The chapters describe some of the more intangible processes used by sophisticated securities analysts and portfolio managers in identifying undervalued stocks. These types of processes are often overlooked in textbooks on securities analysis, which emphasize more the analysis of financial statements. Both types of analyical approaches are required for identifying truly unique investment ideas. Several of the chapters are also very amusing, especially the one on Howard Hughes and investing in Las Vegas.

I have known Allan Tate for twenty years and consider him one of the finest analytical minds in the investment community.

I worked for Allan clearing his institutional trades at Henry Swift & Company in 1979. I could not get a job in research, but was able to attend his research meetings. Allan turned me on to such classic tests as the parking lot test, where one would count the number and types of cars in company parking lots in order to determine the health of the company. Later, I was able to use this technique when I became a stock analyst myself. The chapter on "Is Howard Hughes in Town" shows how important good intuition is to investing. Throughout the book there is a great deal of dry and subtle humor, which makes the book a great deal of fun to read. Nice job, Allan.

I enjoyed this book. I recommend it to my clients.

Dr. Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"

Organization change has become a constant in today's fiercely competitive business world. We are just beginning to learn some things about how to manage large scale organizational change; but have a long way to go. Knowing how to effectively manage organizational transitions can represent a core competency, and thus a competitive advantage for an organization.

The Transition Equation takes change management from the conceptual level to the specific. It does so by providing a practical and proven structure in the form of a series of phases with supporting methodology to help an organization engage in the quality thinking and interacting so critical for successfully managing a transition. In addition to the structure itself, the author's contributions in the areas of developing a translatable vision, sorting out strategies to form "leverage points", and crafting a master plan are I think particularly valuable contributions to our learning in this area.

Collin's novel is the ultimate re-examination of the 1930s private detective. It is full of drama, action, and deep historical context.

Should be required reading for the human race.

Rarely does one come across a book which so completely captures the essence of an era. Max Allan Collins has achieved this in spades. He is simply the master of the historical mystery novel. Nathan Heller is a well rounded character, and his interaction with some of the era's most notable figures is exceedingly well done. I can only the entire line of Nathan Heller novels get back into print. If you're a fan of Hammett, Chandler, etc, you're sure to love it.

I bought this book because of Dr. Hollingsworth's reputation as a physician and a communicator; I am recommending it because everyone, at some time in her life, will want more information concerning her own... or a loved one's... breast cancer risk. There is good news: It is largely quantifiable.

"My mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer; am I at increased risk? What about my (daughter/sister) ?"

"I am at higher risk of developing breast cancer; what can I do to increase my chances of surviving this disease?"

These are tough questions which until now have too often gone unanswered.

Even if your own identifiable breast cancer risk is minimal, the odds are that you will have a friend or loved one who will be forced to deal with this issue. Given the existing lack of unanimity within the medical community as to even the diagnosis & treatment of breast cancer, it is not surprising that we are faced with such conflicting information about our risk of developing the disease. Highly-touted statistics notwithstanding, there is NO one-size-fits-all answer. When your health is at stake, statistical tautologies are not helpful.

Dr. Hollingsworth's book is written for clinicians as well as lay people. It explains in understandable language what you need to know to make the right choices. This book arms the reader with the knowledge to ask the right questions & the confidence to seek the best alternatives for her own unique situation.

There is a peace of mind to be gained from reading Dr. Hollingsworth's book. It places the mysteries, fables, facts & options re: risk assessment in clear perspective. It answers the question, "What on earth do I do now! "

Once you have read this book, I suspect that you will want to give copies to all the important women in your life.

Dealing with breast cancer or the threat of it has been a way of life in our family. Both my aunts and mother have struggled with this disease. It claimed the lives of my aunts and my mother has one of those incredibly high individual risk assessments that cause us all to pause when it her exam time rolls around.

Whether medical journals or Ladies Home Journal, if it involves breast cancer, breast imaging, breast cancer dectection or treatment, I consume the information with a voracious appitite. Unfortunately, not all of it is worth filtering through but every now and then you hit pay-dirt.

Very recently that happened and would encourage others interested in the subject of breast cancer to read the new book "The Truth About Breast Cancer Risk Assessment", by Alan B. Hollingsworth, M.D. If you have ever wondered about all the data which comes flooding out of breast cancer studies which seem to contradict themselves, or you have been tempted to believe detecting (much less treating) breast cancer can be taught by using the cookie cutter method then this is a must read.

Although the book is crammed full of numbers and rather abstract mathmatical concepts, the reader quickly gains a sense of the deeper underlying message that like the X-Files - the truth is out there BUT you must realize that what you first encounter or are led to believe as true,may not be.

