Tools Books

Gift material 110% I love it. I have taken drawing courses in school and online and through the mail, and my mother taught me to draw, and I learned from DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN, and THIS DRAW..HEROS is fantastic both from a teaching methods standpoint, and from an artist's needs standpoint. It can teach you to refresh some of your old drawings with movement and power, and MOVEMENT! WHhhham! ZOOoooMmmmm!!

I am giving this to deaf friends as I am always trying to show them I appreciate their special abilities.

Purchased this as a Christmas gift for my nephew. My 14 year old would like it after reviewing. Shows how to draw characters; first by shapes - and then adds in details, including hands and feet.

This is a great product. It is small and self contained, comes with drawing tools stored in a zipper pouch so it is perfect for travel. The easy to follow, step by step instructions create the sensation of instant success. Great for all ages - even adults can have a bit of fun with it!

I can't walk past this book in a store with out picking it up (heck, I couldn't see a link for it with out clicking it).
This is single handedly, the most influential book I have ever picked up.

I first got it when I was 6, and it laid the ground work for the rest of my entire life. I'm an art student, I'm going to be an illustrator, I want to be in comics. This book is why and how.

Everything in here is solid and where EVERY ONE should start if they want to do this thing right. Give this to your kids, give this to those friends of yours who want to do art, but never had any teaching or talent, give it to that rival who needs a refresher on the simplest of simple. Buy it for yourself, as a clear reminder of what you should be doing, and of the foundations that everything you do is based on.

This isn't Burn Hogarth, but it is still a must for ANYONE getting into drawing. I can not recommend this enough. This book will always hold a special place in my heart and on my shelf.

This book is really great. My son picked it out as something he wanted because Spiderman was on the cover. I would never have thought to buy it. The content is great. It takes you step by step in drawing. It all starts with the stick figure with ball joints. This may seem dumb, but it is essential. I have been poor at drawing a body or figure, but after using the starting point of the stick figure and then adding more to it, I could not believe how well it turned out. I still only at the beginning too. Lots more to learn from it! This is a great way to teach my son how to draw at an early age. The superhero tie in is perfect, but the content is top notch.

I have listened to this book several times. Zig Ziglar is just wonderful teacher. This is a short book for all intents and purpose but it will give you a solid starting point for why we need goals and how to get going with them.

Mr. Ziglar is simply amazing. He is consistently motivating, inspirational, and right on in all that he says and writes. Truly a national treasure. Every bit of his offerings help me to do, as he says, "what I ought to do when I ought to do it", so that I will be able to do "what I want to do when I want to do it."

I have purchased other Zig tapes and really enjoy them. I thought this was going to be something new. It's not. It is the same stories all over again. I also do not recommend the CD if you are going to be using it as a car audio. CDs can't just stop, be ejected so you can listen to something else, and put back in like a tape can.

Everyone in the world needs to read or listen to what Zig has to say on Goals. Everyone in the world needs to set goals, oh what a better world this would be.

A must read/listen.

This is truly an excellent audio which has been worth many times its price to me. I have listened to it literally hundreds if not thousands of times over the last twenty years and it has helped me in my life to be successful in a variety of positions, through career transitions, etc.

In this tape, Zig Ziglar uses stories, reasearch nuggets and powerful metaphors to drive home his points in an extremely powerful way. He is very present when he speaks and the tape is not only informative, it is funny and entertaining.

This is a perfect tape to listen to over and over again while you are commuting. This is how I used it for many years. As a personal growth coach who does a large amount of public speaking, workshops and one-on-one coaching -- I feel I am in a good position to judge the merit of what is out there.

Zig is a Christian and this might not go over well with some audiences. However, he doesn't push this agenda, but he does at different points use some illustrations that come from the bible. For example, in one section he quotes the bible about money saying, "he who seeks silver, will never be satisfied with silver" and goes on to explain how you can never have enough money, UNLESS the money has you. I think that's a very wise statement and it's not money itself that is bad, but how you use it. The point he seems to be making is that are you a good steward of your money, which I think it a relevant point that requires guts to make in the current business environment. In fact, I would suggest it's an essential point.

