Agile Web Development with Rails, 2nd Edition

Book Description

The definitive, Jolt-award winning guide to learning and using Rails is now in its Second Edition. Rails is a new approach to web-based application development that enables developers to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications using less code and less effort. Now programmers can get the job done right and still leave work on time.

NEW IN THE SECOND EDITION: The book has been updated to take advantage of all the new Rails 1.2 features. The sample application uses migrations, Ajax, features a REST interface, and illustrates new Rails features. There are new chapters on migrations, active support, active record, and action controller (including the new resources-based routing). The Web 2.0 and Deployment chapters have been completely rewritten to reflect the latest thinking. Now you can learn which environments are best for your style application, and see how Capistrano makes managing your site simple. All the remaining chapters have been extensively updated. Finally, hundreds of comments from readers of the first edition have been incorporated, making this book simply the best available.

Rails is a full-stack, open source web framework that enables you to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications with a twist...you can create a full Rails application using less code than the setup XML you'd need just to configure some other frameworks.

With this book, you'll learn how to use Rails Active Record to connect business objects and database tables. No more painful object-relational mapping. Just create your business objects and let Rails do the rest. You'll learn how to use the Action Pack framework to route incoming requests and render pages using easy-to-write templates and components. See how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to send emails, talk to web services, and interact dynamically with JavaScript applications running in the browser (the "Ajax" architecture).

You'll see how easy it is to deploy Rails. You'll be writing applications that work with your favorite database (MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, and more) in no time at all.

Customer Reviews:

Clear as water.......2007-09-27

This book is a really good inversion if you plan to start you "RoR" experience, the way the book is written is very clear and in a good order, so you can understand better what's going on as you go along.

Great book!

Agile Web Development.......2007-09-27

Great book to start off with. Has a good tutorial on building a shopping cart application. Then one can learn from that to develop a application that is unique for their business.

Beyond great: best book, best reference, best index (and funny).......2007-09-19

I am an oldster (you know, 40+) and have learned many a language. Kernigan and Ritchie wrote their "K & R" C-language book in some written language a little higher level than English. After 40 or 50 reads through, I got it. I read C++ books, SmallTalk, Delphi, Visual Basic, and many Java books, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Awk, Emacs, REXX (!!), and just about everything O'Reily has ever published.

Now, I come to Ruby, and Ruby on Rails. Thank goodness for this book. What a relief to read a book that is 1) comprehensive, 2) practical, 3) accurate, 4) funny at times, and 5) above all, has a good index! Perhaps programming languages are (finally) getting easier to write about, but Dave Thomas is an outstanding technical writer: he knows his audience and writes for us. Look, I know a million programming languages, but I am not the kind of person who zips through a book and suddenly gets it. Most books are written by people who are experts in the nuances, but have forgotten the many steps that lead up to those nuances.

AWDWR is better. It starts with a non-trivial and complete tutorial -- the first half of the book is an application that manages to hit most of the critical aspects of actually doing the job. It is a reasonably broad application covering many points of real webapps. (I read through thinking, yeah, we managed to deal with that in our Java webapp in a month, and here it is, built in to Rails, and better ... more than once). Maybe it is Rails, which seems to be a significant step in maturity over current generations (my last was WebWork/Struts 2, which seems to be the best you can do with Java these days, but really only one part of the larger problem).

But I have to give great respect to Dave Thomas and the other great writers who all made this second edition book a great, great book. I could follow along when reading, I actually did the whole tutorial and found myself learning almost all the way through typing the examples in by hand (mostly by learning how to debug my typos and understanding how the language and framework responded). Now that we're writing our real software, we still look back at the tutorial to get a clear view of how all the parts fit together.

The second part of the book is a solid documentation of the components and APIs available. It is not complete, but nor should it be -- if you want the API, link to the Rails site API. It does cover the important points, however, and ties them back to the tutorial where appropriate. Various important aspects are covered in enough detail to get the idea across, but not so much as to be just a lexicon.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. If this is your first programming book, it will be a struggle, but less than most, and if you're a professional software engineer with one or two languages under your belt (and reasonable proficiency at the command line), you will find this a great reference for learning, and for doing.

Great new edition of a fine book.......2007-09-06

If you have the first edition of this book, you REALLY need to get this edition, since some of the recommended ways to do things have changed. Even some of the ways to get the first sample applications up and running have changed a bit. To be sure, the changes are for the better. The first edition of this book helped me to get my first Ruby on Rails app up and running and this one makes it easier.

Excellent, Thorough and Easy.......2007-08-23

This book, for me, was fantastic! Real world examples for the win! I am still not finished with this book, only half-way through it but, I have to say I have never been as excited about a book than I am about this one.

The very beginning chapters get a functional website application up and running called Depot (an on line book store) and they do this in such a way that you don't have to know the Ruby language (no, it's not scaffolding). As long as you can understand how gears work and fit together and that one turns clockwise and another turns counter clockwise, I don't think you'll have a problem.

With that being said, without knowing Ruby, you may be able to get by on making your own application from scratch but, it will be very rough. The purpose of this book is to teach you about Rails, not Ruby.

My recommendation is, read this book first, before a Ruby book. That way, seeing the Ruby code will be much easier to take in after you see how it works in Rails and to syntax used. Do NOT skimp on learning Ruby after you read this book! You will be sorry! There are TONS more to learn just by learning the language itself. There is more than one way to skin a cat and by learning the rest of the language, you will be more empowered to figure out problems on your own.

