X Books

This is a great book and highly recommended for anyone interested in marketing or in Generation X and Y and how they view the world. The book is also full of interesting companies that have successfully marketed to these generations that I hadn't heard of before :)

I actually saw Lisa speak at a Ladies Who Launch Live event and thought she was dynamic. I immediately bought her book but did not read until recently. I have gone back through and reread several chapters. This book has some great information on marketing. Lisa does not just tell you to do this or that she gives real stories of companies and what they did for marketing that worked. I think this book really hits the target.

This great book is a fecund breeding ground for your innovative ideas. Find out what underlies the 10 cravings of the connected generation, why these things are important and how to maximise your use of them. Understand the new consumer and their environment and they will reward your business by.... building your business!

If you need to understand how young people make purchasing decisions, this book will put you way ahead of the competition. Even my young, technically savvy friends have learned new things from reading this book.

I loved this book, it is one of the best that I've read this year.

This is an important book because it gives you a clear, step by step roadmap for influencing and persuading one of the most fickle (and over marketed) consumer groups of our era, those consumers between 18 - 40.

The author goes into exacting detail about how this market consumes information and how you can create messages that resonate with them and stick. She also tells you what doesn't work (I cringed several times as I recognized mistakes that I made).

If you are in this age range you'll find this book one of the most refreshing you've ever read because it will describe you and how you consume information (I know it did for me) and it will help you make the transition between the kind of marketer you are today and one that can be even more effective.

This book is a guidebook, a roadmap and a manifesto. Grab this book today, even if your market it older, one of the things that the author didn't cover is how much more like 18 - 40 year olds older generations are becoming in their consumption of information and their resistance to advertising. Most of the information in this book applies to anyone who is active in today's world regardless of their age.

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars.

Dave Lakhani
Author: Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want and The Power of an Hour: Business and Life Mastery in One Hour a Week

I couldn't put this book down. It features great characters (and a great love story), a fascinating setting, and wonderful food and drink. I've already recommended the novel to two book groups because Kimberly Kafka makes everything come alive in these pages. She knows a lot about sled dogs and restaurants and vineyards and migrant workers, and she puts it all together in an irresistible story. A terrific book! Can't wait for her next one.

I got the chance to meet the author at a reading in Oak Park, IL...she was awesome. I could not set the book down. I am using this as me book club selection of the month. Everyone should read this wonderful, moving book.

I am drawn to books that blend a sense of place (environmental and/or social) along with rich relationships and colorful people (and animals). Katfka's writing bought me into such a place in the Oregon Vineyards on a vacation, and I did not want to leave. I knew nothing about the winemaking process, and now feel a sense of what it must be like. This book makes me want to go buy a bottle of Oregon wine and visit a winery! A combination of excellent writing, imagery, and character development, I was disappointed when the book ended. I have interests in multiple areas and I think that is one reason this book appeals to me - organic wine growing, immigrant issues, cooking, iditarid, etc. I want to meet the characters and have a good discussion over a platter of goat cheese and fruit!!

Kimberly Kafka's new novel is so well woven. If you like close friendships, canine friendships, the workings of vineyards including some of the migrants' problems who work them and the trials of a good crop of both grapes and children you'll thoroughly enjoy this in-depth look at the above and more. I wouldn't spoil this great read by giving away too much of the clever plot. I've bought many extra copies to share with friends and family.

We are first introduced to Miranda Perry, a young woman with a 6 year old son, who has all ready tasted the agony life can bring when she suffered the death of her husband before the birth of her son. Her life is about to change once more.
Miranda has worked hard to make her way in the world of culinary in San Francisco. Close now to owning her own restaurant, again life gets in the way as her father dies and she must return to Oregon and face the prospects of what to do with his winery, and the beautiful vineyards that have been in her family for years. She has worked hard at her new life in San Francisco, yet her heart seems to be drawing her to her heritage.
We are also introduced to her friend Bridie, a fiery young woman , independent and strong in the beginning, but soon becoming dependent, despondent and discouraged after a terrible sled-dog accident.
As fate would have it, these two women are drawn together at Miranda's fathers home where they must face the changes that life has given to them.
The book has many facets to it that I found very good. One was the rich characters and their true life struggles against immense odds. I love how the author showed the raw emotions in each one. She also added some slices of romance to a couple that you did not think would ever taste of it. Very good.
Ms. Kafka brought to life the world of wine making and the problems they face; I found that to be very interesting and I love the way she added the often hard living that the migrant workers endure day to day.
This was a great read. Life's battles played out and raw emotions dealt with all wrapped up in a very good storyline. I recommend this book; I believe you will truly enjoy this read.
Shirley Johnson

wonderfully wonderful in the totality of evolutionality of variablistic monostereotypism

it waz amazing, it changed my life. other bioz didn't do it for me, but here autobio touched right here. after i read it i went out and changed my foolish wayz. No more gangz for me and no mo' shootin'. Now thez dayz I give all my billz to the poor and try to share the book of nadia to all my pepz

