Departments Books

I work in Healthcare Security at a large trauma center and I have extensive contact with active and retired police with my job. I also have police academy training, extensive law enforcement training, and a B.S. degree in Criminal Justice from Temple University. This is a VERY important topic, and no one wants to be the entity to deal with mentally ill people. Everyone wants to put the problem on another entity. The book was well written, well organized, and has a ton of useful and current (2006) legal information that I was looking for. The one problem with the book is the clearly slanted liberal views of the author. She is from Connecticut, and while I hate to be stereotypical, in my twenty years being in the criminal justice/security field, certain states are known for being especially slanted in their law enforcement views and/or liberal, such as Texas, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Connecticut is a state known for many people with extremely liberal views. Security and Police are seen as a necessary evil, and generally not supported by the people in the state. The book leans extensively towards limiting involvement with security and police and everything being handled "intellectually." This is a serious flaw in the book, since while 95% of the time things can be managed verbally by healthcare personnel, to not accept and support the 5% of the time security and police are needed to manage issues in a "hands-on" way is not at all realistic or correct. If readers can take the liberal interpretation/presentation of some of the information with a "grain of salt", then the book is excellent and highly recommended.

This book was an interesting history of Ct. geology and the human history associated with it. Many interesting factoids about Ct's history and how geology shaped it. You see geologic processes and human history combined.

I read this book, available for free reading on internet.The author was murdered, following Mussolini's orders.
This book not only is 100% correct, but also concise.If you want to read a first hand, a real witness of Mussolini's first year on power, this book must be read.
Today some believe that Mussolini was a regular man.He just thought that Hitler was going to win the war.Nonsense.Mussolini was a bad man.If you read this book, you will see the first chapter of fascism.Mussolini ever was a bad man and this book shows you this fact.

The photos in this book just blew me away. I mean, we all knew about the firefighters' bravery on 9/11. This book shows how this tradition of bravery, of heading into the flames, goes all the way back to the city's early days. Just look at the faces of the firemen fighting the slum fires back in the '60s. A real trial by fire. And the chapters give a good solid look at the department's history, not dumbed-down but also not too long. If you were going to buy just one book on the FDNY, this one has it all.

There is plenty information of value to a veteran, particularly a disabled vet. Read this book before applying for VA disability. If you want it for free, you can download it from the VA website but I didn't want to print out the entire book.

Basics: 2006, softcover, 150 pages, 132 species, 194 color photos, 15 habitat photos, range maps

This is a nicely done photo guide covering all the reptiles and amphibians of Arizona. The specimens in the photograph have been digitally removed from their backgrounds and placed onto a blank white page. These photos are of very good color, quality, and size.

Each species is typically shown with just one photo; although some receive two photos where there is distinct differences in age, subspecies, or to show the ventral coloration of some of the earless lizards. Another 20+ black-and-white illustrations are included to show unique scale designs on the head of the Crotalus or on the sides of various lizards.

Extra effort went into the range maps to show detail. This detail makes it obvious as to where the various mountain sky-islands, rivers, or arid desert habitats are located for the niche-specific species.

Each page reviews 2-4 species with text that is mostly dedicated to identification and field marks. Brief, but descriptive text is also given for the habitats and behavior.

This book will help the herpetologist identify most of the species encountered in Arizona. I say "most" because the great variation in the whiptails is one of the weaknesses of this book. Only one of the 11 species has more than one photo. There can be notable differences with the extent or boldness of the spotting and striping of this group, affected by age, range, and individual variation. None of this variation is shown in the book and is only briefly noted in the text.

Overall, this is very good book and should be added to your libary.

I've listed several related books below...
1) Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians
2) Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Maricopa County by Brennan/Holycross
3) Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians by Stebbins
4) Handbook of Lizards by Smith

This is a must read for those studying for promotional exam.

This is a very detailed book covering the basics of fire fighting and the equipment used. The 14 chapters take you from basic knowledge of how a fire behaves in different types of enviroments to the types of equipment you may use to extingquish a fire to the proper way to tying knots, Laying hoses etc. I found a copy at the library and want to purchase a copy but it seems to be out of print. bummer

Really captures the everyday life of firefighters-- sleeping, eating, hanging out together. Important for children to know the interworkings of fire stations. Very informative.

My only disappointment lies in the fact that cartoon animals with dialogue bubbles distract from the print at the bottom of the page.