Programs Books

Excellent choice to go behind the scenes of Paramount's 1970's and 1980's powerhouse of sitcoms that was produced by Garry Marshall, along with his team of Miller-Milkis-Boyette on ABC--many of whom worked behind the scenes with Marshall on The odd Couple--the most interesting to me is the series Angie because it shows how a network can screw up their own destiny. I remember Angie started as a hit, but ABC made the mistake of giving Laverne & Shirley its own night and shuffled their whole schedule around to do this, which in return put many of the other Marshall produced shows in jepordy, which many got canned because of it in the long run. Angie was a great show because Doris Roberts really got her fame from this show and I am surprised that Paramount has not released it on DVD since her popularity on Everybody Loves Raymond reached iconic status. Paramount is like Universal--they are rather slow on releasing TV on DVD. They are missing the boat and the money. This book does go into detail about these shows for the first time and it's a great reference to depend on.

During the period from 1974 to 1984 Paramount Television fielded a series of classic sitcoms ranging from "Happy Days" to "Cheers." Author Marley Brant, who worked in Paramount Televsion's Publicity Department during that period, takes us for a behind-the-scenes guided tour to some of television's funniest programs and the people that created them.

Paramount owed its success during the period in question to talented producers and directors like Garry Marshall, James Brooks, Stan Daniels, David Davis, Ed Weinberger, Jim Burrows, Glen & Les Charles, Gary David Goldberg and others. Alone and together they created the classic shows listed above plus "Laverne & Shirley," "Mork & Mindy," "Taxi" and "Family Ties" along with other promising shows that failed to score with the public.

Brant covers each show in turn, relating its genesis, high-points, low-points, critical acclaim and bios of the cast and crew. The collective cast includes Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Robin Williams, Penny Marshall, Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Ted Danson, Michael J. Fox - a veritable who's who of '70s comedy. Brant's insider views of the various shows and who the stars related - or didn't - in the case of "Laverne & Shirley" makes for fascinating reading.

HAPPIER DAYS packs a great deal of information within its 282 pages. It's an absolutely first-class and FUN guide to classic Paramount sitcoms. Highly recommended.

Brant offers a fine history of chronicling Paramount TV's hits (Happy Days, Taxi, Family Ties) and misses (The Associates, Angie, The Bad News Bears) and reveals some little-known facts along the way. Did you know that:

- The Happy Days ep where Mork makes his 1st appearance was based on an idea that came from Garry Marshall's young son?
- The characters of Lenny and Squiggy, from Laverne & Shirley, were based on characters created for a stand-up routine by Michael McKean and David L. Lander?
- Andy Kaufmann had an alternate persona who showed up in one ep of Taxi as a special guest star?

These facts, and many more, await in this fine read that's perfect for any classic TV fans out there...check it out!

I was amazed at how intuitive the selection of shows and talent was. Seeing how relatively junior people at the time, like Michael Eisner, developed these shows and got their bosses to OK them, was very interesting. Reading about how the actors developed as a result of their casting was also a great insight into what a casting break can do in the acting field. And Tom Hanks was pretty enough to pass as a woman. A great book about the television business.

I was one of those people who had specific plans for certain nights -- I was meeting up with Mork & Mindy or settling into Laverne & Shirley with a big bowl of popcorn. Reading all about what was going on behind the scenes was very enjoyable in this entertaining book. The author was actually there and the way she relates the tales is great. Oh, the things I've learned!!! I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoyed these shows or likes to read about actors "before they were superstars."

Administrator for district that requested it says just what she needed, I did not read this one so have to go with her say. We are working to graduate our students from high school in 4 years not 6 and 7 as we have been doing with about 1/3 of each freshman class. We are 12 miles north of the Reynosa, Mexico border.

This book describes 15 remarkable schools where dedicated educators defy difficult demographics and close the achievement gap. All are regular district schools -- no charters, privates, magnets, or exam schools -- where students of color and poverty achieve at high levels. The concluding chapter lists practices and qualities that fuel their success. In my view, the attribute that floated to the top in virtually every chapter was strong leadership supporting quality teachers.

The last three paragraphs are priceless. She likens these schools to the Wright brothers' first aircraft and says "Once Orville and Wilbur demonstrated how to answer the challenges of drag and gravity, getting from their experimental plane in Kitty Hawk to the Boeing 747 was no longer a theoretical challenge but an engineering one. In the same way, the schools profiled here demonstrate that the job of educating kids to high levels -- even kids traditionally considered 'hard to teach' -- is theoretically possible."

