Resources Books

Gods be feathered, how I love this book. The four-book Chanur series is one of the greatest SF epics of all time. (The fifth, Chanur's Legacy, is a fun afterthought but not as deep as the original chunk.) This first volume is a satisfying stand-alone read, but trust me, you'll want to read the rest. I always warn people not to start this series unless you have a large chunk of time set aside--even though I've reread it countless times, once I get started I still find its momentum impossible to put down.

Pride of Chanur starts with an unforgettable image--a mostly naked fugitive human writing numbers on a spaceship deck in his own blood to prove his sentience to the startled alien who has just slashed him with her claws in self-defense. From there it rolls along into an intelligent, funny, and utterly satisfying adventure. Cherryh achieves an amazing feat in telling the story entirely through alien eyes, yet still giving us completely satisfying, believable, and likable protagonists. She vividly depicts four entirely distinct and fully realized oxy-breathing species, each complete with distinct patterns of thought, traditions, and psychology, plus several other more mysterious methane-breathing species, in all their complex and troublesome interactions, plus humans (well, mostly just one) thrown precipitously into the mix. The human is the alien in this story, and we hear his perspective only through the often garbled and always incomplete computer translator, an approach which is unusually realistic (unlike so much SF where translation always works perfectly, instantly) and always leaves you curious to know more. The reversal of perspective is so convincing and complete that you'll find yourself looking at your own species' psychology as the strange one.

Plus there's the fascinating reverse-sexism of the hani, the main alien culture, which essentially follows the structure of a sentient lion pride: men are considered too volatile and unstable for everyday business, thus are kept secluded except during dynastic battles; the sensible, pragmatic females take care of commerce, law, alliances, and space-faring. (In the sequels, these beliefs get confronted and deconstructed in interesting ways.) The quintessentially feline temperament and mannerisms of the hani--vain, swaggering, hot-tempered, affectionate, physical, fierce, loyal--are convincing and irresistible, especially if you're a cat person anyway! And be warned, the pidgin and idiom the characters use for inter-species communication will completely infect your brain.

Dive right into this satisfying yarn, and know that in the next three books a far, far wilder, bigger, and more complex story will unfold...nail-biting action intertwined flawlessly with deep psychological and cultural insight, tangled intrigue, agonizing moral dilemmas, and extraordinary character transformations. Enjoy the ride!

Not many writers can do aliens as well as Cherryh -- bilateral, oxygen-breathing, most of them, but with minds and emotions and evolved biologies that are very, very different indeed from human. Pyanfar Chanur is the successful, wealthy captain of a Hani trading ship, a powerful figure in the powerful Chanur family, leading a crew composed all of family members, like all Hani ships. And then she's suddenly saddled with Tully, a refugee human escaped from the Kif, an opportunistically piratical race that evolved by blood feud. Humans are newly arrived on the edge of the space occupied by the member races of the Compact and trading rights with them will be worth a lot, but Pyanfar will have to risk everything. And the profoundly untrustworthy Kif aren't going to make things easier. Cherryh does a terrific job of gradually introducing the reader to the intricacies of the vaguely lion-like Hani society, in which females do the work and tend to the psychologically unstable, world-bound males, who are lords of the estates -- until they're challenged by younger males and finally lose. You'll come to know Pyanfar and her crew as individuals, too. The plot gallops, the characterizations are intriguing, and the dialogue is snappy. Yet the book is much denser than it appears. What more could you want -- except the three following volumes in this saga?

Yeah, this book was pretty cool. It's not quite as dense or sprawling as I've come to expect Cherryh books to be (not that that's a bad thing!), but that doesn't detract from it one bit. And this book moves, moves, moves. It's probably one of the most engrossing books I've ever read.

This is another one of Cherryh's first-contact type novels, and I think it's the thing she does best, really. It involves a lone human somehow lost in alien space who manages to sneak abord a Hani merchant ship, and how his presence upsets the delicate balance of power there. It's serious without being too oppressive, and it is without question the best of the series. I've read the other three, and really you can take those or leave them--the book is complete enough in itself. (With the others, I kind of feel myself playing the Star Trek 5/Aliens 3 game--if I didn't like it, it didn't happen. Trek 5? Nope. Went from 4 straight to 6....)

I highly reccommend this book. It's typical Cherryh, in that you'll have to wait for your gratification until the very very end--but then, it's always worth it.

After reading and enjoying Ms. Cherryh's "Cyteen" I started searching for more of her novels and decided to begin reading Chanur's Saga. "The Pride of Chanur" is its first volume.

