This book was invaluable for my first trip to Venice, and I have used it since. I take good care of it because it cannot be replaced. An excellent complement to an all-purpose guidebook, this one covers most of Venice with easy-to-follow walking tours, and pitny cultural comments on the churches, campi, shops, and a few restaurants along the way. My only criticisms are that it doesn't have an index, and that maps are not included, but
it is a wonderful help for Venice.

Venice is the perfect city for walking tours, with a myriad of twisting streets and alleys. This guide provides a series of great walking tours, allowing you to wander at your own pace accompanied by a "paper tour guide". Skip tour packages or local guides, and head out on your own with this guide in hand. My wife and I spent two days in Venice on our own, and basically followed almost every tour in the book. We spoke no Italian, had never been to Venice before, and yet we found our way around the city and discovered quaint squares and tiny cathedrals that most visitors never find. If you like to learn about a city as you explore, but hate following some tour guide leading a herd of fellow travelers, get this book and head out on your own.

I found Frommer's walking tours of Paris invaluable, and the same proved to be true for this Venice book. I was there for eight days, and followed one of these walking tours every day. There was a superb sense of ambling around, seeing Venice in its everyday aspect, usually away from crowds of tourists. The book provided a focus for my walks, eliminating the feeling of wandering around and not knowing exactly where to go, and for me there were many wonderful moments -- lingering by canals, coming upon cats sunning themselves on unbusy walkways, seeing the whole of Venice from the top of the bell tower of San Giorgio. The point became not seeing the sights but soaking up the atmosphere. Using Frommer's (and other) walk books have made a huge difference in the pleasure I take in travel, and I urge all travelers to use them.

Seldom has anything moved me as much Mr.Reno's pictorial depiction of people and situations that occur throughout this sometimes rapid and other times slow and stoic planet of ours. My wife and I have spent quality time together looking at and wishing we were experiencing the spontaneous myriad of eclectic events that Mr. Reno has so professionaly captured. We both say BRAVO and bring on Ground Time 2!

This book is one of the most rich and thought provoking collection of views of the human condition I've ever seen. It prompts my imagination with its range of scenes and moments in the lives of people around the world, and inspires great curiosity about what "must have been going on" at those moments captured on film. At the same time, many of the images remind me of the universals in people's lives, and the culture-bridging quality of some emotions and experiences. Mr. Reno has a perfect sense for what Cartier Bresson called the "decisive moment." Visually, the book is a real tour de force --- the quality of the images is astonishing in their richness and depth, and just plain elegance. Mr. Reno has clearly mastered the darkroom craft, and then some. The book is a treat for the eyes and for the spirit, and is the kind of thing I will return to again and again for pleasure and inspiration.

I strongly recommend this book to people who like poetry, and even to those who don't. Full of great phrases that stick in your head.

Setting The World In Order is an impressive compendium of poetry showcasing Rick Campbell's intensely personal style, grace, and storytelling approach to the genre. Legend: He came from a land that didn't need words./Fire singed the sky, soot and ash/settled on the tongue. Speech/was furred and superfluous,. He grew older and left, crisscrossed/America, sat silent and stranger/in the loud seats of cars. Salesman/and truck driver wove their special language,/piston-driven to talk and brood./He listened and thought his shadow/saved them from their lost dreams./Throughout his land he became legend./Buck's boy who never talked. No one/at the Legion or VFW; no one/ at the hundred Bohunk and Italian bars;/no one at J&L, Armco, Coppers,/Phoenix Glass, or American Bridge;/no cops; no railroad dicks;/no coaches named Maccalini/ever heard him speak. he saved it./It's for you and you haven't come yet.

Joan Schulze's talent is breathtaking. She seems to magically transform simple textile materials into breathing, talking works of art.

She takes her love for the time-honored tradition of quilting to new, modern-day heights and creates priceless masterpieces. In The Art of Joan Shulze, readers will have the opportunity to view some of her most spectacular works which project such rich, vibrant colors that they seem to leap off the pages.

As an added bonus, the author has included some original stories to enhance her memorable work and essays by well-known artists, celebrating Ms. Schulze's achievements. Fans world-wide should put this book on their to-buy list. It will become a treasured keepsake, worthy of being passed down to future generations.

