If given a choice of which sense one would least like to lose, smell would certainly rank last. Yet our sense of smell is our oldest and most basic connection to the world around us. We probably begin to smell our mother while floating in her womb, and may be attracted to our future mates by their odiferous-fingerprint. Vroon gives a readable survey of the anatomy and physiology of our olfactory organ, and explains the implications of its direct connection to the sites of the most basic impulses in our brains.

This is a fascinating insight into our most basic, but most overlooked sense. Lots of basic factual information, which is clearly written and easy to understand, and lots of interesting and thought provoking material about how important our noses are in our daily lives. Quick reading - will liven up your next conversation.

I learned about this book by word of mouth - My friend is friends with Chad. I picked up the book and just could not put it down. In the short 200-some pages, a lot happens. This book changed the outlook I have on life and how grateful I am that I was born healthy and how grateful I am that he lived through everything. I recommend this book more than any other I've ever read.

The book tells a captivating story, and this boy Chad Boily, it's unbelievable he's still alive. A great story on family values and the power of prayer!

This book not only helps the part-time genealogist, but also gives the purpose of the free persons of color's move to this territory. It help the descendents of these people (such as myself) put a personality on the many names of people we've come to know and have pictures for.

It has spurred my family & I on to take the trip from NJ to IN to attend the 2000 Beech Homecoming & look forward to the Roberts Homcoming in 2001. I greatfully appreciate Stephen A. Vincent's labors.

The Beech and Roberts farming communities were composed of free blacks who came from North Carolina in the 1820s and 30s. They located near Quakers because they knew they would receive kindness and respect from them as well as fair dealings. The communities grew and prospered and an emphasis was placed upon education and spiritual development. Eventually, the settlements began to decline and farmers began to sell their land. Gradually, all the inhabitants moved away. Both communities left behind a proud heritage and continue to hold homecomings once a year.

(I chose the book because I live in Carthage, close to the site of the Beech Settlement and have an interest in its history.) I reviewed the book on April 11 at the Hancock County Library in Greenfield, Indiana. Following the review, the book club members came to my home. From there, our group of eighteen took a "field trip" out to the Beech. Accompanying us was Gladys Boatright, the granddaughter of Eli Archey who is pictured on the front of "Southern Seed, Northern Soil." We all enjoyed the book very much and enjoyed learning of the two fine communities the Beech and Roberts settlements.

It's a pleasure reading a book that uses everyday language and minimizes the use of trendy buzz-words. The seven chapters are divided logically and go from the general to the specific. This allows the reader to capture the essence of the message without reading long passages before getting to a point. The reader can visualize his own job shop and pick and choose which solutions are pertinent.

Mr. Bozzone's experience and knowledge are evident throughout the book. His viewpoint brings a dimension and a dynamic quality which allows the reader to benefit from the many "real-life" examples peppered throughout the pages. The many models and illustrations help the reader understand the concepts and operational strategies that improve job shop performance.

From a training perspective, Speed to Market provides a sound basis for developing programs that would help people at all levels to understand the intricacies of managing a job shop. The book is an excellent tool for constructing a curriculum that would benefit experienced managers who need to re-think their current situation, as well as people who are new to the job shop environment.

It is clear that owner-operators and managers of job shops would be well served by having their people understand and use the concepts and information presented in this book.

Speed to Market is a "must-read". Speed to Market is an "easy read". Speed to Market should be on your bookshelf! Speed to Market should be on your bookshelf!

Review by Richard B. Mroczek Infoactive Training Group, Montreal, Canada

Speed to Market by Vincent Bozzone is one of those books that is dumbfounding in its practicality. It makes you wonder why more how-to books aren't written this way.

Speed to Market is a refreshing and unique book on "how to cut lead time and increase profits in job shops and custom manufacturing environments." Not only is this one of the few books available on this heretofore ignored topic, it is written as a step-by-step manual for designing and running a profitable job shop, incorporating detailed structure and process elements as they relate to the bottom-line. Actual client studies help make this book even more pragmatic.

Once you read this book, you realize that Vince Bozzone really is a rare expert in job shops and process improvement design.

Review by Kathy Molloy for the Designer's Forum, AMOD Newsletter

I started reading this book after hearing about St Vincent Ferrer in another book (Trial, Tribulation, and Triumph) on apocalypticism. St Vincent Ferrer is perhaps the most amazing saint of all time, but for some reason we don't hear much about him anymore. He was well known for his preaching which attracted crowds so large (tens of thousands) that he often had to preach outdoors. He also performed so many miracles (often 10 or more per day) that the Vatican gave up trying to document them all when his cause for sainthood was under investigation. What's interesting is that St Vincent Ferrer travelled and preached during times much like our own, when people were turning away from God and the world was in danger of chastisement. St Vincent's passionate preaching converted many sinners and saved the world once before. Perhaps it is time today for us to start praying for this saint to intercede for us.

