Brian Books

How dumb are the vast majority of us all these days? Rhtorical question, but you know the answer, lets not say it out loud.

With this CD in the car, I GIVE YOU MY PERSONAL GUARENTEE (sp? apologies) THAT EVERYONE CAN AND WILL LEARN FROM THIS CD AND, AT THE VERY LEAST, *CONTIMPLATE* PURSUING GREATNESS, EVEN IF IT ONLY LASTS UNTIL THE END OF THE RIDE IN THE CAR.

For very fortunate others, the impact will last a lot longer.

It is truly a GREAT thinking person's answer to the subject of what should I read tonight - or what should I ponder, where and what should my mind fixate and focus upon.

If I was stuck on a dessert island and I had to drive my car around in circles, this is the CD I'd want in the car.

Kids should hear this CD in an environment where they can't escape and tune out. Children, above all, should at least once in their lives get a taste of what is great and why it has been called as such.

This is THE quintessential, absorbing, though-provoking CD on the subject of self and success and, frankly, the way of the world and the meaning of our pursuits through-out life.

A serious must have. The book is good too, but I love the audio version. For more information on the content, see the book and many better reviews on it than I could write myself.

EXCELLENT. JUST EXCELLENT.

This is the first Butler-Bowden book I bought (audio cd), and I bought it on a lark. I appreciated it more than many of the more expensive "success" audio books I bought. It has wonderful breadth, and I've since bought many of the books it covered as well as the print form of the audio CDS (so I can highlight sections!).

Kind of gimmicky, I'll admit, but I found it quite useful! I've since listened to / read several of the books that are covered, and found that I've gotten as much from this overview than I did from the full material. Mostly.

I'd recommend this, as well as some of the other 50 X series by this author.

That being said, I'd say that I found only 35 or so of the 50 books interesting to me personally.

This comprehensive library focuses on business, motivation and prosperity. It surveys 50 of the all-time classics that have enriched millions, and offers key ideas, insights and applications for personal and financial success. It's a great audio...inspiring and helpful.

I didn't want to waste a lot of time--who has that? This book didn't waste my time but instead it told me what to do, how to do it, and why it mattered in simple, straightforward language. It was actually fun to see how much I could accomplish in Access in such a short time. Now everyone in the office thinks I'm an Access wizard.

I've got a LOT of Mr. Underdahl's books in my library, and have come to expect excellent coverage of whatever topics he writes on. I know how to use Access, but I'm not quite that up-to-speed on creating forms and reports and using the Query tool properly - this book fills in the blanks and shows you how maximize your time and financial investments in Access. The author also does a great job of showing you how to use the Access tools with other Office applications (like Word and Excel). The book is a great one-stop-source for Access 2007 forms/reports/query tool - if you use Access often, this book is one of those resources you'll always find yourself reaching out for... a great reference.

Since I don't use Access often enough to be great at it, this is the perfect reference book to quickly guide me through unfamiliar areas. I found the "queries" discussions particularly helpful. Also, this book is loaded with tips, notes and reminders that really make sense and offer great ideas to manipulate the data and produce the perfect report. Thank you for making that task easier and less stressful.

I totally agree to Dr. Boswell's comment on this book. I consider it to be the best book in acute pain management. About 4 years ago, when I was doing my Pain Management Fellowship in the Dept. of Anesthesiology at Univ. of Michigan Medical Center, I struggled hard for a quite a while during my rotation in the Acute Pain Service, as my residency training was in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation(PM&R), rather than Anesthesiology and there had been no acute pain exposure at all during my PM&R residency. I was fortunate to be accepted as the 1st non-anesthesiology pain management fellow in the Dept. of Anesthesiology, Univ. of Michigan. Although there were a few pain medicine text books(much thicker and heavier) available at that time that covered some aspects of acute pain, most of them were incomplete or fragmented, not to mention they were way too bulky. I struggled until I found this handy book of Acute Pain Management(2nd Edition, 2001). It is comprehensive and concise. It contains thorough discussion on opioid pharmacology, local anesthetic pharmacology, route of opioid administration, IV PCA, epidural PCA and discussion of other analgesics used in acute pain settings. It is pocket sized so that I could put it in my white coat when doing my round. With the help of this book, I found myself catching up quickly during the rest of my acute pain services. I highly recommend this book to any residents or fellows rotating in acute pain service. It is also a good resource for all other physicians including surgeons who need to provide service for post op pain control.

