The Prentice Hall Directory of Online Business Information, 1998 (Prentice Hall Directory of Online Business Information)

Book Description

Discover how a selected group of financial executives from eleven public companies, including Amgen Inc., General Electric Company, The Home Depot, and TELUS Corporation, as well as two private companies make their decisions about capital structure, dividends and related issues in this book. With findings based on interviews, case studies and financial theory, this must-have book will help you build a sound structure for your company's financial success.

Book Description

The Spirit of Japanese Law focuses on the century following the Meiji Constitution, Japan's initial reception of continental European law. As John Owen Haley traces the features of contemporary Japanese law and its principal actors, distinctive patterns emerge. Of these none is more ubiquitous than what he refers to as the law's "communitarian orientation."

While most westerners may view judges as Japanese law's least significant actors, Haley argues that they have the last word because their interpretations of constitution and codes define the authority and powers they and others hold. Based on a "sense of society," the judiciary confirms bonds of village, family, and firm, and "abuse of rights" and "good faith" similarly affirms community. The Spirit of Japanese Law concludes with constitutional cases that help explain the endurance of community in contemporary Japan.

Book Description

An eloquent journey through the fantastic world of volcanoes and volcano lore.

Customer Reviews:

The Human Fascination with Volcanoes.......2005-02-26

John Calderazzo has written a book in "Rising Fires: Volcanoes and Our Inner Lives" that is not a scientific treatise on geology, but a personal account of the human relationship to these fire-breathing phenomena. The result is a charming series of vignettes on smoking mountains old and new from Vesuvius and Etna to Paricutin, Popocateptl, Pelee and Shasta. I have lived in the vicinity of inactive volcanoes for much of my life and in 1999 I flew over Popocateptl while it was smoking, the clouds just lifting enough to show the nearly perfect and almost snow-free cone of Popo and the blade-like (and snow-covered) summit of Iztaccihuatl. It was a very awe-inspiring sight! Earlier aerial views of Mt. Shasta, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens and the rest of the chain of Cascade volcanoes were also quite impressive, although none of them were erupting at the time.

Calderazzo has captured the human connection with these impossible to stop forces of nature. Lava flows and explosive eruptions do not stop for any of our puny wishes that they would. A volcano is a truly irresistible force, destroying with ease, yet leaving fertile soil that is very tempting for cultivators. A vast amount of stories and folklore has build up about them and this book takes us on a personal tour of some of the most interesting "live" and "dead" mountains of fire. The author has an interesting style, holding the reader spell- bound with his descriptions of geological processes and the human response to them.

I did find a few irritating typos, but generally the book reads well and I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed in it. If you are at all interested in our earth and how humans relate to it, this is a very good book to read.

Beautiful book .......2004-08-21

"More and more often, when I sit at home in simple meditation, just following my breath, I sense the enormity of so much that I miss, the subtle physical relationships that swirl around me all the time." Caderazzo writes this - and it reminds me how I often feel the same - which reminds me why I read in general - and why I like this book in particular. This is terrific - you'll like it if you have some sort of interest in volcanoes, but also, if you're just interested in an exploration into the human heart and the natural world and some of the things we all miss - those things that we look to others to point out to us, and that once seen, make us more alive.

Customer Reviews:

The Best Book Ever!!!!!.......2002-10-24

Worth the wait to receive this awesome book of poetry, prose, and pictures. An excellent Christmas gift for anyone who knows what it's like to work hard for the money.

Book Description

A timely exploration of the concepts in prophetic language and of "millenarianism in politics" from the 13th century to the year 2000.

Average customer rating:

wishful thinking, i think

At last a fair & balanced look at this fascinating woman!!!

Too long...

