Roger Books

I can't put Roger Kahn's book down. His writing style is personal yet detached, and he is as unkind to himself at times as he is to others. He is in his eighties now, and reviews the people and events that impacted his life. He has not grown softer with age, and still has his signature sharpness. His sportswriting and journalistic career are the backdrops from which he travels through life, but all of us on our own pathways can benefit from reading his struggles and observations.

The author of the classic The Boys of Summer reveals his life story via a select few main influences, from his journalistic mentor Stanley Woodward to Jackie Robinson and finally to his late son, Roger, Jr. Books like these often provide glimpses into lives we know mostly from a public non-intimate perspective. In Into My Own, we get a deeper revelation about the heroism of Jackie Robinson as the first black player in major league baseball as well as insight into his full humanity. The same can be said for all the other protagonists in Kahn's memoir, including his first wife. There is some sadness that lingers from the narrative, particularly the lack of closeness between Kahn and his mother, and especially the passing of his son, but there are also moments of triumph and joy in everyday life.

Roger Kahn is one of the greatest sportswriters of the century, and in this memoir he does what all great sportswriters do--bring the readers into the story. Although this is a memoir, Kahn focuses not on himself (which is in itself refreshing), but on the people he loved and worked with. The first chapter is as much about the Herald Tribute as it is editor Stanley Woodward, who taught Kahn his craft. As Kahn moves on professionally we get to know Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson and Robert Frost. Even when Kahn exposes his deepest feelings in the heartwrenching chapter describing the gradual deterioration of his son, the story focuses on young Roger.

This is really an elegant, moving book that everyone should read even if they've never heard of the Brooklyn Dodgers or the Herald Tribune.

The English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson once wrote, "I am a part of all that I have met." Roger Kahn has provided us with a heartfelt tribute on those individuals who have influenced him throughout his adult life. Stanley Woodword, his mentor at the New York Herald Tribune, teammates Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson on the Brooklyn Dodgers, poet Robert Frost, polititian Eugene McCarthy, and his late son Roger Laurence Kahn are all written about in a way that author Roger Kahn can use his skill as a writer to bring these people who have special meaning to him to life. Anecdotes not found in other baseball books are included here such as Dodger pitcher Orel Hershier's kindness to Roger's late son, Dodgers' owner Walter O'Malley sending a note of warning to the author when Kahn's late wife, Joan, had her nose broken by a batted ball while sitting in the stands, Jackie Robinson suppressing anger and quietly telling a teammate to deal the cards when pitcher Hugh Casey described what folks in the south used to do when good luck was needed. Kahn interviewing Robert Frost with the poet calmly describing his son's suicide little knowing that he, himself, would have to face the same tribulation lurking in the future. We all have people who have influenced our life in a positive manner, and Roger Kahn's sincerity fills the book on those who have touched his life. This is a book that will appeal to anyone who enjoys good writing whether you are familiar with Roger Kahn's previous books or not.

Roger Kahn has been writing about sports and other topics for more than half a century, but it was only with THE BOYS OF SUMMER, his watershed account of the Brooklyn Dodgers, that he became a household name and a standardbearer for similar endeavors.

The product of an intellectual New York home, Kahn grew into a curious, if not exactly academically motivated, young man. School was tolerated, not embraced, until his father arranged an interview for him with the Herald Tribune. Thus began a long career in journalism, writing about other people and issues. With INTO MY OWN, he invites the reader into a personal world, focusing on several individuals who were influential in his life and work.

Among these are Stanley Woodward, his boss, mentor and friend, who challenged him to be not just another sportswriting hack. Kahn looks back fondly on his salad days as a young copyboy who broke into the ranks of the ink-stained wretches, earning more increasingly important assignments until he became the Dodgers' beat reporter.

Since the Brooklyn team was his ticket to middle-aged fame, it is fitting that two of the key members of the team receive significant attention: Harold "Pee Wee" Reese and Jackie Robinson.

Reese, the shortstop and captain, was a Southerner who literally embraced the African-American Robinson in full view of hate-spewing racists, thereby setting an example of gentility, cooperation, tolerance and friendship. Robinson was a more fiery personality and gave Kahn the opportunity to learn about the difficulties of being a black man in America on several levels. These relationships lasted long after the players had retired.

Kahn was more than a one-trick pony, however; he also wrote about "serious" subjects, such as politics and his Jewish heritage (THE PASSIONATE PEOPLE). He also recalls relationships with the likes of Eugene McCarthy and the poet Robert Frost.

The most touching chapter, however, is painfully personal: the difficult life and premature death of his son, Roger Laurence, a suicide at 23. Roger L. was the product of a "broken home" following the divorce between Kahn and his second wife, Alice. The author does not mince words as he writes about their tenuous relationship, which deteriorated when his son was quite young. Despite numerous therapists and private schools (including a controversial boarding school), Roger L. sank deeper into bipolar problems, much to his father's helpless distress.

--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan

Great italian recipes. Ingredients wonderfully spelled out,easy directions and beautiful pictures.Presented in such a way that you will want to cook Italian every night!!

This cookbook is set up in a very unique which sets it apart from others in this genre. The dishes are rustic yet sophisticated; definitely a nice fixture for a beginner but also for a seasoned cook looking for some inspiration.

