I'm a self taught guitarist who recently took up the guitar again after a 20 year break. I love this book. The pieces are beautiful and are arranged from beginning intermediate (I think) to advanced intermediate. You must be able to read music. The author includes some notes on playing each piece -- technique, musicianship. But mostly you advance through practice and listening to the CD. The CD, by the way, is wonderful, and I often put it on just for pleasure. One of the things I love about this book is how the author emphasizes musicality, things like subtle pauses and changes in tempo, crescendos, etc.

This book was written with class. The pieces selelected are all very beautiful and fun to play. The CD provides a very honest interpretation of the pieces. There are definitions in the back of the book as well as a listing of each genre of the solos. Furthermore, there is a suggested list of pieces for a student who is interested in entering a guitar program at a school from freshman undergraduate, to second year grad student. The book provides the intermidiate to advanced guitarist an excellent basis for expanding his or her repertoire.

This book progresses from first pieces for players who read music and understand classical guitar technique through increasingly difficult intermediate pieces. It is ideal for first and second, and perhaps third year students. One aspect that I find particularly appealing as a teacher is the musical integrity of each piece. They are all very musical, the progression is very well thought out, and the presentation on the page is clear and uncluttered. Probably the best collection of easy to intermediate pieces available. The CD performances are outstanding.

What little one doesn't like to imitate barnyard animal sounds? Great little book for children as they interact with the illustrations and a narrative style that holds their attention. It is also a good book for beginning readers as well.
Evelyn Horan - teacher/counselor/author
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Books One - Three

This has to be the perfect book for a year-old baby. I say this from tired experience after reading, re-reading, re-reading...the pictures are bright and definite and exactly right for babies, the rhythm is fun, the animal noises inspired even our year-old to say "baa" in response. Baby is now 14 months old and this is one of her three favourite books (the others are In the Tall Tall Grass and Night Cars).

"This little chick from over the way/went to play with the pigs one day./And what do you think/They heard him say?" So begins John Lawrence's exuberant picture book, and preschoolers will enjoy all the wonderful animal talk as Little Chick makes his way around the barnyard, imitating all his friends. He oinks with the pigs, quacks with the ducks, moos with the cows, baas with the lambs, and even ribbits with the frogs. And when he finally arrives home, shows his mother hen all he's learned that day. Mr Lawrence's repetitive, singsong text is cheerful and engaging and little ones will love "helping" you read, and practicing their animal sounds. But it's the large, bold and vibrant artwork, filled with humor and expressive detail, that really makes this book stand out and sparkle. This Little Chick is a happy, fun-filled read aloud, and a soon to be favorite at your house.

I thought I was read all great writers for this misteries, crimes and all those, but Sanders has become one of my favourites ones (the first of course is Raymond Chandler). I'm going to read all his books!

This book is actually a collection of three stories about Wall Street investigator Timothy Cone. Originally issued in 1988, it was written when Lawrence Sanders was at the peak of his writing career (before he started insulting his fans by cranking out pot boilers). The stories concern various intrigues on Wall Street - insider trading, stock manipulation and short selling, and corporate takeovers and greenmail. The plots are well developed and well written, and the characters are interesting.

All the other so-called mystery writers should read Sanders' Timothys as Bible, but should not read any of his McNallys

This story chronicles the survival of small Jewish girls who were hidden in an armoire by their desperate parents in the closing days of the Warsaw ghetto. It easily matches the personal resonance and innocent terror of the far more famous Anne Frank Story.

Even after their final liberation as perhaps the only intact nuclear family to survive that infamous ghetto, the Skorecki family was due one more date with history. Survival, it turns out, was the story within the story. Little Anne Skorecki Levi, the little girl who survived by staying silent inside that armoire struck a blow five decades later for Jewish survival by speaking out against Louisiana's Neo-Nazi gubernatorial candidate David Duke, and helping to engineer his electoral defeat.

This account of Anne's travel along the arc from victim to victor is an inspiration and a reminder that each of us can and must preserve our collective memory, however troubling.

I read books on the Holocaust to try to understand the times, the mileu, the horror, and the suffering. After more than 20 books, I realize that I can only scratch the surface. I will, however, never stop reading because of my fear that someday the deniers and the downgraders might get the upper hand.

Thank you to the the author and Anne Skorecki Levy for relating a story that is very, very moving as well as insightful and timely.

