W Books

I have been a fan of historical novels since I read Gone with the Wind as a 14 year old. However, I always wished for gay novels written with a historical twist that were long reads. I will always pick a longer novel over a shorter one. And this one has wonderfully developed characters and a wonderful plot. I really have enjoyed watching the madness of Gaston be calmed and somehwat controlled by Will. I am ready for volume III.

This wonderful book continues the story of Will and Gaston... I just love them and I love this book! I highly recommend you read it!!!

I was worried that this book wouldn't live up to my expectations from Brethren. I was sure that I would enjoy reading it, if for no other reason than it was more of Will and Gaston. I don't think it's possible to read Brethren without falling in love with these characters and wanting to read more. However, it seemed like most of the secrets had already been revealed in the first volume, which made me worry what could possibly be left to cover.

I need not have worried. The relationship between Will and Gaston progresses much further than I ever thought it would. The exploration of their love and it's limits (or lack thereof) is a very interesting topic for this book. Additionally, there is more sex in this book, and Will and Gaston find new ways of dealing with their issues. I still felt as though I was living in their world while reading the book, and found it extremely hard to put down.

I am anxiously awaiting book 3. If you have any doubt if you should buy this book, go buy it anyway, and go ahead and preorder book 3 for yourself. You're going to want it.

I am lost for words that would describe just how much I love MATELOTS and the previous BRETHREN and indeed, I'm certain, the entire RAISED BY WOLVES series. I have read countless books and enjoyed many over many decades, but few truly stand out, and I certainly didn't expect a M/M romance series would affect me so greatly--but as those of you who have experienced these books know, they are unique.

The almost day-by-day accounting of life among the 17thC. buccaneers is magical in its depth and detail all on its own. These books are wonderfully long and expansive and as I said in my review of the first book, one can sink completely into another world and live fabulous adventures without danger or discomfort and yet see and feel everything. It's the ultimate experience for a reader of adventure tales, particularly if they enjoy experiences far from the mundane.

And for those of us who also enjoy character-driven tales, Will and Gaston's tale is fascinating. Will is someone who lives and loves passionately--and also thoughtfully. He's an observer of the human condition with his thoughts about wolves and sheep and centaurs. He seeks to understand the complexities of human nature, particularly when it comes to Gaston, who is not just damaged by his past, but has a kind of madness that was a part of him from birth. The ruminations on society and morality and other philosophies can sometimes seem anachronistically modern, but just as Hoffman's world is convincing and detailed, so are her characters, and Will's revolutionary thinking is organic and explained... and realistically portrayed, as he's no constant crusader for reform. Mostly, he just wishes to live honestly as a lover of men at a time when this was difficult--and this may seem modern too, but not really; people are not so different in their hopes and desires whether living centuries ago or currently. But really, do I care? No. Will can want to educate the slaves or not. I'll want to read about him all the same. And Gaston, too. These are characters to fall in love with no matter what your orientation. As with BRETHREN, the secondary characters are fantastic, too. Striker, Pete, Cudro, Otter, Liam, the Bard, Theodore--and introduced in this book, Agnes and Sarah.

In this installment, which opens right after the last book, Will first needs to help Gaston gain control over his madness, which has been gripping him since his torture/treatment at the hands of the crazy doctor. There are also changes coming to the buccaneers. New men arrive on Jamaica every day and many follow the lure of gold that piracy seems to promise, without caring for the traditions of the Brethren of the Coast. Amongst old friends who do hold to traditions, changes are happening, too. Will is instructed by his father to marry--and learns that Gaston desires him to have children some day. Striker lets it be known that he's also wished for children--and a wife, but fears Pete will kill someone rather than let that happen. Much of the first part of this book, the captain and crew of the Virgin Queen are sailing on their own, or in Port Royal, or off on other parts of the islands. There is action in the latter part when Henry Morgan gathers together the buccaneers for his famous action in Panama. But there is not a dull moment in the entire 600 pages of this book.

I am so grateful that the author has written this series. Sometimes books can be magic of the highest order--casting a spell that can transport a reader to other worlds to meet and adventure with people who can be known better than oneself. For me, Hoffman has cast such a magnificent spell that it can make life seem truly magical. I can't wait to read the next book (which fortunately for me, is available as I write this). I will need to wait for the right moment when I can put aside time to immerse myself again in this amazingly vivid world with these incredible characters and adventures. These are among the few books I wish would never end, so I know I will be re-reading them as soon as I can.

I remember falling in love with Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson as a kid and wishing for an adult version ever since. This series fulfills that nostalgic longing for a well-researched, emotionally complex, and sexually explicit m/m-centric pirate romp. The plot turns are immensely entertaining and the personalities equally engaging. I was riveted by the central love story as the author skillfully relates every nuance of their painful pasts and developing relationship. I especially enjoyed the battle scenes and the generous descriptions of the heroes' and fellow bucaneers' combat prowess. The political subtext of the bucaneers as freeman carving out a life independent of empire is inspiring too. I hope that you enjoy this series as much as I do.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I have read it at least three times and learn something new each time. Schelling is not only a great economist but a great writer. He has a knack for making arcane concepts accessible. I highly recommend it. This book uses economic methodology to tackle "non-economic" concepts, such as segregation, sorting and mixing and cooperation.

Micromotives and Macrobehavior shows what fun it must be to be an economist. More specifically, it shows what fun it must be to be Thomas Schelling. It's not a book of high theory; it is a book of high particularity. When Schelling walks down the street, I imagine him with a giant grin or, barring that, a notepad in his hand to take down his thoughts on whatever he might be looking at; every last bit of the world must fascinate him. The great fun in economics, to me, is not what it has to tell me about optimal investment strategies -- finance being only a small, if important, part of life -- but rather what it has to say about human behavior, and particularly human behavior in the face of other humans.