I have found this book to be an excellent resource for those health professionals or clients who are wanting an indepth book on modern pain management techniques and modalities. It provides excellent theory sections and practical information. As a health professional specialising in pain management it has made my job easier and my clients more comfortable faster. Thank you

This little pocket sized book is a wonderful resource for practicing physicians (and physicians who need more practice). We use the book as a textbook for the first and second year anesthesiology residents rotating on pain medicine. The attendings learn a thing or two as well. The handy, thoughtful questions at the end of the book provide a useful study guide and testing tool for the rotation.

The content is accurate and the writing is consise and clear. The chapters are well-organized and include a list of topics at the beginning. The chapters are just the right size to get the basics quickly. In addition, there is information that is difficult to get easily elsewhere, even in a huge tome.

I am ordering an additional ten books for the residency program today. Can't beat the price of about [$$$] per copy.

Thanks to Karen and Maureen for their genorsity in giving a portion of the proceeds to the Sarcoma Foundation of America. The Adventures of Snooky will keep your child's curosity flowing as Snooky tries to locate his family and keep them turning the pages with the wonderful holographics.

I enjoyed Snooky very much. I entered Snooky at the 2004 American Graphic Design Awards Competition. Snooky was selected as a winner by a nationwide panel of judges. This competition is among the most prestigious, as well as open and democratic, of all such events. Most selective, too, as only 12% of entries were honored this year.

Not only is Snooky a good role model for children, the book is fun to read. Children really love the holographic images throughout the book. Not only does Snooky have adventures as he seeks his lost family he winds up with new fishy friends. His selfless act in the end is what enables him to finally find his family.

One hell of a book. Great descriptions of hikes in around the vegas area. As well as a few extra bonuses with Death Valley and what not. Even has some Mojave action in there. Well This is a definate must if headin to the Vegas region and need a little something more than the usual Vegas experience.

I have a long shelf full of southwest guidebooks. For the Las Vegas area, Beffort's book is the best choice for people unfamiliar with the desert. It has a good mix of easy and difficult hikes.

My sister and her husband recently visited Vegas while I was out of town. He was at a convention; she wanted to see something other than casinos. I turned her loose with a few suggestions and Beffort's book. She did three of the trips in the Spring Mountains and didn't get lost, uncharacteristic for her. The credit goes to good directions in the book.

This is definitely the best guide available for hiking in the southern Nevada region. This book includes a wide variety of hikes with great descriptions of the areas and how to get to them. It has ideas for hikes of various lengths and difficulties and as well as information on conservation and safety. It includes great maps and photos and lists areas not found in most other guides. If you want to explore areas within a 3 hour drive of Las Vegas, this is the most comprehensive book I have found. I highly recommend it!

The book was in excellant condition for a 'used' book, and arrived very fast, within 10 days! I'll be back!

I really enjoyed this book,useful for information.Another book
full of excellent photographs showing locomotives in various duties.

This book gives history and interesting facts with color illustrations; a very good choice. All American manafactures covered. I always enjoy my copy finding new information i missed the last reading.

5 Stars

A useful book, shipment very fast! in 9 days i received it...and i live in Italy.

Thanks Amazon

Creative
Clear
Consistent
Cost little

Most software "companions" (more than a manual...not quite a book) really do not do justice to the software. Quite the contrary for the AMPL guide. AMPL (the language) is a *very* powerful and *very* easy to use Optimization package. It interfaces with most of the major solvers. Users program in AMPL which is more or less pseudocode and then solve LP, nonlinear, combinatorial, integer, etc. programs. Unlike most software packages, it is both robust and easy to use. Likewise with the companion/book. There are many great, easy to follow examples, and it clearly explains the intrecacies of the language. A must use software and most own book for anyone doing any optimization work.

Dr. Hill is as wonderfully knowledgable and intelligent in his writing as he is in his teaching. Fortunate enough to have him as a professor and, incidentally, use his book (co-written with Wyse) as a resource, I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in animal physiology or to any biologist/zoologist.

This is an excellent text book. I was privlaged enough to have Dr. Hill as a professor, and this book truely does justice to his wealth of knowledge. It is easily comprehended by physiologists as well as any other students in general. It goes in depth into a wide variety of questions, provinding many enlightening examples and illustrations. Really a great book for all students.

From explaining how a mammal can stay underwater for lengthy periods, to how a camel can survive without water for days, this is a fascinating description of all types of animals and their unique ways of living. I never knew quite how fish breathe, nor how birds survive freezing temperatures. This is one book I can pick up, open to any page, and find the contents more intriguing than any mystery. It explains in depth the most recent current knowledge with examples of studies when researchers are still unclear about the answers. I am a nurse, not a physiologist, and find it easily comprehensible.

