Industry Books

I have both editions of this book . I have used them in the classes I teach and at my manicure table. If there is anything I need to reference, this book has it all.

Every nail tech and beauty professional needs to read this book.

Maureen Solan

This book should be recommanded to all the nail techs all around the world
it has so many answers to so many questions it s just an amazing source of education
very great i m glad i bought it

To achieve true, long term success in your career as a nail professional, this book is an absolute MUST read!

The contents are invaluable, and virtually impossible to find anywhere else in the world. Doug Schoon's ability to take the most in-depth information and put it into 'layman's terms' will cause you to find it hard to put it down- as well as go anywhere without it!

All the mysteries, "wives tales" and fiction that exists in a nail professional's world are explained with precise fact and even a bit of humor...

Don't pass by the chance to discover the whole truth and nothing but the truth-

to keep yourself fine-tuned to the most current, technologically advanced information!

Mr. Schoon has greatly expounded upon his first edition of this excellent text. Content has nearly doubled, and he has included not only standard topics such as nail anatomy, adhesives, and product chemistry (which are vital for any nail technician to understand), but he has also added chapters such as "The Safe Salon" and "The Healthy Salon," among others. This new text includes great color photos. This text, set in a story format, includes a "Fast Track" which highlights the important facts of each chapter, as well as "Review Questions." Mr. Schoon's down-to-earth writing makes the most intimidating topics easy to understand. This book is an outstanding resource for nail technician and instructor.

anyone sucessful in the nail world can tell you that sucess is based on education and education is based on knowledge. Mr. Schoons book Nail Structure & Product Chemistry is the core fundamental with in depth information on every aspect. I can truly say it enabled me to aspire to a new level where i can now answer questions in a truly professional manner.. and with salons in two countries, thats just what i need. Cheers Doug.. your book in an invaluable investment to those looking for sucess. - Andrew. The dude.

This book is great as a reference and as a source of important information concerning no frill airlines. The author's writing style is relaxed and lively. Whether you are just trying to kill some time by reading, or, you are a frequent flier, this is a great book for you. I learned a lot of useful information that I am planning on using whenever I travel again.

The past, present and future prospects of no-frills travel. The pioneers, the airlines, the successes, the failures.

The book takes you behind the scenes, where the decisions that affect the way we travel are made. It gives a comprehensive and detailed account of why and how low-cost carriers appeared on the aviation scene, of the people who visualized them and spent years in courts battling the sclerotic establishments set on crushing competition and fending off change, of the reasons why low-cost carriers have traditionally thrived in environments where conventional airlines have suffered, of why they have prospered and are going from strength to strength.

At times hilarious, "No-Frills" is a fabulous book, so packed with information that after reading it you'll be lulled into thinking you have acquired enough knowledge and experience to start your own airline and make money out of it too! The 2006 edition is fully updated to include the latest developments in an industry that's as volatile and prone to change as no other.

The growth of low cost airlines in Europe, the USA and elsewhere in the last few years has been astounding to many observers. The carriers have profoundly changed the nature of the airline industry in the largest aviation markets in Europe and the USA. The book "No Frills" by Simon Calder is therefore very timely and informative to all the stakeholders of the aviation industry ranging from airlines, governments, the travelling public, airline management, employees, regulators, distributors of airline services and suppliers of aircraft, spares and other related services.

Millions of people are enjoying the benefits of low cost services. Large numbers of passengers are defecting from the traditional legacy carriers to these low cost airlines, not just those who traditionally travel economy class but also those who normally fly business class. This excellent book traces the low cost carriers from the early success story of South West Airlines in the USA to the highly profitable and dynamic airlines such as Ryannair, easyJet and others.

Those wishing to learn about this latest phenomenon in the airline industry are recommended to read this book. Readers will be able to understand why some of the largest legacy carriers are having it rough and why some have gone under. Those wishing to establish their own low cost airlines will benefit immensely from the experiences of the successful low cost airlines.

