Loaded with details, "Con-glom-er-ate" is a must read for not only lovers of the Illinois Central Railroad, but for those individuals who want to know what it was like when conglomerates reigned supreme in the business world. This book covers the 21 year term of William B. Johnson as Chairman and Chief Executive, first of the ICRR, then of IC Industries.

We learn of Mr. Johnson's roots as a lawyer, then of his days at the Railway Express Agency (REA), then culminating in his call to run the Illinois Central Railroad. From his early days at the IC, Johnson had a vision for the first land grant railroad (1851) in the country. Knowing the tide was shifting away from railroads as a profit center, Johnson takes a newly formed company called Illinois Central Industries, to places only he imagined. Making acquisitions and divestments, Johnson creates a $5 billion dollar company from what was a modest $300 million railroad. By the time Johnson retires, IC Industries is a complex company consisting of food and consumer products (Pet Foods, Pepsi Cola Bottling), automobile services (Midas), real estate (Illinois Center), manufacturing (Abex) and transportation (ICRR).

We are offered behind the scenes insight into negotiations, planning, Presidential meetings, and much more. No stone has been left unturned in this in depth primer of the modern conglomerate. The reader is carefully guided along from year to year, just as Johnson carefully guided IC Industries through the years.

Loaded with facts and contributions from many of Johnson's faithful Executive's, this book is a must read. I'm proud to say my father worked side by side with Mr. Johnson the entire 21 years, and then finally retired after 40 years of service with the ICRR and IC Industries. Even so, my knowledge of IC Industries increased as I read this book. The following year, in 1987, Mr. Johnson suffered a stroke and retired from the job he loved so much. However, as we learn in "Con-glom-er-ate", this is by no means the end for Mr. Johnson.

Wonderully written by Frank J. Allston, this book will amaze you with the knowlege, skill and daring of a man called William B. Johnson.

This is a must for conservation education professionals. The numerous indexes and summary descriptions of organizations are wonderful.

He's an excellent writer and professor...His work must be taken in small increments, and be absorbed. Very worthwhile reading. Dragan is one of the better writers in dealing with sociology, semiotics and law. This is a must-have. I have also read several works that Stuart Henry has contributed to...he's a plethora of information as well.

As an electrician and control panel designer this book is by far the most help to any apprentice electrician. If you have a question about controls this is your source.

A superb double biography of John Henry Newman and Henry Edward Manning. Manning has had a bad press. The book successfully rehabilitates him, without down-grading or denigrating Newman.

One of the most famous Italian philosophers and a true Renaissance man of the 16th century was Nicolo Machiavelli whose treatise, The Prince, is even, until today, required reading for many college students. The fundamental thesis of the book revolves around how monarchs gain and retain political power.

Henry Borger , an avid student of business management, has transformed many of the principles revealed in The Prince into modern day business practices. The result has been the publication of an extremely informative handbook entitled The Corporate Prince.

When I asked Borger what was his objective in writing this book, here is what he had to say: "My objective in writing The Corporate Prince was simply to transform The Prince into a form that would be easier for businessmen to read. I was convinced Machiavelli had some important things to say to modern businessmen, but they were not reading him because the applicability of his wisdom to the business world is not self evident, and businessmen have neither the time nor the patience to wade through The Prince to dig out the nuggets of wisdom buried in it."

Borger shows a profound understanding of Machiavelli and within each chapter he passionately explores the various dictums within a business context without falling into the trap of didacticism.

The book divides itself into twenty-three chapters each containing poignant observations pertaining to such issues as: well established corporations, mixed corporations, avoiding problems, controlling corporations after a takeover, management of acquired corporations, new corporations, qualities of CEOs, consultants and outside contracts, and many more topics.

All of these chapters are filled with anecdotes pertaining to such renowned business people as John D. Rockefeller, Lee Iacocca, Henry Ford, Herb Kelleher, Forest Mars Jr. and Sr., Joseph Kennedy, Howard Hughes, and many others. In this way Borger is able to bring life to the principles of Machiavelli and illustrate that they don't exist in a vacuum.

He also avoids generalizations and oversimplifications by providing the reader with concrete examples. We get the feeling that the author has put a great deal of thought and research into his book.

No doubt the test of a worthy book is if it interests the reader to the extent that they would want to re-read it. The Corporate Prince certainly passes this test, particularly for business people as well as students of business.

I cannot believe that this title along with "Random Factor" is out of print. At a time (the mid to late 80s) when science fiction was becoming nothing but wizards, dragons, and magic,
Joel Henry Sherman was practically a lone voice to keep alive the legacy of Asimov, Clarke, Niven, and Bradbury. If you love
solid SF, get a copy of this excellent novel; and petition
Ballantine to re-publish both outstanding books. JHS, come back
soon !

