Publishing Books

Learn from a guy who took a coffee retailer from 14 locations to over 3,500 in just a few years and created the momentum for the Starbuck's Brand. One who glamorized a cup of coffee and got America to culturally change and willing to pay over $4.00 for something they previous purchased for a under a $1.00. A huge shift in what is possible. This is a great read for those interested in leadership, strategic thinking and knowing your demographic. Good enough to pass on to a friend or colleague, but better kept as a resource for future projects.

Rubinfeld is one of the masters in the retail locationing process. I own about 50 books in English and German on retail management, but none has included the expert advice on the very specialized retail locationing process. At least not compared to Rubinfeld's understanding. Both from a very strategic point-of-view and down to the nitty-gritty details of the legal agreement.

Rubinfeld's experience from Starbuck's rapid expansion in the 90s is very helpful, but he also adds a lot of other interesting retail cases from his work as an independent consultant.

The book's website includes very interesting checklists, but is not as impressive as you would expect based on the references made in the book.

The title's focus on "Expanding your business ... across the globe" is misleading in my opinion. Rubinfeld's advice hardly crosses the Atlantic nor the Pacific Ocean. But if you are interested in his ideas and concepts, you'll soon see that it doesn't matter. The principles remain the same with some adjustments for local responsiveness...

Being a chairman of a small retail chain, I have already put the author's advice into practice in the negotiations for a new retail location. They are easy to follow.

I also highly recommend the book's excellent chapters on retail chain financials. It is one of the first books that clearly distinguish between retail chain earnings and store earnings. Rubinfeld's focus on having a robust proforma economic model is key - also in my experience. And this is irrespective of whether you own all the stores yourself or also include a franchise system.

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

Rubinfeld has credibility, being the person who commanded the domestic and global expansion of Starbucks. Here, Art Rubinfeld gives very specific advice on not only the "what" but the "how." His well-rounded and varied background has has enabled him to perceive things the way he does and then implement his ideas. He worked as an architect and as a construction manager. Later as Brand Development Consultant for Adidas and Washington Mutual Bank, prior to joining
Starbucks. He took Starbucks From 100 stores to over 4,000
worldwide. The concept of Starbucks is, and has has been unique. Who thought, back in the early 1990s that this new coffee outlet would do what it has done? I didn't.

Rubinfeld presided over and directed the Starbucks corporation's
growth in the 1990s, but he's also served as an independent
consultant for many other companies, so this adds to a more
multi-dimensional level of knowledge and numerous experiences of which to draw from. He specifically sites successes - and failures - with specific and detailed examples. Because of his background he can apply theory and also apply actual practice: from upper-lever strategy to front-line consumer. ( E.g. the 80:20 rule.)

Another concept: location plus people. The emphasis is on the
concept of retail and retail expansion, and the author doesn't stray from this as the foundation. Even of course, down to the store design which (Starbucks contains elements of the natural Earth, and presents the entity of the coffee bean and it's progression to the cup of java you get in-store). The complete retail puzzle involves many pieces. Strongly integrated throughout this book on retail is the concept of brand.

This book is categorized into 4 categories, with each category having a couple, to seven chapters. The Chapters zero-in on such areas as creativity, and customer loyalty; finding the best locations for your brand, management, staff and organization, for the big or small operations; implementation (translation: doing it). How to adapt, and continue to being dynamic and change, to maintain your customers. One useful term is what Rubinfeld calls "ideation." This is the
creation of new ideas. In the changing market place, this is the corner stone separating those who stay, from those who fade. Lots of proven ideas and concepts in this book.

Author Rubinfeld took Starbucks to its place in retail dominance by creating a brand identity, yet assuring that stores did not have a "cookie-cutter" feel to them. The author points out for retailers, the store is the experience, and this is key to estabilishing a foothold. The way Starbucks stores were put together allowed them to be located even in historical building and other places where a normal outlet might not be desired.

The book doesn't just cover marketing strategy. It also discussing hiring the right team, and how locations are chosen. This information is golden.

Chapters include
* Make No Little Plans--core values, first store, maximizing retail experienc

* Go Long: blueprint for execution

* Own Main & Main: location, hot spots, how to grow rapidly without stumbling

* Push the Envelope: Path to Growth

Can't think of another book that outlines how to get to mega-success in retailing as well as this one.

