This book by Slack et al is an excellent introductory text to the subject of Operations Management. The book is well structured, clearly written and provides good coverage of the subject including operations strategy, design, planning and improvement. To enhance the learning process, each chapter contains numerous practical examples and illustrations.

In this textbook the writers learn the reader every step of the operation management from the design of the product, the needed design for a factory, layout and flow and job design, to all steps of planning and control, till the first product is created and from then on improvements on the system and the production process. A thick book that provides minor information of a lot of different subjects, but still the writers succeed in giving the reader the idea to read and learn new thinks. Especially for people new in production industry this book is useful for a first introduction in the jargon used and the problems encountered.

As a native New Yorker, I heard of many islands that occupied the waters that surrounded the five boroughs of the city. As I flew back into LaGuardia and JFK airports I even began to notice them from above. Obtaining information about these islands was very difficult, even from local libraries, and therefore when I found this book at a local bookstore, I was delighted that someone came up with the idea of publishing such a book.

From Roosevelt Island to Cuban Ledge, the authors give a very thorough and well researched book on the many islands inhabiting the New York archipelago. Many islands which were once islands, but have long since been connected to the boroughs by artificial landfills are also covered here (e.g. Coney Island-Brooklyn, Hunter Island-Bronx, Battery Park area-Manhattan, etc..) are also covered here.

If you live in the city or plan on visiting, please make sure to pick up a copy of this guide, and make sure to visit the many hidden treasures found in this city.It makes an excellent companion book while aboard a plane or even in the subway.

New York City is an archipelago of islands - this is a reality that has been paved under by centuries of development in this great city, but has been brought to light in this fun, excellent little book.

Besides Manhattan Island, Roosevelt Island, Staten Island, etc., there are a host of tiny lesser-known islands all around the waterways of the city, and this book describes them all. Each and every one of them has a unique history - most were settled at one time or another, most are abandoned now - as well as a unique ecosystem. The book does a great job exploring all these aspects, in prose that has just the right level of detail to inform and excite. The histories it relates are miniature, fractured reflections, serving to both highlight and contrast with the mainstream narrative of NYC history.

Here are a few islands you may never have heard of before - North Brother Island, Swinburne Island, Shooters' Island, and - my personal favorite - U Thant Island, named for a late U.N. diplomat. Yes, there really is a place within New York City limits called "U Thant Island!" Reading this stuff makes you want to go to these places. Most of them are illegal to visit, and unfortunately the authors are responsible, law-abiding individuals who won't tell you how to get to them. Too bad :)

For urban historians, this book is like a collection of lost pottery shards of NYC life. For ecologists, it is a testament to the resilience of wildlife in some of the busiest waterways in the world. And for aspiring urban explorers, it is a temptation to buy a raft, flashlight, and wire cutters....

Out Of It: A Cultural History Of Intoxication by cultural historian and journalist Stuart Walton is a review and survey of the use of intoxicants down through human history and which ranged from alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco, to opiates, amphetamines, hallucinogens, and "designer drugs". From Stone Age rituals; to intoxication in the Greek and Roman eras; to contemporary recreational usage and strict anti-drug laws, Out Of It studies the history, causes, effects, and attitudes concerning these chemical substances with a distinct eye for the logic (and illogic) behind the generational shifts in social mores, customs, and prohibitions.

Shibboleths need their forthright debunkers, and the drug war has needed a lively, over-educated Brit to take it apart, down its noxious, anti-human core. As a non-illicit drug user, too scared by the overt repressions of my religious and social heritages to have been more than a lightweight and now non-indulger, I needed to read the book, to check my immoral condemnations of sensation seekers. Walton gets writing back to an exercise of fun, ranging across the whole of antiquity with the erudition of a fusty Oxford don, but has evidently been to the places better designer drugs can take the individual partaker. Here's to his courage, his perspicacity, and may we see the error of our ways in, oh, about 100 years, when responsible, safe use of temporary mind-altering concoctions might be a social virtue.

My 7-year-old daughter is a ferocious reader who loves non-fiction & fiction. She loves this book; the two-page format with lots of colorful pictures in combination with the inviting, questioning text are great. We love also the Eyewitness books, but this is a winner because it does more than, hypertext style, show pictures with captions -- the continuous narrative builds the bigger picture. I think many children would really enjoy this book; definitely schools would benefit by it.

