This book is very useful for giving adult students with very little English knowledge opportunity for in-class talking time with other students. Seems to go slowly, but even the more advanced students enjoy it, as there are opportunities to challenge them, as well. Gives students a chance to teach each other the English, in situations where I used to spend a half an hour talking to them as they dozed off. It has revolutionized my ESL classes--they are more enjoyable for both the students and myself.

This book really kept me interested. It made me think about slavery and how wrong it was. I really enjoyed finding out about Frederick Douglass and how he learned to read. This is a wonderful book. The illustrations are just as wonderful. I would recommend this book to all educators to use in their classroom.

This is the first, and to date the only, book that attempts to tell the 19th century legal history of the Mormon Church. The book is divided into three parts. The first section basically gives the legal history of the church during the life time of its founder Joseph Smith. The second section details the intensive persecution of the church by the federal government over the practice of plural marriage. The third section describes in detail the ecclesiastical court system that basically served all of the judicial needs of pioneer Mormons. This section in particular is fabulous. Firmage and Mangrum had incredible access to confidential church court records and the detail and scope of their treatment dwarfs any other work on the subject.

However the book is not without flaws. There are some gaps in the research. For example, the landmark Reynolds decision is dicussed in detail, but one gets the impression that the only documents consulted were the published legal ones (opinions and briefs). What about journals and letters by the participants? These sorts of gaps abound.

On the whole, however, this is a wonderful work. Law is one of the hitherto neglected regions of Mormon studies, and Mormon perspectives are among the hitherto neglected possibilities of legal studies. Despite a facinating legal history, Mormon historians have done compartively little on the subject. Likewise, despite Mormons at the highest levels of the legal establishment -- e.g., Rex E. Lee (Solicitor General) or Dallin H. Oaks (Dean of Chicago Law School) -- there have been compartatively few attempts at sustained and scholarly Mormon perspectives on the law. Anyone interested in providing such perspectives should read this book.

After reading this book I would have been more comfortable if had been titled History of the Tenth Legions instead of Legion. As many Roman Army historians like Keppie, Parker and Webster have pointed out there is no confirmable direct link between Caesar's Tenth Legion and the Tenth Fretensis. The Scholarly majority believes that Caesar's Tenth later became the Tenth Equestris which existed for a short time in the imperial era. It would be as if a future historian labelled a book history of the 4th U.S. Infantry Division and then combined a narrative of the 4th Inf Div and the 4th Marine Division. They are two completely separate units.

This book lacks the scholarly research to back the author's claim that Fretensis is Caesar's Tenth. It would have been better if he had openly showed the conflicting claims about the lineage of the various Tenth Legions (Caesar's, Equestris, Gemina, and Fretensis) and then stated why he believed Fretensis is the direct lineage unit descendant backed by his research that led him to believe that. Instead he makes the tenous claim without evidence which for us die hard Roman Army historians makes us question his credibility.

The book is written in a very readable style. If the author stopped his unit history with Caesar's era it would be a very good book. Even if he included the histories of the Tenth Legion Equestris, Tenth Legion Gemina and Tenth Legion Fretensis and let the reader decide for himself which of these deserves the distinction it would have been a great improvement. In the end it is evident the author wishes to believe Fretensis is Caesar's Tenth and wants the reader to take his workd for it.

Firstly I must make an admission that I am no expect on this area of history. However I do appreciate a good historical account and that is what you will find with Dando-Collins book on the Roman 10th Legion. I have always enjoyed history books covering this period of time and I was prompted to buy this book after reading Major Clunn's excellent book 'In Quest of the Lost Legions', which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in Roman history.

In Stephen Dando-Collins book 'Caesar's Legion' the reader is offered a rarely seen look at the battles and campaigns of Rome's Legions during the time of Julius Caesar. The centerpiece of the book is the 10th Legion, raised by Julius Caesar and used by him throughout as his elite shock-troops. Not only does the book provide you with an interesting and detailed insight into the 10th Legion but also the author provides you with a detailed narrative of the battles and campaigns fought by Roman Legions throughout the known world.

