Cheap Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 11)

When I first began this series, I couldn't put it down. Sleepless nights, distraction at work, it was such a good series. I am beginning to really dislike this series. I am all for steamy sex scenes, but this book is like reading a compilation of vampire/werewolf erotica/short stories.

I admit the vampire hunter angle was what first drew me, but the murder mystery and the characters were what really kept me in the series. Now the plotline is all about the ardeur. I almost want to skip over those parts now; I'm so sick of it! I really hope she gains control of it soon or I am going to lose interest completely in the books. I read an afterword in one of Hamilton's earlier books and how she is exploring the darker sides of crime, but I think that this is falling at the wayside in favor of these horrible sex scenes. They're so frequent that it's actually boring.

The contrasting characters in Richard and Jean-Claude was wonderful in the beginning, and now I'm hoping Richard is killed off. I actually had an awful thought that he was the killer near the end. That he lost it bad enough that he went rogue. His self-desctruction is so sickening and self-pitying, however no one addresses how he almost got them killed. Where is Jean-Claude's spine? I hear more about what he's wearing that about his character. I really miss the old Jean-Claude. I also liked Asher when he was at least halfway angry about what happened with Julianna. Now he's as woe-is-me as Richard, just not with such horrible consequences.

There is also the annoying internal debate about her morality. GET OVER IT ALREADY! If LKH is going to forge ahead with these awful sex scenes, and if Anita is going to be such an all-powerful ball-buster, let's give the girl a spine, too. Anita's tug-of-war of conscience is basically just a repeat of, "I don't want to be a monster, but what I do makes me one." And so on and so on. LKH's occasional references to God and prayer and her interpretation of the Bible is pretty uncomfortable and seems sort of misplaced. She doesn't breathe a prayer that her shot to kill the bad guy goes true or for help on how to get out of an impossible situation, but on who to have sex with or how to soothe one of her many lovers' egos.

I really hope the next book has more murder plotline than this last book, and less sex, mind-numbing descriptions of clothing, and more wit. In all of the characters.Get more detail about Cerulean Sins (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 11).

Buying The Creative Process in the Individual (with linked TOC)

A very telling book... speaks to our inner intelligence. I'm grateful I was attracted to this book and ultimately purchased it.Get more detail about The Creative Process in the Individual (with linked TOC).

Buy Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat

Season 8 is still going strong. This series is just amazing. I don't want to say anything story specific because I don't want to give away any spoilers but if you're a Buffy fan you've got to read these. If you're a graphic novel fan but not a Buffy fan, you should give them a shot. The writing and story are top notch.

Hope this helps.Get more detail about Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 6: Retreat.

Order Currency Trading For Dummies

This is a good fundemental outline of currency trading. Because there are so many thousands of techniques and strategies that can be employe in trading, this book can only get you started in your FOREX education experience. But it does a good basic job, and helps prepare you for more intense studies in FOREX learning and implementation.Get more detail about Currency Trading For Dummies.

Where To Buy The Wisdom of Crowds

A must for all corporate executives and security professionals, especially those with large client services practices or crisis management responsibilities. "Get more detail about The Wisdom of Crowds.

Shop For Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance

This is a fantastic book for taking practical steps toward putting your strengths to work. I would also recommend "Strengths Finder 2.0" as a companion book. The two books really complement each other even though they have different authors.Get more detail about Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance.

Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service Review

This book is extremely outdated. I was forced to read it for a class, and similar to other people I was offended by the simplicity of ideas presented. This book by no means encompasses the reality of improving your business. If it was not second nature to thoroughly think through the ideas presented in this book before you started your business, I suggest you find the nearest attorney and start planning for bankruptcy.Get more detail about Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service.

How to Live on 24 Hours a Day Top Quality

You are basically told to view your allotted 24 hours a day as the number of hours that exist outside of your job, and to spend them doing something that will engage you. Many references to literature. And the author is English, so be prepared to read words like "programme" versus "job". Following his use of words and trying to determine the American equivalent was interesting...especially if you've not encountered this before.

There are no tips or hints as to how to "save time" doing this instead of that - or doing it differently - for example: clean a room in your house each day and by the end of the week, you won't need to spend a day of your weekend cleaning. I was hoping for these types of time-savers - but unfortunately did not see that this was not that type of book. At best, he tells you to use your commute time on the train to work each day, and back, to reflect on who you are, where you are headed and what makes you happy. He recommends not wasting that particular lot of time reading the paper - althought he recommends you still fit that in during the day - just not during your commute?? He focuses on starting with 7+ hours of the week and using them for something that will - again - engage you.

