Never in my wildest dreams have I experienced such pleasure - and that includes practises in bed! I as a dctor myself have found this book invaluable in my further studies of Gynecologic Oncology. Since I was a kid, I've always wanted to read a book of such quality - Dickens and Shakespeare are terrible in comparison! Also, I have seen the brilliant Anthony Silverstone and find him extremely attractive - could you please send me a signed autograph of him. Thankyou

This little book is brilliant. I suffer from severe depression and although I am also content in Christ and am joy-ful, there are times when all I can do is groan and BE a prayer. And yes, of course you can be suffering depression as an illness and be full of joy!
This book starts with several chapters which are amongst the most sensible I have some across to do with depression. The chapters dealing with the use of the Psalms are very practical.
Psalm 13 was called by a friend of mine, 'The Depressives' Psalm.' Using this psalm in the book was of great comfort to me, for this friend misunderstands me and has turned away from me causing enormous grief.This grief has impacted on my depression greatly. Yet, as this book testifies, there is always hope in Christ, even in the deepest despair.I know there will be total reconciliation one day.
Thomas Lewis fully understands depression, first hand.

I used this book in my college Physics I class. It's great. I am planning on becoming a physics teacher and I definatly want to use this book to teach from!

About the book

Based on research questioning about 500 executives who took IPOs between 1986 and 1996. So, most IPOs came from companies who had been profitable for a few years. After the collapse of the Internet stocks, the context is similar, but I believe such profit records may not be as important as during 1986-96.

Published in 1999. So, it has comments to imply "being first makes the company valuable without profits".

About the authors and their style

Authors are experienced in their job of bringing IPOs.

This book is not at all in the class of books by Al Ries and Jack Trout, but more like a text book, covering every related point (from text book point of view). There is no prioritization or difference in emphasis of the importance of various issues involved.

Their diagram on cover of book is confusing because they have used 2-dimensions to show a linear 1-dimension process, which essentially are their recommended steps.

Book's Message

1. Define goal/success. IPO may not be the best way to achieve that.

2. Plan and start working on IPO at least one year ahead of the need.

3. Many specific to-do items: ·Revise salaries as variable salaries that include stocks rather than just cash. ·Plan personal estates. Give gifts before IPOs to family members to minimize future tax liability. Hire CPA for this planning. ·Hire Earnst & Young early. ·Clean books of accounts-use GAAP. ·Build strong executive team. ·Start working like a public company at least one year before-that is-create quarter-to-quarter profitability guidance and exceed them. Create reports such as needed by SEC. ·Build external Board. Create committees of Board members.

If you want to read just 7 pages, read these: 25, 37, 56, 65, 74, 108, 170

Aimed at executives considering an IPO, the 'IPO Value Journey' is also of use to staff in pre/post-IPO companies to understand about market perceptions of companies & ideal "success factors".

The lightly referenced, well structured chapters span: the CEO's journey; the journey's early vital steps; chart your transaction strategy; chart your personal strategy; create the winning team; complete your IPO platform; be the public company; the IPO event; and deliver the value. Useful appendices span: outline for a business plan; selecting the stock market; registration exemptions and resale restrictions; overview of the SEC and SEC rules and regulations; simplified registration under the small business disclosure system; and glossary.

Strengths include: the concise factual (dry) writing style; good use of exhibits and checklists; and useful easily-accessible content addressing legal, accounting, reporting, board issues (amongst others).

Weaknesses include: need for more sidebar success story anecdotes (which integrate the steps); mostly US focus; and relatively superficial analysis evidence supporting the success factors and 'journey' metaphor.

Overall, a very useful working book, to be read with something like 'Confessions of a Venture Capitalist' (ISBN 0446526800) or 'E-boys' (ISBN 0812930959), for a fuller life-cycle, energetic view of the IPO journey.

This was a highly readable discussion of the issues most companies will encounter during the 'going public' process. It conveys a lot of the experiences of preparing to go public that are not normally available in one book. Excellent coverage of strategy, accounting and reporting issues, SEC disclosure requirements, and the IPO event. Although the writing is accessible to a non technical reader, highly technical topics are well covered.

