Perspective Books

I am a rescuer, and I have purchased many copies of this book to give to new adopters-- and I ALWAYS recommend it to every dog owner. This book offers great instruction for training obedience-- AND lots of useful information on dog behavior.

this is a good book when you first get your puppy and i really like her techniques but i was looking for more tricks.

No matter what breed or age your dog is, this book can help you train your furry friend. A must have for dog owners and professional trainers alike.

I have had dogs all my life, and though I thought I knew dogs pretty well and how to train them, I learned a lot from this book. I recognized that some of my methods were out of date. I tried these new and improved methods on a new dog I just got who is 1.5 years old. It has been amazing how quickly our bond grew from these both sensible and respectful methods of teaching. I learned not to be quite so forceful with my new friend. I learned that being Alpha in the pack did not mean having to intimidate my dogs. I highly recommend it for those who are not getting the behaviors they want and need from their dog companions, and also, for those who are considering getting or just have added a new dog of any age to the family. Knowledge like this can really save many if not most of these beautiful and loving animals from being dumped at our shelters or elsewhere.

This book goes over the basics of puppy and dog training using positive methods. It's a great introduction to positive training methods and describes how to teach your dog a number of important behaviors. It has definitely helped me train my new puppy. My only complaint is that there are a few training descriptions that don't really tell you how to finish the exercise with your dog. For example, the book goes over the difference between "wait" and "stay" and describes how to do both, but focuses on "stay." It didn't really tell how you tell your dog he can stop the "wait." I'm going to be looking for more information to help me continue training my puppy, but I still would definitely recommend it for anyone new to dog ownership.

At the risk of adding one more gushing review to this excellent book - let me say that this book is very good for relatively non-technical folks also. I am working as a manager of a technical team and I used this book to come up on speed on the basics of software architecture. The material layout is very clear and consistent - it helped me to get through the basic concepts quickly and come back for a more detailed reading. The book helped me to ask the relevant questions and focus the team on the right sense of issues.

Only suggestion I have for a subsequent edition is to include one full blown case study.

Having been in the IT world for more than 25 years and studying this topic for many of those years I have found this book to be extremely accessible. I reference it often. I like the way it deals with real business world issues as opposed to on board jet navigation systems etc. I rate it right along with Craig Larman "Applying UML and Patterns".

It is a very thorough and well written book. Authors have introduced idea of perspectives (viewpoints related to cross-cutting concerns) and I totally agree with authors on benefits of using perspectives rather than treating them as viewpoints. My AD of new project is based on viewpoints and perspectives separation suggested by authors.

If you are a software architect or aspire to be one, you should read this book. Rozanski and Woods do an excellent job of explaining the whys and hows of creating software architectures. Their pragmatic, no-nonsense approach makes this book extremely readable. The book is divided into two main sections: an explanation of the viewpoints and perspectives concepts (208 pages) and a catalog of viewpoints and perspectives (195 pages). This makes the book a relatively quick read, but also very useful as a day-to-day reference. If only every software architect would read this book, we might not have as many software quality issues as we have today!

I was impressed with this book's unique perspective of blending the business and technical needs into a single focus, and it continued to maintain the human considerations. It does an excellent job of describing how to support business decisions through architecture at a macro level in a style where "the rubber hits the road."

If you are a systems analyst or a software development manager, this shouldn't be on your book shelf - it should be on your desk for regular reference.

I am one of the contributing teens to this book and I just wanted to say thank you to Jennifer for all of her hard work she has put into it.. It is truly an awesome book! And it's so amazing to see that one of my poems (Dear Dad) is in a book that is actually for sale online! Wow! :) Thanks to everyone who bought the book and are helping to support the families whos lives were changed after 9/11.. God Bless!

Of all the emotions and thoughts flying around regarding the incident on September 11th...it's comforting to know that people around the world, especially the youth, can unite to take a stand. This book offers the feelings, thoughts and prayers of teens around the world. It was touching to read the different poems, which contain so much love... The most interesting thing about this book, is that many of these poets might not have ever written a poem of this magnitude. But by gathering in all of their feelings, and especially their love they were able to create masterpieces! I encourage all to take a look at this wonderful book, not only for the fantastic poems, but because 50% of the profits are donated to those families that were hardest hit. God bless all, and may we have the power to protect eachother! -Kris-

Through the Eyes of Freedom is a poetic anthology (by mostly Teens) in response to the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks. Individuals from acrossed the USA, and in three countries, wrote poetry on the American Online web-site. Through the Eyes of Freedom captures the voices of America during the first few days following that tragic and fatefull day. What keeps going through my mind is: What if there was an Internet during 1941, when Peal Harbor was attacked? What if young Americans around the USA posted their thoughts through poetry and those poems were collected into a book. You would have an honest record for history of that time. Through the Eyes of Freedom is just such a book. In my view it is an unprecendented work. I am so proud to be a contributor, especially so since 50% of the proceeds will be donated to help the suffering families of the heroes we lost on that day. BTW (by the way)the poetry itself is really good!

