Industrial Books

The only thing I can say is I bought it for my 16 year old grandson and he said it is awesome.

If you read the first book this is an excellent followup to help you increase you understanding of how to build a robot of your own. If you did not a good place is start with the first book Robert Building for Begginers. These books help get you in the thought process needed to build decent robots wather small or big.

This review is by my ten year old Robot fanatic:

This book introduces the most common parts (in a beginner type robot) step by step by defining them properly. So far I have made a line following robot almost from scratch. This book sets you up with many different options. It starts with safety and where to obtain parts then moving on to introducing parts. After that you are shown how to setup a solder-less breadboard.

This book (and it's prequel, Robot Building for Beginners by the same author) is extraordinarily good. It picks up where the previous book (which is the best book in existence for the beginning roboticist, in my opinion) leaves off, getting into details of milling parts, microcontroller circuits, and such. A truly wonderful book. If you read the previous book, and then read this book, you will have an excellent grounding in robotics, and have a very entertaining time doing it. Highly recommended!

I am a novice robot builder. I appreciate the thoroughness and practical approach of this book. I have understood and implemented several circuit ideas from this excellent book.

Books like this are refreshingly down-to-earth after reading the usual college text books.

This impeccably reasearched and skillfully written analysis of the baby products industry is a "must read" for all--not only just parents and child care providers. As a collegiate professor, Department of Business and Management, University of Maryland University College, Europe, I've used it in classes to illustrate the principles of product liability, to raise business ethics issues, and to examine the machinery of federal regulation. Resulting discussions have lasted for hours, and rank among the most interesting that I've facilitated. Kudos to the author!

An intelligent and thorough analysis of an industry that has much to answer for in terms of business ethics. I highly recommend this book for parents, grandparents, and educators on all levels, particularly those teaching the intricacies of products liablility law and consumer {misinformation}. Felcher is an excellent writer and builds both compelling and heartbreaking arguments for legislative change. Don't miss this one.

American families trust that the products our babies use, from strollers to cribs to swings, will keep them safe. Unfortunately, we found out the truth in the most terrible way. Our beloved son Danny was the fifth baby to die in the Playskool Travel-Lite Portable Crib. When we discovered that it had been recalled five years earlier, our friend Marla Felcher embarked on a groundbreaking investigation of the juvenile product industry that led to this book.

Read "It's No Accident" and ask yourself, why aren't American manufacturers required to safety test most baby products before marketing them? How can they be allowed to set their own voluntary safety standards? Why don't most parents hear about the tens of millions of unsafe children's products recalled every year? What is the CPSC and why can't it effectively protect our children from disabling injuries and death?

"It's No Accident", which Marla dedicated to Danny's memory, shows that his death was a symptom of a fundamentally-flawed system. Read this book and warn your friends. Nothing will bring Danny back to life, but "It's No Accident" will prevent other, needless tragedies. It is the cornerstone of the next big consumer movement.

Linda Ginzel and Boaz Keysar Chicago, IL

Grandparents buy a large percentage of infant products. This book clearly outlines the products that could prove dangerous. I recommend this book as a must for all prospective grandparents before they take that trip to buy what they believe to be safe for their granchildren.

Do you think the government is protecting your children from unsafe products? If you believe this is so, THEN THINK AGAIN. Felcher does an admirable job pointing out the numerous flaws in the juvenile products industry and showing how your own young children could be at serious risk. For example, did you know that those popular bath seat rings actually contribute to bathtub drownings and that many, many popular juvenile products are recalled because they are dangerous without your knowing? You will be outraged after reading this book once you discover how little is being done to protect young children from dangerous products at the expense of corporate profit. This book is a must read for all parents of young children and would make a terrific baby shower gift.

I am both a photographer and a "train nut". This book is outstanding!

I'm not a railroad enthusiast per se, but I have to admit I was captivated by the photographic artwork of O. Winston Link. This book abounds with not only great photographs, but Mr. Link has definitely defined Americana of the 1950's through his photography. As a child of the 50's I can definitely relate to the steam locomotives, by the beautiful sounds they made not only at rest, but also by the rhythm of their wheels, and the melodic shrill of their whistles. O. Winston Link is without question one of the greatest photographers of our country, and his photography shows it. This is a great book, and I recommend it to anyone interested in a bygone era.

American steam railroading should go down in history as the most evocative and romantic aspect of the industrial age. Winston Link understood what was happening during the 1950s, and he took care of it. Times were changing, the cheapness of the airplane and automobile were replacing the steam railroad with its giant fire breathing behemoths--indeed the most 'human-like' machines, in my opinion. Link primarly photographed at night using indepedent flashbulbs and reflectors; this way he could control the lighting. This makes his images haunting, yet nastolgic and desirable.

My favorite shot in this book is titled "Highball for the Double Header", one of the last images Link photographed of the railroad, and one of the few in which he used color film at night. In it you witness his mastery for composition as well as symbolism: two articulated steam locomotives being given the all clear by a switchman's lantern, the man being dwarfed by the giant engines and their cloud of steam reaching far up into the night sky--all perfectly illuminated by Link's flashbulbs. A fitting end to Link's oeuvre.

