Francis Books

This book is the first book that comes close to giving a balanced view of the history of the Black Panther party, its problems and its ultimate demise. It includes a view by regular rank and file members. It is well worth reading for those looking for an alternative to those books written by Party leaders, informants, or critics.

This is the first book to attempt to discuss the legacy of the Black Panther Party. The fact that a second book, Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party, managed to continue the work begun here without significant overlap shows what a rich legacy it was.

One essay, "The Black Panthers and the 'Undiscovered Country' of the Left" proposesthe novel idea that the Panthers had begun to emulate many aspect of an emerging nation-state by taking on the functions of provideng serverices for the community, setting up independent relations with other nations, etc., While this seemed to be unintentional, it does suggest the larger potential of the Party.

It's important to realize that there were many Black Panther "chapters" that were inspired by the Oakland Panthers but developed autonomously and had different levels of political development. The Oakland BPP attempted to gather them all into one big centralized organization but had neither the political experience ,or the time [they were attacked by city, state and federal governments almost from day one] to properly pull it together. The essays by some of the ex-Party members in this volume provide great insight into the different ways in with the BPP were able to speak to local Black communities while encapsulating the grievances and hopes common to them all.

The one weakness of the book is its defensiveness. The city, state and federal governments used the Panthers' militant politics and gun imagery to portray them as reckless thugs who covered up their criminal tendencies with political rhetoric. The authors in this book attempt to refute that by emphasizing the community organizing aspects of the BPP such as the free breakfast programs. However, none of the authors explored the question of whether the Panthers had a legitmate case for armed revolution in the US. By avoiding the debate, the authors seem to be ceding ground to the Pantthers' opponents.

This book should not be seen as the final word but as the beginning of an important conversation. Anyone who wants to understand post-60's political movements can't avoid the fact that the Panthers helped shape the debates that continue up to our time. Read this book to see how.

The Black Panther Party is perhaps one of the most misunderstood political movements in the U.S. due to government disinformation and harrassment and misperceptions magnified over the years that fiction is now considered fact.

In one volume, the history of the party from 1966-1982 and beyond is presented through original writings from rank & file members and those in leadership roles and scholarly papers that cover a variety of issues, including inner-party gender relations, how the party fit into the Third World revolutionary movement and the grass-roots movement in each chapter to assist residents of all ages with nutrition and health-care.

Perhaps most important is the extensive footnotes after each piece, which assists the reader in pursuing further material and dismisses any criticism that the author has some ulterior agenda by allowing opinion to supercede a conclusion based on research.

Founded because the power structure maintained what I consider a plantation mentality to Black people in general and Black urban areas in particular and ultimately destroyed by the same power structure due to its programs of empowerment and solidarity, the real Black Panther Party may never truly be uncovered.

But this book starts that process and it is as important a retrospective as any that has been published.

This book by Reid and Francis is an excellent reference source for any blood banker's library. It provides both genetic and practical information on all the blood group antigens. There is nothing like it out there. Great paprerback reference to have for instructors and students in bloodbanking.

This book is a must-have for any CLS specializing in Immunohematology red blood cell serological problem solving. It is well organized by blood group and packed with information about each antigen within each blood group. It also has a chapter filled with charts of different antigen characteristics. It is a great addition to any Transfusion Medicine library, providing a one book location for finding all the facts quickly.

Excellent, practical and easy to read. Blood group antigens have been a confusing topic and few people can present it as well as Dr. Reid.

The book is well organized, gives you all the important facts and the clinical significance of each antigen. Truely a superb gathering of very practical facts. I strongly recommend it to clinicians, residents and medical students. This book has the facts you need for making decisions .

I have found this book to be an extremely good reference over the years for a non-meteorologist; this coming from a biogeochemist - I have used it for years and am now buying it. Another very good reference is Stahl (of course)

This is the most valuable book for any climatologist. It contains the staples of this subject.

Why don't we make this good book even better? I happened to notice that the 2nd equation of A1.2 on page 339 was wrong. Cosine value should always be between -1 and +1. In table A3.1 on page 393, SI unit for the last three columns is also problematic. I think it should be sqaure meter per second multiplied by 10 to -6. Check those out.

I found this book a great read. The information on memory is very interesting, and the exercises are easy, stimulating and effective. Following the program Gediman outlines really works.

I like a challenge and this book is just that. I feel ready to go after my exercise.

