This book is organized in a friendly manner and gives innumerable suggestions to improve your mental and physical health. Also provides basic education about the mind body connection. It is a basic text for anyone with interest in self improvement and healthy coping skills.

This book is awesome, It mentions great ways to reframe our toxic way of thinking in an optimistic approach. I would love to teach this material in a class because it affects all of us 100%. The concepts and ideas are staggering and if we apply these principles to our daily lives we are going to live longer and more productive lives as well as reduce depression, hostility and divorce. If you can read, read this book, you will not be disappointed! If you are a therapist ot teacher it would be even more beneficial for you to spread this wonderful knowledge like wildfire. thanx :)

I am a psychologist teaching part-time in a family practice residency. I have been using this book for several years to teach resident physicians ideas and skills to help their patients get better faster. The book does a good job of linking the fascinating world of mind-body medical research with practical ideas about how to change. In particular, the authors help everyone get off to a good start by normalizing the process of change and suggesting ways to avoid relapse. Another strength is the emphasis on a variety of methods to increase relaxation and picturing success, two time-tested skills. I recommend this book without reservation.

Healthy Pleasures written by Robert Ornstein and David Sobel is a book about the medical benefits of pleasure, that is longer, healthier life.

The book is divided up into three parts and each of those has chapters relative to the topic. Healthy Pleasures proposes a new approach to the way women and men manage their health. This book is a readers guide through the maze of myths and misconceptions that stand in the way of health.

In the book the reader will find scores of practical suggestions, based on recent scientific discoveries, on how to live in a way that enriches, rather than just maintains, health: ways to mobilize positive beliefs, expectations, and emotions... from cognitive therapy, relaxation training, and successful behavior modification practices.

Because people are naturally drawn by the pleasure principle to many of the things which promote health, this makes the book easy to follow. The emphasis of this book is the importance of pleasing rather than punishing ourselves... food, drink, rest, work, sunrises and sunsets, too... in a refreshing affectionate light found in the brain's pleasure centers.

Great,usefull,open minded,with energy and ideas. Healthy Pleasures is the healthy pleasure of living without fighting with oneself.

Ornstein and Sobel write an entirely readable book about an important topic. Everyone knows that we need to exercise and eat right to be healthy. But not everyone knows that many of the things we ENJOY are healthy. And enjoyment ITSELF is healthy!

The authors go into great detail about the different ways you can enhance your health and enjoyment and they cite research to back up what they're saying. Indulge yourself in pleasure: Music, good scents, good flavors, optimism, naps, fun, pets, good friends, etc. These are some of the healthiest things you can do.

If you are interested in maintaining or improving your health AND interested in having a good time along the way, this is the book for you. I'm the author of the book, Self-Help Stuff That Works, and I'm an expert on what is effective and what is not. The ideas and research behind this book are important and valuable and very much worth reading.

I thought this was an excellent book. If you like the stock market or history, you will like this book. The author goes back to the beginnings of the stock market. He spends a lot of time talking about the 1700 and 1800's, how Wall Street got started. Read how J. P. Morgan played Allen Greenspan. How he raised 20 million dollars in 15 minutes! Read about a stock that went from 200 dollars to a thousand! Read about the big dogs in the market who made and lost millions. The only thing I didn't like about it was the author didn't spend as much time on the Great Depression as I would have liked. That is my only complaint. An excellent book.

Kevin

Although it may seem a bit dated by todays standards, this book, I feel, sheds a great deal of light on the who, what, when, where, why, and how of our love-hate relationship with the car,especially in the USA. For those of you out there who have fond memories of your father's old La Salle, Bel Air, or yes even his Edsel, you'll be pleasantly surprised at what this tome has to offer. And for those who want to know what happened to the "Big Three," you just might find a clue or two here as well.

Robert Sobel provides us with a fascinating look at one of the world's largest conglomerates, ITT -- the former owner of everthing from a Financial Services Group to the famous ITT Sheraton Collection of Hotels. Beginning with the company's foray into telecommunications in the early 1920's right up to the company's mammoth structure in the '70s and '80s, the reader is provided with an intriguing history of this famous company... one which acquired some twenty unrelated companies in one month! This book is a must-have for the business-history buff.

I typically am not interested in this kind of literature. However, after reading about the author's death, I decided to try this book. I found it extremely intersting and it increased my knowledge about the subject. I recommend this book for anybody who is intested in the history of some of our most popular companies.

