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Are you a beginning graduate student who is a bit overwhelmed? This is a great book for you! This book contains great advice about how to balance a busy home and work life with the demands of graduate school, as well as practical tips about how to complete all the major components of graduate school programs. The author takes a very realistic approach, too. This is a useful tool!

This book provides generic advice about graduate school, from the decision to pursue an advanced degree to choosing your committee and writing your thesis. However, the book is only 130 pages... quite small for its hefty price tag. Most of the advice also seems obvious, such as getting to know professors on your committee, and the reminders that graduate school is difficult and life-changing hardly help one feel more at ease.

Bill Landreth was a remarkable young man. Many of his old friends were sitting around yesterday wondering about the mysterious circumstances under which he vanished. This book will show you how it was, once upon a time.

Read it.

Bill Landreth, phone home.

Have had this title for years... it is nostalgic in many ways, but goes eventually to proved that goofing around doesnt pay

If you are serioulsy thinking about an MBA, you will not find anything extra in this book that is not already available in the internet.

Talk to people, surf the web and save the bucks!

It's the most difficult phase... Choosing the right program for you. You need any help you can get in order to complete your desicion. This book evaluates all of the schools who gives you a chance to study for an MBA. It covers admissions, financing, placement and all programs availible. A must use book for those seeking out the right program. You won't be disappointed... Trust me.

A lot of process but not enough insight. Having a procedure to address an issue is fine, but without better information about why and examples, I didn't feel I got all I needed from this book. Sadly there simply aren't too many physical security books from an IT perspective out there. So if you just want a process to follow, and that's all you need - this may be a book for you.

The obsession about cyber security has far too often overshadowed the need for improving physical security of IT. Author Michael Erbschloe has done an outstanding job in this book of showing organizations how to design and implement security plans to prevent the physical destruction of, or tampering with computers, network equipment, and telecommunications systems.

Erbschloe begins this book by providing an overview of physical security and the many reasons it is so important. Next, the author covers the process of establishing a physical IT security function in an organization. In addition, the author presents the steps to developing a physical security plan. He also explains the major elements of a physical security plan, including the overview and mission statement, assignment of organizational responsibilities, the use of duty officers, and the management of contact lists. Then, he provides a detailed discussion on how to develop and document methods and procedures for the planning areas. The author then covers the importance of testing and how to test and audit procedures. Next, he covers the steps for managing response to an incident. Then, he presents a model training program for physical IT security. Finally, he takes a look at the future of physical security for IT assets.

With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of providing the reader with a practical, easy to understand and readily usable advice to help his or her organization improve physical security for IT, network and telecom assets. At the end of the day, you, the reader, will have a clear understanding that the struggle to improve physical security will continue well into thefuture.

Teachers are performers, by default. Their choice is not whether to perform, but whether to make a conscious choice to do it effectively. "Unfortunately," the authors write (p. 18), "We who teach in higher education rarely receive formal training in the performance aspects of our teaching." Borrowing techniques and insights from the performing arts, the authors provide a variety of tools for correcting that problem. Their book is aimed at college instructors, but much is also appropriate for middle and high school instruction.

Facilitating discussion, engaging students, and creating a dynamic classroom are some of the key goals which the book covers. I found especially helpful the specific examples given, examples reaching far across the disciplines. The many examples of dynamic teaching in nursing, chemistry, biology, and so on, demonstrate that these techniques can and should be used in the sciences and other fields as well.

Among much else, the authors discuss nonverbal cues, audience awareness techniques, roles the instructor can play, and suggestions for breaking through normal routines. Still, the book as a whole is not as much method as it is theory. For example, I came away with a better understanding of why and when I should consider using role plays than how to actually do it. I would have liked to see some discussion of the actual dynamics, such as Bill Bigelow outlines in the book "Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice."

Along the same lines, the specific examples given are usually summarized in a sentence or two. I wanted more: more details, more discussion of how those examples worked and why. The authors suggest, for instance, using role plays to talk through tough situations like a student dominating discussion (p. 145). But I'd think most instructors wouldn't have the time or the self-confidence to actually carry that out. A short case study taking me through an implementation of that strategy might have changed my mind.

