This book is written in an accessible and practical format. It assumes nothing but at the same time treats the reader as an intelligent participant on the journey to understanding evidence based practice.

It is up to date and I was especially impressed with the web address it gives to ensure the reader is kept abreast of any changes since publication.

It systematically explains the need and use of 'evidence', how to find it (the search advice is comprehensive and includes details such as search terms and the best search engines aswell as web addresses) how to evaluate it and also how to act on it.

All in all this book was great, and I would reccomend it to anyone involved in evidence based healthcare practice as it will guide you through the thorniest problems.

This is a case that has haunted me since I first read about it in Law School. Frank Armani and Francis Beige were Central New York attorneys appointed to represent serial killer/rapist Robert Garrow, who went on a crime spree in the Adirondacks in 1973. Their client was charged with one killing but revealed to them the location of two other bodies. After checking to be sure the bodies were there, the attorneys tried, unsuccessfully, to use this information as part of a plea bargain. Meanwhile, they were contacted by the distraught father of one of these victims, begging for information about the fate of his child. Believing that forensic evidence available from the remains might tend to further incriminate Garrow, they refused to acknowledge any information about other potential victims. Eventually, Garrow himself revealed the information at trial and the attorneys were charged with violating the code of professional conduct. Though the case and the surrounding publicity had devastating effects on the two men, they were ultimately exonerated, on the basis that they had acted within the scope of attorney-client privilege.

Though I would have behaved differently, I do not particularly quarrel with the attorneys' actions. I do though find the ethical regime which requires such a result to be abhorrent. The basic theory underlying attorney-client privilege is that in order to guarantee the best possible defense, clients must fully disclose all information to their attorneys, and that the only way to insure that they feel comfortable doing so is to grant the privilege. This reasoning is simply not compelling. If full disclosure really is essential to a good defense, then the client has a vested interest in disclosure--they after all are the ones most interested in a good defense. It seems entirely fair to let them choose between holding back incriminating information at their own expense, or sharing that information at some peril.

Moreover, to allow (arguably, to require) lawyers to withhold such information from the Court is to turn the legal system into more of a game than a search for truth and justice. I have no problem with a set of ethical rules, societal laws and constitutional rights, which seeks to protect the innocent from unfair prosecution and even to protect the guilty from abusive practices, but this must be balanced against society's interest in protecting its citizenry, enforcing the law and meting out justice. There has to be some difference between preventing law enforcement officers from beating information out of a suspect or illegally searching his premises, and officers of the Court actually withholding evidence that they are aware of, however obtained. I just don't see what interest was vindicated by concealing the existence and location of the two corpses. Were they revealed to law enforcement it would not negatively impact Garrow's access to a fair trial : if he did not kill them, he'd have nothing to fear. If he did, evidence from the bodies might well point towards him, but so what ? The essence of the legal process should be that impartial examination of the evidence reveal the culprit and that evidence be used to convince a jury of his guilt. The mere revelation of the bodies would not have sent Garrow to prison, he still would have been afforded all the legal protections of the trial system and his fate would have still depended on the judgment of a jury of his peers.

As I say, I would have acted differently than did Armani and Beige--I would have told the father where the bodies were, informed the Court of my action and resigned from the practice of law, accepting whatever punishment this action entailed. Then again, I never practiced, so that's easy for me to say. Further, I understand that many attorneys believe in the necessity of rules such as this and feel that they serve noble purposes. For that reason, I too would have exonerated these men. It is the professional code itself that leads lawyers to make these kind of decisions and we can hardly punish them for behaving ethically. But it does seem that ethics and morality diverge at points like this : one would prefer to see morality triumph over ethics. Regardless of how you come down on the issues involved, this book offers a fascinating look at how such issues and decisions play out in the real world and how they impact the people who have to deal with them.

GRADE : B+

A few rare Frank images are reproduced, but this book is mainly a collection of documents and writings by or about Frank. This is the only source for much of this material: letters from a young Robert Frank to his parents about New York, for example; a facsimile of Frank's Guggenheim application; a police report made during Frank's trip across America; writing by Kerouac about a trip made with Frank to Florida. I recommend this book to any person interested in Robert Frank and already familiar with his work. Nevertheless, the few images here reproduced stand out like flowers.

