Research Books

The merits of The Great Gatsby need not be discussed here. What does cry out for attention, however, is the collection of masterful essays herein that illuminate Fitzgerald's greatest novel, among them the brilliant explication "The Romance of Money" by Malcolm Cowley. Anyone wishing to delve deeper into the rich symbolism and thematic interest of this novel would do well to pick up a copy of this Scribner publication. Buy a unmarked, used copy if you can and save some dough in the process.

This book is truly a work of art. The plot, the characters, the similes, and the quotes are superb. The story is about Jay Gatsby,the man who did everything to achieve love. But he still failed. The theme is illusion. This is a great classic which reflects upon the lives of American people. It is not at all slow and boring. U will definitly enjoy this book. Mark my words

F.S. Fitzgerald had successfully depicted the glamorous lives of the American upper class during the 1920s. The story centers on Jay Gatsby, a millionaire, whose past is a mystery, but with his tremendous wealth, he is able to attract everyone into his life circle. However, his entire motive is to win back his old lover, Daisy; his loyalty of love eventually leads to his tragic ending.

Bruce's controversial thesis is that it was France and not Britain who was the main American ally during the First World War. French generals such as Joffre supported an independent American force while the British wanted the American forces to be assimilated into the British army. According to Bruce, the French trained the Americans in the techniques of trench warfare and use of artillery. Bruce believes that all American operations in the closing days of the First World War were based on close cooperation by the French army such as supporting the Americans by protecting their flanks, providing artillery support, and using planes to spot German army formations. Plus the French and not the British supplied the AEF with its weapons such as tanks and artillery peices. I would reccomend this book to anyone intereted in a controversial thesis about the clost days of the First World War and Anglo-French relations.

In the preface of his book A Fraternity of Arms Robert Bruce asserts that his intention is to refute a popular image "so widely held in America, of a historically acrimonious relationship between", (Bruce, xiii) the United States and France. Indeed Bruce's account of Franco-American cooperation is well documented, vividly expressed and covers the social, political, and military aspects of this relationship.

Bruce examines the experience of the American volunteers, including the Rockwell's, who found themselves in the Légion étrangère. Bruce points out that many of these young men wanted to fight and they wanted to find action as quickly as possible. Many of them, however wanted to serve in the regular army and found the Foreign Legion to be disappointing. They found the legion to be composed of mercenaries from many nationalities and not particularly friendly to the idealistic volunteers. Bruce points out however, that even in the face of severe disillusion Kiffen Rockwell and others still wanted to fight, but in regular French army units. Quoting Kiffen Rockwell's letter to his injured brother, "If you can get me into a French regiment, get busy, for I want out of the Legion".

Bruce provides details of the many shortcomings of the American army, especially the lack of modern heavy weapons. Chapter 4 illustrates clearly the fact that although America had tremendous quantities of natural resources and a huge industrial capacity as well, the situation was that it would inevitably be the French who would equip the American army. Bruce shows that despite heroic efforts on the part of American armaments manufacturers to build the machine guns and artillery, the allies did not have the luxury of time and could not wait for American manufacturing to come up to speed, and so the Americans would go to war with equipment that was almost exclusively French. Bruce provides as evidence a table comparing the French and British contributions of war material to the AEF during the war and in every category; the French contribution far exceeds that of the British.

Bruce provides engaging accounts of all the American engagements from Catigny the first battle in which American units play a deciding role, through Belleau Wood, the Second battle of the Marne to the Meuse-Argonne and the end of the war. He defends the Americans against those who have denigrated the American contribution to the final allied victory by quoting Ludendorf; "It was most assuredly the Americans who bore the brunt of the fighting on the whole battle front during the last few months of the war."

