Society Books

This book might be the most widely read among Bloch¡¯s works who is the pioneer of Annal school. This book typifies the methodology of Annal school. History as a science took off in the 19th century. But Bloch argued that it was not history but just chronicles of events and political episodes. Bloch posed the fundamental questions: ¡®What is the history?¡¯ and ¡®What does history serve for?¡¯ To be a science, the object of history should be not the particular but the universal. Bloch did not think the universal law is possible in history. Then, the object of historical research should be the relation which may refer not to the law but to structure. This structure sets the boundary (or in Braudel¡¯s word, the possible and the impossible) on the everyday life, and has the not-so-easily changeable long-term duration (or in Braudel¡¯s term, longue duree). Whereas Braudel¡¯s trilogy, ¡®Civilization and Capitalism¡¯ is about the capitalism as longue duree (for more detail, see my reviews on those volumes), Bloch¡¯s ¡®Feudal Society¡¯ is about the feudalism as longue duree.
Marxists and others maintained the feudalism originated from the sudden and violent collision between Roman society and German society. It¡¯s the child born from the violent and coercive marriage. But Bloch argues that resulting form of feudalism had its origin not directly in German invasion but in subsequent invasions of the Moslem, the Norman, and the Hungarian. These added up to the uncontrollable chaos all over Western Europe, and ended in the collapse of effective ruling of the state. Feudal system as we know emerged in this stalemate which Frank empire and other states of the time faced. State apparatus could not be maintained for state could not pay bureaucrats salary. Frank empire pioneered the alternative system which was later known as feudalism. What characterizes feudalism is the unique social type based on the principle of subordination and custody. The principle is similar to the patron/client relationship of Roman age. But feudal one is based on the principle of contract which is premised on reciprocity. Put another way, feudalism is the network of reciprocal relationship of rights and responsibility from king to serf. Ruling class could not wield power over serf in unilateral way. In this vein, feudal system is both social (between classes) and political (among ruling class) relationships. Bloch maintained this relationship should be called as feudalism. It¡¯s a social type which is not limited to the economic terrain as Marxists argued.

I suppose I should be of two minds about Marc Bloch's "Feudal Society," a French work from the late 1930s which became available in English in the early 1960s, and was still fresh and exciting back when I was taking a freshman course on "Western Civilization." In theory, the book (and it is one book, although published in paperback in two volumes) has two major drawbacks. In practice, I find it solid, admirable, and well worth reading.

One drawback is the author's romantic glorification of the medieval peasant -- Norman Cantor has called attention to this in his "Inventing the Middle Ages," pointing out that Bloch gave it Marxist trappings. I call it romantic because I suspect that Bloch owed at least as much to Jules Michelet's nineteenth-century historiography, initially with a veneer of "science" added. Of course, Bloch actually went out and did fundamental work in the archives, and tried to get a real picture of how, in the long term, life had been lived by ordinary people, instead of relying on Michelet-style suppositions. (Yes, Bloch's "Annales" school is supposed to be the antithesis of the enthusiastic Michelet; but, while Bloch established its methodology in reaction to existing approaches, in Bloch's last book "The Historian's Craft," Michelet is still among "our great forebears.")

The second is the concept of "Feudalism" itself, which these days makes anyone with a serious background in medieval studies very uncomfortable. A very good case can be made that "Feudalism" is largely a set of modern constructs, re-invented several times since the sixteenth century to suit different legal, political, and social purposes, and presented as an "Historic Fact" alongside contemporary and later "discoveries" such as "Anglo-Saxon Liberty," "The Norman Yoke," and "Our Ancestors the Gauls." (A short, pointed, introduction to one aspect of the problem is J.G.A. Pocock's "The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law: A Study of English Historical Thought in the Seventeenth Century.")

If it means anything for modern-day historians, the term applies to how control of land, and its revenue, was linked to social status, political authority, judicial functions, and reciprocal military obligations -- a large, messy, topic. So the feeling is growing that the word is best avoided, as carrying too much baggage, and too likely to be invoked as a substitute for thought.

Indeed, as picked up by Karl Marx, Feudalism, equated largely with landlord-tenant agriculture instead of sub-divided political and judicial authority, became a theoretical concept to be applied to a variety of extra-European societies, as a stage in an inevitable social evolution. In this role, it produced, or at least became a part of, bitter, and literally murderous, disputes over the nature of Russian and Chinese society, among others.

Even with all this in mind, and many years after first reading it, I find Bloch's emphasis on the material basis of medieval society refreshing, and think that he carried it out with reasonable consistency. Whatever his agenda, he went looking for real data, and adjusted theory to match it, which is where he parts company with both Michelet and Marx. That later work has revealed a more complex, and in some ways different, picture does not discredit his effort. And having the hardworking peasant as a sort of collective hero helps hold together discussions of things like field rotation, strip cultivation, and plough-teams, which most readers will not find all that gripping on their own.