Get this book, you won't be disappointed. Check out the new museum dedicated to his work in Roanoke: www.linkmuseum.org

O. Winston Link, in my opinion, was the best train photographer that ever lived. He knew where to aim the light, how much light to have, and the best places to take photos. Most of Link's photos are taken at night, which enhances view of the massive amount of pure white steam.

This book defines nostalgia more than clearly. Being a railroad and steam locomotive enthusiast myself, I dream about the living in pictures that Link took. In the book, Thomas Garver, one of Link's assistants, illustrates the sounds, details, and reasons for the trains being where they are in each photo.

The Norfolk & Western was the last major railroad in the U.S. to say "good-bye" to steam power. When Link heard of the inevitable decision, he immediately began to "document" the railroad as it was before steam was gone. From about 1955 to 1958, he spent countless hours taking thousands of photos of the steam engines on the N&W. "The Last Steam Railroad in America" brings out some of the best photos he ever took.

I like the photos in this book that pertain to the "Abingdon Branch" of the N&W. I used to live in Damascus, VA, a small town that was one of the major stops on this line. The railroad bed is now a bike trail and I have found every spot that Link stood at in order to take his photos of the Abingdon Branch.

I highly recommend "The Last Steam Railroad in America" to any train enthusiast, photographer, or anyone who has memories of a steam locomotive roaring by their home. It will always have a special place on my bookshelf.

While my major interest in photography has always been the early-20th-century Camera Pictorialists, I've always loved the photographs of the late Winston Link. With their tremendous detail and chiaroscuro, they have qualities few photos have - drama and mood. Link was actually trained as an engineer but made his living as an industrial photographer. Even his commercial photographs had a strong narrative drive; they told the story of his clients' products. Because of his tremendous mastery of technique, Link was able to compose photographs with great spatial depth, and through well-placed illumination, bring them off. Link was long interested in steam locomotives but when a commercial assignment brought him to Virginia, he began a five-year-long project to document the Norfolk and Western railroad, the last steam railroad in america. While he shot the trains of the N & W in daylight - in both black and white and color - it was his night scenes that made Link a cult favorite among photographers. To capture the tremendous size of the locomotives and their ever-present steam, Link carefully composed each shot, blocking in where the locomotive would arrive and placing syncronized flashbulbs along the track to capture a steam locomotive at full cry. Winston Link was an American original who answered to his own muse - the steam locomotive.

Much has been written about the late, great, Pennsylvania Station, and yet it can never be too much. This landmark should be standing today, with it's pink granite shinning in the sun, and being a becon in cloudy weather. In the 1960's, in many other cities their grand "Union Stations" were being sectioned off and abandonded, some are still standing as ruins today, this is part of the irony of Penn Station's demise, even in the 1960's there were hundreds of passenger trains using the facility daily, and this number has been climbing since.

The author gives us all the facts and figures about this station, from it's planning, short life, and needless destruction. However she also paints the human picture of this building, and in doing so lets us understand how the public allowed this building to slip away.

The opening of Penn Station was celebrated during the final years of the Gilded Age, acted as shelter to thousands during the Great Depression, and it served as a virtual military base during the WW II years.
To the multitudes of returning vets, and their famalies, the railroads and Penn Station represented the past, and times that they all would rather forget. Remember back then there was not the mental health counselling available to the returning soldiers, and one way they coped was to simply forget the past, and all that it contained.

In this book we see that the stations fate was sealed with VJ Day, and the social changes that started to take shape with WW II's end.
By the 1950's, Airplanes and Interstate Highways were in, Railroads were out. Yet at least in the NYC area, commuter trains still played an important role that never went away. The beautiful building was allowed to decay, and was altered by a private company without any accontability required to the public.

By the early 1960's some of the public finally woke up, and NYC's Landmark Preservation Committee was formed, by it was too late for the "Temple of Transportation".

This book also contains an excellent compliment of photos, including a number from the 4 year, yes, four year period it took to destroy the station.

Ken

Very good book which takes into account the historical background of why Penn Station was built in the first place right through to its destruction. A tragic loss not only for New Yorkers but for America and this book describes it well.

I was barely seven years old when old Penn Station was torn down, but I remember the sadness and outrage of my neighbors in Brooklyn. I had only been to the station once or twice but I was too young to remember. I didn't really understand the big fuss about its destruction. And after it was gone, I don't remember there being too much grieving.

Now looking back, through films and books, I understand what it was all about. "The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station" by Lorraine B. Diehl is the best book on the subject that I've come across. Her analysis of the rise and fall of McKim's great station is both awe-inspiring and heart-breaking. The smattering of beautiful photographs is a plus, as well. Penn Station's demise, of course, could be regarded solely as a loss for the city but, as Ms. Diehl explains, the real legacy of the destruction was the enormous preservation/conservation movement that followed. In the aftermath, so many other buildings were spared a similar fate.

There are those who say that the people behind Penn Station's demolition were justified (Ms. Diehl rightly avoids villifying anyone). The apologists for the destruction claim that Penn Station was too big, in the wrong place, and was in the red. The Empire State Building was erected ten blocks south of the midtown business area and three miles north of the Wall Street district. It was a very big building and rarely had over 50% occupancy until the 1950s, when it finally began earning money. Should it have been knocked down too?

