Standards Books

We are a new ministry and I ordered this book to begin using in our Sunday School. It has been a real blessing. Even the children are able to keep up and understand. I love the comments by the writer. For each lesson, they provide an in-depth analysis. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

The Standard Lesson Commentary was both informative and easy to understand. There were also ideas to use to stimulate thoughts and discussions in a group setting. And a prayer was also included to give convidence to put into action what you have learned.

This is a very good Sunday School Study book. It has a lot of history information in it's pages on each Sunday School topic. I use it every Sunday to find information that I may not find elsewhere history wise. It is also well worth the money I spent at Amazon.com. I will be using this web site in the future for many more things.

I have been using this commentary for many years and have found it to be the best source to prepare for Sunday school as a student. I know many Sunday school teachers use this book too, to help with conveying the lesson.If you want to do more than just scratch the surface of the lesson, I strongly reccommend this book.

Our adult Sunday School program uses this lesson commentary. It is a user-friendly, thought provoking study guide.
Note: Price is lower than buying directly from the publisher, and shipping is very fast!

Too often, the high-stakes testing debate wanders into the realm smoke and mirrors. If you follow this debate, you'll find the same arguments presented here that have been presented all along: standardized tests are biased, they do not measure intelligence or knowledge, etc. What you don't normally get are the facts that back up this argument, and that is what Sacks provides. This book concretizes what has become (wrongly) a very abstract, political issue, and should be regularly referenced by all who oppose the mediocrity such testing rewards. These tests may sound good in theory, but in practice, Sacks shows with convincing success, they just don't do the job.

Mr. Sacks in his new publication, Standardized Minds, has done an outstanding job of placing norm-refrenced standardized tests, along with their associated multiple-choice item formats, in proper perspective. These tests have set standards for academic assessment for many years, and, as Mr. Sacks points out, are being questioned by many in the testing profession as being inapporpriate and insensitive as single and simplisthic guages of educational progress. He has documented extensive research on this subject, presented some impressive "case studies" of those who have been penalized in their career and life chioces based on "low" test scroes when all other extracurricular or in-school performances predicted otherwise. In addition to the many problems associated with mulitple-choice item types, a main focus is on the misunderstanding and misuse of the scores by all levels of society. As he so eloquently states, many educators are not properly taught how to interpret and use these data, legislative or government policy-makers have little or any idea of the substance or meaning of these scores, the media are at the mercy of the lack of knowledge (or political direction) fed them, and parents and children are left confused with numbers that do not give them specific constructive instructional information. The end result is that these test results are forced into a political and unethical framework which has greatly weakened their usefulness. If the desire is to help children learn and teachers teach, some interesting and effective alternatives are provided. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in improving educational assessment.

I was in the middle of reading Standardized Minds when I heard a panel of "Experts" talk about the future of LA Unified School District on Which Way LA, a local radio show. Specifically they were discussing the notion of linking teacher bonus pay to the performance of their students on standardized tests. I wish Peter Sacks had been on the program as he successfully demolishes the continued folly of our reliance on standardized tests as a way to judge our schools, our teachers and our students. I wholeheartedly endorse the opinions of the previous two reviewers. Speaking as a parent, I can only say that the more people who read this book, engage in a discussion about the issues so eloquently raised within it and help push the national dialogue on education forward in the directions the author suggests, the better off our kids and we as a society will be.

In today's US it is almost impossible to avoid encountering standardized tests--mass-produced, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-bubble, machine-scored exams of all sorts. Standardized tests are used to assess the performance of public schools, in many systems to determine which students will be held back a grade, to decide who will get into college, and into graduate and professional school, and who will get certain jobs.

In "Standardized Minds," Peter Sacks delivers a devastating critique of the use of such tests. His indictment includes a wide range of particulars, only some of which can be summarized here.

First, standardized tests are not a source of useful information. A widely used reading test given to elementary school students can err by as much as three grade levels in measuring a student's reading level. The SAT, required for admission to most colleges, has no use other than to make predictions, with limited accuracy, of students' freshman year grades. The GRE, required for admission to most Ph.D. programs, actually has a negative correlation with future success as a scholar.

Second, standardized tests are very biased. The best known of these biases is that of the SAT against low-income, minority students. Sacks shows that this bias extends to other tests as well. Another bias identified by Sacks is that standardized tests are biased in favor of superficial thinking--the ability to rapidly recall and repeat facts--and against the deeper thinking necessary to solve complex real-world problems.

