Book Description
Listen to a short interview with Sudhir Venkatesh
Host: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane
In this revelatory book, Sudhir Venkatesh takes us into Maquis Park, a poor black neighborhood on Chicago's Southside, to explore the desperate, dangerous, and remarkable ways in which a community survives. We find there an entire world of unregulated, unreported, and untaxed work, a system of living off the books that is daily life in the ghetto. From women who clean houses and prepare lunches for the local hospital to small-scale entrepreneurs like the mechanic who works in an alley; from the preacher who provides mediation services to the salon owner who rents her store out for gambling parties; and from street vendors hawking socks and incense to the drug dealing and extortion of the local gang, we come to see how these activities form the backbone of the ghetto economy.
What emerges are the innumerable ways that these men and women, immersed in their shadowy economic pursuits, are connected to and reliant upon one another. The underground economy, as Venkatesh's subtle storytelling reveals, functions as an intricate web, and in the strength of its strands lie the fates of many Maquis Park residents. The result is a dramatic narrative of individuals at work, and a rich portrait of a community. But while excavating the efforts of men and women to generate a basic livelihood for themselves and their families, Off the Books offers a devastating critique of the entrenched poverty that we so often ignore in America, and reveals how the underground economy is an inevitable response to the ghetto's appalling isolation from the rest of the country.
Customer Reviews:
Sociology for the masses.......2007-08-16
Off The Books is a fine, readable description of one neighborhood in the south side if Chicago. The concentration is on the economic life of the adults, but of course ends up covering social, political, and legal aspects of the residents. There's enough gritty detail to keep up the reader's voyeuristic interest in "the baddest part of town", and enough highfalutin scholarly language to maintain academic respectability.
The author has consciously used his ethnicity, neither white nor Black, to learn the deals, the arrangements, the profits and losses of participants in the underground economy of his chosen subject area. It's an interesting subject, honorably researched and respectably presented. Minus two stars for dragging things out, and sloppy English. Definitely recommended if this is your field. Might be good for a general reader.
Interesting.......2007-07-09
This book is an easy read and very informative. A lot of things you know already if you even grew up close to a city with an urban center, and you can relate this to a lot of cities other than Chicago. The author is a little long winded, but you'll understand why when you read the book.
A tedious 382 pages.......2007-07-07
Mr. Venkatesh obviously immersed himself in the daily life of the urban poor, and certainly has an interesting five page journal article here, unfortunately he also has an addional382 pages of tedious, repetitive anecdotes from his time interviewing the urban poor. After reading a story about someone illegally repairing a car in an alley for the 100th time (probably not an exaggeration) you start to feel like you are not really getting the full scope of the story.
The limited use of any facts or survey data make this book less useful than it could have been if it were not so focused on anecdotes with little contextual data.
The Author Needs to Prioritize.......2007-05-29
Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh has the potencial for a really good book here, but he mucks it up by switching back and forth between being an objective social scientist reporting his findings and a sympathetic visitor to the urban American slum. His digressions into obscure and arcane points of academic theory interrupt the narrative flow and make the book a tedious read at times.
With that minor quibble stated however, Off the Books is a very enlightening survey of the seemingly intractable problems facing the population of America's ghettos. I highly recommend it to the people who promote laissez-faire economic policies as a cure-all for urban social pathologies.
Fantastic.......2007-05-04
I thought Off the Books was fascinating and well written. I've recommended it to many people.
Customer Reviews:
Helpful Resource.......2006-07-19
The book is a helpful resource, especially if you've used the QRI4, which was written by the authors of this text. Includes some useful charts, diagrams, and a booklist.
A must have for reading specialists!.......2005-09-11
This book is a great resource for specific strategies matched to your IRI results. It suggests practical strategies and intervention models to meet the needs of your struggling readers. Each chapter contains specific strategies for each component of an IRI. This is a great asset to include in your professional library for reading specialists and other professionals who administer IRIs and plan instruction based on those results.
Book Description
Since the publication of the First Edition over thirty years ago, Div, Grad, Curl, and All That has been widely renowned for its clear and concise coverage of vector calculus, helping science and engineering students gain a thorough understanding of gradient, curl, and Laplacian operators without required knowledge of advanced mathematics. The Fourth Edition has been carefully revised and now includes updated notations and seven new example exercises.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book!.......2007-08-25
This book really nailed out the nuts and bolts of vector calculus. A must have for anybody taking an electricity and magnetism class in physics at the same time as multivariable calculus.
easy to read.......2007-06-13
good reference book for people who want to study mechanical engineering
Positives/Negatives of Div,Grad,Curl.......2007-05-19
The book was easy to read and learn from. It draws parallels with electric field "stuff" which really adds to the understanding you gain from the math discussions, even if you are not already familiar with electric fields. The book provides concise discussions on the div, grad, and curl operators; however, it is not organized like a reference book or text book (e.g. it lacks tables of these operators expressed in cylindrical and spherical coordinates). I highly recommend reading through this book if you are at all confused about what div, grad, and curl are, the differences between them, or why you should be interested in them.
