Hall Books

The availability of this volume (or even volume I) in the US is almost rare. And if they are available, they are selling for horrendously high prices. I had my sights on these volumes ever since their first edition. But they were never available. Though volume I is perhaps available through Amazon.com, volume II can certainly be obtained from Amazon.co.uk. Fear not US buyers, they ship internationally. Though it may say Out-Stock, it is worth a shot to reserve a copy.

I'm in possession of both volumes, and I'd read through both volumes (which took a while, don't get me wrong) and volume two was definitely my favourite since I've always been interested in the interior of the Olympic Class ships. This is a book for those who are either interested in the Titanic and/or the Edwardian Maritime/Nautical history. It is a must have for any collector! Of course, you will not be tempted to read the entire volume if you have no interest in the dimensions of a square-port, or the thickness of a door frame, but just looking at the abundant amount of pictures is already a task within itself! Bruce Beveridge with his accuracy, precision, research, detail, and overwhelming amount of the information will definitely blow you away. From the dimensions of each door and window, to examples of water closets (toilets) and artist representations of an officer's room will keep you busy for hours. This is gold for those who really want to know the ins-and-outs of the Titanic. You just can't get anymore detailed than this.

The only criticism I may have for the volumes is the index page. The listed pages do not match the pages in the book (the index and pages do not match the information bearing on a certain page). It is just a small setback, but the wealth of information offsets any mistakes (if any besides the index page) that these volumes may possess.

The research done by Mr. Beveridge is commendable in the highest degree, to my own personal opinion! Just simply a terrific must-have for any historian, nautical-engineer-designer enthusiast, or simply, Titanic fanatic!

Being a huge Titanic enthusiast, I was so excited to finally get this book! I have e-mailed a couple of the authors and they have been really helpful in answering alot of my questions. I am still waiting to get Volume 1, and don't really understand what is taking so long to get it, but if it is anything like Volume 2, the wait will be worth it. I really love the interiors of the ship and Volume 2 really concentrates on them. The authors have really done their research and this is the definitive book on the Titanic! I really urge all Titanic lovers to get these books. You will not be disapointed.

Have you ever wondered what the "Titanic" may have looked like from within? Have you wondered what lay beyond the riveted steel plates of the "Ship of Dreams?" Perhaps you've wondered what it looked like as one dined in any of the three classes? If you've pondered any of these questions, then "Titanic: The Ship Magnificent" is most definitely the book for you!

This two volume series covering the ship goes into ornate detail about every aspect of the ship. Volume one covers the construction of the "Titanic" and includes chapters that cover everything from the double-bottom to the funnels, masts, and riggings. Volume two covers the fitting out of the behemoth liner. One learns what they would have seen, had they been on the "Titanic's" doomed maiden voyage. If one purchased this encyclopedic volume, they learn how different classes' cabins looked and what might have been available for purchase in the ship's barber shops.

If you are a "Titanic" buff, if you are interested in cruise ships, or if you would just like to learn more about the great "Titanic," then "Titanic: The Ship Magnificent" is definitely the book for you!

This is a meticulously detailed volume, and belongs in the library of any true Titanic collector. It is not a casual "reading" book -- it covers the fitting out and fixtures on the Titanic -- from ceiling and wall design, to toilet design. It is lavishly illustrated (although most of the photos are from the sister ship, Olympic). This is a finely detailed volume that no true Titanic collector can ignore. Highly recommended, but definately not for casual readers. You won't find any Titanic "story" here -- this is pure shipbuilding material, with rare and wonderful photos, drawings, and illustrations. Strangely, Volume 2 of this set was published in the US before Volume One (which is being released in July!)....so you sort of get a backwards release of this set that was published in the correct order in Britain.

Although, I am only in possession of volume 2, I am fortunate to have seen both 12 pound books. I am very grateful to the editor, Art Braunshweiger for allowing this. The books that have been written about the Titanic could fill a wing in a library, but only a small selection have new and thought-provoking information between their pages.

Titanic the Ship Magnificent is one of the few books in recent times that a Titanic enthusiast can be excited about. The care and research that went into these volumes is evident from the many new Olympic and Titanic pictures, the well-written text and the feeling that you are exploring the ship as you read along.

Everyone who has been involved in this large project has every right to be proud of these books that no doubt, will be used as reference tools for years to come.

