Thomas Books

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.

An intriguing read for teens--and perhaps their parents--about pre-Revolution Boston. Seventeen-year-old Rachel Winslow takes on the ghostly guise of her great-aunt Regina Silsby to fight the British acts of tyranny. She tricks British soldiers, frees prisoners, and confounds a certain spoiled redcoat captain, leaving Boston believing that Regina's spirit truly haunts the city. In the mean time, while she tromps around as the ghost of her great-aunt, Rachel wonders what the truth is about the real Regina Silsby. Was Regina a witch, as the gossips say--or a devoted Christian? Did she practice things darker than the organ in King's Chapel, or was she simply pouring out her soul to God through music as she mourned her dead fiance? Rachel investigates and discovers that all the superstitions of the townspeople are for nothing. Regina Silsby was a godly young woman who died a tragic death. Rachel sees the damage to a person's reputation that idle gossip about the supernatural can do, and she rejects the untruthful stories. However, Rachel is left with another problem--a spoiled British captain is determined to make the so-called ghost pay for humiliating him....

Regina Silsby's Secret War is a young adult novel that greatly impressed me as a reader and reviewer. With its realistic language and situations, this book is one I highly recommend. Rachel's reliance on God's guidance before making the important decisions she had to make was inspiring. Mr. Brodeur brings the pre-Revolutionary time period to life in this novel, and I also highly recommend its sequel, Regina Silsby's Phantom Militia, which continues Rachel's story further. She brings along a companion ghost from the grave in the sequel, adding to the excitement and danger. I also personally think these two novels would make a great movie that would be a wholesome choice for teens.

The Old English or King's English or English or whatever it is, the style of the language, was great fun to read at the beginning. Then, you get to know the setting, Boston in the 1700s. Neat details about daily life in that time keep your interest. For example, Rachel (the protagonist) is outside in the cold doing laundry in a tub or fetching firewood.

Then you get to know all the characters. There are great characters. Rachel and her family are the good guys. There is a British soldier who moves into their house. Him and his troops are the bad guys. There's townsfolk, a cemetary, horses, ships, a ghost, knife throwing... all kinds of cool stuff to make a great adventure!

Then, at the end, the adventure unfolds. Like great historical fiction does, the story is intertwined with real life events; the Boston Tea Party, the American Revolution.

I must say I was a bit worried that this book would be a snooze fest since it is "Christian Fiction for Young Readers". Boy, was I surprised! It is simply a great adventure story with fun on EVERY page.

[...]

This book is a must-read and must-have for any reader's collection. It is set in the Boston Tea Party-period, and Rachel Winslow is the very likable heroine who has a clever plan of disguising herself as a ghost...but I will not give it all away, you must read the book for yourself.

The writing is so elaborate, you feel as if you were really there in the story, thanks to the vivid expressions, imager, and vocabulary.

You will really enjoy this book if buy it, so get your copy today!

I recently read "Regina Silsby's Secret War" as a primer to reading it with my 10 year old daughter and got hooked!! The vocabulary is rich, the pace is fast, and the entire story is extremely believable and engaging. My 10 year old daughter is now reading it and is thrilled with the antics and courage of Rachel, the main character. She's also excited about how well the plot ties in with her recent history lessons about the Boston Tea Party, Stamp Act, Quartering Act and the other Intolerable Acts. Kudos to Thomas Broduer for an extremely well written book that's fun to read for kids and adults!

William Greiner is definitely an artist to watch! This book is wonderful! The color photographs are haunting and the presentation honors a most memorable subject - graves and memorials to dead. Not just any dead people - but those quirky graves of New Orleans and vicinity are photographed here. The setting often combines the commonplace with the ethereal. A brillant theme photographed by a genuis at capturing the unusual around us. It's really a wonderful book to own and display.

To capture the ironies, poignancies, and soulful idiosyncrasies of the grave sites pictured in this book, William Greiner spent several years traversing the cemeteries of New Orleans and South Louisiana....Despite Greiner's obvious debt to William Eggleston, who is often cited as the father of modern color photography, his photographs stand out as originals. The compositions are provocative, and he renders garish colors into a lushly seductive palette..... Mr. Greiner's small, Louisiana-style models of the barren earth combine with Thomas Lynch's elegant foreward to make The Reposed a fascinating book. Nov/Dec 1999

William Greiner's first monograph is a welcome selection of photographs from his many years of work in color. Greiner's view of the world, mainly in his native Louisiana, is alternately witty, tender and rhetorical. THE REPOSED is a book that the viewer will want to look at again and again.

