Technic Books

This is one of the better PMC books out there for explaining things. A must for all metal clay artist.

Just received this book , it is the absolute best for anyone wanting to explore the best in pmc creations. The artists featured are awesome ,their explanations are understandable even by novices.Their work is so inspiring. I have been a fan of Celie Fago,(who wouldn't be?),so it is great to get her instuctions.I know I will just look at it for a while,relishing every word and picture!

As a miniaturist, I've worked with sculpting clay for many years, and PMC is a newly discovered joy for me! Being uneducated in the formal jewelry-making field of expertise, it's all a big play-pen for me, and I have been desperately searching for artist-quality inspirations, and that is what I found in this Luscious book on metal clay artisan styles! Not only am I able to learn techniques, but there are masterful photographs and detailed directions on subject matter that I have never seen before....such as HINGES! Kudos to the Author, and to all of the extraordinarily talented artists who share their tricks of the trade! Perhaps this wouldn't be the best book for a beginning artisan, but even for me, with very limited experience with PMC and metal clays, I have found a TREASURE of KNOWLEDGE in this book! Blessed & Inspired! Deanne

This book has some interesting and different techniques some of which I haven't seen before. I'm really keen to try making a bead core and then doing a flamework bead over the top.

I prefer books with clear photographs to show techniques and this one has mainly sketches. But they are clear and it's easy to follow.

This book is clearly aimed at more experienced metal clay users which is fine with me.

PMC Techniques edited by Tim McCreight is an excellent reference book for metal clay artisans at the intermediate or advanced level. The technique chapters are written by metal clay experts well known in the field, and are presented in a stimulating manner. The illustrations are excellent and the format is very inviting and easy to read. It inspires the reader to move outside the box and incorporate new techniques and experiment. I love it, and hope McCreight will work on a second book incorporating more techniques as this medium is in a state of constant evolution.

Data quality assessment has become so much a part of many data quality programs that we assume that everyone knows how to do it well and efficiently. But this is not the case. Done well, assessment is technically difficult and demanding, often conducted under the press of time, short on budget, and long on conflicting management demands. Much can, and does, go wrong. So Arkady Maydanchik's volume is a welcome addition to the data quality literature. It describes the end-to-end assessment process and each step in a brisk, easy-to-read style.

I especially liked portions of Chapter 8. They lay out a process for actually creating business rules, another one of those nettlesome tasks that people underestimate.

This is the best book on the subject I have seen, and I read almost all of them!
Extremely well organized, taking the reader from the fundamentals through the process in an easy read. He has a way of presenting technical subject in such a way that anyone could understand them. All concepts are accompanied by examples taken from of every-day experience. All the examples are easily understood and well explained. After reading his explanation and examples of even the most complex and obscure data quality issues you are left with the felling of "Oh yea, I get it."

Book is well written, easy to read, great help for anyone who has to deal with data quality issues. It brings systematic approach to data quality testing.

My business, Northwest Database Services, has cleaned clients' data for over 20 years. In all that time I've only met two or three people who do this kind of work professionally on a regular basis. (Our conventions are small.)

With this in mind, it is easy to see why I was so pleased and surprised to find someone had written a book about the subject; especially as thoughtful and insightful a one as Quality Data Assessment.

Arkady Maydanchik brings years of experience and first-hand knowledge to the table, while organizing it into a logical, sequential and, most important, understandable manual. This book goes into the typical causes of data degradation as well as how to find it and begin the process of fixing it.

You can't even begin to fix your data until you have a clear picture of what's going on "in there", so data assessment is the first and maybe the most important step in achieving data consistency and reliability. If your work involves data assessment, migration creation or maintenance, you should have this book on your shelf. It's that simple.

But wait, there's more. This is just the first volume in a set of data assessment and cleaning processes, tips, tricks and tools books that will be forthcoming. I'm told that the second volume in this series will be published in October 2008. I know it sounds incredibly geeky, but I can hardly wait.

Data quality analysts and practioners needed this step by step guide to assess the quality of the data in their organization. The book is well organized, it's very practical and easy to understand. The examples are excellent and meaningful and the author has an interesting sense of humor.

I use this book with my high school biology class. I hope it helps them get biology vocabulary words by understanding word meanings

It is somewhat hard to say this of a book of more than forty years old but this would seem to be indeed what it is cracked up to be, an indispensable reference for anybody interested in the composition of scientific words. I would expect that someone would have come up with something better in the time since the appearance of this book (it first appeared in 1927, reaching the present form in 1956). However everytime I have a question on a scientific word this book produces something useful, usually an answer to my question or otherwise some interesting new bit of information.

