Highly recommended for anyone who wants to insure that they are "on track" with their retirement investments. Easy to understand. Addresses the key aspects of practical investing and encourages priority re-evaluation at the benchmark age of 50.

Strategic Investing After 50 really provides a complete guide to investing for retirement, considering goals, income needs, and personal inclinations. Notes and cautions are highlighted - if you understand these, you can skip to the sections where you need more intensive study or focus. The examples are great, especially for illustrating why it's important to be a knowledgeable investor, or to get a good advisor. Jason also really gives the straight scoop on investment advice - good, bad, expensive, cheap, etc. This is a great - and really helpful - read!

This book is easy to understand, concise and informative. The chapters are short with each topic throughly explained.

But this book is far more than strategies after 50. As soon as I finished reading this book I ordered the book for my sons - ages 37 and 40. In fact, in my judgment it is appropriate for anyone who wants to learn, in simple terms, the theories of investing.

but I feel better now, and I attribute my new outlook to having read The Silent Passage.

Chapters are short and easy to read. This book deals not only with the technical aspects that most books do, but primarily with particular women's experiences with those various aspects--especially their feelings. This is what is left out of most of the other books. I recommend this book together with a more techinical book. But if you can only buy one book, buy this one instead. The main thing this book left me with was a feeling that instead of menopause being something that will just happen to me, there are a lot of things I can do, in a proactive sense, to manage the menopause. This is the most positive book I have seen on the subject, and helps me decide about all the questions to discuss with my doctor. Without reading this book, instead of being ready with a list of questions for my doctor, I would have passively listened to whatever he said, and thought that was it.

I nodded; I smiled in sympatico; I grimaced in the knowledge that I too have experienced the same swings she describes. This book, like her others, tunes into the women's viewpoint. I have followed her career and her publications since Passages was first released and I believe her to be such a wonderful advocate for women's well-being both physical and psychological. What an asset we have. What seems to be this new realm of natural products and herbal supplements has become a great breakthrough for women's health. Just dosing yourself with a high powered birth control pill and "hoping for the best" is no longer the only option. It should go the way of male gynocologists. The Silent Passage should be a joyful one without fear of brittle bones or of cancer. A site that gives additional links and documentation to the use of herbals and natural supplements for all the areas of women's health is iHerb. They give women their due respect in offering products and good service and substantuating it all with documentation. This isn't just a store on line - it is a reader's resource as well.

My son saw this book at a friend's house months ago and has been asking about it ever since. We ordered it for his birthday and he just LOVES it.

This is the best and most lasting present that my son has ever received. He was given this book as a gift a year ago and now, five years old, he still has not tired of these wonderful board games. He asks me or his father to play these games with him nearly every day -- and that's the ultimate endorsement of a toy by a child, I'd say. You would have to see how thrilled my son gets, how he laughs, as he plays these games; my words can't convey his utter delight. The illustrations are lively and colorful and absolutely stunning; they look a bit like the amazing high-tech animation seen in the recent movies "Antz" and "A Bug's Life." These games not only amuse but teach as well. Playing these games, my son has learned counting, taking turns, game strategy, sportsmanship, and lots more. The fact that the three game pieces attach by velcro to the book makes this book portable, packable, and terrific for car and plane trips. Now this is the gift I choose most frequently when looking for a gift for other little children. As a parent, I highly recommend it!

My four year old son received this for Christmas from his grandmother and loved it; no surprise there. However, my nine year old daughter thoroughly enjoys playing the games with him! A great book for siblings on a rainy day (or instead of TV!). Also makes a great gift for young children when trying to avoid the dreaded toy store.

This is one of the more sensual of the Blazes. This couple is so risque. You'll Never look at your washer and dryer the same again. Enjoy!

favorite scene with ariana-
confronting her employee about the truth.

favorite scene with max-
confronting his ex-father-in-law to be about the truth.

favorite scene with ariana and max-
confronting max's ex-father-in-law to be about the truth.

This book is GREAT! I am anxiously awaiting the next book in this series of Ms. Leto. The book leaves you breathless and waiting to see what the characters are going to do next! I highly recommend this book to anyone! The book will keep you warm this winter!

