Bradford Books

Want to learn about cybernetics and systems thinking? Start right here with Keeney's Aesthetics of Change. With a couple of read throughs and some thought, you will be well on your way to comprehending an interesting subject. AFter reading this book try some of Bateson's work!

Keeney's unique understanding of cybernetics and human systems is presented in this scholarly work. Here, Keeney attempts to bring the wisdom of Gregory Bateson to working with families and other interactional systems, and it remains a classic in the field of family therapy. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to work outside the normal skull-bound explanations of human experience -- although it may be a mental stretch, it is well worth the resulting wisdom that results from working with both the pragmatic and the aesthetic ("the patterns that connect"). Frank Thomas, PhD

Brown and Bradford have provided an invaluable service to Americans interested in our country's national security! They have done a thoughtful, insightful analysis of just where the centerpiece of America's security, our Army, stands in 2008 and where it can go in the immediate future to continue to provice the bulwark against threats, foreigh and domestic. These brilliant scholars of national security point out that the nation now faces a challenge unlike any before in our history....an international landscape altered beyond recognition.

This book provides, perhaps for the first time, a detailed critique of how public-service agencies in this country interact with the Army using the badly flawed response to Hurricane Katrina as a case study. More importantly, they then describe how they should act in future domestic crises.

It lays out the vast array of challenges to the Army of today and just exactly how the Army can work its way forward. It does not minimize the dimension of the challenges but carefully lays out a plan to cope and how to provide the country with the Army is deserves.

It is truly a must read......I sincerely hope our elected officials and their staffs find the time to read it...and think about its implications.

Many readers will find the title daunting. "America's Army" in the lead is enough to frighten away most but the past and present members of the Armed Forces and the civilian aficionados of military affairs. Running away from the book would be, however, a serious blunder. Instead, attention should be focused on the second part of the title: ...a model for interagency effectiveness." Anyone interested in homeland defense, public affairs, business, homeland security, management of large organizations, or leadership should read the book, extrapolate the message, transform military acronyms into those crowding one's own discipline, and, after appropriate extrapolation and transformation, apply the lessons in operations of one's own organization.

The book, military acronyms notwithstanding (and there is a list explaining their full meaning), does not provide lofty enticements as to "what should be done." Instead, the authors analyze solutions employed by the US Army - one of the most complex organizations in the world - to address problems of interagency conflicts, and how to convert these into a productive, mission-oriented collaboration. While reading, one must constantly bear in mind the "operative" word of the title: "a model."

Bradford and Brown do not insist theirs is the only way. Instead, they present a model, a form of an already functioning prototype, that the reader is tasked to convert, modify, then use as a functional tool in the context of one's own organization, and its internal relations as well as interactions with the external world. The authors present a series of lucid and realistic solutions to the challenges posed by friction among organizations which must collaborate, but whose efficinecy of joint effort is hampered by internal and external bureaucracies, procedural inflexibility, culture, or, worst of all, ignorance.

Viewed in such context,the Army serves as s a pretext that merely demonstrates that the methods and approaches discussed by the authors actually work in real life. This is not a wishful "how-to" of many business or leadership texts, but the analysis of a practical application of hard-won lessons: the reader must translate "soldier" into employee, "brigade into a production division, and Army into a global-reach company. The authors could as well speak of GLOBAL OPERATIONS, Inc., with the headquarters in New York or a major NGO operating in the too often argumentative environment of disaster-relief operations. Or the Department of Homeland Security, which, despite billions of dollars spent, continues to be affected by friction among its own components, and by the bureaucratic reluctance of other depratments to offer full collaboration that is frequently critical to the implementation of effective homeland security/defense measures. This is, in fact, the book that outlines in a substantial and convincing detail a highly practical approach whose execution will prevent the embarrassment of managerial and leadership failures that accompanied the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It is, actually, the book whose efficinet perusal may be of assistance in the UN efforts to address the humanitarian disaster of Darfur.

Frankly, "American Army..." is not about the Army, even if the latter serves as its chief practical substrate. It is about learning organizations, about organizations that use knowledge management in their daily operations, it is about organizations working in unpredictably changing environments. It is also about changing demoralizing conflict into effective collaboration. The message the authors convey aims at all of us, whether civilian or military, who work in small and vast organizations consisting of several interacting groups or agencies. Importantly, despite "American Army..." in the title, the book serves equally well the American and the international readers - the essence of the "model" offered by Bradford and Brown transcedents the barriers of nationality and culture.

For those disliking "subjects military" the price of overcoming the initial reluctance, and of looking beyond Army's terminology and acronyms is very small in comparison to the "lessons learned" that emerge from reading the book. Bradford and Brown produced a "manual of operations" that is essential for most, but ideal for an open-minded reader. But, on the other hand, only such readers can manage the complexity of tasks demanded of them by the "globalized world of uncertainty." It is, indeed, a most recommended book.

I needed this book for a inter cultural communication class and so far it's been very interesting.

This is an excellent book for students venturing into the field of intercultural communication. Clearly written, with many engaging case studies and examples. As a student, I found it very helpful.

The book The Archeology of Disease is a good text to have in the study of paleopathology. It is not the only one, but it is a good one because the explanation of scientific practice in paleopathology is easy to understand.

Well-written and intelligible book on the archaeology of disease.
Good discussions both of manifestations of disease in individual
skeletal remains, and in populations. Mostly oriented towards
disease per se, but there's a good chapter on trauma, as well.
Especially good coverage of dental disease. Oriented towards an
academic, rather than towards a lay, audience, but I found it
very readable nonetheless.

