Reviews Books

I bought this little book years ago from an used book store; it was worn and falling apart. I read it so many times, I added to it's ultimate demise. The binding finally fell apart and the pages were falling out...so it's time to get another copy, (hopefully one that's more intact). Great book!

This book has been a great help to me in getting more out of the parables of Jesus. The chapter on the parable of the Talents is worth far more than the price of the book.

One of Ellen White's great small books, she begins by establishing the reason for Jesus' use of parables and relates that back to our time. The author then proceeds to examine many ofthe famous parables in the gospels. The approach focuses on expanding and explaining the story itself and then proceeds to explain the spiritual significance. the language is simple and the writing flows easily. Clearly the work of an insipred person.

Early in the summer of 2006 Turner Classic Movies ran Billy Wilder's underrated 1970 film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. The picture was a box-office bust, Wilder himself elected to say little about it later (in part because it was recut and shortened against his wishes), and published critical reaction is scarce. Not least among the film's attributes is Christopher Lee, who is a splendidly forceful Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's officious, easily annoyed brother. I wanted to read more about Lee's performance, and more about the film. Where to look?

Ah! Tom Johnson & Mark A. Miller's exhaustive, scholarly, and compulsively readable THE CHRISTOPHER LEE FILMOGRAPHY saved the day. Nearly 2000 words from this smart, handsome book are devoted to the Wilder film, offering complete cast & credits; a plot synopsis that is concise, useful, and entertaining; and a lengthy "Commentary" section that looks at the film as a whole, thus placing the contributions of Lee and others in a helpful context that encompasses art and industry realities.

The latter portion of the authors' commentary about the Wilder film, as with every Lee film discussed, focuses on Lee's involvement in the film. Johnson & Miller's remarks comments reflect two perspectives: critical and business/ historical. So it is that, throughout the book, we get informed comment on Lee's work as an artist, as well as original research that illuminates the making of the film, and the particulars of Lee's relationships with other cast members, as well as his comments regarding director, producer, writer, and others who helped make the film a reality--or who may have impeded its success.

The U.S.-based authors spent many hours in face-to-face confabs with Mr. Lee at the actor's home in London (plus numberless follow-up phone calls and letters), asking questions, taking down the actor's marvelous anecdotes, looking through career scrapbooks that Lee graciously opened for them, and selecting rare photographs from Lee's personal collection. This is what scholars of any stripe call "original research," and its value pays off here, with insights into Lee's movies (more than 160 of them!) that simply are not available from other sources--or if they are, they may have been cribbed, without acknowledgemt, from Johnson & Miller.

A special pleasure is that nearly every essay concludes with Mr. Lee's remarks, presented verbatim, about the individual films. Over the course of these first-person recollections, Lee reveals himself as a dedicated artist, of no small ego, perhaps, and also a man of powerful and varied talents. Above all, he has wished to work in meaningful films of quality and integrity, and to stretch himself as an actor. That he has not always been able to do so says more about the inanities of the film business than it does about Mr. Lee. Given opportunities worthy of him--the early Dracula roles, Lord Summerisle, Mycroft Holmes, Count Dooku, Jinnah (the founder of Pakistan), and many others--Lee dominates the screen not merely with his physical presence and that marvelously deep and cultured voice, but with his ability to become lost in his role. Like other great film actors--all of whom are forced to perform in fits and starts--Lee BECOMES the character. Film scholars and movie fans alike are swept away; they buy the illusion.

As an incredibly detailed--and always fascinating--chronicle of the career of one of cinema's most compelling actors, THE CHRISTOPHER LEE FILMOGRAPHY is the last word on Mr. Lee's professional life. And it is that rarity: a book created by the authors AND the subject, in protracted and amiable collaboration. How unusual that is, how valuable, and what a treat.