Mr. Mark S. Jendrysik is from North Dakota. What in the world would he know or care about New York City? Judging by his past reviews, he is a big business apologist in a square state in the middle of nowhere.

A native New Yorker myself, I could not imagine my city without Grand Central, for instance, or SoHo, Central Park or the historic area of Chelsea and the West Village. Some things are worth preserving.

This book is facinating and so well written, I really could not put it down, the author has a real sence for the history and importance of the building, I agree it could have used more visuals, but that is a minor quibble and really does not take away from the merit of the book. I must take some exception to the review of Mr. Jendrysic, in all due respect he misses the point totally of perservation when he says the building was a white elephant that was in the wrong place and in the red, that may have all been true, but in those cases you find other uses for the building, like Paris did with the Orsay train station and the colossel Louvre as well as Versailles, I mean would you call for the pulling down of Versailles??? and the Orsey Museum is spectacular. This was not just any building, this was a masterpiece a true treasure, that could have been coverted to other uses, buildings of this quality should be persevered, period, not torn down like some 50's tract house. I highly recommend this book in everyway, if you have any interest in great buildings or just wonderful books quite frankly, then you will not be disappointed in this book, you are right about one think Mr. Jendrysic this book is first rate.

"Managing the design factory" provides an excellent set of practices which can improve your product development and optimize your product development on the dimension you want it to. It provided me with key insights and fresh ideas on how to think about product development.

The book consists of four parts. The first part is a general introduction to product development and clarifies some assumptions made in the rest of the book. The second part is a set of thinking tools for product development. The third part provides concrete practices, called action tools. The last part summerizes the rest of the book and suggests actions to take.

The thinking tools in the second part are key-insights in product development. The first thinking tool is to try to think of product development economically. This also provides four ways to optimize your product development: lowest expense, lowest unit cost, highest performance and shortest time. In the rest of the book Reinertsen uses these four optimizations to show how each action tool will need to be used differently. The second thinking tool is queueing theory. It provides a view of product development as a series of queues. Managing the product development queues becomes essential. The third thinking tool is information theory. What is the value of information and how to optimize for the value. The last thinking tool is systems theory. Think of whole product development as systems, look for feedback loops and look for assumptions behind your current thinking. The thinking tools were the most interesting part of the book (in my opinion) and I thoroughly enjoyed any of these chapters.

The actions tools in part three provide concrete things to do in your product development. This part will use the thinking tools provided in part two to explain the action and also explain how they are different in the different optimizations. The tools were clear and useful. The only criticism could be that there is some duplication between "Developing products in half the time", but that was expected. Also, the tools are just introduced in one chapter and most of them could have filled a book on its own.

Conclusion. "Managing the design factory" is an excellent book on product development and provides key-insights and tools for looking at product development. I would recommend it for anyone who is involved in product development.

If you're looking for a book to arm you with the latest buzzwords and easy answers, this is not for you. If you're looking for a useful framework for thinking about product design and tools for applying principles, this is an excellent buy. This book is clearly written, well-organized, and full of useful information.

Unlike many management books, it's not 20 pages of information stretched out to 200 pages in order to make a book. Also, unlike most product development books, this book is of great value not just to product managers and designers, but would be a great read for financial managers and marketing managers. A manufacturing manager reading this book will smile with satisfaction at seeing common modern manufacturing principles well applied to the design realm.

The only weak points I can think of are: 1) That it may be useful for the author to break out case studies rather than keeping them in the same typeface intermingled with the rest of the text. 2) No real advice is given on how to overcome real-world resistance to these ideas. Some sage advice on how to introduce these concepts and tools into organizations with existing biases and cultures could be a real benefit to practitioners. These are minor objections though.

Whether you're in a software start-up or part of a Fortune 500 company design team doing existing product improvement, this book contains useful information that will enhance your understanding of what you're doing right and what you could do better - and WHY!

I don't think they use the word agility once, but this book clearly enunciates all of the reasons that agile processes often show success, without prescribing a specific set of items to do. This book will enable managers of development teams to look at the product they're building, its impact on the business's bottom line, and make both long-term and daily decisions about how to run their team. Individual developers will also gain an understanding of how to better streamline processes -- for instance, people often think that introducing large processes to "prevent an error from happening again" is a good idea. However, this book will help you to learn why that can be bad; that it can introduce queues and actually result in a process slowdown, especially if it happens early in the development process and on the critical path.

I just can't say enough about this book; some other specific books on Agile software development are helpful to give you ideas of specific things to do, but this book is absolutely crucial to learn and use in your daily decision-making process.

I have never seen so much good advice about product development in one place. Applying concepts from manufacturing, finance, queuing theory and communications theory, Reinertsen proposes many ways in which we can design better processes for development.

For example, if we were to view the investment in design work as a depreciating asset, like work-in-process inventory in the factory, we would be able to make better decisions about time, manpower, and project delay tradeoffs.

Key concepts include: valuing design work based on its financial impact on the organization; learning as much as possible as early as possible in the development cycle; managing queues in the development process; creating specifications which are flexible for as long as possible, so that evolving customer requirements can be accommodated.