Since I enjoy acting and actors, I was given this book out of my grandfathers vast collection of books. I knew Katharine Hepburn was a popular actress, and Spencer Tracy stared with her in a few films. I had seen 'The Aviator' film about Howard Hughes, from Martin Scorsese. Cate Blanchett is incredible in her role as Katharine Hepburn. I'm so thrilled she won the Academy Award for her portrayal of someone who really didn't thankfully act like a star. She was just an ordinary person, and that is a great aspect of these fine actors. While this book only touches a little on that aspect of Katharine's life with Howard Hughes, it is the witty comments from Spencer Tracy and really a great friendship and love between this special pair of actors that is examined and admired here. Before reading 'Tracy and Hepburn' I read 'Audrey: Her Real Story', by Alexander Walker. The two Hepburn's are quite different and really don't have anything really in common. That isn't a bad thing at all. Except for the same last names, and acting in the Golden Age of Hollywood. 'Tracy and Hepburn' is a rare book. It is luckily authored by Garson Kanin, who has worked with and been wonderful friends with the acting duo, and neighbour to Katharine Hepburn for many years. Katharine certainly seems like an admireable woman and understandable risk taker. She, like her family isn't really content to just do nothing. She makes things happen. She also likes to skateboard and has even attempted surfing. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn loved to have a meal with friends at home and chat. 'Tracy and Hepburn' shows us a simplier life in those days. I didn't live through the Golden Age of Hollywood with all of these seemingly wonderfully talented people, but we should all aspire to be like them. I really haven't seen many Katharine Hepburn or Spencer Tracy films. I've seen most of the great 'Guess Who's Coming To Dinner', with the two of them. I've seen 'Boy's Town' with Spencer Tracy. I've seen Katharine in 'The Philadelphia Story', and 'Little Women'. That's really all I've seen of these two great actors. I am a fan of Humprey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and both love Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, so I was very glad to read about 'The African Queen'. Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy keep it real. There isn't anything fake about them. I understand their appeal to others in the movie business, and those out of it. So I'm now a fan. I remembering prefering 'High Society' with Grace Kelly over 'The Philadelphia Story', but I'm certain to enjoy both films equally now. I'm not sure if I'd read another book on Katharine Hepburn or Spencer Tracy, but I'll never say never to it. I'm really not sure what would be the best aside from this book. I'm sure there are many that expand from this book, because Katharine is still alive at the end of this book. If there are any favorite books Katharine Hepburn fans enjoy please contact me and let me know. I'm very interested. I'm not sure if there is any truth about Katharine not enjoying the lack of privacy about her life in this book, but I'm sure nothing hurtful was meant by Garson Kanin writing it. He has captured these two real-life characters beautifully. Katharine also hated doing interviews but loved to travel and make plans. Keeping her life in order, and staying fit and healthy. She also loved to give gifts, but her birthday seems unknown. My Mum was born on the 12th May like Katharine so there's something special I can take from reading about Katharine Hepburn. I'm glad I share both Katharine Hepburn's and Spencer Tracy's love for acting. These two special people from the Golden Age of Hollywood are irreplaceable, but how fortunate and enjoyable for all of us that we can still watch them shine on screen. I love the immortality of cinema. Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy really must be the best in the business. I'm so glad I've shared the earth with some extraordinary people. Thank you both for such happy productive lives and thank you Garson for recounting it for others to enjoy.

I enjoy this book immensely, but I wish Mr. Kanin hadn't constantly been upstaging himself throughout. One review I read of this book said (aptly, I thought) that the title of the book should have been called We Three. I'm sure that he and his wife Ruth Gordon were good friends of Tracy and Hepburn's; I'm also sure that Tracy and Hepburn had other friends they were close to as well. I do know that the invasion of privacy made Katherine Hepburn furious when this book came out - she refused to speak to Mr. Kanin for several years as a result. I don't know - the stories are good, but it puts a bad taste in my mouth all the same.

This is a delightful book filled with anecdotes about Kanin, his wife Ruth Gordon, and their relationship with Tracy and Hepburn. But, of course, no mention is made of the fact that Spencer and Katherine were having an affair and no hint of the "A" word (adultery). This is a cleaned up version of reality, but nonetheless ceaselessly entertaining. Tracy, however, comes off as he usually does: melancholy, dark, and troubled. Only Kanin's affection for him redeems Tracy in the reader's eyes. The parts about Hepburn are the real treat here; she must have been a riot to have as a friend.

And I've probably read it 12 times. Spencer Tracy's abrupt nature is described in great detail, but with real affection by Garson Kanin. By the end of the book, we understand why Bonaventure was more than just Tracy's middle name. Hepburn's unwavering love and willingness to put Spen-SAH first often seems hard to reconcile with her solid will and staunch intellect. Through Garson Kanin's eyes, we see why the couple's differences made for a fascinating life together, on and off screen. No slouch in the talent department himself, Kanin's asides on his and Ruth Gordon's antics with the formidable Tracy and Hepburn could make for an exquisite book, in and of themselves.

Garson does a great job showing off Tracy and Hepburn in this delightful book. You get to take a look inside Kate's life from a good friend of hers. Garson passed away in March of this year and he left many wonderful things behind. This book just being one. He also wrote several of the screenplays that Tracy and Hepburn stared in. This book is a must for all.

Anna Cotman is a sweet, pretty, vulnerable girl who has just moved to Redmarsh with her grandmother and facing the first trials of a new school, making friends and adjusting to her new life. But luck isn't on her side, and Lindy Miller snaps her up at school: "a bossy girl, quick to quarrel and slow to forgive." After running through her own friends, she looks upon newly arrived Anna as a blessing and quickly snaps her up, announcing "you're my best friend."

