I spent many years living in China and found too many flaws with this book.

Shapiro obviously has had years of experience negotiating. He writes clearly and it would be a beneficial book for anyone, students or those already in the field, to read. If I were to teach a course on joint ventures, this would be the text of choice.

Anyone considering negotiating any joint venture would benefit from the checklists and other considerations raised by Shapiro who actually negotiated the showcase Xerox-Shanghai joint venture

This is a potentially fascinating book for readers who like biography, geology, landscape, England, rocks, or fossil ammonites. All right, I admit I was suckered by the cover: the hb dust jacket unfolds into a single large geological map of England, Wales, and southern Scotland! It is The Map That Changed the World in 1815 by revealing the rock strata beneath an entire country: the existence of time and order, of coal beds, building stone, ores, and soil types, all now made predictable. The fact this 1/13th size version of the immense hand made and coloured original by William "Strata" Smith won't stand magnification might have warned me about the text within. Once beyond the exciting promise of the clever jacket and quality presentation I was increasingly disappointed.

Winchester's biographical construction of Smith's life, while chronological overall, casts Smith's remarkable rise from the farm, and his wonderful scientific observation and insight, as a morality play against 18th century class prejudice and religion ("the blind acceptance of absurdity"!) taken quite out of historical context. Aside from Smith never having been involved in religious controversy (see pp. 195-96), the authorial tactics make it hard to follow Smith's story rather than Winchester's arch exegesis. Despite the frequent assertions of how earth-shaking was Smith's map, the book is such a farrago of description, quotation, flashforward, biography, travel, snide remark, foreshadowment, reconstruction, admiration, speculation, flashback, asides, suggestion, British nostalgia, coincidence, and digressive (but not scholarly) footnotes that the revolutionary consequences of Smith's innovations in stratigraphy, fossil assemblage, and mapping are buried and never come across coherently and convincingly. Because the author implies that Smith's recorded life and journal were boring and pedestrian, he must think it necessary to gussy up the very real scientific discoveries with this potpourri of diversions. Nevertheless, Winchester's own text is mared by banality, repetition, and common cliche, and larded with his anachronistic prejudices.

I'm glad I read this book, but the book's handsome presentation set my expectations way too high. I don't know that I've ever encountered an author who so gets in the way of his subject. His choice of supplemental illustrations also turns out to be off the mark, largely lacking maps of place names (which are particularly obscure to non-English folk) and entirely lacking views of the specific countryside that was critical to Smith's revelations. Other contemporary geologists are used as foils for the hidden excellence of Smith, rather than to fill out the real context and consequences of his discoveries. So, if you want to read something truly exciting about geology or landscape, seek out John McPhee's four books describing and interpreting a cross section of America. For a better understanding of Smith's historical context, see The Birth of the Modern by Paul Johnson.

I first read Simon Winchester when I came across his book The Professor and the Madman. This wonderful book is the story of the development of the OED. Now he has written a book on William Smith, the man who developed many of the ideas of rock stratification which laid the foundation for modern geology. The ultimate expression of Smith's genius was the production of the world's first geological map which gives this book its title.

Smith's story is a fascinating one and Winchester tells it well. Smith, a rural blacksmith's son, is orphaned and works his way up to being what in today's language we would call a civil engineer. As he works on the construction of coal mines and canals he see the strata of rock and collects fossils, coming to the understanding that the relationship between these things tells us about the age of the rock layers. This concept will have far-reaching repercussions in science.

Winchester also tells us of Smith's struggles to get his work recognized in a class-stratified world of gentleman-scholar-scientists. Along the way, Smith overextends himself financially and finds himself in debtors' prison. After that, he and his reputation seem to fade away only to be resurrected near the end of his life when he begins to reap some of the honors for his work in a field which has since passed him by. Then he fades away again.