Should be a required textbook for all freshman/sophomore physics and engineering students.......2007-02-17
Simply put, this book provides the best explanation of the gradient, the divergence, and the curl in any book I've seen. It really should be a required reference/text for every physics and engineering program in the country. All the mathematics is here, but the author also lucidly explains in words and diagrams the physical meaning of these three operations. Many students learn how to manipulate these operations, but they often have trouble understanding exactly what they mean. This book is easy to read (how many textbooks can you say that about?) and there are lots of problems to illustrate key points after each chapter. The author uses the mathematical formalism to solve some basic problems in electrostatics to provide real-world examples. After working through this book, you'll not only be able to calculate the curl of a vector function, you'll know exactly what it means.
Great way to learn your basics!.......2007-01-03
I had three years of higher-level calculus between my BS and MS in mechanical engineering, and none of these classes have explained the concepts in this book with such clarity and accessibility. The sample problems at the end of each chapter cement the concepts just learned. For me, they were just challenging enough to test and hone my skills, but not so crazy that I felt like I was stroking some intellectual ego instead of learning practical concepts.
I highly recommend it to people of similar backgrounds as myself--people with already decent math backgrounds, but who need to hone their vector calculus skills to enter the world of physics, electrical engineering, fluid mechanics, continuum mechanics, or anything else along those lines (lines! Hah! Pun!). I feel like this book was written just for me! Are there really that many of us?
One tip on this book--get serious with it, and you will really cement your skills. Do the problems, for real--work them out with pencil and paper; don't just skim them while you watch TV. They are, as I've said, challenging enough to be rewarding, but none are the type that would send you sobbing to your prof in office hours. Suck it up, fix yourself a nice cup of tea, get your dog to sit with you, and go for it! It's well worth the effort.
Amazon.com
As much as 10% of the American economy, and perhaps more, is comprised of illegal "underground" enterprises, according to author and Atlantic Monthly correspondent Eric Schlosser. And while this segment is never discussed in the newspaper business pages, Schlosser tackles it with the same in-depth analysis and compulsive readability that made his Fast Food Nation a best seller. Reefer Madness spotlights marijuana, migrant labor, and pornography, three of the most thriving black market industries, and analyzes the often-tenuous place each holds in society as a whole. While each of the three could be the subject of its own book, Schlosser keeps his scope narrow by concentrating on the lives of the participants in the underground economy, especially Mark Young, an Indiana man given a life sentence for participating in a marijuana sale, and Ohio porn magnate Reuben Sturman. At just 21 pages, the treatment of migrant laborers in the California strawberry fields is dealt with more briefly but is just as compelling thanks to the first-person narrative of Schlosser's investigation. In telling these stories, which are both personal and universal, Schlosser deftly explores the manner in which his subjects are treated (and punished) compared to others in more above-ground ventures. Along the way, he asks hard questions as to what that treatment says about America. Schlosser writing is passionately opinionated, but this is no mere opinion piece: his perspective is amply supported by extensive research and clearly reasoned interpretation of data. His direct and forceful writing style makes the impact greater still. After reading Reefer Madness, readers are likely to be shocked, appalled, and flat-out bewildered by what's happening in the cracks and crevices of American business. --John Moe
Book Description
America's black market is much larger than we realize, and it affects us all deeply, whether or not we smoke pot, rent a risqu video, or pay our kids" nannies in cash. In Reefer Madness the best-selling author of Fast Food Nation turns his exacting eye on the underbelly of the American marketplace and its far-reaching influence on our society. Exposing three American mainstays pot, porn, and illegal immigrants Eric Schlosser shows how the black market has burgeoned over the past several decades. He also draws compelling parallels between underground and overground: how tycoons and gangsters rise and fall, how new techonology shapes a market, how government intervention can reinvigorate black markets as well as mainstream ones, and how big business learns and profits from the underground. Reefer Madness is a powerful investigation that illuminates the shadow economy and the culture that casts that shadow.
Customer Reviews:
Reefer Madness - A Must Read.......2007-04-23
Reefer Madness is divided into three chapters. The first is about marijuana, the second is about cheap labor with illegal immigrants and the third is on [....]. The author writes this book based on the United States "black market". He gives somewhat of a biography on these 3 topics, which I feel is helpful for those, like myself, who are not aware of their history.
The first chapter is focused on marijuana. Schlosser provides interviews with many people who have had encounters with marijuana. Living in California, I have found it amazing to hear the penalties for marijuana use in other states. In chapter one for example, a man was arrested for possesion of 1.6 grams of marijuana, enough for a large joint. Living in Michigan, he received 14 months in jail. The second section is focused on cheap labor, or illegal immigrants in Guadalupe, California. Schlosser focuses on harvesting strawberries:the difficulty of it and hard labor that is being underpaid. The third and final section was the longest of the three. It focused on an underground [...] king Reuben Sturman.
