The Vatican has attempted to halt continued dissemination of the only English edition of The Acting Person with good reason. Apparently, it is not a faithful translation of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II's Polish original. The translator, who is herself a phenomenologist but thinks differently from the author has changed crucial passages of his work. The second Polish edition which has been translated into French and Spanish is apparently accurate, for those who can read those languages. I myself am looking for one of these, preferably Spanish, but have not been able to find one. Two good overviews of Karol Wojtyla's philosophical anthropology can be found in Kenneth Schmitz's At the Center of the Human Drama and Jaroslaw Kupczak's Destined for Liberty.

I just wanted to act on the review of the guy from mexico(sorry lost your name).

I have just been reading the Biography of Pope John Paul II also known as Karol Wojtyla. And the English Version of The Acting Person is written by the lady he says together with Karol Wojtyla.Because the orginial edition(polish one was not really finished it where his thougths put on paper with unfinnished sentences). The Vatican has tried to stop the publishing but it is indeed her work together with Karol Wojtyla. Read the biography written by Carl Bernstein(same author of all the presidents man) this book will tell you everything about Pope John Paul II.

There is a part in in wich is explained the new improved version of the Acting Person.

Best Regards Onno

I still hope to read one day the Acting Person.

If anyone is interested in finding a copy of The Acting Person, log onto the website address: http://www.i-logic.com/personalism/jp2/actingperson.htm

This book should be read by anyone in academic philosophy. It is a masterpiece yet to be discovered by mainstream american philosophers. It's just too bad that it is not more readily available.

If you're just starting out with Flash, or even if you've been using it a while but haven't explored all its features, David Karlins' book will prove to be a useful addition to your library.

The things I like best about this book are

1. David has a friendly, uncomplicated way of explaining things, so it's all easy to "get."

2. You really could be almost a technological idiot and still be able to use this book to do some fun animations with Flash, because every tool and animation technique is covered, and each item is broken up into bite-size bits.

3. The Tips and Nitty Gritty Stuff is a good way of presenting useful key information that you can refer back to and refresh your memory as you need to.

4. Flash is fun to work with anyway, and breaking it up the way David does here makes the technical aspects of animating in Flash so easy to digest, you'll be a Flash wizard in no time.

Well, maybe not a wizard. This book doesn't cover much ActionScript, and that's where the real Flash wizards dwell. But as a way to giving you a solid foundation to all the ways you can have fun working with Flash, you could do a lot worse than to buy "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Macromedia Flash 5," and you'd probably have a lot less fun getting your basic Flash chops.

If you think Flash is too complicated to learn, then you might enjoy the approach taken by the author of this book: simple, funny, and easy to follow. And if you are already familiar with the basic concepts, then you can use it is a valid quick reference!

The book is easy to understand and very straight forward. The author obviously has teaching skills beyond the ordinary. Especially loved the bright orange and yellow tear out shortcuts page!

"The likeness of those who choose other patrons than Allah is as the likeness of the spider when she taketh unto herself a house, and lo! The frailest of all houses is the spider's house, if they but knew."

The Quran

Fragility. That is the defining quality of Paul Bowle's vivid illustration of Fez circa 1954. Or rather, the reverie of an unadorned, exotic place that vaguely resembles Fez. For the characters, the reality of the medieval city plagues that reverie. The Fez of the novel is at war. With the French occupiers, and the Istiqlal (independence) fighters upping the stakes, raising the level of brutality. In Bowles's explicitly detailed streets, alleyways, cafes, there are conspiring students and those who inform on them. Arrogant French soldiers and disdainful natives. Faithless Berber collaborators and angry Moroccan mobs. But Fez, fragile and frail its condition maybe, is not the subject of this book. It is the reverie of two relatively apolitical onlookers. The likeness of that reverie is that of a spider's house.

At the Merinides Palace resides John Stenham, an American writer who has been in Fez for several years at the time of his introduction. His mordant wit and ill-temper are that of man of shattered ideals. He is the type of pseudo-cynic, the reader senses, was once a romantic. His neighbor, and frequent companion, is Moss, an English businessman, who, like the American, is in Fez for ambiguous reasons. Their daily routine consists of silly little mind games, where Moss pretends to be a chaste of the orient, with Stenham as his acquainted guide. But Moss, we learn, is sly old bat. He is a millionaire, a true cynic whose cynicism has served him well. The writer's case is much graver than that.

