Handbook of Health Economics : Volumes 1A & 1B (Handbook of Health Economics)

Book Description

Set.

Book Description

With forty well structured and easy to follow topics to choose from, each workbook has a wide range of case studies, questions and activities to meet both an individual or organization's training needs. Whether studying for an ILM qualification or looking to enhance the skills of your employees, Super Series provides essential solutions, frameworks and techniques to support management and leadership development.

*Developed by the ILM to support their Level 3 Introductory Certificate and Certificate in First Line Management
*Well-structured and easy to follow
*Fully revised and updated

Book Description

One of the world centers of crop evolution and origin, Ethiopia has long been recognized as an important area of diversity for several major and various minor crops. Based on an international conference held in Addis Ababa, this book describes how plant genetic diversity in Ethiopia is of vital importance in breeding new varieties of crops with desirable characteristics, such as increased resistance to pests and diseases and greater adaptation to heat and drought. The three main sections in the book consider the Ethiopian center of diversity, germ plasm or genetic material collection and conservation in Ethiopia, and the evaluation and utilization of Ethiopian genetic resources. A broad range of food and feed crops and plants of medicinal and industrial importance are discussed, both at a national and international level. A brief account of conservation strategies and gene bank problems unique to Ethiopia is also given. The importance of Ethiopia's plant genetic resources to world agriculture has been demonstrated on more than one occasion. Plant breeders, geneticists, and botanists throughout the world will, therefore, find this unique book a valuable source of information and an essential reference work.

Book Description

Suppose someone claimed that we are not running out of petroleum? Or that life on Earth began below the surface of our planet? Or that oil and gas are not "fossil fuels"? Or that if we find extraterrestrial life it is likely to be within, not on, other planets? You might expect to hear statements like these from an author of science fiction. But what if they came from a renowned physicist, an indisputably brilliant scientist who has been called "one of the world's most original minds"? In the The Deep Hot Biosphere, Thomas Gold sets forth truly controversial and astonishing theories about where oil and gas come from, and how they acquire their organic "signatures." The conclusions he reaches in this book might be at first difficult to believe, but they are supported by a growing body of evidence, and by the indisputabel stature and seriousness Gold brings to any scientific enterprise. In this book we see a brilliant and boldly orginal thinker, increasingly a rarity in modern science, as he developes a revolutionary new view about the fundamental workings of our planet. Thomas Gold is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and an Emertius Professor at Cornell University. Regarded as one of the most creative and wide-ranging scientists of his generation, he has taughtat Cambridge University and Harvard, and for 20 years was the Director of the Cornell Center for Radiophysics and Space Research.

Customer Reviews:

Well, but where's the abiogenic oil?.......2007-07-12

Someone sent parts of this book to me, last year, by e-mail.This book has many parts (perhaps), with value.Well, every DAY, the world spends about US$6,000,000,000 ;only with oil.Reading this book, it seems that there's cheap oil for everyone, for many centuries.Following this book, there's a Saudia Arabia full with oil, some miles under your nose.
Well, oil companies, such as Exxon, spends every year hundreds of billions of US dollars buying oil from islamic world.Drilling a well cost(On shore) some millions of dollars.If the "theories" of this book are correct, why any oil company is following them?
Such as reading a book about UFOs, there's claims, but where's an UFO or an ET for everyone see?
In no place, ever!
The same happens on this book.There's a claim about abiogenic oil.Well, but where's this abiogenic oil?Among millions of oil wells in the world, there's anyone produciing oil or gas, from non sedimentary rocks.This book claims that a granite rock is producing oil in Vietnam;nonsense.
Here in Brazil , we have a proverb:"Muito bom, para ser verdade".Translating this brazilian proverb, we have:"Too good to be true".This book has an idea that seems, to be too good to be true.

Impressive book, a must read.......2007-06-10

I started reading this book with a completely different understanding (even a prejudice) of oil genesis.
The reasonings make sense and the observations described are compelling.
As a scientist in a different field I am not sure that what presented is the complete picture, and that some parts may be mistaken, but I have a strong feeling that the fundamental idea is correct.
Oil, or at least part of it, is likely a relic of Earth's genesis.

