Divine Excess

Customer Reviews:

photographs with no commentary - primarily Mexican.......2000-07-27

This book contains photographs without commentary - it is not a study of Mexican Baroque/folk style but rather an opportunity to experience something of the Mexican style without traveling.

The churchs are all Mexican with the exception of one in Antigua Guatemala. The northernmost is in Zacateca, the southernmost in Mexico is in Tlacholula - some 20+ locations in all.

Many of the black and white photos lack sufficient differentiation in the book so that some sections of the photo lacks detail. The composition of the photographs is excellent.

Photos of particular interest to me: The Church of Santa Maria in Jolalpan with its very brightly painted exterior, the Day of the Dead colorful skeletons, the very ornate Chapel of the Rosary in Puebla, the vine/saint motif in the Church of Santa Domingo in Oaxaca.

If you are interested in folk religion or religious architecture, this volume is recommended.

Average customer rating:
Divine Excess Mexican Ultra-Baroque
Ichiro Ono
Manufacturer: Chronicle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000INV68Y

Book Description

In this exciting drawing title, acclaimed artist Gene Franks invites you into his artistic world as he shows you how to re-create a variety of inspiring still lifes in pencil. First he discusses the materials you will need to get started; then he moves onto basic strokes and techniques. Finally he presents step-by-step demonstrations encompassing a variety of still life subjects. Each lesson features simple instructions and easy-to-follow steps, with clear explanations of art concepts and special tips. This book makes it easier than ever to master drawing still lifes, and it's sure to be enjoyed for years as a welcome addition to any artist's library of drawing references!

Average customer rating:

The ultimate guide to dog photography

Picture Perfect Dogs: A Guide to Dog Photography
Steve Eltinge
Manufacturer: Mip Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0961720425

Customer Reviews:

The ultimate guide to dog photography.......1998-07-14

Tons of tips and great color photos. Aimed towards the novice breeder, and written in easy to understand terms, the chapters illustrate how to capture and frame memorable photos of your pet.

Average customer rating:
Mad About Plaid!: Quilts from Classic Fabrics (That Patchwork Place)
Debbie Bacon
Manufacturer: Martingale and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Quilts & Quilting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Scraps Scraps

Show Me How to Paper Piece

Fantastic Finishes (Rodale's Successful Quilting Library)

Innovative Piecing (Rodale's Successful Quilting Library)

21 Sensational Patchwork Bags

ASIN: 1564775186

Average customer rating:
Mad about Plaid (Item No. 640)
Teri Christopherson
Manufacturer: Black Mountain Quilts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NL5ZYW

Average customer rating:

Cute book with one weakness

Glad About Plaid!

Kids Will Love It!

Mad about Madison!

Meet Miss Madison Pratt!

Mad About Plaid
Jill McElmurry
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 068816952X

Book Description

Madison Pratt is delighted to find a lonely plaid purse in the park one afternoon. Then the purse's mad curse causes Madison--and her whole neighborhood--to turn plaid! Will Madison's spunk and optimism help to reverse the curse before it's too late? Filled with vivid colors and rich textures that enhance the story's humor, Jill McElmurry's first picture book is just as bright and creative as her irresistible heroine.

Customer Reviews:

Cute book with one weakness.......2005-07-19

My four-year-old daughter enjoyed the book, and the illustrations are spunky and colorful. I have one complaint. Why on earth did the main character have to be called Madison? The name Madeleine would have worked equally well. (In fact, I replace "Madison" with "Madeleine" whenever I read the book to my daughter.) I'm afraid that the book will seem quite dated in 10 years or so because the author didn't have the sense to give the main character a classic, real name.

Glad About Plaid!.......2000-08-18

I have always been a big fan of the funny little details in children's books. Ms.McElmurry has definately satisfied this for me.I love the part when Madison is sitting on her "sterilized" couch after the assault and has her little "sterile" booties and mittens on and eating lo-plaid snacks! It's so adorable to look at over and over. And needless to say, her story is so imaginative with a mix of light and dark that I like too. Oh, and be sure to read all the signs on the stores when the town catches the germ they are very funny too. Great work Jill!

Kids Will Love It!.......2000-06-17

My second grade class loved this one! Super illustrations and great text (rhyming). Fun fun fun! You'll be reading and rereading this to your kids!

Mad about Madison!.......2000-05-01

My daughter (almost 3) is mad about this book! She wants to read it constantly. It's a little curious in that the author seems to speak in verse sometimes and not other times, but that's a small quibble.

