Berg Books

These books contain a great deal of advanced spiritual information. The Berg's state that it is information that can stand alone, but since it is a detailed explanation of the deeper meanings of God's law, it is really necessary to have a background in that law. It would be wise to read the five books of the Torah first, although they have notes in the text referring to the appropriate texts of the law the Zohar section is discussing.

Most Christians will take exception to much of what the Zohar has to teach, but that is because of their own misunderstanding of the law and the ultimate sacrifice it required. Once there is an adequate background in the law and its spiritual meaning (Romans 7:14), the Zohar will begin to take on a great deal of meaning for the Christian, and his eyes will be opened in ways, and to truths that cannot be found in church teaching, and may not easily be discovered from the Bible. "He who has ears, let him hear," Matt. 13:9. "For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it," Matt 13:17.

Before i read these books, i was really searching for reasons of life and why do things happen to me the way they do. I was so sick of being a victim and just being in NO control of my life. And then my best friend told me about the Zohar and told me that The Zohar facilitates the elimination of negative blockages - rather than experiences situations that cause you to become emotional, you became emotionally charged. So i bought it, and i have really experienced miracles in my life. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

This is the main books for all the teaching of kabbalah. Written over 2000 years ago during the item the bible was written. The Zohar is the commentary of the bible and the torah. Scanning the letters in this book will protect you, and the teachings are the greatest gift you will ever receive. Just own the book and having the book will give you great protection. The reading is advance, but their are great study guides by the Kabbalah Centre and other kabbalah organiztions around the world. This collection of books is worth every cent you spend on it.

Um, where do I start? THIS WORK IS NOT THE ACTUAL ZOHAR. It is a very badly translated and censored children's version of the Zohar, which is so badly butchered that it is misleading and useless.

Things you should know: Philip Shraga Berg, a former insurance salesman, claimed to be a rabbi and started his own Kabbalah religion called "The Kabbalah Centre". All of Berg's books on Kabbalah are full of terrible translations, censored and edited texts, and horrible commentary. His "explanations" are rejected by all Jewish authorities, Orthodox and non-Orthodox, religious and academic.

Finally, he isn't even accepted as a rabbi or as a Kabbalist by any of the Jewish denominations, and his work is rejected as totally inaccurate by modern-day. Instead of reading his nonsense, please check out books on this subject by real authorities and good writers:

I would suggest reading "Zohar: Annotated & Explained" by Daniel Chanan Matt and Andrew Harvey, or "The Wisdom of The Zohar: An Anthology of Texts", Ed. Isaiah Tishby, and translated from the Hebrew by David Goldstein.

i have read these books and have been sooo overly energized with LOVE for all people and for the world. I am so exicted to get the bigger picture about why i am here, i have been searching for that my entire life and finally i found it.

This book provides a background and context for the murder-suicide of Ricky Rodriguez, the involuntary prophet-apparent of The Family, an international religious cult. Also known as The Children of God, the group began in the late sixties under direction of David Berg, a self-appointed prophet, polygamist, pedophile, and narcissist. It continues today, led by Karen (sp?) Zerby, Ricky Rodriguez's mother. The book is a very well-rounded account of the cult's beginnings, compared with other so-called new religions, written by a journalist who covered religion for major newspapers for many years. It's a quick, informative read. I also recommend Not Without My Sisters, a memoir by three girls who grew up moving in the cult around the world.

Very well written, although disturbing book: I didn't know much about the Children of God/The Family except for a short segment on 60 Minutes several years ago about Ricky Rodriguez and the murder-suicide. I read this book a few months ago, and it's still in my head. Definitely worth reading but the level of abuse described is horrific.

Well-written tale of neo-religious cult spinoffs that head down a dark and desolate path. Expertly told story should please students of religious history as well as true crime readers.

This book was not titled or described as it should have been. This book was so far off base from the description on the front of the cover " A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge." No the book should have been titled " Boring account of religious cults." The author never focused on the story surrounding the pretence of this book. It was to be about a MURDER not religious history of the 60.s 70's ect. Did not even finish this book.

