Projects Books

We're always on the lookout for great ideas for our garden. We have high standards and live in an executive neighborhood, so we look for quality and distinctive projects. This book has great ideas with well drawn plans and instructions.

We built a gothic trellise this weekend. There's not another like it in town. It looks great. Fresh from this success, I'm headed to Home Depot to pick up wood for two other projects--a formal entryway and a simple lattice design to cover an electric meter. Thanks for the great work putting this unique book together.

I checked this book from the library and it has great garden structure design ideas and project plans. But the real value is how informative the book is. This is intended for the weekend warrior who is not especially knowledgeable about woodworking or carpentry but has enough skill to follow clear directions. It also gets you well grounded in basic technique so that you will be able to create your own unique designs for simple garden structures. To make a long story short - I am buying the book.

A beautiful ceramic sculpture book... this book deals with handbuilding sculpture work. It is both for learning and looking, has several step by step projects you can follow along with and a gallery full of wonderful images in the back half of the book. There is also good information on finishing your ceramic work, and even talks about alternative finishes on clay such as oil paints, acrylics and experimenting with your finishes.

As a sculpture student who has worked primarily in wood and plaster, I wasn't interested in this book as much for technique as for a photo gallery of contemporary sculpture. I was blown away. I will be taking ceramics in the future, and now I can hardly wait to get my hands on clay; I was fascinated by the different styles possible in this medium. Those coming from a ceramics background will have an entirely different appreciation for this book (I don't know anything about the techniques introduced, but the author made them seem very 'do-able'). At any rate, it's a wonderful book to peruse, and stimulate that creative muse.

I personally had a hand in the immense task Dick undertook in gathering these materials. We visited Jim Newton in Florida before his death and acquired all Jim's relevant Oxford Group library. Ditto Rev. Willard Hunter in California. And I helped Dick and others display, list, and prepare for shipping the huge library of history that Dick had shelved in the Maui A.A. Research Library in a room set aside for that very purpose. Shelves lined every single wall. Work tables held the groupings. And there were several huge groupings: (1) The huge amount of Oxford Group materials Dick had obtained from Newton, Hunter, MRA leaders and offices, and MRA packrat George Vondermuhll, Jr. (2) The huge Shoemaker collection Dick had obtained from the Shoemaker family, Episcopal Archives, Shoemaker churches, personal journals, and church records. (3) A complete duplicate of all the books in Dr. Bob's Library. (4) The temperance books, the religious books, the evangelism books, the contemporary A.A. and alcoholism books and reviews, and the many stories by alcoholics that were part of AAs' studies and heritage. (5) A complete set of the Big Book Second Edition printings. (6) A large collection of printings of the Third Edition. (7) Forty binders of historical papers. (8) Several huge boxes of tape recordings, including the entire collection of Bill W.'s public talks. (9) A host of similar materials purchased from collectors Danny Whitmore and Dennis Cassidy and elsewhere. (8) Books Dick had personally acquired and used in his research and writings. It's all in this book. And most of it is now lodged, through the generosity of several of Dick's benefactors, in the Griffith Library located adjacent to Bill Wilson's birthplace at The Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont. The books and materials are there to be studied, copied, posted on the internet, and utlized to help AAs. Their wide variety insures that this is not just a collection that fits some particular collector's fancies. It far exceeds in volume the collection at Brown University, at Stepping Stones, and at Dr. Bob's Home and the Akron archives. And it is far more accessible to those who really want to learn and get well by studying the details of their fellowship history. And doing it in the delightful New England atmosphere of East Dorset, Vermont. It also serves as a backup documentation for the thousands of footnotes and comments in the history books by Dick and others striving for an accurate picture. This compilation is a gem, should be part of every reference library, and can be obtained as part of the reference set of Dick'b books.

I'm a researcher. I'm a student. And I am a Marine Corps vet. I am also an avid reader of the Bible and a believer. I lived with Dick B. for a while before I joined the Marines. Then I was married, and I was stationed in Oahu and frequently saw Dick, his son Ken, an their respective huge libraries; and so did my wife. I helped Dick inventory, prepare for shipment, and ship the 23,900 historical items that he had amassed and assembled on Maui and used in his continuing research and historical publishing. Then much of the material was donated to the Griffith Library at Bill Wilson's birthplace in East Dorset, Vermont. But not before Dick had inventoried the books and materials, the places where they were acquired, the libraries from which they had come, the people who made them available, and their relevance to aspects of A.A. history like the Bible, Jesus Christ, Quiet Time, Dr. Bob and his library, Anne Smith and her journal, the Oxford Group, Sam Shoemaker, New Thought writers, William James, Carl Jung, Dr. Silkworth, the Cleveland materials, the Clarence Snyder materials, materials on alcoholism and addiction and recovery, prayer, healing, guidance, the great mentors of A.A. like the YMCA, Salvation Army, Christian Endeavor, and so on. It's all in this book. It's a reference tool worth having for life. It's a source for historical study. It is a fascinating account of all the elements that fed A.A. It's a well-done bibliography. There's nothing like the content of this book. I'm all for it.

