Bernstein Books

Basically this books takes the idea that Indians were just waiting around to prove themselves loyal to whites, meaning we just couldn't wait to become Tontos to white people's Lone Ranger. Well, we don't put our lives on the line to just to please the white man. We have our own reasons for joining, and it's a shame Berstein never figured them out.

If you want a look at government policy during the war, this is your book. If you want to learn about Indians in the military, try Tom Holm or Al Carroll.

"American Indians and World War II: Toward a New Era in Indian Affairs," by Alison Bernstein, is an engrossing work of history. Bernstein looks at both combat zone and homefront, and she covers many important topics: the draft, the Indian quest for full voting rights, stereotypes that Indians in the military had to deal with, Indian participation in the war bonds program, the role of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the founding of the National Congress of American Indians, the postwar crisis faced by the Navajos, and more. She discusses the service of American Indians in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Army Air Corps, taking note of Indian heroism in combat. She also covers the employment of Indians in defense-related industries on the homefront, and discusses "the emergence of a newly-forged pan-Indian identity."

Some of the most noteworthy sections of the book include her look at the Navajo code talkers and her review of the service of Ira Hayes, an Indian Marine who was one of the participants in the iconic flag-raising on Iwo Jima. Also fascinating is her account of the internment of Japanese-Americans on Indian land. She discusses differing tribal attitudes towards returning war veterans. A key figure in the book is John Collier, commissioner of Indian affairs from 1933 to 1945. The book includes many excellent black-and-white photographs that help bring the story to life.

Bernstein amply documents the text with a lengthy set of endnotes (pages 177-223) and an extensive bibliography (pages 225-237), thus offering plenty of avenues for readers who want to research further. Her many sources include archival and manuscript collections, U.S. government documents, legal cases, books, and more. She also cites articles from a broad range of different periodicals. Overall, this is a fascinating and richly detailed look at this era in American Indian history. Written in a straightforward tone and full of compelling facts, this book is a valuable addition to both World War II studies and Native American studies.

Contrary to the first reviewer on this site, I found Isami's House eminently readable, from first to last. The book's concept is, indeed, highly original and should serve well as a resource for understanding the evolution of family life in modern Japan.

Essentially, this is the story of fourteen generations of the Matsuura family, who, until the postwar years, served as headmen of a village in northeastern Japan called Yamashiraishi. A substantial amount of information is provided about the family during Tokugawa and Meiji times, but the heart of the book concerns the family's triumphs and travails in the twentieth century. Many people in the family are discussed, including numerous in-laws, and several stand out prominently. The hero of the story, essentially, is Matsuura Isami, who lived from 1879 into the early 1960s. His wife, Ko, is also given considerable attention, as is the daughter named Toyo. It was Toyo who served as the host for Gail Lee Bernstein, the author, during her first stay in Japan, in 1963, when she was there as a graduate student of Japanese history. Since 1963 was when I, as a graduate student, also first visited Japan, I feel a personal connection to her experiences.

Bernstein hit a mother lode in becoming close to Toyo's remarkable family, as Toyo was one of fourteen siblings (seven sisters and seven brothers); a fifteenth died young. This rich field of close relatives provides the author with a wealth of material for recounting the ups and downs of modern family life in Japan, taking us through the prewar years, the war years (Toyo's family was in Hiroshima when it was atom-bombed), the Occupation, and after, when Japanese values changed so rapidly in the midst of unparalleled economic development. Although there are so many characters that one occasionally has trouble keeping track of who is who, Bernstein does her best to keep the narrative clear, and we get to celebrate the various characters' achievements while also sympathizing with their catastrophes. The Confucian values Isami assiduously cultivated in his children bring rewards to some, but by the century's end they no longer have much relevance to the younger generation, and the strong familial rope Isami wove comes close to breaking. Japan, too, the author suggests, has suffered such a breakdown, and the family's often heartbreaking history comes to be seen as a microcosm of the nation's journey.