This is one of those books that is long overdue. I was just beginning in radio when I first met Tillman Franks. It was through this legendary bass-fiddle player, personal manager of super stars, songwriter and country music promoter ... all-in-one ... that I met most of those mentioned in this book. Tillman was not only "there when it happened" ... in many instances, he was responsible for many good things in country music "happening" in the first place! It was through Tillman that I first met Elvis. I would appear on several show with 'Old El'. It was also Tillman who introduced me to Johnny Horton, David Houston and so many others. Although I never met my idol, Hank Williams, Sr., Tillman Franks was also responsible for much of Hank's super stardom. This book, written in the easy, Louisiana speaking style of the author, not only takes you backstage with so many legends, it takes you to the dressing rooms! Yes, Tillman was there when it happened ... and I'm glad he was. You don't have to be a fan of country music to enjoy this very good book. It's musical history, told by a man who belongs in our Country Music Hall-of-Fame ... which will eventually "happen", of course.

I have seen some wretched books on the market in my day, but nothing, absolutely nothing, is as offensive and as crass as this. First of all, psychoanalysis is not a science, which makes these authors' approach to Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum's respective ordeals cheap enough, but even with that, it's an abomination to put two women who were victims of the Holocaust under such horrific, over-analyzed scrutiny. As Richard Nixon once said, "I don't mind when people put me under a microscope, but when they use a proctoscope, that's going too far." Indeed! This book is so bad it's unbelievable.

Denise de Costa has written a valuable and extraordinarily
intelligent interpretation of Anne Frank the individual behind the writer, as she presented herself in her original diaries and then in the revised manuscript she prepared in hiding. Reading between these texts de Costa's insights are dazzling, critical and thought provoking: she examines Anne's motivation to write, her growing dependency on the diary, her unfolding maturity and her troubled relationship with her mother. This is a compelling book and a major contribution to our understanding of Anne Frank.

the book about anne frank is truely marvalous! A wondfull biography for a teenager or young adult! Defently mworth reading!

1

I have been a fan of Mr Howard for nearly 12 years now, which in my opinion, makes me a bit of a connoisseur, and frankly this book was a bit of a disappointment. Undoubtedly the contributing writers are well-respected and immensely able but their writing lacked the Howardian flavour I have come to love. Ghor's sudden personality shifts are hard to follow and the various ideas in the story lack sufficient depth. This book is not the way Mr Howard would have written it. Nevertheless, this should be read because the original idea belonged to the great REH.

Ghor is a nice blend of Conan and the Cthulhu Mythos together. Abandoned as a child because of a deformity, Ghor is adopted by a pack of wolves. Raised by them, he adopts the ways of the wolf, yet when he meets up with humanity joins them. Constantly struggling with his wolf upbringing and his human surroundings, Ghor becomes a mighty war hero wherever he goes.

This is an excellent adventure book that takes a Conan like hero and plots him against all sorts of evil (and good), including some Cthulhu creations as well.

Originally Ghor was an unfinished story by Conan creator Robert Howard. Upon finding this unfinished story, a magazine decided to finish it. What they did was have a different chapter every month written by a different top fantasy writer. It made the reading interesting.

While most of the chapters were great. Some were excellent. Unfortunately there were a couple chapters that I just wanted to get through to reach the next writers' chapter. Overall a really good read.

I WAS VERY SUPRISED ABOUT HOW WELL THIS STORY CAME OFF. THE VARIUOS WRITERS DID AN EXCELLENT JOB IN WRITING AN EXCITING BOOK THAT FLOWED SMOOTHLY. IT DID NOT COME OFF AS A SERIES OF SHORT STORIES. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK FOR ROBERT E. HOWARD FANS, AND FANS OF FANTASY IN GENERAL.

I read this in a comparative economics class at Hope College back when Jimmy Carter was President, and it was "in" to deride the U.S. as suffering from too much over-psychologized materialism, the cure for which was to read this book to see how much happier we would be if we switched paradigms to a slower paced, more natural, Euro-way of doing socialism, which would include more frequent trips to the market to buy bread without preservatives, taking fewer showers to conserve water, and waking up later, taking longer lunches, and staying up all night drinking cappucino with interesting people. In short, more like then-"third way" Yugoslavia. What happened to Yugoslavia, and who has subsequently had to go clean the place out, is a metaphor for how the preachings of this book have turned out to fit with reality. What a relief to see that the current generation of college econ students seem to have totally rejected this type of over-phsychologized incoherent "economics" and have instead pursued business careers while simultaneoudsy waking up late, and staying up all night drinking cappucino with interesting people. Lunch can take all day, too. So Tibor got some of it right but most of it wrong. Ronald Reagan got more of it right, but partisans of the left will never admit it. So read this book if your 60's reject professor forces you to, but challenge the paradigm of Veblenesque, dead-to-the-market stupidity which masquerades for "economics" in this book. I still hate thinking about it 20 years after reading it!

