As essential as Bollen's 1989
934936
Mulaik's second edition is one of those books, like Bollen's Structural Equations with Latent Variables, that you really, really want on your shelf.  When you start asking questions about the deeper workings of factor analysis and factor-based methods, you'll find good, brass-tacks answers in Mulaik's book, and you may hunt a long time to find them anywhere else.  I am extremely glad to see this second edition in print.  If you want more than "cookbook," "rule of thumb" answers about these techniques, or if you write about these techniques and want to be sure of yourself without wasting weeks of searching, you need this book.
3091987
This unabridged version of "Webster's Third New International Dictionary" presents a landmark (American English) reference. It is an indispensable, all-inclusive tool, which would lighten the yokes of both writers and transcribers.
A rare single-volume monster, it harbours more terms and definitions than an average English speaker would ever need. Its contemporary outlook is solid: just as amazing as its price is reasonable.
Nevetheless, one sour-point of this gem is that its print-size is too small. Still, it remains a fine tool.
4275265
While presumably set in the present, "Bloodletting" reads like a gritty and grimy nostalgia Valentine to the down-and-dirty New York City of the 1970s and '80s. In its best passages, it brings to mind the noteworthy authors (and cool, retro-fit cover art) of novels on the Hard Case Crime imprint. Denny Bowie is our protagonist, a P.I. looking into the murder of his fetish photographer friend, Tommy Heat. The character names are a veritable catalog of metal/industrial/alternative musicians from the '80s and '90s, with Denny acting as the personification of Generation X (he's a paradox: a slacker who's also extremely driven). While the mystery at "Bloodletting"'s core goes in and out of focus, the main theme that dominates the proceedings (quite appropriately) is Bowie's BDSM-driven sexual appetite (served via a collection of twisted, punked-out variations on classic Noir types), and how it sharpens his intuition. The writing is full of palpable fury, sardonic wit, and graphic detail. In the end, I would say "Bloodletting" provides the missing link (in tone, content, and visceral impact) between William Friedkin's 1980 film "Cruising" and Abel Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant." (This review originally appeared on Goodreads)
1241028
"The Big Show In Bololand" is a remarkable refresher course in the complexities of post Russian Revolution society. It provides important insights and perspective on 1920's Russian politics and its evolution, as it relates to her suspicion and distrust of American motivation and foreign policy for the remainder of the twentieth century.

"The Big Show In Bololand" - Its most important contribution is is the revival and education of what was once referred to as the "Beau Geste" of the 20th century, the American relief effort to Russia during the famine of of 1921,1922, when America, under Herbert Hoover, fed up to 11,000,000 Russians a day for a period of two years. After reading this history, no one will ever again think of Herbert Hoover strictly as the "Great Depression" president.
3095125
The set (and its successor) are absolutely essential to all fans of 1930s early film noir and of Peter Lorre in particular.
For Lorre, this series, paired with Hitchcock's first (1934) "Man Who Knew Too Much," are the critical bridge from the child-murderer Beckert of Lang's "M" to Ugarte of "Casablanca" and Joel Cairo ("Maltese Falcon"). This is an actor supremely superior to his vehicle. The plots,
characters, effects, etc. of "Moto" are pretty much thin, silly
cardboard, with pacing so rushed you'd think that someone was charging by the frame. But above it all is Moto (Lorre), who watches, silky and silent, and lets others - and the audience - guess as to his motives and actions. Even in the closings, when he reveals his identity and all is well, there's still a hint of menace in that self-deprecating smile and courtly courtesy; you believe that this man actually has killed people in the process. Some try to compare "Moto" with "Charlie Chan"; "Moto" is far superior and far more adult.

Technically, the DVDs are superior. The restorations are excellent and the special features are few but nicely done. Marquand's writing is solid (if a bit "modified" for film). The predicatable problems are all in Direction: film noir was still in its infancy, and American directors hadn't yet learned to slow down and let the evil smile at us for a bit. Oriental stereotyping is still fairly evident, but less so than for
similar films (e.g., "Chan").

