It has been about 3 years since I wrote the first review for this book on Amazon.com. In that time there have been some new, and I feel better publications about R. M. Schindler

The most comprehensive Text is Judith Sheine's book (entitled R. M. Schindler) published by Phaidon. Please see my review for more details. Sheine is also the editor and narrator for two CD-ROMs produced by Planet Architecture. These are both excellent sources. Lastly is the lavishly photographed catalog for the Schindler Exhibit entitled The architecture of R. M. Schindler by Elizabeth A.T. Smith. This has good essays and photos although I feel is better as supplementry text to Sheine's new book

I am an avid fan of this master architect/builder and I am pleased to see that Shindler is finally getting the attention he deserves. There is an abundance of material about Schindler now available to the public. Whereas, just ten years ago only a few books were available about Schindler (Gebhard and McCoy). This is a large format book with lavish color photos. Early books on Schindler, such as those by Gebhard, McCoy, and Sarnitz were small in format and contained equally small black and white images.

This book is divided into two parts: Essay and Selected Works. The essay, by noted California Author/Historian James Steele assumes that the reader has some familiarity with Schindler and the Wagnerschul. The author skips over biographical data on the architect, such as birth, upbringing, family life etc. and instead presents the reader with a concise, competent essay on Schidler's place in Early Twentieth Century architecture. The essay shows how Schindler was influenced by his mentors and peers such as Loos, Wright, Nuetra, and Irving Gill. It also touches on Schindler's rejection from Johnson and Hitchcock's International Style exhibit.

The second part of the book - selected works - presents the reader with thirty-two of the architect's built works in a chronological order. The selected projects include twenty-five houses, six apartment buildings/complexes and a Baptist church. Each work contains a brief description. About half the projects contain color photos. These appear to be recent photos and include many interior shots. Some projects, such as the Kings Road House and the Wolfe Residence contain reproduced color drawings (plans, sections, elevations) There are also a few renderings, color and b/w. Other projects are, disappointedly, not given proper attention. The Lovell Beach House, considered by many to be Schindler's masterpiece does not have the plans and section that are so essential to the understanding of this seminal structure. One project, The Grokowski Residence, contains only one, small black and white photo - not sufficient to give an adequate description.

The book also contains a map of L.A. with the architect's projects pin-pointed and a brief biography at the end. There is no bibliography that could point the serious scholar to additional sources, nor does the book contain any of Schindler's writings.

THE BOTTOM LINE This book contains nice color photos - some apparently previously unpublished, some good graphic resources. It is not a deep book, however it can be a nice compliment to previously published work on this master architect/builder.

Where do I begin with this book, littered with writings by second-hand-dealers of information from holders of glorified government jobs (academics)? Armchair leaders, who would perish without the comfort of the Ivory Tower (Noam Chomsky). I should start by saying that such foolishness could only come from a university setting. In no other case would people spend so much time trying to talk away things that have been demonstrated to be foolish by the experience of others.

A few examples:

1. Manning Marable's article compares Booker T. Washington to Louis Farrakhan? Huh? Huh? Huh? This person is selling himself as a professor of history, yet he doesn't know that the main idea of what Washington said was to AVOID trying to find a political resolution to every single problem? Louis Farrakhan generates lots of heat but doesn't shed very much light on what would be *realistic* solutions to the problems in black America.

2. Empty Phrases used every third page or so, like "People of Color." Anyone who can read the Statstical Abstract of the United States knows that peole of color have nothing in common other than being non-white. The similarities stop right there in terms of income, incarceration rates and representation in "higher" professions. Everyone seems to have looked right past this in their quest to have some subjects to generate a leadership position for himself.

3. There are almost no specific numbers or studies here. So Howard Zinn will say things like: "We are wealthy enough for full employment and free education as well a free health care for everyone." But other countries (i.e., Canada and Britain) have found out that it is one thing to promise something and then quite another to support the bureaucracy that will carry this out. A systematic study of what has really happened in other countries that have tried these grandiose ideas might change the minds of these academics. But, as always, evidence is neither mentioned nor presented. But these articles are ALL very light in terms of their analytical gravitas.

Bottom line #1: Black America has been set back a good long way by relying on arguments like these presented in this book. If anything, reading this book has made me even MORE conservative. Bottom line #2: The government cannot legislate every problem out of existence. (See Sub-Saharan Africa/ China for textbook examples.)

This slim book is a nice introduction to a lot of amazing political writers. It is just an introduction and does not go into any real depth. At the cost, it is not worth it to get the hardcover. Get the paperback.

