Departments Books

This was a chilling book and a good read! The vendor shipped it promply and it was in good condition. I was extremely satisfied.

Dr. John E. Touchton Sr.

It is a very good book, but the sentinces seem to last forever, and ever with its never ending desciptions. But, Im not saying you should'nt buy it. Even though the sentinces run on, I was still interested by it; with its' amazing sense of thrill, and excitment. Buy it if you like long thrillers.

The gut-wrenching angle = "Its been 2 weeks.He's due another.He may even have a live child with him right now, who's moments away from being left like this one."(mutilated+killed 53+)NON-FICTION/TRUE-CRIME.
Of course there are gory visuals thru-out.But the psychological context given to the deeds, is terrifying.
The police are followed (via fieldwork and paperwork)thru their horror of what they keep coming across, and their desperation of having no clue how to make use of it.
Their are endless mess-ups and frame-ups leading to unforgivable injustices to innocents, and close-calls with the killer.One incident will make you violently livid toward those who let him to the streets again, inspite of the most blatantly damning behaviour imaginable.
The 'confession'(at end of book)in the killer's own words, is amazing in that it gives his angle of scenes dealt with from the 'unknower's' angle thru-out the rest of the book.He himself knew that at least 30 of his kills should never have seen possibility.

Some chapters are far too incidental.(some would rightfully drop it a star for that)But, most of it just makes your heart drop - at the deep suffering of an unknown man, being such that he is always losing against his froes of deep rage, so ruining children beyond recognition.
(bonus in this book=u get great feel for the harsh everyday life in Russian society)

Led by the brilliant movie "Citizen X" I was compelled to read the book, and the only solution to a ten-year hunt of secondhand bookstores was of course Amazon. The real Viktor Burakov is more hard-boiled than Stephen Rea's portrayal in the movie, Burakov's portrait on the back cover is wreathed in smoke amidst piles of decadent Soviet paperwork. Chikatilo is one of the most savage psychopaths to have roamed the twentieth century, and thrived amidst a strange miasma of the non-existence of the serial killer in the perfect Soviet society, and the armies of incompetents drenched in vodka that served for Russian law. The book is brutally frank in an almost professionally-detached coroner's way, but by getting into the minds of the participants, author Robert Cullen still manages to imbue the book with emotion and feeling. It is a rare occasion when the movie may be even better than the book, but "The Killer Department" is certainly one of the most unique insights into Soviet Russia's underbelly. The book is also a snapshot of the USSR as it transitioned into Glasnost and Perestroika, but ultimately it is about an eight-year duel between two minds, one a classic hard cop, and the other the deranged product of the cannibalistic Ukrainian famine who suffered from bed-wetting and brain short-outs.

I found Managing a Small HRD Department a wonderful resource while a Regional HR Manager at ABB. Training is frequently the last function to be added to an HR shop and the function that is hardest to get one's hands around because of the depth and wealth of information available.McCoy's book does an excellent job focusing on the major topics and issues in a practical manner. I have given this book to several HR managers in businesses with developing HR shops that have hired me in a consulting capacity to assist them with developing a training/HRD function.

This book gives me a good understanding about how to run a small HRD team. It is written for you to get the important ideas, theories and so on. However, some worksheets given are somewhat out-dated, although they cover many ideas to check.

I found Managing a Small HRD Department a wonderful resource while a Regional HR Manager at ABB. Training is frequently the last function to be added to an HR shop and the function that is hardest to get one's hands around because of the depth and wealth of information available.McCoy's book does an excellent job focusing on the major topics and issues in a practical manner. I have given this book to several HR managers in businesses with developing HR shops that have hired me in a consulting capacity to assist them with developing a training/HRD function.