I am truly amazed at the quality of this book. Mulling thorugh book stores to find the perfect book to find a way to ease the pain and feel closure from September 11, 2001, only this book enabled me to do so. The book is a compliation of poetry from students and parents across the nation in response to the attack. It's truly remarkable how touching one book can be. As i shared it with other classmates, none could read the book without shedding a tear. It is reuly a soul grabbing book. Thank you Jennifer for producing such a wonderful book...

This book is truly amazing. It open your heart to see the view of teens all across the US about the September 11, 2001, attacks. I've given the book to many friends during class and by reading only one or two, all were teary-eyed, and some couldn't stop crying. The book is so insightful an beautifully put together. Recently, I went to a book store and was mulling over the numerous books on September 11...something, anything to put an end to everything i was thinking. This book does that fo me, it helps close the feelings i have and make me know it's okay to feel the way I'm feeling. No other book is this powerful.

Schwabsky manages to pull together precise & intelligent critical essays of an enlightening array of painters from all over the world. The selection of images from each artist's oeuvre is generous. Big names like Currin and Ghada Amer appear alongside lesser-knowns with little academic biases. The only beef, really, I have with this wonderful volume of contemporary painters is the miniscule sizing of the actual text. Tedious to acknowledge, but the problem is actually distracting. This may be natural hierarchization, but the text size is 6 or 8, at the most. Have plenty of focused light nearby when turning pages & enjoy!

Vitamin P arrived on my doorstep before its scheduled date in perfect condition! Its a fantastic source on contemporary painting filled with large coloured illutrations of the artworks.

For painters this is an excellent book in looking at contemporary painting inspiration or even just some of the issues. As I am taking a contemporary painting course this book on the side helps me when I need further information or perhaps a better explanation (if the artist is indeed in the book)

A wonderful selection of contemporary painting today which display a variety of interesting painting solutions.

I purchased this very interesting and unique book as a review for
a grad student. It was well-received, but I regret that it had small type.

Becker again posits brilliant insights into the human condition and the psychological forces which motivate us. This is an early work, not as complete and relevant to his later, brilliant, The Denial of Death, but still definitely worth the read.

This book is in one sense an overall anthropological history of the development of Mankind. In another it is a kind of Freudian- Adlerian-Frommian analysis of why we humans are what we are. For Becker the central element in the human condition is our search for self- esteem. I found illuminating his whole description of this subject, and the way in which human beings seek to have their value affirmed in the judgments of others.
Becker tells the story of how children in seeking the approval of their apparents, are taught to limit themselves and develop the guilt of conscience. He tells how each of us may conceive our own lives as a kind of drama in which we are the hero. And how often what we do is artifically constructed to meet our human need for self- esteem.
There are many deep quotable passages in the book.
" The basic question the person wants to ask and answer is 'Who am I''What is the meaning of my life"'' What value does it have'? And we can only get answers to these questions by reviewing our relationships to others,what we do to and for others, and what response we get from them.Self- esteem depends on our social role,and our inner-newsreel is always packed with faces- it is rarely a nature documentary. Even holy men who withdraw for years of spiritual development come back into the fold of societyto earn recognition for their powers.'
This is work which leads us to ask how we know and understand our own meaning and value in life.
And if it is difficult to know where exactly Becker comes out in the end, and what exactly he is advocating ( Reveling in the paradoxes of our own being? and our inability to solve the riddles of our life and death?) this work has great value in inspiring reflection on the meaning of our humanity.

I read first read this book when I was 18 years old. Looking back, I was very fortunate that it was required reading in my freshman philosophy course. As a result of reading Becker, I had a much more sophisticated early perception of the world that most people only gain after years and years of experience. I knew some of Becker's ideas intuitively, but it organized these ideas and provided clarity. It has stuck with me many years later and is a must read for anyone wondering about the dilemma of "man" and "self".

I was having a conversation with my brother about the nature of our culture and it reminded me of the book that I read in my youth. I wholeheartedly recommended this book to him and to anyone pondering the questions surrounding the nature of man.

Introduction

When the name Ernest Becker is mentioned, it is time to pull out the superlatives. Like his other books, this one too is panoramic in scope; magisterial in its command of the material it covers, and as always, comprehensive. It is another synthesis that constitutes an odyssey on the meaning of man. And, as with his other analyses, this one begins with anthropology, adds psychology, psychosocial history, and as needed, biology and philosophy. Because it is so comprehensive, yet so readable, this remains one of the most important books in the social sciences. It is near the top of my "Hall of Fame" list of must read good books. It sums up in an elegant, simple, yet profound way, what we know about man's existence on this earth up to the present.

