Option

Read more like a press release or company-paid pr fluff than a detached history of the company. The corporate-speak hyperbole was enough to make one nauseous.

Over the past year I have been involved in the startup of a competitive telecommunications provider owned by AT&T. I frequently cited this book and the experiences of MCI in discussions with others in my company when dealing with difficult issues.

This book is one of the more memorable case studies I've ever found. The pages flew by, though the sayings within remained indelibly marked in my mind.

Yes, the book is written by MCI insiders proud of what they accomplished. They should be. I only wish more companies would share their experiences with the world in this manner and with the simple but memorable words used here. I could use a few more of these case studies.

This book is just plain horrible. I am a trader and a cyclical investor. I am also an engineer with Engineering Mechanics background, and very familiar with the complex math explained by Ehlers. But let me tell you, for people without any background in math this book is an absolute waste of time.

The most important thing that Ehlers should have focused, he simply forgot or ignored. The book fails to show real life examples with buy-sell signals using the indicator. It goes on and on along the theoretical lines of cycle analysis and it stays at that throughout the book.

It would have been much more entertaining to explain the indicator and show real life examples. But from my experience as a researcher and writer of research articles, people from this field tend to embelish and emphasize the theoretical size while completely ignoring the pure and simple aspects.

A simple cycle analysis done with moving average detrending as explained by Pring is much easier. Also, a simple look at the charts and the drawing of a simple cycle lines is all that it takes to show you the turning points.

The broad trading public has been slow to recognize John Ehlers work to apply cycles methodologies (from the sciences) to trading markets .... which is good for those of use who have discovered Ehlers' work with MESA (Maximum Entropy Spectral Analysis).

The first edition of this book is still the clearest and most concise discussion of applying cycles theory to markets I've ever read. This new edition retains all of the content of the first edition, but updates it with a lot of new and additional information from Ehlers' recent research into cycles and his development of trading indicators and tools.

Many are familiar with the J.M. Hurst classic: "The Profit Magic of Stock Transaction Timing". Ehlers goes far beyond Hurst's pioneering work. Ehlers is an original thinker, applying new techniques and research using MESA to the market. Hurst was using a multi-million dollar mainframe in the 60's .... all of us have 10,000X more computer power sitting on our desktops than Hurst had .... Ehlers techniques can help the serious trader and investor turn all that "horsepower" loose on the market today, making it accessible to even us small traders.

Hurst was also constrained to using Fourier Analysis for cycles detection .... Ehlers' MESA overcomes the need of Fourier for long data spans to compute cyclic content.

If you're serious about the markets, this book needs to be part of your library .... along with Ehlers other book: "Rocket Science For Traders"

The title of this book led me to believe that the book would focus mostly on the pre-conception aspects of motherhood after 35. This was not the case. Four out of six chapters focused on pregnancy, childbirth, and caring for a new baby. I was disappointed in this book for several other reasons as well. The two chapters that did deal with the actual decision to become pregnant and the alternatives available were poorly written and insensitive to women like myself who are having difficulty conceiving due to age. I thought this book would offer me some insight into the biological and emotional aspects of trying to become a mother after the age of 35. I found the medical facts to be out of date and pregnancy options not thorougly explored (for example, there were only 2 pages on donor egg and one paragraph on adoption). In addition, the book seemed to be written from the perspective that anyone can get pregnant easily, whether they want to or not. There were many stories in the first chapter of women in their later years who found out they were accidentally pregnant, or suddenly found themselves pregnant and were happy because they suddenly felt "older" and "grownup." This is a severe injustice to women who sincerely desire to become a mother, but are having difficulty. I would not recommend this book to anyone--even those women who have easily conceived.

As a woman who waited until her 30's to start having children, I found this book very uplifting, it satisfied alot of my fears of waiting to get pregnant, and what to expect if you are having trouble conceiving, and alternative methods of fertility therapy. I give this book two thumbs up, it was very helpful to me.

