I love bookshops! That's why I dropped "Bag of Bones" (no offense to Mr. King!) down when I spotted this book at Cody's last year. The beginning of the book was quite interesting and informative because the authors wrote about the history of the bookshop itself. But . . . it seems like most of the pages from the middle of the book on were devoted to the political and social history of Berkeley. That's where it lost me. I haven't managed to finish the book since. (But planning to somewhere in time!)

Fred & Pat Cody started Cody's Books in 1956, and it has grown to be one of the most well-known bookstores in Northern California, if not the world. The book is presented in epistolary format, with letters primarily from Fred Cody to relatives. Herein, he presents a view of the trials and tribulations of running a bookstore: cramped stores, devoted (and not) employees, visits from the 'travelers,' or book reps, and many other interesting pieces of information for those of us who frequent the bookstores of the country. The letters are interwoven with narration from Pat Cody, who provides the context for the letters, as well as interesting information, such as the best-selling books for a given year. If it were only a view of what it's like to run a bookstore, it would be fascinating, but it is important to realize that not only was Cody's provided a ringside seat for the famous Berkeley riots and demonstrations, but that Fred Cody was a major participant in trying to arbitrate between the two sides. Cody's routinely gets gassed (so much so that they have ledger entries reading "Closed 1:00pm due to riots and gas"); it's windows get broken; Fred is alternately viewed as one of the hippies and one of the "establishment," depending on who he's talking to. All-in-all, it's not quite what one would expect from a bookseller's life. If you're looking for some insight into what it's like to run a bookstore, or what it was like to be right in the thick of things of Berkeley in the 60's, this is an excellent book to read. Fred Cody's writing is, in the earlier days, a bit pretentious-sounding, but that clears up quickly.Indeed, I found myself in tears when reading the last item in the book, a tribute to Fred after his death.

The author demonstrates his deep involvement in every hip trend of the last 40 years. His writing skills can't sustain it. By the time he casually shoos away a mother bear and her cub because they were disturbing his meditation, I was hoping she would bite him. There are much better Zen autobiographies available, such as Thank You and OK! by David Chadwick, and Ambivalent Zen by Laurence Shainberg. There must be better examples of drug nostalgia, too. Also, this guy seems fixated on his bottom. Is that a Zen thing?

The San Francisco/Berkeley world of the 60s provided fertile ground for all manner of spiritual, political, social and artistic experiments. In this book, author Storlie recounts the then-common intersection of drug experimentation and Zen practice, and how the former led to a more lasting embrace of the latter.

The book is in two halves. The first half talks about the author's drug trips and his introduction to Zen. Apparantly, drug experimentation in the 60s happened in a context where it was necessarily seen as a spiritual quest. People who liked reading the "Don Juan" books will enjoy the author's retelling of the high and low points of several drug trips; I didn't, because I've never seen drugs as a spiritual tool, rather the opposite. Once the author finally comes to the same conclusion -- that drugs point to enlightenment but cannot lead there -- he takes up Zen practice more seriously, and becomes a student of Dainin Katagiri and one of the founders of the Minnesota Zen Center. That's the book's second half.

Throughout the book, the author constantly reminds us that, for all his time as a hippie, drug user, and zen practitioner, he is really a very manly hiker and useful handyman. He recounts several daring hiking trips, and the whole book is told from the perspective of a day spent hiking and meditating in the wilderness near his mountain hut. There was a bit too much of this for my taste.

In summary, this book is informative about the establishment of Zen in America in the 1960s through the 80s, but weakened by the author's incessant self-focus and self-promotion.

A valuable first-hand gonzo-historical account of many of the second generation of Zen teachers in America. Read this along with 'How the Swans Came to the Lake', for more nitty gritty detail of what it really takes to get a Zen Center going on a day-to-day basis. Though the author has few dramatic 'Three Pillars' type 'enlightenment' stories to relate, then again, neither do most long-term Zennies! But at the end, equanimity arises nevertheless, amazing! Bodhi, Svaha!

Though First Aid for Step 1 was a great book that helped a lot of medical students through the first two years and boards, this book just doesn't match up. The content is fairly flimsy and the information on the computerized exam is lacking.

Save your money and read something else. Although this review book is designed to be high yield, the information contained is TOO BASIC to be helpful. I learned almost nothing new from reading this book. The USMLE will test a deeper level of experience and knowledge than is contained in this book. Anyone who has had an adequate medical education will find the information in this book almost trivial. There are few decent Step 2 review books out there; this isn't one of them. BIG disappointment compared to First Aid for Step 1.

