Adam Books

I read this book from cover to cover and only set it down when I got tired. Each night I would set aside some time to join adam on his adventures growing up playing the harmonica. He talks about love gained and lost and how he first became a harp player, including some of his influences. He has a captivating writing style and brings alot of imagery to his writing. I really felt he poured his soul out onto the page and you really kind of get to know who Adam and Satan are. Not the Prince of Darkness but Sterling "Satan" Magee. The overall story really is about the awkward white boy putting himself out there to play a soulful style of music and how he went through pain and heartache to pay his dues with with his friend and bluesmate, Mr. Satan. I would highly recommend this piece of work by Adam. You should also check out their 3 albums: Harlem Blues, Mother Mojo, and Living on the River.

I could hardly put this book down to perform activities of daily living, let alone going to work. "Mr Adam" has created a masterpiece of American musical literature. Being a blues lover of many years, I was bored to death by the almost clinical approach of most writers on the subject. Not so, Mr. Gussow! He delivers a passionately honest and heart felt memoir filled with wonderfully alive and vibrant individuals, sharing with us the one true American music, the blues.

It is an amazing thing when an artist (in this case, Gussow, a writer/blues harp player) can somehow manage to make their mark despite all the confusion and hard knocks life throws at them- and they sometimes throw at themselves. This is a moving story about a burgeoning blues musician captured with excellent dialogue... Gussow has made his characters come alive and jump off the page the way writers are supposed to.

Not only is it Gussow's personal memoirs of his early years in music, but a riveting biography of one of the most unique and original blues acts in recent years- Satan & Adam. Gussow's accounts of his early music/life mentors (such as the underexposed harpist Nat Riddles) with sincerity and genuine emotion is fascinating. The telling of Mister Satan's story is a valuable contribution to blues history that could well have been lost in obscurity.

There are issues explored in this book that have rarely been expounded upon with any meaningful insight in any musician interview or book I can remember. The passages in the book where Gussow is in the middle of Harlem grappling with the rift and misunderstanding between black and white is especially poignant, particularly from his perspective as a young, white, Princeton educated "bluesman".

Although this book isn't an instructional course on technique or musicianship- for those who aren't aware- Adam Gussow is considered by many blues afficionados to be one of the best harmonica players alive today. So he's paid some dues and he knows what he's talking about.

Adam Gussow had the good fortune, the talent, street smarts and the heartfelt focus to get out there and live it- become an apprentice to a bluesmaster- just like most traditional art is passed down from accomplished teacher to eager student. I admire him for it. Mister Satan's Apprentice is a must read for any struggling musician or blues fan- it just might get you thinking about your own life's journey.

Recently it was my privilege to see author and harmonica player Adam Gussow at my local huge independent bookstore here in the Eastern US. I rarely do commercials, but if you can't catch Adam, you can check out his new novel "Mr. Satan's Apprentice". Adam calls it "a blues memoir", and so it is. The guy is a no-shit, kick-butt, street-smart harp player! FYI, I have fairly high standards in this realm. If you've seen or heard the New York duo "Satan and Adam", you'll know what I mean. The guy is ALSO a juicy and creative, energetic, sexy writer - something I'm also picky about. Princeton Ph.D. candidate - English.

Adam's book describes a journey that a few of us know, but most do not. The musician in you will relate to the tale of the emergence of deep and powerful music from the little instrument - and the romantic in you will throb with the ways the emerging harmonica player and boundary-crosser discovers the things he needs to grow musically and personally - and then sometimes fearlessly, sometimes not, sets out to acquire them. You'll meet his teachers and mentors, and like it or not, you'll see life through the eyes of this seeker of musical and personal connection. You'll go with Adam on the romantic roller coaster as loves come and go - and you'll travel with him to Paris to play in the Metro and on the street; to the American South, and to other places exotic and otherwise - including a hitch with the road company of Broadway show based on Mark Twain's Sawyer and Finn. Later we get into the recording studio with Mr. Gussow and Mr. Satan - the Harlem street mystic and one-man band who becomes Adam's main-man mentor and muse, the Mr. Satan of the book's title. Throughout the book you'll find Adam the street intellectual examining his position as a white man among black men (and black women) in this blues-filled world - an examination in which Mr. Satan plays a key role.

