Lawrence Books

Everyone will have a sauna one day in their homes for health. I got this book and acquired an infrared sauna that I use every day for 30 minutes. It's a great adjunct to a nutritonal program and hair mineral analysis. Look at this book as part of a complete program for yourself to help prevent disease and as a road to wellness, not just the absence of symptoms.
At the very least it makes your skin so much better. One throws off toxins and you feel better using it.
Read the book and decide for yourself!

This book is a godsent to the population at large, most of whom would be at least moderately interested in maintaining and improving their health.
The "old" Finnish Sauna has been around for so long and its healing properties are somewhat understood by many but actual use of the Sauna is limited to a small section of the population in the Western world.
Women do not feel comfortable in the Finnish Sauna as temperatures run at about 100º C (212 Fahrenheit) and the extra padding of subcutaneous fat in the female means that a woman cannot deal with the external thermal stress as well as a man, making the Sauna a less than enjoyable experience.

Enter the Infrared Sauna. Lower temperature, much more detoxification through sweating and excretion of fat-soluble toxins and a feeling of comfort, like a nice warm summer day, plus the reduced technical requirements make this the Sauna of choice.

The author does an excellent job of explaining all there is to know, including simple, inexpensive ways to create your own Sauna from readily available materials, the book is a real treasury of factual, relevant information and I highly recommend it.
Following the book's instructions, I built my own infrared Sauna for very little money, it works well and my wife is amazed how clever I am.

I came across [...]Dr. Lawrence Wilson's book through an article titled: "Light Saunas and Tesla" in the ExtraOrdinary Technology magazine some time back and was very impressed with his no nonsense approach to Sauna therapy. The article highlighted a case history where, a strict dietary regiment, and the light Sauna stopped the progression of bone cancer!

One sensed that Dr. Wilson's primary goal above all was to first help us improve our health. I, could not help but, admire his efforts to self empower his patients and others with one of the most profound tools. His unique approach and ability to cut through the mumbo jumbo on Sauna therapy and provide an highly effective, if not the most effective, Sauna design and it's associated methodology readily into everyone's hand is exactly the kind of data that is central to the theme of my Share the Wealth site.

The beauty of the Sauna is that it off loads the liver and the kidneys from their endless duty of detoxification, this then allows them to rest and rebuild. This is particularly important if the kidneys and the liver are not working optimally. In addition there are certain substances, discussed in the book, that are excreted better in sweat. Light Sauna is the only way to repair ionizing radiation damage (such as X-Rays and nuclear etc.)

"To be most effective the sauna needs to use red infrared heat lamps, not conventional electric heaters or the newer zirconium ceramic elements that produce mainly far-infrared energy. The wide spectrum of the red infrared heat lamps includes the entire infrared spectrum, not just far infrared, and light frequencies of red, orange and yellow. It also includes ultrasound and radio frequencies, both short and long wave. It also includes some audible sound frequencies. Every one of these components has healing properties which" are explained in the book.

The problem with Sauna therapy has been the expense and the associated space required for one. Dr. Wilson, multifaceted approach, has not only resolved this but may have provided one of the most effective design to boot.

Infrared electric light sauna therapy is one of the least costly, safest and most powerful ways to eliminate toxic metals, toxic chemicals and chronic infections. The benefits include:

* Skin rejuvenation
* Exercise benefits
* Decongesting the internal organs
* Fever therapy (hyperthermia) for infections.
* Tumors, radiation poisoning and mutated cells

While I am not treating myself for any particular ailment, my goal is to develop a lifelong method for detoxifying. Safe and clean - good nutrition (the building blocks), air, and water are rapidly disappearing hence detoxification is essential for all, no matter how healthy we maybe or think we are.... and Dr. Wilson's plans, for a light Sauna that anyone can build at home so cost effectively, fit the bill exactly!

All components are off the shelf, low cost, and easily available. I was able to build my own for $150 Canadian, strangely it took me a day and a half to round up the all the components and only an afternoon to construct it!

