Independent Books

I ordered this for a class only to find out on the estimated delivery day that it is not available from any sources. This happened at 2 separate and different sellers, one being amazon and the other being a college bookstore. Apparantly it is a difficult book to obtain. If you need this book for a class I highly recommend you buy it from one of the used book resellers and not amazon.com as a new book or anyone else who sells it new and gives a future shipment date. Be sure that it is actually 'in stock' before you order it and check that it is the correct edition.

The forms needed a lot of tweaking, there were parts that referred incorrectly to other parts. And it is heavily client-centric, I think the book was written much more for the person looking to hire a developer than for the developer.

This comprehensive guide to Internet legal and business issues provides an important key to understanding the law as it relates to online products, internet development, and copyrights. From lawful use of Internet materials and privacy policies to email and linking legalities and service provider issues, Internet Law and Business Handbook goes into quite some depth on the latest issues and law.

In an environment where technology has made change commonplace, one can still look to the rule of law to engender a stable foundation upon which business can be conducted. The "Internet Law and Business Handbook" cogently weaves time-tested laws with the new demands that technological progress has exacted on modern organizations. This is an indispensable reference for the conduct of business in a tech-driven marketplace. It is thoroughly researched and handily crafted to make the arcana of law accessible to the layperson.

I found this book to be packed with useful information on how to determine who has rights for what content on the internet, and how you can avoid getting yourself in trouble if you would like to use another party's content. Packed with examples of copyright, trademark and patent information, it lays out a sound approach. Also there are several templates on the accompanying disk that are great, including confidential disclosure agreements. A must-read for anyone "doing" internet content publishing and management.

I was surprised by just how comprehensive this book's knowledge base was. I'm not the new kid on the block either, I've been involved in several solar installations and many others with mixed-systems comprising micro-hydro and wind power as well. But this book still had a lot to offer, things I hadn't thought of, many that I will seek to apply in future installations.

One strength of this book is the author's reliance upon the experiences of others. Many points in the chapter are highlighted by interviews conducted with people (of various backgrounds and experience levels) who have lived and worked with renewable energy sources in their homes. It is as if the author, knowing that people listen to more sources, found a bunch of great people and added their thoughts as a way of saying,
Hey, if you don't take my word for it - listen to what people like you have told me." This aspect is great because I, at least, find it much easier to relate to the people and get a feel for how their experience went rather than the omniscient author telling you that everything is roses all the time.

All in all, this book really WAS surprisingly comprehensive - covering all the basics (and thensome) of the renewable energy sources that one would want to put into a home. If you read this book before you built your home (even if you weren't thinking about adding in renewable energy) I PROMISE you would get ten times your money's worth in energy savings. Because that's the bigger part of using renewable energy - saving as much energy as you can so that the little you can glean from the earth is used as wisely as it can be without running out in the middle of a shower (for instance).

I highly recommend this work, and will be buying copies for my friends (many of whom will be, or wish they could be building houses soon).

Be well!

Dr. Dominic Ebacher

Being an architect I am really concerned with sustainable living and green design. Once upon a time I was thinking that alternative energy sources would be the future of the energy sector, but as I read and read about these kind of energy sources lots of question marks appeared in my mind. As I deepened my studies about the subject I came to a conclusion that hoping to achieve our energy from sun, wind etc. is a very romantic idea (I am not against romanticism) and it is not very realistic. Now I know that THE CLEANEST AND CHEAPEST SOURCE OF ENERGY IS NUCLEAR ENERGY. This book tells stories of ordinary people who tried to achieve enough energy from sun, wind etc. for their daily use, with too much effort which I really appreciate. But just baking a cake in an oven or any other simple daily event musn't require that kind of effort and money. I thank to this book for awakening me about nuclear energy by showing the other side of the coin. Anyway if you are living off-the-grid and really really want to use PV's or wind mills to turn your TV on this book may help by telling how others succeeded(?) to do that.

The book was easy to read without much detail regarding brands, specifics and the 'devil of the details'.

writing, after installing our new energy star washer we noticed that we could wash clothes even during cloudy days. Not exactly a comment that would relate to the 90% of the masses.

I thought this book would cover all sorts of homes, but instead the well versed marketing tricked me into believing that.

No where did it cover a relatively normal house, builder etc, that incorporated the inxpensive changes necessary for a home to be more energy efficient, nor cover what appliances, were good or bad to avoid. It was a buy a plot of land in nowhereville, 'sell' part of it to other earthies, and build a straw or dirt filled tire house.

