This book is a relatively thick paperback. Yet it includes within its pages every formula I have ever needed along with precise definitions of the formulas and diagrams of the formulae. I have found it especially useful as I went through college. I found it contained everything from Algebraic formulae to Integral and matrix formulae. (This is as far as I went so I am unsure what is beyond and whether or not it is covered.)

Simon Flexner portrays William Henry Welch as probably the biggest contributor in helping establish the backbone for medicine / pathology as we know it today. Simon Flexner was a very good friend of Welch's, and this source is one of the best secondary sources available to explore what is basically a patriotic American who helped his country in every single way (including the war) but did not get the fame or credit he deserved because to achieve all that this man had, he could not afford to concentrate on any one topic. This is a book which has enabled me to access what his most intermediate friends described him as, and not only was it a good source, but also an excellent read. If you want to know why American medicine really reached its pinnacle, this book is the answer.

A beautifully illustrated book with plenty of information on the history of soaps, this book may be as interesting to sociologists as it is to soap fans. Most noteworthy, is the way it differentiates the soaps from one another in terms of issues that each tackles and why. It is interesting to trace how soaps such as "Painted Dreams" began on radio and what appealed (and didn't) to various audiences throughout the decades. Eg: Isn't it hard to believe that "Guiding Light" (On Cable In Sydney) was orginally a 15 minute radio serial about four ministers? Many soaps mentioned in the book will probably be unknown to younger Sydney audiences such as "Search For Tommorrow" and "As The World Turns" which haven't been on the air for years (decades?) but there is good coverage on todays lineup as well. If you like this book you may want to check out A book by Jean Rouverol called"Writing For The Soaps" (1984) and "Soapbox" (1990) Hopefully a television special of a similar nature to this book could be done because the archive material itself would be priceless viewing.

if you're 19, a college student, or need some perspective, then this book needs to be read and digested. Kunen spits witty comments, gives anecdotes that are just plain hilarious, and while he's doing it, you're just a passive observer trying to wonder what could possibly happen next. a friend from school passed it on to me (the first addition, falling apart of course), and i immediately had to pass it on to a buddy of mine from Hopkins.

First, I loved this book. Kunen provides a wry and clever portrait of a time that was interesting.... and vastly different from my life in college.... which was at the same school as him (Columbia) and vaguely similar in other ways (rowing). Included in this book which is superficially about the '68 student uprisings at Columbia (due to a want to build a gym in Morningside Park (which was used predominantly by the Harlem's black community...) are also many notes about the coming of age of the books author, who as other reviewers mentioned, went on to be more than a marginal figure in the American left....

It is a shame that this book is out of print. You should be able to order it. Check the auctions on amazon-- that's where I got my copy. It is especially a good book for people going to college (especially Columbia!)

Easily one of the most readable and personal accounts of the radicalization of American youth in the sixties. I read it when it was first published and it blew me away. I followed Kunen's career on through his work with the Liberation News Service and his life in a New England commune and he did a magnificent job of chronicling our times.

I am a great Julian Simon / Björn Lomborg fan, but this book has a limited number of mostly useless diagrams, especially from non-US perspective. But any other Simon book.

It is fashionable to bemoan the state of the world. The conventional wisdom is that global warming, Terrorism, drug abuse, crime, AIDS and all the rest of the crises threatening humanity lead us to the conclusion that the "good old days" were somehow better, safer and saner than today.

But, if things are so bad why is infant mortality going down around the world? If things are on the edge of anarchy why are proportionately fewer of us hungry, or sick today than one hundred years ago. If things are going to hell in a handbasket why is our life expectancy steadily improving?

These are inconvenient questions. The answers are tough on the prophets of doom.

Luckily, the conventional wisdom is wrong. Stephen Moore and Julian Simon prove this convincingly. Facts are often inconvenient. But, if you want to know the facts, this is the book for you.

It's Getting Better all the Time is an upbeat statistical reference consisting of factual text and colorful graphs.

Fascinating and fun, the book is an essential reference for authors and speakers. It is a treasury of statistics.

And the book has a great title.

As a publisher, author of 28 Books, 109 revised editions, six translations and over 500 magazine articles as well as a consultant to the book publishing industry, I spend much of my time doing research. I will refer to this book again and again.
Dan Poynter, Para Publishing.

Jumping directly into the second book in a series without having read the first can sometimes be a handicap. In FAKED TO DEATH, the second book in the Simon Kirby-Jones mystery series, the author Dean James quickly and efficiently deals with the salient plot points in the first three paragraphs.

