Colored by the recent break up of The Beatles, Lennon Remembers can't completely be taken at face value. Lennon himself later dismissed many of the comments he makes in the book. Still, there are many sections where Lennon comes clean about The Beatles and his own problems. While it lacks objectivity, Lennon Remembers does provide a snapshot glimpse into The Beatles and their contemporaries that other books fail to do.

There's a boatload of bitterness that colors Lennon's comments about his working relationship with Paul McCartney. Lennon would later retract many of the things he said and elaborate on why he fibbed or didn't tell the whole story. For a fuller, more complete view of The Beatles and Lennon, I'd recommend Lennon's Playboy interview published shortly before his death as well as The Beatles Anthology. Both provide a bit of fair balance missing from Jann Werner's interview. Lennon himself was initially upset when Werner published these interviews in book form as he agreed to do them provided that didn't occur.

In the "Forward" by Yoko Ono, she says, "There was no one like him and there never will be. And I miss him." If you are like me, I'm sure you will agree that these are the truest words in the book for each of us. All profits from this book go to gun control projects.

Let me describe what this book is. It contains a fully retranscribed and corrected complete text of the interview that Jann Wenner did with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in early December 1970, parts of which later appeared in Rolling Stone. Much of this material you have never read before. There are also reproductions of Lennon's handwritten notes of song lyrics from the album "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" that are discussed in the interview.

In the introduction to this new edition, Jann Wenner characterizes the material here as "a candid, often painful, running commentary on fresh and urgent matters . . . and a self-portrait . . . ." "[I]n 1970 the Beatles were the biggest phenomenon on earth . . . ." [This was] "the first time . . . any of the Beatles stepped outside of that protected beloved fairy tale and told the truth." John Lennon later said that he didn't really believe everything he divulged in this interview. But it sounds pretty real to me as I reread it now. This is a man in intense psychological pain, and who has been for some time.

What, then, is revealed in the book? Aside from the usual stories about drugs and sex from touring, what struck me as most interesting was that Lennon considered what the Beatles had been a fraud artistically. "We were just a band who made it very, very big -- that's all." "But as soon as we made it, the edges were knocked off." "I'm not technically very good [on guitar]." ". . . I don't like many of the Beatles records either." "The only true songs I ever wrote were 'Help!' and 'Strawberry Fields.'"

His other source of pain was the reaction that Paul McCartney and George Harrison had to Yoko Ono. "They despised her." "They insulted her and they still do." "Ringo was alright and so was Maureen [Ringo's wife then]."

The commitment to peace is described often, and without the anger, pain, and regret that show up with all the other subjects. You feel like that was the only area where he could continually be himself. The interview is laced with constant references to his need "to be real."

He expressed a lot of regrets about having been a Beatle. "If I could be a f . . . ing [offensive word shortened] fisherman, I would!" "One has to completely humiliate oneself to be what the Beatles were, and that's what I resent." The interview contains many stories about how the families of local politicians and police departments would invade their privacy in offensive ways to Lennon.

The interview also goes into the details of the Beatles' breakup, contradicting the public story originally put out by Paul McCartney.

Music fans will enjoy his candid comments about the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and other well-known recording artists.

On the other hand, he is encouraged about the future. He describes his new album with Yoko Ono as "the best thing I've ever done." He also finds his relationship with her to be rewarding emotionally and artistically. She is open to new influences, and helps him to be also. We owe her a debt of gratitude for granting permission to release this new book. It must be painful for her now.

His hopes for the future were the most poignant part of the book:

"Do you have pictures of 'When I'm 64?'"

"No, no. I hope we're a nice old couple . . . looking at a scrapbook of madness."

After you have finished savoring this searing dialogue, I suggest that you ask yourself the kind of questions that John Lennon was asking. How real is your life? Are you doing what you think is important? How can you start doing better? If you do this, you will be honoring the best part of John Lennon's wonderful legacy to us all.

Be real and be at peace!

