Q Books

My six year old kept checking out this book at her school library over and over. She can read the entire book to us. She even dressed up as Josefina for storybook character day at her school. It is a great book full of love and adventure. The first time you read it you will cry but your child will read it over and over again.

The Josephina Story Quilt by Eleanor Coerr. It is interesting because I learned that quilts made in the 1700's helped people remember the days going west.

The Josefina Story Quilt, by Eleanor Coerr is a sad and happy book.

Faith is a girl and she has a pet hen, named Josefina.

Like lots of other families in 1850, Faith's family is going west to California. Faith wants to take her pet hen(Josefina) with them but her Pa says no. Finally her Pa lets her take Josefina along.

On the way lots of sad things happen:2 old people die along with 3 oxen. Faith makes quilt squares on the way to tell what's happening.

Josefina saves the day at the end.

I would reccomend this easy reader to you. It has a bittersweet ending. I say this book is 4 out of 5.

Our seven year old loved this, kind of a "Little House on the Prairie" type story only vveerryy simple. A girl doesn't want to leave her hen behind on the trip west by covered wagon. In the end, the hen gets to tag along, and the events that ensue become quilt squares pieced together to make a quilt which the girl treasures long after the hen is gone. Cute, simple illustrations. Perfect length "chapters" for those to whom "chapters" are very important! :) Thumbs up.

We never tire of Josefina's story. It was a great introduction to the western migration, and sparked my daughters curiosity about the prairie and the period. I would recommend it.

I had to use this text for a sophmore level management science course. While the book is extensively detailed, it is written for graduate school level course work. The program that comes with the text is much more useful for the undergrad student tackling business statistics.

Trust Me. This is the only book that you'll need to get started started in this area. The authors have done an excellent job in producing such a work, that takes care to explain all the details of management science.

I used this text for my professional exams (CIMA) and the it was great. All the chapters in this book are cleanly written to take that I doesn't leave anything unexplained. However, the following chapters are the ones that I like the most in this book:

1. Introduction to LP
2. LP: Sensitivity Analysis: Amazing work here.
3. LP Applications: formulation of problems in this chapter may be bit difficult at first, but keep reading and you'll learn and appreciate the work that the authors have put in.
4. LP - Simplex Method: My favorite chapter. Is highly readable. This one chapter alone is worth the book.
5. LP - Simplex Sensitivity.
6. Integer LP
7. Project Scheduling - Great, well written chapter, another favorite of mine.
8. Decision Analysis - Good but the problems are repetative.
9. Markov Process - An introduction only, but the application of markov process to accounts receivable anlaysis is very useful for anyone wondering about the applications of markov processes.

Overall a great book that is worth its price.

This book is an essential guide for every graduate student. It makes mathematical and technical concepts of management science understandable and useful.

This book provides thorough explanations, good tables, graphs, examples and self-test questions with most of the answers in the back of the book.

He usado el libro en cursos de maestria en administracion. Mis estudiantes lo recomiendan por ser muy didactico, sin sacrificar profundidad en la presentacion de los temas.

I have several cats so I thought I would buy this book just for fun to see how smart my cats are.

While sometimes no answer seemed to fit my cat, it is still an enjoyable book. It can make you aware of some of your cat's traits that you may have never thought about. Take the results with a grain of salt. Just like people, measuring the intelligence of a cat is not an exact science.

This book is ideal only if you have an average cat. The book is good and well written. It has cute quotes, interesting facts and a terrific, breif history of cats. Also a few funny tails;that I find to be Animal Planet worthy. However, it's just not sutible for the not so average cat. It has limeted answers. If a person has a unusall(ie: my cat Sharky)cat it can be very hard to answer. Thus makeing it extremly hard to "rank" a persons cat. Overall the book is good and I do recomend it. If anything for novelty perposes;or a party gag!!!

We're longtime fans of Miller's Dog I.Q. Test, so sure thing for us to try out the cat version once learning of it.

