I am currently a graduate student in a Master of Science in Real Estate Program. This is by far the best text book I have read in my academic career. I will keep this as a reference source for years to come.

This book is ideal for the serious institutional level investor, or more sophisticated individual investor, lender, portfolio manager, or asset manager. Integrates the frontier financial economics into real estate and capital markets. This is not a simpleton "get rick quick" book that ignores risk and research time. Rather it is an objective and in-depth book with a great deal of content.

The DK series of eyewitness books are all fabulous, but this has to be my favorite. Dinosaurs are always appealing to children and adults and this book is no disappointment. Superb studio-quality, well lit photographs give you close-up shots of teeth and bones so real, you'll feel like they're right there for you to touch and pick up.

Theories on how dinosaurs really looked on the outside and how they walked are explored. Every caption has a tidbit of information that is interesting to anyone who reads it. A book like this will keep a child of any reading age occupied for no less than an hour on a road trip... and it will constantly be read over and over again... it's just intriguing and beautifully presented.

I appreciate this book because it gives you drawings and paintings of how prehistoric creatures lived millions of years ago. It gives a perfect understanding of the study and also art of Paleontology. This book is, in my opinion, 1 of 2 of my most favorite books ever published for the scientific review of more than just a few species...This concludes my review.

The use of 100% organic potting media is one sure way to produce nursery stock with a good, dense fibrous root system. This book is a good "how-to" for nursery managers serious about producing large quantities of compost for their tree nurseries. The book explains why the use of 100% organic mixes is desirable and how to produce them. The book is primarily intended for forest nursery managers in developing countries, but is applicable anywhere.

I have found this book to be very insightful to the problems and challenges for not only those who travel but for the families of those travel. It gave me a new insight to BOTH sides. I am ordering more books to give to my co-workers!

I've always had pains of guilt when I would travel to some great place and have room service and maid service..... and leave my family behind. The cover of the book says more to the truth of trying to stay connected to our families than any human resource manual from work. When you take a job that travels... h/r doesn't tell you the effect on your marriage!

This book had such great insight to the biz traveler and the effects on their marriage! We BizTravelers think we have it hard while on the road but the family you leave behind is in a hard spot too! This book helps address the biz traveler's concerns as well as the family left behind.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to a new biz traveler. This book could save your patience and marriage! The author tells it like it is.

As I read this book, I kept thinking, how does this guy know all this? It's right on the money page after page! I gave 20 copies to friends who travel, and they all loved it!

Commander Miller lays out in considerable detail his experiences as the skipper of the Navy's Bombing Squadron 109. This unit flew in the central Pacific area in WWII in aircraft normally thought of as an Air Force aircraft: The B-24 Liberator known in Navy parlance as the PB4Y-1. In single and 2-plane formations, the wideranging bombers of VB-109 carried the war to Japanese island bases like Truk, attacking by surprise and getting results far out of proportion to the size of their forces. While written before the War ended in 1945, Miller's personal account gives first-hand information on VB-109's tactics, operations and losses. A noteworthy addition to Naval Aviation historiography and one that focuses on a little known aspect of the air war in the Pacific.

In Miller and Sample's "The Cult of the Virgin Mary", the authors attempt to outline what Mariology is from the Protestant perspective. The book also covers some of the well-known apparitions of Mary: Fatima, Lourdes, Guadelupe, and Medjugorje (former Yugoslavia). The main thesis is that veneration of Mary is unbiblical, and therefore this practice will continue to divide the Catholic and Protestant churches. The authors back up their opinions with Biblical verses, and make a good point about how the veneration of Mary sometimes invalidates the role Jesus plays for Christianity: the redeemer and mediator between God and Man. The examination of apparitions of Mary is not as strong, and in the last chapter, the point is made repetitively that the apparitions cannot be from God, therefore they must be from the other side. I will say that although the authors claim to look at this purely from the scriptural side, and therefore with a certain degree of 'objectivity', there are moments when it is obvious that no matter what is 'discovered' (for example: one of the authors visits Medjugorje and examines events there), if it ain't Protestant, it ain't acceptable. I also thought it interesting that some side notes in the text, such as on Buddha being an atheist (according to "some scholars" as the book puts it) detract from what was supposed to be the aforementioned focus on Mariology. I thought this book interesting for the most part.

This book, unlike many other Protestant attempts to understand and explain Mariology, is honest in its intentions, and probably as objective as any evangelical protestant can be.

The first part of the book explains the development of Mary in her role in the Church and the life of the believer from 'lowly handmaiden' to 'Queen of Heaven'. The authors attribute the revival of Mariolotry to Pope John Paul II.

