Performance Books

It was wonderful to read this book and feel so empowered to go after my goals in life. It's about achieving success and knowing how to get there! Mr. Murphy's guidelines taught me how to get my mind working together with my body to achieve happiness and health. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to get ahead and feel good at the same time!

Practical steps you can take that will help you accomplish what you want to do. First you have to know what you want to do.

I bought this book not to improve my athletic performance -- though I used it for my swimming -- but for other areas of my life, and I found it to be very helpful. It's easy to read, doesn't contain the wild hype and intensity of some other books on similar subjects, and is nicely formatted so you can quickly refresh your understanding of helpful techniques.

I would recommend everyone to buy this book, regarding if you are a "Hondafan" or not.

As a recently new Acura NSX owner the more knowledge generated about this exclusive and unique automobile the better. The Acura-Honda NSX Performance Portfolio has been invaluable in better understanding every aspect of the car, its history, concept development, operation, performance, technical aspects, and much more. For every NSX owner or anyone considering the purchase of this one of a kind supercars, this book is a MUST and also great reading for non-NSX owner automobile enthusiasts as well. Truly a 5 Star book of information.

Lots of professional writeups on the Supercar from Japan. Not a fast read as the information is from many different perspectives. Very intersting for the NSX owner or fan.

Excellent resource for those seeking to bridge between traditional control and Advanced Process Control. It is easily read and understood. For each topic there is the recommended practical approach, followed by examples: followed by a concise theory section. The CD is an excellent tool for improving skills and extending the understanding of APC. There are several topics coverd by this book and they are covered very well. Chapters 2 & 3 as well as Appendix D (Top 20 Mistakes Made Today & Every Day for the Last 40 Years) are exceptional value and the price of the book is covered by these chapters alone.

This is a fantastic book for someone who is interested in implementing an advanced controls project, but may have been intimidated in the past with the complex math, tools, etc...The first two chapters have a about 1000 years of practical experience in the proper use of final control elements (valves, transmitters, drives, etc...). Highly recommended!

The advent of powerful and friendly integrated software has moved Advanced process control (APC) from the realm of consultants into the arena of the average process control engineer. The obstacles of infrastructure and special skills requirement have started to disappear and we are poised for an accelerated application of APC.

Until recently most of this knowledge ended up with consultants, and the success of the application often deteriorated once they departed. There is now an opportunity to for the engineers closest to the process and daily operations to take a much more active role in the development and support of APC applications.

This book serves a bridge for industrial practitioners of Process Control to enter into the world of APC applications. Greater understanding, support and involvement of onsite engineers can increase the success rate and longevity of any APC project and application.

The book focuses on practice and applications, backed up by enough theory to insure a deeper understanding. The book demystify APC and makes it more accessible.

I am an Industrial Practitioner of Process Control. I have been working for more than 16 years as an Instrumentation, Automation, and Process Safety and Control Engineer for the Oil & Gas Industry. This book helped me to get a better understanding of APC in order to identify possible opportunities for its applications on my job.

The coverage of the theory in the first part of the book is very well done. However, its the practical examples in the second half where the book really shines. There are a number of examples modeling client server and web applications.

A copy of his modeling tool, PDQ, is available by download from his website. This version is in Perl. Even though I am not a very experienced Perl programmer I think this is an interesting way to get more practice by building PDQ models. The PDQ package is explained very well and a number of example models are covered.

Some of the examples are from various scattered publications. It's great to get these example models collected in one volume. Dr. Gunthers characteristic sense of humor comes through in the examples.

There is some very practical information about model validation and what to do to account for hidden latencies. There are clear examples of how to practice the art of applying queuing models to real problems.

I would have liked to see some more examples of load dependent servers. Overall I rate the book five stars and I really appreciate getting the modeling software for free!

