Reviews Books

This book is a great read for any fan of the series.

I purchased this book for my boyfriend for christmas and I've kind of stolen it back (we live together so it's not a big deal lol). This is my favorite anime of all times. I love the story, I love the characters, and I especially love Sousuke and Kaname together. Even my boyfriend who "doesn't like anime" loves this series and wants to cosplay from it! *omgshock* I reccomend EVERYTHING that has to do with this series!

Full Metal Panic is an awesome show. I'm a girl and I think that the show is for both guys and girls personally. This book has stuff that goes on in the anime within it. A perfect item for your FMP collection.

I just got the book today, so I haven't looked at it in great detail... but the overall impression is great. Too bad that only about the first 1/3 of this book is in color...

I purchased this book to use as part of an 8th grade Grammar curriculum. It is wonderful! The stories and activities made learning the concepts fun. My son didn't even realize that he was doing schoolwork. An excellent choice for anyone learning grammar - or someone just brushing up on their skills. Two thumbs up!

This book is filled with useful information and helpful exercises. It helped me to understand grammar concepts my own English teacher could not explain to me. Thanks to this terrific and fun-filled book, I was able to get through 8th grade English easily. My teachers and parents have noticed a change in my papers as well as a better understanding of grammatical concepts. Anyone who is lost in the world of English grammar, should pick up this book.

Great book! The format is set up so that you can work straight through, or easily hop to specific grammar points. Little quizzes help you to see if you are understanding the concepts. I know this book will get a lot of use.

Terrific book! Was so helpful. I totally recommend it for anyone having trouble learning the rules of grammar!!!

This book is an excellent read, and a useful resource. Almost every common grammatical question is addressed (e.g., is it who or whom?) in a practical manner. Great gift for someone on their way to college, in academia, or for whom English is a second language.

If you've ever started a meeting by saying, Hello, my name is blank, and I love to use commas- then you have found your bible. Grossman's modern look at grammar is both fun and challanging. And unlke some others on the market- Grossman shoots from the hip. Learn from her? Yes. Enjoy her? Absolutely. Explain her? Never.

Ellie Grossman's book on grammar is one of the finest I have ever read on such a topic, and after 14 years of school I have read a lot of grammar books. I have always been bad at grammar and found it to be so boring, but this book kept me interested. Her funny stories and examples of how common grammar errors can be so stupid, that you hardly realize it. For the first time I was beginning to understand the mistakes I make and how to fix them. Plus she doesn't fill her book with grammar rules and other confusing junk she just tells it as it is. This book is very helpful and I recommend it for anyone who has had trouble with grammar.

Ellie Grossman has achieved the imposssible: she has made the grammatical pitfalls of our language easier to manage in a clear, concise, jargon-free, and FUN way! Never thought grammar could tickle your funny bone? Well, it does in this reader-friendly guide to some of our more common language blunders. This is a book to share!

This book is for preparation for the internal medicine boards, which I am currently studying for. The chapters are divided by specialty for focused review. There are over 1000 questions and they focus on points that would be found in Harrison's text.

The questions tend to be fairly difficult and I suspect they might be harder than actual board questions. However, the majority of questions focus on the key points of the "need to know" diseases of internal medicine. So knowing these questions will likely be good prep for the boards.

The answers provided are quite detailed and it is like reading a summary out of Harrison's. The incorrect answers are reasoned out, which is helpful.

In comparison to MKSAP, the questions are likely more of a "classical" disease presentation sytle and less of a clinical approach style that MKSAP often uses. Difficulty level is roughly equivalent.

I would recommend this book to anyone preparing for the boards. It should be used in addition to other question banks for diversity of preparation.

A must have for all the internal medicine residents!!!
Extraordinarilly structured questions and even better explanation focused on the highlight topics in internal medicine.

The first question I had when I was to purchase this book was whether this book was good for the USMLE Step 2 and 3.