Third, and perhaps most harmfully, standardized tests promote "teaching to the test." A number of states have established what Sacks terms "high-stakes accountability" programs, in which standardized test scores determine whether students are promoted to the next grade or are allowed to graduate, and are used to rank the performance of schools. Sacks documents how such "high-stakes" programs cause teachers to spend enormous amounts of time drilling students in preparation for the tests. Such teaching practices promote rote memorization and superficial thinking at the expense of critical thinking skills and genuine understanding--hardly a desireable educational goal.

It is important to note that Sacks is not merely giving his personal opinions. He has studied and mastered a great deal of research. At the same time, his book is far more than a dry academic recital. Unlike the Dinesh D'Souzas of the world, Sacks knows the proper usage of anecdotes--to illustrate a generalzation, not as the basis for it. Of the many illuminating stories he tells, one bears repeating. St. John's University's psych department requires students entering the Ph.D. program to take the GRE, which is useless except to make somewhat accurate predictions of first-year grades. Students seeking a masters degree only, while they take the same first-year courses, are not required to take the GRE. However, if these students wish, on completing a masters degree, to enter the Ph.D. program, they must then take the GRE, even though the only value of the exam is to "predict" their grades in courses they have already taken.

Sacks ends the book by noting some optimistic trends, such as the growing number of colleges and universities which no longer require applicants to take the SAT. However, breaking the tyranny of standardized testing will not be easy--the political pressures for the kind of superficial "standards" and "accountability" such tests provide are enormous. But reading Sacks' book, and freeing your own mind from the spell cast by standardized test scores, would be a good start.

I am a high school senior so I am currently getting a lot of pressure from my parents to get that silly 1600 on my SAT which will take place in October and December this year. Then there's also the ACTs and the 3 SAT IIs! I was always suspicious of test prep companies, the ETS, and the SATs themselves. Living in Los Angeles, these test prep companies have grown like weeds in the community, sucking up money from middle and upper class students. Though I am fortunate, my parents have also forcefully enrolled me at one of these. My SAT school is doing a nice job with its profits and have managed to get a new paint job, redecorate the "classrooms", and to get more students and more teachers, to just get it bigger and bigger. While my "teachers" explain the concepts of the SAT, I can't help but wish I was in the library reading more books such as this or practicing the piano. It is so unfair that only the rich people can afford these classes and they are the ones who get the good scores on the SATs. After getting a mediocre score on the SAT in June, my parents have now considered me a total idiot, even though my report cards and comments from teachers say otherwise. This book is so chock-full of information that deserves wide reading. The author has done the most extensive research imaginable. The controversy of the standardized tests is something that should have been addressed and Peter Sacks is the best one to do it. He has full of statistics and information to back up everything he says, yet he never just blows them off to you, but explains them. In addition to statistics, are the personal recollections of the people he interviewed-the teachers, educators, college admissions people, and even students. The tale of one student who had 7 tries to take a silly test and not being able to graduate and forced to stay in high school was frightening to the say the least. I am also glad that the author also included a section about the infamous incident in 1998 in Massachusetts when everyone condemned the teachers that they failed "a basic reading and writing test", which had become a punch-line for many of Jay Leno's jokes that year. It was rather strange that the media did not go into detail about the exact questions or the more specifics of that exam, but everyone just wanted to call these teachers "idiots".

The book is comprehensive on all testing, with the exception of secondary school admissions tests such as the ISEE and the SSAT. Going to California private schools, I have become familiar with ERBs and the Stanford 9 tests. In order to get into private high schools, I had to take the ISEE and the SSAT. Now I have the SATs and ACTs to conquer.

This is more than a book analyzing the damaging effects of the testing culture. The author suggest an standing ovation-worthy proposal of evaluating students on what they can do, whether it is projects and more research opportunities such as outside occupational research or conducting a lab or evaluating a student 's portfolio, instead of standardized tests.

Yes, this book should be read by politicians educators, teachers, yet I am here to emphasize STUDENTS should read this book too. Students who are daunted by the SATs need to be educated about our obsessive testing culture and that they are NOT idiots for a silly number.

This is a well written book, code is easy to download, and a number of topics. All in all though, the writing is clear and easily understood so it's well worth the money...

Text mining is one of the most exciting subjects of the web, and too few books are dealing with it. This one is one of them, and it gives quite a few examples of text mining applications, like spam filters or search engine ranking algorithms. The style is easy to follow, and the concepts easy to understand given some maths background.

