Business Systems Books

You have to be a computer geek to understand the humor. If you are, and especially if you have a unix/linux background and/or have worked with internet or other computer support you will find this one of the most hysterical comics around.

"Three steps to completing your initiation as an Evil Genius:
1. Adopt ominous accent."
"Checkski."
"2. Never, ever smile."
"Checkski."
"3. Bring a wealthy, monopolistic multinational corporation that sells crappy operating systems to its knees."
"Am thinkink there is no way of doink number 2 and 3 at same time."
- Pitr, reading EVIL GENIUSES FOR DUMMIES

The comic strip USER FRIENDLY maintains a continuous storyline, so EVIL GENIUSES IN A NUTSHELL picks up where the first collection, USER FRIENDLY, left off. The main characters - the staff of Columbia Internet - were introduced in the first book.

Written and set during 1999, the year that THE MATRIX and STAR WARS I: THE PHANTOM MENACE were released, there are lots of then-topical references (such as the completely empty offices of Columbia Internet on May 19 and the ultimate possible evil release date for Quake III).

For instance, during one of Stef the marketing guy's dust-ups with Erwin the AI, Erwin is temporarily loaded into a Furby's toy body. (Gentle readers might remember the talking stuffed toys after a little thought.) After Stef destroys it and Erwin retaliates, Stef finds himself in big trouble with the NSA. :) At one point, Erwin ends up talking like Yoda after being stuffed into a reverse-Polish-notation calculator.

And there are plenty of fantasy elements (at least, if you're in management, you can tell yourself that's all they are). Crud the demonic entity, saying that Microsoft is passé, changes over to AOL. The techies have a holy war over which of the various flavours of Linux is The One (TM). Erwin tries to nuke a spammer, with Russia and China joining in. Pitr tries to solve some budget problems by seeking refunds for all the copies of 5 different versions of Windows Columbia Internet has acquired with their hardware. When Microsoft's anti-Linux team arrives, the coders do the logical thing: they sic the thugs onto Stef. Erwin messes with Stef's head when they get him back, almost turning him into a techie ("I'm thinking I should've taken the blue pill"), but Delilah from MS sales re-education changes him back. In between, the techs play with Half-Life, Alpha Centauri, and Rainbow Six. (When a Terminator-like engineer's brain is replaced by a Pentium III chip, our heroes only notice him because his shotgun is a cool Quake weapon.)

*No* real life techies would try to shop a colleague onto the graveyard tech support shift, would they? No sleazy marketing guy would order sleek new computer gear just to impress a good-looking female techie would he? Just fantasy elements.

Right.

Not many Y2K strips, although the techies do prepare, because while Columbia Internet is compliant they're betting that Windows isn't, and that their clients will blame them. (The next collection, THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, deals with the post-Y2K letdown.)

New characters:
- Artur the possessed engineer, who talks like Ahnold
- Matt the sea urchin, a new friend of Dust Puppy's rescued from a sushi bar

If you enjoyed User Friendly, you'll want this sequel. If you
haven't read User Friendly, then you'll want to look at that one
first, since this one follows it. Or go to userfriendly.org and
sample a few of the strips there -- but it's hard to take the
website to the bathroom with you or leave it on the coffee table
for family or friends to discover. Hence, the printed book.

This book picks up where User Friendly left off, and it's more
of the same. The quality of the strips has not dropped off; if
anything, these strips are better than the first ones. I quite
thoroughly enjoyed it. See also Root of all Evil.

Follow the guys from Columbia Internet as they work through the day to day tasks of tech support with really stupid customers, deciding which Linux distro to install, and tips on fragging the enemy. As you read you will find that there really is such a thing as a stupid question.

This book holds a little entertainment for anyone that is interested in computers. Admittedly, there is a certain level of Linux understanding to enjoy the Microsoft jokes. I would not buy this book for the technophobe in your life.

The book is dated now (who really remembers what happened on May 19th 1999?). But that is part of the fun, trying to figure out what the world events were at the time of writing.

There is something for all you computer geeks. A parody of Lord of the Rings and quite a few references to the Phantom Menace will keep you in stitches. There is even a romance that buds at the end of the book. I think it is all fake though, or at least cannot be long lived. Have you ever heard of geeks and romance going together?

This is one funny book. It truly captures the the world of IT, but puts a humorous slant to it. I read it almost from cover to cover and now frequently pick it up when I am in need of a laugh. I also like to post some of the topics on the door of my office. That bugs the heck out of our NT server folks, the jibes are a little too close to home for them.

Came in a timely manner and was described well by the seller.

Jay B. Barney has written an enduring, understandable user's guide to corporate strategy that is a must read for any business student. Barney helps would-be business leaders frame their strategic decision-making process. Barney first explains to his audience the concepts of strategy and performance, and their relevance to the corporate organization both internally and externally. Barney then explores the different strategies that the corporation can adopt in dealing with its competitive environment: Cost leadership, product differentiation, tacit collusion, and alliances. The author does a very good job in demonstrating to his readers that the four strategies are not mutually exclusive but occasionally complementary. Finally, Barney explores how a company can structure itself across markets over time. He successively addresses the issues of integration, diversification, mergers and acquisitions, and globalization. Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage has been one of the most influential business textbooks that I have ever been asked to read.

This is a great book - more for what it organises than what it adds as new ideas.

Barney sets a model for Competitive Advantage (VIRO) and them compares strategic models as potential sources. It places many of the modern attempts in perspective. Without this starting understanding, the modern gurus (Hamel) are almost impossible to apply as their ideas lack the perspective on the role of strategy within an organisation and within all of the other management tools.

It places Michael Porter within a framework where his work can be better used.

For managers and post graduates, this book sets out the fundamentals of strategy and where it can take you.

Not cheap (by a long way) but a fair price for the knowledge.

Jay B. Barney has written an enduring, understandable user's guide to corporate strategy that is a must read for any business student. Barney helps would-be business leaders frame their strategic decision-making process. Barney first explains to his audience the concepts of strategy and performance, and their relevance to the corporate organization both internally and externally. Barney then explores the different strategies that the corporation can adopt in dealing with its competitive environment: Cost leadership, product differentiation, tacit collusion, and alliances. The author does a very good job in demonstrating to his readers that the four strategies are not mutually exclusive but occasionally complementary. Finally, Barney explores how a company can structure itself across markets over time. He successively addresses the issues of integration, diversification, mergers and acquisitions, and globalization. Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage has been one of the most influential business textbooks that I have ever been asked to read.