Our cat appeared to be super intelligent, and this test proved it out. This cat outsmarts our dogs, neighbor cats, squirrels, etc. She is sly.

Cat did much better than the owners did on their test. That's what is neat about this book. Both cat and owners get a score.

Anecdotes and stories are a delight to read. Also, submit your cat's results and see it published in new editions.

This is neat idea for all us cat lovers.

This book is great! It really works. For any cat. Just select the answer that is CLOSEST to what your cat does and add up the points. It's that easy. And there is also an IQ test for you so you can see how much you know about cats. This is such a great book. Try it out!

This Christian fiction book is a cute story of a boy's love for his unusual family made up of his uncle, grandfather, aunt, great-grandfather and his dog. I especially liked the boy's close relationship with his dog and his relationship with God. I think a boy might enjoy this book since the main character is Josh and it's his story. He shares his feelings with the reader about the things happening in his family and his anger towards God. The aunt finds romance but it was quite humorous how her father and uncle tried to set her up with "acceptable" candidates and the boy and Gramps would intervene. I enjoyed the book for a change of pace. I found it to be uplifting, amusing and an easy read.

Once upon a summer is the story of young Josh, a farmboy, and his relationships with his adopted family, in particular his Auntie Lou and his Great-Great-Grandfather known as "Gramps." While I enjoyed this novel, I felt the author made Josh too introspective for a small boy. I don't think boys Josh's age contemplate anything for any great length of time, let alone agonize about their aunt's impending marriage. I felt Josh thoughts were more appropriate for a girl, albeit a tomboy.

I also felt the author's focus on Lou, and her impending 'marriage' and the plotting relatives a little over-the top. This story was about Josh and him growing up, if she wanted to write about Lou and her marriage, why not write the story from HER perspective? This is a classic case of the author making a secondary character and her struggles much more interesting than the main character's plot.

Don't get me wrong, this is a cute book. But like most of Oke's work it is an unchallenging read with a simplistic story and feel-good plotline. Good, but not exciting.

"Once upon a Summer" is a book that is not too serious and not excessively religious. In fact, I think a subtle point was that a person may attend church, but that doesn't mean they are a good person, and that people who do not attend church, may in fact be good people (although I doubt these are the points author Oke was intending to make). I enjoyed the character of Auntie Lou and her valor towards her feelings. I found Grandpa and Uncle Charlie's actions to be awful (concerning finding Lou a suitable husband, and not leaving the choice up to her), and Josh and Gramps' relationship heartwarming. If you're looking for a book to sit back and relax with, then this is the book for you. I recommend.

This was a cute series. These books are written from a boy's point of view and that makes them very unique. I don't know how Oke could write in a boy's point of view so well! It was as if a boy had written the book, which is probably why this series is not overly romantic, except for the last book. It had some pretty funny parts--and that helps make a book good.

I like the last one in this series the best.

This book and series shows the struggles of an unusual family structure including: a grandfather and his father, brother, daughter and grandson. The focus is on the grandson who was orphaned as an infant and has known no other family. His young aunt is the only mother that he has ever known. As the story unfolds, the young boy has to deal with jealousy towards his aunt's suitors. The whole series is quite well done.

We got G is for Google a while ago and I bought Q is for Quark for my son's 11th birthday. He's not a big reader, but he likes to read this series. The entries are quite complex, they really explain sophisticated science, and the entries, although usually only a page long, are also quite dense - this is not a dumbed down version.

It's genuinely interesting and we read it in bite size (or letter size) portions, and learn something new. This is a book you definitely read more than once, and each time, you remember a little more. I really enjoy it and would recommend it for anyone over 10 (parents learn a lot from this book too!)

I happened upon this book in a bookstore in my town one day, and just adore it. I am an engineer, and I buy this book for every friend/family member that is expecting a child. It's whimsical and fun and educational--we all can learn something we don't know!

