While the book doesn't go into any great depth on the many aspects of wine, it does give the reader a foundation in just about all the topics that make wine drinking enjoyable. In a very short period of time, the reader will know how to select, buy, store, and serve the right wine for the right occasion. It won't make you an expert, but, it will give many of you a way to make a wonderful hobby even more enjoyable.

I highly recommend this book to most people who enjoy drinking wine.

"Some classic French dishes, such as coq au vin, rely on wine for their flavor, just as others rely on mushrooms or oranges or rosemary. Some require wine to be slowly simmered with beef...so that the flavors become absorbed and transformed; other dishes, and many sauces can be given a life if a dash of wine is added near the end of cooking. If you do the latter, don't overdo the quantity."

With that said, I have the experience of pouring vermouth on a baked chicken and then I closed the oven and I distinctly remember the oven door flying open all on its own as my right arm was completely hair free but not burned in about 1 second. Let's just say, I won't be doing that again. So, cooking with wine also has certain, shall we say...responsibilities.

The KISS books are my favorite "topic" books as they delve into the rich details of any topic they present. You also get the benefit of Trivia, definitions and internet links. This book presents the reasons why wine has been such an important drink throughout the history of human civilization.

After reading this book, you will also be able to tell one wine from another. Are you stocking your cellar or just choosing a wine for immediate use? And how does a grape become a Merlot? You will know why European vines are grafted into American rootstocks and why a great wine will always be a combination of science and art.

Essential Reading for Food Writers, Cookbook Authors and
anyone who wants to learn the language of wine.

The book begins with the basics - the history of wine, what wine is, and a brief overview of wine and health. Then it moves into section 2 - learning how to taste wine. It talks about the basic moves involved, and then gets into the flavors you will find. It goes into acidity and sweetness, with simple explanations of both. It even goes into what you should NOT taste in a wine, and describes what a 'corked' wine is like. It points out that cork bits floating in your wine do NOT cork it, and that this is perfectly harmless :)

Another area tries to explain styles of wine by comparing them to celebrities - from Shirley Temple to Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's an interesting exercise, although not all readers will have seen movies with all of the people mentioned!

The book goes in to how to buy wine in stores, how to store it, and how to serve it. It then goes into the main grape varieties, and how each differs from its relatives. And then it gets into the meaty last portion - the region by region reviews. It goes through each - France, Spain, Italy, the US and others - with interesting facts and history, plus recommendations for what to buy and try. It discusses how Chablis should come from France and Port from Portugal, and what to beware.

The end area has a glossary of terms, vintage charts and other handy references.

While it doesn't give you much information about any one topic, this is a great way for a newcomer to wine to gain a solid grounding!

However, for those unfamiliar with Novak's past work, this book is revolutionary. He shows how the theories of behaviorism and positivism have led to an education system that, despite increasing expenditures, fail to teach children and instead encourages learning by rote. He goes on to show that knowledge is created by the learner, not caused by the teacher, not "poured into people's heads". He also addresses the emotional aspects of the educational "context" (his word).

This book is not just for educators. Anyone unfamiliar with Novak's work with Concept Maps, Knowledge Vees or the Constructivist philosophy will have a lot to gain from reading this book.

One annoyance: there are quite a number of passages that are repeated! I blame this on the editor, not the author. It doesn't take away from the message of the book, but it gives me the feeling that something else might have been missed.

But this book is not simply for professors and other members of the "intellectual elite." It is first and foremost a helpful guide to teachers, students, business managers and healthcare workers who want to succeed in the competitive arena of the "knowledge age."

Perhaps the most important contribution Novak makes is his careful description [and multiple examples] of concept mapping and V diagramming as tools for facilitating learning, understanding and knowledge creation. Unlike many "recipes" and "panaceas" offered by others, Novak cites numerous studies that provide very strong support for the use of these powerful "metacognitive" tools.

This book is an extraordinarily important contribution to efforts that seek to empower people to become meaningful learners and knowledge makers. It should be read by every college student, every teacher, and by all those charged with managing knowledge professionals.

The author was a person who was an opponent of Stalin and prior to the fall of the regime was active in its criticism. The book goes through the issues associated with Stalin such as the decision to collectivize agriculture, the forced industrialization, the terror and the handling of the war. The author forms the view that Stalin was an unmitigated disaster. That is the country would have progressed economically better without him, and his handling of the war was catastrophic.

It is a good book to read with other western accounts such as Bullocks.