-- Deborah Bell, Private Dealer of Photographs, New York City

If one picture is worth a thousand words, then this book is worth sixty two thousands words to describe the surreal photographs. Definitely not enough room here to convey what I think is a remarkable look at cemeteries in and around New Orleans. William Greiner is a genius with a camera,who has taken the cemetery photograph and made it into a haunting, beautiful work of art.

If you only buy one photography book in your lifetime, this is it. Nobody has ever said so much with pictures about a dead subject.

I highly recommend this well-written, balanced biography of Thomas Eakins. It would be a perfect choice for readers with any level of familiarity with Eakins' paintings. I agree with the other reviewers that the book does an excellent job of placing Eakins' work in its historical context. Eakins emerges as a fascinating personality, and a guy who would have been great to know. In my opinion, Kirkpatrick deals honestly with the controversial aspects of Eakins' character, but without dwelling on them ad nauseum.

I thought that the descriptions of the paintings themselves were especially effective. The book communicated exactly the information I wanted to read about for paintings like The Gross Clinic and Max Schmitt in a Single Scull: the main points of the design, the background and tecnhical details, the dramatic impact, and the pyschological levels. I have read very few biographies of artists that were this helpful.

The book is generously and beautifully illustrated. There are 42 color plates, and each of those paintings is described in detail in the text. There are also a number of drawings, sketches, maps, and photographs (some taken by Eakins, and others of Eakins and his family and friends). The photos in particular (such as the one of Eakins, himself nude, carrying a nude female toward the camera) underscore the independent and controversial aspects of Eakins' character.

This was a very enjoyable read, and a tribute to a great artist.

A common myth of all poor starving artists is that they will be discovered after they're dead and be venerated forever. In an age when you can get rich and famous by glueing broken crockery to canvas or stuffing a dead fish into a tank of formaldehyde, it is usually a case of a poor choice of publicists than undiscovered talent and the real loser is the poor fool who buys contemporary art for a high price only to watch the value crash when the artist moves on and his work starts to fall apart or rot.

But there was a time when truly great artists did suffer. We all know about Van Gogh, but Thomas Eakins was also a classic example. Everyone loves his sports pictures and his two group portraits of heroic doctors lecturing their students (the Gross Clinic and the Agnew Clinic) even make a Christian Scientist envy those who have chosen the medical profession.

But for my money, his portraits stake the primary claim to Eakins' greatness. His sitters usually refused to accept their portraits, some destroyed them, others refused to sit at all (Mr. Kirkpatrick quotes one lifelong friend of Eakins who always refused to sit for him because he was afraid that Eakins would uncover what he had spent his lifetime trying to conceal).

And I'd imagine that viewing your Eakins-painted portrait for the first time must have been an eerie, almost supernatural event. Looking at his splendid portraits today, you KNOW the subjects, their hardships and triumphs, their hopes and fears. These are not prettified and bowdlerized pictures to hang on a wall, these are the real thing. It is as if Eakins stripped away the skin of his sitters to reveal the pure psyche underneath. They are beautiful and informative and moving. Fifteen minutes with an Eakins is more enlightening than a month in a room of Sargeants.

Mr. Kirkpatrick's fine biography is one of the best on any subject. He manages to capture the man and his times and the man IN his times, in a way that few biographers can accomplish. He manages to make the story exciting, even as he takes the reader through an almost brushstroke by brushstroke description of Eakins' painting process.

At first, my only reservation was the title. The point of it is to show how Eakins fame after death was his revenge for the tragedy of his career (a close and valued student conspiring to replace him, loss of reputation for insisting on painting things as they are, base and highly publicized accusations [about which Mr. Kirkpatrick carefully assembles the evidence for and against, describing the scandals as fairly and dispassionately as he can], rejection of his works, etc.), but the author discusses Eakins death only two pages before the end of the book, hardly enough time to develop the world's slow acceptance of Eakins' genius.

But then I realized that the book itself is Eakins' revenge. Very few people of even the first rank ever have a biography written about them as fine as this one. This book will be read as the classic text for the next one hundred years and it should be read, merely for its quality, by everyone no matter how slim their interest in American painting.

I have read and enjoyed several of Kirkpatrick's other books (on very different subjects), and was eager to see how he would handle a subject as complicated and controversial as Thomas Eakins. Through his telling of the Eakins story, the reader becomes privy to moments of nearly cosmic dimension as well as deep emotion. It's utterly convincing, lucid and intelligent, highly informative and extremely compelling. His most moving book to date.