This is a must-read for anyone involved or interested in education reform.

Reading "It's Being Done," made me want to cheer. Chenoweth documents well the success that "unexpected" schools around the country are achieving in their quest to educate the least advantaged children and close the achievement gap. Every school profiled benefited from a dynamic principal, a committed staff, and high expectations for ALL students. This book is inspiring.

I am immersed in a detailed study of the achievement gaps in our local school district. Asian and White students in our high performing suburban schools are significantly out-pacing the African American and Hispanic students on all measures of performance and at all educational levels. In the aggregate, our district has much to celebrate. However, when disaggregated, our achievement data make it clear that our struggling minority students are not being well-served.

Karin Chenoweth's book is inspirational and informative. Multiple case studies are presented in clear, unbiased, wonderfully readable prose. The schools' stories are filled with successful strategies that can be adapted and replicated locally. The summary of gap-closing, "it's-being done" school characteristics should be posted in every faculty room and school office where educators say they believe that all students can achieve at high levels. Talk is cheap. This book is about successful action.

The book, "It's Being Done", focuses on schools that are successful AND have high percentages of students with low incomes and students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Success is judged based on both consistent high levels of test score performance, and by visits that suggest that these high test scores really do represent high levels of student skills. The bulk of the book is made up of profiles of individual schools based on test score data and Chenoweth's visits to each school and interviews with key stakeholders at the school.

The author, Karin Chenoweth, is a former education writer for the Washington Post. She doesn't seem to really have an axe to grind. Compared to other books I have read about how to reform schools, she seems more focused on describing what is going on in these schools than in distorting reality to fit some ideological point.

Many of the book's case studies of individual schools are available for free online, under "Success Stories" at http://www.achievementalliance.org/news/ . However, the book adds some updates on how the schools have done since they were visited, and the last chapter has a very useful summation of what the authors feels the lessons are from these case studies.

This final chapter of the book does an outstanding job in summarizing the commonalities among these successful schools. These successful schools differ greatly in size, the school calendar and schedule they follow, their use of technology, whether they have uniforms or not, whether they use prepackaged school reform models or not, the extent of parent and community involvement, and many other features. But they do have some commonalities, which, according to Chenoweth, include the following:

1. Focus on making sure they really implement in a high quality way an alignment of teaching and the curriculum with high quality standards.

2. Using both aggregate data and data on individual students.

3. An openess to reexamining what they're doing.

4. Produtive use of school time they have, and efforts to expand educational time.

5. A focus on ensuring teacher quality.

What can I say:"WOW".
This book is well structured into different aspects of J2EE(example: servlets, JSPs, webservices, EJBs etc). Each of the sections are given detailed coverage with regards to design and architectural decisions that can go wrong.
This is not a start to end read. This book is better usable as a reference while we execute or plan during technical development cycle.
For each anti-pattern, a detailed background, symptoms, refactorings and example are provided. At the end of the book we are provided a Anti-pattern and Refactorings catalog.
The book also covers capacity planning type of antipatterns at the beginning. This will help give broader perspective about making design and possible implementation decisions on a enterprise scale.
A must read for enthusiastic J2EE practitioners who strive for quality output.

Why should you read this book?... I mean you've read the J2EE Blueprints and that's supposed to be the best practices and you've followed all it's advice... didn't you? You should read this book because it gives you a way to see what you "didn't" do and how to fix it.

In this book the Antipatterns (APs) are grouped by J2EE topical area, several are identified for the area and then solutions proposed for each AP. Not only do they expose issues with designs that are common mistakes, but they then go on to not only tell you a possible solution(s) and also impart good principles on why.

Each AP has the following sections: Background, General Form, Symptoms and Consequences, Typical Causes, Known Exceptions, Refactorings, Varations, Example(s) and Related Solutions. The catalog of AP's in the appendix of the book provide a quick summary of each AP also, so you can see if your Symptoms are listed quickly.

One example is from the "Distribution and Scaling" chapter. The just of it is that in an enterprise system you use layering, workflow and the idea that the network is the computer to model and solve your problems. If you haven't you'll notice all of your code linking into libraries of many different types when library access should be localized to one workflow point that other workflow tasks utilize. By doing what they suggest you'll end up with a highly distributable solution and a weakly coupled system that will be flexible to change.