We read about the officers and men of the 10th Legion including its recruitment, training, makeup and organization along with detailed descriptions of their fighting. The book details all the known campaigns and battles, from the English Isles, Gaul and Italy to the Middle East. The story covers the campaigns against rebelling tribesman in Gaul and Germany to the many set piece battles against other Roman Legions during the Civil War. The narrative continues with the life of the 10th Legion after the death of its founder, Julius Caesar. We follow the Legionaries to the Jewish fortress of Masada and read about the campaign against the Jewish Zealots with its grim ending.

The book is easy to read with a smooth and descriptive narrative. The story is well researched and has a number of maps to assist the reader in following the campaigns of the 10th Legion. No illustrations are provided which is a slight disappointment but more than made up for with the rich narrative. This is a great story and I am sure that anyone who enjoys good historical accounts with love this story of "Caesar's Legion".

"Caesar's Legion" is partly a unit history of the famous 10th Legion, and partly the story of Rome's military adventures from the Gallic Wars through the fall of Masada. The book seems to be very carefully researched and it is certainly well written--Dando-Collins is fascinated by his subject, and his enthusiasm shows.

The Tenth Legion was, for most of its history, an elite and honored unit. Like America's 82d and 101st airborne divisions, the Tenth enjoyed a world-wide reputation for skill in battle. Dando-Collins explains how the Tenth earned its stripes, from recruitment and training to victory as the legion that usually occupied the position of honor on Caesar's right flank. As he does so, he tells the story of the centurions and other soldiers in the legion--how they were recruited, how long their terms of enlistment could be expected to last, when they would be promoted (if they lived) and how they could expect to spend their retirement.

Dando-Collins also points out some things that are probably old hat to students of Roman military history, but are very interesting to someone who is new to the subject. He explains, for example, that Roman javelins were designed so that they would bend upon striking an enemy shield (or an enemy), thus preventing the weapon from being re-used against the attacking legion. He also describes the remarkable training, discipline and mobility of a legion--on campaign, a unit like the Tenth might disassemble its fortified camp, march a great distance, assemble another camp to precise military specifications, and then repeat the process day after day until the enemy was run to ground.

In battle, a Roman legion would fight in a tight, disciplined infantry formation and engage enemy units first with javelins, then with Spanish swords in what must have resembled a rugby scrum from hell. A well-trained legion like the Tenth won far more often than it lost--the Romans understood that a soldier should sweat in peace so that he didn't have to bleed in war.

The story of the Tenth is told in the context of the times. Dando-Collins follows the Legion as it helps Caesar pacify Gaul, crosses the Rubicon and fights a civil war, endures the assassinations of Pompey and Caesar, casts its lot with Antony at Actium, and finally captures the Zealot fortress at Masada. The Romans, it seems, were very skilled and very ruthless, and the Tenth Legion (for better or worse) represented the pinnacle of their military art.

Rather than reciting the names of poets who Billy Collins *isn't*, I'll simply say who Billy Collins *is* (in addition to being the U.S. Poet Laureate, and with good cause). Billy Collins is the first poet in a long time to have a huge readership, both among those who were admittedly NOT fans of poetry, and among those who are conoisseurs of poetry. Billy Collins is, then, the envy of poets who wish for high exposure, a large readership, and huge book sales. These things don't happen to just any poet. Collins is not just any poet. He's Billy Collins, in a category all his own.

Collins's poems are fresh and inventive and at the same time take for their subject matter the everyday things we take for granted. He takes the most simple things and turns and turns them in a poem until we see them in a way we never could have without the intervention of his brilliant mind. He processes fresh, raw words and injects wit and feeling and makes of them a very fine wine.

NINE HORSES is just as good a work as SAILING ALONE AROUND THE ROOM, which contains works from his previous books. Collins is at the top of his form, and without giving a play-by-play of some of the highlights of the book, I will just say that "Litany" alone is worth the cover price.

