What an enjoyable book! As a 19th century novel,it's slow paced enough to reflect upon the value of one's life and work.The young heroine's plan to study medicine is unaccepted by many people, but Nan is determined. She is lucky to have the backing of her guardian, himself a doctor. His thoughts about and support of her decision are very progressive for the time, and heart-warming. Nan's choice is challenged when she meets an attractive young man. The mores of the time demand that she choose between marriage and a profession. The weight that a profession carried at that time made it more a vocation than simply a job. A person chose seriously, his/her future as her life-long identity and contribution to humanity. This novel was thought producing,and its perspective interesting - I recommend it.

A wonderful, accurate bio of former teen pop-star Debbie Gibson! (Now, better known as independent, mature artist, Deborah Gibson.) The author, Reisfield, vividly captures all what it has to know on Ms.Gibson - her family background, parents (Joe and Diane Gibson) and the fondest childhood memories! As a child, the young Deb was very fond of music and theater, her family would then help her cultivate those talents - and fulfilling the dream of stardom. But it was in songwriting and performing that Deb really got her first break. It was also the string of Top 10 hits which highlights her entire career and would earn her loyal fans even as we speak. This is the inspiring story of Deborah Ann Gibson, in her quest of pursuing her dreams no matter what obstacle comes her way!

yes, it's a bad title and scary cover, but there's some good writing to be found within. the kind of feminist thinking about porn that you definitely won't find inthe mass media -- or the new york review of books.

A fine overview of a currently-hot topic (among educators, anyway.) Dr. Campbell-Gibson is concerned mainly with the quality of the instruction available, in terms of learner retention, i.e. do the learners finish their course? She is attempting here to provide a tool for the distance educator to use in creating a learning context which maximizes the learner's chances of success.

As she says in the Introduction, "There's no one to call. . . . If the distance learner is to succeed, we as faculty must do more than provide access to information. We need to truly understand that learner and design environments that facilitate learning, environments that enhance access to and success in higher education."

To this end, the author-editor has assembled a team of many of the top names in the field of distance learning, including an introduction by the much-cited Michael G. Moore of Penn State. The advice and analyses that they offer strike me as the advice of seasoned workers in the field.

Two disadvantages of this book are more reflective of the mechanics of the book than of the information it contains. First, for a book primarily aimed at scholars, there is very little space available for marginal notes. Second, the facts offered in support of the authors' conclusions are not cited in APA style, nor any other for the most part: the bibliography is fine, but there is a distinct lack of in-text citations that limits the book's usefulness.

Against that is the very reasonable price and the book's currency, combined with the expertise of the authors. In addition, the book is unusually coherent for an edited book with multiple authors. They all seem to be on the same page, and there is little duplication between the various author's chapters.

We used this for a class introducing algebraic geometry. It's necessary to know linear algebra and multivariable calculus, and very helpful to know groups, rings, and fields. The book keeps it's feet on the ground (equal distribution of computation and abstraction in problems). Some examples throughout. Very good as an introduction.

Dear Henry:

I was one of the people who originally used the book at Molloy College ( remember me- Lorraine Tawfik?) I am now using your book at Suffolk COmmunity College in Selden where I finally got a one-year temporary full-time position (don't know if it will continue to a tenure-track one!) . Anyway, your text is very lively and wellwritten to the student's level and has many pictures to describe the formulas. the only complaint I have is that the pages tend to get worn at the holes and I have had to put hole reinforcers on some of them.Otherwise I think by putting the contents in a binder - this is a nifty way to reduce the sticker price shock of a college text and I wish you lots of luck with selling the book to other colleges! My e-mail address is : tawfikl@sunysuffolk.edu. Write back to me when you have the time!

This is a short, very readable book, consisting of a series of brief reviews of various aspects of primate cortical evolution. There are two main sections, "The evolution of brain size," and "Neurological substrates of species-specific adaptations," each with a very helpful introductory/summary essay. A fascinating epilogue is by Harry Jerison, in whose honor this volume was written, showing how the pioneers in a field can still stay on the cutting edge of things. Two of the articles I found most illuminating were by Todd Preuss, who shows how the idea of a canonical mammalian cortical circuit diagram is a gross oversimplification, and Katerina Semendeferi, who contests the received truth that human frontal lobes are greatly expanded; in fact her work shows they are of the expected volume for a primate of our size. Pasko Rakic also presents his view of how cortical expansion could have occurred (by simply expanding the number of cell cycles in the ventricular zone), which he has presented elsewhere, but here with some new data on the role of apoptosis. However, there is not much coverage of recent advances in the understanding of regulatory molecules involved in brain development (e.g. the hox genes). The book is also a priced a bit too high in my opinion. But for those interested in this area, it is a must read, and an enjoyable one.

The most thought provoking book that i've read on the subject of existence, covers aspects of this subject that have been previously overlooked or out-right ignored due to the complexity of the subject matter. I would recommend this book to students of philosophy and those individuals with a high interest in this type of discussion.

"The Fruit of The Tree",Edith Wharton's third novel,remains the most misunderstood of all her writings.It has usually been criticized,even by those who admire it,as "brokenbacked" in structure and unsatisfying with its inclusion of the seemingly contoversial subjects of labor reform and euthanasia in a work that examines marriage and satirizes the idle class.This is primarily the reason "The Fruit of The Tree" has not been published in ninety years;hopefully,readers will rediscover a memorable book with its fascinating portrait of turn of the century America with themes which are still timely.It tells the story of a young nurse,whose intelligence and maturity attracts a brilliant young doctor working to reform deplorable labor conditions for the poor.Despite the nurse's admiration for the doctor's progressivism and her growing love for the doctor's person,he becomes infatuated with the gentle elegance of a beautiful and rich society girl-the nurse's best friend.The society girl supports the doctor's work financially to the great animus of her friends and advisers and eventually becomes smitten with him.They marry,only to discover their incompatibility when the doctor's new schemes for reform are baulked by his wife's love of comfort and security.The doctor by this time realizes that the nurse loves him and that he reciprocates.He argues with his wife and they seperate;the wife left alone breaks her spine in a riding accident and being attended by her friend,the nurse,begs her to kill her.The nurse seeing that her case is desperate(this is a century ago,remember)and influenced by the doctor's support of euthanasia-does so.The nurse falls under suspicion with the public and even the doctor suspects her of killing his wife because of her love for him.They marry,but she is haunted by the fact that despite her protestations of innocence,her husband tacitly believes her culpable."The Fruit of The Tree",subtly depicts the price one pays for following conscience and being ahead of one's time.The novel is not "about" labor reform or euthanasia but uses these to show how today's controversial ideas are usually tomorrow's accepted facts;that the progress of our civilization,accepted as a matter of course, is at the cost of the toil and suffering of others.Bitter is the fruit,indeed.I cannot rate,"The Fruit of The Tree" among Edith Wharton's greatest works,however.The style of the book while good,never reaches the sustained brilliance which she achieves in "The House of Mirth","The Custom of The Country" and "The Age of Innocence",works of which the prose is unrivalled in English fiction. Nevertheless it is a fine novel,and deserves recognition for its well integrated artistry. END

Excellent Black & White drawings & printed etchings of C.1900-1910 "Gibson Girls" stylized drawings, that appear to have the "look" of Charles Dana Gibson or Harrison Fischer drawings. Both men were celebrated Illustraters of the turn of the century glamourized "coca cola" women. Recommended uses would be photocopying and for use in study & projects as there are facial closeups and women in various active poses. Very good...