Enterprise Books

I used this book back in 1970. It is the type of book that has some fun things to do each day for 14 days, so you have to have a sense of humor with it, and to tell others what you are doing. My brother-in-law also used it, and we both were able to stop smoking for good!

I smoked 3 packs a day of Kools for over half my life. I had NEVER quit because I couldn't. Not only was I addicted to nicotene, but also to the menthol. I could not even sleep all night without waking up for a few "puffs" at least once a night (sometimes more). My mother, also a very heavy smoker, quit smoking after reading this book and sent it to me. Half way through the book I wadded up the half a pack I was working on and never touched the two unopended packs on top the fridge except to throw them away. That was 25 years ago! After quitting I made it a point to order this book a half-dozen at a time until it went out of print. I used to give the book to anyone who asked me how I quit. I cannot tell you how many people to whom I gave this book have also quit, but it has many. My only regret is that for some unknown reason the book went out of print and no other publisher has picked it up. I'm ordering two used ones today to give to two friends and wanted to encourage others to buy this book so that they too can get free from this deadly habit!

This book is outstanding. After smoking for more than 10 years, 3+ packs a day of the long unfiltered kind, chewed leaf tobacco and dipped snuff, I had a serious tobacco addiction. I wanted to quit but I just couldn't get by without my tobacco!! A friend told me about this book. I had tried to quit so many times but I always went back to smoking. I agreed to read it but really didn't think it would help me change a thing. I soon found out why this book will help even the most serious smoker stop for good. The author reveals the secrets to success in an easy to understand style. You'll be amazed at what you find in the pages of this book. I figured a "how to" manual would be difficult to read. The book kept my attention from the minute I opened it. I read it in a couple of hours because I couldn't put it down. It's actually fun to read!! I read this book when a pack of smokes cost less than 50 cents. THANKS TO THIS BOOK I HAVEN'T HAD A CIGARETTE FOR MORE THAN 22 YEARS. If I were still smoking today, smokes alone would cost me about $5000 a year. This book is a must for anyone who has ever thought of quitting smoking. If you are even just thinking of quitting, check this book out. It's an easy and enjoyable read!!

I am a retired clinical psychologist and have helped many of my clients stop smoking over a period of several decades. Brean's little book is the best I know about. I used it myself over 40 years ago and have not smoked a cigarette since then. (I occasionally smoke a pipe or a cigar--maybe once or twice a year.) The book is based on sound psychological principles and emphasizes proper preparation before you actually quit. A unique feature is its day-by-day pages that you must not read until you quit and then only read each page on its assigned day. It's remarkable how much those little pages help!

I smoked 1-3 packs of cigarettes a day for about 30 years and had tried quitting a few times with zero success. This approach worked for me because it gave specific, day-by-day instructions and let me know what to expect. Brean also respected the power of the addiction and the difficulty of quitting, which helped me respect myself for undertaking the task. Brean was a smoker, so he knew why I loved the stuff beyond just the nicotine fix, and he helped me recognize all the other needs I was meeting with cigarettes. Quitting smoking with his method was no tougher to handle than a cold or a little poison ivy. I haven't had a cigarette since 1988! The book is dated, but it's only missing all the newly discovered reasons to quit.

This ambitious book takes on the "big picture" questions about the recent wave of corporate scandals: the increase in risk taking, the complexity of the modern corporation, and the limitations on shareholder governance. It offers intelligent advice for regulators, and warns average investors about the most extraordinary risks.

In my judgment, this book is a must read for anyone who followed the recent scandals. Unlike many of the books written about the markets during the past few years, "Icarus" offers a fresh perspective on what happened and why. To mix a metaphor, I hope it catches fire.

Specifically, the book recounts how technological and financial innovation made it so much easier for the 1990s corporate manager to take greater risks and manipulate how investors understood the corporation's business. The book's description of the split between perception and reality will be jarring to any investor.

Professor Skeel's writing is accessible and pithy. He lucidly explicates the "Gordian knot of conflicts" in the modern financial enterprise, and even devotes important pages to derivatives and structured finance.

But the strongest part of the book is its historical perspective. Today's reportage on the markets frequently ignores important eras, products, or schemes, and rarely understands how financial history repeats itself, or morphs in new and interesting ways. In contrast, this book ties together nearly every financial scandal during the past several centuries: the South Sea Bubble, Cooke, Gould, the Money Trusts, the S&L scandals, Milken, and so on. Of particular interest is Samuel Insull - readers who are not familiar with his schemes will find the material on the "House of Insull" unforgetable.