This is a good book--even though it perpetuates the flaws seen in Woolley's previous Guinevere books, _Child of the Northern Spring_ and _Queen of the Summer Stars_. Woolley's Guinevere still has a habit of distancing herself from the story, briskly rattling off the legendary happenings like an anchorwoman for the Camelot Nightly News. Woolley's desire to tell the Arthurian legend without the use of "magic" or "fantasy" still results in cumbersome and byzantine plot devices as the author attempts to explain magical events without the magic. Her characters still borrow heavily from other authors--Cai is straight out of Phyllis Ann Karr, and Morgan is a twisted reflection of Bradley's Morgaine. But all of this aside, this is still a good book.

In _The Legend in Autumn_, the dream of Camelot begins to fall apart. There are quarrels--Guinevere and Lancelot fight bitterly over Elaine of Carbonek, whom Lancelot accidentally slept with. And Mordred, whose best friend is a Saxon captive, comes to believe the Saxons are basically OK, and wants to include them in the Round Table--but Arthur, veteran of countless Saxon wars, holds his old prejudices dear, and refuses his son's request. And into this tumultuous court comes the young bard Taliesin, singing of the Grail, and the Round Table warriors begin to scatter to the four winds in search of the mysterious object.

Woolley deftly describes the tale told by each returning knight; she does a great job of showing how the Grail means different things to different people, and what sort of meaning each man finds. (And woman, too, for Guinevere will find her own personal Grail by the end of the story.)

Also wonderfully done was the treatment of Guinevere's punishment for adultery. The usual retelling shows Arthur standing by heartlessly as his Queen is sentenced to the stake, and Lancelot ruthlessly killing his friends to save her. Woolley has a more complicated but more believable theory about what reall happened behind the scenes, one that rings true to the characters of the brave Queen, the idealistic King, and the deadly but good-hearted knight. I won't give it away, but it's good.

After Lancelot makes away with Guinevere, they flee to Joyous Gard, where they live simply and happily--until the threat of war looms. Guinevere is supported by the counsel of Isolde of Cornwall, who has grown wiser since her star-crossed love affair with Tristan, and together they see what must be done. Far from being the downfall of Camelot, Guinevere will now give her all to save it.

This book ought to be remembered, above all, for its sensitive portrayal of the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle. Gwen and Lance truly have a love for the ages, but Gwen also shares a special bond with Arthur, which holds Camelot together more than they realize. Guinevere is the human touch that balances Arthur's ideals.

I love reading the Arthurian Legends from a "woman's point of view." I loved Mists of Avalon because of that feature, and I adored these books about Guinevere. I knew there had to be more to her than traditional Camelot portrayals! I am surprised the 3 books in this series are out of print. I was lucky enough to find the first 2 (Child of the Northern Spring one year and Queen of the Summer Stars the next year) in hardcover on a clearance book cart at 2 different locations! What a treat! I had to order this final one in paperback. Each time I got the next book I went back and re-read the previous one, until finally, when I bought Legend in Autumn I re-read all 3 one after the other. I was sorry to see it end. I am not sure if Persia Woolley will write anymore, but if she does I am certainly a fan. Thanks for a great series!

This book was FANTASTIC!!! I am an avide reader, and can honestly say that the three books in this series were the best I have read in many years. I laughed and cried and sat up till the wee hours of the morning not wanting to put down these books. The storie put such an increadable spin on the King Arthur tails, and made me want to read everything I can find on the ancient Celts.
The only negative thing I could say about the series is that it is probably more of a "Chic" book than something a guy would get into.

When we last saw Samantha Devereaux, estranged twin-sister of Serena Devereaux, she was badgering Brandon Chance, her brother-in-law to be to let her work for him. Chance had just retired from the Nightstalkers, due to vision problems stopping him from being a pilot, and had set up a Private body guard service. Since he could find no reason not to take on Samantha as partner, he has let her go ahead and get her license while he and Serena are on their honeymoon. Only the joyful bliss led Chance and Serena to say away for a month longer than intended, leaving Samantha to grow antsy. She has gone gun-ho in this new line of work, and spent more than Chance's petty cash allows on new 'toys' for the business, so she kills time and get experience and money by hiring on as security for an business expo.

