Purdue Books

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For understanding a call center we have to assume thatr we are dealing with people... it is a people business and not a technical issue as many authors point out. This book is very practical in the sense that it concentrates on human beings and how can we get the best of them, it explains many issues ta}hat are many times overlooked by CEO and managers of Call centers. Very good approach for the call center business. If you are in charge of a call center, you should read this book...

An Excellent book. Every call centre agent should read this. Forget that. Everyone who frequently deals with customers on the telephone should read this book.

Ok I might be a bit prejudiced because the author happens to be my college german professor and good friend, but it is an excellent look at what it is to be amish in Indiana. How dicipline is not only expected of the children, but mandatory.
I feel that in public schools there is too much drugging of children because teachers can't seem to keep control of the classes in any other way and this drugging for dicipline just doesn't happen in Amish society. Dicipline starts at home and is just continued in schools. That is not to say that the children have no play time or aren't allowed to be kids, they just know their place in the Amish society and it seems to give them a sence of belonging and comfort rather than being restrictive. We English as the Amish call us could learn a lot.

The Amish Schools Of Indiana: Faith In Education is a close look at Indiana Amish schools from the early 1950s to the twenty-first century. Examining how Amish settlements actively undertook a movement to open their own schools that would provide them with more influence over the education and socialization of their children, and the effectiveness of these institutions in allowing Amish communities and faith to survive the changes of generations, The Amish Schools Of Indiana is a crucial, meticulously researched and studiously presented example of the critical link between educational foundations and societal stability.

Since John Head has been facing access problems I am posting his review under my name.

Review of: Wilfried Ver Eecke, An Anthology Regarding Merit Goods. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 2007.

This is a very useful and important volume. Even for the specialist scholar, Ver Eecke's anthology of merit goods papers is a godsend, bringing together as it does an extensive literature which is widely dispersed, much of it in remote and inaccessible locations or languages. For the generalist, the anthology offers the reader the opportunity to sample a comprehensive literature on an interesting and important topic in public expenditure analysis.

In Musgrave's monumental treatise The Theory of Public Finance (1959), the theory of public expenditure is grounded in the seminal concepts of social wants and merit wants. In the case of social wants, markets fail completely to satisfy individual preferences; since nothing can be charged, nothing will be provided. In the case of merit wants or merit goods, it is individual preferences that are presumptively at fault; and the concept of consumer sovereignty is rejected or at least radically modified.

The merit goods concept has understandably proved enigmatic and highly controversial. Some critics have argued that the concept is irretrievably elitist and authoritarian in character, and can have no place in a normative theory based on the premise of individual choice in a democratic society. Others, by contrast, have argued that the merit goods concept can be reconciled with the consumer sovereignty principle broadly interpreted. If these arguments are correct, the concept is accordingly either redundant or totally incompatible with democratic principles. Either way it must therefore be rejected.

Supporters of the merit goods concept would counter with the argument that it is of great value in epitomising a range of public expenditure functions which might otherwise escape notice between the extremes of individualism and authoritarianism. Examples might include subsidised low-cost housing, free or subsidised health care and education, anti-discrimination measures, intergenerational redistribution of income, categorical equity, and measures to correct for intertemporal myopia and associated distortions.

Ver Eecke's anthology brings together eleven of Musgrave's fundamental but varied contributions and reconsiderations of the merit goods concept. The extensive secondary literature is also comprehensively represented, including seminal papers by Head, McLure and Brennan/Lomasky. Apart from the important sections devoted to this specialist literature, other sections cover significant contributions on related topics by leading economists and also contributions by eminent authors from a wider literature.

It must be admitted that the contributions to this extensive literature are of rather uneven quality, with a certain amount of confusion and contradiction between the various papers and extracts. The resulting problems for the general reader are, however, considerably reduced, though far from eliminated, by the introductory summaries provided by the editor. Ver Eecke also provides a useful overview of the differing perspectives and conflicting positions of the various authors in his general introduction to the volume. He does not, however, attempt in any detail to resolve or arbitrate the very considerable differences at issue.

From his introduction to the volume, it is clear that Ver Eecke regards the merit goods concept as having much wider application than Musgrave himself has ever suggested. He argues this very persuasively on a case-by-case basis in summarising the contributions from a wider literature in Part III of the volume. With this view, I would emphatically concur.

