5 comments about On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not.

1. I am always slightly annoyed when a book is not about what is is supposed to be about. A few chapters of this book - those towards the end - are on why the feeling of certainty is just that: a feeling. This leads the author to some interesting discussions about how the 'feeling of certianty (a feeling though it is) is something that tends not to be subject to reason, but owes more to emotion. The author also goes into some really interesting thoughts about evolutionary reasons why the feeling of certainty as a tool to help us survive in an uncertain world (where we have to act, so we might as well act with conviction).
   
   Unfortunately, this only happens well into the second half of the book (maybe 2/3rds of the way through). The first many chapters are stage setters. There are chapters about distinguishing what is meant by "mental states," "feeling" and "sensation," chapters describing how we know that emotions like fear, deja vu, and religious experience are chemical in nature, and how the "mind" is an emergent property tying together several components of the brain into a unity.
   
   The author also spends quite a bit of time talking about what neuroscientists term the "hidden layer." That is, when we make decisions, the brain "surveys" a whole host of things - past experiences, attitudes one has acquired, things one has learned, etc. - to come to a conclusion, but this is all "hidden" form our consciousness. Thus, the author concludes that while we may feel like our deliberations are conscious, often the bulk of our deliberation is unconscious.
   
   All of this, the author tells us, supports the thesis (that he eventually gets to) suggesting that certainty is a feeling,, and not always one subject to rationality as we generally assume. Since we have seen that attitudes like fear, deja vu, and sense of purpose are feelings like any other, and we have seen that feelings like these are often not subject to rationality (try convincing a clinically depressed person that the feeling of purposelessness is only a chemical "illusion"), and we know that much of our thought is unconcious, we can also infer that the feeling of certianty is subject to all of these. (Try convincing a young-earth creationist that the earth is more than 6,000 years old and that their certainty is not due to the strength of the idea.)
   
   Really, I don't have any huge qualms with this. We've all seen people be so certain of something that is (to us) obviously wrong, and know all to well that people's attachment to ideas often has not a thing to do with rationality. (And we all, if we are honest, realize that we have been the 'dummy' in this scenario as well.)
   
   My biggest problem, from a literary standpoit, is that the author takes a very long time to get to his point, beginning many chapters with something like: "I want to talk about the feeling of certainty. But first, let's..." Once that happens too many times, I begin to lose patience, particularly when some chapters (like that reviewing the difference between "feelings" and "sensations") simply go on longer than they should.
   
   My philosophical beefs with the book is: the author, who suggests may times that we cannot step beyond our feelings of certainty if they are strong enough, would be well served to have included a chapter on examples where people DO change their minds about things they were once deeply certain about. The fact that this happens - albeit happens only with difficulty and pain - gives empirical lie to this thesis.
   
   Really, this is a quite interesting book with an interesting case that simply takes the author too many pages to make. I resisted the urge to skip ahead numerous times (and did skip half a chapter that seemed to veer frequently off topic). I wish the author would have discussed the issue of 'certainty' more than the tertiarilly related matter of brain states like fear and deja vu.
   
   In the end, I would reccomend this book to people as a follow-up read to books like "Mistakes Were Made," which give a much more direct discussion of our brain's tendency to fall into illusions of certainty. This book does that, but simply tries to do so much more that it may better have been written as a collection of loosely related essays.



2. On Being Certain started out moderately interesting but at page 52 I hit a severe snag. When an author gets something I know about so totally wrong (or is being gratuitously nasty) I find I cannot trust what he says about things I don't know so much about. The comment that B.F. Skinner wanted to raise people like veal is so totally absurd I couldn't finish the book and will be returning it to Amazon for a refund.



3. This is the challenge to 'certainty' (>>the kind of 'certainty', that is very familiar to religious and fanatic people<<) from the direction of SCIENCE (and not just philosophy) that has long been overdue.
   
   And also it's like a shout out from the conscience of science to us scientists and the normal person from the street who has (maybe) never thought about what science does, and that message is:
   "1.) Keep in mind, what 'certainty' means in science!
   2.) Don't over -estimate/-interpret what you found.
   3.) True knowledge is always testable for accuracy while belief is not!"
   
   Thanks you Robert M. Burton.