However, I expected more details, and a richer content overall, thus the four stars. This is still a good book.

I am a Java web/search programmer who wanted to "get into" text mining. I found this book an excellent resource for this. Text Mining is a field in which active research is still going on, and other Text Mining books I have looked at reflect this - the authors expect you to have a certain degree of mathematical background to understand what they are saying. This book explains briefly the math behind each of the approaches, but it focuses more on the algorithms that result from the math, so it is easier to read.

Of course, a side effect of this is that the approaches described are not necessarily the state of the art for solving any given problem, but once you get the basic approach to solving a problem, it is relatively easy to find and understand the documentation on the web for the more advanced approaches, since you now know what you are looking for and how it differs from your basic solution.

The book does have a (fairly long) chapter where it covers the math background necessary to get started with Text Mining. If you understand the stuff in there, you will actually be able to think up solutions to text mining problems that are unique to your own situation.

The algorithms in the book are in pseudo-code, but the book comes with a CD (or download from the author's sourceforge project textmine.sf.net) where you can see working Perl code.

Overall, I think this is one of the most useful books that I have purchased in a while. It should appeal most to programmer types who have programmed in their language(s) of choice for a while in areas other than text mining, wants to get into text mining, and doesn't want to spend a lot of time relearning high school and college math before starting off.

Software developers learn how to mine information on the Web and turn it into valuable data; but developers need to understand how data mining works. For a programmer's application-oriented review, Text Mining Application Programming is the item of choice: it reviews text data, how it's found, and how search engines locate and gather it. Next, it teaches how to build spiders to crawl the Web, how to use the information, and how to monitoring it. Perl developers will find its Perl-based code useful, but it's not necessary to know Perl to run the software herein. An excellent guide to mining the Net.

There is an old expression that half of knowing anything is knowing where to find it. And there is little more frustrating to be looking at 'My Computer' trying to find what you know you have stored in a file somewhere. Well, perhaps just as frustrating is to go to one of the search engines and try to find something that you know is there but just don't know the proper words to find it.

In this book Dr. Konchady talks about how to go find data that is in text form on your system, on your network or out on the web somewhere. It talks about search engines, but also about other techniques that can be used only by programming.

The CD that comes with the book contains several Perl software snippets that help to find named entities, parts of speech, phrases and gives a summary of text documents. This area includes developing web crawlers that can be adapted by individual users to go out and find specialized information. It further contains an Open Source software package called Text Mine that is designed for mining operations. In addition it has utilities to build and enhance Text Mine and utilities to build and manage MySQL database tables. This is an excellent book on everything from the basic hints and types through some of the mathematics that underlies text mining.

His section on the nature of an English language Question and Answer system is the best I've ever seen.

Our church liked this book so much that we are going through it again. We had to purchase more of them. This book is very good in it training for service.

I was familiar with early editions of this book from my mother, who took the course for teacher training many, many years ago. When I began teaching a Sunday School class for adults in our Presbyterian church, I realized this would give the class a great beginning for understanding the Bible. That was about five years ago. We all worked hard memorizing the Bible organization and the books of the Bible as well as all the other well-organized studies.

I am extremely pleased to say that the knowledge gained through this course has been the foundation of growth for several years. Last year, the class undertook reading through the Bible in a year; they challenge me, as the teacher, to keep on growing with the class. This class of adults has progressed from the stage of being barely interested in the scriptures to being the most knowledgable in the church. I credit this book for providing the basic tools for Bible study and for stimulating our interest in further study.

A great resource for Christians to develop a base of knowledge about the Bible and its importance to the world. Very thorough and instructive. I use it to teach our teenage class. I highly recommend it.

Our Bible School consists of Old, young adults and young people. This book is enjoyed by them and is good in relating, the understanding of the entire Bible. It separates the two yet correlates them.
It also gives an overview of many of the book which is very helpful to the students.It is true to it's "Title Survey of the Bible"

This is a great starting tool to give new christians a framework upon which to build future bible studies. The author begins at the beginning, just as the bible does. The author adds value by providing the student with some history of how the bible came about. However, some doctinal issues (i.e., eschatology, dispensations and the like) must be challenged by the serious student. The author's basic outline does allow for a well-trained teacher to guide the student along the course of rightly dividing the Word of God and letting scripture interpret scripture, based on content, language and grammar,etc.