Ver Eecke's contribution also serves to illustrate an important general point that philosophers, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists and others specialising in such areas as public choice, social choice and welfare theory may have much to contribute in the further development of merit goods analysis. The limitations of conventionally trained economists in this regard are painfully illustrated by some of the selections from the specialist literature reprinted in Part II of the volume. Those approaching this topic from a wider interdisciplinary literature are, however, equally prone to misconceptions in such a problematic subject area.

Taking this 714-page volume as a whole, it must be said that the coverage of the central subject matter is admirably comprehensive and is indeed unmatched anywhere in the literature. Serviceable translations are provided of papers which originally appeared in German. There are also brief, generally accurate and helpful introductions by the editor to each of the papers and extracts included in the volume.

In a balanced review some relatively minor criticisms should perhaps be registered. These would include: a few significant omissions and some unnecessary repetition (e.g. of Brennan/Lomasky) in the selections from the specialist literature; problems in the sectional classification of some papers; one rather poor translation from the German; and an excessive number of misprints. These are, however, minor irritations when set alongside the very substantial merits of the volume.

For the general reader and the specialist alike, Ver Eecke's anthology offers a comprehensive review of what in his subtitle the editor tantalisingly describes as "the unfinished ethical revolution in economic theory". The book could well provide a useful springboard for further research in this area, and it should make a major contribution in promoting a wider understanding and appreciation of the important economic and ethical issues raised by Musgrave's merit wants concept.

For those wanting a more detailed account of the volume, the excellent review by Henningsen is strongly recommended.

John Head,
Emeritus Professor,
Monash University.

Although the concept of merit goods has been around for almost 60 years, this is the first book of its kind to present a complete discussion on the topic. After 714 pages of analysis and examples concerning these goods, it is hard to believe that this concept is not firmly established in the economic vernacular. The breadth and depth of review in An Anthology Regarding Merit Goods could change that.

Richard Musgrave, the Harvard economist renowned for his work in public goods theory, first put a name to merit goods in 1956 when he pointed out that certain goods--such as free school lunches and mandatory inoculation--did not have pure public or private good characteristics. He called such goods "merit wants" and defined them as "so important that when the government is dissatisfied with the level of its consumption in the free market, it intervenes to adjust such levels, even against the wishes of consumers." The first third of the anthology provides all Musgrave's writings on merit goods, almost half a century's worth, giving the reader a very clear understanding, along with the help of the editor's comments, of how the concept emerged and the definition progressed during Musgrave's lifetime.

The next two sections of the anthology are selections from secondary literature (including articles that reject the concept, further define the concept, justify the concept, provide a domain for the concept and its mathematical models), and the application of the merit good concept by economists and non-economists. Some of these authors specifically reject that they are discussing merit goods and Ver Eecke does a good job of framing each article to point out the merit good aspect in it.

Modern day examples found in the anthology of merit goods include policy recommendations that require farmers in famine-plagued nations to grow edible instead of commercial crops (Sen) and ways to adapt laws in order to diminish the unfair economic consequences of divorce (Glendon). What the editor stresses is that these situations clearly override consumer preference and do so without compensation (as one would be required under public goods theory, for example in the case of eminent domain) or regret. Similar examples in the news recently include smoking and trans fat bans since individuals who enjoy these activities will not be compensated for their loss.

Underlying the whole book is that the concept of merit goods is difficult for economic theory to absorb because it means that there are values in addition to individual preference, and that such values may actually supersede consumer choice. The concept of merit goods, therefore, locates the idea of ethics in economic and business activity at the heart of economic theory. This is obviously quiet problematic for a discipline that has self-interest and consumer sovereignty at its core. This discomfort with anything but self-interest as valuable is evident in many of the articles when the author attempts to encompass merit goods within public good theory (Brennan) or argue that these goods do not actually interfere with consumer preference (Head).

Because merit goods place ethics within economic theory, it is a subject that should interest people from inside and outside the discipline. Clearly the concept of merit good has ramifications for the acceptable boundaries of government action and intervention, of great interest to political scientists and philosophers as well as private citizens. Likewise, since merit goods justify economic activity on other grounds besides self-interest, they offer a new technical tool for those interested in introducing alternative values into the economic decision-making process, of interest to anyone from theologians to environmentalists.

The anthology takes the first, and impressive, step of explaining the concept, outlining the debate thus far surrounding it and providing examples of where the concept exists. It does not argue for the boundaries or limitations to merit goods and that seems to be the next step in a discussion on the topic.