'The Changeling' is a play with an extremely complex structure- the plot seems to start off with the potential to develop it's dark themes but becomes preoccupied with the use of coup de theatre; such as the potion and the grisly deaths. Beatrice is shown in the first scene to understand innuendo and is able to respond in kind to Alsemero, but is later naive to De Flores' demands. THIS PLAY IS UNBELIEVABLE AND STUPID!

Firstly, thanks to Joost Daadler for his stunning introduction to the edition I read of 'The Changeling'. The in-depth analysis of the psychological disturbances and functions that exist within the play (such as the ID and the unconscious dropping of the glove, etc.), help expand 'The Changeling' into a lot more than just (though this would be no bad thing!) a morality play where an orthodox Christian message runs predominant. I have never read a play that reduces the human to the bestial in such an intense and forceful manner, not shying away from the painful and somewhat humiliating view that human kind are more or less governed by their instincts; sexual impulse being one such motivating factor that can rid a human of any intellect ot reason that is supposed to constitute 'humanity' in the first place. This ia must read and not just a moral, didactic play either. It is not condemning sexuality but pleading with us that it must be understood. Overall, it is a tragedy that really challenges its reader into thinking hard about whether certain characters (e.g. Beatrice) can be more sympathised with than maybe one thought upon first reading. Read it!

Anyone who thinks centuries-old tragedies aren't relevant to modern times should read "The Changeling." With a few very minor adjustments, the plot and characters in this play could come right out of a modern crime novel, or even a modern true-crime story.

This is one of those plays where you read because you're more interested about what happens to the bad guy (and the bad gal) than what happens to the good guys. (Alsemero who! ) I envy the performers who get to play DeFlores and Beatrice-Joanna.

A lot of scholarly treatises about the play criticized the humorous subplot, claiming that it had no relevance and no connection to the main plot. My response is, "Hell-o! Is anybody home?" OK, that wasn't a scholarly response, but any scholar who can't see the thematic connection (characters who mask their true natures versus characters in disguise) doesn't deserve a scholarly response.

Anne M. Marble All About Romance

For a man of whom Gen MacArthur stated "I believe that no, repeat, no officer suggested for promotion to General has rendered more outstanding and brilliant service than Kenney... Nothing that Spaatz or any other air officer has accomplished in the war compares to what Kenney has contributed and none in my opinion is his equal in ability", surprisingly little has been written about this innovative and charismatic air power proponent. Griffith changes that with this well written, fast-paced biography. While not a comprehensive biography, Griffith focuses on Kenney's leadership in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II. Taking command of a weary, demoralized group of flyers in which MacArthur had lost confidence, and turning them into an offensive-minded, hard-charging unit was perhaps Kenney's greatest victory. Griffith clearly explores Kenney's philosophy of how to train and treat his men as well as the five point of his air power formula. Over and over again Griffith points out how Kenney stuck to his formula with resultant success against the Japanese war machine. While lacking the depth and completeness of an exhaustive biography, Griffith's book is nonetheless the best and most balanced account of General George Kenney's life to date; especially regarding his role as air component commander in the Southwest Pacific. The rather abrupt ending of the book at the conclusion of WW II leaves the reader wanting more and perhaps some future writer will examine Kenney's post-war life. Regardless, MacArthur's Airman is an excellent place for one to start any research on this superb, somewhat neglected air commander who was instrumental in turning the tide against the Japanese in World War II.

The descendants of William the Conqueror remained on the throne in England until the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, and while the victor, crowned Henry VII, had Lancastrian ancestry to give legitimacy to his claims, he founded what was more or less a new dynasty. And while there have been a great many books written about the three Tudor generations in power, not much has been published in accessible form on their deeply Welsh roots. Professor Griffiths pays special attention to the activities of Henry Tudor and his near relatives in exile, of particular interest (to me) are the several excellent chapters on the Celtic genesis of the family, the connection with Owen Glendower, and the marriage connections they established.