My name is Josh Bruni and while I haven't yet read the book, I have heard about it and would like to make a few comments about COG/the family.
I was born and raised in "the family". I left when I was 20 in the year 2000. My mother and 6 brothers and sisters still live in "the family" in various parts of the world. I'll never rejoin and I don't recomend anyone else join. What a lot of people who've never been a member don't realize is, when you have been born into "the family" you don't know what "normal" is. When you leave, it takes a while, several years in my case, to realize how weird and twisted some of the things you've been taught actually are. Any book that exposes the inner goings on of that group, I strongly recomend. See also the book "Not without my sister" by ex-members of the same group.

Josh Bruni
[...]

this is the first of many amazing Kabbalah books by Rav Berg. Each one is more & more amazing

Rabbi Berg takes the amazing teachings of kabbalah out of the shackles of religiousity and opens the doors for everyone to benefit from it's transforming power. Now, since I've got the long, cliche sentence out of the way... I read this book after reading several other texts on the topic and though I wouldn't necessarily call it an "introduction" for anyone without any metaphysical background, it is definitely a great beginner book for someone who has some metaphysical foundation. Many of the books I read made things far too esoteric and did not in any way address practical application of the knowledge, Rabbi Berg excels at making the reader not only understand the information, but also internalize the knowledge and apply it. It's no longer book knowledge, but it is a passion for me... Kabbalah has changed my life and in large part to the teachings found in this book.

For those who say that Rav Berg has no credentials or that the material is ungrounded in any reality.... Rav Berg has not written anything in this book that is his own material. His writings mirror those of his teacher's teacher, Rav Yehuda Ashlag. Once you've explored kabbalah and want to get serious, I suggest you read this book by Rav Berg and IN THE SHADOW OF THE LADDER by Rav Yehuda Ashlag.

Many people that write about Kabbalah. Here is someone that knows what it is. Great Start & should get more of latest books

Forget about it. "Rabbi" Berg is no more of a rabbi than I am a rebbetzin (to use an old quote).

Do some research on the Web and you'll see some interesting things about him.

This was the first book I read when I began my deep spiritual study of Kabbalah. I found it to be a wonderful introduction to the ancient teachings that were once reserved solely for Rabbi's and `Holy One's'.
We are ALL `Holy' and deserve to learn and understand the wisdom that is now available for everyone.
I found it most helpful to study at the Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles, where the teachings go into much more depth, and where more insight can be gained.
If I learned anything that had lasting value, it was that `All comes from the Light'. This was a great lesson to understand `how' and `why' certain events happen in our lives when we may feel shattered on every level.
Just a word of caution: If you feel that it is becoming `too much' then back off, and study another path for a while. The study of Kabbalah is DEEP, and for some, it is too deep. I too had to back off, but I found myself returning to the many books written on this subject once I integrated the wisdom with genuine understanding. All in all, this is the ONE book that sets the stage for this deep spiritual study. Highly recommended from my heart,
Barbara Rose, author of "Stop Being the String Along: A Relationship Guide to Being THE ONE" and 'If God Was Like Man'
Editor of inspire! magazine

Great book, but necessary for class so I am biased.

Berg's overview of qualitative methods has a great deal of promise, but it fell short of my expectations. I adopted this as a text in my qualitative methods course, and soon found that the treatment of various qualitative methods was overly vauge and confused students about the scope and purpose of qualitative research. In particular, Berg blurs the lines between focus groups, action research, and participant observation. One is left with a sense that all qualitative methods are equal and interchangable.

Each chapter alone is well written, but there is a lack of an overarching structure to the book that results in an over-simplification of qualitative methods. I do not plan on utilizing this text for courses again, it is too vauge for beginners and too basic for experts. It is also to general for use as a reference book.

Prof used this book in a PhD Qualitative Research and Evaluation class. It is a nice refrence on the practical asspects of some of the more nebular qualitative methods rubric books. Ex, it gives some insight as to interview "feeling"... Having focused on Qualitative Methods in England... you should pair it with more 'hard core' works as well. Hope this helps.

In the most recent edition of Bruce L. Berg's Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, the author makes a number of important addition to his work. This edition has a much greater emphasis on methodology-how to collect, organize, and present qualitative data-while maintaining a strong theoretical backing. A new chapter on ethical issues in field research is perhaps the most important addition to this work. The book still appeals primarily to students and researchers in social sciences, but the author attempts to broaden his scope into other fields not typically associated with the social sciences, such as nursing and business.

