Customer Reviews:
Book review.......2007-09-28
Excellent product condition! No problems with seller - very straightforward purchase and will buy again!!
Decent, but had a lot of fluff.......2007-08-29
For me this book was required for a class. I guess it wasn't bad but I felt like I had to pick through all their example stories to find any of the real content. So much was case studies of one child or another. And most of the case studies were in themselves mostly fluff.
Packed with usefull information.......2007-02-18
I found this book very engaging, the topics were interesting and the graphics were very appropriate. I really liked how every other page had an interesting question that you could apply to everyday life and you got the answer in 2 pages. I would skip ahead to find out the answer. But after my developmental psychology class was over i wanted to keep this book. i love it.
Berger: Developing person through the life span.......2007-02-16
Great deal, the book was in excellent condition, like bran new and it
arrived in timely manner.
Excellent.......2006-11-07
Great book!! We are using this book for my developmental pyschology class. It has really provided me with a wealth of knowledge.
Average customer rating:
- A good guide from start to finish
- Learn a lot
- very good all-around reference
- Difficult to follow!
- A Must Have Pub
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Land Development Handbook (Handbook)
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Similar Items:
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Be a Successful Residential Land Developer
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ASIN: 0071375252 |
Book Description
Successfully navigate the confusing maze of land development
If you're looking for cutting-edge blockbuster coverage of the land development process, the search ends here! Written by one of the nation's premier consulting firms, this new edition delivers up-to-date coverage of planning, engineering, and surveying . . . all with over 700 illustrations, including diagrams, detailed drawings, plats, and reports generated at the various design stages, as well as charts, tables, and more.
This edition includes regulatory changes; new data on open space areas for landscape architects; coverage of the latest advances in GPS and GIS technology; new perspectives on urban growth; and updated case studies, plans, and details. You'll find a thorough description of the design and approval process for residential, commercial, and retail land development projects and access to valuable bottom-line information on:
* Environmental issues, including erosion and sediment control, storm water management, environmental impact studies and assessments, and water quality
* Types of local regulations; where to get necessary project approval; what to expect during the process
* Site analysis and selection criteria for feasibility studies
* Technical information on the design of suburban infrastructure components such as water treatment and supply systems, sanitary sewer systems, storm drain systems, and roads
* The complete spectrum of surveying methods, including Global Positioning System Surveys and Geographic Information Systems
Customer Reviews:
A good guide from start to finish .......2007-07-24
As a general civil engineer in private practice this book has provided a good overview on the more abstract side of land development including financing, rezoning, and public involvement. All of which, are topics that typical engineers strugle with as it is not the enjoyable aspect of what engineers are trained to do. Nevertheless, these abstract components are just as real as the plans we develop. Of course, the book is excellent for hands on design and calculation support.
Learn a lot.......2007-05-13
As a novice developer, this book put me on the right track without all the confusion and terms I would have never understood. It was simple to understand and after reading it, I felt like I knew a lot more. Very interesting and satisfying. Great reference guide all the way around.
very good all-around reference.......2004-03-01
I primarily work as a structural-architectural engineer and am becoming more and more involved in civil-site work. This handbook is exactly what I was looking for in terms of something that would quickly get me "up to speed" in the fundamentals of civil-site design.
Of course, no single book could (or should) be thought of as a substitute for the experience and mentoring received from seasoned professionals in a design office, but this one has enough technical explanation and details to get you going with confidence.
I choose this one over the Colley book (reviewed both before making purchase) as Land Development Handbook has more of the technical info that engineers would seek.
Difficult to follow!.......2003-12-16
I am in a class at Community College of Baltimore County and we are using this book at this time. Our whole class along with the Professor find this book to be very difficult to follow. The book constantly repeats itself making it extremely boring to read and is not fluent at all. They have examples that reference charts that are 3-5 pages apart from the problem being discussed the formulas you almost have to figure out for yourself how they are used and there are alot of typos.
I recomend burning this book!!!!!!!
A Must Have Pub.......2002-07-04
Ever since I purchased this publication I can't stop using it. Every civil engineer should have this as part of their reference library, regardless of your area of specialty. It provides macro to micro scale explanations of general processes, design applications, etc in a very readable format. More times than I can remember I have looked to this book for an answer or at least for some guidance and was throuroughly satisfied. No it is not a definitive reference for civil engineers but its' breadth and usability overshadows any technical shortcomings. If I had to have just one reference book for my area of practice (general civil), this would be it. Yeah, yeah, the "Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers" is a more definitive reference, but I usually find out what I need in this pub.
ps - Almost everyone of my fellow employees that has used the book has purchased their own, find someone you know who has a copy and check it out for yourself.
Amazon.com
The original printing of Testing Computer Software set the standard for the emerging field of test engineering with a full tour of the state of the art in managing the testing process. The reissued text makes this classic out-of-print text available once again. Though it relies heavily on older examples (including MS-DOS) and has not been updated, this text is still a worthwhile resource for practical-minded advice on the realities of testing.
The best thing about Testing Computer Software is its practical point-by-point guide to everyday software testing, from creating a test plan, to writing effective bug reports, to working with programming staff and management to fix bugs.
That said, this book's early frame of reference shows how far we've come. (The book relies heavily on MS-DOS examples and features some truly embarrassing anachronisms, including the mention of testing dot-matrix printers and even EGA/VGA video modes.) The bibliography stops at sources from 1992 and features many references from the 1980s. Nowadays, automated software testing tools are the staple of any testing strategy. This book even advocates a wait-and-see approach to the "new" Microsoft Test.