More important, in some ways, Bloch presented feudal *society* -- not some imaginary entity called "Feudalism" or "The Feudal System" -- as a whole set of ways of ordering people and institutions, and making resources available to various parts of a diversified ruling class. The unsystematic nature of actuality is not denied, but it is classified in terms of common elements.

This getting down to practical realities may not sound so impressive, but a couple of generations of scholars had been smacking each other over the head (in this case, figuratively) in an argument of whether "Feudalism" was *really* Roman or Germanic, with partisan sub-divisions on whether either origin was a Good Thing or a Bad Thing. Somehow, figuring out how it worked had seemed less important than what Mircea Eliade called "The Prestige of Origins" -- a form of mythical thought as much as a topic of historical research.

So instead of a broad theory of a single "origin," we get "The Growth of Ties of Dependence" (volume one of the paperback edition), followed by "Social Classes and Political Organization," showing the extent to which the pattern of rural hierarchies did, or did not, carry over into "higher" or "more advanced" developments.

Although probably much more accurate for France than for other parts of Europe, and for some centuries more than others, the book does manage to present a (by and large) convincing picture of how Europe re-organized itself between the collapse of Rome and the High Middle Ages. A reminder of the people who made it all possible, but were usually left out of the chronicles, and certainly are missing from most of the chansons de geste and romances, is not a bad basis for a book.

Still, largely for reasons of documentation, Bloch is sometimes rather better at explaining how the military aristocracy was supported, than at presenting the daily lives of the people who were doing the work. His analysis of how some knights and officials had "fiefs" which were simply stipends, or even what we might consider cafeteria privileges, is an interesting sidelight to "life on a medieval manor" approaches. It also reveals that methods of supporting the clergy and the nobility were not all that different, which shouldn't be a big surprise, given the limited options available.

So I continue to think of Bloch's "Feudal Society" as a valuable contribution, to be read and pondered, although not taken at face value, by anyone seriously interested in medieval European society, or supposedly comparable systems elsewhere. Since it has also generated a half-century of follow-ups, attacks, and defenses, it is also a good book to have read as part of getting acquainted with a wider literature.

I read this book for a contemporary historiography class. As has been told by other reviewers, Marc Bloch is the founder (together with Lucien Febvre) of the Annales school. As a non-historian, I won't comment on its importance for historiography, but as a very valuable read for non-historians who want to understand the history of Western civilization reading the best books that have been written on the subject. This is my first book on the middle-ages and, although it took me quite a while to finish it (about a month) and it is definitively not an easy read, since it is an extraordinarily erudite work, it is a very worthwhile read. It provides a fairly good picture of how the feudal society developed after the Hungarian, Muslim, and Scandinavian invasions, which allowed it to flourish. I would point out two basic concepts that were of particular interest to me (although not explicit in the text). First, the concept of sovereignty. It is particularly interesting visually, since land was divided among an infinite number of lords as a bottom-up chain starting from the lowest peasant through the prince or monarch. So land belonged to everyone and to no one at the same time. This is a very original idea of sovereignty, rather opposite to modern sovereignty. The second concept is that of the "hommage", which I would call contract. The hommage between serf and lord was not that of subordination entirely, but it was neither that of equals--such as the contracts of the bourgoisie were, that we can trace back to the XIIth century, and personally I was moved by Bloch's analyses of this first contract among equals--, and it was originally voluntary. According to Bloch, this hommage influenced many other contracts we know of, namely marriage, courtois love, and even representative parliamentary governments.
To conclude with, I would say that my historiography teacher told me this is the best work on the middle-ages, so I decided to read it, and it wasn't easy, it took me a while, but it was very rewarding. I don't recommend it for people who don't read a lot, but if you enjoy history and want to know what the feudal society was all about, this is a very rewading book as an introduction to the middle-ages. I strongly recommend it.

Bloch's work is one of the ten most important and influential books on medieval Europe. Bloch displays true excellence in sholarship and narration. Nothing is stated without factual documentation to support it, and no information is carried beyond its logical conclusions. It is essential to read this two volume work before moving too deeply into medieval studies. Combine this work with Strayer's Feudalism (out of print, unfortunately) and you will have a good understanding of what society was like in a good portion of the Middle Ages.

Certainly an undeniable classic in the field of "history of the middle ages". As other reviewers have already noted, Bloch was one of the initial members of what grew to become the "annales" school of western history, though, to be fair, he died before you could call it a "school" or "movement".

Volume one of the two volume set looks at the growth of feudalism in western society, and by western I'm talking about Northern France, Western Germany, England and Northern Italy. Bloch's main concern in this volume is setting the conditions which led to the developmen of feudalism from 800 AD to 1000 AD and then describing the various forms that feudalism took.

The book is well translated, and I found it hard to argue with much of the thesis. I too have read Norman Cantor's "the Making of the Middle Ages" where he calls Bloch a Marxist (and maligns the entire Annales school). I've also read more recent productions from the Annales school. I have to say, based on this particular book, I don't really see where Bloch is a)romanticizing the peasant (another Cantor criticism) or b) a marxist.

