Q Books

I bought this book on the wildly enthusiastic endorsement of it by a medals dealer (who just happens to specialize in one of the entries). While I agree this book is good for the hobby and is not a bad effort; owning it is not a wholly satisfying experience.
First the good stuff: The authors have done a fine job of compiling the list of 100 different medals and tokens representative of a broad spectrum from the mundane to the sublime. They also did a generally good job with the background essays on their selections because they are easy to read and sometimes informative. Cross reference numbers from numbering systems found in various books that have catalogued the items are supplied, as are population estimates and some then current pricing information. The presentation and layout of the book are also outstanding. Actually, the book is a pleasure to look at because the full color reproductions are excellent and the layout is top notch.
In fact, I like almost everything about the book so why only three stars?
This is a three star book because while it is very likable, it really isn't lovable. This is because the editors didn't give us enough of the kind of information that makes a thing the 'Greatest'. Just throwing together a collection of 100 different examples within a genre because a survey of experts tells one to isn't reason enough, in my opinion.
The book misses the kind of background stories that caused the collectors, writers and dealers to love them enough to vote them as '100 Greatest'. For instance, I too love the Higley Coppers found on pps. 14-15. I think they are cute and cuddly but I want to know why Samuel Higley was compelled to mint his own coins, for God's sake. What about the coin shortage at the time; how they were used; was there any competing specie circulating at the time? Or take entry No. 47, 'George H. Lovett's Nod to Coin Collectors' which is a fine entry but no mention is made of the Lovett family's long and illustrious relationship to the medallic arts which is doubtless why the medal was voted on the list.
This book misses the inside information that personalizes what are otherwise just objects. Granted, many of the book's entries are beautiful works of art, but mere beauty is not enough to carry a project such as this. Rest assured that the world teems with beautifully struck medals, aesthetically pleasing medals but this doesn't necessarily make them deserving of greatness.
Also this book is Made in China. One day China may produce high quality art books but today is not that day. As a book collector it is of utmost importance that art books such as this are produced with the best of values from the best of materials and this book, sadly, was not.
Just three stars, my friends, but I do agree with the reviewers below this is a great library book.

This book is a wonderful collection of KEY MEDALS and TOKENSs. With beautiful pictures, this books tells the story of the medal or token featured as the Top 100 by a select group of Numismatic Experts on the subject. Fun to read; fun to see what medals and tokens made the Top 100 list.

I liked the book so much, I even bought a copy for my local library... JAS

Libraries catering to collectors as well as any interested in the history of American medals must have this oversized, lavish survey of rarities in the medal and token world, which explores the U.S.'s first coinage, medals and tokens and includes a foreword by numismatics Russ Rulau and David Alexander. Full page, large-sized color photos of coins and metals provide extraordinary, exceptional detail making this a 'must' reference for any library catering to coin collectors or American history buffs.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Upon diagnosis of my pc I wanted a source that would clearly describe the disease and its various treatment options. Here is a lucid, compact, authoritative presentation, recommended by my urologist, that provides an excellent beginning for those wanting to understand what lies ahead. The text is supplemented by illustrations and matrix-tables that chart advantages and disadvantages, plus side effects of therapies and drugs. Discusses possible complications, social effects and includes a glossary of terms that will be new to you. The fifth star is lacking only due to the fact that pc treatments are developing quite rapidly so combination therapies and robotic-laparoscopic surgery are not discussed here though that is common to books on pc published prior to 2005. While I have used several other sources, including the internet, I keep coming back to this one for quick reference.

This book is well written in easily understandable terms. We first saw it in the waiting room at the Drs. office. It covers all levels of prostate cancer and is a good reference book for how the prostate works. Highly recommended.

I was recently diagnosed as having prostate cancer. I am 63 years old/young. Very depressing. (not that I am 63, but that I have cancer;>)) I had/have no symtoms. I went for an annual physical and my PSA was high. My urologist loaned me this book. It answered all of my questions about prostate cancer. I realize that this book isn't the last on the subject, but it is a great help to me. It is very objecvtive. NO BS! That is all that I care about. I don't want sugar coating at this point. I will certainly read some other publications before I make a decision as to what procedure I will undergo. But, I would recommend this book to any man who has any questions about the disease and which route that he may want to take. The most important questions are about impotence and incontinence. It explains it all. It goes into procedures and much more. Not a feel good book, but it will help you to make your decisions.

I had to return this purchase because this is a study guide, not a used textbook. I did not see it shown as a study guide at all. Very frustrating. It looked like a good study guide, but not really useful to me based on my instructor's syllabus.

