This book is amazing, it has changed my life in many ways, people now want me Mr Ian Fry to start my own religion, and they want me to read from this bible for the sermons. Buy this book and become a slave to the cheese!! Go on spoil yourself!! i did!!

If you love cheese, this book is for you. As more and more restaurants offer quality cheese courses, it is worthwhile to have this book around so you know what is and is not worth trying. Even seasoned tasters will enjoy the tone of the text and the content. The recipes are simple and clear, with a structure that should appeal to even amateur home chefs.

I think that just about anything is better with cheese, so this book is right up my alley. Even if you aren't a cheese addict, you will find this book to be an interesting and useful resource. The book is divided into two basic parts: an encyclopedia of cheese types and recipes with cheese as a principal ingredient. The encyclopedia is amazingly thorough - both in the varieties of cheese discussed and in their analysis of the history and processes behind them. I particularly liked that the authors organized their presentation of cheeses into categories and subcategories of similar cheeses. Very useful. Also, it was nice that they included some of the more pedestrian cheese varities. Too often books like this focus exclusively on varities that are rare and exotic - these specialties are fun for special occassions and to read about, but they are frequently hard to find and not always practical for everyday cooking. Even though the recipes are not particularly flashy, they are well-designed to showcase special characteristics of the applicable cheeses. A lot of effort clearly went into this book, and it pays off. Oh, and lots of nice color pictures to browse through.

Heinrich has a way of writing that makes a person understand the relations between people and animals. He makes me laugh at some of the interactions. I very much enjoyed this book.

BERND HEINRICH IS ONE OF THE BEST AUTHORS IN THE LIFE SCIENCE FIELD. HIS WONDERFULY DISCRIPTIVE NARATIVES ARE REMINISSENT OF KONRAD LORENZ AND GERALD DURREL . ONE MAN'S OWL WILL EDUCATE YOU AND PULL YOUR HEART STRINGS. BUY THIS BOOK!!

I like to think of Bernd Heinrich as a forest sleuth. Nothing delights him more than prowling, or jogging, through miles and miles of his favorite Maine woods identifying and describing such things as the songs of birds, the cocoons of caterpillars, the smells of beetles and the droppings of moose. In this case, his interests lead him to examine the contents of the stomachs of owls - in particular the stomachs of Great Horned Owls. Owls it seems, eat their prey whole, separate the digestable from the indigestable portions in their stomachs, and when all is said and done regurgitate the inedible stuff as "owl pellets." More than you ever wanted to know about owls? That's what I thought too at first, but it gets better - really.

Not long after discovering a nest of Great Horned Owls on his property, a storm destroys part of the nest and one of the chicks falls to the ground. Heinrich, who can never resist an opportunity to study wild things up close, scoops the little fellow up, christens him Bubo and takes him home to raise. What ensues is a delightful, often revealing account of how an owl and a man struggle to cross the divide between species.

That both are determined is obvious. Heinrich puts up with all sorts of destructive and rude behavior from his childish guest. Bubo chews up, eats and regurgitates washcloths, favorite t-shirts and socks. He holds staring matches with the family cat, terrorizes guests, whom he considers competitors for Heindrich's attention, and rearranges Heindrich's eating and sleeping schedule. In return, Heindrich gets to study everything about the owl - from his eyelids and feather patterns to the mechanical workings of the owl's talons and the meanings of his various hoots and hisses. It is an uneasy if affectionate relationship.

However Heinrich, who works as a university professor, must eventually return to his job and Bubo is sent to a wildlife rehabilitation center. There, all attempts at rehabilitation fail and Bubo is pronounced incorrigable. It is also clear that Bubo is miserable. Heinrich, who feels this is a waste of Bubo's life, eventuallly reclaims the bird, takes him back to Maine and spends another summer helping the bird find his adult wings.

This is a revealing and touching story that goes way beyond the scientific study that Heinrich originally planned. As Heinrich himself acknowledges it became a very personal thing, a relationship between one man and one owl. A wonderful read.

