This is a good book for students or others who want to understand issues of race and class in either the United States, Canada or Mexico. What I particularly like about the book, which I have used in my race relations classes, arre two things. First, it is comparative, allowing the reader to understand the significance of race and ethnicity precisely because we can directly compare the experience faced by minorities in three societies at once. Secondly, it is historical. Rather than giving us just a bunch of statistics about what racial groups earn more than others (which is there), it explains WHY and HOW racism emerged differently in each society beginning with the process of colonialism. (The title refers to the belief of the Aztecs (in Mexico) that the world had lived through four suns, after having been destroyed by the Gods three times. They expected a last destruction before the arrival of the fifth sun, and many believed that the Spanish conquest with its ordeals of pestilence and slavery was that destruction.) What is certain is that racism does exist in all three, but in very different ways. The rigid color bar of the United States is completely absent in Mexico and rarely applied in Canada. Russell shows how the economic and historical peculiarities of each society led to very different definitions of the significance of race. On the down side the book is somewhat expensive, since it was written as a textbook. It is also a bit too textbooky. It is very short for a textbook, however, which is both good and bad. Sometimes I find myself wanting more details, but there are relatively few places where I am bored. I feel it is better to leave a reader wanting more information than less, so this isn't too bad. Overall, I would rate it a great introduction to these topics. Its comparative basis makes it interesting to students of any one of the three nations covered while also giving its subject matter (race and class) greater significance.

Russell puts together a wounderful analysis of class and race in a cross-national perspective. It is of particular interest to those who study North America in an international context. I recommend it to many of my students.

As a Scottish mother-of-four, I have found no better role model for my children than Mr T. This book was enjoyed by all my children, although I do wish they'd skipped over or at least tone down some of the stuff from the early A-team days; I had to explain to my eight-year-old what 'freebasing' meant, which was definitely an uncomfortable experience for all concerned! Aside from that, it's great to see that Mr T still has a career, with the many new movies he's working on that are mentioned in this book.

In the words of the great man himself, "There's no way I'm gettin' on that airplane, and I don't wanna drink my milk!"

I think there's something in that for all of us.

Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was probably the premier conservative "man of letters" in 20th century America. He first gained national attention in 1953 with his publication of the CONSERVATIVE MIND. Kirk was the author of a large number of works, including history, literary criticism, cultural analysis, fiction, and even an economics textbook.

A central problem with understanding Kirk is the somewhat opaque nature of his writings. While it's easy to see what Kirk is against, it isn't always easy to see why, or what his solution to current political and cultural problems was. Perhaps because of this, Kirk is seldom quoted these days, and there hasn't been much in the way of secondary studies on his thought.

James Person has written a reliable overview of Kirk's thought (which also contains a modest biography of sorts). Person organizes this work thematically, hitting on the key areas of Kirk's thought (including discussions of his fiction, as well). My only gripe is that the book could have used a bit more editing. Sentences tend to drag on, and some of the writing is a bit "chatty" for a scholarly work. (Mr. Person hasn't heard of Orwell's rule about not using two words when one will do.)

In light of the current "conservative wars" I found portions of this book (published in 1999) quite interesting. I didn't know that Kirk's last foray into politics was in 1992 when he was chairman of Pat Buchanan's Michigan campaign. It's not surprising that Kirk is ignored by the neocon nitwits who run the conservative movement today. There is also an interesting story about how Kirk was attacked by certain Straussian neocons concerning his criticisms of Lincoln. Although Kirk disagreed with much of Lincoln's agenda, he called Lincoln a "conservative" and a "great man." Much to the consternation of the neocons, anything less than total support of King Abraham wasn't good enough.

Anyone who is interested in conservatism must read this biography of the man who articulated the conservative philosophy in post WWII America.

This book is well written, well researched and is a good read.

This book is not an art book; it is a reasonable list of extraordinary museum buildings including the most recents (Guggeheim museum in Bilbao). I was happy to re-discover Beyeler fondation in Basle (Switzerland) and some other famous masterpieces but a bit disappointed not to feel inspired in anyway by the way this book was designed.

