In this 7th outing, the town of Castlemere is being attacked, but no one knows why. Threats are being made that the perp will do great harm to the populace and Liz Grahame, the DI, must find out who it is before he/she makes good on the threats. In the meantime, Donovan is off recuperating from wounds suffered in the previous outing.

This is one of the best British procedurals around. It is best to start with the first entry so you can see the characters develop over the years. Bannister is an excellent writer, the plots are complex without being obtuse, and Bannister has the reader present as each new piece of evidence is put into mix.

If the series has a flaw, it is the subplots featuring Donovan that the author has begun putting into each book. While the circumstances change, the result is the same - Donovan is the unwitting hero.

The timing of the first incident in the American supermarket in Castlemere, England could not have been better planned. Since Detective Sergeant Cal Donovan is on leave recovering from a bullet wound and a nasty cold, he takes his narrowboat Tara and goes off on one of his watery holidays. Superintendent Frank Shapiro also recovering from a bullet has just returned to the desk, but is not cleared for any other duty. That leaves Detective Inspector Liz Graham as the sole field operator of the successful trio.

The supermarket occurrence involved the threat of poisoning yoghurt. The tampering of the high school showers follows the food incident. Though seemingly harmless pranks, the Castlemere police take it very seriously especially when a woman's hands are burned by baby powder. The supermarket head office sends Mitchell Tyler to help the police stop a devious criminal. The brass calls Donovan back to duty to assist with a town on the verge of uncontrollable panic and hysteria, but the law enforcement official apparently is dead.

CHANGELINGS is the seventh delightful appearance of the Castlemere trio. This book is an exciting police procedural that focuses on the conflict between "punish the guilty" vs. "protect the innocent." The story line provides a great understanding of the prime players so that series fans learn more about their heroes while new readers gain insight into the various character traits of the threesome. The plot succeeds because the maniacal thug feels genuine and his actions plausible (think the Tokyo subway a few years ago). Jo Bannister continues to expertly write tales that are some of the sub-genre's best novels.

Harriet Klausner

I abhorred History when I was at school. When I've matured and grown more realist I've started to consider the importance of history to try understand what happens around me. I started with The Penguin History of the World" by J.M. Roberts; I don't recommend that book for beginners though it's a good book (I actually hadn't courage enough to finish it, it exists in audiobook too). This book is written by five american scholars which I think gives it a more general scope than others written by a single author. It includes a CD-ROM with the whole book plus a multimedia summary of human history read by a beautiful voice, photographs, Questionnaires, Quizzes, maps and the Complete Webster's New World Dictionary. There's an exclusive webpage for the book with quizzes, add-on reports and links to other history websites, there you can have your questions answered and your exercises corrected (I haven't used it yet though). Sincerely I didn't expect this book to be so good. The CD-ROM is the same for each of the separate books or for the complete version, so, buying the first or second part alone you have the full CD-ROM encompassing all world history.

No book captures the authentity of world civilizations as this one does. A masterpiece

This book is focusing on saliva assessment especially on determination of corticosteroides, cortisol and cortisone.

A variety of sampling techniques are present and many testing methods, like R.I.A., are simply predesribed.

For detailed descriptions of these methods the necessary reference informations are given.

Normal or excess value levels of the corticosteroides are given, also their presence is well explained depending to the syndrom.

It is a useful reference book and starting point for researchers focusing on saliva.

This book was a gift and I had never heard of the author before, but from the very start I was hooked on the story and the interplay between characters. The end was a nicely brought off suprise. Based on this book I have ordered her other books and can't wait for them to arrive. I'm sure that they will be a great summer's read like this one was.

This is my first look at Jo Bannister's "Castlemere" police procedural series and I was very impressed with the quality of the writing as well as the overall plot; the authors characterizations are excellent instead of being the usual caricatures; based on this one book I would rate the "Castlemere" series as "don't miss it!!" It's a distinct pleasure to be introduced to a new series by a book this good, one of the best of the 300 plus mysteries I read each year.

This is an outstanding book that provides an interdependent perspective of the processes that have shaped our world with a comprehensive coverage of the four great valley civilizations of Africa and Asia plus the two early civilizations of America. Technological advances are considered from a comparative global perspective. It provides an exceptional treatment of the different civilizations that have existed in World History.

Review of the Bulgarian Geological Society (59/1), February 1999 "The acting engineers, scientists and university students, not in petroleum science only, should have use of this book. It will also be useful for those trying to match the terminology in order to gain best understanding in the diverse multilanguage petroleum community in the world. "

ASLIB Book Guide, Volume 63, No. 12, December 1998 "...This is a well-organised presentation of the concepts and activities involved in oil and gas recovery, from exploration and development to production, management and decommissioning. "

AAPG Bulletin Vol. 83, no. 3, R.F. Ehinger, February 1999 "...This book will be a good reference source for companies engaged in international operations..."

