Resources Books

The third book in the series and you know exactly what to expect. Yes, folks, it is every bit as entertaining as the first two, and that's probably all you need to know. But I'll go ahead and mention that he spends some time in the RAF during World War II, which we knew he would as the second book ended. I'll also mention that he and Helen have a baby, which you probably expected. One of the great joys of his writing is discovery, so I'd hate to screw that up with a spoiler, but these two tidbits are on the back cover anyway. Oh, and halfway through it, I predicted an ending in advance, and I only had to read 1000 pages by this guy before that happened. It's still great, great stuff, and you know you'll love it.

I read his books as a teen and loved them. Bought the whole set for my grandsons, [teens]. They laughed until they cried. [so did I].

If you like animals you will enjoy all James Herriot's books. This is one of a series of delightful books. Reading one will make you want to read the next one. I can read them over and over.

I have the complete series of All Creatures Great and Small books now. This was the last one and I loved it as much as I loved the others. He was a fantastic writer and having been born and raised on a farm I can appreciate a lot of what he talks about. I also have his cat and dog stories books and loved them just as much.

The books arrived so quickly that I got to take my time
wrapping the books.

Book seems like it will be really helpful before law school starts. It arrived on time and in promised condition.

The text was as described with no issues. The delivery was prompt and handled in a professional manner. I recommend this seller.

I like the schematic structure of American Legal Systems: A Resource and Reference guide. Once I delved into it, I really appreciated the clear and concise organization of the content as well as the presentation in tables and outlines.

As a novice reader in common law, I found the dual outline approach - from general to particular - very interesting: the concepts are first introduced, anchored and defined; thereafter, further developed into an enabling level of details.

Reference books generally do not explain the hierarchy of concepts. If reading the dictionary is not the most practical way to learn English, reading this book definitely makes exploring the American legal systems much less arduous. It is like the wheels under the car that will bring you there!

BOOK COMMENTS

American Legal System: Most Valuable Navigator of American Law for Foreign Lawyers Liu Junhai "American Legal System: A Resource and Reference Guide", written by Prof. Toni M. Fine, is one of the most practical and concise guidebook for American and foreign lawyers, especially those civil law trained lawyers, who want to gain a clear picture of American legal system within short time. Prof. Fine finished this book not only on the basis of many years of teaching American legal system at prestigious NYU School of Law, but also on the basis of her over ten years of productive academic research in this field. As a Chinese lawyer, I personally have benefited greatly from reading this book. Therefore, I'd like to encourage other foreign lawyers to share the informative knowledge presented in this book.

It is true that you can find innumerable books on American legal system either in bookstores or libraries. However, most of the legal works focus on specific or even very narrow areas of law, so as to satisfy academic exploration requirements. And most commonly used approach for foreign lawyers to learn American legal system is to start from very detailed yet specific areas of law. Therefore, it is natural for readers of this sort of books take it for granted that, they have known American legal system. In fact, what they have learned is only a part of American legal system, not the American legal system as a whole. Almost every body knows exactly the story of Indian blind men, who touched deferent parts of the same elephant, and mistook elephant either as a wall, or as a big fan, etc. To avoid the stupid mistakes made by these poor blind men, Prof. Fine just worked out a very clear picture of American legal system in a condensed form. After reading this book, I found the orientation of American law without difficulties, and got very familiar with basic concepts of American jurisprudence, case law, statutes and legislative history, administrative and other executive law, civil litigation, appellate court review, basic legal citation form, preparation of interoffice memorandums, memorandums of law, and preparation of appellate briefs. In a sense, I'd like to call this book a navigator in the ocean of American law. Before I read this book, I had found no such sort of navigator.

In order to enable readers operate and use the navigator easily and pleasantly, Prof. Fine tried her best in developing this book in a coherent, yet active and enabling way. The designation of the hierarchy of the whole structure of this book, including the headlines and sub-headlines, is very clear, concise and logical. The author also tends to guide the readers have the sight seeing from farther too nearer. For instance, the author introduced the basic concepts of stare decisis, court hierarchy, jurisdiction, dual court system, primary versus secondary authority at the very beginning of this book, and developed them further in details when readers proceed on exploring. Reading this book, is just like exploring a well-designed building group. To keep readers excited instead of tired while reading, the author used over sixty live and narrative charts, and avoided boring legal language. Therefore, almost each and every foreign lawyer or business people with basic English language skills could understand this book very well.

