Strategy Books

All 3 books in this series are great. I wish it was possible to award more than 5 stars because these books are much better than the typical book that gets a 5 star rating.

There have been many in-depth reviews of this book so I will make this short. If you spend time going through this book it WILL improve your game. The strategy is well laid out and the explanations in the examples gives insight into a top poker players thought process. Many examples state that some of the other answers are also plausible for certain reasons, but he states clearly why HE thinks one play is better than another. A must read for any No Limit Poker Player. str

This is the best poker book i've read so far. Very well written, cover all the aspects of the game, specially No Limit Tournaments and SNGs. Everyone who wants to play really well should read this.

What's your bottom line? What were your results? My results after reading Harrington on Hold Em Volume One, I finished 22nd and 13th in the 1st two tournaments I entered. I like his style of play and I see a lot of what I do in poker as the same. I believe this book is worth every dime and finish in the money like I have and it's already paid for itself. Just started Volume II.

Keep writing them Dan, thanks for the insight and go Sox!!!

I think Harrington's book and it's sequels are the best books ever written about no limit hold'em tournaments. The first part of the series covers strategic concepts about tournament poker, the second part tells how to play in the ending of a tournament, and third part is the workbook for reviewing the concepts of first two books.

Before reading this book (and the sequels), I have been mostly playing online cash games and occasionally some sit'n'gos, but I am still a beginner in NL hold'em (mostly concentrated on limit games). Totally I have read some 10+ books in poker. Well, after reading this book series I finished 14th out of 2000 players in my first large NL hold'em tournament simply by following Harrington's advice, and slightly adapting in some points.

What's best here is that Harrington is quite a practical guy, and practical guys win. For example, compared to Sklansky, one of the finest authors in poker, Harrington is actually able to teach how to play poker in practical level. In my opinion, Sklansky provides theoretical foundations for some very advanced strategic concepts, but more responsibility about how/when to utilize them is actually left to reader. I think these approaches complement each other very well, and both are great poker authors.

I would say that the first book is also good reading for NL hold'em cash games, especially if you're a beginning player (I am not sure anymore though, since Harrington's cash game series is now out as well). The second book (excluding first chapter) relates only to tournament concepts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bing West did an excellent job! I chose this book because I wanted to better understand both the Battle for Fallujah and the larger War in Iraq from the soldier's point of view. West describes the negotiations and he makes that an essential interplay with the conduct of the War. The US is lucky to have the committment of troops who fought this battle under the political circumstances they faced then and continue to have to contend with.

The only unanswered question I have is: What was the source of the Insurgents' high powered weapons? West implies that they may be the remainder of the Iraq Armys' weapons under Sadam Hussain by describing the former soldiers and officers who fought with the Insurgents. But he does not directly address that.

Jim(Illinois)

the title comes from a comment on The Iliad. a well written book. lots of details on the battle. also gives a broad view of the entire socio-political background. not for the faint of heart.

I picked this up to read on a month long travel trip. I ended up reading it in one sitting! Consequently, Im very glad I had also purchased a few other titles on the same topic. I really good read, disturbing and terrifying at times with a great deal of insight, but a great read.

"No True Glory" written by Bing West.

"No True Glory" chronicles the combat and political events directly relevant to the city of Fallujah from April of 2003 through 2005. Perspective is given from soldiers on the ground all the way up to commanding officers.

The Good: No True Glory provided a wide range of perspective and gave good information from all sides of the Fallujah story. It didn't just given the action and tragedy on the battle field and it didn't completely bog you down with politics or tactics. A good blend of political explanation that helped you to understand what happened and why was combined with thoughts and attitudes of the high ranking officers and mixed with the day to day activities of the guys who were actually kicking in doors and getting shot at. The mix was good and paints a full picture of not just what happened when but also why.

The Bad: I had previously read "Jarhead: a Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles" and "Generation Kill". Both of which were more personal because they focused on individuals or individual groups providing a personal aspect to each. That is the only aspect in which "No True Glory" lacks. The reality is that this couldn't be accomplished in "No True Glory" because the time frame the book covers is longer than any single tour of Duty served.

Overall: If military books interest you then pick up No True Glory and give it a try. A great read!

