Barton Books

If you are looking to truly turn around your company or department, this is not the book for you. When does this book come in handy? If you are seeking for quick ideas to energize your team, and are short on inspiration: that is where it's a very comprehensive source. But be realistic: true energizing and change is a process that can't be bought with treats or gifts, but rather built through trust and open communication, among other things. If you want to really energize your team, then be ready for a longterm commitment from your part, that will go beyond just getting them perks or giving them awards.

I'm an HR person myself, and have found this (and the 1001 ways to reward) to be an essential part of my library. Many people want to look through it, borrow it... some have kept it, so this is probably my fifth version of the book that I've bought! Try to put your name all over the book so they don't forget it's yours.

Light Reading. This book is purely focused upon the many ways to build initiative, increase autonomy, raise morale and to design a work environment that fosters creativity, commitment and thusly ENERGY. It is not so much revealing a number of ways to do this, but invites a paradigm shift from which you will naturally do the 1001 things. Fun.

Five Stars

This book is helpful to have on the bookshelf for anyone looking for new ideas. I did not find that it really treated its subject in any depth.

It's probably unfortunate that I already owned "100 Ways to Motivate Others" before buying this book. I was looking for ways to help appreciate and reward my volunteers with the low budget I had available. I purchased "1001 Ways to Energize Employees" for the same reasons - looking for ways to help my volunteers feel happy and appreciated in their chosen tasks. Unfortunately, the books seem to overlap quite a bit, and in both cases seem to require quite a large cash outlay.

The book is in essence a collection of random ideas from established companies. One company spent $60,000 building a local playground instead of going on a golf outing. That's WAY outside my budget!! They talk about REI losing $1 million by choosing to situate its building closer to where employees live vs where it was good for shipping reasons. Again, way outside my budget. A company in Illinois saved $15 million by cutting out things like its employee picnic. That's nice (I think?) but again, not helpful at all.

There are a few reasonable suggestions in here. Provide employee training. Provide a way to solicit employee suggestions. Provide frequent updates on company health. These are all very common sense and are offered in the intro area of just about every management book I've seen. But in many cases, the items shown are contradictory. One item says "provide positive feedback on what is going on." The next item says "Be honest about what is going on even if it's bad news". Well? Be positively negative?

I suppose the clearest reason for this book's success is the example that they give, that the most enjoyed feature in a FedEx newsletter is where they report on what other mailing companies are doing. By reading this book, you get "secret" news about what other companies are doing. That's always fun in a peering-through-the-keyhole sort of way. But they rarely tell HOW the information was received, just that it was being done. In cases where they say "the employees love it", that can often be the enthusiastic hopes of the PR department that performed the task. It could be that the employees thought the item was completely inane.

It's not that the book was a complete waste of time. It's an enjoyable book to rent from the library, to skim through. It might spur an idea or two from you, out of the 1,001 presented. However, I really would have enjoyed a book that was much more organized, that had much more follow through about the cost involved and the aim of why they did it.

If you're confused this is the book to come to! In just a few months I went from 3% to 87%!

It is the BEST STRATEGY GUIDE YOU CAN GET FOR DONKEY KONG!It has the most pages then any other Donkey Kong Strategy Guide!It has all the information you want about the game!This is the ULTIMATE STRATEGY GUIDE for this game! Trust me.Buy it yourself and one will find that it is THE GREATEST GUIDE FOR THE GAME!

Prima has out done itself this time. With all the maps as to where each Golden Banana is or where each Banana Fairy may be hiding, this book clearly tells all you need to know. With detailed guides and maps for each of the characters, this book is one of the most helpful that I have ever used.

This is one of two strategy guides I used to play this game. Initially, I was a little lost trying to match the information in the first chapter of the "Walkthrough Section" of the book to the game I saw in front of me. It leads you to believe that the "DK Isles" area is the first area to tackle but much of this area is inaccessible to you until much later in the game. If you skip that section and begin with the "Jungle Japes" section you'll be starting where the game begins and the information is very helpful from there.

This guide is especially helpful with the two "arcade" style games that you will encounter during the adventure. Winning these games will give you two unique coins that are vital to gaining access to the final area of the game. Details of how each of these games look and what must be accomplished will help anyone not familiar with these original 1980's games. My huge disadvantage from having never played either of these games was lessened by these instructions.

The other guide I used was "Donkey Kong 64 Official Strategy Guide" by Bradygames. It's definitely worth taking a look at too. Both books were invaluable to me for different reasons. Together, they helped make my game experience much more enjoyable by clarifying details I would have missed on my own.

Ok, All prima guides are a little hard to understand. these facts are: undetailed maps (what are we, 5 year olds? if you can read the maps, go for it.) Information sometimes typoed and unorganized. (In the Jet Force Gemini guide, it looks like is is messed up, look for the white lines, as for typos, people like these critics can report it, and Prima will change it.) See? this guide is also intended for slightly advanced readers. if you do not like this book, look at the Nintendo version of the strategy guide.

Three points about Von Daniken's arguments: 1. Atlantis is simply a literary device of Plato's which serves as a background in which to expound his philosphy. 2. The Pillars of Hercules are on the mainland of Greece; my reference is "The Pelopennesian War" by Donald Kagan .The Peloponnesian War. 3. By sailing past the Pillars of Hercules, you are in the Mediterranean, not the Atlantic. This puts Santorini and Crete right in the center of the bullseye for possible origins of Plato's Atlantis.