Winchester is beginning to make a habit of writing stories bringing to light forgotten people making important discoveries and doing important work that has changed our world. I hope it is a habit he continues. I am already looking forward to the next gem he digs up. He and Dava Sobel are a one-two punch of brilliant modern writing on scholars and scientists who deserve to be remembered.

Anybody who has ever had Geology 101 in college or basic earth science in high school should remember hearing about "Strata Smith," the founder of the science of stratigraphy, and will revel in reading this book. Very well written, it tells the poignant story of the Englishman who, early in the 18th century, made the world's first geological map. William Smith was a poorly educated surveyor and a digger of canals. In the course of his digging he realized that the rock strata of England occurred in orderly fashion, in layers that could be identified over wide areas by the fossils they contained. He literally tramped throughout the kingdom, drawing sketches and making notes. At last he created his great geological map of England, a work of scientific artistry that hangs today on a wall in the headquarters of the Royal Geological Society in London. But his ideas were stolen by aristocratic wannabe geologists who took all the credit and refused the commoner Smith admission into their Society. He spent several homeless years, eking out a living as a surveyor and gardner, before a true nobleman discovered who he was and what he had done. He was brought to London and showered with honors, including the very first Wollaston Medal, the earth-science equivalent of a Nobel Prize. A wonderful, heartwarming story!

The title alone was a seller for me. "How one man invented a color that changed the World". And I think Garfield really does manage to show this. William Perkins experiments with Coal Tar not only managed to show a viable use for this waste product, but it is because of him we are now able to dress in bright, unfading colours - aniline dyes.

I found the first few chapters of this book the most interesting. I felt Garfield had a good story - showing Perkins role, his experiments, the difficulty finding someone to use the process, the expense of doing it and the competition from people also discovering the process. These first few chapters in themselves made the book worth the purchase, for me anyway.

Unfortunately after that I found my attention wandered about. For some reason which I don't quite understand, Garfield started mixing up things by putting stuff on modern use of dyes, and quotes on Mauve all around the place. This really didn't work for me at all. I found it plain distracting actually. Also I don't think Garfield has quite the talent and touch of really good historical writers such as Dava Sobel (Longitude) and Giles Milton (Big Chief Elizabeth) and I think that may have also contributed to my losing attention later on.

This book certainly has a place for those of you who enjoy reading about these small but essential bits of history which are all but forgotten in the modern age. The story is a very good one indeed. I just think it would have been much more gripping as a purely chronological history.

Originally I was skeptical of a book about the origin of a color, but Mauve is so much more. It is the story of the creation of artificial colors, the industries that spawned from it, as well as birth of chemistry as a innovating science in the 19th century. The discoveries by William Perkins opened up what would be literally thousands of new colors over the years, as well as essential components of the perfume industry, flavorings industry and even the bleaching industry. Inspirational also because so much of this arose from literally castoff garbage - coal tar. In essence Perkins began a new wave of recycling. The heart of the story is less the discovery itself, but the ripples it set off that continue to today, leading to the "better living through chemistry." Yet it also spotlights one of the lamentably forgotten pioneers in science who through a combination of curiosity, determination, foresight and luck found value in others castoff. Though it is classified as a biography, it is more of a sweeping view of history - the actual materials on Perkin's life pre and post mauve are almost incidental to what was discovered. Garfield helps shed light on the color revolution and spotlights something that we today often take for granted. It was nice to walk away from a book and realized that I really learned something.

Mauve is part of an increasingly popular genre - Small Things That Mean A Lot. As (practically) the first artificial dye in the world, derived from coal tar, Mauve not only set the pattern for every other synthetic shade but also formed the basis for many other products in the new chemical world. This book tells this story and also that of its inventor, a Brit named William Perkin who discovered Mauve by accident when still at college. Mauve became the hit of London and Paris, though its inventor got rich mostly by making other colors.
The book runs the risk of being a little thin (Perkin is not a hugely interesting man), but Garfield keeps his work relevant and vibrant by some very elegant writing in which clever linkages are made between a vast array of subjects. I recommend this title for its insights into historical and modern fashion trends and some fascinating scientific history.
Amy De

