I bought this book after seeing the author on the A & E Biography episode about Leonardo. On the show the author indicated that Leonardo was not at all like a modern scientific thinker. I think people can relate to da Vinci more easily than they can to someone like Einstein. Einstein could not have painted the Mona Lisa but then Leonardo didn't invent the theory of relativity either. But the Mona Lisa is something that the average guy on the street can relate to while the theory of relativity can only be understood mainly by scientists. da Vinci may not have been so much a genius as someone who did many things well and had a very active and energetic mind. He represents as much the spirit of achievement as actual achievements. He seemed to have so much mental energy that learning was something he simply had to do. It was not optional for him. What makes da Vinci interesting is the unique combination of artistic and scientfic interests that he had. Some of Leonardo's notebooks were recovered relatively recently from a historical point of view so the idea of da Vinci as a Renaissance genius is a pretty new idea. This book attempts to summarize the vast amount of information that has been written about Leonardo during the 500 or so years since his death. Then at the end the book attempts to maybe clarify and expand on the earlier material so that Leonardo can be re-invented hopefully more accurately for our era. In fact if Leonardo da Vinci had never existed someone probably would have invented a fictional person like him. Someone who knew basically everything which of course Leonardo did not but people sometimes like to give him the benefit of the doubt. Quite a bit is said about the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa appears to be a self portrait by Leonardo, not of his physical life as Leonardo, but of his soul. Old, peaceful, content, mysterious. It also talks some about a painting of some guy with snakes crawling out of his head which was mistakenly (?) attributed to Leonardo for many years. Leonardo had some problems. The author expresses some resentment that the fields related to the humanities are held in low esteem these days by some people. The author's writing style indicates he's into philosophy. This is not a book for someone trying to get a general idea of what Leonardo was interested in and why he is considered by some to be a genius. It's more about understanding the maestro from a philosophical point of view.

Unlike just another standard biography or monograph, this book makes a useful contribution to the already crowded arena of Leonardo studies. The black-and-white illustrations are barely adequate, but there is a particularly helpful bibliography. Recommended for art history faculty and advanced students.

A must have book for anyone who enjoys complex flavours, which not only work together, but, are staisfying, and lighter in in fat. The PBS master of French cuisine has done it again! In this Offering Jacques and (his daughter) Claudine, put together meals which are not only satisfying, but, appealing to all the senses. This is done in a manner in which the novice can accomplish, without being condescending to the more experienced home gastronome.

Colourful photos, and artwork, as well as, straight forward directions, and descriptions (of both menus and ingredients), motivate the reader into the creation of a cullinary frenzy, wether it be for family, or home entertaining.

This is a "MUST HAVE", for anyone who enjoys good food, with a healthy twist!

This is the companion book to the PBS series of the same title, also the "sequel" to "Cooking w/ Claudine", the celebrated French chef Jacques Pepin's first cooking show w/ his daughter. Having seen both shows and read both books, I have to say this is a even better one. Recipes are written w/ clear instructions, each one marks w/ time to prepare, nutrition information, and possible alternative menus. I have made several dishes out of this book and they all taste wonderful. One of the best and easiest dessert I have ever had is in this book (warm chocolate tartlet w/ nuts). Jacques' signature is not only to make French cooking easy, he also modernizes his dishes such that they are healthy as well. A must buy for any gourmet home chef.

