Future Books

Following a concise and accurate history of the markets last 2-3 years and the possible developments that may effect participants in the markets.

This book is worth a read, by anyone interested in the markets.

I'm only sorry that I think the political aspects of these changes not happening is not addressed.

Patrick Young looks into his magic eight ball and reveals what the future holds for the financial markets. Very radical and probably very acurate. A must read for those traditional brokers who are contemplating a second house in the Hamptons

As the cover of this book says: Liquidity! Accessibility! Transparency!

The authors take a European perspective to challenge the traditional way that financial markets have operated in the United States and elsewhere. They point out, correctly I think, that the revolution is here. Fully automated markets now do the bulk of the worldwide futures trading. For example the Chicago Board of Trade was overtaken in futures volume by the fully automated German-Swiss EUREX in Frankfurt in 1998. London was charging from behind to take a big piece of the automated futures business as well. Automated trading experiments are going on in a number of other places, as well.

The vision the authors have is captured by a quote from Ludwig von Mises: "Economic history is the story of the gradual extension of the economic community beyond its original limits of the single household to embrace the nation and the world."

This vision is essentially of convergence into one global market, with one clearinghouse, and one regulator to do everything. The need to get costs down will require that convergence as the ultimate solution. How imminent this vision is has to be a guess (the authors convey the vision in the form of a dream), but the stories in the book show how often the complacent, traditional view has been wrong. The authors are good at pointing out the speed bumps that will delay progress, and outline good ideas for better and faster implementation.

But they are definitely tolling the bell in the near future for face-to-face selling. "In the future there will only be electronic traders." They also see a rise of small traders, small banks (doing direct placements of IPOs over the Internet with traders without underwriting syndicates), and greatly squeezed paychecks for traditional investment banking and trading activities.

I found the book to be consistent with my own vision. I was still left with the question of why the transition has not been a faster one. Financial markets should be converging at a much faster rate, if one looks only at the technology and the use of the Internet. Which aspects of human stalls are the worst delayers? Probably the tradition and bureaucratic stalls, because the existing markets and regulators are very slow to see new opportunity. Consider how recently fixed trading commissions disappeared. Those should have been gone in the Roaring Twenties.

If you want good detailed information on the state of the electronic market revolution, this book is essential reading. If you own a seat on an exchange, your pocketbook requires immediate attention.

There is an excellent section on how to prepare for the transition, and another one on the dangers to be cautious of.

Good look in building your wealth faster through more efficient markets!

In reading the book, there are many things that would scare traditionalists in our business. The rules are changing, and unless we adapt as traders and exchanges, we will be doomed. As I have discussions with other board members, and other floor traders, some intuitively understand the coming electronic age. Others pass it off as a purely European phenomena. "It won't happpen here.", is a phrase I hear every day. Brokers and traders see that the computerized competitors are having a tough time gaining a foothold in the American futures market. They rest thinking that their future is secure, and that maybe their margins will be squeezed a little. The revolution has only begun. While some of the positions the book posits seem outlandish, Columbus was seen as outlandish in 1492 too. This is a must read for any person associated with floor trading or an exchange. This also makes good reading for anyone involved in government regulation. Barriers are being broken down. Borders set by politics are not relevant to the sea change taking place in the financial marketplace. The U.S. is the titan of investment capital today, but a government that shackles the growth of the marketplace due to over regulation, is doomed to see all that capital leave for less regulated environs. I am on the Board of Directors at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, so I speak from experience. The revolution has begun, and we are trying to embrace it.

Building on the monthly news and insight from Patrick Young's ADTrading.com newsletter, Patrick Young and Thomas Theys have put together a concise history of recent developments in capital markets, especially the futures markets, and the steady advance of electronic trading. As a longtime reader of the newsletter I have been exposed to most of these ideas on a monthly basis; as an industry executive I have watched the events unfold day by day. Nevertheless, this compilation provides fresh insight into Capital Markets trends.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in an overview of the recent history of the futures, equity and FX markets and a plausible view where the markets are heading.