There are some basic problems of arithmetic that our desires might well create; Schelling very charmingly entitles a chapter on this subject "The Inescapable Mathematics of Musical Chairs." If we all want to live a solitary life in the country, we'll all move to the country and find ourselves surrounded by the people we were trying to escape. We can't all dispose of our Canadian quarters, says Schelling: you pawn off your quarters on me, I pawn them off on my neighbor, and yet still the total stock of quarters is exactly where it was. This accounting for musical chairs gives economics much of its power. It's what happens when you take your eyes off individuals for just a moment and think about their behavior in crowds.

What happens if no one in a university can stand being in the bottom 10% of his class? The bottom 10% will leave. Now 90% of the original class is left, and there's a new bunch in the bottom 10%. They leave. And so forth. Eventually, if this process continues, the class will whittle down to 10% of its original size. An unrealistic example, surely, but it's illustrative. The most famous model of this sort in Micromotives and Macrobehavior is the segregation model. Suppose few people wish to live in a racially homogeneous community; everyone desires some integration. But suppose people don't want to be too isolated: white people have no problem living with black people, so long as the white people aren't the minority in their neighborhoods. What will happen to the racial composition of neighborhoods? Schelling simulates a small city on a standard 8×8 cheesboard, with nickels and dimes representing white and black people. The board starts out in one equilibrium where everyone is satisfied with his neighbors and no one is too isolated. Then there's a minor shock to the system: a few people move away at random around the board. Suddenly black people have no neighbor on one side, and only white people on the other. What was a satisfying equilibrium before is now unsatisfying to at least one person on the board, so he moves to a neighborhood whose racial composition is more to his liking. This process continues until we've reached a new equilibrium. More often than not, this equilibrium involves massive segregation. No one desired that it be this way; people only wished that those near them looked somewhat like them.

A few questions naturally present themselves here. How many equilibria are there? How many stable equilibria are there? (Perfect integration was an equilibrium at the start of the experiment, but it was unstable in the face of mild shocks.) The convergence to segregation depends on how homogeneous people wish their neighborhoods to be; if everyone desires that 50% of his neighbors be like him, does that change anything? Also, do the conclusions change when we move from a small city modeled by an 8×8 board to a larger one?

One of the lessons has been well-rehearsed elsewhere (e.g., No One Makes You Shop At Wal-Mart): in many cases, the decisions that we make individually cannot be expected to result in outcomes that we all would have chosen had we coordinated. You don't even need to look at the level of an entire society; Schelling has plenty of examples from everyday life. Maybe the easiest is something that happened to him while driving back from Cape Cod: a mattress had fallen off the roof of someone's car and had snarled traffic for hours. If the driver of that car with the mattress could somehow have borne (in the jargon: "internalized") the costs that he inflicted on everyone else, he'd probably have stopped his car, fetched the mattress, and saved everyone a lot of lost time. Or if all the other drivers could have coordinated somehow, they might have been able to get that mattress off the road and save everyone behind them the time that they all lost. Absent any coordination, though, that mattress might still be laying there.

This coordination doesn't need to come in the form of an enforcer with guns, necessarily; social norms can do it. What if we've all been trained by our parents to feel great shame at not helping others? You can certainly imagine social structures in which people would fight others for the right to clear off that mattress. If it's hard to envision this, suppose that selflessness were actually sexy.

The direction you turn from here is asking how societies solve coordination problems -- how we encourage each other to behave in a way that helps out everyone. Micromotives and Macrobehavior is chiefly valuable in that it gets you thinking about these problems, and realizing that it's not especially easy: merely scaling up your own virtuous behavior won't necessarily cut it.

I enjoyed this book for it's stimulating arguments and everyday examples of big picture, "big topics" issues. As a novice to any type of economic analysis I've found the book informative and interesting. I recommend this book to anybody wishing to increase their awareness of the relevance of everyday events and experience to bigger, more intellectual topics.

Game theory has been criticized for being able to explain anything, yet having little predictive capability. Whatever the case, Thomas Schelling's book is a gem. He takes everyday life phenomena and applies some systematic analysis as to why these things happen. It's a quick read and when you are done you too will keep viewing any issues coming your way as if they were seeking an equilibrium. With the varied topics and colorful examples it's the 1970s equivalent of "Freakonomics".

Schelling's book covertly drafts a model of economic support for the Golden Rule. While many of his examples may be repetitive, ultimately, we learn that by restraining ourselves in various enterprises, such as energy conservation, we are able to produce overall benefits for society. However, the hitch is that without critical mass or some basis for keeping rebels in line, no one adheres to the collective system and therefore no one benefits. Thus, the author intelligently posits an argument that in properly regulated environments, cooperation and selflessness produce stability and will lead to long-term success.

What is more interesting are Schelling's numerous examples and asides about human behavior that, once examined carefully, yield a greater understanding about everyday phenomena. For example, he writes, "Most people think that inflation reduces purchasing power without stopping to notice that their own pay increases are somebody else's inflation, and at least some of it must cancel out." This book is filled with such astute and not easily apparent statements. He also carries economic theory into social theory, showing that if all men married women four years younger than them where population is growing at three percent annually, eventually women of marrying age may outnumber men by more than 12%. The book has several of these nuggets, but leaves out an obvious and one of my favorite lessons about education: when a student goes to school, s/he not only "loses" the money s/he spends on tuition, but also her/his earning power during the years spent studying. For this reason, one could argue that it seems more sensical to attend school when there is a recession and to work when unemployment is low.

The glaring gap in this book is the problem of freeloaders--what do we do, for example, about the neighbor who waters his lawn excessively during a water shortage, thereby creating less incentive for others to conserve water? The author most likely believes that education will assist this problem, but this may be an idealistic notion at best. Still, Schelling manages to prove that cooperation rather than competition in some cases may produce better results, leading to viable arguments against selfish behavior.

