People Books

It seems so obvious, but Anita Robboy's book, Aftermarriage, makes it clear that a legal divorce really doesn't end the marriage relationship. The concept of "aftermarriage" more accurately describes the long post-divorce relationship as the couple deals with issues around money, children and, later, grandchildren. This book is a must-read for those entering marriage, as well as those contemplating or going through a divorce. Mental health professionals and divorce attorneys, like myself, should recommend it to their clients so they can view divorce as just a first phase of a long, "aftermarriage" relationship.

This is outstanding book for anyone at any stage in their life to read. It helps make sense not only of divorce, but also of marriage. The author helps us understand the continuation of marriage after divorce; and, as a result, the importance of preserving the marriage. The book should be read by everyone, but especially those contemplating marriage. And thanks to the author, everyone can read it. The book is extremely well organized and plain speaking, while illustrating some important, profound issues.

Anita Robboy has taken a topic that can only be described as frought and brought it into focus in the most practical, thoughtful and empathetic manner possible. If every couple who find that they are not able to live together took a page from her book their lives individually, and those of their suffering children (no matter what age) would be vastly improved.

This is not only a wise book, but a compassionate and well written one.

This book is a must read for anyone who is in a serious relationship. Whether you are contemplating marriage or divorce, this book has important information that will affect how you choose to frame your affairs. In a simple easy-to-read style the book explains the legal and personal complications that make ending a marriage an extremely painful experience that doesn't end with the divorce decree. Anita Robboy explains how marriage is a legal commitment that is heavily regulated by the state. If children are involved, the state's involvement becomes even more burdensome. If you are simply contemplating marriage and have resources, you need to carefully examine the financial implications of marriage before you walk down the aisle with visions of a life of bliss.

Drawing on her years of experience as a divorce attorney, Anita Robboy provides the reader with an inside view of the various types of marriages that she has observed and what happens when couples in these marriage decide to divorce. The pain, suffering, and disillusionment that she describes should make couples pause before they decide to sever their marriages. Divorce is a major disruption of most people's lives and has a heavy price. Moreover, when children are involved, one can never wipe the slate clean and post-divorce arrangements are never perfect.

It seems so obvious, but Anita Robboy's book, Aftermarriage, makes it clear that a legal divorce really doesn't end the marriage relationship. The concept of "aftermarriage" more accurately describes the long post-divorce relationship as the couple deals with issues around money, children and, later, grandchildren. This book is a must-read for those entering marriage, as well as those contemplating or going through a divorce. Mental health professionals and divorce attorneys, like myself, should recommend it to their clients so they can view divorce as just a first phase of a long, "aftermarriage" relationship.

These books are great! You will feel as though you know the characters personally and you will feel transported to a quiet simple place.

I think that this book is pretty good. It has a strong contrast on the simple (no electricity) life and the modern life that most people have now. It reminds me to be aware of not wasting or over-spending precious things.

This book is really recommended because of its wonderful story.

The Preachers Daughter, The Englisher and The Brethern are excellent reading. I fell in love with Annie Zook and all of the other characters. Great reading and 3 books you can't wait to get back too.

These three books were my first Lewis read. I had always been interested in reading her stories, so when my aunt lent this trilogy to me I dug right in. I read all three books within three days! She sucked me right in and I can't wait to read another of her books!

Beverly Lewis brings you right into Amish Land and how the People live. I love her books.

I read this book and was both shocked, ticked and, well, amazed. A lot was just plain common sense. But a lot I would have never imagined. The bottom line is this is a must read for every person no matter what the age. I have showed it to a couple teachers and they were amazed at how easy it is for even a kid in school to get a criminal record that will haunt him for hte rest of his life. You will hear a lot of things you want to believe do not exist in the United States, but believe it! It does happen to good people, even what the author calls "Whitebread America". The book talks of how the way one dresses, talks, drives, walks and who they associate with can all contribute to their 'arrestibility'. This book is a no nonsense book on how to reduce the risk of ever getting a criminal record by a man who has been in law enforcement for a very long time. He pulls no punches and tells it like it is. He even touches on subjects like the 'pussification' of America and how the old ideal of 'innocent till proven guilty' has been replaced by 'guilty till proven innocent'. I don't care if you are a hip hop punk or a soccer mom. You NEED to read this book! It could save you from the true nightmare of an arrest record which could cause you problems from not being able to get a job to not being able to get credit to buy a new home. Did you know that you can end up with a criminal record for little more then being taken in for questioning and then just set free? Unbelievable right? But I personally know of a person who has had this happen and was denied a job because now he shows up as having a criminal record. Prospective employers could care less if you were guilty, just that in a check you show up with a record. Buy this book and read it if you value your rights.

