The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires: How to Achieve Financial Independence Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible AUDIO

Book Description

Beginning from the premise that "Nobody is better than you and nobody is smarter than you", success guru Brian Tracy outlines the path to achieving personal wealth and satisfaction. It is all a matter of cause and effect: when you apply the success secrets of self-made millionaires in your life, you will experience results and rewards. The 21 chapters present motivational ideas or principles that are followed by provocative questions and action exercises designed to stimulate reflection and tangible progress toward the goal.

Customer Reviews:

Lot of useful information that can be applied to most any individual.......2007-03-09

Heard SUCCESS SECRETS OF SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRES,
written and read by Brian Tracy.

He's a renowned author, lecturer and trainer who cranks out
a lot of programs . . . this CD program wasn't brilliantly original,
but that said, I did find a lot of information in it that could
be applied to most any individual.

And though Tracy does little more than speak in front of
a camera, I liked his passion for the topic and how he came
across . . . it was almost as if he was speaking directly to me.

There were many worthwhile tidbits of information I gained
from listening . . . among them:

* Treat your company like you own it.

* Spend at least as much time on yourself as you do on your job.

* If you ask successful people for help, they'll help you. If you ask
unsuccessful people, they'll try to hold you back.

* Take something that's been done and doe it better; e.g.,
the way McDonald's did.

* More people have become wealthily by running dry cleaning
establishments than any other field.

* Focus on continuous personal development.

* One hour of study per day for five years will make you one of
the greatest experts in the world.

* Your rewards in life will be equal to the value of your service.

* Develop the ability to do what's most important and then do it
quickly. Only 2% of the nation has any sense of urgency.

KD.......2007-03-08

I am a Brian Tracy fan, however I was less than impressed with this book. I did not find any of the information to be differant from what he has put in previous books and CD's. It is more like he dummied down the information from other books into 21 small 2-3 page lessons/chapters

Secret or No Secret...What's next?.......2006-04-30

Ok, there's 21 secrets revealed in this tiny book. What are you going to do with them?

I know in my case, I can use 2-4 secrets to improve on my current situation in life and say business. It's not going to make me a millionaire...at least not yet.

I have to give Mr. Tracy credit for what he is trying to achieve or lets say, share to his readers. The book is a "good read", I like it.

Let's say you were given an opportunity to play a game of golf with Tiger Woods for just 60 minutes. What's going to happen, what are you going to do?

For the short span of time you're with the champion you'll definitely pick-up great tips on the game of golf...or the experience. Is it going to be a positive or a negative one? Who knows but you.

You can disagree with me here but information, knowledge, experience, etc. are nothing until you start applying them to your advantage. And, the secrets in this book is no diferrent.

Brian Tracy Success formula.......2006-04-07

This book gets to the point in its friendly layout. Brian gives a step by step approach in this masterpiece. I enjoy the activities. The formula is applicable right away. A resource for business leader on the go.

Brief but excellent program by the great Brian Tracy........2005-10-04

I know some people seem to equate the value of a book by it's size. That may explain some of the 1 star reviews here. This book is not big...but it is loaded with powerful information.

In this program, Tracy reveals the top 21 secrets of success. Tracy tells us that success is as predictable as the sun rising in the east and settling in the west. He indicates that there is no correlation between success and grades in school, education or even intelligence.

Tracy tells us some unfortunate statistics as well. He indicates that by age 65, out of 100 people, 1 will be wealthy, 4 will be financially independent, 15 will have some savings set aside and the other 80 will be flat broke, busted and dependent on others for survivals. This gives us a 19 to 1 chance against succeeding. Tracy shows how to reverse the ratio to our benefit.

Tracy goes on to say that success is like any other area of endeavor. It is predictable and it must be studied. Then he goes to on to reveal the 21 qualities of success which may or may not come as a surprise.

According to Tracy, if you practice and develop these 21 characteristics, nothing can stop you. And if you don't, failure is the result. Tracy asks you to grade yourself on these 21 areas honestly and then work on improving in your weak areas.

What are the top 21 characteristics?

