I enjoyed this book, and read it in one day, pouring through the various chapters and one tragedy to the next. My only complaint is that many of the chapters were excerpts from other books, and the stories sometimes felt unfinished. Those excerpts would cover the hit (or near miss) of the summit, then cover some sort of trial to the participating climbers. The climbers may or may not survive the trial, and then that would be the end of it. I actually craved a little bit more of the post-expedition soul-searching.

Like everybody else, I read "Into Thin Air" and bought more mountaineering books, this being one. Luckily, climbers tend to be a pretty literary lot, because the basic theme of all these books is : Damn, we're out of food/its cold/ I can't feel my feet/hands/nose/my brain is swelling up/I lost my way/tent/sleeping bag/gloves/I almost (or you DID) fall off this cliff. All this is followed by the endless anticlimax of the summit if reached and, worst of all, endless navel contemplation about the meaning of it all. I don't know why this stuff is so compelling, but there it is. I read this book in four sittings when I had a lot of more important stuff to do. Then I went out and bought Everest: The West Ridge by Tom Hornbein. And I live in Florida , have never been higher than 5,000 feet and have never climbed anything higher than the roof of my house. Go figure. I will say that these mountaineering books have a significant collateral benefit - they scare the hell out of the wife.

This book contains the greatest short stories about climbing that I have ever read. Each story is unique and as entertaining as the other.

This book is based on research on 30 companies in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North American, selected for exceptional sales and profit growth. The research findings reveal a three-phase pattern for growth which is analyzed and illustrated with cases. The pattern encompasses the embryonic, emergent, and mature phases of a business's life cycle. The underlying pattern is a continuous pipeline of business-building initiatives that focuses on three horizons: extending and defending the core business; building emerging businesses, and creating viable future opportunities. This examination of growth strategies proves highly enlightening. The combination of insights based on solid research yields a great book. The appendix profiles each of the firms the authors' studied. Recommended. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

"The Alchemy of Growth" is an easy read, full of examples involving companies and products every consumer knows about. The fundamental theory presented by the book - that business managers need to devote energy and resources today toward cultivating business on each of the "three horizons of growth" - is simple enough to understand easily, but is also extremely powerful. While the book seems targeted at the CEO of a large company, the concept can as easily apply to a small company or even an individual's plan for his or her own future. The book is surprisingly free of business school mumbo jumbo and can be read quickly by a busy person. I highly recommend it.

A perspective on corporate growth and change which works through the need to maintain a simultaneous focus on three 'horizons' - today's business, emerging businesses and longer term options and the implications for strategy, management and structures.

As you would expect of a book out of the McKinsey stable, this is on an issue of importance to business, is well researched and analysed and very readable and well presented. As you would also expect, it is focused on large corporates, and on strategies for their business success, as measured by exceptional growth and returns to stockholders.

It provides one important perspective on the issue of corporate growth and development, to be compared with other perspectives.

There are obvious comparisons with Collins & Porras: 'Built to Last' both in the concern with continuing exceptional performance over an extended period and in the care taken to explain the research base from which the findings are derived. However, whereas Collins & Porras are concerned primarily with values and culture, Baghai et al are primarily interested in strategies for the selection, development and management of a portfolio of businesses and the implications of those strategies for structuring, staffing and operations.

The fundamental thesis is simple and can be stated in a few propositions:

The companies that have been successful in maintaining high rates of growth with superior profitability are those that have learnt to manage well to three different time horizons at the same time - today's business, the next generation of emerging businesses, and the longer term options out of which the next generation of businesses will arise.

In order to develop longer term options into 'core profit engines', a series of measured steps (concerned with finding ways of profitably building core capabilities and markets) are required, which the authors call 'stairways'. In the nature of things, not all stairways will lead to future core businesses, so a variety of initiatives need to be carried forward together. Management of the 'stairways' should receive significant senior management attention.

