Exports Books

Jonathan Tropper has a real gift for writing snappy dialogue and memorable introspective reflections on behalf of his protagonist narrator.
I enjoyed reading The Book Of Joe a few years ago and finally got around to reading Everything Changes. In this book the plot moves along briskly and all of the characters are engaging in their own way. There is a "screenplay" quality to a few episodes in the story but there is nothing shallow about it. Tropper in this book manages to achieve a novel that deals with abandonment on several levels while injecting humor into the story that balances out the narrative avoiding getting too deeply sentimental while still revealing the pain that well meaning people can inflict on each other.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, laughed out loud a couple of times and underlined a few paragraphs that I found exceptionally insightful. All in all a quick read and time well spent.

interesting characters, especially dad, Norm. You could feel Zack's pain and grief. I'd recommend this one to friends and read more by
Tropper.

This is one of the most entertaining, well-written, REAL books I've read in a long time. It's stayed with me and I'm recommending it to everyone I know...it gives great insight into the male mind.

Jonathan Tropper was recommended to me by chance out of my following of other humorous authors. Tropper's ultra fast paced story telling reveals a new quirk and a new laugh seemingly at every page. Though I can not yet judge his collective works, Tropper's talents cause me to eagerly anticipate his other novels.

Zachary King has a gorgeous fiancee, a luxurious rent-free apartment, and a well paying job. Problems begin to arise when other women are more interesting to him than they should be and his job that would seem to be out of Kafka's imagination wears all too thin on him. In addition, traces of blood show up in his urine and his absentee Viagra-addicted father reenters is life. His father Norm actually seems to take Viagra as a maintenance drug which creates some interesting situations. Zach's brother Matt's peculiar choice of a hairpiece is also a highlight. I was only a little repulsed by the retarded brother jokes used when Zach's brother Pete makes an appearance. Tropper is too talented to attempt such cheap humor.

The portions of the story in which Zach's medical problems are being addressed are amusing enough to make this book worth purchasing. But as readers cringe their way through awkward situations, it is difficult not to be amused. While the book is humorous, one can empathize with Zach as he is torn between his fiancee with her seemingly disapproving family and the widow of his best friend. The humor complements a great story in "Everything Changes". As the runaway train of a story winds to its conclusion, not every twist can be anticipated.

The heroes (perhaps "anti-heroes" is a better description) in Jonathan Tropper's novels have several things in common. They are guys who seem to have it all -- great job, stylish apartment and/or cars, loyal friends, etc. -- but lack something meaningful in their lives. What is it that they lack? They have no idea, all they know is that their lives feel incomplete. They are aspiring writers. They also have unrequited feelings for a girl-next-door type, a long-time friend or ex-girlfriend. That was the case with the heroes in Plan B and The Book of Joe, and it is also the case of Zachary King in Everything Changes. But to say that these novels are the same would be a mistake. Tropper has always captured me with his edgy stories and sharp narrative, and this effort is no exception. Zach has a high-paying, albeit unsatisfying job as a "middleman" at a large company. He lives rent-free in an enormous Manhattan apartment owned by his rich friend Jed, who does nothing but watch TV all day. He has a gorgeous fiancée, but is in love with Tamara, a young widow and mother. He has it all, or does he? A cancer scare and the reappearance of his deadbeat, Viagra-popping father force him to reevaluate his life in ways he had never thought possible. Rewards come in unexpected ways, forcing him to get himself out of the box and think of someone else's wellbeing for a change.

This is a great book. It is a big step ahead of The Book of Joe. The aforementioned novel is a great read, but there are areas in which you have to suspend disbelief quite a bit. Everything Changes feels more... real. The hero is much more sympathetic and his dilemmas have more depth. It shows that having financial success and a good romantic relationship don't make you happy in the grand scheme of things. Tropper's heroes are quite similar in voice and circumstances (taken from the author's life?), but they each has his own story to tell, and Zach tells his with a smart, witty and brutally honest tone that touches the reader. Well, it touched me, that's for sure! The secondary characters, especially Zach's father Norm and Zach's brother Matt, are well developed and realistic. The story development runs smoother in this novel than it did in the previous two. All in all, I recommend Everything Changes and I look forward to reading How to Talk to a Widower.

This is easy to read and understand, written in an engaging and conversational style, with some important insights into the mysteries of crop subsidies, textile quotas and the fate of donated clothing. It's a great illustration and analysis of globalization in action.

Worst of both worlds - claims to be anecdotal to get around having to have too much actual information (other than the more boring parts of the history of the American textile industry, but trades in interesting anecdotes for general suppositions and a couple sucess stories.
The last section is very cool and interesting and saves this book from the bin. If you get it, skip to the end.

The book is a good read, since I am taking my international trade class, this is actually one of the require reading. If someone who is very liberal, or cuddle to grave type of mentality, this book does not offer the cuddly senstivitive that the faint hearted people are looking for. But it is quite realistic. If you can look pass the sweatshops and all, this is a good read.

