Cole Books

This book will open your mind on how to launch a bew business or innovative product or server. However the authors could write this book in a more simple way and not with a hard to read english text.

Before reading the book, “The Ultimate Competitive Advantage” it seemed to me that most management books were written for “big” business problems. Most authors quote one case after the other to make their own case. A collection of postmortem reports of different companies to tell you how they failed.

This is the first book that has taught me however small a business may be, its success depends on competitive edge it creates with its own resources. There are numerous ways that even limited resources can create an added benefit for the customers and increase my business. The example of “free cold water” on an off beat road is one such method in the book to remember as a simple but brilliant solution to attract customers and add value for the customers. The authors give a set of tools to help one think in a different manner. I recommend this book especially to young person trying to get their business started and also those seeking to break out of dead end situations. A great work!

Mitchell and Coles have done businesses a tremendous service in writing this excellent book. They have done so by providing a practical toolbox of ideas with which to stimulate entrepreneurs, business leaders and managers to enhance and improve their business prospects in today's very competitive marketplaces.

I must admit to having struggled with this book for a long time. Not because of difficulty in reading and understanding. To be sure this is a very lucid and comprehensible book and is accessible to all levels from a twelve year old bringing out his lemonade stall for the third year in a row and adding iced tea to his product range to the CEO of a major corporation.

My struggle was with trying to make overarching sense of what lessons the authors were trying to encourage readers to learn. It became clear to me after several periods of reflection upon completion of the text. The crucial significance of this book in a practical way lies in understanding how deep into national economic systems the process of globalisation has seeped. We see the reults in our everyday lives, how quickly new or improved products come into the marketplace. We see how quickly established businesses change or die, we see cheaper and better products come from remote parts of the world leaving us a greater part of our disposable income to spend on the things we would prefer to spend on them.

It is clear that in life and not just in business the process of change has quickened and that as individuals we must be more adaptable and more attune to the world around us to the opportunities that exist. It is as if we need to become our own business in ourselves.

Mitchell and Coles focus on but one part of this continuous change and that is on the business model. Their strong focus on this area has great strength but we must also learn the broader lesson from their well researched work. To survive in today's world we must not only accept change but we must embrace it as people, as workers, as entrepreneurs. It is as Schumpeter pointed out inherent in the nature of capitalism. But, to be sure it is inherent in the nature of all life, as Hayek observed. We must change or die.

I would heartily recommend this book to everyone, for there is much to be gained from within it's pages. Mitchell and Coles have produced an excellent book which far and away exceeds it's remit as a business book.

The Ultimate Competitive Advantage is a gold mine with a rich vein of unusual ideas from Mitchell and Coles' nimble minds. Its stated purpose is to help readers develop and implement a superior management process for continuous business model improvement. The book goes ahead to do just that.

The authors' approach make deliberate what used to be an accidental, hapazard, uncertain and hard to repeat process.

This book, like Mitchell and Coles' others, is best used as a workbook. After each chapter, several questions are posed to stimulate your thinking, and 95% of the value of the book will be unlocked for you when you take the time to think through them rigorously. Serious entrepreneurs looking for fresh ideas for getting out of the rut and improving their businesses will.

This is a practical book, but it is not a "how-to-book" instead, it deals with the what, when and why; with such tangibles as pricing, cost of doing business and benefits to stakeholders. The authors- Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles researched and found out that unsuccessful companies doggedly apply outdated business models while the successful ones improve their models every 2 to 4 years. The book provides a straightforwad and a systematic method which any company can use to review and improve its business model basing on its key components: pricing, cost of doing business and benefits to its shareholders.

I had the pleasure of joining a few hundred people today, in Malibu, to celebrate the birthday of this beautiful and enormously-gifted author! It was truly a pleasure to meet the woman who I have admired since reading, "Lilla Belle the First Stages." "Lilla Belle" stirred my heart, like few books that I have read. I laughed, cried, and it made me think. This is a glue-book. Once I started reading "Lilla Belle," I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read Ms. Cole's latest, "F.A.T. CHANCE." Hats off to you, Ms. Cole! Happy Birthday, and keep bringin' the hits. Thank you for autographing "Lilla Belle" and "F.A.T. CHANCE." And thank you for sharing your talent. You are a class act. You are one in a MILLION!