Um, where's the information about manufactured homes that come super-insulated with low power appliances, and PV from the factory for the other 90%.

If you want to see the types of people that are the ones that the congress, senate, DOE, and EPA see as pro-independent, it's no wonder there's little public knowledge of solar, wind and water power.

As for the pro-nuke guy, if my first exposure was this book, I'd be as short-sighted as him, the solar and wind CAN make a difference, but it's gotta be for the masses.

As a person beginning my education in sustainable home building, I found this book refreshing and encouraging, informative and conversational. Lots of other books are more technical and appropriate at certain times, of course, yet I found this authors style of creation simple in its ability to reach the novice and beyond, to anyone who learns by stories. Simultaneously, I found it a dynamic read, in the way that the stories he included spanned years of experience, trial and error, and wisdom of what our forefathers and mothers in this movement would have done differently. I enjoyed the basic education in how electricity works, and the emphasis on how important and simple (although maybe not always easy) it is to be ENERGY INDEPENDENT.

"The New Independent Home" is a cornucopia of good information and thought provoking discussion. A thoroughly enjoyable read, I found myself (currently in the throws of re-evaluating where and how my family and I live) unable to put this book down. The author covers not just the technology of independent homes; there is extensive discussion of the whole sustainable living philosophy of independent home dwellers. The numerous interviews with folks actually living in these homes, many of them off-the-grid even when that is not a necessity, add a very real dimension to the author's presentation. This is not just some "chuck it all - back to the land" book either; the info (and interviews) cover the spectrum of not only remote living but also the quite urban; the thoughts, ideas, and technology here are applicable to all situations. And community building is an important part of sustainability; none of the independent homeowners presented here are hermits. There is a real sense of their place in their communities, both the local one, and the wider community of like-minded folks wherever they may live. For someone thinking about their place in our crazy world and how to move toward a sustainable, ecological, sane way of living, this is the best book I've found. Buy this book! Read it!

I've never posted a review on here before but I was motivated to do so after spending $35 on a book that is complete and utter fluff. There is no detailed information provided - one of the more extreme examples is on how to place a classified ad for advertising your business - where the author instructs you to find somewhere to place it and then make sure you write a good one. SERIOUSLY. Ok - how? Some examples? Some detail? Isn't that what I spent $35 for? YOU tell me.

Another example is where she says to check area demographics before opening the studio and says that there are many helpful sites on the internet for that. OK - which ones? URL addresses? How can they be used? None of that info is provided.

There are paragraphs where I felt she was just rephrasing the same sentence several times just to fill the page rather than provide any workable information. I'm making up my own example here but you'll get the idea: "You should make sure you pick a good location. Picking a good location is important. If you don't pick a good location, you may not get business. You need business. That is why picking a good location is important." I wanted to pull my hair out after several pages of this.

Given the amount of money I spent on this, I can't just say ok I've been burned it happens whatever and have someone else waste money on this. The book is clearly a cash grab with no substance. I don't like slamming people on public forums either but this book deserves it. Run from this.

This book is concise, informative and helpful. Overall, I think it is fantastic. It includes all the basics you need to get a music studio off the ground, and covers things you may not have thought of before. I recommend it for anyone who is considering creating a private music studio.

With The Private Music Instruction Manual; A Guide For The Independent Music Educator, author Rebecca Osborn draws upon her many years of experience and expertise as an adjunct college music professor and owner of three private music studies to write an informed and informative guidebook specifically for musicians and music instructors who want to teach students in a profitable private practice but are not familiar with or knowledgeable about setting up a music instruction business enterprise. Rebecca Osborne provides a wealth of invaluable, professional, effectively organized and presented instructions on establishing and maintaining a music teaching business and shows what to expect professional, personally, and financially from independent music instruction. If you want to make money teaching other how to play any kind of music instrument, then you need to give a careful (and profitable!) reading to Rebecca Osborn's The Private Music Instruction Manual!

If you are a musician of any sort, you'll probably teach private lessons at some point in your career. FINALLY, there is a text that gives thorough information about becoming a successful music educator in an independent setting. THE PRIVATE MUSIC INSTRUCTION MANUAL is a must for anyone running a private music studio. With a focus on professionalism, Osborn gives insightful suggestions for marketing plans, studio policies and lesson dynamics. Much needed explanantions of fiscal and legal issues that come with running a small business are also included. My wife has been teaching voice for 10 years and has highly recommended this book to all of her colleagues.

