References Books

In the case of Jane Anne Staw's Unstuck, what matters most, is that the author has written the bible for writers who are blocked. I appreciate her lack of usage of the "B" word, but at the end of the day--Blocked is blocked and sometimes we all need a bit of fiber to get things moving! Make this gem a part of your writing resource library. You simply can't go wrong.

I've had a serious three year block and have tried desperately to get out of it. I had looked at several books about writer's block and all of them were feel-good garbage or throwaway 101 Tips to...

Staw's book is the best I found dealing with the subject. As one reviewer noted, it's difficult to even take time to read a self-help book, because you tend to feel that it's one more case of avoidance or procrastination and the hour it took to read could have been spent writing. But Staw has some salient, psychotherapy-based points about those feelings--guilt and avoidance. She emphasizes kindness to oneself instead of listening to the inner hypercritic, and while this might sound like feel-good nonsense, the way she writes about it makes sense and this technique pretty common in counseling. Her examples of patients experiencing writer's block range from mild to extreme--which made me feel better. This guide by no means got rid of my block, but in some ways it gave me (or allowed me to give myself) permission to write sloppily. There's no way I can write as well as I'd like to, certainly not while experiencing a block, and I feel that Staw really nails it when she points out how counterproductive this drive for perfection can be. I've since loosened up enough to start writing small things without caring so much about the outcome (these reviews for instance)--and it's been a pleasurable step in the right direction.

I'm using this book right now and it's a healing and compassionate book for writers. I was already writing again, but the book is helping me to go back and heal the gaps from decades ago when I quit writing. I hadn't realized that I needed to be healed as a writer. The need to write never went away even though I tried not to write. This book is helping me to understand many things. I can't say enough. It's a valuable book if you have ever felt hurt or discouraged as a writer. The author is perceptive and knows of what she speaks.

I am posting this review for a long-time friend and exceptional writer: "UNSTUCK offers us a mother lode of authorial insight, inspiration, and encouragement. Dr. Staw, the ultimate writer's empathist, speaks with the authority of an unblocked writer herself, making this handbook of discovery and recovery both an indispensable road map for overcoming writer's block and a trusty guide for avoiding its recurrence."

As a near-life-long collector of books on the art/craft of writing, I treasure them not just because of their professional wisdom but also because, well: they're so well written. I've placed UNSTUCK within the top part of that latter characteristic. Thank you for writing it. -- Larry W. Bryant

Unlike most books for writers, this one assumes that you are already a writer of some kind, and treats you intelligently and sympathetically, exploring the various fears that are common among writers and are at the root of writer's block, and ways to work through them. The book assumes that all writers have their own backgrounds, their own way of working, and their own individual quirks, so it does not prescribe a set program that everybody should follow. Instead, it talks about how to use your own personality and techniques to get you past the block and put your butt back in the chair.

Some of the examples seem pretty extreme. There are successful writers out there, apparently, who develop such a strong block that they have panic attacks when they sit down to write, or even just look at their computers. I figure if Dr. Staw's approach can help them, it can help me. I don't really fear writing (or do I? the book made me think about that), I just have trouble getting to it. Several times I read what she writes and thought, that's not me, then realized hours or even days later that the writers she describes aren't as different from me as I wanted to think they were. It gave me a lot of insight into the way I approach my writing, how I think about it, how I think of myself as a writer (a not-quite-real writer--there's a whole chapter about that).

The funny thing is, I realized early in the book that I was actually using the book as an avoidance technique to help justify not writing. After all, if I was reading about writer's block, then obviously I was doing something about it, so that's almost as good as writing. Of course, the best thing I could have done was put my butt in my chair and my fingers on the keyboard, even if only for a few minutes, rather than keeping my nose in a book. But I'm glad I read it anyway.

If you want to understand your writing mind, your fears about writing, how to get past that inner critic, and so on, the book is worth the time it takes to read it, and the time it takes to digest what you've read.

Roorbach guides you step-by-step with exercises and examples that help you write about your life. He also explains what makes good writing different from not-so-good writing. In other words, he holds you to high standards and helps you meet them. Your eventual readers should be grateful!