Dr. Wilson is also an expert hair analyst. Hence, he first tested the efficacy the Sauna on himself thorough the use of hair analysis, the striking results of which are in the book, and subsequently used it on his patients. It was this work that inspired him to recommend sauna therapy for all clients.

[...]His site contains the basics including the plans. The book is far more comprehensive and contains the following chapters

1. Introduction to Saunas
2. Physiology of Saunas
3. Heat Shock Proteins
4. Sauna Protocol
5. Detoxification
6. Other Aspects Of Sauna Therapy
7. A Total Health Program
8. Effects On Health Conditions
9. Saunas And Infectious Disease
10. Saunas and Cancer
11. Healing Reactions
12. Sauna Design
13. Light Sauna Considerations
14. Personal Experience With An Electric Light Sauna
15. Sauna Research
16. Review and Conclusion
Appendix A. Saunas and Hair Mineral Analysis
[...]
Appendix D. Notes For Practitioners
References
Index

[...]

I purchased Sauna Therapy in preparation for building my first sauna. This surprising little book contains a trove of information from the basic science behind saunas to practical considerations on how to choose among the variety that now exist, or even how to build them.

Dr Larry Wilson shares a lot of information in this book and on his website. I followed his sauna construction plans and have had my homemade sauna for close to two years. It's very inexpensive and has worked great.

This book was also my introduction to hair mineral analysis. My first impression was that it was something I would never want to do. But if you find yourself spending a lot of time in a sauna hair analysis is an effective way to learn just what it is you're sweating out and what you could be doing or taking to replace it.

There are things we can do to effect changes in our bodies if we want to learn about them and take the time and exercise the discipline to go through with them. Dr Wilson is definitely a good person to learn from.

True story told truly. It might sound grand, but this is indeed a lesson on life and attracts respect, for the courage then and now to tell the story so humbly.

Historically it is not insignificant at all either, as so little has been written on that period and that aspect of the conflict, and even less with seriousness.

First off, I'm biased. Col. Bailey is my grandfather. Secondly, I never asked why we call him Boompaw. I suppose it may be the last thing he heard standing in the doorway of Rose Bowl, ready to bail...Boom. Grandpaw went BOOM.

Thirdly, this is a fantastic account of another time, another place and another generation. If you feel you know all about Southeast Asia and that painful time in world history, you will find an entirely different perspective in Solitary Survivor.

I often wonder when reading autobiographies, especially assisted ones, if I am hearing the author or flowered up prose from his professional co-author. When you read this, know that you are hearing the author's words, in his words. The first time I read it I don't know if I cried more because of what the author went through or because I was hearing my grandfathers voice telling the story. His story.

The honest reason it gets five stars? They don't offer six.

As the son of Ralph Magee, the pilot for the mission I am grateful for the insights as to what happened to my father. Finding useful information on that incident and the politics surrounding that time is extremely difficult to do.

Lastly, I hope that Mr. Bailey realizes that he is a hero, and he can find peace knowing that my father (and his family) would have wanted him to be happy.

Jeffery (Magee) Woods

This book was written by my Dad. It accurately describes how I believe Dad would react to the circumstances in which he found himself. He spends a good amount of time on the historical aspects of America's early involvement in Southeast Asia, specifically Laos. I believe the warning signs of "things to come" were readily apparent to anyone not embroiled in politics. My Dad's selfless commitment to his country and his courage under harsh conditions continue to raise the question in my mind, "Where will we find men like this should our country need them again?"

Solitary Survivor is a fascinating book detailing one of the first American soldiers taken captive during the initial stages of the Vietnam war. Colonel Bailey's story is revealing in many ways as he is the only survivor of a C-47 code named Rose Bowl that crashed in Laos with seven others on board in 1961. There is some speculation that one other on board survived but Bailey explains what he knows concerning Edgar Weitkamp and gives the reader the information and allows us to form our own opinions. He is unique in that he is only one of several men to return from captivity in Laos and details the dehumanizing treatment he received at the hands of his captors. In spite of or more because of his confinement and the total darkness he was kept in for most of the 18 months he was held in captivity, Colonel Bailey made a trek back to Sam Neua, Laos, to revisit, after 30 years the place that started the nightmares that are with him today. His return visit is very unique as Sam Neua is still considered Indian country and it has also been the focal point of many POW sightings over the years. Sam Neua is considered to be the place where many American POWs where held captive but were never returned at the conclusion of the Vietnam war. As a former 1st Cavalry soldier, I salute you Colonel Bailey and thank you for writing such an informitive book. Finally, I want to thank you for answering our country's call in three wars!