It seemed to me that Bloch's explanation for the growth of feudalism was, basically, that central government decayed to the point where various muck a mucks needed to find an alternative way to "rally the troops" in the face of frequent small to mid size invasions. Feudalism, with its emphasis on individual obligation and quid pro pro, was an attempt to remedy the lack of communication over long distances and lack of central authority.

The peasants didn't really figure in this book at all, except near the end. Certainly, one wouldn't accuse this book of being filled with marxist/post-modern/decontructionist gobbeldy gook. This is a must read for those interested in the field, especially lay men.

Anthony Trollope is a favorite author of mine, and this audio CD version of Framley Parsonage, read by Simon Vance, is well worth the investment. Deft use of language and a keen sense of human motivation, time, and place characterize all Trollope's writing, and those who enjoy period literature will be more than satisfied with this book. It starts slowly, as Trollope's stories often do, but once the background information is given, there are many interesting social, political, financial, and romantic plot developments to engage the reader and listener. Simon Vance's reading is superb, as always. The only caveat is that his rendering of the voice and character of young women is not as good as his pitch, tone, and inflection when narrating the voices of mature women and all men. His skill in rendering different dialects for different social classes and geographical regions is matchless. By all means, listen to this book.

In this novel we find one Mark Robarts, clergyman and parson of Framley. He is an ambitious young man desirous of rising in society. He is friends since childhood with Lord Lufton who makes an unfortunate introduction in the person of Sowerby who seduces poor Mark into signing his name to a debt which the parson cannot afford.

Mark Robarts's father passes away early on and his sister Lucy joins Mark and his wife at Framley Parsonage where Lord Lufton falls in love with her. Two more couples form and while I won't reveal how any of these relationships work out it wouldn't really matter if I did. Trollope's plots usually vary from bad to good but they are hardly ever of any importance anyway. What is important in a Trollope novel isn't what the plot is or how it concludes, it's how it works itself out and how Trollope paints his characters.

The characters in Framley Parsonage are a little whiter and blacker than those of the previous novels in the Barsetshire series. Sowerby is by far and away the blackest and Trollope was so effective in painting him black that towards the end he clumsily appeals directly to the reader and assures us Sowerby isn't really as bad a fellow as he seems.

Dr. Thorne and his niece Mary Gresham appear (from Doctor Thorne) as do the Grantlys and the Proudies (from Barchester Towers). Lucy Robarts is a fascinating woman even more headstrong here than Mary Gresham was in Doctor Thorne, but my favourite character in this novel is Lady Lufton. She opposes her son's desire to court and marry Lucy but does so politely and with consideration. At the same time, Lucy behaves in way Lady Lufton can only find irreproachable. So of course, not having anything with which to reproach Lucy, Lady Lufton has nothing with which to oppose her son's suit. And yet she does. How will this three-sided battle of wills, pitting Lord Lufton against his mother against Lucy against her suitor, resolve itself?

Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it? Let's just say that Lady Lufton has painted herself into a corner and let us leave it at that.

All in all, another fine example of Trollope's mastery of moral calculus.

Vincent Poirier, Dublin

Framley Parsonage is the fourth in Trollope's Barsetshire novels. Trollope (1815-1882) wrote the novel as a serial in the influential Cornhill magazine in 186-61, This novel along with the others in the series: The Warden; Dr. Thorne, The Small House at Allington, Barchester Towers and the Last Chronicle of Barset is a delightful return to mid-Victorian middle class society in a rural mythical county named Barsetshire.
In this long novel of over 600 pages there are several stories. The main character is the Rev. Mark Robarts, a
doctor's son, who at a young age becomes the vicar of Framley Parsonage. He has children and a kind wife Fanny. Mark has visions of grandeur in his head. He lends money to the unscrupulous Member of Parliament Mr. Sowerby. As a result of this fatuity Mark falls into debt. His friends rally to his aid.
Mark's sister Lucy Robarts is novel's heroine. She falls in love with the wealthy Lord Lufton who lives at Eustace Court with his formidable mother Lady Lufton. Lady Lufton wants her son Ludovic to wed Griselda Grantley the statuesque but dull as dishwater and cold as a cucumber daughter of Archdeacon Grantley. Lufton is torn between these two women. We see Lady Lufton overcome her prejudice against Lucy. Lucy is a kind girl who minister to the family of the poor clergyman Josiah Crawley. She wins over the heart of Lady Lufton and the reader.
Secondary plots concern the midlife romance of Miss Dunstable and good Doctor Thorne. Olivia Proudie daughter of the fussy busybody and scold Mrs. Proudie and the uxorious Bishop Proudie weds a clergyman Mr. Tickler who is a widower. Griselda Grantley is courted by the stupid Lord Dumbello who possesses a name and title to the Hartletop lands and fortune. Will she win Lord Lufton or choose Dumbello?
All's well that ends well in this classic Trollopian tale. Long before Jan Karon, Anthony Trollope wrote humorous, moving and plot driven tales of the lives of the clergy dealing with real life problems, romance and challenges. In my opinion, an Anthony Trollope novel is a good way to spend a quiet evening before the fireplace. Enjoy this wonderful author and the world he created.

