This volume is just what I needed to get a leg up on those Harvard snobs! Everything you want to know on what MBA's do and how they think but were afraid to ask is here. My compliments to Dr. Sobel- he knows what it's all about. Worth TWICE the price!

One of the premier historians of the rise of Islam examines the evidence for the traditional Muslim story of trade in Mecca, and finds it -- at least -- wanting. A solid refutation of part of the standard Islamic story.

Written with vigor and some tart comments on some sloppy historians (Lammens for one.)

This is a very good collection of letters, contracts and other historical documents relating to trade in the Med. between 900 and 1500 AD. The editors are well informed and provide a brief yet solid analysis of each document.

For those who want to know more about trade in the region (mainly Venice, Genoa, Constantinople, etc.) this is an excellent selection

I am a student and writer of history. I found this book to be a valuable resource for understanding commerce in the era of the Tudors and the Stuarts--the period of American colonization. This book explains not only the laws of Britain but those of its many trading partners. It includes chapters on currency, alchemy, assaying, bee keeping, calendar differences, double entry book keeping, fishing fleets, navigation and ship building. I especially enjoyed the Topical Summary and Glossary of terms used in the seventeenth century.

This is the finest BizTalk admin's guide that I've seen yet! It's clear, concise, and gets right to the point. It has a great index, nicely laid-out table of contents, and the authors did a great job demonstrating how to start from scratch and build a scalable BizTalk Server messaging bus environment.

I was pretty satisfied by the contents of this book. This book is a comprehensive guide for network administrators to implement Commerce Server 2000 and administer and secure it effectively. The configuration examples are comprehensive and I could configure Commerce Server 2000 with ease after reading the contents of this book. The authors seem to have a thorough hands-on experience with Commerce Server 2000. I liked the chapters on deployment, security and integration of Commerce Server with BizTalk server. This is indeed a great buy!!

I got the book on Friday and was taken back by the ease of reading. Read the whole book, except the definitions of the "codes" by late Sunday. Plan to use this book and its step by step guides to get everything set up on my server. The planning section is important and it tells you why and what to consider. EXCELLENT BOOK! I am using this a NT Server book and a detiled book on SQL 6.5 to start an run a business

This book is not overly technical. It's written to provide a basic, but complete, introduction to mobile commerce from a business strategy point of view. It helps you answer some fundamental questions, such as:

Does mobile commerce make sense as a part of our business strategy?

What does it take to implement it?

What have other done to be successful?

From the above the most suitable audience consists of upper management on the business side, marketing and IT/IS management. Upper levels of business management who are exploring how to integrate mobile commerce into the value chain, or develop a strategy for competitive advantage that taps into the proliferation of mobile devices (cell phones and PDAs) are going to benefit most from the following chapters: (2) Partnerships-the way to Success in the Mobile Era and (4) Corporate Applications: Aligning Mobile Commerce with your Business Goals.

Marketing will get the most from chapters (3) Consumer Mobile Commerce-Mass Market Solutions with Segmentation and (6) Portals-A Single Plate for Various Dishes. Another book that will serve marketing well is "The Mobile Internet: How Japan Dialled up and the West Disconnected" by Jeffrey Lee Funk because it provides deep insights into marketing issues, as well as how Japan's NTT DoCoMo became an international success story.

Both business managers and marketing will also gain keen insights from the case studies and scenarios that are used throughout the book to illustrate key points and show how others have successfully employed m-commerce solutions for strategic advantage or as service offerings.

IT/IS management will get a high level overview of the technical underpinnings, issues and factors associated with developing, deploying and maintaining m-commerce systems. The technical details are not deep, but are sufficient to gain a rough understanding of the scope and complexity of implementing and supporting m-commerce enabled systems.

If you are seeking in-depth technical details you will be disappointed. However, if you are among the target audience or have the goals I cited above you'll find this book to be one of the best in its genre for introducing the business and strategic issues surrounding mobile commerce.

This is a broad treatment of M-commerce and is aimed at a broad audience of business and technical readers. Usually books of this nature are mediocre because of the trade-offs compromises in scope and content that need to be made to accommodate a wide audience. In the case of the book, though, it isn't the case.

First, the book is organized by (1) Business opportunity, (2) Applications, (3) Technology, (4) Issues and (5) Directory of M-Commerce Applications. The first four sections are both insightful and invaluable. The directory of M-commerce applications, in my opinion, does not add any value to the book because information of this nature changes so rapidly that it's inaccurate before a book is even published.

What I like about the book is the even treatment of opportunities that are inherent in M-commerce, including some insights into why Europe does not have the advantages that normally come from being early adopters (in spite of the pessimists who cite a "two year head start" while ignoring the U.S. leadership in technology implementation when we do get around to it), and the interesting view of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), which many believe to be just an interim - the author advises to put resources and effort into WAP and make it part of a business strategy if you want to be an M-commerce player.

The survey of technologies and standards are also useful, even if given somewhat superficial treatment. The value is you are exposed to all of the factors and considerations with which to make informed decisions or gain an understanding of the M-commerce landscape. In this respect the applications and technology sections of the book can be viewed as a primer.

Overall, this is an excellent book for learning about M-commerce from business and technical points of view because it provides a context and keen insights in both domains.

NACDS, the Association that champions the cause of Chain Drug Stores (all of them, not just the big ones) offers a great look at the industry through the newsletters of the thier president, Craig Fuller. It is well organized so you can jump right in to what interests you most. Fuller's style makes it a fast and entertaining read. The reader is quickly brought up to speed on issues including prescription drug reform, the role of chain drug stores in the community, and all issues facing the industry. This is a must read for anyone with a connection to ongoing healthcare debate. Thank you NACDS!