PM

The focus of this book is on thermal imagers, although occasional tidbits on visual CCD imagers appear. It also covers military equipment going back to the early days. It brings together a wealth of hard-to-find information and the author is very definitely an authority on the subject. Typos appear now and then, and parts of it are difficult to follow. But usually things are well explained, and if not, there's always the internet.

My wife has been lugging this huge book about with her for the past couple of weeks. When we ride the train into town she has to buy an extra ticket just to get it on board. As a consequence of wielding this weighty tome, her biceps have developed to the extent where she now makes extra money arm-wrestling merchant seamen at the Sail & Anchor. But apparently this mighty effort is worthwhile in other ways - she informs me "Recollections of a Bleeding Heart" is a great read.
Don Watson, speech writer for former pig farmer and prime minister Paul Keating, kept a diary. It was from these notes and observations that the 750 odd pages of this "bleeding" book emerged. The book is, as its subtitle informs us, "A Portrait of Paul Keating PM".
Bravely, tNew Edition Bookshop invited the inimitable Mr. Watson for an in-store appearance. When my wife and I arrived on Wednesday night, I realized what a substantial risk the store owner was taking in staging an event like this. So many people with so many glasses of red wine, in such close proximity to so many nice new books! It seemed a potential disaster, so I resolved to put as much wine out of harm's way as humanly possible.
Don Watson appeared soon after the sushi, behind a stack of his bleeding books, and launched into a commentary of the current political climate, which kept the fifty odd punters engrossed till well after bedtime. Don argues that since 1996, Australia has become a country bereft of ideas. The pragmatists counter that this is a good thing, and Australia has become a more "practical" country as a result. Hmmm. I would counter with Brian Eno's aphoristic "thinking is a really good idea."
According toDon, the Labor party after Keating drifted into the hands of party professionals, the somewhat oxymoronic "political experts". The result is that "pragmatism becomes the principle, becomes a kind of ideology". And his opinion on the current political climate? "Both sides of politics are suffering from chronic pragmatism. Our current federal government is a kind of regime of inaction."
The Shakesperean motif of the incomplete, tragic character appears in Don's address, as he speculates on what might have been. "If Hawkey had stuck with policy stuff instead of playing to the ceremonial, as he did in the end. If Fraser had discovered that side of his personality which he has discovered since - he probably would have been leading the Labor Party for years. If Gough had had a bit of economics...even a tiny bit of economics...or even someone prepared to talk to him about economics ..." And Keating? He is portrayed as someone who had the "enormous self belief that is required to reform a party, change its attitude, and get into a position where he could imagine becoming Prime Minister" while at the same time remaining "a bit wilful and melancholic." After two carafes of red, I was feeling a bit wilful and melancholic myself. This talk of politics, these encouragements to "write to your local member", served only to make me embrace my anarchic tendencies. So I accosted Mr First Edition and enquired as to the availability of William Godwin's anarchist tract "Political Justice". With startling helpfulness, he got on the computer and immediately tracked a copy down in London. Two hundred pounds. I checked my pockets. They were empty. "Hellfire and damnation!" I cried. "Smash the cistern!" and went in search of the dunny.
When I returned, Don was at a desk doing his best Salvador Dali impersonation, signing everything and anything placed before him. What he needs is a lobster telephone, I thought. My wife had found Justin from OOPS Books, who had reportedly sourced for her a copy of Rebecca West's "Black Lamb Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia" which, at over a thousand pages, is likely to further stretch the boundaries of her handbag.
With New Edition's books safe from any calamity of the vine (the wine had run out) we left in search of a local ale, some conversazione, and perhaps an arm wrestle.

