Unlike some other sci-fi future revolutions, the revolution in this book is bloodless and based solely on economics. Borrowing ideas from modern political science and economics, Wilson visits issues like the Gold Standard, libertarianism/anarchism, inflation, totalitarianism, market controls, and even gender attitudes in old civilizations vs. frontier developments (i.e., a frontier's success is dependent on getting new people, one of the easiest ways being women giving birth -- thus, women become baby factories and are devalued with regards to any other activity or idea.)

However, Wilson goes a little light on all the ideology; there are some strong personalities at play in this story of an empire's accelerated downfall. Just like in Asimov's Foundation Series, a small cabal is working to soften the impact of the inevitable crash of an overloaded empire; however, in Wilson's version, the impact is lessened by forcing a collapse in 5 years, as opposed to the expected 20. The leader of this movement, Peter LaNague, is from an odd frontier planet Tolive (for "to live"), founded by a group of people following the tenets of Kyfho (in the book, Kyfho is found to be very much in the vein of Heinlein's TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As a Free Lunch). But LaNague is up against the violent Droohin, leader of a rebel group whose plans were ruined by LaNague. A mysterious ultra-violent couple under LaNague's orders keeps Droohin in check, but one wonders if the tension can hold.

I found the book fascinating in its development. Wilson keeps you as well as the other conspirators in the dark as to the overarching plan - LaNague plays it close to the chest so that the movement is not betrayed. This becomes a focal point in the interaction between LaNague and his fellow subversives, his wife, and even the government which he brings down.

Wilson draws from the tradition (and has some sly nods to in the naming of some characters and spacecraft) of Frank Herbert's Dune, Robert Heinlein's Future History, Isaac Asimov's Foundation, and the detailed technical aspects of Larry Niven's work.

I first used this book as a student-I found it useful then, today I insist that all managers reporting to me review, and use, the concepts and techniques provided by the authors.

The book is useful, in that concepts are well explained, the examples are relevant, but most important for me is that it provides managers who have little or no experience in determining project costs with a handy means (including formulae and worked examples) of doing so.

I have tried to get copies of the most recent edition, the popularity seems to be such that the book is sold out. I most readily recommend this to anyone who needs to justify capital expenditure, who needs to do project costing, and who has to prepare proposals for submission to the boss (or the board of directors)in order to obtain funds for capital expansion, refurbishment or simply equipment upgrades.

Ranger and Slack's book has a lot of interesting material, but most people will be put off by the writing. It is written by academics for academics and is not as readable as, say, Kolata's Flu. The articles are not concerned with what causes epidemics or how they are treated.The reactions of people to really scary diseases is the theme. Whether they are ancient Athenians reacting to plague or us modern folks learning about AIDS, people seem to react to epidemics in the same ways: they try to find human scapegoats to blame for the outbreak and those who can try to leave the area where the disease has broken out. The novelty and physical loathsomeness of the disease also have a lot to do with what people do. Some of these articles are more readable than others; the best are on Hawaiian depopulation, epidemics in the Dark Ages, and the Athenian plague. Probably a book only for specialists or very serious nonspecialists.

This book helped a lot. I am taking a photography class, the book helped me better understand what the instructor was talking about.

Paul Saagpakk is an Estonian who, like tens of thousands of Estonians, escaped during the Second World War. He lived and worked in Sweden and USA and became a renowned liguist. This dictionary is his most important work on which he has worked, as far as I know, for more than twenty years and which was originally released in 1982.

It is an unfortunate truth that many Estonians abroad lose their natural perception for the mother tongue while under heavy influence of the native languages of the countries they live in. Furthermore, it is characteristic for the tragedy of our people that the war refugees were practically excluded from communication with Estonia. That is the reason why a half of a century of the development of the Estonian language has passed by Prof. Saagpakk.

