W Books

I wonder. I doubt it since Maya Angelou isn't included. She's one of the most visible poets in America today and very much loved. It's not that she's little known because she was America's Poet Laureate a few years ago -- so why leave her out? And why only one poem by William Stafford? Also, clearly one of the universal favorites of Robert Frost's is "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" and it's not here, either. (That one shows up in almost any discussion of poetry.)And, only one poem by Robert Penn Warren, another former USA Poet Laureate?
[sigh]

I'm also suspicious of a "project" that doesn't seem to have been announced widely before it began -- it can't be representative of ALL Americans since all Americans obviously didn't know about it.

All that said, it's a great collection. Through it I met several new poets (new to me)and I certainly enjoyed the ones I was already familiar with. It made me curious, too, about just what the American taste in poetry truly would be. I suspect it would include Ogden Nash and Edgar Allen Poe.

No. I don't think it's representative of the poetic taste of the American public and I don't think it should claim to be so, but I do think it's a great overview of popular poets and a superb collection of poems.

This is a great sampler of all the wonderful poets of all times and represents all the different types of poetry. It is a journey into the past as well as the present. What a pleasure to read and share with others.

I personally prefer poem anthologies where the poetry is from a mix of poets, not just a collection of one poet's work. Americans' Favorite Poems will give you some very famous favorites, and also might surprise you with the works of lesser known (but still wonderful) writers.

What I also loved about this treasure of a book was the comments. Robert Pinsky compiled the poems that people from around the US sent him and printed their comments as to why each poem was their favorite. Reading the comments of all these people - firefighters, students, forest rangers, doctors, homemakers, basically people from all walks of life - is often very moving, entertaining, or surprising (you'll see some of your best loved poems from new and delightful angles). You get a feel for why people love poems as they explain that love, that attachment to a particular poem, in their own words.

Americans' Favorite Poems is an amazing book. It is the result of the "favorite poem project" held across the nation. The poems in the collection are real Americans' favorites along with their own comments on why they chose that poem as their favorite. The compilation is great for the obvious. The poems selected come from everywhere (many different cultures and different styles of poetry are present), and they are outstanding. The thing that sets Americans' Favorite Poems apart from other collections is the commentary from regular people. The comments are at turns hilarious and moving. They are always profound. They show the real greatness of good poetry: it has the ability to relate to a person's life experiences and really touch that person.

I must say that my favorite selection in the book was "I May, I Might, I Must" by Marianne Moore mainly because of the reason behind its selection. The only complaint (it isn't much of one) I have about the book is that my favorite "I Thank You God for Most This Amazing" by ee cummings didn't make it, but hopefully, there will someday be a Americans' Favorite Poems Volume II, and it will.

Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States, founded the Favorite Poem Project. Since its inception, the Project has been dedicated to celebrating, documenting and promoting poetry's role in Americans' lives. During a one-year open call for submissions, 18,000 Americans wrote to the project volunteering to share their favorite poems - Americans from ages 5 to 97, from every state, of diverse occupations, education and backgrounds. The Project's first anthology, "Americans' Favorite Poems," consists of 200 of the submitted poems, along with readers' comments about their attachments to the poems. The selections are by poets from all over the world, poems written centuries ago alongside contemporary poems, poignantly sad poetry, as well as spiritually uplifting works, and humorous poems. Many are translations.

I found so many of my own favorites in this extraordinary collection. I was also introduced to many wonderful new poems, I might never have read. And some of the comments from the folks who submitted the poems, are as moving as the poetry itself. The book emphasizes the pure joy of reading poetry. And poetry appreciation is alive and well in America!

There is Anna Akhmatova's "The Sentence," submitted by a woman from Georgia who remembers her brother "who returned from Vietnam, a broken man of 21," when reading this poem; and Margaret Atwood's "Variation On The Word Sleep," "the most beautiful love poem I have ever read," writes a woman from Queens, NY; Lewis Carroll's "Jaberwocky" is included, with the comment, "Where else can you find a tale of danger, adventure, triumph, and jubilation - all so utterly wrapped in nonsense?" There are wonders printed here, by Ranier Marie Rilke, Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sylvia Plath, William Shakespeare, Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas and Allan Ginsberg...and so many more. It must have been a difficult task, indeed, to select 200 poems from so many worthy submissions.

