Projects Books

This is a great book, very well-written easy to understand considering PMBOK is a mystery some times.
It helped me in passing my CAPM in first try.

Only thing missing from this book is sample exams, it has 2 but you will need more to get used to PMI questions.

Very helpful and insighful book. The explanations to the answers to the questions were really helpful. Also, the practice exams on the CD were a big help. Another part of the book that helps is the e-book. However, you can't print out the e-book unless you download .pdf software that will get rid of the non-printing restriction. A bit selfich, is you ask me. But I guess it's a good way to prevent people from reselling the content as a .pdf file.

I purchased this book in May of 2007 to prepare for my CAPM exam in August. I am happy to say that I passed the exam on my first try as a result of using this book. The practice exams are an excellent resource to prepare you to pass the CAPM. I plan on using this book when I sit for my PMP next year!

The PMP Test is an experience in itself. It requires hours of studying and memorizing all the terms, processes, process groups, inputs, tools & techniques, outputs, knowledge areas, and Earned Value Management formulas. This book interprets the PMBOK language into understandable english. It also follows the PMBOK, chapter by chapter, section by section, so it's easy to read the PMBOK and then the book to see what the PMBOK is really trying to say. This was the only textbook I used for studying for the exam. What else can I say, but "I PASSED"!

I really liked the book. It's clear, well written & even a little amusing. The chapter summaries & review questions were extremely helpful! The CD is also a great bonus.

The FAST teamwork process in this book really works! Jo Ellen and I teamed with each other, our artist, publisher, typesetter, and many others to complete our project. Our families helped also. We started with our shared vision, and our individual goals were achieved as a result!

In today's increasingly complex business environment, "speed" has become the mantra of successful organizations. The ability to learn and adapt to changing conditions more quickly than the competition is what separates the winners from the losers. In their book, Checkered Flag Teams, Renee Merchant and Jo Ellen Roe capture the centrality of speed in the modern business environment by creatively building their presentation of team development around an auto racing theme. The auto racing theme also provides an interesting juxtaposition by demonstrating the importance of teamwork in a sport that to an outsider seems more of an individual endeavor.

The primary strength of the book is that it is based on a theoretically eloquent and easy-to-understand model of teamwork. I have never been overly fond of Tuckman's model of team development because it focuses too heavily on the social dynamics of teams while ignoring the crucial element of the tasks that the team was created to accomplish. The authors' model of team development (presented on page 31), however, corrects this weakness by providing a convincing case for the need to balance task and process issues in team development.

The more obvious strength of the book is that it provides a number of "tools" for developing effective teams. These team activities are indexed early in the book, so you can quickly locate just the activity that you need. The instructions and rationale for each activity are precise and easy to follow, so that even novice team leaders should be able to employ them successfully. In addition, most of the team activities are fairly brief and to the point which makes them perfect for teams on the move.

I especially recommend the book for teams that are just getting started, as it provides an excellent toolkit for getting teams off to good start. Though it also provides a nice reference for team leaders in any field who are working to develop their team facilitation skills or are just looking for some creative new team building activities.

Checkered Flag Teams: Driving Your Workplace Into The Winner's Circle employs an automotive racing template to provide the corporate manager an up-beat approach to having a strong business team utilizing a "Fast Start Teamwork" process. Authors Renee Merchant and Jo Ellen Roe provide the reader with more than thirty tools and activities that anyone who drives a car can relate to. Included is a completely new communications style inventory, "CARStyles", inspired by the type of vehicle team members prefer to drive. Checkered Flag Teams is highly recommended reading for corporate policy makers, human resource directors, managers, supervisors, team members, consultants, and aspiring entrepreneurs.

This book is a good tool for anyone in a supervisory position. It can be used by the entrepreneur as a blueprint to help build a team that shares and supports the goals of the business. Civic organizations can use the methods and tools provided in the book to make their volunteer committees more cohesive and productive in achieving community goals and vision. The book is written in a way that is easy to understand with principles easily applied to family, church, community, and of course the work place.

Seldom do I see a business book that captures one compelling metaphor and carries it out over an entire book like this one did. The writing is good, detailed, and clear. Further, the book is filled with valuable team-building exercises that will improve communications and effectiveness, as well as work satisfication. If you work with manufacturing teams in the automotive industry, this book will be extremely valuable to you. In fact, it may function at beyond a five star level. On the other hand, if you work in high technology away from the NASCAR circuit and do most of your communicating in a virtual team by e-mail and shareware, this book may not seem very relevant.

