Z Books

It's eighty-seven degrees, just after noon and Danny and his father are sharing a cigarette in the heat on their way to the track.

This is the way of Michael DeCapite. How he moves through the telling of what he sees. Life as it is, with no embellishment. Slow mostly. Mostly time passing...

DeCapite is to writing what baseball is to sports-deceptively simple, slow, quiet, an expanse of green spread out under sun or lights, a few players...waiting...most of them. Men returning to the field daily, doing it again, waiting it out. A field so perfectly laid out that the deeper into you get, the more you realize the perfection of the game-from the precise incline of the pitcher's mound, adjusted over the years to most evenly match pitcher and batter-to the distance to dead center-it all matters...quietly...it's all headed somewhere. And there is so much going on in any given moment that you can scarcely take it in. This is DeCapite on the page.

Sitting Pretty is a quiet story. Seven men spending an afternoon together, old friends, one of them dying, his grown son too `slow,' too `troubled' to realize. "Those doctors know what they're doing. They're scientists. My dad was sick but he went to see the doctor. They can do anything. The doctor gave him some pills, he's better now. Aren't you, Dad? Hey Dad, you're my sunshine, right?"

Gambling, drinking, cancer, oppressive heat, loss, the horses barreling down the stretch for home...all this hanging from the afternoon sky, while downstage, seven lives move tenderly through another couple of hours. So quietly you might miss it if you didn't know where to look. A father's hand on the back of his son's neck. The whole world is in it.

DeCapite traffics gracefully in the realm of the overlooked - here in Sitting Pretty and in his novel Through the Windshield. I hope America doesn't overlook Michael DeCapite.

I had to read it twice, and will probably read it several times more to get all the little nuances that Decapite has filled this story with. My favorite line on first reading..."It's so bright my soul squints..." The story is very male socially and very human relationally. It offers an insight into something that most of us take for granted, a father's love. Decapite's writing captures the essence of the human relationships in a microcosm that is so full, it is like glimpsing the angels on the head of a pin.

I am in my thirties and I remember reading this when I was about 8 and I can't express how real it made the Lord for me. After all these years I still remember the special times I had pouring over the beautiful illustrations and stories from this Bible.

This is one of the most wonderful Bibles a child could have. Beautiful pictures with short Bible stories just right for children.

The Solutions Focus: Making Coaching and Change SIMPLE (Second Edition) by Paul Z Jackson and Mark McKergow (Nicholas Brealey International, 2007) ISBN 1-904838-06-5

When the first edition of The Solutions Focus came out in 2002 it marked a genuine step forward in thinking about organisational change. It brought the insights of Solution Focused Therapy (developed in the late seventies by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg) into the workplace. The second edition, published in 2007, broadens its usefulness to coaches with the addition of new chapters outlining Jackson and McKergow's OSKAR coaching model, manager as coach, team coaching and solution-focused approaches to management consulting.

The beauty of the solution-focused approach is twofold; firstly, like the compatible Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach, it focuses on what is working and what is desired rather than on problems and trying to solve them, so it tends to have a heartening and morale-raising effect on individuals, teams and organisations that experience it.

Secondly, and rather unlike AI (or my own background discipline of NLP for that matter), it emphasises the need for simplicity and is refreshingly free from academic or humanistic psychology jargon and what many people in organisations, desparate for practical ways of dealing with ever-increasing demands, may view as "tree-hugging hippy crap" (as one participant at a recent AI event I helped facilitate put it recently).

The book's writing style does justice to its subject. I knew from taking an accelerated learning course with them about 10 years ago that Jackson and McKergow would present the material in an intelligent and brain-friendly way (the "reformed physicist" McKergow in particular is possessed of the proverbial "brain the size of a planet", while Jackson's background in improvisational comedy adds immediacy and lightness of touch) - and so it proves, with each chapter divided into short, easily digestible sub-headings, and plenty of illustrations and practical examples.