He clearly shows that we can optimize development work on only one of the following parameters: Product cost, product performance, speed of development, development expense. The approach for each one is different, and it is important to be clear which one is primary.

There is a wealth of useful and practical advice in this book. For example, here are some comments on testing:

"Too often testing is viewed as a necessary evil in the development process. It only exists because we make mistakes. If we made fewer mistakes, we would not need to do all this testing. We should spend our money on `designing in quality' instead of finding defects by testing. The result of such an attitude may be a test department that is under-resourced and under-managed. Unfortunately, by viewing testing as a problem, rather than an asset, we miss the opportunity to capitalize on the extraordinary improvements that can take place in product testing.
"Let us start by putting testing in perspective. The elapsed schedule time for product testing is typically 30 to 60 percent of overall development cycle length. This is not another minor activity, it is a major design activity. ... text results have inherently high information content. In fact, testing is usually the stage of design process that generates the greatest amount of information.... ...Most companies misunderstand the role of testing ... because they fail to distinguish between design testing and manufacturing testing. ... Manufacturing testing is done to identify defects in the manufacturing process. ... Design testing is done to generate information about the design. A good outcome is high information generation early in the design process. ... We want a failure rate close to 50 percent...." [pp 230-232]

I highly recommend this book to senior managers in product development, and their Marketing and Finance counterparts.

Reviewed by John Levy,
...

Managing the Design Factory; A Product Developer's Toolbox, by Donald G. Reinertsen, is an important book on how successful companies should develop new products. Many popular management books share some common themes such as; JIT, kanban, lean manufacturing, reducing WIP, quick turn times, low inventory. Unfortunately, the development process in most companies has been slow to apply these insights to their engineering and design practice. Reinertsen does a superb job of showing how this is done. The Design Factory exists for one purpose - the same as the manufacturing factory - to make a profit. The focus of the book is on tools, not rules and rituals. These are practical tools that account for varied situations. The information is presented in a form that an engineer can understand and appreciate, but without unnecessary difficulty. There are excellent sections on queue and information theory, and capacity utilization and batch size, and on eliminating useless controls. I agree completely with the `do it, try it, fix it' approach to development, and not being burdened with trying to make it right the first time. Every practicing design engineer should read this book.

Johnny Paycheck and Dolly Parton probably had the wrong manager.
The employees in the songs, "Take this Job and Shove It," and "Working 9-to-5" never had bosses who managed with aloha.
Rosa Say, former vice-president of operations for Hualalai Development Corp., proposes that Hawaii is optimally suited to lead the world in the pursuit of values-centered business, because we live with something good and right by its very nature: Aloha and all it embraces.
"When I became a manager I quickly figured out I couldn't keep aloha in the background," Say writes. "I had to pay better attention to it and welcome it into my management performance with open arms."
According to Say aloha worked wonders.
"I realized that aloha was a statement of personal truths for me, my own source to look inward to," Say wrote. "When I released it, aloha made my job easier and it made me more effective in delivering the results that were expected of me."
"Managing with Aloha" explores 19 different Hawaiian values, and in the tradition of Hawaiian culture expert Dr. George Kanahele, the book demonstrates how managers can bring these universal values into every kind of business practice today.
Say, founder of Say Leadership Coaching, draws on many examples of how she put these values into profitable practice in her own successful career as a manager, and she shares her common-sense approaches to blending the social and economic goals of business enterprise in ways that define a Hawaiian sensibility for the way we work.
"Rosa Say has authored a classic work in her application of a powerful set of Hawaiian values designed to produce material excellence in the workplace," said Peter Apo, director of the Hawaiian Hospitality Institute.
"After reading this book it will dawn on you that if you are not managing with aloha, you are underperforming."
"Managing With Aloha" explores such things as:
- How can you define the truly authentic culture-based values of your business?
- What is "sense of place" and why is it so important?
- Is aloha spirit something you train everyone in, or is it something you specifically hire for?
- What would the "mea hookipa" (service provider) of old Hawaii specifically teach us about the elements of good customer service?
- How can values bring a language of intention to your work environment?
- What can you do right now, today (keia manawa), and how can you be a great manager?
- What more must you learn to hoomau (continue to persevere) and imua (go forward)?
"'Managing with Aloha' is a must read by anyone dealing with the contemporary challenges of corporate management," said Doug Chang, general manager of the Hotel Hana Maui. "It's a well-organized and easily navigated book on Hawaiian values and their practical application to the workplace."

An excellent managment book that takes traditional Hawai'ian cultural values, and places them into a management framework so that organizational mission and respect and development of individuals can occur simultaneously. Although the book is written from a Hospitality industry standpoint, the concepts can be applied to any industry anywhere. This book has been most helpful in bridging the cultural barrier of my traditional US Mainland experiences with the pan-Asian business culture environment. The book is a relatively short, easy read with many real life examples of how to apply the core concepts. I highly recommend this book.

I found it challenging to write about Rosa Say's book Managing With Aloha. The book-actually, the very idea of the book-touches me in so many places that I didn't know how to begin or where to end. There was no way for me to write about this book without writing about myself as well. So, if you are looking for objectivity, you won't find it here.

