Product Description

Religion Matters: What Sociology Teaches Us About Religion in Our World is organized around the biggest questions that arrise in the field of sociology of religion.

This is a new text for the sociology of religion course.   Instead of surveying this field systematically, the text focuses on the major questions that generate the most discussion and debate in the sociology of religion field.

Customer Reviews (1)

Havent shipped my book yet And my class is starting soon... Will change waiting if delivered soon though
Havent shipped my book yet And my class is starting soon... Will change ratingif delivered soon though ... Read more

Product Description
"A diary for a social entrrepreneur, an inspiring how-to guide for young people with big dreams, a thoughtful tale of the ups and downs of a decade at the stunningly successful non-profit organization"--New York Times

From her dorm room at Princeton University, twenty-one-year-old college senior Wendy Kopp decided to launch a movement to improve public education in America. In One Day, All Children... , she shares the remarkable story of Teach For America, a non-profit organization that sends outstanding college graduates to teach for two years in the most under-resourced urban and rural public schools in America. The astonishing success of the program has proven it possible for children in low-income areas to attain the same level of academic achievement as children in more privileged areas and more privileged schools.

One Day, All Children... is not just a personal memoir. It's a blueprint for the new civil rights movement--a movement that demands educational access and opportunity for all American children. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Interesting Book
I just started with TFA and wanted to read more about how the movement began.The organization is almost unrecognizable compared to present day, it really has evolved a lot over the years, at testament to what she talks about in the book: constantly seeking to improve.Good, quick read.

An inspiring read
This is one of those books that makes you question what you are doing with your life. I recommend that any college student unsure of what they wish to do after their undergraduate years, or unsatisfied professionals looking for a career change, take a look at Wendy Kopp's story about Teach For America's beginnings, development, and impact. It is a great read for anyone who wants to make a difference in the world, but is unsure where to start or needs reminding that nothing is impossible.

The only problem I had with this product was that it still had some kinks that needed to be worked out in its Kindle format; some of the section titles throughout the chapters were illegible. Other than that, it was an excellent book.

No Resume Left Behind
This is the story of a dedicated, serious young woman who has done a lot to put education front and center. She gets a lot of credit and deserves it. We can also look at things this way: why is Teach for America necessary? This is the peace corps in America, is it not? How did this come to pass? The fact is that TFA's applicants wouldn't otherwise dream of being teachers. They don't want to be teachers. Had they wanted that, they would never have gone to good schools and great universities.The peace corps model is followed because the premise is that teaching in Africa or in America is a summer job, a fling, an internship, or a kind of junior league volunteer job for bored affluent boys and girls who are terrified of being identified with their aloof, pampered , suburban parents. Two years in Compton gives a Yale grad street cred, which can be used in job interviews. Girls can use it to persuade employers that they "care." It may or may not be helpful to have the kids hanging around American public schools. It's hard to say whether their presence is useful or not. No doubt "studies show" that TFA is the best thing that ever happened. What I can say is that one of the biggest problems in our schools is the revolving door of people coming and going. Almost every Principal in LAUSD has his or her transfer in with the hope of getting as far away from the inner-city as possible. Those who don't enjoy the combat pay. TFA only adds to this perception and to this reality.

"Come fly with me"

Several years have passed since Wendy Kopp wrote this account of how she established what has since become one of the most effective change agent organizations throughout public school education in the U.S., Teach For America. As I read her book, I was reminded of the song "Come Fly with Me" and the invitation extended by Cahn and Van Heusen's lyrics:

"Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly
Pack up, let's fly away!"

That is essentially the same invitation that Wendy Kopp has been extending to college graduates since 1990 and an invitation they, in turn, have then extended to public school students throughout the United States. Those recruited, trained, and assigned by Teach for America - making a two-year commitment to classroom teaching -- continue to help children entrusted to their care to dream what may at first seem "an impossible dream" to them, then pursue it. For many children, especially those growing up within low-income, high-crime communities, education can be their"passport" to a higher standard of living and better quality of life.

As Kopp explains in this book, after graduating from Princeton, she (age 21) raised $2.5 million of start-up funding for Teach For America, hired a skeleton staff, and launched a grass-roots recruitment campaign. During its first year in 1990, 500 men and women began teaching in six low-income communities across the country. Since then, Teach For America's network has grown to 17,000 individuals and has become the nation's largest provider of teachers for low-income communities. This year, Teach For America serves 26 urban and rural regions and impacts three million students. To date, it has served more than 5,000 communities, has more than 12,000 core members, more than 425,000 alumni, and has impacted nearly 3 million students since its inception almost 20 years ago.

