This is an excellent biography of Stalin, the middle book in a proposed trilogy. Tucker weaves events in the Soviet Union around the twisted, paranoid personality of Joseph Stalin, former seminary student. What I found to be the most intriguing was how every time Stalin changed his mind about something, everyone had to fall in line or risk being labeled a "wrecker" or "counter-revolutionary." Stalin was not particularly brilliant, and he was not Lenin's choice as a successor, but he had a genius for bureacratic maneuvering that put him in the powerful position that he held for years. For all his paranoia and all the damage he did to Russia, it is amazing that someone didn't actually knock him off. It is a chilling reflection on how obsequious even the best of us can be when motivated by fear.

Neither Stalin, the collectivization crisis, nor the terror suffer from a dearth of good and serious studies. Yet despite the crowded field, Tucker's "Stalin in Power" is by far the best treatment of all three complex events. No other book sets out as credible, well-researched and well considered a theory of the workings of Stalin's mind. The great challenge presented by the Soviet thirties is the comprehension of the real logic behind what appears from the outside as mass irrationality. Most writers' personal models of depth and social psychology are inadequate to the task. Tucker succeeds, by a significant margin.

Tucker's careful storytelling hews to historical facts and grippingly narrates Stalin's creeping domination of the Soviet idea. This book is complete. A must read for all interested in recent Russian history.

The Triumphs of Joseph is simply one of the most important books to be written since the Civil Rights Movement. I teach diversity classes and I use Triumphs as a primary text to offset the constant presentation by black leaders (often self-proclaimed) and the media that African Americans are somehow deficient in ordinary resilience and social strategies and need the paternalistic help of governmental and private agencies. Why do so many people who are not disadvantaged feel free to define for the disadvantaged what their needs, wants, and goals are? Dr. Woodson is sure to offend those who are the vicarious victims and parasitic victimizers of the poor but the validity of his message cannot be denied. Coming from a disadvantaged background myself, I have lived some of the situations he describes yet today I hold a doctorate and teach at the college level. Dr. Woodson is definitely a winner with a winning plan. If you want to be a winner, stick with the winners.

This is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. The further I read into it the more I was moved by the narrative, and the stories.

The book has very few statistics and is not heavy in technical detail. But whatever its perceived fault could be, it pales in comparison with the passion, power and truthfulness of its message.

Learn about the small, scattered and underresourced groups of men and women that are transforming the inner cities of America and the implication that this has for the social renewal of all of our socieity.

This book is inspiring, practical, and immensely moving. I believe it should be read by every person in United States who has even a bit of honesty to face what is wrong with our communities, even a little strength to care for others, and a desire to have their eyes opened to the powerful solutions that are avaialble in very humble qarters!

Every black person in the United States ought to devote an evening or two to reading this book. It shows in a concise 100-plus pages that "Black History" includes the triumphs of self-sufficiency which were considered ordinary before the Civil Rights movement taught the race that "progress" meant handouts and lowered standards of evaluation. The inner cities are slowly rising out of the ashes, not through government charity but through residents working the system to change their own destinies, making their peace with an unfair past. No book says this better. Everyone -- buy this book and regain your hope.

If somebody loves you authentically so much so that you become better person than before, you can't help loving him dearly. It happens. And it can happen even through a book! In this incredable book called "insight", you are invited to a wonderland of a higly diffentiated intelligence, only to find that it is no other than your real self. At first you wonder, you ask, you think hard, and you get it! For the first time you come to know what is understanding. You begin to doubt, you reflect, and finally you judge that you are a knower! Now you are changed. Now you know you are consciously operating in your experiencing, understanding, judging, and deciding. Now you know what knowledge is, what it means to you, and how it means to you. You become a living, knowing, acting subject. And you come to love Lonergan, since he introduced you to yourself. To "read" Insight may take a long time, years or decades. However when you finish it, you will begin to take another long trip to yourself, where no one had gone before...

This is the definitive text of Bernard Lonergan's most important work, Insight, with over 130 revisions, based on the meticulous labor of comparing three texts, line by line, word by word! All students of Lonergan's thought owe a great debt to Frs. Frederick E. Crowe and Robert M. Doran for having executed their task with such thoughtfulness, perfection and devotion. Corresponding pages to the second edition of Insight, which has been the standard one, are given in brackets. My previous review was based on the second edition.

