Practitioners Books

Peter Checkland's soft system methodology has fascinated me for many years as a practical tool that I might potentially apply to improving problem situations involving people. However, in the past Checkland has always allowed his academic bent and difficult writing style to get in the way of teaching people how to use his potentially valuable tool. I have recently joined a small non-profit organization, Sustainable Silicon Valley, and want to contribute to improving the sustainability of Silicon Valley in particular, and the world in general in a timely manner. Even if most of us agree there is this enormous problem that needs immediate attention, and we're getting to that point, then what practical steps must be take to effectively address it? Just in time for me, this book coauthored by Peter Checkland and John Poulter was published in 2006. It is the first book coauthored by Checkland that lays out the soft system methodology in a relatively well organized, brief and useful way that helps me to apply it in my own planning. It starts with a useful "Ten-Minute Account of Soft Systems Methodology for Very Busy People," and adds detail from there. I would very much like to see people who are already skilled in using the methodology link up with people who are concered about sustainability, and see what we could come up with together by way of action plans and learning about our grave situation. Because of this potential application of soft system methodology, I believe this could be a most valuable book for our and successive generations. Well done, Peter Checkland, and thanks to John Poulter as well.

I'm sure if you buy this this book you won't regret it. I've read professor Checkland's books related to SSM but not like this a well orginized manual of the methodology - SSM (Soft System Methodology). The book will help you define your messy real-life situations of your organization. Read carefully and understand what the authors want to tell us about methodology and its utility. We can use the common language of system thinker the system thinking throughout the reading. If you are in charge of the analysis and design of information system of your organization or any human activity system - this book is for you.

Peter Checkland is pushing 80 and this book may well be a valedictory statement on his life's work: soft systems methodology. For two reasons Checkland would like this to be a definitive account of the approach: first, because the authors are convinced that over the last decades the methodology has sufficiently matured to warrant full and definitive codification, and second, because something needs to stop the annoying profusion of faulty interpretations of SSM in the secondary literature. With this book, Checkland and Poulter are offering a bare bones, practical introduction to the methodology.

The book falls into two parts. The first one is conceptual and explains SSM in three passes (first a 5-page preamble for very busy people, then a skeleton version - about 20 pages long - followed by a more fleshed-out account). The second part is devoted to practical case studies, with one chapter focusing on management situations and another one on problematic situations in the field of information systems. Then there is a section on SSM "misunderstandings and craft skills". The final few pages once more sum up the basic principles behind the approach. Five short appendices contain optional material on the theory, concepts and history.

Soft systems methodology is an enormously useful contribution to the field of systemic problem solving. It combines conceptual rigour with an enormous flexibility in application to real-world problematical situations. In its zen-like purity, simplicity and modesty it is almost aesthetic. The subtlety of SSM is reflected by its vocabulary. In SSM we don't refer to "problems" but to "problematical situations"; we don't talk about "organisations" but about "human activity systems", not about "consensus" but about "accomodation". All these differences are vitally important in steering away from a hard systems approach that objectifies the process of enquiry and the problem under study.

So, SSM may be simple but it certainly isn't simplistic: applying SSM demands a very skilled and centered problem solver or facilitator. With the development of SSM, Checkland was one of the pioneers in creating problem-solving strategies that are more nimble, more adaptive, more local, and more socially robust than the heavy-handed, technical apparatus of erstwhile decision-making experts. Today this ethos of "learning for action" is taken further in the explosive development of action learning approaches worldwide.

I think this short, definitive account is a very welcome addition to the SSM literature and a good reference point for anyone - both beginners and more advanced professionals - wanting to learn more about the approach. However, I have one or two reservations about the book. In their discussion of craft skills, Checkland and Poulter focus on the application of the methodology. In my practical experience there is also a lot of craft skills involved in convincing potential clients to adopt the methodology. Indeed, "SSM" may not be the most helpful label to denote the approach. Many people instinctively shy away from the notion of "systems" - they think it has something to do with computers - or they assume that a "soft" methodology will hardly be capable of dealing with their "hard" problems. So some practical advice about how to build confidence in the approach with people that have not been initiated to it would be helpful.

Another skills issue which is overlooked in this book concerns working across the boundaries of a given organisation. Working with a dispersed set of actors brings its own challenges, such as lacking problem ownership and potentially much more outspoken tensions between interests and worldviews. I would love to have some practical advice on this aspect.

