I dipped into this book because I'm interested in Italy and wanted to learn a little about fresco technique (but I wanted to learn it painlessly, which for me means tucked inside a narrative instead of laid out in a textbook). But I found that I stayed with the whole story, genuinely interested in the personalities and the outcome of the project, a religious fresco executed in Charlotte, North Carolina in the late 1980s.

Clearly Ben Long is a difficult albeit talented man, but just as clearly he seems willing to do what he must to keep fresco alive. We read stories of earlier musicians and artists (Mozart and Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto come immediately to mind) who produce a work and present it, uncertain the agreed-upon compensation will be forthcoming or that there will be any at all. Much of Long's work has followed the same pattern: slow, steady execution of a religious fresco, in Italy or the United States, followed by a small "purse" from a grateful priest. The North Carolina project followed by the author in this book was, by design, more lucrative and more modern, but the negotiating, the arguments, the temporary withholding of final compensation, the frayed nerves, the eager acolytes working just for the experience--all of it could have happened 400 years ago. And just when you're starting to realize this, the author deftly segues into the relationship between Pope Julius II and Michelangelo during the frescoing of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

It's refreshing to see such a quiet subject get such careful, journalistic treatment. There are no fireworks here, just a well-told story of interest to those with a fascination with the making of art, with Italy, with fresco in particular, and with the intersection of history and modern times.

I first encountered Ben Long in 1989 in Raleigh, North Carolinawhen I was working on a television profile of his friend and fellowfresco painter, Charles Kapsner. Ben sat, somewhat reluctantly, I thought, for an interview, and regaled us with tales of their days in Florence. I later joined his circle of associates attending the dedication of the St. Peter's fresco in Charlotte. The sense of inspiration was palpable in the church that evening, Ben's generous and deep nature infusing this great monument to the sacred; later, at a bistro down the street, he stiffed me for a bottle of Wild Horse Pinot Noir. How could one not be charmed by this study in contrasts?

By 1990 I had been drawn into his circle, videotaping work at Ben's Paris studio on his next project: the massive fresco triptych which adorns the Bank of America lobby in Charlotte I briefly met Richard Maschal when this book came out, and I found him describing the same man of brilliant mastery, intense commitment and provocative nonsense that I came to know over the span of three years. As painting proceeded at what was then called NationsBank Corporate Center, captains of industry replaced the church hierarchy, and Ben's subject matter moved into secular themes. But the dichotomy of patron and painter remained the same, as Richard so aptly compared to that of Michelangelo and Pope Julius II. At one point Ben's work was halted while Charlotte Powers that Be decided that they understood Ben's desire to make a strong statement about regional heritage, but could not countenance a certain larger-than-life image contained within the center fresco: that of a KKK member smoking a joint. After an enlightening meeting with local African-American leaders Ben gracefully found a way to alter his composition, but at no expense to his vision.

Ben has moved onto other equally challenging commissions, but it is the St. Peter's fresco, and its story as related by Richard Maschal, that places Ben Long as a maestro at the fore of an American renaissance of this ancient technique, the genuine article, just beginning to hit his stride.

Being the author's daughter, I was surprised to find it listed when I took a search on my last name. I was equally surprised to see such a great review!

Aside from my obvious inclinations, this really is a great book. Witty, culturally far-reaching, honest, and wonderfully crafted, it is a fascinating portrait of a man who surely mirrors the tempestuous Michaelangelo. Ben Long is a fabulously challenging man, angry, intelligent, even sexy. Read this book and learn about art, religious tradition, and the creative landscape of America ...

and I got to pick out the title!

