Free-stock Books

This is one of the most significant books I have ever read. Paul Stiles rips through the overtly numerous ways our massive corporate sellout has methodically destroyed our economy, our culture, and the underlying spirit of our once great nation. The author spills the beans on every legal scam in America, from the advertised rebate prices hawked at Best Buy to the way our fast food marketers have made Americans wider. Paul Stiles does not waste any energy trying to name the exact year in which a recession or a depression has become imminent. He hasn't wasted any time trying to define these terms to satisfy the egos of overpaid economists, either. What he has done is to explain to everyday Americans exactly what has happened to our once great economy.

I've been seeking out books of this sort for the last several years, and this one is certainly one of the best of its type. What type is that, you say? The title says it all. The ex-Merrill Lynch bond trader spills the beans on the corporate nightmare that we affectionately call America. Whereas my third book, The Last Horizon: Feminine Sexuality & The Class System, explains exactly how we set ourselves up for the corporate powers to feed us a stupid pill for their own short-term profits, American Dream continues the reader's education in the same vein by explaining all the many ways corporate America is strangling the very spirit out of its citizenry. Mr. Stiles and I obviously have one thing in common: we both have spent our careers in the financial industry, but our hearts reside within the realm of the social sciences.

The first thing I want to say specifically about Mr. Stiles' book is that its weakest element is when his premise sort of drifts into the spirit world of religion as it drives the reader so adeptly toward its financial market conclusions. I would describe Mr. Stiles as an author who knows all too well how to keep the reader fascinated with the depth of his knowledge of modern American culture right up until he decides to step up high on the pulpit, at which point all his marbles begin to spill out the bag and disrupt the service. This is my one and only criticism of Is the American Dream Killing You?

America has been swirling slowly down the porcelain fixture like one of those slow, quiet, water-efficient toilets we all hate. Paul Stiles' American Dream takes the reader on a fast-paced parade of all the ways Wall Street and its massive corporate powers have taken us all on the big monster ride down the drain. No commercial pattern has been left upright. The megatrend of women joining the workforce probably bothers Mr. Stiles a little too much, but he's right on the money with his rants about Wall Street. The Market has no conscience, no scruples, and certainly not an ounce of compassion, either, and the author tells us all about it in satisfyingly excruciating detail. If every American would read this book and take it to heart, the short-term-profits monster would slowly disintegrate and we could all get back to being a compassionate citizenry.

I'm sorry but no. I'm surprised that there aren't more negative reviews. But then again, there aren't many reviews, period. There are only 16? That speaks to the impact this book has had and will have: very little, largely because it is fundamentally flawed. It is chock full of fallacies and ignorance. Paul doesn't do so much as analyze as try to prove his theory. His logic is not sound. The more reviews this book will generate, the more negative the reviews will be.

I will quote Presidential Candidate Ron Paul in one of his addresses to Congress, "When economic trouble hits free markets and free trade are often blamed, while the harmful effects of a fiat monetary system are ignored." He has written some books on economics. I suggest these as counterpoints to Is the American Dream Killing You. Some are free to read. Look at wikipedia for links.

The positive reviews are in line with the trend in this world towards socialism and against competition. The trend towards socialism is due to... tada! The media! The media is subtly driving us to socialism and corporatism, which is another word for fascism. Look it up. It's very sneaky, and this book is buying into that clap-trap. Think: Who owns the media? Big business.

The fact is, freedom works. But big business doesn't want it. It doesn't want competition. And they use the government to stamp out competition. Government should stay out of our lives and our pocketbooks. Genuine competition keeps businesses honest. We are in the fix we are in BECAUSE government HAS gotten involved. Just as the church and state was separated, so too must business and state. THAT is the real solution to our economy. All the government should be allowed to do is control the money supply. It hasn't done that since the inception of the Federal Reserve - a private (for profit) bank. (Who do you think the FED profits from?) That is where our money is: in the pockets of the owners of the Federal Reserve.

I would like to hear a review by someone who actually knows something real about genuine honest competitive capitalism.