Upon first glance, it might appear that this book details economic aspects of a
single industry, namely that of T-shirts. You'd be mistaken. It instead offers
an insightful look into several different aspects of T-shirt production,
including agriculture, factory working conditions, free trade (and
lack thereof), and concluding with the world-wide used T-shirt market. Each of
these sections could merit a book topic in its own right, but Ms. Rivoli has
wonderfully combined them into a single book ripe for reading.

Learn about the history of cotton production, including the rise of American
production and why it's still on top. (Hint: the American government has more
than a small role, but farm subsidies aren't the major reason.) Learn about the
back-room political dealings that ensure that some of your clothes come from
Bangladesh and Mexico instead of China, even though China could provide them for
less (and why it might be a good idea to keep things that way). Learn about what
happens to a used T-shirt once it's donated to the Salvation Army, and how it
might end up being sold in a Kenyan's clothing stall instead of your local
thrift store.

There is not a dull moment to be found in the book, and in fact seems to get
more interesting as the book wears on. If there is any fault with the book, it
is that the book was published in 2005 which means that the revised textile
trade agreements from 2006 have been left out. A revised edition would be
appreciated. Luckily, that's the only fault I have with the book. Highly
recommended.

Allow me to provide a more descriptive title for this volume: What I did last summer + a history of cotton growing in America + a history of cotton mills around the world + a brief history of Shanghai + a brief history of child labor + a brief history of labor activism + a brief history of workplace safety regulations + a not-at-all-brief history of US textile protectionism + a characterization of the international market for used clothes. Interesting? Often.

In the course of all these histories - occasionally interspersed with a reminder that we are following Rivoli's t-shirt around the world - we jump from England to Japan to Texas to West Africa; we leap back and forth (and back and forth) from century to century. By the middle of the book, I had gotten dizzy and wished it had been a long magazine article.

But in fact, the second half is the most interesting. Rivoli gives a detailed history of textile protectionism in the United States, giving a peek into the dizzying, constantly morphing tariff and quota systems as well as the huge bureaucracy the system supports. And finally, she gives an illuminating description of what happens to the t-shirts after they get donated to the Salvation Army and how they make it to market stalls in East Africa.

Rivoli is an economist and so recognizes that her inherent leaning is toward free trade, but she argues for the value of both sides of the textile battle, both the free traders and the student demonstrators.

The first half of the book feels too long (even though it isn't that long), and Rivoli's strength is in illuminating description rather than careful analysis. But if you get bored, just skip ahead to the next chapter: There's plenty to choose from!

[I listened to the unabridged audiobook narrated by Eliza Foss, published by Recorded Books. The reading is fine, but Foss's voice is too syrupy sweet and storybookish for 8 CDs (think the voice-over narration from Desperate Housewives).]

I really enjoyed reading this book, I found it useful. It uses a practical approach to meetings and negotiations in China, I mean it not only says "do that" and "don't do that" like other books on etiquette but explains it with concret examples and situations, so one can prepare well on how to behave in certain situations.

I liked Chinese Business Etiquette: A Guide to Protocol, Manners, and Culture in the People's Republic of China a lot. I'm trying to get up speed real quickly on doing business in China. I think of it as a 1000 Mile journey. The first book The Gods of Business I read got me about 500 miles down the road real quick. It gave me the basics of the country's religion and their approach to business. After that I read this book and then read (Doing Business in China For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))) each of which added another 250 miles of knowledge.

This book contains very useful information about Chinese Culture -- it's not at all just for business people, but for anyone who wants to understand the culture... or at least try to not stick their foot in their mouth when interacting with Chinese people.

Whenever I surprise my Chinese fiancee by knowing something about Chinese Culture (like the seating arrangements at a banquet), most of the time it was learned from this book. I can't rate it highly enough.

Haven't finished the book, yet. But so far, it seems to be worthwhile.

To be sure, with its rich Chinese cultural anecdotes and the author's vivid writing style, this book is not only useful in helping the reader understand unique Chinese concepts like Guanxi, Mianzi and Lijie but also an entertaining read - suitable for business travelers.

However, after reading Wei Wang's The China Executive, I realize that Seligman has not been right on "the single most important and fundamental difference between Chinese and Westerners". On pages 44-47 of Chinese Business Etiquette, Seligman says that this is the difference between the "individualism" of Westerners and the "group-centeredness" of the Chinese. (Of course, Seligman is not alone in getting this wrong; since the publication of Geert Hofstede's Culture's Consequences in 1980, this Western individualism-Chinese collectivism dichotomy has become the most widely-talked assumption in almost every book on China business including the authoritative Harvard Business Review on Doing Business in China).

To elaborate on Seligman (page 45), "[In China,] matters are often debated at great length until agreement is reached on a course of action. Once a decision has been made, however, individual group members are expected to fall in line, embrace it, and act on it, and nobody presumes to question it, at least overtly."

