I found this book to be sorely lacking. If by "simplified" the title means important explanations of real-world applications are left out, then this is indeed a "simplified" handbook. If you are looking for a text that focuses on the problems associated with troubleshooting vibration of ROTATING EQUIPMENT THAT ACTUALLY EXISTS, then look elsewhere. For example, the description of phase and its use is so vague and theoretical as to be useless. Speaking of examples, when will authors of books such as these learn that is the BEST WAY to explain thing?. Give us a little theory and a whole bunch of examples. NOTHING TAKES THE PLACE OF A GOOD EXAMPLE. SHOW, DON'T JUST TELL. Is it because they really don't know how to do what they explain with formulas? The examples that are included are ..., lacking in detail, and ignore real-world complications. Don't get me wrong. I would have bought this book for a quarter of the price, but at [$], ...

Mr. Crawford builds upon the foundation laid in Volume 1 with the second in the series. Volume 2 applies the theory to industrial fans, pump, motors, compressors, engines, turbines, gears, and power transmission. He takes you into the method of analysis covering both digital as well as analog instrumentation. He shares his tips on measurement techniques. He covers the more advanced modal and finite element analysis giving examples and case histories. Just as in Volume 1, the goal is to appeal to the Novice, the Practitioner, and the Expert. The book accomplished the near impossible task of taking a complex subject and writing it in easy to understand English.

The Simplified Handbook of Vibration Analysis Volume 1 is an introduction to Vibration Analysis Fundamentals. Mr. Crawford writes the book on 3 levels: Novice, Practitioner, and Expert. The book covers the theory of vibration, general analysis techniques, balancing, and alignment. The book is well written in easy to understand language that is both satisfying to the novice and challenging to the expert. Mr. Crawford combines over 50 years of practical vibration knowledge in a single volume. The next volume in the series will deal with apllied vibration analysis.

of corse everyone loves adam sandler,but not all the book about him are to love.adam sandler;america's comedian by bill crawford seems well 'safe'.I as well as other people want to know the true about adam and this is not the place to find it.so yes on a scale of one to five i give this book a three. Because the writing was ok (and i mean ok).we aren't little kids mr. crawford.If you what to know about adam get this book but if you what more...

Adam Sandler is, to put it simply, my favorite actor. I don't know if it's his crazy mind and jokes or what, but everything that I have seen him in has made me laugh my pants my off. Due to my fondness of Mr. Sandler I decided that I would read a biography on him. There were a handful of books written on this talented man, and I'm glad that I picked this one. Crawford here presents facts and stories about Adam Sandler and ties everything together to make a fun filled read that will be thoroughly enjoyed.

The book opens up with a bit on Sandler's family life and some basic biographical information, such as where he grew up and some information on his childhood. After this there are chapters on his "Saturday Night Live" career, his movies, his CD's, and a plethora of other things. Movies such as "Happy Gilmore" and "Billy Madison" are touched upon here. There are plot summaries and many stories about things on the makings of the movies, such as tid bits on the actors and actresses and things about the production. All of the CD recordings that Adam has done are summarized here and there is even some information on specific songs.

Bill Crawford does what a skilled author doing a biography should do. He makes facts fun and interesting to read. But even more inmportantly, though, is that he carefully writes about Adam as a person. He shares information about his family life and hos friends that were made over the years. There is also information here on Sandler's love interests as well. And behind all of the money and fame, Crawford writes how this actor really acts for the love of the art and to please his fans.

The writing in this biography is clear and easy to follow, making for a quick and informative read. This biography is not one that is long and drags, giving pointless information on frivolous things, this will deliver the important information on Mr. Sandler. At the end of this biography there is a complete bibliography and list of Adam's television appearances, movies made, and CD's recorded. This is one biography that will not disappoint.

Happy Reading!

I liked the fact that Brother Jonathan was set in a relatively near term future, which was relatively realistic. I didn't see anything in the book which was particularly far-fetched or incredibly hokey-and enough detail was added to make it generally interesting).

