The collaborators who put this book together are dedicated scientists with years of experience in the field. I admire their work. But I find on thing missing from the discussion of brain versus body size. They establish ratios of brain to body size and declare this is one method of measuring the intelligence of the animal, i.e. the larger the brain is in relationship to the body, the smarter the animal is. But they do not explain why a large body needs a large brain. After all, whale sharks of the same size as sperm whales have brains smaller than your fist while the sperm whale brain is six times larger than the human brain. Perhaps it is the large brain which requires the large body. The laws of physics would prohibit a brain developing in a very small body. Necks breaking and cortical sheering would be a problem.

I have read through this book while doing some research on dolphins and marine mammal conservation and must say that this has some information that I could find nowhere else. This book hits on such a large variety of information relating to dolphin biology and conservation that I cannot believe that they fit it all into one book.

Good to see Samantha successful in life. I knew her back when she was a struggling student at Eckerd College.

NYU's Stern School Of Business uses this book and its a well-crafted introduction to financial accounting. While taking accounting at the other New York business school, I deep sixed my assigned accounting book and instead borrowed my wife's. It coverage of topics and pedagogical flow are quite approachable and manageable. Struggling friends begain to purchase it for themselves. An excellent book. An interesting book as well. Case examples and references keep things interesting. Not just dry rules.

An Introduction to acconting, Assets, The time value of money, Liabilities and equities, financial Investment, Analysis, Role of accounting and Debits and credits

Accounting is the type of subject that can ramp up quickly in difficulty, and this text plots a nearly perfect learning curve in getting the reader well-grounded in the fundamentals. I purchased this text as a requirement for a course, but it is a definite keeper and I would recommend it without hesitation to anyone interested in learning about accounting.

I hope a lot of people in Minneapolis - and the rest of the country and world - read this book. Not only is it the fascinating story about a leading honest citizen of my fair city, it offers all of us an example of a man who maintained his Victorian morals and sense of honor despite the many hurdles he had to jump to make IDS the company it became. From the U.S. Post Office to charlatans to a personal and professional betrayal, John Tappan gave his life-blood to his company in the hopes that its services would relieve the debt of his clients and help them save for their futures.

He was also a strong environmentalist, clearly never forgetting that his youth spent in the wilderness of frontier America shaped him morally and spiritually, and that even though the concept of "survival of the fittest" applies to all of us one must never forget perserverance, courage and loyalty to family, friends, and business clients if one is to succeed and maintain one's moral compass.

He also was able to forgive his clients' weaknesses and helped them improve their lives. If only that happened today!

Any business public relations firm should read this book and read what customer service and loyalty should be all about - and anyone interested in a unique American Renaissance man should order this book for themselves, family members and friends. They won't be disappointed.

Excellent book. I really enjoyed it. It gave me a new understanding of the history of American Financial industry. I encourage other people who have dealing with the financial markets to read this book.

It is a compelling history of Investors Syndicate, covering the formative years of 1894 - 1925. Equally fascinating is the biographical material on and quotes from the correspondence of John Elliott Tappan, the company's founder. I highly recommend it.
Glenn - CFO World Class Flowers

I've set up a page on my web site with errata and addenda for Elliott Carter: A Guide to Research. If you spot any errors or have an Elliott Carter source you'd like to add, please drop by www.wpunj.edu/coac/music/link/ecgrerrata.html. Thanks!

Some song will float in your head for many minutes after it is done. When you hear the first several bars of music - at first you may not know the name of the song (or who sang it), but some where from deep inside of you the words come to your mouth and you sing along with the radio. Elton John has written some of those songs you will find yourself doing just that.

This is an excellent survey of the crucial events in European history during the second half of the 16th Century. Phillip II of Spain and the revolt of the Netherlands naturally have pride of place in this volume, but Elliot also gives coverage to events in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the Meditteranean (far too many histories of Europe give excessive emphasis to western Europe at the expense of the eastern and northern parts of the continent). The chapter relating to the waxing of Spanish power is particularly exciting and well written, but then the author is an expert of this period of Spanish history. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in European history.

On March 31, 1621, Philip III, third Habsburg ruler of Spain, met a premature death, reportedly clutching in panic at the same crucifix his father and grandfather had held on their deathbeds generations before. His son and heir, the sixteen-year-old Philip IV, succeeded to what is now known collectively as the Spanish Empire - a vast conglomeration of lands and people whose progressive decline as a political entity has long remained a basic assumption amongst twentieth century historians and yet whose cultural vitality has given its period the title of "The Golden Age of Spanish Art." The accession of Philip IV seemed to inaugurate a new era of reform after the previous regime's mindless inactivity and self-interested grandee domination. As the contemporary playwright Tirso de Molina remarked, "New architects acceded with the new king."

