Ford Books

I have read a lot of books about early aviation and especially Glenn Curtiss, and Mr. Carpenter's book is among the best. It has been very helpful to me to put the entire chronology of the Wright brothers and Curtis and the development of flight in perspective because of the way he organizes his information. This book is most helpful when read AFTER a Curtiss biography, such as Roseberry's book on Curtiss.

Pendulum is written for the serious student of early aviation history. Unlike most stories that focus on the Wright brothers' struggles before Dec. 17, 1903, this book delves into what happened AFTER Kitty Hawk.

In 1908 Glenn Curtiss won the Scientific American Magazine trophy for the first public flight in America. It was he, not the Wright brothers, who received instant fame and glory. He built and sold civilian airplanes while they focused on a single sale to the American, British or French Army.

The book explains how early chronicles touted Glenn Curtiss, not the Wrights, as the pioneer of aviation. Thousands of Curtiss JN-4 "Jennys" were used to train WW-I pilots. Today the pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme. Few people know of Curtiss, inventer of the flying boat and father of naval aviation, but everyone has seen the photo of Orville Wright's famous "First Flight" at Kitty Hawk.

In a sometimes dry account, Jack Carpenter meticulously compares step-by-step progress of the three men, with more rare photos than any other book. He tells how they were influenced by Alexander Graham Bell, inventer of the telephone, and Henry Ford, the father of mass produced automobiles.

Having studied the lives of all three men, I think Pendulum is the only book that gives an unbiased account of the bitter patent lawsuit that delayed the growth of American aviation for 10 years.

The most up to date I have ... but still behind the times. Had names for elements up to 109. I know that element 110 and 111 have been named but the chart have them unnamed. Element 118 is on the chart even though the discoverers have removed their claim of discovery due to errors in their detection equipment.
The chart has the usual information on the elements as most charts will have ... Name, Atomic Symbol, Atomic Number, Atomic Weight, Density, Electron Configuration, Oxidation States, Melting Point, Boiling Point and more on all of the elements up to 103.
All this info folds up and will fit in a standard 3 ring note book.

This is a terrific version of the periodic table for the serious science student. It has the atomic number, atomic weight, electronegativity, atomic radii and ionic radii, elctron affinity, and 1st ionization potential. It even defines what these terms mean, but if you can use the information, you already know. This chart covers the front two pages of this laminated chart (quite durable).

The back of the chart has eight versions of the table that cover enthalpy of atomization, natural forms (solid, liquid, gas), molar volume, density, enthalpy of vaporization, boiling point, enthalpy of fusion, melting point, specific heat capacity, and thermal conductivity. The other back page provides some chemical properties of the elements and common uses.

All in all, a very interesting and useful chart. It might be overwhelming if all you are looking for is the name, symbol, and atomic number, though.

As I noted, it is laminated for durability and it is also three-hole-punched so it will fit easily in a student's notebook.

I compared this version to 3 other "modern" versions, including Hazelbaker's, and prefer this one. Other renderings all seemed to take significant liberties with the original text by either adding or removing material or, more often, by losing the charm of the original.

Written in a stone-cold jail cell above a river in 1670's England, Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is one of the great classics of all time, offering penetrating, spiritual insights relevant to all. It's been translated into 120 languages and is, as C.S. Lewis put it, "... a book that has astonished the whole world." It has stood the test of time.

An allegorical depiction of the journey through life, for many generations it was an integral part of the education of America's youth, helping shape the character of the nation. To a great extent, we are still benefitting from the social inertia provided by the spiritual insight it provided. It is a book that takes on new relevance each time it is read (which should be at least once a year), as you mature.

The language of the original English has a charm, but the "wilt's", "wherefores", "canst thous" and "came not nighs" can be an obstacle to modern readers. Cheryl Ford has done an excellent job of rendering "Pilgrim's Progress" in modern English while remaining faithful to the original.

Ford includes Parts 1 and 2 (some renderings contain only Part 1) most of Bunyan's margin notes, has a general index, exhaustive scripture index and discussion questions.

For those that want the original language as Bunyan wrote it, there is ISBN 0-85151-259-3, a beautiful deluxe hardcover with etchings by Strang and text based on the 1895 edition of Nimmo.

This is the story of a pilgrim, who knows of the coming destruction that will destroy his city. None of his friends believe him, so he starts his journey to find a safe place. He meets people who help him along the way, but will he actually make it to his goal?

Buy this book and discover what this pilgrim goes through as he searches for a safe place.

This book has a lot of good tips on how to mentor others. The thing that is great about this book from other books on mentoring is that it really takes time to develop you as a mentor or mentoree in your character. Martin Sanders doesn't just tell you how to mentor but gives good reflective questions throughout this book to help you develop yourself. The book is an easy read and will help you greatly in your pursuit of God and developing the leader within you and around you. For those of you who know Martin Sanders this is a book that combines the best of his teaching in one concise book. I believe that this book has the ability to change your life if you follow the steps that Martin suggests. The incredible thing is that the steps are all based on the Word of God.

