The quality movement in the US in the 1980s and 1990s has led to a great deal of quality efforts that stress statistical measurements of process capability. These indices are intended to answer the question "How often will a manufactured part fall outsided specification limits?" Certain standards and tests based on capability indices have validity when the process variation has a normal distribution.

However, it has been my experience in the medical device industry that many processes are non-normal and that the application of the normal theory in these cases can lead one astray. Others have found this to be the case in the automobile industry as well as in other industries.

Also some people treat these indices as though they are known constants when in practice we almost always use sample estimates of means and standard deviations in our calculation of the index. This means that the "index" is itself an estimate of the capability parameter.

These issues are recognized and emphasized by Kotz and Johnson in this wonderful little monograph. It was the first book to address many of these issues and to summarize what it known based on the scattered literature. They treat all the major indices and present normal theory and bootstrap alternatives among others. It is very authoritative and is an important reference for anyone dealing with these quality control issues.

The title of this book doesn't do justice to Hart's analysis -- Hart has examined literary ownership, and pride in that ownership, from a variety of angles that relate to Samuel Johnson. (In email, when I asked Hart about the title, he as much said it was the publisher's idea. But Hart's concept is intricate, and not easily captured, so Cambridge can be forgiven.)

Hart examines the process of appropriating Johnson as property. For Boswell, this means separating Johnson's life from Johnson's writings. Once Boswell's "Life of Johnson" becomes a monument, it means the efforts of others to carve out a relevant position - - from the 18th C Croker edition of Boswell which interpolated all sorts of material to 'round out' Boswell's gaps; a later, more 'purist' edition by Fitzgerald; followed by the famous George Birkbeck Hill edition where the quantity of footnotes rivalled the quantity of Boswell. And once the Hill edition became sacred, it was up to Powell to keep it sacred in a later edition, by adding considerably, but ONLY in appendixes so as to not detract from the Hill text. So, in each round, property was carved out.

Hart also examines Boswell's parading of Johnson throguh Scotland, and how Boswell basked not just in Johnson's reflected glory, but basked also as the impresario who brought the English monument to Scotland. Other examinations of property include copyright and forgery, through discussions of law and Ossian.

Hart has a deft hand here, and turns quite a number of brilliant tricks. He makes clever connections of Boswell as Hamlet, and readings of Gibbon's words that have been lost in recent, popular editions. He discusses the British cultural significance of "Samuel Johnson," and why British prisoners of war in Germany (in WW II) were sent Boswell's "Life" rather than the actual writings by Johnson. All in all, this book rewards the attentive reader.

The price, however, (at around $60 currently) leaves something to be desired. I suppose there is something to a need to have Cambridge compensated for publishing an item that doesn't have broad appeal, but I don't see how a price like this will make its appeal broader.

Samuel Johnson As Book Reviewer: A Duty To Examine The Labors Of The Learned by Brian Hanley (Associate Professor of English, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado) is a dedicated and thorough critical analysis of the forty-seven book reviews that Samuel Johnson contributed to the Gentleman's Magazine, the Literary Magazine, and the Critical Review. Each review offers new insights into Johnson's literate and questing mind, and the meticulous analyses bear the fruit of painstaking study and framework reference. A new and aptly presented look at the work and character of this notable figure, Samuel Johnson As Book Reviewer is strongly recommended reading for anyone studying the life and times of Samuel Johnson.

This work gathers in one convenient volume a wealth of information from many sources. Anyone reading the works of Samuel Johnson or James Boswell, or reading about Samuel Johnson or James Boswell, will find it immensely useful and endlessly browseable. It is expensive; but I cannot recommend it too highly for anyone who loves the study of Samuel Johnson and his world. I believe there is no other comparable reference work on this subject.

Just so you know, the Samuel Johnson covered in this anthology is NOT the more famous Englishman of the 18th Century (essayist, lexicographer, subject of Boswell's Life of Johnson, etc.)