Marine and Petroleum Geology, D.G. Roberts, 1999 "...Reviewing this book was a pleasure and I gained some new perspectives. I can highly recommend the book to any graduate students wishing to enter oil exploration and production as well as new entrants. And also indeed to practising scientists in the oil industry who wish to gain a wider view outside their area os specialism. Non-technical professionals will also find the book of equal value. ...will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any professional in the exploration and production business. "

Australian Mineral Foundation Alert "This publication is an excellent practical guide and would be of great value to anyone wishing to attain an overview of the hydrocarbon exploration and production process, particularly those studying petroleum geoscience at university level. "

Dialog, 15 May 1998 "...I consider that the principal authors have achieved their goal of providing an introduction to the upstream industry in its broadest sense, an aspiration that has been facilitated by the synopsis of commercial relevance that precedes each chapter. (...) I am pleased to commend this work to those who are seeking to acquire or develop laterally a base knowledge of the practices of the upstream sector of the hydrocarbon industry. "

Australian Mineral Foundation Alert, 1999 "...This publication is an excellent practical guide and would be of great value to anyone wishing to attain an overview of the hydrocarbon exploration and production process, particularly those studying petroleum geoscience at university level. "

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, A.E. Gurevich and G.V. Chilingar, 1999

"....It was a real pleasure to read this book - an actual concise encyclopedia of the modern upstream petroleum industry in all its activities. (...) Its lucid presentation of the whole upstream petroleum industry operatons as a holistic logical process motivated and controlled by a combination of geological, technical, and economical reasons makes this book an utmost necessity for a college student, beginner in the petroleum profession, as well as experienced professional in a narrow field of petroleum industry. "

Bannister has written a classic British police procedural. She has also addressed a very difficult subject - rape - with sensitivity and provided a viewpoint not often seen. Her characters are well-drawn and likable - even the minor ones. There's little mystery, but "watching" the two major characters in this outing solve the crime is fascinating.

Having gulped the second and third volumes of Jo Bannister's Castlemere CID series in 24 hours, I am dizzy with admiration for this first-rate author. CHARISMA's plot includes a serial killer, a traveling preacher, the IRA, and a drug ring. A TASTE FOR BURNING includes a pyromaniac, a fascist-turned-animal-activist, a police cover-up, and the relationships between fathers and sons. Both are well-plotted and well-written, but that's beside the point. What makes this series a winner are its wit, its grit, and its characterization. The humor is dry and ironic. The portrayal of CID work in a small depressed British town is gritty and realistic; it is the very opposite of the cliche British village mystery--more like a small town version of "Prime Suspect" (the Helen Mirren series on PBS). The characterization is superb, especially the three sleuths: Chief Inspector Frank Shapiro, Inspector Liz Graham, and Sargeant Cal Donovan. Each is distinct, interesting but realistic, likeable yet flawed, and their relationships with each other and other characters are no small part of the appeal of this series. Readers of British procedurals ready for a dose of contemporary reality as well as readers of American procedurals ready for a jaunt abroad should enjoy this really well-written series. As for me, I'm going to buy #1 (A BLEEDING OF INNOCENTS) and #4 (NO BIRDS SING) immediately, and #5 (BROKEN LINES) just as soon as it gets into paperback!

Graham is a patient logical thinker who explains his methods meticulously.Don't look here for a get rich quick scheme.If you love the markets, and already have a basic knowledge of stocks and bonds,this book will give you a good base of reference to discern true value and keep from being caught up in the latest fad.Written with the benefit of hindsight after the Crash of 29,it is a must read.It is not light reading,yet sticking with it proves very rewarding.

This is book has been updated many times (through the fifth edition). If you have read the latest edition, and believe you have read anything like the original, go back and read this one. Once you have read 'Old Ben', you will find other editions very disappointing. That could be why Warren Buffet suggested going back to the original if you want to know what value investing is all about.

Current investment practice, and later editions of this book concentrate on the one thing that Graham said was, if not impossible, very non-productive - estimating future earnings. This book concentrates on understanding proven value. Where one spends most of its time on the income statement, this book spends most of its time on the balance sheet. There is a world of difference, and the difference leads to a much different portfolio, and future.

There is, as the author points out repeatedly, a difference between investment and speculation. There is also a difference between helpful discussion and meaningful analysis. The original edition is full of meaning, written by a practitioner who also could teach. Later editions (especially the fifth) make me wonder how much of the master's works the new authors read before starting. It also makes me question how much influence Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette and Autanet exercised in return for their grant to finance the book.

If you want a great book on investing read the original. It will give you much more insight and at least twice as much 'food for thought'.

Someone wrote reviews to this book indicating that the major downside to it is its age. The book was written in 1934 therefore it misses all the modern developments of finance - modern portfolio theory for example - and all the new techniques that Wall Street "experts" use today.

As an answer I give an anecdote from Warren Buffett's life:
When stock investments started to become popular, the volume increased ten fold, and the modern techniques to make a profit were developed, Warren Buffet was extremely worried. He remembered what happened in 1929. He loathed the new trends in investment that tried to predict the future price of a stock. Therefore he had a meeting with all his fellow Graham students, he expressly forbid to bring anything newer than the 1934 edition of Security Analysis.

This happened decades ago, but history repeats. We all know what happened 3 years ago. We all know how "experts" thought that the market was booming, and how they let it crash. We all know how they made a profit on the money that private investors lost.

Nowadays when I go shopping for a book I always look at the date of pubblication, if it is between 1997 and 2000 I'm very wary. All those books about "new economy", "digital era", "e-commerce", "dot coms", etc. have to be taken with the maximum attention. Usually they contain a lot of inflated ideas that as we look at what happened after they were written we understand how much those "experts" really understand about stock investments.

If they were wrong then, why should they be righ now?
Trust me, but more importantly, trust Graham, trust Buffett, (those that have been consistently right for 50 years) this is the book to buy, "anything newer looks suspicious."