error Books

Dead Pawn is full of interesting characters. In addition to the characters, Richard Peck has painted such a lush portrait of New Mexico that I feel as though I've just returned from a vacation.

More than once I was rooting for Bob Wince.

Well done!!!

Dead Pawn is New Mexico author Richard E. Peck's initial entry into crime fiction, in fact, into the genre of the caper novel. Not a light-hearted one like Donald Westlake writes, but more reminiscent of Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Rum Punch, and many others). Don't be fooled by the title. It has nothing to do with chess, but refers to the most valuable pieces of Indian jewelry, unclaimed pawned items. But Dead Pawn can be taken to refer ominously to the fate that may await Peck's protagonist.

We meet Bob Wince as he's being given an early release from prison after having been framed for fraud. He has made enemies in the slammer and now he returns to confront enemies in the mean streets of Albuquerque. He's trying to go straight--or is he?

Not everything is what it seems, nor are all the characters sympathetic to Bob and glad to see him home again. We gradually meet a cross section of Duke City criminals and Peck's multiple POV technique allows the reader to keep one step ahead of the dangers piling up on Wince. Or are we one step step ahead?

Stick with this novel and you'll learn things--about prison, about the restaurant business, about adobe construction techniques, about an ingenious purse snatching scheme that leads to burglary, and especially about Southwest silver and turquoise jewelry. In short, surprises galore await you and, like Leonard, Peck hands you bits and pieces of information that will keep you guessing right up until the end who will be left standing when the smoke and dust clear.

Better get your copy of Dead Pawn soon. I have it on good authority that Peck is hard at work on a sequel.

I know that this is ...[a] review of a work that has been out there (in translation) for many years... this is quite the best investigation of an intellectual/historical subject that I've ever seen.
... Took a chance, struck gold. Now look, I have degrees in History, have read 100's of books on that subject alone. Nothing like it has passed my old and weak eyes like this 'thing' of Gerbi's. Man's a genius. Delved into a subject long just not even imagined, drug it up, made it understandable, holy cow! Who knew! Surely not the multi Ph.D. friend who reacted much the same, "Buffon!, he said, I didn't know that". The Dispute of (or Argument about), the MEANING of New World is something (like Beard) that those interested in history simply cannot avoid, except at their peril.

This masterful work is a hallmark of scholarly effort and provides the undercurrent of American-European relations since discovery. Ever wonder why Jefferson digresses into a 15 page argument about the size of NA Elk in Notes on Virginia or who actually said "lazy, shiftless and incapable of civilization" and to whom they were referring or why Lewis' Dodsworth has an extended in-character argument about natural American abilities? This and much, much more await discovery here! Accept no more the presumed superiority of European culture -- not after you understand the history of the debate.

This book is a great reference guide. I used it with the video Human Factors & Pilot Error and it helped me to recognize lots of things I do that can affect my concentration when I fly. I recommend it to every pilot, especially flight instructors who want to teach their students right.

Well-publicized accidents only draw attention to how many factors play into our ability to control an airplane. Rarely taken into account is the type of foods eaten or not eaten prior to flight, the chemical exposure of the pilot, the ionization of the atmosphere and even jet lag symptoms. This book is a wonderful guide that all pilots from Cessna 150 flyers to 747 drivers can benefit from. They will get food for thought and information that can keep them at their top physical and mental condition before and during their flight. The book can be used as a text book along with an instructional video...Human Factors and Pilot Error that was filmed at an FAA Safety Seminar in 1999.

I took the class the Dr. Moon and I spent some time proof-reading it. I have read other texts on this material and some of them are quite hard to understand. Usually it is because there are too few examples.

In this book there are many examples to follow. There are problems that will test your theoretical and your practical knowledge of the subject. If you need an in-depth get-you-there book on this subject complete with programming examples, this is the book for you!

Error Correction Coding is very well written and easy to follow. Explanations are concise, and the book is filled with examples as well as coding assignments that really drive the principles home.

...and he finally succeeded.
Being enormously under pressure by the public opinion, Chris Mullin, Labour MP and journalist, was trying to find the truth about what had happened on November 21st, 1974, when IRA-bombs exploded in zwo Birmingham pubs and killed 21 people.
Six innocent men, who simply were at the wrong time at the wrong places, were imprisoned and tortured, until they confessed what they had not done. The so called "Birmingham Six" were sentenced for life. Chris Mullin was one of the people who was doubtful about this case and started his own investigations. In the following years he found the truth about the Birmingham bombings, but it took 16 years until the Birmingham Six were released.
This book describes the long and painful way of the six men and Chris Mullins search for the truth, against the resistance by the public opinion, the police and justice. Error of Judgement is more thrilling and exciting than any fictional thriller i've ever read, because every word is real.

This book is written by journalist and British Member of Parliment Chris Mullin and deals with the notorious Birmingham Six case. Mullin was for long in the forefront of those calling for the case to be reopened and arguably did more to procure their eventual release than any lawyer did.

