Research Books

This is a great book. Everyone who uses statistics in any way should read it. Maybe everyone who READS articles that contain statistics should read it! The mathematics is minimal (very few formulas, and those are basic), but a lot of very good advice on how to use statistics sensibly (and how it is sometimes used nonsensically!).

The author is a psychologist with strong graduate training in mathematics and statistics. He did his graduate work at Princeton and as his dedication indicates. he was very much influenced by the work of John Tukey (who he probably took courses from at Princeton in addition to later interactions). Abelson is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and is very knowledgeable on the statistical literature from the 1940s up to the present.
The book is mostly expository with a lot of dialogue and interesting applications. Applications are concentrated in psychology, a field that Abelson is most familiar with but coverage is not restricted to psychology. He covers examples from sports, gambling and medicine as well and some of these examples are very good at making points about common misunderstandings a perceptions about probability and statistics.

A main theme is the importance of a reasoned or principled argument in the presentation of results from a statistical analysis. Abelson points out that many researchers are afraid of mathematics and statistics and use it only as a necessary tool in a research project. They want to find a method for turnng the crank and reaching a conclusion. Abelson recognizes that this causes trouble.

There is too much reliance on the 0.05 significance level. Researchers fail to understand the use of a null hypothesis or the fact that conclusion of hypothesis tests are not black and white and have possible errors associated with them. Most researchers do not understand the subtleties of the interpretation of p-values or confidence intervals and many do not know or understand the difference between the frequentist and Bayesian approaches.

Abelson is careful to articulate all of this in a way that statisticians would be proud of and hopefully it will be understandable to researchers as well.

He also spends time in the text describing the counterintuitive streaky nature of random sequences. He refers to this by saying "Chance is lumpy." He illustrate this with examples from ESP experimentation and the study of the hot hand in basketball. This is all time well spent. Abelson also points out the gambler's fallacy of believing that a batter is "due" for a hit if he has not gotten one for many at bats or that red should come up on the next spin of the roulette wheel after a string of 5 or 6 blacks.

Equivalence and multiple comparisons are two topics that are well-covered in the book. The author also speaks well for Tukey's exploratory approach to data analysis and includes some graphics including stem-and-leaf plots. But aside from a few graphs and tables, there is very little mathematics and no formulas or derivations. This can make it a little difficult for the mathematical statisticians at times. Yet this may be viewed as a blessing by the less mathematically inclined researcher.

In any case it is worth reading for anyone involved in statistical analysis especially graduate students and researchers.

This is the most informative book on statistics that I have ever read. In every chapter there is something to stimulate thinking. I only wish someone had recommended it to me last decade rather than last year.

Anyone who has struggled to try and integrate the many different facets of statistics and research will find that Abelson has done a magnificent job supported by enlightening examples and comprehensive references.

The author is a psychologist with strong graduate training in mathematics and statistics. He did his graduate work at Princeton and as his dedication indicates. he was very much influenced by the work of John Tukey (who he probably took courses from at Princeton in addition to later interactions). Abelson is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and is very knowledgeable on the statistical literature from the 1940s up to the present.

The book is mostly expository with a lot of dialogue and interesting applications. Applications are concentrated in psychology, a field that Abelson is most familiar with but coverage is not restricted to psychology. He covers examples from sports, gambling and medicine as well and some of these examples are very good at making points about common misunderstandings a perceptions about probability and statistics.

A main theme is the importance of a reasoned or principled argument in the presentation of results from a statistical analysis. Abelson points out that many researchers are afraid of mathematics and statistics and use it only as a necessary tool in a research project. They want to find a method for turnng the crank and reaching a conclusion. Abelson recognizes that this causes trouble.

There is too much reliance on the 0.05 significance level. Researchers fail to understand the use of a null hypothesis or the fact that conclusion of hypothesis tests are not black and white and have possible errors associated with them. Most researchers do not understand the subtleties of the interpretation of p-values or confidence intervals and many do not know or understand the difference between the frequentist and Bayesian approaches.

