Personal Development Books

Troy Dunn has put common sense into words that can be referred to time and time again as your child, (or children), of any age approach the subject of money. The "I want, I need, can I have" words that are all too familiar from our children are guided by their parents to think how they might find ways of earning money for their desires rather than just expecting handouts or waiting for that next birthday or holiday to roll around. It is definitely a reward system for all, self esteem for the child, when he 'gets it' and for the parent when they don't have to 'give it' all of the time!

This book is an excellent place to start for anyone that wants more for their children (& themselves). It is written in easy terms that you will be able to understand regardless of your background.

I enjoyed this book and agreed with the principal of teaching your children to be enterprising, not just eventually "get a job", or worse, provide everything they wish. My husband is self-employed. He and his siblings were very entraprenurial as kids and they have all become successful in their ventures as adults.

A few things I think need mentioning. First, not all people are entrapreneur material. And people who are often are without any overt help from their parents. Some kids are leaders, others not. Second, don't underestimate the amount of effort it takes for a parent to set their child up in a business, unless your child is already a teenager. My son, age 8, is eager to sell candy bars, one of the businesses Dunn lists in this book. But the majority of the legwork has to be done by MOM. It's not hard to see why one might rather give them an allowance.

This book is not thorough. Three chapters were business ideas, which made me wonder why break them into chapters. Dunn does not go into depth on spending money effectively, which is a major part of how wealthy you actually become. Also, Dunn mentions a website for young entrapreneurs, but when I looked it up, there was nothing there except a place to enter my e-mail addy. Maybe I need to look at it again, but I was mystified when I tried to find it.

My only other small peeve is the wording of the sub-title. Why not, "How to raise enterprising, money-smart kids" or something similar. The money is not the thing. If I hadn't seen Troy Dunn on tv, I probably wouldn't have picked the book, seeing the sub-title.

Overall, not a bad book, but not my favorite on the subject. "The Millionaire Mind" and "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" are better.

While its difficult to teach young children about money since there are issues with counting as well as the value associated with different coins and bills this book is a big help. It makes it easier to help the child identify what they want and then devise a plan on how to get there. No matter what the age this is an important concept. Start with an end in mind and work backwards. Hmmm, I think alot of the adults buying this book could implement the concepts along side the kids. I have found it is a good way to find projects to work on with the kids that they actually care about. the simplicity of the concepts makes it easy to use them in everyday life. I think this is a must read for all parents. Thanks

This is one of the best books I have read on how to encourage the young entrepreneur in your family. Troy Dunn should know because six of his seven children are entrepreneurs! The youngest is making $85 per hour baking and selling cookies at soccer games. Troy outlines specific steps for each age group and gives some examples of businesses kids can try. Even though the sub-title is "how to raise a future millionaire", Troy stresses it is not all about the money. He wants kids to experience the excitement of using their natural talents and the fun of being the boss.

Daphne A. Nowell, author
Juana Meets Gabriel, the Small Business Angel (Business Angel Books) (Business Angel Books)

The very first book of his I bought about three years ago was COM and ATL3.0. The thing I liked about that book was the way the author explained the difficult concepts of ATL and COM in plain english.

He does it again with this book. The book covers all the aspects of Interop services with examples, and explanations are clear and to the point. I was looking for a book that will help me get started on Interop services quickly and this book helped me tremendously.

Great Job Andrew...

This book is definitely a good starting point. It covers most of the topics, a newcomer would like to see and enables both, the .NET programmer and the COM programmer (which is most likely a VB programmer) to find a way into the material.
What is missing from my point of view is a section which describes the problems that a typical user/writer of legacy code (which COM definitely is from Microsoft's perspective) will have to overcome before he can reuse COM components in the .NET framework and write COM-usable components within .NET.
Here it relies a bit to much on Microsoft's perspective, which is that "the Framework" will do everything for you.
This is however only partly true and many programmers have gone through hard times.
When you start with COM interop, it all seems to easy... but be assured, Microsoft has a lot of work to do for programmers to make it work seamlessly.

There may be times when you need to access legacy COM DLL's written in non-managed C++ or Visual Basic. This may be as a stop-gap measure until your older legacy code can be updated to .NET. In cases where performance is critical, you may have no desire to ever upgrade your C++ DLL, but would like to use C# for GUI design, rather than Microsoft Foundation Classes. If any of these situations apply, this is the book for you.

This book begins with a few chapters that will bring the reader up to date on both sides of the GAP. First you are shown the fundamentals of COM objects. Second you are shown the newer .NET architecture. Only by understanding both sides will you be able to make the two effectively communicate. For experienced users, who are already familiar with COM and .NET this section can easily be skipped. The book then continues with an overview of what datatypes are available on each side, and how they cross over.

The real meat of the book comes in the next two sections. Three chapters (the basics, intermediate and advanced topics) are given first for COM to .NET. Then the exact same pattern is repeated from .NET to COM. I spent most of my time with the .NET to COM part of the book, as I was using a C++ DLL with C#. The book answered all of my questions and I was able to successfully implement the application.