The book's main weaknesses are part of its strengths. If you do not follow NASCAR, a lot of the metaphor will be lost on you. For that reason, I think the book would have worked better with more metaphors or one that was more universal than this one. The exercises are very good for bringing out differences and welding them together into an effective team, but they seemed very dependent on having a facilitator. I suspect that this facilitator would normally have to be from outside the team, for best results. Many organizations would not have the resources to draw on facilitators this much. Also, for short-term ad hoc teams, the exercises here could be overkill. There was not enough guidance about what you could cut back on, in those circumstances.

Also, I have seen a lot of team-building exercises blow up due to inexperienced facilitators. This book would not provide enough guidance to the neophyte facilitator on what to do, should a heated disagreement occur.

I graded the book down one star for its facilitator-intensive approach.

After you have finished enjoying new ways to improve team effectiveness, I suggest that you think about where people should work in teams but do not in your organization. What are the costs of this approach? What would have to be done to switch over to teams in those areas? Focusing on those opportunities may be an even bigger payoff than making your existing teams more effective.

May you enjoy the race, as your team is able to move faster, more safely, and more efficiently!

the right book, at the right time, in the right place... dubai

This isnt a book for someone who wants to dabble in real estate investment. This is a book for big time investors (or people who want to be big time.) It is great if you're looking at large projects like apartment complexes, and it's well written.

Very interesting  book; very easy to read.
As a small real estate investor I found it very helpful in understanding many of the ins and outs of real estate and financing, especially on the scale i would like to grow to.

I read construction funding, prematurely perhaps, as one of my first ever real estate books - and I loved it! The book takes the reader through several once-real-life scenarios and explains the construction process step by step. I think that both ambitious beginners and more seasoned loan officers and developers would benefit from reading this book.

The third edition of Construction Funding by Nathan S. Collier et al is a remarkable demonstration of insight and expertise. Collier and colleagues provide an exceptionally lucid description and analysis of the process of real estate development that is accessible to non-experts while being authoritative at the same time. In addition to being an excellent text for students and others interested in careers in real estate development, this book serves as essential background for all those whose responsibilities include any part of the development process.

If you have thought of exploring mosaics and want interesting and exciting new approaches and sound technique this book will do it.

I've never written a review before but I felt compelled to spread the word about this book. It's incredible! Every design featured in this book is a masterpiece of creativity. After viewing the art, I can't wait to get started on a project of my own. And the best part is that each design in the book is explained out step-by-step from materials needed to simple techniques. As if that wasn't enough, the back of the book even has templates so you can recreate the exact design if you wish. For inspiration, you can't beat this book.

This is a great book for inspiring creative ideas for making outdoor mosaics. Well written, beautifully photographed, the book shows original problem solving techniques not found in other "how-to" mosaic book...particularly in the construction of 3-D objects. Ms MacKay is a talented writer and mosiac artist.

This book is a great read for aspiring mosaic artists and for beginners. The beautiful pictures show what is possible, the text is well written, and the "how-to" part is easy to follow.
This is a book for those who want to venture beyond the commonplace in mosaics.

Lena

The subtitle of this book is Dazzling Projects and Innovative Techniques and it certainly delivers! It's full of rich, vivid, full color photographs and instructions for interesting and creative projects, most of them 3-D. I was very excited to learn about epoxy putty and how to use it to create curved structures out of backer board or wire. A few of my favorite projects in this book: Snake-In-The-Grass, Gazing Face, and Reflecting Birdbath with View. Your garden will never be the same!

I found this book excellent. With my skills the products came to life from the pages. I make these products for sale for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and all profits go to them. I am eagerly awaiting my other two books. Denis Dack.

I used this book to create my first few projects and if I can do it I'm sure others can. The directions are straight forward and the plans are nice. It is really quite simple.

Only down side is this book doesn't explain too much about the information beginners may need to start right away. I had to use some internet sources and another book to 'learn' how to use the scroll saw and what some of the language meant. With the beginning info under my belt, however, I photo copied the plans and went to work and the boxes I made were very nice....at least thats what the gift receivers said. ;)

I've included a picture of a box I made from the plans found in this book. You can locate it under the 'customer picture' section under the book cover picture.