These limitations aside, there is still a good deal to mine here. Much of the approach to testing is still very valid for any aspiring or working test engineer. Clearly, readers of the first edition will have little reason to upgrade to this second edition, but for anyone who appreciates a "classic" (and indeed a pioneering) text in the field of software testing, it's good to have Testing Computer Software in print again. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: test case design, test planning, project lifecycle overview, software errors, boundary conditions, bug reports, regression testing, black box testing, software quality and reliability, managing test teams, printer testing, internationalization, and managing legal risk.
Book Description
This book will teach you how to test computer software under real-world conditions. The authors have all been test managers and software development managers at well-known Silicon Valley software companies. Successful consumer software companies have learned how to produce high-quality products under tight time and budget constraints. The book explains the testing side of that success.
Who this book is for:
* Testers and Test Managers
* Project Managers-Understand the timeline, depth of investigation, and quality of communication to hold testers accountable for.
* Programmers-Gain insight into the sources of errors in your code, understand what tests your work will have to pass, and why testers do the things they do.
* Students-Train for an entry-level position in software development.
What you will learn:
* How to find important bugs quickly
* How to describe software errors clearly
* How to create a testing plan with a minimum of paperwork
* How to design and use a bug-tracking system
* Where testing fits in the product development process
* How to test products that will be translated into other languages
* How to test for compatibility with devices, such as printers
* What laws apply to software quality
Customer Reviews:
QA Specialist.......2007-07-23
The book was very helpful for me as a beginning QA Specialist. I would recommend it for background and foundational info.
Good, but very old.......2007-05-13
I think that Cem Kaner's book was perfect 20 years ago. Right now it's very funny in most chapters. For example we have a whole chapter for printer testing. I don't think that more than 1% of programmers are working now directly with hardware. Also, we have many examples for computers with 640Kb or RAM. Many examples and test types are expired. I was confused why editors didn't remove them or change. Anyway, I recommend to read it as an overview. Moreover, this book is more like reference, not a book for reading. So, buy it and have in your library.
Great intro to testing, test mgmt, and the test process.......2005-09-21
I'm new to software testing, but I've taken a few classes and read a few books already, and this is the by far best resource I've found.
Each chapter starts with an overview of what it covers, why it's important, and key messages.
Chapter 3 - Test Types And Their Place In The Software Development Process is itself worth the price of the whole book. Clear, readable, understandable discussion of a variety of topics.
Chapters 12 and 13 tie all the ideas together. Together with chapter 3, these three chapters are the core of the book and where I got the most benefit.
The "example" chapters that discuss testing a printer are okay, but I just skimmed over them and didn't get much value.
Overall the writing style is very readable and understandable. The breadth and depth of coverage of the topic is idea for a new software tester.
Fantastic Textbook!!!.......2005-07-28
I am a QA manager for a major software company. I got ahold of this book and ended up buying a copy for all of my crew!
I highly recommend this book to testers of all levels! Covers it all, positive, negative, boundary, stress etc.
I love the first chapters easy program breakdown. The authors came up with some fantastic sample tests both inside and outside the box.
Get this book!
Awesome book!.......2004-10-30
A wonderful book for both the software testing novice and the experienced tester - well worth buying!!
Book Description
This updated classic is unrivaled in its complete, single-volume coverage of financing real estate development
This thoroughly revised Third Edition of Construction Funding provides professional and student readers alike with the critical tools needed for developing any successful real estate venture. Using a case example of a 260-unit apartment development, the authors walk the reader through each project phase, offering invaluable guidance on raising capital, selecting markets, rating sites, securing insurance, creating joint ventures, understanding loan options, and mastering cash flow management.
Beginning with an overview of today's real estate industry, Construction Funding acquaints readers with various types of business organizations in real estate, including the advantages and disadvantages of each. An entire chapter in this first section is devoted to the most critical tool of them all: negotiation. The second section of the book provides a step-by-step outline of the typical development process from start to finish. Included in this section are guidelines for:
- Creating a pro forma that will make projects profitable, not a loss
- Understanding the appraisal-the key to financing real estate
- Navigating a loan application
- Correctly completing all required documents to close a construction loan
- Writing a commitment letter that can seal a $15 million deal
The final, third section addresses the mathematical and technical tools of construction, including chapters on forecasting cash flow needs, calculating the time value of money, and funding and feasibility problems. Also provided are appendices containing loan forms, interest rate tables, and valuable information on federal construction programs.
Written by a team of authors with broad experience in the construction and real estate industries, Construction Funding is the book to guide undergraduate and graduate students in construction programs, as well as an invaluable reference for professional developers, planners, and contractors.
Customer Reviews:
the right book, at the right time, in the right place... dubai.......2006-08-17
the right book, at the right time, in the right place... dubai
What a Phenomenal Job!.......2005-04-14
I read construction funding, prematurely perhaps, as one of my first ever real estate books - and I loved it! The book takes the reader through several once-real-life scenarios and explains the construction process step by step. I think that both ambitious beginners and more seasoned loan officers and developers would benefit from reading this book.
MBA student.......2002-03-05
Very interesting book; very easy to read.
As a small real estate investor I found it very helpful in understanding many of the ins and outs of real estate and financing, especially on the scale i would like to grow to.
A first class book on Real Estate Development.......2002-02-05
The third edition of Construction Funding by Nathan S. Collier et al is a remarkable demonstration of insight and expertise. Collier and colleagues provide an exceptionally lucid description and analysis of the process of real estate development that is accessible to non-experts while being authoritative at the same time. In addition to being an excellent text for students and others interested in careers in real estate development, this book serves as essential background for all those whose responsibilities include any part of the development process.
