Curtis Books

I loved every part of the book! =)
this is one of the best books Ive ever read!
Its funny and brilliant!

This was a thoroughly entertaining book. Although I will take him to task on 90% of what he says, he presents his ideas in such a thought-provoking manner and with a wry and satirical sense of humor you can't help but laugh. He asks questions about the same things I have wondered about myself and his answers are often hilarious, and just as often quite sobering. This is just the type of book I enjoy reading -- it will make you question your own beliefs and take you down those mental pathways you may have never considered before. Great fun! Val

I was very pleased with this series. It includes the scripture as well as the study format. Print is very legible for these old eyes. I would recommend for any group or individual seeking a more in-depth study.

Wonderful catholic bible study. Helpful footnotes that make reference to the catechsim and church fathers. I can't wait for the series to be completed.

Chris Turchin presents in a very uncomplicated and organized fashion the many applications of laser therapy across multiple disciplines. He takes great care in his descriptions of various clinical procedures, the type of lasers used and their parameter settings, so that they can be easily duplicated on a clinical level. The introductory section offers a very intuitive section on laser physics and background as it applies to health care application. References and citations are very well chosen and very substantiative. As a whole, this book is a very good book for any clinician who utilizes laser therapy as part of his treatment repertoire.

"I was uneducated on light and laser therapy until I read Dr. Turchin's book on clinical procedures. I now have a more comprehensive knowledge of this amazing science! Dr. Turchin's book is easy to understand. I especially appreciate the illustrations throughout the book. They provide simple yet effective pictures that answered many of my questions. I highly recommend Dr. Turchin's book to anyone who is interested in learning more about light and laser therapy.....this book is a great resource to own for any office, school, professional or home library! Rose Leone Bercow, customer

I am 61 years old and I read this series when I was in grade school. I read them over and over and they made a great impression on me. Each story made me feel as though I were a part of history. I admired these young girls and their families so much!
I have searched for years to find them and could find no one who had heard of them. I would recommend them for every young girl's library. They teach a lot about honesty, courage, and strength of character in addition to their historical value.
I am so thrilled to see these books in print once more.

Faith is a young patriot girl that goes to visit her aunt near Fort Ticonderoga during the Revolution. She learns a secret about the fort that helps Ethan Allen capture it.

The art of poety is alive and doing well, as evidenced in the works of Steven Curtis Lance. Mr. Lance's vivid images are arranged in compelling structures of rhythm and lyricism. This book truly is "Magic", a wonderful collection of provocative yet approachable verses that engage the reader and make the author's voice known.

A little blue book of Magic
Is what you need and if you heed
You too can escape the tragic
Morasses of meaninglessness

Although you might find me quite queer
Come to my home and visit me
Though I might never have been here
You are most welcome you will see

There is nothing to fear unless
You dislike eccentricity
A gentle madness to be sure
Here in the realm of fantasy

Yet one for which there is no cure
For no one has ever gone back
Once they have broken free to be
And why should they? Nothing we lack

Nothing we lose we only choose
For our choices are limitless
No rushing no unseemly haste
We never hurry never stress

No moment ever goes to waste
Please come at least to have some tea
I think you will like what you see
Please come at least and have a taste

This book represents an important piece of work, of increasing relevance as more people will die in ICU's. The authors lead research efforts in end-of-life clinician-patient communication.

Absolutely fabulous book. The editors must be brilliant!!

Since I can't read Russian, I have to read Bulgakov's marvelous plays and novels ("Heart of a Dog", "The Master and Margarita", "Bliss") in translation. Nor did I experience, first-hand, the horrors of the Stalin purges.

I love the work of Bulgakov--he's a master of satire and imagination. This biography in letters and notes is really essential for the non-Russian reader to get a sense of his history, life and work in a way that can't be conveyed in translation. It put all that I had read by Bulgakov into a far more comprehensible light.

Since I can't read Russian, I have to read Bulgakov's marvelous plays and novels ("Heart of a Dog", "The Master and Margarita", "Bliss") in translation. Nor did I experience, first-hand, the horrors of the Stalin purges.

I love the work of Bulgakov--he's a master of satire and imagination. This biography in letters and notes is really essential for the non-Russian reader to get a sense of his history, life and work in a way that can't be conveyed in translation. It put all that I had read by Bulgakov into a far more comprehensible light.

Photographs by Edward Curtis of faces of Native Americans of both sexes and all ages are used to enter into and round out a consideration of the nature and course of the Indian culture in different respects. Curtis's photographs are so accomplished, impressive mostly in a iconographic way, and often evocative that they usually call for little related text. The majority of photographs in this volume could be appreciated standing alone; and many will find them unfamiliar as they are close-ups of faces rather than Curtis's more familiar tableaus of scenes or small posed groups. But in this work, the more intimate photographs of the faces appropriately tie in with many vignettes on individual Native Americans illustrating the traditional way of life and how the respective individuals were affected by changes from American westward exploration and settlement. Other sections of text go over Curtis's photographic project and the worldwide impact of European settlement and colonization on indigenous peoples as a context for the stories of the individual Native Americans. The approach adds greater depth to Curtis's photographic opus while making the point that the photographs also provide to some degree an anthropological record of a dying way of life, a value Curtis was not much aware of when taking the numerous pictures mostly in the latter 1800s and which is generally little-recognized even today.

