P Books

Yes, I know I shouldn't be writing this review yet. But I don't want you to go through another day without reading this book!

This book is taking me forever to read. That's because I keep on reading each chapter 2-3 times before moving on. The effects are not only profound for your prayer life, but for your whole relationship with God. I am finding it transforming.

Here's a tip on using the book: program into your diary to spend some days away with God. Then go find somewhere beautiful and relaxing, and take a bible, a notepad, and Pratt's book. It will be like cool water to your soul.

I have had the privilege of hearing Richard speak on several occasions in Sydney. He is a warm, funny, engaging, out-of-the-box guy. He is also serious about fostering a joyful and totally-transforming relationship with God. Richard, if you read this review, be encouraged in the knowledge that your book is doing a lot of good -- even 17 years after it was published.

Books on prayer abound within Christian circles. Christian bookstores are filled with such books, with many such books acting more like 12 step programs for revitalizing prayer so we can get what we want, than in providing a Biblically based theology and perspective on prayer that can actually anchor our outlook in prayer in the Bible. Pratt predominately succeeds in doing this.

As Pratt indicates at the start, this book does not provide any grand revelations on prayer that haven't been known throughout the history of the church. It's not a magic pill offering magical formulas, and it doesn't resolve every conceivable issue surrounding prayer. But it is still quite thorough in the issues it addresses, and more importantly, its inquisitiveness is substantive and very practical.

A reader who decides to read this book is probably someone who feels that their prayer life is missing something, maybe a lot. Many Christians are in this boat, me included. As a result, I think many readers will be pleasantly surprised by the insights that are offered about our approach to prayer and how both our prayers and the attitudes and expectations behind them are so often out of accord with the prayers recorded in the Bible.

Not surprisingly, the bulk of Pratt's examination on prayer is from an Old Testament perspective, since he's an Old Testament guy. Readers may very well experience something akin to an awakening or a reappreciation for the Psalms after reading this book, I know I did. Pratt is thorough in his examination and tends to do a very good job in backing up his assertions in Scripture. He tends to be very careful in not making grand statements that have no Scriptural support, and this alone is refreshing within the publishing world where prayer is concerned.

I found Pratt's approach to be pretty systematic in logically working from one issue to the next. The review/discussion questions at the end of each chapter make this book excellent for small group studies in addition to individual reading and reflection. Pratt does an outstanding job of categorizing the many issues of prayer within three essential aspects of prayer - God, ourselves, and communication. Similar to a wedding, where all that's essential is the bride, groom, and officiant (and maybe a witness or two) while everything else is gravy when you really think about it, a focus on these three essential aspects of prayer helps the discussion greatly and makes all of the chapters relevant within a larger framework of obvious relevancy.

This book will benefit the reader greatly, because he/she will gain a greater understanding of the God they are praying to, in addition to a much more discerning and even critical attitude towards themselves and the motives and expectations they bring to prayer. In addition, the section on the prayerful communication itself may really bring a renewed spark of enthusiasm and vitality to prayer that will replace the mundane and even meaningless monotony so many of us get caught up in when we pray. Highly recommended.

A close, careful, and balanced look [primarily] at Psalms and how they provide a model for a Christian's prayer life. Easy to read while being thoughtful, well organized, balanced, and Bible-based. Conservative Christian viewpoint.

Since this is the first book that I've read on the subject of prayer, I don't have much to compare it to. I have heard that the pickings are rather limited. Not true with this book. It is great!

We have used it as the source book in a small group study with wonderful results. The chapters are chocked full of great suggestions, with lots and lots of Scripture references. The study questions are mostly good with maybe a few exceptions.

This book has helped me considerably with my prayer life. I recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their's.

I can't say enough about this book. One of the best books I have ever read on prayer. Richard Pratt looks at the Three elements required for prayer, God, Ourselves, and Communication. The book is broken up into 12-13 chapters so it is great for using for a Sunday School class or for Church Home Group bible study. The fact that each chapter is individual from each other, which helps in that if someone misses a week, they are not "lost". The author looks at praying through our joy, our sorrow, and not just focusing on one aspect of God himself (i.e The Righteous Judge, Merciful Father, The Great Healer) but to focus on all his attributes. I try to read this book once every other year as a refresher. A must buy!!