When I purchased Saint Peter, I was expecting a fascinating read which would shine light on the better known facets of Peters life, while at the same time revealing little known tidbits of information. To my dismay, I found neither. There was not one item in this book which was new, or a revelation to anyone who is even remotely knowledgeable as to the Saint Peter of the bible. There is no authoritative voice writing this book. There is far too much of a this may have happened, or possibly, or most likely. No This Happened statements. Mr Grant spends far too much of this book putting down religion and miracles. Thus, if you only believe 5% of what is in the bible, do not write a book about someone whom 95% of the source material comes from the biible. Leaving out the lengthy intro, and the footnotes, what you have here is basically a 100 page boring book which shows that Mr Grant is very book smart, but foolish when it comes to interpretive writing concerning religious personages. This book would have been much better had it actually been about Saint Peter, instead of stating on nearly every page how Mr Grant could put no weight or belief behind things religious or spiritial or miraculous in nature.

i think the whole chapter 1 can be shortened quite a bit. I understand the scarcity of reliable sources have to be presented. but it does not need to be so long when it can be said in a paragraph.

later, when he writes on Peter's life, it is full of sentences like "Whether (it) happened or not, we cannot be sure" (substitute "it" with Peter's martyrdom, or Jurusalum council meeting in Acts or Peter's residence in Rome in later days, etc). While I appreciate Grant's effort not to make assertion based on unproven stories, I can just say as much as a layman! duh. even tho very few events can be certain, historians are supposed to make better, educated guess. only the chapters regarding Peter, James & Paul have some meat. however, nothing new is revealed.

Grant also drops casually more than once that there're fragments of early Mark's Gospel, not in its final, cannonical form probably written before the fall of Jerusalam, found in Dead Sea Scrolls since this is new to me, i'm very interested. but he does not show what the fragments are nor does he give any reference. no follow up, no elaboration. What a tease!

Michael Grant's book which attempts to uncover historical details about St. Peter makes modest claims about the touted head of the Christian church. Grant examines the Gospel view of Peter, which is not very flattering. He writes that this view had to do with the Gentile influence. Nevertheless Grant maintains that Peter did lead the early Christians in Jerusalem, although this leadership was short-lived due to what Grant bellieve to be Peter's role as mediator between rival factions. Grant can find little evidence that Peter lived and died in Rome, but he avers that this may be very likely since the tradition concerning it so strong.

While not a long book, St. Peter: A Biography makes a modest proposal that the tradition concerning this Apostle may baasically be historically true.

"Change at Work"
Cappelli, Peter (1997). Change at Work. Oxford University Press. NY
Change at Work is a commissioned study by the Committee on New American Realities that uses available information in an attempt to understand changing employment practices, changing organizations, and evolving employment relationships. The issues discussed in the book are nationwide workplace trends that have important ramifications for employees, employers, and the U. S. economy.

Change at Work is definitely a scholarly work that must be read in manageable, small portions because of the poor linking of chapters and poor data presentation. Fortunately, the final and concluding chapter of this book makes some sense out of the previous six chapters.

The editor tells us that the book was outlined by the group of authors, then individual authors took responsibility for each chapter. The editor also says "the authors made extensive comments on each others chapters along the way." (14). I have no doubt that the authors made comments on each chapter. I only wish they had taken the time to focus these comments on the transition between and the linking of the chapters and the data presentation. A consistent chapter format that used a conclusion or summary section at the end of each chapter would have facilitated the transition and linking of the chapters. This type of section at the end of each chapter could have solidified the authors' conclusions after the data purge that occurs in each chapter. Each data source pertains to a different time period and means of data collection. Some sources use percentage, while others use raw numbers. The authors do a poor job of linking the data; hence, the net effect is confusion to the reader. The authors would have made the book easier to read by using more graphical representation and detailing the significant data necessary to support their arguments.

The one strength of this book is the editor's ability to bring most of the significant findings throughout the book into a logical concluding chapter that is easy to understand and flows quite well. Each of the previous chapters is referenced directly or implicitly as the editor makes sense out of the book.

The authors are definitely working on a timely topic that most people in industry can relate to. Personally, I started working for my current employer, a global consumer products company, a year or two after they went through a large downsizing period. Since employment, I have seen this trend continue in the supervisory level. This is in alignment with the authors data that shows the percentage of supervisory jobs eliminated doubling in four years. My company is not currently going through a large organized downsizing, but rather a slow downsizing through attrition and hiring fewer people. The flattening of my company, coupled with the implementation of high performance work systems has undoubtedly placed the results of doing business on the employees. The book dedicates an entire chapter to these work organizations and the responsibilities that they bring to the employees.