'Italian Easy' authors Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers are two English chefs who seem to carry a lot of weight in the community of writers on Italian Cuisine. They are one of the first employers of Jamie Oliver and were, I suspect, a strong influence on his style and choice of cuisine. In spite of Oliver's great celebrity, Gray and Roger owe nothing to this. Their reputation is firmly based on doing good Italian food before Jamie came to the limelight. Mario Batali also offers their books as one of his favorite reads for Italian recipes.

Creating food that is both easy to prepare and sophisticated in taste and presentation always seems to me to be a chimera. An attempt to put together two things which are simply incompatible. I think Rogers and Gray have succeeded as well as anyone who has put their mind to this task. In their favor is the great pantry available to an Italian cook. Sometimes I think that if you put Parmesano Reggiano, fresh Tuscan olive oil, capers from Panteloria, sliced garlic, and basil from Genoa on shoe leather, it would taste good. It you replace shoe leather with artisinal bread, pasta, shellfish, spinach, or chicken and add tomatoes and anchovies, you basically have the recipes in this book. This is certainly an exaggeration, but not much. I am truly impressed by how simple and easy many of the recipes in this book appear on the page. Like a lot of simple recipes in Patricia Wells' new book 'The Provence Cookbook', they make you wonder how something so simple can taste good. I tried recipes in both books and I can attest that even a simple combination of pasta, broccoli, olive oil, garlic, and pancetta which comes together within 20 minutes, can be really impressive, especially as a dish which gives one both a starch and a vegetable.

The same surprisingly short list of ingredients is the norm for most of the recipes. This is not to say there is no variety in the recipes. Just the opposite is true. In the short chapter on ricotta recipes, there are two different Italian specialities based on similar short ingredient lists that are totally unfamiliar to me. The first is 'Gnudi' that may be loosely described as a ricotta gnocchi. There are two recipes, one plain or 'Bianchi' and the other with spinach. The second type of recipe is a ricotta gratin named 'Sformata di ricotta'. The very best aspect of this and many other of these recipes is that it calls for cherry tomatoes which succeed in being reasonably tasty even if they are grown in a hothouse out of season. Another example of a successful mix of novelty and diversity is the chapter of nine potato recipes. Two of the nine are gnocchi, so there is nothing new there, and one is mashed potatoes with nutmeg and parmesan, so there is nothing dramatic there. But the other six recipes make dramatic combinations of potato with fennel, mustard, pumpkin, lemon, and tomato sauce.

Speaking of tomato sauce, the book's pantry 'quick tomato sauce' is really quick with four ingredients and about 20 minutes of cooking time for an experienced cook. Compare this to Mario Batali's basic sauce which I find difficult to prep and cook in less than an hour (but then, I'm not the fastest knife in the kitchen).

Even dishes which may appear to have involved or difficult recipes such as potato gnocchi or risotto appear simple in Rogers and Gray's words. I think this is a symptom that these recipes are not as daunting as they may seem to the newbie, but it is also a symptom of the fact that Rogers and Gray are writing to people who have some experience in the kitchen. The dozens of helpful little hints you typically get on the 'Molto Mario' show about the technique for heating garlic in oil, for example, are simply not there. There are no tips on peeling fava beans or even a hint that fava beans are naturally double wrapped. There is no babble about terroir or commentary on how the recipes were found or invented. Unlike the 8 year old 'Italian Country Cookbook' there is no consistent use of Italian recipe names with English translations taking a second line role. While many recipes such as potato gnocchi are Italian classics, many others are either highly streamlined versions of Italian classics or they are River Caf? inventions with Italian ingredients and techniques.

I really like the many chapters with only a few recipes in some chapters, making it easier than usual to find the nine recipes based on potatoes or the three risotto recipes or the nine truly simple spaghetti recipes. The Brits must be as fond of spaghetti as we colonists. I really dislike the artsy presentation of the dozen bruschetta food photos on one page opposed to the corresponding dozen recipes on the following pages. What WERE these people thinking? Luckily, this nuttiness plays itself out by the time we get to the third chapter, carpaccio and we return to the sanity of recipe and photo on facing pages.

This is the first River Caf? cookbook I have reviewed, and I regret my having overlooked them up to now. The authors have truly succeeded in giving straightforward recipes, easy to prepare with readily available (but not necessarily cheap) ingredients.

Very highly recommended, especially if you have any taste for Italian food and need fast recipes. Also highly recommended if you like Jamie Oliver's style of food. This book is no nonsense good, easy cooking, as long as you have good basic kitchen skills.

You get the usual top quality presentations. Preparation is really easy! Triggers your own ideas.

I cannot believe that only two people have reviewed this book! It is by far one of the best books I own, and I have quite a collection. It is better than anything Giada DeLaurentis has done, simpler than Mario Batali, and as much as I love Jamie Oliver, is better than his new Italian cookbook as well. The book is simply beautiful. The layout and the photography make everything look irresistible. Even more importantly, everything I have made from here has been exceptionally good. The bruschetta ideas are inspiring. Almost everything in here is so simple, you wonder, why didn't I think of that? And yet the simplicity is deceiving as the outcome is beyond delicious. The pea and scallion pasta with prosciutto is insane. The sea bass with potatoes divine. The veggie dishes are so good I recommend this book to vegetarians despite the fact that it is not a veggie cookbook. If you buy one Italian cookbook, this is the one....