Starting an HRD department in a smaller bank, I needed a resource to get me on track. The book is written in a conversational style with great examples of reality. It's a wonderful tool kit for someone in a company that didn't have a formal department previously, or who wants to pull the pieces together systematically. The information presented offers a foundation for an HRD dept. strategic plan, or one can utilize pieces that are relevant to their current situation. The charts and comparisons make good basic sense, even to untrained HR people who move within the organization as so often happens.

we purchased this book for everyone in our office - in hopes that each person would gain one tidbit of information to better serve our customers. it sparked a great conversation and opened up several areas that we could improve on. it helped our staff feel like a part of the decision making process because it wasn't us...the owners.... telling them that there was a need for improvement.
plus - i keep hearing the staff discuss the book - so i think it was a great activity for everyone to read.

Every business or organization that claims to have (or value) good customer service should implement a customer service class based on the 'Nordstrom Way'.
I became a customer after visiting their Seattle store and became converted. Truly wonderful, personal, personable customer service.

Other stores and businesses could benefit as well: cell phone service providers, 'home' hardware stores, 'copy' shops, etc.

In the past few years, it seems that the crush of a crowded market place has produced a culture of mental malaise in these organizations.

Here's an example of a real conversation that I had at a mall sports (athletic shoe store):

When I walked up, the salesperson had her cell phone in hand and only looked up at me at the end of our 'conversation'.
"Do you have these shoes in a 10.5?"
"I don't think so...(distractedly)...I'm not sure."
"Could you check?" "I'll buy them if you have them in my size."
"I'm pretty sure we're out of 'em."
"Could you check?"
"We're out of them."
"Maybe I should ask a manager to check?"
"Hold up...(checking a text message)...I'll check."
After five minutes, she returned with the shoes, in my size-which I purchased.
I haven't been back since.

Insist on good service! You're paying for it!

The Nordstrom Way is sort of like two books in one. The first, a business biography, would merit 4 stars; five if expounded upon. The second, however -- and the real intent of this book -- a customer service "how to," is a bit lacking. The reason: Nordstrom's customer service is so over the top that most businesses in most industries would go bankrupt putting its principles into practice. Nordstrom department stores have thrived by servicing a niche market of customers who are willing to pay a premium for truly outstanding service. But that niche is small, and the principles are just inapplicable to most retailers, let alone other business models.

I was very excited to read this book after enjoying Spector's book on Amazon.com. The author did not disapoint and I enjoyed this book much more than his last!

The best part of the book are the examples used. In addition to Nordstrom, he has also incorporated examples from another large company, and a few small and midsize companies as well. No matter what industry you are in, or the size of your firm...you will get value out of this book.

It's a fast read and would be great to share with co-workers and/or employee's.

I am a begginner learner (but serious) on Russian. Up to now, I found almost all the words I've looked for. Even if it is small (about 11,000 words, that's why I gave it only 4 starts) the idea of presenting words in the context they are used is excellent and this book shall be useful for years of learning. I will certainly use it even when my Russian improves. I would say it is more than a dictionary, but a valuable study resource.

I browsed Russian-English dictionaries for a couple of weeks before deciding on this one. This one had a few features that made it the obvious choice. Most importantly, rather than just being a list of words, this is indeed a sentence and phrase dictionary in the sense that you can look up a word and see it used in several example sentences. Seeing the words in context sure helps a lot in my view. Also, the appendecies I found to be very valuable. Lists of translations of well-known cities, countries, and nationalities are given. I found that seeing familar words (such as cities) helps me understand the logic of the alphabet and how to use the sounds properly. Lists of given names and foods also help bring this language to life, making it more than just scholorly. The downfalls are insignificant in comparison. But, it's a few decades old, and it goes without saying a lot has changed in Russia since the 1970's. That doesn't affect the language a whole lot, but appendices that aren't refering to SSR's would be helpful. A 2000 updated version of this very book would get my 5 stars, but I won't be too picky, since it's still helping me more than any other dictionary every will.