Unlike English, Estonian standardized written language is not very old. While an English text written 60-70 years ago doesn't look archaic to us today, Estonian has gone through major changes since Prof. Saagpakk left Estonia. Unfortunately, Mr. Saagpakk hasn't regarded those changes in his dictionary. The language you will find in this book reflects the stand of the 1930's. It contains many words and expressions that, according to today's language standard, are considered errors inadmissible even to school pupils. For a contemporary Estonian, Prof. Saagpakk's language sounds archaic, much of it takes a little thought to understand and some words are used in a pre-WWII meaning, although their meaning is different today.

On the other hand, I'm sorry to say that this is by far the largest Estonian-English dictionary that exists, which is the reason why it's widely used even in Estonia. For us, however, the problem is not so bad - we the native speakers are able to recognize Prof. Saagpakk's mistakes and usually succeed to figure out what he actually meant by one or another weird expression. (Though we won't, of course, find newer words and expressions in this book.) Besides, a little laugh once in a while is only healthy. The foreigners, however, should use Prof. Saagpakk's "dictionary" with the greatest caution and not to be mistaken to think that this is the contemporary Estonian language. If you absolutely need to translate something from Estonian into English and you really don't have any other source for reference, go ahead and use this book, but don't count on it as the authoritative source and don't use is as a help when learning Estonian. If you need further assistance with the Estonian language, don't hesitate to write me - I'll be glad to help you in any way I can. Olavi Jaggo.

I found this remaindered for only five bucks. I read it not as a building architect, but as someone interested in what other creative/engineering disciplines had to say about creative projects that I could apply to web projects.

The authors needed a better editor, that's for sure. There's lots of awkward writing here, and the interviews with architects are virtually unreadable, rambling, and vague.

Those involved in web or software consulting will find not a lot new here--have the issues of client relations and creative services marketing really not had this kind of treatment before?

Mark Poster walks the reader through sections of the history of 20th century French philosophy, delving a bit into other times and nations as well, in order to tell a story about what he terms "existential marxism". The sections on the influence of Hegel, as mediated by Kojeve and Hyppolite, are fairly good, though Vincent Descombes _Modern French Philosophy_ is better. Considering the importance that the early Marx has in Poster's narrative, Poster's handling of Marx and his French reception is a little quick, and doesn't offer as much as it should to readers unfamiliar with the _1844 Manuscripts_. Poster's discussion of existentialism is a little better, though the almost complete lack of attention to the philosophy Kierkegaard and Heidegger was a little puzzling. Poster's treatment of Merleau-Ponty is quite interesting, as is the relatively in depth section on Henri Lefebvre. Though it may not have been his intention, Poster demonstrates how Merleau-Ponty and Lefebvre prefigure a lot of ideas in parlance among 'postmodern' theorists, like the focus on ambiguity and open-endedness in M-P's case, and an analysis on the loss of signification and the alienation of every day life in Lefebvre's writing. Given Merleau-Ponty and Lefebvre's anticipation of and contributions to much of what are now considered 'postmodern' ideas, it's a shame the two are not more widely read. Hopefully Poster's sympathetic treatment will go a little ways to rectifying this.

My biggest complaint about the book is that an inordinately large portion of is spent on the work of Jean-Paul Sartre. While the sections on Sartre's ambivalent and conflict-ridden relationship with the French Communist Party and CP intellectuals is interesting, it doesn't advance the book's goal of establishing 'existential marxism' as a viable and important historical development. Granted, Sartre is important, particularly to Poster's chosen focus on 'existential marxism', but some of the Sartre could have been trimmed in favor of more attention to other figures. Also, given the prominence of Sartre, it would have been nice to have had an exposition on Simone De Beauvoir, who is relegated completely to a supporting role, providing biographical and corraborative quotes to Poster's Sartre without being presented as an important and original figure in her own right. Conspicuously lacking from this book is the Situationist International, a particularly glaring oversight given the importance which the events of May 1968 play in Poster's story. The Situationists were very important to the May revolution, and yet they receive only a one line mention in Poster's exposition on Lefebvre. Perhaps the Situationists absence was deliberate, as focusing on the SI would undercut Poster's thesis that May of '68 vindicates the importance of existential marxism. To be fair, including the SI would have meant lengthening the book pretty substantially, and introducing several new concepts that wouldn't have advanced the story Poster wishes to tell. Most of my problems with the book arise because it's a work of intellectual history, not of philosophy, something that Poster admits. In spite of its flaws, I'd recommend this book for anyone looking for a good introduction to the points of contact between marxism and existentialism, or anyone who's interested in the intellectual history of post-war France. It's well-written, fairly concice, well-paced, and informative.