Ms. Cherryh creates, once more, an astounding backdrop Cosmos full of intricacies, depicting the other end of the universe shown in "Cyteen".
Here she elaborates The Compact's Media where many alien races compete, trade and fight. There are oxygen breathers and methane breathers; big cat-like people and gray somber entities; aggressive races and peaceful ones; some species are deceitful and others are straight forward.
Just to make things more complex a Human show up demanding asylum from the Hani (Chanur's kind) and giving way to a feud between Hani & Kif (the bad guys of the story).

One astounding feature of the book is that the main character is Captain Pyanfar Chanur and her ethnocentric point of view is THE point of perception. All other races (including human) are strange and requires all her imagination to figure up what kind of entities they are. Are they friendly? Stable? Trustworthy? All these and many more questions she has to answer in order to survive.

The other bewildering aspect is that Hani kind is conducted by their females. Ladies are in charge of commerce, space travel, politics and any other significant activity (even war). Males are the Lords, pampered by females, sporting and hunting. Only one by Clan, he may be defied by other males (his own exiled sons are suitable) to singular combat and the winner takes all.

The novel has the typical Space Opera structure, enriched by new elements as character's depth and culture's coherence.
It is a very good sci-fi novel that will be enjoyed by fans & general public!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

I'm currently re-reading this in it's incarnation as the first part of "The Chanur Saga" "Omnibus edition." I wanted to put a separate review here since I intend to rate that "omnibus" low simply because it's not complete. "The Pride of Chanur" is an excellent book. Written in the standard Cherryh "from the gut" manner, it grabs on to your emotions and yanks them hither and yon from the first couple of pages all the way to the end. It's one of those books where you try to read faster and faster so that you can find out what's going to happen (even after having read it several times before). The best part of the book is the fact that it's stand-alone: it finishes what it starts. The remainder of the series requires this book. But, this book doesn't require the remainder of the series (though you'll definitely want to read that). Excellent book.

When someone sent me a copy of this book a year ago, I thought it was going to be light reading for a technologist's coffee table. Then I started to read it. This book truly runs the gamut of all the issues that customer service contact centers face today. The book provides a great introduction to contact centers, their technology and both the business and people issues that contact centers face in the 21st century.
People complain with increasing frequency about poor customer service. With great dissatisfaction about call center jobs moving overseas, and service suffering, this book examines all those issues and each chapter gives a list of helpful steps to take to overcome all the obstacles to good customer service.
This is a must read if you need to know about these issues or are working in any part of this exploding industry and need to do your job better.

The Real-Time Contact Center is easy to read, clearly based on real-world experience, and cutting-edge.

My initial intention when purchasing this book was as a reference for my Call Center Management Certification classes, but I found myself turning to it on a regular basis for practical advice on the challenges I face on a day-to-day basis in my Contact Center Operations career.

Donna Fluss has written a book that should be in the Library of every Contact Center. She offers a fun, practical, and leading-edge approach to the dynamic task of capitalizing on the strength of your human resources, operational processes, and targeted technology to achieve uncompromised Customer Service, Customer Loyalty, and Operational Efficiencies.

I consistently refer to her guidance when faced with the inevitable challenge of improving efficiency and productivity, while increasing revenue generating opportunities.

I recommend that you purchase the Real-Time Contact Center if you work at any level of a Contact Center. It will shed bright-light and clarity on the purpose of the Contact Center in the organization as a whole.

Corinne Valcourt
Director, J. Jill Contact Center Operations

This is a superb book offering an overview of how to engage with customers in real-time along with all the ins and outs of the contact center. It's a one-stop resource and I keep it on my desk as a handy reference. Every person involved in the biz needs to have it in their library - makes a great gift for your staff as well.
Debora Glennon, Enterprise Multimedia Applications Marketing

I have been either an executive or consultant in the call center industry for the last 10 years. My area of expertise is increasing sales performance. After reading various books, and periodicals, I unequivocally find this the best resource on the market. Ms. Fluss covers all the bases of how to transform your call center...or dramatically increase its sales and service performance. Her writing style is entertaining, and the checklists at the end of each chapter provide a road map for the transformation. This book should be mandatory reading for all call center executives and managers. I think 10 years from now the term call center will no longer exist, and the term real-time contact center will take its place. If you want to be on that train to the future...this is a must read.

This book clearly outlines the strategy to turn your contact center into a corporate asset. The writing is concise, the illustrations are many and useful. This book is stuffed with ROI models, strategy checklists, vendor lists, cost analysis and information you just can't find anywhere else.

Read it before you competitors do!

Guy Jones
President, Island Data Corp.

This book is great! Jack is so creative and gifted with words. I bought this book for my 4 year old daughter, and she loved every bit of it, except for the Mangorilla and Orangatangerine. She made me skip that part, because she said the picture gave her the creeps!
This book takes you on a bizarre journey through an amazingly creative place with a clever play on words, and wonderful poetic content. My daughter spent hours looking at this book and had fun figuring out the animal combinations that created each character. I was particularly grateful for the pronunciation guide for the animals!

