This easy-to-read book, which focuses on avoiding the common mistakes made by most new business owners, also discusses the telltale warning signs of failure, how to deal with them and how to prevent potentially fatal problems. Adams offer basic financial tips--how to devise a simple cash analysis report, prepare a budget, put together a one-page financial statement and more--and touches on such topics as accounts receivable, profit margins, budgeting, cash management and collections. Adams, himself once on the brink of business failure, clearly and pointedly addresses the risks that concern all entrepreneurs, reveals the countless threats most have never considered, and shares some cogent counsel. This one is certainly worth a read.

...The concepts and ideas in this book have proven invaluable. Starting my first business, I avoided many of the failures other have experienced and have built this small company to a 5 million dollar a year operation thanks to the many insightful examples and passages. In particular, I was able to start the business with little cash, and by using my vendors credit, I was able to build the company without accumulating any long term debt. Its just great to have a guide to help you through the many complex issues in starting, growing and running a small company......

Scott R. Adams - President and CEO - Digital Video Communications, Inc.

As a part-time, adjunct professor who teaches in the evening management courses and as a management consultant, I find that Dr.Adams avoids the conventional academic jargon and the everyday stuffiness frequently found in the management literature. He writes in a matter-of-fact, easy to read, conversational style. His vast experience based on his personal near-failures and those of others provide a wealth of worthwhile material. I encourage all who are contemplating entrenpreneurship to read this book. I intend to urge my college to make this book required reading for all management degree students. Additionally, I intend to integrate Dr. Adams's "points to remember," found at the end of each chapter, in my work as a management consultant as I assist CEOs and their organizations in enhancing their efficiency and effectiveness.

ADAM BEDE is a thrilling read, though it may seem hard to believe given the unpromising setting and the stilted way Eliot introduces her story. But after the first few starchy chapters, abruptly, something wonderful happens: she gets wise to herself. It's as if you can see her realize that the upright characters she *thought* she was pinning her story on, dull Dinah and Mr Irwine, aren't really the stuff of which fiction is made -- so she shoves them aside and takes up the flawed characters of her triangle, who resonate with possibility at every turn. Suddenly, miraculously, with almost no warning, all Eliot's amazing gifts as a writer take center stage: Her psychological insight. Her phenomenal wit. The dramatizing genius that allows her, effortlessly, to plot the most intimate narrative developments against the gigantic backdrop of a county-wide feast or funeral. Her fearlessness and surefootedness in picking her way (and ours) through the tangle of social and class relationships of an entire village. In this embarrassment of riches, maybe most rewarding for a reader like me is Eliot's unerring ability to pay off her plots: here, ladies and gentlemen, is a writer who knows how to write the hell out of a climax -- George Eliot's big confrontation scenes never, ever disappoint.

Too, some wizardry seems to keep her narrative touch both incomparably delicate and completely unflinching at the same time. At the heart of ADAM BEDE is a story so sordid I wonder whether it could be broadcast on network TV today, and Eliot tells it without vulgarity but without ever shying away from its ugliness. My most serious criticism of the book is that Eliot didn't quite trust herself enough not to tack an unconvincing (and, worse, uninteresting) happy ending onto her story. But the hair-raising drive of the middle two-thirds of the book is something you'll never forget.

Highly recommended for those who loves classic literature. George Elliot beautifully captured the lives of the people in rural English country in the late 18th century and early 19th century. I guarantee you'll fall in love with all the 4 main characters ie. Adam Bede, Hetty Sorrel, Lord Arthur and Dinah Morris before you finish the book. The courting scenes involving Adam Bede and Dinah are both very romantic and honest. George Elliot had a great understanding of human nature which makes the story very believable although it's fiction. ADAM BEDE's a hero in my heart, and this book's a must read for all literature fans.

George Eliot weaves a simple story of love, suffering, and goodness. While the plot is hardly complex (boy loves girl, another boy gets girl, unhappiness abounds - also reused in Mill on the Floss), the manner in which Eliot develops her characters and their emotions and actions ring as true and resoundingly as a bell. It's so clear, so obvious, but also moving and textured. You feel Adam's absolute love for vain little Hetty, Dinah's calming grace, Arthur's good intentions, Lisbeth's fretting nature. Eliot draws you in with her honest observations of life in a country town, without the background becoming a dominant factor. The near idyllic life the characters lead is a healthy contrast to the town's emotional upheaval.

