Fund-of-funds Books

Feldman has written a book that is part thriller, part history and part social commentary. They are all seamlessly interwoven to create a thrilling narative with an intellectual, almost scholarly underpinning. Feldman, an attorney, writes with the clarity of a legal brief that has found poetry. The author tries to understand the motivations and psychology of the protagonists without sympathizing with their horrible deeds. Even his asides concerning the position of women in the United States at that time, serve to provide a context for the story and never lapse into soapbox rhetoric. This is a book that gives you much to think about and will stay with you long after you have put it down.

Standing upon a masterful analysis of archival materials, Ben Feldman's reconstruction of antebellum New York is alive with teeming streets and the buzz of commerce, the strivings of its warring classes, the machinations of politicians and newspaper editors, and the lures of vice and crime. For this reader, it bridged the gap between the remote beginnings of the city and the one that is familiar today. Only a true love of New York could produce such a work. And remarkably, all of this is accomplished within a story of suspense.

Fascinating social history of New York City in the pre-Civil War era and an intriguing portrait of a woman's tribulations in maintaing not only social class but the basic means of survival. The book is also an excellent portrayal of the criminal "justice" system of that era.

An excellent historical review of a sensational murder in the early/mid 19th century. Well written and will hold your attention as well as most novels. Also, for this story, you can see where the bodies are buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

This book offers a highly digestible introduction to how fiction works and tempts the reader with some great exerpts from (modern) classics. It's also a nice opportunity to look at literature through the eyes of a professional, both at studying and practicing writing.

David Lodge states in his introduction, "This is a book for people who prefer to take their Lit. Crit. in small doses," and this, indeed, is an accurate categorization for Lodge's, The Art of Fiction. This is a collection of articles on various topics of writing that he wrote during a stint with the Washington Post. While more experienced writers may find his fifty topics of writing, ranging from quite literally "Beginning[s]" to "Ending[s]" and some "Metafiction" or "Sense of Place" in between, somewhat elementary in their discussion, a beginning writer may find his book more useful.

Lodge is a fan of the classics. This is apparent in his choice to begin each chapter with an excerpt from authors such as Henry James, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce, though more contemporary authors like Martin Amis and Anthony Burgess are slipped in every so often. And arguably, it was a wise choice of Lodge's to use classics as his examples if the beginning writer is his target audience so as to transmit a sense of what is conventional before launching off into magic realism. But be forewarned-Lodge terms his topics "doses" in the introduction as though implying his discussion will provide some sort of cure to the ailing writer-when, in fact, we all know the writing process does not have solutions or cures that suddenly make it easy to sit down and type away for two hours. Roughly three to four pages are devoted to each topic which give the book, as a whole, the feel of "Learning to Write in Twenty-Four Hours." In Lodge's defense, however, he does provide a quick, concise discussion that will serve as both a quick introduction to the beginner and a quick refresher to the more advanced writer.

"Skaz is a rather appealing Russian word used to designate a type of first person narration that has the characteristics of the spoken rather than the written word. In this kind of novel or story, the narrator is a character who refers to himself (or herself) as "I," and addresses the reader as "you." This is the first paragraph after an excerpt from J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, and quintessential of Lodge's process throughout the book. He defines the topic to his reader straight and immediately which gives the collection its quick feel. As long as the reader keeps in mind that his definitions are not the be all and end all of the writing topic at hand, this collection of definitions (with a human voice infiltrating the definition) can be useful.

I purchased "The Art of Fiction" as a companion to other reading materials required for a class on Modern American Fiction. This is, as others have described, fairly lightweight in its language and/or depth of treatment. However, this is the book I use most often as a guide when writing short papers & essays. David Lodge is a master at clear and concise commentary. His purpose in this collection is to convey specific literary principles in a precise format (many appeared as newspaper columns). The preface states that this book is for people who like literary criticism in "small doses," and this is meant to be "a book to browse in, and dip into." The format is very convenient, as you can read an entire piece on-the-go, during lunch or in a waiting room. (Some examples of "chapters" are The Unreliable Narrator, The Non-Fiction Novel, Time-Shift, Magic Realism, and Metafiction.) I recommend this book for anyone who loves literature and wants to add more depth to their reading experience.

I discovered this book 3 or 4 years ago and have read it at least three times -- parts of it more often than that. I use it as one of several texts in creative writing workshops. Lodge's essays are witty, engaging and smart, and the brief excerpts at the beginning of each chapter are wonderful for "mirroring" exercises. My students enjoy the book as much as I do, and all seem to learn quite a bit from it.

I liked this book on grant writing but it did not tell me anything new on how to go about getting money, that I do not already know. It's not a bad book. I wish there was something more...

