Perfect for the scientific professional or manager who must deal
with U.S. patents. Although technical throughout, I was never
lost or floundering. Well organized, well written, and just the
length and depth, I wish all technical books were of this
quality.

This book does NOT deal with corporate strategy for intellectual
property, nor does it get into much detail on how to write a
patent. There are, however, other books that directly address
these topics.

While waiting to find out if my application to the PTO to sit for the next patent bar exam was approved, and prior to obtaining a full-fledged course of study on patent practice, I decided to invest in this book to get a better idea of what I was getting into. I must say that not only did I get a comprehensive introduction to the topic, but it was also an enjoyable read. The author uses subtle humor to get the points across, as exemplified by his use of various, patented mousetrap designs as examples, and his knowledge of patent law is superb. Indeed, there is hardly a page in the book sans footnotes and citations to case law.

Now that I am into the thick of learning the subject in detail in preparation for the exam, I find the subject matter familiar and that the overall perspective gained from Patent Law Essentials is invaluable.

This is a well organized, informative book that should be useful to any technical professional, especially, who wishes to demystify the arcane practice of patent prosecution.

This book gets to the point and is very well organized. The author apparently put a lot of thought into the flow of the book, making it very intuitive to follow. I've learned more from this small book, than I have from a book 5 times the size. The footnotes all throughout the book are excellent references as well (especially when studying for the patent exam). The author seems extremely knowledgable, and more importantly, does a great job relaying that knowlege onto the reader.

A good book is capable of opening your eyes to a whole new reality, Ms. Durham does that here. An Italian historian once wrote that the Albanian territories were across the Adriatic Sea yet less known than darkest Africa, this is a valiant effort to remedy that. Ms. Durham ventures, illegaly, into northern "High" Albania with an intrepid curiosity and through Western eyes proceeds to open up the vast horizons of Albanian culture. Imagine a society so isolated by the Alps and suspiscion of outsiders that they still have a ready grasp on pre-Christian traditions and myth. Read this and learn of the highland clans, the "besa", the rights of blood and honour that decimated entire generations of males and oh so much more.

Ms. Durham managed to earn the love and respect of those that trusted no one and had been maltreated by all. She lobbied tirelessly, if vainly, for her adopted people for her entire life and in the end was embraced as the "Queen of the Mountain People." This truly is an exceptional book. Read it.

Edith Durham is the undisputed "Queen of the Northern Albanian Alps". She takes you along her tour in Victorian/British-English fashion through the Northern Albanian Alps just after the turn of the century and you feel as if you were just whisked away to ford the streams and climb the mountains with her.

Remarkable as it was to have traversed this landscape in 1909, it was nothing short of a miracle for a woman to have done it. She gained the respect of those she met, showing respect for the great traditional law of the Gheg Albanians--the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini. She was offered "bread and salt" at every table and never doubted the Albanian people's ability to show mikpritje (hospitality) towards an outsider as herself.

Furthermore, I loved the stories she relates about her visits to the specific tribes. She peppers them occasionally with Albanian parables that she was told along the way. For me, this book was amazing and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The totally engaging travel diary of a woman who explored High Albania in the years before the constitution. It is illustrated, though sparsely, with her own charming sketches.

The book explains the complex tribal system of social relationship where strict rules on intermarriage inevitably spark off tribal blood feuds. It is another view of this worlds love affair with the gun. You will be intrigued by the tradition of the "Albanian virgin".

I came to understand better, through reading this book,the civilizing power of government. The author also deals with the development of the concept of individuation and personal responsibility. This is often accompanied by the original folk stories that Ms Durham recorded.

Edith Durham became for a time unofficial "Queen" in recognition of her contributions to social welfare. The daughter of an English surgeon, she never married, but fell in love on a holiday trip and gave her life to a people. I would like to read more by, or about this woman.