This is typical Diana Thompson, with a twist. Yes, there is compound cutting - but she also takes us through simple but elegant box making, inlay, and relief cutting. These boxes come out really great, and the patterns and instructions are clear and complete. If there is one complaint, it is that Diana must have access to a really good lumber supplier, because many of her wood choices are not available at all at ordinary wood providers. The designs come out well with just Home Depot-type woods, though, so it shouldn't discourage anyone. I love this book.

I found this to be a good beginning on my initial projects, to over come the learning curve of the saw.

I bought this book and also Gary Mackays' book, Box-Making Projects for the Scroll Saw at the same time. Even though there are some cool projects in his book that I will build, Diana Thompsons book is much more artistic. You can really see the difference between a mans point of view and a womans. I like Dianas projects much more. One point to mention though, Her box projects are all lift off top boxes. I would recommend this book.

Want something different for your home, this books has LOTS of unique ideas that make you want to start right now! The directions are clear, consise and easy-to-understand. Ideas for young, young at heart and older people. Very pleased with this book and highly recommend it!

very informative book and doable projects.

I love color and Debbie Travis' books are full of it! Don't pay any attention to the people who discount her books as garish. She is very even handed when it comes to her color schemes--this book includes a whole room done in very pale sea-foam green; an airy, almost monochromatic "zen" room; and even some white walls here and there.

But the focus is on the daring, the new, the experimental and exciting. There are traditional rooms, in which she incorporates elements based loosely on historical architechture into a very livable modern room. I especially liked the Georgian room, in which she not only shows you the typical colors used in the period, but a wall technique, how to create an inexpensive freize, and a fireplace surround.

Each room includes much the same--a wall technique and two or three other projects to tie the room to the theme. Along with historical rooms, find also contemporary, country, and themed rooms. The photography is excellent (although sometimes does not fully show the detail of specific aspects of the project).

Overall the best thing about this book is that is shows color on the walls, something a lot of decorators seem to be afraid of. Once you look at the beautiful tones of the raspberry, burgundy, ochre, and umber Travis uses long enough, you start to see that maybe that might look good in your house. Hey, maybe not for everyone or for every room--but it makes an impact.

This is a balanced overview of different styles and colors, as well as an awesome how-to book. Even if you hate the colors she picks, you can learn more practical skills in two or three pages of this book than in all of Christopher Lowell!

This book has many of the walls shown on her Painted House TV show. I tend to TiVo and tape the shows I enjoy. Debbie has some great wall designs and very innovative wall treatments. What I like about her is she does the entire room decor. The problem that I see with most of the designs in this book AND on the TV show is how VERY TIME-CONSUMING they are. I know these designs get done because she has a team of painters, but I don't. Even though most of her designs are beautiful, they would take A LONG time to actually implement. For example the three marble dado on page 122 and the Elizabethan dining room on page 94. I remember this show, there were soooo many steps and it was all done on the ceiling. That in itself creates a totally different set of challenges.

I think this is a beautiful book with some gorgeous walls, but realistically I would not have the time to do over half the projects in this book so I gave it a 4-star.

I do have some favorites that do not seem quite as much of a time-hog:

~ Fornasetti dining room, pg 38
~Suburban update, pg 44: love the wide horizontal paint stripes
~Faux silk panels, pg 56
~Georgian Living room, pg 64 and the classic dining room, pg 76: has a tuscany feel

If you have the time, skills and help to do some of Debbie's more ambitious techniques this is a great book. If not, it's still a good book for some of the less time-consuming projects. I would also recommend Painted Illusions by Melanie Royals which have some absolutely beautiful techniques. Don't let the subtitle of Stencils throw you off. Melanie's techniques are also easy-to-follow and don't seem quite as protracted.

very informative book and doable projects.

