John Skelton Books

I picked up Scotland's Story because I loved Marshall's Our Island Story (about Britain) so much. Like that history, Scotland's Story is a personality-centric history: Each chapter tells the unfolding tale of Scotland through an episode (real or legendary; Marshall always indicates when something is not precisely factual) in the life of a famous Scot. There is just enough fact to educate and just enough fantasy to entice a young mind.

One important caveat: The story of Scotland--and every other nation, no doubt--is rarely one of sweetness and light. This is a story of one battle and war and imprisonment after another. Nevertheless, Marshall never forgets her audience, the upper elementary-aged child (although my 4-year-old has thoroughly enjoyed both Our Island Story and Scotland's Story, with occasional on-the-fly editing from Mommy). Another top pick: Naxos Audiobooks' unabridged Our Island Story on audio CD, surprisingly one of my daughter's favorite listens.

Scotland's Story is simply wonderful! It's an old classic that's finally available again at a reasonable price. Marshall writes for children, and my K- and 2nd grader have loved these stories, but I've been equally enthralled. She begins with legends of the earliest Scots, and becomes more authoritative as she gains the ground of documented events. Read about Macbeth and Macduff, Malcolm Canmore, the beloved William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, all the Jameses, Mary-Queen of Scots, and on up through their Union to England, the last of the Stewarts (a line birthed with a wonderful tale in the early part of the book), and into the 19th century a bit. The chapters are not especially long, but even so are broken up into short sections for quick, easy read-alouds. We're ordering this book, as renewing it from the library is getting tiresome....and it's one we want to add to our library!

This delightful book recounts the history of Scotland in language simple enough for a child to understand and appreciate, yet colourful and detailed enough to provide an accurate and comprehensive treatment of this vast subject. It transports the reader to another world, of mighty rulers, daring knights and heroic princes. It is so riveting that I read it three times in a row when I was seven, and remember it fondly to this day...

Alexander the Great, was born on or around July 20, 356 B.C.E., and is my favorite personality to read about in history. To me he is the whole package general, statesman, conqueror, and philosopher. The smartest man who ever lived, Aristotle, tutored him. Alexander conquered more of the known world than any other figure in history, accomplishing all this before he dies at the ripe old age of 33. Some people called him conqueror and violent overlord. Some other called him civilizer and even God! All of them yet, called him "The Great". He was the first man in modern history that took this name, "The Great"! Even as a young boy, he shows great promise.

Diodorus a Greek historian who lived from 80-20 BCE wrote 40 books of world history. He is an uncritical compiler who used good sources and produced them faithfully. His work is one of the oldest works available and is based on eyewitness accounts. He does a better job than most in explaining the battle scenes, and seems to be more balanced in his admiration and criticism of Alexander then any of the other early biographers. I love his Bucephalus Story, and I recount it here so you get a flavor of the promise this young Alexander shows.

The legend begins with Philoneicus, a Thessalian, bringing a wild horse to Philip for him to buy. None of the hands was able to handle it, and Philip grew upset at Philoneicus for bringing such an unstable horse to him. Alexander, however, publicly defied his father and claimed that he could handle the horse. The bet between Philip and Alexander was that if Alexander could ride the horse, Philip would buy it, if not, Alexander would have to pay the price of the horse, which was 13 talents, an enormous sum for a boy of Alexander's age to have.

Alexander apparently noticed that the horse had been shying away from its own shadow, and so he led it gently into the sun, so that its shadow was behind it, all the while stroking it gently and whispering into its ear, (Alexander seems to be the original horse whisperer). Eventually the horse let Alexander mount him, and Alexander was able to show his equestrian skill to his father and all who were watching. The incident so impressed Alexander's father, King Philip that he told the boy "Look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of you, for Macedonia is too little for thee". He named the horse Bucephalus, which means Ox head, and rode it across Asia, founding a city in its honor in India after its death. This story gives you an inkling about the man.

This book is a necessary read for students of Alexander, I also recommend Plutarch's and Arrian's work, and from contemporary writers, J. F. C. Fuller and Tarn. Most of Alexander's greatest military traits are in the area of military logistics and to understand his genius in this area I highly recommend reading, "Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army," by Donald W. Engels.

As a retired U. S. Army Major, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in ancient warfare, and history.