Fasctual Errors

Uncommon life, uncommon love

The Duchess Of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson
Greg King
Manufacturer: Citadel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Rich & Famous | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life, Updated With The Latest Revelations

The Duchess of Windsor and Other Friends

King Edward VIII: A Life

The Darkness of Wallis Simpson

Edward & Mrs. Simpson

ASIN: 0806524642

Customer Reviews:

wishful thinking, i think.......2006-07-02

very disappointed in mr king who has done so well in writing about the last russian imperial family; here he makes assumptions about the thoughts, feelings, and motives of wallis which are insubstantial. i believe he is correct in writing of humiliations inflicted on both the duke and duchess by the british royals, however he describes the independent spirit of the duchess--where is it evident? she spent her life living off of others: her uncle, her husbands, married couples who provided her with temporary homes over and over, and finally, the duke and his money and gifts. much of their story appears to have been glossed over--and his assesrtions of her famous wit are hardly in evidence. money has a way of making your clothing choices and home decorating flawless--how can you miss when the best advisors are at your fingertips? this was a boring read, and the poor duke comes off looking like a common fop; actually that makes them a good pair--she was common but glazed with his heritage and a big crowed of sycophants. so, so, sorry for him.
susan wells
albuquerque nm

At last a fair & balanced look at this fascinating woman!!!.......2006-01-06

Greg King has at last given us a fair and balanced look at the amazing life of the Duchess Of Windsor. Other books by Higham and Donaldson portrayed her as this heartless, conniving, manipulative witch, accusing her of everything but the holacaust, and world hunger.

However Mr. King has given us a in depth look at the life of this woman, and digs beneath the Buckingham Palace vendetta of the Queen Mother, and the lies, and innuendoes spread about this woman for years, without any regard for the truth by someone who should have known better.

Without a doubt interesting reading, and it will change your mind on her, as it did on me, and open up a look at a life lived to the fullest by this fascinating & complex woman.

Too long..........2005-05-11

Thorough, but long, biography of the late Duchess. I think King needed a tougher editor to tighten up the book, as there is a lot of repetition about certain areas of the Duchess' life (such as the abdication crisis) that have been covered in many other books. It's a good read, but it is too long (over 500 pages, not counting the notes and index!).

Fasctual Errors.......2002-03-09

I was disappointed at the factual errors in this book as well as the poor proofreading. On the edition I read the jacket itself refers to Edward as King Edward VII rather than King Edward VIII. The name of Wallis's chauffeur is spelled both Ladbrook and Ladbrooke on successive pages. The decorator Stephan Boudin is said to be with the Maison Jensen rather than Maison Janson. The most egregious error was on p. 395 where the author states that the motto of the Prince of Wales is "Dieu et mon Droit" when the correct motto is "Ich Dien."
One hopes these errors were corrected in subsequent editions of this book.

Uncommon life, uncommon love.......2001-12-15

Greg King's thoroughly-researched and highly readable biography of the Duchess of Windsor's life is simply excellent! At the outset the author explains that his book is a "sympathetic" portrait of the Duchess, and is not a re-hashing of old gossip and rumors.

Rather, this is a very balanced and highly interesting look at not only the lives of the Duke and Duchess, but of the time and world they inhabited with such joie de vivre, glamour and above all, humor and compassion for others. So many books have emphasized the lavish lifestyle, the Duchess' wardrobe and jewels, her society friends, etc. Here, we are privy to the other side of their lives: one in which Wallis and Edward devoted enormous amounts of their personal time and money to helping those persons less fortunate than themselves. Of particular interest is their years spent in the Bahamas, when the Duke was Governor-General, and Wallis spent years coordinating efforts to improve the lives of native Bahamians. It is sad that Buckingham Palace ignored not only their charitable efforts, which the British Royal Family is so eager to promote in the UK with their "Civil Duties", but that Edward's brother, King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth (now the Queen Mother) ensured that Edward and Wallis were not allowed to represent the Royal Family within the UK itself. King George lived in great fear that their popularity with the common people of Britain (and all over the world) would usurp his authority as monarch supreme.

All in all this is a story to be remembered for all time.

Amazon.com

What's the greatest human invention of the last two millennia? The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years grew out of a Web-site project called Edge (www.edge.org), wherein the invited intelligentsia recorded their deep thoughts on a variety of topics. In 1998, editor John Brockman asked them to choose the creation that most shaped our world since year 1. For this book, Brockman picked a hundred of the most compelling entries from intellectual celebrities like Stewart Brand, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, and Murray Gell-Mann.