Now, the reality is that, with nearly a hundred million dollars invested in China, one of the biggest complaints our expats have against local staff is the latter's inability to follow a pre-agreed course of action or plan. In addition, the Chinese do not like group discussions, not to mention "debates at great length"; most of them like to remain quiet rather than actively voice their opinions. Also, if the Chinese were group-centered, their state-owned enterprises would have been so successful that multinationals have stood little chance to compete with them - but the very opposite is true (most state-owned enterprises cannot be closed down fast enough because they are "a pile of sand")!

According to Wei Wang in his book The China Executive, "group and individual are the two sides of the same coin; one cannot exist without the other", and therefore Westerners actually exhibit dual individualism-collectivism. And the heart of human relationships in China is human feelings. In other words, Chinese and Westerners do not represent two poles of the same individualism-collectivism continuum.

In addition, "there is a limit to learning the Chinese way," says Wang. "There are things that you need to go about the Chinese way but there are also things that you need to go about the Western way - otherwise, you lose the purpose of going there in the first place."

To understand why and, more important, its profound implications for China business or indeed business in the China era (including management, leadership, strategy and worldview), you have to read The China Executive.

This book doesn't have that much plot, but great character development keeps it moving. That's why I ended up liking it even better than the first novel in the Grafton series, "Flight of the Intruder", which dragged at times.

At the outset, Jake Grafton is stationed stateside in 1973, a few months after the events described in the previous book. The aftertaste of the Vietnam War is still bitter in veterans' mouths. A barroom brawl earns Grafton reposting to a carrier, in the (to squids) undesirable company of jarheads (Marine pilots) whom Grafton must teach the fine and dangerous art of carrier takeoffs and landings.

Grafton's copilot is the obnoxious, jive-talking Flap LeBeau, an African-American with a serious attitude. But Grafton learns the surface is deceptive and there is far more to LeBeau, also a combat vet.

Grafton endures the monotony of carrier life while agonizing over his future with Callie McKenzie. He is about to propose, but leaves for the sea on awkward terms following a tiff with her antiwar father. The long ensuing silence forces him to reexamine his life and goals.

The action climax of the book is more realistic than that of the first book. There, Grafton's unauthorized bombing run over North Vietnam strained plausibility. This one doesn't. And the book still has all the harrowing realism of a carrier pilot's dangerous existence. It's well worth your time. I got into the Grafton series through the later books based on espionage and spookery, but must say I enjoy Jake Grafton's character much more in these earlier books.

I got suckered into buying this book at a huge clearance sale. The picture of aircraft carrier and the blurb on the back attracted me. I like a good air war story once in a while (Blue Max or Piece of Cake remaining up there at the top). I quit reading after 160p of no plot, one dimensional characters, and boring simplistic conversation. I rate the book one star for its knowledgeable descriptions of airplane handling on an aircraft carrier.

"The Intruders" is one of the 10 books in Stephen Coonts' very good series of thrillers about Jake Grafton of the U.S. Navy.

Exactly where "The Intruders" fits into the Jake Grafton series depends on how you look at it. Judged by the year when the story takes place, "The Intruders" is book number two, following "Flight of the Intruder", Stephen Coonts' first book.

But Stephen Coonts did not write this book immediately following "Flight of the Intruder", published in 1986. Instead, "The Intruders" was published in 1994 following the publishing of four other Jake Grafton books: "Final Flight" (1988), "The Minotaur" (1989), "Under Siege" (1990) and "The Red Horseman" (1993).

"Flight of the Intruder" was set in 1972 during the last part of the Vietnam War, while "The Intruders" is set in 1973, shortly after the end of the Vietnam War. (All of the remaining Jake Grafton books are set in contemporary time, i.e., around the time when they were published.)

So what we have here is a young Jake Grafton who has done his stint in the Vietnam War and is still in the U.S. Navy. He's very unsure about what he should do with his life. He's courting Callie McKenzie (mostly by writing letters to her), but fears that he will not win her hand. He feels that he is not in control of his life, that the Navy is making all the decisions for him.

Unlike all of the other Jake Grafton books (except to some extent "Flight of the Intruder") this book does not have any real story. A lot of things happen, but they are isolated episodes spanning an eight-month period, not a single continuous plot.

Actually, the main story in this book is simply the story of Jake Grafton finding himself and making decisions about his life. Plus the story about his relationship with Callie, with its ups and downs.

One of the things I liked best about "The Intruders" were the many descriptions of how naval aviation works. Flying high-performance planes from the deck of an aircraft carrier is a very exciting and dangerous endeavor, and Stephen Coonts describes it all in detail. The only slightly negative point is that these descriptions are somewhat dated now, since the aircraft have changed since 1973, and presumably the procedures too, to some extent.

Stephen Coonts writes with wit and intelligence, and some parts of the book, where Jake and his buddies talk about life and death, are quite philosophical. There are also touching passages about what love really is, and interesting insights into the concept of leadership.