I very muched enjoyed reading this book. If you liked Fast Food Nation, than Reefer Madness is a must read.
Don't Judge the Book By The Title!.......2007-04-16
"Reefer Madness", by Eric Schlosser is written in three main sections. There is a section on the underground marijuana trade, the migrant labor trade and the porn industry.
Unlike many reviewers, I think the author made a wonderful point. All three activities are illegal, yet they thrive and produce copious amounts of profits for the people involved. Often that profit is taken at the expense of the workers, and they do not share in this bounty. His theme is that if these activities were legalized, or regulated, they would produce income for the country at little harm to society.
I do think the author made a mistake in incorporating the three subjects together in the same book. While well written, the thread that holds the three together in tenuous, at best, and he would have made a better choice by examining each of the subjects, in more detail, in separate books. That is the reason I gave the book only three stars.
The writing is clear, and the research is unmistakably that of Eric Schlosser. I would recommend the book if you want to learn more abut each of these underground activates or if you are a fan of the author. It is also a good boo to be used to stir up discussion on any of the three subjects, or all three at once.
What an eye opener.......2007-01-10
This book makes some really great points about the underground economy and how much it affects this country.
Fascinating.......2006-11-30
Don't be fooled by the title. This is not some hippie counter culture drug book. It is a beautifully written scholarly examination of the underbelly of the American Society.
The main theme of the book is centered around the underground economy. The author argues, by examining the underground economy of any society, one can see a more accurate and telling picture of the society as a whole. Just as individuals have public and private personas that are often in conflict, so can a society. The book focuses on the American culture and legal system.
It is broken up into three essays: first an examination of the history of marijuana use and the war on drugs; second, an examination of the treatment of migrant workers; finally, an examination of pornography and obscenity laws.
The threads tying these seemingly disparate subjects are sometimes blatant, sometimes subtle, but always telling. By examining how the American society deals with these issues, one can draw clear corollaries to better understand how we deal with other controversial issues facing our nation including abortion, abuse of government powers, privacy, the war, etc.. It is the examination of the rationality (or lack there of) of our policies regarding these three topics, and the ethics with which those policies are implemented, that we are left with a scathing commentary on the seemingly schizophrenic nature of the American culture and value system.
Putting a magnifying glass up to American society........2006-06-11
What are three of the perpetual hot button issues of 21st century American politics? Commercialized sex, illegal drugs and cheap labor would probably common choices of many citizens. Eric Schlosser examines the magnitude, origins, visibility, commonality and manifestations of these three mainstays of the American scene.
The book is divided into three chapters, each dedicated to one of these hot-button topics. The chapter on commercialized sex examines the history of prostitution, pornography, and the recent spread of nudie bars and topless bars in the USA over the last 100 years plus. Schlosser examines the origins of peep shows, the first girlie magazines pre-Cold War, goes over the founding of Playboy and Penthouse, and the current spread of pornography over the Internet. The chapter on drugs examines the history of marijuana primarily, with some side notes on the meth plague, cocaine, and other drugs to have swept thru the American street scene. The chapter on cheap labor examines migrant and illegal labor including child labor and sweathouse labor. Both industrial and agricultural labor are included. This chapter is a natural extension of Schlosser's first book: Fast Food Nation, in that it covers the practices of slaughterhouses and farms, and extends into factories not related to food.
Overall, a good book and worthy reading. Anyone in high school or above should find this book accessible, and enjoyable.
Book Description
Most learning on the job is informal. This book offers advice on how to support, nurture, and leverage informal learning and helps trainers to go beyond their typical classes and programs in order to widen and deepen heir reach. The author reminds us that we live in a new, radically different, constantly changing, and often distracting workplace. He guides us through the plethora of digital learning tools that workers are now accessing through their computers, PDAs, and cell phones.
Customer Reviews:
Highly Recommended.......2007-03-26
Jay Cross has written an invaluable book here for many reasons.
It can be hard to face up to, but the medieval basis of our education is suddenly and starkly out of touch with the needs of a post-network society. After reading this book, it's hard not to face up to that fact, because we now have a compelling, if nascent, alternative. The web enables a wholly different, but infinitely more effective approach to learning - through self-direction, and peer collaboration, motivated by individual choice, for example. As Jay points out, given the complexity and pace of change of 21st century life, we simply must change. (I have an 8 year -old daughter in school and it pains me to see what she's going through when it will all become obsolete in just a few years.) He outlines a kind of proto-pedagogical alternative, taking 'natural' learning as its starting point. He blends online/offline ideas with ideas from design, motivational psychology, etc, but is careful not to lose sight of learning objectives.
