I recently dug my copy of this book out of a box as I was cleaning my office...and as I sat on the floor leafing through it, I realized how much it still rings true, even though it was published a few years ago. Mr. Melin--thank you for this gem. I've dusted it off and put it back up on my bookshelf for easy reference.

Such an entertaining and informative book! I read Mr. Melin's book when my business was going through some difficult times...my staff was not performing as I'd hoped and my finances were a mess...I thought it was the end! Luckily, I stumbled upon "Bang for the Buck" in a local bookstore and scanned its pages. To make a long story short, it made all the difference. I got my business back in order, found the best staff and learned how to work with them to get the results I needed. Extremely beneficial and worthwhile business book--beautifully written, easily read.

This is, by far, one of the very best business books around. It offers solid advice in an easy to understand, friendly manner. Will surely give your business or any endeavor a lot of bang. Bravo!

This book has many factual chapters about the Pacific Region, and five tales that are representative of some elements of the area. The Black and the White is arguably one of the most important fictional stories of the Pacific: A French man who escaped the wretchedness of his nation to discover that his adopted culture was heartbreakingly shallow. It is one of those few stories that will leave you thinking, and you may very well read again and again. It was a great loss when Burdick died at a relatively young age.

A great example of a excellent book that could become a classic without being confused with world literature. A strait forward discription of the South Seas and their peoples and geography(how coral attols and volcanic islands are formed) without being dry, but rather using it to help the reader better understand the stories he has to tell. Anyone who loves the South Seas and the stories of Jack London and Somerset Maugham will love this book. It is the #1 book I have everyone read that comes to visit me. I always receive five thumbs up.

I read this book first in 1966. Today I'm buying a new copy. It's a collection of unusual short stories about the South Pacific. Most, if not all, are true and will capture your heart and make you yearn to go there.

As one of the Marines mentioned in this book, I am, of course, biased. However, it opens a window on the home front in those days, alternating with letters describing the tedium (and humorous events) of military life between campaigns.

Petersen has published all of the letters to and from his wife during his service in the Marines. As such the book is a documentary source containing unedited contemporary material. In addition, the letters relate a love story that was common during the period. The gradual changes in the relationship are revealed in the letters. The anxieties and boredom of the life of a replacement is well described and gives the reader a true insight of the personal side of the history of the 3rd Marine Division. I recommend the book highly especially for anyone who has been a replacement.

In February of 1944 two strangers spent 42 hours sitting next to each other on the train from Los Angeles to Chicago. They shared a few meals, much conversation, and a kiss. They found they had much in common, and before they went their separate ways in Chicago, they agreed to write each other. Gene Petersen was 23, and an officer in the Marine Corps, and Marian Smith was 22, and a secretary for a defense manufacturer. Over the course of their 18-month correspondence, they tested their views and ideals on each other, and discussed their post-war expectations and their fervent desire to make the world a better place. Gene and Marian were idealistic liberals, extremely well read, and very concerned about both national and world politics. During a troubling time for both of them, each stepped up and performed the role of best friend. Their "chance for love" turned into a life-long reality.

Marian's letters reveal what life was like in the States during the end of World War II, with food shortages, travel difficulties, and long lines at movie theatres. Marian occasionally went home to Wittenberg, Wisconsin to visit and assist her parents, who had a furniture and undertaking business. "Dad took a man up to Wausau in the ambulance Tues. morning & brought him back that night in the hearse (same car - different personalities)." When Marian's brother Franklin was reported missing in action, the frequency of their letter writing increased substantially.

Gene's letters show what it was like to be an officer in the Marine Corps in the Pacific Theatre, mentally juggling stretches of boredom with periods of intense combat. During the three-week battle at Iwo Jima Gene's eloquent letters turned into terse notes, but he kept writing. "March 4, 1945 - still shelling dump and airfield - infantry officers gone to front but not many specialists - 9th day today - haven't had my clothes off yet".

I accelerated through this book until I finished. Somewhere around the middle I no longer felt like I was reading a book. I felt like I was reading two packets of letters I had found in the back of a drawer I shouldn't have been looking in. At times it was the historical facts which fascinated me. Other times it was sheer voyeurism.