I highly recomment this book to all who are in pursuit of Jesus or helping someone to Jesus.

This is by far the best book on Mentoring out right now. Since this book came out in early 2005, it address the modern needs of mentoring right now. What sets this book apart from other mentoring books is that Sanders takes time to focus on the character of the individual. The #1 thing our society today wants is character out of its leaders. Character matters a lot today and Sanders does a great job in focusing on developing Martin Sanders truly understands what mentoring should be with his practical, straight-forward writing style.


I highly suggest that you buy and read this book. This book will not only change the way you mentor others, but it will also change your life.

Learn how you can achieve your fullest potential.

Some will be quick to tell you that it's worthless to learn JustBASIC because you can't do much with it and you should instead learn Visual Basic. I started learning BASIC when I was about 5 or 6 (my dad is a programmer and taught me a lot!), but then never used it for a long time. 20 years later, I find myself with the desire to learn Visual Basic. I had told my dad that I wanted to learn Visual Basic to create some software for a non-profit organization that I run. I had said that I felt the best way to learn to program is to go through what I call "bootcamp" which is basically having to code EVERYTHING at first. You'll get a better grip on what's going on behind the scenes and the ability to better appreciate Visual Basic's IDE. He told me that when we went from Quick Basic (or qbasic) to Visual Basic, it was a relatively quick and easy, painless experience because so much of the code he'd been using still applied.

One of the things I wish that this book would do is give quizzes at the end. I can't even tell you how helpful those can be in making sure you understand the information. How else are you to know just how much you learned? Some of the games are a little (lot) goofy in this book, but they do what they're supposed to do: demonstrate the use of the code covered in that chapter as well as previous chapters. You also end up with a few programs that with a little modification could be quite fun to play! I'm working on a slot machine program that will pull up all of the pictures in the folder that the program is found in and display them as you win rather than basing it solely on how much money you have. That way I could cycle through family vacations, weddings, etc. in a more interactive way. While it might not be something I will use often, it's definitely one more Problem for me to try to figure out. Isn't that, after all, what programming is all about? Problem-Solving?

In the end, I'd have to say that this book is very good. Pick it up, learn it, master it and move on. You'll be a stronger programmer in five years if you keep to the simple basics of breaking down programs, using subroutines/functions to streamline your programs and using liberal use of comments all throughout the code. Definitely worth the money!

I've happily been a member of the Just Basic community for nearly three years. I've been programming in several versions of BASIC for thirty years. Just Basic allows you to create Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) with the look and feel of commercial programs written for Windows... but it's much easier.

All the programming techniques like IF/THEN/ELSE..., SELECT CASE, string and numerical arrays, DATA, FILE INPUT/OUTPUT, and Graphics are there, in very familiar syntax.

The best feature is (aside from the fact Just Basic is FREE!) the online support community of more than 2,000 members at all levels of experience. Share your programs or seek help developing them.

The BEST book of Christmas Carols, for both adults and children. The verses are clearly printed, easy to read. The music is included. The accompanying stories and pictures are delightful. We have one for each child!

I bought this book 7 years ago when my son was in preschool. We have used it every advent and Christmas since, especially when caroling with our church. The pictures are along the same line as the other Real Mother Goose books, and the words and music, including several verses to each song are included. i plan on ordering more copies, since the one we have is falling apart, and each child would like their own copy to use and keep.

I read this book with the consternation I always do when the title includes the word "prophecy" but found the book to be more full of clear thinking than prophecy.

Having grown up in Texas I clearly understand some of the problems the author had in raising a garden in the summer in that part of the state, especially with the other duties his ranching and farming required of him. And having done mindless labor I know how the mind wanders and how memories intrude and one's thoughts can travel from point a to point m or n in the course of performing one's tasks. Don does a good job of remembering and then does an even better job of sharing those memories and making the people in them real.

What Don does for a living forces him to demonstrate a pretty high level of pragmatism, both in dealing with the livestock he raises and in dealing with the increasingly harsh reality of the small business owner in this day and age. And that pragmatism is reflected in his approach to looking at the problems we all will be facing in the not so very distant future. He explains in his terms, his reality, what the rising costs of fuel are doing to him and people like him and then makes those people come alive so that their reality touches the reader.

There is not much gilding of the lily in this book but it well worth the reader's efforts. Read it, it will be good for you.

I read this book about a year ago, and now I'm reading it again. I never submitted a review because it's hard to sum up what one feels after reading a book of this magnitude and nature, but now I'll try.

When "Ruminations" was written if you talked about Global Warming or Peak Oil the majority of free thinking individuals would probably laugh at you. Now, not that much further into the future, the entire world has begun to stand up and take notice of the very real and very dire problems we face as a species. A person who has ears to hear and eyes to see cannot help but to have foul visions enter his or her mind when looking at the world.