Judging from his/her very shallow review, Yo "Yo" does not seem to possess much ability to use intelligence him/herself.

"Stupid people piss me off" - his/her statement. But honestly on what basis is the observation stupid? Erik has done years of research and the evidence is presented piece by piece, with comprehensive research material, in the many books written by him. Isn't it totally unfair to discredit years of intelligent industry with childish judgements like Yo "Yo"'s? It strikes me as very immature.

I am not saying this just because I am a fan of Erik, but because it was exactly this kind of adolescent narrow-mindedness that got many thinkers tortured and killed by the Inquisition etc. One states with conviction what one gathers from evidence. If I were to tell you that a piece of unfolded, pristine light paper will fall to the ground as fast as hot iron rod, you'd laugh me right off my face - but that is exactly what would happen in the absence of atmosphere.

To call someone retarded because they are willing to cast an open-minded look into enquiry - that judgement itself is retarded.

All in all, I'd say Erik's books have at least opened a chapter into investigating the strange similarities that exist among different human groups. I may not agree with all of his conclusions, but his methods I find without flaw.

Regards



Subra V S

Erich von Daniken's books are entertaining, informative, and controversial. With over 2 dozen books now, each one adds a piece to the unraveling puzzle of ancient man's myths, legends, and sites. This book specifically uses Greek mythology as a guide on von Daniken's search for Ancient Astronauts. Fans of his works may also be interested in visiting his website [ URL] for current news events from many other websites.

This book is about Greek myths connected to E.T's. Greek mythology probably came from an older source, but you still learn something new in each of his books.

This book deals with reconciling Greek mythology with Von Daniken's research of extraterrestrials visiting our planet in ancient times and influencing man's development. That was a recurring theme in Dr. Who, (q.v. The Daemons.)

The aliens who came down to Earth were worshipped as gods, as they flew in their craft. These gods intermixed with the natives, who became demigods, but possessing the same technological knowhow.

Von Daniken's book opens with an account of the Argonautica, the voyage of Jason, and straight off, there are aspects that bely alien origins--a ship that talks, specialists hired for the voyage, Talos, who was probably a giant robot, and the Golden Fleece as some form of advanced technology that enabled one to fly.

What about giants? Gilgamesh and Enkidu encountered the giant Humbaba, David and Goliath, and the offspring of Cain's daughters? Isn't it possible that these giants were aliens or descended from them? There is more, including the possibility that the head of the Medusa was some sort of superweapon.

There is a section where he explains the difficulties involving where Atlantis was. It's tied to the fact that from Atlantis is derived the Atlantic Ocean, Mount Atlas, and even Aztlan, which in turns is the derivation of Aztec. This discounts Troy, Malta, Santorini, and Crete, because they are in the Mediterranean. And if Troy was Atlantis, surely there'd be some record of it? No, Troy was called Tros and Ilion, but not Atlantis. That in turn is also explored in the section on Heinrich Schliemann and the different Troys found. There are also excerpts from Plato's Dialogues where Critias tells the story of Solon and how Solon learned of Atlantis.

Included in this text are colour photos of the places mentioned, such as the Acropolis, Delphi, and Troy. Getting this book makes me want to check out his earliest book on the subject, Chariot Of The Gods, and this is certainly an interesting twist on Greek mythology.

There are lots of books, such as "Stripped:", that tell the story of sex work from the girl's point of view. There are few, however, that try to tell it from the customer's standpoint, unless you count the tall tales told by the so-called monger websites, such as the worldsexguide, etc.

I've tried to write a book that shows the customers as they really are - losers, mostly - while still being an entertaining good read. You might enjoy Naked in Haiti: A sexy morality tale about tourists, prostitutes & politicians.

I really enjoyed the book. I like that it does not demonize or sensationalise things. The perspective is fresh from outside the industry. This is not a book written by a stripper to justify her actions, as some reviewers on this list would prefer. If you want to understand the internal conflict and external stigma your friends, sisters, and daughters go through when choosing this job, this is a must read. This book does not preach, only offers insight to the many facets that make up this lifestyle choice.

As a dancer I found this book to be very disappointing and does not show the real side of dancers. There are many other books out there that paint a real picture from real dancers.

Maybe the Author should go and shake it herself and then she would get the real perspective about the job. I loved the job and enjoyed it very much. Not all stripper's hate the job and want out cause they can't handle it. I wished I was younger so I could stay in the business a lot longer.

Check out my reviews to see what books about stripping are the best....

As a stripper for 7 years, I did not find this book very interesting. Many of these stories seem a little exagerated. It is pretty evident that the author went from striper to stripper and asked for their stories, then went back and wrote the book. I guess it could make for good reading material to someone who has not clue, but even the average person can read this book and get the feeling that it is not write accurate.

Stripped is nothing more than feminist work: The insights into the work and private lives of exotic dancers are vague but it moves far beyond notions of strippers as exploited or empowered to uncover more hidden aspects of this world--its burdens of emotional labor, social stigma, exhaustion, and boredom as well as experiences of athleticism, ego-gratification, intimacy, and even spirituality."

...a book about strippers that does not preach, that does not take sides or pass value judgements, and that does not denigrate or glorify the people who work in the sex industry.