Book Description
Miller's LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT, 14th Edition is the most comprehensive and up-to-date environmental science text on the market. It has the most balanced approach to environmental science instruction, with bias-free comparative diagrams throughout and a focus on prevention of and solutions to environmental problems. Tyler Miller is the most successful author in academic writing on environmental science because of his attention to currency, trend setting presentation of content, ability to predict student and instructor needs for new and different supplements, and his ability to retain the hallmarks on which instructors have come to depend. The content in the 14th edition of LIVING IN THE ENVIRONMENT is everything you have come to expect and more. In this edition, the author has added the "How Would You Vote?" feature, which is an application of environmental science-related topics in the news. Students apply their environmental science knowledge from the book to a Web activity, which helps them investigate environmental science issues in a structured manner. They then cast their votes on the Web. Results are then tallied. Also found at the Miller website is the much used "Updates on Line." Updated twice a year with articles from InfoTrac College Edition service, CNN® Today Video Clips, and Web links, instructors can seamlessly incorporate the most current news articles and research findings to support text presentations. This is a time saver for instructors and part-time teachers who can quickly determine what ancillary materials they want to utilize in just minutes. As with the last edition, this text is packaged with a free Student CD-ROM entitled "Interactive Concepts in Environmental Science." Organized by chapter, the CD gives students links to relevant resources, narrated animations, interactive figures, and prompts to review material and test themselves.
Customer Reviews:
made me angry.......2007-09-23
I have not read the whole book yet, and I have the 2004 edition (#13). I truly hope the newer editions are better. This is a review of Chapter 1 only.
The chapter annoyed me. It even made me angry. It is milquetoast, unable to just say we, the human population, is depleting too many resources to be sustainable. Adding the statement "other analysts do not believe we are living unsustainably" to an Environmental Science textbook is like saying "some people believe the earth is flat," in a geography textbook, or, something that unfortunately seems to happen in some biology textbooks these days, "evolution is just one theory, there are other theories as well, some experts believe god created all life on earth as it is today." A similar statement was made in part 1-6, "Is our Present Course Sustainable?." "Are things getting better or worse? Experts disagree..." Experts paid by huge resource exploiting corporations? Experts who like to bury their heads in the sand?
There were a number of interesting facts in the text that the general statements did not reflect. These inconsistencies really got to me. It seemed as if it were trying to write about what was outside the box but writing from inside the box. I particularly disliked the sentence that included: "... how much more we need to do to help make the earth more sustainable..." Wait a second, if you were writing from a viewpoint that "Nature does not exist just for us and we only think we are in charge. We need the earth, but the earth does not need us," how can you talk about "making the earth more sustainable?" The earth is what it is and is bountiful, it is our resource exploitation and pollution that are not sustainable for human survival.
I found the first part of the side bar "Free-Access Resources and the Tragedy of the Commons" quite interesting, but the second part on solutions seemed to missing a lot. The first of the two listed solutions was: "Use free-access resources at rates well below their estimated sustainable yields or overload limits by reducing population, regulating access, or both." It then went on to say how this is rarely used since it means we would have to establish and enforce rules and regulations, and it is hard to figure out a sustained yield. But it doesn't mention that educating people about these resources that they take for granted could go along way. Also not mentioned is that regulating the devices that allow people to exploit these resources (such as clean air, the atmosphere, water and wildlife) so easily and unthinkingly would be much easier than regulating their actual use. A lot of the resources mentioned are being depleted by pollution not use in a strict sense. The other solution listed is: "Convert free-access resources to private ownership," since if someone owns something they will protect it, has so many problems which are not addressed. The books lists the problem with this solution as being that "it is not practical for global common resources (such as the atmosphere, the open ocean, most wildlife species, and migratory birds) that can not be divided up and converted to private property." What about the fact that people do exploit the resources that they do own, and the fact that it would no doubt cause even more problems with poverty, and sharing things in common is what brings people together as a community (e.g. they all go to the park and see each other), and so many other problems that I get overwhelmed just thinking about them.
There was a lot of talk about overpopulation as a major problem, but not so much talk about overconsumption by certain parts of the population, even though there were sections on this. There was a section on ecological foot print and how the people in the USA have such a large one, but this didn't seem to get integrated into the text. There was also the statement: "Thus poor parents in a developing country would need 70 - 200 children to have the same lifetime resource consumption as 2 children in a typical U.S. family," but there was a lot of emphasis on population as a major problem and how in underdeveloped countries populations are growing as such a fast rate, when slight rises in US middle/upper class populations can make so much more difference. It felt to me like too much blame poor people in poor countries when it is people in the US and corporations based in the US enriching people in the US who are causing so much of the problems, even exporting our TV and advertisements to other countries which makes people want our unsustainable lifestyle.
There was also no mention of empowering women as a major tool to deal with high birthrates. There is overwhelming evidence that when you empower women to choses when they want to get pregnant and give them education and job skills birthrates do down. The paragraph on why poor people have so many children basically says the reason is to have their labor, with no mention of lack of birth control or power of women to make choices. It also seemed racist and disrespectful.
While we are on the subject of racist and disrespectful, what is with the developed and developing labels? The societies in all countries are developed, it is just industrial manufacturing and certain kinds of resource exploitation that are not as developed.
One last perhaps picky complaint. Figure 1-13 mentions "Traditional decision making" and "traditional societies" but it really does not mean traditional, it means modern industrialized hierarchical societies. This may seem picky but I feel it really does matter, we need to keep remembering that these societies we are living in are new, not traditional. True traditional societies did merge social, economic and environmental issues when making decisions, in fact, they did so in all aspects of living their lives. What we need to do is get back to them.
Policical retoric and not science.......2007-04-29
The state of Washington mails each registered voter a "Voter's Pamphlet" with statements for and against each initiative and candidate.