The No Frills sector of airlines is revolutionizing the way airlines do business. Simon Calder does an excellent job of exploring this trend in both Europe and the United States. If you are not somewhat familiar with European airlines and the difference between No Frills, flag carriers, and majors than you may want to read some other books before coming to this one. If you are somewhat knowledgeable though this is a great book to start with. Very well written and covers things in exhausting detail. The analysis is top notch and this book is essential for anyone studying the airline industry.

"No Frills: The Truth Behind the Low Cost Revolution in the Skies" is a guide to understand how this kind of airline works.
It's perfect to understand the structure and the way they manage to get the profits, Simon Calder has made a perfect book.

I highly recommend this book for those people who want to know how a low fare airline works.

The major distinction of the book from Granger&Terasvirta's earlier work is its focus on financial applications of regime switching (RS) models and the author's strategy of separate treatment of RS of returns(means) and volatilities(variances) by putting them in different chapters. Another wellcome feature is the availability of accompanying procedures in Gauss downloadable from the author's website. I would have expected a lengthier treatment of Markov RS models but I guess either the authors leave this to Tsay's new book or quote Hamilton as classical reference source.

Like his other books, Franses provides an nice applied treatment of non-linear time series models that are in this case applicable to finance. It includes extensive coverage of regime switching models. It includes data drawn from several financial markets including Tokyo, London and Frankfurt.

Like his other books, Franses provides an nice applied treatment of non-linear time series models that are in this case applicable to finance. It includes extensive coverage of regime switching models. It includes data drawn from several financial markets including Tokyo, London and Frankfurt.

Just as in his other books, Franses demonstrates that he is a good communicator. Good structure (follows a logic path), well written and good examples.
Is it a good idea to buy this book? Yes, I would say it is mandatory if you are interested in the subject.
Nevertheless, it misses more indepth treatment of non-linear models (precisely what the book is all about). The authors spent too much time on elaborating a comprehensive chapter on linear models when it was sufficient to cite a few references in case the reader wasn't familiar with the required background.
Some demonstrations and explanations were left uncovered which means that you will have to rely on other sources such as Hamilton (1994) to get the whole picture.
This is not a self-teaching guide but one important source in this field.

The major distinction of the book from Granger&Terasvirta's earlier work is its focus on financial applications of regime switching (RS) models and the author's separate treatment of RS in returns(means) and volatilities(variances) by putting them in different chapters. Another welcome feature is the availability of accompanying procedures in Gauss downloadable from the author's website. I would have expected a lengthier treatment of Markov RS models but I guess either the authors leave this to Tsay's new book or quote Hamilton as classical reference source.

Best off shore book out there... great info...lays it out pretty straight. Easy to understand and follow.

This volume is well-written, lucid and easy to follow. The authors have done an excellent job in providing an explanatory framework for offshoring, as well as giving a realistic look at potential costs and benefits. Their list of suggestions and guidelines is comprehensive. The book avoids the trap of becoming overly technical and steers clear of being specific to any particular country or industry. I was pleasantly surprised to find chapters on such important topics as country-specific legal pitfalls, privacy rights issues, and how to sell the idea of offshoring inside a company resistant to the idea. The authors livened up their material with numerous case studies to illustrate key points. The level of detail they provided on how to write a solid Service Level Agreement (SLA) was also impressive.

Overall this was an excellent volume, and the only two objections that I have are both minor. First, the book could benefit from a small amount of updating; some of the data, especially in Part I of book, dates from 2001-2003. In any other discipline, that would still be considered fairly recent. However in technology, that verges on being stale. In addition, that was the period of the global downturn in IT. The authors' data would be obviously impacted by that global economic event. To be clear: I do not believe that any of the authors' points would be reversed by updating the data. On the contrary, I expect that current data would only strengthen their points, as the trends they identified have only accelerated since the book's first publication. Second, as noted earlier the authors provided several cases of companies who tried offshoring and either failed, or suffered setbacks. Given the fact that offshoring is not the cure-all for every company, it would have also been useful to see a couple of case studies of companies who investigated the offshoring option but decided against it. It is just as important to understand why a company declines to offshore, as it is to understand why they would undertake to do so.

