Education Books

I'll be honest. When I got this book, I mostly expected it to be a compilation of funny stories about poop void of any substance or usefulness (much like feces itself).

Alas, I found myself continually intrigued by Praeger's unique research, and in the end I found that I was surprised that I had learned so much regarding the subject. To say it changed my life might be overstating the fact, but it certainly did change the way I considered one constant aspect of it.

The book was also well written, educational and thoughtful without being dry or stuffy. And the humor in the book is well balanced, managing to be clever without being over-the-top.

Poop Culture is a fun, quick read, and you will learn more than you ever thought you would about crap. And that's a good thing.

This is a very funny, well written book about a bizarre subject. I found myself laughing out loud......

This book will change the way you feel about poop. Not only informative, but very funny. I purchased multiple copies to give to my relatives.

Although this book contains a lot of humor, it also provides lessons on history, art, literature and environmental science. This is an enjoyable read, especially if you want to learn something. If you are looking for poop jokes, it's got some of those too, but that is not the book's primary focus. Some of the chapters read more like a college term paper, and sometimes the book is a little preachy when it comes to the environment, but overall, it's a good read.

Once you pick it up and stick your nose in it, you will be permanently stained... with knowledge and insight!

This book is both entertaining and informative, and scientifically argues why no one else will touch the subject matter.

This makes the ideal gift: I handed my Poop Culture over to my mom, and she loved it.

I have a ton of books on various aspects of coaching basketball, and this is by far the most comprehensive resource I own. I particularly appreciate Coach Wooden's attention to detail and his down-to-earth, methodical approach.

I'd give it 4.5 stars if that were possible, just because this edition looks like it was run off on a photocopy machine, particularly the photos, but in terms of content, it's almost certain to be the most valuable book in a basketball coach's library.

I found this book to be very informative. This was purchased for my grandson who is a basketball fan and player (age 14) and I am sure that he will be delighted with the book (a Christmas present for him)

Great fundamentals for life and basketball. From overviews to extreme detail.

I HIT THE LOTTERY WHEN I ORDERED THIS BOOK. IT COVERS EVERYTHING ANY COACH NEEDS TO BE SUCCESSFUL. YOU WILL NEVER USE EVERYTHING CONTAINED IN THIS BOOK BUT USE THIS BOOK AS AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL. THIS BOOK COULD BE USED AS THE TEXT FOR A COLLEGE COURSE. IT COVERS ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING

This book is helpful for a coach trying to start a program. There are many things that a new coach could use. The ideas worked well for Wooden 30+ years ago, so some of it could be outdated. But most of it is pretty good. The diagrams are confusing. You need a magnifying glass to follow the cuts of the players. More time could have been spent on the stall section.

This is a fantastic tool for getting primary kids excited about math. My "mathletes" love the characters and fun problems.

The book is organized into chapters, with each chapter presenting a type of problem and the ways to think about that problem. And then there is a series of related story problems to solve, divided into 4 levels. For example, one chapter is about calculating whether an item (rope, building, etc) is strong enough for the intended use. Another chapter is about figuring out how much change you'd get in a store transaction. Another is percentages. Midway through, the concept of algebra is introduced and applied to the later chapters. The chapters are presented very conversationally, and explain how to think about the problem and approach the solution. They are illustrated with cartoons, and with characters discussing the problems.

My second grade daughter loves this book. She is gifted in math, and I was looking for some way to add extra challenge without "teaching ahead" in the normal curriculum. This has been great. It's not teaching new methods of computation (which she'll get in school thru the years), it's teaching approaches to problem solving. She usually does the level 1 problems with no help (but has to think fairly hard), but needs help on level 2. She is very proud of herself after conquering these questions. Levels 3 and 4 are beyond her for now. I can see us revisiting this book every year, and using it through about 5th grade.

What an exciting way to present additional math problems: the writing and illustrations capture one's attention, and the subsequent problems are at four distinct levels (from easy to very difficult. The student may solve all of the problems, or the parent/instructor can "save" those difficult levels for later (perhaps next year?) after the student has conquered certain tasks to facilitate success.

Although this may be implemented at various grade levels, I suggest second grade as the youngest starting point. You know your child best, however, and it would be wise to preview book pages at this site before purchasing.

I highly recommend this book for children in all types of classrooms: "regular" school, gifted school, and home school. It is a great supplement for students, and offers a challenge to all.

I'm teaching Challenge Math to 2nd graders and found this book to be very helpful in my preparation. This is my first time teaching this program, so, the examples, structure and illustrations in this book have come in quite handy.