An experiment of sorts, this fictionalized biography or biographical novel (take your pick) concerns the life of a London "dandy" who dabbled without much distinction as a writer and as a painter and then finally gained widespread attention when, accused of forgery and suspected of murder, he fled the country and was ultimately captured and exiled to Tasmania. Motion, an acclaimed poet and biographer, alternates the fictional narrative (in the form of a "confession" by the subject himself) with "notes" detailing what the historical record actually seems to say. The notes are not merely documentary evidence; instead, they are fragments that, together, form a sort of rough draft for a traditional biography.

The experiment is a qualified success. Since there exists far more invention about Wainewright than fact, the format does allow Motion the opportunity both to imagine a life through the subject's own eyes and to present far more speculation than he could in a traditional biography. Still, this is the first time I've found a book's notes more captivating than the text. Furthermore, the patience of many a reader will be tried by the constant flipping back and forth between the fictional narrative and the supporting material, which is fairly necessary to understand what's going on.

The appeal of this volume, ultimately, will depend on the reader's interest in the character of Wainewright himself, and especially in the man's apparently infinite self-regard. In an 1867 biographical account, Walter Thornbury called Wainewright an "insufferable fop," and Oscar Wilde characterized Wainewright as "a young dandy [who] sought to be somebody rather than do something." Motion's account supports both of these assessments quite solidly.

Part of the allure of Wainewright's story has always been the prominence of the company he kept; he was friends or acquaintances with several of the Romantic poets (particular Blake), as well as artists Henry Fuseli and Theodore von Holst and "London Magazine" regulars Charles Lamb, Thomas de Quincey, and William Hazlitt. Although Motion offers a passable account of the history of the magazine and the writing that appeared in its pages, including Wainewright's own meager contributions, he provides only one or two fictional paragraphs--and a complementary note--portraying each of the major figures in this milieu. Since I was led to believe (or perhaps I presumed) that the book would offer a broader survey of the Romantic crowd, I found these cursory portraits rather disappointing.

Ultimately, though, Wainewright himself is a third-rate Romantic writer and a deservedly neglected painter. Motion's experiment attempts to raise questions about the nature of biography, and he examines in an afterword how the facts, suppositions, and grotesque inventions surrounding Wainewright's life and crimes captured the Victorian imagination. The fascination with his notoriety continues to this day: it's not for nothing that Motion calls his book "Wainewright the Poisoner" rather than "Wainewright the Romantic." Yet, if Bulwer Lytton, Dickens, Wilde, and other writers (including Motion) had not demonized Wainewright or embellished his misdeeds, then surely the man would have been little more than a footnote in surveys of the Romantic period--if that. Motion never seems to concede that Wainewright's ignominy has in fact given both his art and his writing a longevity it doesn't deserve, and this book adds to the legend as much as it clarifies it.

A strange amalgam of fiction and non-fiction, this book is marketed as the fictional confession of a real, and, one would think, endlessly fascinating, character--writer, painter, swindler, companion of famous Romantic authors, probable murderer, and criminal transported to Tasmania. Publishers highlight the fact that Andrew Motion, the author, is both Poet Laureate of Great Britain and a professor of creative writing, and words such as "brilliant," "memorable," "engaging," and "convincing" attach to the book and appear in reviews. With credentials like these, this book should be one of the most vivid and exciting reading experiences of the year, if not the decade.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. The book is so much like a doctoral dissertation that the reader never gets close to the subject. The voice of Wainewright, done extremely well in the formal language of the period, nevertheless keeps him at an unbridgeable distance. Wainewright himself never admits his crimes--in fact, does not even recognize them as crimes--and seems to be solely concerned with his own ends, not characteristics allowing for reader identification. Most unfortunately, footnotes so heavily burden the narrative they constitute almost as many pages as the novel itself, and they bring any flow the author does create to a juddering stop. Appearing at the end of every chapter, rather than at the end of the book, they act as deadweights throughout.

Andrew Motion is a respected biographer who has chosen to write this "novel" because it's the only way he can fill in the gaps in the real Wainewright's shadowy history, but he is too much the conscientious scholar to be able to exploit the privileges which fiction allows him. We end up, ironically, with a slow, footnoted, scholarly account of Wainewright, a man who lived almost totally in the moment.

