Buckminster Fuller has fascinated me since my teens because of his borderline science-fictional ideas and his quest to use technology to provide for 100% of humanity -- which unfortunately is a moving target during an era of population growth. Baldwin's book doesn't quite satisfy my curiosity about the current state of Fuller's posthumous work, since he gives me the impression that it's stuck somewhere back in the post-Hippie 1970's. I certainly hope that the field has advanced further along than the dumbed-down "Whole Earth Catalogs" version which celebrated geodesic model kits and "sustainable" (i.e., voluntarily hardship-inducing) technologies.

What I would like to see in a proper review of Fuller's legacy includes (a) mathematicians' assessment of his synergetic geometry, which is more radically anti-Euclidean than non-Euclidean in that it rejects the whole Greek paradigm of "abstraction" from physical objects; (b) economists' assessment of his argument that with proper resource use and rational design decisions we really could take care of 100% of humanity; (c) a discussion of why, if Fuller's goal is indeed practical, after 250 years of industrial and technological progress we've devolved from objectively useful work -- making and moving stuff on farms, in mines and in factories -- into to a situation where we hold absurd, time-wasting and nonproductive "jobs" in "services" (which sociologist Daniel Bell characterized as postindustrial "games between persons"), while billions of other humans don't even have the basics for a materially decent life; (d) and why this goal isn't on the agenda of any major politician or other world-recognized and respected figure.

In other words, I find implicit in Fuller's work the question, "When do we declare victory in the Industrial Revolution, and go on our long-overdue vacation that futurists used to call 'The Postindustrial Leisure Society'?" Although Baldwin supplied me with some useful information on "Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today," it wasn't quite what I wanted.

Buckyworks is a good overview of many of Fuller's ideas. Seeing the video is a must for those who are the slightest bit intrigued by this book. For those new to Fuller, this introduction rates five stars. For those seeking to learn about Fuller in greater detail, this book earns 3.25 stars. Either way, one will enjoy Baldwins' perspective.

I haven't actually read this book but JB is my professor and a fascinating human. Everyday of class is a treat to listen to his life experiences and stories. He was a student of Fuller and clearly understands his theories and has furthered them in ways that would make Bucky proud.

These days it seems like only English professors and their students are reading Melville's poetry. MOBY DICK, and other works undoubtedly proved that he was a master of prose, but the critics weren't so convinced about his poetry, instead giving it lukewarm reviews at best, and calling it amateurish. For this reason we find Melville's prose in the literary canon while his poetry remains on the periphery of obscurity and limbo.

The poems are dense and full of Civil War references, so it would behoove the reader to brush up on his history. Likewise, the reader will quickly realize why Melville's poetry didn't receive the critics' acclaim. They are melodramatic, with an overemphasis on composing within the traditional (some would say archaic) rules of poetry: rhythm, rhyme scheme, etc., which does not translate well into our time and makes it not the most entertaining style to read...

These are interesting poems, but seem to have more historic value (U.S. history and the history/development American poetry) than poetic.

My personal favorites include: "The Stone Fleet," where Melville experiences romance for the whaling ships sailing out of harbor and which, consequently, he never sailed on; and, "The House Top," from where he overlooks the New York enlistment riots, where he implies that those who don't fight for our country aren't for God.
--ross saciuk

I am one of the editors of the Prometheus Books edition of Melville's superb book on the Civil War. Alas, the Library Journal review, posted for the volume, is pathetic: two sentences, only one on Melville's poems, and that one half wrong, for Melville had NO direct experience of actual fighting in the war. What is more, there is no reference to the extensive supplementary material in our volume--including fine essays by Helen Vendler and Rosanna Warren. Caveat emptor regarding any such "review" of the "critics."

It has been said of Herman Melville that his prose is poetic, but his poetry is not. In his time, in fact, his poetry was little-read and quite unpopular. Of course, _Moby Dick_ received only a lukewarm reception back then. Now, his poetry deserves a reassessment.

First, _Battle-Pieces_ should be credited as artistic, sometimes beautiful, poetry. Some of the poems are somewhat doggeral, and would be much improved by a few less forced rhymes. Others, however, are truly moving.

In these latter poems, Melville conveys the horrors of the war--and occasionally the humanity that shone through, uniting the brothers across the battlefield. Few men or women of the time had the experience (he participated in a chase of a Southern soldier) and writing ability to show us this time so effectively. As a result, he produced what, in my opinion, is a book at least as good as his most well-known novel.

