Collins Books

This journal is just that...a personal journal. It guides you through several thought provoking scenarios and asks you how you feel, think, what you will/can do, etc. If you do not like to think, this is not a product you will enjoy. If, however, you enjoy noodling over your own thoughts, actions, feelings, and working through them to a plan for personal/professional development, this is a must buy item.

Drucker is someone who yields more and more every time you read him. This journal will help you collect a rich harvest of useable ideas.

The most important workbook a leader will ever use. Essential for any leadership development program, MBA, business student, and all executives. This will change your life - just use it.

The author has written another classic on the dynamics of
executive management. The book suggests that organizations and
the people who run them need to assess what must be done
as a condition precedent to directing their energies productively. Time is the classic limiting factor. It applies
to the activities of everyone in the organization. The effective use of discretionary time is another important asset. The success
of organizations over time is dependent upon an uneventful
transition strategy together with the ability to continue
the business as a going concern. In Accounting, the Quasi-
Reorganization in bankruptcy provides the needed second chance
for organizations to start over again- although standard reporting requirements call for dating the retained earnings
into the future. Companies having extensive overseas operations and outsourcing must be more vigilant about disaster
recovery and contingency planning for random Acts of G-d. These
unplanned emergencies may consist of a tsunami, earthquake or
expropriation in countries where the political infrastructure
is fragile or unpredictable.

The author suggests that the organization give much thought into
choosing people and assignments to optimize organizational
strengths rather than magnifying weaknesses for short term
gain. Ultimately, maximizing strengths renders weaknesses to be
irrelevant. Each job should be structured to accommodate the
personality of the occupant(s). Accordingly, this strategy
will go a long way toward perpetuating the organization well
into the future. In addition, training and development of staff
is an important aspect of work. These activities will provide
threshold competencies so that employees can function maximally.
In addition, training assists in the development of successor
employees due to retirements, job transfers etc.

With the right people matched to the right jobs, an organization
can move forward. In addition, maximization of an individual's
strengths obviates the necessity for the classic flight/fight
phenomena in an organization. In implementation, the management philosophy aims to accentuate strengths rather than exploit weaknesses which may result in a sum zero conflict.

This rendition does not emphasize the optimal organizational
design to accomplish work, although the dynamics may vary from
firm to firm. Organizational conflicts may be reduced by
looking at the following options dispassionately:

- considering the flat organizational hierarchy with less
vertical integration, where possible

- controlling predictor information more carefully

- completing a comprehensive job and task analysis for all
company positions and vital job categories in particular

- standardizing complex operations and codifying knowledge so
that expertise is not a barrier to performing a job within
a shorter learning curve ( today artifical intelligence systems
and expert system algorithms may help accomplish this task)

- transferring employees within an organization and providing
more challenging scenarios

- providing employees a share in the ownership of the company
through stock plans or employee representation on the Board

- support and funding for staff training/development and
personal growth

- a clear and uncomplicated succession strategy

The book will assist corporate planners, human resource personnel, students of organizational design
and a large constituency of scholars in academe. It is worth
the price for the huge value of the information content contained therein.

This is a great tool for any working executive. It's old fashioned in the sense that you have to think and then act. I would recommend it to anyone in a management position or a potential management position.

I loved this book. It was like sitting down and talking with her ... I finished the book and felt as though I'd had the benefit of therapy. Wish I lived in Minneapolis so I could go see her. If you want to figure out what hasn't been going on in your relationship, or what you do to make things in your relatonship go badly, this is the book to read.

I bought this book without expecting anything much different than others I'd read, but it's totally different. This therapist explains how people get into poor or ineffective or abusive relationships and how to avoid them. She talks about emotions and trust and boundaries with real examples of other people who have messed up and, this was the best thing, how they changed to make it better. I finished reading it with lots of new tools and with a feeling that maybe my relationships could be better and I could be happier. Her advice even works with friends, my boss and my kids. Now, that's a good book!

This is one of the finest self-help books I've ever read. It helped me to identify and leave an emotionally unavailable person. However, I am struck by the similarities in the reviews for both the paperback and hardcover versions of this book. They sound amazingly alike! Perhaps the author attracts the same kind of reader.

I have read many books on relationships, but this is the first one I took notes from. Dr. Collins gets to the heart of the matter for people who are in emotionally disconnected relationships. This explains their behavior without making excuses for it. A must read if you are unhappy.

This is a book that every believer needs. This book contains the truth and encourages every believer to rise up and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is what God has call every believer to do in this end time. The information in this book is being held back from too many believers and even non believers. This is why you need to get it TODAY!