Nonetheless, the book's suggestions are quite helpful (though at times repetitive) and turn the reader's attention to critical aspects of the teaching process most teachers rarely consider. Though it's uneven, I recommend the book to all instructors; you will find something in here which will improve your teaching.

The authors do an excellent job of connecting "performing" to the teaching philosophy of active learning. If you are already sold on active learning, you will find some of their material a bit repetitive. However, the authors' target seems to be people who use a one-way talk or "sage on the stage" style of teaching. For them, this book could be eye-opening, with its call for abandoning the "content provider role" and moving toward more interaction-oriented teaching.

Every chapter contains suggestions for exercises, many requiring physical movement and the cooperation of others. Many chapters also offer checklists for self-assessment, although I question whether untutored instructors will have the self-awareness to make good use of them.

Two things could be improved in the next edition of the book. First, the authors should eliminate the many very positive references & short vignettes concerning their colleagues' teaching. I'm sure most of the people named are exemplary teachers, but the snippets of material are much too short to serve a pedagogical function. Second, for a book by people apparently heavily involved in dramatic arts, there are surprisingly few in-depth lessons on how to take specific learning objectives & apply tips from the stage to achieve them. Many short references are made to popular plays and films, but they don't really add value to the book.

I would certainly recommend that instructors interested in active learning read this book. I'm not sure I would recommend its purchase. I should note, however, that with my purchase I received a bonus: pages 117-148 appeared twice in the book!

this book is a standard military text book. dry data. would be useful in a classroom setting but is vitual useless for personal reading. not reccomended.

One time in the Army I was being sent from here to there. I was put on a bus at some ridiculous hour like 3 or 4 in the morning. After a few hours on the bus we were let off in front of huge building with the words, "Go find the sign that says where you are going and wait under the sign."

There was no sign for where I was going. With great trepidation I went to find a sargeant and asked, "Where's my sign."

"You're not supposed to be here for another twelve hours, what are you doing here so early?"

What I wanted to say was that I was calmly asleep when some sargeant started yelling at me to get up, get dressed and get on this stupid bus that took me to here.

But I didn't think that that was wise, I don't remember just what I said. Anyway I was told to come back in twelve hours. I left there quickly.

In World War II German prisoners were taken to a large room and told to go stand under the sign of the unit to which they were assigned. If they couldn't find a sign they eventually went to a sargeant and asked. The sargeant would make a new sign for his unit. And the Army would then know that a new unit had been moved onto the battlefield. Something important for the Army to know, and something the soldiers had been told not to tell -- name, rank and serial number remember.

Here are the rules, and no, they do not include flushing the Qur'an down the toilet.

Having read this book for a seminar course in gender and consumerism, I found it very useful. Abelson spends a good amount of time (the first five chapters, in fact) focusing on the development of the department store and setting up the class dichotomy between the shop girls and the shoppers. She then spends the last two discussing the various ways shoplifting was diagnosed (such as by the creation of kleptomania). My issues with the book, however, were that Abelson never really discusses the issue of race (EVER), and also does not mention ethnicity. She also makes some very good arguements, such as when discussing the class dichotomy, but I feel that she could have gone further than she did with her arguements. However, I found it to be a useful and interesting read.

Elaine S. Abelson's When Ladies Go A-Thieving is a remarkably ambitious book that seeks to examine numerous aspects of social history from roughly 1870-1914. While her primary area of investigation is the middle-class female shoplifter in the department store, her book undertakes serious examination of such varied concerns as class identity and class conflict, the rise of consumer culture, and the changing roles of women in society (and society's attempts to reconcile these new roles with existing gender stereotypes).

Abelson's thesis defies quick encapsulation, as it relies on several assumptions and takes form through multiple, equally important conclusions. As women's functions moved increasingly out of the home, and into the public sphere, one of her primary responsibilities was the acquisition of goods. That shopping was women's work (and leisure) was a widely understood stereotype. To address this demand, the department store developed as a place where a woman could see and acquire a large array of consumer goods. It also served to instill a "calculated arousal of desire" (11) and, according to Abelson, for many women the lure proved irresistible. They sought to acquire the coveted goods by any means necessary, and so they shoplifted them. Lower-class women, when caught, were dealt with as criminals.

