In my opinion, the book content was extra special. However, the book was difficult to understand in totality because the chapters are self contained--some chapters provided a summary and others did not. In addition, the book did not flow from cover to cover. In closing, the structure of this book is good for someone who wants to read and understand bits and pieces of software development.

Marx

This book has real value added since it is written by experienced software professionals. Lots of hands-on, real-life examples are given that help apply "quality" concepts to everyday life in an IT department. I especially liked the concepts explained around User-centered Design and Development (Chapter 3). Other valuable experiences are shared regarding topics like teamwork considerations and realistic software development measurements.

Chris

The writers have done an excellent job of describing how to build quality software in a practical way. The writers not only have a good theoretical understanding of developing quality software systems, it's clear that they are practitioners as well. A practitioner of software development will readily identify with the book and will find it useful in each phase of the development life cycle. I particularily enjoyed the chapters on software architecture and software measurement. Thank you!

David

This dictionary perfoms well for the beginner in geology or the intermediate student. Granted, most technical jargon is defined, though sometimes the definitions are a bit questionable. There is, however, some advanced and basic terminology that is absent. I sold my old geology dictionary (sorry, I didn't write anything about it down) and bought this one, and I regret doing so.

This is a good basic dictionary. It's not meant to be comprehensive, but covers the basics quite well. It was a required text in my undergraduate studies, and it serves nicely at that level.

After spending five years at the university studying geology, I would estimate that I can readily define less than half of terms in this dictionary. I just don't use them in my work. However, that is still pretty good considering that this comprehensive volume covers terminology from astrogeology, cartography, crystallography, mineralogy, economic geology, geochemistry, geomorpholgy, geophysics, glacial geology, hydrology, oceanograhy, palontology, petrology, stratigraphy, structural geology, and volcanology. The American Geological Institute used some of the top men in each field for this latest revised edition.

I've come to the conclusion over the years that the various branches of geology have evolved more specialised terms than any of the other sciences. That's why it is so easy for a specialist in another field, or a rock hound with a dictionary, to trip you up. That's also why you need your own copy of this book....

Oh yes, I could also see where this volume could be of help in preparing for the Advanced Test in Geology for the Graduate Record Exam- you never know what they are going to throw at you, either.

If you're looking for an easy reading abridgement of the Institutes, this is an excellent choice. I enjoyed getting an overview of Calvin's work during devotions and before bed without having to think too hard about "translating the translation" which is so often the case with older translations. The fact of the matter is that there are other abridgements that may do the trick also, but this one does just fine for me. I'll read it again and again. So, if you want a overview of Calvin's Institutes without having to deal with the "intricate" details, think about this one... if you want an exhaustive history/biography of his life and works, obviously this won't do it for you.

This book is an abridgement of Calvin's much larger "Institutes." Tony Lane has paraphrased sections of Battles' translation into crisper, more idiomatic English so as to make Calvin's writing accessible to the contemporary reader. I first read this book as a 16 year old and I found no difficulty in understanding it! The guiding principle of Lane's abridgement is that Calvin's positive theological statements and arguments are, more or less, left in tact, while the (sometimes vindictive) polemics that Calvin indulged in are removed. I personally like this feature, because it enables one to see more clearly how edifying and pastoral Calvin's theology is. Calvin's extensive polemics, in this respect, can have the influence of making the modern reader lose sight of this. Lane follows the standard referencing system for the "Institutes" used in the Battles' translation. This is extremely useful, because when Lane indicates that he has abridged Calvin in a certain chapter or section, one can then go to the Battles' version to see what he has left out! Lane gives the reader enough of the "Institutes" so that one can grasp the flow of Calvin's arguments and penetrate to the centre of his theology. After reading this, I got the impression that I hadn't read a disjointed series of abstracts but a COHERENT arguement. It's Lane's ability to maintain the structure of Calvin's overall argument that makes this abridgement especially good. This book serves as an excellent entry into Calvin for the general (or busy) reader. It's short enough so that the attention span is not strained. As a text for a seminary or college course on Calvin's theology, it's a book that students could realistically read through in a semester. This book, taken together with the abridgements of many of Calvin's commentaries in the Crossway Classic Commentaries series, would provide an accessible (and relatively comprehensive) grasp of Calvin's theology and exegesis for the interested pastor or layperson.