This book has the same format as a page for initiative X complete with rebuttals, but no page against initiative X.
This is completely one sided political rhetoric.
Why are high school students being given 815 pages of brainwashing?
I can understand some political extremest writing this book, but why would the Mercer Island school district buy this book?
I know science.
This ain't science.
Maybe political science.
Good Practical Book.......2007-04-20
Being a chemistry student, I've read this book as part of my classes. I've got to say, it's an excellent book, definitely worth reading by itself. It offers concrete, pragmatic solutions and an unbiased collection of scientificly supported descriptions of environmental problems and how to deal with them. It's also almost completely devoid of gloom and doom, as opposed to some of today's green movements. Very much recommended.
Schoolbook review.......2007-01-03
I found this book to be fairly well written with only a little bias toward evolution, an unproven scientific theory.
Reviews, anyone?.......2006-01-18
This is an excellent textbook, one that I have used in two of my Environmental Science classes (namely, Environmental Problems of Man [Bio 11], and Energy for the Future [Envi Sci 1].) While not completely without bias (which is mostly subtle, and not totally incorrect), the book offers a solid introduction to many environmental issues. The introduction chapter of the textbook states that environmental science is interdisciplinary, and the book is laid out accordingly. Chapters run the gamut from biology, chemisty, simple physics, and pure ecological common sense. An excellent purchase for any serious scientist and/or conscientious environmentalist.
Book Description
This trail-blazing work introduces a quantitative systems approach to bioinformatics research using powerful computational tools drawn from signal processing, circuit analysis, control systems, and communications. It presents the functionality of biological processes in an engineering context to facilitate the application of technical skills in solving the field's challenges, from the lab bench to data analysis and modeling, and to enable reverse engineering from biology in the development of synthetic biological devices.
This first-of-its-kind text explores how the knowledge bases of various technical disciplines relate to, and are observed, in biological systems. You learn fundamental signal processing techniques that are essential to biological data analysis, including biomedical imaging and image processing, feature extraction, classification, and estimation. You gain a thorough understanding of cellular regulatory systems and their similarities to traditional control systems, protein and gene networks, inference networks, and network dynamics. The book also addresses how biology-inspired molecular structures are being used to solve engineering challenges, and how one can mimic biology's designs in creating more robust technologies. Moreover, you discover the latest developments in proteomics, where these tools can make an immense impact due to the number, complexity, and interaction networks of proteins. A major addition under the evolving umbrella of systems biology and bioinformatics, this groundbreaking work points you to new frontiers in the convergence of engineering and biological research.
CD-ROM Included! Contains several fully working programs to save you time on the job, including Bayesian Discoverer (student version), VisANT, and OBOES, as well as full-color figures, PowerPoint lecture slides, Matlab Webinar, links to Web resources, and more.
Customer Reviews:
good shredder/slicer.......2007-05-14
It's handy. it's light. It works better than my heavy duty food processor. Would have loved some more "cutters" fo different shapes. Glad I bought it.
Book Description
The second edition of the best-selling PostgreSQL has been updated to completely cover new features and capabilities of the 8.0 version of PostgreSQL. You will be lead through the internals of the powerful PostgreSQL open source database chapter, offering an easy-to-read, code-based approach that makes it easy to understand how each feature is implemented, how to best use each feature, and how to get more performance from database applications. This definitive guide to building, programming and administering the powerful PostgreSQL open-source database system will help you harness one of the most widely used open source, enterprise-level database systems.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointed with a serious error.......2007-10-04
I'm upset that this book that I've been trusting for the past month or two has such an egregious error in its discussion of regular expressions on page 51. I wish the authors had left out any discussion of regexes if they weren't going to actually test their assumptions about a topic on which I assume they know little. :-(
Excellent resource for any PostgreSQL admin.......2007-08-12
PostgreSQL 2nd Edition is a phenomenal book if you're a programmer, and a great book if you're a non-programming admin. As someone whose programming ability reaches only ever so slightly beyond bash scripting and WSH, the parts of this book that were really worthwhile to me were those devoted to the administration of PostgreSQL. Backing up, recovering, and performance tuning were excellent resources, especially to someone who had never set up or administered a database. Speaking of which, the very beginning of the book, covering what exactly a database is, terminology, and setting up and creating schema were invaluable. To have all the information in PostgreSQL 2nd Edition consolidated in this one book makes it a must-have for any admin's bookshelf. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars from me was because I'm not a programmer, and I couldn't take away every single ounce this great resource had to offer.
a very comprehensive book.......2007-02-01
This book lives up to it's claims for "the comprehensive guide to building, programming and administering postgresql databases". I'm a MySQL guy, but may have to do a little pgsql to support a third party app, so I was looking for a book that would bring me up to speed.
The quick review is this... I give this book 3 stars, because it's so huge and covers so much territory that, in my opinion, it does a middling job of it. I would have preferred a more focussed book. I think, given it's goal of being so comprehensive, it is about as good as it could be and if you really need to know everything - from sql, to developing extensions, to embedding this in your c/c++ programs and administering things AND want a single book that covers it this is probably the book for you. If you don't need quite that much, or are willing to go to more than one book to get it, I think you would be better served to look elsewhere.
The longer review...
Honestly, I don't know why books on databases almost invariably are terribly dry reads, but this book, following the odds, falls into that category. It's a hefty tome weighing in at about 1000 pages divided into 3 sections.
The first category, about a quarter of the book, is an introduction to sql and postgresql in particular. It does quite a nice job of introducing your standard sql commands, datatypes and basic administrative commands (like creating tables and the like). This part goes from basic to fairly advanced, covering topics like outer joins and creating new datatypes. I suspect it'll be review for those familiar with sql but reasonably usable for those delving into sql, even if they don't immediately understand all of the more advanced concepts.
