Megaplasmids are extrachromosomal genetic elements in the size range of 100 kb and larger. They are found in physiologically and phylogenetically diverse groups of bacteria and archaea. By definition, megaplasmids are not essential for the viability of their hosts under all growth conditions, but paradoxically many megaplasmids carry the genetic information for the defining and characteristic traits of the organism in which they reside.

Microbial Megaplasmids reviews our knowledge of the extensively studied representatives, such as the catabolic plasmids of the pseudomonads, the rhizobial Sym plasmids, the Ti plasmids of the genus Agrobacterium and the giant enterobacterial virulence plasmids. It also presents snapshots of more recently discovered megaplasmids. The contribution of megaplasmids to the biology of their hosts is described, highlighting the interactions between megaplasmid and chromosomal genes.

"SUBTLETY TO THE SIMPLE" is a collection of philosophical verses written in the style of Eastern poetry "rubayat" They open for a reader the manifold range of human feelings - from disappointment to exaltation. Reflecting huge life and professional experience of the author, the poems lead the reader to the world of remembrances about future where life gives us the right of choice between emotional protuberances of our heart and dry logic of mind.

Poems included into this collection are the unseparated part of the Source of Enlightenment that has to satisfy our eternal thirst of the comprehension of Truth.

In the last book of his Jewish Trilogy (JEWISH BLOOD, DESTRUCTION, THE GUILT) Edward Schwartz sheds new light on multitudes of the surrounding us world where a man is more just a physical body, but also spiritual essense.

In this highly-spirited novel, through life-altering experience of the main protagonist Detective Jacob Reterseil, the author shows a reader a way to the world of eternal values, the way of searching the truth that we should be more concern with giving than receiving.

When Jacob Reterseil is assigned a simple task - to sign a paper stating a natural death of an elderly rabbi, little does he realize that he will be led on a globe-wide search involving the mysteries of the Torah, the mystic traditions of the Kabbalah, and his relationship with God as well as his family. From the US to Holland, from Russia to Australia, when unexpectedly finding the love of his life, Jacob Reterseil attempts to resolve the murder cases, an art theft, and find the answers to the questions: Why was the livid spot in the shape of the Hebrew letter alef on the chest of the dead rabbi? If blood can be transfused, can a soul? Suspense, mystery, the psychology of the human need for meaning are all woven in the novel with the colorful picture of modern Jewish life.

A young Jewish priest Joseph Ben Mattahias is sent to Rome to fulfill a minor, but impossible, diplomatic mission. After the unexpected success, he returns to Rome again with another, secret, assignment. But from the influence there, he gradually sinks into a life of Roman debauchery. His fortune changes when he returns to Judea and appointed the Governor of Nothern Command, which gives him the first taste of power. Seeking more, he betrays his troops when the war with Rome began, and many Jews are killed. Once captured, Joseph became Vespasian's slave, but buys his freedom with the gold stolen from the Jerusalem Temple. The gold opens Vespasian the way to the throne. Became an emperor, Vespasian adapted Joseph, who discarded his name in favor of Latinized Josephus Flavius. He begins his new life as a Roman historian and tries to redeem his name in history, but remains the most hated Jew in Judea. "DESTRUCTION" is a tale of war, lust and seeking God's meaning in man's life.

A young Jewish priest Joseph Ben Mattahias is sent to Rome to fulfill a minor, but impossible, diplomatic mission. After the unexpected success, he returns to Rome again with another, secret, assignment. But from the influence there, he gradually sinks into a life of Roman debauchery. His fortune changes when he returns to Judea and appointed the Governor of Nothern Command, which gives him the first taste of power. Seeking more, he betrays his troops when the war with Rome began, and many Jews are killed. Once captured, Joseph became Vespasian's slave, but buys his freedom with the gold stolen from the Jerusalem Temple. The gold opens Vespasian the way to the throne. Became an emperor, Vespasian adapted Joseph, who discarded his name in favor of Latinized Josephus Flavius. He begins his new life as a Roman historian and tries to redeem his name in history, but remains the most hated Jew in Judea. "DESTRUCTION" is a tale of war, lust and seeking God's meaning in man's life.

After Jack finds a mysterious blank book titled "The Unusual Adventures of a Usual Boy named Jack," he's astonished to see that his mother's porcelain figurines have come to life. A little boy and a little girl want to hear of his adventures, and when Jack opens the book, the pages are suddenly no longer empty.

