Supplies Books

In my 25-year career in the equipment service business, a few books stand out as being the most noteworthy contributions to the management of service parts. They include Robert G. Brown's Advanced Service Parts Inventory Control (1982), Joseph D. Patton Jr.'s Service Parts Management (1984), and Craig C. Sherbrooke's Optimal Inventory Modeling of Systems: Multi-Echelon Techniques (1992). This new volume by Muckstadt stands to be the most significant contribution to the business of managing service parts since Sherbrooke's volume.

Brown's book teaches the practitioner how to apply the principles and methods developed by him and others to the practical management of service parts. Brown's pioneering work in forecasting and inventory control methodologies forms the basis of current practice across many industries. Patton's volume (along with it's subsequent revisions) is a practitioner's desk reference that provides a convenient overview of the issues and methods employed in the industry from the viewpoint of one with years of experience managing and consulting to the industry. Sherbrooke produced pioneering work in the area of service inventory supply optimization while working at the RAND Corporation for Department of Defense applications in the military. In fact, the most sophisticated service parts supply optimization methodologies in existence today are outgrowths of Sherbrooke's original work at RAND and further research by the Operations Research community.

This new text by Muckstadt is an important contribution in three ways. First, it pulls together in one text much of the significant research related to service parts supply chain optimization to date. Researchers, consultants and practitioners will find that the 260-reference bibliography itself is worth the cost in timesavings in researching the many papers that have been written on the subject. Second, it teaches students of Operations Research the underlying concepts and how to specify and formulate optimization models for service parts applications. Graduate students who complete the material in the text will be well prepared to conduct further research of their own. Finally, Chapters 6 and 10 present valuable new approaches heretofore never published. The time-based service objectives in Chapter 6 directly reflect the manner in which service contracts in high technology industries are written. Decision models that operate in real-time such as those described in Chapter 10 offer the greatest potential for advancing the effectiveness of service parts supply chains.

If you're a fan of Professor John Kenneth Galbraith you'll definitely want to get your hands on a copy of this. It tends to stray away from technicality, as he tends to, and focus on getting the message across.
This book is in an interview format, and is hence even easier to read.
It is exactly what is says, and is very good for an introduction to neo-classical economics, and Galbraith's view of the status-quo trends.