Collins's intellect is richly sophisticated yet he talks like the neighbor next door. And, passing the test of true intelligence, he is able to explain lofty concepts so that even the simplest of minds can understand. Though, of course, he enraptures high-minded folks in the process.

I don't know where I have been, but I just discovered Billy Collins a couple of weeks ago when he appeared in person for a poetry reading in Traverse City, Michigan. Wow! I bought Nine Horses and The Art of Drowning that night. Nine Horses is a wonderful book. Full of wit and humor along with very profound and meaningful poems. Most are short and the entire book can be read in no time at all. It was awesome seeing him in person, and I am glad I heard him read because I can now picture him and hear his voice when I read the poems. Nine Horses left me with a desire to read everything he has ever written - and I intend to do just that! His poems are fun, and some have an element of surprise at the end. Many are just the kind of thoughts that anyone might have on a lazy, summer afternoon while staring up at the clouds. Get this book. Read his poems, you will definitely not be disappointed.

If you've read the one star review that talks about Billy Collins writing about nothing and how worthless that is, then you've gotten one point of view - allow me to offer another. Doing "nothing" can be the height of human existence, and "nothing" can also be a very subjective perspective. I don't see myself as doing "nothing" when I'm laying in the summer grass staring at the shapes of clouds. I don't know if it is an American or simply a modern trait to categorize a lack of physical action as "doing nothing" but it certainly isn't a viewpoint shared by everyone. I happen to think that poetry about an awareness of things going on around and inside of us that we are not normally aware of is beautiful, and is as worthy a subject for poetry as any. In "Nine Horses" words once again flow off pages and trickle into the recesses of my soul, filling pockets of emptiness that I hadn't been aware sat idle amongst the consciousness of their surroundings. Turning these pages is shocking, humorous, sad, enriching, challenging and altogether enjoyable. There is a simple appeal, but the words are not simple. This is a fine craftsman in his workshop, doing what he's driven to do, and we are all better for it.

I hated reading Dickens in high school, and I was never able to get past the first chapter of any of his books, including this one. Now that I'm in my mid-30's, I want to re-visit a lot of the works that I had no patience for as a teenager, so I read Hard Times. Although there are many flaws to this book, I felt proud to have finally cleared the Dickens hurdle. Dickens is excellent at creating sympathetic (and evil) characters, even though they may be slightly cliche or wooden. The fact is, Dickens is able to hook you in with his plots and create a profound concern on behalf of the reader that the good guy (or girl) wins and the bad guy suffers. A lot of the twists in this book were a little "too convenient" and implausible to make it a crowining work of literature, but nevertheless it has motivated me to move on to Dickens' larger, more daunting works. If you are having any trepidation about tackling Dickens, Hard Times is a good place to start.

Here is a stunning indictment of soot-covered early Victorian England. Its relevance today though should not be underestimated. Parallels abound both here at home and the world over. Hard Times is brilliant and multifaceted. Dickens is both dreadfully serious and stingingly witty. And yes, a thorough Marxist reading is certainly possible. Dickens cared deeply about the world in which he lived and his humanity shines through in every line. This book, and all that Dickens wrote, is worthwhile if only for the beauty of the prose. Those forced to read it in school are unlikely to see its value as anyone forced to do anything against the will is going to be resentful and rejecting. Be deeply suspicious though of the reader from Madison Wisconsin, Hitler, or anyone who advises the literal trashing of books.

Dickens creates a novel that virtually revolutionizes literature of the 1800's. At a time where most writers wrote in a stuffy prose full of unrealities and a jaded outlook, Dickens dares to tell with honesty what he sees through his window.

Hard Times has yet a misleading title. It gives one ideas of harshness, depression, poverty, and social decline--although the actual reality of then-London, still not something you would choose to read. However, Hard Times has as much depression and poverty as any of Dickens' other works. It is just in this case that Dickens chooses to remind the world that in the deepest despair there is beauty yet to be seen.

