Techniques Books

If you don't learn something about yourself after reading this book, check your pulse.

This book should be required reading for every member of the human race.

This book was my introduction to the spiritual life. A friend gave it to me--with some trepidation, not knowing how I'd take it--but to her relief, I was completely won over. I GOT it. Now that I've read more sophisticated books, Vernon Howard might not speak to me so deeply. But if you know someone who is spinning their wheels, who could lead a more powerful life if they were just shown the way, this is the book to give them. It is simple, easy-to-read, and it works.

I bought this book used for like 1.50 and some change for shipping. If anyone had any idea that the end of suffering could come about by a transformation beginning from a little book on amazon for 1.50, I think they'd laugh at the idea. This man definately knows what he is talking about and although I have already been practicing work on myself, many new ideas are also introduced. 5 stars get the book.

This book is one of the better books on spirituality, not the best but one of the better. It has heaps of good ideas, thoughts and wisdom. every pages is a new insight. The drawback for me was that it was too much on ideas , so many that I could be thinking too much after about it.I cannot be hard on this book because as I say compared to most others on the market these days it is very good.

After reading "Mystic Path to Cosmic Consciousness", and "Esoteric Mind Power", I thought that any other writtings by Vernon Howard would just repeat what I had already read. I can safely recommend this book along with the other two. Some ideas do overlap, but many bring clarification. Just read my reviews on the other two books to get an idea of what this book has to offer.
There may be more sophistocated writtings on the subject of self awakening, but none written in such plain English, squeezing as much insight into one book as there books by Vernon Howard.

Red Zone Management is a down-to-earth explanation of why so many organizations, faced with making a step change to reach the next level, fall flat on their faces and end up in worse shape than they were before. Organizations that "fumble the ball" in the red zone often see momentum swing to their competition, leading to potentially irrecoverable losses. This book will help an organization's leaders recognize the red zone--and play to win.

Here is a book with helpful insights to deal with issues faced in every corporation,if you are re-engineering the whole company or a small unit that is floundering.

Dutch scores with this great manual on not just recognizing Red Zones, but on how to plan, communicate, motivate and execute successfully in them given today's unforgiving and full speed environment.

He has done a terrific job capturing what team members urgently need to know and while pointing out what they need to challenge and he has put it in an easy to read and understand format.

This book has joined my short list of must read's for teams that I lead on high risk/high reward projects.

I strongly encourage you to read this book!

Red Zone Management is a down-to-earth explanation of why so many organizations, faced with making a step change to reach the next level, fall flat on their faces and end up in worse shape than they were before. Organizations that "fumble the ball" in the red zone often see momentum swing to their competition, leading to potentially irrecoverable losses. This book will help an organization's leaders recognize the red zone--and play to win.

Red Zone Management is based on a football analogy for the last 20 yards that lead to a touchdown. This is make it or break it time for a team. According to the author, Dutch Holland, businesses are increasingly facing their own red zones. For a business what constitutes are red zone? It is activities that can lead to extraordinary profit or loss. These situations fall outside the scope of daily business management. Here is a list of red zone situations:

Changing competitive strategy

Mergers and acquisitions
Reengineering work processes
Implementing enterprise solutions (ERPs)
Implementing e-Business solutions
Changing culture

What are the types of behaviors that cause red zone initiatives to fail? Here is Holland's list:

Lack of high quality executive support
Lack of comprehensive and detailed up-front planning
The organization is too narrowly involved
Inappropriate delegation for critical leadership responsibilities
Undisciplined and incomplete project management

Red Zone Management covers the general topics of the red zone in the first half of the book. Each business red zone gets a chapter in the second half of the book. Each of these chapters covers a company that failed in this red zone and one that succeeded. In addition each of these chapters covers the roles that senior management needs to play for this particular red zone.

If your company is in the red zone or will be in one soon this book can tip the scales in your favor to succeed in the red zone.

I selected this book as a gift for my husband. He was delighted to see the drawings of Sargent and is planning on developing his skills by copying the works found in the book.

This book is one of the best buys i did this year. Sargent paintings are very famous but the drawings from this little book are amazing! Some of these portraits were done in the later phase of Sargent work and show great mastery of the drawing media (pencil, charchoal). There's a small text about Sargent that is very good too.

