We are recommending this book to the visitors of the designzine.com Web site, the online newsstand for design. While many of the voracious readers of design book have become familiar with some few auto designs by Le Corbusier, Gropius, and others, there was no intelligent study before this contribution by Ivan Margolius, an architect himself, that so fully documents the subject. Happily, the literate text is not infused with the kind of macho techno-speak found in most standard car books. We like that the book was made easy to read by the non-intrusive graphic design of Alun Evans and Katy Hepburn (not the movie star).

Los Angeles is shocked by the fire bombing death of the Cruzado family in the multi-racial Rancho Tajuat housing projects. Just about everyone including the police and the tenants feel that the Ra-Falcons, a Black Muslim group who provide security to the complex, killed the Mexican-American family. The leader of Ra-Falcons, Minister Antar Absalla decides to hire South Central private Investigator Ivan Monk to uncover the identities of the killers.

At the same time that Ivan begins to investigate what really happened to the Cruzado family, his significant other, Judge Jill Kodama is under recall pressure for not enforcing the three strikes and your out rule. However, Ivan has little time to provide her comfort as he has his own worries because he is now under indictment for murdering a gang member. With his priorities starting to shift, Ivan knows that while he tries to clear his name, he must discover the real culprit before more trouble leads to a racial civil war in the LA projects.

In his third appearance (see VIOLENT SPRINGS and PERDITION), Ivan Monk remains a great private investigator, who brings to life the mean streets of LA. BAD NIGHT IS FALLING is filled with the usual tremendous characterizations and two interesting story lines that actually work well together. Though at times the vernacular is difficult to follow, Gary Phillips continues to rise to the top of the ethnic who-done-it sub-genre.

Harriet Klausner

Ivan Van sertima may at time jump overboard,but He is often misunderstood by the people who try to label him a Afronazi. Van Sertima sets straight with actual proof Africans did excel in Science before the conquest of the Europeans. What the Europeans thought of as withdoctors were actually people that had great knowleadge of herbal medicine. The recent find in South Africa is that African bush willow has been shown to help with the treatment of cancer. What westerners don't tell you that there is plenty of herbs in African that has been dhown to fight such dieases as Aids. The problem is drug companies exploit cheifs and priest for their knowleadge of herbal medicine. The drug companies don't want common people to know about these herbs because it will make them go bankrupt.I recommend anyone reaching and exploring to shatter the myths of primitive Africans to read this book. Another thing this book explores is the evidence they found in kenya of an astronomical observatory. The book does show the lack of study in the scientific nature of indigenous African people. The book does not mention that bantus of Southern Africa have the ability of accupunture,and this ability according to records has been with man since he first evovled. I wish Sertima would have explored the indigenous calender system. I am glad however that he showed that secret socities in Africa comunicated with symbols andf sighns, and had a form of written language.

Her books on each country are so wonderful-not just for viewing the photos for decorating ideas, but to get an all-around feel for that particular country's lifestyle and how to create it yourself. These are not just your average home decorating books, they make an excellent read as well. You won't be disappointed.

How better could an author examine the legal process than be a part of it? Obviously Ronald Anderson posed this question to himself and answered with complete discretion and insight. If only a bonus star could be awarded along with the first five, I would give them in all earnst.

Legal textbooks by nature are encyclopedic and ponderous, however, this text is one of the most interesting and compelling books I have ever read on the subject of law. The material is presented clearly and rationally and each topic is supplemented heavily by significant "real-world" examples. The examples are timely and upbeat and very interesting to read. You will find it difficult to avoid reading all the real-world examples at one sitting. If you are forced to purchase this text for a Business Law class.....count yourself lucky. This one is the best. If you are merely curious about the inner-workings of torts, contract law and intellectual propery rights, then this is the book to buy.

This is a very well written book covering topics that are more advanced than the usual beginners book. Topics are covered very clearly, and are written in a manner that will help anyone in their progression of using and administrating Caldera OpenLinux. A natural order of progression is used, and the examples are written to show how the syntax of commands are used. This book actually covers topics beyond the subject, such as TCP/IP networking, bridged environments, routing protocols, packet structure and OSI models. A quite worthwhile investment, and a must have for anyone administrating Linux.

Berend's novel is a great account of the political, social, and economic changes Central and Eastern Europe went through after WWII. The book is very well organized and easy to follow, making this book read more like a story than a boring old history book.

If you're unfamiliar with Ivan Illich and his penetrating critique of the modern, industrialized, commodified, Western way of life, this is not the book for you. Better you should read Illich's Deschooling Society, Tools for Conviviality, or Gender--indeed, any of his dozen or so major books. Or, listen to the Canadian Broadcasting Co.'s engaging interviews with Illich, available on tape from CBC and Amazon.
If, though, you've read Illich or heard him speak, you know the ethical and intellectual challenges he presents and you'll no doubt appreciate this well-chosen collection of essays. It appears to be the most comprehensive treatment yet of Illich's thought, and as such it is long overdue. (As Carl Mitcham's introductory essay points out, there have been several books over the years that deal with specific areas of Illich's thought, such as his call for deschooling. David Cayley's Ivan Illich in Conversation, based on the CBC interviews, provides perhaps the best single overview of Illich's life and work.)
To truly grasp Illich's arguments, I have found, is to find oneself moved and even pained. It is to feel, to truly feel in one's gut, a tension between great power and immense powerlessness. Illich the visionary anarchist champions autonomy, communities of people working and caring for each other rather than depending on anonymous professionals, nurturing deep friendships, and living free of artificially imposed hierarchies. So, Illich's vision inspires one to act and change the world somehow. Yet, Illich the social historian explains better than anyone else around how enslaved we have become to overgrown institutions and the economically driven service economy. Certain tools, like the car, have gained "radical monopolies" over our lives and are now terribly difficult to do without. Just as the over-consumption of goods tends to ruin the physical environment, he makes clear, the over-consumption of services such as compulsory education and medical care wrecks the social fabric. Schools make us dumb, hospitals increase sickness, cars frustrate by causing traffic jams and costing us dearly.
The essays in this book range from the highly personal to the highly intellectual. Each of the contributors knows Illich's work well or worked closely with the man over the years. And each, in his or her own way, explains how Illich's relentless critique has challenged them in their own daily lives, professions, or academic thinking.
There is a great deal of love expressed here, as there should be. Illich inspired many people over the years yet always declined, not always so graciously, to actively play the guru. His great intellectual and rhetorical gifts make this humility and renunciation of power all the more impressive.
Though Illich has largely been dismissed in the U.S. since the early 1970s (when Deschooling Society actually got him 15 minutes on the Dick Cavett show), I understand that in Europe and in "developing" nations, he is widely regarded as one of the more incisive social critics.
One hopes that this volume's co-editors will follow through on their hint within that they may pull together another such book of tributes to and engagements with Ivan Illich. I wouldn't be surprised, despite Illich's death in December 2002, to see interest in his work actually increase in coming years as his critique reveals itself to be more accurate and useful than we can understand right now.

...

An excellent and easy to read book that should be available in all universities and libraries world-wide for scholars and anyone interested in studying the history of Europe's Middle Ages. Croatia as a country and nation has been sadly ignored by most historians, even though it is one of the oldest continuously existing countries in Europe. There has been a Croatia since its people appeared in the 7th century and settled in about the same land as today's Croatia. First a Principality, then a kingdom in the Middle Ages, it kept its identity and a Parliament throughout its history, in spite of the take-over, first by Hungary, then Austro-Hungary and finally by incorporation into Yugoslavia in the last century. Today Croatia is a sovereign country again and its history should finally be acknowledged. This book serves as an important part of such confirmation.