This book crafts a chilling picture of what capitalism out-of-control could be like in a future world. It's one of the earlier SF novels I read and it has most of the elements I like to see in this genre. For those who like humanism in their SF, I would reccomend this novel. In the future, massive corporations rule the world in place of countries. They routinely try to outbid each other and declare war on one another in takeover attempts. Thrown into this struggle are a group of neurologically handicapped children and animals who are at the bottom of the pecking order. They're to be the guinea pigs for a new computer implants that the scientists hope will rebuild the damaged areas of their brains. What actually happens is beyond everyones expectations . . . Suffice to say, this is a story about the triumph of the underdog and the changing of a world. The only downside is that this book makes a pat ending out of something that couldn't be that simple, in an otherwise enjoyable book, it's forgivable, but I feel like a lot more could be done along this theme. If you like this and want something more complex try Tad Williams' Otherland books, their big but worth reading.

I am republican, love what they do, and thought this would be a great book-NOPE. I like hearing Happy things the GOP does but this wrights off on so many issues that i cant tell what is the right thing to do. Dont buy get it at the lib. and when your a 1/5 the way thourgh you will be fed up even with your own party
Hypno signing off
this book gets a 2.4 out of 5

This collection of dumb quotes and actions from notable democrats was a hoot for a conswrvative like me. The book is fun, but not vindictive so even democrats can enjoy it. After all, we all do things sometimes. For the liberals out there, there's "Republicans do the dumbest things" too, so don't feel cheated!

I really hoped that this book would explain the use of derivatives (a financial risk management tool) is a simple way, but alas, it was still too highbrow for a layperson like me. Perhaps I should have paid more attention in math class, but I still don't really understand how, when, or why to use them. However, I will persevere and find a book that can explain the use of derivatives in a more pedestrian manner. Thanks!

I loved this book. It was full of information that came alive. This book takes a dry, complex topic, and makes it exciting. It is a must read!!!

While I enjoyed the first two books in the Reardon Brothers Triology and looked forward to this last book, I am sad to say that disappointment in the last three chapters of the book abound. While it was predictable to a point, the ending did not meet my expectations. The ending of the book was quite far-fetched to say the least. Any of us who read the first two books and remember the portrayal of Drew, the youngest of the Reardon brothers will find that Freedom's Belle did not follow the same path. The entire book up until the end was exactly what we had pictured and contained the detail we love from Dianna Crawford, however, the ending unfortunately overshadowed the great beginning. You would be better off not reading the third book of this triology and keep Dianna's first two as memories of a great story.

Drew Reardon defines the word "wanderlust." Although he has declared a life of roaming and freedom, but struggles when an unusual situation puts a single young woman in his path. Although Crysta desires the freedom to make her own choices, she finds fulfillment in teaching, a job which requires roots. The batter between two tenacious, obstinate individuals (who both believe a future with the other is totally unattainable) is amazing and amusing. If you enjoy historical Christian fiction, you must add this to your collection.

I found this book after researching the beginnings and the ending of Mommie Dearest. I was lucky enough to find a sequel to the ultimate Hollywood biography of the most notorious stars of Hollywoodland. This was a good read, the book starts off where Mommie Dearest left off...at the reading of the will. It seems Christina's troubles all though life was only the beginning. She received a backlash of support and criticism right after the publishing. Survivor accounts for the talk shows, the play in London, and goes into the depths of the making of the film "Mommie Dearest". Christina also battles with Paramount on the screenplay, ultimately losing to the high-powered executives. Then there is a whole chapter devoted to Christina when she is stricken with a stroke, and eventual recovery. This book ends in 1988 when after a failed marriage, stroke and trips to Sedona, Arizona,Christina finally finds her way out of a place she calls "Lost".

I got my copy at a used bookstore and it was full of underlines and personal notes from the nut who had it before me. I'll have to get a clean copy. Christina's is an exciting tale. I will never get bored of listening to anything she has to say. "Survivor" talks mostly about her life in the 1980s- her marraige, stroke, recovery, and how she published her book. It had new pictures not published in "Mommie Dearest".

I think it's insulting that people say she wrote her books as revenge for being disinherited, but even if that is true, GOOD! For someone who was so badly treated, I say more power to you.

I wonder if Christina still has all those letters Joan wrote to her while she was in boarding school? Imagine if she put just one of those up on e-bay!

It's too bad the people who discredit Christina are blinded by the fact that they don't want to believe their favorite movie star would do such a thing, or believe it's OK because she's a star. That's the whole point of her books.

