Curtis Books

Nowadays with all the circuit and matrix computer aided systems out there, the basics of numerical methods gets overlooked. This book keeps to these fundamentals methods and is an excellent bridge between purely closed-form knowledge taught in schools and the open-form procedures quietly employed in most computer aided engineering systems.

Particularly fond of this text's discussion on boundary-value problems.

Have to agree with earlier post, book looks nice and clear but numerous errors make actually using (vs. just browsing) the material very difficult. 7th edition ADI section has numerous mislabed equations, incorrect data values, unfortunate. Suggest look elsewhere for a numerical analysis book.

This has been the best numerical analysis book that I have ever seen. The author does a brilliant job and explains concepts with extreme clarity. With this book, there isn't even any need of sitting in a professor's lecture. The book that my university uses sucks so bad, there's not 1 thing I could understand. Relying on that would have flunked me, yet that useless book costs over $100 and this remarkable book only cost me $20. It may be a 1994 edition, but even 2005 edition books on numerical analysis fail to meet its quality. Definitely a lifesaver for me.

Last academic year, I taught a course in numerical analysis. It was the first time that I had the opportunity to do so and I enjoyed it very much. I do double duty as a mathematician and a computer science instructor, and this was an opportunity to simultaneously exercise both skills. Since I will probably be teaching it again next academic year, I examined this book as a possible text for the course.
I was impressed with the approach and the level of exposition. In general, two assumptions can be made concerning the background of the students. The first is that they know differential and integral calculus and the second that they have some programming experience. While the authors assume the first, they reduce the level of the second assumption. The programming exercises are in Matlab and require very little programming knowledge. There are also few actual programming examples; most of the complex algorithms are expressed in an advanced pseudocode. I am strongly in favor of this approach; most people will be using a system other than Matlab.
There are many exercises at the end of the chapters and the solutions to many of them are included in an appendix. A set of problems called "Applied problems and projects" is also included at the end of each chapter. These are more complex problems that are on the level of significant programming projects. They also are truly real world problems, dealing with topics such as interest computations, solving solution problems, solving differential equations numerically and the history of mathematics. If you regularly give such problems in your numerical methods class, then you will love these sections.
The breadth of coverage is sufficient so that a two-semester sequence could be taught using this book. The chapter headings are:

*) Preliminaries
*) Solving nonlinear equations
*) Solving sets of equations
*) Interpolation and curve fitting
*) Approximation of functions
*) Numerical differentiation and integration
*) Numerical solution of ordinary differential equations
*) Optimization
*) Partial-differential equations
*) Finite-element analysis

At this time, this book is at the top of my list of possible texts for the next time I teach numerical analysis. Since that is still at least a year away, I cannot say that I will definitely adopt it. However, barring no new and better book appearing, it will be the chosen one.

Using the text for self study, I was initially quite pleased. The layout is attractive, selection of topics appropriate and writing style generally clear. The applied problems are rather nice.

While the derivation of the methods and theory discussed is generally brief- the author does provide an adequate basis for a workable understanding. Exposition is appropriate (perhaps even good) for an 'applied' book.

I did, however, find the work somewhat uneven: the Newton Cotes section, for example, was a little more disorganized than I would have liked. Some simple rearrangement and grouping of thoughts would have already helped to clarify many of the ideas. Surprisingly, the previous (6th) edition seems to have done a better job in this particular case.

In any event, my largest issue with the book is the staggering number of errors. I don't use the term lightly. I've read many technical books that have a minor typo here or there: it's natural. With Applied Numerical Analysis there appears to have been little proof-reading at all!

In Chapter 3 alone I've noted more than 10 problems: some more than simple typo's. This is unacceptable for a technical work!

I spent a great deal of time and effort trying to understand many of the discussions only to eventually realize that the cause of my frustration was a fault in the text. Besides the wasted effort, this had the knock-on effect that I began to doubt everything that seemed the least bit confusing.

Publishers should be reprimanded for such lax quality control.

If you do intend to use this book, I would recommend that you try to find a comprehensive list of errata somewhere.

It is a sad comment on society that when you cruise through Amazon books there seems to be a growing list of books about the wrongly convicted/freed from death row.

Well this book is more than just the latest addition. It is a well reported and straightforwardly written story that should freighten us all. Jed Horme does a nice job of setting the stage in New Orleans by a well written background about the role of poverty and wealth in this racially diverse but also racially divided city.