Adam is an upright, genuine character, and not as perfect as he seems. If his love for Hetty seems unfounded at times, it only serves to highlight how dangerous delusions can be. All the "sinners" are ultimately redeemed by truth - true love, true friends, true promises, and true acceptance. Religion plays a significant part in the novel, but don't let that deter you. It's so much more than that - Adam Bede is truly one of the few works that encompass a world of humanity between two covers.

AB reminded me of Tess of the D'Ubervilles a bit, but there is no villain here, just flawed, honest people in search of unattainable dreams. In the process of trying to get a bit of happiness, they stumble and bleed, but ultimately find something truly worth having. Bittersweetness is Eliot's trademark for good reason.

George Eliot's first full novel is obviously a bit less polished than her later works, but you see the wonderful command she has over language and expression. The book, the people, the story all come alive with her touch. A rare read that has something to say and says it beautifully.

Author Paul Stroble has crafted a wonderful story with real characters and an honest view of life in a small Midwestern town. This novel revolves around Becky, a wonderfully independent woman in all matters except her ties to her hometown. Throughout the novel, Stroble weaves excellent subplots through romance, history and a great group of supporting characters. Stroble offers a realistic look at small town life, and addresses the attitudes of the urban population towards that way of life. Adams Street Antiques provides an outstanding main character with a strong supporting cast, a nice romance and a view of everyday life in a small Midwestern town. Great leisure reading

Adams Street Antiques is so satisfying, it gets my vote as the perfect book to curl up with on a quiet rainy day. Author Paul Stroble does for small town Illinois what Jan Karon does for the Blue Ridge Mountains: Stroble's description of "Mayersburg", its citizens and history is so charming, you'll think you're there---and if you're not, you'll want to be. Main character Becky Harmon is one of the most likeable, unpretentious thirtysomethings in recent fiction history, and her friends and family reflect a spectrum of colorful personalities. Whether you're a history buff, a Midwest-phile, an antiques collector, or just someone who wants to read a good, clean, well-written story, get this book. Make a pot of tea and spend an afternoon with Becky Harmon. You'll be glad you did.

This profusely illustrated text will give residents in radiology the basic anatomy needed to form a solid foundation for a complete radiologist.It however does not contain tables for easy reading and review.
The pictures are explicit and help to further reinforce understanding of the text.

A very well organised and profusely illustrated text which provides information on anatomy as related to and conventional radiology and more sophisticated radiological forms of investigation like the magnetic resonance imaging. First year residents would find the book useful as it provide the basic anatomic knowledge needed in making diagnosis. This book is a must for radiologists!

I have been keeping mantellas for a number of years and aside from a few articles in various magazines have found no decent literature on these fabulous frogs. This book gave me in-depth knowledge on how to keep and breed these frogs and I thought the photo-diary on hatching eggs and rearing the tadpoles was wonderful. The centre-fold of the book also has some stunning colour plates of these frogs. My only gripe is that it is a little pricey, however having said that it is a limited edition book and good, solid information on any subject one is interested in is almost priceless. Can't wait for the next book Mark!

This is a must have for anyone that loves these tiny little jewels. Mantellas are often thought of as difficult creatures to keep. This book gives away all the secrets to keeping them in captivity, happy and healthy, for years. Thanks Marc!

Collections are difficult to review, especially one as wide-ranging as this. The thread that (supposedly) holds this collection together is that it is inspired by Yi-Fu Tuan, a "humanist geographer" (who, judging from his essay, and the many bouquets thrown his way in the other essays), is the very picture of a modernist major geographer.

What is a geographer these days you might ask? If you were to read this book, you would have to believe that everyone who has ever read any postmodern thinkers on the subject of boundaries and/or space is a geographer. That means just about everybody, of course, as postmodernists are all about space and, dare I say it, spatiality. How soon will place be converted into platiality?

Despite my snarky comments above, I like this book. Some of it postmodern ideas are only rearticulations of stuff hardcore guys like Derrida are known for, except here is is told from the perspective of geographers. I'm not sure what makes these folks geographers exactly -- in fact a couple of them are teachers of medieval literature -- but, I am sure that the majority of these essays are thoughtful and thought-provoking. Particulary fine is Wilbur Zelinsky's "The World and Its Identity Crisis" which sketches out a (very) shematic history of the world and our place in it. Here's a quote:

"We find ourselves caged in a curious world of contradictions, of unprecedented personal and group anxieties. The freedom to comparison-shop among lifestyles, to rotate among multiple identities, this culmination of millennia of human struggle and progress, such power and flexibility, all this has failed to generate the bliss one might have anticipated or hoped for. Instead an increasingly large segment of First World populations, and incipiently others as well, has begun to wonder who or what they are, or should be."