In his introduction, Berg laments the absence of comprehensive books on qualitative research methods, a technique that has lost out to a more quantitative, data-driven approach to field research. Berg also criticizes the number of texts written about ethnographic methodology that focus on only one aspect of field research. Elsewhere, Berg suggests that too often books on field methods presuppose a strong background in data collection techniques that most students simply do not have. Berg attempts to rectify these problems, by providing the novice researcher with a book that offers a comprehensive view of field methods that anyone can use. He is, for the most part, successful.

While the author discusses a number of different views concerning qualitative research design, he ultimately suggests that individuals begin collecting data as soon as their ideas are formed. Berg says that there is some value in combining the "research-before-theory" and "theory-before-research" approaches. This method has the researcher conducting investigations and gathering information as needed. The author looks at this as a "spiraling" pattern, where the researcher is able to learn theory while conducting investigations and to direct his or her research based on preexisting theories. While this method has its pitfalls, it seems like a more realistic approach than the traditional "linear" method, where an individual moves from idea generation to literature review to data collection without looking back.

Much like the "spiraling" approach that the author presents, the book itself moves effortlessly between discussions of theories in qualitative research and practical advice, which is given in the "Trying it out" section at the end of each chapter. The book looks closely at seven different strategies for data collection, including "focus group interviewing," "ethnographic field strategies," and the collecting of oral traditions and "historiographies." New to this addition is the chapter on "action research," which seems in many ways reminiscent of the concept of "participant observation" found in other areas of the social sciences, particularly anthropology. This new emphasis on action research also reflects a trend in the social sciences towards the incorporation of charitable work into a field research project. Action research, according to Berg, takes into account the history, culture, and "emotional lives" of a group of people as a means of tracing the sources of that community's problems. The author points out that all field research, on one level or another, evokes social change, but action research brings about change more directly.

Closely related to this notion of action research is the book's new chapter on the ethical dimensions of field research. Unlike other books on field methods that include ethical issues at the end on the text as an afterthought, Berg's book places his chapter on ethics towards the beginning of the book, before he goes into any detail about specific projects. While the rest of the text is full of practical advice, it is obvious that Berg is not out to establish any moral absolutes regarding field research. Instead, the author presents the reader with a number of real-life scenarios where ethical concerns have come into play. Berg also presents a number of factors for the reader to consider, such as consent, privacy, and the role of institutional review boards. He also provides an historical overview of ethics in field research that gives the reader an idea of how this issue has evolved.

Berg's book is perhaps the best resource for field researchers that money can buy, but there are still some issues that the book fails to address. Since the book focuses primarily on Western research in sociology, there is not much consideration for cross-cultural problems that may arise. Elsewhere the book fails to acknowledge the rising concern over intellectual property, which is relevant to social science research. For this reason, the researcher may want to supplement his or her reading with other texts that address global issues and intellectual property rights, but, overall, this book is by far the most thorough and practical resource available for those interested in field research.

This book is a textbook on qualitative research methods at undergraduate level. To be a good and useful enough textbook on research methods, it must have two features:
1. the extensive coverage of existing methods to be used in the field.
2. elucidating those methods not only in abstract and theoretical words but also with live examples from real field works to grasp real sense of each method.
Fortunately, this textbook has both aspects. It embraces from classical methods like interview, fieldwork to young methods like sociometry, historiography. Moreover, it deals with, in depth, post processing of data. For quantitative methods, such processing has been automated with such packages like SPSS or SAS. But for qualitative methods, standardizing data is tricky and complex for the nature of data. But data should be treated anyway. This book briefly introduces reader to that process. Furthermore, unlike other textbooks simply enumerating various methods, this book attempts to explain them from consistent viewpoint, dramaturgy. As you know, dramaturgy interprets the activity of research itself such social process as the object of research. Such an approach orients readers towards what the research would be like in the field. In this view, research is portrayed so in dynamic and vivid way as to get a image of research with more ease.
But as the author incessantly points out, research methods could be learned not by reading but by doing. You should practice it to know it. Explanation in textbook is no more than a map to the destination, not the destination itself.