Although extensively researched and documented, Isami's House is not a standard sociological tract for use in college classes; in fact, it often--especially the final chapters--reads like gossip, since Bernstein has maintained her ties to the family until quite recently, despite the eventual loss of the principal players. She is, to a degree, like a family member herself; still, her detailed recounting of the less savory deeds of some family members are unlikely to have been exposed to the world at large by the family members themselves. Thus we are given the kinds of insights into Isami's family that only someone with Bernstein's privileged position could provide. Perhaps one could raise ethical questions about the appropriateness of such revelations; on the other hand, the information--apart from the appeal it will have for most readers--has great historical, cultural, and sociological value for outsiders interested in the dynamics of modern Japanese family life.

It should be noted that although Bernstein herself, mainly in the final chapters, becomes increasingly present as a family participant (albeit at one step removed), she never reveals much about who she is. She discusses arranged marriages, love marriages, divorce, childbearing problems, childraising problems, religion, work, etc., but never tells us whether she herself is married, has children, or has shared in any experiences akin to those she so closely chronicles. Her name suggests that she is Jewish. If true, what did this mean to a family that followed Buddhist and Shinto practices but which saw a good many of its members convert to Christianity? I, for one, would have found such personal information useful in understanding her position vis a vis some of the subjects she addresses. She injects herself into the narrative as a way of explaining how the family treated her; I believe we are just as entitled to ask, who is Gail Lee Bernstein?

Isami's House is a fascinating book that provides a view of general Japanese history through the history of one family. As the back cover tease promises, this is an entirely new approach to history, one that presents the drama of modern Japanese history through the gripping ordeal of a single family. In this sense, Isami's House is a fascinating, gripping and original approach to Japanese history.

Nevertheless, I found myself put off greatly by Bernstein's uneven writing style and odd organization. Bernstein's paragraphs are haphazardly organized, and her sentences are riddled with clause after clause. Often, it is difficult to tell exactly where the story is going, and sentences are so dominated by detail that the point behind each story is nearly impossible to decipher.

Take, for example, this selection from page 60: "A ten-day spree of rioting by three thousand farmers in the Asakawa area in January 1798 - nine years after the French Revolution - brought a crowd to the Matsuura family's door on the morning of January 26. The fifth-generation patriarch, also called Yuemon (though his name was not written with the same characters as his deceased father's), had left with his wife and mother several days before; only family servants and a "young couple" remained at home. Rampaging peasants spilled out large amounts of the sake manufactured on the grounds of the family's compound and damaged other property as well." Did the ten-day spree of rioting begin on the 26th, or end then? Why does it matter that this happened 9 years after the French Revolution? Each sentence has a different subject, and little is done to link each separate idea together. Overall, this flaw in Bernstein's style leads to very bad, almost unreadable, prose.

Bernstein's organization is also rather odd. The first half of the book seems to be organized topic by topic, and parallels are directly made between the family's exploits around the Meiji years and earlier family experiences. The second half, however, deals exclusively with the family's experiences during and after World War II. This leads to discontinuity: the first half seems to contain no narrative, and the second half seems to completely abandon the lessons learned in the first. I would have been much happier had Bernstein stuck with one style throughout.

Nevertheless, it is a noble concept, and still a good book to read.

Do not believe the book description! Frankly, I find it very misleading. This book is NOT a sequel to "With your own two hands". It is the personal memoirs of Mr. Bernstein, and poor ones at that. After reading nearly 100 pages, I could not tell why Mr. Bernstein even wrote the book. Mr. Bernstein relates an incident where a well-known writer implies that Mr. Bernstein has not done enough to write his memoirs. I'm afraid that Mr. Bernstein should have followed his friend's advice.

This book is biography, psychological study, and musical commentary all rolled in to one. His biography would be fascinating standing on its own- from his Jewish upbringing in Newark, NJ, to his involvement in the Korean war (and his harrowing stories from that time in his life), wealthy patronesses, famous piano teachers, and the sort. But he also graces us with brilliant observations on music and faith, piano playing, and challenges the system that schools such as Julliard implement.

