Research Books

Terry's book gives great insight into the Hispanic market - it's a must read for anyone who wants to learn more about developing a plan of action on reaching this lucrative market. I recently purchased several books on this topic, and this one was the first one I read. After doing so, I felt like I didn't have to read any more. She certainly points you in the right direction, and gives you a litany of things to think about.

Ms Soto does an excellent job of integrating her obviously extensive knowlege of and experience in hispanic marketing with a vital strategic framework. This book provides both the novice and the experienced a valuable opportunity to formulate and critique their own efforts and interests. This approach allows them to proceed from a solid footing rather than merely on the basis of the latest marketing fad.

The Hispanic market is the fastest growing ethnic segment of the U.S. population. Its purchasing power is projected to enter the trillions by 2007. Many American businesses are hungry to capture a piece of this exciting, lucrative market. Multicultural strategist Terry J. Soto provides a thorough account of the strategic planning process companies need to employ to understand and attract Hispanic consumers. She cautions that your strategy for marketing to Hispanics must be in sync with your overall business objectives. Soto explains how to conduct demographic and market research, analyze the competition and deploy your internal resources to reach this market. She also tells you how to muster the reports, tables and statistics you need to persuade corporate higher-ups that it is all worthwhile - although the complete marketing re-tooling she suggests may be over the top for many companies. She also favors marketing jargon, but if that is the language you speak every day, you'll sail right along. Soto doesn't focus on the creative aspects of marketing to Hispanics, but if you want a rundown on all the technical aspects, we recommend this complete manual.

Terry Soto's book is a no-nonsense, step-by-step approach for penetrating the Hispanic market. I have been attempting to target the Spanish-speaking market for my company for several years. I'm even learning Spanish to help me. But nothing has helped me understand and reach the Hispanic market more than this book. Be sure to have your highlighter and a notebook ready when you read this work of art by Terry Soto. Each chapter is filled with resources and tools that you will need to reach the Latino market.

Terry Soto also did an awesome job at educating the reader and helping the reader understand the history, culture, and ethnic components of the Hispanic market.

Very easy and fun reading. Hits all the right points that relate to project management. Examples are good, lots of creative ideas that I wasn't aware of and good reference to other books and material.

I would have liked to see more content on systems thinking and how they are applied in real life. Other than that, it is very un-common for me to read a book end to end. I enjoyed - and learned.

This is a excellent overview for General Management, Stakeholders, PMs and PM Team Members to used not only as an overview of Project Management, but as an advance guidance in the planning, scheduling and controlling methodology. Mr. Lewis's approach to Systems Thinking vice the linear thinking is well addressed. The Chapter on Managing Quality in Projects is excellent and stresses planning, customer needs, rework, and cost should be reviewed at all levels of the Enterprise from General Management to individuals striving to complete a project. I will place this book next to my copy his book, "The Project Manager's Desk Reference."

I found this bookto be a very useful source of information associated with Project Managment. Lewis's ideas associated with Innovation in projects is very helpful in the R+D project world.

I found this to be a good high level view of the PM discipline, its concepts, and processes. The section on Risk Management provided a good overview. All chapters are "overview" level, but the book has a good reference section for further reading. I'd refer readers to Lewis' The Project Managers Desk Reference" for more detailed reading. I do find I refer to this book and am glad I added it to my library.

This book is packed with current and useful information about GE foods, farming practices, life patents issues, and the impacts of GE food on our environment. It is an excellent manual for anyone wanting control of their food, or simply to better understand what all the contraversy about GE foods.. It is short & easy to read. There are many interesting quotes from scientists & industry spokes people. The best part of this book is a comprehensive RESOURCE section. Showing points of contact in the US, other international organizations, magazines, journals, email information services, and websites, for GE information. Anyone who wants to start doing something about this important issue needs to start here. The book is full of excellent references supporting the arguments. Also a worthwhile list of recommended readings. Buy it & share that resource information with everyone you know. Can not over emphasize the usefulness of this book.

