This book contains very well topics as input and output analysis, verification and validation, random number generation etc. I strongly recommend this book as an introduction of theoric simulation.

Banks revised his great book with updated simulation package and information. Several new issues, such as, tools/softwares, random-variable generation, simulation termination, how to use Simulation to analysis and design computer system, many downloadable examples. Sufficient theories, to understand Simulation, are given, for instance, the Statistics and Queueing theories. Two chapters are dedicated for random-number generation. One chapter is dedicated for verification and validation of simulation models. Although it's only one chapter, several references are given for further study. IE or logistic practioner will enjoy since one chapter is for manufacturing and material handling system (wow!). Very good reference and practice.

This book brings a very complete explanation about what Discrete Event System Simulation is. From the very beginning, they introduce what Simulation is by means of simple examples that you can manage by hand. They also give a comprehensive explanation about how to determine the apropiate distribution functions to use in the simulation. And how to statistically analyze the simulation results. The book also include a comprehensive brochure of different simulation languages.

John Auteurs and Richard Wolffe have written a thorough, often mesmerizing, account on recent efforts to win compensation for Holocaust survivors from Swiss, German, Austrian and Italian banks and insurance firms and German and Austrian firms. "The Victim's Fortune" chronicles how an unlikely alliance of American Jewish leaders and lawyers successfully confronted these banks and firms, winning long-overdue compensation to those who had lost savings and life insurance policies to the Nazis and their allies or were slave laborers working for German and Austrian firms during World War Two. To their credit the authors wade successfully through an intriguing mix of characters, covering in separate chapters legal battles in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Austria. This important book should be required reading by those interested in World War Two, The Holocaust, and present efforts in seeking compensation from those countries and individuals who supported Al Qaeda's dastardly terrorist attacks on the United States last year.

The Victim's Fortune is a good read and it offers interesting insights into the compensation talks saga. It is written in the style of 'barbarians at the gate,' i.e. it tells a story by following the people involved and the personal axes they have to grind.

At the time, I followed the news of the Swiss banks and German companies with half an eye, dismissing it as (tedious) legal blackmail. But this book, which fell into my lap by chance, brought the whole dispute to life for me, including yes the greedy lawyers but also the victims and companies who tried to do the right thing. As with everything, it is much more interesting when you feel you know the people involved. Contrary to a previous review, the authors do not simplify the conflicts or the characters, which is a strong point. The 'gossip' in the book is what makes it human, and a book about these settlements that does not take the human angle runs the risk of being exceedingly boring.

I also learned a thing or two about the grounds for compensation-the use of slave labor by daimler, even ford; and the arrogance with which insurance companies asked for a death certificate to honor life insurance of holocaust victims. As a victim says, 'at auschwitz, they didn't give death certificates.'

But it's not just for novices- those with a greater knowledge and interest in the compensation dispute will certainly find an extra couple of layers of intrigue and emotion.

The book is also about the difficulty of trying to compensate for something as profoundly horrific as the holocaust, the uselessness of monetary compensation.

For such a complicated issue, with so many actors involved, it is quite an easy and pleasant read.