Here he is quoting Zygmunt Bauman:

"Postmodernity is the point at which modern untying (dis-embedding, dis-encumbering) of tied (embedded, situated) identities reaches its completion: it is now all too easy to choose identity, but no longer possible to hold it. At the moment of ultimate triumph, the liberation succeeds in annihilating its object...Freedom...has given the postmodern seekers of identity all the powers of Sisyphus."

So, this collection offers the general reader a chance to check out what's going on in the new world of humanist geography. Essentially it's re-thinking the ways the world, space and place have been thought about, and are thought about, which is what most post-modern stuff does. Good illustrations, mostly good writing which in some cases opens up new territory, and in others, treads over old, but still interesting, ground.

I would like to append my comment's to panopticonman's below (which I much appreciate). To contextualize myself, I am a graduate student in geography at UCLA. This quarter I am enrolled in a seminar which is reading this book, alongside Claudio Minca's volume "Postmodern Geography: Theory and Praxis." The seminar is run by Denis Cosgrove, a contributor to both volumes, and is attended by Karen Till (one of the editors of "Textures of Place") and Michael Curry, another contributor and former student of Yi-Fu Tuan. Furthermore, I have taken to identifying myself as a "humanistic geographer." Thus I have a particular insider's perspective on the work.

Some minor corrections of panopticonman's comments, to contextualize the work itself. First off, humanistic geography is nothing new. Prior to this book, the most definitive statements on humanistic geography were produced in the mid-1970s, in a series of papers by Nick Entrikin, Yi-Fu Tuan, Ed Relph and Anne Buttimer (all of whom contribute to this volume), and a book titled "Humanistic Geography: Prospects and Problems." What makes "Textures" so interesting is that it is the first book in nearly 25 years to actually have the phrase "humanistic geography" in the title. In our (post)modern times, the very idea of 'humanism' has become less than fashionable, with some avowed postmodernists (see the Minca volume or "Place and the Politics of Identity") actually taking an "antihumanist" stance. Most of the contributors to "Textures" have wrestled with postmodernism before, and many would perhaps take issue with being labeled "humanists," but all have benefited from the work of Tuan and other humanistic geographers. So what you see in this volume is not so much work on postmodernism particularly, but rather on the viability and value of humanistic modes of inquiry in our postmodern context.

Secondly, this book offers a very particular representation of academic geography. As panopticonman noted, what binds all the essays together is the presence (explicit or implicit) of Yi-Fu Tuan. (In fact, the book has its roots in a set of paper sessions held at a national meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Tuan's honor.) The three editors are all former students of Tuan (Till was his last formal student) and several of the contributors are former students. As well, quite a few of the contributors are colleagues of Tuan. The contributing geographers include several emeriti professors, several who have been active in the field since "humanistic geography" first emerged (and, indeed, helped to shape that perspective), and several who have begun their professorial careers in only the last 5 or 6 years. In other words, you have presented here close to 30 years or more of academic geography's history. This volume, then, is a good indicator not only of contemporary work in geography, but the historical trajectory which geography has taken. Furthermore, beyond the discipline of geography, you have represented the fields of English and American literature, art history, philosophy and anthropolgy, marking the influence of Tuan beyond his formal disciplinary boundaries.

Finally, I would just like to offer something moving (slowly but inexorably) towards panopticonman's question: what is a geographer, anyway? Certainly for many of the contributors to this volume (and including myself, though I am merely a reader of the book, and lack an authorial presence), Tuan does offer a model of the ideal geographer. His intellectual project begins with a simple supposition: that geography is the study (and, following Sack's analysis, the practice) of how humans transform the world into 'home.' Tuan has been concerned throughout his career to analyze how people have actively shaped their world -- nature, relations with other people, even 'raw' space itself -- in order to transform it into meaningful places. This project involves active (materialist), normative, and aesthetic dimensions; these various dimensions are explored, singly and in combination, by the contributors to "Textures." As well, Tuan has exerted a significant pedagogical influence on geography, exemplified in Entrikin's closing essay of the volume. Entrikin identifies Tuan as "the perfect humanistic geographer," focusing on Tuan's understanding of liberal education and humanism as a philosophical outlook on the world (as expressed most particularly in "The Good Life"). The purpose of humanistic inquiry, for Tuan, "is to develop the whole person, to create a good person, and in this way to cultivate humanity" (Entrikin here connects Tuan's project up conceptually with Martha Nussbaum). This volume, drawing on the force of Tuan's personality and perspective, contributes to the cultivation of humanity through its engagement with the material, moral, and educational directives and achievements of contemporary geography.