Yet many middle-class women, who could ostensibly afford the items they stole, were also caught in the act. This reflected poorly on the department store's model of mass consumption, if not mass consumption in general, and it also upset contemporary stereotypical notions of female moral superiority and incorruptibility. Thus these middle-class crimes were swept under the rug with a diagnosis of kleptomania. A woman was seen as weak-willed, ill equipped by her very nature - her gender itself - to control her desire for consumption. The store thus could not be held accountable for its "successful stimulation of consumer desire" and the respectable woman could not be held personally responsible for her regrettable actions (196). Consumerist ideology would remain unscathed, as womanhood itself could be depicted as the ultimate culprit.

Abelson's book was particularly well received by critics, who found it very well written and full of interesting ideas, and found that the research carried implications across wide-ranging historic disciplines. A few questioned whether the evidence was sufficient for Abelson's broad conclusions. Specifically, Mark C. Carnes, writing for The Business History Review, questions Abelson's almost exclusive use of trade journals in her analysis of the extent of the shoplifting phenomenon, and wonders whether the "dire pronouncements of merchants ... accurately reflect the magnitude of shoplifting."8 Perhaps, he suggests, shoplifting wasn't so common as Abelson supposes. Carnes' perceptive review also calls into question Abelson's complete dismissal of kleptomania as a legitimate medical pathology, a point also made by several other reviewers. For Abelson, the only pathology is the pathology of consumption, and Carnes sees this as an "over-broad indictment." Shifting at least some of the blame back onto the women themselves, Carnes writes "To the Victorian men and women who placed so high a premium on self control, shoplifting was almost by definition symptomatic of psychological infirmity."

Anita Clair Fellman, in The American Historical Review, finds Abelson's book "well put together and suggestive" but faults her for failing to "elaborate the implications of her findings" and poses some questions to this end: "Is it significant that the stores' first pitch should have been toward women ... by no means the most powerful members of society? Does this tell us something about the ways in which middle-class women as a subordinate group were essential to the development of consumer capitalism? Might the acceptance of women's tendencies to kleptomania have contributed to the gradual demise ... of the notion of women's moral superiority?" Fellman is troubled that Abelson depicts women as being so susceptible to the "manipulation of merchandisers" and points out that this conclusion is at odds with that reached by Susan Porter Benson, whose Counter Cultures (1986) "assesses women customers as giving as good as they got in the ongoing struggle with department stores."

These qualms hardly detract from the ultimate achievement of Abelson's work. Indeed, it could be argued that many of Fellman's criticisms fall completely outside the scope of the book. Abelson's endnotes and annotated bibliography show that she has made exhaustive use of those sources that are available, from diaries, trade journals, and court records to contemporary parodies of shopping culture. She convincingly demonstrates that the shoplifting phenomenon, whatever its extent, was exacerbated by the deliberate enticement of the department store set-up and that it was dealt with, among the middle class, by shifting blame to a nebulous (though gender-specific) pathology. Along the way, she is able to illustrate numerous interesting aspects of consumer culture, such as its inherent class-conflicts and the redefining of women's roles and expectations. As such, the book is a well-conceived examination of numerous aspects of history.

I purchased this book at the book store about a month ago. I made my decision after paging through many of the GMAT options and deciding this appeared the most comprehensive. My perception at the time that Kaplan was a high quality company also factored into my choosing it. After all, when I was in high school, Kaplan had the best reputation of all the test preparation companies. I was shocked by how bad this book is once I began working through it. The book is littered with typos, conceptual errors (no joke!), and conflicting statements. This book has caused me confusion, wasted time, and considerable frustration (both with the book and Kaplan itself). I have used a lot of different test prep books in the past and this was by far the worst.

Another bad part is that when I asked for my money back they refused to give it because I don't have the receipt. I explained that I didn't keep the receipt because I knew I'd be writing in it and highlighting, etc; and there is no way that I could anticipate that a reputable company would put out a book of such low quality. This did not help. They explained that even if I still had the receipt there would have been a process for me to try to get any money back, that I would not be able to get all of my money back, and that I would additionally have to pay shipping and handling to send it to them.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK - it is the worst test prep book I have ever used, and I've used over 10 for various tests over the years. What Kaplan has done by selling this book and continuing to sell it is borderline theft (considering that people like me have reported the countless errors, inconsistencies, miss-statements, etc). Kaplan continues to market and sell what it knows is a terrible and flawed product to unknowing and unassuming students. The only people who could have possibly given this book a 4 or 5 star review are either working for Kaplan or did not read the book carefully (especially the math section - which is almost half the book).