Cognitively, I probably knew most of what was in this audio. However, I know it differently now at a deeper level because of using it. This tape is done in such a way that the ideas sink in deeply and become a part of you. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Also, in addition to working in psychology, I was also a marketing person for Xerox when they were Fortune 25. I went through their International Center for Management Development and won their Team Xerox Spirt Award. The point of me sharing this is that I know what it takes to train sales and marketing people and I recognize a good and practical resource when I come across it. I don't think you can go wrong with this audio, especially at the price they are offering it at.

This is our "go-to" book for very practical descriptions and diagrams of process and procedure. We are planning our new house, and are incorporating elements of off-grid solar/wind power, rainfall catchment, passive ventilation, and high-mass wall construction.

Nothing beats a hands-on experience, and if you can visit either the CalEarth site in California, or the Earthships site in New Mexico, you should. You get a much better understanding of the process of earthbuilding, and also of the finished product. Then, as you begin to plan to build, gather all the information you can. "Ceramic Houses" will give you great information on design principles and on philosophy; the Earthship books by Mike Reynolds give primo information on the plumbing and electrical systems, and in particular on rainfall catchment.

"Earthbag Building" however, remains our mainstay. Hunter gives such good detail, and provides excellent resource lists for materials, and also lovely line diagrams that are very clear and easy to follow. And to truly make her the Queen of Bag Building, if you e-mail her a reasonable question, she answers!

I first checked this book out in the local library. It's a wealth of information, so I went to Amazon and bought two copies. I can recommend it highly to anyone interested in exploring this form of construction.

This is a must book for anyone who is considering to undertake the task of building an earthbag structure. There are many tips and suggestions, the result of long practical experience, that will help the inexperienced builder to avoid many: "if I only had thought of this earlier..." moments.

Earthbag building, a method developped by Nader Khalili, is a wonderful innovation in building. It means that a building be built from materials found on site, even if those materials are too poor for rammed earth or mud brick. I've already used the techniques in this book to detail two public buildings! The trick is now to convince the structural engineer and councils...

This book makes a good gift to those who are planning or are fascinated by alternative house building.

Ms Delonzor starts by reminding us that bad habits develop because there's something beneficial to us lurking underneath the behaviors we want to change. Her approach is to help the reader find the underlying source of the unfortunate behaviors, and then to help the reader to redirect that energy in more useful ways.

The meat of the book is an examination of 7 different personality types that can lead to the end result of being chronically late. Once you find the type (or types) that ring true for you, you can use the exercises that the author offers for helping get over the punctuality problems they create. For example, I recognized that I fall into the Busy Syndrome trap: I try to over-fill every moment of the day with activity, then I aggravate the problem with ridiculously optimistic estimates for how long the activities will take. The exercises were simple and practical: find out how long your daily activities (showering, shaving, etc) actually take (I was shocked to realize that it takes 45 minutes for me to get from my morning workout to the office - I could have sworn it only took 15 minutes); practice transitions by giving yourself a fixed amount of time for a task before purposefully moving on to another task; and plan to be early.

I am chronically late despite my best intentions and many years of trying to improve. This book provides a thoughtful and compassionate approach to reversing this habit. As someone who has been able to change other types of behavior (e.g. eating too much), I am very optimistic that her methods will help me. I read the book in two sittings and made a plan that I will start on immediately.

I am regarded as a dependable and responsible person, but I have struggled with punctuality for as long as I can remember. I always show up, but it may be 15 minutes after the time we agreed upon. This book addresses different thought processes that contribute to tardiness instead of implying the reader should just get there earlier. I am much more conscious of the effect tardiness has on me and the people associating with me. The author has heightened my awareness of the mistakes I make subconciously in my attempts to make it to appointments early. This is a must read for anyone who is fed up with the habit of tardiness and is ready to do something about it.

This book is wonderful. The existing reviews say it all. It has really helped me. I bought it less than 24 hours ago and am already/only halfway through, but what I've read has already changed me. I'm so glad I found the book and so glad that it is so helpful! I really needed to make a change but never knew how or why I was always running late... always!! :) This morning, I was early to work! It was pretty funny actually, I sat in my car and read the book for 10 minutes.. but there I was, early to work, reading about how not to be late! :) This book is absolutely worth buying if you have a tardiness problem. What I've read and implemented has already improved my confidence and I am looking forward to no longer inconveniencing those around me! Thanks, Diana!!