I would also recommend Capital Markets Revolution to industry insiders who are well aware of the events and ideas discussed, as they can benefit from the framework and view of the future into which current events are placed.

An authority in the field of artificial intelligence and computer science in general, Joseph Weizenbaum provides insight in proceedings in that area but mainly warns about what these developments may lead to. It is very entertaining to read this book some 20 years after original publication and see how many of what we believe are recent developments were actually implemented back then already (on one or two priceless "super" computers).
Very dogmatic and patronizing at times, it still is a good read if only for the thought provoking ideas like: if electronic computers would have been used in the manhattan project, today we would assume that development of the atomic bomb would have been impossible without it.

The computer and natural language is a sub-domain of computer science in which one of the major aims is to imitation of man, focusing on two topics: psychology and linguistics. If we wish the machine to do something, we must tell it what to do and it must be able to understand us. The easiest way to tell a computer what to do is to give it a program to run. "Humans, if they are machines at all, are vastly general-purpose machines and what, is most important, they understand communications couched in natural language." Work must be done for a machine to understand natural language. "Man's capacity to manipulate symbols, his very ability to think, is inextricably interwoven with his linguistic abilities." A machine must be able to extract semantic content from the messages impinged upon it, adopt a syntactic structure of a visual scene and adopt a certain conceptual framework. The question of what comprises a visual symbol is in question. The developer defines the elements of the machines primitive vocabulary. Robert Lindsay said, "high quality translations could be produced by machines supplied with sufficiently detailed syntactic rules, a large dictionary, and sufficient speed to examine the context of ambiguous words for a few word in each direction."

Eliza was a program consisting mainly of general methods for analyzing sentences and sentence fragments, locating so-called keywords in texts, assembling sentences from fragments and so on. Eliza created the remarkable illusion of having understood in the minds of the many people who conversed with it.

In ordinary two person communication, each has a working hypothesis, a conceptual framework, concerning who the person is and what the conversation is about. The hypothesis serves an indicator of what the other person is going to say and what he is going to mean by what he is about to say. Often, the erroneous prediction is falsified before the sentence is completed and the listener makes corrections on the fly and virtually unconsciously. Each brings into mind an image of the other person, the image consists in part of the other's identity, attributes based on evidence derived from independent life experiences of the participant. "Our recognition of another person is thus an act of induction on evidence presented to us partly by him and partly by our reconstruction of the rest of the world; it is a kind of generalization". Eliza starts with the hypothesis that the system does understand.

Rogar C. Shank, based his theory on the central idea that every natural-language utterances is a manifestation, an encoding, of an underlying conceptual structure. Understanding an utterance means encoding it. The theory proposes a formal structure for the conceptual bases for making predictions. The theory creates formal rules for converting utterances into a conceptual base. One difficulty is that every individual's belief is constantly changing mean that an individuals entire base of conceptions is changing. "When a person enters a conversation he bring his belief structure with him as a kind of agenda."

Terry Winograd, of M.I.T, was working with a group were building a computer-controlled "hand-eye" machine; the computer could see its environment and manipulate objects in its environment by means of a computer-controlled mechanical arm. Winograd design and coded the software to enable humans by natural language, too instruct the computer, how to manipulate and explain events with respect to the toy world of blocks, in a natural language. "The robot can manipulate toy blocks on a table containing simple objects like a box." The robot could be ask to manipulate the objects, doing such things as building stacks and putting things in a box. It could be questions about the configuration of blocks on the table, about events that were going during the discussion, and it could be told simple facts about the objects which could be stored and used for reasoning later. The conversation goes on within a dynamic framework - "one in which the computer is an active participant, doing things to change his toy world, and discussing them."

I read parts of this book, thinking highly of it. I thought one particular passage from it, as quoted in Gates by Stepehen Manes and Paul Andrews, particulary stood amid the limelight: [t]he computer programmer . . . is a creator of universes for which alone is the lawgiver. . . .No playwright, no stage director, no emperor, however powerful, has ever exercised such absolute authority to arrange a stage of field a battle and to command such unswervingly dutiful actors or troops.