Questions about values have been near the heart of my own work for nearly thirty years, but I have never seen such a beautiful and comprehensive treatment of one person's lessons and joys within the dance that values and work must do if the work is to be done with integrity. I am also envious because my own traditional values were dimmed by the emigration of my ancestors to the US, by their desire to assimilate, and by my own indifference. This is not to say that I have no values, or that I do not know what they are, but that there is something deep and profound in Rosa's knowledge that I suspect I can never experience. While paging through this book I was visited by the same sense that often overtakes me while strolling the less populated streets of ancient European cities: Brugge or Bath perhaps, or Pisa. It is a sense of deep rootedness and profound import: a sense that the place (this book) is significant in ways that I cannot appreciate or even fully understand.

The book also resonates with recent work of my own. Not too long ago I interviewed twenty accomplished, recognized leaders to discover how leaders win the commitment of others at different levels: intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. I found that the ability to integrate values with the work of leadership is crucial to winning the highest levels of commitment. I call this ability Enacting Beliefs. A Jewish elder, a Catholic sports mogul, the Buddhist mayor of a town in Arizona, and others, all either spoke of enacting their beliefs or performed the dance of values and work so naturally that they thought it barely deserved comment. Rosa shines light on this ability with detail and clarity that I very much admire.

Then too, Rosa quite rightly insists on the nobility of management as a calling, which is an affirmation of my own insistence that all work can be thought of and done artfully if it is approached by the whole person as an endeavor of the spirit and not merely a job.

I recommended Managing With Aloha to a friend whose business is helping young Jewish leaders bring traditional Jewish values to their leadership roles. I told my friend, "You don't have to be Hawaiian to appreciate the lessons in this book about how to bring your values to your work." If you aspire to that kind of integrity, I recommend it to you also.

Managing with Aloha is written to help managers become more successful. This in itself doesn't make the book unusual or outstanding; there are hundreds of books about managerial effectiveness.

What makes it stand out is that the reader is taught these lessons from the perspective of the Hawaiian culture - specifically 18 values. The author weaves her vast management experience into each chapter - one for each of the 18 values. As a reader you learn from Rosa's experiences, you learn about the values of the Hawaiian Islands and you begin to see how these values are more than Hawaiian - they are universal in their application.

The use of Hawaiian terms in the book may seem at first to be a bit challenging as a reader, but these native words and phrases quickly become a part of the reading experience.

Rosa Say is a proud Hawaiian, an experienced manager and a talented writer. Reading this book will allow you appreciate these three things - the things that separate this book from the vast number of books for managers.

I highly recommend this book, and Rosa's blog, Talking Story as well. (http://www.sayleadershipcoaching.com/talkingstory/)

So I finally completed reading Managing With Aloha by Rosa Say of Say Leadership Coaching, and so it is time to reflect on what I have learned. I have a few key points to share, and an overall feeling from the book.

Nānā i ke kumu - Look to your source, and find your truth. This is the chapter I just finished, and the one that will stick in my head the longest. Looking to my source to find my truth, I find myself surrounded by those I care for deeply, and realize that I have many to be thankful for.

The other truth I have is lifelong learning, and the reflection time that comes with reading a new book or magazine and learning something I knew little or nothing about. It's why I have Rosa's book in my hands and have been reading for the past 2 months to get it completely.

Aloha - If you were like me, before I started reading Rosa's Talking Story blog and her book, I thought Aloha was simply a greeting. Aloha as in hello, and aloha as in goodbye. Now I realize Aloha is a value of unconditional love, and the outpouring and receiving of the spirit. Wow, now that's a word that says so much more than "Hey!" Again, getting back to my truth, I realize that I must do a better job of sharing my Aloha with my family, friends, direct reports, peers, and supervisors, and really everyone in my world. I need to slow down and let people know how much I appreciate them, and how much Aloha I have for them.

The last thing I learned is that one must strive for Pono, or rightness and balance. This is something that I am often guilty of not having as much as I would like to have. I am happily content in many things in my life, and that helps my balance, but I know there is more that needs to be in balance for me.

My overall feeling of Managing With Aloha is one of awe, for there are so many values in the book that one can learn from, and put into practice, as managers and leaders. Rosa's idea of the Daily Five Minutes is my favorite, and can be quite simply summed up as taking 5 minutes each day to spend in a comfortable place with a direct report and let them tell you what's going on in her/his life. The key is you have to really listen to hear what's being said, and make the effort to not be judgmental, rather just listen and pay attention.

I also learned that managing and leading are 2 very different things, and one does not need to be a good leader to be a good manager, or be a good manager to be a good leader. Never before was it so clearly laid out as in this wonderful book. I like to think I am an effective manager now, and with practice and continued review of the key concepts in this book, I can only get better.

Make It a Great Day...If you're a manager or leader, buy Managing With Aloha, for you or someone else who wants to become more effective as a manager or a leader. Now in it's second printing, this book is timeless and worth the investment many times over.

As psychologist I recommend especially this book! It is a bridge between an 'ethical theory of personality or men' and 'working with others in any organisation or business'. It can be used in 'Human Resource Management'. In the West a 'free human individual' is the piller of a free society and even all civilization, since Aknaton. (In the book Moses by Freud, Aknaton is mentioned as the first individual.) A free human individual creates more revenue for businesses and is much better for all others. It counters man just seen as a machine, rat, animal, subject or moneymaking instrument.