Dr. Carroll Quigley, favorably cited by then-governor Bill Clinton at his acceptance of the Democratic nomination for president in 1992, penned "Tragedy & Hope" in 1965 after his review of many pages of documents of what he describes as the "power elite." This elite, composed of powerful banking families (Morgan and Rothschild) and uber-rich industrial capitalists (the Rockefellers, Andrew Carnegie) along with the intellectual wells of John Ruskin and billionaire Cecil Rhodes, comprise a well-connected, well-established power axis that is intent on clutching the world's social, political, cultural, and economic powers into their tightly clenched fists. The banking houses, typically referred to as simply the "international bankers," have been the hidden money powers behind the revolutionary movements of the 20th century, including Bolshevik revolution to overthrow the Russian monarchy.

The overarching question of W. Cleon Skousen's "The Naked Capitalist" is a puzzling one: why do the world's largest fortunes, which have amassed their wealth under free market capitalism, support the socialist, fascist, and Communist powers with continuing financial aid? The answer is an unpleasant, but simple, one. These interlocking powers, the Federal Reserve System, treasonous tax-exempt foundations, the Council on Foreign Relations, Fabian socialism as articulated by Ruskin and Rhodes, and the American slide toward socialist economics, are in league to envision the new "Tower of Babel," namely a collectivist World Government, under their jurisdiction and guidance, naturally.

"Naked Capitalist" carries the themes of "None Dare Call It Treason" by John Stormer in that every Communist nation has a glittering, red-inked "MADE IN THE USA" stamp on its blood-soaked land. Coupled with John Ruskin's idea of keeping the wealthy elite in control of the masses, the Anglo-American establishment could shape each nation's political and economic future in its hand, eventually leading to the institution of a global government that all nation-states would recognize.

The power elite controls and manipulates the economic and political life of the United States still today. The Federal Reserve's siphoning off of American wealth through fiat currency, artificial "boom-bust" cycles, and the repayment of massive interest from the U.S. national debt by the American taxpayer is creating an enriched political class able to dominate the masses as easily as a farmer directs and controls his cattle. It matters not who wins the White House or controls Congress. The CFR, Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderbergers, bought both institutions long ago, and they are directly in league with the international bankers.

The most entertaining part of the entire book is Skousen's review of multiple historical instances throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s where the power elite's exposure was all but inevitable. To paraphrase one commentator, the elites are running naked toward the finish line. The establishment elites are probably having a grand old time chuckling about the "old days" where there was a possibility they might be caught red-handed. Nowadays, they can flaunt themselves in the faces of the sleeping masses and still get away with things. With the advent of the Internet, however, they may not be so lucky these "last days."

I was a down-to-earth skeptic as I approached the claims of not only "The Naked Capitalist," but also many other well-known authors, who appeared to me at first to be a bunch of right-wing cranks (on par with leftist 9/11 "Truthers"). As I have extensively followed current events for the past three years, I concluded that the evidence is too overwhelming to be ignored. World government is in our future, and nothing can divert us from that road. Not even the election of Ron Paul to presidency of the United States would buck us off the path to global socialism, although he may have been able to shield us from the atrocities for just a few more years.

Have you awaken from your slumber yet?

This book (The Naked Capitalist), along with the book "The Bilderburg Group", explains exactly what is going on in Government. The power of the men in the secret groups are dangerous to all Americians, and there are many in our Government at all levels. They are the Bilderburgs, Council of Foreign Relations and Trilaterial Commission, determined to make us a socialist country.

"The Naked Capitalist", first published in 1970, is a review and critique of a much longer book, "Tragedy and Hope", first published in 1965. While the references are inevitably dated, this book contains insights that are essential for understanding our current situation. While I wholeheartedly recommend it, it important to take into account the book's context and point of view.

This book must be understood as an attack from the right on "Tragedy and Hope" -- not the 21st century neocon right, but the old fashioned right that may be best thought of as a libertarian point of view these days. Mr. Skousen's approach is consistent with his conservative religious background (LDS) and his background in law enforcement (FBI and later Salt Lake City Chief of Police). Skousen's academic background is reflected in his exegesis of "Tragedy and Hope".

I thought his defense of J. Edgar Hoover and Joe McCarthy was thought provoking, and not to be dismissed out of hand as most left-leaning people would tend to do. By illustrating the clear link between the Eastern Establishment and Communism, the author perhaps provides a better understanding of the criticism of corporate media as "Liberal". Corporate owned media did at times cover the issue of Communists in government in a way that tended to downplay the extent to which the government, particularly the State Department, was infiltrated by Communists, which could lead a right-wing or even a neutral observer to believe that the fourth estate had Communist sympathies.

But that's only part of the story. The corporate owned media has also had a history of covering up the extent to which Fascism has infested USA finance, corporations and government. One example from the time span that Skousen focused on, but which he failed to mention, is the Fascist plot to overthrow the US government shortly after the start of FDR's first term. Jules Archer's recently re-printed book, The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR, tells this story persuasively. The earliest incarnation of the HUAC (House Committee on Un-American Activities), the Special Committee on Un-American Activities (1934-1937) actually investigated not only domestic Communist activities, but domestic Fascist activities as well, including the plot just mentioned. Contemporary press coverage of the Congressional hearings and the plot itself was shameful for the most part, particularly the coverage by Time magazine and the New York Times. They covered the story in a way similar to later coverage of UFO and Elvis sightings, poking fun at the very suggestion that such a plot could even exist.

While I am grateful that Skousen wrote this unique review/critique of "Tragedy and Hope", I would urge readers to take "The Naked Capitalist" as a point of departure in their study of the power elite, not the final word. The plutocrats who run things behind the scenes take on many guises, using politicians and movements across the political spectrum to further their malevolent aims. They quite obviously used both Fascism and Communism simultaneously for a time and have moved on to other totalitarian movements, such as neoconservatism and various religious movements. Focusing excessively on these movements and philosophies only serves to distract us from discovering the actual puppet masters.