This is the hard core of the much longer Institutes. The translation of the title is slightly different than the Ford Lewis Battles full-bore 2-Vol. set, which goes by "Institutes of The Christian Religion." Perhaps that's refreshing for hard-core students of the Battles version.

I was describing this abridgement to a friend as "pretty much the core of the 15% to 20% of what's left of the Insitutes when when you cut out all Calvin's footnotes ranting against the Catholics and accusing his foes of being dogs returning to their vomit." The friend's reply: "But those are the best parts." However, for those readers who would be put off by the hand-to-hand combat found in Calvin's profusion of footnotes (or more properly, in Dr. Battles's vast multiplication of explanatory footnotes), this volume is helpful. Here we have simply Calvin cut loose from his scholastic bickering conflicts.

It only seems less Calvinistic to read through this so easily.

Few books written by mere men are this worthy of the time it takes to read them. From beginning to end, every thought, and often each word, is worthy of contemplation as Calvin's great mind for the word of God shines through - even in this translation from the original Latin. Be prepared for hours of study and searching Scripture as this work will drive you deep into the Bible to hear the unblemished Lamb speak to you. You may find even years after setting this book down that you will be occasioned to refer back to it as the Spirit applies Scripture to your heart and you remember the words of Calvin in this work. Many things you will read may appear at first to be incorrect, unreasonable, and heretical; but the value in this work is its ability to reclaim the Scripture from the world and our views of it. Few books will challenge you so.

Hearing Calvin criticised for having people burned at the stake is like hearing America criticised for fighting communist and nazi fascism in the 20th century. The Catholic Church tortured, mutilated, imprisoned, repressed, oppressed, and burned at stakes untold millions of human beings; and they kept the Word of God away from all the rest of the human beings unfortunate enough to be living under its thumb. The Protestant Reformation heroically did away with this oppression and murder of Christians and Calvin crystallized the theology (i.e. in this case what the Bible says) for all time in the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Go to the Bible first as always. You CAN now because of men like Calvin who risked their lives to bring the Word of God to the everyday man and woman and child who is inspired to read and learn God's Word. For help after the Bible itself the Institutes are simply a primary, foundational explication of the Word of God written with a common, non-specialised audience in mind. The demogoguing that goes on regarding it has mostly to do with the fact that Calvin was uncomprising in presenting what the Bible itself says, and he doesn't bring it down to the level of vain understanding of a human being, but takes it right up to the ceiling where it becomes mystery and then leaves matters there. This means he presents many things that are not easy to grasp by those looking for a connect-the-dots explanation of deep mystery and that can be propagandized endlessly by those who either do not believe the Word of God is inspired or who have a problem with any Christians who are not of the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches and who know that very few people have the time or inclination to actually read the massive Institutes. Read the Bible first and last, though, and thank the Protestant Reformation that you are able to do that.

Calvin has been misunderstood by many -- including many believers who never read this book. ...It brought me to tears of repentance and renewed sense of God's great love and power. It expanded my thoughts of God in my heart. God became greater and bigger through this book, thus my worship of God became more profound and sincere.
1. This book is utterly God-centered. In this book, Calvin repeatedly emphasizes that men are created for God and His glory alone. Therefore, he rightly proves from the Scriptures that: creation, predestination, salvation, and our life before Him are all for that end (glory of God).
2. This book exalts the Gospel of Christ above all things. So we see why he was so harsh against Roman Catholic Church in his time, where Gospel of grace has been replaced by indulgence and superstition. In the Gospel of Christ, Calvin points out our weaknesses and God's great mercy. Actually, some were saved by reading this book during Puritan era.
3. This book uses the Scriptures masterfully. It shows that Calvin only made his point when the Scripture warranted it. Therefore, it is powerful in its assertion and authorative.
4. This book is ultimately life changing if read properly. It did me. Calvin emphasizes self-denial for all christians. He challenges believers to take up the cross and explains what that means in our thoughts, in our relationships, in our life, and in our worship.