When I picked up this very well done bio the little I knew about Eakins was the wonderful scull portraits, the shad fishing pictures and that a vague scandal surrounded his name. Now having read almost 500 pages, I want to know even more and there is a lot more to know.

Kirkpatrick covers the whole life, giving balance to each stage. It is a full book. There is no "filler". The research and background knowledge of the author shine forth on every page. The author shows great restraint in sticking to the known facts, otherwise this would be a 1000+ page book!

For instance, Eakins' fixation with the body, down to using mechanical contraptions on dead animals to demonstrate movement to students is factually presented. It is not sensationalized or psychoanalyzed. Similarly, whether Eakins was oblivious to or had discounted the consequences of asking so many females (again and again) to pose nude in this Victorian age is not discussed. The known instances of these invitations and the resulting alienation of those who said no, and the alienation of the friends and families of those that said yes are covered. With this background we learn the known facts of the tragedy of his niece Ella, and student Lillian, and about accusations regarding his sister Margaret. There are some documented opinions of family members, but the author stays with the known record.

No wonder, the self portrait that adorns the cover shows a tortured man with barely restrained sadness and anger.

It's ironic that the lack of appreciation for Eakin's works served to maintain the integrity of the collection for future generations. It's interesting that due to the nondescript Charles Bregler's collecting and acquiring memorabilia of his beloved teacher, today's researchers have a large collection of personal letters, photos and sketches to work with.

This is a very readable book. It is rich in plates and photographs that illuminate the text. I am ready for another biography to take on the "whys" of this remarkable life.

I find all of Kirkpatrick's books to be great reads. They combine impeccable scholarship with elegant style and profound insight. As I am interested in art, I found this one to be especially powerful -- the first major biography of Eakins that brings this enigmatic man into focus for me. Kirkpatrick has filled in the puzzling gaps in Eakins's life and brought new and unexpected meaning to Eakins's artistic and personal struggles against the conservative art establishment in Philadelphia that denied him recognition in his lifetime.

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.

Beveryly Gray is truly a wonderful biographer. She captures the tone and warmth of Ron Howard throughout the book. Beverly also puts you "in the know" for the locales, such as Greenwich, Connecticut, where Ron Howard moved to partially shield his children from the "glamorous temptations of the film industry." This is a book for people who want to take a walk with Howard and really get to know what drives him. It's warm, friendly, and low-key, just like its subject. And a great read! Well done, Beverly! Oh, by the way, did I mention Beverly also teaches film at UCLA Extension. A wonderful, warm person in her own right.

One of the advantages of an "unauthorized" biography is that it should offer a more creative and exciting challenges to the biographer and a much greater illumination to the reader.
There is always the danger when a biography is authorized that a conflict of interest may arise and the truth may be compromised.

Beverly Gray's unauthorized biography Ron Howard From Mayberry to the Moon..and Beyond is a "putting the record straight" kind of a book, wherein some of the myths that have been prevalent in the press for so many years are explored and set aside.

Many of us have grown up with Ron Howard the child actor Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, and then as Richie Cunningham of Happy Days.
Today, Ron Howard is a well known Hollywood film director and producer, who directed such films as: Through the Magic Pyramid, Night Shift, Cocoon, Willow, Parenthood, Backdraft, Far and Away, The Paper, Apollo 13, Ransom, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Academy award winner, A Beautiful Mind.

Gray practically begins her story from the cradle. Howard was born of parents, who themselves were actors, and at eighteen months he captured his first acting role as a crying baby, thanks to the efforts of his father.
Throughout his life, his parents, Rance and Jean Howard, played a tremendous role in shaping his life, and at the tender age of five years his father had imparted in him professionalism and basic acting techniques that have remained with him throughout his career.

As we read Howard's "unauthorized" biography, we are amazed at the extensive research that must have gone into the writing of this book, most of which was gleaned from Howard's interviews with the media over the years, as well as the author's interviews with many of his associates.
One advantage of writing Howard's biography in the prime of his life is that almost everyone is still around from his youth and his filmmaking career.

Practically no stone is left unturned, as we trudge along with the author from Howard's early childhood until his present day directing achievements.
We learn of his successes as well as his failures, and very often we are privy to some little known facts about him.
As an example, Howard was in awe by director George Lucas's talents and counter culture approach to filmmaking, as was in evidence in the film American Graffiti, where Howard had been asked to improvise scenes with other actors.

Movie buffs will surely appreciate the four appendices included at the end of the book that provide a timeline for the actor, filmography as an actor, filmography as a director and producer, and his major awards and honors.