When I introduced this book to my colleagues in China, almost all of them think it necessary to translate this book into Chinese, and publish it in Chinese, so as to make it available to hundreds of thousands Chinese law students, lawyers, legal scholars, business people and general public, who have strong interest in American law. I could not imagine that Chinese students do not have this book as an indispensable refrence book if they want to study American law in the future. Although this book can not replace other American law books in specific areas of law, other books could be understood better and deeper with the assistance of this book as a navigator. I believe it is also true with the counterparts in other countries, especially the civil law countries. Of course, American law school students and business school students having interest in studding American law are also the suitable beneficiaries of this book. It is no wonder why this book has been printed for three times sine it was published in 1997. I sincerely hope and believe this book will be published in more foreign languages, and enable more foreign lawyers use this navigator in skillful and experienced way when they explore American law for either academic purpose or business purpose.

(The reviewer is Arbitrator, Beijing Arbitration Commission; Associate professor & Deputy Director, Department of Business Law & Economic Law, Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Email: junhai@public.east.cn.net; liujunhai_2000@yahoo.com)

If you are coming from a civil law country and want to learn more about the common law system, this book is just perfect for you. I highly recommend it to foreign trained lawyers attending an LL.M. program at an American law school. If you are planning to start your studies this fall, buy and read it this summer and enjoy the headstart and lean back in your first classes.

I like Professor Fine's book not only because it is so eloquently written (reader-friendly - how exceptional in the field of law!), but also for its clarity and conciseness. Especially the numerous charts are extremely useful and show you on one page what other books try to explain to you on 20 pages.

In short, Professor Fine's book will be your loyal companion through your LL.M. year.

My son recently started preschool and I remembered I loved this book as a child. I particularly remember how vibrant the pictures were and how my imagination ran wild with them. It was a great way to prepare him for his first day of school and one we continue to read over and over and over! A definate classic!

Book shows that Sister is nervous about starting kindergarten. She meets the teacher Mrs. Honey before school starts. First she is nervous but soon she starts to relax and enjoy herself and have fun. I love the part where she holds another kindergartener's hand on the bus. So often little kids only think of themselves and not others.

this book is ok .One reason is because it shows you not to judge things you haven,t tried.Another is If people dont trie something then help them do it.This is what i think of this book.

I really loved this book as a kid because I loved all the illustrations and I loved kindergarten as well. I was volunteering at a kindergarten class one time and read this book to the kids and they loved it and were so happy for some reason when I told them I have the book at home too :) It's a good book to prepare your child for daycare, preschool or kindergarten if they're having anxiety about going.

If you're looking for a book to introduce your child to what happens at school, then look no further. Sister Bear will be going to school for the first time in this book and in preparation, Mama takes her to see her kindergarten teacher for lunch. She has a wonderful time and then brother takes her to school with him and helps her get on the bus. Sister is kind and holds the hand of another little bear who seems very afraid and they go into class together. That part was really sweet! This book does a wonderful job in teaching children what school is about and what to expect. If Brother and Sister can do it, then we can too! This is a great hit at our house and I highly recommend it!

Very interesting book to read. Not always easy, but idea behind it is pretty clear. In order to create healthy working environment managers have to encourage curiousity and cooperation accross organization. That in turn will generate discovery process that will lead to innovation. More people get included in the process, outcome is teamwork where everyone gets valued and recognized. In such environment, teams become successful and people in general work together better. Relationships are meaningful, throughput greater and overall happiness is inevitable.

This book is a thorough investigation and synthesis of the best thinking on leadership. Judith Glaser's new and fresh perspective helps leaders see how to create leaders, not followers. It should be read by anyone who aspires to or attains a leadership position.

Author Judith E. Glaser has helped numerous organizations large and small to change and deal with challenges. She tells stories about real organizations and managers and how they worked through their challenges. While the stories provide a learning tool, changing organizational beliefs and attitudes isn't quick and easy. Therefore, Glaser — even with her background — can't provide fast solutions to convert an organization from I to WE.

Instead, the author shows the difference between I-thinking and WE-thinking and provides tools for leaders to use while working toward WE-thinking and changing the organization's culture. It takes time, patience, and practice to make a change.

Judith E. Glaser's life turned upside down when she fought and won a battle with cancer. Her husband, president of a pharmaceutical company working on a cure for cancer, worked with the idea of reminding cells how to be normal, which in turn makes them healthy. Her battle, her work, and her husband's work led her to discover that cancer cells and toxic organizations have much in common. "Healthy cells" and "healthy organizations" succeed when they work together as a whole instead of separately.