In the final paragraphs of his book Bruce recounts the interment of the remains of the Unknown Soldier in the tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National cemetery with moving quotes from Field Marshal Foch and Chief Plenty Coups of the Crow Nation and then points out that:
"At the bottom of the crypt, on the hallowed ground of America's Valhalla, a two inch deep layer of French soil, gathered from the battlefields of the western front where the French and American army had fought side by side, had been spread. Here the Unknown American Soldier of the Great War rests for all eternity."
With that statement, Bruce brings his book A Fraternity of Arms: America & France in the Great War, to its conclusion having made his point that despite sometimes enormous political differences that America and France share a "fraternity of arms", and though it may be dismissed and forgotten, has formed a lasting foundation for Franco-American Relations.

Bruce's thesis is that it was the French and not the British who were the main American allies during the First World War. During their period of training the American soldiers easily mixed with the French soldiers while having a diffcult time with the British. Moreover the French were the main trainers of the American forces and provided them with artillery peices, tanks, and guns. The French also were the main defenders of an independent American force while the Britih wanted to assimilate the Americans into British units. Bruce concludes his book by stating that all of the American actions in the closing phases of the First World War were heavliy supported by French infantry divisions and artillery. I would reccomend this book to anyone who wants a new and interesting perspective of Franco-American relationship during the First World War.

This book meets its promise of deflating the academic presentations contained in more theoretical marketing books. Too often, those books sub-divide and label marketing approaches and customer acquisition strategies into acronym-ridden codes that only confuse readers. Many of these books assume that the customer is the center of the marketing universe. Author Stephen Brown contends just the opposite. Customers are not the core of the cosmos. At best, constantly catering to their whims and changing tastes often ties marketers into unproductive knots. Using powerful - if sometimes questionable - examples, Brown shows that customers readily follow good marketing campaigns. Yet, the book relies so heavily on alliteration, puns and perky jokes that it often becomes just too cute, which impedes its solid marketing message. We recommend it as useful reading for marketing professionals who seek fresh ideas and a break from the old jargon. Alas, despite its title, no free gift comes with it, other than some razzle-dazzle marketing war stories.

Stephen Brown has a way of making marketing so much fun, why should it be serious?
From the start it becomes totally clear the Author is totally up on his content, and knowledge, this is NOT simply a license to rant and rave to people who pay $20 and want to get their moneys worth.
The examples are current, or if are not current, are totally relevent to the topic at hand, though his explanation of what is basically 'exclusive' marketing, or the idea that by not giving people what they want, they will only want what you offer even more.
I cannot reccomend this book more highly, as a marketing student it really should be required reading as its not only interesting and relevent, but makes the topic so much damn fun!.

Wow! I didn't see this one coming. Brown's writing style is literary electricity. His method of teaching brands his lessons on your brain. He case studies and research would make the New York Library look like kindergardners with crayons. I LOVE this book. Haven't read anything this good since, well, re-reading one of my own books. I say get this one. You'll love it. -- Joe Vitale www.mrfire.com

Not for the thin-skinned! This is a thoughtful and convincing set of arguments as to how and why the U.S. scientific research system often fails to serve the public interest. We'd all be better off if researchers and policy-makers absorbed the lessons in this work.

The author states in the preface "I here baldly and unapologetically state that I recognize the scientific method to be a valid technique for approaching what I am pleased to term an objective understanding of the physical and natural world. 'This belief, however, offers no apriory comfort to anyone who would try to answer such questions as What types of scientific knowledge should society choose to pursue? How should such choices be made and by whom? How should society apply this knowledge, once gained? How can "progress" in science and technology be defined and measured in the context of broader social and political goals? And indeed, it is precisely these sorts of question that underlie and motivate this book".

Although I do not agree that there is such a thing as THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD (but a variety of scientific methods) and although I do not agree that specific kinds of methods garantees truth and objectivity, I understand the author's need to distinguish such narrow methodological issues from the broader issues concerning the relations between science and society. These last questions are important in democratic societies, why libraries, masse communication and other institutions, which are supposted to support democracy should make an effort to dissiminate this kind of literature.

This is the best starting points for skeptics who wonder if science is all it is cracked up to be, or for cheerleaders of science too prone to claim science will solve all our problems.

