I studied finance in college and I think I could have just read this book instead of most of the finance classes I took.

First of all, "The Money Game" starts out with the thesis that the stock market and all other equity markets are just a game. It is not long-term investing that wins in this game for most. This would be heresy for most finance professors and financial planners out there. One example from the book involves a family that passed IBM stock down from generation to generation, it was only sold to cover estate taxes. Many members in the family became very wealthy. However, they worked just hard as their cohorts with no money, and the buy and hold stretagy profited them almost nothing despite the fact that they were "wealthy." Another example is a man who died in the late 1800s with a portfolio worth over $1,000,000. By the time the inheretence was passed down, the portfolio was worth 0, as the companies had gone out of business.

"The Money Game" gives a great explanation of crital issues such as technical analysis, fundamental analysis, mass psychology, mutual funds and their managers, "performance" vs. more conservative funds, accounting practices, random walk theory, "valuation" of equities, and most importantly the money game itself.

Ever wonder how a company like Priceline.com could be worth more than the market capitalization of all the airline stocks put together? This book explains how something so out of whack can happen and gives many examples.

In this game, money is how you keep score. When someone is making lots of money, they are winning the game. When they are loosing money, they are loosing the game. But the game is there to be played, win, lose, or draw. For the players, it's just too tempting to stay in, it is vital, it is life for many.

Much to my surprise, I find myself in agreement with a prize winning economist (Paul Samuelson has dubbed the book a "modern classic," and it is). A brief but insanely great read, Adam Smith made me laugh out loud at least half a dozen times with his dry sarcasm and sardonic wit. If 'Reminiscences of a Stock Operator' is the all time ultimate classic for traders, then 'The Money Game' is the all time ultimate classic for investors.

Written almost a decade before I was born, the book is just as relevant today as it was in the latter half of the sixties. The high flyers Smith writes about are so similar to those of the 1990's bubble, it is literally as if nothing but the symbols have changed (and perhaps the clothing styles). Sixties screamers like Brunswick and Solectron were bid up to hundreds of times earnings, then flamed out and fell through the floor with spectacular declines of 90% or more- just like the JNPR's and CMGI's and JDSU's of our more enlightened age. The Great Winfield, master tape reader of his day, is the perfect 1960's equivalent to the modern daytrader banging bids on Island or Selectnet. The technical analysts of the sixties, with their punch cards and their vacuum tube computers, are in perfect harmony with the high powered number crunchers and stochastics trackers of today. And when Smith discusses the complete and utter wackiness of corporate accounting methods, complete with a hundred and one ways to massage earnings statements six ways to Sunday while technically remaining within the law, you would swear he is foreshadowing the fall of Enron. And of course there is good old John Jerk, proud representative of the general public, buying high, selling low and getting taken behind the woodshed by the smarter players, just as he still is today (but don't worry John, you'll come out okay in the "long term," really truly you will, snicker).

Smith also takes some time near the end of the book to roast the gold bugs, who were the same bunch of pessimistic doom mongers back then as they are today (surprise!). The uber-pessimists had their brief moment in the sun in the early 80's, but of course 99% of them gave it all back too. What self respecting bug would have cashed in with gold at $800 an ounce when it was surely going to infinity? ...

The old hands are always saying that the game is the same. Young gunslingers and wet behind the ears traders nod and smile, because they know the old timers are wise- yet the youngsters are still naïve enough to harbor doubts in the back of their minds as to whether it is true. Is the game always the same? Couldn't it be different this time? Couldn't it? 'The Money Game' really, seriously puts the issue to rest. There is no way a book written in 1966 could sound perfectly suited to 2001, no way that bowling stocks and fiber optic packet switching stocks could give the exact same performances under mania circumstances, unless the game is always indefinitely, immutably the same. And why shouldn't it be? We can put a man on the moon, but we certainly aren't any more humble or mature than we were yesterday. Our knowledge may increase but our greed and our fear stay the same.