My son's gifted teacher gave him homework from this book in third grade, and now his 4th grade gifted teacher gives him work from Zaccaro's next book for in-class enrichment this year. He enjoys working through it and I like the straight-forward approach and graphics. I teach and I bought it for my parent volunteer to use with our school's first grade math enrichment group. My kids love to go to group!

Principles of Electrodynamics by Melvin Schwartz is a very well written, very didactic book. The principles of Electrodynamics are clearly shown and the author explanations and demonstrations are rigurous but easy to understand. The book is a very good reference for certain topics of Electrodynamics not so well covered in other text books.

This book is somewhat famous for its heuristic derivation of the full Maxwell's equations using Lorentz invariance, but every topic is covered in an exceptionally lucid manner, on a par with Feynman at his best. The book is also a neccessary antidote for the excessive detail and overgeneralization of Jackson.

C'est de loin l'exposé le plus clair sur le sujet à ma connaissance. Quant au rapport qualité/prix, on voisine l'infini

This book is the best introduction to advanced electromagnetic theory I have ever encountered. The author does a masterly job at simplifying the mathematics without over-simplifying the physics. If you're looking to gain a deep understanding of electromagnetics and its relation to the theory of relativity, this book is for you!

Bref, c'est tres bien sauf que beaucoup d'erreur se sont glisses dans le livre. C'est le probleme principal de ce livre est que l'audience est tres restreinte aux eleves de secondes. J'en appelle donc au serieux de l'auteur pour se relire quand meme.

Il est ecrit que Integrale infinie de la derivee est egale a la fonction identite, non c'est faux. la constante a disparu. Beaucoup d'autres erreurs similaires sont surprenantes.

A GREAT CARTOON VIEW OF HOW TO UNDERSTAND AND DO CALCULUS!!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Of course, I must be biased, since I have not read every intro to calculus book ever, but yet I maintain my position. :-)

I first saw this book when I was about seven years old, and fell in love with the comics. I didn't understand the math at the time, but eventually I got to calculus level mathematics in college, and thanks to this book, I not only had no fear of calculus, but rather looked forward to it.

I only wish that the authors had went on to cover integral calculus and infinite series... but I shan't blame them. This book is great enough as it is. :-)

As one who struggled with Calculus as well as "Math Anxiety", I can only say 'thank you, thank you, thank you'.
I also saw someone with a copy of the book in my first calculus class and I ran to the library. All copies were checked out! Once I went through this wonderful book, it baffled me that not one instructor was using or recommending it. Yet all the students knew about it.
If delta-episilon has you mystified, Prof McSquared can help. It was enlightening, encouraging and confidence building. I still use it as a refresher.
My only question now is - will there ever be a continuation into Calc II & III and differential? I await the arrival.

Reviewer Jerry Harper spotted a typo in the 1975 edition
of Prof. McSquared's book and calls for a reply. The answer
to problem II.3.3 on page 205 contains the WRONG statement
(BUT 1/2 e < -e...). PROF. McSquared GOOFED! It should be
1/2 e < e!! This is corrected in the Expanded Intergalactic
Edition NOW reissued and available: ISBN 0971462402.
H. Swann, co-author, for Prof. McSquared

I'm a student at University of Chicago, and got into an advanced Calculus class, because of my good luck of having done well on the AP test. Immediately I was thrown into a confusing world of espilons and delta and omegas and proof and theorems not on the AP cirriculum. I am by no means an abstract symbol-based learner, so I was thrown by all these new concepts thrown at me at a breakneck pace.

Three days before my Calc midterm, and desperate to salvage my grade, I ordered McQuared's Calculus Primer.

And I was saved.

If you are a new student thrown by epsilon delta, and need a detailed, non-symbol based explanation to understand, this is the book for you. My only complaint is that the book only goes up to the first couple chapters of an real calc book (though at the high level of explanation it gives, it does those chapters justice at the highest level imaginiable.)

With its cartoony illustrations and backhanded sense of humor, Mc Square Calculus makes Calculus accessable and (dare I say?) makes learning fun.

I receipt the book very quikly and in excelent conditios of use, as a new book.

Reinforced Concrete: Mechanics and Design (4th Edition) (Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics)

I think this book is very good quality, and shipping is not bad...

I have the 2nd edition of this book which I loved. This edition is excellent and is easily the best text on Reinforced Concrete there is anywhere.