"Being dead has its advantages.
"I get much more writing done now that I'm a vampire. When one has not one but two yearly best-sellers to produce, it's just as well that three hours' rest per night is sufficient.
"The world of popular fiction knows me as Daphne Deepwood (historical romance) and Dorinda Darlington (hard-boiled female private-eye novels). Little do my devoted readers suspect that Daphne-Dorinda is really Simon Kirby-Jones, respected historian, author of acclaimed biographies of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart. Nor do they suspect I'm a vampire. And gay."

James has written a throwback to the old English cozy mystery perfected by Agatha Christie, except he adds an original twist. Instead of Miss Marple, we get Simon Kirby-Jones, a gay vampire from the American South who now lives in a small town in England. It's an idea that could have made for an interestingly unique touch. Unfortunately, James didn't deviate much from the formula.

When Simon is invited to a Writers Conference as himself, he's very surprised to find that his alter ego Dorinda Darlington is scheduled to appear as well. The phony Dorinda quickly insults everyone at the conference - held of course, at a secluded English manor - so it's no surprise when she ends up dead. Predictably, the police ask everyone to stay at the manor overnight and, not surprisingly, someone else ends up dead.

Simon, who just like amateur sleuths the world over (alive or dead), can't seem to keep his nose out of police business, investigates and figures things out before the police do. I had the mystery figured out long before the big denouement, although for a while I thought James was not only going to follow formula to a tee, but was actually going to steal one of Christie's most famous plot-twists. Thankfully, he didn't go quite that far.

Despite the predictability of the book, I did enjoy James' writing style. Simon Kirby-Jones is a likeable protagonist, even if he does tend to be a bit insufferable at times. Still, I expected more from the premise than was actually delivered. A good beach read if all you want to do is escape with a bit of fluff.

I have to tell you that I received Faked to Death in the post late in the afternoon on a Thursday; by Friday morning I was reading the final words - and I loved every minute of it. Posted to Death was a great surprise and a thoroughly enjoyable read, and its sequel was even more enjoyable. I really want Simon Kirby-Jones to have that conversation with Giles. I won't divulge the details or the plot - just read it and enjoy!!

Dean James has done it again with his ingenious creation--a mystery solving vampire in a small English village. The setting is a writer's weekend at Kinsale House, where several mystery writers meet their fates. The repartee between Simon Kirby-Jones and the other characters (especially the agent) is laugh-out-loud fun. James is both clever and kind in his rendition of writerly egos and the pitfalls of fame. "Posted to Death" (first in the series) was great fun, but this is a Coney Island ride. I couldn't put the book down.

This is the story of the man who built and kept the St. Simon's Light and of his love for a wealthy young lady. James Gould is sort of an everyday Joe who ends up carving a lasting life in coastal Georgia. Gould's story is intertwined not only with St Simons and Georgia but with the post revolutionary United States. The scene in the book in which the lighting of the lighthouse is celebrated is one that I still remember, and it's been years. Price's older works are better and this is one of them.

What a wonderful book ! Not only you learn the history and feelings of the times when slaves were around and how things were, but you can understand and feeling the feelings of the characters ! This is a novel for ages 13 and up !

I read Cheseapake before I read this and I was enthralled at the way history was woven into a coherent saga that followed a few key families through time.

But in Covenant Mitchener fails to maintain the coherence. At times the story breaks down completely and becomes a pure history book, or subjective narrative. He captures all the complexity of the situation in South Africa in the apartheid era, and if you know nothing of the political history it is a useful read, but in the end it is not a great novel.

In _Covenant_ Michener takes us to a society that has always been more complex than many would like to believe: southern Africa. I truly felt better educated after reading it. It is important to note (in case you're not very familiar with Michener) that it was written during the latter days of apartheid, when it was looking shaky but not yet tottering.

Michener's efforts to see the unfolding South African history through many different sets of eyes (of multiple colours) remind us that it is not only South African blacks who have many cultures, but whites also: French, Dutch, English and Germans all took root. The book does not minimize the historical origins and impacts of segregationism, but it has the breadth to see that not every European has always supported the apartheid system. We see that some have bucked it, and paid the price.

A weakness, in my view, was the lack of much real cultural depth on the widely varied African tribes. On two or three, we get depth; on the rest, little. The other is debatable, not really a weakness but a caveat to the reader: there are major events depicted in the book (such as the Mfecane, a sort of mass self-destructive movement supposedly sweeping through the tribes and depopulating them) that are now asserted not to have occurred. Certainly, when Michener wrote, whites were telling most of the history; however, by itself that does not validate or invalidate any of the history--it simply means it's open to question and should be investigated further. In that light, before allowing Michener's take on major events to plant itself as definite historical truth, one should take care to seek multiple viewpoints and deeper evidence than what is presented in this novel.