As an educator/trainer of over 20 years myself, I believe the book succeeds. Jay isn't a tremendous stylist, nor are his ideas wildly original, but he does exactly what is needed. He makes the case for alternative approaches to learning in a clear and simple way with plenty of diagrams, and examples. Although his focus is on corporate training, rather than traditional education, the implications reverberate. He brings years of training experience, together with an optimistic outlook to practice what he preaches. Having read his blog o ver the course of severalk months it has left it's makr on my own
The book is almost a metaphor for the kinds of challenge we face: hard to pin down, constantly changing, yet sometimes so obvious that we fail to see the significance. Jay doesn't have all the answers because that is the kind of (medieval) certainty he cautions against. He has brought an important discussion into the light of day. I don't know anyone who wouldn't benefit from this book.
Ken Carroll
Cycling to knowledge.......2007-01-03
Formal learning is like riding a bus, it goes, starts and stops when & where someone else decides (bus driver and urban transport committee) - informal learning is then like riding a bicycle, you choose the time, route and destination.
Way more learning happens in the coffee room than the classroom, but firms continue to spend way more on formal training than informal learning - there is a huge disconnect right there. The theme is similar in KM - formal structured tools, top-down mandates, ROI and the smells of project management dominance, do little to enhance agility, awareness, creativity, shared understanding and meaning - which add the real value.
Jay talks about unblended learning, emergence, grokking, envisioning, unconferencing, connecting, conversation, community, web2.0 and JDI (just do it). He makes the point that classes are dead, that every learner needs to cultivate an ecology, share via voicing, communicate using stories and build common text by collaborative editing (wikis).
Jay has written this timely book in the form of short stories and vignettes, recounting his experiences and perspectives. I did not find much new stuff, although there are many interesting examples and truths, but Jay managed to hit the high spots so often, I was nodding in agreement as I read along. Clearly we all have to assume responsibility for our own awareness, learning and critical inquiry. Jay neatly illustrates the tools, hints at the practices (which need more refinement) and paints the landscape.
http://informl.com/
10 Things I Like About This Book.......2006-12-17
First, a bit of context: I'm a seasoned (30+ years) practitioner in the field of leadership development, organizational learning, design and change. I've come to see that the work of transforming our organizations to new levels of consciousness, effectiveness and sustainability rests on our skill as practitioners and leaders in achieving a breakthrough an organization's capacity to learn how to learn--to be responsive to ever-increasing challenges and ever-increasing rates of change.
I've long been aware of the high cost and relative ineffectiveness of conventional "butts-in-seats" approaches to individual and organizational learning. The accelerating emergence of relevant learning strategies, methods, technologies and tools over the past decade has been encouraging--necessary but not sufficient. Jay Cross' wonderfully crafted Informal Learning constitutes a major breakthrough for all who care about transforming the organizations they serve.
10 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THIS BOOK --
1. It does a magnificent job of explaining how we actually learn. It turns much "conventional wisdom" on its head. It provides us a cornucopia of innovative ideas for how to stimulate a culture of learning and innovation throughout an organization.
2. It's clear, clean and creatively written/formatted. I was pulled into and through the book by Jay's open, straight-talking, conversational style. His use of a variety of illustrations and juicy sidebar tidbits kept luring me to go just a bit further. The accessibility of information is superb.
3. It's alive. It's up-to-the minute and it anticipates a future where organizations are becoming increasingly alive and conscious because they've mastered the art of encouraging and nurturing informal learning.
4. Jay has distilled hard-earned wisdom from a rich collection of experts and pioneers--transformation-minded innovators and practitioner-theorists who I deeply respect--infinite players such as John Seely Brown, Etienne Wenger, David Cooperrider, Juanita Brown, David Sibbet, Verna Allee, Bruce Cryer and George Leonard.
5. Informal Learning is extraordinarily comprehensive and discerning. Jay has cast a wide net and presented us with only that which is value-adding. He has separated the wheat from the chaff.
6. It's an out-of-the-box paradigm-shifting book. He shakes up our traditional ways of thinking about learning, training and education in organizations. Informal Learning provides a variety of cures for "hardening of the categories."
7. It challenges and supports HR and Training departments to multiply their effectiveness in promoting and sustaining a vibrant informal learning culture. It provides pragmatic guidance in creative ways of weaving the work of people development throughout the fabric of an organization's operations.
8. It both challenges all organizational leaders to take direct responsibility for creating and maintaining an environment--a "learnscape"--where informal learning will naturally take root and flourish. It then provides a plethora of ideas for how to make that a reality.
9. I can easily visualize a number of generative ways of planting this book in organizations--ways that will cause relevant ideas to germinate, take root, grow and spread.
10. Best of all, Jay has built a strong case for treating an organization's approach to learning as a potential core business strategy. As we move into an era of ever-increasing change, an organization's capacity to learn and to innovate will become increasingly crucial to it's sustainability.
So -- Thank you, Jay Cross! Your book is a great piece of work--a major contribution to the world of organizations, leadership development, organizational design, learning and change. Leaders and practitioners everywhere will gain much by accessing and experimenting with the many ideas and insights you have provided us in this book.