This is the first of two volumes that cover the history of Britain from the Celts to the modern age. Each 2-page section is illustrated in color and contains a clear overview of even the most complex topics. Photographs of artifacts and sites are included, and the narrative is written in a way that is intended to involve the reader by posing questions and including descriptions of modern archaeological efforts. Suitable for older elementary and middle school students, this would be an excellent classroom resource or core text.

Mention the words "Safavi" or "Safavid" to people in the West and you will most likely get a blank stare in return, but this Iranian dynasty presided over a great cultural flowering in literature and architecture as well as in art. Stuart Cary Welch produced a beautiful introductory guide to some of the beauties of that era, taking illustrations from several famous books and collections of the 16th century height of Safavid glory. While the political history of the time in Iran, Central Asia and Afghanistan (all parts of the Persian world in a cultural sense) was full of battles, massacres, sieges and sudden changes of rule-very much like Europe at the same time-the delicacy of Persian art knew no bounds. Brilliant, jewel-like colors, striking designs, and bold displays of mythical heroes touched in gold and surrounded with the miniature figures of the Persian court world appear on the pages of this book that is guaranteed to satisfy. Chinese-style rocks and trees mingle with Islamic calligraphy and Persian legends. While this book reproduces the illustrations both in full and in detail, the text is only the slightest of introductions to what can be a consuming study for any lover of art at its greatest. Buyers of this book will want to look further. May I suggest Anthony Welch's two books "Artists for the Shah" and "Shah 'Abbas and the Arts of Isfahan", "Persian Drawings" by B. W. Robinson, and "Persian Painting" by Basil Gray. Another related volume, a treat for anyone interested in Persian art, would be "Isfahan: Pearl of Persia" by Wilfred Blunt and W. Swan.

Stuart Cary Welch is an art historian (I think he taught at Harvard, but I'm not sure) who loves his work, and it clearly shows in this volume. The pictures are exquisite, the reproductions are beautiful, but the best part is the commentary: his only goal is to make the work -- and the stories the pictures tell, for they are all essentially book illustrations -- as much a pleasure to the audience as it was to him. He could not wear his learning more lightly nor with more enthusism, and yet it is clear he must know everything there is to know about this culture. Right after you get this, you'll immediately go right back to Amazon to get a copy of the Shah-Nama, the marvelous epic Iranian poem that so many of the splendid miniatures in this volume illustrate.

After visiting the Philippines a few years ago I could find enough words to tell all of the experience. This book brings the words to life. The friendliness of the people, the outstanding views. Time to plan a second trip. Watch out Caribbean here come the Philippines.

Being an expat, and for somebody who hasnt visited my homeland in almost 6 years, I was most curious in getting an updated coffeetable book about the Philippines. Stuart Naval Dee's THE PHILIPPINES REDISCOVERED (published Jan 99) is a work of love coming from a native himself, though now living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The gorgeous pictures and some are stunning, especially an unlabeled shoot of a beach scene on page 120 wherein a very slim strip of white sand cuts diagonally along the azure sea. Simply stunning and worth a thousand words. Other pictures tell of the vivacity of the Filipino people in work and play, particularly the festival or fiesta scenes. The author and photographer wasnt afraid of showing day-to-day scenes like small fishes in a metal container fresh from a day's catch, succulent roasted pigs (lechon) on bamboo skewers, children enjoying a birthday party with messy spaghetti remnants strewn all over the table, an overloaded jeepney (the main mode of land transportation) as it prepares for its daily route, as well as the scenic vistas (the white sand beaches would make the Carribean pale in comparison) that has made the Philippines truly, The Pearl of the Orient Seas. Most dont know the true wonders of my home country and this book will lure you to visit one of Asia's bargain and truly delightful travel experience. As soon as you land in Manila, escape the hustle and bustle of the megalopolis capital (home to 11 million people) and immediately discover the islands and its friendly people. This book has truly made me homesick. Mabuhay! (Welcome and long live!)

Val Suan, Houston,TX, svaljr@ix.netcom.com

For anyone working with proteins for the first time, this is the book. It tells you how to do the basic procedures in a straightforward cookbook way, without alot of theoretical background. Old-school purists may object to this, but just as you don't need to understand Fourier optics to use a microscope, you really don't need to understand how Laemmli gels work in order to be able to use them to resolve proteins. This book just tells you how to do what you need to do, and for that purpose its really perfect. Using this book, you can singlehandedly do each technique without needing to ask anyone or read anything else, it is entirely self-contained. There aren't too many methods books that can compare with this one in terms of ease of use. I have used this book and its earlier edition for years and I highly recommend it to everyone who is starting to work with proteins.

