Services Books

This is a beautiful book and I feel it is so wonderful for family caregivers who have just "gotten the call." It has so many personal insights and helpful tips, and I feel it gives a lot of strength and empowerment to caregivers. Please read this. You will be so glad that you did.

Beth has been there for all of us as the head of our "Caregiving" support group. Her experience and knowledge has helped us through, and her beautiful book has helped us know, why she is so caring of others. A must read for all CAREGIVERS.

Beth Witrogen McLeod's book Caregiving The Spiritual Journey of Love, Loss, and Renewal is a must read for any person taking care of an ill loved one, whether they are a child, spouse and/or aging parent. My interview with Beth revealed a strong woman with a fierce detrmination to help other caregivers make the most of a very painful situation. Beth includes her own personal journey along with the stories of hundreds of people she has met online in her chat groups or in person during her many public appearances in her incredible book. As the creator and editor of HotFlash! a woman's online perimenopause/menopause magazine and online support group, I have found women in the same place as Beth. She has described so well in her book the guilt, the pain, the sorrow and yes, at times, the joy of taking care of a sick loved one. In attempting to find hope and love in a truly difficult situation, Beth guides us to make good decisions not only for the person needing care but for the person herself. She pulls back the curtain on this often overlooked yet important topic.

This is a must read for anyone taking care of a loved one and for the rest of us who will one day be in these extraordinary shoes.

In an ideal world, we'd all have parents who we would want to help in old age, and it would be our honor to help them in their old age as they have helped us in our youth.

However, for the children of substance abuse parents and/or mentally ill patients the answers do not come easy. Things are much more complicated than simply finding a place to live, and deciding how much time you can spend with said loved one.

I'm not trying to over simplify, because all decisions dealing with older loved ones are difficult, but I was kind of hoping it would have given me more direction as to when its important to protect yourself as well. Its easy to get caught up in the caretaker role, feeling like a matyr without thinking about wheither or not this is the best desicion for you and your immediate family. Especially, if its puts you at risk for other health issues.

This is a fascinating book. I highly recommend it, although I was hoping it would have more concrete ideas for caring for an elder. I would recommend something like the Fourteen friends Guide to Eldercaring if you are looking for comcrete suggestions and a unique support group.

I recently re-read this book (1999) and Berry's previously published On Great Service (1996), curious to know how well they have held up since they were first published. My conclusion? Rock-solid. In fact, both books are even more relevant - and more valuable - now than they were when Leonard Berry wrote them. That is amazing...and commendable.

With regard to the title of this book, consider this brief excerpt from the concluding chapter: "Great service companies have a soul that underlies their strategies and day-to-day operations. The company's soul - its value system - is its foundational center, its inner core." Berry fully understands how difficult it is to achieve and then sustain a great service company, noting that such companies are "humane communities that humanely serve customers and the broader communities in which they live." Decision-makers, especially in companies which have problems attracting and then retaining the talented, skilled, and principled people needed, would be well-advised to consider very carefully the meaning and significance of Berry's concluding observation. The same can be said for companies which have problems keeping valued customers and don't know why.

As Berry explains, his purpose in this book is to identify, describe, and illustrate the underlying drivers of sustainable success in service businesses. Creating a successful service operation is unquestionably a difficult task...The greater involvement of people in creating value for customers, the greater the challenge." He examines 14 outstanding service companies which include The Container Store, the Charles Schwab Corporation, Chick-fil-A, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, the St. Paul Saints AAA baseball franchise, and USAA. He suggests what lessons can be learned from them. Although quite different in terms of their size and nature, they demonstrate the same nine drivers of success, to each of which Berry devotes a separate chapter.

One of his key points is that humane core values sustain human service energy as organizations grow and mature. When the "product" is a human performance, values-driven leadership is at the center of sustainable success. He focuses on often-neglected or under-appreciated basics and explains how the superior service to which the exemplary companies are wholly committed creates for each of them a significant, perhaps decisive competitive advantage. The core strategies seems obvious: focus on serving a specific market need rather than on marketing a specific product for that need, focus on serving underserved market needs, and focus on serving the chosen markets with executional excellence. When stressing the importance of "trust-based" relationships, Berry includes everyone involved in the given enterprise. Hence the importance of what he characterizes as "humane organizational values" and he correctly insists that such values depend on values-driven leadership which must permeate the organization, at all levels and in all areas of operation. Stable leadership stabilizes values and propels all other success sustainers.

