Shopping Books

I didn't think the book was that easy to pick up and get started. It's a little boring and doesn't motivate me to get up and cook.

this cookbook is a good idea as far as helping you plan your menus and convenient shopping lists...

BUT, if you are health-conscious like me you will not like over half the meals. All of them center around large amounts of meat and some feature main ingredients like Frito chips. I browsed through it for a few minutes, and quickly realized that I was going to need to purchase a new cookbook, because there were hardly any meals I would personally feel comfortable feeding my family. But that's just me. I think meat should be a light addition to meals, not the whole meal, and I'm not the only one who thinks that way--that's what doctors, nutritionists and the updated USDA pyramid say as well.

This book has quick and easy recipes and a lot of shortcuts for busy women. This book also gives some fun ideas for spending time with your family even if time is limited. I like the girlfriend style of this book, too. Highly recommended for today's families. You can use the recipes to go along with some of your favs, too. There are so many ways to use this cookbook. One of my favorite recipes for company is the seafood bake. My kids' favorite is Mexican Pileup.

I love this book. The ingredients in all of the recipes are family-oriented and I'm able to buy them at my local supermarket. Best of all, the meals are easy on the budget. This book offers a cooking system to help you plan your family meals or you can pull out recipes that you want to make when you want to make them. There's recipes for Thanksgiving as well as what to do with the leftovers, which will save us money during a very expensive time of the year. The other thing that I love about this book is the author's personality comes through like she was sitting across the table from you. And there are a ton of shortcuts to make your time in the kitchen more efficient and some really fun ideas to do with the family. You can tell this author has a family and knows what it's like to be a busy mom.

I'm a work-at-home Mom, but that doesn't mean I'm hanging out in the kitchen. As busy as my family is, I'm excited to have a book like Mary Jo's that takes care of the decision making, planning, and even gives me a shopping list. Then, when dinner time arrives, in just minutes, I can prepare and feed my family with good food that they enjoy. Thanks, Mary Jo, for taking the stress out of making dinner!

Shopping with mom was the theme. It was a cute book and my grandson seemed interested.

My son and I love this book. As a single mom, I love being able to read a cute story with my son that focuses strictly on mom-n-me time.

I personally think the above poster's assessment that the little critter is misbehaving and breaking rules is rather silly. He's just little and didn't know any better! The point of reading these stories with your children is to teach them the difference between right and wrong. They afford us those opportunities!

Thumbs up on this one!

Mercer Mayer always captures the sweet moments in life that we over look as adults. This story shares the fun adventure a Mom can have with her child one on one with a special trip out. He also captures the small mishaps that can come out of a little one's eagerness to help and curiosity about the world around them.

We have several other critter books that our daughter just loves. This one however was very disappointing. This book has the little critter acting up and mis-behaving. This is very different from our other Mercer Mayer books where misfortune befalls our hero becuase he is a little boy being clumsy or because he is being 'helpful'. Reading a book which encourages the child to run away from his mom in crowded places, ignore rules and break things is not funny - it is just stupid. After two reads, we traded in our copy at the local used book store.

When I was three or four years old, I saw this book in the window of a book store and asked my mother to buy it for me. Fifteen years later, the book still brings me incredible joy. Beyond the events in the story itself, it represents the connection between a child and his mother; she is analogous to the giving tree in the Shel Silverstein book. She created me, and with that creation, created the incredible world as I am now able to see it through the eyes and mind that she created. Despite any and all of one's faults (losing a train ticket, making a mess in the museum and the fancy restaurant), mother still lives with unconditional love and dedication to the child (smiling off the faults, buying more train tickets, eating a hot dog from a vendor instead of the fancy restaurant). A wonderful book, truly makes one appreciate the world and its female creator.

I just finished reading "Heaven Looks a Lot like The Mall" and it was very funny. I liked how you learned about everything that she had brought in the mall and that it had a special purpose. Like the light blue prom dress, everything had a meaning. Well I hope Heaven does look like the mall cause I could wear stuff thats like a 24,000 fur coat from Saks and never have to pay for it. But I think the "Mall Manager"(a.k.a GOD!!) would probably stop me!!

since the moment i opened Heaven looks alot like the mall, i loved it. i love the beging, middle and the end! it took me only four days to read the whole book from the day i bought it.

