Departments Books

This is a nice little publication from the ADFG. It is a fairly densely packed 82 page booklet which covers nearly all the species you will see on a cruise or ferry ride through the Inside Passage. While it doesn't cover everything, like less common sea birds or odd whale species like minke whales and Rhinoceros auklets, it does cover the commonly seen species like humpbacks, bears, eagles and puffin very well. If you a hard core birder, you will still need a separate guide. But for the average visitor, this book is perfect. I have seen lots of "souvenir" guides to the wildlife of the area, but this one has real substance with good photos to boot.

The book is split into an introduction and tips, Habitats, Wildlife, and Routes. The routes were what I liked best. They give you a good idea of what to look for when you are passing whale feeding areas or places where bears tend to walk beaches. Where some books have nice photos and little summaries, this guide is truly a viewing guide, telling you how and where to be looking for the animals you want to see. Most species have tips of what to look and listen for.

The book itself is light and a nice size for slipping into a backpack. Definitely a resource to have on the ship with you. For price and size, a great resource.

I found this book to be very helpful in showing me what to expect when planning our cruise through the inside passage. The pictures are very colorful and the information helpful. I feel prepared for our trip.

Albert Speer was a truly gifted individual both with personality and ability, though he often seemed lost in a room full of people. He was despised by many fellow Nazis, yes Albert held party card #474,481 dated March 1, 1931, but was befriended and beloved by Adolf Hitler. Which made all the difference in Albert Speer's life and legacy. He became Hitler and the Reich's #1 architect among several other high offices. His initial salary was set 1,700 Reich marks higher than the mayor of Berlin whose salary was 1,654.

At war's end during the Nuremberg trials Speer chose a semi-factual sly defense which saved his life, and he avoided the hangman. Had many facts come out then that are known now, Albert Speer quite probably would not have received the 20 year Spandau jail term he received, but would have no doubt been hanged.

According to one of his recent biographers, Albert Speer never truly came to terms with his Third Reich years. Somehow he was part chameleon and part teflon, acting throughout his entire life with little thought to the consequences of his actions. Being somewhat amoral he could and did many times see only what he wanted to see, being many things to many people.

At the time of release of Inside The Third Reich several men who had worked for him said the Albert Speer in that book was a person which they did not recognize. While even his closest friend from childhood, Dr. Rudolf Wolters, felt the book full of untruths and ironies. Dr. Rudolf Wolters, Speer's friend from childhood, had also worked directly for Albert Speer during the war years keeping a daily diary (initialed and approved daily by Speer)and had edited out many pages of diary material deemed adverse to his and Speer's actions. They both had altered the written records.

What this book claims to provide, and what I have always maintained, was that Albert Speer could spin history with the best of them, and was among the luckiest people to have ever lived through the Third Reich into our times. Yes, he did 20 years in prison which could not have been enjoyable at all, but he did beat the hangman. All the while smuggling written papers in and out of prison which he hoped would tell and explain the war years as he wanted them presented. He always had his eye on history even from that first day he met Herr Hitler. Albert was not a conniver to equal Hermann Goering , nor the polemist to equal Dr. Goebbels, nor as sinister as Henrich Himmler, but he outlasted them all. He was lucky and he was good, and we are still trying to capture just 'who' was the real Albert Speer. What was real and what was fantasy in his life and his writings. In short, the question becomes: just who was this historical character of the Third Reich years called Albert Speer? This book aids in that search and understanding.

Semper Fi.

Being that I've read the books written by Albert Speer, it was only fitting that I sought one out that was written about him, not by him. What I found was this book at my local library.

Schmidt sets out to tell why Speer was sentenced to 20 years at Spandau, regardless of what was said of his solid character after the Nuremburg trials. Although he admitted his guilt, Schmidt tells of how (with copies of actual paperwork signed by Speer) Speer collaborated with notorious so called enemies of his like Himmler on evacuation measures for Jewish housing and forced labor policies in conquered countries. Also, Schmidt covers topics of how Speer's story changed often after he was released from Spandau and even his bolstering of his assassination plans for Hitler to be carried out by himself.