Peters brilliantly examines the problem of communication and explores many of the major themes in the history of communication theory. This is a beautifully written and insightful work, more philosophy than history, that will have you thinking about what really is essential about human expression. Peters adroitly critiques the romantic new age veneration of dialogue and traces its origins from Socrates to the present day. "In certain quarters," he observes, "dialogue has attained something of a holy status. It is held up as the summit of human encounter." The author argues convincingly that dialogue is highly overrated, for not only are we incapable of accurately conveying our thoughts to others, but it is usually insufficient or even dangerous to do so. Further, objective "truth" is neither an attainable, nor sufficient goal for communicators, "The authentic representation of self or world not only is impossible, it is also never enough."

At times Peters seems to wander unnecessarily into discussions of such topics as spiritualism, extrasensory perception and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, but these tangents ultimately provide significant insights into the human yearning for meaningful contact.

Peters calls much of modern communications "Unmitigated bleat mixed with the rare voice of truth crying in the wilderness," a criticism not only of broadcast media, but of intimate personal conversation as well. We may chastise the media for perpetuating social inequalities and spotlighting vulgarity but, per Peters, "such criticism ought not to overlook the inequalities that exist outside media or the tawdriness that fills our hearts unbidden." Media may more reflect than shape the contents of the human heart: a scary conclusion, perhaps, but one worth thinking about.

Communication is often received as a universal category by which the nature of human species is expressed. For Habermas, in particular, communicative competence (i.e., language) distinguishes human beings from other animals; he defines communication as a more substantial feature in human association than labor that takes the most privileged position in historical materialism. Then, is it possible to analyze the whole array of social, historical and political relationships among human beings in terms of the modes of communication, as historical materialism tried to do so? It may be possible with high degree of abstractions and some degree of reductionism.

But let us insert us onto the scene and look ourselves against the backdrop of the scene. Why do we want to understand ourselves in terms of communication, and from when? If the questions are like these, John Peters' Speaking into the Air may be a good and, perhaps, the first introduction. By taking self-reflective and historical perspective, John Peters seems to relativize the philosophical proposition that humans are "speaking animal"(Aristotle). That is, the author aims to redefine the idea of communication as the essence of human species as a historical phenomenon. His question is: from when have "we defined ourselves in terms of our ability to communicate with one another"(p.1)? And his answer is that the idea of communication as spiritual interpenetration is a modern invention. Then, the question to be sought hereafter may be why communication was problematized or how the concept of communication was invented in a particular period in history, although we always communicate. He implies that the feeling of "breakdown" or "impasses" of communication (due to the beginning of mass communication), and the search for "mutual communion of souls" gave birth to the modern concept of communication which, at the same time, he wants to criticize. His primary method may well be to search historical "traces". Historical method implies already a communication between the alive and the dead. The dead say their stories to us by borrowing or utilizing the mouth and the hand of the alive as a medium. The dead do not also say their stories to historians for themselves. They only left traces or externalized "texts" in Ricoeur's term. As an archeologist restores the lives and exploits of dead men from the fragments of defaced epitaph, historian should find and reconstruct the history of the ideas of communication from the traces of dispersed writings, which constitute another medium. When the dead say something to us audience, they do so through their traces or writings, and by the mouth and the hand of historians. Thus, there is an unbridgeable chasm and "breakdown" of communication between the dead and the alive. Even though unintended, historical method functions as a strategy in Speaking into the Air; it expresses the idea of communication "fixed in a direction of thought which comes from afar and stretches beyond you"(Gadamer), as Peters cites in the first page.

I almost gave up on Speaking into the Air. It's a densely packed volume requiring total concentration for absorption. I often read passages two or three times before I comprehended them. Six weeks elapsed from start to finish, and I feel I now need to go back and read some of it again. It was worth the effort.

Peters has organized the literature about communication into categories. Among them, he discusses spiritualism, talking with the dead, and communicating with machines, animals and aliens. His sources are varied, including classic literature, the Bible, Plato, and numerous others. It isn't about communication technique or tools; this is an exploration of the question: what is communication and how do we know it's been accomplished?

It's far more than a literature review however. The concluding chapter wraps up with a touching summary, combining spirituality with love. I read the last two paragraphs to a friend. She cried.

