Fields Books

8 Yr old really enjoys this book. He said it helps him to figure out the kind of reptiles that he has seen outside. He even has a salamander he found and it has a lot of info and facts on it.

I used Diane Burns' book as an aid for nature programs while I was working as a naturalist. Each animal is depicted in full color with pertinent details and hazards to watch for. Young kids love the colorful pictures of their favorite "slimy" creatures, while older kids can read the information and learn where and when to find the creatures. I found that Burns' book works better than a more sophisticated source when working with children, as it is written at their level -- but adults can also gain much knowledge from the information. My congratulations to Diane Burns for writing such a wonderful book!

I purchased 5 books of this series for my five year old daughter for Christmas, as she is a nature lover and loves anything to do with science. After reviewing these books before giving them, we decided to use them as part of our science program for our home school. These books have bright and colorful pictures, short accurate explanations of the animal, their habitat, eating habits, and even some of the popular anecdotes that go along with the animal. It has the appropriate warning for studying certain animals. What we enjoy most is many of these animals can be found in our back yard to furthur study. Each book deals with three types of animal, such as snakes, salamanders and lizards. They are separated into sections dealing with each type. At the end of the section is a wonderful hands-on project the child can basically do on their own within the recommended age group (9-12) or with some assistance for a younger age group like my daughter. My 5 year old begs us to read these books to her and loves the projects. I highly recommend this bokk and others in the series for those who want their children to learn about nature and how to respect it. I can't wait to obtain the remaining books of this series.

This book is a tender look at the quiet heroes who made baseball an all-American sport. The players Doug Williams introduces are noble men who made difficult choices--men who lived with integrity, diligence, and perseverance. In addition, the book is about living in joyous gratitude. Finally, with each chapter, the reader is aware that often there are no coincidences in our lives, only new paths to different adventures.

This is an outstanding piece of work. Williams does a great job of contextualizing these former players for novel and avid sports readers. His accurate knowledge of the game, the times, and the people involved make this a must read for anyone who has ever enjoyed the game of baseball. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

OK, I am a friend of Doug Williams, and we have been encouraging him to write a book like this for years. I'm not really a baseball fan, but I really liked this book. It is not only about baseball, but also about friendship, values, and family relationships. I told Doug that I took it on a business trip to read at bedtime, but it was so good that I stayed up two extra hours to finish it. The book is very well written and I recommend it highly.

This book is very unique. I am a coach of my girls soccer team in Connecticut. I have found the book to be very valuable. Most of these girls have had limited experience playing. The drills which I have incorporated in practice have enabled my players to play a control game and to play as a team. One of the drills "The low inside-of-the foot trap drill for ground balls helped my team contol the ball and prevent them from playing kick ball. This as well as the shielding drills taught them to make better traps and to maintain possession of the ball. This book also speaks on the necessity of fairness to all players.

I have used several of these drills with my high school team with good results; I especially like the Shoulder Charging Tackle Drill and the Preliminary Shielding/Trapping Drill.

This is an easy to understand drill book. It has unique and practical drills that I use during our team's training.

This book is good for you if you are just starting out with little experience. It includes things on technique, training, diet, and drills. It really helped me succed.

High school athletes as well as coaches will love this book. It has great photo sequences and is written so the athlete can actually take it to practice. Lots of humor in it to make the technical stuff actually fun and easy to understand.

I first saw this book a my local library back in 1993 and it has helped me with my coaching at the junior college level ever since. I recommend this book to field event coaches of all levels. I have been wondering where I could buy this book, because no retail bookstore carries this subject. I even thought about telling the library that I lost it and paying for it that way! Thanks Amazon.

The second edition came out in 2001 and although my previous review is listed here it refers to the first edition. Professor Reiss sent me a copy of the second edition and I browsed through it to see what has changed. Except for the words "Second Edition" in the upper left corner of the cover page the cover is the same as the original. A closer look through the text shows that there are substantial changes. The original text was 316 pages long with 35 references and a CD Rom on the back page. The new edition is 443 pages with 51 references and a CD Rom on the back page (this is version 3.0 of Xtremes).
The preface to the second edition tells you precisely what is added. There are 8 new contributing authors who are Stuart Coles , Jurg Husler, Daniel Dietrich, Dietnar Pfeifer, Humberto Vaquera, Jose Villasenor, Pieter van Gelder and Dan Lungu and apparently the two main authors will encourage more contributors for a third edition. The authors are very much interested in demonstrating applications of extreme value theory using their Xtremes software and generously invite others to join in.

