Forbes Books

Great product for unique pictures of obscure diseases/disorders, great for a supplemental book in medical school if you are a visual learner

This is a great book indeed, but the fact that it balances between atlas and text renders it somewhat inconvenient for those of us solely interested in a picture atlas.I strongly urge the editors to consider a future edition of an atlas only book.Nevertheless i must admit that this book has been extemely helpful so far in understanding the various clinical entities.

Ordered as new...Damaged during shipping. Customer service sent me a new one immediately, before I had to send the damaged one back and credited shipping on my next item. Customer Service 5 stars. Thanks. Great pictures for studying for step 2.

This book is very well written, the explanations are very clear and accompanied by high-quality illustrations. I recommend using it together with "Self Assessment Picture Tests in Medicine: Clinical Medicine", the companion book with question covering the content of "Color Atlas and Text of Clinical Medicine" for a better preparation for USMLE Step 2.

This color atlas and text are really very good. The text is a quick read but is thorough, covering diagnosis, prognosis, physical exam findings and treatment of choice in many cases. It has classic pictures and examples of a very wide variety of conditions. This is simply an excellent review for the USMLE (mainly parts 2 and 3). It's excellent for review during clinical medicine rotations and the Internal Medicine boards. Overall, very well done!

This is an invaluable resource for information professionals in any realm, be it the corporate boardroom or the neighborhood public library. Its many contributors give insight into how the Internet is being used to disseminate information, and how online communities function. This book is not engendered by fear, but out of the reality that misinformation (erroneous information) and disinformation (malicious information) abounds on the Web, and real harm can be done. I hope that the editor and contributing authors will update it, given new trends in online communities, and the many changes in the world of search. If I may suggest the title: "Web 2.0 of Deception."

This is an important collection of articles, written by people who have been leaders in analyzing information retrieval and content well before there was a web. This is an eye-opener
even for other experienced information professionals but it is especially important for people who are relying on the web as their source of personnel and professional information.

Rather than scaring folks from using the web, this book is an incredibly useful tool in helping individuals, other researchers, teachers, and business people to use the web more effectively.

Thanks to Anne Mintz and her colleagues for publishing this book and thanks to her employer for supporting her efforts in making us all more responsbile users of web information.

"Web of Deception" is a wake-up call to adult on-line users of the Internet and arguably the most important book of the Cyber Age to date. Its focus is on the deliberate deceptions on the Net that can wreak havok on your health, privacy, investments, purchases, business decisions, and legal affairs.

Editor Mintz and her collegial experts wrote the book not to scare but to empower Internet users to take control. "Web of Deception" should be required reading for Internet users and in all computer classes. It can also be a valuable text in a course on the Dark Side of the Information Age.

This is an important collection of articles, written by people who have been leaders in analyzing information retrieval and content well before there was a web. This is an eye-opener
even for other experienced information professionals but it is especially important for people who are relying on the web as their source of personnel and professional information.

Rather than scaring folks from using the web, this book is an incredibly useful tool in helping individuals, other researchers, teachers, and business people to use the web more effectively.

Thanks to Anne Mintz and her colleagues for publishing this book and thanks to her employer for supporting her efforts in making us all more responsbile users of web information.

Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet is an essential read about a topic many of us deal with several times a day.

General search engines create the databases we search by finding what they can. No time is spent judging and analyzing the accuracy of the site or the reputation of the publisher. Fine, this is how general web search tools work but this is also why it's IMPORTANT that the searcher take a few moments and think about where the material is coming from and who is producing it.

Mintz has assembled an all-star roster of experts to provide the reader with the information and skills needed to recognize, understand, and deal with web credibility and authority issues.

I read Die With Me just after finishing Peter Robinson's newest mystery. Mr. Robinson writes so well, that I usually have a sense that the next book I read after his is a distinctly inferior creation. Not so with Elena Forbe's first novel. Both character development and plot creation are astonishingly good for a first effort. I don't know if the methodology of the book's serial killer has a basis in an actual crime or not, but it has the ring of believability. The cast of characters she created, and their interrelationships, appear capable of supporting a long number of episodes in this series.

