Personal Development Books

One of the few motivational books I have ever sat down and read cover to cover, let alone doing it three times. And each time I do, I seem to find new inspiration from it, a new angle I hadn't noticed was there before. Trus me, you can take my word for it. Reading an inspiration book once is a biggie for me since I need to be entertained when I read. Most times you'll find me with a good mystery in my hands or some other type of suspensful drama. That's why I write fiction Beauty Enslaved Yet, I can tell you that each chapter is a gem, well organized in little compartments that are retrieved with ease whenever memory needs them.
I love the seven Universal Laws of Success. I can almost rattle them off by heart. But my favorite chapter is the one that deals with The Three Unseen Assistants to Success. I have finally found someone who thinks as I do, who believes in that special intervention.
I'm not going to say anymore. I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone browsing. But if you're out there looking for the one book that will change your life, THIS IS THE ONE.

If you want to know more about your subc.I heartily recommend these CDs

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
The Master Key System
Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World
The Science of Getting Rich
The Science of Mind
Think and Grow Rich: Original Version

Excellent book on how to achieve what you want giving different strategies to accomplish this. There are many books on this subject some good, some not. Besides Quantum Success, I truly enjoyed and recommend highly, Living The Secret Everyday: My Secret Workbook. This book gives you exercises in a workbook format and reading both these books will begin your transformation journey.

The book came in the condition advertised-new. I am very pleased with the book and am using it in my practice of energy work with myself and others to resonate with having quantum success in our lives. Thank you. Anyone who wants to contact me in how I am using this book in my practice is welcome to contact me.

I have read a lot of similar books recently - I was in the middle of another one and dropped it to completely read this one. While the information is not totally new, the way the author lays out the information and gives practical advice was helpful. The book is very easy to read, keeps you engaged and does not get involved with a lot of the "woo-woo" that other books like this do - which in turn can deter more skeptical readers from continuing on. I enjoyed reading this and know I will turn to it again for future reference.

This book is the perfect example of a good "Computer" book: It teaches what it needs to teach in a way you understand.
It covers all the important stuf like BSTRs, Smart Pointers, DCOM, TLBs, IDLs and other buzz-like acronyms.
I used it as an only reference for learning COM and I was doing complex COM projects within weeks. Andrew Troelsen is 'the man'!

Best regards,

I NEVER write reviews; however Mr. Troelsen for this effort has earned it. He has written by far one of the best written tech books on C programming I've ever read, and for COM/ATL this book makes writing interfaces for VB both understandable and accessible. Coverage and background is sufficient, and equally important for those who don't do this every day for a living, the depth in setting up projects in Visual Studio is also there so one unfamiliar with technical setup issues involved in setting up an ATL COM project are enabled to create their own. All I can say is well done, please keep up the good work, very much appreciated. Looking forward to your next releases.

Sincerely,
Dr. Mathew G. Pelletier, Research Engineer

Describe low level COM and then ATL internals and interfaces which can let reader easily understand such complex mechanism. Though the book is a little bit old, it can still be served as a good reference.

Apart from the fact that so many customers gave 5 stars to this book, there's another indicator of its value: it looks like nobody wants to resell it after they are done reading it. I, for one, intend to keep it for reference...

I've been programming in C# for a few years, and now I needed to learn COM. This book was the best tech manual I've ever read.

My recommendation is: if you need to learn COM, do not waste your money on any other book until you've read this one.

My current project at work required me to learn COM. I purchased several books to assist in the learning, and I must say that this book is absolutely indispensible, both as an instructional medium and as a reference. I highly recommend this book to anyone needing to learn about COM.

What's inside? It starts with a basic intro to COM, useful (dare I say it) for managers as well as the developer to get the big picture. Then it goes into a discussion of ATL and design patterns. This second section is incredibly important since ATL is for COM as STL is for C++. It finishes off with some of the more advanced areas of study in COM. Only a few advanced topics are not covered (custom marshalling for one), but considering it starts from an assumed ignorance of COM, it does reach a good level of detail.

Who am I? I studied computer science in University. However, I had never previously developped on Windows. I am primarily a C++ programmer, with some experience with Java. Knowledge of C++ (I would say more than just a familiarity) should be a prereq. to reading, but that's about it. It introduces most OO topics you need in the first chapters that most experienced developers can probably skip.

I bought this book largely on the strength of the reviews. For the price, it's very thin both physically and in content. I haven't yet tried any of the suggested scripts but reading them didn't cause any alarms bells, until some other books I've looked at in store and so maybe it'll work. Will be creating a recording and trying it out over the next couple of weeks to see if it actual makes any change in my life.

