Preparation Books

I bought this book and it was the only book I used to prep for my real estate broker's exam. I took the exam on June 20, 2007 and passed (it was my first try).

There are 15 chapters in this book and at the end of each chapter, there is a practice quiz you can take to test your knowledge on what the chapter just covered. Each quiz contains anywhere from 45-150 questions, but most quizes have over 100 questions. The book also contains 3 practice exams (150 questions each) at the very end to test you on all the topics covered in the book.

I went through all the M/C questions in this book twice (3 times for the more difficult chapters). The night before my exam, I actually had a last-minute panic that the practice questions in the book would be different from the actual exam. I shouldn't have worried. The questions turned out to be very representative of the actual exam. I didn't see more than 2 or 3 questions in the exam that dealt with a topic or situation that I didn't come across in the book. In fact, on many questions, I actually knew what the answer should be before I even finished reading the question since I had already answered many similar questions in the prep book!

I am not affiliated with the author in any way. In fact, this is my first book review, ever. I felt compelled to write this review and share my experience with others as I recall how anxious I was about the quality of this book when I purchased it.

I think it is a great book for your 5th grader to practice on as a way of gaining language and math skills and confidence to perform well on the CST exam.

I believe that this book was much better written than the other book I had purchased called "California Spectrum". I liked the clarity in both the content and format of this California Test Practice book. The practice book covers all the reading and math concepts for grade 5. There are numerous practice exercies along with mini tests and answer keys.

This was well-written, concise, well-referenced, and contained practical as well as rare cardiology cases. EKGs, echo results, and other studies are included where relevent, and the discussions are brief yet thorough. It was a nice companion to my 4th year clinical cardiology clerkship.

One of the best books not only for Cardiology rotation but for IM service and for "on-call" cardio problems.

Bought it as it is needed as a textbook for the program I am enrolled in.

This is the only study guide available for CCI's cath lab exam. The format is very readable and the graphics extremely helpful. The real meat comes in the explanations - following the questions. The reader feels that Todd enters into a personal discussion with you on the topic of the question - why it is important, tips to remember, why the answer is correct and why the distracters are wrong. The cost is high, but worth every penny when you consider how much work and dedication have been put into it. If you want to pass the RCIS exam you will need these books. They are also good for training new cath lab employees.

This book came very timely and it was in excellent condition. I do appreciate that!!

This is an excellent textbook for physiology. Makes you think. Instead of memorizing you get to put your knowledge to use. Answers give you reasons. Great addition to any physiology class.

A Jew In America:
My Life and a People's Struggle for Identity
By Arthur Hertzberg
San Francisco: Harper (October, 2002)

Review by Elliot Fein

The late Howard Cosell, the great radio and television broadcaster at ABC Sports, used to pride himself on "telling it like it is," on saying in public on the air the absolute truth about individuals and events in the world of sports. For over six decades, Arthur Hertzberg has been "telling it like it is" about people and events in the world of contemporary Jewish life in North America, in Israel, and throughout the world.

Without the distinct Brooklyn nasal tone accent that made Cosell famous, but in a distinct voice all his own, Hertzberg has been saying and writing the absolute truth in his long and distinguished career as a rabbi, as a university professor and scholar, and as a CEO leader of various national and international Jewish communal organizations.

His book, A Jew in America: My Life and a People's Struggle for Identity, an autobiography on the famous people that he has met (usually on a first name basis) and the events that he has experienced (often as a first hand participant) is a good read because history has often proved his predictions right.

Soon after the 1967 Six Day War, Hertzberg was one of the first voices (perhaps the first American Jewish voice) that warned of the danger Israel would face if it did not return immediately most of the territories it obtained to its Arab neighbors. Hertzberg prophesized that it would rip the moral, democratic, and Jewish soul of the country if Israel attempted to keep the West Bank and Gaza and subsequently put itself in the position of occupying a growing and hostile Palestinian Arab refugee population.

Hertzberg was one of the first to fulminate against the theology that has developed among many Orthodox Jews since 1967 that the outcome of the Six Day War sets the stage for the onslaught of the world's messianic redemption. For a small country that is struggling to live among, not against, the nations of the world, Hertzberg saw from its inception how this nationalistic and fundamentalist interpretation of contemporary events could (still) easily alienate Israel among the nations of the world and lead the contemporary state on a future suicidal path.

In the early 1970's, Hertzberg was part of a contingent of American Jewish leaders who met in Israel with the then Prime Minister, Golda Meir. Golda, from a recent visit with President Nixon in the United States, wanted to talk with members of this contingent about race relations in America. She wanted to express her concern about militant African American leaders publicly articulating separatist, nationalistic, and anti-Semitic attitudes after the assassination of Martin Luther King and the decline of the Civil Rights Movement.

Hertzberg responded in this public discussion to her concern by expressing his own about Israel. He warned the Prime Minister that a `Black Panther' problem of their own was developing in Israel, that a growing number of non-Ashkenazi Jewish citizens, recent immigrants from North African and Asian countries, were feeling estranged from mainstream Israeli life.

Hertzberg predicted that the present Labor led government coalition would pay a heavy price in future elections if it did not start to listen and formally address some of the complaints and concerns of these Edot Ha Mizrachi Jews who perceived their citizenship status as second class.

Golda and her Labor party did not seem to heed the advice. In 1977, Menachem Begin and his Likud Party, with the overwhelming support of this ethnic constituency, dethroned the Labor establishment for the first time in Israel's history and formed its own coalition to lead the Knesset, Israel's parliament.

Being able to read the present and make educated predictions about the future is a gift that Hertzberg possess. It is a gift, though, that does not always translate into effective leadership. It is questionable, when reading the book, whether Hertzberg, as a pulpit rabbi or as the head of a Jewish communal organization, looks beyond the realm of symbolism in the various leadership roles he has assumed throughout his career.

Hertzberg demonstrates an uncanny ability to look at the big picture, to see the forest through trees. He is able to articulate goals and a direction that the institution or organization that he leads ought to travel. He never seems to follow through on the dreams and direction that he envisions and proposes.

Perhaps he does not feel it worthy in his latest book to write about the day-to-day work he did with other professional staff members and volunteer lay leaders trying to put his dreams into practice. Or, during his long leadership career, he perhaps felt it was beneath his dignity to engage in the mundane work after he articulates the grand vision.

Many rabbis of Hertzberg's generation have been known to take a patriarchal attitude towards their career and calling, where they look at themselves as separate from and not simultaneously as a part of the people that they lead. Hertzberg, in this regard, does not hesitate to assert without conflict his independence.

Since this patriarchal attitude usually does not succeed in the often corporate and collaborative world of contemporary Jewish life today, it is not surprising that Hertzberg has chosen in his later years to abandon the pulpit and the Jewish communal world for a university professor position where he can focus his individual energies exclusively on teaching, research, and writing.

I worked for fifteen years as a Jewish Educator in a synagogue. I had a hard time getting excited reading about the study and outside activities that Hertzberg engaged in throughout his distinguished career. It took effort for me to stop asking the question of who was tending to the store of his synagogue or Jewish communal agency while he was involved in so many endeavors that went beyond the realm of his leadership position.

I am glad I did make the effort. From reading A Jew In America, I gained a more profound understanding of where we as Jews have come from in America and a strong sense (as Hertzberg would confidently argue) where we as Jews ought to travel.

Elliot Fein teaches Jewish Studies at the Tarbut V'Torah High School in Irvine.

Got the book in 3 days (including the weekend), in excellent condition! Couldn't ask for better service than that!