This book is a basic philosophical treatment of computing. I think that it should be included as a basic part of any Computer Science / Computer Engineer curriculum in respectable universities, along with Roger Penrose book, The Emperor's new mind, it creats a better understanding of what is human and what is mechanic for all those who need to know it.

Should Computer Science / Engineering freshmen/women in universities know? My answer is YES, in their first year !

This is perhaps the best book ever written on issues of computer technology and modern life, in the sense that it says a lot of really important things and is also very readable by both lay persons and technical persons. People like Jacques Ellul, Arnold Gehlen et al. have written very important texts in this area, but are much less "accessible". If the truth only counts when it is absorbed by persons, Weizenbaum's book stands out as being engrossing and a pleasure to read, as well as saying what needs to be said. It is very sad that the second edition which was supposed to be out a year or so ago has not appeared. But in no way has 20 years "dated" the present text. _Computer Power and Human Understanding_ explains why we have such problems as Y2K, etc.

Not being a student of the future studies specifically, I nonetheless found Dr. Thomas Lombardo's book of great interest and a learning experience. The book has caused me to take a greater interest in the many books references by other futurists. Too few books cause me to really dig into the references as this book does. I highly commend this work as one of the more thought provoking books I have read in the past year. Thank you Dr. Lombardo.

One of the things that intrigues me about this book and its companion volume THE EVOLUTION OF FUTURE CONSCIOUSNESS is their implicit conviction that thinking seriously about the future is a central element in human cognition, past and present, and that as it evolves it necessarily goes well beyond making predictions. I also like its well-informed treatment of science fiction (which I have sometimes thought could as appropriately be called evolutionary fiction) as a complement (and equal) to academic and technological future studies.

"From the genesis of science fiction to its Golden Age and from the history, goals and methods of futures studies to its major theories and visions of the future, Thomas Lombardo in CONTEMPORARY FUTURIST THOUGHT tells the story of the wondrous drama of the future. He has written a masterpiece that inspires, entertains, informs, mesmerizes, and at times even terrifies with its powerful images of humanity's possible futures. This book is essential reading for every futurist. And it is essential, too, for any reader who wants to know what the future holds."--Wendell Bell, Yale University.

I can't imagine a more comprehensive look at humanity's interest in, study of, and planning for our future than Thomas Lombardo has presented us with in his two recently published books, THE EVOLUTION OF FUTURE CONSCIOUSNESS, which focuses on the nature and development of "future consciousness" from ancient times through the 19th century, and CONTEMPORARY FUTURIST THOUGHT which focuses on expressions of future consciousness in the 20th and 21st centuries.

In CONTEMPORARY FUTURIST THOUGHT, Lombardo reviews in detail several 20th and 21st-century movements, or centers of interest and activity, that focus on the future. They include the science fiction phenomenon from Jules Verne and H.G. Wells to recent movies and TV shows, "future studies" in its academic and professional forms, and a concluding section on "Theories and Paradigms of the Future."

I found this last section particularly interesting. Here, Lombardo presents a wide range of contemporary views. Some of these are deterministic; they argue for a predetermined future of one kind or another. Others argue for a future determined by human values and conscious decisions. Lombardo notes that, "A common position held by many members of The World Future Society is that the future is a set of possibilities rather than one definite trajectory. Because the future is possibilities, humans have a choice in what future will be realized. Most futurists in fact talk as if they believe that the decisions made today will influence what our future will be like. We are not passive victims of supernatural destiny or natural laws."

I resonated deeply with Lombardo's closing statement: "I think that the cultivation of wisdom is an essential ingredient to creating a positive future. Wisdom integrates intellect, emotion, and action. Wisdom is grounded in an expansive awareness of the whole that acknowledges and values other people and their points of view, and involves the recognition of human fallibility and the need for courage, faith, and tempered optimism in the face of the uncertainty of the future. Wisdom is the highest expression of human development and future consciousness. If our minds are evolving and we are moving toward a New Enlightenment, then I would suggest that the essence of the New Enlightenment will be the individual and collective development of wisdom."