Here in North America the public generally hears very little about debates surrounding around GE foods, this 1999 book from a UK author is a quick read, easy to understand overview of GE food issues. It is strictly food & agriculture covered here, human GE areas are not touched on. Besides discussing safety & nutrition concerns, chapters cover such topics as control of farming & environmental pollution, patenting genes with a brief history of what's already taken place over the last 15 years, and how the world trade organization is used to force countries to accept these products or to outlaw product labeling. There is a chapter on 2 journalists in Florida who got into a lot of trouble with Monsanto for attempting to run a television series on a hormone injected into cows to increase milk production.

Some of the information in this book is quite shocking. The sheer amount of money Monsanto has used to bribe and "settle out of court" tells me there's got to be something very wrong in what they're doing. I enjoyed the "follow the money" advice this book offers - if an "expert" is saying there's no harm at all any of this try to find out who's paying the salary or funding the grant. This quote from pg. 106 is unforgettable, "We paid $3 billion for these television stations. We will decide what the news is......"

Lots of information packed into a small book, also a guide to organizations and further information.

Mr. Anderson succeeds admirably in eliciting shock and outrage in the reader with his clear, succinct, and fluid prose on the visible and invisible dangers of agricultural biotechnology. Modern day manipulation of the food chain and the ecosystems that provide humanity with its food (and other valuable services) has the potential to irreversibly affect both human beings and the environment. While the scientific and industrial cognoscenti exchange increasingly friendly repartee genetically modified foods, and governments turn a blind eye to `scientific progress', Mr. Anderson is right when he says that the human is being unwillingly and unwittingly subjected to an experiment whose long-term effects are difficult to assess.

Written shortly before scientists began to seriously question the effects of even minute quantities of hormone disrupting and cancer-causing, mutagenic chemicals and the potential effects of errant DNA in the greater environment, and shortly after genetically modified crops had been shown to sterilize insects and willy-nilly cross-pollinate with plants of the same species located either nearby or a great distance away, this handy little book introduces a considerable amount of information on genetic engineering and its dubious successes to readers who are not well versed in the sciences. In seven highly fluid and readable chapters, the book addresses a plethora of ethical, economic and technological issues associated with genetic engineering and agricultural biotechnology. The first chapter lucidly explains many of the key concepts underpinning genetic engineering as it applies to agriculture, and introduces most of the very real specters to health and the environment that the technology not only has caused, but also can and ultimately may cause in the future. The author devotes one chapter each to the thorny issues of genetic engineering and its effects on the environment, the way that agricultural biotechnology portents to and actually is transforming farming globally for the worse, and the attempts of individuals, universities and corporations, with all the zeal characteristic of a gold rush mentality, to patent every snippet of DNA they can get their hands on. Readers may find the book's fifth chapter to be truly shocking, as it describes in vivid detail the apparent disinterest of governments in industrialized nations to safeguard the best interests of its citizens- especially in the area of public health, from the bitter fruit of agricultural biotechnology. Chapter six presents a detailed case study of one particular biological abomination- the superfluous use of increasing amounts of biotech hormones to increase milk production, even in the face of persistent gluts year after year. The seventh and final details efforts by many groups to resist the onslaught of the adoption of such biotechnologies, and offers insight into the ways the poor in Third World countries are used as dupes and guinea pigs for these less than optimal technologies. The author also includes a detailed list of resources that concerned readers can tap into in their efforts to learn more or to protect themselves from most, but not all, of the spurious products of agricultural biotechnology.

In reading this book, one gets the feeling that the author wants us to share in his concern about the lingering effects of these overly hyped technologies of dubious merit. While the author clearly did his best to choose many of genetic engineering's most egregious examples, readers of this text should bear in mind that these examples merely represent the tip of the iceberg. As a scientist and engineer, it is hard for me come up with a suitable justification for many of the fruits of ag biotech, given that farmers in the industrialized countries are plagued with the onerous problem of oversupply. Furthermore, with slight modifications to current agricultural practices, and a shifting of inputs and plant resources, every single person on the planet could easily be fed, so the excuse of biotechnology feeding the world's hungry does not quite wash either. Basically, I find the motives of big biotech companies to be less than altruistic: if the biotech corporation controls the seeds and the larger food supply, then they control the people dependent upon them.