The printing press received a number of votes, as did the computer and television. Other entries were more eclectic: organized science, the contraceptive pill, the gun, or even hay. Chairs and stairs. Anesthesia. Cities. Each invention is justified by a short essay, some of which read like... well, Web-site prose. Also, a glaring sexism flaws the book--Brockman chose fewer than 10 women's submissions. Nevertheless, Greatest Inventions is a worthy addition to your millennial reading list, and lots of fun besides. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

What was the greatest invention of the past 2,000 years, and why? This provocative question was posed to some of the world's foremost scientific and creative thinkers, including several Nobel laureates. Their answers may surprise you. Lively and thought-provoking, The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years is not only an entertaining book about science and creativity but also an opportunity to peek inside the minds of some of the leading thinkers of our time.

With contributors such as Stewart Brand, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Howard Gardner, Sherry Turkle, Steven Pinker, Jared Diamond, Freeman Dyson, Murray Gell-Mann, and Leon Lederman, The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years is an invitation to a salon of our leading thinkers. Their answers to the editor's question are as varied as the group itself. Candidates for the greatest invention include the expected, such as the computer and movable type (although even here there are intriguing insights into how these inventions have altered our civilization), and the surprising, such as the Indo-Arab counting system, the lens, classical music, and the eraser. Some contributors comment perceptively on their colleagues' nominees.

Not all of the respondents limited their answers to concrete objects. Some chose as greatest "inventions" the concepts of free will, marketing, democracy and social justice, the scientific method, and our disbelief in the supernatural, arguing persuasively that ideas are inventions as much as are mechanical objects.

The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years is a provocative, insightful look at how science, technology, and the creative mind have altered our lives and changed the world.

Customer Reviews:

this book makes no sense.......2004-12-21

have you ever read a book with facts that you know are not true? well if you havent than this is a book that might change that.

Thought-provoking!.......2004-11-07

The book is basically just a summary of the exchanges on the Edge mailing list. All the writers have spent some time in their life, thinking about some aspect of humanity in great detail, and all of them have at least published two books.

It made me think a lot about life, and many entries in the book are very unobvious. Of course, the average reader will probably not agree with many of the writers' thoughts or opinions. Nevertheless, I would recommend anyone to quickly browse the book to see what are the ideas that have influenced humanity so immensely in the last 2k years.

The problem with this book is that it isn't a book at all........2002-02-23

The problem with this book is that it isn't a book at all. It is a vanity publication of The Edge Foundation. Actually, it is a series of emails that the Foundation's members sent in response to one of their "great questions" series. These examples were chosen by John Brockman, a literary agent who coincidentally represents many of these same people.

...

A quick sampling: Stuart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog and corporate strategist; John Maddox, physicist and editor emeritus of Nature magazine; Marvin Minsky, mathematician and founder of MIT's AI Lab; John Rennie, editor-in-chief of Scientific American; Leon Lederman, Nobel laureate and director emeritus of Fermi Nation Accelerator Laboratory; and Michael Nesmith, business person.

This impressive list is weighted toward the scientific and medical arts with a goodly sampling of science journalists. Bet you didn't know that Michael Nesmith, past member of the Monkeys singing group, was a high status "intellect", did you? He's a member. There's also some guy named Jeff Bezos in it.....

In the year 2000, there was an over abundant inventory of TV shows, magazine articles and coffee shop conversations devoted to nominating the greatest events and innovations of the last century. For the bold, the debate was expanded to the last two thousand years. Suggestions varied since what constitutes greatness depends on view point. Many took up the challenge which generated this volume. It demonstrates once again that there's nothing like a good argument with famous names to sell books.

The book is divided into comments (and BIOS) on "How We Live . . . ", observations on the nominated innovation's impact on the physical world, the printing press, classical music and "How We Think . . .", innovations that changed our perception of the universe, self government, calculus. While all your favorites are there, the printing press, the contraceptive pill, the atomic bomb, other more esoteric and conceptual are also included. For example "free will" is listed as a profound conceptual innovation. However, the recommender closes his nomination by saying that it is actually a "glorious, absolutely necessary illusion."

