This is another in the wonderful series of fictional mysteries set in Hong Kong in the last several decades of British rule. The continuing characters, Chief Inspector Harry Feiffer, Christopher O'Yee, and Detectives Auden and Spencer, once again are challenged to a series of baffling crimes. Marshall succeeds in blending the suspenseful with the humorous. "Zany" is the adjective that seems to describe his humor most accurately. In this adventure, someone is using gelignite to blow up citizens of Hong Bay, part of Feiffer et al's beat on Yellowthread Street. A secondary plotline has O'Yee hunting for a stuffed bird on behalf of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman.
I usually give these books 5 stars. However, the labyrinthine explanation at the end of the book went on a little longer than I thought was necessary. But I readily admit that those readers with a LeCarre bent will probably feel right at home.
I know of no other mystery writer who can combine the gruesome with the gross, the horrible with the humorous, and the suspenseful with the silly. I've already started another Marshall mystery, and hope to review it here shortly.

What a fascinating contribution to American medical history! Weistrop succeeds in transforming one man's story -- Ogden was a pioneering figure in biomedicine in Milwaukee, a provincial Midwestern city -- into a window on the historical cross currents of 19th and 20th Century America. Through dogged archival research, Weistrop uncovered Ogden's voluminous correspondence, and his book weaves together the personal and professional dimensions of Ogden's exemplary life. Weistrop deftly portrays the emerging professionalism of medicine and the specific concerns of a provincial elite: both precursors to the contemporary contours of medical practice in many parts of this country. As I understand, Weistrop himself is a practicing physician, so his book can be read as both a historical document and an exemplar of professional self-consciousness.

Jefferson is often praised for his writings on personal freedom, democracy, and civil liberties. This book exposes the complexity of Jefferson. In other words, he did not really practice what he preached. He was a champion of civil liberties on paper, but not in practice.

As President of the United States, he showed a disturbing disregard for basic civil liberties. He showed reckless disregard for the 4th amendment ban on unreasonable search and seizure, and he was no friend of the first amendment and a free press when he was attacked by oppostion newspapers.

Those who worship Jefferson will find this book disturbing. Some will even call it a hatchet job. I disagree. Although Levy does attack Jefferson on civil liberties, he praises Jefferson's strong stand on separation of church and state.

Although Levy is a professional historian, this book should appeal to non-academics. It is a quick read and it makes a strong (and controversial) point without going into mind numbing detail. It is nice to read some history with an edge.

Finally, we can admire the principles that Jefferson stood for while acknowledging that he was far from perfect. I think that is the broader point of this book.

I'll say this--William Marshall's jagged, chopped-up writing style certainly suits what he has chosen for the opening to this splendid whodunit: an early-morning high-speed freeway crash between a massive truck and a van containing four people and a huge load of plate glass. The resultant carnage, as the glass literally explodes, makes clue-finding tough for Inspector Harry Feiffer--and what he does finally discover about the four shredded victims in the mashed and perforated van makes no sense.

The author also runs two subplots, two added puzzles for other star members of his stable of perpetually harried detectives. O'Yee is working the phone at the squadroom, ignoring various crank callers and assorted weirdos, to try and convince a troubled ten-year-old boy to come in and surrender a loaded gun he says he found by a dead body. The child, untrusting, refuses to cooperate, and when O'Yee carefully tries to instruct him on how to re-set the gun's Safety mechanism while he's still in the phone-booth, that's when a third party attacks the boy. Meanwhile, Spencer and Auden stake out the store of an herb-seller, trying to catch a thieving Dalmatian dog. They decide to fight dog with dog, and soon recruit a German Shepherd named Petal to help capture the dishonest canine. But Petal--even when re-named Fang--proves to be a bit of a dreadful incompetent--though Auden never loses faith, and starts having long conversations with Petal. Together, they come up with a daring plan.

This is a superb Yellowthread Street novel, standing up there with the best of them. The main trickery threw me for quite a loop; I was rocked by the solution to what really went on when the two vehicles slammed into each other before dawn. Need I say that all is not as it seems. But Feiffer wrestles with the clues and contradictions, and the truth leads him to confront a dangerous foe in a confusing maze of halls and doors on the top floor of an empty mansion.

