Profit The Books

"The Cost Management Toolbox" is an excellent reference book, being a very useful and practical tool for accounting and non-accounting professionals. I use it very often for day to day managerial accounting situations in which the concepts presented by an experienced professional as Lianabel Oliver are very helpful. It is very easy to understand, and its examples are clear and concise.

This is one of the best finance/accounting books I have read. For practicing generalists, this book is right on target -- not too detailed, but detailed enough. What's more, it's excellently written! My only criticism is that the title is somewhat misleading -- alot of topics other than "cost management" are covered by the author. Highly recommended!

I find this book terrific, as my current work involve costing and I don't have any accounting background. It tells me the very logical way to know the how the cost really count-on. I do recommend it to any person who want to know costing more deeply.

I really enjoyed reading this book. By far, it is one of the best I've read in the field of cost accounting. Lianabel does a great job explaining the concepts and bringing them to life with examples. By the way, if you're interested in ABC/ABM, Tom Pryor's book called "Using ABM for Continuous Improvement" is also a great book with lots of examples.

Lianabel Oliver's book is an excellent simple book for managers and yes the general public! This book has helped understand the budgets the Administrator prepares in our office very year in terms of the importance of allocating effort and money to the continuously changing needs and demands of our work. It has also helped in formulating the right questions when I read the audit reports, budget projections, and income balance statements as a member of several board of directors.

Practical questions are introduced in each chapter and the analyses tools to deal with them are provided in both a simple and a more complex manner. The complex concepts are extremely well explained. Someone like myself, with no formal financial background could understand the concepts and reason through the chapters. One of the most amazing aspects of the book is that it draws on the very vast experience of the author with concrete examples that illustrate the points she is making and shows the various paths that one might take --the good and the bad. Showing the bad choices one can make and how to solve the problems this creates is seldom found in professional literature.

This book should be required reading for business people in general but most importantly for those businesses that deal directly with costumers. For example, chapter 8 will show both how to effectively measure the financial performance of these people-related businesses and how to improve the quality of service (cost management).

... If you want to start a business in crochet. I was thinking about it in the back of my mind but now that I've read this book I feel like I have all the info. I need to go for it!

I found this book at my local library and after reading half of the "for profit" section I had to look it up on Amazon to see if I could find it! I needed to have a copy of my own. If you're on the fense buy it - you won't regret it!

I teach crochet and am always on the lookout for ways to earn money doing what I love. Darla Sims' Crocheting for Fun & Profit gives clear, concise, and concrete information on how to turn your crochet into cash. The book is divided into two parts; Fun, and Profit. I admit that I read Part Two first. I found Sims' profiles of teachers, craftswomen, designers, editors, and writers informative and inspiring. The chapters on marketing and the basics of running a crafts-business should help the would-be entrepeneur avoid some common pitfalls of starting a small business. She covers how to collect on bad checks, accepting credit cards, taxes and more. Crochet is definitely not the way to riches, but by following Sims realistic advice you can supplement your income doing something you love. And who knows, if you're extremely enterprising you may actually be able to earn a living at it.

Beginners will find clear explanations of the basics in Part One. While Sims' doesn't devote any visuals to left-handers, she instructs lefties to trace the illustrations and then turn them over, creating a mirror image. A nifty, if time consuming suggestion. More experienced crocheters will find the section on designing your own projects invaluable as few books cover this subject. She also provides a handy chart on how to read those mysterious garment-care symbols that we see on laundering instructions. And there's a formula for converting ounces to grams and back again.

This book has a place in any serious crocheter's library.

I teach crochet and am always on the lookout for ways to earn money doing what I love. Darla Sims' Crocheting for Fun & Profit gives clear, concise, and concrete information on how to turn your crochet into cash. The book is divided into two parts; Fun, and Profit. I admit that I read Part Two first. I found Sims' profiles of teachers, craftswomen, designers, editors, and writers informative and inspiring. The chapters on marketing and the basics of running a crafts-business should help the would-be entrepeneur avoid some common pitfalls of starting a small business. She covers how to collect on bad checks, accepting credit cards, taxes and more. Crochet is definitely not the way to riches, but by following Sims realistic advice you can supplement your income doing something you love. And who knows, if you're extremely enterprising you may actually be able to earn a living at it.

