Book Description
An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed—people whose mental limitations or brain damage were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting book and information.......2007-10-14
It was just what I am looking for and glad I got it. Excellent condition and delivered in a timely fashion.
Very interesting.......2007-10-05
Although this book gives a lot of valuable information, you will have to wade through the usual psychological jargon.
Superb writing on a complex and fascinating subject.......2007-09-12
What a fantastic and absorbing subject, so very well explained and defended by the author.
I believe this book to be a must read for everyone interested in, or subject to, some of the strange and intricate brain disorders we see developing and spreading in Amercian society.
Doctor Doidge has done an excellent job in brining this material to life while breaking down a complex subject into a highly readable format.
Great and easy to read.......2007-09-02
One of the best "brain" books out there.
Each chapter introduces it's own seperated brain related topic. Felt like I read many book--for my many interests, this is a good thing.
As an educator this helps explains many different behaviors and learning styles.
I have recomm this book to many.
When Change is Possible - Miracles Can Happen.......2007-08-27
If you're like me - a rank amateur in the field of brain science - you'll find that Dr. Doidge has authored an interesting and compelling text to explain the science of neuroplasticity. More importantly, you'll discover the implications of the "new" discoveries that show that the human brain is malleable throughout our lifetime.
While I sometimes got lost in the details, Dr. Doidge provided enough easy to understand nuggets to allow me to grasp that the science of neuroplasticity has life altering applicability to all human beings. The text provides many stories of personal triumph that could be seen as unimaginable miracles to those who have no background in this exciting science. The stories have not only been useful in my own life, they have shown themselves to be useful to others as I share these exciting discoveries with friends who have children who struggle with similar stories as those depicted in the text.
I would not classify this text in the self-help genre. It is a detailed exploration of the brains ability to change itself and it prepares the reader with sufficient knowledge and encouragement to seek solutions that just a few years ago were thought to be the stuff of miracles.
Product Description
For more than a decade, the debate over high-stakes testing has dominated the field of education. This passionate and provocative book provides a fresh perspective on the issue. Drawing on their extensive research, Nichols and Berliner document and categorize the ways that high-stakes testing threatens the purposes and ideals of the American education system. Their analysis is grounded in the application of Campbell s Law, which posits that the greater the social consequences associated with a quantitative indicator (such as test scores), the more likely it is that the indicator itself will become corrupted and the more likely it is that the use of the indicator will corrupt the social processes it was intended to monitor. Nichols and Berliner illustrate both aspects of this corruption, showing how the pressures of high-stakes testing erode the validity of test scores and distort the integrity of the education system. Their analysis provides a coherent and comprehensive intellectual framework for the wide-ranging arguments against high-stakes testing, while putting a compelling human face on the data marshalled in support of those arguments.
Customer Reviews:
Essential book for all members of congress who vote........2007-10-02
Parents, teachers, principals, school board members and members of congress who vote for educational practices should be required to read this book before they impose these conditions on young children. This book is a must read.
A Troubling Take on High-Stakes Testings.......2007-08-15
The authors of this text make a very pointed and specific argument: that attaching high-stakes to test scores corrupts and invalidates the measure. The extent of cheating and malfeasance is found at the student, teacher, district, and state levels because of the enormous pressure put on all parties to raise standards according to the required standardized testing mandated by 2001's No Child Left Behind Act.
Nichols and Berliner describe an environment where schools have taken the power out of the teacher's hands to determine what should be taught. Instead, state standardized testing with high stakes (which is to say funding, employment status for teachers, graduation status for students, and school operability are at stake if certain benchmarks are not met) create an impetus for school administrators to narrow the curriculum to focus the school's energy on that which is being tested. Because there are such high stakes attached almost exclusively to the test results of the students, the authors argue that Campbell's law comes into play: "The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor."
Their body of evidence includes news articles from across the country detailing a number of examples of such corruption, as well as interviews with educators who have witnessed the educational environment change firsthand. The examples can become repetitive, but that may be reason enough to be concerned about the unintended consequences of high-stakes accountability in education.
