Dr. John Kiley has done an exceptional job with this book. For those tortured souls who have addictions (tobacco, cocaine, opium--you name it) or who have recently lost a loved one, or who simply want to lose weight, this is the book you should have.

This book is about how to stop torturing yourself with your own thoughts--fears of the future or remorse about the past--and get control of your life; how to stay in the Now, where everything happens, for as Dr. Kiley tells us, the past is no more and cannot be changed and the future has not yet arrived and no one can predict it accurately. Now is where everything happens.

This book was named the Book of the Month by Psychology Today magazine when it was first published, and it has not diminished in value since then.

Dr.Kiley is eminently qualified to write such a book. He holds doctorates in both philosophy and medicine, and trained at Princeton while Albert Einsteinwas in residence there. In fact, his doctoral dissertation was titled Einstein and Aquinas: A Rapprochement. He is a self-proclaimed "clinical philosopher," for as he explains everyone has a philosophy, whether they know it or not.

John Kiley uses a concrete, down to earth method for controlling your mind and ridding yourself of unwanted thoughts which torture you. It works!

Don't pass up this volume.

Joseph Pierre

The second printing of Shakespeare as Political Thinker gives hope to those interested in relearning ancient wisdom and pays tribute to its inspiration, Shakespeare's Politics (Allan Bloom).

A wonderful essay by John Lahr chronicles his life, from the tough streets of Hoboken to a room in Beverly Hills shortly before his 80th birthday. A now well chronicled life, but captured by Mr Lahr in all its complexity and contradiction.

At the heart of this life was his great gift - singing. At the very end, in the Beverly Hills room, surrounded by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan (what were they doing there?) Steve Lawrence and others, he insisted on singing the solo. It was his right then, as it had been his right throughout his life. And he was undeniable.

A beautifully designed and produced book, it is adorned with a perfect selection of photographs to complement the essay. Look at the faces on page 102, completely transfixed by "The Voice" and see what James Agee called "an erotic dream".

A must have for Sinatra fans, and anyone fascinated by popular culture.

The author defines the "Investment Value" of a stock to be the net present value of all its future dividends. This definition provides a measure of intrinsic value which is independent of stock market prices, enabling the investor to assess whether the current market price is high or low compared with the Investment Value of the stock.

A calculation of Investment Value inevitably requires estimation of factors such as future growth of earnings, the proportion of earnings that can be paid as dividends, and an appropriate discounting rate. The author does not shy away from making such estimates, and the book includes practical case studies for three current (in 1938) valuations, General Motors, United States Steel and Phoenix Insurance, as well as thr! ee retrospectives to 1930, AT&T, Consolidated Gas (Con Ed) and American and Foreign Power.

While the facts of these valuations are long ago, the methods are still applicable today. A great self discipline for investors would be to always prepare their own estimate of Investment Value before buying any stock.

The book is accessible to any general reader. A casual glance will show some apparently off putting algebra. This should be manageable to anyone who has finished high school, and arises only because in 1938 the author did not have the benefit of computer spreadsheets for doing growth projections and discounting calculations. The reader should find it straightforward to apply the author's methods with modern computing resources.

While the above comments imply a book that is worthy but dull, the book is in fact anything but dull. The author writes grippingly well, illustrated by this extract:

"Concerning [a stock's] true worth, every man will cherish his o! wn opinion; as to what price really is right, time only wil! l tell. Time will not give its answer all at once, though, but only slowly, word by word, as the years go by; nor will the last word be spoken till the corporation shall have closed its books for ever and ever. Those who bought their stock long ago will know their answer in the main by now, but those who buy now will hear theirs only in the future. "

I would commend this book to every investor or student of finance.

Though billed as a companion to "The Norton Shakespeare, Based on the Oxford Edition," "William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion" is a superb reference for any reader of Shakespeare's plays. The book gives the editorial principles and the explanations of editorial decisions made by the editors of the Oxford Shakespeare. The Textual Companion deals with the plays and poems is a systematic basis. This book will deepen anyone's appricaition for the Oxford editors' solutions to textual problems. The real value of this book goes is that it goes beyond just being an explanation of one edition. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the textual problem that any reader of Shakespeare should be aware of.

An example good editing comes from "The Merry Wives of Windsor" 1.4.88-9. The line appears "Ile doe yoe your/ Master what good I can:" in the 1623 folio. John Jowett who edited the play says that the "yoe" is suspicious and goes on the give his reasons. He belives it is a miscorrection. "Yoe" was intended for correction, but instead the compositor inserted "your" and left the "yoe" as is. The line printed in the Oxford edition is "I'll do your master what good/I can". I agree with Jowett's reasons and his correction.

Even though this book goes a long way in presenting textual problems and editorial solutions there are some editorial problems which have not been resolved. For example in "The Tempest" 4.1.123 we read this "So rare a wondered father and a wise". Tthe Oxford edition has "wise" but in the note to this line on page 616 they follow Jeanne Addison Roberts' 1978 article and say the word was "wife" in the first folio. Whether the word was "wife" or "wise" is not yet a settled question. Blayney in his introduction to the Norton Facsimile 2nd Edition (p. xxxi) takes issue with Roberts's conclusions, and for now this does remain an open question.

This book is one of the great books of Shakespearian scholarship. Though I do not agree in every detail, I can say that my appriciation and admiration for the Oxford edition of Shakespeare has increased because of this book. No critical reader of Shakespeare should go without this book.