The skills and temperaments required to manage current business, to develop new business and to search out viable future options are widely different one from the other. The key to maximising the profitability of today's business is excellence of execution. Emerging businesses require business builders - the typical entrepreneurial temperament, while the identification of future options requires lateral thinkers and visionaries.

In consequence, the style of organisation and internal culture most appropriate to each of these foci are also different. Large corporates tend to find difficulty in encompassing these very different cultures. The authors discuss in some depth the resulting issues of internal culture, recruitment, structuring and transition, and their strategic management.

The strength of the book is that the authors identify a key issue in business success - the development and maintenance of a vigorous portfolio of businesses over the longer term - and work through the implications with clarity and thoroughness.

The cost of that approach is that other equally significant issues are assumed or left in the background. It is necessary to balance the valuable perspective offered with others that are also important. It is also necessary to be aware of the underpinning tacit assumptions - for example, the underlying metaphor of organisation adopted by the authors appears to me to be much nearer that of the organisation as a (money) machine, than that of the organisation as an organism. There is a marked contrast with the emphasis in, for example de Geus: 'The Living Company'. This is not to say that either is wrong, only that neither is complete.

David Webster was a Harvard-educated literature major who served as a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne throughout World War II. This memoir of his experiences during the war was published posthumously, and clearly was not intended by the author to be published in this form. Not that the book is without merit - far from it. Webster was obviously a very talented writer and he does an excellent job of sharing his impressions and experiences. His account of D-Day, the fighting in Holland and the final advance into Germany are all interesting and insightful. The problem is that the manuscript is incomplete. While the primary stories are here, all the connecting bits are missing. For example, the chronicle of the action in Holland ends when Webster is wounded and evacuated. The narrative resumes when he rejoins his company in France, after their remarkable stand at Bastogne. However, there is no real effort to explain what happened in his absence, and principal characters from earlier in the narrative have disappeared without explanation and new ones appear without introduction. No doubt these rough spots would have been smoothed over if the author had been available to edit the manuscript. Nevertheless, the stories that are here are remarkably well told and offer a unique perspective on the war. Webster was adamant about remaining a lowly private throughout the war, and as an intellectual among the lowliest soldiers, he had a unique viewpoint on army life. Stephen Ambrose incorporates significant portions of Webster's manuscript into "Band of Brothers", and reading the two books together fills in many of the gaps in Webster's narrative.

Those of you who have read Stephen Ambrose's book, Band of Brothers, will remember David Kenyon Webster as a passionate and articulate member of Easy Company, the unit also featured in HBO's "Band of Brothers" miniseries. Webster wrote Parachute Infantry shortly after the end of World War II; it languished during the post-war years, when memoirs of regular soldiers were of little interest to publishers.

After Webster's untimely death in 1961 at the age of 39, his widow continued to believe in the manuscript and approached publishers without success. After the late Stephen Ambrose came upon the manuscript while researching Band of Brothers, he recommended it to Louisiana State University Press. Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich, with an introduction by Stephen E. Ambrose, was published by LSU Press in 1994, just in time for the 50th anniversary of D-Day. The book received excellent reviews.

Last year, Webster's widow, the long-time champion of Parachute Infantry, approached Dell Publishing, a division of Random House. Dell was a likely choice: it had published a mass market paperback of Webster's shark book, Myth and Maneater: The Story of the Shark, when the movie "Jaws" was released. She felt that Parachute Infantry could find a wider audience now, given the interest in HBO's "Band of Brothers." Dell was interested, and went back to the original manuscript to produce a revised and expanded edition of the book.

In October 2002, this new edition of Parachute Infantry was published. It features over 100 pages of previously unpublished material, including 20 letters home, and restores some of the grittier language and actual names that were used in Webster's original manuscript.

If you want to know more about the men of Easy Company, as seen through the eyes of one young private, read this book. Webster takes you through training at Toccoa, through jumps on D-Day and in Operation Market Garden in Holland, and to the last days of the war in Germany. It is an excellent companion piece to Band of Brothers (the book or DVD/video), and a powerful, unforgettable book on its own.