Stenham is an ex-communist, with a fuzzy desire "to be saved". It makes sense that he did not choose Casablanca or Rabat, it is only Fez, the 9th century Islamic city, whose way of life might have seemed alien enough that it would poccess the attraction of an uncorrupted Utopia. He has learned to speak Arabic, learned the unspoken cultural rules of the Medina, but he has never connected with Moroccans. And he hopes he never has to. That would complicate the picture. But before The Spider's House turns into one of those condescending "Westerners in a strange land" stories, Bowles gives the tale a brilliant twist; He introduces Amar, a fifteen-year-old Fessian. Amar is a Cherif (his family lineage can be traced directly to the Prophet). That is not to say he is rich. In fact, his family lives in relative destitute, with his father's income as a healer proving barely adequate. He is illiterate, yet possesses an astounding faith. Amar is, for the most part, the primary protagonist of The Spider's House. And Bowles, an American, affords him such a singular, authentic world view that the novel takes on a whole new dimension. Amar, a character who is more resonant than the Westerner neither negates nor proves Stenham's asinine view of Moroccans. Yes, like Stenham, his vision of the world will be shattered by the end of the novel, but that vision is so far away from Stenham's, that it may seem reasonable to assume that the boy and man, Muslim and Nazarene (Western Christian), are separated by an unbridgeable divide.

It is a given that Amar's and Stenham's paths cross. What happens then, I will leave you to discover. Bowles, who has lived most of his life in Morroco, writes in a stately, elegant fashion. A style that is neither obtrusive nor bland. His theme is that way too; neither stated nor retracted. I don't think he endorses protagonists' view that they are so fundamentally different they can never communicate on equal terms. For Stenham, a Fez populated by people whose ambitions and hopes he can comprehend is tantamount to its destruction. Amar discovers that the world has "come nearer, but in coming nearer it had grown smaller. As if an enormous piece of a great puzzle had fallen unexpectedly into place, blocking the view of distant, beautiful countrysides," He has hit a black wall of certainty. In the beautifully subtle closing scene, one of them will reach out, the other will value his sand castle, his spider's house, too much for that.

I read this book because I had read Paul Bowles' "The Sheltering Sky" and I found his style of writing to be poetic and enchanting. I am glad I read it because of the open and complex portrayal it gave of a culture often misunderstood by Americans. Paul Bowles should be considered a classic American author. It's too bad he's not more well known.

It may be an anachronism, but Paul Bowles' THE SPIDER'S HOUSE can best be characterized as a "post-political" novel par excellence. Nearly 50 years after its publication, it is nothing short of prophetic in both tone and content. The meaning of the book unfolds ironically from the epigraph, taken from the Q'uran: "The likeness of those who choose other patrons than Allah is as the likeness of the spider when she taketh unto herself a house, and lo! the frailest of all houses is the spider's house, if they but knew."

The novel portrays the last days of French rule in Morocco through the eyes of an American expat writer on the one hand and an illiterate Arab boy on the other. Stenham, the American, is in love with the past -- alive all around him, he believes, in the "medieval" streets of 20th century Fez. The Moroccans, or the "Moslems" as Stenham refers to them (with purpose), both attract and exasperate him with their fatalism (Mektoub, "it is written") and dogmatic faith in their God and their traditions. Stenham can affirm none of these things intellectually yet he envies the Moslems, if only because he yearns for such psychological comfort himself. In his unbelief ("It did not really matter whether they worshipped Allah or carburetors -- they were lost in any case"), Stenham also finds their medieval path superior because its aesthetic qualities appeal to him. The ugliness of the modern world, in both its Western and Soviet guises, pains him. Contemplating the factories and housing projects of the French colony, Stenham observes that the capitalist landscape looks no different from the communist one: "After all, he reflected, Communisim was merely a more virulent form of the same disease that was everywhere in the world. The world was indivisible and homogeneous; what happened in one place happened in another, political protestations to the contrary."

