The story of Eduard and Helene was so emotionally charged and passionate! I accidentally managed to miss a crucial passage in the book telling Helene's real backround which made the revelation Eduard has at the end all the more heart wrenching. Very emotional book, keeps you there and is so hard to put down. You really live in the hearts of the characters and really feel their emotions. A grand passionate love story with riches, intrigue, lots of steamy moments, and filled with real life feelings. An absolute MUST read book!

Wow. Yes, this book reminded me of Sidney Sheldon's "Masters of the Game" because, like that book, it contains many characters, whose lives are interwoven by chance. It's a huge book with so many many many characters, you'll need to stop and reassess them all, but it's a delight to read. A love story between a French baron, Eduord, and an English misfit, Helene. How they are joined together is a mystery I will leave you to find out for yourself. The book details the lives of Eduord and Helene, together and apart, and a love that is amazing. How they came together was just a matter of destiny. Pure pleasure, this book was, and I just loved every bit of it.

At first I thought this book would be boring, but as soon as I started, I couldn't stop reading it.I've experienced emotions that were totally alien to me. The story has been written in such a manner that you immerse yourself completely into the role of the main characters: experience their pain and happiness. I could even feel the heat emanating from the dusty streets! I have read extensively and have still not managed to find a book that could surpass the excellence of Destiny. The ending is so unexpected and heart-stirring. When I had finished with this book,I swore to myself never ever to read this book again, until I felt more confident that I deal with the emotional experiences generated from reading it. THE INTENSITY OF THE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES ONE GETS FROM THIS BOOK IS INCREDIBLE - YOU MUST READ IT.

The New York Yankees are the most popular and successful franchise in major league baseball history. They have boasted such legendary performers as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Reggie Jackson. Those great players and teams can all be found in The New York Yankee Encyclopedia, the most complete record of Yankee baseball ever published.

The New York Yankees are the most popular and successful franchise in major league baseball history. They have boasted such legendary performers as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Reggie Jackson. Those great players and teams can all be found in The New York Yankee Encyclopedia, the most complete record of Yankee baseball ever published. From their humble beginnings in 1903 as the Highlanders through nine decades of unforgettable players, teams, and classic games, noted baseball author and historian Harvey Frommer has compiled everything about the history and lore of this fabled club in the one book no true Yankee fan can afford to be without.

An in-depth volume that include statistics on every Yankee player and manager, more than 250 classic photos, chapters on different Yankee eras, rivalries, ball parks, and much more

: Compilers of two previous oral histories, the Frommers (It Happened in Brooklyn) here mix the experiences of some 100 interviewees-a good fraction of them writers or Jewish community officials-into a rich mosaic portrait. They cover much ground, from life in New England ("a benignly non-Jewish environment"), the isolating South and the comforting frenzy of New York. Interviewees discuss politicization, the impact of the Holocaust, the effects of Zionism and the ongoing tensions about assimilation and anti-Semitism. Some anecdotes are arresting, and all are quite short. Thus, this book is an accessible introduction to the varieties of the American Jewish experience.

The book provides a fascinating look at Jewish life. We learn about families, school activities, religious life, and anything else the people felt like discussing. All areas of the country are represented as well as all aspects of Judaism. Hundreds of personal photos add much to to the histories. A good glossary explains the various Yiddish terms used throughout."

===Growing up Jewish IN AMERICA

THIS IS a fine book for goyim. Being gentile, as far as I know, I can say that.

One never knows exactly what one's roots might include. As Leon Toubin comments on a Texas community in this entertaining oral history, "We were probably all Jewish once, but we're Lutheran now." The complexities of American life make this book fun and often pure poetry. Some vital turning points come to life in a just few sentences. Zipporah Marans, whose father was an Orthodox rabbi in Raleigh, N.C., during World War II, recalls G.I.s "would have three days' leave before being shipped overseas. Their girlfriends would come down, and my father would marry them in our living room. My mother, sister, a soldier friend and I would each hold a corner of the chuppa, the wedding canopy."

St. Louis Jews - really, all Jews west of the Appalachians - might feel a bit slighted in this study. David Bisno talks about the divide between Jews of German and Russian descent in St. Louis, but he doesn't offer many details. Ansaie Sokoloff recalls his family leaving St. Louis for Cheyenne, Wyo. Other communities in the chapter about the Midwest and West include Detroit, Duluth, Omaha, Pittsburgh and San Fernando. It reminded me of a gas station attendant in New Jersey who noticed my Missouri plates and said, "I have a cousin who went to school in South Dakota." New York and environs get the bulk of attention here. That's fine, but what I find particularly fascinating are more detailed accounts of unique or remote communities and families struggling to maintain traditions.