Don Ford is just that sort of person. Don's life led him from oil fields to crop farming to cow herding to jail, and then back again. Couple the knowledge these intense experiences bring with a fiercely strong intellect and you have a person who is in the very unique position to see the world as few ever have before. And when Don looked at the world he saw a hard future for mankind based upon simple truths.

One of these truths is that oil is a finite resource, and we have reached the peak production of easily accessed oil, meaning sharp decline in oil production, followed by a steep increase in oil prices, is in our future. Another truth: Oil sustains nearly every facet of modern life, but most importantly it plays an influential part in nearly every aspect of food production for nearly all food produced in the world. Everything from pesticides to fertilizer to irrigation, to transporting to packaging to shelving, relies heavily on oil. Knowing these two truths, a person has to ask the question, "what will happen if oil becomes too expensive to be used or, God forbid, we run out of it completely?"

With this in mind, Don set out to perform an experiment: farming a rocky piece of Texas using no oil-based products, doing it the old fashioned way in other words, attempting to provide a sustainable crop of food that would feed his family, leaving enough to sell and make a profit on in order to continue his lifestyle of choice. This turned out to be the task of a lifetime, something that would take all his accumulated knowledge and strength, leaving him with more questions than the experiment answered. In the midst of this labor-intensive project Don somehow found the time to keep a journal of his experiment, adding in rich personal stories pertaining to the predicament we find ourselves in as well as a cast of characters that make up his everyday world on his ranch in Texas.

"Ruminations from the Garden" is not only an insightful look at our world from a unique perspective, it's an entertaining page turner, something that non-fiction books tend not to be. This one will keep you on edge, providing laughs at times and nightmares at others. You'll close the book at the end with a better grasp of the times you live in and with a bit more knowledge on how to survive the future that is upon us. If you're like me you'll also want to purchase a plot of land in the country and learn how to grow some crops.

While other books try to teach the selling process, this piece of art helps you understand all the issues underlying in a sales force area, it's administation, the relationship with pre and post sales areas and the way to succeed in a managing position. One of the best books I've read on this subject.

I teach in one of the finest schools of Mexico, MBA Marketing and Field Force management topics, and was really tired of looking for comprehensive, complete and reasonable readings that covers the most important areas of managing a Sales Force. Churchil is a must-have text for both, college and high level (superior / undergraduate) students, since it really takes you through every important aspect of the topic.

I can't believe no one has reviewed this book yet. It's an excellent book and will stir up your emotions everytime you read it. I've read this book about three times and each time, it makes me want to cry, makes me want to work for social justice. The title is from a homily from Archbishop Oscar Romero that said that those who work with the poor must ultimately suffer the same fate as the poor (which in El Salvador meant being killed, disappearing, etc). And this is exactly what Oscar Romero and these four churchwomen did. They gave their lives for the poor and this book tells their story.

While I'm interested in Maryknoll as well as in Latin American History, I would recommend this book to anyone.

The UN Truth Commission lays the martyrdom of these four holy US Churchwomen at the hands of the right wing Salvadoran dictatorship and by extension its US sponsors and advisors. Tellingly the US government never brought to justice the torturers, rapists and killers of our fellow Americans. Ragically as well the Catholic Church has not yet canonized these certain saints, confessors of the Faith and martyrs.

This revised edition now includes the UN report, as well as the consoling and helpful meditations of Sr. Noone. Please receive this volume gratefully and meditate on our own failings, our national failings and the way we have to go as Church and as individuals towards taking the same option with the Poor of God.

This is one of the best Christmas stories for children that you will ever encounter. Santa is an old man named Nicholas, and his son and grandson share the name. It is also a family duty, as when the current Santa retires, his son will take the job. However, grandson Nick has a difficult time controlling the sleigh and the travel is very hard on his stomach. Also, Nick has a poor relationship with the reindeer, especially Donner, who kicks him at every opportunity. Therefore, it has already been decided that his twin sister Marcia will take over the Santa duties when the time comes.
The story opens with the sleigh returning to the North Pole devoid of Santa. Somehow he is lost and unable to contact anybody. He fell out of the sleigh, bumped his head and now has a case of amnesia. Fortunately, it is the Christmas season, so a fat man in a red suit doesn't attract all that much attention.
Nick and Marcia fly the sleigh around looking for Santa, while Santa wanders around trying to determine who he is. Naturally, he ends up working as a Santa in a store, but that quickly becomes a problem as he is not every good at it. Eventually, Nick and Marcia do find him and after some difficulties, his memory is restored.
There are so many humorous twists on the classic Santa stories that it cannot fail to amuse children. Some of the antics of the reindeer in demonstrating their dislike of Nick are very funny. I strongly encourage you to have your children read this book during the next Christmas season.

The adventures of Nick Martin, which starts with Linda Ford's Santa Claus, Inc., continues with Santa, S.O.S.

Nick Martin and his twin sister frantically search for Santa (their grandfather) when the sleigh and reindeer return one day without him. This delightfully fun tale will please both young and older readers. Also, be sure not to miss The Santa Solution, the third installment in Ford's terrific Santa stories.