Public Interest Books

When Richard Larn sets out to inform people about shipwrecks - they listen!, and they listen simply because he knows what he is talking about.

This book is set out almost as though it were a shipwreck hunters map to the Scilly Isles. Commencing with a chapter entitled "Living from the Sea" we learn of the ways in which the islanders strived to do exactly that - including those notorious tales of deliberately drawing ships to their doom in order to plunder the cargo. From here the reader is treated to an area by area detail of the Islands themselves and the shipwrecks lost there. They include; The Infamous Western Rocks, St. Agnes and Annet Islands, St,. Mary's, Bryher, Sampson and Tresco Islands, St. Martin's and Eastern isles and The Seven Stones. With a final chapter dedicated to Deep Water Wrecks and Derelicts this book is as complete as it should be.

With ancient and modern wrecks - including a sailing ship with 7 masts!, Richard Larn recounts many tales of shipwreck in which he reveals his innate understanding and detailed research of the subject. With each chapter commencing with a map relevant to the forthcoming text, there is also a black and white photograph on almost every page. Whether the subject wrecked ship is old or new, those photographs look as though they were taken yesterday.

I congratulate both author and publisher on a job well done and would suggest no scuba diver heads for the Scilly Isles without a copy of this book.

NM

Gene M. Grossman and Elhanan Helpman astutely note "in their new book "Special Interest Politics" that "special-interest groups" (SIGs) admit of no easy definition. Grossman and Helpman sensibly adopt a definition with some empirical referents. An organization is something we can look for, and an identifiable group is a collection of individuals who resemble one another in some important respect, not just a collection of people with enough shared beliefs to have the potential to share goals and act on them."

"For Grossman and Helpman, "membership" in a group is defined functionally. Members of a group are those people whose preferences are taken into account by the leader(s) of the group. So, the main question they raise is: How do SIGs change the policymaking process? Do lobbyists improve or distort the process by providing information? The largest question is also the most difficult: How and why does money affect the policy process? What form of regulation of campaign finance, if any, would constitute an improvement over the present system?"

To capture the intricacies of group competition, Grossman and Helpman draw on nearly one hundred years of hindsight and a very precise model. "Their main results offer both some standard conclusions and some more surprising ones."

"First, SIGs can distort the process, sometimes dramatically, compared to what happens in a full-information world. Because that world is not the world of modern politics, however, it is not clear that this "distortion" should be a focus for policy."

"Second, the effects of lobbying may be counterintuitive. If two well-organized groups contest a policy, the information provided by lobbyists may result in a "distortion" that actually improves policy by moving it closer to the full-information ideal, in contrast to what happens in a world in which lobbying is outlawed. Further, lobbying organizations themselves may be made worse off by the availability of a lobbying strategy. More precisely, if members of interest groups must pay the lobbying costs and the net result is worse for them, they might well prefer an equilibrium where lobbying was outlawed. Something close to an "invisible hand" result may be lurking here: lobbyists pay to provide information that improves the quality of legislative debate and choice because competition forces them to participate to avoid and even worse outcome."

"Some of the other interesting discussions involve "access fees" for legislators, the information content of lobbyists who bias is known, and the value of grassroots lobbying of voters by interest groups (through direct contact)."

"The depth and scope of the literature Grossman and Helpman review and the range of topics they consider in this book are impressive. Much of the exposition is accessible, although the meat of the work is in the model developed in chapters 4-10. Grossman and Helpman's book may be the most ambitious and successful work on interest group politics in the past decade."

-From "The Independent Review," Spring 2003

This is a beautifully illustrated book aimed at a very specialized audience. 'Underground' in the title refers to the London Underground, or what Americans would call the London Subway. There aren't many people interested in the architecture of London subway stations, but this book is for the few readers that are. Lawrence traces the history of London subway station design from its beginnings in 1863 up to the Jubilee Line (not open at press time, but illustrated with color photos of architectural models). The book focuses on the design of street-level structures, and there is also an emphasis on the tile used to line deep-level stations. The thrust of this book is solely on the aesthetics of station design; there is nothing here on track diagrams, and very little on issues of passenger flow through the stations.

This is mainly a book of illustrations, in which the text exists primarily to explain the photos and drawings. On average, there are more than two illustrations per page, mostly b&w photos and diagrams, but also a sprinkling of color diagrams. Toward the end of the book (the 70s, 80s, and 90s), almost all the illustrations are color.

