Game Books

I liked when they ran from the police because it was not only exciting, but they did a lot, too. Like play Meteors, run away from some gangsters, try to find a copy of their game, and actually play their game that had virus in it. I also liked how the author switched to the police, and then back to the twins. He usually did this between chapters. I didn't like how he explained the hole in the back of the neck that was used to plug the human brain to the game. That was digusting! No one in the future would do that! Of course no one would be that crazy to get a plug in the back of their neck, because it would be quite costly. All in all I thought that it was good because it started out quick, and had a lot of detail. This is a very good book. A must read for you Sci-fi readers!!

I'm 14 years old, and I still enjoy this book as a quick read. I've always been a minor fan of video games, and what attracted me was the cover of the book. Very nicely done. Then I began reading it. Takes place in the future, blah blah blah. BUT, unlike many other sci-fi novels, this description of the futur is as dark and infested as others. Sure, there are the major slums and acid rains and society is in a rut, but that didn't detract from the novel at all. It actually enphasized the bootleg video game part vendors that were around, and all the places the twins could go to escape the cops.
From the very beginning, the book readl ike and RPG/Adventure game. Y'know: the characters had to go on little quests and met an assorment of characters. Then, they go into the game. Not only does this game sound like one heck of a game, but there's a bug in it. They have to get it out. I guess that is the supreme ordeal of the novel. The twins (Liz and BJ) went into hiding b/c the police were after them for making a game that put people into a coma. Now, they are trying to fix the bug. So they go on this quest.
This book is recommended for any age. For the kids, it's a thrilling page-turner, and for the older guys, its a quick 2-hour read with an ending that will leave you speechless. Buy this book. Its worth it.

Hi,
I am a 14 year old, I hate to read, and i hate books, one day i was looking throught the library, and i noticed this book in the online cataloge, I looked it up and immidiatly loved it after 1 page, i took it out and had it read within 1 week, This book is amazing, delivering more than an entertaining book, it has a suspensive plot that keeps you reading for hours on end! Now, im buying it to put it in my "fairly small" Collection hehe!

Hi,
I am a 14 year old, I hate to read, and i hate books, one day i was looking throught the library, and i noticed this book in the online cataloge, I looked it up and immidiatly loved it after 1 page, i took it out and had it read within 1 week, This book is amazing, delivering more than an entertaining book, it has a suspensive plot that keeps you reading for hours on end! Now, im buying it to put it in my "fairly small" Collection hehe!

Hi,
I am a 14 year old, I hate to read, and i hate books, one day i was looking throught the library, and i noticed this book in the online cataloge, I looked it up and immidiatly loved it after 1 page, i took it out and had it read within 1 week, This book is amazing, delivering more than an entertaining book, it has a suspensive plot that keeps you reading for hours on end! Now, im buying it to put it in my "fairly small" Collection hehe!

Get Fuzzy is a great comic strip, and having it on your desk every day is great. If you've ever had a daily comic calendar (i.e. Far Side, etc), then you know what to expect. Great for cropping and hanging up on a cubicle wall when you find an especially good daily.

I can't start my day until I read my Get Fuzzy calendar. We have a network of Fuzzy lovers at work and we pass the pages around, keep our favorites and share our chuckles.

Get Fuzzy has to be the funniest strip of all time. Darbey Conley hits the mark every time when he picks up his pen. His material is fresh and always thoughtful. You can't go wrong with it.

I first received this calendar as a gift, from my daughter, a couple of years ago...since then, it has been a regular purchase, every year! I love Darby Conley's strip and this is an easy way to keep up on what his "characters" are up to, day by day!!

I get one of these every year. If you're a Get Fuzzy fan you'll love it. If you're not, get it and you will be!

If you're not inherently super outgoing but want to invite friends, neighbors, etc. to your home to socialize, this book will give you many, many ideas to choose from on how to create a warm, friendly atmosphere. Most of the icebreaker ideas and party games are practical and fun. This book is also great for school teachers looking for ways to break the ice in their classrooms on those first couple of awkward days. I confidently recommend this book to those of you who want to throw a party or have a get together, but are hesitating out of fear of what to do with your guests. It's truly a fun book and will bring people together.