Some valid points. A very short read. However, save your money and locate this book at your local library if you truly wish to read it.Get more detail about How to Live on 24 Hours a Day.

Investing For Dummies, Fifth edition This instant

My title says it all! The book is a little too basic but then again, I should have realized that given the title! If you have ever had even some exposure to investing, find something at the next level. It would be a better investment! :)Get more detail about Investing For Dummies, Fifth edition.

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns Immediately

Clayton Christensen offers a believable and intuitive approach to fixing our staggering American educational system. In a nutshell: people learn in different ways (no surprise here; it's a well-documented theory). Teachers too often teach one way (or two or three--the point being, teachers standardize. I understand. I've been a teacher most of my life. One of us and many of them in a classroom). His solution: Use 21st century technology and Web 2.0 to individualize lessons to suit needs.

That's where the problem starts according to Christensen. Schools throw technology at their problems in hopes software, hardware, internet websites, will fix their shrinking test scores. Every technology teacher I know agrees with the author that this approach is flawed and frustrates both students and teachers. Technology is a tool, to be wielded with a skilled hand.

Christensen gives teachers permission to disrupt class--shake it up! See what's going on. Here are some of my favorite ideas:
1) If the addition of computers to classrooms were a cure, there would be evidence of it by now. There is not. Test scores have barely budged. 2) Why haven't schools (with so much emphasis on technology) been able to march down this path (of student-centric learning)? ...because they have crammed the new technologies into their existing structure... 3) The world of education is one in which there is little agreement on what the goals are, let alone the methods that are best-suited to achieve them. 4) Public schools have been improving steadily, since 1900, but society moved the goal posts ...changed the definition of improvement...

I'd recommend this to any teacher intent upon integrating technology into their core curriculum.
Get more detail about Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns.

Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century Best Quality

nice little book. bit outdated, thought. more useful information i can find in books from hakim bey and john zerzan. but it is ok for a start. to view the money market conciously is utmost important for everyone. thank you. rolf kuhnGet more detail about Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Revised and Updated for the 21st Century.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition Get it now!

Anyone who deals with organizing and communicating data needs to read and periodically review this classic work.
It will not give you the answer, but will stimulate you to think of different ways to present information with more depth and clarity. The concepts and examples will change your perspective and will absolutely improve the quality of your work. If you get just get a single chart improvement idea from the concepts presented, it is well worth the cost and time. Keep it on a bookshelf close by.Get more detail about The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition.

Rapture in Death (In Death #4) Buy Now

Ordering was easy. Received very quickly. Book in good shape and was what I was seeking.Get more detail about Rapture in Death (In Death #4).

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Revised and Updated 5th Anniversary Edition: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits Order Now

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid is a definitive account of the need for inclusive capitalism in the world we live today. CK Prahalad sets the tone by arguing that the poor of the world must not be a constituency. Instead, key players like the private sector, NGOs & governments can enable dignity & choice to the poor, and, in the process, realize huge profits.

The book is split into 2 parts. In the first, CK Prahalad builds a framework for poverty alleviation by arguing for large-scale entrepreneurship & innovative approaches to design and delivery. He posits out that only 2.5 billion individuals have a per capita income of over $1500 (in terms of purchasing power parity), thereby leaving the vast majority of 4 billion at the BOP. Any BOP solution, he adds, must be scalable enough to be transplanted onto a different country. A forceful argument is made that endemic corruption at the BOP can indeed be addressed.

The second part takes us through 12 exhaustive case studies of companies that have realized immense profits while providing solutions / products to the BOP.
- To solve the problem of Iodine Deficiency Disorder that could affect 20% of the Indian population (almost all of them belonging to BOP), Hindustan Lever came up with a holistic approach that encompassed manufacturing, supply chain, local distribution, communication, pricing, packaging & wastage. Thanks to a unique manufacturing technology called K15, Iodine in Annapurna Salt is neither released in extreme storage conditions nor under heat-intensive Indian cooking. Instead it is released only when it comes in contact with the acids of one's stomach, thereby ensuring that the right amount of iodine is absorbed.

- In the world of prosthetics, Jaipur Foot has no equal. Sold for $30 compared to over $8000 in advanced countries, the Jaipur Foot allows the individual to perform a lot more functions, viz. sit cross-legged, squat, walk long distances & on uneven grounds. Through rapid improvements in manufacturing, it is now possible to have a custom fit made in 4 hours. Its founders never applied for a patent & have been able to bring down their cost per unit to under $12.50. Jaipur Foot is sold today in 19 countries.