Although this is the fourth volume of the new edition of WJ's correspondence, in a way it is really the first, and would be a good place for a reader desiring a more intimate acquaintance with William James and his world to start. Volumes 1-3 were devoted to the letters to and from his equally famous novelist brother -- an appealing idea and one probably calculated to increase interest and sales, but perhaps questionable on more fundamental grounds. Be that as it may, as a reading experience Volume 4 can scarcely be recommended too highly. William James is probably one of the most lovable letter writers ever to set pen to paper. In these letters every sentence comes alive and breathes.

James possessed to a high degree qualities of attention, powers of observation, and an adorable desire to render experience vividly. It is a cliche to say that "a world comes alive" in pages like these, but that is the feeling I have when, for example, I read a letter written from Dresden to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. on May 15, 1868: "Wendell of my entrails! At the momentous point where the last sheet ends I was interrupted by the buxom maid calling me to tea and through various causes have not got back till now. As I sit by the open window waiting for my bkfst. and look out on the line of Droschkies drawn up on the side of the dohna Platz, and see the coachmen, red faced, red collared, & blue coated with varnished hats, sitting in a variety of indolent attitudes upon their boxes, one of them looking in upon me and probably wondering what the devil I am, When I see the big sky with a monstrous white cloud battening and bulging up from behind the houses into the blue, with a uniform coppery film drawn over cloud & blue which makes one anticipate a soaking day, when I see the houses opposite with their balconies & windows filled with flowers & greenery -- ha! on the topmost balcony of one stands a maiden, black jaketted, red petticoated, fair and slim under the striped awning leaning her elbow on the rail and her peach like chin upon her rosy finger tips -- Of whom thinkest thou, maiden, up there aloft? here, *here!* beats that human heart for wh. in the drunkenness of the morning hour thy being vaguely longs, & tremulously, but recklessly and wickedly posits elsewhere, over those distant housetops which thou regardest..."

This jocular yet earnest mood is perhaps the most pervasive one in these letters. Yet we also get glimpses into the deep and suicidal depressions he fought during his early years. Several of the letters in this volume blossom into fascinating six- or seven-page ruminations on some of the deepest questions of philosophy and religion, for these are the years in which James, "swamped in an empirical philosophy," won through to a view of the world that found room for consciousness, will, and spirit. It is in his letters to (and from) Holmes, the physician Henry Bowditch, and his bosom friend Tom Ward that we feel most intensely James's mind and heart grappling with the ideas he cares most deeply about.

But James is not always mulling over deep principles. At eighteen years of age he briefly considered becoming a painter, and began studies to that end, so it is in his character to be fully alive to surface details of the scene about him. A commentary on cultural and political matters full of interesting judgments runs though these letters. Readers will also come to feel they know well every member of the James family. WJ's letters to his sister Alice are especially remarkable.

Though my initial reaction to the policy of extremely restrained annotation practiced by the editorial team was one of frustration, in the end I came to appreciate the free hand it gives us to reread letters more carefully and to feel ourselves into the wonderful and mysterious crannies of the inner life of a great human being. To this end, I recommend deferring the introduction by Giles Gunn until after they have concluded the letters. Professor Gunn (of UC Santa Barbara) has interesting and pertinent things to say -- especially about James's relation to his father, the Swedenborgian theologian Henry James, Sr., on whose work Gunn has written -- but there is nothing there that cannot wait until readers have first immersed themselves in the primary texts.

The volumes of this series are beautiful in their craftsmanship, and it is an aesthetic as well as intellectual delight to manipulate and peruse them. This volume would make an excellent gift for a bright high school senior or college freshman, since the problems of youth and of finding a vocation hold a special place here -- for anyone struggling with a chronic or debilitating illness (James is plagued with back and eye problems through most of these years) -- or indeed, for anyone who reads!

This is an excellent book on the methods and applications of cost-effectiveness analysis. The book is lucid in its presentation, is filled with useful examples based on actual situations and analyses, enhances readers' understanding of the subject through succinct feedback to exercises, and provides an extensive bibliography of cost studies in education. It is highly recommended to readers who are interested in making informed decisions regarding more efficient utilization of resources and who are seeking an easy-to-read basic book to learn and apply the essential tools of cost-effectiveness analysis. It should be a required reading for students in evaluation programs in education and other fields.

The authors provided an easy to read text that gives the reader a basic understanding of Social Security - Old Age Insurance. They provided information of all the current initiatives as well as devoting an entire chapter to a critical review of the privatization plan. Excellent suggestions for reforming the current plan are given that make good sense to the reader. A must read for anyone who wants to be informed for the ongoing debate on Social Security.