This is an essential guide for everyone--it doesn't matter what your previous encounters with law enforcement have been. Carson explains that in the world of criminal justice, it's all a numbers game: how many arrests can the beat cop make? how many tickets can he write? how many convictions can the prosecutor get? how can the city/county/state make money off the people who end up in the endless cycle of the justice system? (Don't believe me? Read Reason Magazine's story about Tracy Ingle. Unfortunately, most police officers are in the business of policing because they want to play cops and robbers; they aren't in it to help people.

The most eye opening part of this book was when he explains how someone can be inexorably caught in the "social services plantation," as he calls it:

Joe gets arrested for carrying a joint (or DUI, driving without a license, mouthing off to a cop, etcetera ad nauseum). Joe needs to have the financial resources, familial support, and a very understanding boss for the needed time off to make it to his court appearances, probation officer meetings, court ordered Narcotics/Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and he needs to make it home from all these appointments in time because he's also ordered to complete in-home detention.

One day Joe's car breaks down on the way home. He calls a tow truck. After the tow truck drops the car off at the repair shop, he calls for a taxi to take him home. He gets home an hour later than he's allowed, and fully expects to hear from his probation officer, but he's sure the tow truck bill, repair shop bill, and receipt for the taxi are enough to prove he is telling the truth. Sure enough, he gets a call, and he goes about explaining the situation. A few short minutes later, the police show up and arrest him for violating his probation. The probation officer tells him that the GPS device Joe is required to carry shows him being in the liquor store next to the repair shop, and any drinking is prohibited on probation. Joe insists he was only in the repair shop, but the probation officer doesn't believe him, and that's all that is required to put Joe in jail.

Now Joe, the kid arrested for carrying a joint in his pocket, is a part of the local jail population for the next month. Career destroyed, family starting to have enough of Joe's getting in trouble, and financially buried by the court costs, the cost of the in-home detention, the cost of probation, and the cost of missing work for the required appointments throughout the day, Joe gives up on living a "proper life" and gets mixed up with illegal activities in the jail, and the process continues. All that from an arrest for a non-violent legal infraction.

I know the above is a long anecdote, but it's a perfect illustration of one part of Carson's subtitle: "How Even a Single Arrest Could Ruin Your Life."

The only part that seems a little bit paranoid in this book is when Carson demonstrates how to make an arrest-proof car, complete with filling the glove box with expanding foam and super gluing the trunk shut. That's a bit much, but still understandable.

The best part of the book are the "Creds" he offers: Sheets of paper that have all the pertinent information a cop would ask for, along with a statement that your lawyer has told you not to say anything in those situations. That's worth the price of the book alone. I'm putting my Creds together right now.

Highly recommended for everyone--especially those in the most arrestable demographic: young, poor, minority males.

This is an important book for everyone. It really shows how workings of the justice system are very much different than commonly supposed. It addition to valuable information for the individual in their dealing with the authorities it has some valuable sociological insights into how the legal system might be improved. The book gives the lie to the notion of 'innocent' until proven guilty.' If you are arrested the record stays out there to affect your life. It is the case that 'if you were arrested then you must be guilty of something.' ... I bought several copies and passed them out to my friends.

This is a tremendous book and is worth every penny because the people it will save from jail are not the true criminals (who ought to be there because that protects the rest of us) but those who just do dumb things like mouth off to cops. As the author says, jail is full of people who are there principally because a policeman didn't like the attitude they projected.

However, he could have saved even more people from jail if he had been more forthcoming and graphic about what happens there. The jail population would drop by half if people new exactly what takes place (courtesy of their fellow prisoners) behind bars. As a former police officer and current practicing criminal attorney, he is most definitely well aware of the unspeakable horrors awaiting both males and females in jail.

Of the How To" books, this one may be the most important one that you will every read.