It does not, however, provide a complete picture. Three other books are helpful:

Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion by Daniel Greenberg is the best over-all review, has a strong ethical component, and shows how the competition for money, rather than scientific progress, is diverting scarce resources and frustrating needed advances.

The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney is the book that is the most compelling on the perversions of the extremist Republicans (I am a moderate Republican). Read this first or last, depending on your disposition.

Finally, Investing in Innovation: Creating a Research and Innovation Policy That Works, edited by Lewis Bramscomb and James Keller, brings together a range of views crossing the environment within which scientific research takes place, evaluationg specific programs and policy tools, and making recommendations (all of which have been ignored by the current Bush Administration).

I take three bottom lines from these four books together:

1) We are spending too much on military science & research.

2) Neither Congress nor the Executive have a serious strategy for prioritizing problems, finding private sector partners, and providing seed money for innovative solutions.

3) Both Congress and the Executive, as well as the public and the media, are incredibly ignorant about what science can and cannot do, and where all the money is going to generally poor effect.

4) This is all so important that Science, like Intelligence, needs its own Supreme Court. I am persuaded we need a new form of hybid public agency that is fully independent of the Executive, receiving a percentage of the total disposable budget (say 3%) and hence not subject to Congression pressures.

I want to stress that this book is an off-set, but should not be read alone. It raises some very important ethical and common sense political prioritization issues, but viewed alone, is too negative. If you buy only one book, buy Greenberg's.

Item is excellent and as described by seller. Slight issue with mailing and seller was very proactive in addressing. Thank you.

This book was shipped to me in a good amount of time, didn't take too long. Also, it is in great condition like I expected it to be.

I thought this book was excellent as far as these kinds of books go...I haven't read the entire thing thus far, but it has a great chapter on complementary and alternative medicine, terrific nursing alerts, nice chapter on nursing history. There's a lot here - don't drop it on your foot! These two New Orleans nurses have definitely put a lot of thought into the organization and inclusion of material into this weighty volume! Accompanying CD is nice, but I've been told by other students that the quizzes are far too simplistic compared with the ones their instructors give them. Still, this book would make a great reference for any student or nurse who needed a refresher. I think this would be an excellent first semester text!

This is a MUST READ for anyone searching for more information on how AD/HD manifests itself in girls and women. This would be an excellent resource for medical doctors to help make them aware that AD/HD in girls and women IS real and not just "in their heads."

This is a great resource for professionals who treat and work with females with AD/HD, females with AD/HD, and parents of females with AD/HD. Though the book may be intended for professionals, the setup of the book is very ADD Friendly and the language is easy to understand.

I think reading this book will be very benefical to women with AD/HD and family members of females with AD/HD. It may put females ahead of the game when they seek treatment for AD/HD. It may give them a better idea of whether the professional who is treating them acutally understands AD/HD.

Females who are currently in treatment for AD/HD should consider asking the professional treating her if he or she has read this book. If the answer if no it may be in her best interest to suggest that he or she does.

You cannot go wrong with any book by Drs. Nadeau and Quinn, including this one. It is primarily an in-depth guide for clinicians who treat women with ADHD. But, in my experience, clinicians' guides often provide the most helpful books to read before you begin the search for an ADHD specialist. Once you know the recommended protocols, such guides provide a benchmark by which to judge a potential therapist's or doctor's expertise.

Quinn and Nadeau are highly respected pioneers in the detection and treatment of ADHD in women and girls. And if you've found that most healthcare professionals are undereducated on ADHD in general, wait until you learn how little they know about the unique angle gender takes. ADHD not only might manifest differently in females, but there are also other psychological and physical issues, such as hormonal cycles and pregnancy, to consider. And this information is found literally nowhere else.

I also recommend their other books on this subject, including "Understanding Women with ADHD," "Understanding Girls with ADHD," and "When Moms and Kids have ADD."

That said, their expert knowledge extends well beyond female ADHD into all aspects in both genders and throughout the lifespan. Together or individually, they have contributed many helpful standouts to the ADHD library and are popular speakers at national conferences.