Becker's Ontology of Man

Becker has put forth here nothing less than a full ontology of man. At the center of his theoretical (and theatrical) edifice is man's urge to achieve self-esteem. In Becker's ontology, the pursuit of self-esteem is the supreme motive of man's existence. Self-esteem (a point that Freud missed) is the construction material out of which the "Grand Hotel" that houses all of man's meaning, is built: That Grand Hotel is culture.

Man comes about self-esteem as being his primary motive for existence in a very natural and logical way. The meaning begins with Becker's unraveling of the mystery of how the mind evolved. Mind, is simply an organism's style of reacting to its environment. The world of meaning is built up out of the range and subtlety of its reactivity. Through "fine-tuning," the animal learns overtime to condition his reactions, and from there, on to mental association. Mind then is just a progressive increase in the freedom and sophistication of an organism's ways of reacting. Freud gave us a map of how this process of reactivity is constituted within the brain's architecture. The "id," a remnant of the instinctive and reptilian brain, is uncontrolled "reactivity; the ego seeks to control and delay the reactivity of the "id." This delaying allowed for the ability to see ahead, plan and decide. From this basic understanding, of reactivity, Becker's story of the development of mind is simply this:

That the imperatives of man being a "meat-eating mammal" and the complex social requirements of, being around females in constant estrus, caused the turning of a complex evolutionary wheel that ended in an unfolding of all the characteristics we now recognize as human: the ability to plan and reason; the use of language and the invention of social organization and culture. The ensuing developmental sequence in Becker's mind is clear and straightforward: Meat-eating required hunting; a successful hunt (especially of larger animals) of course required cooperation. Cooperation on the hunt, and the avoidance of conflict -- over the continuous sexual stimulation due to monthly estrus -- mandated, planning, symbolic or abstract thinking, and complex social interactions, which led to social organization. Social organization and symbolic thinking led directly to a culture based on language and then on to its most evolved social expression, with the end-product being a "hero system;" a system where the primary sustenance was no longer based on fighting for sex and meat alone, but also on symbolic rewards such as status and roles based on self-esteem: Pride in ones own ability became a survival tool that replaced the familiar animal need to fight over food and sex.

The Drama of Culture as Meaning

Culture is the treasure chest in which all of man's meanings reside - effectively a conduit to man's historical memory. It is where character, identities and personalities of individuals are constructed, shaped, and sensitively maintained. It is where the rules for "self-esteem maintenance" are transacted and enforced through the process of socialization. In exchange for the safety of one's self-esteem, and being allowed to become "an object of primary value in a world of meaningful action," man is asked to give up most of his freedom "to be." The price for a room in the Grand Hotel of culture thus at first seems negotiable: It is to become a "reality-adjusted" and a "socially-adjusted" being. Sharing the same "worldview" and sharing the same "social customs and meanings" is the price for a key to a room in the Grand Hotel of culture. But there is a paradox: one can "opt out" of the negotiation only at the peril of his own psychological and physical existence. Thus, one is either "socially-adjusted, or abandoned from the Grand Hotel of culture.

Inside the Grand Hotel, the drama of culture is "played out" each night on the stage in the main opera house. It is a comic-tragic self-referential drama of social heroism. Society writes the scripts, assigns the roles, shapes the identities, choreographs all meanings, and orchestrates the plot about itself. It is a drama in which, anyone seeking a room in the hotel, cannot "opt out of." If ones life is to be an object of primary value in a world of meaningful action, then his self-esteem must be hitched to a culture. In short his freedom must be "cashed in" at the theater window. There are no other choices. Opting "not to play a role" is in fact a role in man's cultural drama of heroism. Thus all of the dramas of man's meanings are existential in character. In all the plots about man's heroism, the highest form of existence for him is to be able to act with freedom and independence in a world of meaning. But everything that man does is self-referential, self-objectifying and self-justifying, because the world in which his meanings become operational is primarily symbolic: that is to say, the world of meanings itself is negotiated through language.

The Death of Meaning

In a paradoxical tautology that is inherent in man's linguistically based world of meaning, man posits, as a creative act of mind, theories about what is meaningful within his own world. He then, as a way of confirming the theory he has just concocted, goes about trying to objectify and prove that these meanings are what he said they were in the beginning.