I recieved two of these books and paid for two books, but didnt want or need two of them.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Whether you are a spiritual seeker or not, there are many insights and teachings one can get from it. I liked the conversations of Adam in Gan Eden and G-d asking where he was. I always wondered about that, and the Kabbalistic viewpoint makes great sense.

The ideas of depression are sometimes the opposite of what traditional medicine teaches, but they make sense and are worth reading.

This book provides "psychological" metaphysical insight into what really ails us. I highly recommend it for those who want to truly be happy and for those who want to make others around them happy and fulfilled.

I originally read this book because I have a family member who suffers from bi-polar disorder. However, as I began reading I realized that there are tools for everyone to use. Even if it just for those days when you don't feel so great. It's worth a read.

For years I have had anxiety,panic disorder and depression. This book has helped me tremendously gain the tools and knowledge to look beyond me, having these problems leaves you in a selfish state, and once you realize that helping others creates more light for you and this world then your symptoms begin to disappear. So reading this book will help you realize that right at that moment your worring about you, you need to help someone else...and mark my words, your worries will turn into happiness and love. Everyone needs to read this book, it would make the world a better place.

I'd have given five stars if the authors had included examples, or better yet templates, for the design treatment and design documents. Given the amount of material given this is a surprisingly easy read. It is very well organized and it is very easy to find information your after without having to wade thorough extraneous information. This book should be on the bookshelf of anyone who is doing game design, computer or otherwise.

Game Developer's Marketplace is well-written and interesting, and covers just about everything to do with designing and marketing a game. Its scope is so large, however, that the author is able to touch only briefly on each topic, favoring general advice for those new to the industry over in-depth analysis useful to the more experienced. I recommend the book only for those who have little or no previous game design experience, and for them I rate this book at 5 stars. If you already know what you're doing, however, give this one a pass.

This book does an excellent job of combining the insites of many experienced industry people. I especially was glad to read the section on getting funding. The book is very readable, well organized, and extremely useful. I wish the CD-ROM had some sample documents though - such as a sample design spec and perhaps letters for funding. Overall, very useful and helpful book.

There's... all available publically on business practices in the games industry, which is quite peculiar, given how large a field it's become, and given the minute detail in which, say, the film and publishing industries have been covered. Thus, this is almost a necessary volume for anyone outside the field interested in getting into it.

That said, it is so relentlessly and laughably upbeat as to be beyond belief. The truth is that gaming may not be quite as corrupt as the music industry, or as vicious as Hollywood, but it can be a pretty darn brutal field in which to work.

This book is proberly one of the best books that i had ever bought. For a wannabe game developer like me, this book gave me the insight toward what i should expect. It gave in detail what one should know to make themselve a complete game developer. Wheter you are an artist or a programmer, this book will help you guide yourself toward a sucessful carrer in this field.

The contents of the book shows an interesting structure but it does'nt help much in the end as it turns out that the author digs into vague concepts without any practical guidance on how-to implement them. It sounded like this book is about reading a proprietary architecture of an application server and its relaibility characterstics. The author comfortably escaped from narrating the details of design for solving real life problems...because the devil is in the design details and it is MISSING in this book. Unfortunately this book won't get you hands-on anywhere except for catching few jargons from the alphabet soup.

I've read this book cover to cover. If you are expecting some "tome of knowledge" that is going to impress people but collect dust, this book is not for you. This is going to be a well worn desk-reference for managers, architects, and software engineers.

The book's nineteen chapters cover all the practical elements of assurance that should be expected out of commercial software. Not only has the author covered the issues of what the software has to do, but also has covered the human aspect of fielding the software and the very human aspect of system and application administrators that have to deal with the software in a changing environment. It is obvious that the author has been in each situation that the book describes. Oh yes, and to prove that there are three case studies that show the assurance process in action.

This is a must-get book if you are leading a team, work in a corporate environment, or are about to launch you public facing application.

Software architects seeking advanced applications development guides should take a look at Clifford J. Berg's HIGH-ASSURANCE DESIGN: ARCHITECTING SECURE AND RELIABLE ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS, Many enterprises rely on software which is insecure or fragile and which requires expensive maintenance: here software architect Clifford Berg shows designers that high-assurance applications with proven reliability can be easily built using the same design principles as the less reliable models. Chapters identify key problems in unreliable software, show how to improve it, and tell how to obtain the requirements and systems which meet the goal of reliable design.