The main reason I purchased the book was because I was out of ideas for good party games and activites. This book certainly solved that problem. It has a ton of things for great parties, not lame games either that people throw in just to fill space. This thing is 100% usable. And what else is nice its adaptable, and they show you how. Really great book worth every cent and more. I do have one problem with though. I only have one party to do right now and too many ideas !

This book has lots of good ideas and gives ways to adapt them or change them to suit almost anyones needs. In the back, the games are broken down by category (for ex, icebreakers, pre-party games, quiet games, hunts, etc...) and then another section has them organized by name. It has a nice section on party planning, things to think about when throwing a party and motivating guests that will be helpful to any newcomer to party throwing. There are no risque games but lots of them are easily adaptable and can be made less "family oriented" if that is your crowd. The majority of these games are for ADULTS not kids.

This book revolutionized my parties. It is chockfull of practical suggestions for organizing a party, energizing your guests and making your party the talk of the town. I love how the author not only suggests great games, but has the games categorized by what kind they are and when they should be played. Lots of helpful advice on how to warm up your group. I was absolutely amazed at how ENTHUSED my guests became the first time I followed her advice and used the games to make them mingle, break the ice, split a part couples, and get them laughing. It is a hoot. Double thumbs up.

It's so hard to get people together, once they are together you want to keep them occupied and happy. This book was my savior. I had fun gathering all of the supplies and making the games as well as playing them.

This book is awesome, and simply the best as it pertains to condition, class, and form. A must have, will simply improve your handicapping skills by leaps and bounds.

As you can see from the others reviews; all positve, all five stars plus!!!

Essential to any bettor's library. This book has cut my handicapping time in half as I eliminate the absolute non contenders in minutes. Combined with form analysis, this book also points out the strong favorites and chalk in just a bit more time.

This is the most valuable book I own on horse racing. James Quinn writes so clear and knows so much about the sport. This books tells you all the different types of races and what horse is most qualified to win those races. It has helped me out so much. I don't bet, but I enter contest online and you have to be prepared for every type of race when you enter them. An excellent read for everyone.

I've read several books on handicapping and wagering on racing. Some have been very good and very helpful.
None were as helpful as this.
As a casual handicapper, you learn to look at speed figures and try to guess who's fastest. But the fastest horse doesn't always win. Class and form are sometimes overlooked.
This book taught me to look at who belongs and who doesn't. And who was meant to win this particular race.
After you read this book, you won't miss as much regarding class and form. This will likely lead you to more live horses at longer odds. Especially when so many others use speed as their primary criteria and create short prices for the horses with the highest Beyers.
And the appendicies are a tremendous tool for day-to-day handicapping. A must-read for any serious handicapper.

Quinn takes class evaluation of thoroughbreds to a new level and backs it all up with statistical data to prove which horses are best suited for each race and it's conditions. Quinn explains in exceptional detail how to seperate contenders from pretenders. I don't think you want to throw a true beginner into this, but novices can substantially improve their understanding and win percentages by mining this volume for ideas of what to look for. The Appendix summarizing what kind of horse to look for in each type of race is worth it's weight in gold and is something almost anyone with even limited experience can apply to their handicapping. I can honestly say that I believe my handicapping is going to a new level as I read and re-read this book to absorb the material.

The book was in excellent condition and the delivery time was speedy.

This book discussed many strategies and skills that are very beneficial in playing the game of baseball.
I would recommend it to anyone

This book was recommended to me by Coach "Hutch" of the University of Michigan's Lady Wolverines, and I've not been disappointed. I highly recommend this book for both coaches and players (over 16).

Great read for any serious baseball player, coach or parent. One of the BESt books I have read on baseball.

I teach high school sports psychology and have used this book as a text on several occasions. I now make it mandatory for all of my softball and baseball players as additional reading. Their feedback has been nothing but positive regarding performance enhancement. I strongly recommend this user-friendly text for any sport!

