Scott Hall Books

I ran across this amazing book in a used bookstore yesterday in Manhattan. i stayed up most of the night, spellbound, and finished it today. Spencer's characters are real to life, not always likeable but REAL. His plot moves relentlessly. His insights are superb. What more to ask in a book? I had just finished Shirley Hazzard's The Great Fire and liked it quite a bit but found her characters too nice to believe and her plot a bit contrived. Spencer has got it all. He should be winning the awards but he's too good for most lazy readers.
Thanks Scott Spencer! I'm ordering all your books.

Part of the writing process can be controlled and part cannot: writing feeds on enough time and good work habits. THE PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT WRITER'S MANUAL describes writing as a creative process in need of planning: finding an argument that will keep a discussion going all the way to more than one possible conclusion; fitting in source materials from the Internet and the library; fixing the usual grammar and style mistakes; and following APA style format and source citation. Jill M. Scott et al not only cover psychological correlation, description and experimentation paper writing but also handle genograms, which they clearly explain and illustrate, and professional ethics. The book helps writers in all fields and is every bit as well organized and written as Christopher Thaiss and James F. Sanford's WRITING FOR PSYCHOLOGY.

I used Reading Lessons in my "Introduction to Literature" course this year and my students loved it. Carpenter is a witty, playful, but PLAINSPOKEN guide through the labyrinths of contemporary theory. (Anyone that's tried to tackle Lacan or Derrida on their own knows how crazy-making they can be.) The chapters on psychoanalysis and gender studies are especially strong; after reading them, students should be ready to contribute something significant to the dialogue. I also recommend the closing chapter on hypertext. Carpenter's a good teacher.

I was required to buy this book for a Senior Composition Class and I have found it extremely helpful in my writings. It is a great resource for term papers and includes all the background information on the various forms of Documentation, including MLA. It also highlights grammar, overall style, and punctuation. I would highly recommend this for any college student or anyone who needs a reliable source for term paper writing.

Scott-King is a British professor of the Classics, who takes an opportunity to travel, all expenses paid, from his dreary, post-World-War-II, food-rationed land to sunny Neutralia (Spain, I believe, thinly disguised) for - lo and behold - a conference, sponsored by the government of Neutralia, on an immensely obscure bygone poet, a poet who simply happens to be Scott-King's academic specialty.

After Scott-King's arrival in Neutralia, his situation (through no fault of his own) unravels into absurdity. Practically everything connected with the conference is sham, corruption, squalid intrigue, and (where interactions with any bureaucracy come into play) officious indifference bordering on insanity. Indeed, near the denouement, he faces a threat not far from fatal. He does manage to make it back to Britain, physically intact and in time for the next semester.

And yet Evelyn Waugh has no hatred or disrespect for his main character. The book closes in a genuinely noble way, as Scott-King - a quiet, mature man, who had already endured the delights of a British existence in the first half of the 20th Century (yes, that assuredly was sarcasm) - returns to his familiar surroundings, and, as someone who already took life with a grain of salt, regards himself as even more affirmed in his small niche, and in his reverence for the enduring value of the Classics.

Waugh's words themselves, his turns of expression, are so utterly enjoyable in this work! I will close this review with a quote (from memory but, I believe, very close) of one passage that will show why I love this little book:

"This is the story of a summer holiday - a light tale. It deals, at worst, with solid discomfort, and intellectual doubt. It would be inappropriate here to treat with those depths of the human spirit - the agony, and despair - that marked the next few days of Scott-King's life. To even the Comic muse - the gadabout, the adventurous one of those Heavenly Sisters, to whom so little that is human comes amiss, who can mix in almost any company and find a welcome at almost every door - even to her there are forbidden places."

The Sociology Student Writer's Manual is an excellent resource. Every student, major and minor, in the discipline will benefit from a close study of each chapter. Following the instructions will make citations and referencing a cinch! All the tips and clues necessary to provide your instructor with perfect copy, both in content and in form, are included. There is even a chapter on the www. This offering is both a writer's manual and a model for doing research, with examples in all areas of the sociological endeavor. IT IS WELL WORTH THE INVESTMENT!

This book offers American school children the opportunity to read about the truth of westward expansion, which most elementary textbooks gloss over or ignore altogether.

From the book:

My father sighed deeply. "We never make war on women and children, he said, "But the Blue Coats kill our women and children first. That is a shameful way to fight."

This book is important educationally to children and adults. Scott O'Dell is my favorite children's author, and this book is my favorite of those I have read. Also recommended: Streams to the River, River to the Sea, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Zia.

Poirier and McKee present a wealth of information on the history of human evolution. They outline the methods of dating, identifying and assembling hominid fossils. Dating is shown to be, within the ranges of accuracy, nearly an absolute with today's technology. With the age of the fossil[s] established and the parts identified, the fossil may then be placed in its proper location on the human family tree. Poirier and McKee spend the remainder of the book describing the concepts, controversies and resolutions associated with that final step. The material requires attentive perusal, but the interested reader will be richly rewarded.