"Icarus" is an important intellectual history, and a riveting read. If only every book on the markets could be this good.

as one of the students of D Skeel's basic corporation's class, this book is one of our reading assignments. Generally speaking, I hate reading assignment but I do like this book.

as a foreign LLM, I always find those JD peers "know" more than me about those names like "Jay Cookie", "Masha Steward","Enron case" or "Milken and takeover". Iracus actually helps me to catch up a little bit. It at least is a great book concerning the Amercian Corporate history. I perfer it to be a light reading before going to bed b/c it is short, easy to read for a foreigner and D S tends to amuze his readers rather than torture them.

As for the scandal part, I think the three prong conclusion is a great idea b/c it does fit the history lesson neatly.

I think it is a great book for both legal and non legal ppl who are interested in this book. Anyway, as DS says in his book, "nowadays, Corporation is us."

This book is a minor masterpiece of legal/business history. In slightly more than 200 pages, David Skeel tells the story of CEOs who took huge gambles with corporate assets in order to boost profits and share prices. Although the media and public idolize larger-than-life CEOs, Skeel shows how throwing the dice can often result in ruin for corporations and their employees and shareholders. His book ranges from 19th century railroad bankruptcies to the rise and fall of Enron, tying together economic history, financial theory, business law, and the politics of regulation. It's sophisticated but breezily written. I'd give it six stars if I could.

America loves risk-taking CEOs, but when such behavior crosses over to boardrooms it could have massive consequences because of the growing scale of businesses and society's greater dependence on equity markets. Icarus in the Boardroom: The Fundamental Flaws in Corporate America and Where They Came From, by David Skeel draws on Greek mythology to present a candid warning aimed at corporate directors and anyone concerned with our economic future.

Trapped in a labyrinth of his on construction, Dedalus made wings for himself and his son Icarus. He warned Icarus not to fly to close to the sun but Icarus got carried away, failed to heed the warning, and plunged to his death after the sun melted the wax that held his wings together. Similarly, the corporation is a powerful human innovation, but is dangerous if not used properly.

But this book isn't about businesses being "socially responsible," in the normal sense of health, peace, or global warming. Instead, Skeel is concerned with the impact that corporate failures can have on the economy as a whole. From that standpoint, Icarus in the Boardroom offers excellent advice on creating a sustainable business climate, getting to the source of problems instead of the symptoms.

He attributes several recessions and the Great Depressions to an "Icarus Effect," brought on by three factors:

Excessive and sometimes fraudulent risks
Competition (or, rather, tendencies toward monopoly)
Increasing size and complexity

The bulk of the book is devoted to a short history of the corporation followed by an excellent treatment of these three thematic factors and corporate failures though US history. He explains how government has responded to Icarus effects and how corporations have worked to first adapt, then often to circumvent or unravel government's attempt to save us from corporate excesses.

In general, "the lobbying might of corporate managers, and the power of their political contributions, is too great for even relatively minor reform to succeed," he notes. However, the wake of financial scandals provides an opportunity to "change the political calculus." We witnessed such changes after the 1929 crash when reforms like creating the Securities and Exchange Commission stopped short of federalizing corporate law.

More recently we enacted Sarbanes-Oxley to address the scandals of Enron, WorldCom and Tyco. Where did we stop short this time? Skeel advises that we partially addressed fraudulent risk but left the other Icarun factors largely untouched. Among Skeel's many recommendations:

Conflicts of interest. Having auditors selected by a committee made up of "independent" board members does little; they'll still be reluctant to choose an auditor who will rock the boat. Stock exchanges should assign and police auditors.
Securities analysts. "If exchanges were required to assign a securities analyst to every listed company - and pay the analysts from companies' listing fees - investors would know that there was at least one (unbiased) analyst covering every listed company."

SEC's proxy access proposal, which wasn't dead when Skeel wrote the book. Skeel favors it but warns that shareholder activism "often won't curb problematic behavior if the behavior in question is profitable to the corporation." As an example, he cites the fact that Tyco shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to move its domicile back to the US from Bermuda. Shareholders wanted to keep saving on taxes regardless of the negative impact on the larger society.

Special purpose entities (SPEs). Instead of treating them under "enterprise liability," as advocated by Adolph Berle in the post-New Deal era, Skeel takes a middle approach. Auditors and regulators should "focus on whether the spirit of the SPE status is being violated. SPEs that are not truly separate from the overall company should be denied separate treatment for accounting purposed."

"Ordinary Americans no longer see corporations as 'other,'" because more than half now own stock (directly or indirectly). As defined benefit plans dwindle and 401(k) participation increases, Americans have come to see their own stakes, however small, as tied to those of corporations. Skeel cites an important study by Dallas Federal Reserve Economists John Duca and Jason Saving that found "a direct correlation between stock ownership and the Republican vote in recent Congressional elections. As stock ownership goes up, so does the Republicans' share of the Congressional vote." It's no wonder President Bush keep pushing privatization of Social Security.

