This is a great book! The method at which the material is presented rivals that of medical textbooks. The graphics and illustration are great! Go UC Irvine! Spcial Events Parking Rocks!

The information presented in this book was very helpful in my understanding of virology. The text was very easily followed and subjects presented in a straightforward manner. Basic Virology is a must have!

I can't believe that someone else has not reviewed this excellent guide to the intertidal biota of the Pacific Coast. This book has set the standard for reference guides to marine life along the Pacific Coast, as well as other locations. It is much more than a field guide -- though it also serves that role. This book describes the intertidal zonation patterns of the Pacific Coast as well as the ecology and aspects of the natural history of the organisms that live there. The book contains good taxonomic references as well. This is the book that many of the country's marine scientists cut their professional teeth on. If you are interested in marine biology, the diversity of life, or the ecology of nearshore habitats, this book is definitely for you. The main strength of the book is the logical organization by type of habitat and vertical elevation on the intertidal zone. The main challenge of a book like this is to remain up to date, which the publisher has managed by producing revised editions on regular basis. This book is a must for any field or arm chair marine naturalist!

Ed Ricketts was to marine ecology what Alan Watts was to Zen, Timothy Leary was to LSD, and Jack Kerouac was to beat, and he was a little of all three. This is the monumental work that put Ricketts permanently on the map as a marine ecologist, and one of the first. This book is a must-have reference for anyone who visits the seashore. I am particularly interested in the fact that persons who have ordered this book have also ordered books by Thomas Pynchon. Anyone else out there besides me get the connection? Please let me know!

What a fascinating theory: that electrodynamic fields can indicate moods and other psychological characteristics. A most interesting application of this theory was for birth control: the data showed that, through non-instrusive methods, one can determine exact moments of ovulation.

Why hasn't anybody followed up on this theory? I'd love to see data developed by more recent experiments using the most modern equipment.

Reading this book reminded me of attending a good conference where lots of company executives provide detailed examples of the issues they faced, and how they went about dealing with those issues. Since such conferences usually cost several hundred dollars, this book is a real bargain -- and you don't have to get on an airplane and fly someplace!

One of the strengths of the book is that you receive several perspectives on the context for each case history. The editors describe what each case means, and the conclusions section summarizes general patterns. Also, each case is presented in the same format which makes it easier to understand what is being shared. I was particularly grateful for the exhibits (which exist in electronic form in the CD enclosed in the book). I also appreciated that the cases were primarily written by Human Resources professionals inside the companies, rather than being a consultant's take on what happened.

Having said all those positive things, let me share some concerns. First, I looked in vain for my favorite examples of outstanding work in recruiting, retention, knowledge encouragement, and executive development. If this book is about "best practices" where were GE, Disney, Motorola, Ritz Carlton, and SAS Institute? Second, many of the cases involved companies that are better known for their poor performance than for excellence. If they are developing their people so well, what happened? Third, a lot of these cases involve new initiatives where the long-term consequences are hard to see. Fourth, the profit impact on the organizations was not well documented. That makes it hard to use these cases as examples to encourage your own company to follow suit. Fifth, as change management processes, most of these cases are far behind the curve of what is described in Peter Senge's various books of case histories such as The Dance of Change. Part of the reason seems to be that a number of these cases aren't very new.

Of the cases in the book, I recommend the ServiceMASTER, Westinghouse, Johnson & Johnson, Allstate, and Case Corporation examples as the most helpful to me. I mention that because there's a lot of material in this book. I read a lot and rapidly, and I found this book hard to tackle. By being more selective in what you go after, you can help avoid some of that problem. Naturally, if your own issues are only in a few areas, just look at those cases.

Develop the full potential of everyone, beginning with yourself!

"The principal goal of this book is to provide you with the key ingredients taken from best-companies to help you create and enhance your organization and human resource development (OD/HRD) initiative. Through a case study approach, this book provides practical, easy-to-apply tools, instruments, training, concepts, and competency models that can be used as benchmarks for the successful implementation of your specific OD/HRD initiative (from the Introduction)."

In this context, Louis Carter, David Giber, and Marshall Goldsmith (editors) divide core part of this book -Organization and Human Resources Development Case Studies- into following five OD/HRD topic areas:

I. Organization Development and Change: In this section, W. Warner Burke says, "Seven rich cases (Kraft Foods, Nortel, ServiceMASTER, SmithKline Beecham, Westinghouse, CK Witko, and Xerox) of organization development and change are discussed...The cases cover a wide range of change from how OD occurs every day to deep change in an organization's culture...Without doubt we can learn from these cases. And learn we must. Changing organization is too intricate to be left to novices. We have indeed learned and noted at the outset, but we still have much to learn. As one who has been involved for more than 35 years, helping organizations change is both thrilling and very satisfying. Learning, however, is the most exciting part (pp.6-8)."

II. Leadership Development: In this section, Jay A. Congerwrites that "In the cases that follow, we look at three companies (Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, and Sun Microsystems,Inc.) that have dedicated serious time and resources to leadership development...In addition, all three of the company cases make extended use of competency models, 360-degree feedback, and action learning (p.186)."

