The ABC's of Spreadsheets: With Assignments for Business and Economics

Book Description

The ABC's of Spreadsheets gives students the necessary tools to efficiently master spreadsheet software, the most widely used computer applications, second only to word processing. Students learn spreadsheet capabilities such as accessing files, using formulas, making graphs, creating custom menus, and organizing data. With basic information about Lotus 1-2-3®, Quattro Pro®, and Excel®, DOS® and WINDOWS®, the text serves as an ideal supplemental guide and handy reference manual in any business course where spreadsheet software is used.

Customer Reviews:

Good Spreadsheet Problems, Especially for Economics!.......2002-04-10

This book has many excellent illustrations of how to use spreadsheet software to solve business and economics problems. The book includes a lot of info about Lotus 1-2-3 and some info about Excel.

Book Description

Praise for The Power of Open-Book Management

"The Power of Open-Book Management is the essential guidebook for every organization that wants all its associates to understand how they make and lose money—and that should be every organization." —Jim Kouzes, coauthor of The Leadership Challenge and Credibility Chairman and CEO, TPG/Learning Systems

"Enabling a large group of people in an organization to work together in a coordinated way requires that they share an image and understanding of the system of which they are a part. This book offers a clear and pragmatic approach for doing just that." —Jeff Clanon, Executive Director MIT Center for Organizational Learning

"The Power of Open-Book Management provides an answer to the age-old question: 'How can I get all my employees to act and think like owners?' It is a must read for anyone interested in how we will work in the future." —Tom Corbo, CEO MANCO

"The Power of Open-Book Management offers a groundbreaking look at the benefits of interweaving good management and leadership within organizations." —Larry Spears, Executive Director The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership Editor, Reflections on Leadership

"Before you open your books, open this one!" —Rob Zicaro, Employee-Owner

Web Industries

"Widespread use of open-book management as described in this book is absolutely essential." —Robert B. Rogers, Chairman and CEO The Kauffman Foundation

Today's most exciting new approach to increased employee productivity and superior financial results is open-book management (OBM). The unique, yet revolutionary, concept in this approach is simple: Teach employees the financial basics of business . . . trust them to make good decisions based on this knowledge . . . treat them as responsible stakeholders in the venture . . . and they will make significant contributions to their company's success. In fact, once equipped with OBM know-how, they themselves create a sustainable competitive advantage—a team of business-smart entrepreneurs.

In The Power of Open-Book Management, managers will find a complete guide to understanding and implementing this compelling and innovative method of building, strengthening, and growing their organizations.

Beginning with a thorough overview of open-book management, this engaging book describes the context from which OBM has emerged, why it is so urgently needed, and how it works. Featuring examples of companies like Sprint which have successfully implemented OBM, The Power of Open-Book Management presents a practical, step-by-step plan for bringing OBM into any organization, large or small. The authors cover all the essential areas: reward systems, involvement processes, communication, decision making, education, training, leadership, and accountability.

Special resources in the final section of the book describe ways of sustaining OBM and making its benefits a permanent part of the company culture.

Practical, comprehensive, and in many ways, inspirational, The Power of Open-Book Management gives executives, managers, and team leaders the tools for initiating a direct route to greater profitability and growth.

Average customer rating:
Power of Open Book Management, The : Releasing the True Potential of Peoples' Minds, Hearts, and Hands
John P.; Carpenter, Jill; Kane, Patricia Schuster
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KXT54E

Book Description

Teach Yourself 101 Key Ideas Astronomy provides a fresh look at key ideas such as black holes, quasars, and the big bang.