The book provides a great deal of good information, but it is sometimes hard to find exactly what you are looking for. Each direction is covered in chapters named the basics, intermediate and advanced topics. What exactly is meant by this is not clear until you begin the chapter. I often found myself skimming all three sections trying to find an example close to what I was doing.

FIRST,LET'S SAY THAT MR.ANDREW DO A GREAT JOB IN HIS BOOKS,DO YOU IMAGINE HOW MUCH MONEY HE SAVE IT FOR YOU WHEN YOU READ HIS BOOKS ?
THE BOOK BEGIN WITH OVERVIEW ABOUT COM AND .NET TOO AND IT'S EASY TO UNDERSTAND TOO,THE BSET THING IN HIS BOOKS THE CHRYSTAL EXAMPLES TO EXPLAIN WHAT HE WANT TO SAY,
MR.ANDREW IS THE BEST AUTHOR IN THE WORLD AND A LOT OF MY FRIENDS SAY THAT TOO BECAUSE HE KNOW WELL WHAT HE'S DOING,

most of the books about Interoperability bettwen COM and .NET for the programmer who worked with COM for a long time,but what will happen if you are learning .NET now and you don't know anything about COM (because you are new to programming world),so this book (the only one in the market) for the new developers and for expert developers too,it's easy to understand as all Mr.Andrew books,for me if they sell the book for 200 $ i will buy it,because of the way of explainning the subjects,if you want something about COM and .NET and how they work together FOR YOU without pain then go to the nearest bookshop and get this book now.

I've read many Enneagram books over the past few years and this is one of my favorites along with Riso-Hudson's "Wisdom of the Enneagram." Don't let the title containing "Complete Idiot's Guide" dissuade you away from this book. Herb's book goes much more in depth than one might think and covers many aspects of importance to me: helping to indentify your type--especially if you are unsure, spiritual aspects, area for growth for each type, and especially the instinctual subtypes. Your instinctual subtype will help you with some of your deepest challenges. The sections on relationships and career are also really informative and helpful.

I think what tops it all off is that this book is so fun and entertaining to read while being packed with useful information. I've already referred back to it on numerous occasions.

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Power of the Enneagram" is a notable rundown on the Enneagram personality system. Herb Pearce and Karen Brees do an outstanding job enlightening the reader on the subject of the Enneagram and clearly explaining the nine types; noting that one number isn't better than any other number when balanced. Balancing and paying special attention to your negative aspects while accentuating your positive traits are spelled out nicely in this book.

The questionnaire at the end of the book can help you determine what `outta the' nine Enneagram types you are!. I personally have found that more than ever this typology has helped me become a more compassionate person. A pertinent quote I enjoyed: "You are all nine types at various times".

I would recommend this book to the beginner as well as those who are more knowledgeable regarding the Enneagram system.. In the personal growth section I liked the advice given for a number 4 (since I have a couple of #4 friends) "Just because you think it, doesn't mean that it's true".

All in all "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Power of the Enneagram" was attention-grabbing, insightful and fun to read. Using this book (in my opinion as a #9) can offer significant opportunities assisting in self discovery and wisely guiding you in all your relationships.

I'd like to ad that Herb Pearce is a leading expert in the Enneagram and his workshops are enlightening and fun-filled.

The book is pretty good, easy to use, and quickly helps you to find our your type. Also focuses on each type's strengths and weaknesses. H.

Simple, accessible, useful, compelling and, at the same time sophisticated. Unlike many, this guide values every fixation, sees what is profound and essential in each of the nine. Where others seem to view 4, 5 and 9 as weak--each in its own way; 6 as periferal with a greater than average tendency to dis-ease, 1 as overly fastidious, 2 as pandering, 7 as shallow but happy, 3 and 8 as the only sources of power and leadership; this book shows what is valuable and powerful in each of the points. A joy of discovery and revelation.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Power of the Enneagram is the best introduction I've seen to the Enneagram personality system. As a management consultant who uses the Enneagram for team development in organizations, I am always looking for appropriate literature to direct my clients to - books or articles which will present the Enneagram to beginners in a straightforward way. Specifically I'm looking for a clear presentation of the system, free of psychological and spiritual jargon and without a heavy emphasis on the negative qualities of each type. Unfortunately much of the Enneagram literature doesn't suit my purposes. The psychological or spiritual language found in many books or websites can scare off clients at first and a focus on the negatives of each type can be a turn-off in a business environment. Though Herb Pearce has an extensive psychotherapeutic background he understands his audience for this book and keeps it simple and uncomplicated. Also, although he doesn't step over the negative side of each type (as mentioned in a previous review), he doesn't lead with - or focus excessively on - those characteristics. I highly recommend this book as an introduction to a valuable system of personality differences.

Overall this is a great investment book. It covers an extremely broad range of topics and for the most part the reader cannot go too far wrong following the author's advice. The sections on the nature of markets and his advice on commodities alone makes the book worthwhile. Bear in mind that the book was published in 1994 but most of the content is timeless. Another book with much of the same advice is The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias. One additional thing- some of the charts and tables and examples date from the 1970's and are evidently from magazine articles that the author wrote. Just so you know what you are buying. The example are good ones and mostly remain relevant today. The only real limitation of the book is Train's simplistic approach to growth stock picking.