Eugene Bullard was an African American man who was born in 1895 in Columbus, Georgia, and lived a really fascinating live. After leaving the U.S. in 1912 to escape the existing suffocating racist oppression, he stayed first in Britain, and then settled in France where he lived as a boxer, entertainer, jazz drummer, was a war hero in the trenches in Verdun, and become the first African American combat pilot in 1917 (in French service: the U.S. would allow black combat pilots only in 1941...). After the war, like so many other African Americans, he remained in Europe. He become a well known entrepeneur in the Parisian night club life during the 20s and 30s. At the German invasion in 1940, and after a brief stint in the French army, he went back to the U.S. where he died in New York in 1961. Revered in France as a national hero during is life, and completely unknown in his country until more than twenty years after his death, the life of this extraordinary man has in this book a much deserved homage and, probably, its definitive biography.

A very well documented biography on a genuine American and French hero. Unfortunately he was born during the Jim Crow era in the south (even though the constitution which was written over 100 years before his birth mentions "all men are created equal", this did not include any non-caucasian's or women, did it? Did not use the word minority since it denotes less than some majority, there are more non-caucasian's in the world anyway and what is really meant by that word is just that, non-caucasian. I find it odd that the USA was founded by European descendants like the English, French and even though the country prided itself on it's progresive nature, it did not include equality, even though Europe itself did not practice racial discrimination). He was born the seventh child of a large family and his father always had a premonition of a very distinguished future for him and let it be known to him when he was young. Talks about his travel through the south after he left home and was told early by his father of a country (France) where all men are truly free. This had a profound effect on him because he eventually made it to France via England first.

He began his livelyhood as a theatre performer and boxer; two opposing and similar avocations. He joined the military and became the first Black American and Black Frenchman aviator and was awarded medals for his bravery, dedication and skills. Very well liked, he had a contagious personality and started working at a famous Paris club later in life and eventually became a club owner himself. He met the famous of the day like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Bricktop and many others. This biography also got me interested in Jazz age Paris to request both autobiographies of Hughes and Bricktop.

Slowly (too slowly) more is being known about this man and his acomplishments and contributions to the human race.

You won't be able to put it down. Jack Johnson's autobiography "In the Ring and Out" is another good bio of that era too.

I had earlier learned of some of Eugene Bullard's exploits, but Craig Lloyd's book spotlights an endless list of amazing achievements that seem unbelievable for any man to accomplish in just one lifetime. It's a shame Bullard's life has been up to now unexplored and uncelebrated. Hopefully this extremely well-researched biography will fix that.

I enjoy this collection of plays from Mr Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953). He is considered the first dramatist from the US and is also the first to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. First, I must write that this edition from the LIBRARY OF AMERICA is beautiful. It has a sewn binding, flexible yet strong binding boards covered with a closely woven, rayon cloth and a ribbon bookmark attached to the spine. This volume covers the period 1932-43, marking Mr O'Neill's most well-known work. My favourites are A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT and THE ICEMAN COMETH. I also enjoy the the Irish flavour of A TOUCH OF the POET. ALDJIN is auto-biographical, as is also A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN. ALDJIN benefits from an eye-witness perspective which makes the characters extremely poignant. I feel an eery shiver as I read the drama, knowing the playwright's life. Like his character Edmund, Mr O'Neill left Princeton after his first year; went to sea, searched for gold in South America and haunted the waterfront bars in Buenos Aires, Liverpool and New York. He drank heavily. The other characters reflect his life also. His father was a successful actor who played but one role, the Count of Monte Cristo, and never became a more serious actor. His mother used morphine and his older brother was an alchoholic. All three died between 1920-23. This play is such a vivid "photograph" it sometimes is painfull for me to read, but at the same time a great reward. If you are interested in dramatists from the US, or in gritty, realistic plays about characters on the the margins of society, this collection will be interesting to you.

This collection of work gives the reader O'Neill, America's greatest playwright, at his most powerful. The two earlier collections are likewise great, but this third one contains his two strongest works: "The Iceman Cometh" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night."

In "The Iceman Cometh," O'Neill creates a world of happy derelicts. They spend their nights and days in Harry Hope's saloon, living through today by drinking and believing in the "pipe dreams" of tomorrow. That is until Hickey comes to town. He forces them, for the first time, to look honestly at their lives. This dose of reality has devestating affects on the patrons of Harry's.