III. Recruitment and Retention: In this section of the book, John Sullivan writes, "you'll learn how three diverse companies tackled their retention and recruiting problems. Two of the firms are high tech (AMD and Cellular One), while another (Allstate) is in a more traditional industry. Both AMD and Cellular One focus on solving the hot issue of retention while Allstate takes a new look at the recruiting and selection processes. All three of the case studies use a scientific approach to identify which solutions have the most impact...All three of these case studies are worth examining because of their scientific methodology as well as their results. All are full of powerfull 'lessons learned' for those who are soon to begin a major recruitment or retention effort (pp.303-304)."

IV. Performance Management: This section examines performance management systems of Case Corporation and Sonoco. Edward E. Lawler III says that "the performance management systems in most organizations are contoversial, ineffective, and constantly under construction. They are so problematic that critics argue many organizations would be better off if they simply didn't have a performance management system, particularly one in which performance appraisals are tied to pay actions. But-and it is an important but- if individuals are not appraised, counseled, coached, and rewarded for performance, how can an organization pruduce the organized, coordinated, and motivated behavior that it takes to perform well? The answer most likely is that it can't (p.393)."

V. Coaching and Mentoring: Introduction of this section, Beverly Kaye writes, "the last 5 years have seen a groundswell in both arenas. And it's not just been more of the same; organizations have begun to use mentoring and coaching more purposefully. HR and OD practitioners have worked to utilize both interventions to meet pressing business problems having to do with the development and retention of talent, as well as the growth of future leaders. These interventions have been more systemic, more thoughtful, and more innovative than ever before. The case studies (Dow Corning, and MediaOne Group-AT&T) illustrate this trend. Both were motivated by specific business drivers, both were preceded by intensive research, both were implemented over time, and both were evaluated seriously. Readers will find them instructive, detailed, and engaging (p.438)."

Finally, Louis Carter (editor) says that "contributors were asked to indicate where they envision their organization is heading with its initiative within the next 5 to 10 years. Responses indicate that the contributors want to keep the organization on a track to continuously learn and develop its capabilities. Comments from some contributors indicate that they want to leverage lessons learned from this experience. Some contributors commented that they want to firmly ingrain the initiative into the organization to the point that it is almost invisible to the user, making it an accepted part of life at the company. Other contributors will continue to refine the present initiative in place, while others will expand their efforts into other business lines. Survey results clearly indicate that the present state of the initiatives represented in this book represent snapshots of moving targets. Further growth and innovation is inevitable for these best practice organizations, as they work to stay ahead of their competitors by embracing change and continuously learning and improving (pp.531-532)."

Strongly recommended.

Here in a single volume is about all that is needed to design, implement, and then monitor a program through which to achieve organizational transformation. Moreover, the editors have selected both information and wisdom which can help to ensure that such a program is comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective. The phrase "best practices" is apt but should not be misconstrued to mean that strategies and tactics which have been highly successful in some organizations are necessary going to be successful in all others. Moreover, I urge the reader to keep in mind that, although the organizations featured (e.g. Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Nortel Networks, ServiceMASTER, SmithKline Beecham, and Sun Microsystems) are among the largest in their respective industries, much of the material in this book is also relevant to small-to-midsize organizations. My own rather extensive past experience with all manner of organizations (including non-profits) has convinced me that most people do not fear change; rather, they fear the unfamiliar. Hence the importance of three on-going initiatives: communicate, communicate, and communicate.

Part One consists of Acknowledgments, About This Book, How to Use This Book, and an excellent Foreword by Richard Beckhard. Carter, Giber, and Goldsmith then shift their attention in Part Two of "Organization & Human Resources Development Case Studies." The individual case studies are distributed within this thematic structure:

Organizational Development & Change

Leadership Development

Recruitment & Retention

Performance Management

Coaching & Mentoring

Part Three: Conclusion consists of Research (OD/HRD Trends and Findings), Endnotes, About Linkage, Inc., About the Editors, Index, and How to Use the CD-ROM, terrific value-added benefit.

Back to Beckhard's Foreword for a moment. In it, he identifies six (6) "elements" which are basic to each case study; all are central to and sequential within the change process associated with organizational development/human resource development (OD/HRD). They are: Business Diagnosis, Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, On-the-Job Support, and Evaluation. It is helpful to keep these six "elements" clearly in mind while working your way through the abundance of information which the editors provide. Fortunately, they have organized the (sometimes daunting) material with meticulous care and write exceptionally well. I also urge you to use the same six "elements" as guidelines when determining what the design of your own program for organizational change should be, and, when selecting those strategies and tactics discussed in the book which are most appropriate to the implementation and evaluation of that program. This is especially true of decision-makers in small-to-midsize organizations.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out O'Toole's Leading Change, Katzenbach's Real Change Leaders as well as his Peak Performance , Kaplan and Norton's The Balanced Scorecard and The Strategy-Focused Organization, Quinn's Deep Change, O'Dell and Grayson's If Only We Knew What We Know, Isaacs' Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, and Senge's The Dance of Change. Those especially interested in Six Sigma are encouraged to check out (and read in this order) Pande's The Six Sigma Way, Breyfogle's Implementing Six Sigma, and Eckes's Making Six Sigma Last.

