative position... There are conceptual tools and practical skills that can help academic administrators successfully handle personnel problems, and these skills can be both taught and learned... Most serious problems can be prevented, and should be... As teachers and parents know, helping people grow and develop new skills can be among life's most rewarding activities..." (p1-9)

I cannot imagine a better laying out of the ground.

A special strength of the book is its use of the "war story" cases. Each chapter is anchored to a realistic situational problem, and Chapter 6 in particular provides numerous experience-derived illustrations.

The author's hand on the elephant is that of an attorney, and that fact shows up in the frequent references to lawsuits and litigation. This feels oppressive, but since a lawsuit can be as bad as a fire, it is no doubt justified. The problem is not with the book but with our situation in society, and the informed cautions the book provides may be among its more valuable contributions.

In the Bullies chapter {as elsewhere) the author displays gentle persistence in bucking up the reader's resolution in the face of the challenging problems she presents. It is so tempting to "pass by on the other side" so long as one can get away with it! "If not you, who?" says it just right, reassuring the reader that administrator effectiveness is both possible and indispensable. The author's lays out in a natural but compelling way the destructive longterm effects of inaction.

A basic thing I treasure about this book is the thoroughgoing way it does NOT imply a title like, Administration - Your Gateway to Prestige and Power. Instead, it shows how there is satisfaction to be found in enabling the higher education organism to function in a healthy way, that the role is worthy of a reader's dedication to it, and that chances are s/he will be able to rise to the occasion. The view is sometimes heard in academia that administration is intrinsically despicable or at best a distraction from more important things. One of the reasons I think it would be good if this book were read by everybody in higher education is that it provides a powerful corrective to that corrosive prejudice.

Does the book have defects? Sure. I disagreed in a couple cases with the author's suggested resolution of illustrative problems situations. There is one(!) short passage that I found clumsy and obscure, one where a problem situation seemed improbable, one where I understood her advice but could not see how it would be executed. But these are all tiny warts, not consequential enough to discuss further.

A possible deficiency is the lack of examination of the question of a candidate's talent for administrative work. (The text proper begins (p11), "When you take on an administrative role...") It would be helpful if, say, an appendix could discuss the traits and predispositions that augur well or badly for a prospective administrator. This could help both selection committee and candidate, but especially a candidate. "Am I equipped to ride this horse? Do I want to?"

Facts are facts, and the author everywhere states them, whatever they are, in an almost startlingly unaffected way. "Wise as serpents, innocent as doves" is a phrase that comes to mind. She frequently references her guidelines back to the common wisdom lore of our culture. This is not the way academics, always striving to establish originality, usually behave. Her own contribution is the outstanding conception, organization, and presentation of the material. The delivery is so clear and natural that it would be easy for a reader to take much of the message for granted.

Chapter 8 is a wonderful close to a wonderful book. The discussion of the need to display a range of different personas, often to the same people over fairly short spans of time, I found especially strong and useful. These are things that a few gifted people might "know" by instinct, but that more ordinary persons might go through a whole career without entirely figuring out.

Finally, I love the concluding paragraph. It epitomizes the attitude of unaffected practical idealism that is so evident throughout the book, ending, "...step back every now and then to relish the excitement and the small victories."

Surely every newbie administrator should have this book. My own view is that it should be read by every academic, administrator or not. All would profit by an understanding of the crucial role of administration, its demands, and its rewards. If everyone involved understood how administration really *should* be done, maybe it would get done that way more than it currently does.

I hate the term `Packaging Yourself' that is on the cover, but besides that I think this is a well written and important book. We are all different; how we discover what makes us unique and how we express that to a college is an important part of the application process.

The 2004 movie Spanglish, starring Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Cloris Leachman and Paz Vega, starts with a scene in a college admissions office. Admissions officers sit around a table going through applications. Uninspired to continue reading after looking at a sentence or two, one officer puts down the essay in her hands and moves to the next one. She does this a couple of times till she reaches an essay with a unique beginning. The applicant writes about the most influential person in her life -- her mother, a Mexican immigrant who works as a housekeeper. The officer is enticed enough to continue reading. She's hooked.

