Bond Reviews

The question and answer format allows one to pick and choose those financial subjects one is interested in. There is no wasting of time to go through pages of uninteresting information. The book deals with every conceivable financial problem and information one would want to ask about, and the answers are written in a very concise and easy to understand manner. This is a book for everyone, whether it is a home-maker, a student or a business person. Its a good investment !

A great book for the beginning investor and a terrific reference work for the more sophisticated investor. Concise and to the point in a clever Q&A format.

Money Matters Made Easy is a book every starting, and regular investor should have on his, or her bookshelf. It covers 178 subjects from evaluating investments to home ownership, and more, like wills, understanding bonds,retirement etc, in short concise and very easy to understand paragraphs. Because it is written in a simple, common-sense way, it is a bargain, for what it contains, and is one investment, which can only lead to dividends in any ones' investments and also life style, since it covers paying for college, insurance and taxes. GO BUY IT !

touching and beautiful.

I found this book by chance in Karacht years ago and I was really deeply moved by the wonderful stories written by Mr Bond. Most of my students also find the stories charming and touching. If I had to keep only one book for the rest of my life, this of course is the ONE.

This book is one in a million and is a ray of light in our material world.Kudos Mr.Bond!

Earth and its people are at risk. Most of our personal and global problems don't readily improve because we are emotionally bonded to the destructive way of thinking that produces them. Our dilemmas are psychological addictions. They must be treated as such if they are to change.

The Natural Systems Thinking Process in Reconnecting With Nature provides a psychological key to personal and environmental wellness. It helps us make conscious sensory contacts with nature that replace our destructive subconscious bonds with responsible ways of relating.

Doing the book's activities produced the following repeatable, teachable, discoveries with respect to living in balance and peace with people and the environment. If you use the book correctly, you can produce similar results. Think about what Earth and our personal relationships would be if many people learned to do these activities.

Sustainability: "As I continued the forest activity, I found myself attracted to the various songs of the birds and then gradually to the various stones and nuts and shells in the path. I would stop in the path, pick up the stone, admire its beauty and then feel clearly called to return it to its appropriate place. So often other times I have felt I needed to put it in my pocket and carry it home. Now, through the activity, I had a real sense of appreciating each rock, each shell, each leaf in its place for the time I was there. I felt suddenly freed from the need to possess something. I had a growing sense of letting things be and to just be still and glory in the fullness of the moment. As I allowed myself to connect, appreciate, thank and move on with so much of what surrounded me, I felt a letting go into being present. In this transformation, I began to feel I was part of the scene more, not my other self that needed to possess. I learned that I do not need to possess something to have the joy of it."

Peace: "I was never taught to ask permission to relate to people or the environment, I just did it, we all do. However, this activity required my senses to learn how to ask an attractive tree covered area for its consent for me to walk through it. The area continued to feel attractive, but something changed. It was the first time in my life that I totally felt safe. It felt like Earth's energies were in charge of my life, not me. It gave me a wonderful feeling of having more power to be myself. I felt in balance with nature and the people here because I could feel their energies consenting to support me. I never experienced nature that way before. It was like a strict law protected not only my life, but all of life. I felt very secure and nurtured as I walked under those trees. I learned that when I seek permission from the environment I gain energy and I belong. "

A reaction: "The experiences expressed in the above paragraphs may even be some of the most important since Earth Day 4 1/2 billion years ago. They are at least important for anyone in our possession-addicted, destructive culture to contemplate. It is significant that the nature-connect activities help us make such breakthroughs." Dr. Mark Brody, Psychologist

Participant Reactions: "Through the study I found myself feeling profoundly grateful when I identified my strong attraction to my wife as part of the web of life. It broadened that feeling. I experienced the sun more warmly, the grass under my feet more gently. My respect for nature in general was enhanced. It made my heart open to my surroundings and to care for them. To survive, our environment, and people, too, need and deserve this kind of recognition".

If I have anything to do with it (and I might) I predict that a Nobel Prize will go out to the founders of ECOPSYCHOLOGY.

I don't know of anyone else in the field ecopsychology that has pushed it to the front of scientific debate and made it so accessable to everyone in our culture.

Mike Cohen is on his way to a Nobel prize in the next decade, and I know that is not his motivation, but it should be your motivation to read his books to understand why he deserves it .

Kevin Bethel MD CM BFA

We are not human beings trying to have a natural experience, we are natural beings trying to have a human experience.

I am begining to see the clinical applications of ecopsychology and I am very exited. I can't waite until Universities and schools start making RWN and ecopsychology a part of their curriculum.

This is a beautiful book to keep and to give. The drawings are very interesting and beautiful, some of them are very basic sketches, some are complex artistic works, but all of them have one thing in common: they were drawn with lots of love. And that shows. Thank you for this book Ms Leacock!

This book is absolutely great. Kids of all ages enjoy looking at the flowers that were drawn by the many famous stars that appear in it. I personally know Victoria and the work that she put into the book. There are stories in it that will make you cry, like the Alison Gertz story. It is very heartwarming. Thirty percent of the profits go to the Aid foundation known as Love heals which is absolutely great.

A very beautifully well put together book. Not only are the drawings interesting, the text that goes along with them as Ms. Leacock remembers the acquiring of the flowers will make you laugh and cry. The wide range of celebrities drawings of flowers is quite amazing (authors, directors, actors, etc.). That Ms. Leacock would share these very personal rememberances make it quite touching. Makes a wonderful gift for anyone and you will want to display it on your coffee table forever. The fact that a large percentage of the proceeds is going to AIDS charities is even more special.

Dr. Cunningham takes us on an autobiographical journey with the animals in his life from four years of age through his ups and downs of veterinary school and into his work as a nighttime emergency vet. In a forthright style he describes the tribulations of his life as a young veterinary student trying to follow both the system and his conscience.

A gentle soul, with a level of devotion and love for his patients beyond the call, he regales us with stories about "One Step" the one legged cockatiel, and tugs at our hearts us with the story of his beloved Boston terrier "Pug."

This is a great book for all animal lovers, easy to read and hard to put down, I finished it the afternoon that I got it, with warmth in my heart and tears in my eyes. Thank you Dr. Cunningham!

One of the best books I've ever read! Not only comforted me in a time of grief, but also made me laugh. Very talented author!

Thank you so much for giving me a copy of your book. I can't express how much it helped me with the loss of Sophie. Nobody really understands how difficult it is to lose an animal family member unless they have experienced the closeness that Sophie and I shared. Few people have as deep a relationship with their " pets" as we had. It helped me greatly to read about your love for your animals. It made me unde4rstand that I am not alone in loving my animals as much as I do and in the immense sorrow I have in losing them.

Stockdale mixes philosophy with his hard-earned wisdom as a POW in this incredible, honest inspiring book. Better than 99% of all self-help books. Read it, live it.

I do not normally choose to read a book based on the author's resume', but Stockdale's credentials (retired thirty-three year U.S. Navy Vice Admiral (3-stars), spent over seven years as the highest ranking U.S. prisoner of war (POW) in Vietnam, Medal of Honor recipient, 1992 Reform Party vice presidential candidate, president of the Naval War College and the Citadel, holder of eleven honorary doctoral degrees, experimental test pilot, author, professor), compelled me to read his book. I am very glad I followed my gut instincts, for Stockdale wrote one of the best thought-provoking books about life, character, and leadership that I have ever read.

This book is a collection of essays, speeches, and articles by Stockdale (and one by a Stockdale friend and colleague) about his many and diverse experiences and how they have influenced his personal philosophies about life, character, and leadership. Many of his key points are repeated throughout the book, but the different purposes and audiences for the essays, speeches, and articles prevented those key points from becoming stale.

Stockdale's key points included, but were not limited to: character is demonstrated under pressure; his POW experience was the defining event in his life, a blessing (that I believe most non-POWs (like myself) will have trouble understanding or appreciating); the value of an education in philosophic classics (i.e. Stoicism, Epictetus, the Enchiridion, etc.); his first-hand accounts of the events leading up to the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which officially began our involvement in the Vietnam War (I was surprised); how the lack of character and integrity in senior U.S. leadership prolonged the Vietnam War and ultimately led to defeat and betrayal; and how Vietnam's U.S. POWs differed from our POWs in other wars.