The section ends with a chapter on performance, something I was particularly interested in given postgresql's reputation. Here the authors talk about standard performancy things like indexes, using various tools to figure out what a particular query is actually doing, all worthwhile. But they never go into any detail about the performance implications of using some of the more advanced postgresql features like composite types and table inheritance. I was quite disappointed to find not even a whisper of this type of information in the book.
The second section, about half the book covers programming with postgresql. This is a very broad chapter - covering many aspects of what it means to program this database. From server side programming using PL/pgSQL to extending the database with custom functions and types. They discuss creating clients in c, c++, java, perl, php, tcl, python and .net. Each one of these languages gets a chapter about 30-50 pages long where they go over the basics of how that language typically connects to the database and then goes through a process of creating a basic client and refining over the course of 4 or 5 iterations to become more and more robust and full featured. This is the bulk of the book and because it's so wide spread, I think most people will only be interested in one or two of these chapters - the rest of which will probably be uninteresting.
The last section is the final quarter of the book where they go over the administrative requirements of the database. They admirably try to direct people to download and compile their own binaries, but cover installation from binary on unix and windows. They have an excellent reference on the things you can tweak to configure the runtime environment. They also cover backing up the database, replication, internationalization and security. Although they mention performance optimization in the intro to the section, they don't actually discuss it anywhere in the section.
So, to sum up. If you really need to know about all aspects of pgsql and are looking for a one stop shop, this book is - I think - as good as you're going to find. But if you're looking into only a particular aspect (developing, administereing, etc..) or don't mind going to more than one, I feel confident that there's other books out there that will cover those topics in better detail.
Great Book with Lots of Info about Postgres.......2006-11-22
I found the book to be a great complement to the Postgres documentation. The book does an excellent job of explaining the big picture of Postgres while providing enough details to make itself quite useful.
The book is quite big at 1000 pages and is divided into three parts. Part 1 does a good job of explaining foundational elements about Postgres that both developers and system administrators need to know.
Part 2 of the book covers the various programming interfaces for working with postgres. A nice feature of part 2 was the coverage of how to write new functions and data types for postgres in C. If you know C this section will be an easy read. I did not type in the C code in part 2 of the book since I do not need to extend Postgres in any way. However, seeing how data types and functions are implemented in C gave me a great appreciation for Postgres and its internals. Part 2 seems to cover all the client apis to talk to postgres at the expense of providing in depth knowledge on a specific client API. Missing from this book is how to use Postgres from Ruby. I did not read most of the chapters on the client Access API's since I program in Java and know JDBC quite well. I would say that the client API coverage is a great starting point and not an in depth reference.
Part three of the book cover various administration aspects of Postgres. Overall the coverage was good. The only thing to watch out for is that the coverage of Postgres Security is split between chapters 21 and 23.
One of the main things that loved about the book is that it does not try to explain the bascis of SQL and instead focuses on Postgres issues. If you are looking for an intro to database programming i would not recommend this book.
I highly recommend this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Is a good book.......2006-09-27
Is a nice book, it hasn't got many advanced stuff like backups or problems solutions but is a good book for people just become a middle or new postgresql user.
Book Description
This fascinating and comprehensive book is the first to explore the complex biological process leading to orgasm. Here, sexuality researcher and nurse Beverly Whipple, coauthor of the international best-selling book The G Spot and Other Discoveries about Human Sexuality, joins neuroscientist Barry R. Komisaruk and endocrinologist Carlos Beyer-Flores to view orgasm through the lenses of behavioral neuroscience along with cognitive and physiological sciences.
The authors explain how and why orgasms happen, why they fail to happen, and what brain and body events are put into play at the moment of orgasm. No topic is left unexplored, as the book describes the genital-brain connection, how the brain produces orgasms, how aging affects orgasm, and the effects of prescription medication, street drugs, hormones, disorders, and diseases.
Covering every type of sexual peak experience in women and men -- from intense to phantom -- this informative and entertaining work illuminates the hows, whats, and wherefores of orgasm.
Customer Reviews:
Well... *that* sorta took all the fun out of it!.......2007-08-08
OK... I was wandering through the library aisles (really!), and this book sorta jumped out at me... The Science of Orgasm by Barry R. Komisaruk, Carlos Beyer-Flores, and Beverly Whipple. I thought it might be fun to learn a little more about what happens at that "YES!" moment. But this book really takes all the fun out of it. You pretty much have to have a medical degree to understand a majority of it, and there's little spractical material for the layman (pun not intended... much).
Contents: Definitions of Orgasm; Different Nerves, Different Orgasmic Feelings; Bodily Changes at Orgasm; Are Orgasms Good for Your Health?; When Things Go Wrong; Diseases That Affect Orgasm; How Aging Affects Orgasm; Pleasure and Satisfaction with and without Orgasm; The Nervous System Connection; The Neurochemistry of Orgasm; Effects of Medication; Counteracting Medication Side Effects; Recreational Stimulant Drugs and Orgasm; Depressant Drugs and Orgasm; Herbal Therapies; Hormones and Orgasm; Mechanism of Action of Sex Steroids; Nonreproductive Hormones in Orgasm; Atypical Orgasms; The Genital-Brain Connection; Orgasms after Brain Surgery or Brain Damage; Imaging the Brain during Sexual Arousal and Orgasm; The Cast of Characters - How Brain Components Contribute to Orgasm; Consciousness and Orgasm; Glossary; References; Index
Anyway... this is an extremely clinical look at the physiological and psychological components that make up the, you guessed it, human orgasm. If you ever wanted to know exactly what role 5-alpha-DHT or dehydroepiandrosterone play in your body, this book will tell you... in detail. Probably every study on human sexuality in the past 50 years that's ever been published is referenced in here... multiple times. After a couple pages of explanation on evidence that a genital sensory pathway goes directly to the brain, bypassing the spinal cord, I was ready to switch over to something much lighter... like Reinventing Project Management. This was one of those library books that got renewed a number of times, as I just couldn't bear to read more than 10 to 15 pages at a time. Maybe I need a book on why I feel I have to finish a book if I start it. :)
Seriously, I can see how someone in the medical field would find this very useful. Also, if you're dealing with major issues like a spinal cord injury or severe reactions to medication, you'd probably be motivated to dig through the information to find answers and solutions. But for the average male or female with relatively normal functioning parts, this is written at a level that requires far more work than it's worth.
