This is a great course in a book - I wish I had taken it while in school. My reading and studying would have gone much faster and better.

It was so easy, it only took a few weeks, and now I'm reading more than twice as fast with better comprehension in pleasure and technical material.

It was important to me that the author covered the entire field of reading from increasing comprehension to speedreading, from history to perception, and from fiction and religious reading to technical reading and study and test-taking methods. This information allowed me to see not only why I was reading the way I was, but gave me the motivation to improve my reading speed and more important, my comprehension.

Also, Rick the author, tells you about the techniques used in many other methods, and how and why over the years he evolved and uses the natural, simple approach he does. He starts you with comprehension first, and then gradually increases your speed. I really like Rick's approach, which is having me practice in my own materials and then encouraging me to go out and learn more about reading and speedreading. Plus, Rick cites many other authors and books and he gave me all the resources - he made it very easy since he included a full bibliography and index. This course is very complete!

I highly recommend this book, Power Reading, to everyone if you want to speedread and remember more.

I am extremely pleased with the results I got from this reading course.

When I began the course, my goals were in terms of

1) Comprehension: to maintain or slightly improve the level of my comprehension,

2) Speed: to double my speed while maintaining the level of my comprehension,

3) Other: to be able to comprehend a vast variety of technical or arcane materials.

During the mid-course exam, I was reading 125% faster.

As I finished the course, I felt comfortable not only with the absolute increase but also with the now excellent level of my comprehension.

The most striking thing about this course, I think, is the recognition that one can read - or one can read more effectively. I could compare it to brushing your teeth: everyone does it, somewhat at least, but some people know how to clean their teeth more effectively than others.

This reading course has given me both the understanding of the mechanisms as well as the tools (the use of the regulator, for example) to determine at which level of speed and comprehension I chose to read.

Power Reading is well organized, easy to read. Having been in the educational business for quite some time, it amazes me how little emphasis educators put on a basic skill such as reading.

But this will change, of course, since I will implement Power Reading in my teaching. I will not rely on elementary school teachers to improve students' reading skills, or hope that some Freshmen English instructor picks up the slack. This semester, I teach a course on "Women in Antiquity" in which each student has to read and review one scholarly book. Before the end of this semester, I will have incorporated Power Reading in my teaching so that my students become power readers who have a choice at which speed or comprehension level they read.

I enthusiastically recommend Power Reading to any teacher or student.

It truly did work for me -- I read twice as fast as before I took the course! How? By point out bad habits I'd developed (e.g., subvocalization) and giving me exercises to correct them.

So, what about comprehension and retention? I actually think mine are better than before. Not only am I reading more and enjoying it more, I've learned to adjust my pace according to what I'm reading. Not everything should be read for speed, and formulating a plan in advance is an important part of the program. While I wouldn't read poetry this way, I have been able to increase the quantity of material I read in newspapers, technical, and business publications.

Finally, I was delighted to find the book relatively free of the nonsense I normally expect to see in self-help books.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Somehow Jack Polidoro has managed to combine Faulkneresque timing and intrigue with a Crichton-like realism. Although some of the mature moments might make D.H. Lawrence blush, Dr. Polidoro's descriptions of familiar landscapes and places are hauntingly precise.

Flying in or out of Logan Airport will never be the same for me. It's a good read!

Jack Polidoro has written a novel that reads like non fiction. I could not put it down. His research amazed me and was well done. Polidoro does not bore the reader with too much detail. As the novel unfolds, the reader will be caught up in a few unexpected suspenseful events that make you feel you are there. This book is a great read for everyone; and I hope Polidoro will continue with his great writing style and publish another book soon; he's on top of my list of great writers.

Jack Polidoro grabs the readers attention from the start. He puts the reader right into the lives of the people who are the players in this book. He begins by telling just enough to whet one's appetite making the reader hungry for more of the story. His eye for detail is amazing, one would have to believe that the author himself is a pilot and has been through a crash landing in open water. Once the serious actions began to take place, I found myself riveted to the book to the degree that I could not put it down until I had completed it. Polidoro manages to come up with an unexpected domino affect as a result of the first tragedy to take place. He has just enough twists and turns in his novel to peak the interest of any reader. Had I not read the nature of the plot, I might have been hesitant to take another flight on a commercial airline. This is one book that has it all, suspense, romance, intrigue, and fast action. I would recommend it as a great read for everyone.