This is an excellent book. If you are skeptical, just apply his theory to what is happening to us in the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina.
The Superdome was redone within a year after Katrina so that the sports "market" recouped their lost money.
The schools are still in disrepair.
The projects are left empty.
The poor and middle class are still in FEMA trailers and are struggling to rebuild.
The hotels have been restored and are making money on tourists.
Our coast is loosing land at the rate of football fields each day.
The oil industry, one of the major causes of the reclining coastline, are reporting profits, but will not spend the money to restore the coast.
At the same time they (oil companies including energy companies) raise the prices of fuel (gasoline, oil for heating homes, electricity) blaming it on Katrina.
Insurance companies are doing the same. Rates are higher, or they are refusing to insure us blaming this on the cost of Katrina, Rita, and other hurricanes, all the while reporting profits.
THe governments inaction and/or slow action will make the situations worse or impossible as the cost adds up each day that nothing is done.
Many in this nation have forgotten us because we are not the major story anymore, but if you are interested, look up our problems on our local websites. Paul Stiles could easily write a book proving his points by focusing on New Orleans.
I hope that there will not be another major disaster because the big "market companies" will benefit while the poor and middle class suffer even more.

This book was a gripping read. Paul Stiles's analysis of The Market is so penetrating, incisive, devastating, and powerful there really can be no comeback to it. He tore away the veils. His book explodes with insightful information.

I enjoyed this book, too, because it is carefully written. The sentences are well-crafted, You know you are reading a work of art while also reading a book on economics and social science.

One striking passage in the book is what I'd like to point to. It is a brief passage in the book, but it has its own unique value as an excerpt of someone thinking with both sides of his brain. It has to do with what happens in economic terms with the turkey on Thanksgiving Day. The author lets the reader know that the laissez-faire people do only look at the production-side of making turkey for Thanksgiving and that they overlook other values and costs involved as well in the production of turkey: integrity, courage and honesty, and compassion for others. These values and costs are not only overlooked, they are dismissed or taken quite for granted.

I found myself wishing Paul Stiles had more punch as a philosopher, however, when he wrote of the interior world or so-called spirituality. His arguments are philosophically weak and naive, especially in the context of "moral absolutes," where he writes about the Ten Commandments.

The last third of the book was just pure religious mush. He gives short shrift to atheists, equating them only with materialists, and he fails utterly even to mention the ancient Greeks who had much to contribute to the development of the Founding Fathers' ideas for the United States.

Still, his analysis of the Market is a genuine tour de force, and it is worth the price of the book.

As a 31 year old mother living in a suburban wasteland, I frequently ponder the destruction of American society. In my crackerbox quality townhouse, freezing in the winter and cooking in the sun (no trees in this tract, cookiecutter development) in the summer, I watch the wind blasting through, blowing litter into our postage stamp sized yards. No mothers are home--instead, they are shuttled via SUV to huge corporate chain day care centers, where they are cared for by bitter, swarthy immigrants. My son and I feel utterly alone.

I drive through the ugly, wide roads littered with McDonalds, generic chains and gas stations. Something feels so...empty. Modern life is alienating, lonely, boring, and sick.

There is no community. Women are competitive even about mothering. Money rules all.

No wonder I dream of buying some wooded acres and starting an organic farm/commune!

Paul Stiles is a deeply sensitive and intelligent man, a great writer, and someone with a lot to say about why we are all popping Prozac and junk food these days. I enjoyed the narrative at the beginning--while I didn't agree with every single point, I also live in the DC area suburban wasteland, so I could relate to his points about sprawl, angry commuters, and McMansions.

The look at corporate greed and corruption in recent years was eye-opening. Everyone seems to have their fingers in the till, and the result, I predict, will be a 30's scale depression within the next 20 years. I consider moving to New Zealand to escape the coming hard times.