“Who doesn’t want to run his own business? Who doesn’t want to have her own store? If you’re young, you think about it from time to time. If you’re older, you wish you had opened that little shop before the kids came – or you plan to open it when you retire. We all want to control our destiny. We all want to express our creativity. We all want to build something that will last. But how do you start a retail operation? That’s the question I am most often asked. How do you create a going concern, one that will grow and build long-term value? That is another common query. ‘Built for Growth: Expanding Your Business Around the Corner or Across the Globe’ answers these and related questions (from the Introduction).”

Arthur Rubinfeld, the architect behind Starbucks’ expansion, helped build Starbucks into one of the world’s top brands, says that ‘Build for Growth’ distills what I have learned into a comprehensive view of what it takes to develop a winning retail concept. This shows you:

• How to combine core personal and company values with your business expertise to create a meaningful brand.

• How to creatively craft your on-the-street retail presence to capture the essence of your brand and develop customer loyalty.

• Hot to identify the best locations for your concept.

• How to build your management team, organization, and systems – whether you want to have one store or 1,000.

• How to systematically and aggressively execute your plans.

• How to successfully operate your business to keep customers coming back.

• How to innovate and renew your brand.

In addition, he says, “Other books deal with one or two of these topics, but none has taken a holistic approach to retail development, combining theory and practical ideas to cover the entire scope of what it takes to succeed in retail.”

In this context, this invaluable book has been organized into sections based on four fundamental principles: (1) Make No Little Plans, (2) Go Long, (3) Own Main & Main, and (4) Push the Envelope. Each of these sections has covered a major aspect of retail strategy, in order in which you will normally experience them as you grow your business.

I highly recommend.

Fox captures a time and place that is so hard to replicate, Hollywood circa 2007. Buzzkill is a winner, I couldn't put it down. The characters are all people you know, even though you're not willing to admit it. The only thing better than who actually done it is how Fox gets there.

I've read tons of books in my day, so when a friend recommended Rob Fox's "Buzzkill" I felt obligated to at least skim through it. Well, I'm glad I did! This truly is a book I couldn't put down! As I entered the world Mr. Fox created...right here in my hometown...I couldn't stand to leave! I kept trying to figure out how this was going to turn out, and I was constantly wrong!
A real updated Hollywood Film Noir, with characters that jump off the page and a lead character you just cheer for the whole way. You might not want to live next door to these guys, but you'll be glad they do!
Thanks Mr. Fox for a terrific ride! I look forward to reading more of your work.

Buzzkill is an entertaining read, filled with bizarre characters and plot twists that are still somehow believable. Rob Fox's sharp wit and ironic observations of the Hollywood industry hit spot on. I especially enjoyed the hilarious and mocking physical descriptions of the characters.

Buzzkill by Rob Fox is smart, sexy, and funny. Fox's insider view of Hollywood is spot on. His characters are wonderful. Buzzkill is an entertaining book that makes you think!

Clever & enjoyable read; Mr. Fox makes our sad but hopeful hero loveable and sympathetic. Can't wait for another book....

El libro es estupendo y lo conseguí mucho más barato que en las librerias, sin ningun tipo de problema ni esfuerzo, gracias Amazon!!!

This book is excellent!
The recipes are simple and easy to follow. And Your kitchen will improve to restaurant levels!!!!!!

My wife, who was raised in Puerto Rico, loves this book. Her mom and aunts used it while she was growing up and it reminds her of the traditional mildly spiced Puerto Rican cooking.

Es una joya que traspasa el tiempo. Tiene paso a paso todo lo que alguien quisiera confeccionar de la cocina puertorriquena. Recetas que no han sido preservadas en ningun otro lugar. Un libro para atesorar!!!

My mother who is now 94 years old used this book in her kitchen for as long as I can remember. I grew up eating food prepared from the recipes in this book. I am a 64 year old man who now has to cook for him-self if he wants to eat Puerto Rican food. I recently bought this book as a replacement for the worn out copy I bought years ago to replace the copy my mother gave me when she got to old to cook anymore. I cook other kinds of foods too, but I would be lost without this book so I can prepare my favorite Puerto Rican dishes every once in a while.

This was the text for my college Shakespeare classes over 20 years ago (different edition of course) I still have it and still use it. A wonderful book for students and those who want not only the complete works but some well written and authoritative information about Shakespeare and the world in which he lived and wrote.