The author's writing is not overly suspenseful, nor does it overwhelm the story that is being told. it is straight forward and to the point allowing the story to move itself along through the many unusual turns of the case.

Overall a good read and I also recommend "A promise of Justice" and "Bloodsworth" for those who enjoy this book.

Jed Horne's DESIRE STREET is that book: the one we want to curl up with, the one that can take us away, the one that remains in our minds for a very long time. In rich nuanced prose, Horne tells the mind-boggling story of Curtis Kyles, a black man accused of murdering a white woman in racially charged New Orleans. Incredibly, Kyles goes to trial five times for this one murder because juries just can't seem to agree whether or not he is guilty. Horne puts us right into Kyles's New Orleans, mean streets filled with love and family as much as with crime and poverty. And by brilliantly weaving together details about the police investigations and trials of Curtis Kyles, Horne reveals that in the New Orleans criminal justice system that old saying is truer than ever: "In the halls of justice, the justice is in the halls." DESIRE STREET is true crime, real life, and a book that once read will not be forgotten.

I had read this book one week prior to Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the canals. Desire Street, covers the New Orleans judicial and police systems in regard to a murder of a white woman in a supermarket parking lot by a black who framed an innocent black for the murder. The journalist put forth a fairly objective story line which took the reader deep into the 9th ward and the lives of the people we saw portrayed on our TV screens this week. Though I read it because we have Sister Prejean coming to town next week and I wanted to expand my opinions. Having read it prior to Hurricane Katrina made what was portrayed by the newscasts even more poignant and heart wrenching. If you want to better understand the pulse of what once was, New Orleans you'd be wise to put this book in your cart.

The book's about Curtis Kyles, who was freed from Death Row in Angola after the Supreme Court reviewed his trial and decided that if all the evidence had been presented he wouldn't have been convicted. The police and the DA's office are supposed to give the defense lawyers all the evidence they uncover, but in this case they kept silent any info that didn't help prove the railroaded defendent was guilty. He was set up by a rival criminal in the neighborhood who was a police informant. The police actually gave him a regular paycheck in exchange for info on crimes. The book is interesting because it doesn't paint the exonerated man, Curtis Kyles, as an innocent man. It goes into all his criminal activity, selling drugs, selling stolen goods, and robbing people on the street. I think that he had planned to sell the gun and other items from the crime, the shooting death of an older lady out shopping at a discount grocery store in broad daylight. The police informant was found driving around in the dead lady's car, and soon pinned the killing on Curtis. After 4 trials with hung juries, the DA in New Orleans, Henry Connick, Jr's dad, conceded defeat and Curtis was allowed to go free. The book is written by a local newspaper reporter and does a good job describing the racism in the city. The book describes in detail life inside the Orleans Parish Prison, the local New Orleans jail full of violence and rapes, and on death row in Angola.

Dolores Dye, a feisty, attractive, white, middle class grandmother, 60 years old and an ex-rodeo rider, lies dying in a supermarket parking lot, blood and brain fluid pooling beneath her, while her assailant, a young, dark-black man from one of the darkest city underbellies in America, a professional criminal by birth, brazenly maneuvers her red Ford into the line of cars exiting the lot before casually pulling out and vanishing into the thickening traffic: a murder in broad daylight, with eye-witnesses; a purse-snatching gone bad; a brutal, stupid, cowardly crime about to fan the racist flames in cops and prosecutors alike in a city already ablaze with white-flight and its attendant fear and loathing.

So begins Jed Horne's "Desire Street," subtitled "A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans," a 14-year saga of a dark crime brought slowly and painfully into light and focus. Not really a whodunit, but with the rolling thunder feel of one, its plot unfolding ever more surprisingly, and not a "private-eye" subterranean journey, but with more windows into worlds forbidden or otherwise inaccessible than that genre ever afforded, "Desire Street" draws us into the ghostly half-life of slum-warren junkies' somnolent predation, perverse symbiotic relationships of detectives and snitches, Death house despair, the layered world all the way up, finally, to the pristine and delicate machinations of Federal Supreme Court maneuverings.

We generally read non-fiction to learn stuff: how the world connects and works. But we tend to turn to fiction, with its comforting circles of clarity and closure, to story us through lives too often apparently just one damned thing after another. And if we're told non-fiction is the art of the age, we may darkly suspect that this may be related to the death of the American imagination, our curious confusion of fact with truth. How startling then to discover such a pure work of non-fiction, the reportage so thorough and seamless as to be nearly invisible, that also has the reverb and mythical splendor of a Faulkner tale.