Beginners will find clear explanations of the basics in Part One. While Sims' doesn't devote any visuals to left-handers, she instructs lefties to trace the illustrations and then turn them over, creating a mirror image. A nifty, if time consuming suggestion. More experienced crocheters will find the section on designing your own projects invaluable as few books cover this subject. She also provides a handy chart on how to read those mysterious garment-care symbols that we see on laundering instructions. And there's a formula for converting ounces to grams and back again.

This book has a place in any serious crocheter's library.

After reading this book I feel prepared to start turning my crochet fun into crochet profit. It has made a crochet cottage industry seem in reach.

Although I am lucky enough to have met Darla Sims in person, this book is still a well loved and well worn "bible" for my Crochet Publishing business! Everything you need to know to get started in any part of the industry is here in this book.

From learning to crochet to contacting publisher, from starting your business to creating the end product, this easy to follow guide will help you make a success of your endevors.

Genre: Health/Well-being

Title: Diabetes: Sugar-Coated Crisis

Author: David Spero, RN

"We are a product of our environment." How many times have we heard that cliché?
Anyone who reads or watches the news is aware of the catastrophic epidemic of Diabetes, especially Type 2 (T2D). Diabetes has increased by 400% in the last 30 years, to become the fourth leading cause of death in the US.
With concise, understandable facts, Diabetes is presented as a social disease, largely caused by the individuals loss of power, economically and personally. Food alone cannot be blamed, car travel instead of walking, sedentary jobs and increasingly high levels of stress are just a few facts to be aware of. Genetics and trauma that damages self-confidence has been proven not just individually based but on whole groups of people. Native Americans, African-Americans and other groups with historical trauma, pass the stress of grief, anger and fear down to the next generations as post-traumatic stress disorder.
The chapter, Diabetes 101 gives you basic knowledge of Diabetes itself. The body loses it's ability to breakdown carbohydrates into our primary source of energy, glucose. We produce a hormone from the pancreas called insulin which facilitates the entry of glucose into body cells. It becomes our fuel or if there is extra glucose, it is converted into fat. In Type 1 Diabetes, the pancreatic cells have been compromised and no longer produce insulin. In Type 2, insulin is still produced but the cells don't want any more so the glucose builds up in the blood stream. Refined sugar is an addictive drug because it raises the body's level of serotonin which fights depression and beta-endorphin which is our own natural version of opiate drugs. These two chemicals give you a sense of control and calm therefore we crave sugar, "comfort foods."
Our society is high in sugar and stress, low in social support and opportunities to exercise. Unfortunately, medical systems focus on genetics, biochemistry and drug therapy. Governments spend billions on researching cures when the money would be better spent on education and prevention.
David Spero, RN is an author who has gone to great lengths to educate his readers and provides a valuable self-care chapter and resource guide. While reading, you actually feel like he is sitting beside you, coaching the need to survive. He believes that by becoming more active, eating healthier, well balanced with relaxation, your self-esteem and self-empowerment will rise, ultimately creating better quality of life.
I highly recommend everyone read this enlightening book. Reviewer: Cheryl Ellis, Allbooks Review.

This is a wonderful book! I have never read anything like it. It's part self-help guide, part social criticism, part strategy for social change. In discussing causes and solutions to the diabetes crisis, Spero shows the connections of health issues, not only with emotional wellbeing--what is usually called a holistic approach--but also with family, community, politics, social power, and social justice. And he does all of this in a gentle, caring, humorous, and down-to-earth voice that makes you feel like he's sitting in your kitchen talking to you, and that he really cares about and respects you. He attacks our culture's blame-the-victim explanations for overweight and diabetes, showing how the stresses of social injustice, isolation, and materialism--as well as environments that make exercise difficult and unhealthy food readily available--contribute to disease. But the best part is his discussion of steps people can take toward self-care and empowerment, on an individual, group, community, and societal level. He includes dozens of inspiring stories of how ordinary people--both people with diabetes and health professionals--are building new, more effective ways to promote personal and community wellness. All of this is supported by clearly presented scientific evidence--- including numerous studies showing that personal and group empowerment produce better clinical results in controlling diabetes than medication! Anyone who cares about healing and wellness on an individual, community, or societal level will love this book!