The Frommers' book has many moments, too, where one senses the effort necessary to maintain tradition and faith in our time. Though no characters develop in this text, one hears many fragments of fascinating memories, which together present an insightful portrait of vibrant communities and individuals.

This book originally caught my eye as an addition to another book I read called Edison: A Life of Invention by Paul Israel. I wanted a book that would cover a little more of Edison's personal life, and this book did just that. However, James Newton's close, dedicated friendships with all of these great men of the twentieth century is truly amazing, and I learned more than I would probably learn otherwise about some of these important historical figures.

The entire book is fascinating, and surely different parts will appeal to different readers. I was particularly enchanted with a poignant description of how Charles Lindbergh handled dying as he lay on his deathbed. I was also fascinated with how environmentally conscientious some of these men were, particularly Edison and Lindbergh, but also Ford. For example, Ford was very interested in making automobile parts out of soybeans in order to reduce the need for metal parts. It seems that all of these men had numerous ideas and ideas for inventions that were way ahead of their time - perhaps some of them still are.

Newton's writing is quite good, and I only have one very minor criticism: it seems that he preaches a little bit and dwells on the religious facet of his relationships with these people. Of course, I'm sure this was a very important part of his relationship with these men and their families, but it seems that there is a grand, overarching agenda he has in constantly illustrating their connection to God and religion.

If you are interested in any of these historical figures and their fascinating relationships with each other, this book is definitely the best book you will find on the subject.

This book originally caught my eye as an addition to another book I read called Edison: A Life of Invention by Paul Israel. I wanted a book that would cover a little more of Edison's personal life, and this book did just that. However, James Newton's close, dedicated friendships with all of these great men of the twentieth century is truly amazing, and I learned more than I would probably learn otherwise about some of these important historical figures.

The entire book is fascinating, and surely different parts will appeal to different readers. I was particularly enchanted with a poignant description of how Charles Lindbergh handled dying as he lay on his deathbed. I was also fascinated with how environmentally conscientious some of these men were, particularly Edison and Lindbergh, but also Ford. For example, Ford was very interested in making automobile parts out of soybeans in order to reduce the need for metal parts. It seems that all of these men had numerous ideas and ideas for inventions that were way ahead of their time - perhaps some of them still are.

Newton's writing is quite good, and I only have one very minor criticism: it seems that he preaches a little bit and dwells on the religious facet of his relationships with these people. Of course, I'm sure this was a very important part of his relationship with these men and their families, but it seems that there is a grand, overarching agenda he has in constantly illustrating their connection to God and religion.

If you are interested in any of these historical figures and their fascinating relationships with each other, this book is definitely the best book you will find on the subject.

Now in his 80s, real-estate developer Newton recalls with uncritical admiration five celebrated men with whom he enjoyed almost filial relationships. According to the author, they all shared the same philosophy of life, enouncing business principles in terms of moral precepts. Newton's bonds with Carrel and with the scientist's friend and partner in medical research, Lindbergh, were forged by their common interest in metaphysics. The narrative is studded with anecdotes about the nature of these men: Edison's assertion that his deafness was an asset; Ford's dictum that profit is essential to business vitality; Firestone's advocacy of Japanese-style ``consensus'' management; Carrel's expectation of encountering Aristotle after death; and Lindbergh's revulsion at the destruction wrought by aviation in WW II.

Having never been in combat, I was utterly fascinated reading Vignettes of War. Quim Hickman's book concerns itself with the daily lives of riflemen as they experience the uncertainties and terrors of war. Most faced the front lines with valor and strength. A few faced them with cowardice. Hickman details their reactions, as well as his own.

Hickman was an untrained medic during World War II. He stumbled into the position because his vision was poor. But by ministering to the riflemen who were wounded, he formed a bond with many of them. Because he was so close to them, he was able to write about soldiers like Shorty Roberts, who took a powerful Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) away from a soldier immobilized by fear and used it to stop enemy fire. He saw which litter bearers were willing to risk their lives for fallen riflemen. He saw which soldiers faked illness or hid out in an outhouse with trousers pulled up in order to avoid combat. But mostly he saw and recorded numerous instances of outstanding valor by soldiers who probably were never rewarded with a medal because an officer was not there to observe their heroic acts.

This book makes me grateful to all the soldiers of every war we have fought, including the present one.