Brief Summary: Bill Roorbach understands that memoir writing is not as simple as putting everything you can remember about your life on paper. Memories are no different than any other source - the characters and the plot must be interesting. To that end, he combines instruction and advice with a series of exercises to produce "the bones" of a good memoir. Starting at the beginning, he covers: finding a good place to write, mapping your memories, scene making and exposition, the ethics of writing about real people, method writing and voice, metaphor and adumbration, and texture. You might not do every exercise in this book - there are 94 in all - but most seem worthwhile. Roorback encourages his students to think of the exercise work as "good, clean rocks for an eventual stone wall." Several of the exercises use a process which Roorbach calls "cracking open," which might involve finding a sentence or phrase from something you previously wrote that condenses or skims over a possible scene, and building a scene of at least two pages. (As a writer, I like thinking of myself as a cracker and polisher of stones and a builder of walls.) Other great exercises include: looking at as many books as you can to make a list of your ten favorite first sentences, making a map of the earliest neighborhood you can remember, and making a list of the subjects upon which you are an expert. The final chapter gives some good, practical advice about how to locate appropriate editors and agents, with a final cautionary suggestion: "The only helpful ambition is to write something good, something that will satisfy readers unknown to you in both predictable and unpredictable ways. If your ambition is about the work, the dream of publication won't eat at you and make a fool out of you."

Sample Excerpts: Roorbach doesn't just "tell" us the rules, he "shows" us the rules. In this example, he shows us how a good scene replaces many pages of explaining. "Instead of a passage about your family's socioeconomic status, you show your dad pulling up in the brown Ford wagon, muffler dragging. Or does he pull up in a shiny Mercedes? Or does he walk up the hill with his jacket over his shoulder, car traded for shares in a new invention? Let the reader write the passage about class."

Primary Strength: Writing Life Stories is to memoir what Joy of Cooking is to cooking. If you can follow directions and do what the book tells you to do, you'll have everything you need to create a fine memoir or a tasty meal.

This book is full of insights into the writing process.
It offers lots of assignments ,it helps me with writing my life story.

Good book. Instructs with small easy-to-follow "chunks". Writer has a good sense of humor--evident in his writing. Writing isn't overly academic or political (unlike some of the other "memoir-writing" books out there).

After following Roorbach's lessons, you should be able to competently put out a very nice selection of some of the turning points in your life, special occasions, and those great memories. You'll have enough vivid "word-pictures" that folks will enjoy reading about your experiences rather than fall asleep from extreme boredom.

Overall, this is a good book that will get you started with getting your own story out there. Don't let your part in history be lost--start writing now with this book as a guide.

Regards,
Dave (aka "EditorDave" -- Capture_the_Memories on Squidoo)

This book has lots of exercises for those just beginning to edge near the writing-ledge and will help you dig into your own story. However, this book is only for those wanting to write an auto-biography and those just beginning to venture forth in their writing. If you buy this expecting help on writing someone else's life story you won't find what you're looking for. If you're not a beginning writer and you purchase this, it's likely that you'll be the proud owner of a book full of exercises you've long outgrown.

THE BEST Book on UDB to get INDEPTH!! If you want to know indepth, read this -most of the content may be in ibm db2 udb information center also.

I was trying to learn SQL and database basic. I have been looking to several different books and I was lacking a book that would systematicaly explain data base and SQL basics. This is the book. Chapters regarding Data Retrival are just right, not to short and not to long. Just right.

I recomend the book to somebody that would like to learn SQL and DB2 basics.

I used this book to write Exam 704 (Advance DB2 UDB DBA certification). I cleared the exam with flying colors.
I consider this book as DB2 UDB Bible. This is one of the some good books on DB2 UDB.
Also recommend to DBAs who are not preparing for certification since it covers almost all the aspects of DB2 database.

Regards
Prakash Gautam

I just found this book, and after reading it wish I had found this years ago. This is the most comprehensive book on DB2 that I have ever seen. This book has already saved me a lot of time. The performance chapter is great and helped me improve the performance of my DB2 server by over 30% in less than a week.

This is the book I was waiting for long on DB2UDB. This not only covers topics for certifications but also good (very good) reference material for all UDB DBAs on LUW platform.