Informality at its best.......2006-04-15
Informal Learning begins with a discussion of how the passage of time is accelerating. The 21st century will see the experience of 20,000 old 20th century years. That said, I'm hardly surprised to find this book on Amazon, eight months before it will be published. (I'm still editing the copy.)
As long as you're here, I'll share what the book is going to be about. People learn how to do their jobs informally - talking, observing others, trial-and-error, and simply working with people in the know. Formal training and workshops account for only 10% to 20% of what people learn at work. Most corporations over-invest in formal training while neglecting more natural, simple ways to learn.
Learning is that which enables you to participate successfully in life, at work, and in the groups that matter to you. Informal learning is the unofficial, unscheduled, impromptu way people learn to do their jobs.
Learning is adaptation. Taking advantage of the double meaning of the word network, to learn is to optimize the quality of one's networks.
Executives don't want learning; they want execution. They want performance. Informal learning is a profit strategy. Companies are using informal learning to:
* Improve knowledge worker productivity 20% - 30%
* Increase sales by Google-izing product knowledge
* Generate fresh ideas and increase innovation
* Transform an organization from disaster to record profits
* Reduce stress, absenteeism, and healthcare costs
* Invest development resources for maximum impact impact
* Increase professionalism and professional growth
* Cut costs and improve responsiveness with self-service learning
Training is something that's pushed on you; learning is something you choose to do. Many a knowledge worker will tell you, "I love to learn but I hate to be trained." Knowledge workers thrive when given the freedom to decide how they will do what they're asked to do. They rise or fall to meet expectations.
Informal Learning is about challenging workers (and executives) to be all they can be.
Book Description
This popular supplement is widely used by preservice and inservice teachers to assess or test students' reading progress. Its key features are a unique K-12 scope and numerous strategies for assessing students' vocabulary, phonics, and comprehension of text.
The book's clear instructions help teachers administer, score, and interpret tests. Its perforated, punched, spiralbound format makes it easy to use in one-to-one teacher-student testing situations. All passages and word lists in this reliable supplement have been field-tested over numerous editions.
Customer Reviews:
Inaccurate.......2007-04-25
This test isn't very accurate and it takes forever to do. I bought the book for an IRI project I had in class. Some of the scoring issues are not clear and students may score lower when they just don't feel like reading or if they don't feel like paying attention. This may be true for other tests also, but is much more apparent with this. It may be good to use this book as an assessment tool, but do not use the test scores when it comes to the student's records or IEP.
A good purchase--a keeper for teachers / students.......2007-03-09
I'm finding the IRI to be a useful tool to authentically assess reading level and abilities. I'm thinking it would be tough to learn how to administer this without guidance--I'm using in for a Master's Level Reading/Teaching class so lots of discussion and instruction in class to support reading the text as well. Maybe even worth the $60???
Out of context, lack of content, innaccurate test.......2005-04-08
The IRI takes segments of various outdated texts and provides a scoring system for educators to follow. When taken out of context, most of the passages do not make sense & are hard to follow/comprehend. The preprimer and primar level stories have no content & then expect children to recall information & "the main idea" when there is no "main idea". There is a huge jump in the vocabulary from third to fourth grade. The texts for the upper grades are hard to follow.
I administered this assessment on one of my students, as I was required to do so for a graduate course. I believe the results were NOT INDICATIVE of what this child is cabable of doing.
I administered this IRI to friends with graduate degrees who are highly educated and well read. Apparently, the 10th grade text is well beyond their frustration levels. When a friend quarried me about the section from Irene Hunt's Across Five Aprils, I apparently can't comprehend it because I didn't provide the right answers for the out of context passage. Nevermind that I read this book over 20 yrs ago and clearly remember the plot, the main character & the anti-war themes of the novel - a book that was easy for me as a child. I remember my book report & the diligent illustrations for the report. According to the test, eighth grade texts are well beyond my frustration level, even though I was reading college textbooks by the age of ten.
Besides, the anarchronistic aspect of the novel makes it difficult for most typical eighth grader to comprehend.
As a reader of sophisticated speculative fiction, magic realism and expository text, and as an educator and therapist for children with special needs, I found this folio of informal assessment a complete waste of time (and money on my $2000 graduate course).
I will stick to developing my own assessments.
Outdated!.......2004-03-08
I have been using the Burns Roe inventories for the past seven years in my elementary classes and Reading Tutor program. I find that while some of the passages are good, others are very difficult to use. The vocabulary in some passages is very outdated (like the use of the terms "bookmobile," "fife," and "roof slates"). Also, there are many stories that present situations and topics very unknown to second language learners. I also do not like that the passages are excerpts from stories, with no apparent starting points or endings. In fact, I feel that I can only successfully use two or three of the passages for each level, since the others do not give me a true reflection of students' reading comprehension.
Another problem I have is with the word lists. There is a tremendous jump in word difficulty from Level 3 to Level 4. Most of my students can read Level 5 words more easily that those in level 4. To go from words like "yellow" and "welcome" to "ancient" and "government" is a bit much.