Anna is delighted and eager to please, which is how she gets caught up with initiation into the club known as the Society of Masks (or the Som for short). Started by Lindy's brother Jeremy Miller and including all of his school friends, the Som is designed to prevent bullies and provide comradeship, including all the codenames, secret passwords, elaborate rites and junk food feasts that you'd expect from such a club.

Of course, Jeremy didn't want his little sister to be a part of it, but his stepfather (who gives him the key to the abandoned factory in which they have their meetings) insists that they all be involved. And so Lindy is allowed, as is one of her friends, and Anna makes the vow of loyalty to the Som. At first she is happy - she's is accepted, she has a friend, and she's under the protection of the popular Jeremy Miller, who wears a golden mask at meetings and is known as the Goldmaster - she's in awe.

But a friendship with Lindy has its costs; she is manipulative, jealous, spiteful and extremely difficult to get along with. But Anna has been raised to keep her promises and be loyal to her friends - despite her reluctance; she is now a part of the Som.

And then things begin to go very bad. More people are initiated into the club - people that aren't school children and who control and bully the younger kids. On top of this, they never take of their masks. The Yellow Lord in particular makes life difficult for Anna, forcing her to do several menial chores about the place. Soon the youngest children are being forced to shoplift and work themselves to exhaustion. Anna wants to tell, but she can't - she's sworn an oath of secrecy.

Finally the catalyst comes - Anna stands up for one of the smallest members of the club and is labelled a traitor as a result. She is to be put on trial before the Som, and with more and more sinister goings-on at the factory, the Goldmaster himself under the influence of alcohol, and Lindy seemingly abandoning her, poor Anna is almost in a state of nervous collapse as the trial date moves closer and closer.

"The Trial of Anna Cotman" is absolutely riveting, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and a book that should be on every child's reading list. Vivien Alcock creates an incredible and realistic story, with perfect representations of bullying, insecure friendships, corruption and values among children, and the small seed of evil that can germinate in groups that rely on secrecy, control and unquestioning loyalty - in many ways it is a "Lord of the Flies" for younger readers.

Alcock creates many memorable characters, and I'm certain that almost everybody in their lives has known a Lindy; she is vividly portrayed as the girl on the playground who has to have it *her* way, who is never to blame for the misfortunes inflicted upon her, and who is a master at dissembling and fibbing. Likewise is the sad reality of her family - a distant mother, a woebegone stepfather and a perfect elder brother that is everything Lindy wants to be - and isn't. There are other perfect little portrayals of human character and behaviour in Tom Smith, the friendly best friend of Jeremy who tries to help, and Peter Elkin, the petrified boy under the power of the malevolent Yellow Lord. Speaking of which, the Yellow Lord is certain to give anyone nightmares...

Anna Cotman herself is a thoroughly likeable, intelligent young girl, who has been raised the best way, but put into the wrong situation. Taught to be loving and forgiving, she's the perfect tool for Lindy and the Som to manipulate, but eventually learning to stand up for herself and the injustices of the Som.

This is a terrific book, meticulously displaying the interactions between children and adults, the shadowy world that children can create for themselves, and the strength that they can display when faced with corruption of the system. Some of Alcock's insights into the ways and minds of children made me gasp with their accuracy - this is a woman that remembers what it was like to be a child and the hierarchy of the playground.

This book is great! The first time I started to read, I couldn't finish. It is about a girl who goes to a new town. The snotty Libby declares the new girl, (Anna Cotman) her best friend. Libbys brother has a club and they let Anna join. in the biggining, the club seems fun. But when time goes on, a world of problems is opened up.

This is a different, creative book that could be kind of dark for a children's book. The plot is interesting, when a new girl, desperate for friends, joins up with a girl who is in a secret club. The club bosses Anna (the new girl) around for a time, until more members are introduced. When Anna is put on trial for sticking up for a younger member, the action starts to pick up. Overall I liked the book, although in some parts it is a little bit slow-moving, but the author makes up for it by adding suspense, like the part when Anna is made to sit on the roof to spy on one of the club's leaders. It has a dark side to it, when kids start taking their own "secret societies" a little too seriously. The characters are extremely well-developed and I really cared about some and hated others. I definitely recommend this book.

Anna Cotman is a sweet, pretty, vulnerable girl who has just moved to Redmarsh with her grandmother and facing the first trials of a new school, making friends and adjusting to her new life. But luck isn't on her side, and Lindy Miller snaps her up at school: "a bossy girl, quick to quarrel and slow to forgive." After running through her own friends, she looks upon newly arrived Anna as a blessing and quickly snaps her up, announcing "you're my best friend."

Anna is delighted and eager to please, which is how she gets caught up with initiation into the club known as the Society of Masks (or the Som for short). Started by Lindy's brother Jeremy Miller and including all of his school friends, the Som is designed to prevent bullies and provide comradeship, including all the codenames, secret passwords, elaborate rites and junk food feasts that you'd expect from such a club.

