Hercule Poirot was a short, fat, dapper detective who solved his cases by exercising his "little grey cells".

"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was Christie's fourth Poirot novel, while "Murder on the Links" was her second. In both Christie adopts the motif of narrating the story from the point of view of someone who undertakes to assist Poirot in the solution of the mystery. Christie introduces the cast of suspects, gives each of them a dark secret and a motive to lie, and piles up the circumstances in such a way that the flying fickle finger of suspicion points to every one of them at some time or another. She compounds the confusion by supplying false leads and deliberatly glossing over hot clues.

In each case Poirot holds his cards close to his vest, tantalizes the reader/listener with cryptic comments, and finds the most inconsequential-appearing facts to be highly significant. Eventually Poirot airs everyone's dirty laundry, explains his chain of deductive reasoning, reconstructs the crime in all its improbable complexity, and gets a confession. The stories are less mysteries than they are sliding block puzzles. Though extremely short on realism, they are long on entertainment value.

Although the BBC radio play had excellent production values, audio cassette may not be the best way to enjoy a Poirot mystery. I listen to radio plays as I drive on business, and I find the Poirot plays hard to follow because of the large cast of characters and the complexities of plotting. Poirot could probably be enjoyed more readily in print. You could then read, re-read, take time out to mull over the complexities, and follow the story much better. Probably the best way to enjoy Poirot would be to read the story first, and then listen to the radio play.

The mystery is beyond our imagination. The background and characters truly victorian, and above all the narrative very gripping! Oh! I am re-reading and every time I enjoy even though I know the mystery! Once again, Poirot at his best with his passion for order and method.

As a Christie addict, having read all of her Poirot and Marple stories many times over, I can only say that "Roger Ackroyd" stands out as the best of the best. Even now, knowing the ending, I enjoy rereading the book, with all the delicious and subtle (but misleading) hints to the grand conclusion. And to the first-time reader, the ending comes as quite a surprise. The fabled Miss Christie leads the reader down so many lovely garden paths before the perfectly logical denouement! Delicious! The audio version is beautifully performed, and does proper justice to the book.

What wonderful book, written with humor, insight and wonderful descriptions of life in Vietnam. My eyes have been opened to a new culture. It is so easy to forget that the people of Vietnam - before and after the Vietnam War - are just that...people. And this book brings a new awareness to life on the continent of Southeast Asia. I highly recommend this book, for its easy reading style and very entertaining discriptions.

Marjorie Doughty has written a book with heart and soul. Her memoirs are not so much the accounts of battles and bodies, they are the insight of a woman "from a rather unusual perspective". I recommend this book even to soldiers who have served in Vietnam to see the "other side".

I got to read this book early because I designed it. That is my business. I rarely comment on any of the many books I design, but I was especially taken with this particular book. I felt the need to speak up because of the many unhappy feelings which I have had about Viet Nam all these years. I lost many friends there.

This book shows the human, non-combat side of that unhappy period in our national experience. The people are made somehow more human by showing, as the author does, those people in ordinary activities rather than at war. With compassion.

It's a very touching and healing work done by a master storyteller. A very worthwhile read for anyone whose life was changed in any way by that war.

I use this textbook and its previous edition to teach International Business to senior level students in cyberspace. I consider this the most readable text on the subject. This edition has been slimmed down from the previous edition, and it is an improvement to an excellent text. My students agree that this text is great.

Anyone who needs a comprehensive book on this field should purchase this text, it is worth every penny!

I am at present using textbook "International Business", by John D. Daniels, Lee H. Radebaugh. Eighth Edition. I would be very grateful if you could Fax me as soon as possible the necessary forms to order one copy each of the supplementary publications: -Instructor's Resource Manual. -Study Guide. -Test Bank

Your sincerely,

Saeed A Al Musbeh ( Personal Manager )

The burgeoning literature that has grown up around organizational learning in the past twenty-five years is either uncritical (treats the phrase "learning organization" as a catchword for whatever it is the front-running Japanese or other organizations are doing and whatever the rest of the world needs to do to catch up with them) or distant from practice, skeptical and non-perspective.

In this book, the approach to organizational learning is normative and practice-oriented. The authors are mainly interested in productive organizational learning: how this kind of learning can be generated in real-world organizations and how practitioners can help to foster it.

