Competitions Books

This book will open your mind on how to launch a bew business or innovative product or server. However the authors could write this book in a more simple way and not with a hard to read english text.

Before reading the book, “The Ultimate Competitive Advantage” it seemed to me that most management books were written for “big” business problems. Most authors quote one case after the other to make their own case. A collection of postmortem reports of different companies to tell you how they failed.

This is the first book that has taught me however small a business may be, its success depends on competitive edge it creates with its own resources. There are numerous ways that even limited resources can create an added benefit for the customers and increase my business. The example of “free cold water” on an off beat road is one such method in the book to remember as a simple but brilliant solution to attract customers and add value for the customers. The authors give a set of tools to help one think in a different manner. I recommend this book especially to young person trying to get their business started and also those seeking to break out of dead end situations. A great work!

Mitchell and Coles have done businesses a tremendous service in writing this excellent book. They have done so by providing a practical toolbox of ideas with which to stimulate entrepreneurs, business leaders and managers to enhance and improve their business prospects in today's very competitive marketplaces.

I must admit to having struggled with this book for a long time. Not because of difficulty in reading and understanding. To be sure this is a very lucid and comprehensible book and is accessible to all levels from a twelve year old bringing out his lemonade stall for the third year in a row and adding iced tea to his product range to the CEO of a major corporation.

My struggle was with trying to make overarching sense of what lessons the authors were trying to encourage readers to learn. It became clear to me after several periods of reflection upon completion of the text. The crucial significance of this book in a practical way lies in understanding how deep into national economic systems the process of globalisation has seeped. We see the reults in our everyday lives, how quickly new or improved products come into the marketplace. We see how quickly established businesses change or die, we see cheaper and better products come from remote parts of the world leaving us a greater part of our disposable income to spend on the things we would prefer to spend on them.

It is clear that in life and not just in business the process of change has quickened and that as individuals we must be more adaptable and more attune to the world around us to the opportunities that exist. It is as if we need to become our own business in ourselves.

Mitchell and Coles focus on but one part of this continuous change and that is on the business model. Their strong focus on this area has great strength but we must also learn the broader lesson from their well researched work. To survive in today's world we must not only accept change but we must embrace it as people, as workers, as entrepreneurs. It is as Schumpeter pointed out inherent in the nature of capitalism. But, to be sure it is inherent in the nature of all life, as Hayek observed. We must change or die.

I would heartily recommend this book to everyone, for there is much to be gained from within it's pages. Mitchell and Coles have produced an excellent book which far and away exceeds it's remit as a business book.

The Ultimate Competitive Advantage is a gold mine with a rich vein of unusual ideas from Mitchell and Coles' nimble minds. Its stated purpose is to help readers develop and implement a superior management process for continuous business model improvement. The book goes ahead to do just that.

The authors' approach make deliberate what used to be an accidental, hapazard, uncertain and hard to repeat process.

This book, like Mitchell and Coles' others, is best used as a workbook. After each chapter, several questions are posed to stimulate your thinking, and 95% of the value of the book will be unlocked for you when you take the time to think through them rigorously. Serious entrepreneurs looking for fresh ideas for getting out of the rut and improving their businesses will.

This is a practical book, but it is not a "how-to-book" instead, it deals with the what, when and why; with such tangibles as pricing, cost of doing business and benefits to stakeholders. The authors- Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles researched and found out that unsuccessful companies doggedly apply outdated business models while the successful ones improve their models every 2 to 4 years. The book provides a straightforwad and a systematic method which any company can use to review and improve its business model basing on its key components: pricing, cost of doing business and benefits to its shareholders.

I bought this book for my student/athlete son. I had him read the book and find five things that he could immediately apply to his life. The book is written in such a manner that the parallels between sports and life are seamlessly interwoven. By using sports as a platform of relativity, I feel I am raising my son to be a confident and responsible man. This is a must-read for fathers and sons.

This is one of my favorite books of tidbits. Basically coach Wooden gives his ideas on life, hard work, sports and manners. Through different stories of his life and experiences.

It really was a pleasure reading this book and I feel that the philosophy of coach wooden, based on hard work, trust, learning and being a good person is straight forward and a throw back to simpler values.

I have never heard of John Wooden until last Thursday. This book was recommended to me by two friends, as first I thought how is a retired basket coach going to give me some direction and clarity on life? WOW!!!!! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down! I took to every word and read it in one evening (not a long read, but it makes you ponder over each sentence) and I was really sad that the book was coming to an end. It's an amazing book, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it anyone no matter where you're at in life. This is a book that I will refer back to time and time again throughout my life (I just know it!).