So save yourself some future troubles, or help yourself fix your current ones, read this book! It imparts knowledge you can't get from a Blueprint!!

Did you ever have the feeling that there was something wrong with your application design but you just couldn't put your finger on the problem? The authors of this book have taken their own experience developing J2EE applications and produced a book that will help you avoid many mistakes in application design. The book is geared toward helping the experienced designer/developer produce robust, maintainable applications and fixing applications that are not robust and not easily maintained.

The book covers most of the J2EE spectrum. There are sections on JSPs, Servlets, Entity and Session Beans, JMS, and Web Services. There are also sections on general J2EE architecture including distribution, scaling, and persistence. Each chapter gives a background on a specific antipattern, discusses the typical symptoms of the antipattern, and then covers various refactorings that can be used to correct the antipattern. Some of the antipatterns discussed may sound familiar ("too much code in JSPs") but the list of refactorings will provide useful information for even these obvious coding errors if you happen to be supporting an application that suffers from that antipattern.

The authors have done a great job of clearly explaining each antipattern, both explaining why it is an antipattern and what you can do to fix the problem. Each refactoring is demonstrated with code samples as well as with UML diagrams where appropriate. Overall, this is an excellent book that should be on the shelf of anyone involved in designing J2EE applications.

Often, managers of medium to large scale software projects do not have the time (or inclination) to learn the technical nuances of the development environment they're managing. This lack of understanding can quickly give birth to worry and stress. "If only I knew the right questions to ask..." is a common lament among project managers as they wonder "why is module X so brittle?" and "why can't we ever meet the performance spec for subsystem Y?"

"J2EE AntiPatterns" is a useful guide for helping project managers with technical (but not necessarily J2EE) backgrounds zero-in on the major pitfalls the development team must circumvent. The Background, General Form, Symptoms and Consequences, and Typical Causes sections of most AntiPatterns provide the manager with sufficient information to recognize, understand, and (hopefully) avoid technical problems. (The exceptions are the AntiPatterns for entity, session and message-driven beans - the book assumes a basic understanding of J2EE beans.) Project managers do not need to fully comprehend the code examples (the book has many) to employ the lessons described in "J2EE AntiPatterns" - simply recognizing and understanding the AntiPatterns will be valuable to the team.

If I had read this book before (or during) my last project, I would have been able to recognize some significant problems by simply observing and listening to the engineers discuss their challenges, including the following AntiPatterns:

"Too Much Code" - our LOC metrics would have fleshed this one out quickly;
"Using Strings for Content Generation" - we spent many hours debugging HTML that rendered properly in IE but not Mozilla;
"When In Doubt Make it a Web Service" - it can be expensive mistake to implement something purely for technology's sake.

Coupled with a book or two describing J2EE at a high level, "J2EE AntiPatterns" is essential reading for technical project managers. This book will undoubtedly increase the project manager's effectiveness and help him/her better communicate with the team. A little knowledge for project managers is NOT always dangerous!

This book is a very worthy addition to the pattern literature for j2ee. It is at about the same level of sophistication as the two now-standard j2ee pattern books (Alur, Malks and Crupi 2nd edition, and Marinescu).

If I were new to j2ee (but had some experience with Java, Design
Patterns, Enterprise Architecture and Refactoring) I would read Ed Roman's book, then Marinescu, then Alur's (noting that some of the patterns are now deprecated) and then this book.

The book is divided into 10 sections, each of which covers one aspect of j2ee technology, such as JSPs or Entity Beans. Overall it is well written and enjoyable to read. Each section is divided into a set of anti-patterns (things not to do) and a set of refactorings (what to do after you do the things they told you not to do). Although this leads to some redundancy (repeating the problem in the refactoring section) it
sucessfully deals with the many to many issue (antipatterns to
refactorings); the alternative would be to repeat or reference the refactoring in each antipattern section that it is applicable to.

The book is well edited with few problems. One issue is that some of the diagrams seem to be missing - what is presented is duplicates of previous diagrams. I assume this will be fixed in a future printing.

Like other pattern books, one of the advantages of this book is in the names we can now associate with common patterns we have all seen. A perfect example is "Ad Lib TagLibs", which are large taglibs which include business logic and control logic. The suggested refactoring include beanifying (the model data) and separating out a delegate controller.

