York College Books

I love this book...I currently have about 4 chemistry review books, including an older edition of this book from my brother. The SAT II Books (like Princeton Review and Barrons) are good, but this book is very clear. There are a few trick questions, but mostly it is about the concepts. Very helpful with all the extra questions at the end of the chapter. Absolutely great! Thanks

This book has helped me so much with honors high school chemistry and explains everything so clearly and the convenience of having 40 practice questions per chapter really helps me truly understand the concepts of each chapter. I recommend this book to anyone taking chemistry!!

It may be a little too detailed for the regents student. Since the regents is getting dumbed down, I reccomend getting an older copy of the book (before 2001)-- It has more details and helpful hints in it

This is about the best book on high school level chemistry I have come across. Albert Tarendash explains each concept with care and very helpful example problems are worked out. I would recommend this book to anyone who is taking an introductory chemistry course.

This book has helped me so much with honors high school chemistry and explains everything so clearly and the convenience of having 40 practice questions per chapter really helps me truly understand the concepts of each chapter. I recommend this book to anyone taking chemistry!!

No matter what your political persuasion or your profession, this book is a great source of wisdom and insight. Beyond a fascinating history of the birth of public interest law, Charlie Halpern provides a deeply personal and affirming account of how to pursue one's ideals in a way that is nurturing of our deeper selves and respectful of others. A key lesson of this book is that it is not just what you stand or fight for, but who you are and how you act as you do it. By cultivating an awareness that allows a deeper wisdom to emerge, Charlie points to ways we all can contribute to the world in a way that contributes to far greater tolerance and balance, without compromising our effectiveness. And in the process, we also become healthier and more loving and also create a world that reflects this.

I highly recommend this engaging memoir, which is an inspiration and fast read. Charles Halpern graduated from Harvard and Yale, and parlayed a legal career into the first public interest law firm and law school. Upon discovering meditation, Mr. Halpern, incorporated his practice into his life's work. As a result of Halpern's efforts, oil pipelines were put in Alaskan soil sustainably, DDT was banned, public interest lawyers found their needed education, and graduates started influential environmental groups such as EarthJustice. The ripple of Halpern's positive wave continues, and you can catch it by reading Making Waves and Riding the Currents.

An enjoyable and inspiring read!! I loved this thoughtful and honest account of the struggles of building a successful career that incorporates a contemplative practice. Great wisdom and advice runs throughout this memoir - and I return to it frequently as I try to balance all aspects of my own life.

Making Waves and Riding Currents is a book that everyone should read. No soft tale here but a journey not unlike rafting white waters. Charles sees the real and the ideal, the what "could be and is not yet", takes time to grasp the whole, sees the way and then takes it. He combines courage, a genuine interest in life and a willingness to "live and learn" both on a professional and personal level. This is a story of major entrepreneurial ventures that impact our own lives, created and co-created, experienced and shared in ways allowing every one involved to learn, use their experience, as well as to question and relinquish old patterns, recognize blocks and crack open into wider realms of understanding and living that center on Wisdom. This book documents changes in thinking that have make our society more humane and just. This is not your usual "lawyer" story. This is speaks to everyone's potential to develop wisdom, played out large, and saying: Come on, you can do it! I can't stop thinking about what one life can do.

From the beginning of this tale of Charles Halpern's remarkable accomplishments, it was obvious that he was an intelligent, effective individual with many skills. But competent doesn't necessarily mean wise. Fortunately for us readers, interwoven with the story of his doing is the story of his psychological/spiritual development -- the story of his growth in wisdom and the integration of that wisdom into his many activities.

Halpern had the courage to place himself in a wide variety of challenging, often uncomfortable, growth-fostering situations. Too many to recount here, they included a winter camping adventure in the Adirondacks, a week-long vision quest based on Native American traditions that included many hours in a sweat lodge, and a five-day mindfulness meditation retreat led by Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. This last was a watershed event, about which Halpern wrote: "The experience of extended meditation practice...awakened my interest in exploring the connection between meditation and wisdom. Could I undertake to practice wisdom, living the wise life that would generate wise actions and decisions? Could this be a new way to approach activism, to start from the place of wisdom and compassion rather than the place of anger and insistence on legal rights?"

Meditation became a central focus in his life, and numerous retreats followed. To some extent facilitated by the Nathan Cummings Foundation of which he was now President, he met and got to know many of America and the world's foremost spiritual teachers. "Longtime meditators and respected teachers," he wrote, "gave me a new model for a way to be in the world--committed to serving others, cultivating wisdom, being open to changing themselves, and exposing their own vulnerability." Currently, Charles Halpern is Chair of The Center for Contemplative Mind and Society.

