Hill Books

I found "Open My Eyes, Open My Soul" by Yolanda King to be a wonderful collection of essays by people from all walks of life about their own experience with either intolerance or a gift of tolerance and love.
This is a book the world has been needing. I will frequently refer to it in my speaking engagements and will recommend it along with future editions that will be printed. Thank you Yolanda. You are a blessing to this world.
Carrie bluehawk601@yahoo.com

Everyone has a story to share of a defining moment (or many!) when they see past the surface images to the humanity that connects us heart to heart. I think the best "media pairing" of the message would be this book with the movie, "Love Actually". Both clearly and often joyfully illustrate that no matter what your casual or even paranoid observations regarding the world may be, or your current loss of hope or elevated fears for the future, Love IS all around, and it is everywhere, within everyone, ever eager to burst into bloom. I highly recommend this book, a collection of personal "moments of awakening and realization" to anyone who needs an emotional lift and to anyone who loves and wishes to open their hearts even more. Blessings to you both, dear Yolanda King and Elodia Tate!!! Looking forward to more of the same soon!

This book leaves a lasting impression of love and commonality of the human spirit no matter the race, culture, or beliefs. We are one humanity, one world. Every story shows how people touch each other's lives in a positive way. Both celebrities' stories and "other author" stories remind us that we have so much in common.

Marie McBride

If everyone in the world read this book, all fighting would stop because people would see every other human being as a brother or sister--not someone "different" just because of the color of their skin or their religion or particular culture. This book is a wake-up call that spawns peaceful feelings and longings for a harmonious world. This book is for everyone--not just members of minority groups. I happen to be Caucasian, but reading these heartfelt stories makes me want to shake people who hate and remind them of what Dr. Martin Luther King sacrificed his life for.

This book lifts up, acknowledges, rejoices in, and teaches us about our wonderful differences. We learn through this book that we all receive gifts of lessons and experiences handed down through our cultural ties. It shows us how strong, powerful and united we can be. Share this book with loved ones and those who need to hear the message.

Hi,

This book is great for DBA and Developper alike. I would recommend it to anyone working with Oracle, even if you're not working to solve performance issues. With all those tips at hand never your application will suffer from poor programming.

Guillaume

I highly recommend this book as a handy reference to keep at your desk. It is full of handy tips and a great assessment for reviewing your own environnment.

I love reading this book. I typically read a few pages before bed. It's filled with lots of practical examples and suggestions. Very thorough explanations. Some of the examples could do with a little more explaining but overall it's still very useful.

This book manages all concepts, basical and advanced, and the reader can review and fortify concepts. The OCM Author with explains in an easy mode Oracle Products. Excellent book.

A "must have" Oracle book for anyone who works with Oracle on a day-to-day basis. The database efficiencies I have been able to obtain for my clients by simply using Rich's book as a point of reference are well worth the cost in purchasing it.

Adam Suber, Event Chairperson, Southeastern Michigan Oracle Professionals (SEMOP) Group.

OK- it's Perry's! Standard Perry's... there no phenomenal extra features... the packing is fairly nice though.. BUT the CD.. I cannot get the CD to self run- I can't get it to work period!!

If you are a Chem-E and don't own this book then you might as well kill yourself, or switch to mechanical.

The platinum edition is perfect - CD and hardcopy. While the CD doesn't replace the hardcopy it is very handy for it's portability and the accuracy of the 'active charts'.

The book is much more user friendly than the CD and if you can only afford one or the other then I'd recommend buying the book.

It can be quite difficult to find things on the CD version and it is slower than it needs to be as it always works off the CD drive (copying the CD onto the hard drive isn't an option).

great deal!
i recommend it for anyone

The hardcopy Perry's is a fun bedside table read for chemical engineers, and makes an excellent review manual. But it is bulky and heavy to lug around to labs or study rooms, and so the CD's that are part of this edition are first rate tools to load on your laptop so that Perry's tables and measurements in searchable format( the next thing to 'The Force' that there is a for chemical engineers) is aways with you. Excellent item, and fortunately Amazon had it at an attractive price. It is a bonus to also have the hard copy. Good item to have for your 3d year forward, and essential for grad students or working engineers.