I definitely plan to add Ms. Forbes' name to the list of authors whose books I put on my must read list.

This is a debut novel for Forbes. I picked it up at the airport bookshop partially because of all the reasonably good blurbs on the back cover. The Literary Review liked it. The Times liked it. I'll go along with those worthies. I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it.

The story features a string of murders of vulnerable young women. At first glance, they appear to be suicides. It is only by chance that the police realize that there seems to be a serial killer involved. D.I. Mark Tartaglia is assigned to the case. Tartaglia is too good looking and aggressive for his own good (and for his career's own good). The case causes him to reexamine a number of relationships (both romantic and otherwise) that he thought he well understood.

I did not find the novel terribly memorable, and I was at least a teeny bit disenchanted with the ending. This said, an admirable airplane book. It was precisely the ticket for helping the time pass by.

"For a moment, Donovan gazed blankly at the screen, the words she had just been reading swilling like smoke in her mind. Hearing Gemma Kramer's voice coming off the printed page, she felt sick. Gemma talked of her sense of isolation, how she was being bullied at school, how nobody seemed to understand her, how her mother and stepfather didn't care about her. The language was childish, the tone pathetic and moving. By contrast, the responses from the man named Tom were chilling." -- From Die With Me

I am a member of the Amazon Vine reviewer program, and selected Elena Forbes book Our Lady of Pain as one of my choices. Well, what I didn't know is that it was the second in a series, Die With Me being the first.

So I ordered Die With Me from Amazon.com to become familiar with the Barnes Murder Squad cast of characters.

I happened to be sick last weekend, so I sat in a recliner and read Die With Me all the way through. The plot is compelling: Fourteen-year-old Gemma Kramer falls from the heights of an organ gallery inside a church. It appears to be a suicide--except that a woman comes forward, swearing that she saw a young girl being kissed by a tall man in black outside of the church a few hours before the body was found.

The beginning of the book starts off from the viewpoint of the killer, switching from his point of view to those of the various members of the Barnes Murder Squad: handsome bachelor Mark Tartaglia, short and fiesty Sam Donovan, recently injured former DCI Trevor Clarke, computer expert Dave Wightman, and other minor characters.

First time author Elena Forbes does a good job painting word pictures of London, food, and various objects. Her characters are decently drawn and believable.

However, throughout the novel, I kept wondering why Mark, Sam and company seem so utterly STUPID. They miss the obvious connection between the dead girls until 3/4 through the book (and exclaim the connection like a huge "aha!". Yet, the connection was repeated so often, and so obviously, that I figured it out about 1/4 into the book).

And--possible spoiler here, so don't read this paragraph if you don't want a clue to something significant--I cannot BELIEVE that neither Mark nor Sam investigated the other "witness" that came forward midway through the case. In more than one mystery I've read, anyone that inserts themselves into a case as a "witness" or a "helpful" figure gets vetted, because criminals are often vain enough to want to be close to the "action" (much like pyros go to watch the fires they set, or are even firefighters themselves). DUH! Halfway through, I knew who the killer was...

Despite a promising premise, Die With Me fell flat, I'm afraid, and the ending was way too tied up in a bow for my tastes (although an unexpected escape was a nice twist).

I'm pleased to report, though, that the next novel in the Barnes Murder Squad Sereis--Our Lady of Pain--is reading much better. The characters are even more fleshed out and the plot utterly compelling. I like it that we're not given ANY insight into the murderer (although I have a good suspicion who the killer is) via flashbacks or the killer's point of view.

And, please realize this is a British crime novel, which means that you'll hear unusual phrases and words ("fug", "fags", "flat", as well as non-definied British police abbreviations like DC, DI, DCI, and SOCO). Also, I get irritated that Ms. Forbes continually says "try and" (as opposed to the grammatically correct "try to"), but otherwise, the writing itself is decent.