MAKING WAVES AND RIDING THE CURRENTS is a truly inspiring and uplifting book. It is the tale of a life marked by great accomplishment and developing wisdom, told with an engaging frankness about his own vulnerabilities by the man who has lived it.

Weidlich's study of how and why Lord Bertrand Russell was denied a teaching job at New York's City College is definitive.

It is difficult to see how anyone else could have written a clearer explanation of the embarrassing decisions made by the college's and the city's officials in denying Russell the right to express any views whatsoever on a college campus.

Appointment Denied: the Inquisition of Bertrand Russell. By Thom Weidlich. Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY 2000.

Weidlich, a journalist and former reporter for the National Law Journal, has described in lucid detail how famed philosopher Sir Bertrand Russell was denied a position on the faculty of City College (CCNY) of the City of New York. The 1940 incident has been compared to the "monkey trial" of John Scopes. I have read widely from Russell's work as well as about Russell and find Weidlich's book is definitive about Episcopal Bishop Manning's successful efforts to gain support from Catholics and politicians to keep Russell from teaching. Also, Weidlich explains Russell's views in layman's language that is understandable and on the mark. If the Vatican can apologize for Galileo, one wonders when will the Episcopalians apologize for their egregiously narrow-minded bishop?

This book is a story of how our society treats people who think they are smarter than everyone else. Most of the action takes place in New York City, where John Lennon also discovered that he was not entirely welcome, possibly for some of the same reasons that Bertrand Russell was a problem. While there is some concern in this book for free speech, the opposition to Russell was mainly a problem for people who might be held responsible politically for the taxpayer dollars that Russell was so concerned about getting. The British earl (3-times-married, twice divorced) needed enough income to provide for his child of two, at a time when "probably the world's most renowned living philosopher" (p. 10) was only two years short of the mandatory retirement age. This book was written before the events of September 11, 2001, and seems totally unaware of the possibility that anyone who disagrees with the financial control exercised by New York City over global economics could hijack airplanes and use them to reduce large buildings to rubble. America is fortunate that a plane on September 11, 2001 also struck the Pentagon, so the federal government had a direct military attack which it could respond to in a like manner (air superiority being a prime consideration in superpower planning for geopolitical dominance). The military use of aircraft has become an American obsession as critical to American geopolitical machinations as intellect is a distinguishing feature in the ideology which thinks it rules in New York City and in the mind of Ralph Nader.

The index has a lot of distinguished names, including Augustine, Bruce Barton, Bismarck, Giordano Bruno, Neville Chamberlain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Euclid, Sigmund Freud, Galileo Galilei, Hegel, Werner Heisenberg, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Thomas Jefferson, James Joyce, Lenin, Martin Luther, Karl Marx, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Plato, St. Joan of Arc Holy Name Society, Socrates, Baruch de Spinoza, Stalin, Trotsky, Voltaire, Woodrow Wilson, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. There is only a single entry for the Communist Party, none for the Democratic Party, and only a few pages are cited for Young Communist League and Young People's Socialist League. I am not related in any way to the Bruce Barton whose views on religion are so well known that the president of Hunter College, George N. Shuster, a lay Catholic, could describe other Catholics as "`like a blend of' the Daughters of the American Revolution, advertising man Bruce Barton, `and a random devotee of Torquemada,' the evil medieval inquisitor. Of their moralizing, he said that Catholics could see `nothing in the universe but middle-class primness--an order to avoid shocking some imaginary schoolgirl' (these were prescient words concerning Russell's predicament)." (p. 86).

My own interest in the role of the Democratic party in this book is a result of the situation for the appointment of federal judges, now that the Democrats no longer have control of the U.S. Senate, which has the power to approve such appointments and have tried to make this seem like an important role for protecting the rights of people who think that there is more to life than just getting married and having children. Prior to the appointment of George Shuster, the president of Hunter College was Eugene Colligan, "a political hack, installed when Tammany Hall, the notorious Manhattan Democratic machine, was still running the city (though not for much longer). . . . At the college's 1935 commencement exercises, the rowdy audience held placards charging `Colligan Lives Up to Mussolini's "Order of Merit"' (the fascist leader had bestowed upon him the Italian Medal of Merit for `distinguished educational accomplishment')." (p. 11). Throughout this book, the leadership of Protestant Episcopal Bishop William T. Manning of the Diocese of New York combines with the kind of politics that Democrats have spent years using, appealing to popular animus to try to avert the kind of confusion which the future is bound to run into sooner or later.