It was fascinating; I couldn't put it down. It changed my opinion of John Lennon completely. I'm 15 and before I read this book, I tended to view Lennon in a negative light. Although I still disagree with a lot of the philosophy he espouses in the book, somehow reading it changed everything. Reading this book, one can see the good person that is at the core of Lennon's tormented being.

John Lennon pours out his heart in this book. It's touching. The portait you get of him is remarkably intimate. It doesn't matter if all the info is right or not. The picture it gives you is John Lennon at the time of the interview: how he felt and thought. It's intriguing.

Jann S. Wenner does an excellent job as interviewer. A truly satisfying read.

The story of Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves in the jungles of 19th century India, charmed me when I was young no less than it does today. Kipling wrote this to celebrate his love of India and it's wild animals as well as to show again some of his frequent themes of honor, loyalty, and perserverance. While his writing may seem 'dated' to some, to others the truths he includes rise above politics and 'current correctness'. Baloo the Bear, Shere Khan the Tiger, Bagheera the Panther, Kaa the Python were all childhood friends of mine, and reading these Jungle Book stories to your own children today will result in their exposure to such old fashioned concepts as sticking by your friends in adversity, helping your family, relying on yourself. Good lessons then, good lessons now. Mowgli learns the value of 'good manners' early on, learns that 'all play and no work' leads to unexpected troubles, learns that thoughtless actions can have devasting consequences. By showing Mowgli in an often dangerous 'all animal' world, we see reflections of modern human problems presented in a more subtle light. Kipling leads children down the jungle path into adventures beyond their day to day imagining and along the way, he weaves subtle points in and out of the stories, he shows the value of 'doing for yourself', of 'learning who to trust'. All of this in a tale of childhood adventure that's never been equaled. The book is over 100 years old now, and there are terms & concepts from the age of Empire that aren't 'correct' today. Parents can edit as needed as they read bedtime stories, but I've found that children learn early on that the world changes, and that some ideas that were popular long ago did not prove to be correct. Explaining this, too, is a part of parenting. Some of our current popular ideas may not stand the test of time, but I suspect that 100 years from now parents will still read the Jungle Book to their children. And the children will still be charmed, thrilled and instructed in valuable life-lessons.

This was probably one of my most favorite books as a young child if not my favorite. The way Kipling shows the struggle of this young boy in the jungle is amazing. He fails to leave out any detail and throughout the whole story your totally caught up in it without one point of boredom. I recommend this to any parent looking for a good book to read to their children or to have their kids read. Kipling is a great author and after doing a report on him and reading some of his other works I recommend those as well, especially A White Man's Burden. If your looking for books by a author who mixes fiction with truth, action and adventure with tales that bring in more serious aspects Kipling is the author for you.

The Jungle Books are usually marketed as juvenile fiction. True, this is essential reading for children, but it's even deeper when you read it as an adult.

Although "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and "The White Seal" are just as good as the least of the Mowgli stories, it is the various tales of the boy raised in the jungles of India that are - and justifiably - the heart of the collection.

As a baby, Mowgli is found and raised by a clan of wolves and three godfatherly mentors who each teach him about life in different ways - Baloo the Bear, who teaches him the technical laws he'll need to survive; Kaa the Python, the nearly archtypal figure who teaches him even deeper lessons; and Bagheera the Panther, who perhaps loves Mowgli most of all but understands all too well the implications of the ambiguous humanity of the boy he's come to care for.

The stories have it all, from the alternately humorous and frightening "Kaa's Hunting", where Mowgli learns an important lesson about friendship and it's responsibility, to the epic "Red Dog" that reads like something out of Homer, to "Letting in the Jungle" which, without giving anything away contains a disturbing paragraph that's both glaring and a long time in coming if you've read between the lines in the previous Mowgli stories and yet at the same time so subtle you can almost miss it's importance.

If you didn't read it as a child, read it now. If you did, read it again as an adult.

The book is fine. ()It only contains standards from 1932.This book is not very usefull to anyone building to current standards.

The early editions of this book are must-haves for architects. Much of the information, especially residential details, is relevant today. As a literal graphic standard, this work presents visual information that was the genesis of modern professional working drawings. The clarity and richness of information as presented here can stand up in as well as inform today's CADD environment. One note: With a little effort, you can find an original(2nd or 3rd)edition in good condition for less than the cost of this reprint.The first three editions contain nearly identical information.