I was intrigued and amused to see another reviewer say her children were obsessed with "Scranimals" -- because that's the same reaction we got with our kid!

Jack Prelutsky evidently knows the secret of how to captivate children, especially when teamed up with illustrators like Peter Sis. Nearly every Prelutsky book that enters our home gets the same treatment: fascination, amusement, and above all, lots of reading and re-reading.

One might say that this is not Prelutsky's most ingenious work, since it's basically a single concept stretched out into a series of variations, not all of which are equally clever. But there's more to it than that. The illustrations are compelling and fun. And much of the poetry is more highly-crafted than one might expect, given the silly first impression the book makes.

A great example is the description of the "Bananaconda" (that word alone always makes ME laugh!) in which the author slathers syballant syllables in silly sequences. I took the opportunity to point out to our first-grader how a poet describes things differently than other kinds of writers.

I then read it aloud to demonstrate that point, sssimply by exsstending each of the esses on the page. At that point, most kids can make the connection between the sound of the words, and their understanding of "S" as the sound made by a snake -- something many of them learn in preschool, if not earlier.

And of course those words were written ABOUT a snake. For a kid to learn that words can have multiple layers of meaning, and to learn that concept at such an early age... well, that's really something. And Prelutsky is one of the best at delivering that kind of depth, even when combined with utter silliness.

In short, Scranimals is definitely a worthy addition to any child's collection, at nearly any age.

During the story a boy and a girl went on a trip the Scranimal Island. They saw a lot of animals such as the RHINOCEROSE, a group SPINACHICKENS, a caravan of CAMELBERTA PEACHES, a lonely POTATOAD, one CARDINALBACORE, couple of HIPPOPOTAMUSHROOMS, talkative PARROTTERS, a sweet PORCUPINEAPPLE, fierce BROCCOLIONS, a nimble ANTELOPETUNIA, an unsuccessful STORMY PETRELEPHANT, content TOUCANEMONES, then the vicious RADISHARK, a yellow BANANACONDA, the fast OSTRICHEETAH, a shy PANADAFFODIL, and the playful MANGORILLA and his friend the ORANGUTANGERINE. The extinct AVOCADODO wasn't smart, strong, or fast, it is no wonder you are extinct.
This book is my favorite picture book because all the animals were mixed up. The craziest animal was the PORCUPINEAPPLE because it was cute and the poem was funny.

My daughter says: "This book is lovely and funny" ... "it makes me smile because it is fun. I love reading this book with my mum."

During the story a boy and a girl went on a trip the Scranimal Island. They saw a lot of animals such as the RHINOCEROSE, a group SPINACHICKENS, a caravan of CAMELBERTA PEACHES, a lonely POTATOAD, one CARDINALBACORE, couple of HIPPOPOTAMUSHROOMS, talkative PARROTTERS, a sweet PORCUPINEAPPLE, fierce BROCCOLIONS, a nimble ANTELOPETUNIA, an unsuccessful STORMY PETRELEPHANT, content TOUCANEMONES, then the vicious RADISHARK, a yellow BANANACONDA, the fast OSTRICHEETAH, a shy PANADAFFODIL, and the playful MANGORILLA and his friend the ORANGUTANGERINE. The extinct AVOCADODO wasn't smart, strong, or fast, it is no wonder you are extinct.
This book is my favorite picture book because all the animals were mixed up. The craziest animal was the PORCUPINEAPPLE because it was cute and the poem was funny.

If you love cats, and you love the Web, this book is for you! Innovative, creative and funny! Take time to look over all the Web sites in the book -- there's lots of great material (and great cat photos too!).

In a format that reminds me of the old Mad magazines, Jon Mathis and Mary Shomon have compiled a book of web sites for cats called "Scratching the 'Net" that would make a great gift for anyone who loves both computers and cats. My favorite site was for Ross Purr-oh, who is apparently still running for president (backed by United We Purr, of course!). Shaper Claw has several pages of its on-line catalog, featuring items such as the Spray-Away Robot, for those times when the cat just can't be there to protect its territory.

From the web sites to the tool bar (including such buttons as Back to Sleep, Open One Eye, and Find Toys), this book is definitely a cat's eye view of the Internet.

I give it 5 purrs and a good lick!

Best book to receive for Christmas: light, smart and fun to read! Pokes fun at humans without offending cats; G-rated for the whole family and cat-lovers from 2 to 82. I'll never again sit at my computer without wondering what my cat Tiger has been up to overnight.