A book for players and lovers - of the spirit of the music, of the street; of the endless forms of beauty and love, as they are found ALL over the place. The author is one who knows, and magically, describes, many of the gut experiences we players know; to my knowledge no one's ever written quite this way about these things before. Like the performing moments, the pulling out of all the everything you've got and then some, when the audience is on it's very EDGE, right there with you; when you are truly and purely the great IT! Blowing and drawing deep, and deeper, and then high and higher; and the room is all whoops and smiles, and all there in your hand. A good player knows these things, and believe me, in a blues band, nobody gets that kind of juice but the harp player.

OK, so maybe you don't know the peak of performance grace and light - but you know your peaks, and Adam's telling can stir it back into view...

Adam Gussow writes of music, romance, conflict, and awakening in an intimately physical and heart- connected way. As a player, I'm rocked. -"Harmonica Jack" Merrylees (JMerrylees@aol.com)

In "Mister Satan's Apprentice," street musician extraordinaire Adam Gussow has left in just about everything, and it's about 40 percent too much; the book would have read far better at a sleek 250 pages. But the good stuff is really good, and the book is well worth reading despite its distractions and digressions. In his early 40s, Gussow is currently a doctoral candidate in Princeton's English department. But thousands know him as the harmonica-wielding half of the "progressive gutbucket blues" duo Satan and Adam -- three-CD recording artists, photogenic subject of any number of newspaper and magazine features, and cameo stars of the U2 movie "Rattle and Hum."

In his autobiography, Gussow gets deep inside blues, and his relationship to it, and manages to successfully translate the music into language. "Blues harmonica played well was a miniature tongued slalom, a tornado swallowed and contained," he tells us, and his words capture every bit of excitement that the grooves and notes have to offer. "Mister Satan's Apprentice" is about much more than the blues, though -- it's a provocative meditation on race from a white man immersed in a traditionally black genre, neighborhood and world. Playing around with his first harmonica, in 1974, Gussow contemplates the subtleties of playing blues. "It had something to do with being a black guy," he muses.

As the protagonist in his narrative, Gussow pales (no pun intended) next to two marvelous characters: his two mentors, Nat Riddles and Sterling "Mister Satan" Magee. Twenty-two years older than his protégé, Mister Satan is as colorful as they come. He's a visual artist and apocalyptic numerologist with a murky music-industry background, and a font of, if not wisdom, then brilliantly idiosyncratic aphorisms and soliloquies. A Harlem fixture when Gussow approaches the guitarist to jam along, he shouts and hollers, runs hot and cold, towers over other men. Mister Satan looms larger than life, but harmonica player Nat Riddles is entirely real, an odd-job taxi driver with a dazzling smile and soulful tone. "He was perpetually on the verge of becoming the blues world's Next Big Thing," Gussow writes. "A young black harp-player with the Sound." Riddles flits in and out of fortune, showing up unexpectedly to astound a New York club, phoning from somewhere in the South, destitute and desperate, surviving gunshot wounds only to eventually succumb to a cruel wasting disease.

It's the music, finally, that counts most -- Gussow gives his story its own soundtrack, one of restlessness and yearning, of his struggle to capture the Sound: "The Sound was Southern-bound, it was cocky, playful, manic, chucking, resentful, edgy, comforting, relentless. It took incredible lip strength and finesse to produce. It was sexual. It was the haunted, restless feeling of a guy's apartment late at night after the woman who used to live there had moved out. It was whatever nasty things she was doing with the other guy-a virile sensitive soulmate-this very minute. It was the best way of beating those visions back into the ghoulish cave they had crawled out of. Working hard at the Sound was a socially acceptable way of sobbing, raging, and primal-screaming from a hot heart while pretending merely to be practicing." A little of this kind of writing goes a long way, and there's an awful lot of it here. Granted, it's a real challenge to maintain a level of excitement in writing about music page after page, particularly about blues, a genre built on the same few chords locked in a repetitious groove. So it's forgivable that Gussow often leans out a little far: "The sidewalk scene dissolved; I was wandering in a garden of earthly delights, hands cupped against the sweet cold fluid air. Every bent note was a pitch-perfect arrow puncturing the gray dusk. You only live now. Blue notes danced and spun, lines endlessly unfolding like so many wrapped gifts laid bare." You have to remind yourself that he's talking about a harmonica, one of the more prosaic of instruments.