I had the privilege of using the manuscript of this book for two advanced finance courses I did at Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University---the Author's home) and just got a chance to read the final published book. This is an excellent book on derivatives markets which should appeal to three types of readers: 1) MBA students doing their first finance course on derivatives; 2) Non-finance professionals who can easily grasp quantitative aspects of derivatives pricing schemes but lack an an intuitive understanding of why, where and how derivatives are used (I was in this category until I attended Kellogg); and, 3) Corporate finance professionals trying to understand different risk management tools. Bob McDonald did a great job in maintaining a good balance between mathematics of derivatives pricing schemes and logical explanations of several economic concepts one would encounter in derivatives. This book is going to be a popular MBA text book very soon.

In the first four chapters of the book, the author assumes that the prices of different derivative securities are known and discusses how these securities can be used for insurance and speculation (Chapter 4 has a nice introduction to risk management). Chapters 5-8 explain pricing methods for futures, forwards and swaps using simple discounting models. Chapter 6 has a lucid discussion on how would "futures contract price vs. time" curves for different commodities differ based on the seasonality, transportation costs and storability aspects specific to each commodity.

Starting in Chapter 9, the author discusses different option pricing models. The material presented in Chapters 10-13, where in the author discusses binomial option pricing models, Black-Scholes formula and delta hedging, is clearly the highlight of this book. I did not find such a crystal clear discussion of binomial pricing models and the rationale behind delta hedging in any other text book. In Chapters 15-17, the author discusses financial engineering (how to create a required payoff from basic building blocks) and corporate applications of derivatives (including real options). In the remaining chapters (Chapters 18-24), I would recommend Chapters 18, 19 and 24 to all the readers. The other chapters are not really necessary unless you plan to work on developing derivatives pricing schemes.

In summary, I strongly recommend this book to every serious student of finance.

I find the Frommer's guides to be very helpful for my trips to Ireland especially. This one is perfect if you plan on visiting Dublin. As in other Frommer guides this book starts with the "Best Of" in Dublin, how to get there and what you'll need when planning your trip. It then goes on to getting to know Dublin, places to stay, places to eat and drink, attractions, shopping and night life. Additionally, this guide includes places that you can easily visit just outside of Dublin City in Counties Wicklow and Kildare. The review continues with hours and dates places are open as well as prices for attractions, for accommodations and for dining. For each category there are phone numbers, web sites, if available, and general maps of the area. A newer version of the is book is due to come out any day now but probably has similar information only with updated prices. If you only have time for Dublin, or want to spend your time doing nothing else but Dublin, this little pocket guide is the only one you'll need!

This is amazing work. Touching and true to heart

George MacDonald's "Robert Falconer" is perhaps the best of his works that I have ever read. It deals extensively with a boy's search to know God personally while struggling with the concepts about God presented to him by his extremely strict Calvanist grandmother who raises him. It contains some of the best advice on Christian ministry that I have seen in a novel and I recommend this book highly. If you only want an entertaining book this may not be the best one since it is written in the phonetic Scottish accent, which can be difficult to understand. A few times I had to read it aloud in order to comprehend what he was saying. Still, the content is absolutely excellent, the story is entertaining (if you can get around the accent) and I am going to buy this book for my personal library when I can get some money together.

I'm not diabetic; but my wife is. We got this book recently, and are very pleased. This is not just ingredient substitutions and second-best for diabetics: These recipes are good in their own right, and worth eating no matter what condition your pancreas is in.

Our prime example is "Caesar's Chicken" on page 123: A sauce sweetened with dates, the chicken simmered, then baked. The recipe was fairly quick to make, and excellent!

Also has a good index; and chapters on nutrition, which I can take or leave.

For a first novel, Mr. McDonald did a very nice job. Good characterizations and very believable dialogue. The story line was good. He writes about what he knows, that being the world of finance. I read his bio....what is a mud engineer?

Mr. McDonald offers a grounded, intelligent snapshot of life on Wall Street and beyond, peopled by a variety of memorable characters. Perhaps surprisingly, given the Wall Street setting, the older personalities are drawn with particular flair and heart. The protagonist, too, emerges as vivid and real: more someone you know than just a character in a book. A fine first novel.

The Altar Boy is a quick, fun read. McDonald's tour through the twisted world of investment banking and the frenzied world of big city romance, left me laughing. It was a treat.