Author Dale C. Carson is a former Florida street cop and FBI agent. He is presently a practicing criminal defense attorney in Jacksonville, Florida. As such, he is in a perfect position to reveal the brutal truth about how police work, their methods, dirty tricks, and motivations. He stresses that cops do not receive promotions or accolades for keeping the peace, or resolving disputes by negotiation, but are evaluated and promoted strictly on the number of citations issued and arrests made, especially felony arrests.

He goes on go to explain how easy it is for *anyone* to get arrested, a subtitle of the book. Most non-criminal "upstanding" citizens" can inadvertently become caught up in the criminal justice "plantation," to use a word coined in the book. Arrest records can have serious consequences, even if the charges are subsequently dismissed, not pressed, or you are acquitted. Such an arrest will doom you (especially young people) to a lifetime of low paid jobs, since many employers will not hire anybody with an arrest record, regardless of the judicial outcome or merit of the arrest. This is particularly dangerous in the age of electronic information, where records can last indefinitely. Before the computer age, written records often got lost with age. Not so now.

So the only practical approach is a defensive/preventive/proactive one. Sadly, most people with not read this book until it is too late, if at all. The "clueless" people, who don't even understand the basics of the system, but are either petty criminals or non-criminals, because in their addition to their lack of ability to keep court dates (they do not own or do not use calendars or alarm clocks), frequently turn minor charges to major ones by failure to appear and other add-on charges. Probably most of them are not even literate enough to understand the simple advice in the book.

This book explains how to keep from being sucked into the system. Once you are, it will be very expensive to get out, if it is possible at all. Numerous parasites in the criminal justice system, including cops, lawyers, prosecutors, jailers, social workers, psychologists, have a big interest in perpetuating the system. The most important battle to be won is for custody of your body - remember, cops are visually oriented predators, whose main motivation is to arrest you and take custody of your body.

Buy this book BEFORE you get sucked into the system, and save a lot of money and heartache. As noted by the author, if you are a real, habitual, or big time criminal, this book will not be of much use to you - you will eventually be residing at the "Graybar Hotel" sooner or later. This book, however, is a must read for the non-criminal, petty criminal, or "victimless" criminal, or just for anybody that is naive about a dangerous, unforgiving system, in which ANYONE can inadvertently be caught up in for a momentary lapse of judgment.

Om my i just loved this book, i will read it over and over again and will and have recomended this to many people, the price was ok and the shipping was faster then i had thought it would be..love it not second guess buying this book

Gives you a real eye account of the Drug Dealing and Killing in the streets of inner city Detroit Great Read very easy to follow

Unlike,the fabricated,contrived tales of these so-called"gangsta rappers"(better known,as"STUDIO-gangstas,in the hoods of Detroit)this book tells of the REAL-deal of street hustlin' along with the not-so glamorous consequences'of life in the"game"...If you're looking for a bunch of gangsta "fairytales"like T.I. and a lot of other rappers' from the "Dirty South"(better known as the"Downy-Soft"by those in Detroit who KNOW,that Atlanta,Memphis and New Orleans are comparatively "SOFTER"than pharmacy cotton.and "SWEETER"than FOUR bake-sales!!)like to spit out then this book is not for you!!As a lifetime Detroiter,I personally knew about how "ruthless"the Young Boys were,and I also knew that wandering over into their hood was a SUICIDAL move to say the least!!These cats had MUCH respect,from one corner of "tha D"to the other!!Their status in Detroits' history is LEGENDARY,and this great book shows you why!!

I have yet to read the book but i am planning on it very soon. I am 39 and i not only lived in detroit during that time, but i was indirectly associated with several members of the group. I am proud and glad to see butch turn things around and tell this story. I am hoping that so called "tough guys " read this book and learn from it, learn ! I am in a carrer where i try to help young people overcome mental health issues and problems in the streets and in the homes. Because of my past it;s easier to connect with these children. This book is another step in continuing to open the eyes of our kids. Thanks.

I enjoyed reading this book. I know some of the people that are mentioned in the book and I can recall when all of this was going on. I now have a vision of what happened from the inside out and why things went down the way they did,as was viewed by Butch himself. I reccommened parents of all urban youth to get a copy of this book and let their offspring read and educate them on the pitfalls of the BIG MONEY, DRUG SELLING LIFESTYLE.

Cute book about a father dancing with his baby girl. The text rhymes, which makes it easy to read --- almost like a song.

I love the artwork and I love that the dad is the main character along with his daughter. Wonderful read for your newbor and infant!