The anthology is very well organized and the relatively short articles by both economists and non-economists make this book an accessible reference. However, the editor's abundant and cogent analysis push understanding so that the reader can dig as deep into the topic as they choose. This is a great introductory work as well as a new addition for someone familiar with the topic.

This was a hilarious prank gift for Christmas. But, if you're really serious about studying this, the book seriously describes it in detail. Tired of reading Dr. Seuss to your children before bed, well here ya go folks!!

Possibly the most authorititve study, ever, into this taboo subject. For
those of an inquisitve nature, stumbling on this title, it is not a work of erotica but a worthy collation of the author's findings and works of other world established authorities.
The author has researched, as far as is possible, those who do, or have indulged, since the dawning of mankind. The book also provides pointers to the publications of others.

This book is a "must read" for those who consider their pet a close friend or family member.

The book is an easy read, and I found myself 3/4 of the way through it the first night. Not only is the topic interesting, but the writing skill is commendable -- it is written with a nice balance of active/passive voice.

It explained to me, in easy layman terms, the physiological benefits of pet companionship. It also explains why we psycologically find pet 'ownership' so satisfying.

Other books have explored this human-pet relationship through pictures -- "Guys and Dogs", "Woman's Best Friend", "New York Dogs" and they have done a fine job with the pictures.

The authors of "Between Pets and People" have now given us the words and facts to explain our feelings for our pets, And through the facts and explanations emerges a legitimacy for the pet-people relationship that didn't exist before. As you read the book you discover as much about yourself as you do about animal companionship.

This book belongs on your bookshelf!

I would like to revise my original book review on this book.

This book is outstanding and I would highly recommend it for EVERY dog owner and POTENTIAL dog owner.

In addition to discussing the reasons why people choose pets, as well as discussing traits of pets themselves, the authors address other very important topics. Some of the topics discussed are: euthanasia; dog bites -- causes, statistics, solutions; strays -- how to identify them from wandering but owned dogs, and the health problems strays pose; dog packs -- how they operate and the dangers of packs. The authors included a table, The Urban Stray Dog, which is helpful in identifying the difference between an 'Owned Dog' and an 'Unowned Dog.' Also addressed are the diseases that dogs and pets can pass on to humans, their occurrence, and solutions to these disease threats. Not left out are issues such as dealing with people who have too many pets -- and how this type of multiple ownership causes problem for other urban dwellers; the traits of these multiple pet owners are also discussed. Dog laws are also discussed as are poop scoop laws.

The back of the book lists books and articles that the reader might find helpful under various topics discussed in the book; also listed are resource to be found on the internet on topics such as Pets in Therapy, Pet Information, Animal Behavior, Animal Care, Pet Loss, and Veterinary Education and Professional Services.

The book discussed other companion animals as well, but as a dog owner, I tended to focus my review on those issues relevant to me. I do not mean to bias you against the book by excluding mention of other companion animals addressed in the book. This book is probably one of the most comprehensive books I have read about companion animals and the issues surrounding them.

This book covers issues not dealt with in any other book I have read -- yet knowledge of these issues is necessary for being a responsible pet owner. No matter what your pet, you ought to give this book a read. It is a very easy and interesting read, the balance between active and passive voice tends to draw you into the context and makes it hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This remarkable book approaches the topic of animal cruelty and interpersonal violence in a way that does not exclude interested but non-subject matter expert readers from comprehending its content and message. Dr. Ascione has achieved the perfect balance of empirical research/data/results with actual case studies that put a human face on the numbers. It is quite evident that a great deal of research went into creating this extensive and comprehensive piece. I would recommend this book for professionals and non-professionals alike.

Animal abuse has been an acknowledged problem for centuries, but only within the past few decades has scientific research provided evidence that the maltreatment of animals often overlaps with violence toward people. The variants of violence, including bullying or assaults in a schoolyard, child abuse in homes, violence between adult intimate partners, community hostility in our streets and neighborhoods, and even the context of war, are now the subject of concerted research efforts. Very often, the association of these forms of violence with cruelty to animals has been found. The perpetrators of such inhumane treatment are often children and adolescents.



Children and animals: Exploring the Roots of Kindness and Cruelty presents the current scientific and professional wisdom about the relation between the maltreatment of animals and interpersonal violence directed toward other human beings. However, the author, Frank R. Ascione, a noted expert in these areas, writes in a style and presents the finding in language that will be understandable to parents, teachers, counselors, clergy, animal welfare professionals, foster parents, mental health professionals, youth workers, law enforcement professionals, and anyone else whose work or interest crosses into the lives of children and animals.