For all Gussow's breathless adjectives and action verbs, he's frustratingly vague about the technical aspects of the duo's "huge raw perfect sound." The book's photos show Gussow with effects pedals at his feet, but he makes no mention of them; he doesn't mention the basic information that he plays in "cross harp" style until page 386; Mister Satan's "phase-shifted guitar wash and deafening clatter" is described pretty much only in metaphorical terms, as, for instance, "an endlessly unrolling Persian carpet with gristle and clanks added." Gussow is so good at getting inside his playing that the narrative sags whenever it moves to other topics. A hefty amount of the bloat deals with his failed relationships. We meet mercurial crackhead Robyn and inconstant ex-fat girl Gail, but mostly there's erratic, irritable hyperfeminist Helen. Gussow tells us on page 30 that Helen left him back in 1984, so we're predisposed to dislike her, and we indeed do. "Most men had a girlfriend," he writes. "I had Aphrodite crossed with Kali the Destroyer, She of infinite ravenous limbs." Worse, the book's artfully jumbled narrative, with short sections ordered sort of sequentially on several tracks, dooms us to read about Helen over the entire course of the book. We think we're finally through with her, and then: "1983. Things with Helen had turned out surprisingly well . . ." Enough already!

In the late '80s and early '90s, a period when racial violence kept flaring up in the outer boroughs of New York City, Satan and Adam's young-old, white-black novelty made a splash, but momentum slipped away. "Minor celebrity beckoned, then faded," Gussow writes. And despite the book's vibrant cover photo of the pair, they no longer perform, according to an e-mail Gussow sent me. "[I]t's impossible to keep the act together," he wrote, noting that Mister Satan now lives in south-central Virginia and has no telephone. That's a real shame.

Delightful photography. Recipes all are crowd-pleasers. Thanks to M. Adams for a 'walk through a slice of America'.

I discovered this book over a year ago, at the public library. I read through it, and after I returned it I would find myself thinking: "I wonder about ", and either my wife or I would have to go back to the library to check the book back out!
When I realized I was getting the book almost monthly, AND it stayed at the local branch because that's where I last returned it, I realized it was time to buy it!

With that little story, the rest of this review is simple: This is an excellent cook book. This is not a 'healthy' cookbook. There's no focus on lean, loosing weight, or heart-happy cooking here! This is good, rich, smother-it-in-gravy country cooking.

If you know the Amish, and you have visions of the men coming in at dusk from working the fields all day to a kitchen table stacked with fresh, home-cooked *American* food, this is your cookbook. It simply doesn't get better than this.

I cannot remember the last time I went through a cookbook and listed dozens of recipes I want to try. This kind of homey cooking is so appealing. The photos are superlative. We are planning a trip to northern Indiana as a result of reading this book. The resources in the back of the book for places to eat, stay, and see will be most helpful.

Originally from the heartland of Amish Country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I found this cookbook outstanding. It bring's back many memories as a kid with it's recipes. I live in the sunshine state now and sometime's miss the great food I was raised with. To have found this book and have been able to make the recipes for my family has been great! I hope Marcia Adam's plan's on writing more like this one.

This book is awesome. Not only does it have wonderful recipes, especially desserts, which the Amish are famous for, but also has so much wonderful info. on the Amish people and their culture. I own several books about the Amish, and this is better than those other books even though this is a "cookbook." And the pictures are marvelous. Other than general info. on the Amish, my favorite part of this book is the fact that she divides the food into many different chapters and has a little story about each. An example is Baking Day, Lady Food, and the lunch bucket, as well as many other. This has info scattered throughout it about gardening by the signs of the moon, how to bake perfect cookies, and how to bake an angel food cake. I would highly recommend it.

i have read many books by erica but none touched me quite as much as this. i was unable to put it down and read it in one go. i cried and i laughed with the characters. it was a great read. all i wanna know now is wheres my jack!!

Becky Lynn Lee fled Bend, Mississippi the night that her life was changed forever. She was betrayed by all the people that she loved, and she knew that it would never change as long as she stayed in Bend. So she took off for California. With the bright lights and the even brighter stars. There, Becky Lynn met Jack Gallager who changed the course of her life. For she finally found someone who believed in her talent and who she believed actually thought she was someone. She felt that Jack looked beyond her 'white trash' label. When she was betrayed by him, she went to his enemy in a moment of rage, looking for a way to pay him back. Little did she know that she would also love Jack's brother Carlos.

Jack Gallager has been on a mission since he was eight years old and rejected by his father. He will be better than his father and his brother in the world of fashion photography. From the moment he bought his first camera at sixteen, Jack has worked to prove himself worthy of his father's love and a better photographer than his brother. He didn't know that his crusade would cost him the woman he loved or that he would regret it as much as he did.

Red is a book that is intensely emotional with characters that all have immense emotional baggage and are trying to deal with it. If you want a book that you will get lost in, try Red and you won't be dissapointed.