This book is a dose of reality in a world which is far too often looking for a quick a fix and sound bite for the 6 o'clock news about some revolutionary breakthrough in breast cancer which may or may not really be significant.

I consider myself a student on this topic and try to learn as much as I can. Anyone interested in the subject of breast cancer should read this book. You will have a completely new set of skills to filter the data you encounter from this point on.

Hidden within the book's very good information on type design and the process of designing a typeface are numerous tips for the drafting of letterform in Illustrator, Fontographer, and Ikarus. For instance, Matthew Carter informs the reader of certain rules for the "placing of control points (vector points) in Postscript." Many designers discuss their different methods of inputting their drawing. Issues of font: outlines, metrics, bitmaps, hinting, scaling and other technical infor is touched upon. Though this technical stuff is not the focus of the book this sort of information is very hard to come by, hence, the book is a wonderful asset because of it.

Review from Chris MacGregor's Internet Type Foundry Index -

One question I get via E-mail more than any other is about learning how to start designing type. The problem with this question is that every type designer I know designs using a different method. Allan Haley goes to fourteen different type designers including Matthew Carter, Jonathan Hoefler, Erik Spiekerman, Carol Twombly, Tobias Frere-Jones and David Berlow to ask each one of them how they design type. This great book also includes information on how you can make cool fonts for hard cash (trust me, it is not a get rich quick craft, your hard cash may be a few coins a day at years end), Multiple Master fonts and a fantastic type timeline.

This book makes an excellent addition to Michael Harvey's Creative Lettering Today for the beginning to the master type designer.

This is a great book for people who are seriously interested in ancient Chinese philosophy. The book mainly deals with Confucius, Laozi, Mencius, Zhuangzi, and a little bit of Xunzi. Its basic arguement is that all philosophical thought around that period can be connected through the metaphors which they use to explain their ideas. Mainly, this counts for the metaphor "water," which is frequently used by virtually all ancient Chinese philosophers as a way of explaining their point. The author shows that in ancient China the properties of water were considered equal to the properties of human nature. Another popular metaphor among ancient Chinese philosophers is that of the plant and in particular its sprouts, which is once more connected to human nature. In her conclusion the author shows that through their metaphors a lot of the points made by the various philosophers are quite similar. This helps you understand why later on Chinese philosophy grew together and become a more collective principle.

Sarah Allan's The Way of Water and the Sprouts of Virtue is an absorbing book that yields productive insight into the thematic watersheds of Chinese philosophical discourse. Enjoyable for the general reader, it is also a substantial work of scholarship that holds appeal for specialists in sinology and Chinese philosophy. Drawing on the theoretical work of linguist/philosophers George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (Metaphors We Live By; Philosophy in the Flesh, etc.), Allan endeavors to unearth what she calls the "root metaphors" of early Chinese thought. She argues persuasively that the unique conceptual metaphors of Chinese thinking are to be found in the concrete natural imagery of water and plant life. Allan's project is based upon solid and meticulous scholarship into important early texts from the Confucian and Daoist traditions, as well as more obscure and difficult sources such as inscriptions on bronze and jade. The book includes Allan's own lucid and well-informed translations of key passages from such texts as the Analects, the Mengzi, the Zhuangzi, and the Daodejing. The Way of Water and Sprouts of Virtue is a wonderful contribution.

This book is fun to read yet very practical and effective. It takes you step-by-step through some recipes for using creativity in the business setting. Using their techniques you will have the tools you need to create new products, etc.

I learned a lot from this book and it is heavily underlined. The book contains many examples of how the authors, or others, used the creativity tools discussed in their book to create business products.

They describe six major behaviors that you need to adopt. Within each are many tools that you can apply to solve various inventive problems you are faced with.

The authors are consultants who use their recipes on their own clients. The editing and layout of the book is superb. The authors are English but the book reads in an American style. It is easy to read, and has lots of interesting graphic treatments.

I can't recommend this book enough.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

Not only have I read the book, I used to work for the company (?What If!). I witnessed the authors putting their words into action everyday and I can tell you it changed my entire prespective on creativity and life. This book will challenge you into thinking in a realm you never dreamed possible! If you want a life changing experience (not just a work changing), buy this book!

Allan Eckert's story or "narrative account" as he calls it of the eighteenth century struggle between France and England along the current day border of the United States and Canada is hard to put down once started. The book covers the fighting between these two nations and their attempts to get the numerous Indian tribes in the region to ally themselves with one or the other European power, to the final detriment of the Indians.