The only problem I had with this book was that, in the middle of chapter 5, it skipped back to chapter 3 and finished out chapter 5, chapter 6 and half of chapter 7 was missing. This is the printer's fault, not Amazon's or Pragmatic Programmer's fault. If you happen to get a messed up book, don't contact Amazon, it takes forever. Instead, I contacted Pragmatic Programmer via email and let them know of the situation and to my surprise, they sent me a brand new book still in plastic, priority mail which took about 2 days to get to me! I was just expecting maybe the missing chapters in PDF format but, this shows a lot of character on the part of the company (Pragmatic Programmers). My email was responded to in less than 45 seconds after I hit the "send" button. I would like to offer much praise to the company for this!

If you are a PHP developer, there is another framework that has been modeled after Ruby on Rails called CakePHP. It is fairly new and under heavy development but, the basic principals are the same. The only reason I am plugging them here is, without having learned this framework, I don't think I would have thought about looking at Ruby on Rails. For a super quick breakdown of how MVC pattern works. Be aware that Ruby on Rails is much easier. I think this is due to the nature of PHP and not the framework itself. The devs try their hardest to make it easy for you.

I guess I don't have anything else to say about this except, if you do buy this book, you will not be disappointed.

The Case for Twenty-First Century Learning: New Directions for Youth Development (J-B MHS Single Issue Mental Health Services)

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The Case for Twenty-First Century Learning: New Directions for Youth Development (J-B MHS Single Issue Mental Health Services)
Eric Schwarz , and Ken Kay
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Education | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0787988278

Book Description

What skills and attributes will allow young people to succeed in the new global economy? This volume addresses the question by examining the topic of twenty-first century learning.

Twenty-first century learning frames an increasingly relevant and vital national conversation about what young people need in order to achieve: critical thinking, problem-solving, innovation, and communication skills.

The chapters in this volume provide a broad scope of perspectives - from business leaders, educators, researchers, youth workers, and students - on the need, opportunity, application, and outcomes of twenty-first century learning. The twenty-first century calls us to reimagine the learning day-building partnerships that engage schools, after-school programs, businesses, and community-based organizations - and to embrace both traditional academic basics as well as small-group and project-based learning. This volume provides the most comprehensive review to date of this important topic.

This is the 110 ^th issue of New Directions for Youth Development, a quarterly journal published by Jossey-Bass.

Click here to view the entire catalog of New Directions for Youth Development titles.

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Squeezing Spiritual Growth into a Business Box

Does not really describe the eight quality characteristics

There is Not Just One Secret!

Pastors should not just read this book, but study it.

The Jury is Still Out on This One

Natural Church Development: A Guide to Eight Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches
Christian A. Schwarz
Manufacturer: Churchsmart Resources
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Church Administration | Ministry & Church Leadership | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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Implementation Guide to Natural Church Development

The ABC's of Natural Church Development

Color Your World with Natural Church Development

Exploring the New Testament: A Guide to the Letters & Revelation (New Testament)

The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church

ASIN: 1889638005

Product Description

Critics of the church growth movement have often emphasized the need for quality congregations. We should not focus on numerical growth, but rather, we should concentrate on qualitative growth.

Christian Schwarz has done extensive research world-wide and found that healthy, growing churches seem to share eight quality characteristics. These characteristics are:

Empowering leadership
Gift-oriented ministry
Passionate spirituality
Functional structures
Inspiring worship service
Holistic small groups
Need-oriented evangelism
Loving relationships
Schwarz uses the illustration of a barrel with eight staves to symbolize the eight quality characteristics. The barrel can only hold water to the height of the lowest stave. So too, Schwarz argues, a church can only grow as far as their 'Minimum factor,' which is the lowest of the eight quality characteristics in their church. He challenges churches to resist the temptation to work on improving areas in which they already excel, for by doing this they do not increase their minimum factor or their church quality.

This revised version of Natural Church Development now includes Schwarz's "3 Colors" teaching.

Customer Reviews:

Squeezing Spiritual Growth into a Business Box.......2006-04-15

This guide to church growth has gained popularity during the recent trend of mega-church models and numerical prowess in evaluating the current health and future viability of individual churches. Many of the theories and models are based on business studies and business growth theories.

While the guide may be helpful in identifying strengths and weaknesses in your local congregation, its theories for projecting future growth or your church's demise are analyzed using European and Urban models, and have limited insight into the unique dynamics of the Christian church in the varied regions of North America as a whole.

Most limiting in this perspective is the distinctly spiritual aspect of church growth which results in a gigantic disparity in trying to compare churches and businesses. This is a manual for analyzing and strategizing, for plotting and planning to stock more "seats in the pews," and makes no significant mention of the actual spiritual journey or genuine troubles and struggles of the very real person searching for belief. The philosophies of this book graphically illustrates why some other Christian writers such as Eugene Peterson, contend that too many pastors view the members of their churches as assets to be managed rather than human souls with questions, concerns, needs and priorities of their own. Issues that cannot be forgotten in the numbers game of current church growth modalities.

Does not really describe the eight quality characteristics.......2006-03-09

I DID appreciate the book and was so hyped up about it that I presented the concepts to my church and they got excited about it too.

However, this book does NOT actually go into details about the eight quality characteristics that the title claims to be a "guide" for.