Mr. Bernstein has written a gem of a book. Though it is not instructional along the lines of "With Your Own Two Hands", I think it offers plenty of inspiration by way of his own life. Those who are studying music as a profession will find it interesting to see how a person managed to have an excellent career and overcome many difficulties. Those who, like I, are considered "Professional Amateurs" will find inspiration and solace in Mr. Bernstein's advice to those who truly love music but wish not to make it a profession. And those curious about how the music world works will be regaled with wonderful, sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, stories about the musician's life.

This is a great starting point for any tennis enthusiast who wants to improve his/her game. The book is very quick read, yet is packed with basic, easy to use tips to help understand and utilize sport psychology techniques.

I was looking for some solid ideas to take my game to the next level. I am kind of in a rut and trying to get back up to USTA 4.5 I thought this book might have some good tips but it is watered down info more suited to beginning players. I was disappointed. I didn't get much out of it.

Very good book. Easy to read and it literally helped land me a promotion after reading it.

A must have for anyone attempting to advance their law enforcement rank here in NY State.

Like so many others, I purchased this book because it was on the reading list for our promotion exam. The book isn't as bad as it is dated. Most of the references are from the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, it covers several older issues, but does not address many current ones. You will not find a word on topics like cultural diversity, racial profiling, crime mapping or terrorism in the text.

It appears the book has not been significantly updated since before the creation of the personal computer. Chapter 5, entitled The Instructional Process, shows how dated the material is. The text states how expensive projected aids are, but nevertheless encourages "Videocasts and tapes, stereographs, overhead projection equipment, motion picture projectors with or without sound, opaque projectors, slides with narrated tapes, and a multitude of other devices will add greatly to the teacher's instructional efforts . . ."

The text still contains a lot of good information. However, when readers repeatedly encounter horribly dated passages, it forces them to question the validity of the entire book.

I know that this book is a staple on promotional exams, but it would be nice if either the authors updated it, or the exam creators actually read it and realized just how dated it is.

I found Supervision of Police Personnel (6TH) to be pretty much drawn out and boring. It is painfully evident that the same information could have been relayed in a lot less then 400 boring pages. It was difficult to follow and often repetitive. A lot of detail was focused on irrelevant material. This was a difficult book for me to swallow (as a 12 year LEO), but it certainly rated high as a sleep aid for me.

It is a very good informational source for anyone that wants to pursue a promotion in police work. The review questions at the end of each chapter are convenient and helpful.

Contrary to what many people here have stated, this is an excellent study of Sino-American Relations. This book uses information from official Chinese sources, history, and other sources to weave a tight and well reasoned thesis about China and China's relation to America. This is well worth reading and buying.

This is not the most scholarly book you will ever read. Let that be said right away. Also, as has been mentioned before, this book takes all of its cues from Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations." However, for any devotees of Huntington's theories (of which I am one) this is an interesting investigation of the one area of the world where the U.S. has the greatest potential for conflict in the near future.

Bernstein and Munro write each chapter about what they feel is a potentially important issue concerning U.S.-China relations. However the best, most interesting ones are those regarding Taiwan and the "New China Lobby." Most of you have probabaly never heard of the New China Lobby before and they are undoubtedly happy to hear that. The New China Lobby is in effect an organization of American and Chinese businesses which use their money and power to influence political decisions in the United States and to a much lesser extent in China. The number of despicable actions which have been instigated by this lobby is staggering and you will inevitably shake your head in disgust as you read how spineless many of our politicians are, and how ruthless businesses in both countries are. Many of the actions taken by the U.S. government were done in order to protect American business in China, the best example given by the authors is in regards to the Boeing/Airbus struggle for the Chinese market. Yet there are numerous others which simply smack of greed. If you are interested in reading more evidence of how big business has hijacked American politics the New China Lobby chapter of this book will be of particular interest.