This book is so awesome! Out of all the books I've read in my life, this is far the best! I re-read this book all the time and it is still a suprise. I had it since I was 14, now I'm 16 and I'm still reading and loving it! If you love to read about love, drugs, and sex, I recommend this book!

This is one of those books that catches you from the very first page and never lets go! It's an easy read and such fun!! I fell in love with "Red" more than any of the other Erica Spindler characters. She is a kind and innocent child who you get to see grow into a beautiful woman and you can't help but root for her. I could'nt put the book down because I had to see her prevail over all her enemies. I have read almost all of Erica Spindler's books but this is my absolute favorite by far! You get so involved in her life that you just can't stop reading. I usually prefer mystery and suspense but this is a swell book. It will keep you interested until the end!

I read this soon after finishing "Shocking Pink"... ES has really caught my attention with the offbeat characters in this story. If you haven't had the pleasure, pick up this "RED HOT" book and dive in! Loved it!

This is a book of simple, lovely, inspirational stories. I was touched reading each one.

These are a collection of nice but hardly miraculous stories. It's too bad the word miraculous has been cheapened so much.

This book has uplifted me during trying times. I have seen God's miracles as well but during trials can forget to "hand it over" and trust in His faithfulness. These stories helped me, for example when I was moving to another state with much reluctance, by telling of another persons similar experience along with the outcome which helped encourage my heart and remind me that God has a perfect plan in all things. It helped me to change my heart from fearing to trusting God's direction for me. The stories are rich though not too long in length. It reminds me of the daily devotionals that are quick to read but are rich in depth.

It was pretty amazing to read stories about myself and some special people in my life, published in such a wonderful book full of God's miracles. Candy wrote the stories exactly as I shared them, from my heart. Her book really shows the power of prayer, faith and the astounding love of God. Not only did she publish stories I gave her, but also stories that my daughter, Devonne shared with her. Devonne and I both feel it was a privilege to share our miracles! If you want to reaffirm your faith, your love for God, you'll surely do that after reading the awesome stories in this book.

The true stories are a testament to the world's everyday living. I am hopeful and confident Ms. Chand will publish many more exceptional books!

Luisa Adams invites us into a world of beauty and truth with poetically beautiful prose and clear insights that touch all our lives. I could not stop reading. Luisa has a way of describing her personal experiences with metaphors that touched me deeply. In the first chapter, she describes her love of swimming with "This was not the world of trying. Effort sat down at the door, heavy in her overcoat of duty, as I plunged into the warm waters of a reality I loved." Reading this, I was plunged into the waters of my own reality of trying and yearning to leave this trying at the door. Luisa Adams goes on to speak of many universal life issues - birth, step-parenting, grief, divorce, death, love, share connection - in a way that speaks to all of us. Although I don't usually like short stories, and often don't finish books I begin, I raced through this book, knowing I would return to savor each word. Luisa welcomes readers to experience her joys and fears at the cabin by the lake. When she writes of the lake forest, near the end, "It is a homecoming, one I believe that has roots in the deep longings of the human heart to experience a sense of connection." I felt she was describing her own book. I experienced this sense of connection throughout. So leave your duty at the door and gift yourself with some quiet moments of reflection in company of Woven of Water. You will not be disappointed.

I read this book with the excitement of,"and then and then."
Luisa's gentle way of presenting her deep connections to life connected me to my own and others. Her unique writing was universal in the connection of the heart. Reading this book was like having a warm cup of tea with a special heart friend. An honoring of the magnificence of life.

What a pleasure and a delight to be welcomed into the authors' sacred space!
I was drawn into her world of inner life, her time alone...her room of her own and I could NOT put it down! I sipped these wonderful short stories as if they were the most delicious of treasured wines. How wonderful to see into her world and to share her journey over the years.

Woven of Water by Luisa Adams could be the dream of every woman with some history behind her, needing a clear view of what the future holds, and has an urge to express it by whatever form of creative genre occurs to her. How often I have imagined a cabin (with the amenities) where I was alone for a considerable time: to ponder, observe what happens around me in nature, dream, do nothing, lie still outdoors, and write. She does this so well. I was held by each of her essays. Without blame or guilt she talks of difficult situations in her family, giving the reader another model of how to handle those inevitable dramas that arise if we are alive! Thank you Luisa.

