Tools Books

The thing that I love about not only this, but but both of Taylors books is that he has a great sense of humor. I tend to think that in real life, Taylor and I would clash rather strongly on some issues, but that's OK. I will buy every book he comes out with (and here is hoping it isn't just these two) simply because the man has a gift for telling stories. I have read tools of the trade probably 25 times since I bought it years ago at a B&N, and I anticipate reading it another 25 times!

I was given this years ago, read it in a week and loved it, then forgot the title when trying to describe it to a friend. It is a shame it is out of print.

Everyone should read this book, and anyone you know who likes to build things should get this for Christmas.

I picked up this book about 6 years ago at a B&N store...and finished reading it in one sitting in my yard. Trust me when I tell you that it is not often when I feel overwhelmed by anything. But this book, with its simple prose, made me gulp several times. Keep in mind that it is not a depressing read. On the contrary, it can be funny as heck at times!

It's a shame that this book is now out of print and likely to become scarce, as I have given it on several occasions and have always received many thanks in return.

The author fills the reader, even a reader with minimal knowledge or interest in carpentry, with a true respect for the tools, their usage, and the history behind them. Not just the history in a greater sense, but also the history these tools have in the author's life.

I'm now reading this book for the third time. I usually like to pick it up when my office job is making me dream of a life building and remodelling houses.

This book serves as an excellent introduction to and/or refresher on valuation techniques. The entire valuation process (primarily DCF) is broken down into a series of steps, each of which gets its own complete chapter. Each chapter is well written and builds on its predecessors.

A particular strength of the book is the authors' reference to Excel functions and which ones are useful in valuation models. This book is not just theory; there are concrete "how to" examples throughout. Once you've finished this book, you can do more than cite valuation theory: you can build valuation models.

One of the best finance books I've ever read.

Simon Benninga's and Oded Sarig's "Corporate Finance: A Valuation Approach" (CFaVA) is one of those secret texts that true insiders cherish while other less efficient or significant works capture limelight.

"CFaVA" is comparable to the McKinsey group authors Koller, Goedhart, Wessels's "Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies" and also Aswath Damodaran's "Investment Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset" [Full disclosure: I've taught graduate Corporate Valuation with both texts].

Benninga and Sarig's work is excellent because it is lean while not oversimplified. The key chapter of estimating discount rates is the finest one-chapter treatment of the subject I've seen in my career, and should be required reading for any M&A or LBO banker or PE associate. The chapter on valuing by multiples is also useful for relative value and comparative scenarios for deal-makers.

Chapter 12 covers convertible securities, and it would be unfair to say it is bad simply because it is compressed and incomplete (entire libraries have been written on the subject of convertible bond valuation), but also appears out of place in the content of the book until you realize that the random elements of a stock price going forward in time intersect with capital structure choices and enterprise value, so the connection and recursive element of valuation is made at once explicit with an example.

An excellent book that should be well known by a wider audience.

This book does a good job of logically explaining the step-by-step method of corporate valuation. Benninga and Sarig do a good job of focusing on the practical tools of finance. I only wish the DCF examples were less simplistic. A substantial amount of additional work is needed to apply these models to real world firms.

If you are new to corporate finance valuation this book will take you to the next level. Provides step by step instruction on how to value companies. Covers Excel techniques with easy to follow examples. Covers 1 full semester at most business schools.

This book offers a very simple introduction to evaluation of companies prior to investing. The DCF method is primarily used. There is a common thread running through the chapters which makes the book easy to understand. Its not verbose, which adds to its attractiveness. But, the readers should remember that this is only an introduction, and some other advanced book like Copeland's is needed to build upon the ideas presented in the book.

Everything about this amazing guide is RIGHT from it's convenient size to its comprehensive content. If you know what you need to measure, you'll find the right tool for it here and even if you don't know what to measure, it'll tell you. Just fantastic. A treasure. Useful tip. It's a great resource when I need to present complex information visually in a presentation. Use it for inspiration if, like me, you struggle with visualising business concepts

The day after I bought it my boss asked me to build a priority matrix. I didn't bat an eyelash. I went back to my desk and 15 minutes later I emailed him a priority matrix for our project. He had a meeting in the conference room 15 minutes later with the director and partner. They were so impressed with my work. Thanks Memory Jogger II.