Product Strategy for High technology Companies by Robert Cooper. I purchased the book with the intention of getting my professional certification in product management. The is extremely helpful in the area of product planning and development. It links the technology strategy of a company to its product platform development strategy down to its product line planning strategy. I like the way the book is structured, building up from vision to techniques. His case studies / examples (though not in depth)are very good in illustrating what he was trying to say.

the Core Strategic Vision approach for determining strategy is interesting, and is a good framework to develop a realistic vision.
The boundaries test to determine whether your vision will deliver what you expect (it forces you to expect something!) is something companies can't forget.
And the vision of a set of product's as not only one offering, but as one containing a platform and its pre-planned offerings, with pricing strategy, is essential to get profits for a long time.
It is full with examples, specially from the software arena. Recommended.

This book offers a study of the strategic options for high tech firms. The coverage is wide and detailed. This is a great book.

A big number of business examples, and good explanation of concepts. A deeper vision could be found in another books about this subject, so in my oppinion this book could be a good starting point, not recomended for advanced IT product managers.

I love this book: the concept of a "vector" for product
development is a terrific way to think about competition.
IMHO, this book is a must-read for all product managers,
product marketers and people involved in strategic decisions,
i.e. all senior executives.

That said, speaking as a five-time startup engineer, the advice
and examples in this book seem geared towards the core product
lines in larger companies, where you can credibly talk about
"two years from now" as opposed to wondering if you'll even be
in business, which is also the problem for new product lines at
large companies. The experience for the book comes from the
PRTM consulting firm, which was made famous for their work with
parallel product development at Intel. We hired them in the
early days at Inktomi, and found mixed success with their
process because we were terrified of immediate failure, and
they wanted to talk about version 3. Obviously, there's a
successful middle ground because Inktomi was a huge success in
the short term, but ultimately lost its strategic direction.

Quick-Start Spanish is a fun and interactive resource for learning the Spanish language. It brings the basics of Spanish language alive through stories. As you go through the book, the learning is natural and easy. Arlene Jullie uses teaching strategies that are fresh and effective. You will enjoy this experience.

I am currently a freshman in high School and taking Spanish 3. Quick-Start Spanish has helped me learn Spanish at a faster pace. This is a great book for students to use as a reference along with their school books. The book makes learning Spanish fun.

I found the Quick Start Spanish book to be a very helpful resource before, during and after taking spanish courses. It has a way of giving hints and reminders that stick with you to help you remember important spanish speaking rules. Arlene uses fresh, innovative ideas incorporated into the learning of spanish! Espanol es muy divertido!

This is a fantastic way to learn Spanish. The book is very user-friendly and self-explanatory. Its use of activities, play-on-words and humor help the lessons become easier to commit to memory than the "high school classroom" method. Arlene has a talent for making languages fun and easy to learn. This book is a great tool for beginners, intermediates or those who want a refresher course in the language.

I needed to learn Spanish for a trip to Mexico. I wasn't sure this book would work but a friend of mine said "trust me" so I bought it. I just got back and I had a Great Time! The best part was that people understood me and I understood them!

I can't recommend this book more. It makes learning Spanish fun and easy. Buy it, use it, Love it.

Most of the robot books I've purchased rarely explained the detail of how you could create some kind of "intelligent" program and expand it as you need. This book give you an example using pseudo code so basically you could implement it in any programming language usually found in embedded programming such as C, Basic/Stamp or Assembler. I would highly recommend this book for robotics enthusiast who wants to make their robot behave like it has some kind of intelligent.