What Schmidt accomplishes best in this book is once you finish, you cannot figure how Speer got off so easily. He was very lucky not to get life or even death by hanging. I highly reccomend this book to people interested in this subject, but it is very advanced in terms of reading, thus good knowledge of the Third Reich is needed to fully understand this book.

Uncertified Public Safety Bomb Technician, member IABTI

This book is a MUST-HAVE for any person or units' pub/reference library. Contrary to another review, it IS an instruction guide, and assists the reader who is tasked with IED / EOD responsibilities. While it is no substitute for training under a qualified staff, it's a damn close second.

This book is a great reference for all emergency personal and should be read. It is not an instruction manual, and by no means will make one an expert. But it will give the person a concise and clear overview and guidelines of what to do in an emergency situation.

At its broadest level, the argument of Breaking Through Bureaucracy is that nothing less than new ways of thinking and acting are required today in public service. The text makes the implicit case that administrators too often have become slave to a set of obsolescent ideas. This text could never have been developed without the interweaving of Babak Armajani's practical experience and Michael Barzelay's theoretical acumen. The argument proceeds on two levels of analysis interwoven throughout the text: 1) the level of ideas through which those with management responsibility typically construct administrative arguments and 2) that of daily administrative operations, most especially with respect to recurring relations between overseers, staff, and line operators.

The interweaving of practical and theoretical insights provides invaluable clues for the attentive reader. Part I demonstrates how during the reform era, the bureaucratic paradigm addressed effectively leading problems of its day. At the same time, it argues and illustrates with clarity that yesterday's bureaucratic solutions have become the source of unintended administrative ills and organizational dysfunctions that unnecessarily continue to plague bureaucratic functioning (in government and in business one might add) today. While this case study focuses entirely on governmental operations, its lessons for business are no less profound. Indeed, a colleague of mine restructured his business division after reading this text. It provides practical insight into principles of quality management that correspond with Deming's notion of profound knowledge, not readily available elsewhere.

Part I introduces the two main levels of analysis on which the book unfolds. The first level of analysis is that of ideas with which administrators typically frame issues of public management. At this level of analysis, the text sets up a debate, broadly between defenders of the status quo who see recurring troubles along the overseer-staff-line relations as conditions to be endured and possibilist thinker-doers who see these recurring troubles as problems to be solved. At its second level of analysis, the text begins to introduce the reader to concrete routines, constraints, and incentives that typically govern relations between overseers, staff, and line in everyday administrative operations. At this level of analysis, the text argues the need for innovative strategies capable of effectually altering these recurring routines. A principle finding at this concrete level of administrative analysis is articulating how the role of staff (those administrative experts who control inputs to line whether in budget, finance, purchasing, HR, IT etc.) typically constitute likely recurring bottlenecks in government agencies (or any other type of bureaucratic organization) that seek to strengthen responsiveness to customers and to develop a results-oriented culture.

Part II of the text presents a case study drawn from Minnesota State government and describes the inventing of new strategies, the reworking of organizational cultures (in ways that increased responsiveness and accountability for results), and discusses how developments in the case under consideration challenged financial paradigms dominant in government today. [It should be noted that independent of this text, an update on the subject of "Challenging Financial Paradigms" has been co-written by Bob Hutchison, [then Finance Commissioner in Minnesota] and published in paperback in 2006 as The Price of Government.) Part II demonstrates how daily administrative routine, constraints, and incentives were transformed by reflective practitioners in Minnesota through engaging constructively with the concrete particulars before them, and more broadly, presents an argument for seeing and treating these recurring troubles along the overseer-staff-line frontier as "problems" (due to malleable if insistent circumstances) rather than as "conditions" (or unalterable facts of life).