This book is the best for those who want a deeper understanding of reinforced concrete design.Since the author presents a step by step way to introduce the concepts,the reader is able to get a more detailed information and retents more concepts instead of procedures

This book was already one of the best concrete design texts and is even better with the addition of the new co-author James Wight, who adds valuable information on the design of concrete structures to resist seismic forces. There are a few minor errors in the examples that still exist from the 3rd edition, but they are minor and the examples are detailed enough that the corrections are usually forthcoming. I recently finished a MS in Structural Engineering focusing on concrete design and this book (3rd edition) was one of the 2 or 3 that I found myself referring to most often.

I really enjoyed this book as the companion to the ESPN series of the same name. It's a must read for any college football fan!

An indispensable book, a real bible for all who love the american football and his history in the colleges across America.

I collect football books. As an historian, I look for books that cover the glorious tradition and history of the game. This book is perfect if you're looking for that theme. First of all, check out the cover. The cover tells the story of this book. It takes you back to a different era.

I love this book. It is one of my favorites. It covers everything and makes for a great coffee table book. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy college football.

The writer has given us a panoramic view of college football. The book covers the great coaches, teams and rivalries of the past 100 years. There are a number of wonderful photos sprinkled through the book as well. The writing touches on a number of subjects in brief articles, so don't look for any in depth stories about one particular program, coach or player. This is not a complaint, merely an observation. My only real complaint is the errors I found. Some photos misidentified players and bits of information were incorrect (minor errors, but annoying none the less). Overall, this is a great book for any college football fan.

As a fan of the country's best football conference, I highly recommend this book! Great images and the prose is solid...you really get a feel for the game. If you're an SEC freak like me check out "A Tailgater's Guide to SEC Football". It has a great history of college football in the South in there. A good read overall. Thumbs up! Roll Tide!

Thanks Betty for sharing your family's story. I think the communtiy's and Sam's coach's behavior was outrageous and your family should not have been put through all that it suffered.

I agree with Elizabteh that Sam's PE teacher has all the appearances of being a good teacher. However, a good teacher shouldn't stand-by while this kind of teasing and cruelty take place. I commend your protests and hope Indiana will reign in schools who fail to protect our children. We must do all we can to make sure this never reoccurs.

This book reminds of a recent incident with our own son Erick (oldest of our 3 great kids) at our new school in St. Petersburg, Florida. Last week Erick started 5th grade and middle school for the first time. When Erick learned boys have to take showers together in their school PE class, he was more than a little nervous. Our family moved to Florida from Puerto Rico last Summer when my husband was promoted to a new postion. Our son grew up in a community and family where nudity was never seen, it is just was not any part of our children's upbringing. I think it is completely reasonable that Erick at first shrinked back from the situation. There are a lot of social lessons kids learn (or should learn and need to be taught) outside of the formal classroom setting, locker room etiquette is a prime example. It is important to introduce kids into situations they are not always comfortable with to prepare them for life. However, I think it is also important to make sure those situations are under control.

I expect there to be some adult supervision to offer support, or discipline those being disruptive. Anyway, some kids will be bullies, and be cruel to one another. But I also expect there to be some checks in place to keep things from getting out of hand - for instance to keep older and/or more popular students students picking on other kids.

This is a true-life story of a shy 12-year old boy Sam, and the rural town in which his family moved. The town's Jr. High which Sam attends requires PE and showers. Sam's family are odds with his gym teacher over the lack of privacy in the showers, but Sam does shower as school policy requires.

One day, Sam snaps a towel at another student in the showers which violates the strict no horseplay in the locker room policy. Sam's is given the standard punishment for this...20 push-ups, but is not allowed to get dressed first. The rest of the book details the ensuing battle between Sam's parents and the school over these forced nude push-ups. See the reviews below for more details on this battle.

For my $.02 worth, I don't think Sam's rights were grossly violated by his PE teacher. Sam violated the rules and was punished. School showers really need more adult supervision. Sam's punishment was unfortunately embarrassing, but for goodness sake, if you try and remove every single potential source out there for hurt feelings for kids, you will stop our schools and teachers from helping children learn.

I don't think it hurts students to get used to showering in a group shower. From my perspective, I think that public schools are the right place for students to be exposed (no pun intended) to the real world. School is a place to learn and "get over" certain afflictions. Super shy kids I am sure are somewhat tramatized by school. Should they get individual "learning cubicals"? No... nor, do I think should our kids NEED to have individual showers after PE.