Rev. Bernard Lonergan, S.J.(1904-1984), though still not commonly known, was, talent-wise, certainly one of the top thinkers of the 20th century. It takes time for his thoughts to be appreciated, developed and applied. There are already numerous web-sites and hundreds of books, articles and theses written on his ideas. He might be publicly acknowledged as one of the 100 most influential thinkers by the end of this century. For more than forty years, his works continue to nourish and challenge people, initially in seminary circles, and gradually in different universities. Boston College has been a key base for over 20 years in fostering studies of Lonergan's thought and stimulating dialogue with people in diverse fields. Insight remains one of the basic books that one needs to master if we want to reach up to Lonergan's mind, just as he reached up to the mind of Aquinas. One of the perennial issues underlying human differences is our assumptions about knowing and reality. What is it to know? Is it taking a look out there? Or do we presume that we cannot know reality? Lonergan proposed an arduous journey for all of us to become aware of what we are doing when experiencing, understanding, judging and choosing. The focus is on appropriating or gaining self-knowledge of our recurrent cognitional processes and structures in knowing. "¡Kit is essential that the notion of insight, of the accumulation of insights, of higher viewpoints, and of their heuristic significance and implications, not only should be grasped clearly and distinctly but also, in so far as possible, should be identified in one's own personal intellectual experience." (p.xx) "Thoroughly understand what it is to understand, and not only will you understand the broad lines of all there is to be understood but also you will possess a fixed base, an invariant pattern, opening upon all further developments of understanding." (p.xxviii) This is a difficult, painstaking and challenging task, not achieved just by reading from cover to cover (785 pages plus 30). Lonergan's examples from mathematics, physics, classical and statistical investigations might be a hurdle to those who don't have background in such disciplines. Insight is like the Zen master's finger pointing towards the moon. One must be careful not to get lost in the sweeping and erudite visions and constantly come back to appropriating one's own knowing processes. This is not a book for the faint-hearted. One easier introduction is Terry J. Tekippe's "What is Lonergan Up to in Insight? A Primer". Then one can go on to Flanagan's Quest for Self-Knowledge, and The Lonergan Reader, edited by the Morellis, and finally come to grapple with the full original and Lonergan's later works on Method in Theology and Macroeconomic Dynamics.

There is great, easy to access information in this pocketbook not only on the subject of Gyn Onc, but also on the medical management of patients, which is so important in the practice of Gyn. Oncology. The medical management section is broken down by systems (e.g., neuro, pulmonary, etc.).

Handbook of Gyn Oncology is a beneficial pocketbook not only for students/residents on a Gyn Onc rotation, but also for students and residents on other medical or surgical rotations (I've used it both on Dr. Santoso's rotation and in other months). Whether you need to know what the risks for HIV or hepatitis transmission during hemotransfusion or how/when to dose heparin or fresh frozen plasma, it's in this book. This pocketbook also contains descriptions of commonly performed surgical procedures in gynecologic oncology, as well as sections on chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Dr. Santoso is considered one of the finest clinical educators at The University of Tennessee, and his book is concise, thorough, and highly recommended.

This handbook is concise, yet packed with the kind of information you need at the bedside, on rounds, or in preparation for the OR. Several of the sections have clear tables which make quick reference possible. And the procedures section provide clear step by step instructions for most all cases.

I wrote this handbook to be as a practical guide for residents/fellows/ students and other clinicians in taking care gyn onc patients. Gyn onc patients are unique in the sense that they are surgical patients but usually with many medical problems (HTN, DM, COPD,etc). Thus, this handbook was written more like a combination of the surgery handbook + the Washington manual. my residents and fellows at UT Southwestern/Parkland and UTMB especially found the complication management section to be helpful in taking care their sick patients in the middle of the night. The chemo section is as update it as the GOG manual. I kept the book small enough to be pocket size, thus, easier to carry around.

This books is written for clinicians like you. thus, any feedback from you will be appreciated and incorporated to the next edition. thanks...

A very comprehensive book on recruitment and selection. I found it especially useful on its coverage of interviewing and tests. Its coverage of structured and unstructured interviews as well as the five factors approach to personality tests is fairly extensive and substantiated with rationale. Very logically written and well sign-posted with appropriate sub-headings; it is very easy to follow the logic as well as easy to search any particular aspect of recruitment you need to check. Even the experienced recruiter will find it useful to refresh his or her skills. The authors have removed the mystery and ambiguity often associated with successful recruitment. Anybody who is in the hiring business should get a copy and read it.