I must finally express my disappointment with the inclusion of a vitriolic attack by Al Smith on FDR's New Deal policies in an appendix. Al Smith had preceded FDR both as Governor of New York, and as a Democratic presidential nominee. Smith lost the nomination in 1932 to FDR, who, unlike Smith in 1928, went on to win the election. There is the argument that while Smith had maintained his previous progressive beliefs, the Democratic Party under FDR had moved on to Socialist tendencies. (In other words, the Democratic party left him, he didn't leave the party.) However, if Skousen were to choose a disaffected Democrat to criticize the New Deal, he could not have picked a better example of a sellout, a turncoat, and perhaps even a traitor, than Al Smith. Smith was first of all a sore loser, and secondly had by that time become a 100% owned asset of the Eastern plutocrats, the very class that "The Naked Capitalist" rails against. Smith was a prominent member of the Liberty League which sponsored the Fascist plot against FDR I referred to above. I again refer to The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR for details.

By suggesting that Al Smith was still the brown bowler wearing "Happy Warrior" in 1936 that he had been in the 1920s disingenuous to put it mildly.

If this book were written by anyone less credible, you'd have to pass it off as conspiracy theory nonsense. But Skousen is anything but a conspiracy theory nut. He is a very well respected scholar. So what makes this book so infuriating is to realize both political parties are being swayed towards collectivism and totalitarianism through the robber-barons' self-percieved notion of good for the world and their "generous" donations to non-profits that promote this communist agenda. Thus, the Naked Capitalist reveals the wealthy elite to be promoters of exactly what would destroy not them, but the vast middle class of America. Ever notice that Karl Marx was fighting against the Bourgesie and not the aristocracy? The Bourgesie is the middle class. The rich want us middle-classers to simply revert to the equitable poverty of socialism while they continue to live luxuriously at our expense. This is a must read.

A Christian Review of, "The Naked Capitalist" By W. Cleon Skousen


"A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, scrapes with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. There are six things the Lord hates, seven of which are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devices wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers." Proverbs 6:12-19 RSV

The above verse if the first thing that came to my mind once I finished reading this fine book. Skousen in "The Naked Capitalist" is really describing the events from 1913 through the 1960's that will someday lead to The New World Order. There have been so many great reviews on this book on Amazon.com that I would encourage the reader to not only read this review but the others as well. Skousen's book is a summary of Dr. Caroll Quigley's (a professor of Bill Clinton, and an insider to the New World Order boys) Book "Tragedy and Hope" in which Quigley being an insider and allowed to review the CFR's (Council On Foreign Relations) documents for two years in which he decided to write a book since he felt that there was no way we could stop this socialist empire now. Here are some of the highlights from this book that stuck out to me:

We were actually making post war plans to World War 2 a whole two years prior to entering the war (this is where we got the United Nations from).

The international bankers financed two conservative candidates to split the vote so Woodrow Wilson would be elected to office. Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Reserve which is actually a private banking system. This took the power of making money away from congress and gave it to a private bank. (Does anyone recall the bible verse that says, "The borrower is slave to the lender.")

The international bankers are in Europe, the United States and setting up shop everywhere. Since they came into power they have set up communist government after communist government because it's easier to work with a dictator and get rich than it is with a free society.

These bankers will usually finance both sides of a war, and have been linked to just about every war since they took power. They also make a lot of profit, and as Skousen points out their oil plants and businesses are conveniently not hurt even though thousands upon thousands may die for their gain.

I enjoyed Skousen's ability to break down the Korean War and show how (with facts that are documented from sources in the back) Communists within the United States working in high positions of power were playing both sides. The plan was for the U.S. to fight for South Korea, oh but wait, we were supposed to lose. When our military was TOO good there were 100,000 Red Chinese waiting for them. Our military was not allowed to take our Chinese supply lines or to go in and take territory. I mean the communists in Washington had it all set up and we were supposed to lose. What right did our military have actually being good.

The CFR (Council On Foreign Relations) is a front group by the international bankers (like the Royal Institute Of International Affairs is in Europe) . This council works for the international bankers and supports socialist causes.

The builderberg group is a small group of elites that meet once a year and plan the direction of the world and it's propaganda for the next year. It is very secretive and if someone finds out your invited your invite is automatically revoked. Group made up of large corporate heads, political leaders, media elite, and the international bankers.

Tax exempt foundations are influencing public policy and directly influencing our schools. They are pushing propaganda and dumbing down our society. These foundations oddly enough are places the big corporate big wigs and international bankers can stash their money and not get taxed.

Bottom Line: I could go on and on.... Read the book it's only about 125 pages, but it is loaded with some of the most important information you could want or know about our government and the New World Order.

"This book is for people who are living under the tyranny of the prevailing style of management," writes Deming in the preface. Deming has strong convictions, many of which are counter to conventional management thinking.

Deming does not believe in ratings and grades. He says performance is mostly attributable to the system in which that person works. "The forces of destruction that come from the present style of reward ... squeeze out from an individual, over his lifetime, his innate intrinsic motivation.... They build into him fear, self-defense, extrinsic motivation. We have been destroying our people from toddlers on through university and on the job. We must preserve the power of intrinsic motivation, dignity, cooperation, curiosity, joy in learning, that people are born with."

Nor does Deming think highly of goals. "Only the method is important, not the goal."

"It is wrong to suppose that if you can't measure it, you can't manage it - a costly myth."

"The customer is not in the pyramid. A pyramid, as an organization chart, thus destroys the system, if ever one was intended." Instead Deming uses flow diagrams.

"With shared responsibility, no one is responsible. Joint responsibility is totally different from divided responsibility... Learning under a teacher is a joint effort between teacher and pupil."

Deming makes the distinction between common causes of variation, and special causes. He quotes Brian Joiner who said, "One necessary qualification of anyone in management is to stop asking people to explain ups and downs ... that come from random variation."

Deming is a legendary name in quality management, especially in Japan through his consulting work with Japanese industry from 1950 onward. He died at age 93 before the second edition of this book went to press.