Overall, I think that the format of the inventory is good. I just think it is time to add new, up-to-date, and less confusing passages.
Outdated!.......2004-03-08
I have been using the Burns Roe inventories for the past seven years in my elementary classes and Reading Tutor program. I find that while some of the passages are good, others are very difficult to use. The vocabulary in some passages is very outdated (like the use of the terms "bookmobile," "fife," and "roof slates"). Also, there are many stories that present situations and topics very unknown to second language learners. I also do not like that the passages are excerpts from stories, with no apparent starting points or endings. In fact, I feel that I can only successfully use two or three of the passages for each level, since the others do not give me a true reflection of students' reading comprehension.
Another problem I have is with the word lists. There is a tremendous jump in word difficulty from Level 3 to Level 4. Most of my students can read Level 5 words more easily that those in level 4. To go from words like "yellow" and "welcome" to "ancient" and "government" is a bit much.
Overall, I think that the format of the inventory is good. I just think it is time to add new, up-to-date, and less confusing passages.
Book Description
The Third Edition of The Stieglitz Informal Reading Inventory, known as the SIRI, continues to offer a simple and clear approach to reading assessment. This inventory can be used in a variety of educational settings allowing teachers with limited or no experience with informal reading inventories can easily administer this instrument. Those with more skill can take advantage of the SIRI's numerous diagnostic options to examine specific reading behaviors in word recognition and comprehension. Section One provides an introduction to the SIRI. Section Two describes procedures for initial administration and scoring of the SIRI. The diagnostic options of the SIRI are presented in Section Three for the examiner who wishes to go beyond the initial administration and obtain additional information on students' reading behaviors. Section Four contains a collection of student test materials, and Section Five includes copies of forms needed to record the results. Finally, Section Six presents information and technical data on the development and validation of the SIRI. Language Arts teachers at the elementary and secondary levels.
Customer Reviews:
Evy Stieglitz.......2002-12-04
I love this book and I reccomend it to anyone and everyone. I am a better reader because of this book. A must for all teachers.
Look for me in the acknowledgments section of the book.
This is great in assessing a student's reading abilities........1999-04-18
This is a wonderful way to determine how a student's reading abilities are coming along. The book explains the procedures clearly enough that any teacher can use the inventory. There is a wide variety of information that can be discovered about the children with reading difficulties when using this inventory. The book is not for students below the first grade reading level, but works well for second grade or higher.
This book is excellent many useful informal assessment tools.......1998-08-31
This information is very useful in my classroom. I teach language arts for students with learning disabilities. I like the different approaches to assessing rerading and language skills.
Average customer rating:
- The ONLY college textbook that I STILL READ!
- A good intro book
- The best book about good vs. unfair rhetoric I've seen.
|
With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies
S. Morris Engel
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Logic & Language
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Logic
| Pure Mathematics
| Mathematics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Logic
| Pure Mathematics
| Mathematics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Nonfiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Reference Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Reference
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Religion & Spirituality
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Nonsense: A Handbook of Logical Fallacies
-
A Rulebook for Arguments
-
Critical Thinking
-
Attacking Faulty Reasoning: Practical Guide to Fallacy-Free Arguments, 5th Edition
-
Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking
ASIN: 0312157584 |
Customer Reviews:
The ONLY college textbook that I STILL READ!.......2006-04-26
After being given the assignment(s) to read and execute the assigned problem sets in WITH GOOD REASON, I decided that this text ALONE was worth all of the thousands upon thousands of dollars I spent on my college education. It changed my life! No longer did I flounder trying to support my 'intuitive' ideas about life, I was now armed (and considerably more dangerous -- ie: effective) with the tools of discernment, brilliantly illuminated by Dr. Engel.
THANK YOU Dr. Engel!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, ad infinum!
My degree work in math, physics, and fine art, paled in their importance to what I learned from Dr.Engel's succinct discourse of informal fallacies. I finished in 1989 and as the tag line stated, I still read and proseletyze from this book-- in fact, I am writing and producing a radio show on informal fallacies based upon WITH GOOD REASON. The show is slated as THINK AGAIN! and will premiere within the next 3 months on RBNLive.com. (today is 4/25/86 ).
I am replacing my well worn, weathered, rubber-banded copy of WITH GOOD REASON with a brand spanking new copy... I encourage EVERYONE to read this book, and more importantly, lobby all school boards to make this book a mandatory course prior to graduating from high school-- yes-- HIGH SCHOOL! Our children need this book.
**If anyone out there in the internet ether knows how to contact Dr.Engel, please contact me, Barbara, at RBN (800)313-9443. Thank you!
BUY IT! (And donate as many as possible to the school districts in your area!!) This is serious business- no one is teaching kids how to think or discern "what is reasonable and what is not".