The structure and theme of the book has not changed. Section I on modeling and analysis has replaced the section on robust statistics with a section called heavy and fat-tailed distributions. The sections are slightly longer in the second edition. Chapter 2 has an additional section called the auto-tail-dependence function.

Part II on inference for parametric models includes a whole new chapter on Poisson Processes (Chapter 7). In Part III on multivariate methods, Chapter 9 on multivariate maxima includes a new section on the Gumbel-McFadden Model and Chapter 10 a new section on bivariate peaks over a threshold.

Part IV on topics in Hydrology, Insurance and Finance is totally revised and consists of Chapters 11-14 in place of the original Chapters 9-11. The old Chapters 9 and 10 are now Chapters 12 and 13 respectively.

In Part V there are again five case studies but they are totally new ones with the new authors that are acknowledged in the preface.

In the appendix they have replaced the description of the XPL programming language with the StatPascal language.

The second edition came out in 2001 and although my previous review is listed here it refers to the first edition. Professor Reiss sent me a copy of the second edition and I browsed through it to see what has changed. Except for the words "Second Edition" in the upper left corner of the cover page the cover is the same as the original. A closer look through the text shows that there are substantial changes. The original text was 316 pages long with 35 references and a CD Rom on the back page. The new edition is 443 pages with 51 references and a CD Rom on the back page (this is version 3.0 of Xtremes).

The preface to the second edition tells you precisely what is added. There are 8 new contributing authors who are Stuart Coles , Jurg Husler, Daniel Dietrich, Dietnar Pfeifer, Humberto Vaquera, Jose Villasenor, Pieter van Gelder and Dan Lungu and apparently the two main authors will encourage more contributors for a third edition. The authors are very much interested in demonstrating applications of extreme value theory using their Xtremes software and generously invite others to join in.

The structure and theme of the book has not changed. Section I on modeling and analysis has replaced the section on robust statistics with a section called heavy and fat-tailed distributions. The sections are slightly longer in the second edition. Chapter 2 has an additional section called the auto-tail-dependence function.

Part II on inference for parametric models includes a whole new chapter on Poisson Processes (Chapter 7). In Part III on multivariate methods, Chapter 9 on multivariate maxima includes a new section on the Gumbel-McFadden Model and Chapter 10 a new section on bivariate peaks over a threshold.

Part IV on topics in Hydrology, Insurance and Finance is totally revised and consists of Chapters 11-14 in place of the original Chapters 9-11. The old Chapters 9 and 10 are now Chapters 12 and 13 respectively.

In Part V there are again five case studies but they are totally new ones with the new authors that are acknowledged in the preface.

In the appendix they have replaced the description of the XPL programming language with the StatPascal language.

The software XTREMES was introduced by Falk, Husler and Reiss in their 1994 book "Laws of Small Numbers: Extremes and Rare Events". That book was mainly theoretical and the software was in an MS-DOS version for PCs. This text was published in 1997. For this text they supply a Windows (3.1 , 95, NT) version on a CD ROM.

In this book the emphasis is on applications in insurance, finance, hydrology and other fields. The first 10 chapters develop the theory and teach the use of XTREMES presenting dialog boxes and descriptions. The text is divided into 5 parts. Part I deals with modeling and data analysis, part II covers statistical infrence for parametric models, in part III elements of multivariate analysis are introduced, part IV emphasizes the application areas and part V is a collection of case studies using XTREMES. There are five case studies. One presented by Reiss but other presented by notable researchers including Tai Hsing, Jurg Husler, Ana Ferreira, Edgar Kaufmann and Cornelia Hillgartner. The appendices provide additional details on XTREMES. This is a very unique text that is valuable to anyone interested in doing research or applications of extreme value theory. Includes coverage of the parametric bootstrap.

Now you don't have to embarrass yourself at the coffee shop asking questions you feel you shouldn't have to ask about the basics of mechanical weed control.

I've been using this book for several years now. And each year I buy copies for our farm interns and staff. I think the book does a great job of showing various pieces of equipment with the how and why it works. The vignettes of farmers who use those tools is very helpful in offering a three dimensional real life picture of how the tool may or may not work on our farm. Great book, one we refer to often for ideas and to make sure we all have the same "picture" in our heads of what a tool can and might do.

This book addresses the four main concerns that farmers have about mechanical weed control: cost, effectiveness, dependability and soil impact. The field equipment sections are the most descriptive that I have ever seen.