Dryden and MacGregor have penned a non-fiction examination of Hockey (meant in capital letters) and how it is intertwined with Canadian life. It does a good job of exposing how both Canada and hockey are changing, and touches on topics such as the minor hockey league system, the '72 Super Series, the Gretzky trade, and our enjoyment of the game. For those hockey fans out there, it's an interesting read, even if it is nearly 20 years out of date at this time.

Give me any Ken Dryden book and three hours, and I will return with peace. I love his books about hockey. His commentary on hockey and life in Canada is true to the point. There are books that you read and then there are books that you relive. Dryden's books are expereinced. The flooded pond, the neighbor games, the eternal dream of playing in a old timers league, the continued goal of scoring another goal to win, of coming back in overtime to secure victory. I am 30 years old, and I still skate out on the practice rink with a Canadian jersey on with the imagined roar of the crowd cheering for my favorite player-Sidney Crosby-or really me. I might be 30, but my heart when it comes to hockey is still 10. This weekend I watched my nephews play hockey for the first time, one of them scored his first hockey goal ever in league play. He will never forget that goal. I know, I still live hockey, it lives in me, for I am Canadian. The cold chill of playing on cold rinks flows through my blood. It is more than hockey, it is "The Game."

Although the title causes Americans of my acquaintance to laugh, this book really does a wonderful job of examining (if not always explaining) what the game of hockey means to Canadians. If you have read "The Game" and thought there was nothing more to be said about hockey and Canada, think again.

Especial highlights are the early sections discussing small-town Saskatchewan and the importance of the rink in drawing the community together; the stories of particular players with NHL dreams; and the memories of members of Team Canada during the 1972 Summit Series. Phil Esposito, the heart of that team, is not surprisingly the guy with the best stories about what it all meant. The following section about Soviet hockey, which elevates the faceless Russkies into real guys and fellow players, is almost enough to make a Canadian root for them. (Almost.) And the writers' take on their own recreational play, and what it means to them, is illuminating and sort of touching. Once again, as in "The Game," Ken Dryden manages to depict himself as an amazingly inept Hall of Famer, always panicking under pressure and getting in the way of his defensemen -- "I could talk and chew gum at the same time, but breathing did me in." There's no false modesty here, the reader gets the impression that Dryden held himself to impossibly high standards. Still, when he explains that he now plays defense because he has fulfilled his goalie fantasies, and playing defense allows him to have new ones, it's nice to know he still enjoys the game. (And I have to admit, I howled when I got to his dry remark on playing defense and who's responsible when a goal is scored: "I've changed my mind -- it IS always the goalie's fault.")

The photos that decorate this book are equally beautiful, from the prairie kids playing on a frozen slough to the professionals displaying their remarkable ability to a member of Team Canada (1972) jumping for joy as a Russian player offers a wry yet respectful salute. The photos are grouped according to section and I find it telling that the only photo of Dryden as a Montreal Canadien is one of him and a bunch of his teammates grinning in delight at having apparently won some kind of inter-squad scrimmage trophy. This photo is grouped with the recreational player section and tells an enormous amount about how Dryden felt about the game even as a professional.

Dryden and MacGregor describe Canada as "an improbable country," and they mean that in a good way. What holds us together as a nation are the bonds we have made among ourselves, and hockey is one of those bonds. I was reminded of that this year during the Stanley Cup playoffs, when a mailing list I subscribed to for the CBC news reminded subscribers of schedule changes because "there's hockey tonight." I hadn't watched much hockey in years but somehow, living in Texas surrounded by US culture, it felt like home to watch Larry Robinson hoist the Cup once again.

These are two great hockey writers, and they have produced a book that, even ten years later, is a joy.