Lynn Scott, author of "A Joyful Encounter: My Mother, My Alzheimer Clients, and Me.

while I was living my life. I guess, that we are, indeed, more alike than perhaps we want to think. Forced me to look a bit closer at some of the experiences that I have had. Divorce, death, parenting, marriage seems mundane for some, but still.... Granted that this book is not for the person who cannot reflect on the experiences, choices, and chance happenings that makes each of us who we are. Although "vince" was a stretch, I could relate to all of her writing. Her thoughtful writing just made me feel better. A pleasure to read.

This is just what I wanted, the one I had looked at from the store came with a free teachers guide which this one did not have, that was the only thing I was disappointed in, other than that this is just what I wanted, tells everything you are trying to understand in the Bible. Very pleased.

Excellent! I was impressed with the ability to see the simultaneous chronology of historical events & believe it to be an enlightened way to view history at any age.

This really is a great chart. It follows Ussher's standard chronology and is a brilliant piece of work. It makes a great gift, but make sure you own a copy yourself... you won't want to part from it! Like the other reviews, it is bigger than you think, visually stunning and is one of the best items i've purchased.

This is great. I have always wanted to a graphical chart to help align the people and events of the Bible. This adds a lot to your study.

What more can be said than that? This map of history is much more than a detailed timeline and I'm very fascinated by it and can learn something new from it every time I look at it. It's amazing to me to see different things that were happening at the same time in different parts of the world. Don't forget to purchase the teacher's guide (Adam's Chart of History Teacher's Guide) as well to help explain the information on the chart better.

It's also not filled with garbage from the evolution religion (It is a belief system on the origin of the world that can't be proven any more than the Bible. Science covers observable and repeatable phenomenon. [For example, gravity can easily be proven over and over again by anyone.] Until we have a way to travel backwards in time, no one will be able to observe the creation of the world, so all we can do is guess). How we got here is irrelevent to actual science - all that matters to the scientific method is that we're here. It's supposed to deal with facts, not theories, and certainly not teach theories as facts like they do in public schools. I love the fact that this chart of history doesn't go back before human history.

Gorgeous beyond words! But make these calendars cheaper, so more people can get access to these exquisite photos. We certainly need more beauty in this world!

What can be said about the beauty of Ansel Adams work that has not already been said? The calendar will highlight any wall and make any room glisten. Great price too!

I have had Ansel Adam calendars for sometime now. They are always interesting and high quality. The prints used never let me down.

My family likes this calendar so much -- we have been using it regularly since 2001. Congratulations to Amazon for making the purchase of this calendar so easy from any part of the world! Guido Milanese, PhD, Genoa, Italy

He is one of the best American photographers. The pictures in this calender reflect his choice of the pictures he wanted shared with us. I am looking at it right now as I write this review and the breaking waves are soo beautiful

Marilou Fallis

I couldn't stop laughing!

Scott Adams is a genius.

Laugh till you cry funny!

Keep it comin'!

One of the main reasons I like this book so much is that it focuses mainly on Dilbert and Dogbert. I have two Dilbert books with just them in it and 9 ones with Dilbert at the office and this one gives a nice change to the whole office aspect. Bob the dinosaur's son Rex is born is this book which is great because in one of my other books they introduce him. Dilbert and Dogbert have a great time together and Dilbert is great and this book is no exception.

Bring me the Head of Willy the Mailboy! is just as funny as all the other Dilbert books. This one like all of them is a must read for any Dilbert Fan. Look at the average rating for it, A perfect five stars so you know it must be great

Bring Me the Head of Willy the Mailboy is a very wonderful Dilbert book. It exposes the many insane issues of life. It has not fully developed into a workplace comic strip yet, but it is evolving into a semi-workplace comic strip. It is a wonderful book with some darker sides also-like Dilbert dying (But coming back, of course).

Yes, in this book, the character of Dilbert dies. But never fear, he is cloned back to life from his garbage! This book covers strips from mid-1990 to May 1991. The dinosaurs Bob and Dawn have an egg which hatches into the short-lived character of Rex. Also returning for a series is Dilber't Ego. Scott Adams continues to improve his trade in this book. Great for when you need some laughs or light reading.

My daughter fell in love with the Clarence and Smokey books a few years ago, and now that she's 7 she still loves to read them regularly. The three books in the series are hard to find, but they are some of the funnest children's books around!

One of our teaching assistants came to me and begged for this title to be added to the library collection. After checking the book out online, I ordered it. To my delight, it arrived in my book order, and I immediately read it to my 2nd graders in library. We all fell in love with Clarence and Smoky. Both characters are well written and delighfully drawn. The simplistic storyline can easily be read by beginning readers. This is a must for every personal collection!