It is impossible to praise this book enough. I have been actively investing for greater than 10 years, and I have read more books than I care to count. You will feel much more confident in your investing and making choices. I finally have a good grip on why do stocks go up and down. But you get insight into other matters as well ,and get to feel the wisdom of a true master,in a well written easy style. Just what we need during this deflating bubble we are in now.

This book is an easy to read primer on investing and other financial matters such as estate planning and retirement planning. There are no specific formulas to follow. Rather, the book is loaded with common sense and practical advice. As far as investing, Train as one would expect discusses growth and value investment styles. But there are gems not found in other books such as his comments on emerging markets, real estate and art. Beginning and experienced investors will get alot out of this book. I'm reading it for my second time - always a sign of a good book.

John Train's slim book The Craft of Investing has a title that might mislead some readers into thinking that it is another one of his well-crafted overviews on investing. A good portion of the text, however, deals with topics that are probably most relevant to high networth individuals, family wealth management professionals and private bankers. Other investors will find chapters such as "Family Capital," "The [Trust] Executor's Job," and "How to Use a Safe-Deposit Box" less than relevant.

There are passages that are of interest to a wider audience. The first portion of the book is a brief, but useful survey of different investment styles. Other passages provide an interesting distillation of Train's tips on what makes a good investor, for instance, his advice about reverse engineering the trades of well-regarded institutional investors ("start by piggybacking on the thinking of the best professionals"); keeping a conservative approach to investing (which he says favors " sober, seasoned, careful older people"), and honing of investment skills to a professional level. "Most points are lost on errors, rather than by forcing shots. Since the investor never has to act, he should focus on not making avoidable mistakes." There is not enough meat on the bone here, though, to rank this book as one of Train's better ones. Instead, readers new to his work are better off starting with The Money Masters and The New Money Masters, two books that rank among the best in the investment field.

"The Craft of Investing" is a short, basic, and fun-to-read book that teaches you a bit about conservative investment. It doesn't go into analytic detail but emphasizes the broader concepts. The first half of the book is the best and deals mainly with stock investment. You can neglect most of the later chapters if you want and still benefit greatly.

You will learn how not to sit on a bad investment, or as John Train says, not "become a boiled frog." It is claimed that if a frog is put in a cup of warm water, it will just sit there, even as the water is slowly heated. If the poor old frog had been tossed into a pan of boiling water he would have realized the situation was not good and immediately jump out. But, as the water is slowly heated, the frog decides he can tolerate the slight change in temperature. Never making his mind up to get out, the frog boils. Many investors do the same with bad investments. As the company gets progressively worse, they hold on hoping the situation will improve--only to lose more and more money.

Much of successful investment demands little more than learning what not to do and John Train will help show you what not to do.

Peter Hupalo, Author of "Becoming An Investor: Building Wealth By Investing In Stocks, Bonds, And Mutual Funds."

Unbelievably, this book is littered with spelling mistakes. The content in the first four steps may insult your intelligence, as will the highlighted examples. Some useful information can be gained in the latter steps. The overall concept is interesting and important.

Excellent information and steps that can be taken to help your child grow and be self soothing. A book every new parent should get.

This easy to read book was an eye-opener for me. It brought up many new facets into how you look at your child and WHAT TO DO!!! It has check lists and methods to guide you to learn the emotional intelligence of a child. Above all, it doesn't judge your methods--Just adds to them. Great case studies!!!

A little anxious about your child... READ THIS BOOK!!! It will give you a fresh view to your child and What To Do!!!

I wish this book had been available when I was raising my children. I might have been able to avoid some of those emotional impasses that occurred between my children and me. This book introduces a framework with examples to help parents cope with a child's multiple emotions and their impact on the child and family. It also provides a means to initiate emotional control both for child and parent.

I found this work extremely valuable in my day to day clinical practice. Its concepts are relevant today, were relevant in the past, and will likely be so in the future.

A sure road to success involves two things: find out, once and for all, just what you are really good at, then find the right fit between you and your job. That's what this book is all about.

Few people think like this because of what the authors call The Lemming Conspiracy. People are supposed to work 60 or 70 hour weeks in some office building, because their worth as a human being is defined by their job title, and the number of zero's in their bank account. Anyone who is not on the "fast track," thinking of little beyond that next promotion, must be morally deficient. Liking your job, or feeling fulfilled, or having time for your family, is irrelevant; work is supposed to come first. Sound familiar?

Most books of this type look at just one or two areas, like interests, or goals, or hardwired abilities, to decide what is the "right" sort of job for an individual. This book explores eight different areas, with thought exercises throughout, so the reader can be pointed in the right direction.

Does the answer to a problem suddenly pop into your head, or are you more of a methodical, step-by-step type? Can you handle people coming to you with problems or questions on a non-stop basis, all day? Introvert or extrovert? Specialist or generalist? What is most important to you; family, health, excitement, spiritual fulfillment, etc? How much time per day do you spend doing what's most important to you? What sort of family did you grow up in? What sort of personal boundaries would you like to set up regarding your job (no more late nights, no more weekends, etc.)? What is your boss likely to accept?