This is a book that I wish I had read before working on several offshoring/outsourcing projects for former employers. It is highly recommended for anyone who is contemplating the offshore option, or who has recently been put in charge of making such an option successful.

This is a rather comprehensive look of why software
development gets offshored and of how to do it right
should you decide to try it yourself. The authors are
an academic and a consultant, making the book an
appealing blend of evidence-based theory and practical
advice. The focus is primarily on software
development, with some attention paid to such
IT-enabled services as call centers.

The two most appealing things about the book are its
maintenance of a practical tone and its
comprehensiveness in identifying the many things you
need to get right to get offshoring to work right. For
example, international projects tend to get into
serious difficulty if the customer is unwilling or
unable to provide sufficiently detailed specifications
to bring task ambiguity down to the level that can
survive the communications problems caused by distance
and cultural differences.

The authors put a lot of effort into explaining why
some countries have been successful at growing an
offshoring business and others not. This insight is
valuable for companies into offshoring for the long
haul, as you need to understand how wage rates and
technology depth wax and wane over time.

The book also has a number of chapters written by
specialists in such important ancillary areas as
international contacts and managing cultural
differences. All in all, a very useful book.

This book does an excellent job of linking offshoring to a company's business strategy. Many companies are pursuing offshoring to take advantage of lower wages in other countries. Chapter 5 shows how cost reduction can be strategic, and the other potential non-cost-based advantages of offshoring. Its treatment is also balanced, showing the downsides, costs, and risks of offshoring as well as the benefits. And it talks about choices companies have in implementing an offshore strategy.

I am Executive Director of a research center on process management, and we have done research in this area. I know and respect Erran Carmel, the author, and Peter Schumacher, who co-authored Chapter 5. Peter's work is grounded in consulting that he has done at the Value Leadership Group, which advises companies on how to think beyond cost cutting and view offshore as an opportunity to build unique competitive advantage.

"All things being equal, any manager would prefer to manage a co-located team rather than a distributed team," how true. Authors Erran Carmel and Paul Tija believe that IT managers need to feel as comfortable with managing distributed teams as they are with co-located teams. They intend their book, Offshoring Information Technology, to act as a primer for IT professionals, students and teachers in business and technology programs as well as policy makers and analysts in and around governments. That is a lot of end parties to satisfy, so does this book hit the mark.

Erran Carmel had previously authored, "Global Software Development Teams", in 1999, and has deeply focused on the topic of developing software with global teams for years. It is obvious that a researcher was one of the co-authors, as very accurate listing of references are made, more than you usually see in many of these books on offshoring. These references provide another list of papers and publications that the reader can use for further research. The book makes excellent use of cross-referencing between topics, which also adds to its usage as a good reference tool.

Right off I like the preface in which the authors define the terms offshoring and outsourcing. Since I agree there are many strange definitions leading everyone to think outsourcing means offshoring, this needed to be included. The offshore stage model, previously defined by one of the authors in a research paper, puts the offshoring numbers in to perspective by dividing it in to stages and the number of Fortune 1000 companies currently using the offshoring model. These numbers may be surprising to some, as the actual usage is much smaller than is played up in the media.

The book is full of case studies, most of them fairly interesting. The case study in chapter 9 is meant to show the difference between working in a low-content country versus a high-context country like India. I, along with I believe many practitioners, will look on this case study and say that Christina (not her real name) was not a good manager, no matter where she was working, if they thought dumping a bunch of new work on a team was not going to impact the schedule. Low-content or high-content country aside, the project manager made too many assumptions and may not be the experienced project manager that she thought she was. I think others will see the same when they read it. Another real life case study gives an example of one company trying to do a comparison between countries; what do we learn from it, price wins out over quality in the end, which in reality is often the case.

