It seems that the authors put things in this book only to make the book thicker. There are chapters like: How to use the help system, Controlling Windows, Using IntelliMouse, that are nothing but useless. The authors claim that with this book you can automate your mosto common task with macros, but there's nothing about this subject in this book. Unless you know nothing about Windows and Excel, buy another book.

Excellent book for beginning/intermediate business users! Lots of great advice as well as clear step-by-step. Great for anyone who needs a reference for Excel 2000 or needs to learn some of the trickier everyday business skills.

This biography on gandhi pales in comparison to other biographies done on him. Robert Payne seems hell bent on looking at incidences in Gandhi's life as either personal or selfish motives. While he manages to convince us of a possibility of a different viewpoint in some instances, in most cases he seems unduly critical and overtly suspicious. Looks like Mr. Payne believes that every motive in life has a selfish reason behind it. Sadly this paradigm does not allow him to dissect gandhi fairly. There are many facets to this great leader, both unfavourable and favourable, but it requires careful study of gandhi's philosphy and a unbiased approach which this book sadly lacks. There are better biographies available.....

Mr. Payne's account of the Mahatma's life is at once reverential of the great one, while recognizing that he was a human with human frailties. The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi portrays the development, the greatness and the failures of a saint, who changed the world and challenged forever the global culture of violence. To understand that Gandhiji was a flawed human being additionally gave me great hope that from quite humble material, saints are born. The Mahatma is also presented in his great strength, as a leader of men, a shrewd politician, and as a lover of God.

I was disappointed by the lack of quality of this book. She might have some interesting things to say about the history of tarot, but had this book been turned in as a research paper in college it would have come back with lots of red ink. There are typos on most pages, books and authors are referred to and mentioned in the text, yet are missing from the bibliography. She whines at great length at the idea that English occultists and their descendents are swayed by the editorializing comments that Levi's English translators, such as A.E. Waite, added to his text. Among those who supposedly just don't understand are the authors of "A Wicked Pack of Cards." What she fails to mention is the fact that one of the authors of that book (not mentioned in her bibliography) is French, and that both the original French and the translated English editions are mentioned in their bibliography. I would also find it hard to believe that the other authors--a distinguished philosopher at Oxford and an art historian--don't have at least a passing reading knowlege of French. It is not difficult to find the original French editions of Levi and de Court, and if one is that serious about this issue, one can seek those out. This comes across as being written by someone with little understanding of how to do basic research, and who doesn't have the skills that would be required of someone doing degree level college work. The fact that it is praised as being well researched blows my mind. I guess the intellectual and scholarly standards of a lot of people who are interesting in these things are fairly low. A pity. I was hoping to learn about the esoteric tradition of tarot from this book, but it is so filled with inaccuracies that it is hard to take anything she says seriously. At the very least, someone should have bothered to proofread the manuscript! And it's a thin paperback for that price. Yuck.

This volume is an excellent introduction to the esoteric roots and correspondences of all the major decks, with information on the Kaballah, astrology,, numerology, and gnosticism. Yet it is an easy and enjoyable read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the archetypal symbolism and history of tarot cards, and their relationship to the Western mystery tradition.

While this is a beautifully illustrated and well written book, the liberties the author took with the story of Joe Jackson are a disservice to young readers and listeners. My second-grade son was so anxious to get this book, but found that it didn't really ring true. The bat-maker calls Joe by the nickname "Shoeless Joe" before that nickname was used -- and even before the shoeless incident.

This really ruined the authenticity of the book for us and led to a discussion about what can be believed in books. ...

"Shoeless Joe Jackson once played an entire baseball game in his stocking feet. That's why they called him Shoeless Joe. Some say he was the greatest baseball player ever. Even the mighty Babe Ruth copied his swing. But what most people don't know is just how Shoeless Joe became such a great hitter..." So begins Phil Bildner's engaging tale about Joe Jackson's infamous bat, Betsy. It was a hitting slump that sent Joe to bat smith, Charlie Ferguson. He wanted a special bat that "pitchers are going to honor and respect" and he knew Ol' Charlie was the man to make it. After several trials and errors, Betsy came to life, 36 inches long, and 48 ounces, she was made out of hickory from the strong, north side of the tree, and stained black with tobacco juice to "make her dark and scary-looking." And with the help of Betsy at the plate, Shoeless Joe Jackson batted .408 his rookie year. "And to this day, no rookie has ever had a finer year than Shoeless Joe." Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy is more fable than biography, and Mr Bildner takes a lot of liberties with the facts. But his text is entertaining, and filled with humor and lots of back woods colloquialisms that make this picture book perfect for reading aloud. C. F. Payne's marvelously expressive and detailed illustrations are captivating, and add just the right touch of drama to bring the story to life. With a comprehensive Afterword and "baseball card" full of facts, figures, and statistics to complete the story, Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy is a fine debut that is sure to whet the appetite of baseball fans 5-10, and send them out looking for more.

"Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy" sets us in the Carolinas, where Shoeless Joe, before he makes his record-setting Rookie year, talks to the best bat maker in the state to make him a bat to get out of his horrid slump. Through much trial and error, Joe finds the perfect bat. The plot was very clear, but I had to say this is one of the best books I've seen in review for my Teaching Reading course.

The slang use is very realistic and open, and the way it repeated itself drew the children into the story. The illustrations are beautiful to the eye and fit well into the "back woods" feel of the story, mostly set in the Bat Maker's shack.

The book takes more then a few liberties with the truth - but they make the story more entertaining. The authors explain where they stretched the facts in a two-page story explanation, which includes Joe's involvement in the Black Sox scandal, and followed by another beautiful full-page drawing by C. F. Payne and a full career statistics.

I recommend this book - a student with an interest in baseball will eat this up. Students who like different stories, or who like when they are read to in an odd accent will want more. I hope there will be, with so many great baseball stories out there.

I usually write reviews on only very good or very bad books. This one is clearly the latter. Gorman is a pretty bad writer, with a plot with a Bates Motel-like ending that is dopey beyond belief. In addition, the two female leads (one is the narrator's sometimes lover) are two of the most obnoxious characters I have read in some time---totally unsympathetic!! Worse than all of that, frankly, is the fact that this author just loves "potty talk", in bed, out of bed, wherever!! Every bodily orifice is discussed in detail. The heroine(?) vomits on what seems every few pages. After making love she asks whether she farted all night while she slept, saying she had a flatulence problem. She also said she smelled at the beginning of her menstrual cycle. The narrator described every pee he took, etc., etc. These are not people I would invite over for dinner. What an offputting book Gorman has written!!

This was the first book that I read by Ed Gorman and I ejoyed it very much. I thought it to be a very fast read and did not lack for excitement. The "profiler" Robert Payne is a compassionate character, but still dedicated to seeking the truth. The female characters are interesting and treated with great respect by Payne. I was not able to predict the many plot twists and the ending was great!

Over thirty ago, voodoo practitioner Paul Renard permanently shook up the town of Brenner, Iowa when he burned down sterling Psychiatric Hospital, killing over twenty people. The killings were as gross as anyone can remember. To the fear of everyone, the lunatic escaped, leaving behind voodoo symbols. Though seen once over the subsequent years, Renard was never caught.

Just when the townsfolk started to feel safe, a new string of voodoo killings occur. TV Psychic Tandy West asks her former lover ex-FBI profiler Robert Payne to help find the murderer. Instead of a simple and clear case, Robert finds a town without pity filled with individuals who want their personal pasts burned away like Renard did to humans three decades ago.

The fourth Payne tale is an intriguing thriller that stars an entertaining lead protagonist who readers will enjoy observing in action. The story line places elements of the psychological thriller inside a modern day gothic tale. When the plot veers towards a gothic, it seems to sputter, but when talented Ed Gorman stays within the psychological path, the exciting tale is faster than a SST. Overall, the return of Payne, especially glimpses into his personal side, turns this into a fine novel that fans of the series will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

All in all this book wasn't that bad. It is used at my college for undergraduate theory. Fortunately I was lucky enough to have a good teacher for Theory 1-2 who was able to clear up all the typographical errors and an even better teacher for Theory 3-4 who studied with Dr. Payne and knew off the bat what changes needed to be made. The only problem with this book is the vast (and I mean VAST) amount of typographical errors that could have been cleared up with a good group of proof-readers. The book is set up in a sensical order and generally has adequate definitions to follow important terms. A primary concern, wordiness and typos aside, are the relevancies of the listening examples. In many cases, poors examples are selected for analysis which brings up MUCH debate during class because there really are more explanations (and better explanations) than those given. For example, pg 404 (Augmented 6th Chords part II) gives a Tchaikovsky example that has a Ger+6 in the 3rd to 4th measures. The chord does not really act as a Ger+6 chord, but more as a chromatic mediant (a topic that actually isn't discussed much in this book).

