Performance Books

I feel like can not speak highly enough about this book and I'm really sorry about! It is one of the best books on how to connect learning with business performance I ever seen.

Starts explaining how to conect learning objectives with business' performance objectives. Explains how to develope learning objectives, design learning measures, check measures reliability and validity. Makes a clear, nice and easy to understand transition to how to analyze learning data, presenting several techniques to collect and process data. Designs job performance measures, and explains how to collect and analyze it. The whole book contains detailed examples, and from the beginning to the end are presented three case studies: 1. technical training program, 2. sales/customer service training program, 3. leadership development program. In each chapter, after presenting new concepts, the three case studies are developed based on the new concepts introduced.

This book is not only for HR specialists.

A project manager have a lot of useful information and tools to include in every project and ideas on how to make her/his projects more succesful by connecting them with implementing the new skills. This can create projects' sustainability and synergies inside the organization.

A manager will have a better idea on how the big picture looks like, what have to plan, implement, manage and improve in order to be sure all business actions are aligned with business objectives.

Any reader should have a better understaning on how to maximize resources impact by being focused on implementing the new aquired skills, and not only on acquring new skills.

Toni has captured the critical conceptual and theoretical elements for effectively implementing practical training and employee performance improvement evaluation strategies. Her book should be required reading by all training evaluation specialists. It provides the fundamentals for designing, developing, and implementing valid and reliable learning assessment and performance measurement tools and methodologies. She provides easy to understand templates that can be tailored to any industry. It's comprehensive, well-thought out, and will be the standard textbook for my organization's program instruction on evaluation.

Toni Hodges brings a wealth of practical, easy to follow guidelines to the performance improvement practitioner, on how to approach, measure, and communicate about learning outcomes in organizational settings. She brings the reader step by step through the development, implementation, analysis, and communication processes to establish a credible and useful set of evaluation tools. Always linked to the day-to-day realities of organizational goals and pressures, she provides a handbook to move the practitioner into an effective and valued role as on-the-job evaluator of performance improvement interventions.

This book is full of tips, tools and examples that practitioners will find very useful. The tools and examples are easy to find in the book and provide a great basis for customizing to your own requirements. Toni speaks with experience and authority.

Linking learning and performance is filled with the kind of rigor that all of us Hodges-junkies have come to expect and look forward to. What Hodges maps out is not easy. It requires soul searching and a lot of work. But standing up in front of a CFO with a bullet-proof case for corporate learning makes it all worthwhile.

I have a copy of this book and I read once in a while when I need a funny, focused dose of the Law of Attraction. The LOA is everywhere but this was one of the first that spoke about it in other than secret terms.

Buy this book. Period. Richard Brooke's "Mach II With Your Hair On Fire" is one of the first books I bought when I realized that my life was the product of my best thinking.....and that if I wanted different results, I had to learn how I was creating my own results.

Everytime I read this book, I'm amazed at Brooke's engaging, humorous style....but also with the clarity and simplicity that he's able to communicate some EXTREMELY powerful concepts.

If someone wants to create immediate results in any area of their life, this book has a nuts-and-bolts approach that will work for you....if you're willing to apply it. And the application is fun, simple and rewarding.

It's a great book -- buy it!

Richard Bliss Brooke was obviously no academic star and some of the writing of this brief book reflects it. However he succeeded massively financially breaking out of a dead-end job to be able to live the luxury lifestyle most only dream about. He shows the basis of his success - having a strong vision that will pull you through the hard times that inevitably occur in any occupation or opportunity. How to build this and how to really burn it into your subconscious is the thrust of this tome. Produced in simple steps it gives an inspiring take on developing the mental attitude that will take you on to greater peaks of success.

The final few pages have a good number of inspiring quotes from a number of people from different persuasions and ages that Richard found helpful in his life. These alone are worth the price of the book.

Richard Bliss Brooke has polished the art of motivating change in people unsatisfied with their lives and in this brief and immensely readable little book he condenses a life of work and teaching into a manual for CHANGE. Interspersing his wise directorial stance with quotes from successful people, charts and lists to aid the reader, and enough book design to encourage staying with the 'project' to its successful end, Brooke has created a manual not for survival in the world as it is, but rather a manual for exploring the concept that personal change comes from embracing vision and motivation.

