Research Books

This is a wonderful, amazing book. But STOP as this obsolete version has been superceded by "Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Albums" which updates the book through Dec 31, 2005.

I first got this book in 1976 and have gotten it every time it's updated, and I have only two complaints about it; 1) it only gets updated every 3 to 5 years and 2) it's so damned expensive! But once you open it (and it feels like an LA Phone book), you forget the price and just OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH at how fact-filled and interesting it it! It practically tells you the last time your favorite artist picked his nose! It has EVERYTHING! I only with they would update it something like every two years. Get it, along with the Albums and Singles books, and you really don't need anything else. This book is THE B E S T !

I've been on Record Research's list for many years, and this was my very first Pop Albums book I purchased. It's got several amazing features. The best feature is that you can see which albums made the Pop Catalog albums chart. Although all of the artists do not have their complete discographies listed (only the albums that were charted on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart are in this book), and not much facts and trivia under albums, I still think this book deserves to be on music lovers shelves. I hope in the next edition they will show what current albums that can be found on vinyl.

Don't worry if you are not a science-oriented person! This is a great resource for anyone interested in evolution, dna and natural selection. The book is almost a dialogue between the authors and each topic's history, growth and purpose is given in everyday language and images. If you are a scientist, you will still find this a valuable tool, especially if you've ever tried to explain some of these issues to non-scientists.

Edey and Johanson do a splendid job of detailing the philosophies and scientific discoveries that led to the formation of modern evolutionary thought. The history they present is filled with interesting details and offers a good refresher on high school biology. It begins with many pre-Darwinian thoughts and works its way up to the present (or 1990). Along the way the authors occasionally dialogue between themselves explaining various topics, offering analogies for concepts, presenting possible theories, and giving personal details about the men and women involved in this field.

...the book is more presentational rather than apologetic. On occasion the authors did generalize creationism with Biblical fundamentalism, but they also admit once to the difficulty of originating life. I would also have liked to have seen more fossil discoveries outside the realm of humanity, a discussion on stem cell and embryo development, and perhaps a brief tracing of the likely line of descent from single celled bacteria to the major classes of vertebrates. (I am a theist, so take into consideration any bias.)

Overall, there were only a few tedious pages, but it is otherwise an excellent book that I had a hard time putting down.

Blueprints is just what the title says. A look at how evolution performed its magic work, on our species and others. While I started reading this book knowing what evolution was, I left it knowing how it works. Taking you from the first scientific investigation of the relations of species, through to the discovery of DNA, Maitland Edey and Donald Johanson clearly and easily walk you through time. The concepts are explained simply and succinctly, in an entertaining style that often includes humorous incidents as the world of science lurched toward our current level of understanding. I would recommend this book to anyone, including students, who wishes to experience the evolution of evolution

This book is very informative and well researched. It, however, does not contain a lot of colour photos. Nevertheless, the book is excellent in content and very useful for research. It, along with the Vol 1, are necessities to any nautical library.

An excellant source of information to anyone interested in the age of fighting sail. Not just firarms of the period are covered but all gunpowder weapons used for combat by ships at sea of the period. Provides a great wealth of information and insight into the imagination and genius of the weapons desighners of the period.

Great book and very great reading.

Students of navy history in the age of fighting sail are in for a feast! This is the BEST book I've read to date on the firearms of the sea service. From muskets, pistols, volley guns, carronades, grenades and other incinderaries, Gilkerson does an outstanding job with the subject. By the time I was finished with this one, I was ready to strap on a cutlass and a brace of pistols!

The author points out some very important aspects of learning through the
prism of background knowledge. There is a general correlation between
academic background knowledge and generalized academic performance.
In addition, the book covers the transitory steps aimed at harnessing
working memory into permanent memory. There is a section which shows how
surface knowledge enhances background knowledge. Text density is another
indicator of learning. Texts which contain many new words not widely
interspersed will have the lowest new vocabulary retention. As newer words
are more widely dispersed, readers have up to a 30% retention from a
mere retention in single digits. Poverty is another correlator to overall
academic performance according to the author. The book presents a very
valuable common Greek/Latin root derivative section. For instance,
Greek words enter into the English language , thusly.
- ast or star means astronomy
- cycle or circle means cycle
- gram finds usage in the word telegraph or autograph
- meter is utilized in thermometer or centimeter
- photo finds usage in photograph
- scop or to see is utilized in the word microscope
- therm or heat is utilized in thermometer

The Latin root "act" is utilized in react or transact. The Latin root
"ang" means to bend as in angle or angular. The Latin root "aud" for
hear is seen in the word audible. The Latin root "credit" is seen in
incredible etc.