First, I don't understand all the complaints about errors and typos. I did every problem in this book and understood the solutions when I read the answer explanations of problems I got wrong. I did not encounter errors. (I ultimately scored a 730.) I can't help but wonder if some of the "errors" people found were answers they just didn't understand. (A reviewer of the Official Guide here on Amazon proved that point by bringing up a specific example s/he quoted as the book's mistake, but other users explained why s/he was wrong.)

Now, the problems are not all great, and that is why you need the official guide for most of your additional un-timed practice, but Kaplan was worth it for the computer practice: 4 full length timed practice tests and extra timed problem sections. With just the two free from gmac, I would not have learned to adjust my timing enough. ***Note** DO NOT uninstall or reinstall your Kaplan computer software, or try to install it on another computer, or "reset" your tests. It screws up ALL of the 4 practice tests and you will see repeat questions.****

The Kaplan approach to writing the essays was useful. Most of their "techniques" I think are pretty obvious, but are still helpful reminders to read, such as the "picking numbers" or "working backwards" approaches to certain quant. problems.

I used the Kaplan guide and the official GMAT study guide to prepare for the GMAT. I first went throught the Kaplan guide cover to cover. I found the math review to be very helpful, and some of the test taking tips were useful. However, once I began reviewing the official GMAT study guide it became apparent that the practice questions in the Kaplan quide weren't quite accurate reflections of what the actual questions would look like. Practicing questions is the key to success in taking the GMAT. I've read some reviews in which people say you should only study the harder questions in the official review guide if you are finding the questions too easy, but I disagree. The key to doing well is to understand how the question writers try to trip you up, and you can only get to this point by practicing as many questions as possible. I went through every question in the GMAT study guide and by the end I could really begin to anticipate what the question writers were looking for. I ended up getting a 740. To summarize: the math review and some of the tips in the Kaplan guide are somewhat helpful, but I wouldn't waste much time on their practice questions. The practice questions in the official guide are indespensable - complete every one and review your incorrect answers and you will do well.

This is my first GMAT study guide, and the first standardized test study guide I've used in over a decade. The Verbal section was pretty good. It had a few frustrating errors but none that kept me from learning the material. The Math section, however, is awful. As others have mentioned elsewhere, why would the Kaplan folks ask you to check your answers using a calculator when it clearly says elsewhere in the book that you CANNOT use any kind of electronic device (including calculators) during the actual GMAT test?

Math errors in the answer sections, test sections and even explanations abound. As I'm weaker in Math, such incompetence doesn't help me at all, and it's especially galling when you consider how much you pay for this book. The explanations also tend to be far more complicated than they should be, throwing in terms that are introduced LATER in the book. My husband provided me with far simpler and more understandable explanations to some of the terms and concepts.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book. I'm going to slog through the rest of this and then pick up the Princeton Review as well as the book the GMAT folks themselves publish. I MIGHT try the Kaplan 800 series, but if their quality is anything like that of this one, I just might pass.

I've heard that kaplan under calculates your CAT scores by 100 but when I actually did it, I found the practice tests pretty ridiculous. Its not because the questions are harder, but the fact that the scoring algorithm intentionally underestimates your score significantly.
Ex: the official practice test gave me a 660, where as kaplan gave me a 560.

Also the CAT math sections are full of errors. The verbal sections have a real problem it comes to double spacing. Its really annoying when you have spend time to distinguish between when the passage ends and when the actual question begins. I also found a reading passage where the final paragraph was full of wingdings and incomplete sentences. Some Critical reasoning questions are really unsolvable. I remember one question that assumed a higher draft pick always resulted in a better team winning record.

Another problem I have with the test is the horrible explanations. Really really dissapointing, especially on sentence correction.

Comparing Kaplan to Manhattan GMAT, which has really tough questions but also very detailed explanations, Kaplan seems to have been written by some of the most careless people ever. It really takes a lot of guts for a company to publish something that was this full of errors.