At the end of the book he includes an essay on Reconstruction, in which he pleads for an easy reconciliation with the conquered South, more along the lines with Lincoln and Johnson's plans than the Radicals'. While somewhat disappointing (we'd like the man who created QueeQueg to support Southern blacks' rights a little more), the essay is well-written, and allows us to read the nonfictional beliefs of a man we usually associate with fiction--just as the poems let us read the verse of a writer of prose.

This was a very informative book written with a great deal of police insight. I liked the fact that it is new enough to have very recent events in it. Great examples. Only downfall I found was that there was a bit of repeating and jumping around from time to time, but not difficult to follow.

The text is divided into four sections with thirty chapters. New in this edition is a chapter on automobile theft. Earlier editions of the book were required reading for the International Association for Identification's crime scene certification course and I expect that will continue to be true with this edition.

The third edition continues to be bound in paperback which was one my main complaints from the second edition. The dimensions of the book of the been changed resulting in a rather more solid feel to this edition. I'd still prefer to see it in hard cover, however, I understand some of the cost factors involved, which lead to the use of a paper cover.

The third edition also includes a 228 page study guide. The instructors edition includes both an instructors guide, and a set of PowerPoint slides, although I didn't receive the slides with my review copy. Given the popularity of PowerPoint presentations I have to believe this is a valuable addition for those that are using the text in a college course.

Overall the book continues to be well written and illustrated with appropriate photographs or illustrations.

Section one is the Foundation and Principles of Criminal Investigation. Part A is the Sources and Uses of Information, which includes the History of Criminal Investigation, Uses of Physical Evidence, Using People as a Source of Information, and investigations involving records and files.

Section one Part B Seeking and Obtaining Information from People and Records, includes detailed information on Interviews, using Records and Files and Informants. Part C follow-up measures includes chapters on Surveillance, Eyewitness Identification (which includes sketches, composites and line-ups) and two chapters on Interrogation.

Section two: Applying the Principles to Criminal Investigation, includes a chapter on Reconstructing the Past, and chapters on specific crimes including Homicide, Robbery, Rape, Burglary and Arson.

Section three is specialized investigations and includes Terrorism, Computers, White-collar Crime and Crimes Involving Vehicles.

Section four is specialized topics and includes chapters on What is Crime? Managing Criminal Investigations, Controlling Investigations through Constitutional Law, Evidence and Effective Testimony. Chapters which review the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Lindbergh kidnapping, a chapter on Satanism, Cults and Ritual Crime (which in my opinion is still a waste of paper) and a chapter on Raids.

The text also includes five appendices: FBI suggestions for Packaging Physical Evidence, Photographing a Crime Scene, the Vicap Crime Analysis Report, Missing Person Checklist and a Glossary.

Given the breadth of the material presented, the authors can't go into great detail about any particular subject, however, each of the chapters includes an extensive list of supplemental readings.

The third edition continues to be an excellent introductory text on criminal investigation and remains one of my top recommendations.

Very detailed information. But a bit difficult to use for the average cat lovers. Symptom flow charts would be a great addition to the book

Written by faculty and staff of the Cornell Feline Health Center, Cornell University, THE CORNELL BOOK OF CATS is an inexhaustible font of current medical information that is clear yet does not sacrifice clinical accuracy or detail. It outlines the feline anatomy. It discusses behavior and misbehavior and how to understand, identify and correct a cat's behavior problems. The book gives readers guidelines on how to select a cat or kitten, whether a typical house cat or a valuable pedigree. It also provides descriptions of various national associations. Further, it explains feline nutrition and how to properly feed a kitten, and adult cat, an obese cat, a sick cat and an older cat.

The Cornell Book of Cats is the definitive feline health text for cat owners, cat breeders and wise vets. Its depth and range of practical advice and its clear, non-jargon-laden symptom description and treatment options are, in my opinion, without peer. It covers every aspect of feline life and demystifies the latest research and advances. Its descriptions and temperment assessments of the various breeds is accurate. One especially good feature uses simple YES/NO question 'trees' to identify symptoms and their possible causes and treatment choices. It also includes at-home remedies and, most importantly, when NOT to use these remedies. These two features alone, I've found, have 'armed' me with specifics to which a vet can more quickly respond. And, four times now, this book has pinpointed a problem that escaped a vet's initial diagnosis. You may find, as I did, that you will need no other cat health and care books.