Of course, Jeremy didn't want his little sister to be a part of it, but his stepfather (who gives him the key to the abandoned factory in which they have their meetings) insists that they all be involved. And so Lindy is allowed, as is one of her friends, and Anna makes the vow of loyalty to the Som. At first she is happy - she's is accepted, she has a friend, and she's under the protection of the popular Jeremy Miller, who wears a golden mask at meetings and is known as the Goldmaster - she's in awe.

But a friendship with Lindy has its costs; she is manipulative, jealous, spiteful and extremely difficult to get along with. But Anna has been raised to keep her promises and be loyal to her friends - despite her reluctance; she is now a part of the Som.

And then things begin to go very bad. More people are initiated into the club - people that aren't school children and who control and bully the younger kids. On top of this, they never take off their masks. The Yellow Lord in particular makes life difficult for Anna, forcing her to do several menial chores about the place. Soon the youngest children are being forced to shoplift and work themselves to exhaustion. Anna wants to tell, but she can't - she's sworn an oath of secrecy.

Finally the catalyst comes - Anna stands up for one of the smallest members of the club and is labelled a traitor as a result. She is to be put on trial before the Som, and with more and more sinister goings-on at the factory, the Goldmaster himself under the influence of alcohol, and Lindy seemingly abandoning her, poor Anna is almost in a state of nervous collapse as the trial date moves closer and closer.

"The Trial of Anna Cotman" is absolutely riveting, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and a book that should be on every child's reading list. Vivien Alcock creates an incredible and realistic story, with perfect representations of bullying, insecure friendships, corruption and values among children, and the small seed of evil that can germinate in groups that rely on secrecy, control and unquestioning loyalty - in many ways it is a "Lord of the Flies" for younger readers.

Alcock creates many memorable characters, and I'm certain that almost everybody in their lives has known a Lindy; she is vividly portrayed as the girl on the playground who has to have it *her* way, who is never to blame for the misfortunes inflicted upon her, and who is a master at dissembling and fibbing. Likewise is the sad reality of her family - a distant mother, a woebegone stepfather and a perfect elder brother that is everything Lindy wants to be - and isn't. There are other perfect little portrayals of human character and behaviour in Tom Smith, the friendly best friend of Jeremy who tries to help, and Peter Elkin, the petrified boy under the power of the malevolent Yellow Lord. Speaking of which, the Yellow Lord is certain to give anyone nightmares...

Anna Cotman herself is a thoroughly likeable, intelligent young girl, who has been raised the best way, but put into the wrong situation. Taught to be loving and forgiving, she's the perfect tool for Lindy and the Som to manipulate, but eventually learning to stand up for herself and the injustices of the Som.

This is a terrific book, meticulously displaying the interactions between children and adults, the shadowy world that children can create for themselves, and the strength that they can display when faced with corruption of the system. Some of Alcock's insights into the lives of children made me gasp with their accuracy - this is an author that remembers what it was like to be a child, and the very real existence of a playground hierarchy.

I recently re-read this book and didn't find it as interesting as I once did, but of course that's because I'm not ten years old anymore. However it is an excellent book for younger people, and it's not such a bad idea for "adults" to read either. It tackles issues like friendship, betrayal, addiction, struggle to fit in, using a very unique setting. The world is that of any adolescent, but has been made dark and frightening by a "game" gotten out of hand. The Society of Masks is intriguing, color-coded and led by "lords" who impose tasks and duties upon the lower-ranking "companions". It takes the reader to a different world, despite the fact that it's only some kids with some masks in an abandoned shop. The trial scene is strangely symbolic, and the ending is perfect (a rare thing for me to say, as I never like the ending of a book). Read!! ~Raksh:)

Tom Heneghan's "UNCHAINED EAGLE" is the first-rate teaching book on contemporary Germany that many of us have been looking for. It is an excellent summary of Germany since unification, well-informed and engagingly written. It is a combination of authoritative writing and accessibility.

This is a riveting story about the dramatic happy ending to the 20th century in the European country that did most to shape it. Taking over as Reuters bureau chief for Germany in 1989, American reporter Tom Heneghan soon became an eye witness to the tearing down of the iron curtain and a well-connected chronicler of the fast paced events that are still shaping Europe and the West. With his eye for relevancy and concise reporting skills, Heneghan provides both scholars and the general public with a fascinating story and a shrewd analysis of Germany's ongoing struggle to find the right place for its past and a prosperous future in harmony with its neighbors. The biggest bump on the road to the future - reunification - rattled the country's snug position as Europe's economic growth engine in a caravan led by French and British political visions and a shotgun-riding US military. The author guides us through these developments with the familiarity of an insider and a balanced view honed through years of living and working in a variety of countries and cultures. He enlivens the story with behind-the-scenes anecdotes of the domestic and international schmoozing and scrapping that surrounded the changes he documents. Astute observations such as the tendency of German and Anglo/American post war baby boomers to draw different lessons from history (intolerance of war vs. intolerance of aggression) help us understand where today's generation of German leaders are coming from.