Rather, THIS Samuel Johnson is the Anglican minister of Connecticut, who became the first president of King's College (later Columbia University). He was an important minister in his own right, and you can find one of his sermons in the Library of America's volume of American Sermons. But he is completely different from the more famous SJ.

Samuel Johnson was in his era what E.F. Hutton was in his. When the Doctor spoke, people listened. His sidekick and amanuensis, James Boswell, of course immortalized his utterances in one of the grandest biographies ever written. What this volume (and similar collections) indicates is that Johnson was equally irrepressible in print.

Johnson was nothing if not opinionated. Yet, coming from him, they are never merely opinions. There is always a great degree of heft and weight supporting them (no pun intended, as he was an immense man physically as well as intellectually)). Though he received only an honorary degree from Oxford (he was too poor to remain at school), he was one of the most learned men of any era. The range and breadth of his reading is unsurpassed by any other major literary figure, with the possible exception of Milton. Yet Johnson never comes across as overblown, nor does he ever trumpet his learning. His writing is informed be a sense of humility and compassion, that no doubt were among the attributes that endeared him to so many of the leading lights of his generation. And of course, he also had a marvelous sense of humor, which also comes through in this collection. Unfortunately for him, his good moods were often followed by serious bouts of depression, which is reflected in his most famous poem, "The Vanity of Human Wishes." By today's standards, he would be diagnosed most probably as a manic-depressive. There were many days when he found it difficult to summon the resolve to get out of bed and face the day. What saved him was his naturally gregarious nature. He thoroughly enjoyed the company he found in London's taverns.

His compassion for others is legendary. He thought that the character of a country was determined by the degree to which it ministered to the poor. He was an ardent foe, as exhibited in one of his "Idler" articles, of so-called scientific experimentation on animals. He viscerally describes the cruel and inhumane use that dogs were subjected to by anatomy researchers in his era. It is one of the most compellingly moving diatribes against this still-controversial subject that one is likely to encounter. One of the marks of great authors is that they say things we sometimes think of ourselves in such an adroit and pithy manner that we think they could not be better expressed. Take this Johnson quote on "idleness," for example: "As pride sometimes is hid under humility, idleness is often covered by turbulence and hurry. He that neglects his own duty and real employment, naturally endeavors to crowd his mind with something that may bar out the remembrance of his own folly, and does anything but what he ought to do with eager diligence, that he may keep himself in his own favor."

Dr. Johnson was also one of the foremost literary critics in history. Though one may not always agree with his assessments, one has to acknowledge the force of his arguments. In his encomiums to such writers as Shakespeare, Milton and Pope, he intermittently sprinkles censure. For those of us who don't like to see our icons brought down to earth, this is sometimes painful. What Johnson is really doing, however, is showing us that our own judgments are often unbalanced, and we fail to see what are real flaws in the great edifices. Johnson is never interested in pure panegyrics. His task is to examine the entire picture and to report as accurately as possible the grandeur, as well as the shortcomings of a work, whether it is Pope's Iliad, Shakespeare's Hamlet, or Milton's Paradise Lost. If there is a last word that could be said to have been delivered on these monumental works, it may well be Johnson's.

If you haven't visited the Doctor recently, do yourself some good and remedy the situation.

This book was a visual journey into the lives of early 20th century black america. Many of the pictures could be termed as "dignified photo essays" of life in the black community.You feel as though you are right there behind the lenses of these photo's while they're being taken. They almost have an "ethereal beauty" about them. In these photo's you can see the dignity of a race of people who were considered low class at the time of the photographs, but in the way they are portrayed you feel like you're in the presence of royalty. "A visual treat for the eye's" is the best way to describe this book . It is also well worth reading as you enjoy the beautiful photography! I would highly recommended this book to african americans and those who enjoy a look into the past!

Did everyone else know that Samuel Johnson wrote the first dictionary of the English language that still influences writers of dictionaries today? Has everyone else read a book by Beryl Bainbridge? If not, _According to Queenie_, Bainbridge's latest historical novel about the 18th century genius Samuel Johnson and his relationship with the wealthy, beer-brewing Thrale family, is a perfect introduction to both. I thoroughly enjoyed being transported to that earlier, innocent, no-tech time and being reminded that then, as now, there were those (even geniuses) with serious psychological "issues" and families that could be described as "dysfunctional."