For the past 12 years, `The Wall Street Journal' has published Dr. Alfred Rappaport's brainchild, the `Shareholder Scoreboard.' This special section lists 1,000 of the largest U.S. corporations (representing 90% of all listed equity values) and shows statistically how "shareholder-friendly" each one is. This journalistic feature popularizes Rappaport's "Shareholder Value" (SV) theory among institutional and individual investors. Investors use this theory to make equity commitments that reflect the author's economics-based criteria. Frankly, the lay reader who has not majored in economics, or in corporate accounting and finance, will find Rappaport's book abstruse. But it leads the way for the informed, inquisitive investor who seeks "business enlightenment" and Wall Street success. Do not be thrown off by the original 1986 print date. A classic is just that, a book that can be read and wisely used for decades. The small, silent shareholder revolution that Rappaport started is far from over. By now, shareholder analysis has become part of the mainstream for hundreds of big companies (though they accepted it gradually). SV is far from perfect as a corporate strategy indicator. The true worth of this book for CEOs and other executives resides in its lessons for implementing the SV approach throughout a corporation. We recommend it to all three informed constituencies of every public corporation: executives, employees and shareholders.

A great guide for those wanting to gain a higher level of understanding of corporate decision making. I found it useful within my own business unit and plan to bring back some of the concepts. Read this book if you have a desire to stand out by analyzing decisions like a corporate officer.

Given that investors value bonds by discounting future cash flows, it stands to reason that they value stocks in the same fashion. Alfred Rappaport is the founder of the shareholder value mindset which gained importance in the '80 and is widely accepted in this new millenium. Rappaport starts the book explaining that objections to using a discounted Cash Flow model do not hold. Strong arguments and empirical evidence is given to explain the market's valuation mechanism. What follows is a basic but thorough explanation of the 3 elements for valuing a company (cash flows , risk and the competitive advantage period). In the second part of the book, it will become clear for the reader DCF is closely linked to strategic analysis and is not in contradiction with stakeholder analysis, customer value analysis, Activity Based costing or any other tool. On the contrary, Rappaport shows DCF is a communication tool that helps investors understand a company's implied performance and how to (re)act. Together with the Valuation book from Copeland, Koller and Murrin this is the book you need.

Professor Rappaport's revised version of his 1986 book on creating shareholder value provides a good description of the value based management concept that he helped create. However, many of the chapters are stand alone sections that do not flow well together. In some chapters he does not provide enough depth on how this book can actually be used by managers. In addition, the chapters on using his concepts to formulate value-maximizing business strategies was somewhat lacking.

Nevertheless, the book was an easy read and many of his points were right on target. I would also highly recommend interested readers to check out "The Value Imperative" by Marakon Associates and "Valuation" by McKinsey & Co for more information on value based management.

This continues to be a good book for raising awareness that shareholder value can and should be managed. It was not that many years ago when a survey of CEOs found that they thought it was immoral and unethical to try to raise share price! I am also pleased to see that Mr. Rapparport discussed appluications to planning, M&A, compensation and organizational development. I belong to an organization (SHARE PRICE GROWTH 100) that develops new tools and processes to improve stock price, and we have found new ways directily link stock price, finance, investor realtions and capital management. We also found that each company has different investor sensitivities, and few stocks move directly with cash flow. The concepts that we use are described in THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION. One of Mr. Rapparport's questions, "what is the most appropriate measure of performance" is a question that was asked of Peter Drucker in the 1970s. Dr. Drucker responded by saying that companies should use as many measures as possible, because we learn something different from each one. That is what really improves business. Confusion sets in, however, because people think that the measures used to improve business performance are also the ones investors focus on. That thinking has misled many to improve performance while watching the stock price and the multiple do nothing. Managing stock price should become a core competancy. With the right infomation, you will find your 2,000 percent solutions.