I loved this book. I laughed and cried. I found out everything I wanted to know about the Rice Diet at Duke University. It was full of insight and validation for everyone who struggles with their weight. Finally a book that doesn't preach but chronical the problems we face and the culture in Durham where I'd love to be able to go and try the Rice Diet. I like it so much that I sent Jean an e-mail and she said that she is working on a second book. So until then I'll just have to re-read this one.

This book is simply wonderful. For years I felt that no one understood what I have been going through and then I found this book. I laughed, I cried, I got angry and many points made me happy. If you have ever struggled with you weight this book lets you know that you are not alone. Just go out there and DO IT!

This unusual and well written book is about real people and their struggles with obesity and the resulting ostracizm and prejudices from a society obsessed with thinness to the point of anorexia. It provides re-telling of interviews with people attending the Rice Diet House in Durham, North Carolina, and it shows how their common bond of being fat has created a subculture that provides support to their kind in an otherwise rather hostile world. For them the Rice House is the place of last reort after failure of all other approaches to diet. The Rice diet is the oldest successfull program still in existance and doing good.This book is very informing and a delight to read because it is real and not the usual hype used by the sellers of diet programs.

Come along and join Elizabeth, a young lady who resolved to conquer the demons in her world and in her mind. I can't promise WHAT you feel when you close the book, but I can promise that you WILL feel. Kudos to Joyce Barrett on a ground-shaking first novel. We're waiting for the next. . .

Elizabeth goes into a mental hospital to find herself and lose the painful hold of her mother and dead sister. The reader gets to experience Elizabeth's time at the hospital and her therapy. You also get a glipse at the kind of people that spend time in that kind of hospital. They are not all "crazy." I felt the book moved quickly, and I enjoyed Elizabeth immensely.

Elizabeth is a woman who is held in her mothers craziness and doesnt know who she is until she goes to a mental hospital with the help of a doctor and her aunt she does find herself and becomes free of her mothers burden

I enjoyed this book because the plot progressed towards the conclusion in a colorful style that kept me interested throughout.
Having read a previous book by this author many years ago...a book published using a pseudonym...I truly believe the author is capable of presenting a better ending....hence, my rating of four, not five stars. The story built to a final and dramatic climax...but left me feeling: "Duh! That is SOOOOOooo untrue".
In fiction, that is ok, however (...even when the story addresses a historical event as this one does...).
That the story evoked such an intense initial response from me is, itself, I suppose, a compliment to the author.
I look forward to forth-coming works.

DURHAM has achieved quite a feat. THE INNOCENT MAN SCRIPT artfully communicates a story of "how it might have happened" in a creative, but not too farfetched, reportage of the facts. Yes, the book is filled with many facts. Although it is a work of fiction--by the author's own admission--it does not take advantage of the wide birth granted such treatments of an historically significant subject. Under the guise of "artistic license" many writers have chosen to inappropriately weave a tale so riddled with innuendo as to diminish the overall theme's significance, rendering it little more than a fairy tale. While others have chosen a different approach, such as, peddling worn out, "old wives tales" to the reader, that too renders the work little more than a fairy tale, albeit very boring. This is the case with Arlen Specter's latest book which is so incredible that one can easily argue it has been miscategorized as "non-fiction..."

However, DURHAM's is a must read for those who find the history of the JFK assassination too dry, yet would like to know more. It captures the reader's interest by hooking them with "the story" of Angus Cutter. Through this creative and entertaining mechanism DURHAM presents a scenario which permits the suspension of disbelief for those who might otherwise be prejudiced against "even the idea" of any and all conspiracy theories. By removing this unfortunate stigmatism, in favor of allowing the story to unfold, the book becomes a catalyst. If it does nothing more than inspire youthful readers to seek out reliable educational resources on the subject, it will have accomplished more than any books which defend the 26 volumes of boring fairy tales written by the Warren Commission almost 4 decades ago.

Gregory Burnham

The Innocent Man Script by T. Mack Durham delivers! A mesmerizing plot that thickens with each chapter and a host of interesting participants worthy of The Great American Novel. The action takes place in a multitude of places like New Orleans, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Miami, Tampa, Dallas, Mexico, and Canada. Mr. Durham has crafted a thriller that gives the reader their money's worth and more. Buy it, read it! You'll be glad you did.