Part III discusses "generalizations" or lessons learned from the case study. A methodological note is appropriate here. As a case study, it is appropriate to note that the likelihood of its external validity or capacity for generalization is not predicated upon statistical inferences derived from an applied variance analysis, but rather depends upon the generation of its theoretical model (contrasting "bureaucratic" and "post-bureaucratic" ways of thinking and acting), a model derived from Michael Barzelay's effectual process analysis in this case study. In my experience with readers, for those who take the trouble to understand the conceptual contrast, resonance of this theoretical model with the experience of practitioners across a wide variety of local government settings is high. Any practitioner who takes the time for a careful reading of this text, of course, is entitled to draw his or her own inferences as to the likely external validity of generalizations drawn from this case study.

The author's "generalizations" or lessons learned are divided into three chapters. The first of these entitled "More Problems, Fewer Conditions" redefines bureaucratic accountability, suggesting that all too often bureaucratic reliance upon the enforcement model of control ends up breeding weak, misguided, and/or misplaced accountability. The chapter offers the authors recommendations for strengthening and redirecting accountability. One key to this text is Barzelay's contrasting the "enforcement model of control" with the "leadership model of control;" His analysis underscores the increased degree of control and accountability generated in Minnesota through the latter model of action. This model of control Barzelay argues is integral to the "post-bureaucratic paradigm." For those interested in a close understanding of what's entailed in such a leadership model of control, it's worthwhile to note that this approach to generating control is conceptually speaking, a direct descendent from different way of thinking and acting first articulated in a coherent form by Mary Parker Follett (and whose work once again is available in print today as Mary Parker Follett--Prophet of Management (thanks to the initiative of Pauline Graham [ed.] and the Harvard Business School Press. In this regard, see especially her articles on "The Giving of Orders," "Leadership," and "Control").

The second to last chapter of this text addresses the "then what?" question for public managers. Entitled "Managing Customer-Focused Staff Agencies," this chapter addresses what the author argues with considerable persuasion throughout is probably the key administrative bottleneck in developing more responsive and results-oriented governmental agencies. He offers six principles in line with the "post-bureaucratic paradgim" that reflective practitioners may take into account in their management practice. Finally, the last chapter, "The Post-Bureaucratic Paradigm in Historical Perspective," ties all the pieces of the text together. Largely incomprehensible to most public administrative students/practitioners when they begin here, it's the "aha" chapter that reward those who have carefully gone through each of the stepping stones in the argument of the text.


In closing, central to the argument of Barzelay and Armajani (and reminiscent of Mary Parker Follett's notion of reciprocal response and her treatment of the role of purpose in administrative affairs), is their pointing to the need for greater mutual adjustment in relations between overseers, staff, and line together with their arguing the practical need for administrators to reimbue work with purpose at every level of the organization.

Moving in this direction requires more than Barzelay points to in his analysis and more, unfortunately, than many of his associates in the New Public Management movement seem to have recognized. Nevertheless, Barzelay and Armajani take us to a critical threshold that I believe is key to developing new ways of thinking and acting in and for public service. This text does not have all the answers and there are some striking limitations in Barzelay's analysis based on the very case he presents. Yet if we as a field of professional practice in the broad area of public policy, public management, public administration, miss core lessons in this text, then I believe someone else will have to rediscover them in the future. This text deserves to be recognized as a modern classic in the field and widely studied, most especially by those who will be constructing our administrative infrastructures of the future.

This book is for those of you who are sick of redundant and mundane bureaucratic routine work, and wan to learn about the ways to change such system. This books points out inefficiencies of bureaucracy and promotes the idea of simple and quick approach to technology, which the way we do things. It also gives some good examples from a few corporations that are being affected by their implementation of rational organizational structure i.e. bureaucratic structure. It's an advocate of creative behavior at jobs regardless of the nature.

The Death of Methuselah, the title story, is one of the best short stories I've ever read. It deals with the hallucinatory last moments of Methuselah. The reader is taken taken on a trip through Jewish and Mesopotamian mythology, a trip brought on by Methuselah's lusting for Naamah the she-devil, consort of Asmodeus.

Master story teller Isaac Bashevis Singer regales us once again with this remarkable collection of short stories. Woe to those who are faint of heart or have inflexible moral standards. His stories are sure to give you a coronary as you are confronted with issues of blasphemy, debauchery, mystery and intrigue. Singer assaults the whole of human fickleness in his tales.