The book aims squarely at teaching the concepts of behavior based robotic programming without being simplistic or being overly technical. A good example is PID controllers -- the ID stand for integral and differential. He doesn't dive down into the mathematics of it but does point out that those two stages of the controller a not separately tunable.

The book doesn't present a lot of pseudo code nor does it focus on an type of microprocessor or language.

It gives very good conceptual descriptions of how to create architectures that allow multiple sensors and actuators to act together to produce meaningful and emergent behavior while pointing out pitfalls and problems that may crop up. The book is chock full of block diagrams showing the setups being discussed.

I have read dozens of robotics books over the years and most of them suck. They were either too academic or too basic. This book is excellent and was a refreshing change.

Written by one of the designers of iRobots Roomba, this book is indeed a practical guide to robotics. It is easy to read and full of practical advice that one would only get if they spent the last 20 something years working with robots. For example, the author repeatedly warns you to expect the unexpected.

Even though this book incudes access to a simulator tool, the author constantly reminds you of what could occur in the real world. This book is for anyone attempting to build a single-purpose mobile robot (whether as a commercial developer or a hobbyist). Rather than focusing on a specific language or platform, the author uses pseudocode to explain concepts. The pseudocode should save you hours of frustration. At the very least, the authors good sense of humor makes reading the book quite enjoyable.

The book is easy to read and a good introducion to behavior based programming. I always like it when the author uses some humor to turn a book that could have been a boring "must read" into an entertaining experience.

This is a nice little book. It introduces some important concepts in an overall very readable text. Of course the book doesn't offer much technical detail or any real code but sometimes it comes close. If you already have any experience in programming you can easily get the point in the example pseudo codes and adapt them for your own use.
There is a major problem about this book though. The online robot simulation program was available from the link given inside the book but this website is not active anymore so you can not practice the ideas using the "bsim" program.

When I was a young girl, I wanted to be a missionary to Africa. Now I find myself in the interesting position of having these wonderful African teachers - Sobonfu Some & husband, Malidoma Patrice Some - being missionaries TO ME.

I have wanted the kind of intimacy Mrs. Some describes in her inspired little book, my whole life. It is my earnest hope and prayer that the western world will learn from the West African culture, and find the true happiness we have declared the right to pursue.

I couldn't possibly recommend the book more highly.

Such a well balanced sharing of spirit.

Also check out:

Living Deliberately: The Discovery and Development of Avatar
Resurfacing: Techniques for Exploring Consciousness
Love Precious Humanity: The Collected Wisdom Of Harry Palmer

This is a wonderful book that offers many little gems that encourage and facilitate the willingness to be open to intimacy in relationship. I think for many people who have struggled in relationship the author offers very useful, practical and enriching ways to let ones' relationship grow and develop. I love that the book is from an African perspective and though it's not geared only to Africans shows that African people have a workable approach to relationships that is spritually centered and life affirming.
I especially liked the authors' discussion on the use of rituals in African culture. The author made them come alive for me and helped me recognize that ritual is something we do anyway though we do not call it that and why. Her discussion on it's value and power in African culture was very empowering because she shows how we can open ourselves up on many levels to healing ourselves and our relationships by consciously utilizing rituals in our lives.
I also liked the author's emphasis on the importance of community, in helping build intimacy and supporting healthy relationships which is especially important for African people.
I would have liked more information on how some of the rituals or concepts used in ancient ways could better translated or modified for the present time.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like a spiritual, african centered approach to building healthy relationships.

This book reminds us what a real intimate relationship between a man and a woman should be, the pratical and spiritual dimensions of it. Thank you Sobonfu Some for writing this lovely and useful book.

Sometimes the words you're looking for come from the most unlikely places. Sobonfu Some's contribution is absolutely crucial if we are to find a counterbalance to our consumer culture. Singles, couples, adults and teenagers alike will find rewarding activities in this book which warm the heart more than going shopping can, and it's a gasp of fresh air. I hadn't realised the import of how we connect to other people until I read this book.