A good book full of great drawings by one of the best artist I have ever studied. The price is right and you should not waist one more minute before you order it.
I always like to see how the great artist draw, since drawing is the back bone to good painting in my mind.
I really get a kick out of artist who say they can't draw and can only paint, sure.. Thats like saying you never learned to walk and that you can only run.
Sargent used to say you should draw every day and I think he was right.

The book is great. The ones who sent it didn't package it well. It is a paperback book and it came all bent up.

A remarkable bargain and a must for anyone interested in John Singer Sargent or his work. An 8 by 11 inch, less than 50 page paperback. Published by Dover. B&W reproductions of 42 portrait sketches by Sargent. Mostly done in charcoal. Two long pages of lucid and informed, really excellent text by Trevor Fairbrother, author of books devoted to Sargent and several articles as well. The reproductions are competent, but, as always, can be nothing like the originals, one of which I've many times had the privilege of admiring in person. Although here again, any one familiar with works on paper has seen how even the interposition of the protective glass, sadly, visibly degrades the viewing.

The 42 sketches span a remarkable, interesting and even entertaining range. Arranged in almost chronological order, they stem from early in his career, but not his childhood, to near the end of his productive life, when he had almost entirely quit portraiture. Fairbrother skillfully has chosen an eclectic lot of Sargent subjects, well illustrating yet another facet of Sargent's personality. Although said shy unto retiring, Sargent must have liked people, at least the varied types of people. He certainly depicted all kinds. Here from a boy little more than an infant to the elderly and "important". The serious and the frivolous. Talented, self-made artists and performers to the witless-looking heirs and dismal aristocrats.

The book's incredible spectrum of people / types and Sargent's genius at capturing both their surface and their interior, can form the center of quite a game easily played today via the Internet. For example, the portrait of a friend of Sargent's, one Earnest Thesiger. From this sketch one infers quite a character, seeming a person perhaps of manic ebullience. The very amusing facts in his bio on the web's Wikipedia rather bears this out. One learns further that Thesiger was the nephew of General Frederic Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, famously incompetent in needlessly losing his entire army in a massacre by the Zulus. (One can imagine a portrait of a dim and blimpy character here. Thankfully, nowadays the British select more professionals for their general officers.) Sargent's jolly Earnest Thesiger further was cousin to the famous Wifred Thesiger, author of the autobiography, "The Last Nomad". Wifred Thesiger was a war hero, diplomat, author, explorer and skilled photographer. Among his other accomplishments, the autobiography describes Wilfred's tireless toiling in the Sharm el Shatt (where the south of Iraq borders the south of Iran) to bring modern male circumcision to the primitive marsh Arabs. (A people so independent in their watery wilderness that the late Saddam Hussein ordered the draining of their protective confusion of still waters and bogs.) Well, odd as it might seem, Wilfred's medical procedures were clearly an improvement over the native's, I imagine especially over a ceremony for teenagers involving a low-banked fire built in a shallow sand pit. But, I digress.

However, that is the point, digressing from Sargent's wonderful portraits. What do they tell us; how can we follow up on our impressions? I'm returning to Fairbrother's book to select another sketch subject to mine for edification. I'm confident because Sargent has been described as having a large circle of interesting and talented friends. Except for those portraits of blimps.

Again, an excellent book at a very reasonable price.

This book simply defies being categorized. The Serpent's Dance, Book 1 (of a trilogy) seems to be three things at once. First, it is a fictionalized account of the author's experience that portrays a transformational shift from being the victim of circumstances to intentionally creating his world. It integrates the author's experience with ancient wisdom, which results in "ah-ha" experiences for both author and reader.

Second, the book is very entertaining and rich with imagery. I found it difficult to put down. Yannam's vivid descriptions put readers in the middle of the action.

Third, The Serpent's Dance is almost an instructional book. At a minimum, Yannam implies that similar insights and mastery of self are open to practitioners of meditation.

Yannam's descriptions are so vivid it's like you are there. And such insights he has! When our hero gets the green light to move in with a new girlfriend and is given free reign to redecorate her house while she goes on vacation, instead of red flags, he sees an opportunity. Of course when she returns, the confrontation is inevitable. A serpent named Siddhah is Shri's confidant and mentor throughout the book. In conversations with Siddhah, Shri discovers how problems can be opportunities for learning. The serpent illustrates how events actually played out perfectly to reveal the actors' inner needs and unspoken intentions.