I have bought the first edition and now the second. I also have other books written by John Hunt. His writing is as always clear, sharp and insightful. It shows through in this book too. Whereas some other bible books would need 1,000 pages, John can do with much fewer ones. And yet it can be much more far reaching. Teaching solid OO concepts while bringing the best out of Java, this book is a pleasure to read. So much that it will keep you wondering why other books never manage to be so clear and at the same time so complete. You will not be sorry.

Object oriented programming was a difficult concept to understand after years of procedural languages. I was scared of being left behind and chose Java to take me into the 21st century. After flittering between several books I finally found John Hunt's book and am now making my living out of programming in this amazing and versatile language.

I went searching through the library for a book to help with my software engineering class project and eventually found Java and Object Orientation. All I've got to say is this book is incredible. The writing is clear and to the point. Example code turned out to very helpful (and useful). This book really helped to understand not only how to design good object-oriented programs, but also how to design a good object-oriented GUI. I recommend it to any computer science student or professional in search of a good book on Java and OO design and programming.

The book is very logical and i think is one of the best available.

I had bought a number of Java books before this one and been left confused by Java. This book clarified everything for me and now I understand Java - Excellent

i love java and i'd like to receive java tutorial cop

I found this textbook very well written, organized and clear. The author provides code for perhaps 100 to 150 short applications and applets, each of which demonstrates an element in the language or Toolkit. He then explains the code well. Each chapter builds on the previous. Most, (but not all), of the exercise problems have answers posted on his website. The book is aimed at individuals with some-to-moderate programming experience, who are new to Java. It would be an excellent textbook for a Junior College level course in Java.

Excellent book. Professional, consistent. Examples are thorough and well presented. I'd recommend it. Even if your employer won't buy it for you, buy it for yourself. It'll pay for itself.

This book was great in its day.

Elliotte Rusty Harold seems to latch on to new technologies and write excellent introductions to them. Unfortunately, he does not seem to care to write second editions -- he just moves on to other subject matter.

This book is almost useless now except for the basics of the Java language.

An excellent resource for those who wish to begin programming in Java. I found this book very helpful in learning Java. By far the best I've read. EE261 students should check this one out.

This book is a handy documentation for jDK 1.1, however, in current JDK 1.3, a lot of changes have taken place, making this book somewhat obsolete, unless you are programming applets, which are still using JDK 1.1, due to the browser wars. One of the good parts of this book is that it describes all the keywords, shows a ASCII table with Octal, Decimal, and Unicode numbers for each character, and covers all classes and their properties and methods in JDK 1.1

If you want to make Applets using the built in JVM of most browsers, this book is a good buy. However, it is possible now to make an Applet using the Java Plug-In, which uses JDK 1.3 or JDK 1.4. Also, Mac OS X now has the Java 2 JVM built into their operating system. But to make sure your applet runs on all browsers, using the deprecated methods, this book will be useful.

Essentially, apart from the Keywords listing, the ASCII table, and some extra comments and examples, this book is not much different than a Javadoc Documentation that you can view on the internet at Sun's site free, which shows all the classes, all the methods, all their parameters, with links to go from class to class documentation for any JDK version. Also, it is a very large book, making it unlikely a version 2 book, with twice as many classes and methods, will be published. So, this book may be viewed as a convenience when you don't have internet access.

From the day I first received this book it has proven a valuable resource. I was looking for something that I could use just as a language reference and this goes way beyond that. My only complaint is the hard cover, makes it a heavy book to lug around

My thanks to the author for an excellent reference . While it's not a tutorial, it still manages to give short but clear summaries on various aspects of the language. Nice examples too. Wouldn't want to be without it or the Core Java books by Horstmann & Cornell.

If you're looking for a book chock full of examples and code, this is the ONE. If you are looking for a tutorial, this isn't it. Highly, highly recommended ...

Great Book. If you look for a method, a class, a deprecation or for the Java-hierarchy, You will find it in this boook. Good explanation (short!) on the methods. Good examples. Shame there is not a book like this on the JDK 1.2 or the JFC.

