Departments Books

I found this book to be helpful, however it was repetitive. It offered tons of helpful questions to think about, but not much in the area of advise.

I think this book is a good start for anyone who wants to get an idea as to the type of questions that may be asked during an interview.

I did find it helpful that it listed questions that were not related to being a firefighter (for example: questions related to city government and others about the type of certifications/awards/achievements by the local fire agency).

Overall, if you have the time to do tons of research, then this is the book for you.

The book outlines the F.D. oral interview process, which helped me get organized for my interview. The questions and "Suggested-Responses" prompted me to think of my appropriate responses. The book was very helpfull.

I would disagree with the review that said you would sound like a clone. Though the book is not perfect it does have something to offer. Of course the answers should not be memorized verbatim. However, if just by reading the book, you are presented with some questions that you had not anticipated you will be one step ahead of the other applicants. This book is not the key to getting the job but it is a good resource that should not be passed up.

In preparing for my latest oral exam I thought that this book couldn't hurt. While it didn't hurt, it certainly didn't help. The first part of the book goes over what to expect during the process, methods used and such. If you are far enough in the testing to get to the oral interview than you are already familiar with the process (or you should be). As for the rest of the book's questions and proposed answers, if you want to sound like a clone then get this book but, in my opinion, it won't help you pass the test in the near future if you pay too close attention.

Be original, be confident, and be honest if you are taking the oral. There, all you need to know and I won't charge you a cent.

I am a firefighter/paramedic and used this book to help me prepare for my interview last year. The book is somewhat choppy and has some repetitive questions.... but overall its a great starting point for those of us who dont naturally shine in interviews. Like what was previously said, dont mouth the given answers verbatim, but they do a good job of helping you understand the "power words and phrases" that interviewers want to hear. Use the suggested answers to form your own creative responses. Oh... and, wear a suit and tie to the interview, wait to be asked to take a seat, shake all hands while looking them in the eye before and after the interview, and try your best to remember names. Also - when answering questions, focus your attention mostly on the person who asked, but dont forget to look at the other members as well. There's my two cents... obviously it worked. Im a paid guy now. Good luck!

I did not know that I was ordering a 2003 guide to law schools. I never would have ordered it if I had known it was obsolete.

This book should only be used as a guide and the ranking system is very biased. Each person is different and will want to use their own ranking system of importance, but this book does give a concise detail of every school. It sets a good foundation for knowledge about law schools.

First of all, I agree with the other posters that a lot of information is packed into this magazine/guide. It might be worth your while to purchase it for that reason.

However, the discriminating consumer should be forewarned that some of the data contained in this guide is inaccurate. The data is self-reported data collected from law schools. Since all the schools want to increase their U.S. News ranking, they sometimes report information that is inaccurate--or arguably fraudulent. I found this out the hard way. I attended a Top 20 U.S. News Law School. When I enrolled in the law school--and ever since--U.S. News has reported that the school I attended has roughly a 97% employment rate at graduation and that the median salary for graduates of my school was close to $100,000.

The year I graduated from the school--2004--maybe 40-50% of students had jobs at graduation. Many classmates of mine, for all I know, do not have jobs as of today. Of those students who had jobs at graduation, many were working low-paying jobs for smaller law firms or for state agencies. In other words, the U.S. News data was way off the mark.

I recognize that it is difficult for U.S. News to police the data supplied by law schools, but they need to do a better job of it. They could also use some common sense. For instance, U.S. News reports that over 95% of USC Law grads have jobs at graduation, and that the average salary is close to $100,000. But in its guide to business schools, U.S. News reports that 89% of Harvard Business School grads are employed at graduation with the average salary being $85,000 or so. How could career prospects possibly be better for USC Law grads than Harvard Business School grads? I don't believe it, and I don't see how U.S. News could believe it either.

It amazes me that law schools are able to report borderline fraudulent information and U.S. News does nothing. I was one of those who believed the U.S. News data, but then found out the hard way that the data was woefully inaccurate.

If you buy this guide, try to get as much as you can out of it, but take all the data you read with a grain of salt. Much of it was reported by law schools with an interest in inflating the data, and none of the data is ever independently verified.

This is a great reference to anyone applying or thinking of applying to law school. Whether or not you agree with the influence US News has in law school admissions it remains a fact of life. It is a system that is inherently flawed, but along with the rankings, this book gives detail on each school which you can and should use to further investigate the schools to which you apply. Don't let the US News rankings dictate where you apply and don't let this book replace a campus visit and talking with the dean of admissions with a prospective school. Use it to supplement those things.

This is an excellent resource guide with useful information and summaries of all the ABA-approved law schools. The book provides detailed descriptions of the top 4 law schools- Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and NYU- as well. The book provides applicable and objective information, as opposed to other books which just spout off the obvious facts.