After reading the "New Economics" by W. Edwards Deming I was very surprised. Mr. Deming's made the book very easy to read and understand. In my case it was the examples that really put things in perspective. "The Red Bead Experiment" was an example that was very good at explaining exactly what it was that, we needed to take away from the example, the difference between common cause and special cause variation. Management should be solely responsible for the well being of the production line. Personally, Deming's did a really good job in describing typical work situations that I personally am aware of. I enjoyed the way he broke everything down into its simplest form. You do not have to be an industrial engineer to understand the message he is trying to convey. The message he is trying to convey is "Team Work" because it is only when every person in the group agrees with each other that everyone can come together for one common purpose. He was very specific in the situation that he believed everything and everyone could work together. In his eyes the hierarchy had to be done away with. There was no one person that was better than the next. This one belief that I have always believed in. I appreciate his train of thought and think that if it could be applied to the small stream businesses it would be extremely effective. It sounds like Deming's was a man of the people because he described every person's job just as important as the next. It sounded like he believed in the chain of command. I enjoyed this book thoroughly and would recommend it to those trying to get a more in-depth feel to what common cause variation and special cause variation really means.

Wow. After 25 years in the quality business I am still not ready to claim I completely 'understand' Deming. He was of course, a brilliant statistician and business optimization theorist . . . but he was also a physicist. His famous quip, "Water turns to ice . . . same molecules. . . what happened?" I finally realize, was his way of speaking to the state change that occurs in a phase transition, the same phenonmeon that occurs when organizations cross over to quality. Deming was the real Superman.

also read Superperformance

I really liked the book , it was easy to read although I don't like the way that he writs , the good thing about the book is that consist of real cases and this make it much easier to relate to the book, another good thing about the book is that it doesn't repeat the same thing over and over again, what I don't like about the book is the way that he jumps back and forth and mention different books without any brief explanation about those books; this was sometime confusing for me, but other than that I would recommend everybody who is interested in management read this book and refers it to others. It was amazing that lots of thing in this book beside the last 4 chapter is commonsense.

Dr Deming has some magnificent ideas.
Unfortunately this is Deming's Last book before he passed away. Deming is a major proponent of the PDSA Cycle (Plan, Do, Study, Act). His 14 points are very viable from a business situation. If managers were to read this book, they would be better for it. Actually this book is recommended to everyone, as it can be applied loosely to all walks of life. I've never been good at picking apart a book, so if there are any weaknesses, they aren't apparent to me. 5 Stars....also pick up "Out of The Crisis". Great Book for anyone to read!

I could not find this book anywhere until I ordered it through amazon. And when I say no one had the NOAA dive manual I mean no one, my favorite dive shop listed it as out of stock so did Barnes and Noble and Hastings where all out of stock with no definitive stocking date.But as soon as I looked at Amazon.com for the publication they had it and shipped to me very quickly.I was very impressed, so thanks again Amazon.com for your professionalism.

This book not only outlines diving processes and procedures, but also the scientific principles behind them. It is by no means light reading, but it you are looking to enhance your knowledge about diving, this is an excellent reference point.

I purchased this book to give me more information on the science of scuba diving for my Dive Con and Dive Instructor courses.

The book gives detailed information on the gas laws, decompression theory as well as information on various forms of diving from contaminated water, tri mix, nitrox etc. The book is very well written and very clear.

If you are interested in get truly advanced knowledge of the effects of scuba diving on the body, I would highly recommend this book even though it is a little on the expensive side.

You can find all the explanations you need for those difficult issues related to diving. Excellent presentation, Beautifully illustrated. Easy to understand. If you want or need to go farther in your understanding of diving, you should get this book.

I sincerely feel that the NOAA Diving Manual should be a required text for anybody who is a diving professional. The information presented is valuable to all divers: recreational, technical, scientific, and commercial. I refer to this text often and bring it to all classes I work.

Parallax is a marvellous book that will interest almost anyone who likes to read popular science and popular astronomy. It is an example of a new genre of science writing: writing a biography of a scientific puzzle that had a long life. In this case the puzzle is to find small changes in the positions of stars, due to the Earth's annual motion round the Sun. In learning about this, we find unexpected discoveries, such as the aberration of starlight. Alan Hirshfeld, a professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts, tells the story at a rattling good pace. All the science you need to grasp is explained clearly. The book truly captures the adventuresome spirit of the astronomers involved.

There have been a lot of history of science books over the last few years - Dava Sobel in particular is very popular. If you like books by her or Jared Diamond or Amir Aczel, you'll love this volume. A smooth read, but with plenty of meat. The theme of the book is also rather more important than that of Sobel's Longitude; the program for the search for parallax was laid out in Galileo's Starry Messenger, and drove astronomical progress for centuries, and is still an important area of research, while remaining mostly unkown to the public. The only scientific theme which lasted longer, or generated more incidental progress, was the search for a proof of Fermat's theorem.

I don't think you can grasp the history of science without being exposed to the material in this book. Give a copy to the budding bookish teenager in your life.

In science, clever minds and precision equipment go hand in hand. Take string theory - it sounds great [and I personally hope it's correct], but we don't have the equipment needed to do the experiments. In the book Parallax by Alan W. Hirshfeld, we take an almost two thousand year journey through history trying to confirm or deny the existence of stellar parallax - the apparent motion of a star due to the Earth's revolution. Hirshfeld introduces us to great scientific mind after scientific mind, all who knew exactly what they should see, but all thwarted in their efforts until the science of telescope making caught up with their brilliant minds. Since we know where the journey ends, part of the fun of reading Parallax comes from Hirshfeld's vivid portraits of the lives of the philosophers, astronomers, and instrument makers involved with finding stellar parallax. My favorite portrait was of Joseph Fraunhofer, telescope maker extraordinaire and survivor of incredible childhood trauma. I highly recommend Parallax by Alan W. Hirshfeld to anyone with an interest in astronomy, the history of science, or instrument making.

This is very simply a great book. The writing is clear and engaging and the history and the science are well presented in a logical chronological order. The love of the author for his subject stands out on every page; and his enthusiasm is contagious - one feels like getting a telescope (if one doesn't already have one) and start exploring the heavens. The book also illustrates in the best and most painless of ways how scientists' work complements that of others - hence progress. Highly recommended!