The book provided quick tips for facilitation and team building. I like the format which allows for using the book without ruining the pages.

I had to get this for an MBA class I am currently taking. It provides summaries and examples of common business tools in a small package. It's a great reference guide. I didn't do a lot of searching, but for the little searching I did, Amazon had the lowest price.

This book is set up for anyone to have many tools for them to use at anytime. It has flowcharting, public speaking, many diagrams, and several team based exercises to help become better. In the front of the book it has a tool selector, and it takes some of the guess work out of tool selection.This is just one of many great books this company offers. Our copmany uses several of these in our professional training with our clients. This is a really good book for those looking for continuous improvement. The Memory Jogger Plus is an excellent book also and has many great tools and other goodies.

I purchased both these and 'Soul Oracle' deck. I already owned the 'Ask Your Guides' deck. I find these decks give Spirit a way to get to me... when I'm not tuned in. I've been working with each of these daily for about two weeks and have had incredible results. Both assurances that I'm on the right path, and suggestions for redirection.

My vibes are getting stronger with this daily work. Key is listening to what is told you and acting on the advice.

I have several different decks from various authors, but I don't use them every day. This deck I use daily, and haven't grown tired of.

Sonia Choquette is my all time favorite, really wonderful. This is like getting a new principle soul lesson every day, in an enjoyable format and its so intuitive and works for me, I love her books and cards both, its so worth it.

I bought this deck two months ago. I am satisfied with them. They are quite accurate about my current state of mind. They help me get back on track :)

I got hooked on Sonia Choquette after reading her book "Your Heart's Desire: Instructions for Creating the Life You Really Want". I liked it so much that I ordered her "Ask Your Guides" card set and found them to be right on target time after time. I decided to try the "Trust Your Vibes" cards and I have to say that, although they are a different and slightly more complex way of looking at things, they are also very useful tools. Wonderful author... fantastic insights!

I've been using different set of tarot cards for years. Now these Oracle Cards are in my hands. They are very usefull and presise - buy them and use them for troubleshooting - the drawings are full of symbols.
Fun to use and think about.
Annette

Can I give this book more than five stars?!!! This book is FULL of the most incredibly creative ideas for working with your dreams. Ways that many of us would never think of on our own!
Example: Make a dream mandala. Now I can't draw very well, but recently I had a dream in which gestures I made were very important. So I gave it a try and the way the mandala turned out gave me another perspective on the dream!

Some more way-cool ideas from the book: If you have a dream that feels incomplete, complete by adding to it! Make a sculpture of your dream! Get a stone and paint something on it that symbolizes your dream!

These are just a few of the ideas.

And the icing on the cake,(at least for me)I've discovered the secret to remembering your dreams. Pay attention to them! It's as simple as that. The more attention you pay to your dreams the more you will remember them!

I now spend the last half hour before I go to bed preparing for dreams by working with Ms. Mellick's excellent book and I'm remembering my dreams on a consistent basis.

This book is not very long, but it's packed full with valuable information. Obviously, I reccomend this book to everyone. Aren't dreams fascinating?

