Hoffman Books

S. E. Schlosser has put together another book of great folklore stories. For those who like history there are three stories about real people, George Washington, Ben Franklin and Edgar Allen Poe. For those who like truly scary stories there are Axe Murder Hollow and Bloody Mary. Overall the book captures Pennsylvania's folklore in a compelling manner. Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Lancaster County are some of the settings for these folk tales. There are stories about coal mines, steel mills and many other features that make Pennsylvania unique. I highly recommend this book, it's a great read.

Great company providing the book. This was a replacement for my son's lost school book. My faster, easier, and way cheaper than going through the school.

Excellent history of the St. Petersburg's Maritime service Training Station. Highly recommend.

What jumps out at you about this book is the subtitle.
It reaaly is THAT Peter.
The message that Simon the Peter is giving here is one of elegant simplicity. This is a quality I've always felt has rung true to me in my spiritual journey. There is nothing here to cause alarm to any who seek a path to peace and understanding.
Of course, along with the life lessons offered is a chance to look into some of the greatest events in history. As told by one of the principal players. From the Life of Jesus thru the Death and Ressurection, Simon the Peter is there. This is some very poingant reading. Topics explored also include Masada, Indigo and Crystal Children and the Lemurians.
What I really liked about this book is the way you are taken into the channeling itself. When I look at the sheer volume of this text I'm impressed that it was compiled in one 90 day stretch. Unlike most of the works I've read of the words of the Michael entity or the Seth entity,this book does not edit out the - shall we say - small talk?
We get to learn of Simon's real appreciation of the channel and the recorder (and question asker)of these words. as aresult the reader feels like he's on the journey in real time.
All in all a fascinating book. With more to come according to the end note.

This book has enormous value for its exploration of the importance of tea time to the lives of women, particularly with reference to Victorian social etiquette. It is an interesting read. Also featured are afternoon tea recipes from the Victorian period and contemporary offerings. I especially enjoyed the poppy seed cake! It apparently was one of several firm cakes which were very popular at Victorian drawing room tea parties. The book would be of benefit to anyone interested or involved in the tea room business. I would also recommend this book to anyone who likes tea and baking, but its real importance lies in the historical account it gives of the institution. It would, I am sure, be a valuable resource for scholars of social history.

As a child, this was my favorite book. I used to have my mom read it to me all the time and once I stared reading I read it to her. I was so grateful that I was able to find a copy, since mine was lost in a move.

If you design steel members and connections this book is an absolute necessity. It contains the standard AISC member properties, as well as standard specifications for connections. Most importantly, Vol I includes the complete LRFD design specification(s) (1993) along with 500 pages of detailed notes carefully explaining each section of the LRFD design method. I found the notes and design examples very useful, thorough and easy to follow in actual practice. AISC of course provides the same extensive design charts that were used in ASD, as well as expanded appendices for design practice and commentary for this "new" method. The only drawback is the typical supplement of errata for this printing.

This is a cute story, appropriate for a first grader, or as the book says, 4-7 year-olds. This tale introduces you to Sue who just absolutely loves blue. Just about everything in Sue's life has to be blue! Her parents find a solution to this "blue-madness" of Sue's which is really cute. I won't give away the ending as you will have to read the book to find out what Sue does!

I found the illustrations to be quite charming. My second grader spent alot of time looking at each page and really getting into the illustrations, which I think, made the story complete!

This book will bring giggles from your child and as a Start to Read book, your first grader should not have any difficulty with the words, thus boosting their reading confidence!

If your child has a favorite color obsession, this book is perfect!

The authors take a look at how financial systems develop, frequently under the spur of financial crisis. Their arguments are supported by many interesting historical examples. The book begins with a look at how crises develop, from government predation and/or asymmetrical information (the seller knowing more than the buyer for example). It then reviews how different political systems respond to crises.
They also show that a well functioning financial system requires the right level of government (enough debt to get a bond market started, but not so much as to encourage the politicians to steal to pay it off, as in Argentina), a large enough middle class to provide a market for financial products and to discourage too much theft by government (the poor have no assets, the rich can afford to set up their own financial programs), and how the costs of information tie this together. The book ends with a look at some current situations, particularly microcredit and the looming problems of pensions and health care for a rapidly aging world with a static or declining population.
Their analysis is more theoretical than Kindleberger's 'Manias, Panics, and Crashes' and is focused on the structure of financial systems and how crises change them (not on panics per se).
Their discussion on pensions theorizes that privatization can not work, but doesn't discuss current private pension programs (in Chile for example). And the discussion of the role of asymmetric information mostly ignores the role of public manias. The authors used Enron as an example as an example of asymmetric information (since management's financial reports clearly did not reflect reality) but a look at the published 2000 Annual Report shows that in 2000 Enron was only marginally profitable, with a return on average equity of 8.6 % and a return on assets of 1.8 %. Operating earnings for 1998, 1999, and 2000 were 4.4 %, 3.1 %, and 1.9 % of sales. Yet the high price for the stock was over 4 times book value and 40 times earnings. Clearly a combination of ignorance and insanity was involved (the ignorance extended to the media; Fortune magazine proclaimed Enron as 'the most innovative company in the world' without wondering how anybody so wonderful had such a lousy return on investment).
Overall an very interesting and valuable look at financial systems, and how they develop and change within a country.

When I was in high school in Samoa we would often hang out at the Rainmaker Hotel's pool after school ended every day. The hotel pool was the place to be, and the fact that you couldn't swim there unless you were a guest, or a "member" of the pool (which cost a few bucks a month, which of course none of us could pay). One of our pals worked in the dive shop poolside, which of course enabled us to hang out there whenever we wanted. One day, we were loafing as usual when one of us noticed a fortyish American woman, quite attractive, sunning herself and talking to a young boy, who we discovered was her son.

She looked so familiar! One of us finally figured out, "Hey, she's on TV...an actress!" The kid confirmed this for us. "Yeah, my mom is on lots of TV shows," he said matter-of-factly. "My dad is a movie star." The boy's name was Christian Peppard (son of George "Hannibal" Peppard of "A-Team," and famed Hollywood actor ("Barefoot in the Park,' "Blue Max," etc)...and his mom, the woman we were staring at, was the famed stage and TV actress Elizabeth Ashley.

So what does this have to do with the book? Turns out that Elizabeth and her son were visiting Samoa and accompanying the political writer Nick Von Hoffman, and "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau. This little gang of mainland luminaries were involved in a "research" project, looking into life in the last of the American colonies, none other than our own American Samoa, for a projected book to be published back in what von Hoffman called "The Nifty Fifty."

Nick's book is an interesting glimpse into daily life in America's Outback, circa 1975. It's not a pretty picture. And, even though the Feds have pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the island economy, the place is still an economic wasteland. There are a few bright spots in more recent years, with the opening of mainland style retail businesses (and the inevitable invasion of McD's and KFC).

Excerpts of this book originally ran in Rolling Stone (I kept the issues for years before they finally disintegrated), and it was several years later, after I had left the islands for college on the mainland, that I finally found a copy of this book. I still have it, and thumbing through it, it's interesting to note how much life in Samoa has changed...and how a lot of it hasn't.