This textbook's main originality is its unusual mixture of latest experimental facts and observations in soft condensed matter with deep theoretical concepts and tools.
Exactly solved models of statistical physics pervades the text which also contains a good discussion on real-space renormalization methods and field-theoretical approaches to condensed matter problems.
The chapter on topological defects and excitations is particularly welcomed.
May not be particularly suited for self-study as some results are not always carefully derived and the exercises can prove quite hard to solve.
A prior exposure to phase transition phenomena is recommended.

This is simply a modern presentation of condensed matter physics, and thus includes some soft matter examples, but it is not in any sense a "soft matter book".

To those still mired in traditional solid state physics, where electronic properties are topics 1 through 987 and understanding how a semiconductor works is still a primary goal, it may appear that this is a strange book. Indeed it is: it is a condensed matter text rather than a solid state text.

Take a look at your Ashcroft and Mermin flyleaf some time---it is over 30 years old. What have you learned since then? What have your students learned? Do they really get turned on by LAPW and FLAPW? Are you sure? This book is a good place to start bringing yourself, and your students, up to date.

Given my training as engineer in undergraduate and as polymer scientist in my MS, I find this book a challenging endevour. It presupposes knowledge of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics, and is written in a style most beneficial for Physics graduate students. Nonetheless, since every serious student in material science and polymer physics must indeed become comfortable with soft matter physics, this book is a delightful introduction. The book by RAL Jones can provide a quick introduction to phenomenon and principles encountered in the book. But to master the trade, to become comfortable with notation used in papers, to understand the math, to make yourself a soft matter physicist, this book provides matter, paradigm and principles in comprehensive manner.

Specifically book is essential reading for people studying physics of crystals, liquid crystals, amorphous materials, polymers and magnetically ordered systems. It provides detailed introduction to symmetry, phase transitions, field theories, scattering and correlation functions, and generalized elasticity and hydrodynamics. Each chapter and topic can be appreaciated by additional reading from a textbook each in Statistical Mechanics (Pathria), Electrodynamics (Slater and Frank), Quantum Mechanics, liquid crystals (chandrashekar or de gennes, polymers (doi, de gennes) and scattering (neutron-higgins, light-pecora). Like potential readers, I am myself a student, just starting on this daunting but worthwhile study of condensed matter.

It is not only a "soft Condensed Matter" book. This book has every basic (or kinda advanced) ideas of condensed matter physics. And there is almost no prerequisite for this book --- a reader needn't even know any solid state physics before he reads this book. The text is well written and easy to read.
--- These are all the features of a perfect textbook.

Captivating bedtime reading, perfect for those insomniac nights. You will only need to read page one to see how come Onslow favours Principles of Condensed Matter Physics over Daisy!

This book is very good for all types of projects. It covers setting up a project, organizing the work, managing a project, handling several projects at once, dealing with project issues and crises, using modern technology such as groupware and the Internet. The approach of establishing an issues data base and relating issues to specific tasks in a project is unique. It is very useful.

This is one of the best project management books for introducing employees to modern project management in an interesting way. Most project management books are ver dry and lack realistic examples. Thus, it is difficult to motivate people to read and use such materials. This is a very practical, down to earth book that has many guidelines that you can use immediately as you read the book. Some of the strengths of the book are: 1) best description of matrix management; 2) use of collaborative tools in managing projects; 3) how to deal with multiple projects; 4) how to share resources across several projects; 5) how to deal with risk in projects. The authors have developed a very creative and useful approach in dealing with project risk that associates project risk with unresolved issues. I highly recommend this book.

Project management for the 21st century is one of the most usable, easy to read, and complete project management books. There are good examples. Techniques are modern--better than that available in other books. This books stresses working together, sharing information, and dealing with resources that are spread among various projects. Very good reference.

This book provides the basics of project management in an easy to use casual style. It proceeds step by step through building a plan and then managing a project. The chapter on project costing is good, but could use some more detail. The modern and historical examples are usefully examined. These could be expanded more later.

This book not only gives you all of the basics, but also highlights how to use the Internet for project management. Very useful material.