Meet Miss Madison Pratt!.......2000-04-14

Join many others in greeting this wonderful new character intoyour life and the lives of children you love. Guaranteed to pleaseadults as well as children-- should be on Granny Alert for gifts and perusal. Go to your favorite bookstaore and ask to see it. The illustrations and wit make it a treat!

Average customer rating:

The Plaid Mad
MAD Magazine
Manufacturer: Warner Books Inc (Mm)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0446325368

Average customer rating:

Mad about Plaid!
Debbie Bacon
Manufacturer: Martingale and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MC194M

Average customer rating:

The Plaid Mad

Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Amazon.com

On September 23, 1998, the boardroom of the New York Fed was a tense place. Around the table sat the heads of every major Wall Street bank, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, and representatives from numerous European banks, each of whom had been summoned to discuss a highly unusual prospect: rescuing what had, until then, been the envy of them all, the extraordinarily successful bond-trading firm of Long-Term Capital Management. Roger Lowenstein's When Genius Failed is the gripping story of the Fed's unprecedented move, the incredible heights reached by LTCM, and the firm's eventual dramatic demise.

Lowenstein, a financial journalist and author of Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, examines the personalities, academic experts, and professional relationships at LTCM and uncovers the layers of numbers behind its roller-coaster ride with the precision of a skilled surgeon. The fund's enigmatic founder, John Meriwether, spent almost 20 years at Salomon Brothers, where he formed its renowned Arbitrage Group by hiring academia's top financial economists. Though Meriwether left Salomon under a cloud of the SEC's wrath, he leapt into his next venture with ease and enticed most of his former Salomon hires--and eventually even David Mullins, the former vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve--to join him in starting a hedge fund that would beat all hedge funds.

LTCM began trading in 1994, after completing a road show that, despite the Ph.D.-touting partners' lack of social skills and their disdainful condescension of potential investors who couldn't rise to their intellectual level, netted a whopping $1.25 billion. The fund would seek to earn a tiny spread on thousands of trades, "as if it were vacuuming nickels that others couldn't see," in the words of one of its Nobel laureate partners, Myron Scholes. And nickels it found. In its first two years, LTCM earned $1.6 billion, profits that exceeded 40 percent even after the partners' hefty cuts. By the spring of 1996, it was holding $140 billion in assets. But the end was soon in sight, and Lowenstein's detailed account of each successively worse month of 1998, culminating in a disastrous August and the partners' subsequent panicked moves, is riveting.

The arbitrageur's world is a complicated one, and it might have served Lowenstein well to slow down and explain in greater detail the complex terms of the more exotic species of investment flora that cram the book's pages. However, much of the intrigue of the Long-Term story lies in its dizzying pace (not to mention the dizzying amounts of money won and lost in the fund's short lifespan). Lowenstein's smooth, conversational but equally urgent tone carries it along well. The book is a compelling read for those who've always wondered what lay behind the Fed's controversial involvement with the LTCM hedge-fund debacle. --S. Ketchum

Book Description

John Meriwether, a famously successful Wall Street trader, spent the 1980s as a partner at Salomon Brothers, establishing the best--and the brainiest--bond arbitrage group in the world. A mysterious and shy midwesterner, he knitted together a group of Ph.D.-certified arbitrageurs who rewarded him with filial devotion and fabulous profits. Then, in 1991, in the wake of a scandal involving one of his traders, Meriwether abruptly resigned. For two years, his fiercely loyal team--convinced that the chief had been unfairly victimized--plotted their boss's return. Then, in 1993, Meriwether made a historic offer. He gathered together his former disciples and a handful of supereconomists from academia and proposed that they become partners in a new hedge fund different from any Wall Street had ever seen. And so Long-Term Capital Management was born.
        In a decade that had seen the longest and most rewarding bull market in history, hedge funds were the ne plus ultra of investments: discreet, private clubs limited to those rich enough to pony up millions. They promised that the investors' money would be placed in a variety of trades simultaneously--a "hedging" strategy designed to minimize the possibility of loss. At Long-Term, Meriwether & Co. truly believed that their finely tuned computer models had tamed the genie of risk, and would allow them to bet on the future with near mathematical certainty. And thanks to their cast--which included a pair of future Nobel Prize winners--investors believed them.
        From the moment Long-Term opened their offices in posh Greenwich, Connecticut, miles from the pandemonium of Wall Street, it was clear that this would be a hedge fund apart from all others. Though they viewed the big Wall Street investment banks with disdain, so great was Long-Term's aura that these very banks lined up to provide the firm with financing, and on the very sweetest of terms. So self-certain were Long-Term's traders that they borrowed with little concern about the leverage. At first, Long-Term's models stayed on script, and this new gold standard in hedge funds boasted such incredible returns that private investors and even central banks clamored to invest more money. It seemed the geniuses in Greenwich couldn't lose.
        Four years later, when a default in Russia set off a global storm that Long-Term's models hadn't anticipated, its supposedly safe portfolios imploded. In five weeks, the professors went from mega-rich geniuses to discredited failures. With the firm about to go under, its staggering $100 billion balance sheet threatened to drag down markets around the world. At the eleventh hour, fearing that the financial system of the world was in peril, the Federal Reserve Bank hastily summoned Wall Street's leading banks to underwrite a bailout.
        Roger Lowenstein, the bestselling author of Buffett, captures Long-Term's roller-coaster ride in gripping detail. Drawing on confidential internal memos and interviews with dozens of key players, Lowenstein crafts a story that reads like a first-rate thriller from beginning to end. He explains not just how the fund made and lost its money, but what it was about the personalities of Long-Term's partners, the arrogance of their mathematical certainties, and the late-nineties culture of Wall Street that made it all possible.
        When Genius Failed is the cautionary financial tale of our time, the gripping saga of what happened when an elite group of investors believed they could actually deconstruct risk and use virtually limitless leverage to create limitless wealth. In Roger Lowenstein's hands, it is a brilliant tale peppered with fast money, vivid characters, and high drama.

