AUDIOBOOK: Edward Gibbon - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire(abridged)
British parliamentarian and soldier Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) conceived of his plan for Decline and Fall while "musing amid the ruins of the Capitol" on a visit to Rome. For the next 10 years he worked away at his great history, which traces the decadence of the late empire from the time of the Antonines and the rise of Western Christianity. "The confusion of the times, and the scarcity of authentic memorials, pose equal difficulties to the historian, who attempts to preserve a clear and unbroken thread of narration," he writes. Despite these obstacles, Decline and Fall remains a model of historical exposition, and required reading for students of European history.
With sweeping grandeur, Gibbon's masterpiece is enhanced by Naxos' production, which includes dramatic, classical music and two British narrators whose voices ooze with intellectual authority. The music--often somber--soars into majestic crescendos as the fate of the great Empire is sealed. Between straight readings of the text, one of the narrators announces a summary of the next chapter or two, an abridging technique particularly effective here. Little, if any, of the effect of Gibbon's accessible and profound prose is lost, even when detail must perforce vanish. A gripping history, this is superbly presented by Naxos. D.W. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner.

Penguin Books - Edward De Bono - Simplicity
We are all drowning in complexity. Hardly anyone uses more than a tenth of the features on our video-recorders. Legislation constantly introduces qualifications and amendments which keep lawyers in business at everybody else's expense. And an old woman in Holland recently spent a week in a shopping mall - she just couldn't find the way out. Yet although we all yearn for more simplicity, it seems astonishingly difficult to simplify our lives. Here, with characteristic directness, Edward de Bono demonstrates how it can be done.

Hidden Financial Risk: Understanding Off Balance Sheet Accounting by J. Edward Ketz
Book Description
An insider's guide to understanding and eliminating accounting fraud
How do these high-profile accounting scandals occur and what could have been done to prevent them. Hidden Financial Risk fills that void by examining methods for off balance sheet accounting, with a particular emphasis on special purpose entities (SPE), the accounting ruse of choice at Enron and other beleaguered companies. J. Edward Ketz identifies the incentives for managers to deceive investors and creditors about financial risk and also shows investors how to protect their investments in a world filled with accounting and auditing frauds.
J. Edward Ketz, PhD (State College, PA) is MBA Faculty Director and Associate Professor of Accounting at Penn State's Smeal College of Business. He has been cited in the press nearly 300 times since Enron's bankruptcy, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.. He has a regular column in Accounting Today. (amazon.com)