- A doctor at Aravind Eye Care, the largest eye-care system in the world, performs 2600 surgeries per year compared to the Indian average of 400. Only 40% of its patients pay. Those that do shell out $50 for a cataract surgery. Through relentless process optimization & efficiency, Aravind Eye Care has succeeded in lowering its costs & ensuring that doctors focus only on what they do best, viz. perform surgeries.

- Innovative approaches to evaluating creditworthiness of a BOP customer at Casas Bahia in Brazil, providing home building solutions to people who save for 70 weeks (and `freezing' costs for the entire period) at Cemex in Mexico and creating sustainable self help groups by ICICI Bank in India are other notable examples.

All in all, a wonderful read on how thoughtful & innovative approaches can transform the poor and widen the addressable market for the private sector. Highly recommended!!!Get more detail about The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Revised and Updated 5th Anniversary Edition: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits.

Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0: 1,001 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing Your Dream Job Right now

The amount of information is overwhelming. It is not the kind of book that you just skim through and go to the chapter that fits your current situation or need for finding a job. It is a whole process to make yourself a whole marketing campaign. I started to read it at noon and by 3 am I managed to get through just 1/4 of it. Why? Because there are so many great ideas, suggestions, tips and tricks on every page that made me stop reading and put into practice the suggestions, made me go and check out the website(s). The chapter with the resume and cover letter is just a small part of my strategy to get a job. There is a lot more than that.

This book is a whole encyclopedia and I think its price is to small for its value and 5 stars are not enough to rate it.Get more detail about Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0: 1,001 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing Your Dream Job.

Lowest Price The Ultimate Suburban Survivalist Guide: The Smartest Money Moves to Prepare for Any Crisis

I've actually read several of these survival books lately. For my purposes this book provided the most useful information in the most understandable format. In particular the "least you can do" section is short/two the point and helpful. It is suitable for people who want to prepare for the uncertain future but also want to continue their current life as normal. In addition there are some money saving tips and other advice that will help even if the world doesnt end or tsdoesnthtf.
Keep in mind that the author may not share your political views or may even try and contradict them (scary stuff).
All in all the book delivers, would recommend.Get more detail about The Ultimate Suburban Survivalist Guide: The Smartest Money Moves to Prepare for Any Crisis.

Low Price Vengeance in Death (In Death #6)

Great book, J.D Robb is a fantastic writer. I love the series. I have read the entire series and feel like the characters are my best friends...love it!!Get more detail about Vengeance in Death (In Death #6).

Save Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great

I read this book several years ago and found it to be unusually insightful. That the concepts presented were data driven made it all the more impressive. Looking forward to any follow up Mr. Collins may have on this topic.Get more detail about Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great.

Discount Robert's Rules for Dummies

I just became President of an association. Although I've served on boards before, I have never actually run a meeting. Me predecessors did not set such a great example so I needed some coaching. This book helps to make a very dry subject easy to swallow.Get more detail about Robert's Rules for Dummies.

Cheapest Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means

This book describes the emergence of an important new area of science, and it's written by Alberto-Laszlo Barabasi, one of the pioneers and leaders in the field. The writing is clear and engaging, so the book should be fairly easy to read by general readers reasonably comfortable with science. Accommodating such a broad audience does limit the technical depth, but there's still plenty of detail, and the book has abundant endnotes which go into further detail and also link the book with the professional literature (pun intended).

The systematic presentation of the book makes it fairly easy to summarize:

(1) Many systems are complex, and thus are not amenable to conventional reductionism. Instead, complex systems typically involve networks.

(2) The study of networks began with "simple" graph theory, and then progressed to random networks in which most nodes have the about the same number of links.

(3) Real-world networks tend to be "small worlds" in the sense that the shortest path from a given node to any other node is typically only several links. This is the case even for networks with millions or billions of nodes.

(4) Rather than being entirely random, real-world networks tend to display clustering, with "weak links" between clusters. These weak links, which may be random, are the key to making these networks small worlds.

(5) Small-world networks tend to have a minority of highly-linked "hub" nodes which shorten the average path between nodes. More precisely, such networks tend to have a hierarchical scale-free structure (topology) which follows a power law with an exponent of 2 to 3, such that there are many nodes with few links and progressively fewer nodes as the number of links per node increases (again, hub nodes have the most links). (By the way, the ratings of this book roughly follow a power law distribution.)

(6) Scale-free structure in networks is largely the result of a preferential attachment process in which well-connected and competitively fitter nodes have a greater ability to attract further links as the network grows ("the rich get richer"). If a single node has dominant fitness, a "winner takes all" effect can occur in which the network develops a star structure rather than a scale-free structure.

