Tools Books

I picked up this book expecting the same old same old regurgitated information and found myself pleasantly surprised. Gorter's information was insightful, fresh, useful and in a format easy to read and understand. I would recommend this book to anyone in need of helpful information.

Great information for anyone seeking employment be they novice or experienced. Thumbs up on this one.

The names of the authors (Shadley and Davis) would be instantly recognizable to knife collectors as the recognized masters of the multi-blade pocket knife, perhaps the most challenging project for beginning knifemakers. As far as I know, this is the only book in print that addresses multi-blade knifemaking directly, and thus am pleased to find that it turned out to be a great buy.

This book describes in detail the whole process of design, construction, and finishing these mechanical marvels. The text is precise, complete, and most importantly for the non-enthusiast, refreshingly readable (light on knife jargon). Illustrated with clear diagrams and pictures on every important step and generously endowed with hints and expert advice from the authors, this book is a classic on this specialized topic. If you have any interest in pocket knives or have ever wondered just how much craftsmanship goes into making one of these knives by hand, you'll be glad you bought this book.

If you was ever intrigued by the multi-bladed folding knives, and wanted to know how to make your own, believe me - this is the book you need. I'm proud to have this book - since it showed me, exactly, how to design and construct all the little multi-bladed fascinating tools I ever wanted. If you want to make your folding knives too, buy this book and back to the bench! And good luck!

The kit as a whole is invaluable, bringing together "yarrow" sticks and coins with a book that reduces the interpretive material to a reasonable level for the beginner. The summary divination (image) reads well and seems to get the gist of the details over nicely, at least for me. Going to Ritsema and Karcher's larger, more exact translation provides an intermediate/advanced interpretation. One flaw: typos on the quick reference card for consulting the oracle with coins or sticks, mixing yin and yang--check the diagrams in the book instead, which are accurate.

I like this kit a great deal because it provides the tool necessary to properly consult the oracle. Further, it translates the hexagrams into language that is more palatable to the the Western ear. It is truly amazing that man has found a way to query and listen to the forces of nature that influence his life. This has helped me gain insight to many of my most puzzling life questions.

The book was first published by John Murray (Publishers)Ltd, London in 1983, now in its fourth printing, has 243 pages.

This is an authoritative, comprehensive and fully illustrated publication covering the Victorian and early Twentieth Century periods. This book is aimed at collectors who want a guide to help them identify a particular piece as well as those who want a more general history of needlework tools. There are hundreds of illustrated examples with full descriptions in the main text as well as the captions.

The main categories covered are: workboxes, sewing cases, emery and wax holders, pin cushions, thread containers, clamps, lace bobbins, tatting shuttles, chatelaines, needlecases, thimbles and thimble cases, scissors, tape measures, thread containers, crochet hooks and knitting and netting tools.

Very comprehensive history and photographs (black and white) of a range of sewing implements over time. Gay Ann knows her stuff and presents an excellent source of information for sewing enthusiasts.

This title is an excellent addition to information literacy publications that were mostly directed toward practicing media specialists. While this book is useful in this regard, it is also
suitable as a resource book for high school students as well as
for college students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Special features include Think Guides, appendices, annotated bibliography, and worked out examples throughout this volume. There are over 100 web sites as well as printed sources. Evaluation of internet sources is well covered. Recommended for 7-12 schools as well as community colleges.

This title is an excellent addition to information literacy publications that were mostly directed toward practicing media specialists. While this book is useful in this regard, it is also suitable as a resource book for high school students as well as for college students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Special features include Think Guides, appendices, annotated bibliography, and worked out examples throughout this volume. There are over 100 web sites as well as printed sources. Evaluation of internet sources is well covered. Recommended for 7-12 schools as well as community colleges.

Through the science of Textual Criticism, Nestles has compiled an accurate Greek to English text of the New Testament in an easy to understand form that is invaluable to the serious Bible student. I have used it for many years since receiving it as a gift.

This Bible contains the original Greek text and a literal English translation (with a few paraphrases in parentheses) under the Greek text in the middle column. The New American Standard Bible (NASB) version comprises the left column, and the New International Version (NIV) the right. I have found this text priceless because, if I have a question about what the author meant when he used a specific word, I can see what word(s) another translation, or even the original Greek, uses. Unfortunately, this book contains only the New Testament (not the Old).

When I wanted to make a career change, this book was my primer on the basics of CNC programming and machining. It helped me to quickly pick up the essentials of this manufacturing process. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to get a foundation or refresher course in the basics, such as understanding shop math, G code programming, tooling, set-ups, speeds and feeds etc. These are the necessary building blocks for success in this field.

This book is probably one of the best Tech texts that I have yet seen. It covers a wide range of topics and keeps the reader interested with very good photograps and 3D drawings. There are several chapters for beginners to deal with shop trigonometry, metalworking data, blueprint reading, as well as a nice overview of CNC Mill and Lathe programming.
If Peter Smid's book is the best reference on the topic of CNC Programming, this book certainly is a close second for value. This book's contents are not as advanced as Mr. Smid's work, but it is more than adequate for most students in college, university, and apprentices wishing to learn the trade.