THE COLLEGE HOOK is a book I wish I had available to me when I prepared for college admissions in my high school days. It's definitely a valuable guide for those applying to college.

In order to increase your chances of admission to the college of your choice, college consultant Pam Proctor designed the book to help you learn how to define your special achievements - your hook - (even if you think you don't have any). After that, she teaches you how to package that information (your college application) and sell yourself (your interview) during the college application process.

Pam Proctor provides all types of tips to help the college applicant - inspiring anecdotes of students' experiences, clear sample essays, letters and selected references and more. THE COLLEGE HOOK is worth its price to learn how to stand out as a college applicant.

Fafa Demasio

Finally a college admission aid that succinctly defines it! Easy to use,well organized,and timely. As a father having faced college admission with three kids and facing it with a fourth the information is a god-send.The format and style will even encourage your kid's participation. Jim . Georgia.

Gaining admittance into the college of your choice is no easy task. With THE COLLEGE HOOK, written by Pam Proctor, the president of College Application Consultants, Inc., I have to say that your odds are greatly improved!

The book is broken down into four main parts: Discovering Your Hook, The Top Ten College Hooks, Packaging Your Hook, and Selling Your Hook. Each main category is then broken down into smaller, more-manageable sections, such as Hooks That Worked, The Resume Power Play, and Acing the Interview.

I know you're asking yourself: "What in the world, exactly, is the college hook?" According to Ms. Proctor, it's pretty simple: it's "that one special interest that will cause admissions officials to salivate over an application and significantly increase the odds of getting into a favorite college."

Basically, colleges are looking for that unique "something" that makes you you - that "something" that will make their college a better college, and will make them sorry if they don't accept you! But to find your hook, you have to find the strengths and weaknesses in yourself, and that's not always an easy task. But THE COLLEGE HOOK stresses the importance of doing just that, and The Top Ten College Hooks (including Athletic, International, Music, Political, Technology, Humanitarian, Science, Writing, Drama, and Multicultural) go a long way in helping you figure out your personal hook before you begin the college admissions process.

This is a must-read for teens getting ready to begin sending out those college applications. From writing an interesting, professional resume to acing your admissions interview, everything about the application process is covered.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

This is, without a doubt, a well-crafted book, well-organized, well-written, full of lots of practical and useful tips. There's a couple of aspects of it, however, that detract considerably from its usefulness in my situation.

The first one is major: the anecdotes she relates, which are meant to be inspiring, are in my view actually discouraging to the teens who might read this book. Example? The girl who just couldn't figure out her "hook", then thought back, and it suddenly struck her, oh YEAH, that's right, I was a Broadway star in 9th grade, praised in reviews in the New York Times, featured on the cast album in two solos, etc. I mean, come on. My daughter, who is a top student with great test scores and great extracurriculars, is freaking out that she might not get into Yale because "everyone who gets in is a published novelist or something." The examples in this book perpetuate that myth, and make it seem like only those sorts of people will stand a chance. I bought this book for her, but luckily read it first, and now I'm not going to give it to her to read, because it will just exacerbate her concerns.

Secondly, I'd assumed that the book was focused on the college application process, which it sort of is, but much of the germane advice (good tips all) pertains to the student's whole high school career, and what they can do to position themselves. This is a book for parents of such kids, who can help encourage and enable activities and events that will help once the senior year application process begins.

im anxious in going off to college in the fall. this book great in explaining how college is different from high school and how to succeed. there were informative and comedical lists such as "books that they expect you to read before you get there" and "how studying is better than sex". just a awesome book in general and recommend it to any high school graduate that is off to college in the fall.

I've looked through several other College Survival guides, but this one is the best. Every tip is a list, and it takes much, much, more information then any other college guide and condenses it all into easy to read lists. In here it has the basics and much more supplimental information too. Get The Naked Roommate for a basic college survival guide in a more organized format. Then read College in a Can for all the things not covered in that book, much of it is more irreverent. This book feels more like a magazine and in between the really helpful college survival information are fun lists just to get you into the college mood like "Best College Movies".

