When I first picked up this book, I was excited, because it seemed to combine my love of history and science. Indeed, I enjoyed the first half of the book, with its tales of identifying the Czar's family's bones and debating whether certain historical figures had certain conditions. It made me think about all of the great historical answers hidden six feet under. However, the second half of the book turns to straight genetics and the ethical questions new discoveries have raised. Personally, I did not enjoy the second half as much, though I am appreciative of its quality.

I came across this book while I was away at sleepaway camp for the first time at Vasser Collage. One of my older friends, Ashley, was reading this book and I got interested. I spent my remaning [$$$] on this book, and let me tell you! This book is so much more than just a textbook, it helped me explore, for the first time, the world of DNA. Now I am usinf this book for a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and its helping drasticly. Now I am even more sure that when I grow up, I want to be an epidemiologest. If I could choose any book for a favorite, this would be mine! I would highly recomend this book for anyone whose careeer path is similar to mine, of anyone skilled in the medical feild, or anyone looking for a long, interesting, read.

The painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was the dwarfish son of first cousins, who may have suffered from a hereditary dwarfism. Abraham Lincoln, however, was an uncommonly tall man. His height may be a sign that he had a genetic disorder known as "Marfan Syndrome". In 1962, the syndrome was diagnosed in a 7-year-old boy, who was an 8th-generation descendant of the great-great grandfather of the president. The most serious health problem Lincoln bore in life was "melancholia" and he could also have been predisposed to depression, because major depressive illness has a significant hereditary component.
Well-known genetic diseases in royal families are the madness of King George and the bleeders among Queen Victoria's descendants. The son of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, was one of those bleeders. Nicholas and his family were executed and recently DNA techniques were used to identify their bones.

These stories and others are described in this interesting book about DNA, genetics, clones and ethics. Each chapter in this book is a thrilling tale about something like fragile X-es, double Y's, the sheep Dolly or the Cheddar Man.

"The Buddah Book" is an attempt at telling a story about "how it is" in New York City, and coming from someone like Abraham Rodriguez (who's spent his whole life in the South Bronx) definitly gives it a bit of credibility. Unfortunatly, this book reads like it was written for young adults, where it's content is definitly aimed at mature readers.
Abraham's writing comes off very disjointed, and it reaches to take an artistic, experimental approach at urban writing (comma omissions, varied spacings, poetry-like passages with parenthesis), but it falls short of this goal. The characters are fairly well developed and likeable, if not a bit predictable, yet there are some serious character problems. (One character named "Stupid" changes his name to "Tico" on a whim near the end of the book, and is referred to by other characters who don't even know that he changed his name refer to him as "Tico", as does the narration..very confusing and convoluted..)
There's serious sexual undertones going on in this novel, which sometimes really go overboard or needlessly explicit. Rodriguez also expresses his views on Puerto Rican culture through character dialogue which really does not fit the character's personality traits whatsoever.

Abraham has a fairly good and impressive grasp on NYC underground culture outside of the South Bronx scene.

Needless to say, the book is quite interesting and held my attention (I read it in one sitting), and is quite entertaining. I think so many of the problems in this novel come from a lack of a good editor to pick out and sort through some of the fuzz that crowds in this novel.

I couldm't believe it at first but this was a compelling piece of fiction. Abraham's cutting realism transports to el Sur del Bronx. His sardonic humor and witty prose grabs you, and doesn't let you go. He portrays the daily battle of NY Puerto Rican youth with grace and dignity. I've been a major fan ever since I read his short story "Roaches." As a veteran of 40's, Brooklyn hooky amd house parties, the occassional blunt and graffity I could say it brought me back....

The Buddha Book was a required reading for an ethnic studies class at UW Madison, and I must say, it was an enjoyable read. Not only did the book address the the perceptions of latino and chicano by whites, it also shows the struggles between the groups. Rodriguez probes the relations of the Spanish, black, white culture while writing fascinating fiction. He tries to understand Puerto RicanCentrism, as he calls it. His prose is unique, poetic, and gives the reader superb narrative. A great story.

This book got me interested in conspiracy theories. There are some generalizations and leaps in logic to be sure, but all told it's quite convincing.

Get this book. Read it. This is stuff every American should know, but historians and the media will never tell us.

You must read this book if you are in any way interested in history and/or politics.

I was surprised by how much information was packed into this slim volume. The pictures are well chosen to complement the text. And the essays from other scholars help add light to this turning point in US history.

April 14, 1865, Washington. During a performance of the play OUR AMERICAN COUSIN in Ford's theatre young actor John Wilkes BOOTH shoots Abraham LINCOLN, sixteenth president of the United States, with a .44 derringer in a desparate attempt to turn the tides of civil war. (The cause of the South was already lost, General LEE had already surrendered at Appomatox Court House.)
At the same time BOOTH's co-conspirator Lewis POWELL tries to stab secretary of state William H. SEWARD, leaving the politician as well as his daughter, two sons and a male nurse severly injured. Another conspirator, George ATZERODT, decided to abandon his mission to kill vice president Andrew JOHNSON and got drunk instead.