An engrossing insider's look at the world of alternative rock, from the vantage point of the lead singers in two bands, this novel manages to avoid the usual cliches of drugs and glitz, focusing instead on personal relationships. It's Bridget Jones Diary meets Almost Famous, using email and press clips as well as more traditional storytelling techniques. You'll find yourself forgetting that these bands are fictional. The line between reality and fiction blurs even more if you check out the skrogersonline website.

An engrossing insider's look at the world of alternative rock, from the vantage point of the lead singers in two bands, this novel manages to avoid the usual cliches of drugs and glitz, focusing instead on personal relationships. It's Bridget Jones Diary meets Almost Famous, using email and press clips as well as more traditional storytelling techniques. You'll find yourself forgetting that these bands are fictional. The line between reality and fiction blurs even more if you check out the skrogersonline website. http://www.skrogersonline.com worth the trip.

If Gwen Stefani or Shirley Manson had a diary, it might read like this. Zanna seems real: nicely neurotic, but with a sharp edge. Jeremy, the one-night-stand who won't stay away, is appealingly flawed himself. Despite the bad reputation, you can't help but root for him to get the girl. And the interaction between the people in both bands makes it feel like you're backstage, in the tour bus, in the studio with them.

An engrossing insider's look at the world of alternative rock, from the vantage point of the lead singers in two bands, this novel manages to avoid the usual cliches of drugs and glitz, focusing instead on personal relationships. It's Bridget Jones Diary meets Almost Famous, using email and press clips as well as more traditional storytelling techniques. You'll find yourself forgetting that these bands are fictional. The line between reality and fiction blurs even more if you check out the skrogersonline website....

Fast-paced and entertaining, this book was a fun read with romance and rock n'roll. The characters are interesting and contemporary and I enjoyed the general musical atmosphere.

Of the many books I've read on 6 sigma, this IS the book on how to plan and deploy a 6 Simga initiative in a company. This is not a book on the tools and how to use them in detail. It is discussed, but more in terms of highlighting the training required and the caliber of people assigned.

There is a comparison and contrast of successful deployments and less successful deployments. The authors disect why they failed. They have a GE bias, in that at least on of the authors is heavily versed in the GE system. This is not to the detriment of the book, but it does color the successful path they advocate. That path is well trod and proven successful. There are variations to that that can be successful, and will depend heavily on the culture of the company.

The path they advocate attacks the common organization barriers that ANY initiative will face. So in that sense, the book is broader that just 6 simga. Those elements are:
* Active and strong leadership from the top

* Appropriate resources, people and funding
* Demand results
* Be willing to change internal policies and procedure to support implementation

This is a must read for anyone planning an implementation, or looking to fix one.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in how to successfully deploy Six Sigma in a large organization. Most books on Six Sigma are either technical (focusing on the tools and methodology) or are high level explanations of the basics of Six Sigma and descriptions of the wonderful impact it has on organizations. This is one of the few books I have found that focuses on the details of planning, organizing and managing a Six Sigma deployment. It is thorough and comprehensive. I led a corporate-wide Six Sigma deployment for a Fortune 1000 company and can confirm that the advice they provide is right on target. They have good, practical guidance based on real experience.

This book differs from most other Six Sigma guides in that it identifies, by name, companies that failed at Six Sigma. So many authors have presented Six Sigma as something magical that it is refreshing to see its warts. Make no mistake - the authors are not out to debunk or dethrone Six Sigma, a management philosophy and method that has been their professional life for many years. They clearly believe that Six Sigma is worth the investment of time, brain power, leadership and political capital that it requires. But they aren't afraid to point out the fact that it does require serious investment, and that management must sustain its commitment for years to unlock the full benefit of the Six Sigma approach. The book is a tolerably good read, albeit dry. It mercifully spares the reader any puffery or promotion, and it lays out the axioms of Six Sigma life in a very lucid format. Occasionally, it stoops to cliché, but not terribly often. We recommend it to those who need to know what it really takes to achieve Six Sigma performance, and how to begin.

Without a doubt this is one of the best books ever written on Six Sigma and I should know as I have read nearly every book written on Six Sigma over the last three years. However, let me clarify something up front. This book does not delve into the tools of Six Sigma nor the actual statistical methods of Six Sigma like Air Academy Associates excellent books `Basic Statistics' or `Understanding Industrial Designed Experiments'. What this book does, however, is address the following topics which so far every other book on Six Sigma has failed to cover and clarify:

1. The right projects, the right people: Identifying your company's most promising Six Sigma opportunities and leaders.
2. How to hit the ground running: Providing leadership, talent, and infrastructure for a successful launch.
3. From launch to long-term success: Implementing systems, processes, and budgets for ongoing Six Sigma projects.
4. Getting the bottom-line results that matter most: Measuring and maximizing the financial value of your Six Sigma initiative

What makes this book such a good value is that the author's of the book clearly know what they're talking about and their wisdom from implementing actual Six Sigma projects is priceless. This book is really a blueprint for implementing and sustaining Six Sigma and provides excellent advice on how to avoid the pitfalls that so many companies have run into during their failed attempts at implementing Six Sigma. The book is written in clear, easy-to-understand language with just the right amount of graphs and charts so even people who know nothing about Six Sigma will benefit from reading it. My advice is to buy this book and Michael George's outstanding book `Lean Six Sigma' together so that you truly get an appreciation for what Six Sigma is and what it can do when combined with Lean.

