"It is not too gross an exaggeration that when considering any given threat, DIA will overestimate, CIA will underestimate, and INR will blame the U.S. for it." From his opening chapter and his distinction between static, dynamic, and technical facts, on through a brilliant summary of the post-war spy on page 103 and lengthy sections on how we've gotten it wrong, how we can get it right, and what is needed in the way of reform, I found this book worthy of study. An analyst and political staffer by nature, the strength of this book rests on the premise in the title: that intelligence should be about informing policy, not about collecting secrets for secrets' sake.

Admirably writeen, lucid prose, outstanding thought, this book would be the first book I would assign to anyone looking to understand the nature of intelligence.

It is interesting to note that Codevilla wrote two of the best introductions on "how to think" about two major subjects- about war in "War, Ends and Means" and "Statecraft". It is a crime that this book is out of print, and one should do everything in ones power to obtain a copy.

The only other book in the intelligence field that approaches this level of worth is "The New KGB, Engine of Societ Power", an older 1980's book by Robert Corson. All the other poor books on intelligence either take the character of "The Puzzle Palace" (which is stupid and an insider's pro-old boys network hack job) or one of Noam Chomsky's blithering semi-conspiracy theories. "Informing Statecraft" is the only type of really usefull intellectual companion to intelligence work in all existance.

This book is exactly what an intelligence book should be- an attack on the structural inadequacies of the United States intelligence community in the guise of a "how-to" book on how to run things correctly. Flipping through the book, one will wonder at the bales of common sensical yet brilliant realpolitik critiques involved in his analysis of what intelligence should be about.

I'm going to sound like a schoold-girl with an infatuation if I let what I think about this book out. One hears many reviews that begin with "This book should be the first book anyone reads about blah blah blah", but this is a rare case of crystal clear thinking about intelligence that amounts to a genius. Were I to make or run an intelliegence agency, this book would be the first book I would give to my officers and agents.

Maybe the reason for Mr. Codevilla's excellence is his devotion to translating Machiavelli (now that's someone I'd like to have in an intelligence agency), or maybe not. What I do know is this book talks first and foremost about the basic questions intelligence operations should be asking about themselves and their work.

I've read a lot of books about intelligence agencies, but they all end up being either a) anecdotal, story like intepretations, b) partisan tracts on different aspects of intelligence work, or c) op-ed pieces.

I would put this book even above such works as "The Puzzle Palace". The only other book I have read with this caliber material was on Russian intelligence, "The New KGB: Engine of Soviet Power".

This book, however, takes the cake, and it restores my faith in looking up obscure intellectuals- this reminds me of the HL Mencken maxim- "There are only two types of books: the kind of books people read and the kinds of books people should read". This book is the latter. Buy it and read it twice.

With a disposition towards problem solving, the book was very helpful for someone like myself who needs the mathematical tools but lacks the background. Occasionally the book lapses into the silly notion that you've seen some of the material and concepts before.

This is an advanced book, with a lot of information on every page. I use it as a reference book, since it has hundreds of wonderful proofs and problems, along with thorough and concise definitions for just about every major branch of mathematics.

It's highly recommended for anyone who is *serious* about mathematical proofs. Although the book is packed with material, it's a small book, so it's one of the first I choose to take with me when I travel.

This book isn't just for children, it's for grown ups too. Without mentioning divorce or separation explicitly, the book shows how parent and child move from the disappointment of losing the dream of a bright happy family, through a hard journey battling harsh conditions, finding small pleasures and patches of beauty, and coming through to a better time, where parent and child can feel their togetherness and love for each other. All this is expressed in the simple but symbolic story described in the official reviews above, with images perfectly suited to the depth of the tale.

When I opened the parcel from amazon and read this book, alone at first, I cried at the simple strength of the story. It is honest about how hard things are and lent me strength in it's final optimism: Rainy days don't last forever. All this without any of that sometimes too moralistic social realism of books for kids about divorce.

But - and this is a pretty big but - my then 4 y.o. daughter was completely uninterested in the book. She refused to let me read it to her more than once, and tells me it's BORING. Now, at five, she's moderately interested but only rarely wants to read it. Perhaps this is because the situation described is different from her own, she spends a week with each parent so isn't in the situation of the little boy in this story. Or perhaps the story is too simple and everyday, and the double meanings too subtle for a child. Perhaps the book would actually be better suited to an older child than to the traditional picture book audience?