Those who learned the most about political advantages were students who had the opportunity to promote their own interests. At the time, the student body was pretty bright. ". . . and because of the Ivy League's limits on how many Jews it would take--during this period that Russell was to teach, `the City College student body represented perhaps the purest intellectual elite in the country.' Of the eight Nobel Prize winners the college has produced (more than any other public institution), three came from the class of 1937." (p. 54). Those who were there just a few years later might have resigned themselves to the belief that being born with a brain wasn't really all that great, if this book is any indication of how the world will treat you.

In the case of the Young Communist League, who "viewed it as a case of academic freedom . . . but we don't really give a hoot about Russell and this case," (p. 55) others "begged the YCL representative on the student council to keep the Communists out of the Russell controversy so they could win it. `Everything the Communists touched was the kiss of death. . . . the Hearst papers depicted the Communists fighting to get Russell in. This contributed to an extent in keeping Russell out. The irony was that the next fall, the YCL used their fighting for Russell to recruit new members among the incoming class.'" (p. 56) Now that the U.S. Supreme Court can be anyone who the President picks, we shall see how soon the people who placed obstacles in the way of those who wanted to count ballots for his opponent can be replaced by incoming justices, using the term loosely, of course, in the time-honored manner.

weidlich provides a stimulating and briskly-paced account of a seemingly minor historical event, which nonetheless serves as the springboard into a wide-ranging and meticulous consideration of deep, difficult issues: how much intellectual freedom in academia is too much? do individual taxpayers, as the ultimate funders of public academic institutions, get to answer this question? or is it their elected representatives? or neither? and can our society allow the answer to find its fundament in one particular religion's belief system? or in a morality that transcends particular religions? does such a morality exist?

the historical coverage of the russell controversy itself is thorough, carefully documented and generally unimpeachable. weidlich is conscious of the story's amusing, sometimes ridiculous components, which adds to the enjoyment. the book is worth the price for that analysis alone. the treatment of the bigger themes is gravy.

Weidlich's cogent historical narrative crisply sets up a seminal event in New York politics, and how the members of the power structure, for various reasons, conspired to better or preserve their political positions by opposing Russell's nomination to teach philosphy at City College in the 1940s. But in a larger context, Weidlich's book provides a prescient analysis of an event that was a harbinger of things to come - of the familiar debate over unpopular uses for taxpayer funds, and how educational priorities often fall victim as a result. While the book does not aspire to be anything more than a clear picture of a 1940s New York controversy, it would seem that this clear vision has made the more timeless aspects of the debate rise to the surface. Appointment Denied is a must for anyone with an interest in the political dynamic that ran New York's system of higher education, and the theological dynamic that still seems to govern the politics of the city - and the nation.

This anthology was an incredible read. If you are looking to be inspired, to have your hope reborn, read these stories!! You are guaranteed to look within yourself and say, "Yes, I can!"

The stories in this book are an inspiration to people of all ages. The can-do spirit embodied by these students who chose the path of educational excellence, is a lesson in what can be achieved with the right support, encouragement and good training. When these kids succeed, we all, society writ large, benefit. And after 25 years of success, PREP FOR PREP must be doing something right. Share this book with anyone who doubts the power of possibility.

"Be the Dream" is a great inspirational read on hope and success through hard work in academics as told by adults who have survived the inner city hells of America. It is a good book for teachers, who firmly believe in the potential of all their students; for students, who lose sight of their dreams because of mainstream media; for parents who are struggling to not only put food on the table, but are also battling the negative/misguided messages thrown at their kids; and for other inner city survivors who feel that they are alone in their struggle to find justice in this world.

I bought a copy for my nephew who is in 10th grade. I plan to buy one for my niece who is in 11th grade, and more copies for my boss and friends who are teachers in the inner cities.

I have met and spent time with some of the writers in the book and they are truly inspirational.

A superb read about the stories of gifted minority youngsters whose lives, and the lives they have connected with, have evolved from the most challenging levels of our society with the assistance of the Prep program, community, and Mr. Simons into the talented leaders of present and future.

Wondefully inspirational to all who see the need for changes in education and society and especially for those who are unaware of the many ways in which these positive goals can be accomplished today!