This is indeed a great book. It talks a lot about the basic photographic techniques and is a good read for a beginner. However, most of the book is limited to black and white photography. The book is also a bit out dated.

Overall a good book for a serious beginner. It will help a person get accostomed to both the scientific and the creative aspects of photography.

The majority of the text concentrates it's efforts in educating the reader in the art of B&W photography. Color photography is briefly touched on at the book's end. The first half of the book deals with various camera systems, accessories, film choices, photograph visualization and film exposure. All of these topics are covered exceptionally well. The second half deals with the developing and printing process. If the prospective reader will not be involved in the developing and printing process then the Ansel Adams Book 1, "The Camera", and Book 2, "The Negative", may be better choices. However to receive the maximum benefit from the art of B&W photography one must eventually delve into the darkroom. The book details those processes equally well.

Although I loved this book, and knew what I was buying, Amazon's attribution of this book to Ansel Adams is misleading. This is a book about Ansel Adams' technique, and his zone system in particular. It's not a book by Adams. If you want Adams' own take on the basic techniques of photography, check out his three books: The Camera, The Negative, The Print, as well as his book of case studies, The Making of 40 Photographs. It takes a lot of nerve to write a book like this when Adams has already done a bang up job of it himself. Surprisingly, Schaefer's effort doesn't pale in comparison to the master's own. Plus you have the advantage of a single book rather than Adams' three. Schaefer provides an excellent guide to Ansel Adams' zone technique, with great illustrations. And despite a bit more attention paid to color photography than in Adams' own books, it still seems like an afterthought.

First, Somewhere on Amazon.com I read that the pictures in this book are FULL COLOR. They are NOT. I did not find this book helpful at all as far as showing the pictures to my son while he sits on the toilet. He has no interest in looking at these cartoon people. I've never seen a kid have less of an interest in anything in my life.

This book immediately became my little boy's favorite book. "Look, Mommy," he said with a big smile. "It's about me!" After a few days of looking at the charming, colorful illustrations in Part 2 (the book's children's section), designed by experts to help children learn about their bodily functions, and of having the book's cute story read to him, he let me know that he was ready to go to the bathroom "just like a grownup." I couldn't believe how soon he was using the toilet by himself. The whole process was amazingly hassle-free. I found Part 1 of the book (the section for parents, which contains complete information about the psychology and physiology of "toilet learning") fascinating. In fact, the relaxed, patient attitude Part 1 recommends has carried over to every other area of my parenting. There's a banner that runs across the upper-right-hand corner of the book's front cover that reads, "The classic bestseller." I can certainly see why.

My daughter loved this book. She asked for it every day and now she is diaper free. I found the parent section highly informative. IT MADE ME A BETTER PARENT. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Wow, for once I find myself agreeing with Ian Fletcher - really great job, Michael. Every neighborhood should have a book like this - but only Harlem does! And, Michael, you're too sensitive about 1-800-Riverside - he/she made some reasonably fair criticisms - who among us are without sin? - but still endorses your book.

Hope you make a $million (Gianfranco Monacelli, are you listening?) - or at least enough for a computer.

Best, Christopher Gray

This great book comes forward to change forever our view of Harlem. It is a highly significant step toward informed appreciation of Harlem's architectural importance, cultural complexity, and the abundant variety and beauty of its singular places. No publication at this scale has yet been attempted for Harlem and the grand scope and close detail brought together here by this talented historian will raise the intelligence of the national sense of this unique cultural center never before served so well. Harlem is a household word -- across the globe -- and many may have felt that "our country's African American center" or "jazz incubator" or "home of black Congressional leadership" or some such positive phrase sums it up. Here is presentation of the whole, its place in shaping our revolutionary republic, its welcome to those arriving first from Europe, then from southern states as well as the Caribbean Islands, its heritage of architecturally glorious churches, its handsome houses -- and the innate preservationist sensitivity of each wave of residents who have kept this heritage of fine architecture so largely intact. The book presents these churches and houses through the superlative photographic studies contributed by Paul Rocheleau which bring the reader right into the sites so brilliantly described by Michael Adams. This fine collaboration opens eyes to the deeper meaning of carefully designed housing itself as well as how these churches stand witness to the care of their parishioners. Those viewing these pages far from Harlem will feel on site; those here will want to walk these streets with newly opened eyes. The book is a lifetime purchase and is itself one of the most significant Harlem events in years.