This book lays out basics of queuing theory in a way that is both understandable and easy to apply. I have fumbled for years using complex performance analysis tools without ever really knowing whether or not I'm getting the right answer. Now I know what looks right and what doesn't. Gunther has an easy to follow style as he introduces the concepts of queuing theory. Then he shows you how to apply what you have learned using real life examples. It's a definite "must have" for the capacity planner or system performance analyst.

dr. gunther has written a gem of a performance analysis book. for starter, the unix load average is a wonderful detective story. i especially liked chapter 5 with real performance analysis experiences applying queueing theory discussed in both chapter 2 and 3. the best part is dr. gunther's exposition of queueing theory into the essence for the working performance analysts. in addition, appendix B on buffers and appendix C on memoryless property are the most lucid explanation i have read. i would also heartily recommend dr. gunther's other book, the practical performance analyst.

This is an excellent book. Diana Taylor is a wonderful writer and anyone interested in performance studies and/or theatre of conversion will benefit from reading it.

Taylor's "The Archive and the Repertoire" is an absolute must-read for all scholars and students in performance studies, cultural studies, Latin American studies, and the social sciences in general.

Drawing on a diverse range of case studies from a Peruvian community theatre troupe to Univision astrologist Walter Mercado to her own firsthand account of witnessing 9/11, Taylor creates a new vocabulary for describing how cultures remember and re-enact with the body.

Although her insights are crucial for the future of performance studies and useful to senior scholars in the field, she writes with a clarity and personality that will engage undergraduate students as well.

VERY highly recommended.

In her wonderful new book, Diana Taylor, a distinguished professor of both Spanish and performance studies, brings her areas of expertise into "conversation." Performances, she argues, are vital "acts of transfer" that transmit social knowledge, memory and a sense of identity in Latin/o American (and by extension other) cultures.
She writes, "I am not suggesting that we merely extend our analytic practice to other `Non-Western' areas. Rather, what I propose here is a real engagement between two fields that helps us rethink both." By working from the points of disconnection between area and performance studies Taylor creates a new framework for approaching performance as embodied social practice.

Shifting focus to "the live" requires new methodologies and Taylor creates exciting new theoretical tools to further this discussion. Since, in her view, much performance writing betrays the "embodiedness" it seeks to describe; Taylor coins terms that do not derive from literary sources. The repertoire of her title is her term for a "non-archival system of transfer" that can capture the ephemeral trace of performance. By providing her reader with a kind of archive of affect, Taylor makes the body central. She argues that the repertoire "allows for an alternative perspective on historical processes...by following traditions of embodied practice" instead of literary rhetoric. As an alternative to "narrative" she offers scenario, a term with a theatrical genealogy, meaning an open-ended " sketch or outline" as a way to connote colonial encounters. For example, Taylor wittily names the scenario in which we are encouraged to "overlook the displacement and disappearance of native peoples" at the root of the popular show Survivor, "Fantasy Island." Taylor expands on this theme in her second chapter, Scenarios of Discovery: Reflections on Performance and Ethnography. She writes, "Using scenario as a paradigm for understanding social structures and behaviors might allow us to draw from the repertoire as well as the archive."

Using these terms as "portable frameworks" and moving in and out of first person experience, Taylor explores a range of hemispheric performances. Chapters on the Mexican mestizaje, campy Latino American psychic Walter Mercado, and the ways that minority populations mourned Princess Diana, explore the hybrid spaces between perception and embodied culture. Taylor revisits the Argentinean "Dirty War"
(the topic of her book Disappearing Acts) in her chapter on H.I.J.O.S. -the children of the disappeared- and the "DNA of performance" that links them with their absent parents. Chapters on Brazilian performance artist Denise Stoklos, witnessing 9/11 and a 1998 Central Park performance of Rumba musicians interrupted by the NYPD, investigate the complex relations between hegemonic power and the anarchic spirit of live performance against a background of historic violence.

This book is a path-making piece of scholarship that recognizes performance as a valid focus of analysis. It creates a dialogue between area and performance studies that values the unique features of both. The questions Diana Taylor asks in Archive and the Repertoire extend beyond this work and will shape a terrain of inquiry in performance studies for years to come.

