Clarke Books

I would have liked some color pictures. The author has good knowledge of piper aircraft. Covers the history, and has personal experience flying pipers. I found it very helpfull and interesting. Especially good read for someone considering buying a used piper.

I generally like the Bill Clarke series of airplane reviews. I own this book as well as the second editions of "The Cessna 150 & 152" and "The Cessna 172." All of these books are easy reading yet provide detailed information on the plane (or planes) in question. This book starts with a chapter on the history of Piper Aircraft Company, followed by a few chapters detailing the specifications of the Piper PA-28 Cherokees, Archer, Warriors and Dakotas and up to the retractable Archers and twin-engine Senecas and Aerostars. Each is described with detailed performance specs, and the author notes any issues good or bad, especially any AD (Airworthiness Directive) issues that might be expensive to comply with. The latter half of this book is more generic, covering used airplane buying in general, forms that are needed, avionics, maintenance, etc. The only problem with this book (and the series in general) is that it was published in 1988, so the prices do not reflect the current rapid appreciation in the used aircraft market and some of the chapters, like the avionics chapter, are somewhat outdated in this GPS age. That's a one-star demerit. Otherwise, I highly recommend this book for anyone who is seriously contemplating the purchase of a Piper, particularly one of the fixed-gear singles.

Character-driven Classical Civilization. Brings the subject matter to life, whether centering on the Ara Pacis of Augustus, a bakery in Pompeii or a tavern in Ostia. The illustrations mix terrific modern photography with original excavation photos; and the CD-ROM of the House of the Vettii is a good example of how modern technology can enhance the learning and/visitor experience.
Excellently written with a light touch that illuminates the subject-matter - even for an old Classical Archaeologist like myself.
Highly recommended.

A nice feature of this book are the little fictional scenarios which attempt to convey what the pictured artworks would have meant to their original audience. (Some of the pictured artworks I've never seen elsewhere despite wide reading in the subject.)The accompanying CD with lots of additional photos of Roman frescos to compliment those actually printed in the book is another good idea. The dustjacket, cover and endpapers contain beautiful color reproductions of Roman painting and mosaic.

This is the second edition of a highly acclaimed text. Like the first edition this book gives an excellent overview of statistical problems in the medical field and provides illustrations of a variety of parametric and nonparametric statistical techniques for solving these problems. It is aimed at the intermediate level rather than as an introductory course. So medical professionals, with a first course in biostatistics under their belt, will find this useful. It is also a good text for graduate students in statistics or biostatistics. Examples are illustrated throughout the text using SAS software. This is a key addition to this edition of the book. Also added in this edition is a chapter on multiple regression where various model selection procedures are nicely covered.
A nice feature of the book is its coverage of epidemiologic methods and data. This was also a strength of the first edition.

I was a little disappointed that the authors did not take the opportunity to significantly update the bibliography. Only a few references are given in the latter chapters to books and articles that appeared after the publication of the first edition in 1987. Also, the authors missed an opportunity to discuss the advances in computing that have led to new methods including Markov Chain Monte Carlo and resampling, both of which have found many applciations in medical research. Bioinformatics and advances in genetics are also playing a major role in medical research, having blossomed since the publication of the first edition of the book. Although I would not expect these topics to necessarily get much coverage, I think they are important enough to at least be mentioned and discussed and have key articles and books referenced.

This is an excellent text for a second course in biostatistics for health care professionals. For a first course the book I am writing with Bob Friis will be useful and it is up to date and even provides some coverage of resampling methods. Wiley published the second edition in 2003.

This is the second edition of a highly acclaimed text. Like the first edition this book gives an excellent overview of statistical problems in the medical field and provides illustrations of a variety of parametric and nonparametric statistical techniques for solving these problems. It is aimed at the intermediate level rather than as an introductory course. So medical professionals, with a first course in biostatistics under their belt, will find this useful. It is also a good text for graduate students in statistics or biostatistics. Examples are illustrated throughout the text using SAS software. This is a key addition to this edition of the book. Also added in this edition is a chapter on multiple regression where various model selection procedures are nicely covered.

A nice feature of the book is its coverage of epidemiologic methods and data. This was also a strength of the first edition.

I was a little disappointed that the authors did not take the opportunity to significantly update the bibliography. Only a few references are given in the latter chapters to books and articles that appeared after the publication of the first edition in 1987. Also, the authors missed an opportunity to discuss the advances in computing that have led to new methods including Markov Chain Monte Carlo and resampling, both of which have found many applciations in medical research. Bioinformatics and advances in genetics are also playing a major role in medical research, having blossomed since the publication of the first edition of the book. Although I would not expect these topics to necessarily get much coverage, I think they are important enough to at least be mentioned and discussed and have key articles and books referenced.

This is an excellent text for a second course in biostatistics for health care professionals. For a first course the book I am writing with Bob Friis will be useful and it is up to date and even provides some coverage of resampling methods. It will be published by Wiley in early 2003.