4. As an avid reader of books in this category, I was pleased to find something new in Robert Burton's book: a head-on engagement with the infrastructure of belief. The question Burton asks is on the face of it a simple one, but in its implications extremely complex: how do we know what we know? As a matter of practical observation, Burton asks why are some people so utterly convinced that their positions are correct while others consistently entertain doubt? From this starting point, Burton takes us through an entertaining and challenging tour -- part neuroscience, part psychology, and part philosophy. The interconnections between these disciplines are elegant and form the tapestry of a convincing argument. In my library I have a selection of books that have influenced my thinking, and among those are a select few that I revisit for insights over and over again. "On Being Certain" is among that select few, and I give it my highest recommendation.



5. "On Being Certain: Believing You are Right Even When You're Not" provides a compelling examination of the feeling of certainty each of us have. Robert Burton, a neurologist and gifted writer, argues that this "feeling of knowing" is a sensation, much like touch or sight. Burton proposes a well-crafted thesis, suggesting that this feeling of knowing is identical whether or not the associated knowledge is true. Through a variety of means, he draws in the reader to formulate a convincing case. Burton explains that his motivation is for the reader to question how we really "know what we know," and much of the book serves this purpose quite well. However, a few chapters distract the reader by straying away from the central thesis. At other moments, Burton seems to do the very thing he cautions the reader against: presenting a "stance of absolute certainty" about topics that could allow for alternative opinions or understandings.
   
   In the first four chapters of the book, Burton forms a strong introduction to his argument. He introduces the concept of the "feeling of knowing" through personal anecdotes and allows the reader to experience this feeling through a simple thought experiment. With this foundation, Burton uses case studies to explain that we often are certain of knowledge that is, in fact, untrue. Burton also suggests that pathologies often provide a basis for study of complex concepts in healthy individuals is supported by the story of a patient suffering from viral encephalitis and Cotard's Syndrome. Through this example, Burton illustrates the power of the brain to "know" something as true, even when logic and reason all indicate that it is false.
   
   After forming the outline of his thesis, Burton spends the next several chapters crafting the most compelling points of his argument. The reader is introduced to pertinent aspects of neuroscience when they are relevant, and a layperson can easily follow the diagrams and explanations that Burton offers. By combining the prevailing theories in neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI) research, Burton proposes a straightforward description of the decision-making process in the brain. His suggestion of a "hidden layer" that acts as a "committee" of influences (made of past memories, genetic predispositions, and even a "feeling of knowing") is easy to understand and seems to be a logical theory. With this model, his "perverse possibility" that an "unwarranted `feeling of knowing' might serve a positive evolutionary role" (95) is easily accepted as a reasonable theory.
   
   In addition to arguing for the importance of this "feeling of knowing," Burton attempts to explain the manner in which this feeling acts. At this point, his argument begins to weaken. Burton describes the ability of the brain to "reorganize" the timing of actual events in order to present a more logical picture through the use of a baseball analogy. Additionally, he describes the scientific distinctions between emotions and sensations. These are interesting stories, but Burton does not provide any data to connect these concepts with his newly defined "feeling of knowing." His postulations are well thought out; however, he presents them so that an unwary reader might read his conclusions as fact, rather than theory.
   
   The final few chapters of the book diverge from Burton's central thesis. Chapter twelve, focused on "reason" and "objectivity," includes a review of three recently published books about cognitive science in popular culture; however, none of them directly relate to his hypothesis. Burton remains a clear, coherent writer as he describes the problems with recent publications about "the rational mind," but he distracts the reader from the argument that he has previously built. An analysis of perspectives on alternative medicine has the potential to provide a strong argument for the central thesis of the book, and Burton approaches this argument. At one point, he says "imagine how different each of these claims would have been if intuition and gut feeling were acknowledged to be unconscious thoughts associated with a strong `feeling of knowing' rather than bona fide forms of trustworthy knowledge" (166). However, instead of advancing with this point, he changes the subject to the readers' perceptions and never solidifies a potentially compelling argument.
   
   The chapter titled "Faith" is equally frustrating. It holds the potential to be the most compelling in the book: faith and the unfounded certainty Burton describes seem to be, in many ways, synonymous. Rather than focusing on why or how individuals have faith, Burton focuses more on the personalities and comments of those who claim to a concrete set of beliefs. The most frustrating aspect of this chapter is Burton's presentation of quotes that could be interpreted in many ways in a biased fashion, with his own concrete dissection of the quote. This certainty leads him to take isolated quotes from larger of bodies of work by Francis Collins and Charles Darwin and present them as parallel situations with opposing outcomes. This presentation allows Burton to make a return to his central thesis; however, isolated presentation of the quotes prevents the reader from having the opportunity to interpret the quotations any way other that which Burton presents with complete certainty.
   
