Research Books

I have used this book for a number of years & found that in most cases it has been THE book that I should have in my library. It is a must for the work place to buy.

I reviewed this book in 2001. I had the original 1965 edition with its very fmiliar cover. As I said back then the late Professor Kish was a leader in survey research and this book was used by many over the years. Wiley only publishes books in their classic series that were big sellers and maintained their usefulness over a long period of time. Much of the important developments in survey methods had been developed by the time this text first came out and Professor Kish's book made these methods very accessible to many practitioners in the social sciences and helped to improve the quality of survey research. Professor Kish pioneered this development with his research group at the University of Michigan along with summer programs designed to teach survey sampling to practitioners.

In this review I would like to make a comparison with the other classic text by William G. Cochran. Cochran's book is an important texts that is well written and mathematically rigorous. It is also extensively referenced in the literature and has been a very important reference for those of us who have done work in survey sampling. Also Cochran's book is a little more current than Kish's having been published in 1977. But Cochran's book has a much more theoretical bent and does not delve into practical applications. It is in this vein that Kish's book stands out over the others (practical applications especially in the social sciences).

The late Leslie Kish published this classic text on survey sampling in 1965 with Wiley. In 1995 they reprinted it in their statistics classic series. Professor Kish had a long career at the University of Michigan where he taught survey sampling to social scientists. There he also established a summer program in survey sampling design and one of the top consulting services for designing and implementing surveys.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Kish in the late 1970s when he was consulting on sampling issues for the newly formed US Department of Energy. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory I was working on survey sampling research for generating and validating energy data. Dr. Kish was charming and very humble. He treated young researchers like me the same way as he would treat his famous colleagues.

This book covers all the practical aspects of surveys and emphasizes the human population studies that Dr. Kish was involved in. But he is quick to point out in the introduction, the generality of the methods and their applications to other populations and many other disciplines (his experience was mainly in the social sciences at that time). The mathematics is presented as simply as possible. There is a great deal of verbal description throughout the text. He wrote it with practitioners in mind and tried to keep the mathematics simple.

It differs in style and coverage (but not quality) from the more technical book by Cochran. He puts more effort into the discussion of philosophical and practical issues than Cochran does and he illustrates his ideas through many practical and real examples.

For a book written in the 1960s many researchers might be surprise to find the detailed coverage of issues of bias and nonsampling errors in surveys, including problems of missing data and non-response and a whole chapter on sampling from imperfect frames.

All the important classical topics are covered including stratification, cluster sampling, sampling proportional to size, area sampling, and multi-stage sampling.

The topics are all there. Today the issues of nonsampling errors and adjustment for underreporting (e.g. in decennial Censuses)are as important as ever.

This book is a great reference source. It only lacks some of the modern advances that may play roles in important applications such as the implimentation of hierarchical Bayesian models through the use of Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods and the bootstrap and jackknife to better assess survey uncertainty.

Originally designed as an undergraduate classroom text for a third course in statistics, Kish provides an adequate number of homework problems at the end of each chapter and he provides a brief selection of solutions to some of the problems in the first seven chapters.

I studied this book in my university here in Ecuador, and i believe that is a good book; in this moment i am working in "Census Agricultura Project" and think to recommend to buy

This is an excellent book on Buddhism. So many of them don't contain the teachings. Many are written in such a way that they don't make sense to an English speaking reader. This is definitely the best primer on Buddha and his teachings.

If you are interested in learning about Buddhism, this book is a great start. For me, The Teaching of Buddha was an easy to read introduction Buddhism. I would recommend.

This is great to have, because it's just a small, compact book you can carry with you. It's an easy way to read the teachings of the buddha without all the western fluff and long winded interpretations. If you are interested in buddhism, this is the book to have.

The Teaching of Buddha is clearly written, easy to read with space between paragraphs for reflection and reminder to slow down and digest life a moment at a time. I checked it out at the library and plan to buy it. I love that there is English on the left page and Japanese on the right, reflecting the interconnectedness we have with the rest of the world. It is one of those books you can close your eyes, open at any page, read a paragraph and feel enlightened. I learned of the tremendous sacrifices the first Buddha made and how true happiness is found in BEings and not THings.