Creating We consists of three elements for changing organizations from I-thinking to WE-thinking. "Believing WE" is about changing attitudes and beliefs in organizations and how employees should behave. "Learning WE" is about getting rid of old beliefs like the manager is in charge and that employees shouldn't speak up and adapting a healthy exchange of ideas between managers and employees. "Becoming WE" means changing the thinking and responding from I to WE.

The book provides many questions for managers to ask and explore as they go through their "I to WE" journey. Don't expect a speedy and painless adventure as the book covers a lot of material. Adopting "WE" means changing your way of thinking, conversing, and behaving. Companies that transform their cultures from "I" to "WE" experience side effects of innovation, cooperation, open conversations, and overall good health.

Executives and managers who study and reference the book's concepts, questions, and adopt the "WE-centric" thinking and philosophy will help their companies get the most out of every employee and enjoy success.

Author and management consultant Judith E. Glaser helps organizations deal with change and challenges. She describes real companies and managers, and tells stories of how they worked through the issues that confronted them. While her narratives are instructive, albeit peppered with "I" and "WE" jargon, the process of changing organizational beliefs and attitudes isn't quick or easy. Therefore, even Glaser - with her expert background - can't provide any fast ways to convert an organization from "I-centric" attitudes to "WE-centric" attitudes. Instead, she shows the difference between I-thinking and WE-thinking, and provides tools that leaders can use to instill a WE-oriented corporate ethos. Although changing an organization's culture is a matter of great patience, we believe that managers who study this book's concepts will be able to boost their companies' productivity, adaptability and internal cooperation - over time.

Judith has been the catalyst for transformational success for an impressive resume of clients but her writing style clearly reflects the thoughts of a person who has not elevated herself above the common person. I could not put this book down and was compelled to finish reading it over one weekend. To me personally, this is a book about understanding that organizations are made up of people and people are about relationships. Creating WE... reminds us that the language we use shapes our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Judith's message is unmistakably clear:

· "You can't lead until you know yourself."
· "We are all connected through our emotions and our energy."
· "We are all connected through our families, organizations and communities."
· "We are all connected through our beliefs we hold about the world."
· "We are connected at the heart and at the head."

In "Creating WE..." Judith Glaser has given us truth that applies to all phases of life. It is one of the best books I've ever read about leading, and I recommend it as a must read for anyone that aspires to be a transformational leader. Judith takes us on a journey of understanding culture and what it takes to create a healthy culture that transforms an organization from one that is just getting by, to one that thrives and accepts new challenges head on. She tells us, in very simple terms, that the highest potential of any organization is achieved through the nature of the relationships within. She shares some interesting anecdotes, teaches us the steps to take to become WE-centric and finally tells us what to expect as we begin living the life of a WE-Thinking leader. Don't miss this opportunity for personal growth.

As an already-successful author (Rewired, Rehired, or Retired? Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer 2002) and sought-after international speaker, Bob Critchley is eminently qualified to speak with authority on the labour market of the future.

Whilst not alone in ringing the warning bells, Critchley has much more to offer than an alarmist message ... and he couldn't make it easier for us. He goes beyond illuminating the impending labour crisis, he has the strategies and solutions too.

Company Directors, CEO's, Management and especially HR advisers need to have this book on the top of their "must read" list!

So how does an organization maintain and maximise a multi-generational workforce, remain flexible yet successful and also be seen as an employer of choice? Critchley's answer is clear ... "Doing nothing is Not an option!".

Exactly what to do is made abundantly clear in this eminently sensible and readable book from someone who has impeccable credentials and vast experience. Carolyne Burns, MD, Influence InterPersonal Profiling, Sydney Australia

We all know the importance of trusted and experienced people in successful businesses......why then are they often overlooked in favour of the "new model" or the "grass is greener" scenario? Critchley really brings home the message that these people are key and will be absolutely key for organisations to main tain their position and advantage.The book is a must not only for HR professionals but also for all managers and company directors....from an author with extensive practiocal knowledge and successful experience of practising what he preaches.

Bob Critchley has produced an outstanding people management guide. The author's deep practical experience is evident as he shares his insights into effective management of people in all age groups. At a time when there is a growing shortage of talent in most developed economies, knowledge from this book can help put results on the bottom line in most business organisations. This book is easy to read and hard to put down! Colin Durand, The Insight Executive Search Group, Sydney Australia.

Bob Critchley's book provides a powerful and compelling argument for "thinking outside the box".

