Target Books

As a crusty old ad guy, I approach most popular, catchy-titled business books with a mix of skepticism and loathing. Not this one. Jaffe captures the basics of integrated marketing techniques in short, interesting prose, along with asides from some industry leaders worth hearing.

Sure, it's the basics, but well done. Don't expect much on how this changes agency profitability models, nor on why so-called "traditional" advertising will remain the primary driver for lots of brands.

The only trouble is that this world is evolving so quickly, this book will be dated inside a year or two. Which merely means you'll need to know everything Jaffe writes about here--and lots more.

Joe Jaffe has a real handle on New Marketing, he lives it with his book, blog Jaffe Juice and podcast Across The Sound. He is a true leader in this space and I highly recommend that all marketers read his book, his blog and listen to his podcast.
Jay Berkowitz, CEO, www.TenGoldenRules.com

The 30 second spot is dead. The 30 second spot is dead! THE 30 SECOND SPOT IS DEAD! Alright, I get it already. At least I did after the first 60 pages or so. Unfortunately this book does not end at 60 pages. Never have so many words been used to say so little.

The first third of this book (plus one chapter online) (parenthesis meant as a tribute to Jaffe) tells you why the 30 second spot is dead. To illustrate the demise of the 30 second spot, Jaffe uses a dead horse and beats it repeatedly.

Perhaps Jaffe is quite funny and clever at a party, but his schtick gets a little old when trudging through 276 pages of his quips (plus one chapter online). Jaffe fashions himself as a modern day Don Rickles, passing out insults to everything and everybody who uses a 30 second spot. Unfortunately, this increases the page count of the book by about 90 pages.

The final two-thirds of the book is a survey of everything you can use instead of the 30 second spot. Jaffe says you have 10 options and he has designed 10 little logos for each of them (which you can see on his website) (again parenthesis meant as a salute to Jaffe). This is not any ground breaking information. If you have been paying attention and made occasional contact with society, you will have realized that you can use the internet as a marketing tool.

Mostly, Jaffe's observations are re-hashes of stuff you can find in a trade journal or two. And because this is an ADWEEK Book, I suspect most of this stuff was available in an ADWEEK article. The important thing about this survey portion of the book is that it gives you very little insight on how to use these tools more effectively. It's just Jaffe telling you that you are ignorant if you are not using his 10 alternatives to the 30 second spot.

Save yourself $20 and get a subscription to Adweek instead.

Joseph Jaffe in his first book lays out the case that traditional advertising is broken and need change in large part to the Internet and rise of consumer generated media. The death of the 30 second spot is in large part do consumer rejection and frustration of ever intrusive ads that aren't relevant to them. With consumers now in control of when, where, and how they consume media, advertisers must figure out new ways of reaching them without annoying them.

The book is an easy read, though backed up with an impressive arsenal of facts and figures that back up Jaffe's points. He outlines where advertising has been and where it must go. If you are an advertiser, media producer, agency, or consumer you need to read this book.

I honestly didn't liked the Life After the 30-second spot, maybe the book was aimed at "beginners" to the world of media and advertising, it seemed like the ideas I was reading were obvious and I was waiting for that punch line where the author was going to tell me something different and original; and that didn't happened. It is a good book if you are a freshman at college and thinking about studying Communications/Journalism (Advertising, PR, Marketing), but if you are a senior in college, or if you are already involved with advertising/media world, than this book will not give you something new and original. Scale of 1 to 10, i'll give it 6 (it was very easy to read...i appreciate the author for writing something that was very easy to read)

FYI, Dorothy Boyett's review is very biased. She's a part of Operation Rescue.

My star rating is not very accurate at this time as I haven't finished the book yet. I will give a full review when I am finished reading, although I have read enough to understand what kind of hatred these abortion providers have had to endure. It makes it all the worse that nobody believed them.

Because of my work in the field of reproductive health, I have suffered at the hands of these "Christians," people like Raney and Rolke, both of whom wrote absurd comments about "Targets of Hatred." These people insist that everyone must worship their God in their way, and also believe every bit of fabricated dogma. They should live in Iran!

Windle and Bader expose these religious extremists for what they truly are: Terrorists!

