This work provides an excellent overview of the field of regulation from an economic point of view. The primary focus is economic rather than institutional -- as a result it is more appropriate for economists than for legal scholars. Although the book does not require extensive training in economics, it does assume some formal knowledge of basic economic concepts. Since its focus is economic, little time is spent discussing legal cases surrounding many of the regulations compared with, for example, Law, Business, and Society, by McAdams, et. al.

Good, engrossing read on the events surrounding the capture of Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, and the discovery of the house of horrors of the Wilseyville Ranch. The book is well laid out and easy to follow and for that I give it high marks. However, I found it lacking in any true background information on Lake and Ng. There's no insight as to who they were, just what they did. Part of the reason I read such novels as this is to find out what happened to shape people into the beasts they become. There was none of that here. Also, the character of Tomasina Boyd Clancy, the reporter and the only fictional character in the book, just rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was because I knew she didn't exist, and knowing that the authors discription of her being a knock out red head, and the unusual name made it all so obvious. She completely unnecessary and her thoughts during the hearings at the end just got in the way of the otherwise riviting speech of the lawyers. Finally, I was somewhat surprised in the Author's Note at the end the calls for the retirement of the Death Penalty not because it was inhumane, but because the fight to avoid it by the accused usually ends up in a long and costly trial. While the points certainly have their validity, reading them at the end of such a tale is almost unbelieveable. I had to reread the last paragraph several times to make sure I had read what I had read. And for those final points I had to mark down this book.

My sympathies go out to Mr. Bond and his family. I hope they can rest a little easier knowing that Ng has finally gone to trial.

Just as David Bond explained, I was also very surprised on the amount of information the authors had since even family members were "left in the dark". We found out that in 1995 the State of California had 95% identified the remains of my sister Sheryl Lynn Okoro but did not receive that news or her remains until after the trial started in November of 1999. And only then did we find out from a reporter who had been sitting in on the trial! She was finally brought home and laid to rest in December 1999, 14 years after her death. The book answered alot of the questions our family had and it shed some light on the monsters who took the lives of our loved ones. Once I started reading I could not put it down. Very engrossing. My heart extends to all families who have yet to endure our nightmare.

The jury just found Ng guilty on 11 counts of murder and are now hearing evidence for the penalty phase -- death or life without parole -- this is in response to prior reviewer's request for more current info. I prepared transcripts for the court reporter during four years Ng was in Calaveras County, and it is chilling to read the case in this format -- adds the drama that is not always evident from a transcript. Publisher needs to reprint, especially since it is back as front-page news and the saga of the appeals is about to start.

A very interesting look at the way a profiler creates his profiles of murderers and other criminals (most of whom seem to be mentally-ill). There are a number of spelling, grammatical, and other editing errors that sometimes make it confusing or hard-to-read. In a book produced by a publisher known for its scientific titles, I expected more care.

In this engrossing book Russell Vorpagel instructs a class in death investigation. He uses some known (and some no-so-known) cases to teach his class (and the reader) about some of the intricacies of death investigation, which include critical thinking in solving cases in profiling. One of the major strengths of this book is Vorpagel's use of a myriad of cases to demonstrate his points. His instruction to his class followed by a case study demonstrates his points in full detail. This book is "must read" for anyone interested in death investigation and profiling.

This is one of the best profiling books I have read. It doesn't focus so much on the profiler's life as it does on actual case history, which is what I prefer. I never got bored with this one as I have with others that tend to focus on the feelings and sometimes the professional jelousies between the FBI profilers. I would love to read another book of case stories by this team.

The typographical errors and mispellings in this book are so bad that I stopped reading it halfway through. Combine that with the fact that much of this book is regurgitated court transcripts and you end up with a book that is an awful reading experience.

I just finished reading Death of an Angel by Joseph Harrington. I was most impressed with the clarity and compassion of Mr. Harrington's writing. I have read various true crime books,and found many of them to be simply pages of facts and no meaningful theme. Mr. Harrington presents a compassionate look into the lives of those involved in this tragedy while skillfully weaving the important facts into the story. He took a complex puzzle and put it together perfectly! I highly recommend reading this book. It's one you won't put down until you have you have read the last word on the last page.

