This book provides fascinating insight on all topics from love to war to farming to manufacturing from an economic point of view. You do not need to subscribe to the classical theory to gain wisdom from this book. You don't even need an economics background to appreciate Adam's insight.

Those who are not looking for an academic biography should check out Adam Smith: The Man and His Works by E. G. West. It's concise, elegantly written, and keenly insightful. Only specialists and academics need bother with Ross's tome.

Easy to read in spite of the larger-than-life reputation of Adam Smith. Presents Adam Smith the man as a bit of an absent minder professor who talked to himself.

However, the book shines in connecting Smith's life experiences to their effect on his thinking and writing. Extensive use is made of Smith's correspondence to flesh out ideas presented in his published works. The author is clearly more comfortable with the pedigree of thought behind "The Theory of Moral Sentiment" rather than "The Wealth of Nations", but Smith's ecomonics are still given thorough treatment. The disconnect between Smith's free trade theories and his work as a Commissioner of Customs is explored to the full.

A quick read and a delightful look into the Scottish Enlightenment.

This is an extraordinarily interesting biography, especially for its insight into the very different world of 18th century Scotland. Smith's student start at Glasgow University with six professors, at which and education could be obtained for 10 pounds a year. His first book -- A Theory of Moral Sentiments -- in which he developed his concepts of morality, and which he kept revising along with A Wealth of Nations until his death. His first protest against tariffs -- an import duty on oats into the city of Glasgow, which would be unfair to his students who brought oats and peas from home and lived on 1 or 2 pounds a year for food. Writing is a bit turgid, eighteenth centuryish. Still, I keep thinking about the bits and pieces of the life of this most interesting man.

The title "Economic Sentiments" is intriguing. How can "sentiments" be "economic"? Is "sympathy" economic? Or "greed"? Or maybe the "desire to better one's conditions," which is neither greed nor thrift nor entrepreneurial adventurism, but maybe a little of each. Unfortunately Ms. Rothschild does not deliver on the promise of the book's title. She is very learned and obviously knows her stuff, but most readers will likely be disappointed by the slighting of Smith in a book that, judging by its title, presumably would treat Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments. But close textual analysis is not Rothschild's bag (as Austin Powers might put it). There is, however, an extended discussion as to why Smith's "invisible hand" is just a big joke, but that is not a verifiable argument, nor can Rothschild draw on her considerable learning to make it. After all, how can you prove that a joke is a joke? And nothing prevents a joke from being both ironic and true. Emma invokes the reductio ad inegalitarium to argue that Smith could never have believed in an "invisible hand." It is argument by proximity. I know Smith, Smith is a friend of mine, and the Smith I know could never have assumed the inegalitarian vantage of the omniscient observer. Ergo the "invisible hand" is a joke. Is that convincing? She then launches on an extended comparision of Smith and Hayek that attempts to assimilate Smith to Hayek--as if Smith were not difficult enough to understand on his own. For a scholar who clearly thinks that historical context is the greater part of intellectual history, Rothschild's eagerness to make Smith relevant is at odds with her method. There is an interesting book here that Rothschild did not write, a book about Smith's portrait of this new man, economic man, the man who Smith in fact depicts in the Theory of Moral Sentiments. Unfortunately Rothschild has written a book that is half learned exposition, half contemporary polemic, and a whole lot less than the sum of its parts.

First, a romantic note - Rothschild dedicates this book to her husband Amartya Sen, and Sen dedicated his last book ('Development as Freedom') to her. So these books will lie side by side on my shelf. Both are well worth reading.

There is more than just a familial connection. Sen clearly used his wife's research on Smith and Condorcet in the writing of 'Development as Freedom' since the Adam Smith that appears in his book is not the cold and callous economist of myth. One suspects that Rothschild's perception of Smith and Condorcet had been coloured by Sen as she presents them as more than just economists as we understand the term, but concerned with a far wider range of phenomena in politics and sociology. In fact they were exactly as much an 'economist' as Sen himself is. As any reader of Sen knows, he covers an extremely broad range of factors in his work, not just GDP and income.