On the premise that we create our own destinies by changing our core beliefs about ourselves, beliefs based on what we absorbed from birth to age five, Brooke shows us how to write our own screenplay for our lives based on self motivation (enthusiasm, courage, persistence, creativity) to create a vision of what we want to be and then how to daily review our progress in attaining the persona we want to be. It may sound simplistic, but once the reader becomes involved in Brooke's supportive, friendly, yet demanding 'program' the book leads us through, it is difficult to imagine how we could fail, so committed is his tutelage.

Of all the 'self help' books on the market, this little volume is for this reader the most easily digested and, more importantly, the most solid formula for achieving success in finding and becoming the person we want to be. In the back of the book Brooke lists pages of quotations from Shakespeare to Gandhi, giving a bow to Don Miguel Ruiz' book 'The Four Agreements' - his closest 'competitor' in this arena. MACH II WITH YOUR HAIR ON FIRE is a book to keep on the desk, at the bedside, or anywhere it might be readily available for brush-up reading to assure the reader stays on the path that Brooke assures us will lead to success and happiness. It is terrific reading! Grady Harp, August 07

I loved this book by Richard Brooke. I also read MachII starring you. Both are a must read for anyone in a network marketing business. This book has a very clear explanation of the law of attraction without all the cloak and dagger of "the secret" I especially loved his definition of vision: "To the degree there is a contrast between how we are performing now and how we envision ourselves performing, motivation pours forth.This is an automatic and natural effect. It flows whether we want it to or not." "If you think you can or think you can't you are right"
-I think Henry Ford said that. Anyway read the book. It's worth every penny.

This is one of those rare books that makes it points clearly and then guides your through exercises that reinforce its key messages.

I found the book incredibly helpful in preparing realistic plans that set you up for success. I have used it extensively to help me design major projects and I am well on my way toward measurable success on those goals.

Make Success Measurable tells you how to set business goals that matter for shareholders, customers, and employees. That is good advice, and it is backed up by "workbook" exercises that help you focus on what is really important. The "mindbook-workbook" format makes room for exercises that you can work on with your colleagues at the office. I found that the "mindbook" portion held my interest as an individual reader. I started getting REALLY interested about halfway through the book when Smith introduced the concept of "working arenas" - the different groupings of people (sometimes in multiple companies) that are necessary to achieve these goals. Smith explains that you need to shape your goals and methods to fit the appropriate working arena, rather than a pre-set corporate structure. If you work in a complex organization, you should read this book and apply its lessons.

I would compare Make Success Measurable very favorably to the Kaplan and Norton book on The Balanced Scorecard. The Balanced Scorecard tends to be vague and anecdotal on the subject of how to set measurable goals, and it is hard to finish. In contrast, Smith packs his book with original analysis and specific recommendations on topics like "Vertical versus Horizontal Management Disciplines" and "Injecting Creative and Personal Tension into Goals". The Balanced Scorecard presents a four way cause and effect chain from employees through process improvements, customers, and shareholders. Make Success Measurable presents a three way performance cycle as including employees who provide value to customers who provide rewards to shareholders...who provide rewards to employees and so on. The "process" piece doesn't appear in Smith's analysis, because focusing on process measures doesn't necessarily help anyone. In fact, it is a trap that can lead to meaningless work. Smith encourages us to focus on "outcomes" - measures that matter directly to employees, customers, and shareholders. This brings us quickly to reality and hopefully to consensus with our colleagues. Get real. Get this book.

You can rarely pick up a job description in the public or private sector that does not include a statement seeking "demonstrated experience and success working with the principles of quality management and a commitment to customer service." One of the cornerstones to quality management is the ability to focus on outcomes instead of activities.

Make Success Measurable is filled with practical techniques. Even more, it is a workbook, providing opportunities to apply new concepts to real work. Whether you want to be able to create more focus within your own work unit, be able to demonstrate tangible results to your manager, prioritize your own work by aligning your day to day activities with the most important initiatives, or coach customers who are seeking your expertise in developing performance measures, this book can help.