The rest of the book is well informed and clearly written. It does not, as other reviewers have implied, treat the Chinese strictly in a stereotypically racist manner. What it does do is attempt to talk about the issues rather than around them. It is also worth mentioning that the chapter on Taiwan is written mostly in a narrative format detailing a possible sequence of events which could lead to American involvement in a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Lastly, lest you fear that this book is all doom and gloom... fear not. Bernstein and Munro have a mostly positive outlook for the future and sincerely believe that it is more likely we will continue on without any armed conflict, they merely point out the circumstances that might lead to it.

Not at all informative, this book seems to have taken its cue from Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" theory: the authors construct a model for the future U.S.-China confrontation that they almost seem to hope will come about. Although nestled in scholarly language and presented as the views of experts on China, most of the argument seems based more on stereotypes and American paranoia than any actual fact. Also annoying is the authors' assumption of the general benignity of U.S. policy in Asia; it never occurs to them to question the designs of U.S. policy-makers and businesses in the region...

I was assigned this book for a class in East Asian-World Politics, so I read it thoroughly and was thoroughly disappointed. The assumptions that this book is based on are fallacious and misguided, and the authors seem to have no understanding of either Chinese political culture or the nature of international relations. To begin with, the book spends most of its time highlighting and exaggerating sources of tension between the two countries, and seems to assume that every tension between two states will inevitably lead to full-scale war. This assumption is sadly mistaken. In fact, the United States and Canada have outstanding disagreements on a number of issues, yet experience close relations and have the longest unguarded border in the world. The book relies mostly on provacative statements made by members of the Chinese Communist Party to support its thesis. It ignores the fact that it is common practice in Chinese politics to speak loudly and negatively about whomever China currently disagrees with. Just because a member of the National People's Congress says war with the United States is inevitable over human rights doesn't mean it will happen. Have the authors ever heard Jesse Helms (or many other senators, for that matter) speak? Note their reluctance to use force to settle the Taiwan issue. The entire book comes off as a heavily-biased college paper on US-Chinese relations. The fact that they use virtually no primary-source material or Chinese-language material not already translated adds to this perception. It appears that the authors decided the hypothesis of the book beforehand, and simply searched for information to support their theory. As flawed and biased a book as I have come across in a long time.

_The Coming Conflict with China_ by Richard Bernstein and Ross H. Munro is a relatively brief (at 221 pages) but thorough assessment of the possible threat of and (to a lesser extent) the possible solutions to an emerging China in the early years of the 21st century. While not condemning China in any manner I would describe as hateful or racist and indeed acknowledging that there is a distinct possibility China may one day grow more democratic and develop close ties to the United States in the future, the authors contended that American policy makers need to be aware of the real threat to American vital interests posed by the Chinese, the disparity between stated Chinese goals and actual Chinese policy, and the ineffectiveness if not downright naivety of past American policy dating from the late 1980s, when China and the United States no longer had the Soviet Union as a common enemy and thus no longer had much in the way of common ground on strategic issues. Chinese policy has changed markedly since then thanks to events beginning in the late 1980s, notably with the brutal crackdown of the Tiananmen Square student occupation in 1989 (the Chinese saw this and other actions as a real threat to their Communist Party), the consequences of Mikhail Gorbachev's political reforms (which the Chinese interpreted as diluting the Soviet Communist Party's power and leading to their ousting), and the 1991 Gulf War (a display of very advanced military technology and planning that stunned the Chinese, showing to them how far behind the Americans they were and technology they would have to begin to master in order to achieve territorial goals in the South China Sea and any possible future military actions against Taiwan).

The leadership in China has been working towards a goal of domination over Asia by a four-pronged strategy. First, and foremost, to gain sovereignty and control over Taiwan (the authors described in detail the Chinese naval, air, and army build up in the last decade or so), second, to expand Chinese military presence in and take control of the South China Sea (in large part by annexing small islands and island groups such as the Spratly Islands and Mischief Reef, illustrated in a map in the front of the book), third, to reduce the American military presence in East Asia (particularly if possible on the Korean peninsula, done by encouraging the collapse of North Korea and the reunification of the peninsula under South Korea, ending the need for a large American military presence there), and third, paradoxically, to maintain a high American troop presence in Japan to keep it from rearming and becoming more assertive in international affairs. The latter point is one the authors stressed several times, as the growing power of China will require a more powerful, skilled, and assertive Japanese military, as the Americans alone cannot hope to counterbalance China, to keep Taiwan safe and free, and to keep the sea lanes open (in the face of Chinese dominance in the South China Sea and any possible future actions in the waters around Taiwan such a blockade).