You can't use this book for every decision you have in college, such as choosing a major or career (I highly recommend Cool Careers for Dummies), but it will give you an overview of those things so when you later get a book on those subjects and do more though research you can have that feeling of knowing the basics. This will eliminate that feeling of plunging in the middle without a clue.

Because this book isn't as structured as some, you can't buy this book without The Naked Roomate.

This note from my 18 year old grandaughter says it all:

Grandma-
I got your book AND I just finished reading it. It was really funny, I
liked it a lot. I've already loaned it out to a friend! Its definitely
coming with me to college and I can put some of the funny lists on the
walls. Anyway, just wanted to let you know I enjoyed the book! Thanks a
bunch!

My daughter, a college freshman, read this book cover to cover. Lots of straight talk on everything from dealing with roommates and developing good study habits to handling sex and drugs, delivered in user-friendly bite-size chunks, rendered with wit and a real sense of what kids need to know. There's some entertaining fluff in between the no-nonsense tips and techniques for handling the transition to college life. Especially liked the 101-book reading list - a daunting but valuable heads-up on what it takes to achieve cultural literacy in the 21st century. A treasury of useful stuff for the college-bound (and for those aging parents who wish they could wind the clock back 30 years and try it again!).

Got this for my daughter, an entering freshman, because it packs boatloads of info into easy-to-digest lists on every possible topic. Practical, real-world advice on everything from study habits and reading lists to sex and drugs. Straight talk delivered with humor and real understanding of what the college-bound kid is about to face. Some of the lists are just for fun, which makes the rest of the "advice" -- like a daunting list of 101 books she should read by the time she graduates -- easier to swallow.

With chilling, real-world events introducing each chapter, "Bullies & Bullying" hits home in its telling of circumstances that surround bullies, those being bullied, and those that witness the bullying.
Margaret Kohut gets to the heart of what drives these victims of bullying to take such ruthless action and what parents, school teachers, and fellow students can do to spot such behavior and stop it before it goes too far. She also expertly explains the differences between harmless teasing and bullying, which is essential when trying to identify the severity of a child's actions. For those who think bullying still exists just on the school play yard or in the hallways, Kohut sites the different types of bullying that exist today, including cyber-bullying.
In addition, she lists the signs and symptoms of a bullied child as well as the warning signs to know if your child is the one doing the bullying. She addresses each situation with sensitivity but drives home the harsh reality of this topic by offering case studies that delve deeper into the personal side.
Ultimately, the book leads to a discussion of what necessary steps need to be taken to bully-proof children. While communication is key, she notes that it takes everyone's participation to help raise a child, and everyone's role plays a critical part in their development.

After reading Margaret Kohut's, The Complete Guide to Understanding, Controlling, and Stopping Bullies & Bullying I feel awakened to a new wave of crime in the form of bullying. Its poignant excerpts serve as a reminder of how ignoring the danger that bully's pose all too often bring only tragedy and death to our doorstep. Inside its pages is a detailed explanation of how bullying occurs, what to look for, and how to prevent it. Having read this book I now feel better prepared to protect my own children, as well as how to stay vigilant against bullying of others children.

This book posits that recent school shootings such as the incidents at Columbine High School and Virginia Tech University were partially caused by society's tolerance of bullying. This book is full of case studies about people who have been bullied and people who have bullied others. I found these case studies to be a thought-provoking method for presenting the book's argument. The author does a very good job defining the types of bullying and suggesting new solutions to this ago-old problem.

As Margaret R. Kohut, author of The Complete Guide to Understanding, Controlling, and Stopping Bullies & Bullying notes; on April 6, 2007, Twenty-three-year-old Seung-Hui Cho opened fire at Virginia Tech, killing 32 students, wounding 25, and also taking his own life. An investigation of Cho's personal history revealed that he had suffered bullying in both middle and high school for a speech defect. On October 16, 2006, a 13-year-old Missouri girl named Megan Meier committed suicide after a neighbor--the mother of a schoolmate, who posed online as a boy--harassed and bullied Meier online, after initially gaining her trust. On April 20, 2000, teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold--whom Kohut included in her book's dedication--entered Columbine High school with assault weapons and homemade bombs. They killed 12 classmates, a teacher, and injured 18 other students before shooting and killing themselves.