The publisher says "John Authers and Richard Wolffe offer a spellbinding investigative account" of the international struggle to retrieve some of the debts owed to Holocaust victims for more than half a century by bankers, insurers and industrial executives. I rarely agree with a publisher's endorsement of abook but in the case of "The Victim"s Fortune" I can only agree with the judgement.
The authors meticulously give their sources for what participants say and do, and, by having visited many of the major protagonists are able to sketch accurate and very lively pen-pictures not only of people but of locations: there are 45 pages of notes and sources and a full index - the general reader may not need them but they are there to reinforce the veracity of the account.
It would have been easy to have been less than even-handed to some of the powerful characters encountered in the book: it is a tribute to the authors that they maintain an even keel while charting the reader through a variety of events which could easily have seemed an incoherent maelstrom. The story starts in 1995 and culminates in June 2001 when payments of $5000 begin to be made to the dwindling band of holocaust survivors. The six years saw the involvement of a swathe of characters, from Jewish leaders, lawyers, bankers, insurers, judges, to President Clinton and Christoph Meili, a security guard at UBS who found in the course of his patrol that key documents had been put ready in the shredding room. In return for his whistle-blowing he had to flee his native Switzerland when he received death threats and warnings that his children would be kidnapped, and make a home in USA, the first Swiss citizen ever to seek asylum there on grounds of political persecution.
It is a roller-coaster of a book with new, well-defined and important characters arriving in most chapters. It is a fascinating read both for the issues involved and the egos on display. I have only had time to read the book once and will certainly do so again. It is no exaggeration to refer to the epic battle over the debts of the holocaust: I am profoundly grateful to the authors for opening my eyes to the reality of how deals get made, who truly benefits in such a tangled web. Lawyers, companies, governments even, had their own agenda: the payment was too little, too late; to quote one former slave-labourer "if it had been earlier or larger, it would have been no more moral".
This book is a triumph and deserves to be widely read.

The Vatican calls it 'fanciful and absurd,' but Yallop's indefatigable journalist style of writing pushes this book along. Fascinating stuff, and quite probable. Two interesting areas: 1)the papal plans of John Paul I, and 2)the apparent submission of Wojtyla to the status quo. Of the first-- no less a thinker than Abbe Georges de Nantes considers Albino Luciani a martyr-saint, a pope whose plans to effect the Fatima-requested Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to re-instate the Roman liturgy, and his plans to clean up the Vatican Bank cost him his life. David Yallop believes Luciani was murdered because of his plans to allow Catholics the right to use artificual birth control and his plans to clean up the Vatican Bank. Murder figures into both these men's calculations of this extraordinary event. Of the second, who would deny that Wojtyla has left the Vatican Bank unchanged and uncleansed? He also has not, according to seer Sister Lucia, effected the Consecration of Russia, nor has he changed the Church's law on artificial contraception. He has, interestingly, restored the Roman liturgy to usage. The true face of Villot showed itself during the reign of Paul VI, and is captured unflinchingly in Yallop's book. Even Paul VI knew of Villot's clear submission to Freemasonry, but he cowered in the face of it for years before acting. This is the kind of book that makes Malachi Martin believable. I think an even more intriguing question than whether and by whom Pope John Paul I was murdered, is whether important decisions in the life of Catholics which would prescind from the pope alone, subsequent to Luciani's death either did or did not happen; to look at it from this angle brings Yallop's arguments, as far as they go, into an even sharper focus. It's hard to be disappointed with ideas this interesting, and serious.

David A. Yallop wrote four previous works (one caused the British government to reopen a twenty-year old murder case, another freed a man serving a life sentence for murder). This investigates the mysterious death of Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul I. He spent three years of intensive investigation using various sources in Rome, New York, London, and South America; they cannot be publicly identified.

Luciano Albini opposed the looting of Banco Ambrosiano while Bishop of Venice. As Pope he would rid the Vatican Bank of swindlers, money launderers, drug dealers, and their allies. But these had connections with organized crime and certain intelligence agencies. Pope John Paul I was as doomed as President John F. Kennedy's attempts to curtail the military-industrial complex, and Big Oil.

In 1981 there was an attempt to poison the Foreign Minister of El Salvador: the poison was to be put into his alcoholic drink. Nothing would happen for a week, then he would develop a flu-like disease, and die the next day. This poison could not be detected unless the coroner knew what to look for. This plot was exposed by the double agent recruited for the job, and a US diplomat was expelled from the country. The newspapers did NOT compare this to the death of Pope John Paul I.

Pages 40-49 tell of a swindle using counterfeit bonds worth $635 million. They would be sold to the Vatican Bank, and the money used for payoffs, and buying control of a company. The bank would write this off as a loss. You can be sure of high-level corruption and collusion in the bank!

