Had Lou Reed and John Cale not seen a copy of this book in a New York City gutter (fittingly) and decided to use its name for their group, this little volume would have been justly forgotten.

Written in a style which titilates while decrying the scene it describes, it's a piece of blue-nosed junk.

Listen to Velvet Underground music and forget this silliness.

No doubt the association with the seminal art-rock band that borrowed the name is keeping this in print. In the category of Books that Became Band Names, this must rank somewhere beneath Sinclair Lewis' Arrowsmith.

The majority of reviews on this book are by disappointed Lou Reed fans. Having read the book first, I was disappointed by the band, thus I'm compelled to register this dissenting opinion:

This book is a classic documentary on the sexual depravity of the "Swinging" movement of the 1960's. I bought this book because the cover illustration suggested it was mostly about BDSM (domination, leather, related fetishes). I was a little disappointed, not because the book covers --in remarkably salacious detail for a serious research piece-- a panoply of sexually variant practices: wife-swapping, nudism, mailorder sex paraphernalia, clothing fetishes, prostitution, homosexuality, bestiality, etc., but because only part of it is about BDSM.

Still, I found several pages containing interesting and graphic passages from letters and interviews of hardcore sado-masochists and devotees of male and female domination. One memorable account deals with the practices of a midwestern circle of dominant wives, known as "Wanda's Club."

Those looking for titillation will find it; Since the book was written in an era when sexually explicit material needed to have "redeeming social value," the author adopted an attitude of shock and disapproval, couched in a mock case-history research style. Nevertheless, there is a little something to please every sexual palate, except, thankfully, pedophilia.

As a sociological and historical work, it does have value. For me, it was enough to learn that I was not alone in my unspoken yearnings and fantasies. It's an unusual book, but I've treasured it for three decades.

The book is excellent if your telecom is on the east coast and you only care about local telephone service. It is very detailed about problems with Customer Service Records but says nothing about wireless telecom, and does not adequately cover data networking, or long distance. For a more comprehensive resource, I recommend "Telecommunications Cost Management" by Strother.

Brosnan and Messina write an excellent guide to managing costs for urban east coast businesses (i.e. New York). Much of their stuff is super-technical and a little impractical for the average telecom manager. And they don't say much about contract negotiation, RFPs, and wireless services (which can be fairly expensive nowadays).

For a much simpler perspective I suggest the book by S.C. Strother "Telecommunications Cost Management". It costs more than this book, but its well worth it. It is well-organized and more comprehensive. You get the feeling Brosnan and Messina are telecom lawyers, while Strother seems to be a telecom insider.

If you are interested in the concept of reducing your telecommunications expenses this book is an excellent start. If you are interested in a career in telecommunication consulting reviewing telecom expense this is a very basic document. The content covers about 50% of the most common billing irregularities.

A better guide to telecommunications concepts and language is "The Essential Guide to Telecommunications" (Second Edition).

The authors point out that they are most familiar with Bell Atlantic and Ameritech CSRs (Customer Service Records). This limits the information made available in conveying the differences in format and content between ILECs.

_The Only Man for Maggie_ is your typical Harlequin romance novel -- short and fluffy without much substance. Though the plot was slightly interesting, I found the characters sorely lacking. Both Maggie and Karr were conceited and superficial. Karr also had a heartless streak that wasn't the least bit appealing. In truth, I found him so irritating and rude that I wanted to throw the book across the room. Though, by the end of the book he did redeem himself. _The Only Man for Maggie_ was okay to pass a bit of time on a lazy Saturday, but not one I'd read again.