I can see why Canadians love there game so much through this group of essays they are very interesting I wish americans loved hockey as much as the Canadians do then I wouldn't be the only hockey fan I know

"So what can a 10-year-old book on ice hockey really teach me about the sport and Canada?" I wondered as I started Home Game. The answer is pretty much everything. Dryden, who writes in a delightfully unhurried style, takes us through the game as it is played by enthusiastic amateurs, by teenagers desperate to break into the NHL and by the professionals themselves. And by probing how hockey took root here, Dryden provides the best analysis of what it means to be Canadian that I have ever read. My job in Ottawa is to explain Canada to the outside world and of all the tomes I have read so far, this must be the most illuminating. Rarely do you come across a book which so clearly explains what fires the soul of a country. Buy it now!

Hugo Gerstl's analysis of the legal system cuts to the core of how we solve our problems with one another -- or, more cogently -- how we are presently botching solutions to our problems with one another -- unfortunately to the profit of lawyers anf the breakdown of the system.

What's so important about this book is that it's timeless. I could have used it in the 70's or the 80's, and much of what Mr. Gerstl says applied back then -- and, unfortunately, it applies even more now.

The book is simple to read and understand, rapid fire without taking on too many subjects at one time, and crisp in its presentation. Well worth the price, because by using it, you'll save its price many times over the very first time you call a lawyer for anything.

After the release of How To Cut Your Legal Bills In Half: A Guide to Reclaiming America's Promise -- Affordable Justice For All, I had Mr. Gerstl as a guest on my Television Program, Creative Encounters, in San Jose. Mr. Gerstl was a dynamic and most interesting guest, so much so that I actually sat down and read the book after the broadcast.

The book was -- and is -- stunning in its simplicity, its common sense, and its positive spin on what can be a veryh painful subject -- I know because I've been there.

Mr. Gerstl gives a great overview of the "system" as we know it today, the reason why lawyer bills are so high, a visit to Hell ("Anatomy of a Lawsuit") and why we must -- and how we CAN -- cure this cancer on our society. I wonder how his fellow lawyers are taking this. On the other hand, I really don't care how they're taking it -- all I know is I wish I'd had this book before I ever called a lawyer.

I, for one, happen to think the American legal system is in shambles. I have, myself, written a book condemning what all-too-often passes for "Justice" in this country. My book engages high-profile examples and "large" issues. It is for consideration by legal scholars.

Mr. Gerstl's book, on the other hand, takes on the problems that are not academic, but those we face every day -- divorce, human disputes, medical malpractice cases, auto accidents, probate and the like. While these disputes may mean less on the "world" stage, they are far more pressing and urgent for the INDIVIDUALS involved.

Gerstl's book is simple yet profound in its implications, meaningful without being pedantic, resourceful without being patronizing. As such, it is a "must read" for those at issue within (or without) the "system."

As a former law office manager in a one person office, I can attest to the fact that what Mr. Gerstl says really goes on in a law office; and that lawyers, who are always pressed for time, cut corners where they can, and have to delay things so they can get SOMETHING done.

His horror story is unfortunately very real. More important, his idea of mediation really does work. The book is easy to read, clear, and convincing.

I am a major Israeli publisher of general trade and academic titles (Dekel, Tamar, etc.). I first met Mr. Gerstl at Book Expo America in 1997. At that time, I had had no dealings with the American legal system and didn't believe that I would have need to deal with the system.

How wrong I was! When I sold the rights to our book on Krav Maga, the Israeli hand-defense system, Mr. Gerstl was quick to help me through the pitfalls of negotiations, both with our American Publisher and with our technical editor. Mr. Gerstl provided an invaluable service promptly, simply and expeditiously. I understood everything he was doing all the way.

His book, HOW TO CUT YOUR LEGAL BILLS IN HALF, is very much like Mr. Gerstl himself - very pleasant, clear, prompt, and no-nonsense. He has a point to make; he makes that point clearly and without an abundance of emotion, and he moves on to the next point.

When the book is finished, you realize how much you have learned about the system and why we should do everything possible to AVOID litigation. I took Mr. Gerstl's advice -- and practiced what he preached -- and the result was gratifying indeed! This is an outstanding everyday reference work for everyone in America who has ever dealt with or contemplates dealing with the legal system.

