Ford Books

Nouwen wrote as he spoke, so simple and yet so profound. Michael Ford has done us a great service in compliling Houwen's writings into the framework of the liturgical year. Those who follow the year will have rich food for their journey, but the book is not just for them. It offers anyone who wants to dig deeper into the Christian life a real companion on their travels.

Compiled and edited by journalist, lecturer, and broadcaster Michael Ford, Eternal Seasons: A Liturgical Journey With Henri J.M. Nouwen showcases a series of sermons on the great mysteries of the Christian Faith . Drawn from his forty books, Here are the late Henri Nouwen's responses to the spiritual seasons that, in their entirety, cover the entire liturgical year. Eternal Seasons is an ideal introduction for a whole new generation of Christian readers to Nouwen's thought and insights, and will engage a desire on the part of those readers to seek out Nouwen's earlier writings.

Eternal Seasons gathers, for the first time, selections for an entire liturgical year from 40 books written by Henri Nouwen, who lived and prayed the liturgical year as a way of connecting with the great mysteries of our faith. Michael Ford presents the writings in nine sections: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, Transfiguration, and Recollection. Each section consists of an introduction and a collection of passages focused on a feast or saint commemorated during the given season. This resource is suitable for personal and group use. An group leader could open to any page within the appropriate seasonal section and find a short quote from Nouwen guaranteed to lead to a meaningful discussion.

If you or your business deals with customers, Exceptional Customer Service is worth a good read, or at least a good skim. The authors provide many ways of thinking about, and actually taking steps toward, improving your customer relations. Written in an informal, friendly style, I especially liked the fact that the book is mainly straight text, with few of the silly graphics or distracting sidebars so common in many similar books. And, although the book makes extensive use of real-world examples, you never feel as if the authors are name dropping. Rather, it is easy to see yourself in the examples, and believe that if these folks can improve their customer service, you can too. I guarantee that you'll come across several ideas for making customers happier so that they don't become a problem, as well as what to do if they complain.

Like many books in the common-sense business genre, ECS does go on a bit longer than it has to, although you won't miss much if you just skim rather than study the text. But don't forget to take a look at the exercises included in the book, especially if you are part of a customer service team. These exercises allow you to evaluate and improve your customer service incrementally, and without undue effort.

Customer service seems to be one of those things that everybody
complains about, and it is also something that rarely seems to get
better . . . yet rather give up hoping that things will ever improve, there
is something that can be done; i.e., read EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER
SERVICE by Lisa Ford, David
McNair and Bill Perry.

This book inspired me with its many real examples of companies
who get it right . . . such as the case with Ben and Jerry's ice cream:

* They have incredibly effective letters to customers (you'll enjoy this
story). A customer who was seven months pregnant had a midnight
craving for Chunky Monkey ice cream. She managed to persuade
her husband to brave a blinding snowstorm for a pint. Upon scooping
the ice cream into a bowl, she was most disappointed at the
sparseness of walnuts in the product. She was accustomed to many
more from past experience. She wrote the company and complained. The
letter responding to her situation was great! First, the company apologized
to her for the "wimpy, anemic, under-chunked pint." What's more, they
included a coupon for a free pint because, as the letter stated, "you have to
feed that baby." Score! They just created a customer experience.

Then there was this other example:

* An idea at Marriott Hotels costs very little, and it makes a tremendous
statement. Marriott has put together a Sweet Dreams package. It
consists of a small bud vase, a flower, and some homemade cookies.
Hotel staff members are encouraged to give it to customers who are
having difficulties that the hotel really can't fix. For example, a guest
enters the hotel complaining that she's tired, feels awful, and her
four-hour plane delay didn't help. That's the cue for the staff person
to send this guest a Sweet Dreams. While the hotel couldn't control
the circumstances regarding this guest's day, they could control how
they responded to it. And better yet, when one employee noticed
a guest with an awful cough, a box of cough drops was included with
the Dreams package. Now that's exceptional service! Don't think
for a minute that customer loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising
haven't paid for that box of cough drops.

I particularly liked the many fine exercises in EXEPTIONAL
CUSTOMER SERVICE . . . they help show you can make
a difference; e.g., by doing the following:

* Reflect back on your last five encounters with customers
(in person or over the telephone). Think through how you handled
each situation, then try and identify and write down something you
could have done to improve your response by 1 percent.