"The increasing identification between ordinary Americans and corporate America is perfectly understandable, but beneath it lurks a terrible irony: at the same time as our passion for real reform has declined, the risks have radically increased," writes Skeel. In the past, investing in stocks was an activity largely limited to the rich who could afford to speculate. Now stocks have become the investment of choice for "life" savings and retirement.

With so many of us now dependent on corporate performance, let's hope it doesn't take another Great Depression before American's wake up to the need for reforms of the type outlined by David Skeel.

University of Pennsylvania law professor David Skeel's Icarus in the Boardroom: The Fundamental Flaws in Corporate America and Where They Came From presents an analysis of corporate scandals and catastrophic failures from the rise of the modern corporation through the present day.

Skeel begins by analyzing the underlying causes of what he terms "Icarus Effect" failures, named for the mythological Greek Icarus whose hubris in flying too close to the sun caused his downfall.

In Skeel's analysis, Icarus Effect failures occur as a result of three factors -- corporate executives willing to take excessive or fraudulent risks, the pressures of corporate competition, and the increasing size and complexity of the corporation. While not all corporate failures fit this definition, Skeel finds that the Icarus Effect underlies many of the most catastrophic and damaging failures in American business history.

Skeel's investigation of corporate malfeasance and business failure covers a wide historical scope, from the birth of the corporation during the 17th century voyages of trade through the exploits of recent figures such as Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, and Dennis Kozlowski. Along the way, we meet a number colorful historical characters such as Jay Cooke -- the Philadelphia banker whose scheme for selling government debt helped to finance the Civil War and the growth of the U.S. railroads until his increasing risk-taking caused the collapse of this financial empire in 1873 -- and Samuel Insull -- who established a utilities empire with a complex web of corporate ownership until his overextended, debt-laden empire was brought down during the Depression.

The most fascinating aspects of Skeel's historical analysis are the frequent parallels between the catastrophic failures of the past and those in recent headlines. Jay Cooke's dinners with President Grant are reminiscent of the friendly relationship between Present Bush and Enron's Ken Lay. And Samuel Insull's elaborate corporate structuring of his utilities holdings in the first decades of the 20th century are eerily echoed in the complex "off balance sheet" holdings of Enron in the final decade of the century.

In the closing sections of Icarus in the Boardroom, Skeel provides a critique of recent attempts to curb corporate misbehavior such as Sarbannes-Oxley, and finds little that he believes is likely to retard the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between legal curbs on corporate behavior and clever techniques for evading them. In the final chapter, Skeel offers a number of his own recommendations for how America can strengthen oversight of corporate behavior.

Icarus in the Boardroom is fascinating for both its historical perspective on corporate malfeasance and its analysis of recent headline events.

"Honestly, if Possible" may quite possibly be the most wonderful short story I've ever read. Like other newer Sinclair readers, I'm amazed with the currency of all his work, and even more amazed that he isn't more widely known. I'm doing my best to get the story out-I've got a lot of PEP!

I was surprised at how relevant the stories were to the current times. Despite being written between 1915 and the early 1920's, workers ( and employers ) were faced with problems of sexual harrasment, boredom, stealing employees, and office politics.

Definately, you can detect parts of Babbit in many of the characters in the book.

All of the stories were worth reading. Some are amusing, some sad, and a few happy. All of them, however are thought provoking.

Overall, a great book to get a hold of, especially if you are a Sinclair Lewis fan.

Lewis' early magazine pieces, printed here for the first time since their original publication in 1915-23, unmistakably contain the seeds of his later Pulitzer Prize-winning satirical novels and are irresistible in their own right.
The language is dated, and the modern reader may find some usage jarring (e.g., "love-making" for what we might call "flirting"), but it is remarkable in this postmodern age of Dilbert and e-mail that so little has changed in human nature, especially as expressed in office romances and politics. Look closely and you may see in some of Lewis' hucksters someone looking back at you; someone uncomfortably familiar.
(P) (The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)

If you made a short list of notable literary efforts from America's first Nobel Prize in Literature winner, the inestimable Sinclair Lewis, titles such as "Main Street," "Babbitt," and "Elmer Gantry" would probably sit near the top. More discerning fans of the master satirist might throw in "Dodsworth," "It Can't Happen Here," and "Kingsblood Royal." What you wouldn't find anywhere on this speculative list are the short stories between the pages of "If I Were Boss: The Early Business Stories of Sinclair Lewis." Why? According to the intricate yet astoundingly informative introduction by Anthony Di Renzo, none of the fifteen stories contained in the anthology have been republished since their original appearance between the years 1915-1921 in magazines like "The Saturday Evening Post." If you stagger under the knowledge that works of a Nobel Prize winner have been out of print that long, you'll really have a fit once you read this collection. Every one of the tales in this book is wonderful. Everything you know about Lewis-his scathing wit, his boundless cynicism tempered with a secret hope for the triumph of humanity, his spot on ability to recreate the American vernacular-infuses every page of every story.