Stripped: Inside the Lives of Exotic Dancers, does exactly what the title suggests: it takes the reader inside the private lives of women who work in the sex industry, and it presents exotic dancers in such a way that the reader sees them first as people, effectively taking the women out from under the overwhelming shadow of their job title.

Barton's writing style is precise, intimate, and candid, and it propels the reader right into the livingrooms and dressing rooms of exotic dancers. The book tackles the tar pit traps of the "sex wars", why/how women get into the sex industry, sexual identity, and the reality of working in the sex industry without getting bogged down in conflicting feminist theory.

Yet Barton adds her voice to the sex industry debate in a way that commands attention from both the average reader and from those well versed in the intracies of the "sex wars".

This book makes its debut in a pop culture where young Hollywood starlets show just how blurry the lines are between acceptable female behavior and sex industry work. Barton takes her readers back and forth across that line with facility and empathy, allowing the reader to finally determine for her/himself where that line actually exists.

I look forward to her next book.

*** Back cover synopsis ***
WHEN A KILLER DOESN'T WANT TO GET CAUGHT...
The woman waits impatiently on her satin sheets. Her lover knows exactly how to satisfy her. But this time, he has something else planned...something that will really take her breath away...
THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO ELIMINATE HIS VICTIMS...
In the courtroom, defense lawyer Quinn Cortez has a reputation as a ruthless predator who always gets what he wants. In the bedroom, it's no different. Quinn is an accomplished seducer with a long list of conquests. But now, someone has brutally slaughtered one of them, and Quinn has no memory of the night he was found in her home...
SOFTLY...
Annabelle Vanderley wants justice for her murdered cousin, and if Quinn Cortez swears he can find the true killer, she's willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But then another body is discovered...and another...each victim an ex-lover of Quinn's. Now, consumed by dread, Annabelle wonders just how close she may be to a twisted psychopath for whom pain would be the ultimate pleasure...

*** Review (without spoilers ^_^) ***
The story starts off with the death of one of Quinn Cortez's lover and eventually, more of his past lovers turned up dead. Automatically, Quinn becomes the prim suspect, since he always seems to be within a mere mile from the setting when these murders took place. Worst of all, he doesn't seem to have an adequate alibi each time these murders were committed.
Annabelle Vanderley is the cousin one of Quinn's dead lover and despite him being a high profile suspect on the detectives' list, she believes he wasn't the murderer and falls for him. The story goes on as we see the two main characters get together and eventually revealing the true mystery behind the deaths of those women.

*** Personal opinion ***
I have to say this was a disappointment compared to what I read on the back-cover. I had read better is all I can say, despite the fact that the main character bears one of my favorite names, Quinn, and he has the reputation of a womanizer. I used to give in more liking to these facts but in this novel, the mystery wasn't as intense as I've expected and there was definitely no hint of chemistry for Quinn and Annabelle. There was absolutely no portrayal of Quinn's charm. Even the immediate attraction the two had was ridiculous to me under the considered circumstances. What irked me most was Annabelle's attraction towards Quinn - a total stranger, nonetheless, a murder suspect of her own cousin and the investigator Chad. He was just way out of his line of work. Probably the lack of realistic facts going on in this book was something that added to the disappointment.
However, I would give credit to the other low-profile characters in this book. I actually enjoyed reading more about them other than the mains.

I preferred The Dying Game and The Murder Game (which are actually books 3 & 4). This one was still very enjoyable and I liked being introduced to some of the secondary characters that I read about in The Dying Game and The Murder Game.

As for the relationship between Quinn and Annabelle, I definitely did not "fall in love" with them like I did with the main romantic characters in the other two books.

The suspense/mystery was good. However, I guessed who the killer was pretty early on (even though I did not have much proof or a reason why - just a hunch). When you find out how and why in the end, it's shocking and wraps things up nicely.

I also enjoy the fact that Barton gives the readers Epilogues in the end of each book. I like seeing into the future a bit.

Cast of characters: Quinn Cortez, self-made zillionaire lawyer and quite the womanizer. Annabelle Vanderley, smart, born to wealth and privilege, and keeps the Vanderley family business running smoothly. Lulu Vanderley, gorgeous cousin of Annabelle who lived hard, played hard, ended up dead. Wythe Vanderley, Lulu's creepy, lazy stepbrother. Kendall Wells, attorney; Jim Norton, police lieutenant; Chad George, slimy, pompous police sergeant; Griffin Powell, investigator extraordinaire.

It's early spring in Memphis. Lulu invited Quinn to her home to celebrate winning his latest big case. He arrives and finds her dead. He, of course, becomes the prime suspect, even though her date book lists other names many times. He hires his long time friend, Kendall Wells to defend him; a few days later she's dead. Annabelle comes to Memphis to make funeral arrangements and find out who killed her cousin. Annabelle meets Quinn; did he kill Lulu? Can she trust him? They both hire Griffin to investigate the case. It's soon discovered that other former lovers of Quinn's have been killed in the same manner as Lulu and Kendall. Is a serial killer on the loose? Is Quinn being set up? Why? Will Lulu's secret be revealed? Will Annabelle be Quinn's next love interest? Whodunit?????

There are just enough surprises in this story to keep your interest and really keep you guessing whodunit.

WHEN A KILLER DOESN'T WANT TO GET CAUGHT...