The Private Music Instruction Manual is an invaluable
guide for any musician who is, or desires to be,
an independent music educator. Along with specific
plans for the physical setting and organization of a
private teaching situation, this book is full of
information which will challenge you to consider how to
provide the best possible music education for your
prospective or current students. Rebecca Osborn's guide
includes detailed information necessary for adherence to
tax laws (the often confusing aspect of private
business which we would like to ignore!). As a private
music teacher of almost 10 years, I gleaned a number of
ideas for improving and growing my business from
this easy-to -read book. The textbook format is
especially helpful in reviewing and emphasizing main points.
The Private Music Instruction Manual enables those
of us who always think educationally to approach the
teaching of private music lessons in a businesslike
manner which will lead the way to a profitable
situation. I highly recommend this book as a
resource for music educators.

This is not a discussion of what we owe Iraq, which Feldman states is a decent functioning government, but an analysis of the the issues involved in getting there.

The best parts, for me, were the examples from his experience such as the practical problems facing those who worked in the early occuption, his description of the Republican Palace, the meeting with the Lawyers Association.

The heart of the book is an analysis of the issues involved in achieving the goal such as authority, occupation vs. trusteeship, paternalism, elections, legitimacy/perceived legitimacy, etc.

At one point the author, Feldman, talks about how the USA should have just replaced Saddam with someone more benevolent and not gone to war with Iraq. Feldman, just how would we have done that? Saddam was very determined to keep his postion in Iraq as leader. He even provenly employed doubles of himself to thwart any attempted assassination overthrow of him by plotters. Also, Saddam killed over a million of his own Iraqis amd terrorized close to all of them while he was in power. Strong state you claim he had, huh? Sure! Terrorizing, national dictators often do manage to have strong states under their sway. Also, he sent SCUD missiles at Israel. Feldman, aren't you Jewish? He was bad for your Jewish cousins, if you are. Think about that for a while. Lastly, the USA has 350 million people. Iraq had around 23 million. We have a right to put ourselves before them in importance due to our much greater numbers.

"A republic to keep, not anarchy or utopia" is the zest of this book. The author strives to rationalize the futility of U.S.'s involvement in a flawed war. He discerns similarities and differences between the chaos in Iraq and those of Germany, Japan, Yugoslavia, Romania, Poland, Kosovo, East Timor, Algeria, Uganda, Ireland, Haiti, and Afghanistan.

The book spans 130 pages of well-read and logically evolving description of the heuristic process of nation building. It falls into three chapters, plus an introduction and conclusion.

The INTRODUCTION outlines the objectives of nation building by an occupying power, the relationship between the occupier and the occupied, in the era of democracy, and the mechanism of exit, through election and security safeguards to ensure durable and sovereign government that could maintain order and legitimacy.

Chapter 1, NATION BUILDING: OBJECTIVES, compares the objective of nation building during the Cold War of thwarting the threat of "total destruction" through a "rational-actor model" of states (Germany, Japan, N. Korea) to the present involvement to restoring "civil order" through a "non-state violence actor model" (Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, E. Timor, and Somalia).

The absence of any rational model for the Iraq War that toppled a deterrable and strong government is considered a foreign policy blunder that created a failed state, threatening regional instability, with low odds of success of democracy without long, costly, and bloody US support.

The author contends that ethics and morality have a role in International affairs. He cites the examples of Kosovo and E. Timor to prove that Internationalization does not impose ethical comfort, but our national believes that "ethnic cleansing" is immoral lent the needed support.

Chapter 2, TRUSTEESHIP, PATERNALISM, AND SELF-INTEREST starts by the author's admission to the guilt of the U.S. of high-handed behavior that led to a "serious fix", the rash and mistaken disbanding of Iraqi army that created chaos, and the de-ba'thification order of Ambassador Bremer that alienated the middle class. With the absence of civil society, there is little hope to impose security. Hence comes the ethical obligation on the U.S. to produce order through monopolizing violence.

The author confesses that we do not know what we are doing, we do not understand the complexities of the Iraqi society and politics, and we are woefully unprepared for external nation building. He then delves into the modern history of international law in order legitimize occupation, as follows.

The Spanish War:
The Spanish canonists rationalized governing the Indians of the new world through Europeans' "wardship" on their behalf, on the bases that the Indians possess polities, law, religion, and are reasonable men entitled to rule themselves.