I am tempted to call "Desire Street" hardboiled non-fiction, but it is too scrupulously written for that, too elegant, with almost a poet's sense of efficiency, rhythm and the mot juste: not a syllable sensationalized or self-indulgent; no conjecture or surmise; just facts and deeply understood characters marshaled with the almost invisible touch of a masterful storyteller possessed of a great journalist's eye and penchant for legwork. In this last regard, this is also clearly a work of great courage, at many levels. And it begets characters that get up and walk around in your head on your way to the drugstore or supermarket, haunting characters that "cast long shadows" as Faulkner liked to say.

It is a story that has found its perfect teller in a veteran journalist, long-time resident of the French Quarter, and City Editor of New Orleans' great old newspaper, The Times-Picayune, for whom truth has been a long-time, habitual pursuit. It is the story of twisted, old, cruel, beautiful New Orleans, a tale of bad men, bad cops, bad prosecutors; but then it is a story of good men, even those who have done bad things, good women, good, even brilliant lawyers and jurists, and of a Supreme Court ruling that truly brought greater justice to American courts. So finally it is a story of America, where justice, however fuzzy and far off, is still a dream for the few who still dare dream it.

Don't buy this book if you're still trying to sell yours to a publisher. Though it does have invaluable information on how to negotiate a contract, it spends the first chapter or two telling you how hopeless your attempts at selling your own book without an agent are. More agent propaganda and self-aggrandizement.

Richard Curtis--a successful literary agent from New York City--tells writers what they must know to get published and to not get taken advantage of by agents and publishers. Mr. Curtis has been around the publishing business for many years and his commentary shows it. He discusses literary agencies, rights, money matters, agent clout, movies into books, multibook deals, advances, book clubs, taxes, publication dates, and the matter of fees, royalties and expenses. As one of the leading literary agent he covers approaching the various markets, negotiating successful contracts, benefitting from agents, handling legalities, and strategies and skills that will benefit writers in today's publishing market.

A must for anybody seeking a professional writing career. Even established writers will learn a few things about the book business.

This book has a lot of interesting info and "real world" statistics. Also useful information on what you can negotiate for in a book deal and what's standard and what isn't, etc. But all in all, it is totally discouraging. His first chapters are so depressing that you might never overcome having read them if you haven't finished your book yet. For example, he says that stats on unsolicited manuscripts sans agents are at least 5,000 a year per publishing house and he says it is simply not economical for them to hire readers, because less than one in a thousand amounts to something the house might want to publish. They all get sent back without being looked at. That is, if you send a self-addressed stamped envelope.

And he says agents don't want anyone who is not already published. Next to no chance of getting one unless your cover says something like "I invented the submarine and have written a book . . . " So--you can get a loan if you have money in the bank. And you can get a literary agent if you've been published. The same old story. It sounds very certainly impossible.

From what Curtis, an agent of 20 or 30 years says, there're tons of manuscripts that can't even get read and it has no relation whatever to what is good and what isn't. I'm ready to quit the entire idea and I'm only 1/3 of the way thru the book.

According to Curtis, it takes an agent. Period. And if you have no way of finding one of those without the same blind mailings you'd send to publishing houses, you may as well put the "grand novel" away and hope in 4 or 5 or 10 years, by some luck, you run into someone who is connected.

So I'm left wondering, why does anyone bother to write at all, much less buy Mr. Curtis' depressing book? There must be SOME way to get through, right? He offers precious little hope, I'm afraid.

I don't know if this writer-editor-agent meant to be so discouraging, but wow! Completely! Avoid this book if you want to keep writing.

I found the book informative, but it lacks the current information--like the fact that publishers of fiction now want at least 70,000 word manuscripts before they will even look at it. Curtis's book is discouraging, I agree, but the fact is that it really seems to be like he depicts. If it were more up-to-date, I would've added two additional stars to my rating.

When I ordered this book I didn't realize it would be so hard to read. I had always heard about this book but never read it, I still haven't. It has too much slang and half words in it. For as well known as it is I don't know how anybody read it. The story behind it is probably a very good story, but I couldn't understand enough of it to read more than the first chapter then it was placed on the book shelf. And I now know why it looks new and was sold as used, the fist purchaser probably couldn't read it either.