The book is a worthy acquisition for the student, linguist, writer or
academic person in your household. It is a good value for the price charged.

As a dual-language elementary teacher it is important that I teach my students the meaning of specific words in the subjects they have to learn in order to get the meaning. This book allows me to concentrate on the meaning, context and usage of words in the different subjects I teach rather than having to look for the words and then do what I described. It has also helped me build a stronger vocabulary and made me a better teacher for my students.

Building Background Knowledge For Academic Achievement: Research On What Works In Schools by Robert J. Marzano (Senior Scholar, Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning, Aurora, Colorado and Associate Professor, Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) discusses how two combined approaches - sustained silent reading and careful study of subject-specific vocabulary terms - can help young adults overcome weaknesses in background knowledge that would otherwise undermine their educational pursuits, from elementary to high school. In addition to the outlined principles for a sustained silent reading program, and effective vocabulary instruction, over 7,923 actual vocabulary terms have been culled for presentation from national standards documents and other publications, organized into 11 subject areas and 4 grade-level categories. A superb home schooling, self-study, or curriculum supplementary guide, highly recommended for parents, educators, tutors, and studious individuals seeking to hone the tools that maximize their comprehension skills.

There is a lot of misinformation spread around about the history of the videodisc. If you are curious about the facts, check out this book. It is recommended for all new media designers. It shows the disastrous consequences of failure of vision. In RCA's case, they correctly judged that there was going to be a huge market in consumer video, but it never occurred to them that time shifting, home recording, and program rental would be the features to drive it. In parallel with the capacitance electronic disc (CED) they developed a MagTape system. If they had gone to market with MagTape, there might still be an RCA today.

The definitive historical reference on the design phase of the CED System. This book was largely researched from 1976 to 1978 as an exercise in applied history. The book deals primarily with this late 70's time frame, although it also contains chapters on early RCA history, VideoDisc on the market, and lessons to be learned from the CED project. This book also discusses other consumer video formats developed, but never marketed by RCA, which include Discpix, Photopix, Holopix, Holotape, and Magtape.

The definitive historical reference on the design phase of the CED System. This book was largely researched from 1976 to 1978 as an exercise in applied history. The book deals primarily with this late 70's time frame, although it also contains chapters on early RCA history, VideoDisc on the market, and lessons to be learned from the CED project. This book also discusses other consumer video formats developed, but never marketed by RCA, which include Discpix, Photopix, Holopix, Holotape, and Magtape. The more expensive hardcover edition of the book has the title clauses reversed, and also includes a slip cover showing a VideoDisc reflecting a rainbow pattern.

We have read both of Dave's books and he is certainly knowledgable in real estate. Dave also has helped us in the buying process, and all has run smoothly. We consider Dave a professional in all aspects of real estate. The book is filled with data that we did not truly know about concerning the market.

This book is packed with information that will help you if you've never bought a home, or have done so a dozen or more times. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, should read Chapter 3 on selecting an Agent... If you are buying, selling, thinking of a career in Real Estate, or are already an Agent!

For many people like me, the home buying process is alien, confusing, and full of pitfalls. What I needed was a guide to help me quickly and effectively understand the entire process, along with the plethora of associated considerations.

David Rathgeber's home buying book gave me almost everything I needed to quickly make sense of the home buying process. He introduced me to all the major issues and considerations that I was about to face. Not only did he clearly address the most pertinent issues, but he also concisely provided abundant advice on each aspect of home buying, to include difficult issues such as understanding the emotional and psychological aspects that both the buyer and seller face. In this book, David even helps the reader understand how to get the appropriate professional help at the right time. This is done in a constructive manner that demonstrates to the reader that he is only one part of a team that is focused on making the home buying process successful.