Eleanor Bader and Patricia Baird-Windle have done an excellent job of exposing the ugly underbelly of American society -- the anti abortion demagogues who use any means, large and small, to terrorize those who lawfully protect and provide women's reproductive rights. Too much of the abortion debate has been made into a political game. The on-the-ground damage caused by these harassers and supported by cynical politicians who demonize women's health care is described in vivid riveting detail in this book. The multiple snapshots across the country portray the ugly truth about the "pro-life" movement -- from the stories of the daughter of a provider who is afraid to leave her room to the hypocrisy of an anti-abortion terrorist who, in a deposition, admits that he uses lies and deceit. I wish every newsroom had a copy of this book on every journalist's desk, and then maybe the anti-abortion terrorists would be recognized for the hateful anti-democratic manipulators and dangers to civil society that they truly are.

Mrs. Windle's book was very entertaining although not very original. Mostly it consists of a laundry list of the alleged activities by the 'anti's' whom she blames for all her troubles, although others may say that her career 'choice' was the cause of her grief. She specifically blames Operation Rescue's IMPACT school graduates for her decline in health and finances, but brushes aside the stigma of an "image of providers as less than noble" (her own words) and the visual carnage that must be the daily reproductive health scene as contributing factors. Although the subtitle of this book is 'Antiabortion Terrorism' she details many antiabortion activites which are harmless and legal. Could these actions have significantly lowered the daily "take" and thus be the real reason why Mrs. Windle cried Uncle?

Targets of Hatred, is a necessary book for all young people to read. Eleanor Bader and Patricia Baird-Windle have written a detailed and thought provoking book documenting the anti-abortion movement in the United States. It is clear after reading this book that many young poeple need to be made aware of the threat the anti-abortion movement poses to our reproductive freedoms. The young generation who was not present during the past struggles for pro-choice rights must not, out of ignorance and comfort, let the anti-abortion movement take away a right that was won after such a hard battle.

I played this for the first time with my husband, sister and a friend. My husband is a gamer and has been for years. The rest of us are not (we run in fear from gamers). The non-gamers found this to be an easy to pick up game (with my husband also acting as rulesmaster and dumbing down some of the finer points of the game for us). My husband had fun and found the inside jokes amusing. So this is an enjoyable game for everyone to play regardless of their gamer experience.

This is a great game. It takes a little bit to learn the rules, but it is well worth it. It is a great find.

A very fun game for a group who's willing to let their dork hair down.

This is an easy, introduction to role-playing games. A game can be completed in a couple of hours, so it's not as completely time-consuming as true role-playing games. The monsters and weapons are hilarious.

I've never played Dungeons & Dragons (which this game is a satire on), but I am a huge fan of board games and card games. Munchkin is a great game for 3 or more people who don't mind being geeks for a few hours. The game combines a heavy dose of D&D satire, witty puns, pop culture, and mild adult humor. The object of the game is to outfit your character with an arsenal of unusual weapons, items, and abilities in order to slay monsters and gain levels. Your friends are doing the same, and you can benefit from both helping and hindering them. The rules can be a little daunting at first, but players pick it up quickly. Plus, all of the cards have explanations on them. With the exception of "The Need for Steed", the expansions add a great amount of variety to the cards without making the game longer or more complicated. "The Need for Steed" does add a small amount of complexity to the game, but does not make the game longer to play. Although playing with 2 players is technically possible, it is a very different experience and does not compare to playing with 3 or more players.

Bag The Elephant is not merely about sales techniques to win large clients; more importantly, it is about the underlying mentality required to become successful & sustainable in selling to large corporations. Steve Kaplan's witty writing style & numerous examples make the book both a pragmatic & engaging read.

What gives salespeople a bad rap? They focus on personal gain. This book is all about tricking prospects into doing business with you. The author boasts about figuring out how to get a special badge so that he can roam freely about the organization. He claims that it gave him special status, but it sounds more like he was suddenly able to randomly annoy people.

In once section, entitled "Focus on the prospect," the author actually says, "the more you can get her to talk, the faster you'll figure out the best way to sell to her." Nearly half of this book focuses on pricing, bidding and RFP's, when in today's sales climate, a focus on knowing their business so thoroughly that you can actually make improvements is more ethical and effective.

The days of fooling gatekeepers, telling jokes before meetings and taking prospects golfing in lieu of being a huge asset are OVER. But apparently, Steve Kaplan didn't get the memo.