As a result of reading this book and trying the exercises, you should be able to:

1) Convert new visions, strategies, and directions into achievable outcome-based goals that can better yourself and others in your organization.

2) Set goals that are specific, measurable, aggressive, achievable, relevant, and time bound. (SMART Goals)

3) Set goals that matter to those expecting a return on their funding dollars.

4) Set goals that matter to you personally in terms of opportunities, rewards, and skills.

5) Choose from a variety of management disciplines to achieve your goals.

6) Set goals that matter to customers who want speed, quality, and prompt service.

"I believe you will benefit from this book because the challenge of setting and achieving performance goals has become very confusing". Douglas K. Smith writes, "It has been more than 30 years since Peter Drucker wrote about the importance of managing for results. His work led to the widespread practice of management by objective. But an awful lot has happened in the past 30 years. The world of business and organizations has changed dramatically, turning many of Drucker's specifics (though not his wisdom) upside down. In the aftermath of total quality, customer service, time-based competition, strategic alliances, globalization, reengineering, core competencies, continuous improvement, innovation, teams, horizontal organization, benchmarking, best place to work, information technology, diversity, environmentalism, deregulation and reregulation, eCommerce, and privatization, those of us left standing in today's organizations are unsure about what performance goals and outcomes make the most difference and why. We know that setting performance goals is key to managing ourselves and others, but we no longer know how".

Douglas K. Smith organizes his book in four parts. In the first part (Chapters 1-4), he provides the background, concepts, tools, techniques, and frameworks you need to set specific outcome-based goals that matter to successfully navigate today's most pressing performance challenges. In the second part (Chapters 5-7), he focuses on helping you align and coordinate goals throughout your organization. In the third part (Chapters 8-10), he describes the management disciplines you need to achieve your goals and how to make choices among them. In the fourth part (Chapter 11), he concludes the book with a step-by-step design for building an outcomes management system in your organization.

In this context, in Chapter 10, he reviews the management disciplines you must understand in order to succeed in the face of change, and introduces the critical distinction between decision-diven change and behavior-driven change, and describes how to manage each successfully. Hence, he argues that most change efforts fall far short of their potential. Usually that's because leaders fail to address the deep behavioral changes they are seeking. And thus, he lists the following ten management principles as the heart of any successful change effort:

1. Keep performance results the primary objective of behavior and skill change.

2. Continually increase the number of individuals taking responsibility for their own change.

3. Make sure that each person always knows why his or her performance and change matters to the purpose and results of the whole organization.

4. Put people in a position to learn by doing and provide them with the information and support they need just in time to perform.

5. Embrace improvisation as the best path to both performance and change.

6. Use team performance to drive change whenever demanded.

7. Concentrate organizational designs on the work that people do, not on the decision-making authority they have.

8. Create and focus energy and meaningful language because these are the scarcest resources during periods of change.

9. Stimulate and sustain behavior-driven change by harmonizing initiatives throughout the organization.

10. Practice leadership based on the courage to live the change you wish to bring about.

Finally, he argues that if you expect others to change their behavior, you have to change yours. It's as simple and as hard as that.

I strongly recommend.

Make Success Measurable! is definitely becoming the Bible at work. Very well written, and Smith's ideas are well-supported. We've received positive feedback from clients, and we've expanded our client base because of this good word-of-mouth. I strongly recommend Make Success Measurable! It's as good as Guerilla PR: Wired, which focuses on techniques to getting solid public relations coverage, especially nowadays.

Marketing Your Small Business for BIG Profits. This is a simple, skinny and pragmatic book full of do it now advice. Written for a small business audience, there is still very good advice for the tech industry, which tends to view marketing in a simplistic and out of date fashion. ( And we are supposed to be such "smart" guys in this industry. )So how is marketing really working for you? ) His appendices are worth the price of the book, such as "The top 5 most powerful headline formulas. EG No 1. How to Headlines----->How to pay less taxes and keep more money for yourself.

