Glad to see PG Wodehouse on your list, Paul. I don't think I've read that one.

But just for the record, it was my friend and colleague Joel who invited your contribution.

I read something by Conor Cruise O'Brien recently -- "On the Eve of the Millenium" or somesuch. I guess I didn't end up thinking much of it -- not that I concentrated overly much on the book. He seemed to really have it in for Pope John Paul II. I'm not Catholic, and didn't think much of JPII one way or the other, but I thought O'Brien overstated his menace.

I've been reading books on General Relativity recently. Yes, I understand the equations.

1. Number of books I own:
Including Tv Guides, well over 50.

2. Last book I bought:
Confessions of an Heiress, by Paris Hilton

3. Last book I read:
Crossroads, Paramount (novelization of the movie)

4. Books that mean a lot to me:
n/a

I mean, except for the Bible, of course. Of course.

(That sounds like a college application question. I'm done with college. I don't have to read anymore.)

5. Tag five people.
Matthew Stevenson, David D., Alan Henderson, Joshua Herring, and Matt Drudge.

this is what I get for not being online all weekend as I traveled to E-ville and back for Father's Day. I need to wait till I get back home tonight to respond fully (i.e. count my books). I know y'all will be holding your breath.

There are firms who specialize in making Locational Assessments for presentation to Walmart. They are generally familiar with what Walmart is looking for, and, for a fee, will do considerable leg-work. This fee is generally paid by entities that desire a Walmart facility.
One of the leg work items is called typical market basket analysis. These are twenty grocery items a family might typically purchase. 15 are Packaged and are usually national brands. 5 are commodity items.
I have one of these studies. A Wal-Mart Supercenter is the price competitiveness leader in the market surveyed. The highest priced place was LoBill's. In the Indianapolis area, the second lowest prices were at the newer Wal-Mart New Market Urban Groceries.
What one would spend $50 on at LoBill would cost but $42 at a Wal-Mart Supercenter and but $43.20 at a WalMart New Market Urban Grocery.
For people on fixed incomes or where funds are scarce, obtaining $16 for every $100 spent looks like a significant pay hike. Mind, these are market basket groceries, the things families need every week.

Not a member of the ITA staff, but I'll submit my own unsolicited answers anyway.

1. Number of books I own:
Better to attempt counting the grains of sand in the desert. Well, not that many, but several hundred in any case. I seem to read about a book every two weeks. (Just talking about personal time here. My work involves a lot of reading, but not usually of the cover-to-cover variety.)

2. Last book I bought:
The Reformation: A History by Diarmaid MacCulloch.

3. Last book I read:
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

4. Books that mean a lot to me:
The Brothers Karamazov, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Foundation series, The Lucifer Principle, Cryptonomicon, The Jungle, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Grapes of Wrath, The Stand, The Lord of the Rings.

I mean, except for the Bible, of course. Of course.

(That sounds like a college application question. I'm done with college. I don't have to read anymore.)

5. Tag five people.
Matthew Stevenson, David D., Alan Henderson, Joshua Herring, and Matt Drudge.

D'oh, busted. I cut & paste the form from a previous entry -- and forgot to delete the part starting with The Bible.

Doug,

How was MacCulloch's book on the Reformation? I've placed it in my "cart" at Amazon several times, but never have gone through with the purchase. I just finished Philip Shaff's volume on the German Reformation and thought it was excellent.

I'm only 50 pages into the book on the Reformation, but so far I enjoy it. Not that it's necessarily a light read, but I get the idea that the author made readability a priority. So, it may be that in the course of making it readable, the author could have left out details that a hardcore Reformation scholar would want in there.

But, for a guy such as myself who has a fair grounding in European history, but doesn't know much at all about the specifics of the Reformation or the structure of the Catholic Church, it seems like just the thing. It's dense enough that someone who doesn't care for history at all would put it down before the first 10 pages were out.

Right now the author is walking me through the history of the Church shortly before Luther came onto the scene. In particular, for example, I had no idea how friars and monks related to the regular Church structure.

So, I'm cautiously optimistic.

1. Number of books I own:

approximately 175. This doesn't count my maps and atlases but does count my collection of Hardy Boys books.

2. Last book I bought:

Black Rednecks/White Liberals (a review is coming...), Thomas Sowell

3. Last book I read:

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers.

4. Books that mean a lot to me:

Law school essentially killed my desire to read for fun, so a lot of these are from the good ole days...

Romans

Arrowsmith, Sinclair Lewis

The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, Joe McGinniss

Satyricon, Petronius

Institutes of Christian Religion, Calvin

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling

The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin

Making Democracy Work, Robert Putnam

5. Tag five people.

JP Claybourn, Martin Blank. nothing better than a dying meme.