But for now, can't really recommend this book.

Self-Published Unprofessionalism

The only reasons I can think why this would have been so highly rated by other reviewers, is because they have experienced change through hypnosis, and are therefore reviewing the technique itself rather than the book.

Don't make the mistake I made, of thinking that the bland cover indicates a technical manual. I was expecting an A4 sized volume with tiny writing, filled with content - instead I got a small handbook written in a gigantic, horrible sans-serif font.

The style of writing is conversational rather than scholarly, and the book is rife with spelling and grammar errors. One sentence refers to learning how to use the "peddles" in a car. As for the content... Well, about all I can say is there is some. Probably less than you'd find on a decent website about hypnosis. The introduction is a pep talk, telling us how great hypnosis is. Then comes the single induction script, then a few odds and ends and a couple of scripts for specific issues, before a section on the history of hypnosis, obviously included as padding.

Reading this book tends to raise more questions than it answers. The less enquiring mind may find that this is all they need to know to achieve success with hypnosis. However, those who want to truly understand how and why hypnosis works, in order to apply it most successfully, will find little of value here. Similarly, those with complicated or persistent issues, will not find any detailed information on how to deal with them.

This book covers many specific areas of self-change and personal development. And as it covers all of the basics, it means that this title is beneficial for anyone.

"Things should be as simple as they need to be, and not simpler." This book took me only a few minutes to read, but the knowledge in it will last a lifetime. Mr. MacKenzie talks about self-change in the most quick, simple, succinct and ingenious way I ever read. (And I've read a lot...) And I have no complaints about his delivery of the subject matter, either. The way he uses language and metaphors shows that he isn't just a hypnosis/NLP expert on paper, he really is. And that's a beautiful thing. So, obligatorily, yet totallly encouragingly. Buy and read this book.

Captain Josh.

Knowing nothing about self-hypnosis I bought this book assuming that, like meditation, I could do it on my own without equipment. This book would be a helpful tool after working with other self-hypnosis recordings. Then one would be experienced and motivated enough to create a custom tape.

Even though he died in 1998, everything in this book is still valid.
From little simple tips like allowing a little extra time to get somewhere to making sure you have gas in your car so you won't forget to put some in when you are rushed to controlling phone call interuptions this book is chock full of little tips.
Even things like putting your keys in the same spot to having your doors keyed to use the same key, he just keeps on offering ways to save time and hassle that you can avoid if you listen to him.
One of the pioneers of real estate infomercials, he speaks to you on how to enjoy your life.
Shortly before he died he was sued with frivolous lawsuits, so ignore the ignorant reviewers that talk about that. He set up his estate so they couldn't touch his wealth. Good for him. Glad to know Givens kept his money shielded from buzzard lawyers.
Learning how he overcame a hard childhood to go on to live a life most would only dream of should inspire you to do the same.
All in all, a good combination of both inspirational reflecting on his growing up to practical advice once he had made it as an adult.

This is one of the best "self-help" books I have ever read. I am
re-reading it in case I missed something.

Like his financial books, Charles Givens offers a no nonsense system for becoming your best. You will learn how to flatten your fears, generate goals and add several hours of productivity to your day with more free time for fun to boot.

The tape is an overview. The book is very thorough.

Highly recommended along with Stephen Coveys 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Interesting that some people are surprised that Charles Givens produced this audio tape program and the book of the same name--SuperSelf; interesting because this is how Givens started way back in 1975 with his first company The Success Motivation Institute which was incredibly successful. SuperSelf is a program designed to take back control. To destroy the control others or events have over our emotions and the direction of our lives. To stop waiting for our ship to come in and go out and swim to it. Not to wait for things to happen but to make thing happen. Not to find ourselves, but to design ourselves. To take the action in our lives to make our dreams into reality.SuperSelf will show you how to design the rest of your life to become the best of your life and to live your dreams.

I read a classic self-development book on my recent flight called, Super Self Doubling Your Personal Effectiveness by Charles J. Givens. Charles is one of the long-time motivational speakers and rags to riches type person that people like to read about. Often I find these people to be somewhat shallow but the basic message is right.

In the book he shares a number of success strategies. The first one is to learn from the experience of others rather than your own. In my opinion, this is true wisdom and this is something that I still seek.