powerfully written story
This book is a powerfully written story that should keep kids (older) and adult's interest. This story is about the young kid, Jacob, and his family's move to a new town and school. The kid's family has a very strong traditional sense of modesty and tradition (some would say to a prudish degree) while Jacob is nearing puberty and starting middle school for the first time. Required gym showers in public schools have become somewhat less common in the United States in recent years due to budget cutbacks and greater risk (lawsuit) aversion on the part of school administrators. But Jacob's town and middle school are still staunch supporters of school sports, required PE, and required showers. This book gives a gripping account of the uncomfortable collide of 2 cultures as Jacob assimilates to his new Middle School and town. On a personal note, I teach PE (for 3rd-5th graders currently) at my public school here in Flordia. Showers are always provided in the scheduled time...whether it's outdoors or indoors activities, swimming or what have you. I was little surprised to learn the school policy wanted to me to require showers of all elementary school students when I started teaching here in the mid-90's. There aren't any private showers and that upsets the occassional muslim or shy girl's or boy's parents every now and then. But our school has always managed to deal with these occassional irate parents. I think it's probably weather/climate that's caused the wide support for showers here. We're very far south in Florida (near Miami), and when little boys and girls play and exercise down here you can't help but sweat...a lot. My kids (and parents) all would actually be quite upset with me if they couldn't shower after exercising in this weather!

Mary
Elementary PE teacher
Pinellas County, South Florida

PS Our district actually made a mandatory county wide shower policy decades ago. Teachers are required to check and enforce that students shower at the end of gym class. Over the years, I've had to deal with some shower shy students as well as a small number of complaining parents. But I feel fortunate that our school has never had as disagreement as strongly felt as the battle between the Herron family and Jacob's school.

This book does a very good job of sharing this powerful and moving story about this unfortunate case. It is very sad that the teasing and harrassment Sam suffered by neighbors and classmates took place. The School and the teacher really should have done a better job to stop this.

However, I agree with the court's decision to dismiss the case on summary judgement in favor of the school. While the teacher could have done a better job in this situation, I think the law-suits, publicity, and taking Sam out of school were not to Sam's benefit. While Sam was unfairly traumatized by this incident, I think it is the job of parents and teachers to encourage children in the face of adversity, such as full-time Mom did with her son Erick below.

The School District and Sam's teacher should be commended for their many contributions to the school's Physcial Education and Athletics program. I personally think the requirement that a student shower and follow the rules of locker room etiquette is not out of line. After all, school is to teach one about life. Not only is there science, math, languages, music, but there is health, social, and physical education. Hygiene spans both health and social education, and showering is a part of hygiene. What better time to teach it than in real situations, such as after a PE class. Schools cannot change every policy according to each student's personal comfort level. Perhaps school districts should invest in private, individual dressing and shower areas for all students. But most have not chosen to do so, and privacy in the locker and shower rooms in most of our nation's schools is lacking. As a practical matter, public school students simply have a reduced expectation of personal privacy in School's required physical education classes.

Thank you Betty for writing such a powerful and moving account of the unfair mistreatment that your young son Sam was unfortunately maded to endure.

I think the Coach and teacher clearly made a mistake in judegement in ordering the nude push-ups as punishment for such a trivial infraction. However, the physical and emotional abuse Sam's classmates and neighbors directed against Sam and your family is truly outrageous. The physical abuse is criminal and those responible should be punished. The emotional abuse and despicable words show how cruel some people can be.

While the courts may be right that Sam's PE Teacher and Coach actions were within his legal bounds as a teacher (...)I think morally his punishment went too far and helped foster the divisive and hostile environment Sam and your family suffered.

Except for the unfortunate incident, Sam's PE teacher has all appearances of a good citizen and family man. By all accounts, he is a loving husband, a caring father of two teenage sons and a daughter, and very active and respected in the community. I truly hope and believe he did not intend any of the suffering his actions with Sam triggered. However, once events and unkindness take on a life of their own a mob mentality can set in causing people and communtities to perform the cruelest of acts on their neighbors.

I hope we can all find ways to help ensure such tragedies do not reoccur.

As a student returning to calculus, after many years without touching the subject, I found that the hardest part for me was just going through the simple mechanics of algebra. Conceptually early calculus is not that difficult, but often to get the right answer it requires a lot of intricate algebraic manipulations. I found myself making easy mistakes and my calculus book less than helpful at refreshing the algebra I needed to know (and had forgotten). I ended up getting this book as well as the precalculus and calculus books by schaums, but have found the Intermediate Algebra book to be by far the most helpful. The pre-calculus and calculus books glossed over areas where I really needed more examples. The practice problems helped me to eliminate simple mistakes in my work and gave me more confidence going into complex problems. I noticed that classmates of mine who were struggling got caught up on concepts because they didn't have a rock solid understanding of the algebra. Transformations that the instructor took for granted eluded them because they were still trying to figure out where the negative sign went. While there are some errors, for the cost I really couldn't recommend this book enough - especially when compared to my $175 Calculus book. It helped me get an A in second semester calculus.