It is rare that vitally important information is presented in such a fun,easy, and friendly style. Corinne Gediman's book, Brainfit, is a personal trainer for your brain. Not only will I enjoy making it part of my weekly fitness routine; I'll recommend it to my customers at the bookstore.

After reading many books from Osbert Sitwell and buying first editions where I found them only now I have a perfect idea about who and what the man was. A splendid book which it was oimpossible to close after beginning. Everybody interested in this family and man should begin with this work. It is well written, humorous in a convincing way and perfectly thrustworthy and gives you by the way for the most important books "the critical heritage".I am sure every reader will after finishing this books start buying those which he has not been reading. Splendid.

Francis Frith was a professional photographer in Great Britain (having already made a substantial fortune with a printing company) from about 1860, and the picture postcard company he founded and which was carried on by his sons and grandsons lasted until 1970. But its heyday was the twenty years either side of 1900 -- the high Victorian and Edwardian eras and on through the Great War -- in which every post office and village shop in the country, it seemed, carried his images of local sights for sale to tourists. Frith's photos are still very popular among collectors and local historians, for he and his assistants set out to record every single view of interest in the whole of England. The huge collection of images the company left behind were well on the way to uncaring destruction when a group of collectors were able to get hold of the surviving items -- "merely" 60,000 original glass plates and a quarter-million prints, now the basis of an unparalleled visual museum of the lives, work, and social mores of the English people over several generations. Ziegler has contributed the text for this collection of some 650 historical photos, which are accompanied by several hundred recent photos of the same views by John Cleare. For the student of modern social history, the result is fascinating, especially when a series of photos of, say, a seaside resort captures visitors from the 1890s, 1920s, 1950s, and late 1990s; in some cases, the clothing styles are the only significant change. Ziegler is generally quite able at providing context and historical discussion -- where the hedgerows went, the difference in status between the topper and the bowler. My only real complaint in that regard is that the captions of the photos much too frequently simply repeat a sentence or two from the text on the same page; under proper editorial guidance, this would have been an opportunity to slip in an additional remark or observation without adding to the book's length.

I was delighted by 'Britain Then & Now,' Philip Ziegler's book on the amazing Francis Frith landscape photos of Victorian Britain, most of which have been updated by superb contemporary color landscape photos by John Cleare, or by landscape views taken in the same position several decades apart, say in 1900, 1920 & 1950. I have almost never seen this 'then & now' format used for sites in Britain, though it has been very frequently used for sites here in the United States. The changes to the landscape over so many decades are stunning, often shocking. Discover, for example, what is hidden behind the garish neon signage of Piccadilly Circus !! Not a book which is likely to please defenders of advertising, modernism, or "the ubiquitous motor vehicle," but which will not only please, but delight the rest of us. Architecture is supposed to be "the most public of the Fine Arts," yet one has to wonder how respectfully Britain's marvelous legacy of this artwork has been treated, after reading this volume.

The inspired word of God known as the Holy Scriptures is a blueprint for our Christian lives. It doesn't end there, God continues to inspire Christian writers like Francis Schaffer to help us along our wonderful walk with Christ Jesus.

Recently I had the privaledge to read Broken Cisterns.It's truely an interesting book to read, if you've been there, done that and never could understand why, reading this book can help you mend the broken cistern. You see God will hear and forgive, but we have to forgive ourselves also and the heavenly fathertake hold of us. There's so much to learn from your writing this is only one. I would advise everyone who has the oppertunity to read and dwell on broken cisterns. Looking forward to reading anotherinspirational book given to you from our heavenly father.
A SISTER IN CHRIST

Is the Church today a fountain of living waters full of power or a broken cistern in need of a radical change? Francis Schaffer brings a prophetic call to the Church taken from Jeremiah 2:13. The Church has made the same mistake as ancient Israel by building religious cisterns that have no power. A return to God, the "fountain of living waters"is desperately needed in the Church today! This book will open the blind eyes to see God is calling the Church to a radical change that will bring God's unlimited power forth. This book is a must read!

Buffalo's Best is the ideal resource for not only tourists, but for Buffalo residents as well. The book is a comprehensive, detailed, and painstakingly researched list of things to do and see in Buffalo, New York. Even after living in the city for a number of years, Buffalo's Best still manages to provide me with many new things to do. From nightlife to the arts, Buffalo's Best can accomodate for any preference in entertainment.