The answer, in my case atleast, is an emphatic 'yes'. From my experience of Step 1, I have come to the conclusion that there is no quick solution to the USMLE exams - books like First Aid and some other 100 pg 'high yeild' review books can help you pass and score above average but getting great scores requires more than just that. The questions on the exam [step 1] were very varied and I don't expect the questions on step 2 to stick to what Kaplan and other review books call 'high yeild'. Being a little over-prepared is definitely worth the effort. And that's where this book is an absolute ace!

About this book - about 1000 Qs - well researched - fantastically up-to-date - it "is" the 2005 edition!. They are well arranged - meaning if you are in a chapter on rheumatology, the questions on Rheumatoid arthritis are clustered together. While solving them and while reading the solutions, one gets a wholesome idea about that disease. This also means that you don't have to read another 'review' book to get to know the subject matter. The explanations are detailed enough to make using a short review book superfluous. That the answers are referenced to the corresponding pages of the Harrison's Textbook is an added benefit.

About the questions, more impressive than the difficulty level is their construction. All choices are well thought out and there are hardly any sitters. The questions stay away from tiny details and do a great job at testing basic concepts in a somewhat difficult fashion - ideal for USMLE step 2 preparation in my opinion.

Guess that'll be it.

If you are reading this, you are probably preparing for an ABIM internal medicine exam in addition to all your other duties. There is never enough time, is there? Well, I was preparing for the ABIM recertification exam, and it had been 10 years since I'd finished residency. I had slogged through the Mayo review book over the course of five months, dutifully going over every page. Tres painful. There were three weeks left before the exam, and I figured I'd give this book a try. I quickly discovered how ignorant I was, despite doing the Mayo book. Charlie Wiener taught me a lot of critical care medicine way back when, and this text was a lot like sitting down with Charlie. If you are a former member of the Osler Medical House Staff (or did residency training at some other urban hospital), the case scenarios will give you flashbacks. The questions are well-written, and the answers give you really good feedback. The questions are highly relevant, reflecting what the ABIM wants you to know. There are a handful of errors here and there, where the letter of the answer in the key has a different letter than the same correct answer in the question... perhaps the editors changed the order of some of the answers or some of the distractor answers between editions. Mildly annoying, but not fatal.

I got my pass notice from the ABIM today. I'm convinced that Charlie's book made a crucial difference. Yeah, the book lists for $55, but it's a bargain compared to the $550 it costs to take the recert examination over. :-)

Good luck!

Being an effective manager requires being a good-decision maker too, having ability of using factual and quantitative information to analyze what is the most efficient decision to reach a well-defined objective. Making good decision by applied management science approach is the benefits that managers expect to learn combining with past experience to decide on what should be done. However, in the real-reality (as opposed to virtual reality, as a model), many decisions can be made under the highest-level conceptual understanding. In addition, a better understanding of decision making can be broken down into six sequential steps according to Drucker (pp. 2-19)

1. Classifying the problem in order to tell if it should be solved based on either principles or pragmatic concept. The problem can be categorized in three groups. The first group is the generic problems; for example, in a manufacturing organization, it may happen the situation like total amount of products decreasing. At this stage, the product control or engineering group will look at what is going on in a production line. To illustrate, the coupling in the pipe carrying steam or hot liquids, rather than the problem of production processing. This kind of problems frequently happens. The second group is a unique problem for the individual institution. The third group is a truly unique problem which happens out of exception. The truly unique events are rare and have to be treated individually. Unlike truly unique events, the other two groups require a generic solution. They require a rule, a policy, or a principle. Once the right principle has been developed, all manifestations of the same generic situation can be handled pragmatically by adjusting the rules to each specific case.

2. Defining the problem. After classifying the problem is generic or unique, it is quite easy to define what the problem is about that we are dealing with. However, it is the most important part of the whole decision process because sometimes the definition of the problem seems plausible but incomplete. In order to avoid this kind of carelessness, Peter F. Drucker suggested all of the decision makers check this process, defining the problem, again and again against all the observable facts and discard a definition the moment it fails to encompass any of them.