There is only one word for "Teaching Smarter with the brain in Focus" ...Amazing!
Her chapter on Lesson Design is worth the price of the book alone. Easy to read, well-illustrated and helpful to use, Scholastic has provided another winner.

Dr. Sarah Armstrong uses many great real life examples from classrooms and schools; she has obviously "been there and done that" which makes her advice so much more relevant. She encourages thinking in the classroom and avoids "Telling the information". This is a very thought provoking topic in this age of "teach the test'.

Sarah introduces active engagement/involvement through role-play, simulation, music, visual arts, etc and explains how these techniques can help the brain become better at learning.

I especially liked the different memory systems. I have started to use several of them myself to help my long-term memories. I occasionally teach adult education classes and I will use Sarah's innovative book for future lessons!

Sarah Armstrong has a real winner here for helping educators and teachers develop thinkers. Whether you are a first year teacher or a senior educator, "Teaching Smarter with the Brain in Focus" can help you in every aspect of teaching.

It is a "Must Have" for discerning teachers!

Sam Hendricks, author of "Fantasy Football Guidebook"

Wow... Dr. Armstrong has provided educators with a guide to lesson planning and classroom instruction that can be used every day!! I have worked as a teacher, principal, curriculum & instructional leader, as well as educational consultant. Never have a seen such a great guide with clear direction to how to use the brain research to support student learning. Thanks, Sarah!!

Would you like to teach the way you know works best but cannot defend your methodology as research based? Well here is your defense in one skinny little book. Yes, that music in the background of your classroom does have a scientifically researched significance to learning. Dancing on the playground to the rhythm of the times table is far more fun and makes learning easier, than sitting in straight, quiet rows trying to memorize 7x6 or 8x6. Dr. Armstrong makes the scientifically researched connection between how the brain learns and what we do in the classroom. She gives us the science behind the art of teaching that great teachers just seem to know. If I were the principal of your school, you would be reading this book with me this fall and we would probably be sitting in comfortable chairs with headphones on.

This book by Sarah Armstrong was a quick and easy read filled with GREAT strategies and suggestions I can use to make my teaching more effecting and my students' learning more relevant. If you know anything about Bloom's Taxonomy, or have ever had an "unreachable" student in your classroom, this is the book for you! I liked the "real-life" stories shared throughout the book; you can tell the author has lived the life of a classroom teacher! I can't wait to get back to school so I can put these ideas into practice. I wish I had read this book when I was a first year teacher!

This book is good. A person with a strong backgroud in mathematics can understand it well, otherwise it will take the reader some time to go through all the details.

It's an excelent book, but in order to use it as a classroom book I will make two improvement
1) Add an exercises section at the end of each chapter
2) Deal more extensively with Mixed Integer Linear Programming problem, e. g. add the proof of the finiteness of the Gomory's Cutting Plane Method.

A great reference text book, with some great historical notes about the history of both linear and integer programming.

It is the first book, both me and my advisor check out, when we require any thing on Linear and Integer Programming.

This book is a theoretical book -as said in title. Unless you have solid mathematic background, this book may not be for you. I said "solid" doesn't mean "a lot" or "advanced", just a simple algebra that you learn in high school -but it has to be SOLID :) I use this book in theoretical part of my thesis and dissertation but you can find other substitution though. Look at Integer and Combinatorial Optimization by Nemhauser and Wolsey, it might be more practical.

I read and reread this book several years ago. It gave great insight into the realms of the spirits and their rather very serious impact on those living. The departed spirits communicated through an intermediary, medium, his wife. The stories told touched my heart and enhanced my understanding of the nature and character of the spirits. That provided wealth of information for my book, Secrets of Life, Beyond...

I would highly recommend this book not only to healthcare providers but the public at large.

Mohinder Goomar, M.D., F.R.C.S. (Ret.), author, Secrets of Life, Beyond...