The texts of the plays are well foot-noted and the type is easy on the eyes. Well worth the investment.

If you can't afford the Oxford Edition of Shakespeare's complete works than this is the next best edition you can find.

While reading reviews of this edition elsewhere on the Web, I came across this review by David Allen White, professor of English @ the U.S. Naval Academy and editor (with Charles Boyce) of Shakespeare A to Z:

"Re-writing Shakespeare is nothing new. The Nahum Tate version of King Lear--with the happy ending--held the stage for nearly a century and a half. The great actors of the romantic age, Kean and Booth and Macready, not only spotlighted the heroes in the tragedies but felt free to beef up their roles. Directors began more than 50 years ago to monkey with the historical settings of the play, often with imaginative and instructive results. Scholars, critics, and directors have ridden various hobbyhorses through the plays for years, introducing us to Freudian Hamlets and Marxist King Lears and feminist Tamings of the Shrew.

"Recent Shakespeare production and scholarship, however, add a perverse twist to this long tradition. We no longer care what the Bard actually wrote. Years of deconstructionist theorizing have taught us that words are needy and we, readers or actors or scholars, have the right, indeed the obligation, to give them the gift of meaning--our meaning, the more bizarre the better.

"For the 23 years that I've taught Shakespeare at the United States Naval Academy, I have always used the same text, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, edited by David Bevington of the University of Chicago. Professor Bevington is an old-school scholar with a distinguished career. The book he edited had many advantages: large print, full character names before each speech, specific indications of settings, modernized spellings, solid introductions that connected the plays to the students' experience of love and politics, morality and order, passion and faith, and comprehensive but not overwhelming notes. Every few years a new edition would appear, and I would open it with interest and a little apprehension. But the changes would be minor--thinner paper (approaching the substance of tissue, a malady afflicting many recent books), hints here and there of encroaching academic perversity in the notes--nothing sufficient to make me seek another text. The 4th edition's introduction to The Tempest caused me to swallow hard: We learn there that Prospero's authority "is problematic to us because he seems so patriarchal, colonialist, even sexist and racist in his arrogating to himself the right and responsibility to control others in the name of Western and Christian values." But this is an imperfect world, and I soldiered on.

"Notified that a 5th Edition would appear this fall, I took time to examine it closely. Many of the introductions remain the same; but new editors and commentators have significantly altered others. Despite the myth of progress that reigns in all the disciplines of modern academia, "new" is often far from "improved." Apparently, Professor Bevington has either ignored the changes or allowed the young scholar-colts to have a romp. In some of the new introductory essays, especially under the guise of new brief histories of stage performance, questionable judgment, to put it mildly, has crept in. For example, the introduction to Othello ends with the following observation:

'In another recent development, Emilia has stood out in several productions as the raissoneur and heroic figure in the play, speaking as she does on behalf of maltreated women, urging Desdemona to stand up for her rights. One recent Chicago production went so far as to rewrite the ending: Othello and Iago both survive unpunished for what they have done, while Desdemona and Emilia lie dead as their innocent victims. This deliberate and provocative overstatement might seem extreme to some viewers, but unquestionably did signal the direction of recent performance history of the profoundly disturbing play.'

"It may be time to stop buying tickets to that great play.

"The current obsession in academia is "queer theory," and the homoerotic is everywhere, not just in Shakespeare studies. But this particular perversity fills the introductions to the new Bevington, especially the introductions to the comedies. Compare the following passages, the first from the introduction to As You Like It in the 4th Edition, essentially a carry-over from earlier editions:

'Rosalind's disguise name, Ganymede, taken from Jove's amorous cupbearer, has homoerotic connotations that are easily misinterpreted today. Shakespeare delicately acknowledges the suggestion, to be sure, both in Phoebe's pursuit of a young lady (but really a boy actor) in male attire, and in Orlando's courtship of "Ganymede" as though addressed to Rosalind. Yet this innocent titillation, found also in Shakespeare's source, is not meant to hint at homosexual attraction as we understand it. On the contrary, the point is that Orlando can speak frankly and personally to "Ganymede" as to a perfect friend, one to whom he can relate in platonically spiritual terms without the distracting note of sexual interest.'