The murder of Pope John Paul I may never be solved officially. Perhaps another Pope would continue his proposed reforms; we'll see in the near future.

This book gives a terribly tarnished picture of the Vatican, even if the author is wrong and there was no murder or active murder (they could have let Pope John Paul I die, by not administering him his medicine).
A Vatican controlled by a bunch of corrupt, merciless, avid for power, 'holy' cardinals (Villot, Cody, Marcinkus, Baggio), implicated in a web of depraved banking, masonic and Mafia figures, like Calvi, Gelli and Sindona. (I recommend for the 'banking' part the book of Richard Hammer 'The Vatican Connection').
What is also intriguing, or should I say 'demonic', is the fact that the next pope didn't remove anybody entangled in these murky affairs from his office.
The author also gives very plausible hints why, besides personal career interests, there were moral (the issue of birth control, for instance) and financial (money laundering to help friendly unions and parties) motives.
A devastating book.

This book covers the topic very well. It is clear and concise. Useful for anyone who wants an overview of risk management concepts. But if you are like me who understands better with lots of numbers and examples, this is not it.

A good book to tell you methodical risk analysis in the area of fincance and marketing. If more interpretaions of analysis results written there, I would have rated it as "5" stars.

The most useful information gleaned from this book relates to how an individual should approach a bank when attempting to obtain a loan.

If you have an interest in the legal presentation in the Wounded Knee trials that led to Leonard Peltier's imprisonment, this is your book. Sayer demonstrates with clear evidence how corrupt out legal system is coupled with the power of the media in political matters, such as the wrongful imprisonment of Peltier.

The book gets into documents and testimony that you would think proves Peltier's innocence. However, there is a force that is greater than the truth, and that is corruption!

The American Indian Movement (AIM) and its attorneys have little chance as long as the American public remains blind to the powers that be in the legal system and in government. This book is an eye opener. However, be aware that the reading can seem mundane at times unless you have a keen eye and interest in legal jargon. I was lost a few times but finishing the book was worth it to hear the other version of "truth".

I recommend this book if you have any interest at all in the Leonard Peltier story or of the corruption of a system that works for the government, not for the people.

John Koblas's account of the 1876 raid upon Northfield, Minnesota, by the notorious James-Younger Gang (in which the town citizens basically shot the famous outlaws to pieces) is detailed and convincing (although not quite equal to Koblas's later "Faithful Unto Death"). The mystery presented of a possible "ninth man" in the raid (standard accounts name only eight bandits) is never solved, nor can it probably ever be. In the 1930's an elderly man living in Los Angeles claimed to be Bill Stiles, one of the outlaws supposedly killed at Northfield. This Los Angeles Stiles claimed there had been a case of mistaken identity and that the "Stiles" killed was another man altogether. This 20th Century Stiles' story, related by a pulp fiction author of the time, contains many unlikely elements, but John Koblas does present some supporting evidence which could point to Stiles being genuine. In addition, the participation of possibly one or two other men in the raid is discussed. Ultimately, John Koblas can supply no final answers, but the questions raised are interesting ones.

I have just finished reading this book. I can reccomend it if you have an interest of Japan or business practises. Centering on the influential 'Zaibatsu' holding company Mitsui, from its founding late in the Tokugawa period to the late 1980s. As the Mitsui enterprise is a very far reaching influence, much of the history, particularly post Meiji-era history of Japan is covered, and the faces behind policies and movements are brought to life. A few moments in the book made me laugh out loud, such as the export of products bearing the label 'Made in Usa' (Usa is a town in Kyushu) It conveys much of the awesome scale of things within Mitsui and other Zaibatsu However, it is quite heavy reading, particularly if, like me, you dont know much about business practises and general terms. A useful book for learning about the history of Japanese trading, so powerful today.

