I recently took this book with me to read on a trip to South Africa. The book is outstanding in every way. I will recommend this book to every reader that I know. Washington was one of the great men of U.S. and world history. The book does a great job of bringing George Washington to life for the reader.

This book was well written.. and it is very easy to read... even for kids. George Washington was a man of character. He is a great example to follow. This book will help you understand why he did what he did... why he refused to be King George... why he got involved in the revolutionary war. And after reading this book, you will gain a tremendous love and respect for the founding father of our country. And you will understand why they called him "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen".

The authors have gone to great effort to include and document quotations from original documents including personal communications. In a very readable style, they cover Washington's life, the historical events taking place during his life and his role in them. I found it to be enjoyable reading as well as an excellent research source.

What a resource! This book is filled with oodles of information about each of the tracks in addition to suggestions for great places to eat and points of interest in each of the cities for when you aren't at the track. If you follow the circuit in an RV, camping information is provided for your convenience. Another great feature is that instructions on how to get to each of the tracks is provided. If you attend some of the races or are thinking about it, this is something you should own.

If you are one of many who make vacation plans around NASCAR events or you are just planning to attend an event where travel is required to a relatively unfamiliar track, Speed Dreams is a "must have" reference book. Jay Ahuja goes into great detail on hotels, restaurants and most inportantly...nightlife. He also helps by providing alternative exiting procedures from the track, which concessions at the track are the best and what to expect to pay for them. Having been in racing for many years now, I recommend Speed Dreams to anyone looking for tips on how to make the event more enjoyable...both at and away from the track.

Everything you want to know about the Nascar tracks. Jay goes into detail about many different tracks. This is a must read for race lovers. Nascar expert, Joey Baird, read this book and loved it.

If you're reading this review now, you're considering whether this text is worthy of your [money]. Well, stop the guessing, and just read the darn thing for free at [the website]

I've found the first part of it is the same classical stuff I've seen over and over, but in a new light, differently perceived, and worthy of, sometimes, just closing the book and thinking about the implications. Take what I say with a grain of salt, as I've not nearly read everything. See for yourself, as well. There'll be no mystery.

(The famed "sister text," SICP, is also online as well at the appropriate address)

I can't rave enough -- by page 27, Sussman crisply solves a fundamental problem that I noticed as a schoolboy dacades ago, and for which I never found a satisfactory solution despite discussing it with generations of the world's finest physicists, and that is, how, in Lagrange's equation, can @L/@q be treated independently of @L/@q_dot when q_dot depends on q through dq/dt=q_dot by assumption? Having had a lifelong mystery dispatched in a footnote, I am breathlessly working my way through the rest. I expect this will be a book I revisit every few years or so, like SICP, Abelson & Sussman's book on Computer Programs.

Among the horrors of modern education is the production of vast quantities of poorly written, error ridden science text books. This is in spite of the fact that many if not most of the great scientists of the 20th century have been excellent writers and lecturers. Einstein and Feynman are important examples: brilliant in their discoveries, they were equally brilliant in their abilities to describe and explain some of the most difficult concepts of science. We should be asking why these people can write about their work with such perfection while the "professionally produced" text books in our high schools and colleges are so mediocre.

The MIT Press stands among those publishers producing the very best work. Sussman's and Wisdom's text, "The Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics", provides a wonderful example. Here is a book providing further proof that (a) great science necessarily includes excellent writing and communications, (b) brilliant scientists tend to be the best writers in their fields, and (c) a text book on a difficult subject can be remarkably enjoyable as well as informative when well conceived and well written.

The very first chapter, "Lagrangian Mechanics", is worth the price of admission. It has all the attributes which make the entire book a gem: it is concise, efficient, clear, compact, full, and rewarding. Every sentence contains important ideas and information, yet each sentence is clear and direct. These are attributes usually associated with poetry, and one could argue that this text book approaches that level of literature. In the first three pages of the chapter, the authors present as complete a discussion as I've read on the relationship of mathematics to natural phenomena, the basic project of classical mechanics, and the "remarkable discovery that the same mathematical tools used to describe the motions of the planets can be used to describe the motion of the juggling pin." Furthermore, the chapter introduces and describes the concepts of configuration paths, variational formulation (and why that has some advantages over the classical Newtonian formulation), generalized coordinates, and the relationship of these formulations to a computer program in Scheme.

By the end of the chapter, students will be immersed in the subject out of interest, and will fully appreciate the themes and likely outcomes of the book. Classical mechanics will essentially "come to life" through a well structured use of computers to achieve a very deep understanding of classical systems.