A good intro book.......2004-05-03
Engel begins this book with a general discussion about what logic and argument are/aren't, and about how language impacts the manner in which arguments are formed and understood. He then delves into the informal fallacies, which he divides into three categories: (1) fallacies of ambiguity, which seem to be more misuse/abuse of language than actual fallacies of logic; (2) fallacies of presumption (e.g., hasty generalization, begging the question, slippery slope); and (3) fallacies of relevance (e.g., ad hominem, appeal to authority).
The explanations use clear, simple language that would be appropriate for high-school reading levels and above. As a graduate student, I found this to be an easy but engaging read.
I have two complaints about the book. First, Engel uses many examples from the real world--which is good--but the fallacies in these examples tend to be too obvious. It would be good to start out with obviously fallacious arguments and then move onto more subtle/complicated examples. Second, there are exercises at the end of each chapter where the reader can put his/her new knowledge to work, but answers are given for only a few of the questions in these exercises, which was frustrating.
In summary, this is a good, easily-read introduction to logic. It both prepares and encourages the reader to continue studying logical fallacies, but don't expect to be an expert at identifying fallacies when you're done with this book.
The best book about good vs. unfair rhetoric I've seen........1999-10-08
I collect books about fallacies. With Good Reason is definitely the best of the 32 such books I've accumulated so far. His explanations are very clear, and he covers important subject matter ignored by other authors, such as fallacies caused by vagueness and ambiguity.
Book Description
This is an introductory guide to the basic principles of constructing good arguments and criticizing bad ones. It is nontechnical in its approach, and is based on 150 key examples, each discussed and evaluated in clear, illustrative detail. The author explains how errors, fallacies, and other key failures of argument occur. He shows how correct uses of argument are based on sound argument strategies for reasoned persuasion and critical questions for responding. Among the many subjects covered are: techniques of posing, replying to, and criticizing questions, forms of valid argument, relevance, appeals to emotion, personal attack, uses and abuses of expert opinion, problems in deploying statistics, loaded terms, equivocation, and arguments from analogy.
Customer Reviews:
Great start for everyone.......2006-08-06
This book is really impressive. Although I would not state that it is a "beginner's course" to argumentation, it is certainly for those seeking to understanding argumentation in all its forms in a friendly and accessible format. Further, this book's greatest strength is its use of examples and situational argumentation from present day. Through the use of many examples, the reader is able to better grasp each point the author seeks to make. Each argumentation style is properly illustrated with a helpful example. After one reading, I was able to listen to people in discussion or argument and identify fallacies or validities.
If you are seeking a book that catalogs many of the most common uses of argumentation, and their limitations, then this is the book for you. Further, this is a great book for anyone trying to understand the gap between deduction and induction!
Don't You Agree That No Right Thinking Person Would Find Fault With This Book?.......2006-03-13
The title is an example of overly aggressive questioning and a fallacious attempt to end debate by labeling anyone who disagrees a dunce. In a courtroom the question would be disallowed on the legal grounds that it is argumentative. In the newsroom, the boardroom, and just about any other type of room where people gather to discuss issues, that type of question is asked every day.
Walton clearly (but ponderously) explains why questions of this type (and questions and arguments of many other types) are just plain wrong and shouldn't be tolerated. He not only explains why they're wrong, unlike other books on informal logic that I've read, he gives advice on how to answer them.
As a professional who spent 32 years asking questions and making arguments in a courtroom, I wish that I had read this book at the beginning of my career rather than at the end.
Walton does tend to beat a dead horse, however. Although repetition is the surest method of teaching, as a rule of thumb, three repetitions of a point should suffice.
One other minor quibble. He is occasionally guilty of faulty analysis himself. In analyzing the hunter/anti-hunter debate, he said that the hunter's reply about meat eaters being in a poor position to criticize hunting was a weak argument. He found very little parallel between slaughtering innocent wild animals and eating hamburgers. The parallel is this: The objective of hunting is to eat what you kill. (If you're not dedicated to this proposition, stay out of the woods). In order to eat the hamburger, somebody has to slaughter the innocent cow for you. The difference between the hamburger eating anti-hunter and the venison eating hunter is who killed the food and whether they did it for sport or a paycheck.
Informal Logic.......2004-02-26
I think tis book did help me to thunk better. i can now buy some stuff and not be ripped off. Because i did'nt understand all of it, i doesnt matter because i tried and it gave me confident to not be ripped off.
Informal Logic.......2004-02-26
I think tis book did help me to thunk better. i can now buy some stuff and not be ripped off. Because i did'nt understand all of it, i doesnt matter because i tried and it gave me confident to not be ripped off.
Some of Walton's Best Work.......2002-08-15
Douglas Walton is the most prolific writer on the subject of logical fallacies, and this book is a distillation of many years of teaching and writing on the subject up to 1989. While it presages his more recent theoretical works in the pragma-dialectical tradition such as A Pragmatic Theory of Fallacy and The New Dialectic, you will get in this book an approach with substantial points of contact with good recent approaches like Govier's ARG approach to argument appraisal, or Damer's extension of it (which in the latest version of his Attacking Faulty Reasoning drifts a bit more in the pragma-dialectical tradition).