Gina Pera, author
Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.? Stoppingthe Roller Coaster When Someone You Love Has Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHDRollerCoaster.com

Believe it or not this important topic in applied statistics was developed by Hastie and Tibshirani when they were graduate students, a sure sign of greatness to come. After their graduation this highly acclaimed book came out explaining both the theory and pratice of generalized additive models in a clear and concise way. Generalized additive models are similar to generalized linear models in their additive structure but the form of the additive functions is much more general.

Both Hastie and Tibshirani are now Stanford professors in the Statistics Department and both have written other excellent books including their joint publication with Jerry Friedman "The Elements of Statistical Learning" and Tibshirani along with Efron wrote an excellent monograph on bootstrap.

A medical doctor recommended that I (a statistician) use generalized additive models on a project that he was involved with. We were pleased with the results of the modelling as they gave us some new insights on his topic and it was very rewarding

Because we were so impressed with the results, we both took the above book out of the library to read. I started the book with some trepidation as I feared it was going to be a complex topic and in some respects I was right. However, right from the encouraging quotes in the preface and into the text itself, I felt the authors were making a great effort to make the book readable.

The medico found that the explanations and examples were well written. His comment was that even a non-statistician could grasp what was going on but that there was enough theory that a statistician would be happy too!

Believe it or not this important topic in applied statistics was developed by Hastie and Tibshirani when they were graduate students, a sure sign of greatness to come. After their graduation this highly acclaimed book came out explaining both the theory and pratice of generalized additive models in a clear and concise way. Generalized additive models are similar to generalized linear models in their additive structure but the form of the additive functions is much more general.
Both Hastie and Tibshirani are now Stanford professors in the Statistics Department and both have written other excellent books including their joint publication with Jerry Friedman "The Elements of Statistical Learning" and Tibshirani along with Efron wrote an excellent monograph on bootstrap.

J. Walker Smith truly knows his subject. After hearing him speak, I just had to purchase the book. It's packed full of information for those seeking to understand the Boomers and what makes them tick.

The April issue of Writer's Digest arrived in my mailbox on Saturday and I've been in a snit ever since. "Publish Your First Book after 50," said the headline, but here's the real kicker -- "Who says publishing is a young person's game? Here are an agent's tips to writing and publishing well into your golden years."

Golden Years? Excuse me, but the writer must have been addressing his article to my 80-year-old parents. It'll be another quarter century before I reach MY golden years, thank you very much.

WD editors clearly haven't read Generation Ageless: How Baby Boomers are Changing the Way We Live Today ... And They're Just Getting Started.

"It is pretty well recognized that Boomers should not be addressed as 'old people' or 'seniors.' This language does not resonate with Boomers and usually alients them," say authors J. Walker Smith and Ann Clurman, of Yankelovich, Inc., a leading consumer research company that has helped marketers understand consumer values and behavior since 1958. "On the other hand, they are responsive to marketing that uses an active, lively, youthful tone."

Ours is a generation that not only can't afford to retire, we don't want to. We are constantly reinventing ourselves, breaking all the rules and looking for ways to make a difference in a changing world. And still, we are not satisfied, which opens a window for marketers who can make a convincing pitch.

Baby Boomers are not all alike, and the authors slice and dice the data so thin you can slip it into a dozen different pair of skinny jeans without even holding your breath.

Given that Yankelovich actually coined the term "Baby Boomers" back in the late 1960s when they first started collecting data on my self-absorbed generation, and they've studied our dreams, buying patterns, health habits, and values every decade since, they ought to know what they're talking about.

The book, though bogged down with buzzwords and text-book tedious at times, is a must-read for anyone who has a product, service or idea to sell to this influential group of 78 million consumers. Now where are my reading glasses ...

Generation Ageless

By J. Walker Smith and Ann Clurman

Generation Ageless: How Baby Boomers Are Changing the Way We Live Today...And They're Just Getting Started, by J. Walker Smith and Ann Clurman, is a book you must read. Why? Because people will be talking about it! And those in the know know to read this book!