His account of the fighting in and around Fallujah was very informative. He description of the bravery and determination exhibited by the Marines was very memorable. Yet by ignoring the political ramifications of fighting a trumped up war created by the Bush administration and the large number of civilian casualties that have been subtained, he intentionally created a very distorted overall picture of the conflict. Also, his comparison of the fighting in Iraq with the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War was extremely inaccurate. By blindly accepting the offical version of events, Bing did an injustice to his readers. Amazingly, he pretty much ignored the total incompetence of President Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, and the political leaders who served there. As a Vietnam Combat veteran myself, I was very disappointed that he didn't recognize the harsh fact that one man's terrorist in another man's freedom fighter. Or rather, the glaring fact that we can't militarily win a war of occupation, unless we literally accept the fact that we are corporate occupiers and not political liberators.

Got this book for my husband, an online poker fan. He loved the first one in the series and doesn't like to put this one down either. Reads them multiple times to get the most out of them.

There have been many in-depth reviews of this book so I will make this short. This book builds on the concepts in Volume 1 to further improve your playing. Some of the concepts and strategies are not as intuitive but make perfect sense and are statistically sound (e.g., As your M and the M of your opponents decrease - avoid playing small pairs and mid to low suited connectors since the implied pot odds can not reach a level to make these hand profitable late in a tournament). Many, many, many advanced topics covered to improve your game late in No Limit tournaments. Mor great insight from a top poker pro.

This book does a fantastic job of discussing the pressure of late stage tournament play. Want to know how to react when the blinds are eating your stack and other players are moving all in on you constantly? Get this book!

This is a great series of books for anyone who is fairly new to the game of No Limit Texas Hold'Em. Volume I provides some basic concepts that every player needs to know. From which hands to start with and pot odds, to raising, to how your seating position affects your play, this series is a great introduction. And the more table experience you gain, the more his discussions can help your game. Highly recommended. Also, the workbook, Volume III is great to test your decision making within his framework.

This book was recommended to me after I finished in the top third of a tourney. I've read Vols 1, 2, and 3 - and I've learned so much from these books. Easy to read, easy to understand. I'll be going back in a few months to pick up anything I may have missed. Highly recommended.

Finished in top 15% in another tourney after reading this book - easily accounted by the stuff I've learned. Looking for better results I apply the knowledge.

That's a big statement but I can tell you with all honesty. This is the best cookbook I've ever read, more importantly it is the best cookbook I've ever USED. And, do I use it often, YES! Here Tony Bourdain shines not only as an amusing and talented writer but exposes to us all to the REAL principal behind all great dishes, and not just French food, that good, quality ingredients coupled with time-proven methods ARE the best. I have been a cook for many years and I specialise in Italian cookery but Tony's book brought me back to appreciate French-style cookery as never before. But the country of origin doesn't matter, it's the approach. No BS! Tell it like it is. All cookbooks are, to me, guides, but Tony has the nous to say, in places, you MUST do this and that. Little details and quality advice tips that take a good dish to 'great' status. His, utterly correct emphasis on the basics like a good stock or jus, tells us that these are the real fundamentals of good cookery. And, he shows us that which is so true: all great cookery has its origins in 'peasant' food, be it French, Italian, British or Asian. I class this book and Fergus Henderson's, 'Nose To Tail Eating' as two of the most important cookbooks of the 20th Century.
William Kenneth Halliwell
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

The recipes includes are a bit difficult in my opinion (especially finding the right ingredients), but Bourdain's aim is to challenge you and not to dumb down everything, which I appreciate.

His writing style is very approachable and unlike with most cookbooks you feel like he's talking to you as he warns you to not overfill the blender when you are making soup and hold the top down tight unless you want soup all over you.

I've made one thing so far which was mushroom soup and it was delicious, so I can imagine the the rest of the food is equally so.

Classic cooking done in classic Anthony Bourdain style. If you like his TV show, you'll love this book.

I was quite pleased to receive this cookbook as a gift, but disappointed once I started cooking the recipes. Mr. Bourdain's talents as a writer are not to be denied, but it must be said that these recipes are a bit anemic and wanting. While I definitely appreciate his passion for good food, that passion doesn't seem to extend into making the actual food himself. Which is totally fine -- Bourdain's advocacy for top-quality cuisine is definitely appreciated -- but it means I'll look elsewhere for the nuts and bolts of good recipes.