In addition, I liked the accompanying cartoons by illustrator
Tate Nation . . . they put a smile on my face at the beginning
of each chapter.

My only quibble with the book was the fact that since it
was written by three authors, I would have liked all parts of it
to have been written that way; e.g., using such terms as "we"
and "our" throughout . . . instead, too many times I'd find myself
reading "I saw" or something similar and wondering which author
actually wrote that section.

I have been working in customer service training for over a decade now and I've seen a lot of systems come and go. Lisa Ford's insights and ideas about customer service, however, are timeless. This book represent a compilation of the customer service ideas and techniques she has talked about over the years. It's great to have all of it in one place, and in a book format. I had been looking forward to the publication of this book for a while, and I have to admit that it exceeded my expectations. Not only did it talk about what good service is, but it goes a step beyond what other books do and talks about HOW to reach the level of exceptional service in your company. The book includes self-appraisals, ideas for team exercises, and numerous examples of good service and poor service. It is well written, very cohesive and, if sincerely adapted by a company, can turn-around any failing customer service program.

Needed to get more chevy nolige on witch nose or rear back light extr extr with a certain type of building year. This is the book. Give's al kinds of just would like to know info. Engine,weigth,selling price,changes compaired to other types or years. they are al in it. LOVE IT! hhoeray for ted burness

It was a great book for all car lover

A very, very good book for any Ford fans. You can distinguish between different years and models of Ford cars even though the differences may only be a subtle change in the grill. Filled with hundreds of pictures from Ford ads and others. It gives some varied specifications but this is not the strong point of this book. Its strong point is to have a quick reference book to help distinguish what year Ford you happen to be looking at and for this it is great!

This book has saved me thousands of dollars, compared to the Ford Lincoln Mercury dealership. Everything I need is in this Taurus / Sable repair BIBLE!

Hi people from countries where amazing,com is having it's rates (sales their books). I live in Poland where plenty of Ford Taurus car are in use now, but their owners can not buy the Manual of it from amazing.com jus because the live in Poland. It is silly not selling books here !!!
Please dear owner of Taurus from the country where they have their rates contact with me on: rafal.jaworski@bpb.com.pl and help me with buying two cheap books about it (maximum price is 15$).
Thanks in advance.
RJ

this was informative and very well written

This is a good book, but not a great book. I own several other books by the author, John Allen, on similar subjects and there is a definite bias towards a british view of the subject. I have read about every book available about the mid-sixties era of racing, especially the Ford contribuiton. Although I feel very knowledgeable on the subject, this book still filled in many empty areas I have on the subject and did it in a fairly enjoyable fashion. Having already stated I own many books on this subject I still am happy that I purchased this one. It is one of the better books on this subject. Enjoy

The book in question..."The Ford That Beat Ferrari: A Racing History" turns out to be exactly that...as well as all that was implied by by Amazon's outstanding website. I know that this sounds like a " so what " statement, but it's not. I find most things do not live up to thier hype. So, when something does, it IS note-worthy.
As a side-bar, I am not your usual Ford fan. I am a die-hard Porsche nut...six real cars, hundreds of models and a complete library of all books ever written on the subject. So, why the deviation? Easy! It seems that a great many of the best drivers of Porsche race cars came over from Ford...and this fact provides me with yet another perspective. I highly recommend other Porschiphiles do the same. As Paul Harvey says, It just might give you " the rest of the story ".

There are a couple of other great books on the GT40, but this one has some of the best period photographs along with its well written text. Other books also spend a lot of time covering the 1966 LeMans MK11s and the Gulf liveried LeMans winners of '68 and '69. This book does cover them as they are historically important cars, but the privateers like Comstock and Scuderia Bear are also covered.
Chapters cover construction and testing, races such as LeMans, Sebring, Daytona, and the many private GT40 teams and cars.
This book should be on every racing enthusiasts shelf.

This is another great book in the "crestline" series.

This book covers all trucks,buses and panel van type trucks from 1905 to 1978 in b&w white photos.This book will please.Larger than the "Illustated history of Ford edition but smaller and more photos.

this book contains information on ford vehicles i didn't even know existed. contains descriptions, history, and black/white photos. would recommend for any ford enthusiast library.