"Parachute Infantry", by David Kenyon Webster, sub-titled: "An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day And The Fall Of The Third Reich", Louisiana State University Press, Baton rouge, 1994.

This book was published some fifty years after the events described and some 30 years after the death of the author (1961). However, the personal memories are excellent as is the writing. The book deals with the author's personal experiences in the European Theater of Operations and it seems that he did not record the time in hospital after he was wounded. Webster's leg wound made him miss the Battle of the Bulge, so he simply alludes to that struggle when he returns to his outfit towards the end of the war. He does deal with parachuting into Normandy on D-Day and, at the end of the war, chasing the remains of the German Army into the mountains.

I think that you could almost sense that the Author was recording the more "exciting" days and planning to fill in the more mundane details, such as his weeks in hospital, when he later had time. One thing that did come through, loud and clear, was the enlisted man's disdain for the officer corps in the EOT. Webster's record of occupation duty, directly after the cessation of hostilities, is entertaining. I can just picture him, getting ready for his daily swim in the lake, and wondering where he should "dine" that night. Enjoyable book!

I have used Pressman's Patent It Yourself since the late 80s to file and process 18 patents, and have saved myself and my business partner (a lot of money) in legal fees. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Pressman is not just knowledgeable, he is a master teacher, imparting information with consumate pedagogic skill. He makes learning of complex legal issues as easy as one can imagine. His prose is often humorous and entertaining as well.

One recommendation: If you use this book to write your first patent filing, let a patent lawyer review the filing before you submit. This shouldn't cost you more than an hour or two in attorney fees and from my experience can enhance your submission and improve its chances for allowance significantly. I did this for my first several submissions and learned something each time. Eventually there was little the attorney could offer, and I then ceased the practice.

Wish I could give 6 stars for this remarkable book.

I purchased this book to get info on applying for a patent. (My schiester quoted me a huge fee so I wanted to do it myself.) It turns out that I was able to trademark the product and have more protection than I would have had if I had taken out the design patent I was encouraged to pay for!! This book Explains the process of patenting. The various types of patent. If you need a patent or have another avenue avaliable for protection. When to go to a lawyer and how to things your self.

I don't have a solid figure, but this 50$ book probably saved me over 3000 in attorney fees, searches, filing and etc. So you can pretty well guess my opinion of the volume is quite high!

I'm a patent attorney, and I've kept this book near my desk for years. I recommend it often to clients. Even if they really don't want to file their own patent applications, the book helps them to better understand patent applications. After reading a few chapters, they're often able to make well-informed decisions about their patent matters. And many patent attorneys can benefit from reading parts of the book, such as the chapter on marketing inventions.

This book tells you what Jane Gooddall went through to learn about the animals she loved. It is NOT the scientific account of that research, you can find that elsewhere. It's a fascinating story. I found myself caught up in the lives of the different chimps, wondering what Flo, David, Flint and Fifi were going to do next.

As a student of biology I feel it really narrows in on what it is like to be a field biologist--fascination!

IN THE SHADOW OF MAN, first published in 1971, remains one of the most extraordinary observations of chimpanzee behavior in the wild. Goodall begins with the story of how she arrived in Africa and her first days there, but wisely switches the attention from herself to the endangered chimpanzees she studies. She not only recognizes individuals but learns their distinctive personalities, describing in compelling detail the smallest of moments that illuminate who these great animals are. Unlike most scientists of the time, Goodall documents emotions and complex political behavior, the social hierarchy and parenting abilities, the aggression and the bonds formed between chimps that can only be described as friendships. In eloquent prose, Goodall tells the stories of these chimps - most notably that of Flo and her family - and will forever change the way you view chimpanzees.

The book contains several black and white photographs of the chimps, a real treat after getting to "know" these chimps in writing.