Recommended to Michener fans, those interested in South African history, and those desiring to see how religion can shape the very core of a society.

I chose "Covenant" because I wanted to read a James Michener's novel that was unlike anything else that I have read before. "Covenant" was very different, not in context but in quality. It follows a standard Michener's design: an epic from some thousand years B.C. to 1971 A.D.. The difference here is that Michener's passion for his characters is lacking. I felt no emotion while important characters were born, grew up, married, and died. It is not that the characters are so unappealing. On the contrary, they are very intriguing and daring. But by the time they are involved in a life-and-death struggle with forces of nature or other men, I did not care what happened to them. This should have been Mr. Michener's most passionate work. The title reflects it. Instead of calling the book "South Africa", the country about which he writes, he called it the "Covenant" reflecting the fact that each subsequent member of a nation who! want to colonize South Africa sees himself as Moses entering into the covenant with God. It is hard not to get emotional just thinking about it, but Mr. Michener surprised me by not involving emotion in his writing. By only affecting the readers' minds, not their hearts, James Michener makes the "Covenant" a beautiful but dispassionate narrative

This book is written for a broad audience and aimed at exploring one of the oldest and most persistent problems in American history; the proper role of the Federal Government. Simon frames this book as a conflict between Jefferson, representing those who supported a weaker central government and emphasized the importance of individual states, and John Marshall, the great Chief Justice who led the Supreme Court to establish its critical role as arbiter of constitutional questions. The Marshall court's work strengthened the importance not only of the Supreme Court but of the Federal Government in general. This is not a new story, indeed, most of what Simon describes is the standard understanding of this period of our history. Simon is a good writer who describes the politics and legal issues quite well. His description and analysis of the behavior of the Marshall court is shrewd, emphasizing Marshall's careful attention to both politics and crucial legal issues. For example, it is clear that Marshall worked very hard to maintain unanimity among the justices, even for difficult decisions. Similarly, many of his important decisions were crafted to simultaneously achieve the goal of establishing his brand of moderate Federalism while avoiding inflammatory political consequences. Readers will finish this book with an increased appreciation for Marshall's considerable intellect and remarkable political skills. Beyond this, the book is disappointing in terms of explaining the wellsprings of these conflicts and important aspects of the debate. I think the emphasis on the rivalry between Jefferson and Marshall, which Simon probably chose as a framing device, actually tends to limit understanding of the nature of this conflict. While I respect Simon's desire to produce a relatively concise and accessible book, some aspects deserve enlargement. For example, Jefferson found the Court's tendency to rely on Common Law traditions irksome, believing the Court should have been more deferential to the wished of state legislatures. Does this represent a conflict between individuals like Jefferson whose primary intellectual influences came from the British Enlightenment versus a legal culture that grew up in the shadow of the great British Common Law theorists? To what extent did individual experience of the Revolution influence subsequent political positions? Jefferson spent the war as governor of Virginia or abroad. Marshall, in contrast, was an officer in the Continental Army and experienced in very concrete ways the inadequacies of the confederation government that preceded the establishment of our present constitution. This book is a good point of departure for individuals unfamiliar with this period of our history but further reading will be needed for anyone who really wishes to understand our early history. I recommend the The Age of Federalism by Elkins and McKitrick, a superb treatment of the Federalist period, as a starting point.

The world needs a book about John Marshall's contribution to America. In my opinion, "What Kind Of Nation" by James F. Simon is it. Though the nature of the subject almost guarantees that the reading will be somewhat dry, scholarly, and lawyerlike, the author did a nice job with it. As a scholar myself, I recommend it. If you're looking for an easy read on Thomas Jefferson, I also recommend Norman Thomas Remick's excellent book "West Point: Character Leadership Education, A Book Developed From Thomas Jefferson's Readings And Writings", in which West Point is posited as a metaphor for Jefferson's worldview of the way America ought to be.

On a recent vacation to Colonial Williamsburg and Monticello, my 14-year-old nephew commented that Thomas Jefferson didn't get along with Alexander Hamilton. The four adults accompanying him replied patronizingly that Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr certainly didn't get along, but didn't remember anything between Hamilton and Jefferson...

