Reviews Books

Knight's Risk,Uncertainty and Profit(RUP) is a classic work ,especially with respect to Knight's analysis of the distinction between risk and uncertainty and the role each plays in the decision making calculus of the entreprenuer or the firm.For instance,Knight recognized that the negative impact of uncertainty could be reduced for those firms that were able to increase their size and get larger and larger over time.Advertising would allow firms to deal with the uncertainty of consumer responses to the introduction of new products over time ,as well as to changes in consumer preferences.Knight was the first to clearly recognize that economic profit is the return to the successful entreprenuer or owner of the firm to compensate them for the bearing of uncertainty.Knight's analysis of the connection between uncertainty and economic profit corrected the errors of Ricardo and Marx,who regarded economic profit as an unearned surplus .Keynes's integration of expected economic profit into the specification of his aggregate supply function,Z,where Z =P+wN(P equals expected economic profit),can be traced back to Knight's earlier discussions.It is strange that economists still are having trouble specifying Keynes's Z function nearly 70 years after the publication of the General Theory in 1936.However,Knight's theoretical analysis of uncertainty at both the micro and macro level is not as impressive as Schumpeter's analysis of uncertainty in his Theory of Economic Development(1912)or of the path breaking analysis of John Maynard Keynes in chapters 6 and 26 of the A Treatise on Probability(1921).In this latter book,Keynes operationalized a quantitative method of dealing with uncertainty(insufficient weight of the evidence,w)by means of his conventional coefficient of risk and weight,c.This coefficient allows a decision maker to incorporate uncertainty and nonadditive probabilities into a technical analysis of decision making.The only author who comes close to Keynes is D.Ellsberg with his practically identical index to measure ambiguity called rho.There are still some unanswered questions that can be asked in this area of economic thought.Why didn't Knight cite the earlier work of Joseph Schumpeter on the risk versus uncertainty distinction?Further,why didn't Keynes cite both Knight and Schumpeter in his chapters 12 ,17 and 22,where he discussed the issue of the effect of uncertainty on investment in new capital goods and on stock market speculation?

Even though the recent research in microeconomic theory has paid attention (somewhat reluctant in my opinion) to the topic of the "uncertainty", i.e. the Knightian uncertainty, it has not been successfully incorporated in the main theoretical framework, yet. The one of the evidences may be that we still cite D. Ellsberg's paper in QJE as the one of the most important work in this field: it is like citing Keynes' "General Theory" in every microeconomic paper as in 1950s and 1960s.

The book is pleasant to read: it is full of insights, usually forgotten by now, including the complemental tendency of the theoretical and empirical works in economics. The most important accomplishment is that he argued that the exisence of the "uncertainty", the event whose probablity cannot be estimated priori or from empirical data, explains the instablity of the perfect competition, the (lucklustre) justification for the monopoly and the oligopoly, and the superiority of the private property system (capitalism). It is noticable that many phenomenons metioned in the book can be still applicable now, and the last part implies the author's thought regarding to the path of the capitalism, which is explored in more depth in Schumpeter's work despite the differences in two economists' predictions.

Knight is one of the economist who lived in the transition of classical into neoclassical economics. The book predicts the emergence of more mathematical economists, but cannot escape from the influence of the former. The same thing can be said of the works of Schumpeter, Viner, and Veblen. Despite being one of the most famous economists, he and Schumpeter has no student who followed their lines of works: is it because their imaginative ways in conducting the reserach, or because of the trends in economics which trapped their students? (Stigler was a student of Knight, but which interest do their works share, except for their interests in history of economic thoughts?)

It is worth reading because it reminds of what economics is or should be about, not because it prescribes the solution which could not be found in the modern economic works. We are witnessing the transition of several countries into the private economics with the mixed results. It should be noted that Hayek's work is the starting point in this field, the transition economics or the comparative economics, but Knight's work is more appropriate, pratical, and dynamical.

Thus, if you are uncomfortable with the current economics, want to explore more idiosyncratic works in economics and think about the big picture in the path of the society, or are tempted to diverge from the dullness of the business books in your bookshelf, then this may what you have been looking for. Unless you are struck with the optimism that cannot be easily found in the present.

This is the standard work in the field, give or take some stuff Keynes wrote on risk and capital.