Dardedel displays an unquenchable thirst within man for love, perfection and humanity. The enchanting Mitra, the embodiment of everlasting love and light, enlightens a musical craving for love within man. Professor Manoucher Parvin has written a palatable, seductive tale that definitely leaves the reader begging for more. The wisdom of Hafiz and Rumi speaks directly to the heart of philosophy, social theory, and education; it demonstrates a bridge of understanding between the relationship of man to himself (Professor Pirooz) as well as the one between two cultures which are in desperate need of mutual empathy.

Epilogue

Ascendance: The Possibility of You and Me

There is no illuminating nova.
There is no cleansing rainstorm.
There is no music lifting the spirit.
There is no prayer seducing a miracle.
There is only the possibility of me understanding you.
There is only the possibility of you understanding me.
There is only the possibility of one soul caressing another.
There is only dardedel.

"DARDEDEL"-Epilogue

By reincarnating two legendary Persian poets Rumi and
Hafez in New York Dardedel connects East and West,Past and Present and
integrates science, art and spirituality in a brilliant fashion. Dardedel is
very humorous and insightful.

Dardedel, a novel in verse, is a masterpiece that one would read again and again. It sparkles with the wisdom and spirituality of the East and the science and rationality of the West. Its love story between the dazzling and brilliant Mitra and the legendary poet rebel Hafez will become a classic of the 21st Century. The other characters in the novel are the poet Rumi, Professor Pirooz, New York and God.

"Dardedel" is a glorious read -- nourished with whimsy, irony, compelling plot twists and passion. I commend this lovely work of verse to everyone from students of classical Middle Eastern literature to lovers of contemporary fiction. There is something for everyone in Manoucher Parvin's prose.

I bought this for my best friend, who is a teacher...she absolutely loved it and said it was wonderful book.

IT IS AN EXTRAORDINARY PRIVILEDGE TO WALK THROUGH THE HORROR OF 9/11 WITH THESE COURAGEOUS TEACHERS. IN TELLING THEIR VERY PERSONAL STORIES WITH HUMILITY AND HUMANITY, THEY GAVE OF THEMSELVES, OPENLY AND GENEROUSLY, AND, LET US INTO THEIR LIVES ON THAT UNIMAGINABLE DAY.

WE ALL THOUGHT ABOUT THE NYC SCHOOL CHILDREN THAT DAY. WE ALL WONDERED ABOUT THE TEACHERS WHO WERE IN CHARGE. WE WANTED TO KNOW WHEN AND HOW THEY FOUND OUT, WHAT EACH TEACHER SAID , HOW THEY FELT, WHO THEY CALLED, HOW THEY KEPT THEIR COOL WITH THE CHILDREN.... HOW THEY SHOWED UP AS LEADERS IN THE FACE OF THE GRAVEST TRAGEDY. AND, IN THE AFTERMATH, HOW THEY CAME TO AN INNER PLACE OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE; HOPE THAT CONTINUES TODAY.

THE STORIES ARE STIRRING. THE VOICES NEED TO BE HEARD. THE READINGS WILL TOUCH YOUR HEART, WILL MOVE YOU TO TEARS, AND WILL LEAVE YOU WITH PROFOUND RESPECT AND ADMIRATION FOR OUR TEACHERS... AND A DEEP SENSE OF GRATITUDE FOR EVERY DAY.

This book eloquently recounts the stories of the 9/11 tragedy and its aftermath from the perspective of the New York City teachers who were on the job that fateful day. It is powerfully written, a testament to their hope and strength and shared humanity. The writing was so compelling that I wanted to read it all at once, but emotionally I needed to go slowly, to let each chapter sink in. It is one of the most powerful pieces of writing that I have ever read.

What would you do if you had been a teacher or administrator in a New York City school on September 11th, 2001?

None of us can be sure how we would have responded to such a challenge. But the 17 teachers who wrote this book, do. Their very personal memoirs have inspired me as a teacher, and as a grandparent of young children who have already asked: "Can something like that happen again?"

Reading these teachers' well-earned words is like sitting around a kitchen table with a group of smart, dedicated, and exerienced teachers, and hearing them share t heir struggles with the greatest educational challenge of our time: sustaining the hopes of the next generation.

Patricia Lent, a 2nd-3rd grade teacher, reports one of her students saying: "I'll never forget that on that day you held my hand and you didn't let go."

"I couldn't let what had happened destroy what was left that was good," writes Debbie Almontaser.

Voices from the classroom are all too rare in the literature of education and pedagogy. This book is exhilarting to read and an authentic source of hope and help for parents, teachers, and students.

