Offices and Professionals Books

Good step by step guide to learn how to use Windows. This book is used for instruction of students in our local high school.

This is a must-have for any cult Office Space fan out there. The buttons inside are hilarious, as is the mini-book that comes with it. Everything was printed and created top-notch.

The only disappointment, and this is probably my fault for not paying close attention, is that the thing is tiny! The book is about half the size of a deck of cards, and the pins are no bigger than quarters and dimes. I guess I was just expecting something a bit larger.

Other than that, if you can recite the movie, you need to have this.

I read the Kindle version of this book and it was a great match for the Kindle. There was an occasional line break problem because of the "screenplay" format the book used. For instance the quote prefaced with the speakers name and a colon like - Boss: Hi Bill. and the Reply - Bill: Sorry I'm late. would occasionally all appear on one line like this:

Boss: Hi Bill. Bill: Sorry I'm late.

whereas it should have had a line break after Hi Bill so the next speaker's name would appear on the next line like this:

Boss: Hi Bill.
Bill: Sorry I'm late.

This is just a minor quibble though because the text was funny.

Each overheard quote would have an appropriate title that tied the whole quote together. If you work in an office you've probably heard much of this type of talk there and can relate. Some of the quotes were a bit risque - so if you're a bit prudish this might not be the book for you. But if you like funny quotes and humor and don't mind a bit of sexual innuendo this is the book for you.

I took off one star because from what I can tell all of the quotes are available for free on the associated website where the information originally appeared and it seemed like the book was a tad short compared to the other book by the author Overheard in New York (albeit that edition does say it's UPDATED).

I'm a professional medical biller and accounts receivable specialist - a second career following a quarter century of working for corporations large and small. I was shocked to see the low level of business acumen many physicians have, whether they are new to their profession or have been in business for many years. When I read this book I appreciated that Laura Sachs is one of the foremost experts in the field, and quickly added it to my short list of Must Have publications for my most troubled clients.

This is a no-nonsense, practical guide suitable for any size practice. The topics covered range from the purely financial to management of personnel, maintenance of the physical environment, estate planning, dress codes and hygiene, and more. It has dozens of checklists and hundreds of tips for the physician and his staff; nothing is left out.

Unfortunately, the book is somewhat dated. It apparently had only one printing, in 1991, and could stand updating in areas such as computerization of medical records, insurance industry changes, and the legal and regulatory climate. Nevertheless, much of the advice in this book is timeless, and the $70 price tag should be considered a very wise investment.

This book is very helpful, it has lots of information that is very easy to find. It's not a book you can just sit down and read, but it's quite useful as a reference tool.

For those who are looking for a good place to start to be able to effectively communicate in an administrative position, this is it! It is very down to earth with great ideas, as well as things to think about that few would consider. Places emphasis in how you come across in business situations, helps you see your strengths as well as weaknesses. This is a must have for beginners.

There are certainly bad jobs, but even the best job can be mildewed by a bad attitude. If a large percentage of the people in a group feel that their job is lousy, then it will be contagious and all will catch the disease.
This story is about Mary Jane, a woman that moved to Seattle, Washington with her husband, only to have him unexpectedly die of an aneurysm. She is the manager of a group that does very well; the negative talk is not within, but about the third floor. Apparently, the floor is populated with the slackers of the company, people who care little for the quality of their work or how it appears to others.
Since her husband died, Mary Jane has been struggling to pay off the residual medical bills, so when she is offered the management position of the third floor with a substantial pay raise, she accepts. She arrives to find that things are about as bad as she expected. Morale is horrendous; people delay in answering the phone and sometimes unplug it instead. There is no energy in the workers, everyone arrives as late as possible and seems to just endure until it is time to quit.
At first, Mary Jane has no idea what to do and when her superior gives her an ultimatum to increase productivity or else, she knows that she has to do something. Her first idea comes from her trip to a fish market. The workers there clearly are enjoying themselves; they toss fish around and even use them as makeshift hand puppets. When she asks about their positive attitude, one of the workers, a kind man named Lonnie, points out that a positive attitude is a necessary prerequisite to enjoying any job.
When Mary Jane calls a meeting and discusses it with her staff, she finds them much more positive than she expected. They are not by nature negative, in fact they are happy that someone is trying to improve their situation. After a few more visits to the fish market, Mary Jane discovers the other "secrets" to making her work environment a positive one and at the end, her staff is a team, happy and enjoying their work.
The word "secrets" is extremely overused in the context of success. No effective tactic is really a secret, everyone knows about it, the difference is in the effective application. Mary Jane learns, and you will too, that treating people as valuable and appreciated members of a group is a sure way to raise morale, which always improves performance. It also helps if you can disguise the work as play, which is another one of the tactics employed by Mary Jane. The story is inspiring, but not in an extremely dynamic manner.