Many books are available attempting to help the reader find the sort of occupation that is best for them. This one belongs at, or near, the top of the list. It will get the reader looking at themselves in a whole new way.

Great book. Didnt want to put it down!! These two quys figured my out, read me like a book! Im ready for success

This book is for people serious about gaining more self-awareness of their own abilities. I say that because there are lots of principles and ideas shared in this book, but one of the most valuable parts of it are the thought experiments in every chapter which guide you toward personal application of the principles. When you buy this book, get a notebook or journal to go along with it. That will greatly increase the value of the concepts.

The authors have crafted what they call the Personal Vision Process, made up of eight components: your natural talents and abilities, skills and life experience, interests, personality, values, goals, family history, and your stage of life development. It is a very comprehensive model and draws on solid work in developmental psychology.

I think the previous review was off-base that called into question the authors' work. It's clear they have done their homework, and if you're looking for career direction, don't you want a guide that is fairly optimistic and supportive?

The authors have developed a CD called the Highlands Ability Battery that profiles your own ability pattern. I purchased this separately and completed the process. It was very helpful to do this with a trained consultant. The book has a self-assessment in it that you can complete, but I found the personal feedback from the consultant much more nuanced and customized to me.

Back to my first statement: this book is for those serious about gaining self-awareness of their abilities and setting their life/career direction. Except for the few rugged individualists, you will benefit most from working through the book with a friend, career counselor, coach, or a group that is providing support. For those seeking life direction, this is one of the best processes I've seen.

This book falls squarely in the self-help book genre and has all of the usual oversimplifications. One is urged to shed the various nefarious social systems which have operated on one since birth causing untold Stress, to find one's True Self, and to return to those very systems, mostly family and work, a new recharged and in-charge person. According to the authors, most simply need to go through a self-assessment process and thought experiments to reveal Personal Visions for the future.

Nowhere in the book do the authors discuss the power dynamics of the broader economy, society, and the polity and the impacts on persons. Managers are depicted not as powerful players in organizations who demand adherence to rules but as employee allies who want you to achieve your self-defined goals. Perhaps the authors could have reflected on the reason that labor unions formed. Or perhaps they could have pondered as to why social-democratic political parties exist in most democratic societies. The answer is most certainly not that corporations are interested in your True Self. Try the fact that workers and citizens need help against powerful players.

The authors operate a company that sells Whole Person Technology out of which comes a Personal Vision. Their customers are mostly large corporations which only adds suspicion about whom is to benefit. In fact, most of their individual customers seem to find happiness where they were previously unhappy. How convenient. For the readers of this book a battery of tests is available on CD for the tidy sum. The book has an unmistakable feel of being a promo for their self-help products.

In addition, the book is clearly intended for professionals, executives, managers, knowledge workers, etc. The book is loaded with snippets of case studies of such workers. Of course, they all found their Personal Vision. Apparently blue-collar workers don't have near the need to find a True Self.

Is the book completely bogus. No. It is Briggs-Myers on the cheap. Yes, distinctions between introversion and extroversion, specialization and generalization, logical and spontaneous, etc are minimally presented. If someone was hopelessly in the wrong job, perhaps that would be seen by reading this book ignoring the question of how he or she got there in the first place. But the book greatly oversimplifies the ability of individuals to make major transformations in their lives. I suspect that for most the costs and risks, resources and information available, and the power to affect change make real changes nearly impossible. And books that oversimplify the problems do not help.

Genre: Self Help/business
Title: Don't Waste your Talent - The 8 Critical Steps to Discovering What You Do Best
AUTHOR: Bob McDonald, PH.D. and Don E. Hutcheson
This book is about identifying and using your talents. It is about The Highlands Program and The Highlands Personal Vision Factors-the structure and process we developed because we believe that people deserve to be on higher ground in their lives and careers.
From Introduction.
Do you want to use all of your potential in your career and your life? Do you feel that you are in a dead end job with nowhere to go? Does your work make you happy or unfulfilled? If you have asked yourself any of these questions, this is the book for you.
The first three chapters deal with The Lemming Conspiracy, the Stress Cycle/Balance Cycle and career/life expanding development over your entire lifespan from age 17-85+. The book discusses natural "Turning Points" that all of us experience. It teaches that with the use of the Personal Vision Factors to compose and begin your own Personal Vision or holistic map, you too can live life to the fullest.
Filled with actual true-life examples, readers move from chapter to chapter in a concise and methodical way, which enriches the experience. Turning points are discussed in depth, next we learn to identify our "hard wired" talents and assets, chapter 5 brings skills, personality and interests into the equation and finally values and goals. From here we learn about systems that have affected our lives such as the "Family of Origin" system, and the "Office System", etc and then how to create personal boundaries. After each chapter there is a Thought Experiment, which helps the reader move through the various stages. All that is required is a 50- page notebook and a lot of honesty and soul searching.
Well presented, easy to follow and comprehensive this reviewer was fascinated with the entire process of preparing the Personal Vision. An excellent tool for employees, corporations, students and even retirees, this book offers us a chance to change our world and how we live our lives for the better. Parents would be advised to give a copy to their children in order to help them make future choices.
Readers can order the Highlands Ability Battery from the author's website which works hand in hand with the book. Authors Bob McDonald, Don Hutcheson and second edition contributions by Lazar Emanuel and Thomas Tavantzis have produced an insightful and valuable tool for everyone regardless of age or career status.
Highly Recommended by Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Reviews.

