Of all the books I have read to prepare me for life in Canada, this is one of the most useful. It's a detailed yet never boring tale of the challenges the Liberals faced after sweeping to power in 1993 and is particularly good on the personalities and weaknesses of the chief protagonists

In this book Anthony Smith does exactly what he sets out to do, namely show how important ethnic groups have been for setting the foundation of modern nations. Neglected by such modernists as Anderson, Hobsbawm and Kedourie, ethnic groups have been around for as long as the written word: Smith digs into the past and comes out with gobs of them in the ancient Middle East alone, some of them quite obscure: you definitely deserve a prize if you've heard of the Arameans, Hurrians, Urartians and Amorites.

Smith creates a whole typology about ethnic groups. He claims that all ethnic groups (or, as he calls them, 'ethnies', from the French for 'ethnic community') have several key aspects, including a name, common myth of descent, shared history and culture, territory and a sense of solidarity. They also fit into two main categories: lateral ethnies, which are based on an aristocracy and clerisy and rule over an indefinite but often large area, and the vertical ethnies, based on a urban, priestly or artisan class which rule over a small but clearly marked area.

Smith discusses the development of nations in the context of the French Revolution, when the modern concept of citizenship entered the picture, and here his narrative lets up a bit. Devoting most of the book to ethnicity, when he comes to discussing the two main types of modern nations - territorial (or non-ethnic) and ethnic - he spends too much time on the latter and not enough on former. This is an important flaw, since he thereby almost dismisses those nations like the U.S. which do not have an ethnic foundation and thus do not fit his theory.

Nonetheless this book is useful for the sole but important purpose of reinforcing the link between many nations and their ethnic pasts.

Smith's book reflects a solidly based practical approach plus interesting insights eg the handling of parallel redundant systems. Having my practised RCM for a number of years internationally I would recommended Smith to anyone interested in the subject, or about to undertake any RCM work.

This book gives some insights in how to do business well in dot.com industry. It also talks about the founder of Yahoo! As Yahoo! is quite a successful online website, I think those who are interested in it should read this book.

Yahoo! is the company that defines success in the dot.com era and this is the book that defines its story. Vlamis and Smith have done an excellent job in writing a compelling account of Yahoo!'s rise to Internet glory while focusing on the key lessons that next generation entrepreneurs will have to know by heart. It's a must read for anyone seeking true insight into dot.com glory days as created, in large part, by Yahoo!

So if you wear flannel shirts and already know everything there is to know about Yahoo! already, you probably know how this book turns out. The gloss may have fallen from Yahoo! along with the NASDAQ, but the story of how this company came to be a household name is still well worth exploring. So if you want learn about the Yahoo! experience in easily digestible bites, here's your read.

given what i know of john ralston saul and the blurb on the back, i expected much better from this book. decrying corporatism, positing it as a new ruling morality, is genuinely interesting, but i don't think this is an interesting way of presenting it. the story-line is conventional, the female characters stock and tiresome, and the morality tale unambiguous and predictable. this book reminded me of nothing so much as of an ayn rand polemic, harsh words to be sure. while coming at a world view from a diametrically opposite perspective, the writing is similar in its uninterestingness. like the idea, don't like the realization of same.