Charles Givens' outline is very basic and is what you would see in almost any self-help book:

1. Have dreams and goals. (I always thought the difference between dreams and goals is that goals were dreams with action)

2. Develop strategies to achieve these.

3. Practise â" consciously and continuously apply the strategies at every opportunity.

4. Habits - as I have often said before, we become what we repeatedly do.
Results, with these new skills and abilities, you will achieve results.

I would not make it as linear as that, I would make it into a circle. As results start to happen, then new dreams and goals need to be set. I feel a need to constantly revisit goals.

Overall this is a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in improving themselves and achieving goals in life.

His program takes it right from the goal setting through the time management area. It is a great refresher on what we need to do to be successful. I always seem to need this. I know what I should do but I frequently fall back into not doing it. books like this challenge me to once again play at the top of my game all the time.

COMPASSIONATE SAMURAI is by far the best book written by the extraordinary Brian Klemmer to date. Partnered with Randy Pausch's THE LAST LECTURE, COMPASSIONATE SAMURAI out-SECRETs THE SECRET by helping to better put things into very clear, concrete, practical, everyday terms as regards how to live one's Life--helping to truly create a world that works for everyone with no one left out.
Is this book filled with common sense? Well, yes, but given that common sense is a commodity shockingly lacking in today's world, it takes a book like COMPASSIONATE SAMURAI to whack one upside the head to realize it.
Will one fully understand what it means to be a compassionate samurai just by reading the book? No, but it's a damn good start. This book will help one to understand that one can live a vastly more fulfilling Life by being a little less selfish and being of more service to others.
Would that every politician, university professor, coach and student in America read this book. It would be a solid step in the right direction. Read COMPASSIONATE SAMURAI, and then pay it forward.

This book puts it out there that it IS possible to be wealthy and a good person. That the best thing you can you for your family, friends, and worthy causes that you would like to support is to make the most money you can in the most honorable way possible. To do anything else is SELFISH!!

As a reader of many self-help books, this book is concise, very readable and gives presents a way of 'being' which I haven't seen before. Society teaches most of us through competitive sports or by having to climb the corporate ladder that for us to gain someone must lose. Reading this book really made me examine my way of thinking and is helping me create some good things in my life. I think everyone will be able to gain something they can apply in their lives that will help.

The Compassionate Samurai is a very straight forward read and the best book I've read on how to create extraordinary results in your personal and professional life. Brian Klemmer gives us a road map showing us how to walk through life with important key qualities that affect not only our lives but those around us as well. In this world of increased enlightenment, this is a book you should keep at your side at all times.

The people writing reviews of this book must be the brainwashed True Believers of Klemmer's LGAT seminars. I read this book because my True Believer boss lent it to me. He's being the good salesman for the cause, as he bankrupts himself shelling out thousands of dollars to reprise his past role as the anxious child who doesn't quite measure up to abusive Dad's expectations. Sorry to counter the glowing praise uniformly lavished, but this book is a recitation of common-sense advice available in any fourth-grade boy scout book about how to be a good, dependable citizen. He dresses this schlock up in the warrior garb of a fantasy creature called a "Compassionate Samurai", an influential and powerful Carnegie-esque good guy. What a laugh! Klemmer invokes his highly romanticized image of a warrior in militarized feudal Japan, then sticks the absurd adjective "compassionate" on the front of it and ends up with something that's only meaningful to people with no critical thinking capabilities. This absurd image is a wonderful metaphor for the utter manipulative, brainwashing insanity of the LGAT money-extraction game.

I was fortunate enough to hear Dr. Maurer speak. He is an excellent speaker and I knew I needed to buy the book. It reenforced what he said and was easy to follow. I recommend it to anyone who is trying to make a change in their lives.

What a powerful message that helps to reframe the age old question "Why?" Instead Robert Maurer demonstrates how to ask productive questions that will bring successful answers. Kaizen is a remarkably simple technique that I share with my clients to bring about the life changes they desire. It's a small book with enormous results.

I finished this book yeaterday and immediately started implementing it in my own life which I am sure I will do for the rest of my life. What really has my mind working overtime on though, is the thought of using these techniques in education. I always have tried to take small steps, starting at the beginning with my students and have small rewards, and those are the things that worked. I hope to figure out how to package this for teachers, schools and for use in the classroom.
Send me an e-mail if you have any thoughts on the matter.

Great Book with great ideas on how to strat major changes in your life with small steps.

Well written, easy suggestions, essentially the message is clear - take small steps toward positive outcomes and keep taking them until they become part of you and your life. In that way, over time, you will find it possible to make major changes in your life. All the kaizen references are a bit annoying, and, as another reviewer stated, the kaizen program is all about manufacturing and as such using kaizen in this way has no real relevance... however, despite that, a very good little book!