In Becoming Criminal, with remarkable ingenuity, Reynolds develops and demonstrates an original, purposeful, and conscientious critical approach, what he calls "transversal theory," that is simultaneously poststructuralist, performance-oriented, humanist, and materialist (the book teems with evidence from early modern texts of all genres: plays, pamphlets, poems, state documents, and personal letters). In effect, Reynolds' work is at the cutting edge of the next generation of literary-critical-performance studies, and thus Becoming Criminal may be as important to the next twenty years of early modern studies as Stephen Greenblatt's Renaissance Self-Fashioning has been to the last twenty. But Reynolds's "transversal poetics," I predict, will not just replace the new historicism as the dominant critical paradigm; it will continue to be a major influence well beyond the next two decades, especially given that its methodology is subsuming (manifesting and expanding on much of what the new historicism had to offer), processual (self-aware and open-ended), and necessitates evolution in response to both the changing environments through which the transversal critic travels and the various subject matters she/he pursues. As Reynolds' transversal slogan emphasizes, "Become what you aren't."

I never thought that a book about criminal culture in early modern England would help me to change my own life. I bought the book because I am a historian, but ended up reading the book as a self-help book. Reynolds develops a theory of identity formation and social history that he calls "transversal theory." While reading the book, I came to realize that everything he talks about, except the crimnal stuff, relates to me and my life. Having minority status on a number of levels, and therefore constantly scrambling for agancy and affirmation, I immediately took to Reynolds' ideas. He supplies not only a methodology for academic reasearch, but also for negotiating one's life within their social worlds. By showing me how I came to be subjectified, and how sociopolitical conductors work to constrain me, and by demonstrating how I can become what I'm not as a means by which to become what I am such that the worlds around me comes to respect and celebrate my differences; and, most importantly, by providing me with both the theory and method by which to become whatever I want, Reynolds has inspired me in ways I never imagined possible. In many ways, this is a manifesto for improvemnt through alternative thought and social performance. For me, Reynolds is like an Emerson for everyone today looking to be more self-reliant and to grow in unexpected, creative, and life-inspiring ways. The book is also a fine work of social history, about the relationships among crimnals, space, language, and theater in the time of Shakespeare.

Becoming Criminal: Transversal Performance and Cultural Dissidence in Early Modern England is revolutionary for many reasons and will contribute invaluably to research in the humanities. The big word of the last twenty years has been "interdisciplinarity," and, in my opinion, it has not produced the kinds of studies it implies. While there have been theoretical and methodological cross-fertilization within the humanities, arts, social sciences, and natural sciences, the borders between these fields are rarely self-consciously traversed. Such traversing of borders is among the many things that distinguishes Reynolds' transversal approach -- a theoretical framework he initiated in his 1997 Theatre Journal article, "The Devil's House, `or worse': Transversal Power and Antitheatrical Discourse in Early Modern England," that is now taught in all theatre theory and performance theory courses. The fact that Becoming Criminal is truly cross-disciplinary and theoretically-driven in both scope and methodology, and thus important to scholarship in a number of fields (literary criticism, history, sociology, linguistics, semiotics, cultural studies, performance studies, and critical theory) greatly distinguishes it from other books on the representation of rogues, vagabonds, and gypsies in early modern English literature. This book has been hugely helpful to me, someone who is currently writing a book on the dramatic and literary representation of highwaymen in the long 18th century. (Look for it in 2006!)

Leon Plantinga writes clearly and does not clutter his prose with arcane musicological terminology. Yet he presents insights into this music that cannot be obtained elsewhere. A separate booklet, included with the book, presents numerous examples in music type for those who wish to see the precise points in the scores mentioned in the text.

The seven Beethoven concertos, five for piano, one for violin, and one for piano, violin, and cello are among the most familiar works in music. The fourth and fifth piano concertos and the violin concerto were among the works that introduced me to classical music many years ago. I have returned to the concertos many times, most recently in writing a series of reviews on Amazon of the piano concertos. I wanted the benefit of a study to assist my listening and turned to this thoroughly detailed book by Leon Plantinga, "Beethoven's Concertos" History, Style, Performance". (1999) The book taught me a great deal. Plantinga is Professor of Music at Yale University, and he has written extensively on the classical and romantic periods in music history.