The Columbia catastrophe happened on Feb. 1, 2003, is a tragic repeat of the Challenger explosion in 1986 that was analyzed in a project called ¡§Complete Democracy in the USA¡¨ in the DYNAMIC CHIKUNG, which attributes the cause of the Challenger catastrophe to institutionalized bureaucracy that is the main structural flaw of our political system and society. This was also exact what happened according to the New York Times article ¡§NASA Dismissed Advisers Who Warned About Safety (February 3, 2003).¡¨ When I first bought the DYNAMIC CHIKUNG two years ago, I concentrated on the exercises that bring me great health benefits. At that time I wondered why the issue of Democracy was there. Now I realize the author raises a most important issue and actually predicts what would happen if democracy is not completed in our country and society and the world as well.

With patience and displine and determintion, I benefit from practising Dynamic ChiKung everyday and I have treated all my chronic health problems. I also found the Dynamic ChiKung includes a project called "Complete Democracy in the USA," which two years ago I thought was irrelevant and unimportant. But when relating to the numerous corporate scandals happening recently, I believe that establishing all authorities in all cells of the society through democratic, periodic elections is exactly what the USA and the world need and is the only way to clean up corruption which is deeply rooted in human nature. A human in power without restraint is bound to corrupt. He definitely needs periodic democratic cleansing.

A reviewer, a thinker., September 21, 2001,
Recommend 'PROJECT 'BRING HEAVEN TO EARTH''
Besides the health benefits of the Dynamic Chikung, I would like to recommend a project called 'BRING HEAVEN TO EARTH' in this book. This project analyses profoundly why terrorists sacrifice innocent human lives for themselves to go to heaven. The clarification of the mutual complementary nature of divinity and humnity really explains the tragedy of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 to the point.

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am Chauncey Chen, the author of Dynamic ChiKung. My book is a health book, though very spiritual, but it is not a spiritual or religeous book. I hope you can make some corrections. By doing so, I believe you will promote sales.

Sincerely,

Chauncey Chen

... I'd like to share my new concept development with readers one year after its publication: namely the scientific interpretation of this healing art, which is not in [this] book. There are many healing arts in different cultures, but none of them can possibly be interpreted scientifically. This DCK is the only one. First, it absorbs cosmic energy together with air we inhale. Quantum Theory of Fields says there are energy fluctuations everywhere in the universe caused by never-ending creation and annihilation of electron-positron pairs. This energy input to our body is essential, for the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics says a close system develops into disorder rather than order. We can observe a glass break into pieces, but we can never observe the broken pieces come back to restore the glass. If you want to repair the glass, you have to put intelligent energy into the repair. Further, the DCK performs mechanic work by blowing, pushing, contracting, rotating, undulating the air in the abdomen to perform mechanic work unto self. According to the 1st Law of Thermodynamics, work performed unto a system (abdomen) increases its internal energy and the system (abdomen) in its turn performs mechanic work to its adjacent body parts. This is the cultivation of Life Energy that penetrates and removes all obstructed vascular systems and optimizes circulation. This energy flow also re-energizes the Immune System that fights invaders all time and needs rest and to be revitalized. Drugs can hardly do this because they are made of particles foreign to the body and can be trapped by body particles. They can only serve as the last resort. Regular exercises consume body energy for health. The complete depletion of body energy, however, is death as seen in cases when famous Olympic Gold Medallist suddenly fell dead, and the jogging master who advocated jogging died during jogging. The DCK, however, not only contains energy within the body all the time, but also transforms mechanic work into Life Energy all the time. It is the most amazingly advantageous transformation from one's mechanic work into Life Energy. All other healing arts, including the popular Falun Gong, do not have this feature. The DCK is the most effective after ten years' testing. By practicing the DCK, I killed all my pains and cured all my illnesses. I didn't even catch a cold when people around me were suffering from severe colds. I see my doctor only once a year for an annual exam. The human starts aging at 11. Let's steal time. All you need is a little patience and a try. Remember, but you need only 20-30 minutes each day. Afer practicing sometime, the DCK becomes enjoyable and addictive. It means if only you skip one day, you feel something so beautiful is missing. Thanks for reading.

A last word: only when you practice, then you know how to review. Remember, this is a revolutionary action book, not just talking. It changes the old concept "to cure and be cured" into "self-cure." No "self-cure" is the weakest point in our mainstream health programs. That's why we are running out of nurses and hospital facilities, because the whole baby-boomer generation is aging. More important, a human starts aging as early as 11. Steal time!

This is a great hands-on activity book for children interested in the human body. The brain hat is great! I am enjoying working with my child on the projects. The pages reproduce very well, so we can do certain activities over and over. I wish more subjects were covered in this way.