I just finished reading Quim Hickman's book "Vignettes Of War". I found it to be gripping and really enjoyed Mr Hickmans dry humor. The book gave me the fealing that I was on the front line with him and the riflemen of Baker Company. I found how they felt before an attack. On a lighter side: the food in the service was bad. Very bad!
Mr Hickman writes of the bitter cold and the reaction to the loss of friends in a way that makes you think of the desolation of war.

I read about battles that I had never heard of . The book shows you what it was like to fight in the Maginot Line and then the Siegfried Line. I think I will always remember how one man behaved when he was trapped behind the German lines.

Mr Hickman points out that not all attacks were successful, and I learned of the failures and how complex even small actions can be to the lives involved with conflict. The so-called fog of war was brought out .

In reading I found most men were valient soldiers. In contrast there were men who couldn't "take it". This book points out the harsh realities of war!

The book not only gave me an insight to a war that I've only heard and read about but put a human face on it. I had the fealing of war from a man that lived it. It's a great book!!

Poignant is the word that comes to mind when I think of Quim Hickman's Vignettes of War. A hero who didn't choose to be a hero, medic Hickman saves lives and takes us with him as he follows his fellow foot soldiers into battle. Mr. Hickman paints vivid scenes and touches my heart with his wisdom on war and the men who had to be there, whether they want to be there or not. Well-worth reading. Real without too much graphic gore.

I saw this book in a bookstore and it did not look very impressive based on price to number of pages ratio but I had a look at it, and after trying to learn SQL from some other books, this was a breath of fresh air. This is a book you can blow though quickly, doesn't require access to a computer or even much knowledge of any particular relational database system. I read thorough half of it in a few hours, but by that time I had developed a working knowledge of SQL. (Without ever sitting at a computer). They use a visual technique and repetition to show exactly what the SQL commands are used for, and how to use them to get what you need from the database. It covers your plain vanilla SQL and so may be 'slightly' different in syntax from the SQL your database uses (but in my experience, the changes are very very minor (eg, Transact SQL does not require a semicolon at the end of a statement)). This is an awesome book for anyone trying to 'figure out' SQL. Really lets you s! ee what the commands do and lets you understand it. I reccomended this book to a friend trying to learn SQL and he feels the same way about the book. SQL is really a pretty simple language, and this book makes the simplicity clear. Covers all major parts of SQL queries. Select, Update, making tables, altering tables, granting permissions, etc. Everything you need to get you started. IF you are trying to understand SQL, this book belongs on your desk. It was published in 1989 I think, but dont let that deter you. It is the best intro book on SQL I have ever seen!!!

I am currently enrolled in a Database Management (Oracle/SQL) class at Boston College. Right off the bat, I knew I was in trouble when we were told the professor would be unavailable for help and most of students in class were computer science majors. (I was taking the class to broaden my computer skills above and beyond front-end web design.)

The textbook in class was the heinously monstrous 1200+ page Oracle 9i The Complete Reference by Kevin Loney. After struggling through many chapters and finding our professor's teaching style very unhelpful, I decided it was time for another resource.

I checked on Amazon ... and found Sam's Teach Yourself SQL in 10 minutes to be semi-helpful. Then at the Harvard Coop, I stumbled upon it - - A VISUAL INTRODUCTION TO SQL. The problem, I realized, was that I am a visual learner and need to see all the schema tables and step-by step actions to describe what happens as I develop queries. This books is key for any layman, like myself. It walks you through very basic (and more complex) problems in an easy-to-read visual approach. While using SQL on the PC, viewing the tables is difficult and this book helps you map out the problems to figure them out. I was especially impressed after emailing the author about a table question and getting a personalized response.

If you are in a bind to learn SQL on your own, this book is great and won't kill you lugging it around either.

P.S. A great addition I found to this book was a Mac client software (that can access Oracle Databases) called SQL Grinder. Like the book, this program is also very visual and the GUI (MAC) clearly reigns over any PC. Sorry Windows users! Thanks for your help, David Chappell! ;-)

The visual representations used by the authors makes it much easier to grasp the concepts of data retrieval in a relational database. Where most books tend to represent SQL statements as a string of required and optional words in syntax, this book goes beyond the syntax to illustrate how the data is stored, and how to retrieve it. By using a visual approach, it is possible to see how sql works to manage data, rather than just imitating a string of text that you often don't understand.