I agree with one review there, that title of the book could be misleading, this book is really not exactly about the sales, and you will not find there a right words or 'forever lasting secret key', how to bag the elephant. But you should also understand, that of any exist, all of them would be bagged already and there would be no space for you - the small bagger. What author says, it's a whole system to be used, including to change your mindset - so do not expect an easy go "401 secrets to something" style book

Take is as management book, and if so a not bad, and even good book. Besides the entertaining and easy read examples, this book is also packed with the good examples of how to manage the bagged elephant, how to avoid the common mistakes, traps and so on.
I liked especially the advice, of not putting all the eggs in same basket - it reminds popular investment adage.
I truly enjoyed the journey that author had prepared, and the advices given in book are also same applicable to servicing the smaller companies as well - even if you do not have a plan to bag GE or Morgan Stanley within next 2 month, you will still have a lot of new ideas for your existing business - the book does exactly what is must do - sparks your entrepreneurial spirit, and I am sure you can come with several new ideas within this journey.

One big account, a heavyweight "Elephant," can generate enough sales volume to make your company a success. Your reputation in the market will soar if you get a huge, well-known customer. But how do you go big-game hunting? Steve Kaplan can tell you, because he has a bank vault full of elephant gold and a business focused on helping others bag similar game. He explains how to identify your target, develop a customer within that corporation and build your business. He also warns you about common mistakes people make once they "bag an Elephant," including mismanaging their business because they have a cash cow, er, elephant. We recommend this very good book on sales, with its realistic methods for success, rundown on risk and true-to-life reasons for failure. The text is easy to read, the style is fresh, and if the elephant metaphor loses some punch after a while, the pachyderm illustrations are a good comedic addition.

The over-the-top positive reviews here astound me because while this book has some merit it is certainly not the best book on the topic and offers very little for the labor of reading it. The book's format is a classic sizzle over the steak sales technique: colors, pictures and odd printing over content, verbosity over wisdom. This book has little to offer field salespeople and nothing to offer non-B2B companies.

Certain ideas are useful for managers, such as: execute flawlessly, one mistake you're out, excellent customer service will keep the business, and team selling is critical even necessary for winning big accounts. Much of the wisdom is common sense: selling to a big company results in substantial growth; be careful about putting all your eggs in one basket; and mismanaging customer expectations can cost you the business and all the hard work that went into getting it.

On the positive side this author is clearly a sales professional. If you need to learn how professionals act in corporate sales there are tips and insights here. Large account selling is very different than the kind of selling say Brian Tracey or Tom Hopkins teach about. Planning, targeting, clarity of message and pricing, flawless execution and relentless follow-through and documentation are all needed. If you're new to corporate sales start with "Strategic Selling" and then perhaps this book. If you're in corporate sales and you don't already know this material, or act and look like Kaplan, you're in for a tough slog.

For overcoming the real challenges of prospecting and B2B selling that every salesperson can use I recommend "Selling to Big Companies" and "Value Forward Selling." As Sandler pointed out in his selling methodology, most systems will work if they are applied consistently and well. Getting in the door to develop the relationship and the sale is the critical step. Both of those books specialize in that, as does "Selling against the goal."

This book will undoubtedly save time for those who are frustrated by the process of writing their own resume. Having reviewed more resumes than I can count at this point, I can fully appreciate the value in showing people how to scrutinize their own work. The trouble that I've found is that people are too close to their own histories to do a really good job of marketing themselves. They know too much. What this book shows as much as anything is that getting a professional review on a resume is worth the price.

My wife got me this book for Christmas through Amazon.com to follow up with my New Year's resolution to look for new opportunities in healthcare. This book is pretty good - it has a lot of varying kinds of resumes and good tips for overall job search, interviewing, and networking.

I bought this book based on all of the favorable review's and was greatly disappointed. As a recent college graduate in the humanities, I found it to be a big waste of time and money! If you are not interested in finding a job, buy this book!

My wife got me this book for Christmas through Amazon.com to follow up with my New Year's resolution to look for new opportunities in healthcare. This book is pretty good - it has a lot of varying kinds of resumes and good tips for overall job search, interviewing, and networking.