This is a book about getting your organization to adopt Six Sigma. This book focuses on excellent techniques that are needed for convincing upper management of the value of Six Sigma. The target audience seems to be CEOs and their top assistants. In fact the authors pretty much concede that implementing Six Sigma is impossible without CEO intervention. Little can be found to help line managers implement a culture appropriate for Six Sigma. This fine book would have been even better had they addressed line issues more aggressively and had more on how to communicate Six Sigma in a manner that would not leave the "rank and file" thinking Six Sigma is just "old water in new bottles".

I dare say in many companies, the rank and file will assume that Six Sigma is ineffective jargon. Further, this will to a large extent be due to oversimplified misunderstandings of Six Sigma. Most Six Sigma training emphasizes that Six Sigma is used when the solution is unknown. Yet I only hear people mention Six Sigma when they have a solution (sometimes a solution in search of a problem). "We need to finish this project to improve our Six Sigmas" and "we should [insert project goal] so we can all get our green belts" are typical of the comments I hear that are laughable to someone who understands Six Sigma.

This book's weakest sections are the first few chapters. The authors compare companies who had successfully adopted Six Sigma and those who did not. The authors believe that the successful adopters shared (and the unsuccessful companies did not have) the following characteristics:
- committed leadership
- use of top talent
- supporting infrastructure

The authors eventually come out and say that the CEO should dedicate a percentage of his/her time to Six Sigma: money is not sufficient! Having worked at GE, this conclusion seems inevitable: Jack Welch did, in fact, put a lot of personal attention into adopting Six Sigma. However, we don't all work for someone like Jack Welch.

In his autobiography, Welch describes not giving bonuses to those who were not working on Six Sigma. This was his way of ensuring that all the top talent were working on Six Sigma projects because otherwise managers would be unable to reward their top talent.

GE had another thing going for it that set the stage of Six Sigma: a culture of managing by facts and numbers and not opinion. Remember, when other companies were "focusing on core strengths" in the mid 1980s, GE was expanding in finance, particularly leasing. Why? It supported their other businesses and created tax shelters that saved tremendous amounts of cash. As long as these subsidiaries could demonstrate ever-increasing profits, they could get ever-increasing resources. Subsidiaries that could not come up with the numbers were sold or shut down, debates about "core" or not core did not enter into the picture. In this environment, if Six Sigma could demonstrate results, the corporate culture would adopt it. Certainly, Welch's actions made Six Sigma happen more quickly, but he had won the battle long before when he fostered a results-oriented culture.

Being able to briefly and clearly describe what you are trying to do has become a critical tactic in modern leadership. In business we call this a "mission statement", in politics, its called, somewhat derisively, a sound bite. The next edition would benefit from the reworking of one of the early chapters to one that would help management create a Six Sigma mission statement.

I've read some other books NOT on Six Sigma that by analogy bring home the weakness of Six Sigma literature. To learn how to create a mission statement, I recommend Carville and Begala (2002). They used a passage in the Bible, John 3:16, as an excellent example: "For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten son so that whoever believes in Him shall not die but have everlasting life." They assert that this passage summarizes in 25 words the essentials of Christian theology. To paraphrase Carville and Begala, if the Bible can explain all the important tenets of Christianity in 25 words, surely 25 a word sample mission statement for Six Sigma can be provided for those who want to convince an organization to adopt it.

I would also recommend Michael Lewis' "Moneyball" as a companion book. Lewis (author of "Liar's Poker") uses Wall Street trading as an analogy to explain why the Oakland Athletics baseball team is one of the successful franchises with much less money than most. But I also see an analogy relevant to the topic of Six Sigma. "Moneyball" shows how one can achieve superior results by testing what everyone thinks they know with fact gathering and rigorous analyses. Moneyball will inspire anyone trying to implement Six Sigma to value testing assumptions with measurement.

A quick read of the reviews on Amazon will give you a feel for why people are skeptical of 6 Sigma: the feel-good tone of most writing on 6 Sigma and the insistence that it "is not a flavor-of-the-month management trend" make many of us suspect that 6 Sigma is not much more than hollow jargon and acronyms. The readers are left with the essential difficulties of positive change in any organization: you need to overcome assumptions that your organization's subculture may not even realize it has. What a corporation does by accepting Six Sigma is that it empowers people to gather data to challenge what "everybody knows". Most importantly, it sets a standard of very high quality, which reinforces the sanctioning of data-driven change.

I feel that this book comes up short in this regard, as do the other books I've read on Six Sigma, but otherwise is a good description on how an upper-level manager can bring about organizational change in general and implement Six Sigma in particular.

As a former reviewer with Publishers Weekly, I can only say that it was a great mistake for PW to pass on reviewing this volume. They blew it! The only thing this landmark work of a great American poet lacks is a recognizable name and established reputation. If you can't find it anywhere else, go to a library and try to find it.