   Throughout the book, Burton's strong abilities are visible. He creates a well-crafted argument that will certainly receive further examination and will be the subject of many studies in years to come. Burton crafts a book that peers in his field and laypeople with no experience in neuroscience will be interested to read. Although he occasionally strays from the central thesis, his diversions are still well written and intriguing. The greatest weakness of the book is that Burton commits the same offense that he cautions against. His arguments are compelling, but not yet conclusive; however, he seems to allow his own "feeling of knowing" to dominate, and he presents his theories with complete certainty. Throughout the book, readers should constantly ask Burton his own question: "how do you know what you know?" (224) With this caution in mind, "On Being Certain" provides a fascinating examination of the brain's creation and utilization of certainty.

5 comments about Flax Oil As a True Aid Against Arthritis Heart Infarction Cancer and Other Diseases (3rd Edition).

1. Everyone should be turned on to the benefits of flax oil.
   This book is short but imformative.



2. I have not read this book, I came to this site to order any books I can find on the Budwig protocol. My chiropractor has been ranting about this stuff for years so I finally bought some flaxoil and cottage cheese and started mixing it up and eating it each day. I don't have cancer but I figure this could help me in general. I felt no different at all. When I told my doc he said, did you buy a handheld mixer like I told you? I said no, I just stir it up. He said, forget it if you are not going to do it right. So I got a handheld mixer. Whoa! You cannot imagine the feeling of well-being I have. I sleep like a log, wake up refreshed, my nerves are much better at the end of my business day, I have lost weight, my beard, which has always been thin, is now growing out thicker! I don't know where this is all leading me but I want to learn more about the Budwig diet. I am ordering anything I can about this.



3. I picked up this book when my husband was ill with esophagus cancer. I researched a lot of non-traditional cancer treatments such as this diet. Unfortunately, we never got to the point where he could ingest this diet of cottage cheese and flax seed oil, since his cancer advanced and he could not eat. I have recently passed it along to a friend who is ill with endometrial cancer. I agree with Dr. Budwig that diet is a big factor in preventing cancer, and flax oil by itself is also good for you. I think this is a very good reference and because it is not pushed by pharma, it has been largely ignored, as have alot of natural remedies. Elaine Williams, author A Journey Well Taken: Life After Loss.



4. This reprint of Johanna Budwig's original, November 1959 lecture is well worth a careful read. But I found it tough going because, at least in the beginning, it entangles her useful and interesting historical findings and ideas with an attack on the food-processing industry of the day, for its harmful preservatives and additives. She's gone, now, but I would have loved to see her produce an update, based on what we have learned about metabolism, cell biology and molecular biology, up to the time of her death in 2003. I deducted one star for the "entanglement" and another star because it is out of date. But she is still one of my heroes.



5. The book came quickly as ordered. This book has been a tremendous help to me and others I have recommended it to. It gives the basics as to how Flax oil can really help against cancer and other diseases. It is a bit old, but I have verified what she says by reading other literature. It is a bit of a challenge for a non-biologist to wade through, but well worth the trip.

5 comments about The Stop Walking on Eggshells Workbook: Practical Strategies for Living With Someone Who Has Borderline Personality Disorder.

1. This workbook is essential for anyone who has a loved one with BPD or suspected BPD traits.



2. A godsend and an eye opener. Well worth getting if BPD traits are present in your loved one.



3. If you have a loved one acting unreasonable one day and loving the next,read this book They may not be on drugs not Bi-polar but Borderline Personality Disorder maybe after reading you will have an understanding of the behavior.It is treatable and gives we who live with this person hope the .Ranting , raving blambing ia explained along with sggestions on coping..Best book on this subject I have found.....



4. I had received "Stop Walking on Eggshells" from a family member. Upon reading it, I just knew that I would get the help I so needed with the workbook. I highly recommend this workbook in conjunction with the book for all who are dealing with someone who has been diagnosed with or suspected to have this disorder. I think you'll find that it seems as if you've written it yourself!!!