I found the book to be very helpful. It had some useful tips and sample resumes and cover letters. One of the best books of its type I've ever seen

Target is the first book I've read by this author and I was pleasantly surprised at how well written it was. I am an avid reader of suspense, including popular authors such as Dean Koontz, but Ms. Hill has become a favorite of mine. Her story telling has a nice pace to it, she has you "know" the charactors well, they are defined and have great wit and verbal interaction that feels "real". Plot is not predictable and is well thought out. KUDOS! I look forward to reading all of her books.

This book has been my favorite book by Gerri Hill. It not only has great action but a beautiful love story. Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down. I finished it in one day. Since I have read it twice more. The twists are well placed and never expected. Amazing book. I highly recommend this.

I've been looking for a book like this for a long while. Funny, well written, endearing characters, action, adventure, and an extremely genuine romance.

I read it in one sitting and I'm going to enjoy several more readings of it...then I'm donating it to my library and requesting that they purchase more of Ms. Hill's novels.

I'd read one other Gerri Hill book before I picked up this one, and I was hesitant to read another because of the weaknesses I perceived in it, but I was caught without a book to read and a limited selection to choose from on the bookshelf. Another reviewer says that you have to be willing to put up with the mundane in order to get to the good stuff with this author, and I can really relate after reading this book.

It wasn't perfect, but I liked the set up, the setting, the action was serious enough, but also didn't rely on jumped-to conclusions or deus ex machina type endings for the characters to triumph (like I felt Hunter's Way relied too heavily upon). Perhaps there could have been more heat, but I liked all the characters, I liked the adventure, the writing was solid, as was the editing, making this an enjoyable read. Plus, I'm a sucker for books where the characters are going places and doing things that seem interesting, like the hiking and psychological awakenings in this outing. Well worth the read. On the strength of this outing, I will give more of Gerri Hill's offerings a try.

I confess, I'm a raving lunatic fan when it comes to Gerri Hill, my all-time favorite author. IMO "The Target" surpasses "The Killing Room" as her best romance/adventure story. It's that good, and here's why:

The descriptions of the Colorado Rockies are so crisp and vivid that I felt like I was there. This provides a lifelike backdrop for the spine-tingling action that takes place. Both of the main protagonists are uncommon women in uncommon circumstances --- just what's needed for interesting interaction between them as they face a scary variety of crises. It also lets the author develop her characters using the `show, don't tell' technique, so we get to watch their reactions to different types of situations, rather than being given lengthy recitations of their inner thoughts or past histories. As a result I felt like I was right there, sweaty palms and all, with Jaime and Sara. The plot had so many twists and turns that I was guessing about the outcome (usually incorrectly) all the way to the end.

I wonder if Hill will outdo herself again in her next book. I can't imagine it, but I'm anxious to find out.

Ok If you expect a step by step idiot proof guide to making a bow you might be dissipointed but you get all the info needed to craft a bow, it is not intended to be a step by step guide. It gives you a huge amount of info opinions and ideas gathered by a number of very experienced bowyers. I love this book and will use the information inside for a long time. It has all the info required to get you going and when you yourself are a experienced bowyer you will be rereading to dig even further into the layers of information provided. And yes it goes through in detail a number of different designs how to make a bow!!!. With regards to the terms which are not explained GOOGLE it!!. In fact after reading a couple of chapters I was lost with a term being used guess what I reread the beginning of the chapter and it explained it!!. The very character which will lead you to becoming a bowyer is what will lead you drive you to find out the highlighted terms which so many people here have complained to not been given the meanings to.
This is a must have if you are on the way to being a bowyer or are a experienced bowyer.

The book not only tells you the best types of bows to design, based on the wood you are using but also gives suggestions at alternative methods for achieving the same result. The authors do not assume that their way is the only way and include tips and ideas from others that they have obtained over the years. This book will certainly get you busy quickly, in your workshop. They also dispell many of the 'sacred cows' in traditional bow making such as the types of wood that are 'the best' and the "best designs". This is a brave move considering that many of these myths have been around for decades but given their experience and years of bow building, there is no doubt that they are speaking with authority and telling you what you should know instead of what they want you to know.

Great book at a great price. You won't regret it and you'll want the next book as you will read through this one in record time.

Actually this is the third set of these books I have bought... I keep giving mine to others who are interested in bow making. This volume in particular is excellent for someone starting out.