This book has the most awesome animal drawings I have ever seen. The fact that they are wood engravings is more than remarkable!

A present for my daughter-in-law and the illustrations were incredible. She is an artist and will make good use of this book.

Wow - the enormous numbers of animal life is astounding and the book clearly shows this. Unfortunately the images are quite dark and the book is very thick (you get your money's worth - image-wise), so scanning them for use in various artistic media is difficult. Therefore, I bought two of the books and plan to cut one of them up (that hurts to say for I treasure books of all types). This way I can control the scanning and modification using software to bring out details and highlight an image to my satisfaction. And finally, the classic images are impressive and I applaud the author for his selection of animals from all realms of life on earth.

Used several of these drawings in projects. Books like this are great for those of us designers who aren't the best freehand drawers.

This is just packed full of brilliant illustrations of birds frogs fish girafee spiders butterflies you name it , throughly recommended for any one who loves botanical illustrations or engravings , really good source material for artists or designers.very nice book but rember it is a paper back not that that matters to me.

This book contained a lot of advice that I already knew, and some that I didn't know or think about in the past. But reading it all one place gave me the motivation I need to get out of the cube!

If you've ever longed for the wide open spaces of a self-directed career, this gem of a book is for you. Whether you want to pursue a hobby/project on the side or do a complete career 180, Michelle Goodman's book will give you the roadmap. It's chocked full of practical advice on the range of questions that inevitably pop up on a such a journey (What do I really want to do with my career? How do I prepare financially for a transition? How do I stay connected to the world at large? Where do I get started???). Yep, she answers them all. If you've got the urge to "flee the cube," the THE ANTI 9 to 5 GUIDE will lead you out into the light.

This guide is a great way to think through all the ramifications of "living outside the cubical" BEFORE you commit to that lifestyle. The advice is concrete and practical, and extremely helpful for taking your dreams out of your head and putting them into reality.

In making the transition from a full-time job to starting my own gig, I found this book very helpful. Not only did it explain different options for making the leap, but it helps those who don't know what they want to do outside of the cube figure it out. I found the conversational tone of the book to keep the pages turning while offering credible, sound advice.

This book was kind of fun to read. I liked the author's frankness and humor. But I wasn't particularly impressed with how the title of the book was matched to its content. The book totes itself as a supposedly helpful career guide for young women just out of high school or maybe college who work in a cubical in an office environment. And it explains how young women can do some investigating and networking to learn about opportunities outside of a cube. But many of the opportunities discussed in this book were 9 to 5 JOBS. And the title says it is against such career moves.

I would have liked the book much better if it had stuck to explaining how to get out of a cube and make the transition into self-employment. Or if the title were changed, I would have like the book much better if it had only explained how to escape a cube into a more meaningful and lucrative job with an office or a company car. Of course, I wouldn't have pulled this book from the bookstore shelf if it was about the latter because I pretty much just review books that relate to my volunteering for SCORE, the small business coaching nonprofit.

The part of the book that I enjoyed the most was the author's story of how she had found herself stuck in a cube at age 24 and not doing what she wanted to do with her life - which was to do freelance writing. She decided to quit her job and start her own freelancing small business. And she found she couldn't make money at it at first - but she was resourceful and started temping in order to pay her bills while she got her business off the ground. Of course, I would have liked her story better if she were to have said she got her business WELL off the ground within a year or two. But unfortunately she says she continues to dabble in temping jobs from time to time to make ends meet. That doesn't sound like she has really accumulated enough of her own success to be writing this book, but some company did publish it and there are quite a number of positive book reviews posted on Amazon for it. So who am I to judge?

My favorite chapters were "I want a more flexible work schedule" (4), and "I want to be my own boss" (6). These two chapters were right on point when it comes to dumping a day job and starting one's own business. And in the book's appendix I very much liked "A Temp's Survival Guide" and "Boss in a Box." The "Must-See Resources" section in the appendix also seemed to be fairly informative. The checklists at the end of each chapter were well-thought out, too. 4 stars!