Garment shines a little light on some of the more puzzling questions of the Nixon administration and on Iran/contra. He writes as he speaks, conversational and wandering. That's the book's salvation, however: finally here's the human side of some of the darker moments in Republican government. We see how the three branches, press and other groups play off each other to achieve their goals. Like any good serial author, he leaves us hungry for the next book, which will "tell all" about Watergate. I can't wait

I was enticed by this book from the moment I read about Garment's lively performance of "Tiptoe through the Tulips" at age 7 in his father's dress making factory. Having read several Watergate books, I felt that this one was different for one specific reason; Garment makes Nixon into a human being, and helps to bring Nixon's several positive qualities to life (such as his wonderful foreign policy) that many Watergate-related authors have falied to acknowledge. I especially loved the ending of the book at his daughter Annie's Bat-Mitzvah; it was a wonderful conclusion to to a nostalgic story. I am left with only one question...when will the movie be out?

This book is definitely a powerful book regarding the life during the Holocaust. To be more specific, the novel is written in a journalistic manner, where it's author is Noach Levinson. He describes the occurences of all those of whom are close to him.
It is very interesting to how detailed John Hersey has went in describing the happenings of a city in Germany named Warsaw.
Definitely a must read for all those interested in learning about the ghettos during the holocaust. It truley keeps your eyes glued to the book.

This is a very deep and powerful historical novel involving Poland, Jews and the Germans. I think it was published even before the Schindler's list became widely known. This is the story of the condammed Jews in the Polish ghetto trying to fight back without any help from the outside and not for the survival (it was impossible and they knew it) but for the remains of dignity and for the right to die standing tall. Mila 18 by Leon Uris comes to mind when you read "The Wall".

This is a fictitious drama, but most of the characters and incidents are based on historical facts surrounding the 1943 Jewish uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. It is truly an epic, divided into four parts and surround several families' experiences and comraderie during the Nazi occupation of their hometown. Hersey makes a painstaking chronicle of their everyday lives, their hardships and underground networking, leading to the eventual revolt. It is a sad, yet ultimately triumphant story.
A quick, personal rebuttal regarding the teen commenting on this book being boring (and for other youngsters considering reading this book):
1. Just because you're in high school does NOT mean your opinions are not important; they are. If you really feel this book is endless, you can and should say so. But what parts of it do you find objectionable? Are the sentences long-winded (you might find this to be true since Mr. Hersey was trained in journalism, hence he chronicles a great deal of detail into the story)?
2. You might think this is crazy, but try reading this book again! But this time, focus your interest on perhaps just one or two main characters (ie: Dolek Berson, Noach Levinson, Rachel Apt, etc.) By doing this, you'll probably find that your interest level in the material goes up since you'll be more attentive to the goings-on of just the people you want to follow within the story. The remaining details will indirectly fall into place as you continue in the book.
3. Don't let the length of this or any other book intimidate you. I agree with you that "The Wall" is a long piece of work, but the contents makes it worth reading. In contrast, you may have encountered books that are only 100 pages long, but they are so dry and uninteresting that you cannot wait to get to the end of them (I had assigned reading like this in high school, so if you too feel this way, I can empathize!).
In any case, I hope you (and others) are not discouraged from studying this very important era of World War II. All the best!

I agree with many of the reviewers below that this book was helpful and often interesting. It gives a readable orientation to one of the most important movements in the software industry today, and the editors have been fortunate to gather together so many contributors who obviously know whereof they speak. In particular, the editors' Introduction, Eric Raymond's "Brief History of Hackerdom," Richard Stallman's account of GNU and FSF, Bruce Perens's discussion of Open Source, and Tim O'Reilly's essay on "Infoware" were informative and thought-provoking.

That said, it should be noted that the Amazon reviewer above gets it wrong when she writes that the book gives a "fascinating look at the raging debate." In fact, *nothing* about Open Source is debated in this book, which is a major disappointment. As the reviewer from Princeton below notes, the goodness of everything Open Source and the badness of everything Microsoft seems to be a given for many of the writers. At the risk of criticizing the book for not being something its creators didn't intend, I think it would be greatly improved with the addition of a wider range of viewpoints and even a dissenting voice or two. (There are a number of essays that could give place to some alternate content: Eric Raymond's second essay, "The Revenge of the Hackers," leans heavily toward the self-congratulatory, as does the Netscape cheerleaders' "Story of Mozilla." And Larry Wall's "Diligence, Patience, and Humility" seems to have been included not on its own merits but on the author's reputation as the Perl Deity.)