In this day and age of financial skullduggery and scientific chicanery, astute citizens must actively behoove themselves to exercise caution and awareness at all times. As Huff told us in his classic little book, How to Lie with Statistics, if the honest person wants to prevent oneself from being burglarized, then it pays to learn the ways of the criminally minded. As such, this book's disclosure of the aggressive foisting of these dubious scientific advances on an unsuspecting public by an unscrupulous gaggle of corporate, academic and government interests clearly demonstrates a most disturbing and peculiar case of criminal intent of the highest degree.

"Genetic Engineering, Food, & Our Environment" is crisply written, keenly argued, tightly and extensively researched. It presents a wealth of facts and possibilities, both an extremely disturbing side in and around the genetic engineering industry, and some encouraging information on potentially sustainable alternatives.

An excellent study for anyone considering GE-related issues, it makes a key handbook for the campaigner. It is a resource one can variously refer to in connection with environmental and other concerns, third world development possibilities, and underpinning issues in the background of global politics.

Luke Anderson's book entirely deserves the wide readership and serious attention gained by Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring." Carson's book detailed impacts and threats of industrial chemicals in use forty years ago; Anderson's is an effective sequel, an update on the state of play today. Depressing how some of the villains in the story are the same - or rather, grander and more dangerous. Inspiring how voices will yet courageously emerge like those of Carson and Anderson, with the wits and the research base to point to the toxins dribbling down the Emperor's new clothes (or carcass) and explain where they came from.

Altogether a thoroughly useful, troubling and galvanising kind of book. If you haven't got it, get it.

This is a pretty good field guide. There is a lot of information on alot of species. I wish there were pictures of every species, but in many cases the descriptions are good enough.

I would recommend this book as a companion to "A Field Guide to Atlantic Coast Fishes : North America (Peterson Field Guides)"

This book is very useful in every facet of salt water fishing, from fish physiology and habits to tackle selection. A must for every salt water fisherman.

This book is equally as good as "McClane's Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America."

This book has been a constant companion on nearly all of my fishing trips, regardless of location. I am currently on my second copy- the first was worn out from repeated use ! When a question arises about habitat,water preference, etc., we whip out the ole' McClanes to settle the argument.The pictures offer a true rendition of the fish which aides in rapid identification.The descriptions give vital information, while remaining brief enough to allow the book to function as a true "field" guide.I highly recommend this book to any angler or saltwater fish enthusiasts in need of a pocket guide.

McClane's saltwater fish identification guide is a must for every angler -- sunburned beginner or salty old pro -- who casts a line into our bays and oceans. The most outstanding among this guide's many strengths are its clear, concise writing in the description of each fish, and the strikingly life-like, full-color artistic renditions of most of the fish. The fish are organized by family; so where there are related species on the Atlantic and Pacific sides (e.g., among sea bass), the book does jump somewhat to and fro. However, with its thorough index and vivid illustrations, any saltwater angler should be able to locate that "mystery fish" in McClane's within less than a minute. This book accompanied me on every fishing trip in my years of angling in South Florida and the Keys; and many an unknown fish was revealed through McClane's pages. With this book, the difference between sheepshead and spadefish (for example) is obvious -- in feeding habits, location, water preferences and any characteristic of appearance. Whether you catch a Spanish mackeral, ladyfish, jack crevalle or even the ugly (but tasty!) guitarfish, McClanes can teach you all the important information about it, quickly. It's the perfect size for the tacklebox; but be sure to put it in a freezer bag to keep it dry.

The Occult Anatomy of Man, Melchizedek and the Mystery of Fire and Spiritual Centers in Man are three books that I highly recommend for any serious student of the occult. I have Spritual Centers in Man under its original title, An Essay on the Fundamental Principles of Operative Occultism....it is pretty much the same book. It talks about the various spiritual centers but what I like about it most is the beginning subject matter which is the requirements of the occult student and what he or her should expect on the path of Occult Studies. The Occult Anatomy of Man explains how man is a microcosm of the universe and Melchizedek relates Biblical symbology to the various parts of the physical and spiritual bodies. Kundalini, chakras and the various bodies of man are covered in all three books. I recommend them all.

For such a small booklet, it has a lot of information that you need to process. There are just so many things that are all connected to make ONE, being who you are and how things work, it truly is amazing.