This is the best work of economic theory I have ever read. There is no work in economics that evinces better judgment on the main issues or that does a better job of balancing theory with a sense for the facts. Knight begins by defending theoretical (that is, deductive) economics. Unlike the economic rationalists, however, Knight does not believe that theoretical economics can lead to precise results. The application of the "analytic method" must always be "incomplete," he argues. Theoretical economics thus can only deal with "tendencies," that is, "with what 'would' happen under simplified conditions never realized, but always more or less closely approached in practice." This methodology Knight describes as "the method of successive approximations." Knight also warns of the dangers of rationalism and the necessity of constantly checking one's results against the facts. "When the number of factors taken into account in deduction becomes large, the process rapidly becomes unmanageable and errors creep in... It is better to stop dealing with elements separately before they get too numerous and deal with the final stages of the approximation by applying corrections empirically determined."

Armed with the method, Knight proceeds to tackle several important problems in economics, especially dealing with the theoretical construct of "perfect competition." By always keeping his head firmly within the empirically real, Knight is able to bring a great deal of sound judgment to a number of issues. Knight had a keen sense of human nature and how human beings behave in the real world of fact. He knew that most economists had made men out to be far more rational than they really were. Businesses, he argued, did not merely seek to meet the needs of the consumers; no, they sought to create new needs through innovation, advertising, and even a sort of manipulative hypnotism. In this, Knight argued, we find both progress and abuse, civilization and fraud. Knight also brings a good deal of sense to the problem of interest, demonstrating the psychological inadequacy of all time-preference theories of interest. But Knight's most important contribution consists in his analysis of the difference between risk and uncertainty. Risk, Knight argues, is a measurable probability that something could happen, like the probability that an individual will be struck by lightening or hit by a car. Uncertainty is a kind of immeasurable risk--e.g., predicting short term flucations in exchange rates. Knight's analysis is crucial to understanding economic reality. Knight's distinction between risk and uncertainty, for instance, explains why the rise of derivative securities in financial markets is so dangerous. Derivatives attempt to insure uncertainty, which is immeasurable, as if it were risk (which is measurable).

Frank Knight hit the ground running with his dissertation, which he published as Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit. Knight makes a simple but important distinction between quantifiable risk and uncertainty. The distinction between risk and uncertainty is important in understanding markets, profits, and entrepreneurship. Knight connects entrepreneurship with uncertainty and profit. These factors do not square well with conventional notions of perfectly competitive equilibrium.

Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit is a work of major importance. This book constitutes a serious alternative to the theories of entrepreneurship developed by Schumpeter and Kirzner. While most modern economists underemphasize entrepreneurship, Knight examines uncertainty and entrepreneurship as a way of bridging the gap between abstract theory and economic realities. Knight saw the obvious fact that we do not live in a world of perfect competition. He, like Shackle and Keynes, recognized that we must explain uncertainty if we are to ever understand how the capitalist system really works.

Knight was a major figure in the generation of interwar economists who sought to explain the dynamics of capitalism. Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit is indispensable to anyone who aims at understanding uncertainty and dynamics in microeconomics, along with the work of Schumpeter, Hayek, Coase, Kaldor, Mises, Lachmann, and Shackle.

My husband and I just love these Jenny Linsky stories, and we have no kids! We had never heard of Jenny Linsky until my husband brought home a very badly beaten up copy of it from the dump of all places. We are now HUGE fans and plan on collecting all of Jenny's charming stories.

We are purchasing this series one at a time for our daughter, who is also named Jenny. She is eating them up! The stories are simple and sweet, but include lots of old-fashioned adventure, just perfect for young kids. We own several titles now and I have not been disappointed by any of them. Charming illustrations and great stories makes for a perfect combination! I recommend this series highly. Probably up to a fourth grade reading level.

My daughters love the Jenny Linsky cat books. All of the drawings are extremely charming and the writing is so fluid that my nine-year-old reads them to her younger sister.

I picked up a Jenny and the cat Club book at a yard sale in the late 1970's. It quickly became my favorite book, and I still have it today. I tried to collect other Jenny books over the years, but they are hard to find in good condition - and expensive - so I was happy to see them all republished in hardcover! My collection grows!!