Highly recommended. The lack of the fifth star is due to the silly adventure in the last five chapters, presumably added because the author or the editor or the publisher didn't think the rest of the book was exciting enough to be a Jake Grafton story.

Rennie Petersen

I remember walking down the aisles of a bookstore and I literally chanced upon this book. Was this a sequel to "Flight of the Intruder"? It was a dream come true! However much I liked Coonts' follow-up Grafton novels, they lacked the original book's magic. And since I'm a sucker for marketing, I thought the cover wasn't half bad either.

There are plenty of reviews here that will tell you what the book's about. Seems to me most people don't care all that much for it. I wasn't looking for something incredible. I just wanted young Grafton again, and I got him. The flying, the power, the wind... I was happy.

Ever wonder who does those covers? In this case, it's Dru Blair who paints aircraft, tanks, helicopters, eagles, and Star Trek book covers of all things!

"Intruders" was commissioned for the cover of this book (sadly his own website gets the title wrong): http://www.drublair.com/portintruder.html

"Intruders" was exactly what I was looking for: a fast read, fun, slick, and Coonts as I grew up knowing.

Too much flying! Too little plot. This book just fills in some details missing from other books in the series. Fill. That's it. It was an enjoyable read, but only because I had read (and enjoyed, more or less) the other books in the series.

Lindsey is a neo-conservative and this book represents a wide-ranging but finally unsatisfactory addition to the non-debate about globalisation. It divides the world into two groups - the free marketers, who are good, and the collectivists, who are anti-modern and the cause of most if not all the failings of the current highly imperfect free markets. Anyone who can lump George Soros' concept of the Open Society with collectivism, really has a bad dose of the current tendency to declare 'if you are not with us, you are against us'.

Read the book for a sometimes fascinating excursion into history, politics, the informal economy, the failings of collectivism and state control (but not the failings of the market), but do not expect to have much light cast on the underlying issues of wealth and poverty, sustainability and the proper place of money in judging the progress of society. Equally, do not expect to see useful engagement with the issue of the role of great international economic agencies (WTO, IMF, World Bank) and the processes by which nations, corporates and the common people influence their decisions.

Brink Lindsey is a fundamentalist. He believes that "free trade" will cure every problem in the world. And he believes that a lack of "free trade" is to blame for wars, poverty, and all other ills of humankind. Unfortunately, Lindsey seems to possess a childish understanding of "free trade," of world history, and of economics.

To take just one flaw, in a book filled with flaws... Rather than carefully examine the wholesale gutting of Russia, when free trade fanatics took over (in the early 1990s), and when the Russian economic nearly collapsed, industrial output plunged, corruption and crime roared, prostitution exploded, AIDS and drug epidemics devoured the nation, poverty is up exponentially--and Lindsey can only say that they didn't go far enough!

Three billion humans live on less than a dollar a day--and while 45 million human beings face death from AIDS, Lindsey offers them only the market. Most of them will die, while free marketeers talk of future salvation.

One need only read Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz's Globalization and its Discontents for a far more intelligent overview of capitalism today. Stiglitz, who is an ardent fan of capitalism, carefully disects the ways in which "free trade" is often anything but.

The problem with free market lunatics like Lindsey is that they fail to see the ways in which powerful nations and corporations bully the marketplace, control politics, and stack the deck in their favor. Just look at the cartels which control oil, fruit, cocoa, diamonds, automobiles, etc. They control prices, laws, wages, and politics around the globe. They profit from wars and from child labor. It takes either a fool or a free market fantasy to miss these basic problems with unregulated "free trade." Like all fundamentalists, Lindsey needs less faith and fervor and more critical analysis.

I bought this book to help in my research on a masters thesis...I think it is excellent. The book moves between (overly) scholarly erudition at times to almost poetic prose at others. You will defiantly feel where the action picks up and where it drops off...but it is understandable when you are trying to build a scholarly case on this subject.

Essentially he argues that liberalism (free markets, limited government, and individual rights) lost the battle in the 20th century, but had been on a decline since the late 1800s in some areas. The result was a century of warfare, massacres, and sustained poverty.

The scholarly work and assumptions made in this book are not the work of childish or child like intelligence. It is quite the opposite. Have you ever heard a free market advocate arguing "Look even a child understands it, it must be true!" Never, such are the arguments of communists and socialists. The real childish assumptions come overwhelmingly from the global left. The belief that poverty can be solved simply be re-distributing wealth shows painful ignorance of the economics involved. (though Lindsey is not hostile to "saftey nets"...I don't believe in the free market long run saftey nets will be needed at all...politically I recognize they would be necessary to get anything accomplished, but only if they are made more effecient like a negative tax proposed by Milton Friedman) Further ignorance is demonstrated through their assumptions that free markets exploit. Free markets are based on voluntary transactions, and as a voluntary transaction IT CANNOT BE EXPLOITIVE.