Title makes the book sound superficial, when actually it is a thoughtful look at a girl's life & a lot of the bad decisions she has made. Does that make her a bad person? How much can she blame on a psycho mother? Surprisingly good book--hope it comes out as an audiobook soon.

I sense a bit of Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven theme in this book, although this book's main audience was teenage girls. It gives interesting insight into life after death, which is a subject that many people try to portray, but I haven't read many as interesting and neat as this book. The book was written in "poems" (much like Sonya Sones, Ellen Hopkins, etc) and was a really fast read. I enjoyed it because the main character wasn't the typical angsty teenager. She had problems, but she didn't mope and whine about them. She just did what she wanted. But in the end, I like the change of the character. It really was interesting to see her transformation from elementary school, to middle school, to high school. I was kept wondering what was going to happen, and it didn't bore me with unneccessary details. Wendy Mass is one of my favorite authors, and with good reason. Heaven Looks a lot Like the Mall is definitely an excellent book. However, if "poems" aren't really your thing, then I would also recommend her book A Mango-Shaped Space, which is even better than this book.

Imagine coming upon a bag of forgotten things, then reliving memories for each and every item you touch. After being beaned on the head during a game of dodgeball, high school junior Tessa finds herself in what she thinks is heaven - but it looks a lot like the local mall.

Is she dead or just dreaming? She remembers being hit by the ball. She remembers falling down on the gym floor. She remembers being a "mall brat," which she compares to being an army brat, but without the moving around. Because both of her parents work at the mall, it's just as familiar to her as her own home.

Soon, Tessa meets an oddly interesting boy who leads her to a bag filled with things she's obtained from the shopping center over the years. The bag includes a baby shoe, a box of crayons, a pair of flip-flops, and a prom dress, among many other things. Tessa then relates a series of events, one for each item. She remembers scenes with her parents, her older brother, her friends, the girls she wanted to befriend, the boys she wanted to date.

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall is a fast, compulsive read. The story flows smoothly. Though it is written as a verse novel, it does not rhyme and is not set to a certain meter. Tessa's memories are related in chronological order, making it easy for readers to quickly learn the story of her life.

This isn't a maudlin modern Our Town, but rather a charm bracelet come to life. Instead of this being a scrapbook of the best and happiest times of Tessa's life, it's an honest look at what she's been though. She's not proud of everything she's done, and she must learn to take responsibility for her actions. As her shame and secrets come to light, Tessa begins to realize that she can still shine -- and that (hopefully) she's got a lot of living to do.

I truly enjoyed this book. It is a silly, fun, "sitcom", "feel good" sort of book that is squeaky clean; it's great! Along with doing a good job of making me laugh out loud, it also does a good job of addressing in a fun way some of the issues that teens go through as some of them start to pair up and old "best friends" struggle to figure out what roles they now play in each others lives. It certainly is one I'll recommend to my students.

I really liked this book. It was a quick fun read that kept me smiling and laughing all along the way. Some books are a great abdominal workout!

The main character was annoying. I was kinda bored reading this. Forced myself to finish it.

Janette Rallison's done it again. She already had me listed as a fan with Life, Love, & the Pursuit of Free Throws. I was already gushing over All's Fair in Love, War, & High School. So when I picked up It's a Mall World After All, I was expecting nothing short of light, fun high school romance. And I got that, plus a little extra for my money. Charlotte is a really believable character, especially to me. Like me, she was tormented by the boys in her school. Like me, she made a major comeback. And like me, behind her bitter resentment, she's a forgiving person.

This book was thoughtful, with Charlotte being determined to give less fortunate kids a good Christmas. I thought some parts were hi-la-ri-ous! Especially the part where ... well, I'll let you read and enjoy.

For girls who don't like to read (or even total bookworms like me) this book is sure to satisfy!