The book gives us six principles of what they refer to as `The Solutions Focus', organised under the acronym SIMPLE:

Solutions not problems
Inbetween - the action is in the interaction (between people)
Make use of what's there (the parts of the solution that are already happening in the current situation)
Possibilities - the resources and possibilities that will take us towards the solution
Every case is different

Something like the "Inbetween" principle (the idea that some aspects of the solution exist in the interaction between people or as emergent qualities of the system, rather than being owned by any one individual) must have been present in solution-focused therapy as it applied to families. It was a new one on this reader though, as I had previously only used solution-focus in therapy and coaching with individuals. By emphasising the principle here, Jackson and McKergow build a very useful bridge between using solution focus with individuals and applying it to teams and organisations.

We are also given a clear description of the various tools of the Solutions Focus approach. The present situation, the starting point for change, is described as the `Platform' (with its connotations of somewhere to depart or lift off from). The desired outcome - what it would be like if the problem disappeared completely - is the `Future Perfect'. Resources, things that are already working, and times when parts of the solution are happening already are called `Counters'. This metaphor didn't work quite as well for me. I suppose in some kind of board game analogy. The other tools are Affirming whatever is helping, taking Small Actions (which can make a big difference, and in any case add up), and the extremely useful Scaling (of progress towards a solution, confidence in a chosen option working, or commitment to a course of action) on a scale of 0 to 10.

The part of the book from which I got the most value is the new material added for the second edition. The authors give many practical examples of how to use the Solutions Focus approach in coaching individuals, team coaching, and organisational consultancy. There is also a useful chapter on coaching as a manager.

One of the most helpful insights (no news to experienced managment consultants, I'm sure, but very helpful to someone like me with a background in individual coaching who is increasingly moving into organisational changework) is about the need to find a `customer for change'. This is someone in an organisation who is aware that it is time for a change, and prepared to do something about it. If the consultant can't find one, their change interventions are unlikely to get very far.

Also new to the second edition is the OSKAR coaching model. The acronym stands for Outcome, Scaling, Know-How, Affirm and action, and Review. In some ways this seems to have been bolted on to the rest of the book; looked at from one angle, it seems merely a relabelling of some of the tools described earlier. `Know-How', for example, seems to be much the same as the resources and abilities described as `Counters' earlier in the book.

My other quibble with the model is that it is more a description of tools than a process model; although the authors say it can be used as a process ,the Scaling, Know-How, and the `Affirm' part of `Affirm and action' might be used both when eliciting what is working in the current situation (the `Platform'), and when deciding what to do to get closer to the `Future Perfect'. Also, the authors say that the `Outcome' stage would include both establishing the Platform and envisioning the `Future Perfect', while the sample questions they give are exclusively about the future, which might lead the careless reader to skimp on exploring the current situation. These are however minor caveats, which I hope a third edition will eventually resolve.

The book finishes up with a short history tracing the evolution and intellectual roots of the Solutions Focus model, placing it in a lineage which includes Bateson's work on paradox and levels of abstraction, Erickson's concept of utilisation, and complexity theory.

All in all, The Solutions Focus is an eye-opening book for anyone looking for greater simplicity and effectiveness in coaching, team-building, or organisational change.

When I read the first edition of The Solutions Focus, I compared it to Getting To Yes, a classic that changes the way you see the world and act in it. Well, I can now say that SF has more than survived the test of time. It has become part of "the way I do things" both as a consultant and in my personal life.

So I was curious to see what a second edition would bring.

And the answer: It brought some fantastic "Aha" moments, such as the story of James, a manager who feels his second-in-command is out to get him. Using the OSKAR coaching model, James successfully resolves their differences. WOW, of course, what a brilliant and fresh approach to conflict management! The O in OSKAR stands for Outcome, starting with the desired result and moving toward it...

As a corporate negotiation consultant and trainer with more than a penchant for creativity, let me say bravo and thanks..

This was the first book I read on my own, around age 4. I took it every where with me and read it till the binding came undone. Unfortunatley, my dad gave the book away when I was 12. I wish I still had it! It was the book version of the seqeunce from the Fantasia movie starring mickey mouse. I wish I still had this book. It would bring back so many happy memories!