A lightweight book with large type, big photos, and not too many pages is nonetheless interesting. This book presents the history of the LA Coroner thru the lens of famous and semi-famous murder/suicide/death cases.

Richard Ramirez, Sharon Tate, Nicole Simpson, Elizabeth Short, etc., it's all in here along with some lesser-known but just as grisly events that occured during the 19th century era of Los Angeles.

For people who are used to books such as Death Scenes, none of the stuff in here will really compare, expect perhaps for the photo of Marion Parker. Neither bloody nor gory, the photo still manages to shock with its extreme explicitness.

Interesting, entertaining, and morbid. L.A. is the place for some DEATH IN PARADISE.

Published in 1998, "Death in Paradise" is a sort of prehistoric attempt at the popularization of gore that has become a craze thanks to "CSI" and similar schlock-shock efforts.

To call it superficial would be kind. It is so thin that it is kind of, well, film-y.

The early history of L.A. slaughter and retribution has some interest, since most retellings of L.A. murder start much later -- with the bombing of the Times offices, or later. After that, it's a retelling of well-known cases (like the world needs a few more paragraphs about O.J.) combined with what appear to be rewritten press releases from the coroner's office.

There was a story to be told, and it peeks out of "Death in Paradise" here and there.

The authors are semi-literate.

This book takes readers behind the scenes with the L.A. County Coroner's Office, revealing the details of some of the most notorious deaths of the twentieth century.
Beginning with Wild West-era lynchings and turn-of-the-century mass-homicides in Chinatown, the authors demonstrate how the coroner's job has evolved into a state-of-the-art, multi-million-dollar operation responsible for cleaning up the 200 deaths that occur in L.A. every day. In addition to the science of death, Death in Paradise also examines the cultural and political atmospheres surrounding L.A.'s most infamous murders, suicides, and overdoses: from Barbara La Marr to Bugsy Siegel, the Black Dahlia to Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin to Bobby Kennedy.
Interesting book but not enough decent picures.

Granted, the history of LA crime may be about the nice overwritten subject out there! Still, this is a fine, right to the point,breezy (even on such a gruesome subject) book, though it does have a few gruesome photos, most notably the 12 year old girl abducted from school in 1927, and dismembered. The early history of the big city is also fine, including some shootouts I was not aware of. If you want to learn about the struggling actress who jumped off the "Hollywood" Sign, a woman who survived being thrown off a bridge at three, and is still living in the area, the Thelma Todd suicide (?),and the Black Dahlia case, here's where to look. Not to mention other better known examples of the coroner at work.

Los Angeles County Department of Coroner: 19000 cases a year, 10 percent of these cases homicides. 20 autopsies per day. 180 embloyees. The second largest department of coroner in the USA and the only one world wide with a gift shop (aptly named Skeletons in the Closet).

This book introduces you to the tasks, history and famous cases of LA department of coroner. DEATH IN PARADISE opens with an overview of the coroner's tasks and a brief history of the department, which both were interesting for me. The next chapter concerns early coroner cases from the days, when the west was wild (You think today's crime rates are extremely high? Well, you'll be surprised to read that in 1850, when California joined the union, Los Angeles with its population of about 4000, had one homicide per day!!!)
The early coroner cases chapter is followed by the most interesting part of the whole book, a lengthy account of coroner's cases involving the rich and famous, from suicides of now long forgotten movie stars of the silent film era to celebrity death of today. Did you know that in 1932 successful actress Peg ENTWISTLE jumped to her death from the big "H" in the famous HOLLYWOOD sign (which read HOLLYWOODLAND by then)? Lots and lots of celebrity deaths are covered: the shooting of mobster Bugsy SIEGEL. The assassination of presidential candidate Robert KENNEDY in 1968. An escalating domestic violence incident, which cost the live of movie star Lana TURNER`s lover Johnny STOMPANATO, when TURNER`s teenage daughter stabbed him. The demise of folk legend Janis JOPLIN due to an overdose. Marilyn MONROE's suicide. The terrifying slaughter of the "black dahlia", later the subject of a bestselling novel (this part of the book is especially gruesome). The death of journalist Ruben SALAZAR, who died during a 1970 riot when a police man accidentially fired a tear gas projectile in his face. And many, many more...
It goes without saying that book features the horrifying deaths of Sharon TATE and Nicole BROWN SIMPSON - would a LA true crime book be complete without these infamous cases?
There are many enlightning black and white photos in the book, which nicely accompany the interesting text. Believe me, this book is very compelling reading and will appeal to every true crime buff, Los Angeles citizen or fan of the QUINCY TV series. It is a real page turner.
My main complaint is that the book is really short. It has about 190 pages, but please consider that the authors use double spacing, so you likely finish the book in one evening or two. I was also sometimes disappointed, because I had prefered to be informed about some celebrity deaths in greater detail (most cases are told in two or three pages).
P.S.: Do NOT believe the promotional blurb on the back cover (a quote from HUSTLER magazine publisher Larry FLYNT: "Blanche and Schreiber have finally done the impossible - that even I could not achieve - publish a book with photographs that should be censored.") There are not that many horrifying pictures in the book. If you want to see really shocking true crime photos better buy SHOTS IN THE DARK or the even more disturbing DEATH SCENES.