Astronomy (Teach Yourself 101 Key Ideas)

Average customer rating:

Astronomy (Teach Yourself 101 Key Ideas)
Jim Breithaupt
Manufacturer: Teach Yourself Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0340782145

Average customer rating:

Hands and Wood Fired Pottery

About his life

Excells all

I Never Could Finish The Book, But Some Parts Are Good

Lopez is the champion storyteller

About This Life: Journeys on the Threshold of Memory
Barry Lopez
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Wildlife | Animals | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Nature Writing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Crossing Open Ground

Arctic Dreams

Resistance

Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape

Of Wolves and Men

ASIN: 0679754474
Release Date: 1999-04-27

Amazon.com

"Read. Find out what you truly believe. Get away from the familiar." This advice, given to a father whose daughter wants to learn to write, is the organizing principle behind Barry Lopez's latest collection of essays and also the central theme behind his life as a writer. Author of 12 acclaimed books of nature writing, including the National Book Award-winning Arctic Dreams, Lopez is one of our most eloquent masters of the nearly lost art of paying attention. In this volume, a travelogue of journeys both inward and outward, he brings the same careful scrutiny to bear on the mystery of his own life and its interactions with the natural world.

Lopez has always been interested in tearing down artificial divides between nature and culture, landscape and identity, and nowhere does he do so more powerfully than in About This Life. These essays cover ground from the remote (in the group of travel essays entitled "Out of Country") to the familiar ("Indwelling"), the personal to the archetypal ("Remembrance" and "An Opening Quartet"). Whether he's joyriding around the world with air cargo, performing burials for animals found dead by the side of the road, or lamenting the commodification of the American landscape, Lopez writes with a surgeon's precision, a musician's ear, and a painter's eye for beauty found in unexpected places.

Book Description

The acclaimed National Book Award winner gives us a collection of spellbinding new essays that, read together, form a jigsaw-puzzle portrait of an extraordinary man.

With the publication of his best-selling Of Wolves and Men, and with the astonishing originality of Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez established himself as that rare writer whose every book is an event, for both critics and his devoted readership. Now, in About This Life, he takes us on a literal and figurative journey across the terrain of autobiography, assembling essays of great wisdom and insight. Here is far-flung travel (the beauty of remote Hokkaido Island, the over-explored Galápagos, enigmatic Bonaire); a naturalist's contention (Why does our society inevitably strip political power from people with intimate knowledge of the land small-scale farmers, Native Americans, Eskimos, cowboys?); and pure adventure (a dizzying series of around-the-world journeys with air freight everything from penguins to pianos). And here, too, are seven exquisite memory pieces hauntingly lyrical yet unsentimental recollections that represent Lopez's most personal work to date, and which will be read as classics of the personal essay for years to come.

In writing about nature and people from around the world, by exploring the questions of our age, and, above all, by sharing a new openness about himself, Barry Lopez gives us a book that is at once vastly erudite yet intimate: a magically written and provocative work by a major American writer at the top of his form.

Customer Reviews:

Hands and Wood Fired Pottery.......2006-04-15

This book covers a wide range of subjects that cross the threshold of memory and stop the reader in her tracks. A whole chapter on the wonder of hands - A Passage of the Hands - causes the reader to consider their own hands and those of a young child with a sense of their history and their possibility.

I recommeded the chapter on wood firing of pottery - Effleurage: The Stroke of Fire- to friends who are potters. The world of anagama kilns was opened to me.

About traveling , Lopez states:"If I were to now visit another country,I would ask my local companion, before I saw any museum or library, any factory or fabled town, to walk me in the country of his or her youth, to tell me the name of things and how, traditionally, they have been fitted together in a community. I would ask for the stories, the voice of memory over the land. I would ask to taste the wild nuts and fruits, to see their fishing lures, their bouquets, their fences. I would ask about the history of storms there, the age of trees, the winter color of the hills. Only then would I ask to see the museums."

Read this book and enjoy the journey.