John Wooden has been blessed with such wisdom and he has used this blessing to build up and influence millions of people, young and old. I have many books by John Wooden and even though I usually buy them sight unseen I know I will never be disappointed...and I never have. This particular book is jammed packed with wonderful, thought provoking quotes and stories. I will treasure this book, along with all his others, forever.

Early in my coaching career, I was looking for a "style" and "philosophy" to call my own. I heard about "Wooden" from a friend - I read it and I instantly connected with Coach Wooden's words and lessons. His approach to coaching as "teaching," both on and off the court, resonated with me and the way I wanted to coach.

When I first read the book, I immediately incorporated Coach Wooden's quotes into all my talks with my teams. They affectionately referred to "Wooden" as the "bible" and many of them all went out and bought their own copies.

Now, I present my players with a copy of "Wooden" as soon as they make the team. The ones that read it all come back with a twinkle in their eyes - its a look of joy and understanding. I don't quote from Coach Wooden as much as I used to - I've found my own "philosophy" and "style" - but, if I ever hit a rough patch, the first person I go back to is Coach Wooden and his teachings.

This book provides good, simple advice and interesting case studies that provide good examples of how to use the advice.

I have read hundreds of parenting books and this one is one of the best by far. It gives you concise, easy directions on things to follow. I keep it out to use as a reference all the time. You cannot go wrong with this book.

With a toddler and a newborn it's hard to find time to read anything. This book was such an easy read. The cartoons are a great help because it's simple. I borrowed this from the library but owning one is a must so that I can refer back to it whenever I need to.

This book sure helped me survive being a parent! It helped so much that the book was written in a way that I could pick it up, read quickly for the few uninterrupted minutes I could actually get, and then put it down. The cartoons were great- there were some that I copied and hung up around the house as reminders to myself, for the habits that I wanted to form. This book especially helped me learn when to step into sibling disputes, and when to let them work it out. Now that my children are pretty much grown, I'd have to say that this book was probably the most helpful in raising them. They get along quite well!

A wonderful book on helping siblings get along. But I also highly recommend for parents and teachers the book:Bully-Proofing Children: A Practical, Hands-On Guide to Stop Bullying. More than a bullying book, this really focuses on practical strategies,scripts, actual lessons and stories to teach children conflict resolution, friendship and communication skills; the importance of helping others and getting along with a great design for creating environments that foster love and peace.

I picked this book up out of sheer curiosity and read it to its entirety in one sitting. Jenning's presentation style and narration are excellent - the book flows perfectly and many of the points brought up can be taken and applied.

Stories of successful businesses fill this book. The author got "down and dirty" and did in-the-trenches research to find the best performing companies in the world. Then he spoke with the CEO's to find out what makes them and their businesses tick.

This is not just another book about the secrets of famous companies. It is, instead, a book about the secrets of somewhat obscure but great companies. The principles that author Jason Jennings propounds are familiar enough, but most of his examples will not be familiar to the general reader. That is no drawback. Although some of these companies are less well known, they have all achieved great business success (if not fame) by applying some of the most tried, true and proven axioms of management. Treat people with respect, pay them for performance, focus on one clear and understandable mission - there is nothing new about these principles, except that they keep proving their efficacy even in the unlikeliest places. Do not look for a deep examination of management here. The book provides frustratingly scant background information about the companies themselves. But we assure those seeking a handbook of solid if venerable management advice that you will not go wrong with this interesting little book.

This book is an excellent example of the types of practices and procedures almost any company can follow to be successful both financially and ethically.
Jennings cites numerous companies who have carved out success while still remaining true to their customers, their employees and their values.
Not surprisingly, few of these companies are ones that so called pundits regularly review.
As the other reviews have noted, these companies are very successful financially, but they get there by asking the really pertinent business questions, and not by hiding behind an air of executive invulnerability. The leaders are real leaders, more focused on growing the company, serving customers, and doing right by employees.
What vividly differentiates these companies from the "name brands," is that in the "name" companies, executives are more concerned with their own compensation, preserving their own existence, and with profits at all costs, than long term success.
The questions you should ask yourself after reading this book are, "Where have all the leaders gone?" and "Why don't all companies follow many of Jennings' researched best practices?
After that, I would run, not walk, to one of these companies and see if you can start at the bottom and learn what it's like to work in a real company.