Kopp traces the process from her original vision (i.e. "a national teacher corps of top recent college graduates who would commit two years to teach in urban and rural schools") to what Teach For America has become. She acknowledges all of the sources of support she received along the way and is especially appreciative of those who challenged her ideas, not because they disagreed with any of those ideas but because they wanted to help her sharpen and clarify her thinking. Here is a composite excerpt from Kopp's narrative near the end of this book that indicates some of the lessons she learned along the way.

"What I have learned in building Teach For America and from our corps members and alumni suggests that it will take three things to raise achievement levels in low-income schools. First, it will take committing ourselves to the vision that one day, all children in our nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education...Second, we must recognize that accomplishing our mission will take more of just about everything - including more time and, ultimately, more resources...There's an understandable discomfort with the idea that it will take more money to make schools in low-income areas work. We've all seen and read about too many examples of wasted resou8rces in schools. In some cases merely reallocating the resources already spent in low-income areas can make a difference. And I learned through my experience with Teach for America that money isn't everything, that tough financial situations force high-quality, innovative thinking. But I've also learned that although resources are not the solution to everything, they are necessary to carry out the big plans...The third aspect of realizing our vision is the recognition that it will take a long-term, institution-building approach...when people think about what makes great organizations work, they see it's not a unique strategy. It's that the organizations have built the systems to achieve results, respond to change, and continually improve...Building effective school systems will not be easy. It will take superior leadership and a lot of hard work. It will require a critical look at all the forces - from how school boards govern to how states regulate - that could prevent school district leadership from taking any an institution-building approach. The good news is that there's no mystery about what it will take. The solutions are within our reach."

One man's opinion, what Wendy Kopp expressed then (in 2001) is even truer today. She concludes her book with "a personal invitation to all college seniors and recent graduates who are reading this book" to consider becoming part of this movement. For more information about Teach For America, she asks them as well as those who wish to support its programs to visit this Web site: http://www.teachforamerica.org.

Inspiring Story, But Gets Bogged Down
ONE DAY, ALL CHILDREN is the story of how Wendy Kopp started Teach For America. For those unfamiliar with the program, Teach For America is an organization that recruits college graduates and young adults to work for two years at inner city and rural schools where there are teaching shortages.Corps members are sent through an extremely extensive three week training program during the summer before heading off to their various assignments in the fall.Teach For America has come under criticism by the professional educational teaching programs because corps members aren't forced to go through a teacher education program before being hired.Personally, I think the program is a great idea that is meeting the needs of our nation's underprivileged children; instead of throwing money at the savage inequality of education, Teach For America is attempting to fix the problem.

ONE DAY, ALL CHILDREN explains how Kopp came up with the idea, how she got the organization started, the trials and tribulations of the organization during the first year, growing pains that happened years later, etc.Those who are familiar with Teach For America might find the book interesting as well as anyone looking for a somewhat inspiring story of a person who creating a national life changing educational agency from scratch.Those who are involved in education might enjoy reading the book, too, though professional teacher educators might balk at the idea of sleeping with an enemy that they seem to hate.For everyone else, the book has some interesting moments, but most of those come near the beginning so you might want to spend your time reading something else. ... Read more

Product Description
This book uses survey data from all accepted applicants to Teach for America 1993-98 to assess the longer-term effect of youth service on participants' current civic attitudes and behaviors. While TFA "graduates" score higher than the two comparison groups - "dropouts" and "non-matriculants" - on a broad range of attitudinal items measuring civic commitment, these differences appear to be less a byproduct of the TFA experience than a reflection of current involvement with the TFA organization. Moreover, the attitudinal differences are not reflected in actual civic behavior. Specifically, graduates lag behind non-matriculants in current service activity and generally trail both non-matriculants and drop-outs in self-reported participation in five other forms of civic/political activity measured in the study. Graduates also vote at lower rates than the other two groups. Finally, fewer graduates report employment in "pro-social" jobs than either non-matriculants or drop-outs. The authors close by speculating on what mechanisms may help explain variation in the long-term effects of youth service or activist experiences. ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to the perspectives, theories and methodology of sociology. This book is suitable for the subject at both A level and university, and for those interested in sociology within a broader framework, such as politics and society, human geography, social history, and health and welfare. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent introduction to Sociology
I loved this book and I learned a lot about Sociology and society. I really feel that this book compares favorably with college textbooks on the subject. The only slight drawback is that it is written from a British point of very and all the studies presented in the book are from Great Britan. Not a big problem but sometimes I didn't fully understand all the studies.