Before WWI:
The Annex of the Hague Convention of 1907, restricts the authority of the occupying power to restore order, until cessation of hostilities, without violating property, pillage forbidden, and tax collection for the benefit of the occupied state.

After WWI:
During the era of the League of Nations, trusteeship took the form of a sacred covenant to civilize "underdeveloped" countries until they become able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of modern world. This paternalistic approach entrusted the "tutelage" of the occupied to the occupier, which caused the failure of the British nation building of monarchy in Iraq after WWI. The British imported King Faisel from Arabia without legal legitimacy (Notice the role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the past and present: money and oil).

After WWII:
During the United Nations era, trusteeship defines the relationship between principals and agent: settlor creates a trust; trustee confers control; beneficiary gain ability to self-rule. The political power is based on the representative's judgment, acting like an agent, regardless of the opinion of the beneficiary, acting like principals. The Principals ensure her interests are promoted through: freedom of speech, assembly (protest and march), participation, and election. This trusteeship is limited in time and with defined responsibility of supervision. It does not intend to civilize, but to build a self-running machine that can rule itself and protect sovereignty.

Although the author observes few glimpses of the Islamic tradition through "hauza", "shura", and "fatwa", the author has a blind spot for the immense influence of Islamic thinking in that part of the world. That made him erroneously believes that the U.S. is serving the interest of the Iraqi by "seeing it through" and remaining after election to ensure a functioning republic. Although he admits that all Iraqis he had met, wanted U.S. out, he does seem to realize that that consensus undermines all American interferences in the affairs of Iraq, which had caused previous troubles when the U.S. took military bases in the Saudi Arabia. He also erroneously believes that the Iraqi Lawyers Association is an "empty shell" since he does not sense their deep mistrust and skepticism of western politics. Had the author dug into Islamic history, he might have learned that the Islamic Constitution would make the U.S. Constitution look primitive and that Muslims had occupied Spain for many centuries, on her canonists he bases his justification of occupation.

Chapter 3, THE MAGIC OF ELECTIONS AND THE WAY HOME, presents the role of modern election in legitimizing governments. The author contends that election is not a ticket home, but rather a "voice to the voiceless" to ensure large-scale accountability and enforce public preference on the choice of representatives. He cites the dangers that rose after election in Bosnia and Algeria, and concludes that the major task of occupation or nation building is to create the proper environment for election and not obsess with its magic, mystery, or danger. The author entirely misses that fact that western occupation, and American in particular, is the main cause of chaos, of murdering collaborators and resisting the humiliation of occupation by impartial and foreign authority. He skips the events of 1958 when the Iraqis dragged the dead body of their pro-American ruler in the streets of Baghdad to end their alliance with the Baghdad Pact.

I think I'll begin by addressing the two negative reviews posted thus far...

At no point in this book does Feldman argue that the U.S. should have replaced Hussein with another dictator. That kind of statement runs completely against everything contained in this book. In my opinion, only someone that had never read the book could make a claim like that.

As for the other review (posted by someone that simply pastes academic reviews onto Amazon), the view is presented that the U.S. in fact does not owe Iraq much of anything and claims that Feldman presents no argument to the contrary. This type of statement is also in the wrong.

Feldman takes the position in this book that since the U.S. is in Iraq and completely dismantled the government, there is an ethical obligation on the part of the U.S. to see the job finished. A finished job would be a functioning, self-reliant Iraq that can defend itself and promote individual liberties. This book goes about describing the set of ethics the U.S. should abide by.

A lot of people argue about Iraq today as if it were only George W. Bush's problem. This approach is terribly flawed. Iraq in 2003 was a product of (1) Saddam Hussein, and (2) EVERY U.S. PRESIDENT SINCE REAGAN. Washington has had a roller coaster of a ride with Iraq ever since the early 80's. Every decision made by the U.S. since then has contributed to how Iraq would eventually end up. Yes...Hussein is also to blame and should not be given a free pass, but neither should the U.S. As far as ethics go, we owe a huge deal to Iraq. Hussein would have most likely been defeated by Iran in the 80's had it not been for U.S. and other Western support. It's time the U.S. owned up to our decisions, regardless of whether or not George W. Bush went about it in a patently dishonest way.

In the end, Feldman presents an argument that is both ethical and pragmatic. I think his argument is the one that should ultimately be adopted. If you can get past your own partisan issues and listen to Feldman with an open mind, you'll come away with a much better understanding of Iraq and what to do about it.

