Lajos, Thomas Z.. Fallen to Tyranny: from Mauthausen to Gulag.

AuthorHouse. 2012. c115p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-1-47721-269-1. $23.99. ISBN 978-1-4772-1270-7. $14.95. ebook (Amazon Kindle). B009JCP7Z8. $3.99.

In this publication, Thomas Z. Lajos recounts the tragic and never-before-told personal story of his uncle, Dr. Ivan Lajos (1906-1949), whom he knew while growing up in war-ravaged and Soviet-controlled Hungary. Born in the historic city of Pécs, Dr. Ivan Lajos attended the University of Pécs Law School, from which he graduated with distinction. In 1939, he wrote and published in multiple languages a political tract known as The Grey Book, which became internationally renowned for suggesting that Germany would lose World War II and Hungary should remain neutral. In March 1944, with other prominent Hungarian political figures, Dr. Ivan Lajos was taken by the Germans to the German concentration camp Mauthausen in Austria. Following Germany’s defeat by the Allies, he returned to Hungary, where he remained active politically. As the Iron Curtain descended upon Eastern Europe and Hungary increasingly became controlled by the Soviets, Dr. Ivan Lajos disappeared. Unbeknownst to his family members, Dr. Ivan Lajos was taken, imprisoned, arrested, interrogated, and wrongfully convicted of various crimes by the Soviets. The Soviets deported him to the remote Karlag section of the Gulag in Kazakhstan, where he began to serve a fifteen-year, hard labor sentence but died two years later. In this well-written and professionally-presented book, including photographs, appendices, timelines, bibliographies, and an index, the author personally tells the heartbreaking, gripping, and compelling saga of Dr. Ivan Lajos, one of Hungary’s unknown heroes, who while attempting to free his country from its oppressors, fell victim to two systems of tyranny. Raising many unanswered questions, it will be of significant interest to students, historians, and others. This publication is very highly recommended for many readers and libraries. Review copy. Availability: Amazon, AuthorHouse, Barnes & Noble.com

Koepsell, David. Innovation and Nanotechnology: Converging Technologies and the End of Intellectual Property.

Bloomsbury Academic. 2011. c256p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-1-84966-343-4. $75.00. Kindle Edition. B00567BC1I $64.99.

In this book, which the author describes as comprising an “informal IP trilogy” (p. 198), Koepsell (J. D. & Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo; Assistant Professor, Philosophy, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; Senior Research Fellow, 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology), an attorney, philosopher, educator, and the author of several books, including Who Owns You and The Ontology of Cyberspace, argues that nanowares (i.e. the ideas and products arising from nanotechnology) demand new approaches to scientific discovery, innovation, and intellectual property (IP). Focusing upon the nexus of science, technology, ethics, and public policy, the author applies ideas of social philosophy to the nanoparticle world. In the first four of nine chapters, Koepsell examines how the academic, government, legal, scientific, and technological communities deal with the development of converging technologies in nanowares. In response to his observations that many of the current models, including intellectual property laws, are becoming or have become obsolete, in the remaining five chapters, he then suggests alternative paradigms. Koepsell posits that current intellectual property laws are artificial, flawed, harmful, illogical, inadequate, inefficient, unethical, and unnecessary. To spark innovation and further develop nanotechnology and nanowares, the author makes the case for rejecting current intellectual property laws in favor of new, more open schemes that consider the unique natures of nanotechnology and nanowares as well as maximize innovation, promote efficiencies, and protect innovators. He proposes a new theory of artifacts, based upon the notion of a “commons by necessity,” that protects man-made expressions without depending upon artificial, illogical, and unjust distinctions. Koepsell further advocates contractual models and those arising from free markets. Well-written, reasonably effectively-presented, given the complexity of its subject matters, and expertly-argued by a scholar, who focuses on interdisciplinary ethical, legal, philosophical, and technological issues, this book may presume that readers possess some foundational knowledge of ethics, intellectual property laws, philosophy, and/or new technologies, as well as of the author’s previous writings. It is highly recommended for upper level university students, researchers, scholars, scientists, and some professionals. This ambitious, original, and provocative, interdisciplinary publication, presenting a controversial approach to the current status quo in the nanoparticle world, belongs in research-oriented library collections found mostly in academic and special libraries. Review copy. Availability: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com

American Library Association. ALA Guide to Economics & Business Reference.

ALA Guide to Reference series. American Library Association. 2011. c528p. index. ISBN 9780838910245. $65.00.

Focusing on print and electronic information resources that are fundamental to library services in economics and business, the content of this classified annotated bibliography is drawn from the American Library Association’s online Guide to Reference. Eight topical chapters showcase all types of economics and business information resources, covering Basic Industry Information, Company Information, Economic Conditions and World Trade, Functional Areas of Business, General Works, Occupations and Careers, Regional Economic Sources, and Specialized Industry Information. Each chapter is subdivided into multiple, alphabetically-arranged subcategories under which more than 690 print and electronic information resources alphabetically are presented. Entries feature abstracting services, atlases, bibliographies, databases, dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, guides, handbooks, journals, indexes, internet websites, periodicals, and other types of library reference materials. Each entry describes the resource’s contents as well as sets forth its pertinent bibliographic information, such as its author(s), title, publisher, date of publication, Library of Congress and/or Dewey Decimal Classification number(s), International Standard Book or Serial Number, and Internet website. Unfortunately, the resources’ prices or costs are not noted. Compiled in North America, for use primarily in North American libraries, this reference guide will be of considerable interest to librarians, independent researchers, publishers, book dealers, business organizations, and other entities, searching for information on accounting, advertising, banking, business law, companies, economic conditions, electronic commerce, corporate officials, entrepreneurship, finance, investments, management, management information systems, marketing, occupations, specific industries, statistics, taxation, world trade, and other topics. Useful and valuable to readers, who may read it from cover-to-cover and/or peruse it by chapter, subcategory, and/or title, this publication could be improved if its topical classification scheme were modified and/or condensed to eliminate duplicate entries. With over 690 information resources featured in 1380 entries, resource entries are duplicated on average at least twice with the median being seven times. In addition to providing a title index, this guide should include a subject index and appendices of vendors and publishers with their ordering addresses. Part of the ALA Guide to Reference series, this “usably comprehensive” but “not exhaustive” (Preface, pp. xiii-xiv), authoritative repertory of mostly, recently-published, English-language, reference works is highly recommended for large public, academic, and special libraries in North America and elsewhere. Review copy. Availability: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com