My freshman roommate once told me that there are some books so precious to you that you are amazed that you can just buy them at the bookstore for $20 like everyone else. This is one of those books. The ideas in this book are so profound and far-reaching, any reader will be surprised that this is not some famous philosophical work. At first glance the ideas are easy to understand, but on the other hand, you can spend forever just trying to get a grip on them and trying to apply them. A basic sum-up is this: when you treat people like objects, you're in the box. When you sincerely care about their well-being and criticize them only when it is in their best interest (and not just out of vengeance, or to justify your mental picture of them), you are out of the box. All in all, this one makes it into my list of my favorite books ever written. Buy it: you won't be disappointed.

I liked reading this book. More than other Jefferson books (even Dumas Malone's 6 volumes), you get a feeling for Jefferson's personality. That is reason enough to buy this book. I think, though, that Ellis loses his grip on Jefferson's personality about halfway through the book. After that point, Ellis cannot see anything redeeming about Jefferson. Books like this need to be written. Jefferson is too important not to be argued over. But ultimately, a writer must love his subject to portray the person most accurately. I suggest this book but also Dumas Malone's "Jefferson The Virginian," the best volume on Jefferson I've read. BTW, Ellis seems to have turned his dislike of Jefferson (which is under the surface in this whole book) to outright antagonism. In a recent Newsweek article, he referred to Jefferson as "a thinking man's racist." Ouch.

This doesn't sound like an Erasure album: it doesn't have any fast, rousing dance tunes like "Stop!" or "Oh L'Amour." The songs are all slow and soothing. I've always thought this was their best album. I like to listen to this one on cool, dark nights in my car with my sunroof open. From front to back, the tracks are fantastic. Some standouts include "Always," "I Love Saturday," and "Take Me Back." This one is a must-buy, as is their Wild album.

McGregor really elevates management to a higher plane: this book is at least as good and important as James McGregor Burns' "Leadership." The book is a treatise against traditional command and control management: it is an optimistic book, buoyant with ideas on how even non-management is capable of creativity and self-direction (I refer here to the influence of Abraham Maslow's ideas on his work). I couldn't help but be wowed by McGregor's faith in common workers (one of his ideas is that employees should evaluate themselves, for instance, instead of getting evaluated by superiors). In essence the book is summed up in his sentence: "The distintive potential contribution of the human being . . . at every level of the organization, stems from his capacity to think, to plan, to exercise judgement, to be creative, to direct and control his own behavior" (114). Is every worker like this? Probably not, but it was refreshing to read someone who thought so. Those who enjoyed this book would also like John Gardner's "On Leadership."

What an album! It took me a little time to get used to this one but once I did, I couldn't take it out of my cd player. This is what every record should sound like. It's so experimental that it's easily ten years ahead of it's time. The sampling is great and the raps are wonderful. If you don't have it, buy it. You just can't be dissapointed with this one. Every one I know who has this one thinks it's the Beastie Boys' best. I think it's right up there with Prince's Purple Rain as far as eighties albums go, maybe even better.

In this book, Heider guides the reader down the long path to enlightened leadership. Leadership is not about manipulation or command and control, says Heider; the leader should at most be a catalyst for what the group should come up with themselves. Interesting stuff. The gold nuggets of wisdom that Heider gives in this book are reason enough to buy it, even if you are not a leader. It goes without saying that Taoism encompasses much more than mere leadership and I finished the book wanting to know more about Taoism. My one criticism of this book is that it is not for everybody. What Heider purports, essentially, is a very specific, idealised form of leadership (in real life, you have to learn to have a forceful presence, not just be wise and harmonious). But if this sounds like your type of book, then buy it, along with Max Depree's Leadership Is An Art.

I hadn't heard much Bob Dylan before I bought this album, but the first time I heard "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" on this CD, I thought it was the greatest song ever. Visions of Johanna, Just Like Like A Woman, and Rolling Stone are also wonderful. I've since heard some of these tracks on the original albums (like Highway 61), and while they sound great, they don't compare to this live album. Even if you don't like Bob Dylan, you should own this album. It's a rocking performance.

This book is a great intro to how your life can be undermined by not being aware of your inferior function. Quenk is a master at presenting each of the eight functions and how we can lose control of these functions if we don't know exactly how our inferior function can take control when we're stressed, tired, irritated, etc. I've read a couple of books on personality type but I don't think I really understood the eight functions until this book. By going back to the basics (using Jung's typology instead of Keirsey's temperament theory), Quenk is able to see farther than most authors I've read. I also liked Quenk's discussion of the auxilliary function, which I'm slowly learning might be the most helpful function in becoming a complete person. With the information in this book, I feel like I can empathize so much more with other types than I could before. This is especially useful for an INTJ like myself who can have problems attending to people's feelings. I recommend this book and another excellent book: Lenore Thomson's Personality Type: An Owner's Manual.

This was a good read. I especially liked McNamara's reconstruction of the cabinet meetings (with Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy) that led up to our involvement in Vietnam: it really showed the ambivalence and confusion these two presidents had about our involvement in Vietnam. Also helpful was the way McNamara presented the real-life difficulties of trying to get disentangled from the mess he had helped create. I'd recommend this book to anybody who wants the other side of the story of our involvement in Vietnam (it certainly was not as black and white as I once thought it was). McNamara deserves a lot of credit for writing such an honest portrayal. Also interesting for any reader will be McNamara's reconstruction of the cast of characters involved in the major decision making (Kennedy, Johnson, George Ball, etc). I recommend this book and the edited version of The Pentagon Papers (which McNamara commissioned). This latter book really puts you inside the White House during the 1960s.

This was a great film. I've always liked Levinson's ability to create believable (if eccentric) characters on the screen. All the actors are great and Mickey Rourke puts in an excellent perfomance as the leading man. My one criticism of this movie is that I don't think the storyline was quite as developed as it should have been. The major dilemmas (marriage, owed money to bookies) were resolved at the end almost anti-climactically without any lead up. But this film is pretty good: entertaining and funny. For those who like this one, I also recommend Levinson's masterpiece, Avalon.