Alma Schindler - the goddess, the muse, the center of attention ... How did she manage that? How did she become an obsession of so many genial men, a thing of admiration of the Secessionist Vienna? But simply - she was a remarkable woman. And also, happened to be pretty and at the right place at the right time, born into an artistic family. It was said that she had a hearing defect. She would move closer to her companion in order to hear better. Men found that irresistible.

One would expect her to be vain and conceited. Through her diary, we entered her mind - she is none of that. At least, not more than any of us. She is an insecure girl. She has fears, doubts about herself, she loves passionately... Alas, her anti-Semitic feelings are shocking. At first, she is quite tolerant and objects anti-Semitic sentiments. Then she changes. One can only find the reason in propaganda being already pretty aggressive. She lives among Jewish families, loves Jewish men and marries two of them. Why then? And how did it happen that she married Mahler so quickly?

"Please God, give me some great mission, give me something great to do!" She could have been quite a good artist. Her drawings show certain talent that could have been developed into something much more. She could have taken drawing classes and maybe, her mission would have been even greater. But she pursued music even though it
seemed that she lacked the talent - not one of her opera impressions on the notepaper correspond to the real score. She never composed a great opera she dreamed of. But she left her mark in the history of arts and love.

This book is a great document. The correspondence between the authors just adds to the value. I only wish there were more photos of Alma as well as letters that she received. It would have been nice to read passionate words of her admirers. At the end, instead of an epilogue, there should have been a short biography. And a word of two about her sisters and mother would have been valuable. What happened to her sister Maria? I guess I need to start searching.

As a long-term diary writer myself I was interested in Mahler-Werfel's diary and the manner in which the voice of the nineteen-year old woman is expressed (and the next two years of her life). Often when I reread my own writings I cringe at my ideas and philosophies when I was young and it takes some time for me to empathise with myself and regain a feeling for the person I was. One of the great features of these diaries is that they truly express the voice of the nineteen-year old, they have not been edited to provide a more sophisticated voice. Perhaps Mahler-Werfel cringed a bit at herself in the way I do, perhaps that is why she never published these diaries during her lifetime, although we do know she gave it some consideration. But I think it is important that we heed the voice expressed in youthful writings because it reassociates us with the people we once were, and hopefully gives us greater empathy with the youth of today.
The most challenging aspect of these diaries is Mahler-Werfel's revelations of her growing sexual awareness with its contradictions, rapid changes of view, hesitancies, self criticism, and intemperate admissions. This is emotional and at times erotic writing. While we can allow Mahler-Werfel the licence to say what she wants about herself, it is less readily acceptable that she describes the behaviour of her partners - some of them quite historic figures. But this is the voice of youth going through very tumultuous personal times. Most people move through these times with varying degrees of ease and distress. Mahler-Werfel's writing reminded me of Wedekind's play 'Springtime Awakening'. The awakening is not satisfactory for all - and is sometimes disastrous. For Mahler-Werfel we can only speculate.
Mahler-Werfel associated with many great artistic figures - in the times of these diaries there are Gustav Klimt, Alexander Zemlinsky and Gustav Mahler. Her reflections on these figures make them more alive than many histories. For her, they were living pulsing human beings and we see them in that way.
But was Mahler-Werfel extraordinary herself? I find it hard to decide. She obviously was not your average woman of the time, and yet it is possible to see her as just a spoilt rich girl who happened to have a pretty face. In her diaries she speaks of writing a song (lied) in a day, playing the whole of Tristan on the piano in an evening. And yet her musical examples noted in the diary are so poorly notated and often so inaccurate that it is hard not to think she had little genuine talent. Perhaps someone else completed the lieder from her tenuous musical ideas. But equally possible is that she was a real talent and, as popular history tells us, was suppressed by Mahler in their marriage. To me, however, there is another reading in that marriage to Mahler enabled her to renounce her musical ambitions, which she knew would never match those of Mahler no matter how hard she worked. To be fair about her musical notation however, we need to remember that all her writings border on the unreadable (perhaps that was deliberate - a sort of code?) although the single-minded line drawings she included are quite fine in a limited way (are they all of pretty Alma herself?).
Another way to judge her musical astuteness is her reviews and critiques of the many concerts she attended. At first look they seem to match the views of the day - wildly supportive of Wagner, dismissive of Bach, Saint-Saens and even Mozart. Was she just copying the view of the day? But then there are the changes of view - suddenly the opinion on Mozart changes, she starts to see some flat spots in Wagner. This does seem to suggest self-awareness in her musical views and even if it is selective acceptance of different critical opinion she shows a capability to make the change. There is one final thought that came to me as I read the diaries - perhaps her influence was so great (it certainly wasn't trivial) that she went some way to actually forming the critical view of the day.
I was immensely fascinated by these writings. If you are interested in human development and artistic creativity I recommend you do not overlook them. One thing is certain - Mahler-Werfel was an impassioned writer as a young woman.