The book describes the changes and brings supporting data, but the authors do not give any significant conclusions or forecasts and does not present the data in a way that the reader can draw his or her own conclusions. The lack of conclusions or forecasts and the poor linking of the chapters leave the experienced reader, someone who has been through downsizing and is involved in high performance work groups, no better off than he or she was before.

Change at Work is a must read for high-school students, college students, and those seeking careers in management. Cappelli has a no nonsense approach with detailing those issues impacting our careers, the work environment, and the future. For those wondering if a technical or college education is worthwhile, Cappelli gives you good reasons for furthering your education. Cappelli and his co-authors do an outstanding job detailing those issues and circumstances faced by today's workers and managers of all business, i.e., corporate America, government agencies and other nonprofit entities, and the smallest of ma-and-pa companies. Cappelli does not offer good solutions for any of the issues he raises in this work. Unfortunately for professionals and management already in the work force, Change at Work offers no new knowledge.

Change at Work is based on a study, commissioned by the National Planning Association's Committee on New American Realities (NAR), to evaluate and comprehend changing employment/organizational practices. The study also looked at the impacts of such changes on the employees of the companies reviewed - particularly the skills and adaptation needed to weather this storm. Change at Work is divided into six chapters, each individually authored by NAR committee members. Consequently, one of the main problems with the book is that it does not flow particularly well. The central theme of Change at Work is that the traditional methods of managing employees and developing skilled workers inside companies are eroding, leaving a new employment relationship in which the attachment between employees and employers has declined. Jobs demand more of their workers but offer them less, and these workers now bear more of the risks of doing business through reduced job security and contingent pay (pay based on performance). In addition, what Peter Cappelli calls the "traditional work arrangements," where companies developed skilled employees and worked to keep them, are quickly disappearing. Pressure on the companies for better performance is being applied from foreign competitors and investors and is causing these companies to explore restructuring to cut out "fat." This "fat" has often been interpreted to mean the companies' employees, who have found themselves to be the unfortunate victims of the now famous concept called "downsizing." The strengths of Change at Work are in the chapters contributed by Cappelli. In addition, the book contains an interesting and thorough variety of data, surveys, and other references, although some may not like their breadth or loose assembly. Unfortunately, Change at Work balances its strengths with several weaknesses. The book claims it is the result of a study, but it is actually more of a history lesson with limited background. It is also not particularly useful as a management tool, and may not even be considered interesting by most managers or employees. The book lacks a solid conclusion to the theme, with the exception that employee/employer relationships will become worse before they improve. Change at Work provides several other useless conclusions as well. Examples include the findings that employees need more skills in the new system (which begs the question-at what point throughout business evolution have employees never needed new skills?); managing these issues will be an enormous challenge; and change at work will continue. Big surprises. The variety of data sources and timeframes simply tossed together leaves the reader hoping that the authors will use them to point to some obvious conclusion or develop their own, but in the last paragraph they resign and state they are divided. The currently strong economy and low unemployment rate, albeit temporary, has given employees an opportunity to strike back in the form of being more selective, demanding better compensation packages, etc. We should not ignore the benefits of corporate restructuring as mentioned in Change at Work. Restructuring has given organizations much more flexibility in accomplishing their goals, has empowered employees, and has given them the autonomy that the traditional model could not.

This book is out of date. Spends to much time endorsing the use of bar codes in the industry so much that i felt he had stock in the use of bar codes. Would have liked a more up to date edition and a bit more in depth look at the specifics. I have been working with barcoding for close to five years and found very little use for this book. Some good points on which types of bar code symbologies to use, but that is about it for positives.

Good for research but not exactly coffee-table blurb.

My first mistake was to purchase this book at Barnes and Noble.....for $5.00 more...without the benefit of Amazon's Reader Reviews. It was mid-way through chapter 2 when I begain to seriously question.... WHO WROTE THIS THING! The editing errors I ran into previously bothered me, but not to the point of giving up on the book. But the disjointed presentation of the material really got to me in chapters 2, 3, and 4. This book is a classic example of a cut and paste assemblage of not very well written bits of information on VB6. Then I did what I should have done before I bought the book...read the acknowledgements. According to my calculations, Peter Norton did not write any of this book. Michael Groh, who assumes that responsibility, actually wrote only 13 of the 28 chapters (46%) (including 1,3 and 4). I was primarily upset because I purchased the book largely based on Peter Norton's reputation for writing good software AND good books. Regardless of Norton's lack of input, the book should still rise to some base level of instruction. Well, it does do that, but in doing so it also lowers the base.

Books actually written by Peter Norton are better than the average computer book, since Norton seems to understand the English language. Unfortunately this book clearly wasn't written by Peter Norton. To top it off, the editing is execrable throughout. Sams should be ashamed, and Peter had better watch it when he puts his name and his picture on a book. This one seriously tarnishes his image.