I recommend this anthology to poetry lovers everywhere, and also to those who do not care for poetry. This collection may change your mind.

It's worth picking up a copy, alot of information in there. Good thick book. Glad i bought it.

This book must have taken a life time of research and work. It is the most comprehensive and complete work on the Maya I have read. I was particulary interested in the Maya Calendar history and their methods of working the calendar.

This is by far the most comprehensive book about the ancient Maya. There are several excellent shorter ones; this is the go-to book for thorough reference. It has become almost as "classic" as Maya civilization. Sharer reminisces about being "hooked on" Maya studies by the third edition (by Morley and Brainerd, 1956); so was I, back when it was newly minted. How much has changed since. Scholars can now read Maya. We now can match written history, sculptured portrayals, and archaeological findings to identify the actual skeletons of some of the greatest and most famous Maya kings, such as Yax K'uk' Mo' of Palenque. We have entire dynastic lists covering centuries, for many of the major cities. We can use bone chemistry to find out what the Maya ate. All of this was almost beyond the wildest dreams of the 1950s.
The Maya turn out to have been as brilliant, original and creative as anyone ever thought, a truly homemade civilization, one of the few in a tropical forest environment. They are said to have "collapsed" due to ecological maladjustment, but this book notes that modern research shows the civilization lasted well over 1,000 years before the "collapse" around 900 AD, and it was a fairly local phenomenon. This local collapse was due to drought, warfare, and some ecological overshoot--too many people doing too much (including burning too many trees to make lime for stucco and cement). The Maya kept on. They took on the Spanish and often won. The last independent state held out till 1697, and Maya continued holding out in remote backlands; in 1846 the Mexican Maya rebelled again, and created an independent state, finally reconquered after 1900 and turned into the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. As for what has happened since, suffice it to say that 3 days ago I saw an election sign painted in huge letters on a wall in central Quintana Roo: "PRESERVE YOUR PRIDE IN BEING MAYA!"
There are very few errors in this book, but some need correcting in the 7th edition. Most are in the very early sections, and are often left over from previous editions. Page 5, 16th-century Europeans are said to be "secure in the knowledge that they alone represented civilized life...." No, they revered China, and knew plenty about India, Persia and Arabia. P. 9, coffee is said to have come "soon" with the Europeans; not till the 19th century, at least as a major crop. 23, Nahuatl loanwords reflecting rise of central Mexico in the Postclassic: Well, a lot of those Nahuatl loanwords came with the Spanish (who had Nahuatl soldiers with them). Page 33, caiman: The book confuses the animal called "caiman" in English, an alligator-like creature not found within hundreds of miles of Mayaland, with the crocodile, which is called "caiman" in Mexican Spanish; also, pythons are claimed as native to Mayaland! The nearest they get is Africa; evidently "boa constrictors" are meant. Then nothing till page 640, where a typo (apparently two decimal places missed) has given us a preposterous yield figure for beans (in the table at the top of the page). The yields of maize are also pretty high, though not ridiculous. There are a few other errors in the book, but nothing of consequence that I can pick up.
The book uses the "new" transcription system for Maya languages, but sometimes slips and uses the "old" system, and sometimes mixes them up in the same word (e.g. "dz'onot" on p. 52). One related annoyance--not Sharer's fault; alas, it is becoming standard--is respelling "Yucatec" in the new transcription system. "Yucatec" is a SPANISH word, with no excuse in Maya, and should not be respelled. (For the record, the Spanish coined "Yucatec" from a misunderstood Maya phrase and a Nahuatl ending. They also popularized some Nahuatl ethnic names for Maya peoples. These names, like Huastec and Aguacatec, should be spelled in whatever system in now standard for Nahuatl--not in a Maya system. Better yet, they should be replaced with the actual Mayan names, like Teenek for Huastec.)
The one place I would respectfully disagree with this book is on ancient Maya population. Sharer has "tens of millions" of Maya in the 700s AD and around then. On the basis of some years of field experience with (mostly modern) Maya agriculture, I don't think this is possible. Granted that the old myth of purely-swidden agriculture is long dead, "tens of millions" would require agricultural intensity of a sort found, in preindustrial times, only in the wet-rice lands of east and southeast Asia. Mayaland is small, and only some of it is at all fertile. Sharer's evidence is a couple of surveys showing high densities of settlement in particularly favored areas; not only are they atypical, there is no guarantee the houses discovered were all occupied at once. I would guess the peak total for Mayaland was between 5 and 10 million; at least, the agriculture I know would support that many, if it had some additional intensification of the sort well documented. Beyond that, all is speculative.
One more thought. The Maya were supposed to be "peaceful" back in my student days. Then, with reading the Classic Period texts, scholars found they were pretty warlike. This led to some exaggeration the other way. Fortunately, Sharer is far too careful and comprehensive a scholar to fall for either the "peaceful" or the "warlike" view. The "warlike" view was justified by the big monuments in the Maya city squares. These commemorated wars and victories, just as do those in town squares in the midwestern US. Alas, we lack the ordinary writings--the equivalent of midwestern newspapers, with their record of marriages, births, corn and hog prices, store openings, and the like. Surely the Maya had their equivalents. What interests me here is the incredibly long life spans of Maya kings. Many lived, and even reigned, for 50, 60, even 70 years. Compare that with the Roman or Chinese emperors or the kings of France. Clearly, Mayaland in its glory days was a pretty peaceful, healthy place--though, indeed, not the paradise dreamed by romantic archaeologists of the early 20th century!
The ancient Maya are still a pretty mysterious lot in many ways, and there is a huge amount to learn. We had better do it soon. Sharer provides a long, excellent, very disturbing account of the looting that has destroyed much of the Maya heritage and will destroy all of it (at least in Guatemala) if a massive effort isn't mounted soon.
On the other hand, nothing is more heartening than the number of Maya who are becoming archaeologists and ethnographers, and studying their own past. More power to them.