This Phrase and Sentence Dictionary, the Kenneth Katzner Russian dictionary, and possibly the Frequency Dictionary are the three most useful books for the practical learning of Russian for everyday use. Living in the U.S., I can glean from this book that key phrase or sentence to say precisely what I want to my Russian client. It's seeing the word in context that makes the book valuable and unique. (There happens to be a Spanish equivalent, for those who are interested.) Beyond useful, this dictionary is often even entertaining! Be warned: The book appears with both sewn and glued spines. Of course the sewn version will last far longer.

Finally,I've discovered an easy and working way to converse with Russian officials,or tourists,or just the opposite with American scouts or White House inner circle people without ever trying to memorize all those declensions or irregular forms.

The right way to learn a foreign language is to hear to the other people speaking and then repeat what they say in the right situation.Just like babies or illiterate immigrants do.Otherwise,in about 50 years of hard working on a grammar or syntax you'll end up being a grammar scholar but still you won't be able to converse with native people. Sometimes you think you're smart enough and you buy a dictionary for yourself and then following the rules of your own language you start building phrases and sentences that no one but you will understand.It's because you played your own rules in a strange field.You see my point?

And this is the reason I'm buying two copies of this book from Amazon.This book contains every kind of situation you want to fit in your conversation,I mean ready-made blocks,whether you need to talk to that Russian guy in a cubicle next door,or to an American lady in a government office. Question: why this particular War Dept Book of 1970? Because they did the job right,because they used the right approach.You know those military guys - they always one step ahead...

Now,why do I need two copies of one book - the first one I want to keep at my work to speak with the customers, the second one,to keep home and answer those pesky telemarketers' calls.I'm really excited that I finally have found this book,not in my local library,but on Amazon site!I really need it,and the book will help me. Excuse me for my poor English - well,I was born in Russia,and English is a foreign language to me.

when you read this book! It's a nice way to spend an afternoon or two.

The book is about Kate Phelan and her family farm, Mossgrove and the people who are involved with her home...Jack, the faithful farm worker, Ned, her older brother and his wife Martha and their kids, Nora and Peter and their daily lives in and around the village and the farm. Along the way you meet the other villagers...Mark, the artist, the local doctor and his son, the PP (Parish Priest), and many others in this cast of characters. I have to say, at the beginning I was getting everyone a bit confused!

The reason why I didn't give this a four or five star rating is because I found the description of farm life and the Irish country side somewhat lacking. The character development was good, but not outstanding. This being said, it is a charming story, though not as charming as something written by Rosamund Pilcher or Miss Read.

If you are an Anglophile as I am, you will enjoy this book. If you are not, you might want to skip it.

Alice Taylor has outdone herself again. This book retains your interest at all times and it is very hard to put down till you are done. You need not be of Irish heritage to enjoy this book. Once you start, you cannot stop!

Characters that seem real and believable. A story that works out the characters' problems in due course without forcing actions on them. And it was sheer pleasure to read a book set in Ireland that didn't make everyone in it out to be dark, dirty, horrible, mean, or viscious. Too many of such books that I've read - whether fiction or nonfiction - seem to want all of the Irish, especially the clergy and religious, to be nothing but bad news.

the characters in this story are well-developed. events are well-paced and not rushed but Taylor doesn't include any unnecessary details. one is drawn into the lives of this people in this beautiful Irish village/town without being subjected by sappiness or overemotion.

Wanting to be a graduate student and actually becoming one are so far apart they barely share an atmosphere. This book does a superb job of building a bridge between one state and the other.

The chapters on individual departments and specialties are detailed, thoughtful, and extensive. They not only include information on where the specialty has been, but they also examine where it is heading, what the hottest (and best-funded) topics currently are, and what are the best universities for particular sub-branches of the subject--in many cases, citing the names of prominent professors who are there at the moment. While some of them may no longer be teaching at those institutions, having a name to start a search can lead you to their current placements, their old publications, and programs that supported them in their research.