The emphasis on knowledge transfer is exceptional. This area is often glossed over in many offshoring books. Chapter 7 which is dedicated to managing the offshore transition defines different ways of undertaking knowledge transfer. One of the ways that they describe is to have the developers work in different positions, i.e. put them in to the user's position, so they understand why the user works the way they do. They state that this is new. I started out in banking twenty years ago and this is how I started out, working the user positions of the applications which I was then to develop and maintain, so I do not think this concept is new. But perhaps the authors mean this is new for offshore outsourcing. In all though this section on knowledge transfer is valuable and looks at all of the different types of transfer: skills, process, domain and work and cultural norms. Good emphasis on the fact that the easiest one to achieve is skills transfer, but the other ones are more difficult to achieve. For example it is more difficult to have someone work on dispute resolutions app for credit card processing, when they do not understand how credit card processing works.

Chapter 8 on overcoming distance and time emphasizes and outlines virtual team management. Much of the information presented is included in many books on virtual team management, but as this book is a primer for IT managers, it has a place in this book. Readers will find the suggestions on iteration development; formalizing the iterations and frequency of iterations particularly helpful in a real situation. I whole heartedly agree that this is what builds trust. If you have frequent deliverables, and the remote team meets those frequent deliverables, i.e. they do what they say they are going to do, trust is built. The authors also define the range of deliverables and that it can be anything: plans, outlines, prototypes, simulations, design reviews, test results, software code reviews, module integration and documents. Again I wholeheartedly agree. This will be an area that many IT managers may have to get used to because at first to some it seems like "make work", when in fact all of what is delivered from the offshore is and should be useful for fulfilling the project.

There are a few situations where puzzling statements are used such as the quote on pg. 28, just before a section on IT-enabled services. The quote refers to E-loan and its well-documented offering to its clients of a couple of years ago. At the time E-loan offered the users of their loan service to Press 1 if they wanted their loan processed in 1 day in an Indian center, or to press 2 if they wanted their loan processed in the US which included the statement that the processing may then take longer. In March of 2004, this was written up by many Indian firms as admittance by a US company that Indians are faster. It seems strange that the authors use this statement with no no explanation; for example was it really an admittance that Indians are faster or did it really mean E-loan had 4 times as many processors in India versus the number in the US, thus accounting for how loans could be processed faster there. Or were they working round the clock in India versus only one shift in the US, another reason for the difference. In other areas the authors go to great lengths to explain issues which are reported in the press, such as how offshore labor rates are reported in detail and what they really mean versus the actual total cost of ownership.

The book contains an excellent discussion on the different types of risk, very detailed, to a level not usually defined. Only one area, contractual risk, seemed to be lacking. The authors state that a buyer can mitigate contractual risk by signing a contract with a US company, if you are a US buyer, or with a UK company if you are a UK buyer, i.e. with a company which is also domiciled in your location versus in the offshore location only. The authors also refer to the chapter on Legal issues of offshoring where contractual risk will be further defined. In that chapter, however, only mention to reduce contractual risk is to work with providers who can provide a combination of onshore/offshore resources, thus enabling a buyer to access the provider's onshore resources if necessary. They seem to fail to mention one of the bigger issues; if the contract does go awry, even if you are dealing with the big Indian players, most of the assets that of that vendor are located in the offshore location. If any case, you will have to bring suit against that vendor in their home country. Large buyers already seem to be aware of this based on both outsourcing and vertical conferences I have attended over the last couple of years.

There were two areas where I thought more emphasis could have been made, if this is a book is really meant to assist IT professionals. One of these areas is helping the IT manager assess their own offshore readiness; how do they feel about the process, are they ready to change how they work, are they ready to manage by not walking around? The second area of missed opportunity is assisting IT professionals in defining what could be a new role for them in the global environment, for example by working in and/or managing the offshore office which is responsible for managing the onshore and offshore outsourcing for a client.