This is quite a book. Since it is over 900 pages you must put it down but I read it straight through. There are some very keen insights into the armament industry and its power over nations and governments - even over Adolf Hitler. If you think Hitler answered to no one, you might want to read this book. My tendency is to tell you many of the shocking facts contained in this work. But Mr. Manchester spent a lot of time building his shocking facts into a reasonable and established context. This is a very important book and I am very, very surprised that I am the first to review it. This is another one of those books that should be a college text. Buy it! This book is a bargain, believe me. No price could repay Mr. Manchester for this type of research.

This is an excellent book about a family's, noted for their involvement with the steel industry and especially the manufacturer of arms, struggle with Germany's economy and power covering about 400 years. It looks lengthy however it is over just as you are getting started. A side benefit is the technical information added helps you imagine what is like to design and sell the arms. In some cases they were almost given away for a causes. This story parallels other books on history and makes the world seem that it is made up of people not just historical facts. Speaking of historical facts, one of the things I like to do is to read books that become movies and movies that are novelized. This would have to be a mini-series. Notice that in the book

William Manchester mentions that the movie "Major Barbara", the play was actually written by George Bernard Shaw and was modeled on the Krupp family.

"The Arms Of Krupp" is the incredible biography of a powerful and incredibly rich and powerful family that was central in the advent and progress of European history for the more than four hundred years they presided as an almost imperial force within the boundaries of what is present-ay Germany. Certainly no other non-royal dynasty engenders such controversy and hotly expressed differences in opinion than does the multiple generations of this critically based family so critical to the development and technological capabilities of the German war machine. Of course, no one could do a better job at providing a definitive historical biography of the Krupp family than William Manchester. This is truly a magnificent book, a spellbinding story splendidly told by a master of English prose, rendered in a flawless, comprehensive, and objective treatment of this fascinating, often outrageous, and sometime imperious string of Krupp family member who ignited the wars raging in Europe in terms of their ability to provide the motherland with such complex, ingenious, and technically superior weapons of war.

This is, in fact, considered a masterwork of history, an eminently readable and elegantly stylish work by Manchester, a master of the trade. Manchester, a retired history professor at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, is widely regarded as one of this country's preeminent biographers and historian. The Krupp dynasty was extinguished in 1967, when the last surviving family member passed away. With his death the legacy of a four hundred year span of contribution to the European armaments industry came to an end, and so brought to a conclusion a tradition spanning wars and quite profoundly influencing outcomes of European history for centuries. The Krupp Arms conglomerate was technologically innovative, devising new weapons such as a superior cannon to an anti-air vehicle weapon designed to counter the reconnaissance capabilities of aerial observation balloons to exotic and much more capable submarines, which they then built for over four decades.

In so doing, they became fabulously rich, and rose to become extremely influential and exceedingly conservative voices within the realm of German political circles. No German leader could hope to marshal the resources or the weapons of war necessary to mount a military campaign without first gaining the trust, confidence and support of the Krupp family, which then cleverly and cynically manipulated this influence to vastly enrich themselves. During World War One, their cannons helped to flatten the French city of Verdun, and at one point succeeded in lobbing projectiles into Paris from as distant a location as some eighty miles away, an unheard-of innovation at the time. Aiding the Third Reich in its secret rearmament effort after the end of the First Word War, they provided a much advanced tank design that eventuated in the Panzer tank, used subsequently so successfully in Hitler's blitzkrieg through France in the summer of 1940.

They were quite influential within the German society as well, having armed the forces of Kaiser Wilhelm for battle before World War One, and then surreptitiously backed Hitler financially in the so-called terror-campaign" of 1933. Incredibly, the Krupps participated in the war crimes of the Third Reich, even controlling and operating more than 130 concentration camps during the war. Afterwards, they help to rebuild Europe in the eventual development of the European Common Market. This is a truly fascinating book written with all of the usual style and substance one come s to expect of William Manchester, and it is certainly a book I can highly recommend to anyone with an interest in European history. Enjoy!

This is an excellent description of a family, noted for their involvement with the steel industry and especially the manufacturer of arms. They struggle with Germany's economy and influence Germaine's foreign policy covering about 400 years.

