Reading this book proved very useful for my decisions. I picked it up a while ago and read through it while I was trying to decide what I should do in regards to science and grad school. This book's great tips, were a large influence in my chosing to go to grad school in organic chemistry.

My only problem with the book was that it was somewhat lacklusterly organized. A better index or talbe of contents would be nice.

Overall, if you need advice on this subject, this is a great choice.

"The Catholic Writer," edited by Ralph McInerny, is a collection of papers presented at the Wetheresfield Institute by eight men and women of various professions -- most are college professors and a few are editors of national periodicals -- bound together by their Catholic Faith.

Gregory Wolfe's article, "'Ever Ancient, Ever New': The Catholic Writer in the Modern World," opens the book. In what is the best of the eight essays, Wolfe outlines the role of the modern Catholic writer, both the writer of fiction and non-fiction. Wolfe says that today's Catholic writers ought to have three themes that run throughout all their work: (1) the recovery of the sacred; (2) the critique of the world; (3) the assimilation of modernity.

The other seven essays comment on Catholic writers of the 20th century.

Russell Hittinger writes an interesting article on Christopher Dawson's understanding of the social sciences. Edward A. Synan, a former student of Étienne Gilson, authored a pleasant piece about his former teacher. Michael Novak writes on "perhaps the greatest exemplar of the Catholic laity in the last two centuries," Jacques Maritain. Frederick D. Wilhelmsen writes on the Catholic defender of the faith, Hilaire Belloc. Alice von Hilderbrand composed a beautiful essay on the intellectual life and attitude of her husband, Dietrich von Hilderbrand. Willaim A. Marra's work on Dietrich von Hilderbrand's philosophy of love, happiness, and sex complements Alice von Hilderbrand's work. And finally, Michael Platt writes on the theme of happiness in the fiction of Willa Cather.

Of these eight papers, Wolfe's paper is of most value since it (correctly) outlines the task of the modern Catholic writer. The other essays intermingle biography with thought, and, at times, more biography than thought. Though these essays make for interesting reading, few insights on the modern tasks are offered.

But this is only the view of one person who, after reading Wolfe's article, thought the other seven would follow suit. My disappointment denied this book of a fifth star. I would say that any person who is Catholic and wants to be a "Catholic writer" as opposed to a "writer who is Catholic," ought to read the whole book at least once, and Wolfe's article should be read a few times each year.

It is remarkable what Charles Burchfield could do with what might be considered ordinary subjects, taken from an ordinary Midwestern field or sky or Main Street. He painted the mundane work-a-day life: "Freight Cars Under a Bridge;" "Wires Down," "Return of the Lake Fishermen," "Old Tavern at Hammondsville, Ohio." But I think he will ultimately be remembered for the nature paintings, that he deeply imbued with his personal symbolism of both vision and sound. Check out his "Song of the Telegraph" or "Autumnal Fantasy" if you'd like to see how he incorporated sound into his paintings--they're both shown in this catalogue (unfortunately there are only seventeen color plates. The majority of the illustrations are black and white).

In 1916-18 Burchfield executed a series of imaginative watercolors originating from childhood memories, and based for the most part on nature, e.g. "Dandelion Seed Balls and Trees," "Passing Shower in June," "In the Swamp," and "Insect Chorus" --another of his wonderful 'sound' paintings. In 1921 he moved from Ohio to Buffalo, New York where he became interested in the heartland architecture of the 1870s and 1880s. He began to paint the Mid-Western scene in a more realistic spirit. This is the period when his output consisted of railroad bridges ("Black Iron" 1935), locomotive repair shops, grain elevators, etc.

The latter subject, painted in oils in 1938 seems to have caused an epiphany for Burchfield. He considered it the most disappointing painting of his career and abandoned the oil medium completely. By 1943 he completed his return to the more imaginative and romantic vision of his early work. Some of my favorite watercolors are from this period: "The Sphinx and the Milky Way" (1946); "Hush Before the Storm" (1947); "Orion in December" (1959); "Dandelion Seed Heads and the Moon" (1961 - 65).

This catalogue of Burchfield's paintings (mainly watercolor) segments his work by year, starting with 1911 when he graduated as valedictorian of his high school class, through 1967, when he died of a heart attack on January 10th. There is an extensive bibliography of Burchfield's publications, and works about him, plus an index of his catalogued works (with a page number if the painting is illustrated in this catalogue). The author also includes a short biography, photographs, maps, and a brief summary of each year in Burchfield's career, e.g. 1923: "Birth of first child, Mary Alice. He became interested in Russian [music]...which seemed in harmony..." with what he was trying to express in his paintings.

This catalogue is a must for all serious Burchfield admirers. For more information on this American artist, check out his entries in the online artcyclopedia.

Before Ken Alibek, Simon I Peymer wrote about Biopreparat in 1989 and the Soviet establishment involved in medical CBR research. From what is presented, the author appears to be the defector Vladimir Pasechnik that Ken Alibek refers to in his book Biohazards.

The book is not well put together, and reads like a long IIR or debriefing. It includes a flyer from Biopreparat at the end of the book.