If you're a fan of Elizabeth George or the show Prime Suspect, you'll likely enjoy Die With Me--this book has that same feel. I'm 3/4 the way through Our Lady of Pain, a much tighter and more fascinating read, and am glad I began the Barnes Murder Squad series--if only to witness Ms. Forbes become a better writer and to see how the characters (especially Mark and Sam) develop over time.

Not a bad debut!

-- Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book

I won't try to match the three excellent detailed reviews already posted. I'll just add that I was in a rush last week when I stopped by the library, and hurriedly chose four promising-sounding (from the jacket blurbs) books from the "New Mysteries" shelf.

The first three I read a few pages of and put right back in the tote bag to return. "Die With Me" I just finished, and it held my rapt attention from first page to last. Good atmosphere, believable characters, perfect plausibility, seamlessly literate writing.

I was astonished to learn that it's a first novel. I hope Ms. Forbes has many more in her. I'll be watching for them.

To my mind, one of the most important aspects of whether an ongoing mystery series succeeds or fails is if readers are, ultimately, just as compelled by the inner struggles and interpersonal relationships among its protagonists as they are by the mystery plot itself. After all, these police officers and detectives are the ones readers will have to spend time with, book after book. If they're not interesting, what's the point? Based on her first novel, promising new author Elena Forbes is one mystery writer who agrees with me. Featuring not only a charismatic, elusive serial killer but also a complex cast of investigators, each of whom carries his or her own compelling story, DIE WITH ME is a first-class introduction to what I can only hope will be a first-rate series.

At the center of the investigation is a mysterious killer named "Tom," a charming, handsome stranger who engages in suicide pacts with young, emotionally vulnerable women. When they meet to kill themselves, only one of them ends up dying --- usually drugged by Tom and hurled to fall to her death. As for Tom, he walks away, emotionally charged by the act of committing murder and already plotting to find his next victim.

Assigned to the case is London detective Mark Tartaglia, a jaded investigator who has been trying to cope with the facts that his superior officer is in a coma and has been replaced by Carolyn Steele, an attractive, confident but sometimes abrasive investigator who is a little too close to the psychological profiler who has been assigned to the case, a pompous jerk with whom Tartaglia has clashed on a previous case. He is also sorting out his feelings about medical examiner Fiona Blake, with whom he had a one-night stand weeks ago.

Tartaglia's partner, Samantha (Sam) Donovan, has picked up on Tartaglia and Blake's attraction for one another --- and she's trying not to let her own disappointment over these developments cloud her work on the case. A sharp investigator, Donovan is also single and lonely --- a combination that might lead to heartache...or worse.

Rounding out the staff of investigators are several other secondary characters, each of whom adds his or her own personality and perspective to the problem at hand. Even as the officers run into a series of brick walls, red herrings and missed opportunities as they attempt to track down Tom, readers are drawn into not only the search for the killer but also into the behind-the-scenes intrigues and conflicts that develop during the investigation.

For those who, as I did, get drawn up in these characters' lives and work, there's good news. Forbes skillfully combines an open-ended narrative with just enough closure to satisfy ardent mystery fans. Given the number of unanswered questions, though, not to mention the ominous, forward-looking ending, it's clear that Forbes intends to explore her compelling cast of characters in what promises to be a gripping ongoing series. I can't wait for the next one.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Uncle Walter was an Army B-24 pilot in the Pacific, shot down and killed over Truk Island in 1944, eight years before I was born. I grew up hearing about him and when I was only around 10 I saw a paperback book with a crashing B-24 on the cover and bought it. It turned out to be one of the best most engaging books I have ever read and I read a lot. I read it so much as a child that to this day I have it memorized in my mind. My old paperback is so delicate that for years I have hesitated to read it and have tried to by a new copy only to hear that it was out of print. To be able to find it just now is like finding an old childhood friend. I can't believe it. This is a wonderful book. Buy it. Here I come again "Ivy'.