The tone of Matt Rothschild's new memoir, Dumbfounded, falls somewhere between the demented, sidesplitting satire of David Sedaris and the earnest pathos of Augusten Burroughs. Like Burroughs' memoirm Running With Scissors, Dumbfounded is a coming-of-age story told by a boy who has been both emotionally and physically abandoned by his mother.

Helen Rothschild left her son with her Jewish parents--her sharp-tongued, independent mother, and her gentle, ailing father, a man who worries so much about the family's reputation that he bristles at the notion of riding in their white Rolls Royce after Labor Day. The family dynamic provides for entertaining analysis.

The vignettes that make up Dumbfounded evoke mixed emotions. Though only loosely chronological, the stories are embellished with vivid descriptions of Rothschild's youth and his teenage development. It is tempting to slide into a kind of rueful sympathy for the young boy when learning about his effort to emulate Judy Garland, singing "Get Happy" without accompaniment at a high school talent show. After his best friend Elaine coaxes Matt to participate in a shoplifting spree, then abandons him to face the punishment alone, the reader is torn between anger and amusement. The impenetrable suffering of first love is sweetly depicted in a chapter about a one-sided boarding school romance.

The book's most moving accounts describe how Rothschild faces his grandmother's Alzheimer's disease, and how he wins the affection of an awkward, anti-social student shortly after taking his first job as a kindergarten teacher.

Dumbfounded successfully weighs the foibles of adolescence, the craving to belong, and the fear of failure, all against the hard lessons of growing up and accepting responsibility. Anyone who has suffered the childhood taunts of bullies, or longed for independence from authority, will find satisfaction in reading about Rothschild's roller coaster journey.

Armchair Interviews says: A memoir with a theme familiar to many people.

Learn these 'aristo' tips & more in this ADDICTIVELY laugh-out-loud debut novel. I started this book & couldn't put it down...As someone who loves men who love Judy Garland & who lives in Vero Beach, Fl surrounded by the 'ladies who lunch' crowd this novel hit home. I read more than your average bear & I can honestly say that this is the best book I have read in years! A perfect read, especially those nights when everything on tv is as non-sensical as Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin preaching abstinence. Now if only Hollywood would option the rights....I can see Matt playing himself with me as his hairdresser. Of course a flatiron & straightening gel would simply HAVE to be included in the budget due to the Jewfro. PS: my dog Beauregard the Beagle loved the author photo featuring Matt with his adopted boxer. The dog's name? Why Baron, of course !

So you think being raised by wealthy Jewish grandparents in a Fifth Avenue apartment, twelve years of prep and boarding schools, regular trips to FAO Schwartz, chauffeured limousines, or visiting Mom at her husband's Italian villa also means a life on easy street?

Then you haven't read Matt Rothschild's family memoir, DUMBFOUNDED.

In his memoir, Matt paints a lush and detailed portrait of life as a complex, awkward outsider in a world that demands conformity and simple definition. Despite growing up in a completely different environment, I felt a constant sense of familiarity and kinship with Matt, whether he was describing the painful silence that greeted his a capella rendition of "Get Happy" for the sixth-grade talent show, spinning tales of his midget butler, Little Saigon, in the hopes of pleasing his fickle grandmother, or confronting an ever-increasing awareness that his sexuality might not fit society's definition of "normal."

Matt's story runs the gamut of human emotion from laugh-out-loud hilarity to chest-aching heartbreak. DUMBFOUNDED is first and foremost a book about people, and it reminds us that once stripped of all our ideological constructs (wealth, race, faith, gender, orientation, nationality, etc.), at our core, we're all pretty much the same.

Reviewed by: Cat

Rothschild, Matt. "Dumfounded: Big Money, Big Hair, Big Problems. Or Why Having it All Isn't for Sissies". Crown, 2008.

Not Dumfounded, Stunned!!!!

