Intricately plotted and consummately acted with impeccable comic timing, Fawlty Towers reigns in many a mind as the ultimate situational comedy--the yardstick against which all other comedies are measured. An interesting (though perhaps not surprising) bit of trivia: It came out at the top of the 100 most important TV programmes of all time (according to a year 2000 poll by the British Film Institute). Certainly, it is one of the most enduring of all time.

The year 2000 marked the 25th anniversary of the first series of the show, and to celebrate, writers Morris Bright and Robert Ross have penned a lovely 192-page tribute book loaded with colour photos (mostly stills from the show, but there are a few photos of the main stars at different stages in their careers). The book covers the history of the show, which I found to be quite interesting, not to mention entertaining. Did you know, for example, that the inspiration for the rude, abrasive Basil Fawlty came from a real life hotelier that John Cleese (and his fellow Monty Python co-stars) had the misfortune to encounter? Indeed, co-writer John Cleese has contributed a wealth of anecdotes on his and his fellow co-writer (and wife at the time) Connie Booth's experiences in creating and writing the series. It will come as no surprise to fans to find that Cleese and Booth (who also played Polly, the maid) sometimes took as long as 2 1/2 weeks to draught a plot!

The book also includes an informative episode guide for each of the twelve episodes (which includes anecdotes and recollections by Cleese), a brief blurb on each guest star to have appeared on the show, and a two- to fourteen-page career bio of the "regulars" (ie. Basil, Sybil, Manuel, Polly, Terry (who died in 1997 of cancer at age 59), the Major, and the two old ladies).

As enjoyable as the book is, I must admit that I was surprised not to find more participation by the other actors--the main ones anyway. Though the career bios are informative and Cleese's many anecdotes extend to the characters and actors portraying them, various incidents, and so on, there are no recollections or remembrances from either Connie Booth (who incidentally, having married Cleese in 1968, was divorced from him in 1976--in between series one and two) or Prunella Scales (Sybil). Usually the writers (at the very least) participate tremendously when a tribute book is written, and I found myself wondering why Connie Booth didn't provide a few tales of her own, as it would have been lovely to have her perspective too. Nevertheless, this is a minor point only--the book is superb in every other respect.

I'll just mention a couple of interesting anecdotes, which happen to concern Andrew Sachs (Manuel), who incidentally hails from Germany and seriously questioned his ability to play a Spaniard--he needn't have worried! In the German episode, there is a fire drill during which Manuel catches fire; unfortunately, Sachs was accidentally burnt by the acid used to make his jacket smoke. In another episode, Fawlty whacks Manuel on the head with a frying pan; unfortunately (and inexpicably!), Cleese was using a real pan (not a rubber one) with the unintentional result that Sachs had a headache for about two days!

In short, this is a lovely, informative book and one which I (as an enormous fan of the show) highly recommend to fellow fans. I have the hardcover version, and it is a weighty 8 x 10 inches with thick, glossy pages. It's a lovely keepsake--one which I think any fan of this outstanding, all-time classic series would enjoy.

This book is an ideal textbook for the person who knows nothing at all about Accounting. It is also good for the person who needs a refresher course on the basics. Combine it with "VIKING MARINE", A business simulation (ISBN number 0-538-60627-4) which is the "hands-on" portion of the package, and you have everything you need to fully understand the basics of Bookkeeping/Accounting.

For all Marxists, and most non-Marxists, this book is simply unique. Professors Ross and Trachte have designed a framework accounting for the change in the class balance of power resulting from the globalization of capital. They then apply this framework to three case studies, thereby showing how the owners of capital have become stronger vis a vis the state and labour, with the result being an intensification of class struggle on a global scale, resulting in the rollback of many of the gains made by the working class earlier on in this century, (such as the welfare state, minimum wage laws, etc..) They also explain why earlier theories, (monopoly capitalism and world systems,) are inadequate insofar as explaining the global economy of the 1990's is concerned. Their own theory of global capitalism, on the other hand, does this brilliantly; for anyone who wishes to understand the fundamentals of the international economy, this book is invaluable.

This book provides an excellent overview of how to architect and create intelligent software agents that operate over the web. Case studies are covered in some depth and include STORE, a personalized department store application, CFIT, an application to prevent Controlled Flight into Terrain, and CHAIN, a supply chain example application.

The examples in the book are not strictly academic toys. I invented a financial agent system in 1999 that was subsequently purchased by America On-Line. The structure of agent interactions of that commercially implemented system is exactly as shown in figure 1.1 of the book.