=)

My 11-year-old son and I have enjoyed reading all of Janette Rallison's books! She does a great job of putting humor in high school situations. It's a Mall World is another great one! We are looking forward to her next book coming out...

thepurplebook is a great book for those who don't get out to read Cosmo, Glamour,InStyle, YM, W, GQ, Better Homes and Garden and basically any periodical currently printed in the U.S. or abroad. The term "authorship" is so loose these days. Sure the sites are great, if you can find one that works. We all know how website have a tendency to die online. However, I found some real gems. Thanks InStyle! It's really too difficult to decipher (and the print is too small) for the elderly. And the gen-exers like myself, really don't have the cash to spend $200 for a handbag or pay the large amount of money alot of these sites are asking for their goods and services. I probably wouldn't buy thepurplebook, instead I'd pick it up at your local library.

When I first found out about the Purple Book I was very excited, I love to shop and to find unique buys and often don't run across great websites because they are hard to find. This is a great resource across many categories to help you find what you need online and to discover some great sites for shopping.

The one aspect of the book that I didn't like was that it listed sites that are very known an common such as some brick & mortar stores or very promient online stores (Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ebay, etc...) I was hoping there would be more focus on stores that were unique and off the beaten path but I have found some sites that I never knew of before and it is a great resource so I would highly recommend this for anyone that loves to shop as much as I do!!

This is a rather Zagattish commentary (unfortunately without the point score) on the 1600 or so sites the book tries to cover.

The real value and unfortunately the (slight) failing of the book is that it tries to be too broad. In addition not everything in the book is perfect. I spotted some slight inaccuracies in some websites that I am a regular customer of. Secondly, the narrative is simply too Categorical in its comments, and one suspects that a lot of insight may be colored by the perspective garned from the particular website itself and not through a real user experience. Unlike Zagat, there is very little of the equivocation that may suggest the particular (shopping) website could have failings, or that it may not be so good. Indeed, it would appear that virtually all comments about each (shopping) website highlights the positive ...

Nevertheless, this opus provides the reader with a valuable trove of information. I personally found the epicurean section as well as the stationery/gifts section most useful, although that might reflect my personal biases. While I also question the breakdown of the shopping categories in the book, but on the whole, I recommend it, and think that it is by far the best in its class.

I'm slightly surprised that Amazon did not put out sample pages (at least of the writing of this review) as that would allow customers to have a much better feel for the book. In any case, here's my input:

Opening a random page in women's wear includes the following sites in (continued) alphabetical order:
1) Peruvian connection
2) Pieceunique.com
3) Purpleskirt.com
4) Ravinstyle.com
5) Sauvagewear.com
6) Seamlessbody.com

And just in case you were wondering what they thought about Amazon? Amazon appears twice. The first is under the segment "Entertainment" (which includes books). The entire spiel is as follows:

"The first name in Internet retail has come a long way from its origins as strictly a bookseller. Its expanision started, logically, with music and videos, but has gone on to plenty else. But it's a continued master of entertainment media that keeps us coming back. Here you may listen to music samples, read book samples and read customer reviews of just about anything. There are plenty of reasons these guys are No. one, and you probably don't want to read about them here. Suffice to say, if for some strange reason you've never visited, check it out"

Here's one more random example from www.clambakeco.com:

"Clambakes to travel. When it's time for a good old-fashion clambake, you can do no better than to visit this new-fangled speciality retailer. What's a clambake? Well, as these guys have it, its a shindig that involves steamed lobster, mussels, vegetables, Portugese sausage and of course clams. Yes it sounds like a lot to prepare, but that's the great thing about this site: they send you a pre-packed steamer pot ... You simply add water, put over a flame and 20 min or so later you have a full fledged clamback for as any people as you need. It couldn't be easier, and you get to keep the pot."

This is a terrific, well-researched and well-organized resource, one of the best guides I have ever read. THEPURPLEBOOK starts where search engines leave off, helping to get through the clutter. Cheers to Ms. Mendelsohn for a terrific book. A great stocking-stuffer. I can't wait for next year's edition!