As I read this book, I was again reminded of a GE annual meeting during which Jack Welch explained why he admires entrepreneurial companies: "For one, they communicate better. Without the din and prattle of bureaucracy, people listen as well as talk; and since there are fewer of them they generally know and understand each other. Second, small companies move faster. They know the penalties for hesitation in the marketplace. Third, in small companies, with fewer layers and less camouflage, the leaders show up very clearly on the screen. Their performance and its impact are clear to everyone. And, finally, smaller companies waste less. They spend less time in endless reviews and approvals and politics and paper drills. They have fewer people; therefore they can only do the important things. Their people are free to direct their energy and attention toward the marketplace rather than fighting bureaucracy."

At least by implication, Welch cites many of the same competitive advantages that David Mason focuses on in this book as he explains how effective marketing can help small businesses to sustain profitable growth. Mason offers no head-snapping revelations, nor does he make any such claim. His purpose is to provide practical advice based on years of experience with several hundred small companies. He is well aware of the mortality rate of small companies. According to Michael Gerber, in E-Myth Mastery, "Of the 1 million U.S. small businesses started this year [2005], more than 80% of them will be out of business within 5 years and 96% will have closed their doors before their 10th birthday." These are indeed chilling statistics. Why do so many small businesses fail? One of the most common reasons is an inadequate understanding who their core customer is and/or not using a profile of that customer for marketing initiatives to create or increase demand for what it offers to prospects that fit that profile. Hence the importance of Mason's advice. I do not damn it with faint praise when suggesting that, as noted earlier, I find nothing original in what he recommends. The great value of his advice is that he can help the owner/CEO of a small business to devise and then implement an appropriate marketing plan. That said, there are two important caveats: manage operating costs with ruthless rigor (eliminating "fat" while strengthening "muscle"), and, never compromise margins.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Robert Bloom's The Inside Advantage, Chris Anderson's The Long Tail, Marc Allen's Visionary Business, Jason Jennings' Think Big, Act Small, Paul Flowers' Underdog Advertising, Jay Conrad Levinson's Guerilla Marketing (4th Edition), and Hector Barreto's The Engine of America.

Many marketing books are written by experts far away from the rough and tumble of in-the-field marketing. This marketing book is NOT one of them.

It is a practical, hands-on marketing book obviously written by a man who practices what he preaches.

I have bookshelves of marketing books.In my opinion, this is one of the better resources.

If you want to make money in your business you need to read this book.

For the price of a pizza - and a small one at that -- Dave provides easy to digest nuggets of practical information - on every marketing topic from "soup to nuts." Any business owner who has ever wondered how to find time to market their business needs to thoroughly digest this book.

If you are ready for Success, using this book can take your business and your life to the next level! Marketing Your Small Business for Big Profits is a quick and easy read that you can use and implement in under an hour.

I must confess that I was skeptic before reading the book, because I thought that it could not add very much to Kimball's books. However, I was wrong: this turned out to be a very useful book. Not only it contains the most detailed explanation of DW aggregates available, but it also contains a very good discussion of the loading process for various types of dimensions and facts, which forms the bulk of data warehouse "back room processing".
One more final plus: the author completely adopts the Kimball approach to Data Warehousing, so this book fits very nicely with other books from Wiley's describing Kimball methodology.

If you are responsible for delivering results from your company's data warehouse, you owe it to yourself to read this book. Chris Adamson has lived and breathed this stuff and he knows first hand the challenges facing those who enable the business intelligence systems that more and more organizations have come to rely on. The implementation of aggregates in your data warehouse is not trivial. Make a mistake and the consequences can be very serious indeed. Mr. Adamson is more than an author. He is a scholar, an educator, and an experienced practitioner in the data warehousing world and the information he shares in this book is worth many times the cover price.

Mr. Adamson is certainly the foremost expert in this area. He has many years of hands-on experience, research, and knowledge in Data Warehousing. I have been able to consult his books and find answers and solutions to problems that I encounter every day in my work. You shouldn't waste your time by not buying this book. Definitely don't waste your money by buying a book written by some else.