Reading this book is like attending a good seminar. It tells you exactly what you need, in the proper order. First it tells you why you should care about being late (and no, you didn't know all the reasons yet!). Then it explains how the mechanism works. Finally, it lists what you can do about it, with lots of practical tips for everyday life, and how to keep it up over time.
I particularly liked the chapters that described different types of "punctually challenged" people. I'm the type where discipline is the main problem; my mom is the type who rationalizes away how her tardiness affects others; and my dad is the Absent Minded Professor.

My book came with a personally autographed card by the author, which was kinda cool :)

It's nice to have the combination of someone so well researched who is simultaneously an excellent practitioner. Lots of great ideas about transplanting (I hadn't heard of soil blocks before). Many great tool recommendations as well. This is worth the time and money!

This is absolutely the best, straightforward, down to earth, organic gardening book I have ever read. No hype, no buzzwords, no new age crap, no agenda. Simply down to earth - literally.

This book is awesome. Eliot presents an abundance of information. The information is organized and clear. Eliot does not assume what we already know, and what we have at our disposal. For example, many books will tell you how to create a mulch pile. You need this much brown matter, this much green matter, ... . That is all fine and dandy, but where do I magically get all of this material! Eliot understands this and explains many ways we can obtain the mulch material. He also does not assume your knowledge basis. For example, he will explain what and how a lugume works. This book is a constant resource for the organic gardener.

A great book!

Got me hiped up for my next several years here in Missouri. Practical, simplified systems for both the new and novice organic gardener. Definitely a fun read. Bring your highlighter. Thank you to the author, and all of the great shoulders that he stood on to get to this point...

Mr. Coleman has packed so much information into this wonderful book! I have started to use many of his suggestions. Keeping the costs of growing food down was one of the first subjects that caught my attention.

It's clear, clever, engaging and informative. It's smart and interesting and packed with great and pertinent information.

Too long we have ignored most of the human brain. Brian Walsh's book clearly shows us how to take advantage of the rest of it.
Parents should read it, too.

Former educator

I've read a lot of books about superlearning, photoreading, success habits, brain functioning, mind mapping, memorizing. But here's a book that brings it all together in one place, full of way more realistic information than I'd known about before. In 273 pages, Brian Walsh gives a practical overview of state-of-the-art learning tools and techniques.

The book was a pleasure to go through! Not academic and heavy and boring, but a fun, informative read. Filled with great quotes, illustrations, internet links, practical information--heavy-duty reality--the structure itself is an example of facilitated learning.

In a sense, the book is a portal: one opening up a host of resources for the mind. Walsh points the reader to all kinds of ways for producing change. We learn how to break negative patterns and how to experience more productive and satisfying lives. He shows us how to best learn--and teach--a second language. He writes about brainstorming, about effectively influencing others, about real listening. We learn how we learn: what works and what doesn't.

It's a handbook for the human brain. I learned a lot by reading it. And I'm learning a lot by checking out some of the other sources referred to. If "unleashing your brilliance" is one of your goals, here's definitely a book to read.

Brian Walsh's book, "Unleashing Your Brilliance", has everything you need to get on the way to achieving more, in less time, with less effort, and have more fun doing while doing it. The author gives you the tools you need to explore everything from NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) to Photoreading to Hypnosis and much more. This book is a road map to accelerated learning. The top twelve (I tried to limit it to ten, but could not) things I learned from reading this book twice (yes, you read that correctly) are:

1. "I tried" is a cop-out. It is an escape hatch. "Try" is one word you should work on removing from your vocabulary.
2. "I will" tells the subconscious mind to not act on something since it only operates in the "NOW". Remember that when you are making affirmations or writing goal statements.
3. Exercise enhances memory, improves reaction times and aids in the generation of unique and spontaneous ideas.
4. Self-master is a lot like poker, you need to know when to learn new skills, when to hold on to beliefs that serve you and when to let go of beliefs that do not serve you.
5. People with high self-efficacy choose tasks that are more demanding. They set higher goals, put in more effort and persist longer than those who are low in self-efficacy.
6. Emotional Intelligence is a completely learned phenomenon that helps people excel in life and have flourishing relationships and careers.
7. The words "always" or "never" indicate a false statement.
8. Whatever is strongly believed becomes reality.
9. Anything can be learned if it is broken down into smaller units. There are no mistakes, only outcomes and no failures, only lessons.
10. If something can be learned by anyone else in the world, it is possible for you to learn (something my Grandmother always told me).
11. Photoreading is something more people should explore and put effort into learning.
12. The Vivaldi I played when my son was very young may have improved his recall by at least 25 percent.