I was given this so-called motivational book by a coach at my place of employment. I work at a financial institution which is very tedious and boring everyday.I read some of the book and couldn't stop wondering about how much worse my day could be! Its is very slow witted and repetitive. I was thinking to myself about how slow this coach could be since he said that the book changed his life! It offers very little practical advice and is a waste of time and energy. I see the reality in work. You work at a job for 20 to 25 years, like it or not, so that you can retire and enjoy everyday from that point onward. Enjoying counting money, fighting with customers, and listening to everyones complaints is anything but enjoyable and fish can't change that! It is just another book to waste your money on. If you are doing your job well, are mentally stable and not depressed, then this book is not needed. So instead of buying this waste of trees, why not take a walk in the park, learn a new language, get a hobby, or just enjoy your life and do your job. You don't need a book to do that! LOL Oh and this book titled fish really stinks! DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY $$$$$$

In a simple easy to read story "Fish" is about igniting passion into your work environment that can spill over into all aspects of your life. The "Fish Philosophy" is based on a few simple ideas that can transform your daily grind of a nine to five workday into an enriching, easy and yes, even a fun time at the office.

I work at a large financial firm and currently am heading a team that is focused on creating a new work procedure that has never been applied in our office previously. The creative start up process can be challenging but the team we have assembled for the work is up to the challenge and eager to be a part of something that will have an impact on the firm overall. I am so glad I read "Fish" in that I can share with my team the insights I've learned so that our work together can be productive, successful and yes here it is again...fun.

If you found "Fish" to be inspiring and enlightening, I highly recommend reading any of Ariel and Shya Kane's books called "Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment", "Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: A Book About Instantaneous Transformation" or "How To Create a Magical Relationship." All of the Kane's books impart insights and ways into living a life that is meaningful, satisfying and joyful.

Working in a place where you smile often...how cool is that? Can you imagine living a life where you smile often? It's definitely possible.

My boss gave me this book to read and tell her what I thought. My review here will be essentially what I told her.

The FISH concept is exactly that, a concept that has been heard before from countless speakers at every business conference you have attended. Chose your attitude, have some fun at work, pay attention to people, and be focused on the present. None of these are breakthrough concepts. The book itself is a quick read; I finished it on my lunch break after she gave it to me. Large font, large margins, and lots of wasted space make and already thin book even shorter.

The biggest problem with this book is that it is written to be motivational, but not exactly helpful. Most people will read this book, and be very excited about what they have read, wanting to run right back to work and start implementing the FISH philosophy. By the end of the week this enthusiasm will be gone because, unfortunately this book does not give you the knowledge or the skills to implement their theories. The character in the book is fictional, and the results she achieved by implementing this philosophy are just as fictional. I would have been much happier to have read about a company that actually DID implement this philosophy, how they did it, and the true results they achieved. Certainly reading that a fictional person implemented it and it worked phenomenally can be motivational, but reality works differently.

The flaws in the concept can be overcome, but the book itself does not help you to achieve this. The employees have to trust their management, the management has to both trust their employees and also have employees in place that can be trusted to want to do their job to the best of their ability. Also, you have to assume that the work that the employees are doing is actually value added work. In the day and age of lawsuits over everything, trying to add "fun" to the workplace can be a terrifying thing to management who has been trained over the years that anything out of the norm can result in a lawsuit of one type or another. The suggestion of beach balls and throwing footballs around the room (from the second book "Fish Tales") is any safety manager's nightmare.

In the end, this is a weakly written book about a philosophy that is motivational, but of more use in your personal life than the business world.

What irritates me about this book is the idea that an employee's attitude is the problem. The premise seems to be: Hate your job? It's your attitude!

There is no allowance made for the fact that perhaps there is a REASON that people might hate their job.

Perhaps they are made to follow rules that don't make sense. Perhaps they see what they need to accomplish, but lack the training or resources to get it done. Perhaps the office environment is old, crumbling, the bathrooms don't work, and the printer keeps jamming.

In other words, if employees are unhappy, then you need to find out WHY they are unhappy and FIX it.

Don't just tell them to change their attitude. Sure that might be the case with a few hardcore cynical people. But most of us WANT to do a good job. We only get cynical when we are prevented from doing so.

So look for tangible obstacles to your employees work, and remove them.

The attitude will take care of itself.

And, for the love of god and all that's holy, don't give them this stupid book.

Never forget that Gerstner was one of the big dog tobacco executives before he came to IBM.