Bravo Adam Smith (or should I say George Goodman). I don't know if you are even still alive to read this praise, but your book is as fresh today as it was on the day you wrote it.

This is a great book on many levels, for both investors and non-investors.

The setting is Wall Street in the late 1960s. Alcohol flows freely, and smoking is not taboo (don't forget about sex, these were the "Go-Go Years"). It is an almost exclusively male, smaller, whiter, and more white-shoe environment (most women in the book are referred to as "pretty young things"). Nevertheless, don't let the differences fool you; there are many things to be learned in this tale told from the inside.

New York has come into its own as a financial center in the 1960s, and the electricity in the air is communicated through the pages. London, which was more of a co-equal in the prior, twenties bull market, is now a shadow, with Wall Street houses decorating their dining rooms with (page 223) "...paneling [that has] been flown over from busted merchant banks in the City of London..." The foundations of the confident World Trade Center are being drawn up. Older Depression-era Wall Street hands are still dominant, but as the Vietnam War hovers in the background, cracks in the establishment are beginning to show as twenty and thirty something "gunslinger" investment managers show up on the scene.

Almost every major investment paradox or problem we face today is foreshadowed in miniature in this book. As a work of literature, it combines an engaging text with profound underlying meaning. The chapter "What Do the Numbers Mean?" on aggressive accounting was eerily prescient.

The constant presence of John Maynard Keynes and Sigmund Freud as background figures to the culture of the times left an odd taste in my mouth, but the author (George J.W. Goodman, writing under the pen name "Adam Smith") never missed a beat in deftly applying their insights to the world of finance. The book has a strong undercurrent of behavioral finance, but it's about much more than that. There's a lot of humor, but there is also tragedy, when he recounts the tale of burnt-out and broke ex-millionaire Harry (many names are changed in the book to protect anonymity):

(p. 93) "Time is getting shorter," Harry said. "I'll be forty soon. You have to do what you're going to do. All professionals use leverage. You have to, or you end up just another face in the crowd, someone who worked on the Street thirty years and saw a lot of markets and retired with a hundred and twenty thousand dollars. That's no reason to be on the Street."

(p. 96) "[Goodman comments on Harry's misfortune] We all know what a millionaire is, and when the adding machine says, "$1,000,000," there is a beaming figure facing it. But when the machine says 00.00 there should be no one at all because that identity has been extinguished, and the trouble is that sometimes when the adding-machine tape says 00.00 there is still a man there to read it."

Read this book, whether you are an investor, English major or engineer. You'll get a lot out of it.

There are books galore about spirituality, covering many aspects from simple How To's, to the mystical insights of past and current masters. Most of these have one thing in common: they are all written by a teacher targeting a student willing and eager to dive into the deep ocean on questions about life and the divine.

Far fewer are the books which cover the deep longing, the seemingly never-ending search for answers from the perspective of the student, and the many strange paths this sometimes can take during a lifetime. The Quest Seeking The new Adam is such a book. Written as a series of often strange encounters and the ensueing conversations with a native American medicine man, this story follows the tribulations of a man called Adam - a seeker.

This short novel so very well illustrates the agony, frustrations, and doubts of the beginning seeker, and it follows through all the way to the slow acceptance and understanding of who and what we are truly are, ending in the climax of the great inner revelation, the first glimpse of the divinity we are.

And the teacher, the "Old Man" as he is known in the story? Though naturally comming from the Native Americam Indian traditions, his teachings are universal, as all divine truth must be. This universality is exemplified in one of the names by which he is known: Phanes. A greek name - and true to the name he frequently uses the greek myth of Prometheus to help bring understanding to the student.

The latter alone is a good reason to read this short story, but certainly not its sole quality. As a seeker my self (and who is not, at one time or another?) I was able to easily empathize with the character of Adam. It could just as easily been me in this story, and not some distant personae. When I started reading this book, I was unable to put it down until I had finished it from cover to back. Though many of the concepts in the book were not new to me ("Thou art God", being perhaps the most important, and sometimes shocking one to some), the path itself taken by Adam is certainly different than my own and others, and so can give many an insight to the reader.