The population demographics are inevitable and organisations ignore them at their own peril.

Unless organisations adopt flexible ways of engaging employees and think laterally about how to maximise the contribution of every single employee, they are doomed to become victims of the demographic reality.

Critchley's book not only provides the evidence and demonstrates the inevitibility - but he also provides a compendium of ideas about how to respond.

An invaluable guide to any forward thinking HR professional.

Time marches slowly on and we all tend get caught up in our day to day and short term activities. Just like when global warming incidents started to occur. In isolation they meant little and then a pattern and explanation emerged. Critchley pulls together the signs in our demographic and employment changes. Dramatic shortages in skilled labour arise; a lack of investment in infrastructure becomes apparent; retirement and aged care issues start to be reported in the media; the funding of retirees becomes a federal budget issue; government start to create incentives to get people back to work. For those who run businesses other symptoms become apparent. So often the employer has to convince the prospective employee why to join them; the employer becomes aware of impending skill losses as older employees approach retirement age; people talk about not wanting to fully retire and having flexible arrangements; the employer can't find the right people.
Critchley's book suddenly pulls all these incidents and changes in attitude together into one easy flowing cohesive read. He paints a picture of why things are happening and what is likely to continue to happen. More importantly he canvasses what needs to be done for organisations to be successful in this environment. Many organisations pay lip service to people being their most important asset and often they have a short term focus. Critchley really sets down some ideas and a framework that organisations, who really do value people, will need to adopt to be successful in the long term. A must read.

The book shows you step by step how to draw cars.

This is a helpful book whether you are drawing for the first time or have been doing it for years!

It goes from simple shapes and line structure all the way through shading and adding detail.

Definitely a must for anyone who wants to add cars to their visual story telling or even an automotive design student.

Just remember to be patient with this book.

It takes a while to get the hang of it.

Once you do, you'll be fine!

This was a 9th Birthday present for my nephew. It kept him entertained for hours! He loved the book and still uses it almost daily after 8 months.

This book has many examples of step-by-step drawings. The only drawback might be that there is very little explanation. You learn mainly by copying the examples. It has a great selection of different cool cars and vehicles to draw. Equally good for young teens or adults.

I have the 1993 publication of this book, and it's amazing. It teaches you how to draw cars in general, not just the ones shown in the book.

Hi!!The book is wonderful for beginers.It helps you get the basic right.Almost all aspect are covered so that you can start sketching cars on your own like side view,3d view.Gives detail information for drawing tyres.This book has helped me a lot and I would recommend this book to everyone without any hesitation.

Superb. Simply. Great literature. The character of John, the main character's friend was the best and most gratifying of all. Please obtain and let your eyes go to work. To think the author died short of fifty. Man, we get burned sometimes.

I am thilled to see this book being available in hardcover and paperback as well. I read this book about ten years ago and I read it regularly every couple of years. The story is very compelling and the scene of the protagonist walking home through a run-down community is a classic of American literature.

What this book and O'Connor's other novel, The Last Hurrah, apart is the writing. In an era where writers seem to challenge one another to be more like Faukner and less comprehensible to the average man, O'Connor wrote very well and his language is beautiful. From this fine prose arises really deep characters which are flawed and so easily identifiable to us all.

I found this to be a wonderful novel and a great pleasure to read. I have been trying to find this for years and could not in any bookstore. While this could not translate to the movies as easily as Last Hurrah, I found this to be so much more interesting. A truly Catholic novel, it is a joy to find something that takes spiritual issues seriously and yet is hardly preachy. And if you are Irish, the dialogues of the "friends" of the family will make you laugh outloud while reading. This brought back the charms and frustrations of my childhood and my own family of Irish aunts and uncles. Long but worth the effort. A great find.

As I was reading THE EDGE OF SADNESS, I couldn't help but think that in 1961, when this Pulitzer Prize winning novel was published, it must have been rather controversial. It dealt with the humanity of priests, noting flaws but in a respectful manner. While some writers such as Georges Bernanos dealt with such issues in his DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST, American audiences were still used to the Hollywood Big Screen concoctions of Spencer Tracy--Father Flanagan/Bing Crosby--Father O'Malley models of priesthood. While the priest in THE EDGE OF SADNESS may be worthy of the warmth and love given to his movie counterparts, he's hardly perfect.

