Vans Books

If you want your organization to really be successful in EDM and PDM, read this book, it explains well all the principles. Its a good comprehensive introduction to Engineering Data Management and Engineering Workflow Management. Its a thorough text for serious EDM and PDM managers and others managing product data. Practical industry oriented chapters about engineering data, engineering workflow and EDM implementation. Technology and its vendors change fast, but the basic information and conclusions of this stands the test of time. Those responsible for managing CAD data may especially find this book useful. It aided me particularly in thinking about these potentially very complex subjects. Should be read with Rodger Burden's excellent 'PDM: Product Data Management' which moves the clock foward 10 yrs, and 'Product Lifecycle Management: Paradigm for 21st Century Product Realisation' from 'Engineering Information Management Systems' author John Stark, PLM Visionary, for the way PLM emerged from technologies like CAD, EDM and PDM. Recommended reading.

I found this book after reading Stark's Product Lifecycle Management book published in 2004, 13 years after this one. For me Stark's PLM book puts him up there as a leader among the PLM thoughtleaders and a principal visionary of PLM. I wanted to check out how accurate some of his preceding writings would be ten years on. In Engineering Information Management Systems he is writing mainly about Product Data Management software and workflow in the product development area. The book is clear, detailed, complete and useful nearly fifteen years after it was published. He had a clear view of what those systems could do a long time before they became a commonplace. On that basis the ideas in his PLM book could still be with us in 2020. A 2020 vision of PLM. I recommend reading this book. The basic facts are as relevant now as they were when published in 1992.

This is an old book dating from the late nineteen eighties, but has very good descriptions of the needs and reasons for edm systems (engineering data management systems, engineering document management systems, engineering drawing management systems.) As well as the needs and reasons, there are excellent descriptions of the functionality of these systems, and examples of them. The author also explains nicely how to do an implementation project. There are more recent books about product data management (Burden, Product Data Management) and product lifecycle management (Stark, Product Lifecycle Management: Paradigm for 21st Century Product Realisation) but this one is very good value for money, is a classic in the field, has a good description of the basics, and is one of the first to relate product data management to application systems like cad/cam and to working methods like concurrent engineering, and I recommend reading it.

Bruce makes sense of what everyone is now calling "data warehousing." There is still a lot of confusion and hype in this market; however EIT provides the clearest frameworks and real world examples of how to truly exploit the data warehouse within the enterprise (and beyond). The author was ahead of his time in identifying that applications, not simply underlying technology, are were companies can gain an ROI in DW. However, EIT goes beyond that to identify specific business applications that deliver the greatest "bang for the buck" (pardon the cliché). I strongly recommend the book to both IS managers and business unit managers who are building or have built a data warehouse and must now figure out what it is good for. Solid "10!"

Bruce Love's book transcends the well-worn nostrums of data warehousing and wisely avoids the tired and homiletic redefinitions of database, networking, and data mining technologies. It is a book of case studies, grounded in experience and focused on business value, and is as useful today as it was in '93. For those who have read it, EIT is a valuable collection of metrics to return to regularly; for those who haven't, click on "Add it to your Shopping Cart," above

Whether you're data mining or building advanced decision support capabilities, this book is a must read for anyone who is considering implementing, enhancing, or evaluating data warehouse-based applications. You will need lots of bookmarks as you will find this book an important reference to re-visit often as your systems evolve

From the first page of this book I was enchanted with the Essence of Love. The author, with his words, has given me a reason to believe that there is still romance and excitement in relationships. The poems are sensual and written in such a way that anyone can feel the love that is illuminating from each entry. I would recommend this book to couples and singles alike, it will truly enhance the meaning of love for all those that have the pleasure of reading it.

I purchased and read Mr. Blackwell's book. I must say that I was touched. I read that he dedicated the Essence of Love to his fiance. It's rare to find a man to be in tuned with his feelings and express how he feels about a special lady in his life. She is a very lucky lady to have someone like that to be in love with her. When you get a chance, please read this book. It deals with dilemmas that everyone can relate to. I truly recommend this book to anyone. It dosent matter if they are old or young. Young man, I am very proud of your accomplishment. I give two thumbs up.

This is the most beautiful, emotional, and poetic love book that I have ever read. These thoughts and expiences that come from this beautifuly well written book are truly what every person at one time or another has felt and experienced. The author of this book seems very open with his feelings and expresses them very well.
vish

This book is a rich compendium of the philosophical underpinnings of existential psychotherapy. The author has invested her career in a branch of psychotherapy that is most relevant to modern man's search for meaning, but which has suffered unfairly for lack of experimental results. She has founded the "London School" at Regent's College of a discipline that has a deep philosophical tradition, much of which has unfortunately been "lost in translation" to psychotherapeutic practice.