I LOVE this book. I am probably Nadia's biggest fan! It gave me inspiration as a gymnast and as a person. It is a real treat because it is from Nadia's viewpoint. There is also a movie based on her book, called " Nadia". I am currently looking for my own copy of this book and movie. They were great!

I've got 34 books on Nadia cause I'm a gymnast myself and I chose to read about her cause shes by far the best!And this book was the first I read about her and I got more Info and excitement out of this book than any of my Nadia books!!!I loved it!i recommend it for someone writing a report and is a fan!

I owned a copy of this book since 1981, right after it was release in England, and until today, this inspiration book placed the most unique place in my heart.

Many people has found the movie 'Nadia' inspiration, but none can compare to this book, more closer to the real Nadia's own story. This book told you the courage and brave and clever little girl who went through the most important growth time of her life. Her thoughts, her struggles, her love and total dedication for her sports were so unique, which made Nadia Comaneci until today an unreplaceable icon in gymnastics. She is the person who was selected to be the Greatest Gymnast and one of the greatest athlete in 20th Century.

After 26 years of her innovative Comaneci Salto in bars event, was rated as the ultimate most difficult movement in the year 2001 Gymnastics New Code Of Point. Today, only a number of gymnasts got to do it, and we can see that how advance technically she was of not only her time but today as well. Her 14 years old of winning the Montreal Olympics All Around title, with the world first perfect ten that even the electronic scoreboard was not ready for it. Her 3 consecutive European All round title, through her physical growing period is a record until today no one came close. Her dedication to technical superiority and artistics expression in gymnstics, that set a new trend in modern gymnastics until today. She held records that are not able to be written off, and influent in the sports beyond imaginations.

Yet, beyond all the glories and fames, you can find this book, the most honest, caring and humble nature that made this lady to be unique of all. You will find her consistant to her words until today. You can find her present involvement in gymnastics, charities and youth motivation came from thoughts years ago. Her words in the book live up to the expectation of the real person she is today. Her words in this book will keep you inspire and aim for the impossible, I am one of the person who truly inspired by her words in the book. I would like to expressed that it is a book that you must have and share with others who wanted to be motivated.

Best Wishes.

Celebrity photographer Michael Grecco's "Naked Ambition: An R-Rated Look at an X-Rated Industry," provides an intimate behind-the-scenes look at the Porn Industry during the annual AVN Awards Show. Eschewing the obvious clichés, Grecco lends a fresh eye to porn's answer to the Oscars. He captures not only the red-carpet pageantry, but also the side not seen by the public of performers bold, brash and yet often insecure. A fine addition to any photography or fine-art book collection.

The this is the new porn as high art tome in a limited edition hardcover Naked Ambition: An R-rated Look at an X-rated Industry like anything else wonderfully perverse, comes in a opaque wrapper, but not just any commercial disposable casing, but a pink and black corset velcro waist cincher over a sumptuous black art box with a pink suede lining. Clean type and artistic groupings of layouts are designed by the fabulous DJ Stout, forwards by Dave Navarro and Lonn Friend, but nevermind the aesthetics of content... Oh-la-la, here is a pink taco for my hot taco!

Here are the deep name banded money slots of Pornoland: caught as they truly are, and not always as they hoped to be. The fast lens dissects out the guts of these true extreme sports heros with brutally honest precision and surprisingly presents them as more than the sum of their relevant parts. Couples, fans, lingerie, toys and all the wonderfully freaky lewd, tattooed, pre/post-ops and transgendered tribe of Porn, shown with an eternal inner fire of intensity, are documented as a slice of high art culture, and kept safe in the secure sexxxy box.

I got a copy at one of the book signings on Mr. Grecco's international tour, and now my friends and neighbors won't let me be alone with it for very long. Its spine has been flexed and its pages well thumbed. It occurs to me now, since most of loved ones my Santa's list are on a diet why should I not feed them a smorgasboard of color? Money can't buy you love but art shows that you really care, and the dead on journalistic quotes are not only refreshing but endearing!