Let's face it: Sanskrit is just not the kind of language for which it makes any sense to learn cute dialogues and touristy phrases like "Where is the train station?" or "I need an eye doctor." The latter may, in fact, come in handy when you first learn the Devanagari script, but what motivates you to learn Sanskrit anyway? There is a very good reason to become familiar with the language, namely the fact that many contemporary translations of Sanskrit writings, most notably of the Bhagavad Gita, take incredible liberties in passing off as translations wordings that hardly even qualify as paraphrases, and often just plain misrepresent the text. To get to the actual meaning, you need to learn the language, but there is no shortcut to doing so.
Sanskrit often uses cases, such as the instrumental case or the locative, in order to express something that in other languages would be done with prepositions. There is not just a singular and plural; there is also a "dual" form for both nouns and verbs. In the Devanagari script, combinations of letters form new symbols; when words follow each other in certain sequences, the vowels change: e.g. the stem "bhu" ("to exist"), yields the noun "bhavas" ("existence"), which, however, if followed by a word such as "vidyate" ("it is found"), switches to "bhavo."
I am mentioning all of this simply to make the case that, yes, Perry's Sanskrit Primer is a hard book to work through. But that's only because Sanskrit, if treated seriously, is a hard language. It takes work to get through it, and if you're not even used to simple ancient Indo-European languages, such as Greek or Latin, it's going to be twice as hard. But I don't see how you can really do an adequate job of it without committing yourself to good old-fashioned memorization.
Perry's Primer asks a lot of you. It treats you with an expectation of maturity. But, forgive me for stating this so bluntly, if you're not ready to live up to Perry's expectations, I'm not sure you're ready to study Sanskrit seriously.

While it is true that there is a shortage of introductory Sanskrit textbooks, one could possibly do better than Perry's book. The language is archaic and the explanations often unclear. Frequently, his attempts to help the student become instead a handicap. The exercises are useful, though, and sometimes amusing (as when, in one lesson, you learn words such as kill, poison, beat, hit, maim....). My suggestion would be to use the first few chapters of the Teach Yourself Sanskrit book and then to go straight into Nala (the Lanman Sanskrit Reader is useful) with Whitney's Sanskrit Grammar as aid.

For any serious student of Sanskrit Perry's Sanskrit Primer is indispensable. Admittedly, the language is a bit dated, and you have to be willing to learn the argot of classical philology, but the effort is well worth it. Perry dissects the language and reveals all its glorious complexity. Moreover, it was written to accompany Whitney's grammar and is an excellent preparation for Lanman's reader. More "modern" approaches to Sanskrit (e.g. Teach Yourself Sanskrit) miss there mark by dumbing down the grammar of the language, something you'll regret as you go along. Perry's is the real deal.

For experienced students of classical languages, Perry's Primer is the only way to learn Sanskrit. The language is presented in an orderly and exhaustive way. Each lesson is arranged as a series of numbered paragraphs covering different aspects of the grammar in thorough detail; at the end of the lesson is a vocabulary list and then two sets of translation exercises, one from Sanskrit to English and one from English to Sanskrit. There is no baby talk, no dumbing down of the grammar. For this reason, the book may be considered the best on the subject, and students with a background in Latin and/or classical Greek will find it stimulating. For anyone without these linguistic attainments, however, the book's greatest virtue -- its concision -- is likely to seem a fault and a hindrance to learning.

For example, the declension of nouns is introduced in Lesson II in the following manner: an example noun is presented in a table with three columns labeled "singular", "dual", and "plural", and three rows labeled "N.", "Acc.", and "Voc." By way of explanation, Perry tacks on the following paragraph: "Force of cases. 1. The nominative is casus subjectivus. 2. The accusative is casus objectivus, denoting chiefly the nearer or direct, sometimes however the more remote, object; sometimes also the terminus ad quem, and extent of time and space." -- and not a word more. Depending on the student's background, the conciseness of this explanation will be greeted either with appreciation, or with resentment.

If you have no problem with "casus subjectivus", "casus objectivus" and "terminus ad quem", this book is for you. (Of course, if you are the kind of person picking up a 19th-century primer to study an ancient Indo-European language, you very likely WILL have no problem with these terms.) You will also enjoy this book, even if the terms give you pause, as long as on reflection you can figure out what they mean and require no further explanation. But if, on the other hand, you need a refresher on such questions as the difference between a subject and an object, or do not care to have your grammar given to you in Latin guise, then you will find this book too difficult.