Viscosity estimation and other properties of gases

When you need physical property data, and you don't have exact information; this book provides best available estimations of the physical properties. It has been a great help to me, over the years.

Having worked on a piece of an earlier edition, as a grad student at U of Mo - Rolla; where Bruce Poling was a professor, I know how much work it is putting this together for the industries. My hats off to Bruce and his co-authors, and especially to Nanci, his wife, for doing yoman's work on this 5th edition of a classic!

If you are a chemical engineer and do not own this text, you will have a hard time. This text covers all physical properties of organic, and some inorganic, gases and liquids. It offers complete theoretical development and practical equations which are amenable to spreadsheets and numerical analysis. Particularly useful is a comparison at the end of every topic showing the accuracy of each method in predicting a property. Presented in tabular form, it allows the reader to choose a method which is sufficient for his/her needs. You may decide to choose a method that is less accurate but easier to program. Every chemical engineer should have this text. My only regret is that we did not have time in undergraduate to use this text. I learned its value from watching the graduate students.

If this review was helpful, please say so. Thanks.

The book is an absolutely practical treatise of applied thermodymamics. The explanations of how to use property estimation methods are excellent, but invaluable are the comments on their accuracy and recommendations as to when to use which method.

The book served as my operating manual for the ASPEN software for modeling chemical processes. The book documented nearly every method used by ASPEN.

I was a bit unconfortable when I bought this book since I was suspicious that this one was one of those unreadable thermodynamic books. Fortunately I was wrong. This book provides you with a complete treatment of the properties of gases and liquids in a plain language stressing the understanding of the basic laws governing the behavior of liquids and gases instead of the mathematic that goes with it. The treatment of the topics is very suitable for engineers since it allows quick understanding of the phenomena and provides a wealth of correlations and methods for estimating properties. The appendixes contain all kind of basic information indeed helpful for applying the correlations showed. Without any hesitation, this book is well worth its price.

Reading Patrick Dougherty's Qigong in Psychotherapy feels like having a very centered, peaceful conversation with the author. Leaving aside the esoteric jargon, Dougherty offers insightful comments that can help psychotherapists of different pursuasions incorporate Taoist mindfulness into their practices. He does a nice job of giving case examples in which he illustrates the use of focused breathing with clients in a way that helps them (and the therapist) invigorate their sense of compassion for self and others. This small volume is well worth reading and sharing with others.
Stuart B. Bonnington, Ed.D., LMFT

This was an easy read. Easy suggestions to put into practice. It is helpful to clients as well as therapists. The "magic" is in its simplicity. What could be better than that?

This book can help many people... It's a great way to enhance anyones well-being and mental health. I think everyone working with people with depression, bi-polar, etc can greatly become a better professional by using qigong in their practice. Anyone who reads this book will benefit from this information!

Thoughtful and insightful not just for people in the field but for everyone interested in improving life - it should be subtitled "Heal Your Heart - Help Your Life" - An easy read - I enjoyed the wonderful real life stories - it really makes you think about your family and the people you meet and what a few chosen words can mean - I would highly recommend this book! If you have not experienced Qigong yet that should be your next step!

I'm reading Qigong in Psychotherapy for the second time and I suspect I'll read it more times. I think this book is brilliant! Though the title might suggest it's just for psychotherapists (or their clients)I think it's a wonderful book for everyone who's interested in being happy and healthy. It weaves wonderful stories about the author and his clients with clear explanations about things like stress and breath and qigong, and practical tools to make good living more available. I find the subtitle accurate: "you can do so much by doing so little". This book is the kind I love to read from a little every night before I go to sleep - inspiring and soothing at the same time.

I first heard of Meatyard in a Lenswork interview with photographer Larry Wiese, and this casual reference aroused my interest. Rhem's well-researched account satisfied my initial interest, but then Rhem acheived something else as well. I gained an appreciation for Meatyard's work that I had initially avoided out of ignorance. Rhem brings to light the numerous influences that molded Meatyard and informed his work: influences as varied as Ezra Pound; Gertrude Stein; Flannery O' Connor; and Zen Buddhism. Rhem interviewed friends and family, combed through archival material and rare unpublished interviews with Meatyard.
The end product is one of the finest art books I've personally ever read.