In the character of Amar, Bowles reveals Morocco through Moslem eyes. Here is where Bowles really shines. He doesn't tell, he shows: the unmistakable sign of a great writer. Unlike Stenham, Amar is comfortable in the world -- at least when we first meet him. There are believers and there are unbelievers. The certainty of this division and what it means forms the bedrock of Amar's identity. The French, or "Nazarenes" (Christians), are the enemies of the believers. The duty of the believer is to fight the unbeliever to the death. But when Amar crosses paths with members of the Istiqlal, the Moroccan nationalists, his certainties are shaken. Amar learns that the Istiqlal, like all political movements, uses religion for more worldly ends.

For Amar and Stenham, the promise of a political solution to human suffering (physical or existential) proves empty. Amar cannot reconcile the behavior of the Istiqlal -- killing fellow Moslems for political reasons -- to his faith, and he struggles with the idea that they are not the "purely defensive group of selfless martyrs" that he needs them to be. Stenham also hates the nationalists, but for different reasons. So long as he is comfortably outside the system, Stenham prefers Islam to modernization. As a former communist, he sees that the real enemies are the do-gooders and busybodies from the West preaching liberalism and communism. These are represented by the character of Polly Burroughs. "Hers was the attitude of the missionary," Stenham observes, "but whereas the missionary offers a complete if unusable code of thought, the modernizer offered nothing at all, save a place in the ranks. And the Moslems...now were going to be duped into joining the senseless march of universal brotherhood; for the privilege each man would give up only a small part of himself -- just enough to make him incomplete, so that instead of looking into his own heart, to Allah, for reassurance, he would have to look to others. The new world would be a triumph of frustration, where all humanity would be lifting itself by its own bootstraps -- the equality of the damned."

This book is not for the timid and it is a far more satisfying and mature work than the SHELTERING SKY. Bowles captures an unforgettable meeting between East and West. There is no "clash of civilizations", but neither is there the happy ending mandated by current liberal-multicultural fantasies. Written before the age of political correctness, THE SPIDER'S HOUSE offers a sympathetic yet honest -- and therefore disturbing -- view of Islam. But honest readers should also be disturbed by our own Western pieties. "Happy is the man who believes he is happy," says Stenham, "...and more accursed than the murderer is the man who works to destroy that belief."

My main experience is in Microsoft technologies and one day I cautiously embarked on a UNIX learning adventure, so to speak.
I purchased this book for a Beginning UNIX course, since it was a required course material. I was surprised by how well this book is structured and how easily it can be used as reference. It's impossible to fit all that is UNIX into 900 pages of text, although the author provided more than enough information for this UNIX novice.

"UNIX for the Impatient" patiently takes you through the most rudimentary topics like shells, kernel, and file permissions to the utilities, editors, and scripting. The section on mailers and newsreaders was most interesting to me, since I work with the Microsoft-based messaging applications.

The best thing - after reading this book, I was able to use various funky terms like "grep", "Emacs", "chmod" and "kill" which are usually not understood by the rest of the uninitiated MCSEs.

I have used this book as a reference time and time again, and own both the first and second editions. This is not an "idiot's guide to UNIX," nor is it a reprint of man pages. It falls somewhere in between, and seems to be aimed at technical professionals who find themselves in a variety of operating systems at a moments notice such as Digital Unix (formerly OSF/1), Linux, Solaris, and AIX. You name it, I've been there.

This book won't hold your hand and teach you what a file or directory is. It is not a tutorial. It is assumed that you know the basics. I have referred to this book on numerous occasions when I had to write CGI scripts, or assigned to quick and dirty projects involving some flavor of UNIX, or porting applications to UNIX from Windows/Win-32.

So, if you are like me, and don't want to spend a few hours plowing through a UNIX man pages just to remember the syntax of gzip, tar, or locating a command you used before and don't really remember what it was, this book is for you.

Of all the UNIX books I've purchased (and there have been many), this is the only one I have used as a novice, and can continue to use to this day.

One way to rate a book is to ask yourself how much it helped you as a novice, and whether you can still use it once you've become a more advanced user. While my other UNIX books are being sold to co-workers and used book stores, this is the one book I can consistently use as a reference. This is the one I will never outgrow.

"In writing this book," authors Dimson, Marsh, and Staunton conclude, "we set out to answer four big questions: How have stock markets performed over the twentieth century, domestically and internationally? How has this compared with bonds and bills? What has been the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations? And what toll has inflation taken?"