A previous reviewer said that Perry's explanations are "unclear". I suppose he was referring to passages such as the one quoted above. In reality, the difficulty posed by such explanations is not their clarity, but their accessibility. They are not unclear: they are merely arcane. In other words, if you are familiar with the terms used, you will understand right away what is meant, and will breathe a sigh of relief at not having to slog through some silly stuff about "the dog bites the man" and "the man bites the dog". But if you are not familiar with the terms, or are not in a position to figure out what they mean, you are likely to find yourself perplexed.

Another case in point is the presentation of the alphabet. Perry gives only a table of the letters and then an explanation of the way they are combined in writing, and of the sounds they represent. There are no drills to help you learn it. To some people, this no-nonsense approach will be exciting. To others, it may be forbidding.

I came to this book with a good grounding in Latin and ancient Greek, and found it stimulating and challenging. Language nerds (you know who you are): this book is for you. Others: I would recommend Egenes' book.

I have lived in Orange County all my life (and that's a long time) and didn't know about many of the places in "Free Orange County". The book is worth every penny and more, as I now have "free" places to take my grandsons as well as discovering the free assets Orange County has to offer. This book stays in my car as I never know where I'll be and now I have a book to guide me in new exploration.

I liked a few of the suggestions in this book. Some were a little corny, but that's what you get when you're looking for FREE entertainment. I recommend this book for the frugal Californian. There's a lot of interesting activities.

I found this book to be extremely valuable. It has such solid information about places and events that are free or very low cost. Because of this wonderful guide, I will be making more frequent trips to Orange County.

I have read many introductions to economics and finance, from lumbering 600-page textbooks to more conversational pop-economics bestsellers, but this little gem is by far the most useful and the most helpful.

Kurtzman trots through all the basic ingredients of a market-driven economy - cycles, equity, securities, currency, value - but somehow manages to actually EXPLAIN how each one works in an accurate way without any condescension. He uses examples from history and the present day to really get the reader thinking about how markets work, a much better strategy than other books that spend too much time knee-deep in analogies about apples, oranges and cups of coffee.

There are also invaluable references to other economists, investors and strategies, from Hernando de Soto to Warren Buffet, which all serve to deepen the book's scope. I was particularly impressed with Kurtzman's final chapters, in which he makes a brilliant and self-effacing argument in favour of research, education and humility when dealing with markets. Despite his ideological preference for free-market capitalism, he clearly is far more thoughtful about it than many other authors.

The book is not written amazingly well, with overenthusiastic punctuation and mixed metaphors aplenty, but it is very concise and straightforward. I was honestly stunned to find that definitions that took up tens of pages in austere textbooks could be excellently summed up by Kurtzman in a matter of sentences. Great fun, very short and incredibly useful.

I lost count how many times the word "myriad" was used inappropriately.

On the good side: This book was extremely light reading and can be finished in about three hours. There is a very approachable treatment of certain things that could be very technically difficult for some readers, such as regression to the mean.

There was a (perhaps too) brief discussion about why Russia failed to thrive under the Communist system. I like brevity, but I could have done with a few more pages (or even a chapter) on why Communism doesn't work. Most people refute it on idelogical grounds, but Kurtzman had a great start in bringing up the technical problems of co-ordinating large amounts of (market-based time scale)information by bureaucracy (which uses a bureaucratic time scale) that he didn't develop at greater length. Finally, someone who understands that this is not a matter of opinion!

Good discussion of initial public offerings of companies, which is something that we all "know" happens, but we often don't know the actors. Good discussion of exactly *what* Michael Milken did that got him into so much trouble. We all knew that he spent about a billion dollars in legal fees and is still worth hundreds of millions of dollars after the fact, but didn't know exactly why.

Kudos to him for his beautiful treatment of the complexity of the market and telling us how many players are involved in even the simplest decision.