Yet his tales are not all sordid. In "The Bitter Truth" we see a man's loyalty to his friend over-rides a secret that could spell disaster. "House Friend" will have you laughing at the mere concept of a friend having sexual relations with another friend's wife with full hearted encouragement from the friend. Go figure? Singer's stories are down to earth and deal with the varied human negativities that we display unashamedly. God's presence is very much in the foreground of the stories as the characters stuggle with their own ethical isssues. Despite the fact that we as a human race can be sordid, the collection as a whole points out that we are redeemable and can display the best of ourselves. Laugh, cry, become shocked and fearful as you enter the complexities of humanity through the eyes of Singer. No collection of his is complete without this book.

From the back cover:

What's inside the Christmas Store?

It's not what you'd expect. For everyone who enters the glittering, grand emporium will encounter much more than they came looking for. Narrated by the handsome, mysterious employee, Mr. Thomas Cavanaugh, you'll discover all the intensity of human drama and the wonder of the season...

*A pair of twins make an incredible discovery among the shake-and-snow paperweights
*A shopper spritz of free cologne leads to something money can't buy
*A young woman finds love across the countertop
*A shipping clerk stumbles upon two special visitors--and perhaps a miracle

Charming, memorable and magical, The Christmas Store is aglow with the spirit that makes the holiday so special, and is sure to be read and reread for many Christmases to come.

And my review:
I took a chance on this collection of short stories that I found at a thrift store and was pleasantly surprised. They were sweet, clean, touching stories that celebrate the season. (One of them, "The Twelve Shopping Days of Christmas" was absolutely hilarious!) You could use this as a bedtime story book with your children, if you wanted to, as it's family-friendly.

And the twist at the end just made it all the more interesting. If you like shows like "Touched By An Angel", then you'll probably like this book.

Titles of the stories found in this book:
Tales of the Christmas Store
The Bracelet
The Crystal Silver China Club
Eau de Noel
Lost and Found
Snow Children
The Bookworm
Christmas Rapping
A Miracle for Max
The Twelve Shopping Days of Christmas
The Star Checker
Authorized Persons Only
Mr. Cavanaugh's Christmas

Tired of Christmas commercialism? Want to be reminded of all the magic of the season? Want to have your faith in humankind and the universe restored? Want to wonder, "What if...?" Want find yourself smiling as you finish a story? Want to have a few genuine laughs? Want a few surprises between the cover of a book? Then you want to read Ray Sipherd's "The Christmas Store"-- and share it with those you love.

this book is the best concise operating room anesthesia reference available.
anything bigger would be too large, it is not designed to teach but more to remind.

Anyone involved in anesthesia generally recognizes the Mass Gen. as the best pocket reference out there. This new edition is no different. When you need something fast b/c it has slipped your mind, this is the 'goto' book.

I highly recommend it to all MD/DOs, CRNAs & SRNAs.

This book is exactly what is needed for preparation. It guides you through and tells you all that you will need to be successful. Definitely worth the investment.

I'm a "non-traditional" undergrad (trans.: "older than dirt"), a music major, who is in the process of getting ready for grad school. My math background is pretty limited: I haven't studied algebra or geometry since high school (about 40 yrs ago - 1965-66), and I had some minimal statistics and probability in a "math for non-science/math majors" course a couple of years ago. So it was with some trepidation that I started preparing for the GRE general test. Oh, I figured I'd do OK on the verbal -- living this long, you get reasonably familiar with vocabulary. But thinking about the quantitative portion threw me into a real panic.

I decided I needed help -- and ordered this book based on the description (and price). Note that this is the edition WITHOUT the companion CD. You do have access to the Princeton Review website and the online tools there, and you'll be wise to take advantage of them.