Paul Rocheleau urged me not to worry about what I wrote stressing, "Most people only look at the pictures anyhow." Taking over ten years to research and write something, how tiresome it is to then be compelled to defend it. One is reluctant to do much beyond urging those who might disagree with what you've said to take a decade or two themselves and write their own work. After all no matter what one does or doesn't do the inadvertent error is sure to emerge. This was so for Galsworthy and for Langston Hughes. It will be for you as well. The Riviera Apartments, for instance, were designed by Rouse & Goldstone, not Schwartz & Gross. Mr. Charles Lovejoy is in fact Mr. Charles Loveday, and so it goes. It appears that Harlem Lost and Found will warrant a second printing at least, so thank goodness these mistakes and similar ones can be addressed.

What cannot be altered, however, is my understanding of Harlem's boundaries. Quite justifiably, I believe they can be identified as extending as far north as 168th St. "Not For Tourists Guide to New York City 2003", sponsored by JPMorgan Chase Community Development Group, at least agrees to this hallowed region extending north as far as 160th St. Well, actually, they call the region south to 134th St. between Bradhurst Ave. and the Hudson River 'Manhattanville/Hamilton Heights'. However, surely these neighborhoods are agreed to be in Harlem, are they not?

Unashamedly, I concede that my book was driven by handsome buildings. But, throughout its publication from circa 1910 through 1934, Harlem Magazine, an all white journal, included the very same structures that I have located north of 155th St. in its pages. Things do change, of course. Attempting to dissect Harlem into a series of hierarchically class-based districts, many, by the 1890s, designated all Manhattan west of St. Nicholas Ave. and north of 135th St. as 'Washington Heights'. Already by the 1860s the appellation was used from 155th St. north. But this initial usage much like that of 'Carmansville' was meant, I believe, to identify a subsection of greater Harlem. Certainly, the Audubon, Knapp, and Hooper families continued to identify their address as Harlem much as today many residents of the officially named 'Clinton' continue to give their address as 'Hell's Kitchen'.

In any case, perhaps the old-fashioned but unfashionable race card trumps other considerations? Asked in the 1950s by Joe McCarthy where he lived, Ralph Ellison said 150th St. and Riverside Drive. He qualified his answer, though, noting that the area had once been regarded as 'Washington Heights'. But stated that from his experience, "Wherever Negroes live uptown is considered Harlem." Surely this is the logic whereby the Audubon Ballroom and Theater, where Malcolm X was slain in 1965, was and continues to be identified as a Harlem landmark. No doubt, as more whites displace more blacks and Latinos throughout Upper Manhattan, Brian Keith Jackson's satirical references to name changes in the novel "The Queen of Harlem" will, in fact, occur more and more. It's this likelihood that makes me even more adamantly compelled to document the old understanding amongst blacks and many whites of what is Harlem.

How easy it is to regret what one has not done. If only I had a computer I might have addressed these issues earlier. If only I were more prosperous, I might have also included footnotes in Harlem Lost and Found and saved myself some grief. But as an author under contract to a small press it was difficult enough to pay for an index, I can assure you. As it was so dear, I especially wish the mystery reviewer at 800 RSD had consulted it. I reference Vaux & Withers twice. Once in relation to their Trinity Cemetery suspension bridge. Another time based on Francis R. Kowsky's 1980 monograph of Withers (Wesleyan University Press), on page 196, in the appended work list, I cite the George B. Grinnell house and stable on West 156th and 157th Sts. entered for 1869 and 1870. At no time, regarding this firm, do I ever mention either Mrs. John James Audubon or her dwelling.

