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Bear Feels Sick is a new 'Bear' book by Karma Wilson. Like 'Bear Snores On' it has beautiful illustrations and a fun story. This time it is autumn in the woods and bear isn't feeling well so his friends take care of him.

This is a beautiful book; it is fun just to page through and look at the pictures. My granddaughter will love it. It is not only beautiful in appearance, but the message is beautiful, as well. I highly recommend it.

Our grandson has most of the Bear books now, and he loves each of them. (I think his dad enjoys them just as much as he does!) The text is playful, and the illustrations are rich with little details.

This series of books is a positive addition to any little one's library.

I just got this for my son for his third birthday while coincidentally his sister is sick!

I have always loved Jane Chapman's illustrations and Bear Snores On is one of my favorite picture books. I wasn't as thrilled with the second one in this series but this one is a hit with me.

It's very sweet and thoughtful and stands on it's own.
Very nice!

We got this for my 3 yr old for Christmas and it has become one of both of our favorites. "Bear Snores On" has longtime been in my top 5 of children's books to read to her, and this one is another wonderful story. We've been reading it a lot lately with both of us having bad winter colds and there's something soothing and relatable about it. I love how it ends -- Bear finally feels better, but his friends are now sick and he tells them he'll take care of them. Very sweet. And -- the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. You will love it!

James Qwilleran stayed the compulsory five years in Pickax to complete the requirements placed on his inheritance. He is now officially a billionaire. Now it is time to decide what to do with the rest of his life. He intends to go somewhere--a quiet island with a beach or a mountain hideaway--someplace where he can have seclusion and quiet to sort out his options and make plans.

Qwill (as his friends call him) decides on a whim to spend three months in Spudsboro, a small town in the Potato Mountains. It was recommended highly by some friends who camped there recently. Finding a house to rent is always difficult with two Siamese cats as roommates. The only thing he can find is a huge house on the very top of Big Potato Mountain. It was originally built as an exclusive lodge for well-to-do tourists. More recently it was the home of the area's most influential businessman--owner of the local newspaper. It didn't take long for Qwill to discover the house he rented had been the scene of a ghastly murder a year earlier.

I do admire Jim Qwilleran's ability to converse with everyone he meets. He is well practiced, of course, since he made his living for years as an investigative reporter for various newspapers. He knows just how to steer the conversation and just the right questions to ask. He makes people so comfortable that they usually tell him anything he wants to know. Of course, he has an uncanny ability to read people and know when he is being lied to. Within two days of arriving in town, he is sure that the wrong man is in prison for the murder.

The author does an amazing job of making us empathize with Qwill's frustration with the situation he has gotten himself into. He came to the mountains for solitude and a time of reflection. He had no desire to get mixed up in the politics of the region--environmentalists vs. developers. He really had no desire to get mixed up in the mystery surrounding the murder. But...being a reporter for so many years (and truly caring about the innocent man in prison), he just could not resist finding the truth. It doesn't take long. Qwill has learned to trust his instincts--and the instincts of his cat Koko. Together they follow the clues and confront the real murder.

I highly recommend that you get acquainted with Jim Qwilleran through the "Cat Who..." mystery series. You will like him.

This is a great book about a man and his to crime finding clue cat Koko and YumYum. There is a mystery on potatoe mountain on a death of a local well known man. Was the wrong person framed. This book is fantastic except kind of has a dissapointing end. But i loved it anyway. I hope you enjoy this book and look for my other reviews

In an earlier book in this series Jim Qwilleran inherited a pot full of money but there was a stipulation. He had to live in Moose County for five years or he forfeited his windfall. As this book begins, Qwilleran has just completed his five years and is contemplating his future. He has come to love Moose County and it's quirky residents but he was born and raised a city boy and sometimes he longs for more action. The former reporter decides that he needs some time in a quiet atmosphere to think through his options and one of his friends suggests that he spend some time in the Potato Mountains.

In order to find a summer retreat that will accept pets, Qwilleran has to rent a huge former mountain inn that sets on the peak of Big Potato Mountain. It turns out that the last owner of the home was murdered and as normal, Koko immediately begins to exhibit strange behavior. Yum Yum on the other hand starts to tear out bits of her own fur, a behavior that has Qwilleran very upset until the veterinarian tells him that this is not unusual in a spayed female. It is a trait that I have witnessed in my own spayed female cat and this little sidebar makes it very clear that Mrs. Braun most assuredly knows her cats.