Perhaps most importantly, the authors do not suggest that accountability should be removed from the classroom. Instead, they insist that a more holistic approach should be taken with lower stakes applied to just test scores. It is an accessible read and very timely as this bill faces renewal. Recommended for parents and educators alike.
A must read.......2007-06-10
This is perhaps the most important book to date on the perverse effects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and its mandates for high-stakes testing. The authors provide irrefutable evidence of the problems of a school accountability system which relies on a single indicator--test scores. They explain how when a single social indicator is used to measure something, it corrupts the very thing it is attempting to measure. The authors provide example after example of how the pressure to raise test scores has led to questionable ethical behavior which is harmful to students, schools, and our nation as a whole.
Despite the depressing content, the authors write in a highly accessible and entertaining style, and even manage to interject a bit of humor to lighten the heavy burden which comes when one comtemplates the implications of their findings.
It is a must read for all educators, parents, and policy makers. Indeed, I hope the latter will read this book and make changes the authors suggest for a more reasonable acountability system.
A must read for every parent.......2007-05-31
This book is a must reed for every parent living in one of the 26 states that require an exit exam for graduation from high school.
A book to energize NCLB opponents.......2007-03-25
Berliner and Nichols take on high-stakes testing at a critical time in this book. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is currently up for renewal and revision, and the broad, bipartisan coalition that passed the initial legislation must decide whether to strengthen the law, modify the law, or radically dismantle it. Berliner and Nichols argue against high-stakes testing due to the corruptive influence of high-stakes tests on educators, students, and parents. Much of their evidence is taken from extensive research in the newspapers along with some analysis of the types of programs and results achieved in states thus far.
A great deal of their analysis rests on applying Campbell's Law to the arena of high stakes test. Campbell's Law states that any time a sociological measure is attached to high stakes consequences, the efforts of people to avoid the high stakes consequences will corrupt the effectiveness of the indicator. Anyone familiar with NCLB will have heard complaints about how the law drives educators to teach to the test; this work goes into far greater detail and systematically analyzes how high-stakes tests are not merely stressful, they invalidate what they are trying to measure. There are many powerful stories in this books of diplomas denied, educators demoralized, and children injured by high-stakes tests. Anyone who has been hurt by NCLB will gather food from this work.
Unfortunately, this book will not sway the politicians who are committed to NCLB very much. Opponents will attempt to muster their own stories of how schools were motivated to get their act together when they had to fear the consequences of the law. At times, Berliner and Nichols accuse their opponents of more sinister motives and do not give them too many olive branches that might lead present supporters of the NCLB and the progressive opposition to break bread and agree that they all want to help children. Partisan politics is the order of the day I suppose, and I feel that truly great books of politics work to transcend those partisan politics and build foundations for effective collaboration.
Still, I found this book a helpful statement of opposition to NCLB that crystallizes many of the frustrations I've encountered when I've tutored SAT. You see families pouring money into the exams and educators manipulating data and you know that you're measuring how well people play the game as well as how much they know of the tested content.
This is a passionate book that will be helpful for educators frustrated by NCLB looking for energy and motivation to organize and strengthen their analysis of the failings of the law.
3.5 stars
--SD
Product Description
When David Ball on Damages was first published in 2001, it changed the way attorneys seek damages. The book provides step-by-step guidance for attorneys seeking money for their clients. Ball explains why jurors give, why they do not, and how to motivate them to do the former instead of the latter. He walks readers through voir dire, opening, testimony, and closing, providing practical, effective, and innovative methods for pursuing damages. Now, in this expanded, second edition, Ball includes methods to contend with the way todays jurors view lawyers and their clients. The techniques provide tools to counter sophisticated opposition tactics, the public mood, and laws and rules that continue to grow more hostile.
Customer Reviews:
The Best Guide on Damages.......2007-10-16
There is nothing more difficult for a plaintiff's attorney to do than to decide whether or not to ask the jury to return a specific dollar amount in damages or leave the decision up to the jury. The second most difficult question he/she has is determining how to motivate the jury to return as big a verdict as possible.