The one and only King James Version. This Bible has everything that a growing child needs. There is the original text combined with easy to follow descriptions and explanations to help your child understand the ideas that are presented. There are special sections such as "Words to Remember", "Let's Live It", "Life in Bible Times", and trivia in the "Did You Know". This is a must have for yout child if you are concerned about what text your child is reading.

I am a children's pastor and I highly reccommend this book. I use it for my lessons and also in class.

This Bible is great for young readers and will keep them going well in to High School. There are many graphics throughout this Bible and special interest comments that explain why people did things the way they did or why they wore a particular type of clothing. Our church gave this New Adventure Bible to all children graduating into the third grade. The NIV translation is pretty understandable to young readers. Each book has an introduction that is designed towards the young reader. There are also special pages to enhance a childs understanding: for example in addition to the actual text of the ten commandments - is a special page with pretty graphics that re-word the commandments in language for youth. A special page explains "How to pray" - another summarizes Old Testament Prophets, and yet another page called "Getting to know Jesus" helps kids understand what it means to be a Christian. Just like the 'grown up' Bible - this book is a Red Letter edition. My fifteen year old still loves this Bible.

This book is a wonderful reference for any medical student or professional. I keep one in my medical jacket (that is always with me) and one in my office (in case I misplace my other book). I have shown this book to several colleagues and their consensus is this book IS A MUST FOR ANY MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL OR STUDENT!

Mr Hancock, time and time again I have spread word as to how efficient your text is for PA's across the country. I have used this book, and given copies of it out to others. Everyone has given it high praise. Thanks for the hard work!

This reference guide is awesome. You have a vast amount of useful information at your finger tips. Currently I have seen nothing on the market like this. It is compact and jacket friendly.

I want to address the Editorial Review from the New Yorker which dismisses this book as a non-scientific, nostalgic plea for a "simpler time." That review claims great scientific progress in understanding ADHD through brain imaging, and cites placebo controlled studies showing the efficacy of Ritalin and other stimulants.

I am not a nostalgic person longing for the simplicity of the early '50's. I am a licensed certified clinical social worker, authorized to perform DSM-IV diagnosis and to do psychotherapy. I have an advanced law degree in Law, Psychiatry and Criminology. I have over five years' experience working with disturbed children in various capacities. And over the past two years I have read twenty-five books, pro and con, on ADHD, stimulants, biopsychiatry and psychiatric medication. What I want to say is this:

The New Yorker exaggerates the state of scientific knowledge about the alleged biological and genetic basis of ADHD. Virtually all ADHD brain imaging studies are seriously flawed - the studied ADHD children have been on stimulant medication. IF any abnormalities were found, they would most likely be caused by the medication, not by the disorder.

So far, the few "differences" found between ADHD and "normal" brains are only averages between the ADHD and "normal" groups studied. There is a very large overlap between the two groups; brain imaging cannot, therefore, distinguish a "normal" individual's scan from one with "ADHD."

Moreover, even if a consistent difference were found in ADHD brains, biopsychiatry couldn't tell if it's caused by exposure to psychiatric drugs, by environment, or by heredity. Stimulants are known to produce brain changes in laboratory animals; experience, too, is known to alter brain structure ("brain plasticity'); despite the human genome hype, no replicable causal relationship has been established between genes and mental illness.

The New Yorker reviewer must know of the 1998 National Institute of Health's Consensus Conference on ADHD. Conference participants were largely those who accept biopsychiatry and its view of ADHD. Nonetheless, the conference summary concluded that there was no known biological cause of ADHD, adding that the same was also true of most serious psychiatric disorders.

Think about that. Biopsychiatry justifies medicating millions of ADHD children on the grounds that ADHD is a physically-based conditon. Yet they have to admit they don't really know of any brain defect causing ADHD. Then they seek to minimize what should be an immensely embarrassing admission by saying, "But don't worry - we don't know the physical basis of schizophrenia and the other serious mental illnesses either."

That is why this review is entitled "Consider the Source." Biopsychiatry's claims are misleading. For decades they have represented scientific "progress" in studying the brain as having reached the stage of actual knowledge clearly supporting their biological treatments. This is demonstrably not so.