Not one of the easiest books to read, but certainly one of my most inspiring and stimulating readings. I believe this book is one that I will use as a frequent reference, and it is already influencing my personal research and reading selections.

Life is tough, and it's not fair, and it may not be given to us by a personifiable diety who judges us and has a plan for everything. So what do you do? You have to dig deep within yourself. If you avoid the pitfalls of self-pity or the temptations posed by easy ways out, you can prevail against just about anything. Against repeated torture, humilating forced "confessions", and prolonged solitary confinement? Yes!! This man has been there and is quite willing to tell us all about it.

Being a collection of short articles and speeches written by the retired VAdm., the key points are often repeated and there is not a smooth progession in the narrative. But given the wealth here, there's little wrong with that.

This can serve as an introduction to the works of two great thinkers: one living today, and one who lived just a century after the birth of Jesus. Edward O. Wilson is the former, a friend of Stockdale himself, and the founder of sociobiology (and target of the PC Red Guard... see Tom Wolfe's "Hooking Up"). The latter is Epictetus, a former slave turned teacher (he would not call himself a philosopher) who was among the giants of the Stoic tradition.

Tom Wolfe made a habit in his public apperances a few years back of mentioning the clarity of Friedrich Neitzsche's prognostications. According to Nietzsche, the 21st century would see "the reevaluation of all values" which would be doomed without the implicit belief in an all-seeing, all-knowing, all-juding God. Around this period of time, Wolfe had heart surgery followed by a bout of depression, from which he bounced back to finally finish his mammoth novel "A Man in Full", eleven years (!) in the making. Stoicism features prominantly in the book, and I can't help but wonder if Wolfe himself has found some helpful balance between the rationalism of Wilson (who he has in the past called "the giant") and the sheer fortitude of Epictetus.

Who knows, maybe Wolfe read some of this? As someone who has gone though depression himself, this book offered me a heartening glimpse into the strength that can be tapped into when all else goes awry.

This excellent, accessible, and extremely well documented integration of the economics, administrative infrastructure and politics of the economy is a must read. Canterbery clearly deflates current politically correct talking point that Dubyah's skewed tax cut is in any meaningful way related to "capital formation". With only 5% of the transactions in the stock and bond market attributable to the "primary" capital raising markets (i.e. IPOs and new treasury debt) the churning of the remaining 95% of the secondary market is the "overhead" that's necessary to achieve "efficient" pricing for capital. That's like a shop owner who has to sustain $95 in operating overhead to keep his store open in order to make $5 in sales.

Witty, insightfully integrative and deadly accurate, this is a must read.

The past decade of financial euphoria has slowly built in the public's mind the myth of the "millionaire next door," and the belief that democratic redistribution, through capital markets accessible to all, existed. This book, owing to a thorough analysis of the US capital markets, definitely draws an accurate and realistic picture of who the real "winners" are. The answer is explosive and the statements fully backed up with data. If you want to have a better understanding of how the Fed, the government, and the markets have been creating this "dream come true," this book is definitely a must read.

This book explains why the health of the stock market is not equivalent to the health of the economy. The Wall Street bull has transferred enoumous amounts of wealth from the bottom 95% to the top 5% of the population. The result is an economy that is producing goods and services at a rate that is well below its capacity to produce, reducing the standard of living of all but those few who are winning the speculative Wall Street lottery. The book is written in an engaging style with plenty of data to back up the claims. A very important book for a very crucial time in the economic history of the US.

An excellent contribution to theory and practice. The book is a lucid introduction to the one-parameter IRT methodology that is extremely well-written.

This is a book which takes a daunting subject and treats it in such a fashion that immediately draws the most novice researcher to the topic. The authors take their subject seriously, and take themselves not seriously at all. The result is that rare combination of the "how-to" technical aspects of Rasch Analysis with an entertaining and informative discussion of the theoretical basis of the subject. An enjoyable read, and filled with helpful and useful information. A must for the professional library of any researcher!

I expected this book to be another barely undestandable book on Rasch-type model fitting, written by authors who's principle purpose is first to dazzle readers, then discourage them with mysterious statistical spells and mathmatical enchantments. I was wrong. This is a highly readable book which contains powerful arguments for the application and utility of the the Rasch model. The content is rational, and it's presentation lucid. After a few pages it becomes surprisingly clear these authors actually like their subject and want to share it with others!

If the statistically challenged wish to learn more about a very important new direction in measurement, and can afford only one text, this should be the book.

This excellent book is highly commended to anyone who is truly serious about investing. Peter Hupalo is a consultant and frequent columnist on money and entrepreneurship matters. With clear and convincing data to support him, Mr. Hupalo debunks many of the myths Wall Street pushes on the investing public. Author demonstrates the futility of trying to "beat the market", whether through stock picking and market timing or by following mutual funds that have shown high levels of performance in the past. After he makes a convincing case for trying to meet, rather than beat the market. Thus, Mr. Hupalo advocates investing in a diversified basket of mutual funds. The chapter on investing during retirement is particularly insightful.

Whether or not one ultimately agrees with Mr. Hupalo's point of view, "Becoming An Investor: Building Wealth By Investing In Stocks, Bonds, And Mutual Funds" is a book, which deserves attention. Anyone wishing to base his/her investment decisions on solid methodology needs to read this book. You will have a much clearer understanding of markets, and your investment decisions will be firmly rooted in proven soil.

I highly recommend this book for everyone.

Alexander Petrochenkov

Only available in paperback, no fancy artwork on the cover, no glowing reviews by a big time newspaper publisher, no forward by a prestigious luminary, even the editing is second rate. In a word, this is a rough book.

However, when it comes to content, this book is loaded as the author does not include a lot of fluff or selfish stories about himself. However, the author is obviously very well read, because he includes numerous references to plently of other investing books. Some may conclude it's a value investing book, but growth investing is covered as well.

So, what this book presents is a careful and comprehensive distillation of just about everything commonly available on the subject of investing. Also included are numerous clever stories which illustrate important investment truths and strategies and a recognition that a lot of what the mass media presents is almost worthless for somebody wishing to become an investor.

Becoming An Investor: Building Wealth By Investing In Stocks, Bonds, And Mutual Funds is a straightforward primer to the basics of conservative financial investment specifically written for the novice investor seeking to establish a profitable portfolio. From evaluating risks and ratios to diversifying to improve one's margin of safety, just about everything a beginning investor must know is included. For anyone considering putting their money to work for them, Becoming An Investor is urgently recommended, essential reading for participants in today's volatile stock and bond markets in order to help them to make the most of their risk-calculated investment activities.

Alma Bond has taken the opportunity to combine some excellent short stories with her expertise in comprehending human behavior to both entertain and delight the reader. Each of her reprinted stories has a lesson, or special matter of understanding within its pages that she feels worthy of sharing with us. With her guidance at the end of each one we may gain some better understanding of ourselves or someone around us. A perfect example of this is in Conrad Aiken's Silent Snow, Secret Snow which deals with a twelve year old boy and the beginning of mental illness that goes undiagnosed even though his parents know something isn't right. There is a great lesson in this story. Bond is to be commended for this work. Excellent reading.

Painstakingly compiled by psychoanalyst Alma H. Bond (who was in private practice for 37 years), Tales Of Psychology: Short Stories To Make You Wise is an impressive anthology of short stories which were specifically crafted by their authors to provide meaningful insights into the nature and workings of the human mind. Ranging from Raymond Carver's "A Small, Good Thing", to Woody Allen's "My Apology", nineteen intellectually and literarily gifted authors proffer their short story revelations into the human psyche in a compelling, highly readable, enthusiastically recommended collection.

"Tales of Psychology: Short Stories to Make You Wise" is an exceptional book. A happy marriage of psychology and literture. "Tales of Psychology" bring life to literature and literature to life. She has chosen powerful stories that speak to all of us about all of us; she draws upon her considerable professional, literary, and scholarly life's achievement to enrich us with deeper knowledge of our psychology and greater respect for our literature. - Dr. Mary-Alice Herbert, Professor of English, editor, publisher, poet and playwright.