If you have any interest at all in primates or in animals generally, this is a must-have book.

If you have some time this summer, let Jane Goodall motivate you with her enlightening stories of chimpanzees. The book will make readers aware of the fascinating similarities between man and chimp. Dr. Goodall portrays her stay in Africa vividly, and is truly inspirational. "In the Shadow of Man" is a wonderful book!

Plato's The Republic, is not only a classic work of the fourth century B.C., but a masterpiece of utopian literature as a whole. Mr. Lee's translation brings into light the political and poetical wisdom of Plato into English from the original Greek. In The Republic, Plato raises questions that are still at the heart of many modern conflicts and heated debates. What is justice? What is goodness? What is the right political authority? Plato examines these questions as aspects of a single theme. He offers a portrait of an ideal state in which power is entrusted to the philosopher king(s), and other men and women accept the authority of the wise and the good. If no one has read The Republic, then he or she has not read anything!

In the "Republic," Plato may or may not have accomplished what he set out to do, which is to define justice and prove that it is superior to injustice, irregardless of either's consequences. However, what he DID do is set the foundation for over two thousand years of thought. Read this work slowly; within each of the seemingly-simple discussions there is a world of though to be discovered. Anyone with the least bit of background in philosophical readings can literally read page-by-page, discovering the sources of many of the greatest philosophers of all-time. The "Republic" is not so much a work of literature as it is an explosion of thought; a ten-book brainstorm of one of the greatest minds of all-time. By the work's end, whether or not you feel Socrates to have successfully answered Glaucon's challenge is almost irrelevant, for the argument will have already left your mind reeling.

Plato's "Republic" is probably the most important work in the history of Western Philosophy, or atleast I believe it is. The reader can literally flip from page to page counting how many subsequent philosphies arose from interpretations of the words on each page. Of all Western Philosophers, Plato was one of the greatest writers. Even though some readers may find the dialogue style exhausting, I find it enjoyable because it turns the real-life participants in the arguments into literary characters who can, at times, be quite humorous. All literary merits aside, the overabundance of profound thoughts to be found in "The Republic" make it a must-read for anyone who likes to think.

This is actually the only Stephen King book I have ever read, and I read it because, well, someone just sort of dropped it into my hands and said, "If you like fantasy, READ THIS." With some trepidation, I did. Whoa, Nelly. From the start, with his interesting way of just announcing heart-stopping twists and then going back to explain them, King's prose grabs you and pulls you into to the fantasy kingdom of Delain. I had no idea King could be so adept at character generation, but the people in his novel are wonderfully alive, and, whatever they're doing, whether it's peeking through the eyes of dragon to watch the villain bring the king his poisoned wine, dog-sledding over a snow-covered landscape, or hatching a daring plan to escape imprisonment from a high tower, you're WITH these characters all the way. And, baby, let me just tell you, the wizard Flagg is just the coolest villain I have ever had the pleasure to read about. He's crafty, he's vengeful, he's soooo deliciously diabolical. Well. I was pleasantly surprised to have been proven wrong about Stephen King and I will gladly read his other works, now. And for "Dragon"...if you like fantasy, READ THIS!

The book The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King takes place in the Kingdom ofDelin. The story is about the wrongful imprisonment of the heir to the throne. peter was accused of murdering his father and was sentenced to imprisonment at a cell at the top of a tower. Know he must be able to prove that he did not murder his father (Roland) and to be let free and to claim his place as the rightful ruler of Delin. This is one of the best books I have ever read. This book takes place in my favorite time frame: the middle ages. I recomend this book to all people that like fantasies and Stephen King's novels. This has almost everything in it: magic wizards,dragons,swords, action, and treachery I would like to award Stephen King for writting this awesome and wonderful book. Reviewed by John Neeley