This bifurcated question lies at the core of this excellent classic. The assumption that all choice is rational, that rationality choses freedom apriori, and freedom is its own intrinsic good has been the foundation of contemporary economics and liberal political theory for more than a century? This book challenges this and other assumptions, demonstrating that the true human "need" is not for freedom in itself, but instrumentally, so that our choices to bring about the right mixture of stimulation in our lives is balanced by an appropriate dose of comfort. Too much stimulation produces pain, too much comfort produces boredom, the excess of which lies outside the "mean."

This book goes beyond challenging our most basic presumptions; it argues coherently, cohesively, and cogently that the summa bonum of human life is not merely choice, but the right choices that balance our conflicting desires for something "new" with our desire for "stability." Most theories gravitate toward one extreme or the other; Scitovsky demonstrates the Aristotlean "mean."

Sadly, this book is only available in hardback at and is very pricey. Not that this book isn't worth the high cost Oxford Press demands, rather that it will unfortunately limit widespread access to this treasure. For those wanting a preview of this book's contents, see "Critical Review" Vol 10, No.4.

"The Joyless Economy" is a classic attempt to assess the postulates of neoclassical economics (the sort of economics taught in schools and universities!) in terms of evidence about human behaviour from Behavioural Psychology.

Definitely worth a read, particularly if you have reservations about the neoclassical orthodoxy!

From a technical economic viewpoint, he fails to make his case forcefully enough to convince orthodox economists on their own turf, but that is to take nothing away from the strength and worth of the ideas.

Part 1 (6 chapters) - Absolutely a waste of time, not worth a read. And the code examples are not related to JWSDP.

Part 2 (6 chapters) - Discusses on SOAP, UDDI and WSDL. The code discusses using a Older version of Apache SOAP and Apache Axis. The code needs a complete rewrite.

Part 3 - Discusses on JAXP, JAXB, JAXR, JAXM and JAXRPC. Good introductions but the JAXB chapter is based on DTD (which is obsoleted in the latest specs). JAXM and JAXRPC chapters just reproduces the Sun JWSDP tutorial...not much value addition.

Part 4 - Security, WSFL, WSIF (based on IBM Specs) currently these specs are obsolete no further releases.

It might've been a good book during 2002. The code and content needs an update to the latest specs and SOAP implementations.

Just as I stated in the title, it's a great book to start you with. It's written in a clear and precise manner where you could learn the basics of Java Web Services and not be intimidated by it.

It is a good introductory book to web services standards like SOAP, WSDL and UDDI but also goes further and talks about topics like WSFL, WSIF which are not covered by all books on web services but are essential to any real business processes exposed as web services where flow control and service unit(s) choreagraphy is as important as the single unit service request/response. Java specifications relating to web services are also covered like JAXM and JAX-RPC. I wish more examples and code was given, perhaps even a chapter or two, for ebXML which may not be a part of web services standards but still uses SOAP and defines industry standards for business to business collaborations especially dealing with supply chain commerce issues.
I agree with a previous reviewer (John Sfikas) that this book alone isn't exactly an eye opener for experianced professionals who have been dabbling with all the tools mentioned in this book like Apache SOAP, Axis, WSTK, Tomcat, Jetty etc. and know the challenges facing B2B collaborations on the internet quite intimately, but this book combined with "Building Web Services with Java: Making Sense of XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI" will give a much needed practical grounding to start making sophisticated web services in the real world. I highly recommend getting both these books but be prepared to use your brain and further what is presented in these books to deploy web services satisfying your needs. They will certainly not amount to spoon feeding you a near solution to your collaboration problems.

Mr. Frank's thesis is this: many of the consumer goods we buy are purchased not for the intrinsic pleasure they bring, but for the pleasure of keeping up with or surpassing the Joneses. By taxing consumption instead of earnings, people will buy cheaper luxury goods. This will keep all of the pleasure of the consumption race but raise extra tax dollars to spend on things that everyone truly wants for their intrinsic value - like cleaner air.

It will also have the effect of increasing savings (because income is not taxed until spent, the incentive to invest is boosted). This makes us all richer long-term as capital investments grow our standard of living.

The theory is well-explained -- perhaps too well-explained -- but the proposed solution is not. While Mr. Frank spends a couple of hundred pages explaining the problem, his solution - taxing consumption - is presented without question. But will it work? The goal of producing income is to spend it, and whether it's done now or later, the rich want to spend it all before they die. Doesn't it make sense that not taxing saving would simply defer consumption until later in life, and the rich would buy even *more* opulent goods later? The author never discusses this, or any other potential difficulties. Won't the rich just rent everything instead of buying? Won't people who might otherwise save, be instead persuaded to consume now, since they will be taxed more if they save to buy their dream good in a single future year? The point is not that these objections are unanswerable, but that they seem to never even occur to the author.