All told, an essential addition for all 1930s film and Peter Lorre lovers.
3821349
This edition of the Bolo series really took me back to the original Laumer Bolo books in that a new type of threat is addressed by a humble Bolo with (of course) the best of intentions yet self-acknowledged outdated ability. This book is written to generate some of the *feelings* of the original books that have sadly been sacrificed for intriguing strategies, tactics, and plot development in recent releases.

While not the greatest book in the series, it certainly has its share of new concepts and addresses human socio-political issues parallel to Heinlein's Starship Troopers (the book, not the movie). It's my favorite Bolo book in recent years, partly because we are again exposed to the Bolo's thought processes and personal struggles, which often make for half the importance of a Bolo story.
1462308
Karl Bohm was one of the finest conductors of the past century. He didn't specialize in any one particular idiom, but covered about everything from his excellent Mozart and Beethoven Symphonies to Brahms. But where he really left his mark was with his Bruckner recordings. Along with Furtwangler and Bruno Walter, Bohm was my favorite conductor of Bruckner's great symphonies, and this 8th from 1976 is no exception. I think most folks are familiar with his brilliant rendition of the 4th, but it used to come coupled with an equally impressive No. 3 (you may be able to find it used). Even better than his 1977 No. 7 on DG is a live one from the same year on Audite. Both performance and sound are superior to that on his excellent DG release. Buy this while it's cheap, you never know when they will yank it off the shelf and those used oop prices tend to be high.
4702774
David Schiff, who studied composition with Elliott Carter, produced a study of his mentor's music in 1983. Carter's longevity and immense productivity occasioned a second edition in 1998. In the years since, Carter has produced dozens of more pieces, but for the time being those wanting a serious introduction to Carter's mighty oeuvre will have to be content with this 1998 edition.

Schiff goes through every piece that Carter had written to date, but instead of a strictly chronological presentation, the author divides the oeuvre into eleven sections: 1) String Quartets, 2) Chamber Music for Wind Instruments, 3) Chamber Music for Piano and other Mixed Ensembles, 4) Short Instrumental Works, 5) Choral Works, 6) Songs with Piano (or Guitar), 7) Works for Solo Voices and Instruments, 8) Piano Music, 9) Ballets, 10) Concertos and 11) Symphonic Works.

Schiff's analysis of the mature works focuses mainly on two aspects of this music. One is Carter's derivation of pitches from certain chords, and an appendix contains Carter's own listing of all these chords. The other aspect is Carter's polyrhythms and "metric modulation". It is the latter that is really distinguishes Carter's music, with its dizzying interaction between parts that accompany each other but rarely meet. Besides the analysis, there's plenty of interesting facts about the contexts in which the works were written. The "Symphonia" turns out to have provoked a nasty spat between the composer and the New York Philharmonic, for example. Also, Schiff talks about Carter's taste in literature and his ideas of what poems are suitable for setting to music.

While Schiff's book demands a good knowledge of music, I must say that I don't think that Elliott Carter's music requires a knowledge of the theory behind it. With his interest in presenting a dialogue in the form of music between the various instruments, he is one of the more accessible high modernists. Certainly, one can fall in love with certain pieces at first hearing, before one has any idea what is going on beneath the surface (for me these were the Symphonia and "A Mirror on Which to Dwell", YMMV). However, with any composer there's bound to be some harder nuts to crack, and for those with a knowledge of music theory, Schiff's analysis may help you gain an appreciation for works that were formerly elusive (for me these were the String Quartet No. 3 and the Triple Duo, but again YMMV).