Dragons and wizards; heroes and villains; enough to satisfy any of you who hunger for an escape to a medieval fantasy world. A far cry from the usual horror genre for which King is so well known, this book combines realistic scenes as well as a fantastic atmosphere which makes it very enthralling. That the chapters were out of chronological order took a bit away from my rating of this book because it made the story line a little harder to follow. Some characters such as the evil magician, Flagg, could have been enhanced in visualization through the act of giving more information about his past other than the fact that he destroyed the kingdom 300 years before. On the other hand, his use of character development made a man so reviled by the characters in the story become the object of the readers' sympathy. As a lover of all things fantasy, I found this book almost impossible to put down and I suggest to any who read it that they do so in a short period of time in order to take in all their surroundings and pieces of information in prospective.

Not being an avid reader of Stephen King's books but hearing much about them and how this book was "different," I did not know what to expect when I picked this book up. However, King managed to weave an intricate plot which blew me away as I was not expecting such a detailed story coming from such a simple idea; good versus evil. Overall, this is a great literary piece and a must-have for those with a love for the fantasy genre.

Want to learn to build your own amazon.com? It's in this book. You'll have to be proficient with ansi-SQL and/or ADO 2.0 in order to really take advantage of the information presented here. But overall it's a well presented book on ASP. If you plan to buy this and want to build true interactive sites with full database integration, pick up ADO 2.0 Programmer's Reference and Instant SQL Programming also from WROX Press, then you'll have a strong book base to build powerful web sites such as amazon.com. The only drawback is its concentration on VBScript rather than ECMAscript (aka JavaScript). Try and stay away from the VBScript presented in this book and use ECMAScript for the examples instead. The reason is because Microsoft and Netscape are finally agreeing on ECMAScript standards that will be much easier to translate into Client-side Cross-browser code if you use it for Server-side code now. As ECMAscript matures it will present a much more flexible environment to work in than VBScript will (much the same way that C compared to Visual Basic does now). I don't have a book recommendation for ECMAscript, I haven't found a good reference yet, the info on the web has been my resource. But if you're desparate for a reference, WROX Press also has a handbook called Instant JavaScript that isn't too bad, but has lots of room more improvement. Happy Building! Ciao -C

I purchased this book with one goal: to incorporate a database into a web site. With this book, the example code available on the WROX web site, and the Microsoft Developers web site, I was able to exceed my own expectations.

I approached this task with solid HTML and Javascript skills but no background in ASP or VBscript and no other programmer to consult with. The answers are all there in concise, yet detailed explainations. If you would like to see what I was able to achieve, visit AccessDB.net.

There is no fluff in this book. I would not recommend this book to a novice or casual web site developer. It is packed with detail that will quickly swamp you in technology that you have no intention of using. However, if you are serious about implementing ASP, Microsoft database technology and more, on an NT4.0 server, this is an excellent book that will remain useful for a long time.

If you have read the first edition of this book, this second edition may look familiar. However, the book has more pages - about 1000 (edition 1 had about 600). There are several additions, especially topics on MTS and Message Queue, which are very good in themselves. "A case study in compatibility" is excellent guide for all, to develop for a varied set of browsers. A whole chapter is dedicated to transactions, a prelude to the chapters on E-Commerce case study and MTS.

The best part is an extended reference at the end of the book, and this time JScript is also covered.

I have a few comments about this book
1. The book should have been thinner, with some chapters on CD-ROM
2. You must be at intermediate level to use this book, else you could get lost easily. Beginners, don't yet touch this unless you know VBScript

In short, without a doubt, the best book ever written on ASP.

This is a useful reference and particularly good for people who prefer detailed observation of objects. For people like me who prefer quantity over quality (i.e. if you don't spend an hour looking at the same object), I'd recommend Kepple's Night Sky Observers guide. Kepple's guides offer a combination of the most useful and comprehensive guides I've seen for intermediate and advanced observational astronomers.

The hardback format of this book isn't particularly good for the field, even though I've seen people referencing beaten-up copies with their red flashlights. It has good quality paper stock.