First Aid for the USMLE Step 2, on its new edition brings readers preparing for the Step 2 of the American Boards a better book than previous issues. Content has been revised and expanded, and, although worse than the Step 1 equivalent, it is still the best book available to prepare for Step 2. It is excelent for last minute review, and also contains a very helpful analysis of other available board review books. Major problem is the abusive use of abbreviations that are not explained in the appendix.

The problem with the contents of this book is that they are mostly standard, or require a simple trick. Many problems also require quite a bit of knowledge in higher mathematics, which may be good if you want to test that.

However, this book is not for problem solving enthusiasts.

A GOOD COLLECTION OF PROBLEMS THAT HAVE BEEN THE BENCH MARK OF SELECTION TO THE PhD PROGRAMME AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKLEY IN MATHEMATICS. THERE IS A WIDE RANGE OF PROBLEMS THAT COMPRISE SOME SIMPLE AND SOME HARDER NUTS TO CRACK.THE PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN PUT IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY HAVE APPEARED IN THE EXAMS. NOT ALL QUESTIONS FIND SOLUTIONS IN THE BOOK HENCE THIS KEEPS UP THE SPIRIT OF THE EXAMINATION BUT THE SOLVED ONES SHALL HELP TO VENT FRUSTARTION OR OVER COME FALIURE AT TIMES. THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE PLANNING TO TAKE UP A PhD IN MATHEMATICS TO GUAGE THEIR AREAS OF STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS.A VERY WELL COMPILED SET THAT COMES YET AGAIN WITH THE GUIDENCE OF P.R.HALMOS.

David Berman writes a thought-provoking monograph on the philosophy of George Berkeley. Although at times I wished for less in the way of quotes from George Berkeley's actual works and more analysis, I do feel the book has informed me and interested me in reading more of Berkeley's original works.

This great bookstore in Berkeley, Calif. is the queen of the Bay Area bookstores. It's true, the bookstore has been in the forefront of political activism - the Free Speech Movement, the Viet Nam War, and all the politically correct and groovy issues of the Left. And that's where Cody's Books fault lies. It has naively romanticized about and tacitly supported the idea of the International Communist Movement, and every Marxist-oriented cause, every leftist writer. It supported the Communist side during the struggle of the Polish workers "Solidarity" movement. It never offered a voice of support and hope for the people of Eastern Europe during the final days of the Soviet Union. Its emphasis on political correctness of Left always was and remains today, tiresome and troubling, but Cody's Books, where you seldom find the cheap remnants of Martha Stewart or Oprah, is one great bookstore.

Though the book publication is over 10 years old, most of the material presented is still valid for today's UNIX operating systems. Written for the beginner UNIX (csh) user, the author does an adequate job of explaining the most commonly used UNIX commands and tools (VI, mail, etc). Individuals looking for UNIX administration info and intermediate UNIX users should look elsewhere for more updated and advanced texts.

Essays on Andric and his legacy; two are of more general Bosnian interest. 'Bosnian cultural identity in the works of Andric', by Tomislav Longinovic, discusses the elements of 'Orientalism' (in the Edward Said sense) in his work; a paper by John Loud discusses Andric's fiercely anti-Ottoman (and anti-Muslim) doctoral dissertation and its echoes in his other writings.

For those of us unable to make the trip to Stockholm to view the Nobel archives, Crawford has compiled an excellent reference guide for historical study of the Nobel prizes in chemistry and physics. The Nobel Population 1901-1950 is an updated version of her 1987 census, identifying every nominee and nominator by name, date of birth, nationality, and institutional affiliation. It includes an introduction detailing the nomination and selection process and explaining the rational behind the information included in the census. The book concludes with a useful and (as far as this reader could ascertain) accurate name index of everyone mentioned in the Nobel committee's secretaries' lists from 1901-1950. Also included is a user-friendly CD-ROM. This interactive tool provides all the information in the book, and allows researchers to organize and sift through the information in a variety of ways. It is easy to view entire lists of nominations for and by individuals and reorganize the entire database by nominator or nominee country of origin, year, or science. In the computerized database, prize recipients are clearly noted by a golden coin next to their name. The Nobel Population, and especially its accompanying CD-ROM, should be an essential companion for any scholar studying the Nobel Prize in the first half of the 20th century, or any reader with in an interest in the statistics behind the scientific award.

The supposedly 2001 edition is not updated to reflect the current recesion going on in California. The book starts buy saying "The California economy is booming..." Other than that it has lot of infomation- yellow pages style.