Incidentally, what this Amazon listing title means by "photos not included" is that this edition lacks a section in the middle with photos. I've seen the "photos included" edition at libraries, and the few photos turn out to be only things like facsimiles of blurry sketches and a letter from Igor Stravinsky to Carter. That is, minor trivia, not anything worth worryting about.
3154944
This was a commercial failure when it was released in 1975, and it was not considered a "real" DP record by many fans. Blackmore was gone, and Bolin had a completely different style; they were night and day. Coverdale and Hughes had drawn the band away from their heavy, blues driven roots and towards funk and R&B. But this two-CD re-release is a true revelation. The star of the show is a jam between Bolin and drummer Ian Paice. It's a furious throw-down that shows how capable Bolin really was. It's unfortunate that this jam never evolved into a song and never gave Bolin the attention he deserved. Truth be told, he was probably the wrong choice to replace Blackmore, but 36 years on, this record stands up well. Trouble is that, as Jon Lord has stated, it really doesn't fit into the DP catalog very well. That doesn't make it a bad record; hardly ; it just makes it an odd DP direction. But if you love DP as I do, you need to own this remastered, expanded version with Kevin Shirley's remixes and two previously unreleased tracks that show Bolin at his best. It's not typical Purple, but it's damned good and it shows who Bolin could have been under different circumstances.
4452682
After 30 years, these groundbreaking insights in evolution stand out as a major landmark. I don't know if this is now required reading in colleges, but it probably should be. A graduate in the sciences who hadn't fully grokked these ideas is a poorly educated graduate indeed.

I also enjoyed the introduction to game theory.

The anniversary addition features an opening section in which Dawkins slices up a few of his detractors with classic British wit. Like the main content of the book, it's tons o' fun to read.
1885813
This latest offering from new energy pioneer Tom Bearden consists of a reprint of John Bedini's famous 1984 booklet, "Bedini's Free Energy Generator," and the recent Bedini-Bearden provisional patent application, "Radiant Potential Energy Charger." Also included is a series of still images taken from the second DVD in the "Energy From The Vacuum" series, featuring Bedini's lab and many of his devices in operation.

 Bedini's booklet, long out of print, is a classic in the free energy field. It was the material that inspired Jim Watson to create his 800 pound, 8Kw generator. (Which was later vandalized and had batteries stolen at an energy conference. Lots more of interest there, but that is another tale.)

 The 34 page booklet describes radiant energy battery charging circuits in sufficient detail to construct them, if one has experience building circuits from schematics. The introduction by Bedini also mentions needing Bearden's paper, "Toward a New Electromagnetics, Part 4: Vectors and Mechanisms Clarified." Whether this material is covered in the provisional patent section or is available anywhere in this book is not mentioned. I would have liked that to have been clearly addressed.

  The circuits are not complex or difficult, and I have no doubt that I could construct them if I so desired. (I have a few decades of experience with electronics, mostly at the kit and intermediate equipment/system user level, not a great deal of board level troubleshooting or design experience.) There are caveats, however, since one is dealing with lead/acid batteries and possibly dangerous voltage spikes. It is made clear one should know what one is doing to attempt to build these devices.

 The patent application section is nearly one hundred pages distilling areas of Bearden and Bedini's research into radiant energy and related physics. It also includes diagrams and schematics, as well as detailed descriptions and thirteen pages of citations/references. (One thing I like about Bearden is his attention to detail in citing his sources and giving credit where it is due. I wish more people in the scientific community were as scrupulous about their integrity.)

 The book is informative and interesting, and is a great companion to the DVDs in Bearden's "Energy From The Vacuum" series. If you like Bearden or Bedini's work, or are just interested in getting some hard information on the construction and operation of devices like these, then you will appreciate this book. Which would you rather build, yet another blinky LED holiday project, or something that can use the advanced physics and radiant energy of Tesla, Stubblefield, and others to charge batteries and run electrical devices? If Jim Watson can do it, maybe you can too......

 Of course, we all know none of this silliness really works - "experts" have said so. You know, like they said about meteorites, heavier-than-air flight, the atomic bomb, the light bulb, telegraph, telephone, personal computer, and all those other frauds. We can trust the clarity and objectivity of these "experts," right? They've never been wrong or lied to us, have they?