When I first heard of St. Vincent Ferrer, most of the information was either boring to very little about this great Saint. After buying and reading this book, I learned many things about him from his sufferings to his triumps over Satan. One of the things that amazed me about this Saint was all the mircles that he preformed from the womb until his death. He even proved that he is the Angle of Judgement by bringing a woman back to life. He could touch the hardest of souls by his preaching and many followed this Saint. After reading this book, you may follow St. Vincent Ferrer, too? St. Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.

For a long time, _Stages on Life's Way_ sat atop the list of my favorite books of all time. This book is a gut-wrenching account of Kierkegaard's tragic problems with women, and is a vivid portrait of a man who is snake-bit in his love life. I can especially relate to this book, being that I am not married, most likely never will be married, and am singlemindedly obsessed with sitting around reading philosophers like Kierkegaard and Jung. I can honestly attest that I broke up with the love of my life, with no regrets, just because she was preventing me from reading as much Kierkegaard as I would have liked. And this is eerily similar to Kierkegaard's own experience in this book.

Although this book still qualifies as non-fiction philosophy, it often has an autobiographical, and sometimes outright ficticious feel to it. This ultimately enhances the readability of the book, because it often refers to situations inspired by the author's own experiences; these real-life situations then help to exemplify and clarify Kierkegaard's key concepts. It is frustrating to read authors who expound one abstract theory after another and never bother to set-up a realistic situation in which these human-behavioral concepts might come into play. Kierkegaard is almost never guilty of doing this. His style is always firmly grounded in reality, and is thereby more readily translatable than most other authors from the same time period.

I highly recommend this book to anyone out there, especially someone who, like myself, has found himself torn between a philosophy-centered avocation and a love life which always seems to be trying to tear us away from our real passions and duties. If I could give it 6 stars I would. Unconditionally recommended.

This book is a second and more complete version of Either/Or. It is more complete in that instead of ending with a sermon (The edification to be found in the thought that before God we are all in the wrong)as does Either/Or, it actually explores the religious sphere, the highest sphere of existence in Kierkegaard's schema. As in all of Kierkegaard's writings, this is not an abstract exploratiton of the spheres, but is embodied in characters, the most characters in any of Kierkegaard's work. It is an alarmingly complex and aggravating work. The aggravation comes in with the characters occassionally demanding to know whether the reader has a life and how can s/he possibly waste his time with drivel like this. The work is divided into three parts, one for each sphere. The aesthetic sphere is represented by a updating of Plato's Symposium, with Kierkegaard repeating a number of pervious characters, (Constantine Constantinus, Victor Eremita, the Young Man, Johannes the Seducer) and introducing a new character, the Fashion designer. The subject of the speeches: Women. The second part, presenting the Ethical sphere, heralds the return of Judge William from the second part of Either/Or, this time uncomfortably sandwiched between the Aesthetic and the religious spheres. In Either/Or he is smug, but in this book he cannot pretend his position has any kind of ultimacy. The Religious calls his position constantly into question. The ethical is the relative, the religious the absolute. The Ethical claims we should repent our sins, while the religous claims that all the sins of the world are our sins, and not only collectively, but individually. We must repent the sins of the entire world. This is something the ethical cannot accept. The Religious sphere is represented by "Quidams's Diary." This is a repetition on the "Seducer's diary" which ends the first half of Either/Or. This time, however, the principal is a sufferer instead of a predator. He is hopeless, sad and sorrowful having just ended an unhappy love affair. This sorrow launches him beyond the ethical into a dark night of the soul. The Diary entries are interpursed,on the fifth of each month (Kierkegaard was born on the fifth of May) by brilliant little stories which comment on the process of the soul's healing. Frater Taciturnus (Brother Silent, perhaps related to Johannes de silento of Fear and Trembling?) also provides a commentary. The problem with the book is that once Kierkegaard claimed that he wanted his reader to expend as much effort reading his books as he did in writing them. He has made sure in this case that he would achieve this goal. If it weren't for the quality and overwhelming wealth of the content, this one wouldn't worth it. As it is, you should probably read the earlier books of Kierkegaard's authorship first. With this one, you need all the help you can get.

Parrillo's text is a helpful overview of the sociology of race and ethnicity in the United States taken from a group-to-group approach. Major sociological contributions on these matters are covered through the lens of particular groups that are most affected (e.g. LA riots are covered under black Americans but not under Korean Americans). The most recent edition is especially helpful as comments are made in conjunction with post-September 11th consequences on race and ethnic issues. The role of religion in racial dynamics and the continuing changes in immigration is a helpful addition as well as it is a rising area of study with race and ethnicity.