One deficiency I found with the book, and one that is very prevalent in many biographies, is the creation of a narrative pattern that relies on the chronological tick of events; the day- by -day or year- by- year pattern should have been re-imagined. If the author had made Howard's story more innovative, it would have been more attractive to its readers.

Norm Goldman-Travel Writer and Editor Bookpleasures

I found Ms. Gray's study of Ron Howard to be a highly creative and attention-grabbing presentation of a man with a constantly developing and fascinating career and personality, ranging from his child-actor beginnings through his current reputation as a successful director in many genres. The book brought to life his early years in the Andy Griffith television series and "The Music Man." The author's treatment of his recent film, "A Beautiful Mind," is especially moving and insightful and tied together Howard's consistency and creative exploration in all of his work. His ever-present optimism, human decency, energetic habit of taking on new challenges, and loyal respect for others in his life and his work is presented in a very appreciative and in-depth way.

Did you ever want to be Opie when you were a kid? I did. The thing about Opie was that even when he got into trouble, and he did get into trouble, everybody still liked him. Beverly Gray, in Ron Howard From Mayberry to the Moon, presents a good case that the same is true of Mr. Howard. Everybody in the motion picture business likes him, that is if you exclude a few pretentious critics (and even they probably like him, just not always his happy endings). Nice guys do NOT always finish last.

Howard did not cooperate with this biography because "he felt himself to be in midcareer and not ready to participate in a long range assessment of his accomplishment." OK, fair enough. Keep that in mind while you are reading, but do read it.

From Opie to Richie to director, this is a detailed portrait of a man whom everyone agrees is a real mensch and who is wildly successful. It is also fascinating, and adds to Howard's charm, to realize who loyal he is to his family and friends, yet how honestly he treats them when casting projects. Simply put, if he feels they are right for a part, they get it; if not, they don't. That takes quite a bit of respect and love - from the actor and the director.

Gray's extensive interviews bring out some interesting bits of trivia about Howard. Her prose flows nicely and her organization is excellent. Maybe in another forty years or so, she can write an update - next time with Ron Howard's input.

I read Beverly Gray's book on "Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon... and Beyond". I found it to be very easy to read, very entertaining and full of interesting stories about Ron. Ms. Gray was objective, diplomatic and kind, never to offend any party involved. I thoroughly enjoyed the book so much so that I finished reading it in one and a half day while sun bathing in Del Mar, California recently.

Tom Blair writes a colorful story that is an easy read for teenagers in middle school and above. The book keeps the reader's attention at all times and allows for the reader's imagination to take hold and grow with the story.

Tom Blair creates each character and story line with great detail and life, and manages to connect each to form a happy ending to a great book.

I enjoyed this book immensely and I'm looking foward to the sequels.

I gave The Sabatini Prophecy to my 11-year old niece -- a big Harry Potter fan -- as a Christmas gift. Shortly afterwards I visited with her and she exclaimed "I read the whole book in three days -- I couldn't put it down!" She is eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series.

Although thematically similar to the Harry Potter series, Blair has created a completely original story in a setting that is all american. The protagonist, Davey Boehm and all of his friends are brilliant characterizations of american icons: young boy temporarily transplanted into a small southern town, the local young girl, the indian boy from the neighboring reservation, the local town toughs, and the town's patriarch and titular ruling family, not to mention the local flora and fauna. As an adult captivated with the "Potter" books, I was immediately swept away by "The Sabatini Prophecy", and I can't wait for the sequel(s).

You had better pick up the pace Rowling, because Blair is nipping at your heels.

Being in the book business myself I read a lot of young adult fantasy books. Ever since Harry Potter invaded all of our worlds we've all been looking for the NEXT Harry-like series. I'd like to tell you, this is it! This is a sensational debut teen fantasy novel that is sure to be enjoyed by people of all ages 9-90. The author blends magic and fantasy, family love and devotion with loyal friendships, then adds a mysterious aura of Cherokee mysticism and legend for a winning combination that should result in bestseller status if promoted and marketed properly. Thomas Blair has created a more advanced novel for the age group with multilevel plots and sub-plots, and has written this with more of an adult style which is also a breath of fresh air in teen literature. Our young hero learns early on in the book that he has a talent for talking to animals and soon learns he is a decendent of a secret line of Italian magicians. Davey's magical powers start out slow and simple and steadily grow throughout the book keeping readers totally riveted and engaged page after page, until the end where we find a young man with magical abilities that is a force to be reckoned with. The story revolves around a magical tree, a very spirited squirrel, some kamakazi ravens, a flying gypsy wagon, a kidnapper, a wise indian chief, a school bully turned hero and a Native American boy who loves to talk like Crocodile Dundee. How much more can we ask for in a book as fun as this? Hopefully word of mouth with spread the news that this novel is a hit!