Alexander the Great, was born on or around July 20, 356 B.C.E., and is my favorite personality to read about in history. To me he is the whole package general, statesman, conqueror, and philosopher. The smartest man who ever lived, Aristotle, tutored him. Alexander conquered more of the known world than any other figure in history, accomplishing all this before he dies at the ripe old age of 33. Some people called him conqueror and violent overlord. Some other called him civilizer and even God! All of them yet, called him "The Great". He was the first man in modern history that took this name, "The Great"! Even as a young boy, he shows great promise.

Diodorus a Greek historian who lived from 80-20 BCE wrote 40 books of world history. He is an uncritical compiler who used good sources and produced them faithfully. His work is one of the oldest works available and is based on eyewitness accounts. He does a better job than most in explaining the battle scenes, and seems to be more balanced in his admiration and criticism of Alexander then any of the other early biographers. I love his Bucephalus Story, and I recount it here so you get a flavor of the promise this young Alexander shows.

The legend begins with Philoneicus, a Thessalian, bringing a wild horse to Philip for him to buy. None of the hands was able to handle it, and Philip grew upset at Philoneicus for bringing such an unstable horse to him. Alexander, however, publicly defied his father and claimed that he could handle the horse. The bet between Philip and Alexander was that if Alexander could ride the horse, Philip would buy it, if not, Alexander would have to pay the price of the horse, which was 13 talents, an enormous sum for a boy of Alexander's age to have.

Alexander apparently noticed that the horse had been shying away from its own shadow, and so he led it gently into the sun, so that its shadow was behind it, all the while stroking it gently and whispering into its ear, (Alexander seems to be the original horse whisperer). Eventually the horse let Alexander mount him, and Alexander was able to show his equestrian skill to his father and all who were watching. The incident so impressed Alexander's father, King Philip that he told the boy "Look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of you, for Macedonia is too little for thee". He named the horse Bucephalus, which means Ox head, and rode it across Asia, founding a city in its honor in India after its death. This story gives you an inkling about the man.

This book is a necessary read for students of Alexander, I also recommend Plutarch's and Arrian's work, and from contemporary writers, J. F. C. Fuller and Tarn. Most of Alexander's greatest military traits are in the area of military logistics and to understand his genius in this area I highly recommend reading, "Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army," by Donald W. Engels.

As a retired U. S. Army Major, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in ancient warfare, and history.

There is no modern work dealing with Lethington that can add the flavor that this one does, to researching the character of the man. Skelton is certainly an apologist, and his admiration for Maitland shows through, but even into the 21st century, works dealing with the life and times of Mary Queen of Scots show bias. Skelton is a poet, and his prose is great reading. Like many works of its time, Skelton's history has an elaborate table of contents, but no index. To find something specific I have had to go to the online version of the book and do a word search. But when I am looking for general information, I read the entire relevant chapters, and I am always rewarded with many precous little gems. When Maitland left home in 1554, he received the same letter from his father that I received from mine. This is a veru humanizing work. The negative side is that it is impossible to find VOL2.

It is really a good book in protein NMR.
and give out a complete set of the basic of NMR principle
Some tiny mistakes, can be a handbook for protein structure analysis.

I have been reading this book for a while and decided to buy it. I am satisfied with the vendor, it arrived in good condition and fairly on time.

This is the new standard for Protein NMR spectroscopists (the old one being Ernst). Everyone I've met who uses NMR in biology has nothing but praise for this book. It's not a perfect book and has some weakness, especially in the modelling portions. The math derivations are clear but the authors do not connect back to the physical phenomenon. I would recommend keeping a QM book nearby as a reference. However, this book is well written overall and very complete. Highly recommended!

The book is very complete, covers most of the field in protein NMR studies. The book is well organised, with plenty of figures to facilitate easy understanding of the subject. Overall, I find it is very helpful for anyone who will be interested in protein NMR research. I have actually seen quite a number of copies in a few NMR laboratories and I would recommand this book to all those who are looking for an complete introductory book in NMR and protein study.

This book explains the concepts of UML for someone who is looking to understand UML or needs a refresher.

When I wanted to learn C language, the second book I picked up was this same series on C [the first one being K & R, which I read later to comprehend].

This book on UML follows the same tradition of "Teach a concept then give plenty of exercises to practice what you learnt". It includes two case studies also. It also includes a chapter on Real time UML, another on OCL and another chapter on Design patterns. A very good buy for the money (16+ dollars).

Pros: Excellent book for beginners Lots of exercises to practice what you learnt. This can be a first book to read before moving into heavy weights like UML series [from awl] or Booch series [from sigs]. Coverage of Object Constraint Language

Cons: May be taking a case tool like Rational Rose or TogetherJ for implementation, as a side-by-side treatment would have made this book more comprehensive.