I am a huge fan of Paul Cody, but I never felt like he really reached into the story to the point where we were really involved. It didn't leave the lasting images in my mind as "The Stolen Child" certainly did, and "Eyes Like Mine" managed. I'm not disappointed, really, I just feel that his most rewarding scenes for the reader came when we were in voice of characters, instead of the sometimes elusive NOW or THEN scenes. I also found it disconcerting when we jump to the electric chair so suddenly when the father is walking with him. It was a long jump in time, maybe three weeks or a week, even, to just an hour or more. I did think it offered an interesting portrait of someone who kills and the motive that no one else is capable of seeing. The main character is certainly a curious and interesting character, but the book overall left me wanting more.

A sometimes dense and pretentious evaluation of magazine fashion photography, "Fashion Spreads" is nonetheless an informative and thought-provoking work. Jobling too often cites photographs as examples that are not included in the book, and many of his arguments on gender theory are tenuous at best. He is most convincing with his definition on the difference between "fashion" and "clothing", and in his description of the fashion cycle and what it says about society.

'Father Gilbert Mysteries' is a three episode collection of newly-produced British radio dramas. The main focus of the series is to provide an entertainment outlet for religious expression. The show is produced by a company called 'Focus on the Family Radio Theatre', whose main goal is to showcase interesting tales with a religious message. The 'Father Gilbert Mysteries' does so. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I am a huge fan of radio productions (both old and new), and so when I saw this new set of mysteries at the local bookstore, and read the teaser on the back, I just had to give it a whirl. Though it has its faults, it *did* leave me wanting more - surely the sign of a good production?

The genesis of the series is that Father Gilbert was once a detective for New Scotland Yard, but a particularly vile case made him reconsider things, and so he became a priest. He now resides in a cozy little English village, but trouble still seems to have no problem finding him. I will give a brief synopsis of each episode, giving you a better idea of what to expect of the series. But, be quite aware that this is a program steeped in Christian ethics, so keep that in mind. It is handled well for the most part, though it sometimes hinders the storyline.

The first episode is: 'A Soul In Torment'. A young man comes to see Father Gilbert as the priest is moving in to his new vicarage. It comes across as though the man has commited murder (or will do so in the near future). The curious priest calls upon his policeman friend to help unravel the strange situation surrounding the mysterious visitor, and the game is afoot, so to speak. This is the weakest story, as the religious aspect isn't handled well, and causes the mystery to not really be a mystery (if that makes any sense).

Program two is called: 'Where the Heart Is', and is the most solid of the lot. It involves a missing chalice that is supposedly housed on the church property where Father Gilbert resides, and the nefarious people who will do anything to get it. The story is plotted well, and some of the scenes (especially those which take place in a crypt), are pretty suspenseful.

The final show is: 'Dead Air'. It explains a lot about why Father Gilbert left the police force, as the villian from the vile crime which made him resign returns to wreak more havoc. We only hear the villian over the phone, and he calls himself "Legion", after a demon in the Bible. His voice is eerie, and it is in *this* story that the religious overtones really help make the story frightening (in a good way). The ending is especially scary, as Gilbert must finally confront Legion, and we are left wondering *what* the villian really was.

As with most British radio programs, the production is top-notch, with great acting, well-done sound effects, and (mostly good) stories. If you can make it past the mess of 'A Soul In Torment', then you'll see what an intriguing series this really is. Christianity and mysteries are no strangers to one another, and one must admire 'Father Gilbert Mysteries' for striving to blend the two in the most pleasant way possible.