Invariably these theories are about what man must do in order to survive physically and mentally in a disordered, chaotic and always hostile environment (the most hostile of which is man himself). The hero is always the one who "knows, and can lead the way to order, safety, and survival." However there is a limit to what man can do in order to ensure his own survival, and the survival of his meanings: Man's existence on earth is finite. There is a definite endpoint. There is no light at the end of the tunnel, only darkness. The existential drama must always end in tragedy. Inevitably, the drama of heroism always ends in death: the death of man, and the death of his meanings. Man has not yet learned how to overcome death. But even in this case where he learns to deny his lack of mortality: where he must struggle with his own finitude, man must create symbolic ways of overcoming and defying death. These ways are called "immortality projects."

If one looks closely enough at all of the dramas of heroism staged in the Grand Hotel, they all "pretend" to sidestep and ignore death, yet despite this, if you examine them closely, they are always about how to go directly to the act of building "immortality projects," or about how to invoke gods who will rescue man and his meanings from the inevitability of the very death he is "pretending" not to know is there? In this state of collective denial, man's dramas of heroism are always both comic and tragic.

1000 stars

Ernest takes your innocent little hand and walks you through human organismic life from the beginning, and quickly paralyzes you with observations like this: (quote-page 67) "The child learns painfully that he cannot earn parental approval...by continuing to express himself with his body...(his) self-value no longer derives from the mother's milk, but from the mother's mouth. The change is momentous because of what is implicit in it: the child's basic sense of self-value has been largely arificialized." From these brutal observations, Becker lays the solid groundwork for his Pulizer Prize "Denial of Death" and final "Escape from Evil". PLEASE DO ME A FAVOR: If you have always sensed that the world is artificial and want to begin to reset your mind for further thinking, buy and read all of Becker's work. In doing so, his philosophy will never leave your mind. Intelligent people owe it to themselves to give it a glance and apply their own thoughs to it.

Rabitzin Jungreis is a modern day Deborah. She has so much wisdom and insight, but most of all, heart. Truly, that's what it takes to help, a large heart full of compassion, gratitude and the need to help. Her stories are a soothing balm of Gilead to my soul, giving so much inspiration to face the challenges of this world.
Every story is unique and gives us glimpses of the trauma of challenges in modern day marriges. Rabbizin is like a G-dly spiritual surgeon that goes in gently and removes the tumors and abcesses that form in a persons soul, then she gently patches them up and checks in until the person is ready to leave the hospital, cured! What a beracha she is, not only to these people in these stories, but to all who are fortunate enough to open her books and are allowed to drink from the fountain of her love and wisdom.
She is known as the Jewish Billy Graham, she is much more than that she is a healer, a tzadikka of our generation. I can't get enough of her wisdom, and am praying for a chance to meet her, so that I can tell her how much her words have helped me.
This is a must have book for couples, or singles, it doesn't matter. the price is insignificant when a true treasure is found.
Amonay Imachem
Shemuel s''t

I read and reread the stories and cried and cried! This book is for everyone, Jew and non-Jew alike.Read it! Learn how the laws of the Torah, G-d's laws, are for everyone! I just wish I could convey this message
to Rebbetzin Jungreis personally.

I loved this book and have recommended it to many people. This book is very practical and applicable. Everyone who reads it will find at least one thing to improve their marriage!

If there were ever a book of this genre that could be categorized as the magnum opus of marriage guides, this book would be it. In this warmly written, and most engrossing book, Rebbetzen Esther Jungreis drawns upon decades of experience counseling couples who find themselves struggling with marriage related issues as well as individuals who are seeking to find their soulmate and life partner.

Rebbetzen Jungreis' brilliant sage advice and words of guidance are predicated on the wisdom of the Torah, as she invokes the name and declares the praise of the most powerful and unifying force in any relationship, the Almighty G-d of Israel. As the architect of the universe and the creator of all life, G-d in His infinite wisdom gave us the ability to sanctify the marriage relationship, to transcend the mundane and the physical and to elevate ourselves to a level of holiness that is an essential ingredient to any successful and happy marriage. As the Rebbetzen explains, the words in Hebrew for a man and woman have the same letters, and these letters spell the word fire. Man and woman are analagous to two fires, both consuming each other. The Hebrew letter, Yud, which stands for the name of G-d must be included in the names of man and woman in order for stability, harmony, peace and genuine love to reign supreme.

Rebbetzen Jungreis speaks with the authority of a clinical psychologist and marriage counselor, while imbuing those she counsels with a solid spiritual foundation that will serve as an anchor in the turbulent waters of marriage conflicts. The values and ethos that she imparts are ones that will endure the multitude of challenges that are endemic to everyday life and that are particularly prounounced in marriage. Her compelling and emotionally charged writing style is infused with the greatest of respect for the intelligence and sensitivities of the reader, as she steers clear of preachy or didactic rhetoric, that is all to commonplace in the vast array of books of this kind.