Of special interest to me is what he has to say about Cora Griffith in Chapter 8, "Investment in Employee Success." She is a long-time waitress for the Orchard Café in Appleton, Wisconsin. According to Berry, she implements each day the nine rules of success: she treats each customer like family, she is an alert listener, she strives to anticipate her customers' wants, she is attentive to significant details ("simple things make the difference"), she "works smart" by constantly scanning all the tables, maintains an on-going effort to improve her skills while learning new ones, and is contented in her work. "Cora is a team player, an all for one, one for all employee." She takes great pride in her work. And credits her employers, Dick and John Bergstrom, for convincing her how important it is to take good care of each customer and who gave her the "freedom" to do it. How many service providers have you encountered lately who measure up to Cora Griffith's standards? The sad fact is that most service providers could but, for whatever reasons, don't.

It is to Berry's great credit that he recognizes the importance - and significance -- of the Cora Griffiths in this society at a time when most books which discuss superior customer service focus almost entirely on companies such Nordstrom, Ritz-Carlton, and Southwest Airlines. They are indeed exemplary organizations but two points need to be made: Each has its own significant number of Cora Griffiths, and, the same high level of customer service can be provided by all other organizations, even by a hotel restaurant in a small midwestern town.

With all due respect to Mies van der Rohe, God may not be in the details but "the soul of service" certainly is.

I read this book for a graduate marketing class, but it is a good read for any business professional out there. Why do companies succeed in the long-term? They find a way to put the customer first, time after time. And not just customers, but employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders as well.

"Excellent customer service" is a the frequent promise, which is SELDOM achieved. This book is a good guide to how the elements of really great customer service can be identified and cultivated in an organization. While it is directed more to the larger enterprise, the principles can be applied to small business also.

It is very difficult for me to work with "interviews and case study" based books since they are almost invariably full of "brilliant" quotes and "success and beyond-duty" stories that, to say the least, sound too good as to be of a sustainable nature in real world. This book is based on experiences and what seems very solid research and, for sure, is not free of this type of passages; and yet, it is one of the most useful and often-referenced books that I own and work with. So, if you will yourself through it, you'll find one of the best and most down-to-earth books on Customer Service. The author identifies nine drivers that can make any organization successful, all of them emphasizing the human nature of the relationship with customers (customer-centered). It is truly a recipe for success, more easily applicable to on-going enterprises rather than to start-ups. From this book the reader can produce very useful check-lists to diagnose the company and its strategic practices regarding their service approach. It can also be used as a guiding document to move a company to a truly customer-awareness territory and, most important, to keep it there. Of special relevance is the author's brilliant exposition in the final chapter "Lessons from World-Class Service Companies", where the reader obtains a rarely seen synopsis of all the good things that excellent companies do "to sustain their excellence". If nothing else, this chapter by itself justifies buying this book and incorporating it to your professional library.

Leonard L. Berry takes an in-depth look at how service can sustain the success of a business in this detailed, footnoted exploration that includes plenty of interviews and examples from the business world. Written authoritatively, yet conversationally, this book outshines similar works because of its thoroughness. Far from a quick-fix, self-help business guide, the book is thoughtful and doesn't rely on the obvious. We [...] recommend it to managers and leaders in all businesses, particularly if your competitive edge rests on pleasing your customers.

I just cannot praise this book enough. Ellman's biography of Joyce is amazing, bewildering, daunting (at least in its length) and wonderful -- not coincidently, just like James Joyce. One caveat: I imagine a reader might be quite confused if s/he read this before reading any of Joyce's major works (Ulysses or Finnegans Wake). I am kicking myself that I didn't read this biography years ago! Truly a marvelous work -- and a must for readers of Joyce.

For those of you interested in a biography of James Joyce that's as erudite as his works themselves, then Ellmann's "James Joyce" is most definitely for you. This is a product of years of interviews and correspondence with many of Joyce's friends and family members; and Ellmann's love for both the writer and the man radiate through every page. His sections on the key themes and events that inspired both "Ulysses" and "Finnegans Wake" are invaluable. Moreover, you'll find yourself chuckling a great deal of time, and even shedding a few tears, as I did. My only critique of the book, albeit fairly minor, is not so much directed at the author as it is at the publisher: there is little room in the margins for notes, as well as very sparse flyleaves; hence for those of you who like to engage a book with gushing pen in hand, then you'll find the layout of this book quite restraining, as I did. One might counter this critique, however, with the perhaps granted point that it leaves all the more canvas space on which to overlay layers and layers of brush strokes much needed when attempting to paint the life of this very complex, gifted, and charming man.