If I could travel back in time 30 years and have a library of David Schwartz books, I'd be one happy kid! My kids love his work, and so do I!

A former biologist, elementary school teacher, and journalist, Schwartz knows how to present complicated information in a straighforward and accessible manner. He and artist Kim Doner have put together a wonderful companion to their earlier book, G is for Googol. Q is for Quark is engaging and fun for strong independent readers of all ages. Each letter of the alphabet introduces a different scientific term. E is for element, O is for Occam's Razor, and Q is for Quark, of course! I highly recommend this book for any science minded kid.

This is a commendable effort to introduce children to general science (not just physics, as the title might imply), but there are minor flaws.

In SI units, the degree sign should not be used with celsius. In Light, a prism is described as a 3-sided piece of glass (5 sides or more). If you go up 8 white keys from C you come to D, not C. An object is said to be red because it reflects only red light (pigment makers wish that were true, but it isn't). The air column in a woodwind vibrates only under closed holes. (What happens in cross fingering? Don't the vibrations extend into the room?) And I wish text weren't printed over dark illustrations!

An excellent peak at science for both children and adults. Although rather simplistic, it does a good job explaining basic science concepts. I specially liked the parts on T for Think, where the author explains how scientists use the Scientific Method as a tool for testing observations, making inferences and weed out erroneous beliefs; and O for Occam's Razor, again as of useful tool for reasoning. I sure hope there is a sequel.

Only one observation: The publishers should have chosen a more portable book format (paperback) so you can take it anywhere and either enjoy it by yourself or share it with someone else.

AC.CHB

One of the best books on Reliability Data analysis with an excellent set of examples and clear writing style.

Reliability and survival analysis both deal with time to failure data. Much of the methodology is essentially the same. The term reliability is generally used to apply to hardware or software whereas survival analysis is a term for biological systems such as animals or humans. This book includes the standard nonparametric and parametric methods for estimating reliability functions and parameters. It includes system reliability and repairable systems and deals with recent developments with repairable systems including Nelson's mean cumulative function. A couple of years ago I asked Wayne Nelson if and when he might revise his popular text "Applied Life Data Analysis". He said he did not plan to do it because Meeker and Escobar had just finished a work that would be as good as any revision he might want to produce. Other topics include failure time regression models including the popular Cox proportional hazards model and accelerated life test models. It also includes modern topics such as bootstrap confidence intervals (both semi-parametric and nonparametric) for reliability parameters. The book is comprehensive and up-to-date. It also includes discussion of Bayesian methods. Some case studies are also included. The only topics it misses are reliability growth and warranty and service contracts. These topics are covered in the recent book by Blischke and Murthy "Reliability Modeling, Prediciton, and Optimization" also published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Numerical examples are done using the SPlus software from MathSoft. An ftp site is available to download data sets to use with SPlus.

Reliability and survival analysis both deal with time to failure data. Much of the methodology is essentially the same. The term reliability is generally used to apply to hardware or software whereas survival analysis is a term for biological systems such as animals or humans. This book includes the standard nonparametric and parametric methods for estimating reliability functions and parameters. It includes system reliability and repairable systems and deals with recent developments with repairable systems including Nelson's mean cumulative function. A couple of years ago I asked Wayne Nelson if and when he might revise his popular text "Applied Life Data Analysis". He said he did not plan to do it because Meeker and Escobar had just finished a work that would be as good as any revision he might want to produce. Other topics include failure time regression models including the popular Cox proportional hazards model and accelerated life test models. It also includes modern topics such as bootstrap confidence intervals (both semi-parametric and nonparametric) for reliability parameters. The book is comprehensive and up-to-date. It also includes discussion of Bayesian methods. Some case studies are also included. The only topics it misses are reliability growth and warranty and service contracts. These topics are covered in the recent book by Blischke and Murthy "Reliability Modeling, Prediciton, and Optimization" also published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Numerical examples are done using the SPlus software from MathSoft. An ftp site is available to download data sets to use with SPlus.