I read this book 15 years ago, so my memory may be getting dim. But it's about the author's experience treating cases of spirit possession. A typical case is a young man who felt the need to run away and go to sea. It turned out, as the author discovered, that he was being strongly influenced by a dead sailor. He asked the sailor to leave the young man alone, and that was the end of that.

Wickland claimed no spiritual powers but used an intermediary (I think it was his wife, who would go into a trance). His method was to interview the spirits hanging around the patient. He would inquire as to how their life had been, and what they are trying to do with the patient. He would then recommend that they leave him alone and go rather with the "Mercy Crew" (a multi-racial group of higher-lever departed spirits who chose to work with the Wicklands).

So he did confidently what Joel Haley Osmont (of "I see dead people" fame) did fearfully in "The Sixth Sense".

Forgive me if my memory deceives me in a few details. I think I'll order a copy and re-read it.

Dr. Carl Wickland MD would not have agreed with the conclusions of Dr. Stevens [...]. He specifically stated that all of the memories observed in such cases were actually originating from the discarnate spirit of the deceased, who was attached to the patient. He did not accept the case of the deceased spirit entering into a new incarnation. Of course Dr. Wickland was dealing with the psychosis of much older patients and did not to my knowledge examine any of the type of patients that Dr. Stevens did.

Dr. Wickland's work is of great importance to the understanding of Origenes' theory of "The Restoration of All Things." [...] But it only addresses one aspect and that is of the `Lost Souls". Early Christians had prayed regularly for the `Lost Souls', and Dr. Wickland gives us many reasons why we should do so today. When discarnate spirits do not accept the divine order and return to where they belong, they are able to `molest' people with whom they have had some sort of special relationship.

What does this have to early Christian teaching? First of all, it gives us a very good lesson in Free Will. As M. C. Steenberg [...] most rightly points out, if all souls were destined to go to heaven, then where does Free Will come in? Dr. Wickland describes in great detail the amount of havoc that these discarnate spirits were allowed to bring to his patients. He also shows how they must choose to stop their activities among humans and accept divine guidance.

Secondly, his work gives a hint of the order that exists in the divine spiritual world and gives us an idea as to how many angels are actually around us, active in the restoration process, guiding us during our life and afterwards.

The discarnate spirits that Dr. Wickland encountered in his work certainly represented only a small subset of the discarnate spirits. When their body dies, the majority submit to the divine order. To find out about these, we must look to different sources.

Shawn Murphy
[...]

This exciting book by Dr. Wickland, M.D., is a tremendous resource regarding spirit activity among those who have passed out of human existence. The book is arranged by categories such as Spirits and Crime, Spirits and Suicide, Psychic Invalidism, Orthodoxy, Christian Science, Theosophy, Philosophy, and so forth. You get the complete feeling of the time through the verbatim records of spirits speaking through Dr. Wickland's wife. There is plenty of spiritual insight throughout, and by the time you finish the book, you are well-versed in the essentials of a well-lived life.

This book shines light on the dark recesses of spirit activity in the insane and obsessed. It is enough to cause you to reconsider the unfortunate and even those you may know who are not themselves, perhaps classed "mentally ill" by the psychiatric profession or warehoused in mental institutions. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Very well written. Informative and educational. I'm fortunate to live within easy reach of all of these rides and will try most all this summer.

I bought this as a gift for a motorcycling relative. They loved it and use it quite often. Great recommendations for beautiful drives.

Sunday Rides On Two Wheels: Motorcycling In Southern Wisconsin by Barbara Barber is an original and "user friendly" travel guide to motorcycling for fun and relaxation in and around the southern Wisconsin area. Travel routes, black-and-white photographs, and a spiral binding for easy reference while on the go, make Sunday Rides On Two Wheels an excellent, enjoyable and very worthwhile vacation planner and travel guide for the dedicated motorcyclist.