She has crystallized into concise chapters the seminal works in pure philosophy by Husserl, Heidegger and Sartre, as well as those of a more psychological bent by Jaspers and Lacan. Her clear understanding and genuine belief in the basic existential situation that must be confronted in abnormal treatment as well as normal life as "everyday mysteries" comes through in her interpretations of otherwise impenetrable originals.

I would suggest this as required reading before diving into more formal treatises and case studies such as Yalom's "Existential Psychotherapy". The bibiliography is also a gold mine for key philosophical references, from which she has picked some of the most memorable and useful passages.

The author makes it clear that she values rationality, but longs for a depth of orientation that does justice to the world we find ourselves occupying.

Thus she finds the Jungian approach too magical/mystical, and the cognitive approach too narrow.

She reveals the inconsistencies inherent in all forms of psychotherapy, and offers this approach as at least potentially helpful.

It is good to discover a sincere and honest analyst of this rather odd circumstance in which individuals-in-distress turn to "experts" for help.

A realistic hope, however limited, is much more valuable to me than all the soaring unrealistic hope ususally offered.

Van Deurzen provides a strong and well-reasoned overview of thinkers who have inspired existential psychotherapy. Helpful and intelligent.

Van Praag does a wonderful job of bringing a great deal of information about old tape machines together in one fun to read book. Open reel recorder information dominates here, but the theory section covers compact cassette and 8 track as well. For readers interested in technical data, a section deals with circuit drawings. The photography of the equipment is very high quality, it does justice to these old machines. Van Praag's style is matter-of-fact and rather relaxed. He is certainly a realist, you can tell he has spent many an hour working on audio recorders. His how-to-do section on repair/restoration is thorough, funny, and quite accurate. Whether you just fooled around with a cheap toy recorder as a child, or made your living keeping the big reels turning, you will enjoy this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has even remote interest in electronic equipment. This book is profusely illustrated and written in an entertaining yet informative style that will keep you reading for hours! This book will have special appeal to those who collect or have an affinity for vintage electronics equipment equipment.

If you have an interest in audio tape recorders, whether historically or an owner (I grew up with them), this book is excellent. There is none other like it. Coverage is complete with lots of great photos of tape recorders (like Elvis's Ampex 350 studio deck). If you are a hobbyist or technician, there are schematics and much repair/rebuild information. I was also a broadcast engineer and have recently rebuilt several Ampex reel-to-reel recorders. I searched everywhere for reference information and there wasn't much, other than old service manuals. This book covers all the Ampex models plus just about everything else, and is just plain fun to read. Many of the long lost home recorders I knew as a child are included. You won't be disappointed by purchasing a copy of this book.

I didn't realize Dick Van Dyke was such a marvelous Christian himself. This book has countless religious stories and quips from children that are a real treasure. Dick has done a wonderful job putting them all together with the skill of an excellent writer so that you don't want to put the book down until you've finished it.

This book contains short stories and comments by children of different religious backgrounds who believe God can do anything. They approach the concept of God with a natural child-like faith, believing that God hears and answers their prayers, even when they ask for a puppy, and they get a kitten, instead. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Everything about it will uplift your soul. This book is for anyone who needs a good laugh during their trials and tribulations. The children took a complicated God and made Him simple to understand. The author, Dick Van Dyke, may have written this book 30 years ago, but the comments in the Forward and the opening paragraphs to each new chapter still stand today. The book lets us know that it's not a corporate religion we should seek, but an individual, personal relationship with our Creator (as seen through the minds, eyes and tongues of children).

This is one of the greatest books I've ever read. I found it in my father's house while visiting with he and his wife in South Carolina. When I began to read it, I couldn't stop. I got on Amazon to see if it was sold anymore and am greatly relieved to find it is as I do not want to deprive one household of a copy so that another may enjoy it. I absolutely adore this book. It is such a treasure of simplicity and heartwarming humor, "the things that kids will say" and the belly-laughs you'll get from them. I truly wish that this book would be republished and marketed as a bestseller because it deserves not only that kind of review and publication, it would be good for our fragile, frightened world to benefit from the grace and humor of childrens' perspectives of God. I have literally wept, interrupted my father's evening review of his crossword puzzles (a dangerous thing in this household), and called friends of mine who are at home in Colorado wondering why I am calling them while I'm on vacation to share quips and quotes from this work. It doesn't matter if you're a Christian or not, if you're a member of a different faith, even an opposing faith, this is one of those intergenerational, international, interreligious, totally universally applicable works that only comes along once in a blue mooon. I am so grateful that I found this book, and I hope others come to know, love, and embrace it as well.