Judith Krantz is not a writer you read for intellectual stimulation or spiritual enlightenment. But she is still one of the most entertaining mass-market novelists around, especially for women. All of her books feature strong, attractive (on the inside as well as the outside) yet believable women; and the plots are the stuff of modern age fairy tales. Scruples is her first novel, the one that put her on the map and was a smash hit in the late '70s. The heroine, Billy Winthrop Ikehorn (two other surnames follow eventually), may be the least likeable of all her heroines, yet is the most believable perhaps because she is flawed. The plot and settings feel slightly dated, but don't really distract from the pure mindless enjoyment of a "smashing read". One of the big attractions of the Krantz novels are the well-researched and absorbing "inside details" of the settings - of the Beverly Hills retail world, the movie industry and people of a certain class in Paris in the case of Scruples. If you read this book and like it, you'll want to grab all her books; if you hate it, don't bother with any others. I have been buying every single one of her books since Scruples up to her latest, Spring Collection, and hope she continues. They are great for reading in bed or in a hot tub.

Judith Krantz was not the first great writer of women's fiction: Mary McCarthy, Taylor Caldwell, Grace Metallus and Jacqueline Susann came before her. Yet, certainly, Krantz gave birth to the women's fiction industry as it exists today. Susan Issacs, Olivia Goldsmith, Danielle Steel, Jackie Collins, Barbara Taylor Bradford and Mary Higgins Clark are just some of those who follow the path blazed by Judith Krantz. A few of these Great Dames may have equalled Ms. Krantz, but none of them has yet exceeded her success.

SCRUPLES is the first modern novel written in that lively style which so many others have tried to emulate. As always with Ms. Krantz, SCRUPLES has several complicated, entwined plotlines involving the half-dozen or so leading characters. As always with Ms. Krantz, these characters each are complex, convincing and endearing. Her writing here, as it would prove to be ever after, is easy to read and quick-paced.

Where Judith Krantz stands alone among the ladies is in the details. After a reader has finished one of her books, that reader will have had an education in whatever topics the book covers. In SCRUPLES, the reader will learn all about high-end retailing and fashion design, about growing up in Paris, about the lifestyle of the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. In fact, Judith Krantz probably solidified the entire fascination with that kind of lifestyle, spawning television series, magazines and, yes, other novels. In reading Ms. Krantz's work, one admires the gowns, tastes the treats, smells the perfume, touches the sculptures. No other author consistently claims this same effect.

Many years after its first issue, SCRUPLES remains as fresh as the day it was published. Not many works can boast of this achievement, and those that do are known as "classics." This freshness, too, must be unique among the women's books. The similar efforts of other authors quickly become dated if they are not read within the first couple of years after they hit the shops.

Judith Krantz deserves greater appreciation than she has received from her legion of fans. An entire branch of the publishing industry has evolved out of second-rate authors who attempt to imitate her style with little success, yet acknowledgement of Krantz's impact has been inexcusably slow in coming.

Judith Krantz clearly set out to write a big, glitzy novel, a fun read. And she did. Did she ever! Very simply, Judith Krantz is the best of the best.

I don't usually read romance novels - they're all patently predictable and unbelievable and, in most cases, horribly written. My girlfriend read Scruples during the summer that we were both 15, and she made me read it, which I did in one long, hot day, stretched out in a hammock in my backyard. The writing is quite intelligent, humorous, touching, and diverse - Judith Krantz, I quickly learned, likes to educate the reader at odd, unsuspected moments. Odd little tidbits - such as South Carolina produces more fashion models than any other state, and that panties from Juel Park go for $200.00 a paid (or did in 1976). The sex was rather yummy, and kind of ahead of its time (read the glory hole sequence). Yeah, I read it, and yeah, I enjoyed it, and yeah, I read her other books as well. I must admit, this one was my favorite. I still have a copy, and i still re-read it from time to time. Hey, sometimes you just have to appreciate the classics.

This CD-ROM primarily contains materials relating to cancer diagnosis and treatment generally, and very little information specific to Hodgkins Disease.

This CD is merely a PDF of thousands of web pages.

Additionally, it is not even well organized. For instance, on of the files is over 2000 pages long, without a table of contents.

Whoever publishes this should be ashamed for taking money from cancer patients and their families.