This spring, I had a night-flight from Houston to Europe. I never got any sleep due to this book. It reads like a fiction novel while the focus is very much on the softer issues of productivity businesses. The well-written behind-the-wall stories and interviews with successful top executives give us insight to many issues that usual case stories do not explain.

Business magazines often glorify top executives by telling about the grand strategic plan behind the success. This little book shows us a different story. It provides insight to the many seemingly small traits of the lean culture that only works because they taken serious by the organization and used in combination. These are the 11 traits required for the leader of a highly productive enterprise: attention to detail, high moral fiber, embracing simplicity, competitiveness, long-term focus, disdain for waste, coach leadership, humility, rejection of bureaucracy, belief in others, and trust.

I'm sure you're really not impressed of this list. Neither am I. But try challenging some of the advice. Humility? When was the last time you saw a big company using this as a standard. When you hear the story of many head offices visited in this book, you'll understand humility. Often you'll find a very simple and humble office building for a huge company. No art on the walls! No lavish entrance hall! In these companies, you don't find huge corporate staff creating immense bureaucracy and all sorts of information requirements from their operating companies or business units. These organizations do actually "walk-the-talk" on lean - unlike many fad-driven major firms who's paying lip service to a lean culture.

PERSISTENCE is a word missing from the 11 traits, though attention to detail and long-term focus do include some of it. They never lose sight of their BIG idea or focus. It includes their performance measurement. "Everyone who works for SRC gathers once a week in their respective lunchrooms and takes part in a review of the business's financial performance for the previous week. By DOING IT WEEK IN WEEK-OUT FOR MANY YEARS the exercise has also become a system".

Okay, I'm sure that the book's research on productivity could have been better. And some of the firms reported on may experience difficulties, though most are still flourishing. But don't read this book for the hard stuff. Read the soft issues that over time usually turn out to be the hardest to beat.

I agree that it resembles "In Search of Excellence" to some degree, but remember that this book is on the lean culture of Cost Leadership firms (my interpretation, not the author's).

Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business

It is one thing to read a successful coach's leadership story written by the coach, but it is quite another experience to read the personal accounts of a coach that other coaches look up to, and to have those accounts reinforced and complemented by commentaries from peers, players, competitors, and assistant coaches from throughout that revered coach's life and career. This excellent book is that other experience about a once-in-a-lifetime man, coach, teacher, mentor, leader, and winner in the most important game of all - the game of life.

The book's fifteen chapters are organized into three parts ("The Foundation for My Leadership" (Wooden's legendary "Pyramid of Success"), "Lessons in Leadership," and "Lessons from My Notebook"). Each chapter finishes with a summary called, "Rules to Live By," which did a great job of highlighting the chapter's main points. Particularly enjoyable were the many great inspirational quotes, passages, and anecdotes that perfectly reinforced and complemented Wooden's text. Also, while the third part was completely devoted to Wooden's famous notebooks, excerpts from those notebooks (typed and hand-written) were included throughout the book and added a great 'personal touch' to the overall contents.

There are many "So-and-So on Leadership" books in the market, but none can match the richness of character and the unequalled quality of the lifetime body of work specified and implied in the simple title of "Wooden on Leadership."

Anyone who wants tips on living on and off the court must read this book.

John Wooden is a qualified success and his book demonstrates how others can be successful. Wonderfully written and well documented with examples of Wooden's method and how to apply the pyramid of success. If you want a map for success, this is the book to read.

The book has some good ideas, but it is full of one liners. It gets boring at times.
On the good side - you have a lot of one liners to say and put on posters.