The House on Beartown Road tugged at bitter-sweet memories as I identified with the craziness we all go through trying to do all the necessary and out of the ordinary things as a mom, daughter and full time career counselor. The humor, pathos and frenetic moments stood out in the book as universal elements all of us go through when parents become children and out of necessity give us over their life. As Ms. Cohen remarked "the usefulness of being constantly busy gave me little time to think about all the things bothering me," with a new full time job, a house to run with three active children, and a run away mom who came to visit me and never went home again. As she described in her book, life takes a toll on everyone in our immediate families and it takes a long time for life to ebb and flow into any kind of natural order. Sometimes I feel that my mom died cell by cell. Elizabeth Cohen helped me remember what I went through but more importantly, find closure. I thank her for putting into words the impossible things that we go through to cope and make life work.

I've never been to Beartown Road but thanks to Elizabeth Cohen's vivid portrait of her life there, I've come to know the place. She writes in such a way that I "felt" the seasons change as well as "saw" the changes in Elizabeth and her family. Elizabeth's struggles were portrayed with clarity, warmth, honesty, and poignancy. In describing what life was like on Beartown Road, Elizabeth's sense of humor carried her and this reader through the hassles and triumphs.
I once read a quote that went something like this, "You're never ready for what you have to do. You just do it." That's what Elizabeth did as she undertook the care of her aging, ill, father, Sandy, and the nurturing of her blossoming infant daughter, Ava.
I laughed, I cried, I related. I highly recommend "The Family on Beartown Road."

Elizabeth Cohen pulls no punches in this beautifully-written story of the year she served as caregiver to her father, Sanford, who struggled through the late-middle stages of Alzheimer's disease. Suddenly the single mother of a toddler and responsible for Sanford's care, she sets down a record of her daughter's growth, her dad's decline and her own struggle as a caregiver. In this unsentimental, yet lyrical book, Cohen writes about her father's tantrums, having to clean him after he has soiled himself, and her difficulty finding daytime caregivers while she works. She also writes about their deep moments of connection that transcend the logical workings of the mind. As she records this watershed year, she finds both meaning and grace in her role as daughter and caregiver. The strongest point that this book makes is that Alzheimer's disease does not dissolve relationships; it transforms them.

After caring for my father, who had progressive dementia for over four years before his death, I regard this book as a gift and an inspration. A caregiver's job is a lonely one. No matter how much we try to connect with support groups and with other family members, we must shoulder an overwhelming responsibility. Books that detail the stages and symptoms of Alzhiemers and tell caregivers how to cope are important. The Family on Bearstown Road is a guide of another sort that is equally important.

Fanny Stevenson was a strong woman but deeply affected by the attitudes of her day. What a strength she had though. Love this book, any woman would appreicate her story, very well written.

This biography is, as the title implies, a romantic story. Fanny Stevenson 's drive for life took her from a comfortable Midwestern family life to Gold Rush San Francisco to Impressionist Paris to the South Pacific, with three colorful men, the most famous of whom was Robert Louis Stevenson. She was maligned for her fierce adventurousness in her own era; Alexandra LaPierre resurrects her story with admiration, and tells it well.

it is ashame that this book left store shelves so quickly and has become so hard to find. it is one of those rare gems of biography, seemlessly weaving facts and writings and the many stories of a life into a work with a novel-like quality. the work gracefully unfolds the tale of a powerful, courageous woman. fanny stevenson was a woman ahead of her time and she was of her time. she traveled alone across our continent and to europe at a time when women traveled with companions at the very least. she m

Focused Synergy is an easy read, written in a conversational style with astute observations and analogies that drive you to think about your relationships. The result is a move to action and ignition to make things happen, whatever `it" is! It is music to the eyes!

This book was not only helpful but insightful and engaging. I felt I was part of a secret club learning concrete methods to take my life and my business to the next level. Read it, pass it on and then ask for it back for a second read!

Robert Van Arlan has created a unique approach for personal development - through music! If you are a leader and go through life beating to your own drum, or WANT to be a leader and still "beat to your own drum", this book will help you deliver a personal "tune" that all will listen to. I love music and his approach is brilliant!

In college I took Howard Van Till's course in Advanced Astronomy and observed first-hand some of the research that went into this book. In person, Van Till is one of the most committed physicists and christians that I know. He takes a substantial amount of talent, integrity and faith and spreads the light for all. The Christian world has given him mixed reviews because many of them are strict "six day" creationists, which Van Till is not. You will be hard pressed to question his physics and he shows the flaws in many simple-faith approaches. I have read dozens of books on creation and cosmology -- this is one of the best.