Wow! I must say this book is just...really amazing. I would reccomend it to anyone especially anyone who is studying the civil war or slavery in school.

right after lotr ttt. i think this book is awesome because it's got an engaging plot, with some "historial" references mixed in. if you're easily bored don't read the sermons where she begins with "dear reader/mother" and goes in to stir your pity. it's got a really fascinating ending and i'm just sad the real life cases never ended that way. read this if you're looking for something entertaining with historical background. no need to be studying history at all because i'm glad i read this even though i'm still in high school.

This particular book was recommended by a past professor that I consider my mentor. As I am studying to be a Professor of Literature, I thought surely this book would satisfy some of the historical questions I had about the plight of the negro slave. While the book can connect contemporary readers with knowledge of the antebellum south, the writing itself was way too pious. Stowe was the daughter, wife, and sister of preachers and it is easily seen in her writing. While the book has many redeeming qualities, it seems too much like a 700 page church sermon...NO THANKS. While it was good enough to finish it was still TOO tedious.

This book was incredible. Yes it can be racist, and extremist at times, but at it's core you're reading a piece of history. For a book to sell 300,000 copies during it's original publication in the mid 19th century is astounding. You're reading a book that had a part in the Civil War, the bloodiest war of our history. I did find while reading it that many parallels can be made between this book and "Black Beauty". Coincidence? Perhaps, but worth looking at in a review, or report. To read this and think that America permitted this slavery to go on for years, would be enough to disgust anyone. America's history is a bloody one, one that we need to remember, and reading this book will make you appriciate your freedom now, as an American. Please do keep in mind however, the slave trade is still going not to America, but places in Europe and Asia, even with the U.N outlawing it in 1953. I just cannot say how much this book made me think about the world past and present. Most highly recommended.

This book gives great description of SANS and NAS. In addition, a clear comparison of SANS and NAS technologies is given which is helpful in deciding what is right for your own organization. This book is not exhaustive on the subjects, but do point the reader in the right direction. I thought the time spent on the topic of backups was especially nice.

I found this book to be very helpful in sorting out the differences between the two technologies that have started to blur in many ways. I read this book from cover to cover and the layout was great. The book starts with a good overview of the past technologies that most IT people know and then begins to compair them to NAS and SAN and shows how those old technologies are evolving to fit into the new design.

As someone who has not had exposure to Fiber Channel hands on the book did a great job of explaining the technology and what part it plays. It gives a real nuts and bolts explination of the peices and what they all do.

The book then goes into describing SAN. It gives some typical uses along with the advantages and even the disavantages of SAN. In the next chapter it describes one of the major advantages to SAN in terms of Backup and Recovery. It doesn't go into detail and tell you what the commands are to do these things but more what you need to get the job done and what role each part plays.

The next three chapters are on NAS. The first one gives an overview of NAS and goes into uses along with the advantages and disadvantages of it. The second chapter gives information on how to manage NAS and is a bit too specific but does give a good foundation for the things that you need to look for to get the most out of NAS. The thirst chapter is on Backup and Recovery in a NAS environment. It gives a good overview of the technologies that exist but again gets into a little too much detail and is hung up on specific technologies.

Overall I would suggest this book to any IT people who have a solid background in server and network technology but are looking for what storage solutions exist and how they can be leveraged.

This book focuses on general concept and structure. No vendor specified information is included. It is a good entry-level book. But serious SAN/NAS users will need more detailed information.

Hi,

This books serves as good introduction to SAN and NAS. It covers backup and recovery for SANs very nicely and at appropriate level. As far as NAS is concerned, it skims the topic.

Its a good introduction to various technologies. The details will have to found elsewhere.

Overall review - worth reading it.

This book has a good 10K foot overview and basic groundings for beginners. Also is good at comparing and contrasting SAN vs NAS. But, very light on detail especially in the area of NAS. If you don't know anything about SAN/NAS give it a read. If you've much experience it'll be mostly review.

After researching many different books, I picked the Step by Step Excel for my class. This is an extremely easy book to follow either as a class or on your own. It comes with a disk of practice exersices. The author has made it very easy to learn new consepts. This is the first time I have taught an Excel class and this book has made my adult students feel comfortable and confident in learning something new since most have not been in a classroom in many years. I will continue to use this book as a learning guide and would also recommend the Word Step by Step book. This would definately help anyone learning Excel as well as a review for someone who already uses Excel.