Exhaustive without being exhausting, authors Miller and Johnson manage to transcend the trend of "lists" by not only providing the details of Christopher Lee's myriad film works, but accompanying the facts with delicious anecdotes and observations. Each and every film has an accompanying commentary - and each and every commentary is a treasure trove of information either from Lee himself or one of his collaborators, along with relevant snippets from reviews. What I particularly liked about the commentary segments is that they not only rely on Lee's memories of the films - they also frequently draw on contemporary accounts by Lee himself in the form of quotes from letters Lee wrote to his fan club president over the years. Many's the time Lee would approach a film with high hopes, only to have them dashed by any one of a number of problems that tend to beset the best of productions. It's truly fascinating to see what was running through the actor's mind prior to starting something like THE DEVIL RIDES OUT.

While they obviously have great respect and affection for their subject, Miller and Johnson are never sycophantic.

You may buy this book because you are a fan of Christopher Lee or a horror film completist. But you'll return to it again and again because it is well-written, well-researched, and just plain fun to read.

Individually, film historians Tom Johnson and Mark A. Miller already have several books and articles to their credit. Now they've pooled their talents to collaborate on what will stand as the definitive account of Christopher Lee's film career. Documenting Lee's cinematic output is a daunting challenge; he appeared in many films that were never released in the U.S.--or anywhere else--making them extremely difficult to track down, even in this wonderful age of DVD and satellite television. Fortunately, Johnson and Miller--with valuable assist from Mr. Lee himself--come through with flying colors. This is cinematic scholarship of the highest order, which is not to imply it's dry and academic. Hardly. Thanks to Johnson, Miller, Lee and many interview subjects, it's a lively, accessible, and at times fall-down-funny look at the career of someone who could be cited as the ultimate example of a "working actor."
McFarland books tend to be very high priced, and since most of them never make it to a bookstore shelf, consumers don't have the luxury of checking out the goods before hand. So you're never really sure of what you're getting until the money has left your wallet. At $55, THE CHRISTOPHER LEE FILMOGRAPHY may seem pricey, but it's well worth the investment; the book is beautifully written and McFarland has done a bang-up job of laying out the text and (rare) photos. For Lee fans, it's a must-have item.

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This book is very good for a collector of TV Memoralbilia.It also shows the top shows of each year.(60's-70's)This book has almost every TV show.They show wonderful color pictures of the items,and if an item is not shown it is listed.And the price is included.I recomend this book to an collector of tv

I don't really collect this sort of stuff but I loved this book because it brought back my childhood buying Beverly Hillbillies viewmaster sets, Charlie's Angels puzzles, etc. Contains hundreds of color photos of all sorts of merchandise: TV Guides, dolls, comic books, lunch boxes, coloring books, records, cups, all sorts of toys, etc. The shows profiled with memorabilia are The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Bionic WOman, Brady Bunch, Bugaloos, Charlie's Angels, Chips, Donny and Marie, Eight is Enough, Family, Family Affair, Fantasy Island, Flipper, Flying Nun, Gidget, Gilligan's Island, Good Times, Green Acres, H. R. Pufnstuf, Happy Days, Hardy Boys, I Dream of Jeannie, Josie and the Pussycats, Julia, Krofft Supershow, Kung Fu, Land of the Lost, Laverne and Shirley, Lidsville, Life & Times of Grizzly Adams, Little House on the Prairie, Love Boat, Mod Squad, Mork and Mindy, Nanny and the Professor, New Zoo Revue, Patridge Family, Patty Duke Show, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Six Million Dollar Man, Starsky & Hutch, That Girl, Three's Company, The Waltons, Welcome Back Kotter, Wonder Woman. There are estimated values for the items circa 1997 but I would argue few have really gone up since then due to the phenomeon of ebay where tons of this sort of stuff is now on the market and even if you don't collect it's a wonderful look back at when TV shows really merchandised to the hilt. The guys have an awesome collection!

Having taken both the skills as well as the written tests in texas, even though the book is probaly good,its eally not needed, the test is fairly simple, although the skills part of it made me a little nervous, i was kinda scared of shaving the male resident, and would you know that that was one of my five skills that i had to preform in front of a very intimidating nurse examiner, anyway, i passed both tests, the written test is common sense questions, so if you have that, all you need is the text and workbooks that you received during orientation, hopefully the books go into detail on certain things like infection control, duties of the CNA, and other important things like not passing medications.

Service was fantastic. The order arrived on time and I was very pleased. I would definitly order from Amazon again.