After taking a class where much time and focus was spent studying leadership I began reading John Wooden's book titled Wooden on Leadership. I found this book extremely interesting as Hall of Fame coach, John Wooden, allowed readers to understand his very own philosophy of leadership.
As many may know, Coach Wooden is a legend. As a basketball coach at UCLA He coached four perfect season and led his athletes to ten national champions in twelve years. With many accolades bestowed upon him it is interesting to see just how he become so successful and what actions helped him to reach his goals. This Coach of the Century (named by ESPN) and basketball hall of famer explains just how he reached success throughout his entire novel Wooden on Leadership.
Filled with personal beliefs, lessons, and excerpts from his personal notebook Wooden and co-author Steve Jamison work together to explain the leadership qualities Wooden used on the basketball court that can help make any business successful.
The novel begins with his attempts to reach "Competitive Greatness" by explaining his "pyramid of success" which include his fundamental leadership qualities and characteristics. He also thoroughly discusses such aspects of teamwork, desire, confidence, and improvement.
Wooden on Leadership focuses mainly on key points Wooden has derived from coaching basketball for many years of his life, but such aspects explained in the book, he insists, can help make any team, business, or corporation a success. This book is filled with great lessons, notes, and even stories about how and why Wooden believes what he does.
I considered this book a very easy read. At times, I found myself so thoroughly into his lessons that I found it hard to put down. Each chapter starts with a new lesson to help lead any business to success and ends with personal recollections from those who have been under the guidance of Coach Wooden in the past. Each recollection provided by those who have worked with Coach Wooden serve as direct support in the belief that his lessons and methods have worked in the past and if applied correctly, will continue to bring about success in the future. All aspects of this book were, as a coach myself, easy to relate to and understand. Wooden on Leadership also provides many great quotes and phrases to help inspire or motivate the team you work and communicate with.
I would recommend this book to any leader, coach, or teacher who is responsible for guiding those around them. It provides first hand insight on leadership and direct lessons to cultivate success. This coach is one of the most winningst coaches in basketball history and can now add another `success' to his lists of accomplishments with this particular book!

Advanced Selling Strategies: The Proven System of Sales Ideas, Methods, and Techniques Used by Top Salespeople is far and away the one book I would recommend to anyone involved in sales or interested in learning more about the sales profession. I always recommend this book to everyone who asks me how they can become better at sales and anyone who wants to make more money and to take control of their lives.

This hard cover book is available for what? $0.35 used here on Amazon. If you can't invest $0.35 in your life and career you are hopeless. Buy this book, study it and put it into practice. You career and your finances will take off.

What else can I say, I lOVE this book. Dog-eared and underlined it holds a prominent place in my professional library.

This is one of the most in-depth and well written books on the entire sales process I have ever read. Brian Tracy knows what he is talking about.

The chapters cover all aspects of sales,

1). The Psychology Of Selling
2). The Development Of Personal Power
3). Personal Strategic Planning For the Sales Professional
4). The Heart Of The Sale
5). The Profession Of Selling
6). Motivating People To Buy
7). Influencing The Buying Decision
8). Prospecting: Filling Your Sales Pipeline
9). How To Make Powerful Presentations
10). Closing The Sale: The Endgame Of Selling

If you read and understand this book and then use what Brian is teaching you, you will have a much better chance at being successful in the sales world.

two other sales book I highly recommend you also read are Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale and How to Master the Art of Selling

I recommend this book to any person who is interested on reaching difficult customers and closing important deals. Brian Tracy brings with simplicity and profound knowledge a path which facilitates the prospecting stage and brings more confidence to the closing stage.

If you are going to buy one book on sales, this ought to be it. Tracy manages to pack in an amazing amount of material with first rate practical suggestions and excellent, clear writing. Unlike many sales and marketing books, there is almost no self-serving fluff in here, and he covers all the bases.

For my personal preferences, there are two acknowledged masters of sales. The first is Zig Ziglar, the second is Brian Tracy. While I find great value in the works of Jeffrey Gitomer, Frank Rumbauskas, Tim Connor and others, all roads eventually lead back to Zig and Brian (as well as Napoleon Hill...see below).

Tracy's "The Psychology of Selling" is one of the few books I honestly classify as "essential," and I do so without reservation. Like Ziglar, Tracy wants salespeople to see the craft of selling as a series of relationships, not drive-bys. You have to learn how to sell. The biggest challenge is "un-learning" the garbage you've been fed by snake oil peddlers.

The title "Advanced Selling Strategies" is important, because "strategy" is what's often lacking. You have to do your homework. You have to build a relationship. You have to create a sense of buying urgency. You have to know when it is time to close the sale, and when that time comes, you have to know how to do it.

And you have to do this uniquely for EVERY client you sign up. Forget the "Sales Scripts That Close EVERY Sale" books. They're garbage. If you're dealing with a prospect who's not bright enough to spot a script a mile away, that prospect should not become one of your clients.

That said, here are the chapters in "Advanced Selling Strategies."