Everytime I'm in Bufffalo (and that's often) I bring my copy of Buffalo's Best. Thanks to the book I spent a delightful afternoon at the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum and that's just one of the many unusual places in the Day Trips chapter. As for the dining suggestions, I have not been disappointed. This is a must reference for enjoying all that Buffalo has to offer.

Buffalo's Best is the only guide you'll need to explore or rediscover the finest restaurants, hottest nightspots, and coolest places to spend your time in Buffalo. It is my constant companion when visiting the city, and I've given copies to several appreciative friends who live in and near the area. Great book!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could not put it down. Although the available references for this battle are rather limited (primarily Polybius and Livy) Daly does a masterful job of combing the ancient sources for evidence of what the experience of combat must have been like for the Carthaginians and Romans on that hot day. He uses much of what Victor Hanson has written regarding ancient warfare, John Keegan's analytical framework and considerable thought and insight to weave a "face of battle" picture of the event. The work has great information on the composition and tactics of the armies and a wonderful description of the manipular legion at work. A must read if you are even remotely interested in ancient warfare.

Battle of Cannae was one of the most complete victories ever won over the famed Roman legions by any of her many opponents. Fought during the Second Punic War, Hannibal who won this great tactical victory will be forever be remembered by it. This battle set the standard of what we would regard as a total tactical victory on the battlefield. Gregory Daly's book goes into considerable details on how this event took places, forces and commanders involved and lay-out of the battle, location, formations and conditions. Daly's put considerable effort into his research and what we have here is a very definitive book on the battle of Cannae. Its also helped that I thought Gregory Daly wrote pretty well, nicely paced and clearly written. Anyone with a slightest interest in this time period should buy this book.

A facinating educational read! Thorough details of battle - indepth descriptions of conditions and strategies. Need I say more.

BW CA 90210

As a degree level theatre studies student, this was an invaluable text which gave a welcome insight into the Forced Entertainment theatre phenomenen. Not only does it offer analysis of their working process, it also offers an amusing collection of experiences and feelings that make the book thoroughly readable. A gem.

I use this book throughout the graduate program with MFA and PhD students in theatre and dance. They find in it things that they have been trying to articulate for themselves and are intellectually challenged and enriched as well as given encouragement for trying to express their own ideas about their practices. Has lots of other good things about it. Great combination of theory and practice and accessibility.

Forced Entertainment and Tim Etchells have been for the past decade or so, chewing on the edges of performance and theatre. This book is an excellent collection of texts that open up and demystify the experimental devising process. Etchells writes his theory much in the same way has he creates performance. A must for anyone into the fuzzy gaps between the various performance disciplines

At last a comprehensive view of what a total security program needs to be. So much of the literature on the subject is about technology only that this wholistic approach is a breath of fresh air. It is clearly and simply written and provides an easy to follow roadmap for any security manager to follow in developing an enterprise security program.

The CISO Handbook: A Practical Guide to Securing Your Company lives up to its title as being a practical guide to security. The book is antithetical approach to the products equal security approach, and takes a pragmatic approach to security.

The authors have extensive real-world experience and approach information security from a holistic perspective. They clearly understand what it takes to build an information security program. One of the biggest mistakes in security is that it is seen as plug and play. Buy a security product, install in, and like magic, you have this thing called data security. But that only works in the world of product brochures and marketing material, not in the real world. The book does not approach security from a plug and play perspective, but as an endeavor that requires a multi-year effort to come to fruition.

The five chapters deal with security from its true source, namely that of risk. The chapters are: Assess, Plan, Design, Execute and Report. These five areas encompass all of information security and those firms that have built an information security infrastructure all done it by focusing on these five areas.

The first area, Assess, is all about risk management. Many companies will purchase security products without even knowing what their specific risks are, and have often not performed a comprehensive risk analysis. Without a comprehensive risk analysis, any security product will simply operate in a vacuum. The benefits of a risk assessment and analysis are that they ensure that an organization is worrying about the right things and dealing with real, as opposed to perceived threats. The ultimate outcome of a risk analysis should be to see if the organization can benefit from the security product.

Chapter 1 ends with an assessment checklist of various areas that go into a risk assessment. One of the questions in the checklist that you likely will not see anywhere else is "describe the political climate at your company". Too many security people think only about the technology and neglect the political implications of a security system. Not taking into consideration the politics is a surefire way to potentially doom a project. Similar questions detailed in the checklist will give the reader a good feel for how secure their organization truly is; as opposed to the often perceived view of being much more secure.