This book really helped me review for things I did not get to practice in my clinicals (which I did get tested on, of course). The layout is neat and easy to follow. There are practice tests in the back with answers and explanations. I recommend this book for students to follow during their course as well as those who have to refresh the material.

Read this book!
Anyone who's currently employed, whether as a manager of people or an
individual contributor, will benefit from the information and tips in
Robin's book. It's easy to read and brings clarity to the performance management process. At the end of each chapter, Robin provides a Key Points section with questions that summarize the major content covered in the previous chapter. It's a useful and creative way to help the reader remember what's important. All in all, the book is filled with practical suggestions that can help individuals make performance management conversations produtive and effective.

As a 20 year HR Director with Fortune 500 companies, I am impressed and happy to have discovered Robin Kessler's latest and best book on competency based Performance Reviews. HR practitioners know that "competencies" are the most powerful and relevant currency to use when creating metrics for measuring human performance at work, and Robin has really hit the target on this hot HR subject. Any manager, HR practitioner, trainer, or leader will find this book user friendly and highly rewarding. The book wastes no time in providing application based tools and metrics, outstanding examples, and unbeatable tips and techniques for immediately improving Performance Reviews! This clear and easy focus on the heart of Performance Management process will help any leader improve the most challenging aspect of leadership - objectively measuring employee performance. Furthermore, you will find this book as a great tool for Workforce Planning, Talent Management, and as to document performance cases to reduce exposure for employee claims and litigation. This is the most useful book on management in a long time, as it hits the target perfectly on Performance Management technology.

Robin Kessler has written this very helpful book to help small to medium businesses perform better performance reviews. Evaluating employees each year is a recognized necessity, but it is often performed rather perfunctorily and without much connection to the real work going on in the company. Her argument is that you should be using the competencies you know are key to your success as measures for evaluation. You should then use these competencies to set goals and metrics that set in a meeting with the employee at the beginning of the evaluation period. These goals and metrics are used each day as you coach and manage your employees and team. Part of using them is taking timely notes and teaching your people to also write up their successes as they happen.

By keeping contemporaneous notes and documenting successes (and failures) as they happen, the evaluation almost writes itself at the end of the period. You both know what was expected because you agreed to them together and have talked about it frequently during the year. You both wrote down the accomplishments and successes during the year. The gaps between goals and reality are also obvious. As you perform the evaluation you may want the employee to write the first version of it and you can go over your edits together and come to an agreement for the final version. You must let the employee have some input to the evaluation even if it is only to object to what you have written.

These performance reviews are also future oriented. A large part of the meeting will be setting the goals, expectations, and metrics for the coming year (or whatever the evaluation period is).

Ms Kessler also provides several helpful appendices that provide examples and helpful material to demonstrate the principles she discussed throughout the book.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

This collection of poems by bright, up-and-coming writer, Randall Mann, is a stand-out first book. Mann cleverly blends classic form with contemporary themes that challenge, excite, disturb, and inspire readers of these fine works. His poems are neat but not sparse, rich but not overdone, a refreshing and exciting take on themes such as queer experience, Floridian dwelling, and the perlustration of love and beauty. Mann's "Complaint in the Garden" is truly a delightful piece.

I can't stop reading this incredible book of poetry--beautiful poem after beautiful poem after beautiful poem. Mann has a rare gift for describing landscape. His poems about both love and life as a gay man are incredibly moving. But perhaps most importantly, Mann's use of form--particulary in his sonnets and villanelles--is just lovely--and quite brilliant. This is the best book of poetry that I've seen in a long, long time.

Randall Mann lures you into his garden with formal poetic structures and luscious descriptions of Florida. But watch out: Mann's language will pull you around into lands erotic, sad, and sometimes, even a little frightening. It's a dazzling ride. This book won the prestigious Kenyon Prize. Randall Mann is one of the most exciting young poets to come along.