Along with David's personal help in purchasing a home, this book provides almost everything that a home buyer needs, especially if the buyer is completely new to the home buying process. It is actually quite comforting to read this book in that David teaches the home buyer how to develop a healthy respect for all the participants no matter what their role may be. Toward this end, David articulates the human aspect of a stressful process that often can appear to be impersonal.

As a new immigrant, I use this book to improve my English by reading a metaphor each day.

Finally a knowledgeable author has written a book that enables Americans born here and abroad to really understand English as we really speak and write it. In addition to adults benefiting from using this book, every high school and college student,ought to have a copy of this easy to read and understand book within reach.

An incredible learning experience. A book designed for everyone of all ages.

I've heard metaphors used daily and use them myself, however I never stopped to think where these sayings came from. This book tells you everything you need to know about all metaphors. From usage, history, meaning, you get everything you need on making sure you're never out of the loop when someone says a metaphor you never heard of.

so many metaphors are covered in this book, in fact more than I knew ever existed! Dr. Lee captures the essence of every metaphor in a creative illustrated cartoon that helps you associate the metaphor w/ the meaning behind it.

I cannot recommend this book enough to everyone! Especially your kids!

Before I read The Case for Divine Design, I had hardly an idea of the mind-boggling complexity of cellular processes, hardly realized that the mechanism of evolution of these processes has not been plausibly described. Nor did I fully understand science has not explained the origin of life on earth.

It's not about gaps in the fossil record. It's about showing how the thousands of chemicals essential to the existence of life, chemicals composed of huge molecules that are constantly being synthesized in living tissue, could have arisen solely by natural selection acting on spontaneous random genetic changes--which is the core mechanism science today uses to explain the manifest characteristics of the life forms present on earth.

I love the idea of evolution. But what the author of this book showed me is that to embrace evolution as the sole mechanism accounting for life is indeed an act of faith, just as religion is a faith, belief in God is a faith.

The author of this book, Frank Salisbury, PhD, is a leading American scientist, with a 43-year career spent in academia, the last 31 years at Utah State University. Salisbury is a plant physiologist, a botanist if you will, who, until his retirement, led an American/Russian team that grew wheat in the Russian Space Station, Mir. The many other research projects in his career included plant flowering, alpine ecology, and plant responses to gravity. His fame among other botanists was largely based on his textbooks, including a basic plant physiology text that went through four editions. So nobody can say Frank Salisbury doesn't understand modern biological science.

If you took God out of this book, you would be left with a critique of modern biological science for its failure to explain how life arose from inert matter and how cellular processes achieved the dizzying complexity they now manifest. Nor can biological science dispute it has failed to explain these fundamental scientific questions. That became evident to me as Salisbury reviewed the work of numerous contemporary biologists who obviously have thrown the full weight of their brilliant intellects at these questions and come up wanting.

Reflect, I had to reflect. Darwin lived around the time of the Civil War. Watson and Crick defined the double helix in the 1950s. So it's been only about 150 years we've had any ideas other than the Bible to work with to explain the living world. I'd say it's going to take another 200 years to work these problems out, IF they are worked out. And I gather Dr. Frank Salisbury would be fairly overjoyed if, say, the origin of life were satisfactorily explained scientifically.

That's what makes this book unique among creationist works. The author does not insist on an interventionary God, he merely posits it, gently, persistently, as a possibility, while all the while illuminating the reader as to the profound mysteries confronting biological science and delineating the inadequacy of natural selection as the sole theoretical basis for resolving those mysteries. I strongly recommend this book!

This book provides an objective review of the cases supporting and opposing intelligent design. The author discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each case. It brings sanity in an area of study where emotional retaliation seems to be the predominant response.

It is also very informative in discussing the progress in the study of biology for the lay reader.