In answering these questions, the authors have achieved perhaps the greatest triumph: assembling a 101 year database from 16 countries that is free from the "easy data" biases that result from utilizing readily available--but skewed--financial information.

In the spirit of their title, the authors find that stocks worldwide provide real risk-adjusted returns above and beyond bills and bonds. Interestingly, their estimates of risk premia are more modest than those offered by traditional sources. They also provide intriguing support for seasonality effects and the favorable returns associated with high dividend yields, value investing, and worldwide diversification.

Quite simply, I know of no other source of information on the "big picture" of investing that is as thorough or as lucidly outlined. This is a rare work of theoretical *and* practical significance.

I was keenly looking for a topic that I did not find treated in this book either: some correlation between demographics and the performance of stocks and bonds. As the developed world faces unprecedented demographic challenges with decline of the working age populations, I was curious to see its implications analysed in a historical sense (positive or negative). For, this phenomenon alone may render the historical trends that we have come to rely on, irrelevant.

All in all, this book has made a lasting impact on my investment thought process. Among the many titles that I have read on finance and investing, this is definitely the best. For me, this information bank provided insights and perspective like nothing else.

I disagree with a previous reviewer that this is some kind of a Census Bureau document. Sure, a CD ROM would have complemented its utility (while potentially increasing the cost); but that in no way lowers the utility or readability of this great work. If anything, the book contains a lot of graphs, which is great.

Any serious investor or student of the market should own a copy of this book. This book presents and analyzes data from many countries in a simple, easy to understand manner. It examines seasonal movements in stock prices, moves in different sectors, equity and bond risk premiums, size effects, effects of exchange rates, returns of various investment strategies, the list goes on. It presents over 100 years of stock and bond returns, from seventeen different countries, providing an incredible perspective on market movements.

In order to invest successfully, it is important to study the history of price movements, in various economic conditions. This book contains the information you will need, presented in an easy to understand manner.

To have this amount of data and analysis all in one book, is a huge achievement by the authors, and is of immense benefit to the serious investor.

This is the final installment of Paul Dini and Alex Ross's 60th anniversary present to the classic superheroes. Each installment consist of Alex Ross's reverent paintings and Paul Dini's text.

Wonder Woman shines in the large coffee-table size format. Alex Ross obviously had fun with this character and her costume. Her bright, satin cape is a shiny stand-out. Her face has the rigid beauty of a Greek statue, which is only fitting. The invisible jet is done correctly for the first time. Visually, the book is as dramatic as the previous offerings in this series.

The story involves Diana's mis-understanding of what it means to be human, and her quest to make a connection with the women of the world. There are some really tender moments. Paul Dini's strength is not serious prose writing, but he does an admirable job accompanying Ross's overwhelming art.

The cameo from a certain Clark Kent is pretty fun, but a little strange. Previous books have focused exclusively on the character, where as this one gets a little help from a friend. Still, very enjoyable.

As Alex Ross' model for Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, I put that costume on many, many times over the course of several months. (It was an emotional day when we did our last scenes!) Upon seeing the final product, I was thrilled to have been a part of such a beautifully painted and well-told story (kudos, Paul Dini!). What struck me most deeply was how Diana Prince was portrayed - as being so very warm, compassionate and loving. I know I'm not exactly an unbiased reviewer, but if you enjoy comic books or graphic novels at all, or if you ever looked up to Wonder Woman as a little girl (or were a teenage boy with a crush - and I've met many of you!), get this book while you can! You may be surprised at how it will move you. And to think, this book was conceived well before September 11. Woah.

This is the fourth oversized ("tabloid") graphic novel by Paul Dini (writer of the various modern Batman cartoons) and painter Alex Ross (Marvels, Kingdom Come).

None of Dini and Ross's stories are about gaudy supervillains. Instead they deal with heroes trying to make the world a better place. It deals with issues of repression (including a Taliban-like appearance, coincidence as this book was written before 9/11).
Usually in comics, people either love their heroes (Superman) or fear and hate them (X-Men). Here, the emotions are much more complex and human. Told through Wonder Woman's eyes, she teaches compassion, but also learns lessons of humanity.

Fans of the TV series might remember Wonder Woman's alter ego as Diana Prince. In 1986, the WW story was restarted from stratch. Now, she did not assume a secret identity. But this tale shows the value and need of such an identity. The lesson comes from an old friend, who also has experience hiding behind glasses.