Had this book been less than half its size readers would end up learning much more about the Maya from it. Unfortunately, there's much too much that belongs in an Archeology 101 class here and by the time you get to some discussion of the Maya, you're half asleep. Those of us who are not reading archeology for the first time will wish the author had just kept his discussion to the Maya, as the title suggests he will, and assumed we understood the basics.

Personally, I'm still looking for a book on the Maya so that as I travel from site to site in Quintanaroo, Yucatan, Guatemala and Honduras, I will have a basic understanding of the site I'm driving to. I just booked a trip that will book me in the area of Chac Mool soon. I'll see what I can find.

By far the most thorough book on the Ancient Maya I have ever seen. It covers all the history and gives a great deal of arceological information. There is also a lot of information on the religious, social, and economic life of the Maya. The book covers in great deal the history of each Mayan polity and it is very well organized. If there is anything you want to know about the Maya it will be in this book.

Private Investigator Ray Yale, a former cop, who was drummed out of The NYC Police Department for publicizing the plight of his wife. She was also a member of The Department, and had been out on disability due to a serious illness. After a year out she was dismissed from the force. He experienced a personal decline after his wife's death. A phone call came from the father of a girl who had been murdered in Flushing Meadow Park during the Son of Sam era. He wanted closure on his daughters death. The official police investigation had never turned up much evidence. Yale hooks up with a former detective, Charlie Wright, whose life had fallen apart after he contracted a deadly disease from his cheating wife. Wright had worked on the murder case. They follow many clues and leads till they zero in on a smalltime petty con, a former female police officer who had been canned from the department for brutality and a radio talk show personality who seems to have some similarities with Howard Stern. With much blood and gore along the way justice is dealed out to the guilty. This was a good, quick read with an interesting plot. It was extremely authentic in dealing with police procedures and the old boy network. My only problem was instead of not being able to put the book down. I did frequently put it down to take a break. Perhaps a bit too much detail for my taste. Nevertheless--worthwhile.