I am doing a human body unit study with my 6.5 yo homeschooled daughter and she loves these activities. It is a great way to break up the traditional textbook way of learning.

This books makes the cutest models and manipulative things! If you make lapbooks, or notebooks for your units this would be the thing to get. There are things here I have seen nowhere else. It is adaptable up or down to the grade level it shows. Perfect for homeschooling. I have used some of it in a group as well.

This is the best project book I have seen for teaching about the Human Body. Although it says for grades 2-4, I plan to use this when I start homeschooling my grade one daughter; the subject matter should not be too difficult for her to understand. All projects are included for photocopying and each topic includes interesting experiments to try as well. I highly recommend this book.

This book met my district's standards for our unit entitled "Movement and Control." In this unit we cover the skeletal and muscular system as well as the nervous system. The hands on activities and information made this two week unit a breeze. The students enjoyed making the models and then sharing them with each other. The accompaning information and ideas for teaching are excellant.

I love this book. It has ideas for REAL families. Sometimes you flip through books and magazines that have decorating and organizing projects for some fictional family that must have way too much money, way too much time, and kids who don't behave like real kids. This is a very down-to-earth, realistic book of projects that are doable, affordable, and work for real people.

That being said, I really wish this book was in regular paperback or hardcover, not spiralbound. I hate that I have to worry about the pages tearing out. I expect to have this book a long time and I don't look forward to when the pages will inevitably start to come off the spirals. Please, FamilyFun, make the bindings of your books more practical!

I received this book for Christmas and I've already used it three times. My two year old son loves that he can be a "big boy" and do things all on his own (get his own snack, put his toys back in the right boxes, etc.). We're heading out today to get some more supplies today!

I wanted to see the projects in this book before I bought it. Unfortunately, no book stores had it in stock. So I decided to buy it anyways. I'm so glad I did. It has lots of projects, how-to's and just loads of information. I think to myself, why didn't I think of that idea. It's really going to help me and my family get organized and ideas for redecorating!

I purchased this book when we bought our first home. I have made many of the projects to fit our home and decorating style. The projects are easy, fun, and EXTREMELY useful!! Some of the ideas I have used with my 7 and 5 year old relatives as crafts that serve a decorative and practical purpose - they love to use what they made. Even my husband likes this book!

This is a great compilation of the projects that are in the Family Fun magazines. From outdoor fun to creative decorating for kid's rooms. I bought this for my wife as a present and she loves it and my 2 year old son packs it around with him constantly.

I am so glad a friend pointed this book out to me. We have a grandson and I can't wait to get started on a quilt from this book for him.

Fanciful Quilts is a wonderful paper piecing book. It has a touch of Holland with the windmills and tulips. The wedding quilt would be a beautiful present for that special bride and groom. For the special little boy who has to have a town for his little cars, this book shows you how to create such a town. Other quilts include a rose quilt, a wilderness quilt, a cat quilt, bear quilt, turtle quilt, and the cute cover quilt, the dog quilt.

The book is beautifully photographed and also includes extra ideas for each project. Fanciful Quilts to Paper Piece is a lovely addition to any quilter book shelf. I highly recommend this book. I hope this is just the first of many books Wendy will write!

I loved reading Fanciful quilts to paper piece. It's full of great quilts, good photo's showing how to do things and clear directions for the patterns themselves. The writer also showed different ways of using the blocks or sections of a pattern to make something else as well - not a common occurance and much appriciated!

The pattern i tried first was the windmill block and it went together like a dream!

This was my first book about paper-piecing and now I only want more! Such lovely projects are in this book. This is a book for all generations of quilters! I'm going to make the weddingsampler for the anniversery of my parents and I want to make the turtle wall-hanging for my hobbyroom :). And the cats.... they are just like mine :) So another project on my to-do list :) I can't wait to see more books of this designer!

I purchased this book because of the dog quilt on the front cover. Between my daughter and I we have 5 dachshunds and I thought the quilt would be perfect for us. The entire book is awesome! I found several other quilts I want to make especially the play quilt for my twin grandsons. The instructions for paper piecing include some pointers I have never seen before and prove to be extremely helpful. I highly recommend this book, even if you are a beginner.