This is a bible and a foundation for anyone interested in seeing good results from their efforts in undertaking french cooking. These recipes are durable and refined for someone who wants to illicit "oh wow" responses from their guests. I can't overstate the social value of enlisting your friends and local grocers and butcher for this journey. This is a book for someone with some time and love to dedicate.

Driven is a great book giving new insight into wealth creation for individuals and organizations.

I found it concise and thoughtful and a great roadmap to understanding the economic world around us.

I would recommend it to all business leaders challenged by today's ever-changing international economy.

SDS

In Driven, Dr. Frigo and Mr. Litman provide the background to "Return Driven Strategy", which is a strategic framework that underlies the importance of integrating a business strategy, the execution of that strategy, and ultimately how those pieces relate to a company's valuation. Through their detailed research of high performing companies, Frigo and Litman provide example after example of how strategic decisions, including how one defines wealth, can impact the ultimate success of an organization.

The framework is applicable to any number of audiences, whether it be senior managers of large organizations, consultants, small business owners, or even for individuals as the framework can be easily applied to career development.

Strategy and execution are so important to success in business, yet receive such inadequate study and analysis in business schools, the corporate world, etc. Most strategic thinking consists of buzz words and double talk by high level executives. Driven won't let them get away with it! It takes you into financial analysis of strategy and execution and actually ties data to strategy framework and execution without getting bogged down in analysis paralysis. An excellent read which provides an essential framework for success.

Driven was one of the best business strategy books that I have come across. It is really a simple book to read yet has such a holistic view on Strategy and Execution. The book introduces Return Driven Strategy, a framework that offers a unique perspective in creating and maintaining "wealth".

I was fortunate to attend some of the seminars on the Return Driven Strategy framework hosted by Dr. Frigo and Joel Litman. Reading this book and attending a seminar is absolutely a must for all managers.

Frigo and Litman are a dynamic duo. DRIVEN is a must read. The framework is a fantastic guide which can be applied to any industry.

I know, I know, CPAs are supposed to understand everything about finance and investing. Well, this CPA can audit multi-billion dollar companies and play hard ball with the pros, but when it comes to smart, sound, strategic personal investing and asset allocation, I'm afraid I'm in the bush league.

I liked the book because it discussed all of the key areas that I need to consider (debt, interest, lease vs. own, mortgages, philanthropy, stocks, bonds, funds, 401Ks, IRAs, credit ratings, taxes, insurance, attitude, and marital money matters), but it covered them in an easy-to-understand, clear, positive and entertaining way that left me hopeful rather than overwhelmed.

I finished the book armed with knowledge, a clear path forward, and most of all, a positive, confident feeling that I can now put my arms around what used to be a black hole, squeeze tight, and know that my assets are now in gear.

Get Your Assets in Gear was the answer to questions I've always had about finances. One of my goals in life is to always have enough money to cover my living expenses and still have more for pleasure. This book tells you exactly how to save enough to be financially fit and happy along the road to financial independence. I am so excited that I am 23 years old and have this book, because I am now 100% positive that I will have the life, financial and otherwise, life that I want. I have always found finances difficult to comprehend between 401k, stocks, mutual funds, loans, etc. Get Your Assets in Gear makes it crystal clear what each of them are, and what the perks are of each. This book gets a huge thumbs up for making each point clear, specific, and attainable, and the icing on the cake is that it was an easy, fun read!

Get Your Assets in Gear makes understanding the process of investing easy and fun. If you are in search of concise information written in easy to understand language this book is for you. I have purchased copies to give as gifts to all young investors.

Get Your Assets in Gear focuses on young people just starting out but she doesn't neglect those of us who are catching up; her advice is equally suited to any person of any age who just wants to increase their wealth and their quality of life. Geiger provides a questionnaire in Chapter One to determine whether this is the book for you and to help your chart your progress.

Geiger's approach is very positive and upbeat; she never couches anything in negative terms because she's a great believer in a positive outlook affecting your finances directly.

She makes great use of others' wisdom as well as her own experience as a financial professional; for example, she provides some affirmations from author Chellie Campbell in the form of a daily exercise that is a lot of fun. Geiger believes in marrying thought to action; throughout the book she provides information and advice and then provides you with directions on the exact step to take at the end of each chapter.