A picture book my daughter and I have both enjoyed a lot is Babette Cole's "Two of Everything", which has a very direct and humourous yet real approach to children's parents separating. Despite my daughter's boredom with this book, I find books like these invaluable in helping me and my daughter come to terms with our new life. I wish there were more quality books for young children dealing with divorce and separation.

Emma Haughton has taken a very difficult subject and demonstrated a great deal of love and caring in her story. She shows that just because the people are changing, they can still have the true love for a person, as they always had in the past. This is a story that every child should hear. Whether it is their circumstance or that of a friend, this book shows that change doesn't have to mean loss. It can in fact build a stronger realationship. Read and enjoy, and maybe even learn from this story.

I have had a devotion to Saint Joseph for many years, and i found this book to be a good sorce for both gaining knowledge about this saint whose life was filled with trials and tribulations, and also to spread the devotion to this patron saint of aviators, and of Students. This book is well writen and layed out in an easy to understand way. I would recommend this book to any wanting to learn about this Holy Man.

St. Joseph Of Copertino... Pray for us!!

An incredible Franciscan Saint (1603-1663), most famous for his miracles, levitations, and severe penances. The devil said of him, "Friar Joseph is the worst foe we have." 135pp. PB. Imprimatur.

One of the funniest books I have ever read. If you teach, you shoud hunt this novel down.

A fantastic novel that had me constantly laughing out loud. Hilarious

Albert Angelo tells the story of an aspiring London architect in the 1960s who is forced to earn a living by teaching in rough inner-City schools. This was Johnson's second novel and he displays some of the experiments and techniques for which he is famous - splitting the page between the inner thoughts and spoken words of a character, for example. Towards the end of the book the author violently interrupts the narrative to explain the true facts behind the writing of the novel. B S Johnson was a working class Londoner who was a disciple of Joyce and Beckett. His novels are hard to obtain but there is a growing recognition of his work and a realisation that he was, in many ways, ahead of his time. Picador are about to re-issue one of his most interesting books "The Unfortunates" which is a seeries of loose leaf pamphlets in a box.

This is the worst DB design book that I've come across. The first few chapters is supposed to 'guide' you through the db design process, but the example is too lengthy and not to the point. The concepts that is to be explained is illustrated by contrived(using the author's own word) examples. Explanation is confusing. Luckily, I got this from a library and nothing to lose

I'm glad I took a chance on this book...it was well worth it! The author's clear, concise writing style is accessible to novices, yet provides a knowledgeable overview of data modeling. The book navigates you through the finer points of the process, deconstructing the design steps in easy-to-understand language. Highly recommended!

I found this book to be very useful in guiding me through some fundamental data modeling principals. Easy to use, very concise. Good reference tool.

I did not like the book because it skip around too much between characters. I could not understand the characters. It wasn't really abour roller skating. I just wanted to read about roller skating.

I don't remember the first time I read this book or, rather, had it read to me. But I'm 24 now and I probably re-read it every 18 months or so. It's just that good.

Lucinda is one of the best characters in children's literature. She's not a beautiful girl (though you can tell she'll grow into a striking and riveting woman), but she's got an entirely generous spirit and energy saved up from a lifetime of restraint. She manages to have both entirely unique and exciting experiences that few people would (or should) ever share and to make everyday things into adventures. What's more, through the book she truly grows and changes, not any more than a girl of 10 years old should, but just enough.

Her adventures bring to life 1890s New York, both familiar as the city we know now and completely different in scale. One amazing thing, if you think about it, is that this book is set just about 15 or 20 years after the first of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, so perhaps Laura was a young married woman during Lucinda's orphan year. And yet think of the difference in the lives they lived! You wouldn't think it was the same country, even.