This wonderful book of tools combines dream work with the expressive arts. Jill Mellick lightly introduces the reader to Jungian theory and invites us to explore further if desired. An understanding of Jung is unnecessary, however, to use the exercises in the book - only a wish to further explore one's dreams, and a willingness to branch out from the traditional linear narrative form of conveying dream experiences. Our clients need not be artists to use the expressive arts suggested here - just willing. The expressive arts suggested in this book range from writing, drawing, collage, mask making and movement, to ritual and dramatization. This book is well organized and easy to read. For example, icons are given next to each exercise indicating which of the expressive modalities are involved for quick reference.
Mellick shows us that there are numerous ways to approach working with dreams. We can learn to be flexible and listen to what is needed to work with a particular dream. She invites us to see our dream lives as another world to be explored, and to use innovative approaches which draw from the traditional. Traditional approaches, seen as doing, include analyzing, hypothesizing, understanding, and applying to life, whereas innovative approaches, seen as being, include nourishing, imagining, inquiring, and connecting.
Practical guidance is given for creating a space for this work. The "four phases of expressive dream work" help the reader to go into the dream world, and to return safely to everyday life. These phases are "an intentional departure from ordinary awareness", "an inner journey into the imagination", "a return to ordinary awareness", and "a reflection on the journey" (p. 25). I would guess that many of these exercises can be adapted to clients who need extra assistance from their therapists to be able to to enter and return from the realm of dreams and imagination.
The author urges us to keep a dream journal, to carefully record our observances, and to set aside a protected space where we can view our expressive dream work over time. When we are able to sit with a piece, a deeper relationship can evolve. Also, at times the work will lead us to dream the dream further. For example, what might happened next in the dream? What associations can we make to the dream material?
The bulk of the exercises are included in two broad sections, categorized by how much time one has to do the dream work. Very practical for busy lives, the first set of exercises can be done in five minutes, the second set in ten to fifteen minutes. Included are special considerations and exercises for both nightmares and dreams in a series.
This book can be used by individual clients as well as by groups. Some clients might prefer to work on their own and share later with their therapists. Others might prefer to do the exercises in their therapist's office. The author provides guidelines for creating an expressive dream group. I appreciate how she gives detailed suggestions for creating healthy boundaries and an atmosphere of exploration and witness rather than interpretation and judgment. I highly recommend this book for any therapist who is interested in working with clients using dreams, the expressive arts, or Jungian theory.

Psychologist and author Jill Mellick offers much more than a dream interpretation book in The Art of Dreaming: Tools for Creative Dreamwork. Conventional interpretation relies on words to describe dream imagery, and often the words are terribly inadequate. Dr. Mellick says "we can express dreams in the art form the best suits them, in the art form whose structure is most akin to their innate structure."

She then fully describes more than 50 ways to explore dreams, including painting, dance, sculpture, drawing, poetry, music, or any combination of these. She explains several techniques for letting go of expectations and allowing the dream to guide the dreamer to the best form of expression.

Dr. Mellick also recognizes that many people don't have lots of time for working on their dreams. For those with little time for reflection, she provides a chapter titled "Expressive Dream Work in Five Minutes." A companion chapter offers techniques for those who have as much as ten minutes a day for dream work.

Not all dreams are pleasant. She offers help also to those haunted by nightmares, including how to make a healing mandala. She also discusses dreams in which a particular action or image is repeated.

Although most of us prefer to work alone with our dreams, some people find it beneficial to form a dream work group. Dr. Mellick provides guidelines for establishing a group and ensuring that it's beneficial to all participants.

One fascinating exercise asks people to imagine life events as a dream. The events can be ordinary activities. She says that doing this offers a new perspective that can be helpful in understanding our lives.

"The Art of Dreaming is an excellent resource and practical manual that inspires and amplifies self-discovery and understanding of the rich spiritual treasure and guidance that dreams provide."

As an artist and writer, I am impressed and excited by this book. Mellick presents a multitude of creative means to go within your dreams in the physical world using imagination and reflection. Even if you do not consider yourself "artsy-craftsy" or creative, at least one of these methods will work for you. Mellick also includes a chapters on "Expressive Dream Work" in five, ten or fifteen minutes, making this type of dream work even more enticing and practical. Mellick's ideas can help you apply dream insight to your life by becoming actively involved with your dreams.

This attractive, compact book has all of the wonderful ingredients from "The Natural Artistry of Dreams," but in an even better format! I love it. If it had included only Chapter 4 on "Expressive Dream Work in 10 to 15 Minutes" it would be well worth the cost of the entire book. But there's much more.

What a treasure to have or to share with a friend. As a matter of fact, I think this will be on my gift-giving list this year!

This is the best book on chairmaking. Period. Everyone knows that, which is why the price for the used books is so high. Go to Drew Langsner's website for Country Workshops and you can get the updated author's reprint for a very reasonable price.