THE DAY LINCOLN WAS SHOT details the story of this infamous assassination, from the background of the characters, the scheming, the assassination and its aftermath to the fate of the conspirators inside a burning barn (BOOTH) and on the gallows (his accomplices), respectively.
Author Richard BAK brings the persons involved in this tragedy vividly to life. I found this aspect of the book especially compelling. We learn about the war weary president, who also suffered from personal plight (an emotionally unstable wife and the death of his son Willie in 1862). We get to know assassin John Wilkes BOOTH, a famous actor and womanizer, bold, darring and sympathizing with the Confederacy's cause. The book points out how BOOTH's deed affected the American society and the life of all persons involved in this drama. Did you know that Major RATHBONE, an officer, who had accompanied LINCOLN at Ford's theatre, never forgave himself for having been incapable of stopping BOOTH and subsequently became insane due to his self-reproaches, resulting in the murder of his wife and a lifelong imprisonment in a mental institution? The book is full of such gripping details.
Also of note is the way the book sets right some popular myths abouth the assassination. For instance, it is a wellknown belief that after having shot LINCOLN, BOOTH jumped from the presidential box to the stage below and disclaimed "Sic semper tyrannis!" (So perish all tyrannts!) According to eye witness accounts there was no agreement of what BOOTH did or did not say. Also BOOTH's broken leg seems to do not result from the leap on the stage. (He simply made it up in his diary to make his deed more "heroic".) According to author BAK there is good reason to believe that BOOTH broke his leg on his escape, when unheroically falling down from his horse.

THE DAY LINCOLN WAS SHOT is very well written and not at all scholarly. It's written in a way that appeals to history buffs. The text is accompanied by dozens of contemporary photographs and pictures, which add much detail and information.
Also included are various essays of contributing authors, the topics ranging from a portrait of Lewis POWELL, "mystery man" of the conspiracy, to the depiction of the assassination in movies.

This history book is as exciting as a thriller novel, a real pageturner. Believe me, even in case you are not overly interested in civil war history, you'll enjoy it, because it is so thrilling.
HIGHLY recommended.

I bought this book at Ford's theatre gift shop after asking the giftshop supervisor which book has the best narrative and accurate summary of the events leading up to John Wilkes Booth assasination of President Abraham Lincoln, she recommended this book. I must say that she made an excellent choice. This is an excellent book that not only gives the details of the assasination of Lincoln on the night of April 14, 1865, but also gives the background of the mentally imbalanced actor John Wilkes Booth and his cohorts of assasins. This is the companion to the TNT original movie "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" which in itself is an excellent movie. But by itself this book stands on itself as giving the all around perspective both North and South to the views of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and the ultimate defeat of the Confederacy. In this book the eyewitness accounts of the assasination are told by the people who were in the theatre box with the President and First Lady as well as by the people who were in the audience. The events after the shot was fired are given in first hand accounts, and narratives and perspectives years after Lincoln's death. There is a chapter that even gives focus on the rumor's of Booth's escape and living to an old age, but I agree with the book's analysis that this was just rumor. Booth did die by a soldier's bullet a couple of weeks after Lincoln's death. Overall, this is a great read that anyone could enjoy from early High School to a U.S. History Major college student, or any US History enthusiast who wants to know more about the death of President Lincoln.

I felt that the first three writers were the strongest. Mintzberg promotes an idea that leader is just a role in his advocated all mighty manager. Zaleznik brings this down with his idea that managers and leaders are different kind of people and talk about managerial mystique. But maybe best advice how to solve present leadership dilemma comes from Kotter, who says that companies should pick up talented individuals and then put them to grow into leaders through tough challenges.

Gives an insightful view of a manager's job. It enunciates traits and behaviors of leaders and managers very well, and explains how it is important for a manager to have both traits. The material triggers a manager to look within to understand one's leadership and managerial styles. If one wishes to change or develop leadership and managerial skills this material is a great beginning.
It also points out that organizations and academic institutions are good at developing organizational specialists but not at training managers. The author thinks that these institutions should provide management programs that also focus on developing leadership and managerial skills. But to do that it's important to understand what managers and leaders really do.
Overall a very good read for a traditional manager to be introspective and effective.

Excellent book with eight fantastically different views on Leadership. Describes fundamental differences between leadership and Management and brings forth thought process which can help professionals in all fields. Contents are 1) The managers Job (folclore and fact), 2) What leaders really do, 3)managers and leaders (are they different), 4) The discipline of building Character, 5) the ways CEO's lead (5 different ways gathered from study of 160 CEO's),6)The human side of management, 7) the work of leadership, 8) whatever happened to the take-charge manager, also contains brief background about the contributors. Each chapter is from a different contributor

The Gettysburg Address is one of the two most famous speeches in American history, the other being Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech." But Lincoln's speech is the most important oration in our nation's history because before these 271 words were uttered at Gettysburg the United States did not really pay attention to the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence and the idea that "all men are created equal." At the dedication of the National Cemetary at Gettysburg Lincoln declared that those who died did so in defense of that proposition. From that point on, all of the advances in civil rights in this country can be tied to the Gettysburg Address. When the nation was founded "men" meant free, adult, white, male, property owners. Consider today what is meant by "men" when we talk about equality in this country and you have an idea of what Lincoln set in motion. Without Lincoln's speech and the Union winning the Civil War, King would never have given his speech.