(7) Unlike random networks, scale-free networks are robust against even a large number of random removals of nodes. This is largely because the minority of hub nodes keeps the network connected. However, targeted removal of several hub nodes (~5% to 15%) can cause a scale-free network to collapse (loose connectivity), thus making such networks vulnerable to attack. The problem is compounded if such networks are vulnerable to cascading failures.

(8) Viruses, fads, information, etc. can readily spread in scale-free networks because there is no minimum threshold which the spreading rate needs to exceed.

(9) Because the links in the Web are directed, the Web doesn't form a single homogeneous network, but rather has a fragmented structure involving four major "continents" and some "islands", and there is fragmentation within these continents as well.

(10) Behavior of living cells is controlled by multiple layers of networks, including regulatory and metabolic networks. These networks typically have a scale-free structure with an average path length of about three. Across organisms, the hubs in these networks tend to be the same, but the other nodes (molecules) vary widely. This is why targeting drugs at hubs can be both effective and can have side effects (presumably, the key is to find and target hubs which are specific to disease states, if such hubs exist).

(11) The economy is a network in which hub organizations tend to accumulate links as the network grows by absorbing smaller nodes through mergers and acquisitions.

(12) Highly "optimized" organizations with a tight hierarchy tend to be less adaptive than networked organizations, and thus susceptible to failure.

(13) Networked economies are susceptible to cascading failures, especially when the hubs become "too big to fail" (Barabasi's warning here was of course all too accurate).

(14) Real networks tend to have a hierarchically modular structure, while still being scale-free.

The only significant "negative" is that this book came out in 2002/2003, whereas network science has continued to develop since then. However, Barabasi has another book (Bursts: The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do) coming out in just a few weeks, which should bring us up to date, and it makes sense to read "Linked" first, so that you can start at the beginning. Very highly recommended.
Get more detail about Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means.

Buying Personal Finance For Dummies

This book gets high marks for completeness and for its regular updates. It has remained on the retail bookshelves for many years now and competes well in terms of overall value against other personal finance publications. It lackes the multi-media support of Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey but offers excellent value.Get more detail about Personal Finance For Dummies.

Buy Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World

Even Jim in his early days struggled with problems of "cost basis paralysis" that many individual investors deal with. This is until his wife took his stock sheets and whited out his cost basis which allowed him to think clearer about the merits of keeping a stock, namely Maytag that he owned. In another anecdote he described how he decided to invest in AT&T wireless. He asked his daughter "how come you never get frustrated with a busy signal when voting for American Idol" her reply was that she texted her vote but that an AT&T wireless device is needed to do that.
There are tips on top fund managers and funds in different categories. Also a chapter on how to spot a market bottom which I found easy to follow but insightful. It included simple criteria as finding a bear market article in the front page of the New York times, Bullish vs bearish investment advisors survey (in this case you need at least 60% bearish). The logic here is that if most are bullish then most money is already invested in and little money is available for new investment. Volatility index above 40, and a selling climax defined by at least two months of fund outflows. A similar chapter in tops in individual stocks was quite useful with the one warning I found most interesting is tendency of hyped stocks to almost always end up making a secondary offering below the latest traded price signaling the end of the run. Many other tips in this chapter such as accounting problems, over expansion using acquisitions, etc are included. All in all as other reviewers say not the endgame but a good start.
Get more detail about Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World.

Purchase The Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World

This book is excellent for those who are in the consulting business. The author offers facts, opinions and analysis that, in my opinion, are balanced and to the point.Get more detail about The Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World.

Order Looking for Alaska

Or rather, 4 1/2 stars.

This book begins with a boy who goes off to boarding school and starts smoking; I really thought there was no way I could like it. It was so immensely real and powerful, though, that disliking it was just an impossibility. Even with all the high school smoking.

before: Boarding school. If you've ever wondered what it's like to attend a merit-based boarding school, read this book. This is it. This is what my junior and senior years of high school would have been like if we had had as much freedom at my boarding school as they had at Culver Creek. The bond so immediately formed between Pudge, Alaska, and the Colonel is something that can only exist between high schoolers living in such close proximity; who spend all of their time together by default, by circumstance. It doesn't matter if they have anything in common. They are basically obliged to grow to know everything about each other so that their lives are literally cemented together. What happens to one happens to all; what matters to one grows to matter to all.