Every once in a while a book comes along that makes me cheer and Matt Rothschild's book is one of those. I am giving advance warming that I am going to praise this book.
Rothschild was quite the kid. He grew up on Fifth Avenue, New York City in a building where his family was the only Jewish family in "a building of WASPS". He was raised by his grandparents after his mother took off for Italy and pursued her fourth husband. His grandmother, "a cross between Lauren Bacall and Bea Arthur" had a sharp tongue and a lot of love.
Matt's childhood is a story in itself. He was booted out of almost every private school in Manhattan, he wore his grandmother's dresses and he shoplifted Barbie dolls. Eventually he was sent to boarding school in order that he learn something. He tried hard to fit into the world but itas not easy for a fat little Jewish boy who was confused sexually to fit into the genteel society in which he was raised. He came from a high-faluttin' family--he was a ROTHSCHILD.
He grew up in an atmosphere that seemed perfect, an exclusive location, a good name and lots of money. He could have had anything but he was precocious. He was so precocious that one of the elite New York schools agreed to take him only if his grandparents would donate one of their Van Gogh paintings to the school. When his mother returns and tries to reunite the family, disaster looms. He was forced to take care of his grandmother who was suffering from Alzheimer's when he was just a teen.
Matt's childhood was anything but typical but he also suffered from a lack of responsibility. Forcing him into caring for his grandmother and make adult decisions isn't really for a teenager to do and so he missed his teen years when others were enjoying them. It was then that he came to a decision that changed his life.
The book draws us in from the first sentence and the humor keeps us going. We learn that growing up in the lap of luxury does not guarantee that life will be easy. Rothschild's life is complex and he was an outsider in a world of privilege and which demands fitting the mold. I could not help but identify with so much of this book as I also grew up in a Jewish family in which I lacked very little, The story shows all human emotions and with the hilarity there is also heartbreak. Like Matt, I wondered if I would ever be considered "normal". But the book also has a strong message in that it allows us to think about who we are once the trappings and societal constructs are taken away. When the labels are no longer there, there is not much difference between us.
Matt's story is powerful and intense and we laugh and we cry. Many of us know how hard it is to try to fit and fail, His thoughts of his family are irreverent and biting and honest. Rothschild has drawn some unforgettably rich characters (who we understand are real) and we love them and hate them. Above all we love Matt Rothschild for not only the book he has given us but having the courage to write it.
Where is he today? In his own words, he "currently lives on the cusp of gentrification in Orlando, Florida with his adopted Boxer, Baron (I love that). He teaches English and journalism at an urban high school".
On a personal note I want to thank Matt Rothschild for this wonderful book. I am so glad to see men finally putting their stories in print. Recently we have had both Robert Leleux
and Joel Derfner tell us their stories as well. I hope it is a trend.

This memoir draws you immediately in with humor and unique characters. while I believe Dumfounded, by Matt Rothschild to be true, it is obvious he takes liberty with conversations--dialog that couldn't possibly be remembered. In fact, the book reads--in a good way--like fiction.

Rothschild is raised by his wealthy grandparents in New York City. He is constantly getting in trouble, usually in school, and often unfairly blamed. His grandparents are eccentric and a joy to get to know. Less joyful are the bits about his mother, living in Italy.

Rothschild writes a very funny, sometimes sad, memoir about his childhood that is extremely readable.

Recommend.

This book covers a lot of ground -- check out the table of contents and you'll see something for every flavor of computer or video game, from the Atari VCS to PC-based first-person-shooters and massively multiplayer online role-playing games, to handhelds like Palm and Pocket PC devices, to all of the major console machines you attach to your television.

Like any computer book, this is full of ephemeral information that may not age well. In a few years, many of the links given here will cease to exist, and much of the hardware referenced could be difficult to find. Some of the tools which seem cool today will be commonplace, having been built into new revisions of hardware. The author does a good job of anticipating where this might happen, and sticks to generalities while providing specific examples wherever possible. As I write this review, the book has been in print for almost a year, and in my opinion, it remains fresh, relevant, and worthy of purchase.

Some of the activity described in this book is in the grey area between legal and illegal activity, and Carless takes care to warn the reader when he/she might be stepping on dangerous ground. Such caveats make this book even more interesting to this reviewer and probably others as well.

If you've ever done any of these things, enjoyed it, and wanted to do more, then this book is for you!
- played a Japanese game on a USA or UK territory console;
- played a "hacked" ROM of an old game in emulation;
- wanted to get more out of old games which are boring now;
- wondered about nonstandard import adapters and accessories;
- wanted to interface your console with your PC

In other words, if you're creative enough to want to think outside the narrow box that some manufacturers have put us in, and want more, you want this book, even if you've already done a lot of this stuff on your own. The weblinks alone will provide hours of entertainment, but the book draws everything together into a coherent whole. Cheers to Carless for writing this and to O'Reilly for having the courage to publish this in the age of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act!

This book was a lot of fun to read and provides a lot of great tips for not only getting the most out of your current gaming system, but also for enjoying those games you played 20 years ago. The book starts out with an introduction to emulation and MAME, which allows you to play old console games (like the Atari 2600) or arcade games on a PC. The author even provides directions to illustrate how you can take an old Atari 2600 paddle controller and hook it into your PC (with a soddering iron and a little work). Any gamer who ever played on the Atari would love something like this.

In my favorite chapter, the author shows how to maximize portable devices for gaming fun. In one hack, the author shows how to play games on your iPod. In another hack, the author shows how to produce color pictures from the Game Boy's black and white camera attachment. There are even instructions for turning your PocketPC or PalmPilot into a Game Boy or even a Commordore 64.

The author has a section dedicated to creating the best game machine, where he discusses video cards, mice, and other peripherals. In other sections, the author discusses how to modify your gaming console, including Xbox mods, tunneling (e.g. making games play online that weren't designed to be played online), and other game hacks. Finally, the author rounds out the discussion by demonstrating how to create and add a vehicle to Unreal Tournament 2004. While it does require a bit of time and some work, I was surprised at how relatively easy the whole process was.

This is a great book to read if you enjoy gaming-regardless of whether they're games from 20 years ago or brand new. This book will help you to get the most out of your gaming experience and have a lot of fun doing it.

