ECU Books

WTO-NEWS Review

Due to fast-paced technological changes - most notably the rapid development of the Internet - cross-border electronic trade in digital content products (movies, music, software, etc.) has become an increasingly important phenomenon. However, such trade is not explicitly recognised within the current WTO-framework.

In this book, SACHA WUNSCH-VINCENT - an economist at the OECD - provides the first detailed and comprehensive analysis of the steps WTO Members must undertake if they want to remedy this state of affairs - thereby reducing the serious risk of rising discriminatory barriers to digital trade. First the author elaborates on the WTO's work relating to digitally-delivered content products and on the various measures required in the Doha Negotiations to guarantee market access for this category of products. Secondly, he discusses the factors that impede reaching a consensus between the principal players in the negotiations (i.e. the EC and the US) - which is a crucial condition for progress in this area. Thirdly, WUNSCH-VINCENT compares how the multilateral Doha Negotiations and the parallel (US-driven) bilateral and regional trade agreements have - to date - contributed to securing a liberal digital trade regime.

A central conclusion of the book is that only very few of the identified negotiation requirements have been satisfactorily met at the multilateral level. It is demonstrated that the coverage of digital content products by WTO rules remains at best uncertain and that free trade in digital content has not yet been secured. Moreover, although some modest progress could be achieved in the framework of US preferential free trade agreements, the latter are unlikely to be able to lock in free trade for digital content. Prompt and decisive efforts by the WTO in the current negotiation round are therefore imperative.

In conclusion, as new technologies are an increasingly prominent source of trade disputes (see the recent US-Antigua Internet Gambling case), this book is a pragmatic assessment of how WTO Members can maintain the relevance of the multilateral trade framework in a changing technological and economic environment. Given the lack of an in-depth treatment of these issues in the existing academic literature, it is clearly a highly important contribution and will become compulsory reading for anybody interested in this subject area - academics, policy practitioners and members of the business community alike. Martin Gedult v. Jungenfeld

product was charged to my account, i never received it, i tried to email the person about their refund policy and i never got a reply.

This is the worst bio book I have ever read. There are not enough diagrams, and the author focuses too much on the history of discoveries as opposed to the actual discoveries. I wanted to rank this book a 0/5 but that was not an option. The book was so horrible that a majority of the time, I could not read it...I thought it was extremely dull and dry...And I normally love biology!!! My professor wanted us to use the Reece Biology book, but the department would not approve it, so we got stuck with this cr@p. If you're looking for a good biology textbook, this book is not for you. Compared to the Reece book, the Freeman book makes you feel like you are reading each definition on each page in the dictionary and are being forced to memorize it. I had the opportunity to read a chapter or two of the Reece book, and I can tell you that it is 1000X more interesting and readable than this Freeman book.

After acing Introductory Bio the previous year with Campbell & Reece's Biology, I returned this year as an undergrad TA for the same class. The professor had switched to this book, which is by far just a piece of crap next to the Campbell & Reece book.

This textbook seems to put too much emphasis on experiments done in the past that all the material is lost beneath piles and piles of experimental 'abstracts'. I once misunderstood the textbook, specifically on the differences between genes important in developmental biology, and ended up giving wrong information on a Q&A session. I ended up having to spend a lot of time tracking down every single person who had come to the session in order to let them know about the error.

Now I say Campbell & Reece is better because it makes better use of its diagrams and figures in order to clarify points made in the text itself. Freeman does not do as good of a job in this way. I guess it does a mediocre job of enabling you to delve out relationships between experimental results and conclusions that have been deduced from those experiments. But for one who is studying introductory biology I, I do not personally see the purpose of looking at experimental data just yet. With all the definitions and concepts that need to be understood first, the emphasis should not be as much on experiments than on developing concepts and throwing in experiments every once in a while.

As mentioned by other reviewers, this book drones endlessly about the details of experiments that first-year undergraduates are unlikely to appreciate to any degree. From my own research experience, I understand very well that every bit of scientific knowledge comes as the result of weeks, months or years of effort, but focusing so much on that in an introductory textbook means that a great many important details are sacrificed in the process- and details are important. It's been a year and a half since I've used the book and the only reason I learned anything about biology during that time was because I read other books, especially Campbell's. Freeman's book might do well enough for non-majors, but it is horrible for use with biology or chemistry majors. There is very little substance here and it does not pose a challenge. If you've used it and think otherwise, I encourage you to examine Campbell's book, as it is the current standard in the field, but almost any other will do. On top of that, I noted over 100 typos/misprints/mislabeled captions in the first half alone, and there is little that annoys me more than $120 books that slipped through the editorial cracks a few dozen times. This text does not live up to expectations.

This book is definitely worth the money. I am the type of person who learns better from reading than listening to (mostly) boring lectures. For that type of person this book is perfect. It is one of the best science books I've ever used.

The main thing to say about this book is that it is very readable. The chapters are relatively short (15-25 pages) and are broken up into nice length subsections. The illustrations only help to understand concepts introduced in the text.

I think the book does a great job of what it intended to; Give a good introduction to a very broad range of biological subjects without sacrificing the details.