As a new US administration faces a Europe less in need of the old NATO protective canopy, and a more self-assured Germany asserts itself within that new Europe, the implication for future transatlantic ties should be of interest to more than just foreign policy buffs. Americans who grew up on a steady diet of WW II books and movies will find Heneghan's updated German story gripping as well as enlightening.

In the years and decades ahead, scholars from various disciplines will be writing many heavyweight histories about the huge complexity of issues involved during Germany's reunification process in the last decade of the 20th Century. For those readers who don't want to wait, then Tom Heneghan's book is an outstanding short-cut toward grasping what a turbulent decade this turned out to be, with all the challenges and changes it demanded of German leaders and society as a whole. Heneghan is a first-rate observer. He is concise and accurate in giving the larger picture of the social, economic and political - both internal and foreign - issues during and after reunification. But he also has an eye for the small telling details about how average Germans, east and west, had to scramble to try to understand how their country - and its role in Europe and beyond - was so rapidly changing before their own eyes. One might not agree with every point in Mr. Heneghan's book, but I think that he was right on-target with the underlying theme: that modern Germany has fully grasped the lessons of its recent dark history - Hitler and the Holocaust, the communist dictatorship in the east, the Cold War division - to become, finally, a normal country. In the future, the academics and historians writing about Germany's reunification decade will most likely find themselves referring again and again to Mr. Heneghan's book for pointers.

This is one of the best books I have encountered in some time when it comes to explaining what has happened in Germany since unification. The author avoids polemics and writes with the kind of fluidity and clarity that one expects from a long-time journalist. I am especially interested in the east and how it has succeeded in integrating (or non-integrating) with the west. In this regard, the authors discussion in chapter 10 and 12 of how the Ossis (and Wessis) have reacted to Germany's unification is excellent. He explains the economic problems with a clarity that I have seldom seen by specialists writing on what can be one of the most tedious subjects around. Heneghan's discussion of the Euro as it impacted on Germany is also outstanding. Again, in a few words, he explains a very complicated subject from the German perspective. All in all, this book is a welcome addition to anyone's library. It could be used in the classroom, but more importantly it provides an incisive introduction to the nature of German politics during the last ten years. My only complaint is that he didn't say more about the east. But this is an unfair criticism, one I hate as a writer -- "Why didn't you write a different book." My only reason for saying this that his insights to the East are so good and so to the point, that I would have liked more on the subject. In any case, any one who claims to be a specialist or an expert on Germany must read this book and keep it handy as a reference book. Dale R. Herspring Professor of Political Science Kansas State University

In pure journalistic style, Tom Heneghan has put together a thoroughly readable and insightful account of the events leading towards, and then away from the moment of German Reunification. For the lay person, which I claim to be, it will open eyes and minds. The resolution of these issues, with all the political intrigue surrounding them, is frankly, the stuff of a thriller, not a history book or political commentary. Heneghan does a great job of sticking to the facts: economic, political, etc., yet one comes away with an appreciation for how these facts fit together into the larger picture. It is the work of a skilled craftsman. I think the book also is an important one for Germany. Although it respectfully addresses the issues of Nazism, the Holocaust and the totalitarian past of the country, it most successfully points the reader towards seeing Germany as a "normal" country. This is an important issue for all Germans, and for a new generation with little first-hand knowledge of the saddest period in human history. One can now point to the Reunification process as a time when Germany said yes, openly, strongly, to the world community. It certainly has taken its place responsibly and with dignity. This is a great book, and I highly recommend it to students, teachers and to anyone who wants to see and understand where Germany is headed in the 21st Century. Pat Bianculli New York

You saved me so much money with this book and the book was in outstanding condition. Thank you again!

If your school uses the MyPsychLab for pretests etc. please be aware that this does NOT come bundled with a MyPsychLab access code. For some reason I thought it did... so I'll end up paying another 24.99 for a code from the site. Guess I should have just bought the one from my campus bookstore that had a code included. :-)

This was exactly the book i needed i had no problem getting it

I used this book for my summer psychology class and really liked it. The review/summary at the end of each chapter made it easy to understand.

I liked this book very much. I got the book for a college class that I was taking and I found myself reading more than what was assigned to me by the teacher. The chapters flow together and you can even skip around if you want too. I refer to the book quite often. I am a biological science major and it tackles all the issues such as nuture vs. nature and even has a whole chapter devoted to the biology of Psychology. The book has many colorful pictures and test such as visual test. I recomend this book for anyone entering the helping profession.

I found myself looking for an extra 10 or 15 minutes ..just one more page... just until I see what happens next. The action raced around a setting that was new to me and frighteningly unfamiliar. I worried about the characters not really sure if I was cheering on the "bad guy". Parts of this book made me laugh out loud and parts brought tears to my eyes. What more can you ask of a story?