Of course, my nephew was absolutely correct. In an effort to rectify my obvious educational deficiency, I immediately embarked on a reading plan which led me to "What Kind of Nation", where I discovered that Thomas Jefferson also didn't along with John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

By the time I got to this book I had a pretty good feel for the politics of the period, having read "Founding Brothers" by Joseph Ellis, "Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington" by Richard Brookhiser, "Alexander Hamilton: American" by Richard Brookhiser and "James Madison" by Garry Wills. I believe this background helped me to maximize my enjoyment of "What Kind of Nation" because I was able to focus on Marshall's brilliance and perseverance in establishing the authority of the Supreme Court on an equal footing with the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. Jefferson's antics were amusing, but old news. The way that Marshall dealt with Jefferson who was, after all, the President of the United States during the first 8 years of Marshall's 34 years as Chief Justice, is fascinating.

James Simon does a great job of telling the story without getting overly technical with the legal side of things. I think he strikes just the right balance, so that the lay reader (i.e., non-lawyer) can appreciate the significance of Marshall's extraordinary accomplishments.

Simon Winchester answers this question with a story of violence, passion, tragedy, and sympathy. What more could you want in a story about a dictionary? I love books that shine with the author's enthusiasm for the subject. _The Professor and the Madman_ is just that type of book. Winchester obviously loves language and word origin. He gives the reader a look at etymology that is detailed enough to make you feel like a scholar, but selective enough so that you aren't overwhelmed with the rather dry science of language. But this is only the secondary plot. The main story, that of the obsession of the scholarly but homicidally deranged Dr. W.C. Minor, the focused and driven brilliance of Dr. James Murray, and the Oxford English Dictionary that brought them together is thrilling and tragic. Winchester does a great job of sharing with the reader the sadness and regret of Dr. Minor's amazing intellect trapped inside his deranged mind. If you've ever had a relative or friend succumb to Alzheimer's or another mental disease, you can understand the tragedy of such an intruguing person losing a battle with sanity. The story is so unique that it could only be true, and Winchester seems to have researched it thoroughly and accurately. I highly recommend it.

The Professor and the Madman deals with the role of asylum inmate Dr. William Minor in the development of the Oxford English Dictionary, and with the relationship of Dr. Minor to James Murray, the OED's longtime editor. The book's main strength, and also its primary emphasis, is its treatment of Minor's downward psychological spiral, beginning with his traumatic experience as a surgeon in the US Civil War, continuing through the murder that landed him in the asylum, followed by his extremely productive years as a volunteer researcher for the OED, and finally through his severe sickness in his later years, when he no longer channeled his energies into the OED and slipped even further into insanity in the absence of the obsession that had linked him to the outside world. The book deals with many tangential matters as well, giving a brief but interesting history of the dictionaries predating the OED and going into some detail regarding the development of the OED itself and the lives of its primary editors, notably Murray.

Especially near the beginning of the book, I felt that Winchester was going off on a few too many tangents, as though he thought he needed filler to give the subject a book-length treatment; for example, he spends nearly four pages discussing the definition of the word "protagonist," and, after telling us that in Shakespeare's time there weren't any English dictionaries, proceeds to do nothing but restate that fact for the next two or three pages. His tangents are, admittedly, written in a charming style, but they can be frustrating for those of us who might like Winchester to simply get to the point. Another thing that disappointed me was that Winchester spent very little time speculating on why it was that Minor chose to obsess himself with the OED, and why his contributions tapered off around the turn of the century. Of course Minor was bored and had relatively few options because of his detainment in the asylum, but clearly most people in his position found other things with which to busy themselves. The fact that both Minor and one of the other greatest volunteer contributors to the OED, Fitzedward Hall, were Americans with psychological problems is an interesting fact. Considering that Winchester was audacious enough to speculate that Minor's autopeotomy near the end of his life may have been a result of his shame over romantic feelings or possibly even acts involving the widow of the man he murdered, it's disappointing that Winchester didn't spend much time considering the much more central question of why the OED attracted Minor so.

Despite these weaknesses, The Professor and the Madman is an interesting book and on the whole does a very good job dealing with Minor's schizophrenia. Short and written in an engaging style, it's a quick read and was well worth my time.

Part biography, part history, The Professor and the Madman is the tale of two of the pivotal individuals in the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. Although the title implies a balance between the two people, this is more a story of the "Madman", W.C. Minor, a doctor beset by mental illness, confined for life after murdering a man during one of his more paranoid episodes.

Minor gets a chance to find some personal redemption by his vast contributions to the OED. His unique approach to research, along with his involuntarily large amount of free time, made his the single largest contributor to the OED. Murray (the "Professor"), the editor of the OED during a large portion of its creation, corresponded with Minor and was a huge force in maintaining the OED's existence during its early years.

This is a book about genius. Winchester draws a lot of parallels between the lives of Murray and Minor and shows how the gift of genius can be both a blessing and a curse and can lead to triumph or tragedy. Well written and a delight to read (its only real weakness is the lack of an index), this book is definitely worth the time to read.