Of the many dozens of books I've read on markets, trading and speculation this is clearly the best. Extremely well written, the book is both educational and entertaining. I'm personally convinced that the market approach advocated by the author must be considered by anyone who is involved in the very serious business of speculation. Clearly this book is a classic. I've had it over a decade, read it many times, and find myself in trouble more often than not whan I've forgotten to follow the ideas presented.

This book is not a technical book about the science of trading or speculating. Rather, it presents a compelling and original perspective on the function of speculation in capital markets, and explains what it means to buy low and sell high. Moreover, the book has very little to do with the commodities markets specifically, and a lot to do with general speculating in the financial markets.

The Speculator's Edge is the first book I have read which explains who takes "the other side" of a stock tranaction, and explains why. As a study of the psychology of investors and the market, the book has few peers. Pacelli states the original of this book came from a boast that he could write the best book available on the subject of speculation (and investing) because most books were worthless. He succeeded.

this is such a great book if you are looking for a book that gives basic developmental guidelines for reading AND some wonderful activities to do with children! the focus is on children birth to 3rd grade! I absolutely LOVE it!

As a Kindergarten teacher, I have found the Starting Out Right book to be one of the best resources that I have ever used in my classroom. The text is very easy to read and very user friendly. The activities are great for any teacher making the changes in education. I only wish that I had found this book years ago. I would recommend this book for any teacher who is teaching reading strategies. In fact, my district is purchasing this book for ALL kindergarten teachers for our personal resource library.

All the other slang dictionaries, even those online are organized to define the slang terms themselves. As an older writer I'm not particularly knowledgeable about slang much past my own generation. It is a great help in creating more realistic youthful dialog to be able to look up a "regular" word to find the various slang synonyms.

Even for a 1995 edition, mine appears to be very current and comprehensive. I hope the editors keep this handy writer's tool up to date with new editions.

Somebody really needs to develop an online slang database, searcheable by words on either side of the index. This is really the only way to compile something as changeable as a dictionary of slang. I'd pay to subscribe to one kept up to date.

The best dictionary of slang out there because it is arranged by the word you're most likely to know instead of the slang word you're not likely to know.

Although I don't like giving a 5 star rating to any book this book deserves 6! This is the real stuff, pre WWII, pre WWI, PRE-TV! It was written at a time before historic brainwashing by movies and television existed. Before people were self conscious about telling the truth. We can see the actual format of the "Civil" War sentiments. He reveals the concepts of dying, of The North, Slavery, and other aspects of the era that we are usually forced to accept from modern day writings, reflecting only current, politically correct viewpoints. The down to earth flow of this book is very enjoyable and is great reading for anyone with interest in this subject matter.

If you are looking for truth about what happened in Missouri during the War betwen the states this book is for you. The best way to learn what really happened is to read firsthand accounts and that's what this book offers. No one sided historical author can screwup or argue with accurate eyewitness reports. This book records the pure hard facts.

Al Santoli's book, To Bear Any Burden, is a narrative of stories told by 47 Americans, Vietnamese (both North and South), and Cambodians regarding their experiences before the US involvement, during the US war, and the war's aftermath (after the departure of US troops). Each tale (from two to 10 pages in length) is riveting in itself. The book moves in relative chronilogical order beginning in 1954 and concludes with the present (circa 1985). Each tale is successfully interwoven with the next story such that there is a cohesiveness and a logical flow to the story telling timeline.

Some of the stories are quite stunning: from the description of US soldiers being called baby-killers and spat on after they returned to the US [difficult to comprehend in this patriotic post 9/11 world] to the horror stories of the Communist regimes in Cambodia and in North/South Vietnam after the fall of Saigon [after reading theses stories, one should question why the US would want to establish ties to Vietnam].

This "straight from the hip" narrative is recommended to anyone wishing to learn more about the scenes from a participant's point of view.

I first read To Bear Any Burden when it was originally released in 1985. This has been a 'must-read' classic of American involvement in Southeast Asia since it was published. For it, Santoli interviewed, in depth, 47 individuals representative of that involvement from 1945 into the 1980s--Americans, Viet-Namese (communists and anti-communists), Cambodians and Laotians. The book is so artfully compiled as to flow like a single narration; yet the 'cast of characters' are separate in time, space, culture and social rank--an entire spectrum from ambassadors to villagers, soldiers to politicians, in one volume. No ones education about the Viet-Nam War is complete unless they've read this book.

I could not put this down. It is a funny, warm, and insightful jam session on the subjects of literature, jazz, and American culture. This is a must have for any student of those subjects. It's also gives fascinating background into the lives and intellectual development of these literary giants.