Download Description

Customer Reviews:

Illuminating and Fascinating Business Classic.......2007-10-07

Roger Lowenstein's 'When Genius Failed' has been justly acclaimed as a business classic. In the wake of the 2007 credit crunch, Lowenstein's riveting study of the 1998 collapse of Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) retains its relevance and has much to teach market observers.

Ironically, LTCM had much going for it. The firm was founded by savvy Salomon Brothers veterans, and its luminaries included Nobel Prize winner Myron Scholes, the creator of the acclaimed Black-Scholes options pricing model. LTCM was also established on the premise of hedging risk and thereby minimizing financial loss.

The unraveling of LTCM, lucidly and compelling depicted by Lowenstein, has many parallels with the subprime mortgage meltdown of 2007:
--An unwavering faith in financial engineering, coupled with the erroneous belief that financial structures will protect against substantial losses.
--The insatiable search for higher yields in crowded markets, which ultimately drives even savvy managers to investments with unfortunate risk profiles.
--The use of significant amounts of borrowed capital to boost returns. Sadly, the use of leverage forces the rapid liquidation of positions to repay lenders during declining market conditions, excarbating market slides and the withdrawal of credit.
--Hubris. Hedge fund managers and successful traders tend to get overconfident after a run of good luck, leading them to take riskier positions with borrowed capital.

Together, these factors led to the downfall of LTCM and to the 2007 subprime meltdown.

Kudos to Roger Lowenstein for demystifying the arcana of derivatives trading and the Black-Scholes model-- if you want an account that describes these subjects lucidly, this is your book. As well, Lowenstein offers a riveting depiction of the 1998 market slide that sent LTCM reeling toward insolvency, and the rescue events coordinated by the Federal Reserve and undertaken by an international capital consortium.

Bottom line: a five star financial read that maintains its relevance.

Incredible story.......2007-10-06

Two things make this a great book: a riveting story (losing hundreds of millions a day is mind-boggling) and excellent writing. Roger Lowenstein, first of all, is a master of using analogies explain complex things, like financial derivaties and how the big investment banks operate. Long Term Capital Management was a gang of complex gamblers (including a couple of Nobel Prize winners to boot) that employed equations and theories from the academic world of finance to build an enormously successful hedge fund that sucked in the big banks of Wall Street. Lowenstein details the rise of LTCM (it seems it had to have taken place with an interesting mixture of Luck, Smarts, and Arrogance) and their massive and rapid failure with a cadence that makes it difficult to put the book down. When Genius Failed offers a glimpse into the world of big-time finance and the unrepentant and bizarre characters that it attracts (the money these guys rake it in and how they do it will stun you if you aren't familiar with Wall Street). Highly recommended - even a decade after the collapse of LTCM!

great book.......2007-09-20

Great read. Didn't want to put it down and finished it in a few days. Great to read how these smart guys lost all their money by being too greedy. Thumbs up for sure.

A fantastic tale of risk, reward and rue.......2007-09-20

It's a wonderfully written account of a remarkable risk taking adventrue crafted by the best of wall street's arbitrage mavens and acclaimed academic laureates. Author has done a supreb job as a slueth who followed the trail that aparantly divulged very little about its journey into the financial debacle that could've brought the whole financial world down. Throughout the work of the author, one can perceive the vastness of his research into this matter, his depth of knowledge in the world of arbitrage and his exquisite story telling skill.

