BOOK REVIEWS 101Contemporary Real Estate Finance: Selected Readings is representative of the scholarly work that has been produced over the last decade, on the theory and application of real estate finance methods and instruments, as well as on real estate investment analysis. This text will be useful to both faculty and students. And, while there are other articles that could have been included in this work, particularly in Part 2, Mortgages, this selection of articles is quite comprehensive. It is certainly expedient to have such a high caliber of real estate finance-related articles under one cover.Marion Rogers SillahFlorida A&M UniversityPratt, S.P., Reilly, R.F., and Schweihs, R.P., Valuing a Business: The Analysis and Appraisal of Closely Held Companies, Third Edition, Irwin Professional Publishing-Chicago. 1996.850 pages.While there are a number of good books available for use in a course on business valuation, this is the only one clearly written in a textbook style. This makes this book especially useful for teachers but perhaps less interesting to valuation professionals. It is a good textbook.The first 375 pages (44 percent) covers the basic theory and how-to of business valuation while the balance (56 percent) focuses on special topics along with report writing and reviewing chapters. This 40/60 split may, at first glance, seem inappropriate but, on reflection, probably makes sense. The theory and practice of business appraisal are relatively simple, while the application to various companies and industries can be quite challenging. A heavy focus on special topics (debt securities, preferred stock, pass-through entities, intangibles, taxation issues, buy-sell agreements, ad valorem issues, ESOPs, litigation support, and testimony) provides students and practicing appraisers alike with, in most cases, some very specific guidance regarding these particular areas.Part 1 (three chapters) serves as introductory material to both the business of business valuation and to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), which is so critical to success today. The second part (five chapters) focuses on data acquisition and analysis, while Part 3 of the book, in eight chapters, covers the actual formation of value conclusions on the part of the appraiser. This is the meat of the text since it covers, in right much detail, the various appraisal methodologies that may be applied to the business valuation problem. These three parts are especially well organized and written. The balance (Parts 4 through 7) contain the above-mentioned practice elements of the book.The authors very properly point out to the reader of their third edition that they should not throw away your second edition because they dropped older bibliographical references and case citations. …