NOTE:
(a) Many believers dislike Calvin because they do not believe in the Reformed doctrine of Predestination, and because of it they dismiss all other Calvin's teachings that are truly edifying. But before Calvin, Reformers like Luther (see, Luther's "Bondage of the Will") and Huss also taught it and emphasized it. Calvinistic predestination is not Calvin's creation, but was widely held because it was Scriptural.
(b) For those who believe that Calvin burnt people on the stake b/c they differed with Calvin are mistaken. People bring up Servetus who was burnt on the stake, but failed to know that it was not Calvin's doing. Servetus denied Trinity, during that time, denial of Trinity meant death (i.e., "Codex of Justinian", in Roman Catholic Church, consequently, Servetus was wanted by Roman Catholic Church to be burned as well). It was the Little Council members of Geneva who decided it. Calvin actually wanted a more merciful death -- beheading, but the Council rejected Calvin's plea. Calvin throughout Sevetus imprisonment, debated with him so that he may win him to true faith, so that he may not die.

This book will help you to grow in your knowledge of God and your devotion to God. This book has been time-tested, and it has many witnesses whose spiritual life is better because of it.

The books starts out well. The author is attending a conference at MIT about abductions by flying saucers. He's skeptical but respectful. He introduces you to the experts, the scholars, and the abductees. So far, so good.

But in the second half, he gives you LENGTHY descriptions of hypnosis sessions with a pair of abductees --- two women whose stories start off where you'd expect and then get crazier as they progress.

Actually, "crazy" is the wrong word. "Implausible" or "transparent" would be better. The two women need to add a little extra juice to their stories to keep your attention, so they add more alien beings, more strange events, and new places to explore.

This book would be a useful addition to the dozen-or-so books on UFO adbuctions if the second half was dropped. As I read it, my mind changed from skeptical and entertained (why DO so many people say they were abducted by flying saucers?) to cringing with embarassment (the Nordic E.T. in the giant cowboy hat was too much).

I don't do much reading anymore, but this book sits in my bookcase as one of my all-time favorites. I've now read it three times, and find it fascinating and mesmerizing each time!

I'm not a UFO-guru, but this book really opened my eyes to what may be going on out there. And it does so in an intelligent, well-presented manner which doesn't come across as pushy or hokey.

Highly recommended! Good luck trying to sleep after reading this one.

Back in the days when I was on my alien kick this was one of the most convincing pieces of evidence. Several professionals met at MIT to seriously discuss the abduction phenomena. I found their objectiveness with the evidence refreshing. Many worked together to get "at the bottom" of this intriguing issue. I would highly recommend the excellent book: Gods of Eden by William Bramely.

Although there is a lot of great information in the book, about 90-95% of it is straight out of "The Professional Chef." For another $20 or so, buy it instead. You get the same knife-handling info, and a ton more.
This book should sell for [less].

I am a culinary student and knew very little about handling knives until I purchased this book. It helped me a great deal in class and at home. The pictures in the book shows how to cut all types of foods including the most difficult ones,like onions. I also bought the Study Guide for the National Servsafe Exam: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations. This book helped me through my sanitation course and how to handle foods properly.

What good is it to try cooking if you don't even have a good set of knifes? This book will help its readers understand the different kinds of knife that professional chefs use and how to properly use them. If you are interested in cooking I highly recommend this book along with hundreds of Culinary Institute students who use it as well!!!!!

This book has nothing new to add. Bad format. Dumb information.

Take the [$] Sandler Sales Jump Start training class and this is the book derived from it. Only thing missing is the class room participation. Put the two together and you've got something, buy just the book and you really only have 1/4 of the knowledge.

This book is written so that you can get short lists of helpful tips on sales. I thought it was going to be more of a handbook of checklists - instead it is many, many different topics arranged by subject.

There is a companion tape set that you can get from Nightingale which has the same graphics on the cover but expands a little more on the content.

Overall I've found myself referring to the checklists inside this book a lot more than I initially thought I would - perhaps because the format lends itself to quick reading and re-reading.