This text is a coffee-table book or a teaching library text, suitable for impressing novices to architecture how things were actually drawn to be built in 1932. It has no current value, unless one is renovating a building of that era. No code or other standards are included.

I had never read one of Dickens book before Nicholas Nickleby, though I had always wanted to. I particularly enjoyed this book because of Dicken's subtle sense of humor and colorful characters. It was easy to hate the villains such as Squeers or Ralph Nickleby, and laugh at the amusing chracters of Mr. Mantalini and John Brody(whom I found to be the funniest) Authenticity of personality and speech allows you to connect with the various chracters. Although he was probably the least complex, my favorite was Smike, the pitiful victim of the Yorkshire schools of the 1800s.
The one drawback was the size of this book. Dickens spent much time giving detail of many places and people (and did a good job of it), but we must draw the line somewhere. Just when one thinks enough words have been spent on one topic, it diverges into yet another irrevelant matter.
I'd recommend this book to almost anyone, unless you have a great fear of commitment. But the book has plenty of plot and satire to hold you to the end. I certainly was, but I don't think my librarian would believe me.

I would say this is "David Copperfield"'s B-side. It is a typical Dickensian book: the life of the Nickleby family from the death of the father until they are rich and happy. One of the most important parts of the book is the study of the horrible boarding schools of Yorkshire, where Nicholas is sent. We can read the dirty intrigues of Uncle Ralph, the adventures of Nicholas and Smikes as travelling actors (a world Dickens came to know very well), the kindness of the brethren Cheeryble.

Definitely, this is not one of Dickens's best novels, but nevertheless it is fun to read. The characters are good to sanctity or bad to abjection. The managing of the plot is masterful and the dramatic effects wonderful. It includes, as usual with Dickens, an acute criticism of social vices of his time (and ours): greed, corruption, the bad state of education. In spite of everything, this is a novel very much worth reading, since it leaves the reader a good aftertaste: to humanism, to goodness.

My first taste of Dickens was the appalingly long David Copperfield as a freshman in high school. I detested it, swore I would never read Dickens again, only to find that my junior year held in store for me what would become one of my favorite novels, Great Expectations, a book heinously bastardized years later by a 'modernized' film adaptation, with Anne Bancroft being the only redeeming feature.

Through the years since high school, I have begun to read Dickens of my own free will, and have greatly enjoyed his works.

Nicholas Nickelby, one of my all time favorites, is a wonderful novel, typical Dickens, chock full of characters, plots, satire, and story. Nicholas and his immediate family are the 'black sheep' of the Nickelby name. Humble, gentle, and common in the eyes of their well-to-do relative, Uncle Ralph Nickelby, who denounces Nicholas as a boy, and man, who will never amount to anything.

In typical Dickens fashion, Nicholas encounters adversity first at a boarding school, then in society, as he forges a name for himself. Along the way he befriends many, enrages some, and invokes the wrath of his Uncle Ralph, determined to prove himself right in bemoaning the shortcomings of his nephew.

One point of interest in this novel for me is the major revelation that comes toward the end involving the character of Smike. Throughout the novel he is loveable, pitiable, and utterly realistic, and his significance to the life of Nicholas, as revealed in the final chapters, is a true plot twist, and a charming, if not bittersweet, realization.

For anyone forced to read Dickens early in life, if you appreciate quality satire and an engaging look at the London society of more than 125 years ago, visit this novel sometime, it is one of Dicken's finest.

This is Dickens' tale (and some would say lecture) about selfishness. Dickens' presents characters that embody different aspects of this vice, from the hypocrisy of Pecksniff and Mrs Gamp, to the thoughtlessness of young Martin Chuzzlewit and Mercy Pecksniff, the suspiciousness of old Martin Chuzzlewit, to the vengefulness of Charity Pecksniff, from the villainy of Jonas Chuzzlewit, to the duplicity of Tigg Montague. But Dickens doesn't stop here: the book also explores this theme on the larger institutional and national scales, as well. The American detour can be seen as a condemnation of the hypocrisy of the U-nited States of the early 1800's. And the Life Assurance Co scam is clearly an indictment of selfishness when its ambitions grow to encompass those beyond one's immediate circle. To his credit, Dickens doesn't lay these latter evils at the abstract feet of 'countries' and 'companies', but shows that even in these suprapersonal entities, the original sin lies with individuals.