I had this book when I was a very little kid. My mom bought it and to this day I remembered it. I am definetly thinking of buying a copy for when i have kids.

I am a therapist and I use this book for clients both young and old. It is such a precious book with a wonderful message. If you are a parent especially of a little girl get this book for your child. Then get a pig of some kind as a reminder to like themselves no matter what.

My mother bought a copy of this title for me to give to her future grandchild. I was so inspired by it, that I want to give it to all of my friends now. This book has delightful drawings and a wonderful message. This book is fun to read as an adult and a child. It is so important that children and adults are surrounded by positive messages like the one this book has to offer. I recommend it for everyone!

A great way for preschoolers to repair their fragile sense of self and self-respect. Any child should be able to absorb these positive message to repeat to themselves when they feel down.

The positive messages of this book are complemented by the terrific illustrations. A very simple yet important text as it teaches little ones to like themselves. The main character is one very upbeat pig. My son enjoys and laughs at the illustrations. The text provides fodder for conversation. Not too heavy in a figurative or literal way, this book is small enough to warrant a place on every small child's bookshelf. You may also want to check out Ms. Carlson's other books as they are all terrific. Highly recommended!

This book is good. More for 5 year olds and up, I would think. I do have to explain a lot to my 4 and 2 1/2 year old what the words mean. But still, this is a nice book. Loving and fun! Pictures are bright and cheery!

This book is a perfect way to teach children how to be thankful for all the wonderful things God has given us. It shows that we should be thankful for non-material things. It is a precious book for parent and child to read together. It reminded me of a few things I needed to be thankful for!

I found this book at Marshalls, who knew that this author has other wonderful books. I have been reading it to my infant every chance I get - it really reinforces a lot of healthy attitudes and the basic tenets that I want to instill in him. It highlights a personal relationship that you can have with your God.

This book is wonderful. My daughter and I read it every night at bedtime, and I never get tired of it. Now, I am on a mission to collect ALL of PK Hallinan's books. I think they all have a great message, they are well written, have beautiful pictures and are just all around the best kids' books I have encountered. Definitely a must have for all toddler moms-- and moms with young kids!

This is one of my favorite books to read to my son (almost 3 yrs. old). I love how the author reminds us to be thankful for the things that are easy to overlook, like the power of the mind or the look of an autumn day. It's helped everyone in our house to stop and be thankful for even the little things in our lives.

The Inner Game of Work is the best book I've read yet on creating an environment in the workplace for optimal learning and productivity. Thanks to this book, I now see how the 8 hours each day I spend at work can be personally fufilling instead of a chore. He points out how I can actually integrate my experience at work to acheive my personal development goals. This book provided the tools I need to maintain my quality of life at work independent of the negative situations that inevitably occur in the workplace. I have shared this book with many people at work. Some have remarked that they are feeling the culture at work beginning to shift. People remarked that they are feeling more purposeful and less stressed. I highly recommend The Inner Game of Work.

The true achievement of Timothy Gallwey is his 'putting his finger on the exact, right spot'. Not only the spot where our barriers in achieving our full potentials lie, but also on how to evade and avoid these barriers. His book on Work (after his books on Tennis and Golf) is very well written. Through his natural flowing writing style he is able to establish a paradigm shift with the reader. Then, throughout the book, he keeps the reader firmly attentive to 'the inner game' paradigm and makes the subject come alive using theory and stories as building blocks. Once you have read this book, you will never look at achievement the same way. Not for yourself nor for anybody else. This book is an absolute must-read for all modern workers providing understanding of how true fun, learning and achievement works from-the-inside-out. Do not be surprised though when this book will also positively impact your view on, and handling of, many other aspects of life outside your work. Get it; you will not be disappointed.

This book is unique from the many others on how to succeed at work, management, leadership, even life. All of the rest either give you great "principles" and urge you to pursue a higher purpose at work, or they are "packed with great ideas" for doing it better. This book is different because it is not preaching a principle or trying to sell you on the newest work fad.