While you're at it, sign up for one of his classes. I learned more about furnituremaking and craft in one week at Country Workshops than I have learned over the past ten years reading every woodworking book in the library.

Without a doubt one the best books on traditional chair making I have ever seen. From the tree to the living room !!

This is quite good and covers "green" chairmaking. There is alot of data in this book and it's well worth the read.

Woah, what a book. I don't really know where to begin or what I can add to the many other fine reviews here, they that convinced me to buy this book.

I don't even like Windsor chairs, I think they are kind of ugly, I've seen too many cheap country furniture knock-offs, they make me kind of sick. Some - very few - are stunning. There are a few good ones in this book, and in other books I have on furniture history.

Why I bought this book was for the techniques involved, and reading the other reviews I was convinced it would be worth my money.

AND IT WAS - AND THEN SOME.

I have many, many books on woodworking and it is rare that I am surprised by something new, old or different that I did not know, but this book is so incredibly thorough and covers so many things - well - it blew me away. I am very impressed.

If it introduces a tool, it tells you how to use it, make it, even with plans. It details everything every step of the way. I can't be bothered counting all the things it tells you but I would have paid the money just for info. on building a shave horse and designs for one chair and a bowsaw.

Also, it is a BIG book. Tall, wide, and THICK, 300 pages makes it quite a thick book. PACKED with information, not waffle.

I hope my rambling review helps convince you it is worth it, the other reviews here have more detail, I really just wanted to add my vote. I think everyone gave it 5 stars. I'd say it probably should be on every woodworkers' bookshelf.

This book is an excellent introduction to making chairs. It is an incredibley thorough and clearly written book. I highly recommend it.

A good book for those who love Halo 2 and those to need a little help gettin' the edge on the enemy!!!

Do you want to know the type of work that is currently being done by the Halo community? If you do, you're in luck! Author Stephen Cawood, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that will show you how to explore the new dimensions of Halo 2 games and some of the most interesting Halo 2 mods that you can create on a modded Xbox.

Cawood, begins by showing you some of the more interesting Halo 2 jumping techniques. Then, he covers the most mysterious of Halo 2 Easter eggs, the skulls. The author continues by showing you how to find some more interesting Easter eggs. Next, he introduces you to interesting things that you can do in the Halo 2 universe. Then, the author covers some interesting anomalies in Halo 2. He continues by showing you the best software tools available for changing the way Halo 2 functions. Then, he shows you how you can create your own weapon variations. The author continues by covering mods that can be made to Halo 2 vehicles. Next, he introduces you to some mods that alter the Halo 2 environment. Then, the author covers mods that relate to the presentation of Halo 2. He continues exploring mods that affect the Halo 2 game engine. Finally, he introduces you to some of the best modded maps that have been produced to date and gets you started on making your own.

In this most excellent book, each hack stands on its own. This book has been written with the same goal in mind, that is, to give you afresh way to enjoy your Halo universe.

He was a little disapointed with the item. He thought it was a book not a magazine

Halo 2 Hacks is a very well written book and easy to understand. The pictures and "visual aids" are very helpful. A definate must for EVERY Halo 2 fan! The section on modding is really well done too. A good introduction to modding, a good source for "how-to" find/use gameplay secrets. A well done book. 5 Stars.

I bought this book, because I'm a big Halo 2 fan. I play Halo 2 all the time. And let me just tell you, this book is the greatest.

Don't let the name Halo 2 Hacks fool you, the first half of this book shows you plenty of Easter Eggs, techniques, glitches, and awesome stuff in the game. The second half shows you modding tools, where to get them, and how to use them. It does absolutely nothing to show you how to cheat on X-Box Live, which is good. I'll bet you didn't know that you can mod a map so when you crouch, you get an ariael view of the sky. You can jump a bazillion feet into the sky. You can put a Scorpion turret on the back of a Warthog. You can even make your shotgun fire dozens of plasma grenades, and this book shows you how to do ALL of those.

See people with interesting textures on their modded maps? This book shows you programs you can use to make those. You can inject meta (I bet you don't even know what that is, but this book will show you!) to make a picture of George Bush apppear over the map. Now I don't know why you would want to, but you can!