One of the cruel ironies of fate is that this book is now out of print, and therefore no longer updated. More than ten years after this book came out, some of the information is undoubtedly past it's expiration date. It doesn't matter. For all the specific and time-sensitive information it possesses, this book is surprisingly general when it comes to examining the basic questions of what it means to enter graduate school in the various disciplines. It looks at, not only the new hot areas of study, but also the old traditional standbys and a few areas they identify as up-and-coming, so you aren't left completely at the whim of the trends of the mid-nineties. Given that the NRC data they are quoting is still the most recent--the next list doesn't come out until fall 2008--you're still doing as well as can be expected, ranking-wise. Your own research into the particular program that interests you will help you fill out any gaps or lapses.

At this rate, I anticipate that this book will become dated sometime around 2020--and even then, some of the general observations, warnings, and advise about graduate study will still no doubt be true. It is, hands down, the best graduate school guide I've ever read or seen. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in a career in graduate study in the humanities. (And, for what it's worth, try to read more of the chapters than just the one you think you're interested in. You never know where your interests will take you.)

This is the one and only source book you will need for grad school research in humanities/social sciences. I am an impoverished film school guy and I had to research everything you can think of to try and get a scholarship. I had begun reading other "how to" books with a jaundiced eye. I started peeping at this book every time I was in a bookstore to the point where I broke down and bought it. Graduate school counseling services perused my copy and bought one for every single one of its staff members. The information is well presented and informative without being redundant or overly scholarly. The book is even funny at times! Accept no substitutes.

Researching graduate schools is like doing graduate research - the obstacles filter out all but the persevering. I can't imagine a better starting point for your research than "A Real Guide to Grad School".

How does one specialize in the humanities and social sciences? Are there job opportunities after completing a doctorate in anthropological studies, in medieval Italian history, in German literary studies? Is there any common currency (like mathematics in the sciences) that can provide some degree of career flexibility? Or once a specialist, always a specialist?

The high school student is overwhelmed by shelf after shelf of college guidebooks and school rankings. But comparatively little can be found on graduate schools. Graduate school evaluation is more complex, rankings change with the gain or loss of professors, and as publishers recognize, the market is smaller. We are quite lucky that such a guidebook even exists.

"Real Guide" is prefaced (some 50 pages) with a pragmatic look at what life as a grad student entails, a historical perspective of the "rise of the research scholar", and overviews of the admission process and financial issues.

The bulk of this book is comprised of 23 chapters (12 to 20 pages each) with a similar format - an examination of how a discipline evolved, informed speculation what will happen next, and an analysis of job trends.

Each chapter begins by introducing a somewhat representative graduate student or two - I found them a bit intimidating in their maturity, experience, and expectations. Following these profiles is a historical summary of the "intellectual and methodological" development of the discipline. This may sound dry, but it was helpful in understanding differences in emphasis and approach by various universities. For example, we learn that the quantitative approach to historical studies shifted prestige away from Ivy League departments to the large state schools. And Portuguese may be resurgent because some of the best theoretical language research is coming out of Brazil. Also, boning up on differential equations is the best preparation for graduate economic studies.

Each section ends with a look at the current academic and nonacademic job prospects of recent Ph.D's. An appendix even lists by name all graduating Ph.D's, their school, their discipline, and where they were hired. This book is really two books in one - a guide to grad schools and a guide to an eventual job position. I highly recommend this book and give it five stars. It is without peers.

The clear cut discipline categories embraced by this book leave little for those searching in any specific manner. Highly limiting categories which are all becoming mute in the increasingly interdisciplinized academy and serve to equilize highly different programs. I was quite dissappointed.

this is one of the best historical Statistical Abstracts of the U.S. that I have ever read. Its really takes adventure to the edge, escpecially when it gets to the health and nutrition section. I severely recomend taking a night out and reading this absolutely great literature.

No, you'll never use *all* the tables.

But, if you're ever interested in "the numbers", this book is usually the best place to start.