Geiger's strength is in simplifying financial subjects in a way that is enjoyable to read and which really emphasizes the most important points. Every aspect of financial planning is covered: budgeting, dealing with debt, tithing, investing, credit score building, house and car ownership, retirement accounts, partner finances, taxes, saving money for college and teaching kids about finances. She manages to cover all these subject in less 200 pages, without glossing over anything and without overwhelming the
reader.

If you are a beginner trying to get educated and organized, you will appreciate her direct coaching approach; if you are more experienced, you will probably appreciate her encouragement and positive wisdom as you reach financial plateaus in life. Even if you already have a lot of knowledge of personal financial planning, Geiger's enlightened educational technique will help you learn how to spread the word and coach your children, family members and friends.

(I also reviewed this book in my Dollar Stretcher (stretcher dot com) book buzz blog.)

Financial whiz Jan Geiger has written a fabulous guide to financial freedom for young people. This is the book I wish I had read when I was growing up. Filled with upbeat stories told in an engaging manner, it gives you all the basics from student loans to car loans to real estate mortgages (bet lots of people out there today wish they would have read this part before the latest fiasco!). Follow your "Money Mom's" simple recipes and you can relax knowing your financial future is assured.
Chellie CampbellThe Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction

My mother-in-law gave this book to us when we got married. I LOVE IT! The artwork is simply beautiful, each page different from the others -- with thoughtful quotes as well. But most of all, I just love the whole concept of having an anniversary book! I never even knew something like this existed. But, it has been so wonderful to add our memories to this book each year on our anniversary. I love looking through it -- reading the "Memorable Moments" from that year and seeing the picture we included. We'll be celebrating 10 years this month and I can't wait to open up our special book and review those 10 wonderful years in such a beatifully recorded way. I've given this book as a wedding gift to others because we've enjoyed it so much.

I received this as an engagement gift 3 years ago. I love this book. It's a simple way to keep a record of memories and anniversaries. It's like scrapbooking for people (like me) who don't have the time, patience or artistic ability to scrapbook. I love the paper quality, the photo holders and the straightforward way it allows you to reflect on the past year. Because of the simplicity, it isn't one of those things I put off until I have time and then feel guilty for not doing. With years one and two complete I look forward to a lifetime more.

This is an absolutely gorgeous book! I wish I had received one 34 years ago! I will now pass it on to three nephews and their brides who are marrying this summer as the simplicity of the entry pages makes this a simple but meaningful way to record the most important day of each year!
The quality of the heavy pages will help it last for a lifetime, just as marriages should!

This book was a wedding present 8 years ago from my Mom. Every year we drag it out, pick our favorite horizontal photo and think about all of the fun things we did all year. It is a fun way to celebrate or Anniversary and look back at everything we have done. Until it showed up on Amazon, I had a hard time finding it, but now I buy it for all of my friends who are getting married. It is one of my favorite gifts and one that was really appreciated. We even bought a special gold pen so it all matches year to year.

I got this book as a wedding gift almost 8 years ago and I love it so much that I buy it for every couple that has gooten married since! It's a great shower or wedding gift.

You will not find a more diffinitive book on the Luftwaffe's activites in
operation Blau. I was happy to see that the siege of Sevastopol was well covered, I have found so little information in other books about that epic siege. The book does a very good job in explaining the terrible conditions at the outlying airfields trying to supply the 6th army,the lack of fuel,spare parts and the horrific weather conditions.
Hitler decided to try and take the Caucausas oil fields as well as Stalingrad. They had forces to take one,not both. They would have had much
greater success if they had just bombed the oil fields especially Baku which represented 80% of Russia's oil. Army group A and B could have bypassed Stalingrad,cutting the Volga river traffic and with a pincer movement, enveloped the Russian armies coming to the aid of Stalingrad.
Field Marshal's von Bock and List did all they could and were treated unfairly by Hitler. This book is great in showing the leadership qualities of Wolfram von Richthofen,clearly the most outstanding Lutwaffe commander of World War2.

