That only taxes and death are certain would sum up what we know for sure about GEORGES du Mesnil DE LA TOUR AND HIS WORLD. Just as his native Lorraine lost its independence to France, so was he factored out of the art world during the 250 some years after he died in 1652. His "flea catcher"; "hurdy-gurdy player," variously mistaken as the work of 17th-century Spanish masters Herrera the Elder, Maino, Murillo, Rivera, Velazquez, and Zurbaran; and my favorite, Jacques Callot-type "newborn child" have been recognized as the most beloved of his art of Dutch- and Flemish-type earthy realism and luminously softened colors, eerily flickering light and spectacular lighting effects, finely drafted clothing and hair, highly focused and tensely concentrated mood, and minimal expressions, forms and gestures subtly cluing character. He excelled in not only the theatrically controlled daylight manner, with the henpecked "old man" and thin-lipped "old woman" of the piercing eyes and the careworn "old peasant couple eating" in worn clothing with pulled stitches accented by light brushstrokes and rubbed-thin paint, but also the deeply shadowed and dramatically night-time style, with "denial of St Peter" and "dream of St Joseph." His subjects ranged from the everyday life of ordinary people, as in his boys blowing on a charcoal stick and a firebrand, "girl blowing on a brazier," and my favorite "payment of taxes" with a Jacques Bellange-styled unsettling atmosphere of crowded space, deeply shadowed eyes, meticulously folded drapery and unusual candle-cast shine to arms and faces; to music, with "cornet player," "musicians' brawl" of gesturing arms and gnarled hands around beautifully painted musical instruments and lively highlighted weather-cracked and wrinkled faces, Jean Appier aka Hanzelet-type "woman playing a triangle," and "young singer"; to nonreligious moralizing with all the furtiveness and sideways glances by cheats with the aces of clubs and diamonds in Fontainebleau school-styled solidly brushed half-length figures and Simon Vouet-type colorfully light fine materials, "dice players," and my favorite "fortune-teller"; to religious meditations with "adoration of the shepherds," Job with his broken bowl for scraping sores and his Jacques Bellange-styled highwaisted wife, and such Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio- and Hendrick ter Brugghen-type ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events as saints Alexis, Andrew, Anne mothering Mary and grandmothering Jesus, Francis in ecstasy, James the Less of the brushy arthritic hands, Jerome the scholarly ascetic with a bloodstained knotted rope against self-indulgence, John the Baptist in the wilderness, Jude Thaddeus, Mary Magdalene sorrowing over her sins, Philip of the crystal buttons ingeniously refracting light onto his jacket, Sebastian tenderly cared by Irene and her tearful assistant, and Thomas transformed from doubt to toughly unflinching faith. I particularly like the way he showed children behaving goodly with "Christ with St Joseph in the carpenter's shop" and "education of the Virgin." Ever since reading Aldous Huxley I have wondered which three books I would take to a BRAVE NEW WORLD: chances are that one would be editor Philip Conisbee's carefully written, gorgeously illustrated and well-organized book, because I have loved de La Tour's art ever since learning about him from my artist mother and sister during my student years and because this one-of-a-kind, reader-friendly book plants his first American exhibition so firmly in the art world that, what with GEORGES DE LA TOUR in French by Paulette Chone, Pierre Rosenberg and Bruno Ferte, and Jacques Thuillier and what with David Huddle's upcoming LA TOUR DREAMS OF THE WOLF GIRL and Christopher Wright's THE MASTERS OF CANDLELIGHT, he should never be dislodged again.

I was very satisisfied. I found it to be very helpful in teaching a club about wolves. I think it would be helpful for teachers as much as it helped me.

This is essentially a map of the Moon that closely resembles a state road map. It has a reasonable index and labels the major features. It doesn't try to identify everything you could see with a telescope but it useful tool for the average binocular observer or for a classroom wall.

This is a good book that captures the excitement of the original movie and screenplay.

In this book, Terence Watts and Georges Phillips share a wealth of information, based on knowledge acquired during years of experience in the fields of Hypnotherapy/Psychotherapy. Practitioners and students alike will benefit here. The authors empower the reader with both groundbreaking theory and down to earth practical information, all of which is applicable in the consulting room. An element of compassion also pervades this book, you can really feel a regard for both therapist and client. As a student, it is the closest to a professional manual of hypnotherapy I have come to. Straightforward and user friendly, it puts you at ease right from the start, containing many tried and tested scripts to apply to your (future)clients. A 'must' for any conscientious student of hypnosis/hypnotherapy.

If you are history buff, this work tells the story of King Philip's War as no other.

One caveat: As with all histories of the day, it has zero objectivity with regard to the First Nations.

Still, the details this book provides will be found nowhere else.

Reading the accounts in other history books on the era gives you a general idea about particular battles. This book goes into GREAT detail.