Many many years ago as a young man making my way across the US I had a long wait in Kansas City Airport for my flight. I walked down to a small shop in the airport and found this book in a garish cover, looking exactly like the sort of book that one is embarassed to be seen reading. But, having nothing else, I sat down and made a start. And I could not put it down. Over twenty five years later I still have that same battered paperback and like an old friend I take it up to read again every year or so.

If you know and love flying and aeroplanes and people who fly this book will speak to you. The night takeoff as an overloaded US Navy B-24 roars down a runway straining to become airborne with the end of that runway and the sea beyond coming closer and closer had the sweat starting to drip down my back. The author must have flying in his blood because no one else could have put me in the cockpit with the principal character, the co-pilot of this aircraft, as this book did.

But even if you don't love aviation there is much to enjoy here. It's not pro war nor is it anti war - it's about friends and the sense of 'belonging' that can arise amongst people bound together by difficult circumstances who work together to make the best of what they have in those circumstances. I daren't use the word comradeship, as perhaps too many will think that it urges some right wing agenda - nor do I suggest that it might be about the special relationship that can develop between men in adversity and a pride in overcoming that adversity together as this might suggest the same. But there may be those who understand what I am saying without seeing (or attempting to see) some broader significance.

I love this book and I always regret when I reach the end.

I keep a short list of my favorite books of the 20th Century. Forbes' is one of the Top Five; not as a best War, or Anti-War, or even air or sea stories, but simply one of the best ever. Forbes writes in a very direct style that is easy to read and just sets out what it must have been like to go through the last year of the Air War in the Pacific, or any war. If you have a conclusion on what it must have been like, well he lets you draw it, and the feelings are always very strong. I read it again every other year and I do not lend out my hard copy. It stays put as part of my short list.

I've read a lot of memoirs and novels of WWII in the air. This is perhaps the most memorable of all I've read. What makes this book exceptional is the narrative voice--intelligent, cynical, funny and compelling. The story moves along nicely and the ending is heartbreaking to the reader though the sense one gets is that the narrator has seen so much that he is just numb to it all. I am so happy to see that this is back in print after years and years. If you are a WWII aviation buff you will enjoy this.

This outstanding work is all the more surprising because so few people have ever heard of it.

The cynical humour, dry wit, action descriptions and characterisations make it a stand out novel that sets it apart from other navy classics such as 'The Caine Mutiny' and 'The Cruel Sea'.

Many reviewers consider this an anti-war, anti US Navy story but I consider it neither. Set in the final year of WWII it is a snapshot of a few months of one pilots military career that draws together the stresses of a lifetime of combat missions. In it you can find just about every character you have ever met in life, in business or in the military and it is this observation and detailing of characters that make the book so intriguing. The descriptions of flying and air combat are clearly drawn from personal experience so the work should be seen as semi-autobiographical, and if this is so, which character does the author play?

Goodbye To Some is highly personal it that it is written in the first person and allows the reader to come into intimate contact with the emotions of the main character. The fears, the petty jealousies, the tragedies, the love of some characters and the bitter hatred of others, the Navy system, the war - it's all there - waiting to be soaked up and experienced. Perhaps it is this intimate writing style that makes American reveiwers so nervous - and in some ways it is un-American. There is no gung-ho, flag waving, ticker tape parades; there is just the dull, leaden burden of dozens of combat missions, each one taking the main character closer to his breaking point. And the narrative doesn't actually end, it just stops at a convenient point, without fanfare and without any real drama.

To find this novel republished in hardback as a naval classic is a real gift to military buffs worldwide - an absolute must-have for every armchair (and left hand chair) pilots library. As a personal note, I have two copies of this book, the first copy is the paperback edition that have read for thirty years!

I loved this book!! The only thing I hated about the book is that it ended so soon. This was a very good read about three very strong african-american women who make it through despite the harrowing odds. I look forward to this authors next book.

