As a middle-class student trying to work his way through an education, I know first-hand that college tuition costs are incredibly out of whack with the income of the populous. By reading this book, not only did I receive insight on how to keep myself in school while slaving through the minimum-wage jungle, but also gave me hope. Knowing that I'm not alone helps tremendously, and gives me new strength to keep on going

Three years ago I used to work for a corporation that used absorbed the TPM (Total Prodictive Maintenance) methodology and made it its own with certain in house touches.

As you may know TPM consists of several pillars, one of which is Focused Improvements (or FI, as it is sometimes called). The FI pillar is focused on reducing critical losses which are beyond the scope of the Autonomous Maintenance (AM) and Progressive Maintenance (PM) pillars.

This nice little book happens to show a good deal of samples of how to put to practice this methodology, beginning by quantifying and analyzing the loss at hand, determining ideal states, and developing action plans to achieve them.

It's highly recommendable for people who work on a manufacturing floor.

This book is an exhibition catalogue from the metropolitan museum of art. It covers Victorian women's dress from the years 1837 to 1877 when Queen Victoria gradually changed from being simply Queen of England to Empress of a vast empire.

The book is richly illustrated with colour photos of Queen Victoria's clothes (or other period costume examples of the right date) starting with a dress worn by Victoria for her state entry into Paris in 1855. We are also shown examples of wonderful English silk paisley style shawls and formal court dress.

The text accompanying the pictures gives a vivid narrative of the changing styles in the 40 years of fashion this book covers. "From Queen to Empress" is a worth addition to any collection of books on costume or if you are wanting to know more about the fashions of the mid Victorian era.

There are a whole range of books on "this and that in the age of information." This is one of the most concise, does a nice job of drawing on all the major literature in the 1980's and early 1990's, and explores the issues in relation to governance in a networked environment.

Not only is this a collection of the best and brightest works in graphic design today, it's an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to know the direction in which the field is moving today. This book is illustrated with plenty of pictures of recipients of the AIGA's medals, and is also a good place to go for inspiration because it just contains SO MUCH STUFF!

I've heard of architects entering into the health care market thinking that the field was wide open and , "hey, it's just a design job like any other!". Well, yes it is but nope, it's not. The clearest guide through the basics is the "Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospital and Health Care Facilities", developed by the A.I.A. and the only way to get started with efficiency. Realistic scope is laid out for you to find your way to the starting line. Yes, that's right, I said the "starting line". I'm writing this review in July of 2000 and the edition now available is from 1996-97. Remember 1996? That was when Y2K was a joke about to explode some time in the distant future, MRI's were a new and painful diagnostic technology and hospitals were just giving way to medical centers in function but not yet in form. That's the down side of this primer. It's got the basics to a high degree but not the latest-up-to-date on much of anything. You might say that there might be an exception with morgues because, hey, how much can they change? Surprisingly, however, even morgues are on the move. Last week a national expose has cast a light on the issue of the mistakes of doctors being hidden by inadequate autopsy follow-through and a new light has been shined on the in-house, acute care morgue facilities. Health care is fast moving and faster now than ever and this book won't help you to catch up. It will, however, give you the vernacular associated with the medical worlds discribed in the contents. It will associate building types with concomitant health care venues, and it will point you clearly and directly to the awareness that this specialty is largely functionly driven design. It will not adequately discuss inovation, potential space/healing relationships, ancient western or feng shui centered approaches to healing spaces or the like. It will caution you to know your place in the scheme of things: doctors heal and architects manage the space for that to happen. So, yes, it is a rather narrow venue. It is a primer not an exhaustive reference of the history and potentials to contribute to the general welfare and common good by being on a health care management team. So,yes, if your expectations are to gain entrance into a function driven, high liability architectural enterprise, this is the foundational resource for you. It is not intended, I'm sure, to be entertaining or an easy read but you will pull it off the shelf regularly to review the basics and know the language of the medium. Good luck.

This book is incredible but still lacks a depth to qualify it for 5 stars. It's intriquite description of the scenes, the vote, and the bloodshed are all aspects which are touching to even the coldest of people. Highly recomendable - If you can face the truths of this world!

This is a very interesting prediction of what health care may hold for us this decade. I enjoyed reading forecasts of what the population will be like and their lifestyles, as well as buying habits. Health careers that will be booming were discussed as well as what medical advances will flourish. I found it interesting that this publication does not really predict a nursing shortage as everyone else is predicting. The discussion of insurance plan growth and changes was less interesting to this reader but necessary.

This book was, not only useful, but also interesting.When someone reads this book, he will not fall into a pool of complex and circumstantial scientific information; But, he will find effective and practicable way to recognize his risk factors and how to control them;and if he suffers from a kind of heart disease, can find many answers to majority of his questions; which indeed has great positive effect on his heart condition.

Finding recent information on the higher education system in Vietnam, published in English, is quite difficult. This book provides good background information on what the system was like up to 1995. Authors of the chapters are Vietnamese who were in postions that gave them excellent access to data. Although Vietnam's higher education system is still in a state of change, the book helps to inform the efforts of today's researchers. The book also provides specific information valuable to anyone researching Can Tho University, in the Mekong Delta.