It's a shame this book is out of print. The book is divided into three parts: The first describes what the Bible tells us about Creation and the Cosmos. The second details evidences gleaned from the study of the Cosmos, in particular, astronomy. The third section offers a new perspective on the relationship between science and religion, in constrast to a traditional young-earth creationist perspective.

Like the German Green's motto " neither Right nor Left but OUT IN FRONT" this book takes on both sides of the CED debate.
and in doing so moves the whole discussion into a new higher level:
---quote---
"It is my contention that neither the scriptural nor the scientific view of the cosmos is complete in itself, despite the fact that each view contributes an essential perspective on the complete reality. Through the spectacles of scriptual exegesis, we Christians see the cosmos as Creation: we see where it stands in relationship to God the Creator,who is its Originator, Preserver, Governor, and Provider. Through the lens of scientific investigation, natural scientists are able to observe the internal affairs of the material world--its coherent properties, its lawful behavior, and its authentic history. Both views are integral parts of what I call the 'creationomic perspective,' the view of the cosmos that is gained when natural science is place in the framework of the biblical doctrine of creation." preface pg ix
---end of quote---

The take home message is simple enough:

God is Creator, Sustainer, Law-Giver, and Provider.

The best way to read the book is to xerox the chart on pg 198 and keep it at your elbow. It summarizes the entire book!!!

To Scripture you address questions of external relationships:
Status Origin Goverance Value Purpose
To Science you address questions of internal affairs:
Properties Behavior History

This in a single table is the argument of the book, but to understand the critical component: the categories of questions you need to hear the example he uses.
Holding up a piece of paper, he asks you to describe it, one voice answers GREEN, another offers SQUARE. pg 204-5 The paper is in fact, both. Is these two pieces of information contradictory, of course not, it is complementary, coming from two different viewpoints. The extend the example in a way that the author does not, to which person do you address the questions concerning shape, to which do you address questions concerning color?

The first part concerns Scripture and how to build a correct hermeneutic to interpret it by. Again he introduces a good illustration, i suspect from his years of teaching this has proven to be a good memory technic and organizing principle: good illustrations. It is the vehicle model of Scripture, pg 14ff, a caravan of vehicles carrying packages with things inside the packages, think a bunch of UPS brown vans. (looks remarkably like the compiler theory train) The vehicle is the cultural historical context as expressed in the literary genre the passage is written in. The packages are the specific story, particular symbolism in a poem, specific cultural patterns. The contents are God's message to His people, in all places, throughout all time. And from pg 83, "In either case, if we attempt to consume both the content and the packaging, we may encounter significant difficulty in chewing, swallowing, and digesting the combination. Those who want to feed on the truths of Scripture must take care to differentiate between food and packaging." The two cases to distinguish are a journalistic account of the actual events of creation(think video tape) from the primeval history account that we have in Genesis.(think metaphorical origins story- mythos)

Scientism and YEC(young earth creationists)- chapter 11, " more heat than light, the creation/evolution debate" and the real battle with unbelieving scientific naturalism as a religious doctrine. Van Till makes it clear throughout the book that the YEC position of apparent age is nothing more than bad science and bad theology, for it denies the coherence of creation. It denies that God created the universe with sufficent thought to have inside it the things it needs to build up the complexity we see around us. By more importantly it denies the value of creation as an arena for the providence of God, to operate through the use of physical means.

I finished the book with a touch of sadness. For the time, energy, and people the false debate of CED is consuming in the Christian community. While good frameworks like Van Till's are neglected for want of people to work on them. If AiG or ICR did not exist, and that energy and talent was used to advance Van Tills type of arguments the Church would be far along the way to competing with the real enemy. Scientism, the world and life view that we are nothing more than sophisticated machines, the result of mindless and random meanderings through the genetic space of living beings. This is a religious, a metaphysical battle, not scientific. For science rightfully limits itself to the things of this creation, the things we see and the forces we can theorize behind them. The YEC have diverted an enormous amount of energy into bad science, trying to fight a battle at the level of facts, denying the clear evidence for an old earth, while misinterpreting the preamble of the Great KIng of Genesis One as a scientific how-to-do book on the manufacture of us. Sadly we are all the weaker knowing that good ideas like this book have been around since 1986 and are yet to be discovered.

I hope you discover this book as a result of my review. It will well worth the time to read, and i didn't even try to tell you the gems in the astronomy section--part 2.