So I decided to get one Naked Ambition: An R-rated Look at an X-rated Industry for my mother so she can take a break from her doctoral studies and one for my agent, who could use some more vivid art color in his life. This is the coffee table book that will kick the ass of any other coffee table book in your collection. Go buy it before it sells out. Word.

Michael Grecco's "Naked Ambition"-An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry
is a delight on many levels. This book takes an unconventional subject and gives it real topspin and a sumptuous style. One would assume this would be a near impossible task considering the subject (Porn)...but Grecco is a rare grand master photographer with so much personal style and such a creative eye-he devours the outlandish in a Fellini-ish fervor.

The result is an avalanche of color and gritty style. Grecco pulls you inside a world unlike any other. More tantalizing than raunchy, Grecco's photos humanize and celebrate this fringe civilization-exposing a seductive tribe from the outer edges of modern society.

Awash in a blizzard of primary colors and avant-garde choices--Grecco's unfailing creative instincts deliver photography nothing short of awe inspiring. He renders the quirky approachable- he elevates the eccentric
to artful. The large format and high quality printing draw you ever closer-the images revealing a sophistication bordering on pure opulence.

Pop star Dave Navarro and Porns High Priest Larry Flynt contribute commentary to Grecco's grandiose vision.

Decadent and Edgy -this book is the ideal study for the intelligent admirer of erotica. Resistance dissolves beyond guilty pleasure into an intimate experience at the hands of a creative soul who respects both subject and reader with equal aplomb. Boldly stylized with just enough spice to keep it dangerous and flavorful...you ultimately feel quite comfortable taking this walk on the wild side with a talented guide who is shrewd and discriminating.

5 stars!!!

To start out with, there are more famous people embossed between the pages of "Naked Ambition" than a Lakers game on a Friday night; Larry Flynt weighs in with some words; Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson stand in front of the lens unabashed and unscripted; names you don't know but your nephew does bridge the generation gap. A world that appears more circus than business becomes unveiled through every turn of the page. Michael Grecco looks into the world of porn and commercial accomplishment with an unerring eye that brings the reader into a place once reserved for pimps, men in trench coats, and dollar peep shows.

Grecco approaches the subterranean world of the adult film awards as any person interested in preserving culture on film; porn stars to pagodas. Photos trace the entire spectrum of humanity represented by these counterculture pop-stars through candid close-ups and captions that only a professional of the highest caliber would be able to record. Along with the stars the men and women behind the scenes get a chance to give face to the names they've been putting up on the screen for so many years; directors to producers; assistants to fluffers; middle name and the street they live on (or pet's name depending on what rules you learned at ten years old).

After bearing down upwards of thirteen-thousand photographs Michael Grecco along with the legendary Larry Flynt and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Dave Navaro document the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas through 224 pages of an R-rated, X-themed extravaganza. You know your coffee table is less interesting without it.

Review originally published in the Hipster Book Club, March 2008.

Michael Grecco's gigantically oversized tome represents the culmination of a five-year journey to document the bodies, chaos, and richness of character at the Adult Video News Awards Show, held annually in Las Vegas and charmingly referred to as the "porn Oscars." Naked Ambition is a pop culture art book that the author doesn't want relegated to a low bookshelf in the photography section.

Grecco, whose background is in both photojournalism and portraiture, normally works with the corporate machine of celebrity culture. In this book, he relishes photographing unguarded subjects who appear un-retouched in the well-composed, oversized images. The photographer's lens gazes directly into the eyes of his models, capturing them as complex artists, not sleaze robots. Grecco's subjects are fully clothed and posed in a decidedly non-provocative manner. The outfits are outrageous and the make-up is thick, but Grecco never allows his subjects to titillate the camera. He captures joyous laughter, moments of pensive thought, and direct, unflinching stares from the myriad of artists with whom he worked.

The author assigned snarky titles to each model to reflect his or her niche in the industry. Grecco's first portraiture subject is Larry Flynt, contributor of one of the book's two introductions. After a regal portrait of the publishing magnate in his wheelchair, the reader meets the biggest star of the modern era, Jenna Jameson ("The Queen"), photographed with a male assistant attending to her magenta floor-length ball gown. Highly paid stars Ron Jeremy ("The Jester"), Brittney Skye ("The Independent"), Jessica Drake ("The Hostess"), and Peter North ("The Fountain") make appearances early in the book.

