P. Leonard

by Bob Camp The business improvement topic and quality tool called benchmarking is becoming widely understood and broadly applied. There are now applica­ firms that tions in almost all segments of the economy including industrial either produce a product or a service, non-profit organizations such as healthcare, government and education. The approach is starting to spread around the globe with initiatives in Europe, Asia Pacific and South America. This is commendable and reassuring and must show that there is significant interest in the approach and that it works. What is missing, however, are books and reference material that are not solely prepared in the US where benchmarking started. Theses would include examples of applications relevant to the local area and industries. They would include references to articles written about benchmarking appearing in local publications. In this fashion those interested would have near hand case histories of the use of benchmarking and therefore become encouraged to use the technique. Zairi and Leonard have done the benchmarking community a real service by documenting the European view and application of benchmark­ ing to a wide range of examples. But they have not stopped there. Their text includes treatment of a number of related facets of benchmarking that makes this a fairly thorough text.

The authors of this book are busy practical men with no particular barrow to push. The text of the book includes a comprehensive review of all aspects of intraocular lens surgery including details of the design, optics chem­ istry and sterilization of intraocular lenses. Its value is enhanced by excellent illustrations and extensive tabulated references to the litera­ ture. Accounts of patient acceptability are balanced against candid discus­ sion of complications and their management. The historical introduction recalls that in the early stages of develop­ ment of the art, over a period of 10 years, two dozen different lens designs were proposed, most claiming elimination of problems which had arisen with their predecessors. Eventually nearly all disappeared from the scene. In an age where every cataract surgeon has to determine a personal position on intraocular lens implantation the author's reflections on these matters are timely. Intraocular lenses are neither a miracle nor a menace, provided that personal decisions and preferences are carefully thought through and put into practice upon the basis of known facts and not upon the basis of fickle fashion and fad. This book provides a background upon which the reader can eva­ luate in his own mind the validity of information provided by the manufacturers of various lens designs.

Trajectories of Mysticism in Theory and Literature is a collection of essays which considers how recent critical theory contributes to debates about mystical and negative theology. This collection draws upon a wide range of material, including Biblical texts, autobiographical, confessional and fictional writing from the sixteenth century to the twentieth century, divinity in English, German, Spanish and French traditions, as well as work on God and metaphysics by Schelling, Weil, Levinas, Derrida, de Ma, Irigaray, and Cixous.

by Bob Camp The business improvement topic and quality tool called benchmarking is becoming widely understood and broadly applied. There are now applica­ firms that tions in almost all segments of the economy including industrial either produce a product or a service, non-profit organizations such as healthcare, government and education. The approach is starting to spread around the globe with initiatives in Europe, Asia Pacific and South America. This is commendable and reassuring and must show that there is significant interest in the approach and that it works. What is missing, however, are books and reference material that are not solely prepared in the US where benchmarking started. Theses would include examples of applications relevant to the local area and industries. They would include references to articles written about benchmarking appearing in local publications. In this fashion those interested would have near hand case histories of the use of benchmarking and therefore become encouraged to use the technique. Zairi and Leonard have done the benchmarking community a real service by documenting the European view and application of benchmark­ ing to a wide range of examples. But they have not stopped there. Their text includes treatment of a number of related facets of benchmarking that makes this a fairly thorough text.