This is a fantastic book, which I have read cover to cover. It covers Sauternes, its history, the 1855 rankings, the author's rankings based on quality of wine, and a large writeup for every Chautea of worth in the region explaining the history, the wine making methods, and good and bad vintages. This book is by far the best out there, and my professor at Purdue who taught a Wine Appreciation class (Dr. Richard Vine) told me it was the best in his opinion too. Of particular interest is the history of d'Yquem which the author painstakingly covers. He also devotes a huge chapter to the winemaking methods of Sauternes (by Sauternes, I mean Barsac, Sauternes, Bommes, Preignac, etc). He explains picking methods, chapitilzation (spelling?),etc. I almost always consult this book before making a Sauternes purchase. Disappointingly, I would say only about half the time is the vintage I'm looking at covered in the book. Also, he doesn't go much beyond 1994. However, this is still the best book you can get. You WON'T be disappointed.

Detailed information on the history of the Sauternes wine region and the various processes involved in the making of this sweet wine. Each cru classe is introduced before extensive notes on tastings from past memorable vintages up to the recent ones are presented. Yes, tasting notes on the 1988, 1989, and 1990 vintages are included. Chateau d'Yquem has an entire chapter devoted to it! A handy reference and a must-have for all Sauternes lovers!

This is a reprint of "McGraw-Hill Pocket Guide to Business Finance: 201 Decision-Making Tools for Managers" with a single difference. The now out-or-print book came with a runtime version of MathCAD and formulas for using each of the tools, while this new version does not. Also, don't let the title fool you - this book is as useful to working professionals as it is to students.

The 201 tools contained in this small, highly useful book range from Acid Test (doing a quick ratio of financials) to Z-Scores. Each tool is listed alphabetically, its use explained, and instructions on how to use it is provided. What I particularly liked is the worked examples that accompany each tool.

As an IT consultant who specializes in service delivery this book is not one I would normally include in my professional library. I was introduced to it when a colleague and I were writing a white paper on recovery management. We were searching for a way to link business imperatives to justification for investment in recovery strategies. We found one piece of the puzzle in this book - the Altman Z-Score. This tool predicts whether or not a company is likely to enter into bankruptcy within one or two years. This led to the development of a copyrighted model that addressed survival level objectives, and also became a key part of the Tarrani-Zarate Information Technologies Management Model. All this from a single entry in a small book!

Aside from discovering a relatively obscure, but important, tool I also found other useful tools in this book. Because I am not a business consultant or financial expert the tools were like a cram course in financial management for non-financial people. For example, I was able to apply some of the tools to personal financial matters - the real costs of a loan become quickly apparent when you compute them. I was also able to employ some of the tools to conduct realistic cost/benefit analyses, examine trade-offs supporting approaches to projects, etc. In this respect this small book has significantly improved my professional skills and has inspired me to read other books on financial management.

I strongly recommend this book - collection of tools really - to anyone who deals with finance, anyone who has P&L responsibilities, and business and IT consultants. The latter group will find this book to be invaluable for developing proposals, deliverables and project plans that add value.

This book saved me through four accounting courses three finance courses and two real estate courses. It is well organized and easy to locate any formula that is needed.

This is a collected set of lectures presented at the Smithsonian Institution in September of 1993. The book has been out for several years, and it's just my bad luck to have recently discovered it; I'm happy though, to live in a time when such information is open to the public, and open almost as soon as it is known.

The lecturers proceed through the phases of the life of Jesus-- or rather, chronologically as they would through the life of any person. The lectures deduce from archeological information the politics of the times, and reason to the kind of message Jesus must have delivered in order to attract a following. They are not afraid of the implications of, for example, the fact that Jesus came from Galilee. They dismiss with granite hard logic, the infancy narratives of Luke and Matthew as fiction, and then proceed to deal with the fact that Jesus' origins in Galilee meant certain things, and here in what they are.

The gospels are not dealt with as historical documents, but they are dealt with as texts that contain valuable information of the nature of Jesus message, (or at any rate, the public's reception of it) and therefore what made him attractive as a missionary figure. Several of the lecturers peel away layers of the texts to show different historical additions and interpolations. Jesus' eschatological message may not have been part of his original message after all, we learn.

This book is full of tightly packed prose, with little "paradigmatic" lecturese to wade through-- it's actually exciting to read. If you have the opportunity, you may read it in one setting.

I guess that the lectures must have come from notes, and not transcriptions, because they are chatty to different degrees. Some almost seem to be transcriptions, and some read like book chapters. I found this jarring at first, but as I read more, I found that it helped me distinguish among the lecturers, and that this was helpful.

My only reservation is Stephen J. Patterson's "Sources for a Life of Jesus." There is nothing new here. He gives the usual information about the historical question of the primacy of Matthew, the Markan Priority Hypothesis, the Q Hypothesis, the interpolation of Josephus, the Talmud Sanhedrin, etc. Anyone who has read a book on the historical Jesus before can skip this lecture.

And anyone with even a cursory interest in the Jesus of history should read this book.

Anyone wishing to get a brief overview of current trends in biblical scholarship as it focusses on the gospel narratives will find this book useful and enjoyable. Warning: fundamentalists will not like this book.

Stephen Dalton is a master artist and naturalist of our time. His work produces living treasures of the beauty and wonder of life on Earth, and highlights the need to preserve nature against the destructiveness of human endeavours.