Challenging Conventional Dogma.......2007-06-03

If the theory of Thomas Gold is true - and the evidence is incredibly persuasive - then the implications for climate change etc is massive. This sort of information should be put out publicly for open criticism because the consequences are to large too ignore!

Down with dogma! It feels great to question something you've always been told is fact without ever being given an explanation.......2007-01-05

I can't say enough about this book and how much it impressed me. As a PhD student in chemistry, I would say this book raises some very valuable points. While the ideas presented have been introduced prior to this book (several russion journals) this adds new evidence and data suggesting that our petroleum resources are not from decomposed biological material and that we need to re-evaluate this idea. Love it.

A Tour de Force by a very gifted amateur.......2007-01-01

Gold shows how embarrassingly little we really know about our planet and ourselves with speculations on the nature of the geology beneath our feet, and the origin of our type of life.

In an era where we are proud of exploring the origins of the cosmos, speculating about the nature of a reality beyond even the weirdness of quantum mechanics, robotically visiting other planets, and seemingly able to manipulate our genetic materials at will, it is humbling to see just how mysterious and unknown our own origin and the ground beneath our feet remain.

If Gold is correct, we should be hearing about new species and industrial enzymes found in crude oil and earthquakes predicted by gas sniffers. We might even become a little more cautious about spreading our own DNA throughout the solar system before investigating what is already out there.

Average customer rating:

Is oil really non-renewable? Is Peak Oil a sham?
Oil everywhere
Scientific theory, or maybe just true !!
Read with an open mind
Revolutionary science

The Deep Hot Biosphere
Thomas Gold
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0387985468

Book Description

Does there exist, deep within the earth's crust, a second biosphere-- composed of very primitive, thermophilic (heat-loving) bacteria, and containing more living matter than the entire surface? This idea, first proposed by the author in the early 1980s, is now supported by a growing body of evidence. The implications are astonishing: is the deep biosphere where life originated? Can Mars and other seemingly dead planets contain deep biospheres? Is there yet another--deeper, hotter--biosphere within the earth, based on silicon instead of carbon? This is the first book to explore this very controversial, intriguing theory.

Customer Reviews:

Is oil really non-renewable? Is Peak Oil a sham?.......2007-07-29

An iconoclstic book threatens everything we knew about oil and its origins

[Disclaimer: I am not a creationist. Nor am I a supporter of its fake twin, intelligent design.]

This book could easily be titled, "Everything You Want to Know About the Formation of Oil, But Were Afraid to Ask - Is Wrong!" Is the author correct, or is he a bit too much of a flake on this issue? Gold died in 2004, but he certainly had the credentials (though I don't set a lot of store in those, necessarily). He was a member of the American Academy of Science, and a member of The Royal Society. You can't get any higher than those, unless you count the Nobel Prize.

So, what is he claiming? That oil isn't formed by swamps from the Permean Age settling their leaves, layer by layer, then getting compressed over millenia. He claims that what we learned in science class about salt domes is not where oil is found. Oh, oil was found there, but those were the easy locations. It has, he claims, been found in all kinds of other geological structures, and he is right about that. But most of us don't know that, do we? But the oil geologists do know it. The geological structures in which oil is found now are all over the map, literally and figuratively. No one existing theory can tell us why that is so, but in this book Gold tries to.

The status quo tries to explain oil showing up in other places - places it shouldn't BE - by speculating (and it IS only speculation) - that it migrates sideways, sometimes for many, many miles, from the (speculated) "right" places to the (actual) "wrong" places, where the oil geologists manage to wander upon it.

Gold's physics I cannot verify for sure, because I am not up on all of it. but what I CAN understand sounds good to me. I am a mechanical engineer, so I can have at least a semi-informed opinion, and to me it sounds at least worth looking into.