My second reservation concerns a conceptual point that lies at the heart of the methodology. SSM users create an organised process of enquiry and learning by making models of purposeful activity. Ironically, Checkland is very ideological about a non-ideological point, namely that these models should reflect a single, "pure" worldview, not some kind of consensus model everybody assumes to be a part of the real world. SSM-based activity models are conceptual devices to ask good questions about the real-world situation and nothing else. As these models only reflect one way of looking at reality and one is invariably working in the tectonic zone of non-overlapping (and potentially conflicting) worldviews, one usually doesn't stop with developing one single activity model: one builds several models, each of them grafted on a particular worldview. This underlines the relative nature of each of these constructs and expands the basis for asking relevant questions.

However, in practical situations it may not always be so easy or even desirable to go beyond a single model. For example, in dealing with complexity people are prone to premature cognitive lock-in: they cling to the first speck of structure they see emerging from the chaos and are unwilling to go beyond and reaffirm the multiplicity by developing several activity models side by side. As a practitioner you may well be facing a problem solving team that would rather embrace a quasi-consensus than to keep several activity models in suspension. So I sometimes wonder whether the accomodation can also happen at a another point. If, for whatever reason, there is no basis to go beyond a single activity model, is it then possible to build a kind of consensus model in which there is a specific module dedicated to dealing with the tensions between different worldviews? The multiplicity remains, but is absorbed by the model itself. Checkland doesn't entertain this option and I doubt that he has any sympathy for it. (It is, on the other hand, an approach that is defended by Brian Wilson, another very prominent practitioner of the methodology whose contribution to its development is nowhere acknowledged in Checkland's definitive account).

A final, but minor point, is the fact that none of the section headings in the book is numbered. This makes navigating this slim volume unnecessarily complicated.

Despite these few reservations there is no doubt that this book deserves five stars for "lifetime achievement". Thank you, Mr. Checkland.

SSM provides a very useful approach to dealing with messy situations involving human beings who approach those situations with differing worldviews. As Checkland also insistently points out, SSM is not about solving problems, it is a about addressing a problematical situation and, through the M(for Methodology) of SSM, learning to improve matters.

Checkland uses simple language to introduce and then elaborate SSM in relative detail, provides examples of its use in various contexts, and finally, provides some discussion with a view to creating insight - including correcting errors in the secondary literature. References to earlier work on SSM in its maturation are well documented. The title of the book is apposite.

It's a book I have permanently by my side at the moment, referring to it every so often as I start to use SSM, especially where other approaches provide little, no or poor insight.

There are, however, several issues which perhaps Checkland may care to clarify in future editions.

Firstly, Checkland talks about the reality of different worldviews which sits at the heart of SSM. I don't think the book clearly shows how multiple worldviews related to the one given problematical situation are addressed. Yes, Checkland talks about accommodation in some detail, but, none of his examples actually show - they only imply - how accommodation is addressed in practical terms - that would be useful.

The difference between issue-based and primary-task initiatives need to be spelled out explicitly by example. Yes, you can work it out, but, there are sufficient subtleties in SSM to make it better for Checkland to do so.

Finally, Checkland clearly comes across as the master of SSM. He has internalized it totally. I don't think he places enough emphasis on the change in mindset required by others to use SSM properly. This is especially highlighted in the chapter - "SSM - Misunderstandings and Craft Skills". Checkland talks about subtlety, changes of mindset, etc, but subsequently seems to ignore his own observations on why the secondary literature is full of errors. I can see from my own experience, that I would have fallen into the same traps as those whom he criticises. Perhaps SSM is more subtle than Checkland realises. He is not sufficiently arms-length to appreciate it. I guess, however, that the chapter is important to ensure that such errors are immediately corrected, ensuring SSM is placed in its proper context.

Overall, a very useful book.

Great book. Residents should use this book, if not buy it. Not terribly expensive either. Excellent. Don't like the EKG book by the same author though.

In concise and clear language, Prof. Park explains how a
medical practitioner can diagnose alsmost any known
cardiac anomaly in a child.

Having a scientific but no medical background myself,
I found it very readable. Some knowledge of cardiac
anatomy and electrocardiography are a prerequisite.

What is especially good is Prof. Parks comprehensive
approach to the diagnosis: all posible pathologies are
listed and when a particular observation
is possible in normal patients, he doesn't forget to point
this out too.