My second point: the "science" behind placebo controlled studies showing Ritalin's efficacy, simply ain't necessarily so. The NIH Consensus Conference summary acknowledges: "There are no data establishing the long term safety and efficacy" of Ritalin and other stimulants for ADHD. This is a huge admission, considering how long Ritalin has been around. The Summary also acknowledges that Ritalin produces little or no improvement in social adjustment or in educational achievement (it makes some kids more passive in class, but actually impairs higher level cognitive functions. Long term achievement tests fail to show improvement on Ritalin).

Finally, regarding the quality of placebo controlled studies in this area, check out Breggin.com, in which Peter Breggin, M.D. presents A Critical Analysis of the NIMH Multimodal Treatment Study for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (The MTA Study). Despite biopsychiatry's attempts to marginalize Dr. Breggin, he remains a prodigious and courageous intellect in this field, who has been qualified as an expert witness in numerous malpractice and product liability cases involving psychiatric drugs accross the country. In fact, he was the sole invited presenter on stimulant medications' adverse effects at the NIH Consensus Conference on ADHD.

Dr. Breggin convincingly establishes that the MTA study, one of the largest and most widely cited on Ritalin's efficacy, has numerous fatal flaws, and in fact could as well be interpreted as proving Ritalin's LACK of efficacy.

For these reasons, I apply an acid test to writings about mental health: if, like the New Yorker reviewer, an author uncriticaly cites the scientific "advances" behind current biopsychiatric treatments, or if such an author claims placebo controlled studies establish the effectiveness of psychiatric drugs, I know there's something wrong. The brain science and genetics to support their claims just aren't there; the placebo controlled studies are notoriously manipulable and are routinely used to show things that just can't be supported.

Richard DeGrandpre may not have everything right. Biopsychiatry may be right about some things. But you can't show it by the kind of argumentation presented by the New Yorker reviewer. Unfortunately, that and worse (TV ads are horribly misleading in the same way)are what the public usually gets. The N. Y. Times, the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, etc., routinely just parrot writers like the New Yorker reviewer.

Ritalin Nation was on target about the abuse of medication in children today. It should be required reading to combat the pro medication society. Teachers, especially those working with LD or BD children should take a good look.

I've never been one to write a review, so I'll make this short and to the point. Speaking as someone who was "diagnosed" with ADD in the 80s, I can say that DeGrandre's work has provided me with hard evidence and strong logic to rethink the reality that was thrust upon me. After deconstructing the ADD myth, DeGrandpre offers salient advice and solutions for rebuilding what has been torn apart by our fast paced society. If you or anyone you know has had to deal with ADD, I suggest this book as a real eye-opener.

An excellent review of automatic weapons for the technically inclined. There is little or no operational history involved, but this book's detailed development histories of weapons and their ammunition is more comprehensive than anything I've seen since Johnson's books from the '40s. If you are into the details of automatic weapons and the ammunition they fire, you must have this book. If you are looking for operational military history of how these weapons were employed, this is not for you.

This book sets a standard that would be hard to beat. The author knows his subject and the production is superb. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the field covered, and to others as an example of how a book should look.

This book is a very well written history of large caliber automatic weapons. It gives a good coverage of the mechanisms and characteristics of the weapons, but it's real importance to me is it's well illustrated gallery of the rounds used in the weapons, complete with specifications of the rounds and the weapon and country using them, something that is rare to find in other works.In a library of over 1000 volumes on weaponry, this is one of the most used references I have.

I read a lot of books on marketing and advertising, but none as powerful and to-the-point at Geoff Ayling's "Rapid Response Advertising." If this book had the proper promotion in the U.S., it would most certainly be on the bestseller list. The book had a most positive influence on my life and my business -- and I'm sure it will have the same affect in the lives of other readers.

Amazingly, this book has hardly anything in common with other advertising books because it breaks new ground and illuminates new pathways to the mind of the consumer. It's honest, funny, well-written, teeming with anecdotes, and fraught with revolutionary ideas. I cannot recommend it highly enough, but with this review, I sure want to try. Buy this book! Act on what it teaches you! Then kick back and watch your sales curve rise and rise all the way to the moon.

My first thought after reading this book was to wonder if I could buy all available copies to prevent any future competitors from reading it!

The best reason for having this book on hand is that it makes sense. The authors give practical advice, sprinkled with some good examples, which will be of particular relevance to Australian readers but still useful for everyone else.

Each section reveals valuable informaton about the buying process, and the necessary ingredients for advertising to work. It will help you understand other ads you see every day, and why they do -- and don't -- work.