For quite some time, I didn't know what I thought about this book. It baffled me because it alternates between excruciating details about clothes, shoes, and hairstyles, and Lana's heartbreaking stories of love and betryal. Lana Turner was married seven times. The reasons she gives for marrying each of her husbands are about as trivial as the reasons she gives for divrcing them. For instance, she was dating someone, and then Joan Crawdford called her up and said he was HER man. So what does Lana do? She bumps into bandleader Artie Shaw at a party one night, and MARRIES the guy. THEN, even though she had never even met him before, she writes with genuine puzzlement that she didn't know he had been married twice before, or that he was abusive. She leaves him, finds out she is pregnant, and aborts the baby. Exit marriage one. Enter husband #2, Stephen Crane. She marries him on an impulse, finds out that he's still legally married to his first wife, and leaves him, angry and pregnant. She goes back, has the baby, and divorces him. Exit marriage number two. Enter husband #3. Millionare Bob Topping became her third husband, and she writes that she accepted his proposal because- get this- although she did not love him, and he was still married to someone else, "there's something awfully compelling about a big, diamond ring". And on and on. The faces change, but the story's almost exactly the same with each successive husband. The only thing she writes about with poignancy is her various failed attempts at motherhood and her countless miscarriages. She writes about how badly she wanted each pregnancy, yet when she became pregnant by movie idol Tyrone Power (who was still legally married to HIS first wife- surprise, surprise), she aborts that baby because she didn't want to ruin her career. I think Lana Turner wrote this book to prove that she wasn't as shallow as people thought she was. It was apparently lost on her that this book underlined that theory indefinitely.

I read this when I was 13 and I found it very well written and good

This second volume of Theleweit's ground-breaking examination of proto-fascist 'Freikorps' novels spans disciplinary lines by examining historical documents from a unique combination of feminist and psychological perspectives. While the text is intellectually weighty, Theleweit manages to avoid the verbal dryness inherent in the subject. His thesis is outrageous, illuminating and largely coherent. A must read for aspiring academics and cultural historian

Where "eros" was covered in the first volume, the second deals with the thanatos, or death urge. Particularly interesting is Thewelveit's treatment of the "soldier's blackout," a synapse frying climax of inner psychological tension resulting from extended periods of drilled formation. An invaluable companion to Volume One, though less interesting in that Vol. I was (IMHO) a revolutionary reformulation and synthesis of many of the insights of Reich, wheras this volume merely elaborates on the (not so obvious) conclusions.

The author does an excellent job of explaining the ways in which the Internet can be used to improve any function of a business, to include HR, Logistics Mgmt, and Sales. Though it doesn't delve too deeply into any single area, for the corporate manager it is an excellent introductory read.

The Internet has gained immense popularity as a marketing tool and a number of companies both large and small have shifted their marketing strategies to this broadcast medium. Every day businesses are taken online. Netrepreneur written by Joseph Lowery offers a tremendous wealth of knowledge about how companies can successfully adapt themselves to this powerful and exciting marketing tool.

Businesses large and small will benefit from the contents of this book. Actual case studies of many well-known companies offer rich key insight into how they have set up shop on the Internet and how they have managed themselves. Increased sales revenue, shifts in marketing strategies, Website design options, and use of technology and business applications are among the many cutting-edge considerations discussed at length by the author that will contribute to very successful business operations.

With the use of this book any company will achieve favorable and easily measureable results. Web business models are discussed, readers will receive online business marketing instruction, they will learn some basic international business concepts to successfully broaden the scope of their marketing efforts, and they can make use of an excellent listing of business Websites that offers additional business information.

Although this book was not intended for use by novice entrepreneurs, I found it easy to read and understand. Just about anyone can pick it up and glean valuable business ideas from its pages regardless of their level of experience in the business world. This book would make a valuable guide for business consultants seeking to make a living by helping other companies along. This is a great book to have on hand and put to use at a moments' notice!

This book is a revised edition of the original text by Bloomfield, Crothers, and Tinoco. A previous book written by this team discusses the Physical Chemistry of Nucleic Acids. The team continues in that tradition of good writing here.

It seems that the standard text for the study of nucleic acids is that by Saenger. But this text is also strong, to use either side by side with Saenger, or even on its own.

Illustrations are clear (although, no really pretty pictures except at the very end), and the writing is quite fluid and intelligible. This book, however, is not a book for beginners (ie. a person who's never read up on nucleic acids before). There tends to be some presupposition in the knowledge and technical jargon such that I think it would better serve as a reference for more advanced students and scientists.

The authors are recognized in the scientific world as being experts in their field, so it comes as no surprise that the text is full of good information.

Where the book falls short is as follows. The book is not very even in terms of the topics it covers. Another downside is that the book fails to discuss many of the newer experimental methods and discoveries, and in that sense is more out of date than you would like.