For all of you Harry Potter fans this is another wonderful fantasy about Magic! A fast read and very exciting. The story keeps you engaged and entertained. An interesting side benefit is some insight into the lives of the Cherokee and their ceremonial activities. The story is centered on three children in their awkward years and the fight between good and evil--with a heavy dose of nature tossed into the mix. Many twists and turns that keep you wondering just how the characters will get out of some pretty tight situations.
A fun read for all children between the ages of 10-90. This is a good book for vacation entertainment. I cannot wait for the sequel!

If you are interested in preventative medicine, you must read this book. Even if you aren't interested, you have to read this book. Dr. Jefferies is brilliant, he beautifully explains how Cortisol is safe to use in the treamtent and prevention of disease.

The Safe Use of Cortisol by William McK Jefferies MD is a medical classic, and along with its companion classic by Broda Barnes, Hypothyroidism, the Unsuspected Illness, both books should be required reading by every medical student and MD and deserve a prominent place in every medical library. I have read both numerous times, and plan to re-read both again.

This book contains a condensation of clinical knowledge from the career of a medical giant, and a wealth of knowledge not found anywhere else, and is complete with references to the medical literature, case histories, laboratory studies and dosages.

In this slim volume, Safe Use of Cortisol, Dr. McK Jefferies points out an important distinction which is not widely known by mainstream doctors or the public. This is the distinction between the lower and completely safe, physiologic doses of cortisol, and the dangerous higher pharmacologic dosage levels commonly used by mainstream doctors to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other auto-immune diseases.

While the lower cortisol doses below 40 mg per day are safe, above this dosage level is increased risk of adrenal suppression, and increased risk of adverse side effects including moon face, osteoporosis with spontaneous fractures, thinning of skin with easy bruising, striae, subcutaneous hemorrhages, fluid retention with edema, and cataracts.

Cortisol is widely available as inexpensive Cortef from the corner drug store, and is the bio-identical hormone secreted by the adrenal gland. Since it is a natural hormone, it cannot be patented, explaining the lack of funding for research by the pharmaceutical companies.

Chapter 4 of the book discusses generally accepted uses of Cortisol, starting with the most logical use which is adrenal insufficiency, also called Addison's disease. However, McK Jefferies also discusses mild adrenal insufficiency, which is not usually recognized by mainstream doctors, and should be. Other uses of low dose cortisol include ovarian dysfunction with infertility, chronic fatigue, allergies and auto-immune diseases.

McK Jefferies relies on the Cortrosyn ACTH stimulation test to evaluate adrenal function, as well as urinary cortisol metabolites and serum cortisol tests. He also addresses thyroid function as part of the overall clinical picture; hence the connection with Broda Barnes and the continued advocacy of McK Jefferies' work by the Broda Barnes Institute.

I found Chapter 5, Gonadal Dysfunction and Infertility, to be the most fascinating and clinically useful chapter. McK Jefferies used low dose cortisol to successfully treat thousands of young women suffering from irregular menstrual cycles, ovarian dysfunction, hirsutism (facial hair, and acne, both signs of elevated testosterone).

Nowadays, teenagers with irregular menstrual bleeding are routinely given birth control pills with synthetic hormones to regulate their cycles. The synthetic hormones in BCPs are associated adverse side effects and do not address the underlying fertility issues.

Unknown to the mainstream medical system, the real treatment for irregular menstrual bleeding is found in this medical classic book, namely low dose cortisol and thyroid which successfully normalizes menstrual cycles and restores fertility. Dr. McK Jefferies suggests that the cause of the infertility and irregular periods in these patients is usually excess adrenal production of either androgen (PCOS) or estrogen, and the low dose cortisol serves to suppress this excess hormone production by the adrenals and allow normal ovarian function.

Now recognized as the most common genetic disorder in the population, (CYP21A2) non-classical 21-hydroxylase deficiency is associated with menstrual irregularities, hirsutism and acne from elevated testosterone. Rather than low dose cortisol, current practice is to use similar low dose dexamethasone (See the 2006 review in J Clin Endo & Metab Vol. 91, No. 11 4205-4214, by Maria I New). Perhaps non-classical 21-OH should be renamed McJefferies Syndrome to give proper credit to this great clinician.