LOTS of information in a very conversational style. Easy to read and understand. If you are NOT a non-profit, i.e. looking for funding for a documentary, etc., it will give you good general info but you will need other resources.

Last December, we took our project non-profit, really easily, by affiliating with a fiscal sponsor (explained in the book.)

I found the book in February. Three weeks later, I wrote my first grant, depending a great deal upon the advice, tips and forms and charts in the book. Two months later the check came in. The grant was approved.

I can't say enough good things about the book. I've always thought this genre of books was for total novices... which I was, when I started reading this book, but after talking with people who have applied for grants, I discovered this book had really educated me to the point I knew more than some of them.

Since then, I've been working with a part timer grant writer, helping me to apply for more grants. The book has helped me support my ideas-- even straightening out the consultant I'm working with, when it came to my rationale for funding overhead costs for one project.

I know at least three or four other colleagues have bought the book at my advice. I think anyone doing NGO non-profit work would benefit from reading the book and using the approaches it suggests to better understand the process of fund raising, how foundations operate and think, and how to create proposals that will persuade foundations to make contributions to support your work.

Last but not least, there's a coupon in it that gets you a month's free subscription to a foundation database. That alone is worth more than the price of the book. You can't lose. Now, go out, buy the book, get some funding and heal the world. Good luck.

As someone who writes grants on a regular basis, I found Waddy Thompson's book to be both a great refresher of the basics, as well as a deep resource for the more detailed information that a professional grantswriter uses regularly. The CD-ROM also has some great templates and research guides for the first-time grantswriter starting from scratch. The layout of the book allows for easy "flipping through" to glean as much or as little info as you need, and for easy review. Clean, light writing that gets to the point; overall, a terrific resource for anyone writing for themselves or an organization who is entering the sometimes tricky world of grants.

I recommend this book, Heir of Mystery, to people in the grade range of 3-6. It is a very different and extraordinary book. The author explains the characters in high detail of their inner and outer qualities. The plot is presented step by step in a very detailed way. The setting is described very vividly that you can imagine it clearly in your mind. This book is packed with humor and adventure, so I say run over to the library and check it out.

Philip Ardagh's Heir Of Mystery is the second "Unlikely Exploit" title but needs no prior familiarity to prove engrossing to newcomers. Fergal McNally's brain resides in a pickling jar in a hospital: it's stolen, and the remaining McNally children are drawn to a mysterious mansion where a dangerous teddy-bear-clutching Mr. Maggs plans on changing the world. Horror and black humor blend in this inviting survey.

This book is about the four remaining McNally children trying to find their brother's brain inside the dreaded Fishbone Forest. There, they meet the otherworldly Mr. Maggs. Mr. Maggs was a very odd "being", as told of his unhumanlike teddy-bear-clutching habit and his strange enters and exits. The McNally children saw the horrible death of Mr. Maggs. The McNally has saw another death in their life. Mr. Maggs has, oddly, seem that he was HAPPY to be dying (Which, is that he fell in a huge, deep hole that has not been excepted) and he sang. It's the "Me and my Teddy Bear" song. Which is rather unlikely, isn't it?

In the First Unlikely Exploit THE FALL OF FERGAL, young Fergal McNally met an untimely demise, and his brain was last seen in the basement of Sacred Heart Hospital, in a pickling jar no less. And that is where the Second Unlikely Exploit HEIR OF MYSTERY begins. Fergal McNally's brain is stolen from Sacred Heart Hospital. But that is not the worst of it, for Fergal's remaining brothers and sisters are drawn to Fishbone Forest like cookies to milk, and feel a strong connection to the crumbling mansion located smack dab in the middle of the forest. However, while there, the young (and old) McNally children meet up with the horrifying Mr. Maggs, a crazy man who carries a teddy bear wherever he goes, and plans on making dramatic changes to the entire world as we know it.

As someone who did not get the chance to read THE FALL OF FERGAL, I will admit that I felt as if something were missing, in the sense that I was never introduced to young Fergal before his untimely demise. However, I was able to easily understand what was going on in HEIR OF MYSTERY, and didn't find it hard to jump into the story. Fergal's brothers and sisters are unique, while a bit...strange, at the same time. And while HEIR OF MYSTERY does deal a lot with death, it is also packed to the brim with crazy humor that will have all readers rolling on the floor laughing at the funny dialogue, and weird commentary. Philip Ardagh has created yet another hilarious winner that will be loved by all, especially those who have read and enjoyed his previous efforts.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

The `ETF Strategist' is a book about using exchange traded funds as a way to more precisely allocate risk in investment portfolios. Koesterich lays out a framework for thinking about portfolios that is derived from quantitative finance (Chapter 3) - and demonstrates why the ETF is a more powerful innovation than you might at first think.