This book gave me the insight, in simple terms, to learn my way of living up to any principle I choose, and then to determine if it really is a good principle for my work or the kind of leader I want to be.

The book teaches you how to work with your own best inherent desires and abilities in order to develop all the ideas, successful habits and best practices you will need. Not someone else's that they self-righteously prescribe for you, but your own genuine best.

So this is not about trying to implement the latest fad in how to be a highly successful professional and leader. This book is about a simple, elegant way of discovering and learning to be your best.

This book presents a fundamentally different view on working and learning. This other view leads to more pleasure, better performance and more effective learning in work. The ideas in this book are so powerful and relevant and Gallwey describes them so clearly that it seems virtually impossible nót to apply them. Gallwey's core message is: the traditional way in which we try to improve ourselves and our performance -through (self-)instruction and supervision- blocks what we try to achieve. To be more specific: an instructive, controlling approach to performance improvement does not lead to better but to worse performance!

After Gallwey finished his English study at Harvard University in the nineteen seventies, he went to work as a tennis coach. Doing that, he discovered that nearly all his pupils tried very hard to improve one aspect of there play that they did not like, for instance their backhand. They expected Gallwey to give them the remedy for their problem. First, this was exactly what he did: "hold your racket like this, stand there, hit the ball then", etc. He instructed pupils but noticed that they showed resistance to his instructions and that their learning did not go well. Then he noticed, to his surprise, that the performance suddenly was better when pupils stopped trying so hard to correct their mistakes but instead just played tennis for fun. Based on this observation that the 'forced mode' of learning was less effective than the `natural' mode Gallwey built his approach. His book `The Inner Game of Tennis' became a bestseller.

Gallwey proposed that the ineffective, instructive dialogue between coach and pupil also existed within the head of the pupil. While playing, the pupil continuously gave himself instructions and comments: "that was really bad, hold your racket like this, do this, don't do that" etc. Gallwey called the coach inside the pupils head SELF-1. In Gallwey's words: SELF-1 is the collection of internalised voices from the outside world. To whom then did this internal coach speak? According to Gallwey it spoke to the person him or herself. He called this spoken-to self the SELF-2. The best learning took place when SELF-1 was turned off. How is this possible? Gallwey's answer: While SELF-1 is busy giving vague and (too) simple instructions, SELF-2 is doing something infinitely more complex and precise: computing the curve of the ball, instructing muscle groups, taking into account the wind speed, the speed of the ball, etc.

Gallwey concluded that SELF-1 was a from of interference that led to nothing else than an underutilization of the person's potential. In other words: Performance = Potential - Interference. In still other words: don't let SELF-1 distract you from your task and goal!

Gallwey formulated a different, more effective and more elegant way of coaching aimed at achieving three things: 1) Awareness: by letting SELF-2 do its work the pupil can focus on collecting information on the critical variables in the task (where is the ball landing? How fast is it going? How is it influenced by the wind? etc) which leads to a greater awareness of the task; 2) Choice: it is essential that the pupil determines what he or she wants to achieve. Without this choice there is no direction and focused attention is impossible; 3) Trust: trust yourself. This goes for both the coach and the pupil. This refers to the confidence that SELF-2 will be capable of fulfilling the task.

Galwey gradually started to apply his approach to others field that tennis: golf, skiing, music and ...work. He noticed that the effects were the same. For instance: a salesman who stopped instructing and commenting himself became more effective. In seminars Gallwey draws a triangle with on the corners the words: performance, learning en enjoyment. Gallwey claims that each of these are of great importance in work and that they are dependent on each other. When you neglect enjoyment, this will eventually also lead to performance problems. What Gallwey says about the relationship between performance and learning is interesting. Performance leads to an observable change in the external world. Learning, however, establishes a change within the person who learns. It is precisely because of this that learning results are hard to measure. Enjoymentis important according to Gallwey because it refers to the relationship the person has to him or herself. If you appreciate yourself, you won't deny yourself enjoyment for a prolongued period.