Plantinga's book begins with a basic introduction to the concerto form as Beethoven inherited it from his predecessors and developed it in his own compositions. This is followed by two largely biographical chapters which discuss Beethoven's exposure to the concerto while growing to adulthood in Bonn and in his early years in Vienna. Each of the seven concertos is then discussed in detail in lengthy chapters. Plantinga concludes with observations on performance practices in the Beethoven concertos.

The study both treats Beethoven's concertos as a group, showing how Beethoven's treatment of the form changed as he progressed, and also is a guide to each individual work. Plantinga shows how the concerto evolved in Beethoven's hands from works he wrote for his own performance and published only later to musical texts that existed separately from their performance by a particular artist for a specific occasion. Thus, Beethoven performed the piano concertos no. 2 and no.1 many times during his early years in Vienna but published them relatively late, in 1801. Orchestral parts were written out in more detail than the solo part, which Beethoven frequently changed and improvised at the keyboard. In the latter concertos, beginning with the fourth piano concerto, Beethoven began to shift towards publication at the outset rather than to performance and then publication much later.

Plantinga has a great deal to say about the performance of the concertos and about the contemporary interest in "period" sytle performances. I have been listening to several period recordings recently. Plantinga warns only against supposing that period readings are the only or the "authentic" way to perform these glorious concertos. These works, even the latter concertos, include great room for improvisation and different styles. Even the tuning of the instruments did not always follow the equal temprament that is invariably used today. The soloist frequently conducted the early concertos at least from the piano and the soloist also played or was expected to accompany the orchestra during the tutti (ensemble) sections. Period performance, Plantinga suggests, are in fact a type of modernism which tries to expunge romanticism from the playing of Beethoven's concertos. Plantinga himself does not show much sympathy with period readings. While I have grown to enjoy period performances, they are not the only legitimate approach to these inexhaustible works.

I also learned a great deal from Plantinga's treatment of each individual work. For each concerto, Plantinga gives background as to its composition and performance history and detailed musical analyses of each movement. I particularly enjoyed Plantinga's treatment of the origin of the pivotal piano concerto no. 3 in C minor, Opus 37. Plantinga argues that this work was written during the period in which Beethoven wrote his second symphony (1802- 1803) rather than much earlier as is sometimes supposed. In his treatment of the work itself, Plantinga shows the great advances musically that it made over its predecessors. Plantinga is also good in his discussion of the early piano concerto no. 2 and in his detailed treatment of the possible programatic readings of the second movement of the piano concerto no. 4.

The work is full of detailed musical examples, and they are presented in a separate booklet, rather than in the text. The entire slow movement of the fourth piano concerto is included, as are key thematic passages from the other concertos. I found it useful to use the booklet as I listened to the concertos.

Plantinga sees the Beethoven concertos as exemplifying a spirit of heroism, struggle, and high moral purpose that is somewhat out of temper with our skeptical age. It takes an effort of sympathetic understanding to respond to this music. Plantinga writes (p.8) that late 20th Century alienation "threatens our perception of Beethoven's persistent vision of heroic struggle towards human perfection... The real struggle is an internal one, and the triumph exists largely in the moral sphere -- a domain with which art to Beethoven's mind, was always inextricably intertwined." These are inspiring words with which to begin to hear Beethoven for the first or for the hundreth time.

In its depth and musical sophistication, this would not be a good book with which to begin to know the Beethoven concertos. But the book is accessible to lay readers. For those who have lived with the Beethoven concertos and want to revisit them in detail, Plantiga's study is an excellent choice.

Robin Friedman

The kudos given this work by the above reviewers are well-deserved. Do not be misled, however, into thinking that an affection, or even a passion, for Beethoven guarantees your appreciation of Plantinga's sophisticated analysis. Do not buy this book if you do not have a fairly strong command of music theory and terminology.

Web 2.0 (wikis, blogs, social networking, SMS, chat,et al) give us a whole new world of connectivity. But in addition to dealing with the daily drudge of email, Web 2.0 also can overwhelm us with noise. Thompson breaks new ground by turning to nature and the field of biomimicry to both tame and harness the new world of connectivity in getting work done by building agile high performance teams. I like to think of it as Collaboration 2.0. Thompson gives us the "human protocols" needed for effective communication using the new media. I totally agree with Dr. Patrick Cannon's comment about the book, "Don't just read it, use it."