I'm reading the Barset series in order and have not been disappointed yet. Framley Parsonage is substantive, richer than The Warden, more serious than Barchester Towers, similar in much to Doctor Thorne, and slightly more intricate than DT. I enjoyed the introduction of a healthy dose of political gamesmanship in the form of descriptions of the parliamentary machinations and electioneering strategies. One also learns how to conduct financial shennanigans with horses, farmland, and public forests. The characters in FP are textured and almost always believable; there's only a few caricatures here. As always, the Everyman's edition is accompanied by a lucid introduction and helpful timetable.

The fourth of the Chronicles of Barsetshire, Framley Parsonage (1861) is a gentle novel filled with memorable characters, including many characters from The Warden, Barchester Towers, and Dr. Thorne. Mark Robarts, a young vicar with a devoted wife, has a comfortable situation at Framley Parsonage on the estate of the indomitable Lady Lufton. Her son, now Lord Lufton, had been a friend of Mark Robarts at school, and it was their friendship which resulted in Mark's position. Mark, though conscientious in his duties and grateful for his situation, is ambitious, however, anxious to expand his horizons beyond Framley.

Lady Lufton, who rules with an iron hand, is appalled when Mark decides to spend a weekend with a "fast" crowd, one which he believes can advance his career. Young and naïve, he becomes the dupe of an aristocratic "con-man," an MP named Nathaniel Sowerby, who persuades him to help him out of a financial jam by signing a note for five hundred pounds (more than half Robarts's yearly salary), allowing Sowerby to draw funds on Robarts's name. Though Sowerby swears he will resolve the problem within weeks, he needs an additional four hundred pounds when the note comes due.

In the meantime, Robarts's sister Lucy arrives at Framley Parsonage upon the death of their father. Lucy, a sweet ingénue in mourning, soon comes to the attention of Lord Lufton, who is fascinated by her naivete, a marked contrast with the women he has known to date. Though Lady Lufton has much more "significant" matrimonial prospects in mind for her son, the courtship begins, and though Lucy declines Lord Lufton's initial proposal, she remains in love with him. As Robarts's financial miseries become more pressing, and as Lucy's misery at having turned down Lord Lufton increases, the scene is set for a final showdown.

Numerous peripheral characters, many of them known to readers of the series, add to the drama of the primary action. The implacable dowager Lady Lufton, wishing to maintain her family's social position, staunchly opposes the Duke's relationship with Lucy Robarts, pushing Griselda Grantly, daughter of Archdeacon Grantly, as the Duke's suitor. The competition between the (Archdeacon) Grantlys and the (Bishop) Proudies for suitors for their daughters adds great comic relief to the story, and the internecine manipulations among the clergy provide gentle satire in a novel which seems to be remarkably domestic in its focus.

Trollope provides a full picture of Victorian life, representing many aspects of society, and though his view of the clergy has in earlier novels been a bit jaded, he is sympathetic to many of its representatives in this novel, seeing them as humans, rather than as types. A sweet novel, part love story and part social commentary, Framley Parsonage is charming, memorable for its characters and picture of Victorian England. n Mary Whipple

The Warden
Barchester Towers
Doctor Thorne (Barsetshire Novels)

Product arrived quickly in great shape. will do business with them again.
Thanks D

Ok, let me start off by saying that this book is a very important book in my family. Im 21, but this book is one of my first memories. I remember so well seeing my parents reading it, (probally multiple times) and seeing it at my grandfather's house. I never knew what the book was about, I just knew that "The Henry book" was a big deal. In fact, my Grandfather loved the book so much, he bought an entire box of it one time to give out to friends and family. I heard it was a difficult book to get, but Amazon popped up, and is ready and avalible.
I really debated to give this book a 3 or a 4. I wish I could give it a 3.5. I really liked where the book was going. Kind of a "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" for adults. Poor Henry. He kept giving the mouse (society) cookies, when he didn't have enough to give in the first place. I know, I sound like I have been watching too much Billy Madison but it was the best comparison I could think of. This book is a great vacation read. It took me about a late afternoon and a 2 hour car ride to read. Read it before you go on vacation with someone who has read it. Because it will be a big old laugh when you quote, "I wouldn't want you to miss out on the good life." through out your vacation.
I really don't know how to review this book. Parts of it I loved and parts of it I hated. I really didn't know where the author was going at the end. I didn't know that this book was going to go into the end times when I started it off. I relize that the Bible warns us that the Lord will come while we are all distracted, but I was just confused how it pretained to Henry. I guess was warning us not to get so caught up in it all that we forget about the Lord. I only skimmed the end honestly because I felt like the author was coming off like he was better then me. That's an awful thing of me to say, and maybe it's the stubborness coming out in me, but really. I mean, does he really think we are so weak, that we will fall to the evil ways of a credit card? I think it's a book you need to read more than once. I still suggest it.