This is a very informative book, I've been on the Yard many, many times and never knew things like who has visited the Supe's house or what ALL the statues on the grounds represented. Very, very interesting book! Well worth the money!

Levine has managed to write a book that is enlightening and helpful for the partner of a rape or incest survivor. Most literature on this subject is authored by survivors, and offers insight into the healing process of the victim, and how as a partner we can support them through it. While an understanding of the survivor's feelings and difficulties is invaluable, I don't want to feel like I'm only a tool in my wife's healing process. As a partner I have encountered difficulties of my own, and through testimonies of other victims, this book validated many of my own feelings, and suggested exercises to help my wife AND myself cope. I found that the writing exercises in the workbook helped me gain insight into my emotions, and allowed me to absorb and retain the advice of the interviewed partners far more effectively than reading alone. This book also goes into the bedroom, providing exercises for building a safe and loving environment for intimate contact. This subject is often ignored, and I was happy to see it covered here.

I bought this book for my 4 year old granddaughter. She originally got this book at the library and just loved it. This is her favorite book of the hundreds of books she owns. She spends hours looking at the photographs of the different species of sea life. We are learning a great deal together about these wonderful creatures.

Do not read this book before bed like I did. The practical and doable ideas within its pages stir the brain and help you stay awake at night. I found after reading a few pages, my heart would start racing in anticipation to put the ideas into action.

What are you trying to market? A book? A business? Yourself? It doesn't matter because you will find valuable and immediately applicable ideas inside 101 WAYS TO PROMOTE YOURSELF. Raleigh Pinskey is a seasoned professional with many years in the area of public relations. She knows firsthand what works and what doesn't work.

I love the classic marketing quote from P.T. Barnum in the Foreword, "Without promotion something terrible happens--nothing!" This quote captures the truth of many people in business today. They want the world to come to their door and when it does not, they don't understand.

It's like Pinskey says, you can build the world's best mousetrap but if no one knows about it, then you have a garage (or basement or storage area), filled with great mousetraps.

This book will help you get in touch with some key aspects of your business then stimulate many ideas for you along with practical resources. It's a great reference guide yet highly readable and I recommend it.

I found this book in my local library and was pleasantly surprised by all of the great ideas. I read a lot of marketing books, and this one ranks very high on my list because the tips are concise, practical, and there's so much to choose from. Each of the 101 chapters is just a few pages long and at the end there is a list of resources if you need more information. I especially liked the info on writing articles, letters to the editor, and your own column. The chapters on creating or sponsoring awards, contests, or events were also informative.

This book was published in 1999, so a few chapters need an update (i.e. internet marketing). But overall, I highly recommend this book. I will be purchasing a copy for myself and using it for reference in the future.

This is a great book packed with useful information. Easy to do, low-cost and effective techniques will get you to the top. Warning: Success requires action! Just do it!

This book is a quick read packed full of great ideas. While none are unique or amazing in and of thmselves, they really spark your imagination and help you think about your marketing differently. Of course no business is going to be able to use all of the suggestions, smart businesses will figure out ways to use as many as possible. I try to pick this book up at least once a month and read a section. Whatever it says, I try to find a way to use that to promote my business or one of my clients. As far as I am concerned, this is a must read for every business owner!

I really am still studying this book and am implementing everything possible. I especially like the "introduce yourself with a soundbite" chapter. The chapters in this book are short enough that you can read, then do before going to the next one. My favorite chapters other than the one mentioned are: Build Your Campaign From the Inside Out, Build Your Marketing Plan Around Publicity, Zeo In On Your Market-Save Time, Money, And Aggravation, Media Kits-Guerrilla Style and Find Your Uniqeness and Capitalize On It. Don't get me wrong, I like and can use it all, but those are my favorites because I needed them NOW. These chapters include the information I wish I had before I started marketing my book.

Marilyn Parmelee
Author of Hearing God's Voice For Yourself

Guerrilla Marketing has excellent publicity samples and templates that you can model. It's worth the price of the book just for the samples.

This is one of my dog-eared, marked up books. I come back to it time and again to check strategies, look for new ideas and test tactics. You don't have to do everything at once. Just pick a tip or approach, follow through and measure your results. You'll find that many of these timeless practices fit the Internet-age, as well.