This book is one of the best books about the fire service I have ever read. I hung onto each and every word. It was though I was there sometimes.

During the tumultuous period of the 60s when author Dennis Smith wrote Report From Engine Company 82, the book was a cry for help from exhausted, frustrated men. Men who cleaned up in the aftermath of other exhausted and frustrated inhabitants of a society stretched to the breaking point.

As I type this, a younger firefighter in a comfortable, air-conditioned fire station among a population that by-and-large respects my profession, it's easy to forget the sacrifice of our past brothers who unceasingly fought fires, city hall and the population they served, until they had forged the modern fire service.

It's an important book for new firefighters to learn how the iron men of old did the job. And for the general reader it's a testament to both a volatile period in our nation's history, and to the timeless strength and courage by which good men have always worked to keep back the chaos of barbarism and destruction.

I spent 10 years in the fire service in both engine and truck companys. While I have many memories and stories to tell, the author, Dennis Smith, sums up the life of a fire fighter in an urban environment about as well as can be possibly told. Trying to balance the unpleasantries and sadness against the satisfaction of saving a life or helping a family overcome one of life's most agonizing moments is very well portrayed in this book. This is what a fire fighter's life is about folks. There is no other book that I can remember that tells it any better than this. If you're thinking of a career in a big city fire department or for that matter, if you're even thinking of becoming a volunteer fire fighter this book is a must!

I first read this book 20+ years ago, when I was under 20 years of age myself but streetwise from being the "wheels" (with a driver's license and a car) for various escapades all over Chicago in my raucous, hard-partying and utterly politically incorrect youth. Many aspects of "Report From Engine Co. 82" stuck with me through the years, and I've re-read it several times. Now I'm 40 and an ER RN in a Chicago hospital where we see more than our share of the extraordinarily dysfunctional lives of the people who live in poverty in the neighborhoods that surround our hospital -- the type of job and environment Smith portrays so well in "Report From Engine Co. 82."

"Report From Engine Co. 82." tells truths about the nearly inescapable poverty and illiteracy of people scraping by in lives that are marginalized in every possible way because they don't -- can't -- really care for themselves appropriately because they don't even know how. Poverty isn't what it used to be -- but it's still as screwed up as it was in Smith's first book. Most of our ER visits aren't really emergencies, just as most of the calls Company 82 responded to weren't emergencies, either. Nowadays, people call 911; when "Report" was written, that 911 system didn't exist yet. But not much has changed since then, in terms of what the firefighters/paramedics respond to and bring to the ER.

Most of the "emergencies" he sees are not emergencies. The non-emergencies, combined with the real emergencies, portray the dangerous and unthinking way poor people live through a combination of lack of resources, lack of experience with the "straight" world, lack of common sense, and minute-by-minute survival thinking. Most of these emergencies and non-emergencies are easily prevented -- if people had common sense, proper parenting, and a normal instinct for self-preservation.

These qualities, however, are surprisingly hard to come by in poverty, and this is what Smith dramatizes. The heroin overdoses. The stupid kids doing stupid things because they are constantly left unattended and to their own devices. Kids who shoot themselves in the thigh or foot -- or worse -- "playing" with guns. Fires that kill children because space heaters provide the heat slumlords refuse to provide in their code-violating buildings. The incipient hatred and distrust poor minority neighborhoods have of the white emergency personnel and firefighters who respond to their calls. The huge cultural gaps that make true communication and understanding so difficult -- even when you're both the same race and both speaking English.

What Smith accurately portrays is the way poverty-stricken people "live in the now" -- people whose entire lives are spent with no real financial or material stability or security. These are people for whom the concept of saving money for the future is impossible, either as a concept or a reality. People for whom making an appointment days or weeks in the future, and actually remembering to get to the appointment, is nearly impossible. Their main mode of thought is: what do I need to do now, what do I want to do now, what do I need or want to do in the next five minutes. This inability to think about and plan for the future is endemic, as is the inability to prioritize that which really matters -- one suspects because most of these people realize on some level they have no future that truly matters to the rest of society, and they're incapable of living as the rest of the "straight" world lives because they never have, didn't grow up with it, and don't know the language of living that life, let alone the mindset.

These are the people and children who have no insurance, no health care, no glasses when their vision is bad, no braces or dental care when their teeth are bad; who never use birth control (to prevent pregnancy OR to prevent disease transmission). People who don't understand why it's inappropriate to come to the ER with an upper respiratory infection and get pissed off when they wait hours for care while higher priority, higher-acuity patients (in respiratory distress, cardiac arrest, heart attacks, asthma attacks, and overdose, etc.) are taken before they are.