Abelson is careful to articulate all of this in a way that statisticians would be proud of and hopefully it will be understandable to researchers as well.

He also spends time in the text describing the counterintuitive streaky nature of random sequences. He refers to this by saying "Chance is lumpy." He illustrate this with examples from ESP experimentation and the study of the hot hand in basketball. This is all time well spent. Abelson also points out the gambler's fallacy of believing that a batter is "due" for a hit if he has not gotten one for many at bats or that red should come up on the next spin of the roulette wheel after a string of 5 or 6 blacks.

Equivalence and multiple comparisons are two topics that are well-covered in the book. The author also speaks well for Tukey's exploratory approach to data analysis and includes some graphics including stem-and-leaf plots. But aside from a few graphs and tables, there is very little mathematics and no formulas or derivations. This can make it a little difficult for the mathematical statisticians at times. Yet this may be viewed as a blessing by the less mathematically inclined researcher.

In any case it is worth reading for anyone involved in statistical analysis especially graduate students and researchers.

Real joy to read , easy to follow , great examples , if you want to know about statistics as well as spss please look no more & save your pennies. it does not support spss11. that's not even a drawback. if you are looking for PhD pretty simple for you

I was told that it is impossible to learn statistics and SPSS at the same time but this book proves that it can be done. It is very logical and the increasing complexity is easy to follow and the examples used in the book are easy to understand. Each chapter ends with an exercise section which helps to test your comprehension of the chapter. I have already used 4 other books and this is the best. Don't bother wasting your money and time with other books. I highly recommend it.

`This is a text that can be strongly recommended....I would imagine this book would be useful as a set text for undergraduate modules in social statistics, or as a resource on postgraduate degrees in social science that take a quantitative focus' -
Medical Sociology News

`This book is a detailed and very practical manual introducing statistical methods for research.... In its treatment of statistics the book is accurate and has obviously been edited with great care.... For the reviewer, the main attraction of the book was the detailed explanation of principles that underlie test formulae. As a result, the mystery of statistical output is removed and the simple practicalities are laid bare. This approach, so necessary for deep learning, makes the work far more than a statistical recipe book with a DIY computing section. The author has gone to considerable lengths to assist students by including example questions with model answers, a glossary of terms, a list of key equations and a selection of statistical tables. A CD-ROM containing data files for student exercises is provided with the book and a public access Internet address is given for readers to obtain updated files.... For undergraduate and graduate students seeking to acquire an understanding of statistical methods for research, and the associated SPSS procedures, this book provides an excellent introduction' -
Journal of Advanced Nursing

This is the rarest of statistics texts that combines complete accessibility (especially to "numerically challenged" students) with rigorous treatments of introductory and advanced statistical concepts. The integration of SPSS menus directly into the text is a unique and outstanding feature that allows for the seamless integration of this software package into lectures, problem sets, and exams. Practitioners will also love this book. This is THE text you want to own!!!

Jason Hecht

Assistant Professor of Finance
Ramapo College of New Jersey

Thank you so much for getting me the book in such a timely matter I really appreciate it, also it is in great condition.

Need to learn the basics of statistics? B Michael Thorne and J Martin Giesen's book is a very well written, fundamentally sound textbook that will give the reader a well-structured taste how statistics are applied to the behavioral sciences.

The book expounds well on the language of statistics. Chapters 2-6 are dedicated to Discriptive Statistics wherein the student will learn the basics of scaling, frequency distribution, and graphing of data. Following are appropriately placed and well written lessons on Measures of Central Tendency, Measures of Dispersion finishing with the functions and dynamics of Standard Scores.

Generally speaking, the book systematically advances some very neat step-by-step lessons involving statistical formulas for finding the variance et al. It teaches the student the importance of graphs and helps them to develop a deep appreciation for the various kinds of graphs available to express ones data.

The intent of the authors seems to be an effort to delivers a text where every chapter builds perfectly on the next. The student may find himself or herself submerged in learning about the measures of the central tendency and before they know it, they will be calculating t scores, the average deviation, the standard deviation and the variances for given data.