It looks like a lengthy volume however it is over just as you are getting started. A side benefit is the technical information added helps you imagine what is like to design and sell the arms.

In some cases arms were almost given away for a cause. At other times they mercenarily sold arms to may conflicting countries on both sides. This story parallels other books on history and makes the world seem that it is made up of people not just historical facts. Speaking of historical facts, one of the things I like to do is to read books that become movies and movies that are novelized. This would have to be a mini-series.

Notice that in the book; interestingly enough William Manchester mentions that George Bernard Shaw actually based a play on the Krupp family, "Major Barbara" which consequently was made into a movie with windy Hiller in 1941.

Seeing what this book was about, I thought it had no chance of holding my interest. However, once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. Manchester really makes this history read like a first class novel.

Noted author, Beatles historian and New Orleans native Bruce Spizer has written a total of 6 critically acclaimed books reviewing the American-released records from The Beatles. While the books covering the records issued on the Vee-Jay, Swan, Capitol and Apple labels were all first-rate publications, it is his fifth book in the series, entitled 'The Beatles Solo On Apple Records' that stands out as the very best one of this group. For starters, this book is the only one to cover only the solo releases of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney that were issued on the Apple label from 1968 to 1975, during the label's original era. Just like the other books in this series, there are black-and-white or full color illustrations of every known album cover, picture sleeve, record label and related items pertaining to all of these solo records. There is also an extraordinary text covering these discs, providing a great deal of valuable information. Included are articles on such classic albums as "Imagine", "All Things Must Pass", "Ringo" and "Band On The Run". At nearly 360 pages in length, it is the definitive reference guide to the entire catalog of the Solo works of John, George, Ringo and Paul on Apple Records. The brilliance of John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney did not end when The Beatles went their seperate ways in 1970; they continued to thrill and amaze us with every new release. Even if you are unable to acquire the other books from Mr. Spizer, this volume is a must-have!

For the completest. Bruce Spizers' second Beatles Apple publication dissects and represents the many international incarnations of the individual output of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr whilst they were still associated with Apple Records. Sadly much of this output was merely associated with Apple due to contractractual obligations. In some cases under protest. But in those heady days beginning just prior to the saddest breakup in Rock history.. all up to the late seventies, the solo Beatles material from the four ex Beatles are among some of the most popular albums in musical history. McCartney, John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band, Ram, Imagine, Band On The Run, All Things Must Pass, Venus & Mars and Ringo, all contain a wealth of popular hits, that were less conspicuous in the later solo Apple years. There are a few omissions, such as the Australian release of J.L. & The Plastic Ono Band (which had a unique Black & White label on Apple), but generally the material collected and presented by Mr Spizer presents an unbelieveable array of variable releases of the same albums throughout the world. It's a fascinating look at a unique era in music & memorabilia. If you love the detailed background of Beatles history, as I do. You'll read this book over and over again.

The followup to Spizer's book on The Beatles' group efforts on Apple, this goes through all of the band's solo Apple releases. Again, there's so much information here! And again, if you're not interested in all of the deep information on the various pressings, label copy, etc., you can skip it. Although you'll find that the Beatles had a lot of fun with what they did with Apple on their solo releases, and there's plenty of photos of various labels, album and singles covers, etc. I don't know where Spizer got the energy to do this 5 times (he's got 4 other similar books on Beatles releases), but I'm glad he did.

The Beatles 2nd UK lp (that became America's 1st) was released Nov. 22, 1963. The White album was released on Nov. 22, 1968. What tremendous growth in 5 years! They grew together and apart...this book will clue you in on every nuance of the solo years. Keep saying over and over, "it was only a band..."

Bruce Spizer has now put together five books in this series of looks at the Beatles (and with this latest volume, the solo years on Apple in the early-mid 70's) and their relationships with record labels Vee-Jay, Capitol, and Apple.

As fans of these books know, much of each book covers very detailed, minute bits of information about the release of each LP, Single, EP, etc. The cost of the books is probably due in large part to each book being printed in complete full color on every page. A large percentage of the pages are covered with every label variation of every release. If you're not a hardcore collector intensely interested in what are usually very, very minute label differences (mostly different fonts, different perimenter print on the labels), then I have to say that some of the wow factor is missing.