The only quible I have regards printing quality. The original typography is very ambitious in trying to condense so much information on a page and it suffered a little in this facsimile reprint. Even so printing quality is pretty decent, it is just that it is short of the crispness I would like to see.

I am not sure how many people will read a review for book which is #174,000+ on Amazons list. It is certainly NOT a bestseller but it is a fantastic book nonetheless. If you are a taxonomer or just wish to know about word origins as used in scientific nomenclature, this book is for you. I must admit, I rarely use my copy but I have it when I do need it. Besides having derivations from Latin and Greek, it has explanations useful for people who may wish to synthesize words for scientific use. At times, it is fun to use this book as a guide and make up scientific words for the most mundane things - try it and see how wonderful something like a flyswatter can sound. Levity aside, this is THE 882 page authority on history of the English language, The nature of Greek and Latin and the formation of scientific terms.

Perhaps one of the best and most comprehensive book on scientific derivations available. Pretty much any word that you want to find is in the book with detailed explanations. I highly suggest this book for those who like studying languages and every science lab should have a copy available.

Wow-this book was a treat! Are you ready to add another dimension to your jewelry making?
Experts tell you exactly how to do sterling granulation, niello, anti-clastic raising, non-conforming dies, cold connections, fold forming, toolmaking, kum-boo, depletion gilding, patination, instant etch, and reticulation. All written by the folks you admire the work of in these areas.
Congratulations to Tim McCreight for assembling this little jewel.

This is a great book for advanced metalwork. It is a guide of decorative techniques and some forming of metal. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in learning some interesting and fun techniques for decorating and creating their jewellery. It also includes a short history of where some of the techniques evoloved. The instructions are clear and include drawings and diagrams. I wouldn't recommend this book for beginners because having some prior working knowledge of the metals is definately needed for using this book. A Great book and reference!

Each chapter in the book provides a short lesson on a different technique in decorative metalworking. There is a lot of good detailed information; enough to get you interested and started with some ideas. The chapters range from patina recipes and application methods to anticlastic raising to making your own tools (and several things in between!). As a beginner in the metalworking field, I found the subject matter fairly accessible, and definitely tantalizing. I want to get in there and start hammering away! A very helpful and inspiring book.

This superb book discusses why language was mans most valuable tool ever developed and critiques opinions that say other wise. Enjoy, Mumford was a true geniu

Lewis Mumford was one of the 20th century's most important philosophers, and the two-volume set Myth of the Machine (Volume 1 is Technics and Human Development; and Volume 2 is The Pentagon of Power) are probably his most important books: the summation of his life's work. In writing as elegant as it is clear, Mumford makes plain the death urge that has always underlain civilization, which Mumford calls "the machine," and later "the megamachine." This is a social structure organized not around any organic human needs, but around the "needs" of the machines that have come to characterize and control our lives. These are crucial, incisive, devastating books. I cannot praise them highly enough.

rather than the typical modern myths about mankind and its evolution - evoked by TV-series like "The X-Files" - this great book - as an amazing anthology of the human intellect - shows the "whole truth" ( that is not outhere by the way, but in our brains ) and how much we are going to lose of our human capacilities if we adore the principle of the machine!

Let me start by saying that I had the pleasure and privilege of working directly with Chris at the last company I worked for.

The work that Chris undertook with my colleagues and me was ground-breaking, and even though it turned our world upside down, for all of the right reasons, it was an enjoyable and illuminating journey.

This book, which is an inspired piece of writing, bears absolutely no resemblance to any other book on strategy, IT or otherwise, that I have read. Most of these books are long, dry and, I have to say, almost unintelligible. FruITion, on the other hand, is an easy read - maybe even too easy, as the narrative style reads more like a good novel than a serious business book. And, of course, this was the intention, and it succeeds beautifully.

It would be easy to miss the important lessons this book teaches you, were it not for the fact that Chris summarises the key points at the end of each chapter.

I would therefore recommend reading it at least twice - once for the pleasure of a well-written book with a central character you really do care about, and once (or more) to make sure you take note of the real messages, which are all about realising the value of a company's investments, not only in IT but in all business change activities.