Reader would learn a lot about Unicode and many unique problem of different scripts. For example, it is not one glyph for traditional "character" nor one code for one traditional "character". I also recommend readers also read source code of pango library and manual of freetype library.

This book is an outstanding companion volume to the Unicode standard. In fact, if you had to pick one, you'd quite possibly be better off owning this book INSTEAD of the standard. The author display an impressive knowledge of the world's writing systems and of the inner workings of the Unicode standardization process.

Part I of this book starts with the history of character encoding standards, from Morse code to today. It then presents a thorough review of the Unicode architecture and associated standards. The information presented was mostly excellent, although I found the section describing SCSU a little bit too sketchy (and the actual code in part III not entirely satisfactory to fill in the gaps).

Part II gives an overview of the various writing systems and character ranges represented in Unicode. Even for a nontechnical audience, this part would be fascinating with all the typographical and historical trivia it presents.

Part III discusses various algorithms applicable to text processing in a Unicode context. I must admit that I found this part a bit of a letdown. Many of the algoritms are only sketched out because discussing them in detail would be beyond the scope of the book. Quite possibly, the pages dedicated to these algorithms would have been better spent presenting examples of code using the various existing APIs for handling Unicode (Java, ICU, Perl, Windows, MacOS X).

This does not take away from the fact that this is a great book that any programmer interested in Unicode should own.

The book has three main parts:

(1) Unicode in essence: an architectural overview of the Unicode standard (six chapters) where you also get bits of terminology and history.

(2) Unicode in depth: A guided tour of the character repertoire (six chapters) where you get a lot about writing systems that can be represented in Unicode, and less about the Unicode characters.

(3) Unicode in action: implementing and using the Unicode standard (five chapters) where you get information aimed at computer programmers that wish to implement parts of the standard or write applications dealing with multilingual text.

Though this book is very long (~800 pages) it is still shorter and a lot more clear than the Unicode standard itself (over 1000 pages).

Code examples are in Java but they are not ment to be complete solutions and so there is no accompanying website or a CD.

Professional programmers are the target audience of this book. The reader is faced with many topics in linguistics, history and data structures. Readers with computer science background would probably appreciate how classic traditional algorithms were adapted and how data structures are used in character sets with a significantly larger number of character than 256.

The author of the book states that the book is about "representing written language in a computer", which may be misleading to some readers. The book is about the Unicode standard. Obviously, there are many other ways to represent written language other than the methods described in the book. As chapter 2 teaches... There are always more ways (sometimes better ways) to represent your data.

Part 2 of the book will not cover every writing system of the world. A better book for that would be "The world's writing systems".

Part3 is probably the most interesting and useful part for programmers (though the first part is important, in my opinion to those who want to UNDERSTAND Unicode).
You can learn about a lot of things and skip many too (depending on your interest and need). I believe that most readers will skip most of the topics.

This is not a book that is read lightly, but it is hellovalot easier and more fun to read than the Unicode standard itself. It appears that once you read this book and get what you want from it, you will end up going to read the Unicode standard only to see updates, hopefully, not for clarifications.

I am dealing with Natural Language Processing and being a Hebrew speaker I also have a lot of text in Hebrew (almost all the time it is Hebrew with other languages too, e.g. documents that contain Hebrew with some English). This book helps understand the difficulties, the current implementations and give you a solid ground to start thinking how you can make things better. Current infrastructure for Hebrew is either poor or not perfect and in most cases the better solutions are proprietary. There seems to be always problems representing 'plain' text in more than one language without stepping into the trap of the soup of different ways to do it. Unicode is one way to do it (arguably, not the best, yet it is alive and growing) I hope this book can help more people understand what they are up against, clear the fog and help people do better implementations.

I find this book extremely useful!

This is almost three books in one. The first part provides a very good introduction to Unicode in general. The middle is really useful for all sorts of people, from linguists to content authors who want to understand the scripts encompassed by Unicode. And the last part is extremely helpful for programmers who want to understand how to implement many text processing techniques using Unicode.

Throughout, Rich's style is easy and enjoyable to read, and yet quickly gets to a wealth of useful information.

Great job! Highly recommended.

Unicode Demystified is a great manual and a good read. It earns a place on the bookshelf of programmers who deal with modern text processing, which is based on the Unicode standard. It is a great resource for anyone involved in software internationalization and localization.