You read Blood Shot Eyes. I've read good mysteries before, complete with the conventions we've come to expect: A burned-out PI with ties to a connected lawyer or brutish bodyguard, either of which bails him out of heavy situations or gives him much-needed information at JUST the right time; a killer, whether primary antagonist or secondary threat, who's void of conscience and proves superhumanly strong; bureaucratic excess resulting in the stagnation of the protag's quest; and the fast-paced plot that oftentimes eschews accuracy and authenticity in favor of speed. You can still produce a good book with such clichés intact, but it certainly helps your cause if you ditch them or, at the very least, revise them for a fresh twist.

And that's exactly what Picciarelli does with Eyes. He comes closest to cliché in the internal turmoil of Ray Yale, a PI struggling with the death of his wife, but that's it. Yale, unlike Coben's Bolitar or Lehane's Kenzie, actually knows what he's doing and is competent enough to get the job done without the crutch of extra muscle or a brainy associate. The antagonist has a bloodlust, to be sure, but Picciarelli handles her character with enough care and backstory as to make her multi-layered and, dare I say, even a smidge sympathetic, parting from the standard of so many titles in the genre. The bureaucratic excess doesn't come in the form of a gaggle of precinct higher-ups commandeering Yale's crime scene or threatening him should he persist in his snooping; in fact, "excess" would be the wrong word entirely. Bureaucracy is presented as the entity which pushed Yale to become a PI in the first place, rather than a rigid institution stomping him every time he gets too close to the truth. Furthermore, Yale's sidekick is played extremely far from type, thereby making him--and the story--more effective and authentic. The slang, the insider's look into proper police procedure, and the back-of-the-hand knowledge of NYC allow the story to pulse with reality, no doubt stemming from Picciarelli's background with the NYPD.

All that and we haven't yet gotten to the plot! The story centers around a decade-old crime, giving our hero an even bigger hurdle to jump. Every layer that Yale pulls back reveals another, more intriguing piece of evidence that keeps you reading and wanting to find out the "why" and "how" of the crime. The answers are blocked by enough obstacles and challenges that you're left asking yourself how in the world Yale will pull it all off without getting caught. And when he succeeds, it all makes sense; nothing is unbelievable, clichéd, or stretched too thin. Because of this, Blood Shot Eyes is the first mystery I've read that felt so close to being real, and was one of my most enjoyable reading experiences to date in the genre. Five star recommended.

Blood Shot Eyes is the first piece of fiction I've picked up in five years, and I found it difficult to put down. I have to read for my profession, and I spend so much time at it that I gave up leisure reading, which I used to enjoy. Once I picked up Blood Shot Eyes though, I gave up nighttime television for a week so I could find out what would happen next with Ray Yale and his investigation. Kudos to Patrick Picciarelli for a completely engrossing mystery, and for helping me rediscover the power and enjoyment of the written word.

I highly recommend this gripping mystery! Blood Shot Eyes is one of those whodunits that you don't want to finish because you know it will be a long time before you find another book as good. Patrick Picciarelli is a gifted storyteller. His characters are interesting, imperfect and realistic - the kind that every reader identifies with. The good guys and villains are equally captivating. A truly unexpected and absorbing tale of murder and intrigue!

BLOOD SHOT EYES is a riveting page-turner that you simply can not put down. The suspense kept me up all night reading this book. Patrick Picciarelli is a master of pacing and crime fiction. I'm quite sure his name will appear on the New York Times bestseller list one day.

I absolutely love this book. I first found it at the local library and Had to Have It! I find two drawbacks and they are that the 'pests' and diseases aren't defined enough for the novice gardener. The 'pests' are pictured in black and white while the diseases are written only. This is a great gift for a new gardener.

This book is ideal for someone starting their first garden who wants to use all organic methods. It goes through setting up your garden beds, making your own compost, and in the back it goes over every kind of vegetable and herb you could possibly want! The burpees seeds and plants are excellent too! I bought some Burpees seeds from Lowes and they were growing after only 5 days!

I am a new gardener and this book has helped so much! I look everything up in it. RIght down to problems with plant to how much water each plant gets. It has a guide to all plants and great pictures. Also has tips for gardening.