This was an excellent introduction to the world of anthropology, with an attempt to remain culturally-fair with all topics touched upon, including its example of Christianity being "not perfect" by pointing out some of the problems introduced as a result of adopting Chrisitianity over another religious following. It prepared the reader for further studies in anthropology quite well, although (probably since I have already read more in-depth books in the field) it left me somewhat bored with the basic level of writing used. Would highly recommend this book for anyone wishing to be introduced to the very fascinating and diverse field of anthropology!!!

This book provides helpful insights into the four fields of anthropology: physical, socio-cultural, linguistic, and archaeology. The book begins with a look at the development of Homo sapiens and how H. sapiens has come to populate the world. The book then delves into the topics of political structures, religion, psychology, economics, linguistics, etc. One of the most intriguing aspects of this book is that it discusses the many specialties within anthropology, including forensic anthropology, medical anthropology, and paleoanthropology.

I highly recommend this book to those who wish to gain an understanding of the many fields of anthropology. Whether you are reading this book for leisure or as a student, you should find this to be and enjoyable and informative text.

This book has been enormously helpful for me! Although it is HUGE and HEAVY to lug around, I know that the material that is inside is both interesting and accurate. The concepts are explained in terms for lay people, and the pictures/graphs they use are usually helpful to re-define points.

Would I buy this book for fun? Likely not, but for the class I'm taking that requires it I don't think it was money wasted.

Easy comfortable transaction - shipped quickly. Item in the condition as listed. Thanks.

Alright. So, you're hopefully going into a biology class and this book is required for the course. If you plan on just reading the textbook for the hell of it, have at it, but its going to take some pure biology interest to want to even finish the first five chapters. But, for a bio. course, its an awesome book for its in depth details, numerous easy-to-understand figures, and readily available cd-rom. The book is def. helpful, especially when you don't like hearing useless lectures.

This is a good book for interns/first year residents
and sub-interns. It has a strong emphasis on patient
evaluation that will be useful for work on the wards
as well as in the ED. It's most handy when you're
trying to round out your differential diagnosis and
want some direction when working up a patient.
Several features that I found to be quite useful are
the cardiology lab for EKG's, the surgical glossary
and syndrome glossary for looking up eponyms. The
problem-based format is much more practical than a
systems or discipline based format and is easier to
use when on general ward rotations. One thing that I
would like to see would be a stronger emphasis on the
practical management of disease. While the Handbook
gives a good foundation in the concepts of management,
I would appreciate more of the nitty-gritty details in
patient care. However, the book is still a handbook
and the emphasis on diagnosis and evaluation is very
useful for interns and sub-I's who are still mastering
the art of differential diagnosis and the work-up of
various illnesses.

I used this in medical school (the first edition). The best book for students or sub-I's. more useful than Harriet at that level. Not much in way of management like Harriet, but definately has a niche of it's own. Buy this book. NIce charts, algorithms, differentials, pearls...i could go on. I recommend this more than any other pedi handbook for general pediatrics.

This is an excellent book for pediatric residents and medical students in pediatric rotations. The book is organized by symptom e.g. abdominal pain, chronic cough, and it provides a comprehensive list of differential diagnosis, flow charts for diagnosis, as well as short discussions on most common diseases associated with that particular symptom. A must for pediatric rounds.

Great Book....even though the CRAZY PROFESSOR I HAD USED 15 of the essays and some poems. THE ESSAYS WERE INTERESTING AND FUN.

The book does provide a diverse range of genre. It works well as a literature textbook. However, the quality of the book binding is poor. Students purchase this $50+ textbook only to have chunks of it fall out before the end of the semester. I suppose the publisher sells more textbooks that way, since few books are resold as used books, but I can't recommend it for just that reason.

This book provides a good range of diverse materials for a teacher in a first year English course. There are multiple genres and themes, a section of famous paintings for discussions (useful for discussions on literature and art), among other helpful features. The Conscious Reader is an antidote to readers which have the same standard writing for student use.

I found this book to be extremely informational and helpful. It isn't filled with a lot of quick weight loss hooey that so many other books contain.

I bought this book for a bargain (under 5 dollars) and wondered if I was wasting my money. Why was this book selling for so cheap when I couldn't even find a copy of the South Beach Diet on my local store bookshelves?

I was pleasantly surprised at how much sense this book made. And how much detailed information and explanations were given. I really think anyone could benefit (even people who are not overweight) and everyone should read it. It's like a primer for your health.

The only complaint I have is that so many statistics are thrown at you, and I'm not convinced they are all soundly presented. For example: Cancer deaths are increasing... Well maybe that is true, but are the rates increasing? I mean the population is growing exponentially, so even if the number of deaths are increasing, the rate could be decreasing.