Jump next to the book's Appendices, which present an introduction to the computer programming language of Scheme and a full explanation of the authors' adaptation of functional mathematical notation. Scheme is wonderfully crafted language for exploring, describing, and demonstrating science and mathematics. The mergence of Scheme, functional notation, and classical mechanics in a single text while retaining almost luminescent clarity ranks among great educational achievements!

This is almost too incredible to say, but the truth is that an entire semester could be dedicated to the first chapter and the two appendices, and everyone involved --- teacher and students --- would be entirely satisfied. But in this text, and in a course based on this text, these sections would serve as appetizers, and we would all want more. Fortunately, there is plenty more.

The authors write that they prefer using functional notation to traditional mathematical notation because, "In functional notation mathematical expressions are unambiguous and self-contained." This statement is, in fact, the best description of the entire book.

I believe that the book could be used effectively in high school, if there was some capacity for integrated curriculum planning. Students could be learning Scheme --- an excellent language to learn if programming is a major interest or even hobby --- and physics and math. Not least importantly, students would also learn the importance of good writing.

Some will argue that the book is more a college text, although I think we tend to underestimate the powerful minds and interests of younger learners. In either case, this book belongs in those places promoting good science and quality education, and, if you simply enjoy learning and reading, it has a place on your home bookshelf.

Compiled and written by David K. Stumpf (Associate Research Scientist, University of Arizona), Titan II: A History of a Cold War Missile Program is the informed and informative story of the intercontinental ballistic missile program developed by the United States military in the 1950s and 1960s. Each missile was designed to carry a single nuclear warhead, used liquid fuel propellants, and was stored (and launched from) hardened underground silos. The missile sites were based in Arkansas, Arizona, and Kansas facilities, and then were finally deactivated in the early 1980s. Based on a wide range of sources including engineer and airmen interviews and memoirs, declassified government documents, and other public materials, and enhanced with more than 170 drawings and photographs (most of which have never been previously published), Titan II is a definitive, strongly recommended, technological history of a deterrent weapons system that for more than 20 years successfully defended America from nuclear attack.

I was expecting the typical academic or historical reference that is chock full of info, but fairly dull to read. As the cliche goes, you can't judge a book by its cover. Mr. Stumpf has done a great job of writing also. He details the beginnings of the program, operational aspects and the fatal accidents which seem to have been forgotten over the years.

He even details the program to turn the old warhorses into satellite launch vehicles and the remaining silo, now a musuem in Arizona.

Like the previous reviewer, I would have liked to seen some info on the Titan II and the Gemini program.

If you're a space or Cold War buff, read this book, then visit the silo/museum in Green Valley, Ariz.

There are a number of good books on the history of ballistic missiles. Edmund Beard, Richard Armacost and Harold Sapolski have all written classic books on the management of early ballistic missile programs. There are some more recent books that either re-cover this earlier ground or add to it. However, there are no real technical histories devoted to the development of any of the ballistic missiles the United States has built over the years. This book begins to fill that void.

David Stumpf previously wrote a book on the Navy's Regulus cruise missile that is a pretty comprehensive history. He did a good job with that one. Now he has turned his attention to the Titan II and done another great job.

Titan II is a detailed history of the development of the United States' second ICBM (technically, it could be considered the third, since it bears only limited resemblance to the Titan I that preceded it). This is a book focused on the technical development of the missile, the development and construction of its launch silos, its launch tests, its operational history, and its retirement from service in the 1980s. It is filled with illustrations, most of which have never been published before. And it is clear from his sources that he did not simply review previously published articles on the Titan II, but interviewed the people who worked on it and gathered information from private archives and previously classified materials.

The book does not go into the development of the space launch version of the Titan. The history of the development of the Titan III and the Titan IV rockets still awaits writing. He does, however, include a chapter on the refurbishment of old Titan II ICBMs into launch vehicles during the 1980s.

Stumpf includes an interesting discussion of the development of missile reentry vehicles. This is a subject that I personally believe could use a book in itself. I think it would be fascinating to trace the development of this technology.

Stumpf also includes an extensive discussion of several accidents involving the Titan II. And he discusses how and why the missiles were ultimately removed from service.

There are also useful appendices at the end of the book, listing the various flight tests (and their accuracy), the missiles produced, and other details.

We can only hope that he turns his attention to other early Cold War missile programs. This is an impressive piece of work.