Simple, elegant writing and absolutely gorgeous large art. This is a great Wonder Woman story!

Beryl Bainbridge's characters are always a little 'off.' They function, they have relationships, they may appear normal--but on some level, they are strange. There is always something emotionally different about them, and the protagonist Stella in "An Awfully Big Adventure" is no exception to this.

Stella Bradshaw lives in 1950s Liverpool with her unimaginative Aunt Lily and disgruntled Uncle Vernon in the boarding house they own. Stella loves "playacting," and Uncle Vernon imagines that a life on the stage will provide a suitable outlet for Stella's 'artistic temperament,' but unleashing her on a troupe of unsuspecting actors has rather a detrimental effect. She is a precocious 16 year-old, and after it is clear that Stella lacks academic promise, Uncle Vernon decides to pull some strings and gets Stella involved with the local playhouse--it's that or "behind a counter at Woolsworth." Soon Stella is employed as a general dogsbody running errands for the actors and actresses in the troupe. They see her as a young, naive, impressionable girl who needs looking after. However, Stella can defend herself very well, and soon she takes a large role in the tragic events that unfold. The actors--a rather worldly bunch--make the mistake of underestimating Stella, and they misconstrue her actions as those of a gauche schoolgirl. In fact, it's not so much that Stella lacks experience--although this is true, but she also lacks the appropriate emotional responses. Against the backdrop of the troupe's successful production of "Peter Pan," --(an ironic deliberate selection) the drama of the personal lives of the troupe unfolds.

"An Awfully Big Adventure" is beautifully written--a well crafted book--and Bainbridge's work is consistently excellent. I can also recommend the film version of this book with Hugh Grant playing a delectably corrupt Meredith. Bainbridge has written a impressive number of novels, and deserves recognition as one of the greatest British novelists. Most of her novels have a female protagonist--although that long-established trend has changed in recent years with "Master Georgie," and "The Birthday Boys." Stella is a disturbing character, and one of Bainbridge's many unforgettable lost souls.

Fair warning: Do not start reading *An Awfully Big Adventure* on a day when you've got a lot to do, because you will not be able to put this book down for even a second. This story of a 1950's theatre company centers on Stella, a 16-year-old stagehand who becomes involved, directly and indirectly, in the human drama that goes on behind the scenes of a production of *Peter Pan*. Her hopeless crush on the play's director leads her into all kinds of scandal, including an affair with another member of the company. This book is written in a witty style, and it really is hilarious, but many of the themes and events in the book are deeply disturbing, which makes for a very satisfying black comedy. If you don't enjoy dark humor, you'll probably hate this-- otherwise, you should totally read it. It's one of the most entertaining books I've read in ages.

This spare little (205 pages) novel doesn't waste a word, yet signifies volumes. The highly honored Ms. Bainbridge, winner of the prestigious Whitbread Prize and short-listed (six times!) for the Booker Prize amply displays what all the fuss is about. She is that good.

The book is hard to categorize. It isn't a coming-of-age, a psychological thriller, a dazzling Peter Pan parable; it is all these things and more.

Stella raised in blue-collar, post WWII Liverpool is a troubled and troubling 15-year old who determinedly washed out of school and has been fixed up as a "student" (read gofer) at a provincial repertory company. She has no particular acting ambitions, but is certain she would be very good at it. We get a many-sided view of Stella; as she sees herself and as she is perceived by the people around her. Every scene and every word of dialogue interlocks like a jeweled timepiece. The reader is almost unaware of the ever-increasing momentum until it crashes upon you in a chilling finale. You think Ms. Bainbridge is through with you, but not quite. Just when you think you are utterly and completely emotionally drained, Ms. Bainbridge delivers a final twist, and now you know you are. I was left stunned.

An excellent example of fine prose. Highly recommended.

I found this book to be more filler than substance.

The photographs in this book are truly a treat for any Beatle afficionado as well as anyone who comes across this book.

Although there is little in the way of fresh factual material, the pictures, text and recreating the 1967-1968 period in the Beatles' career is sure to delight any reader.