He portrayed each character with great care that went above and beyond what I expected. Though at times the deatils seemed a bit overwhelming and unnecessary, it was enjoyable nonetheless.
Besides gaining a great deal of knowledge about bond trading, risk arbitrage and about all the parties associated with it, it also gave me a good picture about the human inter-relations that plays into the rise and fall of such wall street ventures. One thing I wanted to see in this book is Greenspan's involvement and opinion on this. But, not sure why his role in the shoring up of LTCM wasn't covered. I earlier read a book on Greenspan where his rebuttal on the criticism of Fed's involvement with the bail out LTCM was deatiled. I expected Lowenstein to cover this as well.

I first came across the story of LTCM from Taleb's "Black Swan", then went to wikipedia to know more about it, and finally got a hold of this book and I'm glad that I did. I love real life stories where turns of events and drama unfold from the work of an invisible hand, not from that of a gifted writer. I would love to see the story of LTCM on big screen one of these days. I caught a glimse of the NOVA's episode "The Trillion Dollar Bet [2000]" which covered LTCM, but I couldn't get a hold of the full content.

It's a must read for anyone who has interest in wall street, business, risk and how they all work. Lowenstein is a great writer in my opinion and I will move on to reading his pervious work on Buffet.

Great insight into market movements.......2007-09-12

The LTCM story is fascinating, and Lowenstein makes clear enough what kind of 'hedging' they were doing. The most valuable details to me were the intertwining of instituions and trades. I thought it illuminated how forced trading and fear can spread. Also captures the mood of the nineties well, I'd like to find detailed history of other market eras.
And from an academic viewpoint, his discussion of 'fat tails' was great.

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long Term Capital Management

Average customer rating:

A story of mathematical calculation vs. human unpredictability
Short Term Capital Irrationality
Quite a good book but there are better ones on that topic

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long Term Capital Management
Roger Lowenstein
Manufacturer: Fourth Estate
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Stocks | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1841155047

Customer Reviews:

A story of mathematical calculation vs. human unpredictability.......2007-08-20

This classic Wall Street story is another must-read for anyone with an interest in money management. When Genius Failed chronicles the failure of the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management (LTCM), a pioneer in quantitative investment strategies. With roots from the renowned Salomon investment bank, LTCM gathered some of the world's top financial gurus to design mathematical arbitrage strategies so well planned, they were widely regarded as having virtually no risk. Among the mathematical wizards was Myron Scholes, co-creator of the Black-Scholes model.

After several years of handsome returns, this formula turned out too good to be true. After convincing investment banks and clients to pour billions of dollars into this near-"riskless" fund, tragedy struck in 1998. A credit crisis in Asia prompted a chain reaction of panic that the fund's mathematical models could not anticipate. The story of this fund's collapse proves that markets are not efficient. It is a lesson that precision calculations in the world of finance, no matter how correct or ingenious, are no match for human irrationality when panic strikes.

Amplifying the unforeseen risk of the fund were human errors made by the principals. The firm's superior performance depended on incredible leverage (borrowed money), but that leverage also led to LTCM's demise when the margin calls hit. The principals also deviated from their core investment strategy when arbitrage opportunities started to dry up; they began making directional bets and speculating, something for which mathematical models are just inadequate for quantifying the risk.

One disadvantage of this book is that it focuses so much on the people involved that it sacrifices explanation of the market forces behind the Asian currency crisis. I felt that some chapters contained too many dry details on the interaction between the LTCM principals and the banks.

The advantage of its focus on people is that the reader can see many of today's Wall Street icons in action. Almost a continuation of Liar's Poker, many of the same Salomon traders including John Meriwether are pivotal to LTCM. Warren Buffett and George Soros play a role, allowing readers to see their investment acumen at work. Many Wall Street characters and investment banks still prevalent in today's news were plugged into the LTCM fiasco.

Because of the high-profile characters and Wall Street firms involved with LTCM, this is a great read for students aspiring for a career on the Street. It also provides good insight into trading strategies and the hedge fund world. I would recommend When Genius Failed to anyone with an interest in investing.

Short Term Capital Irrationality.......2007-04-23

Roger Lowenstein details how the partners of "Long Term Capital Management" let greed and ego overwhelm them.

LTCM was a hedge fund that was supposed to use arbitage to make money at low risk. It worked for a while, but then lots of people started getting in on the act. The rational thing to do, under the circumstances, would have been to cut back, and look for a new fields of endevour. Instead, the partners of LTCM decided to screw their investors. They returned most of the investor's capital, and then made even bigger bets with oodles of borrowed money, so they could hog all the profits for themselves.