This is a very concise and interesting book on competitive and corporate strategies. It compiles all the main issues regarding studies on competitive advantage withouth losing focus on the specifics of each different kind of strategy.

I would recommend using the book only after a review of microeconomic concepts. This will allow graduate business students coming from other areas (like engineering) to grasp the strategy concepts more easily.

One suggestion: it would be nice if the authors included cases at the end of each chapter. Since the book presents the theory from a basic up to a more advanced level, this would let students to quickly fix the concepts by applying them in real world situations.

I have been in the finance and credit field since 1993. In this time, I have reviewed over 4,000 credit reports, and have seen hundreds of credit reports with major errors on them. Trust me, major errors on credit reports are a very common occurrence.

Denise Richardson's story is an absolute nightmare. You can read the summary of what happened elsewhere here, so I need not recap it. But her story is absolutely compelling, and frightening, and you will get angry at the following when reading the book: large bank practices; collections agencies; the three major credit bureaus, the attorneys for huge multi-billion dollar corporations; our judicial system; and our Congress and regulators who are supposed to be protecting us, but instead are protecting the large corporations who are funding their campaigns and often actually writing the consumer laws and the federal regulations.

You won't be pleased about how the credit system works in this country after reading this book, but that in my view is a good thing. With knowledge comes truth, and with truth, comes power. Once you have a much better understanding how this system works (or doesn't work) by reading Denise's story, you will know how to protect yourself from a similar fate. The nightmare of incorrect and damaging errors showing up and staying on credit reports doesn't just happen to a few individuals like Denise...it happens to tens of millions of Americans.

Denise has a number of tips on how to protect yourself from credit errors. Two important ones are: Monitor your monthly payments to all major accounts, especially your mortgage, and monitor your own credit reports on a regular basis to make sure that errors are not being reported. (A personal note - after reading this book, I contacted my mortgage bank, and will now start monitoring my mortgage payments online. We have never received a monthly mortgage payment statement either.)

I mostly read this book looking at it from a credit standpoint, because that is the field I am in. However, this is a well told and inspiring story that moved me on a human level; of one woman who took on the giants of industry, and won. The toll it took on her life was immense, but she did not give up. I have a lot of respect for her. She fought a lot of battles in this book, and did not win them all. But in the end, she won the war.

Again, I highly recommend this book. You will be moved by Denise's story, and you will also learn steps you can take to protect your own good credit.

Denise's story requires a strong stomach; I had to put it down at times just to let myself settle down after reading the nightmare she went through. This book gives you the tools to monitor your credit health and to be aware of the steps to take to maintain it. Highly recommended.

Denise's story is shaking up the credit industry. In clear, concise and honest language she tells her painfully true story of what can and does happen to honest and innocent people. I am buying copies of GIVE ME BACK MY CREDIT for all my friends...especially students being offered unsolicited credit. An excellent, compelling read.

Author Denise Richardson and I decided to exchange our literary works. I sent her my novel "The Kids on the Block," and Denise sent me hers; "Give Me Back My Credit." Even though "The Kids on the Block has some sad parts, for the most part it is humorous and hilariously funny. Denise's true story is, on the other hand, tragic, nightmarish and bloodcurdling to say the least. I do not expect Denise to have much humor left after what she went through in fighting an arrogant, error-plagued, contemptuous Mortgage Bank and the three national credit bureaus.

Denise is the Iwo Jima against corporate giant's who, not only ruined her credit, but made her life worse than a living hell.

If you are like me and feel safe and confident since your credit score is above the 700's do not be too complacent and seat on your recliner thinking all is good and well. I jumped out of my seat after reading the first two chapters!

In author Denise Richardson's book "Give Me Back My Credit" she tells how her nightmare and living hell began. She, too, thought and felt safe and confident that everything about her mortgage on the home she owned was better than best. She made it a point to make extra payments to the principal of the mortgage loan, and of course, her credit rating was excellent as well.

Years later Denise decided to refinance her home. Much to her astounding surprise, she finds out the Mortgage lender had made many dreadful, inexcusable accounting errors on her mortgage loan. The lender never credited the extra mortgage payment to the principal of the mortgage loan.

The mortgage lender had not only been misapplying those extra payments, but was using her money to their benefit. After she found out the inexcusable mistake the lender had been making for years, the mortgage lender refused to correct their accounting errors. Denise's nightmare and living hell began.

From face-to-face battles against the corporate giants to inefficient attorneys and courtroom dramas the fight to regain, restore and have the errors corrected by the Mortgage lender only compounded into a bigger nightmare. From there it spread like a cancerous disease to the three national credit bureaus of Experian, Trans Union and Equifax.
This is a story the reader will not forget. The reader will learn from it and, sadly to say, from Denise's nightmare.

I didn't think I needed to read "Give Me Back My Credit;" I was wrong! I hope the book finds its way to the halls of high school and college administrators and make the book required reading for all students.

If you feel you don't need to read her book, you, too, will be wrong.

Denise's first-person account is moving and her story is full of useful information and lists of important resources. It's unfortunate that she had to go through all of this, but she's written it down so we can learn from her experience. This book will help you understand the landscape of red tape and motivate you to cut through it.

With all the books on hiring out there, I didn't expect to find one that showed me a system that worked flawlessly. This is a must have book if you are at all involved in the hiring process. It's worth its weight in gold! Buy it before it sells out. Enough said.

Over the dozen years that I've been interviewing and hiring staff, I have "self-developed" many of the techniques the author presents. However, I had not formalized them. This book provides methods and procedures, helps develop a mechanical thought process, to structure the pre-interview selection, the interview, and the post-interview analysis.

I used the book to augment my own "self-grown" interview process recently and with tremendous success.

This book is a "must have" arrow in every manager's quiver; young or old, new or mature. Whether you have "home-grown" an interview technique, had HR force one upon you, or are looking to develop a strategy, this book will help.

"High Impact Hiring" by Del Still is a must read for everyone from the President of a Company to the Dept. Manager charged with interviewing & hiring decisions. Once you have read this book you will find you are more equiped to gather the pertinent information on candidates which will ultimately give you greater success in this most important decision. Hiring the right individual is one of our Corporate clients greatest challenges so we have been giving this book to them to assist in facing the hiring hurdle. With the assistance of the book they are capable of meeting the hiring challenge with confidence. As the President of one of Southern California's premier CPA firms I am involved in all of our own internal hirings and am so grateful to have read this book. My advise to those of you who are involved in this process is "Don't hire without first reading this exceptional book!" Your business cannot afford the wrong individual. Creating an exceptional company can only be acheived with exceptional people within an organization.