I bought this for my own father in 1982. he was a model 'a' and v8 restorer/enthusiast.....he loved it--! i have since inherited the book. you can dip your toe or swim in this ocean of fascinating ford truck history! model T's, early V-8's, fat-fenered 50's, bronco's, ranchero's.....and even Ute's..... mine IS NOT forsale-- but used and above list price...it is absolutely worth it!

The book deals with the first months of the Ford Presidency and almost everybody should know that those were his hardest days : to complete the passage form former to the new administration, the Nixon pardon, the mid-term elections.
These were all tasks difficult to handle and happened in a very strict period of time so that to judge President Ford one should have had - ar least - a stretch of one year. Instead Reeves, who narrates the first 6 months more or less, does not spare his most harsh judgement towards a person that all of a sudden found himself Vice-President and then President.
Almost inhuman.

Few people have the time or interest to read a book about the Ford administration and I am not necessarily proud to be one of them. To be fair to myself I read the book more because of the author then the subject. I must say that I was very pleased. Again what I liked was really not much about President Ford, but the humor and insight of the author. Let's face it, most of us have a rather negative view of good old Jerry, and this book pushes that perception even further. Page after page the author details out one dim witted move after another. It just seamed as though Ford was moving in a world with about 60% of the required IQ points to succeed. All the detail about the blunders and misstep's is done with almost comedic like timing and surprise. If I did not know better you would think this was a Moore or Franklin book. The author used the subject to the fullest in the comedy writings.

The good humor aside, you really do get a negative view of the Ford administration. Not necessarily because of what he did, but more because of what remarkably little he did do. The author stretched to detail out much of anything that Ford did except campaign trips and blanket approvals of Nixon policies that still seemed to be generated within the administration. The one nice consistent with this book and about every other book I have read about the Nixon administration is that this author disliked Al Haig. How this guy has rubbed every single person he has met the wrong way I will never know, but he is the poster child for "does not get along with others". Overall the book was full of humor and some interesting facts. It is a quick read and if for some reason you are looking for something on Ford this book will at least give you a smile if nothing else.

Reeves is a veteran political reporter whose excellent insights and smooth prose are guaranteed to provide a pleasant, educational read. Although Reeves portrays Ford as a dummy, he presents him as a well-meaning dummy. Thus his take can hardly be considered critical. Indeed, Reeves assigns Ford's every success to the latter's naivete combined with his unquestioning loyalty to party. Ford's rise to Minority Leader and eventually Vice President are based on the actions of others, and the estimates of elites that Ford will be inoffensive and controllable. Indeed, he portrays the President as a captive of his own administration, controlled by the Nixon holdovers and their strong ideas, from the ubiquitous Kissinger to the reluctantly deposed Haig. Reeves explains the Nixon pardon strictly in this context, as the innocent action of true party loyalist, not as a cynical payoff for services rendered, or even a cynical partisan f-k you to the country. For those interested in politics and Presidents, Reeves should be classed with Witcover and Germond, as a must read. For those who have a passing interest he should be taken as an excellent readable primer, if it's not all you need to know, it's most of it. A bargain at any price.

'The Fords: An American Epic' by David Horowitz & Peter Collier

Horowitz & Collier deliver yet another superb narrative of one of America's historic, controversial and complex families. They have this genre down to a science.

This is, without doubt, the best book on the Ford family I have read, and I've read a few. For an unbiased look at Henry's early tinkering in the garage to the perfection of the production line to his controversial stances on important world events, this book has no comparison. The strange inter-family relationships are broken down in detail and explained with clarity. The book focuses on family & business, which was no easy feat: Henry & Edsel's relationship; Lee Iacocca's influence on the Ford Motors; the return of "Hank the Deuce"; to Bill Ford's generation and more recent family activity.

A wonderfully enjoyable read that is as detail laden as it is fast paced. An easy call for 5 stars!

- JC

The uniqueness of this book is that it focuses on the personalities of Henry Ford, his son Edsel and his granson, Henry II. The history of Ford Motor Company is presented as an outgrowth of these porsonalities. As a career Ford employee, it is my opinion that Ford Motor Co. has always reflected the personalities of those in charge to a somewhat greater extent than other large corporations. So the author's approach is particularly appropriate. And it works well. This is an absorbing book for anyone with an interest in the Ford family in relation to the growth and decline of Ford Motor Company and, motre widely, the business in the twentieth century.