If you think these twelve things are valuable, you should see the things in this book that I did not include in the list. Overall, "Unleashing Your Brilliance" offers a clearinghouse of information and is enough to get you started and to whet your appetite for more. This book, written in language simple enough for the average person to understand, gives enough information for even those already practicing many of the topics to find it valuable.

"Unleashing Your Brilliance" by Brian Walsh is a well-written, well-researched book about the great potential each of us has within us. It's fascinating the way in which we absorb and process information. Brian's book gives a thorough, simple and comprehensible explanation of how we learn.

I'm drawn to self-help books that explore the human mind. I think the science of human understanding is vastly changing. Brian points out in his book that more progress has been made in understanding the human brain in the past five years than we had in the preceding decades. Imagine what we will know in five more years.

The techniques Brian introduces to stimulate thinking, creativity and learning are helpful. I used several of them before writing this review. I pinched my right nostril to get more oxygen to my creative, right brain. I cross-crawled (left elbow to right knee, right elbow to left knee) to improve my focus and concentration. I tapped my K 27 to increase the blood flow to my brain.

The book is targeted for teachers, parents and students wanting to improve performance. It is also designed for corporate HR personnel wanting to better understand how employees learn in the workplace. I recommend this book for anybody who has an interest in the human mind and its potential.

It has been a couple of years since I read this book, but I'm sure most of it is still relevant. It's definitely one of the first books you should get if you're interested in web analytics. It's one of those books you can go back to and use as a reference when you need valuable input.

I bought this copy and Web Analytics Demystified. This book repeats a lot of information in "demystified" plus it gives you coding tools to build your own metrics. More bang for the buck here.

Companies are looking for more and more business intelligence from their Web sites, both to improve their marketing efforts and determine ROI. This is a good thing. This is an exemplary "how-to" guide for Web Analytics. Extremely useful.

I think that the book is for differente people: programmers and marketers. But I found it quite interesting althought you have to select what hacks are appropriate for your job.

Web Site Measurement Hacks is the best book in the Web Analytics field. The book explains introductory topics as well as the most advanced ones in a chronological natural way. Subjects like what is web analytics, how to choose a vendor, how the technology works, and how to implement a web analytics program in your company are covered extensively.

Besides being well written and almost encompassing, it presents also the point of view of several of the Web Analytics' experts and vendors. Many of the Hacks are co-authored by big names, such as:

* Bob Page (Yahoo!)
* Bryan Eisenberg (Future Now)
* Jim Sterne (Target Marketing!)
* Jim Novo (Drilling Down Project)
* Jim MacIntyre (Visual Sciences)
* Jason Burby (ZAAZ)
* Brett Hurt (Coremetrics)
* Xavier Casanova (Fireclick)
* Jeff Seacrist (WebTrends)
* Akin Arikan (Sane Solutions)
* Jay McCarthy (WebSideStory)
* John Marshall (Clicktracks)
* ... and many more!

The index is very helpful and you find subjects very easily. The book is well organized and I refer back to it every time I have doubts. It works for me as a Web Analytics' Encyclopedia.

Friedman certainly seems to know what he's talking about. I wouldn't know since I ordered the book to learn about how to enter the market with a new product as a small entrepreneur. Friedman's advice is geared to the large corporation with large resources for research and marketing. He does not address the objectives stated in the title from the perspective and access to resources of the small business. For this type of reader the information may be interesting from a theoretical standpoint but I certainly found no practical advice to help my situation.