"Making the right hiring decision is more important today than ever before." Del J. Still writes, "I don't have to tell you about the impact of smarter competition and globalization of today's business on profits. I'm sure you've felt the pressure. If not, you will. Even the smallest company cannot afford to operate as they have in the past and expect to suceed in today's pressure-filled environment. How do you win? You win by building an exceptional work force"(p.19).

In this context, throughout the book, he presents his 7-Step interview model that can be summarized by one seven-letter word- 'PROCEED.' He argues that "It is an acronym where each letter represents one step of the process. 'PROCEED' is your blueprint to interviewing success. You'll be amazed at the results you achieve when you follow this process, step-by-step"(p.42).

Step 1: Prepare

* Identify existing superior performers

* Create a job description for the position

* Identify the competencies or skills needed to do the job

* Draft interview questions

Step 2: Review

* Review questions for legality and fairness

Step 3: Organize

* Select your interview team and your method of interviewing

* Assign roles to your team and divide the questions

Step 4: Conduct

* Gather data from the job candidate

Step 5: Evaluate

* Determine the match between the candidate and the job

Step 6: Exchange

* Share data in a discussion meeting

Step 7: Decide

* Make the final decision

Finally, he writes that "Even though the material I have included in this book is based on years of research and practical experience, it can always be improved. I encourage you to experiment with the methods and discover what works best for you...The cardinal rule is to 'stay legal' and 'play fair.' The 'best' thing you can do is put someone in a job where their competencies closely match the requirements. The 'worst' thing you can do is the opposite"(p.221).

Highly recommended.

In December 2001 I recruited a person to our business and because I hired on my gutfeeling I made a very expensive mistake. Now seven months later after enormous amounts of energy and resources devoted to that person I had to fire him.

This book has thought me the importance of looking at working habits and past actions when hiring people. Maybe you can teach a old dog to sit - but who has the time and money for that!

If you are hiring - buy this book and do it right!

This is a GREAT book and I would encourage every citizen of America to read it, young or old. It's actually a hair-raising book. Well researched and each chapter has a personal, true life story of a family or individual that has been challenged with the topic being discussed.

Since the other reviews to date go over the book, I want to share what I took from it. First, I got out all my insurance policies after reading the chapters on how the insurance industry has slowly & slyly sandbagged us consumers. I read them with a fine tooth comb and voila! wouldn't you know it - just like the author said they were doing, well that is what they are doing. Sneaky company (and this is one of the Big Three property/casualty companies in California and the rest of the country) well guess what, they did exactly what the author said they were doing - changing the terms of the policy in such a way that the ordinary consumer, you & me, who (unfortunately) trust our agents so well ... are/were clueless that this got by us. Yep they changed me from the Guaranteed Replacement coverage on my home to the Limited Replacement + some percentage of cost overrun. And it got by me and I'm pretty smart (at least I thought I was). Just as it has probably gotten by most of you too. I called my agent last month and he told me it was the best policy money could by, Limited but with a 150% total replacement ratio, and furthermore the company I was considering replacing them with, well they had a reputation of quoting low and then next year WHAM they would sock it to me. I don't think so because that company is the one used exclusively by AARP and I just don't think AARP would stand for that kind of treatment. But back to my agent .. funny, but my policy said ... 125%. My agent disagreed with me and spoke to me in such a way that I would never want to go look further. But I did look further and HE WAS WRONG. I called the Home Office and got clarification and it is 125%. MY AGENT DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE SOLD ME and my agent has been my agent since 1988 - or my agent wants that commission. He's a nice guy, I really don't know. But I'm not asking him. I got very angry when I realized that I had been sandbagged and g-d forbid if my house did burn to the ground, I would end up paying out of pocket over $200,000 to rebuild it just as it is.

Just as many of the Oakland/San Diego and other parts of California that have faced total losses have had to do.

The case studies in the book are all the same - about how the families of Oakland and San Diego fires really took it on the chin. The losses above the policy limits were/are staggering. Guess what, with rare exception, I'll bet you a zillion bucks that if you are reading this review or the book, chances are you are grossly underinsured.

I changed that. I changed companies and policies in the last 2 weeks. And surprisingly, between my car, home and umbrella policy, I went DOWN $600/year in premium along with going up from $1M to $2M in my umbrella. That was worth the book right there.

Then on to the ERISA chapters. What a shocker. I really was stunned at what I read. Imagine this law, passed to protect US the workers, in reality does not protect anyone except the insurance companies. Coincidentally there was a story in the LA Times last week about a woman whose 30-yr old husband died and was covered with $400,000 in his group life policy through his job. Guess what, the company and the insurance company refused to pay the death benefit even though the deceased employee paid the premiums for over the 3 years he worked there. The widow sued in state court, the insurance company knows its rights and got it into federal court (because this is ERISA) and the grieving widow was ordered by court to get the premiums paid returned to her and no payment for the policy. And it is not appealable. Who in the world ever knew that? Did you? I didn't. Does this mean that all life insurance policies through your job won't get paid? I guess I was lucky when my dad died 21 years ago because his group life policy did pay me. But then again my dad owned the company so suspect they didn't want to futz with that claim. However the gall of the company to deny the claim and then the courts, under ERISA precedent rulings, denying the payment. I almost fell off my chair. This is just as the author described is happening in the book.

So if ERISA is undermining employee's benefits (and this includes health coverage too, not just pensions, IRA's & other employer provided plans, employer offered disability and the rest of the benefits of the job) and if ERISA is stripping all our rights of we workers, what is left?

The chapters and stories on employeer provided disability coverage almost left me in tears. I usually shed tears only when reading fiction. This was just a scandalous nightmare to read. But I believe it. And the reason I believe it is that my former husband went blind in his last job due to a detached retina-like condition and his privately held disability company policy (coincidentally the same one talked about in the book) denied him his benefits for close to 4 years. Good thing my ex is an attorney and could take them on. 4 YEARS. While my ex is an attorney what he wasn't able to do was to pull money for living expenses out of a hat along with a few rabbits. He ended up on the brink of bankruptcy with this stunt the company pulled. How an attorney that goes blind can continue to be a litigator and read his briefs is beyond me - and the disability company plays the 'let's see who can hold out the longest' game.

This really is sick stuff.