This volume is much more eclectic than the usual review of the field, enfolding the `zeitgeist' of the study of the future as well as the methodology. The author does this by including some of the less traditional expressions of futures thinking, including an extensive review of science fiction as it is relevant to futurist thinking. Lombardo looks at science fiction not as just an entertainment medium, but as it captures spiritual and mythic themes and he quotes some of the deeper practitioners of that field, including the incomparable Olaf Stapleton and the thoughtful HG Wells. This sensitivity to the underlying cultural currents (which of course shape all foresight work) is evident in a quote taken from Neil Postman. "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one." And unfortunately, both of these dystopian visions have now come to pass in some way.

Lombardo points out that beginning with the work of HG Wells, future studies evolved beyond mere methodology for `prediction' to assessments of human society and normative proposals for improvement. And he quotes Ed Cornish concerning the movement away from the `scientific' belief in progress after World War II toward a more value-oriented recognition of the role of uncertainty in future-studies...restated by Mike Marien as the categorization of futures into `possible, probable, and preferable.'

However, this `Western scientific view' of futures was soon expanded by scholars like Richard Slaughter in a call to look beyond technology and rationalism to the humanistic and intuitive elements of a more integral (objective/subjective, individual/social) vision of how the future unfolds. What is refreshing about this book is Lombardo's willingness to look at these often opposed viewpoints in their own context and accept each of them as part of the large future studies universe. Although he has his biases, he states them clearly and gives all sides a fair hearing.

And as foresight continued to evolve, he notes that the growth of new disciplines such as complexity and chaos theory, creativity dynamics, open systems, quantum mechanics and the study of unintended consequences brought a fresh and energizing influence to the futures field. Indeed it sometimes seems to this reviewer that the ongoing debates between various `schools' of futuring concerning their perceived strengths and weaknesses may serve as a sort of Social Darwinism, that challenges and improves the tools and techniques of these various schools of futurist thought.

In a wider context, Dr. Lombardo relates the themes of change, growth, fundamentalism, cultural evolution and even temporal physics to the larger world and how these futures concepts play out in conflicts over sustainability, religion, freedom, organizational behavior, cultural pluralism and science policy. While it is not within the range of this review to do justice to the richness and depth of this compendium, the author has worked heroically to do justice to the complexity of futures thinking and capture the thought of nearly all of its leading thinkers.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is ready to make a transformation on all levels. During my reading of ETA I felt a cellular change take place, an awakening of some kind. It was phenomenal! Only one other time did this happen, when I read The Celestine Prophecy.

The spiritual evolution of humanity and the involvement of spiritual consciousness - not often are the workings of those who guide our spiritual evolution presented so simply and in such an easy to understand and succinctly put way. This is one of those delightful stories. In many ways it is a metaphor for a vast spiritual reality - the story of the great evolution of spiritual humanity, as it is happening now. In reading this story, the task for the reader will be to look beyond the apparent details to the underlying concepts. Couched within the details and dialogue of the story are numerous interrelated themes that revolve around how those of humanity who want it are being offered the opportunity to move towards the next stage of evolution. Through this story, the seeds of these simple yet deeply significant truths are being brought to fruition.

The spiritual evolution of humanity and the involvement of spiritual consciousness - not often are the workings of those who guide our spiritual evolution presented so simply and in such an easy to understand and succinctly put way. This is one of those delightful stories. In many ways it is a metaphor for a vast spiritual reality - the story of the great evolution of spiritual humanity, as it is happening now. In reading this story, the task for the reader will be to look beyond the apparent details to the underlying concepts. Couched within the details and dialogue of the story are numerous interrelated themes that revolve around how those of humanity who want it are being offered the opportunity to move towards the next stage of evolution. Through this story, the seeds of these simple yet deeply significant truths are being brought to fruition.

ETA: A Future Tale is a story filled with predictive material for the coming millennia. It is conveyed to the reader in a story that sparks your curiousity of what the future holds for man kind. Well done by two gifted Authors. I would love to see a movie based on the book.