This is a good handbook for starters and students, contains methods that easy to follow and understand, I love this book.

The ten or so others out there who have read this monster are probably experiencing a facial tic at my suggestion that it be required reading for all who design software. Its not a quick read, but its definately a page turner. I couldn't put it down.

I'm serious.

For me, a guy with a solid background in networking and systems architecture but without the classical human factors education required for intelligent product design this one document did a far better job of firmly rooting me in the basics than anything else.

Mad props to Norman and Neilsen for pointing me in this direction in the first place. But with this book I finally felt "full."

There were a solid list of findings I'd never heard of until I'd opened this book. Not only did this book introduce me to these sorts of things, it also illustrated them to me. I walked away understanding.

Like all of my other faves, this book is opened often. I've bought many copies for friends (with friends like me...) and I reference it often.

Its notable that the most leading edge work today related to this topic is being driven by the same guys who wrote this book so long ago. Its among my top five most suggested books for those I know who want to take their design to the next level.

Designing human-computer interfaces is still an art, learned best by creating many interfaces and carefully observing how real users interact with them. However, there are many tools from cognitive psychology that, if understood and applied, can yeild at least two benefits. First, by learning what is known about how humans operate, you can avoid many pitfalls in design. Second, you can make quantitative design decisions.

This book, though nearly 20 years old, contains much essential material that is unknown to many practitioners in the field! If you are designing interfaces, on the Web, for PCs, or for information appliances, you should read and understand the basic material in this book, which can never go out of date as long as humans use keyboards and mice with their hands and scan the screen with their eyes.

My own recent book, The Humane Interface, is -- in many aspects -- just following in the footsteps of this pathbreaking, pioneering, and important work.

Alex Stuart was trained as a barrister, the peculiar (to Americans) profession that, bewigged and berobed, represents the Crown or the accused in British courts of law. Removing his own robe and wig and taking up pen and paper, Stuart figuratively disrobes his former colleagues in his clever cartoons. Combining his hereditary British understatement with sly and insightful humor and a gift for caricature, Stuart's book elicits many a chuckle. Lawyer jokes never had it so good.

It is a must for fans of the topical Steuart & Francis legal cartoon in The Times. I enjoyed it very much.

Having restored and modernized more Tillinghast layouts than any of us Rees Jones states in an introductory paragraph "A.W. Tillinghast was pure genius" while Ben Crenshaw in a companion paragraph says "he was an individualist to say the least. American golf was fortunate to have him around in the early stages."

Our profession (golf architecture) is indebted to the editors for their second volume of Tillinghast essays. It is to be followed by a third title within two years entitled GLEANINGS FROM THE WAYSIDE. (I think the first, THE COURSE BEAUTIFUL is still available.)

Frank Hannigan says in the foreword that golf architecture is an art form requiring engineering expertise mixed with 19th century principles of landscape design. Vision is also required in the creation of golf courses as it was in the creations by Olmstead and other 19th century landscape architects.

Somehow Tilly's essays demonstrate this. Reading them and studying the descriptive illustrations one reaches that conclusion.

REMINISCENCES...... IS A WORK WORTHY OF STUDY AND A PLACE IN ALL OUR LIBRARIES AND AS A GIFT TO CLIENTS AND OTHERS. We urge members to obtain it and if still available THE COURSE BEAUTIFUL. This trilogy will live and could influence our profession far into the future, because the three volumes will be studied by all seeking the upward progress of our profession which must be one of the most intriguing ever practiced. As Rees and Ben indicate, Tilly ranks among its most unique practioners.

-- Geoffrey S. Cornish, Historian, American Society of Golf Course Architects

The editors, Rick Wolffe, Bob Trebus and Stuart Wolffe have produced their second of a three book series on A.W. Tillinghast. This book, "Reminiscences of the Links" is even richer than the first ("The Course Beautiful") with terrific photographs, revolutionary writing and astonishing admissions. Like Tillie taking a 17 on the closing hole at the Garden City Invitational, the incident regarding Johnny McDermott at Shawnee, or his suggestion that someday Bethpage will rank as one of the great golfing meccas of the world. It may have taken awhile for that prediction to come true but by the time the Open rolls around there will be few who will dispute it. And where else can you find the original routing plan for all the courses and such early photos of play on the Black? Good job, fellas! -- Bob Labbance, Editor for The Golf Collector's Society.