I realize this is a long review. But I decided to list real life stories to support exactly what this book is all about. I have to say, anybody reading this review that is thinking about buying the book, STOP NOW and buy this book. I came upon it at Borders by accident, it was shelved under Economics and not my favorite category which is Investments - and I don't really like economics, but this is an easy & engrossing book to read. And the time has now come at this passage of time in our history that the public, ALL OF US, need to get our heads out of the sand and meet these challenges head on, informed, and not stupidly ignorant. Ignorance costs and at this point of our historical times, NOBODY can afford to be ignorant anymore.

Please read the book. And thank you for reading this review.

What an interesting book! High Wire goes a long way in explaining why our society seems so fragile in relation not only to our economic lives, but also in our relationships with our communities as a whole. This book also confirms the notion of how shifting so much risk away from employers, insurance companies and the government onto individuals creates an environment of "it's every man for himself" rather than "we're all in this together". Maybe this might explain some of the disconnectedness we experience in our day-to-day interactions. High Wire is very easy to read and very informative as well.

How is it possible to turn such complex information into a page turner? That's exactly what Peter Gosselin has managed with "High Wire". I coundn't put it down and I'm so grateful to finally put my chronic, low-level anxiety about the future into some context. This book is a must read for anyone who feels they are working harder than ever and still losing ground. Kudos and thank you Mr. Gosselin for a great book.

Gosselin's "High Wire" asserts that over the past quarter-century the "ownership society" is becoming the "on-your-own society," contrary to the thinking behind the Mayflower Compact that united everyone for the common good.

Insurance is Gosselin's biggest target, and anecdotal evidence provided by actual Americans his vehicle. Private sector health insurers were exempted from professional liability due to ERISA (1974) rulings, state laws notwithstanding. Thus, these insurers have every incentive to delay and with-hold payments, and plaintiff attorneys little/no incentive to sue for damages. Similarly, homeowners (about 60%) are often surprised to find their home insurance scaled back from "guaranteed replacement cost" to "extended replacement cost" ($X + Y%), while others find coverage unavailable at any cost. Finally, pensions are increasingly threatened by the vagaries of the stock market, coupled with the time and information demands associated with it. (Gosselin documents that even Nobel Prize winners in economics do take the time to do so.)

Gosselin's most alarming revelation, however, is the fact that the odds of a family seeing an income drop of 50% or more during any 2-year interval have gone from about 5% in the 1970s to about 9% in the 2000's. The pattern is the same for all ages, income levels, and amount of education. Further, the average size workplace slid 18% during the same period; 50% in L.A. - smaller firms have always had weaker job and benefit security.

Clearly there are fewer stable jobs and sources of reliable benefits. Gosselin also emphasizes that a college education is less than touted. Large debts hanging over graduates (the average private four-year school cost increased 8X over the prior three decades, public school costs rose 7X, while median incomes rose 23%). Most "increased aid" (the rationale offered for these increases) actually consists of loans.

A major Gosselin weak point is his overemphasis on anecdotes and an underemphasis on generalizable, clear statistics. (The lack of clarity is due to his continual failure to state whether various statistics that are offered are inflation-adjusted or not.)

"High Wire's" biggest weakness, however, is his failure to provide any information/data on why jobs, earnings, and benefits are weakening. Thus, readers cannot understand the overall logic behind these dark trends (temporary, or permanent) or develop reasonable solutions (eg. simply require better treatment of workers, or also shield American corporations from rapacious competitors).

Elephants in the room that Gosselin missed include: #1: Outsourcing to Asia, legal (eg. H-1B) and illegal immigration, and automation are causing major job losses. #2: Runaway costs in higher education are largely encouraged by government funding. #3: Runaway costs in health care are also encouraged by government funding; government also has missed a large opportunity to identify and decrease wasteful spending.

The "good news" is that President Bush's effort to privatize Social Security and add it to the "ownership society" failed - just before the latest market dive.

I just finished reading High Wire and I learned a lot from it. Peter Gosselin really gets to the heart of what has been going on with the economy and the job market over the last 25 years. The books tracks the exact changes that have occurred since I graduated from college and got my first job. Peter does a great job at explaining very complicated subjects. Any one who is going to be in the workforce and is concerned about their security must read this book so they can understand what has got us to this point in the econony and job market and be prepared for what is to come. The book is not about doom and gloom. It is about explaining change and getting the reader to think about how they need to adapt to an uncertain future.

This has been invaluable as a tool for learning about and teaching about ITIL. I have shared it with, and recommended it to, many colleagues and clients. I hope the authors are preparing an update for ITIL v3

Este libro es excelente como material de formación que permite presentar y obtener la certificación como ITSM Foundations.

Cubre de forma detallada cada uno de los procesos ITIL a nivel de sus objetivos, alcances, actividades, roles, etc. así como la relación con el resto de dichos procesos.

This " IT Service Management: An Introduction (Paperback) " published Apr'2005 paperback is only attributed to Van Bon.

Could someone point out the difference(s) in content between vs " IT Service Management: An Introduction (Paperback) by Jan Van Bon, George Kemmerling, Dick Pondman " published Sep'2002 ?

And why is the latter always 4-6 weeks availability?

This book was recommended to me on my ITIL Foundation course and for 6 months I have been trying to get a copy (Amazon and Blackwell's both failed). According to the publishers it has been superceeded by "Foundations of IT Service Management based on ITIL" ISBN 9077212582, also by Jan van Bon. I have ordered it from a supplier who has it in stock (try Google ISBN ...) but will never know if it is as good as ITSM:An Introduction.

The Office of Government Commerce's official ITIL books are great, and absolutely essential for anyone who does IT service management for a living, but the basic library will run you over $1000 in print, and the complete library on CD-ROM costs nearly $2000 (all prices in USD.)

If what you need is a good, serviceable introduction to ITIL that will give you excellent preparation for passing the ITIL Foundations exam, look no further than this book. It can be hard to get hold of, as it's understandably a very popular title right now, but it's worth tracking down and getting your hands on it; the price is certainly right, and the "just the basic facts" presentation makes for quick reading and good comprehension.

I do business process improvement work for a living; I have taken formal ITIL and CMMI training, and have also read a lot of books in this field.

If you're looking for the best introductory ITIL book on the market, this is absolutely it.

This book presents you with a step by step marketing plan template and clearly defines and explains what is the concept and the importance of each step in the plan. This is a great book for anyone in the public sector who has no marketing experience or background and is a great review for someone who does.

"Marketing in the Public Sector" by Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee provides ideas and advice on proven techniques for those in the public sector that reach and benefit the common good of the public.