The woman has been waiting impatiently on her satin sheets. Her lover knows exactly how to satisfy her. But this time, he has something else planned...something that will really take her breath away...

THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO ELIMINATE HIS VICTIMS...

In the courtroom, defense lawyer Quinn Cortez has a reputation as a ruthless predator who always gets what he wants. In the bedroom, it's no different. Quinn is an accomplished seducer with a long list of conquests. But now, someone has brutally slaughtered one of them, and Quinn has no memory of the night he was found in her home...

SOFTLY...

Annabelle Vanderley wants justice for her murdered cousin, and if Quinn Cortez swears he can find the true killer, she's willing to give him the benefit of a doubt. But then another body is discovered...and another...each victim an ex-lover of Quinn's. Now, consumed by dread, Annabelle wonders just how close she may be to a twisted psychopath for whom her pain would be the ultimate pleasure...

When Annabelle Vanderlay arrives in Memphis to claim the body of her slain cousin, the last thing she expects is to find herself attracted to the man who discovered her body, who also happens to be a suspect in her death.

Quinn Cortez is a confident, sexy, self-made success. He is a shark of an attorney, with the same reputation in the bedroom. But someone is killing his lovers. As the investigation unfolds, four additional murders have the same calling card - smothered and the index finger severed, and all but one is tied to Quinn. It has all the markings of a serial killer - could Quinn be living a double life? After all, he seems to suffer from blackouts at the same time as the killings.

Both Annabelle and Quinn retain the services of a top notch private investigator to insure that the killer of Lulu Vanderlay is caught. Though in her heart she knows that Quinn is innocent, she can't help but wonder... Also in competition for her affections is one of the investigators, Chad George. Outwardly, he is the perfect man, but as Annabelle gets to know Chad and Quinn, she gets to know who is truly the more honorable man.

I did not get the sense that the two had much chemistry; prior to Lulu's funeral, she barely gave him the time of day (she seemed more interested in Chad), then suddenly she is totally hung up on him and they can't leave the hotel room? So much was made of him being a womanizer, but when he made a list of lovers over the last two years, it was single digits... I expected a lot more from a womanizing himbo.

While there is a great deal of suspense, it really does not take a brain surgeon to see the direction the story will take when all is revealed, nor the identity of the killer. And that creepy cousin just gives you the willies. I found that I like the secondary characters better - Jim and Griffin - and I am happy to hear that they will have a story of their own coming to a bookstore soon.

I found the novel to be wonderful and truly uniqe. Ellen Barton is a great voice for our future.

I thought this novel was a very intelligent read. I think that you must have a higher than average IQ to understand the depth that Miss Barton has written on. Obviously some people are not on that level and therefore do not understand this novel, making it boring as in the words of "Mitchell." As for "coming out" to her family...Miss Barton has been out of the closet for approx. 15 years. I know this because I have logged onto her website (http://www.thentherewasiron.com) and corrosponded directly with her.
Clarice

As an Afro-Canadian, and therefore the decendants of slaves, Ellen Barton not only allows her readers to take a glimpse into her past, but informs her audience that she herself is a lesbian. With the help of her lover Chloe/Lisa, Ellen informs her family of her "true self", somethiing she could not freely admit. Overall, the book is an interesting read, however, other than the fact that the writer decides to "come out of the closet" Then, There Was Iron does not differ in any significant way than any other book written for that era.

Then, There was Iron, is a wonderful read. It is filled with interesting characters and anticipation. It is a stimulating mix of fact, fiction and the human spirit.

Iron, the main character, is an admirable woman, being motivated by self-acceptance and love. She is born into slavery as a breeder, although she does not go through the physical torment as the other characters, she does suffer. She is a lesbian and above all a giver. The slave dialect in the book, is what makes it so believable. The story takes you through her struggle to freedom. Along the way, you experience, birth, death, multiple personality disorder, relationships, the underground railroad and drug addition.

A must read! I eagerly await part 2 (especially Iron and Chloe's reunion).

The story is about the trials and tribulations of a lesbian slave woman in the 1800's. Though it is not a lesbians story the protaganist is as much as a lesbian as any slave was allowed to be true to theirselves. Anyone that is interested in history, the Underground railroad, finding and losing love, drug addiction, the Civil War, multilple personality disorder plus the evolution of a sexually deviant mind will enjoy this book immensely. It is also one of the rawest and brutal looks at the American slavery experience ever writtten but manages to give off hope and inspiration sending the message that there is nothing that cannot be overcome.

As a practical man, I look at results and behaviors. I really don't care what people say, because you can always tell what people will do from what they've done. Looking at the results of social theories such as this, I see some 200,000,000 innocent individuals senselessly slaughtered in efforts to obtain a more perfect society. People who buy into these rubbish theories will continue to do what the Hitlers, Stalins, and Pol Pots have done in the past.

Again as a practical man, I ask the same question I always ask: Who do YOU, mister socialist, trust to tell you what you need to know, where you can work, what you can own, what you may say, and when your body is no longer needed by the state?

This book goes in the trash with all the other failed socialist theories.