A fine introduction
This text covers the basics of diverse topics in sociology, though perhaps not to the depths one might like. It is nonetheless a fine introduction, and is certain to spur further investigation into this fascinating topic. Only one issue: The book is written from an entirely British perspective, so all data is about the UK. Makes it tough for American readers! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Aptly titled
Just what I, a newcomer to the subject of meditation, was hoping for --- history, descriptions of various methods, and all the hints and suggestions I needed to start my own adventure into meditation.If it had given pronounciations for the many foreign words, I would have given the book a 10. ... Read more

Product Description
Designed to help you decide what sort of wedding day you want, this title guides you through the decisions and timetables so you can relax and really enjoy the big day. Find out about the legal requirements and understand the etiquette so you can personalize your ceremony and make your wedding day truly memorable for you and your guests. In addition to the more traditional wedding, there is information on different types of ceremonies, such as Buddhist, Humanist, Pagan and single-sex partnerships. There is advice on designing your own ceremony and a whole chapter on choosing a theme, such as Celtic, Caribbean or Scottish Baronial. The planner should help keep you calm and in control and the chapter on budgeting should ensure that you can stay within your financial limits. The final chapter provides a checklist on such things as thank-you notes and how to store the dress once the big day is over. ... Read more

Product Description
This guide to planning a non-traditional wedding offers ideas, practical advice and money-saving tips. It covers such topics as: the legal requirements and wedding etiquette; customizing the ceremony; themed weddings; planning various religious ceremonies; and planning a wedding abroad. ... Read more

Product Description
Some humanist critics contend that only realist texts have an ethical function, that there is no ethical message behind the parodic and self-conscious games played by experimental fiction and that, since emotion neutralises the ethical faculties, there is no ethical dimension in such excess-pedling postmodernist genres and modes as kitsch, melodrama and romance. Yet, one may argue that the defamiliarisation imposed by parody, metafictional overkill and sundry devices symptomatic of emotional paroxysm on the realist text involves some measure of criticism of received truth and makes for the practice of a non-deontic ethics of truths that is also fairly often an ethics of alterity. This volume examines analytical evidence for the ethical component in key experimental British novels from the 1960's to the present, with special focus on John Fowles, Brigid Brophy, B. S. Johnson, Angela Carter, Peter Ackroyd, A. S. Byatt, Martin Amis, Zadie Smith, Will Self, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes. ... Read more

Product Description
Introduces the Russian language, surveys its grammar, and provides lessons organized around social situations, such as dining in a restaurant, shopping, and traveling on a train. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A solid main textbook, but needs accompaniment by other resources
Five years ago, I began learning Russian with TEACH YOURSELF RUSSIAN. Though it was only through a combination of textbooks that I reached the point that I speak Russian, if not perfectly, at least comfortably most of the day every day, I think Daphne West's textbook was a good choice for my first exposure to the language. I should note that my copy of the book is the 1995 edition, which this listing describes. I don't know how much has changed in successive editions--I should hope at least the annoying plethora of typos in my edition has been corrected--but so many recent Teach Yourself publications contain the same information as in the past with just some new formatting and more timely financial and political information.

TEACH YOURSELF RUSSIAN begins with the alphabet. I found Cyrillic fairly easy, but those who end up struggling with it can obtain Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian Script as well. The meat of the book is a series of chapters containing a dialogue (mainly a story about the usual English tourist, here one Anna Prince) with following vocabularly, new grammatical points, and exercises. There is often a reading passage dealing with some aspect of Russian culture or history. While the grammar can be pretty heady for those who have no prior experience with foreign languages, I admire how the amount of new vocabulary and idiom in each chapter is kept manageable, unlike the avalanche found in each lesson of the mid-1990s Routledge's Colloquial Russian. At the end there's an appendix with Russian accidence, which is nicely substantial for a Teach Yourself book. I cannot comment much on the cassettes, as I've always been surrounded by native speakers of Russian who read the dialogues for me.

While this is a pretty good main textbook, it does not stand alone. In my experience inflecting languages require much more drill than isolating or agglutinating languages, but the exercises on Russian morphology in each chapter are few and not terribly rigorous. I'd recommend supplementing TEACH YOURSELF RUSSIAN with Basic Russian: A Grammar and Workbook by John Murray and Sarah Smyth (London: Routledge, 1999) which has plenty of fulfilling practice. I'd also recommend getting a picture dictionary, such as the Osborne one or similar, which makes learning new vocabulary of everyday items enjoyable. And, as with every self-taught textbook, the glossary at the end of the book is worthless and the reader must get a proper dictionary. The Oxford one is a popular desk reference, but I've always carried around Random House Webster's Pocket Russian Dictionary and been happy enough with it.