I have to honestly say that this book is one of the best I have ever spent my money on. I have been riding motorcycles for about two years and in that time I have tried to find backroads in the suburbs of Chicago and southern Wisconsin using detailed maps, but have found nothing but construction and traffic. I noticed this book on Amazon and right away thought it would be another waste of money, but to my surprise it was nothing but fun to read.

Barbara clearly explains each area of travel with history, facts, opinions, road conditions, contact information, pictures, etc. and the maps and directions are very clear. From the very start I could not wait to start up my Honda F4i sportbike and hit the road. My first tour was the Breakout Ride in the Kenosha area which was an absolute blast to ride. Being from the northern parts of Illinois with nothing but rushed traffic, very secluded roads and beautiful scenery were all I saw the whole day, which is what riding should consist of. I had loads of fun going down the few Rustic roads on the tour, with the overhanging trees and hills and curves that took my breath away more than once. It was such a great change of pace to have this much fun on my bike and I will definitely be making this a weekend activity until the winter comes. I cannot wait to take some further trips up to the Kettle Moraine area and even further up near LaCrosse.

A few things to look out for are the missing road signs in Wisconsin which occur frequently in the remote parts and a few of the directions in the book had a couple right/left turns switched. Also, the mileage was off on a few of the roads which weren't really a big problem once you figured out where you were going. Overall though, thanks to Barbara's experiences and research, she has made it possible for any kind of rider to enjoy a fun and scenic bike tour. I will definitely recommend this book to my group of friends and I would recommend it to any rider looking to have some fun on two wheels. Great job Barbara!!!

I am the librarian and archivist at the Ogden Union Station which houses the Utah State Railroad Museum. The museum happens to own the last remaining car from the Train of Tomorrow. It is the Moon Glow, the lounge car at the end of the train. I began volunteering at the Union Station 10 years ago. I became aware of Dr. Morgan's original manuscript and long efforts to publish his work. Thanks to Indiana University Press, the book has finally seen the light of day!! And what a book it is. A record of an entire train from design concept through building and operation and ultimate death through scrapping except for one remnant...the aforementioned Moon Glow.
Dr. Morgan's text is unique in that it takes one on a "walking" tour through the train as if you were back in 1947 and being personally escorted through the locomotive and each car. The photographs are extensive, covering everything from full length photos of the train to the air conditioning system, dishes and silverware in the diner.
The reviewer for "Trains", the most popular rail fan magazine, called the book a masterpiece and I couldn't agree more.

At first glance I did not care for this book. Yes, I judged the book by its cover. Guilty.However, after reading this well thought out and well researched book I found the author to be passionate about his love for this historic train. There are some great photos, some I have never seen before. Mr Morgan blends buisness, technical matters and history into a entertaining volume. It should be noted that all proceds from this book goes towards the restoration of the passenger car Moon Glow. I believe this man walks his talk. Enough said. Cheers to you Mr. Morgan.

Perhaps my review of this book will not be as technical as a review should be. But for me, The Train of Tomorrow is as much about emotions, as it is the wonderfully laid out details of the Trains manufacture.

As a boy of 10 in 1948, my brother and I were taken to see the Train while it was on exhibit in Dallas. My Dad was serving as a GM Host on one of the cars, and my memories of that evening, are a composite of the awesome beauty of the Train, especially the sleek and powerful locomotive, but also of the excitement of the event. It was something one might expect from a movie star gala of some kind, so many important people everywhere - or so it seemed in the eyes of a 10 year old. Mr. Morgan's book brought back all those good and positive feelings of starry eyed amazement. As my mind has drifted back to it, I still find myself being uplifted by that memorable event and that special, beautiful Train. I never gave any thought as to why it had such an emotional impact on me until I read the book. This is what it was developed to do, to uplift and encourage; and my ongoing positive feelings about it stands as testimony of the genius of the project and its planning.

