Timeless spiritual wisdom from one of history's great thinkers, succinctly organized by the editor. Each daily reading is a couple of sentences long, followed by a sentence-long prayer. A great way to begin the day or to use for meditation.

"The Measures Taken and Other Lehrstucke," by Bertolt Brecht, brings together four theater pieces by this important German playwright. The book is edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim. Included is an introductory note entitled "The Lehrstuck or Learning-Play," which is excerpted from an essay by Brecht. The pieces in this book, all of which were written from 1929 to 1930, are as follows:

"The Measures Taken," translated by Carl R. Mueller, is the story of a group of Communist agitators from Moscow who go to spread ... in China. It's a compelling story about the conflict between idealism and doctrinal orthodoxy. "The Exception and the Rule," translated by Ralph Manheim, is about an expedition headed by an exploitative merchant. It's a story of greed, violence, and law. "He Who says Yes" and "He Who Says No," both translated by Wolfgang Sauerlander, are a linked pair of plays; each one tells the story of a young man's quest to get medicine for his ailing mother.

Overall, the plays have a very ritualized quality; three of them make use of a chorus. The stories told in these plays have the flavor of parables. Overall, I found these pieces very intriguing, particularly in a post-Cold war context.

Albert Lasker's claim to fame rests on several things. first was his popularization of advertising trends new to consumers in the 20th century. These included "Reason Why" advertising, which plainly stated why one product should be purchased over another, the testimonial, in which Lasker used celebrities to help sell products, and finally the preemptive ad, in which a company claimed as unique a proceedure followed by all. Second was his ability to attract advertising geniuses to his agency, Lord and Thomas. Perhaps one of the most important was Claude Hopkins, who brought marketing devices such as couponing, sampling and market research to advertising. Finally was Lasker's contribution to American politics. Despite that people like Bruce Barton or late Rosser Reeves introduced modern ad techniques to politics, it was acutally Lasker, working for Warren Harding inthe 1920 election, who made the marriage of politics, advertising and modern technology complete.