I read Jung's Answer to Job and then moved on to this book by Edinger and found it really helpful in "unpacking" some of the information from Jung. I definitely recommend getting the two books together. I have some issues with Edinger, who remains at heart rather conservative. He also falls into a bit of hero worship with Jung. Still, his intellect is keen, and he is much easier to grasp than Jung (though Answer to Job is one of Jung's least obtuse). The lecture format is a blessing and a curse. It succeeds in drawing you in and imagining yourself there in Edinger's presence, but also results in the flow of the text being kind of loose. Beyond all this nitpicking, the topic covered is powerful, pressing, exciting, and challenging. It is the Jungian approach at it's best. Common sense and intellect are applied to the Western God-image without killing off that which is being studied. Very few authors seem interested or capable of engaging the God archetype at this level. Most revert to reconciling humanity with God's mysterious ways or decrying the limits of the Judeo-Christian archetype. These books are babysteps towards why God has progressed the way "he" has.

Jung has said that Answer to Job is the one book he wrote he wouldn't change.

Answer to Job covers more than psychology, it is a book of poetic dimensions. It is notoriously hard to understand.

Edinger's work opens up the contents of Answer to Job. Every page of this wonderful little book is brimful of insights taking one from appreciation of Answer to Job to understanding.

Edinger has a gift for expressing complex ideas in simple concrete terms. He is a master educator. Jaffe has done a masterful job of converting Edinger's lectures into a book.

The book will give you a greater understanding of Jung, his spirtual quest, and Jungian spirtuality.

Jung is one of the twentieth century's greatest scientific, spiritual and cultural forces. Edinger helps one get more from Jung's rich mythopoeic and psychological insights.

The book is a paragraph by paragraph discussion of Jung's Answer to Job with additional material drawn from other writings of Jung and additional authors.

A friend gave this book to my 7 year old second grader. Her son had liked it. I was initially hesitant to read an abridged version of a classic because I'd seen such books that didn't seem very well done. My son and I both loved this version. The adapter did an excellent job. I read most of it to him but it was at a level that he could read it himself too.

My 7 year old loved this shorter version of the classic. He is just getting into chapter books and this was a great read aloud book that we could read together. It kept both his interest and my own through out the story. Maybe when he's older, we'll read the classic together, but for now this is a GREAT book for his age. The other books in this series are also just as good as this one. I recommend them all.

My son, a 10 year old, needed a book which he could read easily and independently, but, more importantly, would not talk down to his intellect. This book is a great fit. It tells a gripping adventure story in plain, accessable language - which would not be too difficult for children in younger grades to read on their own. However, I would not reccommend this book for a child younger than 4th or 5th grade to read independently. It has quite a bit of understated death and violence in it - for instance, a man gets his head chopped off - pet animals die and get eaten - and hungry cannibals abound. Thus, it may be more appropriate for the older reader. I also worried that it was not a good idea give a child a condensed version of a classic - but then, this one seems to maintain the integrity of the original. I think the book is a real find - and I am happy that my son finds it the first book he read (on his own) that he was "really in to."

One cannot help but notice that in 19th Century English literature a lot of drinking (and eating) is the order of the day. Especially in the works of Charles Dickens, one is either in the local, gin shop, or having a "cordial" in a character's house. Convivial Dickens is the reference guide to the waxing and waning popularity of beer, gin and mixed drinks in Victorian England-specifically the England of Dickens. Each chapter covers a specific drink, beer or gin for example, gives the story of its popularization/decline, and includes recipes taken directly from 19th Century bartending guides. These allow the reader to do some "research" on their own, to fully enjoy the atmosphere of the times.
A pretty useful companion to any of Dickens' works, recommended.

Pascal's famous triangle is much like the Fibonacci numbers, in that there always seems to be room for more properties and uses. With all these possibilities, it is easy to become overwhelmed by all the information about them. In this book, the emphasis is on the original discovery of the triangle rather than the mathematical properties that it has, even though the two are inseparable.
Of course, the idea for the triangle that bears his name did not spring fully formed from the mind of Blaise Pascal. It was centuries in the making and Edwards traces through many of the historical roots leading to the publication of Pascal's, "Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle." The oldest of these thoughts dates back to the Pythagorean brotherhood that existed almost three thousand years ago. The explanation of these ideas, largely from original sources and covering the entire world, develops a foundation of idea followed by consequence followed by new idea and new consequence that is much like a mathematical proof. Once the concept of combinatorial numbers arose in usage, it became necessary to understand them mathematically, which led to new uses and new mathematics. These threads make this an excellent book for learning the history of mathematics.
In most cases math students are like those in other fields, they do the work but have no idea how and why the concept was developed. That deficiency is where books like this can be so valuable. Explanations as to the why and how are two alternate routes to the what that are often overlooked. This book will help you get to the what by taking you through the why and how avenues of the historical development of Pascal's amazing triangle.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.