This book is not for casual reading, but for all seekers in the world, both beginners, and for those who may have already journeyed some distance. And as such, I would recommend it to any one, any time. A book I most certainly will read more than once.

With "The Quest Seeking the New Adam" Norman Wilson has created a modern vedantic epic in which a 21st century noble prince or son questions and receives instruction from a contemporary sagacious brahmin or an aspect of the deity. In a smoothly flowing narrative he introduces the reader to many of the great questions and ideas of philosophy and modern science and makes them accessible to almost everyone. I am eagerly awaiting his next effort.

If you have read and enjoyed Pirsig's, best seller, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," you will love Dr. Wilson's "The Quest Seeking the New Adam." Being at the stage of my own life where I am questioning what's really important, I found Wilson's book to be enlightening. It renewed my interests in self-discovery, mythology, and cosmic spirituality. Well done, and well received.

It seems cruel to review this book because you can't get it anymore. My old copy is held together with rubber bands. I liked everything about it. All the characters were wonderful; the history was accurate; the mystery and intrigue were mysterious and intriguing. The secondary characters were almost better than the main characters. Good wasn't always pretty and Evil was evil with reasons and, sometimes, even strengths. You could hiss the villians and cheer the good guys but you knew that these people lived and you mourned and rejoiced with them. When the hero finally wins his lady's love, it's a timeless moment. Her love is an achievement...not a casual tumble in the normal historical bodice ripper. My only complaint about this book was it was too short and there's never been a sequel. If you can find a copy, read it - you'll love it.

I bought a copy of this book when it was first published in 1973 and it remains on my once a year "must read" list. The story of Red Adam and his lady Julitta is an exciting chronicle of romance, suspense, mystery, and contains the best descriptions of everyday medieval life ever put down on paper. Grace Ingram's tight, poetic prose puts to shame the modern ... that masquerades as historical romance fiction.
Mistaken for a peasant wench, Julitta di Montrigord is carried off one night by the drunken lord of Brentborough, Adam de Lorismond. To save her virtue, she knocks him silly with a stool. What she knocks into him, of course, is love. What follows is a most marvelous tale of coerced marriage that ripens into friendship and desire and the growing maturity of two young people who must learn to deal with villanious servants, abhorrent relatives and treacherous neighbors.
This author also wrote a book called Gilded Spurs and under the name of Doris Sutcliffe Adams wrote Power of Darkness, No Man's Son and The Price of Blood. None of these books, in my opinion, approaches the spectacular storytelling she achieves in Red Adam's Lady. Grace Ingram is a pseudonym and we have only two books under her name. Red Adam's Lady is a ten star romance. Grace, if you are still with us, give us one more!

I am so thrilled to finally discover that others love this little-known book as much as I do. I too have read it over and over for years now. I can only reiterate what's been said above: it's romantic, fun, suspenseful, well-written, and full of great characters. If only it could go on and on . . . .

We got copies for all of our friends because kids really seem to like it--the coloring part is really, really well done, and they like having the history stuff read to them (unless they're old enough to read it, themselves).

Highly recommended.

Even though I have lived in New England for years, I learned a great deal about Rhode Island from RIAtoZ. The illustrations are charming, and the text makes this much more than a typical kids book. It's written from the perspective of someone who knows and truly loves Little Rhody. There should be a book like this for every state in the Union!!

We had Adam come to perform his Acme Miniature Circus at our Theatre in Brookline MA. He brought some books to sell, and I wanted to comment on how great the books are. Our patrons really loved them. We get a lot of kids and parents as patrons, and they all thought the book was fabulous. We are not even in Rhode Island! The book is entertaining, informative, and well worth getting.

I was sure this book would get a Lammy nomination and I can't believe it didn't. It's the best piece of lesbian-written lesbian-centered fantasy I've read in years. The story is flawless, the writing exceptional and greatly moving. ...