The only thing that has changed since that system was built, and since this book was published, is the rise of Web Services. The book details an implementation architecture called IMPACT for deploying agents. I think we would find that Web Services would be the appropriate implementation technology today.

Although some five books about me, all for younger readers, were written back when I was having my fifteen minutes' worth, this is the best. It is accurate, well-written and comprehensive. I also gave Mr. Olney the use of some family photos not found elsewhere. My own autobiography, on offer by Sterling Lord of Sterling Lord Literistic in NY, awaits a publisher; but in the meantime, try this.

Although this book is not exactly aimed towards beginners, even the novice of oil painting will turn out beautiful paintings after a few tries (I speak from personal experience). There are many step-by-step instructions along with tons of pictures. I found this book to be very helpful, but I do admit there is nothing quite like actually watching Mr. Ross paint a landscape in his PBS series.

Las personas que han venido siguiendo la serie de libros sobre el tema de la quinta disciplina - The Fifth Discipline y The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook - opinan que La danza del cambio es, de lejos, el más importante de todos porque responde la pregunta más frecuente que se les hace a sus autores: ¿Cómo ir más allá de los primeros pasos del cambio corporativo y cómo sostener el impulso? El libro está diseñado de manera que usted pueda empezar a leerlo en cualquier parte y cualquier dirección. Marque las páginas. Escriba en los márgenes respuestas a los ejercicios. Dibuje. Sueñe despierto. Anote los resultados de lo que ha ensayado y las ideas de lo que le gustaría ensayar. Use los ejercicios y las técnicas. A medida que se acumulan, sus notas se convierten en un registro de prácticas eficaces y una herramienta para reflexionar sobre el diseño de la próxima etapa de su iniciativa de cambio.

Lleve a los demás a pensar sobre el cambio. Las organizaciones, como todo grupo humano, operan mediante la conversación. Las ideas de este libro son valiosas, no como respuestas para aceptarlas como están, sino como puntos de partida para conversar con otros. Hablando, poniendo a prueba y escogiendo conjuntamente sus próximas acciones usted puede crear sus propias respuestas.

Escrito para altos directivos y ejecutivos de todos los niveles, muestra cómo pueden los líderes de los negocios trabajar de acuerdo para anticiparse a los retos que el cambio profundo obliga a las empresas a afrontar. En una forma práctica y con una presentación convincente, los lectores aprenden cómo crear las capacidades personales y organizacionales necesarias para hacer frente a esos retos.

I know that there is infinity of books that contribute teachings to the nowadays managers. But Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline goals offering a lot of different forms of approaching the problems, many different forms of thinking solutions, especially today, when managers should make decisions with very little time and very little information of the environment... or who has time today of reading all day's newspaper, know changes day by day in the market? Senge helps to invent every moment analysis tools, to synergy the company and all its members in that search, and those book is without doubts a pleasant reading for the bussinessman and woman.

With over 200 episodes in nearly 30 years, Last of the Summer Wine is Britain's longest-running situational comedy. Authors Morris Bright and Robert Ross have created a delightful (albeit poignant) look back at this enjoyable series and at the characters that have made it so memorable.

Chapters include a 28-year history of the show (how it came about, changes that occurred over the years, etc.); a behind-the-scenes look at the series, which takes us through the stages involved in getting from script to screen; a listing (together with brief quarter-page bios) of every guest star since 1973 (most of whom will be unfamiliar to North American audiences); and a complete episode guide (a brief summary of every episode from 1973 to 2000).

My favourite chapters are the three ("the Winos," "the Stronger Sex," and "the Henpecked") dedicated to those memorable main characters and the actors who have portrayed them. Ranging from one to six pages per actor, brief bios are given (mostly career summaries, really, as there isn't a lot of personal information provided); further, each actor (if still alive, obviously) discusses his or her respective character, what it's been like portraying that character over the years, and so on.

Physically, this 221-page hardcover is as lovely to look at as it is to read. Printed on heavy, glossy, high-quality paper, there are an abundance of photographs (all colour) throughout. There are lovely photos of the actors posing in full Summer Wine attire, shots of the filming of the series, and scenes from the series itself. (Unfortunately, there is only one photo of the cast out of costume--a shot taken at an awards' ceremony).

Perhaps the nicest thing about this book is the participation the authors received from everyone involved--from writer Roy Clarke and producer Alan J.W. Bell to the actors themselves--and the book is rife with their many anecdotes. The authors spent a lot of time on location with the cast and crew, and the book is very well researched. Sadly, their research for the book engulfed the period of Bill Owen's (Compo's) illness and subsequent death in July 1999 from pancreatic cancer. He was 85. Nevertheless, Owen worked right up till the very end; poignantly, "The Finest Vintage" seems as much a tribute to him as it is to the series.

