I ran across this book by accident, when my mother was dying of cancer. Everything I read in this book, really hit home. It made it easier to understand what my mother was going through, without having to have her tell me. During her last week alive, I relied heavily on what I had read, and her behavior was almost exactly as it was described in the book. Had I not had this information, I would have been extremely scared of what I was seeing my mom go through, and I wouldn't have understood that it was all perfectly natural. I encouraged my 2 sisters and my brother to read this book also, which they did. I feel we were all better equipped to handle the actual death of my mother with better understanding because of the information we had. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is facing a death of someone they love. It's a good book to keep, and to read more than once, or to keep as a reference to look back on after someone is gone to answer questions you may have and didn't pick up on the first time you read the book.

An Ear For Danger is a genuinely clever story from the Crimbusters series. It is not the best of the series but has a swift and intriguing plot, set in the well described Sierra Mountains - which, the auther takes time to note,literally means the Mountain Moutains. The plot centres on a burro (mule) named Blondie, and her mystifying connection with Jupiter Jones...

This long out-of-print anthology of pre-Smithian writings is a treasure. It contains selections from Aristotle, Xenophon, Aquinas, Oresme, Molinaeus, Bodin, Serra, Mun, von Hornick, Cantillon, Galiani, Hume, Quesnay, Turgot, and von Justi. Each of these writers covers the sprectrum of ideological thought ranging from statism, or proto-mercantilism, to non-statism, or proto-libertarian. The only criticism that I can make about this book is that many of the selections are actually excerpts and not the entire essay or treatise. That said, this would still be an invaluable tool if you are interested in the history of economic thought. That is if you can find a copy.

John Shirley shines once more, in the riveting conclusion of his "A Song Called Youth" trilogy. After being discredited in the United States, the Second Alliance makes its final stand in Europe. About to unleash genocide as it tries to unite Western Europe under its Christian Fundamentalist Fascism, only the New Resistance (NR) stands in its way. And high in Earth orbit, the NR's chief financial sponsor has his own sinister plans for humanity. Again, Shirley delivers the goods with his fine, fast-paced lyrical prose. Without a doubt, his "A Song Called Youth" trilogy is one of the classics of cyberpunk literature.

Pigou have done an exelent work on welfare economics

This insightful account offers a lively view of a turbulent time in United States economic history. Wells' book is informative, well-researched, and well-written.

Arthur Giron provides the first real look at this historical figure Edith Stein who was recently cannonized. This work is a stellar piece of dramatic writing that adresses important issues faced by all those affected by World War II and the Holocaust. Giron uses beautiful writing techniques to analyze Edith Stein before she was a nun in a Carmelite convent and shapes a magical plot that gives the reader a fleeting hope for the victory of humanity over evil.

This is a "must read" for anyone interested in the U.S. Army in the Empire or "Gilded Age," specifically and the U.S. Army's history in general. Professor Brereton has written an important book on one of the U.S.Army's principal thinkers and strategic analyst: Colonel Arthur L. Wagner, USMA 1875. Colonel Wagner was the author of several books on military training and strategic policy in the 19th Century. This book is important and timely since this is the centennial period of the successful U.S. campaigns in the Spanish-American War, Boxer Rebellion, and the Philippine-American War.

The book is editorially well-written, and easy to read. The book was thoroughly researched utilizing a wide range of primary and secondary sources. The book contains photographs and is well-bound.

This is an important, and the first, book on an important figure in U.S. Army strategic thinking who was a guiding force in the evolution of the small, continental 1898-U.S. Army into an imperial power that grew into our present U.S. Army.

The reason that education reforms are so muddled and anemic is because most people have no idea how we arrived at our current condition. Consequently, many people consider the abolishment of the U.S. Federal Department of Education to be an extreme measure, when actually it would be mere tinkering at the fringes. This is strange since, historically speaking, the current structure of public education is a recent experiment in social-engineering wrought over roughly the past century to century and one-half. West's invaluable contribution is to unearth the origins of public education and its original claims. The first edition examined the British ontogeny, which is also important since the American ontogeny paralleled it in time and argument. Be sure to get the later editions which specifically include an eye-opening look at the American evolution. If you only read one book on education in your entire life, read this book.