Dalton forces the viewer to stop in time with the subject photographed and see a moment as it can never be seen.

While there is joy and wonder is looking at Dalton's amazing photographs, there is also sadness in knowing that so many of these incredible creatures are going extinct.

This is absolutely a must-have coffee table book for any nature lover. It is filled with spectacular color photos on glossy paper so clear & vibrant they pop off the page. Dalton's high-speed photography is pure genius.

Bats, birds, ladybugs, butterflies, dragonflies, bees & a vast array of other animals are captured in mid flight. The several frames of a chameleon lashing out its tongue to capture its prey are captivating.

You also get to see numerous frogs & mice as they rest, swim, eat, climb plants, & leap through the air. A few plants such as moss, fungus, liverworts, sedge & an oak seeding are also shown up close.

Captions for each creature give fascinating information on their daily lives, eating habits, & special abilities. Get this book, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Joy Harjo is a multi-talented artist - poetry and music (with Poetic Justice) available. Here she has paired her words to Stephen Strom's photographs. His photographs of landscapes have an unusual and very effective use of colors ... many reminding me of the softness of watercolor or pastels.

Joy Harjo has provided text - somewhere between prose and prose poems - that engage the accompanying photographs to create a mythic sense. For example a photo of rose-tinted desert sand with no sky (Overlook west of Tuba City)is accompanied by "Two sisters meet on horseback. They gossip: a cousin eloped with someone's husband, twins were born to his wife. One is headed toward Tsaile, and the other to Round Rock. Their horses are rose sand, with manes of ashy rock."

An excellent book.

Nowhere have I read poetry that so completely encompasses the Native American view of the connectedness of all things. Harjo's writings, coupled with Steven Strom's photography of "Indian country" make this a book that I read over and over, each time drawing something new. It is one of the only books I've ever read that convinces me that language is "alive", as alive as we are, as alive as the shoulder bone of a mountian, as alive as a comet which streaks its way across the sky. It is my favorite book. Period.

Written in the highly polished Augustan prose style of the period, this is a fine selection of essays from the pen of the great Scottish philosopher, historian and economist, David Hume. The essays range from aesthetics, commerce, history and ethics, which include such pieces as "The Epicurean", "The Stoic" and "The Sceptic" (Hume's own credo) all which are rather curiously positioned and excellently written guides to living. "Of the Immortality of the Soul" and "Of Suicide", two of Hume's most controversial essays touching on theological topics, are also included in this volume. Both succeeded, with their bold, original arguments, in outraging the British clergy, which helps us to understand why Hume decided to have them published posthumously.

This comparatively short book consists of extremely well-selected essays by the great Scottish philosopher and historian, on everything from public credit to delicacy of taste. Also included are the different classes of philosphers, including the class Hume falls under, The Sceptic (Hume's sp.). There is also an exceedingly interesting essay on the populousness of the world in ancient times. Apparently, the accepted notion at Hume's time was that there were hordes of people in ancient times and that our race has been dwindling ever since. Hume, on the other hand, proposes the radical notion that just the opposite is the case, and sets out to prove it quite handily.-Overall, the best introduction to one of my favorite writers that I've yet to read.

Serpari is a good book of poetry. The fiction was pretty rad also. I would definitely read more of Galati's stuff.

Just when I thought good poetry has past its prime comes Serpari. I liked this book alot. I picked the book up on a whim and have read it twice already!. Poems are thought provoking and really touch themes that I guess everyone deals with. I would definitely suggest this one to true poetry lovers.

Stephen Grimble has made an excellent contribution to the baseball literature and to the game itself in "Setting the Record Straight." His exposure of the flaws inherent in the major hitting performance measures is coherent, and his new statistical measures are revolutionary. The book's strongest points, aside from the statistical contributions, are the insightful explanations of the trends in hitting and in baseball as a whole over the past century. Mr. Grimble's book also stands out for its attention to the current stars of the game, who often receive less than fair treatment in comparison to the game's legends. For once, we get a realistic look at how today's stars stack up against history. If you love baseball by the numbers, this book is a must.

I found Mr. Grimble's book thoroughly informative and entertaining. His approach to rating batters is an improvement on today's dated formats of record keeping. A must for stat hogs as well as baseball novices.

This book has been a source of inspiration for the true contact with one's heart, one's inner being. Even for those who haven't tasted the delicacy and rigour of Ibn 'Arabî's teachings it is a most welcoming piece of doctrinal guidance,with refined comments which explain and clarify the intricate meanings for both the beginners and the experienced readers.

These prayers are an immediate and direct converse between the individual and God of immense beauty and depth of intimate closeness.

At over 7 hours, it would seem that this material would not be easy to remember, but, I was pleasantly surprised. I had listened to a one tape version, but, the ideas and examples were even better in the full version. Some things I already did, but, after listening, will do even better now that I understand why. The full version gives you a good basis for applying the 7 habits.

The reader from 3/97 is unduly harsh and critical. If he/she had "sat down and given some thought" he/she would realize that not everyone is as smart and wise and "effective" (Not!) as he/she is. Some people need a little help. We could all use reminders from time to time. I recommend it highly. Having reviewed the tapes numerous times, I have applied many of the principles and found them to be extremely helpful.