Rothschild argues that Smith's example of the 'invisible hand' that regulates free markets would have as easily been meant as a malign as a benign regulator. Traders who influence markets by bribery or trickery are as much an 'invisible hand' as an imagined self-regulating mechanism. In fact, the beneficient invisible hand was very much a product of later economists. Smith was not as negative on government regulation as he was made out to be by later writers, though strongly against price-fixing by government fiat, guilds which prevented fair competition, and over-zealous regulation of trade and commerce by insiders, profiteers and parasites.

Condorcet comes across as a very attractive human being, passionate and commited to his beliefs. Accused of Utopianism, he struggled with his conviction that he had no right to dictate opinion to others. Yet he believed that his liberal philosophy was best.He was concerned with the 'ordinary man in the street', and rejected any idea that he/ she should be indoctrinated with the 'right' ideas by a state-supported educational system. He wrote for the rights of women, believing that all humanity were entitled to equal rights.

I have to say the book is dense and quite difficult at times. However, it is the ideas that are difficult, not the presentation. It will probably repay a second reading.But I feel after reading this that I have had an excellent introduction to two first-class and important (in a world-historical sense) intellects.

To their enemies the Marquis de Condorcet was the epitome of the worst elements of the French Enlightenment, fatuously optimistic, subtly intolerant and dangerous utopian with his emphasis on the "perfectability" of man, while the notoriously absent-minded Adam Smith was the architect of a notoriously callous and philistine economic theory. Aside from that, the enthusiastic and idealistic Condorcet does not appear to have much in common with the quiet and discreet Smith. Emma Rothschild is the husband of the nobel prize winning economist A. Sen, whose most famous work shows the devastating effect dogmatically applied free market rules can have on worsening famines. Yet this book is a defense of the two from the critics of the Enlightenment.

To a surprising extent she succeeds. Conservatives will be unpleasantly surprised to read that in the decade after his death, mentioning your support of Smith did not prevent Scottish democrats from being transported to Australia by reactionary Scottish judges. For many years Tories did not view Smith as the great economist or philosopher. Instead Smith was the man whose account of his friend, the atheist philosopher David Hume on his deathbed, enraged the pious for showing Hume's complete calm, class and lack of fear of eternal damnation. Rothschild notes how the great economist Carl Menger noted how prominent socialists quoted Smith against their enemies. (Oddly enough she does not quote the passage in CAPITAL where Marx cites an enraged prelate angry at Smith for classifying priests as "unproductive labor.) Smith was an opponent of militarism, a supporter of high wages, and a supporter of French philosophy (and not unsympathetic to the French Revolution,either). Reading of his relations with Turgot and Condorcet, it will be much harder to defend the view of a sharp distinction between a good sensible Protestant Enlightenment, and a bad, Nasty, atheist one on the continent.

In discussing Turgot and Condorcet's support for the free trade in grain, which Smith also supported, Rothschild helps remind us that laissez faire did not simply mean watching while people starved. Confronted with the threat of famine in Limousin in 1770, Turgot preserved the freedom of the corn trade. But he also provided workshops for the poor, increased grain imports from other regions, reduced taxes for the poor, and protected poor tenants from eviction. Condorcet and Smith were both sympathetic to these policies. Rothschild also devotes a whole chapter to Smith's metaphor of the "invisible hand." She points out how rarely it was used in Smith's work, and how on the centennial of the publication of the Wealth of Nation almost no-one mentioned it, even at a special celebration organized by William Gladstone. She then goes into how the concept is used in Smith's works. The concept is complex, and in my view not entirely convincing. But she is successful in pointing out how Smith did not follow Hayek in viewing pre-existing structures as the product of an infallible "organic" wisdom. In contrast to the cant of a Calhoun or a Kendall, Smith realized that the most tyrannical acts of government are those that are local and unofficial.