It also gave an interesting explanation of something that I've wondered for a long time, which was how David Bowie managed to sell bonds in himself/ his catalog of songs and make so much money.

One of the things that Joel Kurtzman does very well in this pithy little book is demonstrate why the capitalist market system is superior to the old Soviet system of centralized control, why the decisions made by a decentralized economy work so much better than any top down system. However Kurtzman's enthusiasm for the market is eventually revealed as similar to E. M. Forster's for democracy. One recalls that Forster allowed himself just "Two cheers for democracy...there is no occasion to give it three."

Kurtzman writes on page 148 that "Markets may move to the beat of their dumbest members." He adds, "In my view...markets are not rational." To back up his claims he reports that at the height of the Internet bubble in 1999, Yahoo! with sales of $456 million (that's million with an "m") had a market capitalization of $93-billion which he compares to GM, which at the same time with revenues of $177-billion (billion with a "b"), had a market cap about half that of Yahoo! (p. 147) This observation caused Kurtzman to ask, "Yo, Mr. Market, is anybody home?"

Well, it depends on when you knock on the door. In October of 2002 Yahoo's market capitalization was down around $5-billion or so. The real truth is Mr. Market may be irrational for some period of time--indeed for some EXTENDED period of time, especially when you're holding the bag--but eventually a correction occurs, and for a brief shining moment (not the same moment) every stock is priced at what it's worth. (Of course it could also be pointed out that a stopped clock is exactly right twice a day.)

I very much liked Kurtzman's conversation tone and his obvious acumen and the way he explains the underpinnings of the capital markets with an emphasis on understanding rather than mechanical details. (Although an explanation on how the weekend or overnight buy and sell orders received from Internet traders are reconciled at the New York Stock Exchange and at NASDAQ into an opening price would have been nice.) His championing of Michael Milken as one of the great financial geniuses of our times was tolerable, but did Milken really (as Kurtzman insists on page 144) take "an often bloating and ailing American economy" and make it "lean, mean and resilient"? And, although one does not doubt the genius of Warren Buffet, might Kurtzman have pointed out during his several fawning references to the man, that when you have as much economic clout as he has you might well be able to influence the markets to your advantage and to get information that others cannot, and in a nutshell prove beyond a shadow of doubt that money makes money and big money makes even bigger money? He might even have (to be topical and timely) pointed out that Shari'a law, which does not allow interest to be charged on credit, is not in keeping with the realities of the effect time has on capital.

But Kurtzman is an ambassadorially polite man who saved his barbs for the failed communist system and the recent irrational exuberance in dot com land.

Perhaps the highlight of the book, and maybe the most important part, is Kurtzman's explanation of what money is (not obvious) and how it is created and how it can be made to dissipate. For anyone wanting a kind of Reality Economics 101, Kurtzman's book is an eye-opener. He has a gift for explaining things in a succinct and clear manner that other writers on economics might well emulate.

"...a thoughtful and provocative book on how global capitalism may evolve" Jeffrey Garten, Dean of Yale Management School

I disagree with the conclusions which contain a good deal of left-wing simplifications and pessimism (I believe that Germany and Japan will preserve many of their characteristics and prosper!). However, no doubt an interesting piece of work, which I recommend especially now that changes in the two countries mentioned above are finally accelerating (while the US is starting a phase of decline after a very successful decade).

This review appeared in JEL, Dec. 2002, by RICHARD A. WERNER Sophia University, Tokyo.

Hardly a day passes without the financial press asserting that Japan's economic structure is responsible for the long recession and demanding "badly needed" structural changes. The results of a decade of apparently vigorous counter-cyclical policies have been disappointing. It is therefore not surprising that many experts agree with the Bank of Japan's argument that deep structural reforms are needed to enhance growth. A similar story is being told about Germany. Recent economic weakness is seen by the European Central Bank as evidence that structural re-form is "needed"-a view enthusiastically sup-ported by the financial press (who, according to Dore, constitute an interested party benefiting from the "financialization" that results from introducing U.S.-style capitalism). As Francis Fukuyama argued, the "Anglo-Saxon" free market and stock market based system has become the global standard. It is this mainstream view that Ronald Dore's important and refreshing book is directed against. It deserves praise not just for Dore's courage in defending an unpopular cause.