To find true objectivity, on the subject of Sovietology, one must reach back into the distant past, and read Roy Medvedev's incredible, 'Let History Judge'. One could refer to Medvedev's writings, as "Solzhenitsyn, without the racism and bitterness"(a spew of biographies show that Solzhenitsyn is without question anti-semitic; however, this fact doesn't mean he's no longer one of the elite writers of the twentieth century). 'Let History Judge', is not so much a history of Stalin, but a history of Russia from 1917-1953. Described, with minute detail, is Lenin's seizure of power, Lenin's benevolent feelings toward Stalin (which ended effectively after the Eleventh All-Congress of the Bolsheviks), Trotsky's role as leader of the Red Army, Trotsky's complete ineptness in regard to the left-opposition, and Stalin's remarkable, almost super-human, political abilites. In addition, one will never discover a finer description of collectivization anywhere (although I must admit Conquest's 'Harvest of Sorrow', is pretty excellent). Russia's grain production in 1930-1933, were almost certainly below pre-WWI levels, apparently, but Stalin wanted Russia to appear forceful, so he sold grain internationally, as if it were "business as usual", which resulted in the death of millions of non-guilty peasants (however, one can not deny George Carlin's classic quote, "there are no innocent people, once you're born, you're guilty as charged").The description of the horrible Gulag system is not quite as great as Solzhenitsyn's, but it's pretty darn close. Unlike Solzhenitsyn, Medvedev doesn't slander the dead, or embark on anti-semitic diatribes (thankfully, for the population at large, Medvedev critiques much of what Solzhenitsyn wrote in the 'Gulag Archipelago' with absolute clarity).

The price is pretty high, but at 800+ pages, the person isn't really buying just one book, they are buying a multitude of books, which cover a variety of subjects. In addition to, 'Let History Judge', I would also strongly recommend you read Edvard Radzinsky's 'Stalin', Volkogonov's 'Autopsy of an Empire' (being a Yeltsin staffer, Volkogonov is biased, but there is some interesting anecdotes!), and Robert Tucker's magnificent two-volume biograpy of Stalin. Unlike other works on the subject of the Russian Revolution, these works actually take a "scholarly" approach!

The method was developed in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland with great assistance and input from members of the area Quaker community. The Society of Friends influence shows prominently, as the main focus of the process (and it is a process, as opposed to a goal in and of itself) is to discover and arrive at consensus regarding God's revealed will through reflective prayer rather than convince anyone of anything via cerebral justifications. For this group, the method became the first step in the ordination process, though they are quick to note that the method need not be limited to those seeking ordination, but rather can be used by anyone seeking a discernment of God's will for his or her life.

Listening Hearts is replete with quotations and an exhaustive bibliography. At the very least, it serves as a starting point for someone considering a time of discernment. The book is not discouraging of ordained vocations, but instead acknowledges that often discerners too quickly latch onto ordination as the only answer to a vocation in the Church. The method emphasizes prayer and heartfelt reflection as the main means of determining God's will, which is as it should be.

Those seeking a time of discernment should read this book for "the other side" of the discussion -- a viewpoint which urges caution, deliberatation, and openness to the multiplicity of God's purposes. It provides a strong balance, essential to any spiritual journey.

All the authors are well known neurologists. Dr. Brazis is from the famous Mayo Clinic, Dr. Masdeu from New York University and Dr. Jose Biller, an accomplished author of neurological texts, from Indiana University.

This new edition includes a nicely written introductory chapter to localization and claims to have some new diagrams. There are additionally some updates in the chapter on cerebrocortical localization. I do not think, however, that the changes from the last edition are extensive.

A (possible) downside in the new edition is that the text is now in column format - some readers may not like this because there is very little space in the margins to write your own notes. However the columns give the pages a neater appearance, and makes reading easier.

In summary, neurologists and neurosurgeons will benefit greatly from this book. Those who have the third edition however need not purchase this one, as that edition will undoubtedly suffice to meet their needs. A poorer alternative would be volume 2 of the 40 something-volume Handbook of Clinical Neurology (surely some mistake). The only true 'minus' for this book is the outrageously steep pricing, which may effectively prevent many residents from obtaining their own copy of this very beautiful and very important work.

As well as crime solving, these stories also offer a unique and vivid portrait of the South of the forties that Faulkner captures through his characteristically tactile and vernacular use of language and shifting narrative perspective. The impoverished farmers that persist, ageless and enduring, the occasional urban outsider or foreigner, and the rich landowner of mysterious circumstances, are some of the characters that populate these stories. Tradition, inheritance, and the looming presence of war shape Faulkner's candid and non-sensational rendering of this microcosm and his tacit exploration of time and mortality.

On its surface, Knight's Gambit is a collection of mystery stories that all feature Gavin Stevens, the county attorney for Yoknapatawpha county, who is sometimes considered Faulkner's spokesperson. Even though Knight's Gambit is not a major work, it is Faulkner and therefore worthwhile by definition to many serious readers.