In the long view, whichever theory is correct will show out in the end, won't it? It may be 100 years, or it may be 200 years, but either the existing theory will prove out, or we will continue to find oil in places it "shouldn't" be (including our "depleted" oil fields).

I particularly like Gold's expansion of the argument to coal. Coal was laid down - so we are told - in essentially the same method as we are told oil was - swamps, layer-upon-layer, decaying, pressure, heat, time, etc. Lots of time. LOTS of time. But it all started out with swamps. Or did it? Then why - cutting diagonally across what is supposed to be tens and hundreds of thousands of years of layers of coal - are there tree trunks, spanning all those years? Heck, just the roots are projecting across a thousand years or more - what held the tree up all that time, while the layers formed around it? And why didn't it decay in all that time?

Why do I like this part? Because I have seen this myself. Am I imagining this? Am I misreading what my eyes told me? No, that was almost countless years of layers of coal, and that was one tree - intact - slicing through all those layers of "time". How did it happen? I don't know, but I do know that there is no way that that coal formed like they claim, not with that tree there. The tree would be turned to dust or mold long before 1/100th of those layers were laid down. Maybe the layers don't represent time, after all. But if not, then what DO they represent? I honestly don't know...

As to oil, Gold's theory, if correct, would have one hell of an impact on our thinking.

How so?

Well, if Gold is correct, and swamps from the Permean are not the source of oil, but it is created continually, down in the earth's mantle, THEN WE DON"T RUN THE RISK OF RUNNING OUT OF OIL - AND ALL PREDICTIONS OF PEAK OIL ARE WRONG.

Let me repeat that, for the casual reader:

There is a top scientist who is on record as saying that oil is NOT non-renewable. That actually would mean that it IS renewable. And that means our polluting can keep on going, I guess! (That was a joke...)

Gold also does us all a big favor in pointing out something that almost no one knows:

When oil fields are depleted, they sometimes re-fill with oil.

When someone first told me this, I was incredulous. But if it is true, what does that mean?...

...I don't agree with everything Gold says. Toward the end of this book, Thomas Gold overextends his ideas a little bit, getting a bit too ambitious for his theory, IMHO, but who can blame him?

I give the book a 95 out of 100.

Oil everywhere.......2006-09-12

I was very impressed Dr. Gold's crisp and persuasive arguments for the deep and non-biological origin of petroleum. Dr. Gold pictures the greater part of the Earth's biosphere infiltrating the rocks of the upper crust, where autotrophic bacteria feed on virtually limitless upwelling hydrocarbons from the planet's interior -- a hypothesis that culminated in the fascinating "Siljan" experiment in 1987, in which tens of millions of dollars were invested drilling a 5-mile well into the granite of Switzerland in search of non-biological hydrocarbons. Dr. Gold states that crude oil and other hydrocarbons were recovered from rocks where conventional geology said they could not exist. Unfortunately, this may not meet Carl Sagan's threshold of "extraordinary evidence," since his work seems to have been largely ignored by modern geologists. Nevertheless, this tightly reasoned and polished book made a believer out of me. Among other fascinating statements, Dr. Gold believes the world's oil reserves are actually slowly "recharging," and that life originated within the Earth's crust. I certainly recommend this book to anybody with an interest in oil, geology or the origin of life.

-- Auralgo

Scientific theory, or maybe just true !! .......2006-02-14

As a geologist familiar with the traditional theories about accumulations of oil and related gases in structural domes, I was skeptical of Gold's theories. But the more I read, the more I became convinced his explanations of facts that went unaccounted for using the old theories had some merit. Of course, the only problem with his theory is that we will never be able to prove it. To prove it we would have to drill at least 200 kilometers down into the earth. But his five assumptions are valid and not disproveable. Plus, I read a recent newspaper article that scientists have found evidence of a deep unidentified source of methane gas. As a scientist you can poo poo it, but hey, wait until all evidence comes in, at least give the author that much respect. Recommended for those scientists who have an open mind.