I have to agree with the other not so exceptional reviews of this book. It was informative to me - only because I knew nothing about VB. Once you read the first couple of chapters you get pretty much all you need to understand the VB UI. But then he goes on and on about it covering every control and its function and never really gets into the stuff that interested me. Like umm, CODE EXAMPLES.
To its credit, this book does cover all of the areas that you should know about when developing in VB i.e. COM and DCOM but he doesn't go in depth enough to allow the reader to understand what they are.
This book needs to take the O'Reilly cookbook approach to teaching. It is a good introduction but it only skims the bare surface of what an aspiring programmer would need to get going.
To reiterate, a good intro but if you want to go swimming, try another book and a new swimsuit.

This book was very disappointing. There is nothing new here. The RCX bots all come from the Constructopedia.

This book (2001 edition) is of no use if you are trying to learn how to program your RIS 2.0 The programing is for RIS 1.5 and earlier.

If you are reading it for information on LEGO basic construction techniques, my question would be "Why did you buy a Robotics Invention System set?" Save your money. I don't know what to recommend, but this is not it.

I'm usually a fan of dummies books and have several on my bookshelf. I'm also a huge fan of LEGO's. I have to say that this book is dissapointing on so many levels. There is nothing new in here that hasn't been covered in one of the many unofficial guides that dummies is shamefully trying to compete with. In fact the robots described come straight from the Constructopedia that LEGO gives away free in every Mindstorms box. Other than having a CD of some useful utilities don't bother. Everything on the CD you can get for free on the net. You should have no problem finding them. In fact if you don't know how to find LEGO related websites on your own you shouldn't be fooling around with robots in the first place. But I drift away from the intent of this review. Don't bother with this book. If you have a Mindstorms kit you have a computer. If you're reading this you're on the net. Spend the $20 on some more LEGO's or one of the unofficial books. You'll get more out of it.

The English educated and trained Captain Patrick Heenan provided the Japanese with the kind of collaborator they could have only dreamed of. A meticulously planned onslaught down through Malaya was the essential preliminary to kicking in the unfortified backdoor of Singapore. Captain Patrick Heenan provided the Japanese with much of the intelligence they needed to ensure their operation proceeded successfully.

Heenan is one of history's lesser known traitors, but in terms of the consequences of his actions, one of its most hideous.

In this book, 'Odd Man Out,' Heenan provides the authors with a repellent central subject whilst they get on with their real motive for writing this book.

Elphick and Smith are merely the latest in a thankfully short line of writers who still surface trying to shift the blame for the fall of Singapore away from where history has already ascertained it belongs.

The British Command in Singapore failed to fortify its defences in Malaya in general, and the northern shore of the island of Singapore, in particular, despite repeated recommendations from their own staff. The British Generals inabilty to grasp the importance of this advice led directly to defeat and the loss of Singapore.

Churchill summed up the inadequate fortifications of Singapore with his famous statement "It's like launching a battleship without a bottom"

The depths to which the authors are willing to descend in their attempt to salvage the credibility of that battleship only highlights the fact that it has no bottom.

Works by Elphick in particular feature selective information and context, poor research, assumption, and ommission. Elphick's overt attempts to besmirch the efforts of the allied companions-in-arms, the Australians, reminds the reader of one of the bickering, petty-minded and counter-productive British Officers of colonial Singapore, 1942. A time when our archaic British class system was still commissioning officers based on social standing rather than ability and character.

Captain Patrick Heenan being a prime example.

This books inglorious subtext makes it an affront to the truth.

It's an affront to the comrades-in-arms who died defending Singapore, and each other.

But more than anything else, it is so dull and uninspired, it's an affront to the tradition of writing.

I have two years hands on experience with pc's and win-95. I am used to my employers computer tech entering and saying something like '16 mb of ram is more than enough for this office and adding more would not speed up things or prevent the need to reboot every 3 hours' Then I ask "well why does the same computer you have with 128 mb run faster"? 'well thats just luck'. So I decided to buy a book to explain. I think Peter Norton is the PC tech I have been talking to. The book gives a BASIC DESCRIPTION of the guts of the PC but does not explain in detail the reason you want one upgrade over another and it certainly does not tell you how to do something in enough detail to make it a smooth install. For example what if you change EDO chips and get an error? Just the possibility of that occuring should stop some novices from screwing up there system and finding a tech to perform the install for them. No, this book is not a guide. It provides just enough info for the novice user to screw up his/her computer. BEWARE!!!!! By the way when the tech left the co. and we installed 64 mb of ram the computers ability to receive info from the server doubled and the units quit crashing every 4 hours with lack of resources warnings.