Offshoring Information Technology is an informative and educational book for IT managers looking to define their place in the offshoring world. The details provided on the offshoring process and through the case studies will make it easy for an IT professional to determine where they may need to gain additional knowledge to move their career forward. The book will be most useful and most familiar to those IT professionals currently working in or with large scale enterprises as most case studies and examples such as in total cost of ownership and the governance areas, use examples from large enterprises. This book is highly recommended for IT professionals who are looking at career development as well as those persons who are in a position to help their countries promote their outsourcing capabilities.

Oil Addiction is a great read and all the above comments apply in spades. His writing style reminded me of was another French writer, Antoinne Saint-Exuprey. Amid the facts, humor and poetry, a gentle humanity shines through.

Although most Americans are in denial, this book details the facts about the impact oil has had on our economy, our relationship to the rest of the world (especially the Middle East), the wars in Iraq and other places, and how our future will be impacted as this resource runs out and the price rises to
levels we can hardly imagine....and within the next 25 years, if not sooner.

The author knows the subject because he has been a part of the oil industry for several decades, has lived in the Middle East and knows the different understandings that the USA has from the rest of the world. He is truly an "insider."

Pierre Chomat's book deliniates in graphic manner the collosal predicament Western Civilization has gotten itself into by our addiction to oil. He intersperses fact and true stories or illustrations to bring out most forcefully his message which comes from a lifetime of experience in the business of oil. He does not offer any easy or sentimental solutions but trusts the reader to face the truth from which alone anything constructive can come. The book deserves reading by all segments of society.

The author begins this enlightening book by relating how energy from oil has freed humans from manual labor and enabled the development of vast industries. Oil has also been the source of economic strength of nations and therefore, of political power.

He tells how our addiction to oil evolved, like the beginning of any bad habit, with a small appetite for oil - there was less than one car per household - and a large supply of oil in the U.S. As more was found throughout the world, we perceived an inexhaustible supply of oil and used it accordingly, developing an addiction to this black fluid.

As we used up our domestic supply, we naturally looked to the region of great potential: the Middle East. He describes our forays to mine and distribute those untapped oil supplies and the power struggle for the rights to this oil. He quotes Henry Kissinger, "Oil is too important a commodity to be left to the Arabs."

One of the nice features of this well written book is the author's frequent use of visual illustrations. For example, he describes how many barrels of oil are needed to fly a person across the Atlantic, and what the world's daily oil production would look like if it were a river: like the Seine flowing through Paris. He compares the future global outlook for oil with the history of the rise and demise of the sardine industry in Monterey. The supply of sardines was once viewed as inexhaustible.

There is much more in this very readable book, bringing the reader up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2001 and its oil implications.

I just received this book yesterday, and eagerly read several chapters last night. I will say two things about this relatively short book (237 pages w/ somewhat large font size):

1) It is highly readable, both in prose and in format. The author's anecdotal stories and observations from all over the globe are based on his career as a French petroleum engineer, and each story is quite fasinating. His grasp of "petro-history" is also very impressive.

2) This book powerfully demonstrates just how addicted to oil we have become as a species, with particular criticism of US consumption and related foreign policies. He provides a strong critique of recent events in Mespotania...and he is quite passionate about the course that humanity it taking.

While somewhat short on solutions, this book is absolutely rich with examples that demonstrate the enormity of our oil addiction and the cahllenges that Peak Oil will usher in, most likely to occur before 2010 (ASPO and ODAC project 2008 as the peak).

He constantly informs the reader of how amazingly dense hydrocarbon energy really is, and how much these amazing little molecules are performing from everything from washing our clothes in a domestic clothes washer, to an international flight of US tourists visiting Egypt - an amount of energy expended in flight which he purports is more energy than what was expended over years by thousands of slaves toiling to build the Great pyramids... These examples are very thought-provoking.

Bottom line: Highly recommended reading, especially for those who want to buy a book on Peak Oil for friends or family who may prefer to read non-technical and/or fiction-type books. This book is of course non-fiction, but it is written in such a lively, engaging, non-technical manner, that I had quite a hard time putting the book down last night. Indeed, Oil Addiction is a must read.