One should point out the defense of Condorcet as well. In an age where Francois Furet, Keith Michael Baker, Mona Ozouf and others have castigated the French Revolutionary tradition as inherently totalitarian, it is good to be reminded that Condorcet is firmly in the liberal tradition. Like Smith, Condorcet was a great supporter of public education, in contrast to the conservative critics of both. Rothschild discusses his views as an economist, and as a theorist of proportional representation. Surprisingly she does not discuss what were Condorcet's most admirable views, his support for female emancipation and suffrage. But she is excellent in pointing out how Condorcet opposed the crassness of the utilitarians. She notes how Condorcet had a view of the limits of truth and scientific inquiry that would have been approved by Karl Popper himself. She notes that he did not believe that voting could or should create a General Will, in the Rousseauean Sense. He did not believe in using education as a form of propoaganda in civic studies, while his opinions were closer to the reservations of a Herder, a Holderin or a Kant than previously believed.

The book is not perfect. Although studiously documented, most of the quotes are from Smith and Condorcet themselves. More historical context could have been provided. There should have been more about actual historical studies of famines, and more on the political and social context of modern Scotland would have been very informative. And her defense of Condorcet would have been stronger if Rothschild had confronted the well-deserved reputation of Condorcet's colleagues in the Gironde for hypocrisy and demagoguery. But this is an important work, and it helps link one of the most familiar of "english" minds into a full international context. That in itself is praise enough.

I purchased this book and give it a two or maybe a three. I used some of its references in working on my Thesis. I found it also a pretty good source for biblical reference for use while doing psychotherapy. One of the main issues is that even though the book does use scripture to back up many of the ideas, it fails to acknowledge professionalism in the field of Christian Psychology. I do agree that almost everyone is able to counsel with some informal training, but this can and does lead to trouble down the road in a Church. Some people may need Pastoral Counseling, some may need Christ based psychotherapy. The issue is that someone in the Church needs to determine that issue. A lay person should not be addressing this issue, but a qualified person as either a Pastor or Psychologist. It needs to be noted that there is a big difference between counseling and therapy. Psychotherapy goes much deeper than counseling and deals at dealing directly with the root of the problem. This is why Psychotherapists are highly trained in dealing with many of the deep issues requiring much care and spiritual guidance. I believe a much better book is "Christian Counseling" by Gary R Collins. I find this book much more informative and offers more "meat" of the subjects at hand while using scripture to back up these ideas. This book is a very good tool for lay people, pastors, social workers, counselors, and psychologists.

My review has very little to do with the author, but more to do with the material offered. I am studying to become a counselor and this book has helped me to understand the current principles introduced by Freud and others and why they DO NOT HELP the counselee.

The book clearly offers both sides of the picture so that the reader can be informed of current psychiatry and biblical counseling. I believe God's word is sufficient to help ANYONE in ANY form of health. C2C helps us to understand how to apply it and the role that the Holy Spirit plays in counseling.

A must read for pastors and Christian Counselors alike!

Competent to Counsel by Dr. Jay Adams is worthy of reading, but is equally worthy of implementation. This book is not a theory of counseling so much as it is a call for believers to begin the biblical counseling of one another.

Dr. Adams shows a positive approach to what the Bible teaches on counseling. Most relationship problems arrive at our doorstep because sin entered the world ages ago. Many personal problems are a result of God's need to impose trials on His children to help them grow, or, to rebuke sin in His children's lives. This book addresses how to caringly work through such spiritual issues, one believer to another. In many instances, this is accomplished through simple encouragement-an art form and a responsibility often overlooked by the church today.

While modern "psychotherapy" is often grounded in doctrines of amoral values of humanism, Dr. Adams is careful not to disparage all psychology, the study of the human mind and human behavior. Actual illness needs to be referred to the appropriate medical doctor. But issues of sinful behavior patterns by professing Christians need to be handled by the loving care of fellow believers working through a biblical model of problem identification, repentance (where needed), and change.

Many have called this book groundbreaking. What has happened with Nouthetic Counseling since this book was first introduced is nothing short of revolutionary in the Christian church. The numbers of Christians who have been restored into a healthy relationship with God and the church as a result of this book are simply uncountable.

Read this book. Put the principles into action.