This may become your favorite "coffee table" book, as it is not one to read once and put away. You'll find yourself coming back again and again to pore through this devilishly delightful spoof of web pages for cats. Just spend a few minutes absorbing "Deepcat Chowdown's 'The Seven Spiritual Laws of Laziness' " and if you aren't chuckling with delight, you have no sense of humor at all. Every page is designed to tickle and titillate, with outstanding success.

I don't like cats. Never did. I'm a dog person, but reading this funny book (someone gave it to me), made me laugh out loud. I hope the authors come up with something as great for dog lovers! It was a perfect break from the ever so serious world of the net.

In Straight, Francis gives us another of his honorable and vulnerable heroes who find themselves in trouble through no fault of their own. True, part of Derek Franklin's problems stems from not getting to know his much older brother, Greville, but the rest of his problems just seem to happen. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is never in one's favor.

Derek is a successful jockey whose ankle is broken in a fall in a race. Just after he learns that his brother has been killed in a freak accident. Now, Greville was a gemologist who tended to be more than a little paranoid. He loved gadgets and puzzles and lives in a house outfitted like a fortress. Unfortunately, the strength of the house does not prevent Derek from being pummeled and otherwise abused nearly to the point of death. The worst thing is that he doesn't know why. This is a story of many mysteries most of which have nothing to do with one another. True to form, though, the villain once identified, proves to have no compunctions about doing whatever it takes to get what he/she wants and for self protection. Or is that villains?

As the story unfolds, the reader finds out as much about the deceased Greville as Derek, his brother and sole heir. (There are two sisters who live abroad.) It's difficult not to care about both and to feel the regret about not getting to know someone before it's too late.

Straight is a typical Francis novel in that it's a fast read, one cares about the protagonist, and pretty much despises the antagonist. Few surprises when it comes to it, but one of Francis's good ones.

I hve been reading Dick Francis books for at least 15 years. My father introduced me to them. When I go on vacation this summer, some of them will accompany me. "Straight" will be one of them.

Greville and Clarissa had concealed their love affair for three years.

Greville was a middleman, who had traveled the world to search out reliable sources of semiprecious gemstones. The successful London company he founded would have the stones cut in Antwerp, Tel Aviv, New York, or elsewhere, then distribute the gems in quantity to creative designers and producers of fashionable jewelry. Greville also owned racehorses, starting when someone had given him one in settlement of a debt.

Clarissa was the attractive wife of an older British lord, who had pursued her. Greville became Clarissa's first love, as she became his. When he was not on a trip, and she could come to London, they would meet. When apart, which was most days, they had agreed to pause at a set time of day to think of each other, knowing that each was doing the same.

A sudden accident ended all this. Greville had been walking down the High Street next to a construction site, when collapsing scaffolding from high up, struck him, sending him to the hospital, where he never regained consciousness and soon died.

Here are Dick Francis's very first words of the story: "I inherited my brother's life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother's life, and it nearly killed me."

The speaker is Greville's brother Derek, younger by nineteen years. Too tall for flat racing, Derek is a steeplechase jockey, which is especially dangerous because of the jumping. In the story he is, in fact, on crutches recovering from a broken left ankle injured in a race.

Derek's racing world and Greville's business world collide throughout the book. Derek must pick up the complex gemstone business traces, while undergoing continuing pressure from racing owners and trainers to hurry up and heal.

The company employees tell Derek that Greville did not deal in diamonds. In going to the bank, Derek discovers otherwise. The manager tells him that three months earlier the bank had loaned Greville a million and a half U.S. dollars, specifically to expand into diamonds, and would soon be looking to Derek to start repayment.

Where are the diamonds? Stolen? Who are the customers who wanted them? Greville's company business and his house are broken into. Derek is assaulted and shot at. The action is nonstop. The book is a fascinating, literate page-turner.

Note: Probably all of us readers like to notice where a book's title appears in the text, and to see the meaning in context. I frankly lost count after more than a dozen instances, many of them different -- from Intensive Care Unit monitor lines going flat, to straight thinking versus labyrinthine, to honest test reporting versus shadiness, just to name a few. And a big one near the end of the book, which I wouldn't want to reveal here. Your reading will have to decide which of the many applies most strongly. Or perhaps they all do?

This has to be one of my all time favorite Dick Francis novels. It has everything a mystery should have in it - murder, missing jewels, mayhem... In my opinion, it's going to be difficult for Francis to top this one, but I can't wait while he keeps trying!

Straight takes the reader behind the scenes of the jewel trade and it's not an industry that's always on the up and up. Derek Franklin has been on a roller coaster ride of late as his steeplechase jockey career is nearing the end with him sustaining yet another injury. During his forced leave to heal, Derek finds out that his older brother, Greville, has been attacked and is on his deathbed. After his brother succumbs to his injuries, Derek is told that he has inherited his brother's business. Too late to protect himself, Derek realizes that his brother was a target and Derek suspects it has something to do with a fortune in missing diamonds.