A great intro to making wooden bows. Covers all the basics, wood, design, cutting, tillering. I found the section on bow design particularly interesting. Intuition is totally wrong about what gives the most arrow speed. A great book.

OK, so I'm itching to get into building my own bows. Step 1, head down to the local bookstore and get this book--I mean, do any kind of search on the subject, and it's the first thing you always find. And now, I've read it. And you know what? I'm even more confused than i was when i started.

Where should i even begin to complain about this $23 I will never get back? Well, let's start at jump street...The first and most glaring problem is, this is NOT an instructional book for the aspiring traditional bowyer, as I thought it might be--and as the back cover led me to believe. Rather, it is more of a sourcebook for those who already have a pretty strong working understanding of how to build bows. This is the book you ought to buy if you've already got a handful of bows under your belt; bows of different types and styles. I could imagine some bearded old Jim Bridger type sitting in his den, reading and re-reading it, with a hundred different bookmarks in it, and about 10 sentences highlighted on every page.

But if you are trying to learn how to build your own bow, and you don't know too much about it--by all means, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE. This book uses shop talk about every other sentence, and from page 1, nobody ever bothers to actually define what all this shop-talk actually means. You kind of have to just try and infer from the context very crucial central concepts--like which side of the bow is the back, and which is the belly...or what string follow is, or about a million other things. Case in point, there is a section in the chapter on bow construction (chapter 1) where the author describes a "standard wood bending test." He explains how to put a standardized staff of wood in this little device to test its flexibility characteristics--they even show a picture of the little device (which you are to build yourself for this purpose)--but he NEVER ACTUALLY EXPLAINS HOW to build the device. G

All I'm left with, after reading this junk, is the hope that someday, after i read a few better books on the subject, and build a dozen or so bows of my own--well someday this book may be handy. As for now, if the power goes out and i need something to burn for heat, this is it. I just sit and scratch my head as i leaf through the pages, thinking, Oh that might make sense, if i knew what this word meant. Or, wow, I know what tillering is. I wish this damn piece of crap called THE BOWYER'S BIBLE actually detailed the process, such that i might actually be able to follow some step by step instructions on how to do so!

I just wonder who edited this book? How does a professional editor not realize that this book creates more questions than it provides answers?

Yikes.

Anyway, not to keep Amazon from getting any new business--if you know how to build a bow, and you want to see some interesting pictures of like 50 different kinds of Northwest Indian patterns you can paint onto your work--or if you feel like looking at pictures of bows some guy made out of junk wood, or reeds, or broken arrows, well this is the book for you!

As for me, the search continues.

Great reference manual, easy to read, great examples. I use this as a reference book for quick settings changes and deployments. I highly recommend this book.

I was totally new to ISA and came to know about this book from the ISAServer forum.

It not only gives in-sight into the inner workings of the product but also speaks about the philosophy and history behind the creation of this versatile tool.

Understanding, Installing and Configuring ISA is just a piece of cake with this book

Tom Shinder is the recognized non-Microsoft ISA expert. He wrote the seminal (if only) book on ISA 2000 and now has written on ISA 2004. He also runs a companion website.

A good 200+ pages is devoted to marketing rehash and comparison of competing products. While there is some discussion of relevant concepts, most of this would be better served as website content. The competition changes rapidly enough that any such information in print quickly becomes obsolete. This book is supposed to be about configuring ISA 2004, not in-depth reviews of the product space.

The book's presentation quality is poor. Type is uneven in places, page numbers are cut off, and there are spelling errors. The organization is deficient as well. I continually lost my way and had to flip back to the TOC (which at 22 pages is too large to be of much use), Preface, and chapter intros to recapture the author's chain of thoughts. For example, Shinder describes Chapter 4's objective as preparing the infrastructure before installing ISA 2004, yet the chapter is filled with multiple ISA installation/configuration screen prints and instructions. He also describes how the various ISA clients react with particular network configuration, yet he does not introduce the concepts of clients until a later chapter.

The book is redundant in its presentations, as a chapter will begin with an overview of a series of concept, discuss the configuration of each concept, then discuss the various installation and configuration items for each concept, rather than describing the entirety of each concept one by one. There are occasions where he neglects to give context, such that advice seems contradictory. The typical "quick install" section is hidden about 500 pages into the book, and there's duplicate versions.