Conversely, these are also the people who shun health care until they are so sick they can no longer avoid it, and discover they have cancer... Cancer that could have been prevented or at least treated, often saving their lives, had they ever had regular health care -- but who are now consigned to an inevitable death they will blame on the healthcare providers who couldn't save them because they were at a stage beyond saving or treating in any way other than palliative.

Smith's New York is NOT the New York of Sex And The City. This is the New York of the infants whose welfare mothers don't immunize them, but have the latest, most expensive coats and boots because conspicuous consumption is how they live: you show how much money you have by wearing all that your money has bought you (rather than doing the far less glamorous but sensible things more responsible people, whose children were WANTED rather than accidental, do). The New York of the kids having kids who have kids, all of whom have never known proper parenting, nutrition, or health care. The overdoses. The children who come in with accidental poisonings or burns from household chemicals because no one was watching them. The attempted suicides with anything and everything -- cold medicine, knives, guns, illegal drugs. The kids raised by siblings because the parent is completely incapable, if they're even around, with or without the additional problems of substance use/abuse, addiction, or domestic abuse. The families which are largely single-parent families -- and where the parental figure may be an elder sibling, aunt or cousin who cares more for the children than their biological parent(s) does or is capable of doing.

This is also the world of the terrified illegal immigrants who wait so long to call for help because they're afraid of INS (now ICE) and deportation; by the time they do, they're often too sick to save. The penniless old people whose pensions don't cover their living expenses and who don't call for help because they're terrified of being discharged from the hospital to a nursing home and losing what little autonomy and material security they have left. The fractured families (with utterly dysfunctional dynamics) who interfere with the paramedics' jobs -- as well as the tight-knit families who are rich only in love for one another. The people who refuse help they desperately need because they fear and distrust the paramedics and firemen trying to help them, and because their healthcare illiteracy is such that they have no idea what is necessary to save their lives, and so refuse or avoid medical treatment that could stop problems in stages when they're still treatable. The mothers who speak no English, who superstitiously fear that emergency treatment will kill their children, yet who are so desperate to save their babies, they don't know what else to do, because all home remedies have now failed. The endless numbers of people who let their prescriptions run out or try to save money by taking less than the prescribed doses and then have severe health problems that wouldn't happen if they bought and took their meds as prescribed -- but who, for multiple reasons, can't and/or don't. The people who beg not to be brought to the hospital because "people DIE in the hospital" -- people who don't understand that their neighbors and family members who died in the hospital, died because they waited far too long to call for help, and were therefore were beyond saving when they finally got to a hospital.

Anyone who works in public service as a fireman, cop, nurse, social worker, or psych intake worker in a big city -- and in poverty-stricken, crime- and drug-infested suburbs and rural communities -- can relate to Smith's book. For everyone who majored in something else, this book opens a door and exposes the lives of people you don't even know exist, people you don't acknowledge when you're forced to share a bus or train with them during rush hour (or who you intentionally avoid by driving in your own car, despite the expense of gas, insurance, and time spent on the commute): the people who don't work, or the people who work wage-slave jobs like janitor, maid, fast-food worker, security guard, who can barely pay their bills or care for their children with what little they make -- or who blow it all on liquor and/or drugs and/or gambling (or all three) to escape the miserable hopelessness of their lives. The kids who have the latest "stuff" -- whether it's the shiny ten speed bicycles Smith writes about, or today's video games and cell phone/mp3 player/cameras -- but whose parents can't or won't give them what they really need: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a stable environment from which to emerge every day to deal with the life-endangering risks of walking to and attending public schools that do little more than babysit and warehouse kids whose futures include teen pregnancy (and the late-term, life-threatening miscarriages that go with total lack of prenatal care, with or without drug use), repeated incarceration, and shorter-than-average lifespans due to the daily likelihood of violence in their communities and their lives.

Smith's portrayal of this kind of poverty is not pretty but it is not unsympathetic -- there are glimpses of beauty and hope, mostly in the young women and children who haven't yet been ruined by their surroundings. Smith tempers it all with a matter-of-fact acceptance that although it is his job to care for these people, he may never really understand them because he's now too removed from that life, and he takes on faith that they possess human qualities they often fail to demonstrate. But some do show their humanity, and those are the people he does it for.

