Most Popular Books by Mark Hoffman

Howlin’ Wolf was a musical giant in every way. He stood six foot three, weighed almost three hundred pounds, wore size sixteen shoes, and poured out his darkest sorrows onstage in a voice like a raging chainsaw. Half a century after his first hits, his sound still terrifies and inspires. Born Chester Burnett in 1910, the Wolf survived a grim childhood and hardscrabble youth as a sharecropper in Mississippi. He began his career playing and singing with the first Delta blues stars for two decades in perilous juke joints. He was present at the birth of rock ’n’ roll in Memphis, where Sam Phillips–who also discovered Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis–called Wolf his “greatest discovery.” He helped develop the sound of electric blues and vied with rival Muddy Waters for the title of king of Chicago blues. He ended his career performing and recording with the world’s most famous rock stars. His passion for music kept him performing–despite devastating physical problems–right up to his death in 1976. There’s never been a comprehensive biography of the Wolf until now. Moanin’ at Midnight is full of startling information about his mysterious early years, surprising and entertaining stories about his decades at the top, and never-before-seen photographs. It strips away all the myths to reveal–at long last–the real-life triumphs and tragedies of this blues titan.

Lolek is a celebration of the childhood of Pope John Paul II.

An important and little-known chapter of Michigan''s Civil War history, drawn from the letters, diaries, and regimental records of the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics regiment. As volunteer engineers for the Union army, the First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics regiment was made up of skilled artisans, craftsmen, railroad men, and engineers whose behind-the-scenes work was crucial to the Union victory. Charged with maintaining the Union supply line in the western theater, the engineers constructed and repaired a staggering number of bridges, blockhouses, fortifications, railroads, and telegraph lines to keep the Union army functioning in the aftermath of battle. "My Brave Mechanics" traces the history of this little-known unit, revealing their substantial engineering accomplishments as well as their combat experience. Although they were charged primarily with engineering work, the regiment also saw substantial direct combat action. Confederate guerillas and bushwackers bent on disrupting vital communication and supply lines routinely disregarded the usual rules of warfare to target the engineers. They struck quickly, and sometimes at night, exploiting the isolation and vulnerability of the workmen, who, unlike regular infantrymen, were almost never dug-in and ready for an attack. Yet despite the odds against them, the Michigan engineers are recognized for several key accomplishments, including their work in keeping the railroad open south from Union supply depots in Louisville, the relief of the Union forces in Chattanooga, and destruction of rebel railroads during Sherman''s march through Georgia and the Carolinas. The regiment''s senior officers also held important posts within the Union military organization in the west and were instrumental in developing a coherent policy for the use of captured rebel railroads and infrastructure. Historian Mark Hoffman offers readers a detailed account of the Michigan engineers from a wealth of sources, including letters, diaries, regimental papers, communications and orders from the military establishment, period newspapers, and postwar accounts. As little has been written about Union volunteer engineers in the western theater, their unique history will undoubtedly be fascinating reading for Civil War buffs, local historians, and those interested in the history of American military engineering.

Written by two consultants who have spent more than 30 years developing applications and managing project life cycles, this book is about real-world application development. It focuses on a world where not every program gets into production without a bug, the scope of projects change with the winds, projects run overtime and over budget, and users that couldn''t care less about the new application being forced on them by I/S. in short, where Murphy''s Law prevails. The authors cover all aspects of the application development process. In the process, they not only give you good techniques for real- world application development management, they also include charts, work sheets, and checklists that will help you manage your projects.

This is a book about the Kingdom of God. Ever since Jesus came to Earth, this Kingdom with its power and supply has been powerfully working through those who have understood it. It has not only transformed whole nations and continents but has changed the lives and futures of millions of people who have dared to believe and fully enter it.But this is also the story of one city - and the story of its people who are witnessing the Kingdom of God, then transforming their community. What you learn in this book will allow you to transform your city as well.

Today individuals and families are being defeated by seemingly insurmountable problems.People grow increasingly desperate, unaware that there is an invisible realm charged with God''s power and superabundance called the Kingdom of God. It is available to those who seek it!Jesus was never limited by the physical. He understood how to release God''s blessing and provision into human need. Jesus taught his followers the keys to unlocking the power of this kingdom.Though often neglected today, these principles remain the blueprint for how life works and are the secret to transforming your life and world!

A collection of newspaper articles concerning Mark Hoffman.

In order to provide efficient estimates on the safe life of damaged nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessels (RPVs), simulation based models have been created for probabilistic analyses. As probabilistic analyses generally require millions of model evaluations, a model for rapid and accurate stress intensity factor calculations is necessary to obtain useful stochastic results. The Fracture Analysis of Vessels, FAVOR code, is a program designed to perform probabilistic assessments of RPVs, though its analysis is limited to axis aligned flaws for discrete flaw characteristic inputs. In an effort to extend this analysis to 3D off axis flaws for any continuous input, the weight function method utilized in FAVOR was implemented within a finite element framework more conducive to 3D flaw evaluations. Using the INL''s fracture mechanics and material embrittlement code, Grizzly, RPV fracture models were utilized in the development of a reduced order model for approximating stress intensity factors to enable efficient probabilistic analyses. Additionally, surrogate modeling techniques were investigated and utilized within the reduced order model such that continuous flaw inputs could be evaluated.