Sandler Sales Institute is a national franchise which has an interesting and different perspective on the sales process.

When I ordered this guide, I was expecting a format that was similar to the other Petersen bird guides. Unfortunately, this book is nowhere near as well organized. The plates are small, the artwork is not as good, and not all the species are illustrated. The text was also rather thin in life history information. If you are traveling to the Caribbean in winter and aren't up to speed on North American migratory singbirds, you will need to take an Eastern U.S. bird guide with you as well, as the numerous migrants that comprise the wintertime fauna are merely mentioned. I managed to identify most birds that I saw while using this guide, but it was a frustrating process.

Yea, The book could definently use some improvements, but overall the pictures did depict the birds pretty well. The only species illustrated {in color} are those endemic ONLY to the Carib islands. Any birds that are seen in the continental US are only given black and white drawings, and small descriptions. So a field guide and familiarity to eastern migratory birds are a plus! I am VERY dissapointed with the quality of the pages in the book. After a week in the Islands, mine looks worse than any of my regular guides! Bring a water-proof sleeve or something, because it's going to get wet! Not a bad book though, I had a lot of fun, and pretty much every bird you see tends to be a new species! Have fun!

Hard core 007 afficianados will notice a pile of 007 in-jokes that are scattered throught the latest Bond film, "Die Another Day". Among them: While in a Cuban office, Pierce Brosnan casually picks up a first edition of this book, which, as others have noted, is where Ian Fleming came up with 007's name. Better than available alternatives I suppose ("My name is Audobon - - John James Audobon..."

I have read several books on Six Sigma and found this one to be extremely weak on content and heavy on the current Buzz Words! As a basic book on Six Sigma you better have a Six Sigma dictionary by your bedside to let you know what the authors are trying to tell the reader. If you are familiar with Six Sigma then you don't need to read the book. The tale is simply written and a easy read but makes the process of Six Sigma "a walk in the factory". I believe the story doesn't give anybody associated with any improvement processes any real insight and the book may be best described as a fairy tale at best. Any of the well known texts from Pete Pande and team do a much better job in providing the basics of process improvement.

"Leaning into Six Sigma" provides a few hours of entertaining reading, but only brushes the surface of Six Sigma. Written in the tradition of "The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt, "Leaning into Six Sigma" doesn't live up that book's success at explaining complex business/operations concepts even while telling a compelling story. While Sam Micawh, the protagonist, certainly can't be faulted for being boring, the brazen attitude bestowed upon her by the authors, and the patronizing tone with which the client company's employees are addressed, only serve to reinforce the negative stereotype of "the arrogant consultant." This fault makes me hesitant to recommend "Leaning into Six Sigma" ...

The book has a unique way of integrating the principles of Lean and Six Sigma. The practical concepts of eliminating waste and improving efficiency have been illustrated in simple terms. The length and style of the book have been structured for easy reading.

The reader doesn't have to have a specific background other than being open to learning the best principles of business. The concepts can also be applied to a transactional type of environment based on the principles taught in the book.

The examples provided are relatable and provide a channel for easy comprehension.

A publication project well done!

This piece of software will prove useful to those looking to get a basic understanding of how the SAS system works. However, whilst the limit of 1000 records is perfectly acceptable for a learning tool, the ability to view your data tables has been REMOVED, therefore whilst you can the results of an analysis, you cannot see any of the data in your tables!! As a teacher, i cannot reccomend this software to my students.

This is a very nice software package to learn SAS basics. But it does not have lots of advanced procedures. For example, "PROC STATESPACE" and "PROC VARMAX" among others used for forecasting time series are missing in this learning edition. It is very disappointing somehow if you try to learn more and deeper after learning some basics. However, it is still worth having it......

When prompted to let SAS manage *.log and *.sc2 files, I had to decline or installation would hang. For other problems, consult their official website....

The book and its on-line version that come with the software illustrate how to use the GUI-- but NOTHING MORE. The Help topics miss a lot of commands. And for those that are covered, examples are often not included. To really get started, you need help from other sources, such as SAS On-line Documentation. However, this product's price is still reasonable given the richness of its functionalities.