Chapter 2 is aptly titled Plan. The planning phase is meant to combine the issues of assessment and to integrate options to mitigate those risks. The way in which a specific security technology or methodology is implemented is dependent on the organization. Rather than using a cookie-cutter approach, effective planning ensures that the security technologies chosen support your security program. Far too many organizations make the mistake of simply buying products without giving enough consideration into the myriad details of how they will be deployed, managed and used.

Chapter 2 emphasizes the need for planning, and the book as a whole emphasizes the need for the use of a methodology when dealing with information security. For many security technologies, the challenges of are not so much with the technology, but rather with ensuring that the technology meets business requirements, is scalable and reliable, etc.

Building a comprehensive information security program is likely to be more complex than previous experience of typical IT projects. As well as project management, technical and operational aspects, there are many policy, legal and security issues which must be taken into consideration. By following a structured methodology based on practical experience, many of the potential traps and pitfalls can be avoided. The risks to the business and the project are reduced and those that remain are quantified at an early stage.

The planning checklist at the end of chapter 2 will helps by ensuring that the solutions identified are deployed in the context of a well designed information security program. It can also be used as a wake-up call to management that often seriously underestimates the amount of time and manpower required to create an effective information security program.

One of the added benefits of planning is that it makes it much easier to integrate new regulatory requirements into the security program. A well-planned network can retrofit new requirements much more quickly and efficiently. This is a critical need given the increasing amount of new regulations that will come into play in the coming years, in addition to current regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and much more.

Chapters 3, 4 and 5 progress in a similar manner with the topics of Design, Execute, and Report. Each chapter details the essentials of the topic and shows how it is critical to the efficacy of an successful information security program.

What the reader may find missing from the book is particulars of the various security technologies. But that is the very function of the book, to show that information security is not primarily about the products, rather the underlying infrastructure on which those products reside on. Any product that is not deployed in a methodology similar to that of The CISO Handbook is likely to find itself lacking. The product might be there and hum along; but the security that it provides will likely be negligible.

The uniqueness of The CISO Handbook is that is shows how to design and implement an effective security program based on real world scenarios, as opposed to product reviews and vendor evaluations.

The CISO Handbook: A Practical Guide to Securing Your Company is indeed a most practical guide, as its title suggests. It is quite helpful to anyone in a security organization, whether they are the CISO, system administrator, or in a different capacity. The CISO Handbook: A Practical Guide to Securing Your Company lives up to its title as being a practical guide to security. The book is antithetical approach to the products equal security approach, and takes a pragmatic approach to security.

The authors have extensive real-world experience and approach information security from a holistic perspective. They clearly understand what it takes to build an information security program. One of the biggest mistakes in security is that it is seen as plug and play. Buy a security product, install in, and like magic, you have this thing called data security. But that only works in the world of product brochures and marketing material, not in the real world. The book does not approach security from a plug and play perspective, but as an endeavor that requires a multi-year effort to come to fruition.

The five chapters deal with security from its true source, namely that of risk. The chapters are: Assess, Plan, Design, Execute and Report. These five areas encompass all of information security and those firms that have built an information security infrastructure all done it by focusing on these five areas.

The first area, Access, is all about risk management. Many companies will purchase security products without even knowing what their specific risks are, and have often not performed a comprehensive risk analysis. Without a comprehensive risk analysis, any security product will simply operate in a vacuum. The benefits of a risk assessment and analysis are that they ensure that an organization is worrying about the right things and dealing with real, as opposed to perceived threats. The ultimate outcome of a risk analysis should be to see if the organization can benefit from the security product.

Chapter 1 ends with an assessment checklist of various areas that go into a risk assessment. One of the questions in the checklist that you likely will not see anywhere else is "describe the political climate at your company". Too many security people think only about the technology and neglect the political implications of a security system. Not taking into consideration the politics is a surefire way to potentially doom a project. Similar questions detailed in the checklist will give the reader a good feel for how secure their organization truly is; as opposed to the often perceived view of being much more secure.

Chapter 2 is aptly titled Plan. The planning phase is meant to combine the issues of assessment and to integrate options to mitigate those risks. The way in which a specific security technology or methodology is implemented is dependent on the organization. Rather than using a cookie-cutter approach, effective planning ensures that the security technologies chosen support your security program. Far too many organizations make the mistake of simply buying products without giving enough consideration into the myriad details of how they will be deployed, managed and used.

