Iowa Books

An exceptional book about an exceptional man. The great index helps immensely to make this a quality product.

Let me first disclose that I am a little biased in my review because the subject of this biography is my grandfather. For those of you considering reading this book I highly recommend it if you're interested in learning about a spectacular story of entrepreneurial success. I am an avid reader of business-related biographies and I can attest that this is near the top. In addition, the biography accounts for John Ruan's entire life to date, with details of his childhood, his family and related hardships, the founding of his many business, details on the inner-workings of those businesses and his many community/charitable efforts (the most notable of which is the World Food Prize). In all, the book sums up a man of tremendous impact in both Iowa, the U.S. as well as the world. John Ruan, as you will come to note after reading this book, is a unique individual whose 90+ years have had an exceptionally positive impact in our community, and in business. In my opinion, John Ruan truly embodies some of the fundamental principles upon which the United States was founded; the opportunity to achieve through hard work. On a final point, upon picking up the book, I read it straight through in four hours. Again, I highly recommend reading the book.

In Search of Susanna is a remarkable transgeneric experiment in life writing, a densely textured "word quilt" in Bunkers' words, testifying to the author's passionate determination not only to reclaim her family past but to affirm a vital future for the female descendants who look back to Susanna and discover themselves." --William L. Andrews, University of North Carolina.

"In Search of Susanna is a lovely weaving together of threads from the ancestral past to tell a story of the present and future. The Susanna sought in this book--and beautifully evoked--is not only Suzanne Bunkers' great-great-grandmother but the author and her daughter as well. No one restores to us the lives of women across generations as gracefully and as movingly as Suzanne Bunkers."--James Olney, Editor, Southern Review

Most wonderful books change you in some way,and this beautifully written book is no exception. I couldn't stop reading all the wonderful stories. They taught me how to be a better patient, a better human being, and a better caretaker of my soul and body. Richly written with heartwrenching stories about the ups and downs of nursing, this book made want to run out and buy it for all my friends. Not because it was about nursing, but rather more than that---it was a book about living and dying--and the men and women nurses who act as midwives to these experiences. This book is both informative and literary, and one I would heartily recommend to all my friends.

I'd read and loved "Between the Heartbeats" and wondered if this second anthology of nurses' writing could be as wonderful----and it is! In this collection, the editors have gathered all new work from nurses in the US and abroad (some of the original "Heartbeats" writers are represented here too). The poetry and prose are stunning. This book is a must read for any nurse, physician, patient, caregiver, poet or writer; it's also a perfect teaching text for medical and nursing humanities. If you're stuck for a gift for your favorite nurse, buy this book!

College-level courses in veterinary medicine will find AN INTRODUCTION TO VETERINARY MEDICAL ETHICS: THEORY AND CASES, 2ND EDITION an excellent point of discussion for surveying the vet's ethical and medical issues in animal welfare issues. The author has pioneered veterinary ethics and surveys ethical theory, decision-making practices, and real-life situations, pairing some 100 veterinary case histories with solutions that lend to debate and discussion in the veterinary community. Practitioners and college-level students will find an enlightening set of considerations, here.

The field of veterinary medicine is expanding rapidly to include medical treatments that would have been considered impossible 20 years ago. Today, animals suffering from such things as cancer, joint diseases and severe trauma have a good chance of not only survival but of living a healthy life due to the advancements in veterinary medicine. The many changes in veterinary medicine, coupled with the evolution of new views on animal rights in our society over the last two decades, have created many ethical veterinary dilemmas and questions that have never been explored in a written context. Dr. Rollin has devoted his life to studying these issues and has been intimately involved in various laws and legislation involving animal rights and the ethics involved. This book examines a topic that has been largely debated but, for the most part, not covered in a text format. Dr. Rollin is well respected and speaks to many forums about these topics year round. He does a great job of presenting the cases in this book in an unibiased manner and encourages you to think about each of the important issues brought up by these cases. Each of these cases, by the way, are based on true cases and is beneficial to the understanding of what today's veterinarian faces. The book is not set up in a manner for leisure reading but is still very interesting and easy to follow. This is an excellent book on a fairly new topic of study and I would recommend it to any reader with any link to the veterinary profession or with any interest in animals.

This scale turns a subjective decision - grade acceleration - into an objective decision: "Exceptional candidate, good candidate, marginal candidate, or whole-grade acceleration is not recommended (but that means that single-subject acceleration, mentoring, enrichment or other alternatives should be considered).

The scale is thorough, and gives weight (more or less) to every factor that any parent, teacher or administrator has every considered, including size and motor coordination (which it finds a minor issue), behavior, social participation, both inside and outside school activities (separately counted - having outside activities that aren't affected helps a lot), even attendance, motivation, self-concept and attitude towards learning. All these items are considered together. And given the most weight is the ability and achievement tests, particularly in and out of grade level achievement tests.

The book concludes with 2 student analysis (one gets a two grade skip, and the footnotes mention that the skip actually took place 3 years ago and is very successful), the other does not get a mid-year skip he didn't want, but is recommended for an end-of-year skip review), and then 11 pages of great research citations on why whole-grade acceleration is a good and effective educational alternative, and another 8 pages of references.