At last, I found a book about hiring that treats me like I can think. This book is readable and has a lot of depth. The authors get you to think through where you are trying to go with your business as the first part of hiring. I got a lot out of that focus. Then they have solid information about what tools to use for good hiring. High-Impact Hiring shows you how to structure an interview, but also how to use other tools like tests and reference checks. They show you how to design your own performance tests. Their decision-making tools are cool--there's a decision table that helps you make sure you don't hire a disaster and sorts out all the information you've got. If you just want an interviewing book, you could get one of the other "hiring" books--though High-Impact Hiring's treatment of interviewing was the best I've read. This book that gives you a system, gives you knowledge and tools, and treats you with respect.

I used this book to design our company's hiring process, and found it helpful for all stages from job descriptions, interviewing, applications to offer letters. The quality of our hiring has improved significantly; all of the people we have hired since are still making major contributions to the company.

The book is very profound, informative and interesting. Probably the best book on insight meditation, clearly understandable and readable. The quality of the information in the book is excellent and the scope is wide, which makes you want to re-read the chapters again and again. Whether you are or are not a practitioner, or whether you want or do not want to become one, the book is very interesting from the viewpoint of psychology because it opens new realities and widens your mind.

If you have always imagined Buddhism as some mystified religion, or if you have only been educated psychology from the western viewpoint and have felt sometimes that "something is missing", try reading this book. Perhaps, you will be surprised at finding out what Buddhism actually is, and perhaps you will find in the book that "missing part".

"Our life has been spent in sleep and sleepwalking," Jack Kornfield writes in this guide to insight meditation; "meditation means waking up" (p. 52). Coauthors Kornfield and Goldstein are also the cofounders of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. This book is based on "talks given at several intensive meditation retreats" there, and focuses "on the deepening of the inner meditative process, the hindrances one encounters, skillful means of mastering them, and the understanding and wisdom that can arise while in meditative silence" (p. 215). "To understand ourselves and our life is the point of insight meditation: to understand and be free" (p. 7), Kornfield writes. Goldstein tells us that "we practice to open, to balance, and to explore" (p. 18).

Practicing insight meditation is about "clearing or emptying" the mind and heart so that we can listen in a deep and new way" (p. 57). This introductory guide not only contains valuable exercises, but also offers trusted advice about working through the "difficulties and hindrances" that may arise while practicing--desire, aversion, torpor, restlessness, and doubt. "Through practice," we're told, "it is possible to train the heart and mind, to make them concentrated, to make them steady and luminous and free" (p. 39).

The book concludes with a discussion of "the seven factors of enlightenment," mindfulness, effort and energy, investigation, rapture, concentration, tranquility, and equanimity, also offering advice for integrating meditation practice into "our everday lives" (p. 215) so that we may live "a mindful life in the world" (p. 228). Like a finger pointing at "a bright, round moon" from this "floating world" (pp. 129-30), this book is sure to become a trusted resource for anyone interested in living a deeper, more meaningful life through the practice of insight meditation. For those interested in venturing further down "the path of insight meditation," I also highly recommend Goldstein and Salzburg's 12-cassette INSIGHT MEDITATION course.

G. Merritt

I picked up the pocket version of this book one day and happened to open to the page which talks about the accumulation of material items and the transitory happiness it brings -- how once the novelty of the item has worn off we go about buying more things-- all in the hopes of stimulating that "happiness" response. Boy did that hit the nail on the head!! I had to get the full length version and it has been very enlightening. A definte must for anyone who is at a point in their life where they are questioning their purpose, their "path" and want to know what to do to effect change. I loved it!!!

This book is a 2002 collaboration between the most knowledgeable trout/salmon biologist and the best illustrator! Tomelleri is the all time out standing trout artist. There are several books out that attempt to do a similar compendium like 'Trout' by James Prosek which is also excellent, and a great addition to your library. But the synergy between Tomelleri and Behnke is unbeatable. It a sad description of sub species of Salmo lost forever, but does offer a ray of hope for some species. If you have any interest in N.A. Salmonids this is a must buy. It is written for the layman: no high level back ground in Ichthyology is needed to enjoy it. Buy it - you will not be disappointed.