Joyful Learning is a dream come true for any busy teacher! With quick ideas that are simple to implement, any teacher can utilize this book in lesson planning and implementation. As an educator, these strategies are easy to learn and implement whether you are a high school P.E. teacher, a kindergarten teacher, or a 5th grade science teacher. When I want to motivate and engage my students, I let them choose one of the strategies and they use it to deepen their understanding, work collaboratively, and build community within my classroom. They love it! In fact, since these strategies differentiate for all learners, the entire school will intergrate them into practice next school year from Pre-K to 8th Grade!

JOYFUL LEARNING: ACTIVE AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING IN INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS by Alice Udvari-Solner and Paula Kluth (9781412941747) provides a resource for K-12 teachers who wish to create an active, collaborative learning environment. Here is a blend of classroom theory with applied facts, using classroom-tested examples and clear guidelines to help teachers create and assess the results of such an environment. From assisting individual learners to integrating results into a wider classroom atmosphere, JOYFUL LEARNING offers many specifics, making it a perfect pick for practicing teachers.

I just received this book at the "Inclusion Works" conference in Austin, TX. From what I've read so far, there are many techniques that educators can use in the classroom for all students (regular, bilingual, special needs, etc.) I am so pleased to have been able to see Dr. Kluth show some of these techniques at the conference. I look forward to finishing her book and discovering all it has to offer. THANK YOU!

As a former special education student I found myself wishing my teachers had read this wonderful book! I think my educational experience would have been much more positive if the teachers had used the activities in Joyful Learning. I would love to see the classrooms where these strageties are used. It would be inspiring to see all students fully engaged in a classrroom where respect for learning differences is modeled and all students are engaged in learning. This book offers many ideas and activities to begin this process.

I have all of Dr. Kluth's books--her recommendations are solidly based on research and practice that works across all ages, abilities and curricula! She really has an eye for excellent strategy and inclusive practice that really works.

This is an excellent book that demystifies the basic concepts of peer to peer computing. It then goes on to explain JXTA in extensive detail with tons of code to experiment with. I always like books that have a complete application to build on the concepts that you have learned throughout and the example provided in this book is great. All in all a great book which i highly recommend and which i will be using for an online course that i will be teaching on Peer to Peer computing technology.

The core of the JXTA is six protocols and this book covers all of them deeply and systematically.

For example, the book first introduces the Peer Discovery Protocol (which will definitely be used by every JXTA application to discover the resources). The book explains how to realize the Discovery Protocol by using the lower layer Resolver Protocol. Then the book teaches us how to use the Discovery Protocol in a JXTA application and actually gives us a useful example.

Every protocol covered in this book follows this pattern - explanation and example.

In addition to the protocols, programmers also need to know how to use some sub-system of JXTA to increase the flexibility of JXTA application and decrease the implement burden. Fortunately, the book covers them, such as CM (cache manager) in chapter4, Document (advertisement) in chapter4, module framework in chapter10, and so forth.

You definitely need to put this book on your bookshelf because give you more than just example code. It includes how the protocols are implemented and how to use the protocols.

Developers, if you want the whole scoop on a new architecture that will enhance the way we use the internet, then you need to get this book. Brendon, the author, does a superb job of presenting JXTA, peer-to-peer, and how you can apply it. This is not just an overview and it's not another "copy & paste" book. You will get hands-on experience on how all this works. Its easy to read and very concise.

As a IT contractor, its important to know what is out there and how it works. Sooner or later you will be affected by this new architecture. Why? Because it's an improvement over the way things are done today. Companies are always looking for an edge and this would give them that by distributing resource power among a wide array of servers and not drop the load on just one.

You will learn what P2P and JXTA are in the first 2 chapters. Then it's hands-on from chapter 3. Unlike other books being offered on JXTA, Brendon did not gloss over anything in this book and does a lot more then just talk about it. After understanding the basics and terminology associated with P2P and JXTA, you begin doing some hands-on experience with the JXTA shell. As the book progresses, you get a good understanding of how it works in detail. Then the grand finale, a sample application shows you how to put to put what you've learned to practice for your own application.

About myself:
IT Contractor - 9 years
6 years experience Java(Sun certified) programming
"always checking to see which way the wind is blowing!"

JXTA is a new platform from Sun for peer-to-peer computing. JXTA is a short form of juxtapose, meaning side-by-side. Thus JXTA is not meant to replace client-server but to co-exist with it.

At its core JXTA is just a specification for protocols needed for P2P computing. These protocols can be implemented in any language(Java,C,C++ etc)and on any platform. At present the specs define six protocols.