Although the book opens with some of the biggest household names, the subjects of Naked Ambition are not limited to mainstream contract video stars. Grecco raises the stakes by featuring alternative stars like Joanna Angel, who produced a zombie movie homage called Repenetrator; six-foot-five runway model Alexis Skye, who is paid to hawk products in skintight latex and heels which raise her height to seven feet; and handicapped on- and off-screen couple Diablo and Kitten. Brash freelance artist Michelle Aston is photographed twice in artistic nudes which display her full-body tattoo art and shaved head. Over half a dozen transsexual performers are featured, including drag queen/filmmaker Chi Chi LaRue, who was an early activist for condom use in adult films and appears both in drag and au naturel in Grecco's portrait spread.

More than just a photography book, Naked Ambition is chock-full of insider info, biographical information, and quotes from performers from all walks of life. While Grecco was on a mission to gather the most dizzying array of Fellini-esque pageantry, editors Lonn Friend and Rob Hill were tasked with exploring the subjects as artists. The reader gets to meet a trio of Christian evangelist adult performers, a sister-sister team, and even two performers filmed with their mothers by their sides, all of whom discuss their backgrounds at length. Of course, the reader is also invited to gawk at the lushly photographed tools of the trade, from fake eyelashes to footwear worthy of design awards and Lucite objets d'art.

Michael Grecco has produced a stunningly intimate yet never explicit portrait of the world's most outrageous industry. By taking the focus off pornography and sex, he has forced performers to stop performing for a moment, to let their humanity be captured on film.

Paw Valley is one of the best books I've ever read! I can't wait for the next book so we can find out what happens to Sprinkle. I hope every kid in the world gets to read this book!

I am an adult, but I loved this fun book. Getting lost in the fantasy world of Paw Valley was great. I think kids of all ages would love pretending to be part of Paw Valley's intrigue and excitement.

I read this book to my five-year-old son and he loved it from start to finish. I really enjoyed reading the creative storyline and about the wonderfully imaginative "paw valley." We will be looking for Joanne's next book.

A captivating tale of good and evil. A facinating read for all ages. A welcome addition to our family library. Loooking forward to reading about the future in Paw Valley.

I read this book the first day I got it. I loved every second that I spent reading it. If you are looking for a book to read to your children or just to read a good fantisy book this is the book to buy. I read a lot of good books that aren't ment for my age group because supposeble the words are too hard. I don't usually like books for my age group but this is one of the few exeptions to my rule. I loved it

While at first I thought O'Reilly's new "developer's notebook" series seemed a bit hokey, this book is extremely useful. It's concise and to the point, but full of good examples and information. A plus of the small size is that it's more to-the-point and cheaper than a typical O'Reilly book (which very often seem to ramble on and on about marginally useful information, seemingly in order to justify their $45+ price tags).

This book is the one that should have been written for Java Media Framework, if only that API had ever lived up to its expectations. If you want to add media to your application, and you are using Java, Quicktime is your best bet. However, note that if the Quicktime for Java API doesn't seem very Java-like or object-oriented at first glance, then that's probably because it's not. That is because with Quicktime for Java you are not working with pure Java. Instead, you're invoking a flat C API to create and manipulate C or Pascal data structures using a thin Java wrapper. If you can live with that and you still want to use Quicktime for Java, this book is the essential guide and tutorial you need to get up and running. The book does not waste your time with API printouts or a Java programming language tutorial. Instead, like all books in the Developer's Notebook series, it gets down to business quickly by demonstrating working Java code for a number of useful tasks when working with media.

First, it tutors you on how to set up Quicktime for Java on a Windows machine. This task is more complex than you would think, and this book hits the mark on the subject. Next, it shows you how to play movies and audio files from your Java program. Next, the book tackles the editing of movies from a Java application. This includes topics such as cutting, pasting, going to specific frames of a movie, and "flattening" a movie. In Chapter four, the programmer is introduced to working with Java components and importing and exporting graphics. In chapter five, the user is introduced to working with QuickDraw, the Apple-originated drawing API. This is essential, since QuickDraw is what is used to work with captured images. Thus in this chapter the reader is taught how to transfer data between images and a movie. Next, the art of capturing both video and audio is explored, including capturing audio and video to the same file. The chapter is rounded out with the code for a motion detector. Chapter seven is devoted entirely to audio media. There are particularly timely topics here, such as how to read information from MP3 and from iTunes AAC files, how to provide basic audio controls, and how to build an audio track from raw samples. Similar information is provided in a separate chapter for information specific to video media.The final chapter discusses the effects available in Quicktime for Java, as well as how to add text captions and timecodes to your media.