Make sure you have some time to read when you start this book. It is hard to put down when you get started and it doesn't take long for the suspense to start when the fires get going. I didn't see the "who done it" ending until I got there. I can't wait to read Hannah's next adventure.

Hannah Morrison is the kind of character you'd like to have for a friend--bright, energetic, loyal, and daring. You're taken with her from the very beginning, as she struggles with the death of a friend in a fire at the refinery, and you stay with her as she unravels a mystery that ultimately lands her in a dramatic climax the refinery.

But there's more than just a mystery going on here. There's also Hannah's burgeoning romance with Noell, the handsome, hunky reporter who is drawn into the mystery--and her life--along with her. Happily for the reader, he's just the man for her. Teaser: don't miss the skyway scene!

Ms. Hall skillfully weaves romance with danger, mystery with suspense in a tale that at times moves at a relentless pace, and other times relaxes at just the right moment as Hannah seeks an answer to the mystery at the refinery and discovers sabotage...and love. A memorable read, this book, along with a box of chocolates, would make a great stocking stuffer for the lady in your life this Christmas--or an extra-special treat any other time of the year.

Readers get a bargain with Unreasonable Risk--a truckload of troubling HAZMAT scenarios, a female engineer encountering discrimination, personal fears and an unlikely love interest in this fast-moving thriller set at an oil refinery threatened by a saboteur in a frosty Minnesota winter. Protagonist Hannah Morrison rings true because author Karen Hall knows what she writes about. Ms. Hall is an environmental engineer herself and she knows how to explain complicated spaces, chemicals and process in clear prose.

Hall cares about environmental risks and the dangers that haunt the petrochemical industry, but she resists creating bad guys and good guys--they are mostly guys--in simplistic categories. Every woman has met these men in her workplace whether it's the crude sexist or the fair-minded working partner.

A terrifying fire-fighting scene, an icy climb at a tank farm, a car rollover in a blizzard all offer fresh adventure settings for readers tired of slick urban or isolated rural settings typical of the genre. Frankly, the believable and documented potential for environmental disaster felt even more frightening than the stalking killer determined to silence Hannah Morrison for what she finally uncovers.

Bravo, Ms. Hall. Bring Hannah back for more. She gets scared, she uses her brain, she fights back and she offers science-based detective work. No wonder her smart-mouth TV reporter and love interest wants treats Hannah to great meals and good sex.

Karen Hall hits the ground running with the release of her first book, a fast paced thriller. Using her experience as a chemical engineer in an oil refinery, Hall creates a new landscape for thriller fans to explore. While I love a good Sandford cop romp or a Grisham lawyer chase as much as the next thriller fan, I really enjoyed joining Hall's environmental engineer, Hanna Morrison, in the unexplored world of oil refining.

Of course Hanna is smart, she would have to be to work as an engineer in a refinery, but she's also has insecurities and frustrations that she manages to keep in check to get the job done in a world built for and by men. In short, she's a real woman in a real industrial job who is tough without being a man hating shrew.

I'm already waiting for the next "Hanna Morrison Mystery" and I'm so happy to have found my new favorite author, Karen Hall.

This book is an excellent source for understanding urban economic theory and how it relates to real estate market cycles. It is written in an easy to understand format with relevant illustrations. The reader will find its insights valuable for real estate desicion making, and understanding where and how many real estate forecasts are made.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in real estate development, however; only as a "required" economics text. It is not a real estate investment or financing guide to do "deals".

If I could recast the title of this book to be "The Economics of Real Estate in Urban Markets" I think you would be able to better understand what this book is about. Frankly, when I first read the title I was bewildered and unsure what exactly this book would be about. I think the term "Urban Economics" is an unfortunate one, but one that is actually well known and in use. After all, what is urban is not the economics, which are the same micro and macro principles you learned in college, but the complex environment in which they are applied and the admixture of both that is required to get to the root of the issues involved. But this is a quibble and does not detract from the real value of this useful book.

Real Estate markets in cities (the urban part of the title) are complex environments that involve the land itself, population and density, existing stock of buildings and their nature, regulations and codes, taxation, environmental concerns, the broader economy, industry and business mix, and much more. This book helps the reader develop intuitions and some algebraic tools about how to think about these issues and to combine them to come to better decisions about private and public investment, policy, and planning. What calculus there is, is kept in the footnotes for those interested.

This book is written for any reader that has had basic courses in micro and macro economics (or at least a general course discussing the basics of both areas) and has a decent command of high school algebra. It has lots of graphs to help the reader understand the intuitions involved and is written quite clearly. A general reader who had these prerequisites could work his or her way through the book on their own quite handily. However, the book is clearly aimed at upper level undergraduate or graduate courses in business, public policy, or urban planning.