The book is more about methodology rather than the factors involved. The book merely gives the benefits of the research, why a church should participate, and how a church applies the findings.

There may be other booklets out there that describe the eight qualities in more detail.

I do have one critique of the whole process. My problem is that the whole process leaves out some important underlying factors, such as faith, dependence on God, and evangelism. Issues that paralyze a church and impede change are overlooked.

Problems such as codependency or spiritual abuse that put a church on a downward death spiral are not considered from this paradigm. The spiritual/emotional health of a church leader is also overlooked, which is a very critical influence on the health of a church.

As a result, it becomes another externals-based "legalistic" approach to church health. It is ironic that Christians talk a lot about spiritual growth as a result of faith, but when it comes to church growth, we allow ourselves to be purely legalistic.

NCD and its "works" ARE helpful and important, but they come more as a gift from God when we are truly dependent on God in faith. We need to look under the hood, so to speak, and get at the real, deeper issues that keep churches from growing.

I am actually working on a study that would supplement NCD by focusing more on the underlying spiritual & emotional factors involved. (unchainedchurch.com)

Here are some valuable books that I recommend in addition to NCD:

Mains, David, D.Div. Healing the Dysfunctional Church Family: When Destructive Family Patterns Infiltrate the Body of Christ.

Quick, Kenneth, D.Min. Healing the Heart of Your Church: How Leaders Can Break the Pattern of Historic Corporate Dysfunction. ChurchSmart Resources.

Rainer, Thom S. (2001) Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them.

Richardson, Ronald, Ph.D. Creating a Healthier Church: Family Systems Theory, Leadership, and Congregational Life.

Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Church.

Steinke, Peter L. Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach.

Steinke, Peter L. How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional Systems.

There is Not Just One Secret!.......2005-10-19

Having read a number of books on Church Leadership and "How to Have An Effective Church" a lot of times I feel people put forth a "Model" approach rather than a "Principle" approach. "If you just do this more, than your church will grow" as if there is just one secret to growth.

Christian Schwartz does a great job in sharing principles for a "Heathly Church" whatever model of church you may decide to have. Christian gives us eight character qualities that every church should be concerned about, as well as a way to test your own church to see if it is healthy. With the help of Christopher Schalk, a statistician, the study is based upon one of the most comprehensive research projects done in church history. The research basically shows us that a "Healthy Church is a Growing Church." I found this book extremely helpful as a pastor of a church myself. I highly recommend it for people who want to effectively further the kingdom of God. I appreciate his emphasis on the fact that we are called to "plant and water", but it is God who "causes the growth". This book has had a profound effect in how I approach ministry as a practitioner.

Not only that, but since this book has been out, over 40,000 different churches around the world have participated in NCD studies and many have put into practice the principles they learned. Now they can say from a statistical sample, on average, those who started utilizing these princples found a measurable increase in quality, a growth of 51% in attendance, more conversions, all while those in leadership were able to lead a more balanced life. This sample was from churches who started focusing on the quality of the church instead of the quantity and after a period of 31 months. If you are a pastor, it is a book worth reading.

Pastors should not just read this book, but study it........2005-09-05

This book will help you more than most pastoral aids. I've used it since 1997 and have coached others to use it since 1999. This book will transform your perspectives. There are many nuggets in each section of the book worth going over several times.

I have used the principles in this book and the related materials to coach many pastors and their leadership teams on simple strategies to help their churches grow. When the teams have listened to and followed the advice given, I have seen an increase in church health and a corresponding increase of conversion growth. For example, one church I worked with in 2002 had a growth rate of 8% before using this book, and the related tools. Afterwards their growth rate jumped to almost 20%. This higher growth rate was a direct result of the increased church health.

One of the factors that this book has contribute to the field of Church growth is a shift towards health vs growth. It also helped to demonstrate the fact that Loving Relationships are a separate, measureable category of church health. This invaluable contribution to church growth and health has become accepted in many grad schools around the world since it was first published in the middle 1990's.

Schwarz has a little section on biotic principles towards the end of the book. This shows the key to releasing growth principles in a church. Further research since the book was published has essentially strengthened the argument laid out. With overwhelming research data to support his argument, no one can afford to ignore this landmark volume in our day.

I would also recommend NCD Implementation Guide which is filled with practical tips as well.

The Jury is Still Out on This One.......2004-03-12

Published over 5 years ago this book became a beacon of hope for denominational leaders who were mourning the decline of their ministries. Bishops, superintendents, seminaries, colleges, seminars, etc. held this book before clergy and warned them to take heed of the lessons learned lest their churches become statistics of decline.

And with good reason. NCD (Natural Church Development) was based on research that included 1000 churches in 32 countries on all 5 continents. A total of 4.2 million responses were analyzed. The study identified a collection of 8 common sense characteristics that were common in EVERY growing church studied. This paragraph alone should encourage any serious pastor to examine this study.

BUT, did it work? That is a harder question. Did the churches grow because they had these characteristics or did they have these characteristics because they were growing? Can these characteristics be imported to your church? It is easier to see the problems with a congregation and to read formulas for correction than to impliment those formulas. Have the principles in this book been tried and found wanting or have they simply not been tried? I do not know. I've known several churches that gave NCD a good effort, but still did not grow.