All in all, I think the Developer Notebook format works well for this subject. At the beginning of each chapter there is an outline of the topics to be covered. For each topic there is a "How Do I Do That?" section that includes a short piece of Java code that performs the specified task. There is also a sample of the output you would expect to see on the screen that should result from executing the code. Next there is a paragraph entitled "What Just Happened?" that explains the code just shown, and finally each topic usually ends with a "What about.." section that answers common questions you may have about extending the code just shown. All code in the book can be downloaded from the book's website at O'Reilly and Associates.

This book is essential reading for anybody who needs to understand how to code with Quicktime for Java, and it is far better than any other publication on the subject that I have encountered. Amazon does not show the table of contents for this book, so I do so for the purpose of completeness:
Chapter 1. GETTING UP AND RUNNING WITH QUICKTIME FOR JAVA
Setting Up QTJ on Windows
Embedding QuickTime in HTML
Preflighting a QTJ Installation
Compiling QTJ Code
Opening and Closing the QuickTime Session
Playing an Audio File from the Command Line
Chapter 2. PLAYING MOVIES
Building a Simple Movie Player
Adding a Controller
Getting a Movie-Playing JComponent
Controlling a Movie Programmatically
Showing a Movie's Current Time
Listening for Movie State-Changes
Moving Frame by Frame
Playing Movies from URLs
Preventing "Tasking" Problems
Chapter 3. EDITING MOVIES
Copying and Pasting
Performing "Low-Level" Edits
Undoing an Edit
Undoing and Redoing Multiple Edits
Saving a Movie to a File
Flattening a Movie
Saving a Movie with Dependencies
Editing Tracks
Chapter 4. WORKING WITH COMPONENTS
Specifying a Component's Type
Exporting Movies
Exporting Movies to Any Installed Format
Importing and Exporting Graphics
Discovering All Installed Components
Chapter 5. WORKING WITH QUICKDRAW
Getting and Saving Picts
Getting a Pict from a Movie
Converting a Movie Image to a Java Image
A Better Movie-to-Java Image Converter
Drawing with Graphics Primitives
Getting a Screen Capture
Matrix-Based Drawing
Compositing Graphics
Chapter 6. CAPTURE
Capturing and Previewing Audio
Selecting Audio Inputs
Capturing Audio to Disk
Capturing Video to Disk
Capturing Audio and Video to the Same File
Making a Motion Detector
Chapter 7. AUDIO MEDIA
Reading Information from MP3 Files
Reading Information from iTunes AAC Files
Providing Basic Audio Controls
Providing a Level Meter
Building an Audio Track from Raw Samples
Chapter 8. VIDEO MEDIA
Combining Video Tracks
Overlaying Video Tracks
Building a Video Track from Raw Samples
Chapter 9. MISCELLANEOUS MEDIA
Creating Captions with Text Media
Creating Links with HREF Tracks
Adding Timecodes
Creating Zero-Source Effects
Creating One-Source Effects (Filters)
Creating Two-Source Effects (Transitions)

This book is great!

This notebook makes all the QuickTime supported formats available to a Java developer. Like all the books in the notebook series, plenty of code, plenty of information to get up and running.

I really liked the information on reading the tag info from MP3s and AAC files, very useful.

Multimedia and Java made simple.

With this type of walkthrough book I usually expect to see just the basic features of the technology explored. This book goes surprisingly in-depth, covering topics like adding effects to playback, transforming movies during playback, overlays, and a wide variety of topics.

All that is crammed into a trim 200 page frame. This is achieved by concentrating mainly on the code, and effectively using a minimum of images. That's a trick given the graphics intensive nature of the topic.

This is not a book for beginners, it's a fast-paced walkthrough for experience developers who want something less referential than the JavaDocs.

With Apple changing QuickTime for Java so anything you made when
use QTJava under MacOSX Java1.3 no longer worked under Java1.4 these required changes to most of your older QTJava code- if you wanted to have your code now run under Java1.4. Apple also moved classes to a new packages so to make the developers nightmare complete. BUT DONT WORRY! This book will show you workarounds for them missing classes (sequence grabbing is back! what a gem). Also covers all your needs as a new developer to the powers of QTJava. Time to make your very own QuickTime player in a few hours! You won't believe the stuff QuickTime can do under the hood. This books covers just more and more stuff as you go though it.