While many stock market books have lots to say about parallels in financial history, this one is very different. The Great Bull Market is not really about the stock market at all. It's about the factors that led to the market mania of the late 1920s. Changes in social patterns, dramatic changes in the economy and living standards and a liberalisation of financial laws all led to the belief that life had really changed for everyone for the better.

Of course, there are wider things to consider than the rather simplistic and sometimes left-wing views put forward here. Even so, The Great Bull Market does take you away from the now perfunctory trawl through margin statistics and takes you into the heads of those who were actually parting with cash. For that it's a great read.

The market could only go up. Margin requirements were minimal. Investment in equities, seemingly ANY equities was a risk-less, rock solid path to fortune. Why buy one of the new electronic phonographs, or a refrigerator, on "time" (credit) when for the same amount of money, one could buy equities on margin, gain immense leverage, and be "guaranteed" to make the money back many times over, and be able to buy many more luxuries.

According to Mr. Sobel, this was, in a nutshell, the mentality of the average investor. Investment houses and financial institutions fueled the fire by making margin cheap and easy. Ultimately, stock prices were held up by nothing. Tremors of instability began to ripple through the market as the impending crash approached, often dismissed as buying opportunities. Ultimately, reality set in, and the unthinkable happened.

Are things different today? Yes and No. More safeguards would seem to be in place, however valuations of today make those of the 20's look miniscule. While a direct comparison is difficult to make between the period covered in the book, and the market of 2000, there are lessons to be learned. "The Great Bull Market" provides a fascinating account of the crash and the events that led up to it. A must read for anyone feeling a little jittery about the climate on Wall Street today!

When I was first assigned this book as an undergraduate in 1990, I was entranced by how any market could get so out of control as it did in the 1920's. Now, after re-reading it in February 2000 as a professional in the industry, I am frightened by the similarities that exist in this "new paradigm". This is a fast paced, well organized, and concise overview of how the fed, margin accounts, and a number of other powerful forces contributed, either passively or actively, to the crash of '29. I have shared this book with many of my colleagues in the investment industry, and we are all equally haunted by how history is indeed repeating itself.

Investors who want to survive need to avoid torpedo stocks - the one's you don't see coming to blow a hole in your portfolio. This requires arming yourself with a healthy skepticism. Your stock analyst may be under pressure not to disrupt investment banking deals with negative reports. The auditor's independent review may be compromised by a desire to secure "fat fees" for a host of additional advisory services. Bottom line: Investors need to trust in their own abilities and do the job of reading corporate reports themselves. Read the annual report and more detailed SEC required 10-K filing. This is the simple message of QUALITY OF EARNINGS. Interpreting trends in accounts receivable and inventory levels from publicly available reports are useful tools to spot problems before they impact a stock's price. This is the author's "most important" chapter and it is as good a discussion as I have seen on the subject. The importance of understanding accounting practice changes and their immediate impact on how earnings are reported is another important matter that gets attention here. We also see why "big bath" restructuring charges that lower the bar for short term earnings growth expectations have become a predictable consequence of corporate acquisitions and CEO transitions. Much of this material will be familiar to readers of more current books on the topic, but O'glove's clear explanations and use of the numbers to support his conclusions are instructive. Because this book was written in 1987 the majority of examples used are quaint at best (e.g., Church's Fried Chicken, Coleco, Adademy Insurance Group, etc.). On the other hand, describing accounting changes at IBM or GE's managed use of tax losses through its Credit Corporation unit (GECC) may resonate rather differently with today's wary investor. A chapter dealing with dividends, the "tender trap", reflects recent, not current, thinking. O'glove's position is that "minimal or no dividends" is the best corporate policy. It is a fair discussion. This has been a general consensus for years because of the issues of double taxation and a conviction that capital can be more efficiently employed in a company's core business development. Currently, in the throes of a bear stock market, investors have sought dividend bearing stocks to hedge market volatility, as a tangible sign of legitimate profits (showmethemoney) when accounting scandals are discovered, and more broadly as way of supplementing retirement income. Preferences change, but one thing is certain. The issue of transparency in the markets is critical to assessing value. This book is an excellent introduction to the topic.