A final wish is for the book to address a broader range of readers. As a longtime computer user but a relatively new programmer, with no formal business training, I found many of the essays to rely heavily on the jargon of hackers and MBAs. More editorial control here, in addition to a broader range of content, would make this book seem less like preaching to the choir and more effective at spreading the Open Source gospel.

This is a good idea on O'Reilly's part to try to document the history and goals of the Open Source movement, which had roots in several college campuses and research labs in the '70s and '80s, and became news in the late '90s with the popularity of Linux, Apache, and the decision of Netscape to open its browser source. The best introductory piece, however, is probably Eric Raymond's "Cathedral and the Bazaar" which is not in this book(O'Reilly publishes it separately, but it's available free on the Web and short enough to be read in one sitting). As for this collection, I liked Robert Young's business case for distributing open source - his story of how Red Hat was launched reminds me of the Compaq tale of "three guys in a restaurant". The Apache article is also quite good, and Linus Torvalds offers a brief but interesting (and characteristically opinionated) article about how Linux evolved technically. There's also a good article discussing the various open source licenses (BSD, GPL, Netscape, etc) and what they do and don't restrict.

Others I was less impressed with. Stallman's article is predictable and self-serving. He explains how he evolved his software-as-gift philosophy but doesn't come close to terms with how the software industry can support substantial employment if all source is given away. There's yet another history of the different branches of BSD Unix. There's a breathtaking inside account of the launch of Mozilla which ends with the fancy Silicon Valley party when development has finally gotten underway. The low point is Larry Wall's "essay", which is a frankly ridiculous waste of time and print.

Although this is a mixed bag, there's enough reference material and interesting points of view to keep the book around.

First of all, take a look at the list of authors. It reads as a "Who's Who" guide for the software and tools I'm running on my current system. (Kernel by Torvalds, GNU/Free Software by Stallman, Open Source Software by a number of individuals/companies (esr, Perens), development tools by Cygnus (Tiemann), DNS by Vixie, web server by Apache (Behlendorf), CGI programming in Perl by Wall, browser by Netscape (Hamerly, Paquin), Linux Distribution by RedHat (Young), and references by O'Reilly. (Of course, there should be an "et al." behind every one of these names.)

This is a great book for achieving basic literacy in the (generically-termed) Open Source movement.

By reading this book, you'll get rms' view of why software must be free. (And indeed, why it eventually will be free.) You'll also find out how some companies (like the newly-merged RedHat/Cygnus conglomerate) can thrive in a market where the product is free.

If you read *all* of the essays, you'll even find out why the Free Software Foundation's GPL does not work in some cases, and how "Open Source Software" is similar to and differs from "Free Software". (The below reviewer should be slapped with his Clue Stick for not taking the time to read and understand this important difference. ;-)

And you'll also find out why Perl (like Larry Wall himself) is so strange and brilliant at the same time.

The reason this book only gets 4 stars is due to the lack of proofing. One of Wall's diagrams is completely missing, and there are numerous typos. This is the first O'Reilly book I've seen with a lot of stupid mistakes. (And I've seen a lot of them. =)

PKG

I know Eddie personally, and I find that at 80 years old he continues to work as hard as most people in their 30s. He is a driven man, whose ambition is boundless.

This recent book is a swift read and covers the major events in Eddie's life in a well researched and balanced way. From the heights of two separate fortunes to the depths of two jail stints, it is really an amazing story. The most amazing part is that it is true. Eddie Gilbert is still making history today as a very, very successful real estate investor. Everything he touches turns to gold.