In sum, this is a standard work on the Messier objects and has substantial value despite its somewhat high price. However, I could think of other books I'd buy first -- Nightwatch for beginners, Kepple's set for more advanced users.

This book is the authority on the Messier objects. I have used it to successfully locate all but the faintest of the Messier objects. It is great because it includes a detailed sky map of the vicinity near each object and a drawing of what it should resemble when observed. iT also has the RA and Dec for each object as well as two written descriptions. It also has a great section on additional deep-space objects not on the Messier list. A must have for any amateur astronomer! This book more than paid for itself in time saved!

This book is a tremendous help to those of us setting out to find the Messier objects. The biggest problem with finding objects is figuring out what they should like like in a telescope -- sometimes I've got something in the finder or telescope and I'm not certain what it is. O'Meara solves that problem by providing photographs and his terrific drawings, not to mention is verbal paintings which could make a blind person see the objects. He devoted hours to each single object, waxing poetic at times about the merits and downsides to every single object. The first few chapters give some good history and background of Messier and other famous comet hunters. As a final plus, the book is printed on very high quality glossy paper so it's a pleasure to read. As a field guide, it would have been helpful to have it spiral bound, but that's my only suggestion for improvement. The author even includes a helpful appendix of other interesting sky objects that are not Messier objects, all of which are worthwhile telescope targets. A winner!

I would like to review of "Therapy" by David Lodge, a post-modernist writer, who is also Honorary Professor of Modern English Literature at Birmingham and a famous literary critic. "Therapy" is the first book I have read by this author and it made a deep impression on me for Lodge's excellent writing skills. My attention was immediately captured and held throughout the novel. The book is a brilliant, hilarious, first-person introspection, an exceptionally moving story that leaves the reader laughing and thinking at the same time. The main character is Tubby Passmore, a successful TV sitcom screenwriter whose creeping mid-life crisis has turned him into a therapy-addict. With the help of Kierkegaard's philosophy, which promoted the centrality of individual choice, he tries to get rid of his latent ANGST. All the other characters are so amazingly well developed that I had a clear picture of them in my mind. I think that the meeting with the pious Maureen, Tubby's first girlfriend, and the final, clarifying exchange of views with the self-assured Sally, his athletic ex-wife, are the most resolutive, turning point of his life, because they give Tubby the opportunity to reflect on his past years, on his mistakes, and push him to understand himself better and to find the key to his problems. In conformity with post-modernist techniques, Lodge uses here different styles, in which he gradually reflects the change in point of view. The language is however very simple and colloquial, although hilariously amusing. I would suggest this book to anybody who is looking for an intelligent, involving and, at the same time, funny book, because "Therapy" is a well written comic story with a strong moral teaching which captures the spirit of human subconscious.

But the only happy marriage in this novel is the one between satire and sensitivity. I had expected comedy and satire throughout, but, though Lodge gives us a good dose of it, the book turns poignant and touching. I think I was in love with Maureen by the conclusion. I read the book initially with reluctance because it had been, as I viewed it, foisted off on me by a book club. I ended thoroughly caught up and engrossed, even shaken at times. I am in that book. He did he know me?

This is an excellent novel by a master of the comic serious, David Lodge. The story is covered in the back cover and other reviews, but I would add that the meaning of this novel and its structure are among the most innovative and genuinely engaging I have seen. Many postmodern novels, a term at which no doubt David Lodge would wince, are structured to allow the reader to impose his own understanding of the facts through intricate structures; but rarely are they deeply engaging. The average comic novel, though entertaining, has little to say. This work has both an elusive structure and engaging comic touches. It also has something important to say. It has the potential to become a work read 50 to 100 years from now despite the topical references to mid 1990's Britain. I won't spoil it for you because all will be revealed. Suffice it to say that our protagonist chooses to live in the present rejecting the despair of the unrecoverable past and the hopeless future.