Without the commentary, you would be hard pressed to pick out Maslow's insights in this stream-of-conscience puffery.

To save you the cost of this book, his main thesis is "A musician must make music, and an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization...
It refers to a man's desire for self-fulfillment, namely to the tendency for him to become in actuality what he is potentially:
to become everything that one is capable of becoming"

We've all heard of Maslow or the hierarchy of needs in some form or other, but often times simply as a side note in some management or psychology class. Here in one volume is the collection of Maslow's genius insights in to human motivation. The book is a collection of essays on motivation, learning, management, and self-actualization (essentially, to be at piece with oneself and become everything he/she is capable of becoming) Maslow examines our organizational structures and how they greatly influence our ability to achieve self-actualization. He lays out a framework and assumptions that must be made when dealing with people, managing people and motivating them, and recognizes that there are different types of personalities, beliefs, management styles, and management theories. Theory X (authoritarian, untrusting, management style) and Y (a belief that people are trustworthy, responsible, seek meaning in their work, and naturally want to learn) are explored in detail as are the effects of our belief in one or the other.

While both theories and the implications of each are discussed, it is clear that Maslow, as well as the contributors to the book focus on, and believe that in general, Y is the dominant (most beneficial, not necessarily the most practiced or popular) theory. Theory Y cultivates growth in personal meaning, satisfaction, and self-actualization, helps to propel an organization to be the most it can be, through the collective learning of the individuals that make it an organization. Applying this methodology in the right environment can contribute to the long term success of an organization as judged both by the self actualization of it's members, and the financial success of the organization.

Maslow scripted and published his journal, close to forty years ago, however, it is at least as applicable to the information based net economy of today, as it was to the economy at the time it was published. While organizations and economies change, people and psychology remain relatively constant.

Much of it has been re-packaged and re-published by various management gurus of today. If you take an interest in people and management theory, order a copy of this book. There isn't a management book out there that contains a magic formula for success, or applies to all organizations or even all people in one organization. This gem is a great start and will provide insight in to people, management practices, and developing a mind set for making a difference in the lives of the people in your organization, if you want it to.

This is a very accessible book of brilliant ideas about management, and human nature in general. U. S. Grant once said, "the best man for the job doesn't go after the job, he waits to be called." This book affirms what I've long thought, that people like Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon, who were desperate to be president, so that they lied and cheated, etc., to get that power, are the LAST people who SHOULD be President (or CEO or whatever). Those who WANT the power are psychologically sick in some way. And Clinton and Nixon should have both gone to prison. They both broke the law. Psychopaths LOVE having power, and both Nixon and Clinton displayed strong psychopathic characteristics. This book gives one some faith in human nature because it shows that the best way to motivate humans is to NURTURE them and give them FREEDOM. That if allowed, they will be GOOD and PRODUCTIVE. There is a worthwhile insight on almost every page of this book. And Maslow had an IQ of 195. So he was no idiot.

One of the world's most renowned experts on human behaviour and motivation, Abraham Maslow is most famous for his perspectives on the "hierarchy of human needs" and self-actualization. This book updates the original edition published in 1963, entitled Eupsychian Management. It demonstrates how even today Maslow's seminal concepts of human behaviour are still playing out in the business world. This book offers new generations of managers insights into Maslow's influential theories which have emerged in modern business, approaches such as continuous improvement, enlightened management, Theory X, and empowerment. Maslow's work has powerfully affected managerial theory, organizational development, education, health care, and science as well as psychology.

A true classic, Maslow on Management is still as important as when it first appeared and thus essential reading for all managers.

The late Abraham Maslow is the most widely known expert on human behaviour and motivation. He is often referred to as the father of humanistic psychology, a body of knowledge and theories separate from the behaviorist and Freudian movements. His books are acknowledged as standards in psychology literature worldwide.

Deborah C. Stephens and Gary Heil are co-founders of The Center of Innovative Leadership. Deborah Stephens is an author, educator, and management consultant in the areas of customer service, leadership, and organizational development. She is co-author of One Size Fits One: Building Relationships One Customer and One Employee at a Time with Gary Heil.

Judith Dupre's book is a keeper, a volume to be read and treasured for generations. It's for those with a relative who fought in World War II, and those who have visited Gettysburg, seen the Liberty Bell and marveled at Mount Rushmore.
Ms. Dupre infuses major historical events with glowing new life. She fills her pages with interesting facts and profound truths, explaining, for instance, why the triumphant Indian Americans were not commemorated in the first 120 years after the Little Bighorn Battle in Montana. Other battles -- from Gettysburg, World War II, Korea -- yield important cemeteries. Ms. Dupre's presentations range from the familiar (Statue of Liberty) to the unfathomable (Saint-Gaudens's monument to Clover Adams in Washington's Rock Creek Cemetery.) In a book that easily stirs emotions her description of New York City prisoners burying the unclaimed bodies of convicts at Hart Island ("the marginalized are interred by the marginalized with dignity") is especially poignant.
The book will be valued by those with connections to these sacred sites, but it belongs in the collections of all who are tuned into American history.