This isn't a direct "who dun it" but also has a few subplots that are enjoyable in their own right. When Derek is summoned to his dying brother's hospital bed, the interaction (or lack there of) made me very thankful for the close relationship I have with my brothers and sisters. This thankfulness was reinforced throughout the story, as Derek learns more about his older brother and begins to understand him.

One of my favorite parts of the book is when Derek is sure that a clue is hidden in his brother's computer, but he is unable to access the correct password. Greville's secretary comes to the rescue. After hearing the clues left by Greville, followed by a brief mind struggle, she comes up with the correct code word and up pops a message on the computer screen congratulating her and promising her a raise. Now that's the kind of boss I want - he sounds fun!

The only negative some may have with this book is that it is a detour for Dick Francis. As most of his books revolve around horseracing, his devoted fans have come to expect that background. In Straight the only reference to horseracing is the fact that Derek is an injured jockey.

Want to read a mystery that will have you guessing until the end? If so, then this is the book for you to read next! It's very enjoyable and will have you wondering until the very end.

A reader knows what they are getting with a Dick Francis book. The mystery will be well plotted, the hero (usually a jockey or former jockey) will bravely face whatever trials that face him overcoming his troubled past and/or secret sorrow and the action will center around the some part of the racing world. Every once in awhile though a surprise pops up, this time the jockey is thrust into the totally alien world of gems.

Jockey Derek Franklin has been sidelined by a broken ankle, shortly after his brother Grenville is murdered. As Derek tries to settle the estate he finds himself drawn more and more into his brother's world of finance, gems and quirky little gadgets. Gradually he begins to sort out the mysteries surrounding Grenville's life and death but soon discovers that there are others who are determined to keep him from the answers. In the end, of course all is revealed.

This is a well plotted and clever mystery. The clues are all there for the reader to follow. The characters are well written, and draw the reader into the story.

There seems to be a new trend in business books, titles written by lucrative CEO's and Managers who realize that their success is not based upon their great product, their wonderful organization skills, or their golden management style but based upon finding the right team of people for the job at hand.

Talent Force takes a deeper look at what makes that right team. Groups of employees can't simply be made to fit a specific one size fits all mold. Each company, each circumstance, and each set of problems requires a different set of talents to make the venture successful.

Talent Force does not give step by step directions on how to collect and mesh together the right individuals. Instead, this book gives a lot of examples (historical, modern, global economies, large corporations, and smaller business) of good and bad use of employee talent. These examples and the discussion that is included with each of these situations starts the reader thinking about the obvious benefits of creating a talent force. From here, the reader begins to come up with an individualized plan based upon these concepts.

Back in the olden days of "B school," several--ahem--decades ago anyway, we were all economists and sports writers. To determine the business value of an enterprise, we learned to "line up" the last five years of audited financial reports, calculate "batting averages" and financial ratios, project historical performance into the future, and then "call a huddle" to determine the present value of the future cash flows. This approach is how we made our merger decisions, it was how we purchased capital equipment, and it was how we decided on new product lines. Only as a second thought did we make any attempt to evaluate the management team, or to delve into the important staffing strengths and weaknesses. Those personnel questions would have been too subjective, too qualitative, for our valuation models. The professors would explain, "Quality of the management team is already discounted into the historical performance of the firm, and hence the stock price." We took this to mean we could ignore these issues because good managers generate good numbers. So we followed the numbers.

Predictably, we emerged from school with monetarist attitudes about the power of capital, the amazing quality of market information, and a resulting suspicion of "marketing types," flashy people with pinky rings who advocated controlling our firm's public perception. We were never troubled by the nagging doubts that should have made us wonder, "so how's come none of my models ever determines, with any accuracy, the value of a stock, or the selling price of a company?" We were sure that these discrepancies happen because the market, with its perfect knowledge, knew something about the industry that we didn't know. And too often, we would later learn that we had overlooked an important personnel issue; a looming retirement, a shortage of specialists, an obsolete benefits package, a drinking problem. We should have known. But comforting ourselves with a truism about the focal acuity of "hindsight," we would "get back out there and step back up to the plate."

So it is no wonder that most of my generation still hires, retains, and plans for its workforce in some rough imitation of the way our boss' generation hired. When we have a need for a new person, we concoct a job description, get our bosses approvals, and post the "vacancy" on line. When the hundred thousand resumes arrive, we form a team to winnow the pile down to a manageable fifty. Then we spend the evening with those fifty resumes and in the morning we have ten candidates. After some uncomfortable phone calls, we schedule two or three interviews. Unhappy with the selection, we send the job description out to a small group of "contingency" head hunters. And the same hundred resumes begin filling our inboxes and tying up the fax machine again. But this time, each resume comes with a head hunter advocate, pushing us to meet with this one candidate. By now, everyone in the industry knows that you are hiring, including your own employees, many of whom feel this job would be the next logical stepping stone in their own career track.