I agree with Lindsey that the leftist assumptions are the results of years of fallacious reasoning...intentionally or unintentionally; they are wrong on almost all accounts. I however find their love for their fellow human and desire to increase the welfare of society to be admirable, their solutions however are the causes to the problems they address. They don't understand history, politics, or economics. And they always blame the market for problems that the market often did not cause by conveniently forgetting or ignoring the government involvement in the creation of said problem (example, the Asian Financial Crisis of the late 1990s...always blamed on free market capitalism when in fact fixed exchange rates, policies of the government not free trade, were a major cause of the crisis).

Current empirical evidence suggests, as Lindsey agrees, that economic freedom is strongly connected to civil and political freedom. That is, the more economically free a country is the more civil and political freedom the citizens enjoy...what we now call democracy is realized.

It is no coincidence that the forces who tried the hardest to suppress economic freedom also killed off vast portions of their populations...these are the Fascist and Communist governments that the Left have confused as polar opposites...they are not, both hate economic freedom and as a result both hate civil and political freedom.

Lindsey goes through great detail to list the conditions in the rise of liberalism and its decline. With the help of Hayek and Friedman he shows how government intervention and anti liberal policies helped bring about WWI, the great depression and WWII. The results of all of these were a belief that markets don't work and governments do. In the end, we live in a world that still fears globalization and free markets...a world that conflates free markets with mercantilism and continues to argue that free markets don't work in fact its their very own policy preferences that continue to cause global problems.

Example: protectionism (tariffs and quotas) protect the wealth of the first world capital owners at the expense of the first world consumers (who pay higher prices) and third world laborers (who have more difficulty finding employment) and third world capital owners (who find difficulty in creating and maintaining an export industry). PROTECTIONISM IS A WEALTH TRANSFER FROM POOR TO RICH, that ironically most leftists seem to accept ignorantly unaware that in no way are workers actually protected. Free trade is the opposite of this. Barriers are removed, jobs are created between both first and third world countries, trade ensues, both sides are lifted up through increasing prosperity and wealth creation.

Free markets are not the end all for the debate in this book. Lindsey recognizes that the forces that destroyed liberalism once before are still at work. Their arguments, assumptions, and ignorance still lives and has the potential to again mobilize a mass movement against liberalism...and ironically for totalitarianism. That being said, the summary of his book is that globalization and free markets are not inevitable nor invinsible.

No hard core leftist will read this book and suddenly be converted. They will likely throw confused fits of frustration and show little ability to counter the arguments found inside. Classic Liberals and those more favorable to the free market will find themselves with a highly compelling argument in this book that will strengthen their own understanding of globalization. Those who find themselves in the center will find a book that challenges many of the major assumptions that most of society accepts...it may leave you wondering exactly how you went through your entire education and were never presented with any of these arguments or facts.

But the sad state of public education is another book altogether... :P

Challenging the new consensus on globalization in this book, Brink Lindsey "portrays globalization as a kind of wholesome vacuum filler, the vacuum having been created by the loss of credibility and authority of statism and collectivism, the regnant economic and political doctrines in the world for most of the twentieth century. Near-universal statism, he maintains, choked off the naturally expansive impulses of capital, the precedent for which was the explosion of the world economy in the half-century or so before World War I. He claims that blame for the interwar implosion of the world economy lies with statism and collectivism. He sees the future as a struggle between forces of globalization -- a liberal world order, that is -- and the remnants of statism, giving the nod to liberalism in this contest because of its successful record in promoting economic welfare, in contrast to the proven failure of statism and collectivism."

"This book is a qualified success because of its fresh and carefully argued perspective on economic globalization," yet "certain aspects of Lindsey's economic history may not stand up to scrutiny."

"A methodological point of considerable significance is Lindsey's use of qualitative evidence to show that statism refuses to die and is defended everywhere by vested interests and laws that are difficult to change, making the struggle between the dead hand and the invisible one a momentous issue of our time. Although Lindsey is correct to assert that the dead hand remains with us, it is nonetheless difficult to form a clear picture of the extent, strength, or influence of the past from his discussion."

Thus, it would be helpful if Lindsey showed "more carefully than he does that free-market forces have the stronger hand to play. His argument in one brief -- indeed, cursory -- chapter is merely that no viable alternative to markets exists as a macroeconomic organizing principle, so that the triumph of liberalism sooner or later must arrive despite stubborn and effective resistance from the forces of the dead hand. This conclusion assumes a certain degree of rationality and pragmatism on the part of the world body politic that some...might not yet be willing to grant."

-From "The Independent Review," Spring 2003

I'm not surprised that preceding customer reviews are love-or-hate. Lindsey is a free-market advocate, trying to zap anything that remotely resembles marxist, top-down central planning. He clearly advocates a strong and responsible role for government, for important duties such as: protecting individual rights (including orderly transfers of property), centralized functions that cannot compete with market driven processes (e.g. defense), and providing economically sustainable safety nets for those who need help and care and have no resources.