Condoleezza Rice always takes the concept of "Nation Building" with pleasure into her mouth and tries to explain with frown to the audience how important this task is. The author Noah Feldman is an expert for this concept -- and NATION BUILDING also has his development history: On the occasion of the 1st World War the United Nations formulated guidelines which were still whisked a little with the ideology of the colonial time and carried a little of the gesture of a patriarchal guardianship into themselves, though. After the second World War one lost something of this arrogance and put as an aim into the centre only, that a nation, political ethically lagging behind (at that time Germany), should be brought by the introduction of democracy to the global community standard. Cases like Kosovo or East Timor seemed to confirm the correctness of such a target. In the case Iraq an additional thinking effort must be done. While Condoleezza Rice still compares Germany 1945 with present Iraq a little school girlishly and assumes that everything has to be fixed in the time window of four years, the expert Noah Feldman is there already a little more skeptical. Compare the educational level, the religion dependence, the power of the different population groupings and the complete missing of national feelings of guilt: these different factors forbid the comparison Iraq/Germany actually. [Nevertheless the Washington administration-rhetoric continues to do so.] Noah Feldman seems to recognize the clear difference: Because the wave of terror-acts is not tearing off. Has there been this in Germany, that police stations were classified as collaborator collection places and regularly blown up into the air? Has there been this in Germany 1945, that permanently seeped over the national boundaries from the neighboring countries Christian sympathizers to Germany, which wanted to help to cast out the Americans? NO! The USA have completely underestimated the forming strength of Islamic solidarity and the connected high aggression level . Since the debacle was got going worldwide visibly now (perhaps justified a little recklessly and wrongly)?, the USA owes to the Iraqi people, not to leave the country till at least safety is established against assassinations - this is the NEW, what Feldman is saying. Unfortunately, the installation of a constitution suffices not at all (like 1945-1949 in Germany). The production of a civilian safety as an afterwards defined aim will take up substantially more time or is successful never -- and ends with an out throw of American know-all battalions as formerly in Vietnam. Noah Feldman does not mention this point, he likes to see a positive future, not the flashbacks of nightmare-views. Of course we all hope, there soon will shine the sun of peace and freedom in Iraq -- and the US will take a break, being a global ethic police ...

If you are using JACT's Reading Greek to learn Greek, you need this book. I wholeheartedly reccomend this series, as it is the best reading method Greek series I could find.

Since I took a year of Greek in college, I'm not so much learning Greek as getting reacquainted. But I took the class ten years ago, so naturally, I had forgotten lots.

I started by reviewing the first chapters in Reading Greek, but I quickly realized that I needed more than just what the text and grammar/exercise book could supply together.

Luckily this book exists. It's design for each chapter really helps. First it presents some words and phrases which might be a bit sticky--I check here before I even try to read a new section. Then I read the Greek section in the text. Then I come back to the Independent Study Guide, check the English translation section to see if I understood what I read. And I am faring much better now.

"Reading Greek" was first published in two volumes: the TEXT and the GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY AND EXERCISES. "An Independent Study Guide to Reading Greek" was subsequently published to patch up the shortcomings of the original volumes (which could not be easily reprinted with corrections because they are so interrelated). The authors - a committee - admit that even teachers of Greek found the original volumes quite difficult to follow. The original explanations are too brief; reference material is scattered throughout the text; and the typography is poor (with some very small Greek fonts, and badly organized headings and subheadings).
If your school or university has prescribed "Reading Greek" - you wouldn't buy it otherwise - you are, unfortunately, part of a captive market and you really need to buy "An Independent Study Guide to Reading Greek" as well to make sense of the course.

Designed to be used in conjunction with the "Reading Greek" series. Gives answers to problems and translation notes. Excellent for self-study for someone who has had some training in a foreign language (esp. Latin), or has occasional access to a Greek teacher.

This course package is rather nice and still the most comprehensive, compact, well-rounded and historically-oriented, well-balanced introductory greek course. BUT IT IS ONLY FOR STUDENTS WHO CAN STUDY ON THEIR OWN AND KNOW HOW TO HELP THEMSELVES (E.G. READ A GRAMMAR GUIDE)
Having studied Latin with Reading Latin by CUP, I found this course to be somewhat less sophisticated. I would still choose this course over any other course available with English as an instructional language, it is profound, unpretending, the linguistics side is solid, the stories interesting and neither too light nor too long. Combining the text book and the grammar/exercise book into one compendium would improve the usability of the course. I also recommend that more exercises be added in the next edition. A better layout would also help, including larger font size. Still a best buy. The selection of texts is one of its strong points: not everyone who studies Greek wants to delve into Mythology, insurance fraud is a real life topic, here packaged in a very funny, capturing story. If you learned Russian and remember the story of the Marsman in the GUM, here are more stories that will stay in your memory for a long time.

