as fine a writer as england has produced since the second world war. these plays represent bond simply and completely, as a man of passion and vision and a writer that any reader or writer MUST reckon with if they wish to have an understanding of modern drama. genius, and handed out when the word is knowingly overused. here it is earned.

If you are considering the plays of Bond there is no better place to start than here, at the beginning of his career. This volume contains his first three plays. Whether you have seen thse works performed or not is irrelevant. Just reading them is an interesting experience. This is essential modern literature! Bond's introductions (to all the volumes of his collected plays) are also essential. They have a socialist leaning but are not too preachy. Bond's self-educated working-class position gives his articulate essays a powerful punch. (A punch modern society needs.) I would buy these volumes just for these introductions, they are that good!

After this, go on to PLAYS:TWO for the brilliant LEAR.

After reading this book that helped me greatly understand a new and novel style of theatre, "Restoration" is the greatest laugh I have had in years!

What makes the beauty of these war plays is that they are more than just plays about people fighting against each other. It is about people fighting together to improve the next generations' lives. Reading these plays is more than just thinking about life, it makes one realize really what is life, why we should cherish it and not burn it away as a simple sheet of paper.

Hughes' translation seems as rich, exciting & electric to modern readers as the original text must have been to audiences a century ago. It avoids the stiff awkwardness that former English translations have been known for, while still remaining true to Wedekind's dark symbolism and expressionistic overtones. A must-read for theater-lovers and practictioners alike.

Spring awakening explores the sexual awakening of teenage boys and girls in Germany in the late 1800's. It was shocking in its day, and still is somewhat today, despite the openness of our society.
The Frank Wedekind play has been updated, set to music, and will open as a major Broadway Musical in Spring, 2003. Watch for it, you will be blown away! And be sure to read the play first. You'll be amazed at how true the production is to Frank Wedekind's fine work.

as an actor I have just performed this play I was Mechior one of the lead roles this book has a mixture of teenage experiences, a must read for all directors and actors if you ever get a chance to perform it then make sure you do

The basic premise of this book is to long stock and delta hedge w/ out of the money warrants. This was great when the tax incentives encouraged corporations to sell bonds w/ detachable warrants rather than selling convertible bonds. In addition, valuing the warrants was tricky prior to the use of the Black-Scholes model. This strategy - delta neutral covered calls - is profitable when the market has peaked out but you can get your handed to you if you employ it in a scenario such as '99-'00. Further their reocmmendations that you short more as your warrants fall is very dangerous - shorting a lot of gamma. The warrant game played itself out and the authors made a a lot of money. This is a very interesting book written by a very profitable hedge fund manager, but I would not recommend attempting to replicate this strategy w/ LEAPS. Pricing is much tighter now so your margin of error has dramatically decreased

Agree with much of the prior review. That said, if you can find thinly traded warrants (i.e., where there is less pricing efficiency due to the low trading volume), this book presents a very workable strategy for the individual investor. In addition, the book does outline an approach for hedging the "warrant component" of convertible bonds. In my opinion, the key is to stay in the low-volume (and, therefore, more market in-efficient) securities, so that an individual investor can use one's small size as an advantage by trading where the larger funds cannot.

Larry Bond had such potential. His first book (well, if you don't include his collaboration with Tom Clancy on RED STORM RISING) demonstrated a combination of good story-telling and the best of military-techno thriller details. He continued with a solid, if not spectacular second novel. Unfortunately, CAULDRON is a disappointing retread that leaves Bond's future success in this genre questionable.

The plot of the book is similar to that of RED PHOENIX, and indeed many of the characters appear to have been recast with different names for this offering, with stereotypes from his second novel also making appearances. None of the characters are well-developed and the dialogue is comprised of boiler-plate and banal cliches. While the story is enough to keep the reader going--admittedly, Bond's lack of freshness is balanced by his expertise on military matters--it is based on a very flimsy and precarious foundation: a Franco-German alliance beginning a war in Europe. No matter how far along the European Community is (or was, when the book was first published), it is difficult to imagine such an alliance--especially one in which France was the motive force--given the history of enmity between the two nations and France's historical proclivity to following its own course apart from the rest of Europe on many issues.