This is the best book on popular astonomy that I have read in many years, perhaps ever. It is hard to imagine a more balanced, better organized and readable description of a thorny technical topic than is presented here. In the mini-biographies of astonomers for 2,500 years, one is reminded ot Richard Rhodes book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" in which he capsules 20th century science, Chemistry in particular. Hirshfeld provides interesting and often amusing thumbnail sketches of all the Parallax protagonists from Aristarchus to the present. His descriptions of Tycho Brahe, Galileo and Kepler are particularlly vivid. I had always read that Tycho had his nose bitten off in a drunken brawl, but, alas, not so! It was in a drunken duel.

The balance of the book is outstanding; each progression of understanding of the magnitude of the problem is presented with equal weight. The actual magnitude and dimensions of the problem (physically measuring the movement of a star from the exremes of the earths orbit) are described in bite sized increments, until by the time that the problem is surmounted in the mid 1800s, the full appreciation of the achievement is inescapable. If genius is "an infinite capacitiy for details", then the astronomers, and Dr. Hirshfeld both fully qualify for the title.

I am enthusiastically recommending this book to every literate person I know. It is satisfying and mind stretching, beautifully constructed, illustrated and edited. A great book!

If it weren't for the illustrations, this book would be rated two stars. I saw this book advertised on Amazon's website among other children's books. The cover was so beautiful, that I had to read the reviews about the content and artistry of this book. I was seconds away from making a purchase when I decided to borrow it from the library instead. The pictures are absolutely gorgeous and I liked the way the author took a spin on the mean old woman in a shoe rhyme and made it into a loving mother bunny rhyme. Children get to learn all kinds of uncommon words (at their age) like shed, trellis, etc. but the rhymes are just names of rabbits who sleep on those objects - boring and uncreative. Example, "Zed slept on the shed" The whole book from A to Z is like that. I was wondering why such a beautifully illustrated book was not such a hot seller on Amazon's rankings and found out why. It's pretty but not educational. I don't need my little one to learn uncommon names of people that are supposed to rhyme with the objects. If you want a good ABC book, I highly recommend Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. That is by far the best. It is very educational and very fun. As for numbers, I recommend Ten Little Ladybugs and/ or Over in the Meadow. Both are just excellent.

Illustrations are wonderful. Text is silly fun, but instructive in counting and alphabet. Just don't be so taken by the beautiful bunny drawings that you decide to get a bunny for your young one- they're more adult pets, despite their cuteness. They require a lot of care, research, adult attention and space to roam. Let your kids enjoy the pretty pictures instead.

Mama bunny lives in a shoe, has 26 babes, but knows just what to do. She tucks them into various "beds" as she counts them off. The detailed illustrations are what I like best about this book. My son loves studying them. He gets a kick out of the quirky places the bunnies sleep, esp Frankie in the hankie for some reason. I wish that this was written so that the bunnies' names and the places they slept started with the same letter. That would have reinforced the alphabetic aspect of this book, but maybe it's asking too much. I still really do like this one.

Unlike so many poorly executed rhyming books, this one is a joy to read. The rhymes are well constructed and creative. And the pictures are delightful. Just tonight, my 6 year old asked me to read it again as a bedtime story, because he loves to study the engrossing pictures. And we've enjoyed this book for years. I was happy to just now see that this author/illustrator pair have done other books together.

I'm such a sucker for rhymes. Fortunately, so are my kids. There's nothing like a story with pleasant and soothing rhymes to get them off to sleep quickly (giving me more time to write reviews :D) See, there's an Old Mother Rabbit who lives in a shoe. She has 26 children (those rabbits sure know how to multiply!) but she definitely knows what to do. The tale travels through the alphabet -naming each bunny and where they fall asleep (1 is named Abel, he slept on the table.....and so on) My kids delighted in guessing where each little bunny would sleep (some places were pretty strange - like who could fall asleep in candy???) It also taught them words they don't normally use (e.g. lane, holly, kettle). Counting, the alphabet, and rhyming.... all in one sweet little bedtime story. What more could a parent ask for - besides children who beg to go to bed?

With Faulkner, and especially with The Sound and the Fury, you're in one of Three camps. You love it, you get it and you hate it, or you don't get it and you hate it. For the purpose of this review, I suppose I should note I fall in the first catagory.
Yes, a lot of (most?) people read it the first time in an English class, some of us get the pleasure of reading twice in separate English classes, and you would be hard-pressed to find an English major anywhere in America who doesn't, at the very least, say they've read it.
The first time through ain't easy. The Norton Edition helps greatly with that... I can't imagine trying to read any other edition the first time. And it's one of those 2 bookmark books... one in the novel, another in the reference section. Basically, you need a decoder ring to read it. Norton provides said decoder ring. Well, in book form. (a Faulkner decoder ring... now wouldn't that be neat?)
And, trust me, once you've gotten through it once, provided you can crack the spine again without crying, it gets better and better with subsequent reads. It's one of those "change your life" books, but without being preachy or even motivational... it's an honest and disturbing and heartbreaking and headache-inducing picture of family, community, an era, and existence as a whole.

Faulkner seems to be one of those authors you either love or hate. His stream-of-consciousness style can be hard to follow at times, but his stories are spot-on as far as the human condition is concerned. I never really got into this novel until grad school; now I can't get enough of Faulkner! Read it even if you aren't an English major!

I tried to read this book as a freshman in college, and it was utterly lost on me, I'm sad to say. At the time, I was in denial about my status as a Southerner; I just wanted to get out and move to NYC and pretend I was living in Andy Warhol's factory.

Now, as an adult, and as a writer with a forthcoming memoir about growing up in the South, TSATF is far and away my favorite book. I took it with me on a recent trip to Mexico and read it on the beach, completely unable to put it down. It's not straightforward until the third of the four sections; Benjy's section (though the most beautiful thing I have ever read) and Quentin's are stream-of-consciousness and difficult. This is where the Norton Critical Edition is so handy. The pages and pages of biographical info and criticism are compelling and insightful, and make a great companion to the book. If you buy this book, buy this edition. It's very well compiled and makes me proud that Norton is my publisher.