This book does a wonderful job of presenting a very extensive array of information about water and how significant it is in our lives. It shows how human thoughts and prayers affect water and how this is related to humans affecting other humans. There are a lot of useful guidelines and practices for making your life better via intention, thought, and prayer. A very informative book about water, people, and the nature of the universe. Highly recommended.

I loved this book so much as have the precious people I've lent it to.It has opened my eyes so much about how powerful we are, and how careful we have to be with everything we say and think.If everyone read this book, and heeded the message it has to give, the world, and everything that resides on it, would be heeled.

I personally know Lawerence and have had the pleasure of working and processing through a break through in Hawaii during Dr. Emoto's workshop. The book is in line with Lawerence's own personal vision, belief and as a seeker of what high vibration or truth is...his mission and the book will create a serene and positive outlook on everything life has brought and will bring.

I highly recommend this beautiful book for all ages and for anyone and hope that many will come across this book when the timing is right and feel compelled to not only own but to pass on the great message that can only bring more light and peace...

The Spirit of Water by Lawrence Ellyard is a valuable extension of the pioneering work of Masaru Emoto. This exceptional book will reveals the subtleties of water and consciously-directed energy in a way that can bring you better health and a deeper, spiritual happiness. Well done, Lawrence!

The Spirit of Water highlights the importance of how we think and why we should take the message in this book seriously. I really enjoied reading it and couldn't put it down. One of the best books on the subject which shows you how to use the principles of Hado in daily life. Highly recommended!

Classic stats book for the scientific grant writer. Excellent info and tables concerning power analyses for experimental effects. If you don't include a power analysis in your proposal, you're wasting your time...

Clearly, a must for every statistical library. This book is considered the authority on power analysis.

Cohen does a masterful job of taking the guesswork out of statistical power estimation. This text provides procedural guidelines for determining power for many designs, and can be quite helpful in determining proper sample sizes. Not for the casual reader, but a necessary addition to any serious researchers statistical library.

In the design of clinical trials particularly in the regulatory environment of the FDA the determination of the appropriate number of subjects to recruit for a well-powered statistical hypothesis test ot tests is extremely important. This topic is often neglected in statistical texts, even the elementary ones. It has also been neglected in many of the statistical software products that are available. Recognizing this need Janet Elashoff and Ralph o'Brien were among the first to construct tools for sample size determination and calculation of statistical power. There are now many software products available including nQuery Advisor (Janet Elashoff's product), Power and Precision, PASS, and StatXact. For group sequential and adaptive design methods thare are products such as East, PEST, SeqTrial+ and ADDPLAN to mention a few. Ralph O'Brien's package has now been modified and implimented in SAS with the procedures PROC Power and PROC Glmpower.

This book by Jacob Cohen preceded these developments and became a classic reference for researchers particularly those in the social sciences including behavioral scientists as mentioned in the title. I know of only one other competing book from that time period that being "How Many Subjects" by Helen Kraemer of Stanford University.

Absolutely the main text but check it out from the library - you will use it approximately 10-15 times in your research life.

This book is excellent reading material!! Dr. Robbins is my professor for a Great Discoveries in Archaeology class at MSU and we use this book for the class. I certainly don't feel as if I'm doing homework while reading it. The book is very informative, yet easy reading material. Dr. Robbins is a very talented professor and writer with a great deal of precise and sometimes humorous information to offer anyone interested in reading this book!!

Informative, entertaining, and consise. A great survey of important archeological discoveries....but written in a highly readable way.