Historically, the symbol of the serpent emphasizes knowledge or inner wisdom, with an initially frightening aspect. The serpent is at once both revered and reviled. It exemplifies wisdom and secret knowledge, similar to the wise old man.

In The Serpent's Dance, Book 1, the serpent at first represents the destruction of the author's physical world and his point of view about the "reality" he has experienced in relationships and a near-fatal accident that left his lower half paralyzed.

Shri (as protagonist) has a conversation with the serpent in which he discovers that destruction is necessary for creation to occur. Further he discovers how various problems in relationships and the accident actually served the purpose of manifesting his inner needs or unconscious motivations. In other words, there is perfection in how things turned out that lead to inner development.

Siddhah's secrets seem to echo many of the enlightened perspective of the world's treasured spiritual writings. They actually make sense when presented next to the episodes in the author's life.

I heartily recommend Serpent's Dance for its entertaining and readable style. As Shri fearlessly bares his soul, you just might also learn something about yourself.

Reviewed by Mary-Helen Leonard ...

Serpent's Dance is a brave and intimate account of one man's challenging journey to discovering his true nature. Compelling because of its honesty, mystery and logic. I eagerly anticipate Volume II.

Reviewed by Sharon Parker...

It takes a lot of courage to do what Shri Yannam has done -- to take a deep, honest, fearless look at oneself. I longed to read Serpent's Dance before it was called 'Serpent's Dance' and before it was ready to go to print. And I longed to read it after it did! And I'll read it again and again -- because the wisdom inside this book is truly timeless, and it transcends any and all belief systems. This book will draw your attention to the 'dance' that's happening within you, within that relationship you have with your lover, and with your world at large.

Shri Yannam is truly a blessing to all of us. Here is someone who's so incredibly worldly and sagely -- both at the same time! This will become apparent to the reader right from the very first chapter of the book. I hope all of you enjoy it as much as I have.

...A marvelous journey into the realms of spiritual self-discovery. There are fine insights in here which the readers will enjoy and find useful in employing in their own lives.

...This book opens with a exciting, riveting dialog of the development of a North Texas weather phenomenom, a Tornado, its' touchdown and the resulting chaos, devastation and frightening circumstances. So what does a Tornado have to do with a "Serpent's Dance"? For that matter, what is a "Serpent's Dance"?

As you will see, Shri Yannam proceeds to skillfully and cleverly craft this attention-getting stormy opening into the introduction of the touchdown, destruction and change of perception that was brought into his own personal life. It is the true story of his courage, toughness, anger, tears, and then the eventual peace, or at least reconcillation, of coming to terms with human life in a new form, from a changed- perspective.

In most every book I have read I have become aware of the occurence that somewhere amongst the pages lies a few lines or paragraphs that "glue" the book together. That is, they very directly, sometimes profoundly, express, coincisely, what the message is that the author seeks communicate in through the entire book. Here, I believe that I have found such words on page 58.: "For now, suffice it to say that compassion by the self, for the self would have worked a lot better. But you see - if you had compassion, then you would have been heart-centered. Which you weren't. You don't know what it meant to be heart-centered, nor did you really want to know. You humans turn yourselves into overwhelmingly complex bundles of energies when you slip into your heads and out of your hearts. The head is always trying to figure things out as it tries to make sense of the infinity of variables that life seems to throw at you. The heart already knows all [that] there is to know. [The composer] Mozart once said, "All the music [that] I want to compose has already been written. Such an awareness can only come thru [sic] a heart- centered awareness, from a sense of being that permeates you through and through." And further: " If you had self-compassion, you would not have needed a crisis to awaken you. A warm, open heart allows for simple, powerful awareness to settle into your bones, without effort, without struggle, without friction, without pain, where no stick-and-carrot method can do the trick. A heart will take you places where no head can, [nor] no head will!

Summing it up, this entire book was apparently written by Shri Yannam from his heart and soul and it does profoundly have heart. It is his desire now to give this to the world.