It might be hard to see if Lindsey's heart is a youthful 16 or 20--he definitely doesn't come across as a socialist. But his principles have anecdotal, qualitative and quantitative truths from more than a century of history, so his brain is certainly working just fine. For example, Lindsey presents a compelling case on protectionism leading to trade wars and world war. His equating pay-as-you-go entitlement systems (legislated by leaders such as Bismarck, chiefly concerned with opiating the masses) with Ponzi or pyramid schemes (deemed illegal by the same governments) is unassailable.

If you care about shaping the socioeconomic world that our children and grandchildren will be inheriting, and if you are concerned about what fiction will be taught to them in most universities (e.g. liberally spun Keynesian economics, without contrasting neoclassical or monetarist economics, or even historical resultants of collectivist policies), this is a great book.

If you want to revisit the Dark Ages, then disparage this book and its commendable author.

Not only is this a great reference for "hidden oracle utilities" but since I work on different platforms, AIX and Windows, it helped a lot getting info needed and knowing which commands for the utilities I can execute exactly the same way on two different platforms.

I found this book to be a gold chest of useful tips and tricks to using the dozens of Oracle utilities and I even learned many new Oracle utilities that I had never used before that existed! It is great tool for when you need to perform an Oracle DBA task quickly and may not recall the exact syntax or method to use a particular utility such as export and import. Highly recommended!

Whether you are new to Oracle or a seasoned veteran, Moore's book provides insight into many useful Oracle utilities. This book covers a lot of material in a well organized manner. Many of the noteworthy topics are backed by effective examples (code / scripts) that the DBA/Developer can immediately start using. I felt there was good coverage on PL/SQL packages like dbms_alert, dbms_smtp, and dbms_profiler as well as the more popular utilities like SQL*Loader and Import/Export.

One concern with the book was the size of the font used in printing which I believe was far too large. The size of this book could have been reduced considerably using a smaller font.

I look forward to a second edition of this book from the author that covers newer utilities found in 10g.

----------------------------
Jeffrey M. Hunter, OCP
Sr. Database Administrator
----------------------------

FastReader from http://www.wisdomforce.com allow very quickly and efficiently extract, export, import, load, massage large volumes of data from Oracle tables to Oracle or others like DB2 or MySQL or SQL Server. So I only need now is FastReader User Guide. No need for "hidden" Oracle utils

The utilities explained in this book lack details. Which is a critical flaw for a book professesing to explain utilities. Virtually every utility explained in this book had to be researched further by me in the internet to gain a better understanding of when and how to use it, which, of course, defeated the purpose of me paying good money for this book.

One exception, TKPROF is explained beautifully and in detail. Otherwise, the real value of this book is the author's list of Oracle's most useful utilities.

This book is a murder mystery where you know who?s done it all along. Judith Chase is an American writer doing research in London. She meets and falls in love with a British politician, the heir to the position of prime minister. She has some psychological baggage that she?s dealing with, however. She?s a British war orphan who was adopted by an American soldier as a small child, and her politician lover urges her to postpone any research on her British birth family until after the elections, at least. But the sights and sounds of London are all too familiar for Judith and she starts having flashbacks. She can?t put off learning about her birth family any longer and that?s where she gets into trouble.

Much of the plot of the story turns on an invented psychological theory called the Anastasia syndrome, in which personae from the past can connect directly with living people. In the book, this is done through mind altering drugs which result in a split personality. Of course, that?s clearly not how a split personality works in real life, so the story lacks a lot in the area of plausibility. Nevertheless, it is well told and engaging. If you can get past the science fiction foundation, it?s an enjoyable read- -right up until the sudden bizarre plot twist at the end.

I loved this book! The short stories were superb and each held Higgin's special mystery touch. The main story in the book; The Anastasia Syndrome, is about a women named Judith who is planning on marrying the future Prime Minister of England. She is desparetly seeking information about her past because she was found wandering around a small town in England when she was about 4 or 5 and longs to know who her parents were. she goes to a controversial doctor who hypnotises her and helps her recall facts about her childhood, but slips too much of a drug into her system and regresses her all the way back to the 1600's where a vengeful spirit tries to take over her body and take revenge on those who wronged her. The second story, Terror Stalks The Class Reunion, is about a women named Kay who is abducted by a former student of hers whose "crush" has moved on to full blown obsession. I was holding my breath on this one and it was one of my favorites! Lucky Day was my least favorite story. It revolves around a 13 million dollar lottery ticket and the ending was "Ok." Double Vision was excellent! The supernatural occurence was made more believable in this story than in The Anastasia Syndrome. The story is about an actor who wants to kill the director that ruined his "big break" and the plot had me holding my breath. The last story, The Lost Angel, was actually very good. It was a fast moving story and the plot was written very skillfully. This is definitly a must read for any Mary Higgins Clark fan, and the stories were very well written considering that none of them exceded 200 pages. She's done it again!

I've read other books of Mary Higgins Clark before, but I've enjoyed this book of Anastasia and other short stories the most.