I bet you had absolutely no idea before that the Scarab gun is in the form of a Plasma Pistol on Metropolis. This book shows you how to get it. There's a giant soccerball on Metropolis, also. This book shows you how to get it. There's a skull that changes the physics of the game and makes everything explode bigger. This book shows you how to do that. This book shows you EVERYTHING!

In overall, I give this book a 11/10. It is the best guide book I have ever read.

Jay Lipe's "Marketing Tool Kit" is first class. A very attractive cover with and lay-out a bit like a college textbook. Lipe effectively uses eye-catching graphics, charts and even pop quizes throughout. He's especially effective in hammering home the message that the key to effective marketing is "sticking-to-it-ness." Lipe, President of Emerge Marketing, also stresses diversity in marketing plans. The Chapter on the "Top 12 Marketing Mistakes Business Make" is worth the price of the book itself. Packed with innovative marketing techniques. This book should be required reading for all marketing under-grads. But with all the new perspectives Lipe includes on advertising, promo, and pr, this book could also prove helpful for high-powered MBAs who might have thought that they already knew it all. -- Eric Dondero, Multilingual Interpreter & Author, Worldwide Multilingual Phrase Book

This is neat approach, started businesses that have plateaued or not grown at the desired rate. For them, there is a whole array of marketing tools, here delineated and explained by Lipe.

As a former mkt. exec I find this whole approach very right on and well presented in a way that the non-marketing types can grasp and use. Especially salient here is his checklist of "common list mistakes". This is really an area that the non-mkt types miss golden opportunities to understand their biz and how it can move ahead to serve mkts better and grow.

There is great suggestive stuff here, e.g. cheap, good research, and how to integrate all of the mkt. plan once it's developed. Continuing monitoring of this plan and its modification is critical to mkt. share movement, and Lipe's ideas will deliver a solid approach to reigning in one's mkt. to make it do what it can do: build mkts.

The first thing that came to my mind as I read this book was that it is one of the most practical, down-to-earth, hands-on approaches to marketing that I have come across. Jay Lipe manages to distill some vary advanced marketing concepts into small easy to understand and easy to apply pieces that anyone can follow. Some of the areas he covers include common mistakes and how to correct them (or avoid them entirely), how to use active language to get people to act, how to use metrics to determine what works and what does not in your marketing plan, search engine positioning, budgeting, and even how to market during a recession.

Mr. Lipe asks some very directed questions at strategic points in the book. These questions are designed to make you think and help clearly define your goals as well as how you will be able to achieve them. In addition he includes lots of forms that can be used to clearly define your target market, how you will get your marketing plan to them, exactly what your marketing plan should, and should not include, and exactly how to go about implementing the plan. This is a complete marketing plan that can be used for any business no matter what type of services or products they provide. If you want a marketing education that concentrates on the practical side of marketing without a lot of discussion of theory then this is a book that you will want to consider. I've taken college level marketing courses that did not provide as much practical knowledge as this book. "The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Business" is a very highly recommended purchase if you plan to take charge of your own marketing or want to know what your marketing firm should be doing.

Pretend that you have walked into Lipe's Executive Hardware Store. He greets you warmly at the door and offers to give you a complete tour, during which he identifies all manner of "tools" and carefully explains how to use each. He realizes that you don't need all of them, at least not NOW, but correctly observes that you should be fully aware of all the "tools" that are available. There are 17 different departments in his store. After you complete your tour, you select (with his assistance) those "tools" which are most appropriate to your organization's current needs.

This book is your toolkit. Just as you would become thoroughly familiar with what Lipe's Executive Hardware Store offers, you should become thoroughly familiar with all of this book's contents which are carefully organized within 17 chapters. Some executives will read a book and then attempt to apply immediately everything they have learned from it. Other executives make an equally bad mistake: Because all they have is a "hammer," they see every task as a "nail." Hence the importance of having a variety of different tools, knowing not only how but when to use each of them effectively. As needs change, so must the resources which are allocated to meet those needs.