Ball does not disappoint in answering these questions. In short, he teaches plaintiff attorneys how to maximize the verdicts they get. For example, he devotes a whole chapter on describing jurors' motivations for giving and how you can get them to do so. Even if you are a defense attorney, this book is essential reading so that you can learn what jurors are interested in and what causes them to reach the decisions they do.
Damages review.......2007-08-23
David Ball on Damages is the best book I have ever read on the subject. I have been practicing for 20 years. This book has changed the way I will approach personal injury trials in the future. Other lawyers in my area are just starting to use Mr. Ball's techniques with sucess.
Med Mal Attry's Evaluation.......2007-06-11
This is one of the finest books written on the subject of obtaining fair and complete damages at trial in an atmosphere of "tort reform"
David Ball on Damages: The Essential Update.......2007-05-07
Quite frankly, it is malpractice to try a jury case without first reading this book. A MUST for any trial attorney for civil litigation. Ball plainly lays out the basics of jury selection and then expounds on the critical points to successfully arguing damages to a jury.
essential reading for every trial attorney.......2006-11-03
Full of practical advice developed through years of jury consulting. A must read for any attorney interested in monetizing pain and suffering.
Book Description
Sometimes the dead live on in your dreams . . . at least that's true for Roy Valois. His wife, Delia, died fifteen years earlier while working for a private think tank and he has never forgotten her. Roy is a well-known sculptor in the art world. His newest piece, a magnificent creation he calls Delia, has just been finished, a sign that he's found a little closure at last.
Then Roy gets some news of the grimmest kind. It's the kind of news that forces thoughts in unexpected directions, such as the contents of one's obituary. Roy and his lawyer, a close friend, find themselves wondering whether Roy's obituary will mention a big goal he scored in college hockey. Roy's friend suggests that they could probably find out. With some help, they hack into the morgue files of the New York Times. There's no mention of the goal, but something else about his obituary bothers Roy. According to the New York Times, his wife was working for the United Nations when she died—not the think tank.
At first, Roy thinks it's a simple mistake, but when a conversation with the writer of his obituary fails to clear things up, he suspects something more. The deeper he digs, the more confusing his wife's past becomes. Delia's former colleagues deny ever knowing her, the building that housed the think tank has supposedly served as the offices for another organization for decades, and Roy can't find any records of its existence. Who was Delia? Who did she work for? How did she really die? Did she really die? With time running out, a desperate Roy won't stop until he knows the truth about the woman he can't stop loving.
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous!.......2007-10-22
As a voracious reader, I believe Abrahams is one of the best. I first read 'Oblivion' and was blown away. I think 'Nerve Damage' is even better. I love the characterization and the suspense. Abrahams reminds me of Stephen King in his early days. this is a nearly perfect novel.
very good read.......2007-10-12
This was my first Peter Abrahams book and I thought it was very good. Some of the stuff was a little far fetched, like - how could everyone but Roy know where his wife worked?? But it tied itself together quite nicely at the end and I thought it was good.
Too convenient.......2007-08-27
I've never read Abrahams before, but I thought this novel was kind of lame. So many convenient plot twists that came along just as mechanisms to advance the story did not seem natural (think about Jerry calling Roy out of the blue to make sure that he has not given up the case. HUH?) and so much was useless to the plot and the ending at the farm ... pu-leaze.
I've heard good things about Abrahams, so maybe I would try another, but I thought this novel was a real waste of time
Abrahams, the Consummate Pro.......2007-06-21
In an interview, Peter Abrahams once said that his one main rule for writing is, "Do something original on every page." NERVE DAMAGE is another excellent illustration of this rule in practice. The story of an artist racing against terminal illness to discover the truth behind his wife's death, the novel is insanely smart and furiously compelling with dialogue that crackles like a sparkler; but as always the real treat is the writing. Never fancy, always cat-quick and often snort-your-soda funny, Abraham's prose moves like judo across the page, using the weight of the reader's interest to propel the tale forward without ever seeming to break a sweat. His protagonist's vision of the world, precisely observed and wholly unsentimental, rings fundamentally true, and Abrahams uses the least assuming details to enormously successful effect.