Children are a blessing from God. Planning not to have them is stupid. That's like planning to be poor. Don't buy this book.

I found the book insightful and helpful. It addresses some really important issues that I think are becoming increasingly relevant.

I can't believe this 260 page book has appendices that start on page 117!! Over half of this book is lists of stocks included in the ETF's...easily obtainable on the web. We didn't need to kill trees for this! I thought the author would discuss sector swapping strategies, etc. , but not in this book. This book just contains some basic information about ETF's in today's market.

Exchange-Traded-Funds ("Basket Securities")are fast becoming the most important and popular investments in the world. And for good reason. As the authors point out, they offer superior performance to most mutual funds at a tiny fraction of the cost, offer tax advantages in the form of low capital gains distributions, and exposure to over 100 different market indicies. The authors offer a "Holy Grail" strategy of swapping between active and passive management, and a primer on point and figure analysis to boot. Don't look for precise, technical timing formulas, but rather get this book as your definitive reference on ETFs.

The coherent market hypothesis (CMH) presented in this book is an interesting alternative to the commonly used efficient market hypothesis. However, nonlinear dynamical systems have had less impact on economics than on other sciences. For good reasons. In economics there is rarely a theoretical reason for expecting to find one form of nonlinearity rather than another. As a result, the concepts presented in this book are quite interesting, but none of them is particularly convincing. In addition, the complex mathematics are not clearly explained. Empirical verification of the CMH is therefore extremely difficult, if not impossible. The practical value of this book is rather limited and does not provide enough reasons to abandon the assumptions of the efficient market hypothesis as a basis for day-to-day trading decisions.

The topic of this book: Using Chaos Theory for Market Timing, Stock Selection and Option Valuation--corresponds to that area of Economics reflected in the current Nobel Prize in Economics Winners for 2003! This book by Tonis Vaga, "Profiting from Chaos: Using Chaos Theory for Market Timing, Stock Selection, and Option Valuation", Dec., 1994; ISBN 0-07-066786-1 is about 9 years ahead of its time. The original definition of chaos emphasized the apparent unpredictable behavior arising in a dynamic deterministic system because of great sensitivity to initial conditions. If two arbitrarily close starting points diverge exponentially so that their future behavior becomes unpredictable then chaos has arisen! This is characteristic of weather, stock markets, and commodity markets. However, short term and middle term weather forecasting is performed regularly before the long term effects of chaos sets in. This is the same type of strategy used in this book for Market Timing, Stock Selection, and Option Valuation by use of Chaos Theory. There is an underlying regularity in a function that exhibits chaos which can be revealed by systematic perturbations to the trajectory. Just like weather forecasting can be successful by redefining the short and medium term (i.e., defacto systematic perturbations) then "Profiting from Chaos" in the short and medium term is also possible. The Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway has just confirmed the underlying thesis of Tonis Varga's book by this year's Nobel Prize in Economics award! I suspect that a revised edition will now be in the works, but get the original version before it is too late!

The author obviously put a lot of work into this, but in many cases it appears to be in an effort to produce the longest possible document. There is frequently little point to the protracted discussion, and it is often difficult to read. The CD-ROM format makes it particularly difficult to thumb through and find things of interest, but it is obvious that there will never be a printed version of the document since it would never be a comemrcial success.

In many cases the author disagrees with the data and conclusions contained in more "academic" works that are likely better researched and have been peer reviewed to ensure they are accurate; one is often left wondering here if the information comes from a primary source (and what the pedigree of that source is), or is simply the author's point of view or recollection.

Given the relatively low price it is probably worth purchasing. But I would not take anything presented as gospel unless you have independent corroborating evidence.

