Richard Mason is a pretty sympathetic expositor of Spinoza, but he likes to get his digs in when he can. (Spinoza comes in, for example, for a little gentle ribbing on the question whether anyone can achieve blessedness without relying on Scripture. Mason suggests in a parenthetical comment that Spinoza may have thought he and Jesus were the only two people who could do so.)

Overall, this volume is an excellent exposition of Spinoza's thought about God and religion -- and it has some very interesting features. For one thing, there's a full chapter devoted to figuring out just what Spinoza thought of Jesus -- a much-neglected topic. For another, there's _another_ full chapter devoted to figuring out just what Spinoza meant by the eternality of the mind.

I find Mason very congenial on many points. For my money he outdoes both Edwin Curley _and_ Jonathan Bennett on some topics -- especially Spinoza's views on the nature of necessity. He also beats the heck out of Yovel on Spinoza's relations to religion. And at one point he offers a gentle corrective to nineteenth-century-idealistic readings of Spinoza (especially Joachim), arguing that Spinoza did think it was possible to know things short of the Absolute. (I think, by the way, that this is both correct and entirely consonant with idealism as it should be understood; in my view the British neo-Hegelians were a bit vulnerable on this point.)

Some readers may like his approach and its conclusion: that there isn't any point to digging around behind Spinoza's words looking for theological secrets; Spinoza meant just what he wrote. (Which means, among other things, that he wasn't trying either to found a new religion or to undermine any existing ones.) Straussians will disagree, of course, but frankly there seems to be little reason to apply persecution-and-the-art-of-writing standards to Spinoza's writings.

A nice addition to everyone's home Spinoza library.

This book is an excellent source, for those interested in the influence of the Jewish/Marrano background of Spinoza, but also for those interested in his metaphysics. The discussion on the attributes was very smooth.

I can see why it was nominated for a Grammy!!! I absolutely love Dreyfuss and Mason. I couldn't stop listening to the play and I was so "into" it!!!

I can see why The Prisoner of Second Avenue got a Grammy nomination. Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss have great chemistry and give top notch performances. A fabulous listen with plenty of laughs. Not to be missed!

Mason, Gunst and Hess have done a great deal of consulting in industry which has provided them with an understanding of the design and analysis of linear and nonlinear models. In fact, I have had some direct experience with Bob Mason from Southwest Research Institute. When I was working at a medical device company owned by St. Jude Medical Inc., Southwest Research Institute had been contracted to analyze data from one of our animal experiments for defibrillation thresholds. As the new statistician in the company I needed to get acquainted with their work. The book illustrates many designs using real world problems. The first 5 chapters (88 pages) cover elementary statistical concepts and methods. The next 6 chapters (145 pages) cover designs. Most standard designs are covered including full factorials, balanced incomplete blocks, latin squares, fractional factorials and nested and crossover designs. There is also a chapter on response surface designs including rotatable designs, central composite designs and Box-Behnken designs. The rest of the book, some 368 pages, deals with statistical analysis of data from designed experiments. It makes a very good reference source.

The only disadvantage of it is that there have been many advances in the design of experiments since 1989 when the book was published. The topic of robust parameter design is not covered because much of the development occurred after 1989. Hints of the topic and mention of the Taguchi approach appear only on pages 108-110. To learn much more about the recent developments in the design of experiments see Hamada and Wu (2000) "Experiments". My review of Hamada and Wu can be found on Amazon.

Anova,multi stage charterlisti

This book will teach and train you to become a world class strategic management consultant using the BCG methodology. A very practical book!!

Cases and techniques about management strategic. Knowledges about techiques from Boston Consulting Group. Examples for each chapter.

Old but still worthy of respect, this is a collection of most of the works by James Joyce that could reasonably be described as Critical. Here we see Joyce in many guises - youthful literary hack, angry old man protesting against breach of copyright, and above all explainer of Irish and English culture to the Italians. The most fascinating pieces in the book are a series of lectures Joyce gave in Italian on the subjects of Irish history, James Clarence Mangan, William Blake and diverse other topics. Those who've attempted to claim Joyce as an apolitical webmaster or conservative elitist (I'm talking to you, Roger Scruton) are in for a shock. His socialism and proto-post-colonialist sense of historical injustice are in full display.

These are, to be sure, the kind of thing you read not because you're interested in the subjects under discussion (who, apart from elderly Irish poets, cares about James Clarence Mangan?) but because you're interested in what Joyce has to say about them. All his criticism is of the strategic rather than tactical kind, the kind of criticism certain writers engage in so as to clear the ground for their own efforts. He's no John Updike, prepared to write 2000 words about anybody he happens to find interesting.

Apart from a vacuous introduction by Guy Davenport, this is a fascinating book. I'm sure it's far from complete, seeing as nobody can even agree about where Joyce's books stop and his drafts begin, but it'll do until time and decay simplify the picture. Joyce is the great pathfinder of modern Irish writing. Hail to the Chief.

Following Your Treasure Map: A comprehensive Plan for self direction and self Fullfillment is exactly what it says in the title. If you follow the very detailed exercises, you will find that you can be really happy and self- fullfilled. This book is comprehensive so take it small doses at a time--with lots of thinking in between. Invest in yourself--buy this book. You will remember my words.

I came across National Public Radio many years ago just tooling around the FM dial. I found "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" and was hooked by the interview at the time, with Clint Eastwood. The questions were ones I would want to ask him. I was intrigued by this voice I have never heard before on radio, sophisticated, smart, smooth, curious, and down to earth. No commercial radio hype, none of the exaggeration for a big news story, not a celebrity exclusive. I've since heard this audio compilation of the the comedians interviewed on "Fresh Air laughs" and loved it. This isn't just a side splitting laugh a minute tape, it also brings you a realization that these are real people. The Bill Murray interview is so unlike his performer identity we all know that you have to listen to it carefully, because Terry brings out his humanity with her interview style. We get to listen to conversation that has substance and not just style. This is a tape you can sink your teeth into, it's that thick.

Alan Rowe and Richard Mason have written one of the clearest and most useful books available on how managers make decisions. While the work of Herbert Simon represents the basis for understanding decision making, Rowe and Mason have operationalized this science in a form useful in virtually every organization. The authors provide a simple 20 question test to determine a persons' style. Four basic elements make up an individual's decision style: analytic (rational thought); directive (results oriented); conceptual (vision & Creativity); and behavioral (understanding people). Every person has a dominant style combined with a backup style. Understanding the decision style of the people in your organization can provide valuable information when constructing teams and working to achieve maximum effectiveness among staff. Rowe and Mason provide a number of excellent examples of how style is used as well as the psychological basis for style. The book is written in a clear and easliy understood manner. Managing With Style should be a part of every leaders personal library.

The collection that the Masons have built out of a love of art, craftmanship and wood turns into a real gift to those who do not have the luxury to study these pieces first-hand. The photos of their home shows that their attraction with creation is not limited to wood but to light, paintings and melding life with art.

The photos display the pieces so well that some just seem to glow and brighten on the page. It makes it difficult to look at a tree or salad bowl without imagining the possiblities.

Analyzes first movements of establishing the dominant design in banking, airlines, and 3 modern stories of USAA insurance (all online), Frito Lay, which integrates to the store, and American Hospital Supply/ Baxter Travenol, which links to all their customers. These designs allowed the companies to dominate their market niche. Great read!