Book Description

String theory is one of the most exciting and challenging areas of modern theoretical physics. This book guides the reader from the basics of string theory to recent developments. It introduces the basics of perturbative string theory, world-sheet supersymmetry, space-time supersymmetry, conformal field theory and the heterotic string, before describing modern developments, including D-branes, string dualities and M-theory. It then covers string geometry and flux compactifications, applications to cosmology and particle physics, black holes in string theory and M-theory, and the microscopic origin of black-hole entropy. It concludes with Matrix theory, the AdS/CFT duality and its generalizations. This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers in modern string theory, and will make an excellent textbook for a one-year course on string theory. It contains over 120 exercises with solutions, and over 200 homework problems with solutions available on a password protected website for lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521860697.

Customer Reviews:

A good general introduction.......2007-04-22

String theory has been criticized since it was first invented but not to the degree that it has now, this criticism mostly focusing on its failure to connect with observation. The criticism has increased dramatically in recent years however, and some of this has been too vituperative to be useful to those curious about string theory as a viable physical theory. But criticism, however harsh, can be healthy, since it motivates the proponents of a theory to more carefully elucidate its foundations and content. This is usually not the case when a theory is popular, as researchers are in a competitive spirit and are hesitant to share the knowledge to possible competitors. At this stage in the game however, string theorists it seems are now on the defensive, and have thus taken the time to discuss in-depth what this reviewer still believes is the most complex and beautiful theory ever constructed in mathematical physics. String theory still has a long way to go before it gains status as being a physical theory, but hopefully by the end of the next few decades one will see the appearance of charts, graphs, and numerical calculations in books on string theory, much like one finds in the most successful of all physical theories to date: relativistic quantum field theory.
Some highlights in the book that are particularly insightful include:
1. The observation that Dirichlet boundary conditions (for the open string) break Poincare invariance, but that this leads to the introduction of Dp-branes as positions of the endpoints of the open string. Poincare invariance is recovered as long as Dp-brane is space filling, i.e. has a dimension one less than the background spacetime.
2. The view that the BRST quantization of the path integral is really a conformal field theory. This is interesting in that BRST analysis is typically thought of as a procedure for quantizing constrained systems (gauge theories being predominant examples).
3. The `Myers effect'. Sometimes referred to as the `D-brane dielectric effect', it is part of an attempt to understand the physics of non-Abelian D-branes for strong fields. One of the challenges in this understanding involves the validity of the Dirac-Born-Infeld action in these kinds of circumstances, which as the authors remark is designed for situations where the background fields and world-volume gauge fields do not vary appreciably over the distances on the order of the string scale.
4. The origin of the (classical) Virasoro algebra as the freedom of choice of gauge in the reparametrization symmetry. And along these same lines, the quantization of the Virasoro algebra is defined to the normal ordering of the Virasoro generators, and their commutators give an expression consisting of the ordinary classical term plus a "quantum" correction, the famous central extension. Thus the quantum Virasoro algebra can be viewed as a "quantum deformation" of the classical Virasoro algebra, with the central parameter as being the deformation parameter. This philosophy of deformation has found generalization in what are now called `quantum groups' (even though strictly speaking they are much more complicated objects than ordinary groups).
5. The connection of the dilaton to the Euler characteristic.
6. The role of the GSO projection in insuring consistency in the state spectrum.
7. The use of (vector bundle) K-theory to classify D-brane charges. This use arises when it is realized that the conserved R-R charges cannot be identified with cohomology classes of gauge field configurations. Instead, the D-branes are classified by K-theory classes.
8. The discussion on `primitive cohomology' and its relation to de Rham cohomology and Hodge theory.
9. The role of the Born-Infeld structure in ensuring Lorentz invariance of the T-dual description. The Born-Infeld action was once viewed as a mere historical curiosity, namely as a nonlinear generalization of the Maxwell theory, with no experimental backing. That it finds such a natural place in string theory is very interesting (but still of course lacking in experimental support).
10. The derivation of a lower bound for Newton's constant from heterotic M-theory, which is close to the observed value.
11. The argument, beautifully elucidated in this book, that type IIA supergravity may be obtained from 11-dimensional supergravity by dimensional reduction.
12. The discussion on warped space-times and the gauge hierarchy. The authors cleverly motivate this subject by asking why Newtonian gravity follows an inverse-square law rather than an inverse-cube law.
13. An entire chapter is devoted to "stringy" geometry, which is a fascinating subject given that it touches so many areas of modern mathematics.
14. The discussion of the `hidden sector' and its conjectured relation to dark matter and supersymmetry breaking.
15. The author's treatment of the AdS/CFT conjecture is superb and is by far the most interesting part of the book. The dualities shown to exists between gauge theory and string theory are a possible route to a full understanding of nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics, which to this date has defied resolution.