McJefferies stresses that normalization of thyroid function is also required for menstrual regularity and fertility. Broda Barnes agrees with McK Jefferies on the importance of thyroid for normalizing menstrual cycles, and both treat with thyroid medication even though the thyroid blood tests may be completely normal. They have found the blood tests to be unreliable. This is at variance with mainstream medical practice which clings dogmatically to the thyroid blood tests. Most mainstream doctors would refuse to offer thyroid medication unless there is a documented "out of range" lab value.

Chapter 9 deals with using low dose cortisol for viral infections such as influenza. Although there was some initial concern that low dose cortisol would reduce immunity in some way, Dr. Mc Jefferies was surprised to find in clinical practice that his patients maintained on low dose cortisol typically reported fewer common colds and other viral illnesses than their family members, suggesting an enhancement of immunity. Another practice he used was to increase the cortisol dosage when patients felt a common cold or viral influenza coming on. He found that this enabled the patient to ward off or recover from the illness more quickly. Of course, he also points out that excess doses of cortisol would have the opposite effect and impair resistance to infection.

The final chapters of the book discuss the use of low dose physiologic cortisol for rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, auto-immune disease, chronic fatigue.

In addition to the ACTH stimulation tests still in use today, we now have the newer, salivary cortisol testing which I am sure Mc Jefferies would have found useful in his day. What he would have written about the use of salivary cortisol testing ? Unfortunately we will never know. Perhaps a future medical author will build on McK Jefferies work and incorporate salivary testing and other new developments in a future book.

I reviewed the third edition which was published in 2004. The first edition was published in 1983. Other books recommended along side this one are, Adrenal Fatigue by James Wilson, Hypothyroidism, the Unsuspected Illness by Broda Barnes, From Fatigued to Fantastic: by Jacob Teitelbaum, Your Thyroid and How to Keep it Healthy by Barry Durrant Peatfield.

Jeffrey Dach MD

This book is NOT out of print. The third edition just came out and includes the use of cortisol for influenza.

This book saved my life. If I could meet this doctor I would kiss his feet. I went from absolutely no medical problems all my life until I was 35. At that time, I was under severe stress for a very prolonged period of time and went from 118 lbs - all my life, to 280 lbs. I developed hyperinsulimia - which I diagnosed through reading and research- my regular doctor didn't understand and I had to go to an endocrinologist to get a blood test and a diagnosis - but no help - I knew my adrenal glands became exhausted and couldn't get a doctor to comprehend this either.

After going to Suzanne Somers web site I learned of the Born Clinic in Grand Rapids. I made an appointment and I had a saliva test done that said my coritsol was abnormally low.

I knew that my cortisol was extremely high before it became low, as I gained 160 lbs. Most doctors don't understand this - and even many of the ones who do won't try cortisol in small doses. Years ago doctors were giving people such high doses (even for ADD)and causing their bodies great harm - but never thought to only replace what their bodies were missing/not making. It's unbelieveable as it is like common sense to me.

I was exhausted for four years and couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't shop as I would be exhausted by the time I got into the store. I had dizziness and ringing in my ears that Univeristy of Michigan could not explain or find anything wrong with me. I had facial, arm, fingers and leg numbness that they looked at me like I was a mental patient. I had problems breathing and my heart rate would go up to 120-130 just by walking to the bathroom. I had weakness in my arms just trying to wash my hair. I heard every reason in the world from doctors for my problems - none of which were true. My tolerance for heat was horrible and I would sweat like a pig just from walking. My attention span diminished - I had never had a problem with my ablity to concentrate ever!

For me, all of this greatly dimished or went away when I started taking 7.5 mg of cortisol four times per day. Food cravings stopped as well as waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep. I had developed dark red marks under my arms accompanied with ithcing. My neck developed dark spots on it that looked like my neck was dirty. This started to go away - just like the doctor said it would.

This doctor talks about almost all of my symptoms and I was amazed!

The bad part is in trying to find a doctor to help you. I thank God that I have found one but it wasn't easy. I suffered for a very long time and am angry at a medical community that pretends it is God when it knows next to nothing about the human body and poo hoos doctors like this one.

NO, there is no research being done because as one of the writers points out - it's cheap. The drug companies and our government cannot make any money - it doesn't matter that people are dying and living lives that are not really living at all.

If you have problems that doctors are not healing, buy this book you won't be sorry. It is only $45.00 new from the publisher on line.

Low adrenal reserve has been implicated in many conditions: chronic fatigue syndrome, auto-immune and thyroid diseases, allergies, anxiety/panic disorders, depression, hypoglycemia, etc. The treatment is safe, cheap, and very effective!