My daughter loved this book as a baby. We had it out of the library so many times, I bought it when she was 10 months old. Her 3 year old brother and I both learnt it by heart from singing it to her every night. She still really likes it at 21 months old, though now we don't read it every night. I love the illustrations that show the real movement of the baby up and down, round and round, and of course that one can sing the whole book.

This book is so lovely and my 5 month old daughter beamed the first time she saw it. The poem is simple and the pictures are so sweet. The daddy swings the baby girl all around as her tears turn into laughter. It reminds me of how my daughter and my husband play together....maybe it reminds my daughter of her daddy too! Love it!

My daughter, nearly three, picked Baby Dance out of the library on her own. She has insisted on having it sung to her every night for the past three weeks. She's at the "why" stage of life -- so rather than just enjoy the pictures, she's also questioning the plot: why is the baby sad (at the beginning)? and observing "look, the mama's awake! (at the end). The book is a really sweet take on something all too familiar -- a baby's distress that mama's not always available -- but with a lovely message that dada can make baby smile, too!

This is a wonderfully original book to use with students when I talk about the Underground Railroad in my class. Like the other teachers who have commented, I have found that that my 5th graders loved the book, and we built upon it as we wrote stories and created some artwork.

I find it bizarre that anyone would use this book with young kids. A kindergartener does not know what slavery or the Underground Railroad is and is not developmentally able to understand those concepts. The book still works on some level, but the children really don't know what he is escaping from.

Instead of going through all the explaining, which the 6 year olds won't listen to, but will make you feel like you gave them a history lesson on the evils of slavery (duh!), read a book appropriate book for their age level.

If it's Black History Month, why not read a fun biography. The Pinkneys have written a lot. Bill Pickett, the cowboy, might be fun or you could read Ella Fitzgerald, and then read her song A Tisket A Tasket, which was recently published as a picture book. Just don't make little kids listen to explanations of every bad thing that happened in history. They don't understand and it just confuses them.

In teaching preschoolers and elementary students about the Underground Railroad, a tricky topic even for grown-ups, this book is a godsend! I recommend it to all teachers, parents, any one who is trying to get the idea of Freedom Seekers' journey north across to their children. Amazing illustrations are a big part of why it works so well, but even without them the story is easy for young ones to understand. It uses animals--always a favorite with kids--and is quite suspenseful. It's my favorite children's book on the Underground Railroad to date.

This book is a wonderful story depicting a run away slaves journey through a portion of the Underground Railroad, uniquely from the point of view of the animals who help him. The drawing are wonderful expressions of worry, fright, excitment, and joy. I would advise this book for any child, young or old, and for any classroom.

As a fifth grade teacher, I am always looking for a book to entice my students and help them to gain background knowledge. This book is a phenomenal find. It puts the reader/listener right into the fear and terror of being a runaway slave from the very first sentence. But, more than that, is the unique way the author has chosen to present the story. I can think of no better book to present the topic of point of view. Not only is the story told from the point of view of the forest animals that the runaway encounters, but the illustrations NEVER alter the affect. Each picture shows the runaway from the eye level/view of the animal that is reacting to his presence. It is a very powerful book.

This story has generated intense discussions as to whether or not they believe the animals consciously helped the barefoot escape the heavy boots, or whether the occurrences were merely coincidental. The students embrace the tone of the book and will often discuss how they originally did not care for the illustrations because they were too dark and made it difficult to see the details, but soon realized that they mimic what the barefoot is seeing -- a potent tool in immersing them in the story.

The students were so enthralled by the way the point of view of the story was presented that they asked to write their own stories based on the point of view of our classroom pet, S'mores the Guinea Pig. Some choose to write from their own pet's point of view. Each and every one of the stories were wonderful to read, and though some may have been lacking in conventions and spelling, EVERY one of them shouted with an author's voice that was astounding.

I ordered this book to use as a read aloud with my fifth grade's class study of the Civil War. Little did I know that it would be a valuable tool for teaching point of view. This is a wonderfully suspenseful short of a young slave's escape through the woods on his way to the first stop on the Underground Railroad. What makes this story unique is that it is told from the forest animals' perspective. Well written, well illustrated, and destined to become a classic. Wendy

Wow, I just want to say this book is awesome! I remember buying it at Barnes & Nobles because I thought it looked interesting. It was so good, I just could not put it down! I read it in like two days and I have been waiting for the sequel for months. I'm going to go and pre order it now!