Having worked in that corporate environment for nearly 20 years, many of the characters and roles were too life-like for this book to be anything but the results of a great deal of experience and first-hand knowledge. In fact, I even sort of recognise people like me in there somewhere, as well as some that remind me of past colleagues, managers and directors, although it's clear that Chris has wisely invented his characters after working with so many people over the years.

When we worked together, it was back in 2000, and while this book neatly summarises much of what he brought to the company at the time, it also demonstrates a continual advancement in thinking as his already significant experience has grown.

I can testify that those elements of this book that were put in place as a result of his work altered and improved everything - what started as a reinvention of a very small team of people ended up affecting almost the entire company and the way they conducted and thought about their business.

It may be a cliché, but I really do wish this book had been available not only to me, but to many people at the company, all those years ago.

For those steeped in the traditions of the "IT department", this book will both shock and surprise you - the core message represents a quantum leap in thinking that will make you wonder why you haven't thought of it yourself.

And for those "normal" people who have always been outside of IT, and wondered what they all do, this book will be an eye-opener and a revelation in how to make IT work with and for you in your organisation.

This is one book that you really won't want to put down, and it has my highest recommendation!

I've really enjoyed reading this book. It is a such a refreshing change from the typical IT textbook, as the author builds up characters and a plot to illustrate some of the friction that is explicitly (or more subtly) present in the workplace between business and IT. The style reminded me of The Goal by Goldratt. The author develops a lot of female characters including the CEO, Juliette, which I also find a refreshing change from a male-dominated C-level.

I can't believe it. He saw my worst nightmare five times over every day.

I believe this book is a very inspiring book that tells you how one lives its life. It gives me a very vivid picture of what the author is writing about, It is like a book come alive, and it's like a movie in some way. I am very proud of this man who sees an opporunity and takes it and achieves it. I can see a deaf man who can do anything, Not even blood stops this man. Death overflows this book, I can see the smoke of the dark cloud come out of this book and it feels scary but is also a very inspirating book which is full of true scenes that happened to him. I recommend anyone to read this book. It may encourage young kids to achieve their dreams and not to let anything stop them. Who can be an Emt like this man and face alot of discrimation? I wonder who can stand this much?
Read this book!

If I had known learning to play piano was this easy I'd have done this a long time ago. I started with this book after my teenage granddaughter used it. She learned to play a decent sounding song so fast that I was encouraged to give it a try. Wow. In less than 4 weeks (I devoted more hours to it than my granddaughter did) I am able to read,understand and play the basic sheet music herein. I've ordered lesson book 2 and can't wait to get started on it. This lesson book covers, theory, sight reading and technic in such an easy friendly manner. No stress just lots of fun and a real sense of accomplishment. I'm looking forward to the day I can play duets with my granddaughter. I'm going to play along with Christmas Carols this year instead of just listen to them. Buy into this course you'll be glad you did.

I use this method book to teach adults beginning to study music and the piano. There is one concept on each page which is great for the busy person. This makes an easy goal to reach each day with a minimal amount of practice time.

I am a private voice and piano instructor, and I have found Alfred's Basic Piano library to be an excellent teaching tool for very beginning students to the intermediate student. It is best to incorporate all the "core" books in the series (Technic, Lesson, Theory, Recital, and possibly one other of your choosing...there are many to pick from, such as Hymns, Popular Songs, etc.). Each book supports what's being taught in the other books and I have seen a great deal of progress in my students while using this series. Almost all of my students now work from the Alfred Series. A side note...I LOVE Amazon because you can buy the books used from outside vendors. Lessons are an expensive investment and you don't HAVE to have brand new books to start out with. Gently used ones are great for the very beginning students...but even if you do buy brand new, they are reasonably priced and are well worth the money.

Having compared this piano series to the more recent Faber, Alfred and Leonard, I have to say this is one of the most reasonable and sound (pedagogically speaking) ways of learning how to play piano. Each component of this series (technic, theory, piano and performance) when used TOGETHER provide a solid musical foundation whether you wish to one day play at Carnegie Hall or you just want a good solid musical foundation. All books reinforce taught concepts and students start on black keys then progress to certain piano "positions" of key of C,F,G and so forth. Great value and if you wish to incorporate more modern pop music (this has its own various styles of supplemental music) you can do so easily. One nice thing is that this series seems to progress faster than other series so you save money in the long run while getting the same conceptual material. Good value with great theory backing it.