I am so impressed with this big, beautiful book! The photos are inspiring, and the technical aspects are thoroughly covered. I love the historic background of each vegetable and herb.
I think there is literally everything I ever needed to know about vegetable gardening from seed germination, through care and feeding, to harvest. Detailed charts outline fertilizer, pests, water, soil conditions, and planting and harvest times.

I keep it on my coffee table and flip through it daily just to enjoy the photos and learn some new fact.

You will not be disappointed with this book!

This book is great if you're a beginner gardener, and want just one book to sit down and read that covers all aspects of gardening. You'll want to go on an buy other books that go into more detail on specific topics, but this is a great place to start, and one to keep on the shelf.
It is presented as a gardening book should be - a large hardcover with lots of glossy colour photographs.
Chapters are:
1) Growing you own
2) Getting Started
3) Garden Tools & Equipment
4) Improving the soil
5) Laying out the Garden
6) Planting the Garden
7) Caring for the Garden
8) Coping with Garden Problems

I bought the version of T W Parnells book that came with two audio CDs. I had two weeks to prepare for my postal exam and would not have scored in the top 5 percent of my testing group without this excellant book. The audio practice test CD replicated the exact time and instructions of the real test. I went into the exam knowing exactly what to expect and had practiced all of the helpful test taking tips numerous times. I finished each section of the test before the time limit, giving me time to review my answers and correct any mistakes. I am now near the top of the list of eligible candidates for employment with my local post office. I strongly recommend buying the pencils too. Thanks Mr. Parnell and good luck to everyone waiting to take the test. Buy this book and you will do great. Gary Fetters

WHEN I RECEIVED THE LETTER FOR THE EXAME I STARTED A LITTLE SEARCH FOR BOOKS TO PREPARE MY SELF FOR WHAT WAS COMING, AT ONE POINT I HAD 9 BOOKS AT MY HOUSE BUT NONE OF THEM WAS JUST FOR THE 473 EXAME. I'M SO GLAD I SEARCHED ONLINE FOR THIS ONE, THE BOOK IS SO EASE TO UNDERSTAND AND THE CD YOU CAN PLAY ANYWERE YOU WANT, HALF OF THE BOOK IS EXAMES PREP LAID OUT JUST LIKE THE REAL ONES, YOU CAN TIME YOURSELF AND BE READY. I DID IT, THE EXAME WAS VERY EASE FOR ME AND I FINISH ALL THE QUESTIONS WITH TIME TO SPARE. GREAT BOOK!

This is a fantastic book filled with great information, tips and wonderful practice tests....IF you ever even get a chance to take the post office exam. I ordered this book as well as another post office book a few weeks after applying for the exam hoping to prepare. Well, it's been over three months, the books came and I am prepared...but I still haven't even heard word back when I will, and if ever will be scheduled to take the exam. I didn't know this before (the book even states it) but it can take many months, even up to a year or so to be scheduled for the exam after applying for it. Even AFTER the exam (and passing), it can take YEARS to even get an interview. That's even if you get selected and you haven't been thrown out or forgotten about. You may even have to take the test again (and go through the whole waiting process and exam AGAIN). Regardless, The book is great and is a wonderful help and is essential if you want to do well (preparing) for the exam. I wish I could give feedback on how it really helped me, but I don't know yet. I recomend this book, but you don't need to rush out and buy it right after applying for the exam. You won't need it that soon. It won't hurt, but if you do, you will have PLENTY of time to prepare.

How can I put this? I got the job!!! If you only buy one book this year, other than the new Harry Potter one obviously, then THIS is the book to buy. Of course I am assuming that you WANT to have a job with double the pay of any other entry level job, immediate full benefits, and job security out the "wazoo".

I used Mr. Parnell's book as an aid in preparing for the 473-c postal exam. I read it cover to cover, went through each of the practice exams, and found that my confidence and speed improved dramatically with each testing. After grading my practice exams my scores went from the high 80's to the high 90's. This book is a godsend!

When I went to take the real exam, I wasn't nervous; I was prepared! I found that I was completely at ease and that I was able to focus on the questions, rather than the jitters. Mr. Parnell's book is precisely the same format and question types that you will see on the current exam.

