Casual readers should not be put off by the academic or esoteric treatment suggested by the title of this book. For _My Friend, My Friend_ serves as a good overall biography of both Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson and describes in understandable terms the transcendental movement as well. The added focus is what each man thought of friendship in general and how it pertained to his relationship with the other. Newbies to the works and lives of these two men would do well to start their education with this volume. Ardent fans of either writer will find they disagree with some of the author's suppositions, though, especially in the discussion of how the men's real lives differed with the public personas they each created. Even so, it's an engaging read.

Harmon Smith has provided us with an engaging story of a friendship between two of America's leading thinkers and writers of the 19th century--Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Friendship was central to the Transcendental Movement, a platonic ideal that never quite materialized, so it is here as Smith puts their lives under the microscope. He captures their humanity in a way no other biographers have, because he is able to separate the mythic "Henry David Thoreau" from the human. The cautions come when Smith turns away from the microscope to record a narrative that often includes his own projections into the minds and hearts of his subjects. Worst of all is his use of the old Oedipal complex of Freud projected onto Henry and his mother Cynthia. There is little to no substantiation for such a supposition, and so one must realize where the book fails to use a wise discretion. It is, nevertheless, a wise and wonderful portrait of a friendship that lasted three decades.

Why are we so interested in the gory details of private lives? Does it really matter? In this case, I would say not at all. Why bother with such questions when you could be reading the juicy details of Thoreau and Emerson's sometimes rocky friendship? The warp and weft of their relationship formed such an intricate pattern over the years that one cannot help but be fascinated.

This book is unnecessarily verbose, incoherent, and nowhere close to what its title suggests.

This book is a collection of articles/chapters written by different authors. As a result of that, not only there is no connection and coherency among chapters but also topics covered in the seemingly related chapters are different and unrelated. The coherency and relationship among chapters are just limited to their names not what is inside them. For example, in "Part 5: Item and Industry Practice" there are separate chapters on "Raw Material", "MRO Materials", "Software and Intellectual Properties", "Capital Equipments" to name a few. I would imagine that each of these chapters will discuss purchasing process, nuances, and best practices for these items. But unfortuantely, all these chapters are independant and adderess totally different issues.

I guess, if you want to learn about purchasing, you would be better off searching on the web and reading different articles on purchasing then spending money on this book.

This book is the procurement bible for both purchasing beginners and professionals. It is necessary for anybody related to procurement, even for IT people. Well, I am into IT ! I strongly recommend this book.

As a person who developes Purchasing/Inventory Software, this book has brought to my mind a deeper understanding of the process of Purchasing and how it relates to Inventory and Procurement methods, worldwide purchasing problems and methods. Things that, after many years in the business, I have never thought of or considered before.

The scope of this book is fantastic! A true bible of Purchasing...

This is a definite resource of anyone in the purchasing environment (or even programing environment)! A must Have!!!

I read this book recently after devouring Invisible Man. I have to say, though, that I was a little dissappointed by this book. Curiously enough, a lot of these stories weren't published in Ellison's lifetime, and with some of them, it's evident why. A few of the stories are juvenile, not at all comparable to Invisible Man, and by the same token, a few of them are spectacular pieces of prose. So, with this volume, I advise you to tread carefully, but read it all the way through. The gems are worth it, despite the failures.

Ralph Ellison is a great writer. In this collection of old short stories we see him grow and develop under our own eyes. He deals with the problem of racial relations and of race definitions with a tact and humor that make some of his stories extremely funny. But some others are dramatic and deal with a more general and abstract matter. The title story is typical of that. A black pilot is confronted to all kinds of reactions, from his dead father, from a vulture that crashed his plane, from the white owner of the field where he crashes, from the blacks who try to solve his problem : he broke his ankle in the accident. The father is being humorous about heaven and white Saint Peter. The white owner is deeply racist and brings two « nurses » from a psychiatric hospital since a black man has to become crazy if he flies. The black witnesses are just trying to help the poor fallen pilot without getting any antagonism from the white owner, which is not exactly easy. In each story we find such situations that bring racism to the fore or that reveals the « education » a black man has to go through to become « adapted » to this racist society, to make himself, if not invisible, at least unconspicuous. Those stories are worth a little voyage into this writing that we see building itself stone by stone. Of course the real walls are the novels, but here are the handy tasks that shaped Ralph Ellison's hand and pen for the novels. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.