This electronic book is a 1400 page, somewhat sparsely illustrated overview of NASA manned spaceflight from the earliest days to the recent ISS construction missions. The author clearly put an impressive amount of effort into the writing of this massive tome. It focuses mostly on the technical, political and budgetary aspects of the manned space programs with little about the astronauts themselves. Although written in the dry style of typical NASA reports, it is a very comprehensive overview of NASA's manned spaceflight efforts and would make an excellent textbook or reference on the subject. One hopes that a print version of the book becomes available soon.

The contents of the book whets your appetite for some useful information. The reality falls far short of your expectations however. The technical analysis section presents nothing you should not already know and is very weak. Many of the examples are of very radical events in historical perspective. If you are looking for real strategy and technical analysis keep searching. If you wish to learn the fundamentals this may be useful. The charts present the profit/loss potential involved in trading.

This book and Todd Lofton's "Getting Started in Futures" are probably the best beginner's books in the market. These 2 books give you a feel for the futures game, to let you decide whether you should participate in it or not. This book touches most aspects of trading, but you should study a thicker deeper hard cover book by Jack Schwager, Perry Kaufman, Martin Pring or John Murphy before committing serious money to the game.

Enthralled by the thought of learning secrets to create a unique working relationship between human resources and marketing, I bought the book. However, I was disappointed early on. It was a continuing snip-it of others' work with little true insight into bridging the gulf between marketing and human resources. The authors attempted to show areas of overlap and differences and in my opinion could have spent much of the book showing how to work toward alignment between the two departments. Rather, it showed how HR must market the hospital to employees, both new and old and how marketing must use surveys to assist administration in identify patient satisfaction issues. Nothing new, especially if we appreciate and recognize the continual efforts of patient and non-patient care staff to provide excellence in healthcare - inside and outside of the four walls we call a hospital. "Raving Fans" is much better. VP - HR, Salina, KS.

Building Links between Marketing and Human Resources to Achieve Organizational Goals in Health Care.

"Talk about getting out of the box, this book blows the entire lid right off! If you want to position your organization to succeed in a tight labor market, this is definitely the way to go. In these days of low unemployment, your organization's future may depend on utilizing this creative approach to management." -- Sheila Ridner, BSN and MSHSA, CEO, First Hospital Corporation, Nashville, TN

Cost containment, increased productivity, and customer satisfaction have become watchwords for many health care organizations. Untapped Options offers a unique and innovative management model that addresses all three by aligning employee recruitment, training, and retention (Human Resources) with attracting patients and retaining them (Marketing). By allowing the mission, vision, and values of the company to synchronize the strategies of both departments, remarkable synergies are created that provide benefits for the entire firm. Properly implemented using the guidelines in this book, this fresh approach can result in improved performance, higher employee satisfaction, increased patient satisfaction and greater financial security for the organization.

The 62 first-person essays here are aimed at both those considering getting an MLS (like me), and those in the field looking for a change. It provides a very valuable service by doing exactly what the title says, however one can't help but feel it's time for a new edition that reflects the massive growth of the Internet since the book's publication in 1997. Many of the essays are by people who got jobs linked to the first wave of computer use in the libraries, and in that sense, it feels very dated. Indeed, if you look at the contributors' biographies, the majority seem to have gotten their degrees around the time I was born (early '70s). I'd like to see more from younger librarians, and more about the technology end of things. The book is well organized, so it's easy to skim and find the entries that interest you, although there did seem to be a fair amount of overlap in the area of information consulting. Still, it's a valuable book for anyone considering an MLS.

This book includes interesting narratives from librarians in a variety of jobs outside of the traditional library. However, the book predates the explosion of technology and the Internet, so it doesn't really touch on MLS grads working in computer-related jobs. The book includes 62 personal case studies and is divided into the following sections: (1) publishers, writers, booksellers, reviewers, (2) products and services for libraries, (3) independent librarians, (4) independent librarians with companies of their own, (5) association work and work in the academic world, (6) librarians employed in the corporate world, (7) some librarians who have traveled farther afield (includes private investigator, archivist, etc).