This book covers a wide range of archaeological finds from all over the world. Cave paintings, skeletons, tombs, the list goes on. There are different (and more specialized) types of archaeology mentioned as well as the discoveries they brought about. Another thing I liked was that the author presents different interpretations and points of view about the information recovered from digs. In the back of the book there's a chronological table of archaeology discoveries that helped me to better organize important dates in my mind.

Well, I wasn't too sure when I started but by the time I finished the first chapter, "Stones, Bones and Ancient Cities" by Lawrence H. Robbins had me hooked so much I didn't get much sleep for the next few days. The writing style is crisp, clean and easy to understand. Robbins presents the cold-hard facts not just in layman's terms but in INTERESTING terms. I really loved the map of important sites discussed in the book which helped to put things into real perspective.

Chapter 2 about Cave Art is really eye-opening and informative about this controversial and speculative area of anthropology. Robbins also presents several Time-Lines at the back of the book that are also very informative. I am also a HUGE fan of the Chapter-by-Chapter form of Notes to be terrific for those of us that like to add more and more reading materials to our shelves. The photographs are fine though MORE is always better in these types of books.

REALLY AN ENJOYABLE READ!!

Informative, entertaining, and consise. A great survey of important archeological discoveries....but written in a highly readable way.

Robert L. Holt's "STOP Skyjackers" is a must-read for all who fly the once friendly skies as a passenger. Since 9/11/01, every passenger must be extremely aware of the fact that your own life may depend on your own reactions to a radical or radicals' attempt to takeover a plane in the air, or on the ground, while you are a passanger on that aircraft. STOP Skyjackers gives you the many concepts and planning tools to be prepared to save your own life, if needed during a skyjacking. This book, if read by most air passengers, could create the bond we all need as customers aboard the world's heavily traveled airlines. If you think that the devastating skyjackings of 9/11 were a one-time-event...think again! The War on Terrorism has just begun, and we, all residents of earth, are a part of it. STOP Skyjacking is the first truly training manual of this long-term war against terrorism.

This is for real... if you're going to be traveling you must read this book. Knowledge is power. Gain all the power you can! Even if one is not traveling, this book is important to read. We need to know all we can to better understand the situation which we are all dealing with against any and all terrorists. The author gives us serious tools to deal! Thank you Mr. Holt!

Everyone should read this! Not just travelers! But definitely all travelers should! It's a must read!

Transportation authorities may assure us that flying has never been safer. But why is it that pilots still want to carry guns? Perhaps they feel, as Bob Holt certainly does, that you can never feel too secure. A former Marine pilot, Bob wrote this book to share his own insights into the responsibility we all have to help make travel safe for everyone.

I know Bob Holt personally, so I cannot be objective about his book. I watched him put everything aside in the months after September 11 in order to write it. His passion and his sincerity are real. His suggestions are certainly worth knowing, even if you don't agree with them. Who knows? They may be life-savers.

Stop Sky Jackers: 60 Steps That Can Save Your Life is a solid, eminently practical, no-nonsense traveler's guide and instruction book specifically designed for airplane passengers whether they are on local, regional, national, or international flights. Written by a former Captain of the U.S. Marine Corps Robert Lawrence Holt, Stop Sky Jackers informs passengers about suspicious behaviors to watch for, how to prepare to fight back against attempted skyjackings, rallying other passengers to resist, and what to expect in a hostile, possibly lethal situation that has become all to common in the last few decades. Simply put, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, Stop Sky Jackers should be mandatory reading for all air travelers -- it could save lives, both in the air and on the ground.

This book was written with class. The pieces selelected are all very beautiful and fun to play. The CD provides a very honest interpretation of the pieces. There are definitions in the back of the book as well as a listing of each genre of the solos. Furthermore, there is a suggested list of pieces for a student who is interested in entering a guitar program at a school from freshman undergraduate, to second year grad student. The book provides the intermidiate to advanced guitarist an excellent basis for expanding his or her repertoire.

Excellent for the beginner to intermediate Classical Guitarist. This book is easily a valued essential for any Guitar Library. Comes with a CD. Hope to see more from this author!