Here is Lipe's definition of marketing: "...a process where everyone [underlined] in the company pursues actions, at designated points, to increase sales, grow profits and deepen relationships." My own is much simpler: Marketing is the process by which to create or increase demand for whatever one offers. I could not agree more, however, with his assertion that everyone (literally everyone) in any organization must be involved in marketing because people do business with other people, not with companies, and "doing business" includes every (literally every) person with whom there is contact each day, both within and beyond the organization. Lipe quotes Drucker's assertion that "Marketing is not a function. It is the whole business as seen from the customer's point of view." This is precisely what Warren Buffett had in mind when asserting that "Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." Customers' perceptions of value are in fact the ultimate realities of the marketing process.

Although Lipe's book does indeed provide "tips, techniques and tools" to improve current marketing efforts, it can also provide an essential source of information and guidance when formulating a marketing plan for the first time. His book can also be of substantial benefit to those now preparing for a career in business even if they do not plan to specialize (if that's the word) in marketing. They must realize that, as noted earlier, everyone (literally everyone) in a given organization is directly or at least indirectly involved with marketing. Once you have read this book, you are urged to check out Lipe's "Recommended Resources" and "Websites for Marketers" sections (pages 241-244), both of which would be even more helpful had Lipe also provided brief comments on resources identified. There is one significant omission: Theodore Levitt's The Marketing Imagination, based on his earlier article "Marketing Myopia" which appeared in the Harvard Business Review.

As a marketing consultant and author of several books for entrepreneurs and professionals, I expected this volume to be similar to many other marketing books. It's not. Not only is it focused on existing rather than new businesses, it concentrates on planning and strategy, which receive little attention in other books. Full of checklists, charts and truly helpful explanations, it will aid you in creating and tweaking a reasonable, effective and comprehensive marketing program that grows your business.

I have a problem with the guy that only gave four stars. This book is a must have. I've been working with wood off and on for nearly 40 years, and by page 5 I was sitting back and laughing at my ignorance. Lots of his stuff is obvious; you just haven't thought of it before, and it just keeps coming. This book will probably save you the purchase price on the cost of stock you don't waste in the first month.

It covers everything, from how to sharpen a carpenter's pencil to advanced techniques in complex cuts, and by the way, you will probably start by changing the way you sharpen your pencil.

I purchased several of the top woodworking books and I think this one is the best of the bunch. If I could keep only one, this would be it. It covers everything, even things as simple as the proper way to measure.

This book is invaluable! I've had this book for about a half year and I've returned to it time and time again to be sure I'm doing things right. My work shows it. I recommend this book to novice thru advanced woodworkers.

I bought this book awhile back and thought it was pretty good. Lately I have been attempting to refine and improve my woodwork efforts and I have come back to this book over most of the others I own. This is a cornerstone reference and I would put it in the same category as the Tage Frid series as well as some of the better Taunton Illustrated books. I would seek it out even though it appears out of print.

The author does a great job of describing in detail just about every aspect of woodworking, from cutting to glueing to sharpening to finishing. There is a lot to cover and he does it very succinctly and with enough detail and various methods that the reader is given a LOT of ideas on how to go about any given project.

The hardcover is a beautiful book. Even if the content wasn't as good as it is, it is still a beautiful book to look at.

Jeff Kitchen's book is truly a "find." There are tons of books on writing, but so few of them focus on the most critical element to successful fiction writing: having a solid story.

Although primarily intended for screenwriters, Jeff's book is useful for anyone who is trying to structure a story. His discussion of dilemma is enough to get any author of fiction headed down the right path. Further, his coverage of the 36 dramatic situations has proven critical to my ability to add depth to my stories. These two concepts, plus his presentation of "sequence, proposition, plot" will help anyone, beginner or published author, create compelling fiction.

As a novice I found this groundbreaking to my education in film creation. Screenwriting is an art of word to visualization, and can be extremely complex when dealing with the human condition. With Jeff Kitchen's in depth however symplistic utilization, of dramatist' ideals of the past, melted with his own teachings, provide a compelling set of tools from which to work. It's as essential to a screenwriter as a hammer and chissel is to a sculpter.