And now I think I'll go find something a bit more readable...
A Masterpiece In Its Field & Springboard for Future Studies.......2007-06-04
This book is technically challenging to wade through, and unless a person has a strong personal interest in the subject matter, or is doing a college level research paper, be aware it is difficult reading. I expected the 'psychology' of orgasm and a better understanding of the relationship between men and women but this book is almost exclusively about the purely physical mechanisms of desire, arousal and orgasm; in other words, the nuts and bolts of how it actually happens. It is like reading a car manual when the reader may be expecting a driver's guide.
Every paragraph, and many times every sentence, is loaded with parenthetical citations to other books, authors and researchers, and/or definitions of the medical terms for physiological body parts and functions, which admittedly are necessary considering it is a scientifically technical assessment of orgasm; however, it seriously impedes the natural flow of the steps in acquiring a new thought, assimilating that thought into one's schema, and retaining the new information into the subsequent overall emergent pattern that the authors are striving to bring to a point. This is not the authors' fault however, but rather the current style for citation as opposed to an earlier style of footnotes which in my opinion is preferable because it leaves to the reader whether to make use of the extended information in the footnote or to have an unimpeded reading experience.
I can imagine that those readers familiar with physiologically technical terms and/or whose discipline or field of study this is will also find it laborious to suffer through the multitude of parenthetical definitions for the benefit of those of us unfamiliar with the advanced medical terminology used throughout the book.
On a positive note, it probably brings together into one source every piece of important data on the physiology of orgasm from a medical perspective accumulated over time in many other venues such as books, studies, and research papers submitted to medical magazines and conferences, and it is no doubt an invaluable tool for the library of a professional who deals with the phenomenon of orgasm in the human species.
The reasons for my interest being subjective rather than academic, I was disappointed initially in the strict adherence to professional jargon employed by the authors to lend scholarly credibility to their work, and to the prevalence of the purely physiological aspects of orgasm; however, I did glean a few gems of personal interest hidden in the profuse amount of detail.
One such piece of data reveals women in general can have many motives other than orgasm for engaging in sex with their partner, while men are linear in their efforts to satisfy their drive with defined steps of desire, arousal, and orgasm following a standard pattern with an intentional ultimate end result. My conclusions after completing this book are that there is now a scientific basis for the paradigm and age old belief that "men give affection to get sex and women give sex to get affection" in the vast majority of women. I am hopeful that there will now be a new round of psychological studies to find other common traits in those women who have a more linear purpose for engaging in sex, and in the majority of women who do not. For example, there are some insights in one chapter of the book about natural herbs that stimulate desire, arousal, and orgasm in humans that have been confirmed by studies, so it would be interesting for future studies to investigate whether those in the minority have taken these herbal remedies over time. I for one have been a health nut since my teenage years and one of my daily regimen is Gingko Biloba, one of the herbs sited in the book, as well as ginseng among others, as having been conclusively found by studies to increase desire, arousal, orgasm, and overall sexual satisfaction.
The book cited many studies dealing with various physical impacts on orgasm but nothing on how light affects the positive or negative aspects of the human sexual response. I would be very interested in future studies about light's effects (as in our solar spectrum) on orgasm, and in particular how exposure to specific colors in light affect sensuality. I have slept with a blue light in my bedroom for over thirty years since I was twenty-nine. I believe this has had an anti aging effect on me as well, since I look, act, and feel much younger than I am. The Universal Mind that channels through me has many dictums on light therapy and the nutritional value of different colors. Over the last decade there have been many discoveries about light and its effects on us which have validated information I have been channeling and documenting for years; it would be fascinating for future studies to determine what effects light, and the individual colors in light, might have on the complex biological process leading to orgasm and the human sexual response.
In one of a few rare excursions away from the 'physical' into the 'psychological' regarding women and their ability to reach climax, studies are cited in the book that reveal women need to be given "permission" to enjoy sex. I believe this is probably more of a cultural problem in America than in other areas of the world because our societal moors have deleterious psychological effects on the physiological process of orgasm. In my opinion, Americans have an aberrant negative fascination with sex as reflected by pornographic demand, a staggering divorce rate and a huge incidence of violent crimes against women such as rape and domestic violence, and Americans are among the most depressed and unhappy culture of people on earth. God does not, and never did, intend this negative perspective about sex. When the Angel told Sarah she would have a son, her immediate response was to ask if she was to have pleasure in her old age, and instead of going in the tent to start knitting a pair of baby booties, she went in and started getting dolled up for Abraham. Women - and men - need to understand that sex is a healthy, natural phenomenon and is to be enjoyed in a monogamous relationship only to prevent the negative side effects of promiscuity, not because sex in itself is wrong. It does beg the question of why women are physically hot wired to experience orgasm if they were not meant to do so joyfully since orgasm is not a requisite for becoming pregnant.