ETA: A Future Tale is an adventure story with many twists and turns. Important spiritual messages are interwoven throughout the story. It explains the truth about extraterrestrial interaction with humans in a practical way, the future world awaiting mankind, solutions to pending earth changes and more. It would make an excellent movie. It is spiritually inspiring as well as informative. Anyone interested in what the future holds would love this book!

Most people are neither "True Conservatives" nor "True Liberals/Progressives but rather a mixture depending upon the issue.
I know I am certainly that way.

We all want to think that if the other side just knew the "facts" as we know them, they would think just like us. But the world doesn't work like that. We all have our biases and filter information accordingly.

Before the introduction the author quotes Dale Carnegie: "In talking to people, don't begin by discussing the things on which you differ. Begin by emphasizing--and keep emphasizing--the things on which you agree. Keep on emphasizing, if possible, that you are both striving for the same end and that your only difference is one of method and not of purpose."

This is absolutely right-on-target.

That goal for most American's is: FREEDOM, OPPORTUNITY AND SECURITY for all.

A central theme in Framing The Future: How Progressive Values Can Win Elections And Influence People" by Bernie Horn (a senior director for policy and communications at the Center for Policy Alternatives in Washington, D.C.) is that for the last seven years, the federal government has been disastrously dominated by a small cadre of neo-conservative ideologues in both foreign affairs and domestic issues. The only antidote to the damage done to America's prestige abroad and our economic foundations at home in an American style democracy is the election of a majority of responsible progressives to the halls of congress and the White House. "Framing The Future" is based upon sound research, polling, and testing methodology to create simple step-by-step instructions on how political and social progressives can best and most effectively articulate their positions on the issues of the day (especially during electoral contests) and employ successful strategies to gain back the levers of government to advance their own solutions to the political, social, cultural, and economic problems that currently beset our nation. Simply stated, "Framing The Future" should be considered mandatory reading for every political activist, candidate for political office, and social issue advocacy group in the country.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Bernie Horn's "Framing The Future" will interest both political activists and students of American politics. Horn makes the case why, and how, progressives need to change their tactics - less preaching to the choir, more persuasion of the swing voters who actually decide elections.

A really interesting read that all Democratic candidates should see. A total blueprint on how to take back the power of words the Republicans have stolen.

Framing the Future is a must read for anyone advocating progressive issues from health care to world peace, Bernie Horn does a great job of showing us how to frame progressive issues in way that people can understand and support.

We are at a critical time period in church history, where we must be rethinking almost everything we have presupposed in our modern philosophy and methodology to reach post-seeker generations. Jim gives a portrait of the rising landscape that is forming in the Future Church.

Kudos to Jim for a great book that captures the essence of the emerging church movement. Often times when we think emerging churches we think of candles, poetry, tattoos, and experiential worship. Future Church is a great read because it boils down the movement to the core transferrable principles. As a new church plant it was most encouraging to hear stories from other new emerging churches and their struggles. I say this is a must read for all church planters and pastors.

Jim Wilson has shed light on the most crucial element for church leaders -- how to be THE CHURCH God needs to reach a lost and dying world. As a member of a church staff, I've witnessed firsthand how our church has grappled with finding the appropriate identity to draw those in need of the Gospel message into our church. FUTURE CHURCH helped me understand the issues and challenges our church faces. Rather than offering a purely theoretical approach, Jim provides case studies of actual churches -- from big to small; urban to rural -- which are shining examples of the FUTURE CHURCH. Thanks, Jim, for reaching out to us who are struggling to get where we need to be.

I lead a church plant in Seattle called Cascade Hills... We've been at this for 2 and a half years, and are discovering that "contemporary worship" is neither contemporary, or real worship. There is a stirring in us for more of God, and less of "churchianity." We have been on a journey of discovery, and have found ourselves outlining a ministry plan that literally has lined up with each of the 7 fulcrum points Jim Wilson so clearly articulates in "Future Church". Here's where it gets interesting . . . we did the plan, then discovered the book! I have not been able to get past the idea that this is a move of God on His Church, and that something huge is about to happen... Not just in Seattle or the West Coast, or even America, but worldwide. Thank you Jim!"