Because the book was so short, I was a little skeptical about buying it. But after reading the book from cover to cover, I was glad that I did. I loved it so much, I didn't want it to end. Most women can identify with at least one of the characters. This is a book about the power of love, family and friendship. And it also proves that money can't buy happiness.

Rain is a stripper looking for love. Shelby is a confused battered wife and Taryn is a happily married woman who wants more out of life. These three women were very likeable. I found myself rooting for them as if they were real. I enjoyed this book immensly.

Sheila L. Forbes is truly a talented writer. The characters were very well developed and real. The plot moved swiftly, making this book a real page turner. With the market saturated with sex and violence, this book was a very nice change. I look forward to reading her next book.

A touching story of love, friendship and betrayal. I couldn't put it down. I recommended it to my book club and we couldn't stop talking about it. This book is so real and true to life we had many conversations that would go on well after our book club meeting was officially over. It's a winner.

Cardboard characters, creepy cutouts--didn't believe a word by this facile film critic. Born Again a Holy Cow--ought to be illegal suggesting a sinister application. Identity not trowelled up like leeks. Take exception, award a sprig of spring onion found caught in laces of boot, press it in pages, ward off wards and weak wights.

Spirit informs like a gold glow, never interchangeable like multi-colored lights on a string. Seditious suggestion. Networks must be informed. Anchors enlisted. Nudes draped.

Waugh, Burgess but best also "Cards." Late Burgess left this out of his 100 list, and I had not yet read it when I discussed sustained narrative antic novels with him. This puzzles me. (I argued for Gravity, he plumped for V. Later in 100, he'd changed to Gravity. Egoist that I am, guess what I think. And, also, now I like V. Did he age well tho?)

Pungent, perhaps profound. Some peerless moments of exquisite conundrum. Disciplined prose, strongly flavored character motion, level evocation of REM unreality.

Inspiring. Worth writing tart poetry on its flyleaf. Don't not read now!

It is an incredible feeling to come across a novel that has no fame or recognition yet is as genius as the great classics. Cards of Identity- is such a novel. It's brilliant satire makes it absence all the more unfortunate.

I don't know how I originally came across Card of Identity about 15 years ago, but I couldn't put it down and have read it three times. It's an enchanting novel and I'd hate for anyone to pass it by based on the rather incomprehensible reviews I've read of it on this site.

Actually Cards of Indentity is four books and a play. The "plot" involves a group of "psychologists" who take over a country home by mental tricks in order to hold a convention. Three of the books are 'papers' delivered at the convention. The play (which you will swear was written by Shakespeare) is the entertainment at the end of the convention. A must read.

Malcolm Forbes was a very interesting figure indeed.
Great subject he has chosen to write, and he wrote it very lively and colorful.
The book has short biographies of many interesting figures in history, and describes the not-so-known-facts about how they died.
I used to read this book at bedtime, because its such a good way to go to sleep happily knowing that we all die and we should take care of us, each other and the whole world - as long as we live today, and not let ourselves get carried away about things we plan to do in the distant future.

This is a must-have on your bookshelf. From the famous to the infamous, here are the sad, surprising, strange, or sordid ends that have befallen well-known names from the past. The breadth is impressive for a small book, and there are a few names that may not be familiar. You'll receive a brief biography for each alphabetized entry and a summary of the events that led up to their death. Minor quibbles are lack of citations or references and a general tone of innuendo. It's not a classical historical reference, but rather a maudlin set of stories that would probably be difficult to track down yourself. And so it is all democratically minded, we will all go that-a-way...one day.

I found this book in my dad's old books collection not too long ago, and its a good work to read. It introduced me to such personalities such as Primmie Niven, Carole Lombard and Huey Long (hey, I'm 23 they were way before my time). Forbes gives great detail and he makes death look interesting, not something to be look forward to. I can tell he had fun writing and researching this book and if Malcolm were alive today I'm sure someone would write a sequel to this book. Perhaps the sequel would have Princess Di (another monarchy figure), Kurt Cobain (Jimi and Jim of the 90s), Dr. Atkins (the so-called revolutionary diet hero dies from a fall) and maybe Malcolm himself. I always read at least one or two biographies in the book before I go to bed.