Frank Ascione is a professor of psychology and adjunct professor of family, consume and human development at Utah State University . Ascione received the 2001 Distinguished Scholar Award from the International Association of Human-Animal Interaction and the International Society for Anthrozoology, and in 2002, was selected as USU 's College of Education Scholar/Researcher of the Year. Ascione serves on the Child and Animal Abuse Prevention Advisory Council of the Latham Foundation. During his career, he has published several books including Cruelty to Animals and Interpersonal Violence: Reading in Research and Application (1998), Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Animal Abuse: Linking the Circles of Compassion for Prevention and Intervention (1998), both by Purdue University Press, and authored Safe Havens for Pets: Guidelines for Programs Sheltering Pets for Women Who are Battered .

There really are no words to describe the Chance Purdue stories. Call them hilarious, a delicious spoof of the hard-boiled detective tales, call them a new drink: Phillip Marlowe with a (genetic) twist -- call them anything, but READ them. And guess what: They are even funnier when read aloud in your best imitation Bogart monotone. My only mistake was having taken a drink of coffee when I read this:
< She said, 'What's your name again?" I said, "Purdue." I said, "Like the Big Ten." She said, "Young man, I think you're exaggerating." >

I spewed coffee everywhere! All of Ross Spencer's books are worth the time and money, but none of his characters ever stole my heart like sexy, dunderheaded Chance Purdue!

Got a craving for humor? Love a well spun yarn that skates the edge between the ridiculous and the sublime? How about Phillip Marlowe meets Spoon River Anthology, as interpreted by Hawkeye Pierce? Well, friend, rush out and grab a copy of The Compleat Chance Purdue.

Ross Spencer has created the blondest blond bimbos, surliest villains, and most relentless victims ever to rub shoulders with a "private dick." Bumbling heroes, disoriented vamps, and a series of plots punchtuated with wry (or perhaps inspired by rye) humor from start to finish -- The Compleat Chance Purdue is a writer's joy and a reader's delight from cover to cover.

Although this reference does not discuss physiological plausible computation models, it provides a fairly easy to read yet serious introduction to conventional parallel computation architectures.

The person who has gone through the book thouroughly need not to say that its worth having such a excellent book.The problems given at the end of each chapter dwell oneself into the deeper understanding of the subject and it would have been nice if you could make the Solutions Manual available on internet.

Egon-Erwin Kisch was the forefather of literary journalism. Brillant writing from Berlin to Mexico. The German equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize is named after him.

Egon-Erwin Kisch was the forefather of literary journalism. Brillant writing from Berlin to Mexico. The German equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize is named after him.

WONDERFUL AND FACINATING ACCOUNT OF THE EVERYMAN IN THE AMERICAN ARMY IN EUROPE DURING WORLD WAR 2 (WWII)

The authors recount the war experiences of their father's as they trekked across Europe chasing the Nazi's back to Berlin. Their story is told through the pictures taken by Regan and letters home by Mauriello. We are able to see a much more personal side of the conflict - the day to day struggles and lamentations of the average man in the fields.

The photos are remarkable because Regan never developed them during the war, and thus they were never subject to military censorship and readily depict the daily grind from the soldiers point of view.

Mauriello's letters home allow us an even more intimate and personal glimpse into the life and mind of one man facing the perils of occupied Europe. A special kind of humanity comes to light as the "orders" of the Command conflict with the generous and loving nature of another of America's forgotten hero's.

This would be a MOST EXCELLENT GIFT for a son or daughter to give to their veteran father. Give it to them, show them you are interested in what it was like for them to be involved in such a world shaking event. Use this as an opportunity to get them to share the special stories that they have inside them.

From Boston To Berlin: A Journey Through World War II In Images And Words by Christopher E. Mauriello (Assistant Professor of History, Salem State College, Salem, Massachusetts) and Roland J. Regan Jr. (Adjunct Professor at Harvard University, Suffolk University, and Salem State College) is a powerful, emotional look at the war that forever changed every nation in the world. A small portion of the book is devoted to an overview of major events in WW II, to refresh the lay reader's memory. Black-and-white photographs and letters from people on the front lines comprise the overwhelming majority of From Boston to Berlin, adding a personal touch to the life-and-death struggles on D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, and much more. A poignant memorial book, From Boston To Berlin is a highly recommended contribution to the growing body of World War II literature.