This book is a true story. Not "based on a true story", but a real, live, no frills true story. If the title "True Grit" wasn't already taken for a cheesy western, I'd grab it for this book. It is about a couple in their 30's, living in Boston, romanticizing Thoreau and "Walden". One day, the husband says, "Let's do it. Let's find a location that will be condusive to living off the land, and go there."

And so they do. Duffels full of axes, woolens, lanterns, and a few how-to books, they take a train to British Columbia, find an abandonded prospector's cabin, get it water-tight, and live there. Their nearest neighbor lives a half mile away, they're basically sqatting on this land, winter's coming, and they've got to live on oats and berries, and whatever Joe Boston (Bradford Angier) can kill out in the immense forest which serves as their backyard.

It's wonderful. Very (to use that popular wine judger's phrase) approachable. Read: easy to read. You don't have to know anything about nothing to enjoy this book. Also, Bradford Angier (although this book is written by him and his wife, Vera)
becomes sort of a back woods guru and writes some outdoor manuals on wild edibles and how to build your own moss-chinked cabin on someone else's land. Check it out.

I just finished this book tonight and must say that I loved every page of it. It was the first book of the Angier's that I have read, and I can tell you it won't be the last. The way both Brad and Vera describe in flowing detail and friendly, backwoods banter, how their first few years were like living in the mountains and off the land, will spark a fire in anyone who longs for such adventure. Read it. It is a wonderful story.

I could not put this book down. It was excellent. She is one of the 3 authors that I have to buy their books as soon as they come out!

This trilogy of a woman's life, struggles, and successes, is the best of this type I've ever read. The reader gets to know, and love her(Emma) and her longtime friend/love(Blackie). More tears than usual were shed over each one's passing. I did not want the trilogy to end

Anne Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary would be my first choice, along with Chambers, to take on my desert island. It is a most dependable source of inspiration for the crossword solver.

For the past forty years Anne Bradford has been scrutinising every puzzle that she has encountered. She has broken down the clues into definitions and cryptic definitions and has carefully recorded and stored all the words, including those that indicate anagrams, reversals and puns. It is for this reason that this volume is so valuable in decoding the cryptic clue.

Even the most obscure word can be found under its every day definition. If you are searching your memory for a word meaning fidget, for example, just look it up and she gives you: fantad, fanteeg, fantigue, fantod, fike, fuss, fyke, jimjams, jittery, niggle, trifle, twaddle, twitch and uneasy. Word-length, crossing letters and subsidiary indications do the rest. If you are looking for a fish she gives you two pages of them!

I have found that this book makes solving the most difficult puzzle (including those of Ximenes and Azed) an easy task. It is undoubtedly the best of the solving aids available and I have no hesitation in recommending it to débutante solvers. The experts already have it on their bookshelves!

Anne Bradford has used her 40 years of crossword solving and setting to produce an essential aid for the crossword fan. She has examined every cryptic clue that she has tackled over these years and has compiled a dictionary that includes even the most obscure references. I find that this book can half my solving time and, when creating puzzles, it is a magnificent thesaurus. I can certainly say that this is the best crossword dictionary available.

kept me on the edge. just when i thought i had it figured out things changed. couldn't wait to continue reading. didn't want to put it down. can't wait for more books from this new author. have researched and found out this is her first book. if you want to get in on the ground floor buy it, read it, and review it. she also answers personal e-mails. found myself waiting to exhale. earns it's title breathless. don't forget the name.
linda levengood bradford. i think she has a lot to offer.

This book will really keep you in suspense. I started reading this book and could not put it down until I was finished it..(which was about 5 hours later). I loved the plot, the characters and well, everything about it. I would highly recommend it to everyone. Thanks Linda.. Keep up th great writing.

Building Problem Solvers is a very hands-on introduction to AI systems in general, and truth-maintenance systems in particular. All the systems discussed come fully implemented. In this regard, the book can be viewed as an accessible and detailed discussion of the code. For this reason, the best way to read any chapter is to scan through it first, then, carefully go through it again with the source code in sight.

The authors were PhD students of Gerry Sussman at MIT. Thus, this book is a great way to learn about the classic AI systems and techniques devised and refined at the MIT AI lab.

If you get serious about the book, you'll want to try out a few of the exercises. I found that the exercises are invariably insightful, though I wish some included implementation hints, because elegant solutions are often far from obvious.

In short, I highly recommend this book if you're looking to build some problem solver using proven AI techniques.

This book is very rewarding to study and put into practice. I had a lot of fun immersing myself in the concepts and systems developed in this book. Using the techniques of this book as a base, we've implemented BioHacker, a debugger for metabolic networks.

This book takes you on a journey through the techniques that have been used to build problem solvers, ranging from classical search techniques to Assumptive Truth Maintenance. It is very easy to read, despite the high level of technical detail. The LISP code that accompanies the book is well documented, easy to understand, and it works. It is a must have for anyone who truly wants to understand problem solving techniques.

I haven't read this book but i have read another book in the same series.They are great.The manner of writing is excellent.They have humour and the ideas are great.Try them.I highly reccommend these books to anyone who has a good choice of books.

Caroline Zucker never has enough money and neither do her sisters. Caroline really wants her own Porta Tunes,but she does not have enough money. She finds an article to sell plant seeds and win a Porta Tunes. Her sisters sell all the plant seeds but they are going to pick a name out of a hat to see who wins a one hundred dollar shopping spree at We Love Toys. Then Caroline's sisters get in trouble.