In addition to being on the road to becoming a hostile hegemon in Asia - a direct threat to American vital interests, as such a hegemon could coerce American allies, threaten vital trade routes and sea lanes, and counteract or otherwise threaten American military deployments in the region - China is already an economic threat to American economic interests and furthermore is using its unfair trade practices to aid it in its military buildup by amassing large foreign cash reserves and acquiring advanced technology by coercion, deception, theft, or simply strong arm tactics (additionally many companies that do business in the United States are actually owned or are subsidiaries of the People's Liberation Army). China has been added in this endeavor by something the authors called the New China Lobby, a loose organization of businesses, investors, and economic advisors that have a large financial stake in China; eager to do business there, they either follow direct Chinese suggestions and orders or act in ways they generally believe Beijing will like in order to curtail or abolish American policy designed to end Chinese tariff and non-tariff barriers (as well as any linking of economic and regulatory benefits such as Most Favored Nation Status to human right issues within China), and by companies based in our European allies, who China turns to from time to time to punish some American firm for failing to hand over high tech or proprietary technology or for Washington for passing some legislation or making a statement that Beijing disagreed with.

Bernstein and Munro stated that the U.S. should have three goals with regards to China, namely to ensure peace in Asia by maintaining a stable balance of power there, to encourage China to become a responsible state committed to non-proliferation, peaceful resolution of disputes, and honest free trade, and third, to induce China to become more democratic and respectful of human rights. To achieve those goals they suggest that Washington push for a 5% annual reduction in the trade-deficit ratio, fully and loudly support all international forums to decry Chinese human rights abuses, and be "cool and correct" but not lavish and celebratory in Chinese-American diplomatic relations (summits should not be "occasions for tyrants to bask in glory"). Americans should be realistic about Tibet, as while there is virtually no chance that it will become an independent country and too much "sentimental nonsense" has been written about some idyllic Tibetan past, Washington should nonetheless maintain a respectful and public relationship with those who represent Tibetan cultural and religious aspirations and as with human rights issues in general unapologetically point out Chinese excesses in that area. Additionally, America should seek to maintain the technological edge it has over China, deter Chinese nuclear buildups, maintain Taiwanese defenses as a credible deterrent, and to encourage and strengthen Japan militarily and politically, ending its internationally abnormal military weakness and "diplomatic pariah-hood."

First published in 1973 and used from inception by the initial CFA program this classic text has been used by many thousands of students and professionalsthrough 6 editions. Please judge this text on its merits and be wary of planted sour grapes comments of a competing text which lost out.

This is the required accounting text for the CFA Level 1 Exam for which I am currently preparing. While many of the other reviews may rate this a great practitioner's reference, I'd like to offer a student's perspective.

I've often needed to re-reference my financial & managerial acct'g text from undergrad days to follow certain sections of this text. AIMR stresses background reading before tackling this text, and they're absolutely right. Bernstein & Wild are no doubt thorough in their work, but don't bother with this text if your not that serious a reader/student.

The questions, problems, exercises, etc. at the end of each section are also thorough, but very few can be traced back to relevant examples in the reading. Unless you purchase the accompanying solutions manual, you're on your own.

The material's level of detail is occasionally abrupt. I've often needed to reread the same sentences several times to reinforce my understanding.

Going forward, this text will no doubt serve me as an excellent reference. But for the time being, it's a challenging text in preparing for the CFA I exam.