Part II explains the apparitions of Mary in Yugoslavia and how the witnesses to the events are not all in agreement.

I give this book 4 stars. First, it is an interesting read. Second, the authors do their best to show how Catholics have overemphasized Mary, while Protestants have neglected giving her the role that Scriptures have "The most blessed woman."

This book, as accusative as it may seem, is, overall, a good book. If it is devisive or considered 'in-fighting' to proclaim truth, then so be it, for truth's sake. The author points out what is obvious to the majority of protestant Christians (and several non-Christian religious groups as well, i.e. Islam). When Mary, Jesus's earthly mother, is venerated, prayed to, and worshipped, she becomes the unwilling central figure of a blasphemous cult. Human beings are not deity. The author makes this clear. Only God should be prayed to.

Overall, this strikes me as a somewhat lazy book. Rather than offer any original writing, the editors simply cobble together previously published writings by Alex Haley (actually a "Playboy" interview of the young Ali by Haley), Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Peter Richmond, along with a very short introduction by James Earl Jones. The book jacket also boasts of "contributions from" the likes of Malcolm X, Jackie Robinson, George Plimpton, Jim Brown, and numerous others, but this turns out to refer simply to brief quotations that pepper the book, mostly as photo captions.

The quality of the text by the four featured writers is fine. Certainly you can't go wrong with Norman Mailer. His book "The Fight," from which the chapter in this book is excerpted, was one of the first serious works about boxing and Muhammad Ali that I read back in the 70s, and the first thing I ever read by Mailer. I was a big fan of Ali going in, and a fan of Mailer as well coming out.

One can always quibble with editing decisions in a book like this, but being familiar with Mailer's "The Fight," I found some of the choices made here rather peculiar. For example, in Mailer's very lengthy account of the Ali-Foreman fight itself, he presents the fifth round as the most dramatic, action-filled, significant round of the entire fight. In this excerpt, the editors choose to include some of Mailer's set-up for that round (e.g., "[Foreman] came out in the fifth with the conviction that if force had not prevailed against Ali up to now, more force was the answer, considerably more force than Ali had ever seen."), but then simply replace that entire climactic round with ellipsis.

I don't believe I had previously read the other three selections, or at most I had read excerpts from them. But none of them are newly rediscovered gems that will come as revelations to serious Ali fans. They are not weak or uninteresting, but they are recycled material with which many readers will already be familiar.

Similarly, there are many fine photos in the book, but little that has not appeared in one or more similar Ali books in the past. (In terms of both text and photos, I strongly prefer Wilfrid Sheed's superficially similar picture book "Muhammad Ali" to this one.) One exception is that this book includes many fight programs, posters, and tickets that I had not previously come across.

The book is marred by many factual errors committed by the editors in their photo captions. There are many things that a proofreader even minimally familiar with Ali's career should have caught, so one must unfortunately infer considerable sloppiness or laziness on the part of those who put this book together.

For example, contrary to what this book tells you, Ali did not defeat Joe Frazier by fifteen round decision in their third fight. Ali was awarded a technical knockout when Frazier's handlers conceded between the fourteenth and fifteenth rounds. Ali's 1972 fight against George Chuvalo was not a fifteen round decision, but a twelve round decision. (He had defeated Chuvalo by fifteen round decision in an earlier fight in 1966; that might be what confused the editors.) The book states flatly that Ken Norton broke Ali's jaw in the second round of their March 1973 fight. Maybe, but different parties have claimed anything from the first to the twelfth round, so the matter is not without uncertainty. The photo identified as being from Ali's 1971 fight against Jurgen Blin is in fact a photo from the 1974 fight against Foreman.

Though flawed, this book still has worthwhile elements. With such a compelling central character, you would expect nothing less. It's not the best Ali book out there by a long shot, but insofar as it recruits a few more young newcomers into the legions of Ali fans, and gives the rest of us an excuse to reminisce about an extraordinary man and his extraordinary life, it cannot be all bad.

A great book for Ali fans and boxing fans alike. It is a fun trip through the boxing exploits of one of America's, and the Worlds, greatest athletes. A fun table book that you can pick up over and over again. If you want the complete book of Ali's life- this isn't it. What it covers is Ali the Champ fight by fight!

If you're a boxing fan or just an Ali fan, this book will help you relive memories like no other photo book or biography will. If you're NOT, you will still marvel at the art and the wonderful writing on page after page. The text is not sappy, faceless writing like so many other photo or art books. Instead, these are well-written essays from people who know boxing and know Ali -- and their appreciation will make you appreciate Ali's achievements, charisma, and larger-than-life persona that has led so many to name him the athlete of the century. (If you're looking for more of a narrative, Davis Miller's new "The Tao of Muhammad Ali" is the perfect complement to this book.)