This book also teaches about the importance of the power of a statistical test while helping the student to appreciate the difference between a parametric from a non-parametric test and coaches the student of which test to use when.

This book offers fine systematic lessons in appreciating such tests as one and two-way ANOVA design and makes correlation and regression principles easy to understand.

The book also offers nice easy to comprehend tutorials in Chi-Square goodness to fitness test as well as the Chi square test of independence. The text concludes with a solid lesson in alternatives to the t and F tests and features manageable lessons for the Mann-Whitney U Test, The Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed- Ranks Test, and the Kruskal-Wallice-One-Way ANOVA.

The appendix is loaded with a nice review of the formulas for quick reference and glossary definitions that make understanding statistical symbols an easy and pleasant task. It is adequately furnished as well with statistical tables, albeit limited, for locating areas in a z score, and for finding critical values for t, f, q, r, x2 et al. given of course the degrees of freedom.

B Michael Thorne and J Martin Giesen's book on statistics for the behavioral sciences was such a fine and well organize book that it gave me confidence and today I look forward to the day when I will test my own Null Hypothesis.

I read the whole 3rd edition of this book and I did not have many complains, other than the chapter on 2 way ANOVA was too brief. I tried to look inside this book, but such info is not available here at this moment. At least I know the former edition was really good. Everything else than 2 way ANOVA was explained in narrative ways that definitively help to understand this topics much better than so many other book filled of junk equations. However, I'm not so sure if you should use this book if you're currently taking a statistic related course because you may need immediate answers, just equations and repetitive solutions. The proper and deeper knowledge that will be useful in real life when doing research takes much longer time to learn and you shold take it at some time later on. I am not a psychology major, but a chemistry one and the book is just as helpful to me as to the aimed audience, it's math after all, 1 + 1 is 2 no matter which one is your major.

this book is better than the previous book for the course... this one explains things in better detail as if you are just learning the stuff rather than to assume you already know what the authors are talking about

This book introduced all areas of statistics with a story or an explanation that made learning statistics enjoyable. In addition, this book contained many detailed examples that I used over and over again throughtout the course as a way of ensuring myself that I truly understood the concept that I was currently being taught. Statistics: A Gentle Introduction is a book that will remian in my personal library for many years.

This book was fantastic! It outlined the basic concepts of statistics in a way that didn't completely confuse the student. I was able to pass all my tests and actually UNDERSTAND my coursework. Kudos to the author--I HIGHLY recommend this book to the beginning statistics student.

This has to be the most "gentle" book about statistics on the market. I can actually say that I now understand the basic statistical methods! Too often, statistics books give you too much information all at once, which can be confusing to beginners. This book gradually lays it out step by step and gives clear examples of almost every possible variation. Authors of statistics texts often confuse the reader in their attempts to impress them with technical language. This book is written in language understandable to beginners and proceeds at a digestable pace. Plus, it includes brief glimpses of historical information to give the reader a broader understanding of the subject. I highly recommend this as a text for introductory statistics classes or as a refresher for anyone!

I taught several statistics courses using Statistics: A Gentle Introduction (1st ed.). I just received the 2nd edition. I have shelves of stats books and these are by far the most down to earth, easy to understand stats books I've found and are ideal for teaching. The 2nd edition builds upon the first edition and offers practice problems and sample test questions at the end of each chapter. The 2nd edition includes SPSS output and a description of the output for regression & correlation (but not for ANOVA, t-tests, chi-square). The 2nd edition includes a nice description of confidence intervals. I highly recommend this book!

Great job! Got the book fast and the book was in a great condition with the CD!

I used this book for my Ob semester of nursing school. This book along with the disk helped me get wonderful grades in the semester. This semester is very hard, but using this book made it very easy. I HIGHLY recommended this book to everyone who is in or going to nursing school. This book is great. It actually covers material the instructors lectured on. The questions on the disk were very similiar to the questions on the nursing tests. It helps you understand maternity and neonatal.