I found his discussions to be quite illuminating. They are much more subtle than most, and he brings to bear on fallacy analysis a far richer toolbox of techniques drawn from logic, as well as rhetoric and communications studies.
That being said, I don't think this would make a good text for an undergraduate course in critical thinking or informal logic--the methodology is too still too idiosyncratic, the distinctions too subtle. I'd go with Zachary Seech or Trudy Govier rather than Walton. On the other hand, this would be a good book for upper-level courses in informal logic for communication studies or journalism students.
I think it deserves a place in the library of anyone teaching this material, but it's not the best place for someone approaching this material fresh to start at.
Book Description
Only Yesterday deals with that delightful decade from the Armistice in November 1918 to the panic and depression of 1929-30. Here is the story of Woodrow Wilson's defeat, the Harding scandals, the Coolidge prosperity, the revolution in manners and morals, the bull market and its smash-up. Allen's lively narrative brings back an endless variety of half-forgotten events, fashions, crazes, and absurdities. Deftly written, with a humorous touch, Only Yesterday traces, beneath the excitements of day-to-day life in the 20s, those currents in national life and thought which are the essence of true history.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic Book .......2007-08-27
Its a shame most writers today do not possess such an impeccable vocabulary.
Very well written.
A great reference on the 1920s!.......2007-07-08
This is a great historical book, written shortly after the 1920s was over. It gives a great overall history of the 1920s in America. The author specifically focuses on the great bull market and how that eventually caused the Great Depression to occur. It's a great read, even if it was written shortly after the 1920s was over (sometimes historians have a greater bias the closer they are to an event they are writing about). I really enjoyed this book and if you are interested in this time period, you will enjoy it too.
Forgotten Disasters Again.......2007-06-30
I have been reading a lot about the 20's for some time. Why is it that everybody mentions the Miami hurricane of 1926 but forgets the Tri-State tornado of 1925 and the Mississippi floods of 1927?
Some 625 people were killed in the tornado. It remains the single most destructive tornado in our record books. The flood displaced over 700,000 people and continued for almost six months.
Mr Allen has put together a fine narrative but it has some gaps. See...
The Tri-State Tornado: The Story of America's Greatest Tornado Disaster
And...
Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
Excellent reference.......2007-06-06
I purchased this book mainly as research for a novel I am writing set in the time period. I expected to wade through a lot of tedious history but what I found was a great perspective of the era written just after it occurred. Insightful, packed with useful informatin, I couldn't have asked for a better guide through the roaring 20s.
Be Careful, folks.......2007-05-05
It is mandatory that while you are reading this book you realize the time period that it was written in. I would take everything it says with a grain of salt, especially if it was something about women's history. Here is an actual quotation from the book:
"The revolution [in manners and morals] was accelerated . . . by the growing independence of the American woman. She won the suffrage in 1920. She seemed, it is true, to be very little interested in it once she had it; she voted, but mostly as the unregenerate men about her did . . . Few of the younger women could rouse themselves to even a passing interest in politics: to them it was a sordid and futile business, without flavor and without hope. Nevertheless, the winning of the suffrage had its effect. It consolidated woman's position as man's equal"
Obviously this was not true but the way it speaks of women is a good reflection of what was felt at the time. So do not read this as a reliable history text. Rather, read it as a book of its time so you can understand what was widely believed during that era. I would find a more recent and reliable book about that era to get the real facts.
Books:
- On Call In Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story
- Organization Theory and Design
- Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Reality and Challenges (with InfoTrac®)
- Organizational Behavior with Student CD and OLC/PowerWeb card
- Organizational Behavior with Student CD and OLC/PowerWeb card
- Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock (A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts)
- Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating Health Promotion Programs: A Primer (4th Edition)
- Planning Programs for Adult Learners: A Practical Guide for Educators, Trainers, and Staff Developers, 2nd Edition
- Quick Guide to the 16 Personality Types in Organizations: Understanding Personality Differences in the Workplace
- Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Bad Kitty
- The Professional Bachelor Dating Guide - How to Exploit Her Inner Psycho
- Paraoxonase
- Structure and Transport Properties in Organized Polymeric Materials
- The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day
- The Whole Brain Business Book
- The Strang Cookbook For Cancer Prevention: A Complete Nutrition and Lifestyle Plan to Dramatically L
- Genealogy Of Forms
- The Architect's Guide to Design-Build Services
- The Madman's Tale: A Novel
American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto
There Goes the Neighborhood: Racial, Ethnic, and Class Tensions in Four Chicago Neighborhoods and Their Meaning for America (Vintage)
Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist
Chutes and Ladders: Navigating the Low-Wage Labor Market (Russell Sage Foundation Books at Harvard University Press)
The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies
