Centruy 21 Accounting : First-Year Course: Working Papers and Study Guides : Chapters 1-19

Book Description

The "knowledge revolution" is widely accepted, but strategic leaders now talk of the logical next step: the human capital revolution and the need to manage knowledgeable people in an entirely different way. The organization of the future must be not only nimble and flexible but also self-governing and values-driven. But what will this future organization look like? And how will it be led?

In this thoughtful book, organizational expert Brook Manville and Princeton classics professor Josiah Ober suggest that the model for building the future organization may lie deep in the past. The authors argue that ancient Athenian democracy was an ingenious solution to organizing human capital through the practice of citizenship. That ancient solution holds profound lessons for today's forward-thinking managers: They must reconceive today's "employees" as "citizens."

Through this provocative case study of innovation and excellence lasting two hundred years, Manville and Ober describe a surprising democratic organization that empowered tens of thousands of individuals to work together for both noble purpose and hard-edged performance. Their book offers timeless guiding principles for organizing and leading a self-governing enterprise.

A unique and compelling think piece, A Company of Citizens will change the way managers envision the leadership, values, and structure of tomorrow's people-centered organizations.

Customer Reviews:

Find new ways to learn and work together.......2003-04-25

History was never my favorite subject so I was a little leery of how much I might appreciate from a book about ancient Athens. How wonderful to find refreshing insights and practical teachings page after page! The authors use Athens as more of an illuminating example or clever case-study than a mantra for what modern managers should do now. They address both historical challenges and modern day dilemmas to get at the heart of how to build community while supporting individuality at the same time. Through stories that could almost seem ripped from today's headlines, they show refreshing ways of working together, learning from one another, and networking for the good of a geographic or business community. I was especially impressed with chapter 5, Practicing Citizenship, because it offered a series of Athenian practices that (as the authors said) "embody the combination of 'doing' and 'learning'--things that modern managers still tend to keep in separate jars." In my work, helping people and organizations discovery alternative ways to learn and work together, I'm sure to surprise people with some fresh approaches that are anything but new.

From the Financial Times--reprinted.......2003-04-18

Ancient Greeks bear gifts to management.
By RICHARD DONKIN.
1,073 words
27 February 2003
Financial Times
16
English
(c) 2003 Financial Times Limited. All Rights Reserved

The authors of a new book argue that the ordered society of Pericles' Athens offers transferable models of organisation for the modern company.

There is a memorable scene in the Monty Python film The Life of Brian, where a group of Jewish resistance fighters asks: "What did the Romans do for us?" before producing an ever-growing list of achievements. It is just as well that the Python team did not include the Greeks or the scene would have run and run.

Ancient Greece has so much to offer that it is perhaps surprising that the management book-publishing industry has taken its time to evaluate the Greek city state for ideas that may be applied in the modern company. It is not as if business publishers have been coy about historical studies. We need only look at the exhaustive examinations of the methods of Sun Tzu, the fourth-century BC Chinese general, and Niccolo` Machiavelli, the Florentine Renaissance politician.

The interest in both is understandable, since they had much to say about the dark arts of manipulation and strategy, perceived for so long to be instructive for bosses who wanted to be sure of their power base.

But what could the city state of ancient Athens with its democratic traditions have to offer the autocratically run company?

The authors of a new book* believe the time has come for greater democracy and citizenship in the workplace. They argue that the ordered society of ancient Athens - what they describe as the world's first "company of citizens" - offers transferable models of organisation for the modern company.

It is tempting to dismiss this collaboration between Josiah Ober, a classics professor at Princeton University, and Brook Manville, a chief learning officer in Saba Software, a human resources and management consultancy, as a flight into faddism. But their comparisons provide an intriguing reflection on the modern company.

They do not, for example, explicitly compare today's companies with another Greek model, Spartan society - but there do seem to be similarities. The Spartans were reared as warriors and trained in military systems from childhood. Society was controlled from the centre. What the authors describe as a "grim and joyless military camp" sounds like the pared-down efficiency expected of lean manufacturing or the no-frills office.

There is a big difference, however, between tightly controlled Spartan society and the various degrees of semi-autonomous decision-making work teams in more progressive manufacturing businesses today. Some companies, flush with the ideas of empowerment, do appear to be heading towards more consensual models of organisation. But they have yet to achieve the devolution enjoyed some 2,400 years ago by the citizens of Athens.

As the authors point out, the decision to build the Parthenon, still one of the world's most potent symbols of democracy, emanated from accountable leaders who proposed it in an open forum and had the work plan approved by a citizens' assembly. "It did not spring from the head of an egotistical tyrant," they write. How many corporate decisions today can boast such participative involvement of employees?

The Parthenon remains, say the authors, "a product of tens of thousands of people working together to create something of lasting value and excellence, a reminder to us that similar excellence can be achieved today."

The achievement of such excellence was founded on a strong emphasis on the involvement of citizens in decision-making, the system of poletia that embodied a sense of civic duty, common purpose, learning, governance and community values. If the same spirit could be replicated in a company's workforce, say the authors, it could produce the same kind of sustained dynamic performance that characterised the success of Athenian society.

But, as they point out, the Athenian poletia was not socially engineered from above. "(It) did not start with a strategy, then devise a structure then finally plug the people into the framework. It began with the people themselves, and let values and structure and design emerge through the aligning practices of citizenship." But it relied on the direct involvement of citizens in the direction of society. "We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all," said Pericles, the Athenian statesman.

There is a big difference between this view and that of the typical board-run company. It is one thing to communicate decisions to staff. It is quite another to involve those staff in the decision-making process. As the authors acknowledge, most experiments in workplace democracy to date have taken place in village-sized enterprises, such as the St Luke's advertising agency, the Oticon strategic management group and a jet engine plant run by General Electric in Durham, North Carolina.

They argue, however, that the Athenian model of organisation, consisting of "networks of networks" of citizens based primarily on neighbourhood groups called demes, could be scaled up to cover communities of tens of thousands of people.

The authors are not completely starry-eyed about the Athenian model. Ultimately, after 200 years, it was replaced by hierarchical rule after the city's conquest by Macedon. Athenian citizenship was never inclusive. It did not grant citizenship to women and it exploited the practice of slavery, although a small minority of slaves did manage to prosper and some even won their freedom.

But there is no doubting the power of involved citizens in democracy or that of involved employees in a genuinely democratic enterprise. Even so, can we really expect the chief executives of traditional businesses to become more accountable to employees? Recent developments in corporate governance are forcing boards to become more accountable to shareholders. Moreover, increasing numbers of organisations appear to be acquainting themselves with the stakeholder concept of the organisation. But this has yet to extend to any sophisticated understanding or practice of corporate citizenship.

Greek civilisation emerged in a turbulent world of warring nation states. Athens discovered that the organisational power unleashed by its system of governance endowed it with a real competitive advantage. That alone is enough to justify a more active experimentation in corporate citizenship today.

Can Athenian society be a model for workplace democracy?.......2003-03-09

A Company of Citizens is concerned with two themes. First, "workers in today's Knowledge Age," mindful of their contributions and responsibilities, increasingly expect to become full citizens of their organizations with rights to self-govern and to develop practices of cooperation. Secondly, the Greek city-state of Athens in the fourth and fifth century B.C. is presented as the most significant example of a large organization/society that operated as a thoroughgoing democracy, and, as such, is suggested by the authors as the best practical model for modern firms desirous of a transformation to democracy. But the connection between the democracy of Athens which existed primarily at the level of the state and participatory democracy in modern, private enterprises is hardly straightforward. The authors contend that reality for today's employees is one of being forced to "check their values and sense of purpose" at the door to their firms, much to the detriment of the firms.

A large portion of the book consists of a discussion and breakdown of what the authors term the core elements of the Athenian democratic system: "democratic values, governance structures, and participatory practices." The basis of the widespread participation by Athenian citizens in the affairs of state was an unprecedented freedom and equality. There was not a layer of elites that trumped the various citizen assemblies, and any leaders chosen remained accountable to those assemblies. There was frequent rotation of citizens among the various bodies performing legislative, executive, and judicial functions. The art and responsibility of governing was widely distributed among Athenian citizens.

The authors focus on the Athenian concerns for defense and the domination of neighboring city-states as evidence of the positive workings of the Athenian democracy. But the authors make little mention of the economy of Athens, which is surprising since this book attempts to address the relevance of the Athens model to modern private enterprises. They make the claim that redistribution of private assets was not part of Athenian policies. But the redistribution of power or economic goods in the name of fairness and the wellbeing of communities is invariably part of democracies. That is a fundamental principle of modern social-democratic states, and, one guesses, of the Athens city-state.

For both communities and organizations, issues of "who can be members" and "the permanency of membership" are primary. An oddity by today's standards, citizenship in the Athens city-state was limited to native-born males. Unfortunately, the authors seem to have been unduly swayed by that restriction by pondering whether levels of membership will need to be established in firms employing workers with varying degrees of importance to their firms' success. However, a caste system is a dubious proposition for a modern democratic community. As a further consideration, in most genuine communities, members are protected by the group and not cast aside in difficult times. Yet the authors see "downsizing" as a possible action by democratic communities, though perhaps distasteful. The damage to an organization's fabric is not discussed.

The oft-repeated, hollow slogan of modern companies, "the people are the company," certainly had validity in Athens. There can be no state without citizens. But modern companies have legal, independent standing and are generally owned by outside shareholders, not workers. The reality is that workers are more like "wage slaves," not citizens of their companies with long-term, essential standing, legal or otherwise. The authors briefly touch on the necessity of redefining and reprioritizing the concept of "stakeholder" in modern companies. Obviously, a company of citizens cannot be trumped by absentee owners and still be a democratic community.

Closely tied to the issue of ownership of a firm is the role of management. The difficulties in transforming a company being operated by a managerial elite backed by a board of directors to one governed by employee-citizens cannot be exaggerated. A company of citizens cannot simply be mandated with power being retained by some overriding authority, no matter how enlightened. The authors point out that a democracy evolves through experimentation and mistakes by citizens. It is difficult to envision a modern CEO permitting his authority to be eliminated, let alone diminished, or allowing himself to be rotated out of the job. In addition, a huge issue is whether modern workers can really embrace and accept the responsibilities of democracy.

The emphasis on the Athens city-state is instructive from the standpoint of describing a "strong" democracy, despite some of its shortcomings. But one could ask whether it is even necessary to turn to ancient history to shed light on employees trying to find empowerment within their workplaces. The labor movement has struggled since the beginnings of industrialization to gain a voice for workers within enterprises. The authors do not present in the main text any examples of companies where employees are full citizens. It would have been interesting for the authors to comment on the well known example of the Saturn Corporation as to its fit as a company of citizens. Or perhaps the works council systems found in Europe could have been mentioned.

The authors repeatedly make the point that a company of citizens must be concerned with a "steep performance challenge," but why the condition? One would think that those advocating for democracy would do so on the fundamental basis of citizens controlling their destiny and not on the existence of some unusual circumstance. The book is thought provoking. But far too much space is devoted to the Athens city-state and the attempt to capture its workings in a set of textbook-like generalizations. There is little in this book that leads one to believe that the U.S. will be establishing companies of citizens any time soon. Nor is the book much in the way of a blueprint of how to do so. In some respects this book can be added to a large list of management books that talk employee empowerment, but don't quite get it.

Must Read Must Do.......2003-02-02

This book goes beyond a must read to a must do. It provides clear, compelling guidance for growing stronger, better performing companies from within. It challenges organizations that compete in the knowledge economy to move beyond "people are our only assets" to "We, the people". But it is not mere smarmy and naive trash that extols empowerment without responsibility. If people are to seize the moment and become companies of citizens -- become contemporary equivalents of "Athenians" -- then they must take responsibility individually and together. They must risk their futures on learning from the distant past so well described in this excellent book.

A Terrific Think Piece.......2003-01-19

Whether you are looking for a model of a democratic yet decisive organization or for an example of the timeless lessons of ancient history, you will love A Company of Citizens. The authors, a businessman and a classics professor, deserve a victory wreath for this short, sparkling, and inspiring guide that takes us from the Acropolis to the organization of the future.

A Company of Citizens: What the World@?s First Democracy Teaches Leaders about Creating Great Organizations [A book review from: The Leadership Quarterly]

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A Company of Citizens: What the World@?s First Democracy Teaches Leaders about Creating Great Organizations [A book review from: The Leadership Quarterly]
A.F. Buono
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Elsevier | By Publisher | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B000RR2WTI

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from The Leadership Quarterly, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Book Description

This book is a synopsis of modern deep-field astronomy, based on the powerful telescopes and instruments developed in recent years. It is organized along topical themes, such as the extragalactic background radiation at different wavelengths, the evolution of galaxies, the history of star formation, the nature of absorbers, the reionization of the intergalactic medium, the validity of photometric redshifts, gravitational lensing, and clustering of galaxies. Stellar and substellar objects were not neglected, however, and one session was devoted to nearby bodies such as trans-Neptunian solar system objects, brown dwarfs, and stars with special characteristics.

Extragalactic Background Radiation (Space Telescope Science Institute Symposium Series)

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Extragalactic Background Radiation (Space Telescope Science Institute Symposium Series)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 052149558X

Book Description

The extragalactic background radiation, from gamma-rays to radio waves, tells us a great deal about the formation and evolution of structure in the universe. A workshop at the Space Telescope Science Institute addressed this radiation, providing a unique opportunity for observational astronomers and theorists to share their expertise and to help synthesize a new understanding. This volume presents fourteen invited reviews from internationally renowned experts as an edited and coherent overview. Chapters address the gamma-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, microwave and radio backgrounds as well as the detection of anisotropies and the theory of structure formation. Together these reviews provide a unique, multi-wavelength overview of the extragalactic background radiation and how it relates to structure in the universe. They summarize our present knowledge, highlight outstanding problems and provide focus for future work. In this way they provide a unique reference for graduates and professionals in astronomy, cosmology and physics.

The Galactic and Extragalactic Background Radiation (International Astronomical Union Symposia)

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The Galactic and Extragalactic Background Radiation (International Astronomical Union Symposia)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792308417

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Proceedings of the 139th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union on `The Galactic and Extragalactic Background Radiation, held in Heidelberg, FRG, June 12-16, 1989

The extragalactic diffuse background in the far ultraviolet (Preprint series)

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The extragalactic diffuse background in the far ultraviolet (Preprint series)
Francesco Paresce
Manufacturer: Space Telescope Science Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00072A95M

Extragalactic Infrared Background and Its Cosmological Implications: Iau Symposium 204 : Proceedings of the 24th General Assembly of the Iau Held at Manchester, United Kingdom, 15-18 August 2000

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Extragalactic Infrared Background and Its Cosmological Implications: Iau Symposium 204 : Proceedings of the 24th General Assembly of the Iau Held at Manchester, United Kingdom, 15-18 August 2000
England) International Astronomical Union Symposium 2000 (Manchester , M. G. Hauser , and Martin Harwit
Manufacturer: Astronomical Society of the Pacific
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1583810625

The grand unified photon spectrum a coherent view of the diffuse extragalactic background radiation (SuDoc NAS 1.26:186077)

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The grand unified photon spectrum a coherent view of the diffuse extragalactic background radiation (SuDoc NAS 1.26:186077)
M. Ted Ressell
Manufacturer: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000105V7Q

Book Description

Celebrating a century of revolutionary contributions to our understanding of life, the world, and the universe, this encyclopedic desk reference traces the discoveries that earned nearly 500 distinguished scientists Nobel honors in the areas of chemistry, physics, and medicine. The School of Library Journal called it "...eye-catching... Original artwork, colorful captioned drawings of models and structures, and diagrams illustrate complex scientific principles and may invite browsing. …great graphics and appealing format..." This book includes over 550 full color illustrations and photographs, and is a must for the library of any public, university, business, or personal library.

Book Description

This radical approach to complex analysis replaces the standard calculational arguments with new geometric ones. With several hundred diagrams, and far fewer prerequisites than usual, this is the first visually intuitive introduction to complex analysis. Although designed for use by undergraduates in mathematics and science, the novelty of the approach will also interest professional mathematicians. PDF extracts of the book can be read at http://www.usfca.edu/vcal/.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful.......2006-05-11

This is one of the best math books ever written. It is insightful, reader friendly,and has an excellent set of exercises. It also covers a broad range of topics including applications to physics.

Great Intuitive Coverage of Complex Variables.......2006-02-17

This is a great book for a Complex analysis course, especially when combined with a more traditional text like Ahlfors or Knopp's Theory of Functions. Needham's geometric approach builds 'feel' for the subject and manages to include a huge range of topics. Sometimes just trying to work out what you are seeing in a particular visualization can lead to new insights. All in all its an innovative and well written book.

Pretty but not a substitute for traditional text........2005-10-09

My slightly harsh rating is an antidote to all the gushing about
this book. It is a nice book with lots of pretty pictures and
genuine geometrical insights and is well worth reading as a
supplement to traditional complex analysis texts. The geometrical
topics are actually quite good. If you are a maths major then
this book will be of limited use because its coverage of the
traditional topics is simply too weak. The geometrical approach
quickly runs out of steam, in my opinion, once it gets into
complex integration. Homotopy does not even rate a mention in the
index. My pet dislike was the almost complete omission of the
calculus of residues. The author dimisses that topic as being
old-fashioned. True, the application to computing real integrals
is reduced since the advent of computers. But I think that a
maths major would need to be aware of Jordan's Lemma and other
techniques to estimate the asymptotic behaviour of integrals
along curves. I also found that the treatment of multi-valued
functions and branch cuts quite confusing, which is surprising
in a book which is supposed to have a strong geometrical focus.

Exceptionally pretty complex analysis book.......2005-04-09

This is a very exciting introduction to complex analysis. Its most striking feature is the many excellent illustrations; pictures are used to explain things whenever possible. Needham is always eager to explain, and also to show meaning. Thus Möbius transformations are not just charming quirks; instead Needham gives a self-contained introduction to non-Euclidean geometry to show them in action. And when one needs to understand analytic functions as flows, then Needham gives a self-contained introduction to the ideas of vector analysis. Because the book always spills over on other topics like this, I keep my copy within reach at all times, as a treasure mine of beautiful, visual explanations of topics even outside of complex analysis proper. This wide scope works very well most of the time but it should be said that there are probably too many minor side topics than are appropriate in a first textbook. Sometimes Needham seems to include results not because they fit in or add something important, but because he has thought of such a pretty proof. But we quickly forgive him, for the book is so extremely loveable, and it is still by far my first choice as a first textbook of complex analysis.

essential.......2005-01-13

It is possible to memorize definitions, master proofs and work endless exercises and still feel that you don't understand what's going on. This is especially true in complex analysis. This book emphasizes the visual/geometric aspect of analytic functions at the expense of some loss of rigor. These insights are priceless.

Needham employs a wider range of mathematical tools than other books aimed at the upper level undergraduate, e.g., Palka and Brown/Churchill. This would include simple group theory, linear algebra, vector calculus and obviously geometry. Often this works very well at the expense of some digression. At other times, the more traditional algebraic approach is better.

This book is unique and fills an important need.

Analysis of Privatization of the Jacksonville Military Complex's Potable Water Distribution Systems

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Analysis of Privatization of the Jacksonville Military Complex's Potable Water Distribution Systems

Manufacturer: Storming Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

Comets, Meteors & Asteroids | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1423575717

Product Description

This is a NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A771423. The abstract provided by the Pentagon follows: Privatization of Department of Defense utility systems has become a central issue. It is seen as a way to relieve the Services of their current burden of huge maintenance and repair backlogs for aging systems. This thesis performs an economic analysis to determine whether it is economically feasible to privatize the Jacksonville Military Complex's potable water distribution systems. To address this issue, current legislation affecting utilities privatization was studied. Interviews were conducted with representatives of the Army, Navy, and Air Force regarding their current utilities privatization efforts. A case study of NAVWEPSTA Earle was used to provide the framework in which the Jacksonville decision should be made. Data was gathered from NAS jacksonville, NAS Cecil Field, and NAVSTA Mayport to calculate their annual water consumptions and the current plant value of their water systems. The systems' current plant value was obtained from NAVFAC's P-164 and adjusted for accumulated depreciation to provide the net current cost of the systems. These figures were used to derive the net present value of both the status quo scenario and the privatization scenario. Based upon the net present value calculations, privatization of the systems is recommended.

Analysis of simulated long-term ecosystem dynamics using visual recurrence analysis [An article from: Ecological Complexity]

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Analysis of simulated long-term ecosystem dynamics using visual recurrence analysis [An article from: Ecological Complexity]
L. Parrott
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: B000RQZK2A

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Ecological Complexity, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
An ecosystem is a prototypical complex system, exhibiting a self-organised temporal dynamics, the characterisation and description of which is riddled with challenges. In this study, simulated ecosystems in the multi-species model WIST (Weather-driven, Individual-based, Spatially explicit, Terrestrial ecosystem model) are used as surrogates with which to explore and characterise the long-term dynamics of ecosystems subject to disturbances of varying scale and frequency. A visual recurrence analysis is used to study the biomass history in each of the simulated systems. The recurrence analysis illustrates clearly the differences between the dynamic regimes of different systems and the subsequent effects of disturbances on these dynamic regimes. Recurrence analysis may prove to be a useful technique for the characterisation of data from ecosystem models and long-term ecological monitoring programs.

Research on the recognition and analysis of complex and dynamic imagery

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Research on the recognition and analysis of complex and dynamic imagery
Allan John Pantle
Manufacturer: Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, Aerospace Medical Division, Air Force Systems Command
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Ophthalmology | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006WGND0

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Visual Complex Analysis
Tristan Needham
Manufacturer: Oxford University Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K1GZQM

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Visual Complex Analysis
Tristan Needham
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OLCA1M

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Great works

Steinbeck's classics delivered in a wonderful manner

Some pretty amazing Steinbeck magic

steinbeck at his best in Mice and Men

Of mice and men

John Steinbeck : Novels and Stories, 1932-1937 : The Pastures of Heaven / To a God Unknown / Tortilla Flat / In Dubious Battle / Of Mice and Men (Library of America)
John Steinbeck
Manufacturer: Library of America
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Binding: Hardcover

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Steinbeck Novels 1942-1952: The Moon Is Down / Cannery Row / The Pearl / East of Eden (Library of America)

John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936-1941: The Grapes of Wrath, The Harvest Gypsies, The Long Valley, The Log from the Sea of Cortez (Library of America)

John Steinbeck: Travels with Charley and Later Novels 1947-1962: The Wayward Bus / Burning Bright / Sweet Thursday / The Winter of Our Discontent (Library of America)

Mark Twain : Mississippi Writings : Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, Huckleberry Finn, Pudd'nhead Wilson (Library of America)

William Faulkner : Novels 1930-1935 : As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, Light in August, Pylon (Library of America)

ASIN: 1883011019

Customer Reviews:

Great works.......2005-10-25

I recently visited Monterey and upon my return home, I became obsessed with Steinbecks novels as many of them focus on this beautiful city. This collection is a great reminder of lifes ups and downs, friendship, and perserverance. Very easy to read and relate to.

Steinbeck's classics delivered in a wonderful manner.......2005-08-26

I purchased this book because it was the first place where I read my favorite story, Of Mice and Men. It was delivered within three days of purchase. I am very very satisfied in the book, and the experience

Some pretty amazing Steinbeck magic.......2001-12-15

This volume contains some of the earlier works of John Steinbeck. Steinbeck was a master of the English language and had the talent of using the least amount of words to convey the greatest amount of emotions. His stories are moving without being cheap. He is compassionate and had keen insight into his characters and the world at large.
Reviewing each story that appears in this volume is beyond the scope of this review, and you should check out that various titles individually. I will just say a few words about the collection in general. Steinbeck's earlier works are, in my opinion, better than his later, more ambitious works. While his later works can be viewed as some sort of social criticism, these earlier works are simply his personal salute to human nature. Steinbeck knew a basic truth about writing - if you want to write a great book, before you have a great theme, make sure you have great characters, and the rest will follow.
Steinbeck is both profound and very accessible at the same time, which I think is the trademark of a great author. He wrote for ordinary people (unlike, say, Joyce), and at the same time his works are complex enough to be appreciated by scholars. Whatever group you belong to, you will not regret reading this book.

steinbeck at his best in Mice and Men.......2000-10-01

This wonderful novella tells the ineffably sad tale of two itinerant farm laborers in Depression California. George Milton is a small wiry man, his traveling companion, Lennie Small, is a giant, but a simpleton. The two travel from farm to farm, one step ahead of trouble as Lennie's incredible strength and feeble brain continually land them in trouble. Other farm hands are struck by the rarity of finding such men traveling as partners, but Lennie and George have a dream, a dream of a better life. As soon as they can raise $600 they can buy a farm and be their own bosses and Lennie will get to raise the rabbits that he loves, but has a tendency to accidentally crush. Unfortunately, trouble awaits at the farm where they are headed. The ranch owner's son, Curley, can't control his new bride who has "the eye" or his own temper which flares up whenever she starts flirting with the hired hands.

This is one of those books you had to read in 9th grade, largely because it was by a famous author and it's short enough that teachers figure students might actually finish it. If you haven't read it since, give it another try. The relationship between George and Lennie is one of the most beautiful, and oft imitated, in all of literature and the themes of love, friendship, loyalty, courage and the dream of a better life are both timeless and compelling.

GRADE: A+

Of mice and men.......2000-08-09

I read Of Mice And Men because of a school requirement. The themes of Friendship, Loneliness and dreams feature strongly in this book. I felt that I could relate mostly to the theme of friendship, I like, Lennie and George rely on my friends to help and guide me along the way. In this sense I felt a connection with the plot. At the beginning of the book I was not very interested, and first I didn't like it at all, but towards the middle and end I started to be more interested, and I found that I had to finish it as soon as possible. Now, I feel that I have a stronger knowledge of friendship and trust and the limits I would go to for any one of my friends. Besides the book was good, I wouldn't recommend it, to people who don't like to read.

NOVELS AND STORIES 1932-1937 THE PASTURES OF HEAVEN, TO A GOD UNKNOWN, TORTILLA FLAT, IN DUBIOUS BATTLE, OF MICE AND MEN

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NOVELS AND STORIES 1932-1937 THE PASTURES OF HEAVEN, TO A GOD UNKNOWN, TORTILLA FLAT, IN DUBIOUS BATTLE, OF MICE AND MEN
John Steinbeck
Manufacturer: The Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Steinbeck Novels and Stories 1932-1937: The Pastures of Heaven/to a God Unknown/Tortilla Flat/in Dubious Battle/of Mice and Men

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Steinbeck Novels and Stories 1932-1937: The Pastures of Heaven/to a God Unknown/Tortilla Flat/in Dubious Battle/of Mice and Men
John; Demott, Robert; Steinbeck, Elaine A. Steinbeck
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OVAJ7O

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