These books are wonderful - hope you will buy one for your kids - or yourself! :)

I thought this story would be far fetched being that Jenny goes to a "camp." But she actually goes to a kennel and it made more sense to me (talking cats, cat who drives--perfectly normal to me). Nonetheless, the story keeps in balance with the rest of Averill's series. My five year old truly enjoys this series. He loves cats and enjoys the fun adventures Jenny the cat experiences.

That's the eye catching sub-head for Mr. Cohen's very candid essay on the making of the movie "Bounce." It is not even a movie I saw and yet, I couldn't get myself to put down the book (and get back to work) until I finished this painfully insightful memoir by writer/director Don Roos.

In fact, the entire book is a little tough to put down because each story gets your foot inside the door of what writers had to endure to get their stories on the big screen. In some cases, you get the impression that the stories glided between the cracks. But in most cases, you wonder how anyone could ever have the tenacity to see a script to the end. And in many cases they don't. A recurring theme in these pages is how often the script changes hands, as old writers are fired, new one's hired, and the first one re-hired. Ugh. Makes me glad that I'm a Graphic Designer...something I thought I'd never say.

Surprisingly, the best story is found right smack dab at the beginning from Mr. Cohen himself. I'm talking about the Introduction, which most people skip. Don't do that. Read the introduction. All of it. It's honest. It's brave. And it's even more tell-all than the stories that come after it. Oh, and it's so funny at times that I embarrassed myself when laughing at the bookstore. I wrote the author an email, giving him a little wink about his story. He wrote back. That was enough for me to buy the book.

One more great thing about this book. I've always felt that writers are the last vestige of the world's wisemen. They have an insight about people, places and situations that when I read books like these I begin to wonder if I'm really reading a psychological self-help book. I've underlined quite a few snippets, as so much of what is shared resonated with my own experiences as a creative person. It's very difficult to stand by and watch someone "bend" your idea until it breaks (that's me paraphrasing Mr. Cohen in his Introduction).

So the point is, Get this book. If misery indeed loves company, you'll have plenty of it.

Have you ever loved a book and then been devastated by how it was butchered in the movie? Or, thought a book was nothing more than a movie script, and then be enchanted at how it came alive on screen?

This fascinating book traces the stories of how 25 movies made that transition, and I enjoyed every step of the way. Cohen interviews the "writer and explores the sometimes torturous path from idea to finished film from its very root the transformations.

Writers are sometimes blamed for the failures. But Cohen credits the complaint that changes in the scripts by directors, actors, and studio executives sometimes ruined the movie. On the other hand, Alan Ball believes changes to American Beauty he had strongly resisted significantly improved the film.

I found several of the interviews especially instructive: Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), Alan Ball (American Beauty), and John Logan (The Aviator).

Don Roos (Bounce) argues that writers ought to direct their own work. Readers and buyers want everything spelled out in the dialog but Roos feels few of them really grasp the power of film. "There are very few film enthusiasts in Hollywood, really, at those levels. Very few people who have favorite films, who are moved by films or understand remotely what film does. It's difficult talking to idiots, it really is."

Cohen's quotes from his intereview with Michael Cunningham, who wrote The Hours and has written for the screen, taught me something fundamental about movies (and novels and short stories for that matter):

"A novel can include a sort of panorama of characters, a little like the Breughel painting with Icarus going down in the lower right-hand corner of the canvas. That's one of the reasons there are novels. That's one of the reasons we need novels and we need movies. A novel can account for randomness and can include a wide range of people whose fates just barely impinge on one another. I can't think of a way to tell a story like that in a movie that I would want to see.

"I think movies are more closely related to short stories than to novels. A short story actually involves the compression you need for a movie, whereas a novel is another category of thing entirely. Was it Henry James who called a novel a big, baggy monster? That's what it is. That's why we love them. I think a short story, very much like a movie, has no room in it for extra baggage. It needs to move, it doesn't need to move directly, but it needs to move swiftly. It needs to be lithe and light and nimble, and though that forty-page digression to the Crimean War and how it resembles what's happening at the family dinner may be interesting, there's no room in a short story for it. Nor is there room in a screenplay for it."

I'm sure that aspiring screenwriters would learn a great deal by reading about the successes and failures described in this book. It will certainly inform and enrich my own movie viewing in the future.