3. Specifying the answer to the problem to see if the decision is on the boundary conditions or not. A decision that does not satisfy the boundary condition is worse than the wrong definition of the problem. Therefore, before picking up the optimal solution, a decision maker has to deeply think about a question, "what are the objectives the decision has to reach?" Clearly thinking about the boundary conditions will help decision makers identify all of the possible decisions which can satisfy the needs.

4. Deciding what is right, rather than what is acceptable, in order to meet the boundary conditions. It means before paying attention on making decision acceptable by the compromise, adaptations, and concessions, we have to let the solution fully satisfy the specifications. However, if a decision maker does not know what will meet the boundary conditions, the manager cannot distinguish the difference between the right and wrong compromise. As the right and wrong compromise, Peter F. Drucker had an interesting description. The right compromise is like an old saying, "Half a loaf is better than no bread." In the contrast, the wrong compromise is like, "half a baby is worse than no baby at all." From this interesting description, it is easy to realize that deciding the right decision is more important than choosing the acceptable one.

5. Building into the decision the action to carry it out. Converting the decision into action is the most time-consuming steps in the decision-making process. It is true that we will not know the decision is the most efficient or not if we put the decision into practice. There are several questions that have to be answered before committing the decision, "Who has to know this decision?", "What action has to be taken?", "Who is to take it?", "What does the action have to be so that the people who have to do it can do it?" From those questions, it is obviously that an appropriate person who carries out the decision must have enough capabilities of adjusting his/her behavior, habits or attitudes once a decision becomes effective.

6. Testing the validity and effectiveness of the decision against the actual course of events. The feedback of decision action is the important information for a decision maker in order to realize the result of the decision model also for the future model building. However, information should be built on the direct exposure to reality, rather on decision makers themselves. Above all, six steps of decision process are the stepping stones for decision making. Although a good decision may be made under the decision-making process, sometimes the decision will still fail because of the mind of decision makers. The way the human brain works can destroy the choice we make. In the article, "The Hidden Traps in Decision Making, (pp. 143-67)" John Hammond, Ralph Keeney, and Howard Raiffa list nine psychological traps that may affect a way that a decision maker makes business decision.

1. The anchoring trap makes people give inappropriate weigh to the first information we receive. In business, for example, although it seems the decision that a manager predict how much product need to be produced by taking the former sales reports as a reference is reasonable, the old sales numbers become anchors because it may let a manager put too much attention on past event but not give enough weigh to other factors. Under this situation, it can lead to a poor forecast.

2. The status-quo trap means people may have biases on the situation we feel comfortable with so that we will not choose other alternatives even they are better. In order to make decisions rationally and objectively, a decision maker always have to keep in mind that the decision will be acted under the status quo and never consider status quo as the only alternative.

3. The sunk-cost trap is another serious biases. People always believe that successfully past decision even though it does not work anymore at the present. In order to put the suck cost away, a decision maker can listen other people's viewpoints and those people must to be those who did not experience the earlier decisions.

4. The confirming-evidence trap makes people find out the information to support an existing predilection, rather than to conflict it. On the other hand, people will try to discount the opposing information. In order to avoid the confirming-evidence trap, a decision maker can set up a clincher, let other people argue it, and listen people's advice.

5. The framing trap happens at the beginning of the decision process. When it occurs, the decision goes wrong because a decision maker has already misstated the problem.

6. The Estimating and Forecasting Traps have three minor traps,

a. The overconfidence trap makes people overestimate the accuracy of the forecasts.

b. The prudence trap causes people to be overcautious when people make decision under uncertain or risky situation.

c. The recall ability trap leads people to give incorrect weigh to recent, dramatic events.

The book rightly emphasizes the facts that a good decision not only relies on clearly defining the alternatives, collecting the correct information, and so on during the decision-making process, but also relate to the benefits and costs which are weighed accurately. Furthermore, the background, the experience of a decision maker will be one of the factors which affect the decision making. Except the factors of individuals, the economic circumstances will influence the decision and its action too.