Some major omissions or discussions that need more elaboration include:
1. The difficulties that are actually involved in quantizing the Nambu-Goto action. The authors remark that this is due to the presence of the square root, but it would have been interesting if they would have indicated just where the trouble rises explicitly when a quantization procedure is attempted with the Nambu-Goto action. In ordinary quantum field theory, the presence of the square root is interpreted as a "nonlocal" problem, but even there this issue is not usually dealt with in a manner that is very transparent.
2. A more detailed treatment of string field theory for those readers who want to compare it to what is done in second quantization in ordinary quantum field theory.
3. The role of the Beltrami differentials in the attaining of a measure for moduli space that is invariant under reparametrizations of the moduli space.
4. No in-depth discussion of characteristic classes over and above the algebra involved in their manipulation (i.e. the wedge products). An understanding of characteristic classes is crucial to understanding superstring and brane theory, but the pages of this book mislead the unsuspecting reader that there is nothing to characteristic classes except algebraic manipulation of the differential forms. But characteristic classes have a deep geometrical meaning, and obtaining insight into this meaning has been proven to be difficult for students of string theory. This book does not provide any of this insight, nor do any of the other books currently in print on string theory.
5. Is supersymmetry absolutely necessary for the incorporation of fermions into string theory? The authors seem to argue that it is, but an explicit proof is lacking.
6. The proof that `threshold bound states' are stable is omitted, disappointing the more mathematically sophisticated reader. As the authors remark, the proof involves a special type of index theory involving non-Fredholm operators, and where one must deal with a continuous spectrum. The usual index theory breaks down since one is only dealing with elliptic operators, and contributions to the index from bosons and fermions do not necessarily have to be integers.
7. The authors should have included more discussion on mirror symmetry, beautiful subject that it is.
8. Dp-branes are asserted to be useful in incorporating non-Abelian gauge symmetries in string theory, in that they appear "naturally" as confined to world volumes of multiply-coincident Dp-branes. But is this the best way to introduce these symmetries? Is there a method, other than this one and `compactification', that is just as "natural" and does not have the contrived element that the introduction of Dp-branes sometimes has?
9. The authors need to elaborate in more detail on the definition of "stable" and "unstable" D-brane.
10. The omitting of the proof that string theories are ultraviolet finite theories of quantum gravity. This is by far the most serious omission in the book. This reviewer does not know of a reference that proves this assertion, and many in the physics community have pointed to this omission as being a sign that the string theory research community has been misled by false assertions of proof.

Excellent Book.......2007-03-11

I think this is a great book that provides not only a great introduction to string theory (there is no assumed prior knowledge of string theory), but also provides coverage of many more advanced topics as well. I think it's likely that the vast majority of students specializing in string theory will want to read it at some point in their studies.

The coverage of topics in the first few chapters is in some ways fairly standard. The first two chapters consists of a high level overview of string theory, bosonic string, the Nambu-Goto action the Polyakov action, the Virasoro algebra, the critical dimension, light code gauge and the spectra of open/closed strings. After this there is a chapter on conformal field theory, naturally emphasizing the parts relevant to string theory (including a bit of string field theory). This is followed by discussions of worldsheet supersymmetry, spacetime supersymmetry, anomalies, T-duality and heterotic strings. The writing is very clear and considering the nature of the material, fairly straight forward. There are two things that I considered exceptional strengths. One is that the discussions incorporate D-branes, M-theory and the (unexpected) symmetries of string theory early on. The other is that there are numerous worked examples, as there are throughout the book.

At a very high level the rest of the book contains more extensive discussions of M-theory, compactification (including a substantial amount besides the standard approach of the compact dimensions being a Calabi-Yau space), mirror symmetry, S-duality, possible cosmological consequences of string theory, black holes and other solutions with horizons, matrix theory, AdS/CFT correspondence (a proposed equivalence between closed string solutions on the product of a sphere and anti-deSitter space and Yang-Mills theories) and the holographic principle (or as some would say conjecture).

The things I appreciated the most about this material was that is was a very interesting mix of topics. The discussion of black holes and cosmology was fairly extensive (for cosmology it was the most extensive I've seen in a text book). As was the coverage of the AdS/CFT correspondence. There were also some topics that I don't recall seeing in other string theory books, such as warped geometries in compactification and S-branes (these are like D-branes but they satisfy Dirichlet boundary conditions in timelike directions).

Needless to say it's a fairly advanced book. There is some coverage of things like complex spaces, topology, general relativity and cosmology. However this material is more along the lines of a review, not something intended to teach from first principles (some of the other string theory books cover this kind material in more detail).

All-in-all I believe this book not only provides a great introduction, it also provides an excellent treatment of some of the more advanced topics in string theory.

Best of All Worlds.......2007-03-09

This new textbook on string theory might be considered a modern pimped up version of Zwiebach's introductory course. The book is - as an introduction - better than the 2-volume set by Schwarz (Green, Schwarz, Witten), which is partly outdated, and on the same footing as Polchinski's version, but certainly not as thorough and elaborate. There is some overlap between all books (e.g. the CFT bits from Polchinski are quite similar to those in this new text, the introduction of the bosonic string via the relativistic point particle looks like the ones by Polchinski and Zwiebach, but Becker & Schwarz immediately generalise the concept to p-branes, SCFTs are discussed in a similar manner as in Polchinski, and so on), but there are additional features that really add to the value of the book: all exercises within the text have solutions directly under them, so one can either try to solve them or read them through, and some parts are explained more clearly. The concepts of "(gauge) symmetries" are discussed slightly better than by Polchsinki or GSW, but for those who want mathematical proofs instead of hand-waving arguments, and more background material on supersymmetry, I can only say that I have found no books on string theory that really do that. Both are subjects of study on their own and would go "beyond the scope" of these books... Nevertheless, a very good introduction and most of all: up to date!

For mid-undergraduates, I think, the perfect sequence for string theory would be (provided one acquires knowledge of QFT and Lie algebras for the more advanced texts):

Zwiebach>Becker/Schwarz>Polchinski (supplemented by GSW's first volume)

But if you want to learn string theory more quickly or if you don't have problems with the very basics, then leave out Zwiebach and go for this one immediately. For graduates, Polchinski should be the start, but one can take Backer/Schwarz always as a references and supplement on some topics (connection to black holes and gauge theories).