Baby Boomers--you may have heard the phrase, this catchword many times; but did you know there are 78 million of them? After reading this book, I believe there are even more-for surely there are those, like me, who were born on the "cusp--9 months before 1946!" and see themselves more like boomers than any other group!

Yankelovich, Inc. began studying consumer values and lifestyles in 1958. As I started reading Generation Ageless, I did not realize how the activities by a company, about which I knew nothing, could be writing about--me! It was at first exhilarating--then it got downright eerie! Yankelovich chose to begin studying Americans through the gathering and analysis of data by generations. Certainly, they could not have projected at that time that the generation born during the years 1946 to 1964 would become the largest group of any during the last century! Due to the number of individuals, it is also perhaps one of the most influential groups of people in the past and for the foreseeable future.

Generation Ageless is extensive and covers many issues. In some ways, it is like reading a biography of 78 million people, in one book! In another way, it is pure demographics about Baby Boomers. At the same time, every marketing agent should be studying this as a textbook! Put all together, it is one of the most interesting and informative books I have ever read! It is an interesting read with both narrative and charts; however, with excellent writing, the authors have made what could be very dry into something that comes across in a personal fashion and includes information for anybody of any age.

Before reading this book, some of us may have begun thinking about planning for retirement or considering what we might want to do "with the rest of our lives." Even if we didn't feel like our lives were over, we might have felt that society was seeing us that way. Well, after reading Generation Ageless, we will find that we are all thinking the same thing--we are too young to retire...we want to continue doing the things we are now doing and we want to continue them for as long as we want to! So, we now have the key words to explain that! We are not going to ever get old; we are merely middle age-less! "How cool is that?" as one commercial declares.

Baby Boomers want to matter; they want to have a presence and an influence. "Or to put it in the way that best reflects the edge they give to it, it's a matter of immortality and morality." (p. xiv).

The book uses the terminology that has been coined in the past: the Matures, Baby Boomers, Xers, and Echo Boomers. I found it especially heartening that the Baby Boomers group has expressed many of my own thoughts, as I've grown older. We look back with some regret to that accomplished by the Matures. We worry about the Xers and Echo Boomers. But no matter what, Baby Boomers are going to stay in the game. And because there are so many, what Baby Boomers will continue to do for themselves will directly benefit others.

Baby Boomers, in turn, have been divided into the Straight Arrows, Due Diligents, Maximizers, Sideliners, Diss/Contenteds, and Re-Activists, with the driving force being the Maximizers. Readers may see themselves as having started out as one type of individual but changing, due to personal experiences, later in life. As the book says, "maximizers are the most enthusiastic Boomer segment. They want more of everything and they want more out of everything." (p. 188) While the book indicated that maximizers had something in common with every other segment, I thought perhaps another way of saying this was that we all had some part of us that were maximizers...at one time or another in our lives!

This book is fun to read! It is encouraging; it is disheartening...but it is about us! If we have an enemy, then the enemy is us. But if we also believe that our future will be bright, we also know that the Baby Boomers will be there, shining and basking in the light provided by that generation!

You'll be placing this book on a nearby bookshelf. It is a great resource of information. It gives you much to ponder. And it's fun to read and talk about! I highly recommend Generation Ageless.

This is the only text I have used in teaching intro GIS courses for the last four years. It's getting a little long in the tooth--it was written over ten years ago and the hardware illustrations in particular are quite out of date--but the presentation of the fundamentals is still uniformly solid. Newer developments, like LIDAR, GPS, and 3D visualization, are not in this book at all, but are readily learned on the Web, which tends to focus on new stuff and go light on presentations of fundamentals: Web-based GIS materials and this book complement each other well. The focus is on using a GIS for decision making and support, which leads to a good balance between management and technical issues. And unlike many other (popular) GIS texts, this one is not riddled with typographical and technical errors.

Any prof teaching "Introductory GIS" can't go wrong using this as THE standard text in their course. Excellent in all facets. Solid in remote sensing and subsequent raster GIS applications. Good grounding in vector GIS. And a very easy read. Will give you many "jumping off" points for either academic or real-world directions. Good case-studies sprinkled liberally throughout - Aranoff definitely ranks with Thrall as one of today's GIS gurus!