I'm sitting in a room with the only light coming from my laptop.
I've just run into the same roadblock I have crashed into throughout my ten years of writing. It is familiar, but no less frightening.
In the scriptwriting process, this would be equivalent with the green flag at the Indy 500. It is the beginning of the adventure.
It is both exciting and scary. However, I am now in a much better place. I've been given a map. Just keep taking a left and you'll end up at the finish line.

Until I read "Writing a Great Movie: Four Advanced Tools for the Dramatist" I only knew how to punch the gas and hope for the best. That fearful moment of the unknown, and lack of preparation at the beginning of screenwriting is gone. It is still exciting, but no longer terrifying.

Why? This book has given me very simple and straight-forward tools to pre-plan, organize, evaluate, modify, and lay out a map to the end goal -- a dramatic script.

I have studied numerous books. I've taken several classes. This is the ONLY course of study that has solved my specific problem.
I have an idea ... but how do a work it before I sit down to write. In some cases this methodical preparation will tell you that story isn't there. Even more so, it will help work out the problems in advance, while giving you the confidence in the project/idea before you sit down to write.

I've done preparations in the past, but none have given me the confidence to know I've done the work and the story is there.
There is something terrible in sitting down to write -- getting 60 pages in and realizing "I have no idea where I'm going OR what avenue I'm taking to get there".

I offer this book at a cure to those that share this problem.
For me, this book and these tools offer a variety of solutions.
I'm focusing on this "lack of guidance" issue, because I image there are many people who share this problem. And because I've never found another course of study that solves this specific problem.

While I focused on the lack of direction issue, I should note that this book helps in every aspect of dramatic writing. It has helped in building stronger characters, better drama, and more. I utilize these tools with EVERY script I'm writing. And most importantly, the tools have NEVER failed me. I still may write a crappy script in concept, but it is because of the decisions I made rather than a lack of dramatic structure.

The only reason I would not endorse this book, is that I fear it will create a lot more competition in the script writing world.
I'll set my self-centered fear aside and suggest this script for anyone that is interested in writing.

Scott Schlichter

This is the best book on dramatic screenwriting I've come across. I've read most of the major screenwriting books in print and, though they all have their good points, Jeff's "Writing a Great Movie... " gets to the heart of what story is all about: drama. He presents four amazing tools that will whip your idea into a structurally solid story, if you are willing to do the work. Nobody said it would be easy but if you have the discipline to apply these techniques you'll find your work is 'touching' its audience in all the right places. Excellent book.

Question: When is a plot not a plot? When is a sequence not a sequence?

Answer: When a playwright provides a book on screenwriting that exploits dramatalurgical theories developed by a lawyer over 100 years ago.

Confused? Not as half as confused as you will be after you've read this book.

In fairness, the author, a classically trained playwright, sets forth some useful tools for dramatic storytelling. The tools were originally developed by William Thompson Price, a lawyer turned playwriting teacher, who founded a playwriting school in New York back in 1901.

For example, the book provides useful tools for developing and maintaining a true character dilemma, i.e. a character forced to chose between two equally unacceptable alternatives. The book also sets forth a useful technique for outlining a story that involves working backward from the end to create a cause-and-effect chain of story beats. Though originally developed for use with theatrical plays, these tools are equally helpful in developing screenplays, novels, and any other form of dramatic storytelling.

Unfortunately, the explanation of the tools is hopelessly complicated. "Plot" (with a capital P) means something different from "plot" (with a little p). The same is true for "Sequence" and "sequence". (Where was the editor and/or Editor in all this?)

The main problem here is that the author chose to retain the original terminology developed by Price. So we get "logical propositions", "formal syllogisms", "conditions of the action", etc. (What a shock that playwriting terminology developed by a lawyer over a hundred years ago would be confusing and antiquated today when applied to modern screenwriting.)

Those with an abundance of patience can dig through this book and find some useful techniques. Others should probably skip it.

P.S. The author might consider preparing a second edition of the book, which clarifies and simplifies the terminology (and which, even more importantly, changes that atrocious cover design!)