This book by the late publishing mogul Malcolm Forbes offers a number of intriguing biographical sketches of famous people in history from all walks of life and basically tells how they died. A history professor introduced me to this book sometime ago and I've found it very intriguing... There are a lot of surprises and moments where even the ardent history buff will say "Hey I didn't know that!" It's one of those books that is easy to pick up and read on one of those rainy days.

They Went That A-Way is a collection of over 150 1-2 page sketches of famous personalities, mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries. Each sketch contains a short summary of the person's life and accomplishments, then a description of how they met their end. The book is well done, however I found it a little depressing, as the majority of the personalities were dysfunctional, dying from alcoholism, drugs, or suicide.

Without a doubt, the novel "Alma Rose" is the best book I've ever read with a lesbian main character. Frankly, I'm biased against the genre, but this book set me, uh, straight. What most struck me was the beautiful language and the thoughtfulness of the narrative. It is a heart-rending book that also makes you think.

I read this book all excited-like. I was thinking "Yeah, lesbian love story". I thought the book was actually kind of boring. I had wish that her relationship with Alma Rose had developed more. I wish that she had heard more flack from the town about her relationship with a woman, especially in a small town where they weren't used to the idea of same sex marriages. The book could have been written so much better. I enjoyed it, but I was hoping for more :)

The introverted world of a small town woman is described as she blossoms, wilts and fights the truth of a love gone forever. The supporting characters come to life with a realism that reminds me of co-workers and neighbors. As the secret world of the main character's head enters the reader's head, the similarity and diversity of perception are simultaneously evoked. In the end, the unyeilding truth of change continues on unchanged, while a mountain of stone yeilds to the chisel of a sculpture dedicated to hope and the past

> There are some genre books that are so good that you know they'd be in contention for a Pulitzer if they were considered mainstream. This is one of those books.
> The heroine is so inarticulate as to be almost mute. That is, until a female trucker rolls into town. She rolls out again almost immediately, leaving our heroine with a choice: she can sit around wringing her hands or she can build a monument which can be seen from the highway and may again draw the trucker into town and back into her life. So she starts dynamiting a mountain and shaping it as her "Alma Rose."
> A startingly good book.

Doesn't matter that this is a love story between two women - it could as easily be any forbidden love. It is about love so big outsiders can't see it. It is about being changed so much by love, waking up so much, that trivial things like "facts" and broken hearts don't matter any more. It's about owning your own life, and never being a victim. This is a book about the wisdom of learning that what happens TO you doesn't matter so much as how you respond. It is an utterly Romantic book, in the best, old sense of the word, and I would recommend it to anyone of any persuasion. (It was recommended to me by a straight woman.)

This book is one of those lazy saturday reads, where you lay outside in a hammock and dream of how to live more simply. This book inspires you to live such a life. However, the inspiration comes from wishing that you could have a life in Maine, free from some of the encumberances of the world around you. Sadly, the reality is that most of us don't have the luxury of living a simple life, confined to our mortgages, buying food from the grocery down the street, and wishing that we weren't caught up in the corporate shackle of consumerism just to live. Most people can't affort property on the coastline, and certainly can't afford to live more simply -- their location, poverty, hand-to-mouth daily struggle leaves them no time to wish for a simpler life. Simply because living more simply sometimes takes money to do so. All in all, a thoughtful book and an inspiration to try...

This book is beautiful. It is well-written, and the author put a lot of careful thought into his work.

This book has much to say about simplicity and wanting less and getting more for the effort. This is one of those books that everyone should read. Especially all of us who live in industrialized nations and take simple skills and ways for granted.

This book makes you realize that sometimes buying things costs more than you bargain for and you may just be better off doing some things for yourself.

I also like the analogy of working a job you hate just for money as prostitution.

