Thomas was given access to the church archives when researching this book, but then he was denied permission to quote from anything he read there. (At least according to a letter the author published later in response to an unfavorable review--Thomas ought to have clarified this issue in his preface to the book.)

The result is a book full of broad claims resting precariously on slender evidence. Thomas' overly vague descriptions of archival material cannot support his conclusions.

If you're interested in learning more about Eddy (as opposed to learning more about what Thomas *thinks* about Eddy based on secret information), don't waste your money on this book.

This book is supposed to be a psychoanalytic study of Mary Baker Eddy. It is anything but that.

The authors appear to be non-Christian Scientists have looked into Christian Science and decided that it is the correct explanation of Jesus's works and teachings. Although this book offers some wonderful intellectual insights into Mrs. Eddy's life and career, it is far more praiseworthy than antagonistic.

Strongly recommended, whether or not you're a Christian Scientist.

I am one of relatively few people who have had the enormous privelige of being taught by Robert Thomas - "Doc Thomas", as he was universally known. He is a man with an extraordinary and profound intellect, and an unparalleled ability to illuminate complex and intricate issues. If you desire an intellectual thrill, buy the book. Better still would be to take a class from him, an experience which in the course of nine months taught me how to think and write. He could sell tickets to his dissection of Dr. Strangelove. It was truly that fascinating.

Doc, if you read this, I want to say now that you are unequivocally the most brilliant, effective and entertaining teacher I have ever had the privelige of learning from. You have taught me more than any person ever has, and given to me the art of analysis. Thank you, thank you, thank you. My only regret is that you didn't stay one more year. I know dozens of us would have been lining up for Am Cult, myself included.

-David (no, not Big Hands who forgot his notes for the final)

If you want to understand everything about the historical backgrounds of such now well-known management instruments like the balanced scorecard, activity based costing and EVA, there is no better book to read than this book. This book started off a transformation of management accounting and of organizational performance management. Essential reading for controllers, students of management and management consultants.

Good in-depth survey of the history and purpose of Management Accounting. Classic book. You see Kaplan's thought processes as he develops the basis of his later works on new forms of accounting such as the Balanced Scorecard and EVA.

If you are a management accountant this book will put your work into perspective as well as caution you about the pitfalls of doing things the way theu have always been done.

Relevance lost of a book about the history of management accounting. The book is very well documented in that in times they were able to deduce different conclusions made by others. They start from the very beginning exploring as far back as the 18th century. They start out by discussing how textile mills started recording in their books accounting information. They begin from the very beginnings of accounting. Accounting emerged as a discipline in the early 18th century, but their underlying purpose in not for internal uses but it was created so that stakeholders can gauge the value of their investment in the firms that put out these financial statements. In the book there are a number of firms they highlight that made important contributions to management accounting. The first company they highlight is DuPont corporation in the nineteenth century. There is a theme to the development of management accounting. DuPont first staterted out as a manufacturer of gunpowder but went on to become bigger. The first companies that innovated their way of internal controls in management accounting grew out of a necessity. DuPont first came out with a measure of their business which was the return on investment measure. Because Dupont was becoming bigger and it needed to measure return on investment to measure the profitability of individual business units. It was a measuring rod to asses the different business activities of it business units. With this measure the managers of DuPont could make decisions such us which business units to invest on and do away with units that are performing poorly.
In the 1920's at General Motors they have been experimenting with using variances to measure how well they are doing in their manufacturing. In to the picture is a man named Alfred Sloan, he is one of the most brilliant thinkers in management. With implementing variances GM was able to have a uniform way to impose standards to its managers. With this system, GM's growth became remunerative.
Then there came a period as the authors put it when relevance was lost. Financial accounting accounted for the bulk of the innovations in accounting leaving behind management accounting. This is like the "dark ages" of cost accounting when companies and academics did not innovate methods and processes to advance management accounting. There were a number of reasons for this, first is the requirement imposed in companies to generate financial statements for the stakeholders of the companies. Second, the cost of putting together the necessary information was prohibitive. Technology has not yet grown mature enough to allow managers to go through the trouble of compiling the information needed to make the decisions.
The beauty of this book is that it traces beginnings of topics that are familiar to us now. Topics like variances, discounted cash flow analysis, return on investment, sunk cost, and even just-in-time inventory systems. The next evolution of management accounting is to be led by academicians according to the authors. In this stage of the life of management accounting arose discounted cash flow analysis. This is a step ahead of the return on investment method. This is also a time when economist started to innovate management accounting further. The concept of sunk cost is introduced by economist in the London School of Economics. Innovations also arose by way of the field of operations research. Operations research deals primarily of mathematics. And about this time management accounting was taking hold as a discipline of its own. Along with discounted cash flow analysis, opportunity cost is introduces as well as agency theory and residual income. Residual income is interesting in that it was a step backward in the innovations of theories. Even though, GM started using this instead of the return-on-investment measure. The driving force of this period of the growth of management accounting is the need to have better decision making. This is why economics along with operations research contributed to the growth of management accounting.
Next up, management accounting in its evolved form before 1980 falls short. Management accountants make a couple of theoretical mistakes. They are no longer providing managers of the critical information needed to make decisions. Management accounting has become obsolete in a sense. The next development is what happened after 1980. Because of bitter and growing competition because of global forces and deregulation there needed to be more changes. In this period arose what is now called total quality management, and its progeny just-in-time systems. Manufacturers needed to control their work-in-process inventory. Meaning the Japanese where beating Americans by having zero inventory. This led to changes in management accounting systems throughout the United States.