For me this QuickTime for Java book will be sitting next to the older most excellent book from Bill Stewart. I hope all books become as clear and well written as this one from Chris Adamson- top work. Sample code all over the shop; step by step stuff. Cuts to the tasks you will have to tackle without lengthy messing around. Brilliant buy if you want to do cool hardcore design media in java. Or just play a nice sound track in the background of your killer application - maybe u want to make the next video editing studio app, or your own media player, or a streaming server, or a image editor, or or or; you want ta take a ride?

Then again don't buy it! I wont have a job to go to in the morning! :).

This was a wonderfully written book that will help anyone who is in charge of a sales force, from a retail store to a cafe to car sales. I am teaching Small Business classes, and this is a new "must read" for any sales manager. If you are currently a salesperson who wants to manage, read this book and sell the concept to your company!

SALES MANAGEMENT DEMYSTIFIED is a step-by-step how to book on sales management. This book is especially handy for a newly promoted sales manager. Each chapter has sub chapters pertaining to the overall topic. The author even includes examples of how to write a job description and what to look for in a resume or a candidate profile.
New sales managers need to know what to look for in applicants. This book offers all that needs to be included. The book covers more then just hiring employees, author Robert Calvin also covers topics for any situation you could encounter.
He covers selling tips, how to make an idea a successful habit, and future planning for the company. Overall, this book is a complete guide to successful sales management.

As a successful sales executive for a Fortune 500 company, I was glad a friend recommended this book.
Although I have been managing a large sales staff for years, I found the book enlightening and useful. It reminded me of some basic principles that are so important to good sales management as well as providing some new ideas that are easy to implement and very practical.

I now keep this book on my bookshelf for frequent reference. I often refer to the chapter on hiring for effect (Hiring the best; terminating the rest)as well as the chapters on Training for results and the one on motivating salespeople. In fact, I have used some of the techniques descibed in motivating salespeople with excellent results.

Consequently, I would definitely recommend this book even if you are a seasoned sales manager. It is an easy read and an excellent reference tool you can go back to time and time again.


Jon Rubin
New York

Finally, a book that tells the reader how to effectively implement proven methods of sales management.

This book gets to the point, quickly detailing how to make substantial improvements in sales force management.

This is a soup to nuts, down to earth, manual on how to:

Pick the right sales people,

Focus them on effective selling, and

Keep them motivated.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has and interest in boosting sales and getting the most out of every marketing dollar.

Jack Ahern
President
AhernConsutling - Financial Advisors to the Healthcare Industry

Sales Management Demystified leaves no stone unturned for both newly promoted and experienced sales managers. For the newly promoted sales manager, Calvin's book is a front-to-back, comprehensive self-teaching guide to creating, hiring, training, compensating, organizing, motivating and evaluating a sales force. The experienced sales manager will find this book to be an excellent resource and reality check for any task at hand, such as planning a sales meeting, restructuring a sales channel, or dealing with sudden, unexpected turnover in the sales force.

Whether reading this book front-to-back or using it as a resource to research a particular sales problem, sales managers will appreciate Calvin's conversational tone and reader-friendly formatting. I especially liked the way each chapter's subtopic got its own distinct subheading, which made it easy to pick up the book and quickly find a discussion of any sales management problem currently at hand.

If you are only going to read one sales force management book this year, I'd strongly recommend that it should be Sales Management Demystified.

Charles M. Cohon
President
Prime Devices Corporation

I stumbled upon this book at a CompUSA and have found it to be one of the the best basic but thorough overviews of OS X 10.2.x. I needed a book to give my users new to OS X. I wanted something to help them get used to the new inteface and features but I didn't want them overwhelmed by too much detail. This book fit perfectly. It uses text and illustrations very well and describes things clearly. Everyone who has used this book has gotten up to speed quickly and with little help from me. That's success!

I bought my 'new', used ibook on ebay and so have no manual. The guy was nice enough to send it with Jaguar installed though, so I popped over to amazon, and bought this little guide. I am up and running, with an updated ISP, browser (safari, free at apple), and cooking along with icons making sense and configurations configured, ALL because of this little book! Now I know I have to get one of those big heavy books for the Big Stuff, but I am good to go in the meantime.