It does help, I believe, to do a little research about Johnson before- or while--reading the book. (No, I shall not read, nor recommend, all of Boswell's "Life of Johnson.") But the characters in the book are based on real people. If the book has a fault, it's that Bainbridge seems to assume that the reader already knows something about the characters before the first word is read. But even if one doesn't, as I didn't, I would recommend this book simply for its intelligent, well-crafted, scintillating prose. It left me wanting to read more about and by Samuel Johnson and definitely wanting to read more books by Beryl Bainbridge.

Beryl Bainbridge's new historical novel takes a fresh, and rather disturbing, look at Samuel Johnson, LL.D., the eminent 18th century lexicographer and man of letters. Dr. Johnson (as he is usually referred to) is, of course, well-known as the subject of English literature's first great biography, James Boswell's "The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D." (1791). But Boswell, who worshipped Johnson, failed to include some of the less appealing and less attractive aspects of Johnson's life and personality. It is these that Bainbridge writes about in "According to Queeney."

Queeney was the real-life daughter of Hester Lynch Thrale, one of Johnson's closest friends and confidantes. In fact, Johnson lived, off and on, at Mrs. Thrale's estate, Streatham Park. Through the voice of a third-person narrator, along with a series of letters written by Queeney to her girlhood friends, we discover that Dr. Johnson was deeply depressed (or melancholic, as they called it back then), obsessed with death, sexually conflicted, and a masochist--in short, a bundle of neurotic tics and rifts. Bainbridge's book is brilliant not only in its expose of the dark side of Dr. Johnson, but also in its depiction of the literary and social world of 18th century London, especially the upper classes. While non-specialists in this period of English literature may be challenged to keep up with who's who and what's what, in the end the challenge is well worth taking up.

"According To Queeney (ATQ)", Beryl Bainbridge's historical fictional account of the last 20 years of Samuel Johnson's life, will appeal especially to readers who have some background of the subject but it won't shut out the rest of us who don't. Although Bainbridge parades her huge supporting cast of characters to readers with scarcely an introduction as if we're on first name terms with them, it doesn't take long for us to catch up...and we make the effort because after a slow start, we're intrigued as we read on. Bainbridge's disciplined, economical yet eloquent prose stimulates our curiousity and brings to life a subject the non-literary minded may justifiably consider esoteric.

ATQ doesn't seek to compete with Boswell's biographical masterpiece because it is fiction. What Bainbridge offers is a personal and intimate profile - warts and all - of a great lexicographer and an eminent man of letters who in his twilight years has become a sickly, strange tempered and eccentric old man. This profile is developed from his imagined life as a permanent house guest of Southwark brewer, Henry Thrale and his wife, Hester on whose emotional support he grows increasingly to rely. Through the eyes of young Queeney, the Thrales' eldest daughter, we observe the lifestyle of Johnson and the Thrales, how they behave, the fellow artistes they consort with and their meticulously organised travels to Europe. More interestingly, we detect the development of a curious relationship between the crotchety Johnson and his hostess, the unhappy and shallow Hester. Not quite "the story of unrequited love " suggested by critics, it is nevertheless a relationship founded upon mutual need and one that isn't in the least obvious or easy to discern. That it should end the way it did doesn't surprise. The story is also littered with incidents of spite, bitterness and petty jealousies among the servants in Johnson's own household as they compete for their master's affection. There is ironically a subplot of "unrequited love" in the story but not where you expect to find it. Queeney's voice is sour and reluctant throughout. She was a precocious child - that's why Johnson was so fond of her and became her Latin tutor - but the sentiment isn't especially reciprocated. Her letters as an adult to various Johnson researchers seeking corroboration and evidence reveal a less than enthusiastic friend, if ever she was one. What does that tell you about Johnson's success as an individual ?