If one is more interested in the psychological and social aspects of sex, there are probably better choices than this book which deals with the brain's relationship to orgasm in a purely physiological way and not much in terms of psychological behavioral factors. It is definitely not a 'how to get it more and do it better' type of book, although the effects of drugs, both legal and illegal, on achieving an orgasmic response is discussed, as well as the aforementioned herbs, but again in a medical application and not a social application.
The single most surprising statement in the book for me was that a few women have reported the ability to have orgasm just by thinking about it and without genital stimulation, for which the authors cited their own study in 1992. I would have been interested in other common traits among those women, but that too would have taken the authors outside this book's scope of the purely physiological aspects of orgasm, its processes, and the positive and negative effects of various environmental factors on desire, arousal, and orgasm such as illness, drugs, and disabilities. I hope future studies will look at what traits those who fall within a particular set of parameters have in common, such as right brain expressions like art, writing, and music, or, like myself for which creativity is but a hobby while my functional daily life is more left brain both receptively and expressively. I am looking forward to many new studies utilizing the science in this book.
I'm glad I did finish the book because the last segment of the last chapter was of utmost surprise and fascination for me in which the authors acknowledged nobody knows exactly where orgasm originates, and they speculate it may be in a fifth dimension which they also attribute to possibly being the home of consciousness! They offer the information that many physicists are comfortable with there being as many as ten dimensions. Most people differentiate between the four dimensions we are aware of as 'science' and all other dimensions as 'faith'. This is the first time I have read of a group of people that are swayed by 'science' alluding to something that lends credibility to what I have been channeling for fifteen years. A very exciting "find" for me.
The book is fascinating, albeit difficult to read, and I learned a lot about both women and men that I did not know. I expect this book to be a cornerstone in future knowledge and enlightenment through studies on this subject. I have no doubt it will be a masterpiece in its field.
book review.......2007-05-08
This book was overkill on the scientific explanation and not enough on the practical side for those having problems.
The Science of Sex Hasn't Yet... Peaked .......2007-04-27
So many people and organizations over-emphasize sex for their own agendas, while for others sex is a source of unhappiness and guilt. But the fact is that for most people a balanced sex life is an essential part of healthy living. Yet despite the deluge of information about sex, it is amazing how much ignorance still exists. Most people working in psychology will have seen people who were convinced that they had an illness because he or she had failed to have an orgasm or had sometimes been less interested in sex.
This is the kind of book that will probably get thumbed through a lot at the local lending library, but it is not in any way a "how to" book. It is instead a scholarly work on what is known about orgasm. It is a book of facts and figures, a few diagrams and a lot of scientific references.
I have some minor gripes: the proofing could have been better: bromocriptine is one of a number of words that is misspelled. There is only a short discussion about why female orgasm exists at all. The male orgasm seems to have a straightforward evolutionary function, making males want to have sex more often, which in turn makes them more likely to have offspring. But how to account for female orgasm, when nearly three-quarters of women don't always reach orgasm during sexual intercourse? If the female orgasm had developed because of the same evolutionary pressures, females should have adapted to be as consistently orgasmic as males. (There is an excellent discussion of this issue in the recent book by Elisabeth Lloyd from Indiana University, which is referenced in this book). At some points in this book there is not enough of a distinction made between orgasm and arousal. For instance some women report that arousal rather than orgasm is what drives them to enjoy sex. There is also an over-emphasis on biochemical theories of orgasm, and an under-emphasis on the psychological, subtle and spiritual aspects. Even the topic of consciousness and orgasm gets only a brief chapter.
If you are interested in a more comprehensive view of orgasm, you may want to supplement this book with the works of David Deida, Jenny Wade, Mabel Iam and Mantak Chia.
But all that being said, this is the best single book on the physiology, biochemistry and pathology of orgasm. It also highlights that there is still a great deal that is known.
The book also gives quite a good summary of some of the approaches that may help people who feel that they have a problem with achieving orgasm. It is essential reading for anyone working with relationship problems. And if the only thing that comes from this book is a greater understanding that orgasm is not the only consideration in intimate relationships, that would be worthwhile in itself.
This book is almost unique, and apart from the points that I have raised, I recommend it to anyone who needs a reliable account of the physical aspects of orgasm, and suggestions for helping with problems.
Fernando Camacho MD........2006-12-24
A must have for everyone who is interested in sexuality and its scisnce.
Customer Reviews:
Teach to TEST OR Teach to LEARN.......2007-04-28
My mother is a Ph.D. in mathematics and taught Jr. and Sr. High math for several years before moving up to teach college math. She has been pretty vocal that the only math text that will result in imparting a poor understanding of mathematical concepts--a false sense of mastery while using it, but poor retention after--is Saxon. She says that every time she has a home schooled student who is really struggling at the college level and they say "But I did so well in math before!" and they are traumatized at the level of tutoring help they need to make it in college, they all have in common the fact that they learned math using Saxon texts in high school.
After she impressed this on me, I was really leery about choosing jr. & sr. high school curriculum a couple years ago and asked her to go to me with convention to help me pick something out. She said, "You are good at math and a good teacher. Just pick something you like that is NOT SAXON!" I'm not exaggerating. It's the spiral learning method that they use. It doesn't give enough thorough practice of all the variations of a particular concept before moving on and too heavily relies on review throughout. That seems to impedes long-term retention. She thinks the fact that it is so dull and methodical is also ridiculous in this day and age of fabulous graphics and the trend to make math more interesting and multi-modal for the average student who doesn't love math.