Besides "Bleak House", "Martin Chuzzlewit" is easily my favorite Dickens novel. Where else do you have an opening chapter (describing the past Chuzzlewit family history) that is so absolutely hilarious you find yourself rereading it several times before you begin chapter two? Where else do you have a character as funny as the greedy and transparent Mr. Pecksniff? People complain that the plot is paper-thin even for a Dickens novel and that the American sequence is an unneeded digression. Perhaps true, but I think the characters and comedy in this book overcome any of its shortcomings. While others point to better known novels like "David Copperfield" as the best to be found in Dickens, I think "Martin Chuzzlewit" tops everything except "Bleak House" (but then how could it, seeing that "Bleak House" is probably the greatest English novel of the 19th century). In closing, if you're new to Dickens, you would do well to start here--the book, although long, is fast-paced, funny, and, at the end, even macabre.

Martin Chuzzlewit gets its start much like any other Dickens novel--we are introduced to the rather blase main characters and the amusing minor characters, and Dickens slowly--and I mean slooowly--weaves the web of his drama. We meet the Chuzzlewit brothers, Mr Pecksniff and his daughters, and (among others) the lovable Tom Pinch, who is utterly devoted to Mr Pecksniff. "Another middle-period Victorian comedy of manners," we presume, and read a few pages at a time, until BAM! the novel kicks into high gear. I won't spoil the unforgettable final half of the novel for you, but suffice it to say that I read it ALL in one day, spellbound. Any would-be author of pageturners could learn a lot from the story of Jonas Chuzzlewit, masterfully spun by the greatest novelist in the Englsih language. Enjoy it, one and all!

This is an historical novel set in the Sante Fe area of New Mexico in the mid to late 1800s. It describes the experiences of two French priests (Father Latour - the bishop, and Father Vallaint - his vicar) sent there to establish a diocese. Most of their congregation are Mexicans who have previously been served by the Spanish catholic church, and Native American tribes - some of whom have embraced this new religion but many who have not. The plot line consists mainly of a series of vignettes describing the life of the two priests as they go about their work.

Willa Cather writes in a simple, but graceful style much like the personalities of her two priests. It is worth reading this novel just for her descriptions of the austere beauty of the American southwest. Many great authors have an uncanny ability to write beautiful prose with what appears to be very straightforward language, and Willa Cather certainly fits that category. Some have complained that her characters lacked depth in this novel, and though at times they seem to take a back seat to the setting, I found both men to be rich, real, and well-fleshed out characters. A recommended read.

If I could only have four volumes to read for the rest of my life they would be: Death Comes for the Archbishop, Joyce's Ulysses, a Shakespeare folio, and the Bible.

Death Comes for the Archbishop is a novel of striking beauty, profound debth, and deceiving simplicity. The language employed is the most clear and beautiful I have ever read in prose--it's closer to poetry. The philosophy Ms. Cather espouses is simple enough for the peasant to understand, and too complex for the wisest scholar.

This book just baffles me: it's not a novel, per se, nor is it a biography--it's more like an etching of time and place; of ideas and people who travel through the arid, beautiful dreamscape of New Mexico.

Ms. Cather wrote part of this novel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She got the idea of the novel from seeing a statue of Archbishop Lamy in front of St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe, and meditating upon what his life must have been like from her balcony at La Fonda hotel that overlooked the Cathedral.

Ms. Cather spent months in New Mexico and the Southwest, and truly loved this land, which is reflected in her book; she was a woman of faith, which is also reflected in this book, and although not a book about religion, religion nevertheless permeates it. More, this is a book about the beauty of a life lived well, with hard work and faith, and the land which touches all who touch it.