Dickens was a strange author. In his supposedly inspiring books, you get an overdose of sadness, and in his depressing books, you find beauty. It is this case with Hard Times.

It is a poor, honest man's search for justice in a world where only the rich have merit. It is a girl's search for true love while battling the arranged marriage for money. And lastly, a woman's search for recognition against her favored, yet dishonest brother. It is these searches that at last come together and become fufilled. And, while at the same time telling a captivating story, it comments on the then--and still now--presence of greed and total dishonesty one has to go through for money.

The title of this review sums up Hard Times. Its beauty comes from the pure searches for truth, the sorrow comes from the evil the characters most overcome to get there, and the honesty is both the truth with which Dickens portrays life and the the overwhelming truth that these protaganists create.

Holly Burke, PhD.

Clinical Psychologist, Abnormal Psych. Professor

Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins Inst.

Aukai Collins' first book, "My Jihad" is his account of his conversion to Islam and protection of the faith. It is an easy to read account and I could not put it down. However, There are some parts that don't flow or make much sense. Aukai recounts his adventure with the Azeri assassin but abruptly ends the story while he is still shooting at the mafiosi. The book itself should have been better organized, with the section on his youth coming first. Nevertheless, despite minor flaws "My Jihad" is an excellent read for anyone interested in the world of the Mujahideen, the CIA and Islam. I highly reccommend this book. ...

This is one of those books that likes to yank your innards. First, there's the physical torment reading about emergency surgery in the Third World, or what it's like to get half your leg blown off, or to feel a mustard gas attack coming.

Then they're the appalling view on how inept some of our best internal security agents can be. Just reading the accounts of the failures of the FBI and CIA sure do make me sleep easy at night.

The writing style is very simple, and a handful of typos slipped through, but it reads quickly and easily. Collins isn't a professional writer, and thankfully, he doesn't pretend to be one. However, he made a good technique of waiting until the middle of the book to describe how he became a Muslim.

The author is definitely quite a character, and is somewhat disturbing at times. Often, he seems to dance a razor's edge between working for the freedom fighters and the terrorists. He also seems to have focused himself only on the fighting aspects of Islam, and admits he doesn't know much yet of the Koran. Also, if he's other there to fight and die for Islam, why is he bothering to marry and have a child with another woman, when he's already married in America, and did it not occur to him how is he going to break it to his American wife? And how did he think after 9/11 he was just going to waltz back into Afghanistan?

You can admire men who stand for their beliefs, but at times when I read the book, I'm not sure Mr. Collins knows what his beliefs are.

After finishing this book, I read the reviews on amazon.com. The other readers' reviews of this book are dead on. Both the positive and negative reviews develop points that are correct. The book is not well written or edited. However, the author is not a professional wordsmith. The book, is written by a former car thief and "stick up man." He converted to Islam while in the California Youth Authority. I am sure he didn't spend much time studying literature.
I feel the books best value is the author's description of working as a Confidential Informant or "snitch" with both the CIA and FBI. He describes how our intelligence agencies are mired with incompetent ladder climbers more concerned with their respective careers than the mission. Even worse are the insanely stupid bureaucratic regulations, which hamstring our nations intelligence gathering. A perfect example of this is described in the book where the CIA would not allow the author to go to Chechnya unless he "promised not to engage in combat" due to rules prohibiting it's operatives from doing that.
Even scarier, on several occasions the CIA wanted to notify various foreign intelligence agencies of the author's status as an agent. His account of the way in which some of his handlers worked with him also raises red flags. One of them was a "born again Christian" who allowed his personal views to affect his agent handling.
All in all I think this is a very interesting account of the experiences of a "front line soldier of Islam." It is very current and should be read by anyone concerned with intelligence gathering or curious about it.

I like Jackie Collins books for a light read on the beach. Her older books, the Lucky series, Hollywood Wives, and Hollywood Husbands I particularly liked. This is trashy, averagely written "literature", so I take it for what it is.