In all things about James Joyce, no one has exhibited more of an acute understanding of the man and his works than Richard Ellmann. He is the bridge by which readers who have not read Joyce or do not understand what they have read by him to the inner workings of the artist and his life.

This biography, "James Joyce" has been around for decades, virtually unchallenged. He presents to the reader all the facets of Joyce's life and personality. This is no mere star-gazing. Along with all the great things about Joyce, he also examines his weakness: his superstitions, his drinking, his occasional selfishnes, his sexual complexities, and his failure to really take care of his family. We get to see Joyce in all his dimensions and from several perspectives. That makes this book not only the best biography of James Joyce but one of the classic biographies of all time.

Richard Ellmann's biography of James Joyce is hands down among the three best or the best biography written in the 20th century. For anyone with a serious interest in Joyce or his writings, will truly enjoy getting to know Joyce and his writings through this book.

I've read maybe a few thousand reviews of other titles on this website but this is the first book I've felt I needed to comment on. I comment mainly because I noted that two reviewers gave this book "4 stars". What unmitigated gall!

Richard Ellmann's biography is the most definitive and complete examination of James Joyce that has been written. This extensive work examines Joyce's life from his birth to his death. Ellmann's narrative derives from Joyce's letters as well as accounts from Joyce's brother, Stanislaus. The book is most revealing in offering an understanding of the process it took for Joyce to come up with his most monumental works, ULYSSES AND FINNEGANS WAKE. Ellmann states that Joyce intentionally made it difficult for anyone to understand what he wrote. He wanted to keep his critics, academics and scholars, guessing of what significance his nonsensical gibberish creation represented. In addition, Ellmann intertwines events that occurred in Joyce's life that show how they closely resemble the characters in the works he produced, such as his early work, A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN.

James Joyce most likely can be considered a "starving artist." He would go without a new pair of shoes until they wore down to the soles, but looked debonair and sophisticated with non-matching suits. In the beginning, he aspired to be a work within the realms of Jesuit studies, but later opted for a writing career that would take him from Trieste, Paris, and Zurich. Joyce struggled with poverty through out his life even as his most famous works were published. Monetary problems and health conditions that affected his eyesight never hindered his creative process. If he lost his eyesight, he probably would have continued to write blind. Joyce appeared to be an eccentric and stubborn man. However, Ellmann shows a caring and supporting man who loved his wife and children, and most of all, his father, John Stanislaus Joyce.

In terms to history and literature, Ellmann constantly references Joyce's fascination with Shakespeare, ancient civilization and history. This is best displayed in ULYSSES, but one significant footnote is that he did not appear to care for American history. He makes a minute reference to Ulysses S. Grant in ULYSSES, but he did not even know who the man was; Joyce loathed the United States. Also, Ellmann offers a birds-eye view of what his cohorts thought of his work. Gertrude Stein as well as Ernest Hemingway praised and envied Joyce's contributions to Modernism.

Ellmann examines a tremendous amount of information within his narrative. When one completes JAMES JOYCE, what else do you need to know about this genuine writer who used his craft as a means of getting back home, but never quite made it there? But he preferred Zurich and its snow-capped mountains as home rather than the complexities of his former Dublin. JAMES JOYCE is the springboard one needs when beginning a study of Joyce the man and his works, which should begin with PORTRAIT and ending with WAKE.

This book has awesome coverage of makes and models although the amount of information given of a particular classic (e.g., Hasselblad) seems thin. I guess I'm saying an encyclopedia is needed.

McKeown's Price Guide To Antique & Classic Cameras 2005-2006 (Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras)
If you buy and sell classic cameras, you need this book. MUCH easier to find exactly what you have and way more info than the "Blue Book". A real wealth of information. Covers almost all camera body and lens made. Includes all special releases including "dummy" bodies. Info on some movie cameras and camera collectibles. Not much info on accessories for "system" cameras, however has listings for major stuff. Very good index. This book is the best there is out there for camera collectors. And a very good value to boot.

McKeowan's Guide since its first issue has been, and still is, a fantastic tome which is a must for every camera collector. I was astounded many years ago when visiting Leningrad to see that a camera vendor selling old Russian cameras from a small table on the pavement had made a full photocopy for his use! To me it is the best catalogue of cameras ever published and I will continue to buy each update as they become available.