This is the most interesting book in my collection. I am shocked that since this volume has become avaiable, only a single review has been submitted. Being a fisheries Ph.D student and long time salmonid fanatic, this is the book I've been waiting for my whole life.
The design of this volume is great. Have any of you ever looked at a book's layout? This masterpiece should be studied in a graphics design course.
I specialize in scientific illustration (black & white technical stuff). Much of my work has been published in Dr. Balon's: Environmental Biology of Fishes and I dare say I have an eye for what's good within this field. While Tomelleri's early salmonids (see Fishes of the South central USA) are okay at best, the ones featured in this book are out of this world. Strangely, he includes some of his earliest works(p.71, p.261). These must have been added for sentimental reasons and have little value being included with the otherwise superb lateral views.
I find it strange to see the reaction of people when I show them particular pictures from this book. They seem to get equal enjoyment from all the illustrations, mainly because of the flamboyent salmonid colors. No one picks up on the astounding progression in style/technique that Tomellerri has gone through over the years. Yet it is very evident indeed. No one has pointed out that while all the renderings are lovely, stuff like the pink salmon on p.43-45 represent the technical limit of what can be achieved with color pencil realism. My favorite? The Presidio trout on p. 121. I hate to say it, but the pictures (and book overall) are too good. Anyone can pick up a leica and enjoy its smooth mechanical functions but how many of us can appreciate the beauty of German industrial design and fine craftsmanship? This book suffers a similar fate. It will sell because we all love pretty trout, end of story.
I can't stop reading and looking at this book. I fall asleep next to it and in the morning, look through it some more. Our family collects antique books and my love for books extends into other fields as well. This is the greatest of all my prize posessions.
I enjoyed Dr. Benke's text. He is able to convey scientific information in a style that appeals to naturalists, fishermen and those of us within the sciences. I first came across his writings in the magazine Trout and like many of you, I fell in love with his AFS book on trout of western North America. Maybe the fact that I am fascinated by phenotypic plasticity and morphological variation within species has placed me in a situation to better appreciate what this book has tried to accomplish, but I hope not. I only wish that some of you can feel what I experienced when I first received my copy of Trout & Salmon of North America. This book beautifully articulates the complex and fascinating world of salmonids through stunning pictures and wonderful text.

Dr. Behnke is one of the foremost authorities on the taxonomy of Salmonidae. I can think of no one who has done more to save fisheries management from the one-size-fits-all mindset that has dictated the stocking thousands of miles of streams containing healthy populations of native trout with non-native hatchery stocks of rainbow trout. The policy of planting poorly adapted (and often diseased) hatchery fish on top of healthy populations of native trout, caused the outright extinction or local extirpation of native subspecies and stocks of trout throughout the western United States and Canada. Many of these fish had unique life histories that enabled them to successfully exploit habitats that hatchery rainbows cannot successfully utilize (without the continuation of massive and expensive stocking programs). At the very least, they represent a diversity form and life history that would be impossible to replace with the limited gene pool available in hatchery strains. Many of these fish, such as the golden trouts, interior cutthroats, and redband rainbows are living jewels, breathtakingly beautiful and perfectly adapted to their respective environments. The loss of any of these remarkable fish would diminish any person who cares about our natural heritage.

Professional biologists, such as myself, may have wished for a little more technical information than the book contains, such as was available in his 1965 PhD Thesis, A Systematic Study of the Family Salmonidae with Special Reference to the Genus Salmo or his 1992 mongraph, Native Trout of Western North America. Dr. Behnke has published a continuing series of articles on salmonid taxonomy, distribution, and life histories in Trout, the journal of the Trout Unlimited organization. He has used these articles to bring the importance of preserving the diversity of life histories present in each species to the attention of anglers and managers throughout North America. Whether a population is a species, subspecies, 'race,' or 'stock' has little meaning from a management standpoint, if it displays unique life history traits that enable it to exploit habitat extremes or niches that are inaccessible to other populations or hatchery stocks. As with agricultural crops, the loss of wild genotypes can never be fully compensated for and adaptations to local environments make many of these stocks the only fish that can successfully maintain naturally reproducing populations adapted to local disease organisms and environmental conditions.

I was hoping the book would include appendices that described all of the new technical information available about the family Salmonidae. Instead the book is a wonderful publication for the general public, containing a though and highly readable description of the wonderful diversity of form and life history represented by North American salmonids. Combined with Joseph Tomelleri's incredibly detailed and lifelike representative illustrations, this is a welcome addition to the library of any angler or biologist.

In addition to his contributions to the establishment of saner management policies for native fish, Dr. Behnke described or collaborated in describing literally dozens of distinctive populations of salmonids. Many of these fish; such as the Sheepheaven Creek Redband, Humbolt River cutthroat, fine-spotted Snake River cutthroat, and Whitehorse cutthroat; were simply described as a new subspecies without assigning a subspecies name to them. Dr. Behnke generally only assigned new scientific names, where a species or subspecies designation was incorrect, and a prior name already existed. Hence, the Yellowstone cutthroat became Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri instead of O. c. lewisi and the interior Columbia/Fraser River rainbow became O. mykiss gairdneri, rather than O. gairdneri. This brings me to one of my few quibbles about the book.