1) Dream Big Dreams
2) Do What You Love To Do
3) Focus on Your Unique Strengths
4) See Yourself As Self Employed
5) Never Consider The Possibility of Failure
6) Develop A Clear Sense Of Direction
7) Work Hard
8) Form Master Mind Networks
9) Be Teachable
10)Be Prepared To Climb From Peak To Peak
11)Develop Resilence and Bounce Back
12)Unlock Your Inborn Creativity
13)Focus on Continous Personal Development
14)Be An Unshakable Optimist
15)Dedicate Yourself To Serving Others
16)Develop a Reputation For Speed and Dependability
17)Be Impeccably Honest With Yourself and Others
18)Concentrate Single Handily On One Thing At A Time
19)Be Decisive
20)Back Your Plans With Persistence and Determination
21)Discipline Yourself

Of course Tracy goes into much more detail on each point. He then provides exercises to show you how to develop these qualities. The only thing that I will add is that Tracy says that #21 is the most important and the #1 cause for failure as well. Without #21, the rest is useless.

This book is like a workbook, will make you think and probably reveal some things about yourself that you may not like or even agree with. But here is what I asked myself when I scored low in certain areas; "am I were I want to be financially?" The answer was no. I started to work on those weak areas, became teachable and it made all the difference in the world for me. Most importantly, I developed the quality of discipline. To do what I needed to do rather than what I wanted to do.

Keep in mind that these ideas took Brian from an income of $12,000 to over $150,000 in a very short time and then on to several million dollars. These are the strategies used by the super successful.

Small book. But don't just read it, study it. Learn these top 21 habits and let them become part of your personality. Start with the dreams, dream big dreams and always end with the discipline to pay the price and then success will be yours.

Book Description

Imagine a world in which: you make all of your purchases without ever handling currency - bills or coins - or even writing checks; most money is issued privately and digitally, rather than by governments; inflation is largely a relic of the past; you choose which transactions you wish to be on record and which you wish to be anonymous. This world is not science fiction, but the world that increasing numbers of people will come to enjoy over the next couple of decades, according to the new book, The end of Money, by Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Richard W. Rahn.

Technology has fast outpaced governments' ability to maintain control of electronic finance. Advances in fiberoptics, encryption, and smart-card technologies make it ever easier to transfer funds from one person to another anywhere around the globe almost instantaneously, and without the use of paper and coins. Global financial networks and systems allow any asset whose value is recognized and guaranteed by a reliable financial institution to be instantly transferred from one person to another.

Private institutions are already developing "digital dollars" that will someday reduce transaction costs and monetary instability, thus leading to grater economic efficiency and higher standards of living. Unfortunately, this new world f digital money is fiercely resisted by many government officials. The full benefits of digital money will not be realized unless people are left free to move their financial assets around the globe in a private fashion.

Customer Reviews:

This is the route to FREEDOM.......2001-03-31

OK, so you have your guns, you've studied the law and you've got your gold and 10 years of food stashed.

Guess what?

It's not necessary. Not now. Not anymore.

No violence, no protests, no writing your congressman.

This is a revolution that is happening one person at a time, anonymously, securely, privately and instantaneously. Each individual voluntarily removes his energy from the system that is enslaving him.

The government will simply lose revenue until it can only function within its justified duties, which is the protection of the property and lives of its citizens.

This book shows the convergence of multiple truly revolutionary technologies that will give us back our freedom and force government to adjust to this new world. This is the way we will return to true freedom.

Bold and Intriguing Forecasts.......2000-07-15

Rahn has made a bold attempt to predict the impact of technological and financial innovations on the economy and society in general. The technological developments are the Internet, electronic money, and freely available cryptographic software of a very high standard, specifically PGP. Other commentators have also speculated on the problems these with cause to governments in raising taxes, fighting money laundering etc. However Rahn takes into account not just technological developments but also an innovation of a purely financial nature, namely securitization.

In principle, almost any kind of asset can be turned into money by securitization. Probably the most highly publicised example is "Bowie bonds" which are backed by royalties from songs. David Bowie was the first to raise money in this way, hence the name.