Although certainly stronger and more believable than his later books (THE ENEMY WITHIN, for example), CAULDRON marks the beginning of a decline in Larry Bond's career that has yet to be arrested.

An interesting scenario is put forward by Larry Bond here. A world recession, which strikes the dissolving European Community hard. Neo-Nazis blame illegal immigrants for job losses and rioting ensues, especially in Germany and France - a plotine which reflects real events. The US is too concerned with its own problems to aid Europe, and the Republican senators make their right-wing views heard.
When the US supplies oil to aid Poland and the Eastern bloc countries, a tanker is blown up by French paramilitaries. The CIA send an agent to investigate - he is taken out. Martial law is declared throughout the newly formed EurCon - US ships escorting the oil convoys are attacked and here we go! A shooting war blows up and escalates into some spectacular action. Despite a slow start at times and rather drawn-out tank scenes(I preferred the naval and air force and also the brief space sequences) on the Polish-German border, the story is highly convincing and sometimes frighteningly feasible. And best of all, it`s great to see the Frogs take a pasting from allied forces! The French satellites are put out of action by the GPALS Star Wars weapons, the French nukes are blown up and their subs sunk! Serves them right for blockading the cross-Channel ferry ports and ruining our trips abroad! But seriously, folks, this is a great war novel. The British side could have been better explored - the RAF and Royal Navy are quite well featured though. (Loved the Mirage being shot down over London too!) All in all, a highly recommended read, although `Red Phoenix` is still better. The Russian involvement towards the end does reflect on the aforementioned actually. I`ve yet to read `Vortex` yet though, I`ve got it on order and can`t wait . . . Ah, well, in the mean time it`s up into the skies with a Dale Brown book!

....

It makes you wonder if Larry Bond has a crystal ball. I found this to be one of my favorites of Larry Bond books right after Red Phoenix and Vortex. At the time I read it, I also thought it was a bit far fetched. But, now I think Larry Bond is much more smarter than most people realized.

In my opinion, Larry Bond writes much more realistic battle scenes than other "techno" writers.

Yesterday night, I saw the play "Saved", by Edward Bond, with 2 friends of mine. It was translated in Greek, but I'm sure it doesn't lose anything of the original English text in the translation, which was excellent. The play lasted a little more than 3 hours, which in itself was exhausting. So, one first comment is that, while "Saved" is good writing, & the characters come alive...still, why 3 hours? Definitely overlong, in my opinion.

"Saved" is basically the story of a family. A father & mother, who hate each other & won't even address each other by name, but still live in the same house. Their daughter, who is a very sick young woman, maybe suffers from bipolar disorder & clearly has severe psychological problems. This woman, Pam, forms a relationship with a young man (Len) who seems kind of a loser, but is kind & caring nontheless. In the beginning, they promise that they'll be different from Pam's parents...but of course, this promise soon, too soon, is forgotten. Still, Len is the only person that stands by Pam, when she's most in need, & even after she falls desperately in love with another man, who couldn't care less about her.

The rest of the story I won't reveal. "Saved" is basically the story of extreme unhappiness in one family, a family that choses silence & sometimes loud, violent fights over talking & trying to communicate. They don't know HOW to communicate, all they know is shouting, hating, throwing things & crying. This is a very sad (but powerful) play, very violent at parts, which is the reason for the 3 stars: I can understand & appreciate characters with problems. But there's one scene which has to do with a baby, which broke my heart while I was watching it, & which I can't seem to get over. I know it is a powerful scene, & I know that many people might argue that it's the most meaningful scene in the play. But I just found it too cruel to be meaningful.

Reading this guy's work is a real testimony to the staying power generated by doing something first. His 1967 paper on bankruptcy was the first to estimate a multivariate default prediction model. THAT'S 35 YEARS AGO. Things like computers and more data make both his estimation algorithm and parameter estimates relics of little significance, and his inability to recognize this is symptomatic of a more cluelessness exhibited in his discussion of other matters (he doesn't simply reference the old model; it's now irrelevant structure is examined and built upon throughout the book).

Very little of what is here is new, and what's new isn't that good either. Freshmen looking for succinct references to someone their professor has heard of but not read will appreciate this volume. I suggest reading S&P or Moody's research instead.