I was not impressed with this text. Apparently, the folks at AIMR thought it would be a good idea to make guinea pigs out of last year's CFA Level One candidates by forcing this book down our throats. My experience as well as those who worked alongside with me on this book (and numerous others on CFA message boards!) found the text to be as pleasant as eating a cement brick.

To me, the two professors who wrote this book, while very smart, have little or no ability to communicate in clear and simple english the finer points of financial statement analysis. It is a book written by a clique of musty, tome-reading academics, for a similar group of academics. Examples are sparse, obscure, and insufficient. The text is nothing more than a regurgitation of rules, with little attempt at clarification in plain English.

The text can be characterized by its economy of text; outline the point, and let others figure out what it means; move onto the next subject, and be similarly tight-fisted with explanation.

If you want a book that will cost of a lot of money, and one that will likely only line your bookshelf, this is definitely one for you. However, if you want something that you can actually use and understand, then I suggest you pick up Sondhi & Fried's version of "The Analysis and Use of Financial Statements." I opted to buy this text as a companion to the CFA curriculum because of its clarity and generous use of examples. Apparently, because of all the ruckus and distaste for Bernstein & Wild's text last year, AIMR has decided to drop this text from the curriculum, and move back to the tried-and-true Sondhi & Fried text mentioned above.

I read this book because it was the official textbook for CFA Level 1 test. AIMR later dropped it and returned to White and Sondhi for the year 2000. Personally, I agree.

This should be a fairly good financial analysis book, but because of its uncommunicative wording, it is not appealing indeed. Agree with a reader from England, it is dull.

If the authors add their comments and pour some additional opinion and insights, this book will be much better.

It appears that the book lost its good image (since 1973?) because most of its current readers have read the White & Sondhi's book. If they not read the White & Sondhi before they read this book, they might viewed this book much much better. In my opinion, the readers will get relatively the same knowledge from both books.

Tried using this turgid volume for 1999 CFA level 1. It is appalling. Technically the authors know their stuff - as one would hope - but they make it as dull as ditchwater. Very hard to read without feeling a pressing need to do something, anything, else. I only give it 1 star because I cannot give it none. AIMR have reverted to the Sondhi & Fried book for L1 and L2. Thank you thank you thank you.

Anyone want to buy a doorstop? One careful owner.

As have several other people who have reviewed this book I would suggest purchasing the 2nd edition. I have both of them sitting side by side on a shelf and use the 2nd edition much more than I use the 3rd one. It is not written in as clear a manner as the 2nd edition and sought to expand beyond psychometric theory which might have watered it down some. I was surprised that the reviewer who wrote that the 3rd edition is longer than the 2nd is correct as the 2nd is thicker - but it does have fewer pages.

The thing I most admire about Nunnally is how well his work holds up even decades after the book was first written, and Nunnally's own death. Although academic works such as this typically have a half life of two or three years, it seems that Nunnally may be even more useful now than it was twenty-five years ago. There are other books that address the same type of material, but they all cite Nunnally, and none have, as yet, effectively replaced him.

I am in a management PhD program and we have to read this book for our required class in psychometric theory. I totally agree with one of the other reviewers that almost no term is clearly defined by Nunnally and Bernstein in this 3rd edition. The book goes on and on and on talking about validity, reliability, scaling, ... without defining any single term in a concise manner. It is very frustrating!
So, my suggestion for everyone is to get the 2nd edition. I read it and was happily surprised. Nunnally is great, Ira Bernstein messed the 3rd edition up (Nunnally died a while ago and Bernstein was responsible for the writing of this edition). The previous edition is much, much shorter and has better organized chapters that go right to the point (well, relatively speaking ). In addition, I recommend several short Sage books (e.g., factor analysis from Kim and Mueller), which are much clearer.
In any case, this book or better the 2nd edition, is a must have for any social science researcher (or wanna be researcher ).