I read _The_Sound_and_the_Fury_ several years ago and have forgotten many of the details, but this book remains my favorite fictional work. The Norton Critical Edition provides readers with valuable insight into many of the passages, but some could probably do without the explanatory pages that follow Faulkner's actual book. Since I took an intensive course on Faulkner's work, I had help from a great professor. Even with the help of critical texts and analysis, I found _The_Sound_and_the_Fury_ to be difficult. I reread the book several times for a better understanding of certain sections.

Since other readers have provided summaries about this book, I'll just remark that this is a masterfully written book. I've read most of Faulkner's short stories and novels (except for _As_I_Lay_Dying_) and consider this to be his best work. Faulkner wrote each chapter according to the perspectives of four very different characters, and this is reflected in the form and substance of the chapters. Faulkner's long (many exceed one-third of a page), complex, and heavily detailed sentences demand concentration. It's certainly not a light read, although the book is relatively short. Overall, a beautifully haunting work that showcases Faulkner's idiosyncratic style.

This is perhaps the most difficult novel written that's worth the time to read. I'd STRONGLY suggest you buy Volpe's book on Faulkner's Novels to read along with it first. Volpe breaks down the points at which a different charecter takes over the narrative. After that, try it yourself, but Volpe is the best guide for the person new to Faulkner's harder(hardest)work. The Norton Edition has a great deal of helpful critical material which, though not in Volpe's ballpark, is very helpful. Buy this edition, but don't forget the Volpe on Faulkner's novel.

I use Stages of Faith in a human development class I teach at a small private Christian university. I use the book for two reasons. First, it still has the most foundational understanding and process for conceptualizing and defining faith development. It is old now; however, it is the central piece for dialog in faith development. Second, I appreciate the thoroughness of Fowler's stages and his interaction with other developmental theories. As a professor, I also appreciate Fowler's challenge for Christians. My students are quick to assume that Fowler is writing about Christian faith development, but he is not. I like the challenge Fowler lays out for Christians and others to appropriate his "generic" model of faith development for specific religious traditions.

If you are doubting your faith, if you are unbelieving, if you've been condemned as a "back-slider" or an "infidel," if you never had a belief in the Divine but want to understand the dynamics of faith, this book may be yours to read!

I was first given this book about 18 years ago when I found myself at odds with the faith in which I was reared. I had doubts in high school as I could no longer tolerate the literalism and simplicity of the churches I attended. I lived with the dissonance for several years. Eventually, the dissonance was so unbearable, I sought the help of a counselor.

The counselor heard my doubts and lent me this book. I read that there are different stages of faith. I realized that my doubts stemmed from growth. I realized the conflicts were the conflicts of maturity not of "back-sliding."

Now, as I see young people struggling with their spiritual growth, I talk with them and, if I feel it appropriate, I give them a copy of this book.

Although this study of James Fowler is 30 years old already, I don't know a more recent book, which describes the possible development of a believing christian so clear. In this sense, it is of more current interest than ever.

This book is a necessary book for anyone who is involved in faith/spirituality work, particularly with young people. It connects with all the major developmental theories, particularly Piaget and Kohlberg. A vital resource for graduate students involved in faith ministry and development.

This book presents a skillful conceptualization of the relationship between human development and spiritual maturity.

Any time you deal with interpersonal violence, there is a high likelihood of someone attempting to apply something beyond their own hands and feet to make the other person have a bad day. Lawrence Kane addresses that problem in this exhaustive volume.

Kane cites research showing that 70% of the male population carries a knife. In seven years there were over 1.7 million attacks in the U.S. utilizing blunt, bladed, and projectile weapons. 25% of violent crime is committed by someone bearing a weapon. You have a one-in-four chance of getting shot, beaten, or cut and stabbed every time you cross paths with a violent criminal.

Even with this in mind, most martial arts programs do not adequately take weapon defense into consideration. Obviously, this book and others like it are needed.

Kane addresses awareness, avoidance, de-escalation, legal matters, and the aftermath of violence. The meat of the matter is covered in over a hundred pages dealing with improvised weapons, firearms, knives, clubs, and all manner of weapons you are unlikely to come up against on the street; but as the author shows, stranger things have happened. It is always best to be prepared.

The book is wrapped up in the end by an incident that actually happened, as Kane analyzes what each person did right, and what they did wrong.

In 32 years I haven't read anything this comprehensive. Skip the others. Read Surviving Armed Assaults.

Surviving Armed Assaults: A Martial Artist's Guide to Weapons, Street Violence, & Countervailing Force gets to the heart of martial arts applications and safety issue, providing an entire book which focuses on proven survival skills, from awareness and avoidance to de-escalation tactics and countervailing force. In having more than just a collection of moves on hand, it encourages survival by all ways possible, making this an outstanding addition any martial arts collection must have.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Surviving Armed Assaults is so well written that it is excellent reading for anyone who is concerned about personal safety in today's turbulent world. Frank, no-nonsense information with much emphasis on preventing assaults in the first place makes this book exceptional. Although this book assumes the reader is already practicing one of the martial arts, it also offers an incentive to anyone who might be considering this option.

WOW! That is how I would describe the well organized, well thought out, cornucopia of information that is presented in Lawrence A. Kane's, "Surviving Armed Assault: A Martial Artist's Guide to Weapons, Street Violence, & Countervailing Force." I've had this book for awhile now and have, on several different occasions, sat down and skimmed through different sections when time permitted. Just recently however, I was able to sit down and read this book from cover to cover, and boy let me tell you that I was thoroughly impressed with what I read.

Lawrence does a terrific job of organizing the information presented in this book in a very easy to read and follow format that takes you through each step in the survival process. This is not a book on techniques; rather it is a book on the more important aspect of the principles behind surviving against an armed assault. Which, in my opinion, is far more important than the techniques themselves. That's not to imply that self-defense techniques are not important or valid, it simply means that the technique that may work for one person, may not work so well for another. However, the principle behind the use of the technique will generally work for everyone.