 What do you think?
856982
Comer's two volumes on Operating Systems Design are classic references for any systems programmer.  While the background is undoubtably getting dated, the concepts and presentation are still very useful.  This second volume builds on the knowledge gained from the first and adds TCP/IP networking capability to Xinu.  OK, it's not as practical as the modern operating systems, but it's about the learning in my opinion.
4221176
This was the book I was looking for when I first discovered the Ring, probably 15 years or so ago. It is a book for the Ring lover, feminist, and psychologist alike.  Although Jean Bolen writes from a psychological, rather than a musical perspective, her understanding adds immeasureably to  the experience of the music. And it also adds to our understanding of the  story, and the archetypal levels of meaning that underlie any powerful  myth.  Jean is a natural storyteller. She brings the story of the  Rheingold and the Gods to life and into everyday consciousness. From her  feminist, Jungian perspective, she describes how the themes of the Ring,  though universal, specifically apply to our lives today. In the Rheingold,  she talks about the quest for power and its' psychological cost, in the  Valkyrie, she discusses the authoritarian father and the repressed  feminine, in Siegfried, the hero as adult-child and in Gotterdammerung, how  the truth brings an end to the cycle of destructive power.  In two  particularly moving chapters, she describes what we can do today to free  ourselves from the "ring Cycle" and move beyond Valhalla into a  Post-Patriarchal world.  I would highly recommend this book as an  addition to her previous works, "Goddesses in Everywoman" and  "Gods in Everyman", but also as a stand-alone, too. It should  appeal to a wider audience, in that it will also include music lovers who  may be unfamiliar with Jungian-feminist theory but are looking for a richer  understanding of the Ring.  In addition, it should appeal to  people-in-general who are searching for truth-in-story and myth and music  as a way out of patriarchal consciousness.
3630213
This is the classic text - in both a positive and negative sense. Porter's framework for competitive analysis, and his description of courses of action and the five forces of competitive landscape remain critically importat, topical and useful.  In fact, many B-Schools have this as required reading, or the strategy book they use draws on this source text for competitive analysis.

On the other side of the coin, the version of the book I have is from about 1980, and the examples are a bit dated, and the world has changed quite a bit since then. It is easy to get wrapped up in the successes and failures of the compaies that Porter calls out as having superior competitive positions back in 1980 and looking at where they are (or aren't) today.

In summary - the framework for analysis is still revelvant and very useful, the examples are very dated, but if you are doing any level of competitive analysis, you will be almost expected to have read and used this book - the Bible of Competitive Strategic thought.
4958738
Though obviously dated, this book may live up the grandiose subject line above.  It has been many years since I've read it cover-to-cover, but I can generally sum up its strengths.  It is comprehensive, sophisticated, and clear.  Walser is an able academic but also a musician, and his detailed close reading of the music itself is breathtaking.  And that is one element that distinguishes this book from most "canonical" rock criticism.  Most rock critics of the early days (70s to early 90s) -- who lionize the punks and Bob Dylan -- were more students of culture than of music and really could tell very little about the details of how the music was composed and played. Any musician reading those critics could tell they knew little about actually playing or performing.  This is not the case with Walser, an able student of culture AND music.

Walser also gains by taking a balanced approach.  He is a confessed fan of metal (again, it helps that he knows how to play the guitar).  This may at first seem to make him less objective, but it doesn't for two reasons.  First, Walser does not flinch from making legitimate critiques of metal (for sexism, etc. -- and rightly notes that many critics of metal make the bald, stupid assumption that sexism is unique to metal rather than recognizing the truth that it is rampant in alternative music, academia, and business).  Second, his openness to the music enables his close understanding of it.  Dismissals of metal by other scholars of rock music are uninformed because they have not paid attention to its musical complexity and richness.  Walser does pay attention.  An old book by this point, but a great example both of sound critical analysis of music culture AND of how an able scholar can convincingly demonstrate the closed-mindedness and simply bad thinking practiced by other critics.
1370297
extremely well written. thankfully, written for the masses and not for the academics. concise digest of Hoffer's nine books. the selected bibliography is the first I've found for Eric Hoffer; that alone is a Godsend for me. quite an indispensable book for those who crave anything re Hoffer.
cv60pao@hotmail.com
398673
This is an remarkable achievement on systematic theology, which is largely neglected.  While you can you must get the full set and secure them on your desk.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Systematic-Theology-Set-of-3-Vols-v-1-3/dp/056708633X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Systematic Theology Set of 3 Vols (v. 1-3)</a>