Knowledgeably compiled and deftly co-edited by Sarah-Marie Belcastro (Co-Director, Hamshire College Summer Studies in mathematics and Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Smith College) and Carolyn Yackel (Mathematics Instructor, Mercer University), "Making Mathematics With Needlework: Ten Papers And Ten Projects" is unique in that it combines mathematics papers with fiber arts project instructions. Each chapter showcases a particular project and that project features sections on mathematics and mathematics education along with detailed instructions for completing the needlecraft project. The featured projects include a Quilted Mobius Band (making a mobius quilt); Diphantine Equations (making a bi-directional hat); Sierpinski Variatins (making a Sierpinski shawl); a Two Knit Stiches Tours; Symmetry Patterns in Cross-Stitch; Algebraic Structure (making algebraic socks); Fortunatus's Purse; (K)Not Cables and Braids (making a pillow of Braid Equivalence); The Graph Theory of Blackwork Embroidery (embroidering a Holbeinian Graph); and making Hyperbolic Pants. Profusely illustrated, the text is fully accessible to non-specialist general readers with an interest in needlecraft, in the mathematics underlying needlecraft, as well as having a very special attraction for math students and fiber art enthusiasts alike.

Ok, I'm a bit of a math geek -- I have my masters in math. And I'm addicted to knitting books and yarn (as a quick perusal of my review history will demonstrate). So I ordered this book. Each chapter presents a new concept and a new project. The projects are not your typical fiber arts projects but they are all beautiful. They also should give even the most math-phobic individuals a new appreciation of the math.

I have taught math online to adult college students and this would be perfect "supplemental reading" to show people that math doesn't have to be scary.

This book is very well done and has lots of gorgeous color pictures to emphasize the finished products. Also gives a brief history of each bear shown and "Teddy Bear Tips" throughout the pages. Comes with numerous patterns in the back that you can enlarge to suit your style and taste. If you are not a sewer or teddy bear maker, this will overwhelm you. Not for the beginner but nice to have anyway.

Making Teddy Bears provides a fine set of master teddy bear patterns ranging form a very easy beginning single pattern piece all the way to a traditional jointed bear with movable arms, legs and head. These patterns are the foundation for sixteen projects which will delight crafts workers looking to make teddies.

Good introductory book on Systems Engineering, covering most important subjects (Introduction to Sys. Eng., Conceptual, Preliminary and Detailed Design and Development, and a nice chapter on Engineering Management).

In some figures it presents a process for engineering a system, along with explanation and examples. I enjoyed A LOT this approach.

Presents information on standards (MIL-STD-499B, IEEE-1220, EIA-632) and a brief overview of SEI's Capability Maturity Model for Systems Engineering (CMM-SE).

What I liked is that it is "straight to the point" and an easy to read book.

Downside: it has no exercises at the end of each chapter.

I recommend it for both students and practitioners.

Hope this helps!

This is the text used by the University of New South Wales to teach Systems Engineering. It is a practical text and a very useful reference book. For anyone involved with systems engineering, project management of technical projects, or government procurement activity of technical goods or services - this is a must read.

This has to be one of the best business books ever written. I found that I was able to take the practices and put them to work right away. My manager can't believe the difference it's made in my ability to get project results. I highly recommend this book to any manager or project manager.

For years, we in HRD have been poor at delivering results to the organization on time and under budget. I never could understand the books on project management. They always used way more project management effort than I needed. The examples never made sense either. This book has to be the best resource ever given to the HRD community. The tools are simple and easy to use. I found that I could scale the project managment efforts to match the need. The examples are great and really bring home the point. The ongoing case story of Bill and Karen are fun. I found myself reading ahead just to find out what they did, and how their stories turned out.

This book is authored very readably. The anecdotes support and reinforce the solid content and advice presented. It is based in reality and offers best practices rather than just offering theory. I don't find myself getting bogged down in terminology as I have with some other books.

This is one of the volumes in the Harvard Business Essentials Series. Each offers authoritative answers to the most important questions concerning its specific subject. The material in this book is drawn from a variety of sources which include the Harvard Business School Press and the Harvard Business Review as well as Harvard ManageMentor_, an online service. I strongly recommend the official Harvard Business Essentials Web site (www.elearning.hbsp.org/businesstools) which offers free interactive versions of tools, checklists, and worksheets cited in this book and other books in the Essentials series. Each volume is indeed "a highly practical resource for readers with all levels of experience." And each is by intent and in execution solution-oriented. Although I think those who have only recently embarked on a business career will derive the greatest benefit, the material is well-worth a periodic review by senior-level executives.

Credit Richard Luecke with pulling together a wealth of information and counsel from various sources. He is also the author of several other books in the Essentials series. In this instance, he was assisted by a subject advisor, Richard D. Austin, a member of the Technology and Operations Management faculty at the Harvard Business School. Together, they have carefully organized the material within 12 chapters.