Gillam provides a lot of useful details, history and explanations for the structure of the character set, and shows how to use it. The book is a companion to the print and online resources of the Unicode standard itself, and provides the glue to many of the pieces, the how-to's and basic data structures.

For example, the Unicode encodings UTF-8/16/32 (and BOM) are explained very well, bidirectional text is discussed with a lot of insight, and the family of Indic scripts with their special features is presented with examples for how to encode Indic text.

I just got this, it gives you complete detail about everything you need to know, about the locks and how to pick them. The pictures are detailed and labeled with all of the parts, and there is a deffinintion about what each part does in the passages. It is a great read for begginers.

I just got this and it gives you complete detail about everything you need to know about the locks and how to pick them. The pictures are detailed and labeled with all of the parts and there is a deffinintion about what each part does in the passages. It is a great read for begginers and those who have been in the business for a little while.

If you have ever enjoyed taking something apart to see how it works, this book will thrill you. Tradecraft aside, the inner workings of these otherwise inaccessible devices are a wonderful study of mechanical engineering.

Having purchased similar books with varying degrees of satisfaction I easily rate this the highest. The text and pictures are independently useful and very complimentary. Its hard to call a book on lockpicking a must-read, but this should be a foundation for any learning of the subject.

A fantastic book with lot of pictures very descriptive. Recomended to everybody who would like to learn the basics of lockpicking.

I bought this book to learn physical security (locks) and discovered that this book is "THE" definitive guide to lockpicking. I just started picking locks when I got this book and after 1 day of reading and understanding the first 2 chapters and doing the exercise, I was able to successfully pick my first lock (addicting for anyone that doesn't like to give up). Also, tons of illustrations that will help you understand how a lock works.

I highly recommend this book if you want to start learning about the "challenging" world of lockpicking!

This is the road atlas I use the most. I wish I had had a copy on my cross-country trip earlier this year.

The large scale and large type edition gives a lot of detail without being cluttered or overwhelming. Even wayside stops (picnic areas) are marked. This balance was achieved by giving a lot of pages for every state. Even Rhode Island and Delaware have two pages each.

In addition to the master index and national mileage chart, every state has at least a local mileage chart and index printed next to the map. Almost every right-hand page has one. The large type makes it easy to read in a moving car, even if its dark outside and you're reading by the car's light or a flashlight.

Thanks to the spiral binding, this atlas is easy to handle. Now that I have two road atlases with spiral binding I wonder why I bothered with road atlases without spiral binding. Not only is it easier to use, wear and tear is less because I'm not folding it back on itself.

There are also descriptions of "travel adventures" provided by discover.com. Not necessarily very practical, but does inspire a little day-dreaming. This is the same exact set of descriptions that's in the smaller American Map Road Atlas of US, Canada and Mexico.

Because of the ease of use of this large-type edition, this is the atlas I keep in the car. My other atlas, the American Map Road Atlas of US, Canada and Mexico, which is also good, has been moved from the car to the bookshelf.

I highly recommend this road atlas.

This atlas does not cover Canada and Mexico.

petervtamas@mail.com

This is good road atlas that we frequently use for planning trips.

This atlas has a lot of detail. Even wayside stops (picnic areas) are marked. In addition to the master index and national mileage chart, every state has at least a local mileage chart and index printed next to the map.

Thanks to the spiral binding, this atlas is easy to handle. Now that I have two road atlases with spiral binding I wonder why I bothered with road atlases without spiral binding. Not only is it easier to use, wear and tear is less because I'm not folding it back on itself.

There are also descriptions of "travel adventures" provided by discover.com. Not necessarily very practical, but does inspire a little day-dreaming. This is the same exact set of descriptions that's in the large-print American Map Road Atlas of US

I recommend this road atlas, but I prefer the large-print version. However, I doubt you'll find a better atlas in this format.

This atlas covers Canada and Mexico. However, as it only covers 1 page for most of the provinces and 2 pages for Mexico, you'll probably want additional maps when traveling in these countries.

I have used the 2001 AMC Road Atlas for two travel seasons, across the US and Mexico. It is sturdy, easy to use, and up-to-date. I'm in the process of buying the new one, and I look forward to buying one every couple years as long as I travel.

I'll never go back to the old staple paradigm with all the advances of spiral binding at my fingertips.

Well illustrated, easy to read.

This is a high quality navigation tool.