At last, a series for the Rifts universe. While many people critiqued the first book for having printing errors in it, the second does not appear to have any of these problems. If anything; the second book in this trilogy leaves me wanting to read more (which is good).......Our heros have been betrayed and now are getting ready to be sent out to the wilderness on a suicide mission again! Oh My! Hopefully the next book will have a bit more combat action in it (both magic and conventional). A good read so far if you like Rifts, but not necessarily a must have Sci-Fi set of material.

Deception's Web, the second part of Adam Chilson's Rifts triology vastly improves upon the first novel. For one, the editing has improved by a quatuam leap, and although it has a few problems, it's much better than the first.

The writing improves as well. The first part is almost a straight action story, and while interesting, it didn't do much to grab the reader's attention.

Deception's Web tones down the action and ignites the intrigue. As Lt. Sorenson's party returns to Chi-Town, they are met with court martial and deceit. A traitor is in their mists, and Sorenson's life hangs in the balance. Strange alliances begin to unravel the deception, but there's more to come.

The characters are also given a greater chance to develop, allowing for the strange friendship between Van and Darren to come to life, the tensions between other party members, and of course, Kramer, er, Kro-Mar, for the great comic relief.

It seems that everyone who reviews this book says to "forget the editing". Well, you CAN'T forget the editing, because it is so glaringly atrocious. Sentences chopped up, paragraphs cut in two, random (and not so random) misspellings, every instance of the word "crazy" capitalized. It was a chore to read, and if I hadn't been interested in the Rifts setting to begin with I'd have thrown it away after reading the first chapter.

My other complaint was with the writing itself. There is a very large cast of charecters with little to distinguish them from each other. Even their names are unmemorable: Mike, Dave, Dan, etc. I had to make up a "dramatis personae" list just to keep track of who was who. And please... military officers on first name basis with their troops?

The only redeeming feature of the book was that it did have some interesting descriptions of life in the Coalition States and the world of the Rifts role-playing game. But I've read much better gaming fiction for free on the internet. Sorry... two thumbs down.

Adam Chilson's first novel, Sonic Boom, is a must-have for all Rifts fans. Unfortunately, it's also a must-have for all copy editors, as it's what NOT to do when editing a book.

I had to deduct a whole two stars for the horrible and sloppy editing of the book, with all the spelling errors, fractured sentences, and misplaced words.

On the plus side, anyone who loves Rifts will enjoy the look into the Coalition States and the translation of the rules into a readable story.

The book also boosts a promising start into an exciting series and with many excellent and varied characters.

As any Rifts fan will tell you this book is a must have. What I would like to say is dont let the editng fool you. Once you have pushed your way through this title and on to the next in the series, you will be glad you did. The editing mistakes that are apparent in this title was due to a computer snafu at the printers (so it is said) and much editing was lost when this book went to print.

I still say this was an excellent book. The characters are true to the Rifts world and will bring new ideas to your game. read this and the other two in the series and you will not be disappointed.

A book to steer clear of: a programming book without a single figure or drawing, with the poorest pagination I've ever seen. Impossible to find the options for open for instance. Worthless.

After looking through most of the available texts, we chose this this book to teach a course on Fortran-90 to scientists and engineers at NASA. It is especially helpful to programmers with a good understanding of Fortran-77 who want to make the transition to this powerful revision of the language. The book covers the most useful new features (array processing, allocateable memory, derived types, encapsulation) very thoroughly. The writing is generally clear, cogent, and understandable. The only thing lacking is a complete treatment of language intrinsic functions, for which you need the large (and expensive) language handbook.

I use this book over the Compaq fortran 90 language manual sometimes. Examples are easy to follow and the writing is very clear. Many examples. There is a nice section at the back on obsolete fortran 77 conventions, and their replacements. It's a nice compact book too - you don't realize how much information it contains because it's not enormous and heavy. I recommend it to anybody

This book paints a disturbingly distorted portrait of a people who have been constantly misrepresented by our society. I was born in Eastern Kentucky, in the Appalachian Mountains, and am personally offended by this book. Adams and Smith deliberately sought out to find the most backward people they could, and pass them off to the rest of the nation as mainstream Appalachia. Portraits slaps the face of everyone from the Appalachian area, and keeps the extremely unfair stereotype of Appalachia alive. It is a very culturally biased piece of work, and both Adams and Smith should have known better.