There are three parts and 13 chapters. There are very specific and detailed sub-chapters within the main chapters, and they are listed in the table of contents.

1. Improving Public Sector Performance by Seizing Opportunities....
2. Understanding the Marketing Mindset
3. Developing and Enhancing Popular Programs and Services
4. Setting Motivating Prices, Incentives, and Disincentives
5. Optimizing Distribution Channels
6. Creating and Maintaining Desired Brand Identity
7. Communicating Effectively with Key Public
8. Improving Customer Service and Satisfaction
9. Influencing Positive Public Behaviors: Social Marketing
10 Forming Strategic Partnerships
11 Gathering Citizen Data, Input, and Feedback
12 Monitoring and Evaluating Performance
13 Developing a Compelling Marketing Plan

There are numerous real-life examples presented as case studies, basically.

One example in implementing information messages to the public is the Ad Council. The Ad Council is a private, nonprofit organization that taps volunteers from the communication and advertising industries to deliver governmental agency messages to the American public (p. 232). Not only must these messages be crafted well, but they do need to reach the targeted audience. There also has to be response. Response that can be statistically verified. The message is distinguished and emphasized so the target market audience knows about the campaign, believes they will experience the benefits promised, and thus are inspired to act upon it, or stop deleterious acts (p. 161). Like the private corporate media with its experience and sophistication, the government media is organized, tested, and methodical.

For the most part the term "methodical" is used in a good way. If there is a public message to be conveyed, it needs to be disseminated in the most optimum way. Many public messages are positive and conducive for the collective good of our communities. One example from many are the mascots such as Smokey the Bear for fire awareness, Mr. Yuck for poison labels, McGruff the Crime Dog, and Eddy Eagle for Gun Safety. These ad campaigns of course, are specifically targeted for children, yet also influence and remind parents to educate their kids on such potentially dangerous matters.

One doesn't need to be in the public sector to benefit from the information, case studies, and strategies in this book. The ideas can be used by many. There are dozens of pictures of ad samples and tables, and the index is comprehensive. Very good. Excellent for public administrators and students of Public Policy and Administration (PPA programs).

Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee encourage governments to learn from private sector marketing principles and techniques. It's a great idea, and they make a persuasive case that "social marketing" can change society, or at least certain aspects of it. The book is full of practical tips. Using examples from social marketing campaigns around the world, Kotler and Lee demonstrate how to apply basic marketing ideas in the public sector. Creative approaches have injected new life into many social programs, ranging from environmental awareness to customer service. We recommend this book to public officials and leaders of nonprofit organizations who are looking for new ways to educate their constituents.

The target audience for this particular book is government agencies. Inside you will find tools to get citizens involved with and supporting your agency, using your products and services, and how to influence public behaviors. The authors also include specific roadmaps to creating brand identity, gathering citizen input, and evaluating the results of your efforts. One of the better sections includes a how-to model for building an organization that is both high-tech and high-touch.

The book focuses on all levels of government agencies from the public servant trying to allocate scarce resources to governmental units trying to create social consensus to get things done. Loaded with lots of examples, Marketing in the Public Sector is required reading for governmental agencies.

At first glance you might think that this is a book on selling to the government. It isn't. This book is basically a primer, or a series of anecdotes or case studies where a governmental agency is attempting to sell their products or services to the public.

While we don't think of the government doing marketing, visit any Post Office and look at the ads plastered all over the place for everything from mailing supplies, to passports, to stamp collecting (where you buy a stamp from them and then don't use it for mailing - a lot of profit in that).

In addition to these actual products, there are a lot of stories about how the government wanted to influence behavior on the part of the citizens from litter campaigns (Don't Mess With Texas) to reducing drunk driving.

The intended audiance for this book seems to be organizations within the government who now need to communicate what they do, how well they do it, and influence behavior among the population. And that's the world population, not just the US.

excellent reference material has been invaluable to me in the last week and has steered me into making some difficult choices easily

This book, especially if used in conjunction with the author's web site (see ASIN B0000C7RBX), is one of the most valuable additions to the IT security profession that I've read. My reasons for making this bold statement include:

- The book provides a coherent and focused approach to developing and implementing a security plan. You can find numerous books on writing and implementing policies and procedures, or establishing a security posture, but this is the first book I've read that steps you through the process of conceiving, implementing and keeping alive a viable security plan.

- By separating the process into three distinct domains (referred to as 'stacks') you ensure that your plan encompasses and integrates the technology, process and business elements into a coherent strategy.

- Artifacts in the form of a complete set of worksheets provide a set of tools that give a framework and speed up the planning process.

The planning approach set forth in the book is straightforward and realistic - you're led through the preliminaries, which includes conceiving a plan that matches your needs, and selling the plan to sponsors (an often overlooked, but essential activity when fighting for budget). The next step is to perform an impact analysis, and this is where the book shines, because the author focuses on business issues instead of technology. This promotes awareness and goes a long way towards getting buy-in and funding, as well as laying a solid foundation for a long-term security plan. Next the author shows how to select the correct security model and avoid common pitfalls. These lead to building organizational consensus - buy-in from all stakeholders. The difference between this step and the preliminary step of selling to a sponsor and obtaining funding, which is vertical, you need to promote the plan horizontally as well. The final steps are to implement and continuously refine the plan.

Of course, the overview above only describes the approach contained within the book. There is much more to commend it, such as clear writing, superb page design that portrays information in graphs, illustrations and tables, and the details the author provides. There is not a single statement or recommendation that is unsupported, and the material is both sensible and accurate.

In Mission-Critical Security Planner, Greenberg lays out all the security elements that should concern you and what questions you should ask about them. With this book, half the battle is won because you at least know how to do the planning. You still have to do the planning, but with the worksheets and tips provided in the book, that will be much easier than it used to be.

I read the book twice: once to get an idea of what all the worksheets were about and once to really read them with all the technical and practical details provided by Greenberg.

Greenberg identifies 28 security elements, including 15 fundamental elements, (six of which are core elements), and 13 wrap-up elements. Core elements include things like authorization and access control, authentication, encryption, integrity, nonrepudiation, and privacy. Those may seem obvious, but Greenberg has a lot of useful things to say about them that others haven't said.

Perhaps the most valuable part of the book is all the other elements, which we tend to forget, including addressing and routing (with tips on how to get those right from a security point of view), configuration management, directory services, time services, staff management, legal issues, and so on.