This book is permeated with such a deep and intense level of warmth and love that can only be termed palpable, as its words reach deep into the heart and soul of the reader. Her words are real, as is she, and your soul will be lifted to the highest of levels. It is clear that Rebbetzen Jungreis is a scholar of Torah and her insights into the wellsprings of these sources smack of the kind of profundity and sheer genious, once only reserved for venerable sages.

This book is a must read for all those considering marriage and for those who are experiencing difficulties or problems in marital relationships. It is a book that will have far reaching effects for future generations and should be required reading in all secondary schools. This guide on marriage is timeless, as is the Torah that it is built on and its lessons will resonate for all of eternity.

I have read many marriage counseling kind of books, and I am going to say that this is the best one that I have read so far. Rebbetzin Jungreis is known for her timeless wisdom, her way with words, her way of talking straight to the heart, and in this book we see all those qualities in abundance.

"The Committed Marriage" is beautifully written, with much sound advice based on real-life experience. It is both inspiring and practical, in the sense that while she writes about the beauty of a Jewish marriage and how to maintain happiness and love throughout your life, she also brings many practical real life examples.

Everyone has their favorite parts to this book, mine are the parts where she discusses what "Rayim Ahuvim" - beloved friends - really mean, and the story with her daughter and the tickets. I was also very impressed with the many beautiful stories of her late husband, zt'l.

If you must read only one book on marriage - make this your book. It is the only book you will ever need.

I admit to more than a bit of bias since many of the authors are colleagues of mine; however I urge you to look at this book. It's the only one on the market, I believe, with diverse contributors and methodologies. The commonality among the authors is that they are all highly experienced and successful executive coaches, and I doubt that there's a "certified" coach among them. Some of these authors are also contributors to The Executive Coaching Handbook: Principles and Guidelines for a Successful Coaching Partnership, January 2004, third edition. It is written by The Executive Coaching Forum, (TECF) whose charter is to advance the highest standards and best practices of executive coaching with all members of the "coaching partnership" (Executives, Coaches, HR Professionals, and others interested in Executive Coaching). The Handbook is available to read or download at no cost at TECF's website: theexecutivecoachingforum.com

Executive Coaching: Practices & Perspectives, is an excellent and timely text consisting of 16 chapters written by 20 contributors, the editors also being contributors, providing a wide breadth of information and references. It provides a rare opportunity to shadow many experienced coaches from diverse backgrounds and learnings. I applaud the editors for what is a very successful attempt to weave many different "essays" into a coherent book. The writing styles and approaches are different for each of the chapters resulting in many practices and theories, and many modes of learning for the reader. Executive coaching is still a fairly new profession and this book provides a wide variety of perspectives not typically shared among peers.

Although titled Executive Coaching, it indirectly explores the diversity of individual and organizational learning and change with a keen appreciation for the complexities of the human mind. For executive coaching, as in organizational development consulting, one size does not fit all. The diversity of approaches from the respective authors reflects the strength of belief in their own methods when dealing with the complexity and diversity of the human mind; and reveals the many barriers to individual learning and ultimately organizational learning. In many ways the book is about organizational development and organizational learning brought to an individual level.

Most of the contributors have psychology backgrounds; however, the editors have made a good attempt to look at executive coaching from a variety of lenses, with a noticeable influence of Carl Jung and Robert Kegan. As an organizational development consultant and executive coach, I find some bias toward the need for a psychology or psychotherapy background in some of the chapters. Does one need a degree in psychology to have an understanding of a variety of perceptual views through intentional, behavioral, cultural, and social dimensions, for example? I don't believe so.

There are many issues that emerge when we have conversations at personal and sometimes intimate levels. Do we dare go where no non-psychotherapist has gone before? I believe the human psyche is much less fragile than most psychotherapists, and even psychologists, might have us believe. And as organizational change consultants, how much damage have we inflicted because we dared not to tread, or even look, in those heretofore-protected domains?

Where is the line drawn between learning and repair, or between personal growth and cure? The authors have drawn their lines and they are in different places. I do believe, when coaching Executives, it is essential to have a greater depth of knowledge and abilities as an observer and guide.

I believe executive coaching can increase the potential for profound change. Peter Senge, in his book The Dance of Change, describes profound change as "organizational change that combines inner shifts in people's values, aspirations, and behaviors with 'outer' shifts in processes, strategies, practices, and systems ... In profound change there is learning." (p 15) W. Edwards Deming said, "Nothing changes without personal transformation."