I like the way the author describes the sitar, an Indian stringed musical instrument that Ravi Shankar and George Harrison popularized in Western music. This book shows the cultural blending, the introduction to the western world at large a musical instrument that was, for many years, not well known outside of the middle east. George, under Shankar's tutelage masters the sitar and the Eastern influence can be heard in many of his later works as well as post-Beatles works.

John Lennon, of late 1965 "Norwegian Wood" fame is not as entranced with the eastern world and eastern philosophy as his bandmate. John, from all accounts, keeps an open mind, yet maintains his own established values and beliefs. His approach to the Eastern experience appears to be that of an intellectual curiosity; he does not appear to embrace it on a personal or philosophical level. He seems to remain outside, yet looking in with the idea of learning more about what he is witnessing.

I think most Beatles fans will appreciate the book. It does a rather thorough job of covering the Beatles' 1967 trip to India and the influences their trip east had on them for the remainder of their careers together as a band. It is, in some ways a refreshing peek behind the Eastern curtain into a part of their lives that many other works do not cover as fully.

I went to Rishikesh, India in the fall of 2000. I realized why George was so amazed of this northern India town where the Ganges turns down from The Himalayan Mtns. I was blessed to have visited such a beautiful place, as my 94 year old grandfather from Delhi and my dad (Who's originally from northern India) took me to some amazing spots in Rishikesh. I felt so free. I felt the 'magic' The Beatles experienced. This book illustrates the journey of the fab four's 1967-68 visit for 'relaxation & meditation' and the outcome (Many of the songs recorded for "The White Album" were written while hanging and meditating at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram) The pictures (taken by the author of this book) are large and will grab you - This book is for The Beatle fan in you or someone you know. JG "The Bear"

It's a good solid read that went REALLY fast -- too fast perhaps. The book is rather fluffy, when you get down to it. I could have learned as much from 5 pages of charts and tables and statistics and about 40 pages of essays on the data.

Instead, this is written for the mass market, and mass-market are too easy. I like a more difficult read that makes me think. As far as financial books go, the trends are important, but not mind blowing either.

Still, I rate it three stars. Even that's a little generous, i feel.

The first four reviews, by the way, were submitted by the author's friends and family, very obviously.

I suggest a little consumer backlash here -- demand a real review, or rate the article "NOT USEFUL." :)

As an accountant and business teacher, I have long wondered about governement's indebted funds--Social Security Debt (at least 15 trillion in debt which is basically equivalent to the total value of American public stocks), Medicare Debt and other debts. This futurist book is one of the few that has been able to understand this. This futurist book is one of the few that even discusses this.

What most people don't know is that the budget uses crooked accounting and count the social security and medicare and medicaid cash-in flows as revenue in the budget, but they don't expense the debt. The result of this is having a budget surplus, despite going futher into debt. Right now, we are at least 25 trillion in debt and it will likely get worse. However, when baby-boomers retire, the cash-in flows in these funds will be huge out-flows.

So, even if the 5.7 trillion "budget" debt is taken care of by 2013 like Clinton says it will be, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid funds will go bankrupt at around that time too if we want to continue to use government for what it was more traditional used for like roads, schools, and police. There is simply not enough money to go around. Either we pay for social security and Medicare and Medicaid or we pay for roads, defense and welfare or we pay for the empty funds. If uncorrected, it will be the end of a free-market society and America will cause a global economic meltdown. I don't know, you decide what life will be like when the AARP, the most powerful interest group finds out that the social security and medicare and medicaid funds are bankrupt and cannot even come close to supporting themselves.

This is the conclusion I have reached and if you disagree and have the data to back it up, I would love to hear from you at tingoglia@hotmail.com because I get too depressed even thinking about it. Or, heck, if you agree, you can e-mail me too. I HIGHLY RECCOMMEND THAT YOU READ THIS BOOK. Vote Republican or Libertarian.

As a member of the financial industry, I'm always looking for hints as to which sectors of the market will do well in the future. This book is exactly what I was looking for. Using demographic trends, the authors have come up with some scenarios which will definitely change my outlook on the future.

Book Title: Unlimited Wealth

Author: Paul Zane Pilzner

Publisher: Crown Publishers, INC.: New York 1990.

Paul Pilzner in his new book, Unlimited Wealth, attempts to teach the reader how to create unlimited wealth by capitalising on existing technology gaps in imperfect markets through technology acquisition and exploitation. He outlines this process as a non-zero sum gain in which he coins the phrase 'alchemic economics'.