If you recognize yourself at all in this short description, you would certainly benefit from a close reading of Rueff and Stringer's Talent Force: a New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business. In the time it will take to meet with a heartbroken and valuable employee who feels "passed over" in your staffing program, you can be reintroduced to the latest tools for maintaining and building the people force that IS your company. More than a motivating "locker room talk," you will learn how to find resources and strategies that you may have overlooked. The most helpful insights may be in the sections on "Emerging Recruitment Practices" and "Strategic Integration Point Person," in which the processes of recruiting, outsourcing, and retaining talent are integrated into a marketing approach prioritized at the top of your organization. Specific advice is offered on how to find qualified talent consultants and specialists. And this is all packaged in an easy to read book that steers clear of theoretical approaches and industry-specific solutions. A copy of this book should be placed in the reading bin of every first class seat on commercial airlines.

Hank and Rusty have teamed to put together a great book that really puts into perspective the vital importance of having an effective Talent Plan at every level of the organization.

Hank's a top recruiting strategist with a great understanding of todays candidate(s) and the actions organizations must take to effectively & consistently recruit and retain Q Talent. Rusty led one of the most successful Talent Strategies with his work at EA enabling them to be the undisputed leader in the gaming industry. A must read for every executive and anyone that hires and manages Talent.

I read this book because one of the authors is a friend of mine from college and because I know that demographics are working against us - the amount of talent leaving the workforce as Baby Boomers retire isn't being replaced - in numbers, experience, or skills. This trend has vast implications for all of us, yet it hasn't become a prevalent part of business conversation yet. I hoped this book would help me think about that fact.

Having read the book, I recommend it somewhat different reasons. Yes it helps you understand this trend, and yes Rusty is a great guy. But you need to read this book because it helps you put your talent in a strategic frame of reference. The skills of the people in your organization are paramount to your success, and this book describes that and reinforces that point in fresh and salient ways.

Initially I thought this book would mostly be for leaders in large organizations with lots of ongoing hiring. I was wrong. As a small business owner, I have many ideas and processes in mind to help me as I move forward. I believe a line manger or leader in an organization of any size will gain value from this book.

If you care about keeping the talent you have and expanding or replacing it rapidly and effectively, you must read this book.

What we have in this brilliant book is a rigorous and eloquent analysis of challenges to which Rueff and Stringer refer in this excerpt from the Introduction: "This book is about how to find, attract, and retain high-quality talent in the midst of a new global economy that makes it more difficult and more important than ever to have the best people contributing to your organization. It's about how technology is changing the ways that both individuals and companies approach the job market. It is about how these forces and others will shape the talent market during the next decade and beyond and what smart companies will do to stay ahead. Most importantly, it is about the human factor involved in all of this and how expectations, views, and approaches to work are changing for participants in today's talent market."

Rueff and Stringer carefully organize their material within nine chapters whose subjects range from "The Quality Talent Imperative" to "Talent Forces of Tomorrow." They address a number of real-world business issues which include those specifically related to developments and challenges when managing talent capital. In a perfect world, every organization will have the right person in the right place at the right time. Also, every organization will have a "deep bench" of talent immediately available whenever needed. In reality, it is possible but highly unlikely that any organization has the right person in every place or even in most places, and always or almost always at the right time. More often than not, organizations must make do with adequate talent in many -- if not most -- positions.

As I read this book, I especially appreciated a number of reader-friendly devices throughout Rueff and Stringer's narrative. For example, their provision of boxed supplements such as "The Parable of the Talents" (pages xx-xxi), "Will the United States Experience a Labor Shortage?" (pages 15-16), "The Benefits of Automated Qualifying [Interview] Questions" (pages 87-88), and "Blogs Bring Media Power to the Masses" (pages 120-122). I also commend Rueff and Stringer for including a number of checklists which summarize their key points and, later, expedite a review of them. For example, a list of proactive, strategic steps that various organizations are taking to meet their long-range talent needs (pages 72-74), five ways that senior managers can contribute to their organization's talent goals (pages 97-98), and "Ten Qualities of Great Recruiters" (pages 138-139). Well-done.

In "The Parable of the Talents," an important question is raised which remains relevant more than 2,000 years later: Do we figure out how to take one talent and turn it into 10, or do we bury our talent in the ground to protect what we have? For Rueff and Stringer, this is an "awesome challenge." I agree. What they offer in this book is a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective response to that challenge. Only a fool would immediately agree with every observation, accept every premise, and implement every recommendation. No system is seamless, much less appropriate to every organization every time and in every situation. However, after modification, what Rueff and Stringer offer in this book can help almost any organization (regardless of size or nature) to find, attract, and retain high-quality talent.