The theory given in this book is primarily based on two types of learning: single-loop and double-loop. The authors have borrowed the distinction between single and double-loop learning from W. Ross Ashby's "Design for a Brain" (1960).

On case studies of known companies, such as Intel, General Motors, etc., the authors show "primary inhibitory loops" that inhibit organizational learning, and "conditions for error", and how to avoid them. The following list gives the most common "conditions for error" and how to avoid them:

- Vagueness : Specify
- Ambiguity : Clarify
- Untestability : Make testable
- Scattered information : Concert
- Information withheld : Reveal
- Undiscussability : Make discussable
- Uncertainity : Inquire
- Inconsistency/incompatibility: Resolve

In part I, the authors introduce the conceptual framework, both for organizational learning and for the relationship between research and practice. In part II, they introduce and illustrate concepts central to limited learning. Part III presents a brief classroom-based example. Part IV is the review of the recent history of the field of organizational learning.

Despite of the brilliant content, the book which is marked as "Reprinted with corrections August, 1996", which I have (paperback), is awfully printed. It is really the eye-killer. And nevertheless, it has some typos. Please try to find a version which is not "Reprinted with corrections August, 1996".

This is the definitive book on how people politics preventorganisational learning, especially when a company needs a doubleturnround. That is a change of culture as well as strategy. Some of the early chapters are a bit heavily academic, but the pursuit is worthwhile if you want to understand how many big old western organisations stop working - instead of reinventing themselves - whenever a competitor dramatically changes the rules of the marketplace. The authors seem to imply that what they call double loop learning across every department of an organisation is both so laborious as a change process and requires such extraordinary levels of mutual trust that it might be better to raise an old organisation to the ground, and start from scratch. Their research is full of evidence why the last two decades have seen so much downsized leadership. One question that occurs to me is will their pessimistic conclusions hold true now that companies can use internal media like intranets to turn all employees' thinking around at the same time? If you would like to discuss this or other provocations relating to this work, I would be delighted to help form an interactive book discussion club.

Chris Macrae, editor of Brand Chartering Handbook and MELNET www.brad.ac.uk/branding/ E-mail me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk

I strongly reccomend this book to anyone working in the fields of cultural and communications theory. The explanations are straightforward and accurate. The cross-referencing is exhaustive and well laid out. The first dictionary I ever read cover to cover!!!

This book is about mistakes and what can be learned from them. It shows how organizations can free up people to think, communicate and act without fear, shifting the culture from one of blame to gain (gain culture). In one chapter the author, for example, provides a detailed analysis of 227 eminent people, treating them in such a way that individual self-esteem is not threatened. Section 2 is devoted to harnessing the positive power of mistakes. The discussion of the gain culture and its development is enlightening for those concerned with creating a learning organization. The book is very well organized, practical, provides exercises and stories or cases that illustrate major points.

The hunt for the guilty seems to pervade organizational life. This book shows how to escape from the grip of the black hole of blame into which so many bright stars of the organizational galaxy sadly perish. So most every organization will benefit from this book. Highly recommended to managers everywhere.

David Payne is an excellent reader. The inflection is great. He paces the reading well, not racing on like some readers. David Payne has a British accent but is very understandable and enjoyable. The soft background music enhances the reading. Get the whole NT recording.

The HCSB is an up and coming translation that will endure for several years. It is conservative, respecting the Source of all inspiration. Get the hard copy of the HCSB, the best printing of it called Experiencing the Word. Get the CD. You'll be set!

An interesting approach to cultural differencies, and how they can upset management when trying to establish global initiatives. All american business managers who deal with international operation should read it.

Professor Payne takes extremely heavy texts, such as S/Z and makes them easier to understand. He has an extraordinary grasp of the subject matter that translates well to the classroom. I had the pleasure of taking his seminar in literary theory at Bucknell, and this book was one of the required texts.

Mike Payne's book is a godsend to literary theory students. It distills the heavily theoretical works of Lacan, Derrida, and Kristeva, and makes them more easily understandable (if it is possible to truly understand these texts). I had the pleasure of being one of Prof. Payne's students at Bucknell, and I must say that he is as brilliant in class as he is on paper.