The book is very timely: it points out the advantages of German/Japanese welfare capitalism just when it is becoming an endangered species. It is rich in detail, yet surprisingly concise. It is analytical, yet highly readable and full of illuminating examples. It combines an eye for macro-economic implications with sound micro-economic and management- level insights. Finally, Dore's book provides an analysis of the ongoing pressures on welfare capitalism and how its salient features are now changing. Dore's readers benefit from his decades of experience and seminal work on the Japanese firm. The relatively smaller weight given to Germany is the book's main (though acknowledged) weakness.

Dore identifies key features that make Ger-man/ Japanese capitalism different from the "Anglo- Saxon" variety familiar from textbooks. The former produces benefits due to its cooperative nature and long-term orientation. The Anglo-Saxon model is good for the shareholders. The Germans and Japanese maintained market mechanisms, but eliminated shareholders as the main beneficiaries. Instead of serving the few, a form of capitalism was born that succeeded in creating a decent quality of life for the many- employees and society at large.

Dore is a must-read for any economist, precisely because he challenges our preconceptions. As is increasingly recognized in the literature, once unrealistic assumptions such as perfect information and efficient markets are relaxed, there is no guarantee that markets left to their own devices will produce socially optimal results. The designers of the German and Japanese systems based their institutional designs on a more realistic description of the world. By focusing on mutually beneficial cooperation and coordination, they managed to internalize externalities, minimize information costs, and, most of all, motivate individuals. They recognized that "utility functions" are interdependent, people compete in hierarchical fashion and have a common desire for justice and fairness of organizational arrangements. Recent growth theories acknowledge the importance of the human resource aspect of "labor." While neglected in static models and policy advice, human resources are at the center of the German/Japanese model.

With regard to the premise that capital is the scarce resource and that "labor" will normally be in fairly abundant supply, Dore says, "It is amazing that anyone can seriously sustain this view in a world awash with so much liquidity that its movement from one country to another keeps exchange rates in perpetual motion" (p. 15). Human resource mobilization requires institutional design. "The whole discussion of modal behavioral dispositions as a factor in the functioning of economic systems tends to be avoided among economists who wish to believe that what they teach their students are theorems about THE economy, determined by the universal utility function of MAN" (p. 38). Not so in Japan, where people tend "to be good at discerning possibilities of cooperation which can be of general benefit, and at devising organizational forms which can reap those benefits in ways which all participants can consider fair" (p. 38).

One such organizational form is the system of industry associations, which are modern incarnations of the medieval guild structure. Due to their public goods character, resulting cartels may be welfare-enhancing. The cooperative orientation does not mean there is no competition. As Dore explains well, competition can be fierce, as the system combines markets and hierarchies. The tendency towards the formation of cartels is counteracted by relatively low concentration ratios in many industries (due to bank finance and cross-shareholdings which result in fewer hostile takeovers) and inter-firm rivalry due to lifetime employment.

Just when economists are beginning to recognize these issues, Germany and Japan are moving toward adopting the Anglo-Saxon model. These changes increase "financialization" and thus the share of economic activity devoted to profit-seeking by shifting ownership certificates from A to B. Adopting U.S.-style capitalism means that Germany and Japan are importing its disadvantages and social problems. Dore asks: Can it be efficient to devote ever more people to servicing "gambling on uncertainties in financial markets" with analysis, advice, appraisal, advertising? As increasingly strong shareholders demand "value," will social welfare or overall fairness increase? One issue remains: If it is so successful, why is Dore one of the few to defend welfare capitalism?