If I had to pick a specific story as my personal favorite, I would pick the four stories that make up what is the Lancelot Todd cycle. Lewis spent many years of his life working in advertising, loathed the profession, and promptly took his revenge with stories like "Snappy Display," "Slip It to 'Em," "Getting His Bit," and "Jazz." These four tales document the unsavory career of Lancelot Todd, America's premier advertising guru and an unbridled charlatan. Always on the lookout for the perfect con, Todd spends his days writing peppy newsletters for large business concerns and spewing out self-help books designed to teach the workingman how to get ahead. He devotes his free time to seeking a higher position in society and cultivating a cirrhotic liver. Lewis scathingly paints a picture of Todd's machinations only to bring him down in the end as his latest caper falls apart. The best example is "Slip It to 'Em," where Todd runs a car company into the ground only to find he must transport his latest wealthy conquest to an important meeting in one of the lemons his company foisted on the public. You haven't laughed until you have read a Lancelot Todd story. The only thing I could think of after these four stories was where I could get my hands on more of them.

All of the stories in the collection pertain to issues still relevant today. In "If I Were Boss," salesman Charley McClure strives to make a name for himself at his firm only to discover the same issues he excoriated his own boss for come back to haunt him years later when he runs the show. "Honestly-If Possible" explores the sometimes painful relationship between men and women in the office place. So does "A Story with a Happy Ending," but in a different way. Leonard Price eventually undergoes the humiliating experience of working for a woman he initially hired years before. The confusing experience of workplace conflicts finds expression in "Way I See It," where Lewis uses a shifting perspective to examine the contentious relationship between a rental agent and his boss. Even corporate takeovers and office backstabbing get a spotlight in "The Whisperer," an unnerving tale about a fast buck quack obliterating his internal opposition in his bid for the top spot at an unprofitable pharmaceutical company. Repeatedly, I was amazed at how the many issues Lewis raises in these stories continue to have importance in today's corporate world. It would seem we haven't advanced very far since the 1910s and 1920s, at least regarding gender roles and business ethics.

Don't think for a minute that Lewis completely despises his subjects. In "The Good Sport," the author brings one of those fly by night, wiseacre salesman who run from job to job down to earth in a particularly humbling yet ennobling way. "A Matter of Business" finds a businessman agonizing over whether to remain loyal to a local supplier or whether to buy trendy yet shoddy products from a national concern. The last story, "Number Seven to Sagapoose," is a truly beautiful heart wrencher about a traveling shoe salesman's ability to make a huge difference in the lives of certain individuals and, by extension, humanity as a whole. It is in these stories that we see Lewis's caustic barbs and deep cynicism stripped away to reveal a man who fervently hoped that mankind could overcome its ridiculous social constructions and petty trappings in order to achieve a higher, nobler purpose.

As I closed the cover to "If I Were Boss" for the final time, I felt a deep kinship with Sinclair Lewis, realizing that he and I share many of the same thought processes and beliefs. I couldn't help but think that I would have gotten along just fine with Lewis if I had personally known him. I think I understand him as a person, however misguided that assumption might be, and now realize how difficult his life must have been. When one sees humanity in the way Lewis sees it, when one recognizes the pettiness and banalities we surround ourselves with, one quickly understands how difficult it is to function in life. That's why I think Lewis relied so heavily on humor in his stories: if you cannot laugh at the utter ridiculousness of modern life, you will quickly find yourself screaming with rage. These insights on my part hint at the powerful qualities of the author's stories and his writing ability. If you're the eternal cynic who can still laugh, pick this book up right away.

While I have enjoyed Lewis's novels, I have also found them to be somewhat angry and bitter. These stories are a different matter. Several of them are uproariously funny, in many ways reminiscent of Ring Lardner's best, where the outrage is hidden behind a mask of humor.

The introduction provides an interesting background in terms of both America's history and the events of Lewis's own life.

I have been using Indian Delights since it's Second revised edition. The Best of Indian Delights (circa: 1980's) is a distant second to the original.

Coupled with on-hand experiences with various styles of Indian cooking back home, Indian delights is head and shoulders ahead of all the other good Indian cookbooks out there. The step-by-step method is always so much on target as is the Glossary of Indian to English condiments and food names - near the front of the book - along with comparative weight measures.