I find it interesting that on their website, of the 6 research studies of their curriculum, only one includes high school; the other five utilized k-8 or 6-8 curriculum. Maybe all that dry rote learning makes a student test better. But the sad part is when it comes to taking that learning and building on it, they don't really understand the concepts behind it and can't apply future learning to what they simply practiced over and over but don't really know. Kind of like cramming for a test by going over everything you've learned right beforehand and blocking everything else out until you take the test and then POOF! everything you repeated over and over in your head beforehand just seems "gone" once you go back to normal habits of thinking/doing and you stop all that repetition.
Saxon Excellent Math Books.......2007-03-26
I used the Saxon Math books for my two sons.
Saxon 3 through Advanced Math. As a gifted learner, my son sometimes worked only odd or even problems. He was able to retain the information he learned. Now he is a Math Major in college.
A chaotic way to (not) learn math.......2006-10-14
Algebra 1/2 is deeply flawed in its approach to learning. I don't recommend it for anyone. While it claims to take an "incremental" approach, it doesn't introduce and build on new concepts in an orderly fashion, as you might expect, given the title. Instead, it takes a "shotgun" approach, with the student getting hit with new BB-sized factoids almost at random.
For example, from Lessons 70 - 75, the student is introduced to:
(70) Rules for Addition of Signed Numbers
(71) Powers of Fractions / Roots of Fractions
(72) Graphing Inequalities
(73) Right Circular Cylinders
(74) Inserting Parentheses / Order of Addition
(75) Implied Ratios
Do you see any method to this madness?
Another problem with this book is that it is extremely dry and boring. There is really no attempt to engage the student's interest, to help him understand why algebra is so important, or to show him how it can even be exciting.
Instead, we get lessons that read like this, literally:
"Lesson 75 Implied Ratios
Remember that a ratio is a comparison of two numbers. Ratios are often written in the form of fractions. Remember also that a proportion is a statement that two ratios are equal. These are equal ratios: 3/4 = 9/12. The equation is called a proportion. Many ratio word problems do not actually use the word ratio. When we read the problem, we must recognize that the problem is a ratio problem. We must also be able to pick out the implied ratio."
That's the entire lesson. Two short examples follow that briefly elaborate on the concept, but there is very little teaching going on here, just a bare recitation of the rules of ratios.
To cap it off, the student must now do 30 problems, only 2 of which concern implied ratios. The student can't possibly master the concept of ratios before he is introduced in the very next lesson to "Multiplication with Scientific Notation." Talk about a non sequitur!
Incremental learning doesn't have to be this way, and in my opinion, it shouldn't.
And you thought you hated math before..........2006-03-22
Wow, what can I say? Except that this is the worst math book ever written. Now I bet you're thinking come on, the worst math book ever written? It can't be that bad. Well, take it from someone who actually used this book, not some parent who told their kid to use it and think it's just awesome. I'm not to well rounded when it comes to math, and this book didn't help at all. It made it worse.
You would think this book was written to run you down to were you can't stand anything anymore. You get to do thirty problems every single lesson in what hast to be some of the worst explanation I've ever seen. I have teachers who dislike this book, and call it pitiful, but we just keep marching on with basically the same thing every lesson with four problems of the new stuff. Yep, nothing like tedious math. But is there such a thing as tedious math? Nah.
Bottom line, if you want to keep the sanity of your kid, please I beg you try something else.
Simply The Best Math Book Ever Written.......2006-01-28
As my 11 year old son begins his second semester of Calculus at our local college, he tends to take exception with parents that look down on the Saxon series of math books, with them often calling the books "boring" or "repetitive", as if math is intended to be loaded with excitement from day 1. Getting good at something, whether it's cutting lawns or learning pre-algebra, take practice. I just feel so bad for the kids with these parents, as the kids will never amount to anything, given that environment. Simply put, the Saxon series of books, if completed per their instructions (i.e., doing every problem), assures that your kid will NEVER have trouble in math.
This book, Algebra 1/2, is simply phenomenal. The problems and the design of this book assures that your kid will glide right into Algebra 1, and never look back (to this day, I wish that I could have been prepared to this level when I took Algebra 1). Of all the Saxon math books, I've always looked at this one as the best of a superb series. It is just amazing.
So I recommend to anyone that wants to listen, get the Saxon books and teach your kid yourself, otherwise you're at the mercy of programs and books that are almost designed to fail.
Book Description
Written from a sustainable perspective, this readable, yet rigorous, book provides comprehensive coverage of a variety of local, regional, national, and global resource and environmental issues from population growth to wetlands to agriculture to global air pollution. It emphasizes practical, cost-effective, sustainable solutions to these problems that make sense from social, economic, and environmental perspectives. Overall increased emphasis on international and global issues (includes many examples from Canada). New information on Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing—integrated GIS Remote Sensing boxed information appears throughout, including 12 case studies. Expanded coverage of ecosystem management and watershed management, global climate change, ozone depletion, wetlands protection, and policy—including new international treaties, new federal laws, and more. The friendly, approachable writing style makes the book accessible to a wide range of readers—from those who want an introduction in natural resource conservation and natural resource management to professionals in this field.
Books:
- The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks
- The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind
- The Enormous Egg
- The European Economy since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond (Princeton Economic History of the Western World)
- The First Man-Made Man: The Story of Two Sex Changes, One Love Affair, and a Twentieth-Century Medical Revolution
- The Intelligent Universe: AI, ET, and the Emerging Mind of the Cosmos
- The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space
- The Lost Colony (Artemis Fowl, Book 5)
- The Lost Colony (Artemis Fowl, Book 5)
- The Machine That Changed the World : The Story of Lean Production
Books Index
Books Home
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