Ralph Ellison's "Flying Home and Other Stories" apparently is the first posthumous collection to be published by his estate. And it is a remarkable collection at that. There are thirteen stories here, six of which had never been published before. The editor, Professor John F. Callahan, did a fine job at choosing the stories to be included, and he describes the fascinating selection process in the book's introduction. Professor Callahan includes three early Buster-and-Riley stories which inspired me to write my short story, "Los Angeles, 1970" (Outsider Ink at: http://outsidermedia.com/00/spring/olivas.html). The Buster-and-Riley stories capture the wonderful and lively banter between the two boys while showing how the racism of the real world touches and affects their childhood. There is also "A Party Down at the Square" which is a chilling story told in the first person by a white boy who witnesses the burning of an African-American man. Each story is well-crafted and powerful in its understatement. Ellison's graceful and evocative language paints a picture of human strength and frailty with the same honest, unflinching brush. Though he is best remembered for his novel, "Invisible Man," this collection demonstrates that he was also a brilliant craftsman of the short story.

This would be a tough book to learn Latin from. It contains a great many errors. Perhaps the first is on page 5: "In debitoribus nostris, we have another case of both debitum and noster. First of all, they are plural, our debts, our trespasses; and they are in the ABLATIVE case. Forgive us with respect to, or as to, our trespasses." Of course, "debitoribus" means "debtors", not "debts", here in the dative. The book's typefaces make everything a little clearer, but it's still wrong. Or on the last page of the main text, "tria" is held to be feminine, whereas it is neuter (tres declines like any 3rd declension adjective). Or in the middle, where "prodest" is held to be from "prodeo" rather than "prosum". What is omitted may be just as serious, though harder to prove; for example, I did not see the explanation of the "i" in "omnia" anywhere. The tape explains the pronunciation of c before "e" and "i", but not the similar variation in the pronunciation of g nor the more complex variation in the pronunciation of t before i under certain circumstances. The tape accents spiritui on the first syllable, whereas it should be on the second. The tape contains a few false starts that could have been corrected. If you want to learn Latin, I would recommend enthusiastically Collins's "A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin"; if you want more practice thereafter, by all means the annotated texts in McInerny's book can be helpful, and you will know you are mastering the language when you can spot errors similar to those mentioned above. As an admirer of McInerny's mystery novels and (though I am not really a qualified reviewer) his philosophical texts, as well as "Crisis" magazine which he edits, this book was a disappointment to me. But I will certainly give him an A+ for enthusiasm, which is apparent on virtually every page.

I like this book despite the faults accurately documented by
other reviewers here. This book gives you the ability to
parse and understand some important selections of
Ecclesiastical Latin. Earlier generations would have picked
up most of what this book offers simply by following the
Latin liturgy. Since few of my generation have this
knowledge, this book makes a good and fun prequel to a real
Latin textbook and to the necessary hard work and
memorization.

It's also a good supplement to a real textbook in that it
teaches you the prayers in Latin that you probably won't
find in many textbooks. After just a few chapters, you can
pray the complete Angelus and Rosary (including the Fatima
prayer, Creed, and everything else) in Latin.

Of the faults mentioned by other reviewers, the most
serious in my experience is the lack of guidance in
pronunciation. To a self-teacher this is especially
noteworthy. The introductory section on pronunciation needs
to be beefed up, and accent marks need to be added to the
texts to indicate stress.

If you're going to teach yourself Latin, this book will not
suffice. You will definitely need a real textbook like the
one by Scanlon and Scanlon or the one by Collins. However,
you'll find "Let's Read Latin" a fun and helpful
diversion from your regular exercises.

I had been looking for a good introduction to Latin when, as Divine Providence would have it, I met the author of this work at a conference on the liturgy. He graciously gave me an autographed copy.

I put it to use, and found it wonderful. The texts the author uses to teach Latin are the Church's basic prayers such as the Pater Noster (Our Father), Ave Maria (Hail Mary), and the Credo (Apostle's Creed as well as Nicean Creed). From these prayers, the author teaches Latin grammar, syntax, vocabulary and declenchants.

I found it immensely useful, as well as a practical, especially for those who are looking to learn ecclesiastical (as opposed to classical) Latin.

I was able to read this book in one night and still had time to make a game plan for tackling the organization project at the office for the next morning. There were a few ideas that were easy to implement; some so simple I can't believe I never thought of them before. (The Tickler Files!) After two work days, I had changed my work process enough to feel better, and thus have some relief. Not to mention, on day two, my director stopped mid-sentance when she saw the top of my desk and praised me for how clean and organized I was.

This book is a great place to start for some easy, immediate results. However, I need much, much more on PDA's, e-mail, case management, and paperwork flow. The success I had from the small investment of time here will keep me motivated to move on to books tackling the larger picture.

I was totally disorganized and swamped with paper everywhere. This book was one of 3 I bought and was the first one I read. It is easy to read and follow, and it brought order and gave me confidence to start my umpteenth effort to get organized. Absolutely recommend it to anyone who is in need of a kick start to getting organized.