Qwilleran for his part has all kinds of trouble in the unfamiliar mountain setting. He has learned some things about rural life during his sojourn in Moose County but the mountains provide an entirely different set of challenges. He gets lost on the mountain roads, almost falls over a waterfall, gets lost while hiking in the woods and gets trapped on the mountain after a dam break. What's a poor city slicker to do?

Despite all of his trials, Qwilleran still manages to get involved in local politics. More specifically he gets involved in a fight between the Spuds (people who live in town and support development) and the Taters (mountain people who oppose development) and he finds that a serious injustice has been done to one of the Tater families. With the help of Koko, Qwilleran wades through the evidence (and a mudslide) and discovers the truth, which once again puts his life in danger and requires a cat to save the day.

The mystery itself, as is often the case in this series, plays a decidedly secondary role in a plot that is laced with humor and oddball characters, including an old mountain man who builds Qwilleran a gazebo that has no door. This book is also a warm fuzzy mystery with a conscience as Mrs. Braun goes to great lengths to point out what happens when humans try to bend mother nature to their own ends. As usual, the writing style is engaging, fun and entertaining. This author's characters are always unpredictable and unforgettable and the cats are fascinating. Mrs. Braun even throws a few witches into this book, just to keep things interesting. This is one of the best books in the series so far and it was a real pleasure to read.

In "'The Cat Who Moved a Mountain', Jim Qwilleran took a vacation to the Potato Mountains to have a much-needed rest away from it all. It was here he found he had rented a hotel that had been the site of a year old murder. The locals tell him that the man is now in jail. But Qwill finds out that they have the wrong guy! Then, with the help of Koko, he finds the real murderer and lures him into addmitting it was him. Then Qwill has a near-fatal run-in with the murderer. What will happen? I'll let you see for yourself! Enjoy the book!

If you love cats and the mountains, you will love this episode in, "The Cat Who..." books.

Qwill has lived in Pickax County the required five years to make his inheritance official. He doesn't know what to do next. Does he want to move? Does he want to take a job or start a business? He knows he has a lot of thinking to do so he decides to take a journey. He decides he wants to spend the summer on top of a mountain. So he and the cats rent a mountain house for three months.

While on the mountain he learns of a murder exactly one year before. He and Koko solve the murder and make new friends along the way.

I loved this book! You will too!

This is a must read book for anyone who is serious about how to bring their spirituality to the workplace.

Business is an essential part of our lives. Doing business consciously, Fred Kofman, a co-founder of the consulting firm Axialent, is an essential part of living consciously. The author presents a business model where managers are more conscious of the inner and outer lives of employees.

Anyone who works intuitively understands there are two types of managers. As a professor of accounting, Kofman begin his classes by having students listen to one of Beethoven's pieces over and over. Gradually the students would realize that the music was not in the CD; but in the listening. In music as in business, Information's only value is in how it is interpreted.

Most recognize the need for smart employees with the latest in technical competency. Kofman argues it is more important, and less recognized, that organizations recruit and retain employees with high-level consciousness.

He draws a contrast between unconscious attitudes and their conscious counterparts. They are:

Unconscious Attitudes.....................Conscious Attitudes
Unconditional Blame.......................Unconditional Responsibility
Essential Selfishness........................Essential Integrity
Ontological Arrogance.....................Ontological Humility
Unconscious Behaviors....................Conscious Behaviors
Manipulative Communication..........Authentic Communication
Narcissistic Negotiation....................Constructive Negotiation
Negligent Coordination.....................Impeccable Coordination
Unconscious Reactions.....................Conscious Reactions
Emotional Incompetence...................Emotional Mastery.

These qualities are simple to understand; yet, they are difficult to implement. They represent common sense; yet, they are not found widely in common practice. They seem natural, yet they challenge deep-seated assumptions individuals hold about themselves, others and their world.

Kofman opens the reader's conscious to a unique resource for maximizing profit and potential in the workplace and beyond. Written concisely and coherently he communicates an uncommon wisdom about the truth of our emotions and healthy interpersonal practices in business and life.

