Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War Written by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelbery and William Broad is a book the reveals to the reader what kind of threat germ warfare is to us all. The writers did an excellent job tracking down government reports and interviews with people in the know.

This book is an investigative journalism style book, asking questions and later providing answers and solutions to something we really do NOT want out-of-the-box. Secret reports from the CIA, Pentagon, and details about the massive program the Soviet Union embarked upon including charges of human test subjects. There are interviews with senior government officials, including President Clinton.

Reading this book is a real wake-up call, not only to the United States government, but to the people as well. We need to protect our shores from both foreign and domestic threats... as it doesn't take a superlab to make these biological agents, but it will take a super-effort among the American people to maintain the life we enjoy today.

I would concur with the authors of this book that our next threat will be germ weapons, the advances in biology has been mainly unchecked for years giving rise to both legitmate and illegimate research labs. Remembering that terrorists are not rational and are causal fanatics, we have to, now, account for bio-weapons labs... perfecting biological weapons is no longer a viable livelyhood... we need to use this biology with genetically modified germs to counteract the weapons and stop misuse.

The narrative flows freely and is easily understood, as this is a fast read, but more importantly a very informative and eye-opening book.

As a crime fiction writer with my debut novel in initial release, I found GERMS fascinating. Within minutes of the shameful attack on our twin towers, I mentioned to my wife the possibility that truly determined terrorists could have planted biological weapons within their luggage as they boarded those airliners they planned to turn into bombs. GERMS confirmed, to this reader, that such a possibility was at the very least possible. Fortunately, it appears now that our nation has dodged that bullet on this occasion, but this book is a must-read work. The journalists who collaborated on GERMS present frightening details involving the possibilitiy of biological warfare in our modern age. They also report on our government's attempts to prepare for and, we hope, prevent such an attack. We are living a new age. Warfare will not be what we have witnessed in the past. GERMS makes that fact clear. Anyone who wants to be an informed citizen, ought to read this bok.

...it's quite possible that this book's worst fears will have been proven justified. The authors are extremely well-informed, and have mapped out the recent history of biological warfare developments in some depth, based on three years of careful research for the New York Times. The problem is, despite ample warning, the US government has not treated this topic with the seriousness it deserves, relegating it to the back seat in concerns over nuclear proliferation and conventional chemical warfare (which is a second-best alternative, as all experts have realized for some time). The bugs are out there: The Soviets made enough to kill everyone on earth several times over. The Iraqis have plenty, too, thanks to the inefficiency of the UNSCOM's work after the Gulf War. Some 'favorite' bugs like anthrax and the extracted botulinum toxin only kill those they hit. Others, like smallpox, Ebola or Marburg Fever, will make the predictive powers of Stephen King's "The Stand" seem uncanny. They're "the gift that keeps on giving."
This book will give you a new respect for Bill Clinton, who was at least awake to the threat. And new contempt for the pork barrel politics of the USA, since much of the money (billions of dollars) allocated to counterterrorism -- and biological warfare in particular -- has been frittered away on technology that doesn't work, and the high-priced but fatuous work of 'beltway bandits.' There's not enough antibiotics, there aren't enough trained staff, and there are few (or no) doses of vaccines for the threats.
Read it and weep, is all I can say. If you can get a copy, that is. It's sold out everywhere I went, and I finally got one by bribing someone at Borders to give up his own copy

The Folger Library series are your best Shakespeare source. They specialize in Shakespeares' greatest plays and are quality books that are perfect companion and translator to Shakespeare. It is loaded with page after page of translation from the Old English expressions that are no longer in use to our modern talk, and pictures as well as historic background information on th Elizabethan era and Shakespeares' life. Hamlet is without question Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, remaining in our theatrical culture to this very day. It has become a conversation piece for English professors, dramatists and screen actors (Mel Gibson tackled the role in 1991) and even psychologists, who claim that Hamlet had the Oedipal complex, especially when they read the scene in which Hamlet is in his mother's bedroom. What makes Hamlet so great ? Why does this old play still come alive when performed on the stage in the hands of the right actors ?

