Product Description

The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money & Investing initiates you into the mysteries of the financial pages -- buying stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures and options, spotting trends and evaluating companies. For those who are curious but intimidated by everyday financial jargon, this guide offers a literate, forthright and lively alternative.Amazon.com Review
This handy fact-filled book initiates you into the mysteriesof the financial pages -- buying stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futuresand options, spotting trends and evaluating companies. For those whoare curious but intimidated by everyday financial jargon, this guideoffers a literate, forthright and lively alternative. Recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (62)

Guide to Understanding Money & Investing
It is a short comprehensive guide to us investment dummies
to understand the terms and functions of stocks,bonds, commodities etc.
Looking to see if newer volumes have more info. This is a good start.

Great intro to investing
I have a Master's degree and have recommended this for people who know little about money and investing.It is a great intro to the basics of money and investing, even in today's economy.

Excellent beginner's guide
The book itself is an excellent beginner's guide to financial world and its terminology. However the condition of the book was somewhat worse than I had expected based on seller's description. Cover was rather heavily creased.

Great guide
I have given this book as a gift a bunch of tunes.Excellent beginner guide for anyone who wants to learn about the basics of finance.

Great book for beginners or those needing a refresher.
NEW EDITION - I love this book! This was one of the first books I read on money and finance many years ago. It was really the one that got me interested in financial markets, stocks, mutual funds and investing. Heavy with pictures and illustrations, first glance could be off-putting to the serious minded investor types. However, it is written in clear, concise easy to understand language, and for visual learners, the pictures are a fantastic help. The book is sectioned off into very short segments within each chapter, making it easy to navigate, and to pick-up and put down at random. As I mentioned, when I first read this book years ago, it got me excited about taking control of my finances and making my first forays into investing. (which worked very well at the time, by the way) Years later, I have just picked this book up again for a quick refresher, to brush up on what I have forgotten and to become aware of new developments in the markets over the last 10-15 years. Overall, it turns what can be a daunting, heavy subject into something easy and approachable. Worth the read. ... Read more

Product Description
In the first full-scale biography of America's 39th president since 1980, Kenneth Morris shows readers that any conclusions about Carter's leadership and the adequacy of his challenges as a president cannot ignore the moral quandary that vexed the nation. 35 photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

American Moralist in the White House
"Jimmy Carter - American moralist" is an excellently researched and well written biography of the 39th American president. It provides us with a fine introduction to the ex-president's private and public life. The book is very detailed in exploring Carter's childhood and early political career. Although I found that part interesting to read, I wish it had been as detailed on the account of his presidency. As a born-again Christian there is no doubt that morality played (and still plays) a major role both in Carter's private as well as public life. Unfortunately, strong moral and ethics is not enough to make a good leader and president (I think Bill Clinton is the best example on that...)

President Carter endured the lowest poll ratings ever to be recorded. And after leaving office he spent years as America's favorite guy to pick on. He dedicated himself to volunteer work, especially working with the organization "Habitat for Humanity". More than a decade would pass before he again, in the mid-90'ies, would enjoy life in the public limelight. In 1994 Atlanta Georgia, he got his (long overdue) tribute in bronze, his public ratings was again soaring, and he received invitations to join peace negotiating teams etc.

"Jimmy Carter - American moralist" (together with Powell's "My American Journey") was my introduction to reading about American politics and history. In this book, the author strikes a perfect balance between political jargon, facts and figures. And the result is a biography easy to read, even for lay readers like me. I learned a lot from reading this book, and it inspired me to continue to explore the field further.

An interesting biography!

A fresh look at a forgotten president
Jimmy Who?That was the question many American asked themselves during the 1976 presidential campaign.Who was this obscure southern governorpositioning himself into the highest office in the land?Twenty-five yearslater, many Americans find themselves asking this exact same questiondespite a presidential term and a prominent life in volunteer work.Whilea full understanding of Jimmy Carter is impossible, Mr. Morris provides afine introduction to his life.The author puts a strong emphasis on therole morality played both in Carter's private life and public image.Thebook is especially strong in exploring Carter's childhood and earlypolitical career - a topic that is neglected in every other Carter book. Less emphasis is placed on Carter's presidential term.Major incidentsthat shaped the late 1970s receive only a few pages each.What are we tomake of Jimmy Carter's presidency?Even though the Southern Baptist mayhave been the most ethical and decent man to occupy the White House thiscentury, the record is wanting, at best, miserable at worst.This isbecause Carter lacked any core vision of where he wanted to take hiscountry.He never explained to voters or to himself the direction hewanted to take us.Further, in cases where Carter was more assertive, likeenergy policy, he was inexperienced in how Washington politics worked.Hestumbled badly in his Congressional relations and he never constructed aloyal constituency out of the American public.There were some positives,such as the Egypt-Israel peace accords and legislation deregulating theairline and trucking industries.The Iran Hostage affair was a perplexingsituation that would have frustrated any leader. But on economics and ColdWar relations, the most important issues of Carter's term, hisadministration was especially inept.Even though Carter had privatemisgivings about Keynesianism, he couldn't bring himself to repudiate thetenets of social liberalism.Government spending surged under Carter'sterm.Inflation proved resistant to his wage and price contols.UnderCarter's foreign policy team, detente continued to be a one-way streetworking to Moscow's advantage.It took a man with a far differentperspective of the world, Ronald Regan, to reverse Carter's shortcomings. It is unfair to label Jimmy Carter a failure.Only the harshest critic canlabel a man who rose to the highest office in the land - and served withhonesty and integrity- as a "failure."But Carter's presidencywas constrained by a lack of vision, competence, and a failed ideology. The responsibility for this situation lies solely with this farmer's sonfrom Plains.

Needs more facts, less analysis
Although Morris writes and interesting biography, the strength of the book is when he's telling Carter's story and the environment in which Carter acts.I found the psychoanalysis less compelling.I would have preferredif the author drew his conculsions in the text and relegated hisdescriptions of the school of sociological thought that a particular Carterbehavior might have fit to the endnotes.Sociology too often interfereswith a good story that Morris generally tells well, especially Carter'schildhood.I wish the book had a more detailed account of Carter'sPresidency.What's there is good, but more is needed.I thought theauthor offered many interesting political insights, but found hiscomparison of the economic record of Carter and his neighboring Presidentsvery poor.The economic analysis relies too heavily on comparing 4-yearaverages of certain indicators rather than describing what the trends were,what the causes were, and how well Carter acted to address the trends.

Fine Biography for Carter's Childhood.
The strength of this book lies in the depth of it's treatment of Jimmy Carter's formative years.It falls short on details of his governing years.Many conclusions are transparently flimsy but, for someone comingin with little knownledge of Carter's life like myself, it was aninformative read. ... Read more

Product Description
The Crest-Wave of Evolution - A Course of Lectures in History, Given to the Graduates' Class in the Raja-Yoga College, Point Loma, in the College-Year 1918-19 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Kenneth Morris is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Kenneth Morris then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1930, Kenneth Morris's superb Book of the Three Dragons is an imaginative reworking of elements from the Mabinogion and other Welsh Celtic stories, telling the story of Manawyddan, who is given the choice between immortality with the gods or preventing a new evil from destroying the Island of the Mighty.Manawyddan chooses the latter, and the novel tells of his adventures. Swiftly moving and dramatic, this is a book that lovers of modern fantasy and old hero tales alike cannot afford to miss.

Perhaps most importantly for modern readers, for the first time Morris's unpublished ending - amounting to one-third of the book's length - is included in this new edition, telling what became of the hero, his wife, and their son.

NOTE ON NEW SERIES:This is the first in our new line of fantasy fiction, which will feature both masterpieces no longer in print in the US as well as new works.The series will be edited by noted Tolkien scholar Douglas A. Anderson, whose previous books include The Annotated Hobbit (HM) and Tales Before Tolkien (Ballantine). Mr. Anderson will also write introductions to each book, providing context and background to enrich the reader's experience.The cover look and interior design will appeal to all demographics (especially younger fans under 30 who play computer fantasy games and love writers like Tolkien, Pratchett, and Pullman) with top artists creating a dazzling fantasy look.

Quotes:"It is a singularly fine example of the recreation of a work magnificent in its own right (the 'Mabinogion') -- a literary event rather rare except in fantasy" - Ursula Le Guin

"Kenneth Morris was an important, innovative fantasist, worthy to rank with MacDonald, Eddison, and Tolkien." - Ursula Le Guin

"Morris writes with all Lord Dunsany's richness, though his cadences are Celtic rather than biblical. This one should be read aloud." - review in the Feb. 2004 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine

"Book of the Three Dragons is perhaps the single best fantasy adaptation from a real-world

up0mythology (in this case, the Welsh Mabinogion), and the best of his tales¿" - John Rateliff, review in the Sept. 2003 issue of Wizards of the Coast website (www.wizards.com), the #1 adventure gaming company in the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Old-School Epic Heroism
The Book of The Three Dragons takes classic Welsh mythology and appends to it a chapter of grand heroism involving curses, gods, divine thieves and fantastically wondrous artifacts. Taking the writing style of Welsh bards and interweaving some remarkable characters, the novel plunges the reader into an epic in which the three good God-dragons of Welsh legend have their favorite artifacts (a harp, a sword and a pair of gloves) stolen from them by clever sorcerous thieves, and our hero - Son-of-the-Nameless-Beyond-Utterance - must retrieve them to save his mortal tribe and ascend to godhood.

Filled with beautiful imagery (Nameless's fight with the dragon Gwron is especially amazing), Welsh poetry and a classical style of writing that is rare these days, Three Dragons makes a spectacular, though short, foray into the worlds of Welsh legend. What makes the hero interesting is that he is a bard, and many of his opponents are bards and songsmiths as well, and both use tricks and cleverness more than brawn to overcome obstacles.

For a better and deeper explanation please search out John Ratecliffe's review on the Wizards of the Coast website[...] ... Read more

Product Description

The Brightest Ideas in Personal Finance

A Woman’s Guide to Investing encourages women of all ages to define their financial goals, and describes how smart investing and careful planning can help achieve financial success. It also deals with financial issues such as divorce, and managing money with a family.

Customer Reviews (1)

A Woman's Guide to Investing
The information in the book provides a good foundation.However, I found the book annoying to read because each page was broken up with different illustrations and sections that were not conducive for my style of reading. ... Read more

Product Description

Streamlined, straightforward, and simple to read guides from Standard & Poor's and Lightbulb Press.

The easiest way to get a grip on personal finance, investing, and retirement

From the world's leading financial analysts and investor education specialists comes an invaluable foundation of knowledge for every kind of investment you want to make. These guides, a collaboration between Standard & Poor's and Lightbulb Press, use clear language and informative graphics to demystify financial topics. The books make it easy for you to navigate the financial markets and understand the basics of investing and personal finance.

Filled with clear, jargon-free definitions of important financial terms, this handy reference gives you the language you need to navigate the world of investing and finance. It also includes common acronyms and extended definitions of more sophisticated investing concepts.

Product Description

The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Personal Finance gives you clear, simple explanations of the complextities you face every day in your financial life. This revised and updated edition also includes the information you'll need to make smart decisions about -- and avoid the pitfalls of -- banking, credit, home finance, financial planning, investing and taxes.Amazon.com Review
Kenneth M. Morris and Virginia B. Morris update this now classic handbook to the fundamental principles that govern personal financial management.The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Personal Financecovers the basics of banking, credit, home finance, financial planning,investing, and taxes in a concise and unambiguous manner. Thedetails--amplified by graphics and peripheral data that consistently makeits points easier to understand--range from the pros and cons of differenttypes of banking institutions and the various kinds of checking accountsthey offer, to the methods available for handling credit-card billingerrors and the steps to employ when deciding how large a mortgage one canafford. Obviously, a book of this nature cannot fully answer all questionsthat might arise in every area it addresses; this one, however, goes a longway toward providing the relevant information that most readers will needto make knowledgeable decisions on their own. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Good for a brief overview, but I wouldn't call it a "Guide"
A book that calls itself a guide should be full of information that the reader can take and use on his/her own.This book has a good overview of finances, but it does a poor job of relating one branch of finance to another.There is no building of knowledge for the reader, so it is as if you are reading a different book on each page.For a book issued by the Wall Street Journal, I was rather disappointed.

Great Starter Guide
Most of us have some gaps in our understanding of personal finances.This approachable guide lays it out briefly and understandably.Since my attention span is short for this topic, this is the kind of guide I needed.
For instance, the two-page section on DEALING WITH A LENDER, shows a loan application form with 6 boxed explanations for parts of the form.
You won't learn everything you need to know in two-page bites, but it gets you briefed on everything from mutual funds, making a will, getting insurance, understanding credit card statements, 401(k) plans, your W-2 form, etc.
Once you grasp the basics, you can find a book specifically on wills or whatever you are dealing with at the moment.
Gaining control over your finances can start with this book!

Beginners Complete Book to Finance
This book is filled with illustrations and is great for beginners or for those who are more visual learners.I personally didn't find this book extremely helpful because I have a background in finance but the illustrations and information is helpful for tutoring and explaining some of the concepts.It is also a good review tool or handy reference guide when you have a quick question about finance matters.In addition the range of material covered is great.You won't find this much investment information in one place so concisely organized.

Limited introduction to finance...I expected more from WSJ
I've just graduated from college and wanted to learn how to not be poor anymore. I bought this book because I knew about Wall Street Journal's reputation for expertise and in-depth analysis of the economy etc. What I didn't expect was a book equivalent to a children's primer on personal finance. It's not bad, per se, it's just not what I expected from the Wall Street Journal.

The book covers a broad range of topics from paper money to mortgages to stocks and bonds. Unfortunately, the coverage is shallow, mostly giving definitions of what things are. The book consists of teen magazine-like layouts of pictures, graphs, and diagrams. Some of the information is helpful while some of it is interesting but trivial, and all of it is in colorful, bite-sized portions. While it's entertaining and easy-to-understand, it's also quite "fluff"-y at times.