It is worth both the price and the wait to have it printed. Superb!

In you are interested in linking innovative methods and models to bottom-line results, seeing the view of an organiziation's story as it unfolds and with the perspective of time, experiencing the transformation from those who lived it, or just a good read; then TO THE DESERT AND BACK is for you.

I don't think it is exaggerating to say the organization time and again was faced with its very survival. And each time it set the goal higher and invented the means to accomplish it.

It is a tribute to the importance of leadership, vision, creativity, and participation. While not many organizations may have the resources to play out the metaphor on such a grand scale, every leader and organization can take away the impetus to aim high, think big, and see beyond.

Mirvis, Ayas, and Roth make an exciting story accessible to a wide range of readers. Not only are the lessons of this story applicable to the business world, they carry over to relationships of all kinds. The dramatic story of Unilever's turn-around had this reader turning the pages. It is rare to come across a book with the potential to have such a far-reaching impact on organizations and the people in them. "To the Desert and Back" ought to be required reading for leaders young and old.

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits is one of the classic investment texts written for the lay person.

Rather than just seeking value, Fisher realized that even a greatly "undervalued" company could prove a horrible investment. Sure, you might occasionally buy a stock for less than the company's cash-in-the-bank (back then, at least!). But what if the business is horribly run? It might not take long for the company to lose all that cash!

Even if the company returns to "fair" value, that ends the potential profit from investing in such a business. Holding an average company, because it was once undervalued, but is no more, makes little sense.

Fisher points out that the largest wealth via investing has been made in one of two ways. First, buying stocks when the markets crash and holding them until the markets recover. Secondly, with less risk and more potential return, you can also just invest in a small portfolio of companies which continue to strongly grow sales and earnings over the years. Then, if the company was correctly selected, you might never have to sell, while accruing a huge return on your initial investment.

Fisher pioneered the school of growth stock investing. In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Fisher explains how he selects a growth company. He lists fifteen points which a company must have to be considered a superior investment.

Fisher's first point seems obvious: "Does the company have products or services with sufficient market potential to make possible a sizeable increase in sales for at least several years?"

Fisher shows that some companies might have potential substantial sales increases for only a few years, but after that have limited potential due to some factor, such as market saturation. For example, Fisher mentions the growth in sales of TV's until the U.S. market was saturated.

He also wisely suggests looking behind the products to seek other superior investments. While many TV manufacturers were competitive and it was difficult to tell which was best, Fisher points out that Corning Glass Works was, by far, the company most capable of producing the glass bulbs used in TVs.

Fisher tries to clearly distinguish between companies which are "fortunate and able" and those which are "fortunate because they are able." The second kind, the superior investments, are highly innovative and create new products which have growth potential. Fisher uses Dow Chemical as one example of a "fortunate because they are able" company.

The second point wants to know if management has the drive to innovate new products. A man ahead of his time, Fisher wonders about how much of a company's future sales might come from products not yet invented.

A constant theme of Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits is examining what the company is doing to prepare for the future. Is the company spending wisely on Research and Development? Or, is the company just trying to maximize its current profit and reinvesting nothing for future growth?

Fisher explains why answering that question is difficult in practice. What different companies account for under R&D is one problem. Another is that some companies are more successful than others at turning money spent on R&D into future marketable products. Today, we must assume this question is far more difficult to answer!

In addition to questioning a company's R&D, Fisher wants to see a company with a strong sales organization and distribution efficiency. "It is the making of a sale that is the most basic single activity of any business," he writes.

Yet, why don't investors focus upon such key factors instrumental to a company's future growth? Fisher points out that certain issues are not quantifiable. That is why many investors tend to focus upon financial issues which can be expressed in a simple ratio.

How does the investor go about answering the "unquantifiable"? How does the investor know how well-managed the company is? Or, how does one evaluate the people factors, which Fisher says are the real strength of a superior growth company?

Fisher suggests the "scuttlebutt" method. This involves talking to suppliers, customers, company employees, and people knowledgeable in the industry, and, eventually, company management. From this information, an investor can get a good feel for the quality of the company as a growth investment. Fisher teaches us how to learn to ask the correct, company-specific questions.

Fisher acknowledges the "scuttlebutt" method is a lot of work. But, he asks, should it be easy to find such great companies, when finding only a few can easily lay the foundation for building huge future wealth?

I tend to think the average individual investor will not use the "scuttlebutt" method. And, for most investors and most companies, even if the investor had the desire to use this method, it would not be practical.

Yet, for investors seeking to make investments in smaller, local companies, the "scuttlebutt" method might be of value. For angel investors or mini-venture capitalists, reading "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits" is probably also worthwhile.