I bought this book hoping it would have a better discussion and help with writing formulas in Excel. It let me down.

I bought this to help teach myself Excel 2002. It has been very helpful and I would recommend it to anyone.

Although I've used Excel for at least 10 years, I've felt that I could get more out of it, hence the reason that I bought this book. I do like that it comes with a CD with practice files, which gets rid of the tedium of entering reams of data just so you can manipulate them.

Even with all my years with Excel, the first chapter was a complete mystery to me. It consisted of opening files, making minor changes, then immediately closing them again. The next couple of chapters were much better, especially the ones on filtering data, changing the look of a workbook, and summarizing data. The chapter on Pivot tables was another mystery; though I could see what they are, I couldn't fathom exactly why I would use them.

I was especially hoping that the chapter on creating charts would be full of info and helpful tips. However, I feel that this one glossed over a lot of detail, and completely missed how to make a chart easier to comprehend. I've learned more previously about chart making by just using the 'Help' feature that comes with Excel.

Still, I'm glad I got the book; I now know more about Excel than I did before.

The 2002 version is much more user-friendly with its color pages and helpful organization than the bigger and less-organized 2000 offering. An added bonus for those looking to take the Microsoft Office Specialist Exam is the fact that this edition lists which core and expert objectives are covered when covering a lesson. Also, the interactive practice files make it extremely easy to follow and learn - for anyone.

This book, in conjunction with the one by Barbara Clemens, helped me to not only garner Excel 2002 proficiency, but to become an Excel 2002 Expert. Now that I'm an Expert, I can tell you this book might be too easy for me - but maybe not for you. And that's the real deal.

The book arrive as described. I thought the audio CD's were included but its still good.

easy to understand and learn from, it is a textbook so that's what you are getting. Good pictures and diagrams so far. I bought here because it had the best price.

I ordered this book/ cd set because it was required text for a college class. It is well organized and clearly written. I especially like the way the listening guides in the book refer to specific portions of songs which are recorded so that the entire work can be played seemlessly in its entirity, or specific portions can be accessed individually.
The only thing this work lacks is impossible for any work that attempts to offer a complete appreciation of music to achieve, complete scope.
I recommend this set.

This book does a good job of putting music in an overall historical context. For example, it notes how Baroque productions, whether sculpture or music, meant to "fill space." That accounts for elaborate melodies in music, and movement in painting and sculpture.

Music used to be written as much for the mind as the ear. In some vocal pieces, lyrics correspond to melody. For example, if the word "ascending" is used in the song, the notes of the melody also go up. Vice-versa for descending. If the song mentions one person, a single voice is used--three voices come in when three people are in the storyline.

The musical selections are varied and enjoyable to listen to.

would buy from again everything just as promised and recieved book fast

Very much like the Potter books and lacking the originality of, say, The King's Blade. But still a decent effort, though it took a little while to get going. The story is of a twelve-year-old boy who tells his parents about this dream that he has. The parents tell their child that he is to go to a special school and that he is in danger. Yawn.

After that the story progresses nicely though I can't help relating several things to the immenesly popular Potter books.

Still, it might be worth a shot. But if you're in the mood for something a bit more original you might want to try the book I recommended above.

I thought this was a well-written and fascinating story. The only possible disappointment I see is its extreme similarity to Harry Potter, at least on the surface. However, by the middle of the story it sets itself apart and draws you in. I can't wait for the next book, which Gene Curtis is working on.

As the author of, The Second Virgin Birth, I have to say that this book is very believable, with well developed-characters with amazing dialogue that surrounds an action-packed story that will keep you guessing the entire time. It's an easy read, and extremely well written. Yes, I thought that every now and then, this could be a Harry Potter story, but don't let that spoil a good read.

For twelve-year old Mark Young, it all begins with a strange, surreal, and somewhat frightening dream about long dark corridors and a booming voice that tells him, "You're going to die." The next day he relates the dream to his parents. To Mark's surprise, his parents were expecting this moment to arrive--the moment when he would have to face his destiny. Over a series of flashbacks, his parents tell Mark the bizarre circumstances of his birth. Soon Mark realizes that he is no ordinary boy, that he is being protected by a series of ancient beings, that he must go to a special school to learn his path, and that he is in danger.

The reader will follow Mark's adventures as he learns to be a Magi at the Seventh Mountain in the company of friends, who, like him, were born under the protection of other supernatural beings. Will he find his fate and fulfil his destiny?