Shelby Lee Adam's doesn't, as some accuse him of, train his camera on the families of Eastern Kentucky to ridcule or expose them in their poverty or backwardness. Instead, because of his devotion to capturing in an authentic way authentic people, he simply and lovingly captures their reality. Is the poverty easy to look at? No. Is the "backwardness" easy to understand? Not very. But Adam's neither condemns nor condones his subjects; he simply and carefully records. We should all be grateful for that.

I grew up in central KY, just 1 1/2 hours away from Appalachian KY. While the stories and families depicted in these photos are quite true to their nature, it may offer a skewed view of Eastern Kentucky life. Not everyone over there lives in the condition that my dad and I jokingly call "Squalor in the 'holler." However, it happens to be the part that is fascinating. I think the purpose of this book was not to represent Eastern KY, but to represent the intense poverty of the region and to share a glimpse of a lifestyle that most of us cannot comprehend. This book shows what people want to see of Appalachian KY. It's what they are looking for, and it is delivered. That is a place that time has left behind. It's one of the poorest regions in the U.S. due to several certain factors and it is fascinating to see how other folks live. It is a different world over there. If you enjoy thinking about human geography and sociology, this book may welllead to hours of thought.

The book has a number of errors in it, some from bad editing, others from sloppy research. I used it to try and piece together what happened when during the battle, and found it very confusing. I'm a fan of the Osprey series, but unless you like the maps in this book, you'd be best to look elsewhere for information on the battle.

I hate to nit-pick, but I found Fredericksburg 1862 and Chancellorsville 1863 to be replete with errors, at least the versions I read, both Military Book Club editions. The lists of errors I sent to Osprey went on for a three and six pages respectively. Many of them were relatively minor, but there were enough of them, and some not so minor, to cause me to consider the books greatly flawed. Let me note here that I live near Fredericksburg and volunteer once a month at the Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center, so I am fairly familiar with the battles in question. I also want to point out up front that Osprey was very receptive to my comments and implied that future editions may incorporate some changes. I own more than 75 Osprey titles and that this is certainly not the norm for their products, many of which are excellent.

Some types of problems I noted with the books included:

- spelling errors such as Sedgewick for Sedgwick (not always, but several times), Siegel for Sigel and Hero Van Borke for Heros von Borcke. - geographic errors such as inaccurate descriptions of the road net, an incorrect locations for geographic features, and faulty relative positions. - graphical errors such as inaccurate troop dispositions (multiple instances), incorrect unit symbology and faulty depiction of vegetation on maps. - factual errors such as placing events on the wrong date, incorrectly identifying unit commanders and referring to Chancellorsville as a farmhouse rather than an inn.

I recommend waiting for a revised edition.

Having read Carl's book on The Battle of Gettysburg, I wondered if he could top it! This author has an excellent delivery style. Details provided are good,and the pictures, illustrations, etc. enhance the book. Civil War history is fast becoming a favorite subject and I hope we can look forward to more campaign series from him.

Another Carl Smith Osprey effort, though this one isn't quite as bad as his Chancellorsville. The maps by Adam Hook are quite good, but I found it annoying that there wasn't a _single_ overhead view of the battlefield showing the reader the distinctive "fish hook" formation of the Union lines. The problem, though, isn't with the maps, it's with the text.

Like his other Osprey books, Smith's text has a number of factual errors and sloppy editing. Some of the errors are fairly minor, like Captain W. A. Tanner of the Courtney Artillery (Confederate II Corps artillery) being named Turner, but when there are so many of them you start to really wonder about the accuracy of the work. For instance, he suggests that Buford heard about the Confederates marching through Gettysburg on the 26th when he arrived in the town on the 30th. In actuality Buford new of this before he entered Gettysburg on the 30th because Union troops went through the town on the 28th.