I was one of Jay Neugeboren's student in the graduate creative writing program at the University of Massachusetts, where for nearly 30 years he has helped develop many writers, such as Bret Lott, Susan Straight, Valerie Martin and others. For the greater part of his career Jay Neugeboren has been a novelist and short story writer whose work has appeared in hundreds of publications including the O'Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. During the past decade Neugeboren has turned to writing nonfiction about mental illness, first with "Imagining Robert" and most recently with "Transforming Madness." His purpose in "Imaging Robert" was to focus on his brother, who for most of his life has tragically and defiantly struggled with schizophrenia and who has at times lived in the most horrible of conditions in locked wards. "Imaging Robert" is also a memoir, a family story in which Neugeboren tells not only of his struggle to take care of Robert, but also deal with the guilt of his own success in light of his brother's continual suffering. In "Transforming Madness" Neugeboren moves a step further and shows the reader something he or she may not have thought possible-how people who have been chronically mentally ill have found ways to manage their illness lead successful lives. The effect of reading this remarkable book is to gain understanding and sympathy for those afflicted with mental illness, and to also experience the joy of watching happiness come to some of the unlikeliest people. Neugeboren shows us that in addition to therapy, support groups, and medications, it is the presence of hope that brings people from affliction and despair into productive living. As a result, "Transforming Madness" is a profound message of hope, and an act of caring that comes by way of long practice.

This book dispells a lot of myths which surround mental illness. Though the vast majority of persons with a mental illness on t.v. are portrayed as violent individuals, there is probably not a larger group of individuals who are less aggressive and prone to feelings of fear than those afflicted with a mental illness. Most people think of schizophrenia as a life-long illness when in actual fact, a large percentage of those diagnosed with this disease make a full recovery. These are just two of the many issues addressed in this outstanding book. The author's writing is clear, concise, and forthright. Included are several stories of persons who live with a mental illness. Their stories are inspirational to say the least. This book is informative, colorful, inspirational, inquisitive, and profound.

The mental health system can be more confusing than mental illness. We have hundreds of thousand's of people in our mental health system. Most people have come in contact with someone who has been part of the mental health system. Yet, we don't understand mental health.

Jay has written a book about what is possible in mental health. Having a mental illness is not the end of the road. Mental illness is the beginning of a new life. We can understand and live with mental illness.

I am one of the people who Jay interviewed. I am honored to be part of this book. Jay spent time with people who are mentally ill and who are in our mental health system. Nobody has ever explained this system in such a clear way. Nobody has described the day to day bravery that those of us with mental illness have. Mental illness is very destructive and disorienting we can live with our psychiatric condtion. We do have mental health programs that work. We need to inform people of the possibilities of our mental health system. Thank you Jay for educating the public about the successes and possibilities of our quiet but profound revolution in mental health.

A system where people actually do get better rather than get worse

READ THIS BOOK

Moe Armstrong

I first read this book 7 yrs. ago when my husband and I were expecting our first child. We now have a 2 yr. old girl as well. I had actually all but forgotten about this book but accidentally came across it the other day as we have been preparing for a move. I have not been able to put it down since. The authors have made an amazing discovery through their experiment on 250 couples that is amazingly accurate in assessing the health of one's marriage post-baby. Going from a couple to becoming parents is the hugest adjustment most couples will go through, and this book illustrates which marriages are most likely to end in divorce and which are most likely to survive this difficult adjustment/transition. I have been astounded to find myself, my marriage, and my parenting and relating styles on these pages. I just ordered another copy to my best friend, who's a newlywed, contemplating having their first child! I highly recommend it to all first-time parents, and even if you've been a parent a while and want your marriage to be better, it will help point out things you can change and ways to improve your marriage.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wishing to enter parenthood. Extremely incitive, even a bit scary at times. While it is written as a case study, it is still easy to read. This book has passed through my entire circle of friends.

The book focuses on the most important relationship to a baby--how the parent's relate to each other after the first child is born. The stability and love (or lack thereof) in the parental relationship creates the environment in which the child is raised. Men and women have different expectations and reactions to the birth of a child. This book is a long-term case study of what types of marriages grow stronger, stay the same or get weaker as a result of the birth of a child. The insights I gained helped me to modify and be aware of issues in my marriage that having children creates. I believe my marriage has grown stronger after children and part of the reason was the insight gained from this book.

Im always looking for ways to spice up my sex life and this book provides plenty of suggestions. This "companion" to the original "Tricks" book contains lost of new suggestions which withstood the author's "tests" (be safe, not require much equipment, and most importantly, work right the first time!).

I wish there were more sex-positive books like this out there. Jay has done a great job in compiling these kinds of lists of ideas to try out in the privacy of our own bedrooms.