We got this book few weeks ago and I had an opportunity to gather some facts about the high-assurance design which the book claims to be. I found this book a bit interesting as it tries to reach quite a lot of QoS _ilities of an enterprise application. The good side of book is it will help you if you are trying to design a straight-forward or simple solution with known tiers and components using a single platform. The book narrates a design methodology that will help you well in a simple architecture that does not mandate integration and interoperability with proprietary and non-proprietary applications. On the opposite side, I noticed quite a lot of missing gaps if I consider my application as a bunch of Web services or an ESB based delivery channel or portal solution that interfaces with a Microsoft application. The book does'nt help me much how can I build a high-degree of assurance with all those capabilities. We know this is a complex problem and there are lot of trade-offs to make and that is the missing piece of this book. Otherwise you may find this book as a good read.

I read six books on software security recently, namely "Writing Secure Code, 2nd Ed" by Michael Howard and David LeBlanc; "19 Deadly Sins of Software Security" by Michael Howard, David LeBlanc, and John Viega; "Software Security" by Gary McGraw; "The Security Development Lifecycle" by Michael Howard and Steve Lipner; "High-Assurance Design" by Cliff Berg; and "Security Patterns" by Markus Schumacher, et al. Each book takes a different approach to the software security problem, although the first two focus on coding bugs and flaws; the second two examine development processes; and the last two discuss practices or patterns for improved design and implementation. My favorite of the six is Gary McGraw's, thanks to his clear thinking and logical analysis. The other five are still noteworthy books. All six will contribute to the production of more security software.

"High-Assurance Design" (HAD) is the sort of book one should read when sitting down to design decently complex applications. It's not a network architecture book, so you won't read about using router ACLs, firewalls, and host IPS for "defense in depth." Rather, the author is trying to teach what he calls "intrusion-aware design" (p 88). The book contains some real gems, like this principle on p 78: "A system cannot be said to be secure if the design of the actual system cannot be articulated." That is exceptionally accurate. The author explains how developers should "design for verifiability," which really applies to anyone building a complex system. I also bought the idea that reliability is the parent concept, with security as part of reliability (ch 2).

For a person who doesn't develop software professionally, I found all of those concepts to be very powerful and helpful. Programmers, especially Java and object-oriented types like Cliff Berg, will probably really enjoy later chapters in HAD like ch 7. (It was too much for me.) In some cases, however, I questioned the utility of the principles in these later sections. For example, p 301 offers this gem: "Run securely." No kidding! This and other non-actionable (or non-demonstrated) principles resulted in my offering four stars instead of five. The author is also a big agile programming fan, especially liking Extreme Programming (XP). XP, however, seems antithetical to many of his recommendations. His attempts to square this circle didn't really convince me, although certain aspects of XP are definitely compelling.

I recommend reading HAD to benefit from the wonderful insights found in the first half of the book. You'll find that apply very well to multiple security problem sets -- not just secure software development.

This is the one book for every aquatic insect taxonomist. Any book like this needs constant updating and the editors do this very well. There is no other taxonomic document as comprehensive as this one for North American Insects.The drawings are a real help in the identification of aquatic insects.

This is a good book, but I would not recommend for a beginner. The dicot' key is thorough, but as a new comer to identifying aquatic inverts it was a bit overwhelming. It has not been the easiest key I have used in my studies. My peers more adept in aquatic inverts were more at ease with the book.

I am a fly fisherman who purchased this title to learn more about the aquatic insects in streams and lakes. I was very happy with the drawings (plates) in this book, but they and the text are a little above (graduate school level?) what most fly fishermen are looking for. The drawings are of insect parts, not the entire insect in most cases! What is helpful is the detailed description of the life of each insect, and what its behavior is and where it would be found in Lentic (lakes) or Loctic (streams) bodies of water. Before purchasing this detailed study of entomology, fly fishers should first read more practical titles such as "Caddisflies" by Gary Lafontaine, "Mayflies - Top to Bottom" by Shane Stalcup, or/and "Matching Mayflies" by Dave Hughes. The great thing about Aquatic Insects Of North America is that in this one text, it covers completely all of the insects fly fishermen will need to know...just put on your PHD hat before reading it. It is spiral bound and well indexed by families!