This is a beautiful book: complicated, exhaustively researched, yet written to be accessible to the lay reader. Meatyard's work is gorgeous, comic, haunting, and virtually unknown except to photographers. James Rhem has done a masterly job of balancing scholarly rigor and critical transparency. In _Family Album_ he fills a void in the scholarship of photography. I look forward to seeing more work by this author.

I have always been amazed at the work of Meatyard. I gained more respect for his work and understanding of the man behind the camera in the work published by James Rhem. To know the feelings of all involved in the creation of Meatyard's work adds a greater understanding of this complex man. James Rhem has gone the step beyond to make all who read the book understand the creation of the Lucy Belle Crater Series!

EXCELLENT!

At last someone has written an extremely intelligent, well researched, and accessible book on Meatyard. Rhem takes on this complex and poignant piece of art, and reveals its mystery to us. As an artist, tired of reading badly written criticism and art-writing, I found this book to be a real gift. I've read most of the available writing on Meatyard and nothing approaches this. A must-buy.

In James Rhem's book Meatyard's well-known Lucybelle Crater photographs are reproduced in the family album setting that the photographer himself planned they should have, but never got during his lifetime. The photographs are printed on black pages, with handwritten captions underneath; the images are arranged in groups, & the groups are themselves sequenced. For those who like Meatyard's photography, or acknowledge his significant position in American photography, this new presentation is reason enough to want this book.
But there's a lot more being offered here. First, in an authoritative introduction, Rhem presents an overview of all of Meatyard's photography. This essay is a prelude to and a setting for Rhem's real (and groundbreaking) work: thoroughly researched, original & penetrating elucidation of Meatyard's Lucybelle Crater photographs.
Personally I have had difficulty in understanding what the Lucybelle Crater pictures were about since first seeing them in an earlier version 25 years ago. From comments by friends & other photographers I realized that I was not alone in having this difficulty. We faced page after page of photos of two people, one wearing a hag's mask, the other a mask of an old man. These figures are posed most often against suburban backgrounds that are familiar and mundane. Some pictures are visually interesting, others dull. As you turn the pages the images accumulate, asking be "read". But how? "What's going on here?" was my nagging question. I knew I was missing something important about these pictures. What was it?
Rhem's essay is valuable in answering that question. And what's striking is how he does this and how well he does it. Not with scholarly jargon (though he has the thorough-going mind of a scholar). Not with flights of imaginative "interpretation" based on his own subjective feelings and opinions. And certainly not by calling attention to himself as a critic, biographer or insider (all of which, by the way, he is).
James Rhem works from a dense gathering of factual information about Meatyard--some unknown until now (thanks to Rhem's wide, and thorough investigations into primary sources.) This factual information provides the basis for a conceptual approach to the Lucybelle pictures that is both lively with anecdotes and rich with insights. Rhem has a sincere desire (you can sense it in his sentences) to tell you what he thinks Ralph Eugene Meatyard's photographs are about. He approaches the photographer not as a subject for a thesis but as a man whose pictures continue to have something important to offer us. Rhem has taken up that offer and made it his job in this book to understand and interpret it, using the considerable (and considerably generous) means that he's accumulated for that very purpose.

27 oct 2002

I am a student of Mr. McGuire's in Briarcliff New York. He is an extrodinary teacher, and his review book makes classes a lot easier than they would be otherwise.

As a teacher of NYS earth science, I feel this is the best resource for a teacher and student preparing for the Earth Science Regents. It takes each chapter and breaks it into little pieces, then follows each "lesson" with practice regents questions. Earth Science should be studied in short sessions frequently. This book accomodates this style of learning/studying, which is necessary for academic achievment in Earth Science. Buy this book before the other regents reviews out there. You wont regret it. I use it as my primary text through the school year.

As a student of Regents Earth Science, I highly reccomend this book for studying. This challenging subject is very well explained in this publication, and not only tells you the facts, but makes you understand them. For students who are taking the Regents, it gives sample questions from previous exams in order to help prepare the reader for the test. I think this is a really good book to study earth science from.