Jay Wiseman once again comes up with more than 125 ways to make good sex better. Anyone with a sex life can use the ideas in this book. It's full of great ways to spice up, perk up, or rev up a lagging bedroom. Tricks come labeled with such fun names as "Finger-lickin' good," "Come across the ridge," and the "Squeeze play". They're easy to remember, and seem to pop into your head right when you most need one.

Having enjoyed sex, alternative sex, Tantra and bring a trained sex surrogate I was skeptical as to what these books would hold for me. Boy was I in error. They not only acted as a reminder of what I had learned and was not putting into practice but they even had many new ideas.

These included not only technique but also attention to ambience, communication and the host of activities that are necessary for a relationship to work. Living in San Francisco, which seems to be the kink and polyamourious capital of at least the United States one tends to think we've seen it all and know it all. I'd like to thank Mr. Wiseman for writing such a wise and thoughtful series.

Not only are the ideas great but both books contain sections on dealing with sexual problems and list great resources for alternative sexuality. In fact if your looking for inspiration you could make a game out of these books like I've done. Take 2 different color dice and make one the 10's and one the units. Roll them twice and add the numbers (adds to 132., total of 126 become trick #1 127 becomes trick #2 etc.). Then turn to that trick and then you and your lover practice that trick with each other.

To close, got a lover whose style is little stale or need a great Valentines Day gift, this is it. If I found it useful, I am sure you will too, even if you just want to spice up the missionary position.

"...this book accomplishes what the authors intended. It is an extremely comprehensive review of ultrasound as applied to surgical practice. It is a very important reference and will hold a prominent place on my bookshelf." (Current Surgery, Vol. 60, No. 1, January/February 2003)

"...a first-rate resource for the practicing surgeon..." (World Journal of Surgery)

"...this book succeeds in offering a basic and user-friendly introduction to ultrasound for its intended audience, the surgeon..." (Abdominal Imaging)

This book presents profiles of the most original minds of our time. The Utne Reader editors have outdone themselves with the selection of this compilation. The biographical information is amazing, and the ideas that sprang from those experiences will sweep you away. The book literally cuts across the entire board: Included are scientists, mystics, activists, business leaders, talk show hosts, poets, dissidents, musicians, novelits, Buddhists, rabbis, economists, bankers, futurists, jazz singers, environmentalists, architects, community organizers, feminists, dissenters, book clubers, journalits, conservationists, philosphers, healers, dancers, and America's leading Idler. A small sample of some these amazing people:

* THOMAS BERRY: Catholic priest, environmental philosopher, grandfather of the religious ecology movement. "We have a moral sense of suicide, homocide, and genocide, but no moral sense of biocide or geocide, the killing of the life systems themselves..."

* NOAM CHOMSKY: After Marx, Lenin, Shakespeare, Aristotle, the Bible, Plato, and Freud comes Chomsky on the most quoted top ten list. As you can see, he is the only living person on the list, making him numero uno in the land of the living. Linguist, political analyst, and America's most prominent dissident.

* THICH NHAT HANH: Described as a "living Buddha." "Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and everything we do and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it."

* SATISH KUMAR: Magazine editor, global wander, and advocate of spiritual ecology. "There is a dance between what you know and what you don't know. The place of mystery is the essential ingredient."

* ZALMAN SCHACHTER-SHALOMI: Radically genius, dancing spiritualist, LSD-imbibing rabbi scholar, and flagstaff leader of the "psycho-eco-spiritual revolution of our millennial age."

* STARHAWK: Pagan, feminist, author, activist, protestor, rejuvenator of rituals in American life. "And by 'sacred' what I mean is not a great something that you bow down to, but what determines your values, what you would take and stand for."

* FRANCES MOORE LAPPE: Author of "Diet for A Small Planet," chronicler of community activism across the country, promoter of public life. "I made a vow to myself that I would never do anything else again in my life until I understood how it related to the underlying causes of human suffering."

* HELENA NORBERG-HODGE: Advocate of alternative development, defender of global diversity and local culture, founder of the Ladakh Project, a group dedicated to helping Ladakhis understand that they can choose which of the Western ways they want to adopt and which of the traditional ways they want to keep. "The destructive global economy exists only as long as we are prepared to accept it and subsidize it. We can reject it."

* JOHN PAPWORTH: Human-scale advocate, former assistant to the president of Zambia, "shoplifting vicar," and protestor of "car madness." "There is surely reason to suppose that local people running their own neighborhood are far more likely to do what is decent than government ministers trapped in the entrails of power mongering on a mass scale."