Despite the previous criticisms, the content of the book is informational and friendly to those new to the product, giving step by step instructions. When one considers the book along with the companion website and the author's personal commitment to assist and provide advice - as well as the lack of other books on the subject - "Configuring ISA Server 2004" gets a high rating. I will be looking for the 2006 update.

Don't be fooled guys, even with the articles being available online you wont find such a complete explanation posted into the isa server's resource site. This guy writes ISA documentation for MS, so there you go, he is da man when it comes to the product and has been dealing with it since the beginning, ISA 2006 is still in RC and he already wrote a couple of articles regarding how to configure new features. Definitely, a must have if you are an ISA Admin or consultant looking for some information and advice to do the right setup for the given network.

Since the early ISA Server 2000 days, author Tom Shinder has been the undisputed king of the ISA Server world. (Small world, isn't it.) His great expertise is complimented by a nice professional writing style that can be understood by any serious system administrator. If ISA is a big part of your responsibilities, you will want to have this book.

However, if you just want to get ISA Server 2004 up and running for the first time, this 1,024-page book is too much. If you are sitting there with the CD in hand and want to be up and running in three or four hours, be aware that the first 300 pages are devoted to a discussion of new features and a lengthy defense and comparison of ISA to the lower-end firewall appliances (non-PC hardware with firmware). This was very interesting reading for me (with four years managing ISA on a small network with ten servers and twenty workstations), but it may be too much too soon if firewalls are not high on your list of interesting things.

I searched hard for other ISA books and bought "ISA Server Unleashed" as well. "Unleashed" is 552 pages and quickly gets to installation and then configuration, exactly what you may want to get up and running quickly. In addition to "Unleashed," there seem to be just two other books that may serve for installation guides. The first is Shinder's "How to Cheat at Installing ISA Server 2004" (according to another reviewer, a "just the facts" version of the larger book reviewed here). Lastly, there is the "Administrator's Pocket Consultant." (I have read only reviews for the "Cheat" and "Consultant" books.)

Don't misunderstand, Shinder covers just about everything before he is done; and if you want your ISA expert's badge, you need to have this big book. I'll use "Unleashed" during installation and use Shinder's book for guidance on best practices.

If your finances suggest just one book, do this big Shinder book if you have prior ISA experience. Otherwise check out the small number of other offerings. And don't forget to search for ISA Server and Shinder on the web. You'll find a website with many long articles by Shinder.

By the way, I share Shinder's view that ISA is a great product. My ISA 200 installation has run robustly for four years; but I was looking to offload to ISA some of the spam filtering burden that now rests on an Exchange Server plus GFI installation and decided to move up to the latest ISA version at the same time.

I don't watch the show but thought the information that I previewed in the book was good, sound advice so I bought the book. I'm not trying to lose weight just wanted a new perspective on food choices and recipe ideas as well as advice and a fresh perspective on exercise. This book gives it!

I love all the products from Biggest Loser! I wish I could do more than just read the books! Ha Ha

This books is for anyone who is considering losing weight. It gives you help with the food part of the diet and it gives you a fitness program. I am so glad I purchased this book. I have already loss 10 pounds, just by altering my diet and exercising. This book is very helpful. I highly recommend this book.

Let me say from the outset that if I were evaluating just the book then I may have been inclined to give it a much better rating. Unfortunately the book is touted to be based upon the hit TV series of the same name which I find to be shockingly irresponsible in its design and message. I understand that in order for a TV series to be successful it has to generate high ratings but to promote fitness programs that risk permanent damage to the participants and implicitly suggest that this is the best route to rapid and permanent weight loss is absolutely unacceptable from where I stand as a physician. When I see massively obese people being coerced to jog at full gallop; jump on trampolines with already injured limbs: punch heavy bags that a pro-boxer would find challenging, I have to raise some serious objections to the message being conveyed.

One of the most important points for those starting out on a weight loss program is to start off slow and avoid injuries. The injuries you sustain in an effort to lose weight too quickly can rapidly derail a weight loss program and can lead to long term damage that can come back to haunt you.