As part of my educational requirements, I was required to write a literature review. While I understood what that meant, the nuts and bolts of doing so was overwhelming to me. Thankfully, I found this title on Amazon. I found this book to be incredibly useful in writing my literature review. What seemed to be the most important factor was that this book lays out a step-by-step plan in writing the review, and what exactly must be done. Additionally, the book de-mystifies the idiosyncrasies of writing style when writing one of these. I firmly think that if I had not found this title, I would have had a much more difficult time writing my review. Highly recommended!

Now in its second edition, Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From The Internet To Paper is an informative guide to identifying, interpreting, and analyzing published and unpublished research literature. Checklists, sample cases, exercises and more illustrate the intricate difficulties and useful methodologies for selecting questions that will make the review most effective, identifying the most appropriate databases, setting inclusion and exclusion criteria, conducting and evaluating descriptive literature reviews, and more. The second edition offers new features including tips for searching the web for research information, flow diagrams to aid the reader in applying each step of the review, new references and other online resources. A scholarly and extremely practical guide especially for students and professionals in need of a strict process to sift through the dross and find the hidden gold within the information highway.

Now in its second edition, Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From The Internet To Paper is an informative guide to identifying, interpreting, and analyzing published and unpublished research literature. Checklists, sample cases, exercises and more illustrate the intricate difficulties and useful methodologies for selecting questions that will make the review most effective, identifying the most appropriate databases, setting inclusion and exclusion criteria, conducting and evaluating descriptive literature reviews, and more. The second edition offers new features including tips for searching the web for research information, flow diagrams to aid the reader in applying each step of the review, new references and other online resources. A scholarly and extremely practical guide especially for students and professionals in need of a strict process to sift through the dross and find the hidden gold within the information highway.

By studying this book the day before the exam, I was able to get a 5.

Amzon is a good seller. I got my book in five days and am highly recommended.

I took both of the macro and micro exams this year. I had a kaplan guide from my teacher, which was very, very confusing and had very few graphs or visuals.
this aide explained concepts much better and had more graphs. I studied more for the micro exam (i didn't take a class in it - I think I easily got 4 just from this book), but what i reviewed from macro was also pretty good.

This book mostly covers the area of 7th and 8th grade math cirriculms in New York. Though it helps you to review, the book covers some materials, but not all you need to know for the test. Some 8th grade materials are not covered thorughout the book. The practice test gives examples of how the actual test will be. It gives alot of details of how to solve multiple choice questions,and short and long responses. If you're serious about getting a Level 4 on the 8th grade math test you should buy this book.

Let me tell you if you are an eight grader you must get this book. This book helped me more than any teacher. if you want to get a good grad on the 8th grade assement test this is the book for you.

My students started using this book and they've really gotten the hang of this new question style. The review sections are very comprehensive and the test-taking strategies described and explained in the book are very good. I plan on using future additions of this book and have already budgeted it in for next year. It will help you if you need it.

I find this book very handy as a brief summary for the GRE, but you have to go through the whole course. There is not shortcuts. Remember, this examination does not test your knowledge but your testing abilities.

I have the 2nd ed of this book. I was worried about the math section, not because I'm bad at math, but that I haven't done math for 5 years. But luckily the math on the GRE is middle school math. The book says that there is no college-level math. If there were, only math majors would do well. I like the practice problems and solutions in the book, but the book could've shown the reader more than one way to solve a problem. I remembered how to about 50% of the problems. After reading the math section, I can now do about 75% with out any problems.

Brandon Simpson

Crash Course for the GRE is primarily about the test itself, not the skills the GRE ostensibly tests, so it's suitable for test takers of all levels. It doesn't try to teach you math, reading, or writing; instead, it arms you with strategies (and an irreverent attitude) for tackling the test itself. You'll learn how to find the correct answer to problems quickly, and how to make an educated guess when you can't find the answer. You'll also get advice about how to make the most of whatever time you do have to prepare for the test.

While a selection of practice problems is included, you'll almost certainly want more. If you can afford a copy of Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE with DVD, 2008 Edition, that's an excellent choice. But if $10 is all you have to spend, or if you don't have time for lots of practice, this book will make an excellent companion to the free test prep materials available from ETS itself.

Whether you're studying night and day to get a perfect score, or just looking for some quick advice to avoid embarrassment on test day, this is $10 well-spent.