Lawrence Powell set out to write a book about the David Duke phenomenon, about how a KKK leader and Nazi could sit in the Louisiana legislature and run for the U.S. Senate as a Republican. But work on the book took him in another direction after he interviewed Anne Levy, a Holocaust survivor who confronted Duke in the state capital. Captivated by Levy's story, Powell has produced a terrifying, poignant and finally a triumphant book about the Holoaust as witnessed through the life of one of its survisors, Anne Levy.

Troubled Memory is a beautifully written and tender account of a personal story that stands as an intimate history of Hitler's final solution. Powell's prose will carry you into the Warsaw and Lodz ghettos and into the vegetable bin where 6-year-old Anne and her sister hid from the SS. This is a book that makes the Holocaust relevant to every reader. It will fill you with horror and wonder, and it will move you to tears.

Doing the Universal Form can improve your physical and mental health and you don't need special shoes, clothes or place. You only need to bring your mind and body in harmony with your breathing and movements. The Universal Form's simple techniques conceal the powerful benefits gained for those who practice the three-minute program every day. Master Lawrence Tan has devoted his life to the study of Martial Arts. He has devised a system that strengthens the body, with emphasis on the philosophical and health payback you give to yourself. Combat for the average Joe, doesn't take place in a ring; it takes place with our boss, significant other and even with our-selves; the every day struggle. The book guides you through the program to help bring you the Power, Energy and Peace that we all seek; to live each day to the fullest. I would highly recommend the book and video tapes.

I have studied Martial Arts for some time now and I have studied Tan's Tri-Harmony system for two years. When learning Master Tan's style, The Universal Form is the first form you are taught. It becomes the foundation for the rest. It is both subtle and powerful. It incorporates truly universal principles of Body, Breath and Mind. So often in life today, especially in the fast paced city life, we do not breath fully and deeply. We deprive our muscles and organs of oxygen and open the way for stress and illness. When working the form you are alternately using and stretching all the muscles in your body, while flooding the body with oxygen. This strengthens the body from within, while maintaining and improving flexibility. One year ago I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle to work. I shattered a one inch section of my left collar- bone into fragments. The Orthopoedic Surgeon said there is no way to operate on this type of injury and that I would not likely regain more than 50-70% mobility in that arm. I waited for two and a half months for sufficient bone growth to take place, then worked with Sifu Rich Huang, who teaches Master Tan's Style. In only 8 more weeks I had regained all my former mobility and my strength was increasing again. Master Tan's Universal Form I feel is directly responsible for my full recovery. I had been practising it daily for a year prior to the accident and I'm sure this helped to create an atmosphere within the body that made full healing possible. The Orthopoedic Surgeon was astounded when I last visited him, only four and a half months after the accident. He could not believe after that severe a break, that I was able to regain full flexibility and strength. This excercise can be performed by any age group, in any space in just three minutes. Yet, the benefits are long reaching and pervasive. I have studied several movement forms, but this is the one I will be teaching my children. I cannot recommend it enough!

"The Universal Form" is a very interesting yet skeptical concept. The Universal Form is a moving meditational exercise which combines movements of many Kung-Fu styles but is very different in that this form is orchestrated into a three minute meditation designed to alleviate stress. The logic of The Universal Form created by Lawrence Tan: Martial arts training teaches us what to do under extreme life-and-death circumstances against an opponent though disciplining our body, soul, and mind. Tan demonstrates that these same techniques utilized correctly can empower us against a more ordinary adversary, stress an obstacle that faces everyone mentally, physically, spiritually, in one way or another more commonly than others. In Tan's 35 years as a Martial artist he has taught many people to defend themselves however, in realization that the chance of a person being attacked on the streets is relatively small compared to the guaranteed assault of every day stress. The Universal Form inspired by Bodhigharna the Legendary master of Zen and Saolin Kung-Fu aspires to improve posture flexibility, strength, balance, coordination and your respiratory cardiovascular and central isolated muscle groups and the abilities to control them. Like Bruce Lee Tan teaches according to principles, not just techniques. As with tai chi or yoga, you can energize and relax, calm and focus your mind, improve your posture and enhance daily performance. However Tan states the Universal Form is easier to learn but must be learned and practiced properly.

I really can't understand why this book has come out in paperback edition, so that more people might read it. I read it when it first came out and made me do a lot of thinking not just about affirmative action, but more about just how does any society go about providing ways to bring about real opportunities for various groups of people to access to good education and employment in the midst of adverse social, economic, and political conditions.

The author's chapter "On Meritocracy" was especially insightful. It talks about the need for a "community-based" definition of qualified, rather than an elitist-based definition. This means that when we talk about a community-based definition, we're not looking at just a person's educational credentials, but her ability to contribute to the community in which she will be working. Does her background or experience with that community mean more than her scores on educational tests or her access to priviledged edcuation.