Reliability data isn't amenable to treatment with the ubiquitous normal distribution, a fact which should catch the attention of any practicing engineer with only that bullet in his gun. Reliability data has other distinguishing features. The data are usually censored, which means the exact failure times are not known so the observations can only provide bounds on the actual failure times. Inferences and predictions usually require extrapolations, making engineering and physics-based modeling an important adjunct to statistical methods. Whereas many *statistical* problems focus on parameter estimation (e.g.: mean, standard deviation), these are not of primary interest to engineers who need specific measures of product reliability (e.g.: failure probabilities, life distribution quintiles, failure rates).

The chapter headings provide an overview of the book:

1) Reliability Concepts and Reliability Data 2) Models, Censoring, and Likelihood for Failure-Time Data 3) Nonparametric Estimation 4) Location-Scale-Based Parametric Distributions 5) Other Parametric Distributions 6) Probability Plotting 7) Parametric Likelihood Fitting Concepts: Exponential Distribution 8) Maximum Likelihood for Log-Location-Scale Distributions 9) Bootstrap Confidence Intervals 10) Planning Life Tests 11) Parametric Maximum Likelihood: Other Models 12) Prediction of Future Quantiles 13) Degradation Data, Models, and Data Analysis 14) Introduction to the Use of Bayesian Methods for Reliability Data 15) System Reliability Concepts and Methods 16) Analysis of Reparable System and Other Recurrence Data 17) Failure-Time Regression Analysis 18) Accelerated Life Tests 21) Accelerated Degradation Tests 22) Case Studies and Further Applications Appendix A - Notation and Acronyms Appendix B - Some Results from Statistical Theory

This book is written for practitioners - engineers and statisticians - yet does not presume an undergraduate degree in statistics. More involved statistical ideas (Bayesian thought, censored observations, bootstrapping, et cetera) are all described to the user with the assumption that they have had little prior exposure. The book's concepts are presented in an unstuffy and intuitive manner. For example, for Meeker and Escobar likelihood is simply "the probability of the data," making a maximum likelihood estimator one which maximizes the probability that the experiment turned out the way it did. (Contrast this to the hushed tones in many "engineering statistics" texts which suggest that Likelihood is a profound concept beyond the (limited) capacity of the engineer and best left to the trained statisticians.) The wholesome, unpretentious, and practical approach taken by Meeker and Escobar is quite pleasing to this reviewer, a professional engineer whose formal statistical education began later in life.

The book should be interesting to statisticians too. It can be used as a two-semester graduate statistics course, a one-semester course for engineers and statisticians, or as the basis for workshops and short courses on selected topics for industry practitioners. Each chapter is suffused with examples using real data and ends with thought-provoking exercises. While this is a practical book, it does not neglect statistical theory (after all, the authors are well-known academic statisticians) - although it is interesting to note that for censored observations there may be no *exact* theory for statistical inference. While the book's emphasis is more on results than on theoretical proofs, I think the practicing statistician will be quite pleased with the book's balance.

Not only are its 680 pages chock-full of ideas, information, and techniques, _Statistical Methods for Reliability Data_ is a noteworthy paradigm for technical exposition: Even before each chapter's introduction, there is a brief statement of chapter objectives, followed by an overview which places the chapter in perspective, stating for example, that the material is a prerequisite for this or that future topic, or conditions under which it could be omitted, or why its is useful. This makes it easy for a practitioner to find his way around the text.

In summary: Buy this book. If competitive advantage through reliable products is central to your company's future, then Meeker and Escobar, _Statistical Methods for Reliability Data_ can help you reach your objectives.