Recent weak economic performance is blamed on the system, and it is seen to have out-lived its usefulness. Whether this is really true must be investigated, though it is beyond the scope of Dore's book. In my forthcoming book (2003, Princes of the Yen, Japan's Central Bankers and the Structural Transformation of the Economy, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe) I provide evidence that the Japanese recession was not due to the economic structure but instead to a central bank aiming at dismantling welfare capitalism.

All in all, Dore's book succeeds in raising and illuminating these challenging issues. It deserves much attention. It also shows the need for further research on this topic-and soon, before this species of capitalism becomes extinct.

Wulfing, Gibran, Rilke; these are names of individuals who have danced in the garden of the lord.These are the names of people who have gazed at the reflections in the eyes of the Gods. These three artists are people who have the ability to lift us out of our lives and place us in the worlds next to our heart. Sulamuth wulfing has been a part of my Life since the sixties. Her work has never failed to brighten my life, raise my spirit and show me the joy that there is in living. This work is an inspiration. It brings life and love and truth into a visual form which can be shared by all. It allows hope into the heart of madness and it encourages love and spirtuality to flourish in the everyday world. I would encourage anyone , interested in the works of such people as Rumi, Gibran and Rilke to take this book and hold it cloise to their heart.

This book is one in a series of lovely books illustrated by Sulamith Wulfing. It measures just 4'X6" and contains 25 illustrations with accompanying quotes from famous writers such as Shakespeare, William Blake, John Milton, Robert Herrick, and the Bible. The excerpts don't always seem to go with the illustrations but the text is not the reason you would buy this book anyway. Sulamith Wulfing's intricate and delicate work in this book features many enchanting angels. Each one is unique and filled with a serene and peaceful quality. I feel that the price that is being asked for these books is a bit steep considering the small size of the books, the limited amount of text and the rather poor way the pictures were printed on the page. Most of them have uneven sized white showing at the top and bottom of the picture. However, the artwork is the purpose of the book and it does not disappoint in any way. It is divine and if you love Wulfing's work I suggest that you will truly love this little book of angels.

The material content of the book is good. However, the Gleim review books assume a certain level of knowledge. Even though I have a degree in econ and work in the acctg/finance field I will surely have to review some basics before this study guide is useful to me.

I am just getting through this book, another in the line of strong Gleim CMA books. See my review of the first book for more details. Again, this book is very good, but you'd better have a decent handle on basic accounting concepts before you open it, or you are going to be big-time lost. I have taken several accounting courses, but it's been a few years, and I'm finding it tough going. If you know your accounting, though, this book is an extremely efficient way to prep for the exam.

Greenaway was famous for her fanciful, humorous, delicately colored drawings of child life. This little book was originally written in 1885, and it lists over 200 plants and their meaning in alphabetical order with 85 illustrations as well as some poems in the back of the book.

The only problem I have with this book is that the printing is very small.

This is a fun book to read if you like symbolism, and even if you don't, it's fun to read the poems in the back. In this, almost every flower, clover and herb has a meaning and just about any flower you can you'll find in here. The illustrations are sweet, and this is a great reference if you're looking for something sentimental to give a friend.

I'm not sure why I periodically come back to this book and
continue to read it...It may be that there are so many
cultural/historical/beliefs that Hotema conjures up that
I get enjoyment from agreeing and disagreeing with him.
He is definitely interesting to read, but you will
be taking an intellectual stand on his conclusions
that aren't always convincing. "Adventurous reading."

Who is Hilton Hotema & where did he learn all that stuff?

This extensive book of Hotema published in 1963 is definitely one of the most drastic revelations of the 20th century.

Among other fascinating concepts the author brings up is that humans evolved from a superior race of space aliens; that originally there was only one sex, that women still possess latent the capacity for virgin birth.

He became a prolific writer during the '50s and the '60s eventually publishing more 40 different books, and lessons.
He is regarded as the greatest authority of the 20th century on human, mystical, and religious analysis and interpretation.

Born in 1878 was a Clergyman, Naturopath, chiropractor, writer, Mason, musician, and manufacturer of violins, among other things.


The book is highly illustrated with unusual drawings on the occult, anatomy, physiology and archeology.