I'm sure anyone shopping for this book knows that Heinrich Neuhaus was the mentor of such giants of the piano as Richter, Gilels and Lupu. Well, here between these covers you'll find the reason why. Neuhaus possessed a great mind and an ability to express himself like no other pedagogue I have read. While reading his book I kept thinking I was reading Tolstoy, not for any similarity of style or substance but because I got the same feeling from both their works, that here is a great man who had lived a full life, and then had the patience and wherewithal to sit down and commit it to paper, thereby enriching piano posterity. This book deserves pride of place on any pianist's bookshelf. I thank the previous reviewer who said that it was a crime that this book is out of print. I paid a hefty amount for what looks like a slim volume, but it is packed with such profundity that I have to consider this a seminal addition to my library. Get it wherever you can, this is one for the ages.

This book is simply outstanding. It should in fact be standard reading for all piano students and professionals alike, and even to some extent qualifies as a reference on artistic piano playing. It is excellently well written, entertaining, funny, inspiring, and very educational. It is well worth reading many times, since the profundity of some of the advice given actually needs digestion and experimentation at the piano to fully grasp. It is a crime that this book is out of print.

When I first read this book I knew almost notihng about interpritation. Since the first time I read it (because it's worth reading it more than one time) I have begun to play the piano in a totaly different way. There are plenty of usefull tips in it, although the author states that that was not in his intentions. The most important is that you must not struggle for a perfect technique or an nice sound, but those two elements should be the key to a meaningfull interpritation.

As a book, it is very easy to read since it combines personal experiences and advice about piano-playing. It makes the reader seek for more similar books in order to learn how great pianists aproached a skore. It is excelent both for the beginner and the experinced pianist, who can get an idea of how the great teacher of Russia teached his famous studends (Richer, Gilels...)

The overwhelming feeling you get when reading this book is the desperate struggle for short term survival. The background is a German city (possibly Cologne) in the first
Days and weeks after the capitulation of the German army in 1945. Every conversation is focused on bread - not even full meals, just slices of bread. The city is bleak and devastated, the characters are transient figures struggling, dazed and nauseous, into whatever the future may hold. Their pasts are briefly mentioned, but the conditions in which they find themselves allow for almost total dislocation from their past lives.

The language of the book is austere, the characters are not clearly distinguishable, the colours mentioned - apart from grey destruction - are greenish and yellowish hazes. These tune in with the bilious, nausea of the characters as they continuously search for food and shelter. Throughout the story each character is portrayed as exhausted, struggling, nauseous.

The novels main character has deserted the German Army in the final days of the war, and under a certain sentence of death for desertion, has assumed numerous identities as he flees. He has, however, promised a dead comrade that he will return a coat to his comrade's widow. A will is discovered in the lining of the coat and this yields an subplot of intrigue and corruption. The main character meanwhile meets and briefly lives with a dazed, tragic woman who has been psychologically damaged by the war.

The novel's main impression is the exhaustion of emotion, the breakdown of society brings about a breakdown of morality and order. Stealing and dishonesty of all kinds are part of daily life, as are small gestures of generosity. In the broken cityscape, there is neither trust nor complete anarchy, just a meandering from one slice of bread to the next. Towards the end of the book , the main character has established a certain routine which allows him to steal coal from trains, which gives him some power to barter.

Boll's austere tale, gives us a view of the amoral aftermath of a societal dislocation. While neither describing nor moralizing, he shows us a set of normal characters and the lives they adopt to survive in the much reduced circumstances.

I am not a book reviewer; nor do I know how to write a good review. But I cannot let it pass without wanting to share this book with anyone who is interested in reading about the human suffereing due to the ravages and results of war. This book describes so well the aftermath of war; the hopelessness; the futility. It is gaudy, despressing, poignant, shocking, realistic. The Silent Angel leaves you, at times, as you are reading, speechless. Sentences that are shocking; that end abruptly symbolising the crudeness of war;

I enjoy reading Heinrich Boll in part because he offers a perspective of WWII through the eyes of an every day German. Most German perspectives of WWII seem to be written by someone who wants you to know that they are one of the "good guys". In his books I have been given a glimpse of what it was like to be on the losing side. In "The Silent Angel" we get a glimpse of what it is like to return to a home that doesn't really exist any more. The vivid depictions in this novella are the works not only of one whose knows of what he speaks, but also of one gifted to tell the world. Boll is no apologist for Germany but he conveys the world as he experienced it. The destruction and the despair are overwhelming but there is hope in the relationship between the common sufferers. Many will read this book in a single sitting but the impressions will last long afterwards.