Although ostensively a price guide to cameras and other photo-related equipment "McKeown's" is much more. Over the years this volume has grown to encyclopedic proportions as it updates and adds to its huge inventory. In fact, I find the price quotes to be the least important of its features. Here in one giant volume we get a vast array of great illustrations, camera histories, and specifications. This is the kind of volume that won't let go once a photography enthusiast flips through its pages. Pretty soon he/she will jump to another section, as each entry induces one to look up something else. As the "Guide" takes pains to suggest, prices quoted here are not carved in stone, and various factors ultimately determine the price one pays for such photographic treasures.
I only hope the publishers will avoid the temptation of printing future releases in color, as the black and whites add to the antique "feel" of the book. Though a bit pricey, it's undeniable how much work goes into producing this comprehensive book, and for all the pleasures that this book delivers the price is well worth it!

i was really pleased, excellent book, fast service and no problems,
every photographer would love this book, great photos and lots of interesting imfo. thanks donna pryor

This book is great- between the detailed illustrations, the extensive lists of muscle functions and the breakdown of why the muscle does what it does, it really helped me to learn. The only think I didn't love is the order the muscles are listed in, in my brain they would have been logically grouped together a bit differently, especially when it comes to trunk muscles.

I bought this book after attending one of Dr. Muscolino's cadaver lab workshops. I highly recommend this book and, if you are thinking about a cadaver workshop, I recommend that as well. Dr. Muscolino is very knowledgeable, caring and sensitive.

It is nice to find a book dedicated to the muscular system. Although the graphics are simple (not photographic), the information and the lay out are great for learning and understanding of the muscles. The best pages in this book are those that lay out the muscular attachments of a region of the body.

Highly recommended for anyone that works in any field where the muscles are the focus!

Dr. Joseph E. Muscolino truly compiled the ultimate Musculoskeletal system anatomy textbook.

I esspicially found the Latin and Greek derivation section's to be very helpful in understanding the origins of the muscle names.

This author's logic and approach is unmatched.

Kudos to Dr. Joseph E. Muscolino!!!

This book is comprehensive in nature, scrupulous in detail, and the product of an obvious passion for the wealth of information to be found in our musculoskeletal system. As a massage therapist and perpetual student of the human body, I am glad to add this book to my library. It is well organized which makes it easy to reference whether I know the muscle, the bony landmark, or the general anatomical area of the body. Having so much information about an individual muscle in one book makes it easy to enhance or refresh my existing knowledge. I have opened the book just to refresh my knowledge of what an individual muscle looks like and found the illustrations clear. I have used the cross reference to find other muscles that might be adding to an existing muscular problem in a client. I have refreshed my awareness of an individual muscle by using the easy to follow palpation information. And I have added to my knowledge of individual muscle actions when helping a client isolate a muscle's tightness. Every time I have opened the book I have not been overwhelmed by what I do not know but rather come away feeling smarter.

This book addresses every aspect of doing business on the Internet securely. A must read for anyone that uses the Internet to either buy or sell.

This is an excellent book for the skeptic who thinks that "it can't happen to us!" I think many different companies (government and private sector alike) will be amazed at how comparitively little it actually costs to prevent a corporate disaster. Ever wish to go inside the mind of a good hacker and learn how he does it? This is the book for you!

The ubiquitous Internet is a double-edged sword. A major benefit is sharing information; a major detriment is the risk to customers of divulging private information. For e-businesses, therefore, privacy is a showstopper issue. This book was written to promote e-business success by helping organizations evaluate privacy needs, establish a privacy task force, use technologies to provide maximum protection, formulate privacy policies and procedures, implement and test privacy procedures, and monitor and modify privacy protection. This one's a winner--for companies that want to "win" at e-business.

The ubiquitous nature of the Internet is a double-edged sword, with sharing information a major benefit, and the risk of divulging private information a major detriment. In the rush to establish an e-business, organizations can't afford to ignore the showstopper issue: privacy. Erbschloe and Vacca provide a how-to for businesses to help them evaluate their privacy needs, establish a privacy task force, use privacy technologies to the best advantage, formulate privacy policies and procedures, implement and test privacy procedures, and monitor and modify their privacy protection. This one's a winner--for businesses that want to "win" at e-business.

A very informative and useful book in an area which is near and dear to all of us as we open up to the world of i-payments.