I think this book is the best up to date reference on Operations Research. The book is very well written, very didactic and addresses mainly the practical use of OR. That is, the book isnt so good for algorithm details but it is superb on modeling, interpretation and examples.

This is one of the excellent industrial engineering books. From deterministic and simple linear programming to stochastic systems such as queueing models or dynamic programming, you may read and "learn" lots of things about OR. However, for stochastic cases you will need extra help for its matematics. But if you want to learn something about industrial engineering or something related with it, that is the book you must buy.

A wonderful compendium of Ops algorythms. It has everything from linear programming to queing theory.

I am in my first semester of an MBA program. The required text for my OR/MS class (An Introduction to Management Science, 10th ed., by Anderson, Sweeney, Williams) left something to be desired. I work with the SAS programming language, and happened to be discussing the SAS/OR product with a SAS technical support rep. He recommended this Winston text. I think it explains concepts much better than my Anderson text and has helped me a lot in my OR/MS class.

I have used this book for five years in my Operation Research classes. Its emphasis is in the mathematical modeling. The explanations are complete and clean. But, the exercises are the best part: a lot of examples and modeling exercises. A very good book for engineering students.

I just finished a fine piece of writing entitled The Outer Whorl, by Neal Schier. The whorl, he refers to, is one of those wispy arced feathery wings of a spiral galaxy. Neal views his job as an airline pilot as if from a whorl, looking in toward the core of the airline galaxy, essentially helpless to do anything but hang on for the ride and drink of the richness of his experiences along the way, despite the daily ration of gloom and doom that comes his (our) way.

He writes about the people with whom he has shared countless hours in the high flight levels, going the spectrum from bad company to good. As to the bad, he recounted his long trip with a paranoid captain named "JW." While JW was outside doing the walk-around inspection, Neal was in the cockpit testing systems. JW returned, seething but kept his silence. He didn't speak for the next two days, making for a nasty time for the both of them. At trip's end, JW turned to Neal and said, "Well, what was wrong?" Neal didn't know what to say. JW said, "When you tested the fire horn, it startled me. I almost dirtied my shirt on the tire." He told Neal he had given the matter long consideration and had almost decided to take the matter up with the chief pilot.

Neal wrote, ...he mentioned again those that seemed to be continually wishing him ill. Had I unknowingly joined this august band of miscreants? Had my inadvertent sounding of the fire test system been a plot to irritate him?...I had no real choice other than to take the ten-minute tounge-lashing--a period of time that seemed sufficient to slake his thirst for going to management.

Later, Neal wrote of a far different captain, an introspective, pensive, seasoned Viet Nam combat veteran, identified as only the "captain." The captain suddenly asked Neal, "What is the definition of leadership?"

Of this, Neal wrote, There was never much of a reason to be sudden in conversation while cruising along for hours, but those were how his questions, commands and requests spilled out. It was as if the thought had been percolating in his mind for a while, and now it needed to be set free.

After a long silence the captain looked at Neal and said, "I cannot tell you what leadership is....What I do know is that I can recognize leadership more by its absence than its presence."

JW was the classic example of the absence of leadership. His was an agenda of selfishness, fear and retribution. The captain led by applying his wisdom, communication, and experience and by imparting it to others who were hungry for it. It's a lesson we can apply to the affairs of the state, the company, and the family.

When I reach the end of a book and wish there was some more, I know I've read a good story.

This was the case when I read The Outer Whorl by Neal A. Schier.

Schier is a master storyteller and wrote the book from the perspective of a pilot for a major airline; but, instead of a biography of I did this and I did that, he writes as if his only purpose was to bring the reader along with him.

The text revolves around airplanes and pilots, but the real story is about people and their interpretations of the world around them. The author displays a great respect for all individuals, even those who fall below the bar.