Unlike most medical writers, David has mounted a complete discussion about the diabetes epidemic that has hit our nation. He not only deals with the medical facts we need to know in dealing with this disease, he investigates the wider picture: the sociological implications of the disease. How Type 2 diabetes is not simply a medical problem as it is a social pandemic caused by toxic environment: an environment high in stress and sugar, low in opportunities to exercise or feel good about oneself - and a lack of power. Yes, if you feel he is saying that the poor and the disadvantaged have a greater susceptibility to the disease, you are right and he covers this point very well.
No where else have I seen such a complete discussion of the disease as I have found in this book.
David Spero's book should be in the library of every person in America who has borderline or onset diabetes.
As it says on the cover: This is "the first book to bring to life effective social approaches to wellness." This book transcends the standard medical treatments of diabetes and brings not only medical, but also social truth

I just finished reading this book -- in one sitting, mind you, and
that's saying a lot for somebody who doesn't have diabetes and hasn't had an
overwhelming interest in chronic disease. But it's a good & compelling
read. For instance, how can you resist little tidbits like the fact
that dinosaurs have arthritis, or that Cubans have the same life expectancy
as Americans with only 4% the health care outlay.....

Any writer on the diabetes epidemic might easily fall into one of two
errors: either growing paranoid and hateful toward the power structures
that support the epidemic, or else downplaying the contributing social,
political & economic outrages. I thought Spero did a great & graceful
job in balancing between the two -- painting a very full picture, without
getting stuck in blame or hatred.

Especially liked the tone of the ending, positive without any trace of
smarm.

It must be hard to write a book for everybody -- individuals with the
disease as well as health care workers, policy people, community
organizers -- but Spero has probably done that as well as it could be
done.

I suspect this book has the power to change a lot of lives. It could be
a classic.

In my spare time this week I read a couple of books. Both books are about diabetes. Both are new and both are very well written. But that is where the similarities end.

The first of these books left me feeling that having diabetes was hopeless. So hopeless, in fact, that I despaired that my articles could make a difference in the lives of any but the most motivated readers. And perhaps not even for them.

It is unheard of to review a book and not even mention its title. But I won't oblige. Any publicity is good publicity, and I wouldn't be doing anyone a favor by leading them to the first book.

The second book could not have been a better antidote to the depression that the first book caused. This book does start out by describing how this society's environment and the ensuing stress leads many of us into diabetes.

It notes the conventional wisdom that our genes or our bad behavior or a combination of the two causes our type 2 diabetes. Either we are doing something wrong or there's something wrong with us. It's blame-the-victim time.

But this book shows how type 2 diabetes is much more of a social disease than a medical one. The truth is that the disease is inherent in the society that surrounds us.

"The environment is set up to make people sick," the book says. "It's toxically high in sugar and stress and low in social support, opportunities to exercise, or to feel good about ourselves."

If it stopped there, this book might be almost as pessimistic as the first. But after brilliantly setting out the problem, the bulk of the book in fact deals with the solution.

Since diabetes is a social disease, the solution must be a social one. Not a medical solution, since medicine itself in embedded in the society.

We can get healthier by joining forces to change our environment. We start by building our personal power - increasing our self-confidence and our self-esteem, setting positive goals, and giving ourselves reasons to live.

Then we build social power. We do this by working together. Only then can we change our environment.

This second book brought to my attention one of the most remarkable scientific studies of diabetes empowerment. The study is set among the Pima Indians of Arizona, who have perhaps the highest rate of diabetes of any group in the world and certainly have the highest rate of diabetes in America.

The scientists set out to compare a structured program of exercise and nutrition interventions - which they labeled Pima Action - with unstructured activities emphasizing Pima history and culture - Pima Pride. Those in the Pima Pride group got a more positive sense of themselves.

The scientists planned Pima Pride as a sort of control group. Fortunately, they had a real control group in those who declined to join either Pima Action or Pima Pride.

It was fortunate that they had this third non-participatory group as a control because the results shocked the scientists. After 18 months, the Pima Pride group had better results than the Pima Action group in everything they measured - weight, blood glucose control, waist size. But those who didn't participate were worse off than either group. This showed that exercise and nutrition does help, but self-confidence and self-esteem helps even more.

There aren't many studies as good as this Pima one. But there are many heros working to empower small groups of us all around the country.

The author of this book, David Spero, has met with these groups and their leaders, including America Bracho, an M.D. from Venezuela at Latino Health Access in Santa Ana, California, and Kate Lorig, a researcher and health educator at Stanford University, who started the Arthritis Self-Management Program.