I recommend reading the book, not for its literary merits which are very modest, but for the truly extraodinary story of the many lives of Eddie Gilbert.

This well written book is a facinating review of a very intelligent man that made some poor decisions early in his career and spent most of his life redeeming himself to the public and his friends. It is wonderful to read about his ultimate success in overcoming the adversity of the press, the legal system and the cutthroat Wall Street environment. The book illustrates that it is possible to have been in jail and to be financially successful and respected by family and business associates alike in the end.

The author did a excellent job of researching the material that has resulted in a very factual, objective narrative... but it still reads like a novel!

I would strongly recommend purchasing this book, particularly if you are a business leader that must make people judgements.

A good book to read. You get a better understanding of the pre/during/post WW II period in Europe of politics and the main actors involved. I read the original in Dutch where it was published three years ago. Now I give it to my American relatives to read. The humanity the author expresses in the book really struck me. It put a human face on much I have read till now about these years.

Despite what the subtitle book says, this book is more than the inevitable lightness of being Canadian. It is about the lightness of being any one of the modern states, Canada, The United States, or Australia. Gwyn's argument is that these countries were founded upon principles that were radically different than previous one's (freedom, equality, diversity, egalitarianism, the appropriations and others). These countries were not built upon any explicit ethnic or racial creed, or language, or even a common history.

Together these values made them great and an attraction to people all over the world. Now these societies they are slowly being eroded by other modern principles like the emphasis on rights and less to responsibility, hyper-individualism, excessive cultural differentiation, loss of a sense of history, globalism, multiculturalism and many others. Gwyn believes that are undermining the very values that made theses societies great.

Within the context of Canada Gwyn sees the emphasis on rights as a problem. He argues that too many people are focusing on their rights and less on the responsibilities of citizenship. The other is the increasing disposition for immigrants entering theses societies to emphasize their cultural or ethnic differences while choosing not to abide by any values of the society that they are entering. What Gwyn sees is a tendency for such a society to become increasingly a collection of individuals and less of a community striving toward a common good. He rightly points out that the loss of civility, tolerance, and marked indifference are the first signs of such a shift. He argues that Canada has more at stake than any of the other two countries should this progression continue.

Unfortunately Gwyn does not make a cogent argument. At some points, the book seems to go off in many directions at once. Although I agreed with his basic premises, I wanted him to not only state and show instances of the problem, but also to give some concrete solutions to it, even if they are exploratory. After reading you get an idea of what Gwyn feels the solutions are, but you can only do this indirectly. (I am still trying to figure out the point to his chapter entitled "Postmodern Dominion".)

Despite this drawback, I still believe that this book should be read, if not for an interest in Canada, at least for an interest in how a society can evolve as a result of the unintended consequences of otherwise well-meaning ideas as well as the possible effects that the same changes he sees in Canada will have here in the States. Gwyn's sobering argument is not racist or eurocentric as books of this type sometimes are. This book will undoubtedly give you a new cultural perspective. Maybe the reader will find the solutions that Gwyn could not.

An eye-opener. Even after all the security laws/regulations passed during/after the Great Depression, there is still an insiders club that exists within the Stock Exchanges. And that "club" continues to fleece the average retail investor. The Exchange rationalizes the "club" as necessary to stabilize market prices. When in reality, the "club" introduces instability for its own gain. Corporate insiders have to disclose stock transactions. Why not the market makers? Even though the book is thirty-years old, it still rings true today. The club still exists and the government still has done relatively little to reign in the abuses of the insiders "club."

Wyckoff makes about a dozen good points in the second half of the book.

All of Richard Wycoffs books are enjoyable and practical to investors and traders, and this is no exception. This tome takes you through Mr. Wycoff's career on Wall Street. What I find amazing is how little things have changed. Sure the laws are a little different now, but the games are still the same. Just replace Jay Gould with Ken Lay, stock pools with hedge funds, rail stocks with internet stocks and it could have been the late 90s when the story takes place.

