Invest in the Best: How to Profit from Well-Managed Companies (Wiley Investment Series)

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WHY WELL-MANAGED COMPANIES ARE BETTER INVESTMENTS

Here is never-before-published information about the characteristics of well-managed companies, why quality of management makes a difference in stock performance, and how to find and profit from well-managed companies. Invest in the Best includes complete explanations of topics such as:
* How the Quality Index proves that the stock of well-managed companies outperforms that of their competitors
* How you can find well-managed companies
* How you can use the Management Screen to assess management quality
* How you can reduce risk by investing in well-managed companies
* Profiles and resources to help you add a management screen to your stock-buying strategies

While every investor studies the same financial data, you can "beat the Street" with information that puts you a step ahead of the crowd-and gives you a leg up on a volatile market.

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Exploring the role of conflict in organizations, this book helps managers, employees, and organizations come to grips with all types of conflict. Conflict is discussed as a likely result of human interaction, and the key purpose of this program is to assist people in effectively and productively managing and taking advantage of these inevitable conflict situations. A self-contained training curriculum around which an entire organizational conflict management program can be built, this book is designed for use as a guide to harnessing and taking advantage of the enormous energy associated with conflict, and is loaded with activities designed to reinforce and build on the understandings developed and to provide plenty of opportunity to practice what has been learned. Activities can be used to facilitate formal training with individuals, in work groups, or for personal use.

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In response to increasing concerns about the degradation of natural resources and the sustainability of agriculture, many research programs have been established in natural resource management (NRM). However, although methods for evaluating the impacts of crop improvement technologies are well developed, there is a dearth of methods for evaluating the impacts of NRM interventions. This is partly due to the complexity of interactions among natural resources, spatial and temporal dimensions of impact, and the valuation of direct and indirect environmental costs and benefits.

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Published in honour of Marc Feix this book tries to give a thorough overview of mathematical methods, analytical and numerical techniques and simulations applied to a variety of problems from physics and engineering. The book addresses graduate students, researchers and especially engineers. The main emphasis is to apply the generality of methods to form a coherent and stimulating approach to practical investigations.

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Extractions of Metals from Soils and Waters represents a new emphasis in the series Modern Inorganic Chemistry, namely the impact inorganic chemistry can have on the environment. Also, this is the first volume ever to introduce the reader to all aspects of heavy metal extraction. While the primary emphasis is on complexation chemistry, attention is also paid to phase transfer aspects. Particular methods of note include electrokinetics, phytoremediation, and sensors. Aimed primarily at chemists, this book will also appeal to engineers, plant biochemists, environmental health specialists, and practitioners or students of environmental law.

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Temam and Miranville present core topics within the general themes of fluid and solid mechanics. The brisk style allows the text to cover a wide range of topics including viscous flow, magnetohydrodynamics, atmospheric flows, shock equations, turbulence, nonlinear solid mechanics, solitons, and the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. This second edition will be a unique resource for those studying continuum mechanics at the advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate level whether in engineering, mathematics, physics or the applied sciences. Exercises and hints for solutions have been added to the majority of chapters, and the final part on solid mechanics has been substantially expanded. These additions have now made it appropriate for use as a textbook, but it also remains an ideal reference book for students and anyone interested in continuum mechanics.

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Temam and Miranville present core topics within the general themes of fluid and solid mechanics. The brisk style allows the text to cover a wide range of topics including viscous flow, magnetohydrodynamics, atmospheric flows, shock equations, turbulence, nonlinear solid mechanics, solitons, and the nonlinear Schrdinger equation. This second edition will be a unique resource for those studying continuum mechanics at the advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate level whether in engineering, mathematics, physics or the applied sciences. Exercises and hints for solutions have been added to the majority of chapters, and the final part on solid mechanics has been substantially expanded. These additions have now made it appropriate for use as a textbook, but it also remains an ideal reference book for students and anyone interested in continuum mechanics.

Book Description

In April 1917 a sophomore from Indiana University, inspired by the stories of his grandfather's service in the Union army during the Civil War, left school and enlisted with a National Guard unit in Indianapolis that became the 150th Field Artillery Regiment. Before long the young man, Elmer W. Sherwood, found himself in the thick of fighting in France, as his artillery regiment served in combat with the 42nd (Rainbow) Division, including the horrendous Meuse-Argonne offensive that claimed 26,000 American lives.