This book is well organized. It offers practical and simple to follow methods. If you don't want to spend a lot of time reading, but to take action getting organized, this is the book to read.

A friend of mine loves this author and recommended his writings to me. Trusting his judgement, I bought several of them and this was my first read. I note that the commercial reviewer says that these books are an acquired taste..like a Guinness Stout. If so, he could not have picked a better description as I have never been able to stomach it. This book was not that bad..but quite frankly, I don't know what all the fuss is about.

If this is your first foray into the bitingly humorous world of Harpur and Iles, as it was mine, be prepared. Author Bill James is obviously having the time of his life here, tweaking all aspects of traditional police procedural novels and the characters who populate them. James's characters are unique: idealistic Commissioner Lane, who "[does] not presume to see himself as Christ, but at least as the one who rolled away the stone"; ACC Iles, an unrepentant sycophant who praises Lane's "gifted decisiveness," and thinks of him as a "towering sweetheart, someone I look up to as to a small god"; a dogged investigator, such as Harpur, who has no problem playing fast and loose with the law and everyone he meets to get what he wants; quirky crooks, such as Ralph Ember, with his "rich flair for panic" and "that greasy speed he could get into his sprinting, even over tricky ground" in his flight from trouble; and young Keith Vine, an up and coming criminal who insists on referring to himself as the third person "Keith Vine." As Harpur deals with these characters and investigates the growth of drug syndicates after the death of Oliphant Kenward Knapp, eventually becoming involved in one of them himself, the reader is treated to one amusing scene after another.

Unlike some humorous mystery writers like Christopher Moore and Carl Hiaasen, James does not depend on outrageous, off-the-wall scenes and smart-mouthed fast-talk for most of his humor. He is a lover of ironic, often subtle, word-play. He gives poker-faced, lyrical descriptions of decidedly un-lyrical scenes, and he writes with intelligence and care about dangerous criminals, mocking them, while never making light of their cruelty and dangerousness to society. This novel is well plotted and exciting, and its absurdities echo with truth.

If you like your cops and robbers with a strange twist, British author Bill James presents one of the most drolly quirky rogues galleries in crime fiction. Set in a large industrial city in England James'lengthy series brings together crooks and cops with issues. In the course of crime fighting, cops cope with personal crisises like nervous breakdowns (the chief); a penchant for teenage girls and compulsive deviousness (the assistant chief) and wobbly managment and sassy daughter (ace detective Colin Harpur). The crooks, however, have their challenges. An excellent case in point being the rising and ruthless drug lord Ralph "Panicking Ralph" Ember, who is bogged down by a lust for respectibility and his famed "panics." At delicate moments the master crook suffers from paralyzing panic accompanied by drenching sweats. Panicking Ralph is among the most delicious entries in a dark and entertaining series.

When will this author stick to a subject that he knows-- traditional medicine-- and quit inflicting flowery generalities that capitalize on other people's cultures (in this case, Native Peoples) to sell books? This book is so poorly researched it made my head spin (which is about the only shamanic aspect of it that was validated). I returned it immediately and should have learned with past experiences with this author's work.

I am native american and I like this book . If you like stuff like this then buy this book . I would recommend it to anyone .
From the first chapter I noticed a difference in the way I looked at life .

This book provides a great way to learn about Shamanism. Insightful look into guided imagery.

My favorite book of 2000!

I love Emerson. For my money, he's one of the most insightful thinkers and beautiful stylists this country has produced. He deserves better than he's received from "professional" philosophers who tend to dismiss him as "just" a person of letters (as if that were a shameful thing to be!).

But this collection of Emersonia is seriously flawed. It prints the essays in Emerson's first collection, but only two from his second. It omits some of his best poems (including "The Sphinx," which Emerson himself so valued that he always had it printed at the very beginning of all the books of poems he published during his lifetime), as well as all of the later essays. In their place, the editors choose to print Emerson's "English Traits," a pleasant enough travel book but rather fluffy compared to the rest of his works. As the editors admit in their Introduction (itself a rather disappointing effort), they tend to feel uncomfortable with Emerson's work on mysticism, and so they decided to leave out of their anthology huge chunks of it. But since Emerson is first and foremost a mystical writer, this is to seriously misrepresent him.

In short, read Emerson--but find a better one-volume collection of his work than this one.

Every Emerson volume is 'a good read'. Unlike some other readers, I love English Traits, maybe because I am English. Emerson is a joy, everyone should read him, at least once.

Emerson's writings are eaily and clearly displayed in this wonderful publication. My thirst for poetry was easily quenched with his powerful and meaningful words. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to read thoughtful and discriptive literature.