I have only read the 2nd edition of the book (1988), so
I cannot vouch whether the latest (4th) is up to date
on recent advances in the field, be it in pacemaking
capabilities or teratogenic discoveries.

I bought this book on my 4th year medical student rotation for Pediatric Cardiology. It continues to serve me as a resident (just coming fresh off the Cardiology floor). The EKG section is invaluable. The description (and explanation of pathophysiology of) congenital heart defects is outstanding. I am told by fellows that this book has served them through the first year of fellowship then, before having to move onto more advanced texts. Only minus, no explanation of how EP studies work, which is not a huge minus because you won't be seeing much of that as a resident anyway. Bottom line: this is THE pediatric cardiology book that every pediatrician and every pediatric resident should have.

As a resident in pediatrics, you face the usual time constraints, yet you want to prepare yourselfs for electives by reading a comprehensible text. For Cardiology, I have found with Park's "Pediatric Cardiology for the Practioner" an outstanding text, which I actually prefer over more recent review articles for its easy to understand approach. The text is easy to read and is supported by the style of the figures and schemes. This book provides more than an introductory text for the pediatric resident with a general focus, it also provides a valuable and readily accessible resource for cardiology fellows.

Excellent review material; closest review to actual test. I will use again when I recert.

This was an excellent review book and I really recommend reading it from front to back 2-3 times! It provides information in an organized manner that allows for easy recall! I will definitly refer to this book in my practice.

This review guide is an excellent resource for the PNP exam and PNP program. I would highly recommend it.

Read this book front to back 2-3 times and you can rest assure that you will pass the PNP exam. This is an excellent review of pertinent information and is also my most used reference now that I am a certified APRN in practice.
Excellent review guide.

Great reference. I work in oncology but have many patients who come to me with primary care questions (not to mention neighbors, friends, relatives, etc). This reference book has been so helpful in seeking more information on a variety of diseases. Comprehensive, readable, broad and yet inclusive of the data I needed.

book was in good condition as stated by the seller. fast delivery . I got it in 3 days.

Excellent text! Easy to read, complicated terms are defined in text as you read and each dianosis has complete etiology, pathophysiology, differential diagnoses, treatment, management and follow up, as well as information on when and to whom to refer.

This book provides not only the necessary components to meet AACN (CCNE) and NONPF guidelines for program curriculum, but provides wonderful clinical guidelines for practice. This book has replaced Uphold and Graham in our FNP program!

McWilliams provides excellent information for students and early career psychotherapists without the cumbersome jargon that all too often comes with other psychoanalytic texts.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: A Practitioner's Guide by Nancy McWilliams (Psychoanalytic Theory and Therapy instructor, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rugers--The State University of New Jersey) is a guide written especially for psychotherapists, but which contains vital information that practitioners and recipients alike should internalize to promote optimum treatment results. From preparations the therapist should undergo, including submitting to professional psychotherapy oneself, to occupational hazards of the practice, to a careful discussion of basic therapy processes of listening and talking, to advanced, complex issues of analysis and understanding, and so much more, Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy covers all the basic groundwork with the calm, reasoned voice of years of practical experience. Recommended for those considering psychotherapy as a career as well as those involved in practice looking to broaden their awareness of available methods.

As helpful for someone a the end of their career as for someone just beginning theirs.

Accessible and necessary- this is a very helpful guide. One of the only
ones that offers clinicians of dynamic therapies a hands on guide to continue professional learning.

The Self Parenting Program: Core Guidelines for the Self-Parenting Practitioner (You Can Become Your Own Loving Parent) is a great book

This book contains the practical, daily tips that enable an individual to correct the inadequate or abusive parenting that he or she may have received as a child. The focus is on meeting needs that one carries into adulthood and not blaming parents for unhappiness or ineffectiveness. Exercises are very doable and effective.

I really do appreciate the program that Dr. Pollard has put together with his books. This is the second book detailing some of the finer points for practicing daily sessions that he outlines in his first book "Self-Parenting: The complete Guide To Your Inner Conversations" which I would suggest reading first. These are "How To Actually Do It" books. Other Inner Child books discuss the assets of developing a relationship with your Inner Child but discuss little in the way of an actual program you can put to work every day. This is a very practical approach on how to actually develop a relationship with your Inner Child through daily exercizes.

Dr. Pollard wrote this book primarily to help people become reacquainted with their inner child, understand their child's needs, and to have that inner child engage in active dialogue with the inner parent. I first was recommnded this book by a therapist in 1987, and it helped greatly. I also met Dr. Pollard during that time, whose office happened to be across the hall from mine in Malibu, CA.

Now, however, I am a school psychologist, dealing with many kids in trouble, often because of a lack of parenting, either through divorce, death, abandonment, or simply a decision made by a woman to have a child with no father. I now utilize this excellent book in therapy to help kids find their inner parent, which many of them have internalized despite a lack of decent role modeling. The exercises in this book are at least equally helpful for kids needing to find their inner parent as it is for parents needing to find their inner child. This great book becomes more and more relevant as time goes on. Dr. Pollard, you have given this world a great legacy with this timeless book.

Chuck Wintner

I found this book to be a very readable book. I enjoyed (and was shocked by) the observations. I identified many of "stereotypes" that may be sitting in my classroom at this moment. I struggled a bit with what I could come away from the book with, but ultimately it was awareness. Awareness of the children and what they might be going through, awareness of how my own gender affects them, and awareness of the subtext of the classroom that Gallas often refers to. I recommend this book to any teacher who seeks to be aware of all the intricacies of these little minds and to teachers who seek ways of looking beyond the day to day hum to see the "other/real" world of classroom gender issues.

Karen Gallas does not hold back any of the real facts and actions of what happens in the regular classroom setting. She records real observations of real children and expresses her opinions in ways that I feel the majority of any classroom teacher would agree. I found the book difficult to read, the content, in the beginning because the observations seemed too extravagant to be true of the classroom setting; however, I think I was trying to convience myself that these types of interactions don't happen in the classroom, when they really do. After completing the book, I felt I could relate to Gallas in many ways. I was able to identify all the diffferent gender-specific stereotypes within my own classroom, and reflect upon my own teaching style to meet the needs of my children better. After reading this book, I feel like I walk into my classroom and view each one of my students in a different perspective because of this eye-opening novel. I really enjoyed the observations and suggest that any primary classroom teacher read it and reflect upon his/her own students and compare them to the students mentioned in the book.

One of the great privileges of teaching is working within your classroom observing, drawing inferences, hypothesizing, affecting with instruction what you see in the learning with students and trying and testing ideas to bring students into success.