Shukhriya Zulaikha Mayat, Fatima Meer & niece - who used to market Indian Delights in Virgina, USA.

As said above this book was considered a bible in every home when I was back in SA. I left home without it and went dearly hunting to get one. The 2nd book the Best of Indian Delights is not as good (well it is too small) as the original one. SA Indian cooking is quite different and many people have been praising our style here. You cannot beat our samoosas and briyani. Everything is so clear and this book has been around longer than me. Reliable and damn good.

I grew up in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, and this book was a must for every family. When I got married and moved to US my mum bought a book for me too. I don't think a day goes by when I don't refer to the Indian Delights for help. These recipes are almost flop free and much tastier than the regular Indian food exposed to people in America. I would highly recommend this book to any level of cook whether they are beginners or pros in the kitchen.

This book was made by the South African Indian community for a better preservation of the traditional indian cuisine. The major advantage of the book is that every recipe is well explained, with the ingredient names either in English or Indian languages. The food preparation is explained in enough details, so that even a newcomer could cook without problems. A curiosity: there is section in the book for 'large' cooking needs, such as a wedding celebration with something like 800 people!

This book has been the cooking bible of the South African Indian community for ages (irrespective of where you come from, your indian designation etc). When my wife and I moved to the States, this book was a must have. Normal Indian cooking (from India) lacks the flavor of traditional South African cuisine. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to taste Indian cooking with a distinct hint of Western charisma ....

An excellent collection of papers covering both short and long term performance of IPOs and their determinants with a strong focus on international evidence. An interesting reading for academics and practitioners.

Fabio Bertoni, PhD, CFA

This book really is true to its title. Broken down into four parts (Performance of IPOs, IPO Underpricing: International Evidence, Corporate Structure and IPO Evaluation and Bookbuilding, Listing and Underwriting) the reader will find international topics and also country-specific chapters for Taiwan, Turkey, Germany, Spain, France, Australia, USA and even Austria. In total there are 25 contributions from international academics and practitioners. There is no other book that describes the different aspects of IPOs in such detail and completeness. This highly recommended edited volume will serve as a reference text for professionals within the investment banking or private equity industry as well as for finance students.

Dieter G. Kaiser, Institutional Research, Benchmark Alternative Strategies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

While IPOs have attracted much academic research in the past, Prof. Gregoriou has still managed to collect a set of very interesting and insightful papers about corporate flotations. Much of what we know about IPO was confined to the Anglo-American countries, but this volume also details the IPO process of Continental European countries and of emerging economies. The collection also comprises some topics which did not receive much attention: e.g. earnings manipulation prior to a flotation, the creation of IPO indices, the special case of internet IPOs and so on. Therefore, the volume is highly informative. I recommend it to anyone interested in the process of bringing companies to the stock exchange.

Prof. Luc Renneboog, Tilburg University and European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

If you are looking for up-to-date information on some of the most interesting aspects of IPOs and appreciate solid quantitative analyses this is the book you will want to get. I found it useful to get a picture of the particularities of the European IPO market. The contributions in this book complement each other well, that is why this book gave me new impulses for my work.

Martin Brixner, scientific assistant, Munich University of Technology, Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS)

I ordered this book three weeks ago and was amazed at the originality of all the articles. This book deals with all the issues of IPO from performance to underwriting corporate structure, bookbuilding, listing and underwriting.

If you are on Wall Street or London and work in the IPO sector this provides the latest quantitative research in the area.

As an IT professional, I understand the need for quick and complete information, and this book gives it. The learners guide for beginners and the definitive guide for advanced users all in one package. Inovative, and thought inspiring, the theories in design and implimentaion are on the cutting edge of design concepts...

As an IT professional, I understand the need for quick and complete information, and this book gives it. The learners guide for beginners and the definitive guide for advanced users all in one package. Inovative, and thought inspiring, the theories in design and implimentaion are on the cutting edge of design concepts, even 6 moth after its release.

Although this book is rich with details, it is too terse to be considered comprehensive. The ideal audience, in my opinion, consists of (1) project managers who will be tasked with planning these systems, (2) development managers who need to organize their resources to produce systems that are rapidly evolving even before the first line of code is written, and (3) production support, which will be taking highly dynamic systems into production.

One thing stands out about this book - it begins with business requirements and makes them a central theme of the Internet Commerce Development Methodology (ICDM), which is the author's approach to e-commerce systems development. The ICDM is the heart of this book. It's a methodology that successfully marries business analysis and development, and also defines how the project should be organized. It's a top-down approach with feasibility analysis and strategy at the top. The next layer in ICDM is the process level, which is imperative for e-commerce initiatives, which will certainly change business processes. This layer also requires a feasibility analysis, as well as process change, reengineering and transformation steps. Next is the meta-development strategy that encompasses your component strategy, functional requirements, architecture, design and implementation. Each element requires a feasibility analysis. Stepping back and viewing the ICDM as a whole it looks a lot like a spiral life cycle approach. I am not sure that is the author's intent, but it can be construed as such, especially if you view the feasibility analyses checkpoints as risk assessments as well.