The novel tells the story of an alcoholic priest named Hugh Kennedy beginning again in ministry in an older, run down parish. Readers get a sense he's not the priest he once was, and throughout the novel we learn of his early ministry, the ramifications of the death of his father, the struggle with alcohol, and the loneliness that is a real part of his life. The book is written in the first person, and we hear the story of his life as he tells of his rekindling of a friendship with the Carmody family: Charlie, the patriarch, his son John the priest, Dan, the ne'er do well, Helen, the outspoken sister married to a doctor and Mary, the daughter who remains at home to care for the aging but still independent and at times ruthless Charlie. We also meet a host of minor characters: Helen's husband Frank, their son and daughter-in-law Ted and Anne, Charlie's longtime friends P.J. and Bucky, Roy, the maintenance man who works at Fr. Kennedy's church, and Fr. Stanley Danowski, the endearing yet naïve and at time nerdy young curate at Fr. Kennedy's parish. As the events of the novel unfold, we see changes in Fr. Kennedy as he discovers his love for God and his vocation.

This is an older style novel in many ways. O'Connor is not short on words and he gives a number of details, yet the novel flows and is a fast read for a volume of nearly 650 pages. The issues of struggles in priesthood, vitality of parishes, older priest verses younger priest, unstated yet real competition between clergy people, and a hunger for God are all present in this book. In some ways if some historical details were changed in the book, it could be about modern day Catholic life. Perhaps this is the power of this book and why it can seem timeless. While it tells a story from an earlier day, it's not an invitation for nostalgia, at least for Catholic readers. Instead it will remind readers of what truly matters in life: the importance of faith, and the importance of having people who love us and people we love in return. While it may seem dated in some ways, readers will agree that the editors at Loyola Press were correct in reissuing this book as a classic.

This simple but beautiful bittersweet story of life among the Irish-American citizens of an unnamed eastern city is a joyful and beguiling tale. O'Connor's characterizations and dialogues are engaging and from my personal experience utterly authentic. I feel as though I have met all the main chacters and could give them names among family and acquaintances. The set piece of Father Kennedy' battle with alcoholism is tastefully done.

I bought this book to help with my transition to a director's position at a nonprofit organization. It contains very useful and concrete ideas, in addition to case studies from different organizational types (i.e., an example of succession in public agency, a non-profit organization, etc.). I would definitely suggest this book for anyone thinking of systematizing succession.

Rothwell's book is one of the more comprehensive and well researched books covering this growing topic. It includes a wealth of information following all of the major steps of the Succession Planning process. The book contains useful worksheets and task process flows that allow a reader to rapidly introduce the core concepts into their organisation. A great resource.

easy to understand and absorb great intro reference

The need for succession planning is reaching crisis proportions, yet few organizations are willing to face the crisis and do something about it.

There's nothing magic here---just a realistic, comprehensvie, flexible approach to get the job done. The strenghts in this book:
- Finding the right devleopmental activity for the right level of management
- Design, gain support, and implement, and maintain your succession process.
- Lots of extras, including assessments and a plan to devleop a mentoring program.

A great value.

Rothwell provides not only an excellent review of the current literature but countless worksheets for practice. If you are interested in succession planning issues this book is a must. I would also recommend "The Leadership Pipeline" by Charan, Drotter, & Noel. And buy a copy of "Strategic Organizational Learning" by Beitler. Beitler has several free articles on his website "[...]" that are also helpful.

Laura Taylor
Baltimore, MD

I have been in the retained search business for over 18 years and Lou's book is the only book and related seminar program to "hit the proverbial nail on the head" when it comes to interviewing and assessing top talent. Lou gives numerous case studies and examples to illustrate his ideas, unlike many books which leave you with such a superficial level of information that you sense they were nothing more than hot air. The best part of Lou's book is that you could skim the contents and walk into an interview and gain a very high confidence that the candidate can achieve the results you desire. Lou gives a step by step methodology for conducting the interview and assessing the results. Many of my clients, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to entrepreneurial DOT COM start-ups, swear by Lou's approach to interviewing and candidate assessment. I give a copy of Lou's book to all my clients. The other great part of Lou's book is that it is supported by a world-class web site for hiring and interviewing, POWERHiring.Com.

This book gives a solid foundation to interviewers on good hiring techniques and a box of tools to help conduct better selection interviews. I recommend the book.

Wayne D. Ford, Ph.D., author of "How to Spot a Liar in a Job Interview" and "How to Spot a Phony Resume" docwifford@msn.com

I've been a hiring manager for over 10 years. After reading Lou Adler's common sense approach to hiring in "Hire With Your Head, a rational way to make a gut decision" I ordered copies of his book for each of my hiring managers. This sensible approach to hiring has forever changed my approach to personnel staffing.