I think, as a teacher of 23 years most in CA, it is very often forgotten that we teachers can discourse together around our work as "mini-researchers" with the idea of examination of our teaching under various lenses. At present, test based NCLB driven work demands teachers focus on "standards". These are specific learning goals for which we use assessments to target instruction and then use strategies to bring students to "proficiency" or mastery of the standard. So there is a kind of assessment(skills) driven reflection going on now, exclusively really... (in our work that might sound like... algebraic functions, what's happening in comprehension tests, literary analysis, written strategies as defined within the state testing mechanism )...and we are driven out of these skills because this is essentially in API and APY punished, published and used to determine our school and teacher effectiveness. Big stakes ride just on the scores. Beyond that, students will in time be judged as able to go on to higher level learning opportunity entirely as a function of their capacity to manipulate these kinds of tests.
That's the way it is under NCLB. Maybe you feel that is "good", maybe neither good nor bad. If you are a teacher it doesn't matter what you think, it is not solicited, listened to or even really at present considered, especially if you teach in areas of need. You are legislated into this format by those not yet able, really to show it works for all children and especially those who it said it would help. If it isn't addressing the achievement gap, it isn't working, that's the crux of the issue. That was the ONLY reason NCLB went into place. Never kid yourself about that. The research or data analysis in schools is, on some level done, usually without great sophistication, touted to "inform instruction" and set up seeing who we need to address. Far less effectively we fumble to some extent with how we need to address those who are not succeeding on our measures with pretty rigid Direct Instruction being pushed in areas of greatest need which means....workbooks, scripts and a kind of death of literature and creativity. That's now articulated as the "achievement gap" soulution, in my school that's for a whole population. Overall it appears those that we were supposed to reach with the NCLB reforms in the first place continue to do poorly.And the upper end is flying higher than ever say down the road in Thousand Oaks. A part of that is because analysis of tests doesn't drive/bridge to good teaching innovations at present for issues of poverty, and second language.It's just funded those with rigid practice and consultation to sell.
This book , and I apologize for the lengthy lead in, is a teacher researcher who was looking at gender, power and identity in a primary classroom a few years ago, as they affect equity and access to learning. In CA, in an under performing school , this text is not dialog-ed in current models we are using.Good Lord no. It would not be one I could take tomorrow and discuss at my school in any fashion. I'd be cut off in planning meetings.(And that's foolish indeed on their part.) We are only "fully implementing our reading series" or basically teaching to tests-that's the focus and that level of lack of sophistication in the work as I was discussing prior means the connection to this books' content would be too difficult for the group to grasp. But there is another level here..Gallas helps you look in another way at what you do.. When I read this book several years ago its potential to assist me in working with students in achieving was a bit more of the puzzle I wanted to find. I'm a performer teacher, motivating, a person often in a Carl Rodgers kind of way, setting up an environment to allow learning to blossom, constructing meanings and I need to study and learn what's going on in that domain. When I read her descriptions of watching "sharing"-that time students gathered and brought something or told something to their peers,I was looking at the dominance issues, how ideas were shared, ways or types of sharing that emerged within the children...I began to relate to my own experiences in the social dynamic and in turn look at the learning both of curricular content and something years ago we called the "hidden curriculum". Gallas is supremely good observationally, her accounts of a type of Silence used both as a power tool by certain children and as a method of responding in the social setting really keenly resonated with my work. Additionally the "bad boy" was well described, and of course made me nod affirmatively talking of their tendencies. And so powerful with peers. Chapter 7 is entitled, "Your Mother Squeezes Your Brains Out Your Ears" just about a little "scary talk" one student is using on another. She has looked in depth at the kinds of equity, power issues in real life work, what it sounds and looks like, and used her intellect to bring forward what this social structure both teaches and is about.
Using the book I began to write during sharing time for five years observing all the students said, categorizing what kinds of relating I was seeing, looking at what students shared, in my case in an area with vast language differences due to immigration and socio-economic factors, I began to look at the students from a different lens. And in using the book as a starting place I noted and followed meaning making with a particular interest in trying to see what it told me not only of my students, but the culture of my room. When I used her book I saw my work and role differently. It was a book with great applicability into my 1st grades. This last year my state data was phenomenal, all Proficient or Advanced, yeah to me, to them. It might disarm my school to know that I did a very significant amount of that work seeking to find ways to empower each student both as social beings and learners. At years start I saw, for instance, a significant"silent group", non sharers or students that held up something without language. And I saw certain students who were story tellers or children I call the shockers...something shocking to relate, those that use teasing/flirtation/beauty...just a great many things. Since I had third(usually teach 1st) I articulated what I was doing to the students, why, what I saw, why I felt we should look at it. By years end I had students saying they were proud of one autistic child who "grew up a whole lot and told us stories that really showed he was coming out of his shell". Well I have data to beat the band about group think. And great talk about power(why does one child always get called on do you think?). Through this I felt they began to learn that we can relate in different frames, we can change patterns, see styles, try something else. I was mediating the experience(see Reuven Feurestein) more than Gallas but I certainly used her to help me approach this work. Sharing remains, as Fulgrum said in his famous " All I Ever Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten" , so absolutely important to students and the social politic. Its power and its place is for me laboratory-like in talking about our relating in the world, as human an activity as we do in school. I hope all teachers have an opportunity to read the book and to become reflective of what is going on within the room.

Finally, a teacher is talking about what happens in classrooms! After so many years of being told by "experts" how classrooms work, we have at last a look into the real life dynamics of social relations in an elementary classroom. Here is a page turner that takes us into the lives of young children in schools and describes how children build a learning community. Here, also, is the account of a teacher researcher who does not know all the answers but hopes to learn more about her students' world by carefully documenting their 'social' work. This book is sometimes hilarious, sometimes disturbing -- but in the end we all learn something about the assumptions we have made about gender roles, power, and the ways young children understand their world.

A fantastic book! It was published just as I had finished collecting all the journal articles I could find on statistical intervals. (Years ago, Meeker told me that he and Gerry were thinking of writing a second edition, but apparently it didn't happen.) I did find an error: On p.131, expression 7.7, the first inequality is incorrect. I believe that it should read m/(y+1)>= (n|x)F... for the lower bound.