This is an excellent book. Fans of Ellison and Murray will appreciate the intimate look at the lives of these writers that can be gained from reading the letters published in this work. Moreover, the call and response nature of the letters beautifully mimic that which can be heard in some of the classic jazz and gospel songs of America. You'll have a hard time putting this one down...

Mr. Robinson is the King of erotica! The Transformation of Tammi is the story of a young woman wanting to bring to life her husband's, and soul mate, every fantasy. At first I thought the book would contain one repetitive sex scene after another....boy was I wrong! This book is a must read for every married couple that has fallen into the hum-drum, routine of love-making. The Transformation of Tammi will definitely add some spice to your love life. I don't just recommend this book to women, but also men. Mr. Robinson has a complete understanding of what a woman wants and needs, and how to fulfill this need. I will continue to follow this new author's progress and of course wait impatiently for his next book! (Don't read too much at once, you might go blind :))

I purchased The Transformation of Tammi as soon as I heard it was out. I heard about it in a chat room and knew that I had to have it as soon as it came out. WoW! Was I glad I did. I just could not put the thing down when I started to read. The story of Tammi and her friend Lisa and the others is funny, touching, and very, very erotic. Mr. Robinson tells a very sensual story about a woman discovering an entirely different way of thinking and takes a lifestye that isn't very easy to put into real life situations in the so called "vanilla" world and makes it work.

Henry King was actually there. As a young man, he volunteered to be a prosecutor at the most important trial ever held. While in Nuremberg, he became fascinated with the one defendant who provoked reluctant admiration due to his aristocratic bearing and obvious intelligence. This fascination has continued throughout King's life. Now nearing 80, King is one of the few prosecutors still living and coherent. His memories and impressions offer an in-depth, close-up view of one of history's most important events.

SPEER REVIEW

by

T.S. Peric'

"I knew Albert Speer better than any American," said Henry King during an interview, at 26-years-old, the youngest prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials and the author of "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer: Reflections of a Nuremberg Prosecutor" (University Press of America). It was not a comment filled with braggadocio. In 1946, fallow and a few years out of Yale Law School, King dreamt the dreams of many young men: accomplish a great deed or participate in a grand undertaking. Hearing about a friend's appointment to the American "team" at Nuremberg, King immediately applied for a position. Within a few months, he arrived at Nuremberg in the middle of a rainstorm and soon found himself collecting evidence against Erhard Milch, deputy chief of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), who was charged with participating in Nazi slave labor and human experiment programs. King also interviewed Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe chief, Hermann Goering and Wilhelm Keitel, the chief of staff of Germany's military high command. But frozen in King's memory were the interviews with Speer in a bleak interrogation room. "Speer was remarkably composed and unshaken; he seemed to possess an inner security and objectivity that many of the others lacked," King recalls. His composure was all the more remarkable because of the unique and key role he played in the Third Reich. "From 1942 to 1945 not only was he one of the men closest to Hitler, but he was also one who influenced Hitler's decisions. At one time in late 1943, Speer was reputed to be Hitler's heir apparent." Speer was unemotional, analytical, almost regal in his deportment. And unlike the other 20 defendants, he accepted full responsibility for his actions. "The question that haunted me then and still does today was why Speer, who appeared so decent and honest, was a close collaborator of Hitler," King writes. "Why had he served such a monster." Nearly half a century would intervene before King could offer any answers. Speer spent the next 20 years locked away in Spandau prison (kept incommunicado except to his attorney and family). After his release, he became a best-selling author with "Inside the Third Reich" (1970) a personal look into the sanctum sanctorum of the Nazi leadership and "Spandau: The Secret Diaries" (1976) which described his imprisonment. King continued practicing law, including a stint as general counsel to the U.S. Foreign Economic Aid Program, moving to the private sector and eventually settling in as a professor of international law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. In 1966, King reestablished contact with Speer, but was unable to pursue his goal of a book until his retirement from TRW where he served as general counsel of Automotive Operations. King interviewed Speer repeatedly (including Speer's last interview, one month before his death in 1981). He consulted the Nuremberg records, his own notes and the literature on Speer and the Nazis. He also interviewed Speer's daughter and Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary, who observed the interaction between Hitler and Speer. King's book carefully plots the conditions and events in Speer's life that drew the architect toward the summit of Nazi power. Speer was politically naïve, despite his aristocratic background, growing up in a cold, emotionless family, where intellectual prowess was demanded and ambition expected. Introduced to the Nazis at Berlin's Institute of Technology, Speer fell victim - as did millions of Germans -- to the zeitgeist of Nazi Germany before the war, a time when the promise of a new Reich seemed to represent an unfettered, glorious future. Speer's ability to organize was quickly recognized, reaching new heights at the Nuremberg rallies. His Pantheon-like "Cathedral of Lights," established Speer's chilling brilliance for displaying raw power. The final, crowning jewel, that firmly enthroned Speer to the Nazis fold was his artistic talent which brought him within handshaking distance of Adolph Hitler. Now, Hitler, the failed Viennese artist, would live vicariously through Speer's artistic triumphs. The Nazis' world was Albert Speer's first world, according to King. It was among the Nazis that Speer performed with remarkable thoroughness and unquestioned devotion, rising to the position of the Third Reich's Architect and Minister of Armament Production. Indeed, if Speer's artistic triumphs contributed to the physical manifestation of how the Nazi's viewed themselves, his star as Armament Minister shone even brighter. Experts estimate that Speer's contribution to industrial production lengthened the war by at least two years. Despite Speer's success, he began to enter his "second world," according to King, even before Germany's surrender. Speer was the only top Nazi to act in defiance of Hitler-and did so openly. He refused to carry out Hitler's "scorched earth policy" that would destroy the remains of German industry. Speer's second world is "where his horizon broadened and his values changed," writes King. "The second and succeeding world of Albert Speer was the horizontal world of the questioning spirit. This was a world of ethical and cultural values, a humanistic world . . . " In "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer," King deftly presents how naiveté, seduction and ambition drove Speer to the pinnacle of Nazi power. He concludes that Speer was clearly unique among the top Nazis that survived the war. Speer accepted responsibility for his actions and offered mea culpas for his sins. During and after his imprisonment, Speer pondered his actions and began to search for some degree of redemption until the end of his life. While supporting the prison sentence Speer received, King ably demonstrates that Speer was not some cardboard character from the Nazi past. Rather, he was a complex and brilliant individual who confronted issues of good and evil on a scale that most of us cannot imagine. King succeeded in his search for a great undertaking with his successful role in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. More than one half century later, he succeeds with another marvelous undertaking: the writing of "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer."