Smith does an excellent job of portraying the paradox that the job of these firefighters and paramedics is to help and save these people, which by its nature includes finding them WORTH helping and saving, at the same time as they move and live as far away from these neighborhoods and the associated poverty, crime and drug problems as they possibly can. This is not merely a racial difference. There are plenty of black and Latino paramedics, cops, firefighters, nurses and doctors who straddle the gulf (some might say 'minefield') between their class and the class of the people they help, in circumstances that are at best trying and at worst nearly impossible to help them transcend for any sustained length of time.

Smith portrays the sympathetic detachment required to know that this is what you do, all day, every day you work, with only the hope that one or two out of ten people will actually genuinely and sincerely thank you for what you do or have done for them -- which is that elusive reward you get, one that can make it all seem worth it when it happens -- and to hope that when you show up and give this of yourself on every shift, there might be one kid or teen who sees what you're doing, who still has enough time ahead of them to see this glimpse into another world... A world it is just *barely* possible for them to enter given enough determination, education, mentoring and drive, and sadly also given enough instinct to discard much of what they learn in their families about how they THINK the world works, versus how the world REALLY works for the more educated and better-off people who run it.

The fact that Smith can show all this without denigrating an entire class of people -- does, in fact, portray them with humanity and the grace one occasionally sees in these circumstances -- is because he also recognizes that he is not that far removed from the kind of poverty he sees on the job (he grew up poor, too). He recognizes and accepts that he is that kid who admired firemen as a boy and saw a different world -- he is that kid who made the leap to the next class up, to the working class and blue collar as opposed to poverty-stricken. He understands the dysfunction -- the drinking, the drugs, the abuse -- that occurs in the neighborhoods Co. 82 responds to because it occurred in his neighborhood, his family, his poverty, while he was growing up.

This understanding that few "get out" -- and that he was one of the lucky few -- underscores with sympathy his otherwise stark portrayal of the job of a NYC fireman in the 70s when NYC was not a desirable place to live and people did their best to escape "the city" as soon as their financial circumstances permitted it.

The uncensored version of this book (which is the one I've read multiple times) also shows the bizarre split someone who works as a fireman/paramedic, nurse, or doctor must negotiate within themselves -- the intimate knowledge you have of the bodies of the people you must save, which is merely part of your job but which you can't really talk about to any family member or lover who isn't in one of these fields. I don't mean merely intimacy with people's genitals -- though there is that, such as the way the Smith describes heroin overdoses getting icebags put under their testicles (negative stimulus, designed to bring unresponsive, unconscious people back to responsiveness and consciousness). I mean the intimacy of seeing people stripped of their modesty and dignity, voluntarily (prostitutes) or involuntarily (the terribly sick), whose personal space and body integrity you must necessarily invade, often in less-than-respectful or diplomatic ways because there is no time for those niceties when someone is dying and you're trying to save them. People who don't work in these fields can never really understand how you can be unaffected by the nudity, exposure and/or intimate knowledge you have of these total strangers, and the disinterest or casual attitude with which you greet what would shock most everyone else.

And, of course, you're not unaffected by this knowledge. Sometimes you're disturbed, or someone or something sticks in your mind -- the things you've seen or had to do -- and is recalled in inappropriate moments with your loved ones. You're not unaffected, you're just emotionally calloused or you compartmentalize it, in order to repeatedly perpetrate and endure this violation of the boundaries between strangers and its inherent power imbalance: you, as the emergency personnel, never have to reveal any of these intimacies to your patients... but they must necessarily, willingly or not, reveal them to you. This includes the mentally ill and the hopelessly drug-addled or dopesick (or both, combined) -- sometimes the most disturbing intimacy of all: the insides of their heads and their distorted, sometimes frighteningly unhinged, perceptions of the world around them.

Before anyone decides to dedicate their lives to becoming a firefighter, they would be wise to start their research here. Some 30+ years after it was first published, this book still shows remarkable insight into the lives, struggles, and emotions of a professional firefighter. When I started on the road to becoming a firefighter, being a volunteer and reading Dennis Smith books asserted in my mind that my life would be wasted doing anything else. For others, this may convince you that the job is not for you. It isn't for everyone. Either way, this is a very enjoyable read and worth the time and money for anyone, not just firemen and wannabe's.

I first read "The Lesson of the Chopsticks" and must say that I was not disappointed reading "How to Keep Life's Small Problems from Becoming Big Ones"! Ms.Greenlee's unique view of life's everyday challenges is one we all can identify with on some level.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is in need of a boost to handle procrastination and prioritizing. Ms. Greenlee's uncovers a profound truth using vivid illustrations and metaphors to convey her point and shift us out of our "comfort zone". And, it's a LOT CHEAPER THAN THERAPY!