There are several books from the Harvard Business Review that follow this simple format - essays on critical topics by the leading minds in the field compiled into a short book of around 200 pages. One of these critical topics is Decision Making. That topic is the focus of this book.

There are hundreds of books on management, strategy, leadership, etc. but not many are purely dedicated to treating the subject of Decision Making from a theoretical and abstract perspective. This book contains 8 short essays presenting different theories by people by Peter Drucker.

The first chapter starts off with an impressive treatment of The Effective Decision. It is impressive because of the wisdom packed into these few pages and the aptness of the title. The author (Peter Drucker) dispels the myths about the most effective decision makers being the ones that can think fast and manipulate a large number of variables in their heads. Instead he explains that the best decision makers are the ones who focus on impact instead of technique. He then systematically explains a simple process to follow to achieve the same results as the highly successful executives.

The book then moves on to topics dealing with how to make trade-offs, humble decision making (which is nothing but accepting that your first impressions may be wrong and be open to changing the direction of your thoughts as more information becomes available), interpersonal barriers, hidden traps, when to trust your gut, and analyzing problems. The essay on interpersonal barriers was very familiar to me as I had experienced the situations described several times in my own career.

The book is simple - it has no pictures, just some tables once in a while and some blank paper at the end of the book to takes notes. The size is small like a novel but very potent! When I first saw this book at a bookstore, I didn't think much of it. But I picked it up because of the Harvard Business Review name on the front cover. I couldn't put it down once I started reading the first chapter and immediately purchased a few books in this series.

These books and especially this one can be described in only one word - potent. They are like text books or Ph.D papers except they are very practical. These are some of my favorite management/business books but they are difficult to digest. Since they are abstract in nature, one has to read them very slowly and read them with total concentration. The authors don't spend time painting a picture in detail and trying to get you excited. They get straight to the point and finish it in less than 20 pages. If you read these books like you would read other books, you are likely to miss the point.

This book in particular is very unique as there aren't that many books dedicated to just Decision Making. Enjoy learning from the masters! Good luck!

Don't let the title mislead you, this book won't make decisions for you. I will however, give you the ability to make use of your most powerful business tool: a convincing guess. Many times I would stumble blindly through the veil of uncertainty, only to arrive on the otherside; lost, confused, naked, and too sore to sit down. But, now, after digesting these powerful articles, I can make my way through uncertain times; clothed in conviction and sitting on a soft pillow of apathy.

Much of the contextual material in this volume is out-of-date, given the fact that the eight articles originally appeared in the Harvard Business Review years ago (1965-2001). However, I think the core concepts remain sound and provide a valuable frame-of-reference for understanding the advances in decision making that have occurred during the last five years. For example, Peter Drucker suggests a sequence of six steps: classify the problem, define it, identify possible answers, determine which is "right" rather than acceptable, build into the decision the action(s) necessary to implement it, and then test the decision's validity and effectiveness. Yes, these are obvious steps. However, but the number of well-publicized bad decisions that have been made in recent years (e.g. Adelphia Communications, Arthur Andersen, Enron, Kmart, and Tyco) suggests the implications and consequences when decision-makers ignore one or more of these steps.


No brief commentary such as this can do full justice to the rigor and substance of the eight articles. It remains for each reader to examine the list to identify which subjects are of greatest interest to her or him. My own opinion is that all of the articles are first-rate. One of this volume's greatest benefits is derived from the fact that a variety of perspectives are provided by a number of different authorities on the same general subject. In this instance, "advances [to date] in strategy"

Readers will especially appreciate the provision of an executive summary that precedes each article. They facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key points which - presumably - careful readers either underline or highlight. Also of interest is the "About the Contributors" section that includes suggestions of other sources to consult. Here are questions that suggest key issues to which the authors of these articles respond:

How to make and then measure an "effective" decision? (Peter Drucker)
Comment: Effective executives do not make a great many decisions. They concentrate on what is most important.