Robert C. Ross, 2008

I've been a working writer for 30 years, so David Cohen's book is deliciously like listening in on the personal conversations of compatriots in the craft--but the more I read, the more relieved I was that I'd never been attracted to screenwriting. Cohen's fresh, entertaining and whip-smart insights help to lace these in-depth interviews with meaning and pathos, even when the writers themselves border on the vapid--and those with the most to say shine through, thanks to the author's careful balance between commentary and reportage. We may cringe when we read of a writer's summary dismissal from the movie script he's slaved over for years, but there are enough delightful stories in this book to make the chilling ones a bit more bearable. One way or another, we've all been there.

We get to know the inner Cohen as well, from his own foray into writing for Star Trek to his early naivete at the junket buffet table. Overall, this book is a great read.

Cohen's genius is giving us the real story of how things happen, by letting us drop in (sometimes mercifully briefly) on the minds and tormented, heartbroken lives of actual screenwriters and their actual screenplays. I work with book authors who often want to make the leap to screen, so I bought this to see what they might be up against. Normally I have to force myself to read writerly books like this (parceling out a chapter every few days, dutifully, 'cause it's so much a part of my day job), but I took this one to bed and read it like a novel. The stories are so wonderfully f$%!d up... you find yourself overwhelmed with pity, schadenfreude, horror, amusement you name it. It must have been hell to make some of these movies.

The most interesting surprises for me were the backstories on two directors whose films normally do little for me personally: Todd Solondz and John Waters. I've always considered them overrated in a hipster-annoying kind of way (ditto the Cohens and the Sedarises, zzzz), but both men came off as brilliant personally, and so much more in control of what happens with their films. They make you wonder why anyone would want to get involved with the studio system at all... both seem so sane by comparison to some of the studio writers in the other stories.

The best thing this book did for me is make screenwriting seem do-able, by actual humans, rather than something demigods accomplish for little reconition and erratic pay. It's a job, like plumbing, and people have this job and make it work for them. I'm going to buy several copies and give them out to would-be screenwriter clients. Great work: author, author!

David S. Cohen gives us the back story on 25 movies (from the sublime, like The Hours, to the incredibly bad, like Random Hearts): how they evolved from screenplay to screen.
Although it's not a how-to book, I suspect budding and aspiring screenwriters everywhere will receive Screen Plays like a man stranded in the desert welcomes water.

Following these films from the birth of the idea until the films came into the theaters and left as classics, embarrassing flops, or somewhere in between, Cohen is smart enough not to offer glib answers about why the result was what it was. Writing, for example, about the very talented people who were behind Random Hearts (which I suspect will always be in the list of worst movies I've seen in my life), he ends quoting Harrison Ford, who instead of trying to explain the process of making the film, simply said: "You sort of had to be there." Regular film lovers can't be there for the journey, but Cohen does a really good job showing you photos of the trip.

As an American, it hurts to admit that Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the quintessential expression of American cheekiness and derring-do, has been best chronicled by a Britisher. Of course, I'm teasing a bit. But there is no question that Keith Topping seems to have a better grasp of what is important in the Buffyverse than many of his contemporaries on this side of the ocean.

What Topping does not do is write one agonizing reprise after another of all the episodes of Season Six of the show. As viewers will no doubt remember, Season Six was quite agonizing itself without that point being hammered home all over again. Instead, Topping provides very short synopses, followed by myriad details of things that are unique, funny, or perplexing about each episode.

You will be treated to paragraphs on 'A little learning is a dangerous thing' (the power of misinformation), 'Denial they name is...' (Self-delusion in Sunnydale), 'It's a designer label..' (clothes, of course), valley-speak, geek-speak, logic errors, and ever more items that bring to light the aspects of the production which the viewer, caught up in the story, is likely to miss. All of this is done in a style that is an enjoyable mix of tongue-in-cheek and respectfully serious.

Topping is an excellent researcher. His ability to find countless relationships, both intentional and accidental, to other atavars of popular culture is uncanny. Nor does he hesitate to introduce the reader to the more analytic writings on Buffy and the Scooby gang. Despite the spottiness of Season Six, Topping manages to ferret out all the good parts - to the point where I have to admit that the book is better than the season.

If you are a fan then you will want this book. And you will want to track down Topping's other efforts on the show that nearly ate South California.