Willa Cather's novels divide into three periods. Her early novels including O Pioneers and My Antonia focus on strong individuals, primarily women, who succeed, if only at great cost, in mastering the American midwest. Her middle period novels such as Luch Gayheart and A Lost Lady also take place on the Nebraska plains. They also feature women as main characters. They emphasize more than do the earlier books a sense of loss and disillusion and the need for the salvation of religion.

Cather's late style is exemplified in Death Comes for the Archbishop, written in 1927. The protagonists in this book are primarily men. This book is a historical novel and takes place in the American Southwest, with Santa Fe as the center beginning in the 1850's and continuing through the end of the 19th Century. The heros of the book are two Catholic priests, Father Jean Latour and Father Joseph Vailant who have been friends from their youth in the seminary in France. They are sent to New Mexico to bring Catholicism to the developing American territory. The novel is based on the letters of priests and missionaries in the area at the time together with Cather's own experiences and the work of her imagination.

The novel is full of descriptions of the landscape of the American southwest, its distances, bleakness, deserts, frost, wind, cold, and Pueblos. There are descriptions of the people in the area at time, particularly Mexicans and Indians. Kit Carson also has an important role in the book. We see a great deal of the two protagonists as they struggle externally to bring the teachings of the Church to life and internally with their own hearts and spiritual development.

The novel is static and episodic in character. It doesn't have much in the way of a continuous plot. Its theme is the development of America and the role of religion and the religious life in its development. In a letter to the Catholic magazine Commonweal written after the book's publication Cather emphasised her desire to write about of the importance of religion in America, particularly the development of the American Southwest. She believed that there was a tendency to focus too much on economic pressure as the moving factor in American expansion and focused on one of the religious traditions which shaped our country, and was a particular force in the Southwest.

Cather herself was not a Catholic but her book shows a great deal of sympathy and I think understanding of this particular faith. I think Cather properly focused on religion and its role in the United States and that today, as in her day, we tend, to our detriment, to shy away from considering religion in this manner.

The story of the inner lives of the priests, of their friendship, and of their contrasts to each other is poignantly and well told. This is a book that deserves its place as an American classic.

If you're into investing, sooner or later an investment columnist will mention Extraordinary Delusions as required reading. It's that and more...

Charles Mackay first details France's Mississippi Scheme & England's South Sea Bubble (from the early 1700's). Then he covers the famous Dutch "tulipomania" of the 1600's. These are all enjoyable reports of financial manias and their aftermaths (though the South Sea Bubble chapter dragged on a bit). But the financial reader will be surprised when she realizes she's still only 100 pages into a 700 page book! Mackay proceeds to cover:

Alchemy - 150 pages of exhaustive (& exhausting) detail of hobbyists & serious investors who were convinced they could turn base metals into gold, if only they could find the right ancient recipe & stoke their workshop cauldrons just a little bit hotter.

The Crusades - 100 pages that prove that modern Islamic fundamentalists did not invent the idea of a "holy war". I had no idea the Crusades came out of official harassment of Y1K religious pilgrims! Remember this: If your country is being inundated with religious pilgrims, just try to think of them as a tourist opportunity. You don't want to get them angry!

The Witch Mania - 100pp. This section was unexpectedly chilling. As I read about European witch trials of the 1400s-1600s, I kept thinking of our recent satanic child abuse trials. It's all been done before: The wild unprovable accusations, including eating dead babies; trusting unreliable witnesses specifically BECAUSE of the severity of the charges; False Memory Syndrome. At least the rack & Trial by Ordeal are no longer recognized as valid forensic techniques.

The Slow Poisoners - Murder isn't really murder if you poison the victim slowly enough, is it?

Also covered: Animal Magnetism, Prophecies, Fortune-Telling, Hair & beard fashions in men, catch phrases & slang, Relics, Duels & Ordeals, Haunted Houses, & Popular Admiration of Great Thieves.

At times the book dragged, especially in the chapters I wasn't interested in. (But hey, that's what skimming is for.) So with that caveat, go ahead & get the book. It'll be a great investment of 12 bucks!