Alma Mahler was a fascinating woman and this diary gives an unique insight into her personality and those she knew. Her growing years, developing both emotionally and in personality come through as does her determination and zest for life. Her time with Gustav Mahler is fascinating and sheds an interesting light into his character and fears at this time. A fascinating read.

If you are searching for a guide in reference to Golden Oak Furniture, this book supplies it all. It is filled with wonderful color pictures and a large assortment of furniture types. This book has been a time saver for me.

This book is a rare find. I have never seen a book with so many color photographs depicting numerous examples of American oak furniture. It covers every type of furniture you can imagine. The accompanying text is expertly organized as a narrative as well as a reference text providing descriptions of the furniture supplemented with a glossary of terminology. This is a highly distinguished publication.

This book has helped me immensely in identifying different styles of furniture especially nowadays when there is such a highbred of types. I feel more comfortable rummaging antique shops. However Golden Oak does not necessarily imply American? So I was disappointed in not finding any "Harris Lebus" (England) brand furniture in the book. This book is a keeper and needs to be reviewed periodically to keep the different styles in ones mind. If you have not guessed this is a picture book.

Shirley Nelson's _Fair, Clear, and Terrible: The Story of Shiloh_ is one of those rare history books that's plotted and executed more like a mystery novel than a documentary. Nelson, whose parents met at Shiloh, took an interest in the site at a young age, and thus grew up always in its shadow. Through the years she gathered as much information as she could, and reports on it all here. However, this isn't just a regurgitation of the facts. Nelson's family ties to the place give her, it would seem, a reason to write about it with more heart than most historians, coupled with a sardonic, not-quite-suppressed sarcasm that leaves the reader laughing on occasion. And when was the last time you laughed at a HISTORY book?

A wonderful piece of work. Highly recommended.

Shirley Nelson did a great deal of research for this wonderful book! She not only took her own family history, but dug into other sources to put together a complete and fair minded look into a fascinating piece of Americana. The pure faith that took believers to Shiloh comes through as well has the hardships and abuse they endured as they tried to please their leader, Frank Sanford. She did a great service to many who were still in the movement of their forefathers at the time the book was published. Many of the facts of the history of The Kingdom movement were hidden or glossed over so that present members did not understand what the true story was. This book started a lot of questioning of the leaders of the church and helped in bringing to light lies and half truths. I would highly recommend this book, not only to those interested in history, but also to those who are or have been in a cult. So many common threads run through cults. So many innocent people trying to live their faith while the doctrines they are taught to love more than their own families carries consequences down through many generations. Highly reommended reading! For more information on the history of Shiloh and The Kingdom movement see the website fwselijah.com.

Reviewed by:
Timothy E. McMahon, M.S.
Electronic Publishing Specialist
American Mathematical Society

A researcher approaches the reference desk and asks how she can find the latest figures on terrorist incidents in the United States. Another approaches asking to learn how much money was spent to make the movie "Independence Day." Can you answer these questions using online resources that are available from your library? Possibly. However, if you have read Berinstein's book, that answer quickly becomes Probably.

Paula Berinstein has put together a comprehensive work that covers the Internet as well as other fee based online services. The author leads off her work with a detailed Table of Contents and Table of Figures. These are complimented by a pointer to the Directory of Online Statistical Sources locate on the Berinstein Research Web Site. This site is a companion to the book and attempts to keep users up-to-date on trends effecting the discovery and use of online statistical sources. The book contains nineteen chapters, four appendices and a solid forty-three page index. Throughout the book, the author uses a conversational tone with her readers that serves to ease the user into the complexities of statistics discovery and retrieval.

The first chapter of the book is a Quick Start designed for those familiar with online searching and statistics. This chapter contains brief abstracts as well as general and specific online services that are commonly available. The reader is presented sections dealing with availability, costs, features and benefits as well as drawbacks of these sites. The chapter also includes several comparison charts and tips on search strategy.

Chapter two is a primer on statistics. Here the reader will receive a brief overview of the types of statistics one might find online. Concepts such as raw numbers, percentages, averages and standard deviation are clearly defined on a low level so as to make these abstractions available to the broadest audience. The author also discusses methodologies of data collection and analysis that are common in statistical reporting.