This book can wake you up! A story that tells a story.

Beautiful!

This book was loaned to me by a friend. I started reading it and could not stop. It was telling the story of my life in a different way. Henry knew the good life and thought progress was going to give him a better life. He had to give up the things dearest to him. Time with the family went by the wayside. A valuable lesson for people who are trying to get ahead. This book posessed me to quit my 12 hour, sometimes 6 day a week job of 17 years. I now make less money, but I also have time off to be with my family. My priorties are now in order and I am happy. I am now like Henry was in the beginning of the book. Sometimes we don't know what happiness is. Money isn't everything and debt will ruin you is some things I personally gleaned out of this book. I strongly recommend it to college age and over.

Henry is me! Not that I ever had it as good as he did to start, but I bought the lies that our great society hangs in our faces like that nice juicy bunch of fresh carrotts....theres nothing wrong with carrotts is there? I have read this little book a dozen times and each time I do it makes me stop and take stock. This is a must own, buy a bunch and give them to people who you truly care about.

A very good book for practical thermal engineer. I bought this book twice because the first one was lost.

I read this book while on vacation. The font was big and has an "easy on the eyes" font type. It covers some of the basics and better yet provides some lessons learned from industry. As a mechanical/thermal engineer of 5+ years experience, this book was intersting/useful to me. It provided some insight into what another thermal engineer's experience in industry is like. Relating to similar work relationship(s)/topics also made this book enjoyable.

Highly recommend.

As a practicing electronics design engineer I found the information in the book very interesting. So often the only way to really grasp engineering is through encountering real world problems and having to figure out what is going on. This "opps" engineering approuch is a slow one. This book takes a wealth of real world thermal engineering problems and presents them in a fun, easy to read format giving you the information so you don't have to make the same mistake. It also gives some history behind various industry standards and myths.

The only addition I would have liked would have been a discussion of horizontally mounted PCB's and how heat transfers from these boards.

A great read.

Started reading, simply could not stop. Direct and to the point, this book based on real facts is simply refreshing, a great source of valuable technical information presented in a very easy to understand and "humorous" fashion, that will keep you going and going and going.

I recommend this book to anyone brave enough to attemp thermal qualification of any type of electronic system, and many "real life" lessons are to be learned. A must in your collection of "got to have" titles !!!

Curse Mr. Kordyban - he's get me all interested in thermal flow now. This book is great ! It flows [huh] really well, is relatively humourous (no, really), and gets across some basic lessons in electronics cooling. A must read for all you overclockers who are having to put bigger and bigger heatsinks on everything. I followed a few simple recommendations in this book, (just repositioning a few components and adjusting airflow) and now my computers run much cooler (and more stably). Now I can't walk into a datacenter without looking for the ac units, and checking for fans, drive positioning etc. This is a field that I'm convinced is going to be much more important in the future - this handbook is a great introduction to the field and some real practical things you can use right now. If you are looking for some honking big text book, this isn't for you. But who is ?

No Doubt, Hong Kong is facing the Post Industrial Era since year 2000.

After the Rapid changes of Internet Age, Globalization is the next development in the coming decade. But it makes more competition and prices down in the Global markets. All the traditonal and industrial products are over supply than demand in these two years.

When you think back on the rapid development in Computer and Internet business since year 2000, they have over one time growth for every 18 months and the price is down for 50%. Thus, it makes the competition are so quicky and fast in year 2002 or even in the coming decade.

" Post Industrial Era " is coming now. It means that all the industrial products are over supply in the Global markets. Now we are needing the Elite people and knowledge workers to help all industries to re-fresh and re-build their new roads. High-tech skills and people are welcome in the developmet of Globalization.

New Business models and E-business structures are the only way for us to go and keep on running in the year 2003!

In order to keep your business in the rapid growth of the global markets, please try to absorb more Elite people in your Corporation in time.

No Doubt, Hong Kong is facing the Post Industrial Era since year 2000.

After the Rapid changes of Internet Age, Globalization is the next development in the coming decade. But it makes more competition and prices down in the Global markets. All the traditonal and industrial products are over supply than demand in these two years.

When you think back on the rapid development in Computer and Internet business since year 2000, they have over one time growth for every 18 months and the price is down for 50%. Thus, it makes the competition are so quicky and fast in year 2002 or even in the coming decade.

" Post Industrial Era " is coming now. It means that all the industrial products are over supply in the Global markets. Now we are needing the Elite people and knowledge workers to help all industries to re-fresh and re-build their new roads. High-tech skills and people are welcome in the developmet of Globalization.

New Business models and E-business structures are the only way for us to go and keep on running in the year 2003!