This book is very effective in introducing people to critical financial statement analysis. It helps to have some accounting background though. The material in this book will reinforce a lot of the important financial/accounting concepts that all investors should at least understand before committing to an investment. The author makes the accounting concepts interesting and accessible for most people. In short, the book is a great way to learn/reinforce important financial analysis techniques.

I got a lot out of this book. It has helped me a lot in my personal schooling of fundamental analysis. It is easily understood and comprehended by most anybody of average intelligence and belongs on every investor/traders bookshelf. You can tell that Thornton L. O'Glove knows his stuff and I only wish that he was still doing his Quality Of Earnings Report. I have owned it for a little over a month as of this review and have read it three times now getting more and more out of it every time. I obviously love it.

Happy Trading,
David Taggart

This is an excellent Biography of a President that Americans ought to know more about than they do. Beyond that Robert Sobel presents a portrait of a Statesman of High moral character and unimpeachable integrity that is seldom encountered in life, Much less at the summit of political life Professor Sobel is an economic Historian, Consequently He devotes a considerable part of the Book to a discussion of Coolidge's controversial economic policies which rank among the most sucessful in modern times. Consider that Coolidge was President for five years and in every one of those years the U.S. government had a balanced budget with a surplus which was returned to the taxpayers in the form of a tax cut,And that government spending progressively declined over this same period. And all this was done during an unprecedented economic boom.Now liberal Historians like Arthur Schlesinger Jr.whom Sobel gloriously debunks,would argue that ''Coolidge prosperity'' was a ''false prosperity'' which ultimately led to the stock market crash of 1929 and the great depression. Sobel makes a strong case that the prosperity of the twenties was a genuine economic revival based on sound free market principles.Professor Sobel strongly refutes the conventional wisdom that Coolidge was blissfully ignorant of the danger to the economy posed by an unregulated stock market.In fact He clearly saw the danger.But in His Jeffersonian view of the Constitution He believed that federal legislation was unconstitutional.In Coolidge's the regulation of business was the province of the states. This book is not as detailed as it might be. But on the whole it is an excellent biography of an honorable Statesman and a fine moral example. You may expect that this book will be attacked by the liberal establishment as revisionist History...And long overdue!

There aren't too many biographies about the life of Calvin Coolidge. This is an absorbing book that is sure to shatter many myths about Coolidge. I highly recommend it for your reading list.

President Coolidge was not a man accustomed to tooting his horn. He is well known for his economical use of words. Without a doubt moderate or conservative in personal behavior, President Coolidge should not be confused with modern political conservatives. While his personal behavior was clearly conservative, his political beliefs were more identifiable with those associated with modern libertarianism. President Coolidge was one who believed that government should exercise restraint and not limit liberty. Despite this belief that government should exercise restraint, President Coolidge's Administration suffered very little from scandal.

Modern historians often portray Coolidge as a minor figure and trivialize his time as President. Often portrayed as a lackey for big business and for not doing anything to prevent the Great Depression, this biography puts holes in the myth that he was in the pocket of big business and responsible for the Depression. President Coolidge was neither lazy, unintelligent, nor an accidental President. Coolidge understood the concept of restraint and approached life as President from that perspective. Not concerned with the outward trappings of power, Coolidge stayed true to his Vermont roots.

You will find that Coolidge was neither indolent nor unintelligent after reading this book. President Coolidge is just the kind of President we need today.

I think Mr. Sobel has done an excellent job in destroying much of the criticism of Calvin Coolidge the man as well as Calvin Coolidge the President.
I picked up this book out of curiosity - I read the Coolidge chapter in Nathan Miller's book "Star-Spangled Men - America's Ten Worst Presidents", and decided to learn more about this silent, penurious, enigmatic President who was apparently heartless and supported big business while in office.
I soon found that this man was quite likable, although he lacked the garrulous nature of many politicians. One of his major faults, as Mr. Sobel put it, was in "not being able to predict the future." He cut taxes four times and had good reason not to interfere with Wall Street (read the book to find out why!).
To any person that wishes to know more about an OUTSTANDING U.S. President who was in office during a time of great prosperity, please consider this wonderful biography.

How did the modern United States get so rich? Robert Sobel presents an overview of American history from the end of World War II to the present, focusing on the economic, social, and technological developments that built wealth in America. The book is an engaging read, especially for anyone who grew up in the early '40s or '50s. Sobel, a professor of business history, wrestles a mass of historical data to the ground, though he sometimes daunts the reader with long, complex sentences or over-ambitious clumps of information. The book unfolds thematically, sometimes skipping about chronologically, so you might wish for charts or graphics that clarify time frames and supplementary material. You'll get over that, as you become absorbed in this otherwise excellent, thoughtful book, which getAbstract.com recommends for its skillful weaving of familiar historical facts and insightful analysis.