I do poetry criticism for a poetry journal in Vancouver, B.C. A friend passed this collection of poems on to me, and I was deeply impressed with the sophistication and originality of the langauage, the striking imagery and the multiple layers of meaning packed into the symbols and metpahors used. This is truly a masterwork by a writer of immense gifts.

Here is a major voice in American verse. The first part of the book has poems that are imaginative, deeply imagistic and original. The second part of the book is even better with poems that offer a profound if soemwhat obscure vision. This is perhaps the most powerful philosophical poetry since T.S. Eliot. What a fantastic read!

Normally I don't read poetry, but I found Steigmeier's stuff clear, brilliant and stunning. The second half of the book is very difficult, but I found myself "getting it" on an intuitive level. Some of the images and metphors took my breath away. Who is this guy?

Here is a major voice in American verse. The first part of the book has poems that are imaginative, deeply imagistic and original. The second part of the book is even better with poems that offer a profound if soemwhat obscure vision. This is perhaps the most powerful philosophical poetry since T.S. Eliot. What a fantastic read!

This is a handy little volume. I purchased it when I was studying Greek at Denver Seminary. It goes through the NT verse by verse. Important Greek words are given in Greek letters, with a short definition and sometimes an abbreviated parsing. Short exegetical comments are also sometimes provided. What makes this book valuable is its small size. My edition is 5"x7" with a leather-flex binding. So it is easy to carry.

Of course, with its small size, it is not that detailed. So I did not refer to this volume much as I was working on my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Edition (ALT). I mainly used more detailed lexicons, but I did refer to this book on occasion. So it was good that I had it on hand.

This little gem was hard to find, but absolutely worth it. Mine is approximately 7" x 5" with a flexible plastic binding, so it can go anywhere with me. I wish Zondervan would bring this version back into print (anybody listening in Grand Rapids?) The Linguistic Key is on a short list of tools I would recommend for any serious student of the New Testament.

This book already has another revised edition but I have found this version to be very helpful when I am attempting an interpretation of a particular passage. Not only is it quite easy to locate the word in question because the book is arranged in the order of the New Testament, but you can also be sure that the definition of the word is the intended meaning for your specific phrase, and not just a general meaning that might not be appropriate. Knowing how to read Greek is definitely recommended, but you can get around that if necessary by simply looking up the word from your Bible in Strong's Concordance. A very handy and useful tool.

"A Linguistic Key To The Greek New Testament," by Rienecker has been a tremendous help to me as a pastor in the study of the New Testament. One of its values in in its ease of use - important words are listed in the order they appear in the text. More importantly, the definitions are very scholarly,accurate and objective, reflecting very little, if any, of the author's prejudices. I have recommended this book to many scholars over the years.

More than any other Greek reference tool, this handy volume has been my steadfast companion to NT. While I still use other Greek reference books, this remains my most treasured book. In sum, these are the reasons why:
1. It is arranged according to the order of the New Testament (book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse). Therefore, it is tremendously easy to use.
2. Every important verbs, nouns, prepositions are mentioned with accuracy and clarity. The definitions are given to understand the meaning of the word in the context.
3. It provides important cultural and historical background of the word used. This is important in exegetical work.
4. The typeset is easier to the eyes.
5. It is portable. This book is light and small, therefore you can carry it anywhere.

NOTE:
(a)The new edition came out, but I quickly went back to this volume. The new edition is large, heavy, and less appealing.
(b) This book is out of print. So you might have to find it in used book sale. I was fortunate enough to find another one (via Amazon.com) since my old one is quickly falling apart.

The littles go exploring is a story about when a family of
very small people called the littles
and there adventres.
The names are Tom Lucy baby Betsy, and Granny, Uncl;e Pete and Uncle Nick.
The Littles were tiny people with tails. They lived secretly inside the walls of the house owned by George W. Big and his family. No big people had ever seen a Little or any other tiny families that lived in th houses in the big valley. They kept in touch by letters that were delivered by cousin Dinky and wife Della in his glider.
I thout thils story was cool because we got to go exploring. I would recommend this story to a friend. I look forward to reading other books in the series.

The book is about littles or little people. They live in the Biggs wall. Their grandpa disappeared.They are trying to find him. They found a little room. Do you think that grandpa was in the little room? Read the book and find out! I like the part were they find the room. I do not like the part were they go down the chimeney.

The Littlies go Exploring was so exciting. The Littlies are a family of small people. The interesting part of this family is that they have tails! In this story the characters are Mrs. Little, Mr. Little, two uncles, a sister, a bother, and a young baby sister. The family goes on many adventures in the book. There was one main adventure but all I'm going to write is that they are looking for someone in the family that went missing a long time ago. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves adventures and exciting settings.