I would like to review Sunstorm as a standalone book as it can definately be read that way. The idea of the people of earth coming together to save the planet is not a new one, this time against a huge solar flare originated by the first ones (an alien race) thousands of years ago. The first ones are just seen as spheres instead of obelisks from the 2001 era. The idea here is to build a shield to protect the earth from a flare that will erupt in 2042. The earth has 5 years to build it. A simple enough story but the science, characters and story writing are really enjoyable, and it has a great pace. I understand this is the second book in a new trilogy but from what i have read, the other two books do not add much to the mystery of the first ones and seem to have stories that aren't interesting enough to be my next read. Again, Sunstorm as a standalone novel is a great read in what can trigger the earth to accelerate its pace to the stars.

Yep! It's true! Once I stuck my nose into this book, I couldn't stop reading it. I found it fascinating and full of little actions that made the characters seem real. I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out.

This book is a mid-career biography of Dr. Paul Brand, a leading researcher in rehabilitation for leprosy patients. The book is extremely thorough in its details, perhaps overly so in some places. It begins with the lives of Brand's grandparents, gives a full account of his father's earlier influences, and includes much information about Paul Brand's early childhood in India, as well as his later childhood in Britain. Despite the depth of details, the book is extremely readable, and I found it to be a real page-turner from cover to cover.

From his beginning as the son of English missionary parents working in India, to his schooling in England, marriage, family, further work as a pioneer in leprosy treatment, innovative surgeries, and on to his continued research in America, this book tells the story of a man who has lead an exciting life. Dr. Brand's humility and ability to adapt to different cultural and environmental conditions both stem from his love for God and God's creation. Philip Yancey's fine foreword enhances Wilson's portrait of this great man. Recommended reading.

What i think of the book it is the best book i have ever read in my life {other than Harry Potter}.

But there is one down side once you start it you just can not stop reading it. What I like about the story is just not one type, it is lots of types: Action,adventure,mystery,suspense.

I would definitely recommend this book to J.K. Rowling and people that like Harry Potter books.

THIS BOOK IS SO NEAT IT IS THE BEST BOOK I EVER READ I LOVE THIS BOOK IF I LIKE IT YOU WILL DEFENTLY LIKE IT BECAUSE I AM A PICKY READER.

Enjoyed the everyday humor and insight into life. It helped me find laughter in my own and in the common experiences we all share.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Being a mature person and female I could relate to much of its content. Also, the chapter on Anglo and American English brought many chuckles. My situation being reversed. My husband is the American. Enjoy this book!

My children loved this book because it was about a real duck. The drawings are splendid, and the story is focused. Wonderful job! I am aghast that the reviewer for The Horn Book would allow personal feelings for the author to color their opinion on this book. Maybe the reviewer should take up writing and illustrating since they feel they can do a better job!

Purchased this after staying at the Peabody Hotel. Story is simple, but was a hit with my young son as a remembrance of the duck march he witnessed. Illustrations are soft and fit the title.

According to The Total Marriage Makeover there are five kinds of marriages: the pretty good marriage, the dead marriage, the "I want a divorce" marriage, the new marriage, and the great marriage. It takes time and effort on the part of both the husband and the wife but virtually any marriage can be transformed into a great marriage.

The Total Marriage Makeover recognizes several important keystones for great marriages. Most importantly, couples need to take time to nurture their marriage. I love the analogy that the author uses at the beginning of the book to explain this concept. Marriage is like a house. Given no maintenance, the house will eventually fall into disrepair no matter how solid the house's foundation.

In order to nourish the marriage, each member of the couple needs to learn to communicate effectively. This requires a mediation of differing opinions and in many instances learning a whole new language (man speak or woman speak as the case may be). As this book focuses primarily on the Christian couple, the author guides the couple in love and devotion to God and the precepts of the Bible.

Reviewed by Kelli Glesige for Reader Views (08/06)

"The Total Marriage Makeover" is a biblically based resource by Christian psychologist and author, David Clarke. Written in a humorous tone, Clarke shares hands-on advice and inspiring stories of couples who followed his makeover plan and experienced dramatic improvements to their marriages. If improving communication and understanding each other is something your marriage could benefit from, Clarke offers his practical plan for renewal.

Dr. Clarke states his goal as an author, speaker and therapist is to guide people toward healthy lives, marriages and families by relying on his personal faith in God, the truths in the Bible and the science of psychology. Dr. Clarke has done an excellent job of this in "The Total Marriage Makeover". Reading this book together with your spouse is the preferred and recommended method for quickest results, but if your spouse will not participate, go ahead and read it alone. You will still be able to improve your marriage. It will just take longer.

Succinctly stated, "God's Marriage Makeover" is based on meeting your spouse's needs. When needs go unmet, marriages breakdown. To achieve the makeover, a step-by-step strategy with 15 small, manageable and uncomplicated "Marriage Makeover Achievements" are humorously explained. Other topics covered include the five types of marriage (a fun exercise which allows you to choose which one is yours), the truth about infatuation, stepping up as a husband, the actual meaning of submission, husbands as spiritual leaders, being a romancer, and conflict resolution. Each chapter begins with a "Snapshot" of a couple with a problem and how a "Marriage Makeover Achievement" has helped their marriage.