Kohut opens her book by profiling two of these cases--the Columbine and Virginia Tech Massacres--as well as one additional case. She seems to suggest, without directly stating as such, that a history of being bullied contributed to the criminal behaviors of Cho, Harris, and Klebold. The suicide of Meier, as well as of Emmet Fralick, a fourteen-year-old who resided in Halifax, Nova Scotia, whom Kohut also mentions in her introduction, reveals other extreme and tragic potential results of bullying.

Kohut's credentials and professional experiences as a Correction Officer in an Adult and Juvenile Maximum Security Correction Facility, a Courtroom Bailiff, Bounty Hunter, Forensic Counselor, Addiction Therapist, as well as time spent in private practice as a Social Worker, all support the case she makes for bullying as a serious and dangerous cultural problem. Kohut also successfully provides relevant data to support this assertion. In this book, she articulately, systematically, and logically paints a comprehensive picture of bullying. In the first section, she includes clear definitions and types of bullying behavior, "red flags" to look for, as well as the price that everyone involved with bullying pays. Next, she details accessible yet sophisticated forensic profiles of bullies and their victims. She also dispels relevant myths. In Section three, Kohut offers solutions for parents, teachers, victims, and bystanders. Educators and Educational Administrators, as well as parents, will find her chapter on creating zero tolerance for School Bullying extremely useful. Moreover, Kohut also briefly addresses legal aspects of bullying. She concludes with an appendix of tools--including various "pledges" that students, teachers, parents, schools and communities can make--which supply opportunities of applications for adults and children alike.

The Complete Guide to Understanding, Controlling and Stopping Bullies and Bullying: A Complete Guide for Teachers and Parents by Margaret R. Kohut, MSW, is a powerful examination of an issue that is impacting every school in the world and has profoundly been felt in cities like Littleton, Colorado and Blacksburg, Virginia. More importantly, the book acknowledges that when bullying of children does occur those people often ignore it that youth are supposed to depend on for protection - teachers, parents and authority figures. Yet, because a prevailing philosophy exists that bullying is a part of childhood these individuals have grown accustomed to looking the other way, which Kohurt examines in relation to numerous cases in which the students that were bullied eventually seek retaliation, causing all of society to ask "why?" This book is highly recommended reading for anyone that works with children and that is interested in altering a child's life so that there will be no more retaliatory acts against bullies and those that appear to support them. Kohur uses her professional experience to examine the law, case studies related to bullying, the affects of bullying on children (short and long term), as well as the teacher and parental role in addressing bullies and aiding children that are their victims.

I represent a private, non-profit organization that provides evaluation and tutoring services for children K-8. We strongly believe in professional development in order to maintain a high level of competency in the field of education. When our teachers have an opening in their schedule, they select books like this to review, to reflect and to write a summary, which is submitted to me for review and professional credit. Our entire teaching staff has found this book to be a good resource.

As a new resource teacher for my school this was one of the better books I found to help me with real life solutions to teaching learning disabled children. This was a great book for explanations of various learning disabilities and set exercises to use in class for all age groups. I work mostly one on one, but found the activities and strategies easily adaptable for individual use.

I am a preservice teacher and am studying special education. I saw this book on Amazon and was intrigued by the low price. I was so surprised when I received it. It is a wonderful resource for anyone who works with students with LD. It covers the whole gambit from identification, to characteristics, to strategies. It really is a complete handbook and for the price you can't find a better deal. I have found this resource much more useful than my textbooks on LD that cost me upwards 70-80 dollars. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book!

I found this book to be useful and very informative concerning special education. It covered testing, laws, terms and definitions. I've been using it to study for the Praxis Special Ed exams and feel that I will be well prepared.

Very informative. Very good reference for those taking the alternative route to teaching certification. Contains practical scenarios on how theories in education are applied.

A clearly written book, which employs a simple language. Another beauty of the book is that all loose ends are tied up. As sentences unfold one will realize why a particular phrase was used earlier and so on. That makes a big difference for an engineering text book.

It is the best book that I know for fundamentals. Hence, it will be useful for years to come.