Executive coaching allows us to further shift the learning paradigms of our clients. We are beginning to apply to individuals what we have applied to organizations. Coaching appears to be the natural progression to double-loop learning at a personal level, in addition to the organizational level, and further progression to triple-loop learning. Double-loop learning is a concept developed by Chris Argyris and Donald Schon based upon the work of Gregory Bateson. The term "triple loop learning" was used by William N. Isaacs, in Taking Flight: Dialogue, Collective Thinking, and Organizational Learning. "Double-loop learning encourages learning for increasing effectiveness. Triple-loop learning is the learning that opens inquiry into underlying 'why's.' It is the learning that permits insight into the nature of paradigm itself, not merely an assessment of which paradigm is superior." Effective coaching includes the practice of Dialogue at a one-to-one level. This "third" level of learning can be called transformational learning. As such, this book could be about transformational learning.

A noticeably missing piece was a chapter on distinguishing coaching from therapy, and addressing some of the boundaries to be considered and what resources the executive coach should have available in assessing and dealing with those boundaries.

Another missing piece was the role our body plays. Recent studies suggest a more holistic approach is needed in our learning - the integration of language, emotions and the body. I am referring to more than the traditional concept of "body language." Albert Einstein said, "My primary process of perceiving is muscular and visual." Richard Heckler, a psychologist and director of the Rancho-Strozzi Institute, says in his book The Anatomy of Change, "An education that connects us with our body would teach us the difference between what we are experiencing and what we are thinking and fantasizing about." (p 12)

Full awareness goes beyond what we are thinking. The body can reflect what we are thinking and feeling and the body can support what we desire to think and feel. Stuart Heller, mathematician, operations researcher, and psychologist, says in his book Retooling on the Run, "To make a change in any part of you, you have to change all of you." (p 10) "Your results are a function of the way you organize and use yourself. By studying your patterns of reaction, belief, tension, feelings, and posture, you learn how you both hinder and help yourself." (p 17)

I highly recommend this book to anyone involved with coaching and executive development. In addition, it offers many insights to any organizational change consultant wishing to search deeper in the psyche of an organization. Many organizations, and individuals, are struggling to find ways of breaking free of traditional thinking and modes of operation to enhance continuous learning. At a minimum, these insights may help forge better partnerships with clients and help facilitate greater awareness, reflection, and ultimately learning.

This book really is what books on coaching should be. Solid, theoretically-based and applicable. Beats most of the other executive coaching books hands down. One of the best books on coaching around.

Organizational consultants Catherine Fitzgerald and Jennifer Garvey Berger offer a collection of articles by 16 executive coaches, including themselves. The essays cover executive coaching perspectives, practices and management. This book examines the range of managerial and psychological approaches shaping this emerging field. These expert articles provide a diverse overview, varying in complexity, practicality and therapeutic philosophies. The hazard of anthologies is the mix of voices, so there is some blurring between what is coaching and what is therapy, and some drift about exactly who is being spoken to, the coach, the manager or the executive. The book seems to focus primarily on the analytical, psychological and tactical tasks of coaches. However, we from getAbstract suggest that if you are hiring a coach for yourself or your organization, you may find this very practical in understanding what coaches do and in being sure you select a good one.

The editors, Catherine Fitzgerald and Jennifer Garvey Berger, came up with a high quality, lucid and readable book which is a diverse collection of contributions from an elite group of experienced and knowledgeable executive coaches. I was excited to go through the different perspectives and methodologies which should appeal to a wide readership.

Those wishing to develop their coaching skills will find the book fascinating and enlightening. I believe that this is one of the most important coaching related books on the market.

The book is excellent reading for coaches, executives, human resource professionals, trainers, consultants and others with an interest in executive coaching.

It wasn't until after I majored in sociology that I actually got around to reading the works of Perter L. Berger, although I had studied many works citing his, and Thomas Luckmann. This book is in my opinion the very best introduction to sociology I have read. Berger has a unique ability to articulate the fundamentals of sociology, the "sociological perspective" that has often been misunderstood and underappreciated in the world of the social sciences. This book is important to read by anyone in the social science fields, either sociology, psychology etc. Even if you have studied sociology extensively already, this book is still worth reading. Berger's dialectic theory of social reality construction is explicated, and also he discusses implications like existentialism of Sartre and other philosophical issues. A great book overall!! I also suggest his other books too, they are all great!

Each new sociology student must read this book during his or her first year into the discipline, and each sociologist must read this book (or the notes he made in the past about it) once every couple years. Peter Berger wrote one of the most compelling treatises into a social science, bridging theme with emotion, intellectual associations, nice metaphors and analogies and a wealth of humor.

The first chapter ("Sociology as an individual pastime") stands alone as an excellent introduction to the science of society. Berger invites us here to a party where the sociologist meets with a plethora of intellectuals and finally succeeds to transcend as a different and respectable member of the scientific community. If something, this chapter alone is worth the reading of the book. Shoots at the American academy coherent with Berger's (and ours) admiration for Thosrtein Veblen are combined with an un-dissimulated hate for all complete non-critical systems of belief, including organized religion, 20th Century communism, free-market capitalism and psychoanalysis. The tendencies known in the field at the start of the sixties are only deepened now, and so the critical words Berger throws at statistical reductionism are completely current: "in science as in love a concentration on technique is quite likely to lead to impotence" [p.13]. What there isn't to love in that?