Excellent and informative book. Was able to locate dolls and pricing from book that I could not find in other books! Great pictures, comments and descriptions!

If you have any love of the English language, and are able to tell good photographs from bad ones, you will truly dislike all of the books by this woman that I have read, including Barbie Exclusives volumes 1, 2 and 3. The text is virtually unreadable, almost completely devoid of any real information, and is generally a painful experience. The photographs are almost equally bad, ranging from grainy yellowish shots, to lovely ones in which box-front glare almost obliterates any details of the doll inside. Truly, you can do much better than this series! Try the Collector's Encyclopedia of Barbie Doll Exclusives and More by J. Michael Augustyniak.

If you have any love of the English language, and are able to tell good photographs from bad ones, you will truly dislike all of the books by this woman that I have read, including Barbie Exclusives volumes 1, 2 and 3. The text is virtually unreadable, almost completely devoid of any real information, and is generally a painful experience. The photographs are almost equally bad, ranging from grainy yellowish shots, to lovely ones in which box-front glare almost obliterates any details of the doll inside. Truly, you can do much better than this series! Try the Collector's Encyclopedia of Barbie Doll Exclusives and More by J. Michael Augustyniak.

This book by Margo Rana is fun and informative. The pictures are very detailed, bright and well done, making the reader feel like they own each doll. I got my book over a year ago for $25. I missed out on this great deal, but I hope that others won't. Margo Rana really explains the dolls in full detail, but they are in her own words. She marks pricing well, so when you go to a doll show or are shopping for dolls, you know what is a good deal and what isn't. When Margo talked about the Pink Splendor doll, the last doll she talked about, she commented to the reader about the $900 listing price on the doll. She said, "Be kind when judging this doll; it's not her fault she is so expensive." This book is extremely fun to look at. I seem to find something new and special about each doll every time I read it. I hope that you will buy this book and enjoy as much as I did. Even as a young collector (I'm 13) I find this book a great blessing.

As a student using this text book right now, I have to say that I am completely frustrated with it. I'm an English major and am stuck with this class so I can graduate on time, so already I am not apt towards the material. What I can say that is complementary about this book is that is written quite nicely. Literally, the language is very good for a text book. Here's the downfall to that, I have no idea what the hell any of it is talking about. Pretty language aside, this book was clearly written by masters of their field, but there is no doubt in my mind that if they were college professors, they'd be the type that are clearly brainy and intelligent, but have no way of "dumbing it down" so to speak. This book is NOT suggested for beginners. Don't even bother.

There are two people that would be interested in this book - those that are enrolled in a liberal arts chemistry course, and those that are just interested in learning about chemistry. This book suits either type of person admirably.

While setting up a liberal arts course in chemistry (i.e., Chemistry for Non-science Majors), we previewed a number of possible texts. This one, in my mind, stood above all the others that I looked at. There are a number of reasons why:

1. The scope - this book covers a vast number of topics, from basic structure of the atom to environmental chemistry to toxins and drugs to combustion and energy. We are designing a survey course, and this spread is ideal. Other texts tended to focus too much, especially on environmental issues (e.g., the ACS's Chemistry in Context).

2. Descriptive, non-mathmatical. Since this course has no prerequisites, not even grade 10 math, we needed a book that minimised mathematics. Other books, such as Kelter/Carr/Scott's Chemistry: World of Choices, was too mathematical for this type of course.

3. The pictures - this book simply looks good.

Thus, if you're looking for a text for a liberal arts chemistry course, or if you just want to know more about chemistry and are not mathematically inclined, I would recommend this book.

There are a number of errors in this textbook, not just in the end-of-chapter review problems, but also in the chapter Examples that are meant to explain them. This does little to allow students to quickly and easily grasp the material.
The writing style makes an interesting novel but a lousy textbook. Material is presented by giving an example, history and finally the scientific concept meant to be grasped. Makes for a great mystery, but this is science and a subject that scares students anyway. A concept given first is seldom followed by a thorough explanation. The effect is one of an author, who know his material really well, has no idea how to convey the basics to his readers and is trying hard to entertain. Combine this with the smattering of factual errors and this textbook is just annoying.

Chemistry can be interesting and it can be difficult to understand. This book addresses both of these areas quite well. This is a book that you study from, as well as read. For anyone who is preparing to take a Chemistry class, this book is well worth investigating, because this book, in its 20 Chapters, covers every principle, formula, idea, and topic that will be covered in class. My CHEM 100 course used this as our text, and we covered only half of the book (at a Community College in Maryland). I learned a lot from the course and from this book. I heartedly recommend it! For grandmom to read on your drive to DisneyWorld???? Oh, maybe not. Especially if she's driving.