Must have for all embedded systems people.

Helped me in my undergrad (older version). Helped me when I gave subject GRE recently. Covered Pipelining superscalar, out-of-order execution processors, caching and secondary storage, combinational and sequential ckt review etc real well. No computer architecture book covered them all so clearly, and in one book.

This was the assigned text for my junior year computer engineering course on computer organization. I loved it. The explanations are clear, progress logically, and are clearly presented. I find myself picking it up from time to time, both to read the more advanced chapters out of personal interest and to look up details needed in more advanced coursework.

After reading this book do not believe you'll know everyting about computing , but you'll know more than others do.

I had a chance to recommend this to a colleague just last week. It is easily twice the price of the "competing" books on the market, but you get what you pay for. With this book plus (perhaps) a hands-on course in the microprocessor laboratory--interfacing various logic families to output devices, e.g., or whipping up a robot of limited capabilities--the student gains the ultimate understanding of what makes computer systems "tick," from the loftiest levels of software, through the details of instruction set implementation (microprogrammed control, prefetching, cycle-stealing DMA transfers) and even the detailed digital logic circuits that underlie the CPU.

I dare say the student who aces this course is all but prepared to build a simplistic CPU on his own--"simplistic" because, though the concepts can be understood quite completely, it's an intricate challenge. Notably, the book has kept pace with the times: while the PDP-11 instruction set is didactically wonderful--clear and easy and even sporting reasonable opcode mnemonics--you don't see lots of PDP or LSI (or, for that matter, VAX) minis floating around nowadays. So, HV&Z moved on to the 68000, the Power PC, perhaps even the Pentium in the latest (of five or six) editions. (Good move, gentlemen: you've actually done your homework rather than just changing "happy" to "glad" and reprinting with a new version number!)

I used this book as a junior, but (a) I went to Cooper Union, which operates at an extremely high intellectual level [let's put it this way: I took a number of graduate-level computer science electives--compilers, OS, etc.--taught by Bell Labs MTSs as a junior and senior; and some "doctoral" courses that I took at Case were--honest Injun--watered-down versions of similar courses I had taken at Cooper], and (b) I graduated more than twenty years ago, and requirements always creep downward: a few credits fewer, a few tangential courses eliminated, perhaps one fewer humanities elective necessary to matriculate, etc. By 2006 standards, I would reluctantly have to reclassify HV&Z as a postgraduate text.

(A little puzzle for the reader: we had to build--from NAND gates--a microcomputer featuring two three-bit registers, and my squad was the only one that implemented an "exchange registers" function that required only one cycle and used no auxiliary storage registers. How did we do it? Tick ... tick ... tick ... time's up! The circuitry compared corresponding bits from both registers. If they matched, it did nothing; if they differed, it flipped both! So, there was no literal "exchange" operation: rather, each was simultaneously reset to the value of the other.)

As we prepared for our oldest daughter's amputaion, I searched for something to help guide us along as a family. This work book is wonderful. Although my daughter was emotionally ready for her loss, Rick Ritter was able to better address some of what we may have missed prior to her surgery. I strongly recomend this book for anyone dealing with physical loss them selves or that of a loved one. Joi Warburton, Las Vegas, NV

After reading the other reviews I purchased this book. I have a degenerative muscle disease for which there is no treatment. Although I have coped fairly well up to this point, I was finding myself more and more isolated. As I answered the questions, I felt it would be better if I were going through this process with a professional. I answered as fully as I was able, but there doesn't seem to be any suggestions as to what to do with this information. The book suggests that you share your answers with three people. In my case that wasn't possible.I can see that it would be useful in conjunction with therapy. Without that professional input, the book left me hanging.

Reviewed by Christina Gonzalez, LMHC for Reader Views (5/06)

The author starts this very unique workbook with a compelling quote from Christopher Reeve, "So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable". This book is a way to help those who have found their dreams become impossible, find new ways to restructure their life, their ways of thinking and their ways of being in order to find ways to help their dreams become inevitable.