If you want to go far beyond the obvious, whether you want to modify your console controller to work on other consoles, create your own text adventure, or modify your Game Boy, there is an awful lot of fun you can have for cheap or free, using the creative exploits of the gaming gurus. Gaming Hacks is the indispensable guide to cool things gamers can do to create, modify, and hack videogame hardware and software.

Everything from social exploits and tips to be used in MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) to soldering-iron heavy hardware hacks is covered in this extreme-cool hack guide written by gamers for gamers. Gaming Hacks offers a stunning variety of hacks, exploits, and other creative acts on both modern and archaic console hardware and today's PC hardware. One hundred detailed, ingenious hacks are included.

Gaming Hacks also includes detailed software-based looks at MMO (massively multiplayer) titles, FPS (first-person shooter) games, machinima (real-time movies created using game engines), emulation, save-game hacking, and many other miscellaneous subgenres and topics.

Gaming Hacks shows hardcore gamers how to configure the best FPS peripherals, hack the Nuon DVD Player/Gaming System, modify their Game Boy, watch movies and listen to music and their Sega Dreamcast, and much, much more.

Gaming Hacks shows you how to do things you didn't know could be done. If you want more than your average gamer, if you want to explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, or make your games do what you want them to do Gaming Hacks will show you how. You don't need to be gaming guru to pick up Gaming Hacks, but you will be one when you put it down.

This book covers everything. You can go old school and get information on Mame games and building your own arcade machine. It covers portable with information on PDA games, hacking your Gameboy, and installing a PS2 in your car. It talks about the online world with combat strategies, how to game the systems to make money, and how to find and avoid cheaters. It's got great advice on how to build high end gaming PCs. Consoles are covered as well. He talks about overclocking them and chipping them to play import games. And that's just a sample.

Were this any other type of book I would say that the coverage is unfocused because it's too broad. But it's a Hacks book and these are intended for people with a clue to give them material on a wider range of topics. It starts you off and expects that you will run with it. For example, you get a lot of information about how to create a home arcade machine with Mame, but you won't get the detailed construction plans.

The text is well written, though he does tend to use the gamer lingo, so you may need a translator if you aren't up to the minute. Certainly the best book I have seen for people who want to push their gaming experience beyond what you can get out of the box from Electronics Boutique.

If you're a gamer who is always looking for new information to improve your gaming experience, check out Gaming Hacks by Simon Carless (O'Reilly).

Chapter list: Playing Classic Games; Playing Portably; Playing Well With Others; Playing With Hardware; Playing with Console and Arcade Hardware; Playing Around the Game Engine; Playing Your Own Games; Playing Everything Else; Index

Like all Hacks titles, there are 100 hints, tips, and hacks that cover the spectrum of gaming, from hardware to software, from consoles to online gaming. If you're old like me, you might enjoy Play Commodore 64 Games Without the C-64 (#2) and Play Atari ROMs Without the Atari (#3). Those will take you back to your early days of computing. If you're into first player shooting games, Tweak Your Tactics for FPS Glory (#94) will help boost your scoring. Carless will even help you play Japanese video games without knowing the language in #97 - Play Japanese Games Without Speaking Japanese. He shows you some basic hiragana and katakana that you'll encounter frequently in those games, and that might allow you to bridge the language gap.

The only trouble I see with the book is that it's covering such a wide area of subject matter. Unless you're a full-time gamer, you'll probably find a number of areas in this book that don't pertain to your interests. In some ways, that's OK for a Hacks title, as not everything is meant to apply to every single reader. But this particular title seems to be a bit more scattered than usual. The material is good, to be sure, but each reader may have a different opinion of the book based on what their gaming interests are.

I have an 8 week old son & so far, this book has been a great place to record his dr visits and track immunizations, medications, etc. I really like the pages of various growth charts. I can fill in his information and see percentiles and keep track of everything! I've already ordered a 2nd copy so that our next child will have a matching book :)

Good idea if you love to keep detailed records. My son had surgery and it was a great place to keep all the info but didn't use it much for routine care

We found this to be so handy at doctor's appointments and also at looking back to see how big our son has gotten from one month to two, and so on. It's a great way to keep track of his immunizations also.

I purchased this healthtracks book/binder when my daughter was about 9 months old. I was so frustrated with trying to keep all my things in one folder, and it was already getting messy. There is a place to mark each tooth, when it comes in.... each illness... each prescription.... each physician visit, immunizations, and it goes all the way up to the teenage years. There is even a space to record menstrual cycles in girls! Holy COW! I wish I had this earlier, but I was happy to spend the time copying all my daughter's information into one place. It fits easily into the diaper bag for all my physician visits, and also has pockets inside to store shot records and other things that you may get from the physician office. It has areas for physician contact info, insurance information, etc. I feel like if anything ever happened to me, my husband or family would know what they needed to about my child's health. I am pregnant again and will be buying one for my second child as well. I hope they never discontinue this!

I gave this as a baby shower gift. It was a hit & she certainly didn't get two of them. New moms would be surprised how often you need to remember the stuff this book is designed to organize. My friend plans to by it for her sister who has a special needs child who has a lot of doctor appointments.