I know it says in the summary that this is for readers of Gossip Girl and A-List, but I swear this book is much better than those. I liked this book so much, because it showed four girls in pursuit of their dreams. I could relate to each of them in different ways, and I felt like the ending was perfect. It wasn't entirely corny and predictable. This is similar to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, except for the fact that we don't have to wait for a second book to come out before we find out what happens.

It is the time for their lives to truly take flight. Best friends Harper, Kate, Becca and Sophie have graduated high school and are going to separate colleges to pursue their separate careers. But to Harper's disappointment, her future is crushed when she received the rejection letter from NYU and rather than tell her friends the truth, she decides to spend the year writing America's next Little Women. Although her gambling journey was not to be taken alone, for Harper inspired both Kate and Sophie to chase their dreams as well. Sophie blindly stumbles into Hollywood in search of the perfect audition that will propel her into the movie business, but instead finds love with the wrong actor. Leaving home with only a passport and an open road, Kate bails out of Harvard to explore the world and its broad opportunity where she hopes her dream is hidden. The only one to stick to her plan, Becca hits the ski slopes on the Middlebury team content with the only thing she feels good at, which keeps her company when her friends are far. Love comes to each girl that year and with it decisions that could change their lives, and though apart, the four friends manage to find ways to hold each other close. Bass Ackwards and Belly Up, by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fein, is a heartfelt novel that defines the love that is intertwined in the friendship of four girls who experience their first steps into the real world.

Bass Ackwards and Belly Up is made up of the four stories of the four friends Becca, Harper, Sophie and Kate. The tales of each of their separate lives makes the book a more intriguing read, one that's difficult to put down. From each girl, the reader can sometimes relate and because there are separate stories, it is easier to compare with.

Thorough the hard times, together or apart, the authors do a great job of defining each character by their experiences. For instance, when Kate is robbed and Harper finishes the first fifty pages of her book, each girl is changed and reacts a different way to the events. The characters are very well developed and it makes the story much easier to imagine.

Bass Ackwards and Belly Up focuses on each friend's dream, whatever that dream may be. In this way, it gives teens the incentive to chase their dreams, but still to think out what this change may hold for their futures. Through this story, the authors send a great message for teens that shows you can accomplish whatever you wish if you just give it a try.

This story of four friends and their adventures as young adults is an incredible story of love, determination and the freedom to make your own choices with the burden of the consequences. I highly recommend Bass Ackwards and Belly Up to teenage girls and young adults for I highly enjoyed it myself.

E. Knipp

Best friends Harper, Sophie, Becca, and Kate have done everything together since elementary school. Now they've graduated, and are about to go off to college. True, they're all going to different schools, in different cities, but they're still all having the same experiences, just in different locations. Then, the night before Becca is supposed to leave for Middlebury, Harper drops a bomb. Instead of heading off to Manhattan, she's going to be staying at home in her parents basement and writing the next Great American Novel. In other words, following her Dream. Sophie and Kate quickly hop on board the "Dream Train," as they call it, going to L.A. and Europe, respectively. For Becca, joining the Middlebury ski team is her dream, but her friends tell her she should work on expanding her horizons by falling in love. As the girls' powerful stories alternate throughout the novel, you will be rooting for all of them to accomplish their dreams. True, there are obstacles: a bitter ski coach, skeezy guys, and writer's block, to name a few. But this Dream Train is full speed ahead, and it doesn't stop for anything or anyone.

Despite their vastly different personalities and families, Harper, Sophie, Becca, and Kate have been best friends for years. No matter what, they tell each other everything.

Well, almost everything. Harper was rejected from NYU, the only college to which she applied, and has been keeping this a secret from her friends and her parents for months. Right before her friends plan to take off for colleges all over the country, the truth comes out.

Well, kind of. Harper acts as though she has decided not to go to NYU, preferring to stay home and write the next Great American Novel. She thinks this quasi-admission will shock her friends, but their reactions shock her even more: two of them decide to follow her example and take a year off from college to chase their own capital-D Dreams.