The book under review has done a good job of defining JXTA and its 6 protocols. It consists of 3 parts. The first part gives a general intoduction to JXTA concepts (like peer, peer group, pipe, endpoint, and advertisements) and JXTA protocols.The second part is for those who want to go further and study all the 6 protocols (Discovery, Resolver, Rendezvous, Information, Binding, and Endpoint) in all their gory details. The third part is for those who want to go still further and develop their own applications. Here they will find a 100-page chapter covering a sample application. Thus the reader can decide at what stage he wants to quit.

I found two main defects in the book: First the text in the UML diagrams is so small that I had to buy a magnifying-glass.Secondly the book does not compare JXTA and Jini very well. I think the comparison of Jini with later technologies like Web Services and JXTA is very important for a logical analysis of the direction IT is taking. From a logical point of view, Jini is the inspiration behind both JXTA and Web Services. And it is from this (purely logical) point of view that we will compare Jini with JXTA.

Jini starts with a very powerful unifying principle,namely,the distinction between hardware and software is artificial, and therefore both these concepts must be replaced by a more general concept of services.This is the third unifying principle in IT in over a decade.

First came objects which unified attributes and methods and put them in one basket. Then came components which unified software development. And now we have services which unify hardware and software.Staying on this logical track, what could be the next unifying principle of IT.My "guess" is as follows:

If the difference between physics (hardware) and what it does(software) is artificial, then the seperation of biology (user)from these two is also artificial.Thus hardware,software,and geneware must be unified into a more general concept which covers all three. The concept of services is not enough for this unification even though terms like "user experience" have started floating around in the IT industry.

Well, returning to JXTA, we can look at it as a special case of Jini restricted to P2P and not covering client-server.Alternately, JXTA is Jini minus its dependence on Java and RMI plus new terminology and protocols suitable for only P2P.I hope this is not the end but just the beginning of purely logical comparisons of Jini, JXTA, and Web Services.

Experts are welcome to tear down this argument to pieces. That can only lead to greater logical clarification of the subtleties involved.

I have no experience in network programming. I had to learn JXTA for a graduate class in P2P, so I picked up this book. My groupmate, on the other hand, picked up the book by Brookshier. I found my book an easy read and quickly breezed through all twelve chapters. My groupmate said that with his book, he couldn't get past the end of Chapter 1 before feeling sleepy. He eventually switched to this book.

The two things I liked in the book were, one, it's conversational tone, and two, it's learning-by-doing approach. Much of the book consists of coding exercises, covering each of the six JXTA protocols. The 11th chapter is a complete chat application, with both client and server code.

In summary, the best book for a jumpstart to JXTA.

This is the BEST book for learning statistics for business or a more advanced course in econometrics (i.e., dealing with problems presented by economics data, such as heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation). If you haven't taken a probability and statistics course immediately before the intermediate econometrics course, you MUST get this book and do as many of the exercises as possible. If you're starting a job in consulting, you MUST study this book before you start your job. The text and exercises rely on EXCEL. I've been teaching this stuff for 20 years, and I didn't really learn the "Data Analysis Tools" in EXCEL until to taught a course with this book. (And the author actually answers email!) The rate of return on this book is about 1000%, i.e., for $40 your lifetime earnings will increase over $4000 (not including the time you put into studying EVERY page). Just do it!

business statistics and at the same time learn how to use Excel statistical features, buy this book.

Neufeld's emphasis is very much on using the power of Excel as a "tool" to convey an good understanding of the statistics. And having recently tried to brush up my Statistics using the traditional text book approach...

So, if you're one of those who likes to really understand what's going on you'll like this book.

I'm going back to school and really needed to brush up on my statistics. This book did the trick and I'll use what I learned from it for the rest of my career.

This is one of the best text books in Business Statistics that I have come across which not only is theoretically excellent but also helps you master Excel. I think this author should seriously think of adding some more chapters like Conjoint analysis so that it is helpful to PhD students like me.
On a whole, an excellent text book for all graduate students. A must for all graduate business students.

I think this is one of the best books on this topic available. I have purchased many in an effort to merge statistical knowledge with the Excel application. While Excel is a powerful tool it can be tough to figure out how to harness all that power. It is an expertly written, no-frills book. The author clearly knows how frustrating most of the other Excel books on the market can be so he takes great care to walk you though the steps to success. A one star hit for a few noticeable things missing. One topic I really would like to have seen is creation of boxplots (very tough to do in Excel). A minor issue though because this book is loaded with great infromation and step-by-step approaches.