About his life.......2006-03-14

For me, Mr. Lopez always provides a cerebral and emotional journey with his amazing use of the written word. I was introduced to Barry Holsten Lopez's writing in 1982 with "River Notes" and became a fan instantly. This latest work is less poetry and more prose; focusing on personal revelation. It provoked several emotions, including a sense of loss, throughout the chapters. The book will be a reward for fans as he reveals some personal history in the last set of chapters. When he was a visiting scholar at the University of Georgia, I was sorely dissapointed to not meet him personally, so these chapters were a consolation prize. It was also a challenge to read - more than once I had to dive for the dictionary to discover the nuances in his choice of words.
Enjoy.

Excells all.......2001-12-11

This book is full of beautiful imagry, a must for people who crave to go places and see things. His essays/memoirs excell above all others. The writing reflects his thoughts so vividly you would swear you were there. If you like reading about far away places and the experiences and adventures of a very cultrued and passionate writer, than this is the book for you.

I Never Could Finish The Book, But Some Parts Are Good.......2000-01-04

I understand some people like this book very much, but I have a dissenting opinion. I did have the pleasure of hearing him read in person and he is indeed very captivating. But keep in mind what this book is about. It is basically a set of essays about places he has been and his insights and knowledge of those places. When it works, it works brilliantly. The essays I liked I could read several times over--he does some fascinating things (traveling on a cargo plane for several weeks comes to mind, or staying with a pottery community also comes to mind). However, when it doesn't work, you realize that not much is really happening and it feels very slow, maybe even unreadable. I just had to stop reading some of the essays after awhile. So it was really hit and miss with me.

What the other reviewers say about his attitude towards life and nature is right. He is very concerned with geography, not just the physical geography of a place, but also the emotional geography of a place. In a time when we don't always feel very connected to places, reading this book could help you feel connected again, to glimmer what it is like to really feel a part of the place in which you live.

Lopez is the champion storyteller.......1999-05-14

In an era where American storytelling is all but dead, Lopez may be the resurrection. Lopez gives us his sketches about life with the precision of a master craftsman but with the story telling skills of my grandmother. All essays are compelling, and the only disappointing moment is when the reader realizes that he or she is on the last page.

Average customer rating:

great reference book for flexibility

The Book on Stretching

best flexibility book on the market

Very thorough

Essential for evry type of sporting activity

Ultimate Flexibility: A Complete Guide to Stretching for Martial Arts
Sang H. Kim
Manufacturer: Turtle Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Stretching | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Martial Arts | Individual Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Fighter's Body: An Owner's Manual : Your Guide to Diet, Nutrition, Exercise and Excellence in the Martial Arts

Speed Training : How to Develop Your Maximum Speed for Martial Arts

Solo Training: The Martial Artist's Guide to Training Alone

Martial Arts After 40

Solo Training 2: The Martial Artist's Guide to Building the Core for Stronger, Faster and More Effective Grappling, Kicking and Punching

Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 1880336839

Book Description

Ultimate Flexibility is the book you've been waiting for. More than a collection of exercises or an explanation of technique, Ultimate Flexibility is a complete guide to stretching for martial arts, from the very basics of why you should stretch to detailed workout guidelines for every style and level of martial arts practice.

Written by acclaimed author and martial artist Sang H. Kim, Ultimate Flexibility is your guide to achieving maximum flexibility in your training. Begin with an in depth look at the hows and whys of flexibility and stretching. Learn about the many types of stretching, which methods are best for beginners, when to graduate to advanced techniques and why you should completely avoid certain types of exercises. You'll also find information that you wont find in any other martial art book, including a detailed exploration of how your body works for or against you in your training and how flexibility can make you stronger and faster.

Building on this foundation, Sang H. Kim teaches you nearly 200 flexibility exercises that he has personally used to achieve the highest levels of flexibility. You'l get detailed instructions, workout planning guides, goal setting tips, difficulty levels, injury prevention and recovery, and over 400 photos to guide you. Special bonus sections: 10 Tips for Full Splits, 20 Tips for High Kicks and 10 workouts for specific martial art types.