Imagine combining the wisdom of a trained naturalist with the heart of a caretaker - a healthy love and respect for trees on one hand and a trained eye for and the knowledge of how and why a forest operates on the other. Now throw in a large patch of land that serves as a giant laboratory, playground and limitless teacher and you have a cool concept.

"The Trees in My Forest" is like a series of informative, meandering walks through the woods with a wise, old Grandfather. From the mostly misunderstood and much maligned fungi which recycle tree roots into soil fo new trees to grow, to the structures which allow some trees to grwo to the top of the forest canopy and others which survive at only a few inches off the ground, the mystery of trees amd forests are opened up.

Much like Tom Brown, Jr. did for impressions in the ground in his playground in the New Jersey Pine Barrens in "The Tracker", Bernd Heinrich does for trees in the forests of Maine. I don't like it as much as Brown's Tracker series, in part because it occassionally loses me on the trail. Still, an interesting (if difficult to follow, sometimes) tale.

I enjoyed every chapter and I especially appreciated the author's hand drawn illustrations. I also learned a lot about how forests develop and the importance of biological diversity. I think that I will now see a lot more when I walk in forest. Like the other reviewer, I feel inspired to acquire some acres of logged out land up North and let the forest grow!

Heinrich is a wonderful writer; while his work may lack the scientific vigor of a true academic text, this is natural science on a personal level. He brings his personal passion for the natural world to his writing, and the result is a really engaging work that will appeal to any lay person interested in the natural world. When I was done with the book, I wanted to run off and buy a dozen acres or so of Maine forest myself.

This book is a good place to start with Heinrich's overall works--he takes a similar, personal approach to the natural sciences with his "Mind of the Raven" and "One Man's Owl."

Ann Anderson has done her homework. Finding information about early medicine shows is about as easy as finding a fossilized T-Rex's tooth. Anderson has done a superb job with this work and I recommend it very highly to anyone interested in the "beginning entertainment" of the United States.

Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour
Eureka Springs, Arkansas

This terrific book is as fun as it is informative. Anderson's exhaustive research is evident on every page, and her writing style is perfect: spare enough to let the color of the topic shine through, but never dry. As she relates the history of the medicine show, she shows how modern medicine, advertising and entertainment evolved together; her skill at illuminating these linkages gives the book even more weight and depth. It's an outstanding work of scholarship...and a damned good read!

A thoroughly entertaining and informative book with a subject matter I never thought would interest me. Having an advertising background, I was intrigued and facinated by the history of the medicine show and the impact it has had on our culture from a media standpoint. Well written, incredibly reasearched, and fun to read. Read it!

This is a great book for those interested in exploring the many and varied aspects and ramifications of Schenkerian theory. I first bought this book in its hardback-two-separate-volume edition in 1972 or 1973, when, as an undergraduate music student, I was looking for answers to how music "works." This was while studying at a university where the music theory department had been commandeered by a couple of "avant-gardiste" professors who, after eliminating all traditional harmony classes,further insisted that all students should compose, regardless of interest or ability, and that atonality, interminable dissonance, and "originality" for its own sake be the ideals which one should be forced to uphold. It was in this environment that I began my search for musical understanding, and started researching the theoretical, harmonic, contrapuntal, and formal aspects of music that were so sorely neglected in my university education. It was at this time that I became aware of the book "Structural Hearing." In fact, one friend of mine told me, that this was the best book on theory that he had ever read.
There are three things I would recommend to anyone interested in studying this book:
1. First, understand the basics of 4-part harmony, and become proficient at reading figured bass notation. This will help you understand the sections of the book that deal with what the author refers to as "chord grammar."
2. Second, get a copy of "The Study of Counterpoint," by J. J. Fux. This is the Norton edition of the translation of the famous "Gradus ad Parnassum." Work through the exercises in this book. In addition to being a lot of fun, these exercises will teach you a ton about the origins of harmony, voice leading, etc., and will provide some amazing practical solutions to problems you may encounter later, in composing original music, and/or arranging. I have always been happy for the work I did in this book. Trust me, you won't regret it!
3. Go to the nearest print shop that does book binding. They can split your book into two volumes, laminate the covers of them, and spiral bind each section. This will allow you to have the text and the examples side by side, and, as they are spiral bound, will allow you to lay them out flat. I do this with almost all of the scores, or music books with which I work. I recommend this to the reviewer above who expressed regret that the book was bound as a single volume, as well as all others who study this book.
I am delighted to get this book in the paperback edition, and I hope my recommendations are helpful.