Finally, a most enjoyable and interesting book filled with practical and useful guidance that can be helpful for every age and every level. Each lesson is deeply meaningful, yet stated so simply. A true Gem!!!

Who knew that paying attention to inanimate objects could be so powerful? In "Paperclips", Ms. Greenlee has humorously and quite consciously given us a roadmap to sorting through the habits we all develop when faced with discomfort. Reading it again and again gives the reader a fresh way of envisioning life's way of offering opportunities to grow.

The idea of the book is good, if you don't take care of the little things when they first appear, they end up snowballing and becoming big things. However, I thought the book would include more to read and digest rather than just drawings of paperclips. OK I get the message now offer some insight on motivation. The message didn't need 109 pages of paperclips to get the message across. One cartoon would have done. It took me all of 5 minutes to "read". Sorry, wanted more for the money.

This charmingly simple book spoke volumes to me about the dangers of a disorganized life, and brought to mind several practical applications. If I don't hang up my clothes every night, my bedroom is soon an unworkable mess. If I don't take care of my mail (and other paperwork) diligently and often, it soon becomes overwhelming, and I can't find that piece of paper I really need. If I don't spot-clean the kitchen and baths (almost) every day, things get disgusting quite quickly, and germs can grow. And the list could go on. It's so refreshing to see a simple, highly useful truth presented in such an engaging way, and I look forward to the next "lesson." Way to go, Gina!

what a fascinating book! unfortunately it is littered with typographical errors which are REALLY irritating. examples: "The stem brain or gator brain processes and teacts to sensory input(p. 21)"..."Nothing is perfect. The word is full of things we can do better(p.7)."..."As Nicholas Negoponte, the founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, has written...(p.43)"

such a shame. if there is ever a second printing, perhaps these and other unnecessary errors can be corrected.

I was introduced to the book recently, with the author presenting at the local public library. Over 100 people showed up from all walks of life, and all seemed to have benefited from the approach he takes on creativity.

The book is an excellent guide on how to change your critical thinking processes into creative thinking processes.

His work even helps deal with stressful issues- you shortly find new ways to tackle problems - and sometimes even find new opportunities. I recommend this book to anyone who is ready to realize the importance of creative action in their lives.

Think Better: An Innovator's Guide to Productive Thinking

This book is based on the outstanding premise that how we think is more important than what we know. Tim explains why thinking skills are likely to be even more important in the rapidly changing future. The book then expands on exactly what productive thinking is and why we need to do it! Although initially based on the proven concepts of the Osborne Parnes Creative Problem Solving Model, Productive Thinking takes the ideas of divergent and convergent thinking, and together with an excellent choice of thinking tools and techniques, weaves them together in the 6 step Productive Thinking Model. Elegant in design, thoroughly researched and proven in practice. An easy to read and very informative piece of work. Well done Tim.

Ken Wall - Australia

Thinking is intuitive. Thinking is common sense. Thinking is hard wired into humans. If all this is true, more people would put common sense into common action. It's not the case, though is it?.

When one understands, one can make decisions more easily, more quickly and more correctly. Tim Hurson's book whacks it out of the park so well, we purchased 150 copies for clients and will follow up with them to make sure they read it and, well "Think Better" to dramatically improve their business.

As Tim writes on page 10 of his must read book, "The ability to think better will soon become the most significant competitive advantage companies and individuals can claims. Thinking better is what it's all about."

Our company trains insurance agents (Throw the eggs now) to help their employer clients better understand what they pay so dearly for. The word insurance seems to connote the worst images...an intangible concept that is difficult to understand, costs too much and does not perform when one needs it.

Page 88-Perceive a problem. Pick a solution. Do something. Finding the real problem to create broader solutions takes training. Tim shows one how to analyze properly, find the solution and implement. Not only is one step difficult for too many business people, but putting all three into action, is almost impossible for most. Isn't the goal to at least beat Paretto's 80-20 principle?

The insurance business is replete with "This is how it's always been done. This is the way to do it now." If readers will follow Tim's Productive Thinking Model framework, it will help them think better, think more effectively, and think more powerfully. We'll finally hear no more "This is how it's always been done."

Makes sense to us. It will to you also.

Tim Hurson's "Think Better" is not a treatise for armchair philosophers but an action-packed thriller, an exciting travel guide from theory to practice.

Productive thinking, Hurson argues, generates new things, as opposed to reproductive thinking, which refines what is known. It is the deliberate search for breakthrough rather than incremental change and it is powered by the alternation of creative and critical thinking.