Chapter three concentrates on giving the reader an understanding of who generates and publishes statistics. These providers are broken out into fifteen broad categories that range from government agencies to individual researchers. The author takes a brief look at each of these categories with much of the text devoted to the federal government. This chapter provides easy to read bulleted lists that point to sites where the user will find statistical information and screen captures that allow the reader to see what he or she should be looking at when using the links provided by the author.

The fourth chapter provides the reader with general search tips. In this chapter, the author presents the reader with tips for choosing statistical sources and combines these with advice on formulating search strategies. The core of this chapter is the author's construction of figures and word lists that cause the reader to think not only of where to find statistics but how statistics might be presented on any site or service. Also provided in this chapter are tips on searching specific services such as DIALOG, STN, DataStar and others.

Chapters five through eighteen are "subject-specific" and deal with finding statistics in particular subject areas. These subject areas range from demographics and population to transportation statistics. Each of these chapters details common types of data to be found, key producers of this data, best places to find these data and an extremely useful case study. These case studies present the reader with a reference question and methodically steps through the process involved in the discovery of a correct answer. Users will see the purpose of the exercise, reference question, likely sources to use, access points used to find the data and the system where the searcher discovered the answer. The author then reviews the search methodology and presents figures captured from the search service to augment the discussion.

Following her summary, Berinstein presents the reader with four appendices designed to round-out the content of the book. Appendix A provides contact information for a set of information providers, many of which were mentioned throughout the book. Appendix B lists the case studies presented in this book while Appendix C presents a useful glossary of statistical terms. The final appendix contains a bibliography of works useful to the author in construct of the book. This is also to be seen as a "further reading" section. As mentioned earlier, the index is comprehensive and easy to use.

In this information age we are all experiencing information overload in two aspects: 1. Searching for information takes longer using the new internet technologies vs. the traditional online systems, and 2. We get too much recall with too little precision. A handy tool to overcome these problems is Paula Berinstein's book "Finding Statistics Online". This well-organized reference is a true problem-solver for information seekers who value their time and need to find statistical data for marketing or research purposes. Finding Statistics Online starts with three very important chapters that explain how data is gathered, the various sources of statistical data and a comparison of online vendors including excellent search tips. All other 16 chapters of the book are arranged by topic such as business, health, education etc. and consist of a description of the typical data, key producers and resources, best places to look and a case study. This book gives the information searcher various options for each subject matter including free internet resources as well as commercial vendors. Finding Statistics Online is a highly recommended reference for every searcher.

This is a rare good book. We have too little exposure to the great arts of Africa; this book is a remedy. ABy linking the art chosen to the royalty of West Afarica kingdoms, whe illustrates how close the connections were between power and art; power including raeligious and ritual power as well as temporal. The book lacked only an overview analysis to tie all the sections together amorae firmly.

One of the finest books on African Art I have studied. I showed my copy to a business assoicate from the Republic of Congo. She is from the Kuba tribe and deals in art from this area. She asked me to get a copy for her work and a friend of hers wanted another copy. If the African people approved of the book, what else can I say. Top reference book.

Over the last fifteen years mandalas have offered me, and many friends who have joined me on the journey, an opening through which we can explore the inner life of our soul. Suzanne Fincher started me and so many others on that journey throuh her workshop on Creating Mandalas, and her first book by that same title is a treasure chest of guidance in exploring our inner life through the creation of mandalas. This workbook provides many colorful illustrations of mandalas that show our movement through life along with an array of mandala outlines that I could color as the Spirit led me. This book offered me inspiration and deeper understanding of the great round of the mandala, a path through which many of our mandalas move, and through which our lives journey. I commend it in combination with Suzanne's earlier book, Creating Mandalas. It is not as helpful alone. I would hope that this workbook would be a beginning but not an end, that no one would stop at coloring in the patterns within this book. To me, the most important role of the mandala is to let the color, shape and texture of my inner life float up into an empty circle where I can see it and relate with it.

To be honest, when I first got the book I was very disappointed and considered sending it back. The pictures to be colored are not really the quality I was expecting. I changed my mind about keeping the book when I actually started to read. The snippets of information about mandala in different cultures are quite good, as is the brief review of Jungian thought on mandala. I learned quite a few things about something I had thought was simply a tool for meditation. I also learned more about the symbolism of color. As a means to advance my art, it wasn't the incredible book I had hoped for. As a means to advance my inner self, though, it represented a few more steps along the path, and that makes it worth keeping.