Let me very briefly say that this book is not merely an elementary edition of Schenkerian theory; it is much more, and if you are especially working on your own, the examples, the perfect narrative (Like a friend talking to you, pointing at the music to illustrate his point. Really! It's only that you can't talk back to him.), the exercises, and the overall approach will help you greatly in solving many problems pertaining to tonal structure... (This is obviously an old book, and much of its methods are embraced by more recent works such as Kraft's GRADUS, but even so, get this book as a companion and guide to the others.)

one complaint: the binding lowers the production cost maybe, but it's such an inconvenience to turn the pages back and forth to 'look' at the music, and even more laborsome to place it on the piano. Please issue this in two pieces, I'll be willing to pay...extra [money]. Other humble recommendations with this book: Kraft's GRADUS, Westergaard's 'Introduction to Tonal Theory', Thakar's 'Counterpoint', and obviously the Schachter books.

This comment has more to do with the format of the Dover reprint than it does with the actual text. In the older edition of "Structural Hearing" the text was in volume one and the examples were in volume two. This allowed the reader to have the examples in front of them to refer to while they read the text. The Dover reprint is essentially both volumes bound into one book. This causes the book to be very cumbersome, although it probably significantly lowers the production cost. When I read "Structural Hearing" I finally had to check out volume two from the university library. I sincerely hope that the new Longman edition of "Der Frei Satz" maintains the original format.

Andreas, a German soldier in World War Two, is on a troop train destined for the Eastern Front. He is convinced that he will meet his death there. He is sure of the time of his demise, if not the precise location.

The main interest in "Der Zug war pünktlich" is whether or not Andreas will escape his "fate", and the fact that Andreas's certainty of his death causes him to question how he has lived his life. Various incidents on the journey cause him to recall past experiences: most often such thoughts are stimulated by food of smells (perhaps a Proustian influence in Böll's writing?)

"Der Zug war pünktlich" is therefore, a very introspective and reflective novel. There were various plot devices which I thought let it down slightly: the character type represented in this novel by the Pole Olina, for example, has popped up in various guises in World War Two stories and films.

Nonetheless, this is the first novel by Böll I've read, and it was interesting enough to encourage further reading of his works.

G Rodgers

I had to read this for a senior-level university class on the wars of the Twentieth Century. I read it originally in English, although I have since re-read it in the original German. I remember very clearly the day I sat down to read it. I had to read it and its companion novel, "Where were you, Adam?", and I was running behind on my reading. I had just finished the first novel, and I sat down to read the second novel-only 110 pages. And something happened that rarely happens to me reading: I was so affected that I cried. I sobbed through a good half of it...

The story is of a young German soldier who leaves Paris on a train on a Wednesday in September of 1943 and he is absolutely positive he will die on Sunday at 6:00am. He has numerous opportunities to leave the train (on pain of court-martial, of course), and yet he cannot and will not. He feels powerless to resist his fate.

Heinrich Böll was a master. And, while this is not one of his more famous novels, it is splendid. I strongly encourage you to pick this one up.

I started reading this book for a project in my high school German class, and finished it while I was traveling in Europe. it's very short, and shouldn't take more than a day to read-my mom claims it took less than two hours-but it took me a while, for whatever reason. Anyways, I highly recommend this book. The bleak, wartime images that Böll conjurs up stick with the reader long after finishing the book; I read it over a year ago, and certain lines and pictures still run through my head.

Wolfgang Borchert and Erich Remarque get more press as German postwar authors, but Heinrich Böll, with this book, deserves attention. Read it- despite the bleak subject matter, it's fun, and even funny at parts.