I bought this book hoping to find some concrete suggestions for leading my kids into the wealth of experience that tai chi offers. Having read two other books by Mr. Olson, I felt confident that the book would be helpful. The book begins with some simple pedagogical tenets, a few typical comments on violence in our society, a short child's version of the apocryphal Chang San Feng story and an invitation to the child reading (or the parent reading to the child)to learn the movements described in this book. This is all nicely done but hardly new or really informative. After this the book simply show's the young Olson performing the movement and describes each movement step by step. The same reservations must apply to the validity and applicability of this kind of "book instruction" as do to the numerous "learn tai chi at home" books aimed at adults. In all fairness, the quality of this hardcover book is good, the photos are nice and the pictures drawn by Gregory Crawford are quite precious, but these alone do not justify the price. The jacket tells us that the book is designed for "children and parents to use together or for independent learning by older children". I don't feel the book can be used successfully by either group if they have no knowledge of tai chi; and for those parents who already practice tai chi, the book has little to offer in the way of guidance.

Stuart Olson's Tai Chi For Kids: Move With The Animals introduces young readers ages 4 to 8 to one of the ancient popular Chinese form of exercise. Eight simple but elegant Tai Chi movements are showcased and are simple enough that parents or caregivers can easily teach a child to perform. The illustrated presentations are particularly imaginative as they draw upon the mimicry and symbolism of animals and animal movements. The exercises include: Holding the Bird's Tail; Snake Slithering Down; White Crane Cools Its Wings; Carry the Tiger Back to the Moutnain; Dragon Plays in the Clouds; Wild Goose Flies Away; Chasing the Monkeys Away; and Gold Roosster Stands on One Leg. Tai Chi For Kids is a unique and enthusiastically recommended title for any family, school, or library collection.

I would actually rate this book at 3.5 out of 5.

This very readable book introduces a newbie Unix user to several basic tools' use with some tips and tricks. Home directory file management and backup, printing and printer management, terminal customization, vi, XWindows and the fvwm window manager, running programs and a little job management, LAN messaging, file sharing, awk and sed are covered.

I think this book is one of a kind, but probably everyone who reads it will wish there were more. Instead of 300 pages, it should be 400-500 pages. Almost everything that is covered could be covered more. Even if the book must aim only at users, it would be approriate to add introductions to or sections on: the general Unix filesystem hierarchy, CDE and KDE window managers (replacing the section on the antiquated fvwm), StarOffice and/or WordPerfect, gzip and bzip2, and Netscape.

But, given the number of people that are installing free or somewhat free versions of Linux, Solaris, BSD and SCO Unixes on their home systems, and given that such things as the relative merits of SMB and NFS are already discussed in the book, it is beyond doubt that the audience is not primarily users but users/newbie sysadmins. So sections on common TCP/IP setup files, SAMBA and NFS setup should be added to the next revision, as well as on kernel (re)configuration, the make and rpm commands and JDK/JRE 2 setup, XFree86 setup (mention video setup and wheel-mice), library control, and various Unices' administration tools (SAM, admintool, linuxconf, SMIT, etc). This could easily be covered and bring the book to no more than 500-600 pages. It's only 300 now.

In short, I think the book is a really great start and is worth buying and worth completing.

If you are a newbie to UNIX this book is very useful.The presentation is by question & answer,making it useful while "hands-on" with UNIX.It helps you to gain speed with the esssential commands.

Coverage on the vi editor is good.Shell programming & Regular expressions could be covered in more detail.

This book doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind whether it is a mystery or a soft core porn. The basic story is intriguing, if you can wade through the author's sexual fantasies, and the setting is not only intriguing but quite accurately written. It's the obsession with naked, nubial maidens who can't keep their hands off the author's alter ego that make it difficult reading. If it were just porn without the attempt at plot, or if it were better written, it might be worth the time. As is, it is not a satisfying read.

The sleuth is Judge Harold J. Hudson, trying hard not to be a roue and fortunately failing! The scene is a small city with an annual Shakespeare festival.

In the hotel room directly above that of Judge Hudson the star of Macbeth lies murdered.

The three witches of the play weave their lives into that of Judge Hudson (token resistance only). They share digs and it appears that one of them had tried to lose her virginity with the star who played Macbeth, only to find his dead body in bed. Instead of calling the police (fancy telling the police why she is there)she leaves the scene of the crime.

A pair of knickers is an important clue.

This is a lovely piece of theater and pastiche such as that great Historian of the pastiche and the theater, John Kennedy Melling, would revel in. There are quotations from the Bard, charming drawings by the author and the final sentence is an epitaph to any relationship, especially marriage: And they quarreled happily ever after.

Alex Auswaks - Crime Roundup, Jerusalem Post Magazine. October 17, 1997