If there were to be another edition of this book that featured better examples, I would have given it a 4 star rating. If there were another edition of this book that fixed the MANY MANY typos along with better examples, I would definitely give it 5 stars.

Tip-For those of you using the workbook edition as well, just because the directions say that the example is in C major, it doesn't necesarrily mean that it is. Listen to the recordings and ask your professor.

I've used this book for my first-year theory class for nine years, through three editions. I haven't found any better but that doesn't mean I think it's perfect. I agree with some of the other commentaries about the errors and the poor choice of musical examples. Students of mine have frequently complained about this. In addition, the book is very keyboard-centric and thus creates difficulties for people who don't play the piano and who aren't used to reading keyboard score. One can argue, of course, that keyboard facility is a skill any serious musician ought to have (being a pianist myself, I agree in principle), but still, there ARE good musicians who are not pianists who will struggle unnecessarily with this material.

Other, specific things I would change about the book: 1) The chapters on part-writing emphasize too heavily the minutiae of voice-leading and thus obscure the point that we're talking about the relative motion of complete melodic lines. More exercises involving only two parts, to give students a thorough grounding in the basics (i.e., no parallel fifths and octaves), would really help. 2) Although including discussions and examples from popular music is a good idea, the section that tries to explain the concept of "suspension" in pop chord symbols is skimpy and confusing. 3) I find the whole explanation of harmonic progression, based on the circle-of-fifths progression, unconvincing. Piston's looser cataloging for me better fits the reality of tonal music.

I've been studying music theory for (too) many years and out of all the books on this subject I would say that this is the most user friendly for the beginning student. It's easy to understand; it has a FABULOUS format and its cheaper then most textbooks out there. The authors defiantly understand that the reader will most likely be a BEGINNER and so it is written that way.
It starts with the basics of pitch (it even explains how the keyboard is sometimes used as a TOOL for those who don't study keyboard). It also clearly states how scales are used/studied, what scales are more popular then others and why, and what can be done with scales. How chords are constructed, where they come from, why they are the way they are, the different ways to make a chord. Trust me, it's all here.
I suppose I should just say that format is the key with this book. Pretty much the difference between a good textbook on theory and a bad one is just that: format. If things are in order and explained systematically, anything can be taught/learned.

For those who are open to how Christ can heal the deepest recesses of what is means to be a man, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Payne does not advocate putting women down to pick men up. I think it's unfortunate that others have characterized Leanne Payne as misogynist. Anyone who has heard her lecture on misogyny or seen her in person knows that is simply not true, unless one characterizes all who disagree with their view as misogynist.

Leanne Payne's book penetrates the causes of much observable neurosis. She relates the roots of gender confusion to a convincing Christian doctrine of Creation, and holds out hope for restoration in the Christian doctrine of Atonement. I thought this was true after I'd read the book. I was fully convinced when I read the first three reviews on the Amazon page. I hope the identity-threatened reviewers are seeing their shrinks regularly. We should pray for them.

This book is an absolute must for every man and woman. We can have brokeness in areas we aren't even aware of, and Leanne Payne gives clear reliable direction to honestly confront our hurts and weaknesses. This book gave me helpful insight into some of my own patterns of hurtful behaviors and also reveals the path to healing for much of society. We truly cannot be all God has called us to be until we receive healing in the areas of our lives that cripple our effectiveness. This book is seasoned with grace but also helps one to deal with the big issues in life and puts you on the road to recovery through the grace of God. Amen for this book.