IN A NUTSHELL: IF YOU HAVE SEEN FANTASIA YOU KNOW THIS BOOK

This is essentially a set of storyboards that depict the 'Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of 'Fantasia' and 'Fantasia 2000'. Words are added to describe the action, unlike the animated counterpart in Fantasia, and their is a little preamble about Mickey's duties for the Sorcerer which are not actually in the animated version, but are implied. In this preamble Mickey is shown "doing all the work" -- "he chopped the wood", "he swept the floor", "he carried the water from the well". This preamble ends very neatly with Mickey thinking aloud, "if I had that hat I would never have to work again". In essence, this addition gives a motive for Mickey's actions which we have all seen in 'Fantasia'.

The rest of the book essentially follows the events of the animated segment, like a collection of storyboards with descriptions given to them. The other difference from the animated version is the end, which in 'Fantasia' shows the annoyed Sorcerer smacking Mickey in the back-side with his broom. In this book meant for young readers this little piece of humorous violence is sensibly replaced with the Sorcerer taking his hat back with a scowl and Mickey contritely going back to the work he had sought to avoid.

BOTTOM LINE: ATTENTION GRABBING READER THAT KIDS KEEP GOING BACK TO

With the exception of 'Dumbo', this 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' is the book [from the Wonderful World of Disney book club] most likely to get a youngsters attention, repeatedly. Although this storybook can't compare with the incredible visual experience of Fantasia, it is so reminiscent of it that kids do seem to be drawn to it and often. Often enough for them to start reading it -- hopefully, after it has been read to them.

A GOOD BOOK SERIES - STILL AVAILABLE

This entire series is pretty good and still available from many sellers for a reasonable price. Many public libraries also have this and the other members of this series {'Disney's Wonderful World of Reading', club) available for loan.

Prof Wang ' Specal fuctions is a classic on specai functions,
In fact Prof, Wang was also an admirer of Modern Analysis.
The style of writting this book is in fact follows the style
of Modern Analysis, That is why is so good. But of course
Prof Wang had his own scheme and add topics not included
in Modern Analysis. To me, the best part is on the elliptic integrals and elliptic functions. I cannot find another book
on this subject which is started with basic theories, then
step by step, to introduce you to more advanced theories
from more simple theories.
Moreover, this book is originally written in Chinese.
Now it is tranalated in English.
This quality of this book is camparable to other famous books
on special functions like George Adrewo's or J. W. L. Olver's.
As a Chinese, I am proud of that and also give my repsect to
Prof Wang, whose contribution to Scientic developmeant in
China cannot over overestimated!

This is an outstanding book on special functions though it doesn't seem well known in the West. At first sight it appears to follow the path of Whittaker and Watson, but on closer examination it actually treats the subject(s) quite differently, sometimes better, dare I say. Among its strengths are (a) all derivations are carried out in detail; (b) the author takes great care to motivate various techniques so that they seem perfectly natural; (c) the contour-integral method is used extensively to solve the differential equations associated with the special functions; and (d) the infinite-series approach to solving the differential equations, which Whittaker and Watson develops theoretically but does not apply, is carried out more thoroughly here than anywhere else.

Point (b) should greatly appeal to the physics type, and it came somewhat as a surprise to me, since I had the impression that most Chinese professors had a very condensed writing style, in which motivation isn't the top priority. On the other hand, the contour-integral-solution approach to ODEs is basically absent (at least not systematically employed) in Whittaker and Watson. When you look at the integral representations of the special functions in the book, there is less of the feeling that they just dropped out of the sky. Point (d) should appeal tremendously to most of the readers, since a typical physics/mathematics student learns the series technique in his/her second course on ODE. The coverage here is outstanding because the author does not summarily dispatch, as most others do, treatment of the irregular solutions, ie, the "bad-boy" solutions which arise when the difference of the roots of the indicial equation equals zero or an integer. Whittaker and Watson, for example, relegates the subject to a footnote in their treatment of the hypergeometric function.