Once I saw this book ¡¥The Littles Go Exploring¡¦,
written by John Peterson,the natural colour and the beautiful picture of the cover attract me to choose this book.
The story was said about some tiny people who went exploring to find an old man called Grandpa Little.He was a smart man who was the first little to understand electricity and had made the trip to explore the place,but unfortunately he is unsuccessful and lost his way.
After I read it,I think the most interesting part was the part about the Littles family found Grandpa Little.they tries to solve all theproblems when they went exploring.
I think the main character Tom and Lucy were the cleverest and bravest children in the family.They told their parents immediately when they discovered the secret room and they discuss with them.It shows that they were cooperative with the family members.Also,when UncleNick said that he needed two volunteers to go along,Tom answered that he could go very quickly.he didn¡¦t mind to lose his life tio find Grandpa Little.And Lucy,she was curious about everything and had her own decisions.Although she was very little,she provided a lot of opinions about the plan to find Grandpa Little.It shows that she was a wise girl and did all the things sensibly.
I really enjoy this book because of two reasons.First of all,I think the story is very interesting,it made me easily to put in it.Also,it is very meaningful,because it can tell us a lot of things about our life.I hope I can make myself clever,brave,confidentand mature like Tom and Lucy.I think this book is suitable for everyone,so I think you shouldn¡¦t miss it!

I think this is a good book because it keeps you interested. This is probably the best book I ever read. Let me tell you what the book is about. The story is about old Grandpa Little who everyone thinks is dead except Granny Little until Tom and Lucy find a secret room with Grandpa Little's journal. And then the Littles go exploing to find out that Grandpa Little is not dead. This is a good book for any age and so are all The Littles books. If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would.

Most often it is the unimportant details that hold up a workable project. By zeroing in on the problem or what is to be accomplished, the problem answers itself. This book helps get to the Nitty-Gritty!

I'd like to comment on this book as it has assisted our group at work to organize our thoughts, simplify our approaches to planning and become focus oriented in executing projects. Thank you!

Unlike many self-help books (many of them far more costly) that talk AT you but don't really focus on the specific challenge you are stuck on, The Magic Megaphone actually talks you THROUGH getting your projects unstuck and back on track...in under 6o minutes! The book offers easy-to-follow examples, and guides you through every one of the simple five steps involved with "megaphoning" yourself (and your team) to getting unstuck and on the path to success. Nick Montoya's process is explained in clear terms, with real-world examples from other "megaphoners" who also were "stuck" on various projects.

Reading The Magic Megaphone is money and time well spent...albeit less than one hour worth of time! How many other books can make a difference in your life so quickly (within an hour)? The Magic Megaphone is truly in a league of its own!

The Magic Megaphone is also a perfect holiday, birthday or graduation gift for that loved one, family member, friend or manager who can use a little help getting "unstuck and back on track." I put the principles taught in the book to use and have seen unbelievably quick results. Nick Montoya and The Magic Megaphone truly uphold the mantra that "It's simple. It's effective. It works like MAGIC!"

Where was this book (and method) years ago? After reading this my first thoughts were of the countless hours I have spent in meetings about projects that went nowhere! I love the simple, easy to use outline and having the case studies available to refer to. As a consultant who now has to manage projects on behalf of clients, this is a book I am going to pass on to each of them. This process is something every project team can use and in my opinion, every project team should use. Get unstuck...get this book and we'll all move along faster with our projects!

I have to say the Magic Megaphone is a very simple and easy project management process. It's easy to glance at the process and possibly dismiss it as useless. I almost did. I'm very critical at times and maybe even a bit skeptical. Once I learned the process, my skepticism was silenced. It's a simple tool, and sometimes the simplest tools are the ones you can't do without. You don't hear people dismissing the lever or the wheel because they're not complicated enough. Allow me to share some of my insight into the process.

When creating a Magic Megaphone, you go through 5 steps. By the end of those 5 steps, you've brainstormed the answers to some questions that are important to the success of your project. Step 1 is short and sweet - you're describing your mission in a sentence. Step 5 can be pretty involved - you're developing a plan of action.

Step 5, your Mega Plan, will end up being the most important part of your Megaphone. It's the component that will get you unstuck and back into action. If the project is new and you haven't even started it yet, the Mega Plan will make sure you don't ever get stuck. It's hard to get stuck when you always know your next step!

In order to get the best Mega Plan possible, Steps 1 through 4 are invaluable. Those steps truly give you the tools to construct the Mega Plan that will get your project to the finish line with the best possible results. That's why it's a p-r-o-c-e-s-s with 5 steps, not just 1.

Magic Megaphones aren't rocket science. They're far from it. Once you really know how to construct these things, you can do them in a matter of minutes. You'll use it all the time because it's an effective way to manage your projects, big or small. It's about getting organized, understanding what's important, and getting into action.

Mr. Kasanoff's book is a great way to open eyes. Whether its within your own corporation or your clients, this book is a great place to get literate about the intersection of privacy issues, 1-to-1/relationship marketing and customer experience. In addition to sketching out scenarios that bring the issues to life, Kasanoff shares helpful frameworks, both tactical and strategic, to help make the connections to your own business issues. I highly recommend reading it and I also recommend using it as a corporate educational tool.

An enjoyable and provocative read, but very importantly, Bruce adjusts the dial and focuses a great deal on stakeholders and employees, who are, after all, critical elements in the achievement of customer satisfaction,loyalty, and profitability.

Bruce provides lots of examples personalization and privacy (and the lack thereof) that make one gasp, think, and question some of the longer term ramifications. He also offers some reasonable solutions and guidelines to help companies prevent a privacy faux pas.

Your next visit to the grocery store, weekend getaway, or web site will never be the same after you read this book!

Enjoy and beware!