Goodness knows how many times this book has been reprinted, but it is a classic, it recounts many of the strange and popular freakish and delusional things that crowds have got up to over history. Tulip-mania, witch-hunts, fortune-telling, south-seas bubble. Its fun, fascinating and easy to dip into for a quick read as each chapter is really independent of the others. I re-read parts of this recently having just read Elaine Showalter's very controversial recent book "Hystories". Showalter's book is as much about modern psychological 'hysteria's' (as she calls them) - things like Recovered Memory Syndrome, and Ritual Abuse accusations which she seems to liken very much to popularist crowd behaviour . And while you may or not agree with her, I think it is interesting to read her book after this one. Still if you just want a bit of light read, then this book is definitely right up there - and it is always so much more fun and comfortable to be able to laugh gently at the patent ignorance of these poor deluded historical crowds!

This is it. If you want to know how many times the world has been gripped by madness then look no farther than the reprinted edition of MacKay's classic. Written in that wonderful Olde English style of the early 19th century, MacKay takes us on a tour of the world's most horrifying manias - up to about 1840 anyway.

I particularly liked the chapter on witchcraft and witch hunts since it told me everything I'll ever need to know on why seemingly intelligent groups of people band together to banish or murder innocent members of society - just because they are different. Another engaging chapter deals with millennialism - the fear and dread that grips society at the end of each millennium. If you thought the end of the last one brought turbulence, you should read what happened a thousand years ago.

This book is often quoted by stock market pundits and talking heads as if it were a treatise on irrational behaviour in the financial markets. In fact, it is much more than that. It deals with irrational behaviour and mass stupidity in all walks of life. Five Stars.

Deadlock: The Inside Story of America's Closest Election is a workmanlike and emotionless recollection of the events surrounding the most controversial election of the past 100 years. It is a well organized, easy to follow and not visibly biased view of the relevant events leading up to and following the November 7 Presidential election. Seemingly accurate and double checked to a fault, reading this book left me with the impression that I had just read an excellent 275 page newspaper article and not much more. With almost no humor, lacking any sidebar comments, it is a book Joe Friday would be proud to call his own. While I am a Texan and Bush supporter, I much preferred Jake Tapper's Down & Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency. I guess this means that like most people, when push comes to shove, I'd rather be entertained than informed. I do regret this intellectual weakness and like some of the votes in Florida I may change. But probably not in the next 36 days.

Two things struck me while reading this book, the first is that I doubt there is a book out there that is truly balanced and not somewhat biased. The second thing was that Gore really got the shaft, not so much by the recount wars, but by the election official that came up with the Butterfly Ballot. In the history of the USA this decision ranks up there with new Coke and the XFL, what a mistake. As far as the reporting in the book it was not bad for a review of all the articles they had in the paper, but it did not really dig into the particular issues very deeply. I wanted more detail and behind the scenes with both the candidates. I also wanted more details on the court cases; I felt like the sky-high overview of the issues of the cases did not do such an important issue justice.

In reading the book I think a little bit of a democratic bias comes out, just a little, but enough to notice. I also thought it interesting that they had far more details of the Gore group then the Bush camp, it follows the perception that the Post is somewhat liberal in its views. The book is an overview that came out almost 10 minutes after Gore hung up the phone on the second concession call so there are a few more details out now that they did not get in the book. Overall it is a good effort and a readable book, but not the end all be all on the subject.

I personally think the Washington Post and NY Times are liberal rags that are generally not worth the paper they are printed on. However, in fairness, when they do well I think they should be commended. I read the NY Times "36 Days" and still think that book was not worth the paper it was printed on. It was nothing more than a reprint of their articles.

Conversely, though, Deadlock was a well-written book. Two passages are worth noting. The first is about the book itself. About one-third of the way into the first chapter the book says: "These are the ... decisions, alliances, power plays, snap judgments and personality flaws revealed when a flukishly close election is played out for staggering high stakes. Both sides were nimble and brilliant and occasionally shady; both sides were also capable of miscalculations, divisions and blame. The best and worst of politics were on displayed in those 36 days, and both sides trafficked in each. This is how it happened." Although the Post endorsed Al Gore (no surprise) they tried to be equal in their appraisal of how the two campaigns sought resolution in their favor.