The hard part about starting or running a business is not the long hours, the tight deadlines, or the stresses of being overworked in the face of an insecure future. The real challenges that make or break us surround dealing with our own integrity, our priorities, and conflicts with others.

This book covers those challenges and offers many tools and examples of how we can manage them and come out ahead having built a stronger foundation and a stronger company.

I personally can't stand the idealistic tones of the book but I will admit, unlike most of these books that I have read, this one is much more grounded inthe harsh challenges of reality such as the fact that, while in business and in dealing with others failure is not an option but success is not always achieved.

If you read this book you will find yourself referencing it as you deal with life on any level because the authors clear mind and direct language gives you the language to describe and communicate the situation and how best to manage it.

Fred Kofman does a good job explaining his concepts, however his accent can be a little disconcerting at first. If you are a Landmark Education graduate, the material on these CD's is very nearly a rip-off of the same concepts (i.e., having Integrity, Honoring your Word, etc...). For non-Landmark graduates, these CD's cover many soft-skills concepts that can be effective in your personal life, but he applies them (a little obscurely) to a work environment. If you are trying to get your own business off the ground, "Conscious Business" does not offer strategies for doing so, but rather best practices to remain successful. In other words, you won't find tips regarding how to file your returns, collect data effectively, or document discipline. You will instead find tips about the importance of keeping your word, how to stop stressing about work, and things of that nature. The program was not bad--in retrospect, I would have found it no more than $15 worth of value. Take that for what you will.

Written by Fred Kofman (co-founder and president of Axialent consulting company), Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values is a straightforward guide to applying conscious awareness to its fullest extent, recognizing the needs of others, and effectively expressing one's own needs order to build responsibility, integrity, leadership, and reputation - all of which are invaluable tools to a business' continued success. Drawing from real-world examples by such famous companies as Microsoft, Yahoo!, and much more, Conscious Business reveals how being mindful of fundamental human virtues and even "spiritual" questions such as "Who am I?" and "What is my real purpose here?" are positive, empowering assets. A clarion call for balancing fiscal obligations with ethical and moral responsibilities for increased success in all dimensions of business life.

This different view of the Vietnam War is filled with adventure, the danger, and the hardwork on the part of a young soldier and a German Shepard. The author's method of telling the story from two points of view adds to the knowledge of the war experience. What a surprise to learn that the dogs were not brought home again after their time in Vietnam! Luckily Cracker's fate was positively different.

This is book for children. I should have known this because Kadohata has written several children's books (Newberry Award on some of them) and the story line is appropriate for children, not deep enough for adults. The happy ending, although I'm not sure it could have happened that way considering the rules that the military enforced at that time (Vietnam War), could only be appropriate for children.

The rules have changed since this book was written, though, and I wonder if the change of rules would have made for any kind of story compelling enough to write a book about.

For a kid that has dyslexia this was a wonderful buy. He is beginning to love to read again... And this book helped.

I got this book for my 11 year old after he requested it at a book fair where they wanted 5.40 more for it and was thrilled to find it less here. Although, when I got it I figured it was a kids book, I found that after picking it up out of curiousity I enjoyed it too. The switching between the soldier and the dog thoughts are very smooth and the portrayal of a soldier and his relationship with a K9 I felt was pretty much dead-on. I like that they portrayed an era of history with a story but still stuck to reality. Happy Reading!

Cracker is a terrific story about one of the unsung heroes of the Vietnam War, namely the K9's. It's great the way the author has written from both the soldier and the dog's point of view. It's also great to see that war dogs are finally getting some attention. This book also introduces the Vietnam War to a new generation of kids. The war and the dogs that saved so many lives should never be forgotten. Anyone interested in another war dog historical fiction--this time a World War II real war dog hero should try Chips a Hometown Hero. Chips: A Hometown Hero Both of these books are great for any dog lover's collection!

Hart has crafted a great story here. The plot is tight, and of course the characters are believable. In this book Annie struggles to free her beloved Max as he's being framed for the murder of a beautiful young woman. She is dealing with a truly crafty and cold-blooded murderer, but she does not hesitate to put herself in harm's way if it will get her to the truth. Ms. Hart builds up the suspense throughout the book right up until the end when he is finally caught. It is easy to see why Caroline Hart has won so many awards. She is truly gifted. I really do enjoy this series.