The previous reviewer seems to have written the right review for the wrong book... This is NOT a survey of modern museum architecture, and don't expect to find either Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bibao or Piano's Beyeler Foundation in Basel. Although I do not own this book, I want to stress that it covers only three buildings, but in remarkable depth, one each by Isozaki, Stirling, and Freed of Pei Cobb Freed. Each of the three books situates the context of the work within the architect's oeuvre, and comprises a section of top-notch photographs, as well as a selection of drawings, including construction details. I should make it clear that Phaidon's "Architecture 3S" series is a collection of hardcovers comprising three "Architecture in Detail" volumes each. I have only the best to say about the quality of the "Architecture in Detail" series, and pricewise the "Architecture 3S" series is a bargain: for less than the price of one "Architecture in Detail" volume one can buy three volumes bound together as an "Architecture 3S" title.

I have seen my average as a new shooter go from 24/50 to 40/50 in just a few short weeks by using the methods in this book. I also have used the tips on Mr. Russell's website. I highly recommend his books. I haven't yet read Precision Shooting yet but I expect it to be as good as this one.

I had never won anything until I bought these two books Trap Shooting Secrets and Precision Shooting - The Trapshooter's Bible.   After reading them I won my first belt buckle at the Michigan State Shoot, not to mention the money I won, too!  I shot a 98 after reading these two great books and I've been shooting high scores ever since.  My averages were in the low and mid 80's, not anymore!  I've read these books twice and I will need to read them many more times in my lifetime.  There is way too much information in these books to absorb quickly, but the valuable instruction you do retain is powerful knowledge!  These books are worth every cent I paid, and much more.  My only regret is I wish I'd had these books years ago.  Don't make the mistake I and many other shooters have made.   It is no fun shooting poor scores.   High scores create satisfaction.   I recommend shooters read these books without delay.  They are crammed with knowledge, instructions and illustrations that will amaze you.  You will discover why professional shooters recommend these books, they are great! 

I purchased both of James Russell's fine books; Trap Shooting Secrets and Precision Shooting - The Trapshooter's Bible. After reading and rereading them, I know they have helped improve my scores. After reading the books, I found "my zone" and dusted 123 out of 125! The advice and instructions in these shotgun shooting books are truly powerful. My scores have absolutely improved! Of most importance. I found in the books, is finding the zone and when and where to pull the trigger. I found success after reading these books. In fact, they are so good, I read them a few dozen times, and these are not small books, they are huge in content. There is a tremendous amount of information in these books with many dozens of enlightening illustrations. I recommend you read both of Mr. Russell's trap shooting books, so you can reach your true potential quickly to be a top-notch shooter. The author has excellent works here and I'm most certainly looking forward to his next publication. Shooting is much more fun now that I don't miss the targets like I used to. If your scores are not where you want them to be, these are the books to make you a better shooter!

This book used to be the bible of image formats. Unfortunately, this bible is starting to show its age. Depending on what your interest is in graphics, you might find all the formats you need or be really disappointed. Most major image formats (like those used in web pages) are in there, but some very important ones that have appeared in the past 5 or so years are missing: Avid's OMFI, Softimage .pic, Maya's .iff, Pixar .tx, etc. The lack of an extensions index is an area where the book fails for me as an encyclopedia. While the final index does lists extension names, having a separate index for them would be nicer. So that if you had a file with extension .pic which you cannot read, you could easily figure out what formats it could correspond to. This is a problem with AVI, which is listed as Microsoft RIFF. Funny thing the book mentions that most people know AVIs by their extensions, but unless you look in the index, you will think it was missing. Still, some Microsoft image formats are missing (.ico files, for example). Other contradictions like those are listing the format for Pixar's .rib files, but not for their .tx files. Yes, the book also has descriptions of several popular non-image formats, such as 3D scene & object formats (Wavefront, Inventor, Radiance, etc), which can be either an annoyance or an added bonus depending on what you are looking. Animation formats (Quicktime, etc) are introduced but not covered in detail and given web links to search for more information. Formats not covered in the book are VRML, font formats (TrueType, etc), or Audio formats. If you are looking for source code or a library you can use to plug into your application, you will be very disappointed. The CD-ROM is just a web reprinting of all the info in the book, and the only software provided is Mosaic, a first & now slowest web browser, which in this day and age of Netscape and IE, is a big annoyance and a waste of disk space (you have to install it, since the installer looks for it & pages are named .ht_ instead of .htm or .html!). On a more positive note, the book offers beginners a good introduction to coding image loaders -- warning & providing solutions to problems such as byte ordering, alignment, etc. RLE encoding is given a very thorough description with several of its possible variations. The principles of other types of encoding (LZW, Huffman, CCITT, JPEG & Fractal) are described but not in so much detail. Wavelets are not even mentioned. In summary, most of the information is nothing you cannot get on the web if you spend enough time searching. The book & CD needs to be updated for the new millenium and since it is already pretty heavy, I would vote to split it in two: one for image formats and one for 3D formats.