The book was not as beautiful as the experience. The first time I went I left a feather and stones and couldn't bear to leave, subsequent visits were as powerful but in the way a life is crafted, one builing upon another. Bill is superlative. The book is good but needs to be taken in small portions, savored,it added to my experience. Building a yurt should be done by any awake human. Bill's the only authentic one I know of-the rest, shallow imitations, posers, pretenders, charlatans and just plain not it. Even though I'm sure they are earnest folks.

I didn't go looking for this book. It simply fell into place. Literally. While I was browsing in the satellite branch of my local public library for books about business this volume fell on my head. It had been left precariously on top of the shelf.
Aesthetics appeal to me, to the cover was intriguing. I skipped the book about where mobile and wireless technology is taking society and immediately checked out A Handmade Life.
It is a beautifully presented book. The photographs of an idyllic life in Maine are appealingly presented. The text proposes a way of life that, even here on the paradisical edge of the Pacific Ocean, on the edge of the world, even, it is hard not to yearn for. And maybe that is true value of the book. It awakened a hankering in me for a more naieve way. Strangely it also help me make a number of business choices I had been faced with. Appropriate considering there is a side-bar in the book:

"Borrow from cultures old and new
And with our imaginations

Blend those borrowings
To Create new ways to live
That are simpler, gentler
More generous and beautiful."

Is that my cell-phone ringing?

It's funny how even a quick browsing of this book tells you it has integrity. It's some combination of the artful layout, the paper quality, and of course the author's inspiration living-the-talk life. A Handmade Life evokes a simple but deep way to live. I should confess, however, that I haven't read the whole book, but I love it anyway and keep it on my desk by computer, sipping it now and again like a wine brewed for inspiration. It's a reminder to slow down, focus more on craft than result and quality more than quantity.

Another one in this genre is The Hand-Sculpted House.

The reader will find author Richard Lehmann witty and thorough as he discusses the key to building a steady, growth-orientated income portfolio. He states that in investing, "very little is highly predictable and nothing is certain." In the investment process both fear and greed are facts of life and Richard explains that both must be kept in check. Whether you're a buy and hold investor, total return investor, a desperate investor or a scared investor Richard's book on Income Investing will enlighten you and provide tools for action.

He states, "My basic premise is that the key to building a steady, growth-orientated income portfolio is to diversify over a variety of securities that depend on a different drivers (ie., portfolios that are not vulnerable to any once specific economic factor such as interest rates." The reader will learn of many new investment products in the income investment market with acronyms to catch the investor's attention. Mr. Lehmann suggests many that are interesting to use for income and others to avoid. Years of experience are at the reader's fingertips as Richard leads the reader through both the new and more conventional income products.

Unexpected and welcome gifts are Richards insights and discussion associated with retirement investment, managing tax in the fixed income portfolio, buying and selling securities and what to ask your broker when buying an income security. His discussion about default and bankruptcy are most informative and provides the investor with background not often seen in investment books. What to pay for a security and when to sell are questions of high concern to investors and Richard provides some insight to this problem.

This book provides an informative look at some of the actions of the Federal Reserve Bank and the various credit rating services. For the non-accountant Mr. Lehmann with his CPA hat on discusses key financial statements that you need to understand.

Income investment includes certain income stocks and mutual funds such as bond, Exchange Traded Funds and closed end funds. Mr. Lehmann addresses these securities in some detail and offers up some very experienced arguments of how they can be used in building an income investment portfolio.

Certificate of Deposits are considered very low risk products, Richard suggests that is you have saved enough to build a monthly payout ladder of CD's and live comfortably that God had surely blessed you and you no longer need to read his book. Of course that would be a big mistake just think of what you will be missing.

The reader will find his book entertaining and informative. It provides income investment strategy, product description, portfolio make up, brokerage discussion, managing risk and uncertainty and a super Glossary.

A worthy text on the desk....for even the equity investor.