If NERVE DAMAGE is your first Abrahams book, I envy you -- it's like walking into a bar, sitting down and having the Beatles in their prime come up onstage for an unannounced set of their greatest songs, playing for two hours and packing up their kits. Abrahams is the consummate pro.
3.5 Stars - A race against time.......2007-06-12
First Sentence: Sometimes the dead live on in your dreams.
Metal sculptor Roy Valois has just finished a masterful piece of sculpture he names for his late wife, Delia and plays an exceptional game during his local hockey night. When talking with a friend and wondering whether his goal that night would someday be mentioned in his obituary, he solicits the help of a young geek to look it up. However, his surprise comes when he sees they've listed Delia's job as being with the UN and not with a private think tank. In trying to clear up this "mistake," the reporter is murdered and it soon become clear someone doesn't want Roy questioning the past.
Abrahams writes very good psychological/political suspense. In Roy, he has created a character for whom we quickly come to care. He is realistic both as an artist who sees the flaws in his work where others see the perfections, and as a man who still loves playing hockey, still grieves the loss of his wife and is thrown into desperation when he finds he has an incurable cancer. Abrahams has created an excellent race against time and conveys Roy's frustration beautifully. The plot, as the story progresses, does go over the top but it certainly didn't slow down my reading. If you're looking for an exciting one-sitting read or a great airplane book, this is it.
Book Description
In late September 2005, Robert Polidori traveled to New Orleans to record the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina and by the city's broken levees. He found the streets deserted, and, without electricity, eerily dark. The next day he began to photograph, house by house: "All the places I went in, the doors were just open. They had been opened by what I collectively call Ithe army,' of maybe 20 National Guards from New Hampshire, 15 policemen from Minneapolis, 20 firefighters from New York... On maybe half of them or a third of them that I went in, I think that the occupants had been there prior. And some of them did leave certain funeral-like mementos before they left. Maybe right after the waters receded they had the chance to just--to go back to their place and just see, and realize there's nothing worth saving." Amidst all this, Polidori has found something worth saving, has created mementos for those who could not return, documenting the paradoxically beautiful wreckage. In classical terms, he has found ruins. The abandoned houses he recorded were still waterlogged as he entered and as he learned (by trial and error, a process that including finding a dead body) the language of signs and codes in which rescue workers had spray-painted each house's siding. He sees the resulting photographs as the work of a psychological witness, mapping the lives of the absent and deceased through what remains of their belongings and their homes.
Customer Reviews:
Katrina as Art.......2007-03-13
Silt has rendered a wonderous, pale beauty to the interior carnage of New Orlean's homes. Polidoris's project, a subsequentc 'invasion' of these domains, places on public record their devastation. It's a case of supreme technical skill, enshrining an ephemeral disaster. The denizens have hastily evacuated, leaving Polidori to rut in the trough of the city's ruin. Here, in one haunting page after another, the tidal muds that have rudely piled cars beneath houses in tragically asymmetrical congress, are made warm and close. It's relentless. You can almost handle the poignant detritus. We're led first through the haunting streets of uprooted poles, trees and weathereboards, of twisted metal. Then the rooms, the hearts and minds of individual suffering. Not snap-happy journalistic sensationalism, but hypnotically constructed images whose frozen testimonies have more permanence than the rented edifices they record. Polidori knows where to stand amidst the wreckage: his camera an unerring eye delving near and distantly with disturbing clarity. It is the very silence that entrances with singular eloquence and gravity. The wind and tide have subsided, but the havock endures in sulphurous washes and surreal configuration which 1000 installation artists would greet as a great funereal statement that transcends collective imagination. In a word, awesome, the currency of the Sublime. Polidori has wrested art from tragedy. Any of its 200 plus large format pages can be poured over for aesthetic reward, the more to dwell on vagabond Nature. Brilliant!