Another planet, blue trees, and little giraffes are just a few of the strange things that Jack sees in a series of fantastic trips. Traveling with assistance of the wind, of the wind, which gusts each time he puts on his magic backpack, Jack becomes an ambassador to other worlds. Along the way, he meets Lantorek, an elder of strange creaters-protaluxes, who describes protaluxes as "the most perfect creatures among all the beings living," and his son Maritolek, who doesn't measure his age in years; rather, he calls himself a "nine-rain boy" because rain-a very rare event in his land-has only occurred nine times in his life.

But when Jack travels to a planet where he is invisible, he meets Roco and Rici, twin brothers-clones, who urge him to leave the planet. If anybody finds his magic backpack, all three boys will be sent underground, perhaps to be trapped forever.

Brimming with magic, fantasy, and adventure, "The Green Sky" celebrates the wondrous joy of imagination.

"Jewish Blood" is the most moral book in the best sense of the word. Through the characters, the reader learns something more how we gain our life in the willingness to devote it to others; the reader learns something more about love and hatred, faith and unbelief, self-confirmation and national pride.

Plunged in danger, intrigue and adventure in the first part of his life in Germany, the main protagonist, Henry Ginsberg, becomes a world-recognized Israeli scientist and a Nobel Prize winner in his later years.

Among the other characters whose fates are entwined with that of the main protagonist are the following:

-Rachel: a Jewish girl whom Henry saved from the concentration camp and who became his wife;

-Dr. Otto Dornberger: a talented German scientist, but a pathological anti-Semite, who influenced Henry's vocation;

-Baruch Silverman: one of the leaders of the World Jewish Congress, who helped Henry and Rachel to start a new life after the war;

-Deborah Levine: Silverman's granddaughter whose short life was a God-given love for Henry;

-Rabbi Boxter: Henry's spiritual mentor, who believes that American Jews have failed to assume their full responsibility to the Jewish people as a whole.

These persons and many others create a unique pattern of human relations in the modern world. The mystical power of the memory of the past blends with tensions of today's Israel until the past and the present explode together in a tremendous finale.

"Seeking the Firebird's Nest" by Edward Schwartz carries the reader on a journey where Past and Present stream by the window of the author's mind. Human frailty is given voice with hope to reach happiness and teach for the Future. Esoteric anecdotes reveal his philosophy of life developed in his personal adventures, trials and accomplishments, all in a fairy tale format.

."Many years have passed since I was a little boy. Several times in my life the firebird has shown me her face. Did she look like the firebird from the old man's house or does everybody see his or her own firebird? I do not know. But what I do definitely know is the fact that the taste of tears caused by the firebird's appearance is the same for all of us."

"Seeking the Firebird's Nest" by Edward Schwartz carries the reader on a journey where Past and Present stream by the window of the author's mind. Human frailty is given voice with hope to reach happiness and teach for the Future. Esoteric anecdotes reveal his philosophy of life developed in his personal adventures, trials and accomplishments, all in a fairy tale format.

."Many years have passed since I was a little boy. Several times in my life the firebird has shown me her face. Did she look like the firebird from the old man's house or does everybody see his or her own firebird? I do not know. But what I do definitely know is the fact that the taste of tears caused by the firebird's appearance is the same for all of us."

Rare authors are better equipped to present the uproarious and scathing Art World than Edward Schwartz, who had been studied for several years the Art of Italian Renascence and was closely acquainted with many world-famous artists of the 20th century. He has used his intimate knowledge of art to create a novel Rainbow Behind the Back--emotionally rich in setting and in character, giving a vivid picture of art by the eyes of insider. In the world of art the characters of the novel play out their lives, embroiled in love and intrigue. Waxing philosophical and examining the psychology of art, the men and the women in these pages seek answers to the meaning of life as they span the globe haunted by their past and looking toward the future. Among them: Holden Heyworth, a world-famous artist, struggling with his fame for his artistic individuality. An unexpected true love stimulated a splash of his ability, but it turned out unrealizable for him. Robert Schwartz, a talented artist-immigrant. He wants to be famous and now, finally, success seems within his reach...but at what price? His wife Rose, who is just a wrinkle away from finding her happiness. compensate the disintegration of his own family. These personages and many others are brought so vividly to life that the reader shares with the characters in the novel fears, hopes and the courage that daily survival entails.