I used this book and the online tools in conjunction with the ETS PowerPrep software. Due to my school schedule, projects, finals, etc., I didn't start studying in earnest until about 4 days before the test. Probably not the smartest move on my part, but it was the best I could do. Before I started studying, I took a practice test just to see how I'd do -- ugh! not very good at all (550 verbal, 450 quantitative). So I spent about 2/3 of my time familiarizing myself with the tricks and tips for the math section offered by this book, and 1/3 of my time on the verbal and analytical writing sections.

The result: a very respectable 630 verbal score, and an astounding 730 quantitative score. The "tricks" offered by this book made all the difference in the math results.

It's not perfect -- you really do need to use the ETS preparation software, especially for the analytical writing part. Also, the ETS practice tests seem to be just a little closer in difficulty to the "real" test, but the PR tests aren't bad at all in that respect. I'm giving it 4 stars only because I rarely give 5-star ratings for things like this.

Some people have complained about the PR level of difficulty, their approach, etc. All I can say is that it definitely helped me nail the math section, and I consider it money well spent. Your mileage may vary.

These are 'inverted' detective stories -- you see the crime first, a la Columbo. They are much more interesting than any other inverteds I have found, including R Austin Freeman's. These are insightful stories of character, with an odd sense of humor. And the solution is mnore the result of dumb luck and coincidence than the detective's brilliance. First rate and most original. One my half dozen favorite mystery books.

This is the first really great detective story book I've ever read since I finished all of Doyle and Christie's. As said in Queen's introduction to this book, all stories are told in the way invented by Dr. Freeman, but Vikers' story telling skills are obviously much better than the lecturing of Dr. Freeman.

Cunningham has created here a comprehensive history of the medical services of the Confederate states in the Civil War era. Cunningham explains in great detail many afflictions and circumstances that befell Confederate soldiers that ultimately resulted in medical treatment by a Confederate doctor. Ironically, he finds that the majority of the 200,00 soldiers who died during the Civil War had died due to illness or battle wounds which is indicative of a burgeoning and developing medical system that moved from primitive to slightly better by the end of the war. Cunningham explains that while the Confederate doctors did they best they could with the resources and shortcomings they had, their care was still better than no care and there were some doctors who were exceptions to the popular belief that Confederacy personnel were largely untrained.

Although books on the military and political aspects of the Civil War abound there are surprisingly few books devoted to the study of Civil War medical care. There are fewer books still that examine in detail medical care within the Confederacy. H.H. Cunningham's "Doctors in Gray" first was published in 1958 and remains an excellent study of the Confederate medical service.

The book begins with an examination of the specific medical problems the Confederacy faced in 1861 which intensified as the War continued: lack of medical personnel, lack of medical supplies lack of food, an ever-tightening blockade, among others. Cunningham then proceeds to examine the ways in which the Confederate government and military tried to bring sufficient medical care to its troops and to prisoners of war within its lines.

Cunningham describes the organization of the Confederate medical service and the large general hospitals the Confederacy opted to establish for the care of its sick and wounded. The largest of these hospitals (and the largest Civil War hospital) was Chimbarozo in Richmond. The book then considers the field hospitals established in line of battle. Cunningham stresses the flexible, mobile nature of these hospitals and how they were constructed to move in a short time as required by the hazards of battle.

There are discussions on the ways in which the Confederate Medical Service endeavored to procure supplies and of how the availablity of supplies changed with the South's military fortune. There are detailed discussions of the diseases which claimed the lives of many soldiers and sailors and their sources in the unhygenic conditions of camps and ships. The book discusses medical care at the time of the war -- the use of chloroform, the prevalence of amputation, and experiments with various remedies to cure prevalent diseases. Interestingly, the Confederate Medical Service was the first in wartime to establish a dental care unit for its troops. It was well ahead of the Union army in this respect.

Cunningham discusses Confederate medical officers, their training and the difficulties under which they labored. He offers judicious and thougtful assessments of the successes and failures of the Confederate Medical Service. He concludes, reasonably enough, that it performed as well as could have been expected during that time under highly difficult circumstances.

Cunningham's book is still in print and worth reading. I am pleased to see, from this site, that others are reading and learning from the book. I enjoyed reading the excellent and succinct review below.