As Mr. Morgan brings out, the Train resulted from the forward, creative thinking of one GM executive. His vision was to get the country traveling again, enjoying the great outdoors; and, by rail - which is interesting since GM is in the car business. Also brought out, is that they even declined to put a patent on their new dome design, which again, is even more than interesting. This Train was not about making money. It was about promoting the healing of a wounded nation just after WWII; about getting the nation going, and its modern dome car was designed just for that purpose. The project, if I've grasped it correctly, was about reassuring America, that we have not only survived, but by this Train as witness, we are sleek, fast, modern and powerful....come and see! And, they did. I was positively imprinted by it for the rest of my life. Even its name was part of the brilliant PR package, for the Train of Tomorrow....was truly about a bright tomorrow. The whole project was absolutely amazing.

I found the meticulous building of the model particularly fascinating; miniature people for each car, down to miniature furniture, dishes and even food items in the kitchen. That this elegant and important piece of American history was sold, worn out, and sold again for scrap metal in the 60's, broke my heart.

Thanks to researcher and writer Ric Morgan for his talent, heart and diligence. His book captures the true essence of the Train, which includes its purpose, and preserves its rightful place in history forever. Also, thanks to Indiana University Press for publishing it, and especially to General Motors for their vision and ability to bring the project into reality. Every home should have a copy of this book, for The Train of Tomorrow is far more than just another train book.

The author accomplished what no previous one has done was to document a post-war "concept" train from start to finish. His research is well done as he made use of General Motors, Pullman Techology, Electro-Motive Division and Union Pacific archieves to include photos, trip logs, press releases, and bill of sales.

The author states he is not a railfan, and in some of his writing he shows it. But forgot the little mis-informed mistakes and enjoy the book as a history of the state of the nation's railroad after VJ Day.

The individuals that Lori quotes obviously have suffered much, longed for acceptance and struggled with their own understanding of gender. Some are sad, some defiant, some exuberant. Each voice tells a different story. From stone butch lesbian to genderqueer to intersex individuals to crossdressers to transitioning MTF and FTM to non-transition MTF and FTM to transmen to femme lesbian, butch, Dyke, soft butch, every variation and more has a chance to speak. They tell of the twists and turns that the developing fetus can take where perhaps the brain and the body don't quite follow the same path, or perhaps the body only only strolls along a path, not quite sure if it wants this one or that one. They tell of birth and doctors who are overly fast at making a decision without consulting that person whom the decision would affect the most. They tell of children praying for God to correct his mistake and give them the bodies that fit their minds. They tell of parents, teachers and peers mostly hostile to their true self, policing the gender binary, enforcing a rigid interpretation and what is allowable and what is not. Then they talk of puberty, with it rush of hormones and changes, which mostly just makes things much, much worse. They talk of family, jobs, friends, bathrooms, laws, love and intimacy. They talk of their own self-doubt, of their own sense of identity. And each one has their own story and their own path.

And through it all Lori organizes and comments and analyzes, always with sympathy and insight and wisdom. So in the end you see how society fears transgressions against gender norms and fights to maintain the status quo, how society uses ridicule, sarcasm, hate, bullying, put-downs, cruel humor and fear to enforce the gender binary, but how really the rigid gender binary doesn't make any sense biologically or culturally, how the rigid gender binary is a denial of our true selves.

Lori talks about how transitioning isn't really about transition from being one thing to being another thing, it is really about changing society's perceptions so that society can perceive our true form.

And Lori shows us a vision of a society where we don't have to fear the unknown, where a person can be free to be attracted to that kind of person they are attracted to. Where they can express whatever form their gender identity takes, whether it is highly masculine, moderately, slightly, not at all **and** at the same time highly feminine, moderately, slightly, not at all.

What a great resource. Enlightening and well written and very understandable. The best book on gender I've found to date.

Lori Girshick has done a terrific research job and has explained a very dificult topic in a very simple, sensitive and easy to understand manner. She starts from the very basic definitions and goes all the way to the most intricate aspects of being transgender. Her interviews are very thorough and goes a long length describing the hard and difficult world of transgender people both male-to-female and female-to-male. And by using 150 subjects, she was careful to include everything under the transgender umbrella. This book does not miss any detail and is what I consider a very complete account of everything transgender.