This is a great book! Don't be mislead by the diminutive size of this volume, only fifty-four pages. The book is packed with more than enough ideas to ponder in just one sitting. The title is somewhat misleading, only a small portion of the book deals with Melchizedek. The mystery of fire and its meaning to mankind is the actual theme of the book. The author attempts to provide his readers a method to discover the origins of man, who he is, and his true place in the universe. Hall describes how man's body is a living temple, and man a high priest serving at the initiation and rituals occuring in the vaious chambers and passageways of the human body. Lurking just beneath the surface of the world's greatest classical literature from ancient times is the collective esoteric knowledge of the human race. It isn't free. It must be worked for. Read and re-read and ponder to discover the essence of the writer's thoughts burried beneath symbolism and allegory. The possession of the occult keys to human salvation through knowledge of self is the goal for which the wise men of all ages have labored. It was the hope of possession of these ancient formulae that strengthened the candidates who struggled valiantly through the danger and disappointments of the ancient initiations. Sometimes, actually, giving their lives in their quest for the truth. It is unlawful to reveal to the uninitiated the key links to the chain of mysteries. It is possible, however, without breech of confidence, to explain certain of the lesser secrets which will vindicate the intergrity of the older hierophants, but also reveal part of the mystery of man's divine nature. This book should be appreciated by Freemasons!

Don't pay attention to the "rubbish" review. Buy this book! People like this should not be reading any of the Mystical books! To a person who is NOT READY all is rubbish. This is why the first Tarot key is called "The Fool". Because to a "normal" person anyone with knowledge of the Mysteries is a Fool! This is why we have the gargoyles, sphinx, and "monsters" outside mystery schools! To frighten the weak of mind away! I have been a Rosicrucian (BOTA, AMORC) for 28 years and a Mason for one. I am also a Computer Scientist. I can tell you that Hall's other book "The Secret Teachings of all Ages" is the ONE most popular book with all students of the Path. Yes, all Mystery Schools (Hermetic, Alchemy, etc.) and the Freemasons work on the transformation of Man. They are the "Builders of the Adytum" (Temple (body)). This should not be too hard to understand to a "normal" person after all we have the example of the Buddha, Jesus, etc. They transformed themselves (Cosmic Consciousness, Christ Consciousness) to "Sons of God". After all, we are ALL "Sons of God" because there is nothing in this Universe (and HE that forms it) OUTSIDE of HIM! Think about it...

I bought this book because it was required for my microbiology lab. I hated this class to begin with but by then end i LOVED IT! The book is so helpful and easy to learn from. I would reccommend it to anyone.

This book arrived in excellent condition within the specified time. It was a brand new book and was exactly as advertised.

This book is very clear and straight-forward. If you read the text ahead of time, you will clearly understand the procedures and theoretical context for your lab class. It clearly is a beginner's manual, though, so it does not go terribly in depth into the molecular biochemistry of the experiments, which for many people will be a good thing, but not for those who want to learn everything about everything.

I was very please. Service was fast, price awedsome,and merchandise in perfect shape. I will keep buying from you guys!

I can only congradulate Dr. Valerie Malhotra and her co-author for this original work which brings back the role of the researcher as a theory builder rather then just a data collector. Most importantly, the reference includes other world-views which extends beyond the Western civilization. It may be another contribution if the book inludes other civilizations as well.

This book puts the "so what" back into research texts! It is a wonderful, thoughtful, realistic and provocative description of how research is not only a technique but an approach to life. I used many of the excellent suggestions to explore my own thoughts and to develop new insights into research methodologies and philosophies. I can't remember the last scholarly book I sat down and read for an entire weekend cover to cover!

Ph.D. candidate, Human Development, Fielding Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, March 18, 1999.