I can't say enough good things about this book. I have most of the Guerilla marketing books, but this was a real must for me. Having a limited budget to get exposure, Levinson helped me take my company and my authors to the next level of success.

I look forward to continued success under the guidance of Mr. Levinson and his Guerilla Books.

Derek Sivers said: "Get this or die in obscurity!" So I did.

Very good information. This book was very useful in understanding the VA and their process.

This book is worth it's weight in gold and then some. It is written in plain language, so it is easy to understand, and it addresses all of the areas we (veterans) need to negotiate the maze of government bureaucracy. I highly recommend it.

This book is very helpful for Veterans that are filing claims with the VA. I wish this book was available when I put in my claim about 8 years ago.It goes and gives input and resources that I never knew existed.The author explains how the VA goes about denying claims and how a veteran can avoid some of the pitfalls so the veteran has at least a fighting chance of winning their claim.

For veterans or non-profit 'Veterans Service Officers', this is the very best book that explains how to apply for and win VA Disability Claims.

This is the first book I have read on this subject. It is completely factual and helpful. It is a shame to the country of the United States that lets the VA get away with the things it does to and against the Veterans that have served their country so proudly. I would recommend that every veteran read this book regardless if you have a current need to file a claim or maybe in the future. After reading, contact your Congressmen to file complaints against the VA.
I highly recommend this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am very impressed with a person like David A. Kessler, MD, JD, who is very knowledgeable and compassionate to our community. During his time of directing FDA, he directed a number of new programs, including: the regulation of the marketing and sale of tobacco products to children; nutrition labeling for food; user fees for drugs and biologics; preventive controls to improve food safety; measures to strengthen the nation's blood supply; and the MEDWatch program for reporting adverse events and product problems. He emphasized strong law enforcement and created an Office of Criminal Investigation within the agency.

THE CONTENT OF THE BOOK
There are two keywords in this book as can be seen from the title. First key word is "intent" which is talking about the intention of the tobacco companies to secretly increase the level of nicotine in cigarettes that functions as a main selling point through the effect of addiction to the smokers. The second one is "battle with a deadly industry" which is talking about the great battle between FDA and the untouched and deadly tobacco industries for decades due to their collusions and strong lobby with congressional parties.

With his broad spectrum experiences and background in medical, scientific, legal, and political skills plus his sincere dedication to humanity, especially children and youth, Dr. Kessler was able to reveal and breakthrough the tobacco scandal's fortress. His bold initiative to investigate this scandal significantly proved that tobacco industries intended addiction to their customers. With this battle, he had to face that the majority of Congress, the industrial people and any others at that time did not give any support to his good will. He even had to go through a dark painful experiences of being strongly disagreed, ignored, and mocked by others. Here is one sample of them, taken from his statement in page 168. "Their initial confidence that the FDA's efforts would go nowhere had been bolstered by the early predictions of stock analysts: `Kessler Testimony Is Mostly Noise, Threat of Regulation by FDA Is Limited,' declared one respected Wall Street expert"

When I checked out the information about the author, I did not see any reason to think he was either an attention seeker or having non professional problem with personnel that has been colluding with the powerful tobacco industries. The accuracy of his writing can be verified by objective observation and divergent views from many logic and scientific based resources.

Thought the battle is not finish yet (since the tobacco industries turns their attention to the developing world), I am glad to know that in the middle of the inhumane practices of tobacco industries, there is still a remnant person who really cares, sacrifices, and fight for the glory of the real truth. This book is really a great inspiration and motivation for he/she who cares about the health and the safety of our people in the level of public health advocacy, policy making and law enforcement.

David Kessler in A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle with a Deadly Industry provides readers with an entertaining and educating read that serves as a guide for organizations while showing an detailed view of bureaucracy, the media, and government organizations. He effectively displays the numerous benefits of affiliation between organizations and their leaders when trying to change the regulation over tobacco. Kessler also does a great job showing the role of a President and the effect he or she can have on organizations when they get to choose the leading personnel. Where Kessler falls short though is in providing a well organized story, free of excess personal narratives, and repetition. Do these errors tend to negate the quality of the book as a whole? No, but it makes me question his editor and the intentions he or she had in the scattered layout and whether included memoir aspects were entirely necessary.