This isn't a scary book in the least, but the emotions and powers at work raised the hair on the back of my neck at times! This was a fascinating read with fresh characters beyond Xena, Gabrielle, or Elves and the other common types in fantasy novels or series. Women,lesbians all, and profoundly human most of the time. There were a couple of stomach-punching plot twists all in all just a thought providing and intriguing and entertaining novel. Like everyone else, it seems, I want book two and I want it now!

It's mythic, it's poignant, it's tragic, it's magical. Those are the elements I love in Mercedes Lackey's work. Sleight of Hand is better, because it's also passionately, unreservedly, openly about lesbians. No teasing, no subtext. The writing is first rate -- lyrical and timeless in the parts placed in the distant past, contemporary and fitting for those parts in the present time. This is a great book, and engrossing. I want book 2, and I want it now!

It felt as if Jane Adams was sitting at my kitchen table helping me work through my complicated feelings about my daughter and her beau. With her warm and practical wisdom, this author manages to provide generous comfort and sound advice at the same time.

If you feel guilty, or critical, or even just frustrated with your grown-up kids, you'll find this book reads like a tall glass of cold water on a really hot day.

My brother gave this book to our mother on her birthday, which I found to be a tad on the passive aggressive side. But, then again, she has been particularly disappointed in the men we've become, particularly my brother, who's still on probation for something he did a few years back. So I read the book out of curiosity, and I found it to be the most beautiful and forgiving message I'd ever heard. We live in a society that's so critical of everyone and everything, that this book was a genuine relief to find. People don't have to live up to all a parent's expectations, and they're better for finding their own trails in life. For instance, my father wanted me to be a professional baseball player, despite the fact that I'm nearly blind in one eye. He still says I never made it past high-school ball because of my work ethic, not the fact that I was constantly getting plunked in the head. So maybe Dad is going to get a little stocking stuffer as well. Bravo.

Timing is everthing! And Dr. Jane Adams has advice for parents of grown children just when they need it most. With empty nests refeathering and many "kids" looking for handouts and bailouts, the American family can learn from the examples and the guidelines in this new book.
A long time after the kids should have flown, too many parents are still trying to "make it all better" for their offspring. Dr. Adams points out how hard it is sometimes to let adult children make their own way and how essential it is for parents to get out of the way and make lives of their own. With compassion and insight, Dr. Adams offers a lifeline for the beleaguered of the still-parenting generation. Read this book if the conditions apply to you now. Read this book now so you can avoid problems in the future!

This book is a great resource for developing a home practice, and learning about the spirtual benefits of yoga.

I love this book. It is one of a kind. Easy to use. There are 12 spiritual muscles to work with. You can use the book in the order you wish. The author encourages you to make your own yoga posture. A treasure of a book.

This is by far the best yoga book I have ever encountered. The content, design, photography and overall feel of the book are superb. This book exemplifies everything yoga is and will be a tremendous asset to anyone wanting to start or go deeper into the path of yoga.

A wonderful collection of black and white photography. Reproduced on quality photographic paper which is ideal to frame at the end of the year. Ansel Adams brings nature into your house in the most expert fashion. Each photograph is superbly shot. Wonderful!

Pauline Gaston

and not a wall calendar

These photos take my breath away. They've inspired me so much

Very intriguing novel. I'm looking forward to Greenberg's next book. However, being a Catholic, I found Mr Greenberg's use of Jesus Christ as an expletive on just about every other page, very offensive. In case he decides to write another novel, I wish he'd take my review into consideration and refrain from using the Lord's name in vain.

Dr. Greenberg's first novel is very exciting. I was eager to finish one page to get to the next but had to savor each page of well written characters, scenes and emotion. If you like a good thriller with complexity and depth, you will enjoy Adam's Will.