Mindful Inquiry in Social Research is a scholarly and poetic volume on how to bring mindfulness into one's work and life. Even though I have read other research texts, "I didn't know what I didn't know." However, with Valerie Bentz and Jeremy Shapiro's extraordinary and unique approach, I am for the first time, on my way to developing the research capability that I sought from my doctoral studies. Like reading a suspense novel where time seems to melt away, I lost my sense of time while immersed in the beauty and clarity of Mindful Inquiry. Bentz and Shapiro, literally come alive through their personal writing styles. The text is all at once philosophical, personal, and theoretical. It is not a minor accomplishment for a research text to read poetically. If you have scholarly interests that are directed at the discovery of the cause and the meaning of things, this book may well be the only guide (certainly a necessary one) you will need for your quest. And should you really want to kick start your own research, begin by reading the inspirational magic formulae in their concluding chapter.

This book is a must for all "inquiring minds." That is, while the authors announce it as a book for researchers, it is really for anyone whose work entails creating understanding or knowledge. Leaders and organizational consultants must be constantly building on and changing their mental models of the organizational world and its inhabitants. Psychotherapists must do the same for their clients' worlds. Looking at this challenge through the combination of phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory, and Buddhism will deepen and enrich one's sense of meaning in the work of leading, consulting, and therapy. I will never look at a client's situation quite the same way again! So, while this is an excellent text for researchers, I would highly recommend it to all those who must understand human systems deeply.

From what i have read Grey is a very intelligent writer who really has some great nuggets of information but i wish more of his material was original instead of expanding on other's writings so often.

This is an outstanding contribution to strategic studies, a comprehensive placing of virtually all theorists and historians of war and strategy, and hugely thought-provoking. Yet Gray never forgets that practice is primary, noting the `authority of practice over theory'.

He uses Clausewitz's method, defining strategy as `the use that is made of force and the threat of force for the ends of policy': it is about objectives, effects. The nature and function of strategy and war are unchanging, though their characters change constantly. "Every war is both unique yet also similar to other wars." Strategy is in every conflict everywhere.

Tactics, by contrast, is the use of instruments of power in action. Strategy proposes; tactics dispose. "War is not `about' economics, morality, or fighting. Instead, it is about politics."

Strategy's dimension are politics, ethics, military preparations, people, technology, time, war proper. Technological changes alter the character not the nature of war: "Technology is important, but in war and strategy people matter most."

Gray analyses strategy's components, its various environments, land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace. Seapower, airpower and spacepower function strategically as enabling factors: a war's outcome may be decided by action at sea, in the air or in space, but all conflicts have to be finally resolved on land, where people are.

He illuminates wars from the Punic to the Boer, but focuses mainly on the 20th century's excessive amount of war experience: wars between empires, still all too possible, and wars against nations, opposed by wars for national liberation and independence. He writes, "how truly heroic is Mao's message of eventual success through the conduct of protracted revolutionary warfare." Success can mean just stopping the enemy from winning.

We can check the quality of his approach by assessing the strategic conclusions it generates, despite his overmuch reliance on histories emanating from State Department and Foreign Office. He shows that bombing Germany before defeating the Luftwaffe was a costly error. He proves that the atomic bomb did not defeat Japan in 1945; Japan was already defeated. He praises the Soviet Union's prudent and successful practice of nuclear deterrence.

This book is not light reading. A good background in 20th Century military history as well as Clausewitz is necessary to get the most from this very impressive work. So why bother? What are the uses of Neo-Clausewitzian Strategic Thought?

In the post 9-11 world there is no better way in my opinion to understand the Al Qaida threat. Professor Gray published this work in 1999, but his views and methodology remain as important as ever.

The reason for this is that the grammar of war changes (the ways we fight it, the increasingly complex "elements"), while the nature of war remains the same. Politics and political goals have always been the core reasons for the violent struggle of wills between polities which we call war. That was true in ancient times and remains true today.

Following Clausewitz and Gray I think one could make a very convincing case that Al Qaida is waging war in three forms simultaneously-- guerrilla war, terrorist war and revolutionary war which all put heavy emphasis on the political. With this in mind our MAIN weapon against Al Qaida should be our foreign (political) policy, not an emphasis on high-tech, military responses against obscure targets, the resulting "colateral" destruction only hurting our political policy and playing to the goals of our enemies. Such are the nuances of Clausewitzian strategic thought, far from the "war-as-ideal Mahdi of Mass" strawman usually portrayed by the great strategic theorist's detractors.