I stumbled onto this book as a teenager trying to teach myself to play the guitar. I found it both easy to understand and rewarding. Eventually I went on to minor in jazz guitar in college and spent several years as a union musician. A few years ago I returned to this book (I finally replaced my old copy with a new version) when I wanted to venture into classical guitar. Almost thirty years later I found it equally as captivating and rewarding as it was in my first encounter.

Recently I decided to learn to play the English concertina, but found that there were no quality tutorials readily available, so I turned, once again, to Mr. Noad. The exercises presented in the book have been very helpful and have allowed me to feel an increasing sense of aptitude on the concertina as I step through the lessons!

Solo Guitar Playing is built on a clear, accessible methodology and a well-paced progressive learning system that stands the test of time! If you could only have one guitar instruction book, this would be the one to consider.

I've started and stopped trying to teach myself how to play guitar on 3 different occasions for over 10 years. (I did have prior music experience from playing the violin as a youth.) I bought this book some time ago, got 20 pages in and then decided I'd just try to learn tabs and chords like everyone else seemed to be doing. But then I engaged my ego and decided to learn how to read notes and properly learn the playing technique I would need to last me for a lifetime. I dusted this book off again and kept plugging away. Lo and behold, I kept getting further and further into the material. The thing that helped me, which I didn't do on prior attempts, was to exercise PATIENCE! If it takes me two or three weeks to master a chapter, then so be it - I know it will stand me in good stead in later lessons and boy, has it! I now play at least 4 times a week for at least an hour, including practicing arpeggios and scales, for the sheer joy of it.

I am loving this book and have Solo Guitar 2 standing ready for when I complete the first volume. Highly recommend for those trying to teach themselves the "right" way. :-)

This is a complete and well thought out work. But don't make the mistake I did . . . . buy the copy that includes the CD!! You'll want to know what those music pieces are supposed to sound like. And take your time going through. There is much information packed in this book.

Glad I bought it. Now, if I could only get my fingers to do what I want. . .

I purchased this book with a little scepticism. However, after owning this book, I still cannot play the guitar! Its pathetic! More than anything this book tought me a very valuable lesson: Eventhough I want to be a great classical guitarist I must first buy a guitar.

I've played classical guitar for over seven years, and this is the book that I have learned the most from. It has a great collection of etudes and pieces to play (Two of my favorites are Se Io M'accorgo and Air) and really good information about the composers. The explanations are quite good.

There are some flaws in this book, though. Some of the left hand fingerings are a bit clumsy. Work through them yourself. Be wary of the metranome times, too. Some of them are way too fast for the type of piece. Play them at a speed that is comfortale for you. Thirdly, write out all of the right hand fingerings (pulmar, index, middle, & anular). If you do it that way, you'll come away from this book with a wonderful repertoire or skills and music.

I've been playing guitar forever, and writing songs for years, but like most other writers I get stuck in ruts from time to time. Now, whenever I need some new ideas, whether an entire song, a verse, a chorus, a bridge, or a lift, I just look through this book. Even a basic I-IV-V can be made more interesting by advancing or delaying a change. I also like that he relates the CD examples to particular musical styles, which provides a good template for writing to that style.

As with Rooksby's other books, the material is presented with great clarity and is well edited. A songwriter could do a lot worse than build a library of his books.

man, this book has really really come in handy for me, expeically early chapter, good thing i have this. some of the think in here i have never seen or heard on the internet before, this book seems rare with its information.

I have over last two years developed into a real fan of Rikky's books. This one really surprised me for progressive depth in the structure of each chapter. Each chapter builds on the next. And sandwiched between the 'tips' are these gems of compositions that helps broaden and deepen the constructive elements of songwriting. The book is focused more on chord progression in songs and then the composition of the song's components, verse, chorus, bridge, etc. The great surprise, and I think, and real beauty of the book is the way he uses the CD with the last chapter. He records 12 or so songs, and then in that chapter, he breaks them down in to their component structure, and tells you why he made the choices he did. A really GREAT book. Worth the price!

This book taught me so much about songwriting, it's scary. I'm not a novice, either! It teaches you about chord theory better than any other book I've read.

Sparks my creative thoughts and brings me back to the love of writing music with passion.