It's scary to think shopping can be made a lot easier than it already is. With the internet, now shopping is so easy you can find almost everything in a matter of minutes, depending on how fast your computer loads. Hillary Mendelsohn's book is nothing new, since there has been directories of internet companies before, but she does present it in a manner shoppers are more used to, rather than in technogeek language. Another book worth exploring if you are looking for internet shopping: Stretch Your Dollars by Buying Wholesale. Saving money so that you can buy more is always exceptional, isn't it? My wife thinks so! Thanks to the internet, she now has more stores to shop til her fingers drop.

Jill Butler's books are always a pleasure. The graphics are charming and the information is excellent. I read them to my 5-year-old granddaughter who's been to France seven times. She loves the books and recognizes some of her favorite landmarks. Reading them is so much more fun (and less boring for me) than so many other options. Do I have a plot? You bet. I plan to kidnap my granddaughters to Paris and want them to feel at home.

While the graphics are cute and the pronunciation guides are somewhat helpful, I was disappointed in this book. It seemed to me to be only one step better than any vocabulary list you can find. I found it only minimally useful.

An interesting tome that is practical and precise. Valuable for the first time traveler to Paris. Bon voyage!

I had borrowed this book from the library during a tourist-French class. The teacher told me she used to teach from this book. It's a great size to fit in a purse/bag and I'm going to bring it when I go to France this summer. With the pictures, I think it's better than a regular translation mini-book.

I spent a week in Paris for business earlier this month and had only 6 days' notice about the trip. I don't speak French and I had never been outside of the U.S. I found this book, Rendez-vous with France, at the local library and it was my saving grace throughout the week. By using the book and its charming illustrations, I was able to communicate with shuttle drivers, hotel staff, street vendors and wait staff. I literally could not have gotten through the week without it! Since I was in Paris for business I didn't really get to EXPERIENCE much of Paris, but I have already bought this book and Jill Butler's next book on wandering in Paris for my next trip.

All the world knows that Dr. A. Q. Khan (Khan) stole but incomplete diagrams & he initailly thoughts he can make bomb with few technicians but this was his Deputy Dr. G. D. Alam (Dr. Alam) who told him that you can't do this without proper manpower.
Dr. Alam is the actual man behind this achivement for Pakistan and he is the man who achived this for Pakistan (Dr. Alam died on 5th December 2000). (This is Dr. Alam once said that "History don't lie" this is true.
This is the book 1st time mentioned Dr. Alam as his deputy, which means his investigation and research is very thorough, Dr Alam is the man who negotiated with all seller throughout the world for Pakistan's bomb, but refuse to help Dr. Khan sell the technology for personal gain)
Cheers'

I found it a fascinating of how one man could become a major dealer in nuclear technology.

The lax security in the European nuclear program allowed a Pakistani engineer Khan to steal the centrifuge designs. Khan took those designs to Pakistan to help create a nuclear bomb there. Soon Khan became the head of a major nuclear organization in Pakistan. Soon the Pakistani had developed centrifuges technology that could bypass the international controls on making nuclear bombs.

Here contrary to the writer, I am not so sure from his evidence the US atomic program for peace failed as he suggested. The appeal of Khan technology to rogue countries was they could bypass the checks here. So Khan sold this technology for large sums to Iran, Libya, North Korea and maybe one more.

Part of the problem stopping Khan was finding what was happening. Then it was his prestige in Pakistan. Plus the free world's need for Pakistani support both in the cold war and the war in Afghanistan after 911 but eventually in January 2004, under world pressure Khan was arrested and put under house arrest. So finally stopping Khan, leaving us with a problem of knowing how much damage Khan did!

Now it is a few years since the book was written. Iran is still trying to make a bomb. At best, Khan would have given it a boost. The Libyan spent much money for nothing and eventually gave up on nuclear bombs, so his contribution there was useless. North Korea appears according to recent information gave up earlier on this type of uranium enrichment technology and went back to the power reactor method. Maybe he helped with the bomb design. The last unknown country, I cannot comment.

Finally I am left wondering what happened to the money the Pakistani got from these countries? Khan lived a good life but he did not take much of the money. I suspect that it went to the Pakistan's nuclear program which I find a disturbing conclusion.