Each exchange traded fund can be thought of as its own particular strategy - offering `exposure' (beta) to a particular segment of the market. It is not that one particular ETF strategy is superior to all others -- for each strategy will have its own particular cycles and sensitivities to an ever-changing global economy. The more important point here is the connection made between the use of ETF's as an efficient tool to implement a more efficient (risk-adjusted) portfolio.

When constructing portfolios, investors need to think hard about the underlying larger risk factors their portfolio holdings represent. Historically, disproportional emphasis has been placed on security selection in order to `beat' a particular asset class (ie, the S&P 500). Investors would be well-served to focus their efforts on the more important issue of which market segments they would like to have exposure to given their view of the investment landscape -- and to de-emphasize security selection as an area of focus. Without a significant informational edge, security selection techniques will generally assume risk exposures that do not carry incremental returns - resulting in an inefficient portfolio.

An example from November of 2008 - an investor would have done well to expose their portfolio to the bond market during/after the credit market dislocation/opportunity. An ETF such as LQD offers pure, diverse and extremely low-cost exposure to the investment grade corporate segment of the bond market - a segment offering attractive spreads (value) and low risk. Compare this to selecting individual bonds -- where security selection without an `information edge' is only likely to produce incremental risk (issuer credit risk, liquidity risk etc...) without any corresponding benefit in expected returns. Even with a `perceived' significant informational edge, most professional bond (and equity) fund managers still fail with respect to generating true value-add.

The bottom-line is that using ultra low-cost tools such as ETF's to access attractive segments of the market (equity, bond, commodity, real estate) is a powerful concept in that you get instant access to the types of strategies that are the core drivers of portfolio performance without taking security-specific risk (risk that you are not being paid for anyway).

While the second half of the book is much like other ETF books - just the more typical overview of various ETF's - `The ETF Strategist' still does a good overall job of inspiring the reader to re-think their attitudes towards risk -- and a mental framework for balancing risk and return.

F Chris Greene, CFA

Well written and helpful on understanding what ETFs are and their benefits. The addition of a chapter that would give examples of portfolio construction using ETFs would have added punch and really earned the use of the word "Strategy" in the title.

The author's writing style is easy to read and just repetitive enough to allow concepts to sink in. The nuts and bolts of ETFs are very well covered. This includes how they are created, how they are "indexed", and how they may or may not adequately follow the index they are designed to follow. The author also covers costs of ETFs and tax consequences of ETF investments. ETFs of all varieties are covered from equities and fixed income to commodities and alternative investments. The author did not create a "do it this way" book but rather provided a very comprehensive foundation for understanding ETFs within the larger context of porfolio creation and management.
The author includes some other great pearls of wisdom in the first several chapters that are useful for any investor. This includes a well documented review of the elemental causes for unusually high returns on equity investment that have been experienced since the 1980s until recently. He also provides great insight on the ultra-competitive nature of the markets that individual investors face. This includes a great discussion of the types of risk and how to develop a healthy perspective on risk particularly relative to one's abilities as an investor.

Every individual investor should have this book!!!

This is an excellent book. Very intelligent and well written. It is NOT a how to do it book.

The first third of the book is totally about the theory of risk vs reward and about how beta can be used to estimate risk and volitility. He does an excellent job of explaining beta.

After that there is a long section on the legal structure of the business entities that offer ETFs.

Following this, about half the book describes a very short list of the available ETFs and describes the sectors to which they offer exposure. Note that "Offer exposure" is as close as it gets to a buy when /sell when / hold when recommendation.

If you are interested in the theory of constructing a portfolio and tweaking the risk relative to the market this book deserves five stars.

If you are looking for a book that tells you "If you expect energy stocks to go up buy XLE." This book rates zero stars.

This is an amazing book - it clearly explains how you can plan for your retirement and help you to actually calculate the numbers yourself without depending on a planner. The book made me feel very empowered with my own finances. Thanks for writing this book - its awesome.

Wow! Julie Stav is really a financial writer for our times. She speaks in clear language and provides a special (and easy!) system for you to figure out how to plan for retirement, save for a college fund, or even just get the most out of your 401(k). My favorite part was the exercise she had us go through to find "hidden assets" that I didn't even know I had! I would recommend this to anyone who is numbers shy but who knows that it is time to take their financial future into their own hands!

I found the book clearly written but was surprised to find no index.