In order to keep your business in the rapid growth of the global markets, please try to absorb more Elite people in your Corporation in time.

No Doubt, Hong Kong is facing the Post Industrial Era since year 2000.

After the Rapid changes of Internet Age, Globalization is the next development in the coming decade. But it makes more competition and prices down in the Global markets. All the traditonal and industrial products are over supply than demand in these two years.

When you think back on the rapid development in Computer and Internet business since year 2000, they have over one time growth for every 18 months and the price is down for 50%. Thus, it makes the competition are so quicky and fast in year 2002 or even in the coming decade.

" Post Industrial Era " is coming now. It means that all the industrial products are over supply in the Global markets. Now we are needing the Elite people and knowledge workers to help all industries to re-fresh and re-build their new roads. High-tech skills and people are welcome in the developmet of Globalization.

New Business models and E-business structures are the only way for us to go and keep on running in the year 2003!

In order to keep your business in the rapid growth of the global markets, please try to absorb more Elite people in your Corporation in time.

No Doubt, Hong Kong is facing the Post Industrial Era since year 2000.

After the Rapid changes of Internet Age, Globalization is the next development in the coming decade. But it makes more competition and prices down in the Global markets. All the traditonal and industrial products are over supply than demand in these two years.

When you think back on the rapid development in Computer and Internet business since year 2000, they have over one time growth for every 18 months and the price is down for 50%. Thus, it makes the competition are so quicky and fast in year 2002 or even in the coming decade.

" Post Industrial Era " is coming now. It means that all the industrial products are over supply in the Global markets. Now we are needing the Elite people and knowledge workers to help all industries to re-fresh and re-build their new roads. High-tech skills and people are welcome in the developmet of Globalization.

New Business models and E-business structures are the only way for us to go and keep on running in the year 2003!

In order to keep your business in the rapid growth of the global markets, please try to absorb more Elite people in your Corporation in time.

No Doubt, Hong Kong is facing the Post Industrial Era since year 2000.

After the Rapid changes of Internet Age, Globalization is the next development in the coming decade. But it makes more competition and prices down in the Global markets. All the traditonal and industrial products are over supply than demand in these two years.

When you think back on the rapid development in Computer and Internet business since year 2000, they have over one time growth for every 18 months and the price is down for 50%. Thus, it makes the competition are so quicky and fast in year 2002 or even in the coming decade.

" Post Industrial Era " is coming now. It means that all the industrial products are over supply in the Global markets. Now we are needing the Elite people and knowledge workers to help all industries to re-fresh and re-build their new roads. High-tech skills and people are welcome in the developmet of Globalization.

New Business models and E-business structures are the only way for us to go and keep on running in the year 2003!

In order to keep your business in the rapid growth of the global markets, please try to absorb more Elite people in your Corporation in time.

This is a great book with lots of important information on what it's like to be in academia. I recommend it highly for all graduate students as well as for their advisors.

I graduated a couple years ago with BS in Mathematics and was trying to decide if I should return for my PhD. This book was extremely helpful. It presents a very thorough overview of the PhD process with helpful information regarding thesis advisors (both selecting and working with) and thesis preparation. Material is easy to read (conversational tone) and very specific. Definitely recommend this to anyone considering a graduate program in mathematics.

Also gives extensive information regarding the application of a PhD in academia- such as types of jobs (tenure track, post-doc fellow, etc.), types of colleges and the workload (and pay) to be expected at those colleges.

End of text is an overview of mathematics topics important to the post-bachelors, pre-grad student.

It does not spend time explaining all the different areas of mathematics, so that part you'll need to figure out for yourself. Reading this book will get you excited to talk to your professors about a doctorate program. Good luck!

Dr. Krantz's lucid "Survival" guide is rich in advice for the aspiring mathematician who sees a plum job in academia as the ultimate career goal. With section names such as "How do I work my thesis problem?", and "Why does everyone else appear to be succeeding?" Dr. Krantz's chronological account of Math graduate school and the first few years in the work force does an excellent job of providing step-by-step guidance for us future mathematicians. This advice, and the author himself are at their best when talking about prevalent insecurity issues with which all of us mathematicians deal and showing us how such issues are indeed very commonplace and how the solutions are also commonplace and readily available to you.
Now, that being said, it is also important to remember that this is just a rough guide and that not every section in the book should be followed to the letter. More to the point: Dr. Krantz's advice should be used in addition to, not instead of, grad advisors, faculty in your department, and even more senior grad students. Dr. Krantz's advice can be detrimental in some instances and in others, it's just plain wrong. For instance, his advice that a student should NOT study for general and subject GRE's is particularly questionable; in fact I do believe the opposite to be true. GRE tests follow a well-defined set of rules and question formatting; thus, the question themselves have a finite amount of variation to them, and therefore it is precisely in this type of standardized exam MOST students will benefit from reviewing old material and going through numerous practice tests before taking the real thing.