I do recommend the book for those interested in this specialty. I do wish they had done a bit more careful job in publishing the maps in the chapter on Firm Site Selection. The legends are supposed to be shades of black and gray (always a bad choice in black and white - use hashing instead) and some of them have two or more areas that are indistinguishable by shade. Look on pages 83, 96, and 128 for examples of this problem. Nowadays, color is not that much more expensive to use and given the price of textbooks nowadays one would think that color would always be used. However, this is a tiny point.

The book is not a graduate level book, unless for a master program in business or urban planning. It wouldn't pass as a graduate book in economics. It has been used at the undergraduate level in several universities despite some math that can be avoided if you are just interested in the economic intuition. It deserves an update (at least of the data). Perhaps making it more friendly looking and having some case studies at the end of each chapter could help sell it more.

This is an excellent introduction to understanding many of the economic forces which drive urban economics and real estate markets. The book is designed for a graduate-level course, but should be understandable by anybody with a rudimentary knowledge of economics and a desire to learn more. Certainly a 'must' for understanding these important topics and it certainly has some good 'ah ha' points where you 'get' something new and important.

It is an excellent book, a little pricy, but of high quality. It is not for someone that has not studied or worked in real estate, planning or land economics before though; it is a graduate level course book.

I return to this book off and on. (I wish I can study this book with someone who has mastered this material.) The only epiphany I have had in my life is/was when I read Chapter 2 of this book about two decades ago (and understood that Skinner was analyzing language utterances as law of effect conditioned behavior).

Simply a brilliant book. Most underrated,as people have pointed out.

I just reread Chapter 1. It only has 12 pages. However, the brilliance can clearly be seen. As is the difficulty. There are about 12 sentences (in these 12 pages) that I do not understand almost completely. (For instance, the one about speaker also being a listener.)

Added on 6/12/2004
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I happened to come across Chomsky's critique of Verbal Behavior online and started studying it closely, especially Section 3. I noticed several misunderstandings almost right away and started answering them, in a writeup. (I will post the details on these later.) On a lark, I sent a copy of this to Noam Chomsky, not expecting to receive a reply. I was surprised to get a reply. We exchanged several e-mails. However, Chomsky stubbornly refused to see my points. His answers were mostly non-sequiturs. Are may points valid? You be the judge when I get around to posting my two specific points. In the meantime, you may want to look at

http://www.sulekha.com/expressions/column.asp?cid=305940

A key finding of Radical Behavorism is the role and power of operant behavior. An importance of "Verbal Behavior" is that it suggests that operant behavior can explain much of human language and, with that, much of human thought. So with this book, Skinner could feel that his findings on operant behavior had the power to help us understand "mental" and "psychological" aspects of being human that hitherto had been no better defined that a Tarot deck could do.

My only one reading so far seems quite inadequate. I had to make an effort to get through the first half, in which a lot of fundamentals are introduced. Fortunately, all the preparation paid off for me in the second half, which I found quite exciting. Much of it, oddly, given that I was struggling at times to understand, felt familiar. I thought "Yes, that's how I revise my speech, yes, that's how I think, yes that's how I adjust what I am saying with my audience in mind."

Skinner's hypothesis that thinking is a behavior (verbal and nonverbal) of the same basic kind (albeit of its own nature and complexity) as other human behavior hit me with the greatest force. It implies that, although for each of us there are private events, dualism is overcome. It may not be that we're "beyond freedom and dignity" as that we've rendered such terms obsolete - because we now we have the knowledge to do what needs doing instead of spouting empty words about it.

"Verbal Behavior" lives: for example, extending Skinner's "Verbal Behavior" work, Barry Lowenkron from California State University has added to our understanding of an area not well covered by Skinner: how a listener comprehends what is said. Lowenkron goes to great pains to provide clear examples of his finding of what he calls "joint control", which is fully based on Skinner's own findings regarding tacts and self-echoics. It can take much longer to find the truth than make up a story, but the ignorance that supports cognitive fictions is being brushed aside to be replaced by behaviorist knowledge.

Skinner's VB is a fascinating read and is the bedrock on which subsequent analyses of VB stand. It was and is an ambitious, risky, brilliant work. Despite its flaws in the final few chapters, the influence of this work on modern clinical- and applied-behavior-analysis is significant. Skinner's chapters on tacting (the VB of accurately, usefully labeling one's own behavior and the objects or qualities of one's world) and manding (asking for what one wants or needs from others) should be required reading for every psychotherapist. Contrary to popular opinion, VB was not refuted by Chomsky and never died. The proof of this has been in its usefulness for analysis, intervention and the improvement of human behavior. This is not BFS's most accessible work. Thus, three suggestions: (re)Reading BFS's _Science and Human Behavior_ OR _About Behaviorism_ may be an advisable refresher before tackling VB. Additionally, Kohlenberg and Tsai's (1991) Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (especially their chapter on the Self)will make clear, simply and compellingly, the importance of a rich, carefully trained repertoire of verbal behavior to the healthy development of the human. Finally, spending some time looking at the data - actual studies of verbal behavior in the journals JABA or VB - really highlights that a useful marriage of theory, philosophy and technology were brought forth by this book. Sr+ reading!