Throughout history governments have yielded to the temptation to allow their currencies to be debased. In the past most people had to put up with this but Rahn suggests that the technological and financial innovation will effectively give people other choices.

Rahn concentrates on the US in his book, which is natural enough - after all as well as being his own country it is the world's most influential! However he does make many references to Switzerland, particularly in connection with that nation's long experience of bank secrecy, and is also very critical of the tendency of many Americans to think that what is illegal in the US should be illegal everywhere and conversely that what is legal there should be legal everywhere. He points out that the American legal system imposes a big burden on American business and society and that other countries should be suspicious of attempts to export US law.

One of my major quibbles is that the title is a bit misleading since what Rahn is describing is not really the "end of money" but its transformation and the end of coins and banknotes. Even that is questionable since the developments he foresees are most relevant to the comfortably off. In many countries the poor will remain a large section of the population for many years to come and I expect many of them will want to continue using hard cash.

However this is a thought-provoking an fascinating book which should help us to anticipate the problems and the opportunities changes in the form of money pose for society.

advanced economics for the pro & the simpleton like me.......1999-10-06

Dr. Rahn explains advanced concepts of economics in a format that the beginner and simpleton, like me, can understand and use. It is an easy four hour read, is a primer in economics and is must reading for anyone who thinks the way of spending money will continue just like it is at this time. The big question is whether government will grow up in time not to get in the way of the monetary changes and whether you and I will be able to spend our money as we wish without Big Brother's nosing in. What Dr. Rahn fails to point out is that the concepts expressed in his book are basic to our constitution and to our freedom. If we do not take heed, we stand to lose both. It is must reading for every citizen.

Should be required reading for all Americans.......1999-09-08

Richard Rahn explains money concepts and how it relates to your everyday life in a simple and concise manner. He conclusively argues for the abolution of taxes on capital and why unprincipled politicians will fight to keep them. He demonstrates with examples how some countries have prospered by keeping or eliminating taxes on capital while those who didn't have fallen behind. He is most persuasive on the issue of financial privacy as a human right and without it we are at the mercy of a totalitarian government. Very easy to read.

philosophically correct.......1999-08-28

Since I am not an economist, I must leave some of the technical details of the book for assessment by others. However, the author's advocacy for financial privacy and for consumption taxes seem to be right on the money--so to speak. He writes in a very lucid and comprehensible manner.

Customer Reviews:

By: Dan D'Amico and John Makarewicz.......2005-12-15

In The 14th Amendment: From Political Discussion to Judicial Doctrine, William E. Nelson examines the political rhetoric and circumstances that surrounded the framing of the Fourteenth Amendment, and from that, he attempts to determine what the purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment was supposed to be for the original framers. Nelson claims that the ideas of equality, individual rights, and local self-rule were all prevalent in antebellum rhetoric, and that these ideas were not in conflict. Through his examination in these three areas, Nelson comes to the conclusion that the Fourteenth Amendment was not intended to have been interpreted so broadly to regulate state legislation, but rather that it should be used to make sure that state laws simply apply equally to all citizens.

In the brief first chapter, Nelson discusses how critical scholarship pertaining to the 14th amendment has come to an impasse. There are various ways in which people throughout history have interpreted the scope of influence of the Fourteenth Amendment and from where the authority of this influence should come. Each of these different ideas have so much evidence to support it. Therefore, there is no clear agreement of how the Fourteenth Amendment should or should not be applied.