Not only does my daughter thoroughly enjoy Clarence & Smoky & the colorful illustrations, but I like the idea that she's getting fun lessons on compassion, friendship & priorities. Having lived in the big city & now finding myself in "the West," I truly enjoy this book myself. (Or perhaps it's my similar tendencies to pack my favorite snacks & not enough clothes when I travel...)This is one of the few books I don't mind reading 4 times before bed!

Clarence really has it all. He's a "wee" pig with a nice apartment in the city. And he is fortunate enough to take a vacation. He's excitedly boarding a bus for a ranch out west. Clarence is even excited about the bus ride.

Things look pretty gloomy when Clarence arrives at the ranch. He's too late for dinner, he's forgotten his favorite pillow, and there isn't a familiar face in sight.

Life is brighter when the next morning Clarence meets Smoky, a large purple horse. They become fast friends and partake in simple adventures together. But when Smoky is no longer needed at the ranch, Clarence fears he'll never see his friend again. Clarence must figure out a way to keep his friend with him. Will he?

Clarence has pluck! And his sense of adventure is wonderfully refreshing. The delightful illustrations add so much to this lovely story of friendship and "going the extra mile" to stay together.

I found myself chuckling numerous times when I looked at the pictures of Clarence packing, having snacks on the bus and line dancing with Smoky. But my favorite is the last illustration in the book as it represents love and friendship.

Armchair Interviews says: Children will enjoy Clarence and Smoky's adventures and we suspect their parents and grandparents will also.

Clarence, a city dwelling little pig, sets out on his first big vacation to a dude ranch, out west. After a long and interesting bus ride, he arrives and meets Smoky, a very large and friendly purple horse who introduces him to all the pleasures of western ways. Smoky takes him on long rides through the mountains and canyons, teaches Clarence to play cards with the boys, line dance, and perform on the washtub in a cowboy band. They eat, nap, and even read stories together. It's a wonderful week. But as his vacation comes to an end, Smoky tells Clarence he's getting too old to work on the ranch anymore, and is going to be sold. Best friends are hard to come by, and Clarence can't stand the thought of never seeing his favorite horse again. So he uses all his bus money to buy Smoky, and together they begin the long ride back to the city. It may take years, but as long as they're together, they have all the time in the world..... Jean Ekman Adams has written a delightful story with a gentle message about loyalty, compassion, and friendship, that won't be lost on young readers. Her simple and engaging text, with its satisfying, happily ever after ending, is beautifully enhanced by her charming, bold, and vibrant illustrations, full of endearing ranch characters, and subtle, humorous detail. Perfect for youngsters 3-7, Clarence Goes Out West And Meets A Purple Horse, is a sweet and entertaining, feel good story, that is sure to put a smile on everyone's face. This soon-to-be classic, is a picture book youngsters will beg to read again and again.

Toogood captures the readers attention from the first sentence. In today's business world one in surrounded by dot.com innovators and this book inspires introspection for our own creative potential.

As our working lives increasingly encroach on our home lives, we've come to expect more from our jobs than a paycheck. Like Tom Peters, Granville Toogood inspires us to slough off the cynicism of Dilbert and embrace real creativity in the workplace.

Chapter 7, "The Four Fundamentals of Professional Fulfillment," could serve as the manifesto of a business revolution; it's alone worth the price of the book. But the book offers much more than a call to action -- it also gives practical examples from the lives of some of today's (and yesterday's) most innovative leaders: Steve Jobs, Andy Grove, Charlotte Beers, Martha Stewart, Walt Disney.

As Mr. Toogood exhorts us: "Forget the status quo. Way up and way out. Find some other way to go." This book may not take you there, but it'll get you pointed in the right direction.

This is a fun book, filled with stories well told. Unlike many, overly analytical books on creativity, The Creative Executive walks its own talk. The stories and insights kind of wash over you leaving you with not so much a process on how to be creative (although there are some "process" suggestions in the book) as an intuitive feel about your own creative potential. Very nice.

This volume, like each of Toogood's other books (Articulate Executive and Inspired Executive), is a must-read for the entrepreneur, self-employed, corporate and even the "down-sized" professional. He is a master at weaving anecdotes with common sense to create, once again, "personalized messaging". Get a new highlighter, this one is chock-full of sage counsel!

This book is a straight-talking primer for those of us who have great engineering and technical design skills but need help in our leadership and persuasive skills. We may have a vision, but too often we don't know how to articulate it. This book teaches us how in a breezy style that makes you feel as though Toogood is talking to you over a cup of coffee.