Anne Garland has three suitors - which one of them will win her hand? Hardy's "The Trumpet-Major" is set in Southern England during the Napoleonic Wars. This was a nervous time - tensions were high due to the threat of French invasion: this context permeates the actions of all the characters of the novel. Indeed, Hardy introduces into the narrative some real historical figues, such as King George III and Captain Hardy (of HMS Victory fame).

This isn't a bad book, but it pales in comparison to to Hardy's major novels. I like Hardy when he's at his gloomiest, when weird events happen in the depth of the English countryside. This book is pretty routine stuff both in its underpinning theme (who will marry the eligible young lady? - it seems to me that nineteenth century novelists were almost totally obsessed by this)and its lightness of style. Utterly harmless, but instantly disposable stuff.

I have read most of Thomas Hardy's novels--he is, along with Wilkie Collins, my favorite novelist--and this is the first one by which I have been disappointed. Still, a disappointing book by Hardy is worth ten by nearly anyone else, so let me explain. The ending felt quite out of the blue and abrupt compared to the events leading up to it, yet in retrospect, it makes more and more sense.

The ending aside--where the oddness is confined to just the last two pages--this is a superb character study of five disparate main characters and a handful of minor characters. Hardy is a master at imbuing each character with not only distinct personalities, but with the inconsistencies and flaws that make them leap, whole and warm-blooded, from the page. His characters are never stock people; they always seem as though they are people you could (or do) actually know in your own life.

The primary character is Anne Garland, a lovely country village girl who is much sought after by three different local men. These include Festus Derriman, a ne'er-do-well with a temper and a lust for his uncle's money; John Loveday, a soldier and the trumpet-major of the novel's title, who is the kindest, most patient character I believe I have ever seen in a novel; and John's younger brother Bob, who is a boisterous sailor with good intentions but a short attention span when it comes to the ladies. The machinations by which these three seek to catch Anne's eye is endlessly inventive and endlessly interesting for the reader, and her varied reactions to their attentions is a marvel of observed detail and the inconsistency of human nature. By turns hot and cold towards each of the men, Anne never seems shallow or thoughtless--merely human. There is also another sharply etched female character, the actress Matilda Johnson, who appears only a couple of times, but who is the linchpin of much important action.

As always, Hardy likes to insert subtle humor into even the most serious of situations. In detailing the village's concern about Napoleon (who is referred to frequently in the book by the derisive nickname "Boney"), Hardy writes:

Widow Garland's thoughts were those of the period. "Can it be the French?" she said, arranging herself for the extremest form of consternation. "Can that arch-enemy of mankind have landed at last?" It should be stated that at this time there were two arch-enemies of mankind, Satan as usual, and Buonaparte, who had sprung up and eclipsed his elder rival altogether. Mrs Garland alluded of couse to the junior gentleman.

You will be surprised, as I was, by the man with whom Anne Garland ends up. Yet now, just a day or two after having finished the novel and having been almost affronted by the abruptness and seeming insuitability of the ending, my position has softened and I can see that Hardy was actually quite true to the characters, their motivations, and their choices--however inconsistent they may at first have seemed to the reader. This is not by any means a great Thomas Hardy novel, but an average novel by Thomas Hardy is still a marvel of construction, of character, and of plot.