What is a rational method for making trade-offs? (John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa)
Comment: Making wise trade-offs is one of the most important and difficult challenges in decision making. Needless to say, the more alternatives you are considering and the more objectives you're pursuing, the more trade-offs you'll need to make.

Why is humility essential to effective decision-making? (Amitai Etzioni)
Comment: Only fools make rigid decisions and decisions with no sense of overarching purpose, whereas the most able executives practice more humble decision making that offers the benefits of flexibility, caution, and the capacity to proceed with partial knowledge.

What are the most common interpersonal barriers to decision making and how to overcome them? (Chris Argyris)
Comment: One of the most common observations in company studies is that executives lack awareness of their own behavioral patterns as well as the negative impact of their behavior on others.

How to analyze the nature and extent of the given problem? (Perrin Stryker)
Comment: Even veteran managers are likely to be very unsystematic when dealing with problems and decisions, and their hit-or-miss methods often produce bad decisions based on erroneous conclusions.

What are the hidden traps in decision making? (John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa)
Comment: Bad decisions can often be traced back to the way the decisions were made - the alternatives that were not clearly defined, the right information was not collected, and the costs and benefits were not accurately weighed.

When to "trust your gut"? (Alden M. Hayshi)
Comment: Our emotions and feelings might not only be important in our intuitive ability to make good decisions but may actually be essential because they can help us to filter various options quickly.

Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out the recently published Harvard Business Review on Making Smarter Decisions as well as other titles in the Harvard Business Review Paperback Series such as those on Becoming a High-Performance Manager, Change, Corporate Strategy, Decision Making, Effective Communication, the Innovative Enterprise, Leadership, Leadership at the Top, and Measuring Corporate Performance.

Can't say much about this Because it wasn't for my personal use. It did arrive in timely manner though. Good job to the seller!

This book is for an MBA class and as Harvard Business Cases are concerned there are some interesting factual articles in this Supply Chain Management review by Harvard.

I'm a 25 year Supply-Chain Manager in the USAF. I enjoyed reading this and relating to the changes in mind-sets in supply chain management. Logistics, Supply-Chain and Distribution managers have contributed to companies and the militaries success's or failure's...

I thought the book presented several interesting examples through eight papers covering various supply chain topics. Several of the papers have appendices with very useful information. This is a good book to take on a plane and read on one or two flights. But, subsequent research would be required to obtain the details necessary to actually implement the concepts.

It is frequently said that tropical diseases are only a plane ride away, from the United States - Babesia has already landed here. Babesia is infecting people, who have never left the United States. Babesia was found in over 50 percent of Nigerian men tested, but has also been found in donated blood, in the US. Blood banks continue to rely on the outdated belief that Babesia is a disease which can not be contracted, in the United States, despite detection in at least 3 % of donated blood samples, in a West Coast study.

Basesiosis is frequently transmitted, with Lymes Disease, by ticks and is difficult to detect, with standard antibody testing, since it resides in red blood cells. Microscopic examination of blood, under 1,000 x oil immersion magnification, by specialized labs, is often required,to detect the Babesia protozoans.

One of the most stealthy features of Babesia, is the ability to imitate a menstrual migraine, since Babesia can cause severe migraine headaches, which flare, with the 4 week life cycle, of Babesia. Babesia can also survive, for years, in human hosts, without producing symptoms. Hopefully, those who ignorantly tell chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia patients that their symptoms are "all in their head," will begin to realize how limited our knowlege of disease actually is.

One of Dr. Schaller's sons suffered from Babesiosis and Dr. Schaller is dedicated to finding more effective tests and treatments for Babesiosis. From personal communication, with Dr. Schaller, I have learned he is working on perfecting a microscopic Babesia blood smear test, far more sensitive, than currently available tests.