1). The Psychology Of Selling
2). The Development Of Personal Power
3). Personal Strategic Planning For the Sales Professional
4). The Heart Of The Sale
5). The Profession Of Selling
6). Motivating People To Buy
7). Influencing The Buying Decision
8). Prospecting: Filling Your Sales Pipeline
9). How To Make Powerful Presentations
10). Closing The Sale: The Endgame Of Selling

Those are the "bones" of the book, and trust me...there's plenty of meat on each of them.

If you're serious about sales...serious about being the best, serious about challenging yourself and being an achiever instead of someone who makes excuses for limited achievement...I recommend the following:

1). "The Psychology of Selling" by Brian Tract
2). "Advanced Selling Strategies" by Brian Tracy
3). "Secrets of Closing The Sale" (2003 Updated Edition) by Zig Ziglar
4). "Over The Top: Moving From Survival To Stability, From Stability To Success, From Success To Significance" by Zig Ziglar
5). "The Law Of Success In Sixteen Lessons Complete" by Napoleon Hill

Happy selling!

A previous reviewer compares the author's work to Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Considering a usually successful use of self-deprecating and anecdotal humor, I can understand the comparison between the author's style and Bill Bryson's style. The author is undeniably funny. Relying entirely on the author's passion for adventure, the narrative describes a theatrical series of events fit for a screenplay.

However, that is all this book offers and why the comparison to Bill Bryson falls well short of accurate. The strength of Mr. Bryson's writing is the purpose underlying the humor, especially self-recognition through experience. The reader can internalize Mr. Bryson's experiences, see the world from Bryson's vantage and ultimately identify with Mr. Bryson's motivation for writing the book.

Mr. Davis' The Underdog falls short of Mr. Bryson's achievements. Instead of relating to narrative, the reader must watch from the sidelines. In this case the author's strength is also his weakness. How many readers can identify with first hand-experiences of bull-fighting or sumo wrestling? The effect is, essentially, a Hollywood blockbuster in a book. What you see is entertaining, but fails to stimulate any further thought.

Furthermore, and what was most disappointing to me, was the lack of conclusion. I kept waiting for the author's epiphany to explode off the pages and into my conscious, but instead of an explosion I got a series of undeveloped thoughts more analogous to a shotgun at 200 yards than a grand-finale. In the final passage, the author's last chance to tie the whole book together, he opts to wander off on a completely new tangent relating his experiences to the untapped potential of the internet (Did Wired ask you to plug The Long Tail, or was this your idea?). Instead of finishing the book with an appreciation for how this author's struggles to find his purpose in life might assist me in finding mine, I was left with questions:

Was this about the unquenchable American spirit? Or, was it about the changing definition of achievement and success? Alternately, it might have been about appreciating your own family, your talents, your opportunities, etc instead of admiring your neighbor's lawn. Honestly, I don't know.

In essence, The Underdog is a funny one time read, but certainly not deserving of such glowing reviews as it has received here on Amazon.

This author sent me an invitation to be his amazon friend. Hello! All of my reivews are bitter and sarcastic, why would I want to buy your book? Maybe I should you spam about "enlargement" products. How would you like that? The book might be a great story. Frankly, I don't care! I would rather read a book about the mating rituals of worms than me spammed by an author that wants me to buy his book.

From the moment I read the first three pages of the introduction I was hooked. This book speaks of and to the American spirit with humor and wit. Not only did I laugh out loud every time I opened it, but I cried a few times too. It's the kind of book that you read so fast because it is so good, but you don't want to so that it will last longer.

If you are looking for a book that inspires you through narrative and challenges you to go beyond your day-to-day life, or, if you want a hilarious window into the zany life of some "average" Americans, look no further. We are told to follow our dreams in a culture that is not set up to handle it when all of us do. This book is for us an answer to that problem. I look forward to many more insightful books from this talented author.

I think this book was funny and adventurous. My favorite part was the sumo wrestling. I recomend this book to parents and older kids.

A quick read; fun and emotionally transparent. Our little hero graces his way through eccentric adventure after eccentric adventure, all the while proving that even the least talented among us can be champions (or at least, very nearly so). There is a tenderness in this book. In its Quixotic madness, it transports us into worlds of danger, adventure, greatness, and saunas in Finland. A true story of sporadic unshakeable dedication and glorious redemption...and courage. The Underdog clearly underscores the ideal: it's not whether you win or lose, it's how many fat guys you can yank by the g-string. A great read.

By Lorenzo Contreras, age 13, White Plains, New York

Have you ever wanted something so bad you would do anything to get it? This is the case with the realistic fiction book EVEREST, book three the summit. The author Gordon Korman makes you feel like you're on the mountain with the climbers.