The arthritis program started a revolution by using lay leaders instead of health professionals to deal with chronic illness. Those who participated in this program exercised more, felt better, and were hospitalized less than the control group.

Arthritis, like diabetes, is a chronic condition. The author of the second book that I read this week, David Spero, doesn't have either illness. But for the past 25 years he has lived with an even more devastating chronic illness - multiple sclerosis. He has been a nurse for 32 years.

Since writing his first book, The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health When You Have a Chronic Illness (Hulter House, 2002), David Spero has led self-management and wellness groups for patients and has trained health care providers in the U.S. and Europe.

I'm still not going to tell you the name of the depressing book that I read first this week. Just as we are all better off by staying away from negative people as much as our work allows, we need to avoid negative books as much as possible.

But I have waited until now to tell you the title of David Spero's new book. I wanted to tell you what it was about before I told you what it's called, because I think that its name is misleading, with an emphasis that doesn't reflect its contents.

Its title is Diabetes: Sugar-Coated Crisis: Who Gets It, Who Profits and How to Stop It. New Society published this 222-page paperback for $16.95 this month. The ISBN 13 is 978-0-86571-567-7; the ISBN 10 is 0-86571-567-X. In spite of the title, this is a great book.

I found this publication very informative as in a single source, I was able to read about all of the productivity methods and measurement tools in the marketplace. As a novice to concepts like Six Sigma and activity based costing, it was a great to find in a few pages an explanation and practical implementation tips for these concepts and more. Starting with the overall history in this marketplace and then moving quickly into practical guidance, the author displayed a great command of the topics. I also saw how he blended the productivity measures to create a more meaningful accounting of a business operations....I just wish more companies took this approach.

With over forty years of experience in helping dozens of companies to become more profitable, the author gives us the fruits of that experience by cutting through many of the extraneous elements of traditional accounting methods. Being competitive has always been about change and adapting to new paradigms. This books and its theories are a "next generation" of principles that move accounting systems into the next century. Just don't tell your competition about it.

Lynn's book provides a very good overview of the methodologies being used today to improve corporate performance. We have suggested the use of this book to several of our clients so that performance improvements resulting from Lean Manufacturing and Lean/Six Sigma implementation can be accurately measured and tracked. Larry Steele - Steele Consulting Group

A very substantive and motivating read. Lynn did a great job of capturing me while showing me the way to how corporate performance managment will take place in the 21st Century. The material is integrated and very useful.

Operating a lean manufacturing facility is much different than a traditional order launched batch based operating system. The concept of eliminating all non-value adding activites while producing only customer demand flies in the face of the standard cost absorbtion based cost accounting systems used today. Not only does his book discuss the challenges of Lean to GAAP accounting systems, Mr. Northrup desribes alternative accounting methods and the ways to implement them within the guidelines of GAAP. This is a must read for the Lean Manufacturer!

Our current administration is fond of dismissing its critics by labeling THEM as extremists. The Whitewater investigators are part of a "right-wing conspiracy." Those who criticize the under-the-desk-activities at the Oval Office are simply venting their wrath against people from Arkansas, and those who oppose the failed War on Drugs are "fringe groups."

With each passing day, this tactic becomes harder to get away with, as "fringe" types such as George Schultz, Walter Cronkite and Perez de Cuellar weigh in against the Drug War. The latest of these "fringe" elements to come out against our idiotic drug policy is Dirk Chase Eldredge, a founding bank director, "successful entrepreneur," and former co-chairman of Ronald Reagan's campaign for governor of California.

This conservative Republican has examined our drug policies in considerable detail. He details the failures of the Justice Department, FBI, US Customs Service, and others in their futile quest for a "drug-free America."

He clearly points out the horrendous effects of these policies on our country: the overcrowded prisons, police corruption, violence, spread of AIDS, unjust sentencing, judicial overload, and the tyranny of asset forfeiture.

Some months ago, I was having a drink with Judge Jim Gray, an Orange County, California, Republican running for Congress, and I asked him how he broaches the subject of the Drug War to his conservative constituents. "Easy," he replied. "I just say, `let me tell you about an $18 billion federal program that doesn't work,' and they're all ears." That is just what Eldredge does in "Ending the War on Drugs." He gives us just the facts, Ma'am. Those facts are the key to effective policy, and Eldredge has plenty of them.