If you are serious about becoming a screenwriter, this book will be a valuable addition to your professional library. Lucy goes into depth on subjects other authors ignore or treat lightly. Usually if you can learn one or two things from a screenwriting book, it's worth reading. This book clarifies subjects other authors fail to explain. Lucy not only explains all the loose ends, but ties them together. There are a lot of good books on screenwriting, and this is one of them. Cynthia Whitcomb has a couple of books on screenwriting that you might also want to read.

This book should be a mandatory read for writers of all types and all levels. Story Sense offers the tools to develop an entertaining, clever plot with emotionally and psychologically dimensional characters. It takes you step by step through idea, plot, and character formulation, as well as explains how to develop structure, dramatization, and everything else you need to write the perfect screenplay or fictional story. You will find yourself highlighting passages and constantly refering back to this "bible" throughout your writing journey. Keep this book close by, it has all the answers you need as a writer.

This should be required reading for any type of writer--novelist, screenwriter, playwright. The sections on plot and character development are worth double what this book costs.

Too many "how-to" books on writing perpetrate the image of a writer as a conduit for mysterious creative forces. While I'm not entirely discounting that image, there needs to be a balance between writing as an art and writing as a craft. This book falls firmly in the craft column. It demands you cast aside any artistic pretensions and get down to the plumbing of creating a story. And it doesn't stop with the obligatory pep talk--Lucey shows you how it's done. And he shows it better than any other writing how-to out there.

If I could give this ten stars I would. Highly recommended.

When ordering several books on screenwriting this book caught my eye because of the high ratings afforded it by others. After reading it I fully concur with what others had to say. I went out and purchased DVDs of the four main example films (The Verdict, Terminator, Sleepless in Seattle, and Witness) that Mr. Lucey focuses on and they allowed me to pick up the fine points described in the text. His vast experience in script writing shows through in each of the topics discussed. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. For a detail-oriented individual such as myself, this book met all my expectations. If you are interested in this topic, this book is a "must have" by all means.

I have read many screenwriting books and this is the most complete. It takes you by the hand through each step of the process. I would recommend it to anyone interested in screenwriting. The book even states that if you follow the steps in the 12 chapters it should take you 120 hours and would be equivelent to a college course. No need for any other training. This book is it!

Your strategic planning must incorporate the people who work for you, says author Edward L. Gubman in a book that gets high marks for its easy, bullet-point organization, but scores in the middle of the curve in terms of originality. Grubman preaches that you must create a strategic alliance between your company’s mission and competencies and the people who work there. Then, he describes how to motivate and involve people, and finally how to assess their performance. He uses research examples and starts each chapter with a bullet-point summary of key information. The book includes questions to ask yourself, and many useful charts and summary lists. However, the theoretical discussion of how to engage and reward employees seems oddly dry and analytical for a how-to guide on how to motivate and excite people. The areas of job matching, motivation, and assessment have been covered in many other books, but we... recommend Gubman’s authoritative approach to these topics.

A well thought through book written by a consultant with a vast amount of varied experience. The illustrative brief case studies were most helpful in understanding the thoughts, concepts, ideas and strategies. In a global economy where talent is an increasingly scarce resource, HR practitioners will find the book a very valuable resource to craft, adapt, adjust or align their practices to be more organisation and employee friendly. Mr Gubman strategic perspective of people in terms of organisational development and growth of people is indeed a very commendable effort and very insightful. The "Creating the Talent Solution" at the end of each chapter should provoke readers to critically look at their own organisation with a fresh perspective. It will help you draw a better road map in your talent search!

"This book is about why it's essential to connect strategy and people to manage talent, and more importantly, how to do it. It rests on three key concepts: alignment, engagement, and measurement. Alignment means pointing people in the right direction. Engagement means fostering commitment to your basic purpose and direction. Measurement means providing connected and balanced ways for your company and employees to keep score about how you are doing. When you do all three things, you will be managing your talent and company to achieve extraordinary results" (from the Introduction p.9).