I recently purchased this book for pieces to use in my Classical Guitar class. Mr. Ferrara produced an excellent work that I predict will be a future classic. All the pieces are thoughtfully selected and presented with clear and helpful explaination. The CD is also a pleasure to listen to. Thank you Lawrence Ferrara for producing such an enjoyable work. I will be able to use this book for many years to come. I highly recommend it to all beginning and intermediate classical guitar players.

I'm a self taught guitarist who recently took up the guitar again after a 20 year break. I love this book. The pieces are beautiful and are arranged from beginning intermediate (I think) to advanced intermediate. You must be able to read music. The author includes some notes on playing each piece -- technique, musicianship. But mostly you advance through practice and listening to the CD. The CD, by the way, is wonderful, and I often put it on just for pleasure. One of the things I love about this book is how the author emphasizes musicality, things like subtle pauses and changes in tempo, crescendos, etc.

This book progresses from first pieces for players who read music and understand classical guitar technique through increasingly difficult intermediate pieces. It is ideal for first and second, and perhaps third year students. One aspect that I find particularly appealing as a teacher is the musical integrity of each piece. They are all very musical, the progression is very well thought out, and the presentation on the page is clear and uncluttered. Probably the best collection of easy to intermediate pieces available. The CD performances are outstanding.

An outstanding and very well written source of information for the prospective as well as current graduate psychology student, this guide provides crucial information on all aspects of a career in psychology from choosing the appropriate degree to mastering a career in one's chosen area of expertise. I especially appreciated the chapters on the development of traditional psychological skills including teaching, psychological testing and assessment, psychotherapy, and consultation, as well as how to get and how to survive an internship. Having been in graduate school myself for over 6 years I also found the chapter on mastering stress quite useful. Information is also provided for students in special circumstances such as minorities, international students, and student couples.

The guide concludes with the prudent advice to keep an open mind and keep your eyes open concerning the many ways in which a degree in psychology can be put to good use depending on opportunities available, as well as the changing needs of society. I would like to conclude by saying I wish I had this book available to me as an undergraduate psychology student, and would like to offer my sincere thanks to Dr. Walfish and to my distinguished former professor Dr. Hess, for making this extremely useful and interesting text available. I will continue to tell as many fellow psychology students I can about this guide.

This book is not only a good guide book for the freshman or sophomore plotting his/her strategy to get into highly competitive psychology graduate programs, it also tells the student what to do once he/she gains entry. The book covers topics many other guide books neglect, such as what skills one needs to obtain while in graduate school, the politics of graduate school, stress management techniques, et cetera. The best guide book I have purchased and a great deal considering it guides the student from his/her undergrad years to the doctoral phase and beyond.

This book was one of the best books I read about grad school in psychology. What I loved about it was that it not only has useful information about applying and interviewing (which is why I bought it), but it also has chapters on many other aspects of grad school, including a few candid chapters that discuss departmental politics (a rarely broached topic). Another great chapter discusses how to juggle relationships and academia, strategies for landing jobs when your spouse is also an academic, etc. There's also a chapter on the clinical internship process, yet another topic that I have not read about in detail anywhere else.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to read more about what grad school is really like, and to hear great solutions to various hurdles that grad students face. Knowing more about the process, warts and all, made me all the more confident that I was making the right choice for myself.

At the recommendation of a teaching assistant in one of my classes at Dartmouth College,I purchased this book. I was really surprised about how little I knew about the application process to graduate school. If you have a friend or relative who is applying to graduate school in psychology (the toughest programs to get into, esp. clinical), you need this book to minimize the number of rejection letters you will receive in April. One note though: The authors need to include material on how to do a thesis.

The editors of this text have done a remarkable job of putting together a comprehensive user-friendly guide to assist anyone who is considering a graduate degree in Psychology or other areas within the helping profession. This guide addresses and clarifies the often complicated and ambigious process of selecting, applying, and untimately succeeding in a graduate level psychology program. I purchased a copy for a family member who is currently applying to graduate programs in psychology. She recently commented that the information in this book helped her to make some critical decisions about programs, and what options she will pursue as a graduate student and beyond. It is also an excellent resource for students already enrolled in or just completing their graduate studies. This is a must have resource for anyone considering a graduate program in psychology

Written in a casual, funny and lively style, this book is chock full of fascinating nuggets about the critters and people that populate the Himalayas. Lawrence Swan was an excellent writer and a renowned authority on Himalayan wildlife. A must read for anyone interested in wildlife, The Himalayas, and/or the rigors of field work.