Upham and Zappia have paired a haunting group of Native American photographic portraits by Curtis with a selection of Native stories that Curtis collected. The authors' introductory chapters reveal the broad range of their research, which they present concisely, to provide a thoughtful historical context for the primary materials. The Gilcrease Museum of Tulsa, in association with the Washington State University Press, has produced a book that is not only intelligent; but the symphony of brown tones in the prints throughout make it coffee-table beautiful.

This collection of essays, published in 2006 before the elections, is a valuable peek into elections, how those elected write the rules of the elections, and the electoral results of those rules. Several studies point to the resulting high rate of incumbency reelection, which since 1945 has usually been over 90% for most state and national offices. Still, this does not mean that elections are always secure. In 1980, 55% of incumbent Senators were reelected, a notable exception to the general reelection expectations. Plus, the book was written before the 2006 primaries and elections which experienced a higher rate of incumbent defeated than in the past.

While individual incumbents have become more secure in winning reelections, political parties have diminished. The research reported in this book indicates that the public's affiliation with any political party has been lessening since the 1960s. Yet without strong political parties, incumbents are finding it easier to win reelections in part due to decreased competition. Redistricting decisions tend to make it more difficult for challenging parties to successfully defeat incumbents. Research also shows that challengers have tended to have less previous experience, indicating that fewer experienced, and thus weaker, political challengers have emerged.

The redistricting advantage is currently particularly effective for Republicans, according to research discussed in this book. It credits Republican leaders with successful gerrymanders in Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. Authors in this book conclude that the attempts of one political party to gerrymander have had unintended results of not achieving the best partisan result sought by the gerrymanders. When attempts are made to maximize the number a seats a political party could win, the result often turns out instead to increase in the number of competitive seats.

Electoral competition usually decreases in each successive election following redistricting. Incumbents are most vulnerable in their new districts and become better established and less vulnerable over time. Ironically, this failed to happen in 2002, the first election after the 2000 redistricting, leading some observations that incumbents had become better skilled at devising redistricting to protect themselves.

The per cent of voters participating in U.S. House elections has been declining over past decades, although the rate of decline has been erratic. It has reached a historic low. Apparently this reduced turnout has favored incumbents.

State legislative elections find incumbent reelection rates in several states as over 80% or 90%, with the highest rates found in some elections of 99% in Pennsylvania to 98% in New York, Michigan, and Massachusetts. The increased incumbency reelection rates produces stability of membership to legislatures. In the 1930s, each session saw half of its membership as new members. In the 1980s and 1990s, legislatures kept about three quarters of their members between sessions. Not running for reelection was a leading cause of not returning, rather than being defeated.

Legislatures have become more professional over the decades, and research shows the electoral competition decreases in states with more professional legislatures. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin have the least competitive state legislative elections, and voter approval of their professional legislators along with the greater ability of professional legislators to serve and communicate with their constituents contributes to this reduced competition.

While campaign contributions have become a more important part of politics, researchers note that many candidates do not raise funds from local sources. Over half of all Democratic funds raised and about 40% of Republican funds nationwide are raised from contributors located in only 50 counties.

Term limits have increased competition for state legislative seats. From 1991 through 2002, 698 seats nationwide were created by term limits, and 82% of those open seats were contested by the two major parties. By comparison, there were 4,754 open seats that occurred in states without term limits, and 74% of those seats were contested between the two major parties. Despite the increased competition caused by term limits, greater political party turnover was found in the non-term limited open seats, where 19% switched parties, as opposed to the term-limited open seats were 12% switched parties.

In sum, this book discovers that elections have become less competitive. If democracy is truly a marketplace, then the market is purchasing more determinant elections and less electoral uncertainty.

Edited by Michael P. McDonald (an assistant Professor as George Mason University and a visiting fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings institution) and John Samples (Director of the Center for Representative Government at the Cato Institute), The Marketplace Democracy: Electoral Competition and American Politics is an anthology of essays by political experts concerning the stagnancy of modern American democracy. Since 1998, US House incumbents have won 98% of the reelection races, and electoral competition is on the decline in most state and primary elections. The resources of two respected organizations, the Brookings Institution and the Cato Institute, pool their talents to investigate the historical background, legal development, and political nuances of a system that is supposed to be responsible and adaptable, yet is effectively self-perpetuating and anti-dynamic. Presenting a wealth of policy options to help revitalize American democratic politics, The Marketplace Democracy is a desperately needed and strongly recommended contribution to modern political debate.

"Mastering the Reimbursement Process is the single best source for the physician, medical office staff, or others to get a comprehensive understanding of health insurance, claims submission, and the follow-up necessary to get paid by third parties." - Michael T. Myers, Jr, MD, MBA, Director, Health Care Regulatory Group, PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP

With Medicare compliance and false claim risks increasing, this is a wonderful guide for Physicians and those who bill for them.