Lilla Belle touched my heart! This book also made me think. I have read it three times so far, and I just received it on Saturday. Truly an UNFORGETTABLE CLASSIC!

"Lilla Belle" is an unforgettable book, that stirred every emotion that I have as a human being! I was filled with anger, laughter, tears, and much cheer! This book educates, and speaks volumes to ALL! And it certainly didn't hurt that the BEAUTIFUL little girl on the cover, stole my heart!

Lilla Belle is a well-written, heartwarming novel that stirred my heart, especially, in major ways! This is a book for all. Old folks, (like me), and it's a very good book for our young folks, too. I loved the book, and I hope to meet the author one day.

TEARS, JOY, PAIN, LOVE ... YOU'LL EXPERIENCE ALL OF THE ABOVE!
EXCELLENT BOOK THAT TOUCHES THE HEART IN A MAJOR WAY!

To 'stall' is human, to measure divine, is the key message from this book that highlights the tendency of us humans to resist change and thus accept less than perfection from our selves or our organizations. By naming `stalled' performance drivers - tradition holds you back, disbelief of new possibilities based on past experience stops you, misconception of actual facts, perceived unattractiveness of other options, poor communications, bureaucracy or just plain procrastination stalls things - the authors supply motivational materials so the reader will consider their eight-step process for 'stall-busting'.

1. Understand the importance of measuring performance
2. Choose an important process to measure
3. Find best practice for that process
4. Move beyond best practice
5. Imagine the world if perfection of the practice were possible
6. Act on this perfection now
7. Match people and rewards to induce perfection
8. Repeat steps 1 thru 7

As the authors say, most everyone talks about continuous improvement, but talk is not action. If it gets measured, it gets done, the saying goes. For the authors, if it gets measured, it gets improved. I should measure the time taken to read books and write reviews; well, maybe tomorrow.

Dennis DeWilde, author of
"The Performance Connection"

The 2000 Percent Solution is not merely a strategic business thinking book but something more. It is a book that can lead you to find your personal stalls and eliminate them so that free from them, it will be easier to discover and eliminate the organizational stalls. These steps are essential in the effort to apply the author's suggestions for obtaining the 2000 percent solution and finally achieve exponential business success. The book is very comprehensive, it contains sixteen chapters. In the 1-8 chapters the authors explain the various kinds of personal and organizational stalls and propose an effective busting method, while in the rest chapters, there are various techniques for achieving the 2000 percent solution. It a great book!

How fast? Lots of tools to retread wheels of enterprise to increase productivity are in The 2000% Solution. This is not a one read book, but a series of valuable clear disciplines to habituate. Thank God for humor- the spoon full of sugar.

Don Mitchell makes a point, illustration from a wide range of business vignettes threaded with the funny sides of life. The flow of information is linear to me, one point connecting to the next. Some business reads are jumpy and harder for me to follow. I became self employed in 1973, (not knowing the term!) by 1979 hired my first employee. When recognizing I was in `business' I joined the local Chamber of Commerce and began reading business books. Some helped me sleep, not this one!

The 2000% Solution is the first book that has given me a quantum leap thinking process, to think in big significant moves forward. Dr. Mitchell gives simple methods to `do' these processes. One action I took was to chart my actions by the hour for several days to review what I am doing and what actions move me forward. This uncomfortable process is powerful.

Most traditional reads are usually from one person's view of one business or industry. The 2000% Solution malleable big leap `thinking process' alone is worth the read. The value of real stories of real people in real company activities- well - that makes it real to me.

The best thing reading this is FUN- the humor! Some are deliberate jokes and cartoons strengthening points made- then there are the funny real stories happening in business. Many times I laughed out loud. Humor is the no-calorie whipped cream on this delight!

I found this book a great help and have read it several times. It defines in simple terms how to unstall your life and business. It sets out a plan to find and eliminate various types of obstacles or stalls that impede the success in your business or personal life. The book has helped me reorient and remove the obstacles that are a hindress to the exponential growth that is possible within any business. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a way to get out of a rut and start moving forward and upward again

I first read "The 2000 Percent Solution" as part of a course for a Rushmore University doctoral program. It sparked in me the desire and determination to get more "bang for the buck" from my efforts, and provided a clear 8-step guide for doing so.

The guide to creating 2000 Percent solutions essentially helps you to see differently, and acknowledge the reality of your personal and organisational biases. It helps you undertake a wider search than you normally would in the quest for a solution. And it doesn't leave you content with the best solution you may have found, but has you project into the future to "see" what the future best practice is likely to be, and then begin now to implement it.

Applying the authors' ideas to my personal circumstances helped free my mind (an ongoing, never ending process) of a number of personal stalls and led directly to the creation of a management training and consulting company. And in spite of limited capital, the momentum of my take-off amazes acquaintances.

I keep my copy of "The 2000 Percent Solution" in my office, within easy reach, because I intend to read it over and over, to create an upward spiral of exponential gains in my life and work.

The skill of creating 2000 Percent solutions is a valuable one. Combined with the ability to engage in continual business model innovation (as taught in "The Ultimate Competitive Advantage" by Mitchell and Coles), it will guarantee business success long into the future.

I have a 1987 Catalina 30 sailboat with a diesel engine. I wish I had purchased a copy of this book six years ago when I bought my boat. I might have saved hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars in yard bills by doing more of the work myself with the help of this book. I have the 2nd Edition published in 1995. I think it is well organized, well written, and I find the illustrations to be clear. A friend of mine purchased the 3rd Edition, which has updated information, particularly on electronics. However I am extremely satisfied with the 2nd Edition for my needs.

No this is not a book for inland gas boats! This is a book for ocean going vessels. Both power and sail. I have cruised on a 28' Columbia (outboard) and a 41' Islander Freeport (perkins). It was a *must have* with the Cruising Handbook in 4 years of full time cruising. [...] Fairwinds!

This is the second Nigel Calder book I own, and I am even more impressed. I am an ASA-certified instructor qualified to teach through bareboat chartering and coastal navigation. I have sailed on all sorts of boats, have owned a cruising style boat for six years, have heard boat owners and students complain about various problems, have read dozens of books, and through all of this have experienced so many mysteries related to corrosion, electrical problems, equipment problems, and issues with various boat systems. For the first time, I feel I have a single reference manual specific to boat systems that not only provides clear troubleshooting steps but goes beyond troubleshooting to clearly explain the mechanical and physical principles that demystify why things go wrong and how the troubelshooting steps systematically work through problems. The explanations are understandable, the instructions and safety tips are effective, and the diagrams and photos are valuable. It has already helped me deal with a grounding problem that was causing our main cirvruit breaker to trip!

I'm redesigning the electrical system for my boat and portions of this book has given me the knowledge to make informed decisions, with an understanding of the trade offs, about what features and capabilities I would like my new system to have. It has also provided information to allow me to make intelligent decisions about selecting new components to achieve my electrical system goals efficiently (save money by not buying things I don't need). I would recommend this book for the person with a basic knowledge of electricity who wants to understand either how their current electrical system works or how they might change it to make it better.

This is a great book. I love the extensive coverage of electrical systems, as it seems so many boaters have problems with electrical. I was a little surprised that the engine section only covers diesel engines. No big deal, as most of the other stuff applies to gas too (impellers, transmission, etc), but I wanted to know a little about a head overhaul and there's not much there for the gas engine owner.
Still, I'd highly recommend this book to any boat owner who also has the gumption to do the work themselves.

If Ormond McGill had been with us, I think he would have loved this.
This is the MUST HAVE book on Stage Hypnosis,it covers all the aspects of Stage Hypnosis that you need to know, the Do's and Don'ts, it even has exercises and tips all the way through.
It is now 2008 learn from someone that has done it,if you can only afford to buy one book on stage hypnosis, I would say this is it. SPH UK
Bye now.

Sept. 2007 I decided it was time to make a dream come true...learn hypnotism. I literally spent 4 - 6 hours a night researching on the net, watching You Tube, checking out what the field had to offer.
If I had just found this book first it would certainly have saved me so much time...and time is money...that means the book would have been FREE. I had purchased well over $800. of books, cds, and dvds, when I found this book.
If you were only going to purchase one book to learn about stage hypnotism then this is it. This is written more like a text book, actual education. I read until I reached the last page, cancelling all plans for that day. The book was written so that a person could actually decide if that is the direction they want to go or not.
My only complaint is that it left me wanting to move to Ronning's town so that I could study full time with him.

What I wouldn't have given to have this book when I started out in stage hypnosis. There is no fluff, it's right to the point and gives you the true nuts and bolts of performing stage hypnosis. I know many people, myself included, jumped at the chance to pay a lot of money, take off work for a week, hop on a plane and travel to in my case Seattle, just to study under Geoffrey and Wendy Ronning. He absolutely didn't hold anything back and you get it all in the comfort of your own home for a ridiculously low price. My only complaint is that he didn't charge more money for the book to keep the curious away.
I really do love everything about this book, but the one subject I find to be priceless is what to do when no one gets hypnotized. I think it is the biggest fear of every beginning hypnotist. I know that it was mine. I still remember beginning to learn about stage hypnosis and literally going on a quest to discover a plan B when the show goes wrong. I E-mailed every hypnotist I could Google and only got one response. His solution was to bring some magic tricks along with you and if all else fails, turn your hypnosis show into a magic show. I didn't think a corporate client would find that very acceptable after they just flew me across the country when they could have just hired a magician instead. I remember traveling twelve hours to attend a hypnosis seminar from a noted stage hypnotist specifically to find out what to do when no one was hypnotized but still didn't get a satisfactory answer. I just couldn't believe that all these hypnotists got hired to do a show, just threw fate to the wind, and had absolutely no plan B to go with when things went wrong. And I don't care who you are. If you do anything enough times, eventually things will go wrong.
Geoffrey gives you a very detailed solution so you will never have to worry about what you are going to do if no one will volunteer, if no one gets hypnotized, or if none of the volunteers will respond to your suggestions and you have no show. Now you get a plan B that turns what could be a very awkward situation into a great show. I know first hand it's a solution that works because I have personally used this technique to save my reputation, and my dignity, and my show. As far as I am concerned, this information alone is priceless, as is everything else in the book. Run and get this book. I highly recommend it!

Ronning Guide to Modern Stage Hypnosis is one of the most complete modern texts on the subject available anywhere in the world today. Every time I have dealt personally or professionally with Geoffrey Ronning and the Stage Hypnosis Center, he and his staff are always top professionals. What makes Ronning and his advice unique to anybody wanting to perform stage hypnosis is that nobody--and I mean NOBODY--is so consistantly promoting and teaching stage hypnosis while simultaneously performing stage hypnosis shows for a living as does Geoffrey Ronning. He has dominated this niche successfully for a long time because he has love and passion for the hypnosis business that you won't find anywhere else.

If you want to be a stage hypnotist, you want to learn everything you can from a working stage hypnotist and hypnosis teacher. Geoffrey Ronning fits both bills and he's the best at it. Trust his advice and hire him for more. He will not let you down. It all starts when you own your own copy of the Ronning Guide to Modern Stage Hypnosis today! Warmly, The King of Sway, Stage Hypnotist Simone

Geoffrey Ronning has written the book all others will be compared to. The field of Stage Hypnosis has not seen a book quite this good ever before. One part detailed instruction manual, one part exercise work book, and one part collection of secret tips and inside tricks learned from a lifetime of practice as a full-time performing Stage Hypnotist, this book is the modern classic on the art of Comedy Stage Hypnosis.

There are only a handful of good books on Stage Hypnosis. While Ormond McGill's books, such as The Art of Stage Hypnotism and The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism are classics to be admired, they aren't particularly useful for the individual who wants to quickly learn Stage Hypnosis and begin performing shows. Jonathan Chase's Deeper and Deeper is a very good book, but it is nowhere near as thorough or complete as this new work by Ronning.

Well written, comprehensive and filled with immediately actionable tools and exercises, Stage Hypnosis by Geoffrey Ronning would be the # 1 recommended book I would suggest to the individual wanting to learn Stage Hypnosis and get started performing shows quickly.

It's been said that you can't learn to ride a bike by reading a book. And that is certainly true. But you can learn a great deal about Stage Hypnosis from this excellent book. I would say it's much more than a book, it is a Training Manual. If you will diligently study and apply what Ronning teaches in this book, you will have enough knowledge to begin performing Stage Hypnosis shows. Then get out there and perform a few shows to earn enough money to take Ronning's live training. The live training will give you confidence you cannot get from a book.

Highly recommended.

This book is without doubt, an amazing classic! I first read this book just out of my teenage years. It developed my thinking in a way that has served me in many areas of my life for over 20 years now (o.k., well, almost 30 :). Zig Ziglar gave me my life creed through this book. That is, 'To get everything you want in life, help enough other people get what they want.' Every person on the planet should read this book. Every serious student of personal development should read it at least once a year.

Michael Murphy
Author of Powerful Attitudes

Served as my handbook for motivation for quite a while now. It is good to have a copy in your personal library.

I have read this book at least 6 times in the past 15 years and it gets better each time I read it. I always find some new
gold nugget I didn't pickup the last time I read it.
Zig Ziglar use to sell cookware door to door. And his knowledge and techniques he shares in this book are not rehashed from hearsay but from actual experiences of his climb to the top. If you want to keep climbing to the top(in wealth, health, and happiness)this book is a must read!! By the way, in life, there's always another step to take to get to the top of the mountain in our journey of life. This book can help you get there.

I have to admit that I didn't initially like Zig Ziglar. He came across like a used car salesman, untill I really listened to his message.

Zig is funny, entertaining, motivating and when need be deadly serious. See You At The Top has been a best seller since 1975. I recently re-read this great book and felt recharged! Zig is awesome. While a lot of what he says is not new, it's worth getting a jolt once in awhile and to recharge your batteries. I recommend reading this book at least once per year.

This is an inspirational and informative book on how you can achieve remarkable success, wealth, confidence, peace and joy in your life by adopting the right attitude, positive self-image, setting challenging but achievable goals, adopting a productive work ethic, establishing good loving relationships with others, among other things. By the use of numerous and enlightening stories, Zig Ziglar shows the reader the way to the top and how we can improve our careers, our relationships and our destiny.

This insightful book explains how you can build a strong belief, confidence and how to get into the action habit in an easy to follow and understand format which makes the book useful to a wide readership. The book pragmatically examines why many people achieve mediocrity or are failures and what it takes to be a winner in a big way.

This is a self-help book, a how-to book on how you can get anything you want in life. I treat reading the book as a process of continuous learning about my personal vision, goals, self-image, human relations and desires both at work and in my family. I use it as my guide for dealing with people and in integrating the different responsibilities in my life, encompassing my professional, family and personal responsibilities.

I found the book inspiring, stimulating, thought provoking and very interesting. I refer to the book often to energize my spirit and to keep me thinking positively and avoiding being bogged down by trivialities.

I used to read Bony Legs when I was little. I was so excited when I saw it on Amazon. It's a silly story about a girl named Sasha and a witch who wants to eat her...good verses evil. Sasha helps some creatures along the way, and it turn, they help her escape the evil witch.
It's a quick read and it's lots of fun!

I have purchased this book for my neices usually around Halloween time.
It is a book not many have heard of, but always enjoy.

Tracy

This book by the Magic School Bus author is really fun to read. It is a russian fairy tale of a witch named Bony Legs who likes to eat children. The story is about a little girl who escapes because of all the good deeds she has done to help others -- a cat, a dog and a gate. My kids (5 and 3 years) really enjoyed it.

My four year old son REALLY enjoys this book. It's a fun read and reinforces the value of being kind to others. It's also a great introduction into Russian folklore.

I wouldn't normally bother to add a review when so many others have already written reviews, but I do have some noteworthy information for people considering buying this book. I'm a teacher advisor for a large public school program serving kids in grades K-12 who are out of regular school due to medical conditions. I have to tell you--this book is a HIT! It's an easy reader, but it's not babyish at all. I've had kids in grades K-8 like it, including middle school kids who are poor readers (often for ESL reasons). The story is just scary enough to be intriguing, but it has a happy ending; there's also an excellent theme of how kindness pays and a fantastic chase scene at the end. As a fairy tale connoisseur, I'm convinced that Baba Yaga--from the Russian tradition--is THE coolest, scariest witch ever. (For a longer variation of this story, see Baba Yaga and Vasilissa the Brave, retold by Marianna Mayer and illustrated by K.Y. Craft.) I only wish there were more stories told this simply and effectively, with this kind of broad appeal.

The Irresistible Growth Enterprise: Breakthrough Gains from Unstoppable Change, by Donald Mitchell and Carol Coles, is an excellent book, completely different from the other business books because it does not simply give to the reader a simple idea or practice as a recipe to apply to a company and achieve astonishing results. It goes further... The purpose of this book is to change the reader's way of thinking and to teach a way of achieving irresistible business success. It is divided into two parts; the first part contains ten chapters in which the causes of and solutions to irresistible force stalls are determined, while the second part contains eight chapters in which the authors explain irresistible force management and the 8-step process of identifying and aligning ourselves with irresistible forces to maximize our advantage. It is an excellent choice!

The authors lay out a pattern of all the ways companies choose to deal with "irrisistible forces and unstoppable events" in their businesses. As the phrase implies, these events happen in all businesses, and the authors explain how, if leveraged correctly, these can often be a catalyst to greater growth in your business.

They describe irrisistible force stalls and their causes - useful if your small business isn't performing as you'd hoped - they offer solid advice that will give you a plan of action and get you back on track.

They detail common stalls and how to deal with them - "stallbusting" they call it. The stalls they find most common (and certainly these sound like familiar "stalls" used by some of my small business marketing clients when they come to me for help) are:

The directionless stall
The wishful thinking stall
The helplessness stall
The defensiveness stall
The independence stall
The overoptimisim stall
The cover up stall
The underestimation stall

As a means to understanding what could be stopping your small business from achieving its full potential, and what actions to take - I highly recommend it. It's packed with information, so it's not a quick read, but well worth the time investment for the success of your small business.

This book, with the significant stall busting tools and theories, enabled me to understand stall busting and develop new habits. It enabled me to understand the process of irresistible force management and importance of measuring performance to achieve exponential success. It helped me to develop 2000 percent solutions for the organization's future best practice to become the world's leading company in delivering its product at low cost.

Irresistible forces are unstoppable events and forces that shape our opportunities and callenges. This remarkable resource will enable you to move rapidly ahead of competitors by utilising powerful trends to best advantage. Learning to be flexible is one of management's toughest challenges. The Irresistible Growth Enterprise shows you how to be adroit and energised by unexpected changes. Tomorrow's leaders will be those who excel at using all irresistible forces to best advantage. The Irresistible Growth Enterprise offers you the key to grasping your full potential for immediate and sustained breakthroughs. Rather than living optimistically in the vague hope that neither negative job events will happen to you, you should always be prepared to see the events for what they are - opportunities for you to flourish. The fundamwental premise of the book is that no matter how successful you and your organisation are, you are performing at a modest level compared to the potential you can unleash through adopting the irresistible growth enterprise. The barrier to irresistible growth is not unstoppable, uncontrollable external changes, but fixed and frequently unexamined ideas of how to respond to these changes. Companies that have ridden such forces well in the past have grown from start ups to billion dollar sales corporations in ever-shorter periods of time. Making quick and best use of rapid changes in powerful conditions noone can control is the key to becoming an irresistible growth enterprise. By utilising the processes presented in this book, you can learn to catch the full benefit of today's volatile and rapidly changing forces and spur your enterprise on to greater and rapid growth than ever before.The Irresistible Growth Enterprise has a serious and important purpose: to make you and your organisation much more successful by having you ask and answer new and better questions than you have been using to analyse and plan your activities. Unlike most business books the Irresistible Growth Enterprise on what new things to do rather than on how to improve existing practices. This book shows you how to harness the key lessons and other useful concepts and tools in one integrated process, that will improve your performance across a broad range of activities from creating a vision to leadership and implementation. Changes is an inevitable consequence of staying in business these days. This book leads you to an understanding of the drivers of that change and provides guidance in turning changes into sustainable competitive advantage.

The authors lay out a road map for managers that, if followed, will permit them to take advantage of forces beyond their control. The book explains and teaches how senior managers can benefit from flexibility when they confront irresistible forces and provide a set of principles for shaping vision, strategy, tactics, management process and organizational structure. You will be able to identify external factors and obsolete ways of thinking that may be limiting your progress and success.

This is a brilliant and thought-provoking book that discusses the nature of irresistible growth enterprises, that is, those able to routinely employ the momentum of unstoppable external forces, such as technology advances and shifts in markets. Such agile organizations can use these forces as sources of power or energizers for creating and implementing 2 000 percent solutions, namely ones that produce 20 times or more the benefit or speed of the average person.

Great book. This book makes a wonderful gift, especially for fathers who have teenage sons.

I was given this book by a very dear friend, a Mom who has a son. I have 3 daughters and I have to say that I can relate to so many things Marc talks about with his young teenaged sons. I truly believe the lessons and experiences inside this glorious little book will touch any parent. It is not only for fathers but for mohters too. I plan on purchasing several copies to pass along to my daughters. Out of a heart wrenching tragedy comes poignant insights to our relationships with our kids. May generations of families make this a must read!

Raising Cole is the true account of a father's love for his sons, and the tragedy of losing one of them early in life. Pittman is the owner of a construction firm, and from his own account is a huge man. Likewise his sons grew to big, strong men, but they never allowed their masculinity to stop them from openly showing affection for one another.
Pittman's story, however, doesn't start with his role as a father but as a son. His father was anything but affectionate, and early in his son's life he followed that same path. Raising Cole recounts his walk toward an open and extremely deep loving relationship with his sons.
His son whose name rests in the title, Cole, was a lineman at the University of Texas with a bright and promising future when he fell asleep on his way back to campus from home and died in a automobile accident.
The book's more poignant moments are Pittman's response to his son's birth and death.
My favorite chapter was "God Shows Up." Pittman admits it is the presence of God that has allowed him to continue these years following Cole's death, not his own strength.
Pittman also states that though it has been years, he still grieves for his son. His grief finds solace in ways I admit I don't fully understand, but then I've never lost a son.
While this book may be of help to those who have lost a child, I think it may hold more value for those who children are still with them, especially men who may be reluctant to be open with their affection.

This book is a must read for everyone because it is so moving. The story that Marc Pittman tells is one that will change you for the rest of your life. The bond that a father and son have is special and the bond that Marc and his two sons have will make you look in the mirror and think about the relationship you might have with your father. I encourage people to read this book and for them to get their friends to read it.

One of the most amazing stories I have ever read. Pittman captures his relationship with his children in stunning detail, while allowing the reader to visualize how this could affect their own relationships. I highly recommend reading this great and inspirational book.

John Caldwell was in love. So in love he bought a less-than-adequate 29 foot sailboat to sail thousands of miles across the Pacific (from Panama to Sydney, Australia) to be with his new bride. On his way, adventure and obstacles ensue, and he really shows what he's made of throughout the story.

What a great book! A real page-turner. You will have a hard time putting this one down. I know I did!

John Caldwell, a young American who served in the Australian air force and the US merchant marine during WWII, found himself at the end of hostilities stranded in Panama. He had no way to get back to Australia and his new wife Mary.

With more pluck than brains Caldwell, who had not done any small boating, buys a small sailboat (about 29 feet) with the idea of sailing to far off Australia--more than 8500 miles of open Pacific. First he learns how to maneuver his boat in and around the islands off Panama, with many hilarious screw-ups. Finally he sets off across the ocean. He has a tiresome voyage to the Galapagos Islands, again with many screw-ups, some of which almost cost him his life and nearly wreck his sailboat and disable his auxiliary engine. After the Galapagos the sailing goes better as he has wind and current with him and only some 8000 miles left to go. Then about half way there, between the Marquesas Islands and Samoa, Caldwell is hit by a terrible hurricane that destroys his rig, nearly sinks his boat, and forces him to jettison all of his food, water, navigation equipment, and supplies. His prospects for survival, not to speak of getting to Australia, are remote. Fortunately he had an almost indestructible craft, and that was his greatest piece of luck.

Under jury jig and near death from starvation, he eventually fetches up in the Fiji Islands. He is nursed back to health by the kindly natives and soon makes it the rest of the way to Australia by hitching rides on boats and planes, and is reunited with his beloved Mary. They apparently have lived happily ever after (or at least until the late 1990s), even founding and running a resort in the Caribbean.

Desperate Voyage is a wonderful and wonderfully engaging story. Caldwell writes so well and so engagingly that this book is really hard to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You cannot help liking this plucky screw-up with a penchant for survival. Of course, I feel somewhat guilty enjoying this tale so much--after all it is mostly about screw-ups, disaster, pain, and close brushes with death most of which resulted from Caldwell's rashness and carelessness. Caldwell's voyage is not one to emulate. But as A.J. Mackinnon says in his masterful The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow (another boating story full of screw-ups) "No screw-ups, no story." Certainly if Caldwell had been an accomplished yachtsman and as careful as we boaters are supposed to be, there would have been nothing here to laugh and cry about. Also when reading Caldwell's tale I was reminded of Mackinnon's admission: "Of course, I exaggerate for effect." How much has Caldwell exaggerated to enhance his tale? No one knows, but I sincerely doubt that he really drank his engine oil in order to assuage his hunger when he was starving.

More than thirty years ago when my young family were avid deep water sailors, I read many survival and adventure stories written by those who had had narrow escapes. John Caldwell's vivid tale of his struggle to return to his Australian lady love following his release from the Navy at the end of WWII still stands out in my mind. This year, as I home school my grandson and encourage him to develop innovative thinking, determination and loyalty, "Desperate Voyage" once again comes to mind. One of your other reviewers remarked that Caldwell "had no literary pretentions," but his book is, nevertheless, well worth reading for Caldwell's own humor and durability in the face of disaster. I am happy once again to add it to my library on my grandson's behalf.

This was a very insightfull book of one man's sailing adventure to return to his true love. I was very moved by this book as I have visited both Costa Rica (from where he starts his adventure) and where he finally found his perfect island in the West Indies. Both sailers and non sailers will love his humour and love.

Un relato extraordinario. Te quitará horas de sueño y alimentará tus sueños. (¡Y tus pesadillas!) Aunque no es una lectura recomendable para quien no tenga ya un buen nivel de inglés, la naturalidad y sencillez del relato te atrapa con su ritmo y su fiebre. Desde luego, peca de evidentes y numerosos excesos y fantasías completamente inverosímiles, como pescar y subir a bordo a un tiburón vivo de varios metros que termina destrozando el barco o comer cuero de zapato frito con aceite de motor, lo cual parece un poco excesivo incluso para el proverbial mal gusto culinario que atribuimos a ingleses y sajones. Pero la tensión y la viveza del relato es tal que eclipsa cualquier defecto. Gran viaje y gran libro. Apaga la tele y disfrútalo.