It's a good introduction to personal finance for someone who doesn't know much about how money works beyond how to buy things. It may be ok for new high school or college grads, either as a reference or a first book on personal finance but it's not at the level for anyone who actually wants to start investing and already knows the basics. Ironically, it seems to be below the level of Wall Street Journal readers. I have since given my copy away. For someone who already knows the basics but wants a introduction to investing, I enjoyed "The First Book of Investing: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Wealth Safely" by Samuel Case. It's the only other book on investing I've read (I bought it on sale on a whim), but it was clear and informative, albeit a little optimistic.

a great introduction, but that's all
this book is a great introduction to personal finance, including banking, loans, investing, taxes, and retirement planning. it covers all of the basics, provides a nice, clear description of the processes and the structures of documents, and a glossary of important terms.

however, it's just an introduction. the book doesn't spend more than a few pages on any subtopic (ie the structure of a paycheck, the basics of a tax form). for details you'll have to go elsewhere, so keep that in mind.

as such, i'd reccomend this book to someone who is just learning the basics of money and the world of personal finance. it's a big world, you don't need to start with all of the details, so this is a good place to start. but very quickly you'll find you need more information, and you'll outgrow this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

COVERS ALL THE BASICS !
As a registered investment advisor, I read this book in preparation for a seminar I conducted for a women's financial program.Obviously in obtaining a license to sell securities 5 years ago, I had already becomefamiliar with the terms and concepts of the book.I find that it is awonderful introduction to the complicated world of investing and it isrefreshing to have been written from a woman's point of view.I haveordered several copies to be kept at my office to distribute to my newfemale clients because I think it is vital in making a new client feel atease with the industry terms and jargon that we can be surrounded by eachday.

A great book for beginners or experienced investors.
This book takes you step by step in helping one understand the concept of investing by breaking through the financial jargon. Every page has chart/examples and illustration that make it much easier to understand and comprehend. ... Read more

Product Description
Revealed within this book, the author's easy familiarity with the minute features of Chinese literature and history is truly astonishing. Golden Threads offers hope, guidance and high inspiration to its readers with this contribution of lasting worth, not only in theosophical literature but to world literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Golden Threads in the Tapestry of History
The series of essays: Golden Threads in the Tapestry of Historyfirst asppeared in THE THEOSOPHICAL PATH, an illsustrated monthly edited by Katherine Tingley at the International Theosophical Headquarters, Point Loma California. They ran in the issues from March 1915 to December 1916 (Vol. VIII, No. 3 to Vol XI, No.6), and are now reproduced in book form through a contribution made to Point Loma Publications by Iverson L. Harris.
--- from book's Publisher's Note ... Read more

Product Description
The Mighty McCords is an exciting, epic story, that journeys through the brutal streets of New York City in the early 1800's. Mike McCord, an orphaned Irish lad captivates hearts, desires and passions. Growing up, he leaves New York to fulfill his dream of owning a horse farm. Mike marries, Little Deer, a beautiful young Indian maiden. A son Samson is born. Samson carves out a legend through loneliness and hardships. He earns a well deserved reputation that leads him to a secret, peaceful haven hidden away in the mountains of Arizona. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The McCords are mighty men...
This exciting saga starts with the mighty Mike McCord.When we first meet Mike he is an eight year old orphan in New York City.Mike is bigger and stronger than other children his age.He is an exceptional young man that others are drawn to.His heart is as big as he is.His new life starts when he is taken under the wing of the local blacksmith.All that he learns during his time with the smithy enables him to fulfill his dream of owning a horse farm.He moves to Kentucky where his adventures introduce him to a young Indian maiden, Little Dear. They soon fall in love and marry.This marriage produces a son, Samson.

Samson, correctly named after Samson in the Bible, is even bigger than his dad.The McCord legacy continues.Sam experiences even more adventures than his dad and becomes a legend.For many years he is a Texas Ranger along with his faithful companions, a wolf/dog named Caeser and a golden eagle named Talons.They are known all over the country.Sam retires to a hidden mountain valley where he finds true love.The adventures of the Mighty BcCords continue in this place for generations to come.

I really liked this book.Kenneth E. Morris did an excellent job of putting you right into that time period.The transitions from life in New York, to Kentucky, to Arizona really showed how America was growing and changing then.I did find that some of the conversations between the characters were a little hard to follow.It was written in a way that some times you weren't sure who was saying what.I loved that this story had a Christian base to it but I was shocked by the sexual explicitness.I've never read a Christian book that was so descriptive of sex.There is even a rape scene, so be aware of this before you read if you are offended by that.Overall, I loved this book.I look forward to reading more books by Kenneth E. Morris.

A great story.
I have read this book three times and each time it gets better with each reading. I would love to see it made into a movie. Even though my husband wrote this book, it is up there with Danielle Steel and Janet Dailey as far as I am concerned. Everyone that reads it says they love it, hope to see it made into a movie. Read the book and see for yourself. ... Read more