Although this book is fairly entertaining, it is inherently flawed. One thing Jackie Collins is good at is creating a variety of characters and bringing them all together in the end. She does that in all her books, and Lethal Seduction is no different. However, this book nowhere near measures up to her previous efforts. In fact, it almost feels like a duplicate of all her other books.

I'm so tired of all the women being the most beautiful thing on the face of the Earth. Sure, they may be famous, but not all famous people are beautiful! Second, all of her characters speak the exact same way. Some of them may speak a bit more slangy, but the vulgarity abounds from every character. I can't imagine some of these characters saying the things she has them say. All everyone does is have sex, and lots of it. Come on, how about some depth! The Gem character was ridiculous, yet another perfect and innocent wannabe actress. Dexter talks to her for five minutes, and he's in love? And he practically stalks her from Vegas and she doesn't think he's a nutcase?

I don't know...this book is good for a day at the beach, but don't expect anything groundbreaking, and don't expect anything different from any of her other novels.

Jackie Collins once again takes us into her wonderful world of sex, lies, and deception that true Collins fans have loved for years. Lethal Seduction was a fast paced, tell all story involving the lives of the rich and famous (of course). I really enjoyed all of the characters, in particular "Rosarita". She gives the word 'bitch' an entirely new meaning. Enjoy reading about her plot to kill her husband and the lengths she must go through in trying to reach her ultimate goal (utterly hilarious at times). Also, the character of "Madison", from the L.A. Connections series, was extremely well written. I would say that the only thing that stopped me from giving this book a five star rating was its abrupt ending. It almost seemed like Ms Collins was in a rush all of a sudden to get through with the book and in doing so, completed the last couple of chapters in a half-assed manner... something I couldn't understand, considering she added yet another surprise in store at the very end. But I'm sure that whatever it was that caused her to do this will be explained in her next book (a sequel perhaps)? At any rate, this book was very entertaining and I would suggest giving it a try.

Madison Castelli is one of the main female characters in the book.
She's no Lucky Santangelo that's for sure, but she's a good character.
She's beautiful, of course, so I couldn't understand why she was
hanging on to grief about her ex-lover having walked out on her for
another woman...two years ago.

Madison's best friend, Jamie Nova,
finds out that her perfect husband is cheating on her in the most
devious manner. Rosarita Falcon is the bitchiest character I've come
across in a long time. She is unhappily married to a handsome but
unsuccessful soap opera star, Dexter, whose real name is Dick
Cockranger can you believe it? too funny. Rosarita is having a torrid
affair with Joel Blaine, public sex fanatic and son of billionaire
Leon Blaine. Rosarita asks her father to kill her husband, Dexter,
since she believes her father is in the mob. We never do actually
learn if he is in the mob or not. ...

Not the best of Collins,
but a fun read nonetheless.

I live in a master-planned community, so I have some experience with many of the seemingly strange rules and regulations described in the book. I'm also fascinated with new urbanism, so I was very excited when I found out about this book. It's higly readable, but there are some awkward places where the authors repeat each other. More troubling, I never got the sense that they went much beyond the perceptions and needs of their immediate family and neighbors. For two supposedly objective journalists, their particular opinions on the Celebration school spoke more of their own biases than anything else. Did anyone else feel like they were more concerned with their own property values than documenting the year or two in Celebration? For a much deeper and thoughtful account, read the "other" Celebration book by Andrew Ross. By the way, he mentions in his book that he tried to contact these authors, but that their editor told them not to talk to him. Interesting. Knowing that the various authors were in Celebration at about the same time, and having them interview many of the same residents was surreal.

Unlike some of the earlier reviewers, I didn't think this was anti-Disney or anti-Celebration. After reading it, I almost wanted to move to Celebration myself! (If it had decent transit connections to Orlando it could be paradise). The authors' love for the place showed through, and the only thing that mystified me was why they left.