And then, something happened, as it always does. Suddenly, all LTCM's positions were losing money. Being 'geniuses,' they doubled down, and lost it all. In a page out of Greek tragedy, they would have rode out the storm fine, if they hadn't forced their former investors to take back all their capital. As it was, the former investors profited greatly, while the geniuses lost almost everything and nearly destroyed Wall Street.

If ever you hear someone talking about how markets are "efficient," give them this, which shows how the emotional human animal REALLY behaves in the financial world.

Quite a good book but there are better ones on that topic.......2006-05-12

This is quite an entertaining book on the failure of LTCM. It is well documented but I think it will be much more appreciated by the outsiders to the realm of Finance.

It disappointed me on two accounts:

First, it is another one of those typical American business storytelling books where you have to read through bios of the lives of all characters before you ever get to the meat of the subject (e.g. Barbarians at the Gate)

Second, the book "Inventing Money" by N. Dunbar is in my view a much better account of the LTCM downfall if you have been studying economics and finance as it describes the mechanics a lot more.

Nevertheless, the book tells the story quite well and I would highly recommend, by the same author, "Buffett : The Making of an American Capitalist".

Average customer rating:

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
Roger Lowenstein
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K1FGAI

Book Description

Few needs are more important to a nonprofit organization than funding for operating costs. In this new directory, nonprofits and other organizations seeking grants and funding opportunities to support general operating expenses will find over 1,300 current operating grants--organized by state--with contact and requirement information for each. Three user-friendly indexes (subject, sponsor, and geographic restriction) help grantseekers quickly find the ideal funding opportunity. All types of nonprofit organizations can benefit: BL Arts and humanities BL Community development BL Health care BL Children and youth BL Education. Each entry includes: BL Grant title BL Sponsor name and address BL Contact information (name and title, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and Web site addresses) BL Requirements and restrictions (where available) BL Sample awards (where applicable) BL Sponsor's areas of interest.

Winning Federal Grants: A Guide to the Government's Grant-Making Process

Average customer rating:

Winning Federal Grants: A Guide to the Government's Grant-Making Process
Leslie Ramsey
Manufacturer: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Nonprofit Organizations & Charities | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Raising Capital | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This guide gives practical tools to help you win more grants.

Book Description

This dictionary offers a ready reference to the biographies of more than 160 individuals prominent in the history of data processing. It includes scientists, engineers, government officials, executives of major computer manufacturing companies, and users of data processing technology, and extends in time from antiquity through the 1980s. In an attempt to inform readers at all levels of specialization, the volume gives basic information to the general reader while providing reference materials that will serve the specialist as a starting point for further research.

Historical Dictionary Of Data Processing Organizations

Average customer rating:

Historical Dictionary Of Data Processing Organizations
James W. Cortada
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTNIBU

Book Description

What models of distributive justice can the twenty-first century promote to challenge the spread of insecurity, inequality, and social fragmentation? The 20th century was dominated by competition between two labor models of society--state socialism and welfare state capitalism, which promoted forms of labor security. Since the 1970s, globalization and flexible labor markets have increased insecurity and inequalities. After a period dominated by libertarianism, politicians and social thinkers must find ways of promoting distributive justice, based on basic security and new forms of voice representation and regulation. Dismissing the approach of the "new paternalists," this book presents a new vision combining security of income and representation without moralistic state control.

Customer Reviews:

"stimulating analysis of labor markets".......1999-11-18

To quote Robert Taylor,Financial Times: "...Guy Standing, an imaginative economist at the International Labour Organization, provides us with a stimulating analysis of the labour markets of the industgrialised economies during the past century."

Nonstandard work, nonstandard workers.(reviews of six books on nonstandard workers and working conditions)(Book Review): An article from: Labour/Le Travail

Average customer rating:

Nonstandard work, nonstandard workers.(reviews of six books on nonstandard workers and working conditions)(Book Review): An article from: Labour/Le Travail
Eileen Boris , and Francesca Degiuli
Manufacturer: Canadian Committee on Labour History
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008IQYZY
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Canadian Committee on Labour History on September 22, 2003. The length of the article is 6351 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Nonstandard work, nonstandard workers.(reviews of six books on nonstandard workers and working conditions)(Book Review)
Author: Eileen Boris
Publication: Labour/Le Travail (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2003
Publisher: Canadian Committee on Labour History
Issue: 52 Page: 221(15)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books