According to an ancient Chinese proverb, "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now." Why wait?

In this book Robert D. Lupton reveals subtle problems that can arise when trying to minister to intercity people. He does an excellent job of revealing the issues, but reveals few solutions. It may be because there are no easy answers, or his later books will reveal the solutions he found later in ministry. Still I would recommend the book to all who work with needy people so they are at least aware of how their attempts to help can cause pain to those they want to help.

"Take no thought for tomorrow...don't worry about what you will eat or wear...don't lay up treasures here...give your coat...share your bread." It is not very sound financial advice and it definitely runs counter to Western values, but sadly it even runs counter to many Christian church's values. Robert Lupton has many years of experience running a ministry in urban Atlanta and this experience has given him valuable insight not only in how to minister to the urban poor, but also on much of Jesus' teachings. Though much of the book focuses on the American inner city, I found much of what Lupton wrote applicable to cross-cultural ministry here in the Philippines. Lupton often struggled in his ministry because of his economic status and the ever important perceptions that the people he ministered to had toward him and his family. Is it hypocritical to be in a higher economic class? While Robert Lupton and his family didn't worry about food and health, many others in the area he was working in did worry about such basic necessities. How does a Christian handle this sort of thing? Give it all away? I don't believe the Bible provides any clear cut answers, but the quotes at the top of this review show that maybe our values as Christians today are different than the values of Christ, the head of the Church. If nothing else, this book shows the importance of the poor and the special place in God's heart for the poor.

The book is written in an interesting style, there are nine parts with several short sections in each part. Often these sections were only 2 pages in length, which made for easy reading. But I found it hard to pull everything together, to make sense of what the author was trying to say. Non-fiction books should make its thesis and supporting points clear and understandable, but this book does not. Overall the book was worth the read if you can get past the unusual, scattered writing style.

By far the best book i've ever read! (and i have read a tons!)

this is a work of compasionate and wise genius. about how to be fully human and truly live out Christ call to an incarnational minstry among the poor. the lessons learned here apply to every area of life and all walks of life. writen in very down to earth language yet extremly deep and rich in content. not one word wasted. it does a great job of stripping all the western trappings that have been placed on the Christian faith and separating the american way of life from the way of life Christ lived and has created and invites us to live out amongts people. a true labor of love!

I would highly recommend this for anyone who is considering the commission of Jesus to journey together in life. Lupton, by simply retelling his own urban experiences, relays profound insights about living the Christian life, and especially practicing ministry. It is helpful when thinking about urban ministry, but would apply to any setting.

Easy read. It shows you that God's grace is everywhere, even where you least expect it!

A great western novel.
The gold rush.
The economic boom.
A story of revenge. What stories! A psychological profile of the murderer remarkably painted by Louis L'Amour. In further action on more than 400 pages.
A great western. One of the best.

This was my first L. L'Amour book and I loved it. It was relatively easy reading but very enjoyable. Mr. L'Amour is excellent at developing the characters and weaving them into the story. I had a hard time putting this book down at night before going to bed..
I have already purchased several more of his books and am planning on collecting the entire set.
You will definitely enjoy this book and this writer.

Comstock Lode is classic Louis L'amour. This book is extremely enjoyable and fast-paced. If you are just starting out on Louis, this book will not steer you wrong, it is a perfect example of his genius.

I just finished reading Comstock last week, when I happened to be up in the California gold country myself. I'm a garden writer, author of 5 published books, and I was in Placer County, speaking to the Auburn Garden Club. The town of Auburn, which sits in the middle of the gold rush's richest territory, is a neat place, one to visit if you get the chance. I noticed too that there is still a very busy mining supply store right on one of Auburn's main streets. There's still gold and silver being found up there!
But I digress: All of us who read Louis L'Amour's Westerns have probably noticed that while all of them are fun to read, some are certainly better than others. I thought that Comstock was darn good, and certainly one of the best of his books set in California. If you enjoy a fast-paced, action packed Western, I expect you'll like Comstock. I recommend it!