There is, however, a human note to his opus, too. Eldredge points out that his father's life was ruined by his addiction to alcohol, and that what he needed was help from medical people, not law enforcement. Eldredge is also quick to point out that the vast majority of drinkers, unlike his dad, do not have a problem with alcohol. Likewise, he says, "Ninety-six percent of people use drugs today, use them recreationally, without harming anyone."

Eldredge also gives lie to the "Try and Die" is another myth promoted by Prohibitionists. In the preface, Eldredge says, "America's War on Drugs is reminiscent of the Russian princess who sat weeping profusely at the death of the hero in a performance at the opera, while, at the curb, her waiting carriage driver froze to death in a Moscow ice storm." He understands the inherently dishonest nature of the Drug War and makes an excellent case for ending it.

If I have a quarrel with anything in this book, it is with his solution, or at least part of it. There are three possible administrators of the multi-billion-dollar drug market in the US - the free-market, the government, and the underworld. Currently, our policy-makers obviously favor giving control to the underworld. Ending the Drug War would leave us two choices; the free-market or the government. Eldredge favors the latter, in the form of state-run stores akin to the alcohol sales system in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other states. While this is an obvious improvement over turning the market over to the Mob, as we do today, I'm surprised that a self-proclaimed conservative Republican would opt for this Socialistic solution. A more effective system of state-regulated but privately owned "drug stores" would seem to be a better way to go. We are still a long way from either of these solutions, and have ample time to debate which one will prevail. Hopefully this book will hasten the time when that decision will have to be made.

Mr. Eldridge presents us with a very well writen critiqe of our nations stance against drugs. The book is full of insight into ways that the war on drugs can be put to better use. anyone interested in drug public policy should read this book.

The most knowledge packed 200 pages on Drug War circumstance I have ever read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in politics and especially on the War on Drugs. The author is incitive and extraordinarly objective in his discussion. I read the book in one sitting and immediately searched to find more books by Eldredge. Though an ex Reagan man (campaign for CA governor) his views show a fairly liberal view on the topic, far away from any Reagan stereotypes. Too much good to discuss here, just read it!

Dirk Chase Eldredge's "Ending the War on Drugs" is a powerful and persuasive book that argues that America's war on drugs has been an abysmal failure and should be ended as soon as possible. The author's message has a certain edginess in that he is one of a small but albeit growing number of Republicans who are weighing in against the drug war. Of particular note, Eldredge was co-chairman for the California Gubernatorial campaign of Ronald Reagan, who was perhaps the nation's most vocal drug warrior. Yet there wasn't a single word in this book that I could disagree with.

Eldredge is encouraging us to act like grown-ups and provide the caring and compassion that drug abusers need. Through the use of numerous statistics that are supplemented by some interesting anecdotes, the author overwhelmingly shows that interdiction has failed. The bottom line is that illegal drugs remain readilly available to those who seek them. But their illegal status has proven to be a boon to the drug lords, street gangs and other undesirable elements -- including Afghan terrorists, as we have recently learned -- who are attracted to the promise of quick and (usually) easy profits.

Edlredge contends that de-criminalization will swiftly take away the profit motive and bust up the drug gangs, both here at home and in places like Columbia and Mexico. Safer streets will enhance the quality of life for our citizens and no doubt help stablize the governments of countries where drug lords are nearly as powerful as the state. And for the user, government distribution will ensure a safer supply of drugs and, importantly, provide the drug user with a point of contact who could arrange treatment, should it ever be requested.

Eldredge's discussion of the nuances of how the anti-drug laws should be changed and the types of programs that need to be implemented show that he has spent a fair amount of time carefully considering the issue. But Eldredge takes care to critique the drug war in terms familiar to most Conservatives: as an example of wasteful government spending. If criminalizing drugs is not working as a deterrent to behavior patterns, and if it does not suppress the supply, then the government should logically search for alternative solutions where it may be able to get a better return on its investments.

One hopes that the mature message found in this book will be heeded by a growing number of policy makers. I encourage you to read it and to join the growing number of Americans who think that sanity and clarity of purpose should rightly replace the current state of insanity and corruption that unfortunately characterizes our country's current drug war strategy.