Bravo! MUCH MORE than a "coffee table" book! Dupré's thoroughly researched and cogently presented text outshines the fascinating graphics. "Monuments" taught me more than I had intended to learn about the subject, and made me realize memorials talk about history in an unique way. I would recommend this book to any and all readers, especially those interested in getting a new and intriguing take on presidential and military history.

What impressed me of this work is how well it was researched. It has many side stories. Names and dates are carefully reported. The linkages to similar memorials or concepts are included in shaded boxes as ancillary threads. Was also impressed on the timeline, that reveals how the event that is memorialized eventually came into fruition of an actual memorial.

My only criticism is not clarifying the geographical location of the monument (it assumes the reader knows where it is).

The bonus is including ample space on the mass-conscious inpromptu memorials, such as leaving teddy bears, flowers, notes on the side of a tragedy or catastrophic event. I would add to that the silent and passive solitary memorials left by people along roadsides, memorializing a traffic accident. Or even the placement of a geocache, a box in the woods containing a logbook, such as the one in Western Pennsylvania in remembrance of two teenagers killed ["In Memory Of Clairenda and Loretta" GCQHZP]

On the discussion of people mourning by leaving items at places such as the Vietnam Memorial, Oklahoma City, Columbine, the author however missed to mention that the same people that visit such memorials can actually take an object that is laying there. The items left are considered as abbandoned property by the National Park Service for 30 days, and only thereafter picked up and inventorized into the national museum system. In the meantime, the same item can be picked up by visitors, and the memorial acts as an exchange place. ... very much like a geocache.

This fascinating and unusual book is beautifully produced- it would make an excellent gift. It's a kind of treasury of richly detailed visits to a wide variety of different kinds of monuments. Dupre describes each one historically, evoking the powerful emotions behind the monument or memorial so that the original need can be felt and understood. The book gives us access to the people who created these monuments, and for whom they were created. Scholarly and also profoundly intuitive, Judith Dupre understands that a monument is by definition a labor of love, and has given us one.

Judith's books are always enjoyable but there is something especially wonderful about this one. It isn't just history or architecture, she finds the heart of why we remember, the purpose of these places. The histories are told with sensitivity and care, and the dozens of people that inhabit the book are portrayed colorfully and with close observation of their humanity, something usual lacking in ordinary history books. Having been to Manzanar several times and wandered over its acres myself, her narrative touched me and brought alive the people and the time.

I would recommend this book to anyone with even the slightest interest in the human side of history.

I had read the book as part of a reading list assignment. Liked it so much, I decided to buy it as a gift for an old friend who is now enjoying it also.

Book camme immediately - and was brand new, and in beautiful condition. Thank you so much

The great libraries of history have endured such vicissitudes of fortune through the centuries - destruction by revolution, war and fire, dispersal through pilfering, confiscation, monastic decline, loss of patronage - & perhaps the unkindest cut of all, at one point the sale of its books by Oxford University to pay the librarian's wages. It is truly astonishing that so much has survived. This book is a celebration of 23 of these unique and beautiful cathedrals of knowledge in America and Europe.

At a time when most of his subjects were illiterate, the Austrian Habsburg Charles VI created the Hofbibliothek in Vienna. He decreed that its doors be open to (almost) everyone; they could enter free of charge and as often as they wished, but there were a few exceptions: the library was off limits to "ignoramuses, servants, idlers, talkers and gawkers." Alas, the Hofbibliothek is no longer free and, like many libraries included in this book, it is now accessible only to a favoured few.

Indeed, the closest most of us will ever get to the Hofbibliothek or the 22 other great libraries enshrined in its pages is through this book, and for this reason alone, it belongs in the book-lover's collection. There is a brief history of each library, but the real attraction is the spectacular colour photography, including several "gatefold" pages which open to provide wonderful panoramic views nearly 3 feet wide.

Next to the awe-inspiring magnificence of Hofbibliothek, the white and gold Baroque splendour of the Benedictine Abbey Library of Admont in Austria rivals the gold and marble Rococco opulence of the Monastic Library of Wiblingen near Ulm Germany, although after secularisation the latter lost most of its vast book collection.

Another Baroque wonder is The National Library of the Czech Republic in Prague, with its twisted wood columns and trompe-l'oeil frescoed ceiling which draws the eye upward "to confound the true already impressive scale of the hall". When I had the good fortune to visit nearly three decades ago, ironically, it was as a "gawker", on a bus tour of Eastern Bloc capitals. Whisked in and out, we were prohibited from taking photos; no postcards or souvenir booklets were available; memory faded. I am especially pleased to find this unique library included here.

The Vatican Library might be mistaken for a grand reception hall; gold leaf papal insignia, and biblical-themed frescoes framed by ornate moldings cover its panelled walls and vaulted ceilings - and not a book in sight. All of its books are hidden behind securely locked doors. The Vatican Library is, however, open to authorized researchers and its catalogue of 1.6 million printed works is fully computerized.

The somewhat austere National Palace Library in Mafra, Portugal was modeled after the Hofbibliothek in Vienna, but the money ran out before completion and the Franciscans who took it over in 1792, in keeping with their vow of poverty, declined to gild the woodwork, whitewashing it instead. This has faded to a peaceful but elegant cream, against which the coloured titles of the leather book bindings stand out.