The author sees airplane pilots through a prism rare in other books. He sees piloting as a craft to be practiced and honed to perfection. One story, in particular, sticks with me. It involves a modern passenger airliner recently in a serious situation over South America. Instead of trying to explain the jetliners' electrical system and its malfunction, he concentrates instead on the philosophical problem facing the Captain, reminiscent of the great stories of the sea. My favorite lines in the book are in this story:

"Time and fate were playing a cat-and-mouse game on this flight...The cat-and-mouse game did not last long though. The mask of supposed civility that cruel reality often wears was dropped, and the crew was facing the ugly prospect of having an electrical fire on board".

The book is a compelling read. Rather than a beginning, middle, and end, it is written as a series of essays. Each could stand alone, but each ties with a common thread to the others. It is an interesting way to deal with an author's lifetime of experiences and observations.

Both pilots and non-pilots are sometimes reluctant to approach a book with aviation as its theme. The pilot fears it will be too simplistic and forget to address the mundane every-day, every-week, every-month aspects as boredom and fatigue. The non-pilot fears being left behind by endless technical descriptions and weather report hieroglyphics and arcane formulae.

In The Outer Whorl, Neal A. Schier has written a book that deftly works around the reading fears of both the pilot and non-pilot. I highly recommend this book and suspect that at the end you'll wish there was some more.

Mr. Schier presents a series of essays describing his personal journey as a professional pilot. The book will appeal most to those who have taken similar choices and undergone similar rites of passage in the military and airline industry. But the book will also appeal to those not engaged in flying careers. His essays are insightful and show an attempt to understand various aspects of the human condition. Mr. Schier succeeds in describing a life painted on the canvas of a flying career, made even more enjoyable through his noticeable wit and sense of humor, presenting themselves in the direst of moments. Like many stories dealing with aviation it is one of man versus nature, man versus machine, and the strange dynamic of personalities trapped together in an aircraft cockpit---and of course man versus himself. Worth the time and money.

just finished the book The Outer Whorl written by Captain Neal Schier.

I highly recommend it. It is a very good read. It consists of a series of short essays of our beloved profession (I just recently retired from one of the Major's) that covers multiple topics such as bankruptcy, leadership and the more lighter moments on the line.

Normally I have found books written by our fellow pilots to be, well, less than great. But Captain Schier's book is not only great, it well thought out and is a must read for all.

I'm an avid reader. I guess you could say I have a case of abiblicaphobia (made up word, but it fits) or the fear of being on public transportation (I commuted from Boston to Chicago) or in a hotel room without reading material (magazines don't count). In fact, I guess you could say I have an acute case of it because I ALWAYS carried a spare book (or 2 or 3) with me on all my trips just in case I finished the one I was reading. My tastes run from mind candy fiction to more serious history/biography type of material. I place The Outer Whorl under the 2nd category.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The essay/short story format was perfect. Little snippets of flying experience that seemed to all flow together. I only wish I could write as well as that.

One chapter touches on the hijacking of a Lufthansa airliner some years back. Capt Schier discusses an interview with a woman who thought less of her husband (both were hostages) because of the incident. Mind boggling to say the least. Thank you Captain Schier.

[...]
Captain Robertson
UAL (Ret)

I really enjoyed this book. I am a frequent airline passenger but an outsider from the community of pilots who fly the big jets. The book provided a glimpse into the experiences and thinking of one pilot. It is a fascinating collection of stories infused with humor and poignant moments.

I highly recommend the book to anybody interested in flying or the airlines.

This book was extremely informative and answers most of the questions you would have about the gaming industry. I'm hoping for a second edition! Definitely purchase this book if you are considering a career in this field.

I bought this for my bf because he was thinking of a video game career, he hasn't done anything with this field yet, but he said the book was good

Are you considering going into the video games industry, but you want to find out more about it before making the decision to make the jump? This book will give you an honest and insightful look at just about every facet of this competitive industry.

Whether your serious or curious about the games industry, you'll enjoy this entertaining read. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

This book gave me more insight about what the Gaming work world is like than all the other research I did my whole life.

This is an essential read for anyone who wants to design electronic games!

As a graduate advisor for gaming students at Westwood College Online, I can not stress enough how important and worthwhile this book is. I recommend this book to every student that I work with because it is full of numerous "wake-up calls" and good ideas for breaking into the industry. Check this book out, it will greatly help you in your career search.