I was looking for a good thriller/mystery and I found it in Steven Greenburg's first novel Adam's Will. I was captivated from the first to the last page and I contribute this to the author's passion for the written word. Mr. Greenburg developed and excellent and exciting plot with several unexpected and startling twists that will keep you guessing at one of America's most puzzling mysteries. If you haven't read Adam's Will, go get it and enjoy a fresh and electrifying experience!

The second book of Cecil Adams' Straight Dope is here...
A good follow up for the fabulous first part and full of astounding data...
Get ready for hilarious laughter and information absorbtion...

Cecil Adams is a hoot. It's that simple. I'm the first to admit that his style may not be for everyone. If you don't enjoy the smart-alec humor of David Letterman, the irreverence of Saturday Night Live, and the take-no-prisoners approach of James Randi, than maybe the "Straight Dope" isn't for you.

For the uninitiated, The Straight Dope is a weekly newspaper column (appearing mostly in local "freebie" papers such as Madison's Isthmus) wherein Cecil (the smartest human alive) answers all manner of questions put to him by the "teeming millions." Do fish breathe? Do birds pee? Are there really 57 varieties of Heinz Ketchup? No question is too trivial for Cecil, and he applies a surprising degree of scholarship to all queries, mixing it all with a sharp-tongued wit and repartee with his correspondents that will leave you laughing out loud, guaranteed.

The books, numbering 5, collect the best of his columns into loosely organized chapters and include occasional updated information since the questions and answers were originally printed.

A few examples from 3rd book (Return of the Straight Dope, 1994), which is the one I happen to have from the library right now:

p. 338: Why do stars twinkle? Cecil supplies the correct answer, embedded as always, firmly within his razor sharp wit: "Ben, you amateur, stars don't 'twinkle.' They exhibit 'stellar scintillation.' The Pentagon isn't going to fund a damn twinkle study."

p. 63-64: A straight-down-the-pipe debunking of Uri Geller, as only Cecil can do. James Randi (whom Cecil sites as a source) has nothing on Adams. This is also a good example of Cecil's "dialog" with his readers. A reader wrote in to tell of his first hand encounter with Geller years before, and why Geller couldn't possibly have faked the spoon bending (or whatever) because this reader never took his eyes off the spoon, yada yada. Adam's reply shows his appropriately skeptical approach to such situations, where he stresses how many supposed "experts" were completely bamboozled by Geller's slight of hand and misdirection.

p. 349: The inertia of air, as seen in the helium balloon in a car experiment; p. 146 if you toss a ball in the air while inside the cabin of a flying airplane, does the total weight of the craft decrease by the amount of the ball's weight? (no, and he does a great job handling the physics involved).

The "Straight Dope" collections are a skeptical reader's delight, and totally entertaining to boot. I highly recommend them for casual reading, but don't be surprised if you learn something along the way.

By the way, there's apparently some debate about whether Cecil's a real person or not. I don't have an answer ... but it doesn't matter to me. The books are well written and right on target scientifically.

One more tidbit (this one from the straightdope.com web site), to a reader who asked what the deal is with Nostradamus, Cecil replied: "There are two schools of thought on Nostradamus: either (1) he had supernatural powers which enabled him to prophesy the future with uncanny accuracy, or (2) he did for ... what Stonehenge did for rocks. I incline to the latter view."

Cecil goes on to give a more detailed (and very accurate) response re: the whole Nostradamus thing, showing again his serious attempt to combat the epidemic of silly pseudoscience that so many of the "teeming millions" seem inclined to accept at face value.

And that really seems to be the bottom line for Cecil, and the best reason to read the column and the books.

This title in question, Return of the Straight Dope by Cecil Adams, et al is one the most amusing books that I have read in a very long time. In this silly little book one is told how astronauts go to the bathrrom in space, Where Pondunk is and how in the world can they have interstate Highways in Hawii when the state is an plethora of islands far away from the mainland. Cecil Adams answers to this questions are quick witted, funny and ultimately quite informative. Highly Recommended.