Over the past few years, a lot of literature (both non-fiction and fictional) has appeared that touches upon the fact that in 2012 the Mayan calendar ends. The majority of people seem to support the "end of the world" scenario. The common perception is that once the calendar runs out so does our time on earth.

2012 and the Galactic Center provides a far more positive outlook. The author suggests that the end of the calendar merely represents the end of a cycle. Moreover, the end of this cycle makes way for a new much more positive cycle.

To prove her point, the author draws upon mythology, archetypes, and symbols from a variety of other ancient belief systems. Essentially, her message is simple: that each of us is responsible for fulfilling our own spiritual journey and that each of us that takes on the challenge adds strength to the whole. 2012 and the Galactic Center is very well written and extremely powerful.

It was fantastic to find in only one book all the knowledge I've been reaserching in many books for quite some time. Understanding with my left hemisphere what has been first intuited on how one thing is linked to the other. It confirms the feeling of how the Great Mother is emerging from the unconscious of many, at least that 5% she speaks about. For the awakened and those on the way, it's a great2012 and the Galactic Center: The Return of the Great Mother read.

This book presents a very important contribution to the exploration of the significance of the year 2012. It's focus is on archetypal patterns and the transformation of ourselves that can be fostered as our civilization is faced with this time of shifting. Dr. Page examines major archetypal roles that have been reflected in the myths of societies from around the world through history. As the subtitle suggest, the archetypal aspects of the feminine are of great significance, and we are invited to integrate all aspects of ourselves. Astrology and alchemy are metaphysical tools for understanding and applying this awareness in the process of spiritual growth and integration. Thus, this book examines astrological issues as well as elemental and archetypal patterns that are reflected in myths. This book actually has little to do with what may happen externally in 2012; instead, it invites us all to progress in our path of inner transformation. There is a lot to ponder here... this is a great book for those who wish to accelerate their personal growth as 2012 approaches, though anyone looking for prognostication about earth changes and rapid shifts in the external world may be disappointed. I applaud this author for her thoughtful input about how we can embrace this time of great opportunity for personal growth.

As the magic date of Dec.21, 2012 approaches, there has been a tremendous upsurge in the number of books on the subject (my own search on amazon revealed some 94,000 plus entries). Many of them spell out apocalyptic prospects for humanity in the few years to come, in effect, amplifying the already dominant 'victim' vibration in our troposphere. This book is not like that. Refreshingly original, it re-creates some age old methods of creating a new space within ourselves with which to go out and meet the coming changes with welcoming hearts, instead of fear and foreboding. The way there, according to the author, is, in short, the quite simple, (or complex) prescription of acknowledging and accepting our own shadowy and unloved selves, and allowing them to operate in concert with our total persona as a whole.

However, this book is not a how-to-manual. Rich in allegorical content, it uses the imagery of archetypal energies to depict, among other themes, the journey of soul through the twelve signs of the zodiac into a recognition of its own light. Especially evocative, is the imagery associated with the comparison of the heart of the Galactic Center with the Great Mother, whence the expansive white area of stars, represent her pregnant womb and the Dark Rift between, her birth cleft or vagina. Another appealing symbol that has been invoked, and one that to me, resonates particularly strongly, is that of Kali, the Hindu goddess of Death and Regeneration, also referred to by Paramahamsa Yogananda as 'Divine Mother'. As the energies of our sun align with those of the Galactic Center, it is, (according to the author) as if we die to our old selves when we get sucked into the 'black hole' of Kali's womb, and emerge on the other side, via a 'white hole' renewed and rejuvenated in entirety.

The author begins by exploring the physical phenomena associated with this 26,000 year alignment of our sun with the Galactic Center. She then takes up the connection of the same with the Mayan Calendar, where the magic date of Dec. 21, 2012 marks the end of their fourth world and the beginning of their fifth, simultaneously heralding the end of humanity as we know it today. "..the earth and its inhabitants are entering a new world era, ruled by the element of ether....Ether is considered to be the fifth element and the synthesis of the four other elements, earth, air, fire and water. In the past, the driving force for reality creation, have been our emotions (linked to water) and our beliefs and reasons (linked to air). Now at the dawn of a new age of compassion, harmony and interrelatedness, we are connecting to the unity or Christ grid....which reflects the element of ether". Our challenge, according to the author, in the years to come, is "to allow the birth of a new consciousness that reflects the element of ether, the element of the fifth sun, and within which, a fusion of polarities takes place", obviating the need for separation into the opposites of good or bad, light and dark and so on.