I had no idea what mandalas were before reading this book. I had been looking for a new form of meditation and this book looked interesting so I thought I would give it a try. I am so happy that I did! It it very interesting, giving reasons for and history of (among other things) the mandalas. Not only are you able to read about mandalas, but Ms. Fincher has included 45 mandalas for the reader to color. It is so much fun and a great form of creativity and meditation. I have already recommended this book to all my friends!

This book is wonderful to learn the history of many aromatics. It traces the history of many common aromatics as well as explaining the use and nature of some unusual ones as well. It is, however, not the 'complete' book that I would have liked. However, I definitely recommend it to anyone with an interest in the historic uses of incense as well as the origins, harvesting techniques, etc. A definite must for any incense user or maker.

Well written and obviously well researched, this work gives wonderful history, ritual and descriptions. I wish Ms. Fischer-Rizzi had given more detail on the actual creation of incense as well as the use of essential oils in this art. I thoroughly enjoyed this book nonetheless and would recommend it to anyone looking to create their own incense. To truly immerse yourself in any artform, you have to know and understand its significance. Ms. Fischer-Rizzi gives you this knowledge.

A very impressive reference book on Herbs, Incense and Resins. The chapters cover historical use of incense through herbs and resins in Northern Europe, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, Greece, Arabia, Israel, The Americas, India & Japan. It covers an extensive amount of material including how plants & resins were used and burned for ritual & daily purposes, describes each plant discussed in the chapter with illustrations and modern references and lists incense recipes from those specific cultures. Wonderful Illustrations of each plant and resin are included!!! This book is a must for any student or scholar passionate about natural incense using herbs and resins. I personally use this book extensively for research and it always yields new and amazing material. I also have followed a couple of the incense recipes and have come up wonderful results.

Readers should note that this site does not distinguish between the various editions of Shakespeare, so the reviews you read may be for audiotapes, modern translations, etc. I am reviewing the Kenneth Branaugh BBC Radio recording of Hamlet. It is adequate, which I consider high praise for this challenging play. Like Branaugh's movie a few years later, it includes the entire text of the play, which is a nice way to remind yourself of some issues you may have forgotten.

The performances are pretty good, and include Branaugh (of course) as Hamlet and Derek Jacobi as Claudius, giving us a hint of the performances they would later give in the movie. No one's performance really blew me away, although Jacobi was excellent.

Ultimately, the play loses quite a bit when transferred to audio only. There's a lot to be conveyed with stage placement, physican action, expression, etc. Somehow, listening to the play limited my imagination on those issues, preventing my from using my "mind's eye" to the fullest.

Hamlet is considered, by many scholars, the pinnacle of Shakespeare's dramas. If you haven't read it yet this this Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism edition would be a great place to begin.

The text notes that are included with the play are very helpful to understand some of the more difficult language nuances that are inevitable with any Shakespeare. The structure is well laid out and conclusive. It complements the complexity of Hamlet very well.

Of course Hamlet is one of the great paradoxes and mysteries every written. The search of finding yourself and what it is that fuels the human spirit. Hamlet can be a very confusing play because of the depth of substance. However, the critical essays that suppliment the reading make it very accessable.

Each of the critical essays are of different schools of literary criticism: Feminist Criticism, psychoanalytic criticism, post-structuralist (deconstuctionist) criticism, Marxist critism, and finally a New Historicist criticism. Before each critism there is clearly written introduction to explain the motives and histories of that type of criticism.

This edition of Hamlet will not only introduce the reader to more Shakespeare, but also explain the play and help to familiarize the reader with literary criticism too. It is a beautiful volume that cannot be more recommended if you are wanting to buy a copy Hamlet.

Hamlet is, by far, the most complex of Shakespeare's many plays. Many of the themes covered are love vs hate, action vs non-action, revenge, and jealousy. Hamlet discovers that "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" when he encounters the ghost of his father, the King, who has recently been killed in battle. From here, Hamlet goes on a search for the discovery of what happened to his father. However, Hamlet not only uncovers secrets of the past, but also the depths of his own being.

The Folger Edition of Hamlet is a great edition to buy, especially for those who are studying this play in high school or college, because it is relatively cheap in price and is very "reader-friendly" with side notes and footnotes that accompany each page of each scene. So, even if you aren't a Shakespeare lover or if Shakespeare is just a little intimidating (we all know how this feels), this version at least allows you to get the gist of what is going on. Also, there are summaries of each scene within each act, to let you know in layman's terms what is taking place. I highly recommend this edition.