Sherwood, who described himself as the Rainbow Hoosier, kept a diary of his time overseas, including his experiences in the army of occupation following the war's end. Published by the Indiana Historical Society Press and edited by Robert H. Ferrell, Indiana University distinguished professor of history emeritus , A Soldier in World War I: The Diary of Elmer W. Sherwood, captures the words of the Hoosier soldier as he wrote them on the front lines. Corporal Sherwood tells of the hard existence of life in the trenches, including the endless mud that sometimes trapped unwary soldiers for hours at a time and the wretched food he had to eat for nourishment. The book also includes a shipboard diary Sherwood sent home from France shortly after his arrival, which appeared in his hometown newspaper, and his tale of his unauthorized trip to Paris at the war's end prompted by a challenge from a pretty female Red Cross canteen worker.

Gen. Charles P. Summerall, who helped to organize the artillery brigade Sherwood served in, said that the Indiana veteran in his diary "recorded simply and vividly his experiences and impressions through the days of campaigns and battles." What comes through in the pages of Sherwood's writings, Summerall continued, is his sense of humor mixed with the tragedy of life and death on the battlefield. "Even the faithful horses and the almost human guns," the general noted, "receive their full share of credit and affection."

As editor Ferrell points out in his preface to the book, there exists today in Indiana only a handful of surviving veterans of World War I from the millions who marched away to help keep the world safe for democracy. Soon, these too, will be gone, and one of the ways their memory can be preserved is through the writings of men such as Sherwood, who retired to Florida and died in 1979.

ROBERT H. FERRELL is a historian of American foreign policy and American history. He began teaching at Indiana University in 1953. He has written extensively on U.S. presidents, especially Harry S. Truman. Ferrell's books include Dear Bess: The Letters of Harry to Bess Truman (1983); Woodrow Wilson and World War I (1985); Ill-Advised: Presidential Health and Public Trust (1992); Choosing Truman: The Democratic Convention of 1944 (1994); Harry S. Truman: A Life (1994); The Strange Deaths of President Harding (1996); The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge (1998); and Truman and Pendergast (1999).

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Comments.......2004-05-27

As an avid history reader, I immensely enjoyed this book. I read an older edition of it about 30 years ago, but I did not enjoy it then half as much as I did this new edition. The editor's explanations made what was happening more understandable. The one thing that I would like to see in all history books and that most do not have is better and more maps. When trying to follow closely detailed operations, it is hard to do with the limited maps in most books, including this one.

This edition brings out the fact that the person in the frontline does not know what is going on in the overall picture. The editor, Mr. Ferrell, fills us in on when and where Doc's experiences plug into this massive theatre of war. It's apparent that Doc is only aware of what is going on in his immediate area. He is busy with the day to day problems of surviving and fighting and this does not include a detailed knowledge of the overall battles.

My favorite part of the book is the occupation of Germany where I think the author's personality comes out more. He obviously had more time to write and think and had less pressure on him when he wrote this part of the narrative.

I found it a very interesting and compelling book. You can read it quickly because of its shortness, but it is certainly intriguing from the human and historical aspects. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys historical literature, especially if you like the war aspects of same.

Book Description

Around the middle of the sixteenth century, Palestine became part of the Ottoman Empire. With the dawn of the 20th century and throughout its course, drastic events were happening in relatively rapid succession. World War One was the first of those events and it resulted eventually in changing the political face of the region. The ensuing thirty years of British mandate over Palestine provided the stage for change in the geopolitical, economic and sociodemographic profiles of the land. The Second World War came and hastened the cataclysm that brought about the state of Israel. This major historical event created ripples that have at times turned into violent waves disturbing the waters of the whole region and occasionally the wider world. The ‘Arab Israeli’ conflict will remain with us for God knows how long. The author was serving his hometown during the period of turmoil, great adversity and resulting change. As pediatrician in Nazareth, he was close to the families of the town and surrounding villages. He knew how they felt, and how they confronted the cruel new realities in their lives. He had a chance to be with them for a short time when they were stranded as refugees before they were huddled into the notorious ‘refugee camps’. In all of this there were tales of little successes and of great failures. On many occasions on relating some of those stories of personal experiences to friends or colleagues, he was urged to write those down for the benefit of future generations. He took up the challenge in 1998 following his retirement from a teaching job at the Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma. The family had moved from one country to another running away from situations that were intolerable. “We never considered ourselves refugees; but still there was within us a subtle feeling of non-permanence that sometimes surfaced as a consciousness of ‘exile’.”