This book is a tale of human error, skulduggery, and incompetence on the part of police, prosecutors, forensic experts and judges at every level and on such a scale that it almost beggars belief. It shows how the appeal process all too often can become a sham with the court not being open-minded to the receipt of new evidence.

Mullin mercilessly exposes how prosecution-minded and malign appellate judges can be when they have a mind not to do something. Attempts to bring a civil action against West Midlands Police for assaults upon the men while in custody provoked the notorious off-the-cuff, but all the more revealing for that, remark by Lord Denning: "Just consider the course of events if this action is allowed to proceed to trial. If the six men fail, it will mean that much time and money will have been expended by many people for no good purpose. If the six men win, it will mean that the police were guilty of perjury, that they were guilty of violence and threats, that the confessions were involuntary and were improperly admitted in evidence and that the convictions were erroneous. That would mean the Home Secretary would either have to recommend they be pardoned or he would have to remit the case to the Court of Appeal. This is such an appalling vista that every sensible person in the land would say: It cannot be right these actions should go any further."

Luckily for the Birmingham Six, Lord Denning's "appalling vista" was eventually realized when all the wrong doing was eventually accepted as having happened.

Essential reading for any safety investigator. An eye-opening way to transform your investigations by moving from the old-view to the new-view. I've used this book as a 'course book' for a seminar of 25 safety professionals to great effect. Plus there is a good guide to the role of a safety department too.

We all are extremely good to forecast the past. When this simple principle is applied to human error, it is very easy blaming the human operator.

Dekker tries to put himself in the shoes of that human operator showing why an analysis that does not try to understand an event from that position is useless.

There is a very hard criticism to different kind of positions taken by people that do not make that effort.

If we try to make something as a "winzip on a summary" of the book, I think we could reach these conclusions:

When we have to analyze an event, it should be useful starting with this hipothesis: "People are not usually dumb, people are not usually crazy and people have not usually chosen the day of a big accident to make self-killing." This starting point could be enough to avoid many of the practices fairly critiziced by Dekker.

Prompt delivery, book was in great shape. I'd buy my next textbook this way!

The greatest quality of this book is that all the author expects the reader to have is a basic mathematics background (a Discrete Structures background of basic Set Theory). It contains consise explanations and straightforward proofs to all the essential theorems of the subject,but, fortunately, is NOT too elementary that it loses its true mathematical appeal. To top it all, it is chock-full of excellent applied problems in communications, image transmission, and even a party trick here or there (oh yes, friends WILL be impressed when you can error-correct an ISBN!).
In short, I think this book serves as a wonderful textbook into introductory Coding theory. And as for the subject of Coding Theory in general, maybe to spark a bit more interest in some potential customers, a thorough study of the theory will bring together all types of Mathematics (from algebra, calculus, number theory, set theory, finite geometry, and linear algebra).
All will be revealed!

I'm surprised no one else has reviewed this book, so I am going to put up some comments. If you like Patricia Highsmith's work, you're bound to like this one. Though the mystery is a bit flawed--I don't see why she didn't do more with the thumb injury as a murder clue--the writing and the characterization make this well worth reading. Like all her books, it is much more than a simple mystery, but is also the story of a man who starts out believing in some kind of justice and who gradually becomes corrupted. The hero and his prison experience seem so real that I found my own thumbs aching when he was brutaly tortured by the guards. The book was carried off with a great deal of thought and research about prison life. I also found myself feeling for the hero's sense of injustice and found myself hoping it wouldn't ruin him. But with Highsmith that hope is usually in vain. If you liked The Tremor of Forgery or The Blunderer, I'd recommend this one.

I was dissapointed when I discovered that there were no more Ripley books after The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Underwater. The Glass Cell was my first try at P. Highsmiths other books and I was not dissapointed.
Phillip Carter is unjustly accused of fraud and committed to prison for six years. This page turner puts you right in his shoes as he succumbs to drug abuse (in jail) and suffers through his unbearable time any way he can. Unfortunately prison is not rehabilitory but fragmenting even to Phil's secure psyche and the prison events are shocking and unfortunately all too close to experiences I've heard about.
Upon release he does his own investigating and finds out his wife had been having an affair even before his arrest and uncovers other life shattering facts. The story is exciting with never a dull moment, many unexpected events.
Ms. Highsmith does an excellent job of making this story believable right up to the ending which is as tragic and happy as the events of the story will allow.

A truly inspirational book that demonstrates you should always "Keep The Faith" and NEVER give up.

This book will make you view your own life in a different way. The part on adoption is very moving. The book will lead the reader to see in a very easy way, how important it is to move on, and never give up.

If every English classroom had copies of this book, Strunk and White, dictionaries and one good encyclopedia, the process of becoming a good writer would be easily streamlined.

Until that time, cross your fingers and get this book!

This book deals primarily with grammar and syntax issues. For that, it is a gem. I bought it thinking it might have some tips for revising plot and characterization, and so was disappointed. It is, however, a lovely resource for writers who struggle with grammar and syntax problems. It is short, sweet, and to the point.