Bradley Books

My daughter always knows the best gift to get me. Last mother's day she got me this book along with a card that has her voice recorded (people who invent this stuff will always get a mother to smile or cry with joy).

The book is a collection of statements expressing love and gratitude, some of them are very sweet and others are very funny. In every page, there is a picture of a mother/baby animal that is carefully selected to go with every statement.

Books like that are simply precious treasures....

Every book in this series is so adorable. Each one tugs at your heart and captures a true emotion.

Priceless.

Could not put it down. The inherent wisdom in this book amazed me. I bought several copies and gave them to all of my siblings. This book is a true treasure.

While the pictures were kind of cute and the message endearing, there were many parts of it that did not really realte to my relationship with my mother. Some parts are too specific to the author's relationship with his mother so that it may not make sense if you were to give it to your mother.

This narrative is full of black and white photographs of animals, most of which are young. The writing is on the generic side for gift books as Greive recounts broad experiences typically shared between mothers and their children not clearly showing what "everything" is. The tone of the writing feels akin to a letter that has been broken up to a sentence or phrase per picture/page, though the enjambment is well distributed offering a poetic feel to each passage. Overall this makes a fine book as a thank you gift but shouldn't be a substitute for a sincere, heartfelt note thanking a mother for her lifelong commitment of love and defining what "everything" really is. In fact, the text is a strong source of inspiration for writing this kind of mother thank you note.

This book is not as good as these reviews make it out to be. I have read it front to back and it is mostly tips and helpful hints that most gurus already know about AS/400 Web apps. Most of reviews for this product are loaded with 5-star narratives geared to sell books....not true buyers. Beware.

I have 2 words for you YEA ! and THANKS !. You have renewed my faith in the AS/400. I have been a RPG programmer since 1985. Over the years I have been fearful that PC's and the Web would take over. I am so glad to see that is not the case. I have been through two of your books, e-RPG building AS/400 Web Applications with RPG and Stone on CGIDEV2. They have been very helpful in allowing me to keep my career heading in the right direction. (no more night sweats about my nephews learning HTML and taking over my job)

If you are a CGI programmer or just want to learn about it, then these books are just the ticket. Easy to understand and source code is included. Web programming utilizes many AS/400 APIs, some of which are cumbersome to use, but Brad gives you wrappers and service programs which make using them a breeze. I would suggest buying both books as v2 continues where the first book ends.

You have to give the author credit for being the first person to publish an accessible book on bringing the iSeries RPG to the web. It succeeds in bringing together the diverse threads required (HTTP Servers, RPG, CL, SQL, HTML, Javascript, iSeries Security etc) to build RPG-based web pages. However this book is not without its faults.

The overview of HTML, and Javascript is good, but there are dozens of better sources on the web. The entire discussion of the HTTP server is out of date and dangerously misleading if you are unclear on the recent developments of iSeries HTTP servers. This is not the author's fault, but the chapter should be re-written or removed. In the accompanying code, the author uses his own wrappers over IBM API's which are similar to industry standard CGIDEV2, but not compatible. His method also encourages the deprecated practice of embedding static HTML into RPG code. Also the author's shameless self-promotion is an embarrassment to the industry (you don't have to look far for examples)

Before buying the book again, I would do a better web search because most of the material covered in this book is available elsewhere and often in better depth, unfortunately scattered on different web sites. However if you feel you must own a glossy covered book on iSeries RPG web development there are not many other choices.


g the iSeries RPG to the web.

I had great hope for what what I could learn from this book. But it's mostly on and on about little useful how to stuff. At COMMON recently I strolled past the (new publisher cause they said the original went Bankrupt) publisher's booth and they were joking about writing online reviews and testimonials! They must not have known I was there. I looked over his new book hoping it would address the important stuff but it's wasn't much better and it's too expensive to make this mistake again.
If it's the boss's money what the heck. If it's your money then keep looking!

The guys who wrote this book know their stuff. The first chapter of the book will proabably address the majority of the problems that you will face with oracle performance tuning. The remaining chapters go in to detail on things to watch out for and various diagnostic tools and techniques.

It is a hefty tome that is not meant to be read cover to cover, so I would have thought the index would have been a little better.

I was happy with this book and it can help u find orcale tuning problems and find results fast.