Shakespeare, believe it or not, was a people's person and knew about the human condition perhaps more than anyone in his day. Hamlet deals principally with obscession for revenge. Hamlet is a prince whose father has been murdered under the evil conspiracy from his uncle Claudius and even the support of his mother, Queen Gertrude. Depressed, wearing black all the time, and very much as solitary as any "Goth" would be in our day, Hamlet laments his situation, until his father's ghost appears and urges him to avenge his death. The mystery still remains, is this ghost real ? Is it, as many in Elizabetheans thought, a demon in disguise ? Or is it simply a figment of Hamlet's own emotions and desire for revenge. At any rate, Hamlet's father appears twice and Hamlet spends most of the play planning his revenge. His most striking line that reveals this consuming need is "The play's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king!".

Pretending to be mad, he scorns even the love of the woman he genuinely loves, Ophelia, whose mind is shattered and heart is broken and who has an impressive mad scene. The deaths of Hamlet's friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are also in Hamle'ts hands and a consequence of his revenge. The famous soliloquy in the play, is of course, "To be or not to be", taken on by such great actors as Lawrence Olivier and Orson Welles. Hamlet muses on the brevity of life and the suffering which can only cease through death, as he holds a skull and is evidently suicidal. Finally, the last scenes are the most dramatic. Hamlet duels with Laertes, Ophelia's brother, and with Claudius himself. The deaths of the main cast, including the Queen, goes to show how tragic the human desire for greed and revenge is.

This is Shakespeare's finest tragedy, and quality drama, best seen in a live stage performance, but that also works as a film. As for this book, as I said before, this is the Hamlet to have. You will become more acquianted with Hamlet and Shakespeare even more than taking a year's course with a teacher. This book itself is the teacher.

If you could read only one thing in your lifetime Hamlet should be that one thing. It is Shakespeare's best work by far, and within its pages is more meaning than you could find within the pages of an entire library full of books, or plays as the case may be. A mere review, a couple words, cannot do Hamlet justice. At times I realize that the language of Shakespeare can be difficult that is why I recommend the Folger version because it helps to make the images expressed by Shakespeare's characters clear to the reader, and allows them to get their own deep personal meaning from Hamlet, Shakespeare's greatest work, with out being bogged down in trying to decipher and interpret his antiquarian English. Don't just listen to what I say, or read what I write, read the play on your own outside the cumbersome restraints of a classroom and see for yourself what I mean.

Ah, yes. Hailed by many as Shakespeare's Magnum Opus (is that right?), this is certainly one of his most significant dramatic works. Hamlet is an atmosperic story of internalization - of feelings (guilt, love, hatred), of people, thoughts, and actions. Marked by indecision and a strong sense of self-pity and self-consciousness, Hamlet makes the slow transition from fear to determination in his quest to avenge his father's death. Oedipal complex, supernatural powers, royal incest, revenge - these are all explored in the play. Several famous questions are posed and thoughts explored - of existence, suicide, meaning, value. Hamlet is just packed with philosophy, psychology, and humanity. A must-read in which you will find many of the most famous soliloquies in all of Shakespeare. Thrown in Yorick's skull, poor Ophelia, good Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, you've got yourself one awesome play.

This is the best roleplaying campaign ever!! I started reading Dragonlance about a year age, and When I found out it was also a roleplaying series, I was excited. But then I learned it was long out of print. This book comes at just the right time, since I plan on starting a small group focused on DL. It covers enough of the original series to be more than accurate with the novels, and also has enough new material to allow for any number of of the wall adventures. This definitely gets a five star in my book. Thanks a lot Steve Miller, Stan! and TSR!

I own the original adventure series and have played them several times, but this book still gave me tons of new possibilities to explore!My favorite things Steve Miller and Stan! did were the way they interwove subplots throughout--like the way they used Kitiara and her henchmen, for example--the suggestions for using dragons in a DL campaign, and the way they staged the climax in Neraka. It was much better than both in the original adventure series AND the novel! I also liked the way newer book characters like Ariakan and Dalamar have been placed into the storyline. It's also great to finally get maps and adventure material for Kalaman and Port Balifor!The art was also some of the best that has graced the pages of Dragonlance, ever. I don't think the Companions have looked this good since Larry Elmore drew them way back in "Dragons of Mystery." My favorite illos are the one of Tanis on p.13, Tas on p.17, the one of Sturm on p.18, and the ones of Laurana on ps. 23 and p. 208. I also love the picture of Alhana on her griffon on page 153. I hope Daniel Cramer is going to be doing more Dragonlance art.Another very cool aspect of the book is how the writers managed to write it so it works for two game systems, yet still did it in such a fashion that non-gamers can read the book and enjoy it. (Like my roommate is doing.)If there's any complaint, it that some of the maps are a bit hard to read. I would have liked a bit more definition on some of the terrain maps. There are times when it's a bit difficult to tell a lake from a plain, or the ocean from land.Still, this is definately a Five Star effort!