Since his discovery Gallwey's most important ambition has been to let himself and others enjoy the freedom to express in their work who they really are and what they really want. He says that human freedom is nowhere more constrained than in the world of work. Nowadays, the most prevailing experience of work even seems to be: someting I'd rather not be doing if I had a choice. Gallwey says that striving for freedom at work is not the same as wanting to avoid responsibility or bosses. It is about choosing a way of working which shows responsibility to oneself. A way which is aligned with your choices and values. Gallwey uses the word 'conformity' to describe the situation when an individual gives priority to extranl demands above his internal fire. Doing this brings the security of doing and being like others but it puts out our internal fire and it diminishes our chance of satisfaction. If life decisions are based on external demands instead of internal demands, someting of the greatest value can be lost. The conflict between external and internal voices seems unfair. There is constant pressure from the outside world to conform. Sanctions, corrections, instructions, rewards, etc. are everywhere. The external world is so large and the internal so small. But the internal has one advantage: it is always there. An important step would be to understand why conformity is so attractive to us and how it affects our way of working. As an alternative to conformity Gallwey names its opposite 'mobility': the freedom to move in any direction without self-restriction.

The central idea in this book is that there is a better way of thinking about working and learning that comes down to giving more priority to our inner capacities and whishes and less to external expectations, norms and instructions. I think this is a valuable book. The author gives good and convincing examples of the inner game, for instance applied to the field of sales. In this time of extreme change good and new ideas about how people can learn and perform are wellcome. Gallwey delivers this.

This book deserves more than five stars, because it explains how you can be most effective in learning, gaining experience, and achieving higher performance. The principles are based on Mr. Gallwey's earlier successful coaching experiences and books about the inner games of tennis and golf. That may sound like an unlikely way to approach becoming more effective at work, but it is unusually effective for those who have ever played tennis or golf by providing a visceral point of reference.

I could immediately relate to the book's ideas, because both my tennis and golf performances are hindered by the critical stream of commentary that flows in my head as I play these sports. Occasionally, I quiet the criticism and I play much better.

To me, the explanation of how to help someone improve their tennis or golf games, or do their work better was a real eye opener. If you encourage someone to simply notice what is going on during the performance of the act (where they strike the ball relative to their feet in tennis, the lie of the ball in golf, or the important circumstances of the work environment), the person will quickly and easily find their own solutions to becoming more effective. That made sense to me because I have been operating without taking golf lessons for about a year and a half now, and many parts of the game have improved in major ways. I have taken charge of making my own diagnoses of what I need to do differently, and have learned a lot that I did not grasp from taking lessons. That experience validated the author's approach for me.

The other reason it made sense is that in my own coaching activities with business executives about their work, I always find that people know the answer to their own issues if you can give them a more helpful focus to open their minds and help them recall information that they have observed in other contexts. That is exactly the coaching method that Mr. Gallwey describes in this book.

The model here is that our conscious minds tend to focus on harmful criticism that provides limited useful information about what we should be doing. On the other hand, our subconscious minds are very good at directing us when we let loose of the chatter from our conscious minds.

Mr. Gallway takes that observation and builds methods to help you set inspiring, authentic, and meaningful goals for learning, gaining experience, and becoming more productive. He gives you tools to shift you focus away from the concerns of the conscious mind, and how to coach others to do the same in their learning. He then links all of this to creating conscious choices to change your direction and behavior in ways that serve you better. To make this last step easier, he provides several alternative perceptual analogies to encourage you. The book has a series of effective exercises you can do to pursue those analogies. The book also provides many examples drawn from the author's consulting experiences to help bring the points home. I am sure that many of these will strike a familiar bell with you.

I plan to cite this book in my future writing, because it is an important contribution to how we can reestablish the wonderful learning capability we all had as children, in a way that is appropriate for adults.

Be sure to share this book with others you care about so you can learn to coach each other, as a way to reinforce your progress toward nonjudgmental learning. That will be a 2,000 percent solution for you both!

I also suggest that you reread this book from time to time . . . especially if you find that you are not accomplishing things as easily and as joyfully as you would like.