Photography as a "process of revelation".......2007-02-08
"After the Flood", the latest book by French Canadian Photographer, Robert Polidori, about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is also his largest and most powerful. It is as if his books on Havana and Chernobyl were mere foretastes to this exceptional and moving work, and certainly anyone who has seen these two books came away with a feeling of the power and storytelling that Polidori's images can convey. Polidori has the gift of the detailed eye that can simultaneously give the viewer images of beauty and revulsion in objects and textures. These alone tell the stories. There are no images of people necessary. It is as if he is capturing the tracks and shadows that humanity has left behind. He was able to show this in the urban decay of Havana and of the horrors of the rapid evacuation and subsequent reclamation of nature in Chernobyl. In "After the Flood", he presents us with an almost encyclopedic presentation of the aftermath of the hurricane, flooding, wind, water and mud damage showing the fragility of our cities and the power of nature.
The book contains at least 400 images, which have been carefully arranged. The first images show parts of the city still under water and the receding water. The next group shows the destruction caused by water inside the houses. Furniture has been picked up by the flood and re-arranged and we see the effects of water on different materials and soon notice the tell-tale brown lines on the walls, sometimes over six feet high, showing the high water mark. Succeeding groups of images show the effects of mud, water and wind on buildings and cars that have been tossed around at random like toys. Sometimes cars rest against houses in bizarre angles and sometimes the houses are laying on top of the cars. Several pages show smaller images of streets where every house was damaged and abandoned. The last set of images shows the clean up. Mounds of refuse in front of houses, temporary trailers, houses being cleaned and repaired. The effect is very powerful as we see how the lives of hundreds of thousands were affected and how many must have lost everything.
The book can only give a taste of the incredible detail the images contain. In a recent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art they could be seen as the original prints, each at about 40" by 54". They were taken with a large camera and according to Polidori with no lighting, as there was no electricity available at the time the shots were taken and lighting would have been to cumbersome in cramped and sometimes dangerous conditions. Only time exposures could show the incredible detail, which Polidori refers to as the "process of revelation". He call his work "a constant learning process", and anyone who looks at this book will not only learn, but will also ask questions as to how a disaster of this magnitude was possible, and to our place on this earth and our future here.
Review by Walter O. Koenig
Book Description
This book is designed to simplify the process of attaching a dollar amount to intangible assets, be it for licensing, mergers and acquisitions, loan collateral, or investment purposes. It provides practical tools for evaluating the investment aspects of licensing and joint venture decisions, and discusses the legal, tax, and accounting practices and procedures related to such arrangements; examines the business economics of strategies involving intellectual property licensing and joint ventures; and provides analytical models that can be used to determine reasonable royalty rates for licensing and for determining fair equity splits in joint venture arrangements.
Download Description
This book is designed to simplify the process of attaching a dollar amount to intangible assets, be it for licensing, mergers and acquisitions, loan collateral, or investment purposes. It provides practical tools for evaluating the investment aspects of licensing and joint venture decisions, and discusses the legal, tax, and accounting practices and procedures related to such arrangements; examines the business economics of strategies involving intellectual property licensing and joint ventures; and provides analytical models that can be used to determine reasonable royalty rates for licensing and for determining fair equity splits in joint venture arrangements.
Average customer rating:
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Fracture Mechanics of Piezoelectric Materials (Advances in Damage Mechanics)
Qing-Hua Qin
Manufacturer: Computational Mechanics, Inc.
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1853128562 |
Book Description
A comprehensive treatment of crack problems arising in piezoelectric materials under coupled thermal, mechanical and electric loads, this volume summarizes the current state of practice and presents the most recent research outcomes. Emphasis is placed on fundamental concepts, the development of mathematical models and their computational approaches, while the mathematical models used are stated in a straightforward and self-contained manner to aid accessibility.
The book is a stimulating guide to a field that provides fascinating and technically important challenges to postgraduate students, research scientists and engineers.