"Succeeding at your interview" is a good resource for anyone entering the field of education. This book gives the reader a step by step guide for achieving a teaching position in the school of his or her choice. Expert guidance is provided on preparing an application, presenting yourself as a professional, and evaluating an interviewer's questions. In addition, the scenario sessions are an excellent tool to avoid being caught unprepared for an interview question. I plan on recommending this book to all of the teachers I know. This would be a great gift for a recent college graduate, or a seasoned professional who is changing career paths.

Beyond a "Must-Read"--this is a "Must-Do" personal coaching workbook. As a counselor in educational placement, I develop interview tip sheets, classroom seminars and conduct mock interviews for student teachers. This book does more. It walks you through sample interviews and shows you how to "work the questions." The authors clarify the interview process for inexperienced candidates, and provide the tools for anyone (even other-than-teacher job seekers) to interview with confidence and professionalism.

I have taught in a suburban New York school system for 35 years and have served on many interviewing teams. Review of questioning techniques and the interview scenarios can be a great help to teachers and administrators on these teams. But it is especially valuable to the prospective teacher who after reading and studying "Succeeding at Your Interview" will be prepared to face any setting or question posed at an interview. This ability means SUCCESS!

The prospective teacher will gain confidence by becoming familiar with the variety of interview formats. The 5 scenarios are-
1. An Initial School Based One to One Interview
2. An Initial Interview with a School Based Team
3. A District Based Interview with Several Principals
4. A School Based Interview with Role Playing
5. A School Based Interview with a Demonstration Lesson

Becoming familiar with the varied possibilities can prevent being caught off guard and will present a secure, confident candidate.
The reader is exposed to interviewers' questions and techniques in evaluating them. There are 7 issues that are usually discussed in interviews. These issues are reviewed with practice exercises. The questions covered are on the topics of-
1. Yourself
2. Learning Principles
3. Supporting Learning
4. Impressions of Teaching
5. Classroom Lessons
6. Personal Approaches
7. Your Questions

This book also provides guidance with gathering information about potential teaching positions, organizing the application process and suggested readings.

"Succeeding at Your Interview" is a most valuable tool for the prospective and experienced teacher before interviewing for a position as well as for the teacher on the team involved in the interviewing process. Get this book for success!

This is the book to buy if you have any interest in pursuing a career as a Paralegal. The information is up-to-date and covers everything; from an overview of the Paralegal field, to choosing the right training/education program, to entering the workforce, to those first days practicing as a paralegal. Insight into the workings of a Law Firm, resume writing, job search resources, interviewing tips, plus appendices covering "Legal Lingo", Paralegal Schools, Paralegal Organizations, and so much more. What really sold me on the book is the "Free Resume Critique" that the Estrin Organization offers at the end. When you are ready, simply send your resume with a self-addressed, stamped envelope and they will review and return your resume; giving ratings in twenty areas on a scale of 1 to 5. After months of research this is the only resource I found that was so concise. I will begin post-graduate work towards a Paralegal degree this fall.

I didn't have a clue where to start to look for a paralegal job. I have been in this field for five years at one job and was out of touch with what's going on in the marketplace. I picked up this book and found everything I needed - from resume writing to what to expect in the interview to hidden meanings behind the questions asked. I also found the salary negotiation section extremely helpful. When I went on my final interview, I found that I was able to use some of the techniques successfully. The book gave me resources I hadn't even thought about. I think that I was able to get my job more quickly by reading this book. I highly recommend it to experienced, non-experienced paralegals and even those just thinking about entering the field. Now that I think about it, it can apply to just about anyone!

The Successful Paralegal Job Search Guide is absolutely the most informative book I have seen yet on the market. It is chock full of sample resumes, cover letters, and most importantly, strategy techniques. It appeals to paralegals of all levels - entry to senior - and all specialties. The step-by-step tips on what can occur during the interview is particularly important. The background information, resources, on-line resources are excellent. I loved the 275 questions you can be asked on the interview and was thrilled to find 275 questions that I could ask! I have never seen that before. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is in the field, who is thinking about entering the field and for schools seeking to assist students in finding a paralegal job. Chere Estrin is an icon in this business and has written yet another winner!

Sunrise on the Santee is a 224 page autobiographical account of a South Carolina duck hunter, Julius M. Reynolds, Jr. The prose is well written and enjoyable. This book really captures what life is like in South Carolina's lowcountry where, even today, almost everyone hunts and fishes.

Duck hunters should really enjoy this book, but I also believe that a non-hunter or even an anti-hunter will have a better appreciation for the lives of hunters after reading the these accounts.