This book is part of a three part trilogy; it is a story of Dominic Alexis and four other young climbers who are trying to be the youngest person ever to summit Everest. He is going on the trip with a team of other kids who won a contest to get a spot on the team now that the summit athletic team is on Everest as they start to climb for the second time as the first attempt failed. Many obstacles occur and one of the other climbers is trying to sabotage Dominic and when the the news about the storm comes even more problems arise. My opinion of this book is that it is great for all ages because it keeps you asking questions and on the edge of your seat. It made wonder if they would ever make it to the summit in time before the climbing season ends.

This book reminds me of two others I have read one is called Everest Book One The Contest. And Everest Book Two The Climb these are the other two books in the trilogy. The theme of this book is being that being over competitive can be dangerous. You will learn how this theme makes sense if you read this book.

I highly recommend this book because it is very interesting and is filled with action and will keep you guessing. The target audience is ages 9-13.

Are you looking for an outstanding adventure book? Look no farther than Everest, Book Three, The Summit by Gordon Korman. Four kids, Dominic, Tilt, Perry, Sammi, and veteran climber Cap Cicero, take their chances to climb Everest. Two of them, Tilt and Dominic, are eligible to beat out Ethan Zaph and become the youngest to reach the summit. One of them will do anything to beat out the other, even if it means death. This book is realistic fiction; the realistic part coming from the places they pass, (i.e. Southern Col, The Balcony) which are real places there. The book shows determination of young teens who try to climb Everest. You may want to read the first two books, but when I did, I easily caught on. If you are a young teen or not and want to read about determination of kids to climb Everest, check out this book.
Everest, The Summit is one of the best books I have ever read. Dominic is my favorite character since he has such determination to climb. My favorite part of the story is when, well, maybe I shouldn't give it away. The last thing I'll add is the book ends with a funeral. I'm not telling you who. You have to read to find out!

Everest. The climber's ultimate dream. Four teens are about to climb it to become the youngest person ever to summit the highest point in the world. The climbers names are Sammi, the only girl, age 15, Perry, age 15, Tilt, age 14, and Dominic, the youngest, age 13. If Dominic is to summit he would crush the record by almost 3 years. Unfortunately, there midnight summit try is ended early because of a rescue mission. The kids have to go back to base camp where the Nepal government comes and says it is "too dangerous" for Dominic to climb, so he will not be able to climb with the team. However, the story takes an unexpected turn when Dominic climbs with Ethan Zaph, the current record holder. If you want to find out what happens next, read Everest Book Three: The Summit.
In Everest Gordon Korman pulled me from my beanbag to the Lhoste Face where I was climbing with Sammi, Perry, Tilt, and Dominic. I thought Everest was an amazing book. Unfortunately, one of the climbers is sabotaging the others. The book ends with a happy and sad ending. There is a record broken but also it ends with a funeral. If you want to see what happens to Ethan and Dominic, or see who breaks the record, read Everest Book Three: The Summit.

It was thrilling and kept our son interested to the end. The book is just the right length to keep one reading but not too long to overwhelm a young reader.

This is truly one of my favorite books I have ever read. It is packed with action, has a very rich plot, and is very well written. The trilogy is approx. 440 pages, and can easily be read in less than 1 week. It has a lot of detail that, while it is very exciting to read, is easy to forget, which allows for it to be read over and over again without getting old. I am now reading it for the 4th time, and I am enjoying it as much as I read it the first time. I also love the trilogy setup, even though it means the books (especially 3) do not mean anything without reading the others.

If you are looking for a perfect mix of action and drama, this is the book you have been seeking. It also does an excellent job of bringing new life to the classic adventure theme of 4 children facing challenges against time and the elements. If you liked Korman's trilogy Island, then you will definetly enjoy this book. It is very involving, very vivid, and reading it will make you feel like you are on the mountain, climbing with the characters. You will grow to love them and feel like you are a part of the "family".

In terms of the mountain in reality, the book is extremely accurate, and I have learned quite a bit from it. If there is a downside to the book, it is the fact that it is addictive. Once you read it, you will not be able to stop; once you finish the book, you will be obsessed with Mount Everest. If you are already educated in Everest, then you will all the more enjoy the book because of its bullseye accuracy and vivid descriptions. It also leaves plenty of room to let your imagination run wild.