It's a lot of data, ranging from Teenage Births the the amount of energy produced in the US every year, to the amount of money spent on Education and the percent of Hispanics with a college degree, to amount of airplanes flying to the amount of people arrested. It's big and you'll never read it if you buy it...END

Though the plot was somewhat thin and didn't hold together all that well, what this book lacks in literary merit it more than makes up for with numbers.

Though there are plenty of large numbers, like 347,991, all the numbers you remember from childhood are also present. The number 9 is a scene-stealer, as usual. I'm told that the Count from Sesame Street had a hand in the editing, and I was able to detect his influence here and there.

My only suggestion is that there should be a character map at the begining of the book, like they have at the beginning of a play. Whenever the number 5.4% came up, I racked my brains trying to remember if that was the same 5.4% that had appeared a hundred pages ago as the unemployment rate. Or was it rate of increase in air pollution measurements over major urban areas? I don't know. But a quick character map would have cleared it right up, saving me a lot of flipping back and forth.

Don't be foolish. Everyone should purchase and read this book for whatever, whenever. You never know, it could save your own life.

Few people get hurt more often than military members, and they are very imaginative in the ways they find to damage themselves. (Like the drunken [man] who rocked a vending machine while trying to steel a pop, and instead got the whole machine which smashed him flat.) Whereas there was not a lot his buddies could have done for him, most of the injuries I see could have been ameliorated had someone known what to do. I wish more people knew more about basic first aid. Many times, when people die in car crashes or whatever, the person could have been saved with some very basic, very easy steps. Stop the bleeding, open the airway, etc. Please read this book. Sooner or later, the little things you learn will almost surely come in handy. I'm tired of seeing injured people totally untreated until the ambulance arrives when there are often a dozen or more adults around who just do not know what to do.

Few people get hurt more often than military members, and they are very imaginative in the ways they find to damage themselves. (Like the drunken [guy] who rocked a vending machine while trying to steel a pop, and instead got the whole machine which smashed him flat.) Whereas there was not a lot his buddies could have done for him, most of the injuries I see could have been ameliorated had someone known what to do. I wish more people knew more about basic first aid. Many times, when people die in car crashes or whatever, the person could have been saved with some very basic, very easy steps. Stop the bleeding, open the airway, etc. Please read this book. Sooner or later, the little things you learn will almost surely come in handy. I'm tired of seeing injured people totally untreated until the ambulance arrives when there are often a dozen or more adults around who just do not know what to do.

This is a good reference book although some of the info in it is pretty dated. If you have plenty of room and just want another book to reference this is a good buy, however if you are looking for 'THE BOOK' to put in your aid bag, then i would go with the air force's
Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook by Steve Yevich I have used it extensively and it covers just about everything you could need. If you are looking for books for an Aid Station or for use out of an operating base Tintinali's Emergency medicine text book is excellent, there are many differing opinions on the surg books so ill leave that one alone.

This small volume exposes a compassionate, caring and thoughtful man. At the time Schweitzer was living, speaking out for animals - and all living things - wasn't a popular thing to do. He wasn't shy about voicing his feelings, though, and he spoke about animals and their value with great eloquence. This book contains many wonderful quotations, gives a brief but interesting introduction to Schweitzer's life. I've had this book for many years and still find myself enjoying it, learning from it, and valuing it.

There are many books about Albert Schweitzer, and I have a lot of them. If the reader is specifically interested in the "Reverence for Life" aspect of Dr. Schweitzer's life, definitely check out this book. He was such a multi-faceted man but this book is specifically about how his "Reverence for Life" philosophy related to the animal world, indeed all the natural world. In small written tidbits this book takes the reader on the whole journey from his questions about animal life as a child through to his philosophy of respect for animal life as an adult. I would still encourage any Schweitzer afficianado (sp?) to check out biography-type books of his life to get the whole picture but for those interested specifically in his views on animals and "Reverence for Life", this is the book for you!