Average customer rating:
- Exciting But Anti-Male
- Enjoyable Thriller
- Another Christopher Lane passionate rendition
- literary thriller
- Good Plot, Poor Prose
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Damage Control
Robert Dugoni
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
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Binding: Hardcover
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Looks to Die For
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The Double Bind: A Novel
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The Jury Master
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The Overlook (Harry Bosch)
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The Cyanide Canary
ASIN: 0446578703 |
Book Description
Dana Hill is accustomed to stress: she's a successful attorneyat a prestigious Seattle law firm, the mother of a young daughter, and thewife of a busy, self-involved man. But her carefully-balanced world is rentasunder when she is diagnosed with breast cancer, her twin brother isbeaten to death in an apparent robbery-gone-wrong, and she discovers thather husband is having an affair. Delaying medical treatment, Dana dealswith her grief by throwing herself into the investigation of her brother'shomicide. She soon finds that those connected to the murder are beginningto turn up dead, and someone masquerading as a cop is coldly andefficiently wiping out all signs of evidence....
Customer Reviews:
Exciting But Anti-Male.......2007-07-25
The plot is excellent and the action scenes just leap off the pages and kept me up long past bed-time.
The mix of high level politicians who are bad guys along with down and dirty crooks...will keep you guessing.
But alas, the author must have as his target audience readers who are anti-male. Every bad male stereotype since the beginning of time is brought forth for the reader to chew on ...chapter by chapter.
Lots of perfect lady victims if you are into victim hood!
Enjoyable Thriller.......2007-06-25
DAMAGE CONTROL is an enjoyable thriller. It is a book with a highly sympathetic heroine in Dana Hill. She has so many things go wrong for her in this novel (breast cancer, brother getting murdered, husband cheating on her, boss hating her) that it's hard not to root for her.
Robert Dugoni is not a subtle writer, and I found most of this novel to be pretty predictable. I also thought most of the supporting characters were pretty two-dimensional (the villain, for example, is almost ridiculously evil, and Dana's husband is almost ridiculously stupid). So if you're looking for complex characterization, you will not find that here. This book also starts pretty slowly at the beginning, although it picks up speed after the halfway point.
Despite these problems, I found DAMAGE CONTROL smoothly written and enjoyable, with a highly likable main character. If you're looking for a light diversion in the spirit of John Grisham or James Patterson, I think this novel is a pretty decent choice.
Another Christopher Lane passionate rendition.......2007-06-10
Robert Dugoni's DAMAGE CONTROL receives another Christopher Lane passionate rendition as it tells of a gifted attorney's world broken by crime and secrets. Her discovery of a priceless earring in the debris of her murdered brother's trashed home leads her deeper into a spiraling case involving murder, deception and power.
literary thriller.......2007-05-30
Robert Dugoni is a former practicing attorney. Therefore, it's no surprise that lawyers abound in DAMAGE CONTROL, even if courtroom scenes do not. The chief protagonist in Dugoni's second novel (following THE JURY MASTER) is Dana Hill, an ascending star in a high-profile Seattle law firm. Hill is the chief breadwinner in the office and head bottle washer at home, attempting to raise her young daughter in spite of her other child, Grant Brown, who happens to be her husband. Brown is consumed by the god of self-importance, a delusion that makes it easier for him to live with the fact that he is married to a woman who is smarter, more successful, more giving and generally just better than he is.
Hill's balancing act begins to fall apart when her life sustains multiple physical and emotional traumas. She is diagnosed with breast cancer, her beloved brother James is brutally murdered, and her husband's affair of some months is revealed. It is almost foreseeable that Hill sets aside her personal problems to discover the circumstances behind her brother's slaying. Her only potential clue leads her to risk her job and her life as she pursues an enigmatic and mysterious individual who quietly may hold the key to the secret that James coveted and that ultimately resulted in his death.