Peter the Great, written by William Marshall and published by Longman Group Limited in 1996, is a nonfiction historical work about the life and works of what some from the time hailed as "the greatest Monarch of our age (p 88)." The text lends a good deal of understanding to the now defunct U.S.S.R. and present-day Russia. Marshall presents Peter as a rather nontraditional ruler whose genius schemes and manipulations (though not always immediately successful) ushered in a new era for Russia and laid the foundation on the world scene and in Russia for what was to come in following centuries. Perhaps the most striking feature of Peter the Great as presented in this text was his unconventionality as a ruler. Peter's lifestyle was rather crass as far a world leaders go, and extremely unorthodox when compared to his Russian predecessors. Peter's shabby, foreign dress combined with his heavy drinking and love of the company of "common folk" were just a few peculiarities that contributed to his rough image. Marshall points out that at times this was to his advantage and at others it may have worked against him. Perhaps Peter wanted it that way, being the manipulator that he was. Peter lived the way he ruled. It was his way or the high way, and this may have been one of his ingredients for success (at least initially). One of the main emphases of the book (and rightly so) is the military ventures of Peter the Great. Marshall attributes Peter's love of the military to his growing up in the foreign districts of Moscow. Indeed much of Peter's character and behaviors are attributed to this. From the moment that Peter assumed authority, his immediate and long term goals centered around the military. Russia needed a warm-water outlet to western Europe. Peter desired conquest of foreign held territories bordering Russia. A large and effective military was needed to defend what Russia already held against its enemies. At the time Russia's infrastructure was infantile or nonexistent. The course of action that Peter pursued to attain his goals set Russia on a hurried pace to a seat at the world's table. Marshall repeatedly points out that Russia was already on a course for prominence and development (set by Ivan IV) but Peter did a great deal to speed the process. For Peter the key to advancing Russia lay in the Westernization of his empire. Peter was constantly recruiting foreigners for service and leadership in the military and his government, a process that Ivan IV had begun. The need for funds to finance Peter's great military and naval schemes as well as interior development had many significant short term and long term effects upon Russia. Extremely heavy taxes were imposed upon the Russian people as well as the Church. Soldiers for the army and sailors for the navy were forcibly enlisted. Forced migrations to areas where labor was needed were common. This was cause for much dissent at the time, but it had a much more far reaching effect. A general feeling of the need for service to the state was being instilled in the Russian people. People were becoming nothing more than a cog in the wheel of the great machine which Russia was to become. As Marshall puts it, "The hallmark of his working life was service to the state, for the common good (p 10)." This is a sentiment that the U.S.S.R. played heavily upon and one of the reasons Russia was able to do so much so fast. Peter eventually assumed the title of Emperor, and allowed no opposition. While Peter was a religious man, he certainly lacked the piety of previous tsars. The Church was strong and the Patriarch held considerable authority with the people. Peter cowed the Church, ended the position of Patriarch and made the Church no more than a department of the state to be used for its benefit. A darker side of Peter is revealed when he founded the "Most Drunken Synod (p 56)." The ceremonies performed were a mockery and meant to weaken the Church, but it also raises questions about the mental stability of Peter. While Peter was not an extremely educated man, he was intelligent and he understood the power of education. He founded many schools and academies to teach the art of warfare, medicine, and shipbuilding among other things. His emphasis on practical knowledge and technology as opposed to basic research and theory illuminates Peter's impatient and demanding nature. He desired that the only things taught or learned were those of immediate importance and that could be implemented directly. In all things that he did, Peter wanted what he wanted the way he wanted and as soon as possible. That is evident in the building of St. Petersburg against the council of his advisors. He then had to force the population and development of the city. Peter wanted to glorify his empire, he sought to do that by expanding. To expand Russia needed a large up-to-date military and navy. To achieve that Russia needed money and people and foreign help. To advance the military and support expansion Russia needed to develop its infrastructure. I believe Peter went about meeting these needs in the wrong order. I dispute the claim by Marshall that Peter was a social egalitarian (p 11). He failed to recognize any rights at all, save that of his autocracy to rule unchallenged. Some may say that this was what was needed at the time, but a garden sown with weeds will always grow weeds and will eventually leach everything it can out of the soil and die. We have seen such a thing happen in our own lifetime with the demise of the U.S.S.R. and the poor state of Russia.

An intersting account highlighting US military and Soviet Arctic studies, with interludes briefly covering CIA propietary airlines and the development of the Fulton/Skyhook retrieval system. Points out why both countries considered the Arctic important for study for military purposes during the height of the Cold War. Well written, with firsthand accounts from the people involved in a dramatic plan to parachute personnel near a just-evacuated Soviet ice station to reveal its secrets, then recover them with the first operational use of the Fulton recovery system, also known as Skyhook. (Seen in movies such as Thunderball and The Green Berets.)Highly recommended for anyone interested in Arctic studies or covert operations during the Cold War.

Because frogs are cold-blooded, they adapt to almost any temperature. For example, when put in a pot of cold H20 on a stove & slowly turning the burner up to increase the H20 heat, the frog never jumps out. Instead they slowly boil to death. Even though 'Shaping Strategic Planning' was written & published over 10 years ago, the content is still relevant today. Rapid business change was occurring in 1989, & it continues to occur in 2000. In order to avoid becoming boiled frogs, today's businesses require planning systems to shape their future as opposed to simply adapt to it. This book provides strategic planning models & insights for success. Using corporate examples, flowcharts, and entertaining graphics, the authors explore essential strategic planning elements including innovation, leadership, environmental scanning, contingency planning as well as SWOT & gap analyses. 'Shaping Strategic Planning' offers tools to effectively deal with today's business environment in which the only constant is change. Utilizing the suggested planning framework will enable organizations to choose a future direction & create a working plan to begin the journey to reach that destination.

If you have been wondering how William Marshall can keep the Yellowthread Street series going with the Hong Kong changeover, this latest entry will answer your question in an entertaining and surprising fashion. Along the way, the author gives us his usual macabre humor, wacky characters, and far-out plot events. The Usual Gang is all here -- Harry Feiffer, Christopher O'Yee, Auden and Spencer -- all struggling with the impending loss of their lifelong jobs and for some, their only home. The actual murder plot is not that tricky to solve, but in Marshall's books, character is what matters most, and he shines in this department once again. He also has a decided knack for tying together threads of the story that you might think are widely disconnected at first. Marshall also always provides terrific details about the world of Hong Kong you probably won't find anywhere else. A satisfying novel, and a fun addition to this long-running and unusual mystery series.

This book provides a good introduction to the power of MATLAB to analyze control systems. It is directed mostly at the 400 level undergraduate, but the practicing engineer might find it of use as an introduction. It is a good balance between teaching the discipline of control systems and the uncovering syntax of MATLAB. MATLAB is pretty straight forward and and almost intuitive (except for its horrible printing commands). This book takes advantage of the fairly easy syntax to get on with some interesting engineering applications. As the title suggests, the applications are in the area of control systems asa encountered by the electrical engineer.

This is work which I am actually part of. The other stories are willed from the minds of Native American Youths, and what they have there is different than the archetypical Americana. Some stories are raw as a open wound, and others are as deep. This is part of the "New World" that has actually been here forever, and most stories swell with the consequences of Columbus' "discovery" of us.