Overall I am very much satisfied with this book at a elementary level.

Considering the pricetag of textbooks on this subject, this Schaum's outline is an excellent value. This is one of those Schaum's that has enough good narrative to stand alone as a textbook on a subject. The book takes the practical stance of involving two case studies throughout that serve as subject matter for the numerous examples. One is CarMatch, which is a franchising company promotes car sharing. The other is VolBank, which is a non-profit organization matching volunteers with people and groups needing help. This book covers version 2.0 of UML. The book provides a "How To" section in each chapter in whch examples are developed from one of the two case studies. The two case studies provide examples that cover business modeling, information system development, and real-time system development.

The first two chapters of the book introduce the case studies and provide background to UML. The next twelve chapters explain the notation of UML diagrams and how to produce them. For each type of diagram there are sections on the notation, on how to produce the diagrams, on how each diagram is related to other diagrams, on how each diagram can be used in business modeling, and on how each diagram fits into the Unified Software
Development Process. Each chapter has a set of review questions with answers at the back of the book, solved problems, and supplementary problems. Chapter 15 covers the ways in which UML can be extended. The final two chapters provide information on related topics: Software tools for UML and design patterns. The book concludes with a summary of UML notation, answer pointers for the review questions, the UML Metamodel architecture, a glossary, and a bibliography.

The only thing missing from this book is more integration with tools such as Rational Rose, and more examples of coding from the UML. However, considering the price and the ground covered, I still consider this a five star book on the subject of UML.

Not only does this book describe a time long past but Synge has a deeper sense of the psychology of the inhabitants of the Aran Islands and how it differs with that of "civilized" people of the time. Anyone who is interested in this topic and enjoys this book would do well to read Twenty Years A-Growing by Maurice O'Sullivan, which is a personal account by Mr. O'Sullivan of his life on Ireland's Great Blasket Island and is a wonderful, lyrical read that shows alot of humor as well as love for the natural world around him.

This book describes the adventures of J. M. Synge on the Aran Islands around the turn of the Twentieth Century. William Butler Yeats suggested that Synge visit the island in order to learn Irish and become acquainted with traditional Irish culture as it had been preserved on the islands. Synge followed his suggestion, and made four lengthy trips to the islands. In this book, he recounts his experiences on the islands, together with some of the stories and poems that were recited to him there.

The book is a unique collection of travelogue, journal, and research notebook. Synge describes his relationships with individuals on the islands, as well as some of the common traits and customs observable there. He tells us about harrowing sea passages that he took from island to island in small rowed boats, and records a number of folk-tales that were shared with him by island residents. Synge was to draw on all of this material in his later writing career, making the book quite interesting for those who enjoy his plays. The book also provides informative details of what daily life was like in this remote region at the time.

My dad was born there in the 1950's and i was named after it. not a bad place, not much to do but nice to visit. the book is informal but informative.

The search for authentic experiences is regarded as an important theme in postmodernism. John Millington Synge's book demonstrates that this quest for authenticity has been an important part of cultural inquiry for a long time. This wonderful book was written almost one hundred years ago, but it reads like a contemporary ethnographic inquiry. He provides vivid descriptions of daily life and wonderful presentations of the folklore of the Aran Islands. The book is primarily descriptive, but there are interesting textures and conclusions throughout Synge's writing. I would recommend reading this book and then watching Flaherty's film "Man of Aran." Follow up that visual feast with Stoney's "The Making of the Myth." To complete your excursion, top things off with a reading of Synge's "Playboy of the Western World" and "Riders to the Sea," two fine plays that he set on the Aran Islands. The stories, descriptions, and textures within Synge's book will become very clear when you're finished.

"The Aran Islands" is a delightful rendition of the experiences of J. M. Synge during his visits to the Aran Islands just over a century ago. Synge's journey had been encouraged by William Butler Yeats. "Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression." Here Synge gained an insight into the Irish character which would enrich his later works.

The Aran Islands are a chain of islands off the coasts of Connemara and Clare. Isolated by the sea, the Arans, like the Galapagos in the natural world, preserve the language and customs of traditional Ireland.

The book is a narrative of what Synge saw and the stories he heard during his stays in the Arans, told by a master storyteller in the finest Irish tradition. The language is delightful, the stories are entertaining and the insight into the Irish soul is profound. A must read for any lover of the Irish.