In the next chapter, Nelson lays the foundations for the whole premise of his book though clarifying what the ideas of liberty and equality were in antebellum America. Equality and liberty were two prevalent themes in antebellum political rhetoric. People of almost all political backgrounds, even pro-slavery southerners, used the political rhetoric of equality in antebellum America. The problem was whether or not blacks should be equal. Opponents to slavery supported the equality of blacks, and those who were pro-slavery used equality rhetoric to apply to the rights of slave owners to keep slaves. Political rhetoric about liberty took three distinctive forms in antebellum America. One form was that liberty was given to people through the natural law of God. Liberty was also discussed in how it ensured through a republican form of government, and finally, people thought liberty was guaranteed through local self-rule. These ideas established the background for the framing of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The actual political process of drafting and adopting the Fourteenth Amendment was very difficult due to the volatile nature of the country after the Civil War. The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment knew that they had to phrase the amendment in such a way so that the South would not completely reject it. They wanted the amendment to ensure the freedom of blacks and to prevent pro-slavery, racist groups from being able to attain political power again. Therefore, the actual language used in the Fourteenth Amendment moved from originally explicit language that clearly defined its scope of influence to much more ambiguous language that used the antebellum rhetoric of equality and liberty. The Fourteenth Amendment, in essence, was an attempt for the Republican Party to secure the results of the Civil War and the antislavery sentiments that were prevalent before the war.

The use of antebellum rhetoric took many different forms in several debates about the Fourteenth Amendment. Some, on the basis of a higher law tradition, argued in favor of the Fourteenth Amendment. This view reflected the religious values of many people at that time. They viewed slavery in any way to be evil, and that all people are equal under god. Therefore, there should be an amendment that prevents slavery or discriminatory treatment of any humans. Proponents of the Fourteenth Amendment also argued that the amendment was necessary because a republican form of government guaranteed a certain amount of rights to its citizens. These rights, however, were not explicit, so interpretation lacked any real definition due to its vague nature. Others also argued that ensuring human equality was a factor that supported the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. All Republicans agreed that blacks needed equal rights, but the Republican did not go any further. They thought that as long as state laws had the same universal effect on all its citizens and did not discriminate, then equality was ensured. The Republican framers of the Fourteenth Amendment did not see any need to give a strict definition of equality, but rather they wanted to ensure civic reformation.

This original understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment quickly was transformed as people tried to determine exactly what rights were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment. The rights guaranteed by higher law, the political social order, and state law were thoroughly examined in order to develop a definitive list of equal, guaranteed rights. These efforts were basically futile because nobody could come to an agreement. Everybody agreed that blacks and all citizens should be equal, but they could never agree how they should be equal. There were no definitive answers.

Nelson then moves on to discuss the arguments that the southern Democrats presented against the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. There were two basic types of arguments. There were objections to the process in which the Fourteenth Amendment was passed. Democrats claimed that: 1) the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted without proper representation from the South, 2) it was never submitted to the president 3) the Fourteenth Amendment was a political document that Republicans fashioned behind closed doors that was intended to discriminate against the South 4) the Constitution should not be altered because alteration will undermine the essential value of the Constitution. Their other arguments were about the very substance of the amendment. One argument, basically, was racism. They believed that blacks were inferior, and so they should not be given the right to vote. Black suffrage would result in an uneducated voting population that would degrade elections and ruin the American political system. Their other argument was that the Fourteenth Amendment would cause the federal government to have too much power. They viewed the Fourteenth Amendment as a threat to the state's individual abilities to pass their own laws without interference from the federal government. It would ruin the sovereignty of the states.

The second half of Nelson's text is devoted to the debate of interpretation of the fourteenth amendment. The two major contradictory understandings are first introduced by Nelson's outlining of the Republican Rebuttals to the initial passage and applications of the amendment. These rebuttals focus on the arguments that interpret the amendment as granter of absolute rights versus equal protection.

This issue first arose surrounding the climate of the amendments passage engulfed in post Civil war northern and southern hostilities. The thirteenth fourteenth and fifteenth amendments all had direct intentions to ensure certain protections and understandings to stipulate over the southern states so as to clarify arguments surrounding civil rights. The north was concerned about potential for further war and insisted on dictating safety precautions to protect the rights of northern citizens traveling and relocating to the south.

Southern hostilities and anxieties towards these northern stipulations manifested themselves through the Republican debates as concerns about states rights. At first glance the fourteenth amendment appeared to be sacrificing the emphasis of local sovereignty towards a centralized federal power. Congress was infiltrating itself into the voting process, traditionally a state regulated and stipulated process, and if it could successfully do that nothing would be able to stop its trespassing into all aspects of personal life in the future.