The book if it suffers in any direction is the judgment call of organizing the text by ethnic group. As suggested earlier, some issues like the LA riots deal with multiple groups and yet this text places such a topic under only one group.

As an undergraduate text, it also has an added bonus of photographs which may make the material seem less abstract and more accessible. Additionally its use of the basic "functionalist" "conflict" and "interactionist" perspectives allows students who have taken an introductory class in sociology to have a language from which to bridge between a general study of sociology and a more specific look at one area within sociology.

Overall this is an excellent textbook and I highly recommend it for classroom use and for use in scholarly research to gain access to the complex field of race and ethnicity.

Strangers to These Shores is a comprehensive examination of the sharpest edges and more nuanced qualities of American pluralism. In its 14 chapters, Professor Parrillo provides students/readers--and those for whom it is not assigned--with a well conceived, carefully constructed, and highly readable introduction to a very complex subject. -- Peter I. Rose, Smith College

I got my first copy of Thought Conditioners when in college. It inspired and motivated me then and has continued to help me keep the faith through 20 years of life changes. This booklet contains 40 Bible verses each with an accompanying uplifting paragraph that helps the reader apply the message. The Bible verses selected for this brief booklet can help anyone facing tough times whether a cancer diagnosis, heartache because of a child or spouse, problems at work--whatever. It keeps the mind at peace becuase it is focused upon the powerful, positive messages found in the Bible.

THIS pamplet has been a life saver for me,when life comes tumbling down on me ,I always go to my thought conditioner pamplet..It is made to tear out and take with you,I've torn and retorn thru the years,I'm currently trying to find a new one to replace this one that has been used out''I like how the coditioners refer you to books of the bible,for more knowledge of the word. The pamplet is so easy to read, understand,and take with you anywhere..

I have always been fascinated with the law, and this book goes into everything about how a murder trial is supposed to go. He gives you a very good lecture on the law and how it is applied, and surrounds it with a stunningly gripping narrative. It is impossible to put down, I read it in one sitting.

A fantastic book! Though well 20 years old it still holds up. Mr. Bugliosi writes as he tried this true life case: to the point and only the facts. From the first murder all the way through to the People V. Palliko-Stockton trial. You are taken both in front of and behind the scenes of an actual murder investigation/trail. We are given excepts of actual transcripts and interviews. I learned a lot about the legal system from this book. For those of you who think that non-fiction can't be as exciting as fiction: You are wrong! All the elements are here from a classic Holywood murder mystery: Greed, lust, betrayal. The only draw back is that since the book is 20 years old you don't have an updated epilogue to what happened to the people in the book. Still, it is well worth reading.

The author states his purpose for writing this treatise in the books subtitle: A Discourse,Chiefly Tending To Excite And Promote The Decaying Love Of Christ In The Heart Of Christians. Love to Christ is as important to spiritual life, as the beating of the heart which pumps blood through the arteries that supplies oxygen to the cells, is to physical life, without it life will not continue. The importance of loving Christ cannot be overstated. Where there is much love for the Lord Jesus Christ there will be great zeal to promote His truth,His Kingdom and His glory. John Macarthur informs us in the forward of the book that the highest duty of the Christian is to love the Lord Jesus. A good portion of the book exhorts the reader as to why Christ ought to be loved. We have an example of this on p.35 the person of Christ should draw forth the believers love due to: "1)His greatness and authority;2)His holiness and purity;3)His wisdom and omniscience;4)His truth and fidelity;5)His fullness and all suffiency;6)His kindness and mercy." The author encourages the believer to make diligent use of the means God has provided to increase their love for their Lord. Some of those means being: hearing the Word preached, reading and studying the Scriptures, praying for increased love for Him, living by faith, cultivating a sense of His love for you, growing in your hatred of and striving against sin, associating closest with those who most love Christ, exercising the love that you do have that it may grow.Reading and meditating upon the truths set forth in this book will help any Christian to gage their spiritual health or lack thereof.

On my second time through this book, I tried to take notes on the most important points and gave up because I was copying down practically the entire book! Approaching the issue of loving Christ from a number of different perspectives--who Christ is, what He has done, etc.--Vincent's clear explanation of why and how Christians should love Christ engages your mind and moves your heart with incredible power. Neither exceedingly erudite nor sappy in the least, this book hits the question of loving Christ at its core. It reveals the height and depth and breadth of true Christian love in a way that cuts to the heart and cannot be ignored. If this is an issue with which you have struggled, either theologically or practically, do not pass this book by!