Rare authors are better equipped to present the uproarious and scathing Art World than Edward Schwartz, who had been studied for several years the Art of Italian Renascence and was closely acquainted with many world-famous artists of the 20th century. He has used his intimate knowledge of art to create a novel Rainbow Behind the Back--emotionally rich in setting and in character, giving a vivid picture of art by the eyes of insider. In the world of art the characters of the novel play out their lives, embroiled in love and intrigue. Waxing philosophical and examining the psychology of art, the men and the women in these pages seek answers to the meaning of life as they span the globe haunted by their past and looking toward the future. Among them: Holden Heyworth, a world-famous artist, struggling with his fame for his artistic individuality. An unexpected true love stimulated a splash of his ability, but it turned out unrealizable for him. Robert Schwartz, a talented artist-immigrant. He wants to be famous and now, finally, success seems within his reach...but at what price? His wife Rose, who is just a wrinkle away from finding her happiness. compensate the disintegration of his own family. These personages and many others are brought so vividly to life that the reader shares with the characters in the novel fears, hopes and the courage that daily survival entails.

With power and emotion, Edward Schwartz gives the readers in The White Cliff the impassioned story of a broken friendship of two men--a writer, Martin Bell, and a scientist, Harold Flint. They are both trapped by their own contradictions: ambition and fear, desire and obligation, self-confirmation and responsibility. Woven in a tapestry of inner voices of his heroes, Schwartz takes us from a movie-studio to a scientific laboratory; from a hospital's OR to the International symposium; from the church to the KGB office in Russia. Among personages, whose lives are being entwined into fates of two main protagonists, there are the following: Dr. Ann Bell, Martin's wife, who tries to reshape her life beyond the family triangular; Bill Acheson, Martin's friend and a movie director, who tries to perforate Martin's screenplay-confession into a piece of art; Margaret Dixon, Ann's sister and a talented journalist who begins to realize that articles of faith that have shaped her life, are far too simple; Dr. Joe Smith, a gifted scientist who has given up the battle with morality, and does not stop even in treason to satisfy his desires. kaleidoscope of human life, where and the world of science, and the world of literature are only two colorful stones among myriads others.

The collection of short stories "Pretend You Are Happy" offers its readers a rich cast of characters, a sense of people who found themselves in a landscape of human mega-hive too large for comfort, and those with a determination for life, love and happiness.

Set in years of frequent immigration when people found their lives turned upside down, the stories confront both the social complications of contemporary American life and the intensely personal struggle of people who find themselves in a strange and confusing environment and survive in their new society.

With the author's strong inclination to dramatic and unexpected conclusions, lyrical tragedies and sad optimism decorate all the stories of "Pretend You Are Happy." These tales are warm and enriching stories of losses and recoveries, which cannot leave readers indifferent.

With power and emotion, Edward Schwartz gives the readers in The White Cliff the impassioned story of a broken friendship of two men--a writer, Martin Bell, and a scientist, Harold Flint. They are both trapped by their own contradictions: ambition and fear, desire and obligation, self-confirmation and responsibility. Woven in a tapestry of inner voices of his heroes, Schwartz takes us from a movie-studio to a scientific laboratory; from a hospital's OR to the International symposium; from the church to the KGB office in Russia. Among personages, whose lives are being entwined into fates of two main protagonists, there are the following: triangular; Martin's screenplay-confession into a piece of art; that articles of faith that have shaped her life, are far too simple; and does not stop even in treason to satisfy his desires. kaleidoscope of human life, where and the world of science, and the world of literature are only two colorful stones among myriads others.

"THE CASE OF DONALD HUSE" is an old-fashioned who-done-it that gives the reader surprising twists at every turn. Who is stealing vital Board information? Who is killing beautiful ballet dancers--and why? What begins as a simple case of industrial espionage for private investigator Bob Stotland, a lonely bachelor, quickly plunges him and his newly hired partner Ron Barton into more than they bargained for.

Suspense builds as pages are turned in "THE CASE OF DONALD HUSE."

The book does not aim to survey the history of philosophy, however it does sample ways of searching the thoughts of great philosophers. The goal of this book is to give the reader a brief, fleeting information, to initiate an interest in Western philosophy and its sources.

All parts of the book--a collection of original citations, philosophical essays and philosophical fairy tales--give a wider spectrum for the reader's imagination. Such a constellation of readings invites comparison, analyses and interpretation. Edward Schwartz' overriding concern is to enable readers not only to comprehend but also to interpret events on their own. "One Step Forward, Two Steps Backward," like all Edward Schwartz' books, is about the noble capacity in each of us to discover the truth and to live by it.