Overall if you are interested in this, you will find this a fascinating read.

George Tenet reportedly described A.Q. Khan as "at least as dangerous as Osama bin Laden." Corera adds that Khan has had greater impact on nuclear proliferation than any other individual - yet, his story begins simply as the right man in the right place. Trained as a metallurgist in Europe, he began work in '72 at a research lab in the Netherlands at the forefront of Europe's efforts to develop the latest centrifuge technology for nuclear fuel, providing independence from the U.S.

Next to the research lab was a plant holding thousands of tall, slender centrifuges connected by a maze of metal piping. Each machine only enriched the gas a tiny amount - thus, the need for a connected cascade. Each centrifuge consisted of 100 parts, many engineered to within /001 of a mm. and able to withstand very high speeds. One tiny mistake and the centrifuge spins out of control, often crashing into other machines and destroying the entire cascade.

Khan's first job at the research center was to translate documents for a new German-designed centrifuge - the P2. Security at the site was lax, and within three years Khan's co-worker became convinced Khan was a spy. Authorities were alerted, but according to most accounts, the CIA helped convince them just to watch Khan and remove his access to secret materials. Realizing he'd been found out, Khan returned to Pakistan, taking thousands of pages of documents and even discarded parts with him.

At about this same point in time the U.S. learned of Pakistan's intent to use fuel reprocessing (aided by France) to make a bomb. France as convinced to stop the program, leading Pakistan to instead focus on Khan's knowledge of centrifuges. (Other advantages of using centrifuges were that much less space and power were required than reprocessing or gaseous diffusion - making the program much easier to hide.)

Khan knew Pakistan lacked the manufacturing skills ("couldn't make a pin"), but he also knew who the component suppliers were for the research lab where he had worked. Thus, he utilized a network of Swiss, German, U.K., U.S., China (bomb design), North Korea (missile design), and Niger (yellowcake) suppliers. By 1987 Pakistan had the bomb. Soon after, Khan began marketing his/Pakistan's skills - North Korea, Libya, and Iran. Throughout this period and on to the present, the U.S. knew of Pakistan's activities but refrained from taking strong action because their cooperation was needed to help defeat the Russians in Afghanistan, and then after 9/11 in terror-reduction efforts.

An IAEA inspection in '03 found Iran with 160 cascaded P1-design centrifuges and evidence of uranium enriched to between 36 - 70%. Iran's original efforts began under the Shah in 1976, were known about in the U.S., and reportedly led Saddam Hussein in Iraq to press for his own program (began by purchasing a reactor from France). Iran, like its mentor, Pakistan, eventually also decided to go the centrifuge route after the U.S. pressed France to renege on an agreement to provide Iran with a fuel reprocessing (enrichment) plant. In addition, taking a lesson from Iraq's reactor being destroyed by Israel, Iran built its facilities in a dispersed, underground manner.

Currently it is not clear what Iran's strategy is. It may simply be building a large, legal stockpile of power-plant level fuel - ready to upgrade to weapons grade on short notice in only 20% of the time required starting from scratch. Or, it may have a parallel setup that is creating bomb-grade material at the present.

Pakistan's proliferation activities continued after 9/11 - however, dissidents in various countries provided information that led to finding enrichment centrifuges on a ship bound for Libya. Libya decided to renounce its program, and the information garnered from them and their suppliers helped prove to Pakistan's leaders that Khan and his associates were running amok.

A.Q. Khan has now been under house arrest in Pakistan for several years, unable to even use the telephone. Hopefully his proliferation activities have all been undone. However, his network suppliers have by now learned how valuable their offerings are, and it is also known that he also worked with those wanting to start a program in Saudi Arabia.