A good way to compensate for the two aforementioned problems is to supplement your reading with a text like Saenger, and to keep up to date with the current journal literature (if you're interested in methods, the first place to look is a place like Meth. Enzym.; if you're interested in reviews and other articles, turn to journals like Cell, Nature, Science, PNAS, and Biochemistry. If you're into more specialized stuff, consider these journals: 1)Nucleic Acids Research, and 2)RNA ).

Good luck.

Authors are well known researchers in the field of nucleic acid biophysics. For detailed review of the book, look at J. Am. Chem. Soc., 122 (46), 11570 (2000).

The only publication I've seen that doesn't slavishly recommend fosomax as the only way to reverse osteoporosis. I was heartened to see a positive review of this book from a physician on Amazon.com, because when I mentioned these authors' recommendation of calcium plus ipriflavone at a lecture by a local internist, he dismissed it out of hand (and out of ignorance of its existence) as "one of those rumors that fly around the Internet." The only problem is, how do you find a physician who is willing to help you try this regimen, which apparently is far safer than Fosomax? The authors do not explain how to find a nutritionally oriented doctor in a world of simplistic, cookie-cutter, prescription-pad, one-solution-for-all medicine.

As a physician, I found this book to be very informative and well written and does a great job of explaining exactly what is causing the bone tissue to lose calcium and therefore bone mass as we age. The book also explains how calcium and other minerals and supplements exert their effect on the bone. As I said before, I strongly recommend this book for all women, regardless of age, if you have an interest in preventing or treating this very common condition.

This novel pictures a world facing the rising sea with the resulting decline of the land mass. It based in the middle of the 21st century Australia. The unemployed form more than half the population and they are massed in specially built high rise towers and kept there by the police and the army. The story traces the fall of a family from sweet (i.e. employed with reasonable income) into the hell of unemployment.
the story from the viewpoint of four main characters and more minor ones. While this may seem confusing at first, the author managed to turn this into an interesting way of examining different personalities each with its own selfish motive and self centered view of the world. this one of the best novels of what I call "Future fiction" as opposed to authentic science fiction

This book is fantastic - and a warning. Reading it, you can feel the heat, the claustrophobia, the hopelessness of life on the fringes and the rising sea lapping at the doorstep. The scary thing is, the writing's on the wall. Global warming is still a threat, huge multi-story pack-em-in apartment blocks are going up in the middle of cities everywhere, the gap between the haves and have nots is rising, and everybody's looking away. It's just a little harder to look away after reading this.
If you like this book, seek out Brunner's "Sheep look up",

I bought this book without taking a good look at the illustrations. I wish I'd peered closer. As a fan of antique wooden dolls, I was excited to find a children's story that features wooden dollhouse dolls. However, the illustrations are generic, so that they could be plastic dolls or china dolls and the reader would never tell the difference. I prefer the realism given to "the Doll's House" by Rumer Godden, where the wooden doll *looks* like a wooden doll. This has cute poetry, but I would have prefered more realism in the illustrations.

As a fourth grade teacher, I have found this book to be an excellent assest to my classroom library. Strong settting and character development allows this story to be a valuable tool in teaching the basics parts of a good story. My students and I read it over and over!

This is a great dictionary, but how much information do you really think fits into such a small book? I found it useful for my purposes as an undergraduate student, but I'd personally like to own one of those big fancy sociological dictionaries.

While there are other dictionaries out there that do a better job, for the price of this dictionary it is a great reference for Introduction to Sociology students. Definitions range from a few words to a couple of pages. Usually gives a reference to an author connected to the term and other concepts that might be important to the term. Still there are key concepts missing (for instance a definition of methodology) that make this book problematic. This book is not written from a particular standpoint, but at times the definitions are classical.

For any student of sociology, this is a welcomed addition to textbooks. The dictionary is also a good addition to the library of someone who just enjoys reading sociology books. It has a bit of a British flair because of its authors, but is really a well-rounded and insightful reference book.