"Unbroken Line" tells the story of the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion. It is quite certainly the best history in or out of print that has been written about a battalion-sized unit in World War II. It covers completely and in lucid, readable style its activation; organization; individual, unit and combined training; landing on Utah Beach 3 weeks after D-Day; support of infantry and airborne divisions across Europe to the Danube River; its crucial role in the Battle of the Bulge where it earned the U.S. Presidential Citation and the French Croix de Guerre; and its construction under fire of the heavy ponton bridge across the Rhine River at Remagen, the longest such bridge ever constructed by the US Army in combat. Maps are detailed, accurate and vividly portray the operations described in the text. The battalion's histroy comes alive with quotes from letters to home written by members of the battalion. For the researcher of World War II training and combat operations at battalion level, this book is a must. For the reader interested in general in World War II , this book is highly readable and entertaining.

Fiftynine years after the event the amazing story of the exploits of the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion is finally told. This book was written by a member of the 51st ECB and edited by his son. Small elements of the 51st ECB stopped five German divisions for five critical days during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. The unit was later awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their actions. Any serious student of U. S. Army operations in WW II in Europe will find this book rewarding and informative reading. The maps are well deliniated and detailed. The photos tell a great part of of the story and many have never been published before.

Yet another good book spoiled by lousy editing.

1. Russians do not have middle names. It should be Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov, or A.D. Sakharov, or Andrey Sakharov, but NOT Andrey D. Sakharov.

2. There are A LOT of mistakes in spelling of Russian names and book titles.

3. In two Greek words (allegedly by Plato), chresimos pseudos, I found 3 (THREE) errors: there are no zetas it those words at all, only sigmas.

4. By the time of Versailles Treaty, Romania had been on the map of Europe for about 50 years; it had not been created as a result of that treaty . . .

etc., etc., etc.

I do not believe Professor Weeks doesn't know when Romania was created. I blame copyeditor and proofreader . . . if there were any.

This is an important new book by an expert on Soviet history in updated Paperback format.

Professor Weeks presents the reader with a lot of newly discovered secret information from documents from formerly closed Soviet archives.

Among these documents are transcripts of Stalin's famous toast to graduates of the Military academies from the 5th of May, 1941, and the text of Stalin's previously hotly disputed secret speech to the Soviet Politburo, dated August 19, 1939, just days before signing the Hitler-Stalin Pact including its secret protocol about the territorial division of Poland, the Baltics and Bessarabia. The text was discovered in Russian archives and has also been confirmed by diary entries of Comintern head Dimitrov. Stalin predicts that Germany will have to fight a long war against France and England, allowing the Soviet Union to sovietize not only defeated Germany but also France.