Extract from a review in Vol 1, Issue 2 of Archnet--IJAR, July 2007

In this book, Nikos A. Salingaros sets the stage for a new thinking about the current status of architecture. Twelve essays critically analyze evolutionary aspects of modernism and post-Modernism, while heavily criticizing the resulting end-style of these two movements: Deconstructivism. The main argument of this manuscript lies in Salingaros' belief that architectural deconstruction is not a new thing. It has started since the 1920s from the Bauhaus, the international style, and modernism, going through new brutalism and late and post modernism. Each of these "-ISMS" is regarded as a cult that had tremendous negative impacts on they way in which we think about or approach architecture in pedagogy and practice. Salingaros argues, and rightly so, that deconstructivists have disassociated themselves from the lessons derived from history and precedents, while distancing themselves from basic human needs and cultural contexts.

One should note his criticism of the critics, the articulate and fancy rhetoric and writings of Charles Jencks and Bernard Tschumi. He points out that Jencks' understanding and use of scientific concepts to justify and celebrate deconstructivist architecture is simply superficial. On the other hand, Bernard Tschumi's two major writings titled "The Manhattan Transcripts" and "Architecture and Disjunction" were closely examined by Salingaros. He concluded that Tschumi's work is a collection of meaningless images that resembles advertising and a false claim of knowledge of mathematics in analogizing it to architectural form.

The other ten essays offer eloquent and convincing arguments against such a destructive attitude of deconstructivism and deconstructivists. However, three of these should be highlighted. The essays titled "Derrida Virus", "Background Material for the Derrida Virus", and "Death, Life and Libeskind" eloquently show how Derrida's notion of deconstructivism became a dangerous virus, which keep reproducing itself infinitely. Derrida, an Algerian-born French philosopher founded such a notion in literary criticism, and described it as "a method for analyzing texts based on the idea that language is inherently unstable and shifting, and that the reader rather than author is central in determining the meaning" (Derrida, 1973). While his work was heavily criticized by prominent linguists and philosophers including Noam Chomsky, it found listening receptive ears in the architectural community, a typical habit of many name architects who run after slogans and strange notions that help them to philosophize and theorize in order to justify their work.

Metaphorically, the virus has killed almost all connections to the past, to humanity, and to context. The resulting ills are manifested in many cities, but the trauma is well articulated in the work of Daniel Libeskind in the Ground Zero Proposal, the Seattle Public Library, and the Berlin Holocaust Museum. Salingaros shows how the rhetoric surrounding the claims of Libeskind on the emotional experience of the Ground Zero proposal are nothing but negative. In this respect, a reference needs to be made to university campuses that are supposed to convey constructive messages about the future of learning, research, and humanity; they are calling deconstructivists to destruct their learning environments. This is clearly evident in the work of Antoine Predock in the McNamara Alumni Center of the University of Minnesota, and the work of Frank Gehry's Wiseman Art Museum of the same University. Notably, Gehry's work is invading many university campuses including Case Western Reserve University through its School of Business, and the University of Cincinnati through its Center for Molecular Studies. University campuses are intentionally conveying "deconstructive" messages.

Undoubtedly, this manuscript is a voice of logic and reason against anti-architecture norms, and the destructive attitudes of their followers. I would add my voice to other reviewers of this manuscript: that it must be a mandatory reading in schools of architecture worldwide. Salingaros' call for going against those attitudes and regaining our interest in solutions to human problems needs to be adopted. The manuscript's thrust for re-associating ourselves to the near and distant past -- depending on who we are and the cultural context in which we operate -- deserves special attention by both academics and practitioners.

Ashraf Salama, Ph.D.
Professor of Architecture

The great architects Vitruvius and Palladio devoted their lives to bringing architecture to life, by working from a powerful mastery of science, mathematics, and Universal laws. In a continuance of this heritage, Dr. Nikos A. Salingaros has used his contemporary genius in mathematical physics to architecture to create a collective body of work that sets forth scientific evidence showing the series of illogical and misleading failures of the Modern and Deconstruction movements.

In this particular book "Anti-Architecture and Deconstruction," via a series of brilliant essays by himself, and with others, Dr. Salingaros exposes the low degree of organized complexity in Modernism and Deconstruction, and elegantly outlines their destructive and dangerous nature.

Salingaros exposes the hideous cult atmosphere they created and the pseudo-intellectual theory that accompanied it, to sell their concepts and proposals. It is perfectly clear to the reader how such trickery, skillfully utilized, has unfortunately in this case allowed such distorted manifestations of architecture and urban planning to occur worldwide. He additionally makes clear how the practitioners, and propagandists of those movements, who force-fed ugly, monstrous and evil architecture upon the public, are themselves lacking scientific knowledge, and an understanding of the human soul.