Read with an open mind.......2006-01-11

Thomas Gold's book is highly intriguing and worth the effort to absorb. Since it was first published, field research has confirmed the Earth does have a deep, hot microbial ecosystem that extends as far as observations have gone to date. Several recent lines of field and laboratory evidence support the contention that some portion of Earth's hydrocarbons are formed by non-biological processes. In my opinion he pushes his thesis past the bounds of accepted evidence by suggesting that little, if any of the known oil and natural gas deposits were formed by the deep burial of surface organisms in sedimentary rock formations. Until much more definitive evidence is available, a model that allows for hydrocarbons of biological and nonbiological origin provides the best fit for all of the evidence. Most of the fascination with this book seems to stem from its implication that commercially exploitable oil deposits will not dwindle in the forseeable future and therefore everybody can continue driving huge gas-wasting vehicles and spewing pollutants into the atmosphere with wild abandon. Gold's one weakness is that he fails to mention the obvious and serious consequences of unchecked burning of fossil fuels: worsening air pollution and more risk of disastrous impacts of climate change. This book does not make me want to buy a Hummer and leave it idling all night because oil will never run out, but unfortunately it appears to send this message to some people. A more sober, forward-thinking and responsible approach to reading this book is that regardless of the source and magnitude of oil deposits on Earth the consequences of continued and massive combustion of oil will have a far greater impact on future generations than than a 30 cent difference in the price of gasoline in 2050.

Revolutionary science.......2004-09-22

This morning's New York Times featured an article "Methane in Deep Earth: A Possible New Source of Energy" reporting on new research that partly confirms the claim in this book-- that the methane deep in the earth's mantle is primordial (not due to decayed buried vegetation) and is the source of petroleum. The article showed how methane can be generated from water and carbonate rock when the applied pressure is equal to that found in the mantle.

Gold's book describes research done largely by Russians and Ukrainians on the origin of oil, which has been shamefully discounted and ignored in the West. The Western dogma, he claims, is just another one of those things that nearly everyone believes, but is wrong.

I love books like this. It opens up a whole new world of important ideas and questions that need to be addressed, and make the scientific dogmatists who have "proved" their hypothesis by superficial reasoning from the most meager of data, coupled with proof by endless repetition, look as foolish as the geologists who rejected continental drift, or the idiots who still revere Freudian psychoanalysis.

Evidence that he presents is pretty convincing and is a good example of how many diverse lines of evidence can make the convergence on the truth inevitable. Many of the pieces of evidence were quite unknown to the formulators of the "fossil fuel" dogma who emphasize the limited reserves available for extraction. The composition of the gas giant planets with their tremendous quantities of methane can be used to plausibly argue for primordial gas on earth as well. The increasing realization among petroleum geologists that at least some petroleum reservoirs are being filled from below is startling news to many readers. The biological "markers" seen in petroleum are introduced by bacteria to petroleum on its migration toward the surface provide an alternative and plausible explanation of the facts. That Ukraine generates a third of its oil from reservoirs below all sedimentary rock is astounding.

As a physicist at the corporate research labs of a major oil company, I've sat through many presentations of petroleum exploration experts with their tables of C13 data, interpreted as signs of age and origins of oil, and I even then recognized the signs of smoke and mirrors. I only wish I'd read Gold earlier...

Gold's book is also concerned with many other aspects of the consequences of the presence of biology deep within the earth that are just as intriguing. That microbes exist deep in the earth and have a life style entirely independent from photosynthetic energy from the sun is an idea that is only now beginning to be accepted by some of the more daring Western petroleum engineers. Russians have known this for more than fifty years. The idea that better earthquake predictions can be made, and that fossil fuel reserves are much greater than publicized in the popular press, are big, important ideas that would have tremendous political impact if true.

I very much enjoyed Gold's style of writing, which is clear and straightforward, and the story he tells is a very important one, deserving of much more attention and research. The book has a gratifying number of illustrations and is well organized. The notes give a good introduction to the scientific literature on the subject, but I think some criticism can be leveled at Gold for writing as though he had been a major discoverer of many of the pieces of evidence, when he is actually playing more of a role as a popularizer for the findings of the Russians and others. But reviewers, and even popularizers, are not to be sneered at. They play an important and honorable role in the progress of science--Gold does an outstanding job here. Well worth reading.