There is FREE software for calculating some of these intervals. See the index page http://www.public.iastate.edu/~wqmeeker/StInt/

My one disappointment about the book is that it omits some equations/algorithms for estimating some statistical intervals, offering instead graphs and tables. In these cases, if one wishes to extend or modify a result, one must either find the original source article or derive the missing equations/algorithms oneself, using the tables and graphs to check one's work.

Finally, note that for many intervals, use of results based on an assumption of normality (or other underlying distribution) will yield poorer estimates (less tight statistical bound estimates) than will the use of distribution-free methods. This is true even if one's data appears to be normally distributed and tests for non-normality do not reject the normality assumption.

-Stephen B. Cohen, Ph.D.

Gerald Hahn has spent many years in industry working for the General Electric Company. He and Bill Meeker have written this very unique book that provides an up-to-date treatment of statistical methods for interval estimation.

In most introductory courses students are taught about statistical confidence intervals. However, there are many other types of statistical intervals that are appropriate for particular applications. Most students, particularly engineering students, only learn about confidence intervals and hence they apply them whenever they need a statistical interval. But often they are wrong because the problem really calls for a prediction interval or a tolerance interval. This circumstance is what motivated these authors to write this book.

The techniques are standard and are covered in other statistical texts. However, this is the only book with statistical intervals as its theme. It provides the methods and the context for using the various intervals and more importantly makes the distinctions that help the students overcome possible confusion. This is an excellent practical reference. Its many tables make it a great reference book. On many occasions I have needed Gaussian tolerance intervals or sometimes nonparametric tolerance intervals. I go to the tables in this book first. It also includes some discussion of bootstrap confidence intervals and other asymptotic approaches in Chapter 12 where Bayesian intervals are also introduced. Chapter 13 concentrates on 9 case studies and the appropriate intervals to be used in each case. Other practical issues such as determining the sample size requirements for precise statistical intervals are also discussed in various chapters.

Gerald Hahn has spent many years in industry working for the General Electric Company. He and Bill Meeker have written this very unique book that provides an up-to-date treatment of statistical methods for interval estimation.
In most introductory courses students are taught about statistical confidence intervals. However, there are many other types of statistical intervals that are appropriate for particular applications. Most students, particularly engineering students, only learn about confidence intervals and hence they apply them whenever they need a statistical interval. But often they are wrong because the problem really calls for a prediction interval or a tolerance interval. This circumstance is what motivated these authors to write this book.

The techniques are standard and are covered in other statistical texts. However, this is the only book with statistical intervals as its theme. It provides the methods and the context for using the various intervals and more importantly makes the distinctions that help the students overcome possible confusion. This is an excellent practical reference. Its many tables make it a great reference book. On many occasions I have needed Gaussian tolerance intervals or sometimes nonparametric tolerance intervals. I go to the tables in this book first. It also includes some discussion of bootstrap confidence intervals and other asymptotic approaches in Chapter 12 where Bayesian intervals are also introduced. Chapter 13 concentrates on 9 case studies and the appropriate intervals to be used in each case. Other practical issues such as determining the sample size requirements for precise statistical intervals are also discussed in various chapters.

"Statistical Intervals" has for years been a valuable tool in my professional work, which focuses on environmental statistics. Hahn & Meeker's discussion of how to interpret various intervals--confidence, tolerance, prediction--first opened my eyes to the ubiquity and utility of these techniques. I since have found it worthwhile to have a working knowledge of them all; that would scarcely have been possible without having such a handy reference.

The tables are getting dog-eared and gray from use, especially A-12 (factors for computing Normal distribution one-sided tolerance bounds), in testimony to the frequency I refer to them. The book also contains extensive graphics for estimating intervals and for determining sample sizes: these typically obviate any need to refer to tables or do the computations. There are some neat formulas, clearly described, that one can easily implement in a spreadsheet. These all appear in other texts and journal articles, but having them all in one place, well organized, makes them particularly worthwhile.

This is, indeed, a reference: a statistical "cookbook" if you will (intended in a positive sense, not perjoratively!). This means you will find little theoretical justification for any of the material. For each technique expect to find a clear definition, lucid descriptions, discussions of how to use any supporting formulas, graphs, or tables, all followed by a clear worked example. Of course there's an extensive bibliography if your theoretical curiosity is piqued.