I used this book to help me write my senior thesis (rooted in music education). I enjoyed this book because it was as much about personal experience as it was about science. Science is compelling, but personal experience helps one connect. The author has interesting hypotheses about music therapy. An enjoyable, educational read.

I just received this gem of a book as a Christmas gift and have not been able to put it down. This is an easy to read, superbly insightful volume with quick, accessible and practical chapters
that should be in everyone's bookshelf right at eye level. As an avid, long time collector of alternative (complementary) therapy approaches I find this to be the most comprehensive book I have ever laid hands on. A pity that, being published by a small publisher, it has not received the "marketing muscle" of much lesser volumes. Bringing together eastern thought, simple-common sense psychology (fully validated by research that supports all of the approaches throughout the book), and music from one's own collection the Tao of Music is a gift for mind, body and soul.
If you have children rush out and also get his "Nurturing Your Child with Music," sensational.

I originally purchased this book based on two, completely unrelated endorsements from colleagues who have found it consistently useful both in their personal lives and their professional practices. Having read this excellent book I can honestly say that it is a wise, cost effective investment. The fact that each clearly written, well researched chapter stands on its own makes it very easy to find a topic one is dealing with (using music to handle anger or depression for instance, or designing a personal exercise or relaxation program) and putting together a personalized program from among the many practical exercises suggested. The hundreds of recommended song titles are refreshingly modern and amazingly effective. If extra reseach into a particular area is necessary each chapter offers a number of relevant professional articles and resources to fit each target area.

As a professional trainer, however, I find this book takes an added dimension and provides an excellent resource for anyone designing programs to address many typical issues encountered throughout corporate or industrial settings such as time management, procrastination, motivation, productivity, relaxation, communication skills, social relations, and a host of other relevant areas encountered in management, education or business.

I recommend the Tao of Music highly both as a professional resource for trainers and a personal tool to help address day to day situations.

Julian Evans Corporate Trainer

A classic within this genre.
The cream of the crop.
Superb!

Simple to read. Relevant to laypersons and professionals. Essentially any "issue" we all deal with is addressed in this book written in a clear, practical, orderly format. I use it often in my practice (I am a psychotherapist) and recommend it to my clients who rave about it without fail. My wife, a high school teacher, also uses it to assist in her lessons plans. Exceptional!

Edward De Bono had the wonderful insight of bringing together many disparate and orginally isolated ideas and repackaging them with a binding theme he called lateral thinking. The world has never looked back. De Bono's insight and salesmanship have been a wonder to behold.

So too, Eli Goldratt has taken critical thinking skills from various areas, put a graphical front end on them, and repackaged them with a binding theme he calls Thinking Processes. Not as powerful as De Bono, but certainly in the same ballpark.

Lisa Scheinkopf does quite a marvellous job in providing a didactic introduction to these Thinking Processes. At the end of the day, she unfolds a systematic way of problem solving - and this is, indeed, what the thinking tools are all about.

I understand that Scheinkopf's choice and ordering of chapters was meant to reflect her belief that the individual tools can be used independently of each other. It would have been nice if she had provided a bit more detail showing how the tools complement each other; but, her book, her prerogative. In regard to matters which require the the systematic and complementary use of each and every tool in the toolset, I think Bill Dettmer's provides better insight.

The book is generally clear, with one or two minor slips into obscurity.
I think Scheinkopf falls into the same trap that most authors who present these type of tools. They occasionally have a rush of too much Oxygen to the brain and push their product beyond its elastic limits and start to hand-wave a little too much. In this regard, I find the "So What Test" which forms part of her discussion of Current Reality Trees one of those hand-waving areas. Apart from being something to do with simplifying a current reality tree by means of a review of "entities" from a systems perspective (whatever that really means), I find the actual application of the test as described quite obscure. (As an aside, Bill Dettmer also hand-waves at this point too. I think that both authors attempt to transform craft into some sort of science in a manner which needs a rethink).

Anyway, overall, I think Scheinkopf's work is very good. I think it deserves to be read in support of an understanding of the TOC Thinking Processes, but, it simply isn't enough to read as the only source of understanding. I recommend reading some of Dettmer's work too. Between the two (and Goldratt himself of course), the whole system of TOC and Thinking Processes adds a useful set of tools to problem solving.