This is an "international thriller" about events surrounding the fabled Shroud of Turin, the cloth with an image purported to be the image of Christ. Focussing mainly on the Italian Art Crimes division, the investigation of a fire in the cathedral takes on major international and historical dimensions the further the detectives delve. With two (or was it three?) groups opperating in opposition to each other, the art crimes people, and a free-lance journalist all thrown into the mix, this is a book that has some serious potential for action.

And there is quite a bit of good stuff in this book. All the conflicting arguments about the provenance of the Shroud are brought forward and discussed, which was interesting. And the secret societies, standard fare in this sort of book, are done fairly well.

But the style is plodding in many places. This may be an artifact of the translation of the work from Spanish, but it didn't help. The characters never really reached out to me, seeming to be pre-formed to fit certain expectations as opposed to being real people. The modern action is inturrupted by flashbacks of the Shroud's history. These interludes were interesting, but did little to advance the plot except to presage discoveries that the characters are going to make later on anyway. And the conclusion, while exciting, proved a disappointment to me in several ways.

A decent book, but not a great read. The history and debates about the Shroud were well done, but the characters and overall plot were a bit stale.

I can't believe I stuck to this book through the end. I started skipping the "historical" flashback chapters about half way through the book. The last 25 pages were not clearly written, it was up to your imagination to fill in the gaps. The reporter is off doing her thing but we have no idea how that relates in time to what the main character and his entourage are doing until the very end. The writing about Jean (a very minor character) and the reporter read like a story from someone in junior high. I, also, will not be grabbing a book off the shelf with this author's name on it.

This is a great book, for those of us who are fans of historic novels; this book will definitely be very satisfying. It contains a very accurate history of the shroud and it is very well mixed with fiction (not something absurd). I didn't give the whole five starts since the ending wasn't that good, but at least it wasn't something totally unbelievable.
I would definitely recommend it, especially to those interested in very good historic novels.

I have no doubt that the author researched her subject, but I think she would have been better off by presenting it as nonfiction since this novel certainly fails as fiction. There are a lot of conversations and very little action and even less description. The tale is interrupted repeatedly for flashbacks to the history of the shroud and for some bizarre reason, they are done in a style that is geared toward the limited comprehension of 9-year olds and indeed sounds as though it were written by a 10-year-old. Way too many characters muddy up a simple-minded plot and because the author fails to give us good in-depth portrayals, I certainly do not care what happens to any of them. I think (not sure) that the main character was supposed to be the lead investigator for the Art Crimes Dept., but he is not very bright so accomplishes little. It takes half the novel for him to decide to turn a prisoner loose and follow him (hopefully to learn more), and the rest of the novel for this to take place. When the prisoner is turned loose, there is a Keystone Kops farce where crowds of different people with different agendas follow the prisoner. I will be reading no more novels by this author.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. At least until the end. The conclusion of this story was totally disappointing and anti-climatic. For a story written in such detail and intrigue, the lack of same at the end was a big letdown.

If you enjoy "christian" / Templar related mysteries, you will probably like this book. Just don't expect much from the ending. Kind of a "and that was it" finish.