Here is a brief description of each of the 3 books in the trilogy:

The 1st book is themed around 20 kids at a boot camp in Colorado, training for a month to climb Everest. As the story goes on, the training becomes more harsh and intense, and as people are eliminated to form the final team of 4, freindships become increasingly strong. It also has a very exciting life-or-death climax at the end as the team goes through their final simulation of what they will be doing on Everest.

The 2nd book takes place on the mountain, as the kids are introduced to the world's tallest mountain. It is packed with drama and action together, as almost everything in relation to the climb is an uncertainty. Even more loveable (and loatheable) characters are introduced, and everyone's personality and goal on the mountain comes out even more as the freinds become a family. I love how the book introduces the 4 camps, at which they stay, one by one and how it shows the chances of successfully summiting the mountain going down as the summer monsoons approach. This book, like the 1st, also has an exciting life-or-death climax at the end, only it is much bigger and much more amazing.

The 3rd book is really 1 big scene, taking place in Everest's harsh early-summer weather. It is a breath-holding race against time as they try to get themselves up to the summit before the final blizzard arrives. Challenges they face include temperatures so low that they can freeze an eyeball solid, 200mph winds that can rip a climber off of a mountain like a napkin, and a 30% oxygen level that starves the brain and causes bad thinking. In the end, though, they do have to pay a huge price. The climb ends with a bitter moment that is in one way completely unexpected and in another way a necessary fate. The story has an excellent ending, though, and the story is polished off very nicely.

I would strongly recommend this book to any young reader, especially one who is interested in adventure/survival. It just might be the start of something new...

David Stanley manages to inform and create atmosphere concisely and with speed. The reader becomes quickly aware that Kieran has a troubled past and knows that he will soon become entrenched in further entanglement. This novel promises to be tense. With this in mind we are invited to read on.

For those who desire a good book to treat our modern tastes and sense of our physical awareness, our willingness to explore the previously taboo, then David Stanley's Sleeping with Rachel is it. After reading merely the first five pages. I was salivating, wanting to know what secrets lie in the father's grave and more importantly what relationship does Kieran have with his sister. This book tests the definitions of love and far more significantly, its boundaries. It's nice to know that writers are coming into existence that can finally answer the questions of our generation, all grown up in our thirties, yet still the children of our parent's past, present and future. If you liked Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, you will love this book.

The opening chapter of this novel is delivered like a well-aimed blow. We're straight into the narrator's world and his point of view with no time wasted. It's clear from the off that we're embarking on a journey that's going to be far from comfortable and yet alongside that clear intention, compassion and humour are as evident in the opening pages of what promises to be a remarkable piece of work, as the sense of unease at the inevitable impending horrors. That's a really hard balancing act to pull off and the author here seems to manage it with style and with ease. I feel myself starting to (figuratively) put my hands over my eyes and peek through my fingers as this story starts to unfold - like the opening of The Lovely Bones (for example), I realise I'm going to be taken somewhere I really don't want to go but will be compelled by the persuasive style and the compelling plot to stick with Kieran.
The characters are surprisingly well realised in such a short narrative space - something I'm finding rather lacking in many of the other stories in this competition. We already see the contradictions in Kieran's character, doubtless we'll see their roots as the story progresses, the black and slightly bitter humour and his wry, brutal detached observations of his wife show him, even at this early stage, to be a fully realised and meticulously drawn character.
This very solidly crafted opening also introduces several principal interwoven strands of plot simultaneously without any hint of clumsiness or recourse to `techniquey' devices - the gift of a great story teller is to make you forget you're being told a story and simply accept the narrative. In the complex emotional and psychological knot that this novel promises to be, we know from the outset that the various strands will be made of horrors, terrors and all manner of taboos but this opening also promises that these will be tempered with sufficient tenderness and sympathy to prevent the novel becoming black and bleak simply for the sake of it. At least I hope so - I think this writer shows exceptional promise and I hope to read more of their work.

Sleeping with Rachel by D. Stanley opens with a phone call to Kieran Park from his twin sister Lisa. She needs him to come round right away, but won't tell him why.

Subsequently there's a moment of PTSD flashback (dead man on the floor) and an interchange with his wife Shona. These paint some circumstances of Harrison's life: haunted by grisly memories and dispassionate about his marriage.

When he lands up at Lisa's, he suspects something awful--rape or cancer--but she shows him an add for a new housing development. The message is clear: they'll have to dig up their father's remains. This was the moment when my curiosity was truly piqued.