My only negative comment: The section on GIFs doesn't discuss animated GIFs. There's just a little note that "the format supports multiple images in a file, but this is rarely used". If only they knew back then...

I've kept this book next to my computer desk for quite some time because I consider it an essential reference. There has never been a question about graphic file formats that I haven't been able to answer using this book. I feel the authors have done an outstanding job describing everything from the basics to complex file format features in a language that someone who isn't an artist can understand. As an application developer, I often need to know what's going on behind the scenes and this book makes everything clear.

This book is getting a tad dated, but still extremely valuable and a good buy. I'd love to see the authors update it. I know that I'd be the first in line to get the next edition.

From the book jacket, "Inspired by _The Last of the Mohicans_ by James Fenimore Cooper," _Last of the Breed_ is part of the "Adventures of Wishbone" series. Wishbone, a perky Jack Russell Terrier, connects modern-day events with books he remembers "reading." In this particular adventure Mr. Leon King, a local real estate developer in Wishbone's home town of Oakdale, wants to build a Tastee Oasis fast-food outlet on the edge of the town park. He gets permission to do so, by nefarious means, from the Oakdale Town Council. The moral of the book, from which Wishbone draws parallels to Cooper's novel, is that the land is important and progress (in the form of fast food outlets) isn't measured by paving over every available inch of landscape. What is especially impressive about Steele's treatment of _Mohicans_ is that he is truthful to the original. He does not gloss over the violence (he includes a throat-slashing and the Massacre at Fort William Henry), nor does he try to change the ending of Cooper's novel. Wishbone even says, "I had forgotten how sad the ending of this story is. Let me just take a moment..." before moving back to the "triumph" over Mr. Leon King. _Last of the Breed_, while certainly not a substitute for Cooper's _Last of the Mohicans_, is certainly a good primer for reading Cooper's novel. Moreover, it treats readers, both children and adults, to a throughly enjoyable ecofriendly story. Well done, Wishbone!

If an author is going to write military fiction, it should be assumed that the readers who pick up their book have more than a passing interest in military history. And that's the problem here. Once again, I want to stress that I realize that this is a novel, but Brady insists on inserting real characters and locations and so it is jarring when inaccuracies occur.

For example, he has Captain Billy Port, the derring-do hero, ask about air cover for his intrepid band of Marines as they embark on their mission. You guessed it. The Flying Tigers are mentioned (after all, the setting is China and everyone is familiar with Chennault's fliers) and their reputation for fighting discussed -- in spite of the fact that the Flying Tigers were not operational until after the outbreak of war. Further, having been stationed in Shanghai, Port should have known about the lack of available air cover. There are other errors too as he tries to broadbrush the early war in the Pacific. His mentioning other battlefronts like Singapore, the Phillipines and Wake Island is both gratuitous and frequently wrong as he misrepresents what happened there. Doesn't anyone edit for facts anymore?

The story also plods in the middle. Oh, there are occasional fire fights, strafings and run-ins with bandit warlords. But there are far too many stock characters. This novel has the plot of a B-movie or a Saturday matinee serial, albeit a shambling one. I have to admit though, Port's unexpected decapitation of a warlord is a nice scene and good touch to highlight that, as Chesty Puller allegedly said of Port, he is a "good killer."