It fascinates me that my capitalist friends read this as a work of socialism and my lefty friends read it as an apology for some new sort of humane capitalism. It is neither, although it recognizes elements of both. Steiner does not advocate the end of private property or capital, nor does he favor state control of the means or modes of production. This is a book that advocates consciously working toward social health by paying attention to and developing appropriate roles for economy, politics, and culture within any social group--from the very small to the international. It is not a utopian treatise, either, although it is frequently read as one. Rather, it asks us to recognize that society as a whole may be viewed (metaphorically?) as an organism, one whose health or lack of health depends on conscious human activity and attention. Habermas, whose "lifeworld" is similar to Steiner's "threefold social organism," worries that economism may mean the end of worthwhile politics and culture; Steiner would share this concern, and shows us the value of working toward balance in our social lives.

The apparent purpose of this book is to address "The Social Question." What this question is, is never explained. Perhaps in 1923 when it was first published everyone knew the "social question" that was on all lips. It is unfortunate that it was not explained to the reader in the new forward.

The book is short, but its stream-of-consciousness style makes it almost unreadable. The author has a theory that man is composed of three basic parts, (body, spirit and soul), and that, therefore, to create as ideal a world as possible, the scope of intra-human dealings should also be separated into the equivalent of these three "spheres" (the economic, the spiritual and the political). How all human dealings can be perfectly delineated into these three spheres, each totally separate from the others, is not explained. All skepticism is headed off as being un-objective, uninformed or already discredited (we have not adopted his ideas, and it is not a perfect world, ergo: any ideas except his are discredited). His arrogant, all-knowing attitude combined with the knowledge of the disastrous results of the implementation of similar "social solutions" since this book was first published make it a dreary and depressing read.

Steiner seems to believe that the common man is yearning for some perfect pattern by which to live his life and that once presented with such a theory will eagerly alter his interactions with his fellows to fall into line with it. All of his conclusions depend upon this being the case. He frequently refers to his knowledge of the mind of the proletariat. How he has this special knowledge is not explained. It seems to be a mystic gift. Having been a working man all of my life, I believe that he is wrong on all counts. The working man does not deeply ponder philosophical questions of how society should be structured, nor does he seek to alter his own consciousness to fit in with the conclusions he would arrive at if he did. As is the case with all other "social scientists", Steiner believes that man is on the verge of evolving a new consciousness. The frightening aspect of such beliefs, when they come into fashion with those with the power to implement them, is that when people do not exhibit such an evolution they must be slaughtered by the millions.

Steiner's ideas, like the thousands of other abstract philosophical musings down through the ages of how best to order human affairs, are intellectually interesting, but before these ideas are imposed on society, I suggest that those who would implement them familiarize themselves with the mechanisms of coercion and terror, and that they begin building the gulags for the poor unfortunates who do not understand his complex theories.

If the reader has an urge to delve into the mystical meanderings of another human mind, and has the patience to re-read each sentence and paragraph several times to divine its meaning, and is a collector of obscure philosophical theories, this can be an interesting read. To me it was a tedious exercise with no real value.

Having read this book very carefully, I have to respond to the review of Doug Wakeman (two reviews below this one).

In his review title, Doug calls this a dreary, tedious read. There is no question that some will find it that. But for the most part, that will be due to shortcomings or limitations of the reader. I found the book one of the most fascinating I have ever read.

Doug says the book never explains what the social question is. Well, Doug should have read it again perhaps. This book is one of the most penetrating discussions of the core of the social question ever written.

Doug says that the author of the book has a theory that man is composed of three basic parts, body, soul and spirit. Here again Doug is wrong. The author, R. Steiner, doesn't divide the human being into 'parts'. Steiner sees the human being as more like a continuous spectrum. The visible spectrum flows from one color to another without any sharp breaks. A spectrum is not made of 'parts,' nor for Steiner were body, soul and spirit 'parts'.

Doug says that the author concluded that because the human being is body, soul and spirit, therefore the social realm should be perfectly delineated into three equivalent spheres, each totally separate from the other two. How this was to be done, Doug claims, is not explained. Doug is wrong that the author spoke of three social spheres totally separate from one another, or of any perfect delineation to be made between them.

As for understanding how the three spheres might be separated in a less delineated way, I would ask Doug: do you believe in separation of church and state? Probably you do. So do I. Do you think that because church and state are separated, that their boundaries are perfectly delineated and that they are totally separate from one another? Politicians go to church. Priests vote. And in many other ways, the separation is not absolute. Yet we rightly value the separation and rightly think it important despite the fact that it is not absolute. Bottom line is the State may not tell us what church to go to or to go to church at all. And no priest has the right or ability to make the State favor his church. This separation of religion and State was for Steiner a special case of the separation of cultural-spiritual life from the State -- for Steiner, as for most Americans, the State shouldn't control religion, art, or free inquiry, including science, free speech, or the content of education. Why such a separation of the cultural and political realms should be so hard for Doug to understand, is hard to say. Perhaps he did not spend much time on the book, but decided to pan it anyway.

Steiner speaks of separating the cultural-spiritual sphere also from the economic sphere. Since this has so bewildered reviewer Doug, I will give a few small, already existing examples of the kind of thing Steiner was alluding to and would have supported: churches, temples and mosques do not generally make the ability to pay a criterion of the ability to enter and participate in the place of worship. Libraries and art museums exist in part so people who cannot afford a private library or art collection can have access to cultural-spiritual life. Public schools are there in part so kids can have equal opportunity in cultural-educational life, regardless of their ability to pay. Steiner believed in educational freedom and educational choice, and in that sense would have disagreed with the current manner of structuring public schooling, but Steiner very strongly supported the idea that every child, regardless of economic means, was entitled to an education. Examples of what Steiner was talking about are all around, and should not have been difficult for Doug to grasp.