Includes Exercises and Workouts for:

Core Workout
Warm Up
Cool Down
Light Contact
Full Contact
Grappling
Mixed Martial Arts
Boxing
Weapons
High Kicks
Splits

Customer Reviews:

great reference book for flexibility.......2007-09-21

I am getting into martial arts at the age of 40. I have good flexability, but wanted more. This book will help you understand not only what stretch you are doing, but why. Excellent choice for beginner to advanced students.

The Book on Stretching .......2007-09-05

This book has helped me develop from a waist high kicker at best to a head high kicker within 6 months. The stretches and drills are invaluable then to top it off, the explanations and anatomical drawings are informative, but easy to understand. Not only is the information vital for you to know as a martial artist, but the author addresses different types of goals and how to set them and stick to them. Indispensable for the martial artist that wants to remain injury free and strong for many years.

best flexibility book on the market.......2007-08-01

I just joined a tang soo do club 3 months ago and was looking for a way to improve my flexibility and kicking ability so i got this book i found it to be a great help it has shown me lots of different stretches that i never new about and the importance of stretching my whole body everyday it is laid out well with chapters for each area of the body and plenty of info on the dos and donts the whys and why nots a great book for martial artists and people who want to increase there flexibility

Very thorough.......2007-07-30

Very well done once again. I like the ability to mix and match programs especially.
G.L.

Essential for evry type of sporting activity.......2007-07-20

A must have for participants of any sport. This book was so good that I gave a copy to a friend as a birthday gift. It gives detailed instructions for safe, effective, and most efficient stretching and flexibility. Pictures illustrate the actions very well, and the book explains not only the hows and whats, but the the whys of each exercise as well. exercises can be combined by groups of muscles, and by sport.

This is a very realistic approach that is sure to capture the interest and attention of anyone who desires a greater degree of flexibility than they now have, regardless of age.

I am 53 years old. I have used the methods in the book for a little over a year, and they have really worked well for me.

Book Description

Many of our nation's oldest ethnic communities trace their roots in this country to New York City's Lower East Side. A century ago, travelers to the area could attend a black-faced minstrel show performed by Irishmen, drink German lager, visit Jewish-run gambling houses, and dine on Chinese delicacies, all within a matter of blocks. Long a hub of immigrant cultures, this vibrant section of New York City remains one of the country's most astonishingly diverse neighborhoods.

This unique walking guide takes us back to the world of these bustling immigrant enclaves. The historical tours, enlivened by colorful photographs and illustrations, chronicle the evolution of the communities--African, German, Irish, Chinese, Jewish, and Italian--for whom the Lower East Side served as an entryway into America.

As participants stroll through one of the world's most heterogeneous and visually stimulating neighborhoods, the tours take them past such historic points as the African burial ground excavation site; Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, the first Catholic cathedral in New York State; the charming Caff Roma, which still serves authentic Italian coffee and desserts much as it did in the early 1900s; the oldest still- standing Jewish house of worship in the City; the site of the notorious Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911; and Mott Street, the main thoroughfare around which New York's Chinatown developed.

Combining educational historical accounts with enchanting scenic tours, the heritage tours impart a keen sense of the legacies waiting to be discovered in the Lower East Side's remarkable past.

Book Description

Spring break is here, and the Sweet Valley University gang is in for six nights and seven days of sun, fun, and romance -- on a college-students-only Caribbean cruise!

Overboard!

Jessica Wakefield has a plan. She's going to reenact her first thrilling encounter with the man of her dreams by throwing herself overboard -- in the hopes that he'll come to her rescue again! Will Jessica's stunt lead to romance or tragedy?

Tom Watts is so desperate to win back Elizabeth Wakefield's love that he asks Todd Wilkins, Elizabeth's ex-boyfriend, for help. Will Todd and Tom bury the hatchet -- or use it on each other?

Jason Pierce, Danny Wyatt's best friend from high school, is about to make the biggest mistake of his life -- by marrying his two-timing fiancee. Should Danny tell all, or forever hold his peace?