At the same time Berger is preoccupied to maintain values and beliefs far from the scientific logic of a social science. How you can be a humanist if your values must be maintained outside of your field of competence? Well, sociology teaches us about the relativity of institutions. Freedom is considered to be inscrutable to science, but given the sociological perspective, it can be reached. So sociological thought is indispensable for the possibility of a free existence, and so becomes humanist in front of the supposedly unbreakable laws of social reality. Given that this is only a "perspective", this knowledge about society could also be used against or fellow men, and Berger is completely aware of that in an epoch so close to the age of totalitarism.

What an awe-inspiring book! Peter Berger presents a detailed description of what it means to study sociology, to be a sociologists, and how sociology can change the world. As an college student majoring in sociology, I found Berger's book to be phenomenal in its analysis of a world requiring sociological thought. After reading the book, I was once again reminded why I chose to study sociology in the first place.
This is a book for anyone who wishes to further understand the facets of the discipline of sociology, or to understand the dedication of a sociologists. Berger seems to present the idea that we all can be dedicated sociologists, in the hopes to understand why things are the way they are.
A facinating book that should be read by all! I was blown away and I will keep An Introduction to Sociology by Peter Berger upon my shelf as one of my greatest reads. A real treasure, one that opened my eyes further to sociology, to an understanding of social structures, and of myself.

Even with bright students (I am assuming some I have had are among the bright) there are problems with this book. It was a required text for my Sociology course in my student days and I have a fondness for what it did to me in leading me on to PB's "The Social Construction of Reality". SCR is clearly too difficult for most students and Invitation is much more accessible. Still, I have found students to be aghast at some of the expressions that clearly place it as a book of the sixties. On the other hand, I have not found a more accessible book that describes the postmodern point of view -- the view of sociology -- in as successful a way as this one. I therefore present it along with an explanation. It would be great if Peter Berger readdresses this invitation to new students with an update that incorporates politically correct language. The change in perspective is a tough experience. It would help if the language used were not an additional barrier.

I am still looking for a new book that will do the same thing to new students that this book did to me.

Before reading this book I was not a sociology student. After this book I realized that we are all students of sociology, some better than others. The better ones live in more freedom, more understanding, seeing through walls of the fortress that our society is. Everything looks so normal, until you start to dissect.

This is a short book, PACKED with information. Berger's English is superb. It flows naturally with creative sentence formations and use of vocabulary.

If you find yourself discouraged, you may skip the first chapter. I found it least interesting of them all. Chapters following are great and will keep you glued to your reading chair.

I was a summer camp counselor for seven summers, and this guide was fantastic for those years. It is a staple reference at our camp for other counselors to read. A true reference from a distinguished psychologist and counselor given to other counselors. Thanks

This is a really helpful book for preparing for summer camp. Here's a tip I got from a friend: if you buy it through acabookstore.org (ACA = American Camping Association) then it comes with a DVD-CD set. My son, who's pretty anxious about going to camp, watched the DVD and that really helped turn his anxiety into excitement. The book and DVD give great tips on preparing (packing, etc.) for camp, but also gives great insight on how to approach the camp experience. Together they answered a lot of questions I didn't even know to ask. It's one of those things you can't afford not to get.

This book really covers what you need to know before you send your child to sleepaway camp. The part that was most helpful to me was the research the authors have done on homesickness. Before I got this book I was guessing about how to handle my daughter's homesickness, and I came up with one or two of their recommendations. But after I read this book I felt I understood how to handle this with my daughter and also what the camp and counselors can do to help. There's a great list of all the things you can do. And everything the authors said rings true with my experience.

It's well written, easy to follow, and has parts written just for kids to read. There's even a section to tell kids how to get the most out of camp - from general guidelines on how to treat others to good advice on how to deal with living with lots of kids in a small space.

Every parent, camper, counselor and camp director should read this book! Parents will have a more relaxing time while their kids are away, campers will know better what to expect and how to have the most fun, counselors will know better what to do, and camp directors will have fewer problems with kids AND parents.

The best thing about this book was that it was so helpful to both me and my daughter when it came time to start preparing for her first stay at summer camp. We relied on the suggested internet search engines in the book to find the camps and used the section on co-ed vs. single-sex camps to come to a conclusion that my daughter and I(!) were comfortable with. I've already spread the word about this book to all the parents I know that are thinking about sending their kids off to camp. Every parent will feel better once they've read the homesickness section.