Author Jean Strouse presents an in-depth historical account of J. Pierpont Morgan's life and times as a preeminent financier during the expansion of the American economy in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She details the deals he engaged in to raise capital in Europe, help the railroads overcome bankruptcy, and provide bonds and loans to clients. She also details his role in working with other financial leaders and government officials to stabilize markets and - at a time when the U.S. had no national bank - to set up many of the corporate and financial structures we now take for granted. We at getAbstract.com were particularly interested in Strouse's descriptions of the political, economic, and social history of each period as a backdrop for Morgan's life. Morgan comes alive in her descriptions of his family life, travels, and art collection. This excellent, comprehensive biography will intrigue executives, managers, historians and anyone who appreciates war stories about a master dealmaker.

The presence of J.P. Morgan looms large over the financial and economic landscape of the Gilded Age. Either castigated for wielding economic clout or praised for providing stability to the industrial order, Morgan has remained a mystery. Although recent scholars V. Carosso and R. Chernow have studied the financial activities of the House of Morgan, there have been few biographies of Morgan. Making use of new archive sources and the extensive collection of Morgan materials in the Pierpont Morgan Library, Strouse fills this void with a masterful biography. She carefully depicts Morgan's taciturn personality, his financial tutelage under a critical father, and his relations with both wives and his children. Strouse provides a balanced evaluation of Morgan's financial activities, carefully articulating his role as the nation's unofficial central banker. He attracted European capital to American enterprises, organized new corporations to promote efficiency, consolidated bankrupt railroads, worked to stabilize financial markets when crises arose, and established new business structures. While Morgan was frequently demonized for his activities, Strouse argues that he often acted in the nation's best interests (and his own). His role as art collector is also examined. Students of the Gilded Age will find this biography essential reading. Highly recommended for all economic and business history collections.

Strouse goes into amazing detail (at times a bit thick, but always fascinating) as she charts Morgan's entire life--out of which context emerge the outlines of a number of the most significant shifts in emerging global finance coming out of the American Civil War: 1) moving captial to the US from Europe to refinance Civil War debt and contribute to the building of the US industrial base 2)a broad shift from debt-based financing to equity-based financing, and 3)the (at the time) scandalous shift in valuing companies from book-value to multiples of earnings (the financial media of the day descried that Morgan, at one point, got international backing for a shipping combination valued at between 2 and 3 times annual revenues).

Insights the Strouse bio makes accessible inform the daily world around us in bounteous ways that make this book an incredibly worthwhile (as well as compelling) read. In this morning's WSJ, there was discussion of Iran now making good on previously nationalized assets so as to make Iran a more attractive place for international investors; the discussion of the bond market in light of the stock market's powerful gains continues; and individual investors as well as institutions are forever coming to terms with the fact that the market continues to support companies with what have traditionally been considered wildly high p/e ratios.

Add to the mix that Morgan was a fascinating man--as interested in the details of the dresses he had made for his wife, daughters, and mistresses as in the contents of his library, the speed of and fittings on his latest yacht, as well as the characters of the men who worked for him and with whom he chose to form investing syndicates, and you have a delightful, powerful biography.

Those parts of the book that deal with Schacht himself are OK. Those parts dealing with the bigger picture are poorly written and contain errors.

Afraid to say that Weitz's book is littered with errors as regards basic facts of the Nazi era and the inter-war period in general. This won't matter to those who have a good knowledge of the times, but students fresh to the subject should beware. The heavy reliance on US news reports of the time suggests a certain thinness of research. Even so, the picture of Schacht that emerges is reasonably well-balanced and so the book is worth a try.

As a biographical note:

John Weitz the author of this book, is the same John Weitz that was a popular US clothing desinger in the second half of the 20th century. He was also an intelligence agent for the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA during and immediately after WWII. Ian Fleming mentioned Weitz as the prototype of his character, James Bond.

Weitz is also the father of Paul and Chris Weitz, the directors of "American Pie", and "About A Boy", and admirably not "American Pie II".