I was shocked and impressed by just how right on John Green's descriptions of their boarding schools lives and their relationships were. Reading, I almost felt like I was in boarding school all over again. Pudge, the Colonel, Takumi, Alaska, and Lara were all just so right, so real, so emotional and deel and intense and screwed up and wonderful. Discovering them and their lives and the bond they formed was like making friends. Alaska is practically bipolar, and it's exciting to guess what she might do next. Pudge, with his obsession with last words; the Colonel with his no BS attitude, Takumi with his raps - they all brought something to the group which, in a way, was more important than the individuals themselves.

after: I sobbed. And most likely, you will, too. Like it says in the summary "nothing will ever be the same." It won't. Not just in the book, but in your life. Because what happens and the way of dealing with it WILL affect you in a deep and profound way. It's edgy and gritty, and from it you'll learn a new way of coping, which in one sense is universal and in another sense is something that could only exist in a boarding school setting. After, the individual becomes key while still stressing the importance of the group.

Days after reading this book, I once again find myself crying while writing and re-thinking about what happened. I think it moved me so deeply because of my boarding school experiences, but I don't want to downplay the power of this book. I think if it doesn't move you in some way, you must be unmovable.

This was my first experience reading John Green, and let me assure you, it won't be my last. Read this book. Now!Get more detail about Looking for Alaska.

Where To Buy Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism

Yunus is definitely changing our point of view about world economics. In his book (on what I have read so far) he gives a lot of clues about how modern capitalism can help on improving the life quality of the poorest people. As always, his model shocks with the standard beliefs about money and economics, but gives an inspiring message about helping others without falling into assistentialism.
Good written and useful.Get more detail about Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism.

Shop For Programming Interviews Exposed: Secrets to Landing Your Next Job

Great investment if you are back in the job market, being rusty during an interview can easily be perceived as not knowing about a topic which may cost you dearly, this book gives you a great outline on what to prepare for a programming interview. I would definitely recommend it.Get more detail about Programming Interviews Exposed: Secrets to Landing Your Next Job.

Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude

Very hard to understand , alot of jumbo mumbo but get very little information. Wasting alot of timeGet more detail about Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude.

Promise Me (Myron Bolitar) Review

This is a very readable and interesting book. Coben knows how to write and get you going into the story.

Amy mystery reader will enjoy this book.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"Get more detail about Promise Me (Myron Bolitar).

Wives and Daughters This instant

If you like Jane Austen, you will probably like "Wives and Daughters". This may be Gaskell's wittiest book. She let's her character's tell the story through their own selfish, or honest, or naiive, or manipulative actions. The beautiful and brilliant Cynthia is really the star of this tale-her self-centered mother is the machinating demon, wrekeing havoc with domestic tyrany.
A handsome, successful widower with daughter marries a pretty, winning widow with daughter, and all hell breaks loose. One of the greatest little stories ever told!Get more detail about Wives and Daughters.

The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization Best Quality

John C. Maxwell's "The 360 Degree Leader" was, to me, a motivational exploration of excelling in business leadership no matter what your position or place within an organization. The book was well laid out and covered a myriad of organizational myths that exist to this day within corporate culture in organizations all around the world, which lead to frustration, lack of productivity and resentment if adhered to.

Leadership is not about a title; it is all about influence and earning the right to lead daily through every encounter with every person you meet and having the wisdom and maturity to be sincere in your interest and genuine in your intention to put your leaders, your team, and your shared projects first and foremost above self interest and ego. I realize that this is not an easy task, as I think back to when I worked in a large organization and had to deal with difficult individuals at different levels. I appreciated when he stated that we choose how we view people within our sphere of influence, and that it is not our job to fix them but rather to find ways in which we can value and appreciate them, and the ways in which they are assets to the team and to the organization. This is not an easy task, but I believe growth will result if we work towards seeing people in that light, as then we can add value to their strengths and build solid professional relationships as we work together. It is my opinion that without strong, focused teams that are coherent and united towards a common goal, creativity and communication are inhibited. I want to be a team member that sees and works with others on my team in this way. I know it won't always be easy, but it is a goal worth working towards.

He explains the challenges that leaders today face when they feel trapped in their position and/or unrecognized, or frustrated by having an ineffective leader, as well as the challenges of multiple responsibilities that face many in this economy and he goes on to deal with resolutions that can, when we address the issues at large, change our attitudes and enhance our productivity. I want to have the attitudes that John Maxwell describes in "The 360 Degree Leader," which can allow me to find satisfaction in enjoying my journey, starting with right where I am here and now without having my personal satisfaction hinging on the realization of a goal that I've set for the future. Having attitudes that build solid, foundational relationships within a team or organization, appreciating other's strengths and committing yourself to adding value to your team can only result in greater overall personal satisfaction.