This debate was thrown around Republican circles time and again until finally interpretations were offered that defined the emphasis on equality rather than absolutism that the fourteenth amendment allegedly provided. It was claimed that the fourteenth amendment did not proactively grant any additional rights to any additional citizens than before its adoption. In stead the fourteenth amendment was said to have given congress the authority to interpret and regulate the equality surrounding states legislations. With this understanding states were still responsible for controlling the voting processes in their regions but laws they utilized to do so could not be arbitrarily biased on the basis of racial discrimination. Purposes and determinants in the voting process had to be justified as having relevant positive affects on the overall welfare of society and could not discriminately disadvantage one group of people to the wills of others.

All appeared settled in terms of the Republican debate over the fourteenth amendment until in 1874 the wheels of government spun to shift the majority of representation to the Democrats who had yet to tackle the task of interpreting the amendment. The Democrats preliminarily vested large amounts of interpretational authority into the hands of the Supreme Court and alleviated the issue from being discuess at the political and bureaucratic level. From then on only cases and specific instances of application would be viewed to understand the effects of the fourteenth amendment.

Bradley and Field, the Slaughter house cases, Plessey v. Ferguson, and many other civil liberties cases have shaped the way our country and our government understands the wording and application of the fourteenth amendment however with the finitude of terms for supreme court judges always an inevitable hurdle, the amendment stands to swing in general interpretations as years pass to the whims and opinions of different judges and their selectors.

Perhaps all of these debates and applications should open the populations' eyes to the simple fact that governmental legislation though guised with benevolent intention is lined with a tendency to be proactively applied and tends to be subjectively beneficial to some while at the expense of other citizens. In this understanding the fourteenth amendment's equality emphasis is not only futile but also contradictory to basic logic in inception and application. The cyclical fluctuations that take place in government popular opinion put the civil liberties, local freedoms, and cultural privileges of American citizens at risk. As new candidates seek out unidentified and under utilized voting segments, their empty promises and vague interpretations of constitutionality grow the reach of governmental authority into deeper and deeper realms of our lives.

Product Description

Solids 2 - Solids & Bordered Designs

Russian-English Forestry and Wood Dictionary (Technical Communication No. 6)

Average customer rating:

Russian-English Forestry and Wood Dictionary (Technical Communication No. 6)
W. Linnard
Manufacturer: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Russian-English, English-Russian Forestry and Wood Dictionary

Average customer rating:

Russian-English, English-Russian Forestry and Wood Dictionary

Manufacturer: CABI
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

English (All) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

Science | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

An updated and enlarged version of the first Russian-English edition, published in 1966, plus an entirely new and complete English-Russian dictionary. The book includes over 10,000 Russian entries and reflects the many recent changes in Russian forest harvesting machinery and woodworking technology.

Forestry & Wood Dictionary Russian English

Average customer rating:

Forestry & Wood Dictionary Russian English
W. Linnard
Manufacturer: French & European Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Russian - English Forestry and Wood Dictionary

Average customer rating:

Russian - English Forestry and Wood Dictionary
W. Linnard
Manufacturer: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

Environmental studies typically involve the combination of dynamic models with data sources at various spatial and temporal scales. Also, the scale of the model output is rarely in tune with the scale at which decision-makers require answers or implement environmental measures. Consequently, the question has been raised how to obtain results at the appropriate scale. Models, usually developed at the scale of a research project, have to be applied to larger areas (extrapolation), with incomplete data coverage (interpolation) and to different supports (upscaling and downscaling) to facilitate studies for decision-makers. This book gives an overview of the various problems involved, and focuses on a description of upscaling and downscaling methods that are known to exist. Furthermore, this book is the first in its kind in that it contains a decision support system that advises the practitioner on which upscaling or downscaling method to use in his specific context. This book is meant for an audience of MSc- and PhD-students, applied researchers and practitioners in soil science, hydrology, (agro) ecology, agronomy and the environmental sciences in general.