For years I have been searching for the "right" method with which to measure IT costs and benefits. In my quest I have come close with a few well-written white papers that fell short because they didn't go deep enough. This book ends my quest - finally, I have found the "right" method.

The authors start with a chapter on the elusive nature of IT benefits, and the difficulties of measuring and managing them. This chapter lays the groundwork for the rest of the book. One nugget of valuable information given here is the recommendation that IT be run based on P&L (profit and loss). Because IT is traditionally operated as a cost center instead of a profit center I first thought that this was overly radical. However, as I dug deeper I understood the true intent: to tie together investment, value and economics, and measure IT investments based on their derived value to the business. This is where profit comes in. It initially looked like thinly disguised cost/benefit, but the expansion of this concept as the book unfolds makes it look like a true P&L approach.

Chapter two focuses on reasons to evaluate IT investments, and gives a number of approaches to perform evaluations. It covers the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and also discusses some of the pitfalls of benefit evaluation. This material segues into chapter three, which covers the investment decision process. The authors did a good job of explaining this from an IT perspective, and ties it closely to meeting business requirements.

The next chapter discusses the issues associated with, and the techniques used, to perform the IT evaluation. This is where the book gets interesting and a coherent method for measuring IT costs takes shape. What I liked most about this chapter is the list of possible techniques you can employ and how the authors classified techniques based on relative strengths such as objective vs. subjective, etc. This allows you to select the best approach based on the degree of precision you are willing to accept and your goals.

Chapter five, identification of IT costs, is about what we all struggle with: identifying total costs of ownership, finding the "buckets" into with to place the costs, and the cost drivers themselves. The costs are divided into direct and indirect cost portfolios, and the cost breakdowns for each portfolio are comprehensive. This material is valuable and will lend itself nicely to a number of approaches, among them activity-based cost management. Chapter six, IT Cost Control, shows you how to manage the costs that you identify and is a good primer on IT budget management for those who find themselves in a new management position.

IT Business Case Accounting, the topic in chapter seven, presents a straightforward approach to building your business case for IT investments. This is "must" reading for IT management and consultants. Chapter eight, Risk Analysis, is standard fare if you are familiar with these techniques. It is covered completely and provides a solid foundation in the science of identifying, quantifying and managing risks.

My favorite chapter is nine, Evaluation of the IT Function. As a consultant who performs such evaluations I thought I knew a thing or two. This chapter sparked some ideas, and the accompanying checklists are worth their weight in gold. Not only is there a comprehensive set of checklists, you are also shown how to assess the results. Contrast this with books (and consultants) who provide findings, but fail to show the root causes of the findings or make valid recommendations based upon them.

Chapters ten, eleven and twelve tie up some loose ends by covering Ranking and Scoring of the evaluations, Determining Value for Money, and Designing IT Surveys for Benefit Measurement. Taken together these three chapters can stand alone as a small book on using quantitative methods to measure IT value. Chapter thirteen addressed project management issues, which were fairly generic, and the authors end the book with a chapter on final thoughts. They include nine appendices, of which the following provide additional value: C - Financial Measurements used in Cost Benefit Analysis (great primer for non-financial types), D- Factor Analysis (advanced techniques for correlating questionnaire responses), E- Sample Sizing Scenarios (how to select sample size using statistical techniques), F through H Questionnaires and associated issues (the questionnaires are more excellent material for consultants and auditors).

This book provides a roadmap to measuring and managing IT benefits. The approach is straightforward and the goals are achievable (although not without a lot of hard work). It also provides many valuable checklists that will serve you well regardless of whether you are intent on implementing a measurement and management program, or are just seeking some techniques to more effectively manage an IT function. I strongly recommend this book to all consultants who perform IT organizational analysis, and members of IT governance committees or program management offices.