In the main story, Anastasia, an historical writer Judith Chase, is engaged to the future prime minister, Stephen Hallet. She is working on a novel though, and is caught up in a lot of other issues along with it. The evil mind of Margaret Carew, dominates Judith, and it is a true mystery as to what is happening within her mind. You really have to read into it to know what I am referring to here, but it becomes very frightening in many places as Judith experiences strange events. The psychiatrist, Dr. Patel, puts her under hypnosis, giving her a drug that makes her regress further into her confusing past.

The other stories in the book, were even scarier yet, than Anastasia. If you feel like a good thrill, read on!

The sories in this book are great reading. This is the 2nd book by Mary Higgins Clark that I have read and I loved it. Having 5 short stories in one book was great for my short attention span. If you do not have a lot of time to sit down and read a whole book at one time, this would deffinatly be a good to read. You could read one story at a time.

My favortie story was the first one, The Anastasia Syndrome. A womans mind is taken over by an evil womans mind from the past. You will never guess how it ends.

The other four stories were very enjoyable reads as well. Terror Stalks the Class Reunion will keep you guessing through the whole story.

Lucky Day starts out as a lucky day for one man and turns out to be unlucky for him and two other people.

Double Vision is a bit of a stretch for the title. You have to read it to find out why.

The Lost Angel is my least favorite but an enjoyable read any way.

MAry Higgins Clark has done it again. This author just can't miss.

I have never read a book of her's that has disappointed and this is no exception. It is a little different in that instead of one story-- it is four little stories. Each one with its own little twists and turns. Perfect short story reading for a commuter or a busy parent on the run!

Miss Mary, keep 'em coming!

Fascinating book on the history of coffee, well written and style that flows makes the stories easy to follow . You find yourself winding through time and all the crazy social ramifications coffee has had on a variety of cultures - including European and American. Highly recommend for coffee drinkers curious to know how the cup of coffee they drink and today's coffee houses came into being.

I had hoped to read a thoughtful and measured history of coffee/the coffee trade. Instead, I found The Coffee Book to be heavy-handed, one-sided and didactic. Big Business Bad! Imperialism and Colonialism responsible for the Ills of the World! I had to force myself to finish it, and recently sold it for 50 cents at a garage sale. I feel a wee bit guilty; I think that the buyer paid too much...

The coffee can cover attracted my attention, as did the handy take-to-cafe dimensions of The Coffee Book, plus I was pleasantly surprised by the contents. Not your usual non-fiction reader, the ample visuals helped hold my highly caffeinated short attention span. Learn more about your beloved legal stimulant and enjoy it even more!

Here I thought I was getting a book having something to do with coffee, all I got was a militant greenie screed against any business bigger than a lemonade stand.

Coffee makes rare and infrequent appearances in this book, which was written to reveal the evils of colonialism, how terrible slavery was, how underpaid Third World workers are, how awful America is in just about every way possible and to harrangue readers with straight doctrinaire party-line anti-business anti-WTO liberal international geopolitics. Coffee's just a stage prop for the authors' political rantings.

The authors clearly know nothing about coffee itself apart from the geopolitical ramifications of its trade as a commodity, what there is in the book pertaining to actual coffee is perfunctory, sketchy and cribbed from far better books.

Even on the book's real subject, which is to serve as a tract for liberal free-trade politics they can't get their facts straight. They mindlessly repeat the canards about Starbucks "imperialism" and how they're driving all independent shops out of business. Bushwa. Every study that's been done shows that wherever there's a Starbucks established, local coffee shops thrive and business for everyone goes up.

If you're into reading in-house literature for the free trade movement this book won't challenge your prejudices. But if you want to know something about coffee you won't learn it here.

This is a must read for anyone who works with or loves drinking coffee. If you're looking for a crash course in the history, economics behind or current politics of the coffee industry, look no further!

Good book, very well written. As the writer explains, he described this business like "it is". He did a great job at covering the ins and outs of the business in great detail. Excellent for someone new to this that is trying to find out whether this is a suitable business idea or not.

Excellent book. Well organized, and well written. Lots of pointers to other resources as well. Some web links are broken.

Found this one to be well done, but a little more technical than I prefer. This book does include just about every bit of info you will need, from forms to products to making the right overseas and domestic connections. Also look at Import/Export: How to Get Started in International Trade.

This book is fine for the very early entrepreneur. There is an entire chapter on choosing between forms of organization, buying office supplies and creating a logo. It's a good birds-eye-view of the import/export process, however, if you are a professional seeking insights and business solutions, you will not find many new ideas here.

Well, where do I start? This book is useful to understand what every small time operator is doing in this business. You don't want to follow the crowd so I suggest you purchase this book and John Weiley Spiers Book "How Small Business Trades Worldwide". If you follow the techniques outlined by Weiss you're wasting your time, taking on too much risk, and making very little profits. I'm not saying you can't do it, for example, using trade bulletins to find buyers but so is everybody else! This is not an easy business if you do it this way. No real mention of the internet is made to make it useful nor does he focus too much on the marketing aspects which is the most important. Again, there are ways, and very few of them, to make some big profits. In a strange way, I am recommending this book so you understand what everybody else is doing to get into this business, and hopefully you don't follow. If someone is starting off in their own business, I highly recommend you start out as a Manufacturers representative and branch out as an importer/exporter as part of the overall business. [...]