As for the disdain with which Mr. Frank treats the acquisition of luxury goods, the reader should be made more than a little uneasy. What he says about social pressure may have some merit, but is this the *only* reason someone buys a Ferrari? And what about those of us who do not feel the need to keep up, and buy goods purely because they will enrich our lives in other ways? Again, these shades of grey do not slow down Mr. Frank's thesis. And the reader who is told he is "polluting" by choosing to wear an expensive suit - the author uses the analogy without qualification or irony - would be justified in feeling that Mr. Frank would have done well to temper the observations in his book with an understanding that human motivations are not as black and white as he thinks.

As the review title indicates, students & professors of economics, politics, psychology and other social & behavioral sciences will benefit from perusing the pages of Bob Frank's commentary on contemporary American life. Regardless of whether you agree with Professor Frank's solution to our society's "arms race of consumerism", the book makes the reader think about the materialism evident in much of the U.S. Using amusing analogies to describe human behavior related to "buying excess," Frank explains these activities with theories of psychology and economics. His insight provokes thought and entertains the reader throughout the book. Whether explaining why many middle class couples spend $5,000 for the latest Viking model gas grill for their patio, or describing how two millionaires childishly built larger and more lavish yachts just to own the biggest and best cruiser in the world, Frank delivers interesting examples which help provide an understanding for why many people do the things they do.

Read this book if you are a student or teacher of the social or behavioral sciences. Whether you agree with Frank's prescription to correct societal consumerism or you don't believe America has a problem, this book entertains the reader and stimulates ideas for discussion. Well worth the read!

Economist Robert H. Frank has written a stimulating book that integrates research from psychology, evolutionary biology, and economics to address the raging "luxury fever" that is needlessly consuming precious resources in "overdeveloped" economies. Frank documents how luxury consumption in western industrialized countries has been rising at an astronomical rate, even though the latest psychological research shows that there is scant correlation between this consumption and levels of stated life satisfaction. Why, then, are wrist watches costing $20,000, huge houses of 10,000 sq. ft. and more, and myriad other forms of conspicuous individual consumption rapidly increasing, even as social spending on education, infrastructure, the environment, and other things that would raise the average level of life satisfaction in society decreasing? Frank describes how this perverse "luxury fever" occurs when individuals pursue their strong individual incentives to increase their relative position in society by consuming more than their peers. But when everyone does this, relative consumption (and perceived life satisfaction) remain constant, while absolute consumption (and related negative impacts on natural resource use, the environment, education spending, etc.) soars. Luxury fever is one of a class of phenomena known by various names in different disciplines, including: negative externalities, social traps, social dilemmas, the prisoner's dilemma, and the tragedy of the commons. Frank cleverly labels these phenomena as situations that are "smart for one, but dumb for all." Once one begins to look, there are clear examples of these situations everywhere, ranging from drug addiction to pesticide overuse to arms races to environmental pollution and even women's fashions. While economists have recognized these phenomena, they have largely been relegated to the status of interesting but relatively minor anomalies. But Frank clearly points out just how pervasive, important, and wasteful they are, and how eliminating them can save literally billions of dollars while actually improving welfare. The "invisible hand" of the market cannot be relied upon to solve these problems, because, as Frank notes: "Far from being a principle that applies in most circumstances, the invisible hand is valid only in the special case in which each individual's rewards are completely independent of the choices made by others. In the rivalrous world we live in, precious few examples spring to mind." (pp 271) Frank's solution to luxury fever is a strongly progressive consumption tax. This could be done in the US with a simple one-line amendment in the tax code to exempt all savings from income taxation. With this modification, the income tax would tax only consumption, without having to specify which consumption was "luxury consumption" and (because of its steep progressivity) without adversely affecting the poor. This consumption tax would have the effect of increasing the costs to individuals of conspicuous consumption (and thus reducing it), while freeing up significant resources to pursue increased "inconspicuous consumption" - things like education, infrastructure, environmental protection, and family time. Given the psychology of relative consumption and satisfaction noted above, this could occur with absolutely no decrease in welfare. In fact, average life satisfaction would increase because relative individual consumption would not change and the neglected forms of social consumption could be increased with the resources from the tax. Why has so obvious a "win-win" move not already occurred, and what are its chances in the future? Frank answers the first part of this question with the famous joke about the economist who sees a ten dollar bill lying in the street and concludes that it couldn't really be a ten dollar bill because if it were someone would have already picked it up. The first step is to clearly and convincingly lay out the problem and the solution as Frank has done - in effect to point out the existence of the $10 bill just lying on the ground. But the idea of a broad consumption tax (and the reasons for it) has been around for many years. It was first proposed by Thomas Hobbes in 1651 and has surfaced many times during the last 300 years. Frank concludes that it will just be a matter of time before the obvious benefits of such a tax are recognized and the plan is implemented - after all, most political changes have a significant gestation period. But there are also obvious impediments to implementing such a tax in the current political climate. In political systems run more and more by special interests it is difficult to implement any policy that might hurt even one of those interests - even if only in the short run. Overcoming the political impediments to any form of meaningful tax reform will require "government by discussion" rather than by interest groups and media manipulation. If social issues of the importance of those in Frank's book can be discussed rationally by the society at large then such obvious social "win-win" solutions as ecological tax reform and a progressive consumption tax can be appreciated and implemented. In a few countries this kind of social discussion occurs reasonably well, but in most it is a far cry from the current political reality. Just as it is very difficult for an animal caught in a trap to free itself, it is also very difficult for a society caught in a social trap to free itself, even when the nature of the trap and the way out has been clearly identified. Lets hope we don't have to bite off our social foot to escape the invisible hand.