ATQ is a quietly confident historical novel of Johnson's erratic life that will appeal to the literary minded, afficionados as well as those who simply love good writing. Bainbridge must be the most often shortlisted fictional author - ever - for the Booker Prize. She's earned her dues and played bridesmaid long enough. Let's hope she wins it some day. ATQ didn't make it beyond the longlist. More's the pity because so few contemporary writers today possess Bainbridge's virtues. With her, less is more.

Boswell's Presumptious Task (The Making of the Life of Dr. Johson) is an examination of a biographer creating a biography, or, in this case, THE biographer creating THE biography. This book is itself not quite a biography as it concentrates mainly, although not exclusively, on Boswell's life as it pertains to the creation of his book. It is also not a careful examination of the book Boswell wrote itself. Instead, it is a fascinating view of the human interactions, both between subject and author, but also those between the author and his sources before and after Johnson's death, that went into the creating process. The literary masterpiece that came to be the Life of Johnson was born out of the social and cultural mileau both men enjoyed in London and this is well recreated in this book. This is a readable, sometimes funny, sometimes touching book.

_Life[17~ of Johnson_ by James Boswell has, since its publication in
1791, been one of the world's favorite books. Now Adam Sisman has
biographied that great biography, in _Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The
Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson_ (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), a
grand book for anyone who loves the original one, or Boswell, or
Johnson. It is also a capital demonstration of the artistry involved
in writing nonfiction.

Boswell had a stern father who had contempt for
his son, and so he searched for father figures. It was this role that
Johnson inevitably played, and while others were disgusted by
Boswell's sycophancy, it mere ensured that Boswell could get his
subject to discourse, and could take it all down in his ever-present
journal. Sisman shows how Boswell used his voluminous journals to put
himself into the scene, even when he was not really there. Anecdotes
from friends and even Johnson's own writings were put into the
biography as if Boswell were really there, and that Boswell edited the
conversations to his liking. A skilled mimic, Boswell could turn
stories about Johnson in a way that made them true to life. Scholars
have counted up the calendars of the two men and found that they met
only on 400 days of the last 22 years of Johnson's life, so Boswell
really did not play the role of constant companion. Even more
interesting is what Boswell left out, Johnson's sexual
activities. Uxoriousness and unrelieved grief of the widower were
truer to Boswell's purpose, if not to Johnson's character. In
addition, painting his friend in this way may have assuaged Boswell's
guilt over his many infidelities to his own wife. Sisman also shows
how untiringly Boswell sought details from others, and confirmed them,
in order to write them up himself.

Boswell had a magnificent and
useful friendship with Johnson, who inspired him and provided him with
the immortality he sought (although, sadly, Boswell could not have
known this). The friendship was a foundation of his life, and forms
the basis of one of the most entertaining of the great books. It
wasn't always a smooth friendship, as Johnson was always
intermittently rough with his friends. His famous remark to Boswell,
"You have but two topics, yourself and me, and I'm sick of
both," shows that he grew impatient at being prodded into
self-revelation. But we only know of that remark because Boswell, all
thanks be to him, recorded it for future use and kept it as one of the
details in his incomparable book.

This book should be a must-read for anyone interested in history, biography, politics, or literary endeavors. The writing is smooth as silk, free from academic obfuscation, reading more like a novel than an in-depth analysis of one of the most important events in literary history. To be sure though, the work is not without its blemishes. As a previous reviewer noted, a familiarity with Boswell's biography of Johnson would certainly enhance a reader's enjoyment and understanding, as would a basic grounding in 18th Century British history. Sisman does not interrupt the flow of his narrative to provide even a minimal education on such topics as Culloden, the Young and Old Pretenders, Prince Charles, etc. Also, other than Finden's engraving of Johnson and Boswell that adorn the book's dust jacket, there are no other illustrations in the book. The addition of engravings of such key people as might be available and photos or reproductions of key pages of the various important documents discussed in the book would have been an invaluable and much desired addition. I would also like to have had a bit more explanation of Sisman's basis for some of his interpretations, e.g., in referring to John Wilkes comments upon the publication of Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, Sisman says that Wilkes "feigned to see the book as an attack on Johnson" and that Wilkes wrote "facetiously" to Boswell with "affected indignation," yet Sisman offers no justification as to why we should not believe that Wilkes' comments to Boswell were made in complete earnestness. Such blemishes cannot dim the brilliant light of this wonderful book. You simply must read it!