I have the edition of Slayer for seasons 1 through 5, and it is really a good guide of the series. This book continues with the same fun observations, facts, and quotes. I know some people hate season 6, but for those of us that love it--this book is worth it. If you don't like season 6, maybe this book can help you see the good things about the season.

For those who liked Keith Topping's British perspective in his earlier 'Slayer' volume, here is an update. This book covers only the 6th season - Buffy's resurrection, the Trioka, the musical, Willow-as-evil, etc. Each episode receives 5-to-8 pages of coverage, organized under various thematic headings: Plot summary, music, memorable quotes, comments on the women's clothing, continuity errors, logic flaws, pop culture references, etc. Topping seems to have caught everything, down to the tiniest continuity error.

There are also separate essays on (1) series creator Joss Whedon, (2) the network switch to UPN, (3) an update on BtVS novels (about a paragraph on each), (4) an update on BtVS and the internet, and (5) predictions for the 7th season, which was the last season of this underappreciated series that never gained the viewership it deserved.

Season six is in my opinon the best Buffy season ever.
If you don't like it read this book. It will change your mind.
If it doesn't, then go back to watching Bewitched or Buffy season one. I guess the true spirit of the Slayer is lost on you.

This book covers the sixth season of Buffy and is the next volume in Keith Topping's 'Slayer' episode guides (the previous 5 seasons are covered in a single volume, also available from Amazon). Keith does his usual thorough job covering each episode in detail. Even if you disagree with his views, you can't dispute that he has a deep love for the show and a healthy respect for all those involved in its production.

As I have stated in other reviews, Keith Topping's Buffy and Angel books are the best unauthorised episode guides on the market. If you are a serious fan of Buffy and Angel, you only need the official guides and these books.

While the day-to-day, 9-to-5 (only it's sometimes more like 24/7) career of child-rearing is still largely a female domain, Mr. Mom is no longer a movie cliche, but an SAHD, or Stay-at-Home Dad. As more mothers bring home larger pay checks, and more paying jobs can be done at home, more fathers find themselves able and willing to do the daycare thing. Thus the rise of dads like Peter Baylies, founder of the At-Home Dad Network and publisher of its newsletter, and thus this very useful and pragmatic guide for "Men Who Clean Bathrooms and the Women Who Love Them."

The Stay-at-Home Dad Handbook would be an excellent tool for any expectant parent, male or female, who wants to look after both home and children. Baylies is full of clear and clever advice about establishing routines, cleaning house (and how to schedule this around the needs of a small child), dealing with tantrums, attaining and maintaining a satisfying social life, living on one income, working at home, avoiding burnout, and what to do when the kid hits kindergarten age. Some of this stuff men simply need explained to them, and Baylies does that with admirable precision, flavored with amusing examples of traditional can-do male attitude - there's a really good idea about how to recycle your old computer and edutain your child at the same time - and tips only a dad would think of, or publish. (Having fun in the summer months via the "ice cube meltdown in armpit" method comes to mind.) But the book's guy-ness comes through most strongly in the "Spotlight on Dad" profiles that finish each chapter: vignettes, some funny and some poignant, by other SAHDs about their at-home experiences: the frustration of waiting and waiting, a squalling infant in one's arms, for the breast-feeding mom who's stuck on the freeway; the guy who's finally taken the proud step of calling himself "a professional parent." ("And if you call me Mr. Mom, I'll hit you with my diaper bag.")

It would be nice to hear a little more about the less tangible rewards of staying at home: the ease and intimacy of life with one's child, the pleasures of not commuting and of being one's own boss. But not to quibble; with its attention to detail and the appendix of cool resources, Baylies's latest child is for any father-to-be who dreams of becoming a real pro. -- Melanie Lawrence for the FEARLESS REVIEWS

This is "THE BOOK" on stay at home dads! Fun and fast reading that offers valuable insight into the life of stay at home dads. Great parenting tips for both mom's and dad's. Read this book and you will be a better father. This book is a must read for any parent who takes parenting seriously.

As a recently back to work mom, I found this book to be incredibly helpful both for me and for my at-home dad husband. The chapter about how to deal with the "rush hour" time before dinner offers some great tips. I definately recommend this book to new moms and dads!

I had a chance to peek at an advanced copy of the book and I was floored by the creative advise and down to earth approach. I should have read this book 5 years ago when my son's were still young. Luckily I'll have plenty of time to practice on my daughter.