I'd be interested to see some projects get implemented with Greenberg's methods. I think it should work quite well, although due to entropy, laziness, over-worked engineers, and other such factors, I would guess that some of the numerous worksheets will fall by the wayside. But I think Greenberg would be OK with that as long as most of the worksheets are maintained and the company adopts security as a way of thinking.

In summary, this book is definitely worth reading, probably numerous times!

The truth is, hackers and other attackers won't take no for an answer, and while there is absolutely no way to stop attackers from trying; there are ways to stop them in their tracks.

With that, Mission-Critical Security Planner is a surprisingly good book, aimed at someone looking to start developing their information security infrastructure. Rather than having to reinvent the wheel, the book provides planners with the framework and tools they need to create their information security infrastructure.

One good feature of the book it is large collection of templates and worksheets on various security elements. .../

The book is not overly technical and is quite good for those who need to get their security group up and running in a short timeframe.

For those that are serious about security, they will find that Mission-Critical Security Planner is like a cookbook. They can use it to prepare their security as needed.

Overall, Mission-Critical Security Planner is a very readable and useful book. Those who have an imperative to get their security groups up and running will find huge value in the book immediately.

It is very rarely, that you'd see a good high-level security book nowadays. There are lots of great "worm-eye view" books with nice detailed descriptions of attacks, defenses, secure configuration options, tools and tricks. However, many of the high-level books resolve to quoting some outdated CSI/FBI survey, blabbering about security policy and giving out piles of outworldly advice on how to "mitigate risks".

This visionary book proves the opposite: you can have a high-level security book, which is not just practical, but actionable. "Mission Critical Security Planner" delivers a portion of the security process, packed into one toolkit. Make no mistake - this book is about planning how to do security, not how to tweak your scanner or configure a firewall. However, planning is indeed a critical (and, as the author points out, often missing) piece of security conundrum, and the book delivers on that.

An awesome component of the book is a large collection of templates and worksheets on "selling" security measures, planning the implementations, organizing security team, dealing with various business people and many other occasions. The book has the printed versions while its companion website criticalsecurity.com has the download.

The main part of the book is organized around "security fundamentals", large domains of security (such as authentication, encryption, integrity, privacy, etc), which are used to structure the security planning process, described by the author. For each of the fundamentals, the content is organized in sections: summary, security stack (covering various aspects from physical to application level), life-cycle management (from technology selection to response), business (on dealing with various categories of business people, such as suppliers and customers) and selling security (to execs, managers and staff). All of the above contain various templates.

Among the more fun parts, the section on negotiating with hackers is just exclusive and of the never-seen-before kind. Section in hacker profiling is also of interest, since it seems to originate from author's experiences (and not in just reading about it on the news). The book also demystifies such elusive notions as "impact analysis", "security ROI". PKI also has a prominent role in the book. While PKI (as it is defined today) might or might not fly, the book gives a great example of large-scale production implementation, running for many years. Another great feature of the book is author's "future 10 attacks list" with his predictions on threat landscape.

Overall, the book seems indispensable to those responsible for securing networks. Security managers and CSOs will likely gain maximum benefits from using it (due to the book targeting), but other security professionals will benefit as well. Notice, that the benefits can be derived from "using" it as opposed to just "reading" it, although even the latter will prove highly enlightening. The "selling security" templates alone are likely worth their weigh in gold. The book is well-written and, while not possessing the lively style of some recent security books, will beat some of them hands down in real-world applicability. After all, even if you very well know that IDS is valuable, who will help you to "sell" it to the CIO? This book just might!

Anton Chuvakin, Ph.D., GCIA, GCIH is a Senior Security Analyst with a major information security company. His areas of infosec expertise include intrusion detection, UNIX security, forensics, honeypots, etc. In his spare time, he maintains his security portal info-secure.org

A return to savings. A tax cut is designed too encourage the rich too save. The rich create jobs and invest in ideas. The savings of the rich increase innovation by infusing money that produces products and services, in the economy. However, excessive governmental debt is the thief in the night destroying all wealth.

Banks use these savings too fund new corporate projects. The innovations attract foreign investment as they seek to profit from the new ideas. The stock market booms and jobs increase. Economic growth reaches an impass as government spending increases beyond a safe amount of government debt. Debt to finance rebuilding of natural disasters ($61 billion) and the Iraq war (est $200 billion). Perpetual debt, debt that can never be paid off. In 1990s, a $5.6 trillion surplus existed and by 2002, $4 trillion had been spent, and by 2005, -2 trillion was spent or borrowed. Debt is suppose to decrease during economic booms and the neoconomist are predicting future boom and future debt reduction. Debt slows down growth, as money becomes more difficult to risk and acquire. At the same time the government becomes increasingly burdened with the interest it must pay on the money borrowed.

The Fed attempts to slow inflation by increasing interest rates soaking up liquidity and cooling the economy. The Fed raises interest rates is hoped to keep inflation in check. High fuel costs threaten too increase inflation. The responds by raising interest rates and the rising interest rates have the affect of stifling corporate earnings and dampering Research and Development thereby slowing down innovation. The rising interest rates makes debt vehicles look more attractive increasing purchases of U.S treasuries.

As long as innovation remains strong investors will not flee from stocks because this sector represents growth. A tax cut on earnings increases the amount of money moving into the commerical sector. As money becomes tighter, companies cut back workforce, insert technology to increase production, and delay product introduction. What is expected is more with less. More productivity from less employees.

Investors become uncertain about stocks and seek refuge in Bonds or Commodities. The Fed attempt to quell fears in the bond market about rising inflation. If an investor believes the Fed has contain inflation than the investor will be more optimistic that growth and continue investing into the market.

If the economy is perceived to be slowing down that current bond prices go up. Economic slow downs hold longer-term interest rates down making existing bonds yields more attractive.

In a recession, government is expected to increase debt, spending more, in order, too stimulate growth. So during a boom the new revenue accumulates from taxes. Cut social program whenever possible. The government social machine is a false ideal and will not produce a greater society by spending tax money as its fuel to build infrastructure. The only hope is growth and innovation produced by private machinery.

However, if economic growth does not increase than government revenues will not increase. Economic growth is the key to government revenue. Government spending can not remain constant and perpetual without dramatic impacts on the economy. With $5.4 in surplus, the government believed it could afford a tax cut and spent $2 billion on debt reduction and $1.4 trillion too the emergency reserve.