I am aware of a 13 year old female who Dr. Schaller treated for Babesiosis. Prior to testing and treatment, by Dr. Schaller, another physician recommended leg braces, for this young women who could barely walk, due to pain. Two weeks after beginning Babesiosis treatment, with Dr. Schaller, she was jumping on the trampoline and laughing with her younger sister.

Readers may also be encouraged to learn some Babesia patients eventually test negative for Babesia, indicating it may be possible to eradicate this parasitic infection, with adequate treatment.

This book contains a thorough discussion of Babesia symptoms, testing, prescription, herbal and nutritional treatments. Some prescription medications, which are still in clinical trials are also discussed. It also contains information on Babesiosis treatments used by Dr. Horowitz and Buruscano, who are located in the New York/New Jersey area. Dr. Schaller practices, in Florida. This book contains an extensive annotated reference list.

Steven Sponaugle
Research Director, Florida Detox

I am really grateful to Dr James Schaller to have written the first exhaustive book on human babesiosis. It is an amazing sum of information that I suggest all MDs treating tick-borne diseases should read. Babesiosis litterate patients wanting to know what's happening in their bodies should also get it. It is a must have for you and your doctor, if you have caught this plague called babesiosis and try to get rid of it. The book is written in an easy to read and pleasant way (though English is not my mother language). It is a considerable source of references, treatments, interactions, helpful tips, a masterpiece of the state of art. SR, PhD

Dr. Schaller writes in an engaging manner that draws professionals and is clear enough so those who are struggling with these symptoms can understand the etiology, description and treatment of the disease. The book freely and exhautively shares a bibliography so those who need more already have a lot of the research sources completed for them. I am not a medical doctor but in my work with individuals, couples and families it gives me abundant resources to spot potential symptoms and refer people knowledgably for further evaluation. Dr. Sahaller is a prolific writer but he takes no shortcuts in his work. Very few medidal books bridge the gap from professional to lay reader, and this book makes a yeoman's attempt, and for my money, succeeds. Ralph W. Eckardt DSW, Individual, couple and family therapist with 40 years experience.

When I asked my Ivy league educated doctor about Babesia and he replied "What's That?" I was shocked. When I told him about Dr. Schaller's book on Babesia, he promised to order a copy of it. If people are suffering from diseases that "TOP" ACADEMIC PHYSICIANS AREN'T AWARE OF, how will people become well? The answer lies in incredibly informative books like this one by Dr. James Schaller. There truly is life-saving, well-researched information for both laypersons and physicians alike. I have learned more about Babesia than most physicians just from reading this book! I recommend it as MANDATORY CURRICULUM IN ALL MEDICAL SCHOOLS and for physicians in practice.

I am giving this book 4 stars because it does not rank among the best books I have ever read, which would deserve a 5 star, but certainly better than a mediocre book which would merit only a 3 star. Amazon.com only gives us 5 stars, so I hand them out sparingly.

I enjoyed this old-fashioned read. I laughed at times, felt sympathy and frustration for Sara, and looked forward to where the story was taking her along with the reader. The story line reminds me of the book "Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood. I am not about to run out and order the other two books in the Joyce Cary trilogy just yet; but some day when I am book dry I know they are there and I can go back to them.

I have just reread Cary's three novels, Herself Surprised, To Be a Pilgrim and The Horse's Mouth. It is amzing that books written during the second world war should be so secure in their tone about a vanishing England and its history. Cary uses his three entirely diffeent voices - tricky sensuous woman, nervy religious dirty old man, obsessed manipulative artist- better than anyone else i know uses the limitations of the first person to show what we do and don't know about each other. His descriptions of places and things are delicious. Also I shd like to say what beautiful books the New York Review paperbacks are to handle and read. Most people know The Horse's Mouth, and many know Herself Surprised . I'm not sure To Be A Pilgrim isn't the best and most surprising of the three- which is saying something.

My take on Sara Monday is very different from what I'm reading here. I believe that she loved life and indulged herself in its pleasures. At the same time she was a nurturing soul. Read it for yourself to decide about her character. Gulley Jimson is also a great character. The descriptions in this book are wonderful. She describes the sea as being like oven glass one day and the edges of knives another. It is so good that I didn't want it to end, and now I'm going to read the other two books in the trilogy.

