From the back cover:
"For mothers and fathers who wish to take a more educated, active role in the birth of their child, _Getting Ready for childbirth_ is a superb guide to a happier, healthier, more family-centered experience. Written by three certified childbirth educators and based on Lamaze techniques of relaxation and exercise...."

There are many helpful diagrams in this book and a good list of suggested reading. It was originally published in 1977 and revised in 1986. There is a tremendous lot of information here. Everything from the benefits of breastfeeding to how to tell the stages of labour. Should be on the bookshelf of every childbirth professional.

In spite of all their fervor, I have come to regard reading the Romantic poets as something akin to slogging through the great mystics. You have to keep going on--no matter how the author drones through fifty pages of needless verbosity--you will, in the end, find the jewel that you had hoped to discover in picking up the book. Such is the case with the letters of Thomas Lovell Beddoes.

Though one jewel (a description of Shakespeare) comes early--

"'A star' you call him. If he was a star, all the other stage scribblers can hardly be considered a constellation of brass buttons."

--others are buried deep within. Yet with Beddoes, the mining is half the fun. Try staying awake, much less interested in the prose works of certain other Romantics.

Thomas Beddoes was a rather death-obsessed author who unfortunately never figured out that it only takes one point of light to dispel the deepest darkness. Yet for all that, I find a very human persona that is not the least bit inaccessible in his letters. In fact he is, to me at least, very engaging.

Do yourself a favor: pick up a copy of Beddoes' letters and make the acquaintance of this wonderful and tragic man.

The complex history of Marx's thought is often clarified by its critics. This work explores the core idea of the subject for a marxist and takes on Marx at the very foundation and beginning of his thinking, as his ideas crystalize from the early socialist movements of the Restoration Era. It is a tight analysis, and useful, if one that backfires, showing the problems, and yet the brilliance of the tactics adopted by Marx. The myth of the proletariat turns out to be no myth at all, and clarified by this kind of exposure of its starting point. Here we can see Marxism near the spectrum of the various gestating, and sometimes conservative, socialisms of the era. One might read Spengler's Prussianism and Socialism or an account of the fascist class war of the twenties to sense the rightness of Marx's viewpoint. And yet the myth of the proletariat is another of its exploitations, and the reality of Bolshevism and the fate of the proletariat in that context suggests the left has little interest in the proletariat, except as a pawn in its own game of domination, mephistopheles to the working faust.

I rated the book 4 stars because it provides solid examples in many areas of XSL FO that actually work. Even though the W3C recommendation has been out since October, 2001, we have just started to see accessible books on XSL FO, and this is the best. The author provides a hands-on view and gives you examples that work and get you up and going quickly. Not a lot of wading through esoterica wondering how you would even get started with a simple document.

However, that is not to say that the book is without problems. Let me list them in order:

1. Software that will format XSL FO is in its infancy. Therefore, although the examples work, you have to burn some shoe leather finding software that is compliant with the spec. It would have been better if the author had bundled an evaluation copy of either the Antenna House software which he claimed would format *almost* all of the examples or his own XFC software that he developed for IBM alphaworks. I did download the XFC software, but although written in Java, it is very much oriented towards a windows platform, and I could not concoct a way to get it to run on my linux machine (I gave up after discovering I had a non-compliant version of the xerces package). I think one of the reasons Michael Kay's Wrox XSLT book has been so popular has been because of his work on Saxon. Software would have made this book a 5 star book.

2. Downloadable examples. These were not available at first, but the author had them up within a week of my email, correcting an error on the publisher's web page. So, this went from a problem to a plus.

3. Pagination (Chapter 8) is not very clear. Some of the figure references seem to have been reversed (generally, in many places where the author refers to figure 8.1 you should read 8.2 and vice versa). This chapter needed a concrete example to start. Then the author could have gotten into the more esoteric issue of overlapping regions.

This text is good for simply supplying a study list and a basic outline to fill in with your own review information. But the outline alone is too basic, leaves out important topics, and contains multiple errors, whether they be typo-s, over-simplifications, bad translation of a higher reference, inappropriate verbage or incorrect qualitative statements. And the practice exam CD has just enough errors to be annoying. Material reviewed by medical professionals needs to be accurate. This study guide needs to be paired with a medical reference intended for physicians to make it useful (try Lange's Current).

This book my be "approved by the APPA and APAP", but don't being fooled by these endorsements. The books outline is too basic as are the review question and don't reflect the level of difficulty of the boards. I was also disappointed that the review questions in the book and on the CD are identical. Except, the CD mixes up some of the graphics. What should be radiology pictures for radiology questions turn out to be radiology picture and ECG questions and vice versa(use the questions in the book as a reference they are correct.
You are much better served by purchasing "Physician Assistant Review" ISBN: 0781742315. It seems to follow Currents "CDMT" to a tee, but thankfully leaves out the esoteric information that is too much for a fledging PA anyway.