It is a bit pricey at [$], but I think well worth the price. If you can find it second hand then all the better because there is no data or sample disc included. I usually find the lack of a disc for such an expensive book annoying; however, there is a web site for you to download the data files referenced in the book so everything makes sense. As the title suggests the focus is business statistical applications. Bottom line: great book.

Abby Lewis has never been comfortable with her weight. But when her father dies and she moves in with her comfort-food cooking grandmother, the problem begins to take hold of her life. In LESS IS MORE, the third installment in Wendy Lawton's Real TV series, a grieving Abby must start all over without her father and adjust to life in the big city. Grieving the loss of her father, friends and everything she once knew, Abby begins to eat away her feelings --- quite literally. As she continues to pack on the pounds, her self esteem begins to plummet. She is excited to receive an invitation to the local youth group but is soon given a cruel nickname by her fellow students, causing further pain.

Luckily, Abby begins to develop a friendship with kind football star Parker and nutrition-crazy Isabella, who help her to reexamine her choices. She decides that she must start to shed some pounds, but with each thought of her father, the binging continues --- and it sure doesn't help that her grandmother is constantly feeding her with some of the most fattening foods on the market.

However, everything begins to change one day when Abby is mysteriously summoned out of class and gets the surprise of her life. Unbeknownst to Abby, new best friend Isabella and gym teacher Coach Matthews submitted an application for her to appear on the hit reality series "Less is More." On the show, contestants undergo a holistic approach to weight loss. Each is assigned to a personal trainer and a nutritionist, and the causes of the weight problems are examined and addressed. "Less is More" has long been Abby's favorite program, and she can't turn down the full scholarship offered to her if she reaches her goal weight. With Coach Matthews as her trainer and Isabella as her nutritionist, can Abby finally drop the pounds that have so long troubled her and reverse the negativity she's constantly surrounded by?

LESS IS MORE gives a fresh and relatable perspective to an issue that many teens struggle with. Not only will readers enjoy the exciting, though at times heartbreaking, plot of the book, they also will take something away from it. The novel aims to teach both those who struggle with weight issues and those who have never even considered their nutritional choices. It offers solid advice on maintaining a healthy diet, without dieting, and keeping fit through regular exercise, which is valuable to any reader. Lawton is careful to encourage a healthy body image, no matter what someone's weight might be. At the same time, the book addresses the unseen consequences of so-called harmless teasing.

The focus on a reality TV show is merely the backdrop for a much larger and more poignant story. Readers undoubtedly will be inspired by Abby's journey and begin to more carefully evaluate their own decisions.

--- Reviewed by Jennifer Crosby

Sixteen-year-old Abby Matthews battles grief after her father's sudden death. Then, when she and her mother move from Suwanee, Georgia to San Francisco, her emotional cocooning and unhealthy eating packs on more weight than she expected. This makes the first days at her new school and in her new youth group miserable. Through her new friendships, she's chosen for the weight loss show, "Less Is More." If only we all had such good friends! This entire book series is based on the current reality TV shows, like Trading Spaces and Discovery Health's National Body Challenge. It's difficult to pick a favorite as Lawton's Changing Faces (Book 1,) and Flip Flop (Book 2,) are also written with a keen insight into relationships, personal struggles and how God doesn't desert us in our troubles, large or small. I've enjoyed all the books so far.

Wonderful book! Real life. Real issues. And reality TV! Wendy Lawton provides a delightful read for girls -- and the moms who love them. Highly recommended!

Wendy Lawton knows how to reach teens, illustrating through relationships among family and friends, the power of words, the power of understanding, and the power of grace. Some things are more important than fame and the perfect figure.

Wendy Lawton gives us a real heroine in Abby. She and her Mom move across country to live with Grandma Cece after Abby's Dad dies. Abby, like most of us, eats to deal with the pain of all the loss and change. She puts on some weight. A student leader of her new youth group gives her an unflattering nick name, but she bears it with grace. She makes new friends. They help her grow spiritually, even the one who's not yet a Christian. This is a great story of the power of words, the power of Grace, and the power of friendship. Great read.