Finding our way into the future is too often like taking a trail, any trail, and hoping it leads to the mountain top. Jim Wilson has given us in Future Church a trail guide to creating a church whose best days are ahead,not behind. Based not on theory but on actual case studies, Wilson takes us behind the scenes of churches that most of us would never discover otherwise. There we meet fearless leaders and focused congreagations who are influencing the world in which they live in ways that lift up the hope and the winsome nature of the real Gospel. I'm recommending Future Church, not only to all my pastor friends, but to the leadership teams within our congregation. With a guide to a preferrable future at hand, we hope to continue the process of shaping our church into one that shapes our community for the better.

Ed Rowell, Teaching Pastor
The People's Church
Franklin, Tennessee

This is a remarkable book. It should not be read straight thru as a novel. It should be read slowly and savored because each chapter has a wealth of information to be absorbed. Dr Schimpff has written about complex subjects in terms that are understandable to everyone - those with and without any scientific background.He has a conversational way of expressing his ideas that is very refreshing. He has summerized changes that have taken place in the practice of medicine and delivery of Health Care thru our liftime and shares with us what the future will hold. He dicusses in detail what these changes will mean to us as "Personalized Medicine" and "Prevent and Predict" become the standard of care.
The chapters on the complex subjects of genomics and stem cells are a must read, particularly for those who are in a position of influence in our government. He makes these subjects more understandable and if understood, legislation is more likely to be rational and not completely subjective.
He concludes each chapter with a short summery of the information presented and then ends with "What You Should Know" and "What You Can Do".
Dr Schimpff has covered the Future of Medicine completely, from the submolecular to the operating room of the future, from vaccines to complementary medicine, from record keeping to risk management.
I recommend this book to everyone because at some time these areas of discussion will have an influence on our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

One of the greatest problems in medicine in the United States is understanding it. As consumers we are awash in information about what medicine can do for us but the inforamtion is sometimes wrong (Wikipedia, blogs) or biased (Drug company commercials) or just too complex for lay people to grasp. Also, medicine is so divided up into silos and information is developing so quickly from science that physicians have trouble keeping up with it, too. This means that we consumers have to be even more responsible for own health care choices. We have to do more research and learn things we never imagined having to learn.

When one goes to look up symptoms on the web or talk with a physician about a specific problem, it's hard to follow the conversation because few of us have a sense of the landscape--a framework for understanding what they're talking about and ways to put it all in perspective. Dr. Schimpff has made medicine understandable with this expceptionally literate new book. His conversational style and use of normal English instead of jargon makes this book immensely useful for any of us as a way to understand medicine today and for what will happen over the coming years.

So, I recommend reading this book and keeping it handy. You won't be able to learn what to do about specific symptoms--there are plenty of sources for that. But, you will be able to put the information in perspective and to have greater understanding of the decisions you have to make for yourself or with your loved ones.

I want to congratulate Dr. Schimpff on an incredible book that details the future of medicine. Our healthcare system has been focused for way too long on treating those who are sick rather than attempting to prevent disease. The Future of Medicine allows readers to envision the future of our system and the medical world.

This book should be a must read for future physicians and healthcare professionals.

As a lifelong bibliophile,I frequently haunt bookstores and seldom leave them empty-handed.While my choice of reading material is eclectic,I tend to focus on on history,biography and books related to my hobbies.
However,every so often I run across something out of the ordinary. " The Future of Medicine - Megatrends in Health Care That Will Improve Your Life" is definetly in this category.
As a layman with no medical background, I found Dr. Schimpff's book about the latest advances in medicine to be most informative.Dr. Schimpff has that rare ability of taking a weighty topic such as genomics and presenting it in such a way that the layman can easily comprehend.His explanation of the controversial subject of stem cells gave me a much better understanding of the subject. I also found the chapters covering complementary medicine and the operating room of the future fascinating.
I liked the way in which the material was presented,especially the reinforcement of the salient points throughout and at the conclusion of each chapter.
It was encouraging to read about all the technical advances currently available that are improving our health and extending our lives.
Dr. Schimff believes that the medical profession is rapidly changing from diagnosis and treatment to the prediction and prevention of disease. Sooner or later, all of us will become patients and it is important to keep up to date with what is happening in medicine so that we can take more responsibility for the quality of health care we receive. Of course the "$64,000 Question" is how we are going to afford these wonderful benefits derived from medical research and technology. Perhaps Dr. Schimpff can explore that subject in a future offering.
I highly recommend " The Future of Medicine" and hope that others will enjoy reading this book. It is well worth the time.