In this regard, the authors write that, "Historically, the demand for affirmative action came from communities with unmet needs. Ghettos, left without basic services because of white flight, needed doctors, lawyers, merchants, and teachers who were unafraid to serve there. Ethnic communities found that, without community-based scholars, their history, their culture was ignored or misinterpreted by outsiders..." Without affirmative action, what we get are people who qualified based on certain instutional credentials, but they lack real talent or history with the communities they serve.

It's really too bad that affirmative action debate has subsided, for it really helps us to grapple with how we build an equitable society where people are not held back because of their lack of previlege or because their racial, economic, or social background.

I am a second-year student at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. I read the book because I was looking for solid responses to the usual arguments against affirmative action -- and I definitely found such responses in this excellently written book. As I read a book, I collect in a computer file quotes or passages that I wish to remember. I must have transcribed nearly one-third of this book. The authors present strong, fair-minded arguments to support the return to affirmative action.

One of their main theses, and a unique perspective, is to redefine merit from merely a test score to a myriad of qualities -- qualities that insure a successful and productive person and also that benefit all of society. The authors also point out that without affirmative action for women and minorities, we are still operating under the status quo affirmative action -- affirmative action for white males.

This book is a must-read for all progressive people who sincerely believe in a return to affirmative action. We must now make our voices heard!

This book is certainly of interest for its individual stories, and I remain committed to supporting A.A. Unfortunately, the two authors are rather chillingly smug; is it so remarkable that an African-American and an Asian-American who have both benefitted from A.A. are both in favor of it? However, as an Indian-American, I have seen serious problems which A.A. presents to Asian-Americans, which economically and educationally priviledged white and Asian-American women pay lip service to but do not confront directly. As a feminist I found most of this book compelling. Nevertheless, they should not be so glib in speaking of 'women and minorities' in that manner because it feeds the stereotyping conducted by conservative critics of the Left's position on A.A. At some point we, as women of all races, have to confront the genuine problems of classism within the ranks of feminism, especially the priviledged feminist elite. Prop 209 could have been defeated in California, were it not for middleclass white women pre empting the much more urgent protests conducted by minorities. 'Women and minorities' is a useful phrase, particularly when addressing political unfairness. But Affirmative Action should *never* be an excuse for the feminist elite (especially academic feminists, who hardly speak for all of us!) to use discrimination as a soap box for their own interests. White women as well as Asian-American women, are well represented as students in most of prestigious academia; it is in teaching jobs that there are still problems of representation. This is ultimately a somewhat sanctimonious book, and is obviously only going to please people who already share their views; it won't convert a soul, and so I can't help wondering why they would risk diluting the field (there are a lot of books coming out of the debate over A.A.) in this manner.

As a mixed-ethnicity Bosnian who lived through this war, I must say the editors of this book were extremely well informed.
They present a set of writing from both local and foreign contributors painting a vivid picture of the true events in Bosnia and the surrounding area, as well as international reactions and the complete peace process.
The book was completed in December 1993, and came out on the market in March 1994, so it does not include the events from 1994 and later, which are also critical to understanding the war and its outcome, but I still strongly recommend it, because it is one of the best books on Bosnia of 1990-1993.

As a mixed-ethnicity Bosnian who lived through this war, I must say the editors of this book were extremely well informed.
They present a set of writings from both local and foreign contributors painting a vivid picture of the true events in Bosnia and the surrounding area, as well as international reactions and the complete peace process.
The book was completed in December 1993, and came out on the market in March 1994, so it does not include the events from 1994 and later, which are also critical to understanding the war and its outcome, but I still strongly recommend it, because it is one of the best books on Bosnia of 1990-1993.

An important collection of essays, interviews and literary texts, providing a richly varied introduction to Bosnia's multi-national and multi-cultural society, while chronicling and analysing its internationally sanctioned destruction. An ideal starting point.

This book is literary criticism about some of America's most famous writers. Basically, it is a "Lawrencian" reading of classics.

D.H. Lawrence comments on Benjamin Franklin, Melville, Hawthorne, Dana, Fenimore Cooper, Poe, Whitman, and de Crevecoeur. In doing so, he is trying to get a picture of what America is and what it is trying to do. Although he mentions his interest in some, all fall short of the mark of creating a new identity for America.