I am a recent convert from the 'PC' world to the MAC world. I was looking for a book to get me into the MAC quickly and easily. I am very computer literate on the 'PC' but needed the translation into the Apple world. A friend of mine has praised Greg Simsic's books on Photoshop, so I knew this would probably be a good book to consider. I have been very happy with it. It is concise and clear and seems to point out all the things I need to know to become comfortable with the MAC. It is slim enough I can keep it in the bag with my G4 laptop-always ready for quick reference. There is a very thorough index and table of contents to get you to what you need to know. And the information is clear and to the point. It seems to cover all of the basic information for me to get around the OSX system and its applications. I cannot believe the reasonable price on this book. I don't think I have ever bought a computer book [this price]. What a bargain this book is ...

I've been using Mac computers for more than a decade, but I have to confess my first bootup of OSX was a jarring experience. Where'd my control panels go? What's the dock? Where are my files? For the first time ever, I decided to go out and buy a guidebook to a Macintosh product.

Which brought me to this guide to OS X Jaguar conducted by friendly natives Greg Simsic and Katy Bodenmiller. The entire Simsic/Bodenmiller series is a tonic for anyone who resents the condescension of that "For Dummies" series and its ilk; rather than treating its reader like a slow third-grader, Simsic and Bodenmiller get down to business without all the superciliousness that keeps all self-respecting Mac users far away from those little black and yellow Cliff-Note's-like books. At last, a software guide I don't have to be embarrassed to read in public.

With its learned, front-porch and down-home idiom, Start! takes the reader from startup to moviemaking with savvy tips for everything in between. The layout of the book is as clean, logical, and as easy to navigate as OSX itself. Perhaps the greatest achievement of this book is that Simsic and Bodenmiller are able to address two very different audiences-the die-hard Mac devotee just making the switch from OS9, as well as the newly PC-cured-without wasting the time of either. If Jaguar makes you pine for nine, get this book. You'll never look back.

Greg Simsic and Katy Bodenmiller have written the PERFECT beginner's guide to Mac OSX. I teach OSX classes to new Macintosh users (univ. faculty) and I've gone thru lots of OSX books and materials. This is by far the best I've seen. Simple, straightforward, immediately to-the-point. It's written with a clarity and understanding of new users that is hard to find in many of the intro-level books. Greg's books have always been among my favorites, and this ranks with the best.

Do you want to get more out of your team or run it more effectively - then this book is for you. As a trainer, I look for tools that can help me get more out of my employees and team members. This book is a great resource for any manager or HR person.

Great Book the author uses clear and Insightful examples to illustrate his ideas.

The author builds upon "Tools for Team Excellence," his previous work, this time focusing on leadership. He provides an advanced set of approaches and techniques for successful team leadership. This self-study book explores the central qualities of leadership in a team environment. It includes a toolbox for analyzing a team and methods to help a team help lead and build itself. The book is loaded with key points, extremely well written and organized, and offers many examples, 36 exercises, 21 highlighting tables, chapter summaries, and after-chapter reviews. A book that sparkles with substance.

This is a solidly written, clear and comprehensive guide to leading teams. Author Gregory E. Huszczo touches on almost every subject a team leader needs to know - what skills are necessary, how you develop them, how you build teams, what you do when conflict erupts and so on. This book is an excellent introduction to team building for someone newly assigned to a team. It also offers important advice for executives of companies that are considering a team approach to management. The style is clear and straightforward, but quite academic. The author cites research and evidence to back his assertions, but he does not provide much in the way of entertainment. We find that those who like to swallow their management lore straight from the bottle will savor this book; those who prefer to mix it with anecdotes may wish to imbibe elsewhere.

I had the opportunity to attend a class with Gregory Huszsco on building teams. I have to say that the class, as well as the book, was very informative and very well thought out. Those of us who are in teams, managing teams, or thinking of using teams in our organization all should read this. It should be required reading for management and all team members.

Narc by SX Meagher

Sargeant Randolph is intelligent, beautiful and a woman on the Chicago police force. And she's just been handed the biggest case of her career. One that could bring her Lieutenant bars - if - and it's a big if -if she brings in one of the most notorious drug lords in the city. The big question is - will she do whatever it takes to get the job done? Unbenownst to her, the drug lord has devised a test - a test that if she passes, they make the deal for drugs; if not, she feeds the fishes.

Narc Redux by SX Meagher

Detective Grady, narcotics officer and married to a police lieutenant working in the Commissioner's office, is undercover and, unbenownst to Sgt. Randolph working on the same case. Unexpectedly she is asked to perform a duty she has never in her life thought she'd have to do. Anxious to prove she is willing to "go the extra mile" she performs the task and waits for the repercussions. Will there be any? Only time will tell.