Within scant minutes of starting into Johnny Payne's treatment of Voice and Style, I have had to add the book to the pile of items being returned to the library. Why? In a 4-page discussion of Voice and Irony, Payne analyzes the technique he himself used in a novella entitled, The Ambassador's Son. The discussion might be germane were it not that Payne apparently did not do adequate research for the original work. For instance, he describes a Mr. Featherson as the "Peruvian ambassador." However, Mr. Featherson is not at all "Peruvian"-the last name alone would suggest otherwise-but an American in a foreign culture. Perhaps Payne intends Mr. Featherson to be the American ambassador to Peru?
Furthermore, it doesn't sound as though Payne has met many ambassadors. He describes how Mr. Featherson blatantly ignored health warnings about the dangers of eating shellfish and invited his son to try some at a local restaurant. That would be ludicrous: foreign service families take cholera warnings very seriously, and Peru is notorious for a high cholera rate.
Mr. Featherson displays other non-ambassadorial behavior as well, including sloppy deportment in a restaurant and excessive drinking: in reality, American emissaries and their families are extremely conscious of their public behavior because of its potential to reflect poorly on the US. After all, they serve their country, not as Payne seems to think, to impose American culture on a foreign environment (that was the old colonial agenda), but to facilitate exchange and communication.
In short, Payne undermines the very topic he is trying to illuminate: authority. To have authority one has to know what one is talking about, and if one doesn't know, one had better research!

I tried to read this book with an open mind, and it's clearly a book only an English lit teacher could love.

Given the book's target audience - beginning writers - it falls far short of being helpful to them. What the book SHOULD do and doesn't is present the broad concepts and principles, and then if the author chooses to "instruct by example" as Payne does, then provide examples that support and illustrate those concepts and principles.

Instead each chapter jumps into a seemingly endless stream of analysis of fiction works, attempting to instruct by way of example with no real "how-to's." The overwhelming problems - besides a tendency toward pedantic wordiness - are that the snippets used are too short and the analyses too specific to be useful to the target audience of this book: beginning writers looking for the broader principles to apply to their own writing.

Each chapter is followed by exercises. However, the exercises are not presented with the goals for each ("WHY am I doing this") or any way of analyzing or learning from the results after doing them ("WHAT worked when I did this"). Beginning writers could finish this book feeling as I did - somewhat confused and very much like I wasted my time.

I would highly recommend "Finding Your Writer's Voice" by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall instead.

I've read all the books in the Elements of Fiction Writing series and this is how I'd rank them.

"Scene & Structure" "Characters & Viewpoint" "Beginnings, Middles & Ends"

The above three books are invaluable -- must reads. They are the best of the series, in my opinion, and are packed with good information on every page. Well-done.

"Conflict, Action & Suspense" "Description" "Plot" "Manuscript Submission" "Setting"

The above five books are good, solid reads. Again, they contain good information and cover the subject decently.

"Voice & Style" "Dialogue"

To me, the last two books need to be rewritten. They are by far the weakest of the series. Both suffer from an annoying style, particularly Dialogue, and both are very skimpy on real information. Neither one is very helpful.

This is the order in which I'd recommend reading them.

This is superstitious psyco-babble to a tee. Get into reality. Just don't do anything unhealthy.

This book offers healing and wholeness to all, the homosexual included. I was deeply moved. Payne's ideas were expressed in a loving manner. Her insights are real and encouraging. I highly recommend it.

Don't read this book if you have a phobia about personal transformation, whine about gay bigots and homophobia, or if you can't confront your own weaknesses and inadequacies (gay or not). Otherwise, this book is worth reading - especially for men who honestly struggle with their masculinity and have not had the courage or understanding to see the possible connection with their relationship to their father as a child. The book offers hope for the pain of that dysfunctional relationship - which the author says is often hidden or buried in one's deep mind/heart. If a suffering person wants help with accepting his own masculine being (as is - not some false stereotype you lust for) and is willing to begin a journey to wholeness, the author speaks of hope through a personal encounter with the compassionate and loving person of Jesus - who comes to heal and transform gays and straights alike.

This book is extremly dry. My graduate school professer HATED it, as did the rest of my class. Do not reccomend for a Human Behavior/Social Environment class!

Currently using this book in a theory class. There must be a better theory book out there. Bounces form one theory to another while covering a specific theory in a chapter. It is hard for a person unfamiliar with theories to understand what is relevant to the theory named in that chapter heading.

Malcolm Payne's book is widely used as a text book in social work theory courses in Aotearoa New Zealand. Its strength is its breadth and concise coverage of major theory's from a social constructionist perspective. The text's use of language can at times make it difficult to follow in places despite this it has been my experience that most social work students I have taught find it a valuable book to have invested in.