Book Description

Now in its revised and updated third edition, this comprehensive introductory text presents a timely overview of the most widely used forms of remote sensing imagery and their applications in plant sciences, hydrology, earth sciences, and land-use analysis. The third edition features new coverage of lidar technology, radar interferometry, and the present generation of satellite sensors, as well as other topics of current significance. Integrating knowledge from the many fields that contribute to remote sensing, the text is richly illustrated with 28 color plates and more than 380 black-and-white images and figures.

Customer Reviews:

I wonder?.......2004-12-07

There is a reference to my GT-INDEX in 2nd edition, at chap. 13/Accuracy assessment. However, my GT-Index is not a so-called chance corrected accuracy index. It is the first and only index for measuring the identifying power of classifier. GT-Index is an estimate of the CONDITIONAL PROBABILITY of CORRECT CLASSIFICATION for a given Ground Truth category by RS classifier.

I critized the use of so-called "chance corrected accuracy indices" such as Kappa, Tau etc. by 2 letters to editors in 2002 (PE&RS, Feb. 2002 and RSE, Sep. 2002).

I did not have a chance to see it the 3rd yet. I wonder how this
issues and my GT-INDEX are handled in this edition.

If these issues are not considered I will give only 3 stars, but a correct discussion of them will surely make 5 stars. So, my staring is tentative.

Göksel TÜRK
Özler Sitesi AB Blok D:1,
Isparta, TURKEY

A complete giude to Remote Sensing Practices and Techniques.......1999-08-23

"Introduction to Remote Sensing" by James Campbell covers Remote Sensing, past and present, from one end of the spectrum to the other. Head of the Geography Department at Virginia Tech, his book shows all of the new technology and image processing required for todays sensors. It has excellent illustrations and charts to get the point across easily for a very difficult subject. Complete and up to date, Campbell discusses the new wave of remote sensing, image classification, plant sciences, earth sciences, gps, hyperspectral data, the history of satellites, radiation and cartography. And most of all, how to apply it accurately.

Book Description

Written by those at the forefront of VCSEL research and development, provides a clear insight into the physics of VCSELs, as well as describing details of their fabrication and the massive range of their application. The chapters cover VCSEL design, emission from microcavities, growth, fabrication, and characterization, long and short-wavelength VCSELs, optical data links, and free space optical processing.

Customer Reviews:

Surprisingly good!.......2003-07-01

This book is a compilation of chapters written by many authors. I usually hate that, as it typically means some re-prints of some research papers they have written. Somehow, they've managed to avoid this pitfall to provide, believe it or not, a technical book that I actually _enjoy_ reading (the only other one that comes to mind is "In Search of Clusters").

The book is composed of twelve chapters. The first chapter is a brief introduction to VCSELs. The following two chapters are probably the most math-heavy portions of the text, and go into some detail regarding the physics of VCSELs. Chapters 3 to 8 cover mostly practical design and fabrication issues of various types of VCSELs and the remaining chapters go into some detail about applications.

Be aware that this is an introductory book on VCSELs, _not_ semiconductor lasers. One really needs to have at least a basic understanding of lasers and semiconductor devices before jumping in. However, if you have even a basic (undergrad) understanding of this, the rest is nice reading. The first chapter is a short introduction to VCSELs and covers some major structures such as: etched mesa, proton implanted, dielectric apertured, and buried heterostructures. Also included are topics about long- and short-wavelength lasers, fabrication techniques and applications and VCSEL arrays

There are also discussions on various fabrication and performance issues with VCSEL's, such as polarization instabilities. I don't think it went into enough detail regarding standard performance metrics and methods of characterizing these metrics. I think this is an important issue for both production or research which could've filled an entire chapter.

The last few chapters are basically all about applications of VCSELs and practical problems. If you ever wanted to know how to make a reliable optical connection, the various standards and methods are described. This is more "general interest" stuff and can probably be skipped, but it's a good read anyways. It will definitely be worthwhile reading for engineers who are looking for ideas.

It's a textbook, so I noticed some things aren't up to date, but to be fair, no textbook can be fully up to date, especially one that initially went to print in 1999.