The mystery at the heart of each story is not found in actions, though some of the plots are puzzling, as much as in the characters' hearts and souls. The tales in this collection range from the haunting "Tomorrow," which reminds us that no one ever knows where "love or lightning either will strike," to the title selection, in which Stevens (the Knight) captures his Queen after a twenty years' quest spent translating the Old Testament.

Any of these stories would be worth a close, scholarly look, and it does help to be familiar with Faulkner's canon to appreciate them fully. However, this volume does not require a critical approach. If you like Faulkner, take a break from the constant challenge of his major works and enjoy these stories. In Knight's Gambit, Faulkner enlightens, ennobles, and entertains in almost equal measure.

In the time line he gives us from the beginning of homo sapien existence some 50,000 years ago when man began to undertake a systematic effort to improve his existence 6,000 years ago, it is very clear that we would still be nearer the way of life that was lived by the Indians on the North American continent at the time when the first Europeons arrived here rather than in possession of a strong moral compass for telling us which way is forward and which way is backward. J. Wechsler reminds us that without that will to improvement which gave birth to civilization, evolution, even with all of its genetic muscle cannot keep us civilized by itself.

So, there cannot be a civilization, according to this book, without the will for improvement.The author, indeed, makes a very strong case for the point that civilization is not so much a product of evolution as it is a product of the will to improve. We who live in the age of supersonic computers share the same three-pound average brain with our distant ancestors from before the invention of the wheel. The human brain has made no major genetic changes in the linage of homo sapians. And differences in how individuals use the potential of their brains is as vast among contemporaries as they are between individuals in modern times and individuals in the Stone Age.

The author's view of the evolution of civilization defies the simplistic views of Darwinian determinism. Anthony Smith's 1984 book on the Mind bears him out by remarking on the striking differences in degree to which individuals use the latent potentials of their brain by their own will power: "On the one hand, and for many a normal day, a particular brain may exhibit precious little intelligence. Its owner may eat what has been set before him walk to a bus stop, reach work, perform the same repetitive task, return home, eat again and sleep. An animal could do the same. On the other hand there is the musician Hans van Bulow travelling by train from Hamburg to Berlin, reading Stanford's Irish Symphony, previously unknown to him, and then conducting it that evening without a score."

Smith's example illustrates the elegance and simplicity of Wechsler's main thesis that it is not evolution, the strength of the survival instinct in the genes of any given species that explains progress towards higher degrees of civilization, but the will to improve. As the author points out, by Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest, the longevity of many common micro-organisms provides evidence that neither the size of the brain nor raw brute in a species provides an advantage in evolutionary effiiciency. For instance, J. Wechsler asks in his characteristic sense of the ironic in the favorite theories of everything, "--if success meant only survival, why did the upward momentum of evolution not fizzle out with protistans, considering that fungi and bacteria and other slimy creatures are eminently successful as they are still doing their thing some two billion years after they fist appeared on earth, seemingly unimpressed by later developments?"

There are two basic types of people in the world, according to this new book, the Clingers and the Strivers. This book informs us that the progress of civilization is not made by blind genetic factors, but is shaped by fundamental differences in attitude between the Clingers and the Strivers. Very early in the book, the author clearly spells out a path of evolution with his classification of people that leaves open possibilites for improving civilization by their attitudes which the geneticists leave out of the picture: "This is superior to conventional ways of defining people by race, creed, or ethnic origin because it brings an element of volition into human destiny: you can't change your genes, but you can change your attitude." The picture of evolution we are given in this book is of something which springs from the urge to do better rather than to just pass on our genes. Not all people have the urge to do better. We are not surprised to find in this book that progress towards higher levels of civilization does not come from the "prolific studs," but from the small minority of people who constantly rock the boat of the status quo. If we were to judge the merit and value of THE LADDER AND THE ESCALATOR in today's book market to the future of civilization, this is a book that is way up there at the top of the list of the Strivers, for even among the Strivers, the author stands alone in the thoroughness of his knowledge of how important the will to improve is to our posterity based on available knowledge in anthropology, history and biology. The message of the book boils down to the message that what we need is not so much more evolution, but more civilization. Readers will also note that J. Wechsler has more than just a few practical ideas as to how we can achieve a higher degree of civilization.

This excellent book is a well-written tragedy about good law enforcement people who took the initiative to overlook one crime (illegal immigration) and proactively fight other crimes -- robbery, assault, battery etc. The story is compelling and riveting. It is good guys versus bad guys.

Unfortunately, both sides lost.