DAMAGE CONTROL is far more than a thrilling whodunit, however. Dugoni presents an interesting metaphor here, setting up a situation wherein Hill, by putting everything at risk, ultimately obtains the key for saving herself. And while Hill is the primary protagonist, it is the secondary characters who shine and ultimately propel the book. One, Dr. Frank Pilgrim, is an elderly pediatrician in the twilight of his career; he appears only in the beginning yet provides a quiet impetus for all that occurs throughout --- though we don't learn how or why until almost the very end of this fine work.
Then there is William Welles, a legendary and reclusive jewelry designer who does not enter the narrative until well into the halfway point of the book. While present for only two short chapters, he provides resolution for not one but two main plot points. And let's not forget Carmen Dupree, a housekeeper possessed of a bottomless well of quiet strength who, even though she doesn't meet Hill until the end of the book, indirectly provides the means by which Hill ultimately is able to visit a rough justice upon her brother's murderer.
DAMAGE CONTROL is a literary thriller that reveals the true depth and richness of Dugoni's talent. While drawn from the wellspring of intellect, it is obviously written from the heart. You simply cannot get a better combination than that.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Good Plot, Poor Prose.......2007-05-04
Giving positive reviews to a book such as this seems like madness. Can just about anyone these days write a murder mystery and get it published? It's more likely that this is related to established authors (although Mr. Dugani has only one other notable book in his arsenal, The Jury Master, it is still in the same genre and was fairly well received). I don't mean to bash publishers but I felt pointing out these possible flaws might help guide readers in the right direction when jonesin' for a good book.
If you're reading this review, you've probably been a fan of the murder mystery genre and are wondering if you should pick up this novel; or maybe you already have and are wondering what others thought of it. If you're in the first category, you might want to bypass this book in favor of something more appetizing. I'm not saying that Mr. Dugani is a horrible writer; he's not. But he does do some irritating things with his prose that'll drive readers to distraction. This is immediately evident in the very first paragraph of DAMAGE CONTROL. And here it is:
"Dr. Frank Pilgrim adjusted the flexible lamp clipped to the edge of his cluttered metal desk, but the additional illumination did not keep the typewritten words on the page from blurring. He set his wire-framed glasses above his bushy gray eyebrows and pinched the bridge of his nose. His eyes had reached their limit; they could no longer take the strain of night reading small print."
Although not too poorly put together, this is a prime example of what the remaining 401 pages contain as far as style goes. You'll note that there are three references to Dr. Pilgrim's failing eyesight in this one short paragraph. Perhaps the author was afraid we wouldn't get that the character was old, but the gray eyebrows were pretty much a dead giveaway (example: "..page from blurring." and "..had reached their limit" and "...could no longer take the strain..."). We get it already! Please don't beat us over the head with things like this!
The only redeeming qualities are that the novel is plotted well and with enough baggage plopped on top of the main protagonist to make her a very sympathetic character. Disease, divorce, murder of a loved one, and face-to-face encounters with a psycho-killer all make Dana Hill (the main character) endearing to readers. A distracted love story between Dana and the investigating detective, Logan, is a bit odd and contrived but still a necessary element that added a touch of light to an otherwise dark tale.
Going into detail about the story's machinations is fairly useless, too. If you've ever read a murder mystery, you know exactly how this one's structured: murder happens, loved ones grieve, detective gets in over his head with a family member of the deceased, family try and help solve the murder and put themselves in harm's way, murderer stalks main character, blood is spilled, happy ending. Similarly, Damage Control sets everything up in a pretty ending package for the reader, making it so sweet you'll probably gag on the final few pages.
For a truly great murder mystery, try reading The Naming of the Dead (An Inspector Rebus) by Ian Rankin.
Book Description
Collaborative Brain Injury Intervention: Positive Everyday Routines illustrates collaboration and thereby integration in several important ways. The authors succeed in integrating different perspectives into a coherent view of the nature of the problem and the approach to treatment. They suggest a collaborative treatment that helps unify the work of different disciplines and services over time in the service of the client's real-world needs. They also provide the possibility of an integrated approach to treating a broad range of problems.