I bought this book hoping that it would provide a comprehensive review for the GRE. It has been an extremely disappointing experience. Although the book does provide examples and tips, as well as a list of vocabulary and roots to know, it falters on its explanations significantly. I must also echo a previous review about the typos: there are several, and some of them include the answers. On certain example problems, including both Verbal and Math, the book won't even give you the answer to the question, leaving you wondering if you got it right. The practice test in the back is horrible because it uses several of the same questions, so it doesn't really give you more opportunity for practice. I'm thankful that I purchased other books to help prepare, because this one is certainly sub par.

I found the verbal section of this book somewhat helpful, and did increase my grade for the section a few points.

But the math section of this book is horrible. A lot of the pages have typos, formulas are given incorrectly and the solution isn't explained for many of the harder questions; they are quickly brushed over so unless you knew how to do them before the book, it is helpless. It's like they wrote the math section in 30 mins under a deadline.

Although the book can serve as a source of additional practice tests, its usefulness is highly questionable. The author is a former Princeton Review instructor who has failed to even keep himself updated. For example, the author advises the reader (test taker) to look at the questions before reading the text. Even worse, he suggests that "general" questions should be answered later, as if this was an option. Additionally, the concept of "Tom" is just the "Joe Bloggs" of the Princeton Review. Based on my experience, this concept is of little use for anyone other than the bottom 30 percentile. Additionally, the Vocabulary section is highly limited. On the plus side, the Math review despite its errors has a clearer layout.

Overall, in terms of strategy, clarity, and the number of practice questions, Barron's, Kaplan's, and Princeton Review's guides all surpass the Acing the GRE.

Written by a test writer, it certainly -feels- like you're getting insider tips. I haven't taken the GRE yet, so I can't say whether it's truly useful. The text is easy and fun to read, and the chapters are organized well. The content is straightforward to work through and the tips and strategies are highlighted well.

The thing I don't like, and it's a big thing, is the quantity of typos in the math section. There are mistakes in the formulas (yikes!) and in the answers and explanations. For example, page 200 lists the surface area of a cube as 486 for a side length of 8 AND for a cube with a side length of 9. Page 202 gives information about a triangle: lengths of two sides and one angle. The problem asks you to estimate the length of the third side. Yes, it's an estimation, but the answer is nothing near the two lengths the third side could be, when calculated. (There are two possibilities given the setup -- one where the sides are more equal, and one where the third side is very short, but the answer tells you to pick something in the middle. Drawing it out by hand and modeling it with mathematical software give the same results -- and neither are what the book says is the answer.) On page 219, there's a function with an equal sign in the numerator:

f(x)=1
--------
1-x^2

On page 220, the formula for finding the midpoint between two points is listed as

(x1 - x2)/2, (y1 - y2)/2

but the minus signs should really be plus signs. I consider that a serious error, since someone who doesn't know the formula will be misled.

This review is of a 2007 edition.

If they revise, much more attention needs to be paid to the math proofreading, and at a minimum they should fix the few problems mentioned above. (And will they send me an honorarium for catching these mistakes? :-) )

Like most promotional books, this one is dry and could be condensed into about 50 pages. The Chief obviously knows his business, and that is IMS.

What you will find (most likely) very annoying (distracting) is Brunacini's frequent (almost every paragraph) use of the parentheses.

C'mon, Chief, we know your are getting paid (cabbage) by the word, but with all those extra (unneccesary) use of quotes, this book (text) is very distracting and tough to follow.
Read it for yourself, you'll see what I mean.

This book could easily be reduced to 100 pages. Repeat after repeat, and the cartoons give me a break.

Alan Brunacini, to anyone who's been in the fire service for any length of time, is for all intensive purposes the founder of our modern-day fireground incident command system. The original system, developed by the federal government for use in large-scale wildfire incidents, was tailored by Brunacini specifically for company officers to utilize on everything from day-to-day RAC fires to large-scale incidents. The format of this book makes it extremely easy to read, understand, and apply.

Chief Brunacini obviously knows his stuff regarding fire command. However, the way this book is written makes it extremely unpleasant to read. His over-friendly style is hard to follow, and the use of parentheses is way out of control. He puts text in parentheses (xxxx) several times on almost EVERY PAGE! Some of this text is so long you have to go back and re-read the first part of the sentence to remember what he was talking about. The worst part is, this "extra" info is usually completely unnecessary.
Finally, this book could be half the pages, and still contain the same amount of info. There are just soooo many repeat topics.
I usually read quite fast, with good retention, but I have read this book three times in a one year period, and I can hardly remember any of it.

As I sit in Strozier Library, in the center of the Florida State University campus, I can tell you that FSU was established in 1857.