Obviously the person who wrote the book, never sought to speak to "informed" or "taken advantage of" Amway distributors. The fact that Amway merely serves as a front for the Diamonds tools and motivational businesses and where the real money and lifestyles come from in Amway. Why not read the truth about Amway in the book "The Cult Of Free Enterprise" by Steven Butterfield

Business is all about people and relationships and the Amway business is no different except the fact that the people you associate with are there to help you become successful as this book demonstrates. This fact has been proven thousands of times over all around the world. If you are considering this business as a vehicle to acheive financial freedom, take the time to seriously investigate, do your homework, and just do it! You won't regret it.

anyone who does not understand this book does not understand network marketing. this book really goes into the depths of amway and brings out the truth about it and anyone who knocks this book does or has not read it at all. the author really researched his subject and has given knowledge to the reader.

The information provided in this book is valuable, but the book is NOT concise. The two authors could have gotten their point across in less than 200 pages. The book "rambles on" for over 400 pages.

Dr.Lark has produced a wonderful book here. I bought a copy for myself and sent one to my family. The concept of acid-alkali balance is of the utmost importance in recovering from any illness and sadly most Americans do not know this yet. You can take all the medicine or supplements you want or see your doctor every day, but you will not get well until you change your diet to an alkali-forming diet and make some life style changes that will improve your body's pH. Dr. Lark is most generous in taking the time to impart all this wealth of information to the reader to heal. The catch is the reader needs to take the initiative to make these life style changes. Since I am very holistic in my approcach to health I do not agree with taking some of the more chemically-oriented alkali-forming supplements listed in the book and prefer to alkalize with diet and green drink supplements instead. If you want to start on the road to good health read this book!

This is a must have book for anyone who has ever experienced "brain fog", fatigue, or simply feeling unwell, and been baffled as to why. This book finally puts together the hows and whys of eating certain foods and the consequences inflicted on our bodies. It is eyeopening, refreshing, solidly grounded nutritionally, and a wonderful book. This is one you will refer to again and again and everyone needs to have this in their library. Couple this with Prescription for Nutritional Healing and hopefully we will all live until we are 90!

This book is written in installments: first-person narratives by people who know the main character. Most of them are only a few pages long, and few of the narrators repeat. Thus, it's impossible to really sympathize with any of them. The main character himself, gunslinger John Wesley Hardin, is hard to like: we never get into his head, and from the outside he looks like just another gangster. The reader sympathizes briefly when he's wounded and imprisoned, only to be put off when he commits his next act of mindless violence or drunken stupidity. The post-Civil War American West, as presented by the author, whacks the reader over the head with violence, lawlessness, and what I felt were rather gratuitous scenes of sex with prostitutes. I'm all for "gritty" historical fiction, but here it sometimes seemed like the author was just trying to show off. Without emotional content, grit is just an irritant. Having said all that, the book is intelligently written and apparently well researched, and it might be somebody else's cup of tea more than it is mine.

There was nothing like the American West in the history of the world and figures like Hardin exemplify it; deadly, brave, sad and foolish all at once. His death seemed a relief because by 1895 there was no place left for the bravado of a gunslinger who would draw over an insult.

I found the writing format, the telling through other's eyes, less engaging and certainly less tasty than Blake's current style.

This was some book ! Absolutely outstanding in every respect - as a story, in its style, very exciting, excellent dialect, really funny in spots, ..... Chapter by chapter I went from hating the arrogant ... (John Wesley Hardin), to wanting to be a Hardin. If he really was as portrayed in this book (which I doubt), he was mostly the kind of person I respect - leave him alone and he'll buy you drinks all night long and otherwise give you the shirt off his back. Meddle in his business, get in his face, or harm his family and he'll whip you or kill you. Now don't get me wrong. Any reader would try to see where they fit in, in that day and time and I am pretty much left with the sad conclusion that I would have probably been a sorry, boot-licking peddler of some kind . . . . not a Hardin.

This is a textbook designed for a one semester undergraduate course in cryptography. This makes it seem a little tamer than what it is. Crypto buffs will enjoy it, and there is little here than is not in some other advanced texts. What is of value is a section on RIJNDAEL, the new advanced encryption standard.
Useful as a starting point but not as easy to follow as some other texts. You better like this stuff already or you shouldn't dive into this book.