Richard D. Adams,Severna Park,Maryland

I found The Future of Medicine to be exceptionally informative. The book covers a wide spectrum of topics currently at the forefront of medical research. I am unaware of a comparable work dealing with the nuts and bolts of the `hot topics' in medicine for the lay reader.
This book should enable any reader to better understand the scientific basis for the discoveries and advances we hear about in the media every day. The author describes the advances in genomics, stem cell research, diagnostic imaging and complimentary medicine that will affect all of us either directly or through a family member. The author has an excellent way of describing complex technologies in plain language that a lay person can understand. At the same time, those who have a scientific background should not be disappointed: the book contains sufficient detail for the non specialist to benefit.
The introduction to the book describes how the author's grandfather - also a physician - practiced a distinctly different discipline than those practicing medicine today. This was one of the things for me that made the book more than simply a dry summary of medical technology. The stories of individuals which illustrate the topics are quite fascinating.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in medical science trends. Both high school and college students considering a career in medicine would benefit greatly by reading The Future of Medicine.

A fascinating book of photographs of Central Pennsylvania. It brough back many memories of another, gentler time. It also reminded me of just how beautiful my home state is.

By researching the contents and by presenting them as you have, you have given a real feeling of place and time.

Thank you kindly for the magnificent book of photographs that captures Pennsylvania's landscape. It is a treasure for today's readers. It will be a superb history for those who will read it tomorrow. Beautiful contribution. Professional. Exquisite.

The book is sensational. It is the sort of thing the Lord would have done if he had money. Joking aside, it is the product of a monumental undertaking. Painstaking, professional, and powerful are words which spring to my lips in describing it.

Warm feelings of visitng my greatgrandmother on hot summer days in Curwensville and Clearfield. The outhouses, the barns, the bear in the big city, brought back those memories of unearned family affection and the mountain views. A joyful book for families in Pennsylvanial, Nevada or any where else in the world.

Buy a copy if you are a thinking "liberal"! Great stuff from the longtime political cartoonist Tom Tomorrow. Timely and well thought out cartoons, devastating to the right wing nut jobs that are so prevalent in this country, and can be read in one sitting (though it may be best to space out the book over a few viewings). Highly recommended!

If you are familiar with his work, which is published around the web and various alternative news weeklies around the country, you might be tempted to think this is just a compilation of those strips put in book format. But it is really more than that - for one thing it easier to browse and enjoy. There are strips here that were either never published, or I missed them. And when read from front to back, they read like an accurate account of the past three years from a politically savvy, sarcastic genius friend. You'll read some of these strips and be amazed at how exactly right he gets it - *as it is happening!*

Great artist, great book - buy it!

Tom Tomorrow has done it again--a whole book of political cartoons that make you want to laugh and cry simultaneously. The only reason I could bear to read it is that I know Bush will be out of office in a few months. It's a great gauge of our poltical and social age, and the things that seemed normal at the time, but that will be judged as crazy in a few years (I hope).

Tom Tomorrow holds a mirror to Real American readers. Who would think that stating the obvious and great artwork could be so funny?

This is a great holiday gift for any progressive.

Tom Tomorrow a/k/a Dan Perkins is extremely insightful when reviewing our current political climate. This book is a must read for all of his fans who may have forgotten his prediction of the tech and housing bubbles, as well as everyone else who do not read his work on a weekly basis. Dpn't just buy one copy, buy several to give as gifts to those who still need enlightening.