The Manual of Therapeutics for Addictions was an assigned textbook for my substance abuse diagnosis course. I am in a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) program. I found this book to be of little use to people in the clinical field. This book was advertised as being a good source for mental health professionals. This book is primarily focusing on discussions and treatment plans that either devalue the role of clinicians or are impertinent to our scope of practice. This manual should have been advertised to medical students only.I'd first like to mention that this manual did provide helpful information on the various physiological effects of different substances. I found that many of the physiological effects, and withdrawal symptoms are very similar to DSM IV disorders. This made me aware that as a MFT, I must never overlook the possibility of substance use/abuse. This information will also help me better educate family members as to the drug effects of opiates, stimulants, sedatives, hallucinogens, and cannabis.This manual doesn't value the therapeutic experience, nor does it consider therapy a viable source in treatment planning for substance abuse. This book advocated the use of methadone and other outside help, such as AA and NA. Most treatment modalities discussed in this manual were geared towards medical professionals. Clinicians cannot prescribe methadone, use restraint harnesses, pump client's stomachs, or give them drug tests. Most of the treatment discussed in this manual revolved around the ER and inpatient treatment. How relevant is this to outpatient clinical work? It isn't.I also found many encompassing statements in the AA chapter. I find it very difficult to believe that so many of the generalizations are true. For example how is it possible that the "...first epidemic of alcoholism occurred after 1750..."? The Bible records drunkenness back in the times of Noah. Is it possible that humans have exhibited such self discipline that alcoholism didn't existed until after 1750? Another outlandish generalization is that "..in over 60 years of existence there has not been one fight..." in AA over the topic of a Higher Power. I am wondering how the author of this chapter can make such blanket statements. There are millions of AA members across the nation. Is it possible that he is omniscient?As a whole, this manual is not a good tool for MSWs, MFTs, psychologists. Considering that only a small fraction of this manual provided helpful information, I'd recommend finding a less costly way of obtaining the information. The internet is a good source.

Norman S. Miller, Mark S. Gold and David E. Smith collaborate with other writers to form a book titled, Manual of Therapeutics for Addictions. The text uses many writers from different fields to add to the book's body of knowledge and research data.Some of the strong points of the book include: Definitions of many medical terms which are related to addictive disorders. It also gave a thorough explanation of drug addiction, including the many types, prevalence rates, intoxication and withdrawal symptoms. The book also covered treatment issues for the many addictive disorders and explained rates of comorbidities. Another positive aspect of the book was that the chapters were rather concise, in that they focused on one or two particular issues and discussed them in a way that was readable and easy to follow . Also, the use of DSM-IV diagnoses throughout the book helped the reader relate explanations of disorders to the actual criteria for which diagnoses are given. Now on to the aspects of the book which I felt to be unsatisfactory, or should I say, the meat of my critique. First of all, though acquiring the aid of professionals in the field to help make a book has its many benefits, it also has its downfalls. There were a number of times in the book when authors of different chapters had completely strong and opposing viewpoints. For instance, the use of psychotherapy was encouraged in one chapter and totally debunked in another. Statistical information throughout the book also proved to be inferior. There were numerous times when the data being given were based on studies and surveys completed over 20 years ago. I find it hard to believe that more recent data could not be collected if a little more effort was given on the part of the authors. Another negative aspect of the statistics given were that the percentage ranges of findings were so large that the reader virtually had nothing to go by. For example, it was not surprising to find ranges of between 20% and 75% when the writer was trying to make a statement about a particular topic. Worst yet is that the writers never acknowledge their unfortunate lack of preciseness to the reader, instead they continued on as though they had just given the reader a valuable piece of information. The explanation of diagrams and statistics were also not well thought through. I found on occasion, other possible and likely explanations for the data that was given. This makes me question the objectivity of the specific writers of those chapters. Furthermore, I was very surprised to see in some chapters, such as the one concerning Alcoholics Anonymous groups, that information was given and stated as factual, when in actuality most individuals who are familiar with the field and even many who are not familiar with the field would be able to easily decipher that it was nothing more than mere opinion. This aspect of the book was very insulting to the reader, especially when one considers the caliber of the three editors of this book, all of whom are MD's, and who should know better than to allow opinion to be stated as fact in their text. Another negative aspect of the creators of book, as told to me by my professor, is that it was advertised on the internet to be a good handbook for social workers and the psychological professions. Rather ironic, when one considers, as I stated earlier, that the book periodically debunks the effectiveness those types of related interventions have. Lastly, though equally important, is the price one is required to pay for this book. To the browser it might come across as a good text to have in one's collection yet upon further investigation by the reader the shortcomings of the book become apparent. Save your money and look harder for a decent book.

