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.

Evelyn Crawford is an aboriginal living in western N.S.W., "Over My Tracks" is an account of her life. Her happiness when she is with her people, the Koorie's, the hardships of the land, the intolerance of most of the white's she comes in contact with. Her story was several months in the telling, during which time the author became a friend and the smoothness of the narrative says much for Chris Walsh's skill. We learn of the cruel treatment at the mission, the story of her families escape is one of the highlights of the book. This woman makes a success of her life, helps others, especially the aboriginal children in the schools of western N.S.W. She is instrumental in bringing about a better understanding of the aboriginal language and customs, so that the teachers can communicate effectively with the aboriginal students. In reading her story you will see that she places an emphasis on education as a means of overcoming prejudices, Over My Tracks' a remarkable life and a pleasure to read.

I thought this book was a nice finish, yet it needed more work into it since it's the final sequel to the Sons & Daughters Series.

Atlas'labor was to escort Widow Charlotte Clairmore to 5 events, yet Charlotte is skittish when it comes to social events. Charlotte tries to put space between herself and others due to her daughter's uncle who is trying to get custody of Opal. Regardless of how much space she puts between herself and Atlas, it doesn't work because she already develop a love for Atlas. Atlas tells her about the labor he has to do, and she goes to the functions so that she can get a 2 horse team from him. Opal likes Atlas a lot and convinces her mom to marry Atlas.

The ending ended short. There was no mention of what his gift was in the end. Nor did Atlas tell his grandma that he told Charlotte about the labor even though it's a family secret.

A much sought after text. Not designed for the mainstream audience. A Novice might be better served with a more fundamental book.

This book is 76 pages, the last 12 pages of which are dedicated to bibliography. The production is fairly basic, with a front cover featuring a detail from the cover illustration of Aickman's THE RIVER RUNS UPHILL. The book is staple-bound, which unfortunately means that there is no readable spine--hence, the book is not destined for the bookcase.

The book's first chapter, "The Life," runs 20 pages and pulls together a biographical sketch of Aickman, synthesizing threads from such sources as Aickman's THE ATTEMPTED RESCUE and THE RIVER RUNS UPHILL and David Bolton's THE RACE AGAINST TIME : HOW BRITAIN'S WATERWAYS WERE SAVED. For those who have not read these books, this chapter will be especially interesting.

The remaining chapters seem to touch briefly on all of Aickman's published fiction--the two novels and 48 short stories. Crawford is particularly interested in Aickman's aesthetic proximity to surrealism and in Aickman's distinctive gender themes.

Among the portions of the book I found particularly interesting are the helpful bibliography and the personal letters Crawford received from Aickman's acquaintances in the early to mid 1980s, in the years following Aickman's death. Crawford quotes extensively from other sources throughout the book, but twice he shares large portions from these letters. In one instance nearly two pages of the book are given over to a letter from Barbara Balch, Aickman's long-time personal secretary. In another case close to three pages are taken up with an essay-letter from Aickman's friend Valerie Butler. Crawford also draws occasionally from sources as recent as the 2002 memoir by Elizabeth Jane Howard, SLIPSTREAM (where Aickman pops up as a former lover of E.J.H.).

This book is very durable and can be spread out on the floor. It folds out and has pictures on both sides. They have photographed real vehicles and added some cute pictures.

There is a picture of a tractor and it is going very slow. Behind it we find a truck, a yellow taxi, a very long car, a blue van, and a green car that is heading to the beach.

"Hurry up!" say mom and son. "We're off to the beach for some fun."

Does not include any pictures of road rage. Although...one wonders if they ever got out of the traffic jam without an incident or two. The cars never move in
this book.

This is in NO way a good book. The writing is sophmoric and mannered and the authors have a very clear agenda: to discredit Christina Crawford. That said, it has its own fascination, like an autopsy or a public hanging. The authors are completely on Joan Crawford's side about EVERYTHING. They knew her when she was alive, and they have chosen to be the keepers of her very dubious flame now that she is gone. They do NOT make a very good case on behalf of Ms. Crawford, but their attempts are what fascinate the reader. Like desperate Irish catholic women of a certain age who can not bring themselves to think that a priest would do THAT, the authors are in deep, deep denial...You almost sense that Crawford woudln't care what people think of her, but these guys do. Their delusion makes the book weirdly compelling, despite all its flaws. So this can be honestly reccommended to folks who like bad, offbeat, bizzare books. One caveat: child abuse is wrong. The authors should be ashamed of trying to cover it up. Like Joan Crawford herself, this book is bad but it holds your attention.

I just finished reading this "essential" biography and am so disappointed. To me, one of the authors seems to feel a saintliness toward Joan while the other goes from liking her films to trying to like her films. As I read this book, I felt like Quirk and Schoell were trying to convince me about aspects of Crawford's personality and events in her life and believe about them as they do. The job of a biographer is to write an objective narrative of someone's life. It is enjoyable reading but unfulfilling given the subject. One annoyance is encountering the phrase "chewing up the scenery" way too often. Then, there's the bombshell finale chapter in which Christina is put in the pan and roasted. The writing is almost like Faye as Joan - out of control!

I have been a Crawford fan all my life and am fascinated watching her in films, looking at her photographs and reading about her. If only someone in modern times would...could write an accurate objective biography that delves more into the woman, what she was about, what made her tick and NOT try to make her a saint or crucify her. Joan Crawford truly was one of the most fascinating personalities of the Twentieth Century. She deserves that much.

So, I guess we'll have to stick with JOAN CRAWFORD, A BIOGRAPHY by Bob Thomas or JOAN CRAWFORD: THE LAST WORD by Fred Guiles in the meantime. These two biographies are really good, and I highly recommend them.