Great tool too have, especially if you haven't had Algebra in over 16 years!

I purchased this book to make a quick review of Math and help my son. I am so happy that I will buy the entire collection from elementary Algebra to Calculus including Differencial equations, Geometry and Trigonometry. Great help for those who need a solid foundation in Math. You can't go wrong with Schaum's Outline.

People learn in many different ways and my way is to know exactly what is going on in the problem and why the equation took that next step. Many of the problems in the book do this but there are a nagging few that do not show what formula they used. Of course the skills are built upon each other and it assumed that you remember the past formulas. For me though this doesn't always work out.

It is a great outline for those who need to brush up on their skills and it also helps out the beginners. Take lots of notes and remember the formulas to help out in later chapters. For the price it is a great help and I am happy to have made this purchase.

This book, I must say, is very good companion for any high school or middle school students who want to master the subject. I like this intermediate algebra better than the elementary one--simply more interesting. But to well prepare yourself for college math/algebra, you only need this book: the most useful problem or resource book that I have ever read in English :
Algebra: A study aid for self-education
ASIN: B0007C0IUS
in my school library. This book is just so useful that every problem is provided with sufficient background information. You can ACTUALLY MASTER the subject by working out the problems ON YOUR OWN--solutions are provided to every problem as well. Moreover, every pair of problems is typical, help you sharpen your skills while teaching you much about it. If you are ambitious and want to get even better in the subject, check it out. It's very user-friendly but very informative and interesting!

Hannah Breece was an amazing woman--strong, independent, and driven by her desire to help the people of Alaska during the early 1900s. This book is well-written, interesting, and informative. If you love reading about early Alaska, you will love this book! You might also check out a new release, When the Water Runs: Growing Up With Alaska.

When the Water Runs: Growing Up with Alaska

This book is a great read. I was swept along by this story of a single woman working in the Alaskan back country. She takes a matter-of-fact approach to all sorts of alarming situations (e.g. being buried in a snowdrift and having a bear and her cub wandering about outside her tent).

A great adventure story. Fascinating snapshots of turn of the century Alaska. Many of the most interesting parts of this book are those which talk about Alaska's relationship with Russia, particularly the power of the Czar and the Russian Orthodox church. Reading about this, Alaska seems more like a colony than a part of Russia. Maybe the Alaska America purchased wasn't Russia's to sell.

The book presents attitudes as they were without varnishing or apology. Some are decidedly racist. Hannah definitely saw her job as 'civilizing' the natives (nobody seems to have asked them if they wanted to be civilized). She talks about communities who lived underground - this was dying out as the US government didn't approve - the story of colonization the world over...

An excellent story with plenty of meat. Hannah Breece is a woman both of her time and ahead of her time. This book, although covering the early 1900's, really tells of a time when the balance and control of Alaska was switching from Russian influenced culture to American influenced culture. It is interesting to see that what was "correct" then is now "incorrect" and reminds the reader that values and judgements are culturally bound.

The action of the book takes place over most of the major regions of the state including the gulf coast, the interior and the southeast.

Jane Jacobs the editor did an excellent job of organizing and illuminating Hannah Breece's story. Without her careful introductions the story would have not had quite the same postive impact.

This book is largely alone in covering the topic of teaching in the early 1900's. For those of you interested in the early history of teaching in English in Alaska then this is your book.

In 1904, Hannah Breece (1859-1940), was recruited by the Department of the Interior to teach in Alaska. Alaska at that time was quite different than today. Preferring to work in poorer, more backward areas, she saw a side of Alaska that does not normally appear in the history books. This is Hannah stories, as told by her, and edited by Jane Jacobs.

This is a really great story. I found its depiction of life in 1904+ Alaska to be quite enthralling; Hannah certainly found her way into many fascinating adventures. The book shows life in 1904+ Alaska, as lived by the common people, including dealing with wild animals, sled dogs, fish famines, earthquakes, racism at many levels, and so much more.

All I can say is that Hannah Breece must have been a formidable woman. I have never said this before of a book, but I actually felt honored to be able to look in at Hannah's life. I highly recommend this book!

I fell in love with Alaska as described by Hannah Breece. She told an amazing story of a time that is long gone. She also showed great restraint in not "telling tales" on those who were her contemporaries. Her niece, Jane Jacobs, who compiled and edited her memoirs, fills in the "gaps," after Miss Breece's personal story is complete. I recommend this book to lovers of history, Alaskan history, early American history, education history and those with a romantic notion of how the "good old days," really were.