The entire process is evolutionary, and therefore the approach supports incremental delivery and implementation. In many respects it resembles the Rational Unified Process and could be easily aligned to a project that used that approach in e-commerce development. Even of you are locked into a different methodology I strongly recommend this book because it has some excellent practices and will give you ideas that can be seamlessly incorporated into your approach.

Practitioners and students have been waiting for a book such as this to come along. In reality there is very little in the way of methodological help guiding the development of information systems for conducting web commerce. This book doesn't disregard the lessons learned from the evolution of systems development but it introduces the key issues throughout the lifecycle that differentiate the complexities of web systems from their traditional counterparts.

This book provides the information needed to develop Web Systems in an organisational setting. It takes you through all the components of development with an innovative approach called ICDM. The methods have helped me greatly at work in my role as a Web developer.

I admit I agreed to review this book with at least a tad of trepidation, not only because I'm now barely entering the second half of the 20th Century as far as technology, but also because I've always secretly nurtured a philosophical resistance to any form of human interaction that smacked of science fiction. For me this category included cloning, telepathic sex, and computer dating.

So for two weeks I pretended not to notice this manuscript to which I'd committed myself, lying there among my gardening books on the bedside table. But finally I bit the bullet and opened to the Table of Contents. I became immediately, astoundingly engaged. Those clever chapter titles! "Oedipus Seeks Older Woman," for starters. Wow. This was not your typical book about love on the Internet. I tell you it was a page turner -- a finely researched, entertaining and convincing argument in favor of computer dating.

The authors are themselves persuasive examples of the validity of the much maligned phenomenon of cyberlove, having met through the Internet personals when Kenneth was living in San Francisco and Beverly in Tennessee. As if the glow of their personal relationship is not testimony enough (they could be the happiest couple I've met), their book includes perceptive recollections from other intelligent folks who found their own soulmates in cyberspace.

It includes interviews with owners of reputable online dating services, offers advice on how to choose an appropriate matchmaking service, and provides tips on writing effective personal profiles. The book outlines precautions taken by dating services to protect the privacy of their clients, and guidelines to attracting sincere people.

But it's not as simplistic or one-sided as that. The pitfalls are investigated and unsuccessful attempts examined. Participants describe their first-hand experiences with online dating. The characters are familiar and human, with all the usual flaws and fears we recognize (embracingly or otherwise) as our own. It's a page turner, I tell you. It's drama.

The Appels have written a fascinating book about love and human contact on the Internet personals. This is not about the flirtations of the chat rooms. This is about a serious presentation of self in which a person says this is who I am, this is what I stand for, this is the way I lead my life, this is my passion and spirituality, and this is what I want from another human being. Unlike the usual ways of meeting a person-at church, on the job, through friends--these presentations of self on the Internet reach across time and space like a beacon. The Appels are both serious psychotherapists and their guidance is gentle and accumulative, and, from the first page on, deeply optimistic. They have made contact with over 1000 people who have used the Internet personals, and they recount their stories on virtually every page. This is, in a very real sense, a book of love stories. I was astonished by the wisdom of this book. I love the human speech contained in it. The Appels believe that in time millions of people will use the Internet personals and meet their beloved in this fashion. This notion astonished me.

It Takes Two.Com should certainly be a prerequisite for anyone placing or responding to an ad on an Internet personals site. The many stories shared by people who have used the personals demonstrate how we must know and love ourselves--our games, our illusions, our fears, our desires, our dreams--so that we may more fully experience genuine love with another. These stories validate that there are unseen forces ever present guiding us, and that LOVE is really all there is, even when brought and given to us via the Internet. Sharing the strength and hope from first-hand accounts is a very powerful learning tool for those willing to have an open mind and heart. The authors' descriptions and explanations of what composes the essence of a person, how our persona/archetypes are lived out in our lives, and how these then come to dictate who we meet when it becomes our written ad or email is right on! Even the stories of fantasy, constant courtship, married and flirting, and disappointment can teach us. For the reader who is willing, the catalyst is there to help see how our superficial actions are not conducive to an intimate, trusting, accepting, committed relationship--if that is what we truly desire. Of course, to have faith and be open to accept and recognize our destiny when it meets us face to face is also required.