If you have ever read notes by Lawrence on some of his novels (like "Lady Chatterley's Lover"), you will see the repeat of a lot of ideas and language. This was written later in his life, so it does make sense that some of his ideas of the blood-relationship would come again.

I would not recommend this book for people trying to understand American writing (except maybe to use this as contrast), but I would highly recommend this for anyone studying D.H. Lawrence. This will give you another perspective (aside from his fiction).

Excellent book. Lawrence is the only writer I know of who was able to trace the priggish type of American back to Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was a great man, but one of his more regrettable legacies appears in the modern WASP holier-than-thou type, the type that thinks it's inherently immoral to stay up late, and inherently moral to be a non-smoker. Take a close look at his interests and you'll see that it's to his advantage to preach what is, basically, servility. The rest of us Americans can't stand him (I'm convinced that Al Gore lost the election because he embodies this type), but his belief in his own piety remains unshaken to this day. Well, Lawrence gives him a perfectly-placed kick: check it out.

All of these essays are thoughtful, funny, and insightful. Lawrence has a unique way of grasping the undercurrents of works of fiction, and many of his most surprising assertions ring true upon reflection.

this is a masterpiece, and you do not have to know much about books to notice the expertise of the author, his sense of what he is writing.he has really given me an orientation into the vast lands of american letters.he has set me going into a different direction and has made me read some books again. i recommend this book to anybody with a deep interest in american letters, but please keep reading this author, he is wonderful. LUIS MENDEZ luismendez@codetel.net.do

Those who are looking for an answer to the age old question, 'Why should we be moral?' will be, in a sense, disappointed by this book. Smith from the get-go, shifts the question. Instead he asks, 'Why ARE we moral?' Subtle difference? It's bigger than you may think.

Smith takes our moral nature as a given. Humans are born with an innate capacity for sympathy. We identify others as like ourselves and unless otherwise provoked, do not want to hurt others. We also have an innate desire for esteem. We learn early that treating others kindly gains us admiration in the same way that we naturally admire kind people. This is the core of Smiths thesis and from here he puts examines these principles across an array of human behaviors. Why do we tell truths when we could tell undetected lies? Why would we do kindly to others even if esteem of peers is not gauranteed? Why would some die for their family members or their country?

Probably the trait Smith admires most is prudence; the art of knowing what is and is not appropriate action both in our subjective judgement and that of an imagined 'impartial spectator.' The prudent person is able and willing to put herself in the context of other people. 'Although an action seems justified to me, would others see it that way?' 'Would satisfying small desire X of mine be an obstacle to other's fulfillment of larger desires?'

It goes on from there. Smith puts these ideas well to the test going through scenario after scenario. Because of this, I would say this book should be shelved in psychology, not philosophy as it simply tries to give an account of the way we think. Thus the philosopher looking for a forcefully stated, internally consistent and completely reasoned 'moral system' will not find it in these pages. Smith takes us only so far but when asked 'Why do we have these inclinations to be moral and gain esteem,' he simply answers that it is in our nature. This may be the best answer we can hope for, but it will leave some philosophers unsatisfied.

Regarding the length, IT IS TOO LONG!! With a good editor, 200 pages could've easily been cut. I would even say that the last section, examining flaws in existing moral systems is not necessary and can be skipped. Aside from length, it is a joyful read, though. Smith is an excellent writer and certainly better than Hume, Locke and others of the day. As a conclusion, those looking to bridge the chasm in the 'Wealth of Nations' between Smiths simultaneous advocation of free trade and his disdain for unchecked greed in all it's forms...look no further than "Theory of Moral Sentiments."

To truly understand Adam Smith's economic masterpiece "The Wealth of Nations", one must understand its moral foundation. Without Smith's essential prequel, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", the more famous "Wealth of Nations" can easily be misunderstood, twisted, or dismissed. Smith rightly lays the premise of his economics in a seedbed of moral philosophy -- the rights and wrongs, the whys and why-nots of human conduct. Smith's capitalism is far from a callous, insensitive, greed-motivated, love-of-profits-at-any-cost approach to the marketplace, when seen in the context of his "Moral Sentiments." [Note: This book is a "page for page reproduction" of a two volume edition published in 1817, which is reflected in my pagination references.]