In Ending the War on Drugs, Dirk Eldredge provides an insightful and convincing look at the full gambit of issues surrounding our perceptions of drugs in this society. He succeeds masterfully in proving that we must reexamine our "War on Drugs." I believe anyone wishing to make an informed and educated opinion about our public policy toward illicit drugs should read this book. It is my hope that this book will help spark a fresh debate on what we might do to stem the tide of horrors our drug prohibition has brought not only to our society, but also to the global economic and political landscape. While many may disagree about his proposed solution, namely the federally controlled distribution of what would be newly legalized drugs, few could argue his conclusion that our attempted "War on Drugs", has been a absolute failure.

If you are looking for tons of information involved in the world of fashion business, this is a great book. It's kind of long, but for the most part it gets to the point of things and it offers great suggestions and a way of doing things. I found the charts and diagrams and spreadsheets in the book to be most helpful. The help you get a leg up on things so that you don't have to create your own. It's worth the read if your thinking about starting your own fashion business!

I advise anyone who is trying to come out with a line to read this book and purchase the DVD! This book is a great reference guide - something good to always keep on stand by. Very useful if you want to do things right!

I got this book today and I am delighted. the book tells you exactly how to set up your own line and how to sell it in details. this book is just exactly what I need. I also have some other books for starting fashion business but I'd say this book is the best and it is more focussed on the business side of fashion.

I went to fashion school, worked for large high end lines, did the whole deal. I was lucky that in one of my classes they made us read this book. This book is basically the bible to the apparel industry. I would say only 10% of this industry is design the other 90% is business which is covered completely in this book. I've looked into other similar books and they are great for the design aspects, but nothing covers the business end like this book, don't waste you time with other titles this is the one to read if you really want to know how to start your own line.

This book is a life saver! If you have ANY questions about starting your own line...BUY THIS BOOK! It covers everything from A to Z but with precise detail. The appendixes show great examples of different forms and documents that you would need in order to be successful. Most of the other fashion books are too basic and lacking in detail, but this book definitely delivers. It beats all my other fashion books hands down. (This is my first Amazon review- I normally read 'em but never write 'em but this book is worth it!)

This book is priceless when it comes to accessible, detailed, and critical how-to information on how to write grants. I highly recommend Grassroots Grants as a vital resource for any progressive activist who needs to raise cash for the movement.

As a staff member of a community foundation, I am called upon to give numerous presentations on how to get grants. I never fail to suggest buying Andy's book. It will pay for itself--and it's a good read besides. Virginia Martinez

Andy Robinson is one the best grassroots grant writers in the country. His book and a class I took from him helped us triple our budget from grants. The new edition is even better with excellent examples of winning grants from across the country.

I have long been a fan of Andy Robinson's writing and this is his best book to date. Useful for both new and experienced grant seekers. This book will now be number one on my list of recommendations for participants in my grant seeking workshops and I will make sure that each of the new fundraisers that I coach have a copy.

I'm the author of another book about "grant writing" for nonprofits, but still I heartily recommend this book. In fact, Grassroots Grants is the only other book about grant seeking I recommend. Here's why.

Grassroots Grants demonstrates on nearly every page how grant seeking can be compatible with the idealistic nature of small nonprofits. Though it is unquestionably and unapologetically written for what might be called the "progressive" movement in the US, its principles apply to activist organizations of any stripe. In the sometimes cynical world of fundraising, it's refreshing to see values so consistently applied. The author leaves no doubt: fundraising isn't just a game played with money and ego, it's about changing the world. The author's strong sense of purpose resonates warmly with the reader's.

Second, the book has an abundance of examples -- proposal narratives, budgets, etc. -- that very effectively demonstrate some basic principles of good writing and good grant seeking. For beginners these examples do a lot to demystify the job of grant seeking; they help the beginner get off to a quick start. For experienced fundraisers, they provide new ideas about style and presentation. I admire the numerous examples in this book enough to wish there were more in mine!

In contrast, I do think that one kind of advice is treated a bit lightly in this book: the task of managing the creation, submission, etc. of many proposals simultaneously. That topic has implications for the bottom line and for organizational values, and is a big topic in my book. But I have to admit, it is not terribly relevant for someone who is trying to write their first grant or two or three.

True to its title, Grassroots Grants keeps its focus on grassroots topics, and very much succeeds on that basis. It is authentic and helpful.

Guerilla Retailing has helpful information on all aspects of a retail business from paint colors to display to hiring staff. It was also a very easy, quick read.