This is a great book......would recommend this to any nursing student. It really helped me get through nursing level 2. It really breaks the important material down and makes it easier to understand. The CD has Nclex type questions that are really helpful as well.

If you have one of those large texts that you have to read and just dont have the time- this is the perfect middle man! It cuts to the chase- gives you all you need to know in relation to the facts- I read my big text for the nursing know how's for how to care for the new mom- but this is great to get just what you need to know for the tests! I love this book- in fact all of the straight a's books are great as well- my teacher in fact wanted to use this book as the actual text, she liked it so much. Really a great investment- This was a great read too- not boring like some other texts- kept me very interested!

I wanted to know all the inner workings of applying and getting into nursing school. AND, I wanted to know how to actually make it through once I got in. This book has it all! From the reality of whether or not nurisng is for me to how to "get in." Plus, study tips, a specific breakdown of what to expect in school and very detailed advice on how to succed in it. I'm talking about details like how to prepare for tests, how to make the most of clinical experiences, and even how to get financial aid! Also,this book explains all about preparing for the licensing exam, and even how to write a "cover letter" and handle job interviews. THOROUGH! Vey thorough. I will refer to it for years to come.

I am already in nursing school, but I ordered this book anyway. I only wish I had found it before I got into school. It answered many questions I had to find out the hard way. It is very informative in so many areas. I would recommend it to anyone looking for answers about nursing school, either before or after you're in school. Excellent and easy to read. Lots of resources listed as well.

At first I thought, hmmm...this is kinda skinny for 25 bucks. But now my only complaint is,
WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG, STEPH? This book answered every question you'd ever want to ask
but probably couldn't find the answer to in one place.

It is great! If you don't have much experience in healthcare, and want to be a nurse, this is the book to
get! There are a few others out there, but this one is straight to the point, gives concrete ideas, even
talks about going the LPN route.

Even if you have an idea of what it's like to go to college, or know the classes you'll be taking, the
hoops you have to jump thru, etc., Stephanie actually tells you what'll be like when you have your first
clinical day. She tells you seemingly inconsequential details like the supplies you might be expected to
buy before you actually start your clinicals. That may be a small thing, but if you're tight on a budget
and just approaching your pre-reqs, isn't that a handy thing to know? She spells out what a big time
commitment it will be, how hard it is, etc., but also tells you that you can do it if you just get
FOCUSED.

And she tells you how to focus, gives study strategies, note taking tips, how to use study groups. I plan
on reading this section to my son who just began high school and needs help with his study habits. We
will both benefit from committing this one to memory.

She also explains what different specialties of nursing means. Didn't you always wonder what Nursing
Informatics was all about (obviously something about information, but what kind?). She tells you what
the classes that are usually standard in most schools of nursing are about (like what the hec is
"Foundations in Nursing"? Is it the beginning of nursing? The history, or what? It is actually just the
"basics").

Financial Aid is covered in this book not so much as to tell you where to go and what to do (altho some of this is there) because truly, as the book advises, your school will steer you in the right direction and it lists some places you can try for additional help. But did you know some grants, loans and scholarships can help with your living expenses? Important information to know if you're a single parent who is wondering how they will go to school, feed the family and have time to study.

Taking the NCLEX is spelled out in detail as well as what to do if you don't pass the first time....or the
second.

You can't go wrong with this book and I can't say enough good things about it. Everything from
making your application to the school and what they're looking for to going on to graduate studies is
included in this volume. Plus everything in between. If you are either a traditional high school student
who wonders what the whole education process of a nurse is, or you're a 50-something wanna-be
nurse going back to school after 30 years, you will profit from this book immensely. Absolutely worth
$... and then some! It will keep you from tossing and turning and agonizing over things Stephanie has
thoroughly spelled out in this terrific book!

This book really answered a lot of questions I had about organization and time management. It focused on the importance of studies as well as emotional and physical well being. I would suggest anyone just beginning nursing school or thinking about it read this book.

This book covers far more than the basics, it's actually more of a "project management" plan for starting a new business, laid out pretty much over the course of a year.