This is one of the landmark Measurement books for Psychologists. It does present a relatively comprehensive treatment of the issues facing researchers when developing measures. Unfortunately, the style of writing used in the book makes it exceedingly difficult for students to extract the useful information from the chapters. Specifically, the chapters are not particularly well organized - particularly the ones with fewer equations in them - often jumping back and forth between topics rather than presenting them more systematically. Furthermore, the prose explaning concepts and equations is basically written in an overly complex and sometimes cryptic style more appropriate for mathematicians and psychologists from the 1950's than for graduate students or modern consumers. I only bought the book to augment the graduate level measurement class that I teach and despite the fact that I have a solid background in mathematics, I grown inwardly every time I have to pick up a chapter in this book and read it.

I'm in a Ph.D. program, and this is the required reading for our psychometric test. I was looking on the Border's web site to find a different book to read that would cover the same material, that would not be so difficult to understand. Nunally has a nasty habit of poorly defining terms, which makes it extremely difficult to grasp what he is talking about. It's challenging enough to understand psychometric theory, let alone with a practically illegible textbook! This book needs rewriting! I've given it two stars because supposedly the book contains a lot of valuable material. Of course, this doesn't matter one whit when you can't even read the darn thing!
So professors, please, don't do this to your students!!!

I just could not transfer the book to my Palm. That was a big disappointment.

I am very disappointed because I can't transfer this book to my Palm device. I might not even read it. It was a waist of my money.

This book is not about quantum physics, but about some of the principals that made it what it is. Specifically, there are lengthy biographies of John Stewart Bell and John Wheeler. The emphasis is on what they did in physics, so there is very little mention of other details, such as what they did in their youth. There is also a short summary of the life of Michele Angelo Besso. While Bell and Wheeler are known for their work in physics, Besso is primarily known for having carried on an extensive written correspondence with Albert Einstein. For fifty-two years, the two men exchanged letters, and they provide a great deal of insight into the character and thoughts of Einstein. Fortunately, Besso was a talented physicist, so the subject matter is often the examination of questions in physics.
Given the number of years that Bell and Wheeler have been involved in advanced physics, other physicists are also mentioned. Interactions with people such as Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feymann, Kurt Godel, Freeman Dyson, Neils Bohr, Wolfgang Pauli and David Bohm are all described. The amount of space devoted to the technical aspects of physics is almost nonexistent, the emphasis is on the people, their personalities and how they interacted. The paragraph that I found most memorable involved the spy Klaus Fuchs. Sir Rudolf Peierls, the man responsible for getting Fuchs involved in the atomic bomb project, heard that he had been imprisoned for spying and went to visit him. He told Fuchs, "There has been a terrible mistake. We've got to get proper legal counsel for you. Fuchs replied, "No, there is no mistake, I am a spy." Peierls responded, "How could you?" Fuchs answered, "Well, I meant to give control of the world to the Russians." Peierls responded, "But how could you?" To which Fuchs answered, "But then I meant to tell them what was wrong with them." Amazing, Fuchs was a genius as a physicist and about as naïve as a person could be when it comes to politics.
The great catcher Roy Campenella once said about baseball, "You have to be a man to play this game, but you also have to have a lot of little boy in you." That seems to also apply to physics, as the overriding theme of the book is that a physicist must be smart, but also possess an overpowering childlike curiosity.

TOO BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL WITH LITTLE TO SAY ABOUT THE SUBJECT MATTER. ECLIPSES THE HEART OF THE SUBJECT.

Very good, educative book. The first chapter introduces John Bell, whose discoveries in the foundations of quantum mechanics led this area of studies to a respectable, experiment-based level, with the famous Bell inequalities. He was a very good "traditional physicist" too, from the design of accelerators to anomalies in quantum field theory. He classified himself as a "quantum engineer". Sometime ago I read with great pleasure and profit the book with the correspondence of Einstein and Besso. Besso was a friend of Einstein's from Berne, at the Patent Service. An engineer, he had enough knowledge to follow (and contribute, according to Einstein) to the development of Relativity Theory. Bernstein tells the story of this cultivated gentleman in his last chapter. It was time . Besso is the only person cited in the great classic of our century, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", where Einstein introduced relativity.