She was walking through the library carrying the university's entire Hardy collection. I already had a nasty schoolboy crush on her, but after that day I was jello. And perhaps it began on the afternoon she lectured on Thom. Hardy, describing him as a poet who sacrificed his art to survive as a novelist. Yet, his novels were not pot-boilers, and Hardy eventually returned to his true muse. I shouldn't write this - let Linda explain it to you.

This is a compact little book with nice black and white illustrations appropriate to the saints, martyrs, or heroes depicted in the synopses above. The information in this book, which represents a great deal of research by the author, is presented in a manner that is interesting to read. That INFORMATION, however, is ESSENTIALLY INACCESSIBLE, BECAUSE IT IS NOT INDEXED. Only the illustrations are, but not in a way that would give the reader a clue as to the page on which the story about a particular saint, martyr, or hero can be found. Nor is there a clue in the titles that top the pages. In the next printing could someone please add an index? If not that, how about printing the name of each saint, martyr, or hero on the page where his/her story first appears in bold?

Be forewarned that some of the people reviewed by Mr. Morgan are villains --- "saints" in name only. But still, this book consistently holds the reader's attention because of the wealth of historical information to be found in it. In spite of the fact that some of the people reviewed are villains and heretics more than saints and heroes, the fact remains that they were ALL involved in the history of the Christian church, and therein lies the compelling interest and value of the book. Mr. Morgan does not judge; he leaves that to the reader, which would probably be necessary for the author of any such book, no matter how stringently he tried to keep to biographies only of people whose faith every reader would judge to be genuine.

"On This Day" is money well spent, in my opinion, and my wife and I are using it as a gift selection for some of our friends.

Rev. Carlston Berry Oklahoma City, OK

The book is full of inspirational stories of saints, marters and church history. I gained a new understanding of many of the changes in the church over the years. Each day has a one page story of some special happening that occured that day in the history of the church.

Given the immense amount of research and effort the author put into this book, I'd like to give it a more positive evaluation. This is a very detailed, almost exhaustive account of Serbian political events and conflicts during the 1990s (up to mid-1998). In many ways it serves as a useful reference guide - but only for those already familiar with the complexities of politics in the former Yugoslavia. This is perhaps the book's central flaw: it seems to assume that readers will already have a handle on events and politics in Yugoslavia as a whole during the late 1980s, as well as the wartime events during the early 1990s in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, so that the author just rambles on about the political tug-of-war going on among various Serbian politicians and political parties. At times Thomas spends too much time discussing the squabbles between the leaders of Serbia's largely ineffective opposition parties, while ignoring the overall political, social and economic situation in Serbia. Thus there is little discussion of the growth of organized crime as the Serbian economy flagged under the burden of international sanctions nor, crucially, of the ensuing close ties and collaboration between mob leaders and the political elite. Also, and quite strangely, there is relatively little discussion or in-depth analysis of perhaps the most important figure in Serbian politics for the last fifteen years: Slobodan Milosevic. Other than some very general analysis in his introduction and conclusion, Milosevic is otherwise treated by Thomas as some sort of gray eminence of Serbian politics, always pulling the levers, but rarely seen. Therefore, this book is disappointing in many ways. One can only hope that if the author decides to do a revised edition to cover the events of 1999 (the Kosovo crisis and the NATO air strikes) he will also thoroughly rework the entire text.

Thomas does an excellent job of treating the blow-by-blow behavior of Serbia's political leaders in the 1990s. As a political scientist researching the Balkans, I rely on this book heavily to recall who did what to whom when.

I second some of the comments made by an earlier reviewer (Bosnar?). The book does presume some deeper knowledge of the players in Serbian politics (and, happily, pays attention as well to plenty of 'lieutenants'.) While it summarizes some of the context involving economic difficulties, the paramilitarization of some semi-political groupings, and relationships between Serbs in Serbia proper and Bosnian Serbs, it does tend to treat parties somewhat in isolation from their environmental context. It is also emphatically not a biography of Slobodan Milosevic, although it mentions some of the events surrounding his rise in the early days. (Nearly everything you've read on Milosevic's biography in any English source most likely originated in the stunningly detailed works of Slavoljub Djukic, which are all in Serbian. I dearly hope somebody will put him in touch with a publisher who will translate him into English and give him the marketing boost he's missing in the West.)