Louis L'Amour's Comstock Lode is a brilliant, fictional novel based on real events that will suck you in as soon as you start reading. I'm not one for westerns at ALL, but I was recommended this book and told myself, Why not? It sounds alright, nothing really better to read as of right now. I'll admit, the first few chapters started off a little dull, but then, you get deeper and deeper into the story and you can't put the book down. I recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure novels or Louis L'Amour in general.
Val Trevallion was a son of Tom Trevallion and his wife Mary, who lived in England until finding a large amount of gold and, moves to the States. While in Louisiana, Val's mother and the mother of another girl named Grita Redaway are brutally murdered by a group of shadowy characters, one of which Val will never forget the eyes of. Val and his father set out for the Wild West, but on the way there, his father gets murdered as well. A name on a gun gives Val a clue as to the identity of one man from the group of men that murdered his father and possibly his mother. Val goes to the Comstock where he is known as the toughest, most feared man around. While there, he will remeet Grita, a beautiful, budding actress and the memories come rushing back. His main mission: to kill those who killed his parents. But not everyone seems to be who they are, and Val has to come face-to-face with the man whose eyes haunted him years earlier in this edge-of-your-seat thriller.

I enjoyed the book and it has an incredible amount of resources in it. It addressed a lot of homeschooling concerns for gifted kids. I don't feel it is a stand alone resource and maybe after a few years and some revisions it will seem more "complete".

I read several dozen books on homeschooling when I decided that my kids were going to be homeschooled. Creative Home Schooling by Lisa Rivero was by far the best book I came across. Initially I just checked the book out from the library as I did with the rest of books on homeschooling I read. I actually bought this book and am happy about it. Most of the home schooling books are designed for the average family that pulls its kids out of school, often for religious reasons. Ms. Rivera targets the audience of people who homeschool because their kids are just too smart for normal public school. She discusses different learning styles, the differences between gifted children and high achievers, child-directed learning, and asynchronous learners.

This is absolutely the best book I have read about homeschooling. It is intended for gifted children, but is so much more than that. It talks about all types of homeschooling methods, suggests materials, gives experiences from parents already homeschooling - it is just wonderful. I have given this book to friends considering homeschooling and they agree - this book is a MUST READ!

Book provides many helpful hints for homeschooling gifted children. It does focus more on families that are newly considering homeschooling so it was less of a help to me than expected. It still helped me with some insight into alternatives for gifted children and provided many lists of resources.

If you are new to homeschooling and your child is gifted, this book is a must-have. The different styles of homeschooling are reviewed and presented in an objective manner. The first section of the book deals with gifted children and why homeschooling is an ideal solution for many. The next section helps you to find your homeschool style, and the final portion is a resource guide. Informative quotes from kids and parents are liberally sprinkled through the text. Go ahead and borrow it from your public library, but you're going to want to buy it after you see it!

I'd highly recommend this book for people who already know something about Catholicism, but need a bit more depth in order to understand why Catholics believe what they do. I have used it as a resource for people who are Catholic but it has been a long time since they have had catechesis, or for non-Catholic Christians who want to understand more about Catholicism.

It may be a bit too detailed for someone just beginning the Inquiry or RCIA process unless they want a thorough resource book, but in this case I would definitely pair it with a simplified copy of the Catechism.

It makes a great gift book too!

My seminarian friend recommended it to me. At times Opus Dei can be too black-and-white with no gray in between, but this book is still a wonderful way to connect all of Catholicism. I go to Mass regularly and have gone to a Catholic HS, but I still didn't feel like I knew my faith. This book was able to show me how we do know a lot about our faith, but we just have a problem making sense of what we know. Also, his analogies are brilliant. I use them constantly in explaining Catholicism to others.

This is required reading for the Catholic, literally as many catechism classes require it. It is also very useful for those wanting to learn more about their faith or the Catholic faith in general. It is full of useful information laid out in an informative and well written manner. It is easy to find information and questions. That being said it is also very dry, but its hard to make a book like this a page turner.

I've owned this book now for about 3 years and have read it through all the way, once. I've gone back to sections for refresher information, many, many times. What I like the most about this book is, if you do not have the capacity (time, or stamina) to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) all the way through - this is an excellent way to get "more than the basics" of what is in the CCC in a very clear, concise manner.

From the very first page (just like all catechisms of the Catholic church) it starts with the three fundamental questions. Who made me? Who is God? Why did God make me? Just that first page will have you hooked and you will not want to put it down. I constantly recommend this book to anyone over the age of 13 because it is that clear in it's method of explaining the faith. I do not believe this book is for anyone looking for a "dumbed down" version of the faith, and by that I do not mean there is anything wrong with the book written by Fr. Tregilio called "Catholicism for Dummies." Quiet the contrary, these two books are just for different types of readers.

Another interesting observation on this book is the different kind of people that love it. I have met such different personalities and ages of people (13 to 79) who love this book that I think that fact is also a recommendation of the book.

Read it, it's good for answering all your questions AND will untangle any misconceptions you have developed along the way, or just remind you of what you may have forgotten.

I highly and unreservedly recommend this book.

I use this text frequently for inquirers into the Catholic Faith. Every one says it is witten in a very interesting style. Many can't put it down once begun. Well written and faithful to Catholic Church teaching.