This book is well structured and offers lots of good tips to improve server side performances as well as application side improvements.

Richard Nieniec has not only proven himself as a dynamic speaker, but as a writer as well. This book if full of needed information for any DBA, and is presented extremely well. This is not one to be read to as a sleep aid!! I highly recommend this book for Jr. to intermediate DBA's who understand how crucial performance really is. Explanations are clear and logical. Most readers who have worked in the Database field for any length of time will enjoy the wit and charisma of the writers.

I've bought a lot of books about Oracle tuning. And after having read all of them , it's obvious that ORACLE PERFORMANCE TUNING TIPS & TECHNIQUES is the best available. As a very good addition, get ORACLE8i INTERNAL SERVICES, ORACLE8i & UNIX PERFORMANCE TUNING, and ORACLE8i SQL HIGH PERFORMANCE TUNING. This is the perfect bookshelf for becoming a GURU ;-)

This is a great little book because it deals with figuring out how women think, what they want and what works with them. It should be required reading for every 14-year-old boy. So much of what society teaches us about women is crap. Bradley Fenton's book summerizes that there is a power struggle going between men and women and men usually lose. His remedy for evening the odds are being indifferent and not needy. It's a tough thing to do if what you really want is sex.
What I got the most out of the book is to ask questions to see if the woman you are attracted to is a good match. It's hard to look for a nice woman, find her and then see if she'd be good for you. Sometimes all you want to do is ride the high of hanging with a hot chic. But the reality is unless you like nasty surprises, you gotta see if she qualifies.
I recently met an attractive woman after a long dry spell and put off asking questions. I was afraid of what I'd find out. After reading the book one night I decided that there were some things about her I needed to know. Of course, as fate would have it, what I learned disqualified her.
Someone once said that regardless of how far you've gone down the wrong road - stop.

This book was offered to me by a friend who said he'd heard it was a more enlightened alternative to the "pick up artist" type books by the likes of TV show host Mystery and journalist-cum-loverman Neil Strauss. The Fenton book isn't as crass as the works in the pickup lit, but it isn't any less focused on their goal either; Fenton tells us repeatedly that the problem is that men aren't getting their "physical needs" met. Nonetheless, a good number of readers (of this book or the others) will probably find that the kind of behavior that helps get them laid also quite often helps them to be good boyfriends: directness, listening, asking questions, giving specific and less-sexual compliments, not obsessing about what your date is doing, keeping the mood playful rather than heavy, etc. When it comes to giving advice, this book is most successful when it goes into specifics and examples, and least so when it falls into rambling self-promoting prose about the female way of thinking, a fault that Mystery's book shares.

Though the volume is a thin one at 127 pages, it only contains about 7 concrete pieces of advice, and that can be summarized here in a couple hundred words. For readers who've seen such advice before, this book is best given a skip. Here goes:

1. Practice "healthy indifference" towards a woman rather than "unhealthy indifference." For example, never act bothered if a woman seems uninterested, or shows resistance to physical escalation on a date. On the other hand, don't be so indifferent as to avoid doing what you can to meet her needs, or paying her specific compliments when you notice something nice about her.

2. Always try to allow a woman's level of interest in you to stay ahead of your interest in her. If she seems bored, ask a rhetorical question like: "you're attractive but don't seem interested in meeting new men, right?"

3. Try to tell if the woman is more visual (thinks and speaks in terms of sights), auditory (sounds), or kinesthetic (touch and feel). Do this by listening for her to use verbs like "looks", "sounds," or "feels," respectively, and when speaking yourself, choose language that mirrors hers. In general, mirror her verbal and body language, but with a delay so as not to seem creepy.

4. Start off the date by saying that you think the woman is really great and that you like her, but that it's completely OK for her to say "no" afterwards to continuing on, without any feeling of pressure or awkwardness.

5. In conversation, try to "switch" the conversation back to focus on the woman. She may ask you a question, but really she probably asked you about a specific thing for a reason. Ask her why she asked you. When she is talking and says something, ask her questions about it.

6. Near the end of a date, ask the woman to rate the date on a scale from 1 to 10. If she says anything seven or higher, ask her what would make it a 10. Supposedly, she'll ask you to kiss her or do more. Remember to let the woman ask you for sex, not vice versa.