While it's probably more appealing to SAGA Partisans such as myself than to hardcore D&D fans, this deluxe adventure belongs on every DRAGONLANCE lover's bookshelf as a comprehensive guide to the locations and characters of the War of the Lance, as well as one of the best tellings of that era I've yet seen.

I've seen it compared with the original adventures, of which I own about half. In my view, this rewriting lacks some of the encounters and elements of the original, but makes up for that with stronger characters and plotting, tighter continuity, and a greater sense of scope and freedom.

_DRAGONLANCE Classics, 15th Anniversary Edition_ has become my fundamental reference of the last years of the Age of Despair, and I recommend that everyone with an interest in DRAGONLANCE or in epic fantasy campaigning take a look at it.

This memoir is a wonderful panoramic view of America's most glorious tragedy, filled with romance, privation, luxury, and death. This chronicle is a window to a lost world, a world of private lives and great political movements.

Mrs. Chestnut provides us with the small details in the picaresque life of a general's wife. The frustration of a people's hope of self-determination is revealed, as is the revulsion of some Southerners to slavery and its attendant shame.

She shows us her neighbors' private and justified fear of murderous servants, the grand victories of the Confederate armies which mean nothing against an inexhaustible enemy, the intimate drawing room intrigues of upper class Southern debutantes among their friends and wounded heroes.

The traditional icons of Southern Gentility are shown to be less than uniformly admirable, though the perseverence and insight of this writer are heroic, and show the true character of the best of American womanhood.

Any serious student of the War Between the States who has not read this first-person account is not a serious student at all.

This narrative has the rare quality of allowing the reader to view the author's world through their glasses. The reader quickly slips into Mrs Chestnut's value system and truely appreciate the highs and lows of Confederate society, the wealth and hardship, privileges and privations of those who sat hearthside. Additionally, rare personal glimpses insights are provided on some of the movers and shakers of Confederate government, military and society. Such glimpes are delicious and slighly voyeuristic!
A great view, not by a driver in history, but one along for the ride.

I know this may sound crazy, but i am infact the great(times 3) granddaughter of mary boykin chestnut. When my grandfather told me this when i was younger (I am 16 now) I became very interested in learning about her and her husband and in trying to learn more i decided to read the diary in which mary had written. I found it very moving and in some cases disturbing. Before reading her diary ( My grandpap has one of the first copies of it) I could have cared less about the civil war or any war for that matter, but after reading it I gained a new found respect for everything that people in those days had to go through and I think that my grandmother gave people of today a great idea of what the war was like and how people were. I am very proud to say that I am of of the civil wars most influential women.

This book is an alright book to read, if you were acting it out in Drama. If the book was written in regular form, then it would be good for the classrooms. This book was interesting to read but hard to understand. You had to some what jump back and forth between people talking. I feel for the people who had to be put in the concentration camps, and were forced to work against their will just to keep their family members alive. I do not think that people have a right to degrade other humans beings of their own kind or culture.

First off, the way the Crucible relates to the post-war era and the 1950 McCarthy trials make it a prime choice of reading material for high school students. As a high school student myself, I found the book very interesting as a psychoanalysis of human nature. Arthur Miller has explored the concepts of guilt and hypocrisy in a very unique fashion.

The theme of how a repressed society reacts to hysteria is perused in this drama. My personal belief is that people who entrust their lives to unproven dogma find themselves trapped in a form of repression. This includes the conservative outlook posted by the former reviewer of this book.

Lies, hypocrisy, and lust are themes that teenagers begin to encounter in high school. To refuse them the liberty to have complete access to literature is to lock down the developing, free and independent thinking mind. Thus, the banning and removal of books deemed "inappropiate" by biased standards results in the formation of a repressed society much like the Puritans in the early 1600's.

Ignorance may be bliss for you, but don't punish others because of your biased, uproven religious dogma. Our society will succeed if the next generation is given a chance to use their BRAINS. Our society will fail if the conservative coalition destroys independent thinking.