When a school purchases this book, and uses this scale to make quantitative a decision process that used to be purely emotional, I think we will see far more appropriate use of whole-grade acceleration, and far more comfortable folks involved, from the parents to the district personnel to the student themselves.

While I would recommend that every teacher working with gifted students be familiar with and have within their toolkit the IAS, I do have some very specific concerns about it. First, it is designed only to deal with children requiring a single grade skip. Much research shows that many highly to profoundly gifted children, those that will benefit most from grade skipping, may require many grade skips during their school career. The questions on the IAS are designed to deal with only children considering their first skip. Though it could be used for additional skips, the section on developmental factors becomes less useful the more out of grade level the child becomes. The IAS also seems to be focused on skipping a single grade at a time, there do not seem to be any guidelines for skipping multiple grades.

Another concern I have is with the IAS is their absolute denial of skips when a sibling in the same grade or the receiving grade is involved. While this is certainly an issue that must be addressed carefully, because denying a grade skip where one is called for can be extremely damaging, the cut and dried "never do this" approach seems to me to be wrong. I think that directing people to take special care in these instances instead of just rejecting the skip out of hand would be more appropriate. Also, the IAS does not address at all the issue of a child skipping past a sibling, another issue that can arise with multiple grade skips.

Though it certainly doesn't take all the emotion out of the decision to whole grade accelerate a child, the IAS does give some framework, based on good research, to the process. I would recommend that every school district have the use of the IAS as part of its procedures for whole grade acceleration. Grade acceleration is one research proven, inexpensive way of meeting the needs of gifted kids. It is good to have a way to begin to quantify this difficult decision.

Author: Tavris, Carol.
Title: The longest war : sex differences in perspective / Carol Tavris, Carole Wade.
Edition: 2d ed.
Publisher: New York : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c1984.
Edition Date: 1984
Language: English
Notes: Includes index.
Physical Details: xv, 416 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
Other Authors: Offir, Carole, joint author.
Subjects: Sex differences (Psychology)
Sex role.

I found this book a very valuable resource to look at the history of why what (mostly) men do in work is considered more valuable than what women do, why they are generally paid more. (i.e. why male tree trimmers make more money than female nurses, why women with college educations make less on the average than [...]educated males)...this is an older book so things have improved some, but there's still the difference.
Tavris and Offir found cross cultural similarities of the bias against what women do, i.e. the hunting that men have done was valued more than the gathering and cooking that women did...yet both were important for survival.

I highly recommend the book.

We've enjoyed this book and the referenced sites a whole lot. From tourist caves to unlit Ice Caves... Get the entire series of these books- well worth it.

If you are any of the above, you will find this guide useful. Whether you are a solitary caver, or even if you would like to introduce young members of your family to caving, this is a good place to start. There are a range of caves to explore listed in this guide, and each are unique and individual, appealing to all types from the beginner to the expert. Easy read, and fits perfect in a backpack or overnight bag.

School continues to be one of the most traumatizing/wonderful experiences of my life. This book talks about school from all angles .. highly recommended.

This collection includes some of the best poems of our time--all related to school. The pain and poignancy of school-age experiences in the classroom, on the playground, or on the athletic field, are captured in this volume with the resonance of shared life. The names of teachers--Mrs. Krikorian, Mrs. Smythe, and the rest--bring back our own teachers' faces and even their "sausage arms." Teachers themselves speak here as well, with humor, sadness, or a sense of loss about the classrooms of children they have known. This volume, with work by our best contemporary poets, is a must-read for anyone who teaches or learns or who has ever been in school.

I bought this book several years ago. I've always been a fan of Starkey Flythe and his writing and this is a great collection of stories.

If you like witty short stories and like to think - sometimes - this is the book for you. Starkey Flythe's precision and timing are perfect.

These recipes create the best meals you will ever eat. Canter has found the best recipes from the Heartland. Where else but Iowa do you find meals that people remember the way easterners remember a great novel? These recipes taste like a bear hug feels or a meaningful conversation lingers--warm and memorably delicious. Don't let the reasonable price of fool you. At ten times the price this book is a bargain.

License to Cook Iowa Style, in the popular recipe-card file size Stocking Stuffer format, is chock-full of the best recipes and notes about the best of Iowa in the heart of the Midwest. The navy blue and white cover features the Iowa Sesquicentennial.

In tribute to the development and progress of 150 years, hardy, delicious recipes reflect natural products of the state as well as the diversity of its ethnic population and community lifestyles. Typical recipes from areas with notable concentrations of specific ethnic groups include: an Amish-Mennonite Tapioca Pudding, Czech Kolaches, a Danish Kringle, Norwegian Rye Bread, Dutch Currant Bread, and others.

Band night, church social, or just backyard ice cream recipes preserve a culture that still prevails in many Iowa communities. There are prize recipes for preserving the bounty of the backyard garden, including: pickles, chutneys, and jams and jellies. And with an air of "State Fair," recipes for meats and poultry abound, along with the breads, pies, cakes, and cookies.

"Seeing Iowa" lists many of the well-known, and not-so-well-known, places of interest to travel and see. Line drawings illustrating some of these attractions are found throughout the book, which presents a nostalgic flavor of the past along with the vitality of the present - for example, there is a section of recipes with the ease of preparation and serving tailored to suit the "Tailgator."

Excellent for personal collections and as a memento of Iowa.