This was a gift to my son who is a major Godzilla fan. He is savoring every cartoon page.

This book is fantastic! It chronicles the first part of the Drak Horse Godzilla series. Too bad it was cancelled later down the road, thanks to the Zilla crap we fans had to watch in 1998.

But this story is a great treat for fans of Godzilla. The storylines are solid and the artwork is spectacular. It truelly is a book for true fans of the monster king. Buy it and enjoy. It's a great collectors item. Take it home and enjoy some great stories.

This is probably the best of the 2 Godzilla comic compilations. It follows the story of G-Force tracking down Godzilla blah blah blah, if you've read the last collection, or just read the comic books, you know what G-Force is all about. In this book, Godzilla fights a giant mechanical spider, giant aliens (speaking of which, the way they connected the aliens with the super-intelligent apes with the guys from the last series was brilliant), travels through time, fights a new creature called Burtannus, and fights a giant lobster (it's not Ebirah, though). But there's a lot of action in between these fights. If you claim to be the biggest Godzilla fan ever, you'll be a liar until you own this along with the comp' that was before it.

Dark Horse has put out some of the worst comics ever (if not THE worst), but the Godzilla series is the one light that shines through it's empire of darkness. Sorry for the weird comparisons, but c'mon, it's true!

Too bad the story of G-Force and Godzilla didn't continue after this, as the ending really leaves you wanting more, since it seems that it could lead into more amazing comics installed into the series. Well, as far as _I_ know, it didn't continue. But if it did, I'd love to get the next compilation.

This Godzilla book is quite nice. I was impressed with the artwork of the Big G. He's always so terrifying and cool at the same time. The stories Godzilla was put into for this book are unique (our resident mega dinosaur sure is a busy king). I found the last one, the short story on Godzilla's origin and possible purpose in the world, to be the most interesting because no matter how much destruction and suffering the King of Monsters causes, he really is the only one who can be Earth's protector against enemy giant monsters. I think it's about time he realizes it.

The human team G-Force who always follow Godzilla are an able and determined bunch who try their hardest to understand the Big G's reasons for existing. It's too bad G-Force and Godzilla aren't friends or something so that maybe some kind of interesting development could happen between them.

The final part of the 1990's Dark Horse comic series, 'Past, Present, Future' has Godzilla fighting the familiar intergalactic space apes of previous movies, which was an added bit of ridiculous plot twist we Godzilla fans all know and love. This book practically features 'Godzilla vs. Predator', but instead of the 8 foot intergalactic hunter going after humans, you have a group of 80 foot intergalactic hunters going after Godzila. Interesting, and very different.

The main focus of this comic is Godzilla being transported throught he past, present and future, causing disasters such as the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in Pompeii, the sinking of the Titanic, and th 1909 San Francisco Earthquake. A mad scientist, who looks like something out of a cheesy 1940's space adventure comic, is a rather ridiculous character, but like the first trade paperback in this series, the corny plot twist is a welcome and familiar aspect of Godzilla, but this was definitely the lowest point of the Godzilla storyline.

Unfortuantely, Dark Horse ended its Godzilla run before they finished it...so the final story ends poorly and abruptly, with Godzilla and G-Force about to engage in a huge fight...a fight which never comes, since the series ends. I would've liked to have seen more Godzilla comics from Dark Horse, so if they ever decide to revive it, i'll be the first one to pick it up...though I sincerely doubt it will happen.

Like the first TPB 'Age of Monsters', this book has been published completely in Black & White...most likely to save money. Its unfortuante, since the lack of color from the original comics severely detracts from the detail, making some of the art panels difficult to interpret. Otherwise, the art is good, and the stories have the classic Godzilla formula to keep them up.

As far as Dark Horse Comics goes...they have undoubtedly put out some of the worst comics ever conceived...I would dare say even probably the worst in the entire history of American literature. Luckily, Godzilla does not suffer from that...it was a good run that ended too early and abruptly. Definitely pick this one up for your collection.