The book explains the concepts of the JavaSpaces technology in a simple manner.But at the end, I felt this book could have been trimmed a lot.There was an overkill where examples were concerned.There were a lot of repetitions in the book with the same concepts being emphaisized again and again.The same stuff could have been explained in fewer pages.But again, its better that a book goes for more examples than no examples at all!! And also we could have done with a few tips on how exactly to run the program.The book contains all the code to write a JavaSpaces application, but does not give you any insight at all as to how you actually run the application.For e.g could have had a couple of pages on how to start a Space from the command line , which lookup service to use and why(Jini lookup service or the rmiregistry),how to start a lookup service, the requirement of having a policy file and so on. I had a really tough time figuring out these things.But otherwise, if you want to learn about JavaSpaces and what it is all about, its a good book to refer to.

Given the newness of the JavaSpaces technology, I find it difficult to locate good programming examples that utilize the API. As with many of the Java tool kits, the distributed javadocs serve their intended purpose as a good API reference, but are laborious to use for learning new programming concepts. These two areas are where "JavaSpaces Principles, Patterns, and Practice" excels. The book is an excellent resource for introducing the fundamental principles behind space-based programming and distributed data structures. The examples re-enforce these concepts while presenting the JavaSpace API.

For anyone using the JavaSpaces technology, I highly recommend this book. It has been an invaluable resource for me.

JavaSpaces Principles, Patterns and Practice (The Jini Technology Series) by Eric Freeman, Susanne Hupfer and Ken Arnold.

A very clear and exciting book. TMO a must for anyone in computer science. Mandatory literature on distributed computing. "Evergreen". Clearly written, accessible, and with a lot of simple, yet good examples. Elegant and simple.

Oh yes, jumps) that kept me focused on the issue at hand, yet very curious about what would be described next. Hard to close the book and get some sleep...

Outline of book on

This book reveals how complexity theory (CT) can be used in today's complicated organization. However, it lacks the tools on how to achieve what it intends to do. The steps and levels of organization 'maturity' described by author is clear. It has interesting sections and good lessons to teach. The book does not stand on its own. It needs help from other disciplines to put the plan into reality. Perhaps, readers may find more in Theory of Constraints than what is expected in Complexity theory in business world at this point in time.

This is a very clear presentation of a difficult topic-the relationship of the new field of complexity science to business. It is particularly useful for anyone who is thinking "Complexity science is interesting, but what are the implications for the real world." This book gets off to an outstanding start with the unit "The Main Point: Self-Organization." This indeed is the aspect of complexity science that has the most relevance for business. The authors also are to be commended for being the first book that I know of to relate the concept of memes to the question of how to use complexity science to improve organizations. (According to the Oxford English Dictionary a meme is "an element of a culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, esp. imitation." For more information on memes, enter "memetics" in the subject search box on amazon.com.) However, I would have liked to have seen an expanded discussion of memes. I believe the authors missed the opportunity to use the concept of memes to clarify the distinction between the old way of managing and the new way that they espouse. Traditional approaches to management are based on a meme set that can be traced back through Newton to Aristotle. The new approach to management that they recommend is grounded in a new meme set provided by complexity science. The authors initial focus on self-organization is capped-off with an equally brilliant section on "Reducing the Artificial, Designated Power Hierarchy and Enabling Natural Organization." However, the "lists of steps" in the middle chapters are somewhat overdone and in my opinion detract from the main thrust of their book. I'm afraid the casual reader may not fully grasp the importance of what the authors are saying: The traditional organizational hierarchy, in all of its MBA-ish splendor, is essentially unnatural. For it is complexity science, especially self-organized groups, which offers a natural approach to management. No one, in my opinion, has demonstrated they really know how to execute this new perspective within a major organization. The authors' approach is as good as it gets, and it has a real-world feel that is better than that of British complexity science guru Ralph Stacey (Complexity and Creativity in Organizations) or the American gura Margaret Wheatley (Leadership and the New Science). What is clear is that those organizations that figure out how to manage naturally will have a substantial competitive advantage over those who use artificial, unnatural approaches.

Based on experience using complexity theory in working to promote organizational change relating to process, software, architecture, and organizational behavior, Kelly arrived at important insights that she and Allison present in this informative and absorbing work. They build on complexity science to explain and apply the principles of self-organization to business and organizational behavior. They describe what they refer to as "complexity advantage companies" capable of changing in response to the highly chaotic, unpredictable environment of today's markets. They introduce a model for organizational evolutionary fitness (the complexity advantage model) which has its origins in the Capability Maturity Model used to develop software. The insights and creativity of the authors make this an impressive book.