Also included is O'Neill's masterpiece, "Long Day's Journey Into Night." This play, not published or produced in his lifetime, painfully tells the story of his own dysfunctional family. The play's action is one calendar day, but O'Neill, through dialogue, takes the reader back to the origins of their problems. The emotions displayed, which include guilt, envy, pain, cynicism, and love, tears the family apart, while strangely holding them together. Even though the emotions run high, O'Neill does it without employing sentimentality. He is honest without becoming melodramatic. A rare accomplish in literature. A more emotionally rendering work would be hard to find.

These two works are not the only jems the collection contains. "A Moon for the Misbegotten," now running on Broadway, continues the story of his brother, Jamie, who appears in "Long Day's Journey . . ." "Ah, Wilderness!" is a fine coming of age story.

The others also bare the mark of O'Neill's genius. The stories, set in the first half of the twentieth century, are as true today as they were when written. They've persevered and have proven timeless. His characters live with the reader long after the work is finished. And many are well worth a second visit.

Long Day's Journey Into Night is O'Neill's autobiographical dichotomization of his dysfunctional family. I also happens to be one of the best plays ever written. One would not expect the author to be impartial toward his past or his family: he is either strongly libelous or fondly empathetic. What O'Neill accomplishes is a Golden Mean, it is written with so much integrity, so much compasion and with so much devastating truth that it becomes one of the most emotionally- challenging literary works one is ever likely to read. The four Tyrones' characterization is as broadly affecting as life itself: Jamie, a cynic ruined by dissipation; Mary, one of the best tragic heroines ever created; Edmund, O'Neill's tortured alter-ego; James, an epitomy of the Irish-American presence in US and their blind faith and peculiraly ambivalent optimism. The play is in four acts and it is brillintly crafted; it has all the urgency of a social outcry and all the emotional strength of an epic. O'Neill wrote," God grant me sympathy for the haunted Tyrones." He does sympathize with these people, of course, but he is also soberly realistic: his heroes will forever remain thwarted by the vicious circle of their multi-faceted inadequacy.

Eugene Tsui has added another gospel to his bible for evolutionary architecture. What can't be captured in merely addressing his architecture is the clarity, force and intelligence of his writing. In addition to being one of the few architects who can write coherently, Eugene Tsui has a unique, compelling presence felt throughout the book. When finished, I felt braced, urged on and encouraged in my own life pursuits. This book is worth every cent of its price, and is priceless for its spiritual value.

Eugen Tsui is a visionary who sees in the natural world forms and functions that can be used by man in his created environments to the benefit of mind, spirit, ecology and wallet. Innovative and unorthodox building methods and materials; making the most of the vast sea of unapplied knowledge overlooked by most architects is his specialty. Tsui ia a genius who is unlikely to be fully appreciated by his own era. In this book Tsui explains his ideology and presents visuals to stun the mind out of its "stick-built" suburban tract house rut.

This book is a must have for anyone interested in reinventing their view of how humans can build and design. Includes a detailed analysis of Eugene Tsui's Philosophy of studying nature to help us architect our environments and housing. Showing many re-world examples in nature where animals and creatures create amazingly responsive architecture. The book then takes these principles and shows how this can be translated into helping architects become more innovative both aesthetically and technically. Eugene trancends the typical and primarily aesthetic ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright and other "Organic Architects" showing how nature can help guide us to build more ecologically advanced architecture that is more responsive to the new millinium.

I really like the way this book is organized. There are sections such as "Desserts" and "Canyons". When I went to Arizona the last time, I wanted to visit desserts, and I wanted to hike some Canyons, so I could simply read these sections and learn pretty much everything I wanted to know, rather than piece this information together as other travel books make you do (since they are usually organized by area). The organization also allows you to skip information such as "Art" and "History". Of course in the end I ended up being interested in these sections after all, so I read them in the care while I was there. And once again, I could focus on these sections rather than finding this information organized by area.

Long story short: I really like reading about an area by topic of interest, rather than by location. It makes travel planning much easier. Of course, your need may be different (you may be in a certain town and want to figure out what to do for instance...). In that case, this book still is useful (it DOES have short sections on individual locations), but there are other books I use for that type of research.