By bringing the reader directly into the Food and Drug Administration's everyday happenings, Kessler is able to display the decision process of a government organization, while adding an element of suspense. His emphasizes the importance of connections and affiliation and teaches readers the scope and impact that lobbyists can have on the outcome of policies. He often describes that "too late" he realized that he had been "sandbagged by...lobbyists" and "overlooked [the] key tactical step" of lining up more support and connections (Kessler, 48). He shows that it was only through the support of his older staff and political connections that he was able to move forward in his fight for tobacco regulation.

The involvement of the reader in the processes Kessler and his team had to go through to get government attention on the regulation of tobacco could easily serve as a guide for other struggling organizations. He shows in detail how they used the media and were careful about their timing when making decisions. For instance, Kessler asked credible journalists to downplay stories to the New York Times to the extent that newspapers wouldn't even write about events such as the American Red Cross' bad blood supply. This manipulation of the media was useful to the organization by downplaying bad press and avoiding un-needed fear and panic. For other organizations who find themselves in the heat of the media, they might want to take notes from Kessler and his experiences

Another positive aspect of Kessler's book was his ability to show the vital role of the President. Most readers, like myself, would be surprised to learn that the President can have such a vital effect on issues such as food labeling. Kessler describes the difficulty and "maneuvering" it took to get amendments on the underage purchases of cigarettes on the Presidents desk (Kessler, 98). Once they got there, he describes how a Congressional hearing was crucial in how the media framed the issue - eventually leading to the impression the American public got on the topic. Overall, his book gives a great overview of what it takes to get an issue to the desk of the President, and how the steps taken after that can shape public opinion and determine the fate or success of a proposed amendment.

In the end, Kessler and his editor could have improved on the organization of the book. The subject of each 3-7 page chapter skips from topic to topic. It gets tedious when the reader has to continually shift his or her focus from tobacco to fresh food labels to the AIDS drug progression then back to tobacco - all with a little autobiographical information thrown into the mix. At the same time, Kessler consistently switches between using character's first and last names. One minute he's calling a successful reporter "Jim," like they're best friends, the next referring to him as "O'Hara" who had a "reputation among reporters for credibility" (Kessler, 92). The inconsistency is unnecessary and confusing.

Another detail that distracted from a smooth read from a trustworthy author, is his insistence on showing he "did not know" what he was doing, or that he "should have realized" that many of his decisions would have negative effects. Readers already understand no person is perfect, there is no reason to keep reminding them up to two or three times a page.

For readers who want an entertaining, yet educational read, Kessler's book provides both. While it does have its minor errors and editorial mishaps, his ability to produce a book that readers like a thriller yet explains the inner-workings of bureaucracy in a simple-to-understand way is uncanny. Lessons can be learned by regular readers seeking more information on a much debated topic - the regulation of tobacco - or big organizations looking to revitalize their strategies to achieve greater success in their goals.

Thank you, Dr. Kessler, for pursuing the tobacco dragon and for writing this book. It should be required reading for every medical and divinity school student.

America, for all its faults, is the battlefield on which many of the world's most important health questions are being fought. None of those is more important than the questions this excellent book addresses. Is nicotine a narcotic? Are America's major cigarette companies, collectively known as Big Tobacco, deliberately turning their customers into nicotine addicts?

They were the key questions David Kessler tackled when he was Commissioner of America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1990 to 1997. Kessler, who is now Dean of the Yale University Law School, fought a tenacious battle with Big Tobacco and its powerful allies on Capitol Hill during those years. The battle was so tough and Big Tobacco so ruthless that Kessler and his small team were often compared to Elliot Ness and his small band of Untouchables who slugged it out with Al Capone's army of gangsters and corrupt politicians during the Prohibition years.

Certainly, the tenacity of Big Tobacco in the face of overwhelming evidence that damns its product can only remind the reader of Al Capone and America's Organized Crime, whose sole god is ill gotten money. Big Tobacco practiced, for example, the code of Omerta and, if Kessler is to be believed, former employees who gave evidence against them lived in fear of their lives. Big Tobacco had armies of lawyers and US Congressmen in their corporate pockets. All they seemed short of was organizing the gangland-style hits that were Capone's specialty.

Indeed, the specters of Ness and Capone are never too far away. Kessler hired special investigators trained by America's elite combat forces to interrogate witnesses. One member of Kessler's squad trawled all of America's seaports to uncover key evidence that Big Tobacco had illegally imported genetically modified tobacco into the United States. The book is, in many ways, a classic detective story needing only Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney, Tom Hanks or some other celluloid figure to bring it to life. It races along from the very first page to the final denouement.