What has made the other entries in this series must-have books for any Beatles scholar, even if they are not interested in label variations, is the detailed history Spizer uncovers behind the Beatles' relationship with their labels. Spizer uncovers long-forgotten or never-known stories behind how the labels devised albums or singles, and many other interesting details. His book on the Vee-Jay label's relationship with the Beatles was a complete revelation that completely changed scholars' perception of the relationship between the group and Vee-Jay, and would have been a must-have for Beatles scholars even without any pictures or illustrations of any kind.

There are interesting pictures in all of the volumes, including the "Solo Beatles on Apple" other than label variations. Pictures of alternate album covers and other artwork, as well as promotional items all adorn the pages.

"The Solo Beatles on Apple..." is perhaps a tiny bit less indispensable as compared to Spizer's other books only because it doesn't have as much revelatory information as the previous entries (particularly the Vee-Jay book and the Capitol books). All of the books contain Spizer's own reviews of the music itself, as well as basic information on the background of the songs and albums. This is the only information in Spizer's books which isn't indispensible. It's all well-written, it just doesn't offer any new information. Because the "Solo Beatles" book has a bit less of the new, wow-factor type of facts that made the Vee-Jay and Capitol books so interesting, the "Solo Beatles" book doesn't have quite as much to offer in terms of the text. Spizer admits that he came into writing the book with the opinion that the Beatles' solo work doesn't hold up well to the group's output. Listening to the albums apparently did change is mind to some degree, but I do see just a bit less enthusiasm behind the writing of this book as compared to the other group entries.

Still, between the ample color artwork and still plenty of interesting details uncovered by Spizer, this book is still a must-own for Beatles scholars and record collectors. I would give it 4 1/2 stars if I could.

An absolute necessity for anyone who collects music or is interested in the history of Rock/Pop music in the United States. A must have book that will Never be on the shelf but always close by for reference.

Just overflowing with fabulous info. I only wish there was a paperback version available from Amazon. I'm sure there's one somewhere, since this book was published in '03 and there were always paperback versions of older Whitburn books. It would've been less expensive (and lighter!).

It's a great book for any music fan of the last fifty or more years. It lists all the artists, song titles and chart information for every year. Even a small bio of each artist. It is the bible of popular music. All of Joel Whitburn's books are excellent.

This book is a great help in searching for old records, who sang on these singles, what date they came out, etc etc. I discovered some minor errors though, but hopefully they will be corrected for the revised edition!! Kind of thought it is a waste of space to list who has the most popular songs, this and that; but otherwise I highly recommend this book.

If you are considering this book, you are probably 39 and holding, like I have been for the past 25 years. I started wondering "what was the title of that song?" and "who sang that one?". All those good tunes I grew up listening to in the late 50's on through the 80's. I bought this book (through Amizon of course) and just seeing the titles printed jarred loose melodies that have long been burried under the dust of time. Noboby plays them anymore, but the mind is a juke box of sorts and seeing a title is akin to putting a "nickle in the nickleodeon". This book is fun. Find music by artist or title. Lot's of trivia on the singers (Neil Diamond once considered changing his name to Noah Kaminsky and wrote for the TV show THE MONKEES). If you love the oldies, this book is great. KHF

Someone gave this book to my older brother when he was starting his (subsequently very successful) career in show business maybe 35 years ago. I found it and read it and it was the most motivational and transformational material I had ever encountered. Practicing the very simple exercises helped shape and change my life. Over the course of my life I've read many more sophisticated books by more eloquent and learned writers but none can top the simple truths laid out in this book. It is like the guide book to life. My little book is tanned and falling apart but I will treasure it forever. If there was a ghost writer it was more of a ghost co-writer because Mr. Koran's input is clear, throughout. I wish everyone who needs this magic could find it as I did.