"The 360 Degree Leader" is a book that can be enjoyed and used as a tool to foster growth no matter what your position within an organization. I also highly recommend it to consultants and the self employed, as I found a wealth of information that motivated and challenged me as I gained new insights into how to best work within a group successfully and truly identify what should be our shared, common goal.

Thanks for reading my review!

Kate Smalley
Get more detail about The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization.

The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management (Portable Mba Series) Get it now!

I'm a baby boomer who just passed the PMP exam on the first try. This was one of three books I purchased from Amazon to help me prepare and I consider it more or less indispensable.

The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management (Portable Mba Series) was not only a great aid to my test preparation, but will also be a good general project management resource going forward. The authors have an associated web site where they make available various project management forms templates (none of the other books had this).

I highly recommend this book.Get more detail about The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management (Portable Mba Series).

Heart of the Sea (Irish Jewels Trilogy) Buy Now

My only excuse for having read this to the end is that I was stranded and had nothing else to read. It's silly, predictable and boring, with one-dimensional characters in a stereotypical setting. Beware! It is mind-numbing - there are plenty of good reads around, don't bother with this one.Get more detail about Heart of the Sea (Irish Jewels Trilogy).

Eleven on Top Order Now

Trenton's bounty hunting gal Stephanie Plum is tired of having her car blown up, her apartment broken into, being shot at and stalked by assorted bad guys, so she decides to hang up her career and seeks less life threatening employment. She turns her job over to her gal pal Lulu, a flamboyant, gravitationally challenged former hooker you just gotta love.

In no time at all Lulu is captured by a bail jumper and is handcuffed to a bed rail, naked. And though she tries various jobs, someone wants Stephanie back in the game. She is stalked and shot at by someone who leaves her threatening notes, all things she wanted to leave behind in her new life.

So, as you can guess, Stephanie's retirement doesn't go quite as planned. She does get back in the game, so to speak and the result is an action packed, laugh a page book that is sure to keep you turning the pages. I know I couldn't put it down.Get more detail about Eleven on Top.

The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life (J-B Warren Bennis Series) Decide Now

The Three Laws of Performance is one of the best books I've ever read. Next to the Bible, it has given me more direction and sound advice than any book I've read. I've applied the Three Laws in both my business and personal life and the results are astounding.Get more detail about The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life (J-B Warren Bennis Series).

Magic Hour Right now

I liked this book at first but my opinion of it rapidly declined as the improbabilities started piling up. The characters--even the purportedly intellectual Julia--don't really seem real. They behave irrationally at times and they seem to miss a lot of things that are obvious to the reader. The Alice character in particular seems like pure fabrication (she is, of course, but it was really hard for me to even pretend like she was real).

It's mostly little things that bothered me, but there were enough of them to really detract from the overall appeal of this story. Some examples: It takes forever for it to dawn on anyone what was made painfully obvious in the early pages--that Alice is not just a little girl who "wandered off during a camping trip." At one point the characters lament that they might have to turn the girl over to parents who have hurt her, which is ridiculous because I'm sure no court in the world would blindly turn over a child who'd been so obviously abused without some kind of evidence that the parents weren't the abusers. And then there's all that nonsense about Alice's ability to communicate with animals--give me a break. There are also inconsistencies--we are told that the girl only understands a few words, but then we are told that she'd been warned in quite explicit terms about how there are bad people out in the world who might want to harm her, something she supposedly understood quite well. And maybe I don't know how to treat starvation, but I'm pretty sure if you give a starving person waffles with sugary strawberry syrup and whipped cream, or greasy hamburgers and French fries you might actually kill her. Also, babies aren't born in the O.R. (which stands for "operating room") except by c-section, and any town big enough to have a hospital probably has an obstetrician (the author has Jack-of-all-trades doctor Max delivering babies and working in the E.R., too). Finally, at one point the author mentions that six-year-old Alice has been wearing the same diaper for a couple of days because no one can get close enough to change it but doesn't explain why a six year old girl wouldn't just take it off herself after it was so saturated as to be uncomfortable, oh, and apparently the girl doesn't poop despite all those burgers and whipped cream covered waffles.

The writing is sloppy in places too. I was especially annoyed by the author's lazy way of showing the passage of time: "An hour later," "30 minutes later," "for the next two hours ..." YAWN! That's really bad writing and I don't know if it's because this author has written so many books that she's stopped worrying about the quality of her work because she knows her name will sell them--or if she's just that bad at writing a transition. And at one point I asked myself whether or not I could continue reading about the "snot" flying out of the girl's nose, which happened at least three times. Yuck.