Cary's Sara Monday has often been compared--quite rightly--to Moll Flanders, another irresistible, irrepressible woman of highly suspect morals. Sara's odd adventures in marriage and love make for a highly entertaining read, but you should also pay close attention to her observations of her society; for a woman of little apparent reflection, there's very little that seems to escape her notice. All three books in the Gulley Jimson triptych are remarkable, but this one has a special poignancy.

ACTUALLY GIVES A HIGHER YIELD IN MARKS-AMUST HAVE

This dandy little book shares the keys of understanding college biostatistics with you. It's what you need to know to pass exams, boards and the like. It provides clear instruction on the essentials of descriptive and inferential statistics, hypothesis testing, correlational techniques, research methods, and statistics in epidemiology. For those who struggle with beginning and intermediate statistics classes, it's a jewel.

Are you one of those people that are scared of Biostatistics? Fear no more!! This book is for you. It explains everything in a very smart and simple way. Plenty of examples and tests help you to master the subject. If you study this book well, you will "understand" biostatistics and you don't have to memorize nonsense informations. two thumbs up!

I first encountered this book when it was called "Biostatistics for the Boards" when I took the course from Dr. Glaser when he was teaching at the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in 1990. Dr. Glaser was an exceptionally good and popular teacher and the book reflects his "no-nonsense" style. At first I thought it was a "dumbed down" statistics book as I had taken a full year of stats in college and my previous books had been huge and heavy textbooks. However, I soon found that the reason Dr. Glaser's book was so brief was that he concentrates only on the type of concepts and questions you will find on the USMLE step 1. The chapters are short and it is easy to review each one many times to firmly plant the info into long term memory. I had no problems at all with the stats on the USMLE. This book presents exactly what you need to answer all the questions on the USMLE without having you waste a lot of time studying things you will never use.

Here is a well-rounded, nicely illustrated guide to classic Hollywood flicks from the '30s to the 1960s. In terms of coverage, there aren't many surprises; all the "usual suspects" are here but as an introduction to some ageless films, it's a nice piece of work.

Author Afton Fraser divides the films into various chapters: Must See, Drama, Suspense, Film Noir, Good Guys & Bad Guys, Comedy, Screen Teams and so on. Each film typically gets two pages of coverage, a mixture of text and four-six photos. Aside from a short plot summary, brief production notes, information on the stars and tidbits on the movie are given. Each section is preceded by a one-two page summary on why Fraser picked the films found in that section.

The book is sub-titled 'A Guide for the Beginner and the Aficionado.' I think it would be most useful for those people wanting to learn about America's rich cinematic history.

Recommended.

This is a book for everyone, for those that grew up with the Film Noir and those that would like to discover anew the B&W film era. The photos are beautiful and the information about each film intriguing. I recommend it highly, I will give several as Christmas presents to relatives this year.

This is the best list of "must see" films that I have ever seen. It is written by a movie star's wife, who knows many of the old stars, and provides their favorites lists.

This book is amazing! This book is written by Brendan Fraser's (The Mummy) wife. This book has 15 chapters. Some of the chapters are Must See, Drama, Suspense, Comedy, Romance, Tearjerkers, One of a Kind, Musicals, Westerns, and Screenteams. Also on each new chapter she has on the side of the page a list of movie stars' picks of classics. It's their must-see list! This book even has a preface by the "Million Dollar Mermaid" herself, Esther Williams. The book includes a lot of never before seen photos. Another great thing about this book is on each movie, Mrs. Fraser includes info on Oscar awards, gossip, info on the leading stars, quotes, and info on screen teams (it shows info on what other movies the stars did together). This book is great for beginners who want to see old movies or just great as a gift for that special movie lover. Afton Fraser did a great job on this book and I hope she does another one! If you love old movies buy this book!