This book has been a big help! It goes into details of childhood/young adult experiences with parents without getting too technical. If you somehow suffer from guilty feelings unconsciously as adults, and are trying to overcome those and become a happier person, this book can give you a new perspective in life. Recommended by therapist!!

This book is a great introduction to Control Mastery Theory. It is easy to read for people who are not familiar with theories in psychoanalysis and also understandable. The book provides many case examples to illustrate ideas and concepts. Excellent book and a must read for anyone interested in learning more about this theory.

IMAGINARY CRIMES


Hidden guilt - hidden even from the self - afflicts ordinary people in everyday life, with costs uncounted and uncountable, according to Lewis Engel, PhD, and Tom Ferguson, MD, in Imaginary Crimes (Houghton Mifflin, 1990). The thesis of Imaginary Crimes is simple: many adults suffer from a version of "survivor's guilt," a guilt not over wrong done but over the mere fact of having come out ahead in some situation or even over just having lived when others died or were harmed.

Survivor's guilt has long been recognized in Holocaust survivors and their families, combat veterans and their families - guilt, with a virus-like knack for camouflage, can be transmitted to relatives - and is found in prisoners and their families.

Engel and Ferguson apply this concept to less disrupted lives, even to ordinary lives. To a surprising extent, according to the authors, millions of us are liable to some form of this hidden guilt of which we are unaware.

I cannot recommend the prose style of this otherwise valuable book, and regrettably the authors have to disguise individual case studies so much that the anecdotes come out garbled and hard to relate to. But the basic categories of imaginary crime are illuminating. "Most of us believe ourselves guilty of one or more of the six common imaginary crimes described on the following pages":
* Outdoing - "The crime of outdoing can result from surpassing a family member in any way . . ."
* Burdening - "If either or both of your parents seemed weighed down by life, or drained by parental responsibilities, you may suffer from the imaginary crime of burdening."
* Love theft - "Love theft is the crime of receiving the love or attention that another family member seemed to need in order to thrive."
* Abandonment - "Abandonment is the crime of wanting to separate from your parents . . . simply distancing yourself from them - physically or emotionally - can make you unconsciously feel as if you are abandoning them."
* Disloyalty - "The crime of family disloyalty can result from breaking family rules or disappointing parental expectations."
* Basic badness - "Most of us have suffered to some extent from bad messages. As a result, we sense that we are somehow inherently flawed . . . not important, not worthwhile, not lovable, not attractive, not caring, or not intelligent."

The authors explain some categories better than they do others. "Basic badness," for example, is less coherent than other illusory crimes but seems reminiscent of the "We're not worthy" scene in Wayne's World. It is probably widely spread among offspring who have often received a message, however unintentional, that "Whosever wish or pleasure or convenience is consulted, it won't be yours."

This book is not pessimistic - the good news about guilt, after all, is that it indicates a conscience, a capacity to regret that better things didn't happen to other people, especially the ones we loved.

Therefore the book is a useful reminder and clarifies some fundamentals. Good bedtime reading, a little at a time.

This book is a great introduction to Control Mastery Theory. It is easy to read for people who are not familiar with theories in psychoanalysis and also understandable. The book provides many case examples to illustrate ideas and concepts. Excellent book and a must read for anyone interested in learning more about this theory.

A masterful little book that serves as a fabulous introduction to Control Mastery Theory. I could NOT put this one down - facinating. For those with some skepticism, hang in there. It is understandable some concepts in this little gem of a book (and learning about CMT generally), might be difficult to see initially: how our beliefs and thoughts, by which we live our life could be so deeply hidden from consciousness. But it is true!! It will be easier for some to accept, harder for others. That's OK. Believe me, if you are open, once you really get into control mastery theory and understand it's tenets, there will no doubt; especially if you ever have the chance to work with a CMT trained clinicial. I was fortunate enough to do just that. Intellectually I understood what I was being told, and initially had a hard time really "getting" it on an emotional level, (entertaining the idea that these unconscious beliefs could be such powerful influences in my life). So unconscious, and then, at some point subsequently, having them enter into consciousness to a level that I Knew what I could only intellectualize about before. Once I made this transition, unbelievable clarity regarding certain dynamics in my life became crystal clear. And trust me I am not a gullible person, unfamiliar with therapy and the concept of "leading." I am not taken in by a slick clinician with a hidden agenda. (I am also studying to be a therapist.) These authors and the founders and practitioners of CMT are on to something truly amazing. The best kept secret in psychotherapy today!! Follow this up with a read of How Psychotherapy Really Works (wonderful) by Joseph Weiss, (from the founder of CMT himself) and I doubt anyone will wonder whether these crimes are imaginary. They are only imaginary if you can cannot open your mind up to insight and imagine the possibility. I suspect almost everyone has some of these "imaginary crimes" floating deep in their psyche. Discovering these is part of knowing who you truly are, how your life has been influenced and how you became who you are (psychically). This book will help you discover why you may have dynamics in your life that you'd like to change, as well as giving you an empathic and crucially important understanding of those who influenced your development. This book helps lead the reader to a centered, grounded, place of mind. In the process, making peace with the past. Intended for those interested in individual development and growth; a remarkable find for those of this persuation.