"Two Lives" made me a William Trevor fan. I will soon find another book by him, now that I've read "Death in Summer." With "Death in Summer" he again displays his remarkable ability to present troubled or otherwise less-than-perfect characters with consideration and extraordinary compassion and to make fairly ordinary characters compelling. I don't know how he does it, but the prose is beautiful. What disappointed me about this book is that it dealt with the idea of compassion, but didn't explore the challenge of maintaining compassion for a difficult person over the long term. The most difficult characters die off far too quickly, and to me, that is a plot device often used in more melodramatic works. I also did not take a liking to the use of the household servants to present the story--I never became attached to these characters. I recommend this book, but much prefer "Two Lives."

When I first read this book, I had very mixed feelings about it. I was bored, confused, intrigued, saddened and disappointed all at the same time. But I realize now that I really need to give this one another shot. I've spoken with many people who have also read this novel about some of the important components of the story and of its style. I was bored, I think, because I'm used to reading stories that follow a certain pattern. When one doesn't do that, it's a natural reaction to get bored with it. What we have is a suspense novel that doesn't really deal so much with the suspense. Trevor is using the characters and their lives, their relationships, their reactions to their situations to really build the story. I don't agree that the characters are as flat as a cardboard box. Thaddeus is definitely the least empowered of them all, but there are reasons for that. Mrs. Iveson isn't as mean as all that. Look at her reaction when Albert tells her about Pettie towards the end. There's so much there that you can miss if you don't read it closely the first time through. Some say there shouldn't be so much work involved in understanding this book. But, then again, I don't think Trevor wrote this book for people who don't want to use their noodle.

As ususal with William Trevor, the story is all in the details. The book is short, but not a quick read or you'll miss what Trevor's revealing about his characters. All of them are emotionally damaged people looking for love in all the wrong places. The story centers around Thaddeus, a recent widower who is looking for a nanny for his infant daughter. Pettite, a young woman loaded with emotional scars, applies and is rejected for the job. However, she develops an obsession for Thaddeus that makes her dangerous.

Even though all the characters have had loveless--and even abuse--childhoods, Trevor somehow avoids making them pathetic.

Why these letters have not been placed in CD_ROM format puzzles little old me. Sometimes the annotation includes letters from all over the place, making the sequence hard to follow. Sure, researchers may like this sort of stuff, but I bet even they know better ways of putting it together.

"The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant" is a project begun in 1962 for the purpose of publishing all the known letters written by Ulysses S. Grant. Volume one was published in 1967 and there are now twenty-four volumes in the series. People who follow Grant's career are aware of the inestimable value of this project. The Papers contain all known correspondence written by Grant and letters received by him. The editing of the series is unparalleled and the volumes represent primary source material at its apex.

Those who believe Grant was a "drunkard" or a "butcher" should read his own words, which show Grant's humor, pathos and unique personality. Masterfully edited by John Y. Simon, these volumes are a "must have" for anyone with an interest in U.S. Grant as a general, a politician and as a man

Net, I like the book and learn some good lessons for my business life.

The main purpose that I read this book is to learn some leadership skills, and I believe the best lessons you can learn is from real-life situations, instead of some abstract principles. and I believe not only can success provide good lessons, but failure can also be a great teacher, and most of the time I think failure is a better teacher than success. Within this book, I clearly saw Amelio's thinking and the issues he's facing along the 500 days. For instance, I found Amelio can quickly identify the top priority in the first two weeks of his new job. Then I reflect 'did I do that myself when I just got to a new position' And that gives me a good lesson.

For whether this book is one-sided or not, actually I don't know and don't care whether this story is objective or biased because I read it for my business/leadership learning. As long as I can get a clear picture of his perspective and his thinking behind his actions, then I can link all these to the business result and refer some lessons myself. I think that's good enough for me.