Gabriel's Story was one of my favorite books of last year. Walk Through Darkness looks like it's gonna be a favorite for this year. This book will probably end up getting compared to other books about slavery, but to me it was more like Cold Mountain - but where the main character is a runaway slave instead of a runaway soldier. There's a similar voyage across a troubled landscape. There are meetings with a variety of characters. Like Charles Frazier's character, William in this novel is on a trek to reunite with the woman he loves - and as such it's a love story. The other main character, Morrison, is one of the best I've come across in a long time. He shows that white immigrants to America also had a tough time of it. He carries internal wounds that come to light only slowly but that build up to a helluva ending.

I'm ashamed to say that when I used to think of great American authors I tended to think of white writers. Not anymore. Mr. Durham is fast earning himself a place among our best. Color has nothing (but also everything) to do with it. Based on the strength of these two books I'd read whatever he writes next. If his third novel was about a mouse trying to chew through a paper bag I'd give it a try... Which is my way of saying that he's really quite good.

As he did with his first book, Gabriel's Story, Durham has provided readers with a book that works on many levels. First of all it's a hell of a story. This is an exciting adventure, an intelligent page-turner. Interesting, well-drawn characters, who, like people in "real life," can act in unpredicted ways. These characters rank with those created by Charles Frazier in "Cold Mountain."
If you've ever grappled with imagining the lives of slaves in 19th century America, their struggles and the response of whites to them, reading "Walk Through Darkness" will help.
The story concerns a slave, William, escaping a cruel master and his search for his pregnant lover. Durham intersperses this tale with relentless pursuit of the protaganist by a tracker.
While spinning this fascinating yarn, Durham offers a hard look at a time and place not so distant and the attitudes that pervaded American life.
This is Durham's second book, following the fantastic "Gabriel's Story". He is two for two, having hit both out of the ballpark.

Not every book has the ability to affect the reader as deeply as Walk Through Darkness affected me. David Anthony Durham, author of the critically acclaimed Gabriel's Story, has written a haunting novel about William, a fugitive slave. One may surmise that the force behind William's escape is freedom. Freedom is, of course, part of the reason William flees his harsh laborious conditions. But even moreso is his desire to find Dover, his wife, who is pregnant with his child and has moved North to freedom with her mistress. The story alternates between William's point of view and Morrison's, a Scottish slave tracker. Somehow these three people, who are separated by miles and life experience, are connected.

Durham's writing is refined, articulate, and descriptive. He makes you feel the fear, terror, relief, pain, joy, and a plethora of other emotions felt by the protagonists. The characters are in no way shallow, instead powerfully constructed with a certain profundity. The author uses a historical setting and breathes new life into it, providing the reader with a raw, fresh story in lands never traversed. Transcending race, time, and status, this Walk Through Darkness will make anyone see the light...

This book is mainly a collection of various apparitions of Mary. It covers widely known apparitions such as Lourdes, Fatima, and Guadaloupe as well as less familiar ones. This book, I would say, is an introduction for those who want to study Marian apparitions in depth. It briefly summarizes the accounts, and provides SOME testimony from the visonaries themselves. The best part of the book, I think, is the beautiful artwork of Mary through the ages that are shown on every other page.

This beautiful book is a nice, but not exhaustive, compilation of the various miracles of the Virgin Mary. I liked how Durham grouped the miracles by theme, and I find it interesting that he himself is not Catholic. The quality of the illustrations is very good, and the depictions of Mary are from all around the world, from old-master paintings (Caravaggio, El Greco) to New World sculptures and paintings (including work from Peru, Mexico, Canada). I do wish that the book had illustrations of the things it spoke of, for example, at the point where The Black Madonna of Czestochowa, Poland was discussed, I would have liked to have had that image right there. However, I really did enjoy this book as it had such a great collection of Marian images.

The numerous miracles that Mama Mary has done further strengthen my Catholic faith. She made us feel that the Lord is always there. The author was able to convey to us the love and gift of the Lord. He made use of art pieces which made the book more beautiful . He made use not only of master artist but as well as contemporary ones.