This book is chock full of useful advice on organizational behavior at both the personal and business levels. The clear, fun style of addressing business/management ethics was a useful and enjoyable read in our courses. As far as recommending other similar 5-star reading materials, there is only one other book,which I enjoyed so much. In fact, I would say it is a must-read for anyone interested in organizational behavior. The recently published book is entitled, "MANAGEMENT BY VICE" (by C.B. Don). It is a hilarious satire, but each wit-filled episode addresses a multitude of "vices" at the core of counterproductive corporate cultures and established high-tech organizations. It was fun to see how many we could find as part of our MBA course! Just like Dr. Harvey, the author of "Management by Vice" is a Ph.D. specialist with lots of experience, but the candid insights come from interactions between technical ranks with their management staff within the closed high-tech R&D world. To get the most complete understanding of organizational behavior at all levels we read both the "Abilene Paradox" followed up with "Management by Vice"! Great MBA lessons all around!

When I first read The Abilene Paradox, I hadn't read many business/management books--I preferred fiction. In my job, I've since read dozens of business titles and I have to say few compare in content or writing style to Dr. Harvey's classic. None have the sense of humor, the appreciation of the absurd, that Harvey has. And none have the soul, compassion, and wisdom of Harvey. I hope Dr. Harvey publishes again soon.

Before Dilbert broke ground focusing attention on the (mis)adventures of people in corporate management and the workplace, Jerry Harvey had used his own brand of southern humor to point out the absolute absurdity of life in the boardroom, the bedroom, and a few places in beteen. The Abilene Paradox is a relatively short and often humerous book, but it is not always easy to read. The book is filled with powerful lessons; many told from the author's unique and highly personal perspective. Jerry Harvey's dry wit bites harder than Dogbert ever could. If you have the courage to draw a line in the sand and stop the proverbial bus from taking a trip no one wants to take, then read the book. If you don't, then read the comics.

Flophouse gives America a rare glimpse into the underbelly of the American Dream. With photos and personal interviews of 50 residents of genuine Bowery flophouses this book reveals the raw grittiness and humanity of those at the bottom of American society. So often politicians and other such moral crusaders seek to demonize those on drugs and welfare. The real story why these men have fallen into the abyss is often more complicated than simple explantions provide. The story of these men asks each of us to re-examine our beliefs about the least among us. I should know-I live among them and am featured in the book with my bicycle. Many of you who read this are but a few paychecks away from similar circumstances. I encourage you to buy this book and keep it as a reminder to save every dollar you can in a 401K-lest you spend your last days in a Bowery Flophouse!

Turn away. Turn quickly away. My first instinct upon glancing at this title was consistent with Middle Class America's natural reaction to social despair. Cautiously intrigued, I reached to the top shelf in my suburban neighborhood's local library, and pulled down into my comfortable suburban world an enlightening pictorial in brief. With mixed horror and wonder, increasingly awed at these victims of circumstances, reading "Flophouse: Life on the Bowery" was a real look, a first look, into sunken faces and disheveled lives. Black and white photos say the thousand words their subjects never will. The human condition, bare, innate, is plainly presented without pretense or censoring. How very similar, how frighteningly normal, were the lives of these men before the loss of job, wife, or sanity deposited them here, teetering on the brink between life and death, heaven and hell, New York City's Bowery. Read this book, count your blessings and your spare dimes.

Flophouse is a collections of pictures and words by and about people (mostly men) who ive in the dwingling number of flop houses on the bowery in New York. There are some 50 or so snapshots of these man the spread throughout four hotels, The white house, the providence, the andrews and the sunshine hotel. Don't let the names of these hotels fool you they're no four seasons. The men come from various races, creeds and generations. Some are old men who've lived on the bowery for tens of years and don't want to live to younger men who have hit rock bottom and are trying to get back on their feel again. Each man featured tells his own story about how they got to the bowery. Most of their stories are sobering and the pictures are even more powerful. Many of these men were woking productive members of society until something happened to them to throw them off track. It is hard to leave a book like this one unaffected. If your only opinion of the homeless and destitute is that they are lazy, mentally deranged or drug addicted men this book may change your perceptions. I left this book feeling very somber about how fragile life is and how easily it can be taken for granted yet also feeling uplifted in a strange way. Many of these man despite their conditions still continue to keep on living their lives and keeping a postive attitude. The men in flophouse are a dying breed of america's growing underclass.

I was delighted to discover this book four years ago, when I began teaching a course in clinical research methods. I have not seen anything else like the text or the optional companion software by GraphPad. The textbook is extremely well-written and well-organized. Not only have I been using the book and software in my teaching, but I have found that they handle about 90% of my own statistical needs for my research.