Albert Schweitzer (along with Joseph Campbell) should be required reading for all. No one says it better than Schweitzer and there are so many gems in this book. It is a small book which you can open to any page and read a paragraph or two. It is broken into small segments with wonderful pictures. Schweitzer lived his message. "We must realize that all life is valuable and that we are united to all life. From this knowledge comes our spiritual relationship with the universe" - Albert Schweitzer. Buy ten and pass them on!

The UN founded after the end of WWII is the most important global organization, with fifty-one members in 1945, formed to protect and promote national interests. It had grown to 185 members in 1999. Others like OPEC, NAFTA, NATO, UNESCO, sprang from the original United Nations.

UN's purpose was to promote international peach, security and cooperation among states (as the colonies in Africa, South Africa, other small countried reached state status) and to protect human rights.

Cordell Hull from Tennessee was the pivotal person in charge, wtih Alger Hill close behind. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt played a major role representing her husband; Gladys Irwin also was a delegate while her husband was a federal judge. I knew there was a Cordell Hull Dam near Nashville, but she showed her pride in working with "your" Cordell Hull. At CWU meetings, she told all newcomers how much it meant to her.

Based in New York City, the headquarters are something to see. It is taller than the World Trade Center was. Except for Switzerland, all states on Earth are members of the UN Interpol, the Inernational Criminal Police Organization. It is truly a globel membership, thanks to the iniative and hard work of Mrs. Roosevelt. Stephen Schlesinger worked at the U. N. in the mid-1990s and relates in his book, "Act of Creation," that Franklin D. Roosevelt had the desire to become the Secretary-General of the UN and would have resigned his presidency to do so at the San Francisco Conference. On April 12, just 13 days before the Conference, FDR died. It fell to Harry Truman to address the UN Conference on opening day.

Alger Hiss was the acting SG and shared the platform with Earl Warren, then Governor of California. The four freedoms espoused were from want and fear, of speech and worship. Archibald MacLeish served as advisor to the U.S. delegation. He and his aide, Adlai Stevenson, dispensed information about UN in radio broadcasts, speeches, forums and meetings (also lectures for NBC radio). Stevenson, from Chicago, was the grandson of Grover Cleveland's Vice President and worked in the State Department. Later, he would run for the President of the United States.

The UN replaced the League of Nations. Roosevelt convinced Winston Churchill the name should be "United Nations." The UN Declaration was signed by representatives from twenty-six nations. The SG had more power than the League whcih was mostly clerical and administrative. He had to be a linguist to speak the language of the various nations.

One of the best known Secretary Generals was the legenday Dag Hammamskjold from Sweden who served from 1953-1961. In Linda Fasulo's "An Insider's Guide to the UN" is a photo of Eleanor Roosevelt holding the Universal Declaration of Rights poster in November, 1949, which was replaced later by the Universal Declaration's International Bill of Rights. Dag Hammarskjold died in a plane crash and a beautiful stained glass window by Marc Chagall is at the UN in his memory. At the headquarters in Manhattan, flags of all the members fly from 48th Street to 42nd (191 arranged alphabetically like a grand boulevard).

For twenty years, the unwritten agreement had been tha tthe SG should rotate among regions of the world. Seven have served: Norway, Sweden, Burma, Austria, Peru, Egypt, and Ghana. Fasulo was UN corrospondent and had a weekly NPR report. She explores the founding of UNESCO (UN Educational, Scienfitic, and Cultural Organization) a failure because of favoritism, nepotism, corruption and poor management, like Knox County government's appointing twelve commissioners instead of a special election. On the other side, UNICEF (UN Children's Fund) has lasted and served its purpose successfully. Bureaucracy abounds as in any organization, but the peacekeeping operations supersede all criticism. Different cultures, different opinions. What is good for some is bad for others. You can't please all the people all the time. It's good to remember that manners reflect one's self.

Detailed books with precise well written information. A must have for who's interested.

The chief cause of opposition to the United Nations is lack of knowledge about what it is, what it does, what it can do and what it cannot do. If I were to pick one volume to help both supporters and critics understand what the United Nations is, this book would be it.