Needless to say, Boswell's LIFE OF JOHNSON is one of the preeminent works of biography and should be read by anyone interested in Johnson or the genre. It is a great book (also great is W. Jackson Bate's SAMUEL JOHNSON [1st published 1975]which is a MUST for anyone interested in Johnson). But although I love the Everyman's Library, I do not recommend this edition of Boswell. Unlike the usual quality of the Everyman's Library, its Boswell is rife with typographical errors (there's even missing text!). Though it's the only edition of Boswell I've read, I regret that a correct edition is not on my bookshelf. That being said, if this is the only affordable hardcover version you can find -- and you buy only hardcovers -- go ahead and purchase the Everyman's despite the numerous and distracting errors.

This book will redefine your concepts of biography, of philology and of intellect. However critically James Boswell is rated as a writer, the fact remains that his biography of Johnson remains the standard by which all others are judged, and by which they ultimately fall--flat on their condescending faces.

Who was Samuel Johnson? He was, in one sense, the first literary celebrity. His fabled dictionary of the English language was, a few years down the road, superceded and greatly improved upon by the dictionary written by Noah Webster. His tour of Scotland and the book that ensued from it hardly rank with the other literary giants of English. And his essays, indisputably brilliant, remain sadly that: forms of literature seldom read, and lacking the artistic force of the play, the novel, the poem.

What Boswell shows us about Johnson is that he was the sharpest conversationalist of his time in a society that cultivated the very finest of witty speakers. Living off the beneficence of friends, off a royally-provided pension, and leading what he readily acknowledged to be a life of idleness, Johnson was a sought-after personality invigorated by one of the brightest literary minds ever.

Boswell introduces the genius, his pathos, his melancholy, his piety, his warmth, and most of all his stinging wit. That he loved and respected Johnson, and sought to honor his memory, can only be doubted by an utter cynic or someone serving a lifetime of durance in academia.

"All intellectual improvement arises from leisure..." "You shall retain your superiority by my not knowing it." "Sir, they [Americans] are a parcel of convicts and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging." "He was dull in a new way, and that made people think him great." "...it is our duty to maintain the subordination of civilized society..." "It is wonderful, when a calculation is made, how little the mind is actually employed in the discharge of any profession." Boswell: "...you are an idle set of people." Johnson: "Sir, we are a city of philosophers." "We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards."

And best of all, and immortal to boot, is this: "No man but a blockhead writes, except for money."

Buy this book. Read it. It's humanity at its wittiest and most complex.

Boswell was not the obvious choice to write the best biography about Samuel Johnson, much less one of the greatest biographies in world literature. He had much less contact with Johnson than Mrs. Thrale, for many years a close friend of Johnson who spent much more time with him than did Boswell. In fact, Boswell spent perhaps 400 days with Johnson over a period of many years. He also was not Johnson's literary executor. Finally, Boswell was regarded by many of his day, and afterwards, as something of an 18th Century celebrity hound. He made a point of meeting every famous person he could (Voltaire, Rousseau), and went to great efforts to make himself famous. Nevertheless, in his Life of Johnson, Boswell succeeded in portraying Johnson and his circle so vividly that more than 200 years later they come across as real human beings. He did this by breaking the convention of concentrating only on the most favorable aspects of his subject's life, and instead describing Johnson's eccentricities of dress, behavior, etc. Moreover, Boswell did not neglect to include incidents that make himself appear ridiculous. The book is both extremely funny and moving. If you read this, you will want to immediatley get a copy of Boswell's book on the trip that Johnson and he took to the Hebrides.