This is Carolyn Hart's 17th mystery in the Death on Demand series alone. She can't turn them out fast enough for me. I loved it, all the way through.

I had only two problems with the book: (1)I really relate to Max Darling -- what loving husband wouldn't? -- and he is incapacitated and powerless virtually the entire book. (2)For more than a hundred pages I believed I knew the identity of the murderer; I was wrong.

What a fine read. And when is No. 18 coming out?

I feel this may be the death knell of my love for the Death on Demand series. The previous book was disappointing as well. The "Max-in-peril" plot has been used twice before. And in those cases, Annie did not react like she did in this one. She was too serious, intense, morose. Not that I can't sympathize, but I guess my point is, the whole book was too serious, dark, etc. I like the lighter, funnier books Carolyn Hart used to do. I want Laurel being zany; Emma being intimidating; Henny channeling fictional detectives. And where's Miss Dora? I love her! Hasn't been in a book in ages. Plus, there weren't enough suspects in this one. It was pretty easy to narrow down 'who-dun-it'. I still give 3 stars cause Carolyn Hart is great, but I hope she returns to form in the next books.

Dead Days of Summer
Carolyn Hart

If you like murder mysteries or the author Sue Grafton, you will love Carolyn Hart's Dead Days of Summer. The book is one is a long series called Death on Demand. I have no idea where this book fits into the whole picture, but I never once felt that I was left out of the loop because I had not read any of the others. The book does not have a strong Christian base, but it does speak of the Lord, church, belief, and faith. There is even a character who quotes scripture. As a Christian you would not feel weird, or wrong reading this book.

The story opens up on the slow side, and introduces you to a lot of characters right off the bat. This is definitely one that you have to pay attention to from page one or you could get lost in the mix of all the mayhem.

Annie Darling is the main character. The story revolves around her and her husband Max. Annie is the owner of a mystery book store called Death on Demand. Max is a private detective, but cannot call himself one because of the laws of the island that they live on. Broward Rock is the name of the island that they live on. It is one of the islands off of South Carolina.

Annie and Max had lunch together and are walking back to their offices, Annie insists that Max go to the office today and maybe someone will come in. Annie goes to her bookstore and immediately picks up where she left off on planning Max's surprise birthday party. Her mother-in-law Laurel is helping with the planning. It is almost close of business time when Max calls and says that he has a client and will be home later and call if it is going to be real late.

The client that hires Max is a beautiful woman who says that she is looking for her brother who disappeared the previous year. She shows Max pictures of him, and a note that states that he is seen most nights at a place called Dooley's Mine, which is a sleazy bar, that not many people would be caught dead at. They plan to meet there later that evening to scope the place out and see if he is there.

Max never calls and Annie freaks out. She goes to Max's place of business and finds and intruder. She then calls the police. Nothing is making sense, and just as a precaution a missing persons is released, just on a hunch because there is not enough evidence to go on. Annie calls all of their friends and they all start looking for Max. The friends that she calls are a mystery writer, and ex-military woman, an ex-editor, an ex-reporter, an actress, a newspaper man, and others.

The next morning they find a woman who has been murdered, and Max's car just outside the cabin that she has been murdered in. They don't find Max though. Annie knows from gut instinct that this is the person who hired Max. When they don't find Max, the search is on even harder. One of the friends Emma, who is the author, hires a great attorney for them, since it now looks like Max is wanted for murder.

Later on the same day that they find the dead woman, they find Max. He wakes up, confused, sick, and covered in blood. When the police find him they take him into custody for the murder of Vanessa Taylor, who is the woman that they found dead in the cabin. Max has never heard of Vanessa Taylor, and cannot remember anything that has happened. The police chief ends up having to put Max under arrest for the murder of the woman. While he is in the cell, Annie enters the jail and they talk. She vows to find who set him up, and get to the bottom of all of this mess.

Annie, her mother-in-law and her friends do just that. The majority of the book is them sleuthing around and getting information. They follow leads and end up unraveling the whole set up. Max is freed and life goes on as usual.