I bought Chris Thurber's book on Friday, and watched him on NBC's Today Show this morning (June 9, 2003). Seeing him in person confirms what I thought: he is a camping expert with a wealth of helpful information for parents and kids alike. I feel so much better sending my son to camp knowing that Chris and Jon's research has helped us prepare in a way that will maximize the fun and minimize the homesickness at camp. Buying this book is a small investment in a positive experience whose benefits, I am sure, will last a lifetime. (I found the perfect camp for my son by visiting the American Camping Association's web page: acacamps.org.)

This is a great book for anyone interested in collecting books, or who likes books, or even anyone just interested in what makes a book collectable. Different people adopt very different approaches and strategies to book collecting and Basbanes documents a number of them. The eccentric madness of it all is what makes it entertaining and I found that this quickly became a hard book to put down. After reading this I suspect that I will never look at books the same way again. The fundamentals of book collection are not unlike other forms of collection, so people who are self confessed "collectors" (You know who you are!) are likely to find this an exciting read. In among all the entertaining yarns is a pretty good starters guide to book collection, and this book contains a number of practical pointers to web sites and book sellers to get the novice started. Overall it was really enjoyable to read and very much a page turner.

Reading Basbanes is like engaging in a long, relaxed conversation over coffee in your living room with a very knowledgeable friend. In this third volume of his slightly rambling but always fascinating and well-informed discussions of books, book collectors, booksellers and dealers, and all the periperal subjects they engender, he combines advice on bibliophily in the age of the Internet with reminiscence on how collecting used to be done, and what the old and the new still have in common. As a small-time collector of limited resources myself, I enjoy reading abut the fabulous collections built up by those who not only have money to spend but also the intelligence and passion to add value to what they hunt down and acquire by adding to the accretion of knowledge. In fact, as Basbanes makes clear, becoming personally involved with books and other "stuff" is what separates collectors from mere accumulators. In fact, I find I have also become a collector of Nick Basbanes. . . .

In "Among the Gently Mad," Basbanes declares, "the more you read or read about reading, the more you will uncover about other books." And, the more, it seems, you will get to know an ever-expanding circle of people who collect and/or sell books. All their stories are here...what they collect, how they collect them, how much they spend and on and on until the value of this book is almost hidden under their weight.

However, if you are serious about book collecting, "Among the Gently Mad" is a tremendous resource. Reading between the lines of other book collectors' stories, you will find out which web sites, bookstores, dealers, book fairs, organizations and other sources can help you fill out your collection. By the way, this is not just a book for those who collect rare books. An antiquarian book is simply described as any book that is worth more now than when first published. Basbanes's first rule of collecting books is to focus on subjects that hold your interest and, in fact, your collection should contain books you actually want to read. If you are gently mad, that is "taking delight in the pleasant touching of books long coveted," this book is an indispensable tool to fulfilling your own madness.

In rapturous, elegant prose, the author envelops the reader in his consuming passion for books and the people who love to collect them; as the hours flew by while I curled up with Basbanes, I assuaged my guilt at forsaking mundane tasks with the right-on lines that end the book's first chapter: "... a sentiment that I confess I savor on a daily basis: Books are not Life, But then what is?"

A wonderful read about the world of books by one of the preeminent writers on the subject of book collecting.Using the word 'subject' to describe the passion of books is akin to using 'subject' to describe love or any other passion.Blame that on me,if you will,not Nicholas.
It seems I never get enough of these books about books and this is one of the best.Here we are given a look in on the wonderful life the author has in the world of the High End Collectors.Those like me,and that means all but a very miniscule number,who can only dream of attending and partaking in those auctions,where single rare books sell for tens of thousands,and lots or even complete personal libraries sell for sums equalling the national treasury of small countries.That doesn't mean reading about that sort of thing isn't very interesting;and the author has the ability to make one feel they are part of that activity.What one gets from this book is that anyone can have the same desires,same enjoyment,and all the rest of what comes along with having a passsion for reading,collecting,owning,sharing,arranging,their personal collection whether it is a small number of favorite volumes or some huge ammassment--it's their collecion and is what they have the ability,desire and resources to call their own.I suppose many who work with books like booksellers or library staff can even imagine the books around them are their own.I remember once reading somewhere, something to the effect that nobody ever really owns a book,but only has the privilege of being its caretaker for a while until it eventually passes on as its "owner" is sure to do--it's only a matter of time.This idea comes through very clearly as the author shows how collectors spend lifetimes searching for books that eventually end up in university,library and other collections.
The author describes the personalities he encounters and we can identify with all of them as we pursue our passion with books.
In a nutshell you'll get from this book that the only real difference between your collection and the world he writes about is a matter of scale
A great read and highly recommended to anyone who loves books and reading.