This book is oriented towards those who have experienced some type of a physical loss, whether from a disability, accident or including serious, chronic illnesses and pain. His examples range from people who have suffered knee injuries to quadriplegics, to individuals who have undergone a mastectomy from breast cancer to debilitating illnesses like muscular dystrophy. I would see value for individuals with ANY chronic health condition benefiting enormously from this book.

The author suggests that individuals who use this book consult with at least three people in their lives with whom they can share the results of the exercises which is very wise. The author takes the reader through a series of written exercises and anecdotes through six main chapters: Past and Future, Self Care and Support, Dealing with Loss: Feelings and Beliefs, Understanding Disability, Transforming Circumstance, and The Ongoing Process of Loss and Recovery. Each of these remain only questions and words on paper until the reader takes these questions and looks into their lives and then shares them with another.

As a therapist I will be recommending this book to my clients who are struggling with any chronic health issues. I would love to use this workbook with my clients in their therapy as well as suggest they share the information obtained about themselves with others in their lives. The author includes some excellent exercises to help the reader determine what people in their lives might be supportive to this process of recovery from physical loss and/or any chronic health condition.

The appendices include some excellent resources regarding therapeutic techniques and alternatives, suggested reading for coping with loss and disability, films on issues related to physical loss and disability, guidelines for watching films, and a listing of organizations and other resources that can help individuals coping with loss and disability.

As the mother of a child with Cerebral Palsy and as a psychotherapist myself, I found this book to be highly valuable for people dealing with any type of physical loss. As I mentioned above, just buying the book will not do anything. Filling out the exercises will help, but will not make a huge change. Filling out the exercise, following the author on the journey that he is leading the reader on and sharing with those close to the reader will make a great deal of difference. Some of the exercises I found helpful for those suffering from debilitating mental or emotional illnesses and even less acute health conditions such as asthma or others. This book is highly recommended to any individual who has suffered a physical loss and is still struggling to find their dreams. It would make a great gift from a supportive loved one who is also willing to make a stand to be there with the reader as they go through these exercises, and it would make an excellent aid to an individual who is currently seeing a therapist. I would not recommend this to someone who just wants to do the exercises randomly, haphazardly or in order to just keep their answers to themselves and not share them with another.

Rick Ritter, MSW, has created an easy-to-use resource to help people confront a life-changing illness or disability. He could simply give good advice, relying upon his experiences as a disabled veteran, a social worker, and a competitor in events for disabled athletes. Instead, he engages the reader in answering questions, gathering support, finding resources, and taking a completely positive approach to difficult situations.

I love the workbook format, because it forces the reader to begin thinking about and acting upon ways to continue with a life that has become altered. Of course, altered doesn't mean over. It just means different. Ritter avoids sugar-coating those differences or the emotional, social, and physical problems that accompany them. However, he ultimately provokes the reader into finding ways to deal with those obstacles.

Ritter ends with a brief but inspiring look at his life, followed by a variety of resources. I suggest his workbook as a great beginning for anyone facing physical loss or disability.

Rick Ritter has written a superb self-help workbook that will benefit readers who have suffered a physical loss or disability. Ritter has included 50 questions to be answered by the reader. He recommends these answers be shared with at least three other people. In responding to these questions, the reader is able to reflect on his or her disability or physical loss. The book engages the reader in discovering ways to deal with their physical loss. To those readers who have experienced such a loss, the workbook will provide a sense of empowerment to those still in grief or depression.

Ritter himself has experienced his own disability. As a social worker(MSW), he has had the opportunity to work with 100 people who have suffered a physical loss or disability. His workbook provides a roadmap for readers to follow to reach attainable goals.

Also included are interesting short stories of people he has worked with ranging from amputation, breast cancer, muscular dystrophy, AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, and quadriplegia. He recounts how these people were able to cope with their loss.

Having a disability or having suffered a physical loss doesn't necessarily lead to unhappiness. How one responds to that loss is what really matters. Rick also uses spirituality, support systems, and holistic methods as an approach to coping with the loss. Resiliency is crucial in facing any loss or disability.

As a mother of a son with cerebral palsy, I can see how this workbook could be very useful. He is now a happy young man working as an attorney. His disability didn't stop him from being productive. Also, having battled my own muscle disease along with rheumatoid arthritis, I found it helpful. As the daughter of a mother transfused with HIV contaminated blood, I can see how this workbook could have benefited her.