You may have heard of "Theory of Constraints" or "TOC" as a project management method that focuses on placing buffers on GANNT charts. But that's just one application of this general analysis and decision-making method called Theory of Constraints.

If you've ever wanted to "brainstorm" or "think outside the box," or just want to plan your next big task in a more complete way, but didn't know where to start, this book is for you. It actually offers a lot more than a start: methods, a simple notation, and when to do what in great detail.

A lot of what you read may seem like "just common sense," but perhaps that's what makes it fun: a powerful, verifiable thinking tool that's also simple and makes sense.

You don't have to read the whole book at once. Try reading some, and then applying it. See how it goes.

I read various books regarding the Theory of Constraints. Except for the chapter on prerequisite trees, this book explains how to use the theory very well to solve your daily problems. It also gives you a wealth of exercises that you can use to improve your practice of the theory.

This book puts it all together and can lead anyone down the path of logical thinking, be it solving a problem or creating a plan. Combine the teachings of this book with the other TOC principles and you've got a recipe for success. I highly reccommend this book to all my consulting clients and friends for use in both business and personal life.

I really hesitated to pay [$] for a book that is not directly related to my profession, somewhat short, and had an unkown beneficial value. Being casually familiar with the thinking processes from It's Not Luck, I went ahead and bought the book. I'm not disappointed. In about a month it has paid for itself several times over. It's not an easy read, but if your curious enough to be reading this, you can understand it. If your a professional with a wife and kid(s), it is a must for both work and home.

I bought this book for my nephew and it met all my expectations and I am sure he will be quite pleased with it.

Excellent reading. Michael Garrett has become a fine teacher like his father before him. A true student of life Michael takes the Cherokee ancestral stories, mixes in some modern day experiences and relays a wonderful message. If harmony and balance are traits you would like to have within your own life I highly recommend this selection.

If you want to find balance in your life, this book is an excellent way to start on that pathway.

Michael continues his journey of a Helper in the truest form of "being Cherokee". I am amazed at how simple God our Creator is revealed in our self induced complexity of life. Thank you Michael for helping to remove the scales of our heart and spirit. For those of you who are Christians, I would encourage you to use Michael's book as a help in your journey through the Bible.

Blessings

I came across this book while exploring my recently discovered Native heritage. It fit the bill perfectly, helping me learn about universal Native traditions, practices, and thinking. I could go on and on, but it's enough to say that this book is well written, informative, and enjoyable. Michael Garrett has a lot to offer.

there are a lot of animal drawing books out there but this book has way more information to help you capture the essence of the animal. Not many animal artist are that knowledgeable about their subjects as much as joe Weatherly. this is one of the best animal guide book that i ever got, it's like my bible i used it everyday. So if you are serious about drawing animals this the book for you.

I probably own most of the popular titles on animal art and I have to say that this is the single one that I refer to the most. Instruction is excellent with many drawings. If you want to buy one this might be it.

I have owned this book for about three years now and barely go anywhere without it. I find something new each time I look through it. It is wonderfully helpful in not only getting the gesture and proportion of animals correct, but also in how to find the planes and construction of the animals. For each animal, he not only shows all phases of his drawing technique, but also includes a simpified version of the skeleton under the skin so you have a representation of the structure under the skin without getting bogged down by worrying about every single rib and vertebra.
His drawings have simple as well as dynamic poses, and show the reader how to start fom the very basics, and take the drawing to completion. He includes correct perspective and shows how to use the basic shapes to make the animal seem three-dimensional and realistic. All in all, I have gotten way more out of this book than I paid for it. I am an art student, and while I have gotten so much use out of it, it is a great book for anyone who is interested in drawing animals, no matter what skill level they are. I higly reccommend it.

I am a student of the author. I also study at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and I ALWAYS use this book for any animal reference I need. It is very useful to have this book because of the scope of animals in it. Whether I need farm animals or exotic jungle cats, I can go to this book and get the most comprehensive anatomical reference I have come across.

If one is seriously interested in animal drawing, he/she should purchase Ambrus' and Hultgren's books. Then, you can order this one, as well. It is good complement to mentioned titles.
The book is very well organized, and the drawings are very good, unlike those in some other titles on the subject which I had opportunity to browse. The author's idea was "less words - more pics". It works.