I have read so-called true crime since the classic "In Cold Blood," but even Truman Capote and, later, Norman Mailer, in "The Executioner's Song," failed to bootstrap the genre out of gore as its main attraction. (The rest of the practitioners follow a well-worn formula as interesting as a Danielle Steele soap.) Now along comes this book, Death of an Angel. Is it really true crime? Hey! It's about a notorious crime, but one in which the judge overruled the jury and let the perps off. What it's really about, and why everyone's talking about it, is that it gets into police work and under the carpet of the DA's office in a way that even "Law & Order" doesn't do.
OK, the formulaic Date, Time, Place at the beginning of each chapter and episode seems like a cop-out -- pardon the expression -- but in this cop-heavy report full of all sorts of twists and turns it turns out to be a pleasant guide to events.
This is a thoughtful read, so unusual in any crime book. In fact, I quickly forgot about the crime in following the fast-paced action of police procedural. The all-too-human reactions to this hideous event come through, but not garishly.
"Death of an Angel" has so manyn things going for it I wouldn't be surprised if it found a dozen different audiences. It's a book I will keep around.

Tooth and Nail, Charles Ester and Joseph Elliot. New York: Harcourt, 1994. 283.

The book Tooth and Nail, written by Charles Ester and Joseph Elliot, is a mystery novel which is designed to enhance the reader's SAT vocabulary, with high level words written in bold print and included in a glossary in the back of the book.

Tooth and Nail is a mystery set in fictitious Holyfield College where a benefactor who recently died (Edward Prospero) has willed the college library a collection of rare and priceless books. It follows three students, one of whom had interned for Prospero before his death, and a professor as they pursue the rarest of all the books through a literary puzzle that prospero left behind. The team also has to work against a mysterious attacker who the protagonists believe to be prospero's grandson Teddy. This mystery man is willing to go as far as to kill for the priceless book.

Reading Tooth and Nail proves to be a much more interesting way to augment one's vocabulary than memorizing endless lists of words as done in the past. The book is written in third person and gives detailed descriptions of settings and characters, but does sometimes sound bombastic. It seems as though some of the descriptions were written only to use more vocabulary words. The book achieves its goal of teaching vocabulary to the reader, but does not have an extremely interesting plot.

Overall, tooth and nail is an interesting way to learn SAT vocabulary without having to read and memorize lists of words. However, if one read the book for entertainment purposes only, they would most likely become bored by the long descriptions and would probably find the plot to be predictable.

I was required to read Tooth and Nail for my etymology class. The whole purpose of this class is to learn vocabulary for the SAT. While my verbal score did increase, it wasn't because of reading the book. The idea is a good one: using words in context is one of the best ways to learn words, in my opinion. But, as many reviews have already stated, it was extremely tedious having to flip through the back of the book just to see what the word means. I noticed that the longer I read, the less I flipped through the back.

The authors call Tooth & Nail a mystery novel, yet the "mystery" part only compromises the last 40% or so of the book. The preceding stuff is just garbage -- extremely slow exposition. There is even a chapter (the "radio chat" for those of you that have read this book) that serves ABSOLUTELY no purpose, other than to cram in words. That's fine and dandy, except one thing: the less interesting a book gets, the less likely you'll finish it. You can tell that the authors haven't visited a college campus for a while (yet, I think they put forth valiant effort trying to make it seem real.)

Indeed, I augmented my lexicon from taking etymology, but most of it was from a wordlist book. Contrary to what many people say, word-books are a good way to learn lists of words, so long as they provide exercises---this is what I recommend instead of (or at LEAST in addition to) this book.

Tooth and Nail. Charles Herrington Elster and Joseph Elliot. New York: Harcott, 1994. 283.

The book, Tooth and Nail, was written by Charles Elster and Joseph Elliot to prepare the reader for the verbal part of the SAT by expanding the reader's vocabulary. This book was about three college students trying to solve a mysery that had a big reward at the end which was coveted by an unknown adversary. After reading the book, I found it to be great for learning new words and improving reading comprehension.
In the form of a mystery novel, Tooth and Nail is actually a guide to many challenging SAT vocabulary words. Each bold word in the novel is defined in the back of the book in the glossary, some of which have synonyms. By reading a word in context and then looking up its definition in the back, the reader will learn new words faster and more efficiently than he would studying a list of endless words. More than twelve hundred upper-level words show up in the book that have popped up on numerous SATs, and will strengthen vocabulary based on the level of enthusiasm put forth to study them.
On recieving a letter from the deceased, Propero, Phil, Caitlin and Leo go on a treasure hunt to search for a priceless, truth-revealing item. Although they are excited and eager to get started, nothing could have prepared them for what they are about to encounter. While searching for each clue, Phil and Caitlin were followed by a creepy fellow who tried assaulting them. This angered the group because they knew someone was hot on their trail that knew what they were searching for and the value of it. With this new information, they realized finding the treasure wouldn't be a piece of cake.
By reading the book, I believe I have increased my vocabulary tremendously and think it has prepared me for the verbal part of the SAT very well. By taking this into consideration, I think the book has fully achieved its goal. Compared to other books that have preparation for the SAT, I believe Tooth and Nail is right up there with the rest of them. For increasing vocabulary and reading comprehension, it is one of the best books out there. I like that there are bold words that are defined in the back and how the author switches the characters' thoughts back and forth simultaneously. The author describes the setting so vividly with every minute detail, that it feels like I have actually been to the campus before. The character's body and facial expressiones and stature are so clear that I can picture them in my mind exactly how they look.
All in all, Tooth and Nail is a solid, tenacious book that provides the reader with a promising vocabulary, improved reading comprehension and an interesting mystery that is fun to read, all combined into one. After reading this book, I believe I am now prepared for the verbal part of the SAT in both aspects of vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Nothing is all bad. This book provides about 40 photos of Nisei GIs serving during WWII. It also lists the names of many AJA soldiers (Americans of Japanese Ancestry). However, the reader is generally left to speculate about who, what, when, where and why. Harrington hops all over the map and the calendar, even within a single paragraph. This may have been intended to cover "demonic" research.