An even more important document is from the Soviet General Staff. It is a war plan against Germany, calling explicitly for a pre-emptive strike against German forces! The document, titled "Considerations of the Plan for the Strategic Deployment of the Armed forces of the Soviet Union in Case of War with Germany and its Allies", is dated May 15, 1941. It has been prepared mainly by General, later Marshal, A. Vasilievsky, Deputy Head of the Operations Department of the Soviet General Staff (Stavka). The Memorandum was presented to Stalin by Commissar of Defense S. Timoshenko and Chief of the General Staff G. Zhukov.
The document "Considerations..." (15 handwritten pages long) is explicitly calling for a pre-emptive strike against German forces.
This is fully in line with the offensive military doctrine of the Soviets that called for "Deep Operations" into enemy territory (a fact confirmed by many Soviet Officers and historians, but neglected and disputed by Colonel Glantz and historian Gorodetsky, both of whom are using pro-Soviet arguments throughout their books. In fact, Weeks deals both Glantz's and Gorodetsky's apologia of Stalin a deadly blow with his well researched book. Glantz and Gorodetsky have been granted access to Soviet archives precisely because they stick to the official Soviet historiography, I believe).
Weeks uses a number books and documents that have only recently been published in Russia, and thereby allows the reader to form his own opinion based on these materials. This is a great advantage over many other books that try to ignore every little detail that might contradict the author?s arguments. Some of the documents in this book have never been published in English language before in their entirety. The wealth of information Weeks is able to present Stalin's "offensist" intentions is convincing to anyone with an open mind.
There can be no doubt: Stalin had detailed plans of attacking Hitler, it just happened that Hitler managed to strike first.
The only criticism I have about this book is, that the "Considerations" are not published in their full length (The document has been fully published in Austria and Germany, however). Anyone with an interest in the latest revelations from Stalin's archives should read this fascinating book. Highly recommended!

This is an important new book by an expert on Soviet history.

Professor Weeks presents the reader with a lot of newly discovered secret information from documents from formerly closed Soviet archives.

Among these documents are transcripts of Stalin?s famous toast to graduates of the Military academies from the 5th of May, 1941, and the text of Stalin?s previously hotly disputed secret speech to the Soviet Politburo, dated August 19, 1939, just days before signing the Hitler-Stalin Pact including its secret protocol about the territorial division of Poland, the Baltics and Bessarabia. The text was discovered in Russian archives and has also been confirmed by diary entries of Comintern head Dimitrov. Stalin predicts that Germany will have to fight a long war against France and England, allowing the Soviet Union to sovietize not only defeated Germany but also France.

An even more important document is from the Soviet General Staff. It is a war plan against Germany, calling for a pre-emptive strike against German forces! The document, titled ?Considerations of the Plan for the Strategic Deployment of the Armed forces of the Soviet Union in Case of War with Germany and its Allies?, is dated May 15, 1941. It has been prepared mainly by General, later Marshal, A. Vasilievsky, Deputy Head of the Operations Department of the Soviet General Staff (Stavka). The Memorandum was presented to Stalin by Commissar of Defense S. Timoshenko and Chief of the General Staff G. Zhukov.
The document ?Considerations ?? (some 15 pages long) is explicitly calling for a pre-emptive strike against German forces.
This is fully in line with the offensive military doctrine of the Soviets that called for ?Deep Operations? into enemy territory (a fact confirmed by many Soviet Officers and historians, but neglected and disputed by Colonel Glantz and historian Gorodetsky, both of whom are using pro-Soviet arguments throughout their books. In fact, Weeks deals both Glantz?s and Gorodetsky?s apologia of Stalin a deadly blow with his well researched book. Glantz and Gorodetsky have been granted access to Soviet archives precisely because they stick to the official Soviet historiography, I believe).
Weeks uses a number books and documents that have only recently been published in Russia, and thereby allows the reader to form his own opinion based on these materials. This is a great advantage over many other books that try to ignore every little detail that might contradict the author?s arguments. Some of the documents in this book have never been published in English language before in their entirety. The wealth of information Weeks is able to present Stalin?s ?offensist? intentions is convincing to anyone with an open mind.
There can be no doubt: Stalin had detailed plans of attacking Hitler, it just happened that Hitler managed to strike first.
The only criticism I have about this book is, that the ?Considerations?? are not published in their full length (The document has been fully published in Austria and Germany, however). Anyone with an interest in the latest revelations from Stalin?s archives should read this fascinating book. Highly recommended!