One of the tobacco executives who took an oath and swore before Congress that he did not believe that tobacco was addictive. Tobacco was known to be addictive since at least 1932 according to the tobacco companies' own records.

Before you believe anything that Gerstner wrote or (more likely) had ghostwritten for him, always keep that in mind.

Having spent twenty-three years in management before I became an entrepreneur, I recognize that moving from one side of the desk to the other side may be the longest journey a professional person ever makes. When we shift into a leadership spot, not only do we find that our prior perceptions might have been totally inaccurate, we have to address personal and professional challenges we would have never imagined.

I applaud this book as one man's record of what life at the top is really like. He won me over immediately when he decided to wear a blue shirt because everyone else was wearing white. Thoreau would have applauded his individualism.

With my current profession dedicated to improving individual and corporate communication, I agree with Gerstner's assertion that "No institutional transformation takes place, I believe, without a multi-year commitment by the CEO to put himself or herself constantly in front of employees and speak in plain, simple, compelling language that drives conviction and action throughout the organization."

Another striking bit of Gerstner wisdom: "Success in a company comes foremost from success with the customer, nothing else."

He's right on target again when he observes that "lack of focus is the most common cause of corporate mediocrity."

Yet Gerstner goes beyond mere platitudes: "Execution--getting the task done, making it happen--is the most unappreciated skill of an effective business leader."

Possibly two of Gerstner's words capsule his approach to awakening IBM to its possibilities: "constructive impatience."

In my judgment, Louis Gerstner should rank alongside Jack Welch as a take-no-prisoners leader. Read this book, and you will agree that he was the right man at the right time for IBM.The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication-change Your Life!

Mr. Gerstner provides his story of when he took over the reigns at IBM and brought the company back on its feet. This is a strict business book with internal memos and charts at the end so it can lend itself to being a bit boring in some parts. However, when the authir describes how he was able to navicate thru the huge complexity of all the different divisions, then this book becomes a valuable reference for any business leader who needs to go thru the same process.

When I started the book, I have no idea about the history of IBM. I am not an IT person, so I have heard IBM but that is basically it.
I learned a lot from the book about IBM, what they did wrong and how he changed it.
But besides everything he revised the company culture and organizational structure. I think that is the hardest thing a CEO can achieve. His vision, his attention to details but still seeing the big picture amazed me. No wonder they picked him as the great saver of the IBM legend.
The book is long and sometimes repeats itself, without going into details.
The part I enjoyed the most was his e-mails. How encouraging was he after 9/11, he mentioned employee names and all the things they did both to help and also to get their business going. He sent e-mails to his 300.000 employees. His tone and the things he mentions, his clarity was amazing. He is an excellent leader. IBM is very lucky to have such a good CEO.

Throughout this book Gerstner discusses the changes IBM made and how he helped turned the company around. I have no doubt that he was a large part of the dynamic shift at IBM to again make it the successful, global company that it is today, but I felt that I went through the book without completely understanding what those changes were. There was a lot of discussion of how IBM was operated and managed when Gerstner took control of the company in 1993 as it was falling apart before the public's eyes, and there was a lot of explanation of how IBM was successful and reborn when he stepped down from the CEO position in 2002. But there was little substance in between. I am not sure if that is because the day-to-day steps taken throughout the mid and late 1990s are too mundane for the average business reader, of if the details were just left out. Gerstner does share some insight into leadership skills and his management style, but IBM as is left in the shadows. All in all, this is not a bad book, but be aware that the reader is left wondering exactly how IBM regained its dominant position in the marketplace.

This is meant just for laughs. If you or someone you know is a fan of the movie, this set is a whole lot of fun. Cult favorites of this movie will get a big kick out of it, my husband sure did! :-)

I knew the red stapler was not "actual size" but wasn't concerned about it because the recipient of this gift already has the real thing.
I bought it mostly for the mug, which is cheaply made, and has an uncentered logo. The "jump to conclusions" mat arrived awkwardly folded in the box and the print is chipping off at all of the folds. The kit is also missing the starter flair.
Overall, I would skip the kit. You can probably take a photo of the logo to a specialty shop and have it printed on a quality mug.

I bought this at a Barnes and Noble Book store. The box has no pictures of what's in it, or I wouldn't have gotten it. The box says it's Milton's red stapler. It is in NO WAY a full size Swingline brand stapler! It is a tot stapler, and not even Swingline brand. The mug looks like not even a second, more like a third. There's weird discolorations and bubbles all over it. The "flair" is nothing more than a black and white (cheaper to produce!) button that has the "case of the Mondays" line on it. I was terribly disappointed by the whole thing.

I had actually seen this set in Barnes & Noble once before, so I had a fairly good idea of what to expect when I ordered it. I would highly recommend this set for huge fans of "Office Space".