This is not a 'miracle cure', but a system that is well explained and well defined to bring about better results from your advertising.

I know I'll be putting it to good use for my clients, even to the point of changing my fee structure so that some of it is based purely on results -- that's how confident I am that the book has been in helping fill my needs!

This is truly a breakthrough book, with major implications for marketing and advertising in all its forms.

Ayling lays out in simple, credible, well-documented and well-throught-through narrative a viable explanation of why advertising that works, works -- and why advertising that doesn't work, doesn't.

That may or may not interest you. However, if you have ever lost tons of money using typical ad-agency "get your name in front of the public" techniques -- or if you don't know if you have or you haven't (hint: if you don't know, then, you have!) -- this book will clear the smoke away and give you a simple, workable, step-by-step blueprint to return to profitable advertising.

My own field of expertise is direct-response advertising -- the kind that makes people who are ready to buy, or likely to be incited to buy right away, respond -- and buy. Ayling clearly understands that discipline and is probably a master of it himself.

But in this book, he takes it one step further. He shows you HOW TO CREATE AN AUTOMATIC DIRECT-RESPONSE MECHANISM INSIDE THE MIND OF THE CUSTOMER so that when that person finally is ready to buy, the name of your company or your product "pops up" internally, and there's really no other choice for that person but to buy from you.

Don't believe me? I don't blame you. But you can't afford NOT to find out if I'm right or I'm wrong. Everyone I've recommended this book to has gone nuts over it, and that includes one of the world's best known authorities on marketing, and my own personal favorite expert on small service business marketing.

Get this book. It's worth it. You'll be glad you did.

Steve McConnell's books have always displayed a remarkable degree of practicality and readability. This book is no different.

The author says at the outset the Purpose of the book is to answer issues about trade-offs. The author says that software can be optimized for any of several goals: lowest defect rate, lowest cost, or shortest development, etc... Software Engineering is then about achieving tradeoffs, and this is what this book is primarily about.
Because the book is so big, it has been broken into sections that can be read selectively and quickly. A short book would have oversimplified things to the point of uselessness.

Organization of the book:
Parts 1, 2 deal with the Strategy and Philosophy of rapid development, while part 3 covers Rapid develoment best practices

In chapter 3 the author talks about 'Classic Mistakes'. He calls them 'classic' and 'seductive' because they are so easy to make that they have been repeated in countless projects. The classic mistakes number 36 (though Steve M points out that a complete list could probably go on for pages and pages):
Undermined motivation, Weak personnel, uncontrolled problem employees, Heroics , Adding people to a late project , Noisy crowded offices , Friction between developers and customers , Unrealistic expectations , Lack of effective project sponsorship , Lack of stakeholder buy-in , Lack of user input , Politics placed over substance , Wishful thinking , Overly optimistic schedules , Insufficient risk management , Contractor failure , Insufficient planning , Abandonment of planning under pressure , Inadequate design , Planning to catch up later , Code-like-hell programming , Requirements gold-plating , Feature creep , Developer gold-plating , Push-me, pull-me negotiation , Research oriented development , Silver bullet syndrome , Overestimated savings from new tools or methods , Switching tools in the middle of a project , Lack of automated source-code control , Shortchanged quality assurance , Omitting necessary tasks from estimates , Shortchanged front end upstream activities.
He categorizes these classic mistakes into four sets : People related, technology related, product related, and process related.

Part 2 covers rapid development issues in greater detail.
Core issues like Estimation, Scheduling, Lifecycle Planning, etc.. are covered. 'Soft' issues like Motivation, Teamwork, Customer Oriented Developmentare also covered.

Part 3 is a compendium of best practices. There is a summary table of the each best practice, and the efficacies, major risks, major interactions and trade-offs listed.

Some candidate best practices not included are getting top people
, Source Code Control, Requirements Analysis.. These are listed as fundamental to a software project.

The Best Practices listed are
JAD, Spiral Lifecycle Model, Theory W Management, Throwaway Prototyping, Staged Delivery, Voluntary Overtime, Miniature Milestones, Outsourcing, Reuse, User-Interface Prototyping, Change Board, Daily Build and Smoke Test, Tools Group.
As an example, Steve McConnel covers 'Inspections' stating the
chances of its long term success are excellent, it reduces schedule risk, its improvement in progress visibility is only fair, has no major risks, it can be combined with virtually any other rapid development best practice

The book has a very engaging style of writing...
Some quotes...
- Projects can look like a tortoise on valium to the customers, but as a rapid-development death march to the developers.
- The team ranks so low in the company that it has to pay to get its own team t-shirts.
- Rapid development isn't always efficient.
- Run every software project as an experiment ('Hawthorne Effect').
- If Las Vegas sounds too tame for you, software might be just the right gamble.
- The most common (and incorrect) definition of estimate is: 'An estimate that has the most optimistic prediction that has a non-zero probability of coming true' - Tom DeMarco

All in all, a fully deserved five stars!