The book on the whole is good. It takes a long time for the story to develop and get into the action. If you are into meat and grit from page one this one will leave you wanting. If you have patience and don't mind a long build up and climax, then this is the book for you. Ms. Hart has wonderful characters and many of them. She also finds a way to keep them all tied to the story, even if it is just a sentence in the middle of the book. That is a definite gift, and I am glad that she does not leave the reader wondering what happened to so and so even if they were a minor character. Not a bad read at all, life as usual...until the next Death on Demand book.

Max Darling, a murderer? Annie Darling knows there isn't a chance Max is a murderer, but all of the evidence is stacked against him. After all, his car is found with the murder weapon inside and Max himself was covered in blood with no memory as to what had happened. Annie is willing to do whatever it takes to clear Max's name, even if it means putting herself in harm's way. Will Annie and her friends clear Max's name or will Max forever be branded as an adulterous murderer?

DEAD DAYS OF SUMMER is Carolyn Hart's 17th book in the series, but it is my first foray into her world. Needless to say, it will not be the last Carolyn Hart book I read! Ms. Hart draws even a new reader to the series into her vastly entertaining world, populated by the most colorful characters. Annie and Max have a variety of quirky friends and Ms. Hart makes the most of each individual's unique skills in this clever mystery. In fact, the characters are the true heart of this tale as the mystery itself is fairly easy to figure out. It is the characters who keep the reader turning the pages. After all, who knows what crazy plan this group will come up with next in their quest to clear Max's name?

Carolyn Hart does a beautiful job at establishing the community on Broward's Rock, South Carolina. Not only are the inhabitants vividly portrayed, but one gets a real sense of the layout of the island. Generally, the further a series progresses, the harder it is for new readers to jump in the midst of the storyline as the characters and settings are fairly well established. Instead, Carolyn Hart easily welcomes new readers into her Death on Demand series with DEAD DAYS OF SUMMER. Count me in as a new fan!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

It seems that a charismatic multi-billionaire is up to something. He's established a research facility in a remote area, staffed by scientists who share unlikely characteristics. No one who works there has living parents, spouses, or children, and none of them have any genetically passed on diseases. The same billionaire summons another batch of diverse experts, with, we can safely assume, similar attributes. Surely something big is afoot.

I had two problems with the excerpt. First, the initial tension in the story is entirely contrived. The pull is "What weird thing has Jan discovered?" Though the POV character is Jan herself, and she's obsessed with her latest discovery, it takes several pages and lots of meandering before the shared trait of deceased parents is revealed. Maintaining tension by refusing to reveal to the reader something which is well-known to the POV character is a cheap trick, and doesn't bode well for the rest of the plot.

Beyond that, the characters are thinly distinguished. The most distinct one is "Vandy" and that's only because of his resemblance to Abraham Lincoln. I couldn't say what his personality is like. The other characters are even more bland. This, despite plentiful details about each character's history. Their attributes read like biographical data. They don't come to life, though this may be more of a problem with the length of the excerpt. Perhaps they would be more individual later.

The writing was fine. I would certainly read more, but if I came across any more contrived, information-hiding plot tricks, I'd be very annoyed.

I started reading The Eden Proposition late one evening and could hardly put it down, finishing it two evenings later. Much like my previous favorite favorite novel, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, I found myself completely drawn in to the book's startling premise. It is riveting, thought provoking, and unique. Mr Dahl has a vivid imagination, combined with some very sophisticated knowledge of a variety of pursuits including bio-engineering, computer technology, telecommunications, the CDC, politics, medicine, northwest US geography, and sailing. These are combined to create a work that asks an "absurd and frightening question" that is both chilling and believable. This is a novel that needs to be published.

If you're a business traveler, this is the perfect way to survive a delay. You'll be completely absorbed and free of the usual irritations of bad air, bad food, and bad seats. Then again, the possibility of the premise, might make you want to keep your sanitary wipes handy.

Can't wait for the sequel!

Anger, intrigue, loathing, fear and finally, hope are all part of The Eden Proposition emotional roller coaster. This is typically not the genre of book that I would read but I have to say that if I had not read it, I would have missed something extraordinary. The scenarios brought to life by Mr. Dahl are both horrific and fascinating. The Eden Proposition brings to life the moral question, I can but does that mean I should? A perfect book for pure reading enjoyment as well as lively and emotional discussion. I loved it and cannot wait for the sequel.

I have read The Eden Proposition, and rather than repeat the high praises of the other reviewers (with which I enthusiastically agree), I thought I'd comment on the Publishers Weekly (PW) review I just read.

The PW review reads (to me) like it could have been written in my own early English literature college major days when I definitely did not fully understand the concept of genre and when I probably hadn't read the entire assignment. In other words, the PW review seriously misses the mark. Mr. Dahl wrote a thinkingperson's thriller, a plot-driven medical page-turner in the mold of Michael Crichton. I don't think he had any intention of being the next Cormac McCarthy.

Yes, I do read all of the thriller writers, Follet, Clancy, Ludlum, Crichton, etc. I assert without reservation that Mr. Dahl's work is at least as good as any of them - even better in several new and refreshing ways. I just flat out reject the notion that the characters in The Eden Proposition are not well developed - they are, as most of the other reviewers already have emphasized.

To me, the idea that the PW reviewer(s) became confused by the plot could be a strong indication that they speed-read or skimmed rather than read the book. The plot is indeed intricate, and full of twists, but it is not confusing, not if one actually reads the book.

I would urge whomever judges this contest to pay close and careful attention to the other reviews to date (as of 1/25/08). I agree with all of them. They tell the true story. And, there is one way to prove this - read the book!

Peter's The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook is a must have for everybody who has read the original The Fifth Discipline or are in anyways interested on building learning organization.

In short, the book itself contains useful real life examples and tips & tricks on building learning organization. It really opens new point of views to see and solve problems. It has helped me at work and at personal life, it is 'more than asked I for'.

I recommend this book for anybody.

It seems to me that The Fifth Discipline (the previous publication of the series) is more attacting to me. The second book can be more precise and concise in content. Generally speaking I still like these two books as a foreign reader.

The Fieldbook attempts at making the esoteric concepts of the fifth discipline more down to earth and contains a treasure trove of strategies, tools, methods and explanations on how to make the learning organization into a reality.

Thus people who have read The fifth discipline will gain the most from this book. It's a must read for people who want to make their organizations transition into a 'learning organization'

This book is a collection of theoretical summaries, reports, analyses, and strategies all quite useful to anyone interested in generating some thinking and action around change. The team of five writers (Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, and Art Kleiner) provide some original work, but also serve as editors to a vast quantity of material drawn from practitioners, theorists, and writers in the field of organizational improvement. According to Senge, "great teams are learning organizations - groups of people who, over time, enhance their capacity to create what they truly desire to create." (p.18) This book is really about creating and building great teams. The learning organization develops its ability to reflect on, discuss, question, and change its current and past practices. To do this, people and groups in the organization need to meaningfully pursue the study and practice of the five disciplines - personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking.

The learning organization - Senge's vision for the productive, competitive, and efficient institutions of the future - is in a continuous state of change. Four fundamental questions continuously serve to check and guide a group's learning and improvement (see page 49): (1) Do you continuously test your experiences? ("Are you willing to examine and challenge your sacred cows - not just during crises, but in good times?") (2) Are you producing knowledge? ("Knowledge, in this case, means the capacity for effective action.") (3) Is knowledge shared? ("Is it accessible to all of the organization's members?") (4) Is the learning relevant? ("Is this learning aimed at the organization's core purpose?") If these questions represent the organization's compass, the five disciplines are its map.

Each of the five disciplines is explained, and elaborated in its own lengthy section of the book. In the section on "Systems Thinking" (a set of practices and perspectives, which views all aspects of life as inter-related and playing a role in some larger system), the authors build on the idea of feedback loops (reinforcing and balancing) and introduce five systems archetypes. They are: "fixes that backfire", "limits to growth", "shifting the burden", "tragedy of the commons", and "accidental adversaries". In the section on "Personal Mastery", the authors argue that learning starts with each person. For organizations to learn and improve, people within the organization (perhaps starting with its core leadership) must learn to reflect on and become aware of their own core beliefs and visions. In "Mental Models", the authors argue that learning organizations need to explore the assumptions and attitudes, which guide their institutional directions, practices, and strategies. Articles on scenario planning, the ladder of inference, the left-hand column, and balancing inquiry and advocacy offer practical strategies to investigate our personal mental models as well as those of others in the organization. In "Shared Vision", the authors make the case for the stakeholders of an organization to continually adapt their vision ("an image of a desired future"), values ("how we get to travel to where we want to go"), purpose ("what the organization is here to do"), and goals ("milestones we expect to reach before too long"). The section offers many strategies and perspectives on how to move an organization toward continuous reflection. In "Team Learning", the authors rely mostly on the work of William Isaacs and others, and make a case for educating organization members in the processes and skills of dialogue and skillful discussion.