The first day she is put on a detail to provide security for the CEO/Model of a family run spaghetti sauce corporation. Dominick Larocca loves fine food, is very family oriented, and is sexy male personified. But when he two grandmothers decide it is past time for him to settle down, they take matters into their own hands and announce Dominick is looking for a bride. When a man that looks like every woman's dream is coupled with a spiralling fortune, it seems every woman is ready to jump Dominick like he is a rock star. This is very distressing to the CEO, for he cannot even take a shower without someone crawling out from under the bed, let alone carry on the business he came to New Orleans to handle.

Sam has spent hours staring at the huge display of the bare-chested man on the spaghetti sauce presentation, but she is unprepared for the reaction of the wild women chasing Dominick, as she is unprepared for the man himself. She tried to calm her fantasies by saying the CEO is arrogant for appearing on his own product bare-chested. But as she learns about him, like the fact is was his grandmothers that used his picture without his knowledge, she begins to feel sympathy for him. So when he mentions he will need to hired a personal body guard while in New Orleans, she jumps at the chance, despite her misgivings due her personal attraction to him. She is professional enough to handle it and keep their business impersonal....isn't she???

Things soon steam up as Dominick makes it clear that he wants her not only as a body guard, but for her to pretend to be his girlfriend, hoping to stop the mobs of marriage hungry females.

What I like about Leto's writing is she presents strongly developed good-girls-do women, ladies who are not afraid to face romance and go after it, instead of blushing and denying...
Her men are sexy, to die for, yet are very down to earth...yeah, they are pure alpha males, but they are mannered, raised well gentlemen who respect women of all ages. She sprinkles her books with quirky characters, spices it with steamy love scenes, knows the difference between romance and sex and how the two go together. She breathes vibrant life into her writing, while drawning on her love of New Orleans and ethnic backgrounds.

You cannot ask for more than that!!!

A super follow up to Pure Chance!!

This was a really good read. I'll have to pick up Pure Chance - The book where sam is introduced.

The book is awesome! You definitely want to read this one. It is hot, steamy and leaves you wanting more! Julie Elizabeth Leto is at her best! The steam between the two main characters is unbelievable. The added plus of his aunts' interference is incredibly funny. I am not normally a big fan of Harlequin romance novels, but in this new genre, they have taken the lead in hot romance. I cannot wait until Julie's next book for the series is published!

I've read a couple of reviews that already give the gist of the story so I'll just give my opinion. I found Aphrodite's Passion so much better than Aphrodite's Kiss, the prequel. This is one of the few books that the heroine isn't an idiot. Which is a rare find these days. However, the hero, Hale, isn't my favorite type, hence the 4 star rating. I can't write what my problem with him is unless I give away too much so let's just say he's a really good hero but not great:)

If you're bored with the same old thing, I recommend buying this book.

I'm pretty picky when it comes to actually buying a book. That's why I love Amazon so much... the readers' and critics' reviews are invaluable. So I surprised myself when I grabbed this book off the display in front of the register in a bookstore and bought it after reading only the synopsis.

What a wonderful surprise!!

The Julie Kenner has an acute sense of humor and weaves a story full of fun, adventure and romance. The tongue in cheek writing is about a real superhero (actually a decendent of the Greek "gods" and protector of mortals) who's "cover" is to be a romance novel cover model, and who falls hard for a mortal. Tracy, the mortal he falls for just can't figure out why everything in the romance department was going horrendeously wrong and suddenly is now going in the exact opposite direction (and with more than just Hale, the superhero).

My only regret is that I didn't realize that this is the sequel to "Aphrodite's Kiss." There are some spoilers in Aphrodite's Passion with regard to the first book.

This book was even better than Aphrodite's Kiss. I hope she follows up with Mordi's story. I really don't want to give up all the characters yet. I wish I had a great group of friends like that!