A word to the Big Boys - look out - it's the ones you don't see coming that get you. Your big budget marketing plans won't save you now. It's a whole new world out there, thinks to the unconventional advice from the Guerrilla Marketing success team.

Guerilla Retailing gives entrepreneurial retailers a delicious unfair advantage. It's the advantage of time, energy and imagination: the Guerrilla Retailer's greatest assets...if they know how to use them. Get your copy, keep your to-do list handy, and prepare to thrive.

Guerrilla Retailing is your instruction manual for retail success. The Big Boys won't know what hit them.

If you're a retailer, you need this book! It covers everything you need to compete with chains and big-box stores. Some of the topics include how to differentiate your business, affordable marketing tactics and sales promotions, ways to improve the customer experience and how to hire, train and motivate employees. I was impressed by how detailed and specific it is. It's filled with real-world examples and practical ideas. Buy this book and get ready for your sales to soar!

Most of the information is common sense, so common that in business we forget to do these simple but vital things. The book is required reading for our employees.

A terrific, comprehensive manual for anyone who sells anything! Whether you hawk hot dogs on a corner or sell diamonds to debutants, this book has everything you need to know about the art and science of retailing. I got some great, inexpensive promotional ideas and learned how to find and keep the best people for our restaurant.

Knight's Risk,Uncertainty and Profit(RUP) is a classic work ,especially with respect to Knight's analysis of the distinction between risk and uncertainty and the role each plays in the decision making calculus of the entreprenuer or the firm.For instance,Knight recognized that the negative impact of uncertainty could be reduced for those firms that were able to increase their size and get larger and larger over time.Advertising would allow firms to deal with the uncertainty of consumer responses to the introduction of new products over time ,as well as to changes in consumer preferences.Knight was the first to clearly recognize that economic profit is the return to the successful entreprenuer or owner of the firm to compensate them for the bearing of uncertainty.Knight's analysis of the connection between uncertainty and economic profit corrected the errors of Ricardo and Marx,who regarded economic profit as an unearned surplus .Keynes's integration of expected economic profit into the specification of his aggregate supply function,Z,where Z =P+wN(P equals expected economic profit),can be traced back to Knight's earlier discussions.It is strange that economists still are having trouble specifying Keynes's Z function nearly 70 years after the publication of the General Theory in 1936.However,Knight's theoretical analysis of uncertainty at both the micro and macro level is not as impressive as Schumpeter's analysis of uncertainty in his Theory of Economic Development(1912)or of the path breaking analysis of John Maynard Keynes in chapters 6 and 26 of the A Treatise on Probability(1921).In this latter book,Keynes operationalized a quantitative method of dealing with uncertainty(insufficient weight of the evidence,w)by means of his conventional coefficient of risk and weight,c.This coefficient allows a decision maker to incorporate uncertainty and nonadditive probabilities into a technical analysis of decision making.The only author who comes close to Keynes is D.Ellsberg with his practically identical index to measure ambiguity called rho.There are still some unanswered questions that can be asked in this area of economic thought.Why didn't Knight cite the earlier work of Joseph Schumpeter on the risk versus uncertainty distinction?Further,why didn't Keynes cite both Knight and Schumpeter in his chapters 12 ,17 and 22,where he discussed the issue of the effect of uncertainty on investment in new capital goods and on stock market speculation?

Even though the recent research in microeconomic theory has paid attention (somewhat reluctant in my opinion) to the topic of the "uncertainty", i.e. the Knightian uncertainty, it has not been successfully incorporated in the main theoretical framework, yet. The one of the evidences may be that we still cite D. Ellsberg's paper in QJE as the one of the most important work in this field: it is like citing Keynes' "General Theory" in every microeconomic paper as in 1950s and 1960s.

The book is pleasant to read: it is full of insights, usually forgotten by now, including the complemental tendency of the theoretical and empirical works in economics. The most important accomplishment is that he argued that the exisence of the "uncertainty", the event whose probablity cannot be estimated priori or from empirical data, explains the instablity of the perfect competition, the (lucklustre) justification for the monopoly and the oligopoly, and the superiority of the private property system (capitalism). It is noticable that many phenomenons metioned in the book can be still applicable now, and the last part implies the author's thought regarding to the path of the capitalism, which is explored in more depth in Schumpeter's work despite the differences in two economists' predictions.