"These are eminently sane and sensible remarks. Now from the Introduction to As You Like It in the 5th Edition:

'Rosalind's disguise name, Ganymede, has connotations that suggest ways in which human sexuality can be partly understood as socially constructed. If Rosalind in disguise as Ganymede wins the affection and eventually the love of Orlando, while her father and the others are equally taken in by the disguise, are maleness and femaleness chiefly matters of sartorial convention and superficial appearance? When Phoebe falls in love with Ganymede, is not her infatuation a way of showing that the roles of the sexes can be put on and off? Theatrically, the device of having a young male actor play Rosalind who then disguises him/herself as a young man adds to the witty confusion of sexual identities by introducing homoerotic possibilities. Not only can the roles of the sexes be put on and off, sexual desire itself is unstable...'

"This is ideology masquerading as interpretation.

"To be sure, the range of possible interpretations of Shakespeare's work is wide, for he encompasses all of humanity and tells profound and mysterious truths about human life. Such inexhaustible expansiveness invites discussion and dispute and differences. At the end of the Introduction to Richard II in this volume, for example, there is a brief but superb account of various interpretations of that rich role by leading actors. Professor Charles Forker of Indiana University provides that account; another old-school scholar, he knows more about that play than any other living soul. Too many of the revised introductions, however, are more interested in advancing the latest academic-political orthodoxy than in discovering and illuminating the natural and conventional moral order so abundantly on display in Shakespeare's works. Nothing is more orthodox--still--among contemporary literary critics than the alleged truth that there is no truth, that all interpretations are valid except the author's own.

"Thus Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream can be presented as "the denizen of a drug culture, with the love potion as the weed he gleefully distributes. The experience of the forest becomes a drug-induced 'high,' for audiences as for the actors. The fairies, sometimes played by adult and hairy males, can exhibit a streak of cruelty." And, indeed, in a recent production at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C., the fairies were hairy males who carried something like miners' lights. So much for lightness and charm and magic. This same Dream introduction gives the game away in words that are echoed in many of the other essays: "These modern interpretations are arguably neither more nor less 'true' to Shakespeare's text than earlier or more 'traditional' versions. What they do demonstrate is the play's remarkable permeability and openness to differing views."

"The new Bevington retails for $90; in good conscience, I cannot ask students to fork over such a sum of cash for a book that is now rife with nonsense. So next fall I'll assign The Riverside Shakespeare, which fortunately is still in its 2nd edition. I fervently hope it is not soon updated.

"Of course, the Bevington volume has come to reflect the universities it serves, where young students pay small fortunes to be taught that there is no enduring meaning or beauty to be found in the poetry of Shakespeare, no tradition worth preserving, no "truth" other than personal whim and innovative foolery. If the price of the new Bevington is petty theft, the tuitions charged by these institutions have become, at least for the study of the humanities, highway robbery.

"I know a father who gave his son the equivalent of a year's tuition and told the lad to go to Europe, to travel, to observe, to learn for as long as the money would hold out. The young man came back after two-and-a-half years, mature and educated, and instantly found a good job. The time has come for imaginative, alternative learning. I talked recently with a very intelligent young woman who loves literature; she is completing her sophomore year at Yale, where she had hoped to pursue an English Literature major. She informed me with sorrow that she was abandoning that plan. Her reason was quite simple: she had already sat through too many classes where lunacy prevailed. She mentioned the possibility of looking at traditional Catholic convents. Could this be the first refreshing drop of a wave of the future? It would not be the first time that civilization was preserved in the convents and the monasteries. Nymph, in thy orisons, be all of Academia's sins remembered."

(Allen, David White, "An Unweeded Garden," The Claremont Institute, http://claremont.org/publications/crb/id.959/article_detail.asp [originally published March 22, 2004])

I guess it's safe to say that, based on his review, Professor Allen'd give this edition 1 star...right?

I purchased this book as a birthday present for a graduating high school student who is a big fan of Shakespeare.
This volume has a lot to offer to both students and casual readers. In addition to very readable text of all the plays and sonnets, the fifth edition provides historical and literary context, including drawings and photos, as well as insightful essays on each of the plays. The essays include background, plot summaries and discussion of major themes and would be very useful to anyone seeing a play, especially for the first time. The helpful glossary is extensive, so the reader doesn't have to look up unfamiliar words or feel intimidated by the language. Professor Bevington's fifth edition of the Complete Works is a gem, authoritative and attractive. The birthday girl thinks so, too-- she gives it an A+.