Granted, some of the juiciest information is simply hard to obtain, particularly with regard to the "mafia-tization" of the state-dominated economy and the economic "reform" process in general. But that's where the real battle for power is all across the Balkans, and any treatment of parties in these countries must address the rewards they seek and sometimes achieve at any level of political power. This is particularly the case for Serbia, where political control over the new business class is the tightest, and sometimes the most deadly. Given Thomas' great familiarity with parties and their primary leaders, one would think he wields at least a passing level of familiarity of the political battles for economic power in Serbia. Certainly any later update of this book should reflect the post-Zajedno scene on this score, as the regime's latest maneuverings emphasize how worried they are about electoral loss while they attempt to cushion any potential fall by shifting their power into the economic realm, i.e., into the nests they've feathered for 10 years.

Note that this book, while good about reporting electoral results, will not be sufficient in and of itself for those doing or seeking more in-depth electoral behavior studies. It also tends to emphasize the rhetoric of political leaders--sometimes striking and self-explanatory in itself--again, for knowledgeable readers--but not always examined or probed for its validity or intent. Still, one has to be impressed with Thomas' assiduous collection of the Serbian press (back when it was functioning semi-normally), and he does a very good job when it comes to interpretation of some of the gaps.

The introductory chapter raises some interesting conceptual points, but really does not provide a tight, convincing methodological argument despite some attempt at appearances. One should realize that Thomas hails from a more British/European orientation of political science, resulting in a more narrative/chronological story as opposed to rigorously developed argumentation. For example, you will get an excellent description of the bitter internecine warfare among opposition leaders, but not an explanation as to why.

I don't mean to slight the book overmuch: we need good, well-researched description as a necessary foundation before we can attempt more convincing causal theories, and Thomas gives us a wealth of excellent material on the case of Serbia. It's an essential work for observers of contemporary Balkan politics, whether political scientists, journalists, or interested laypeople, and that's why I give it four stars.

Despite the array of books published on former Yugoslavia in recent years, only few have dealt with Serbia, although politics in Serbia have clearly determined the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. The book by Thomas is surprisingly balanced and loaded with facts hard to come by eleswhere. Although a more analytical approach might be desirable, the chronological account of Serbian politics is useful for anybody researching of former Yugoslavia and a "must" for those working on Serbia.

I don't know much about St. Thomas, so I don't know if Robert Barron has adequately summarized him. But I like what he has to say. It's good stuff, and very worthwhile reading. It puts the (allegedly) dry theology of St. Thomas in a very practical and helpful light. (Again, if it's all true. Fr. Barron doesn't cite St. Thomas enough to give me confidence that his interpretation is accurate.)

If Fr. Barron's perspective on St. Thomas is correct, this volume could serve to ameliorate the concerns of many Protestants about Catholicism, since the vision of God and man that this doctor of the church (St. Thomas, not Barron) sets forth seems to smooth the thorny path to reconciliation.

Having said that, I have one major criticism. Fr. Barron has fallen into the unfortunate modern idea of alternating between masculine and feminine pronouns -- even in reference to God. Reading this volume is not unlike having a sharp stick leap out of the page and poke you in the eye every other paragraph or so. It's horribly annoying, completely unneccessary, and mars and otherwise interesting and useful book.

Shame on you, Fr. Barron.

In this helpful little book, Barron saves Thomas from the dry treatments his theology often receives in the secondary literature. To be sure, Barron is less interested in interpreting Thomas as a historical figure, and more concerned to show the relevance of Thomas for Christians today. In fact, Barron may often go too far in taking Thomas out of his medieval context. For example, Barron emphasizes the centrality of Christ for Thomas's theology (something rarely argued). While this is in a sense true, more textual argument is required to establish this point for scholars who are accustomed to seeing Thomas as more interested in philosophy than Christian theology. Barron may too quickly make Thomas a dialogue-partner with 20th century theology. All this said, the book remains a joy to read and a helpful introduction to Thomas for those teaching undergraduates or seminary students. After all, Thomas's dry writing is meant to do nothing less than lead the reader into the wonder at the center of the Christian life, which is most profoundly revealed in Christ. I must personally thank Barron for helping me remember this as I wade through Thomas's often less-than-exciting texts.

The great achievement of Robert Barron's little book on the Angelic Doctor is that he points the reader to the spiritual quest that lies at the heart of Aquinas' seemingly arid intellectual inquiry.

For too long, the scholastics in general and Aquinas in particular have been accused of overintellectualizing about the mysteries of faith. An overemphasis on reason is presented as squelching our embrace of the mysteries of faith. On the contrary, as Barron argues, the scholastic effort to find theological precision was an effort to clear away the stumbling blocks to faith that our false notions of God can present. Whether we mean to or not, we do have concrete ideas about the mystery of God. To the extent that our ideas are mistaken, our faith can never lead us to the heart of the True Mystery we seek. Aquinas' project was to clear away the dead-ends our unexamined reason produces for us, so that we can find our way to the abyss of God.