For those of us learning on our own, or for whom Wheelock has proven as dry as toast, the Reading Latin course (text volume and grammar volume) has been a godsend. And now with this Independent Study Guide it will be even better!

This course is the best buy in language learning for learners who can study on their own and are seriously interested in aquiring a language. You will profoundly enjoy it.
There is only one thing to regret: that no comparable course exists for Classical Hebrew or Classical Japanese. Learning Latin with this course will make you love Latin (even when you hated Latin in the past).
It is sophisticated, in a very British manner and approach.
This course is not for the type of student who has grown accustomed to the American "lean back and chat" "communicative" approach, who expects to get to reading Ovid in 7 days, and needs to have it all in a self-opening one-way can.
This is a serious compendium, enjoyable, intelligently designed and taught, something that will last on your book shelf.

Better yet, do yourself or your students a favor and FORGET SIDWELL.
This cancer on the body of Latin education has impaired and imperiled students for too long. Choose Wheelock, choose
Scanlon, choose to sit down and memorize Lewis and Short, but please, please, don't keep buying this putrid and detestable
mockery of a language course. If you need evidence of this man's utter madness, look to the mind-numbing exercises devoid of holistic comprehension, and to the chaotic presentation of grammar. Introducing the passive voice a dozen chapters after deponents? Absurd! Criminal! This study guide might be necessary, but it is also clumsy in arrangement and difficult to navigate. The mise en page is likely to scare new students, and turn them away from what can be a very fun and accessible language without the obstacle of a rotten mushroom like this guy. Sidwell: the sun has set on your empire of tears; you have had your day.

The independent study guide is basically a necessity for self-learners using the Reading Latin course. It includes English translations of the readings in the text volume and the solutions to the essential exercises in the grammar volume. However, Jones & Sidwell make it a point to not give solutions for exercises marked as optional, or for the short reading exercises at the end of each section. This seems fair enough because neither makes new demands on the student, and the shorter reading exercises are meant to encourage self-reliance.
It gets 4 stars because while the text always denotes long vowels by putting macrons on them, the study guide does not except for a small handful of solutions. I can't say it's because those solutions would have been too confusing without macrons because macrons are missing from plenty of others that are ambiguous as a result (obviously it's not going to kill you - plenty of people learn Latin without macrons, but it's also not consistent with the other volumes of Reading Latin). Additionally, some of the given answers use expressions or vocabulary not encountered by the student until later in the book. Typos are extremely rare if not nonexistent.

These questions along with UW questions is all you need to feel really prepared for step1. Of course you have to read FA and the other books, but regarding to questions practice: This is the book!

Well, I did like this book. However, it has a very inconvenient particularity: questions are so repetitive. I mean, for a patient description, two many questions were asked, of course, for different aspects of that particular patient. But it, then, moves away from the original purpose, which is to simulate, as much close as possible, the "real-life" aspects of USMLE test. Still, the CD-ROM that accompanies the book is not well formulated. It has the advantage of allowing to choose topics to study but it gets so boring when you try to simulate the 50-questions set of USMLE and it starts repeating questions all over again. So, please, take care when you buy this book: if you want to review by topics, good; if the purpose is to simulate USMLE, forget this book...

thought this book was very helpful for the step 1. very similar questions to the real thing

Sure this book has tons of great USMLE type questions, and doing questions will help cement the key facts that you learn while studying for boards. However, this book is just a series of 17 entire practice exams. The questions are NOT organized into topics which I found to be key to studying (this is why so many students spend $$$ for the Kaplan QBank because you can choose questions that you just studied that day). Its hard, frustrating, and low yield to do questions if you have not studied the topic yet. I only recommend using this book when you have completely mastered all the subject topics of the USMLE.

i took my step 2 last december and the questions on the exam were very (!) close to the ones on this cd. comparable products (even though newer) seemed to be made for a different exam....
to me the best source available.