But overall I rate this a must for all persons interested in their health and fitness.

I thought I knew just about all I needed to know about dietary fat and its effect on American health. This book was a thoroughly enjoyable read because it gave me information that I had not previously encountered. It lacks a lot in helping you make healthful choices for non-labeled foods, however, because there is another book written by the same man with that sort of information in it. I have tried many of the recipes included and they are usually quite delicious. They aren't NO FAT usually, but they are certainly LOW FAT and absolutely delightful to eat. Most entres require some serious preparation time, but if you have the time these healthful recipes are worth the effort.

At a time when PC activists are seeking to destroy the careers of academics who dare to suggest that not all people are created equal, this book is a reminder of what is at stake. "Crime and Human Nature" is a fearless, compelling attempt to get to the heart of a subject that concerns everybody in modern society. The authors present the whole picture, theories, evidence, and controversies, with rigor and clarity. You will not find a better survey of the subject anywhere. The book should also be required reading for anybody who wants to learn how to construct an argument.

When Wilson and Herrnstein's "Crime and Human Nature" first appeared in 1985, it caused a major debate. American sociologists had generally ascribed crime to environmental factors, particularly poverty. Wilson and Herrnstein proposed that constitutional factors, coupled with poor parenting, were really the causes of crime. It was the first major examination of such factors since the early days of criminology. The authors proposed that the following constitutional factors predisposed an individual to crime:
1) Mesomorphic body type: There are three body types and mesomorphs are described as heavily built, either muscular or fat, and shorter than average. The authors don't even attempt to explain why this would predispose an individual to crime. But the statistics they use to back up this claim can't really be denied. Criminals are overwhelmingly mesomorphs with a slight emphasis to endomorphism (roundness) rather than ectomorphism (lean build). Stereotypes of criminals back up this claim: Think of the way famous mafiosos are built: John Gotti, Sammy Gravano, Tony Soprano, etc. Realizing that they can't explain why this affects crime, the authors simply state that it shows that constitutional factors matter; The other biological factors they describe are more straightforward.
2) Age: Criminals are predominantly young. Crime peaks from ages 16-25 and begins to descend downwards from thereon, although violent crime peaks from ages 24-28. Unlike body type, the authors seem to think they know why age causes crime, offering several possibilities. Young people have shorter time horizons, and are more interested in immediate gratification. Young people are less well off financially, have less dependents and so on. Few people would dispute age as a major factor in crime.
3) Sex: Men commit far more crimes than women, although the figures aren't completely clear as to how much more. An estimation of 90 percent seems likely. The question is why? Obviously men are more aggressive than women, but why do women commit crimes? The authors state that women commit crimes for the same reasons as men. As for why, all they can say is that for reasons both nature and nurture, men have different sex roles than women, and these affect crime.
4) Intelligence: Low intelligence, particularly the verbal component, seems to have a major impact on the criminal individual. The reasons are that those with low intelligence discount future events as being too far off to matter. They try and live for the moment. They may also be less able to grasp moral concepts.
5) Personality: Criminals differ on personality in nearly every study done on them. Criminals tend to be more aggressive, unafraid, assertive, impulsive and extroverted than others. They are also poorly socialized, meaning they display little regards for others feelings.
The authors are quick to note that constitutional factors are not only hereditary. They may also be affected by poor pre-natel care. Thus the genes alone don't dictate criminal behavior, but they do predispose an individual to crime. If those traits are reinforced by certain environmental factors, then criminal behavior may result.
By far the most important developmental factor, according to the authors, is parental style. Inconsistent and random discipline prevents a child from knowing when to expect punishment. The rules are not made clear, and the child never internalizes them. Furthermore, a cold parent does not produce the necessary attachment with their child that is important in later development. The child never develops a desire to please the parent or obey the rules. This pattern continues into adulthood. As far as developmental and environmental factors go, this is really the only one the authors point to as having a major impact. Indeed, they spend the next few chapters explaining why other factors don't matter, including schools, neighborhoods, labor markets, and television violence. Delinquents are likely to flock together in the schoolyard: A few rotten boys don't spoil the others. Certain kinds of neighborhoods attract certain kinds of people, and they point to an ecological fallacy: Ascribing the characteristics of an individual to the group where he lives. Labor markets only marginally affect crime, and the reasons are not entire clear yet. One environmental factor they do point to are durgs, specifically alcohol and heroin (the book came out before the crack epidemic broke in 1985, or surely crack would been included). These alter a persons time horizons and lead to impulsive behavior, as well as the need for money to support the habit. It is not clear how constitutional factors affect people in predisposing them to use drugs though. Perhaps they share some of the above constitutional traits.
After setting forth their model of criminal behavior as a choice that people make based on biological factors coupled with inadequate parenting, it seems only logical to expect policy suggestions on how to reduce crime. But they offer few. One reason is that since the book was both controversial and revolutionary, they were first interested in seeing their theory of criminal behavior become accepted. Since being written, it has indeed gained widespread acceptance, although it doesn't explain white-collar crime, and doesn't seem to explain organized crime either. The authors would counter that organized crime results from the same factors that they lay out in their general model. And it seems a valid point in explaining organized crime, who's members share many characteristics with petty criminals.
What is missing from the book is causation. After establishing an elegant an encompassing theory of crime which looks at both biological and environmental factors, the authors need to fill in the blanks. Most notably, why do mesomorphs show more criminal tendencies? And why do some men become criminals, while most don't? And how does one explain why women commit crimes? There is something notably missing here: How does one explain aggression, and the link between muscularity and aggressiveness?
Since 1985 researchers have closed in on the answer. It seems that the male hormone testoserone is responsible for aggression. Men with low testoserone claim to be tired, and unenergetic. After receiving the hormone, they say they feel better. No studies have been, however, to give men with high levels of testoserone more of the hormone for fear of uncontrolled behavior. Nonetheless, the correlation seems clear. It seems that mesomorphs, youths, and men all have higher testoserone than their counterparts. This explains their aggressive behavior. But even those three factors together cannot explain crime. Low intelligence, bad temperament, and poor parenting must also be factored in. A young man with high testoserone and a well adjusted personality will be highly successful. Indeed, society needs energetic young men to fight its wars, fight fires, and police the streets, among other jobs. It is only aggression in tandem with the other factors that is a problem.
Finally, we must address how to reduce crime, based on the model described here. One solution has been eugenics. The neo-Eugenics movement loved this book, using it to claim that crime is genetic, and to reduce crime all we have to do is sterilize criminals. While there is much in this book to support that claim, there will still be individuals born with these genetic traits. And most of all, society finds that solution abhorrent and unethical. I believe there are better ways to deal with criminals. If criminals are aggressive, impulsive, short-sighted young men, one way to deal with them is to slow them down. The tranquilizing effect of drug treatments would slow their impulses, and make them think before they act. No such drug has been introduced, but it seems like one could be not to far in the offing. Treatment programs like those offered by Stanton Samenow which help criminals by making them think about their every action, and what it will lead to in the future, could be done in tandem with drug treatment. By doing these things, along with strict policing, we can reduce crime greatly in our society.