I am currently a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in the Northwestern corner of Bangladesh. Although my job keeps me busy I still seem to have large amounts of free time for reading. As there are not many outlets for books in English where we are, my fellow PCV's and I have learned to read almost anything. In a rare and exciting care package from home, my father sent me this fantastic book. Dr.Swan's adventures are so full of excitment and humor that you wish they were your own. They can compel even the most diehard homebody to think of packing a bag and heading to the mountians. Dr.Swan writes of the Himalaya and it's people with respect and admiration that could only come from someone who knew and loved them well. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a little adventure or some very truthful information. As soon as i finished it I sent it off to a friend in the neighboring town. I have yet to see it show up back at the Peace Corps library, which means it is still floating around somewhere amongst the PCV's of Bangladesh.

I am one of the lucky ones who actually knew Prof. Larry Swan, the author of this remarkable book, and I was privileged to have heard all of these stories recounted by the man himself in the classroom and at his home. Although I miss his voice and grand gestures, I am delighted to report that the stories in his book, from his boyhood in Darjeeling, to high altitude spiders, Yetis and the great Indian monsoon, are as engrossing on the printed page as they were to hear! Professor Swan was a remarkable biologist, a master teacher and a creative, gifted man who lived a full and amazing life. This excellent volume of his adventures and thoughts is a reminder to us that great lives can be led, and great mentors can be found. It is a must for all inquiring minds and adventurous spirits!!

Larry Swan was a born naturalist, an original thinker, and an inspiring teacher. He was also a fascinating character and a raconteur of the first order. When I was an undergraduate in the 1960s, his courses at San Francisco State College were legendary. His lectures were like savory curries. He served up meaty ideas in a rich masala of entertaining and sometimes bawdy stories. "Tales of the Himalaya" is a collection of Swan's adventures and the discoveries and ideas that emanated from them. The chapters stand by themselves. There are chapters on debunking the yeti, his discovery of the Aeolian Biome, a theory of high altitude bird migration, an amusing exploration of leeches and lice, and a wonderful chapter about his beloved Sherpas. (All who took his course in Zoogeography ended up loving Sherpas.) And there is much more. Like Doc Ricketts of Cannery Row, Larry Swan was the kind of person who turned John Steinbeck on to biologists, and made his students want to climb mountains. This is a book about science, exploration and travel, imbued with an infectious personality. If you have ever looked up at a lofty range of mountains and wondered, then this is a book worth reading.

Hello...I'm a 13 year old girl, and I knew Dr. Swan quite well. He was a great, full of energy, brilliant person. This book is wonderful, and the life of him is very interesting, even to me. I would definately something i would recommend to anyone and everyone. I will prolly read this a million times, and I will never get sick of it, ever.

This is a wonderful book! It also with Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television have inspired much of my research and thought.

Take steps towards enhancing the quality of your life - explore FlowNet and exchange ideas and experiences associated with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory @ http://www.flownetwork.com

Take steps towards enhancing the quality of your life - explore FlowNet and exchange ideas and experiences associated with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory @ http://www.flownetwork.com

This book is an exploration into the effect television has on the viewer's state of mind. The organization and style of the book read very much like a dissertation that has been reworked slightly for publication. The style of writing is very academic, and is geared to academic rather than general audiences. The first two chapters are pure literature review covering information reception and previous research about television viewing. The next chapter discusses the research methods. The main study involved a group of about 100 adults living near Chicago in the 1970s, who were asked to keep activity and mood diaries over the course of a week. The data from this study were combined with data from a number of other studies that examined television viewing habits of mostly Americans and Canadians. The remaining chapters cover various aspects of the results and discussion, including: how television fits into the scheme of leisure time, how television affects viewer's moods, how television affects family life, why some people view more than others, uses of television, television and marketing, and television and personal growth. As with a dissertation, sources are cited within the text and each chapter has extensive endnotes for further explication and references. The questionnaires used in the study are reproduced in the appendices. A full list of references is included, as well as an author index and a subject index.