5. This disorder is simply a bitch to have and a bitch to deal with. As a professional I work so well with BPD that I wind up with a lot of them. I work well with them because I intuitively know how to but I can never put what I do in words.
   
   How I help THEM I can write about but how I deal with them myself is just done without thinking and so I can't write about it.
   
   This book does that very well and it is something that anyone who is choosing to try to "work it out" with a BPD person really MUST HAVE. Period. Period. Period.

5 comments about Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense.

1. Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense
   
   A must read for any parent! I was fortunate to read this book before my first child arrived. I followed Ellyn's division of responsibility in regards to feeding and I have had zero feeding issues with my first daughter (now 2 ½ years-old). I watch my friends struggle with the whole "take another bite" and "mmmm, yummy, yummy" routine and I am proud to say I have never resorted to these tactics. My daughter eats like a champ. You can bet I am following these guidelines with daughter number two (5 months-old). You need to get rid of your preconceptions and learn to trust your child!



2. This book was recommended by my daughter's pediatrician after I started to worry about her gaining enough weight as she was born extremely premature. It is full of useful, practical advice and common sense on how to encourage good feeding habits in your children. I found this particularly useful as I don't want to pass my own bad feeding habits onto my kids. Only after reading this book did I realise how important feeding is as I was originally only concerned about what I fed my baby and not how I fed her.
   She is thriving and enjoying learning to eat by herself and we are much happier and more relaxed parents now that we are following Ellen Satter's simple advice for feeding children.
   All new parents should read this book.



3. I bought this book because I work with families who are struggling to parent their children effectively. I needed information to assist their parenting skills. This book had the most comprehensive collection of data, including lactose intolerance that I have found. It is easy for me to understand and therefore will help me with my work journeying with these parents.



4. Children are resilient but this book presents ideas which can make a big positive impact on their relationships with you, other people, and food throughout their lifetime. Admittedly, in my case, she is preaching to the choir, and I am simply thrilled with how she weaves seemingly disparate results of various studies into a comprehensive view of feeding as an activity which is important emotionally and developmentally. She doesn't talk about eating in isolation but rather links it to playtime, sleep and wakefulness etc. She addresses both the average child and children that she describes as vulnerable to well-meaning but misguided parents (e.g. preemies, small babies, fat babies). While many books include growth charts, this book is the only one I've seen which explains in detail how babies normally progress through these charts and how to interpret deviations from the norm.
   
   Having glanced at one of Satter's older books, her writing style seems to be more concise now which is good because the book is already hefty enough even though it only elaborates on the more contentious topics. The organizational flow is good and she repeats her main messages often so that it is possible to read the chapters in isolation.
   
   Although it is current only to sometime around its print date (2000), the general info relayed is consistent with the more recent changes in the pediatric practices I've experienced and the other books that I've read. She hasn't updated the breastfeeding chapter, preferring instead to refer people to say "The Nursing Mother's Companion". It seems very even-handed about how it presents both breastfeeding and formula-feeding. Making that choice secondary to the feeding relationship itself.
   
   To sum it all up, she has done her homework and she is providing a valuable public service in presenting her life's work in this book. I initially had a library copy and am now purchasing multiple copies for myself and as gifts to friends who present concerns to me that are answered by this book!
   
   p.s. on a more humorous note, it reminds me of the intent of the book "Good Owners, Great Cats". In this case, if you improve the parenting, the kid will shine!



5. there're some useful information , esp. psychological ones. However, i don't like this book myself.

5 comments about The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of his Life--His Own.

1. Sometimes harrowing, sometimes self-indulgent, The Night of the Gun is at the very least always INTERESTING. David Carr dives into the now tired world of tell-all memoirs about drug addiction and sleazy living - I truly tire of this trend - but he does it with a twist.
   
   Here Carr, who is now an investigative reporter and writer, investigates HIMSELF. His years as a complete mess left his memory a complete mess, too. His was a life filled with falsehoods, foggy memories, and lies. Lies even HE started to believe.
   
   So Carr, who has long-since turned around his life, aimed his skills at himself in an effort to uncover the truth about who he was and what he did. The result is a deeply personal, often ugly look at a man's spiral into oblivion and rise back to a productive life of love and normality.
   