Short, easy to understand, and to the point, this book cogently lays out the problems and solutions to the impending oil shortage. We have been using more oil than we are discovering for decades now, and we are on the verge of serious economic and life-style issues unless we heed this author's warning and urge our politicians to make changes now. Though this is a quick read, it is not lacking in substance. The statements are supported by extensive footnotes and bibliography for those who want to know more about the data behind the claims.

Reviewed by Joanne Benham for Reader Views (6/06)

Tom Mast has taken on an insurmountable task in writing this book. After he gives the reader a clear, concise report explaining the meaning of energy and exploring the various types of energy available, he brings his focus in on oil, a natural energy source that we are consuming in such vast quantities that experts estimate the supply could be used up in our lifetime.

There are only two viable options to get us out of this crisis. We can find a new source of energy to replace oil or, and here's where the insurmountable task comes in, we can start to conserve. Mr. Mast actually thinks that people should conserve heating and air conditioning fuels. That could mean having to live in a smaller house and we all know a family of four needs at least a four-bedroom home, with both living room and a family room. And then he goes on to suggest we buy more fuel-efficient vehicles. What about our SUV's? How will anyone realize how important we are if we're tooling around in a mini car? Although I say this tongue-in-cheek, these are very real concerns for a lot of people.

The United States has had too much wealth for too long to make relinquishing any part of it easy. It's time we started. I think this book should be required reading in every high school in the United States. The biggest change is going to have to come through our children and they must be prepared to make and live with those changes.

The crisis is on us now America and we need to start taking steps to ensure a viable future for our children.

Tom Mast has written this book as a basic primer for the layperson. This book, however, is overly simplified and is slightly dated. A revision is in order. New sections need to be updated on cellulosic ethanol, the public's cultural bias such as "not a windmill farm / solar panel farm in my neighborhood"

Nice attempt to distill a highly complicated topic for the general public, but it needs to be updated.

Over A Barrel: A Simple Guide To The Oil Shortage by petroleum industry expert Tom Mast is a no-nonsense, bare- facts tell-all book written for the everyman. Why are gasoline prices so high, what are the detrimental effects of an increasing oil shortage, and what must America do about it? Over A Barrel presents chilling statistics - such as that our transportation industries are 97% dependent on oil-based fuels, and in sixty years, 80% of current oil resources will have disappeared. American need for oil makes the nation increasingly beholden to hostile oil-producing governments, and puts future generations at risk for increasing impoverishment in the wake of a rising trade deficit, among other woes. Over A Barrel emphasizes the need to get proactive, not reactive - the time to start investing in alternative energy sources is now, for a cleaner and more independent future. Above all, it is time for the federal government as surely as for innovative entrepreneurs to invest time, energy, and money into alternative fuels. Highly recommended.

Over a Barrel starts with two underlying assumption.
1) That we have optimistically only a decade and half of oil reserves to adequately meet our energy needs (after that our oil supply will be lower than our current demand).
2) That we do not have a viable energy alternative and is unlikely that we will have one when oil does run out, given our current rate of technological development.

While it is true that oil is not a renewable resource, Mast does not mention the advancements in oil recovery techniques that allow us to revisit abandoned wells for recoverable oil. He also does not adequately acknowledge our efforts to manufacture more energy efficient consumer and industrial products. Mast dismisses all forms of hydrocarbon-based fuels as being environmentally unfriendly--hence unacceptable. He correctly points out that using electricity or hydrogen requires a primary energy source.

His treatment of nuclear, wind and solar energies is not thorough, and he ignores other, more esoteric, energy alternatives (e.g., thermal gradients).

Mast's cursory treatment of alternative sources of energy does not equip the reader to evaluate viable energy alternatives. Our market-based economy endures because it focuses our resources on goods and services that matter most to us. Funding for alternative energy sources will come when private enterprise sees possibilities for profits. In this regard, Mast efforts contribute to starting a dialogue on alternative energy sources.

Why do we pay a premium for SUVs that we know they are gas-guzzlers? Can we satisfy our needs (real or perceived) with alternatives that are more energy efficient?

Mast does not acknowledge our psychological needs that influence our buying behavior. The discussion is simplistic and sometimes condescending. Hence, the proposed solutions are general guidelines that ignore the socio-cultural aspects of our lifestyles.

Several assertions are peppered throughout the book in both the discussion and figures (e.g., fig 14, pg 63) with which one could take issue. While these assertions eliminate the need to present careful and perhaps complex analysis, they alienate the reader from internalizing the subsequent conclusions and calls for action.

Armchair Interviews says: In general, Over a Barrel reads more like a rhetoric on our overdependence on oil rather than a cogent analysis of our energy usage.