The book provides valuable nuggets of information for the stay at home dad. This grassroots hands on voices of experience book is a great resource with funny and informative reading.

Absolutely must for an IMG, has a lot of stuff starting on how to prepare a good application and also tips on writing personal statement and dos & dont,s for recommendation letters. I found it very useful and would definitely recommend it.

I bought this book on June/06, just prior the match season started. It totally changed my original plan. I was full of the info that is on the internet, the same that the thousands of applicants use. This book gives you in detail what you have to do in order to outstand from the rest. Focusing on the difficulties that an IMG has while trying to get a residency, set the profile of the SUCESSFUL IMG, and explains you how to become one. I relyed on this book only and obtained 10 invitations out of 30 applications, all from top centers like Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, or Mayo Clinic. Definitively, the best tool for IMG's.

I would swear and curse with joy, but I shall hold back!

The author of this book is to be commended on the exemplary structure and layout of this little gold-mine... I was hoping to find this work earlier, and I am only thankful that I have it in my hands right now!!!

Getting to the US, into a top-notched residency programme, while being a foreign medical graduate are all difficult things to combine and accomplish skilfully. It is absolutely wonderful to see a physician who made it, and who made it BIG.
I found this book thoroughly informative, believe it or not, on ALL the major steps required for that arduous process. Most texts offer scarse little tid-bits of already well-known facts that I needed to add MUCH more to. This book does that splendidly.
I particularly enjoyed the Seventy-Thirty rule.

Guys out there looking for more than JUST a book on getting through the hurdles?... this book is for those who want to do it and do it WELL. It's plain, and simple, and easy to read. I recommend it above ANY of the other books on the market. THIS ONE is the ONLY one of it's kind...

Thank you to the author. A tremendously honest piece of work. Congratulations.

It's a very comprehensive book and the tips it gives are really great and deal with real life. The LORs and interview sections are marvellous. The author has an indeed deep understanding of the successful application process for a residency in the U.S. What might miss from this book: maybe how can IMGs find an observership in the U.S for which he/she wouldn't have to pay, just like it is possible in Europe!
I recommend the book in highest terms to anyone applying for residency.

This is THE book for IMGs. Forget first aid and others. Nobody explains the finer details, the minutae that can enhance your competitiveness better than Anagh Vora. The book is a truly outstanding read and will help the readers in the process of obtaining a US residency.

Best would be to buy it by the 2nd-3rd year of medical college and utilise all the guidelines mentioned. Its 140 pages of information for just IMGs, so very much detailed as to what to do and what not to do.

Buying it will be the best decision in you quest for a US residency.

I love Supernatural. Anything Supernatural gets an automatic 5 million in my book. I love the extra detail included in each companion that gives more facts on the creatures and the explanation as to why the writters decided to make the brothers go after them. Dean and Sam are the BEST!

I preordered this book when I ordered the season 1 companion guide along with the complete seasons on DVD. I was very satisfied with the indepth information that was given about each episodes. The best thing about this book is the 22 Things for Aspiring Ghost Hunters By Dean Winchester. Very good book for any Supernatural fan!!

This is an awesome book to have for fans of Supernatural!! I highly recommend it.

The Supernatural Season Two Companion is brilliant. Much like the first companion, it has lots of episode information, quotes, and behind the scenes looks. It also contains episode insights from Ackles, Padalecki, and Eric Kripke. The quick facts and episodic music listings are particularly my favourite. The "Did You Know?" bits are always insightful and really interesting. And, needless to say, the coloured image inserts are awesome.

Overall, I have been really happy with the seasonal companions so far. I look forward to the the third with great interest.

Thank you for sending the book so timely and in the great shape it was promised that it would be. 5 Stars

The best book you can ever get in General surgery. If you really want to enjoy surgery while you are reading, get Greenfield's. The sub specialty sections are awesome as well, you don't have to look elsewhere when you get this book.

i found this book the best surgical book covering
basic scince,general surgucal and subspescility topics including
anatomy,pathophysiology of surgical dieases and managment in details.