   I'll be honest, there is a part of me that wonders, "Who cares? Who is this guy and why should he matter to me? Even more, why should yet another story about being a loser and an addict, then recovering, be of interest?"
   
   And the truth is, I don't have answers to those questions.
   
   But I do know that Carr's journey at the very least illustrates how easy a life can spiral out of control, and shows us how even years later the mistakes of our past can be a dragging weight on our new life. It's also a book about memories and how we lie to ourselves.
   
   This whole addict memoir thing is a way, WAY overcrowded market, but Carr, at least, manages to mine one last gasp from it.



2. I found the first half of this book quite confusing. Oh, it is written very well. Perhaps the problem is that I am a bit more used to nonfiction, just the facts, but the entire first half of this book is David Carr's memoir on what a mess up he was, with lots of drugs and alcohol. Maybe I was supposed to be confused, like in those movies about people with split personalities told from the 1st person. David was exploring how his memories were faulty, and well, of course they were, he was living a life of a heavy duty substance abuser. I found it very hard to read - I kept having flashbacks to my teenage years reading "GO ASK ALICE."
   
   The second part improved and was inspiring, and it read much better for me. Yes, there is hope even for the most confused among us. Really good can indeed come out of really rotten. Junkies can find great women and marry them and have very nice, even admirable lives and contribute a good deal to the world in spite of themselves.
   
   It is extremely well written and the accounts are crazy realistic and thought compelling. IF you are more interested in characters than facts,and love David Carr, or at least admire his work, I suspect you can easily follow it and enjoy it. If you are a fact person though,and tend to prefer linear thinking like me, don't be surprised if you struggle through the first 2-3 chapters and feel a bit like a deer in the headlights.



3. This memoir started with a great premise and a better opening salvo. The author is a recovered crack addict. When speaking to an old friend, he recalled the night the friend pulled a gun on him. The friend corrected him, telling him that he never owned a gun and that it was the author who had pulled the weapon. Great opening. From there the author, a NY Times reporter, decided to investigate his drug-addled life the way he would any other story. A terrific concept.
   
   Thus began an endless series of interviews with people whose first names only were given. The name thing made the book even more difficult to follow than it was already was as the chapters and interviews were not laid out chronologically. Most of the chapters (admittedly I only could get halfway through) were incredibly redundant. This not only diminished the enjoyment, but added to the confusion and muddle which drowned out the message. Every "friend", "fellow user" or dealer sounded the same after a while.
   
   The author was a bit disingenuous at times, also. Was it necessary to use only "Tom" when describing a large man who went to Hollywood and married "Roseanne" and produced her TV show? If he was going to call Tom Arnold out, he should have had the guts to name him outright.
   
   The book was a disappointment after it grabbed me so hard with the opening gun ambit. A good editor could have pared this down to make it a much tighter, and therefore more meaningful book. The author has a lot to say and a lot to say that could probably be helpful to those in his prior condition, those around addicts and who love them, and those who just want to know aboout addiction and its culture. Unfortunately, the message was subsumed by the repetitious minutae of countless redundant anecdotes presented in a haphazrd manner.



4. The premise of the book is an excellent one - the veracity of the memoirs of addicts tends to fall into A Million Little Pieces when examined too closely, so the writer applied his journalistic skills and, more importantly, his journalistic integrity to the story of his life as an addict. The result is compelling and interesting, a real page-turner.
   
   There are a few weird side effects, though.
   
   For starters, the book isn't in anything resembling chronological order. One chapter will occur years before the next, and people who show up in one chapter suddenly show up three chapters later in a different context without much explanation.
   
   There's also little by way of dialogue and the writer often stops to tell us how little he actual remembers about the events he just spent several paragraphs describing. It's refreshing to have a narrator come out and tell you just how unreliable they are, but it does make you wonder why you're bothering to read if the events described aren't trustworthy, and the lack of dialogue creates a pace that's a bit too steady.
   
   I would have preferred to see the book use a few different formats for presenting the interview information - if an interview was done on audio tape, give us a transcript instead of another set of paragraphs. If there were pictures taken, shows us pictures. I'm not asking for a hummingbirdlike movement from format to format, just a little variety. The source materials evidently there, so I don't know what the same approach was taken throughout.
   
   I know my copy's an advance readers copy, but there are a lot of spelling and formatting mistakes that should've been caught by any reasonable editor long beforehand as well.
   