The authors are both psychotherapists who came together via the Internet. Their online love story is transcendent, inspirational, and, yes, even magical. The Appels' book is most noteworthy for its emphasis on the powerful aura of spirituality which is evident when soulmates connect. There's no way to predict it. If there were a way to manufacture it, I'm sure it would sell better than Viagra. In 1979, psychologist Dorothy Tennov coined a term by calling this attraction limerence. In her book, Love and Limerance: The Experience of Being in Love, she speaks of this soul-to-soul connection and how it can enter one's life. Suddenly a stranger is known. Not only does the Appels' work reflect this wonderful state, but it permeates their romance and that of the couples who were also blessed in discovering their spiritual partners online. It Takes Two.Com is a book about spirituality, persistence, hope, faith, and the uniquely human need to be loved. Thanks to reading their book I am better able to recognize when a person I am corresponding with online is sincere about wanting an enduring relationship; able to identify those who are simply looking for someone to play a role in their fantasies; and how to spot those who prey on the unwary. I was one of a 1000 research volunteers who participated in the Appels' study prior to the release of their book. Although I have yet to meet my soulmate, I believe it will happen. And thanks to Beverly and Kenneth, I'll know and see him before I meet him.

When I was searching for a book of information about online dating, I bought four books from Amazon. Three of these were silly and superficial in their approach. IT TAKES TWO.COM was strikingly different. Not only do the authors have the first-hand experience of meeting online themselves, but also in helping people resolve relationship problems. What I really enjoyed about this book were the many specific examples and directions for how to be successful online, and how to learn more about yourself in the process. Through accounts from people who have lost as well as won online, the authors explain ways to protect yourself as well as avoid hurting others on the way to finding a partner. IT TAKES TWO.COM was a very meaningful book to me personally, and I'm sure it will help many people in their online search.

After traveling to most of the ballparks in this country for our own ballpark website my only regret looking back is that this book wasn't available from the start! This is perfect for anyone who wants to see the ballparks of the Major Leagues (and actually it's perfect for anyone who just loves ballparks). The book is chock full of beautiful glossy photographs and details about the ballpark and it's surroundings. It will let you know before purchasing your tickets where the best seats for the money are, so you can get the best bang for your buck. With the price of tickets these days, this information alone is worth it's weight in gold. Interesting facts and a list of likes and dislikes makes great reading for anyone who simply just loves baseball. An absolute must have for the ballpark pro or for someone who just loves the game...

This book is so imformational about all of MLB stadiums(when this book was made) I love this book it is good for any baseball fan or sports fan. It is a good book to read while your bored.

I know very little about baseball parks, but very much enjoy the sport. My job has me traveling all over the country and I needed a source for information on where to go, what to see and what to avoid. Mr. Mock's book gives me all three is a concise and easy to read format. It fits in my briefcase pocket and tells me all I need to know when I need it. Well done and intersting!

As a ballpark nut myself, I can honestly say that this is one of the best introductions to the intricacies, idiosyncracies, and personalities of the 30 big league parks. Mock -- webmaster of the excellent ballpark resource baseballparks.com -- writes with both enthusiasm and a critical eye, explaining the best and worst aspects of these stadiums. While incorporating terrific photographs from his travels, Mock also includes tips on finding the best seats, what to eat, and information on spring training, websites, and ballpark history. For the money, I don't think a fan can find a more useful and valuable source of information and opinion to keep alongside the road atlas when hitting the road for a baseball roadtrip.

After traveling to most of the ballparks in this country for our own ballpark website digitalballparks.com, my only regret looking back is that this book wasn't available from the start! This is perfect for anyone who wants to see the ballparks of the Major Leagues (and actually it's perfect for anyone who just loves ballparks). The book is chock full of beautiful glossy photographs and details about the ballpark and it's surroundings. It will let you know before purchasing your tickets where the best seats for the money are, so you can get the best bang for your buck. With the price of tickets these days, this information alone is worth it's weight in gold. Interesting facts and a list of likes and dislikes makes great reading for anyone who simply just loves baseball. An absolute must have for the ballpark pro or for someone who just loves the game. (and it's cheap too!)

This book was very informative and gave solid advice on the how's, to's, what's, when's, and not to's of the business. I would recommend it for first timers especially.

A great methodical approach to getting your Yahoo! Stores e-business started quickly, efficiently, and effectively. If you're going to invest your time, energy, and money in a business, buying this book is the best investment you'll make. It highlights tips, key points, and presents worksheet appendices you can utilize for a quick start. Questions you're wise to address before you open your business are presented, along with web sites to consult as you make your decisions. The many screen displays are helpful in guiding you through the process.

This is a great book from beginning to end. It helps you identify key points to creating an online store and provides you with the resources and information to make it happen. I had a website in the past and after reading this book, I realized what I could have done better.