The author presents an interesting question, "What happens when a country can not pay its interest payment?" The author briefly explains how these countries experience hyper inflation and destablized currencies. At $500 billion a year in interest payments pressure not to increase debt seems prudent, yet more debt continues to accumulate. I think this is the heart of the issue raise about the new economy, "Can it make its interest payments"?

Tax cuts were expected to generate revenue, however, heavy debt and inflation inhibit tax revenue generation because companies don't produce as much. Inflation means higher interest rates and higher taxes.

The following correlations are not true: 1. Unemployment decreases shortly after a tax cut 2. The poor will immediately spend their tax refund money. Most of the poor were discovered to save their tax money. 3. Research and Development will produce immediate innovation cash flows.

The rich save over 50 percent. The savings can be used to invest in company projects that stimulate economic growth . However, if the economy is contracting, company put off new project because money is hard to get.

Research and Development offer a marginal return on the investment. The biggest problem with R&D is that the innovations do not alway equate to profits, increased consumer demand, and immediate introduction in the market place.

How does the government eliminate Taxes over a trillion dollars in taxes? Getting rid of the capital gains tax, dividend tax, interest tax, and estate tax. Taxes targeted at the working class. Interestingly the author does not talk about the consumption tax that congress wants so desparately to pass into law.

How does the government raise money for government spending? U.S Treasuries which are considered the most stable security in the world. Are there any limits to how much money can be produced? A policy of a strong dollar means foreign investment finds favorable investments in dollar denominated securities. A strong dollar means U.S manufacturing production and profits go up and higher profits means more tax revenue.

The author points out that the Laffeur curve did not gain strength. The Laffeur curve suggested the same amount of tax revenue could be gain at a low tax rate verses a higher tax rate. By lower the tax, the consumer had more disposal money, and spent more and the increasing in spending produced tax revenue.

Individualized Social Security accounts may not mean investment profits. The stock market may become bearish and return to a mean of 15 PE causing billions in reduced equity. Fees associated with the broker, transaction, and maintenance will cut into investment profits. The assumption of 7 percent growth perpetually may not hold up.

Imagine it is 2012, what will the new economy look like? By neoconomist standards the economy will be a pulsating capitalist machine with individuals incomes surge higher and money being stashed away. Economic growth will exceed 4 percent. Tax collections will be growing, debt decreasing, and interest payment reducing. The government will defray its debt and long term interest rates will be decreasing. There will be no taxes on wealth and savings. Foreigners will see the U.S stock market attractive for investing. Even China and India will not be able match the high returns of U.S companies. Innovation will create and insatible demand for American Labor. The Unemployment rate will fall. Individualize Social Security accounts will pump billions of dollars into private companies. Senior Citizens will have a new level of disposal cash available. A new era of American economic supremcy, if it can become a reality.

"Neoconomy', along with `What's the Matter with Kansas' are probably the two most influential books I've read in the last five years. Forget all you know about Supply-Side Economics and Trickle Down Theory, Daniel Altman has written an easy to understand book on what the heck the Bush Administration is attempting with all those tax cuts and why they target the wealthy.

In a nutshell the Neoconomy is about reducing taxes on unearned income and savings in order to increase the accumulation of capital. This capital could be used to modernize, increase productivity and raise the holy grail of economics, the GDP. The country would theoretically attain more wealth, higher standards of living and a happy future for all. It's not an insane plan and it has the support of many well respected economists. The first problem with the plan is that it seems rather self serving. George W. Bush assembled a cabinet with an almost unprecedented cache of wealth. The author estimates their combined assets at between 3 and 30 times the value of the second Clinton administration. These are exactly the people who will benefit most from tax cuts on unearned income. They are also people who can afford to take considerable risks with our economy and still come out fine if things go sour.

The other larger problem is in the very nature of the leadership of George W. Bush. He surrounds himself with like minded people and gathered an economics team consisting almost entirely of supply-side adherents creating an echo chamber of ideas. These are people who have taken economics beyond mere theory into the realm of religious dogma. Unfortunately when tax cuts and growth are the only path to salvation everything else tends to get shortchanged. It has occurred to business owners that some of the things holding back growth include employee benefits, high American wages, regulations and assistance for the poor. The obsession with growth sometimes seems to reach the level of pathological and government finds itself ripping away at society's foundation in order to raise the tower higher. The author also points out that capital accumulation on its own is useless. You also need an educated society in order to both develop and use new technologies. Meanwhile the administration has consistently under funded education programs, worked to cut college grants and shown disdain for the scientific process (Read `The Republican War on Science' by Chris Mooney to see how bad it has gotten).

The last problem is that the Neoconomy may just flat out fail. Like the weather, economics can be affected dramatically by small unexpected perturbations. It's difficult to predict what will happen in six months or next month much less decades in the future. The Bush administration is treating economics like a hard science when in reality it's based on difficult to predictable human psychology. Changing the tax codes may have exactly the opposite intended effect. By reducing taxes on dividends people may actually begin to save less rather than more if they have specific retirement goals. Unfortunately Bush's extreme tax cuts are intended to handcuff lawmakers and force us down one path. The Republican groupthink is also the likely cause of the wildly optimistic (bordering on obscene) predictions about job creation that rivaled anything made in the run up to the Iraqi war. People forget now but the numbers being offered by the administration weren't just wrong they were `we have no idea what we are talking about' wrong. The scary thing is that these same people who were as wrong as wrong could be on job creation numbers seem to have absolutely confidence that they can precisely predict the effect of Social Security privatization decades in the future.

`Neoconomy' is Daniel Altman's first effort and he smacked this one out of the ballpark. Economics can be a rather dry and confusing subject but Mr. Altman manages to write a book that is lucid, informative and engaging. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the direction the United States is traveling.

Lets start out by saying this is book to bash president bush but rather it shows what the president and his economic advisors ideas and plans and what the effect and possible effects will be.
This should be another one of those books that should be red before the election because some of these ideas will be considered radical by some.

The main idea for the bush plan is to have the tax cuts and such to put more money out for companies to have pools to borrow from and this inturn will stimulate the ecomony. But this is an experiment could go wrong. This administration can afford to experiment because if it does go wrong bush and his cronies will probably lose some money but they will still have many millions to live on, it will really hurt the middle class on down.

It is no secret that most of the tax cuts have benefited the so called rich by cutting taxes on estates dividends and savings. All of these people get the most of their income from stocks and real estate. Yes these cuts are for everybody but how many people from the $40,000 level on down can save and invest to get these breaks. Would you not think that if the president really wanted to stimulate the economy he would gear cuts toward the majority. With the tax cuts bush signed into law in 2001 the book shows that for those making $50,000 or less the tax difference is less than a $1,000 compare that that make $500,000 or more they get breaks at least 10 times that amount don't you figure those on the lower end of the scale could use the money the most.