After receiving my score back from the post office (6 weeks is about normal), I had my first interview within a month. The interviewer informed me that my score was the highest (unadjusted for military service) that he had seen! Oh, did I mention, I got the job!!!

I was SO satisfied with this study guide, I'm now looking at the other study guides in preparation for advancement exams to help with promotions to higher paying positions as well.

Buy the book. The very first hour you work at your new job will pay for it twice over. How can afford not to?

This book is produced in three versions to suit your study preferences. These are:

The Original Postal Exam 473 & 473-C Study Guide -- This version is text only. It has reference material and sample exams with many test taking tips.

Complete Postal Exam 473 & 473-C Training Program with 2 Test Prep Audio CD's -- This is the same book, but two audio CD's read it to you while you follow along in the book. Using two senses, eyes and ears increase the retention of information.

New Postal Exam 473 & 473-C Computer-Based Course -- This is again the same book, but there is a CD that contains both test prep classes and realiztic practice exams, you'll need an internet ready PC with Windows to use this version.

If you want a job with the Postal Service as a Clerk, City Carrier, Mail Handler, etc. you have to take the 473 Exam. You MUST score high if you want a career in the Postal Service, and in order to score high you need this book. This study guide was the best investment I have ever made. Straightforward and to the point, very precise. This is THE one and only Postal Exam 473 study guide to purchase. Using this study guide, I achieved a very high score, and could not have done so without diligently using this guide by Mr. Parnell. The audio CD is just like the actual test. The most valuable part of this book is the section on Coding and Memory, the strategies presented for this section have to be the best you will find in any study guide on the market. This study guide will help you to achieve a top score if you use it diligently. In addition to using Mr.Parnell's study guide, I purchased his Speed Marking & Test Scoring Pencils, and they make all the difference in the world! When I took the test, other test takers spent unnecessary time coloring in the ovals on the answer sheet. With the special pencils I purchased, I filled in the ovals in half the time! Customer Service is also top notch, Mr. Parnell is very friendly and knowledgeable of this test and the Postal Service. If you want a career with the Postal Service, start by purchasing this study guide, use it diligently, and you will achieve the score you want!

If you ever wanted to know anything about this massive airplane you will probably find it in this awesome book. The book will take you back in time to the development and life of the greatest of bombers. The book is not just a bunch of statistics either. It is not a boring narrative, but is full of all kinds of fascinating stories and incidents that went on in the life and times of this great airplane. It is printed on fine glossy stock and has many wonderful pictures from all through the years of the Peacemakers existance. Highly recommended!!!

An extremely well written book. It tells you all about the B36.
The authers use of parts written by "Those who were there" is an object lesson to other authers.
It is A verey large and heavy book whivh should be on all aircraft lovers
bookshelves.
If you live in europe it is half price too.

that is defintitely the best book about the big stick of the SAC. tons of pictures and in-depth text! highly recommended!!!!!

Good reference on the B-36 Peacemaker. Well illustrated with black and white as well as color photographs. Many cut away drawings and diagrams. Lots of background development. Good historical as well as technical information. Lacking in material on the FICON and Parasites fighter programs

It is silly to try to fault this book.

I recall being impressed, as a kid, with the Harleyford books from England--"The Supermarine Spitfire," and "The Focke Wulf FW-190." For their time, they were very good indeed.

But they cannot begin to compare with this massive book on the B-36. It is in a class of its own.

First the sheer size of this beast. Its huge, and its all about one airplane, the B-36.
Granted, you have to be fascinated with the B-36 to buy it, but if the monster bomber fascinates you, doing better would be impossible.

There are chapters on everything. The book covers B-36 defensive armament, payload, service with SAC, service in movies, the "revolt" of the Admirals, and on and on. Incredible detail.

There are more photos than you can count. There is a section of color photos. Some are very good, and quite unusual. You have not have seen them before.

I recall the B-36 as a kid. I remember one flying over my house--and being amazed by the size, noise, and sheer presence of the aircraft. I have always loved the B-36. It takes me back to a better time. I will admit that I look to the past with great nostalgia. I often look back to the days of cars with chrome, Davy Crockett caps and rifes, Ike in the White House, and the B-36. This book will take you there.