Book Description

The Mouse Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates, Second Edition is the most comprehensive and accurate atlas of the mouse brain ever published. The first edition of this book has become the acknowledged reference in its field. In the second edition, the authors incorporated lower brainstem sections, an entire sagittal plane of section and revised all delineations, especially of the cortex. This guide is essential to those who study the brain of this species or any similar species, including hamsters. The large, spiral-bound format makes it easy to see the details in each illustration or photograph and compare them to animal models in the lab.

KEY FEATURES
* A coronal set featuring 100 photographs and 100 matching detailed diagrams delineating the entire brain
* A sagittal set featuring 32 photographs and 32 matching detailed diagrams
* Photographs of Nissl- and Acetylcholinesterase sections alternate
* Thoroughly revised cortical delineations and improved subcortical delineations
* Deluxe Edition contains diagrams available on CD-ROM constructed by Paul Halasz

Customer Reviews:

a must have!.......2007-03-16

every neuroscience lab should have one. Deluxe edition is worth it (CD included)!

A great altas!.......2001-07-07

I am an associate at TSRI in La Jolla. As long as I have worked here, we have used this atlas, and I have not yet found a better one!

Average customer rating:

Tedious, but a good read

outstanding

Worth the time for the advanced fan

A MUST read for the real fan

Pitch by pitch by pitch by pitch ...

Pure Baseball: Pitch by Pitch for the Advanced Fan
Keith Hernandez , and Mike Bryan
Manufacturer: Harper Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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Tim McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans: Understanding and Interpreting the Game So You Can Watch It Like a Pro

Nine Innings

The Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball, Revised Edition (Hall of Fame Edition, No. 3)

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If at First: A Season With the Mets

ASIN: 1559949422

Book Description

Former All Star Keith Hernandez teaches even the most learned fan a thing or two about baseball with his unparalleled insight into all aspects of the game, from the action in the bullpen to the positioning on the field to the plays at the plate.

Praise for Pure Baseball:

"We have never seen the game scrutinised with such care and detail. Hernandez provides commentary on two ball games in the 1993 season : a Philles-Braves match-up and an extra innings battle between the Tigers and the Yankees. [He] examines the overall strategies of the game and offers good analyses of fielding techniques, base stealing, lineups, umpiring etiquette, double-steal rundowns, hit-and-runs, signals, infield shifts and more. His most intense and incisive analysis, however, is saved for the psychology of the pitcher-hitter duels. No matter where you are watching, you will never again see the game in the same way."
-- Playboy
"Keith Hernandez, it turns out, is even smarter than we thought he was in the Mets' glory years. All the subtleties of baseball are revealed as the two games unfold. Mr. Hernandez's opinions and pet-peeves--intentional walks, early-inning sacrifices, throwing fastballs to prevent stolen bases, large gaps in the outfield, pitchers who 'nibble. nibble, nibble,"--are well thought out and clearly articulated. [He] is particularly strong in analyzing the cat-and-mouse game played between pitchers and hitters as the count shifts the odds back and forth."
-- New York Times Book Review
"An MVP of a guide to the national pastime from savvy 17-year veteran of the major leagues who remains an ardent fan in retirement. Hernandez came up with an angle that works to near perfection: tellingly detailed start-to-finish accounts of two games played midway through the 1993 baseball season."
-- Kirkus Reviews(starred)

Customer Reviews:

Tedious, but a good read.......2007-04-17
As previously mentioned, the "Pitch by Pitch" in the subtitle of this book is no lie. Hernandez dissects entire at-bats (not every at-bat, thankfully) and other parts of two regular season games from 1993 involving the Phillies and Braves and the Tigers and Yankees. His preference for National League baseball is evident. Still, he doesn't let this deter him from enjoying the AL game.