7. Remember a bunch of important basics: it's not impolite to talk to strangers, no woman is out of your league, women want you to talk with them, they want more than that too, etc. (Actually, there is a whole list of negative thoughts to avoid on pages 109 to 111.)


Unfortunately, the thing that is most absent from this book is a review of how to make the initial contact with a potential mate - "opening" as it is called in the pickup lit. This is where many men have the most difficulty, and everything follows from it. It is especially disappointing that opening isn't really covered, because the useful advice in this book ('practice healthy indifference to a woman', 'switch the focus of the conversation back to her') is easier to take when the man has no problem meeting more women.

At any rate, this book certainly feels less slimy in your hands than Mystery's book, and does a nice job of highlighting, in the earlier rambling parts, what men so often do wrong. It's not a bad place to start for guys who find women mystifying, and it's probably most useful in conjunction with a book on opening, like Neil Strauss' Rules of the Game. For guys who already have the basics down, but haven't figured out how to meet and date "insanely in-demand women," however, it may take something more like Strauss or Mystery.

This book is a brief, yet insightful and helpful, look at the psychology of dating from the perspective of men. It is not particularly concerned with specific tips and techniques; the focus is on the attitude and approaches that men must develop towards women to be successful in forming a relationship with a woman, as well as looking for and interpreting a woman's needs and reactions.

As the author points out, a single-minded pursuit of physical intimacy accompanied by varying levels of adversarialism, gamesmanship, desperation, and bluster in approaching a woman is more than likely to end in failure. The author advocates a healthy level of indifference on the part of a man that allows, or perhaps slightly pressures, a woman to take the initiative in moving things along. For the author "Never become more enthusiastic than the woman you are with."

The author does place responsibility on men to "read" women. Their body language should be matched, as well as their preferred sensory orientation of being oriented toward the visual, kinesthetic, or auditory. Perhaps most important is understanding, through active listening, a woman's ACHING quotient, or her anxieties and loneliness level. He suggests, to defuse the anxieties of deciding whether a relationship can develop, that a man give permission, up front, to a woman to simply say "No" to continuing dating, as opposed to being forced to mislead and/or feel guilty. He proposes that women be given second chances of backing out of first-time physical intimacy, partly to assuage guilt, but also as an approach that can actually enhance a long-term relationship.

The author does tend to place much of the burden of successful dating on men. In the first place, men must put aside irrational beliefs or expectations, have a healthy view of their own self-worth, and not be obsessed with seeking approval. But women in his book seem to mostly get a free pass: they are the good guys. Even though women are said to have higher emotional intelligence, they must in a sense be "coddled." As another reviewer has pointed out, the approach suggested by the author could be construed as a form of manipulation. At the least, it does seem a bit quaint (sexist) in 2008. Nonetheless, there are some key insights in the book for human interaction that actually transcend strictly dating.

I read this book over and over again while highlighting and taking notes. In the first chapter I was able to identify with the author, and acknowledge that I was the type of guy to whom he was referring.

If you are like me, and suddenly lose all sense of self once you meet a woman that intrigues you on all levels, you NEED this book. Most of the content is very relevant to day to day dating, and acts as a quick reference guide to almost any situation. I bought this three months into dating a girl I really like and it immediately helped me overcome certain insecurities while allowing me to still be myself and give the girl I'm dating the ability to choose me. It's refreshing! Finally I understand how to be the "real" me in any dating situation, and how to feel confident no matter what the outcome may be.

I wouldn't recommend this book to men who are looking to just get laid, or who view women as objects. This book is for guys like me, who, believe there is something real out there, and are willing to work hard on themselves and take the necessary time to have "it."

I agree with much in the positive reviews, such as those by The Capitol and Mr. Maslanka. We can all agree that the world of personal relationships offers a vast subject that no one book - or even many - can or will ever cover completely. Furthermore, the tips and tricks change as the culture changes: what's in this book would have been inappropriate in 1900 and may be outdated by 2010 (who knows?) So dating books are a bit like the blind men and the elephant - everyone knows something, no one has the full picture. But this short tome offers an excellent, succinct approach that promotes honest and direct communication with the object(s) of your affections. Each chapter deals with a different dimension of the dating relationship, and offers a clearly defined method for 'managing' it. The approach permits - even encourages - honest self-evaluation, improvement and growth with integrity. That's a lot better than macho methods that retail themselves like dimestore aphrodisiacs. The book could also be read profitably for advice on communication generally - with friends or family or in business. Like other things, it will be an amusing, idle read for those who do not put its lessons into practice. Those who do, however, will be well-positioned to learn interesting, positive things about themselves and how they relate to others.

Ms. Bower knows the Bible VERY well, and she is absolutely ruthless in pointing out its millions of contradictions and hypocrisies.

What Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion") and Christopher Hitchens ("God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything") did to religion using meticulous research and ultra-sharp minds, Betty does with wit and humor.

God is exposed to ridicule and put in its place in a hilarious way.

Also recommended: "Da Gospel According to Ali G".

I read this book from cover to cover in one night! Yes, it was that funny that I neither wanted, nor could put it down! Seriously....enjoy!

Neither God nor the Devil would DARE mess with Ms. Bowers! Guaranteed, not a politically correct syllable to be found anywhere between the covers. If you have had it up to here with puerile religion-mongering and blatant attacks on the U.S. Constitution over the last 6 years by the willfully ignorant and superstitious you will love this book. And as with some of the believers who have commented, if you have the ability to laugh at yourself you will love it just because it's funny. Don't pass up the chance to be counted amongst Betty's unworthy!

My pastor and I immediately identified Betties traits among three women in the congregation. Her traits are unfortunately too common in the main stream Christian Churches, as well as among Betty's Southern Baptists. You will meet her kind in every church you go to. Smile, and think of Betty

Think of this fine book as the "cheese" that would go very well with your wine and crackers during Holy Communion.
Although no book could ever take the place of the Bible, this book is a fantastic accompaniment to the Word of God.
Mrs. Betty Bowers truly is America's Best Christian, and her "What Would Betty Do?" book totally blows "Gone With The Wind" out of the water.
God Bless Betty Bowers, God Bless Landover Baptist, and God Bless America!

As a Master Gardener, I get a lot of questions about insects and plant diseases in the home/backyard setting. Unfortunately, bugs have always been my weakest knowledge area, so it used to take me forever to figure out just who the culprit was and the damage it could inflict. This book has been invaluable in providing excellent pictures so that I can quickly identify the critter in question, and understandable text to know what, if anything, to do next. I highly recommend this book for novices as well as accomplished bug people.

I wish I had this book before I ever started a garden. You can look up info by plant or by insect. It will tell you how to grow a certain plant, what kind of soil you need. It tells you about any problems you may have and how to deal with them. It tells you how to water each type of plant and what insects you should attract for a plant type. All and all an excellent book.

Have referred to this book numerous times for specific problems that I've have in my garden and find it to be very helpful. It covers many plants and every pest and disease that you can imagine. It has separate sections on plants and pest/diseases.

Living in the tropics, I have had frequent failures starting up my organic garden due to pests taking it over. This year I have used some tips and "natural pesticide" recipies from this book with great success. It has also helped me identify "good" versus "bad" insects so I can better assess what treatment, if any, to use. I strongly recommend this book to anyone trying to start an organic vegetable garden!

The book was very good from a technical standpoint but more than I wanted or needed. I was looking more for the home remedies to my garden problems. Things that I would normally have in the kitchen, such as soap, garlic, pepper, etc. It did have some of those remedies but there were many more technically more complex and commercially available fixes to my garden problems. I could have gotten this information from reading the backs of compound containers at the the garden supply store.
A good and well researched book but not what I was looking because the title led me to believe it was solutions without chemicals and most of the solutions are what I consider to be chemical.

Brad Sugars hypes himself as a business guru. His books are mostly simplistic generalities with some sound principles "lifted" from other writers. Mr. Sugars has conducted "market research" from leading writers such as: Anthony Robbins, Tad James, Brian Tracy et al. If you have read any of these authors you will find that Brad simply has regurgitated their material. Don't waste your money on his books or the consulting services he is really trying to promote.

I was disappointed - from the title I thought there would be advice on managing cash flow and instead it's the same advice on increasing sales. Just read the Business Coach book instead.

Great book for small business owners who want to learn a wide variety of marketing and selling techniques. Also helps clarify how to convert leads into buyers, and lots of other important details such as understanding ways to improve your profit margin.