The previous review mentions the wounding of Hancock, and how it shows Smith's accuracy and the "bar he set for himself". This is rather ironic as Smith gets the incident wrong. In the book he makes a big deal of a bullet smashing the pommel of Hancock's saddle, sending shrapnel and a nail into his thigh, and bouncing off his belt buckle. The buckle supposedly saved Hancock's life, leaving him with a wound that was "merely painful". I would like to know the source of this (there are no footnotes or end notes), for that's not what happened. According to Earl Hess (_Pickett's Charge: The Last Attack at Gettysburg_) and Jeffry Wert (_Gettysburg: Day Three_) the bullet hit the pommel and entered Hancock's leg. A nail was removed from his leg, but the bullet remained until August when it was finally pulled out. The bullet broke part of his hip, and he spent most of the rest of his service in the war riding in an ambulance. As for the "smashed" pommel, that is not mentioned in the other books. In fact Hess brings in evidence to suggest that the nail did not come from the pommel but might have been in the musket when it was fired! In any case, Smith appears to have made up the part about the belt buckle.

There are plenty of books about Gettysburg, but admittedly the Osprey book fills an important niche: a short overall volume on the battle. The many errors, however, perpetuate inaccuracies in the minds of those who use this as their only reference to the battle. I'd give it 1.5 stars due to its length and the maps but 2 stars is too generous. The Osprey books are usually much better than this one. I can recommend Osprey's 6 volume Order of Battle series for Gettysburg. If you want a single short book on the battle buy the guide they sell at the battlefield.

Carl Smith's first book for Osprey Military is a winner. The book, #52 of the Osprey campaign series, gives a very detailed look at the background, battle, and post battle manuevering of the Confederate and Union armies. Smith is to be praised for his detailed order of battle. The text is supplemented with excellent three 3-dimensional maps that show a section of the battle, such as Little Round Top. There are six other maps and a plethora of pictures. A special bonus are the battle painting by Adam Hook which help to bring the battle to life. The 128 page book is 32 pages longer than the average Osprey Campaign book, but has the same price. The books only weakness is that in being so detailed, some readability is sacrificed. However, the text flows smoothly and the topic is gripping.

"Gettysburg 1986: High Tide of the Confederacy" is indeed a good choice for taking with you on a visit to the National Battlefield at Gettysburg, although be careful what continual use will do to the binding of this Osprey Military Campaign Series volume (however, the front and back cover flaps are useful for marking particular pages as your tour Gettysburg). Carl Smith's volume is organized like most books in this series, looking at the origins of the campaign, detailing the opposing commanders and armies, and then providing a day-by-day analysis of the three days of the battle. There are not as many maps as I would have expected, or have liked to have seen, but those included are pretty good. There are photographs of as many participants as possible throughout the book as well as photographs of the battlefield taken shortly after it was over and battle scene artwork by Adam Hook. The descriptions of the engagement are straightforward, detailing what happened when and where and to who. Do not expect in-depth analysis or lyrical narratives from this volume, because the emphasis is clearly on a detailed recitation of the relevant facts. I was struck by Smith's observation that the nail that pierced Winfield Scott Hancock when he was hit at the Bloody Angle probably came from the pommel of the general's saddle. I think that is a particularly telling detail of the standard Smith sets for himself in this volume.

Ironically, one of the strongest sections of this book for me is the one that deals with what happened on July 4th and afterwards, which looks at Lee's retreat across the Potomac back into Virginia. This volume also claims to have one of the most detailed order of battles for the combatants at Gettysburg yet published, but, of course, Osprey's Order of Battle series, which offers six volumes up on this pivotal Civil War battle (both sides for each of the three days) goes well beyond this effort. The book also includes some hints for wargaming the Battle of Gettysburg and suggestions for further reading. I would agree with Smith's notion that this is the most popular battle refought by wargamers (so why is this volume #52 I wonder?), usually testing the hypothesis that if Lee could have gotten the high ground on the First Day he might have carried the battle. However, I have always been interested in Meade's ability to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia after repelling Pickett's charge. Either way, this volume is of above average utility in that regard.