Unfortunately, Merritt, Cummins and Berg did not pay close enough attention to the details of this 4th edition. There are numerous mistakes and revisions that are not correct. They lifted whole sections from the 3rd edition and put them into new pages without changing the page numbers the keys direct you to. The Coleoptera section has too many changes and uses outdated or incorrect terminology. The best part is the new color photos at the beginning, even though they were not used in the keys themselves. Unfortunately there are mistakes in the labeling of some of the photos. Maybe this edition was put out too soon. Hopefully a correction edition will come out soon.

The 4th edition of an Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America is a great upgrade from the 3rd edition. There is nothing else out there that compares to this book. That being said, there are a number of errors in this book. There are couplets that take you to the wrong place. It is especially prevalent in the Hemiptera family key where it sends you to the Odonata section for the genus keys. It seems like the section was lifted from the 3rd edition and pasted in this one without updated the page numbers. All in all a great book, just needed a better review before being released.

After reading this set of stories, my mind drifted away to the rolling hills, and mysterious and seductive atmosphere of Scotland. These works are rich in detail, and the story lines are adorable romance. Now I hope that someday I get to visit Scotland, and experience everything that the women in the book got to see, hear, and feel. Only in my dreams until one day in the future. Very good storylines, even better daydreams. ;-)

If you want to think deeply, which most people don't when they settle down with a romance, this isn't the book for you, but if you want a light and pleasant journey to an idealized Scotland, you'll be happy with this book. The four stories are enjoyable, although I personally found "Sinfully Scottish," about a devilish and manipulative millionaire, much too fake and saccharine for my taste. My favorite was "Lassie, Go Home," which had a fun and spunky heroine. All of the stories have an American woman visiting Scotland, meeting a sexy Scot, and deciding to stay. It's a fantasy a lot of us enjoy, and who can beat the settings that always involve a castle? I don't think I'll be rereading these stories, but they were definitely a nice diversion, like a dip in a cool stream on a hot day.

Four romance novelists got together to write a short story that shows the beauty of Scotland. These stories involve clueless women who get their foot stuck somewhere and gets help out of their predicament by a long-haired highlander. At first they cannot stand each other and near the end of each story fall madly in love.

None of the four stories give a feeling about Scotland. It relies heavily on stereotypes and the lack of scenic pictures in the book does not help at all. One gets so upset with the female protagonists that the visual imagery of the their location gets lost in the text. One of the most poorly edited stories in this anthology is Connie Brockway's LASSIE GO HOME. Devlin Montgomery is helping American Toni Olson to find a kidnapped dog by giving her a ride on his motorcycle. Dev is physically attracted to Toni in her jeans and her seductive cowboy boots. One night they are staying in a room where they wind up playing strip poker. Toni has apparently lost her pants and is about to lose another hand. Devlin is staring at her thinking, `If he won another hand, what would he ask her to shed - shirt or fantasy-inducing boot?' My question is the following, have you ever taken off your jeans while still wearing cowboy boots? It is near to impossible without having them removed first.

There are probably better stories that bring the essence of Scotland into their plot but this is not one of them. This book might seem like a good idea at the time but apparently too little time was given in the making of it.

Courtesy of The Best Reviews

Lassie, Go Home by Connie Brockway
Toni Olson is an American woman in Scotland to bring home a Beautiful Border collie she bought in hopes to advance her own breeding program in the States. Devlin Montgomery is the owner, reluctant to sell his beloved dog. When Dev's overseer, Mr. MacGill, takes off with the dog, Toni and Dev must track him down. Along the way they find a lot more than and old man and a dog.... They find a love that just possibly may last a lifetime.

This was a cute story full of laughs and more than a little sexual tension between the primary characters. Ms. Brockway has drawn a fun tale, just the right length for a relaxing summer evening (or a cold winter night!) The end of the story was a bit different and fits the story's theme perfectly.

Sinfully Scottish by Patti Berg
Emily Sinclair is a national bestseller of cookbooks full of her own decadent desserts, set against stunning backdrops and passionate tales. Colin Dunbar is a reclusive Scot, famous for his family's unique recipes for whiskey. Emily and Colin make an intriguing wager, allowing her to photograph his castle for her next book and search for a secret, forcing them into living arrangements which generate far more heat than his strongest blend of whiskey.