Al Koran could mind read.. and if people would spend time and maybe years studying psychology they would be able to do it themselves.. Al koran changed my life and made me the person i am.. This book made me rich wealthy and well heard of.. My great grandmother used to know Al Koran, and i only wish people would instead of envy him.. Mimic him, Most jealous people say something becuase they are envious but merely mimic him. I have great respect for the power he bless me with. And i know that sometime in my life if he is still around.. i will meet him. Al Koran is clearly a man that has changed the lifes of hundreds... maybe thousands if thousands could be bothered to study psychology.

Al Koran the great magician puts magic in his writing as well. Entire book is very interesting, inspiring and motivating to have faith and courage for action particularly when one has lost all hopes.

The book is a masterpiece and is one of the most favorite books of my life.

I agree with the other reviews of this book. I first read it when it came out in the 70s. I was then at a very low ebb in my life,unemployed, recovering from a devastatingly unhappy love-affair and extremely pessimistic. I became gripped by the style and content, especially as I remember watching Al Koran's stage act on TV in the 1950s.
I practised the suggestions in the book as at the time I had nothing to lose! No job, no money, no girl-friend, no success, no prospects, nothing! Within 6 months I secured the best-paid job I have ever had(but it wasn't at first) and for the next 8 years the money just went up and up without any effort on my part. In other ways, too, my life was successful and only at the end of the 70s when the recession came in for most people, did it falter. I still use the tips in his book and can confirm that they do work. I am NOT religious - in fact, very anti-religious but it is a fact that belief not scepticism is the only thing that works miracles. Thank you Al Koran(and your ghost-writer). You saved me from a miserable and negative life. I have a friend who described this book as the best of its kind he had ever read. He was not religious, either, by the way!

This book is my all time favourite personal development book. I have read it many, many times, and always come back to it when I need inspiration.

So fascinated was I by this book and the author, that I spent months researching the life of Al Koran and the history of this book. What I found amazed me:

Al Koran did not write this book. Instead, he allowed his name to be used as it was a good sales tool for the book - and great publicity for him. The actual author was his friend and close business associate JUNE KYNASTON.

June Kynaston was a professional writer from England, and as well as writing Bring Out The Magic In your Mind, she also wrote The Mind That Works Miracles, and Stay Young Forever (both currently out-of-print).

How do I know the above story to be true? It was confirmed to me by one of Al Koran's best friends (who I will not name). Additionally, if you ever have chance to read the Mind That Works Miracles, you will see that 70% of that book is contained in Bring Out The Magic in Your Mind. The writing style is the same, and in many cases whole pages are IDENTICAL. This book was also published BEFORE Bring Out The Magic In Your Mind.

I have known this secret for years, but have never revealed it publically before. However the time has come, as June Kynaston finally deserves recognition for being such a wonderful, wise and life-changing author.

Both June Kynaston and Al Koran are now sadly deceased, but their memory will live on in the MAGIC that Al Koran created and performed, and the MAGIC of June Kynaston's words.

A fountain of valuable information dealing with the issue of bullying that every parent and teacher needs to read. But most importantly this is about raising empowered kids...kids who are assertive, happy and productive individuals...who will never become victims or bullies. Filled with practical strategies, scripts, lessons and original stories that will teach kids to be express their feelings positively and peacefully; to respect and get along with others; to resolve conflicts; to communicate
and get along with each other... these children will not become bullies or victims! Every parent and teacher must read the section on how to create a positive, loving and caring home and classroom.

This is about raising totally empowered, respectful and happy children. A perfect book for parents filled with great child-rearing principles and practices that all caretakers can benefit from. Should be on every teacher's bookshelf as well.

This book does a marvelous job of pointing out what parents need to do to raise empowered and successful children. Don't let the title fool you- your child won't be a bully or a victim if you follow these important child-rearing principles. The most outstanding feature is its practical nature- filled with scripts, activities, stories....that can be used to teach and empower kids.

This book should be on every parent's book shelf- at least every parent who has a school-age child or actually a child from age 1-15. As a parent of two, I wish this had been written earlier. But I have used its stories with my kids, the tips on communication and support to prevent my children from being a bullies or victims....not to mention all the wonderful parenting tips on how to raise childen to be empowered, happy and loving individuals. And it works!!!!

This is the best book on this topic. I have read many but this covers the bully and the victim and the solutions along with the psychological makeup of the bully. Helped my family.