The book presents a model which includes a rigorous method and superb practical tools and techniques that have been designed, developed and successfully tested in real life by the author. In the process, thinkers are urged to balance facts and feelings, information and imagination, aspirations and action and persevere through the "third third" of the brainstorm - that final stretch where the really great ideas emerge.

The clear writing style and the well-organized content are enhanced by quality story-telling that gives the book soul, with true stories (hospitals, insurance companies, furniture, space travel) as well as imaginary ones (how an airline might make its middle seats attractive).

Tim Hurson has clearly done a lot of productive thinking about productive thinking in this contemporary and comprehensive work, which constitutes a major contribution to the literature of creatively confronting challenges.

You know how you go through life meeting others and feeling their energy, and knowing how their energy effects you and others, but not being able to describe it without sounding foolish? Well, Energy Leadership is that description...that answer.

I do not think I have ever read a book so quickly. I really did not want to put it down. What I enjoyed most about it was feeling like I was in the room with with Bruce, feeling as if I was coaching these individuals. I had faces for them; I could see their reactions. And, best of all, I could see how transformational the process was...is.

I cannot wait to use this tool (I already am) and change my life and the lives of others with it.

Thanks, Bruce!

Energy leadership is an easy, page turning, read. Thank you for writing this book and providing me with a tool I can use to help move my organization out of its catabolic energy.

This one book will change your energy, change your life and unleash the abundance of creative energy in your life and in your business.

We are nothing more that a total energy system of parts. The water you drink, the money you have, your cash flow, your shirt, shoes and socks, the lunch you ate, the things you think about, your feelings and emotions are nothing more than energy. Energy Leadership shows us how to take back control of our lives and business.

We all know that everything (including us) are made up of atoms and smaller sub-atomic particles of energy. What is between the nucleus and it's orbiting electrons is NOTHING or Empty space. There are countless atomic particles making up everything we see, touch, hear, taste. That table in front of you looks totally solid and is nothing but moving waves of potential and possibility, energy! Your employees, your bank account, your corporate logo, your way of being with your customers, your failures, successes, the things that happen to you, around you and through you is nothing more than energy, energy that you have a say in, energy that you can control, change and move up to an abundance of anabolic circumstances and conditions in and around your business and life. Galileo, Copernicus... now Dr. Bruce D. Schneider bring the magic of assessing, understanding and using our god given energy to increase our health, effectiveness, wealth, love and joy in everything we do.

This is a masterpeice of work and nothing compares with its brilliance and everyday language so the non-scientist can understand and benefit from Energy Leadership.

Understanding that energy has an impact in your world as do microwaves, xrays, MRI's and laser beams and now Dr. Schneider teaches us how to access that inherent energy within us to be Leaders energetically to be, have and do anything we want.

This is amazing work and the Energetic Self Preception Chart clearly show us and lead us up the ladder from Level 1 Victim Energy to Level 7 Creation and Wisdom Energy. Step by step we are lead into a world beyond our widlest dream where money, business success, unconditional love and joy reside.

Every CEO and World Leader needs to read this book!!

I have handed this book to all of my clients, prospects, family, friends and the people I care about. Give it away and together we will transform the workplace making work a more joyous and eventful experience for all.

I recommend Energy Leadership by Bruce D. Schneider. This is an excellent book about a business owner who brings his company from the brink of bankruptcy to transformative success. I really enjoyed this book because, for me, it is actually about spirituality. While you may not think of it this way, our spirituality is expressed mostly when we are engaged in the activities of our daily lives.

What can be more engaging than the mundane process of everyday business life? I invite you to broaden your perspective of business to include, for example, what a parent has to do to get their child off to school with lunch and motivate him or her to do homework and chores when they get home; or what it takes for a single person to open their eyes in the morning, get up, go out and face the day of work or school with all of the activities scheduled to be faced on that day.

In all cases, this represents leadership, and I am asserting that the task before us is to discover what is spiritual in every activity we face. Bruce shows us how to empower ourselves, to raise our level of consciousness and thereby discover that spiritual content in every moment. I hope you will take that journey and read Bruce D. Schneider's Energy Leadership!

Energy Leadership is a ground-breaking work. It takes the reader on a unique journey of transformation; one that every person can relate to on some fundamental level. What I love about this book is that it delivers important information on how our energy impacts the totality of our lives through the use of an allegorical story. This engages both our logical and creative mind in a highly effective way. If you loved Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth," you'll really love this book!