I too am a hispanic woman. I was quite intimidated by stocks and expecially that scary stock page in the newspaper. I could not believe it. I am a college graduate and a bank employee and here I am completely baffled by investments. I work in a bank. But I caught the last 15 minutes of her PBS special and was captivated as to how simply she explained it without being condisending. I needed someone to explain how to take control of my own finances and all of those dummy books were not as helpful as I had hoped. I truly felt like a dummy!! I especially liked the road lane analogy. Because now I know in what lane and what speed to go. Even though I am 27 and the recommended/investing age starts at 25. I am confident that my retirement will be smoother than most of today's retirees. I thank you very much Julie, you improved my life by allowing me to understand it more clearly. Thanks again. If you are ever in Chicago, look me up. I owe you a cup of Starbucks mochaccino or something!!

I was so tired of trying to wade through dense books on fundraising and marketing. This book lays it out clearly and simply. Fundraising is common sense--so is this book. Should be read by anyone launching an annual and capital campaign.

First, I had to purchase this for a class just a few months before the new edition arrived, which was too bad. This 1993 edition is full of dated material that I hope will be gone in the new edition. The book subtitle, Hands on Tactics for Nonprofit Groups suggests that the book is for small non-profits, but almost every lesson/example is geared to larger groups, who probably do not need the book. The author stated that the information in the book is applicable/scalable to small no-profits, but a book just for small non-profits would be better for such organizations. It is easy enough to follow. Its best feature, the cookbook like feel of the book is also its worst, in that it encourages a formulaic approach to fundraising. That is very common in the fundraisng industry and needs to be cautioned against.

What is best about the book is that it digs into the multitude of steps necessary to prepare for a successful campaign. When I first read the Table of Contents I was somewhat overwhelmed with the idea that so many things had to take place before actually asking for substantial contributions to our nonprofit. We were used to running a few special events and receiving just as few dollars from them. But using the clearly written text as a guide enabled us to expand our thinking and implement a process that led to significantly increased donations this year. The book was a great investment.

I used this book almost exclusively as a reference for a capital campaign at a community college foundation. The fundraising plan outlined in the text is very good, and can be followed almost verbatim. I found that the pointers offered were very applicable to the funding plan, that is, they were specific enough to be meaningful, yet broad enough to be adapted to any fundraising situation. This book is probably most useful for those considering a capital campaign, and an especially good reference for those who are embarking on their very first campaign. The text ranks among one of the most practically applicable I have ever read.

Although encouraging to new grant writers, too much of the book is reprinted information from other sources (web etc.). If I had paid $30.00 for the book and disk (with templates also downloadable from the web) I would have been more satisfied. However, it is not worth the high price.

Bev Browning is well recognized as one of the expert grant writers for non-profits--from schools to arts & cultural organizations to healthcare to social service & government agencies. Her expertise ranges from the Common Grants Applications to federal & state RFPs. The book offers her knowledge in a highly readable, easy to follow format. I have collaborated with Bev on many projects and she is a contributor toThe Distance Learning Funding $ourcebook: Your Guide to Foundation, Corporate & Government Support for Telecommunications & the New Media (4th edition, 1999).

Bev's book provides a sincere grantseeker with the tools neededto write a winning proposal and see positive results. The book takesyou step by step through the procedure and the process for getting thejob done.

As a novice grantwriter I found Bev Browing's book to be the missing link I needed to increase my skills and knowledge. This book has saved me years of " learning from my mistakes". It is straight forward and to the point. Community projects that are funded by grants can make a difference in the quality of people's lives. Bev teaches you how to turn dreams into reality.

These are some wonderful thougts that have stimulated my mind into asking the question "CanAfricansThink?".This book exposes the disguise of mainstream economics which leaves human society's precious values at the hands of economic lust.All Africans need to know about this big con job being operated under the disguise of macro economics.

This book is often thought-provoking, but ultimately too shallow. Too many of its conclusions are just stated without enough justification. Although not quite as quick to read, Stiglitz' "Globalization and its discontents" goes much deeper and has a more balanced point of view.

Looking at case studies from around the developing world, backed up with a strong theoretical analysis of the IMF and World Bank's role in the international economy, the globalisation of poverty brings the reader to one stark conclusion: 'Poverty is an input on the supply side, (of the global economy.)' Particularly interesting is Chossudovsky's explanation of the economic 'miracle' of Vietnam, while his analysis of the Yugoslav disaster, co-sponsored by the IMF and international financial investors, is very timely indeed. As Chossudovsky explains, the IMF and World Bank reforms have not merely suppressed populist and socialist economic measures and achievements; they have also prevented the development of national capitalisms, by creating economies directed towards the needs of the capitalist core states, rather than to the national market. For those harbouring any illusions about the economic order which governs humanity at the end of this century, this book is a necessary read. It's a pity that Chossudovsky works at the University of Ottawa and not the LSE, an institution that definitely needs realistic economists like him.