I have no doubt that this book will sell well and, who knows, might even become a movie. If it does, the script will need some doctoring up. Brady wrote an excellent Korean War memoir and I recommend it. However, he should leave fiction alone. Of course, the fault my be mine. I have a tremendous respect for the Marines and their exploits and to see them lackadaisically treated, even in fiction and by one of their own no less, offends me.

One last issue. The book jacket contains a blurb by Dan Rather (yes, that Dan Rather), who compares the novel to something by Hemingway or Clancy. It is painfully clear that Rather has read neither of those authors! The only similarities that I can find is that printed words are used to tell the story and both of the aforementioned authors wrote novels too. Come to think of it, maybe that's what he meant... Surely he wasn't comparing style or pace.

While I would not call this the best book I ever read, it was certainly entertaining and kept my interest. A previous reviewer criticized inaccuracies which I did not find. First of all, the Flying Tigers did exist before the outbreak of the war (they were mercenaries--$500 a plane). Also, the book had ongoing updates via radio which were repeated to the Marines at the time. That is, the story provides information based on what was known at the time. Not corrected information provided 10 years after the war ended.
Bottom line, I would recommend this book and have been happy with other Brady work in the past.

James Brady has once again crafted a fine story and created some memorable characters based around little known historical events.

Like his reluctant hero, Tom Verity, in the Marines of Autumn, Brady has conjured up another believable character in Billy Port. Captain Port's mission is to take a small detachment of Marines and some civilian hangers-on and make his way across the Gobi desert gathering up outlying Marine detachments. The War Warning is in the air and before they make their way to the Great Wall of China, their comrades of the 4th Marines have fallen captive to the Japanese war machine. Port and his men realize they are alone and cut off.

This is a wonderfully paced story, with a lot of detail and insider descriptions. Brady really knows his stuff. You get the sense of the Chinese countryside, the interplay between all of the forces warring on each other "out there' on the other side of the Great Wall. But above all, you feel as if you are one of the "China Hands"; the feeling of total abandonment these guys must have felt, but above all the feeling to press on and continue in the Marine Corp way.

There are quick flashes of Griffin's Killer McCoy and his exploits in China and a lot of parallels to McKenna's the Sand Pebbles. But ultimately this book stands on it's own as a great record of a little known time and place in the big picture of WWII.

That is where I think Brady has excelled, he is able to personalize a small moment in history and surround it with momentous world events. He also highlights the professionalism and pride of the Marines that fall into this situations and as in The Marines of Autumn, shows the almost mystical relation between company grade officers and their NCO's.

Semper Fi!

I do not know better book on nonlinear estimation and inference in econometrics.

Overall the book is very well written and relatively easy to understand, considering its subject. However, if you have not been introduced to linear econometrics, the book can become very hard, mainly if the reader is not acquainted with matrix algebra.

The first chapter on the geometrics of regression is simply marvelous, although a better picture is in Ruud's.

The style is someway formal, but different from the traditional lemma-theorem-proof-corollary way. This makes the book easier to read.

Future improvements include:

a. More examples (please);
b. Make the early 2 chapters on asymptotics clearer;
c. Extend the GMM approach interconnecting it with other chapters (it's more general);
d. Put exercises, with solutions, with selected solutions, whatever, but exercises, including computational ones;
e. Some economics - this does not mean applications per se, but it means to explain where and why such techniques are necessary in the real world.

This book covers the majority of standard topics in econometrics. It's very readable, you will need only knowledge of matrix algebra, calculus and basic probability in order to understand it. The book starts with geometric interpretation of least squares, and I do not understand why other reviewers complaining about that. You have to know those projection results if you want to understand what regression is about. Besides, they really simplify treatment of the subject, so it is worth to spend some time on projections. The book provides a good discussion of asymptotic theory, I think one just cannot do it better at this level of mathematics. It has a very nice presentation of GMM, nonlinear regression, maximum likelihood estimation. The discussion of Instrumental Variables estimation is just great. It also has chapters on time series econometrics, unit roots and cointegration. It's even has a small section devoted to bootstrap. In my opinion it's a must have for applied researchers in social science, and it's the best book for the first graduate course in econometrics, and it is much better than Greene (the usual choice for the first econometrics course).