Recently, a colleague recommended "Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates" and I have already applied many of the powerful techniques so ably presented by Mr. Adamson. Although experienced in the implementation of the Dr. Kimball's star schema approach, I have never been able to exploit its full performance potential - until now.

Despite the complexity of the material, the book is concise and easy to understand. NOTE: Adamson's approach is not tied to any proprietary HW or SW product. The book guided me from design fundamentals to a performance-optimized upgrade of an existing data warehouse. And it didn't take a long time to do it, either.

If you're a performance-oriented data warehousing professional, you'll find this book deserves a place on your book shelf of essential references. Highly recommended.

Chris does a great job of laying out both the good and bad associated with using aggregates as a means to support Business Intelligence and Hierarchical-type queries within a Data Warehouse environment. As a disciple of Ralph Kimball's Chris kept true to the doctrine and helped the reader understand why he recommended the tacts he did throughout the manuscript. The material was easy to follow and his illustrations were clear representations of the material being presented. I especially liked that he added platform-specific hints and scenarios to tailor the material to the reader's environment. While I do not necessarily agree that building aggregate tables are the solution to many of the challenges in a Business Intelligence use of Data from a Data Warehouse, I do feel that Chris' book is a great place to start to learn the challenges and start down the path of solution to the problem. Add on material might include mention of other solutions that are not manual that also address the same challenge - such as the software package from HyperRoll.

Reviewed by Mazuba Shunamon-S. (age 14) for Reader Views (4/08)

"Maximum Performance Basketball: In-Season Workout Book for Players 7th Grade-12th Grade," by James E. Brown, is a book for any basketball player that wants to improve their skills. The author is a former pro-European basketball player, and he has coached a number of teams throughout the U.S.A. and Europe. This book helps with passing, dribbling, shooting, post moves, and even helps with time management. There are clear illustrations and numbered steps on how to execute each move perfectly, and good pictures showing how to do the drills. It also has a really good exercise workout schedule on a weekly calendar.

This book is an in-season workout book so it's better to have it with you on the court than for a quiet-time read. I would bring this book along with me to my practices, so I could read the drills then perform them. You should bring it every time you practice. It is easy to understand and even though it's simple, it still gives you a great workout.

I would recommend this book to any student athlete because it doesn't just help to improve your skills; it shows you how to manage your time, and balance homework and basketball evenly. You will find individual moves, workout schedules, and a list of students that excelled beyond the rest and reached their ultimate goals of getting scholarships, and even making it to the N.B.A. I liked this book and will use it myself, and I recommend Maximum Performance Basketball: In-Season Workout Book for Players 7th Grade-12th Grade" to any aspiring basketball player.

Coach Brown knows from experience what it takes for you to become the best basketball player and student athlete that you can possibly be. He is annointed for what he does, that seperates him from the most coaches. He understands that in order to reach your full potential, you have to have a plan and be devoted to execute the plan. He illustates a schedule and indepth workout in his book to help you to become a very skillfull player.

Coach Brown knows from experience what it takes to become a successful professional basketball player. It is wonderful that he has taken the opportunity to share his wisdom with junior high and high school students-in theory though this book and in practice with Maximum Performance Basketball School. I applaud his decision to include a sample schedule so that students can balance their many priorities. As a student and the former manager of a high school basketball team, I understand that this is a crucial aspect of success not just for sports but for life in general.

Excellent book for middle school and high school players to use to make their own practice work more effective. Lots of kids will go out and shoot it around but those that are willing to organize their workout using a workbook like this will really improve their success at the sport.

The school coaches also love it when they see young players that have a plan for the work outside of practice.

Maximum Performance Basketball
Written by: James E. Brown
ISBN: 1-59824-368-3

Reviewed by: James Edwards for ReviewYourBook.com
"James E. Brown was a professional basketball player and a coach. "Maximum Performance Basketball" is to teach young players to not only play harder, but to also play smarter."
4 stars

James E. Brown was a professional basketball player. He coached college ball, and he now is President of JEBBS, Inc., a minister, and a mentor.