In conclusion, this lovely book, dedicated to the memory of the irreplaceable Bill Owen, is a wonderful keepsake that will certainly be cherished by anyone who has enjoyed this sweet series. Highly recommended. (This review refers to the edition published in 2000. I mention this because I think there may have been an earlier edition, though I am not certain.)

Much of this volume of some eighty-five folk-lyrics on erotic themes is probably the work of the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796). It was privately printed c. 1799 under the auspices of the Crochallan Fencibles, an Edinburgh men's club to which Burns had been initiated in 1786 or 1787 by his publisher William Creech, a founder of the group. Some of the texts included are undoubtedly by other hands; but as the Fencibles surreptitiously published this as a tribute to Burns within a few years of his death, it is reasonable to assume that much or most of it is by the poet himself. The Fencibles have usually been viewed merely as a drinking club, fraternal and convivial. But recent research has emphasized their subversive Jacobite and Jacobin sympathies as well. When in Edinburgh, Burns enjoyed composing bawdy songs for the enjoyment of his "brothers" at the Fencibles, who regularly met in Dawnie Douglas's tavern in Anchor Close to sing bawdry together. After 1789, when he moved to Dumfries, Burns continued to compose bawdy songs (often, like "When Princes and Prelates" with a revolutionary subtext), mailing them to cronies like Robert Saughton, also a member of the Fencibles.

This volume contains the (often corrupt) text of some twenty songs that also exist in Burns's handwriting--material usually omitted because of its erotic content from popular editions of Burns, but included in the standard scholarly edition (Kinsley, Clarendon, 1968). At least twelve of these songs are there established as fully the work of the poet, with a further nine identified by Kinsley as collected and transcribed by him as curiosities.

It is the other sixty-five texts that make this rare _Merry Muses_ volume (there are only two known copies of the 1799 edition) an invaluable resource. The Thomas Cooper Library of the University of South Carolina acquired it when the great Burns editor G. Ross Roy, an emeritus professor at USC, donated his large collection of Burnsiana and Scottish literature to the USC library. Most Burns scholars (including Prof. Roy, who contributes a lucid separate pamphlet describing the complex history of the volume) see the non-authenticated texts in _The Merry Muses_ as Scottish folk erotica added by various members of the Fencibles, or perhaps collected by Burns (an avid preserver of folk traditions). But having looked carefully at the contents, I consider all but five or six of the songs to be either the work of Burns himself or pastiches in which Burns revises as frequently as he transcribes. My reason--based on contexts rather than texts, so not authoritative--is the emphasis on mutual consent. In his signed and authenticated songs, RB is notable for this emphasis on consensual sexuality. The erotic song tradition in Scottish folk literature is, by contrast, rife with cautionary tales of rape and incest, but there are only a few such songs in this collection.

The very existence of this book was denied for more than a century by Burns admirers who were embarrassed by its frank sexual content: this denial was easily enough accomplished with only two extant copies of the work, one of them in the private hands of the Earl of Rosebery! But it is time for admirers of the poet to consider the bawdy songs of Burns. They are definitely obscene: some texts use Scottish vernacular obscenities such as "mow," but others make plentiful use of standard English and the f-word. But as the scenarios (typically--there are exceptions) emphasize the mutual joys of adult consensual sex, I think the term pornography is not quite accurate. The imagery is sometimes gross and shocking, but an episode of "Sex in the City" is more spicy. These obscene song-lyrics (the names of the suggested tunes are specified, but no music is printed) are better read as telling artifacts of masculine (masculinist?) culture during the Age of Enlightenment than as embarrassments to Burns's Immortal Memory. The poet lived a short, painful life, enduring the daily symptoms of terminal heart disease from his teens. Love and liberty--sexual as well as political freedom--were the great concerns of his poetry. For Burns, the composition of poetry (and the sharing it with kindred spirits) were his anodynes for poverty, social oppression (Burns is British literature's only great peasant poet), personal unhappiness, and chronic poor health. Like it or not, the bawdy element in Burns is fundamental to understanding his views on language, poetry, and human liberation. There are two modern editions of _Merry Muses_, but the notes in both cases are marred by sexism and poor scholarship. This facsimile is expensive, but all the profits go to the USC library by Prof. Roy's generous agreement. If you're looking for pornography, you'll be disappointed. If you're looking to understand the total Robert Burns in Scottish cultural context--and to gain insight into the inner demons and drive behind his writng--you'll be surprised and enlightened.