Overall, this is a very good book, full of wisdom and it is, alas, even entertaining at times. If you're considering a career as a mathematician, you would be doing yourself a favor by buying this book and reading it with an epsilon amount of caution.

I gave this to my son who is a high school junior planning to major in mathematics in college. He thought it was great because it looks beyond just getting into college and taking a bunch of math classes. What does a math major do next? Do you have to teach? What do professors and TA's really do? What does it take to get into grad school and is it worth it? I would recommend this book to anyone contemplating any type of career involving higher level mathematics.

I'm a graduate student in computer science, working on my PhD. If you're looking for a sort of rulebook that contains all the meta-knowledge one needs to know to survive in the scientific game, this is it.
The book includes helpful information to questions you probably wouldn't dare to ask anyone:
"How do i choose a thesis advisor?",
"What if I can't solve my thesis problem?",
"Am I in competition with the other graduate students?",
"What kind of money can I make as a professor?"
There's also lots of information about life after graduation, especially relevant for those of us who want to pursue an academic career.

The book is written in an easy to follow style, and gets straight to the point. You really feel that the author knows what he's talking about.
I highly recommend it to anyone planning a career in a science related to maths.

This book was my favorite growing up. I would take it everywhere: to grandma's house; on doctor's visits. I had at the age of three! I still have parts of it. (I had to tear it apart when my cousins needed me to fax pages from it for their homework projects.)This book gives you a look at how we as Americans have advance upto the 1980's. The pictures are amazing and there is mythological information for each plantet and the sun (Apollo). It even gives scientic information like physics and math. There's a section on men and women scientist who's contributions make our world a better place.

When I was a child, I would borrow this book from the library as often as I could. It really sparked my interest in the solar system and space in general. Even though the information in the book is considered out-of-date, I believe it is still relevant today. It can stir anyone's interest in astronomy!

My parents had this book on our shelf since before I was born, and when I was old enough to pick it up and read it, I fell in love. Even if some of the text was beyond my comprehension, the illustrations were more than enough to capture my imagination and drive my interest in astronomy. As I got older and could understand more of my reading, the book became that much more important and influential for me. I used it as a resource for several reports through out elementary and middle school.

Sure, by this time, some of the information contained in the book is outdated and many new discoveries have been made, but the information that is there is a great resource for people of any age. I only remembered the book just now as I study for my Black Holes and Cosmic Evolution final, and how much I'd like to take a glance at it for some outside information!

Although fundamentally humanist, this book's presentation of the glories of creation is too perfect in color, imagination, tone of wonder and awe, and development-as-you-read to ignore. It was a major influence throughout my childhood on my love for science and what the rules of the universe are and what may lie in the future long after all of us are dead.
From Michael Collins' introduction through the history of man's understanding of creation to the section on the stars beyond the galaxy, "Our Universe" will draw you in and MAKE you love astronomy.

Besides my own copy, I have never seen another one of these books. It's a shame really, because this book combines information and illustration in the way only National Geographic can. The nine planets of our solar system make up the majority of text material here, which goes a long way in preserving the shelf life of this book.

Our Universe begins with a brief history of astronomy entitled from 'Sun Gods to Gamma Rays' and is written in a manner accessible for all ages. Gallant then proceeds to examine our solar system piece by piece, beginning with the sun and then the orbiting planets. Each planet is given its own chapter, complete with graphs of orbital patterns, atmospheric qualities and actual photographs if available. Stunning artwork is peppered throughout, and in my opinion makes this book a treasure.

Finally, Our Universe includes chapters on comets, asteroids and meteors, and the various galaxies outside our own Milky Way. It's a book that everyone can enjoy. Adults might learn something new, and the artwork will garner interest in kids to learn more about our universe.

If you long for the days when photography, real photography, was black and white on film, then you will love this book. Of commercial necessity it has been years since I maintained my own darkroom and printed my own prints . . but how I miss the magic! This book brings it all back and in so doing opens some new creative channels in my mind as to how to get beautiful prints in the digital age. If you're a purist, you will love this book. If you are a pragmatist you will find ways to correlate traditional methods to digital processing and printing (even though the book does not address the topic of digital at all.) If you are serious about b/w get this book then work with your own shots and in your own workflow until you can emulate the look of this master.

In this third part of Adams' technical writings, you'll find a guide to go from what a camera recorded (it talks about a negative, but can be well applied to a digital raw file) to a fine print delivering "what you saw and felt" to the viewer.

Even if it applies to B&W, I find that much of the content can be applied to color work if you think a bit more about it - mostly now, in the digital age with separated luminance and chrominance controls.

You'll also read some good ol' kitchen recipes about developers and toning... These will be less and less useful, but can bring back the smell of the darkroom to your memory ;o)... And quite often, the principle that based the recipe can be applied to another media.

A reference, whether shooting film, digital or glass plates (and of invaluable interest for the two former).