Ronald Gross

Terrific novel. Such a genuine, non-judgemental look at extra-relational relations (a euphemism if there ever was one), and so skillful at portraying how society deals with pedophilia. I was also impressed that a man caught the classic "Queen Bee-ness" of Mary Ann's character, and how her sidekicks were so driven by fear of her disapproval. I sympathized will all the characters, even the slimeballs. I sensed that the author didn't quite catch the "dialect" of three-year-old speech. Something to work on for his next great novel!

This is a wise and humane novel and one of the very few American novels to deal with marital and extramarital sex with honesty and understanding. Both the plotting and the characterization are exceptional and I hope this book finds a much wider audience.

I haven't seen the movie and don't know if I intend to. I just wanted a great book, and this was definitely a perfect choice! It's the kind of story that pulls you in immediately, and you can't put down, even though it's really time to go to bed!

There is suspense, electricity, and a twist. It should go on your list if you ever wonder about having a lover. Or want to read about someone who took the plunge.

Little Children was my favorite movie of 2006, and also my sister's favorite. So someone gave my sister a copy of the book it was based on. After she finished it, she gave it to me. It is a lot like the movie, only longer, since it doesn't have a two hour time limit. There are many extra scenes here that didn't make it into the movie. Much more background into the characters' past. One main difference between the book and the movie is that the actors in the movie don't match the descriptions of the characters in the book (not that they have to). The main difference plotwise is that the character of Ronnie meets a different fate in the book and the movie. Anyway, this is a great book which I enjoyed very much.

This gracefully written book tells an adventure story. It's set in the late 60s and early 70s, the time of the Great Society when hopes were high for breaking down barriers of Class and Race. It's full of unforgettable characters : Parents who live in East Harlem, near the market under the train tracks, and teachers and other people who come from outside the community and soon are engaged in learning how to work within it. Very relevant to the present day challenges of teaching and parenting.

With the start of the school year approaching, there is no better time to learn from the men and women whose struggles are documented in this wonderfully written book. The account of their journey to create better schools and better futures for the children in their community is both engaging and inspiring.

This is an exceptional book. I'm not an educator and found it spell binding. What I found most extraordinary was that, against so many odds, there were so many successes and that the school continues. The efforts of the families and teachers is humbling. One of the outstanding aspects of the book is the description of the way in which issues of class were confronted and dealt with. This seems to be an issue over which many well-intentioned efforts to change "the system" stumble. This account offers valuable insight as to how such challenges must be met. This book is of great value to anyone concerned with social change. It's also well written, which is a treat.

When I was a teacher in a New York City public school, professionals used to implore parents to get involved in their children's education. This involvement, of course, was to take place at home, because parents were not welcomed into the school except by invitation. What a difference there is between that relationship of school and home and the one described by Tom Roderick in this book! Parents were not only welcomed into the East Harlem Block Schools, they were in charge of the place. Roles for teachers and parents were clearly defined, but in the end, an elected parent board had decision-making power. The result: Children thrived, parents found themselves furthering their own education, and teachers discovered the pains and pleasures of breaking through barriers of race and class. This book is great social history with important lessons for schools and for community development in general.

If you want to learn how to be "appropriate" and become a skillful buisness pioneer, then this is a must own book. It entails key facts about Mr Stanley Marcus, a pioneer of the business realm.

the follow up to 'minding the store',these books give you an excellent overview of running any sort of company in a 1.st class way.
putting the client in a comfortable position,in comfortable surroundings,with well trained staff, add-- product selected with care, usage thought,& background, add--a slight sense of humour, is a recipe to do well.

I first read "Quest for the Best" when it was published in 1979. I was in college then, and Mr. Marcus' view of retailing was so informative, to say nothing of interesting. I learned more from reading that book than I did from some of my college courses. If you're thinking of a career in retailing, or just wanting a glimpse into the high-end retail world, read this book, as well as "Minding the Store," which is also by Mr. Marcus.

This reference is surely one of the most user-friendly and parent-friendly guides I've come across. ...

Finally a very well-put-together reference for us research-weary parents from New York and its border states! I would encourage all parents who are beginning to think about the summer of '99 to get this book very soon: There are early applicaion deadlines and/or limited space in certain academic and arts programs. There are also lots of great programs described in this reference which I would never have heard about otherwise.

Someone finally put together a college campus reference for kids! This is really well- formatted and organized with decent-size print and heavy enough paper. Decriptions and program information seem very complete and with no advertising of any kind, I feel confident about its all-inclusiveness