The book also has some excellent thoughts about buying-and-holding a stock and when to sell a stock. Fisher's thoughts on diversification are also well worth reading, although I would recommend more diversification than Fisher claims is adequate.

Overall, this is a great book for the individual investor. You will not be able to follow the "scuttlebutt" method in practice, for most investments, and, maybe, the complexity of today's companies and scientific research in many growth companies make Fisher's method less practical today than in the past, but there is much to learn about business and investing from this book.

Peter Hupalo, Author of "Becoming An Investor: Building Wealth By Investing In Stocks, Bonds, And Mutual Funds"

For the long term value investors who will be investing in a company for 20-30 years, it is vital to understand and evaluate the management of a company who is directly responsible for the long term well being of the company. The author will help the reader achieve this by guiding the reader through systematically. Philip Fisher's insights are penetrating, straight to the point, and thought provoking. This book is a real tour de force and its philosophy on excellent business economics had a great influence on Warren Buffet's investment philosophy. This is a classic that should be read by all long term value investors.

This is a great classic book on investing. The author's language is at times somewhat hard, but the gist is absolutely crystal clear: invest in high-quality growth stocks and don't be afraid to buy them at a slight premium, plus investigate fundamentals, managements' ability and competitiveness very thoroughly before committing funds for very long holding periods (10 years or more). Fisher's intuitive, "scuttlebutt" approach to investing is certainly different (and more successful) than that of quantitative mathematical folks. As Warren Buffet often says: "It is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong". It is impossible to quantify how popular a company's products will be in the future or how honest and able the management is. The Fisher's 15 points will help you assess these and other unquantifiable but nevertheless absolutely vital things about an investment.

To prick a thorn out of a lion's foot one will surely gain new friends and old enemies. The story of Androcles, a Christian who is about to be sent to the lions for being a heretic in the Roman Empire. A cynical, humerous, poignant, and hypocritical story of religion versus humanism. The book is intended with the introduction with Shaw's discourse on Jesus and Christianity. Although I found it dryly written, which some wit involved, he makes some good remarks on the problems of Christianity. Mainly is the devout in which they will surely go to the lions before giving up their gods. Hypocritically the Romans could care less who their gods were or whether they believed in them, so long it was not a Christian god. The introduction acts as a set-up to put one in the mind set of Shaw and to understand his point of view which makes the play that much easier to understand and funnier to read. The play itself is a wonderful entry into the classics of the thearter.

Androcles and the Lion is an allegorical work which points out that kindness is not necessarity altruistic - it can be of worth. Shaw's writing is brilliant and well worth the reading.

Do not be tempted to pass over the essay that begins this book. It is a delightfully thought provoking essay that sets up the story of the play. Shaw writes of his views of organized religon with support for his thesis. It is important to read this before diving into the play itself.

The play is wonderful, but the theater program must be 200 pages long. You need all the 111 pages before the play to get all of the meanings of the play.

In choosing a world atlas for my family, I looked at all that were available: from Oxford, National Geographic, Rand McNally, Hammond, DK, and other publishers. This new edition of the Oxford
Atlas of the World is clearly the gold standard. Just published, it is of course the most up-to-date atlas available. More importantly, it is accurate and detailed, exquisitely produced (a joy to look at)and very readable. Unlike other atlases, for example, the maps do not run into the gutters. The introductory section containing informational maps and data (country population, income, products,languages, etc.) and stunning satellite photos is virtually a book in itself and worth the price of admission. And for all that one gets, the price is more than reasonable. This is more than a reference book--it's a good read. I highly recommend it.

This wonderful atlas is a joy to read, re-read and keep as a family reference resource. The pages are very well laid out, the maps are easy to read, the colors are vivid. The amazingly vast amount of information about planet earth and space contained within its pages is extremely easy to locate. The glossary section is comprehensive and detailed. The 10th edition has upto date information as compared to most other atlases. Since so many borders have changed in the past ten years, I believe this book is an absolute MUST for anyone who has some interest in other parts of the world. I cannot think of a better use for the amount I paid to buy this book and I will recommend it whole-heartedly to students, teachers, writers etc. In comparison with other atlases like National Geographic, Hammond or DK, in my opinion, this book will give you the biggest bang for the buck!

In choosing a world atlas for my family, I looked at all that were available: from Oxford, National Geographic, Rand McNally, Hammond, DK, and other publishers. This new edition of the Oxford Atlas of the World is clearly the gold standard. Just published, it is of course the most up-to-date atlas available. More importantly, it is accurate and detailed, exquisitely produced (a joy to look at) and very readable. Unlike other atlases, for example, the maps do not run into the gutters. The introductory section containing informational maps and data (country population, income, products, languages, etc.) and stunning satellite photos is virtually a book in itself and worth the price of admission. And for all that one gets, the price is more than reasonable. This is more than a reference book--it's a good read. I highly recommend it.