Sure, anyone can lose weight in a concentration camp environment; but to lose weight, and keep it off in a normal life setting is an entirely different situation. Having personally lost almost 60 pounds in less than six months and kept it off for over nine years, I can attest to the fact that you need to integrate a good diet and exercise program into your everyday lives and begin with a safe and effective program. I implore people to ignore the "boot camp" type approach to weight loss and instead incorporate a realistic program that does not risk permanent injury to the joints, tendons, spine and heart.

That said, I do believe that this book has some very useful information, which I might add, is quite different from the message conveyed in the show. I especially like their emphasis on a combination cardio and circuit training.

Marc L. Paulsen, author, Dump Your Trainer

I tried to like this book, but it truly is for fans of the show. If you cut out all the references to participants from the show, it's about 1/2 as long! (And since I wasn't a follower of the show, the names have no meaning for me. Diet and fitness books always have an overabundance of "success" stories anyway. That's great, but that person's work schedule, lifestyle, food preferences, health history and body type aren't mine, so I can't relate.)

But what bothered me was the misnomer "time-saving," because it definitely isn't, and for any workout to succeed for me, it has to be one I have time to do. People on the show worked out for hours each day. (And why do personal trainers think finding a couple of hours to work out every day as no big problem for those of us in the real world?) Nowhere in the book does it ever say how long you can expect these workouts to take. By my estimate, 45 minutes to 90 minutes, at least 3 times a week - more days a week if you add a separate cardio as suggested). In fact, as you get more fit the workouts take even longer. This is neither time-saving nor time-efficient. If this is the block of time I have available to work out, that time isn't going to increase just because I'm fitter, and this book doesn't account for that at all.

One other note: although the book lists the equipment you need, they left out a step or bench. You'll definitely need that, too, for one of the exercises.

All in all, this is book for fans of the show who have very flexible schedules. For everyone else, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

Long before "Myth Busters" Julian S. Hatcher tested such issues as whether a bullet fired vertically will cause serious harm on its descent to earth. [.45 caliber bullets may hurt but won't cause serious injury. On the other hand a .30'06 rifle bullet can be lethal on descent due to its greater mass and greater G1 (that's G1 not GI) ballistic coefficient.] He tested the danger involved in an uncontained cartridge firing. He covers such subjects as: the developmental history of ballistic coefficients for projectiles and how to calculate bullet velocity at any range based on muzzle velocity and the bullets G1 ballistic coefficient; characteristics of burning gunpowder and its attendant pressure curves in the barrel; rotation rate of the bullet due to rifling; dangers involved in the storage of large amounts of gun powder and the massive damage capability of improperly stored gunpowder. This is just one of a myriad of subjects Hatcher covers. In some cases his information has been superseded due to analyses made possible by technological improvements in testing. In other cases his treatment of the subject matter is still relevant today. In any case, it reveals a man with phenomenal expertise in firearms made possible by his involvement in firearms development throughout his career with the US Army's Ordnance Department and his participation in competitive shooting events. It's fascinating reading and a classic treatise on firearms that is a must-have for understanding characteristics of firearms subject matter.

One of about a half a dozen MUST have books if you have firearms and hand load for them.

Steve Adams
AdamsQuailHunter on GunBroker & Ancientguns Forums

BUT... you can't be scared off by technical stuff. Hatcher has a way of explaining it for the layman, but most of the book is just insights into firearms technology as seen by an insider. Great read. Buy it before any other gun book. May I also suggest Hatcher's other masterpiece, Book of the Garand.

I'd read snatches from the book in our local Public Library from time to time. Finally decided to treat myself to the luxury of having it on hand all the time. Whilst it may be considered to be a little outdated now (2007) it's still a classic and an absolute mine of knowledge. Provides a fascinating and factual account of the development of modern 20th Century Small Arms, ranging from bolt action rifles, automatic pistols, Machine Guns and Sub Machine Guns. Add to this the development of modern smokeless powders, primers and the treatment of steel, then you have a veritable fount of information that is still relevant today.

the data in this book in fundamentally timeless. Yes, some deals with specific firearms and/or circumstances, but even there, many lessons for GENERAL firearms use are still lurking.

This is one of the most valuable reference manuals in my library and has been read many times over during the years.

Even more important is EW Mann's "The Bullet's Flight" and it was written at the turn of the century! Some types of knowledge don't "wear out."