Conformism is your enemy.

Arthur Millers, The Crucibal, is a wonderfully written dramatic play. It is intersting and absorbing. The history of the play begins from the communist "witch-hunts", which inspired Miller to write the book. An easy reader, but very thought provoking. Worth reading at any age!

This is simply the best book I have ever seen on World Class Manufacturing. It explains the concepts in simple terms, using a short story that anybody can grasp. All the world class concepts are here: jit, error-proofing, rapid build, etc. The book also has a terrific glossary and explanation of world class manufacturing terms. Again,the best I have ever seen. And it has a great reading list for people who want to go into more detail with longer and more technically complex books.

I recently have used this book as part of the "lean production" implementation in our company. (We are a supplier of steel and other metal products to many industries, including automotive and aerospace.) The book was very helpful in clearly describing how to do things like eliminate errors, reduce inventory, and reduce cycle time. It is easy to see how this book has been recommended by so many top people like Bob Lutz and the Boeing Company. It is a great way to learn how to do things better. The business world - and our industry - is becoming more competitive every day, and we have really appreciated a tool like this book to help us improve.

This book is a good short story as well as a great description of how to produce a product in the best way - better, faster, cheaper as the saying goes. Unlike many management books these days, it is not about computer systems. It is actually about management strategy, i.e. how to run the business, and how to communicate that in a way that everybody in a business will understand and buy into. The book also shows how to deploy the strategies into specific world class manufacturing techniques. It has complete, and clear, descriptions of all key world class management tactics. Anybody designing, making, or delivering a product ought to read this book to see how to do the job in the best way.

"Out of the Cradle" is a great book to buy for children who are interested in space, to get them more excited. However, the artwork in some places is outdated, and there is little but token human presence in any of the pictures. For the purposes that this book serves, I think that the original pictures are far more tantalizing than some watercolor facsimiles.

This is the finest illustrated book on space exploration I have ever come across. The knowledge of the authors is impeccable, the illustrations are stunning, and the captions are evocative. Though most visuals are "artists' impression" of the scenario, the imagination behind the art is mind-boggling. Whether it is Jupiter as seen from Io, or Saturn looming over mysterious Iapetus, the pictures are truly amazing. A must read for all space buffs.

This is a very beautiful book. Besides well-written text, dozens of full-color paintings fill the pages of this volume. I have never seen our hoped-for future in the solar system portrayed better than here. Buy this book so that you, too, can be inspired by its message and awed by the wonderful artwork.

Would you like to be an elf and save your folk? This epic adventure around the land of the elves. It includes history, lore, legendary heroes, and a quest beyond the magical Silvanesti Shield.

A good adventure, but it tends to move a little too fast moving in the begining. The default characvters are ok but it would be more fun if you hade the PCs make their own. This is for characters around level 7.

Finally we have a good book about the old society of Silvanesti Elves. In this book we see their history and the recent events of the fifth age. Here is the truth about the Shield, that not only protect the elves, but at the same time, drains all the life of the green realm. And we see the most important characters of the land, and how Silvanesti society works. And we still get a great adventure to save elves from the horrible destiny that may awayt all their race. Meet old foes and allies, like Konnal, Cyan Bloodbane and Alhana Starbreeze; learn about the magical itens of Silvanesti; and be a part of the epic history of Dragonlance, in a book that open way for a new chapter in the long history of Silvanesti elves.

Willy Loman the protagonist of the play „Death of the Salesman" is supposed to embody the American average man. An American average man is married, has children, lives in a house, possesses a well paid job. Hence he spends his quality time with his family, so most of American fathers use to teach their children football, baseball or other sport activities. Willy Loman the protagonist in Arthur Miller's play just seems to fulfill the duties of an American average man. Yes, he is married to Linda, yes, he also has children, two boys named Biff and Happy. Willy and his sons are footballphile. Nevertheless, he lives in a house and he seems be to be succesful as a salesman. But while you read the play you will realize Willy Loman is just a faker who is still dreaming and has not woke up yet. Willy Loman has internalized wrong values which are money, success and „being well liked". He wanted to earn respect and lost his view for the most significant values a human being should have such as being satisfied with yourself and having people around you who support and love you. The consequence of having wrong values is Willy Loman alienated himself from society, although he deeply wanted to be part of succesful people. Ironically Willy Loman is a product of society. He tried to adapt himself to society's expectations and actually lost himself in the crowd. Willy has always looked for more, more than he actually was able to achieve. Willy wanted success, money and respect which people should bring towards him.