Conceptually the book is at its best in analyzing the dynamics of futuristic Supply Chains. It introduces the concept of Adaptive Business Networks that consist of several firms collaborating with each other as a virtual entity, facilitated by a coordinating partner. Each firm adjusts itself in real time to the market information, thereby winning together as a team of collaborating partners as opposed to achieving sub-optimal individual goals. The information flows from the Customer in a pre-determined manner, triggering business decisions based on uniform business processes and common technological platforms. The lead firm also retains the ability to add and drop partners depending on market forces and performance of the partners. There is no limit to the size of the network either. The partners also enjoy synergies by sharing common services - financial, consulting, legal for example. This is undoubtedly a dream of all supply chain managers. But then reality and dreams need to be bridged. This is where is book is lacking.

The issues that are not very convincingly answered are:

- How do participating firms, so diverse on their current technology platforms and business processes achieve the near standardization that is essential for such networks? Even in large multinational corporations running standard ERP software across several continents this is not yet achieved.

- Firms may have to participate in several networks simultaneously, and at times where the coordinating partners are fierce competitors in the same market. There would be conflicting interests where information sharing is not easy.

- Legal restrictions and protectionist walls across countries continue to prevail despite the rhetoric of globalization. An ideal network should first ensure a level playing ground for all players across this planet.

- CEO's today are afflicted by "Quarteritis". Missing numbers this quarter in the "larger interest" of their network may not appeal to most of them in the absence of substantial benefits accruing in the immediate future.

- Framework for collaboration between major software vendors to provide building blocks necessary for such a network.

Recommended reading to understand some interesting concepts that may be of help in designing supply chain solutions.

This book fills the great gap between too much theory/no real-life examples and detailed case studies on a specific company.

It really gets to grips with what it means to adapt, to make your whole business operation flexible enough to meet all challenges of todays environment. More than anything, it highlights why companies MUST adapt, why the old rules of business don't apply anymore.

Also real interesting that this is written by an exec of a software firm without plugging that company's products - it is objective and focused, detailed without being techie.

An all round excellent book.

There are a lot of business books out there espousing the latest management fads and panceas. Having spent 15 years consulting with many US and multi-national manufacturers, this book does a great job of clearly depicting today's problems.

I think this book spoke plainly about those problems and solutions in way that many executives don't want to hear. There was no sugar coating in this book; either companies must come to grips with their antequated operating and management structures or they'll cease to exist. Pretty simple. And when you consider it for a moment, the are lot of companies that seem to be taking the latter path not the former (think United Airlines; Kmart; Ford; GM).

I think the adaptive business network is a great concept that deserves further consideration. It is interesting that the writer comes from a software/technology company, especially since this isn't a techie book. Maybe SAP is on to something big if they have the technology to help an adaptive business network run.

This study of the bumble bee was fascinating. (For a moment I wanted to go back to school and study entomology.) It may be of particular interest to those interested in native bee-keeping. Instructions for building a bumblebee nesting box, and how to get a colony started, is included in the appendices.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Heinrich presents relevant and well-considered research and experimental design in an accessible and easy-to-understand fashion. Having come off a bio class in which we did an extensive lab portion on population structure and evolution, I really enjoyed seeing such fascinating data on social insects. I was not, until having read Heinrich's book, familiar with the very major differences between honey and bumblebees. This book not only presents an excellent overview of how bumblebee's function (thermoregulation of flight muscles and suchforth) but also the economic factors (in pollen and nectar) that form the trade-offs that dictate behavior. Heinrich's observation that bumblebees develop 'major and minor' flower specialties that they exploit preferentially is a fascinating bit of information that synthesizes two commonly concieved as different fields.

I'd highly recommend this book as not just beach reading for scientists but as a brilliant and accessible book on a very common pollinator.

The author explains that Bumble-bee queens (which are not accompanied by a swarm of workers as are Honey-bees), must by themselves select and furnish a nest site, lay eggs and brood the resulting larva and then forage for pollen and nectar - whose sugar provides the energy needed for flying and nest warming. Heinrich brilliantly contrasts the foraging strategies of the bumble-bees with those of the plants which provide nectar and pollen and are in return cross-pollinated. He also explains how the bees control the heat flow from their thorax which contains the flight muscles, depending on whether they need to fly which requires a relatively high thorax temperature, or need merely to crawl, which allows them to dissipate less energy. The book concludes with a large set of references to the entomological literature at the time of publication, and a set of color plates to help in identifying about fifty North and Central American species of Bumble bees.