This book is enlightening and informative. It has already found a place on my shelf for essential reference books.

Peter M Serge, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook

To quote the first few paragraphs at beginning of book:

Among the tribes of northen Natal in South Africa, the most common greeting, equivalent to "hello" in English, is the expression: Sawu bona. It literally means, "I see you." If you are a member of the tribe, you might reply by saying Sikhona, "I am here." The order of the exchange is important: until you see me, I do not exist. It's as if, when you see me bring me into existence.

This meaning, implicit in the language, is part of the spirit of ubuntu, a frame of mind prevalent among native people in Africa below the Sahara. The word ubuntu stems from the folk saying Umuntu ngumuntu nagabantu, which from Zulu, literally translates as: "A person is a person because of other people."


"I bow in honor and reverence that place within you where to the Universe resides, when you are in that place within you, and I am in that place within me, there is One." ~namaste


The five disciplines are at the CORE of a Learning Organization

1) Personal Mastery: expand your personal capacity and ability

2) Mental Models: see how our internal pictures of the world shape action and decision

3) Shared Vision: group commitment

4) Team Learning: group ability is greater than the sum of individual talents

5) System Thinking:


"When we try to bring about change in our societies, we are treated first with indifference, then with ridicule, then with abuse and then with oppression. And finally, the greatest challenge is thrown at us: We are treated with respect. This is the most dangerous stage." --A. T. Ariyaratne (Speech made at International Community Leadership Summit, Winrock, Arkansas, March 1983. This quote paraphrases and expands upon a well-known statement made by Mahatma Gandhi in his book Satyagraha in South Africa, 1982, 1979, Canon, Me.: Greenleaf books)


"An [organization] is not a machine but a living organism." --Ikujiro Nonaka /****
Fundamentals of epistemology: what is knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and what constitutes learning.
understanding is achieved after internalization.
Without experience, we cannot truly understand.
Internalization: transformation from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge, habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves.
Innovation is a process to capture, create, leverage, and retain knowledge.
What is your belief? A belief about images of the world - you may call it a mental model - is a very subjective thing

information is the flow of a message, while knowledge is created by accumulating information. Thus, information is a necessary medium or material for eliciting and constructing knowledge.

The second difference is that information is something passive. When we switch on a TV set, information comes regardless of my commitment. But knowledge comes from my belief, so it's more proactive.

And the organizational knowledge or intellectual infrastructure of an organization encourages its individual members to develop new knowledge through new experiences.

This dynamic process is the key to organizational knowledge creation - that is, socialization (from individual tacit knowledge to group tacit knowledge), externalization (from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge), combination (from separate explicit knowledge to systemic explicit knowledge), and internalization (from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge) [...].

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Three Guiding Ideas

1) The Whole. When you are pointing a finger at the problems, notice how many fingers are pointing back at you. If you fixed the symptoms and ignore the root causes, the problems have not gone away. Another way to look at this is treat the person, not the disease. Of course treat the disease if the patient is dying, but know that the patient will get sick again because the "root causes" are stil there.

2) Community. The self is "a point of view." "The essence of being a person is being in a relationship [with] other people." You will not believe this, but each person before you is there for a reason. The reason this person is there at this moment is for you to learn something about yourself. If you ignore the person, do not ignore or forget the lesson.

3) Language. The map is not the territory. We cannot contain every bit of information that comes to us in the world, so we have to create a "map of the territory" and then refer to the map for our information. By changing a person's map, we change their reality. Language is the map, not the reality.

this book is a great heartfelt story about a teebage girl who feels like she is less than what the world hopes for. Jess, the main character of this novel, is theaverage girl who has always felt like she isnt enough. she is best friends with the prettiest girl in school and has a crush on her seemingly perfect match. This story brings to life the precarious uncertainty of teenagerhood end the decisions made inthat time. it is a wonderfuk book and expresses the trial and error that lfe is.