So what did they find out from their study about viewers in the 1970s? First, participants in the study watched about 1.4 hours of TV each day, which represented 6.6% of the participants' total waking hours. TV viewing was the most time-consuming activity engaged in at home, and TV viewing absorbed 40% of all leisure time, or another way to look at it, 25% of all time spent at home was spent watching TV. Ninety-three percent of TV viewing occurred in one's own home. Most viewing occurred between 7:30 and 10 PM on weekdays. Twenty percent of the time, people watched TV because they had nothing better to do, giving TV the highest nothing-better-to-do ranking of major home activities including reading, eating, cooking, chores, talking, and grooming.

People tend to watch more TV when they are in a bad mood or when they just want to relax with something mindless. When compared to work, other leisure activities, or meals, participants reported that TV required the least concentration, challenge, and skill of all, and people were most passive when watching TV than when engaging in any other leisure activity. Watching TV had the lowest mood and activation ranking of fifteen common daily activities that included such items as resting, transit, and chores. When compared to sports and other leisure activities, it was found that TV required much less concentration during the activity, and that participants found it harder to concentrate after watching TV than before they began. TV viewing is quite relaxing while participants engage in it, but once they turn the set off, they tend to feel less relaxed than when they began, which is the opposite of what happens with sports and other activities. Marketers are well aware of the fact that people watch TV for relaxation and try to keep people in front of the set by offering soothing or entertaining programs rather than material that will require concentration or upset viewers. The difficulty that people have eliminating TV viewing altogether from their lives suggests that some aspects of TV viewing may be addictive.

For the most part, I found the results of the study to be quite predictable- -we all hear from many sides that TV viewing is not good for our mental health. There were a few interesting points that Kubey and Csikszentmilhalyi uncovered that weren't fully explored, however. They note that families that watch more TV tend to get along better, and posit that one possible reason for this could be that TV watching helps to diffuse tensions, as well as provide an activity whose skill level is so low that children and adults can participate in it together. The authors note that surprisingly, the most well-adjusted teenagers have the highest levels of viewing, but they point out that teenagers with problems don't tend to spend a lot of time at home, and since most TV viewing is done in the home, there is probably no cause-and-effect link between level of adjustment and TV viewing. They note that heaviest viewers tend to be women living alone and married men living with families (married women with families give up some of their potential TV viewing time to do housework). Elsewhere in the book, they note that Blacks seem to watch more than Whites, and that viewing time increases with education. I have a hunch, however, that the most educated people in their study may have been precisely those married men whose wives were doing the housework, and that their level of education was predicted by their gender, and that their gender and family status determined how much TV they watched, not their level of education. It would have been worth it to pair up people of different family status and similar educational backgrounds to see if the observation that educated people tend to watch more TV really holds water.

By now, the data from the study are quite dated, with our cable TV possibilities far out-numbering the 3 major networks of the 1970s, as well as the advent of the Internet and development of the computer game industry to compete for leisure time with TV watching. It would be quite interesting to re-do the study in light of these developments, to see how TV relates to our leisure time and mental state today.

This is one of the most intense and empirical studies of how people relate to television (not focusing on television's content), nothing judgmental here folks, the data is presented in text and charts. We get to see the surveys, the responses, we are informed of the study methods used...

Various psychological traits are measured before, during, and after television viewing in the subjects homes. Things like concentration, cheerfulness, challenge, memory, and other traits are measured at various times using a self-reporting mechanism. The merits and faults of the methods used to study the subjects are also discussed. The book is intense.

I'm sorry I can't encapsulate it better than this. The authors (Mihaly and Robert) do an extremely admirable job of presenting the information in a readable and complete format.

Again, it should be stressed that this study was empirical. No judgements are made. Content of television was not part of the study, content of the subject's psyches was.

A landmark work.