I am generally a fan of the NMS books, and have used many of them for my 3rd year clerkships with great results. I expected equivalent assistance from the NMS step 2 review CD. Unfortunately I had great difficulty installing and opening this CD and an hour later, gave up and borrowed the book from a classmate. I later heard from multiple classmates that they, too, had difficulties with this CD and preferred the book. I can wholeheartedly endorse the book with 5 stars, and assure other medical students that the step 2 version I took yesterday was very comparable to the test 4 therein.

Had no difficulty at all installing the CD. Although the software interface is slightly different than the real USMLE, the questions' style and content were right on the money. Like the real test, it allows you to mark and review questions. You can take whole exams or focused exams (e.g., OB/Gyn, Peds, Surg, etc.) in the areas where you need help. The biggest help was the computer timer ticking down just like the real exam -- nice to get used to this.

I was a student of John Lazo & Bruce Pitt (Dept of Pharmacology) at the Univ. of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and I must congratulate them for their accomplishment with this software.

I really believe that the only way to improve this software is to make it more like the format of the current USMLE Step 2.

They cover all the important topics and I would advise any medical student to use it in preparation for the USMLE Step 2. Why use a book to practice questions, when you have to take the exam on a computer? It makes more sense to practice in a format similar to the testing situation.

Almost all of the information in this book can be found in the Help files!

The subtitle begins "A Quick Reference..." and that's what this is. It is a handy little book of PageMaker terms, arranged alphabetically. If you just want a quick reference guide, this is the book for you. But if you are looking for more in depth information about what the new version of PageMaker can do, then look elsewhere.

Perhaps the most handy reference collection we have seen come through our ProCert Labs, Redmond's From A To Z collection of quick reference guides really hits the spot. This handy reference guide will prove indispensable.

Redmond has been writing and publishing quick reference guides for some time now, and it shows in this series. Organized alphabetically, each guide excludes an index because, after all, it is one. The navigation is easy and gets right to the point.

And don't let me fool you; the information available in each guide addresses the complex as well as the mundane. You will find quick reference tidbits on everything from Autoformatting (a bane to every Word user) to managing Text Formulas in Excel (which most of us would use if we knew they existed.) For you Access jockeys, having the Access 2002 From A To Z quick reference at hand will make Applying Filters as easy as cooking with Ron Popeil. The finer points of PowerPoint are described in understandable detail, and if you are looking to quell your questions about Outlook, you will find them the fastest in this quick reference.

The current series of quick reference guides includes: Word 2002 From A To Z, Excel 2002 From A To Z, PowerPoint 2002 From A To Z
Access 2002 From A To Z, Outlook 2002 From A To Z, Windows 2002 From A To Z and PageMaker 7 From A to Z.
Each quick reference is about 200 pages, with the exception of the Windows XP quick reference, which tops out at 250. Under twelve bucks apiece, you can't miss with any one of the From A To Z quick references from Redmond Technologies Press. Each book individually provides excellent coverage of every function of its technology, and the entire collection represents a comprehensive must have for anyone who relies on the MS Office suite for advanced productivity.

--ProCert eMag

This book takes a complex piece of software and makes it user-friendly! I especially liked the book's non-patronizing attitude--it was as if a good friend was walking me through the program. I believe my "learning curve" was decreased significantly.

Content is very good and the book pretty much covers everything.
One issue, however, the production of this copy was a bit sloppy with a
number of repeat pages and a few pages that are badly shifted to the right.

Please do not waste your money on this book. Most of the books content can be found on the internet FREE.
I wish someone would have wrote an honest review before I wasted my money. You can buy this book and findout the hardway!

You could, I suppose,go to Groton and do a stint in sub school, or, failing that, attend a high-price seminar on the state of undersea warfare. And subscriptions to Janes Fighting Ships and the Submarine Review wouldn't hurt. Or you could sit down with this very managable, up-to-date account written by a non-tech journalist for the lay reader that will set you dreaming, each nigh as you lay it by your bedside, of air-independent diesel engines, accoustic cladding, and some trending information that sometimes seems to cross the line into science fiction. I've read 'em all, and this one ranks alongside the Waller and Sontag & Drew sub books as best of the best.

This book was wonderful, if a bit small. It has sections on Air Independent Propulsion, Nuclear Propulsion and it's problems, new hull designs, better sonar, additional quieting, better weapons, and a summary. Each section both reviewed things I already knew and offered new data.

My only problem is that the book is a bit small. I wish it were larger and covered either more topics or more depth. As it is I finished the book in two easy days.