Other than the story, there are bits and pieces of investment and trading advice throughout the book. I would also recommend his Stock Market Technique 1 and 2 books if you enjoy books on Stock Market history.

This book provides a colorful history of the leading operators of Wall Street in a time forgotten and unknown by most of today's traders and investors. Each chapter in this book relates to a particular year, all listed in chronological order. The main titles are also furnished with a few subtitles concerning the topics to be discussed.

What seems the most attractive to me are those black and white photos showing Wall Street and other areas of lower Manhattan as it looked in the 1800s and early 1900s. Also are photos of outstanding persons such as J.P. Morgan with his family, Harriman, Keene and others.

It should be noted that there is not much to learn that could be applied in today's market because conditions have changed drastically from those "good old days" when there was less regulation. For instance, today the margin on stocks is held at 50% versus the high leverage obtained in those times. Also short-selling didn't have any rules as is the case today. However, the book still makes for interesting and exciting reading.

I had to read a few chapters from this book for one of my finance classes. At first I was very skeptical of the text because of the authors' obsession with CAPM, beta, and modern portfolio theory. These concepts make no sense at all. They only serve to illustrate that even the most elegant mathematical models of the world have little practical value if the underlying assumptions are wrong. Very soon, however, my initial prejudice towards the book began to disappear. Eventually, I read the entire textbook, which wasn't required by my instructor. I still believe that CAPM and modern portfolio theory are all wrong but I was fascinated by authors' extensive discussion of NPV and Capital Structure. NPV, indeed, is the only proper way to value any business venture and no compromise can be made in this respect. Brealey & Myers got that one right.The book is well written and most of the examples and explanations are easy to comprehend...

I have used this book three times now: as an undergraduate in financial economics, at the training program at an investment bank, and at the core finance course at my MBA. It is a very good resource and learning tool, going from the very basic ideas of discounting all the way to options pricing and more innovative finance.

This is the preferred learning tools of all finance professors I have met and the reference used by all finance professionals I met. It is very simple to follow the concepts of the book, especially if you purchase the study guide that is available with it.

The only major concern I have heard is that it does not deal with the more recent finance problems of off-balance sheet financing and other shenanigans. This is a book meant to teach basic financial theory, so those topics, in my opinion, are better treated elsewhere.

This Brealey and Myers's textbook, now in its 7th edition, introduces the student to the fascinating world of corporate finance. The first few chapters of the book demystify Net Present Value, the preferred method for calculating the value of an investment project. Brealey and Myers then explain how risk and return are related and introduce the Capital Asset Pricing Model. The CAPM's strengths and weaknesses are both explored in detail. The authors continue by analyzing the significance of dividend policy and debt policy for a corporation -- including the rather surprising result that in perfect markets these just don't matter! The next topic is options, financial and real; major pricing models are covered, and warrants and convertibles get a fair treatment, too. The remaining parts of the book deal with a variety of topics such as valuing debt, managing financial risks, financial planning as well as mergers and corporate governance.

At 1071 pages, Principles of Corporate Finance can hardly be called a short book. Introductory textbooks often suffer from a "too-much-too-little" syndrome, in that numerous topics are covered, but none too well. Brealey and Myers easily avoid this pitfall. Their writing is solid and manages to keep the reader's interest. Although available space puts a limit on what can be said, the book's coverage is quite comprehensive and well linked to the results of modern research. Moreover, all topics receive their fair share of treatment so you can actually understand the theories the book presents. It should be noted here that some mathematical background is probably necessary to make the book easy reading.

Each chapter contains many problems which can be used to facilitate the learning process. I found them very useful. The only complaint I have about the book (International Edition) is that the binding proved less than perfect, as after a while pages started separating from the main body of the work. But that is a problem I can live with.

All in all, an interesting, readable, authoritative introduction to corporate finance.