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Profiling a great twentieth-century social thinker

Brothers In Arms

Robert Nisbet: Communitarian Traditionalist (Library of Modern Thinkers)
Brad Lowell Stone
Manufacturer: ISI Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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Bertrand De Jouvenel: Conserative Liberal & Illusions Of Modernity (Library of Modern Thinkers)

Twilight of Authority

Wilhelm Ropke: Swiss Localist, Global Economist (Library of Modern Thinkers)

The Present Age: Progress and Anarchy in Modern America

Conservatism: Dream and Reality (Library of Conservative Thought)

ASIN: 1882926692

Customer Reviews:

Profiling a great twentieth-century social thinker .......2004-12-09

~Robert Nisbet : Communitarian Traditionalist~ is a biographical sketch about the life and essentially the ideas of this influential twentieth-century sociologist and social thinker. Sociology has long been the mainstay of statist liberals and radical collectivists, and Nisbet is definitely out of touch with the quixotic or authoritarian mindset of most sociologists. Brad Lowell Stone's research is highly recommended and an excellent overview of Nisbet's social thinking. It is prudent to read Nisbet's books in tandem with Stone's biography. Stone points out some of Nisbet's influences, which are rather fascinating. Nisbet was weaned on the writings of Southern Agrarians like Crowe, Ransom and Tate who penned _I'll Take My Stand_ in the 1930s. Nisbet also gain insight from the late conservative luminary Russell Kirk, having read his book _The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot_ in 1953. Since his assent in the 1950s, the late Robert Nisbet has not been ignored by those on the Left or Right. Today his appeal is primarily with those on the Right whether neoconservatives or libertarians. Nisbet's sociological thinking is aloof from the statist sociologists who often fail to distinguish between state and community. Essentially Nisbet made a dichotomy between monism and pluralism. The thought of Plato, Hobbes, Compte, Rousseau and Marx embodied monism, while Aristotle, Burke, and De Tocqueville represented the pluralist camp.

Nisbet achieved notoriety for his groundbreaking manuscript, entitled _The Quest for Community_.His thesis therein was remarkable, for he asserted that the contemporary preoccupation with community was a result of the displacement of the intermediary institutions between the individual and the state. These vital institutions of civil society -- namely the family, neighborhood, church, or voluntary and civic associations -- have been trounced upon by an overbearing central state authority. The displacement of these institutions so vital to civil society lead to the accompanying obsession with revitalizing community. The veritable disintegration of community and the intermediary institutions was precipitated by the activities and structure of the modern managerial state. In our time, the centralised state has come close to dissolving the natural bonds and allegiances of civil society. Much of the later twentieth century social pathologies, dependency, poverty, and rampant crime perhaps are incidental to authentic community being grinded in the millstone of central state authority. When the intermediary institutions are displaced, the void is usually filled by central state power, which has the roots of authoritarianism and totalitarianism.

Nisbet is well versed in the classics and history. Gleaning valuable lessons from history, Nisbet recognized the impact of war. Moreover, the state's effort to subordinate all facets of society to the demands of warfare, acts as a solvent that dissolves the natural allegiances and those intermediary institutions between individual and state. Nisbet speaks of Roman History, as being "one long sage of conflict between established patria potestas, the sacred and imprescriptible sovereignty of the family in its own affairs, and the imperium militiae, the power vested in military leaders over their troops." As the imperium (empire) supplanted the republic, the traditional kinship society was weakened. Nisbet notes, "...the once proud Roman family had been ground down by the twin forces of centralization and atomization." History seems to repeat itself. Nisbet shows the harmonious relationship between the war-state and the welfare-state, and how they feed and nurture one another. Socialists accomplished much of their agenda by the the rise of military socialism. War has a democratizing, egalitarian-leveling tendency which brought about not only universal suffrage but also conscription. Not surprisingly, Nisbet laments, "Democracy, in all its variants, is the child of war." The synthesis is the so called "welfare-warfare state" that libertarians fuss about.