Another small, already existing example of what Steiner meant by increasing the separation of the state from the economy: businessmen should not be able to buy politicians and laws. Politicians should not be able to parlay political position into wealth by doing secret favors for businessmen.

Again, an example of separation of the economic sphere from the cultural sphere: Corporations should not be able secretly to pay scientists to produce pseudo-objective research results favorable to the corporation's economic interests.

These are the sorts of things Steiner means by separating the economic, cultural and political realms from one another. In his book, Steiner doesn't focus on all the examples I have given however, but on how to enhance the independence of the three sectors in several specific, new ways.

Steiner's view is that everything cultural (art, religion, science, education, media, press) requires liberty, everything to do with the State requires democratic equality, and that the economy requires voluntary, non-statist, cooperation. I won't burden readers by attempting to explain everything. Suffice it to say that reflection, I think, can show how applying liberty to the cultural sphere, and equality to the political sphere, will tend to keep those two realms relatively separate from each other. This doesn't mean they won't interact in various useful and important ways. The point is that neither one should dominate the other, their centers (not spatial centers) should be distinct. To the extent the three sectors are distinct in that way, no one of them dominating, they function as a society-wide separation of powers. Each system can then check, balance and correct the others, leading to ongoing reform. To some extent, this is already precisely what happens in American society.

Less immediately clear is why voluntarily more cooperative forms of capitalism, such as Steiner pointed the way toward, have the potential to keep the economic sphere relatively separate from the other two spheres. But if I take the extreme example of slavery, that might help clarify the case. In slavery, the economic sphere is in a sense fusing dominantly with the State, the sphere of rights, and in effect absorbing the slave's political rights into the process of buying and selling. This is in a sense economic competition gone wild, and just one example of how economic competitiveness, if overdone, can cause the economy to merge dominantly with the State. If you have the power to defeat someone and enslave him, the most competitively-oriented form of capitalism will not restrain you, if left to itself with no restraints from the side of democratic rights-awareness. But a more cooperative form of capitalism (say, like the highly successful Mondragon industrial cooperatives of Spain) tends in various ways to restrain the economic tendency to commodify less powerful human beings or treat them as economic objects. Slavery is only the extreme form of this commodification. The same happens in subtle, far less ugly, but still pervasive ways under the currently predominant form of capitalism, in which there are no slaves.

In the book, therefore, Steiner conceives a new form of business organization, a new more cooperative form of capitalism, which might be called stakeholder capitalism, in contrast to the shareholder capitalism of today. Many of his economic ideas are successfully in use today, on a small, but growing scale.

Steiner also focused on liberating schools and education from the control of the State (up until he started a number of schools, there were apparently no independent schools in Germany).

The book makes quite clear that Steiner would not have thought it right for there to be State entities called school boards that vote on what curriculum will be implemented in a particular school district, anymore than it would be right to vote on what newspaper or religion or creed everyone should subscribe to. For Steiner, education should be a matter of freedom and family choice among a pluralistic range of alternatives. Education should not be based on majority vote, where one size is forced to fit all in a particular school district. At the same time, Steiner was not a fanatic, and would have expected the State to maintain a few minimal boundaries on freedom of choice, such as obedience to health and safety laws in all schools, and to laws against teaching racial or ethnic hatred.

Doug says he does not understand how Steiner claims to have some knowledge of the mind of the proletariat, and Doug says this goes unexplained in the book. Doug himself explains, sarcastically, that it appears to be a mystic gift. Unfortunately, once again Doug has done Steiner an injustice. Steiner alludes in the book clearly to the fact that he taught for years in a working men's college. Doug seems to have missed the allusion, which might be more understandable, had Doug not been so careless with everything else in the book. As a speaker and teacher Steiner, it should be noted, was extremely popular with the workers at the school, so much so, that he was invited to give a speech to thousands of them on the occasion of a Gutenberg anniversary of some sort. Those who ran the school, on the other hand, were doctrinaire Marxists. It was a time of revolutionary ferment, not far from the time of the Russian Revolution, and because Steiner disagreed with Marxism in many of its tenets, and refused to tow the party line or go along with the Marxist leaders disregard for spiritual and intellectual freedom and their efforts to muzzle him, Steiner was eventually pushed out of the school.

Doug suggests that those who want to 'impose' Steiner's social theories on society should start building gulags for all the millions who will have to die if they refuse to go along. But in this case, Doug is himself truly behaving like a little dictator, because Doug is imposing his own prejudices dictatorially on Steiner's book, which has virtually nothing to do with what Doug says about it. Steiner was adamant that his social ideas were not of a type that could be 'imposed' from the top down. He explicitly says in the book: if there are mistakes here, then let them be found. And he says that in part because he was all too aware of the kind of dogmatism Lenin and his many sympathizers in Europe were capable of, as Lenin and his followers in Russia were already at that time censoring and banning books.