A Modern Fairytale.......2007-01-30

This is a fabulous excursion into a world inhabited by all sorts of mythical creatures: Calabi-Yau 3-folds, D-branes, orbifolds, ten and eleven-dimensional backgrounds, supersymmetric partners, covariant fermionic vertex operators and many others that only the wildest imaginations can conceive of. The wizards and magicians who have conjured these beasts have also cast a powerful spell on their easily-beguiled followers who see streets of gold and emerald trees as they walk through the morass of E8*E8 gauge fields, compactifications and dualities. This tome will be a welcome addition to your bookshelf right between Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland. I gladly recommend each of you to take a brief stroll into this enchanted land to be followed by the volumes of Landau and Lifchitz, so that you will be able to find your way back to reality again. Some have called strings "a theory of anything". Indeed, it is a wonderful place where you can make all your wishes come true. But do not stay too long in the kingdom of string theory lest you end up like so many others who are lost, searching endlessly for the legendary realms of M-theory or wandering aimlessly in the infinite labyrinth of the Landscape, wasting the remaining years of their life on naught but a fable.

Most up-to-date string theory tome published this year........2007-01-24

This volume was authored by one of the most respected researchers in the field, as well as the Becker sisters. It is beautifully illustrated, and is well timed for upcomming experimental tests of superstring theory at the Large Hadron collider. I did not give if five starts because it only devoted four pages to the Landscape, which professor Susskind, the father of string theory, has declared the most significant advance in physics in the past century.

Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror

Average customer rating:

Love the PW review- as always
"A Republic, If You Can Keep It"
Very dangerous premise
Responsibly Written - Well Researched
The right people to ring the alarm bells

Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror
Frederick A. O. Schwarz , and Aziz Z. Huq
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Constitutional Law | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1595581170

Book Description

A scathing portrait of contemporary executive power run amok, by the author of the original 1976 Church Committee report on executive abuse.

"In thirty-four years, I have repeatedly seen an erosion of the powers and the ability of the president of the United States to do his job."—Vice President Dick Cheney

Thirty years after the Church Committee unearthed COINTELPRO and other instances of illicit executive behavior on the domestic and international fronts, the Bush administration has elevated the flaws identified by the committee into first principles of government.

Through a constellation of non-public laws and opaque, unaccountable institutions, the current administration has created a "secret presidency" run by classified presidential decisions and orders about national security. A hyperactive Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice is intent on eliminating checks on presidential power and testing that power's limits. Decisions are routinely executed at senior levels within the civilian administration without input from Congress or the federal courts, let alone our international allies. Secret NSA spying at home is the most recent of these. Harsh treatment of detainees, "extraordinary renditions," secret foreign prisons, and the newly minted enemy combatant designation have also undermined our values. The resulting policies have harmed counterterrorism efforts and produced few tangible results.

With a partisan Congress predictably reluctant to censure a politically aligned president, it is all the more important for citizens themselves to demand disclosure, oversight, and restraint of sweeping claims of executive power. This book is the first step.

Customer Reviews:

Love the PW review- as always.......2007-07-10

I'm so glad we have the reader reviews on Amazon. The Publishers Weekly evaluations are often very biased and dismissive. "Though another book criticizing the Bush presidency is of questionable necessity" - really? We've reached the limit on books examining and critiquing the performance of the President of the United States? Thanks, PW! I'll stop worrying about the health of our democracy and go straight to bed.

"A Republic, If You Can Keep It".......2007-07-09

Benjamin Franklin, when asked what type of government we had created, is said to have replied, "A republic, if you can keep it." "Unchecked and Unbalanced" shows why America is in danger of being transformed into a monarchy by the Bush Administration, reporting how this new theory of unchecked presidential power developed and why it is wrong. The authors also contend that the theory is not a response to 9/11, but long nurtured by Cheney and his assistant David Addington from at least the days of the Iran-Contra investigation, and even followed (to a much lesser extent) by Bill Clinton.

Executive branch lawyers now describe an ongoing (not just emergency) power to set aside legal checks imposed by Congress and to even act when Congress is silent. This authority extends to treaties as well, and at least one Office of Legal Council (OLC) leader claims coverage of judicial decisions as well.

Lincoln acted early on at the start of the Civil war without Congressional authorization, and even ignored an order by the Chief Justice. The difference between Lincoln and Bush is that Lincoln did not do so on an on-going basis, sought subsequent approval, and did not act in secret.

"Unchecked and Unbalanced" provides rationale for concluding that OLC's conclusions are wrong; it also asserts that the OLC claims were developed without adherence to professional obligations - eg. they failed to identify, let alone respond to, weaknesses in their legal arguments, and failed to mention key Supreme Court cases.

Finally, to protect our republic, the authors recommend Congress hold hearings and act, and that the Supreme Court follow suit. Unfortunately this is made difficult by executive branch supervision of intelligence gathering and distribution.

Very dangerous premise.......2007-07-06

propounded here. For background, Schwarz was counsel for the Church Committee. It was that committee that emasculated the CIA, not allowing it to deal with foreign agents with any sort of criminal record (who does the spying; not the Boy Scouts) and putting up barriers for communications between U.S. intelligence agencies. All this lead directly to many of the problems of 9/11. Now, because of their hatred for Bush, these authors want to return to that Alice in Wonderland approach to national security. That's why this premise is so dangerous; our lives depend on it.