"Maximum Performance Basketball" simplifies the basics of basketball. It does so with its concise instructions and basic drawings. A sample workout schedule is provided. Testimonies are provided from athletes James E. Brown has coached.

James E. Brown takes a holistic approach to coaching. His students testify to becoming better athletes and better people. James E. Brown now hosts a basketball school in Texas. Hats off to James E. Brown. To learn more about becoming a better basketball player, read "Maximum Performance Basketball".

True leaders are rare. They possess a complex set of skills and, more importantly, the ability to lead diverse groups of people toward a common goal or ideal. There is also direction given to organizations on how to provide the structure for successful leadership with mission- and value-driven employees.

The first thing we examine in MEASURE OF A LEADER is leadership, its definition and several pertinent facts. "We contend that the leader's role is to establish the conditions under which all performers will choose to execute the mission, vision, and values of the organization." An effective leader will impact their followers well beyond bottom line profits or sales. This book cuts to the basic premises of organizational leadership, power and the behaviors inherent in each.

Creating discretionary behavior is a very difficult task for managers in a highly structured environment. "Discretionary behavior is the product of positive reinforcement. It is the behavior which a person could do if they choose." We all know co-workers who simply have a stronger work ethic, better organizational skills, or higher production rates, based on their attitude about their job and work environment. MEASURE OF A LEADER focuses on the meaning and importance of behaviors. These definitions and examples examine the behaviors created by strong and weak managers and leaders. Also, the results created by these behaviors in organizations are discussed.

"The characteristics of leadership are not necessarily those of an effective manager. Leadership is concerned with getting people to want the reinforcers to be found in the behavior asked for; management is concerned with the delivery of reinforcement for the behaviors when they occur." Management focused on behaviors vs. results will create an environment where everyday successes are celebrated. The net worth of productive employees is integral to the success of the organization. When success is measured only by bottom-line results, behaviors are created that can seriously undermine the mission, vision and values of the organization.

Aubrey and James Daniels have written what is clearly the most in-depth management/leadership book I have read to date. It is complex yet written in a way that allows readers to capture the nuances of their theories. There are enough examples sprinkled throughout to solidify the theories presented. The most important lessons are two-fold. 1. Understand the organization, their mission, vision and values; and 2. Do what you say and say what you do.

Finally, in the appendix, there is a chapter called "50 Things You Can Do to Increase Your Leadership Impact." This is an exceptional resource that allows readers to put to use all the theories they have read. Additionally, Performance Management Publications has a website where you can access Aubrey Daniels's organizational behavior tools and information. I encourage all managers and future leaders to read MEASURE OF A LEADER.

--- Reviewed by Marge Fletcher

This is simply a "must read" for anyone in a leadership role and is written by two icons in the field.

What it IS NOT is an easy quick fix approach to leadership but rather a comprehensive, scientifically proven approach that has been validated by years of field application. The book provides theory and thought provoking ideas but goes the extra step by giving readers concrete "how to" techniques that can be implemented with immediate results.

In Measure of a Leader, behavioral experts Dr. Aubrey Daniels and James Daniels propose yet another "new model of leadership." Under this model, the authors suggest that the leader's role is to create conditions under which followers apply discretionary effort to implement the organizational mission, vision and values. They define discretionary behavior as "that behavior that a person could do if they choose, but for which they would not be punished if they
didn't...commonly (referred) to as going above and beyond the call of duty" (p. 16).

Unlike other books on leadership which focus on the leader's behavior, this book claims that the follower's behavior in response to the leader is what truly defines effective leadership. The four criteria of follower behavior include followers:

1. Apply discretionary effort towards the leader's goals;
2. Voluntarily sacrifice self-interest for the leader's cause;
3. Reinforce or critique others to encourage conformance to the leader's teachings; and
4. Establish guidelines for their own personal behaviors based upon what they perceive the leader
would approve or disapprove.

The book covers 19 chapters in an easy-to-read 200 pages. I found chapter three on discretionary effort, chapter five on leaders and managers, chapter nine on measuring follower response, and the Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) Model of follower motivation in chapter 11 to be of particular interest. The Appendix includes a very useful checklist highlighting 50 things to do for increasing leadership impact.