Contrary to Doug's absurd misreading (if he even read more than a few pages), the threefold articulation of society was something Steiner saw as an almost endless process that had begun in ancient times and would probably continue for thousands of years into our future. In ancient Egypt, for example, the three spheres were fused. The early Pharoah was ruler of the State, god and high priest of the religious/cultural life, and owner of everything and everyone in Egypt. With Greece and Rome, the three sectors become more autonomous, though still overlapping in many ways that we today would consider terribly unjust. If we jump ahead to the late middle ages, feudalism begins to break down, and there is thus a certain growing separation of economic life from the state structure. And so on, through history the threefold articulation wanes and ebbs, taking now two steps forward, now one step back, progressing unevenly over time.

If we consider the present, campaign finance reform and lobbying laws may help, however slightly, to insulate the State from economic power's attempted manipulations. Also today, many people are struggling to establish a right to school choice for families, which would make the cultural sector a bit more independent of the State. And so on. It is an infinite, and infinitely complex process that cannot be imposed like some utopian plan overnight. Steiner knew this very well.

Another way of understanding the threefold idea: In theocracy, the cultural sphere (in its religious aspect) merges dominantly with the other two sectors. In communism, the state sector merges dominantly with the other two sectors. And under today's usual form of capitalism, the economic sphere tends to merge dominantly with the other two spheres. The threefolding trend seems to point toward a form of society that gradually transcends known forms of society, by coming to a point where none of the sectors dominates, and instead each sector, independent, exerts a more indirect, legitimate form of influence on the other two sectors, so that all three sectors balance and correct each other ongoingly.

As the subtitle, "Rethinking the Basis of Society" suggests, a fresh look is taken at the basis of social life. The question as to what healthy social forms are, or how to evolve forms that are healthy is not new. The French Revolution, the movement through feudalism to private property, Socialism, Communism, the innauguration of American style Democracy and Civil Rights, even the current battle in American public life between the proponents of "smaller government" or those clamoring for a "just society" have all the same thing in common, they would attempt to create or change social forms. Some would do so for better, some for worse reasons, "to endow the blessings of liberty", or to create situations that benefit a select few over the many.

The author, Rudolf Steiner, offers no program in this book. Rather in the spirit of the great and unfortunately late philosophical tradition, he attempts to bring us towards glimpses of what he refers to as the "primal thoughts" regarding the "body social". While some might snicker at this as arrogance, others will see "primal thoughts" for what they are - insights into the nature of man and society, insights that go to the heart of the matter, insights that in their mode of expression have not been robbed of all but a semblance of life.

Rudolf Steiner, who had worked in an educational capacity with workers, chosen by their unions to do so, had said that the "modern worker" through his education had religion reduced to idelology while being left with a mechanical mode of thought imposed on him by natural science. The effects of this are far reaching. We might ponder as to whether this hasn't created our tendency to succumb to idelology in our public life in lieu of the ability to really come to terms with this life itself. In short, that is what the entire book is about.

In the simplest terms the book posits the realm of man vs man, where each person stands on equal footing with another solely because each is human, the rights or political sphere; man associates with man to create commodities in the economic realm; and finally, the human being in his or her relationship to the creative powers as well as the powers of creativity, would constitute the cultural or spiritual sphere. The monolithic modern state dominates all three spheres creating an ill society. The political powers that be as well as the economic powers that be are either colluding or each trying to overtake the other to the detriment of all.

Steiner's thoughts are not always easy to grasp. His thoughts on the "aging" of money for example, are for myself particularly difficult. On the other hand, his lucid thoughts both as to why human labor is not a commodity, and then how to liberate it from the stranglehold that the economic sphere presently has on it, are nothing if not brilliant.

The book I received is not the same one shown in the picture on the listing, nor is the ISBN number the same. They sent me the instructor's manual instead of the real book. Nowhere on the listing did it say anything to indicate that it was not the book shown. In a nut shell, I got screwed.

This title indicates a books that is about selling using Goldmine software.
Actually, it is about selling.
The title of the book is "Selling: Building Partnerships"
It has nothing to do with Goldmine software, ACT software or any Customer Relationship Management software.

The book itself is quite comprehensive and an excellent buy at the $10-$15 price range.

A FRIEND OF MINE WHO IS A PROFESSOR IN ZIMBABWE (UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE) WOULD LIKR TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE A TEACHERS RESOURCE BOOK, OR ANY SUPPLEMENTS TO THIS BOOK (SELLING - BUILDING PATNERSHIP)

I used this book whilst studying my Diploma in Sales and Marketing and found it invaluable. It goes through the fundamental steps of selling and gives you great examples of companies different approaches to the selling environment. A must for all sales people who want to learn the basics of selling or those who want to brush up on their skills.

I sense a pattern in these here "Baby Duck" books. Inevitably the storylines run along these general lines: Our hero (Baby Duck) has some kind of childlike problem, be it anything from new glasses to going to school for the first time. After dealing with this problem in her own way and failing to illicit any real help from her parents, Baby Duck is inevitably reassured/guided wisely by her Grampa. The end. Kids like repetition and consistency, a fact that I have to assume contributes to the continual popularity of the "Baby Duck" series. Though a fine bunch o' books, I have to admit that I find them more than a little dreary. If you're a steadfast Baby Duck fan, then I have little doubt that this particular offering, "You're The Boss, Baby Duck" will live up to your expectations. If, on the other hand, you've been reading similar tales by such great children's book authors like Kevin Henkes or even David Small, then I'm afraid you're bound to wind up a little disappointed.