This is one of the best books on econometrics published in the past few years. The authors use the theory of vector spaces (projection operators in a Euclidian space) to show how the intuition behind the General Linear Model extends in a natural way to more complex nonlinear models. The authors demonstrate that sophisticated maximum likelihood (or simulated maximum likelihood) estimation algorithms are essentially repeated applications of the linear projection operators seen in regression context. The result is a unified theory of econometrics which takes readers from a "cookbook" level of statistical sophistication to a more mature "model building" orientation.

In short, this is one of the most refreshing treatments of econometrics I've seen in many years. University instructors -- particulary those teaching doctoral level courses -- should seriously consider adopting this as a text.

It's been a while since I've read a straight out thriller, and I didn't regret reading this one. To be honest, I'm the kind of reader who tends to "lurch" through books...read 50 pages, set book down for a few days, read another 50, etc. Gideon had me turning the pages and coming back every day until I finished it, so I must say that I found it engrossing.

The plot had some good twists but wasn't so complicated that I needed 3x5 cards to figure out what was going on. There were a few memorable characters, good villians, decent hero...if a bit stereotypical. Good action, high body count. Overall, I think most people would find it very entertaining.

One other opinion...the identity of the Closer was laughable. Still makes me chuckle when I think about it.

If you don't know the meaning of "body count", you will find out rather soon when reading this gripping, fast, interesting, well written book.

The story is about a ghost writer who obviously knows too much about a person playing an important role in the society, although he doesn't know his name. Soon, writer Carl is suspected to be the murderer of his editor and his neighbor. On the run, he takes refuge with his ex-girlfriend Amanda. After two more dead bodies they are forced to find the truth about the story Carl was writing. But obviously a killer follows them closely (is that the reason why this guy is called "Closer?").

Finally, they find out what happened in the life of this important person (with some more dead bodies being piled up around them) and return to confront the responsible people with their knowledge. Knowledge is power, and that is known also by a multi-billion media tycoon who plays an important role in the book.

The page-turning style and high speed of this novel keeps you going from the start until the end. This of course makes it possible for you to forget the usual questions which come up when it comes to thrillers: Why don't killers simply shoot their targets but usually try to talk to them or make some "show" (bombs, unusual dresses,...)? The true story about the "popular person" can surely kill a political career, but is it the reason to commit suicide? Why are fired former policemen always fat and sweating? Especially, the murder of the two women at the very beginning is even after the end of the book not fully understandable.

But - excluding the body count which is comparable to typical James Bond movies - the story was really fun to read. The author won't get the Nobel Prize for that, but you can have some entertaining hours with this novel.

When struggling writer Carl Granville is approached by a successful editor at the funeral of his agent he is excited to learn that she has a project in mind for him, if he chooses to accept it. She wants him to ghost-write a fictional novel based on real events that will potentially earn him a fortune. The only problem is that she wants it done fast. Real fast. He will have to turn a series of diaries, letters and articles into explosive fiction within just a few weeks. Carl accepts.

However, within a few days, Carl begins to get uneasy. He's not entirely comfortable with what the diaries are disclosing - in effect, the murder of a small child - and is unsure whether he really wants to continue. But then, two people close to Carl and brutally murdered, including the editor who originally approached him, and Carl, with no evidence at all to support his claims and no alibi, finds himself to be the prime suspect. Carl quickly realises that he's in great danger...there's someone out there who doesn't want this book written, and they're prepared to go to grave lengths to ensure that it isn't...

Excellent thriller. That's really all I can say. Human characters, great writing, and an absolute snake of a plot. It twists and turns and shocks in ways that would make Jeffery Deaver proud. The plot is original enough, and adds a nice twist to the accepted "innocent-man-on-the-run" formula. The protagonist is a wonderful every-man, and very easy to like. I can only applaud this tense, exciting thriller from the pen of David Handler and Peter Gethers. It's very rare that books written by two people actually work, but Gideon is certainly one of the exceptions. This book should please all thriller fans, and I'm very much looking forward to reading "Icarus", which sounds equally thrilling...