Free thinking economists such as Mr Chossudovsky are few and far between. Please take the time to read about the reality of what we have been lured into.

First let me note that this edition of Hume's "History" by the Liberty Fund offers excellent value for your money. The six volumes are well-edited and well-printed books for book lovers.
For more than a hundred years, Hume's text, first published in the 1750s, was a standard textbook on British history. His diction is elegant, superbly paced and offers delightful reading. However, Hume did not concentrate on exciting descriptions of battles and intrigues, as Macaulay did a century later. He wanted to show that English history had always striven to implement a constitutional monarchy, and so his narrative follows this lead, up to a highly partial depiction of the fates of Charles II and Oliver Cromwell. Hume's liberal ideology made him write a story that stresses the success of parliament. As a philosopher of the Enlightenment, he described the sorry state of the arts and science (elucidated in several ndependent chapters). Thus, his work will give you valuable, if biased insights into the development of the British nation up to the Glorious Revolution in the 1680s. If you read this work carefully, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Volume II covers the period 1216-1485.

With a careful and seemingly fair hand, Hume describes the clashes between the barons and King John, as evolved into the Magna Charta; the first appearance of the house of Commons; the subjection of Wales, the attempts to subdue Scotland, with portraits of Robert Bruce & Braveheart William Wallace; the expulsion of the Jews; the charter to dig coal in Newcastle; the Hundred Years' War, with smart sketches of its major conflicts; the first appearance of the title of "duke"; the conflict between the Yorks and Lancasters, in the War of the Roses; the myth of Joan of Arc is described, & Richard, earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker, the last baron to overawe the crown, is portrayed; and, among the last episodes of the volume, the usurpation of the crown by the earl of Glocester, later Richard III, uncle to the heirs of the throne, who has the little princes committed to the Tower, and then strangled. Richard meets his just rewards at the battle of Bosworth, where he is slain.

A wonderful read, covering a period between the first appearances of national government and the age when it begins to solidify, in forms that we might recognize today. The turbulence of the Dark and Middle Ages becomes enlightened as we approach the Renaissance.

Hume's philosophy works, I admit, have choked my senses and discouraged my interest in ever handling another of his volumes, yet this historical work, comprehensive over twelve centuries, from the Roman province through the reign of King John and the Magna Charta, is, for history buffs, quite difficult to put down. Hume covers only that history which pertains to English history, and with his reference materials so scarce, we reach the 8th century by page 40. Hume covers the passing of the Romans, the licentiousness of the Saxons after they were invited to protect the native Britons, the irresistible conquests of the Danes, the consolidations of the minor kingdoms, the ways of life of these various peoples, the Norman invasion, the politics at court, and the personalities of the various princes, with startling particulars, both in speech, action and the incipience of national government, from the lives of its central characters.

Hume speaks lucidly of the manners, customs, and religious beliefs of the periods he covers, as well as their evolution through time.

A fascinating read for anyone interested in early English history!

Hume's massive work of English history is available in this economical and well-bound paperback edition. While somewhat out-of-date by the standards of modern academic historians, and prolix at times, Hume's history remains entertaining for contemporary readers, by virtue of the classical elegance of his prose, the scepticism and even-handedness of his judgments, and his sharp thematic focus on the evolution and delineation of powers in the English constitution. Hume's history is clearly a product of the Enlightenment: the only thing he finds more contemptible than the arbitrary powers at times exercised by monarchy and aristocracy is political encroachment by religious zeal and fanaticism. His narrative is most compelling in Volumes 5 and 6, those documenting the convulsions of the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution. These were in fact written first. Volumes 1 and 2 were written last, probably for the sake of completeness, and with a clear sense of pain by Hume, who feels that the primitive societies of ancient and medieval England are least instructive to the civilized reader.

Bertrand Russell, in his history of philosophy, jokingly accuses Hume of preferring Scots to Englishmen, and Tories to Whigs, with some injustice. The dismal, intolerant and conceited fanaticism of the lowland Scots Presbyterians is a particular target of Hume's invective and mockery, and the Scots Highlanders (with the Irish) are usually dismissed as barbarians. On the other hand, possibly the only two characters to appear in a heroic light in the entire six volumes are William Wallace ("Braveheart") and James Graham, marquise of Montrose, dashing royalist general of the English Civil War. While he certainly deplores the usurpations of Cromwell, whom he paints with bold, vivid and unflattering strokes, Hume is also clearly in favor of quite limited executive (ie, royal) power, and writes as a man of history, not of party.