The writing is crisp and matter-of-fact, almost free of academic jargon that can confuse readers. It's clear through the examples and terminologies the authors use that they are incorporating lessons from their personal experiences as military leaders into this model. The book's coverage of the leader's application of positive reinforcement to create momentum for change is valuable since organizations typically rely on negative reinforcement and then wonder why the right behaviors aren't demonstrated consistently. Negative reinforcement reduces the likelihood of negative behaviors but doesn't encourage acceptable behavior--positive reinforcement does.

Recommended for business consultants, corporate managers, or professors interested in understanding the importance of follower behavior in defining effective leadership and how to inspire discretionary effort in achieving organizational mission, vision, and values.

Armchair Interviews says: Another look at leadership.

Every person in a leadership position or student who plans to be in a leadership role needs to read and absorb the wonderful insights the Daniels brothers have put into this book. This is the first time I've seen anyone provide a viable methodology for truly measuring leadership. The book is rich with examples and remedies that any serious student leadership will find invaluable in their quest for excellence.

The Daniels brothers have brought a new level of precision and behavioral focus to the leadership advocacy arena.

I've never read anything that portrays the true nature of leadership better than this book.

It's not a quick read, which may limit the audience in this era of EADD (executive attention deficit disorder). It's also not a superficial scraping of what leadership might appear to be.

It's more like what leadership really is, and the best ways to see that it occurs with more regularity and success.

For some hitters the battle against the pitcher and the defense is lost well before the ball is pitched. As a former head coach and now a hitting instructor at the semi-pro level, I have always been on the lookout for keys and prompts to give to my hitters to clear their mind of everything but a concentration on the ball and solid contact. This book gives me those cues in a simple to understand, and more importantly, a simple way of presenting those mental reminders. I particularly like the three simple questions to ask the hitter after every at bat. "What were you trying to do?", "What went wrong?" ,"What will you do next time?". The techniques suggested to get across to players the oft-repeated theme of this book - "see the ball and be easy!" are easy to understand and implement. I have been much more confident in my ability to get that message into my players heads after reading this book.

The Mental Keys to Hitting is the Greatest most user friendly baseball coach's book ever. I thought the mental aspects of Seeing the ball were extremely effective. Most readers reading this review might think that every player is seeing the ball properly. Players do not see the ball as well as they should because they have never been taught the proper mind set of seeing the ball.Coaching hitters to see the ball is one of the most important things a coach can teach his players.This is absolutely not coached at any level of youth baseball. Mr. Dorfman does an excellent job of explaning this simple but often overlooked method of batting. I have bought The Mental Game of Baseball, The Mental Game of Pitching, and The Mental Keys to hitting. These three books are the TOP Three baseball coaching books ever written. I highly recommend this book and the other two books by Mr. Dorfman. This book will teach you the coach how to apply these mental princples to help you to effectively coach your youth league baseball team.

Best book on the subject I have ever read - very usable.

For the player who wants to excell at a high level, the information in this book is critical to that success. Easy to read & understand.

Chuck Schumacher
Owner-- Chucks Gym
Baseball & Martial Arts
Training & conditioning

Until I read this book I was throwing helmets, tossing bats, and swearing after every at-bat. The Mental Keys to Hitting gave me confidence to go to the batter's box with a plan and execute to the best of my ability. A must-read for any player.

Its a must have book

This book builds on a basic understanding of SQL Server, showing real-world scenarios and advice on what to look for to make database application perform optimally.

I've read at least a half dozen books on MSC Sql/Server at this point, and this was by far the most useful. It's both a good guide to general DB development practices and a tutorial on SQL/Server. This book and the MSC manuals is enough to get someone started on SQL/Server. I took the time to write this review in the hopes of saving someone else all the effort I expended buying and reading the useless books.

This is, by far, on of the most usefull books on Microsoft SQL Server I have seen. It covers important information about optimizing queries, indexes and the database itself. A must read for SQL developers and administrators.

Really covers SQL tunning well. Gets a little too much into general DBA stuff in the end. I would recommend the Ken England book over this one, simply because it is more concise.