The Case for Divine Design is a must read for anyone interested in the Intelligent Design (ID) controversy. I was attracted to the book because the author wrote a college level botany text I once used and has authored several leading college textbooks in this area with major textbook publishers. The author has a PhD in plant physiology from Cal Tech and is a leading researcher in the field. Salisbury was also department head at Utah State University for many years. He reviews a great deal of cell biology and biochemistry in this 258 page well illustrated book and does an excellent job, showing that the case for Intelligent Design is very strong and this is one major reason for the opposition to the idea today. Opponents see it as clear competition to classical Neo-Darwinism, although in articles critical of ID the authors try to imply the opposite. He also does a good job answering many of the common objections to ID. No one can claim to be informed about this issue without reading this well documented book which should become a classic in the field. He has much good material on irreducible complexity, showing that everything is irreducibly complex except quarks and leptons and they may not be fundamental particles either! If 2 or more parts are required for something to function, it is irreducibly complex.

Don Bohning, an experienced Latin American journalist and former Miami Herald Latin American Editor enjoyed a personal relationship with the key players, US & Cuban nationals, to accurately write an outstanding story of what has occured in actions against Cuba and why they failed. A must read for those interested in foreign affairs.
Manuel J. Chavez
Lt. Col. USAF (Ret)

Any in-depth political science library, particularly those with close coverage of Cuba, will want to be sure The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations Against Cuba 1959-1965 is in their collection. Journalist Don Bohning was Latin American editor for the Miami Herald, and here uses his reporter's inspection eye to examine the covert U.S. operations against Cuba at the height of the Cold War. The U.S. tried for economic and political destabilization, hit-and-run raids, and assassination plots during this time: Bohning's The Castro Obsession basically asks "was it worth it" and supports the conclusion "no".

Now at about 75 years old, Fidel Castro is in ailing health. Cuba's economy, as with most of the communist centrally planned economies, is at subsistence level. Average annual per capita income is about $1,500 per person. But still it survives. Two new books go a long ways towards explaining why.

Don Bohning's "The Castro Obsession", talks about the secret (and not so secret) operations conducted against Castro from 1959 to 1965. The appearance of a giant country like the United States arrayed against a small insignificant country like Cuba, and then failing created a groundswell of respect and support for Castro among people and countries that root for the underdog.

Humberto Fontova's "Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant", is really two books in one. The main theme talks about the comments from selected Hollywood types, media and political left wing liberals, praising Castro (shades of Hanoi Jane Fonda). The secondary theme is that Castro has instituted a bloody repressive regime that attempts to control all life in Cuba. While this is not a surprise, the details are shocking in that we have so much more information because of the communication with large numbers of Cubans now living in the US but retaining close links with the island.

These two books provide interesting background for the actions that will be playing out over the next few years.

If this book is all that Alan Sandage did for astronomy it would still be an enormous contribution. It provides semi-technical survey of all the work and people at the Mt. Wilson observatory up to early 1950's. Sandage does not merely list papers and projects and reproduces somebody else's opinion on them, he provides his own excellent authoritative analysis and summaries. As a scientist, he is known for strong opinions, but such personal angles can either be easily spotted or are largely smoothed by the perspective of a lifetime experience. The book is a work of love, actually worship. Anyone interested in MWO, or history of solar physics, stellar physics, or observational cosmology will benefit from this book.

I received my copy of this book in fine condition and very promptly. The price of $80 is in line with what everyone selling this book is asking. The price is a bit high but that is true with any book of limited release. The book itself has a few very minor errors. This is the best history of the Mount Wilson Observatory which I have every seen. The only way to get a more comprehensive history is to have access to the Observatorys libary. Then you would have to spend years reading thru hundreds of volumns of techincal work for the same information.

The first half of the 20th century was a golden age at the Mount Wilson Observatory. It was there that many of the most important steps in riddling out the secrets of stellar evolution and the expansion of the universe were made. Allan Sandage's delightful history recounts both the scientific advances made at the observatory, and tells the reader something of the brilliant but often eccentric people behind those discoveries. The author does have a distinct point of view -- he is a champion of the role of this observatory in the progress of astronomy -- but that brings a unity to the story. Some minor errors and typos have slipped through the editing, but overall this is a wonderful book. It is, however, a book that will be of most interest to readers who are already familiar with topics such as spectral classification and the Hubble Law.