The author's philosophy (to forget the fancy stuff since the vast majority of applications don't require it) and the way it is implemented (with just enough theory to protect users from making false inferences) are exactly right. Dr. Motulsky has done a a superb job.

Dr. Motulsky does an excellent job of introducing statistical concepts through examples and direct applications. Where this book is especially valuable is in keeping things simple -- without the intimidating mathematical notation -- while providing examples of where statistics can be used to measure the wrong things or present results that do not make sense in the context of what the researcher is investigating.

My favorite example illustrates how a stastical analysis of a new test that identifies those susceptible to a fatal disease "shows" an increase in the average lifespan of both populations (those who suffer the disease and those who don't). The reality, of course, is no one is living longer because of the test, but rather the population sampled is different. Brilliant and concise.

Although the text is targeted towards those in the bioinformatic and medical vocations, it's useful beyond that because the presentation of concepts is practical and yet without the notation.

I'm a practicing physician who has found it necessary to try to educate myself on the use of biostatistics in the medical literature. I have read over 20 books on biostatistics. This is clearly the best. It is written so that even the non-statistician can understand the concepts, and explains the statistical approach and rationale without scaring the reader away with arcane formulas. It is very logical in its progression and addresses the errors and assumptions that doctors make when trying to evaluate a paper. This book should be required reading not only by every medical student, but by anyone who attempts to write or interpret the medical literature.

I read a lot of biographies and, while I love the genre, I'm often disappointed with the writing. This book, by the late Randy Shilts, is an exception. Shilts was a great writer, able to take a variety of facts and put them into readable passages (his "And the Band Played On" is another good example of this). Harvey Milk and the San Francisco of the 1970s come to life in this book. The tragedy of Milk's assassination and its aftermath are rendered in gripping detail.

Randy Shilts has taken great pains to present the man honestly, exploring his political and personal lives. The result is an illimunitating portrait of the Gay Rights champion, documenting his triumphs and ideals alongside his personal ambiguities and foibles. Milk's rise to power, as well as the city's rich gay history, are depicted with candor and clarity.

The assassinations are reported in graphic detail, as is the reaction of the people. Intial shock and grief turn to righteous indignation when, on May 21, 1979 White is convicted on two counts of "valuntary manslaughter" with a maximum sentence of seven years, eight months. The city explodes. Justice is thwarted. A martyr is born. Milk's murder galvanizes the Gay Community to stand up and take their rightful place in society. A great book.

In The Mayor of Castro Street, the late Randy Shilts paints a vivid picture, not only of the life of gay politician Harvey Milk, but of the fight for gay rights in 1970's San Francisco and the nation as a whole. After a description of the events immediately following Milk's death, Shilts begins the book with Milk's youth in New York City. He briefly describes Milk's years in New York, and spends the vast majority of the book on Milk's last five years in San Francisco. It was during his San Francisco years that Milk made his critical contributions to gay history, including encouraging the development of the Castro into a gay Mecca, and running for, and finally winning, elected office as an openly gay man in a time when most thought such things simply couldn't happen.

Shilts is a meticulous reporter. In his section on source material he details how he extensively interviewed Milk's former lovers, including Scott Smith and Joe Campbell. Many of the dialogues for the biography come directly from the personal diary of Michael Wong, a longtime Milk supporter. According to Shilts, dialogues with others who knew Milk virtually always corroborated those in Wong's diary. Shilts's history of the Castro area came from over one hundred interviews he conducted with area residents.

One of the best qualities of the biography is its astonishingly objective posture. Achieving something like objectivity is a tremendous challenge for the author of any modern-day history, and nowhere is this more true than in histories of the gay liberation movement. The living participants in that history inevitably portray it in a range of ways and often fight vigorously for placement of credit where they feel credit is due. Shilts allows those participants to speak for themselves, and focuses on telling the details of the story, rather than interpreting that story for the reader. It is this author's unique degree of commitment to researching and conveying all the details that allows him to present such an apparently unbiased account.

It is also Shilts's attention to detail that makes the book so tough to put down. It reads more like a novel than a history, and each segment leads into the next with a sense of a tremendous plot unfolding. In a style that would come to characterize his later books, such as And The Band Played On, as well as Conduct Unbecoming, Shilts manages to draw the reader into multiple stories of individuals that end in cliffhangers, only to be picked up again in a later chapter. It is these stories that make up the fabric of gay history in San Francisco and a portion of that larger tapestry called gay liberation.