Big Tobacco's four-pronged counter-strategy against the FDA is also equally fast-paced. Working with military precision, it used, as page 169 tells us, frontal assaults, surgical strikes, allied attacks and air cover to overwhelm the offices and efforts of Kessler and his team. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco knew what side its bread was buttered on. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco's bosses proved themselves to be ruthless and cynical competitors with pitiless cash registers for hearts. Their proud boast was that they had more money than God.

Their vast war chests poisoned public debate in America for many years just as their product continues to poison the bodies of their fellow Americans. As well as the armies of hired lawyers who were central to their strategy, they employed mercenary academics to rubber-stamp their products with a scientific sheen of respectability. The aura of scientific impartiality these academics bartered away helped Big Tobacco's bosses accumulate their almost limitless wealth, buy their way into Capitol Hill and jam the world's hospital cancer wards full with cigarette smokers. Although Kessler names some of these contemptible researchers, he goes much further. By exposing their mercenary motives, he discredits them and Big Tobacco, which paid them their ultimately puny pieces of silver.

The book, despite its topicality, starts off with a quote from the Odes of Horace, which tells us that "The guilty have a head start, and retribution is always slow of start, but it catches up." Fortunately, the net is finally beginning to close in on Big Tobacco and its tainted allies. Thanks to people like Kessler and his team of Untouchables, the nicotine debate is starting to be aired out into the open.

Sometimes, of course, the cure is worse than the disease. Kessler's comments about nicotine nasal sprays should be enough to make anyone feel pity for the nicotine abuser and disgust at the companies which can conceive, let alone peddle such an obnoxious product.

No sympathy whatsoever can be spared for Kessler's villains. Though bloodied, Big Tobacco is far from bowed. It continues to ensnare American schoolchildren with its product and to export its deadly product to the four ends of the earth. Despite Big Tobacco's enviable revenues, its feet of clay and the tissues of lies it surrounds itself with have both been well exposed by this great book, which President Jimmy Carter and a host of other luminaries endorse. The hope must now be, as Kessler puts it, that Big Tobacco will eventually be drummed out of business altogether. Their demise would not only make the air we breathe cleaner. It would also help clean up the corridors of power, which Big Tobacco so thoroughly infected with its own insatiable addiction to the profit motive.

Wow. Who would have thought a book on the history of the FDA's handling of tobacco regulation would read like a spy novel? I grabbed this book off the new books shelf at the library, and picked it up expecting to skim through it. Kessler begins with how he was chosen to head the FDA, and introduces several of his staff including the one who started him toward taking on the tobacco industry. Then we get plenty of background including the history, marketing, and laws concerning tobacco.

With all the press on Big Tobacco, I expected them to be shown as fiendish. I've been a member of Americans for Non-Smokers Rights for 20 years, and I've read all about the Industry's dirty tricks, and I fully expected to read about them again here. What I didn't expect to find was the thoroughness in Big Tobacco attempted to discredit the FDA, and Kessler takes us through the political campaigns and counter-campaigns. He shows how Big Tobacco created fake advocacy groups on several issues, leading to their attempt to muzzle the FDA and cut off all their government funding. If you remember the '94 Contract with America and the movement against Big Government, you'll be surprised to find how Big Tobacco co-opted it to fight the FDA, one of the more admired agencies.

If you weren't already cynical about how the US government operates, this book will get you there, even with its descriptions of some of the good guys continually outmaneuvered by the bad ones. Several congress members are shown to be captives of Big Tobacco, doing their dirty work with scripts written by their lobbyists and lawyers.

And speaking of lawyers, one of the most amazing revelations to me ok is how the tobacco industry became captives of their law firms! Yes, instead of working for their clients, the law firms ended up calling all the shots, and the CEOs would read statements prepared by them. The book covers how this came to be.

If you love looking of source material, you'll be busy. Kessler leaves plenty of footnotes in this meaty book for your review. My only complaint is that the book jumps around in places, as the story moves forward or back depending on the topic being covered. But this is a small beef, as the material is so compelling. Find out not only how cigarette's nicotine content was manipulated but how the industry tried to hide this obvious fact from FDA visitors to their manufacturing facilities. Enjoy the victories and despair over the setbacks; this is a policy-wonk's book as written by a Tom Clancy wanna-be.