Utilizing an outstanding level of intellectual clarity and vigor, Dr. Salingaros shows once again that relying upon fact, history, and scientific analyses yields incredible results.

Salingaros's "Anti-Architecture and Deconstruction" is both like and unlike Tom Wolfe's From Bauhaus to Our House.

Wolfe's book tells the story of a movement that begins with the European left's rejection of everything bourgeois, and ends with ugly but prestigious buildings built and financed by bourgeois kingpins of American capitalism.

Salingaros's Anti-Architecture and Deconstruction likewise involves a European philosophy (or ideology, to be more precise) that has also created an architecture of sorts. But while Wolfe's book is journalistic and tells a story, Salingaros's is analytic and engaged. Salingaros means to change things.

Anti-Architecture is structured as a series of letters, commentaries and meditations--most but not all of them written by Salingaros. The final chapter presents a conversation between the author and the architect Christopher Alexander.

Salingaros clearly considers the deconstructivist theory behind post-modern architecture to be nonsensical. Whether post-modernists will find this insulting or not is less clear. If one's task is to de-construct reality, then no doubt nonsense performs the job as well as any other methodology.

Deconstructivist intellectuals such as Derrida are usually associated with the left, and presumably Derrida himself considered himself of the left. Ideological systems, however, are remarkably similar, regardless of how they self-identify. The realm of the ideological slips easily from left to right and back again.

Take, for example, the following self-description from the Deconstructivist Architecture show at the Museum of Modern Art: "The lurid overtones of violence and corruption are intentional; they are, in fact, central to the ethos of deconstructive architecture ... Disturb, torture, interrogate, contaminate, infect; these are the words [chosen] to explain and to praise deconstructive architecture" (Anti-Architecture, 122). Violence, torture, interrogation--sounds rather like a description of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay.

Another section of the book surveys the thought and work of the post-modernist architect Bernard Tschumi. It was Tschumi who designed the Parisian "Parc de Villette" (which has been described by the Project for Public Spaces as among the world's most boring and unsuccessful parks). Now deconstruction, we are often told, is a kind of game, and certainly Tschumi has some very playful notions about deconstructivist architecture. In one theoretical work, for example, Tschumi regales his readers with tips from the Marquis de Sade on how, with a single sexual act, it is possible to simultaneously commit incest, sodomy and sacrilege. I'm not kidding.

Deconstruction, in other words, leads to a dead-end. To his credit, Salingaros does more than dwell on what he opposes: he also seeks a way forward, and his efforts in this direction involve a sometimes uneasy conversation between the sacred and the scientific.

There is neither time nor room here to properly develop this theme. To do it justice would require, at minimum, putting Salingaros's book in the context of all his other writings plus his many years collaboration with Christopher Alexander. For now, the following generalizations will have to suffice. Both Salingaros and Alexander have refused to engage in either nostalgia for a pre-scientific religiosity or in despairing acceptance of a meaningless mechanistic nature. Like the early-20th century French philosopher Simone Weil (whom everyone, in my opinion, should read carefully), they recognize that the beauty described by true science and the beauty described by true religiosity, are one and the same. They recognize that it is not the point of architecture to just theorize about this and that, and still less is it architecture's job to produce pretty baubles for elites. The task of architecture is to connect beauty with the everyday life of all those who work for a living. A life so lived is full of meaning at every moment.

The VERY BEST of all amazing stories!! daaaaamn this book is really AMAZING!!! you GOTTA read it!!

Presented alongside captivating illustrations, Alderson's charming version of the Arabian Nights is one that I would most highly recommend for reading by today's children. Although not a large book, it retains the tales-within-tales complexity of the original, and the flavor of the exotic that we have come to expect from the 1,001 Nights. Most of the more famous tales are included (Alladin, Ali Baba & 40 Thieves, an abbreviated Sindbad, etc). The language is accessible, yet not overly simplified, in a way that I think shows respect for young readers' intelligence.

I also appreciated Alderson's de-emphasis of cruelty, and I did not mind in the least the discreet references to sex (e.g., "after taking their pleasure together..."), but other people will have to judge for themselves what they would like to expose their children to. Personally, I think physical attraction is a lot healthier topic for children than violence, so I will have no problem sharing this version with my daughter when she learns to read.

Another important aspect of this translation of the Tales is that, while clearly modified for modern readers, this version retains the flowery and excessive references to the Majesty and Mystery of Allah -- in a manner which I think is totally appropriate for the topic and a necessary element for their appearance of authenticity.

This book is a wonderful edition with excellent pictures. An edition definitely worth adding to your collection of classics.