History has proven when alienated individuals lose their community then they often seek a "national community" to fill the void. Totalitarian states like Nazi Germany quite deliberately laid waste to the remaining intermediary institutions between the individual and the state, and sought to create such a sham community, supplanting all competing allegiances, for total allegiance to the central state. Communist theoretician Antonio Gramsci too, postulated that the socialists could achieve their agenda in the West, by transforming the culture and supplanting the institutions of the old "bourgeosie superstructure" with their own radicalized institutions. Stone notes, "[a]s communities wane, the desire for communal fellowship leads straight to the extension of state power-further eroding the communities that mediate between the individual and the state. It is a melancholy fate."

In sharp contrast to the centralizing statists, Nisbet was a pluralistic communitarian who never confused authentic community with allegiance to a centralized power structure. Incidentally, the appellation of communitarian itself can be a misnomer, since Nisbet stands alone, and most avowed communitarians are simply statists hoping to tether back broken bonds and broken communities under the auspices of the central state.

Nisbet has called for a "new laissez-faire," which is a "form of laissez-faire that has for its object, not the abstract individual, whether economic or political man, but rather the social group or association." Nisbet would eschew radical libertarianism, and see its adherants as rather peculiar reactionaries. Nisbet recognises the symbiotic relationship between individualism and statism. In modern times, the hyperatomized autonomous cogs that individuals have been reduced to in liberal society, owes to the twin perils of atomization and centralisation which grinds away at the individual and authentic community. Alienation from the loss of authentic community often compels the intemperate masses to seek deliverance from state power within a "national community." As communities weaken and parochial, regional distinctives begin to fade, the fervor to accumulate central state power becomes overwhelming. Integral to Nisbet's socio-political thought is the medieval principle of subsidiarity, or sphere sovereignty, which emphasized localism, regional cultural diversity, "plurality of association, and the division of authority." Subsidiarity, as applied to civil society, means that matters ought to be handled by the smallest (or, the lowest) competent authority. Subsidiarity is a precious gem that has been vanquished, if not lost, and it is among the vital remnants for restoring civil society.

All things considered, Brad Lowell Stone's biography of Robert Nisbet is an excellent introduction to the life and poignant thought of this brilliant man.

Brothers In Arms.......2001-04-19

Brad Stone has provided an adequate introduction to the ideas of Robert Nisbet, a sociologist known for his conservative defense of the social group against the encroachment of statism.

I was surprised to see Stone align Nisbet with Richard Weaver in the notion that ideas were the motive force behind human behavior. Much of Nisbet's work revolved around the social group, the formation of which often had little to do with ideas about politics or anything else. Of particular importance was Nisbet's experience in the Second World War and the camaraderie and community felt among soldiers. The terrible irony was that from out of misery there arose bonds which were stronger than those that awaited them in the peacetime, workaday world. To my knowledge, Nisbet never elaborated in print on his war experience, but I believe the memory of it and lessons from it informed much of his work on the quest for community.

Nisbet agreed with Russell Kirk-as one of the very touchstones of conservatism-that man is guided more by emotion and feeling than reason and intellect. Although Nisbet wrote that "man is what he thinks" in Twilight of Authority, he emphasized the "pre rational emotional attachments to certain habits, beliefs and practices" fifteen years later in his book, Conservatism.

I don't know whether to attribute this contradiction to Weaver, Nisbet, or Stone. That is, to what degree do intellect and ideas influence our behavior? All of them thought that ideas have consequences, but I believe Nisbet understood better than Weaver that it is not only ideas that have consequences. When it comes to determining "what man is," man is also guided by what he feels. If we agree with Alexander Pope that the proper study of mankind is man, then we must include man's feelings and any field of study that purports to deal with them.