Skilled writers like Ms. Girshick are needed to add light and educate the world about these very and easily misunderstood concepts.

Caroline (Carrie) Cotten

It has been argued that the transexual is the last minorityand it's a statement that's hard to refute. As Lori B. Girshick, in her brilliant book "Transgender Voices: Beyong Women & Men",points out to be fully human means accepting both your female and male natures.

Ms. Girshick asks many questions in this book such as what is the relationship between gender identity and sexual orientation? Many of the answers were an identification of androgeneny. But as Girshicks point out, this terms has multiple means.

Gircheck is not the first to address this subject of gender idenity and sex reassignment. Dr. Renee Richards, pediatric opthalmologist and tennis coach to Martina Navratilova wrote about beginning life as Richard Raskind in "Second Serve". Famed trael writer, now retired, Jan Morris wrote about her transformation from James to Jan in "Conundrum".

Still, the subject of the transgener is one that is urually not addressed because it remains uncomfortable for many. Yet anyone who has been rejected by family or friends for any reaon will relate to the pain that endures.

Ms. Girshick's profound book deserves wide distribution and study especially by those who usually avoid this senstitive subject. The book has a few faults but too minor to mention. I hope the book will be read and more reviews posted.

This book is just what I needed to start me on the invention process. It showed me what the next steps are after you have that "good idea". Don lists many resources and throughout the book gives snapshots of his experiences. It was a big help and others can learn from it. The more important point however, is that he informs you of many "watchouts" and potential inventors will gain the streetsmarts to move to the next level.

Any interested in the world of inventions or creative design will find Turn Your Idea Or Invention Into Millions an important guide to thinking like a professional inventor, from obtaining patents, copyrights and trademarks to calculating wholesale and retail prices and avoiding scams. Any inventor will find this packed with important, practical applications.

This is my father's book. Let's get that on the table. I read his first one and it helped me get three inventions of mine licensed to various companies. I consider myself a successful inventor. I hope you consider yourself a successful inventor, as well. This new book is his best yet. In it, he tells us, step by step, how to license an invention. He uses real life experience in a way that is exact and relevant. He emphasizes the breadth of his experience in easy to follow, sequential instructions. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Sincerely,

David Kracke

P.S. I'm mentioned a few times in the book It seems my Dad likes to recount my successes and failures. Thanks, Dad!

This is my father's book. Let's get that on the table. I read his first one and it helped me get three other inventions of mine sold to various companies. I consider myself a successful inventor. I hope you consider yourself a successful inventor, as well. This new book is his best yet. In it, he tells us, step by step, how to license an invention. He uses real life experience in a way that is exact and relevant. He emphasizes the breadth of his experience in easy to follow, sequential instructions. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Sincerely,

David Kracke

P.S. I'm mentioned a few times in the book It seems my Dad likes to recount my successes and failures. Thanks, Dad!

This was used as a text book in a psychology class I took, so I expected it to be boring. It wasn't at all. In fact, it was fascinating. It made me sick to my stomach, laugh, and think critically throughout. Do the experiments! I would highly recommend this book to anyone, especially those who want to examine their own "reality." The only complaint I have is the lack of information behind why we react the way we do to the experiments. There wasn't a lot of citing other people's studies. It sort of felt like you were in his class, just getting his ideas as well as select comments from McGrane's students.

Dr. McGrane's book is beyond words of description. I just took his very last class ever at UC Irvine, and it was life altering. Read the book, participate in the exploriments, and open your mind. His words will make you think like you never have before.

This book is like no other you will ever read. I highly reccomend it as long as it is under parental supervision. Great book, the man is a genious.

A wonderful and startling book. If you actively engage yourself in Dr. McGrane's work, you will not only come away having learned something about yourself, but possibly even have a new understanding of what learning IS. Professor Mcgrane is the ideal teacher, and it comes through in this book. He teaches by allowing space for students to discover "ways of seeing" for themselves. This book does not merely increase our store of knowledge, but actively reconfigures the way that our knowledge is percieved