Ansel Adams is the master of photography, black and white, but still photographic principles and concepts have been throughly tried and tested by him and he teaches you so much in his series starting with "The Camera" and ending up with this book which focuses more on the final piece. The 2nd book in the series is also so very crucial because it outlines and describes his "Zone System" in great detail. A must have for any avid photographer and a great shelf reference for any professional. Now go out and shoot.. waste some film for crying out loud and get some awesome shots :)

The book is excellent. Although these techniques are not widely applied today, with appropriate experience and thinking this knowledge can be applied and transferred to modern software like Adobe Photoshop. It can help relate modern and classic photography printing processes (traditional vs computerized).

One little remark would be for the publisher. The paper the book is printed is gloss with quite a high reflectance index. This results in making reading the book at certain angles quite impossible for your eyes.

In this book, Adams said Expression is more important than reality, idea more important than fact, the print more important than its subject. For it is only in the print that such magnificence can be unfailingly orchestrated. Those words made me think that what is good photograph. The book opens with a thoroughly enjoyable, albeit brief, history of photography before getting down to explain printing techniques.

The majority of the text concentrates it's efforts in educating the reader in the art of B&W photography. This book tells readers that what are good prints making techniques. After reading this book you will feel like that your printing skills are very improved. The reader will see many wonderful pictures as examples, that will surely create a better impression as to what type of pictures Adams takes.

Many, many years ago I read this book to my former husband as a bedtime story. The book occasioned one of the few instances in which I laughed so hard I cried. Now I have a new husband and a new copy of the book. Who says you can't go back.

Okay, before you read too far into this review, keep in mind that I am only 13, and haven't read as many books as some of the other reviewers on this page, but I have read enough to know that I love this book. It's a fantasy lover's book. If you like E. Nesbit, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and other books by A. A. Milne, you will certainly enjoy this book as well. With a exciting plot, and humerous but loveable characters, this book is a must have.

Okay, before you read too far into this review, keep in mind that I am only 13, and haven't read as many books as some of the other reviewers on this page, but I have read enough to know that I love this book. It's a fantasy lover's book. If you like E. Nesbit, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and other books by A. A. Milne, you will certainly enjoy this book as well. With a exciting plot, and humerous but loveable characters, this book is a must have.

A.A.Milne wrote this fairytale after being in the army during WWI. the story is basically about how easy it is to get into war (and over very stupid reasons), and how no one REALLY wants to hurt every one, but they just want to look out for their own interests. The charecters are not your typical bad-vs-good and each one can be lovable in his or her own way, and there are also wonderful little stories inside the major plot line. one of the BEST books I have ever read.

This book is a wonderful story about a king, princess and an "evil" countess. The king, King Merriwig of Euralia, is in love with the Countess Belvane. Belvane has her sights set on becoming queen of Euralia. However, Princess Hyacinth is suspicious of how the countess acts. So the Princess enlists the help of Prince Udo from Araby. When Belvane finds out, she wishes for something humorous to happen to the prince on his journey - and it does! Now, Hyacinth must stop Belvane, help the prince all while keeping him from falling in love with the countess!

A. A. Milne has done it again with this story of pure fantasy. He did not write this book for children, as he states in his introduction, yet it is fun and exciting for all ages. If you need a great bedtime story, check this book out. Would you care for some light reading? "Once On A Time" is the book for you. I recommend this book with a happy heart and hope you will feel the same way too!

This is a wonderful book written by an emergency room doc about his life before and in the emergency room. It is touching and humorous. This is my second purchase. I lent my first one out, and it didn't come back. I wanted to read it again. Just a chapter, or the whole book, it's worth doing again and again.

Quick and easy to read. He writes with humor on his life learnings and lesson.

"The Patient in Room Nine Say's He's God" is an amusing and emotional roller-coaster from beginning to end. Dr. Profeta shares with the reader multiple accounts and short stories from his career as a seasoned Emergency Medicine Physician. He has a wonderful way of conveying meaningful messages that he has learned through these experiences that will leave you feeling enriched and enlightened. I highly recommend reading this book if you want to remember what is truly important in life.

As an Emergency doc as well, i know where he is coming from. I think its a good read for anyone-MD, RN, RT, EMT, Mr., Ms...
In a time where it is getting harder and less satisfying and less rewarding and less respected to be an MD, I think it's nice that at least one book shows how we really do and deeply care for those we treat.

I have been a fireman/paramedic for 10 years. It is really refreshing, energizing, and just freaking awesome to find someone who knows what we feel when going through situations, taking care of critical patients, and just life in general. Doc Profetta has truly become my hero. He may not know it but he really is. There are days I wonder why I do what I do, who am I, and what do I stand for. He truly exemplefies what a patient advocate, caretaker and most of all human being is and should be. Thank you, Louis from the bottom of my heart for this book. I am very honored to share in your life and journeys. Take care and looking forward to seeing you again in th ER and expanding my horizons with some Blatz. Troy