I picked up this book after reading the USA Today review, which was essentially an unconditional rave. I decided to give it a try, but figured I'd probably be disappointed, as few books live up to the praise heaped on them. But GABRIEL'S STORY was a pleasant surprise. It begins with vivid homesteading scenes - all the toil and the poverty of it. Makes me glad I wasn't a homesteader, and it made it reasonable that Gabriel would want to run away from it. The journey that he sets off on is truly engrossing, well-plotted, with beautiful language and great descriptions of the Western landscape.

It looks like the novel is being compared to Cormac McCarthy's work. There are some similarities, but GABRIEL'S STORY is a bit more hopeful than McCarthy's work. The world is still harsh and dangerous, but Durham seems to have more faith in humanity, in family and friends. Also, I thought it was interesting that the reviewer in USA Today said that he was a city-dwelling white guy that still got into this book about a black boy in another century out on the plains. I felt the same way. Yes, the main characters are black, but their racial identity is only part of the whole world of the story. They're black like James Joyce's characters are Irish or Faulkner's are Southern - it matters, but it doesn't change the fact that anybody can connect with them. Altogether a really good novel.

The prodigal son always comes home. Iin life, in parable and in literature.

And he has returned once more in "Gabriel's Story," a haunting debut by David Anthony Durham. In this incarnation, the wayward youth is a 15-year-old African-American boy in the empty middle of a continent, caught between youth and manhood, naiveté and wisdom, family and flight.

Fleeing racism in Reconstruction-era Baltimore, Gabriel Lynch travels with his mother and younger brother to his stepfather's hard-scrabble homestead in 1870s Kansas. As with the Biblical story of the prodigal son, Gabriel finds the "outside" world less exciting and more threatening than he dreamed. He returns to Kansas wiser and chastened, prepared to take his place behind the plow and, more importantly, at the family hearth. "Gabriel's Story" is a classical bildungsroman -- a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character -- told in masterful prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy.

His is not just a startlingly poetic African-American voice (Durham is the son of Trinidadian immigrants), but a welcome new voice in the rich spectrum of American letters, where authors should -- and must -- be judged in different shades of black and white: The color of words on a page.

Page-turner, can't put it down, tour de force, and all those other cliches apply to Gabriel's Story. Actually, I could put it down, but only because I had to. Couldn't wait to pick it up again.

Gabriel's Story is an amazing adventure -- perfectly plausible -- of a teen aged African American in the 1870's who leaves his family's Kansas farm unannounced. He and a friend join a crew of cowboys headed for Texas....

How to tell more of the book without giving away bits and pieces of the story that is best discovered by the reader? Can't be done.

Suffice it to say that Gabriel sees and experiences more than he could ever had imaganed. He is handicapped by racism, his youth and inexperience, but boasts the distinct advantages of intelligence and a good heart.

If you're overly sensitive to violence, beware; but it all rings true to the times and is never gratuitous.

Now stop reading reviews of the book and buy it, you'll be glad you did.

Marie dreams of being a ballet dancer, but cannot follow her dream without a sponsor. This book was neat because Marie could do some dancing, and had a big surprise at the end (I think the best books have a surprise at the end!)

I loved this book from the very first page on! Marie has a tranquil life in bussling Paris, France. Her day consists of helping her parents in the family Cafe and Pension(pahn-SYOHN) or boarding house. Then meeting with Madam Gabrela for her dance lesson. Or, at least, that's how it used to be... Now, the streets of Paris are begining to fill with rebels, the air is filled with the whispers of Revolution. Change is in the wind not just for France, but for Marie personally. Some very important people begining to weave into Marie's life, giving her an idea that just might help with the Country's poverty problems. I absolutly loved this book! It provided such a vivid picture of France and her people, at such a difficalt time in it's history. This book taught me not only about France's Revolution, but parts of it's lanuage as well. Try it. You'll love it!

Marie is really cool! An invatation to dance s the beginning of her adventures! The best part was the suprise at the end! I think you'll like it!