Smith's first section deals with the "Propriety of Action". The very first chapter of the book is entitled "Of Sympathy". This is very telling of Smith's view of life, and his approach to how men should conduct their lives. "How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it." (p 1:1). Later Smith asserts that this "sympathy, however, cannot, in any sense, be regarded as a selfish principle." (p 2:178)

This propriety of conduct undergirds all social, political and economic activities, private and public. When Smith observes that "hatred and anger are the greatest poisons to the happiness of a good mind" (p 1:44) he is speaking not only of interpersonal relationships but of its moral extensions in the community and world. Smith treats the passions of men with clinical precision, identifying a gamut of passions like selfishness, ambition and the distinction of ranks, vanity, intimidation, drawing examples from history and various schools of philosophy. He extols such quiet virtues as politeness, modesty and plainness, probity and prudence, generosity and frankness -- certainly not the qualities of the sterotypical cartoon of a capitalist robber-baron. Indeed Smith is contemptuous of the double standards employed by cults of celebrity: "The great mob of mankind are the admirers and worshippers...of wealth and greatness" paying lip-service to wisdom and virtue, yet Smith oserves, "there is scarce any man who does not respect more the rich and the great, than the poor and the humble. With most men the presumption and vanity of the former are much more admired, than the real and solid merit of the latter. It is scarce agreeable to good morals or even good language...that mere wealth and greatness, abstracted from merit and virtue, deserve our respect." (p 1:79) Tragically, the wealthy celebrity foists a dangerous pattern upon the public, "even their vices and follies are fashionable;and the greater part of men are proud to imitate and resemble them in the very qualities which dishonour and degrade them." (pp 1:81-82) For Smith, wealth is not the criteria of real success. He laments the political-correctness of his day: "Vain men often give themselves airs...which in their hearts they do not approve of, and of which, perhaps, they are not really guilty. They desire to be praised for what they themselves do not think praiseworthy, and are ashamed of unfashionable virtues....There are hypocrites of wealth and greatness, as well as of religion and virtue; and a vain man is as apt to pretend to be what he is not, in the one way, as a cunning man is in the other." (p 1:82) Smith, the moralist also warns that taken too far such trendy fashions of political-correctness can wreck havoc on society: "In many governments the candidates for the highest stations are above the law; and, if they can attain the object of their ambition, they have no fear of being called to account for the means by which they acquired it. They often endeavor, therefore, not only by fraud and falsehood, the ordinary and vulgar arts of intrigue and cabal; but sometimes by the perpetration of the most enormous crimes...to supplant and destroy those who oppose or stand in the way of their [supposed] greatness." (p 1:83)

With such salient observations Smith embarks in a survey of vices to avoid and passions to govern. He describes virtues to cultivate in order to master one's self as well as the power of wealth. These include courage, duty, benevolence, propriety, prudence and self-love [or as we would say, self-respect]. He develops a powerful doctrine of "moral duty" based upon "the rules of justice", "the rules of chastity", and "the rules of veracity" that decries cowardice, treachery, and falsity. The would-be-Capitalist or pretended-Capitalist who violates any of the rules of moral duty in the accumulation of wealth and power in or out of the marketplace is a misanthrope who may dangerously abuse the wealth and position he acquires. Smith describes a moral base rooted in sympathy not selfishness as the basis for an economic system which has been labeled Capitalism. The real Capitalist operates without purposely harming other men, beasts or nature; in this sense capitalism is more a stewardship than an insensitive, mechanistic mercantilism or a crass commercialism. This book is a vital component to any reading of "The Wealth of Nations". "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" is the life-blood or soul of "The Wealth of Nations". Without "Moral Sentiments" one is left with an empty, even soulless, economic theory that can be construed as greedy and grasping no matter how much wealth may be acquired.

In contrast to extreme rationalists and proponents of the selfish gene theory, Adam Smith argues that the beginnings of morality are innate, in the sense that our connection to other human beings makes us sensitive to their needs and sentiments. Morality is thus learned through experience of feeling (sentiments) that connect us to others (thus the title: theory of moral sentiments).

This is an outstanding book, full of magnificent observations about human life and values. Smith provides the theoretical underpinnings for the workings of a capitalist system by rejecting the idea that selfishness and self-interest are synonymous. For Smith's ideal to exist, humans would have to pay attention to the development of moral conscience. It is a startling conclusion, and allows us to comprehend more fully Smith's other great work, The Wealth of Nations. If the Amazon.com rankings allowed a ten, this would be a ten!

I am in the process of implementing some of what this suggested, and the step by step approach makes it a lot easier.

Every book I have read about shareholder value has been long on theory and short on application, but Value Planning is different. It provides a hands on blueprint for creating a value management system to grow shareholder value. It's about time!

A lot has been written about shareholder value, but there has been little written about how to put theory into practice, which is what this book does. I highly recommend it.