Aronoff text is a must for anyone interested in the subject of GIS. It is a well written text that provides the reader with a solid foundation of GIS concepts, Remote Sensing, data input and output, data management, and GIS analysis functions. It is a concise and practical introduction to the use and function of GIS technology. The text presents concepts using examples from a wide range of disciplines including land planning, agriculture, and mineral exploration. The author also examines the process of GIS implementation including organizational needs, costs-benefits, justification, and legal and political issues.

Got this for a GIS class. Great reference book for both a student and professional wanting to know about geo-statistics and kridging.

I strongly recommend this book for reference and self study. It contains tons of useful definitions, theorems,lemmas, etc.., all with proofs. The algorithms are presented in a very clear and detailed way. The assumptions are stated clearly. It helps a lot with the math and derivations.

One could wonder how a new textbook in geostatistics would have a chance to offer something new and fresh to the reader, when there are so many of them already available on the market. The answer is contained in a sentence that could not be better and more clearly summarized than by the author himself, in the introductory chapter: "Derivations in mathematical books are unnecessarily general, resulting in a complexity that tends to intimidate the uninitiated, while explanations in geostatistical books are cryptically short--to the point that most readers end up taking the derivations for granted."

This single sentence is also the philosophy of this book. By keeping a constant link and perfect balance between theoretical and methodological concerns, the book allows the novice reader to discover step by step the exciting realm of geostatistics and its applications. As explained by the author, this textbook is the result of a long teaching experience to engineering students at the graduate level. After reading this book, I have to say that I wish I could have had the chance to be one of his students when I was struggling myself with theory as a Ph.D. student a few years ago.

A requirement for reading the book is a college-level knowledge in matrix algebra, probability, and statistics. I have found that in spite of its obviousness, this clarification is sometimes lacking in other introductory books, which tend to present the material in such a way the reader could wrongly believe that he or she will be able to grasp the basics and even the more advanced results without the necessity of having a basic command of the disciplines (probability and statistics) that underlie geostatistics. The author also emphasizes that "many of the suggestions of my colleagues were incorporated into the final text, but I reserve the right, and assume the blame, for disagreeing in a few instances." This sentence shows us that beyond the various streams that exist in the field, the author had in mind the concern of presenting a view of the field as objective as possible to the newcomer, which is a very responsible attitude.

The book includes 14 chapters. Each chapter is organized in a very clear fashion, by making distinctions between what is a definition, lemma, theorem, corollary, assumption, or algorithm. This helps the reader avoid confusion about a pure theoretical property and widely accepted methodological ways of having the job done. A proof for each lemma, theorem, and corollary, as direct as possible, is provided each time and allows the curious reader to discover why things are the way they are. This theoretical presentation is accompanied in many places by practical guidelines and discussions that help the reader to make the step from theory to practice. Numerous, very practical, exercises are proposed, as well as commented and illustrated solutions. Only the most classical techniques are presented, allowing the reader to focus on the essentials, rather than being overwhelmed by numerous variations on the same topic and the unavoidable and often confusing discussion about advantages and disadvantages of each of them. Adequate additional references are provided for the reader who wants to go further herself or himself.

I would conclude by saying that this book, in my opinion, is one of the best introductions to geostatistics that I have ever read. It is a perfect balance between theory and methodological considerations. The presentation of the various techniques is made with a permanent concern for the comprehension of the underlying theory, without neglecting the illustrative part that helps the reader to fully understand the implications of the developments. It is concise and yet complete enough for helping the newcomer to find his or her way in the meanders of this rapidly evolving discipline. I am sure that even the more experienced geostatisticians will read it with great pleasure and will find for it a very special place on their bookshelf. It is the kind of book that you enjoy recommending to anyone who wants a good starting point in a field. I will personally use it as reference book for my students. In summary, I very strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to have an introductory, consistent, and unbiased view of geostatistics.