This book recounts the origins and life of the Ford family from the rise of Henry Ford, the founding the great automotive company, its ebbs and flows, through the reign of Henry Ford II. It reads very well and has a great deal of interesting information.

One of the difficulties in writing a book like this is how to balance the personal details with the epic story of the global corporation. I believe Collier and Horowitz pull off the balance quite well. However, when this book came out there was a great deal of discussion about the womanizing that the family worked hard to keep out of the public eye. Some condemned this book because of these intimate details. Some claimed they were fabricated. Nowadays, given what we know about public versus private lives, it probably would not raise many eyebrows.

The life of Henry the Great is fascinating because of his genius and his limitations. His son Edsel has a story that is as tragic as any you might read in fiction. Henry II was given the task of saving the family company and with the team he built around himself he did an admirable job. The battles with Lee Iacocca may be slipping into ancient history, but it is still a very interesting story in the history of corporate governance. The recounting of Henry II's divorces and such may be fairly petty and is certainly not as important as his missing the real threat of the Japanese car companies.

The book is now almost twenty years old, but it still has its merits.

I always rely on Frommer's guides when I travel. This book does not disappoint. Frommer's D.C. guide makes it easy to navigate through the city and helps me to make good use of my limited time. The restaurant & lodging reviews are very accurate and dependable.

This book is pretty helpful for a tourist in D.C. I referred to it several times during the course of my 7 day visit. What it doesn't make clear is that Tourmobile tours can be very frustrating. They are portrayed as easy on easy off shuttles, but in reality they overbook their capacity and cannot accomodate people waiting, thus prolong the wait and waste valuable vacation time for their customers. Other than not informing customers about the inefficiency of Tourmobile I'd say this publication is pretty good.

I picked up this guide for our trip to Washington DC, and was very happy that I did.

We spent 5 days in the city, and ate in the inexpensive to moderate restaurants recommended in the book and did not have a bad meal, and several great meals. We ate at Ethiopian, Thai, Southwestern, and American restaurants.

Our hotel, The Churchill, was recommended in the book, and we booked it on The Churchill's website (mentioned in the book as well) and were able to get a giant room (huge bedroom, even bigger living room, nice size kitchen area with table, and a small bathroom) with a kitchenette for $149 a night. The on-line booking web sites didn't list any rooms with a kitchenette. (The rack rate on the door of our room listed it as $450 a night).

The Frommers guide listed itineraries for staying for one to several days, so we picked and chose some of the activities mentioned. And the info on the galleries and museums were more than sufficient to plan our days and nights.

The Metro-rail info and map were right on the money.

The included full-size map of Washington DC was indispensable.

The only thing that I noticed was incorrect in the book was that the shuttle between Dupont Circle to Georgetown was $1 (not $.50).

I would have also liked to know how far the zones were for the taxi cabs (Is a cab from Georgetown to our hotel in one zone? Or did it cross into a second).

I bought a couple of guidebooks, but all but abandoned the others since this one was so comprehensive. Highly recommended!!!!

I liked the book, but I wish they had more dates than just when he was born. It would have been fun to know how old he was when he did or invented certain things. I think I am like him because I like to find ways to make work easier.

Book Review
Henry Ford--Young Man with Ideas

Questions, questions, questions! That's all little Henry Ford did, was ask questions. Well that "little boy" became one of the smartest men alive and he changed the way people travel around the entire world.
This book was honestly one of the best books I have ever read. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would definitely give it a 10! I couldn't possibly put it down. I would highly recommend this book to kids who have interests in inventions and want to learn about the fascinating life of Henry Ford. The book starts out when little Henry is turning five years old and expands to the rest of his life. This book tells about Henry's fascination with learning how things worked at an early age. Henry was always taking toys apart to see how they worked. One day he was given a broken watch. You would have thought he had been given his favorite candy. He had the watch fixed in no time! He was a curious boy with a smart mind. The book later tells how he becomes a multi-millionaire by manufacturing cars. Henry wanted to "build a car that everyone could own." He soon did and this car became known as the Model T. This book easily inspired me and could inspire other young children to push for their goals and dreams, and to never give up, no matter what happens.

I would like more detail like on how he was born and when he died. I like this book because it talked about all his jobs and what he made and when he made it.