Why on earth would someone who writes cozy cat mysteries want a book that deals with managing a business? [I'm reluctant to use the term "duh!" but it seems to fit here.]

My work as a writer, editor, and speaker, generates income. Ergo, I have a business. Sure, I don't have employees, but so what? The general principles are still the same, despite the common belief that writers must be starving artists until they hit the big time.

Because I've never owned a traditional business, I'm not one to judge whether or not INSTANT CASHFLOW gives valid advice about deductions and such. Yes, there is MUCH in this book that I cannot use. But the story of the mechanic, the encouragement that I can shift my thinking (and my actions) to profitable means, the concept of buying customers -- all these are ideas I can use.

Check back with me in two years and see how well it's worked.

As anyone in business knows, cash is KING! This book is a "must-read" because it provides a thorough overview of the most important aspect of business--how to keep the cash flowing in. There are literally hundreds of usable ideas and strategies that can be put to work in any business right away, many involving no out-of-pocket cost. Brad challenges the reader with "common-sense" approaches to building your business while providing practical solutions. Keep a note pad handy while you're reading so you can remember the ideas you will want to implement.

If you are a fan of college football, this if a must read book! If you want much more than a football story, THIS IS THE ONE!

I could not put this book down, it literally gave me goose bumps. If you ever played football you will find this book chilling. This is a absolute must read for Tiger fans and all fans of football. This book is so well written and depicts what goes on before, during and after a football career. Don't miss this book!

I was hoping for a more "behind the scenes" view from this former player from LSU. What I got was a book from an author that could never let go of the past. He goes on and on about his last years at LSU like it is the end of his life. That was college,life goes on. John Ed Bradley has some serious mental issues and this book just proves that fact.
If you are looking for a book about what it was really like to play for LSU,then skip this book.

Bradley has written a thoughtful, somber, and poetic memoir that reads as the flip-side to Jason Peter's drug-fueled Hero of the Underground. Every page is brimming with emotion, whether it's love or hate of the game of football. While the cover prominently features an LSU logo and colors, don't be fooled--this book is for all college football fans, not just LSU fans.

As some other reviewers have commented, there's not much action here, so it's not a rip-roaring read--it doesn't ever fully grip the reader in its clutches. This is partially due to the non-linear format. The chapters aren't ordered like a plot, and some readers may lose interest because of that. Could Bradley be too good of a writer for football fans to handle? I hope not.

The fact that the book is still so good in spite of its relative calm is a testament to its sharp writing. Bradley didn't win a Superbowl or a college National Championship; in fact, he never even tried out for the NFL. In the end, it doesn't matter: "It Never Rains..." is one of the best football books that I've ever read. Instead of a football player who happens to write, John Ed Bradley is a writer who happened to play football.

This book has its moments, but too few of them. The author, a former LSU football player shares his experiences of playing at LSU and afterwards as he tries to put his days in Baton Rouge behind him and become a writer.
I found it most interesting when he was sharing his experiences as a player. The rest of it is kind of ho hum. I never was too clear on just how much he wanted to stop being an LSU Tiger and how much he wanted to be a writer. He protesth a bit much. He included some really unrelated personal relationship stuff that was not unlike eveyone's experiences. At the end he lapsed into sort of a "what ever happenned to" treatment of former teammates. In the acknowledgements section the author admits that some of the content of the book was taken from earlier articles. It shows.

A great read for LSU fans or college football fans in general. Great insight and also very well written. As close as most of us will ever get to Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.

I've been on a pop-fantasy kick for a month or so now, due to stress and the need for some escapism :-). Limited myself to books of 300 pages or less; no trilogies, must have characters speaking in modern-not-archaic English, that sort of thing. Mind candy. So imagine my shock when this particular bit of mind candy turned out to be unique, thought provoking, and ultimately borderline Greek-tragic.

Bradley takes your biggest, hugest, most dusty-hoary fantasy cliche of all time -- unlikely hero must find talisman to free the land from evil -- and turns it upside down simply by injecting a bit of reality into it. A cold dash of fist-to-the-gut realism. The evil empire is not magic, for one (nice!). And what happens when the upheaval is over? No happy-go-lucky jaunt off into the perfect sunset for these revolutionaries.