At this point I am wondering if these goals will lead individuals to become satisfied with themselves. Can people be actually pleased with money and success? Or are these aims only an illusion? Biff and Happy Loman experience whether money and success are worthy values you should set your life on or not. They both come up to a different conclusion. Happy still holds on to success and money. He believes that these values are the key to life. Money rules the world. Whereas Biff has found other criterias he wanted his life to be based on. Biff believes in his individual talent, he trusts his feelings what they tell him to do. Biff goes his own way, therefore he prefers to work on a ranch. Biff came off from what society thinks, what society expects him to do.

Therefore I think Death of the Salesman has lost a little bit of topicality. Arthur Miller focuses his play especially at Willy Loman's failure in society because of his wrong values. But today I think people have enough courage to stand and speak up for themselves as Biff does by the end of the play. Our daily American and even European society is a crowd of individuals.

Death of a salesman is a play written by Arthur Miller (1915- ). The play focuses on how Willy Loman, the main character always thinks and talks about being successful. Being successful is Willy's great dream. Just like the American dream. Willy strives to bring happiness to himself and his family, but does not succeed. He is too prideful to accept the fact that his dream of being a successful salesman never will become true, and he is too prideful to accept where he fits in society. People like Willy are very common in today's society. They are caught up in the American dream; everybody wants to be successful, but only a few make it to the top. But is this really the most important values in life? Willy looks at himself as a failure, just because he didn't make it to the top in business life, well, that is how business is; not everybody can make it to the top. That doesn't necessarily mean that your whole life is over. That is what happened to Willy; when he felt like a failure because of his broken dream, he let it out on his wife, and his two sons, Biff and Happy. Then he killed himself. This shows that Willy's only values in life were to become wee-liked and successful and if he didn't, it wasn't worth living. I think the book was a bit difficult to read, because the play shifts between present and past, which makes it a bit confusing. All over, I liked the book, not because the story was so good, but because after finishing it, it made me think about how much people think about their career, and how often the career becomes a first priority, no matter what. Is it the career that makes a man successful?

"Death of a Salesman" is a sad, but wonderful play written by Arthur Miller. This play, together with "The Catcher in the Rye", was my introduction to real reading. Previous to reading this book, I had kept to what I will call "easier" reading.

"Death of a Salesman" was assigned to us by our English teacher, as part of our undergraduate English class. Our teacher, Mrs. Syring, knew this play by heart. She pointed out the subtleties in this play for us (you can't expect too much from a bunch of accounting students..) and she made us understand what kind of outstanding literary attack on the American society and the American dream this play really is.

The protagonist, Willy Loman, is a committed, hard working, aging, middle class man, with a dream to be rich and successful. Making it "big"- just like the American dream. Unfortunately, Loman is neither rich nor very successful. And in the end, Loman commits suicide, (wrongfully) thinking that his family will be just as happy without him, living well off the insurance money.

This play is a classic portrayal of what kind of tragedy the pursuit of the American dream can bring to a man and his family.

The play is written some sixty years ago (written in 1949), but I don't think this play will ever be outdated. Wonderfully written, with an important moral lesson for all of us to remember.

I picked this book up because I feel that I'm in the midst of a major change, and hoped to learn something. What I got was... Nothing. I rarely criticize books. And I almost never don't finish them. I always try to find the best in things. I found the book full of stories and with essentially no insight. It seemed all mixed up - from people finding instant religion to the smaller paradigm shifts that almost everyone experiences throughout their lives. I felt that the authors started out with a good idea, but they couldn't really pull it off to make a book out of it. In the end, what they had was stories, mostly unremarkable stories.

As a Change Consultant and guy with 30 years experience in the Fortune 50 this didnt do it for me. Too academic and too theoretical to make a difference for the people out there flailing around trying to make a difference everyday in todays organizations. There is some meat in here but you better be a starving dog to find it.

Sudden insights can transform lives: the psychologist authors were longtime scholars and teachers of self-improvement when they noticed life-changing realizations among their clients. An ad requesting similar experiences from others resulted in a flood of stories of unexpected transformation, and Quantum Change blends psychology with spiritual insights in considering these changes.