Arguments on why the nominations are so important are brief and facile in most cases and without much richness of description. One Princeton professor of physics did nominate hay (as in, "bales of...") and connected it, via the horse, to the rise of urban civilization and the great cities. An interesting concept if quite a historical leap. Remember, these were emails to the editors, not thoughtful discussions.

There is an afterword is by the Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond. It is the only section of the book that appears truly thoughtful. Which, of course, is classic Diamond. Unless you need a tiny coffee table book to impress your friends or your guest bathroom needs its magazines replaced, look elsewhere your millennium insight...

at least it will make you think.......2000-08-20

I think that some have been a little harsh as to the merits of this book -- there are those scientists that dashed off hurried responses to the question, but there are just as many others who took the time to write thoughtful essays. Just having the chance to see how scientists and other creative people put their thoughts together makes the book worthwhile reading -- think of it as brain food for your mind. The responses ranged from the more obvious answers like the birth control pill, to more out there ones like the eraser and free will. If nothing else, these essays are written in digestible pieces and provide a good overview of major discoveries since man has inhabited the earth. Most will find it provoking. I'm fairly certain the thermos quote was tongue in cheek.

A fun book about great ideas.......2000-07-27

This is a genuinely great book because it makes readers think;we are so used to the world around us, that it is almost impossible tothink of what our life would be like without such everyday items as sliced bread.

No, somehow "sliced bread" didn't make it into this list. Instead, the first half of the book talks about material inventions such as the printing press, electric motors, telecommunications, the plow, the static electricity machine, the caravel, hay, clocks, the atomic bomb and the Internet. The second half deals with ideas such as marketing, calculus, the scientific method, secularism, the scientific method, the clock, economic man and other ideas that change the way we think.

It's done with humor on occasion, as in the nomination of the thermos bottle which ". . . keeps cold things cold and hot things hot. But, how does it know?" In each case, the relevant invention is briefly described and its material and intellectual impact is explained. One of the greatest American inventions of all times is overlooked, the invention of "the list" -- such as the book itself. Americans love to make lists such as "the greatest inventions of the past 2,000 years" and the "best 100 books of the century" and the "best home run hitter in baseball." You name it, there's an American list for it.

That's part of the fun of the book. Other readers will undoubtedly come up with their own omissions -- this book was compiled by nonimations from about 100 prominent scientists and thinkers. In itself, that suggests another distinctly American invention -- the one-upmanship of the expert by the average person. It's part of the social fabric of the United States; when Jeff Bezos came up with a list of 20 possible business ventures using the Internet, his employer at the time ranked selling books at the bottom of the list. So, Bezos went out and invented Amazon dot com -- a typical American approach to the experts who says something is impossible, impractical or irrelevant.

One of the fun things to consider is that this book had its origins on the Internet, at Edge.org, and a discussion among scientists and thinkers. Yet, here it is in the form of movable type used to place ink on paper -- which, one of the contributors, is a technology that dates at least to the Minorans of 1,700 BC. That's the nature of ideas; you spend all of your time inventing something, then people use it for some entirely different purpose.

Think of poor old Thomas Edison, who invented a practical means of recording sound and then expected it would be used to record the last words of dying people, or to enable clocks to announce the time, or to teach spelling to children. Instead, to Edison's disgust, it was used to record music! Can you imagine? With a band on every corner, musicians in every bar and theatre, someone came up with the idea of using the phonograph to record music.

That's what makes this book fun, enlightening, well worth reading and quite relevant to own. It will do two things for every reader: first, it will show how our world came to be, and second, it will prompt many readers to ask, "Why didn't they include . . . ?" Brockman compiled a wonderful list, and he also left out a wonderful list. That's the beauty of America (which he overlooks), no matter how good your product, someone is always able to come up with a new and unexpected way of using it. END

Average customer rating:
Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years
John (ed) Brockman
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O6EEUM

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