   It's still worth a good read if you're in the mood for a memoir that'll move you, but buckle in. It's a bit of a bumpy ride.



5. Journalist David Carr remembers, many years ago, going to a friend's home so high on coke and so verbally and physically abusive that his friend was forced to pull a gun on him.
   
   Except, that isn't how it happened. As his friend relates many years later, David Carr was actually the one who pulled the gun -- all of which means that there are vast swaths of his life as a coke fiend (and crack fiend) that David Carr remembers incorrectly if at all.
   
   Driven by this realization, David Carr endeavors to "investigates" his own life as a junkie, reconstructing the facts based on interviews, court records, etc...
   
   So why just 4 stars?
   
   Certainly, the book has value. Carr handles prose well and some passages are exceptionally vivid. His descriptions of life in Eden House are especially memorable. Recovery addicts will especially ken to the strong sense of the familiar.
   
   That said, stories of this type almost invariably suffer from a certain self-centered and egotistical smugness and Night of the Gun is sadly not an exception. Just as it is a dicey proposition to condemn violence by showing violence, it is a labor to show junkie behavior without glorifying it. Ultimately, while lip service is paid to the damage that Carr causes along the way, the "path to salvation" angle gets most of the attention.
   
   Carr dug deeper. But not quite deep enough.

5 comments about Preschooler's Busy Book: 365 Creative Games & Activities To Occupy 3-6 Year Olds.

1. Love this book and it provides a lot of great ideas. I use this book to plan play dates, birthday parties, and to plan fun things to do while traveling and staying with family. We use it a lot and my daughter (and friends) really enjoy the projects. Some of the painting projects are ambitious, but the few that we tried were great fun.



2. I bought this book to help my younger children, ages 4 & 2, keep busy as I homeschooled the older ones. The activities were simple enough for them to do and very fun. We do several different activities a week and my children love it. The older ones try to join in, too! Most activities asked for ingredients that are common around the house so I didn't need to spend additional money accumulating ingredients. I recommend this book to anyone who has run dry of ideas to keep your preschooler busy.



3. I love this book. There are so many great activities that are easy to do to help keep your preschooler busy. I also have the toddler book and love that one. Great books!



4. My son enjoyed some of the activities in the toddler book, so I got this one too and had about the same reaction. There's a lot of good ideas in here to keep kids busy, but a lot of them need prep time. None of the activites they list are hard to do, but there aren't a lot of "spur of the moment" ideas. The best thing to do is to read the entire book, pick out 3-5 activities you think your child(ren) would like, and put the materials for those activities in a set place, like a box or a bin. When the kids get bored with those activities, go back to the book and start over. All in all I like this book series, it's got a lot of great ideas. Just expect to lay a little groundwork...



5. thank you for your good service. i was expecting my order to arrive in a much later date. thaks

5 comments about Foods to Fight Cancer: Essential foods to help prevent cancer.

1. I was expecting the book to talk about more foods than it did, but still overall some good information. Nice pictures and layout.



2. It is difficult to eat well when fighting cancer. This book makes it easy to understand simple changes to make and foods to include. When dealing with low energy, it helps to keep food inspiring, and to make it simple. The book is beautiful, and makes it easy to want to make healthier choices. I also love the companion book "cooking with foods to fight cancer."



3. This is an excellent book that goes into the hows and whys of the various anti-cancer foods. The book is filled with great info you won't easily find elsewhere, such as that not all Green Tea is the same when it comes to EGCG content (Japanese Green Tea has more than Chinese Green Tea). Why not swing the odds of living a long healthy life in your favor as much as possible? Eat the foods talked about in this book and you'll increase your odds of dodging the cancer bullet.



4. Foods to fight cancer is one of the best information regarding nutrition that either will help or prevent cancer. Richard Beliveau is one of the pioneer in actual research in laboratory regarding "foods".The book is well explained and fits with the new International seller called "anticancer" (David Schreiber) which I had the pleasure to read.(available in the USA in October 2008).



5. I really am enjoying this book. If you want to know the science behind the disease this is for you.

5 comments about Review Guide for RN Pre Entrance Exam, 2nd Edition (Review Guide for RN Pre-Entrance Exam).

1. This book is really helpful, and it goes back to the basics, but the only problem that I have is that they do not give an explanation for the wrong answers in the biology section, other than that it is really helpful..