Customer Reviews:

disappointing ending.......2001-06-12

Jessica catches her mystery man...a junior high school admirer. The wedding is called off...by who?? Denise & Winston wash up on a golf-resort island. Liz and Tom seem to make amends. And Nina's beau shows his stuff by waterskiing out to the cruise ship to meet her! Bruce & Lila reunite, and Enid declines the modeling offer from Tisano's brother.

OK.......2000-01-26

I read this book in July 1999. So I don't remember too much about, but I do know that it wasn't that good. It is a 3 part miniseries, but I didn't realize that at the time, so I only ended up reading this one first. I didn't understand fully what was going on. There is no excitement in this book except when the wedding is practically called off. Maybe it was called off all together, but I can't remember. I do not recommend buying this book. Read #48-50 of this series. I'm on page 63 of #50. It is very interesting.

Sweet Valley University 14 Shipboard Wedding

Average customer rating:

Sweet Valley University 14 Shipboard Wedding
Francine Pascal
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Sweet Valley University | Series | Teens | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:
How to Become a TV Quiz Show Millionaire!

Manufacturer: Publications International, Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0785343938

Product Description

Ever since Who Wants to Be A Millionaire swept the country (and the ratings), Americans have been dreaming of a new way to hit the jackpot!Here's the book that will help you. And not just with the Millionaire show. We've covered Wheel and Jeopardy!--even Ben Stein and Greed. We'll tell you where to write, how to get an audition, and how to win when you get there. You'll find Web sites, addresses, phone numbers and strategies, plus 74 pages of practice questions. The spotlight is on fun!

Average customer rating:

It Really Could Happen!
Great Little Book for Trivia Buffs
A Fun Way to Play "Millionaire" at Home

How to Be a TV Quiz Show Millionaire
Consumer Guide editors
Manufacturer: Consumer Guide
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Consumer Behavior | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Reference | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Trivia | Fun Facts | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0785340467

Customer Reviews:

It Really Could Happen!.......2005-03-18

My husband, Michael Dupee, and myself co-authored this book 5 years ago, and now we really could be TV Game Show Millionaires by following our own advice -- found in this book. My husband, Michael Dupee, is participating in the Jeopardy Ultimate Tournament of Champions which has a top prize of $2,000,000. What's more, by quizzing my husband at home to help him prepare to compete on the show, I have become really good at the trivia needed to win on Jeopardy, so maybe I will audition to go on Jeopardy after Michael completes his current tournament. Who knows? Maybe I can have a 75-game winning streak and win $2.5 million like Ken Jennings did.

Great Little Book for Trivia Buffs.......2004-09-05

I picked up this book at a book fair more for the trivia practise questions than because I had any aspirations to be on a game show. On a whim, I took the book to cafeteria duty during my job as an elementary school teacher and at the end of the lunch period, began to ask the kids questions from the book. It set the tone for the days to follow - the kids would ask when I arrived if I had "The Game Show Book" - if I did, they ate quickly and focussed on me when we organized our own after-lunch game show. Because the questions are arranged from easy to hard, it was easy to quite difficult, making it easy to adjust them to the grades that were present. The more difficult questions were quite difficult; of the 37 practise games in the book, I only got all the way to the hardest questions myself once.

Not all of the Quiz shows referred to in the book are still on, but the questions and tips given - which letters are the best to pick for "Wheel of Fortune," for example - make it a very worthwhile book.

A Fun Way to Play "Millionaire" at Home.......2000-03-11

I ordered this book because I think maybe I could get on a game show and win a lot of money. It has great information about "Millionaire", "Greed", "Hollywood Squares", "Jeopardy", "Twenty One", "Wheel of Fortune", "Win Ben Stein's Money", and "The $64,000 Question". It is a pretty book with lots of pictures, and it is very well edited.