Barron has the great gift of making Aquinas' theology come alive for the lay reader. For anyone seeking the great adventure of coming to know God better both through reason and faith, I recommend this book most highly.

Thomas More dreams of a world of tolerance and antimilitarism, but also of collectivism and anticapitalism (a world without money). For him, a world based on private property cannot be prosperous and just. He considered all treaties between prosperous states as a conspiracy of riches.
So, he was more radical than the most diehard leftist of today.
His principal targets are kings, religious authorities and the landowners with their disastrous policy of enclosures, driving all farmers and their families into certain poverty and death.
He gives us also a juicy mockery of the Swiss, who sold themselves as mercenaries to the highest bidders.
This book is still a worth-while read.

Generally, this is a very good edition of utopia. The translation from Latin is clear and very readable. Furthermore, the critical texts are a great help to the student. Now I don't have to run off to collect them from various magazines. In principle the inclusion of other utopias is a good idea as well. However, I was somewhat disturbed by the editorial notes on "Looking backward". It does not seem to me as if Mr. Adams has read very much of the novel. For instance, I found his comments on the role of women in the book misleading.

Thomas More's incredible, influential work, has one foot in the Middle Ages and the other in the Renaissance. More reflects on the Middle Ages, but was not yet ready for the Lutheran reformation. More offers both humor (for example, using gold as chamber pots), and political thinking on capitalism. I however think his Utopia is a reflection of the monastic system (without severe asceticism) rather than communism. I'm sure it is no accident that geographic the island of Utopia is similar to England. It is ironic that More did not heed Raphael's advice about servitude to the king. The inclusion of the humanist letters adds further to the humor.

This fine edition includes important predecessor such as Plato's republic and the Acts of the Apostles. Description from Amerigo Vespucci's first voyage, calls to mind Rousseau's "Noble Savage". With the inclusion of selections from Ovid to Brave New World this book includes almost two millennium of utopian thinking.

Accessible and highly useful, the format of "Cecil Essentials of Medicine" is unique. This is one of the few broad-scope medical texts, which used simple language to present advanced information. The book is dynamic; and very easy to understand. Its strengths lie in the methodological manner with which it tackled clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and therapeutics. It gives detailed information in each case, without dabbling into anything that is unnecessary.
Anybody who reads this book will appreciate the depth of its coverage. It is a quality designed: a valuable compilation with both doctors and students in mind.

I am a 4th year medical student and have referred to this book contantly on my rotations. i find that the chapters were lucid and covered just the right amount of depth for each topic. Best of all, the authors focused on all the clinically relevant points of each disease which is a must for the busy clinician. Get it now!

Following in the tradition of Yale's Cardiovascular Health Guide, the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide, and the Johns Hopkins Medical Guide to Health After 50, the venerable Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons offers us this latest addition to the health-obsessed consumer craze for complete home medical references. As expected, this book offers only more of the same: a good name, a lot of pages, and a redundant course in layman's medicine. Given the sheer size and weight of the volume (lifting it is an exercise itself), you would expect the entries to have more detail and, well, more specialized terminology. The diagrams which accompany many of the chapters elicit more boredom than information (save for the psychiatric section's tables, which are rather good), and the overall organization of the book sacrifices content for accessibility. I've seen many home medical guides at the bookstore lately, and this one just doesn't stand out in particular. My honest recommendation is that you look past the University's illustrious name and opt instead for the MERCK MANUAL HOME EDITION (paperback version), which for its small size and affordable price is the best home medical guide for the entire family.

Very informative. I suffer from PVC's and try to get my hands on as much info as possible. I found this book to be very helpful in my understanding more on this condition.

It is an Ok book, but it is very boring and not very active. I didn't like it much, but it is pretty good. When kids look into books, they look for excitenent and lots of chapters, like in HARRY POTTER books. Once again, this book was OK but I've seen MUCH better! ROCK ON... PEACE OUT

This book was very good. It was a tragic story about a young girl's life in Mississppi in the 1920's. She moved to Chicago and all kinds of things happened to her family. This is a great book and we liked it! You should read it!

BFFL SV&AN

This was a wonderful story for students in the fifth grade. We used this novel to link music class, art class, history, and reading. The story painted such a vivid picture for the students. The author, Dorothy Hoobler, beautifully took us on a tour of the 1920's.