Though the book is technically well written and edited, I found the beginning somewhat slow, probably because of all the flashbacks and explanations about what happened in the past. The real action doesn't begin to catch up until about page seventy, when the young protagonist goes to the Magi school. But perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this book is its resemblance to Harry Potter in terms of plot and characters. Indeed, the `copycat' plot doesn't do justice to the author's smooth prose, well-thought descriptions and natural dialogue. There are just too many similarities between the Magi school and the wizard school found in Potter's. Readers looking for an original story won't find it here. However, those who love Potter-like books will find Mark Young's adventures entertaining.

It intrigued me from the first and I have to say, it's a darned good story. I believe some people will say that it's a Christian Harry Potter knock off but I can't say I agree. True, at first I wondered if it was indeed a re-telling of a Harry Potter type tale with a Christian twist but as I got deeper into the book I found it was something quite different.

Curtis does a good job on the magic system in the Magi world, making it understandable and realistic. The setting of Seventh Mountain and it's surroundings is also very well developed. To be honest, the characters were a bit wooden at times and the dialog was awkward in places. I often felt that Mark understood concepts and acted far beyond the scope of his 12 years of age. Yet I was still engaged and my interest was held to the very last page.

There are enough questions in the book that you want to keep reading, want to find the answers. The bad guy is really bad and the good guys are really good. This work should appeal to a wide audience. It's young enough that a child will understand and enjoy it but it's got enough depth that an adult will enjoy their time reading it as well.

Bravo to Gene Curtis and well done on his first published novel. I look very forward to reading future installments of the Chronicles of a Magi series.

Nice to read something on UFOs by someone who looks at the science and history of sightings and then draws his conclusions. Most UFO "researchers" decide what they want UFOs to be and then go looking for only what they think proves their case. They are not interested in truth at all but in book sells and UFO convention fees.

Forgive me for being brief, but if you have only one book on UFOs, this should be it. A through examination of the history of UFOs.

Curtis Peebles is a noted aviation journalist and historian. In "Watch the Skies" he presents one of the best historical accounts of the UFO phenomenon that I've ever read. The book begins in 1946 with the sighting of mysterious "Ghost Rockets" over Northern Europe and then follows the creation of what Peebles calls the "Flying Saucer Myth" in the USA. In June 1947 a successful businessman and private pilot named Kenneth Arnold spotted nine strange "flying disks" speeding over Mt. Rainier in Washington State. A baffled Arnold clocked the object's speed at over 1200 MPH - far faster than any human aircraft could fly at the time. His story made headlines around the nation, and soon the "flying saucer era" was born. Peebles methodically traces the UFO phenomenon from the "glory days" of the forties and early fifties - a period when even the US military thought there might be something to the UFO mystery and took it seriously - to what he calls the "darker myths" of the modern era, with its emphasis on alien abductions, government coverups and conspiracies, and the like. A confirmed UFO skeptic, Peebles at least states he's a skeptic at the beginning of the book, and unlike many UFO debunkers (such as Philip Klass, Robert Sheaffer, and other CSICOP-style critics), he is fair and sympathetic to UFO witnesses and UFO researchers. However, he does tend to explain away many baffling sightings and incidents without looking at all the evidence (like many UFO skeptics, he sometimes falls into the "armchair investigator", or "toilet-seat thinker" categories). Peebles believes that just as witches and fairies represented the "myths" of earlier historical eras, so UFOs are a "modern myth", and he treats the UFO phenomenon as a present-day "mythology-in-progress". Peebles covers all aspects of the UFO mystery over the past 56 years: the most famous UFO cases, the government investigations and coverups, UFO crashes (such as Roswell), the efforts of leading "ufologists" and UFO research groups to gain recognition and respectability, the leading debunkers, the "contactees" and other con artists who have tried to get money and publicity from the UFO phenomenon, the growth of the alien abduction and cattle mutilation mysteries, etc. As someone who has read many UFO books (both pro-and-con), I believe that "Watch the Skies" is one of the best books on the subject that I've ever read. If you're interested in the history of UFO sightings and cases, but are wary of reading books with dubious stories of alien abductions, cattle mutilations, "contactees", and the like, then this book will be a delight. It's serious-minded, well-written, and (mostly) well-researched - albeit from a very skeptical point of view. Recommended!

Is Peebles a government stooge? Is this book an attempt at disinformation to throw of the scent? If you believe that, you'll believe anything.

Apparently some people do.