The authors do discuss the very real problems with Celebration's schools and construction; this part of the book could have benefited from a comparison with traditional suburbs, to show readers that Celebration's problems exist in typical suburban sprawl as well -- as anyone who saw what Hurricane Andrew did to Miami's sprawl houses knows!

I decided to place myself on location for this reading. I spent a delightful 12 mornings, sipping au laits at Barnies, rocking by the lake and watching Celebrationites start their day, as I delved into this book. Like all good authors should,Doug and Cathy had done their homework. I could imagine it would be a difficult task to uncover as much of the dirt as they did. The Disney Corp. obviously went to extraordinary lengths to keep bad news under wraps and as new homeowners of rather expensive dreams, I could understand hesitation and guarded friendliness among the residents of this village. At the end ,I was left with the uncertainty of their purpose. Was it to gather the info, write the book and leave town. Or was this family drawn to the dream of this new social experience with a strong desire to contribute to its evolution, at least with more perserverence than the 18 months or so. I was surprised to find out that they had moved out of Celebration before the book was released. Given their "tell all" details of some of the more intimate goings-on at neighbors houses, perhaps fear of an old fashion lynching of yesteryear was adequate motivation to say adios.

"Words are like leaves; and where they most abound / much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found," wrote Alexander Pope, hundreds of years before critics said roughly the same thing about Bill Gate's Business @ the Speed of Thought. But when the words in question come from the pen of Microsoft's chairman, businesspeople and technophiles the world over rush to read them in search of whatever enlightening morsels might be hidden within. Indeed, the strength of this book, which sometimes reads like a Windows operating manual, is not in the grace of its prose. Rather, its value lies in the glimpse it gives of the world through the eyes of one of its richest and most influential men. As Gates sees it, the migration of data to the electronic state from paper was the seminal event of our age, and his book gives his take on its implications - hardly an irrelevant picture coming from the head of the world's dominant software company. We from getAbstract recommend this book to any executive charged with developing a digital strategy.

You could read much of this book and think to yourself: this is obviously where the future is going. Indeed I may be especially prone to this feeling of deja prevu, because my father first Norman Macrae of The Economist first wrote a book exploring the future scearios of a networked world of business and consumers back in 1984 - as a celebratory Goodbye to Orwell. But take another look, and ask yourself how many of Gates' lead recommendations are CEOs of big companies acting on or even fully knowledgable about. In telling them to wake up to the digital age or go out of business, his message is a bold call for action. Macraes would particularly enjoy debating with like minded readers examples of the best actions of the following types of Gatesian Do Nows: 1) The internet will help achieve "friction-free capitalism" by putting buyer and seller in direct contact and providing more information to both about each other. ..Only a few businesses will succeed by having the lowest price, so most will need a strategy that includes customer service. If you take a service approach, arm your knowledge workers with digital information tools to connect with customers and manage those realtionships...Do you have a single infrastructure to support applications for your internal knowledge workers and your customers?....2) To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks. Risk supported by digital information flow may be the single biggest way to create product and market breakthroughs.3) Time to market is shrinking for every business...The most important "speed" issue is often not technical but cultural. It's convincing everyone that the company's survival depends on everyone moving as fast as possible...4) Knowledge management starts with business objectives and processes and a recognition of the need to share information. Knowledge management is nothing more than managing information flow, getting the right information to the right people who need it so they can act on it quickly...Do you have a digital repository where you preserve and augment your organisation's accumulated knowledge? Do your digital systems allow numerical and non-numerical data to be accessed together? Can employees, partners and suppliers get access to appropriate corporate knowledge with a few simple commands? Do your information systems ensure that proper reviews happen as products move through development?

OVERVIEW

Business at the Speed of Thought is far more than a position paper on his business strategies, nor is it a public relations effort to soften the critics or judiciary overseers. The book takes a higher conceptual approach, focusing on the imperative role of information and knowledge management will play in running today's organizations. Gates speaks as a consultant, using the successes and failures of real companies, in a case-study approach, to support his philosophies and strategies. It is more basic than revolutionary, but the vision is expressed with great clarity and given depth and breadth through pragmatic, working examples.