A promotional quote on the book's dust cover states: "Kenneth Littauer... when asked what kind of researcher Harrington was, responded with `A demon!'" This seems like an odd comment until one reads his book. YANKEE SAMURAI reads more like an incoherent collection of notes from phone interviews than the fruits of exhaustive research. Harrington's attempts to demonize ADM Nimitz, the USN and the USMC are unsupported in his book.

Harrington claims to be a retired CPO (presumably from the USN), although he does not reveal when he served nor in what specialty. Based upon his acerbic opinions of the USN and USMC, one can conclude that his naval service was a bitter experience for him. His effort seems directed more toward demeaning the USN and USMC than to providing a credible history of service by AJAs.

Harrington's rambling sentence construction is frequently so tortured that the meaning is lost. This barely literate author is apparently inclined more toward histrionics than histriography. The AJAs who served their country deserve better, as do those who are drawn in by the hype on the cover.

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and the efforts of the author, Joseph Harrington, the accomplishments of the over 5,000 Nisei to the American victory of Japan are now documented. Virtually unknown before the publication of this book, these loyal Americans volunteered from the concentration camps their families had been condemned to by Executive order 9066 in 1942. By using their knowledge of the Japanese language, U.S. intelligence knew the order of battle of Japanese forces in the Pacific almost down to the level of sergeants and corporals. This book recounts the many personal experiences of the men who so gallantly served the United States in the Pacific war, and who were commended by General MacArthur's staff for shortening the war by two years and saving a million American casualties. They have even been honored by the Japanese government! It has been my honor to know many of these fine men personally through the MIS Service Club of Southern California. All Americans, especially those who still think of Nisei as "Japanese" need to read this book, and find out what the color of honor is all about.

Harrington and Burger waste a lot of time, and my money, in this book without an end. When detailing the crimes, they become rather coy and worried about being overly sensational. I appreciate that many books become lurid in their description of crimes, but Harrington and Burger are almost shy in their description.

The real mass of the book is an endless litany about how long it takes to get Ng to trial, and in fact, the trial hasn't even begun when this book ends. The authors endlessly quote sources, to the point that the reader just wants to cry.

I am still trying to figure-out the reason for this book. It basically tells the reader nothing, and doesn't inform in any way.

Don't waste your money.

The trial was only half over when the book ends. Yes, Ng was found guilty but the penalty phase of the trial remained. After 14 years, couldn't the authors (and publishers) waited a few more months? I found the account and analysis of the legal wrangling simplistic and shallow.

Among true life crime stories, this one gets high ratings for effort and its choice of the most sensational subject matter. The perpetrators of the hideous crimes described in these pages make Ted Bundy look like a boy scout. The two villains of the case stalk and capture their victims, force some of them into sexual slavery, torture them in a variety of ways. These miscreants have no moral limits, taunting a mother with the threat of killing her baby (which turns out to be no idle threat) while they force her to perform sexual acts on film. Men, women, and children (even whole families) disappear from various California locales and end up savaged by the brutal world of Leonard Lake and Charlie Ng. Aside from sexual perversion, robbery and theft of identity are the other motives of these crazed killers. The gruesome stuff occupies the first half of the book and includes descriptions and narratives of the various law enforcement agencies involved in the case.