I recently used this book, and others, to review for the PANRE. This book stands out for clarity, pertinent information concisely delivered, AND for accuracy!....one other book that I used was VERY disappointing in that it contained multiple errors!..
The questions on the exam were exactly covered in this text. I recommend it highly.

It's quite hilarious, what people will believe. I do not see why people contradict the DNA evidence and the fact that Anna Anderson didn't look at all like the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. It's quite pathetic, this woman, a psychopath who grew into her role as the "lost grand duchess". There needs to be a better memoriam to the girl, not the crazy woman who said she was she. It's absolutely laughable.

Lovell's work is clearly inferior to Peter Kurth's on the same subject. While Kurth relied on archival material, Lovell apparently preferred to focus on more bizarre aspects of the Anastasia claimant's story - in this case, the possibility that Nicholas and Alexandra had a 5th daughter. The fact that there is no evidence of this does not stop the late Mr. Lovell.

This book is bound to disappoint both the supporters of Mrs. Manahan and those who accept the DNA evidence that she was not Anastasia. For the former, Lovell brings up matters and associations her supporters would have rather not seen published. For those who do accept the scientific evidence, this is a rather sad tale of a woman who wanted to be someone else.

Every little girl and teenager who is and was a history
lover can not help but be drawn in by the tale of the
youngest Grand Duchess and her possible escape. Lovell
however, tends to ramble in his book, when he could have
gotten to the point much quicker. He portrays her
as a semi nut case who went through so much trama she could
barely remember to brush her hair let alone her name.
DNA has supposedly proven that she was a polish factory
worker but there are still too many unanswered questions for
romantics like me to be satisfied. Why did the autopsy on
Anna Anderson reveal she had a child but the polish factory
worker never did? Did the autopsy also show the extensive
bone damage to her face as a young girl? How can you get a
scar exactly like that of a Russian bayonet in a explosion? (What are the odds) How come on Olga's death bed in Canada she
keep repeating, "my niece, what have I done to my niece".
All I know is DNA can say what ever I want it to, if it is my
lab and under my control. If everyone is so positive that
all were killed in the cellar why won't they allow
DNA testing and comparisons on the remains of others claiming
to be Romanovs, like Heino Tamov and his family.
With the laws in Russia as they are, they have a lot to lose.
If someone could prove they were a from the family of the
last CZAR then they have to give everything they confiscated
back. Pretty scary for them.

This book does not cover all the topics probed in the exam.Needs to be updated and aligned with the latest Cisco IP Telephony Certification Exam.

I didn't buy this book to pass the CIPT exam. I bought it to fill in some gaps in my CallManager knowledge in preparation for the CCIE Voice. I found it to be a useful introduction to CallManager. It takes the reader through the basic configuration of CallManager using well thought out (albeit fairly simple) examples. It is very similar to the materials found on the CIPT course.

If you are going to have to administer/configure a CallManager for the first time - this book is a good place to start.

If you are going to sit the CCIE voice it is probably too lightweight for your needs (although it is on the prescribed reading list!)

While I passed the 9E0-402 exam, after 3 weeks of reading this book. I am giving it 4 stars, because I found out in the exam, the book missed out on some details. However with work experience, you should be able to pass the exam with this book. I am not working with IP Telephony at the moment, so I will say I got a good bargain for my money. I aslo used Boson test, but the questions were too easy compared to the real thing, personally not worth buying. To pass the exam read this book twice, and you should be ready. I am willing to answer any questions regarding the exam prep.

This book is very good, it tells the story of the Apollo 13 incident in a very simple way. It helps children understand the dangers and responsabilities of space exploration without discouraging children to become part of it.

If you have any comments e-mail me to: leones87@hotmail.com

A listing of commercially available fibers, fabrics and prepregs from the advanced composites industry. Also some thermoplastic products. The directory provides an alphabetical list of most the manufacturers and suppliers, including phone and fax numbers, and addresses. But no websites nor e-mail info. Main focus is rightly on carbon or graphite fibers, but aramid (Kevlar, Twaron), UHMWPE (Spectra), High strength glasses (S-2 glass) and ceramic fibers are included. Useful features include glossary of terms, with translation table showing English, French, German and Italian. And also an index of trade names. Proof reading OK, but could be better, e.g. a table comparing 21 high performance fibers incorerectly showed data for R-glass listed as S-glass, and for Hercules IM7 as IM8. The other 19 were accurate. Potentially very useful, but to be 6 years old in a rapidly changing industry is not acceptable, especially at this price!

This book has nothing to do with the trenchcoat mafia, but the title looks funny.