Of interest also are Gray's appreciation of the contributions of John R. Boyd, his untangling of the confusion surrounding the term "Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), and his comments on the little known (or understood) impact of the Second Smuts Report of 1917.

In all this book is a great work in strategic thought of high intellectual merit. Of interest also is a recent article in the Spring issue of Parameters by Gray on Asymmetrical Warfare.

Edit of 23 Feb 08 to add links. This book remains priceless & relevant.

First published in 1999, this is an original tour d-horizon that is essential to any discussion of the theory and practice of conflict in the 21st Century, to include all those discussions of the alleged Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), the need for "defense transformation", and the changing nature of civil-military relations.

I am much impressed by this book and the decades of thinking that have gone into it, and will outline below a few of its many signal contributions to the rather important questions of how one must devise and manage national power in an increasingly complex world.

First, the author is quite clear on the point that technology does not a revolution make-nor can technology dominate a national strategy. If anything-and he cites Luttwak, among others, with great regard-an excessive emphasis on technology will be very expensive, susceptible to asymmetric attack, and subversive of other elements of the national strategy that must be managed in harmony. People matter most.

Second, and this is the point that hit me hardest, it is clear that security strategy requires a holistic approach and the rather renaissance capability of managing a multiplicity of capabilities-diplomatic, economic, cultural, military, psychological, information-in a balanced manner and under the over-arching umbrella of a strategy.

Third, and consistent with the second, "war proper" is not exclusively about force of arms, but rather about achieving the national political objective by imposing one's will on another. Those that would skew their net assessments and force structure capabilities toward "real war" writ in their conventional terms are demeaning Clausewitz rather than honoring him.

Fourth, as I contemplate in this and other readings how best to achieve lasting peace and prosperity, I see implicit in all that the author puts forward, but especially in a quote from Donald Kegan, the raw fact that it is not enough for America to have a preponderance of the traditional military and economic power in the world-we must also accept the burden and responsibility of preserving the peace and responding to the complex emergencies around the globe that must inevitably undermine our stability and prosperity at home.

Fifth, it is noteworthy that of all the dimensions of strategy that are brought forward, one-time-is unique for being unimprovable. Use it or lose it. Time is a strategic dimension too little understood and consequently too little valued by Americans in particular and the Western alliance in general.

Sixth, it merits comment that the author, perhaps the greatest authority on Clausewitz in this era, clarifies the fact that the "trinity" is less about people, government, and an army, than about primordial violence, hatred, and enmity (the people); chance and probability on the battlefield, most akin to a game of cards (the army); and instrumental rationality (the government)-and that these are not fixed isolated elements, but interpenetrate one another and interact in changing ways over time and space.

Seventh, the author devotes an entire chapter to "Strategic Culture as Context" and this is most helpful, particularly in so far as it brings forward the weakness of the American strategic culture, notably a pre-disposition to isolationism and to technical solutions in the abstract. Perhaps more importantly, a good strategic culture with inferior weapons can defeat a weak strategic culture with an abundance of technology and economic power.

Eighth, and finally, the author courageously takes on the issue of small wars and other savage violence, seeking to demonstrate that grand strategy applies equally well to the savage criminal and warlord parasites that Ralph Peters has noted are not susceptible to our traditional legal and military conventions. While he does not succeed (and notes in passing that Clausewitz's own largest weakness was a failure to catalogue the enemy and the dialog with the enemy as a major factor in strategic success and failure), the coverage is acceptable in making three key points:

1) small wars and sub-national conflicts are generally not resolved decisively at the irregular level-conventional forces are required at some point;

2) special operations forces have a role to play but lack a strategic context (that is to say, current political and military leaders have no appreciation for the strategic value of special operations forces); and

3) small wars and non-traditional threats-asymmetrical threats-must be taken seriously and co-equally with symmetrical regular conflicts.

At the end of the day, this erudite scholar finds common cause with gutter warrior Ralph Peters and gang-warfare iconoclast Martin Van Crevald by concluding his book with a quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn: "In the Computer Age we will live by the law of the Stone Age: the man with the bigger club is right. But we pretend this isn't so. We don't notice or even suspect it-why surely our morality progresses together with our civilization."