Of course now I hop onto Amazon to gush in surprise, only to find that this is indeed a trilogy and now I'm hooked. Darn.

Just an FYI for an issue I've seen raised -- "Primate," though it sounds odd, IS actually a religious term. (It's one of the titles of the Archbishop of Canterbury, for a start. Means "first," from the Latin "Primus.") And a "flamen" is an ancient priest of Rome. So don't let the odd terms bother you -- Bradley has actually done research and is not merely making up stuff for the heck of it.

(I also have to point out -- the cover art has no bearing on the story whatsoever. Also the book is short, therefore very plot-driven, less of the character-driven stuff I generally prefer. But you know what? I needed a break -- this was it.)

Bradley has created an interesting world in this book, one I am curious to know more about and would love to explore more. The social, religious, and geo-political dynamics appear to be well thought out, and are intriguing.

However, I found most of her central characters whiny, annoying, and childish. While those traits, in small measure, can add depth and richness to characters, as the major personality traits I found my enjoyment of the book damaged. The occasional predictable plot twist was a further disappointment.

Lady in Gil is one of my favorite books. I read it on the plane from Nashville to Hartford, and enjoyed every minute of it.

At the beginning it was predictable, the usual reluctant hero shtick, but very amusing. The characters were great, all well developed and most of them original. What is unnaparent until the last few chapters however, is the complexity of the plot that Bradley has been hinting at. The ending is SO surprising. There is NO WAY any one could have predicted it. NO WAY. If anyone tells you this book is predictable, they're crazy.

And listen to Tig's mother. She's always right.

with the addition of carol berg's books i was hoping that amazon was finally reccommending stuff for me that i would like, but lady of gil turned out to be a real disappointment. it is extremely plot driven, whereas i prefer character driven work. in addition, the characters are unbelievable and the plot cheesy. the author seems entranced with her own cleverness, and i didn't think she was very clever. figures with authority have titles like "primate". there is no reason to feel fear or care about the characters and i put the book down before finishing.

My hands wouldn't let me close this book once I had it open. Rebecca Bradley has an excellent voice in her characters when she writes, and I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good story, interesting characters, and good laughs (the time our hero spends hiding away in the concubines' sleeping chambers gave me a great number of laughs). The subtleties that Bradley puts into her characters to make them so unique and distinct paints such a realistic portrait of the world you dive into that it puts you directly in it.
Go pick up this book. I highly doubt you'll regret it.

I saw Mr. Bradley on Golf Channel Academy Live and was impressed. I then got online and waited until his book price got low enough for me to want to buy it. The other reviews seemed overwhelmingly good and every one was impressed. I got it finally. What a let down. While the pictures are great and yet disturbing in some cases I have yet to complete reading it.
I cannot get past Mr. Bradley's overanalysis of the whole swing process. If you buy anything (and I don't mean to endorse) get anything by A.J. Bonar or just to go your pro and get at least 2 lessons. Golf does not have to be Rocket science although Mr. Bradley seems to write as though it is.

This book has some good tips on the golf swing, but I wouldn't call it a must read. It also shows a number of swing faults and how to prevent them.

It does have one of the best descriptions on how to grip the golf club of any book I've read. That one section makes it worth the money.

It does assume there is only one correct system for swinging the golf club (the modern, coiling swing). If you use another swing method (swing axis, traditional swing) some of the tips may not apply.

This is a must read book for every golfer. Especially mid handicapers (10- 15). He focuses on how the golf swing should feel, from grip to impact and completion of swing. He gives excellent examples for the feel, especially feather feel. I am reading this book every chance I get, I bet you will to.

I found the pictures in this book helpfull - they also look pretty cool. Some of the explanations of the optimal body postures are not straightforward and they require a second or a third reading - however this is a compliment since this book is not over-simplifying things - the author makes an effort explaining all the subtilities of golf.

The brilliance of this book is in the fact that it uses pictures to explain the golf swing. As humans we think in pictures anyway and is why words alone are often a waste of time. Bradely also uses words along with the pictures but this only adds to the power those pictures have to emblazen the proper feel into the golf swing. Telling someone to feel that they have a nail driven through both hands to create a great grip is not as lasting as seeing the actual picture.