A.Q. Khan was the world's leading black market dealer in nuclear technology and a hero in Pakistan: Khan was known as the Father of the Bomb and built a global network selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. It's surprising to note that this is the first book-length survey of the rise and fall of the man and his role in spreading nuclear technology. It use interviews with politicians and key members of his own network to survey not only Khan's life and influence on the spread of nuclear technology, but the methods and intentions of the rogue states who bought from him. New details on how the CIA penetrated his network and broke his ring makes for a unique and eye-opening analysis which is a top recommendation for both general-interest collections strong in terrorist studies and military holdings.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book is an excellent piece of work on Nuclear Proliferation. Things that I would have liked to see in this book :

*) Substantiated material with actual interviews with intelligence officers. Author uses lots of qoutes from private conversations, but how did he get access to those ? That makes me question a bit the authencity of the research.

*) The book keeps on jumping back and forth, which is an excellent case to muddy the presentation. I would have liked a chronological order maintained in the book so that thought processes can be collected and processed efficiently.

Overall it is an eye-opener.

I am far from an accomplished cook, but with this book my family thinks I'm a chef! The recipes are easy, with step by step instructions that even ensure that everything for the meal is done at the same time. The meals are healthy, taste really good and provide for variety. This by itself would be great, but what makes this book really spectacular is that it is a meal planning system complete with grocery lists. Now not only do you know what you will be having for dinner, you also know that you have all the ingredients needed from your one and only trip to the grocery store that week. This is the answer I have been looking for!

Because I hate planning dinners, I thought this cookbook would be helpful. It offers five nights of entrees and sides and includes recipes and grocery lists. At first I thought I had hit the jackpot. However, after using it for several weeks I would recommend that you skip this one. The layout is great, but if you don't like all of the recipes, or if some of the important veggies are out of season or unavailable, then the cookbook cannot be used as intended. There are a few wonderful recipes, but they lie amid some that would be best skipped. Each page includes personal tales about the author's children, their friends, and sporting events. The narratives are a bit trite and don't add much to the book other than filler. I would have prefered kitchen organizational tips or time savers. Bottom line: keep looking. This cookbook really isn't all that revolutionary. I give it "2" stars.

I've had this book for a few months now and have made almost everything in the book a few times. The best part is taking the list to the store putting it away and then when dinner time rolls around going to the book to see what is for dinner and knowing everything you need is already in the house. I hate deciding what to eat and this makes the choice for me. The food is great, my husband loves it, and even our 2 1/2 year old eats it.

I've given three as gifts to my other busy working mom friends!

My wife purchased the first version of this book direct from the author and liked the concept (and the recipes) so much that she bought this version too. We recommend this book for anyone who is familier with the daily mantra of making last minute decisions along the lines of "What should I buy at the store tonight?"

She has used this both for weekly planning as well as the occasional one-off recipe. The weekly planner is a neat idea; just take the whole book to the store and get your whole week's worth of groceries. She was looking for a way to simplify our life yet add variety to our menu and this fit the bill. (Note: she has taken this convenience a step further and saved even more time by simply ordering her week's groceries from HomeGrocer.com -- now WebVan.) We've found the book to be straightforward in its approach to recipes. We haven't run into some of the issues that others have reported but we're sort of flexible in our approach towards cooking anyway.

I gave this both 3 stars because while it is laid out well, it doesn't suit my family's style of eating. The "system" it employs is probably already used by many homemakers. Don't expect anything outstanding despite the "revolutionary" title. It is simply planning dinners ahead, taking the recipes to find the quantities needed, making your shopping list from there, and keeping copies of them, so they can be reused. A common sense approach.

The book heavily favors pasta combinations with some potato, rice and breads. Don't expect much brown rice, barley, millet, or other whole grains here. Of the meats, chicken features the most. There are no vegetarian entrees, and no nutritional information or exchanges. There is a rough proportional break down, but since they more or less follow a 30% protein, 40% carbs, 30% fat scheme, I didn't find it suitable for our eating style. We don't do high protein diets and we have vegetarians in the family. It would have been nicer in a binder style format so after you started making up your own menus you could add them to the ones already in the book so you could have them all in one place.