The purpose of this book was supposed to serve very broad groups of people: students, statisticians and engineers. Unfortunately, I found this book not quite suitable in engineering practice.
From practical point of view, when dealing with reliability estimations, one has to connect mathematical theory with real-life data. It appears that to accomplish this task it is necessary to understand some basic statistical ideas, plus specifics of the subject under consideration. Sometimes common sense knowledge can come in handy. Strangely enough but many fundamental principles are in fact surprisingly simple, elegant and thus beautiful. What is missing in the book is the lack of clear explanations of fundamental statistical concepts that certainly can be presented in a complicated form but in reality they are not. On the other side, the book could serve as a solid textbook to students, statisticians and mathematicians.

Neat book -- lots of good Q and A's about a lot of subjects, just pick a page.

I really enjoyed this book. It has fun facts, interesting stories, and hints on where to find information on the Internet.

I do have to disagree with McLain on one of his facts. In response to a question about teleportation, McLain discusses psychokinesis. McLain indicates that scientists are taking psychokinesis very seriously, and mentions favorably some research that found people could control the roll of an electronic dice with their minds. I'm sorry, but this is simply not the case. All such studies have been found not be repeatable when appropriate controls were made. James Randi has offered a million dollars to anyone who can show psychokinetic powers under controlled conditions. No one has succeeded yet. For more information on the Million Dollar Challenge, go to www.randi.org.

This is a wonderful, fun, & informative book. I have sent it to a couple of friends, that have truely enjoyed it. They keep it in thier bathroom for easy & fun reading material.I hate to read, but this book makes reading fun. You can't put it down, & you get educated @ the same time. Highly recommended for all ages!!! Enjoy!!!

Once again, the "answer whiz" has done it and done so in superlative form! As with his previous book, "Do Fish Drink Water?," most of what sets Bill's (and collaborators') work apart from others who have done compilations of trivial tidbits is that his personality permeates every word that is read on the page.

Anyone who has encountered Bill found out almost instantaneously, either when he responded to email sent to the Xerox Webmaster, spoke with him by phone or, as those of us fortunate enough to work with him on a regular basis, at the core of his being was a genuine caring for everyone. You could not talk with Bill without thinking that you were, if not his favorite person on the planet, at least the person he considered the most interesting.

To this equation, one adds the over-arching curiosity which resulted in such a vast wealth of knowledge in so many diverse fields of esoteric matter combined with the ability to convey information in the most easy-to-read manner and you have the answer to the question of what makes his books such pleasurable reading.

Yes, there are the minor imperfections such as the acceptance, again, in this book of the CNN-Headline News "abusage" meaning of the word "factoid" in utter disregard for its original coinage in 1973 by Norman Mailer. When I suggested to Bill that this second book ought to set the record straight with a "factoid on factoids" he pointed out, correctly, nobody but a small handful of philologers would be interested.

The only real downer is the tragic news that on 19 January 2001, just days before this book was due out, Bill died from complications following cancer surgery.

His wit, humor and, most of all, the kindness of this fine gentleman will be missed.

The book "What Makes Flamingos Pink?" tells about facts and figures and events. It tells some of the most strange events, and also some you may not have even heard of. I learned many things from reading this book. I have also noticed things that make me wonder "What makes it do that?" or "Why does that thing do that?" Nearly all my questions were answered in this book.

The reason why I gave this book four stars is because it had interesting information, but the author (Bill McLain) sometimes gets off of the topic in the chapter. I have also read the book, "Do Fish Drink Water?" This is a book similar to "What Makes Flamingtos Pink," but I think that the book "Do Fish Drink Water" is actually a better book.

This book has some great summaries, about 6 pages in length each for a variety of businesses. Discussions center around best-case scenarios and the author offers bits of interviews from those successful owners and how you can apply it to starting your business. A suprisingly realistic view of quite a few different business options.

I really would like to see an updated version of this book since it was published in 2000 and the market has changed for many small businesses.

lots of fresh item

While the author has some good ideas for start-up businesses, she is behind the times. Keep in mind it was most recently published 6 years ago. Read it to get ideas, but don't count on it to reflect current trends. According to the author, typing, word processing, old school computer languages, and pagers are all in hot demand.