After World War II, the average economic pundit expected that after a brief period of restocking depleted shelves with consumer products the U.S. economy would lapse in recession or even depression again. Yet just the opposite happened. In this broadscale overview of the American economy from 1950-2000, you will see the milestones of how that pessimistic view was reversed. The book ends on a note of mixed optimism for the 21st century, that should refocus our attention on improving education.

For anyone who lived through these years as an adult, I suspect that there will be nothing new. For those who are younger, these milestones and perspectives will make for fascinating reading. For example, my own teenage daughter probably has little understanding of how the economy has developed in the last 50 years. When she is old enough to be curious, this book will make a good nontechnical resource for her.

In 1950, suburban housing tracts were just being started, few people owned stocks, a small percentage had been to college, unemployment was starting to rise again, it was hard to travel from one city to another by car, few had televisions, and many people looked to a factory job in Detroit as the ultimate security.

Professor Sobel credits a number of continuing themes as being very important for the ensuing economic transformation: The GI Bill and a desire to get ahead sent determined veterans to college in large numbers (who later sent their kids to college also); entrepreneurs developed technology and business processes to create massive new industries based on electronics and mobile Americans (McDonald's and Holiday Inns); the Cold War stimulated demand for directed government support of technology and infrastructure (leading to the Interstate Highway system and the Internet); and innovation transformed almost every area of American life to make rare goods and services attractive, inexpensive, and available to the masses (credit cards, no-load mutual funds,and access to buying art). Basically, these are all the hallmarks of a free society.

Where did the new wealth come from? Primarily from home ownership and stock investing. Both were much rarer in 1950, and the prices paid have grown much faster than inflation in both areas. If you bought and held, or bought and traded up, you probably did quite well. If you also started a successful business, you probably did even better. Those who did not do these three things find themselves not very well off from a financial security point of view, but with a higher standard of living than would have occurred in 1950.

What about the downside? Professor Sobel doesn't have as much to say in this area, but he is also optimistic there. His statistics point out the the lowest income people had greater economic percentage gains in buying power over these 50 years than the wealthiest did. He also asks that we do more to understand why some are born in and remain in poverty. His studies did not appear to turn up good evidence on these points. The reason seems to be that few economic statistics by income level were kept in 1950, and even less research was done on the causes. Clearly, racism has to have been a factor, and here he points to the progress in growth of high income families among minority groups. So, you won't find the answer here.

I found the most interesting and important part of the book to be in his thoughtful critique of modern education in 2000. Basically, the focus on better quality that was placed on goods and services in the economy since 1950 missed education almost totally. He describes the growth of illiteracy among those who attend public schools, the dumbing down of high school and college curricula to handle more poorly-prepared students, and the growing numbers of students who opt to drop out and succeed. Math and science students have dropped in such numbers that our modern society cannot succeed without massive infusions of immigrants. In fact, it is the influx of these well educated immigrants who are providing the push to success that will be to 2000 what the GI Bill was in 1950. More troubling are the facts that college curricula are becoming less economically relevant to the New Economy, the name professors are paid to do everything but teach, and being a professor with high standards for your students can keep you from getting tenure.

In many ways, this book is The Greatest Generation Makes Money from 1950-2000. Although it also looks at the two generations that follow, the focus is clearly on the oldest cohort. Why isn't this book at the top of the best seller list like The Greatest Generation is? My answer is that the author chose to quote pundits throughout rather than ordinary people. Occasionally, he puts in a personal story and the book becomes very lively and compelling. Then he moves back into telling the overall story, and it is a lot like reading a news magazine version of the events. It is easy to read, and interesting, but it isn't compelling. If there is ever another edition of this book, I suggest that the second edition be interspaced with lots of personal stories to make it all come to life.

After you have read this rewarding book, ask yourself what you can do to improve education for yourself, your children, and future generations. Then also ask yourself how well you have communicated the lessons of how to be economically successful to these succeeding generations. After you have your answers, be sure to start acting on them. Otherwise, we could lose our way. That would be a pretty monumental example of the communications stall.