This is truly a great book. Not only does it contain all of Shakespeare's works but it also has an enormous amount of information. There's a little bit on his life and a bit more about the theater during his time. There are also some great drawings in the beginning of the book.

This is an extraordinary book that separates reality from myth. Dr Jamie Fettig explains why Viruses, Bacteria, and Parasites do not make you sick, and why your Genes do not dictate your health, and gives you the key to being well and healthy.

This will probably be the most important book you'll ever read and is surely unique in its concept. If you only read one book on life, diets and health, make sure it's this one. Highly recommended.

Found this book personnally satisfying. Our family has gone through a medical crisis lately, and with the help of this book I have been able to come through with my own health less damaged. The medical professionals have not been able to help in our situation, but with the understanding I have received from this book, I am sure we will be able to come the rest of the way in good health and a better understanding of what it takes to maintain it.

My husband and I read this book aloud while we traveled and by the time we returned home, we had decided to switch to PURE and FRESH foods. What a simple concept!

With all of the books lately about new fad diets, new approaches for health, etc... this is the ONLY book I have read that truly makes sense. Dr. Fettig has simplified for everyone the 100% effective method for living,feeling, and being our very best. For anyone who wants to be free of dependence upon the medical system and is ready to learn how easy it is to be well on our own, this book is a MUST READ! I think if everyone in the world were to read this, we would be much better off.
Heidi Indrawan, RN, CMT, BNH

I read this book (in about one sitting) 4 months ago. I didn't know it at the time, but Jamie's insights and practicality transformed me. Today, I'm 20 pounds lighter and I feel more vital than I've felt in a long time (maybe ever). I asked myself what happened that I've had such great results? I remembered it started with reading Jamie's book. I went on to discover the joy of raw vegan food, something that probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't read this book (no, you don't have to become a raw vegan foodist). While reading the book, Jamie assured me (with compassion and simplicity) that if I didn't take care of my health that it would fail. I know this sounds simple, who doesn't know that? However, how many times have I known things were bad for me and I did them anyway? Lots. So, Jamie managed to break through that veil of lies that I was telling myself. He wasn't preachy or anything, he delivered his message with love and excitement and profound respect for his readers. He is creating health for the whole planet. I saw that health is possible and started making the changes that were necessary to create and "add health" to my life.

Dr Robert Ballard will forever remain the man who found the Titanic. In so doing, he became the world's most famous ocean explorer who found the world's most famous ship.

It is not for me to inform readers of the story of the Titanic. Almost everyone grew up knowing something about that ship - even if the finer points of information they thought they knew were inaccurate.

Having then achieved the outstanding feat of finding this elusive shipwreck, Bob Ballard has put together the most complete - and yet again "outstanding," tale of search, discovery and finally success, coupled with an accurate portrayal of the life and death of the ship itself. All the facts and historic photographs are there - and, speaking as a professional shipwreck historian, he really has done the most thorough job of work here.

Finally, he has put together the most (and I deliberately use that word again) "outstanding" collection of artwork created by Ken Marschall. I may be wrong, but it seems to me nobody had heard of this artist until the first editions of this book appeared - now he is a household name amongst those in the know.

From thousands of photographic images taken far below the surface, Bob Ballard created montage after montage of the various sections and profiles of the wreck (i.e. big photographs made up of thousands of little photographs) so that Mr Marschall was able to provide us with paintings which look like single colour photographs of this and that section which go together to make up the entire wreck.

I congratulate Dr Ballard on an excellent and professional job of work. Altogether, the most outstanding book for which 5 stars are not enough.

NM

This book describes the discovery of the Titanic in a perfect way. Besides telling the sad story of her maiden voyage, that ended so tragically, Dr. Ballard describes his own struggle to complete his long time wish to find Titanic. He talks about troubles raising funds, the tragedy of almost losing the discovery to another expedition and the very exhaustive and mostly boring search. But also about the joy of finally finding the wreck and his emotions during all of this. All this is told from a integer point of view, also crediting the other people for their part in the discovery. The book includes many photographs and two nice full-color foldouts of the wreck. This new edition also includes a chapter in which Dr. Ballard comments on more recent visits, conducted by others, to the Titanic and his views on the (commercial) salvaging of Titanic wreckage.

The ever interesting Titanic lives on.

