Full of university buzzwords and controversial advice regarding tenure and department structures, this book should be on the reading list of academic administrators, particularly those involved in distance learning, continuing education, and corporate education.

The authors essentially track changes in academia, point to new pressures on universities, and warn that universities that fail to make "strategic choices" will be left behind. These pressures include those exerted by new technology, workforce needs (the "demand for lifelong learning") and trends such as distance learning and experiential learning.

Whether the authors are entirely correct or not, these are the hot issues in academia today. Each week, the Chronicle of Higher Education features at least one article on one of these topics. Industry, IT and workforce needs plus technology developments are all forces putting pressure on universities and it will be interesting to see what the typical State U looks like twenty years from now.

All of that said, this book is really difficult to get through. Written by three authors, it would benefit greatly from the strong hand of one good editor. There is repetition from one chapter to the next, such that the reader is at risk of nodding off just when new information might appear.

Therefore, it's a mixed bag. Hard to read, but really full of timely material for those in academic administration.

I love baseball. I love to read about a players stats while playing AAA ball, or who led the majors in stolen bases in 1933 (27-Ben Chapman, Yankees)or how many times Ty Cobb won the batting title (12). I don't consider myself a serious student of baseball, but in my leisure time, what there is of it, I enjoy reading about the history of the game and read the stats for myself. I remember Carl Yastrzemski won the triple-crown in 1967. I go back to that year and discover that not only did he lead the AL in average, home runs and RBI (.326, 44, and 121), but that he also led in base hits (189), slugging percentage (.622) and runs scored (112). I guess that would make him a double-triple-crown winner. By the way, Harmon Killebrew was tied with Yaz for home runs.

The 1997 Baseball Almanac arrived at my house last week and I was disappointed. This edition is much smaller than the first one I bought in 1993, although the price is about the same. Its more difficult to read and more cumbersome for someone who just wants to browse. It still has all the same categories of stats, but its not quite as fun to flip through. I may not use it as much as my old one. When the 1999 version comes out, I want to be sure to get the full size edition.