In this context, Edward L. Gubman introduces 'Improving Business Results with People (IBR) Model' used by Hewitt consultants as an alignment model. He argues that "The IBR model is designed to ensure you line up all the critical elements in talent management. If you pay attention to these pieces and execute them right, you will create alignment that enables you to achieve extraordinary business results" (p.32). Thus, he elaborates this model in more detailed throughout the book.

The stages of the IBR model can be outlined as follows:

1. 'Business Results and Strategies' describe the outcomes you are trying to achieve as a company and the strategies you are using to get there. Thus, he defines strong business results as:

* great value for customers,

* rewarding work situations for employees-including psychological, social, and financial rewards,

* high returns for shareholders. (more detailed discussion see Chapter 2).

2. 'Business Capabilities' refer to your distinctive abilities as an organization to use money, technology, information, people, and other resources to create a competitive advantage. He argues that "Your goal in developing these capabilities is to build unique abilities that competitors have difficulty copying so you have the advantage" (p.46).(more detailed discussion see Chapter 3).

3. 'People Requirements' are the things you demand from people to exercise your capabilities-what you need from them to be successful. He describes these requirements as the Three Cs: culture, competencies, and contract, and argues that "These three are interrelated so it's hard to separate them completely" (p.57).(more detailed discussion see Chapter 4).

4. 'Employee Priorities' are the 'bottom-up' of the equation. In this stage, he focuses on the changing nature of the employement relationship as a context for engaging employees, what engagement is and how you can increase it, and the psychology of engagement and change.(more detailed discussion see Chapters 9 to 11).

5. 'Workforce Strategies' are the distinctive plans you have for acquiring, developing, deploying, and retaining your people for competitive advantage. He argues that "Smart companies build plans for their workforce just like they build plans for the other parts of their business" (p.75). Hence, he describes elements of a workforce strategy: (a).people requirement-the cultural values, competencies, and contract, (b).employees' needs, fears, and goals, (c).the resulting employement relationship, (d).organization design, and (e).priorities for change.(more deatailed discussion see Chapter 5).

6. 'Management Practices' describe the ways you enact your workforce strategies. In this stage, he examines (1) three major criteria for excellent management practices-alignment, integration, and execution, and (2) five management practices-staffing, organizing, learning, performing, and rewarding.(more detailed discussion see Chapters 6 to 7).

7. 'Business Interactions' is where all business results occur. He argues that "All business results come from interactions-leaders with employees, employees with employees, and employees with customers. These interactions are changing, and some are becoming much more electronic. Sometimes the 'employee' now is an ATM machine, a voice-mail box, home page, or voice response circuit" (p.143). Hence, in this stage, he examines these interaction processes.(more detailed discussion see Chapter 8).

8. 'Balanced Measurements' are both the business and individual measurements that gauge how well you and your employees are doing. He argues that "Measurement is the last of the three processes you need to connect talent to strategy to deliver outstanding results" (p.225).(more detailed discussion see Chapters 12 to 14).

Finally, as conclusion, he rightly argues that "The growing effects of the information economy, globalization, and changing demographics are coinciding to create a new era in business-the era of talent. Your ability to attract, manage, and retain talent will determine whether you succeed. This wasn't always true in the past. Before, you could succeed if you controlled enough physical resources. Today, talent is the fundamental resource in business" (p.292).

Highly recommended.

The key theme of this work is that the competitive advantage goes to those companies that are best at finding, motivating, and retaining talent to fill critical positions-especially in high technology sectors. The book is filled with good advice on staffing, recruiting, motivating, managing, and retaining people. Adding to its value, Gubman gives many references to what leading companies are doing. Plenty of sound advise and examples make this worthwhile reading. Reviewed by Yvette Borcia, co-founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

Mr. Gubman provides some of the best, most straight-forward information I have read on the subject. His simple, clear, discussion was extremely refreshing. His method of aligning the HR practice with Company strategy is excellent. I most enjoyed the little nuggets of wisdom located in the tables throughout the text. They are an superb summary of the text material for those with limited time or who decide to only scan the material.