This book begins much better than it ends. I'm a longtime Ludlum fan (I've read every book he's ever done), and for awhile, I really thought the Ludlum of old was back. I thought MATARESE COUNTDOWN and APOCALYPSE WATCH were just bad dreams I could forget.

Nope. This one isn't much better. Ludlum does a great job hooking you with the premise, but then proceeds to go nowhere with it. The much vaunted "high tech" angle is rarely reflected in the plotline, which I thought got duller and duller as it went. It was a real struggle for me to finish the last 40 pages or so, because I just didn't care anymore.

Overall, it reads like a lukewarm rehash of Ludlum's earlier (and much better) book AQUITAINE PROGRESSION. The problem as I see it, is that the Ludlum of today no longer connects the twists and turns to the story. Instead, the characters just stagger around from city to city, country to country, with little rhyme or reason to be found.

Sigh. I think I'll go back now and re-read BOURNE IDENTITY.

A few books ago I'd given up on Ludlum. He seemed to be going through the motions - he used terms sloppily, let too many plot points sit unresolved, and his story lines started blurring from one book to the next.

I'm glad I took some time off, because The Prometheus Deception was a very welcome surprise. Based on earlier Ludlum works (the Bourne trilogy, Holcroft Covenant, etc.), I knew to expect a first-rate espionage yarn. What worried me going in was his ability to handle such a complex technological plot line.

Fortunately for us, he gets it right. From the crypto details to the massive amounts of data collected about individuals, Ludlum manages to weave together threads of various current topics and turn them into a thoroughly enjoyable story. For someone who's been writing these novels for more than 30 years, Ludlum manages to make it sound contemporary - an impressive feat.

Other reviewers have correctly noted that Nick Bryson is a bit too good to be true. Between his incredible physical prowess (after a five year hiatus no less!) coupled with his skill at eluding impossibly difficult situations, he's presented as the uber-spy. The twists do pile up - making it difficult at times to remember who's working for whom.

Overall, however, I found the story to move along well once we got through the preliminaries. By the way, I listened to this on my Rio (downloaded from audible.com) and thought that the narration was exceptionally well-done. Every character's accent & inflection was used to great effect, making the story even more engaging to listen to. Considering its length (nearly 15 hours), that was indispensable.

If you enjoy complex spy thrillers and are interested in seeing where today's technology fits in, then the Prometheus Deception should satisfy. The ending also invites at least a slim possibility that this could turn into another "franchise" for Ludlum... I wouldn't be surprised to see Nick et al. show up in a future novel.

Robert Ludlum is back!!! The Prometheus Deception is an extremely good book - among Ludlum's very best - and one that was difficult to put down. The true test of a novel is whether or not the reader, when faced with the choice between time spent sleeping versus reading, chooses to plow forward with the book late at night. The latest from Ludlum will likely cause yawns in the morning due to late-night reading. This book grabs the reader early and does not let go. It features Nicholas Bryson as an ex-intelligence field operative who is brought out of retirement to infiltrate his former organization. In the process, he is forced to face up to demons from his past, both professional and personal. Bryson, while outwardly cool and confident, displays a full spectrum of personal emotions that simultaneously drive him forward and fill him with doubt. All in all, the Prometheus Deception provides all of the action, suspense, frequent plot twists, and unexpected events that Ludlum aficionados have come to love in the spy-thriller genre. This is Ludlum's best effort in years. Unfortunately, his recent death will deprive fans of future work. I recommend that you read this book -- the only down side will be missed sleep!!