For those who DO follow a rough 30-40-30 scheme, there is good news: The side of the book has marks so you can quickly turn to any week's menu plans. There are tear-out grocery sheet checklists in the back of the book if you follow the menus exactly. The recipes themselves appear tasty, but since I returned my copy I can't say for sure how they'd turn out. With 8 weeks of dinner menus, it could save you some time and hassles if these menus do suit your style. There is a small dessert chapter for treats. There are charts in back for you to Xerox in making up your own menus. The homey sidebars provide tidbit info in a sort of fun way. The bottom margins are roomy enough for some notes, and there are several lined pages in back for expanded notes.

Basically, the book's usefulness will largely depend on your current eating habits more than the layout. The layout was actually one of the better ones I've seen. Those looking for more "menu oriented" cookbooks might want to look at the "Month of Meals" series by the American Diabetes Association even if you are not diabetic. The "mix and match" layout might be more useful even if it does not provide custom grocery lists like this one does. For the vegetarians, the _Month of Meals: Vegetarian Pleasures_ edition would be particularly helpful.

This is the consultant who coined the phrase "thinking Globally, acting locally -- fabulous book -- essential for every bookshelf. Perfect to use for business presentations, great for reference material. Terrific way to find out what's next. From web to mobile and web economics and lifestyles and how to avoid being cyber-spaced-out. I especially like the chapter on buyer acquisition costs-- most people won't talk about that. Lots of great info here and it seems to be fairly up to date even in the older editions. His newer one must be fab. Smart agents are just getting started and this author envisioned them when he first wrote the book-- artificial intelligence-- next gen Web-- lots of great stuff in here. He divides the book into several parts 1-- the Weboluton 2) Who will shop online 3) what will they buy 4) and emarketing strategy....

FRANK FEATHER HAS BEEN A VISIONARY FOR MANY YEARS. THIS BOOK PROVES HE HASN'T LOST HIS TALENT! HE EXPLAINS WHAT HAS BECOME OF OUR NATIONS CONSUMERS AND WHAT IS YET TO COME - VERY EXCITING PREDICTIONS - I LOOK FORWARD TO EXPERIENCING THE FUTURE CONSUMER.COM PHENOMENON -

I have my own internet business and I use this book to promote the future of the internet and business. It is a great window into the future! Great E-Biz book!

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This book is a winner and well worth your time and money. I found the 1st edition of "Future Consumer.Com" extremely useful in my work as a strategic planning and marketing consultant, referring to it often. And so did my clients.

But I just read the new, updated, 2nd Edition (in softcover), and it is even better! I fully agree that the first book was worth *5 Stars* but this is worth more and is bound to be successful. I remember the 1st edition was on Amazon's business best-seller lists for several weeks when it first came out. This one should do even better.

Not only has the material been updated to account for the dot-com shakeout (with the author explains in compelling detail) but new case study material has been added. As well, Feather has updated all his forecasts for e-commerce sales, by category, and basically is sticking with his original forecasts to 2010. And, based on the ongoing trend in e-commerce, I think he will be proven correct.

The 2nd edition also has some brand new material in the form of an Introduction that was not in the 1st edition. This 20-odd page chapter alone is worth the modest price of the book. It is an articulate, well-argued, but blistering critique of Harvard strategy guru Michael Porter who, in 2001, wrote a strategy paper in Harvard Business Review that basically claimed that the Internet changes nothing as far as strategy goes. When I read Porter's piece, I felt he was being very defensive of his own strategy model and failed to support his arguments, dismissing succesful online business models such as AOL and Amazon as exceptions to the rule. Feather brilliantly takes Porter's feeble argument apart, and shows why and how the Internet changes the rules of competition and, hence, business models and marketing strategy -- both in the online and offline world. I repeat, this chapter alone is worth the price of the ticket.

One final point worth noting is that the new 2nd edition retains the excellent layout and design of the 1st edition. So it is relatively easy to compare the two texts to see what's new and different. As well, the few typos that one reviewer found annoying in the earlier edition have all been fixed.

In short, this is a crisp, clean, up-to-date and easy-to-read book that everybody in business strategy and marketing should be reading. Feather's out-of-the box thinking not only stretches your mind but suggests concrete ways to achieve greater marketplace success. Whether you're selling products and services on Main Street or over the Web, this book points the way.