Overall, I can highly recommend this book. In fact, I will order some of the other books from this series for different states.

Compass Guides are the best series I have ever read. They are literate and beautifully illustrated, laid out well and very logical to use. Of the Compass Guides I've read, Cheek's Arizona is the best (followed closely by his Santa Fe Guide).

He writes with wit and style. He's not afraid to share his opinion, but never takes for granted that his is the only viewpoint. He also adds a human element that few other guides offer. Frequently you'll find sidebar articles that introduce you to a person whose story particularly illustrates the idea or place in question.

I lived in Arizona for 4 1/2 years. This is the guide that I used to learn the state. I would recommend it to anyone. When my wife and I married in Sedona, Arizona we sent copies of this book to our relatives to acquaint them with the wonderful place they'd be visiting. All who read it were delighted. You'll be, too.

This book is incredible. It gives all kinds of details ranging from local interest and lore to general information about the state. It reads like a novel and yet is very informative. Even if you have no intention of ever visiting Arizona, this is still a wonderful book to read and the photographs are breath-taking.

I have owned Tennessee walking horses for years, but I never understood exactly what they went through in the industry's notion of "show training." Now I do. I felt like I came to know the young horse. I read the book in one sitting and then passed it on to another horse owner. It is hard to put down, and even harder to get over the anger it engenders. But it is not all hard reading. It captures the feelings of the show barn and the trainers and owners. Others have told me that this book speaks the truth.

Finally, a book that is sensitive and sympathetic to the horse abuse that goes on behind closed-doors everyday in horse barns all over the country, but especially the south. The Tennessee Walking Horse has generated millions of dollars for the economy, and is 'hushed' by powerful lobbyists that contribute to higher political powers. The Tennessee Walking Horse has never had a 'voice', until now. This book exposes the dirty secrets of the trainers and stables through the voice of the horse, as told by the horse. Its about time! An animal lover's book at its finest!

Although this well written book is fiction, it is based upon the SAD facts that many horses in the Tennessee Walking Horse show industry must endure. Very educational for those that are not aware of the abuse these poor horses suffer.

Have you ever wondered why the accountants' eyes glow when they see a financial statement? They're not wierd (after all), they're just wired differently. This book will change the way you feel about financial statements. I no longer am scared of deferred income taxes, LIFO reserves, restructuring charges, footnotes, and all those irritating financial details which I routinely ignored and hoped did not matter. I'm re-wired for my own good.

This book provides the most clear and thorough guide to understanding financial statements I have seen. This is not for the faint of heart; understanding financial reporting at this level requires persistence and a willingness to work through some complex issues. However, at the end of the day Comiskey and Mulford leave diligent readers with the analytical tools to see beyond accounting conventions and grasp the underlying economic reality of a firm's performance.

The value of the book is best illustrated in the numerous examples the authors provide using financial statements and footnotes from public companies. Along the way they deal with some timely issues and Comiskey and Mulford should be applauded for keeping their work relevant by staying current on continuously evolving areas such as accounting for derivatives and issues surrounding technology companies.

This book is very similar to the previous book (Financial Warnings) by both authors. It is more indepth than its previous predesessor. I find the Financial Warnings to be better because it has more examples. (May be since I know the content of the previous book, this is like redundant.) Anyway, I would recommend you to buy this book.

It is really easy to comprehend. I am not an A student in my 8th grade classes but I can understand it without doughts. I look at HTML in a different way now that I now what they are used for.

this book is highly attractive from the start. It's organization makes it look like one of the easiest entry-level books, but it's challenging because it uses the notepad format for writing web pages. This is the best way to learn! This excellent book has a perfect pace; not too fast and not too slow. With easy-to-finish activities, it fits HTML classes into my BUSY schedule! I think this book is worth every penny of the price!

I'm taking an introductory course in HTML at the local technical college. The instructor is using this text. I'm most pleased with it. It's just challenging enough without overwhelming the student. The excercises are fun and practical. While most people these days use web tools like FrontPage 98, my company's computer specialist tells me that a basic knowledge of HTML "from scratch" (as provided by this book) will enable me to make much better use of web authoring tools than people without such training.