I read this book for a philosophy class in college. After having done more research, I realized how important this work really is. The prevailing theories and proposed solutions for the crime problem in the U.S. are not represented here. That is mostly likely because the views and statistics found in this book are not politically correct. However, I believe they have much more merit, as they are founded on common sense and realistic strategies.
People reading this book will understand how throwing money at problems is ineffective and wasteful. You will also understand a very basic principle that I believe is greatly misunderstood:

There is no such thing as effective rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is a myth.

That isn't to say that people in prison cannot benefit from time, patience, and education. The simple truth is that there is no known effective method for changing people's behavior. And I think the general population has been duped into believing there is.
In any case, give this book a read, and see if it doesn't challenge the way you view the world and the people in it.

I ordered this book to brush up on my skills a bit so far so good. I think that this it is a great book. It breaks the details down so you can easliy understand what they are talking about I have ordered the workbook to go along with it.

I am taking the CMA exam this month and have my Associates Degree in the field. I borrowed this book ftom a student who started school before I did. The text book we had was not near as informative! This text has everything you need to know! I am purchasing it for my own reference because it was so helpful. I highly recommend this book to all Medical Assistants!

This book is excellent if you or anybody you know that is in the field or training to be a Medical Assistant. I am currently in the program at my local community college and love this textbook. Infact all my classmates call it "THE BIBLE" we use it so much and for everything. It teached you everything from how to send int insurance claim forms to putting on a pair of laytex gloves on!! I am definatly keeping this book when I am done with my program for further reference... ***** 5 stars !!!

This book is written in a way so that genetics is made practical and understandable. I like the way each disorder is discussed in context of the genetic anomaly. Even though it is dated and I would like to see an updated version, this book is still worth the purchase.

This textbook is at a very appropriate level for people who are new to the field of genetics. It gives a broad view of how medical genetics is related to health care professionals. I enjoyed reading it very much.

I enjoyed reading this book, very comprehensive and yet, very succint. This is a very useful resource for health professionals likc me. It helps me catch up with the new advances in the area of genetics. I highly recommend this book to health care professionals who need to learn or upgrade your knowlege in medical genetics.