If you really want to learn cryptology, this is the book.
If you just want to know the superficial concept of it, then,
this is not the book for you.
Mathematics used in this book is very concise and clear.
This book also has the complete answers for many exercise
problems (not just short answer). The answers for exercise
problems are well written with the full explanations. Well done!! I really enjoy reading this book.

Only those who fear learning even some moderate math in order to learn
the crypto data will not like this book. The payoff is big time with
historical bios of people to fill in the background, symmetric-key and
public-key cryptosystems covered in full, and the facts on primality
testing and factoring to gear up for the advanced topics which are
superb. We even get to learn about quantum crypto. This book just makes me
want to learn more about the subject. I'd recommend it to all but those
who think you can learn crypto without math and who are only interested
in learning how to cryptanalyze algorithms. For them there are many
otherwise useless books out there. This is for those who really want to
learn about crypto and enjoy it in the process!

This book seems to be a commissioned marketing book for network marketing. It reads like a sales brochure and contained very little information that was of value to me. It seems likely that it was funded by a bunch of MLM companies, including Prepaid legal, Excel and Herbalife, among others.

Don't believe the other customer reviews, and don't waste your money on this book. There must be better books out there than this one.

I am also shocked at the number of people who endorse this book on the back cover. I wonder how many of them actually read it.

One of the worst books I have ever read.

The New Professional makes clear the evolution of multilevel and direct marketing. Like many folks, I had a pretty dim view of the overly aggressive sales tactics and misleading meeting agendas that I ran into with many of the earlier direct marketing efforts. Now I see that things have changed for the better - much better! Inventory is not in your home, it's not in someone else's garage, it is at the distributor and easily obtained through the internet. Supply chain management is superb in these new companies.

For example, King and Robinson provide statistics to show why direct marketing is a robust and very efficient model for introducing some products into the market place. And, they show why the type of person involved in network marketing today is truly a professional: "Of key interest, the research found 'successful (direct and network marketing) sales people have a communication style or social style that encourages the building of relationships with their customers . . . The most successful sales leaders have a combination of relationship and task orientation' (in their communication styles)."

Network Marketing and multilevel marketing are synonymous terms. They are defined by a business model which pays commissions on multiple levels of the sales organization. Network Marketing/Selling differs from Direct Selling in that Network Marketing:

1. Focuses on relationships rather than on closing the sale or booking an order
2. Focuses on information sharing
3. Independent business owner (IBO)
4. Commissions on multiple levels of sales (not just retail of the IBO)

The role of the network marketing channel is to accelerate the movement of products using the most efficient distribution technique: word-of-mouth communication.

This is an excellent book to bring you up to date on the network marketing phenominon and to understand the new business models (yes, there are many).

If your considering Network Marketing as a career move then this should be your first text book for learning what you need to know first about the business. I have also attended Dr. Charles King's Networking Marketing Certification course at the University of Illinois @ Chicago with equal enthusiasm. If you take anything from this review, understand that this book was written by a Harvard Grad and tenured Professor at UIC who spent much time researching the business. It is a great book that is required reading especially if you're new to the business of Network Marketing.
Last of all, don't listen to fools who scoff at this book or the Industry, unless of course you wish to remain a slave to your employer and retire a slave to the Governments program.

The book's title raised my expectations unjustly. I was expecting powerful essays like James Baldwin's "The Fire Nextt Time," but remained unfullfilled. Perhaps it a sad byproduct of progress that writers see it fit to deal with such enormous issues with very short accounts that go deeply into personal experince, but shamelessly gloss over the depth of enormous events. These are mentioning in grossly conventinal terms.

i received this book from a friend not expecting a whole lot from it. but to my amazement i found it refreshing. this is, imho, a collection of well written essays. it is, in some ways, an uncontrived look into the minds and personal thoughts of writers. through his 'dead cat, floating boy' essay, which i found to be the most entertaining, i was introduced to john barth (i am now reading 'the sot-weed factor'). the central theme being 'who are we and where are we going?', it is a collection of modern essays for modern times.

Before I read this book I read the two previous readers' reviews, which made me approach the book with great curiosity (and even a little ambivalence). Happily, I would like to report that I was delighted and surprised by these essays; they are written so well, so beautifully-- really a pleasure to read and to be intellectually provoked at the same time. I especially love how personal these essays are; it's not the usual didactic fretting about the postmodern technological age. Here, people write about how their lives truly are affected by the various kinds of "progress" (the word itself is contemplated wonderfully) in America today. An admirable book!