Another example is the estate tax cut while they figure if they cut the tax it will encourage more investment but in reality it has probably encouraged them to save more for there heirs because of course less tax.

Just like in the Reagen era alot of these cuts are based on future years where they figure the economy will be strong but what will the effect be if the economy is in a poor state as it is in now you do not have all the projected revenue and you have record debt that has to be paid sometime

This book is written so that it is pretty easy to understand on a subject that at times is dry and difficult.

We all know about the war on terrorism. And the war in Iraq. The debates about these things are fairly clear. Or at least ubiquitous.

And yet perhaps the Bush Administration's central and most groundbreaking effort has to do with none of these topics, but rather with the economy. The Administration is seeking to re-orient it from top to bottom. And there is little coverage of this in the news.

Daniel Altman explains it to me in crystal clear and easy prose. What I liked the most was the sort of intellectual history approach he takes, showing where the ideas for the "neoconomy" came from, as in what professors espoused them, who their students were, and how they came to positions of influence in Washington, and the responses over the years to their ideas. It's a fairly small group with a distinct lineage--think of the economists' equivalent to Wolfowitz and the Straussians.

One striking thing, if I read it right: the desired endpoint for the Neocons is a society in which only working people are taxed. A person who derived their income not from salaries, but entirely from stocks, bonds, and the like, would not be taxed at all.

The neoconomists' measures, supposedly undertaken for the bland and admirable goal of enhancing savings, inevitably end up being regressive.

Altman is quite rigorous and judicious, weighing the arguments on their own terms, following them to their logical conclusions, noting contradictions and inconsistencies in their own logic.

What's being touted is quite different from what's really going on, as the neoconomists themselves admit. It seems, apparently, that an attempted revolution is in the works, behind the scenes. This book peels back the veil and lets us know what is really going on.

I came away from this book with a better understanding of both basic economics and the real paradigm shift that is potentially underway in the largest economy on earth.

With presidential elections on our doorstep, Altman's 'Neoconomy' comes to bat with light to shed on future repercussions of the Bush Administration's economic plan. Altman's 'Neoconomy' is refreshingly un-biased allowing the reader, whether PH.D or undergrad, to determine what America's economic futrure holds in store.
Altman is charismatic, intelligent and makes his points fairly and concisely. I was thouroughly convinced of this after listening to him speak in San Francisco.

Sherwood's book changed my email life at work. For the first time I feel like *I* am in control of my email world rather than its piteous slave.

Sherwood's book is funny and immensely helpful to me both on the receiving end of email and the sending end. I have never been more grateful for a practical book. It will change your email life significantly and instantly. It's also a great new-job warming present.

Ms. Sherwood's wit and friendly writing style make this book an enjoyable read. The information, advice, and tips she presents make this book essential. I have gained countless valuable tools from Overcome Email Overload. I came back from vacation to 186 e-mails all sorted, categorized and prioritized. In less than 2 hours I was completely caught up! I am amazed daily with how much time this book has helped me save.

Kaitlin Sherwood's Overcome Email Overload With Microsoft Outlook 2000 And Outlook 2002 is a refreshingly simple, effective guide to using Microsoft Outlook 2000 or 2002 to speed up your email traffic and cut hours from time spent on correspondence every week. Perfect for the novice computer user, Overcome Email Overload features numerous black-and-white illustrations of screens from the Microsoft Outlook programs, the better to walk readers step-by-step through what Outlook has to offer. However, Overcome Email Overload is not primarily a software manual, but rather a practical guide to organizing and prioritizing messages, moving through messages quickly, how to spend less time on responses, how to make one's messages more legible, and so on. An appendix covers scripts in Visual Basic. Overcome Email Overload pays for itself and is an absolute "must" for any worker who relies on Outlook 2000 or 2002 to process vast amounts of email - the strategies herein are superb time-savers! Also highly recommended for Eudora 5 users is Overcoming Email Overload With Eudora 5.

In today's society, the use of email has become standard practice. With this newly developed technology comes the burden of how to manage your email. With the ease of sending and receiving email comes the problem of ensuring you don't spend wasted time viewing obsolete mail.

In the pages of Kaitlin Duck Sherwood's OVERCOME EMAIL OVERLOAD WITH MICROSOFT OUTLOOK 2000 AND OUTLOOK 2002: GET THROUGH YOUR ELECTRONIC MAIL FASTER there is hope for the weary email user. From page one, readers will quickly gain the knowledge to help eliminate countless hours spent sorting through email to determine which requires their immediate attention. This book explains all the advanced techniques that are often left out of general computer classes. The easy to follow language and illustrated graphics allow novice users to quickly grasp the many helpful tips and tricks and put them to effective use within minutes.

Kaitlin Duck Sherwood's book was helpful in teaching worthwhile techniques which I was able to effectively use in my current occupation. Having worked fifteen years in an office environment email has become the primary means of communication. Often, I have felt overwhelmed with the daily struggle of finding ways to manage hundreds of email messages. Ms. Sherwood's simple and helpful advice has been helpful in allowing me to regain the precious time that has been consumed by email. This book has found a permanent place beside my computer. For anyone who is looking for a way to save time, money, and help relieve stress, this book is a must read.

I live on the Internet and e-mail is my communication tool of choice. As a computer professional I read dozens of technical books on all kinds of topics. "Overcoming Email Overload" is one of those rare books that combine technical expertise with pure fun. I have tried various schemes to handle the abundance of email that I receive daily. A few of the suggestions that Ms. Sherwood made in this book I had already incorporated into my daily routine. But I did not have an overall consistent strategy, which, thanks to this book, I now have. When I first picked up this book I expected some simple quick fixes about using folders to store various types of mail and how to set up rules. I was blown away with the depth of material in this one small book. Not only does it teach someone unfamiliar with Outlook 2000 or 2002 how to effectively use the product, it also teaches us how to reduce the amount of emails that we receive; how to write clearer, concise emails; how to convey the right emotional tone; how to get people to read and understand our message. It is a real "How To" manual for everything related to email and effective communication. One danger in buying this book is that you will come to realize how many truly bad emails you receive each day. I recommend to people, on a daily basis, to buy or borrow this book so they can improve their use of email. Really, it is so that I will no longer have to read such poor writing. If you use email, you need this book.