One common technique you will not find (although it is mentioned and references provided) is computing statistical intervals for linear regression analysis. This subject, however, is covered well in other books (such as Draper and Smith's Applied Regression Analysis), so the omission does no harm and helps keep the book to a manageable 400 pages or so.

There are some obscure applications you will not find, in part because they were only under development at the time this book was written. For instance, there is a specialized (but widely applied) theory of "k best of m" prediction limits that is used in groundwater monitoring. For such specialized applications you will have to go elsewhere (such as Robert Gibbons' book on "Statistical Methods for Groundwater Monitoring"). Nevertheless, Hahn and Meeker do a very good job of covering the most widely used applications of statistical intervals.

I do not recollect ever finding a mathematical error or even a typographical error. Over the years I have also checked, and completely verified, the entries in several of the key tables. All in all, this book is remarkably clean and error free.

(This review is based on the 1991 edition; I do not know whether there have been further editions.)

Very valuable, tons of information shared in a very authentic voice, inspires you to be bold; after reading the book and listening to the cd, I was eager and hopeful, filled with ideas, and found myself moving into action.

If you're not able to take a workshop with Kathryn Alice,(I have had the good fortune to do so.) this home study course is the next best thing...and well worth the investment. Often, workshop leaders in the spiritual arena have a difficult time in marketing themselves properly, knowing what to charge, and sometimes in feeling comfortable about charging at all! Kathyrn Alice helps you move past all that...and then gives you step-by-step instructions on how to go about it. Perfect (and totally unintimidating) for someone just getting started.

I found the information in this book to be very helpful to me in my career of teaching other teachers.
The information is easy to understand and includes step by step instructions.
This book has content that will help both the seasoned workshop leader and a beginner alike. It is worth the price of the book just to get the example of what a perfect flyer looks like and why each element of it works.
If you are looking for simple, easy to understand instructions on how to start teaching, please do yourself a HUGE favor and get this book,
Rebecca Marina, professional workshop leader.

Kathryn Alice's seminar and book, both called "Teaching Successful Workshops," cover all bases regarding this topic: the general and the very specific, and the physical (including financial and even microphones!), mental, emotional and spiritual. She speaks to both head and heart, offering both specific and practical, down-to-earth advice and tips and a lot of reassurance and encouragement. I got a real sense that I could do this. One aspect I found particularly useful is the marketing know-how she shared. With respect to you dealing with your workshop participants, Kathryn's advice and approach are interpersonally wise...she's clearly got a deep understanding of human nature. She also shared about how to keep things in balance so it all works, i.e., how to take care of both yourself AND your participants. In addition to the topics listed above, she covered making the most of what makes YOU special and what YOU have to offer, letting go of "failure" attitudes, rules to implement at your workshops to have them go smoothly, and more. Kathryn's main message is "You can do this, there IS a place for you." And she tells you exactly how.

I bought this book because I needed it for my education administration class. I thought it would be another boring book that I would read because I had to. I was pleasantly surprised as I started reading it. The book takes you through a story of a principal and all of the incidents he had to go through. I read the entire book in three days. The story captured my interest. I was reading it for pleasure, not because I had to. I looked forward to reading it every one of those three days. I enjoyed it very much!!!!

This story of Grant Sterling, a fictitious (?) public school principal, reads like a novel as it tells the so-strange-they-must-be-true anecdotes of Sterling's work life. By developing this funny, caring, and slightly imperfect character to follow through his career as principal in several different schools, the author creates an engaging case study of leadership in action. Readers may not agree with what Sterling does--but he will make them think, react, and probably both laugh and cry! Prospective school leaders will get a glimpse at the challenges they will face, parents will gain insight into why principals do what they do, and others interested in education and leadership will be entertained-- as well as stimulated to think. And ALL readers will wish, with some wistful nostalgia, that THEY would have been lucky enough to have had a principal like Grant Sterling!

Not being a teacher or principal, I didn't expect to particularly enjoy this book, but I was delighted to find it funny, touching, and just plain enjoyable! Sterling is a wise and yet humanly flawed main character, who shows us what a challenge it is to meet the day to day rigors of a job most of us take for granted.

I never knew the job of pricipal included so many "hats". Sterling's adventures can both teach and entertain any reader....even those who just want to read this book for fun, and not just as a textbook ( lucky students ). This book should be sold in popular bookstores, not just at the University !!! Super book.