Professor Thomas G. Field, Jr., Franklin Pierce Law Center

Few variables are more likely to dictate short- and long-term commercial success than a firm's ability to convert intellectual assets into intellectual property (IP). The smaller the firm, the bigger the need, and the need only grows.
Most companies are careful to avoid IP infringement and are eager to sue direct competitors who do not. Many firms also educate key employees on their roles in perfecting and protecting intangible assets. Fewer give full attention to IP and antecedents that might nevertheless be regarded as assets. For example, those who would not hesitate to monitor and sue infringing competitors may not monitor non-competitors as potential licensees.
To extract the most from intellectual assets, many factors, e.g., legal, technical marketing and sales, must be weighed. Edison in the Boardroom offers important advice to help firms take steps to meet that need. Despite its reference to "assets" in the subtitle, however, most of this book focuses more narrowly - on IP, and on patents specifically.
Davis and Harrison, said to bring "a quarter century of IP consulting accomplishments between them," document that some companies have long engaged in trying to optimize the value of their intellectual assets. The authors also assign companies to a five-level hierarchy based on a range of IP-management strategies. A goldmining metaphor is usefully advanced at one point to describe those levels as: defensive (staking claims), panning (cost control), mining (deeper profit seeking), processing (integration), and sculpting. The heart of the book consists of five chapters that discuss these levels seriatim and offers a host of useful ideas and anecdotes.
The book is generally well-structured. For example, early in each of the five core chapters is a description of what "companies are trying to accomplish" at the corresponding level of IP-management sophistication. At the defensive level, of course, companies have processes for seeking, maintaining and enforcing IP. Yet, in the discussion of second-level companies, said to seek to reduce costs by exercising judgment about what is brought into and kept in their patent portfolios, it becomes clear how much various levels overlap. The first two topics may usefully be segregated for purposes of discussion, but it is hard to imagine any company that can afford, literally, to pursue protection without attempting to balance portfolio goals against concomitant costs. Indeed, one thesis of the second chapter is that no firm can seek the strongest protection for everything of potential patentability, much less seek it in every possible country.
The third chapter diverges considerably. Companies featured there are said to seek, e.g., to extract portfolio value as quickly and cheaply as possible. Several have gone well beyond suing competitors or easily discovered, non-competing infringers. The most aggressive of such firms regard IP departments as profit centers and actively solicit licensees. Their success is sometimes remarkable. As the authors point out, "Worldwide revenues from patent licensing have grown from $15 billion in 1990 to over $100 billion in 2000." Echoing the central theme of another recent book, Davis and Harrison also point out that, "Some experts estimate that companies are sitting on $1 trillion per year in unexploited licensing fees."
Fourth- and fifth-level firms are difficult to distinguish from ones discussed earlier - or from each other. For example, level-four companies are said to seek to integrate "IP awareness and operations throughout all functions of the company." That seems necessary, too, for allegedly less capable compatriots. Further, when level-five firms are described as embedding intellectual assets and their management into the company culture, it is difficult to find divergence.
The last are said to have as additional objectives: (1) staking a claim on the future and (2) encouraging "disruptive technologies." Still, these could easily been collapsed into "Get a Crystal Ball!" Heuristics for meeting them non-serendipitiously are weak.
Consider, for example, the mouse and graphic interface as commercialized on Macintosh computers. Steve Jobs is said to have derived both from the Alto computer developed by Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. While Jobs became a billionaire, "Xerox completely failed to get into the personal computer business, missing one of the biggest business opportunities in history." To avoid repeating such mistakes, Davis and Harrison suggest that companies should "identify ways the corporation can benefit from [ideas outside their business capacity] before moving on." They, not surprisingly, can offer little guidance.
One IP attorney recently stressed the need for his colleagues better to understand the identification, protection and use of intellectual capital "effectively to address strategic corporate objectives." Those for whom this is novel terrrain will find Edison in the Boardroom helpful.
Also, senior IP counsel better acquainted with the topic may find the book useful. Some will face difficulty in convincing those at the same level or higher in the corporate hierarchy of its importance. To the extent that their advocacy of the critical role to be played by IP counsel is perceived as serving selfish aims, the book should help allay suspicions.
For these and other attorneys, the value of Edison in the Boardroom could easily, and vastly, exceed its modest price.

The authors provide an excellent framework for companies to manage their intellectual property - without using too much consultant speak.

They quote examples at different levels of their framework and look at companies who are suceeding at managing and valuing their IP effectively. This is a skill which can only be more and more wanted in the future.

The most interesting takeaway is that most companies are very bad in this field, and there are very few success stories.