It was fun growing up in a country which not only made, but made operational, a plane like the B-36. Wow, that was, and still is , special. And so is this book.

This book is packed with ideas on winning back customers. It takes CRM to a new level. The authors have a great understanding of what motivates the customers' decisions.

We have utilized Customer Winback as a tool in taking our organization to the next level of service recovery. As a healthcare organization renowned for service excellence, we found that this book assisted us in developing new approaches through the case studies and examples offered by the authors. The information provided is clear, straightforward and easy to translate to any industry. It is refreshing to read a book that focuses of the value of keeping existing customers rather than constant recruitment of new customers. I would highly recommend Customer Winback.

This book deals with the often neglected area of bringing customers back once you have lost them. Griffin and Lowenstein give the reader numerouse specific strategies and tools for winning back lost customers, saving customer before they defect and "making your company defection-proof."

As I have stated in my review for "The Journal of Consumer Marketing",each chapter summarizes the points succinctly in a method that allows the reader to digest the material for long-term memory.

This book is right for people who have,had, or hope to have customers. It is one of the most comprehensive books on getting,keeping and getting back customers that I have encountered. It is for people who teach marketing and for people who do marketing.

Customer Winback has great information and wonderful examples (presented in depth) of what companies can do to address a much-neglected area of customer service--winning back lost customers. It shows how this concept is just as important as emphasizing customer loyalty and customer satisfaction in not only maintaining customers, but keeping them delighted and coming back to buy more.

It is very well organized, well-written and covers a wide range of material. It also gives you many ideas to implement at your own company. Just one chapter provides you with more substance than many entire books. This is an excellent customer service book and a must for customer service managers. I recommend it highly.

Customer Winback has great information and wonderful examples (presented in depth) of what companies can do to address a much-neglected area of customer service--winning back lost customers. It shows how this concept is just as important as emphasizing customer loyalty and customer satisfaction in not only maintaining customers, but keeping them delighted and coming back to buy more.

It is very well organized, well-written and covers a wide range of material. It also gives you many ideas to implement at your own company. Just one chapter provides you with more substance than many entire books. This is an excellent customer service book and a must for customer service managers. I recommend it highly.

The photographer has really captured the feel of Ellis Island. A visit to the island is a must for people visiting New York. Whether this was the first stop for your ancestors on their arrival to the new world, or they came through other ports of entry, I think the general experiences were the same. All the feelings of expectation, fear, joy or the disappointment of making such a long journey only to be detained or turned back while in sight of the "promised land" are tangible in Stephen Wilkes' images.

As an artist, I purchased this after my artist friend showed it to me, to use as a guide for selecting particular colors and/or color combinations in abstract paintings. It is amazing that the light in the photos has been captured as it truly was--not altered or enhanced with SW to convey a particular mood. Everyone I have showed this to has been propelled to stop and look through every image in the book--it draws you in as you flip through the pages. The colors portray emotion. Content is one of a kind. Highly recommended.

I found this book to be stunning and thought provoking-I wondered about how frightened and angry immigrants must have been to be treated in such a way after what they went through before.

The pictures speak of the passing of time with such a quietness. One can only imagine the complete opposite when Ellis Island was a sea of humanity speaking and crying and hoping while glimpsing NY's famed skyline so nearby. So many hopes realized, so many unfulfilled.

I Love this book, the pictures are beautiful, the design and layout make the pictures and quotes very moving. As a photographer I admire the quality of the work, and the bright vivid prints. I love that most of the images are full pages, sometimes spread across two pages, with small text labeling the room, or part of the property. There are no frames, page designs, or paragraphs to take away from the imagery. For more information and details the photographer includes a section of thumbnails with descriptions, stories about the room, or the shooting conditions, or even bitd of history. The thumbnails and text are at the back of the book with an arial shot and map showing the layout of the buildings. It really helps to peice together the history of Ellis Island. The quotes including add to the emotion behind the images, and I like that they were on parchment paper, so that you can see the pictures behind it. The books are being enjoyed by me and my mother, who is very interested in the hostory of Ellis Island, while I enjoy it for the photography. Great book to own, everyone should have a copy.