That being said, though, please realize that this is a Novelty gift. If you are looking for a stand-alone gift idea I don't quite think this would do it. However, if you know someone that is a big fan of the movie this would be an excellent addition to a present. My manager really liked it and laughed at every piece of the set as she took it out of the box.

If you can get this for $10 or so I would say go for it! If you are looking for a nice gift and this is your only option I would probably pass.

when i first opened the box, i was wondering where the hell the red stapler was. then i realized it was inside the mug.

yes, the red stapler is tiny. even smaller than your typical mini-stapler, i would say. and you only get one small piece of flair. the "pc load letter" sticker is also pretty small.

i like this kit for the mug, the "is this good for the company?" banner, and the "jump to conclusions" mat.

i was just looking forward to getting a cool red stapler...

This is probably the best book on OWC avaliable. This is mostly due to the fact that it's probably the *only* book on OWC available.

There's not substantially more information in the book than what is in the online help file. (And the book is nowhere near comprehensive as a reference) Much of the examples are extremely basic and do not delve into the actual issues that will be encountered developing anything other than a trivial OWC implementation.

If you're on an extremely tight schedule, need some basic OWC examples, and don't have time to read the documentation or search for examples on the web/MSDN, then this book may be helpful. Otherwise, save your money

Microsoft Press has some extremely good items in its catalog(Petzold, Richter, etc). However, this book is mostly just a thinly disguised marketing datasheet. Hopefully, O'Reilly will publish an OWC book.

From the title, I assumed that this would be a programming book. I don't know what I would call it except useless. My fault for not reading the other reviews. Anybody know of a good resource on this subject please contact me at activeinterface.com.

I am the author of this book, and after talking with some of the negative reviewers have determined that they disliked the book because they thought it would be a programmer's reference to the controls. That is not what this book is.

The book is segmented into two parts: Part I explains the capabilities and design of each control, along with code examples showing how to accomplish the most basic taks with the control (e.g. putting data into them, simple formatting, etc.); Part II covers a number of solutions written with the controls, showing the reader how to program the controls in a specific context to accomplish specific tasks. The solutions presented in this section were the same scenarios we used to inform the design of the controls.

So while this book does contain information on writing script code against the controls, it is organized *topically*, and does not provide a general reference to the entire programming model. It is intended for readers who are not familiar with the components, and need a roadmap into their rather large and daunting programming model. This book is also for people who have some understanding of the controls, but then need help in understanding how to accomplish a common task (e.g. producing a chart GIF on the server, feeding real-time data to the chart, or posting the contents of the Spreadsheet to a server page). So if you are asking the questions, "what are these controls and what can they do?", or "how do I use them to make some particular solution?" then this book is for you. If you are asking "what are all the valid values for a given parameter in some particular method call?" then this book is not for you.

I hope that these comments will make the nature of this book more apparent so you may decide if this book will help you or not.

-dave stearns

This is one of the worst books I've ever read. I can't believe that anyone would get anything of value from it. I'm an ASP/SQL developer with 5 years experience and I was not able to get more than a trivial example working, using this book.

The Author's problem is that he gives you examples, but doesn't teach you how to manipulate them. Several of the things I'm trying to do - have titles with two lines, change color of the column, make columns different colors. This book didn't help me with any of it. I was finally able to do some of what I wanted to do by looking for examples on the internet.

Given the fact that Microsoft's web site is also TOTALLY useless, I would think that the author would include and appendix outlining the properties of each object. Not only does this book not include enough information to help you strike out on your own, but it doesn't even point you to resources that could help you.

When I bought the wrox asp book (years ago), within a day I had built a data driven web site (crude, to be sure, but it worked). I could work this book for ever and not get anything useful working.

I have never bought a book that I couldn't find SOMETHING of use in, but this book will wind up in the bottom of my bird's cage.

Dave - next time you think of writing a book - please do us all a favor and turn on the TV instead.

This is probably the best book on OWC avaliable. This is mostly due to the fact that it's probably the *only* book on OWC available.

There's not substantially more information in the book than what is in the online help file. (And the book is nowhere near comprehensive as a reference) Much of the examples are extremely basic and do not delve into the actual issues that will be encountered developing anything other than a trivial OWC implementation.

If you're on an extremely tight schedule, need some basic OWC examples, and don't have time to read the documentation or search for examples on the web/MSDN, then this book may be helpful. Otherwise, save your money

Microsoft Press has some extremely good items in its catalog(Petzold, Richter, etc). However, this book is mostly just a thinly disguised marketing datasheet. Hopefully, O'Reilly will publish an OWC book.