I have used Lou Adler's POWER Hiring for over 3 years now. I have been a recruiting/ employment professional and consultant for 32 years and have seen a great number of methods, processes and procedures come and go. I have to say, this is by far the best of the best! Not only has this proven successful for me, but I have taught the methodology to quite a few of my clients. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. In my consulting capacity, I have the opportunity every day to observe the candidate/employer selection process. I also see the end results of the selection as I talk to employees who tell me about the latest hire that didn't work out very well. I frequently hear from the candidate who didn't match the new position and has a desire to search for a new position, often due to the misinformation presented in the interview process. I have observed that mistakes are made in a very high percentage of cases. It takes a lot to make an effective match. An employee might perform above average in one situation/culture and very average or below in others. For example, a Controller position in one firm may differ dramatically in terms of size and scope of responsibility, skills required, expected deliverables, etc. Just as not all Controllers are created equal, neither are the jobs. POWER Hiring is very effective in focusing on the factors of the specific position vs. the skills and talents of the candidate, with the end result being a drastic reduction in hiring errors. My suggestion; note the overwhelmingly positive responses by the readers on this site, buy the book and you will experience and enjoy the positive results you will achieve when employing these principles!

According to articles in three major publications, the problems and recommendations in Lou Adler's book do address the correct issues. A recent Harvard Business Review article identified ten major interviewing mistakes -- known to most professionals -- but a constant struggle unless a technique like POWER Hiring is used. Training Magazine has a current article calling for something more than traditional "behavioral interviewing" to deal with increased preparation (and sometimes lies) on the part of interviewees. The POWER Hiring approach probes much deeper than traditional behavioral interviewing -- and solves this problem by switching from "having" to "doing." And Fortune Magazine recently recognized Adler's book as the "best" on addressing the ever more complicated issue of navigating the internet.

I've trained hundreds of human resources and management professionals on interviewing techniques. I've never seen a technique as strong as Adler's POWER Hiring. I've counseled hundreds of job seekers in a volunteer job seekers program -- they've reacted very positively when I've suggested that being prepared to answer Lou Adler's questions would really set them apart.

POWER Hiring, as suggested by Adler, is theoretically solid, based on sound management principles that hiring managers often forget -- and it works!

This book presents some interesting concepts on Process Design and Performance.

Don't let the date this book was published influence your decision to buy - it is timeless. I am on my second copy of this book and would characterize it as the best book on business process management that has ever been published. This is "The Book". Everyone I know in the Business Process Management field has this book. I recommend it to every client and every business improvement team member that I work with.

The information contained in this "gem" can help anyone involved in process improvement. Consultants, executives, managers, process team leaders, process team members - it doesn't matter whether you are working in manufacturing, finance, logistics, sales or human resources. It also doesn't matter whether you are new to BPM or have been in the field for 20 years. This book will change the way you think about organizational structure and approaching business process.

Trying to characterize what parts of the book were best, would be like trying to dissect what parts of the blue sky you like best. It is all great stuff - each chapter is better than the next, and will help you understand what needs to be done to make business improvement initiatives work. It is well written, easy to understand the concepts, with hundreds of useful illustrations and models to learn from.

I would give this book 6 stars if I could ...

This book will survive the trends, since most of the trends are based on the principles in this book. The names will change (Quality Circles, Just In Time, TQM, Re-engineering, Six Sigma, ...), but these principles and how well they are implemented will determine a companies' efficiency and quality.

As a business process and systems analyst, I have used the techniques in this book extensively to document existing and proposed processes and systems.

The diagramming techniques ensure thorough identification of all relevant interfaces and will assist in identifying those frustrating and toxic business processes that defy verbal description, but once diagrammed, seem to become clearly understood. I cannot count how many "Ah-ha" moments I have seen when confused managers, too deep in the trees to be able to see the whole forest, finally see the problems with their business laid out in clear pictures drawn with the techniques taught in this book.

This is by far the first book that dealt with process improvement and change from all angles. This book provides examples that will help the novice in preparing and implementing change. Packed with examples and worksheets to guide the reader thru the whole process. However, since it was written in 1995, this book does not cover prevailing technologies but is still useful in understanding the foundations for change. If you are looking to implement business process change/improvement, read this book in conjunction with a more recent book by Paul Harmon "Business Process Change" who happens to be a student of Mr. Rummler. Paul Harmon's book cover such topics as CMM and Six Sigma when implementing process change.