While the book is not the polished text one expects from a publisher, it is highly revealing on the attitudes, working conditions, and projects of the former Soviet Union in the CBR field. The author appears to have come from the CW side of the house, and was later involved in RW research.

The book details how and why the Soviet Union investigated Substance 33 (aka V-sub-x), Agent 78 (aka BZ), and the probelms with military medicine for these agents. The presentation shows a completely different approach to military medicine than that in the West.

The accounts of RW medical research were more chilling. It appeared that the Warsaw Pact standards for CBR exposure were based on a two-week survival time in combat.

The military medical establishment had excellent resources in RW created by a system that put researchers and doctors into first-hand experience with radiation casualties from accidents. This was suspected by a US doctor that went to the Soviet Union to assist after Chernobyl, when he noted that the Soviet doctors were far more informed on radiological casualties than the state-of-the-art in the US.

Experimental treatments for RW casualties are fully explained. There was a considerable concern for alleviating the transitory incapacitation from 10+ Gy dosings, and some unusual aspects discovered. The drugs experimented with looked promising, but were still noted as not meeting Western expectations of safety.

The author repeatedly points out how Chernobyl reversed Soviet thinking on Radiological Operations, noting that psychological effects were far more pronounced from multi-specied radiation than anticipated.

This is essential reading for understanding the culture of military medical research in the former Soviet Union, and points to real universal problems in military medicine.

In conjunction with the Practical Chinese Reader lesson book, the character exercise book is very helpful. It shows exact stroke orders of each character and has you practice every stroke so that when you build up to actually writing the full character, you do it the correct way (since the strokes go in a specific order). It has work spaces in the book for you to practice in and is very helpful in absorbing many characters in a single sitting. The only problem I have with the Character Exercise book is that it does not necessarily tell you how to pronounce Chinese using English words, which would be very helpful to a Western student learning Chinese for the first time. There are four tones that are all different and though it provides illustrations for pronunciating using a mouth/tongue diagram, it is still not exactly clear how it should sound.--Maybe others learning Chinese for the first time could relate to me? :) Overall, though, I think this is really a good series, is compact, can fit in almost anything and is packed with the basics as well as additional cultural information. Language tapes (probably the Pimsleur Mandarin edition) would be very helpful to supplement the books.

This book is a collection of articles written by knowledgeable, practicing collection development librarians and is targeted to working librarians who find themselves searching for guidance in the course of their collection development duties. It begins with an introduction and overview that explains the need of the book, the historical pathway behind its creation, and the need for a broader comprehensive view of library management that integrates all media formats and information sources into the planning and policy process. The body of the book is made up of eleven articles that are divided into three sections, all individually written by practicing professionals who have expertise with library collection activities in a variety of public, academic and institutional facilities.

Although now a somewhat dated publication, specifically as to the multiple types of electronic information resources currently available for library use, this book remains a very good collection development and library management guide. Much of the information and decision process factors included are independent of technical changes and focus toward the people who have to make electronic era decisions which effect the types and levels of services librarys offer.

Joan Duncan Oliver's addition to the Omega Institute Mind, Body, Spirit Book series is a good outline of contemplative basics. A guide to living mindfully, finding meaning, and leading a balanced life, the commentary, examples, and techniques are very respectful and soul-enrichening. Start here and you can't go wrong.

This book is required for the Culinary school that I attend and I have found it extremely helpful. As its title implies, it is for the serious student and a good reference book to keep because it identifies foods, explains proper handling, storage, and preparation tecnique, and also includes recipes. If you just want to throw together a recipe, buy a Betty Crocker cookbook. If you want to do it the professional way, buy this book.

Guillermo O'Donnell has since the early 1970s devoted his academic quest to analyze and understand Authoritarianism and Democratization.

Firmly grounded in the history of his native Argentina and neighboring Latin American countries, he has over the years added to our understanding of the more suppressive forms of political regimes and their move towards democracy.

Counterpoint gives an excellent overview of Guillermo O'Donnell's research and include more personal reflections on political violence and poverty in Argentina.

His approach is that of a political scientist with a strong bend towards political economy. Democratization is what he thinks is right and the topic is analyzed using various approached ranging from the stringent political science article to the less structured essay.

For a student of democratization processes, the book contains key articles and essays launching the new concept of "delegative" democracy to describe emerging democracies in Latin America, Asia and post communist countries.

Reading Counterpoint leaves one with a renewed hope for democratization. However, O'Donnell's sobering analysis makes it clear that political development processes take time. Furthermore, his analysis underscores the fact that there is no autopilot in the history of countries that will bring their political system safe into the harbour of human dignity.

I saw this book at a friend's house. It is loaded with good photos and lots of detailed instructions for making a wide variety of window treatments. The styles illustrated aren't "far out" or strange, but not too staid either. I really liked this book, enough to make a note of it to buy or borrow once I got home. I now see from Amazon.com that a newer edition (Oct. 2000) has been published, so I'm definitely going to buy the newer one. I recommend this book and therefore also the as-yet-unseen newer edition.