But the best thing about the book is the 37 sets of "Millionaire"-style trivia questions. My family has had a blast taking turns being in the "Hot Seat", trying to making it to $1,000,000! These questions are Great! They are right on target with the kinds of questions that you actually watch on the show. Plus, they are very funny with some of the absurd answers that are given as possible choices. I definitely give this little book a "thumbs up" and say order this fun treat for your family.

Average customer rating:
How to Be a TV Quiz Show Millionaire

Manufacturer: Publications International Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0785346201

Product Description

100's of questions that you find on TV quiz shows

HOW TO BE A TV QUIZ SHOW MILLIONAIRE 100'S OF PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Average customer rating:

HOW TO BE A TV QUIZ SHOW MILLIONAIRE 100'S OF PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Manufacturer: Publications International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H29EH6

How to Be a Tv Quiz Show Millionaire: 1oo's of Practice Questions

Average customer rating:

How to Be a Tv Quiz Show Millionaire: 1oo's of Practice Questions

Manufacturer: PUBLOCATIONS INTERNATIONAL
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0785346287

Book Description

At the beginning of the 1990's the first encouraging results on GDP growth combined with the fulfillment of international requirements led many to believe that Albania was a 'shining star' in Central and Eastern Europe. But in 1997 this progress was reversed by unprecedented institutional, political and social turmoil leading to a spiral of violence and chaos.

This book presents, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the different factors behind the 1997 political, economic and social upheaval in Albania. It shows that the crisis was both predictable and complex, and not simply a matter of a disgruntled population attempting to regain their money. Using extensive and detailed evidence, Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead identifies the major reasons for the growing discontent and final explosion: the increase in unemployment, collapse of industrial production, inefficiency of the banking system, limitations and drawbacks of foreign investment, failure of mass privatization, falling living standards, and rising poverty. He examines the consequences of the crisis at the enterprise level, by region, sector, industry and property form using a unique survey of over 1,000 enterprises. In conclusion he offers a series of policy recommendations with a view to regenerating production while avoiding a new social explosion in a destroyed economy, weakened by political instability and the conflict in Kosovo.

This unique book will be essential reading for all academics working in the area of transition as well as policy makers from international organizations involved in transition economies.

Customer Reviews:

The "how" and the "why" this country fell so far so fast.......2000-06-25

Albania from poster child to basket case in seven years.

In 1991, post-communism Albania embraced capitalism like a drunk would a whiskey bottle. In the first few years, the international press boosted Albania as an "economic miracle, (a) Balkan tiger, and (a) rising shining star." In 1997, swept up in the mania of a ponzi-style investment scheme, the Albanian house of cards came tumbling down. It is hard to comprehend the scope of the collapse - more than 75 percent of the population lost all their life savings. Riots, beatings, looting of Army armories, burning of government buildings and rampant mayhem gripped the country for weeks.

Finally, in an effort to stabilize this torn and devastated country, a contingent of multinational troops had to be sent in. A collapse of this magnitude does not have a cause; rather, it is a compendium of factors that cumulate in tragedy.

In Albania in Crisis Daniel Vaughn-Whitehead evaluates the "how" and the "why" this country fell so far so fast. Writing with empirical statistical support, Vaughn-Whitehead pulls no punches as he uncovers the causes of this crisis. The signs of the impending tragedy were there if anyone had looked critically, but the social and economic harbingers were ignored until the very end.

This academic work is recommended for those with an interest in Albania or any emerging post-communist countries.