In books which really captivate me, I often dog-ear the lower corner of pages with particularly memorable phrases; a terrible habit, I know, but this book ended up ended up with a good many dog-eared pages. This is partly due to Mr. Motion's own unquestioned talent; I have little doubt that his prose is far more readable and entertaining than anything ever written by Wainewright himselves...

The life story, though, is Wainewright's, and with Motion's borrowed voice to animate his own hastily drawn self-portrait, Wainewright regains life long enough to become unforgettable. He was clearly a very talented painter, and enough positive testimonials of his later life in Australia survive to refute the cartoonish vilification under which his name shrank in his native land. Guilty of forgery, guilty perhaps of worse, he was also a glib and resourceful man, one who never lost interest in the art he chose as his calling and who kept drawing and painting nearly right up to his lonely death on faraway shores.

I personally felt the book gained speed and interest beginning in chapter 10, when Wainewright's own life became more difficult and he became, perhaps, more contemplative, just as Mr. Motion's writing did from that point on.

The story of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright should be a fascinating read--the idea of a chirasmatic, possibly murderous swindler at the heart of Victorian letters is certainly attractive. However, the execution, using the convoluted prose of the 19th century, but without the subtlety or wit, is profoundly flawed.

The footnotes, which develop the historical basis for what is essential several hundred pages of whining, are actually more interesting than the novel itself, and show what Motion, a competent and conscientious historian, is capable of when he does not hamstring himself by setting up too restrictive a scenario. Motion is obviously not comfortable portraying the literary giants with whom Wainewright interacts, and so he shows them only through the jaundiced (and totally unsympathetic) eye of Wainewright himself. The footnotes are essential in figuring out where Wainewright is sowing truth into his lies, but frankly, I was not able to become interested in Wainewright enough to care about when he tells the truth, and when he lies.

Those interested in this genre of historical fiction are encouraged to check out Tim Powers, who manages to portray historical figures more realistically and sympathetically, even when he's throwing ghosts and vampires into the mix.

This is a strange animal, neither fish nor fowl. The book is marketed as the fictional confession of a real, and seemingly fascinating, character--writer, painter, swindler, companion of famous Romantic authors, probable murderer, and criminal transported to Tasmania. Publishers highlight the fact that Andrew Motion, the author, is both Poet Laureate of Great Britain and a professor of creative writing, and words such as "brilliant," "memorable," "engaging," and "convincing" attach to the book and appear in reviews. With credentials like these, this book should be one of the most vivid and exciting reading experiences of the year, if not the decade.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. The book is so erudite--so like a doctoral dissertation--that the reader never gets close to the subject. The voice of Wainewright, done extremely well in the formal language of the period, nevertheless keeps him at an unbridgeable distance. Wainewright himself never admits his crimes--in fact, does not even recognize them as crimes--and seems to be solely concerned with his own ends, not characteristics allowing for reader identification. Most unfortunately, footnotes so heavily burden the narrative they constitute almost as many pages as the novel itself, and they bring any flow the author does create to a juddering stop. Appearing at the end of every chapter, rather than at the end of the book, they act as deadweights throughout.

Andrew Motion is a respected biographer who appears to have chosen to write a novel because it's the only way he can fill in the gaps in Wainewright's shadowy history, but he is too much the conscientious scholar to be able to exploit the privileges which fiction allows him. We end up, ironically, with a footnoted, scholarly account of Wainewright, a man who lived almost totally in the moment.

Andrew Motion has blended two of my favorite genres -- true crime and historical biography -- then wrapped the whole in a carefully crafted and very clever fictional fabric. Surprisingly, "Wainewright the Poisoner" holds up on all levels: as a deft work of literature, an insightful biography and a masterful mystery. I enjoyed the brief, incise chapters of the "Confession" followed by the scholarly footnotes liming the real Wainewright (as available from exisiting sources), the times in which he lived and the extraordinary cast of characters (real) with whom he associated, ranging from Byron and Blake to the inmates of that prison island, Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania). The ease with which Motion moves from the scholarly to flights of fancy (his own as well as the unstable Wainewright's) makes this book one of the most satisfactory, and unusal, reading experiences I've had in quite some time. Very well done, well done indeed.