In this book the author blames the initial assault on David Koresh's Mount Cramel property on the ATF. He neglects to mention that David Koresh had enough guns, hand grenades and illegal automatic weapons to outfit the Kosovo Army for it's next Revolution.The BLAME lies with David Koresh and his followers. When you amass such as stockpile of ILLEGAL weaapons then you should expect a visit from the authorities which is exactly what happend . And due to Koresh's arsenal he managed to "outgun" the ATF and four good Peace Officers were murdered. All of this occurred because that madman and psychopath Koresh thought he had a "Direct Hotline" to God. Those 86 people chose not to surrender. Perhaps they thought the seige would end with flowers and free bottles of French Champagne? It seems like nearly everybody wants to blame somebody else for the Waco Incident instead of laying the blame at Koresh and his followers.I give this book 5 stars because no doubt it will apeal to the Paranoid Conspiracy Theorists out there and the Survivalist who now think their Government is "The Enemy "ever since Russians turned out to be nice people after all.

Kopel and Blackman did more than just their homework on this book. It is perhaps the most factual yet interesting critique on the way in which federal law enforcement operates today. The attack on Mt. Carmel is a very important even in the history of this nation and only from our mistakes can we change the future. This review I believe is especially credible since I read but certainly don't always like David Kopel's writings. Highest recommendation and a great source for research papers.

A very impressive accomplishment. There is a tremendous amount of detail here -- right down to how the ATF's name evolved from BATF -- but presented in a compelling and readable way.

This book is unusual in that it does not slant everything in one direction; it refuses to classify those involved as unambiguous good guys or bad guys.

The scope of the book goes beyond what's implied by the title. There is plenty of fascinating history here, many references to other law enforcement debacles. A compelling case is made that law enforcement has become too militarized and too federalized. The discussion of how "groupthink" on both sides (the government and the Davidians) leads to this kind of tragedy is especially excellent.

I've long wondered why liberals and conservatives seem inverted on Waco. Liberals are thought to be strong on civil rights, including religious freedom, and anti-military. Conservatives are thought to favor strong law-and-order. The authors explain this puzzle: the Congressional hearings quickly degenerated into an attempt to embarrass political opponents rather than a dispassionate search for the truth. The American public and the media took their orientation from Congress to a large extent. If a Republican had been president at the time of Waco, it's very possible the sides would have been reversed.

The authors show very clearly that the real problems with law enforcement have been building regardless of which party controls the White House or the Congress. I hope some legislators read this book and take the excellent reform suggestions to heart.

Once again David Kopel (and Paul Blackman) gets to the bottom of things and shows what the Waco disaster was all about. If you only read one section of this book, read the part detailing the search warrant. It appears that all the death and destruction (on the part of both the Branch Davidians and the BATF agents who were killed) was brought on because of a failure to pay a several hundred dollar tax on a firearm.

This book focuses on Waco but also delves into the expansion of federal law enforcement and the effect it has on civil liberties in this country.

As per the United States Constitution, the federal government should have law enforcement jurisdiction over the following acts: piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, offences against the law of nations, and counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States.

Something has gone terribly wrong.

Read this book. Then read anything else that David Kopel has written. It will be well worth your time, and you will be well educated about the erosion of our rights as citizens.

This work is not only an outstanding explanation of the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents, but a critical review of modern federal law enforcement. The book goes beyond sorting out -- in meticulous detail -- what really happened in these debacles. Even more valuable is the objective analysis of the abuses and excesses of federal law enforcement, along with suggested remedies.

This book is a "must read" for anyone concerned with civil liberties or law enforcement.

This book has all the information you need to find where the various shortwave stations are located and what will be on at different times. I am happy I got it to go along with the shortwave radio that I purchased.

This is one of the books I included in the present I bought for my 20-year-old grandson along with the Sony Broadband radio. This book is interesting and opening the world of broadband radio to my grandson. He finds it very useful.

I have been reading this book for 10 years, & find it invaluable for any info about new & old equipment.Great info about stations & broadcasts from around the globe & program schedules.Also good info for newcomers to sw. Highly reccomend as a gift for anyone that you might want to share your hobby with.

Exelent, Idon't know why people by brand new books, thers amazon
Jose

.. also full of confusing graphical pages so you can not resolve what is the comercial and what article!

Once again the graphical arrangement of comercial, articles, content for example which you can not find quickly and the the rest of the book is not in accordance with the technical content of the book!

After some time of digging you can find everything what you need but again: it is very confusing book becuse of the similar colours of the comercials and articles!
For stars because of that!

It is more accurate for local frequecies than WRTH!

Enjoy anyway!

tHE PRODUCT ARRIVED IN RECORD TIME AND IT WAS IN GREAT CONDITION. i WILL SHOP WITH THEM AGAIN. THANKS!