If you are involved in software development projects this is a book for you. Although oriented towards software project managers, the knowledge, insight, examples, and data make it a pool of useful information for anyone involved in software development projects.

Steve McConnell begins analyzing the causes why software projects fail, continues providing a list of classic mistakes (most of us learnt them in the hard way) and the ways to reach the maximum possible development speed by focusing on the four dimmenssions of any software project (people, process, product, and technology). The last part contains a list of "best practices" and analyzes the impact of them on the project schedule and development speed.

The book is easy to read (even for those among us that are not english spoken people), well structured, and full of useful references. The only drawback is, maybe, its age; be aware that is writen before the web revolution or the spring of eXtreme Programming.

The author of this book does not present "the one and only rapid development process". Instead the book presents in great detail over 20 good practices that are known to speed up development. The reader is expected to combine these practices to get a good combination for the current project.

The language in the book is smooth and the author really tries to explain in a simple and easy to understand way. I still needed a lot of time to read the book, simply because of the enormous amounts of information in the book.

The book includes a lot of statistical data. This is really great to have if you get into an argument with management about if the schedule is achievable.

The book is published by Microsoft Press. As I am very far from being a Microsoft fan, I was very sceptical at first. But the book is really great and applicable to all software development projects, including those on UNIX and embedded systems.

I picked up this book, because I saw it had something to do with an eating disorder. While suffering with anorexia and bulimia, I decided to read the book out of interest. Actually, the book was not just about an eating disorder. It was so much more than that! The author writes about her life, starting from her early teen years, to where she is now. She lived through years of depression, alcohol, and more. The writing is excellent. I could relate to what she wrote so much, it felt like she was me. She wrote about how her relationship with her parents changed drasticaly, and how she would go out with just about any guy just to remain 'popular'. The book has different sub titles, and its great. Towards the end of the book, after she is raped, Shannon decides to change her life around and love her self, her family, and life a lot more. She really inspired me, she says that no one should have to live up to anything anyone else tells them to. That there is no 'perfect body', and there is a partner out there for everyone. She has triggered me to try my best at recovery, and find my true self, as corny or cliche as it sounds. I highly reccomend this powerful novel!

This book was an amazing help to me. I feel like it related to every girl no matter where they are in life. I was going to through a simlular situation, and this made me realize I wasn't alone. I couldn't put the book down because it was so amazing, I read the entire thing in one day at school. Every girl in the world should have a copy of this womans book.

I just bought this book today and I'm so glad I did. As soon as I had gotten through the first chapter I was thinking how much I could relate even if it wasn't with the big things. It's nice to read a story about a girl that's been through so much and has chosen to share with us how she made it. It helps to put a lot of things into persepective and can really open your eyes. I recommend this book to everyone.

I found WATER DOG in a used book store while searching for a good training manual for my son-in-law to use with his new lab, Allie. My wife has not yet mailed the book to him because I am in the middle of reading it. I am so fascinated by the techniques and theories of Mr. Wolters that I may go out and get a dog just so I can experience the thrill of a well-trained water dog for myself. That won't happen because it would not be fair to the dog, but it sure would be fun. Mr. Wolters has written a wonderful book that rings true to me, and I my confidence is only bolstered by all of the powerful testimonials. If you want a good read, even if you don't have a dog to train... GET THIS BOOK!

I first read and used the techniques in this book 17 years ago and have used them on a number of fine retrivers. This method of training creates a very strong bond with your dog and teaches you how to encourage the positives without any negative stimulus . I treasure this book and recomend it to anyone who gets a retriever. Its like the retriever owners manual!

I had a great time reading the book. The training tips and techniques have worked extremely well on my lab. There is a logical progression to the process that is well explained. I would suggest that anyone who makes the decision and commits the time to training a retriever read and reread this book. Additionally, pay attention to the comments devoted to trainer patients - - you will need it.