Baby Duck is not pleased. There's a new baby in the house and nobody is paying any attention to our heroine. Babies, after all, aren't much use and Baby Duck is filled with jealousy. This isn't really her fault, though. Her parents are acting particularly negligent on this day in question, not even pausing a moment to hear their eldest child read to them. Fortunately for Baby Duck the family has gone to visit with Grampa. The wise elder sees his granddaughter's frustration at the new baby's presence. After some quickie counseling, Baby Duck attempts to show off and play with her little sibling. To her delight the baby (unlike her parents) responds to everything she does. The book ends with Baby Duck towing her sister in a wagon singing that maybe the baby can stay two more days, "But Baby Duck is boss".

A couple things. First we have to deal with Baby Duck's songs. I did some quick checking on this tale and this book was not originally published in another country. I say this because there was no getting around the fact that Baby Duck's song lyrics simply do not rhyme. I'm all for free verse, but it seems to me that if you write a song of four lyrics that scans perfectly, it should rhyme. Then I thought, "Wait. Maybe the author is making a clever play on how little kids will constantly sing songs that rhyme only in their own heads". I was willing to give author Amy Hest some points for this idea, up until I hit Baby Duck's last song. Which rhymes. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but I'm a stickler for inconsistency ESPECIALLY in kid's books. If you're going to be consistent in any one medium, be sure it's in children's literature.

But that's a pretty petty complaint. So I'll go one better. Amy Hest may well be an accomplished writer, but this is not the book to use to discover her. The phrase, "You're the Boss, Baby Duck" doesn't really fit in with the rest of the story. The characters are stock to the point of cardboard cutouts. The one thing I found original in this tale was Baby Duck's glasses, and that was a leftover from a previous adventure anyway. Jill Barton's illustrations are all well and good. She's especially good at bringing to Baby Duck's eyes a glare of detestation towards her little sib. There are cute little touches that pop up throughout this tale, including baby Hot Stuff's casual overboard tossing of her pacifier. Still, these illustrations can't save an otherwise bland tale.

There are plenty of places to go for I'm-Jealous-Of-The-New-Baby books. My personal favorite is "Julius, Baby of the World" by Kevin Henkes. I suggest you take a good long look at the selections out there and purchase one of them instead of the nice, but ultimately blah, "You're the Boss, Baby Duck". If you want a book that is comforting and doesn't challenge young readers in much of any way, this is an excellent choice. If you'd like something a little less run-of-the-mill and a little spicy, try the aforementioned "Julius" or (even better) Charlotte Voake's, "Ginger". Why settle for less?

I'm with Reviewer #2. In our house, we now sometimes call our 2-year-old dog "Baby Duck" because of his rivalry issues, and my 5-month-old son "Hot Stuff." It's a really cute book, deserves 4 stars at least, and the treatment of Baby Duck's eventual acceptance of her little sister is subtle, but I think a child would get it.

I'm writing this review mostly to counter-balance the review below, which is pretty harsh. The book is cute, like the rest in the series, and this one does a good job of reassuring older siblings that they won't be forgotten because of the fuss over the new baby. I don't think it's really worth five stars, you understand, but I don't think it should get an average of only one, either. Frankly, any book that (1) amuses my son, and (2) doesn't have me trying to skip pages to get to the end is OK by me. Honestly: three stars.

I first discovered the Baby Duck series with Amy Hest's delightful book, "In the Rain with Baby Duck". My toddler loved that book and we read it over and over. Having just had a new baby, I ordered "You're the Boss, Baby Duck" with high expectations of a similar experience. What a disappointment! While it captures how an older sibling may feel left out, it was very negative towards the new baby. I kept waiting for the part where Baby Duck bonds with the new baby and discovers how great it is to have a little brother/sister. Instead, by the end of the book, Baby Duck decides to let the baby stay "for a couple of days" so that she could boss her around. What kind of message about sibling love is that supposed to be sending? If you've just had a new baby in your house, I recommend "Arthur's New Baby" by Marc Brown instead. It effectively captures a child's jealousy in a much gentler way and has a much happier resolution.

Pass this Baby Duck book by!

This is a very readable version of the monkey king classic. The sentences are short and simple, written in standard American English. The book is packed with action and is lots of fun to read.

The character of monkey is rather naughty, like Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn.

The pictures have a definite Western slant to them, which is rather amusing.

This book contains much violent material and may not be suitable for children. Monkey King, an impulsive supernatural being on a quest for some Buddhist Sutra texts, thinks nothing of killing whole groups of people on a single occasion. Here's a quote: "Why would I want to eat a baby? It's not even a time of famine."

When I was a teenager, the BBC aired a dubbed version of the PRC's television version of "Journey to the West", and ever since, I have loved the story of the Monkey King. Being unable to find that series on DVD (or VHS, for that matter), I decided to buy this book to read to my son.

The book does an excellent job of introducing the character of the Monkey King, and tells the portions of the story that it covers well, and on a level comprehensible to children. It is hugely abridged, however, and ends only partway through the original story, with no attempts to tie up loose ends.

As a result, my son wasn't really satisfied with the open-ended plot, and there also weren't enough of the little subplots with the interesting secondary characters to make the book as memorable as it really should be. The book would have been a solid 4 or maybe 5 stars if it had just gone on a bit longer, either to bring the story to something resembling a conclusion, or to explain why there wasn't such an ending in a way as accessible to children as the rest of the book was. Incomplete as it is, though, I can't recommend it that strongly.