I will try and keep this review dealing with the big picture, not getting bogged down in whether there are any insignificant errors in the 768 page volume or not (there are), but rather focus on its utility to a potential graduate student. While it is true, as one reviewer points out, that most of this information is available by phoning the schools in question, that seems to be missing the point: in this one book all the information that a prospective student needs to begin their graduate school search is in one place. That, in a nutshell, is why this is valuable.

The book has profiles on essentially every school in the US with graduate programs, including many I had never even heard of. The profiles explain what programs are available, admittance requirements and procedures, costs, addresses, phone numbers, contact personnel, etc. All the information is extremely well presented and genuinely useful. While I am sure that there are small errors in a book this comprehensive (just like there are errors in any 700-plus page book, be they grammatical or otherwise) this is a great resource for basic research into a school or program. Obviously, when a student has accomplished this first step, they will need to go to individual school websites, talk to schools, and ultimately visit campuses.

For general information on graduate programs in the US, this book is the clear champion compared with the other available options. Any prospective graduate student that isn't 100 percent sure what program they want to enroll in should own this book.

This book gives a bare amount of info most of which could have found out by using the phone. The information given is very vague and the book needs more info to be helpful.

I was browsing at the local bookstore for future graduate schools when I came across this: The book listed University of Florida as established in 1953 and Florida State University as 1857. The dates are reversed. University of Florida was establisehd in 1857. I know this because I graduated from the University of Florida. Overall the book gives a decent overall view of what programs and degrees the grad schools offer. A bit more info on graduate tuition fees for in state and out of state would be helpful.

I'm currently researching graduate programs in archaeology andfound this book to be absolutely no help. It only had six pagesdevoted to graduate programs in archaeology without any descriptions as to the programs offered, backgrouns of the professors or even department heads. I did notice that there was much more detail in the sections relating to other programs, however, for archaeology it was wasted.

There is a pretty comprehensive review of how to get into graduate school. It not only focuses on the testing procedures and grades, but also on other relevant topics such as financing your education and even if graduate school will be right for you. The only lacking aspect was the fact that some of the information on contacting the programs was missing or outdated.

When I began thinking about pursuing an advanced degree in English, I had a lot of trouble finding any information. This book is not the best that will ever be published, but right now it is a pretty good resource in an area where there is almost nothing. Much of the reference materials sold in other books are merely directories of departments and programs - useful if you know what you want to study and where you want to go, but not really valuable if you aren't even sure graduate school is the best option for you. The kind of information that you need to obtain when you are actually applying to schools probably won't come from this book. What this book *does* do is to take a realistic look at what going to graduate school means, whether you should go at all, and if you decide to do so what you will encounter in the process. It is not going to tell you how to get into a graduate program in art history or archaeology, but what it will do is lead you in the right direction to finding the kind of information you need to consider those programs. It is a good GENERAL guide for those of us who weren't born knowing how graduate school works, and contains useful information that can help put you on a path to an advanced degree.

on page 79, (English test) beginning with #22, the answer key is off. It gives the answer to 21 as D. and 22 is also D. How is this possible when the choices for 22 are F,G,H,J?

This is the best book I've ever used to get higher scores on the ACT. It tells exactly what you need to know and study -- and nothing more. I was studying a lot more formula's then I needed to and I didn't realize it untill I got this book. I also wasn't taught a couple of formulas, needed for the math part of the ACT, untill I used this book. I highly suggest this book to anyone who wants to raise their scores.

This was an o.k. book. It didn't help me very much, but it had good tests. They made a lot of mistakes, which could have been avoided. The writers probably didn't put their best into it.

If you are preparing for the GRE - these workbooks are a must have. The first timer will find a great deal of use from the descriptions provided with regard to test layout, timing, and how questions posed are selected.
While even the most seasoned test taker can walk away from this guide with a great deal of practice. This book (as too the Math workbook) has been an invaluable tool during my studies. Kaplan has the perfect degree of experience and expertise to guide you to your aspired-to GRE score.
Pick this one up!

I purchased this book because of Kaplan's brand. Unfortunately, I am very disappointed by the book and going to return it. This is the fifth edition and yet there are so many mistakes throughout the book. Worse, the content is just space-filler and useless. I find my time spent reading the book wasted time. Furthermore, this is supposed to be a workbook but the exercises included is just half of that included in Barron's general GRE prep. In brief, save yourself time and money by staying away from this book.

If you already own the Kaplan Premier edition for the GRE, then don't waste your money buying this as many of the questions for the verbal component are repeated in here. Though I found the opposite drills useful, most of the other drills were only average and I personally preferred Barron's GRE coverage of the verbal component. By itself, this would be good if you don't already own the Premier GRE edition by Kaplan which covers all the components of the GRE general test.