This premise serves as the central metaphor in A Palace for a King. Elliott, a historian, and Brown, an art historian, examine both the literal and political architecture of the reign, charting the complicated, often surprising interrelation between art and politics. The palace of the title is the Buen Retiro - an intended recreational center built for Philip IV with astonishing speed during the years 1630-33, left largely in neglect after the 1640's, and finally decimated by French and English troops during the Napoleonic wars. In reconstructing the circumstances surrounding its construction and initial occupation, Brown and Elliott attempt to furnish the reader with a "total" history of the Spanish Habsburg court during its penultimate representative's first twenty years of rule.

The scope of the book is immense. In a prose that is precise and elegant, if at times monotonous, it describes the political and economic issues of the day as well as the relationship between the continuously vacillating king and his powerful minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares, who until 1643 held the true control over Spanish government. It then goes on to analyze the palace of the Buen Retiro itself, exploring the process of palace-building and the symbolism of the palace as a repository of the values of the ruling class. Simultaneously, it looks at Spanish baroque painting, theater, and architecture and their inextricable connection to the court at Madrid, which, itself, was in so many ways like a giant theater. Elliott's inquiry and interpretation of the troubles besetting the institution that was then called the monarquía española and of the role played by Olivares makes for particularly rewarding reading.

The book appears to be extremely well-researched and provides an abundance of evidence from primary sources as varied as confidential memoranda, secret expense accounts and drawings of architectural plans; the endnotes alone constitute twenty of its almost three hundred pages. However, it is its very wealth of references and information that also lies at the core of its greatest weakness. Too often, the text becomes bogged down in statistics, where apparently meaningless figures about who paid whom and whose plot of land was where replace any real insights. The authors seem to become trapped in unneeded details, losing track of the larger picture that they originally intended to convey. As a result, in certain chapters, more attention than necessary is devoted to the actual logistics of building the palace and, consequently, not enough to the palace's political, social, and economic implications.

Still, aside from these slightly irritating flaws, Brown and Elliott's work remains a highly absorptive and very informative look at subject that has thus far remained sadly underrepresented amongst the scientific community. The sheer extent of the information to be found makes this book a valuable resource for anyone interested in the period, while the distressing lack of similar studies makes it absolutely essential for those at all curious about Spain's architectural history. It is, in my mind, a fascinating complement and worthy companion to R.A. Stradling's landmark Philip IV and the Government of Spain.

read quite a few!) Just a great, plain-language explanation of the rise of life on Earth. How bacteria evolved, how fish evolved, how we evolved. The illustrations really make the book too, with gorgeous scenes of prehistoric life. Mr. Reader weaves the last 3.5 billion years into a smooth flowing narrative that really made me want to continue reading. I've never had that effect from a "scientific" book before! I can't believe it's out of print. Get this book back in print for the next generation!

Dr. Piper has done prodigious research on the Presbyterian church's most outstanding leader of the 20th century. The depth and range of Speer's contributions are truly awesome and Piper is more than up to the task of capturing the stature of the man. Speer himself, unfortunately, believed a biography of him was an unneeded diversion and saw to that much vital material did not survive, making Piper's task all the more difficult. The book also presents a helpful overview of the issues before the major protestant denominations in the first half of the century moving toward ecumenical union in the face of diversity in theology and polity. An important contribution to the history of the American church. Piper shows that Speer's wife, the first president of the YWCA, was an equally exceptional person, calling for another treatment of her influence in the changing role of women in first half of the 20th century.

In the novel, The Mask of Zorro, by James Luceno, there is a young man who is trained to fight for the rights of his country. The governor has a rein of theft and injustice. Zorro falls in love with a beautifull young lady who gets caught up with the mess Zorro is in. Zorro want's revenge and he will stop at nothin to get it. The author (James Luceno) does a good job of describing whats happening as well as why its happening.

Anyone who has seen the movie The Mask of Zorro will be pleased with this adaptation. The book holds on to the spirit of the movie without getting bogged down with too many background details. The descriptions of the duels come out nicely, and those of us who don't know the story find out how Diego de la Vega became Zorro. The only drawback is the insertion of new dialogue, where the original movie dialogue would have worked as well. A good solid read, that brings back images from the movie.

the book is about, revenge.
i enjoyed the book a lot, and i would defently give it a good 9/10. its about a young man called alejandro, who is training to be zorro.
the book is an action book, and i would reccomend it to the public a lot! it is a good book, and if i were you, i'd get it before they all dissapeare for ever.