Mr. McGuire's REVIEW BOOK is useful in any Earth Science situation from Middle/Junior High School, through High School and through introductory courses in college. The topics included are well covered and the detail is accurate and useful. I have used this book (or earlier editions)with my students for more than 10 years and it is one they head for first when they need immediate answers or are just beginning to do research.

Reviewing Earth Science: The Physical Setting by Thomas McGuire is an excellent, comprehensive review book that helps students learn and understand the new New York State Earth Science Curriculum. I find it an invaluable resource to my students and myself. The units are well written and include recent scientific ideas. The graphics and illustrations are clear, insightful, and meaningful. The questions are asked in such a way as to reflect many different thinking levels (basic knowledge, application and interpreting). The extensive use of sample test items help students evaluate and show their comprehension. Mr. McGuire's several editions of this book provide excellent insights into New York's challenging and stimulating Regents Earth Science program. In fact, my school and others use this book as an expandable text. I have been using the older version of "Reviewing Earth Science" by Thomas McGuire for the last 10 years and find it an irreplaceable and essential book. This new review book correlates directly with the new New York State Physical Setting : Earth Science Curriculum. I think teachers embarking on this new adventure are advised to use this book as a key resource throughout the year.

This book is definitely a solid way to start in Riemannian geometry. The topics chosen give a glimpse of more advanced topics that the reader can venture to next, and the order covered leaves little confusion. The book is to the point, with little conversation about the concepts except at the very beginning of each chapter.

I only have two complaints, but neither would cause me to lower the rating to 4 stars.

1. There could be more "deep" exercises that allow the reader to explore more of the subtleties of the subject. And for what exercises there are, the author sometimes gives far too much away in "hints."

2. The book does not take a unified approach to the subject that fits nicely with the full generality of the theory. This is probably what makes the book good to start with, but there is still going to be a somewhat difficult transition from this book to a typical differential/riemannian geometry book. Namely, the basic language of vector bundles, pull backs/push forwards, tensors and tensor fields are either covered in a very specific framework or not at all.

I had the pleasure of taking a course in Riemannian Geometry from the author himself, using the Portuguese version of this book. Do Carmo managed to cover the whole thing in one semester without breaking a sweat; I don't know how he managed, or how we did. The fact is that the book is extremely well-written. It provides geometric insight but doesn't avoid computations. Also, the choice of topics is great, and they are ordered in a way that enhances the logical unity of the whole. The English translation seems to be every bit as good as the original. For a first course in Riemannian Geometry, this book might make a geometer out of you.

This is really a very good book to start Riemannian Geometry (RG). Exposition of key concepts of RG (affine connection, riemannian connection,geodesics, parallelism and sectional curvature, ...) are well motivated and concisely explained with numerous motivating and not so difficult execises. The book is self contained convenient for self study. It contains an introductory chapter on mathematical background explaining basic concepts as differentiable manifolds, immersion, embedding and so on, which are necessary to deal with RG. I have essentially one basic remark about this book. Formulation of RG as presented in it, is a little bit dated. Now, with the development of geometric algebra and Geometric calculus most, if not all, mathematical concepts needed to study RG like covariant derivative, curvature, and general tensors can be formulated without ressort to coordinates and in a manner to highlight their essential geometric features. Moreover derivation of certain formulae can be much easier and natural. For example the author defines the formula for |x^y| as sqrt(sqr(|x|).sqr(|y|)-sqr(inner product(x,y))). Then explains that it is the area of two dimensional parallelogram determined by the pair of vectors x and y. The reader might be puzzled as to how this formula is obtained. In the context of geometric algebra this is derived very naturally from basic concepts. Anyway, this remark does not diminish the value of this book.

This is another well-written text by Do Carmo. I browsed through it and found I could not understand several passages because I did not know what the special symbols meant and there was no table of symbols. I plead with the publisher to add such a table to the next edition or printing.

This is the best Riemannian Geometry book after students have finished a semester of differential geometry. It gives geometric intuition, has plenty of exercises and
is excellent preparation for more advanced books like Cheeger-Ebin.

Students should already know differential geometry (Spivak "Calculus on manifolds" and Spivak "Differential Geometry Volume I" might be used there)

Warning: the curvature tensor is defined backwards as compared to Cheeger-Ebin.