This was a required book for my client relationships course and I found it well-written and very applicable to anyone dealing with customers on a daily basis.

Building a technology-based service business is certainly no walk in the park but Mooney and Bergheim help make that walk a little less treacherous. Follow the ten demandments of the demanding customer and you will be rewarded by those customers.

Don't be so sure your company - or ever yourself - is all that consumer friendly because after taking Kelly Mooney's self-assessments at the end of each chapter, you might be depressed. While its a cliche, it is true: the rules of engagement have changed. Today's exceptional, differentiated products and services are tomorrow's expectation and demands in the age of the well-informed, technology-empowered consumer. While not a book about the internet, Kelly Mooney's book here illustrates how the internet has armed today's consumer with more information, options and price comparisons - all at the speed of light. This is just one factor that has led to the consumer calling the shots more and more and who now just does not have needs, but true DEMANDS. And the businesses that understand this and empower their customers with the information, privacy and control they now demand will emerge the most successful. Those who do not will fall by the wayside.

Lots of marketing books are from the reference point of a business or brand forward: how to get more sales and increase brand awareness of your product. But, Kelly Mooney shows the view only from the stressed-out, untrusting and impatient consumer's vantage point. And we all are consumers who can relate to good and bad experiences. And guess what? Today's demanding consumers don't like, appreciate or trust all you have to say or offer them if they are not asking to hear it. They are suspicious of your uninvited emails or requests for personal information (a big point of discussion in this book). They want straight talk ... they hate all that fine print ("Lose it" is the recommendation) ... they want it all fast (or forget it) .... they want to consistently experience your brand the same way regardless of channel ... they want to be rewarded for their loyalty ... and they want complete control of their information and want to remain as anonymous as possible (so forget information requests that do not offer them something in return).

Each chapter is dedicated to one of the ten "demandments" - complete with a self-evaluation at the end of each chapter. As Mooney colorfully illustrates in her many examples, today's consumer wants - umm, demands that your business:
- Earn their TRUST
- INSPIRE them by your company or product
- Make things EASY
- Put them IN CHARGE of the process
- GUIDE them as they ask
- BE AVAILABLE 24/7
- REWARD their loyalty
- EXCEED their expectations
- RESPECT them as in any relationship

This is an engaging, easy-to-read book that is not a textbook monologue nor an analytical Harvard Business Review article, but really a 'street-smart' approach to serving your customers according to the "new demands on the street." It is chocked with many simple but insightful examples (termed "the voice of the consumer") that keep the flow lively and drive home the basic (but often difficult-to-master) principles. Sometimes Mooney is a bit repetitive, but some probably need that to get the points. Many companies don't realize they probably give a certain amount of "lip service" to the idea that "the customer comes first" or "without the customer, our purpose for existing ceases to exist" (haven't we all felt this way as consumers ourselves after a frustrating interaction?). But, after reading this humble, but enlightening little book, they probably will see how much room there is to improve and truly serve today's demanding consumer. So, overall, this book is a fresh, pretty different and important view point worth the time to read. Certainly the price should not deter anyone from getting it.

As my company begins 2003, #1 on the radar is our customer experience. So I was delighted with The Ten Demandments and have already begun thinking about how to incorporate several of the "demandments" into our own strategy. Easy to read, fast paced and insightful! Highly recommend.

This is the first book I've read on the topic of customer experience and loyalty that truly inspired ME! This is a lively and engaging book with a great point of view. It's written from the customer's perspective- a very interesting and refreshing twist on an important topic.

But why aren't companies doing a better job of providing the exceptional experiences the author talks about in her book? It was certainly an eye opener for me! Glad I found it when I did.