2. I study the book from front to back and the pretest was nothing like the test. the test had nothing to do with nursing but I did recieve the book in a very timely manner and I was pleased with Amazon.com



3. Awesome resource to use prior to taking the NLN Nursing Entrance Exam. Very easy to read and understand. The answer key is very helpful because it explains the correct answer. The review and/or helpful hints in each introduction prior to each section of the exam was easy to follow. I recommend this textbook to anyone preparing to take the NLN Nursing Entrance Exam.



4. i just took the NLN yesterday and before we start, our instructor (head of the nursing dept) told us they just came out with a completely NEW test this Fall and i knew it was a bad news. the vocabularies in the book adds up to 9 pages long when i typed them up, i studied those words day and night. so when i opened the exam booklet--- NOT one word was on it. i was like omg i should have studied a SAT book for preparation and not relay on this book by M. McDonald. besides that the passages were easier than the ones in the book, same thing with math, it's easier. but for science, you really have to know what you've learned, this book didn't help much either. overall, look for a different book this book is way too outdated. don't waste your money and time studying it and end up going through what i went through. i've learned my lesson and i guess i'll waste another semester just to take the NLN again. Good luck to all of you, we all fight hard for this.



5. This book helped me a lot to prepare for the exam. It was very useful and covered the material very accurately. It helped my tremediously on the exam I would definitly recommend it to you.

5 comments about First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CK (First Aid USMLE).

1. This is a great book for both Med Students studying for Step II Boards and for PA Students getting ready for their National Boards.



2. Don't get me wrong; I love the paperback, but I bought this for my kindle,and was sorely disappointed. The tables (that make up the majority of the book) were not properly formatted for the e-book, and the arrows used to signify increases and decreases show up as question marks instead, as the kindle's text does not recognize those icons.



3. This is the only book you need for to crush Step 2. Packed with great facts. I read this book twice and did the usmleworld question bank and my score was nearly perfect. Take Step 2 early because residency programs are much, much more interested in your score than before. I saw my score circled and starred on several interviewers sheets. My friend is going into surgery and took his exam late; many of his programs were calling him to ask for a Step 2 score while rank lists were being prepared.



4. I got the book on time, but it did not have page 295 to 410.



5. I thought it helps out to sort through all the material, will not recomend this is your only book.

5 comments about Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World.

1. This book provides a wonderful look into the world of fungi and their properties. I bought the book after seeing the author in a video, and the book has fully lived up to my expectations.



2. This is an extremely easy read - with great examples on how mushrooms grow and how it can be commercialised. If you have an interest in this area, then this is the book to read. Would highly recommend it.



3. This is a book that should be on every gardener's bookshelf. You learn that there is far more to building soil than just adding compost. Inoculate the soil with mushrooms and you can harvest food while you improve your soil and everyone's environment. Get this book and don't just read it. Put it into practice and improve the world.



4. In an era in which everything seems to be going wrong, there is a beam of hope for the future. Author Paul Stamets' research, beautiful photographs, and articulated passion for fungi provide a framework for remediation of a significant number of the world's ills. Radiation leaks? Oil Spills? Running out of fossil fuels? Soil weak? Heck, termites invading your home? He's got an answer, and it's edible, to boot.
   
   Fascinating, accessible, and full of easily-applicable strategies, this book can transform your outlook on the future of the world.



5. I found out about Paul Stamets after someone passed me a link to a video over at google where he spoke at a sustainability conference (hint "paul stamets lohas"). By the end of the video, I knew I'd be reading more. I'm ~100 pages in and am in awe with how much good information is in here. Breadth and depth. I'm constantly telling my wife about something I've read.
   
   I'm a list maker and I really like easily accessible information. A good index, lots of charts and lists (though not simply as filler) make this book one that I'm sure I'll reference in the future.
   
   This is a "good book" in the sense that you don't mind telling people "no" if they take an interest and ask to borrow it.
   
   I wish Stamets had political connections or something because he could get a lot of meaningful work accomplished. I'm not saying that he hasn't been productive. In actuality, he seems to be extremely busy with all of his research and experiments. What I'm trying to say is, "imagine what this guy could accomplish with $100 million!"
   
   Since the above wish is unlikely, I'll settle for wishing Stamets a long and healthy life because I'm convinced his contributions are enough to save the world.
   
   Incredible.