The resources included at the end of his book are certainly a bonus. He has listed helpful organizations, suggested reading, and films relating to physical loss and disability.

Rick Ritter has given his readers a wonderful gift. "Coping with Physical Loss and Disability" is an empowering book that will benefit many readers. I highly recommend this workbook. Thank you, Rick for caring. Your workbook will be appreciated by many people.

Nancy A. Draper (Author) A Burden of Silence: My Mother's Battle with AIDS

I love princeton review series. they are the best best best. I used this book sophmore year to prep for AP bio. I didn't read the whole textbook only up to chapter 25, but this book helped me get a 5. You need to know everything in this book to do well. learn all the diagrams and every vocab. good luck

I would recommend this book to anyone taking the test. I used it to study for the AP exam in 2006 and crammed 90% of the book the day before. I'm really happy with the result because I got a 5 from it. This was the only book I used.

This book is really great just like all of the other princeton review book. I took the AP test yesterday, and just want to point out to everyone that as long as you read this book and do the practice tests, you don't need anything else. It's a great book with great info and great everything. Even though there are some mistakes on the practice tests.

I basically paid $13 for a 5 on the AP Biology Exam.

At my school, there is no AP Biology course. Instead, there is simply an honors course. A few friends and I, enrolled in that course, decided that we would take the AP Biology Exam. We all bought this book and we all studied. People doubted us, as taking an AP test without the class is often a recipe for failure at our school. In the class, due to an adaptation in the schedule, we didn't even cover plants, protists, fungi, photosynthesis, or respiration. Most of the body systems were left up to us to study, as well.

Fast forward to July 1. Being impatient, I call AP to find my scores. I'm praying for a 3 in Biology, but lo and behold, a 5. How?

The book goes over everything. Every subject that the book could test for it covers. In addition, the tests help prepare for the same kind of questions. I didn't incur the same problems as another reviewer, who said there were incorrect answers, but all the answers are explained and I really did not have a problem. In any case, the AP exam doesn't ask for the correct answer; it asks for the best answer. This book even goes over the experiments, which we didn't even have a chance to do, and thus helped me do well on the essay section even though I hadn't ever done the experiment.

If you are taking the AP Biology Exam, buy this book. With a little bit of work and this book, getting a 5 really isn't too difficult.

I had a horrible AP bio teacher this past year and I pretty much had to study on my own to learn this stuff. I also bought the AP Bio Cliffs book, but I used that as a review after I finished each chapter in the Princeton one. The Princeton one gives great descriptions and teaches you in essay format, while the Cliffs just gives you bullet points, so the information doesn't quite flow as smoothly. Also, Princeton's "words to know" and quiz questions at the end of each chapter helped me so much! I scored a 4 on the test, which would have never happened had I not got this book!

I am really enjoying this book. It is full of information and covers just about every aspect of ceramics you can think of. I am teaching a youth ceramics class this summer and am looking forward to having this as a reference!

This is a great book for anyone who wants to work with clay. It is clearly written with prospective and actual studio potters in mind.

The book originally came out in 1992, and is now in its fourth edition. And, after mentioning some safety issues, it has plenty of instructional material on how to shape clay, and what tools to use. There are sections on hand building: pinching, coil building, and slab building. Then there's plenty about the technique of "throwing" clay on a potter's wheel, with nice sequences of photos. This takes plenty of skill and practice! As the author says, the wheel is very sensuous, rhythmic, and hypnotic. Peterson is always warning us to treat clay properly: if you attack it in one way and then hit it from another direction in the same place, you may find cracks there in firing, induced by the strains you imposed on it. It's simply wrong to overwork clay.

Still, many potters and artists like to produce many objects with the same overall shape. And that means making and using molds made from plaster, and making casting slips, so Peterson shows us quite a bit about these. After this comes a discussion of decoration. This involves artistry and visualization.