Instrumental to any review textbook is the ability to comprehensively review fundamental concepts while at the same time maintaining brevity and exactitude. Equally important, is a clinical review textbook that presents in lucid detail subject matter from histology and cell biology (microanatomy), Gross Anatomy, Neuroanatomy and Embryology in the first year medical school curriculum in a way that encompasses the material learned during the second year which is more clinically inclined. Anatomy: Review for USMLE, Step 1 Third Edition by Drs. Johnson, Slaby and Bohn of the faculty of the George Washington University School of Medicine is such a book.
Dr. Johnson's review of anatomy for students has been put together in a modular organization, whereby the student can choose the order he/she wishes to follow and still receive the material in a solid and graspable fashion. The premise that solidifies mastery of the various topics is in applying the anatomy to solve clinical problems. This technique of "applied anatomy" gives students a keen perspective of the various aspects involved in caring for patients from a variety of age groups and with vast conditions. Furthermore, the complement of tables, diagrams, and schematics with questions analyzing them allows students a sense of active involvement. In addition, the book is full of state of the art clinical images, including MRI, CT scans, and hi-quality radiographs.
This review guide brings the knowledge of three true experts that have dedicated their career to teaching and pedagogy together with a clinical focus for medical students. Having the privilege of being a 2nd year medical student at the G.W.U. School of Medicine and taking the Histology course taught by Dr. Johnson, Gross Anatomy with Dr. Slaby, and Neuroanatomy with Dr. Bohn was the convincing force in purchasing this text for me. The key secret to mastering this material is to build a strong basic understanding, or framework, on which you can build on in the future as a physician. Dr. Johnson's success in the classroom and in this amazing review text is the way in which he weaves the facts together, presents them in a concise fashion, and places them in the perfect clinical context.
Various human ailments and diseases, congenital or acquired, from retinoblastoma to hereditary spherocytosis are presented in line with anatomical subject matter. For example, the histology and cell biology portion of this anatomy review begins with a clinical scenario of repeated respiratory tract infections and thick mucous secretions in a young patient. From there, a series of questions drawing upon various levels of understanding are presented. No worries if you miss any question, because each series of question items is followed by an in-depth organized mini-tutorial with answers! The explanations are organized to provide as much detail as you the student needs. Generally, each clinical scenario is deciphered as to epidemiology, molecular genetics, in-depth anatomical review of essential elements, and a conclusive paragraph with more fascinating details if time permits. It is this presentation of the material in a sound clinical and molecular genetic fashion that really sets this review text apart from the others out there!
The evolution of the human, from embryo to fetus to neonate is so illustratively dissected. Topics ranging from ectopic pregnancies to pharyngeal arch malformations, and the most common congenital anomalies (trisomy 13, 18, 21) are discussed with brevity and clarity to get the main trigger points across. Importantly, any review text must not only explain and get across the common principles of a concept, but also highlight the subtleties that may be overlooked by students studying for lengthy examinations such as the USMLE. This is exactly what Dr. Johnson's anatomy review does throughout the chapters. For instance, pointing out to students that while an ectopic pregnancy is defined as "anywhere outside the uterine cavity," placenta previa is not an ectopic pregnancy due to the fact that both placenta and fetus are "within the uterus."
The topic of neural tube defects is re-introduced to students with a well-known example of encephalocele shown with ultrasonography. Next, based on that example appropriate diagnostic texts are highlighted. With this specific example, the module also presents variants of NTDs with their clinical severity. The ability to connect significance medically based on structure/functional relationships is clearly without question exemplary in this book. The author's really drill the body's inter-connectedness by addressing how everything works together. It is spectacular that while brevity is maintained the material is solid and effectual for developing a strong background as a future physician. How is this accomplished? Seemingly by the author's ability to understand what is really important to physicians in a broad sense and then working backwards to give the necessary insight to explain what things mean to physician's patients in terms of management, treatment and prognosis.
What's the difference between a tumor above or below the pectinate line? As the author's show, because of the different derivations of the tissue above and below the pectinate line (endoderm vs. ectoderm) the same cancer can present differently with an exclusive prognosis of its own. So given the cancer's origin, it could be clinically silent, painless, and more detrimental based strictly on location. You need to read this interesting case to find out exactly what I'm talking about.
The module on Gross Anatomy does a really terrific job of making anatomy simple to understand with the use of figures and diagrams including labels that put structures/organs into perspective with necessary and sufficient review. Recall of anatomical structures is repeatedly questioned. Certain questions draw from the figures and test your understanding of regional and surface anatomy. Importantly, as throughout the review book, the significance of the body's connections, in this case lymphatic drainage, is accentuated with relevance to disease location/nature. One of the strongest aspects of the anatomy section is the illumination of the workings of the brachial plexus, divided into upper and lower brachial plexus injuries. The authors present ten sites of injury within the plexus supported with excellent diagrams that explain clinically important injuries. Moreover, the muscles of the upper/lower extremities, many in number, are presented in an easy to learn fashion. Diagrams of the brachial plexus and sources of innervation with the muscles involved are presented systematically, sprinkled with clinical scenarios to flavor things up. This section proved to be very insightful and suites those interested in a through review of this important anatomical landmark.
The Neuroanatomy chapter was a splendid delight because it was able to bring together everything that I'd learned in neuroanatomy. The inclusion of sagittal and coronal MRIs (labeled) of the human brain, with accompanying drawings of the intact brain really helped this section flow with ease and enjoyment. What I found very satisfying educationally was the depiction of spinal cord lesions such as the famous Brown-Séquard syndrome, with emphasis of major neurological findings of this and many more abnormalities. The neuroanatomy section will give medical students a very sturdy base to prepare for the boards.
In closing, I would have to say this anatomy review book is a really worthy addition to any physician's library. It is one I would recommend to any colleague of mine. It really has to do with the writer's who have an extensive background in the sciences and the practice of medicine. Given that the future of medicine is personalized: placing the entire genome of a patient on a tiny microchip, I would definitely recommend this text to current medical students preparing for USMLE Step 1 and to physicians already in the field to enhance their understanding of medicine as it is becoming.
By,

M.J. Hajjar-Nejad, MSII
The George Washington University School of Medicine

This book was in the bibliography of Stolen Legacy and I bought it to read the original source material for that work. It was a very interesting perspective from a 32nd degree mason who gave a series of lectures in new york at the turn of the 20th century. In it he describes our modern religion in terms of the symbolic ideas as well as the literal meaning. He analyzes the new testament and the life of Jesus and claims that all religions have connections to secret societies and it is necessary to understand the secrets of these societies to understand religious works and religion from this perspective.