Customer Reviews:
A truly collaborative approach to brain injury rehab.......2007-02-27
When we were organizing a community reentry program for adults with brain injury eight years ago, this book became our bible. Based on rich research in the area of positive behavioral supports for students with behavioral challenges, and focused primarily on the brain injury community, the book provides an organized and well-reasoned approach to working with individuals and families coping with cognitive-behavioral issues. I especially love their important lessons that all behaviors are efforts at communication, that "setting events" may be adapted to help people avoid harmful behaviors rather than punish them after they occur, and their believe in working within communities rather than clinical settings. All brain injury therapists should read this book and consider its implications for practice.
This one is a gotta have.......2004-12-20
For parents of learning disabled kids and adolescents in particular, . this book sheds new insight on how to help them help themselves. I have read dozens of books on learning disabilities and this one is the most practical, most accurate and most informative of any of them.
Average customer rating:
- Just the facts
- Go ahead and get the grinder!
- Good advice
- 2nd best book on Fiberglass repairs, and not just for sailboats
- Excellent coverage of fiberglass repairs
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Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair (International Marine Sailboat Library)
Don Casey
Manufacturer: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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Sailboat Refinishing (International Marine Sailboat Library)
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Sailboat Electrics Simplified
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This Old Boat
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Inspecting the Aging Sailboat (The International Marine Sailboat Library)
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Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual
ASIN: 0070133697 |
Book Description
A fiberglass hull's seamless nature leads many boatowners to conclude that repair must be difficult. Wrong. Here, clearly and abundantly illustrated, is all you need to know to seal joints, bed hardware, replace portlights, locate leaks, fix cracks and even holes, restore your hull's gloss, renew nonskid decks, and much more. You'll wonder what you were worried about.
Customer Reviews:
Just the facts.......2006-08-13
Style wise, this is the opposite of The Sailmaker's Apprentice by Marino. This is not a book to pick up while sitting by the fire sipping tea. It is a great reference book with concise "how to" information. I have a friend who told me that there is nothing beyand repair on a fiberglass boat. After reading this book, I'm beginning to belive him. Good explanations of both materials and techniques - including safety.
Go ahead and get the grinder!.......2006-07-20
A sweet book that gave me the confidence to 'go for it' and tackle some ugly holes in my dinghy hull. What's more it was not that bad after all! It's all here, from finishing the gelcoat scrapes/cracks to repairing gaping holes- you may want to buy in conjunction with 'sailboat refinishing' to help with that final effort. Fully recommended!
Good advice.......2006-07-14
This book covers the basic as well as some advanced topics about repairing all types of fiberglass hulls, decks, through hull fittings, teak wood, and other related topics. I recommend the book for the beginner who needs basic information about fiberglass repair.
2nd best book on Fiberglass repairs, and not just for sailboats.......2006-03-08
While I actually like "Fiberglass Repair: Polyester or Epoxy" by David and Zora Aiken a touch better than this book, they are both strong. They both have lots of clear ILLUSTRATIONS, which to my mind are preferable to photos at depicting this sort of information.
Blister repair (not addressed at all in older books on fiberglass repeair), wet deck cores, gelcoat cosmetics are all covered, as well as a good discussion of when to use Epoxy resins versus the cheaper Polyesters. I recommend this book for owners of ALL fiberglass boats, as the construction and repairs are quite universal.
The relatively large format of this book helps the clarity of the drawings, and makes it possible to imagine using it like a cookbook, propped open on the workbench as you step through the steps.
Excellent coverage of fiberglass repairs.......2001-10-04
Covers all the areas I needed. Soft & rotten cores, broken fiberglass, chipping, etc. I liked it so much I just ordered his book on refinishing.
Books:
- The Career Fitness Program: Exercising your Options (8th Edition)
- The Guns of August: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning History of the First Month of WWI
- The Life of Kingsley Amis
- The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales
- The Mayor of Casterbridge (Modern Library Classics)
- The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (The Albert Schweitzer Library)
- The Old Man and The Sea
- The Old Man and The Sea
- The Old Man and The Sea
- The Only Three Questions That Count: Investing by Knowing What Others Don't
Books Index
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