Early hominid fossils were chronologically located by stratigraphy - the position of the fossil in the rocks in relation to other, known, remnants. The early finds were often located in poorly identified areas, or mistakenly dated for a variety of reasons. Paleoanthropologists of an earlier day lacked the technology available today. Worse, they were often unaware of the need to examine the likely environment of the time the fossil was laid down. As the authors point out, this misunderstanding led to misinterpretation of how evolutionary relationships were structured. Today's "digs" are the subject of multi-discipline effort, with botanists, geologists and other fields represented. The more comprehensive picture laid out by these environment associated with the find allow a firmer footing on our ancestral lineage.

While that assertion sounds promising and our heritage is now viewed with confidence, nothing could be further from the truth. Where the human evolutionary tree once looked rather simple, with but a few offshoots extending from the central trunk, the improved accuracy of dating shows many branches. How many of these truly belong on the main branch and how many led to the dead end of extinction is what gives this book its real value.

Paleoanthropology has been among the liveliest of sciences. The debates and controversies have left academic halls and achieved public exposure. Poirier and McKee present the contentions of most of the major figures in the field with circumspection and clarity. With each new find, various interpretations arose, researchers attacking and defending positions from various foundations. The authors give each assertion its due, with resolution occasionally based on their own assessment. They have no hesitation in stating their own position, but it's given with justifications. Counter arguments are made with confirming data. Evidence is shown, but not nearly as strongly as the need for new results. This book, in many respects, reads like an academic work, but that in no small part is due to the authors'
call for more work in the field.

It would be unfair to say that every hominid fossil is given the authors' personal scrutiny, but the impression is proximate. Nearly every major site, with many of the associated prime fossils are described, sometimes with maps and photographs. The illustrative material, maps, diagrams and photographs are invaluable. About the only missing element is a single skeleton and skull with the bones frequently discussed in the book labeled. While many are, they must be examined out of context in many cases. If you have the anatomy, you won't need the information, but the rest of us require the crutch.

For anyone wishing to keep abreast of the research in determining where humanity comes from, this book is a treasure. Given the amount of information the authors had to cope with, the work is clear, unequivocal and immensely valuable. While not a light read, there's little to obstruct even the novice reader. The material is well organized and presented with a clear, straightforward style. Since the authors' aim is to explain [and recruit!] without perplexing the reader or seeking adherence to positions, they have produced a book that will endure.

My babysitter got this out for my 8 year old daughter who loves to read, and I started reading it first to see if she would like it. I remember reading it as a child but couldn't remember whether I liked it or not. As an adult I found it somewhat interesting but not captivating. Nothing much happens, and I didn't think it was written in a way which would excite my daughter. I found myself wishing Scott ODell were a better writer--the descriptions of how food or clothing is made from natural products are so thin, compared to the Little House books (which are masterpieces). Since so many people seem to love it, I guess you just have to check it out of the library and see.

What a great book! Virtually every part of this book is writing at it's very best.

The setting is magical. Odell seems to tell us about another part of the island and the water with each chapter. I wish he had made a companion book to just explore the island.

The young girl is amazing. She's making spears, building huts, killing devil fish, dogs, and the like, she's exploring nearby islands, trying to escape. There's so many ways to describe her, but the simplest and the best has to be: COURAGOUS.

What I like about this book, is that Odell helps the young reader talk about some issues of life that for many young people is not talked about, subjects like loneliness, independence, loyalty, and death. This is a book that can start a great many discussions between teacher and student, and parent and student.

What makes this book even cooler for me is that it is based in large part on a true story!

I have to say that this book is truly one of, if not the greatest newbery books ever written.

This book touched me as a young girl. I think I read it about ten times growing up. It is a wonderful story about courage, survival, isolation, and trust. It is an amazing adventure and I recommend it for all children. The book is deserving of awards but I would have loved it even if it had been an obscure story that never won awards - there are a lot of good stories out there that are like that. I am going to buy an extra copy of this for a little niece, so she will have it to read in a few years. I think this type of book has the power to mold and shape lives, who we are and who we will become.

i was forced to read this in school and i could not stand it... i got about halfway in before i was forced, out of bordom, to skim the rest of the book... save you time and effort and do not read this book.

Alone, on a deserted island. No weapons. Animal predators lurking where you can't see. A need for food. A drive for survival. That pretty much covers Karana's life, when her tribe sails away, and leaves her in the remains of living by herself, for years to come. There's numerous things she has to teach herself how to do--and many things that she'll discover that she will not do again. She has to learn exactly how to fend for herself--it's a life or death matter. After all, no one may ever come back to find her...

Awesome book, very eccentric--Not your average read!
You'll have to find out how Karana becomes courageous enough to take on her natural state of isolation.

I got the book for help in administering to AIX systems. I discovered after I bought the book that the authors did not even cover AIX but preferred SUN, HP, and Linux. The authors also did not do their research to verify facts written down in their pages. I was disappointed and found another book more usefull.

Great book, has been since the first edition.

For me, the greatness of this book resides in the cross platform explanations of how various system tasks differ from one OS architecture to another. Beyond BSD vs. SysV, I find the deeper I go the more different they all become. This book really helps cut through the confusion.

This book is fun and functional as a desktop reference. If you use Unix systems, you need this book in your short reach library. It covers a bit about the history of the systems, but doesn't bloviate. It's just straightfoward information delivered in colorful and memorable fasion. The book covers System V, Unix, BSD, Linux, all the basics.

I just started a new Sys Admin job and have to learn UNIX System Administration for the first time. I find this book to be very easy to follow.