Book Description

Since first coming into existence in the early 90s, the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) has made several quantum leaps in performance. The performance of VCSELs now exceeds that of edge-emitting lasers in many respects, and offers a superior optical beam and much easier monolithic integrability. As the VCSEL technology improves further, and their number and variety multiply, their potential applications will likely expand at a rapid pace. Vertical-cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers: Technology and Applications addresses two main objectives. It provides the researcher and device engineer with a reference guide to understanding the physical principles as well as the practical design concepts of VCSELs. Furthermore, it provides the system designer or application engineer with a review of the properties of VCSELs, and an overview of some of the applications in which the VCSEL has already played an important role. This book features contributions from prominent researchers in the field.

Customer Reviews:

A practical VCSEL book.......2000-08-07

This is the most practical VCSEL book I have seen. The chapters about the high-speed and optical switching applications are very useful for optical communication engineer.

Amazon.com

"Put India in the Atlantic Ocean," Salman Rushdie writes in his introduction to this anthology of Indian writers, "and it would reach from Europe to America; put India and China together and you've got almost half the population of the world. It's high time Indian literature got itself noticed, and it's happening." It's no accident that Mirrorwork comprises Indian literature produced during the 50 years between 1947 and 1997; timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Indian independence, this collection is, above all, a celebration of the marriage of English language and Indian culture. Rushdie rather provocatively states that "the prose writing--both fiction and non-fiction--created in this period by Indian writers writing in English is proving to be a stronger and more important body of work than most of what has been produced in the 16 'official languages' of India; the so-called 'vernacular languages,' during the same time." One might (and certainly many will) quibble with this premise, but no one can argue that the works included in Mirrorwork aren't top-drawer.

Many of the authors included in this collection are known to Western readers--Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, for example, Arundhati Roy, Rohinton Mistry, and of course Rushdie himself, to name just a few. Others, such as Saadat Hasan Manto (the only author here to appear in translation) or G.V. Desani, may be welcome new reading experiences. The anthology is a fascinating mix of nonfiction (Nehru's famous "Tryst with Destiny" speech, in which he uttered the immortal words "At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom," or Nayantara Sahgal's "With Pride and Prejudice") and fiction that ranges from the "Stendhalian realism of a writer like Rohinton Mistry" to Rushdie's own wild flights of fantasy. In all its diversity of styles, themes, and approaches, Mirrorwork is a reflection of the wonderful bedfellows the English language and the Indian sensibility truly make. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

This unique anthology presents thirty-two selections by Indian authors writing in English over the past half-century. Selected by Salman Rushdie and Elizabeth West, these novel excerpts, stories, and memoirs illuminate wonderful writing by authors often overlooked in the West. Chronologically arranged to reveal the development of Indian literature in English, this volume includes works by Jawaharlal Nehru, Nayantara Sahgal, Saadat Hasan Manto, G.V. Desani, Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Kamala Markandaya, Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Ved Mehta, Anita Desai, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Satyajit Ray, Salman Rushdie, Padma Perera, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Rohinton Mistry, Bapsi Sidhwa, I. Allan Sealy, Shashi Tharoor, Sara Suleri, Firdaus Kanga, Anjana Appachana, Amit Chaudhuri, Amitav Ghosh, Githa Hariharan, Gita Mehta, Vikram Seth, Vikram Chandra, Ardashir Vakil, Mukul Kesavan, Arundhati Roy, and Kiran Desai.

Customer Reviews:

Slanted but still has some good work.......2001-03-29

I bought my copy inspite of reading severeal reviews criticizing Mr. Rushdie's choice of literature to represent Indian writing. ALthough I agree with most of the ctiticism, I was pleasently surprised to find that I did like the book immensely. It had been many years since I had read authors such as Anita Desai, and works such as Nayantara Sahgal's "With Pride and Prejudice" were enough for me to oversome the prejudice that I had in my when I started off reading it.

Had Mr. Rushdie not claimed to have collected works representing the entire Indian literature spectrum, he could have been fended a lot of the criticism that this book received.

Not Indian, say expatriate writing.......1998-08-23

Very slanted in its choice of the authors, the book can hardly claim to be representative of Indian writing. Indo-English writing is a miniscule portion of Indian writing, both in quality and quantity, this fact has not been addressed in the editorial choices.