1. Project Management as a Process (four phases)
2. The Cast of Characters (i.e. who's who in project management)
3. A Written Charter ("your marching orders")
4. A Framework for Action (i.e. important first steps)
5. Work Breakdown (i.e. from huge job to manageable tasks)
6. Scheduling the Work ("put the horse before the cart")
7. Adjustments and Trade-Offs (i.e. more fine-tuning)
8. Managing Risk ("scanning the hazy horizon")
9. Project Adaptation (i.e. dealing with what you could not or did not anticipate)
10. Getting Off on the Right Foot (i.e., project needs to keep in mind)
11. Keeping on Track (i.e. maintaing control)
12. The Closedown Phase (i.e. wrapping up)

I especially appreciate the provision of a "Summing Up" section at the conclusion of each chapter, and, the provision also of two appendices: "Useful Implementation Tools" and "A Guide to Effective Meetings." Re the appendices, all executives should possess and continuously upgrade a "tool kit" even if what is needed this week or this month requires entirely different "tools" later. One of the most important value-added benefits of the "Essentials" series is that each of its volumes includes a number of "tools" relevant to the given subject and an explanation of how to use them effectively.

With regard to the advice provided on meetings (probably the single greatest time-waster), it is sensible but sparse. Years ago, I became convinced that most meetings are convened to discuss what needs to be discussed rather than to discuss what needs to be done. And even when the latter, more often than not, the "PTD Principle" is ignored (i.e. P = person, T = task, and D = deadline). I now presume to share my own advice.

1. Schedule a meeting only when it is absolutely necessary.
2. Include only those who must be present.
3. In advance, inform everyone involved what the meeting's specific objectives are.

NOTE: No more than three objectives per meeting.

4. Limit the discussion entirely to achieving the specified objective(s).
5. Encourage dissent.

NOTE: If two people in the group agree on everything, one of them is useless.

6. Have zero tolerance of gabbers.
7. Strictly follow the "PTD Principle."
8. Follow-up with everyone re who must do what and by when.
9. Have zero tolerance of slackers.
10. If someone suggests another meeting, see Point #1.

Other than Appendix B, the material which Luecke and Austin provide is first-rate. I highly recommend it to decision-makers in all organizations (regardless of size or nature) and especially to those who are now preparing for a business career or have recently embarked on one. Effective and efficient management of work at all levels and within all areas of any organization is absolutely essential. However, what Peter Drucker suggested more than 40 years ago is even more relevant now than ever before: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

This book is an update to the author's earlier work in the convergence of risk management and quality as keys to successful software development and delivery.

What makes this book worthwhile to software engineering managers, applications delivery teams, project managers and proposal teams is the seamless way Ould connects the dots between two critical functions - risk and quality. The material on risk identification, analysis and management reflect best practices. Moreover, it serves as a primer on risk management, which is clear, logically sequenced and contains no gaps or omissions. I especially like the way he thoroughly covers various process models related to software development lifecycles (including the V-model, DSDM, evolutionary and incremental delivery). The risk planning approach he proposes can be easily aligned to any of these models based on the chapter on Risk Planning.

Ould approaches quality as both a verification and validation activity, as well as a control function. This approach is suitable for project-oriented teams and organizations, and ties nicely into the risk approach set forth in the beginning of this book.

I like the resource management material that has been refined and carried over from his earlier book. The work breakdown structures are invaluable aids, and his advice on monitoring and controlling resources is realistic and workable.

A good deal of this book is slanted towards organizations that provide contracted services and development. This makes it ideal for scoping projects and building project plans from a provider perspective. However, this can be also used to great advantage by organizations who are seeking contracted development and issuing RFPs because they will gain a clear understanding of what to demand from a provider. It is also useful to internal development organizations since the risk and quality management principles so clearly described in this book are critical success factors in that environment as well.

In `Managing Software Quality and Business Risk' Martyn Ould travels further down the road on which he set out in his excellent 1990 book, `Strategies for Software Engineering'. His basic premise then, and here, is that successful and achievable plans for software development must be based on both the assessment of risk and the achievement of quality - and the activities that flow from addressing these two concerns. The author has advice for us both as managers and engineers in this very readable book. His arguments are based on sound principles and amplified with excellent real-life anecdotes and experiences that bear out his ideas. He puts you in the driving seat and stands quietly behind you, giving you clear, well-considered, and, above all, practical advice on how to plan your software project. If you enjoyed his first book, this one is definitely for you. If you haven't yet read him, then do so now! Slightly disappointingly, the book does not set out to help you run your project. We could well do with such sensible advice here as well. How about another book, Martyn?

Believe it or not, I am a high school biology teacher that has never done a science fair project before, and now I am in charge of our local science fair! I found this book by accident, and it is amazing. It is a complete step-by-step guide for both the teacher and the students. I plan on using it this year, and I just know the quality of the projects will be so much better with the tips and guidelines for the students. What is great is that it is geared toward high school students, so it is challenging yet simple enough to understand.

As a librarian who helps advise students through the research process, I have found Ms. Wee's book to be invaluable. Her experience in science fairs shines through in her step-by-step intructions on how to manage science fair projects. This source is a lifesaver for any science fair advisor, student, librarian and/or parent dealing with the 14 steps of the inquiry-method approach of a science fair project. Included in the book are reproducible pages for schedules, checklists, fourteen tip sheets and worksheets to help guide a student through all stages of the project. Every school library should have at least one copy of this management tool.