For me, listening to a good band can can completely change my mood. It's hard to put a price on being energized and uplifted in such a simple way. This book has turned me on to a number of my now favorite artists. Thus, I consider it invaluable.

An outstanding resource for music lovers interested in expanding their collection and listening experiences. Ari's book provides insightful commentary on all types of music and artists.
I especially appreciated the Appendices, where the Ari suggests specific artists and albums to fit pretty much any mood or activity. I highly recommend this to anyone serious about his or her music.

I'll admit it -- I haven't bought much music since I graduated from college in the mid 1990s. In my defense, it's in large part due to my complete lack of knowledge -- I'd hear something I like but never seem to get around to learning the band's name or the other music they've done. This book solves the problem by making recommendations of artists from my post-college years based on bands I already know -- it provides not only a blurb on the band but also highlights seminal works within the artist's catalog. I've been pleasantly surprised at how spot-on the recommendations have been!

This is the best resource that I have ever seen for discovering music. It's a must have for everyone ranging from die hard music connoisseurs to the average listener. It covers a huge range of genres including classic rock, pop, jam bands, jazz, country and more. Such a fast way to learn about SO MUCH music!!

It has opening me and my friends up to so many awesome artists that we would have never thought of checking out. It's just fun looking up my favorite bands and reading the informative, entertaining and concise reviews. From there you are linked to other artist's that you may like and on and on. It's like "choose your own musical adventure" and quickly you will have advanced your knowledge of music - It's just remarkable.

Perfect entertainment for dinner parties, road trips, camping, the beach and an evening on the coach.

If you want to discover more great music to listen to and need some guidance, this book is for you! It's a must have!!!!

If you want to understand and write professional Windows Service programs, buy this book. You will find good C++ examples and best practices in Windows Service writing.

There has been so much written on the reviews for this book that I don't think I want to repeat all the good stuff said about it. The author has presented the various topics clearly and I like the style of writing. This book has been a great help. If you need to understand NT Services and how to program something decent; this is the book. Not for someone new to Windows programming. Just hope he comes out with another book soon.

The book is comprehensive, clear, and easy to read. The source code works and it is easy to follow (the code is available on-line.) The discussion on ATL COM servers is truly enlightening and by itself worth the price of the book. If you are writing an ATL COM server this book is a must, especially if it will be a multi-threaded server.

From the beginning the author has the attitude that NT services are easy to understand and his "prophecy" becomes self-fulfilling throughout the book. The book is well organized and it pays special attention to service design and usage patterns.

Also notice that the book does not cover hardware drivers. By the way, do read the previous review titled "One of a kind" as it gives very useful tips on installing ATL services (using "myservice.exe -Service") and housing COM objects in a service; I have not found that information in the book.

This book addresses all the issues related to such complex problems as NT Services. The author explains them in very great details, and makes you understand how all this works. The sample code works and you can use the classes from the book to start coding NT Services very fast. The author is very talented in explaining difficult concepts. Funny enough, this book has the best explanation on MSMQ, as well as apartments. As an alternative to the classes provided in this book, I recommend the CodeGuru NT Service C++ wizard written by Joerg Koenig. But even with a wizard, it is good to know how all this works.

No other source compares to the quality and convenience of Professional NT Services, either in book form or on the Internet. The only other way to get this information is to read sample code on MSDN, which is a less-than-optimal way to learn the subject.

Professional NT Services describes the issues involved in writing services, such as security and threading, and provides sample code every step of the way. The book also details how to build a service with ATL and even tells you how to improve ATL's implementation. It even talks a bit about Microsoft Transaction Server (now part of COM+).

Here are three bits of information that I discovered elsewhere that I wish were more evident in the book -

1. If you create an ATL service, the default registation code registers the EXE as a COM server instead of a service -- run "myservice.exe -Service" to register the service.

2. The easiest way for multiple clients to be able to use a single COM instance that's housed in the service is to implement the COM class using DECLARE_CLASSFACTORY_SINGLETON. This is your typical "server" pattern.

3. Clients that want to connect to COM objects housed in the ervice should use CLSCTX_SERVER in CoCreateInstance

Perhaps this information is buried in the book somewhere, but I didn't find it. At any rate, without this book, I wouldn't have known where to start.

Finally, for all its great qualities, the book needs to be revised for Windows 2000. It mentions some new features of "NT5" but I wonder how accurate this information really is.