From there on, the story follows each girl in turn. Each storyline is given equal time and attention, switching back and forth every few pages. This format will be familiar to fans of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Sophie wants to be a famous actress. As luck would have it, her mom's old friend lives with her husband in Beverly Hills and allows Sophie to stay at the guesthouse rent-free. Sophie's landlords are quite busy and have good connections, giving her total freedom and helping her snag some auditions. Sophie befriends Sam, an aspiring actor who takes care of the pool and does odd jobs around the place, and Trey, a famous actor who gets her a line in a movie and steals her heart. If you like Sophie's storyline, read The 310 series by Beth Killian.

Kate's post-high-school plans were supposed to be set in stone: Go to Harvard with her long-time boyfriend, study hard and get good grades in an effort to live up to her parents' high expectations. Harper's big plan makes Kate realize she has no plan of her own. Europe calls out to her, so she books a plane ticket and packs her bags. As her boyfriend drops her off at the airport, he breaks up with her. She heads off to her big trip feeling more alone than ever. While she travels, she attempts to work her way through a list of 100 tasks ("Touch the Berlin Wall," "Take the water," "Stomp grapes") created by her friends and her younger adopted sister Habiba. If you like Kate's story, read 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson.

Becca heads off to Middlebury as planned, wanting to wow the school's coach with her skiing ability. He coached an Olympic team and she wants to impress him more than anything. She ends up getting on his bad side during the first practice and staying there for quite some time. Not only that, but small pratfalls evolve into bigger disasters, snowballing into something she never could have seen coming. Somewhere along the way, she manages to do the one thing her friends challenged her to do: fall in love. If you like Becca's story, read the Love Bukowski series by Emily Franklin.

Meanwhile, Harper finds herself staring at a blank computer screen. Now living in her parents' basement and told that she must pay rent, she takes a job at a local coffeehouse. An old classmate, Judd, becomes an unlikely friend. The twenty-three-year-old English teacher she crushed on in high school becomes a regular customer - and maybe something more. Now if she could only manage to actually write something . . . If you like Harper's story, read That Summer by Sarah Dessen.

The book covers three months in the lives of four teenage girls. As any teenager can tell you, that is both a very short and a very long period of time. During those three months, the characters are each granted a new kind of independence, but manage to come back together. If only all friendships were truly this strong, and we were all afforded the freedom (and, for the most part, incredibly good luck and easy resolutions) these girls were given.

I imagined that some parts of this book might be a bit dry. I was delightfully surprised, because I was attached to the pages the entire read. The author skillfully adds in actual accounts of atrocities to give each chapter a very personal feel.

It has been years from when I read this book and now. However, one thought from the book that still comes to my mind often is the "ancestral shadow" that was mentioned and developed. I do not remember if the author coined the term or just cited it, but it is very explanatory in thinking about world or personal events. I'll leave the discovering of that term to you.

It was a very interesting read that goes into the extremely personal side of atrocities. It was eye-opening and extremely readable for someone who does not usually read psychological or sociological books.

for those who beome evil. I particularly enjoyed the evolutionary psychology and group dynamic approaches.

It is not enough to reject evil; in order to exercise responsibility, we need to understand it. Then we can change the social factors that make evil more likely, or less likely.

That is what this book is about. Waller does not excuse evil acts because "society is at fault," nor is this simply an academic study. There are practical lessons here for how a society becomes corrupt, and how to prevent it. Like the poor, evil will always be with us. That does not mean we should be fatalistic about evil. It means that we should always be ready to address it.

Wow, this is a deep, powerful book. I gave it five stars because it was very complete. The author started with his proposal that ordinary people can commit evil, introduces a model of what influences/causes extraordinary evil, and follows up on what can and should be done to ease (impossible to halt entirely) the spread of evil. Interspersed in every chapter is a harrowing account of genocide told by the perspective of the victims or eyewitnesses.

Although I generally agree with the author's belief that ordinary people can commit evil, I did take issue with some of the methodology/tests he used. For instance, he used the anaylsis of the Rorschach test used on the Nazi... even though that test is inherently faulty. Still, he did back it up with more concrete and intriguing evidence. His model was well researched and he backed up his outline with different accounts.

Another positive aspect of the book, is that it alerts you about how many acts of genocide and crimes against humanity go unpunished or even unacknowledged by the perpetrators and the world. Its very disappointing and frustrating as is the author's note that the situation is not getting better and evil will never be fully stopped. All in all, its a great book and its very sobering and sad. I think everyone should read it.