As for my attribution of Audubon Park's ownership by George Bird Grinnell, on page 21 of the pamphlet "Audubon Park" published by the Hispanic Society in America in 1927 and reissued in 1987, a later George B. Grinnell relates of his relative, "Long before this, the greater portion of what had been Audubon Park, that is to say, all of it except the track where the old Audubon houses stand had become the property of a single owner, George B. Grinnell, from whose estate, in 1909, a large part of it passed into the hands of builders who covered much of it with tall apartment houses."

Similarly, so far as Jesse W. Benedict's earlier ownership of the park after 1864 goes, no less an historian than Audubon Park's own Reginald Pelham Bolton in his great book "Washington Heights, Manhattan, Its Eventful Past" asserts the same on page 111.

Regarding record sale prices at the Grinnell, the New York Times, it's true, might inflate values, but can I really be faulted for believing all the news that's fit to print?

Yes, indeed, whatever else it is, thanks mostly to Paul Rocheleau and designer Abigail Sturges, Harlem Lost and Found is a visual feast. Whatever its shortcomings, I hope that it is better written and researched than one critic suggests. Better than ever, I now appreciate the aphorism 'Some do, and others complain'. And anonymously, no less. Well, what can one say except God Bless America.

John Quincy Adams has long endured the reputation of an aloof, pugnacious elitist totally out of touch with his constituency and his times. In this recent biography, Paul Nagel seeks to go beyond the historical negative image of our sixth president to uncover the man behind the mask.

Given the author's stated intention, this book is as much character analysis as historical biography. Other reviewers of this book listed below have criticized Nagel for neglecting an in-depth accounting of JQA's public accomplishments. Clearly, they didn't read the preface (in which the author clearly lays out the focus of the book) and would have been much better off reading a different volume on Adams' life, such as Samuel Flagg Bemis' masterwork, "John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy," which won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and provides a comprehensive analysis of JQA's many public achievements.

Using JQA's private diary as the primary source, Nagel describes a talented but conflicted man tormented by a life of extreme self-doubt and merciless self-criticism. From an early age JQA was groomed for greatness by his parents. But that preparation - which included a stint as secretary to the US Minister to Russia while only 14 years old, the best classical education a young American of his time could dream of, and close contact with many heads of state and intellectuals - proved to be more curse than blessing in a nation rapidly shifting toward the popular democracy of Jacksonianism. The intense pressure to succeed and a public increasingly hostile to his aristocratic upbringing and bearing caused JQA a lifetime of great personal anguish and ultimately national rejection.

For those interested in learning more about Adams' role as chief negotiator at Ghent during the War of 1812, his storied tenure as Monroe's secretary of state, his disastrous presidential administration, or his controversial career in the House in later life, there are much better volumes to read than Nagel's. However, few biographies exceed Nagel's insight into Adams' personal life - his pettiness, self-pity, disappointment, and grief.

It's a matter of debate who was our most intelligent President: Lincoln, Madison and Jefferson would certainly garner their share of votes. But John Quincy Adams warrants serious consideration: he was an intellectual titan with an astounding breadth of intellect. He was impossibly well-read, sober, amazingly articulate with a rapier-like ability to demolish opponents or defend his position. It's debatable whether he was, in fact, America's most brilliant President, but this book goes a long way in making that case.

Nagel wisely delves into Adams' private side and quotes extensively from his own words. If you are looking for a glum recitation of Adams' political life, look elsewhere, this is a more human biography. There was a refreshing amount of material focusing on Adams' boyhood, and the chapters covering his Congressional years are especially interesting. His story reads like something from a novel: failed President transformed into one of the most influential Congressmen who ever serve in the House.

My only minor criticism is that Nagel does not sufficiently explore or explain Adams' brilliant son, Henry, who grew up to be a caustic and clever chronicler of the late 10th century. Otherwise, this is a solid book, well-written, thoroughly researched and illuminating.

This book was a wonderful book to read which is surprising because of the detail that was presented. The author was also surprisingly objective. I find that the typical biographer is biased towards his subject but Nagel really strove to provide a well balanced presentation of the man and his accomplishments and his shortcomings.

One criticism is that at times he didn't provide enough background for events that were happenning in JQA's life. I was able to fill in some of the blanks myself because I had just read David McCullough's John Adams. He also could have put a little more detail in how JQA became to be regarded as the foremost American diplomat while he was stationed in Great Britain the first time.

He also came down hard on Abigail Adams. McCullough's book was a little gentler on her than Nagel's was. I'm not sure whose is more accurate.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable and very informative book.