Sunrise On The Santee: A Memoir Of Waterfowling In South Carolina by Carolinian duck hunter Julius Reynolds is a picturesque, vivid, emotion inspiring testimony of experiencing what nature has to offer. Set in the splendor of South Carolina, and with an especial reverence for the glory of a brand new dawn, Sunrise on the Santee is a hunter's testament about treasuring life, including one's own life, the life of the natural world around one, and the life of the waterfowl hunted and consumed for sustenance. Of special interest are Reynolds commentaries on the future of waterfowling and the challenges future generations of hunters must deal with to save a rapidly vanishing wetlands environment upon which waterfowl migration depends if they are to return to the Santee. Sunrise On The Santee is highly recommended reading for anyone who has ever sought a true communion with nature.

Excellent account and history of one of the greatest bodies of waters in the Carolinas. JM Reynolds takes the reader from the early days of his childhood in the midlands of South Carolina when the great Santee was born up to present day with all the politics and troubles the lakes faces with growth, human encrouchment, and lack of habitat for the Anadidae. It is a down to earth story of one man's life memories upon one of the greatest places to learn the art of waterfowling. Of course, I'm a bit biased as I have also hunted Pine Island Creek "Big Ducks" or the "Bombers" of recent years on Russelville Flats of the "Lower Lake"!

If you've hunted the Santee, this book is a MUST for you but is great reading for any waterfowler or outdoorsman!

I'm sorry that it took me so long to find this book, partially because the book is actually entitled "SURVIVING the Killing Fields: The Cambodian Odyssey of Haing S. Ngor" (and after all this time it took only a few days to read it). Aside from that, it's probably the most intense memoir about life under the Khmer Rouge. Also gives thorough insight into the social and political maze that led led to Pol Pot's reign of terror, and what happened to Cambodia afterwards. Ngor also told not only the *deeply* disturbing details of his life as a war slave, but also the difficulties of starting a new life in America. In addition, he clearly portrayed the bizarro-ness of life as a celebrity, as opposed to the life he lived in his homeland. The reader gets a real sense of the isolation he must have felt, even after his successes in America. All this, along with his spiritual beliefs in karma, which helped him explain some of the madness, make this a beautiful and haunting story. By the way, reading this will make you want to see 'The Killing Fields' again, just to see his performance one more time. It's clear that this memoir served in part as a therapeutic device for him personally, but it's also a truly inspiring book for anyone to read. Reading about his journey was weirdly prophetic, bittersweet and sad because ten years after this book was published, Ngor was killed in a senseless act of violence in L.A.

*****

I just wanted to point out this irony for those who aren't familiar with the case. Several years after he made the movie The Killing Fields Ngor was fatally shot in a robbery attempt by some gang members outside his Los Angeles home.

This is an excellent book by a very well educated man who managed to survive the horrors of the killing fields of Cheong Ek. Ngor was an ethnic Chinese Cambodian just beginning his surgical career when the Khmer Rouge rebels marched into Phnom Penh and drove all the "evil city dwellers" into the countryside to be "re-educated." He was also newly married to Huey, a teacher.

Throughout the book Ngor gives insights and political background to help understand the situation. He also underscores some of the prejudices faced by ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese citizens of Cambodia. He also highlights the difficulties that many Cambodians had resettling in America after the war.

I had the privilege of visiting Phnom Penh and seeing the killing fields of Cheong Ek and the "interrogation center" of Tuoel Sleng. The city impressed me as a small place, perhaps due to the Khmer Rouge genocide attempt. So, I couldn't help wondering how he managed to survive by hiding his identity. I don't want to cast aspersions. After all, I have been fortunate in that I never had to endure near starvation or being forced to slave for some sickly surreal dictatorship. The part of the book that was most memorable and disturbing to me was his wife's death while trying to deliver their first child. Huey experiences serious labor complications, perhaps due to being nearly worked and starved to death. All through the book he refers to Huey as the love of his life. Yet, for some reason, Ngor just sits there and debates whether or not to perform the necessary cesarean section. He debates the outcome of saving the lives of his wife and pre-partum child versus possibly exposing his medical background. She dies while he is trying to make up his mind. This indifference haunted me more than the Khmer Rouge horrors.

This book's subject matter was without doubt the most harrowing that I have ever read. I was amazed at the tenacity with which Hiang S. Ngor managed to cling to life through the most horrifying circumstances imaginable. However dispite this, it remains one of the most life afirming pieces of work which I have had the privaledge to read.