Net, I think this book clearly provided Amelio's personal perspective and the linkage between his thinking and action, and it provided some good lessons to me. Recommend it to all business managers/leaders.

It is now clear why the best OS in the world didn't catch on. If the business fundamentals of a company are not sound, the company will lose marketshare and eventually...fail.

Here is a look into how Apple's loose corporate culture almost became it's undoing. This book proves that you can have all the talent in the world, but if there is no discipline and teamwork, it will all be for not. I had thought Gil's short tenure was due to incompetance....a stuffed shirt who was wrong for the job. I mean, Steve Jobs saved Apple...right?

Wrong. Gil was exactly what Apple needed. Apple had a rotten core of self-serving individuals. I find it incredible that Apple management would listen to Gil's order and then do nothing to act on them. His biggest failure was a failure not to kick their lazy butts out the door sooner! How can a business be run with everyone doing their own thing? And surprise...the sales people were only interested in achieving a certain quantity of sales even if it meant selling computers at such a low price that the company lost money on a per unit basis.

If you are into Apple and/or business turnaround stories, this is a great read. I could hardly put it down. Throw in Gil's encounters with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and you really get keen insight into the whole computer industry and the personalities of the industries biggest movers and shakers.

It is ironic that today so many credit Apple's turnaround to Steve Jobs. If you still believe that then you really need to read this book.

This book is a very easy read. You can finish it in a single sitting. It talks a lot about how business should be done but is not done. But as I read the book, I kept on wondering why Dr. Amelio talked and acted like a dissatisfied employee and did not take decisive actions like a CEO. He had things in his control, he was the CEO, he had as much power as a person in a company can have. Still his story is that in Apple no one listened to him! Probably, CEOs of our corporations do not possess as much power and control as we think they do.

I would like to see people like Amelio successful and I was sorry to read his account. I hope that his success at National was the reality and his failure at Apple was bad luck and not the other way round.

If I could have, I would have gave this book no stars. This book is for three-year olds. NO, and I mean NO audience would be entertained by this book. The tricks are so easy and noticable that everyone would know how to do them. For example: 2 of hearts plus 2 of clubs equalls 5 of spades, oops I mean 4. You just have to set the deck. You can come up with more entertaining and better tricks than these even if you are just a beginner.

I hope a lot of people take the first reviewer's advice and stay away from this book. Then, card magicians like myself will be able to fry you with effects in this "childish" tome.

For those interested in some good card work and clever moves that still populate card literature, you need to read this book. It's simply part of your required reading. The section on dealing seconds is one of the most detailed in all magic, and it gives a clear practice regimen to assist the student in learning to do the move.

Again, please -- don't buy this book!

Without a doubt, this reprint of "Effective Card Magic" is one of the most outstanding treatments written on card magic. An entire act of card tricks could easily be culled from this book.

This book looked like the answer to my dreams - a useful text on digital mod/demod techniques for a DSP designer. No such luck. It is a compendium of incredibly detailed information for those who may be in the business of comparative analysis of modulation techniques, or for those designing new communications systems. That makes the book useful to a pitiful few - Ph.D. students, standards groups, and systems designers who have total control over both transmission and reception, and need to select the best approach. For such an audience - buy the book NOW. It's an incredible reference. For the rest of us, we are given a specific signal standard, and we have to develop the techniques to match those standards. To that audience - DSP algorithm designers, coders, circuit designers, the book is only modestly useful.

This book covers many topics in modulation and demodulation. It touches on a great number of techniques and approaches. I found it hard to understand without consulting other texts. It is probably best suited for someone with a very good understanding of the topics and used as a reference for applicable formulas and analysis. I would not recommend it for a DSP engineer designing equipment. I would recommend it to system designer developing the specifications and standards for new communications system.