Quicksand by Blayne Cooper

Private detective Belinda Blaisdell has a case referred to her by a friend. Another PI who figures Belinda is exactly what the client is looking for - someone who can pass for younger than they are and is female. The assignment seems simple enough. Befriend and report back on their daugher Keilana, who is currently attending college. Even as she accepts the assignment Belinda can't help but question what has happened with their daughter to raise the parent's concern? And why hire a private investigator instead of confronting their daughter? Belinda arrives at the college where she soon discovers all is not as it seems. The question is - what will she do with what she learns?

Stolen Souls by KG MacGregor

Vonne Maglio is off on what appears to be a trip to a working ranch in the Midwest. Only when she arrives, she finds that no such place existed. Seemingly rescued from her dilema by a representative from a rival ranch, Vonne is "allowed" to fill a spot not taken by another client. However, not long after Vonne arrives, questions begin to arise. Things seem to be going on that no one but a selected few are allowed to know about. Why all the secrecy? What or who are they hiding? Can Vonne gain answers to her questions without raising suspicions and placing herself in danger? More importantly, can she solve the mystery before others begin to question what Vonne really came for?

Undercover Tales is a dynamic book of four tales by three extremely talented writers. SX Meagher, Blayne Cooper and KG MacGregor are all well known for their dynamic books. Blayne Cooper's previous pennings include the intriguing and suspense-filled solo works of Unbreakable, Castaway, The Last Train Home, Cobb Island, The Road to Glory, and Echoes from the Mist as well as co-authorship of the dynamic books Madam President and First Lady. KG MacGregor's talents are displayed in fun-filled, romantic and oftentimes-dramatic books, which include Mulligan, Shaken, Malicious Pursuit, and The House on Sandstone. SX Meagher's authoring of the intriguing book, I Found My Heart in San Francisco makes it a book that simply MUST be read! All three authors have stories in the sizzling book, Telltale Kisses with SX Meagher also scripting stories in the terrific books Infinite Pleasures and The Milk of Human Kindness.

If the cover of "Undercover Tales" doesn't have you scurrying to your nearest bookstore or on-line distributor to purchase a copy then what's between the sheets surely will. Blayne Cooper, KG MacGregor, and SX Meagher have compiled four detective stories that compliment each other. The well-written anthology is the result of three talented authors melding minds without mingling words. The clever format makes "Undercover Tales" stand out among other books of this type. I found it an exciting and sexy adventure that held my interest every step of the way.

Well written, good stories, fast reads, everything for the busy woman. Blayne Cooper's short stories delight, surprise, and often twist your emotions. Her POV is exceptional and every story is actually plausible at some level.

The stories in this collection showcase the versatility of three outstanding authors. Short stories, because of the length restriction, often seem lacking in character development. That isn't the case here. Because of the title and the cover, I had the initial impression that this was an erotica anthology. I soon found out that "undercover" refers to covert law enforcement/P.I. work, the common thread of all the stories. The other reviewers have said enough about the imaginative plots, but I think each author deserves additional recognition for giving us a story that could be considered atypical for her style.

I liked Blayne Coopers "Quicksand" the best. I've read most of her other books ("Echoes from the Mist" and "Cobb Island" being my favorites), but this one shows a character's critical self-evaluation, as well as a wry sense of humor, that doesn't appear in her other work.

KG MacGregor's "Stolen Souls" tells a story of strange happenings on the fringes of society. (Rose Beecham's "Grave Silence" is a novel-length work that deals with a similar type of weirdness.) The double-whammy of a morbidly fascinating topic and a unique treatment of it adds up to a winner.

Susan Meagher's "Narc/Narc Redux" is the most unusual of all. What is certainly a complete story at the beginning of the book gains a new dimension at the end. It's an effective approach. Again, the style is very different from her "San Francisco" series, and I loved seeing this other side to her writing.

For those not familiar with the authors, this book provides a good introduction. While the stories are a variation from their usual type of work, the reader can gain an appreciation for their skill.

Three diverse novellas linked by one theme 'all is not as it appears'.

I enjoyed all three excellent tales.

'Narc' is edge of your seat suspenseful and tremendously erotic.

'Quicksand' while it's premise is based on deceit is also rather sweet, has a wonderful finish and contains tremendous depth for being 100 plus pages.

'Stolen Souls' had a eerie feeling from the start and I had an apprehensive feeling the entire time I was reading - it is suspenseful and creepy and not to be missed.

Excellent writing all around and I look forward to more books from these authors. The only remaining question - which of the authors was the model for the book cover?