Enjoyed it..........1998-05-06

I enjoyed this anthology quite a bit.It may be "self-serving and slanted towards his friends" but his friends write *well* and I enjoyed reading their work. His introduction is especially good and addresses several issues that are mentioned above.

No one should expect an anthology to be complete- their very nature is to exclude more than they include.

I appreciate seeing some of my favorite "Indian" authors in print (Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Arundhati Roy among others) and I look forward to a companion edition in the future.

If anyone would like to recommend another anthology of post-indepence Indian fiction I would be interested in hearing about it.

A fairly readable compilation though narrow in its sweep.......1998-05-06

It would be really unfair to say the book has not been a representative collection of Indian writing in English. It is, though a few glaring points puts it at a disadvantage to become a volume to be cherished. The editors' seems to have allowed their backgrounds and biases to rule which determined their choice to large extent. This could have been avoided had the editors gave a harder look on the literary environment in India which is rapidly changing for the better. Much of the excellent work produced in vernacular languages is conveniently forgotten ascribing lack of good translation - a reason which simply does not hold water. And, if the all time favourite 'Tryst with Destiny'is included, no harm would have come if one of much sought after editorials by VN Narayanan or a science fiction was included. A translated piece of Hindi heartland politics mirrored by say, Rahi Masoom Raza could fill the gap. The absence of the enigmatic Khushwant Singh disturbs. The collection gives a fair space to new writers of the subcontinent, even if they are now based outside India. However, it remains skewed towards the age old mysticism and bullock carts in an age where these are pushed to the background by the fast enveloping modernity and automation. it is forgotten that we have a thriving middle class and a large educated elite which is crying to be heard and represented in our stories. For a book claiming to represent 50 years of writing, it is a bit focussed narrowly. The collection, though remains a must read. I read it over a long stretch of time, finishing many other volumes inthe the meantime, and would recommend the same way.

This is a journalist quickie, not a scholarly book.......1998-04-28

EXCERPTS FROM A REVIEW IN THE TRIBUNE, CHANDIGARH, INDIA, AUGUST 1997....Out of the thirty-three writers of the book, no less than twenty-two are non-resident Indians, some of whom we have never heard of. Anjana Apachana comes as a surprise (Who's she? Rushdie tells us she has been publishing short stories and that she is U.S.-based, which is probably enough for her name to be included among the best!), Vikram Chandra (remember the author of the almost impossible-to-read Red Earth and Pouring Rain which, nevertheless, got rave reviews?), Amit Chaudhuri, Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Anita Desai, Kiran Desai (no one in India has heard of her either. Her first book is yet to be published. But she is Anita Desai's daughter and Rushdie -- without cross-checking his facts, awards her the distinction establishing the "first dynasty" of Indian fiction!), G.V. Desani, Ruth Prawer Jhabhwala, Firdaus Kanga, Kamala Markandaya, Gita Mehta, Ved Mehta, Rohinton Mistry, Padma Pereira, Allan Sealy, Vikram Seth, Bapsi Sidhwa and Sara Suleri (Pakistanis, born after 1947. What are they doing in this collection? "This anthology has no need for Partitions," explains Rushdie!), Shashi Tharoor, and Ardashir Vakil. Almost all these are writer have chosen to work or settle abroad. In all probability, they are the ones Rushdie has been in touch with over the last decade or so. And in his enthusiasm over their writings (as he admits in the introduction, doesn't most of it echo his own work so much?) he has been oblivious to what has been happening in India, in the home country where all these expatriates originally came from.

Rushdie's naiveté, his sweeping contentions, his presumption that this - and no other - is the best in Indian writing, needs to be challenged. He has compiled not the best of "Indian Writing" but "Indian Writing of the Diasporic Tradition" (even though he seems unaware of Bharati Mukherjee's existence). Between the two, between his intention and his achievement, there lies a vast, gap... MANJU JAIDKA

Average customer rating:
Mirrorwork: 50 Years of Indian Writing 1947-1997
Salman; Elizabeth West; Editors Rushdie
Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NW8SEK

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books