As for the two sides' strategy one only has to look within the first three pages of Chapter 2 where the Post records that the Democrats enlisted the services of three authors who wrote "The Recount Primer". The book reads: "Anyone who read and heeded the booklet could predict how the two sides would play America's closest president election -- at least in the broad outlines. Gore would gamble; Bush would stall. Gore would preach a doctrine of uncounted ballots; Bush would extol the dependability of machines. Gore needed more: more counting, more examination, more weighing and pondering of more ballots. Bush needed it over while he was still ahead." The only trouble for the Gore forces with this gospel was that the Republicans knew the same gospel. The book attempted to show how the two sides played out the roles assigned them.

For a behind the scenes objective look at the two sides, I think the Post did a very decent job. This could have been a... job on the Republicans and conservatives, but generally it was not (though I expected it). It could have been a... job on the Democrats and liberals, but it was not (nor did I expect it). I am not accustomed to this degree of fairness from the liberal Washington Post nor do I expect to see it very often in the future.

As someone just beginning to read books about finance and investment, I found this book interesting but repetitive. Perhaps it is important to keep drumming in the same messages: (1) the odds of beating the market by timing purchases of individual stocks are very low; (2) the asset allocation of your portfolio has more impact on your ultimate success than which stocks (mutual funds, whatever) you choose. While I did find the arguments compelling, I also heard them the first time and didn't need to see them again on every page. Fortunately, the book is short (certainly price per page quite high), therefore the repetition comes to an end before too long.

I was attracted by both the title "winning the loser's game" and the big names who wrote the recommendations - Abby Cohen, Peter Drucker, Bryon Wien...You seldom find them placed together on the same back cover. After I read thru it, I do agree with their praise, but not more.

This book is an extension and a modification of Mr. Ellis's ground breaking paper in 1975, a piece of the early groundwork of contemporary investment philosophy - The Portfolio Theory, that investors can never beat the market in the long run by market timing, and that return is always proportional to the amount of market risk one takes, (the Capital Asset Pricing Model stuff). Investors therefore should consider their own conditions well to determine the level of risk to be taken and to choose the right type/span of investment or investment fund or fund managers, blah blah blah, things you should have heard of if you are a frequent attendant in mutual/index fund sales events or investment seminars.

As a CFA charterholder, I have no problem in knowing what the core message is all about. (Mr. Ellis had chaired AIMR, the parent association of CFA. I found that on the bottom flip of the book cover) However, I doubt it very much whether a normal investor can appreciate that or not. The dilemma being that if you understand the book well (which I do), you might find the book a little bit boring (137 pages of one major message and mediocre writing skill). If you cant understand it that well, you will have little impetus to read on. In either case, you are playing the loser's game.

This book is based on a famous article written by Mr. Ellis in 1975, "The Loser's Game," that showed why professional money managers are unable to beat the market averages in 90 percent of the cases. In fact, the harder they try, the more likely they are to lose by increasing trading costs and mistiming their trades. The first two editions of this book were aimed at providing solutions to that dilemma for professional money managers. Mr. Ellis provides consulting advice to such professional money managers, and is in a good position to know what he is talking about. This edition is aimed at the needs of the neophyte individual investor. It is especially timely as we near the end of 2 decades of almost continual bull markets for equities.

The beauty of this book is that it is simple and easy to understand. Ellis designed it for anyone who has a genuine interest in getting good investment results, is willing to develop an appreciation for market fundamental, and has the discipline to pick an approach and stick to it.

In various chapters, the book describes why professionals do so poorly, and how the individual can have the same problems if not careful.

The key points of the book are that you need to establish your long-term investment objectives in writing, and with the expert advice of professionals, determine a well-reasoned and realistic set of investment plans that can help you achieve your objectives. You should set your asset mix at the highest ratio of equities you can afford financially and emotionally for the long-term. However you do this, don't try to beat the market. That's a loser's game. He emphasizes not making mistakes, not losing money relative to the market, staying in the market, and realizing that your real problem is beating inflation rather than the market. In general, doing less will be doing more. Avoid speculations, shifting funds continuously, and paying too much attention to near-term performance.