The 1st book since Bob Thomas' monumental biography that tells us something we did'nt know, this book is for anyone who is interested in film history in general,Joan Crawfords fans in particular, and specifically,anyone who read "Mommie Dearest" and wondered why CC was able to quote from a letter she crumpled up in her fist,saying "God,I hated her." One sees CC, feverishly smoothing out the letter, saving it for later...Joan Crawford was a flawed,damaged woman. She was also the most successful actress in film history,with a work ethic her less successful peers could'nt keep up with. Compulsive,careerist,sexual, she also managed to be kind to those who did'nt have what it takes-like her daughter CC. This biography makes clear that,though probably not the best mother in the world,she made efforts many others would not have. The lasting impression I took away from the book is of a woman struggling to do her best and despite her enormous success, never feeling good enough in the minds of Hollywood establishment-a joke in itself-or ultimately in the mind of her failure of a daughter. One only hopes that when CC kicks off,someone will write a book about her-naw,that will never happen-she just isnt interesting enough.

American College of Cardiology is a very important review for my job. I'm a doctor in the S. Camillo hospital, in Rome

Well, although the title of this book contains the word "current" the latest study quoted on stents dates back to 1998. Thus, this "current treatment" book misses full five years of stent development and progress. Also, I have not found any quoted study from the years 2001 and 2002. How can this book pretend to review current diagnostic and treatment strategies (the copyright of this book is from 2003)?

This moderate-sized book is the most wonderful cardiology review I've ever seen. Take one without any hesetance.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good celebrity bashing as much as the next person, but this book really seemed to cross the line from amusingly snarky to cruel, scathing, and downright mean-spirited. Although many of these listings might be considered embarrassing on a more political level (such as the lavish hotel accomodations enjoyed by the likes of Whoopie Goldberg during highly-publicized appearances at benefits for the starving and homeless), they aren't exactly the sort of thing you sit around chuckling to yourself about in your free time.

At times the gleefully mocking tone of the book seems wildly inappropriate, such as the entry on Judy Garland, which chronicles, in loving detail, the star's decades-long battle with depression and drug addiction (a battle she ultimately lost). The authors remain cheerfully oblivious to the tragic implications of Judy's constant pill-popping and suicide attempts, however, instead maintaining their juvenile finger-pointing approach ("Judy Garland tried to kill herself twenty-three times in ten years--boy, is she ever DUMB!"

Even more absurd is the entry on the infamous sleaze queen Divine, whose whole life REVOLVED around being crazy and disgusting. (Did you know that Divine ate a real dog turd at the end of "Pink Flamingos"? So did everyone else.) In fact many of the "humorous" tidbits in this section were taken directly from John Waters' book "Shock Value," though in their original form they were somehow much more entertaining.

Once again, I want to clarify that many of these books which make fun of celebrities are quite amusing in my opinion, it's just that the people who wrote this one seem to have some attitude problems, or simply lack an understanding of what is truly funny. I'm aware that famous people make mistakes--that fact, in and of itself, does not constitute humor.

I believe in order to really enjoy this one has to possess a cattiness. It is relentless, and at times really harsh. A little too much information. You are left thinking, oh you poor soul, this is now exposed to the world. There are some super moronic things in here and you have to wonder exactly how much of it is true. Some things you already know, such as Sean Penn's violent behavior, some things will come as a surprise, such as Joan Crawford and her "rumored" female affairs and some things are just better left unsaid that leave a bad taste in your mouth,such as the "presents" Bette Midler left under each seat at one of her concerts. One tends to know the less intelligent actors and actresses (Melanie Griffith, Pamela Anderson, etc.) But this deleves a little more into other such things, beside stupidity. Be warned, it is not for the young, it is dirty, lots of sex and drugs and you even have a fully top exposed picture of Sophia Loren that I really could have lived without seeing. There are much better reads out there, after you finish this book you will feel a bit malicious and despiteful for having read it.

This is truly a funny book. If you like gossip and Hollywood insight, then you will love this book. I simply could not put this book down. Just hope your favorite movie star is not in this book, because you will be amazed at the dumb lengths a movie star would go through!

As a programming professional for over 25 years, I routinely use the "For Dummies" books to get a quick introduction to a new topic. My problem with this book is that it is written with the attitude that the reader is stupid, not ignorant. Ignorant means you don't know, stupid means you cannot learn. From the beginning, the author treats his reader in a condescending fashion, which serves to turn off, not inform.

There is two sides to this book. In one respect it is not nearly as comprehensive as it should be, in the other, it is ideal for someone who knows nothing about computers. Windows Professional for Dummies takes you through the bare minimum of features on a step-by-step basis. The advantage of this is that you don't have to be a genius to use the book, but the disadvantage is that you don't get as much out of the book as you would have liked. When my father first started using a PC he knew nothing about it and this book was a great start for him. I am impressed by my father's progress since he received this book, but I realize that most of his progress was through trial and error, not through this book. If you have to learn how to click a mouse, this book is great, if you want to be able to do more, I would recommend you look for another book.

Although I enjoyed the usual snide tone of this dummies book, my major complaint is that it never gets beyond the dummy level. I read the whole book in one sitting -- now I'm hardly a computer genius and have only had Windows 2000 for a week, but I only learned THREE new tricks from this entire book! I never thought of myself as a computer jock, but this book had such basics that I began to feel like a true nerd. There are other major things I wanted to learn about windows 2000: why does it make my passwords look 3 times their normal size? Is that some kind of encoding thing? I'm sure there are other aspects to learn besides 3 ways to copy a folder or file. Unless you haven't spent any time at all with Windows (any edition), you probably won't learn all that much from this very basic book.