The best part about this book is almost being there with Ballard as this great ship is seen again by human eyes for the very first time in many decades. And of course the great images (both the actual pictures and the illustrations of how the parts of the wreck are situated on the bottom) that this book contains.

Very worth while if great historic event in general and the Titanic in particular are among your interests.

I bought this book soon after the hype brought on by the film. I have always been a history fan. The stories surrounding the fate of the Titanic have always intrigued me.

I knew of Ballard from previous expeditions that he had done. I have seen his work on The Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel.

This book is well thought out. From the search in the early days to the actual discovery and exploration. It's amazing how Ballard was able to stick with it over the years and the difficult times.

The book is written more as a story than as a text book. Plenty of history. The underwater photos are magnificent. I read the book and just wonder at all the problems that they had to overcome. The setbacks. The failures. It's all here in an easy to read and follow book.

If you are at all interested in the Titanic and it's discovery, this is a good book to read.

This is a sensational book.I have read this one quite a bit.
I love the bit where they find the boiler on the bottom of the ocean.
It talks about the trials they went through trying to find the elusive Titanic.Nobody had seen that ship since it sunk in 1912.
I have always loved reading about that ship,something about the whole story has fascinated me.
I think the era it all happened in,as well as the beauty of the ship itself.It certainly had a mystique of its own.
To look at the pictures of the ship how it has deteriorated over time is very ghostly.To see objects such as dolls heads and boots realy shows you the tragedy that once happened on a very cold night.
The stupidity to push the ship full speed through an iceberg field maked the mind boggle.Playing dice with all those lives,and to top it all off the lack of life boats on board.
Dr.Robert D. Ballard became a legend himself after the discovery of the most famous ship to ever hit the waves.

That is the wonderful book I never read, very good pictures and good story. That is the way how we should treat animals.
It so touched me, the love and compasson from Master not only to her Dogs but also to all beings.
It is lot of blessing.

The Dogs In My Life by The Supreme Master Ching Hai is an unique book detailing how Master Ching Hai end up with each of her many pet dogs and there are many beautiful photos with captions of the what the dogs want to express. You can see the love she gives her dogs and they obvious adore her as well. Through these many wonderful glossy pages of beautiful pictures we can appreciate that dogs are loving, loyal and forgiving beings and if we treat them with love and respect, we will receiving many folds in return. Thank you, Master Ching Hai for sharing with us the ultimate lesson,love for all beings... be it dogs or birds (The Birds in My Life also written by Master Ching Hai about all her wonderful feathered friends).

Sweetest books! Supreme Master Ching Hai revealed the utmost sweet nature of her pet dogs. My little niece loves the books! These books also showed the wonderful relationship between her and her pets. Highly recommend every household to keep a set.

I LOVE the pictures! Benny and Lucky are my favorites, and Hermit is gorgeous. All the dogs are so lucky to have such a great mom!

Youping

Of course I love going through this book again and again, and so do my children. Each one of the dogs that Supreme Master Ching Hai adopted lastly, Hermit, Goody, Boyo, Lady, Pomas, Zolo and Hally are described in detail, their personality, their story, with beautiful intimate pictures. My soul seems to feel at peace reading the beautiful and touching love stories described in the book. Some dogs have had sad moments in their lives but thanks to the compassion of the Master who nursed them back to health and life, these stories have such a happy ending! Unconditional love incarnated!
As a result of this book entering my life, I now find myself very interested in the dogs I meet, and very keen on starting a friendly relationship with them - provided they are interested!!!
I offered the book to some animal lovers I know, and what makes me even happier is to watch them reading the book: they cannot take their eyes from the pictures, they seem to be mesmerized.

My friends and I like the book of "The Dogs in My Life, Vol. 2" very much.

Drummer Hoff (Stories to Go!)
This book was enjoyed by my daughter when she was 5 and now my grandson is enjoying this version of the book, the pictures are smaller than the first copy we had but still terrific and the rhymes are great. Older kids can finish the end of the rhyme after a few times of reading, little ones like my grandson who is 2-1/2 just like the sound of the story and beautiful award winning illustrations.

If your family is like mine and missed this little gem all these years, now is the time to rush out and get a copy. For more than a year, from the day we found this at a garage sale, Drummer Hoff has been a "must read" when visiting Grandma's house. The color, the repetitive rhythm of the text (that even the 19 month old now recites), and the details that continue to add interest--all make this a fun read-aloud, especially when the adult adds motion and volume to the KaBoom ending.