If you're looking to write up a "business plan in a day" you won't find it here.

However, if you're looking for covering nearly every nuance of a small business plan, and do your homework (this is a workbook as much as a readable book) - this is for you.

A great feature - it's a workbook, not on a PC.

That's not to say you can't use a PC to do your "homework", but it's definitely a bonus if your computer crashes, or for the Mac user who doesn't have (or want) access to biz plan warez - most of which don't "teach" anyhow.

If your business idea is a true small business, this is a great resource. If you're looking to start a SOHO, solo gig - it's probably overkill, but still useful.

The other reviews make this Organizer sound like it's just for someone starting out, but I can highly recommend it for someone like myself, too, who's already in business. Running a business, I've got so many things to keep track of that I really found this book useful for getting -- and staying on top of all the administrative details I hate dealing with. The author comes up with many things I've never thought of before -- like how to track my credit cards to keep my payments lower, how to prepare for emergencies, how to save money on marketing. And this book reminded me of so many things I promised myself I'd get around to "one day," but kept putting on the back burner. I also REALLY liked the format: hardback and wire-bound -- it was easy to use on a daily basis and is solid for keeping as an important reference of my company data. Everyone talks about getting organized -- this book actually helped me do it!

A counselor at my local Small Business Development Center turned me onto this book, and I've been really impressed. The book is full of checklists, worksheets, and a ton of information for someone starting up a business. The earlier chapters of the book forced me to rethink my whole business concept--there were some key things I hadn't really considered. I'm still working through the later chapters, but am completely convinced that this book will end up having saved me several thousand dollars in mistakes and a whole lot of time.

I just loved the simple binder aspect of organizing important information when starting a business. Small businessses are one of the fastest growing segments in our economy whether you do some consulting on the side or sell avon - being organized helps you especially when it is tax time + it is usually tax deductible (see you accountant or business advisor:)!

I was pleased to repossess this tome, which had become misplaced. I first read it on a recommendation from a Sensei as a Dracling. I have found it to be a worthwhile tome which can be applied to a wide variety of situations, and does actually contribute to one's mental fortitude, offering a glimpse into the warrior ethos.

This translation from J. H. Huang is better suited to explaining the text as opposed to giving you a clear rendering of it. Three-fourths of the book seemingly is devoted to explanation and commentaries. Published in 1993, it used the latest discovered Sun Tzu text found in China in 1972, which predates previous original Sun Tzu's by 1,000 years. The translation is slightly imperfect as sometimes the author used awkward words. If you want analysis however this is it. Sonshi.com

I've read all of the other English "translations" out there, and not one of them comes even close to this. Based on the ancient Linyi text recently found in China, in this translation the author has created margin notes in an outline form so that all of Sun-tzu's words become completely logical. Unlike any other translation of a Chinese book that I've ever seen, Mr. Huang gives detailed proof using ancient Chinese sources for almost every sentence of his translation, so this version of Sun-tzu should be used a standard for all other Chinese translations to come. It reads not only fluidly but makes total sense, and would be an ideal handbook for both field marshals and marketing strategists. The introduction notes that military personnel from Colin Powell on down read and reviewed this book, and their contributions show in the accurate use of modern American military terms throughout the work. It's also written so well that every time I pick it up, I end up reading the whole thing. Mr. Huang is an amazing scholar of both ancient Chinese thought and English prose. All I can say in conclusion is, "Thank you, Mr. Huang."

I read this book in the context of a military training environment, and that was appropriate. The fact that so many regard this book as a means for improving management skills, to me, is bothersome. Sun Tzu was a military leader and this book should be taken at face value. In that regard the book is excellent. It pares down the factors of military command into its constituent parts and explains the what, how, and why of winning a military contest. It's not a page-turner in the sense of a good Clancy novel; rather it is somewhat choppy, perhaps owing to the age of the text and the fact that it is a translation. Nevertheless, the principles are timeless, and they come through the time and language barriers loud and clear. Students of military history simply must read this book.

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

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!