In the 1995 book, Many Rivers to Cross by M.R. Montgomery (a Boston Globe columnist), the author included the descriptive information from Dr. Behnke's monograph, Native Trout of Western North America, under the name Oncorhynchus clarki behnkei. I'm a fisheries biologist, rather than a taxonomist, but as I understand the process of naming a new species (or subspecies), the name should accompany a species account that includes a description of the species and information on the collection where the type (type specimen) is or will be deposited (perhaps Mr. Montgomery included all of Dr. Behnke's original description in his book and this is sufficient). This information is usually published in a journal or book (but I'm not sure if it has to be published by a professional taxonomist in a professional publication). The first name assigned has priority. If a non-professional can assign a name in any form of publication, then I believe that Ernest Schwiebert beat Mr. Montgomery to the punch by a couple of decades in his 1978 book, Trout, when he assigned the name Salmo carmichaeli (after a Wyoming tackle shop owner) to the Jackson Hole cutthroat and included an excellent illustration of a fine-spotted cutthroat from Blacktail Spring Creek in Wyoming. While its true that Schwiebert gave it species status, the same can be said of the rainbow trout, which was originally named Salmo gairdneri before it was reassigned the name Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri (gairdneri was assigned to the interior Columbia/Fraser River subspecies). Will some taxonomist please name a trout after Dr. Behnke?!! He certainly deserves the honor. It would be a nice gesture if a committee of taxonomists would decide which of Dr. Behnke's many unnamed subspecies of Oncorhynchus most deserves subspecies status and assign it the subspecies name, behnkei. The fine-spotted Snake River cutthroat seems like a fine fish to name after Dr. Behnke, but I'm sure any of the salmonids he has described over his long career would serve as a fine honor.

This book is just perfect. It's very well written. Conrad shows an understanding of the predicament of women of his time. Conrad advances the plot though the voice of the characters, who tell a story, which involves another character telling a story, etc. At one point the tale is six levels deep; but such is the skill of Conrad that you do not notice and are never lost. One of Conrad's two or three best. A book I was sad to end because I was enjoying it so much.

I cannot believe that there are no customer reviews already for this spectacular novel - full of intruiging situations and wonderful characters - certainly the best Conrad female character I have read. Conrad is a wonderful writer in style and the manner in which he tells a yarn - how then has this novel become so 'lost'? It has wonderful lines ('Don't be in a hurry to thank me,' says he. 'The voyage isn't finished yet.' p22 Oxford World Classics), great insights (women respond to the smallest things, which immediately had me nodding in agreement from my own experience), spectacular descriptions ('Yes, I gave up the walk [along a cliff top with the intention of killing herself],' she said slowly before raising her downcast eyes. When she did so it was with an extraordinary effect. It was like catching sight of a piece of clear blue sky, of a stretch of open water. And for a moment I understood the desire of that man to whom the sea ans sky of his solitary life had appeared suddenly incomplete without that glance which seemed to belong to both of them. p231). The characters are admirable in behaviour sometimes, victims sometimes, regrettable in behaviour sometimes, or just plain confused - just like real people. But one thing I really like is the way the narrator of the story is an observer, barely a participant of the events being described.

This may not be the perfect novel, but I urge you not to miss it. The chapter 'On the Pavement' by itself is worth the read!

Used this book for my Intro to Mass Communications class and found it useful and interesting.

If you want to understand the so-called " new media" or digital media, this book is a must.

The author was an editor of Oslobodjenje, Sarajevo's independent newspaper that continued to publish daily throughout the 1992-1995 period that the city was besieged by Serb nationalist forces. The journal entries take in just the first 16 months of that siege. It is chilling to realize that the siege would continue for more than two years beyond the period covered by the journal-and that populations in some other cities and villages suffered even more than did Sarajevo's.

The stories of Sarajevo and Bosnia are breath taking. Mr. Dizdarevic brings to light the day to day struggle that so many residents of Sarajevo went through. Not only physically, but mentally as well. Sarajevo is a very beautiful city and is getting more beautiful as it gets rebuilt. I can not imagine what it would have been like to live these stories that Mr. Dizdarevic writes about. This is a must read book!

Written in the first years of the siege by an editor at Oslobodjenje, these poignant war stories, compelling descriptions, and perceptive reflections from a city under fire constitute one of the most authoritative testimonies of the entire Bosnian war. A powerful and often scathing articulation of Sarajevo's disillusionment with Western inaction and betrayal of international norms and values. (This short review is from "Book on Bosnia" published by The Bosnian Institute)