The good part about this book: It's very descriptive. The bad part about this book: It's very descriptive. Keith's insights are great and I did learn a fair amount from reading this book. That said, he spends too much time breaking down certain plays. Seven pages on the hit-and-run? Four pages on the pickoff? Way too long. Even I don't love baseball that much. Also, he goes way overboard with his use of exclamation points. It seemed like there was five or six in every paragraph.

Overall, I mildly recommend this book. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but it's worth a read.
outstanding.......2004-01-04
Easily the best baseball education in print that I've ever seen. It's like taking a master's course in baseball. You have an opportunity to almost sit down with a major leaguer and say "Teach Me" and he does. Keith has a bit of a weakness as far as pitch sequencing and understanding missed spots, but they are not particularly glaring. His understanding of counts, and situations outside of the count (inning, score, particular players involved etc..) are exemplary. Any serious ballplayer's dream.
Worth the time for the advanced fan.......2003-12-20
It takes time and patience to read this book. The title says "Pitch by Pitch for the Advanced Fan," and it means it literally. Hernandez talks about what goes through a player's mind during a game. His descriptions of how a batter thinks about an at-bat are priceless. It takes a while to plow through all this stuff - there's a *lot* of detail - but if you do you'll have a deeper knowledge of the little in-game strategies and decisions that make baseball so special.
A MUST read for the real fan.......2003-09-11
If ever there was a necessary baseball book, this is it!! I reread it every season (as does at least one other reviewer) and always learn something more from doing so.
I have taken Mr. Hernandez' advice and always turn off the sound when watching a game on TV. I find it to be a major improvement and I'm no longer distracted by the content-free, pointless remarks made by most announcers.
Frankly, judging from the mental errors common to the game today, it should be required reading for each and every player from the rookie leagues to the bigs.
If you're not a serious student of the game, then maybe you should pass on this one!!
Pitch by pitch by pitch by pitch ..........2003-01-04
I'm a huge baseball fanatic and I *love* reading detailed anlaysis of baseball strategy and tactics. But even this book was too tedious for me. And I've almost never read a baseball book that I found too tedious. Hernandez, although very knowledgeable, dwells too much on each pitch. The reader might think the title is a metaphor for detailed analysis (pitch by pitch). No, it means *exactly* what it says. Hernandez discusses EACH pitch. At first the analysis is interesting. Then you realize you're a third of the way through the book and he's *still* talking about whether the next pitch will be a curve or a slider, or whether this particular left-handed hitter should be thrown a change-up, or whether the pitcher should challenge the batter with his superior fastball, or whether the pitch should be low, or high, or out of the strikezone. Enough already! As far as baseball strategy goes, this book is 90% about pitch selection and batter analysis. There is not too much discussion of the other elements of baseball. So if you're looking for a wider variety of baseball discussion, I'd recommend you look elsewhere.

Average customer rating:
Pure Baseball: Pitch by Pitch for the Advanced Fan
Keith Hernandez; Mike Bryan
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OETKBC

Average customer rating:
Pure Baseball: Pitch by Pitch for the Advanced Fan
Keith; Bryan, Mike Hernandez
Manufacturer: Harpercollins Childrens Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEHM08

Average customer rating:

Great!

Not Very Helpful

One of the best research tools around!

A Quick-Fix Character-Naming Book

Character Naming, A Problem for Every Writer, Solved Right Here

The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook
Sherrilyn Kenyon , Hal Blythe , and Charlie Sweet
Manufacturer: Writers Digest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0898796326

Book Description
Writers give as much thought and consideration to naming characters as they would to naming a newborn child. This trusted writing resource takes the uncertainty out of the process with a brand new edition. It's packed full of features--both proven and new--with:
-More than 25,000 first and last names organized by meaning and ethnic origin -Invaluable instruction on naming strategies and creating original names -Lighthearted sidebars explaining famous character names from literature -A look at how best-selling novelists, like Elizabeth George, Marian Keyes and more, name their characters
Now all types of fiction writers can add more nuance and meaning to their work with the perfect names!
Customer Reviews:

Great!.......2006-07-09
Hi!
This Book is simply great and I am so grateful that I got the chance to get it from amazon.com for in Germany there is no way I could have gotten it for a decent price.
The names are ordered in "Asian" or "arthurian Legend" or such and thus simply great to search in for authors. Thanks again for the great work, Mrs. Kenyon!
Not Very Helpful.......2006-07-03
This book was written with the sad misconception that a name itself can completely define your character- that's ridiculous. Who says a Bertha or Percy can't be daring, exciting, or sexy? Who says a Gertrude can't be a Dominatrix? I bought this book for the sole purpose of helping with my character's surnames- I have dozens of baby books that I can turn to for first names, thank you, but this book doesn't bother with surnames save for a handful for most nationalities. Beside that, I had to laugh when I read in the first chapter that the author actually named one of her characters "Joe Q. Public". In her "suspense thrillers". I'm sorry, but I've never read such a ludicrous name in MAD Magazine, let alone a serious thriller.
One of the best research tools around!.......2006-06-27
I bought this book on a lark; yet have found it to be not only informative, but easy to navigate. This resource can be used by Fiction Writers, those naming children, and/or Anthropology students. The way that it connects cultures is great. I highly recommend it.
A Quick-Fix Character-Naming Book.......2006-02-13
Anyone who has been writing for some time knows just how difficult it is to come up with meaningful character names. Yet having a meaningful name, one relevant to the story, is as integral a part of the plotting process as the actual outline itself. Naming a character who is a free-spirit Todd is just wrong; it reflects nothing but laziness on the part of the writer. Francis, which actually means free, is a much better alternative, and matches almost perfectly.

Another thing this book is good for is for fantasy writing. How many of you have a read a fantasy story and found the names of characters so strange that it could only have been made up? This book actually tells us to use established names and warp them or combine them to give more suitable fantasy names.

This book also has a huge selection of nationalities, from African to Welsh, and everything between, including dead languages such as Latin, as well as Asian nationalities like Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. It provides male and female names as well as their meanings, along with common family names.

Though The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook obviously isn't meant for every writer, it's definitely an important book for fiction writers. It helps to legitimize a story's plot or theme by providing meaningful names, and also shows that a writer is willing to do some research in order to succeed in his or her writing. So, if you you're a genre writer, I'd highly recommend this book, and put the phone book back where it should be: next to your phone.
Character Naming, A Problem for Every Writer, Solved Right Here.......2005-10-20
I write short stories and my husband is a novelist, so we are always on the lookout for good names for our characters. If we see a good name in a newspaper or meet someone who has a good name, we write it down. For example, I just met a car salesman named Donovan Smith. What a cool name, so it's in my handy, dandy, little notebook. However, we write a lot and we're not going to find all the names we need that way. Besides, we don't want to get sued, so generally we make them up and for help doing that we turn to three reference books, books that will make the life of any writer of fiction a tiny bit easier.

I suppose every writer knows about Sherrilyn Kenyon's CHARACTER NAMING SOURCEBOOK. Ms. Kenyon's book starts out with a short chapter on the craft of naming, then she goes right into the name lists, giving her readers lists of all kinds of names from Anglo-Saxon to Welsh with thirty-three others thrown in in between, like Armenian, Celtic, Danish, Dutch and plenty more. She gives us both male and female names and their meanings and that's handy for giving good guys and bad guys names, because you can give your villains dark sounding mysterious names. This book is a must for writers. I really believe that.

Basil Cottle's DICTIONARY OF SURNAMES is also an excellent resource for finding names that we turn to a lot. Where else would you find surnames like Icemonger, Inger or Iorwerth. Great names here. However, I should say that there are only names here that have originated in the British Isles. There are a whole lot of them though, along with an excellent introduction of surnames and how they came to be. Mr. Cottle also gives us a brief history and meaning of every name. This book, like the one I mentioned above, is also a must for fiction writer.