I came across this book back in early 2002, and since my best friend had the Sabiston and we were on a budget, i bought this one. This is deffinetly the best and the most complete book i could have bought on general surgery. It takes you from anatomy trough physiology in each pathology you read upon. Would recomend it to anybody, either finishing medschool, or starting your residency in General Surgery.

i'd rate in terms of comprehensibility &modern thinking greenfield>sabiston>schwartz

I happened to pass through this most wounderful book by mistake, but when I read through it,Ii felt really sorry for not depending on it as an additional but essential referrence during my college and postgraduate years, the chapters are well organized and deeply written easily read, the illustrations are very clear and informative, although I might suggest a second more expanded chapter on infections being one of the most serious sergical enemies infections. ..I really want to thank the editors and contributors for the enormous effort they have put here and all the knowledge I found in this great book.

I actually bought this book because I am always looking for great, meaningful movies to watch and when I saw it I thought this would be perfect!

Also - I passed it along to my friend who is a teacher and she has used it in her class for friday movie-days . . .

I just saw this book listed in my local paper and I ordered it right away because I have teens who are difficult to communicate with. Last night I actually sat down with my son and daughter and we watched "Scent of a Woman." We had a great discussion afterwards about cheating, friendships etc. This book was a god send. I recommend it to anyone with children who are tough to talk to. Thank you to the authors for this wonderful addition to our library.

Every parent has been confronted by the blank stare displayed by their child when confronted with a difficult topic they simply wish not to discuss with you. This book overs an antidote to that ennui with the simple, but brilliant idea of 'taking" your kid to the movies instead. This is accomplished by the easy expedient of slamming a video tape in your own home vcr.It offers the "safe" outlet of entertainment as a catylist for serious discussion by employing salient guidelines and analysis of over 100 theatrical films.

This is a terrific book for sharing with yor family and almost every family likes movies. The analysis is quite inciteful and the movies choices are interesting and inspired. The lessons are good ones and easily followed by children and adults.

I really like this book! The introduction is extremely helpful and provides a lot of insight into using films within the family structure. A giant step beyond just a movie guide, this book shows parents like me how I can use movies to learn more about my kids. I have a ten year old son who is not the easiest person to talk to, so I'm confident that many of the movies in Talking Pictures will provide the common ground needed for us to have some of those meaningful talks.

This book has everything that you could possibly want to know about Adult Contemporary music. It gives you a whole new slant on The Beach Boys, Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison, Elvis and many many more. I've discovered hits about these artists and many more that I never knew exsisted. Highly recommened!

Billboard Books & Joel Whitburn & his Record Research team have Indeed come up with a treasure trove of AC chart INFO. This body of work is a must have for those of us who Love"Soft Rock".Or Better Still,as the Record Research motto on the back of the book says"for those who have a HEART for the Charts.Has Listings of the 200 most succesful AC Artists.This book also cross references w/ Pop Chart Information under ea.Artist.I Love This Book!I can't Wait for updates to this,It'll be Awhile!ENJOY!

As always with Joel Whitburn's Record Research books, the detail is spot on - exactly what it says on the tin. A fascinating insight into the changes that have occurred in what is considered "adult" music over 4 decades. Way back in the sixties, the phrases "easy listening" and "middle-road" were applied to what is now called the "adult contemporary" chart - that gives you a good indication as to the sort of music that generally qualified in those days.

I particularly like the fact that B-side details are also given, which seems to be the case with the latest issues of the RR singles books.

Whether or not this volume is of interest or use to you depends on what you want to use it for. If you merely want to scan it for interest and entertainment, then get the volume that addresses the Hot 100. If you need it for research purposes, or your interest goes beyond the pop charts, then this is a fabulous book.

An excellent book with tons of information and insight. It's great to see the many different types of artists who have landed on the Adult Contemporary charts and also great to see my favorite AC group the Carpenters ranked as one of the most successful of alltime.

What a great book. Almost as great as other RR books. It's always cool to see rock stars of the past like Clapton, Stewart and Billy Joel make great strides on the Adult Contemporary chart. In this book you will see how well all the pop acts have done with soft rock radio in the last 40 years. From Perry Como to Jim Brickman, from Rita Coolidge to Enya. The book even has a great section of the AC hits from 1955-early 1961.

My only complaint is that with the growing success of adult-rock music, I kind of wish Record Research would have put a special bonus Adult Top 40 section (based on research from Billboard's Adult T40 chart). It would have fit in well with this book. It may be another ten years for another revision of this book but enjoy this one while it is totally up-to-date to 2002.