Average customer rating:
Albania in crisis: The predictable fall of the shining star.(Review) (book reviews): An article from: International Labour Review
Elizabeth Goodson
Manufacturer: International Labour Office
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00099L90C
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from International Labour Review, published by International Labour Office on September 22, 1999. The length of the article is 798 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Albania in crisis: The predictable fall of the shining star.(Review) (book reviews)
Author: Elizabeth Goodson
Publication: International Labour Review (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1999
Publisher: International Labour Office
Volume: 138 Issue: 3 Page: 334

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

This work, written by a scholar and consultant who has worked extensively in Central and Eastern Europe, presents important background information and analysis on the economic and political changes that are taking place in that part of the world. The author's work is based on research conducted at the Department of Economics at Harvard University. The book provides the basis for future evaluation of the changes in post-communist economies. It discusses the radical changes in Europe, economic reforms in Eastern Europe and the former USSR, economic development strategies, and theoretical and policy issues on currency convertibility in post-communist economies.

Eastern Europe in a time of change economic and political dimensions

Average customer rating:

Eastern Europe in a time of change economic and political dimensions
Iliana Zloch-Christy
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORCS4A

Average customer rating:

Eastern Europe in a Time of Change: Economic and Political Dimensions.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IC2KKI

Book Description

In the extreme south of Madagascar is a place called Berenty, where Tandroy tribesmen, French lords, mad scientists, and two or three species of lemurs may be found gathered peacefully under a tamarind tree. Forty years ago Alison Jolly went to Berenty to study lemurs, and she has been enthralled by it ever since. In Lords and Lemurs she tells the story of the place, its people, and its other animals. The owner of Berenty, Jean de Heaulme, arrived there in 1928 as a six-month-old baby, riding with his mother in the sidecar of his father's Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The de Heaulme family has lived at Berenty ever since, supporting Madagascar's fight for independence from France, serving in the government, and enduring economic turmoil, civil war, and even imprisonment. Although they are relics of a colonial system that seized land and tortured dissidents, the de Heaulmes also epitomize noblesse oblige in the best sense of the phrase, showing a remarkable sense of responsibility for both the people and the ecosystem of Berenty. Early on they set aside a large portion of their estate as a nature preserve, where lemurs and other animals have thrived over the years. Jean de Heaulme became a blood brother to one of the local Tandroy nobles -- the kings with spears. Traditionally the Tandroy were warriors who raided for women, cattle, and slaves. Now those who live at Berenty can take what they need from the modern world -- medical care, education, and a cash income -- without giving up their own customs and way of life. Many Tandroy still live in traditional villages surrounded by walls of thorn, and even the men who hold salaried jobs work hard so they can return to their clan with enough cattle to buy a bride or two. When a clan elder dies, the family offers a grandiose funeral where, amid gunfire and dancing and merrymaking and sex, a whole herd of zebu cattle is sacrificed to honor the new Ancestor -- even if he happens to be a Christian. Alison Jolly and her husband were honored to be invited to attend a Tandroy funeral. Poignant and colorful, tragic and funny, Lords and Lemurs is a remarkable tale of one of the last great places on earth and the extraordinary people who live there, a tale of marriage, birth, and death, of spear fights and stink fights and dancing. It shows how human warmth and dignity can reach out beyond any social system.

Customer Reviews:

Rich, eclectic, and readable.......2007-04-20

This rich, unusual book is hard to categorize -- It is a fascinating combination of history and memoir by renowned naturalist Alison Jolly, who has been working in Madagascar since 1963. She uses her own experiences in primate research and environmental protection in Madagascar, as well as the reminiscences of her friends the de Heaulme family, proprietors of the Berenty Reserve and numerous holdings in and around Fort Dauphin in extreme southeast Madagascar, to comment on a wide range of issues such as colonization, Malagasy politics, ethnic groups of southern Madagascar, donor environment, food security, and so on. While this very readable volume focuses on the southern zone from Fort Dauphin to Berenty Reserve and Amboasary, it provides a wealth of contextual information about Madagascar in general.

Not What I Expected.......2006-01-01

As a biologist, I was hoping for more Lemur biology than what I got. This book is an excellent history of Madagasacar, without a doubt, and includes detail I am sure is found nowhere else. If one were planning a trip to Madagascar, this would be a perfect primer.