Unlike the previous reviews, I found this book a great disappointment. The author's writing style is horrific, meandering about without focus all too frequently. Early in the book he makes reference to the military origins of the term "fifth columns", but is way off the mark in his reference; the "fifth column" was first used in the Spainish Civil War, when four Nationalist thrusts were aimed at Madrid, and the Nationalists sympathizers in the capital fought Republicans from within (hence the "fifth" column attacking)... This jumbled syntax is evident throughout the first half of the book, which is honestly as far as I could force myself to read.

The point of writing a book on Armored warfare development is to LEARN SOMETHING we can apply today. Ralph Zumbro is a COMBAT veteran from Vietnam who fought in Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) and has a mission, knows it and then goes about enlightening us all. He begins by tracing the fact through history that man has always used a form of armored protection coupled with a mobility form to gain positional advantage. His book is priceless because he realizes this is the true of mobile, mounted essence, not ego-gratifying tank duels which wrongly pre-occupies the current generation of tankers who should refer to themselves as a practitioners of the sound traditional war-form of Cavalry. Battlefield functions stay the same, though the war forms will change as the technology changes.

Zumbro shows that throughout history the essence of Cavalry is to gain a mobility differential and exploit it to gain a battlefield effect---he shows how the Russians actually used horse Cavalry in WWII in conjunction with armored vehicles to swarm and overwhelm Germans who on foot were at a disadvantage. The Russians had their infantry in adequate numbers to effect battles positively (refer to Bolger's book Death Ground: American Infantry in Battle) ride their tanks (they do this today in Chechnya); something we refuse to do--we insist on moving infantry around in Bradley machine gun tanks which require a 3-man crew to man and can only carry 7 dismounts and wonder why with this overhead cost we end up only with a handful of "security guards for tanks" and not the decisive infantry force that can maneuver and take ground apart from their armored mounts. Zumbro shows how the Vietnames created the M113 ACAV--an all-terrain tracked AFV with gunshields to maneuver at will and dominate the swampy rice paddy terrains of Vietnam. A vehicle that dominated the fight in Vietnam and could carry a full 9-13 man Infantry squad. He then concludes with AFVs combined with helicopters for an Air-Mech combination beginning with the Soviets in 1978 Ogaden war and in a final futuristic chapter written in Tom Clancy style. The point of this all is to re-energize Armor branch to its true function--as Iron, Kevlar, Chobham Cavalry not the "land battleship" dueling madness that pervades the ranks today. The point is to win battles with armored maneuver, not duel other tanks so you can paint a "kill mark" on your gun tube.

To do this, he uses an interesting and entertaining style to motivate and enlighten rather than a dry scholarly approach that would bore everyone to death and in the end fail to sway the defeatists and nay-sayers stuck in their ways regardless of how many facts, battle won and lessons learned are arrayed in their presence. His book is full of important technotactical details which I'm constantly referring to to solve today's problems. He is an Iron thinker. There simply is no other book that better presents the truths U.S. Army Armor branch must face if it wants to be a relevent player on the 21st century battlefield.

This book gives a very good over view of the history of tanks and their tactics. I found the book to be a very good starting piont for people who would like to begin a study in armor tactics.

This is a sprawling, lazy account. It was moderately useful as a complement to Donald Prater's far more concentrated 'A ringing glass', but if I hadn't read that book first I wouldn't have formed much of a picture of Rilke's life. There are a few interesting stories found here which don't appear in the other book, but on the whole it is totally inferior.

Some biographers get inside the spiritual life of their subjects and are able to capture its intimate movements in such a way that the life takes on a magical coherence and wholeness. Others, less sympathetically endowed, are content to record external circumstances and events, with perhaps some brief overtures toward explaining inner motives and passions. One would think a poet of Rilke's fierce inwardness demands primarily the former form of biography - and he does - but the latter form also offers some interesting insights, especially for readers who might be unfamiliar with the milieu he lived and worked in. This biography is very much in the latter camp. Freedman's prose suffers from frequent bouts of groaningly bad academese ("His words adumbrate the divine tension between Word and World" - yuck!), but his narrative does give the imaginative reader some purchase on the shaping forces behind many of Rilke's most powerful works. The last few hundred pages are something of a slog since you know that felicitous insights into Rilke's inner life (and there are some) will be consistently overwhelmed by a rather distant-sounding reportage of his travels, housing troubles, and publishing concerns. For a poet whose mission was to transform external vicissitude into internal truth... the effect is something like viewing a postcard of a church. Rilke was notorious for flooding his lovers with passion before withdrawing from their intimacy, and in a way Freedman, who never really seems to get under Rilke's skin (although it it is clear he would like to), takes his place among those spurned souls.

Freedman does an outstanding job of chronicling the life of Rilke without an over-analytical style that so often plagues other artistic biographies. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in Rilke, the most important German-language poet since Goethe.