The original author (Wang) wrote the book in Chinese, which was translated into English by two of his students. You can easily tell even without seeing the author list that two translators were involved. One has a better command of English and his prose is more fluid.

Of course, for a subject as classical as special functions, there is bound to be a great deal of overlap between any two books in terms of the topics covered. Without a doubt Whittaker and Watson is still King in this area, but at least for me this book is Queen. Highly recommended.

Strawberry Shortcake and her friends are back in new book and TV releases based on the series from the 1980s!

In this beautiful, fully illustrated book, Strawberry Shortcake and her friends are trying to get some planting done, but find that the ground is still too stiff to dig up. The signs of spring are everywhere, but it's still too cold! Worried, a group of them decides to go out and find spring.

This is inspiring story about helping your friends, solving your problems, thinking of others, and living up your responsibilities. There are many lessons in this story and both kids and parents will enjoy reading it and viewing the bright, colorful illustrations.

My 3 1/2 year old loves Strawberry Shortcake. This cute book tells the story of Strawberry and her friends as they search for Spring! Strawberry wants to plant strawberry seeds (and her friends also need it to be springtime so that their plants and flowers can grow) but the ground still has frost and she and her friends can't wait for spring to come...so they go in search of her.

This book is probably not what you're expecting since most O'Reilly Nutshell books assume you already have thorough knowledge of a subject and you are just looking for "cues" in case you forget something. This book is more of a "Head First" type of book in that it assumes no prior knowledge of the subject. Since O'Reilly is planning a Head First book on Statistics, I'd like to see the difference between this book and that one.

This book focuses on using and understanding statistics in a research or applications context, not as a discrete set of mathematical techniques but as part of the process of reasoning with numbers. It integrates the discussion of issues such as measurement and data management into an introductory statistics text. It serves as an introductory statistics book that is compact, inexpensive, and easy for beginners to understand without being condescending or overly simplistic.

The audience for this book includes students taking introductory statistics classes in high schools, colleges, and universities, professionals who need to learn statistics as part of their current jobs, and finally people who are interested in learning about statistics out of intellectual curiosity.

The book focuses on statistical reasoning. In particular, the book focuses on thinking about data, and using statistics to aid in that process.

The book is organized into four parts: introductory material (Chapters 1-6) that lays the necessary foundation for the chapters that follow; elementary inferential statistical techniques (Chapters 7-11); more advanced techniques (Chapters 12-16); and specialized techniques (Chapters 17-19). The following is the detailed table of contents:

Chapter 1, Basic Concepts of Measurement - Discusses foundational issues for statistics, including levels of measurement, operationalization, proxy measurement, random and systematic error, measures of agreement, and types of bias. Statistics demonstrated include percent agreement and kappa.

Chapter 2, Probability - Introduces the basic vocabulary and laws of probability, including trials, events, independence, mutual exclusivity, the addition and multiplication laws, and conditional probability. Procedures demonstrated include calculation of basic probabilities, permutations and combinations, and Bayes's theorem.

Chapter 3, Data Management - Discusses practical issues in data management, including procedures to troubleshoot an existing file, methods for storing data electronically, data types, and missing data.

Chapter 4, Descriptive Statistics and Graphics - Explains the differences between descriptive and inferential statistics and between populations and samples, and introduces common measures of central tendency and variability and frequently used graphs and charts. Statistics demonstrated include mean, median, mode, range, interquartile range, variance, and standard deviation. Graphical methods demonstrated include frequency tables, bar charts, pie charts, Pareto charts, stem and leaf plots, boxplots, histograms, scatterplots, and line graphs.

Chapter 5, Research Design - Discusses observational and experimental studies, common elements of good research designs, the steps involved in data collection, types of validity, and methods to limit or eliminate the influence of bias.

Chapter 6, Critiquing Statistics Presented by Others - Offers guidelines for reviewing the use of statistics, including a checklist of questions to ask of any statistical presentation and examples of when legitimate statistical procedures may be manipulated to appear to support questionable conclusions.

Chapter 7, Inferential Statistics - Introduces the basic concepts of inferential statistics, including probability distributions, independent and dependent variables and the different names under which they are known, common sampling designs, the central limit theorem, hypothesis testing, Type I and Type II error, confidence intervals and p-values, and data transformation. Procedures demonstrated include converting raw scores to Z-scores, calculation of binomial probabilities, and the square-root and log data transformations.

Chapter 8, The t-Test - Discusses the t-distribution, the different types of t-tests, and the influence of effect size on power in t-tests. Statistics demonstrated include the one-sample t-test, the two independent samples t-test, the two repeated measures t-test, and the unequal variance t-test.

Chapter 9, The Correlation Coefficient - Introduces the concept of association with graphics displaying different strengths of association between two variables, and discusses common statistics used to measure association. Statistics demonstrated include Pearson's product-moment correlation, the t-test for statistical significance of Pearson's correlation, the coefficient of determination, Spearman's rank-order coefficient, the point-biserial coefficient, and phi.

Chapter 10, Categorical Data - Reviews the concepts of categorical and interval data, including the Likert scale, and introduces the R x C table. Statistics demonstrated include the chi-squared tests for independence, equality of proportions, and goodness of fit, Fisher's exact test, McNemar's test, gamma, Kendall's tau-a, tau-b, and tau-c, and Somers's d.

Chapter 11, Nonparametric Statistics - Discusses when to use nonparametric rather than parametric statistics, and presents nonparametric statistics for between-subjects and within-subjects designs. Statistics demonstrated include the Wilcoxon Rank Sum and Mann-Whitney U tests, the median test, the Kruskal-Wallis H test, the Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank test, and the Friedman test.

Chapter 12, Introduction to the General Linear Model - Introduces linear regression and ANOVA through the concept of the General Linear Model, and discusses assumptions made when using these designs. Statistical procedures demonstrated include simple (bivariate) regression, one-way ANOVA, and post-hoc testing.

Chapter 13, Extensions of Analysis of Variance - Discusses more complex ANOVA designs. Statistical procedures demonstrated include two-way and three-way ANOVA, MANOVA, ANCOVA, repeated measures ANOVA, and mixed designs.

Chapter 14, Multiple Linear Regression - Extends the ideas introduced in Chapter 12 to models with multiple predictors. Topics covered include relationships among predictor variables, standardized coefficients, dummy variables, methods of model building, and violations of assumptions of linear regression, including nonlinearity, autocorrelation, and heteroscedasticity.

Chapter 15, Other Types of Regression - Extends the technique of regression to data with binary outcomes and nonlinear models, and discusses the problem of overfitting a model.

Chapter 16, Other Statistical Techniques - Demonstrates several advanced statistical procedures, including factor analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant function analysis, and multidimensional scaling, including discussion of the types of problems for which each technique may be useful.

Chapter 17, Business and Quality Improvement Statistics - Demonstrates statistical procedures commonly used in business and quality improvement contexts. Analytical and statistical procedures covered include construction and use of simple and composite indexes, time series, the minimax, maximax, and maximin decision criteria, decision making under risk, decision trees, and control charts.

Chapter 18, Medical and Epidemiological Statistics - Introduces concepts and demonstrates statistical procedures particularly relevant to medicine and epidemiology. Concepts and statistics covered include the definition and use of ratios, proportions, and rates, measures of prevalence and incidence, crude and standardized rates, direct and indirect standardization, measures of risk, confounding, the simple and Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio, and precision, power, and sample size calculations.

Chapter 19, Educational and Psychological Statistics - Introduces concepts and statistical procedures commonly used in the fields of education and psychology. Concepts and procedures demonstrated include percentiles, standardized scores, methods of test construction, the true score model of classical test theory, reliability of a composite test, measures of internal consistency including coefficient alpha, and procedures for item analysis. An overview of item response theory is also provided.

Two appendixes cover topics that are a necessary background to the material covered in the main text, and a third provides references to supplemental reading.

A stunning display of relevant and directed statistical information bound in a concise quick reference guide, suitable for the learned individual.

This book deliver's a user-friendly manual of beginner, intermediary and some advanced methods of analysis within statistics. Though the reader does not need to have a background in statistics, it would suit someone with an interest in statistics and the mathematical principles behind such methodologies. This book offers much more than your basic run of the mill statistical guide as it probes further into the mathematical models that such statistics are based upon. This gives the reader the opportunity to extend the breadth and application of their understanding.

This book is useful in design with topics and chapters clearly identifiable by quick reference tabs. The organisation of the material within is cummulative and very easy to navigate through.

A perfect manual for anyone undertaking further studies be it at a tertiary level or within their occupation. Hands down one of the more aptly constructed and useable reference guides in statistics that I've seen for years. Two thumbs up.

The Story Of Z is an excellent story because it taps into the human concsciousness. The story touched the emotions of the human heart. People feel unimportant for many reasons. Many of those reasons reflect how Z felt. People feel unimportant if they are the oldest,youngest, and middle child. Sometimes students feel unimportant when their names begin with the last letter of the alphabet,and they are always last in line for snacks,lunch,awards, and bathroom breaks. The Story of Z made people whether they are young, old, middle-aged or first, middle or last feel useful and important. Just as Z realized how important she was, we must come to that same conclusion. While the story of Z stresses the purpose and importance of this alphabet, it is a wonderful way to use the letters of the alphabet to teach. The Life's lesson in the story could be used on any grade level, or in any situation. The story of Z is a cross-cultural story that can be taught in school,church, a business, and to a blue-collar worker. It carries the same message. You have a purpose. You are useful, and you are important!

The Story Of Z is an excellent story because it taps into the human concsciousness. The story touched the emotions of the human heart. People feel unimportant for many reasons. Many of those reasons reflect how Z felt. People feel unimportant if they are the oldest,youngest, and middle child. Sometimes students feel unimportant when their names begin with the last letter of the alphabet,and they are always last in line for snacks,lunch,awards, and bathroom breaks. The Story of Z made people whether they are young, old, middle-aged or first, middle or last feel useful and important. Just as Z realized how important she was, we must come to that same conclusion. While the story of Z stresses the purpose and importance of this alphabet, it is a wonderful way to use the letters of the alphabet to teach. The Life's lesson in the story could be used on any grade level, or in any situation. The story of Z is a cross-cultural story that can be taught in school,church, a business, and to a blue-collar worker. It carries the same message. You have a purpose. You are useful, and you are important!

This is a MOST informative read on the Fates (the 3 spirits who determine the origin, flow and destiny of us all). To ME, the MOST compelling part of the book was the ceremony of inviting the Fates to dinner. I followed the general outline for the dinner and was surprised to actually have these 3 marvelous spirits attend. They revealed to me new insights to my own life that I had never experienced before. Also most compelling was Chapter 10 AND the Epilogue which emphasized the current state of our planet, both socially and environmentally. Zsuzsanna explains that WE as a species, in our entirety can and MUST come together to address these issues. As witches, we need to stand up and take the lead by our very examples of husbandry for the Earth and all on it. This can be done in our everyday lives and through pressure on our "failing political system" and our failing "socio-economic system" as well.

I highly recommend this book to ALL. Not JUST witches or Pagans. It is a must read for anyone seeking wisdom, and insight into our destiny both personal and as a worldwide community. Although Ms Budapest is noted as a feminist writer this has valuable information to everyone, female as well as male, and is a must read for people the world over.

Raji

I have the origional Summoning the Fates and love the new edition. This is a wonderful book. There is so much information that is vital. I wish I had read this book when I was 25, might have clued me in to a few things, what to expect, what to look for. Thank you Z for this wonderful new edition!!

My children enjoyed this book for the story and the wonderful drawings. It is also available in French for children studying languages.

This is a lovely story about a gardener's son who helps bring peace between the sun and the moon, who have been quarreling so much there is no light in the world. It reminds that we should appreciate colors and cooperation. Fa-boo-lous!