CEO's, other organizational leaders, and managers at all levels can potentially benefit from the ideas illustrated. As a small business owner, I found at least half of the content relevant to improving the efficiency of my business operations. Further, those who believe that technology will continue to play an increasingly significant role in the marketplace, should grab a cup of coffee, a pen, and actively read this book.

The book is organized into four distinct sections: information flow, commerce, knowledge management, and business operations. The author's basic premise is that the success or failure of an organization will depend on how well they gather, manage, and use information. Gathering information is the first step in this direction. Gates observes the importance of gathering "business facts", which encompass internal as well as external forces. These business facts concern customers, vendors, distributors, competitors, and internal systems and procedures.

DISCUSSION

While Gates coherent 12-step program to the implementation of a "Digital Nervous System" is a useful guide to better integrate IT with existing business resources, it unfortunately gave little attention to much deserved social and psychological issues. Gates refuses to admit any problems with technology. This technological utopianism results in an incomplete analysis and does not discriminate at all. As a result, the potential pitfalls are not identified, which could lead to oversight. Functionally, it may lead to a blind, non-discriminatory adoption to digital processes. This absolute change to may produce the inefficiency it is meant to eliminate.

Under this approach, the problems fade into the background because the technology is so perfect. For example, Gates insists that communication flow through the organization over e-mail so that you can act on news with reflex like speed. It is difficult to take a 'key step' like this seriously. Is the ability to act with 'reflex-like speed' really a function of the communication medium, or is it dependent on such factors as experience, intelligence, etc.? Is there no downside to e-mail? What of the lack of truly human communication, that is, fact-to-face, if e-mail is used for all communication? Is it surprising that chief executives fly around the world almost continuously to talk face-to-face? Do they use e-mail, or do they prefer to see the whites of the potential partner's eyes?

Despite these criticisms, I enjoyed this book from cover to cover, and have used its content to increase the productivity of the technological resources owned by my business. Business @ the Speed of Thought illustrates its concepts with detailed case studies of top-notch companies as well as Microsoft in a variety of industries, making the "Digital Nervous System" relevant to a broad and diverse audience. He uses accurate yet easy to understand language, abandoning technical jargon. This, combined with an introduction which provides a clear layout of the books objectives, produces a coherent and pragmatic resource for all people, business persons and non-business persons.

The analysis within the case studies gives examples of how IT can improve, or did improve, failed processes. These examples of already successfully re-engineered information networks, provides concrete methods of how to manage inventory, sales, customer relationships, etc. Because Gates draws from a diverse field of companies, the advice of Gates is useful for all business people of all types of organizations, from service to merchandising, and profit to non-profit.

In addition, the concept of a "Digital Nervous System" can be applied to the personal lives of people who are adapting what he calls a Web Lifestyle. I concur with Gate's conviction that the success of businesses will be a function of how you gather, manage, and use information. Subsequently, Business @ the Speed of Thought goes a long way to increasing vital IT knowledge and skills; and these life-long skills are as important for personal, academic, and professional achievement as traditional academic knowledge and skills such as Math and Science.

CONCLUSION

While Gates breaks no new ground, he provides specific examples that illustrate the necessary steps to help businesses capitalize on their IT investment, and authentic examples of its realized benefits. I recommend this book to anybody who feels they are unclear on how to integrate IT with current business operations, as well as to individuals who desire to learn more about how to utilize technology to improve their personal tasks. I do not believe Business @ the Speed of Thought is just a finely tuned marketing campaign, but it may be hard for those who do not favor Microsoft to listen to Gates for the entire length of the book. In this case I recommend people read selected chapters that are in line with their individual or business IT objectives. As Gates has shown time and time again, him, Microsoft, and perhaps even this book you may ignore at your own peril.