This was quite a steamy story, the passion between the characters exploding off the pages. The heat radiating from this one is enough to burn the reader's fingers while turning the pages. A unique premise here, Ms. Berg has penned a delightful story.

The Maddening Highlander by Debra Dier
Ann Fitzpatrick is an archeology professor come to Scotland on a quest for treasure and a legend. Iain Matheson is something of a playboy, known as much for his adventures with the ladies as his advances in his film production company. The two team up to solve the mystery of some hidden family treasures. But they uncover a lot more than that... they find a hidden passion as well.

This was a classic theme, revolving around a common legend of the Highlands, but it still works. Nothing new in this one, but it was fun anyway. It is a lively tale just right for some light reading.

Castle in the Skye by Kathleen Givens
Maddie Breen is a New Yorker, working in a high profile career, who is desperate for some time off. She heads to Scotland for the birthday party of an old family friend. Here she meets Iain MacDonald who is restoring an old castle for her friends. The sparks are immediate and electric between them, igniting a passionate blaze. But will they overcome the hurdles to their once in a lifetime love?

This was probably the favorite story in this collection for this reviewer. Plenty of tension from the moment Iain and Maddie meet. There was even a good dose of intrigue, with a subplot involving the castle renovations.

All in all, a very fun book to read. The common theme of American women going to Scotland for some summer fun and finding true love in the process. There was plenty of passion in each story and a good dose of comedy as well. This is definitely a perfect book for a hot summer night...or a cold winter one that needs warming up.

Novellas, or short novels, written for compilations are always a challenge for an author, since character and romantic development have to happen so much more quickly than in a novel.

This particular compilation is above average, with no bad stories pulling down the quality of generally average or above-average stories. All the writing was good, with appealing characters and, of course, the appeal of the Scottish personality and landscape.

"Lassie Go Home" by Connie Brockway is charming, with very charismatic characters and decent romantic development. There are some laugh-out-loud moments as well!

"Sinfully Scottish" by Patti Berg is good, as well. The erotic undertones are strong, with well-developed, charming characters. The romantic development wasn't as strong, though - a common characteristic of a novella. It was still better than most novellas, just due to atmosphere and good writing.

"The Maddening Highlander" by Debra Dier is another decent story. The writing is good, and the mystery a nice touch, but the characters seemed a little flat and stereotyped.

"Castle in the Skye" by Kathleen Givens is a nice story, with an especially good heroine and some strong supporting characters. The hero seems a bit too good to be true, but the relationship is well-developed.

All in all, this is an above-average compilation of stories with good Scottish atmosphere. While none of the stories stand out as especially good, it's consistent throughout, and an easy, enjoyable read.

Did they even have an editor for this book? I took a class with Dr.Berg and his class was interesting but the book was not helpful nor was it well organized.

Whats better than taking a course where the professor actually wrote the book. Well I did just that and was disappointed. The class had many visual demonstrations but the book had very few pictures which made me wonder why his teaching style did not reflect the textbook.

Haven't read the book, but Mr. "bites my wacker" shouldn't be allowed to lower the average score.

Acoustics is an interesting subject, at all levels, and very important of course due to the human love for music and the need for high fidelity sound reproduction. This book is written for a readership that does not have expertise in physics or mathematics beyond the high school level. The authors do an excellent job, and the book could be used in classes on music theory or a class in physics for the humanities. The audiophile reader will gain a greater appreciation of the physics behind quality sound reproduction. Heavy use is made of demonstrations to illustrate the properties of sound, and most of these are easily set up in the classroom. I have used most of these demonstrations in the classroom, and can highly recommend their use to reinforce the understanding of the physics of sound.

The book opens, appropriately, with a discussion of simple harmonic motion, with the properties of this type of motion related to sound waves. The nature of simple harmonic motion as periodic, in contrast with noise, which is nonperiodic, is pointed out very early on. To introduce the concept of resonance, in particular the concept of coupling resonance, the author use the coupled pendulum system. This demonstration is easily constructed for classroom use and very effective in illustrating coupled resonance. Lissajous figures, which arise in the study of the relationship between two waves, is discussed in some detail.