In an era where the forces of convergence are blurring and challenging the paradigms between businesses, customers, suppliers and industry ecosystems and where technology is leading non-linear change in the processes and dominant fabrics of society, there is a need for a holistic approach for anticipating and managing these external catalysts whilst concurrently fostering interaction, co-evolution and "emergence" between these agents operating in any given organizational, cultural, societal and/or economic system.

Ken Thompson in Bioteams delineates the extraction of the biological processes and principals underpinning nature's evolution to its application in human and organizational contexts through extrapolation and real life case studies. A very significant portion of the book is dedicated to expanding on the bioteam action `zones', rules and techniques, exemplifying the traits of collective leadership and transparency, with Thompson aligning the directive for the methodology to disrupt existing organizational DNA by designing, enabling and integrating the tenets of `living systems' theory (known as autopoiesis in the biological vernacular).

The inclusion of a dynamic bioteam evaluation scorecard together with associated techniques for team design and mobilization and the detailed case studies gives rise to the conclusion that if correctly embraced, bioteaming initiatives are strategic innovations that lead to the emergence of complex behavior using simple concepts of self-organisation. A must read for anyone serious about taking evolution seriously!!

(perhaps even three reads)

The biggest challenge businesses today face is unlearning what was successful in the industrial age and learning how to prosper in the network era.


Ken Thompson has written an important book, a guidebook to help companies move from vestiges of the industrial age to the efficiencies of the network era.

Companies are not machines; they are living organisms. Yesterday's organizational teams are giving way to organic, self-organizing bioteams. Drawing on lessons from biology, ecology, and the natural world, Thompson provides wise counsel for setting up and nurturing bioteams. Here's the bottom line:

"After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival. Like the viceroy butterfly imitating the monarch, we humans are imitating the best and brightest organisms in our habitat. We are learning, for instance, how to grow food like a prairie, build ceramics like an abalone, create color like a peacock, self-medicate like a chimp, compute like a cell, and run a business like a hickory forest."

Thompson believes that today's managements misunderstand the dynamic and living nature of the team as an entity over and above its membership.

The book is in good condition. It arrive on time.

My purchase of this book has been a great help. It was cheep and awesome to just get it at my house...

Book arrived on time, as listed.I will use this sight for other books.

Whether you are at an entry level position or a seasoned HR professional, this book is an excellent guide for promoting and maximizing total company quality and development. LaBonte takes you step by step through the process of integrating HPI into your company to pave the way for organizational success.

When Tom LaBonte decided to write Building a New Performance Vision, he created a template for moving training organizations "out of the outsourcing zone." But more importantly, he shared a secret weapon for companies to flourish even in the midst of mergers, reorganizations and technology change. That secret involves working across functional silos to partner, identify performance issues and enhance the organization's performance. LaBonte calls thus structure for change the Human Performance Improvement (HPI) organization. HPI organizations start by building support from the CEO of a company. They then organize for success by forming cross-functional teams with new roles, skills and knowledge. Building a New Performance Vision guides the reader through the entire process - from organizing to implementing performance improvement solutions.

If you are an HR leader, a line manager, a consultant or a practitioner, spending a few hours with this book will dramatically change the way you think and work within your company. Appendices include a glossary of terms, job descriptions and core competencies for Performance Consultants, Human Performance Improvement organizations and an organizational model for structuring a Human Performance Improvement department. Tables, charts and key points at the end of each chapter make the book easy to skim and navigate. But you will probably want to read it from cover to cover anyway!

While the concepts laid forth in the book are for mid to large companies, the strategies and goals can be applied to all levels. Comprehensive but still written in a fairly conversational tone, a must read for those who job or goals are to make the organization work better. And convince others they are right. Human Performance Improvement (HPI), what it is and how to make it work for your organization. The plan is clearly laid out. As someone who designs, delivers and sells technical training, Mr. LaBonte's book provides me with more than just buzz words, the book delivers a clear plan, a clear path on how I work with my customers, so I can help them achieve their goals. Standing in the trenches, striving to improve operations, it is great to have a road map that can resolve real problems for both internal and external customers. Thanks.