Responsibly Written - Well Researched.......2007-05-24

The authors documents how the Bush Administration, in an effort to fight terrorism, has side-stepped the constitution, circumvented the Geneva Convention, and broken countless other laws. The authors describe how the net result is an erosion of the moral character of America, which, in the long run, is counterproductive in the war on terror.

The right people to ring the alarm bells.......2007-05-07

Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr. is senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He was chief counsel to the Church Committee. Aziz Z. Huq is associate counsel at the Brennan Center and previously clerked for the U.S. Supreme Court. This is a book you will not be able to put down, in which they demonstrate and document how the Bush administration has gone further than Nixon or Reagan ever dreamed to create a monarchical presidency with the acquiescence of a complicit Congress and a cowed judiciary.

Once Upon a Game: Baseball's Greatest Memories

Average customer rating:

Once Upon a Game: Baseball's Greatest Memories
Alan Schwarz
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baseball | Sports | Subjects | Books

History | Baseball | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 061873127X

Book Description

In Once Upon a Game, Alan Schwarz, author of the critically acclaimed The Numbers Game, assembles a delightful collection of personal memories about baseball from some of the game’s all-time legends and its most famous fans. Derek Jeter tells how at age ten he declared to his parents that he would be a major leaguer; Ernie Banks recalls the moment he coined the phrase “Let’s play two!”; Mike Piazza recounts his backyard batting lesson with Ted Williams. With intimacy and insight, dozens of the game’s greatest players remember the finest moments of their careers. Lavishly illustrated and handsomely designed, Once Upon a Game is a one-of-a-kind collective reminiscence. Includes personal reflections from Yogi Berra, Kevin Costner, Reggie Jackson, Pedro Martinez, Cal Ripken Jr., Nolan Ryan, Charles Schulz, and more.

Average customer rating:

Critical Issues in Global Health

Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Health Care Delivery | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Hospital Administration | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Public Health | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Preventive Medicine | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Internal Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0787963771

Book Description

Critical Issues in Global Health is an outstanding compAndium of knowledge and thought--from a distinguished panel of internationally renowned medical and public health experts--that offers insight into the most important health issues facing our world's populations. The volume's individual contributors represent a wide range of prestigious health organizations and institutions including the World Health Organization, National Academy of Sciences, Kellogg and Rockefeller Foundations, U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and the American Public Health Association. Edited by C. Everett Koop, Clarence E. Pearson, and M. Roy Schwarz, these never-before-published essays explore the future of international health and explain what will be required in order to provide adequate health and medical care worldwide, especially for underdeveloped countries.

Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money

Average customer rating:

A trashy commercial
Only written for the wealthy?
Dont waste your time or money
Useless bit of self-promotion by Barb Schwarz - a waste of money
Written Infomercial

Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money
Barb Schwarz
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Buying & Selling Homes | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Household Hints | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 047176096X

Book Description

The way you live in a home and the way you sell it are two different things. That's the premise of Staging*, a concept that teaches you to look at your home through a buyer's eyes and make adjustments to improve its appeal and value.

In any real estate market, Staged homes sell faster or sell for more money—or both. With Home Staging, you'll learn how to play up your home's strong points and improve its presentation. By rearranging furniture, trimming overgrown bushes, painting a room, and clearing out the clutter, Home Staging will help you spotlight your property for a fast, profitable sale.

Filled with organizing tips and checklists, plus before-and-Staged photographs that dramatically show how Staging can transform your home inside and out, Home Staging has all the answers you'll need when looking to increase the sale price of your home.

*Staging is a federally registered trademark of StagedHomes.com

Customer Reviews:

A trashy commercial.......2007-09-15

This book has convinced me that hiring a home stager trained by the author or her company would be a disaster. The only way this book could have 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon is if Barb Schwarz's employees and her ASP trainees are writing the good reviews.

Eighty-five percent of this book is a commercial for the author's business, 10% is common sense. The remaining 5% suggests projects, such as a headboard made of paper plates, which could only make a potential home buyer question the taste and judgement of the home owner. This book is a testament to poor taste and Barb Schwarz's ego.

Only written for the wealthy?.......2007-09-05

Books and magazines frequently choose wealthier homes to show pics of staging. Don't authors realize a lot of us live in apartments, condos, mobile homes and the like? Why purchase a book/magazine if it doesn't fit my life style?

Dont waste your time or money.......2007-09-01

This book was dreadful. More than half of the book was the author telling you over and over and over again how she is the creator of home staging. Content wise, there is very little that you dont already know. There are very few before and after photos and non would be judged to be good example of good furniture placement or design. I would suggest "Dress your house for Success" or "Using What you have Decorating".

Useless bit of self-promotion by Barb Schwarz - a waste of money.......2007-02-17

This book tells you what you already knew - clean, declutter, fix broken stuff, and clean up the yard. That's about it. The reason the book is more than ten pages long is that it is chock full of the author's stories about how wonderful she is and what a staging pioneer she is. I really wish I hadn't wasted my money on this fluffy piece of advertising.