The writing is clean and serves the story well. From Kieran's POV we see a man who appears calm both inside and out (for now) though this wasn't likely the case just a short time before. Both his wife and his sister seem concerned with his stability. The author puts forward this one line to really demonstrate Harrison's awareness of other's thoughts regarding his 'fragile' emotional/psychological state:
~'I imitate a sane person I saw once in a shoe store, causing her to laugh. `I'm fine.''

Overall, I found the story engaging. It attracted and held my attention by presenting enough information to make me curious about Harrison's past and present. I wasn't floored by the writing, but it was good and worked well with the story itself.

An acutely disturbing past, colouring the present in errant shades of internal unrest, governs the lives of Kieran and his twin sister, Lisa, and extends outward to Shona, Kieran's wife.

What childhood shames and atrocities brought the twins to this moment? How close is too close in sibling relationships? Can I empathize with Shona's feelings of always being number two in her husband's life, even if she may not have been a good life-partner choice? Did Kieran sabotage his marriage from the beginning through his damaged history and self? How does Rachel's long-ago death find closure? Why do two supposed adults not see themselves and what they have become, through other's eyes?

David Stanley's excerpt raises dozens of questions that demand answers! There are plenty of gleaned potential twists and turns to this story that urges one into wanting to know the full story! I want to see if all the characters ultimately learn something about themselves and if, in the end, they can finally learn let go of their demons and become emotionally and mentally healthy people. Or not. This is definitely a read that I believe deserves the opportunity to voice itself to the world! Publish this book! ASAP please!

Killer Brands is a great read. It is well written. The principles are applicaple to a broad range of personal and professional objectives. I am using the book to lead my team at work through re-branding. I am so impressed with the book that I have purchased ten copies to give away to friends and key business contacts.

- John Greaves, CPP
Georgia Power

I waited for years for Frank to write this book. I first met him in 1982 when I left my position of Senior VP and Creative Director of a major international ad agency to pursue a new product idea I had developed. I was recommended to Frank who had just formed Peachtree Creek Consulting Group. But instead of launching my idea, we became partners in Peachtree Creek and worked together on a multitude of projects for Fortune 500 companies, large financial institutions and technology companies.

I left the group in 1988 to start my own advertising creative service with clients that included GMC, Gold Bond, Ban Antiperspirant, Icy Hot, Dexatrim, Wells Fargo Bank, Thomson Electronics, HammerMill, No Nonsense and BullFrog, the sunblock that Frank had co-created.

I have used and worked successfully with every principle that Frank outlines in this wonderful, easily read, marketing "bible". In addition to being one of the most instinctively brilliant marketing gurus I have ever known, he unselfishly shares his thinking in a clear, easy to understand fashion.

This book is a must read for anyone who markets a product, large or small.

It doesn't get much clearer than this. "Killer Brands" gives you all the tools necessary to work through the stages of brand development. Follow Frank Lane's outline for your brand's "Backbone" and you'll be amazed at how many things you HAVEN'T thought of.
Best of all, this book gets you excited! Finally, an industry insider is sharing the secrets you really want to know. If you put in the time, "Killer Brands" will teach you how to make your brand stand out.

This is one of those books that you read, underline, and highlight and can't help but pick it right back up and read it again. I am a serial entrepreneur and always on the prowl for books and material that stimulate ideas and provide practical things I can implement in my businesses.

Killer Brands provides one with a format and structure to formulate not just a marketing plan, but in my opinion, a whole business. If you read this book from the perspective of creating a new business, you should have a good idea of the necessary steps to begin moving forward confidently before spending a dime, except for what you paid for the book of course.

For me it has helped to put a "backbone" to all the various strategies and ideas I find myself chasing. Sometimes I sit back and wonder why I am trying to do all these things. Following the structure laid out in Killer Brands, I now have a plan to work from and one that has worked for countless other businesses!

Thanks so much for a terrific book & blog! I will be your first customer if you write another book.

Simple to read, simple to understand and difficult to put down! My only wish reading the book was that I could read faster. As a young business owner I was hanging on every word. If a business book can be a "page turner" this is it. And best of all Frank Lane presents the material in a way that anyone can understand and anyone can follow.

If you want a book that has a few simple to follow steps to set your brand apart this is it.

Make sure you have a highlighter or pen in hand when you read this because you will want to reference it often.

Bottom line, this is one "Killer" book.