It's true that there are some difficult parts in this book. Lucinda does lose friends, one of them violently. But, speaking as someone with a clear memory of being read this book as a child, it's handled so as not to be traumatizing. Lucinda doesn't fully understand or absorb her friend's murder; neither did I, because it's so sensitively written that as a child you realize only that something awful has happened that you _shouldn't_ quite understand. If you tend to underestimate your children, if you want to "protect" them from being thinking people able to live fully in the world, you may want to protect them from this book. My parents thought more of me, and I'm glad of it. Lucinda has been a great friend to me.

This book is a charming book about a charming child and her adventures over a year. There is a serious and sad side to the book as well, as there is to any life, but overall the story is wonderful.

This is the third book on biological warfare I have read and by far the weakest. I felt taken advantage when I opened my package and saw a small book, with large print, that repeated basic information readily available elsewhere....

The book does a good job of presenting the basics of bioterrorism, including the various diseases. The suggested websites are good and the suggested prescriptions are also good. There are a couple checklists for your consideration, mostly applicable to any emergency. However, the part of the title about the book being "A Personal Safety Manual" is not accurate. Mostly it just says to wait for local authorities to tell you what to do. One recommended action is to "shelter in place" but little detail is provided on how to do that. Perhaps my expectations are higher being on a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) where individuals are expected to rely almost completely on themselves for days and maybe weeks until help arrives. I'm looking for specific "to do" suggestions that enable individuals to take care of themselves. Maybe such actions are not possible for bioterrorism. I was disappointed in the book for these reasons.

The question is not IF a massive biological attack will happen.
The question is WHEN a massive biological attack will happen.
If it is not Al-Qaida it will be American far-right extremists.
Somebody released American-made anthrax as a 'trial' attack. They almost certainly had access to far worse, almost apocolyptic agents, like weaponized smallpox, plague & ebola too.

Will you know what to do when the first epidemic is announced, when martial law declared? This book can help you survive!

Keep one other thing in mind:
Is bioterror on a large scale really the work of terrorists?
Would terrorists kill indiscriminately, including their own kind & their supporters, in a global plague?
A potentially global pandemic outbreak is the work of a Doomsday cult, not terrorists. It is the work of the Illuminati - a 'neccessary' step toward their Masonic New-World-Order.

Suggested further reading:
New World Order - William T Still
(ASIN: 0910311641)

Disappointed! There is nothing new in this book that I haven't seen on T.V. or elsewhere. Warmed over advice.

This book is a good start...but it didn't cover all of the ground I thought it should. More details would have helped. An O.K. investment...but still need more info to be really useful I think.

I can't tell you how much better I feel having this book in my house. I hope I won't ever need it for emergency purposes, but I've appreciated looking up certain chemicals and biological agents that I hear about in Iraq. This is fascinating, no-nonsense, stripped-down just-the-facts information.

Thank you, Dr. Acquista.

This book was so much fun to read. It presents some heretofore unknown insights into the lives of presidents from FDR through Clinton. It specifically focuses on the mother-son relationships and it is full of surprises. It presents a total picture of the early years of these men and how many similarities there are within their family relationships. Fascinating! George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had poor relationships with their mothers! They were exceptions to the close, favored son duos of most of the presidents in the book. A page turner. Well written. I was sorry to see it end.

"First Mothers" is for mothers, sons, fathers, daughters, and anyone else who is intersted in good history written by a first-rate journalist (Bonnie Angelo) without equal. But "First Mothers" is more than just a good story. It is a fascinating insight into family dynamics and psychology. Whoever is reading the book immediately places himself or herself in the corresponding position in the book. We become mother, son, daughter or father. The writer subtly draws us into the action without our knowing it. It also becomes a "how to" book without our being aware of it. We learn what it takes to form a child to be great--even though there are many ways. You uncles and aunts, take notice too! The book is so enjoyable that one is not aware of how much skill has gone into the concept and its execution. This unbelabored work of hard labor is one of the true marks of genius, and it manifests itself from time to time in literature and history. "First Mothers" is surely both. I have given it to all my friends, and I highly recommend it!

Starting with Sara Delano Roosevelt and ending with Barbara Bush, this book gives of biographies of the mothers that shaped the lives of the US Presidents. All strong women who helped their sons achieve their goals, it's amazing to see how alike all of these mothers and sons were/are. And, we learn many things about these women that make them truly women ahead of their time. An excellent book on a long-neglected subject!