See also (and also my lists):

The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century
Beyond Declaring Victory and Coming Home: The Challenges of Peace and Stability Operations
Security Studies for the 21st Century
War, Peace, and Victory Strategy and Statecraft for The Next Century
Strategy: Process, Content, Context: An International Perspective
War and Peace and War: The Life Cycles of Imperial Nations
Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace, Revised and Enlarged Edition
Race to the Swift: Thoughts on Twenty-First Century Warfare (International Series on Materials Science and Technology)
On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War
The Systems View of the World: A Holistic Vision for Our Time (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, and the Human Sciences)

This book on molecular spectroscopy should be on the bookshelf of every practicing molecular spectroscopist and every post graduate student working in molecular spectroscopy. It complements the classic books of Herzberg in that it gives a virtually complete account of all the theory required for the interpretation of gas phase molecular spectra. The writing is clear and the book covers the subject comprehensively. Bunker and Jensen have done a great job of making a complex subject accessible.

This book authored by P. R. Bunker & P. Jensen is the second edition of the well known book on molecular spectroscopy by Phil Bunker and it is considerably larger than the first edition (probably 50% larger). I feel that anyone interested in theoretical molecular spectroscopy should have this book within easy reach. It is a very important addition to the textbooks by Herzberg and covers the entire field of theoretical molecular spectroscopy in a very lucid and clear manner. I particularly enjoyed the chapters devoted to develop the molecular Hamiltonian in detail and to show how successive approximations can be used in solving it. It makes you love spectroscopy. Indispensable.

This book is THE place to learn the modern approach to symmetry in molecular spectroscopy. The clear presentation of the Molecular Symmetry Group and how it is to be used alone make this book an essential item for any molecular spectroscopist. This work, however, does much more than that - deriving the molecular Hamiltonian, the descriptions and symmetry properties of the basis sets used at various levels of approximation, the symmetry rules for interactions, transitions, etc. etc. Clearly presented this book is an enormously enhanced and expanded (by 50%) version of the first edition. There is no other work which covers this ground - and few if any works in this field that have the same breadth and clarity. My recommendation is: You can't do without it!

Molecular Symmetry and Spectroscopy by P. R. Bunker and Per Jensen is a very much enlarged second edition of Bunker's classic text; the book has now grown into a rather complete account of the theory necessary to understand high resolution molecular spectra. As such it represents a welcome update and complement to Herzberg's textbooks. The writing is remarkably lucid, and in the space of the first three chapters the Molecular Symmetry Group is very clearly introduced. The body of the text explains how this group is related to the Molecular Point Group (which is of much more limited usefulness) and how it should be applied in all areas of the subject. In this way the entire subject is covered. Early chapters cover `The Molecular Hamiltonian and its Symmetry' (Chapter 7), `Nuclear Spin Statistics' (Chapter 8), and `The Born-Oppenheimer Approximation and the Electronic Wavefunctions' (Chapter 9). Later chapters cover a wide range of topics. Particularly impressive are the chapters on interactions (Chapter 13), intensities (Chapter 14), Nonrigid Molecules (Chapter 15), and Weakly Bound Cluster Molecules (Chapter 16). This impressive book is a must for anybody who wishes to study molecular spectroscopy, both as an introductory text and as a companion in the laboratory.

About the Book

In the past few decades we have learned a great deal about proteins and nucleic acids, the molecular building blocks of all biological systems. This knowledge is being applied in many branches of medicine. The goal of this book is to show its impact on our view of mental illness and its treatment.

Until recently, few people have been thinking about the connections between molecules and mental illness, because to do this requires familiarity with two very different intellectual and professional traditions. Myopportunity to combine them came during my postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) between 1960 and 1963. When I arrived at NIH, I had completed medical school and was thinking of embarking on a career in psychiatry. But I also wanted to learn more about fundamental biology by working in a laboratory. At NIH I met Gordon Tomkins, who was deeply committed to relating basic science to medicine and had founded a department to achieve this goal. Gordon was bursting with knowledge and enthusiasm about the infant field of molecular biology and was convinced that it would ultimately explain almost everything (which, to me, meant even psychiatry).