I strenuously disagree with the reviewer below who said this book is for big businesses rather than entrepreneurs. I'm an entrepreneur and this book has played an important role in my ability to build my business. A few years ago, a partner and I started a company and grew to 15 employees. We had a superb service to offer, but were not educated about how to sell it, and sales were leveling off. Stymied, we delved into atleast 20 books, seminars, and training events to learn how to "scale" our business. Honestly, nothing helped much. Then we found this book on Amazon. Go To Market Strategy helped us get organized, ask all the right questions, and put some simple ideas into use, to grow to 50 employees last month. After reading this book, we moved away somewhat from our "web fetish" and got much more serious about finding good partners, building our own small but effective sales group, and working with our customers to understand their needs and become more responsive. Many of the things we did came right out of this book. This book is *very* organized and systematic, breaking the sometimes overwhelming task of building a business into simple, proven tools which we were able to put to use. This book is also extremely well written, just lightyears ahead of the writing quality of other marketing books we bought. The author is very insightful and truly knows the ins and outs of "selling more stuff to more customers" as he puts it. I am sure this book is useful to Big Corporate America, but to me it's a wonderful resource for the small, struggling business.

Excellent marketing book by L. Freidman, who has written a few other good ones, too. Extremely interesting & helpful ideas, examples and tools for aligning your marketing strategies and your tactics with your customers. I see copies of this book floating around our and partners' offices all the time. Definitely worth reading and chewing on.

Author Friedman provides a very comprehensive picture of how to take products and services to market, in the most efficient and effective ways. This book is practical - it's more for sales management and marketing executives than for students and academicians. Going to market today is complex and risky, and difficult to figure out the right mix of people, channels (Internet, phone, mail, partners, etc). This book helps sort it all out in a well structured way. I highly recommend.

Friedman gives the whole go-to-market strategy picture, explains the key points and relationships between different aspects of customer and market analysis, channel model construction, channel management etc. Can easily be used as a manual for actual go-to-market and channel development.

I love this book. I have read some of the chapters two-three times now and get something more each time. As an amateur woodworker, I don't fully understand what each tool can do yet dream of outcomes that the masters create. This book explains in simple terms the what, how and what should be for each tool, be it a hand plane, chisel, hammer, etc. Most of my other woodworking books that speak of tools only touch on how to sharpen and maybe adjust but not the how it does it and how it should perform. This book heads to the top of my stack to reach for when I need some tutoring on a particular hand tool.

This is a beautiful book, the moment I read the first chapter I was wishing I'd bought the hard copy so I could put it in pride of place on my bookshelf.
I loved the illustrations, which are on almost every page and give exactly the right amount of detail in a way that photos can't. But the best part is the author's wonderful writing style, which really conveyed a sense of the timeliness and pleasure of woodworking. Even when describing such mundane things as taking measurements, the author has a great knack of focussing on the human aspect of the process, the decisions that need to be made and the emotions that the wrong and the right decision evoke. This, to me, is the reason working with handtools it is such a satisfying pastime, and this book wraps up all of those experiences in a really beautiful way. Top marks.

Just beginning my adventure in woodworking, this book has done exactly as it claims in the back cover. It feels like I have a readily available experience woodworker in my pocket whenever I have a question about a tool. The explanation is clear like a craftsman would teach his apprentice, and because of this, the obvious question of what tool should I get first and what tool should be my next purchase is easily answered, without actually saying. The drawings make the book almost timeless, not dated by photos, and the diagrams are reminiscent of the technical sketch you may see on a drafting table. I purchased other books along with this, but keep referencing back to this book to answer my questions about what tool do I need for the next part of the job. The writing is easily explanatory and conversational at once, and is quite enjoyable to read. You can either read it in a linear fashion, from front to back, or you can choose the tool you have questions about (from the Table of Contents) and move directly to it to have your question answered.

Free bench plans if you've never built a workbench, are included. This is a book that could sell itself if you had a chance to open it up.

I don't gush over books very often but this is one of the best investments I have ever made. The illustrations are startling and the writing is clear and unadorned.

What Watson does very well is assume nothing with regard to his reader. He neither panders to the "old pro" nor is condescending to the "rank amateur." He just talks about how to use hand tools, how to think about hand tools and how to appreciate hand tools. I don't think there is a person doing wood working today who would not find something in here that makes them say "Oh, yeah..., that's a good idea."