I must admit that at first I was unsure if I would like this style of history but after reading the author's note I had a better understanding of what the author was attempting and how he used his sources to help produce the narrative. At one stage, early into the book, I did find the story bogged down but then the author's descriptive talent and the narrative pulled me back into the story and from that point on it fairly run away with me.

I found it hard to put the book down and I was really caught up in the characters, English, Colonial, French and Indian. This is a great and sweeping narrative of these hard and frightening times and the author does not paint a pretty picture when it comes to the manner of warfare practiced by the Indians and Europeans at that time and in that place.

I really enjoyed the story of William Johnson, a man previously unknown to me in American history. I also loved the account of the Marquis de Montcalm. In this alone I was happy to pay the price for this book. I really felt I had a much better understanding of this French soldier and his role in American Colonial history.

The author provides the reader with the true story of what happened at Fort William Henry and his accounts of the corruption of the French colonial system was an eye opener for me. I really enjoyed his descriptions of the people involved from both sides of the war and the accounts of the Indians and their practices, egged on by their European masters was at time quite horrific.

If you enjoyed the movie 'Last of the Mohican's then I am sure you will love this epic book of the same period. In over 600 pages of engrossing and interesting narrative this book will take you back to those times and you can spend a few days lost in the history of the 'Wilderness Empire'.

I knew little of the French & Indian War even though I grew up in OH and PA. If you lived anywhere near the Great Lakes and enjoy history, you will want to read this and the other Eckert "Narrative" books. The details were captivating, yet you never felt bogged down or bored. Since I knew little, it read like a great war novel. The politics between the Indians and French and English were very intriguing and thought provoking. The Native American tribes understood more than anyone gave them credit. Unfortunately for them, they were in a no win situation. I was also surprised with the brutality/torture by the Indians of not only the whites, but each other. Eckert does a wonderful job of explaining the culture that both permitted and encouraged this behavior. What amazed me was the apathy of some of the military leaders towards this. Great book, great read, enjoy!

This is the shortest of Allan W. Eckert's fantastic Winning of America series. Like all Eckert's historical novels, it is a wonderful attempt to bring history alive.

Wilderness War picks up about 13 years after the end of Pontiac's War as chronicled in Eckert's "The Conquerors". It tells the tale of Mohawk war chief Joseph Brant, the white-educated Iroquois leader who would go on to lead his people against the Americans during the Revolutionary War on the New York and Pennsylvania frontier. It begins with the breakup of the great Six Nations as they are torn in opposing directions at the outbreak of the Revolution as both sides fight to win the loyalty of the Eastern tribes. Brant joins with the British invasion force under Barry St. Leger as he lays siege to the American held Fort Stanwix in his drive down the Mohawk Valley toward Albany, where he plans to link up with a large Britsh force under General John Burgoyne in an attempt to spilt the rebellious colonies and drive them into submission. Brant's Mohawks, supported by loyalist troops, smash into an American relief column under General Nicholas Herkimer at Oriskany. This bloody confrontation sets the stage for what proves to be a long line of frontier battles, raids, murders, and atrocities commited by both sides in a bitter conflict to control the frontier, culminating with the American's long march through Iroquois lands, devastating villages, food stores, and breaking the will of the Indians forever. The aftermath of this onslaught eventually brought independence for the new United States, but starvation and death to the once-great Six Nations who would never rise again.

Wilderness War tackles an engaging story in a fascinating time period and Eckert, as usual, does a wonderful job. He paints a broad portrait of life and warfare on the New York Frontier and tells the story not only of Brant and the fate of the eastern tribes, but of the trials, hardships, and ultimate triumph of the settlers who pushed into the unknown to hack a new life out of the wilderness.

I've now read 4 of Eckert's books and one is better then the next. He takes a period of our American History and makes it come to life. Even though these books are not historical fiction, he weaves events and people into a seemless story. Bravo again !

Mr. Rothman's first foray into the realm of fiction is a joyous and gratifying ride into the world of "what ifs?". His writing reads like the musings of a good friend. Through this heart-warming novel we are transported to another time where innocence and first love remind us of the way we were. It is such a romantic story-both uplifting and heartbreaking. Don't miss out on this great read!!!

A wonderful first novel which incorporates elements from the classic love stories of our time while remaining fresh and interesting. The novel really makes you aware of how the choices we make effect those around us and makes you wonder "what if." The first person prespective which transfers between the two main characters, Neil and Donna, allows both sides of every choice to be visited and understood. **SPOILERS AHEAD** Like Love Story and Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, be sure to have your tissue box handy at the end!