This book is a fine attempt to show how the crackpot theories and people gain prominence through fraud, misunderstanding, or desperately wanting to believe that something other than us is out there. Sceptics will love it, believers will hate it, but only because they are shown to be the fools that they are. Peebles shows that there is no proof of UFOs, EBEs or secret governments. The UFO industry has too much invested for people to believe in anything else.

"Watch the Skies" is simply one of the best books by a UFO skeptic that I've read. Unlike debunkers such as Phil Klass and Robert Sheaffer, who unnecessarily ridicule witnesses and often ignore evidence which contradicts their "explanations"(which, of course, is a failing of many "believers" as well) Peebles is fair to both sides. What makes this book especially appealing, to believer and skeptic alike, is that it is one of the few "historical" works on UFOs - it treats UFOs as a historical phenomenon and not simply a random series of sightings and photographs. The only other work to do this, to my knowledge, is David Jacob's "The UFO Controversy in America" which was published a quarter-century ago. My only complaint with this book is that Peebles' "explanations" for most UFO sightings lack depth and often are of the "armchair investigator" variety. Anyone who has read a great deal about the sightings he describes will find plenty to argue with. However, as a synopsis of the skeptic's viewpoint (that all UFO sightings can be explained as weather balloons, birds, mirages, stars, ball lightning, and, failing all else, hoaxes), this book is as about as good as it gets.

This book was okay, but it was very elementary. It definitely leaves a lot to be desired. My husband and I were reading it together, but we stopped halfway through and started reading a different book because it definitely didn't tell us anything that we didn't already know or that wasn't common sense. It's great for people who have NO idea what to expect about pregnancy, childbirth, or newborns, but my guess is that everyone would know most of what this book talks about. I would not recommend this.

I am reading this book now as a first time father and its great, lots of information both pratical and helpful with you as a father to be as well as good advice on how to help the mother, what she needs, suggestoins on how to make her pregnancy easier and safer. I hehly recommend this book
thanks
Joe

This one isn't funny. It isn't very light-hearted. And if your husband/father-to-be already knows much about kids and babies, it probably isn't very helpful either. But if he's a clueless dolt who's never held a baby, and never thought about your needs in any other area of your lives or relationships, and yet you still think he might come 'round to being helpful and sensitive with respect to your pregnancy and birth, this is a fairly straight-forward guide that will offer suggestions such as that he exercise with you, help change diapers, and be sensitive to your needs.

But if you really need this book, you might also consider picking a new father. It starts at the basics and, as another reviewer wrote, assumes the worst. I hope you're (both) starting off ahead of that.

I skimmed this to screen it before passing it off to my husband, and decided not to ask him to read it. This book seems to assume that (a) the woman is dim and helpless, (b) the man goes to his tough job in the day while the woman does the housework and shopping, and (c) the man is relatively clueless or uninvolved in the housework department. (Does this remind you of that "How to be a Good Wife" guide from the '50's?) For example, the book suggests that the man "help with the laundry." More useful would be "learn to do the laundry if you don't already know how." In many cases, the book describes a situation or condition (e.g., your wife craves unhealthy junk foods), and suggests that the man "encourage her" to do something (make healthier food chooices), which sounds like a contrived way to make yourself involved. More useful idea: volunteer to do the shopping, and then buy veggies instead of cookies. The anecdotes about actual couples range from cute to why-didn't-you-slap-these-people? Unless your relationship is very traditional - they guy really doesn't do any housework and is emotionally reserved, and the woman really does stay at home and has trouble making her own decisions - you may find this book condescending or even insulting. As an rather independent, self-sufficient engineer who got married at 27 and pregnant at 30, I was insulted.

As a first time father this book was very helpful. It did not go into nearly the details that some of the other books did. It was very specific about what a man can do to help his wife through the process. It also looks at some longer term items, like saving for school, planning for the first few weeks after the birth and even packing a travel bag for you to take to the hospital. It is nice light reading in an easy to read format and style. This book will definitely be a benefit to you and your partner. The 5 sections are: the three trimesters, labor & delivery, and at home with the baby. These authors also wrote a number of supporting or complimentary books:
Bouncing Back From Your Pregnancy
Your Pregnancy Journal Week by Week
Your Pregnancy After 35
Your Pregnancy Questions and Answers
Your Pregnancy Every Woman's Guide
Your Baby's First Year Week by Week
Your Pregnancy Week by Week