However, I was hoping for more of a biological approach regarding the Lemurs, their society, behavior, etc. While I did get a taste, it wasn't enough.

Sorry to admit, I got just over half way through the book before I lost interest.

History and Natural History of a Neglected Island.......2005-02-14

It never ceases to amaze me that people often think that history only happens to their cultures and possibly related ones. We, with good reason, teach American history in schools (although sometimes not well enough when you see polls showing that a unusually high number of our citizens cannot tell the Constitution well enough to distinguish it from the Communist Manifesto!) and to a lesser extent European and sometimes Asian histories. However when we were dealing with the two World Wars, others on the so-called fringes of the civilized world were doing the same. We tend to often ignore parts of the world that do not immediately impinge on us, but we may do so at our peril (as was graphically shown on September 11, 2001!)

It is one of the far-flung parts of the once huge French empire that is the subject of a very unusual book by the well-known primatologist Alison Jolly. "Lords and Lemurs" is mostly set in southern Madagascar in an area dominated by mimosa thorn scrub and populated by the native Tandroy, the French settlers and by several species of Madagascar's unique lemurs. Jolly writes a somewhat eccentric book about a very eccentric (from our view!) land. You find it difficult to dislike most of the people, even though some had to fight for the puppet government of Vichy during World War II and you find the fauna and flora fascinating.

Jolly does not spoon feed us. We are shown the horrors as well as the joys. Lemurs, we find, are not quite the cuddly creatures of Disney cartoons (they fight and sometimes kill even their own species), but they are for all that enchanting creatures (and who are we to throw stones anyway?) The people have not always had admirable intentions and are sometimes quite flawed. The French colonial government included some sadistic types who used their power to torture and rape and some natives staged somewhat brutal (if often also somewhat muted by today's standards) uprisings and sometimes threw their best friends in jail. On the other hand you see people go to extremes to help others in times of need in ways that make you admire their moral strength. You even understand the French fighting the British on Madagascar, despite the fact that the British forces are acting against Hitler and Tojo. Local conditions alter realities and "friends" may become bitter enemies. You are also to some extent shown the environmental successes as well as the stupidities. However, the book is mostly about very different peoples facing the often grim realities of life and often surviving.

If you would like to broaden your understanding of our world, both human and "natural" (a false dichotomy in any case!) read this book!

Stories about a special place........2004-11-25

Alison Jolly is a wonderful story-teller and makes Malagasy Madagascar and old French Madagascar come to life. The reader learns about a particular corner in southern Madagascar and the lives of its native tribes and French colonialists.

Lemurs brought Alison Joly to Madagascar but the fascination for this reader was her evocative portraits of people. Zebus and sisal rather than lemurs seem more relevant to her tale, until Prince Philip arrives and appears to shock an uncaring government that the country is committing ecological suicide. There is now a new government and it may be taking the environment more seriously. That would be a change in Madagascar!

As a former resident of Madagascar, I loved the book and the way Alison Jolly brings the place to life.

A testimony to Madagascar's past and future in the modern wo.......2004-08-07

It's hard to neatly peg primate behavioralist Alison Jolly's wonderful Lords & Lemurs: somewhere between a autobiography, travelogue, geography exploration and social issue examination still doesn't aptly describe the magic of Jolly's encounter. Her focus on Madagascar's people, animals, and society brings to life the rugged individuals and colorful personalities - and issues - of the island, making Lords & Lemurs a testimony to Madagascar's past and future in the modern world.

LORDS AND LEMURS Mad Scientists, Kings with Spears, And the Survival of Diversity in Madagascar

Average customer rating:

LORDS AND LEMURS Mad Scientists, Kings with Spears, And the Survival of Diversity in Madagascar
Alison Jolly
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0965929280

Average customer rating:

Lords and Lemurs: Mad Scientists, Kings With Spears, and the Survival of Diversity in Madagascar
Alison Jolly
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N7DIOU

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books