Beware that most doctors are not educated on this topic. The only condition they recognize is Addison's Disesase as established by the ACTH stimulation test. While Addison's disease is a near complete and permanent adrenal failure, the low adrenal reserve is a partial one and not always permanent. The ACTH stimulation test doesn't reveal it. So if you need a test, insist on other tests such as 24-hour urine, serum AM cortisol level, or saliva cortisol. The best test though is a trial adminstration of Cortisol. If it works, you have it, if it doesn't, you don't.

A lot of folks who have been under stress for long time or on a very restrictive diet end up with low cortisol. Many recover on their own, while others don't. They end up with what seems like a permanent flue that doesn't go away and go on to develop chronic fatigue, anxiety disorders, depression, auto-immune diseases, etc. If that happened to you, supplemental Cortisol is the answer.

In 1801, France acquired the vast Louisiana territory from Spain, and in 1803, France sold it to the United States. President Jefferson wanted to explore some of the new territory as well as to establish some claim on the Oregon territory to the West of it. The plan was to look for a route to the source of the Missouri river and from there to the source of the Columbia, and then to follow the Columbia to the Pacific. Captain Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and Second Lieutenant William Clark (1770-1838) were chosen to lead the expedition.

This book tells us a great deal about the expedition of Lewis and Clark, with some great photos of the terrain they encountered. We read about their encounters with grizzly bears, buffalo, fish, and mosquitoes. We find out how they coped with white water (in fact, they were even better than the Native Americans at handling it, although they were no match for the Chinook Indians when there were high waves near the coast). And we learn how they handled portages when they reached waterfalls or had to cross the Continental Divide (they abandoned their canoes and carved new ones at the top of the falls).

As the Schmidts explain, the expedition began to get organized in December of 1803, and it left Saint Louis on May 14, 1804. It went upriver on the Missouri to what is now North Dakota (the only death to an expedition member was on this portion of the trip), and the team wintered at Fort Mandan from November, 1804 to April, 1805.

The Indians local to Fort Mandan were the Hidatsa. But the ones who lived near the source of the Missouri were the Shoshone. The idea was to find some Shoshones, or even better, a Shoshone guide. The Shoshones could then explain how to get to the source of the Columbia, a region inhabited by the Nez Perce.

The official party of 25 left Fort Mandan on April 7, 1805 and headed immediately into uncharted territory. Along with them were Sacagawea (1788-1812), her husband Toussaint Charbonneau (1758-1840?) and their two month old son, Jean-Baptiste (1805-1866). Sacagawea was a Shoshone and spoke both Shoshone and Hidatsa, Toussaint spoke Hidatsa and French, and a member of the Lewis and Clark party spoke French and English. The presence of Sacagawea and her infant son helped assure various Indian tribes that the Lewis and Clark party had peaceful intentions.

They reached Great Falls (more than halfway across Montana) in June and Three Forks (the Missouri headquarters, which Sacagawea recognized) in late July. In August, they managed to reach the Lemhi valley (which Sacagawea also recognized) and looked around for some Shoshones. They did indeed find a Shoshone party. Truth being stranger than fiction, the Shoshone chief, Cameawait, turned out to be Sacagawea's brother.

The Shoshones did guide the party from the Continental Divide to a tributary of the Columbia. In September, they emerged from the Rocky Mountains, and they soon reached the Clearwater river. In October, they took the Snake river to the Columbia, reaching the Columbia estuary in November.

The party wintered at Fort Clatsop in Oregon, and even took Sacagawea to the Pacific to see a beached whale in January. They left Fort Clatsop on March 23, 1806, and were back in Saint Louis exactly six months later.

The first transcontinental railroad was completed in May of 1869 by crews which had headed West from Omaha, Nebraska and East from Sacramento, California. I wondered if any of the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition were still alive then. One was, namely Patrick Gass (1771-1870). It is sobering to realize how quickly this previously uncharted land became settled. When one compares the Montana of 1806 with that of 1906 and 2006, the differences are truly remarkable.

I highly recommend this book, which tells of a land which has changed greatly in a mere two centuries.

An exciting tale of the journey of these two adventurers and their crew is retold through sufficient text and plentiful images. The photos are striking and abundant and a great way to lure kids into reading the book. It's both educational and entertaining to learn of their trials. However, if you are looking for expansive, in-depth text of every moment, you should check out other books that are a reprinting of their diaries. While this book is thorough, it is really just an introduction to the whole adventure and easy enough that you'll probably finish it in just a few sittings.