A key ingredient of this book is the very size of the case, which presents giant hurdles for the police and prosecutors who must bring the case against Charlie Ng. Fortunately for law enforcement and victims, one of these murderers commits suicide when first apprehended. But the remaining killer, Charlie Ng, flees to Canada to escape the possible death penalty in the U.S. Charlie Ng is a master of gaming with the legal system, firing his lawyers, stalling, engaging in other delaying tactics at the expense of the victims and the legal system. The legal manipulations get so bad that an appeal goes beyond the Canadian high courts to the United Nations committee on Human Rights. Although the murders were committed in 1984, it's not until 1998 that Ng actually goes to trial. The sheer size of the case is staggering, and the legal system is in danger of collapse from its crushing weight and the tremendous financial burdens imposed upon the authorities.

The last section of the book is devoted to ideas and commentary on reform of the judicial system. On the whole, this is an ambitious book, but it chokes on the same bones that the legal system uncovers during its investigations. There's too much of everything to consider: too many murders, too many people, too many clues and crime scenes. Another reason for what occasionally seems a disjointed approach may be that it was written by two authors. Though some readers might need to bypass the nauseating details of the crimes, this is worthwhile news reporting of a case that occupied the public attention for more than a decade and resulted in several network television documentaries. The book's commentary and critcism of the legal system have an appeal and relevance to crime victims and their families, as well as to officers of the courts.

Harrington's text has been the backbone of a majority of undergraduate (and beginning graduate) Medieval Latin courses in the United States for several generations now, and it has, despite some serious deficiencies, worn relatively well. The passages were thoughtfully chosen, minimally edited and annotated, and presented with spare introductions providing just enough context to get on with the business of reading. In a field as wide as Medieval Latin, there are bound to be differences of opinion on what should be included, and if one is interested primarily in patristic or diplomatic Latin, it's probably a good idea to look elsewhere. But what was there was mostly adequate. The occasional textual problems were annoying, but fairly infrequent.

Pucci's new edition gives this flawed classic a fatal makeover. The new edition is endowed with a superior introduction and some good grammatical information; the selection of passages is changed from the first edition on more or less rational principles; introductions are enhanced; problematic grammatical constructions are given considerably more annotation. Being pleased with what I saw, and on a short time-budget, I ordered it for a class. Since I had already encountered many of the passages I intended to teach in the first edition, I didn't read them through before ordering the book for my students.

But when I began to teach the class, it became clear that the text itself (which is still, after all, the core of the enterprise) had become a hopeless mess -- such a mess, in fact, that only a textual scholar who doesn't need an introductory book will have enough experience and self-confidence to work past its bizarre readings. In the space of the six or eight passages we went over before the class simply gave up, we encountered many desperate phrases -- and in every instance the new edition had substituted gibberish for Harrington's comprehensible reading. These errors range from the whimsical placement of commas to absurd typographical errors (e.g., Duo instead of Deo). These occur at an alarming and debilitating rate -- not one every few pages, but sometimes several per paragraph. A complete errata-list, I suspect, would constitute a small volume of its own.

One wonders how a competent Medieval Latinist could have produced such a travesty. From the arbitrary and capricious look of the errors, I am led (with some incredulity) to suspect that a copy of Harrington's text was scanned into a computer, corrected without human supervision by a spell-check routine and a Latin wordlist, and then annotated and rushed out the door without ever being proofread by anyone who knew any Latin.

The University of Chicago compromises its credibility with such appalling work, and insults those who buy it in good faith, expecting to learn to read Medieval Latin. It should on no account be inflicted on undergraduates, who typically find the Latin itself challenging enough without having to battle through layers of modern textual corruption. Until they either prepare a corrected second edition (or a third), or simply discard it to return to the first, there are really only two paths available: Beeson's Medieval Latin Primer (not widely known, but still filled with solid passages), and Sidwell's Reading Medieval Latin (passages too short for my taste, but cleanly presented). Both have their drawbacks, and neither quite fills the gap left by the disappearance of Harrington's first edition, but there should be no mistake: Harrington's text is out of print.

Pucci's revision of Harrington's first edition is nothing short of maddening! I was looking forward to an expansion of the late Prof. Harrington's masterpiece only to find the excerpts of Milton, Scaliger, Dante, Pertrarch, and Castiglione removed! If one is interested in German Latin lyricists as well, do not buy this book! It was a grave disappointment!

This revision of Harrington's _Medieval Latin_ includes an excellent choice of texts, elegant illustrations, good introductions to individual selections and a useful grammatical introduction. Unfortunately, Pucci's notes to the Latin passages are often vague or misleading and are riddled with elementary errors. I found teaching from this book an exercise in frustration. Keith Sidwell's _Reading Medieval Latin_ remains the best choice both for college courses and for self-study.