Herbert Ridderbusch- Investor

If you're looking to become active in your own retirement saving, but are frightened by the volatility of the stock market, and put off by the low returns of the bond market, Richard Lehmann offers a sure fire alternative in Income Investing Today. Income Investing Today chronicles in great detail an alternative investment universe that provides the high returns of the stock market with the minimal risk of the bond market. New hybrid securities like preferred stock, convertible bonds and ETFs are his weapon of choice and you need only look at the track record to be convinced. Lehmann outlines a step-by-step plan of how to build wealth on your own without paying outrageous management fees or gambling away your nest egg on Wall Street. Simply put, Lemann shows you how to make big returns without the big risk, on your own. This book is certain to become the investment bible of baby boomers tired of paying pointless management fees and eager to become involved with their own investment portfolio or retirement savings. Lehmann, a Forbes columnist, puts his three decades as an authority on fixed income investment to good use and knocks one out the park. Income Investing Today is an invaluable tool to the independent investor with an eye on retirement savings.

In this low interest rate environment investors need to work harder to maintain a high level of income from their investments. Add to this that author Lehmann sees low interest rates for the "forseeable future". This means that an income portfolio needs to diversify across an expanding variety of financial instruments, maturities, and even credit (risk) quality to achieve its goal. The key here is to recognize that some income investments respond to "drivers" (viz. circumstances) other than interest rate moves which in turn insulates them from this traditional risk.

It follows that the diversified income investor will consider some non-traditional or out of favor (relatively cheap) assets such as REITS (driven by real estate cycles), Canadian Energy Income Trusts (the demand for energy), dividend paying common stocks (affected by broad economic cycles), near investment grade junk bonds (discounted by fear but subject to credit upgrades), and beleaguered automotive bonds. Closed end funds also get the nod because they generate high income and can often be bought at a discount to their underlying values. Given that the retail investor is the focus of this book and that new CEFs are rolling-out monthly, I would have liked more discussion of their trading strategies and risks.

Among the investments to avoid are unit investment trusts, collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), packaged equity hedges marketed under cutesy acronyms as Sequins, Elks, etc. and hedge funds ("rarely has so much money been entrusted to so few people with such limited talent"). Lehmann is decidedly ambivalent about mutual funds due to their internal costs, tax inefficiencies, and focus on short term performance. No surprise his preference is for individual securities which are also less sensitive to interest rate changes as they move their principal to date certain maturities.

The serious do-it-yourself income investor will find some good ideas in these pages, but I question Equipment Trust Certificates as a retail investment. Good luck if you need to sell them. A section on Direct Access Notes is in intriguing, but again, I wonder about their liquidity. Lehmann is a strong proponent of preferred and convertible stocks, but there is a confusing amount of information on their structures. A discussion of the bankruptcy process, advice on when to sell your positions, and useful information that can be gleaned from prospectuses and financial statements might have gone to an Appendix with more direct focus on securities in the main text.

The book does a great job of explaining income possibilities for those of us who have limited knowledge. Like a previous reviewer stated, I would have also liked more information on Closed End Funds and the structure of the book is a little fragmented but it is definitely readable and is a good introduction to his style. I have been an avid reader of his newsletter for four years and his recommendations are very well thought out. To my knowledge, it is the only publication that does this kind of work and it is the only proper way that I can think of to actualize the book. I am a very fearful investor and this style has worked very well for me. I have managed to set up an income stream of approximately 10% per year, I have made some nice gains at times, specially with the Canadian Trusts, and I have been able to recover from recommendations that have not worked out. The fluctuations in the securities that I have selected do not seem to have been more or less drastic than the market in general with the exception of the Closed End Funds. They do not seem to have done as well but the dividends have kept me in the game. Happy returns!

This book informs the reader/investor about a solid and reasonable approach to safe income investing. The examples and explanations are good (I will save your time by referring you to the other reviews for more detail). The author disappoints by advertising his investment letter. Nothing wrong with that if either the book or the investment letter were free of charge, but they are not.