This is a very good description of Luftwaffe Operations on the Eastern Front. It has good background information speciffically about the economic side of it. Decisions made based on oil supply's rather than military objectives. Very interesting material.
The only bad thing about this book is that the editing comes across as very sloppy. German names are often misspelled or incorrect. It is not Manstein, but von Manstein, not Bock, but von Bock, not Kluge, but von Kluge.
Also it is not Count von Sponneck but Graf von Sponneck. If you overlook those issues, it is a very good book

Very thoroughly researched book. Could have explained infantry operations in a little more detail after all most of the movements of the Luftwaffe happened in direct support of infantry movement. Could have given a little bit more weightage to characteristic traits of leaders involved in action. But all in all a very lucidly written book a definite buy for anyone interested in eastern theater of WWII

This book is a treasure. Saying it deals with just the Luftwaffe effort does not really address the scope of the book. In addition to the author's fabulous treatment of air operations, it has some great stuff on naval operations in the Crimea. This book is an absolute MUST for your WWII library. This guy is a lecturer at some college in New Zealand. Get him to some University in the USA!!

Anthony Beevor's wife and publisher (the well-connected Hon. Artemis Cooper, no less) had her publicity machine whip his good book on Stalingrad into a huge international best-seller. That's perfectly okay. I liked Beevor's book very much, and do commend it to readers. But Beevor's isn't the most authoritative and analytical book on Stalingrad, that frightful, turning-point battle. Joel Hayward's book is! I'm pleased that, while it has never sold as many copies, Hayward's uniquely-conceived book has earned fantastic reviews and been quoted and acknowledged as highly-influential (and mandatory reading) by almost every subsequent writer on the eastern front, including Glantz, Erickson etc.

Hayward's book masterfully explains why, strategically, Hitler planned a major campaign in 1942 after not winning in the east during the previous year. It superbly elucidates why, even though the city of Stalingrad was never one of that major campaign's goals, Hitler then became distracted by it, to the point whereby its capture mattered more than the Caucasus oilfields he was originally, and very rationally, committed to seizing and exploiting.

Hayward's book also analyses air power and joint-service matters but always relates these in a seamless way to ground battles and operations. His book is therefore strikingly-different to all previous, army-focused books on Stalingrad (including Beevor's) which barely mentioned air power despite it dominating all successful battles during 1942, in and around Stalingrad itself, and during the air-lift.

Hayward's analysis of that increasingly-futile and tragic air-lift, and its highly skilful defeat by the Red Air force and Red Army, is by far the most original, complete, meticulously-researched (all from unpublished archival sources) and informative ever written.

I cannot recommend this original, insightful book highly enough. Buy Beevor's journalistic book, of course. But you must buy this volume if you want a thorough, analytical, scholarly work that explains why things happened and what it all meant.

This is my 3th book a read about creativity. I really found it very intersting, with good methods, and aldo written in an intersting way.

What I really like most y that the research behind this book, has really ponder the most important genious way of creating, so it has a good background and very well supportted.

Mind-mapping helped considerably narrow down visual arts individual style to preferred media and suitable materials, saving me much wasted time, expense and creativity.

This is the best book on or about creative thinking I have ever read. I've recommended it to everyone I know who is interested in creating ideas and new ways to look at the world. Thanks.

This is something that is tickling my mind, after reading first few chapters of this book, I closed it, stood up, walked around my living room with my hands folded back. I looked outside the window and saw few kids playing the park and was forced to think something.

We are first as kids made to learn few things and are forced to treat those things as basic and important that is not true (refer to Michael's blog about Thomas Edison's Greatest Blessings). Now after reading the book Thinkertoys and Creative Thinking, I feel like its not that I have to learn these new concepts but there is an entire process involved of first of all unlearning most of the stuffs from past and then relearning the new concepts.

And when I say that I have to look at the kids I wonder what they are being tought in their schools only to find one day that they have to unlearn some of the concepts on which they are spending or rather wasting their time.

Do read the book, as mentioned earlier it makes you smile after every chapter as you discover immense possibilities of what all can be achieved in your day to day life.

Author Michael Michalko delivers his best performance to date in this book. The book is filled with information on, and techniques for using, our creative processes. Many of the techniques are easy to learn, requiring only a little bit of practice to get used to them. Most of the book centers around: helping an individual generate many possible ideas about something, which will be critically evaluated at a later time; visualizing the problem and potential solutions; seeing from another's perspective, even the problem's in one case (quite effective sometimes); collaboration and creativity. This book already helped me deliver a 5 star essay on a very controversial subject. I followed its advice, producing as many ideas as possible in a short time, without rejecting any at first. Also, visualizing the data, as recommended, formed the basis for my later outline, which was complete enough that a rough draft was no work at all. So, for me, buying this book paid off already. I think anyone buying this will read it for a few minutes and then recognize they have a winner in their hands.