Whether you're a first time Yahoo! Store owner or a seasoned vet, this book is perfect. For first timers it walks you through setting up your store in an easy and straightforward manner. For the existing store owner, it acts as a refresher course on how to manage your store, and you may even learn something new. Highly recommended for ANY and EVERY Yahoo! Store owner.

I was impressed at how this book introduces the whole ecommerce concept in language that won't make beginners cringe, and at the same time it contains enough advanced concepts to keep more established business owners interested. I really like how this book goes into detail about the steps of setting up an online store because I know a lot of people who are afraid to try things out on the web with no prior experience. The book gives many examples so concepts like templates and inventory control won't confuse fledgling entrepreneurs. The authors seem to know quite a bit about the how people use the Internet, and I can appreciate that type of sensibility as a web developer.

I recommend this book to those who want to get their feet wet in the rapidly growing ecommerce industry, and for those who already have businesses on the web... this makes for a solid reference manual. For those who currently run a Yahoo! store, there are dozens of things in the book which will help you grow your business. In fact it introduces a LOT of marketing concepts that many people dont know about when selling merchandise online.

This is a great book with lots of different excepts from books and poems and songs about love.

The little big book of love is a wonderful book. It includes a lot of victorian looking pictures, love notes, poems, stories.
There are some absolutely cute poems in it, and I love having it around just to look through the pics. It's perfect for anyone.

Treat yourself to this chunky Valentine filled with the most delicious and timeless tributes to love. You can read the intimate love letters of such famous couples as Napolean and Josephine, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, Isadora Duncan and Gordon Craig, and many more. You'll also savor excerpts from famous stories and plays such as Pride and Prejudice, The Velveteen Rabbit, the famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, and much more. My favorite section is the love poems, thirty hearfelt selections including the flawless "To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet as well as works by Shakespeare, Yeats, Lord Byron, and more romantic souls.

But don't think of this as just a literary anthology. Besides being one of the best in that genre, it also includes tempting meals as a prelude to a night of love. Complete aphrodisiac meals plus tempting desserts like the ultimate chocolate mousse and lemon hearts are guaranteed to keep the Valentine feeling year-long. You'll also find a recipe for fortune cookies which allows you to put in your own message. The recipe is footnoted with lots of suggestions to get your mind brainstorming, like "Birds do it, bees do it, we'll do it tonight" or any other messages you'd like to convey.

A final section includes love songs from the likes of Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, the Gershwins, and others. Of course, for days after reading these lyrics, I found myself constantly humming "I Only Have Eyes for You" by Al Dubin and Harry Warren.

Every page is illustrated with full-color images, over half from the early twentieth-century. They enhance the words, even those from people I never thought of as particularly romantic (Woodrow Wilson, e.e. cummings, John Adams, to name a few). So nice to know that love is truly a universal feeling that touches us all!

This anthology is a pure delight, guaranteed to keep love in your plans 365 days a year.

This is a compilation of poems, classic excerpts from plays and stories, words from popular songs, sweet tasting recipes, love letters, short-short stories, and illustrations that focus on love as a theme. The poets, storytellers, and playwrights represent a who's who of English literature to include Shakespeare (his sonnets), Twain, Joyce, Dumas, and Angelou among other notables. The love letters include Churchill, Napoleon, Darwin (an extract from his famous Journal), and Kafka, etc. The songs are older classics.

The collection is fun, well designed, and can be leisurely read in no particular order as desired by the reader. Cupid struck pay dirt with this wonderful collection that will brighten up anyone's day. THE LITTLE BIG BOOK OF LOVE makes a wonderful unique Valentine's Day present that will not lie on a coffee table, as the recipient will relish the wide variety of tributes to the power of love.

Harriet Klausner

THE LITTLE BIG BOOK OF LOVE, which measures seven by seven inches but is an inch and a half thick, is a marvelous gift for your sweetheart (or yourself!) to be kept on a nightstand or coffee table--perfect for reading aloud or for solitary indulgence. Including both familiar standards not-so-commonly found works, this volume is filled with poems (Shakespeare to cummings to Gillom), story & play excerpts (JANE EYRE to THE VELVETEEN RABBIT), songs (Cole Porter and the Gershwins), recipes (Honey Figs, Seduction Salad, Sinful Chocolate Fondue), letters (Napoleon, the Brownings, E.B. White), and 19th century illustrations (cupids, Victorian lovers, hearts, flowers, and doves). To complete the package are a table of contents and a woven-in red ribbon bookmark to find and mark one's favorites (opening to a random page and reading is fun, too). This is a quality book of quality literature to last as long as your love.

Kimberly Borrowdale Under the Covers Book Reviews