A relative new-comer at barely a century old is the John Ryland Library in Manchester, England, commissioned by the widow of a rich industrialist to commemorate her husband's memory. It was designed to resemble the interior of a Gothic cathedral complete with soaring arches, carved oak panelling and stained glass windows but also was equipped with electricity, air conditioning and millions of dollars worth of rare books.

Less ostentatious, perhaps, but still beautiful and certainly more democratic are University Libraries at Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin and truly public libraries in New York City and Washington, D.C.

If your appetite has been whetted by "The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World" you may want to look for more in-depth treatments. For the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, just such a book exists, the lavishly illustrated "Treasures of the Library of Congress" by Charles Goodrum, Abrams, 1980, 318 pages. It contains views of the interiors and chapters on the building of the Library of Congress and its book collection, but the emphasis is on many other artefacts housed there - its vast collection of music scores, sound recordings, films, Orientalia, prints and historic photographs. "Treasures..." is long out of print, but used copies can be found.

Addendum (December 30, 2007): The World's Most Beautiful Libraries was published in 2003. In 2004 the exquisite Rococo interior of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, another of the libraries featured in the book, was gutted by fire and many of its 100,000 books and manuscripts destroyed. A heroic fund-raising project ensued and the library was restored and reopened in October 2007. Three books documenting these events have been published in Germany (in German text). They are:"Die Bibliothek brennt: Ein Bericht aus Weimar" (about the fire); "Es nimmt der Augenblick, was Jahre: Vom Wiederaufbau der Buchersammlung der Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek" (discusses the losses, book restoration & reacquisition) and "Die Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek: Nach dem Brand in neuem Glanz" (describing the building restoration.) This third volume may be appreciated even by the non-German reader because of its plentiful and beautiful illustrations.

This is a marvelous book to whoever loves books.

It presents many important historic libraries in the world; each library is presented in informative and sober texts and with accompanying photos. These photos try to capture the overall look of the library (even if this is rather difficult) and several interesting details, sometimes including secondary rooms. The texts focus on the history of the library in question, but also give some information about contents.

There is only a minor quibble, and it cannot be taken too seriously: the authors had to chose and that led them to ignore many marvelous libraries. If there is one I particularly lack, it would be the Real Biblioteca da Universidade de Coimbra (Royal Library of Coimbra University, one of the oldest European Universities). It has been stated to be 'the most beautiful library in the world', and I cannot but agree.

But this is probably a question of personal taste. As it is, the book is wonderful and useful.

Great pictures and text depict some of the most beautiful libraries in the world! Gives me encouragement and inspiration for my humble library at home!

I first bought this book when we bought a property with trashed-out soil. I've since grown attached to this book, which I find myself referring to. It's clearly written, well organized, and covers so much information. I really think that you can't go wrong with this book, if you want to know about soil (be warned: it doesn't really cover soil microbiology, the living aspect of soil - I'd recommend the book by Robert Tate III; the copy I have is Soil Microbiology 2nd Ed. (c) 2000)

With that said - I've gone through other books but haven't found one that I'd compare to this one. It's just really well done.

The first time I ran into this book was at the public library, while serching reference material for my daughter's science project. I found the book so helpful that I checked it out again for my own use. The third time I said: "I have to have my own copy." The 13th edition is now on its way.

My "Science of Soils" class at Stanford University (Autumn '01) used "The Nature and Properties of Soils" as our main textbook. It is clearly written, easy to read, and has lots of helpful figures (including graphs, diagrams, drawings, and black-and-white and color photos). The chapters are well organized, so that you can find exactly what you need to know. The authors include hundreds of websites for those who want more information, and make the book more readable by starting off each chapter with a quote and a "big picture" statement.

"The Nature and Properties of Soils" has a good mix of theoretical and practical information. Wherever possible, the authors do sample calculations and describe applications for agriculture, ecology, and engineering. They thoroughly cover every major topic in soil science, as well as delving into some more specialized ones (for example, symptoms of micronutrient deficiencies in plants).

In conclusion, I've found this textbook to be both very information-rich and very readable, and highly recommend it. (The other day I caught my boyfriend, who's a materials engineer, reading it for fun... that's about the highest accolade any textbook can get!)

I'm an agronomist.Here in Brazil, I read this book.
This book is long and has many informations.
Every agronomist must read, a book such as this.
At least in ediction that I read, this book has a big failure.This book is weak about tropical soils.
For american reality, I think this book deserves 5 stars.
Well, I live in Brazil.I'll give four stars for it.

This is the 13th edition of a text that has been the standard in this field for 84 years. Its durability lies in its solid information; clear presentation; and graphics that are as rich as they are numerous. It is peppered with fascinating sidebars. You can dip into it as a reference and find just what you need (assuming you have a foundation in soil science). Even after I moved on to advanced coursework in soils, I found myself referring back to this.

If you have been assigned a soils text for a class, do not go with the abridged version of this, Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils. It is 1/2 the book for 3/4 of the price (and at discounters the books are priced identically). If you plan to continue studies in the natural sciences, you will want this unabridged version. It's indispensable.