I was always fascinated with the question of human cruelty and the history of genocides, and after researching review on Amazon.com, settled on this book by James Waller. I was 100% right. It's incredibly well-written. Very easy to read, written in clear language in short chapters. Thoroughly researched. James Waller references and examines all the works that have been written on this topic before. His conclusions are profound, and dare I say it, correct.

It's a flawless book. It brings together history and psychology in a language that is very relevant and easy to read on an very important subject. I'd recommend this to anyone without a hesitation. Not just educating, but also enjoyable.

Of all the management tomes available in the marketplace, The Better People Leader sits next to The Game of Work, Good to Great, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Perhaps more than any other business author, Chuck Coodradt understands how to convincly communicate the need to focus on RESULTS and provides the step-by-step plan every reader craves. Importantly, Chuck has been preaching the gospel of results and leadership for over a quarter of a century...and has never varied from the same basic (and learnable) management principles over that period.

Chuck has played a large part in my business success over the years. He has supplied valuable training and information which, when applied, was part of the catalyst for success in my business career. I have purchased and shared his new book "The Better People Leader" with dozens of business leaders. A special thanks to Chuck for sharing his talent and gift of teaching in this new book.

Fred Ferguson
Profit Enhancement
Associated Food Stores

Chuck Coonradt has done it again. I have read his other works (The Game of Work, Managing the Obvious, Scorkeeping for Results)and this is the best yet. Not only does Chuck share his common sense wisdom about leading people, but his approach to leading people WORKS! I have implemented his Game of Work program and experienced the results first hand!

People -- not only the ones who help us build our business but those who buy our products / services . . . NOTHING is more important! As managers, we have to surround ourselves with people smarter than we are. In "The Better People Leader," Chuck Coonradt details the necessity of finding, nurturing, coaching, praising and keeping your most important asset -- people. His coaching techniques center around his 12 "Attributes of Better People Leader." This a MUST read!

If you can't, or do not want to follow the principles outlined in Chuck's newest treatise on over-the-top business performance, then you will not have fun and perform at the highest level as a boss!

Gary Birdsall (Salt Lake City, UT) -- former colleague of Chuck Coonradt and a continuing fan of Urban Meyer.

Well Coonradt has done it again! His ability to refocus the attention of leaders who are much to busy is truly a gift. The simplicity of the "Better People Leader" should be ingrained in every executive, yet we find ourselves distracted from the most important issue in business, "Our people".......

Having read some of his other books, (Game of Work, Managing the Obvious), Mr. Coonradt once again reminds us that we can never become to busy to develop our people. Nothing can be more important, and as usual his in your face accountability forces you to really evaluate your self and business. The practical "Player Development" sheets quickly have you back into coaching people. I'm a bit surprised he did not title the book, "It's the People Stupid!



Great fast read to get you focused back on people, at work and at home.



Ted Elliott

President and C.E.O.

Coverall Cleaning Concepts

OUTSTANDING!!!!!! Poisant's strong belief in and commitment to superior customer service is evident in every page....... BRILLIANT!!!!!! His personal insights, attitudes, and behaviors exude true and honest caring for all human beings......
TRULY UNIQUE!!!!!! Fresh, practical methods for fostering a caring work environment. Incorporating his overall philosophy into my personal management style has made me a better, more effective manager.

Finally, clear, direct words on positively transforming people and environments. Poisant's style is warm and simple; the power of his words, however, cut to the chase--either you're doing it or your not. It's that simple. This is a book that can be easily read in one sitting--and change your way of behaving forever!

A book that inspires to do things the right way from the beginning in this new world of ours. Personally I consider it a guidance to my new emerging company. Thank you for reminding us all what a business is there for, to serve our clients the best way possible.

Today's world has changed. If you want something that can help set your business apart in today's environment, this is THE Book for you. It has radically altered the way I view my employees and my customers. This guy is good.

Drawing on his real world experience, Poisant explains to managers in clear and simple language a way to gain a competitive advantage in any industry where company employees interact with the customer. His book taught me that, by management treating the people that serve as the interface to their service organization as their top priority; performance, productivity, and customer satisfaction goals will fall right into line. This serious, yet heart warming read, could serve as a quick reminder to all levels of management about the value and treatment of the front line. I place this book in arms reach beside Blanchard and Bowles' "Gung Ho".