Written Infomercial.......2007-02-11

Reading this book is like reading the script for an infomercial. The entire purpose of the book was profit for Barb Schwarz in book sales and additional customers. At least once per page, sometimes once per paragraph she re-credits herself with inventing the entire concept of Home Staging from the name to the work to the profession. The only person to take more credit for anything was Al Gore and the infamous internet issue. There are maybe 10 total ideas/concepts for actual home owners to implement themselves, but they are very general. The other 200 pages are various ways of reiterating that Barb Schwarz created the concept of Home Staging, all homes should be staged before sale, and that the home owner should hire a licensed, professional Home Stager, preferably trained by Barb Schwarz. If your purpose of buying this book is to find out the value of Home Staging, or justifying the cost of professional Home Staging to an unwilling seller (spouse, relative, client) than this is a very useful book. If you are a home owner that already believes you should stage your home and are looking for creative ideas on how to do it yourself - don't bother with this book. The book does give insight in how to choose a professional Home Stager, what to look for when interviewing Stagers for your project, what to expect from Home Staging, the value of it, and general ideas of what a Home Stager can and should do for you. I agree with the reviewer who said, "Not for Do It Yourselfers." For Do It Yourselfers The Designed To Sell book is quite a bit better for what is out there that is very current. 50 Simple Steps to Sell Your House for More Money in Any Market by Ilyse Glick is also better, but not as current.

The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series)

Average customer rating:

Excellent tool
A FIELDBOOK OF OUTSTANDING QUALITY-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook: Tips, Tools, and Tested Methods for Consultants, Facilitators, Managers, Trainers, and Coaches (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series)
Roger Schwarz , Anne Davidson , Peg Carlson , and Sue McKinney
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Communications | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Human Resources & Personnel Management | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0787964948

Book Description

The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is based on the same proven principles outlined in Schwarzs groundbreaking book. The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is the next-step resource that offers consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, coaches, and anyone that works within the field of facilitation, the tools, exercises, models, and stories that will help them develop sound responses to a wide range of challenging situations. The book spans the full scope of the successful Skilled Facilitator approach and includes information on how to get started and guidance for integrating the approach within existing organizational structures and processes.

Download Description

"The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is based on the same proven principles outlined in Schwarz's groundbreaking book. The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook is the next-step resource that offers consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, and coaches the tools, exercises, models, and stories that will help them develop sound responses to a wide range of challenging situations. The book spans the full scope of the successful Skilled Facilitator approach and includes information on how to get started and guidance for integrating the approach within existing organizational structures and processes.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent tool.......2007-05-12

I've read this book almost cover to cover and I've gained a lot of insight in using Skilled Facilitator approaches as a teacher and a minister. Mostly, it's given me insight into how to develop myself as a creative listener, and how to control my inner thought processes, and turn that back around into positive leadership for the good of the group. I find it particularly helpful to keep the RULES foremost in my mind as I interact with students and parishioners. And it's true that the more I model these rules, the more my students and the others around me absorb them and begin to use them in their own interactions.

A FIELDBOOK OF OUTSTANDING QUALITY-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!.......2005-04-20

Central to this work is the Skilled Facilitator approach (TSF), a systematic, values-based approach to group facilitation; at its core is the idea that the way we act and the consequences we create begin with the way we think. Chapter one delineates the 10 key features of TSF approach. It is used to help groups and entire organizations address issues and make significant change, as well as in coaching, training, and conducting HRD/OD initiatives of all types.

This ambitious resource is bursting with 62 contributions clustered into seven parts:
1) Understanding the Skilled Facilitator Approach-main focus: summarizes the approach and describes its major principles and features (8 chapters)
2) Starting Out-main focus: using TSF in a variety of basic ways (12 chapters)
3) Deepening Your Practice-main focus: refining intervention and diagnosis skills, and increasing personal awareness (7 chapters)
4) Facing Challenges-main focus: dealing with the most difficult situations (5 chapters)
5) Seeking Your Path-main focus: integrating the TSF approach in practice and life (5 chapters)
6) Leading and Changing Organizations-main focus: creating major change in leadership and organizational functioning (15 chapters)
and
7) Integrating the Skilled Facilitator Approach in Your Worklife (and Non-Worklife)-main focus: shows how to integrate TSF with other approaches and roles (coach, trainer, consultant, leader, parent) (10 chapters)

The book is further enriched with: definitions; key points; examples; tools and techniques and samples of the outcomes they produce; reflections; model conversations; and resources.

As a consultant in organizational analysis, design and change, as well as a reviewer, I was particularly drawn to Chapter 51, "Do Surveys Provide Valid Information for Organizational Change?" by Peg Carlson. She concludes what we have found to be true of surveys-they are useful for spotlighting likely issues but they do not deliver the depth of analysis and meaning required in organizational consulting, nor the motivation for learning and deep change. This chapter is emblematic of the books' quality of content. In a nutshell, this book is outstanding! I highly recommend it.

Media-Art-History: Media Museum : Zkm - Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (Museum Guides.......Large Format)

Average customer rating:

Future of digital art

Media-Art-History: Media Museum : Zkm - Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (Museum Guides.......Large Format)
Hans-Peter Schwarz
Manufacturer: Prestel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Museums & Collections | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Mixed Media | Other Media | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 3791318780

Customer Reviews:

Future of digital art.......2000-04-24

By the effort of ZKM, media and diital art have march into a new future. From this book we can get a close review of the past history of media art. Furthermore, we're waiting to explore the future of digital art.

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