After going through the above intoduction to the coming changes after 2012 to humanity as we know it, the author takes us on a search for clues in mythology and ancient history on how to deal with times of global chaos and transformation. Her findings and discoveries in this particular quest, form the major subject matter of this book.

Recurring themes and images that occur in the text quite often, are the Crone, Kali, Isis, Osiris and Horus, Persephone and Demeter and, of course, the twelve archetypal images of the Zodiac (several chapters are devoted to this particular journey of soul) to name only a few. The alchemy of transformation through descent into our unconscious and owning our shadow is discussed in detail. Issues around acceptance, death and rebirth, in particular, are also investigated from several angles in the analysis. Some of the stories and deductions were strongly reminiscent (at least for me) of similar material in the bestseller 'Women who run with the Wolves' by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

The final exhortation in this book is given by the Great Mother to the author in answer to a question posed by the latter, "What words of advice do you offer as we approach 2012 and beyond?". The answer provided is as follows,"Still your mind and center in your heart. Now through waves of love, connect to the hearts of your cells, organs...Finally, extend your energy towards the stars through the embodiment of love for yourself".
Truly a fine way to welcome Dec 21, 2012, don't you think?

Read this book if you can, it could open you up to interesting possibilities, and, at the very least, mitigate your fears around the 2012 issue, at least a little. Strongly recommended.

The perfect reader for southern enthusiast and small town living fans. Does an excellent job of describing, in deatail, the towns and their enviroments. Gives me a years worth of weekend trips at my fingertips. A must read!

This informative volume describes a number of towns that would otherwise surely go unnoticed by the non-Southerner. Basic population, economic and climate data are followed by descriptive sections on recreation, housing, health resources, and the like. An occasional anecdote or personal interview might have added a bit of color, but this is a more complete book than most others about those charming, artistic, or undiscovered places we want to find out about, and it may be the only one of its kind on the South. I am happy to own it.

This is a very handy, concise and yet comprehensive guide to help in your search for that delightful Southern town offers good quality of life and yet within reach of a city's conveniences.

There are useful statistical highlights, Cost Of Living index and web links. The books provide information on the community, eateries, attractions,education,etc.

I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a guidebook to assist in their search for a delightful town to re-locate and live.

Most people spend more time planning where to spend their vacations than they do deciding where to spend their lives (or their retirements). Fortunately for us, the authors of this book have done a huge portion of the legwork for us: finding the best small southeastern towns, evaluating them through a set of clearly defined and excellent criteria, visiting each one, and gathering relevant information to help us not only decide where to go, but to also help us connect to the community once we get there. I would be lost without this book, not even knowing where to begin. The books is also well-written, engaging in style, and easy to use. For example, you can skip sections you're less interested in because there are frequent headers common for each town, and you can also search towns by state, climate, geography (e.g., coast or mountains), and other factors of interest.

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I have a new three level house and wanted to connect all the family computers onto one network. Drilling holes in the floors and running wires all over the place is definitely not my thing, so I started to look around for another solution. After learing about wireless networking (wi-fi), I can't imagine why anyone would use anything else.

This wi-fi book answered all my questions. Even though I was nervous about opening up a computer and putting a wi-fi card in, this book took me through it with steps and pictures. I've looked at the other wi-fi books at the bookstore, but this one definitely stuck out. Lots of good pictures and directions.

I read this book knowing little about wireless networking, but over the course of the book I learned not only about how to set up my PC and my home for Wi-Fi, but also something about the technical details of Wi-Fi and where it will be going in the future. Although I knew enough to know that I wanted Wi-Fi in my home, reading this book definitely helped me choose the right products and learn to make the most of them. Thanks Harold -- without this book I'd still be working within a twelve-foot radius of my cable modem!

If you want to find hotspots, connect to hotspots, or set up your own wireless network, all using Wi-Fi technology, this is the best book for you. Everything in this book is very simple, but you find information here you will not find elsewhere. So this book is useful and also lots of fun. I highly suggest.

It was with a little trepidation that I decided it was time to go Wi-Fi. Being a Harold Davis fan for some time, I picked up a copy of his book. Good decision! To start with he helped me decide whether to get a wirelss card for my old faithful laptop, or to get a new one. I went for a new machine (SONY VAIO TR3A). Setting it up was easy. With his book's step-by-step instructions, it was almost as though I had the author at my side. Highly recommended.