This is a wonderfully illustrated retelling of the incredible expedition to the West and the Pacific Ocean undertaken by the Corps of Discovery, that amazing group of men (and women) who trekked over four thousand miles from St. Louis to the west coast and back over the course of two years from 1804-1806. The story of Lewis and Clark's journey to the West has been told many times, but never in such an accessible and enjoyable format as this. It is pepppered with excerpts from the expedition's meticulously kept journals and vivid descriptions of the unknown land and the native tribes they encountered in their travels into the vast Louisiana Territory. This book is bursting with beautiful photos, paintings, and drawings that draw the reader into this truly amazing story of adventure and discovery that shaped a young new nation.

Beautiful, bright color photos pepper every page and often offer full-page spreads to accompany timelines, topographical maps, and rich accounts of the Lewis and Clark journey. Their words and experiences come to life in The Saga of Lewis & Clark, a survey which reveals different aspects of the travelers' discoveries and experiences, with Wayne Mumford providing the beautiful photography.

"The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it's course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce." -Thomas Jefferson, Instruction to Lewis, June 20, 1803

The Saga of Lewis & Clark is richly illustrated with lavish full-color photography, annotated topographical maps, pictorial timelines, sketches of the animal and plant species first recorded during the "voyage of discovery," archival images of native cultural arts and crafts, quotes and pictures of the land Lewis and Clark viewed on their journey to the Pacific.

There are pictures of Clark's field journal and a fold-out map of the journey to put it all in perspective.

The chapters include:

Members of the Expedition - pictures of the letter from Jefferson and gorgeous

pictures of the scenery.
Underway - Bound for the Pacific through the interior of the continent
Onto the Plains - Stories of the Tribes living on the plains.
Off the Map - Confrontations with grizzly bears
Over "Those Tremendous Mountains"
On to the Sea - Rapids and finally, some pictures I recognize as home! I can almost smell
the salty sea now as I look at the pictures. We visited Fort Clatsop once with my aunt.
Homeward Bound - Humorous story about fending off the herd of bison. Yikes!
Log - Expedition Roster, Index, Credits, Animal Listings, Plant Listings, Glossary

A retelling of the greatest wilderness trip ever recorded. Thomas Schmidt and Jeremy Schmidt truly have created a magnificent keepsake of this journey into the uncharted West.

An Epic Journey!

101 Saints for Every Occasion is more than a patron saints book. Choc full of fascinating historical and biographical bits, it makes enjoyable reading for anyone. Those who have read patron saints books will find the contemporary adaptations interesting and first-time patron saints readers will undoubtedly wish to continue reading on this subject. We've recommended 101 Saints to friends and given several copies as gifts.

I have a few saints guides already, but nothing to match the thoroughness, timeliness, and charm of this one. The book has a lot of fun surprises (such as a saint for rock climbers), and a great deal of truly useful information. Craughwell makes saints more "relevant" by including saints for AIDS sufferers and the environment, but he never trivializes or cheapens his subject. And the entries are wonderful to read, a definite cut above the often dry, over-earnest style of other books. Highly recommended!

Saints For Every Occasion: 101 Of Heaven's Most Powerful Patrons by Catholic commentator and author Thomas J. Craughwell tells the fascinating, compelling, and inspiring stories of Catholicism's patron saints, with special attention to their aspects and relevance today. Each canonized individual is presented with a brief but memorable summary of their lives, to aid those seeking the right words for prayer in the medley of problems faced in this complex world. Highly recommended for personal, seminary, and parish library reference collections, Saints For Every Occasion is a thoughtful, serious, expansive reference that makes for intent browsing in times of inner turmoil.

I am definitely not religious, but I found this book to be so entertaining and enriching that I have to recommend it. It's full of history and culture, and the author's sly style (which sometimes made me laugh out loud) doesn't interfere with the nourishment he gently makes available through the stories of the saints he's selected. It's the kind of book you love to dip into from time to time, to learn something and be amused and maybe feel a bit better about the world.

Most of us were introduced to the saints while we were children. As we grew up, our idea of saints has remained on immature level. Thomas Craughwell's book re-introduces us to the saints from an adult person's point of view. The result is refreshing. It is such a relief to know that these 101 saints were not statues in real life. I now feel that Thomas Aquinas is someone I would like to know in real life -- and that Aloysius Gonzaga would be a little scary for his intensity! I left the book by my bed and read two or three capsule biographies each night for over a month. Interestingly, the most moving lives were those of the young saints -- but seen from the adult vantage point of wanting to reach out and protect these youths from harm's way. At the end, I was sorry the book was over. Then on the last page I saw that there is the possibility of a sequel. Let it be!