I started jotting down some one-word descriptions of
Making It Personal while I was reading it-

Insightful
Readable
Practical
Creative
Compelling
Important
Entertaining

But then I forgot about taking notes. I guess I'll just
have to add Absorbing to my list.

Bruce does a wonderful job of presenting personalization
and privacy issues in an amazingly accessible way. It's
not pedantic. It's not ominous. It's not dry. Besides
being extremely topical, it's a darned good read.

Here's an idea: Forget about the web personalization that makes Amazon such a wonderful site, or that has writers from Wired still breathing heavily, and instead imagine a world where personal memory is "everywhere" -- where your every conversation, trip, purchase, phone call, or jog with the dog is recorded, turned into a data file, and shared with parties beyond your control. Kasanoff explores this world, and notes that it's coming the day after tomorrow. This book is one-third business strategy guide, two-thirds global forecast, and the tale is plausible enough that executives who read it may want to pull the CEO aside at the holiday party.

Consider:

- Data trails are proliferating, and most companies have no plans in place to manage the privacy, legal, ethical, moral, managerial or competitive impacts of this information boom.

- A plan requires anticipating new privacy laws -- and there are ways to do this by examining history and the fundamental constructs of personal protection legislation.

- Acting on information can provide the economic benefits outlined in every 1to1 book or CRM software manual, but success requires self-critique. There are proven models to gauge your firm's ability to succeed with new products and services.

- Personalization means moving beyond technology to carefully migrate to a diverse business system, where complexity is constrained to keep costs to a minimum and modular capabilities change everything from product design to employee behavior.

These ideas are powerful. Along the way, Kasanoff shares stories about data pitfalls and exercises that inspire a team meeting at the nearest coffee shop. Consultants can always explain which way the wind is headed, but for a look at the weather beyond the next quarter, I recommend this book.

There are very few books on the personalization issue so far. This is one of them. And it's very good.

The central DILEMMA of Kasanoff's book is this:
No one can enjoy the benefits of personalization if he is not willing to share the personal information necessary to make those benefits possible. And yet, by sharing that information, the person is risking his privacy in the bargain.

And the issue is much more complicated than most publications suggest: "Just as different customers have different needs from your business, different people have different levels of sensitivity with respect to protecting their own privacy".

Kasanoff refers to a story that we have all already heard, but this time it has a different ending: "We would all like to get back to the old-fashioned service where you return to your local merchant and he remembers that you buy large white eggs and that you like a special kind of fabric. But we wouldn't think so wistfully about this type of relationship if the merchant had run off and shared intimate details of your life with the blacksmith, the saloon owner, and the dressmaker".

Here are the four primary INDIVIDUAL BENEFITS OF PERSONALIZATION:
1. SAVE TIME: Eliminate repetitive tasks; remember transactional details; and recognize habits.
2. SAVE MONEY: Prevent redundant work; eliminate service components unnecessary to the person; identify lower cost solutions that meet all other specifications.
3. BETTER INFORMATION: Provide training; filter out information not relevant to a person; provide more specific information that is increasingly relevant to a person's interests; increase the reliability of information; replace "average" information with information specific to that person's environment.
4. ADDRESS ONGOING NEEDS, CHALLENGES, OR OPPORTUNITIES: Provide one-stop services; allow flexibility in work hours, job responsibilities, and benefits; accommodate unique personal preferences; recognize and reward achievement with special treatment.

Here are 11 WAYS TO MAKE IT PERSONAL, i.e. this is how a firm can deliver the benefits of personalization:
1. COMBINE: Merge information a person already has with that of others, to provide additional insights.
2. COMPARE: Show how prices, quality, or specifications of one option match up to others.
3. CONNECT: In most large firms, data exist in "silos" or departments. Firms can connect this data, providing a more accurate picture of the firm's interactions with that person. The flip side of this is that connecting previous disparate data removes a level of privacy.
4. EXPLAIN: Clarify how, when, or why to use a product or service, or to perform a task, precisely when a person needs such help.
5. FIND: Locate a person, product, or service based on supplied specifications.
6. MONITOR: Track the status of events, news, or actions of others.
7. RECOMMEND: Suggest a course of action based on historical data, the current environment, or predictive models.
8. REMEMBER: Most people are still more frustrated about what firms forget about them than what they remember. Mantra: "Never make a customer tell us the same thing twice".
9. REVEAL: Highlight a pattern or conclusion that was not previously evident.
10. SORT: Change the order or grouping of information, making it easier for people to see patterns.
11. TRIGGER: Prompt an action when certain criteria are met, such as the purchase of an item when its price falls below $150.

Finally, Kasanoff suggests that by making two changes in the ways employees are compensated; any company can simultaneously become more profitable and achieve the right balance between privacy and personalization.

Change #1: COMPENSATE EMPLOYEES TO SATISFY MORE NEEDS OF EXISTING CUSTOMERS.
In Kasanoff's experience - and I agree -, most privacy abuses stem from efforts by firms to use personal information to acquire new customers, not to better serve existing customers.

Change #2: DEVELOP MODULAR CAPABILITIES
To make the first change, companies need to accommodate the differences between individuals. Mass customization or Modular capabilities make it profitable for a firm to support personalized relationships. Customization becomes routine and cost-efficient, and in many cases costs will go down, not up. Much of the savings comes from the elimination of waste and the reduction of inventory levels.