* JIM HIGHTOWER: Self-described populist, radio personality, former Texas commissioner of agriculture. "It won't be long before your church alter is adorned with a flashing neon sign hustling St. Joseph's aspirin."

* WINONA LaDUKE: Anishinaabe nationalist, Green Party vice presidential candidate, founder of the White Earth Recovery Project. "We all need to choose some ground and stick to it."

* GEOFF MULGAN: Policy adviser to British prime-minister Tony Blair, founder of the Demos think tank, and chronicler of connectedness. "The most pressing social problems no longer stem from an absence of freedom, but rather from too much freedom that leads to antisocial and self-destructive behavior..."

* MUHAMMAD YUNUS: Founder of the Grameen Bank and "micro-credit," champion of women, and economist. "I avoid grandiose plans."

* FRITJOF CAPRA: Ecological philosopher, physicist, and ecoliteracy advocate. "The environment is no longer one of many 'single issues': it is the context of everything else-our lives, our business, our politics."

* THEO COLBORN: Scientist, formulator of important theory about chemicals disrupting our endocrine systems. "Every one of you is carrying at least five hundred measurable chemicals in your body that were never in anybody's body before the 1920s."

* EDWARD GOLDSMITH: Green firebrand, founder of "The Ecologist" magazine, crusader against the global economy. "Nearly everyone today seems to accept the preposterous view that modern man is actually 'improving' the world..."

* PAUL HAWKEN: Entrepreneur, green businessman, and prophet of a sustainable economy. Advocates nothing short of replacing our "throw-away" culture with a "closed-loop system".

* HAZEL HENDERSON: Futurist, sustainable-development advocate, self-taught economist. "If I had been inducted into Economics 101, I would have suffered brain damage."

* WILLIAM McDONOUGH: Architect, industrial designer, and pioneer of the next industrial revolution. "The model for the next industrial revolution may have well been right in front of us the whole time: a tree."

Other profiles include: KENNY AUSUBEL & AND NINA SIMONS, ANDREW KIMBRELL, DAVID MORIS, ANDRES DUANY & ELIZABETH PLATER-ZYBERK, STEPHAN AND ONDREA LEVINE, VIRGINIA VALENTINE, MICHAEL LIND, ROBERTA BRANDES GRATZ, JANE JACOBS, GARY DELGADO, TED HALSTEAD, RIANE EISLER, COLIN GREER, BELL HOOKS, JERRY MANDER, ERNESTO CORTES JR, THEOADORE ROSZAK, CHARLENE SPRETNAK, GLORIA ANZALDUA, OCTAVIA BUTLER, EDUARDO GALEANO, GEORGE GERBNER, BARBARA MARX HUBBARD, KALLE LASN, BOBBY McFERRIN, BILL MOYERS, NEIL POSTMAN, RACHEL ROSENTHAL, JOHN RALSTON SAUL, WILLIAM STRICKLAND, LARRY DOSSEY, CHELLIS GLENDINNING, SUSAN GRIFFIN, JAMES HILLMAN, TOM HODGKINSON, HENRY & DAREN KIMSEY-HOUSE, JANE MAXWELL, VICKI ROBIN, BABRIELLE ROTH, and ALICE WATER, DONELLA MEADOWS, BILL McKIBBEN

I came across this book not long ago while looking for something completely different. After reading a few of the small bios in it about activists such as Bill Moyers, Noam Chomsky, and bell hooks to name a few, I bought it.

The best thing about the book is not the bios of the famous. It is the moving and inspiring stories of the unknowns. The activists who have worked tirelessly for years and decades to fix some injustice that they will receive very little praise for.

It made me realize (I guess I had known, but needed verification) that one person can make a REAL difference and after reading this book, I won't stand idle while a problem openly exists.

Here is a book for everyone who thinks that ideas are the greatest source of power on the planet. Within this highly-readable volume, you'll find ideas from more than sixty original thinkers - people who, depending on your point of view, can be described as mavericks, geniuses, philosophers, mystics, agitators, insurgents, visionaries, leaders, or members of the lunatic fringe.

The profiles are billed as presenting "People and Ideas to Change Your Life." That may be a tall order to fill, but the range of ideas presented will, at the very least, make you re-think your view of the world and the people in it. It is a book of possibilities and alternative viewpoints, of helpful suggestions and dire warnings - little or none of which you'll find championed in the mainstream media. These are the voices the establishment wants to relegate to the hinterlands of public debate. They are important voices, regardless of whether you find yourself nodding in agreement or shaking your head in bemusement.