But if you want to get started on Russian, get Daphne West's textbook, supplement it with other materials, and don't forget to get plenty of conversational practice with native speakers, ideally a couple of hours a day.

Avoid this book!
I had the misfortune of using this book for an adult education course in beginning Russian that I recently took.I have since stopped using this book because I felt that the author did a rather sloppy and hurried job of trying to introduce the language.Because of the rapid pace that the book proceeded with, I felt intimidated by the Russian grammar.

Each chapter is crammed full of grammatical points, each of which is only sparingly covered and not at all reinforced into the student's mind.There are not enough exercises at the end of each chapter, so the student is forced to look for other resources in this regard.

The book also contains a number of typographic errors and misplacement of stress marks which only reinforces my view of how poorly this book was designed.

If you are looking for an introductory book in the Russian language, then I would definitely suggest that you look elsewhere.More student-friendly alternatives would include The New Penguin Russian Course and, my favorite, RussianAlive!

Not for use without Wade's grammar
This course is okay, although I did the 1st edition 1992 which had two problems this new edition hopefully doesn't have : firstly all the Soviet vocabulary (Leningrad rather the St. Petersburg etc.) but that willpresumably have gone in the 1996 edition. The second was the amount ofmistakes in the accent marking. Almost every page had one or two accenterrors. (It would be nice if the next reviewer could comment on whether theaccents are in the right place on, say, p240: predlagaet, Baikala,kilometrovii, lovlya)

A third problem which will still be with therevised edition is that Russian grammar cannot possibly be fully taught ina beginners book. Anyone studying Russian also needs Wade's grammar andeither Pirogova's verb book or the "501" or "750"Russian verbs books. An accented reader like "Innostranka" wouldbe a useful next step. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A solid main textbook, but needs accompaniment by other resources
Five years ago, I began learning Russian with TEACH YOURSELF RUSSIAN. Though it was only through a combination of textbooks that I reached the point that I speak Russian, if not perfectly, at least comfortably most of the day every day, I think Daphne West's textbook was a good choice for my first exposure to the language. I should note that my copy of the book is the 1995 edition. I don't know how much has changed in successive editions--I should hope at least the annoying plethora of typos in my edition has been corrected--but so many recent Teach Yourself publications contain the same information as in the past with just some new formatting and more timely financial and political information.

TEACH YOURSELF RUSSIAN begins with the alphabet. I found Cyrillic fairly easy, but those who end up struggling with it can obtain Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian Script as well. The meat of the book is a series of chapters containing a dialogue (mainly a story about the usual English tourist, here one Anna Prince) with following vocabularly, new grammatical points, and exercises. There is often a reading passage dealing with some aspect of Russian culture or history. While the grammar can be pretty heady for those who have no prior experience with foreign languages, I admire how the amount of new vocabulary and idiom in each chapter is kept manageable, unlike the avalanche found in each lesson of the mid-1990s Routledge's Colloquial Russian. At the end there's an appendix with Russian accidence, which is nicely substantial for a Teach Yourself book. I cannot comment much on the cassettes, as I've always been surrounded by native speakers of Russian who read the dialogues for me.

While this is a pretty good main textbook, it does not stand alone. In my experience inflecting languages require much more drill than isolating or agglutinating languages, but the exercises on Russian morphology in each chapter are few and not terribly rigorous. I'd recommend supplementing TEACH YOURSELF RUSSIAN with Basic Russian: A Grammar and Workbook by John Murray and Sarah Smyth (London: Routledge, 1999) which has plenty of fulfilling practice. I'd also recommend getting a picture dictionary, such as the Osborne one or similar, which makes learning new vocabulary of everyday items enjoyable. And, as with every self-taught textbook, the glossary at the end of the book is worthless and the reader must get a proper dictionary. The Oxford one is a popular desk reference, but I've always carried around Random House Webster's Pocket Russian Dictionary and been happy enough with it.

