Very funny play from the comedia del artee series. Worth a read.

I thought this book was allright. I got it as a present, and thought I would never use it. I looked in it one day, and found that by making simple alterations in my everyday life, I could live longer and healthier!

I really liked this book.It described the emotional turmoil going on inside Joe(the main character)perfectly.While reading this book you can feel his intense lonliness,his feeling of detatchment from the real world and his deep anguish at losing a wonderful friendship.The relationship between him and Ashley was potrayed very well and so were his attempts of trying to transform himself from the rich boy to a poor kid "taking in"the fair.

It is a very good book on environmental sociology.It documents relationships of environment,sociology and science/technology.
First, it discusses realist and constructist's point of view.
According to realist,environmental problems are simply impact upon society.According to constructivism,environmental problems are social construction.
Secondly,it explains important aspact of environment
'sustainable development'. It is the development which meets the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It requires changes in a number of systems e.g. political,social,technological to achieve harmony among humanbeing.humanity and nature.
Thirdly, it explains Ulrich Beck's 'Risk Society'.
Just as modernisation dissolved the structure of society in the 19th century and produced the industrial society, the modernisation today is dissolving industrial society and other modernity 'late modernity' or 'risk society'is coming into being. The proccess of modernity is becoming reflexive.Problems find constraints of everyday life are no longer externallt imposed, we enter a secondary phase of modernity,raising new challenges,scientifically induced risk and also problems (loneliness'anomie etc.)The reflexive modernisation , the proccess is 'automatic operation of autunomous modernisation process'.
Then it shows how science plays a significant role within the social construction of environmental threat.Here science,risk and environmental issues are explained by means of giving examples of chemical hazards,civil nuclear power and BSE.
Lastly,technology which is a vital for sociological analysis for
environmental sociology is explained. Here sustainable technology and role of technology for construction of alternative environmental future is explained.Relationship of sociology,technology and environment is given.
It a book for a student of sociology,environment and any sincere reader. It shows how late modernity gives rise to risk society and further theories if risk society and ultimately reflexive modernisation concept.

Strategic planning as a process is nicely presented in this well written textbook. As an instructor of strategic planning at the master's level, I find the students like the book and cases and are able to create competent strategic plans using the process described. Very good resource book; one I have kept on my reference shelf.

This book was a fast, easy read. In a short time, I quickly learned the issues and basic approaches. While it's not a thorough how-to guide, one quickly learns what one needs to know. Other reference books can be used for the details.

In the 1950's, reading was still a major pastime in America and the mainstream novel was what people read. An ex-movie star takes the two weeks to help closest friend from his glory days finish a movie. It is an obligation, a chance to pay a debt, but it is also an opportunity to escape for a moment a life that has become to routine, and see if he made the right choice when he traded the demands of art for the stability of a normal life.

A crazy film genius, two actresses stretching their muscles, a group of financiers, a girl who lives to party (or does she?). They twist and turn and each of them tries to make sense of their life and the life around them. Which way they wind up facing might surprise you.

The story weaves a delicate web between an dying grandmother, her estranged daughter and her coming of age granddaughter. Especially the relationship and understanding that develops between grandmother and granddaughter is the topic of the book.

Whyn, the energetic and headstrong grandmother of Welsh ancestry is a remarkable person. She has her own viewpoint on things and her own ways of doing things. And a knack for ignoring the conventional ways. She knows her life is ending and this is the last summer she will spent on earth. Eve, the daughter feels lured into the trap her mother set out. She came to sort out things, to sell her mothers house. But in the end she finds herself spending the summer with her mother. They have had their differences in the past but finally the gap between her mother and herself is closing. Rhys, the granddaughter, who on the verge of womanhood finds herself in love with an older guy. Only to discover she seems to have an opponent in her own mother. And who in a very short time discovers more of the person her grandmother is then her mother in all the years before her...

Just what is it that makes a woman take the risk and write her words on paper for all to see? Lucinda Smith explores this question in this slender volume "Women Who Write". In it she features female writers of the past and present who embarked upon writing as their career. Their thoughts and views of the writing process are presented to the reader through biographical sketches of the writers of the past and interviews with contemporary female writers.