A good companion book for this one is John Bogle's recent one, Common Sense on Mutual Funds, that articulates many of Ellis' points in more detail and more graphically. As a historical note, Bogle writes in his preface to Ellis' book that he was inspired by Ellis' original article to make Vanguard's first indexed mutual fund in 1975.

In thinking about the advice here, I'm not sure that everyone needs professional advice to come out in the right direction. If you decide that you primarily want to pursue indexed mutual funds, there is little need for advice, for example. But if you do opt for advice, be sure you watch out for vested interests in the person giving the advice.

Also, the book doesn't do enough to address the conflicted feelings that people have about money. If you don't address those, you won't carry through on your discipline. I suggest that you read any of the excellent books on that subject and do the exercises in them.

I also suggest you find the calmest, sanest person you know who is good with investments (but is not an investment professional) and ask them to review how you are doing annually. This will help you keep your discipline. A parent, spouse, or good friend could be an appropriate choice for this role. Share this book with them first, so they will know what you are trying to do. Then explains your ideas, and spell them out on paper. Chances are you will outdo what you would otherwise accomplish.

Good luck in outperforming inflation!

Donald Mitchell

Coauthor of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The 2,000 Percent Solution

(donmitch@fastforward400.com)

This is a good book for an advanced undergraduate to learn classical mechanics from, and also for the beginning graduate student who didn't learn about some of the somewhat more advanced topics in the subject, like the theory of canonical transformations and the Hamilton-Jacobi theory (I fell into the later camp, by the way). Yes, Landau is more concise and elegant, but for me at least it has served better as a reference now that I have mastered Goldstein (Landau is an excellent author, but I believe I am not alone in saying that it is very difficult to learn a subject for the first time from his books!)

Unlike other reviewers, I have no substantial complaints about the problems. Granted, there are some that are not very deep, but you can simply skip those if you like! And I find them nowhere near as difficult as Jackson problems!

By the way, I encourage you to read with a skeptical eye - I found several mistakes and typos in the book. Perhaps there is a catalog of these somewhere on the Addison-Wesley web site?

Oh, one final thing - I think it is out of line to compare this book with Abraham and Marsden - they have totally different objectives. Goldstein's aim is to develop in the student a solid grasp of the **basics** of mechanics - one must master Goldstein (or a book like it) before he or she understands the subject well enough to even decide whether Abraham and Marsden is a worthwhile endeavour!

This is probably the best treatment of Classical Mechanics I've ever read, though, as with anything, it could use some improvement. My only gripe is the usual one with texts like this: There are few if any specific physical instances of formulations that so often serve as a watershed of understanding in physics. For example, in the derivation of the Langrangian, and finally the Hamiltonian, no point for point physical example (say, with a central force like gravity) is offered. It would be nice to see a step by step description of how the Riemann sum over time of the difference in kinetic and potential energies changes as different paths are chosen. I did this and it was beautiful and incredibly enlightening. Once you can _see_ that kind of behavior, you're powerful! It is then easy to generalize to any abstract system. But all else was excellent. If you really want to learn Mechanics, you must start with Goldstein. Recommended preliminaries: Stewart's Calculus; Schaum's Linear Algebra; Halliday, Resnick and Walker's Fundamentals of Physics and Symon's Mechanics.

Even more then 30 years later, this book is still the standard in mechanics for graduate courses. Working through it will give an excellent understanding of mechanics. However, due to its age it falls a little short on some areas such as relativity. It woudl need an overhaul here. Yet, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, so it should not be misunderstood here. What is needed here is an update on more recent developments in relativity and this is the primary reason why I couldn't give it a five star. Also, if one studies Goldstein first, then working on Jackson's Electrodynamics poses relatively little problems since the mathematical level is effectively the same as required in both books. Nevertheless, starting with Goldstein will be easier then with Jackson.