To provide a taste of molecular biology, Gordon arranged for me to become the second postdoctoral fellow in the then tiny laboratory of Mar-shall Nirenberg. I began there immediately before Marshall`s discovery that a synthetic nucleic acid, called poly U, could act as an artificial genetic message. Within months I became an industrious student of poly U, while Marshall went on to work with other synthetic nucleic acids, ultimately deciphering the genetic code by which nucleic acid sequences are translated into the language of proteins. It was obvious to me, and to everyone else, that Marshall`s work was monumental; and within a few years it was honored with a Nobel prize. The experience was an extraordinarily exciting introduction to the laboratory, and supported Gordon`s belief that, if you study things at the molecular level, anything is possible. I was hooked.

After a year in Gordon`s laboratory in which I began to use molecular techniques to study the mechanism for storing memories in the brain, I went on to psychiatric training and have worked in both psychiatry and basic biological sciences ever since. Although the integration of these fields has progressed more slowly than I would have liked, the pace is picking up. This book is designed to provide enough essential information about biology and psychiatry for readers unfamiliar with both fields to appreciate how they are coming together.

In writing this book I have been greatly aided by the advice of many colleagues and friends and have enjoyed the benefit of working with an extraordinary group of professionals at Scientific American Library. Two people I wish to single out for special thanks are my editor, Sonia Deviatory, and my assistant Anne Poirier, who each made invaluable contributions. My daughters Elizabeth and Jessica, both more comfortable with words than with molecules, were often my target audience. "Recapitulation (in Verse)" is especially for them. I hope you like it too.

Dr. Barondes makes an incredibly complex subject easy to understand. He packs a great deal of information into a few, well illustrated pages. The book starts in the history of neurology, then explains the structure of neurons and goes on to describe the different brain chemicals and how they work on a molecular level.

Because of its clarity, this book would make an excellent textbook for teaching neurochemistry and its interactions with the mind.

I asked a doctor I respected to recommend a book which was a short synopsis of the biochemical basis of Psychiatry and he said, "Amazon - up on Amazon". He was right.

The book contained some "extras" I hadn't anticipated. It is written by a Psychiatry Department Chairman (Samuel H. Barondes) and was definitely intended to cover the highlights and future of the field.

"Molecules and Mental Illness" is a phenomenal book but it should better be titled "Overview and Future of Modern Psychiatry for Those Having a Background in Science".

It is unfortunate that young doctors these days have no familiarity with the magazine, "Scientific American" for this would be a fine read for senior medical students considering Psychiatry as a specialty, for residents in Psychiatry to be reminded of the scientific, cellular and molecular basis of what they are practicing, or for more senior doctors needing a refresher course or needing an overview of the field.

Starting with an overview of the history of biological psychiatry then gross and molecular genetics, the next third of the book has to do with macro- and micro- biology with great emphasis on neuronal membrane and different receptors, eventually covering known interactions of drugs with the membrane and across a synapse.

The next third of the book delves into the major mental illnesses (schizophrenia, mania and depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder) along with their diagnostic criteria, genetics, and drug therapies (there is scant mention of electroconvulsive therapy and psychotherapy).

This book is loaded with color reproductions of paintings, of chromosomes, of neurons (cross-section intracellular, synaptically, as conductors of electrical signals), of the biochemistry of the nervous system (i.e., membrane dynamics), charts, graphs, etc., etc., etc. It is replete with schematics of relevant molecules (legal and illegal).

The Table of Contents is short, sweet and to the point.

The book itself is concise and readable but comprehensive.

Curiously, the book ends with a "Recapitulation (In Verse)", four subsections: Freud, Drugs, Genes, Stories.

"Since understanding molecules
That drive us to insanity
Provides a giant window on
The nature of humanity."

I recommend it highly to science-oriented persons and to physicians. At its price, it is a "bargain" book.

This book would be ideal for Amazon's "Look Inside" feature.

The text is too enjoyable!! I was hooked! I am a medical graduate interested in Psychiatry and Genetics. This book is now my "bible"! THANK YOU SIR Barondes...thank you for giving me more passion for the field and inspiration for contributing to science in the future. If the Gods are on my side I will meet you someday. Salaam. Hussain