The only real shortcoming of "Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln: The Story of the Gettysbug Address" by Jean Fritz is that it fails to address the significance of the oration beyond the idea that it was a speech to remember. Fritz focuses on the story, both in general terms of the Civil War and the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the specifics of the occasion for the speech, including the sickness of Lincoln's son Tad and the lengthy oration by Edward Everett. The complete text of the speech is provided at the back of the book, which is a Level 3 All Aboard Reading book aimed at grades 2-3. The illustrations are mostly watercolors by Charles Robinson although there are also some historic photographs of Lincoln and his son. The important thing is that here is a book that tells the story of a great American speech and at least introduces to young students the idea that words can make a difference in the history of a nation.

This is a fun book that should help your youngster develop an interest in American History. It is easy to read an has great illustratiions. You will not be disappointed with this purchase. Look for others by the same author.

This was a very good book. I think that it teaches you important history you needd to know.

Mama was required reading for a graduate-level nursing course. It was very enlightening -- a poignant and heartbreaking look at a poor African-American family living in one of Chicago's worst neighborhoods. However, I found the author's style and choice of words biased towards the subjects and exceptionally left-wing. Not that these things really don't happen, but the author's descriptive language is heavily biased against the "system" while downplaying the flip side of the coin, that people need to take some individual responsibility for their actions. Abraham does her best (one would hope) to remain objective, but it is most definitely a narrative and should be treated as such. Still, definitely worth the read.

The U.S. government would like us to think that we, being the lone superpower in the world today, have all of our own internal problems solved. Not so. There are millions of uninsured and underinsured people (many of them children) in the U.S. who struggle to meet their own basic (and more advanced) health care needs. This is often a foreign world to Americans raised with good health insurance coverage. Yet Abraham shows us that we cannot ignore the health care problems in our own backyard.

As a recent college graduate who is entering medical school this fall, I was challenged to think carefully about how I will choose to practice medicine in the coming years. Given what I now know, I feel a responsibility to help change the plight of the uninsured.

As a final word, the only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the personal narratives, while very revealing, get a little long-winded at times. Otherwise, it is a great book, one that I anticipate referencing frequently in the coming years.

I found this book to be a great resource for a description of health care coverage for the lower income bracket individuals and families. It discussed many of the loops that people have to go through in this process and how simply getting to the doctor's office is out of reach without the right resources. This was an insightful albeit incredibly difficult book to read. Health care workers should read this and get a feel for how something that seems very easy to say is almost impossible to do...this is worth the time and money!

I was assigned to read this book for my AP Psychology class, at first it was really boring to me, I'll be honest. But after a while it started to grow on me, and I began enjoying learning the teachings of Maslow. I agree with Maslow's pyramid of needs, and after reading this book I have began to notice when people's needs arent being met, and how aggitated they will get when trying to achieve the needs that they want. This book will open up a lot of people's eyes and allow people to see things in a different light, if they are willing to get through the very detailed sections of Maslow's ideas. Overall, the book was enjoyable, a little slow because it is basically a giant thesis paper, but still enjoyable and much will be learned from this book.

Maslow pours his wisdom into our minds explaining the core needs of human beings. This is a great book to learn about yourself and the motivations of others.

The book's title and author intrigued me in the first place. I'd heard about Maslow's hierarchy of needs in college. Usually, about half a page or so was dedicated to it in general college psychology textbooks. What a disservice! Dipping one's big toe in the swimming pool is not the same as plunging into it. This book deserves to be plunged into, marked up, highlighted, commented on, thought about, and discussed. It is brilliant, original, fascinating, and readable. I'm not sure how to say it because there is so much, but I would say that what makes it especially unique is its study of psychologically healthy people (Maslow calls them self-actualizing people). This book will turn your brain on. I am not a technically/medically trained person. It took time to read trough Motivation and Personality, mostly because I wanted to stop and think about what it was saying. It's not a rush through kind of book. This book, as well as Dr. Peck's "People of Lie," exposed a whole new layer of the world I live in. I believe it fine tunes perceptions and make one so much more aware and alive.

I would like to see a more complete version of this book written for the professionals. It provides a good review of the topic although at times lacking in depth. Highly recommended for the dental student.

less comprehensive than Shafer's but it is more direct to the target and more actually clinically oriented. thanks to the authors

The text is an exellent analysis and summation of many common and uncommon disorders. The text builds and updates the previous publicaions which in my opinion are some of the most useful works in oral pathology. Clear, concise, understandible and well organized. This text should be in every Dental and Medical professionals library. Dr. Steven Sudbrink, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon.