Brandt Books

It was the title of this book that initially drew my attention, in fact I purchased it without ever opening its cover.

The book deals with change and though originally published in 1996 remains a valuable read today. Real world examples support reasoning and are most interesting.

Systems, rules, tradition and simple laziness lead many to misapprehend the need for change. It seems that these persons actually find comfort in their efforts to avoid the chaos of change. Certainly, it is true that change will happen whether or not we embrace it. This book offers a message designed to put leaders in charge of change and, from my way of thinking, offers reminders of traits necessary for all workers in our economy who must have the skills to cope with what seems to be an increasing rate of change.

This book is an excellent tool to get people thinking again. Businesses that realize that by embracing change, they can differentiate themselves from their competitors have a distinct advantage. Those that don't or are slow to come around are in deep trouble.
One of the tools in the book that I found very insightful was the Change-Ready Assessment. The Change-Ready Assessment is a survey that every organization should use to evaluate new and old employees' ability to adapt to a culture of change.

Robert J. Kriegel is rapidly becoming one of my favorite
business authors . . . I've previously enjoyed two of
his other books, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS
WITHOUT WORKING SO HARD and IF IT AIN'T BROKE,
BREAK IT . . . so I figured it was time to get hold of
one of his earlier efforts, SACRED COWS MAKE THE BEST
BURGERS--written with David Brandt.

I was definitely not disappointed!

Kriegel and Brandt examine why people cling to outmoded
beliefs, practices and processes as if their lives depended
on them . . . but more importantly, they present ways to
inspire a desire to bring in the new.

I particularly liked the use of real-life examples . . . although the book was written in 1996, it is still amazingly current; i.e., most of the ideas the authors present still make sense today . . . also, they can be applied to virtually any size or type of organization.

There were many memorable passages; among them:
* But you'll actually do more and better by learning to slow down when everything around you is speeding up. John Wooden, the great UCLA basketball coach who won an unprecedented 10 national championships, offers this advice: "Be quick, but don't hurry. If you hurry you make mistakes."

* You may not be a beginner, but you can learn how to think like one. Take real estate agent Michael Young, for instance. He was his company's most successful agent in northern California but he couldn't make the leap from
selling houses in [one price range] range to those[in a higher price range]and up.

"I don't get it, " he said. "I'm using the same prospecting strategies, making calls in the evening to people at home, giving them advice and telling them about the market, and I'm in the same marketplace. But it's not working."

"Think like a beginner, forget your old strategies, start fresh," we advised him. "Look at the business like you're a novice. What can you do to break into this market?"

Instead of competing with other brokers, Young spotted an untapped opportunity in the high-end market. He discovered that many listings expire before the house is sold. So he developed a strategy for buying old listings and sharing commissions. The technique brought in so much business that he formed the Michael Young Company in San Francisco. Now brokers
call him unsolicited.

Want to know something? We're all in the same position as Young. You may think your market is the same as it was last year. But it's not. Everything is changing: people's life and work styles, their jobs, their expectations, their attitudes, their family situations-everything. And technological
advances have only accelerated the situation.

With business in a perpetual state of flux, we need to keep reinventing our game plan every six months. To do that we have to look at things through fresh eyes.

* [Sam] Walton had 10 rules of success, most of which revolve around giving great service, top-quality products, and treating you people right. But it's his 10th rule that sets him apart from his competitors. Walton called it the most important one: Break the rules.

If all of your competitors are doing it one way, Mr. Sam used to say, "do it exactly the opposite," and that's where you'll get the edge.

Its very good book and managers should read this book like taking oath before taking management job. No offense, but very few managers have ever read this book or similar book, at least those under whom I have worked for

Don't let this book's title through you off. Give it a chance, because it does a great job of detailing how an organization can change and make business processes work better.

Kriegel and Brandt show ways in which remaining caught up in a given mode of thinking about one's business can often lead to missed opportunities for growth and success. It offers an interesting array of anecdotes that can assist in expanding one's thinking about the everyday processes we take for granted. An excellent resource for managers and others who feel their organization is caught in a rut and going nowhere.

This book can guide managers in the steps needed to eliminate outdated business practices and routines that drain time and money. It offers ways to redesign the rules of an organization and instill a capacity for change in their management teams and employees. A good resource that shouldn't be overlooked by anyone involved in change control or project management.

When I was about halfway through this abridgment, I compared it in a bookstore to the abridgment by Gary Moulton (The Lewis and Clark Journals (Abridged Edition)), editor of the complete edition of the Journals. Whereas Brandt, the editor of the text under review, "modernizes" the language, correcting the spelling and syntax, and combining fragments into grammatically correct sentences, Moulton leaves the spelling and syntax untouched, and only abridges the text to compress the Journals into a single volume.

I expected to prefer Moulton's version, simply because it was less altered, truer to the authors' intent. But, of course, Lewis and Clark did not intend to misspell words - some words in multiple ways - or to use odd, jarring punctuation. The Journals as published by Moulton are Field Drafts, unaltered, which would have been corrected and refined before publication, had Lewis lived to do the necessary work. But yet, there is something robust, vivid and historically present about the uncorrected text; and if the abridgments were equivalent in content, I may have discovered a preference for Moulton's over Brandt's.

But I found Brandt's abridgment more interesting in content - and naturally less linguistically obtrusive. In the section I randomly compared (I don't remember which), Brandt excluded far less than Moulton, and the extent of the exclusions by Moulton were not apparent from the text, leaving the impression that only a sentence or two may have been excised, when in fact full, rich paragraphs were missing from the page.

It isn't that I don't have complaints about Brandt's choices. He often summarizes what he excludes, and many times I wished he had left in what he kept out. There are other abridgments of the Journals in print and whether one is "better" than another, I cannot say. This one, however, is good, and if you're looking for an abridgment to read that reads smoothly and doesn't require decoding skills you might certainly have but would rather not use, consider this edition. When you're finished you might find yourself wanting to read the entire multi-volume Journal, misspellings, sentence fragments, and all.

The Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark, 7-volume set

The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 13-Volume Set

This book consists of actual journal entries (with spelling and grammar corrections) and offers interesting insights into the day-to-day rigors of their travels, as well as a unique historical perspective into their journey. Many days were just plain boring- hunted some more, walked some more, saw some more buffalo, etc.- but you really get the feeling of being there.

Best read with maps and additional pictures/illustrations offered in other books in order to get the complete story. Ranked #2 by National Geographic on their list of the Top 100 Adventure Books of all time. I certainly wouldn't rank it that high having read many other books on the list, but it is a must-read nonetheless.

If you don't enjoy thrashing through the "interesting" spelling found in the original journals, this is the book for you. It's been well "translated" into modern American. Some lengthy portions of the journals are merely summarized, so you really only get a partial picture, but the parts you do get are crystal clear. Well worth the read for the Lewis & Clark fan.

You already know who they are and what they did. Now read a day by day account made while on the voyage westward. From relations with the Indians, to the flora and fauna of the virginal American continent, the conduct of the men and the mercurial nature of the weather, this record of the most famous exploration in US history is a must for historians and casual readers alike.

This is an outstanding read made possible by excellent editing and editorial comment. Some have criticized the editor for modernizing and correcting the spelling and even interpreting the notes found in of Lewis and Clark's journals. Frankly I think that this is will make this edition of their journals more accessible to the masses. Their continental crossing and return is one of the greatest stories ever told and thank goodness they documented it so carefully.

The journey and this book have inspired me to make a trip or two next year to see for myself some of the places they saw and documented for the first time only two hundred years ago. Great editorial notation on places, animals, and people to give the modern reader some reference along with beginning chapter notes. Jefferson's amazing directive in its entirety is included. I liked reading it and referencing some good maps so I could vicariously place myself with the expedition. The Corps of Discovery was made up of great American hero's. This riveting journey is a must read for all ages.

Oh my. I LOVE this book! Everyone should own one. I'm not even hardly started it and I have trouble putting it down. It's like modern day poems made from the Psalms and they all hit home, just like the Psalms in the original do. As I was reading, I was making a mental note of who I was going to give one for Christmas.

Great little take along Psalms. Fresh reading and great for meditations to start group meetings. Handy to have and use often.

Brandt continues to rewrite and renew his view of the Psalms, God's songbook. It will give the reader a chance to rediscover what grabbed you the first time you read a Psalm and knew God was speaking.

I have had the chance to use the book with junior high and high school students and I have seen it provoke thought. This last purchase of a dozen copies were for graduation gifts for the seniors at my church. The book makes a wonderful gift for young people that seek spiritual transfomation through the Word.

I originally found out about this book when a church member came to the hospital to see me. She read Psalm 23 to my husband and I and we really enjoyed it. This book is written in what I call "today's language". Easy to understand. I highly recommend it.

Great book for reading Psalms in our times. It uses words and phrases which make some of them very pertinent to today. If read in conjunction with reading the same verses in the Bible, it opens up new thoughts. Especially the 23rd Psalm.

This book is a great guide to being prepared for natural disasters in any city or suburb. Much of the content is techniques for wilderness survival that have been adapted for what you find in the city. One thing that you don't find in a wilderness survival guide is crime prevention, which is approached well in this book.

Tom Brown Jr. is brilliant. This is an excellent must read, there is so much great information in these pages, amazing reference book, a must have for any personal library.

The purpose behind this book differs significantly from Cory Lundin's When All Hell Breaks Loose, which I previously reviewed, even though both books are concerned with survival within a city. Whereas Lundin focused on post-disaster survival -- mainly within the confines of your home and backyard and dependent upon your own resources -- Tom Brown differs in that he imagines the reader needing to survive a personal emergency, with the rest of the city essentially unaffected. He allows, therefore, that you may have uninvited access to city resources outside your home, such as water and shelter in public areas, and restaurant or grocery store dumpsters for food.

He schools the reader in the basics of how electricity and water are supplied in a city and how they move within a house. An entire chapter is devoted to how weather occurs. Avoiding an emergency is as much his intent as surviving one. It is not till the end of the book that he discusses disasters and how to deal with them. Unlike Lundin, Brown briefly shows a debris hut, fire by friction, and a few traps.


Chapter titles: Introduction, Shelter, Water, Heat and Light, Food, Crime, Weather, Disasters, Enjoying the City. Appendices: Common Urban Edibles, Common Urban Animals, Survival Supplies.

This book rambles quite a bit and provides a wealth not very targeted information. Do I really need to know how the rain cycle works to survive in the suburbs? Or how a generator works (without instructions on how to build my own out of scraps)?

In all, the useful information in this book would fill a smallish pamphlet. The rest is filler.

A great disappointment.

Where to get food, water, shelter in the city? What happens when there's a disaster? This book is a decent start. Lots of helpful chapters on how to get the essentials, as well as what common edible plants grow in the city.

Another food-for-thought thing you can read is the chapter in Way of the Scout (also by Brown) on his first solo trip to New York City.

I read all 4 in this series. They are easy to read through and offer a great look into not only the fictitious character in the book (who is a diver detective) but also the island life and diving.

And this is a great book in that series. An easy and enjoyable read, very entertaining, and wonderfully written.

As an avid reader of environmental thrillers, Dangerous Depths kept me intrigued until the last page. A great mystery with insightful character development by an author with obvious talent for writing/description.

Detective Hannah Sampson is back in her third adventure and this time dealing with what she believes was an attempted homicide. It was Sampson who was first on the scene when her friend Elyse Henry was thrown into the burning sea by an explosion aboard the boat "Caribbe." Sampson was asleep on board her own boat "Sea Bird" when the noise woke her up and she investigated. Despite her injuries due to the flames, she was able to rescue Elyse who now lies in the hospital in a coma.

For Hannah Sampson, she believes that the explosion and resulting fire were caused by foul play. Everyone else, including Chief Dun of the Tortola Police Department, believes it was just an accident. Elyse Henry, advent environmentalist especially in regards to the sea turtles and the coral reef, annoyed some of the natives in the British Virgin Islands and appealed to others. With no real evidence other than a gut feeling on Hannah's part, Dun wants her to move on to more serious and obvious matters such as who is breaking into charter boats and stealing stuff. Hannah is not about to let anything go.

What follows is a rather simplistic but enjoyable read. The second storyline of the break-ins on the charters is rather obvious as is the author's feelings on environmental issues. Frequently the narrative read stops completely as the groups are portrayed simplistically as either for or against the environment and the reader is lectured. Like the character development itself, the lectures are simplistic and cultural differences regarding native islanders are mentioned but basically ignored.

The main plot line is enjoyable however and holds a couple of minor surprises. Obviously, the author loves the area she writes about and that comes through clearly to the reader when she concentrates on her main plot and the beauty of the area. When that is in play, the story moves forward at a steady pace. Unfortunately, the lectures are frequent and not at all subtle or woven skillfully into the story and thus, stop the action and the reader cold.

The overall result is an average read at best. Simplistic on all levels, this is a pleasant diversion for a couple of hours.


Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2006

Third in a great series. This book, in particular, will take you for a ride both above and underwater with enough twists and surprises to satisfy any reader. I have a love of diving and a healthy respect for the Sea. It is obvious Kathy Brandt does too. Through her facinating main character, Hannah Sampson, she tells a heck of a yarn, but in so doing gives us all a tast of beauty, danger, romance and the need to respect our "one earth" and its endangered species.

I use this book every day for tracking the daily activities of my newborn twins and love it! It does a great job of assisting me in staying organized with the twins. I like this product so much, I purchase it as a gift for all of my friends/family members who are new moms-to-be!

love this book! now i give it to any new mom i know expecting

Although we got tons of cute baby gifts, this one was by far, the most vaulable! We used it (and still do) every day to track the tremendous amount of information we needed to keep track of. Even our doctors found it useful when we had some troubles with feeding. I would strongly recommend it to help keep you organized and feeling sane during the crazy few days and weeks after birth.

I LOVE this organizer -- everything is in one place. My only suggestion would be to combine this book with a more "traditional" baby book (i.e. add journal pages, places for pictures, etc.) so everything really is in one place...

This is a great book! It provides an easy and clear way to note down all of baby's vital information. Even before the baby, you can note all your gifts too...very important when it came down to writing thank you notes. Definitely a nice gift for friends who are expecting as well. You think you could just use any old notebook, but this book makes it so conducive and is a bit of a splurge, but worth it when documenting important information regarding your baby (babies too!)

When I started reading this book, I could hardly set it down but for a moment. This book tells of a realistic lesbian existance in this world, much to many people's dismay. It is a multi-faceted approach that deals with a community of women--their lives, interests, and pasttimes. It is also a good book for resources of various sorts: musical, social, environmental, political, etc.

This book is an excellent resource for the burning question "how do i meet people like me?" It is an excellent look at the lesbian/gay lifestyle in the US today, while being both very entertaining and educational. Many of the stories and places mentioned seem to center around the Southern California area, with specific club names and local contributors. I loved this book and all of the stories that these two intelligent women had the courage and humor to tell. I would recommend this book to anyone hoping to learn more about themselves or loved ones.

This is a clever, informative book that attempts to explore the lesbian experience in the US without taking itself too seriously. The authors' breezy, almost conversational tone makes this a fun and educational read. Far from being elitist, the authors have attempted (and succeeded, IMO) to portray to vast diversity within our culture, from the Birkenstock-clad Michigan womyn to the lipstick crowd at Dinah, and everything in between. They sometimes poke gentle fun at some of the absurdities of lesbian society, without being critical or judgmental. I highly recommend this book for anyone, gay or straight, who wants to learn something about lesbian life and culture.

As the carefully selected cover might infer this book gives much homage to lesbians of the lipstick variety (a worthy subject no doubt). However, on their trip to the "heart of lesbian america" physical beauty is singled out as the most important way to these women's hearts. Initially they do a good round-up of lesbian culture and hotspots. But they fluctuate between humor that touches all of us at one time or another and humor that is at the expense of lesbians that didn't make the Miss America cut. One woman's appearance is compared with a gorilla. On another occasion they go on a bender about "hefty bag ladies." On top of this the interviews are carefully worded so that we can be constantly reminded that none of the interviewees hate men (as if that should be such a focal point in a book about culture by and for women). Just to figure out where these ladies were coming from I picked up an issue of Allure (van gelder is an editor for the mag). Well the only thing I could find that she wrote was a nice little piece about how to make eyeshadow work with your complexion. Low blow? Maybe but these women hit below the belt everytime. If you want an interesting and smart look at lesbian culture and history take a look at Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian Faderman.

Most people associate non-fiction with "dry and boring." This book is not dry or boring in any way. There are parts that had me laughing so hard tears were rolling down my cheeks. I especially enjoyed the chapter on the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and the Lesbian Avengers. Funny and insightful stuff. It isn't intended to be purely comedic and there are some serious parts. (It isn't fluff writing). The authors just have a witty writing style and they aren't afraid to poke fun at dyke culture. They interviewed over 100 women in preparation for this book (sex shop owners, ex-nuns, political activists, closeted teachers, sex workers, divorced lesbians, long-term couples, etc).

I teach drama/theater in a low income public school. I bought the book because my school has very few resources and I thought this might be useful. As it turned out the book was hardly used during my first year teaching. My biggest problem with this book is that it is not very user friendly for a teacher who just wants to add some fun to a class but not a complex game. In other words the book needs to make the games simpler so the kids can pick them up faster and have more fun. This might not be problem for teachers in high school as your students might be more mature and able to handle more complex games. But for middle school teachers tread lightly. Also if you have a bunch of behavior problems in your class then forgot about it. In my experience I found the worse the behavior the better they were at spoiling fun classroom games. Be warned.

This was on a list of suggested reading from a class I attended with Second City. I bought it hoping to use some of the ideas for my middle schoolers. There are many ideas in the book for younger kids, like songs. There are some good ideas that can be adapted into a middle school room.

As a teacher of drama to many low-income, urban, and "difficult" adolescents, this is the book that I find most useful, alive, and inspiring! Simply wonderful for anyone trying to bring the best out of young actors!

I teach sixth grade math, and have a group of students for an exploratory class. We talk about current events, esteem building, community building, fun non-academic skills with an emphasis on social awareness. I have been using this book for most of the year so far, and my students look forward to it,a nd ask for it. I don't have a background in theater, but this book has several premade units that have a focus on different skills. The one I am just completing focuses on community building for the group and concentration and focus for the individual. I find it easy to use, and I like the skills that it is building and reinforcing in my students. If you don't want to do a whole unit, the individual exercises and warm-ups can be set up and completed in 5-10 minutes. Great,and quick!
I strongly recommend this for any classroom!

EXCELLENT!! Inspiring. Well Organized. So many great ideas for the new or seasoned acting teacher.

This book will help you animate your chart. In this book, descriptions of the astrologic players (houses, signs, planets, elements, ...) have personality and dimension. Read thru this book a couple of times. Make your lists, as the author encourages. You are destined to have some fun!

Kim has crammed a lot of material into a great book you can dip into for specific information or read as a deeper look into your Aptitudes via the placements of all planets in all the houses along with some asteroid material too. Simple to understand for those with next to no knowledge of Astrology yet something here for professionals too. See yourself and your clients from a new angle based on strengths as related to each planetary placement.

Reading this book together with my chart offered a wonderfully rounded approach to understanding astrology- and myself- giving someone who had little idea about the significance of houses and asteroids such inspiration to fully embrace and delve into the world of astrology. I can see that I will return to this book many times and recover new levels of meaning on each reading. Astrology and Aptitude is one of those rare finds that means as much to a complete novice as to a seasoned traveller. I'm eagerly awaiting Kim Falconer's next offering!

I was disappointed in "Astrology and Aptitude". I felt the author didn't go into enough depth with topics such as fixed stars, asteroids, arabic points, etc. It would have been nice to see how these components fit into the chart regarding one's career. Instead she just did a basic overview of each and moved on. Even her chart examples were lacking in detail.

If you are just starting out in astrology, this will be a good book for you, for it covers the signs and planets in regard to one's career very well.

However, if like me you have gone beyond basic understanding of astrology and want something more, you will be disappointed.

Kim Falconer is in the same league as Liz Greene and Noel Tyl for her work as an astrological writer, original thinker and compassionate counselor. "Astrology and Aptitude" is full of keen insight into the positive use of energies with which we are born. And she has a knack for explaining astrological symbolism without resorting to cookie-cutter descriptions. Includes sections on Chiron and the Nodes. Highly
recommended!

CN, Washington, DC

I was really excited when I received this book. It's gorgeous and the pictures are beautiful. I was planning a trip to LA and this book served as a huge resource for me. When I got to LA though, more than a few of the places in the book were no longer in business and I went to LA barely 2 months after this book came out. Plus, some of the places she did describe were really hyped up and were a waste of time. This was very disapointing. If the author grew up somewhere and is going to write abook about it, you can't just assume the places are still there. You have to do your research. Hopefully, Vintage New York will be more informative.

Vintage L.A. is like a magical treasure trove - filled with historic gems from Tinseltown past, endearing & insightful interviews with sparkling locals, dazzling photographs and endless riches to behold! It is apparent that the author, Jennifer Brandt-Taylor, is a true fan of Hollywood history and the City of Angels. She takes the reader on a whimsical "insider" tour, with many surprise stops along the way. Jennifer Brandt-Taylor does a wonderful job at inspiring the reader to look closer, to find divinely decadent inspiration in something that most pedestrians would pass by without a glance. I read this book in one sitting, and then placed it on my art-deco bookshelf alongside other favorites, "Eve's Hollywood" and "Weetzie Bat." I will make sure to leave enough room on that shelf for Jennifer Brandt-Taylor's next book...

Knowing a good deal about book design and something about near-history, I can say that this book is a perfect package. From the gorgeous full-color pages saturated with great photography and vintage postcards to the colorful language used to illustrate this opulent city of dreams, Vintage LA is the magnum opus to Los Angeles. Anyone I know who has read this book recalls sitting down in the evening to crack the spine, and a few hours later they were finished, and ready to buy plane tickets to LA. It's a beautiful book!

This book covers just about everything I like about LA -- the good old-timey stuff! It's beautifully photographed, typeset and laid out from cover to cover, looking and reading like a Disneyland brochure from the '60s. The author leads you to historic walking & shopping destinations in every neighborhood in and around LA, with a special focus on all things glam and baroque. The photos are spectacular and the descriptions are fun, first-person, non-snooty and truly evocative of the wonder of visiting these groovy underappreciated relics. You'll want to visit each and every spot, and the more of them you experience, the more your view of LA will change from the unfair stereotype of a dumb, violent, smoggy wasteland to a true love of this lovely, historic fantasyland left behind by dreamers of the past.

Hats off to Jennifer Brandt-Taylor, the vintage queen! Her new book VINTAGE L.A. is a well-crafted homage to the delightful assortment of styles and flavors which comprise the identity of Los Angeles.

It is an extremely well balanced and thoughtfully compiled collection of reviews, photos, tidbits of trivia, and other ephemera which sparked my interest in revisiting the town in which I live.

Collecting vintage is one of my true passions. Finer men's attire of bygone eras is my own calling, so when Jennifer referred to the boutique Playclothes I was obliged to investigate. What a treat! I left with 2 deadstock silk scarves from the Edwardian era and some other treasures for well below market value. Thanks, Jennifer!

The love which the author has for her hometown is apparent in her features of the magical haunts and classic splendor of old Hollywood. Two of my absolute favorite places to soak up some genuine Tinseltown are the Magic Castle and the Beverly Hills Hotel. Hands down the finest establishments in which to imbibe.

It was a true inspiration flipping through the expertly layed out pages. My eyes were led along from page to page as if a kid in a candy store had been turned loose on a shopping spree. A plethora of colors and styles was arranged like a bouquet, enticing the reader to dive in and experience the finest this American epicenter of culture has to offer.

One thing I absolutely loved was her interspersed features of vintage lovers from all walks of fame in their respective environments. Catching a glimpse of how these zany characters live and reading their own reflections on the things which keep them inspired was a fascinating allusion to the eclecticism of Los Angeles.

If at all you are interested in planning a trip to Los Angeles, please do yourself a favor and let Jennifer Brandt-Taylor be your guide to the stars!