Kasanoff was one of the original partners of the Peppers & Rogers Group that coined the term "one-to-one".

Having May 2004 finalised my Graduate Diploma in E-business with a thesis on Online Personalization, I must say that this book was one of my key sources, especially on the complex issue of balancing Personalization, Privacy and Profit.

If you're really interested in personalization, you may want to read my online review of: "The Power of One: Gaining Business Value from Personalization Technologies" by Nirmal Pal, Arvind Rangaswamy (2003).

A final quote from the foreword by Peppers & Rogers:
"Big brother is almost here. His sister is the telemarketing operator who called you during dinner last night. His nephew runs a sweepstakes and magazine-subscription service just outside of London. The same rapid advances in information technology that are pushing businesses into a new paradigm of competition - the one-to-one marketing paradigm - are simultaneously generating more and more opportunities for the abuse of consumer privacy by mass marketers. Making databases of sensitive, individual consumer information available to marketers interested only in next quarter's sales is like providing chain saws to a tribe of slash-and-burn farmers."

Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business

Children's detective stories seem to be perpetually "in," The Mary Celeste: An Untold Mystery from History plays on that theme successfully. Without giving us a name, the author introduces us to the narrator, a young girl who is curious...a trait that every detective needs! This young lady isn't curious about just anything, she's particularly curious about her fathers file of mysteries that have never been solved..."histories mysteries." The narrator then goes on to detail her "process" for trying to figure out the given mystery...first she reads as much as she can about the incident, learning everything she can, and she keeps a notebook of the most important clues and information. Sometimes she even includes maps and timelines!! This particular "case" focuses on the Mary Celeste a ship whose crew disappeared on the high seas more than 120 years ago.

With that bit out of the way, the book transforms into a fact filled narrative of the events, starting with the discovery of the Mary Celeste abandoned on open water by the captain and crew of the Del Gratia. We follow the crew through searching the ship (quite a detailed account, including showing that there was food for 6 months stored carefully and that all their belongings were left on board), reporting back to the Del Gratia's captain with their findings; the decision to tow the Mary Celeste back to port for salvage; and a summary of six of the most popular theories about what became of the crew of the Mary Celeste. This final section is done in the notebook style, and the narrator has included questions for the reader to answer, which if answered, will help the reader figure out which of the theories is most likely...at the very least, it's an excellent opportunity for a class project (dividing students up into groups and each exploring a given theory and presenting to the class, with discussion at the end on which of the theories are most likely...and maybe even encouraging students to come up with their own theories!). The story ends with the narrator saying she's really not sure WHICH theory is right...but she's got her own and now she hopes you (the reader) do too.

Each two page spread is given a narrative box and most include "post-it" style pink and yellow boxes which define terms used in the narrative box and most include a cut out of a spiral notebook which is meant to be the narrator taking her notes...which provides additional information and/or perspective on the information given in the narrative box. I love the section on the theories...the way they are presented with questions that the reader should be able to answer directly out of the text and/or with minimal additional research. I really do think this would make an excellent group project for a classroom, or the jumping off point for a written report by a single student...or just interesting reading!! I'd say this book is idea for kids ages 4-10, as a real aloud to about age 6, older kids will enjoy reading this alone...the text is EASY...but the opportunity for exploring the theories and doing additional research is what I think makes it suitable for readers 8-10. I give it five stars and think it would make a fine addition to any classroom or school library. I love the format; it presents the necessary information (and definitions) on the page (without flipping back and forth to a glossary) in a way that doesn't detract from the narrative or the illustrations. There is a bibliography, but it's located in the front of the book, just before the title page, rather than in the back. Pick this up for your curious young reader, you won't be disappointed!

Alcohol Fumes? Mutiny? Illness? Pirates? What caused the captain, his wife and child as well as the seven crew members to suddenly abandon the "Mary Celeste"? And where did these ten people who were never seen or heard from again end their lives? This picture book does a good quick job of explaining the mystery of the ship that started from New York in 1872 and was found as a "ghost ship" less than three weeks later about 600 miles from Portugal. The authors encourage young readers to come to their own conclusion about what happened though they include and explain a bit about the six most popular theories. Great book for young detectives who love history.

What a fascinating and thought provoking story! The Mary Celeste was found abandoned over 100 years ago leaving a multitude of still unanswered questions. The story engages students and leads them to propose theories of their own. Hopefully Jane Yolen and her daughter will write many more "unsolved mysteries from history"!

As a decendant of Captian Briggs' family, I am very familiar with the details surrounding this mysterious event! Jane Yolen does a wonderful job of organizing and distilling all the information that is available and making it accessable to children (my own children thank the author, this story makes more sense to them now!). In addition, I am going to buy it for several adult members of our family. A wonderful job, terrific format, very readable... Thank you!

The "Mary Celeste" was a trading vessel found adrift in the 19th century. The crew was missing and there was no apparent reason found or note made in the log to explain what had occurred. To this day there is still no answer to this mystery.

This book by Jane Yolen is a terrific introduction to the mystery that is a fun read for children and adults. It is designed to be thought provoking and to encourage kids to use critical thinking. All of the different theories about the ship are presented and the reader can draw his or her own conclusions.

It is highly recommended.