I have spent quite a lot of money on the Taunton woodworking library and I value them highly. They are good books. But this one is the first one I pick up when I am just spending a few minutes sitting down or before drifting off to sleep.

One caution - this book is about "hand tools" and does include chapters on tools like "hand augurs" which very few of us use, however I have to admit I am tempted to buy one just because of the obvious pleasure this guy has in them. One of my quirks I suppose.

Watson has written a clear and concise user's manual for woodworking hand tools. He includes many of the basic hand tools that are overlooked (such as the brace and drawknife) in other hand tool books. I got more information out of Watson's clear drawings than I did from the beautiful photographs in Garrett Hack's "Classic Hand Tools" book. This book is meant to be kept in your workshop instead of on the coffeetable.

I'm setting up my first workshop. I bought Scott Landis' Workbench Book for guidance on building my workbench and this book for guidance on workshop tool storage. I found Landis' book extremely useful, but this one did not really have what I was looking for.

This book is called the Toolbox Book for a reason. While the subheading is "A Craftsman's Guide to Tool Chests, Cabinets, and Storage Systems," the focus of the book really is (often spectacular) handcrafted toolboxes. Only one chapter -- 14 pages -- is devoted to "Designing In-Shop Tool Storage," and much of that is about the generic design process (how to make a story stick, how to draw your design first, etc).

So if you're a novice like me looking for practical workshop tool storage ideas, I don't think this book is worth the money. I definitely didn't learn any more here than I have just browsing woodworking sites on the internet.

None of this is a knock on the book, really. It's a beautiful, well-written book that's gotten glowing reviews from other readers for a reason. But I think its audience may be more limited than the subheading, and some of the other reviews, might lead you to think.

Lots of pictures, ideas, descriptions and this book serves its purpose of giving me ideas on current and future projects.

Recommended

Tolpin is a refreshing change from the old bland how-to's that have been republished with outdated material year after year. This book is no exception. I love how the author takes you through the history and evolution of the toolbox. The color pictures are gorgeous.(Or maybe it's the toolboxes?) This is a must own for any tool lover. A great gift idea for that person you know with the messy shop!

I turn into a box-making junkie during the winter. Every time I see a chunk of wood I start resawing it in my mind thinking of neat things I could do with it. One of the side effects of this compulsion is that you accumulate a lot of odd tools that seem to meander all over the shop. Guaranteed not to be in the place they should be when you reach for them. After looking at the prices for good commercial tool chests it occurred to me that building one wouldn't be all that more expensive. Even if it took 400 hours of work rather than a quit drive to the nearest discount store.

A quick trip to the local woodworking store turned up several books on the subject, but one, Taunton's Toolbox Book, stood way out from the rest. Even though this is the one book that has not one detailed plan in it. It is, however, the most exhaustive study of toolbox making I've seen so far. Author Jim Toplin blends history and technique together to give you a real understanding of how the toolbox has developed and changed as woodworkers first came to the colonies, then adapted to the rising use of machinery, and finally then met the space age head on. It is carefully and clearly written, and a host of sketches makes up for the loss of detailed, paint-by-the-numbers plans.

In fact one of the things that Toplin makes abundantly clear is that you make a toolbox to hold YOUR tools. Too many of us buy a toolbox and then set about filling it with new widgets that we aren't even sure we will need. And this book is about assessing your needs, laying out the best way to meet those needs, and then building something that is often the showpiece of a woodworker's skills. One glance through the book and you will see many fine photographs of work that is both functional and beautiful. I wasn't kidding when I said a toobox can take 400 hours to make.

As usual, Taunton has made every effort to turn a how to book into something you would be proud to have on your coffee table. This is a very well made paperback with heavy, glossy paper, fine design and layout work, and well-written text. And a very accessible price for a massive amount of information.

I just received this book. Wow! Because of all the good reviews, I expected a good book. This is one beautiful book and is way above my expectations. I would have been satisfied if it only contained photographs and illustrations without the text, they are very clear. I have not purchased a book that has impressed me as much as this one, ever. I can only add my positive comments to the many reviewers before me. It is well worth your investment whether you just want to scan through a beautiful book or are a serious craftsman wanting to build fine furniture for your tools.