Being dissatisfied with my previous text for a graduate course in Substance Abuse Treatment, I went to the Internet to see what was out there. I found a 1997 book with good reviews and a detailed outlining of chapters. I was familiar with one of the authors, David E. Smith, founder and Medical Director of the Haight-Ashbury Clinic. It was a straight medical model, which was not necessarily negative, as that still represents the mainstream of addiction treatment. In addition, I appreciated how closely the comments on assessment and diagnosis remained true to DSM IV. The inclusion of chapters on treatment of addictive disorders; the treatment of gambling, eating and sex addictions; cultural considerations; AA; treatment efficacy; managed care; and ethics sounded like the outline for the course. The book does have medical sections of use to the behavioral science student that are not included in most texts. A strong point is made that assessment for drug abuse should be a part of any assessment, and that more than one drug is likely to be abused. I appreciated the inclusion of drug testing and the pros and cons of the various tests. It is useful to know that psychotropics are not very useful in the treatment of addictive disorders. The authors see addiction as the cause of many psychiatric symptoms and state that the first step is to separate the drug from the person. A major repeated point of the authors is that psychiatric symptoms are usually the

antecedent rather than the consequence of drug abuse. The authors' position is that drugs are taken for their "positive, brain reinforcing effects" and not for relief from psychiatric symptoms. The argument seems a revision of the "which came first question." The sections on managed care and legal and ethical issues in substance abuse are well done and informative. The preface states that the book is appropriate for "physicians and other mental health care specialists." The back cover states that the text is " Designed to meet the diverse needs physicians, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, medical students and residents, this authoritative text offers clear, step-by-step recommendations on the selection and application of both pharmacological and psychosocial therapies." While useful in supplying pharmacological information and data on diagnosis and assessment, this manual misrepresents itself as giving an adequate representation of psychosocial treatments- the chapter titles and subheadings do not present what they state. The preface states that "As many as 50% of general medicine populations and 75% of general psychiatric populations contain patients with addictive disorders." The authors state, "Enthusiasm for treating addictive disorders can result from developing and possessing knowledge and skill in their diagnosis and treatment, especially when patients are followed into their recovery." This is the only place enthusiasm is found in the entire book. The interior of the book is clinical in the worst sense of the word, and contains unfounded generalizations and statistics. The psychosocial parts are done with such superficiality that only someone unfamiliar with this material would benefit from reading it. The UglyMost prevalent forms of treatment are included, but represented by a brief one-paragraph description. The only chapter with any depth or passion is the one on Alcoholics Anonymous. This chapter is the most

poorly written of the manual. It contains bias, lack of analysis of the findings and more erroneous generalization than fact. The author of this chapter borrows statistics without questioning from AA's big book and other AA surveys. For example, they report that 50% of those starting AA drop out within the first three months; of those sober less than a year, 41 % continue for another year; and of those sober over 5 years, 91% will continue in AA for another year. The implication is made that the longer in AA, the more likely the abstinence, which may be true. However no mention is made of all the people for whom AA is not working. The author of the AA chapter makes generalizations that are contradicted elsewhere in the manual. He states, "All physicians are viewed as friends of AA." On page 264, he states, "...several pitfalls can occur between treatment professionals and members of AA, primarily involving conflict and rivalry." Other areas of conflict are noted, which imply the relationship with medical and mental health personnel is sometimes less than endearing. The commitment to AA and its derivatives as the only form of effective treatment is disquieting. It is stated that "AA and NA are compatible with the treatment of all medical and mental disorders. They should be considered essential in the treatment of all addictive disorders." Norman Miller (1995) concluded in another book, that "Only one method of treatment appears to be effective and to consistently work in the long run, mainly abstinence based treatment when combined with either regular continuous and indefinite attendance at AA meetings." This reader can mostly accept that abstinence based programs are the most effective, although it has not been empirically established that AA is the only effective treatment for alcoholism. In Project Match (1996), a study sponsored by National institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a comparison of the treatment modalities of "twelve step facilitation", cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational enhancement therapy, found all treatments to be equally effective. Also, it seems very odd to me how someone so familiar with the drug area would choose to classify alcohol separately from all the other drugs. For the last two decades in professional circles, the rallying cry has been that alcohol is a drug like any other drug. Summary: Although the manual contains many important statistics and discussions, due to the inadequacy of the psychosocial sections, I would not even recommend this book to the medical student or physician interested in the non-medical aspects of addiction.