But if you want to get started on Russian, get Daphne West's textbook, supplement it with other materials, and don't forget to get plenty of conversational practice with native speakers, ideally a couple of hours a day. ... Read more

Product Description
"Teach yourself Ethical Consumer" will give the general reader everything they need to know in order to make informed choices about what goods, services, products etc they use on a daily basis. Designed for the general public rather than the environmentalist, it is a realistic guide to understanding the issues surrounding every area of consumer life, from clothing and food to energy saving and environmentally friendly travel. Each section raises the key aspects of the debate, and explains the pros and cons of every choice, before moving on to outline practical and realistic steps readers can take to implement their decisions. Rather than listing or rating companies and providers, the book will provide plenty of further resources to direct readers to organisations and sources of information, in order to avoid dating quickly in the manner of much of the competition. ... Read more

Product Description
Myths are symbolic stories that have evolved through oral tradition, and they have guided and inspired us for many years. Follow these lively retellings of popular and significant Greek myths and discover how to unlock their hidden meanings so that they can be better understood. Explore and enjoy for yourself the subtle truths these tales have to offer. * Discover more about Greek mythology. * Bring these ancient myths to life by discovering how to interpret them. * Uncover the psychological, social and spiritual perspectives. * Place Greek myths in a cultural and global context. ... Read more

Product Description
If you are a World Wide Web user who wants to move on from browsing to publishing yourself, then this is the guide for you. HTML is the coding system used to create pages on the World Wide Web. With the aid of this book, after only a few hours of practice you will be able to create your own Web home page to tell the world about yourself or your business. Once you have mastered the basic principles you can also learn some of HTML's more advanced features, such as making your page interactive or extensively interlinked to other pages. At every stage the essential principles will be explained and then demonstrated by a fully worked example. Some of these examples will be available over the Internet on the Teach Yourself home pages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The best HTML tutorial ever.
It's the best, because it guides you like a music teacher teaches you to play the trumpet, starting with slow long tones gradually to playing a concerto. Most guides overwhelm you with a lot of definitions and serve more like a reference guide. This one simply starts with (page 20): "Create your own web page, type This is HTML ", and guides you through creativity while you type. Get it if you are a beginner or just a curious developer, even if it was written 10 years ago.

Teach Yourself Some HTML
Teach Yourself HTML is a simple guide, almost too simple.Though most of the basic rules and tags are explained, which is good for the beginner, it's bias in Netscape's favor, which, down the road, can lead to IEconflicts.The chapters parts are listed in logical order, however, thechapters themselves don't seem to follow a logical path.Nothing ismentioned about web page design, pros or cons, and many of theillustrations don't give a good sense of good web design. All in all, thebook is good for beginners who don't mind making a few mistakes down theroad.It can get the student a head start toward more advanced HTML.

This book is a real bargain, and a good resource.
In this day and age, you can easily spend $50.00 on a book designed to introduce you to some small part of the computer experience; a book that might well sit on your shelf.This book, HTML Publishing on The World WideWeb, is clear, concise, well written, easy to read, an excellentintroduction to HTML, and CHEAP!

Great for beginners and seasoned pros
This book is execllent.Shows the commands to use and what it will look like on the web page.It's in plain english so even HTML dummies (like myself) will have no problems.AND...it's cheap.

Best HTML book ever!
This is the best HTML book I have ever read.It is the best of the best.Get it! ... Read more

Product Description
Myths are symbolic stories that have evolved through oral tradition, and they have guided and inspired us for many years. This book gives lively retellings of Native American myths and offers a range of suggested interpretations. It identifies key themes, including creation, tribal origins, reincarnation, and the Trickster, and relates these to myths of other cultures. * Brings myths to life by retelling them. * Offers psychological, social and spiritual perspectives. * Compares myths of different tribes. * Places Native American myths in context. ... Read more

Product Description
Myths are symbolic stories that have evolved through oral tradition, and they have guided and inspired us for many years. Follow these lively retellings of popular and significant Chinese myths and discover how to unlock their hidden meanings so that they can be better understood. Explore and enjoy for yourself the subtle truths these tales have to offer. * Examine the mythical heritage of China. * Bring these ancient myths to life by discovering how to interpret them. * Uncover the psychological, social and spiritual perspectives * Explore Chinese mythological symbolism. ... Read more

Product Description
Myths are symbolic stories that have evolved through oral tradition, and they have guided and inspired us for many years. Follow these lively retellings of popular and significant Celtic myths and discover how to unlock their hidden meanings so that they can be better understood. Explore and enjoy for yourself the subtle truths these tales have to offer. * Uncover the origins, culture and beliefs of the Celts. * Bring these ancient myths to life by discovering how to interpret them. * Uncover the psychological, social and spiritual perspectives * Place Celtic myths in a cultural and global context. ... Read more

Product Description
How do mythologies develop and spread? Offering an introduction to the world's major mythologies, this book uses a selection of myths and reveals their fascinating history. ... Read more