This is a excellent book. It would be wonderful if every Christian could get a copy. The church would be changed for ever. It help me to see that just like Jesus said all of us is able to go and tell someone about salvation.

This book and its contents has changed my life. It promotes the vision that every believer , every born again christain is more than a churchgoer. That the world will not be revived UNLESS THE BODY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST (not the clergy only) RISE UP and PREACH JESUS, as we've been commanded in the Bible, THERE WILL BE NO REVIVAL. Everyone does not go to church and our pastors and evangelists can not reach everyone but if every believer would be obedient and share the gospel in our communities many more than the present numbers will receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
I have risen up and have been preaching the gospel by those well Known words " For God so loved the world.." and it is amazing to see the response some people receive Jesus on the spot , some accept a tract, some accept an invitation to come to church and some just get upset and curse at you. But I am doing my part to reach the lost at any cost and my puplit is not in the church but on the street corners of New York City.
You need to get this book it will change your life and others around you.

Wow! this book is an eye opener, truly a God sent. It makes you truly see that it is not the job of the believer to sit around and sulk over the situations in the church and world, the ordinary beleiver can themselves make a difference. I would recommend this book to anyone, women, men, laymen, clergy or young people who are looking for the higher calling of God in their lives.

I LOVE THIS BOOK and am reading every word in it! The pictures are outstanding, too. My only complaint is that the book needed one more thorough review.

For instance, the larva of the "strangest hitchhiker" is said to be both 0.06 in and 3.8 cm. I appreciate having metric conversions, but they're sometimes incorrect and often inconsistently noted (metric noted first at times, second other times).

Perhaps typos are a personal pet peeve of mine...but with such outstanding technical information about the animals, I hope that the detailed information I'm accepting as true has undergone a thorough review.

Extreme Nature is a book that will appeal to readers of all ages who like nature. The outstanding photos and fascinating descriptions of extreme examples in nature are compelling and especially interesting to early teens who like science. My grandson read it cover to cover in one sitting.

I bought this book for my nephew who is 8. He loved it, but he had a hard time getting his hands on it because all the adults in the house couldn't put it down.

Well-titled is Mark Carwardine's delectable book of natural phenomena: EXTREME NATURE is a kaleidoscope of natural outer limits of normal facts. The presentation is so fine that returning to this well-written book will always result in increased appreciation not only for the information it offers, but also for the splendid photography and well-designed presentation.

In it's 320 pages there are over 150 entries organized into four sections: Extreme Growth, Extreme Abilities, Extreme Movement and Extreme Families. And scattered among these headings are photographs and humorously written mini-essays that introduce such items as the world's hungriest animal, the fattest carnivore, the heaviest flying animal, the shark with 300 rows of teeth, the sexiest beast, the most dangerous love life, the most fertile insect, the smelliest plant among them.

Written in a style that will satisfy both the casual reader and the professional biologist, EXTREME NATURE is much more than a beautiful coffee table book (though is surely is that!). This is an introduction to some fine conversation and thought about just how creative and extraordinary is the natural world we too often take for granted. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, April 06

Hearst Castle is one of my favorite tourist destinations, and "Faces of Hearst Castle" is now my most cherished souvenir of my visits to Hearst Castle. The book contains such beautiful photos of Hearst's art collection that it's like being led on a private tour into some of the castle's most intimate corners. Artwork from a wide range of historical eras are exhibited both in full splendor and in detail within the book's pages. The intelligently written descriptions of each piece of art reveal fascinating historical facts and keen insight into why Hearst chose each piece for his collection. My first reading of the book so enchanted me that I lost track of time as I was transported in my mind's eye back to La Cuesta Encantada.

Faces of Hearst Castle is beautifully produced and an engaging presentation -- suitable for both children and adult readers. Keri Collins and Jana Seely have chosen objects which are, in themselves, interesting on many levels. Their accompanying text is succinct, bright and informative -- with scholarship evident (for the adults.) For my own part, I wouldn't mind being the mermaid on the tile . . .or Circe . . .or better yet, Galatea on that dolphin! Deborah Dean , Children's Writer.

Featuring beautiful full-color photographs on every page, Faces of Hearst Castle reveals a gallery of artistic treasures from ancient Egypt to twentieth-century Europe, as collected within William Randolph Hearst's hilltop San Simeon estate. Each object of art is given a thumbnail history and description, but it is the brilliant images that make one feel as if one were studying them in person. Art objects featured include the oil on canvas painting "Bonaparte before the Sphinx", a 17th century Spanish heraldic banner, a marble mosaic from 2nd or 3rd century Rome, and much more. A captivating giftbook, highly recommended for connoisseurs of great art throughout world history.

The publisher and movie producer William Randolph Hearst spent nearly 30 years up to 1947 building his fantasy estate - some would say folly - at San Simeon on the central Californian coast. He spared no expense in bringing wonderful objets d'art to Hearst Castle from all over the world, many of great antiquity. Or he had them replicated.

Some critics find Hearst's eclecticism vulgar and tasteless. (Personally, I think it's fun.) But all must admit that a visit to Hearst Castle is unforgettable.

I looked forward to a new book about San Simeon by authors with an intimate professional connection with Hearst's "ranch". On reading it I was not disappointed. Perhaps it's easier to begin by noting what Faces of Hearst Castle is not: it isn't a Hearst biography; it isn't a guide book with maps and directions; it isn't an exhaustive catalogue of the San Simeon art collection. (The book explains why such a catalogue may never be completed.)

However, this charming publication captures the essence and spirit of Hearst Castle. Randolph Hearst had an innocent passion for beautiful things that he was rich enough to indulge. Seely and Collins have collated for their work a variety of splendid artefacts, amply representing the range of Hearst's artistic interests.

Among other things, they show us a 13th Century archway from a Spanish cathedral, a 20th Century Lalique frosted glass bottle, an Etruscan bronze cista from the 3rd Century B.C, a 17th Century Flemish tapestry, a 19th Century French oil painting of Napoleon in Egypt, and from Egypt itself, an 18th dynasty black granite statue of the goddess Sekhmet. This is a compendium of treasures!

The artwork and photography of the book are elegant, sumptuous, reflecting the quality of many of the objects depicted. It's a shame the designer and photographer, Gary Ashcavai, was so modest in declining the credit due to him. I hope this is corrected in the second edition.

That said, the text is also a pleasure to browse. The descriptions of the artefacts are spare, meticulous and to the point. There is no guidebook cliché; instead we get nuggets of research. On a replica of a 15th Century Spanish statue, we learn: "Hearst instructed architect Julia Morgan to incorporate design elements that featured guardian wild men [well, of course!], such as the ones found on a church doorway from Seville, Spain; Hearst even provided Morgan with a photograph of the doorway..." Hearst was clearly a hands-on guy with ideas of his own.

Here's another gem: a Florentine portrait bust stands on a base proclaiming the sitter to be Philip II of Spain. But research shows that is really the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Well researched by the authors, but who got it that wrong in the first place?

I will revisit this book with pleasure - and Hearst Castle some day too, I hope. Meanwhile, anyone with an interest in San Simeon will enjoy Faces of Hearst Castle.

I think that "The Falcon's Malteser" was onr of the best books i have ever read. it is really funny and it is a good mystery too, and it is enjoyable for kids and adults. A very good book. I think everyone should read it!

This book is one of the few i have read which has a decent plot in it. You dont know who did what, who is who and what does what until the final showdown at the end.I was pleased to hear that it has 2 sequels and has been made in to a film. Anyone who doesn't like it must be out of their mind!!!!!

I have just finished reading the falcons malteser. It was so good. I normally don't like reading...actually I hate it but this was an aception. You just have to read it!

This is a fantastic read for kids (and adults) from about 9 up. The plot is full of fast, far-fetched action, jokes and surprises. The style is based on the thirties/forties style American gangster, detective movies, so a complete appreciation of the themes and puns will be understood by those who are familiar with this. It is one of those books that you can't put down, good for sheer fun, escape and relaxation. A pity it is out of print.

I enjoyed this book very much. It was a great story of a shy little boy named Robert. I'm shy too sometimes so I can relate to him. And who hasn't been bullied at school? I'm glad he finally stood up for himself. It was a sad ending but it felt right. People live, people die. That's just the way things are.

Awesome book, reminiscent of David Almond's Skellig. Robert becomes a hero when he faces the room at the top of Chance House. Not only does he rescue Edith Sorrel from death, if only briefly, but he saves himself from the frightened boy who is bullied by others. There is a magical quality to the writing that transports the reader to the places so hauntingly described in the book.

My gradmother gave this book to me for my last birthday. When I read the back of the book, I pretty well made up my mind that this isn't the kind of book for me. When I was getting to the end of my book pile this summer, I figured that it was about time to read it. And now, I'm very glad that I did! This book inspired me to follow my dreams, and not many novels have done this. It says in the last chapter, it says that luck is something that you have to make for yourself, which I found a very interesting perspective. I would recommend this book to anyone who is feeling left-out or under any strong emotion. This book truly lifts your spirits, and makes you feel like you can fly.

Not much is more cruel than the way young people may treat the one they consider to be the "class nerd." Such is the case with Robert Nobel, often called "Norbert" by his primary bully, Jonathan Niker.

Like every other youngster Roberts wants to have friends, to be recognized as a person of value. It seems this will not happen until he takes part in what is called the Elders Project, an endeavor in which members of his class visit the elderly residents of a rest home. Jonathan considers these older folks "vegetables," but Robert sees something more and this is a vision that changes his life.

Edith, thought to be quite a bit off, becomes Robert's friend and it is through her story that he eventually finds himself.

Director/actor Philip Franks invests understanding and suspense into this unforgettably moving tale.

- Gail Cooke

I would say that this is certainly the flimgoer's encyclepidea to all things related to movies and the people involved in creating them. As far as knowlage about films goes. I would say this is impressive and is recommended to any serious film buffs out there.

Halliwell's engaging encyclopedia of film is a treasure trove of information about everything relating to the movies, with exhaustive filmographies, delicious trivia, wonderful quotes, devilish quizzes, and the late critic's inimitable -- and sometimes charmingly eccentric enthusiasm. Warning -- you may dip into it to check one actor's credits, but will find yourself cross-referencing and just leafing through for hours.

If you need a new edition of this work, try Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies.

Over the last 20 years (or so) I've sent corrective notes to Leslie Halliwell and the subsequent editor, John Walker. For the premiere film encyclopedia, the Filmgoers Companion still has lots of errors, missing information for supposedly complete filmographies, and many many unlisted film stars, especially from the "transition period" to talkies (Anita Page, etc.). Personally, I think Walker was a very bad choice; he doesn't seem to be "into" the encyclopedic format of this valuable resource.

This only a short note to say that FINAL JUDGMENT is available new in its latest edition from American Free Press for only $[...], less than half
of the current Amazon offer for used. Lerts will hie themselves thither to check it out. Obviously AFP should improve its communications with Amazon.

Back in 1994 already Michael Collins Piper solved the Kennedy assassination all by himself.
Honor & eternal glory to him for this epochal breakthrough, as on such rare occasions the Russians are wont to say. Once we've nailed David Ben Gurion for the JFK hit, then tagging Henry Kissinger and Aerial Shaboom for the 9/11/2001 attacks is a breeze.

IMHO Piper did miss out on the role of the aged Bernard Baruch as the US co-captain with DBG for the op. Piper's erroneous evaluation of Huey Long is related to this oversight. Also, the 600+ pp book badly needs editing. Were I God,
then Mearsheimer & Walt or Benjamin Ginsberg would get tapped for the job of bringing out a radically revised 6th edition up to their own formatting and editorial standards. But Piper found the motherlode, mined it and churned out tons of ore.

As per my review title, 'tis almost impossible to exaggerate the importance of this work, in rough form though it be.

This book explores the real truth behind the operation nobody dared to completely research before. If JFK was in fact at odds with Israel over their nuclear plant then they did indeed have the biggest motive- State Survival - to initiate the plan. Not that everyone else didn't happily go along. The actual execution has been exposed over and over. But now we know where the orders came from and who desperately needs to cover it up. Figures in the CIA for example, will come and go. But Israel's survival is STILL at stake. Sickenly, if JFK had lived and implemented a balanced approach to the affairs in the Middle East, we MAY NOT be where we are today with regard to terrorism directed at our country. Our country was completely taken over with this coup, and has been in the hands of the killers ever since.

Any derogetory negative information about the Apartheid, racist colonial Zionist state of Israel and not the Jewish People of whom I am a proud member is attacked and villified and banned by almost everyone because of the Zionist effective exploitation of the Derstruction of most European Jewry by the Nazis who were encouraged by the total acceptance for destroying Jews when all nations refused to accept the passengers on the Saint Luis including my aunt Sophie. Piper makes an icredibly powerful attack proof case that the Israeli Mossad ORCHESTRATED the execution of President Kennedy because of his effective blocking of Ben Gurion and his fellow Zionist's Samson complex fear of preserving their Zionist state with nuclear weapons of mass destruction with the aid of France. They had the strong pro Zionist #2 CIA James Jesus Angleton (whose office was in the White House) the powerful Jewish Zionist gangster Meyer Lansky and the super wealthy Canadian Zionist James Bronfman family of Schenly whiskey as the key organizers of this execution. Many of the less important actors already mentioned by other Kennedy scholars like Clay Shaw were all secondary contributors but no one before the Populist Piper made the vital Mossad connection without which the other writers were unable to make sense. DeGaulle ordered his nuclear scientists to cease there Israel connection without being followed and De Gaulle himself barely missed being assasinated by the Zionists. It is amazing that this 42 year ago connection has beeb covered up so long.This is mostly the consequence of the Zionist connected Anti Defamation Leage that is always prepared to accuse any Zionist critic of being an anti-semite, a self hating jew or a CONSPIRACIST which is a prejorative label meaning pARANOID, NUTTY, MARGINAL AND CERTAINLY UNTRUE SIMILAR TO THE CATHOLIC church;s use of Heresy and Witchcraft or Communist in more recent times. Please do yourself a huge favor to explore this most important book.

As one who has read over 200 books on the JFK Assassination, and engaged in research both as an individual and as part of various teams, I can say without fear of contradiction that Piper's book is now the definitive work on the JFK Assassination. "Final Judgement" is the most thorough, most honest, most penetrating, most factual, and most analytically complete and systematic of all that I have read so far.


The author builds an upwardly spiralling tapestry of well documented facts that connect the threads of the conspiracy as they ascend level by level from the ground up to the very tip of the pyramid. Along the way, he breaks the conspiracy into easily digestible parts. Otherwise its sheer complexity would be nearly impossible to follow and decipher. At each level, the threads of the puzzle are woven together in such a way that the fog from the labyrinth is slowly but inexorably lifted until eventually it is peeled back completely and the outlines of the conspiracy are laid bare. What is revealed is as convincing as it is scary. Someday America will have to face some unplesant truths about its democracy and about how it has been, and continues to be manipulated, if not completely comandeered by those whose primary loyalties lie elsewhere.


While the links at some of the levels may be tenuous, the author refuses to "fake or fudge the data" or to be "fatally selective" in what is included or left out as many have charged was the case in the Warren Commission's own report. Piper is intrepid in following his analysis to every logical conclusion--wherever they lead and whatever the implications may be. In short, Piper keeps his eye on the donout ("Big Picture") and not on the hole (inessential details). he focuses on the "why and how" of the conspiracy and unmistakeably the threads all lead back to Israel, Israeli super-patriots, the Myer Lanskey led "Jewish branch of the mob," and the Massad and the international "agents of influence" under its control.


While serious researchers may quibble with inessential details in the study, such as tenuous links at some levels, or redundancies at others, those of us who have studied this issue since the days after the assassination always knew that the truth would have its own resonance--like the Garrison investigation did. We knew that the truth would have its own context, its own smell, like Peter Dale Scott's "Deep Politics and the Death of JFK" did. Piper's book has them all and in the grand tradition of Carl Oglesby's "Yankee Cowboy War," Micheal Piper has struck gold. He has hit the "mother lode," and in the process has pointed the finger at, if not tightened the proverbial noose around, the necks of the cabal of conspirators responsible for pulling the strings (and triggers) of the JFK assassination.


JFK assassination research has a new standard bearer. It will never be the same again. Because of this book, future research will begin to focus more on the "big picture," and turn away from constantly grinding, ad nauseam, at inconsistencies in the Warren Commission's Report.

My 15 month old LOVES this book. Checked it out of the library and this was an instant favorite which was then purchased. She loves to point out the turtles and frogs and everything going on with the illustrations. Great to help her with her vocabulary.

My 17mo old DD absolutely loves this book! We got it out at the library and read it at least 3-5 times a day. Definitely adding it to her wish list for Christmas. We alternate between reading and singing, plus have DD help by doing the duck calls. Highly recommended book!

I checked this book out from the library because my son, who's 16 months old, loves ducks (go figure?). Anyway, he absolutely loves this book and it has been read daily for the past couple months. Be warned, however, that the book works best if song and with various hand motions. (Note: being in tune optional.) After renewing it from the library three times, I thought I should purchase one for Will to own, and I highly recommend others purchase it for toddlers with duck fascinations.

I used this book to introduce subtraction to my first grade class. As each duckling disappeared, we wrote subtraction sentences to correspond with the page. The children loved the adorable illustrations and the "hidden" ducklings! It was a great way to help children understand the concept of beginning subtraction.