Finally, I really questioned the author's understanding of psychology, which it seems to me she would have needed to really effectively conquer this subject. It doesn't seem plausible to me, for example, that a psychiatrist would attempt to treat an obviously traumatized child who screams in abject terror at the sight of a dreamcatcher by bringing her a bunch of dreamcatchers to further traumatize her. I don't know, maybe that's how psychiatrists do things, but it didn't seem real to me.

The book did improve towards the end, when at last the story started to gain speed and actually became somewhat compelling. It was enough to make me up my rating from two stars to three, but it was very slow in getting there. Sadly, the ending was right back to improbable though it was easier to swallow because the characters had finally started to seem three dimensional.

In looking at the many other reviews, I realize I'm in a very small minority in my criticisms of this book, so maybe I'm just being overly picky or maybe I'm just flat wrong about some of my assumptions. But this story just didn't sit right with me, and I'm afraid I can't recommend it over the many other excellent novels out there.Get more detail about Magic Hour.

Lowest Price Tears of the Moon (Irish Jewels Trilogy)

Only giving it a 1, because it is irritating to be able to order books 1 and 3, but not 2 - unavailable in the US. I understand the publishing rights and money exchange between publishers, author, and Amazon/kindle; however, if you can order 2 of them you should be able to order the 3rd. Happening with other Nora Roberts books as well.
Get more detail about Tears of the Moon (Irish Jewels Trilogy).

Low Price A Sense of Urgency

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R32IJ0IBSKY2PC The first step in John Kotter's framework for leading change is developing a sense of urgency. It is such an important step that Kotter dedicated a whole book to it. Kotter provides the tools for creating a TRUE sense of urgency within your organization.Get more detail about A Sense of Urgency.

Save The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care

This is a great book for those willing to see a need for change in our health care system.
Good ideas that insurers and the government need to incentivize for the health of the country.
An excellent read and highly recommended.Get more detail about The Innovator's Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care.

Discount The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering

A classic book updated with more recent thoughts by the author. I bought the ebook and was greatly disappointed by the formatting, especially of Chapter 18, the recapitulation of the author's original theses. On my Kindle 2, for example, only parts of the propositions from Chapter 2 show. Advancing the page doesn't help. Reducing the font size shows that the "missing" material is there but the tiny font makes reading impossible.
Buy the paperback, by all means, but Addison-Wesley needs to take this abomination of an ebook.off the market. Professor Brooks deserves far better.Get more detail about The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering.

Cheapest Midnight in Death

I was disappointed with this book. It was much thinner than all the other J.D.Robb books. However having said that Amazon not only allowed me to keep the book but refunded my money. AMAZINGGet more detail about Midnight in Death.

Cheap The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks

"The Men Who Would Be King," is one hell of a great ride, brimming over with flamboyant personalities, outrageous behavior, and the kind of feats of hubris that would shame even Icarus. It's no easy task to write about the scariest men in town, especially when, as LaPorte says in her book, "DreamWorks was not going to take things lying down." Thankfully she didn't give up the fight. I had a ball.Get more detail about The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks.

Buying Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes (Positive Paperbacks)

Although this has been out for a while, it is everlasting. Bridges' approach to the various transitions we all inevitably go through is a well thought out process that addresses the stages of change in our lives. Whether you are leaving home for the first time, getting married, having a child, getting divorced, taking a new job or losing one, he helps you understand why you feel the way you do. His explanation of "ending" the previous life or relationship before beginning a new one is spot on. I meet many people who have never let go and don't realize that is what is holding them back. As a mid-life transition coach I strongly recommend this book to anyone experiencing empty nests, loss of careers or spouses or relocations. This book is an excellent read for folks of all ages and a must have for coaches and counselors.Get more detail about Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes (Positive Paperbacks).

Buy The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't

This book is a must-read for anyone who is coaching or working with executives who are committed to building empowering environments in their workplace OR are working in places that are dis-empowering and mis-managed. This book clearly identifies the challenges and solutions to working within these environments effectively.Get more detail about The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't.

Purchase My Ántonia

This "classic" book depicts plains frontier life in the mid 1800's with stark descriptions of the hardships encountered by two groups of pioneers, Americans emigrating from eastern states and immigrants from abroad. The detailed footnotes add background and color to the engrossing narrative without being intrusive. The title heroine is presented by an observer and has only moderate direct information presented. The story is tightly woven and moves forward at a brisk pace with interludes that mimic the plains life tempo.Get more detail about My Ántonia.