Good job!

Peter Eigler

It is a must read for a freshment engineering student. If you can get a copy, it will be a good reference for your entire engineering study.

I actually ended up reading this book after getting my master's degree in aerospace engineering, and even after a few years of work in industry. This was because my first crack at doing real aircraft structural design work put me completely in over my head, and this book was the first step of getting a handle on everything. In retrospect I'm completely aghast that in six years and two degrees of engineering schooling, nothing like this was taught at my particular school (which shall go un-named for it's own sake), yet it is required for the freshman year at U of Iowa.

Engineers are tasked with developing systems that produce value in a nutshell. The way you configure and define that system, iteratively dealing with the bigger parts first and sequentially working your way down to defining the smallest details last, is engineering design. This book explains the whole philosophy behind design, and how to do it. It's essentially a decision-making process, that can actually carry over into practically anything you do in life so even non-technical people could probably benefit from this book. Politicians, policy wonks / analysts, and people who debate politics in particular could have much more meaningful and productive discussions if they actually employed a design framework. (Maybe they do, but I haven't seen much evidence of it . . .)

This book lays out a ten step process of design that is iterative. Meaning you can always (and actually will have to do so many, many times) go back and repeat steps. Although these ten steps are not written in stone, and I would highly recommend any engineer / designer to develop their own steps, they are an excellent guide to improving the quality and reducing the difficulty of design work.

It ends up schools (at least mine) only really teach analysis, which was just one of the ten steps. This is one of the most laborious, most important, and, critically, easily taught so that's probably why schools concentrate on it. But they'll do their students a huge dis-service if they don't even tell the students about the other steps! Once you read the steps they sound pretty obvious / intuitive, but this doesn't mean people will know about them and apply them unless they're introduced to them first.

I would also recommend that any engineer get a good book on systems engineering if they want to understand design in a more comprehensive sense. Blanchard in particular has some good books. My school taught systems engineering as an elective that you were practically dissuaded from taking, and only offered to grad students. Instead it should be a required course that's offered before students take their capstone senior year design courses.

If you're a U.S. company that is not doing international business you might wonder why even bother with ISO 9000-3. While I can make compelling arguments for and against software and technical services companies pursuing registration, my stance would be dependent upon a set of conditions. With respect to applying the elements of ISO 9001 in accordance with guidelines for software development, supply and maintenance set forth in ISO 9000-3 I can only argue for.

The book: The first three chapters are brief and take only 24 pages to set the context. Chapter 1 introduces ISO 9000 as an international standard, discusses the relationship between 9001 and 9000-3, and gives good advice on the semantics of 9001's "shalls" and 9000-3's "shoulds". The next chapter provides an overview of software engineering and key elements in which 9000-3 will support. Chapter 3 discusses theory, concept, interpretation and critique of ISO 9000-3.

Chapter 4 comprehensively covers scope and overview, and provides a framework for the rest of the book. The key areas discussed in this chapter are the quality system framework, life cycle activities and supporting activities. Taken together these areas encompass ISO 9000-3. Chapters 5 through 23 are each devoted to a single area, giving you sufficient detail to understand the issues and factors. What I like most is the way the authors skillfully describe the contents of ISO 9000-3 guidelines in a readable manner without introducing ambiguity. Making specifications readable without introducing fuzziness or uncertainty is one of the most difficult aspects of technical writing and the authors manage this well.

An added bonus, and the reason I like this book so much, is the quality handbook that is provided in chapter 24. Including the eleven attachments, each of which in an invaluable artifact itself, this chapter is 50 pages in length (about 20% of the book), and serves as one of the best examples of a quality manual you'll find.

So, why even bother? First, you do not need to pursue ISO 9001 registration to benefit from this book (and if you are, you need to get a book on the ISO 9000:2000 version to get up-to-speed). If you are using the capability maturity model as a goal, the procedures given in this book map nicely to CMM process areas and practices. Moreover, in the "e" world where supply chain management is one of the current buzz words, the focus of 9000-3 might be a good fit into your operational posture (whether as a developer/integrator or service provider) because ISO 9000-3 is slanted towards the customer-supplier relationship, whereas the CMM is more concerned with suppliers. The real reason, however, for using 9000-3 guidelines is they will assure you of attaining repeatability in all of your key processes related to applications or service delivery, and will lay the foundation for any additional quality paradigm or framework you deploy in the future.

Very practical, easy to implement the ISO standards, practices and processes. If you are planning to register for this standards, the book will be good hand-book.

The CD is great - it helps a quality professional put together quality system that meets ISO 9000 criteria. But even better, it helps put a business system that works for a manufacturing company. This CD saved my company a lot of money!

Excellent product, easy to use. The documentation model with document workfiles and templates do really help with the development of documents. Very useful is the listing of the 31 new requirements of ISO 9000:2000, as well as the listing of the differences (35 changes) between the DIS and the final edition of ISO 9000:2000. I can higly recommend this CD to everyone implementing ISO 9000.

Helmut A.