Contents:

Chp 1 Introduction to Telecommunications

Chp 2 Power Spectral Density of Digital Modulations

Chp 3 Scaler and Vector Communications Over the Memoryless Channel

Chp 4 Coherent Communication

Chp 5 Noncoherent Communication

Chp 6 Partially Coherent Communication

Chp 7 Differentially Coherent Communication

Chp 8 Double Differentially Coherent Communication

Chp 9 Communication over Bandlimited Channels

Chp 10 Demodulation and Detection of Other Digital Modulations

Chp 11 Coded Digital Communications

Chp 12 Block-Coded Digital Communications

Chp 13 Convolutional-Coded Digital Communications

Besides the fact that the authors are very well-known professionals, as a grad in Communications Systems, I found that this book does an excellent job in describing everything you need to know about modulations in communication systems. Don't be scared by the contents in chapter 2. I would suggest reading chapter 1 first and then go right into chapter 3, which is the easiest. Also, I would suggest you read problems in chapter 1. Questions like "What is a communication system?" will really make you think!

This is not a book for a DSP guy, or a computer science or programmers. To a pure system person, I would recommend this book, along with "Principles of Communications" by Jacob and Wozencraft, and "The Elements of Information Theory" by Thomas Cover and Joy Thomas. This combination will make you fly, although the last one is a bit complicated and highly invloved in rigorous mathematics.

The publishers of computer books ought to realize that people buy the books to be able to learn a program without having to suffer through technical gobbledygook. This book is written very badly. It is poorly organized. The book's five authors, I get the impression, weren't speaking to one another when they wrote it. The same material is covered in some chapters.

I found it extremely difficult to get anything out of this book, because the material is expalined so badly. I do not recommend it.

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm a competent user of Linux, Windows, and the computer in general. I bought this book expecting it to teach me how to take the *basic* knowledge of FrontPage that I had gleaned from playing with the buttons and learning what they do by trial-and-error and expand upon it, not just explain how to use wizards. Guess which one I got. The so-called "Guide to Running a Linux Server" consisted of an explanation of the fact that ports of the giant security holes that Microsoft calls Server Extentions exist for almost all platforms. I was shocked! The first few chapters in the "Core FrontPage Techniques" section involved inserting tables and pictures! What?! There was then a useful chapter on positioning with CSS2, but then the book jumped right back into using themes! Themes! The topics that followed were primarily discussions of using the wizards, which is simply absurd. Microsoft's wizards make everything simple enough for even the most benightedly unintelligent person to understand. Nearly every topic that followed involved either a wizard or a Server Extension, and I'd rather not use anything like that. I am selling this book now, purchasing one on Dreamweaver, and moving on to real Web development.

what I learned in this book. I don't know where the other reviewers of this book are coming from but as a professional designer there was no better book on the market for me. The entire team I work with has a copy of this book. I have two of the previous editions as well. They are all great.

In my opinion, this is the best book out there whether you are starting off with this program or have used the program before. This book, like the other Stanek texts, is filled with great information, page after page, so that no matter what you are looking for on FrontPage you can find answers. If you are already a high tech person or already have used the program with some success, this is definitely a good choice. If you are a beginner that learns fast, I think this is a good choice too. This book is a must have for any FrontPage user.

I really like the approach and the presentation. The teaching style is casual and if you follow the chapters you will get a FP site up and running quickly. My advice is to buy this book.

Big, fat, slow volumes--very costly. Scholars would prefer CD-ROMs. Thanks for listening.

"The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant" is a project begun in 1962 for the purpose of publishing all the known letters written by Ulysses S. Grant. Volume one was published in 1967 and there are now twenty-four volumes in the series. People who follow Grant's career are aware of the inestimable value of this project. The Papers contain all known correspondence written by Grant and letters received by him. The editing of the series is unparalleled and the volumes represent primary source material at its apex.

Those who believe Grant was a "drunkard" or a "butcher" should read his own words, which show Grant's humor, pathos and unique personality. Masterfully edited by John Y. Simon, these volumes are a "must have" for anyone with an interest in U.S. Grant as a general, a politician and as a man