I saw that the first two reviews listed here are for the old edition of this book! The new edition, just released last month, is completely updated. Here are just some examples covering virtually every established and emerging field, including the Internet: Internet marketing, designing web pages, ecotourism, gourmet food shop or producer, take-out restaurateur, adult day services provider, play gym operator, home health care provider, personal chef, dating service provider, B&B innkeeper, craft wholesaler, "whodunit" producer, party planner, and the list goes on and on. Each entry gives a complete behind the scenes look and relays success stories from real entrepreneurs, with verbatim comments and must-know secrets about every aspect of running the business. The introductory chapter gives you all the nuts and bolts information about how to succeed as an entrepreneur with topics like the positive character traits of entrepreneurs, and info about generating capital, business plans, finding lawyers and bookkeepers and bankers, marketing, working from home, finding and keeping employees, and more.

The book is simple to follow, and its principles practicable. I've been using its recommended exercises and seeing results.
Bossman.

The book is simple and straightforward, and it uses some techniques that are very effective but have fallen out of use, perhaps due to lack of understanding of the principles that make these techniques work.

Once upon a time people were taught some good techniques. Like Atkinson's books on mind-power, Theron Dumont's books also incorporate the use of both hypnosis and what we have come to call "remote hypnosis". They may not use the language of "energy", but that's what they are all about - the use of mind to create changes both in yourself and in your environment.

I enjoyed how the book was written in easy to understand language and it gave enough examples for you to try the techniques in your daily life. I would read more of this authors books.

A simple comprehensive book dealing with personal vibrational energy. By using techniques such as telepathy you can exert influence over your own life as well as conveying or suggesting ideas to others. By using mind power we are able to exert positive control over our own lives.

I still remember the night when the original television movie "Battlestar Galactica" first appeared on television. As a science fiction buff, I was transfixed by the quality of the special effects and the Cyclons. The storyline and the action made for an excellent beginning. Unfortunately, the remainder of the series failed to live up to the start. With all the wide and empty slate of space to work with, the writers and producers found it difficult to get beyond simple human concepts.
This book is the novelization of the original movie and compared to other books in the genre it is quite good. The authors manage to capture most of the wonder and drama of the movie and avoid the common mistake of adding inconsequential filler. I still enjoy (re)reading it nearly three decades after the movie first appeared.

Your standard novelization type deal. The start of the series turned into a book, which is certainly fun for a kid wanting to go through it again.

Robots blowing everything up, robot dogs, cool space pilots, and all that sort of thing. Nothing really wrong with this effort from that point of view.

I bought this book with Amazon from "bying from me". She sent it by priority mail. I am very pleased with this book because Battlestar Galactica is my favourite tv series ever. So, I wanted to "live" and understand the story. This book will help me.
Thanks a lot.
Laurence

There are those who believe that life here began out there with tribes of humans who could have been the ancestors of Aztecs, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans... Welcome to Battlestar Galactica. The short-lived, mistakenly cancelled Space: Above and Beyond of the '70s. BG was a series about a war between the 12 Colonies of Man and the machine-ruled Cylon Empire. It's the story of Adama, the Commander of the last surviving Colonial Battlestar Galactica. Like S:AAB, peace talks are used as a ruse. The human traitor Count Baltar, has sold the human race down the proverbial river. While the peace conference is in session, aboard the Battlestar Atlantia, the Colonial Fleet's flagship, Captain Apollo and his brother, Lieutenant Zac, who took Starbuck's place on the routine patrol because Starbuck, a gambler, wanted to play Pyramid, a game like poker, in which the object is to get the capstone. Starbuck's partners in crime are Boomer and Jolly. In the book, they're described as being like Mutt and Jeff. The Sci-Fi Channel used to air the series. If they do it again, watch for a young Jane Seymour.