I've had this book since it was published, and still find myself drawn to it. It's not a "masterpiece" from an editorial perspective, but the reflections and memories of the people who knew Herb Brooks, and understand what he meant to the game, are worthy of any true hockey fan.

In the book, author Bernstein notes that he writes 5 books a year. It shows. His books are poorly written: full of irritating grammar and spelling mistakes and lacking even the most basic story development.
It's a shame Brooks wouldn't play the big NY publisher game--get an agent and find a talented ghost writer to work with on a memoir--or work with an established sports journalist on a well-researched, thoughtful biography. This book is just a collection of random thoughts from Brooks' friends and family. Many of them say interesting things, but without a persistent interviewer to ask the follow-up questions, few of the anecdotes yield much new insight.

I enjoyed this book a lot. Author brings to life many interesting aspects of Brooks. What a great book.

I had actually been working with Herb Brooks for nearly a year at the time of his untimely death this past Fall on writing a series of motivational/self-help books. You see, Herbie had recently turned down an offer to come back to the Big Apple and coach the New York Rangers again, opting instead to spend more time with his family and doing more motivational speaking - which is what the books were for. So, when I head the horrible news that August 11th, I decided right then and there to turn our project into a memorial. The result is the new book, "Remembering Herbie," a tribute to my friend and mentor.

Several months and nearly 100 interviews later, the book was finished, complete with both warm and fuzzy memories as well as hilarious and riveting stories from Herbie's closest friends, family members, former teammates and former players. The biography chronicles not only the accomplishments and achievements of a man who touched literally millions of lives throughout the sports world, but also a heartfelt story of an amazing person - as told through the eyes of those who knew him best.

People from all spectrums of Herbie's life were interviewed for the book, including former teammates of his from St. Paul Johnson High School, the University of Minnesota and from various U.S. Olympic & National Teams. I also spoke to former players of his from the Gophers, the 1980 & 2002 Olympic Teams, New York Rangers, Minnesota North Stars, New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins. While some people opened up and poured out their emotions on what Herbie meant to them, others shared heartwarming or hilarious stories. Some laughed, some cried, but they all remembered Herbie.

I found that as I wrote the book and talked to more and more people, a picture emerged of who Herb Brooks really was. The common denominators were fascinating: the way he motivated people, his relentless determination, his honesty, his passion, his integrity, the "Brooksisms" he was so famous for saying, the way he championed the underdog, the way he was always looking to make hockey better, the way he could never make up his mind, and the way he loved his family - it's all in there.

You see, Herb Brooks never forgot where he came from - always remaining loyal to his colorful working-class neighborhood roots on St. Paul's East Side. There, he was like royalty, but if you asked him, he would say that he was just another "Joe Six Pack" from Payne Avenue. That was Herbie, modest as ever. Herbie was the ultimate team player and lived by the adage that the name on the front of the sweater was always more important than the name on the back. Looking back at the now famous last second call from the 1980 Olympic `Miracle on Ice,' which will forever be linked to his legacy, "Do you believe in miracles?... Yes!" - one can only assume that Herb probably didn't. That's right. Sure, he was a dreamer, but there were no short-cuts or divine interventions for this guy, it was all about hard work, commitment and passion. And luckily for us his obsession was hockey, and through that medium he changed the face of American history.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the newly created "Herb Brooks Foundation," which will benefit amateur hockey throughout the United States.

(To learn more about this book please visit my web-site: www.bernsteinbooks.com. Thanks! - Ross Bernstein, Author

I have previously purchased a Ross Berstein book ("Gopher Hockey by the Hockey Gopher") and found that to be an entertaining read. Not so with this offering

All Berstein seems to have done is find some of Herb's friends, turned on his tape recorder and then transcibe their comments, verbatim. The print is too small, the words and thoughts are redundant and the small paperback has the look and feel of a self-published work, which it is.

The range of interviewees is tiny compared with the breadth of Brooks' life and all the interviews sound the same. There were a few pictures of young Herbie the player. Those are fairly interesting, but I found myself a little disappointed with this offering.