This book is inspirational and encourages young females to think about pursuing writing as a possible career. It is inclusive of writers in poetry, novels, plays, journalism and screenwriting. Each woman through Smith's interviews gives the reason why they write, the obstacles they endured to break in their field and how they balance their writing lives with a family. Author Jane Goodwin declares she fell into writing by accident. Pulitzer prize winning playwright Beth Henley describes her transition from acting to play writing while Maxine Hong tells us she was born a writer.

The stories shared are entertaining and useful as each woman gives advice to those wishing to take up the pen. Lucinda Smith also provides the reader with pragmatic advice on pursuing a writing career and puts the writing woman in a historical context as we see women's literary development throughout the years. This is an appropriate book for young girls to get started in pursuing their goals for a writing career.

I had to read a few chapters from this book for one of my finance classes. At first I was very skeptical of the text because of the authors' obsession with CAPM, beta, and modern portfolio theory. These concepts make no sense at all. They only serve to illustrate that even the most elegant mathematical models of the world have little practical value if the underlying assumptions are wrong. Very soon, however, my initial prejudice towards the book began to disappear. Eventually, I read the entire textbook, which wasn't required by my instructor. I still believe that CAPM and modern portfolio theory are all wrong but I was fascinated by authors' extensive discussion of NPV and Capital Structure. NPV, indeed, is the only proper way to value any business venture and no compromise can be made in this respect. Brealey & Myers got that one right.
The book is well written and most of the examples and explanations are easy to comprehend. I don't understand those reviewers who complain that the book is boring and hard to read. It is not. If it were then I wouldn't spend time reading it during my summer vacation.
I was even more puzzled by those reviewers who complain about the lack of rigorous mathematics in the book. As if calculus is the only meaningful way to explain a concept. This may be so in Quantum Mechanics and Chemical Engineering but it is not in Business. Finance is not a science but and art anyway. Warren Buffet once said that:
"If calculus were required, I'd have to go back to delivering papers. I've never seen any need for algebra either."
(The gentlemen from England, who complain about the lack of rigorous mathematics, probably have never heard about Warren Buffet. That's sad!)

I have used this book three times now: as an undergraduate in financial economics, at the training program at an investment bank, and at the core finance course at my MBA. It is a very good resource and learning tool, going from the very basic ideas of discounting all the way to options pricing and more innovative finance.

This is the preferred learning tools of all finance professors I have met and the reference used by all finance professionals I met. It is very simple to follow the concepts of the book, especially if you purchase the study guide that is available with it.

The only major concern I have heard is that it does not deal with the more recent finance problems of off-balance sheet financing and other shenanigans. This is a book meant to teach basic financial theory, so those topics, in my opinion, are better treated elsewhere.

This Brealey and Myers's textbook, now in its 7th edition, introduces the student to the fascinating world of corporate finance. The first few chapters of the book demystify Net Present Value, the preferred method for calculating the value of an investment project. Brealey and Myers then explain how risk and return are related and introduce the Capital Asset Pricing Model. The CAPM's strengths and weaknesses are both explored in detail. The authors continue by analyzing the significance of dividend policy and debt policy for a corporation -- including the rather surprising result that in perfect markets these just don't matter! The next topic is options, financial and real; major pricing models are covered, and warrants and convertibles get a fair treatment, too. The remaining parts of the book deal with a variety of topics such as valuing debt, managing financial risks, financial planning as well as mergers and corporate governance.

At 1071 pages, Principles of Corporate Finance can hardly be called a short book. Introductory textbooks often suffer from a "too-much-too-little" syndrome, in that numerous topics are covered, but none too well. Brealey and Myers easily avoid this pitfall. Their writing is solid and manages to keep the reader's interest. Although available space puts a limit on what can be said, the book's coverage is quite comprehensive and well linked to the results of modern research. Moreover, all topics receive their fair share of treatment so you can actually understand the theories the book presents. It should be noted here that some mathematical background is probably necessary to make the book easy reading.

Each chapter contains many problems which can be used to facilitate the learning process. I found them very useful. The only complaint I have about the book (International Edition) is that the binding proved less than perfect, as after a while pages started separating from the main body of the work. But that is a problem I can live with.

All in all, an interesting, readable, authoritative introduction to corporate finance.