Tuxedomoon is an hybrid of a band that persevered and triumphed against all odds. Their score for choreographer Maurice Bejart's Greta Garbo inspired ballet Divine, thrust the band into the international spotlight.
Prior to that they had long inhabited the dark corners of the continents through tireless navigation of the nightclubs and performance art venues of the US and then as expatriates in Europe. So to an early fan like myself it was sweet to bear witness to the arc of success of these prolific recording artists as they developed a huge following in Europe even before their work with Bejart.
Isabelle Corbisier's book charts this arc of success with élan and devotion. Through story telling interwoven with gritty oral interviews and music reviews, Corbisier adeptly deconstructs the convergences of the pertinent movements of the times; new wave, no wave, goth, dada, anarchist, etc.
This is a must read for anyone intrigued by the petri-dish that was punk and new wave in the 70's and 80's. That Tuxedomoon is still a poignant and working band today in 2008 which the book takes us through, is a testament to the old saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. - Daniel Nicoletta

Isabelle Corbisier's book for TUXEDOMOON is impressive by the amount of information disclosed ... The group deserved it, not only because of the quality of its products but also by his emblematic side in the musical universe of 80's years . The meeting of practitioners in various spheres of the establishment to produce a work leaning toward Total Art.

I like very much it's abounding aspect , all these notes in the margins were absolutely necessary for a group such Tuxedomoon which elegantly practice the art of dispersion (or the breakup of the art, to better spread).

Must be read. (2008 - Lightning Source - 460 pages)

This book is unbelievable! Even for people who do not know the band or the artists. If you like reading exciting detailed artists chronicles, go ahead and buy this! Tuxedomoon - From their early days in San Francisco's post hippie era to the Brussels eurostyle post punk, moving further to real new World Music. Sound, Light, Film, Poetry. Read this unique book about a unique band by a unique author. Excellent!!!

As a fan for over a quarter of a century of the Tuxedomoon diaspora/odessy I was awaiting this book with keen interest. However, let's be realistic, most books written about artists and musicians simply gather known information or try to claim a unique perspective.

In contrast this book is a major triumph - it gathers a huge number of sources together, it makes connections, it presents varying ideas/opinions and memories. I personally found that I could not put the book down - spending an exhausting 3 days with an initial reading - there is so much to digest(fortunately the speedy arrival of the order came just before the Chinese Grave Sweeping Holiday).

I'm now finding that this book is very much deserving of further reading + even the footnotes and margin notes are like a portal to a huge array of further information and sources!

These days it has become a cliche for music and books to be given the status of "essential". We live in a world where there are coutless choices - I recommed that 1 choice you should make is to discover this book - it's a complex web of stories that will enrich your life!

I've been following the inimitable genre-hopping, globe-trotting exploits of Tuxedomoon for the best part of thirty years, and in all that time there's been nothing written/published that attempts to both provide insightful aesthetic perspective and get to grips with the full panoply of the band's rich and resolutely ungainly unfolding history.

So I had hugely high hopes for this, the first lengthy book devoted to Tuxedomoon. A labour of love, seven years in the making by someone who's a close confidante of the band.

Isabelle certainly doesn't disappoint. Now - at long last - there's a book which does the band and their many and various achievements (and foibles) some justice.

Aware that there probably won't be that many books written about the band (!!), she's amassed an extraordinary amount of historical background, interview and opinion, presented chronologically and covering group and solo activities from (and before) the band's inception to the present day.

The evocations of the various milieu in which Tuxedomoon found themselves are fascinating, and the book's willingness to wander laterally from its subject matter (into, f.e., a brief intro to Situationist thought) serves to add greater depth and context to the whole enterprise.

I found it all completely captivating, devouring it in three long days during which nothing else got done. I'd go so far as to call the book a real triumph, certainly deserved of attention well beyond its immediate 'niche' market. I really hope it gets it - I haven't enjoyed any other musical biography as much, and I've read quite a few over the years.

My unreserved recommendation - this is an absolute `must-read', capable of both enthusing anyone with even a passing interest in the band and satisfying the questions of long-term fans like myself.