Another reservation I have is when Stone tries to apply Nisbet's ideas to the issues of the day. While I understand the need to separate Nisbet from such statist communitarians as Robert Bellah, Stone's analysis in the last chapter digresses from the business at hand. I have little confidence in a sentence that begins, "His first observations today would no doubt be..." I would have preferred less intrusion by the author in order to let the reader draw his own conclusions.

Still, Stone demonstrates a familiarity with a large body of work that should whet the appetites of readers discovering Nisbet for the first time.

Book Description

An anything-but-dry history textbook in a pocket-sized package, WASHINGTON'S HISTORY is a fascinating walk through the lengthy story of a place and its people. Historian Harry Ritter introduces the Native American peoples who lived in the region's coastal rainforests and inland plateau, the European and U.S. seafarers who explored and mapped the complicated shores and islands, and the leaders involved in conflicts over boundaries, resources, and religion. There's the story of The Pig War, which began with an assassinated pig in 1859 and escalated into an international skirmish. Read about the construction of the massive Grand Coulee Dam in 1933, and the creation and aftermath of Hanford, and the hopefulness surrounding the World's Fair. And then there's the land itself: vast, stirring in its stark beauty, and fearsome when natural disaster strikes, as it has in every century. Ritter offers fifty-two lively vignettes illustrated with rare archival photographs that together comprise a picture of life in the Far Northwest. Learn about the Natives, explorers, traders, missionaries, loggers, farmers, inventors, and politicians. From Chief Seattle to Dr. John McLoughlin, William E. Boeing, Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson, and Bill Gates, these are the people at the epicenter of events that shaped the Evergreen State.

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Westwind
Ray Ellis , and Walter Cronkite
Manufacturer: Oxmoor House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 084870763X

The Washington Almanac: Facts About Washington ((State Almanac Series))

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More than just facts

The Washington Almanac: Facts About Washington ((State Almanac Series))
Press Westwinds , and Andrea Jarvela
Manufacturer: Westwinds Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1558684735

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"The Washington Almanac "TM"" is an essential read for anyone wanting the lowdown facts on the regional history, natural geography, economy, and peoples of the Evergreen State.

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More than just facts.......1999-12-03

This is a well organized and comprehensive compendium to Washington State. The author has gathered an impressive array of information, from economic and geographic information to touristic suggestions and interesting factoids from past and present.The author has an upbeat and informative writing style that makes you want to read the book, not just look something up.

This is a great gift for Washington residents or wannabe residents.

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Die Inseldetektive 3. Wale, Westwind, Wassergeister. Drei Krimis zum Lesen und Lösen. ( Ab 10 J.).
Klaus Bliesener
Manufacturer: Bertelsmann, München
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3570210472

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Eastwind/westwind
James Nordhoff
Manufacturer: Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0688035906

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Fate of the clipper Westwind
John Scott Douglas
Manufacturer: Dodd, Mead
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0007E6O2W

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Ostwind - Westwind

Manufacturer: Rowohlt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GTSTEY

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Ostwind - Westwind
Pearl S. Buck
Manufacturer: Piper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3492231713

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Ostwind - Westwind: Roman
PEARL S. BUCK
Manufacturer: Deutsche Buch-Gemeinschaft, Berlin,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TB9GQO

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Secret at Westwind
Joan Weir
Manufacturer: Scholastic Book Service
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0590710915

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Nice guys can finish first........1998-09-02

The book is written by a two-term, eight years, former Governor of Georgia. It is more a personal story than a political story. As such, the reader gets a view of what inspired a very private individual to take on a very public political office. This is a book which can dispel the common belief that all politicians are crooked and just in politics for themselves. It is also a book for those who seem to be demanding a theocracy. As a Christian, Harris made some decisions which advisers told him were not "politically astute" but which he believed to be right. Yet, he steered clear of the "hot-button" religious rights issues, such as abortion. The book reveals a great deal about the family upbringing of Harris and the values that shaped his life. The same values he would carry into public life. He was not a darling of the media and given very little chance for success when he announced his race for Governor. He had only a 2% name recognition among voters, but broke from the crowded field to win the democratic nomination. The book doesn't expose any scandal, is not shocking in any way, and makes no enemies. It is just an easy read about an unassuming individual that wielded tremendous power. Nice guys can finish first.

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