There is a good discussion of types of clays, and explanations of what earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain are. We're shown different types of clay bodies, including terra sigillata and raku (a process which requires a clay body that has some dirt mixed in with it to make it porous enough to avoid thermal shock). And there is a wonderful chapter on glazes. Following that, there is plenty about kilns and firing, including using cones, inconel tubes, and pyrometers to measure temperature.

A technical section explains how to do calculations on glazes, and there are charts of coefficients of expansion, data on frits, color charts of clay and glaze combinations, and much more.

There is a historical overview, which includes a discussion of the studio potter movement and the contributions to it from Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. And we see some of the work of Maria Martinez and Lucy Lewis in Pueblo Indian ceramics. There is also an excellent portfolio of interesting works. I especially like some of the low-fire ones.

This is a very useful resource and I highly recommend it.

This is a large book chock full of information, and provides an in-depth survey of ceramics. There are many photographs about techniques and many illustrations of beautiful artistic ceramics pieces. Also it contains lots of technical information, tables, etc.

Since other reviews have covered the merits of this book quite well, I'll mention a few issues:

First, there are lots of sample photos of different clay bodies under different firings and different glaze colors and combinations, etc., but they are all *way too small* to really see the characteristics of each sample. Also sometimes there is a series of photos, e.g. throwing a pot, building a kiln, and when they are all arranged on the page, each one is too small (and many are b&w, from previous editions?) Otherwise the book is very well illustrated with a wide variety of work.

The glaze discussion does not cover the properties of glaze bases and coloring oxides much at all, which is something I would expect in a book of this comprehensiveness. It does spent some time on commercial fritted stains and Mayco glazes, which other books don't, and can be useful to some, especially for low-temp work. But if you really want to get into glazes, this is not the book.

For many advanced topics, she has just a mention that leaves me hungry for more. E.g. lusters she briefly mentions using and making, but Rhodes has a much more thorough discussion of making lusters. Paperclay is mentioned briefly but not enough to really tell me how to make it or use it. For many of the topics in the book, more detailed discussions are possible and likely available elsewhere. However she has assembled lots of brief mentions of different and experimental work that you might not encounter in other ceramics survey books, so it is useful for knowing what else I want to look into.

[This review pertains to the 4th edition, 2003.]

This book is an excellent reference for different levels of clay/ceramics work. It is a beautiful "coffee table book" as well.
It came in perfect condition.

If you are just learning, or are stuck in a rut, this book is a great reference for potters of all skill levels.

I was lucky enough to attend the author's workshop at the NCTE convention and then I bought the book. It is a dynamic resource and I use it regularly. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to set higher standards for their students.

Ms. Feber has thought of everything to help teachers assign book reports. Wow! I think the combination of a teacher's page and a project page with a rubric opens the door for success in reading fiction and non-fiction. The traditional book report has done more harm than good to inspire students to read. Ms.Feber shows that when assigned a hands-on project students respond and all the literary elements can be met. I like the book's wide appeal for teachers to use with all age students-elementary through high school.

I am teaching 5th grade this year, and I am always looking for new and different ideas to use as projects with books or stories. This is an excellent resource to have on hand. You do not have to do any work with this book, and that is the part I love more than anything! (As a teacher I have enought to do) Worth the money!!!

Jane Feber makes her debut as an author at long last with this great book of practical and fun activities for veteran and new teachers. An award winning and highly successful teacher, Jane shares her strategies for success. The book not only provides instructions and rubrics for the activities but schedules, suggestions for group interaction, classroom management tips, and very importantly, authentic pictures of the finished products. With the varied levels of today's students Jane has given us a book with activities to enable all students to achieve success. I have shared this book with numerous teachers and all have wanted a copy.

Creative Book Reports is full of kinesthetic activities to use in differentiating instruction in middle school, elementary, and even some high school classrooms. It is also good for parents to use during the summer to encourage students to respond to the books they are reading. Teachers can find something great to use for teaching higher order thinking skills and for developing a love of good literature. The teacher pages, illustrations, and rubrics make this book extremely user friendly. It is the best organized book of its type I have seen. The CD makes it a snap to adapt activities to your own situation. I will highly recommend this book to my own middle school language arts department and to the elementary teachers who take my university courses.