Oil affects us all more and more financially, environmentally and geopolitically as time passes. This engaging biography provides wonderful insight into the incubation of our current oil markets. Rubino also gives us a memorable image of a unique brave pacesetter for investigative business journalism, her uniqueness amplified by the fact that she was a woman. You will never read another article about this vital resource in the same way after being impacted by this book.

While I expected to find Queen of the Oil Club to be an educational read, I wasn't prepared for the page turner I found. Rubino's first person and you are there approach to Wanda's amazing life was riveting. So far,I've recommended it to friends looking for a lively summer read, writer friends, my graduate student niece who is pursuing Women's Studies and a friend who grew up in Saudi Arabia in the 1960's. There's something there for each of them.

Review for "The Queen of the Oil Club"
Anna Rubino takes us into the world of oil in the 1950's through the eyes of a remarkable woman, Wanda Jablonski. In this clearly readable book the reader is exposed to the personalities of the industry leaders, the look and feel of the Middle Eastern cities and the customs and concerns of its people. Filled with high drama, this book tells a fascinating and timely story, perhaps even more relevant in view of today's oil crisis.
Donald and Kathie Eppert

The seeds of today's oil crisis were sown during the five decades that Wanda Jablonski reported on industry events and, through that reporting, influenced their outcome. To understand the current surge of oil nationalism on the part of both producer and consumer nations that will determine the future of hydrocarbons for years to come, we need to go back to the earlier rise of oil nationalism that led to the creation of OPEC. This book takes us there through the life of an extraordinary woman. Wanda, her first name sufficed to identify her whether in the court of the King of Saudi Arabia or the Exxon executive offices, had access to the boardrooms and bedouins that created the oil machine. She spoke the truth to their faces and told her readers what went on behind the curtain. In an all-male oil world, she earned respect and fear for the power she wielded as a journalist who knew as much or more about this crucial industry than the men who ran it. Anna Rubino captures Wanda, a strangely reclusive woman who quietly re-wrote the rules of business journalism and influenced the world we live in today.

Anna Rubino was a brilliant scholar of history at Yale as she pursued her PhD. Now she has written a brilliant historical study, impeccable in scholarship but also timely and exciting. Five stars all around.
--William Lilley III, a Yale history faculty member when the author was a graduate student.

I thought this book was very well done. Detaild information and is explained as if you have no idea about the process and job of a radio producer, which I didn't. This is a great explanation for anyone working in radio in any aspect.

If you listen to the radio and ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes, this book is for you. The authors provide an often humorous description of the day to day activities that are done to bring the listener must-hear radio. Even the technical chapters were written in a way that somebody like me who has no connection to radio (other than listening) could understand and find interesting. Whether you are in the broadcasting field or just interested in radio, this book is well worth purchasing. The book was enjoyable to read and it gives the reader a new appreciation for what happens behind the scenes to bring the listener a good radio show.

I'm not really that familiar with radio production, but am more interested in the creative process in general, and I found this to be a worthwhile and engaging read. The writers are entertaining and personable, and make everything that they talk about exciting and interesting to read. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I worked with John Swanson at WTMX for almost 2 years, though not along side of him. I read this book and learned an large amount of what a producer does. It helped me out in a college radio show I do. Since it's a small station we don't have producers, so it's up for the DJ to do everything. This book made it easy to understand what I need to do for a successful show.

I have nothing to do with radio and I stumbled across this book to get a peek into the world of radio production. If you want to get into radio in any capacity, this book paints a great picture of how good shows are put together day in and day out.

If you don't want to get into radio or if you do but you just can't seem to escape those golden handcuffs at Fargenflam Inc., then this book is still a good read. As Rick and John bring you deeper and deeper into their radio producing world, they share many stories that add humor and depth to the subject matter.

It's a good read. I liked it but I am sticking to the much simpler world of TV.

Randall Cross
MTV Networks