Pilzner's uses a macro-economic setting to outline his theory of 'alchemic economics' or non-zero sum gains. Pilzner outlines five macro-economic foundations on which the theory of economic alchemy needs to work. They are as follows: 1) The only enduring business is the business of change. 2) Businesses based on the exploitation of economic scarcity are doomed (The theory of alchemy states that technology negates scarcity). 3) No business is an island (product and process are dynamic). 4) Modern business is no longer "find a ! ! need and fill it," but "imagine a need and create it." 5) Labor is capital (the knowledge and skills of the workforce are untapped sources ripe for investment). Pilzner artfully outlines this macro-economic back drop with some very interesting historic examples, which, in turn, set the stage for Pilzner's three major tenets of 'alchemic economics': 1) Technology is a major determinant of wealth because it determines the nature and supply of physical resources. 2) The advance of technology is determined mainly by our ability to process information. 3) The backlog of unimplemented technology advances are the true predictor of economic growth for both the individual and society. Pilzner further outlines his alchemic wealth creation in an interesting equation, W=PTN. Where (W) equals wealth, (P) equals physical resources, (T) equals technology, and (N ) equals the exponential effect of technological advances. Although Pilzner's theory of alchemy is solely ! ! based on efficient technology exploitation and acquisition,! the actual key to unlimited wealth creation is based on the reader's ability to create advances in technology in either product or process.

Pilzner's theory of alchemic economics should really worry anyone concerned with the environment. The underlying implication of 'alchemic economics' states that society no longer has to worry about the environment, because resource scarcity has somehow been avoided by an exponentially growing effect of technological advance. Historically this type of economic rationalism has perhaps been the major driving force behind specie extinction rates and loss of biodiversity. The theory of alchemy is, at best, based on very shaky Ricardian economic theory verses a more Malthusian scarcity approach. Pilzner correctly outlines economic resource evaluations as being perception based and that technological advances are made by those who can look beyond the traditional paradigm. The theory is excellent at outlining how businesses might be able ! ! to exploit technological gaps, thus creating or increasing demand for a given product or service. On the other hand, the book fails to go into enough detail to allow the theory to be very useful. The book seems to be very myopic, in that it seems to be based on short term economic rationalisation of resource evaluation and scarcity. In a long term focus, it is quite evident that ALL RESOURCES ARE FINITE.

Despite the obvious short comings of the book, Pilzner's theory artfully outlines the current short comings in the allocation and distribution of scarce resources and the possibility of creating wealth from them. If you have never given much thought to economic scarcity, resource valuation, and technology gaps, this book would be an interesting read. The book is an easy read and a nice deviation from classical journals of economic theory.

"Unlimited Wealth" by Paul Pilzer is a very interesting read. A fresh alternative to economic theory that is insightful and thought provoking. His take on "economic alchemy" gives specific references to the state of the USA and how it reached the point where it is in the global arena. This book is not a lot of fluff with tons of jargon that only financial experts can relate to. It consists of a very logical breakdown of how productivity is generated. There are some excellent ideas within this book that illustrate how issues like immigration and education are and should be addressed. Mr. Pilzer keeps the reader very interested by quoting some very astounding and possibly overlooked facts to prove his points. While his theory may not be watertight to many economists, his notions of alchemic principles should not be overlooked. This book offers a strong theory behind the growth of nations to the generation by individuals of enormous wealth and prosperity. For instance, who knew that a man could make a $56 billion dollar fortune selling software before he made it happen. Also, back at the beginning of civilization, who knew that the world population could grow to consist of 6 Billion people. Someone somewhere must be creating something from what used to be nothing.

On a final note, if you are someone who is chasing the American Dream. The dream of independence, freedom, and the realization of your own personal dreams, goals, and desires, I would recommend this book.

P.S. This book gives a detailed analysis on the strengths and flaws of the Japanese economy. Written back in 1990, could it have predicted the recent asian financial crisis? Comments?

I first read Mr. Pilzer's book when it was published in 1990, then re-read it eleven years later. His words are as true today as they were when first printed. Through historical anaylsis, Pilzer deconstructs the economic views of our early education and skillfully builds a new model for our truly modern world. This is a must read for anyone interested in working with growth and change in their life and the world.