Though the little ones are far too young to be introduced to heavy subjects like war, it has only been natural to add our own "and only the birds and flowers and bugs are left" to the last two pages, and there will be time enough to discuss the larger story begun here.

Overall, just a great read, illustrated with pictures that will help children far more than some of the cartoonish excesses that are passed off as art in far too much juvenile literature.

I purchased a copy of this book for each of my two grandsons. I had read it to all three of my children and they all loved it - the repetition and the rhymes and the pictures. When my daughter told me that she had taken it out from the library to read to her son, I decided to get each one a copy of the book so they could enjoy it all the time.

Very exciting book for young children! My children and grandchildren love this book!

This was another of my favorites as a child and was happy to find it on AMAZON. As a child, my mom would take us to the library. I would be heartbroken if DH was missing. Now, I read it to my son at bedtime and give all the fine gentlemen appropriate brogues. Aye, Corporal Chowder, 'e brought th' powder.

Not to mention we love the stained glass imagery. A Wonderfully artist and a great quick story.

This is a must have for every stitcher's library. An excellent stitch guide with wonderful diagrams.

Whether you are a new or experienced stitcher this book gives easy to follow instructions for a wide variety of stitches along with ideas to combine different stitches. I have referred to it many, many times on my current project: a crazy quilt. Money well spent!

The instructions were easy to follow and well illustrated. I am a novice at embriodery and this book was very helpful. It gave me ideas on how to proceed in my crazy quilt.

Bought the book as a gift. Recipient was very pleased with the book. It clearly describes the stitches and how to make them. Full of pictures that enable you to visualize the final result and the process of creating those stitches.

I have wanted this book for quite some time, I had seen it long before I purchased it. This book is one that any embroiderier would want for their library. The illustations are good, and the pictures are great.

"For many who work in health care today, overwhelming business pressures and perceived barriers to change have nearly extinguished their flame of passion to help others.

Join Quint Studer and thousands of Fire Starters nationwide on an awe-inspiring journey of purpose, worthwhile work, and making a difference.

Hear Quint's personal story and learn how you can apply specific prescriptive tools and practices to create and sustain a worldclass organization... a great place for employees to work, physicians to practice and patients to receive care.

LET YOUR FLAME BURN BRIGHT."

[from the book of the back cover]

Whether one is in healthcare or a non related industry, this book provides superb solutions to providing excellent customer care. As a certified brand strategist, I greatly appreciate Mr. Studer's articulation that one must, and can, hardwire the processes in order to achieve true and perpetual customer service. And he points it out so very well - if one first focuses on superb employee relations, then one will achieve a high level of customer relations.


It is my observation that too many consultants go into companies, identify the customer service issues, hold one or more rah rah events, and then move on to their next project. More correctly, I believe a consultant's responsibility is to work with organization clients to, as Mr. Studer so clearly addresses, hardwire the processes which then will indeed achieve the relationship with employees, channel partners and customers that will so clearly set them apart from their competitors, thereby creating customers who become advocates.

If you are looking for a way to make a difference in your organization from a leadership perspective,(or even on a personal level) you must read this book. Rather than focusing on the negatives, it focuses on the positives of creating excellence-for the patient, the staff, the physicians and all who come in contact with the organization. It is well worth the read!!

Leadership and managment roled into one do-it-yourself manual. There are many books out there about management and leadership theory. Theory is important because creates the mindset that is the foundation for success. We are often then put to task creating our own application. Or we could read and implement the systems laid out in Hardwiring Excellence, the singule best book on HOW TO manage and lead to greatness. Could I be any more clear?

While Quint Studer focuses on what he know best, big healthcare, this book can and is being applied to every industry. (I have applied its systems to hospitality, customer service, and production.) The fact that Quint focused on what he does best is a great example of leadership, and an example of how Quint practices what he preaches.

I have the priviliege of living the same city as Quint Studer and interacting with his organization on a regular basis. I can attest that they practice everything they preach and have excelled wilding while doing it.

I just re-read this book in anticipation of Quint's new book, Results that Last (I think it's due out in October). The practical recommendations for healthcare leaders found in this book just make sense for leaders in any industry. I am really looking forward to seeing how he builds on these ideas in a book that is aimed at business in general.