Julie Davis and Suzanne Harrison's book, Edison in the Boardroom, takes readers deep enough into the field of intellectual property management for them to incorporate presented theories into their respective professional disciplines - researcher, attorney, licensing exec, etc. - without the book becoming unwieldy. Excellent balance. This book can become a cornerstone text for any professional involved with intellectual property to direct his or her focus for additional study and to ensure his or her working knowledge of the challenges confronting professionals in other disciplines that together form a corporate intellectual property management program.

This book was a easy reading and totally enjoyable. All young readers having a bad time going to bed should read this book. This book is also really great for babysitters to read to thier children, whom they put kids to bed and which this is a really great bed time story book. I personally like this book because of it's beautiful pictures and kids get a kick out of this book.

I don't want to go to bed is a great example of a perfect children's story. It has all the elements that are required for a children's story. These are, funny characters, good illistrations, the ability to relate to kids, and teaches them a lesson. It also has some much needed humor. It has all the elements and it isnt long and drug out and boring like many other children's storys. In conclusion, it is a great book and I would recomend it to any kids.

I have two young sons who are 3 & 4 years old. Everynight before bedtime, they get to pick out six books for us to read before they get tucked in, and everynight, this book is one they want to hear!

We've gotten into the habit of me pointing at them when it's time and they get to say, "I don't want to go to bed!"

Wonderful book! I highly recommend it to all children! Not only is it a great message, but it allows the youngsters to become involved in the story.

Private Investigator Talba Wallis is working on routine cases when her friend, Babalu Maya, hires Talba to prove that Babalu's fiancé is cheating on her. But Talba gets more than she bargained for when Babalu is found dead of a drug overdose after receiving her report. When Babalu's fiancé unexpectedly hires Talba to look into Babalu's death, she begins to realize that she didn't know her friend as well as she thought.

Her investigation turns up another name for Babalu, taken from her hometown of Clayton, Louisiana. Talba soon discovers that not only is she not welcome in Clayton, someone wants to put an end to her investigation and to her.

The more she finds out about the case, the more danger she puts herself in. From a gruesome, covered-up attack that happened decades ago, to a suspicious political campaign, Talba uncovers enough to make people uneasy.

But will she find the answers she's searching for before the person who wants to silence her finds her? With the help of Eddie, her supervisor, and the cunning tricks of a P.I., Talba fights until the end to solve her friend's death and unravel the mystery that has gone on for decades.

"Louisiana Bigshot" is a lively, twisting novel that provides the reader with a look into the life of a private investigator through Talba Wallis's confident, headstrong personality. Julie Smith also intersperses meaningful poetry and several sub-plots throughout the story, keeping the reader interested.

I loved this second fast-paced tale of the irrepressible, sassy, intelligent poetess-turned-detective, Baroness Pontalba. The plot had more surprising twists and turns than a Louisiana bayou country road...and keeps you guessing until the very end. It always cracks me up when Ms. Smith brings Detective extraordinairre, Skip Langdon into the story....she's the main character in her excellent Skip Langdon series. If you're just discovering Ms. Smith's writing, you're in for a delectable treat and a fabulous story. She's the best!

When New Orleans PI Talba Wallis does a pre-marital background check on her friend Babalu Maya's fiance, things quickly go from bad to worse. The fiance is a cad, but Babalu seems to have other, darker problems on her mind. Yet, when Babalu turns up dead, it is none other than the fiance who believes she was murdered and hires Talba to look into it.

Talba immediately runs into a roadblock when she finds that Babalu Maya doesn't seem to exist. Following a trail which eventually leads to Clayton, Louisiana, Talba keeps digging. People in Clayton aren't talking, however. Refusing to give up, Talba and her boss, Eddie Valentino, both put their lives on the line to learn the murky secrets the town is hiding.

Talba Wallis's new adventures far surpass her last one. I hope Julie Smith hasn't killed off her Skip Langdon series but, if such is the case, Talba is a more than worthy successor. The atmosphere in this fast-paced tale is earthy and real. The dialogue is crisp, the writing is superior, and the plot is strong. If you haven't yet discovered the world of Talba Wallis, a/k/a the Baroness Pontalba, treat yourself to this book. It's definitely a winner.