This book is so full of useful information that it should be required reading for not only the self-defense minded individual, but also those whose profession places them in situations where they are more apt to be confronted by an armed individual. This includes, but is no means limited to, law enforcement officers, security personnel, bouncers, paramedics, military personnel, etc.

Having worked as a law enforcement officer, bouncer, and provided security for various businesses and individuals over the years, I found quite a few things in Lawrence's book that I hadn't taken into consideration and am very glad that I had the opportunity to read it first instead of experiencing it in a bad way. As with any good book on the subject of self-defense, Lawrence promotes the use of awareness and avoidance as your primary and most important forms of defense over actual physical techniques. Smart and the hallmark of someone who knows what they are talking about.

Lawrence then delves into various scenarios throughout the book and ways of safely getting out of the situation you may find yourself in without resorting to a physical confrontation with your potential attacker. Some of which is so simple that I hadn't even considered them as options. Although after being presented with them I could see how effective they would and could be in certain situations.

This is followed with sections on using countervailing force and the ramifications of using such force such as; the physical and mental effects, moral implications and considerations, the possible legal ramifications of using force, etc. One point that Lawrence makes, and it is a very good one, is to always remember that the law enforcement officer that you may have to deal with is not your friend! Let me repeat that, the law enforcement officer that you may have to deal with is not your friend! Now Lawrence and I are both not saying that they are the enemy, it's just that you have to protect yourself at all times and the three best things to do are as follows:

1. Keep your mouth shut.
2. Contact your attorney.
3. Keep your mouth shut.

I was particularly fond of Lawrence's 9 rules to live by. Now I am not going to divulge them here, and since you will undoubtedly be purchasing this book after reading this and the other reviews, it will give you one of numerous things to look forward to when it arrives on your doorstep.

One particular section of note was the section related to the types of weapons you are most likely to encounter and how they function. This section is deserving of an entire volume on its own and perhaps Lawrence is working on that as I type this review and as you read it. Let us hope anyhow.

This book and the information contained within it should be a constant companion in your home library, and in the forefront of your mind whenever you are somewhere outside the confines and safety of your own home. On second thought, the information provided in this book should probably be in the forefront of your mind even when you are at home. As Lawrence so profoundly states in this book, you never know when are going to be attacked, by whom, or what that person or persons will attack you with.

I highly recommend this book, "Surviving Armed Assaults," as well as, "The Way of Kata," and "Martial Arts Instruction" all by Lawrence A. Kane as valuable additions to your personal martial arts library.

Shawn Kovacich, martial artist/author of the Achieving Kicking Excellence series.

I will admit that I started reading this book a bit biased toward it being good. I have read other books by Kane that I enjoyed, I've contributed a chapter, as did Kane, to Loren Christensen's "Fighter's Fact Book 2" and Christensen wrote a Foreword for the book, and to top if off, best selling author Barry Eisler mentioned me in his praise for the book on the inside cover. So yes, I expected it to be a good book and one that I would like.

However, what I did not expect is how good it really is and how much excellent material Kane offers in this one volume. Because of the things mentioned in the first paragraph, one could easily say I am biased, and maybe I am a bit. With that said, I am writing a review and endorsing this book wholeheartedly because it is an exceptional addition to anyone's self-defense library and a book that has potential to save lives if people read it and listen to Kane's advice.

The first chapter is on awareness, a topic I also write and speak about, so I was especially interested in what Kane had to say. So what does he do? He starts the chapter off with a quote from Ani DiFranco, "Any tool is a weapon if you hold it right." This grabbed my attention because I once headed the local security for a concert of hers and had a very good talk about penjak silat with her bodyguard as we waited for her to change so we could walk her to the bus. It means nothing to anyone else, but hooked me. I continued and was fully engrossed with the statistics and examples Kane provided relating to violence. Reading those made me glad that there are those of us out here doing what we can to prevent violence and teach people to avoid or deal with it if necessary. Something Kane's "Surviving Armed Assaults" does very well. Kane did an excellent job with his chapter on awareness, and even though he teaches a modified color code a bit differently than I teach, I believe this chapter should be read by everyone in order to wake up and be more aware so they could avoid many potentially dangerous situations.

Speaking of avoidance, that was the focus of chapter two. Kane not only makes a great argument of why you should avoid violence, but provides strategies to do so. He follows this with a chapter on scenarios that extends the awareness and avoidance topics to situations such as car jackings, cash machine safety, hostage situations, sexual assault, rape, workplace violence and more. Before dealing with physical responses, Kane focuses on de-escalation strategies in chapter four. This is an often overlooked aspect of self-defense books and a welcome and needed addition here. Many self-defense books focus on striking and kicking and forget that if you can talk your way out of a situation you will be much better off than having fought your way out. Kane gives some excellent advice with his de-escalation strategies and I again wish everyone would learn these. One of the reasons a person is much better off by de-escalating a situation is because of the potential legal ramifications that may follow a physical altercation. As an attorney, I am very familiar with such things, and feel that Kane did a good job with his chapter on countervailing force that included legal considerations.

The remaining chapters focus on armed conflict, rules to live by, the aftermath of violence, and weapon features and functions. Some of the information in these chapters is biased toward Kane's karate training. Practitioners from other styles may not benefit from these chapters as much as the first ones, but I would encourage everyone to take even the karate parts and look how the principles behind what Kane teaches applies to their own art or self-defense system. (Kane's nine rules could apply to any art or system)

This is an excellent book filled with practical and realistic information related to weapons and violence. There is researched data and personal anecdotes that support Kane's perspectives on violence and his illustrations of real violence and what to do about it, or most importantly, how to be aware of it and avoid it altogether. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to martial artists and anyone interested in self-defense.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author, speaker
Hard-Won Wisdom From The School of Hard Knocks, Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, and The Lock On Joint Locking series