Chapter 2 emphasizes the need for planning, and the book as a whole emphasizes the need for the use of a methodology when dealing with information security. For many security technologies, the challenges of are not so much with the technology, but rather with ensuring that the technology meets business requirements, is scalable and reliable, etc.

Building a comprehensive information security program is likely to be more complex than previous experience of typical IT projects. As well as project management, technical and operational aspects, there are many policy, legal and security issues which must be taken into consideration. By following a structured methodology based on practical experience, many of the potential traps and pitfalls can be avoided. The risks to the business and the project are reduced and those that remain are quantified at an early stage.

The planning checklist at the end of chapter 2 will helps by ensuring that the solutions identified are deployed in the context of a well designed information security program. It can also be used as a wake-up call to management that often seriously underestimates the amount of time and manpower required to create an effective information security program.

One of the added benefits of planning is that it makes it much easier to integrate new regulatory requirements into the security program. A well-planned network can retrofit new requirements much more quickly and efficiently. This is a critical need given the increasing amount of new regulations that will come into play in the coming years, in addition to current regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and much more.

Chapters 3, 4 and 5 progress in a similar manner with the topics of Design, Execute, and Report. Each chapter details the essentials of the topic and shows how it is critical to the efficacy of an successful information security program.

What the reader may find missing from the book is particulars of the various security technologies. But that is the very function of the book, to show that information security is not primarily about the products, rather the underlying infrastructure on which those products reside on. Any product that is not deployed in a methodology similar to that of The CISO Handbook is likely to find itself lacking. The product might be there and hum along; but the security that it provides will likely be negligible.

The uniqueness of The CISO Handbook is that is shows how to design and implement an effective security program based on real world scenarios, as opposed to product reviews and vendor evaluations.

The CISO Handbook: A Practical Guide to Securing Your Company is indeed a most practical guide, as its title suggests. It is quite helpful to anyone in a security organization, whether they are the CISO, system administrator, or in a different capacity.

This is a well-written practical guide to building and delivering an information security improvement programme. Presenting sage advice in a consistent manner, the book is a helpful primer for the person tasked by management with `fixing information security'.

The book is written by and for those in the front line, not in ivory towers. The three authors each have CISSP and other information security qualifications plus 10 to 20 years' work experience in information security management, meaning that their advice holds weight. They all combine hands-on with management and/or consulting expertise, meaning that they view information security in a business context.

The primary focus of the book is to guide, advise, encourage and support Chief Information Security Officers (or equivalents) working on their information security improvement programmes. It's a bit like having a personal trainer at the gym: the trainer points out the aims of the training and suggests how to the trainee might improve his technique, but the trainee must interpret the advice, internalize it and of course put in the hard work to improve.

The book generally avoids making specific recommendations for particular information security controls. The reader is expected to be able to figure out for himself (perhaps using some of the techniques and checklists presented) what the security improvement projects will actually achieve. Instead, it emphasizes the programme management aspects. This approach is more broadly applicable since each organization's information security needs differ. There are numerous other books and standards describing best practice security controls, but few address the overall planning.

The overall flow of the book follows the suggested lifecycle of an information security implementation or improvement project:
Assess - identify the drivers or needs for security improvement (e.g. risks, legal obligations) and the constraints
Plan - obtain management support for the programme, prepare an improvement strategy and build your team
Design - prepare information security policies, conduct a gap analysis and prepare a portfolio of projects
Execute - numerous suggestions to help manage the improvement projects successfully
Report - management reporting.

Each chapter contains a consistent structure with an introduction, some theoretical framing, the `guts' and a conclusion which links to the next chapter. The `guts' reflect the authors' practical approach, offering pragmatic and helpful guidance to the newly appointed or would-be CISO.

The writing is clear and straightforward, with key messages consistently presented and reinforced throughout the book. There are useful checklists, tables and process flows embedded in the text although some of the block diagrams seem rather too high-level and pointless (that's just my personal opinion).

I am currently working with a client to initiate a large information security improvement programme and so enjoyed reading this book cover-to-cover in a few sittings. It was gratifying to find that we are already following the recommended approach with few if any exceptions, and there's nothing substantial we would quarrel about. Better still, I am glad to have picked up some good tips and look forward to thumbing through this book every month for the next year or so. If you are a CISO, I commend this book to you.