I really enjoyed this book. I felt as if I were at a small gallery the first time I looked through it. The quality as well as the content are amazing.

this ended up being a great holiday gift. good condition. I'm very happy with the purchase.

This afternoon I saw an exhibition of 30-40 of Rineke Dijkstra's portraits at the Stedlijk museum in Amsterdam, and I was very affected by it. The photos seem so simple and innocuous at first glance, but it only takes a second to find what Barthes called a "punctum" (a subjectively conspicuous detail that takes you out of the frame into some, mostly likely ineffable and personal, truth of life, and establishes a direct connection between you and the subject in the photograph) in each one. Most often it is found in the subtlest of details in Dijkstra's photos, or between the photos as montage effect surfaces while moving through one of her series. Innocence and gritty reality seem to engage in a dialectic relationship throughout these works.
"Rineke Dijkstra: Portraits" contains an excellent sampling of Dijkstra work. If only it was 2, 3, or 4 times the size! but then, I suppose, it would be much to expensive for a student like me. In actual fact, the photos in this book are certainly large enough to be appreciated.

This book is a must have to reference a comprehensive collection of Rineke Dijkstra's work. The plates are 9"x12" with excellent color reproductions and the write-ups go beyond the regurgitated art critic articles.

Great book, great paper quality, great image quality. A good corpus of Dijkstra's work

I totally loved the book...and it was so well written. I could have never guessed who Mr. Smith was...but then again, I guess that was the point of the book. But everything just moved so fast that by the time I finished the book, my head was spinning. There were no breaks and everything can just zip right through you without you knowing it...you could even get killed without knowing it. That was how great the book was and I totally enjoyed it. And I especially loved Jago. He was such a sweet guy even though he fell with the wrong crowd...he has a good sense of humor...and totally stood up for that Talbot woman. Yup...it was a good book and in the future I will be looking forward to reading more of Jack Higgins books!

This is it! The best work from higgins in years! I simply could not set this thriller a side.

I reserve 5 stars for classics like "The Eagle has landed", but this book comes close. There are plenty of twists and turns and unlike repetitive characters of Higgins, you wonder when a major character in this book will get bumped off the next page.

Sarah Talbot and Sean Egan came from 2 different world, an ex-SAS from London East End who had to quit due to a knee injury, and a Wall Street terror whom Washington bigwigs queue to kiss her hand. But they have one thing in common, people they love had died under strange circumstances and the corpses to smuggle heroin.

Ferguson of Group 4 (in this book, Harry instead of Charles, wonder if they are one and the same), Tony Villiers, another intel officer, knew it was linked to some sensitive issues and made no open inquiry, effectively denying official investigation.

But Sarah Talbot and Sean Egan had no such burdens and vowed to discover the truth and the mastermind behind the tragic deaths of their loved ones.

It was interesting as the bad guys found out early in the game they had crossed powerful people and tried desperately to stay ahead, denying Sarah and Sean information without killing the two bereaved. Sarah carried an aura of protection due to her political connections to the White House, and Sean used his underworld connections to get clues and leads, his uncle being Jack Shelley, an infamous London gangster.

Their adversary was one ex-para named Jago who works for the mysterious Mr Smith. One by one, Jago sought to eliminate the links from the 2 bodies but Sarah and Sean just managed to gain a little clue each time before their links were terminated abruptly.

From London, to Paris, to Sicily, to Ireland, the trail finally leads back to the shadowy streets of London East End where the mysterious Mr Smith is unmasked.

Higgins gave a good description of the trial by fire of Sarah who was determined to step into a different world, of murder and mayhem and lawlessness (illegal ones, not the legal kind in Wall Street). Readers could actually see that it is one thing to be incensed by the murder of a beloved, it is quite another to go out to the streets seeking revenge.

This is definitely one of Higgins' better books, where the reader is kept in suspense and the action was fast and furious but not mindlessly so, with each chapter providing clues and hints and kept essential to the development.

One of Jack Higgins' best. It is a good story with good characters (Sarah, Sean and even Jago). It keeps you interested right until the surprises at the end. All in all it's a good read.

enjoy!

It's one of the bests books I ever read. When you start you can't stop, I recommend for everybody who likes Jack Higgins books.