Verbal behavior is a classic work and one the most neglected and underrated scientific texts of century, erroneously believed by many to have been conclusively demolished by Noam Chomsky (whose work in competition with Freud's is possibly the most overrated). Skinners analysis of verbal behavior differs from other accounts both in psychology and linguistics in being entirely naturalistic and free of the quite far-reaching metaphysical assumptions about 'meanings' and 'rules' inherent in traditional approaches. The latter focus on an idealized and abstract entity (grammatically correct language) which does not really exist, whereas Skinner analyses the verbal behavior actually performed by people. He demonstrates that a large amount of linguistic phenomena can be interpreted and explained by the principles of operant conditioning which have been demonstrated in laboratory experiments and he explores the consequences of this analysis for problems normally only addressed by philosophers, such as the nature of meaning, the social aspects of language, the possibility of a private language and the nature of thinking. Many philosophers will surprised to learn that some of the best ideas of the later Wittgenstein can be found more clearly and elegantly expressed by Skinner.

This is not just an excellent book for those of us who are students of behavior; it is also an effect tool for those unfamiliar with the scientific principles of behavior analysis.

Dr. Skinner describes the different kinds verbal behavior, behavior that is reinforced as a result of the mediation of other people with similar repertories, produced by the contingencies of reinforcement on the one hand, and the way in which they are formed into effective verbal discourse and successful action on the other. Therefore, it is primarily with behavior of the former and latter that a behavioral understanding of what you are doing and saying is profited.

Dr. Skinner's approach to verbal behavior is derived from countless experiments in the analysis of behavior, experiments in which the principles of behavior have been rigorously studied, demonstrated, and verified. It is consequently not unnatural that finding it practicable and convenient, as undoubtedly it is, to verbal behavior is justifiable. Such a view obviously renders it easy to welcome behavior as an appropriate subject matter in its own right. Moreover, it is downright profitable to welcome behavior, which its first implication is the fact of objective and successful action!

For those people who need a library of accounting in the hand , this is the best purchase that could be make

This is really a great book for CPA exam. All the important accounting materials are covered in the book, and the wording is easy to understand. The part I like the most is that it has examples for each topic. I think it is a must have book for people who want to take the CPA exam. The book is not heavy, so you can carry it anywhere you want to go.

The Vest Pocket CPA is a concise and comprehensive guide that provides a quick reference for executives and accountants. The reference is updated for the recent changes instituted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Its question and answer format provides an indispensable aid and its examples add clarity to complex accounting issues. I found this book to be enjoyable. It is an easy reading book.

The Vest Pocket CPA is a superbly written and easy to use quick reference tool. It addresses the common issues which a CPA or CFO might encounter in the ordinary course of a working day. It contains timely material and is a valuable addition to any accounting/auditing library. I liked it when I first obtained it, and find myself using it more than I thought I would.

If you have an accounting background and need a quick reference guide to refresh your memories, this is a great book. The authors also provide practical tips in boxes to remind you what to watch out for in particular circumstances. In a nutshell, it basically cramps a few years worth of accounting courses into one very compact book.

For those of you who do not have an accounting background, this book will not be for you since it does not go into any great length to explain any accounting concepts. It basically assume you already know your stuff and simply needs a refresher.

I picked this book up probably around 11 years ago and it is what I used to learn C programming. I had other books at hand as well, but this one really shines. The book has an obvious DOS slant to it as it is from that pre-Windows era. But in learning C programming, this one is hard to beat. I have since gone on to learn other languages, most notably Pascal / Delphi, but this book will always remain on my shelf. It was incredibly useful.

This is a great book for C programming. It starts from elementary level and ends up teaching you advanced controls and professional aspects. It also covers some part of C++ and object oriented programming.

To be fair, I have the first edition of this book, dated 1987, and called "Turbo C Programming for the IBM". It has been with me many a year and has always been my favorite C book. It is the easiest of my C books to understand, and can be read like a novel with only occasionally going to the computer to try out their programs for reinforcement of a concept. All their examples are complete programs which are very helpful to me. Drawbacks to this book include: a) their sections on "Turbo" C are not applicable anymore, b) there are sections dealing with pc-specific issues that are not useful, and c) the C is not ansi compliant. However, in spite of this, it is still my favorite book because it is easy to understand.

This was my very first C programming book. I had used Pascal a little bit when I bought it. 11 years later my copy of the book is tattered and torn, but I always keep it handy. The book is illustrated very well. It has floating arrows that describe what each element of the source code does. It does not talk down to the audience. The information within is presented with extreme clarity. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn C. I would also recommend this book to anyone wanting to give it as a gift to a teenager.

This book is how I learned to program 'C'. This is my favorite programming books of all time. It's easy to follow, good explanations and an excellent read. I've went on to become a lead programmer, and it all started here. Nostalgic, you bet. If you want to learn how to program in 'C', start here! I can't say anything more.