The difference between longitudinal waves, which sound waves are, and transverse waves (such as light), is illustrated in chapter 2. To reinforce the difference between sound and light, the authors use the "bell in vacuum" demonstration. A demonstration for measuring the speed of sound is also described. Ripple tanks are used to demonstrate Huygen's principle, interference, and parabolic reflectors. The origin of beats, so important in music theory, is discussed, along with a very detailed overview of the Doppler effect. Ultrasound, very important medically, is treated also. A very brief discussion of infrasonic waves is given. Infrasonic waves, which are outside the range of hearing since they are below 20 Hz, are only experienced as vibrations. They have recently been discussed in the popular press as being explanations behind "haunted" houses. The anxiety felt in some old houses is thought of as being due to infrasonic waves.

The origin of the overtone series, so very important in music theory, is discussed in chapter 3. The three laws of Mersenne, which govern the fundamental frequency of stretched wires, are also treated. The Kundt's tube demonstration is used to describe the properties of longitudinal standing waves, and the famous Chladni plates are used to demonstrate standing waves in two dimensions. All throughout the chapter the properties of standing waves are related to music and musical instruments.

Fourier analysis and synthesis, which is typically very formidable mathematically, is presented in chapter 4 in a manner that is very understandable to the targeted readership. The Fourier synthesis of triangular, square, and sawtooth waves, along with a pulse train, is discussed. After a treatment of Fourier spectrum of these waves, the authors discuss the factors contributing to tone quality.

In chapter 5, the authors turn to more practical considerations, wherein they discuss how to create electronic music. Analog synthesizers, although very antiquated by modern standards, are used to illustrate how to combine waves to obtain special sounds or effects. The authors then immediately turn to digital synthesizers and keyboards. They discuss the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), but the equipment they illustrate in the chapter is considerably out of date.

The anatomy and physics of the human ear and voice tract are discussed in chapter 6. The diagrams they include are useful, and they discuss the "place theory of hearing" , which is based on the correlation of sound frequency with position of response along the basilar membrane. The critical band, just noticeable difference, and the limit of frequency discrimination are all discussed in the context of this theory, with several different experiments proposed to illustrate these concepts. Most interesting is the discussion on periodicity pitch, which musicians seem to have a knack for. Also interesting is the treatment of vocal formants, which are frequency regions in which harmonics have large amplitudes. Due to the element of subjectivity in hearing and listening, the connection of the material in this chapter to "psychophysics" and "psychoacoustics" is readily apparent.

Most of the next chapter is out-dated since the authors discuss sound reproduction using LPs and tape recorders. However, the authors do discuss how this is done using compact disks, which though are themselves on their way out, due to the rise of the Internet, MP3 formats, and digital music files. Chapter 8 is timeless though, as the authors discuss the acoustics of auditoriums and rooms, detailing the most important acoustical characteristics that contribute to a pleasant musical experience, and some of the problems that arise in acoustical design. The last section of the chapter gives a fairly good overview of what is involved in setting up a home listening room.

In chapter 9, the authors take the plunge into music theory, discussing temperament and musical pitch. The history behind these concepts is detailed, emphasizing in particular that an ideal temperament is not available, its choice being dictated by the musical requirements at hand. Arithmetic descriptions of the Pythagorean, just, mean-tone, Werckmeister, and equal temperaments are given.

The last five chapters are specialized to the principles behind woodwind, brass, string, and percussion instruments, and the piano. The discussion is purely descriptive, but some of the physical principles studied in the first chapters of the book are applied here to give an understanding of the acoustical and musical properties of these instruments.

The Physics of Sound is a great book for both musicians and nonmuscians alike. Its not a book for anyone who is afraid of a little mind work. I recommend Physics of Sound because immediately upon after reading it I gained a whole new perspective and deep appreciation for the fundamental elements,and principles that govern this wonderful phenomena we call "SOUND".

Ever wondered how fast sound travel? What about how various sound frequencies react to each other,and in rooms? What exactly is sound? All these questions and more,are answered here. Physics of sound even gives you basic formulas that allow you to manipulate sound in the real world.

Gain Knowledge,Gain Insight,Gain information.