And lastly there is THE VERY BEST BABY NAME BOOK, by Bruce Lansky, which we also turn to a lot. I may seem silly, at first, for a serious writer to include this book along with the first two books, but babies grow up and they keep their names. And there are 30,001 names in this book, names from everywhere in the world along with a few facts about many of the names. My husband the novelist actually uses this book more than the others. If you write a lot, then you should have this book too.

If you have all three of these books in your writer's arsenal, then you'll never need to look any further for a name, though good names often turn up in the most unlikely of places, so I'd keep that handy, dandy, little notebook if I were you.

All three books reviewed in one review by Vesta Irene

Average customer rating:

Phoooey! Stephen Jones STINKS as an editor!

Just barely 3 stars

Disappointed.

Buy it used

Best New Horror Volume 15

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 15

Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

United States | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Anthologies | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Jones, Stephen | ( J ) | Authors, A-Z | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
British | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 14

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 16 (Mammoth Book of Best New Horror)

The Mammoth Book of New Terror (Mammoth Book of)

Best New Horror (Mammoth Book of Best New Horror)

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: The Year's Best Terror Tales (Mammoth Book of Best New Horror)

ASIN: 0786714263

Book Description

This edition of The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror comes with another generous sampling of the past year’s best horror fiction, earning acclamations from the likes of Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. With contributions from such favorites as Ramsey Campbell and Kim Newman, along with the talented likes of Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, Graham Joyce, Paul McCauley, Stephen Gallagher, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Jay Russell, Glen Hirshberg and many more, the hair-raising tales in this edition hold nightmares for travelers in alien lands, unveil the mystery and menace lurking in our everyday reality, explore the terrors of the supernatural, and honor horror’s classic tradition. Like all of the other volumes in this series, award-winning editor Stephen Jones once again brings us the best new horror, revisiting momentous events and chilling achievements on the dark side of fantasy in 2004.

Customer Reviews:

Phoooey! Stephen Jones STINKS as an editor!.......2007-09-24
This is the second (and last) "Horror" book I try edited by Stephen Jones. He doesn't seem to understand the meaning of horror or being entertained by spooky/scary stories! The stories are WEAK, and none are actually scary.
Just barely 3 stars.......2007-05-16
I have to agree with the other reviews on this one, I have a couple other Mammoth Books of Best New Horror and they are much better than this one. I am glad I got it used for just a couple bucks, I would have been much more disappointed if I had paid full price for it. A handful of good stories, and I would hardly categorize those few as scary. Really mostly filler.
Disappointed........2006-12-11
I have a few mammoth books that are either of the horror/terror genre. They're usually pretty good. I'm a Stephen King devotee myself & it's usually hard to find good horror that I'll actually pay attention to. This book just didn't cut it for me. Usually the majority of the stories are great...but this book left me hanging. I'm reading The Mammoth Book of New Terror right now and am pleased as punch. Best New Horror Vol. 15 just was a DISAPPOINTMENT!
Buy it used.......2005-10-12
Like most anthologies 5 good stories 2 or 3 bad ones and the rest are nothing more than mediocre filler .
Best New Horror Volume 15.......2005-08-16
In spite of the other negative reviews for this horror anthology, I find the stories in the 15th installment in the "Best New Horror" to be quite interesting, even if they are more on the strange side than the scary side. He are some of the stories in this anthology that I have thus far read:

"Fear the Dead"- A young boy copes mysteriously with the death of his grandmother.

"Seven Feet"- An ancient rat plague gruesomely returns to modern society.

"Hunter Lake"- Creepy happenings at a haunted marsh lake.

"Cell Call"- A very interesting story about a man trapped in a Twilight Zone-like place in the far off woods.

"The Bereavement Photographer"- A mysterious tale of a man who photographs couples and dead children. He begins to notice weird details in his photos.

"Mr. Sly Goes for a Cup of Joe"- A real life story about a store robbery.

I am still reading the others, and suggust you read them all as well. Though this may not be as strong as the previous entries in the series, it is still worth reading and purchasing for 13 bucks.

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