The book Girl 15, Charming But Insane is an amazing book about the life of an 15 year old girl going through many problems teens do today. Jess(the main character) is faced with many problems, such as boy problems, family problems, and friend problems. Next to her best friend Flora; "the goddess" as Jess calls her, Jess obsesses over finding many things wrong with herself. When things could not get any worse, Jess' grandmother comes to move in with her. Jess still tries to focus on trying to get her "eye candy" Ben Jones and trying to start a new band.

What i liked about the book is that it was easy to relate to and gives great advice. Also, before every chapter started, it gave a funny horoscope for the sign virgo. One of them is "You will realize that the laundry basket is possessed by the devil". I think these were fun to read. This book is manly targeted toward 14-15 year old girls, but anyone can enjoy and relate to Jess' decisions and problems she faces everyday.

I absolutely loved this book. I read it until 4:00 a.m.

Think of it more as a comic book (well, it's not) rather than a piece of literature. You will laugh through it and certainly enjoy it a lot.

That's excatly how the book was. A great read, and very real. I had a great time reading this book, and at one part, was nearly dying of laughter! (The part where Jess goes to the band's rehearsal). A Fabulous book recommended for everyone.

This is one of the funniest books I have read in a long time. It's full of laugh-out-loud humour...yes, I was actually laughing out loud!

The story is about Jess, a budding comedienne who has been trying without success to gain the affection of her long-time crush, Ben. Unfortunately, she is constantly being overshadowed by her "perfect" friend Flora. As a result, she'll go to any lengths to get his attention, including stuffing her bra with minestrone soup-filled bags! The result is a whole lot of craziness and laughs.

This book is definitely insane and charming. While some of the events seem a little too crazy to be real, you will definitely get a kick out of reading about them.

The book delivers on its promise to help you with grammar with humor & fun.

Do you need to write a report or memo and don't want to look like a semi-literate goon in front of your boss or client? Get yourself this book. It does exactly what it claims to do: it offers you quick and dirty answers to your most vexing questions. It is not Lapsing into a Comma or Eats, Shoots and Leaves so if you're looking for long but elegantly phrased explanations you are not going to find it here. The author has given the reader a neat, well written tool for home or work and it's all you really need for correspondence that has to be right the first time.

This is a very useful book. She often includes great explanations that help me remember which word is correct.

quick, easy to use and amusing. even if you think you are a grammar girl yourself, you can pick up some good tips for remembering correct grammar, punctuation, etc.

This book is useful, witty, and concise--it will help you make your writing clearer and more effective.

This book is wonderful! The plot twists are fantastic and keep the reader entranced throughout the whole book. It never slows down which makes for a great book!!

This is the perfect type of story! it is filled with secerts,romance, hate, love, and mystery. I read it in two days and couldnt wait to finish each chapter to solve a piece of the mystery. This book kept me guessing up until the last chapter about who Gabe was. I am looking forward to reading more books by this author and also watching the movie that was made for this story.

I have read all the reviews and while I found this book to be interesting, it took awhile for me to get into the story. I did like how the author went from one characters story to the next. It took a long time to find out the main character Eliza's secret and then the book seemed to rush to the finish. Historically I am sure the book is accurate, but it did not seem like the depression years really affected the family. I also think there needed to be more of a romance between Gabe and Eliza. It was well written and worth reading, but it is a little slow at times and not Ms. Austin's best work.

The title first caught my attention as a TV Movie, that seemed like a nice, romantic story, along with plenty of struggles for characters of its historical time, and included Christian inspiration. In my search for the book - which I knew had to be better than the movie - I was happy to find out that Lynn Austin is an author of so many historical, Christian novels. I am close to the end of Hidden Places, and don't want to put it down. I can't decide who my favorite character is: Aunt Batty, Walter, Gabe, or Eliza. This book is full of struggles and hope. It shows how the characters keep their Faith in those difficulties of life.

I recently bought another one of Lynn Austin's titles. I love her style of historical, Christian fiction. I am hooked on Lynn Austin! Keep on writing! We're waiting for more!

This book was made into a Hallmark movie. The movie does not do this book justice. The book is much better and tells you things that are left out of the movie. The book is more in depth on the character relationships than the movie and gives you character background information. Excellent Read!