I would give it "7 Stars out of 5" but I am restricted to 5. Do yourself a favor and put this book, not on your bookshelf, but on your desktop. And get your colleagues to buy one too. Your business will only benefit.
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Books on future economics are interesting reading and require an open mind given that the author is providing assistance to the reader to think in another dimension. Author Feather does an excellent job of providing an understandable framework for his futuristic economy.

Most books on future economics are seemingly quite strange and require a big stretch in reader imagination (e.g. "The Third Wave"). Other books on the Internet predict the Internet will be everything to everybody, an obvious hyperbole.

Feather walks the line between a George Jetson-like future and overblown exaggeration of the Internet. From this reader's perspective, Feather's observations and/or predictions make a great deal of sense and seem to fit a resonable extrapolation of today's events in the crucible of the free market and the unfolding of time.

No, you won't find Feather predicting that all products and services will sell extremely well over the Internet and you won't find a death sentence for bricks and mortar retailing. What you will find, however, is a thoughtful analysis of broad product lines and a different expected outcome of these product lines based on current and predicted consumer behavior. Sometimes the analysis is in favor of an Internet solution (with say 50% of the sales from the Internet) and sometimes the Internet is expected to be less prone to be the "ultimate" selling machine (with say 10% of the sales from the Internet). Don't think the book is just a big broad stroke either; Feather breaks down each of the product lines into sub-groups so that you are not only clear as to his thought process but also find yourself searching the sub-groups for your own industry or market to determine Feather's prognostication.

If you have a business today, or you are employed by a business today, a small investment in this title could stimulate thinking that can assist in positioning you and your business for future success.

It's a very stimulating ride and one that should contribute to creative thought on the impact of the Internet in the reader's private and business life.

This book is a really great introduction and breakdown on the system of Mystery Shopping. It takes you from the couch to the shop and beyond, but in a language that is clear and concise and not overly "technical".

Plus, I like that the author and I have the same last name. ;-) Of course, that is more of a subjective assessment.

I had heard of mystery shopping but had no clue as to how to go about becoming involved in the business. I'm a senior citizen and needed something to do and also make extra income having fun going to restaurants and B & B's in my travels. There have been numerous Pop Ups on the internet regarding mystery shopping but they want people to pay their company to be involved. Elaine's book gave me the 'start-up and smart-up' to get started. I hope you find this book as helpful as I have to read and get YOU started. Bev

I purchased this book over the others because of the stellar reviews here. What a dissapointment ! The pages are filled with very large print, double or triple spaced just to make the book thicker . It is almost void of useful information for anyone over the age of 12. The book makes numerous invitations to the author's web site and her fee based training, and that explains the premise of this book. Give them a taste so they'll want more. Very superficial and full of cliches. Quote: "..a Mystery Shopping company may not wish to send a seventy year old woman to a sports bar or a twenty one year old to visit a senior housing development" (p.34) or this advice: "Suggested items to bring with you; Two pens and a small pad of paper" (p.77)
Thank goodness the public library had the other book I wanted "Mystery Shopping made simple" by I. Newhouse. I am a small business owner (for 15 years)and I would recommend this other book for any business endeavor, not just mystery shopping. I returned it to the library and I ordered this book with confidence . I will donate the Elaine Moran book to the public library and write-off a $20 donation .

I havent read all of the book yet, but it looks like it is going to be a comprehensive guide that will cover any questions you might have about being a Secret Shopper/Mystery Shopper. What to expect and what to Not expect out of the experience. It is also somewhat like a class in a book on how to be a good Secret Shopper. It is well written, honest and is easy to read. It is 'Up Front' about the amount of money you can expect to make; which is quite a bit less than I had thought it would pay. It also covers the amount of paper work and written reports you will have to do. It is not sugar coated or Romanticised and I like that. This is the first book I have read about being a Mystery Shopper but, as advertised, it looks like it will be the only book I will need.

This book made my first shop so easy. It also made applying for secret shops a snap. There are so many questions on the applications of various companies. This book prepared me to complete the questionnaires with confidence. My first shop I was rated a 10 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest. The higher the rating, the more shops you are eligible for. A great book.