Where To Buy The Mystery Method: How to Get Beautiful Women Into Bed

When I first saw Mystery on the show The Pick Up Artist, I thought he looked like a cross between a dungeon master and a skinny, flaming homosexual. It was very hard to get over that thought while watching the show, but reading the book is different mostly because you don't have to deal with his image in it. I mean, the man wears goggles in nightclubs--like that Kenny kid from the movie Can't Hardly Wait. I don't even know if motorcycle riders would wear their goggles in a nightclub if they rode their bikes to get there. But I guess in the wide open industry of Pick Up, (where two of the gurus look alike and even have similiar sounding names) its good to have a visual hook to get people to gravitate to you and your products.

The book is geared more toward 20 somethings who are active in the club scene, or want to be, but I think just about every guy can get something out of it. It was nice how the book went into more of the "nuts and bolts" of social interaction and gave some actual examples rather than vague ideas/theories and no "blueprints" like many books do.Get more detail about The Mystery Method: How to Get Beautiful Women Into Bed.

Shop For The Age Of Fable, The Age Of Chivalry, Legends Of Charlemagne

I thought this was a great read. I didn't know many of these mythological stories, esp. the ones from Norse and Celtic traditions. A must read for anyone who is a true bibliophile.Get more detail about The Age Of Fable, The Age Of Chivalry, Legends Of Charlemagne.

Crossing the Chasm

This book is about market segmentation and the challenge of retargeting a business from early adopters to mainstream buyers. I have seen businesses fail because of insufficient market segmentation, including my own business. One company I once worked for had about 30 software products (acquired through mergers) and perhaps $100M/year in revenue, but did not distinguish in its catalogs, presentation, or sales force training, between mainstream products and experimental (buggy) early adopter products. Within a year they had failed. If they understood this book they would still be around.

If I had read this book ten years earlier I would be much wealthier than I am today. The book is packed with examples, strategies, tactics and marketing insights which are not easily sumarized in a brief review. It is a pleasure to read and will withstand several re-readings. I highly recommend it to any businessperson, engineer, entrepreneur or investor.Get more detail about Crossing the Chasm.

Glory in Death (In Death #2) Review

Not as good as the first...but oh my it's still a 5 Star!!!

I know now that I'm in trouble with this series...how in the world am I going to be able to read anything else now that I've started?! I'll try to make myself quit after the next one in line because I don't want to burn myself out...but HOW will I do it?!

The only concerns I have...and I mean the only (at this point) is...Is Roarke going to continue to be the suspect in every case AND where do Roarke and Eve go from here? I mean I still have 30 books left to read in this series. I'm guessing she's going to break them up a couple times or put someone else between them. That has to be what happens. If they get married now then by the time the series is over they'll be an old married couple (and really how much fun would that be to read about)....But I can't wait to find out!

If you haven't started this series yet...then beware...you better have a few on hand b/c I promise 1 (or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5) at a time will never be enough!Get more detail about Glory in Death (In Death #2).

Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions (Wiley Finance) Top Quality

In my line of business, if you don't come correct, there can be some grave consequences. One false move, and let's just say your career is over. "Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions" has helped me manage a successful enterprise in an unpredictable industry.

By mastering the principles in this book, I've learned to: 1) rebrand my organization to disguise an inferior product (alla WorldCom), 2) wait out slow quarters now that I understand that even my market is inelastic, 3) form new business entities and funnel funds back and forth between them, and most importantly, 4) understand the deeper value of embracing "coopetition" with potential rivals.

This book also showed me how to fund the Clay Davises of my city's political scene and negotiate lucrative government deals thereby flipping the public sector's potential pitfalls on its head.

Moreover, mastering the tenets of business has given me a leg up on my peers and competitors who are prone to old ways of "street corner" thinking. With "Investment Banking," coupled with a rudimentary community college business class, my corner business has grown into an enormous thriving endeavor that navigates complex commercial, industrial and political hazards every day.

Get more detail about Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions (Wiley Finance).

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings (Wiley Investment Classics) This instant

Am I the only one who finds this book to be completely vague? There's about as much strategy in this book as is to be found by looking up "strategy" in the dictionary. Replete with tautologies, and containing sections oozing with elitism in some silly way supported by preachy 'axioms' of elementary logic, which I suppose are meant to 'open my mind' to the 'correct' road of value investment. I found myself asking 'was Fisher in love with himself?' A boring, mostly fruitless read, offering insight only into Fisher's secret surprise at his own economic self sufficiency.Get more detail about Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings (Wiley Investment Classics).