Quite a small book,but had a lot of useful information so it was a worthwhile investment.Great for beginners.Has a lot of useful information on betting.The author seems to be pretty intelligent in this field and the way the book was written was so impressive so i just couldn't stop reading.Great work,keep it up!

This book is a must have, I have recommended to all my friends and family. Kudos to the Author for publishing such a wonderful book

I'M NEW TO THE WORLD OF BETTING ON SPORTS, BUT I ENJOYED THIS BOOK IMMENSLY. IT GAVE ME SOME ANGLES I COULD APPLY EASILY WITHOUT HAVING TO BE A MATHMETICIAN AND ALSO OPENED MY EYES UP TO AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT WORLD OF SPORTS BETTING. SO THIS IS A MUST HAVE GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS ESPECIALLY.

I must say, when I first saw this book I purchased it more as a novelty item for my uncle, but after I read through it I was blown away by some of its information. My uncle doesn't bet online, so he didn't find it as useful as I did, but this book provides some short information worth much more the the price of the book. I consider myself an advanced sports bettor and never have thought of this myself. A true MUST HAVE for any sports bettor!

I read a lot of books on different subjects and have read a lot of handicapping books of late and can tell you that the gambling angles in this book are pretty good. I used the College Football angle this past weekend and went 2-0. The gambling advantage chapter which most of the other reviewers have loved is good, but you have to be abe to gamble online to really take advantage of it. I might try just signing up and promoting it as a business, but overall a great book for the money.

Nothing to say about this well known book as a hi level introduction to general chemistry.
What it's amazing is to buy such new book at such price !

Rooted in both vigor and simplicity, this chemistry text will amaze you. Pauling is very mindful of how the student ought to recieve information and in that he carefully picks the order of topics. Too often people disreguard the importance of the presentation of information. It's a shame because they are being willfully ignorant to techniques that catalyze and promote learning. Our brains are more responsive to associative learning because biologically that's what goes on in neural circuitry. Anyways, it's best I don't spur off into a tangent. Buy this book. It taught me chemistry.

This is by far the best introductory book I have seen so far. It is very concise and thorough. There are no flashy pictures or cool sidenotes with the practical applications of the concepts. But the basic concepts are very well explained with lots of helpful diagrams. Also, the price of the book is very good. Hooray for Dover Publications for publishing this masterpiece as such reasonable price!

This book will never look old. It’s still much more clear than many (college) chemistry books. In my opinion this volume should be suggested as a reference for a general chemistry college course.

This is an interesting, if somewhat dated and eccentric textbook by the man who was probably the leading chemist of the twentieth century. It is full of interesting insight, and written with real flair, so much unlike the typical textbook today produced by the textbook publishing machines.

Let me give a couple of examples, good and bad, of what makes this book interesting, but also exasperating.

The book is the only freshman chemistry text I know of that has a derivation of the Boltzmann distribution P ~ e^(-E/kT), a very basic relation in the kinetic theory of gases and in fact in all of statistical physics. The derivation is simpler than most, which makes it a real jewel especially at this level, where most people would think it doesn't belong.

On the other hand, the section on chemical bonding, which is actually where Pauling made his reputation, is very eccentric, like the author, so much so that it makes the book unsuitable as the sole text for a course. It is all based on sp3 hybrid orbitals. As far as I can tell, sp2 and sp hybrids are never mentioned. With the sp3 story, Pauling is able to account surprisingly well for some systematics of bond lengths. Whether this is fortuitous or not, I don't know, but it is interesting. On the other hand, without sp2 and sp hybrids, he is completely unable to give the standard, very simple, beautiful account of bond angles. A student learning introductory chemistry from this text who then went into organic chemistry would soon be at a disadvantage without knowing the theory of hybrid orbitals that everyone else would get from any of the standard contemporary texts.

My recommendation: use this text as a very insightful, quirky supplement. The price is certainly right.

The text that comes closest, in my opinion, in seriousness, if not eccentricity, is the contemporary text by Oxtoby and coauthors. It is too highbrow though for most college introductory chemistry courses.