It's a good guide to Chicago. It helped me plan my trip, and navigate my way through the city. However, like any other travel book, some sites in Chicago do go out of business, and is still listed in the book. So, I suggest calling ahead or asking your concierge if the place is still in business. The book is a good starting block for your first trip to Chicago. It gives descriptive information on transportation through the city and suggestions on things to do in and around the city. The book is segemented into activties and then boroughs of Chicago, so it provides a good planning guide for your trip to Chicago.

This book is very informative and is beautifully illustrated with fine colour plates and historically interesting black and white photos. There are many paintings in this collection that I was not aware of. It is wonderful for anyone, specificaly, whose favourite art period is mid to late 19th cent. French, or loves great art in general.

Well-written with good prose style, but... 1. The two stories the author tells (a thwarted adoption in Connecticut; removal of 19 children from a group of sisters in Chicago) just don't hang together. These two stories have little in common, and the author is awkwadly trying to force them together. 2. The rest of the book is too cosmic -- trying to pigeonhole everything from the feudal system to the Catholic church, and move back and forth between those generalities and the two unrelated stories. 3. Political bias. Well, what can you expect from an author who teaches at Columbia Journalism School (I know, I graduated from there in 1966)? What you get is someone who accepts what Bernardine Dohrn (a convicted criminal) says and then sneers at Newt Gingrich (without, obviously, having ever read anything Mr. Gingrich has had to say on the topic the author writes about). So what we have here is coverage of the spectrum from slightly left of center to way out there in left field. 4. The author WILL NOT come to a conclusion. It's all "on the one hand this, on the other hand that" which gives a surface impression of evenhandedness but in the end is very frustrating. Still, parts of the story are well done -- the Connecticul couple's story is the better written of the two. All in all, worth a look, especially if you're new to this field.

Shapiro applies his first-rate reporting skills to the issue of child neglect and delivers a book full of uncommon insights.

From the title of the book you think the book is about Jews, however the author puts the Jews he is referencing to down, or he compares them to Jesus. I thought I was getting a book on great Jews. For example the author would talk about Moses, then make comments about Jesus totally for no reason unless he is a "Jew for Jesus". I really do not understand the author's motive, but I learned that you can not judge a book by its cover.

Unlike one reviewer on this site, I found this book to be a delightful read, and especially appropriate for teenage Jewish readers. This is not heavy reading, rather this is bedtime reading that is both informative ("Did you know so-and-so was Jewish?") and on occasion thought-provoking. Far from being anti-Jewish, as has been implied, I found the book to provoke pride in one's Judaism. And the lighter touches (about the Jewish origins of the inventors of Superman, for example) are much appreciated.

Shapiro's broad sweeping work contains rankings of those whom he considers the top 100 Jewish thinkers and movers of western civilization. His book is not designed to be a detailed analysis of these lives but instead, a snap shot commentary on how each individual impacted their area of expertise that influenced their Jewish community and the world. The rankings of course are subjective and arbitrary and are not that helpful as to why one person's contributions is ranked higher than another.

One must remember that this work is not an intellectual tome but a nice easy to read book to see who's who in the Jewish world. This work contains many flaws and arouses some serious questions.

1. Very few women are contained in the book. Are we to assume that Jewish women on the whole had very little impact in the western world?

2. Shapiro is a great apologist for Christianity as he glosses over the negative impact of that religion upon Judism. Granted Jesus, Mary, Saul and Judas were Jews but the religion that was spawned from them resulted in a negative impact on Jews world wide. Christians baited Jews as Christ killers, forced conversions upon Jews (inquisition) and through their silence allowed the extermination of 6 million Jews.

3. One of the most important questions is how does one determine who is a Jew? Although many of the names are famous, some were of mixed marriages ( Proust, Bohr, etc.) where Judism was absent in their lives and they converted to Christianity. Also included were those who denied their heritage or were non-practicing. Should they have been included regardless of their Jewish background?

In any case this book is a good resource book for young teenagers, young adults and other people who wasnt a broad survey of Jews who impacted upon western civilization

As a die hard Redskins fan, I was very sorry to see this excellent concept so badly muffed. The idea behind this book is to cash in on the Washington Post vault, providing great photos and articles combined with new pieces by long-time Skins beat reporters to tie it all together. Sadly, whoever edited and proofread this thing reeeally dropped the ball. Sentences at the bottom of the page are repeated at the top of the next, photographs are mislabeled, pieces of sentences are missing, words are chopped off in the middle. Probably still of some value for the die hard Skins fan, but a real black eye for the Washington Post. If their newspaper were produced as shoddily, Richard Nixon would have finished his second term.

Yes, there are some typos and such in the early chapters but the book isn't as lousy as described in the 2-star review. Most of the problems are hyphen-ated words that are not at the end of a page or line. It is like the typeset was changed but the book was not reproofed.

Still, there is a lot of good information in the book. I think it covers items that Loverro's book (very good as well) ignored or glossed over-- how Gibbs wanted to sign and trade Riggo and how Joe Jacoby ended up sticking around in that first camp. The Times summary makes it sound like Gibbs and Beathard were geniuses building a team. This book shows that they were also lucky geniuses. If you are a Skins fan, you should own this book.

I see there is also a newer edition out with the Synder years (ugh).

I enjoyed the book, a lot. The writing was not very tight--there were places where things got tangled and Shapiro seemed to be contradicting himself, and it is important to keep in mind that this is one man's (well supported) impression of Japan. But it us a very well articulated impression none the less. A great read for someone who has encountered/will encounter some of the most common stumbling blocks for a foreigner in Japan.

Warning, this book is a college level Thermodynamics book written for students who are pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering. As one reviewer pointed out, this book, unfortunately, will force you to think and will not simply provide you with the formulas necessary to solve all the problems in the back. I purchased this book as a supplement to the required text for the thermo course I was taking. I found it extremely helpful in filling in the gaps left by my text with many thorough example problems. I have recommended this book to our faculty as a replacement to our current text.

I'm a mechanical engineering student at the Ohio State University. Moran is my teacher and this is the book we use. I will say that the material is definetly difficult. I will also say the Dr. Moran demands a lot from his students. For class we meet twice a week for 1.5 hours. Each class we have 3 problems due. It takes me at the very least 3 hours to complete these problems, often 4 or 5. I know that when its all said and done I'll be able to understand any thermo book that I might pick up. I'll also be able to fully evaluate most thermo problems I may encouter in my career. I do wish the book came with hints and number answers to all problems.

I used this text in undergrad thermo and as a reference in grad school and thought that it was a satisfactory book. I don't think that it is a spectacular book, but I was surprised by the negative reviews posted about the book. Thermodynamics can be a frustrating undergraduate course and is often used as a "weed out" course by mechanical engineering departments. Some of the reiviews for this book seem to be written by bitter students who couldn't handle thermo. I encourage shoppers to weed through these reviews when considering buying this book.