Knight is one of the economist who lived in the transition of classical into neoclassical economics. The book predicts the emergence of more mathematical economists, but cannot escape from the influence of the former. The same thing can be said of the works of Schumpeter, Viner, and Veblen. Despite being one of the most famous economists, he and Schumpeter has no student who followed their lines of works: is it because their imaginative ways in conducting the reserach, or because of the trends in economics which trapped their students? (Stigler was a student of Knight, but which interest do their works share, except for their interests in history of economic thoughts?)

It is worth reading because it reminds of what economics is or should be about, not because it prescribes the solution which could not be found in the modern economic works. We are witnessing the transition of several countries into the private economics with the mixed results. It should be noted that Hayek's work is the starting point in this field, the transition economics or the comparative economics, but Knight's work is more appropriate, pratical, and dynamical.

Thus, if you are uncomfortable with the current economics, want to explore more idiosyncratic works in economics and think about the big picture in the path of the society, or are tempted to diverge from the dullness of the business books in your bookshelf, then this may what you have been looking for. Unless you are struck with the optimism that cannot be easily found in the present.

This is the standard work in the field, give or take some stuff Keynes wrote on risk and capital.

This is the best work of economic theory I have ever read. There is no work in economics that evinces better judgment on the main issues or that does a better job of balancing theory with a sense for the facts. Knight begins by defending theoretical (that is, deductive) economics. Unlike the economic rationalists, however, Knight does not believe that theoretical economics can lead to precise results. The application of the "analytic method" must always be "incomplete," he argues. Theoretical economics thus can only deal with "tendencies," that is, "with what 'would' happen under simplified conditions never realized, but always more or less closely approached in practice." This methodology Knight describes as "the method of successive approximations." Knight also warns of the dangers of rationalism and the necessity of constantly checking one's results against the facts. "When the number of factors taken into account in deduction becomes large, the process rapidly becomes unmanageable and errors creep in... It is better to stop dealing with elements separately before they get too numerous and deal with the final stages of the approximation by applying corrections empirically determined."

Armed with the method, Knight proceeds to tackle several important problems in economics, especially dealing with the theoretical construct of "perfect competition." By always keeping his head firmly within the empirically real, Knight is able to bring a great deal of sound judgment to a number of issues. Knight had a keen sense of human nature and how human beings behave in the real world of fact. He knew that most economists had made men out to be far more rational than they really were. Businesses, he argued, did not merely seek to meet the needs of the consumers; no, they sought to create new needs through innovation, advertising, and even a sort of manipulative hypnotism. In this, Knight argued, we find both progress and abuse, civilization and fraud. Knight also brings a good deal of sense to the problem of interest, demonstrating the psychological inadequacy of all time-preference theories of interest. But Knight's most important contribution consists in his analysis of the difference between risk and uncertainty. Risk, Knight argues, is a measurable probability that something could happen, like the probability that an individual will be struck by lightening or hit by a car. Uncertainty is a kind of immeasurable risk--e.g., predicting short term flucations in exchange rates. Knight's analysis is crucial to understanding economic reality. Knight's distinction between risk and uncertainty, for instance, explains why the rise of derivative securities in financial markets is so dangerous. Derivatives attempt to insure uncertainty, which is immeasurable, as if it were risk (which is measurable).

Frank Knight hit the ground running with his dissertation, which he published as Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit. Knight makes a simple but important distinction between quantifiable risk and uncertainty. The distinction between risk and uncertainty is important in understanding markets, profits, and entrepreneurship. Knight connects entrepreneurship with uncertainty and profit. These factors do not square well with conventional notions of perfectly competitive equilibrium.

Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit is a work of major importance. This book constitutes a serious alternative to the theories of entrepreneurship developed by Schumpeter and Kirzner. While most modern economists underemphasize entrepreneurship, Knight examines uncertainty and entrepreneurship as a way of bridging the gap between abstract theory and economic realities. Knight saw the obvious fact that we do not live in a world of perfect competition. He, like Shackle and Keynes, recognized that we must explain uncertainty if we are to ever understand how the capitalist system really works.

Knight was a major figure in the generation of interwar economists who sought to explain the dynamics of capitalism. Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit is indispensable to anyone who aims at understanding uncertainty and dynamics in microeconomics, along with the work of Schumpeter, Hayek, Coase, Kaldor, Mises, Lachmann, and Shackle.

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