This lesser-known deck is pretty much the best one I've seen besides Andrews' Animal-Wise deck. It's an almost flawless tool, as far as I'm concerned.

One of the things I love about Green's work with totems is that she's incredibly environmentally aware. Some writers, particularly in the New Age, get so wrapped up in "higher planes of existence" and "travelling to the Underworld to meet your power animal" that they forget to connect with this reality. Not Susie Green, though--she takes the spiritual and applies it directly to the worldl around and within us. She has an acute understanding of how the animals themselves see the world, and how we can interact with them on their level of understanding, more instinctual but no less important or powerful.

For being such a small thing, the accompanying booklet has a lot of info in it. Rather than pontificating on what Native people supposedly do (with no research from actual tribes), Green packs a lot of thought about the human-animal connection, different spreads that she finds work well and why, and streamlined suggestions for figuring out what each card represents. Granted, there's always room for more information on that last, but Green gives good starting points for people to work with--she's excellent at making every word count, and again she focuses on an animal-centric point of view.

The artwork on these cards is absolutely astounding. Csaba Pasztors's paintings of the animals are vividly colored and realistic. They're an absolute joy to look at, and I can safely say this is the most visually attractive deck I've ever seen.

Overall, an excellent totem animal deck, limited only by the usual parameters of such things--there are never enough cards for all the animals, and there's never really enough room for all the information on each one. An excellent tool alone, or as a companion to Green's first book, Animal Wisdom.

Lifelong gardener Anne Halpin draws upon her many years of experience and expertise in Annuals, Perennials & Bulbs: Designing, Planting, Maintaining to offer the home gardener and landscaper a detailed guide to creating beds and borders that will showcase these garden plants to their best advantage. Halpin provides 40 step-by-step photo sequences taking the aspiring gardening through essential gardening tasks, as well as in-depth profiles of 125 favorite garden planes, enhanced with 600 color photographs (many of them clearly illustrating essential gardening techniques) and more than 50 watercolor illustrations. Very highly recommended for novice gardeners, and with much of value for experienced horticulturalists and landscapers, Annuals, Perennials & Bulbs will aptly serve as a continuing reference for the complex task of plant placement and selection.

This is Dale Seymour's second book on the subject, Antique Poker Chips. Although it is soft covered like the first book that is about the only similarity. This book is nearly twice the size at 442 pages. The examples of chips is greatly expanded as is the catalog section. There are a number of color pages and the Seymour " coding" system has been modified. If the first book was a, "must have", and it was you can't live without this book.

This review is brought to you by OldWestAntiques.biz.

For the person looking to evaluate skates and familiarize themselves with whats out there; this book is the best I've seen. Its a comprehensive selection of ice skates through the ages; in America and abroad.

"Applied Flow and Solute Transport Modeling in Aquifers" by Dr. Batu is a user-friendly compendium unraveling the complexities of analytical and numerical ground water modeling. The power of this book is contained in two attributes: (1) applied examples illustrating nearly each mathematical approach and (2) the optional derivational details for those who thrive on the theoretical backgrounds of those derivations.

Dr. Batu balances theory with application in this book. Although his recent publication, Aquifer Hydraulics: A Comprehensive Guide to Hydrogeologic Data Analysis (Wiley & Sons, 1998) is considered by many to be the "bible" of aquifer hydraulics, the derivations were detailed to the point of exhaustion. This 2005 edition makes the derivations not only understandable but the cases study examples inspire interest to learn them.

Another particular strength of this book is Dr. Batu's ability to summarize and condense the subject matter without the need for secondary references. The Table of Contents is seventeen pages long illustrating that the book contains nearly all - if not all - hydraulic applications to ground water flow and solute transport modeling. However the book not unmanageable in size and detail, in fact it is user-friendly and well organized coupled with motivating the reader to LEARN how to apply the theorical background, not just follow the derivation for theory's sake. Congratulations Dr. Batu on successfully developing the real aquifer hydraulics bible in this edition.

This book is a must have for individuals in the wastewater treatment field. I have used this book to instruct and train operators in preparation of certification exams. It covers all aspects and processes of wastewater treatment.

The included workbook has perforated pages that makes it easy to make copies to work out the problems. Anyone who studies the material in this book will have no problems with the math portion of certification exams.

It would be nice if the workbook was available on CD-ROM