Dr. Clarke's recommendations can definitely help a marriage, and the added bonus is the reader will be entertained and humored at the same time. My only complaint is that on more than a single occasion, I found myself wondering what I, as a wife, could do better to improve my marriage, for Dr. Clarke focuses more strongly on what the husband can do to better understand his wife. He does cover what a wife can do too, just not as often or as thoroughly. Could a counterpart for wives be in the works? "The Total Marriage Makeover" is a great book for all married couples to read and refer back to often. I highly and without reservation recommend it!

Perry Miller, The Transcendentalists. . .

The Unitarian reliance on miracles can be expressed through an Aristotelian syllogism: a. miracles occur b. nature cannot produce miracles * c. a supernatural force must exist. To Unitarians, that supernatural force must be God. George Ripley does not doubt that miracles occur, he simply says that whether miracles occur or are "new development[s] of nature" (p. 132) mistaken for the supernatural is irrelevant to whether God exists. After all, to the 19th century observer, magnetism and electricity seemed supernatural. To Ripley, it was better not to preface one's argument for the existence of God on an unprovable premise. He therefore calls for a "better mode of examining the evidence of Christianity" (p. 132) than is employed by the Rationalist Unitarians. Instead of premising a rational argument for the existences of God on miracles, Ripley states that the "better mode" is "the study of the human consciousness" (p. 132). He suggests that a more appropriate discussion is one which discusses the meaning of the "expression, often used, but little pondered,- the Image of God in the Soul of Man" (p. 132). From a multitude of other writings, one can surmise that the existence of God need not be proven logically or externally. We carry the answer with us everyday. By immersing oneself in nature, the eternal will be discovered. Miller sees this controversy as a "crisis in modern liberalism" (p. 129). To Miller, the question was one of sincerity and true meaning of Christian doctrine. The Unitarians had rejected Original Sin; man was no longer burdened by guilt, and he was free to have dignity. But, the Unitarians said man was free to hold onto his dignity only through supernatural intervention (p. 130). Miller sees this as intellectual duplicity. While protesting a belief in its dignity, ultimately Unitarians did not trust humanity. Ripley issued a doctrinal challenge to the Unitarians to follow their own philosophy to its necessary conclusion. The Unitarian Martin Luther Hurlbut expresses the larger implications of these competing philosophies. Without ruling miracles unreal, by simply challenging their historicity, Transcendentalism challenged faith itself, and it raised a host of questions that skirted, and in the hands of the mischievous Emerson, leapt over, the line of heresy. If miracles are mere "`natural facts'" (p. 173), then what purpose is there in faith? If physical science and reason banish Christ's miracles to the dustbin of mythology, then was Jesus indeed the Messiah; was He the Saviour? Was He the Son of God? Without the miracles, Jesus becomes a wise man, even a prophet according to Emerson (p. 192), but not the Messiah, not the Son of God any more than the rest of us. More importantly, and absolutely essential to understanding the revolution in New England, is the logical conclusion of such a line of investigation: do the words of Jesus Christ, without the miracles giving them the weight of the supernatural, carry the authority of God? Miracles affirm God's role in Christ's Passion. Without the miracles, the authority of the New Testament itself is called into question. To its opponents, Transcendentalism ceased to be Christianity. The dean of Harvard Divinity School said of Emerson's Commencement Address (p. 192) "that the part if it that was not folly was downright atheism" (p. 198). Andrews Norton, perennial opponent of Ripley, et al., said, "Nothing is left that can be called Christianity, if its miraculous character be denied" (p. 211). Thus Emerson took what was a breach in the Unitarian ministry and turned it into a new, perhaps secular philosophy. And this philosophy took liberalism to its high water mark. As Brownson says:

They claim for man the power, not of discovering but of knowing the spiritual world. . . . We may know that God exists as positively, as certainly, as we may know that we feel hunger or thirst, joy or grief. . . . The unlettered ploughman is placed, so far as evidences of his religious faith are concerned, on a level with the most erudite scholar or the profoundest philosopher. Christianity by this is adapted to the masses . . . (p. 244-246).

Each person should be able to explore for him or herself (truly in Transcendentalism) "the whole field of truth, in morals, in politics, in science, in theology, in philosophy" (p. 199). In this sense, Transcendentalism, by "recognizing in man the capacity of knowing truth intuitively" (p. 246), represents the ultimate democratization of faith and ideology. Not only does each individual have the right to choose in which God to believe, but the existence of that God can only be ascertained by the intuition of the believer.

Like its model, Miller's classic "The American Puritans," "The Transcendentalists" takes all the major texts of the Transcendentalist movement, excerpts out the most important parts, and frames them with Miller's brilliant comments to the subjects. As in his books on the Puritans, Perry Miller rides the subject like nobody before or since. Still the basic introduction to the writings, "The Transcendentalists" will serve anybody wanting to move beyond Emerson or Thoreau to the lesser-known members of the movement. While the ellipses can come to annoy those who want the complete texts, Miller's anthology is still worth reading, if only because this man was the century's greatest American intellectual historian. If you haven't read Miller, you're in for a long, difficult, rewarding journey, especially in his books on the Puritans. Without a doubt, an indispensable historian.